First Things First - TCU Dominates Belichick’s UNC, Parsons Faces Criticism, Nick Unveils QB Tiers

Episode Date: September 2, 2025

(00:00) Too soon to panic for Bill Belichick? (26:24) Fair criticism of Parsons? (40:02) Should UNC fans be worried (46:25) Mahomes Mountain: Nick reveals his 1st QB tiers of 2025 season (1:08:34) What do you have left to accomplish? (1:17:20) Chances we see vintage Rodgers Sunday? (1:24:01) Where will Patrick Mahomes rank next year? 1:27:29) Who needs a statement win more? (1:47:55) Danny reveals his QB Quarterly ahead of Week 1 (1:59:15) This is a valid criticism of Parsons? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Richard Gray's a good song. He has more than one good songs. He's a word. He has an all-time classic album. He does. He made really good songs. Get Richard I. Try and was an iconic album of the year.

Lyrical skills. Drew is mad about a complex list that likely came up two years ago. Top 50 rappers in New York, Jada kids is 16. Stop it. Well, that's too low for Jada Kins. I agree. Jeter Kish is. I'm about.

The top five, if the top five was Jay-Z Biggie Knaz-Rocam. Five to five, well, it's fluid. Five to-five is not fluid. Hang on you. Right there. That's fluid. That's fluid. Nicky nod sometimes is here.

He got to take it. He got you. That was a nice one. That's a good one. First I heard of her. Today, the goat embarrassed by the horned frogs. is the University of North Carolina and their super fans in trouble. Michael Jordan was there.

You don't say. He was like, I'm going to take off. It was a heck of a crowd. Yeah. Jordan, Lawrence Taylor, Roy Williams. Meanwhile, indie champion Alex Blow in studio celebrating his second place finish in Nashville. How dare, you know what? What?

He came in second. You are turning into a legit troll. And now he's going to be here. Well, he yelled at me because I was a new garden guy. What do you want me to do? This was the day you guys were supposed to make up. Yeah, now you're just making it hurt. We're going to start the segment with you apologizing for being a fan of New Garden.

No, for doubting it. Apparently, we are. We're not starting a segment like that. And finally, you and me, bro. The debut of Mahomes Mountain, 2025 new snow. Is it any different than the player rankings? It ought to be. Nick's just dropped the player rankings now.

What? You were all into the player rankings when Purdy might have been. We were. Now you're like, well, because there was once you, once you wave the white flag, it wasn't interesting anymore. It was interesting when there was a debate.

Then there was, I won you. I'm just saying, Mahomes, not the number one quarterback. How valid is the? Well, that part, I agree with them. We're going to, which is why it's in the show today.

We just found. out that today and it did in the show today. Well, Holmes came out yesterday. You fought it. You fought it. I fought it. You weren't excited about it. You were, yeah, take it or leave it.

We're starting with the awkward numbers. 73-year-old coach, 24-year-old friend. No, a significant other girlfriend. 48 points allowed. Sweetheart. Twice as many points out of that. Barnwell noting, in 511 games as a pro, Belichick never gave up 48 points in one night.

he did. Here's Belichick post game. Look, they just outplayed us. They outcoached us. I mean, they were just better than we were tonight. That's all it was to it. They controlled both sides of the line of scrimmage. Their skill players played well. And, you know, they just, they did a lot more things right than we did. So, you know, give them credit for being the better team. They certainly deserve it. Too soon to panic. Just one game, but it was ugly. If only Matt Patricia's fancy schemes were there for Bill Belichick last night. It looked nothing like match but you know, because it's a player sport.

And we do a college sports in particular, there is a lot of coach worship and not enough player, you know, out of boys, if you will. The most important thing a college coach can do is recruit, is get the players. And under the new paradigm of NIL and transfer portal, you can, in theory, do it quick. You know what I mean? It's no longer you can't judge a college football coach until year three because that's when he gets his players in. And Belichick last night did not appear to have the horses and did not appear to have the, as his old offensive coordinator, Charlie Weiss once said when he left New England to go to Notre Dame a decided tactical advantage. Instead, it was a good first drive, and then they got dogwalked the whole night. And I think they have major problems now.

I don't think they know who their quarterback is. I think that the... It's not Gio Lopez. Well, it certainly doesn't look like it's Gio Lopez. And the kid who came in, Max Johnson, he's probably going to be the guy. But he's a great story, but he suffered a catastrophic, horrifying injury last year. They clearly wanted it to be Gio Lopez.

They thought it was going to be Gio Lopez. Lopez. And that team did not look buttoned up, and I don't want to, you know, bang on them too much. But it is, it is fair to ask, over the last half decade, has Belichick's ability to evaluate talent deteriorated? The Patriot's draft classes and who's left on the roster would say yes. Over the last half, over the last half decade, has Belichick gotten more distracted by all field endeavors. It's fair to ask, and it looked like it last night, up to an including in the pregame, when Jordan Hudson was talking to him on the sideline when he's got the headset on.

And has Bill Belichick, I will defend Belichick's, and not that I think it should need defending career with the Patriots in total, with the one exception being, has Bill Belichick ever been a great quarterback evaluator? I don't know the answer to that. Now, the Tom Brady piece of it is tricky because they did draft him and keep him on the roster, but it's also the only quarterback decision he had to make for 20 years once he made it. And he was seemingly, or toward the end, at least, trying to replace him too early. And, you know, I don't want to argue about Mack Jones.

I think that was a miss. And I think his other quarterbacking decisions there were a miss. And again, going into this year, he clearly thought Gio Lopez gives us a better chance than Max Johnson. and too early to say what that plays out as. But KW, their projected win total as of this morning is now five and a half. So they're in real, real trouble. I don't think it's too soon to panic through about this season for North Carolina. It's not too soon to panic.

If we had a panic button, I would be hitting it. I should have thought about that. We had it, but we rejiggered it to an F game button. Yeah, yeah. Look, F game would be appropriate too. Obviously, that was an F game. I think it's not too soon to panic now and for his tenure there, however long it lasts. This was TCU.

The best thing obviously for Bill Belichick is if this TCU team runs off like a couple years ago and gets to the national championship game or at least a playoff, right? And then you're like, oh my gosh, okay, they were a good thing. That's not likely, I don't think. They're a top 40 team, 40, not top 25. And they treated Belichick's team like it was an FCS pancake that you brought in to give them a chance to make some money. Except it was in UNC's building. Right.

Yeah, exactly. So that is number one. Secondly, I don't want to hear. Belichick is a legend. And I'm not here to reign on his legendary parade, if you will. What he has accomplished, I have called him the goat. He's recognized as the goat, at least in the Super Bowl era, before Vince Lombardi or after Vince Lombardi.

I'm fine with that. He's won six Super Bowls, which is as much as any other franchise. All right. So I have no problem saying these ago. I'm not about to reign on that. But it seemed like I heard a lot of people talking about 70 new players. What did you expect? Dionne Sanders, two years ago, had 86 new players

against a TCU team coming off a championship game appearance and beat them. And coming from Jackson State. So I don't want to hear about the 70 new players. And then here, let me sum it up in one sentence for North Carolina fans why you should be panicking. Tom Brady is not walking through that door. All right?

And look, Bill Belichick, like I said, I'm not taking anything away from it. But you're about to. But he, this is just a fact. If you start talking about Bernie. Kozar. He has not won anything of significance without Tom Brady. Look at his regular season win percentage.

45% without Tom Brady. He's made the playoffs two times in 11 seasons without Tom Brady. All right? And he's one and two in those playoff games. I mean, it is what it is. Tom Brady, and I give Belichick

a lot of credit for helping to discover Tom Brady. And how about for all the Super Bowl? And that defense. And like I said, the six Super Bowls, you can't, you know, you can't diminish that at all. He is an awesome defensive mind last night notwithstanding. And he, those great defenses until Brady became great in his own right, individually. Belichick was there and getting it done.

But even their last Super Bowl, Brew. Yeah, Brady didn't do much offensive. It was 13 to 3. They shut down Todd Gurley and Sean McPace. So that's the part. But it's something about like he had Drew Bledsoe. And they were 5 and 11. And then 0 and 2 to start the season.

And then they started winning immediately with Brady. That to me is too small of a sample to read anything into it, especially because it's not like Blood. So after that left and was great again. No, but he was a Pro Bowl level of quarterback. He was a $100 million quarterback when they, which was big. So that's the part that I can't like, listen,

I think those of us that were there for it and you included, no, those first five years with Tom, Belichick's defense was the starring character. Huge part. No question. And Tom was turning into a great player who was always clutch. So I don't want to, you know what I mean, revisit that. What I do, I don't think we have to revisit that, KW, to say, hey, oh, forget how he was, how he's been for this decade.

Correct. The 2020s from talent evaluation decisions, coaching staff decisions, Like keeping his kids on the staff, that stuff with Jordan Hudson is weird. And I'm not even saying it's weird because of the age gap. That's separate. Here's what's weird. That he was fine with her trying to, or in tandem with her,

days before the season started, hey, new trademarks in the hopper. One of them's gold digger. Do we think that helps or hurts North Carolina's ability to stay focused? That's weird. That is not in line with anything Belichick has told us he's about. So that's where I'm in a tough spot

and you predicted it that I was going to be give you a fair analysis of the game. But if Bruce started to bring up Bernie Kozo and Cleveland Browns started to pull over. I was going to get fired up. But here's where I landed. I will defend the old Belichick. The older Belichick is tougher to defend.

Yes. So, and I think you made a good point about players and maybe they don't have the talent on North Carolina right now that TCU has. That being said, Dusty, can we show just the last night graphic of just the raw data here? Look at total yards. 542 for TCU and 222 for North Carolina. It's the biggest difference in a week one power four matchup since 2019. So unless you have an all-time talent. deficit. I do put it more on coaching and rather than the lack of players. So that's the

hardcore data numbers. Here's the fuzzy thing that made me just lose my brain. Dusty, can we this is, and we showed the tight shot of his press conference. Yeah, that's bad. This is that's not his fault. Light ears. I don't know that it's. What can he, I mean, I guess he could have said, look, no balloons. I get, okay. Yeah, he could. He could have said, no balloons. He could have said, you know what, just round balloons. Can we lose the stars? This was someone else's idea.

And for someone that had a stranglehold on all decision making with the Patriots, someone that left New England because he wanted that decision, because the Patriots executives started to come in and be like, hey, can we switch out the defensive coordinator for offensive court? And that angered him. And he's been taking shots at the crafts saying there's no order. There's no owner, son, no cap. Everything that goes, we're better off controlling it.

And he does something like that. That's after they lost, Brew. And there's no one in the building that says, hey, what if we lose? Well, or, by the way, they didn't lose on the last second field group. No, there's nobody. You got to be pulling those out. After the opening play of the second half, it's like, all right, balloon's down. It just shows a lack of a.

Hurry up. But that used to matter. The signing used to matter. We're not talking about the. And also, there has been, it's not overstated, to call it hubris, from Belichick's right-hand man, not Jordan Hudson, my old podcast partner back in the day, Mike Lombardi, who has been in lockstep with Belichick on this saying, we're going to be the 33rd NFL team. You know what I mean?

Talking about what they are going to do. Here is, if we are trying to find, if you're a Carolina fan, the sixth. I guess the silver lining. The odds of Bill Belichick being your head coach next season just went up dramatically. Because the only way he wasn't going to be was if it went so well that he bolted. You know what I mean?

I think a great season for the Tar Heels is off the board. I think a good season is unlikely. And now I look at it the same way I looked at Dion the first year at TCU. I'm sorry, Colorado. still a success, though. Right, it was. And he was taking over the worst team in college football. They just trying to get to six wins.

They're a bowl team. They've been a bowl team. North Carolina, and that's now, to me, the ceiling. The ceiling is now seven wins. That would be looking at what they looked like last night. That would be great. Quickly, here's the schedule. You got Charlotte coming up.

Well, the next three are you. If they don't, which one, Richmond is a. Charlotte. UCF is going to put points on. the board. Clemson, Cal, Virginia, Syracuse. So I looked this up, if you guys can. No, go.

Cal, Clemson, Duke, and Virginia, who are on their schedule, are all right now projected for more than five and a half wins. I just did it based on, you know what I mean, that. NC State and Syracuse are projected the same number of wins as them five and a half. And Wake and Stanford, I didn't know what happened to Stanford. Stanford is projected to win two and a half games. So like they, and then I. Like it said.

That's just the ACC games. So if you think they can go two and one in their next three against their non-con opponent, you beat Wake, you beat Stanford. You know what I mean? That's how you get to six. The bloom is off the rose. Of course. When Dion had the TCU win and celebrities were there.

He also had a star quarterback. And Travis. Oh, is he, though? More of the fifth round draft. No, but he was a star in college quarterback, bro. But this is not going to trend like, hey, do you want to come not win and not have fun? Oh, you mean as far as getting other players? Right, right.

It's going to trend in the wrong direction. And you would have thought he would have got better players in there being that he's Bill Belichick. And I just, I don't want to belabor this and let's move on. But everything you guys said, the Nick, the past half decade, you know, and you, that is post-prone. Right. What's the common denominator? Brady wasn't there. As soon as he left, it went south.

I have a great Brady take I've been saving. Okay. Would you like to hear it? Yeah. I don't know if this is true, and I'll have to ask Tom Brady next time. I talked to him also, first time I talked to him. That perhaps Brady, rather than it's all, they had it falling out and this and that one this morning. My new take is, as my phone falls, my new take is perhaps Brady, expert at seeing the field diagnosing.

Saw that he was losing his fastball before anybody else. and it was chalked up to personal and power and ego. It's like, you know what? You're not the same guy from 15 years ago. Everyone's just saying I changed. Like, actually, you're not the same guy. That's a really good take. And let me just as a guy as a professional takesman,

you don't have enough good, really good takes to save any. When the first time you have that, fire, don't keep it in the chamber for weeks or months later. I had to wait for, I've got this in my back pocket. Like, just get that out there. Don't ration about it. Right. Just use them.

Moving on. Jalen Hertz, looking to get back to the Super Bowl. Diana Rusini reporting that Hurts has a newfound confidence, now that he's a Super Bowl champion, while Jayland's new OC acknowledges that the Eagles need to spread the ball around a little bit. Here's Kevin Petulow. Uh-oh. I think it's important, right? If you got guys like we do just to make sure they get in the flow of the game, and sometimes they know the flow can kind of go a little bit differently and they got to feel it.

but I think they know going in what the plan is. So if the plan is a certain way and it has to pivot or move, they know that they're included in the plans. So at some point it'll pivot back. Could this be a problem for Philadelphia? I don't think so at all. Really? Not one iota.

Because I don't think getting A.J. Brown is touches. Sequin Barclay, as touches. I don't think that's going to ever trump winning. Like, I don't think they're going to do that at the expense of winning because so-and-so's making a lot of noise in the locker room. I also think their leader, Jalen Hertz, has added credibility now. Like, it was one thing for A.J. Brown to call him out last year when they hadn't won the Super Bowl. And even though Jalen played well, he did make the big mistake that may have cost him the game and all that against Kansas City.

So that was one thing. If he calls Jalen Hertz out this year, it's like, he just led y'all to a Super Bowl. But AJ's a chance, it's like A.J. is not a chance. Yeah, but still, he's not the quarterback. And the quarterback was the MVP of the Super Bowl. And every time they challenged Jalen, let's see if he can throw, he answered, including in the Super Bowl. So I just think he's got a level of credibility now. And Nick, I think it's smart for this, particularly a new offensive coordinator to say, like, that's understandable.

These guys are great. And A.J. Brown wants his numbers. And I understand it. Devonte Smith wants some numbers. Sequin wants to be a Hall of Famer. I get it. If their role, if you're average, you're just a solid player. Yeah, the numbers aren't as big because you just want to be on the team, be a part of the team, contribute.

When you have star ability, you want to put up star numbers. So I think understanding that is good. So I'd be nervous about everything about AJ Brown this year, all of it. And I don't think the whole we won the Super Bowl so everything is fine is the. And in fact, Philly is so adamant. they didn't win the Super Bowl. We're not even going to be on the field to watch the banner drop. It's the next year.

So I don't even know how much that satiates it. And I do think, I understand some things are media creations. A.J. Brown being so annoyed, we knew the story of the author of his book, he was reading during the games, was

not a media creation. And he was, and this, where the history gets a little fuzzy, is it was, when A.J. spoke after the Carolina game was like passing game needs to get better. It was not Philadelphia was boat racing people just

running the ball. It was, they were coming off a Carolina game that they barely won before Carolina had all of a sudden looked like a good team. Jalen had thrown that ball, that game thrown the ball 21 times for 108 yards. And A.J. was annoyed and then

Brandon Graham came out and was like, yeah, I don't know what happened. They used to be friends. Now he's, you know, somebody wasn't in somebody's wedding or, it was It was not fake. Then they have the Pittsburgh game, and Jalen throws for $2.90, but then he gets hurt. And then in the playoffs,

here's A.J. Brown's numbers in the four playoff games. So here's why I bring this up. Let's say, just for the sake of argument, Stafford doesn't get sacked on that third and two with 30 seconds left and throws a touchdown. And they win. I think it's on the board.

A.J. Brown's on a different. team. I think like, you know what I mean? Like if it had ended like that and they're not champions, right? It was, to me, we were on, he was reading the book during the playoff run. He likes reading the ball. Okay. And it was, there's something to it. Okay. I have the book. It's a good book. I had dinner with the author. I'm not against the book. But then it all gets fixed by the prolific, you know what I mean? The next two games, they blow everyone out. They win the Super Bowl. The jail in place. A.J. gets his numbers, all of it.

I just think you are, and I think the offensive coordinator is speaking to this. I'm not worried about Jalen thinking I've got to get my numbers. I'm not worried about Sequin. I'm not worried about Devante Smith. I do think A.J. Brown is an X factor for this team,

and I don't think we have evidence that for him, as long as we win, man, that's all that matters. I don't think that's how, I don't think, I think there are a lot of great athletes that wouldn't be great athletes, if that's how they were wired. You know what I mean?

It's about winning your matchup, dominating, showing how great you. And I don't think that makes you selfish in the traditional sense. And so it's just something, KW, that I think is, if we look back and say, oh, wow, why did the Eagles go 11 and 6 and lose early in the playoffs?

I would imagine something like this would be the most likely reason other than injury. That's all. I don't think that's unfair. Well, that's going to be interesting. like if they lose in the playoff, you know, don't get to the Super Bowl, which is likely. Of course.

Is it going to be viewed as because there was infighting? And they may come out and say something, so, you know, we may know. But that's what something to watch. Or if it doesn't, does Jalen Hertz get credit? What do you mean? If they get to the Super Bowl? I think it's one of the, I think Jalen Hertz has a lot of invisible, does a lot of invisible work.

And you can see it like post-Po Bowl celebration, jokes aside. came up to DeVante and he was like, gave him a hug and he's like, you deserve this. And it was like, I was like, oh, this is like real leadership from the quarterback team. Not totally dissimilar to Mahomes one and gave a high five to every person in like the chief's organization in the locker. I'm like, oh, you're doing like some real like CEO stuff right now. And I feel like the fact that we saw a little brush fire pop up and Jalen Hertz was able to tamp it down and move forward, if it doesn't swell up again, I feel like perhaps he deserves credit for that.

So I think Jalen Hertz is universally at this point regarded as an excellent leader. Yes. You know what I mean? I think the questions about Jalen Hertz start and end with how good of a passer is he. And everything else, I feel like he gets somewhere from an A to an A plus.

You know what I mean? In toughness, availability. leadership, all those things. I have one other good thing. Yeah. Remember we talked about this? Malik Neighbors had the highest target share. They were just always throwing in the wall.

Guess who has the second highest target share? Oh, AJ Brown. But that's not. But that's not. Now, they don't throw it a lot, but he gets it a lot. So it's an interesting case of if he were to complain. Like, man, you get it. We're not, we're not throwing it a lot.

It's not like a Jamar Tea thing, not like there's a thing between them. But you are getting it. When we're throwing it, you're getting it. Right. It's that they don't throw it enough for. But we're not going to change the law off. I like to see where does he rank in targets in the league. Low.

You top 15? Moderally low. Yeah. Lower than he is as far as where he writes. And I do understand it to a degree. If I was a great receiver like him, I want the ball. I got my super. Seven and a half last year, nine, nine the year before.

Yeah, no. I mean, so he's not. Super high. Yeah, but you're right. When they throw it, they throw it to him. Yeah. They just don't throw it that much. Devonte is a good receiver.

Guess what else? Devante is eight in target share. Jamar Chase is nine. It also might be, this is like a cousin of why maybe a team like Baltimore has never really prioritized the star receiver. Because they know a star receiver is not going to be happy. Like a star, you know what I mean? We're not going to throw the ball that much. You know what I mean?

And Lamar is a better passer than Jail. What was he, 30th, Josh? 30th and 30th in targets. Like, that's a tough one. I would break out the second in share. Coming up next, Micah, a no show in the playoffs. Hear what one anonymous executive says. Next on First Things First and Fox Sports Channel, Sirius Exemption.

These anonymous executives. They're in the content days. I'm a Patriots fan. For the first time in a bunch of years, I'm very excited. I love the quarterback, Drake May, love Vrabel. I think the defense is going to be a lot better. For Patriot fans, I think the first time and really since the Brady era, there's some real excitement and things to root for. Wake up, Barstool debuted today.

It will be on every day from 8 to 10 and then a rear from 10 to 12. And a lot of times, you know, you send over like a bottle of champagne or something, you know, a gift to someone. I'm going to send over a special full screen because a lot of people don't know that Drake Mae, if you think that he's a good thrower, Actually, he's right there, coach. Michael Vick, Randall Cunningham, Eagles Vick, and then another 04 Michael Vick. That's the company he keeps. So when he takes off, I don't want to hear like,

wow, my goodness, he reminds you of Michael Vick. I've been saying it. He is explosive. You should make a T-shirt. That would be fun to have. Also, there was a little from Portnoy there, a little Mac Jones shade. I'm surprised you were okay with.

This is his first time he's been excited since Tom Brady. Did they not know about the baby goat and the gap year and the dynasty and the gritty? We're still on the dynasty gap year. Oh, okay. I told me. Jared the javelin. Yeah. Oh, yeah, Jared the javelin.

We forgot about that. Our dynasty gap year, we currently have a Pietitaine. South of France. We've been there for a while. Like, hey, man, you got to come back. Like, no, I like it out here. I'm like the only guy on the show that's not high on the Patriots. Me?

Me. No, Brew. Bruce. The only one doesn't have in the place. I mean, I just don't. happen in the playoffs. I think they're going to have a good year. Don Van Nat and Jeremy Fowler published an extensive behind the scenes article on ESPN entitled inside the decision to trade Mike. Lots to digest here. One thing that jumped out,

the old, reliable, anonymous executive quoted as saying, it's okay for Green Bay and that their interests are to get beyond the first or second round. I think Parsons is a very productive, regular season player. I think when teams start running heavy in the playoffs, he becomes less scary. So Josh crunched the numbers in four-curricular. of playoff games. He's got 18 tackles. Only one sack, four QB hits. 18 pressures in four playoff games is really good.

So is this a fair criticism? No. This is where we all lose the plot a bit. You're right. If you're trailing in a playoff game, teams will try to run on you. The goal is to be ahead in a playoff game and let Michael Parsons tee off on the opposition

while they're trying to come back. The other thing is this. Like, quarterback wins. We can argue about the validity. of the of it. Defensive end wins, we cannot. Can I stop you there for a question for just a second? Because I am a quarterback wins guy. But T.J. Watt has never, is 0 and 4.

And they have that great record. Miles Garrett is one of two. Miles Garrett dragged them to the playoffs. I understand. I understand. But if like if you're paying game change your money and you're not getting game to, I'm just wondering. And Aaron Donald went to two Super Bowls and Bruce Smith went to four straight and Reggie White helped the Packers finally get over the hump. And Lawrence Taylor, I think, played a few super Bowens.

Lawrence Taylor was great. Well, I don't think Micah Parsons is Lawrence Taylor. No, putting Michael Parsons in Lawrence. No, no, no. Okay, well. I'm just saying, why don't they pop like in the playoffs? So I guess my point is, but I think that's selective. I don't think it's fair because Aaron Donald and Chris Jones have been to seven. in Super Bowls in the last

eight years. So like those guys, is it because, oh, you, a great pass rushing deep tackle. When did Donald get to him? When he had a quarterback? Both times. Yeah. He's with. He's with Mahomes. Yes. Of course. No, but that's the point. Is you need a great

quarterback. Can I also? Can I, the only thing, I'm not trying to, like, start a fight for real. It feels like those past rushers are dominant and can will you to victory in the regular season and then the playoffs, it's less effective. But I guess the point that I would make is if you are trying to, if you have the

quarterback, you need a game-wrecking defensive player on the other end to marry it together to win or a great totality of the defense. And just real quick before you go, Coach, here's Michael Parsons in the playoffs. Because the reality is, and when I say Michael Parsons, what I really mean is they're saying all he does is affect the passing game. The Cowboys have played four playoff games in Micah Parsons' career. Jordan Love lit them up. Jimmy Garoppolo, Tom Brady, and Brock Purdy.

That's what the opposing four passing offenses did. They scored less than 20 points per game. The Brady numbers are a little fraudulent because they were down 31 to nothing, and then they started scoring with 15 minutes left in that game. So Micah and the Cowboys pass defense in three of the four playoff games has been excellent. So, like, listen, everyone was bad to. for the Cowboys in the Packer game. No one can deny that. But hanging that to me on Micah is crazy, coach. Yeah, and I don't think this executive, I know he mentions the playoffs, but the

conversation about Micah, nobody really wants to talk about this either, is if you want an elite pass rusher, he is an elite pass rusher. But the question is, where does he come in on the running game? And if you don't care about how he plays against the running game, then that's fine. But when you look at how he's been rated against the running game, it hasn't been very good. So with elite pass rushers, if you're going to use them in that role, then that's great. But typically, if you can run at those guys and force them to play the run, that becomes an issue. Just like with a cover corner, if you can force that guy to tackle, then that becomes an issue. And I think it's very different than like Khalil Mack.

Kahl Mack had 12 less sacks than Michael Parsons over the first four years, okay? Which is what, three sacks a year? But he was really stout against run. He could set the edge. and he was a complete player. He wasn't the same level of path pressure. I totally agree with that, but he was a more complete player. Teams have run at both.

So this is not to knock the impact that Micah can have in the passing game. It's just to say that the completeness of it at times is questionable and can be problematic. The first three years of his career, they vote on the award defensive player of the year. Not pass rusher of the year, not sack artists of the year, defensive player of the year. He's the only player in league history to finish in the top three or four, I'm not sure which, all of his first three years. To me, this is a cousin.

Which year did he win it? No, you're right. He has just been one of the three best of the 186 starting defensive players in football. He's just been one of the three best all of the years. This is a cousin of, the thing about Travis Kelsey in his prime, not a great blocker. That's fine. Then have the other 10 guys work on that.

If you are in the discussion every year for this, or you know what, Justin Jefferson, I don't love how he helps our run game. Like, no, when you are the best in the world at one of the most important things in football, then it's the team and coach's job to figure out the other stuff. Because with his impact, whatever it is in the run game, I don't think anyone would argue

that he has since he's walked into the league, been one of the four or five best defensive players in the sport. Like if people are all, if the opinion is he's overrated. He's actually like 20th best. Then that's a take that I don't agree with. It just feels weird for me for everyone to be like, yes, he's clearly one of the very, very, very best players in the sport. But here's the thing he does poorly.

We know what he does well and what he does poorly. When you put it all together, we say he's one of the very, very best guys year-in, you're out in the sport. But again, it's what you want and what you're willing to give up in order to get something else. And you bring up Travis Kelsey. I was talking about Bill Parcells when we were going to draft a tight end. I told him how good this guy was in the passing game.

And he said, okay, well, are you drafting a tight end or are you drafting a wide receiver? And I said, oh, I want to draft a tight end. He was like, well, the tight end's got a block as well. So really, what you're drafting is you're drafting a wide receiver that plays tight end. That's all you're doing. So at least have the awareness. of what you're getting as opposed to classifying as that. So, yeah, you're getting an elite pass rusher who at times can be a real liability in the

running game. And when you look at it, you know, he's not really a linebacker and he's not really a defensive end. Is he a problem yet? But you've got to, you've got to be able to maximize that and then be able to minimize the downside of where he is in the running game. Look, they were seven, Green Bay was seventh against the run last year. I get it losing Kenny Clark may change that. But their clear weakness was getting to the quarterback.

He obviously helps that. And then like Nick said, because the GM or executive said playoffs, they lost 23 to 17 to San Francisco in 22. The defense wasn't the problem. It was the offense. Obviously, Tampa Bay blew him out. But then they lost night. I mean, they blew Tampa Bay out.

They lost 19. And they held Tampa Bay to 52 yards rushing. Now, they weren't a great run team. still. 19 to 12, they lost to San Francisco. And that's not the defense's, you know what I mean, problem. And then obviously the Green Bay game got blasted. So I just think it's a little bit of, you know, oh, now he's traded so some guys are taking

shots at it. But he does have to improve, I would say, in the run if you can. I don't, go ahead. I don't think it's taking a shot at him. It's just saying this is what he's great. But do you think in the playoffs, like I don't think that's going to. be his team's major problem. It's a great situation if you're in a shootout.

It's a fantastic, you know, it's a different situation if it's a more complete game and you've got to deal with the running part of it. If we were to just line up, and this is my issue with your Miles Garrett T.J. Watt thing, to be totally honest, if we were just line up, here are all of the players that play defense in the NFL, and you can add them to the Patriots. I totally get it, but it's a situation. feels weird like this guy's unbelievable, but it doesn't pop in the playoffs. And maybe it's just a small sample size.

Aaron Donald does. It is a small. Like, I've seen, Von Miller did. Like, I get it. But it feels weird. Like, I wish I don't have the stat where it's like when T.J. Watt misses a game, the Steelers can't win. They're like two and 15 or something crazy.

They've lost 11 straight. It's nuts. But then he's also 0 and 4 in the playoffs. I'm just trying to wrap my head. They don't have a quarterback. not Micah Parsons. No, but they win in the regular season. I don't have the stats.

To a degree. No, I think they've lost 11 straight games without T.J. Watton. They have a winning record with him. And I guess this is all, you know, a cousin of, in a weird way, our Jalen Hertz arguments. It's a team sport. And all you can do is do your job as well as you can possibly do it. And my frustration with, it kind of feels to me like, forget when he was on the Lakers and fat.

Dallas Luca, when people are like, oh, here are the things that there are some guys that it feels like we focus on the things they don't do well, even though they do the totality of their job better than everyone in the world but three or four people. And Micah, what is odd to me about this, we have talked more about the Cowboys and Micah Parsons than maybe any team, certainly, and any non-quarterback in the history of the show. Trey Hendrickson. Oh, Trey Hendrickson a lot. Great point. And never once has anyone on this show been like, hand up. I actually think he's not as good as we're talking about because have you seen his run stuff rate?

And then he gets traded the Cowboys immediately have a immediate. Jerry Jones, like, we've got to get better against the run. You've got to get better against the run. And then Don Van Nata, who the day of the trade sent some tweets about, listen, you shake Jerry Jones' hand and don't complete it. He'll never talk to you again. where he got that from, we then get an article about, ah, actually, Micah Parsons, turns out not that good.

I mean, I've been saying for six months that I didn't think that he was that enamored with Micah Parsons and wanted to do a deal. Run at Micah. That was always like the thing. So for someone to say that nobody's brought it up, it's not like. No, coach, you thought the Cowboys might move on from him. Nobody's had to take Micah Parsons actually overrated. Nobody's had it.

And the idea that you run at a great past, past, rusher. That's not Micah specific. That's what you try to do against Max Crosby. That's what you try to do against all those guys. You run at them, even if they're a good run defender, just so they can't have to get off the way they normally would. Yeah, but there's some guys you run at and they're a problem when you run at them. And again, I bring up Khalil Mack. He's not the same pass rusher that Mike is,

but he had the ability to set the edge and he was really stout against run. So there was value in that too. All right, we've got to go. We've got to hear you on Bill Belichick. It wasn't a close game. I don't know if it was. I didn't sleep for it after he was down by 40. I walked out like the rest of the crowd. Don't knock slither.

Afternoon headlines sponsored by Ramtrucks built to serve. Famous alums in attendance to watch Belichick's debut. Coach, yesterday you said this that this was a must win game for Belichick. Honestly, I would have settled for a must be close. It wasn't. Should those famous fans be worried? Well, they're probably not going to be at very many other UNC games. I can't imagine.

Yeah, they should be worried. Look, this is, as we talked about yesterday, the classic line to whom much is given, much is expected. And you were given everything you wanted. You're making $10 million a year. The whole family's on the staff. Friends and family are on the staff. And what do you want to do? You turn over the roster.

Okay, you've got 70 new kids and you can say, well, you've got to let those kids develop. not all those kids at UNC wanted to leave. You asked a bunch of them to leave too. So they left, so you got all the kids that you wanted to get in, and you're the greatest coach in professional football, and now how does that translate to college football, and unfortunately it didn't translate very well. And I'd say there are a lot of disappointing elements to it,

whether it's the fundamentals of missing tackles or losing the turnover battle or seven to half yards per carry in the running game. I'd say also going into halftime, I thought, okay, with some time, to make some adjustments, they're going to come out, and this will look a little bit different because they've had some time to regroup, really think this through, and it just got worse. Yeah, first play from scrimmage, that goes 75 yards, untouched. And what do you do? Are you going to fire the defensive coordinator?

We can't do that because that's your son. You can't take the play calling because that's your son. So you're in a situation where. Freddie Kitchens ain't related. Yeah, I guess that could be one answer, but it's one of those things where you've got to take a step back and really evaluate, you know, what the priorities are and how you want this to look moving forward

because you could spend a lot less money to get the result that you got yesterday. Coach, that opening drive, it's like, oh, okay, they just think they're going to be. be able to bully this team, force them to cheat up against the run, and then let Lopez, you know what I mean, take some shots. And then opening drive, it looked great. And then after that, TCU started actually run fitting and doing a better job.

And Gio Lopez went two hours without completing a pass to where they ended up going to Max Johnson, six-year players played at a bunch of three different places now, suffered a bad injury last year. One of my biggest takeaways was, and I don't want to be unfair to the kid who transferred from South Alabama. But I was shocked that Bill Belichick decided that's the quarterback I'm starting the season with. And that to me was another kind of canary in the coal mine concern of his quarterback evaluation, I think, is at this point in his career very shaky. And I feel badly because Gio Lopez didn't ask for this type of spotlight, but he has it now. And he just, it was shocking to me that the North Carolina, with all that money, with the 70 new players with all of it,

that their quarterback in week one against a team they knew they were playing for six months, they clearly did not trust him to pass the ball at all. And it's not like he's a dynamic, you know, some college quarterbacks there, it's like, okay, Jalen Milrow, he's going to run the ball for 100 of the yards. That's not who he was at South Alabama, much less at UNC. So that was a huge concern to me as well. That's a concern. But TCU didn't change coordinators.

It's the same general scheme that they played. So it's different. Look, game one can be hard for anybody because it's the first game of the year. But they have the same coordinators. They have game tape on what they did, which is different than what TCU had to face against North Carolina. So you should be able to look at with some relative certainty, to what you're going to get from a scheme perspective and what their next pitch is, because you've got plenty of film, to at least get some sort of momentum, or maybe it's a quick

screen, maybe it's a wide receiver. Something, it just, it felt like as things got steam rolling downhill, there was no answer. There was nothing to go to, which I was shocked by. Well, to your point about like a quick screen or something, but when your quarterback's gone that long without a completion. Like you said, why not getting a little easy completion just to get his confidence back? Yeah, just to get something going. And I didn't, I said earlier, Coach, everybody's giving him the 70 new players excuse.

Oh, yeah, these new players. Dionne Sanders had almost 90 new players when he beat TCU a couple years ago in his debut with Colorado. So I, and to your point, there are players you wanted. Right, you wanted. And a lot of teams are. doing this now, maybe not 70, but a lot of teams have a bunch of new players now. So that should have been a benefit or an advantage for Belichick. I think it's going to be going to be an ugly season for them.

Yeah, I mean, I don't think it's too early to panic. I think that I thought you guys were a little too optimistic yesterday, but the general feeling around North Carolina was win eight games. You know what I mean? We won six last year, win eight games. Now, Vegas has them at five and a half. They have met a coin flip to be bowl eligible. And it wasn't, it'd be one thing if it looked like, oh, okay, your guys are just getting run over.

You know what I mean? Like, TCU's just bigger. You see this sometimes college football. Like, oh, okay, they have, you know, four and five stars, and you have two and three stars, and so they're just bigger. So many of the TCU runs, it was eight yards before a Carolina player put a hand on them. Yeah. You know what I mean? It just seemed like they weren't where they needed to be. I wonder if UNC boosters are starting to get worried.

Yeah. Everybody's worth that star power there. Everybody's worth. They're worried it happened. That was a travesty. Live from New York, it's a show that is thinking about a little bit of college coaching and musical chairs. Where is Belichick going to end up? I don't know.

No. I think this could be the last stop. with Belichick. Yeah. You think he's going somewhere after the question? No, it will be. But Belichick's got a long wrong way, guys. Ah.

They've got a long, he's got a long run. Yeah. Yeah, I think so. No more than two years. Second hour, first things first. I'll hammer the under on that. Hammer. Today, Brady on Rogers, what are the chances we see a vintage performance?

That's a Randall Cobb? That is vintage. Four-time MVP. When he faces the Jets, that'll be interesting. Meanwhile, four-time IndyCar champion. Alex Fulow joins his. Wow. It's got the Astor Cup with him.

That would be exciting. That will be awesome. You ever held the Astor Cup? You deserve the silent treatment from him. Why? Because I'm an honesty broker. Because you were wrong and doubted. Welcome back.

It's a great day. We are now two days away from the start of the NFL season, which means we are starting our treacherous climb of the slipperiest ranking in all sports. You might be a sure-fire Canton bust, but not nimble enough to climb past the fourth row. Or maybe you're the Super Bowl MVP, current reigning Super Bowl MVP, who can't climb any higher than God knows where. Because you're weighed down by your Super Bowl ring and blinded by the confetti as your soaked coach watches on.

Alas, we begin the treacherous climb up the segment that is known as from Holmes Mountain. Wow. It really is football season. I got goosebumps right there. From the altitude? No, from your great income. This is when you're at your best. Reading glass, wearing those goggles,

in general, just being whimsical and charming. It's how I fell in love with you. Oh, thanks too much. No problem. All right, as always, 32 quarterbacks, but only 28 spots on the mountain. So who are the four not climbing today? We'll show it to you.

Spencer, don't call me Arch Rattler. I'm just saying different five-star number one kid in his class. Didn't quite work out. Joe Flacco, Daniel Jones, who brew, you have to stop. Greg's not here, so I'm just saying it on his behalf. You have to get over that three years ago he had him in the top ten. You just keep beating him in the head about Daniel Jones. Like I'm the only one that says that?

You're the only one that still kills him for it. And then Justin Fields, those guys are not on. That's a big L for Justin, not even making the mountain. It is, but I didn't love those training camp reports. He was on the 50 days out mountain. Exactly, right? He was on, he no longer is. Seventh row.

Again, it's not left to right, but if it were, that'd be good for Cam Ward, but it's not. Kyler Murray, Aaron Rogers, Michael Pennix, Bryce Young, J.J. McCarthy and Russell Wilson. So we have two old quarterbacks in Russ, and and Aaron, four very young quarterbacks in Cam, Pinnock, and McCarthy, and one at this point, like middle-aged quarterback that, yeah. As long as he's been at like, he's kind of at the midway point of his career likely, but still a big question mark,

which is kind of, of all the guys on there, it's the biggest bummer that Kyler's there. You know what I mean? The other guys are so young and the other two guys had their glory days already. Tyler, it feels like should be higher. And there is some weird Cardinals buzz this year. Yeah.

Are you one of them? Yeah, picked him to win the division. Just from Greg, well, that's the new Daniel Jones. Okay. Here, see, you can't get over. Drew can't get over. Sixth row. That's going to be the new take.

This is either the year two leap row or the fork in the road row. So for Caleb, Drake, May, and Bow, Nicks, the hope is a year two leap. It's very simple. For Trevor, Tua, and Sam Darnold, for all different reasons, it's a bit of a fork in the road here. Like, Trevor has to have an excellent season if people aren't going to look at him any way other than a great college player who got paid on college production. Like, that's the truth. Great high school player, too. Oh, well, of course.

The Gatorade High School player the year, which he probably didn't ever win, but we said it enough that I feel like they said a trophy. Tua, again, I know he led the league in passing one year, and Wiles will never let us forget about it, but he needs to have a quality start to finish year. Arnold just needs solid. 3,800 yards, 10 and 7. And people like, okay, sweet. Home run.

Yeah, you know what? Take that. So, but for those guys, a bad year for any of those three. And I feel like they go in a different quarterback conversation. Now we get to the fifth row. Top 15. These are good quarterbacks, all of whom have at least one major question. Justin Herbert, the question is, can you win a big game?

Just one, one big game ever. Jordan Love, can he cut down on the turnovers while keeping the big playability? I think that is a fair question. Dak, you know, hey, it's all on you this year, buddy. You know what I mean? Can you do a version of what Joe Burrow did last year? Like, that's all offense, all passing game all the time. Gino, the question mark is, what more will it take for Brue to believe in him?

Like, that's the question mark. I mean, the poor guy, what did he have, 4,000 yards, 7? Only four guys. Nobody cares. Okay, Corey. And then there is one Brock Purdy who last year said he wanted to be more like Tom Brady, step on guys' throats, and then it didn't go well for him. This year, he seemed to be saying, he seemed to be saying the right things, but then coach,

don't play it yet, Dust. Oh, uh-oh. There's a terrible development. What happened? So Tom Brady famously, Coach, when he got his first big commercial, brought his offensive line. He did. So Brock did the same thing, which is good. That was lashing, right?

Well, he got a new one for Cowboy Boots. Oh. And Coach, here's the latest Brock Purdy commercial for Ariad. And it's, it's a, that looks good. The rest of it, Coach, I don't know. The offensive line is there. which is a positive. I know you don't love the commercials.

I don't know how Gru feels about the dancing. He's not bad, though. But, KW, you hadn't seen this either. I hadn't seen this. No, none of us in Sydney. There you go. So, again, the mountain has them in the top 15. The NFL 100 did not.

How much could they be paid? I don't know, coach. I'm telling you, you don't love commercials. It would be a lot of money for me to be dancing. offensive line is there, that's a win. Well, it doesn't. And they all get paid. It was a local commercial.

Well, no, area's a national brand. Okay. I'm just telling you, it just is what it is. I thought I should bring it to your guys. I think it's a good look. Top ten quarterbacks. If he wins, it's a good look. If he doesn't.

Fourth row, Jaden and Jail. One quarterback with an unbelievable rookie season that vaulted him to superstardom. Another quarterback with a Super Bowl MVP that did not bolt him into superstardom. I don't make the rules. It just seems to be that's the general feeling. And then Golf and Stroud, who because we have such an allergy to compare, like saying this quarterback reminds me of this quarterback, if they're not the same race, people don't realize they have a ton of similarities in Golf and Stroud. As far as prototypical pocket passers, not the strongest of arms, but really good at diagnosing defenses, have seen them both struggle when the offensive line breaks down.

be really good when the offensive line is there for him. I think there is no quarterback in the league that reminds me more of CJ than Jared Gough in a positive way. And I think both- You guys have some bad offensive lines, though. Say it again? C.J.'s had some bad offense. I thought his rookie year was pretty good.

Last year, he dealt with it. But last year, that's why his numbers dropped. That pass-a-rating stat you love so much, bro, I think he had an 88 last year. It is what it is. Now to your top six, the elite. I'm saving for my turn. Okay, well, then save your murmuring. The Tigers coming out.

I can't wait. When you look at these three players' numbers, the worst postseason performer amongst the three of them is Joe Cool, Joe Burrow, and his 95 career pass rating, nine touchdowns, four picks, still really good, four and two record. Stafford, a playoff stud ever since he got rid of the squalor that was the Detroit Lions pre-Dane Campbell, and Bakeshaw, great in the regular season and the postseason ever since he got to Tampa Bay. Great in the post season before he got to Tampa Bay.

And then the clear-cut, undeniable top three of your defending MVP, the MVP the year before, and the top of the mountain, the most disrespected three-time champion, three-time Super Bowl MVP, two-time league MVP in the history of the sport won Patrick Levan Mahomes the second. That is the latest edition. Great mountain. Thank you, KW. Performance-wise. Editorial wasn't good, but the performance was good.

Do you know how much restraint it took for me to not drop Purdy down? and put Caleb up because of that commercial. But I didn't do it because I thought it would derail the whole show. I think you saw the commercial late. I saw it this morning and I almost sent in at it. I said, that's not there. You just saw it on TV or you're on your phone? Where did you see that?

The internet. You guys don't follow Ariad Boots on Twitter? I'm gonna have to do. I feel like it's a local thing. Gianna sent it to me. A lot of local commercials. I'm struggling with this modern and I know that the setup maybe doesn't lend itself to itself to what I'm going to say here. But when we talk about those top two guys underneath

Patrick McHombs, as I do agree Patrick Mahomes is the top of the mound to start the season. We're the only ones left. We are the only ones left. And we agree on a lot of things. And when you look at Alan, Lamar and Joe Burrow, I've said over and over again, if you put it to executives or you put it to GMs, they would, third would probably take Alan, a third would probably take Lamar, and a third would probably take Burrow. And then this article came out in the Athletic. I don't know if we can show this. We have it available. But I remember that we had, you know, the tier one quarterbacks that came out.

And then at that point, Nick said, look, everybody, look, Eric and I totally agree on the way that the quarterback set up here. And what's to say? No, I said. They agreed with you. Thoreau, Allen, Lamar. So I'll, I'll, I'll, I. Don't forget about Matt Stafford, hang out there. I like Matt Stafford, too.

That's fine. And, but I'm just, I think that it's a little, little unfair. that you got burrowed down with those other two guys when he really should be up with the two guys. Okay. All right. Well, so like you said, the mountain does not allow for three people on road to. It's not, I'm not Wild's buddy Bill Simmons that did a weird, funny,

try to mountain with weird numbers on it. Well, I mean, you have- You've used vacant. You have put Caleb on the side of the mountain before. Vacancies, all that. So there is, I want to know who you dropped. But if I did vacancy, so here is what is true. I do want to know who you dropped.

could leave all of row two vacant and then have those three guys on row three. But that to me would be disrespectful given the year that, you know what I mean, that Alan and Lamar just had. Here is my pushback just in the tiniest bit. And maybe this is unfair. But it feels like we know when Josh or Lamar are healthy, their team is in the postseason. And Joe, as great as he was last year, was healthy all year. Now, we can just say that's totally on the defense, and I think it is

almost totally on the defense. But if I, one guy won an MVP, the other guy won it the year before, and they almost won it last year, and Joe hasn't played in a playoff game since he was throwing a fourth quarter of a reception. Part of that is Kansas City throwing the last game of the season to Denver. I mean, if they didn't throw that game, then Cincinnati would have been the playoffs. But it makes sense, though, because Joe Burrow is the guy. that beat Mahomes, so I wouldn't want them out of the playoffs. I mean, my God, a decade. Well, I'm just saying if I had a choice as a head coach,

oh, do I want to play Denver? I don't know. Denver is saying they loved the matchup with Kansas City. And ultimately, again, if we don't need to relitigate that, but the best thing that could have possibly happened to the Chiefs last year would have been the seven seed beating Buffalo. So if it's Cincinnati getting in would have meant

Buffalo gets clipped in round one, they would have signed up for that in a heartbeat. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know if they want to see Joe. Bill. Go ahead. Nick, I'm glad you brought up Burroughs record,

which is not that impressive the last few years. I didn't bring him to the record. No, but that's record. That's record. Because you make the playoffs based on your record. Because another guy that doesn't really have a great record the last few years, Matthew Stafford.

And I hate to come off like the Stafford Hater. Well, you do. I'm just the Stafford. Like Nick says about Perkins. I'm the Stafford. truth teller. Really? And all this stuff about all of a sudden,

he is a top five tier one quarterback. That's my list. Lamar, Burrow, Allen and Mahonk. It's not just you. I didn't make the list. It's you and the rest of these executives. I mean, can we stop it?

Thank you. They're 22 and 18 in his last three years when he starts. 22 and 18. He hasn't had a passer rating of 94 in his last three. seasons. He hasn't thrown 25 touchdowns in his last three seasons. He hasn't thrown for 4,000 yards in any of his last three seasons. Oh, and he's 37 years old with a bad back. I'm not sure

about the bad back. How in the world is he on the top five? Put Jayden, put Jaylon ahead of him. Like this is. And how about this too? And I'm not, I'm just saying, here we go. He could not lift Detroit to consistent winning despite having one of the greatest wild receivers ever. Nobody could, Brew. Nobody could. Well, Dan Campbell sure did. And Jared Gawr has helped.

Gambles aren't out there playing. I'm just saying like even a little bit of success. It's a rich tapestry. I don't know how deep we're going to. I'm not going to totally blame Stavre. I'm just saying it's gone so far in the opposite now. Here's the reason. Then I got to point somebody's things out.

I, along with 50 of the league's most respected executives and coaches, think he's a tier one quarterback, is because, and KW, I know you agree with this. I have my own. It's not just the Super Bowl. Every year, not only does he play well in the playoffs, he puts his team in position. So if we can show Stafford's playoff numbers and then let me just remind you guys what has happened. Okay?

So those are playoff numbers. Since he got to a legitimate franchise, a legitimate head coach, he has been not as elite. How about you lift us? The Bengals weren't legit without Burrow. Again, Brew, I think that if we are going, Barry Sanders couldn't lift the lions. The running backs, totally different. Okay. Calvin Johnson couldn't lift the lions.

Receiver. Okay. I mean, quarterbacks lift teams. Okay. I just don't know how much of lions. And so even, Brew. Force multiplier. If I may, even if we, you know what?

And he's got one of the best coaches. That part of Stafford's game does really bother me. So then let me just, let me try to news. And he's got a great coach. You know what? He wasn't that good in Detroit. There you go. He's a new player now.

I'll cede the ground about Detroit. I don't want to argue about it anymore. What I know is, what I know is that they have, when they have gotten to the playoffs, they won the Super Bowl. The next year, they are down one to Detroit. Stupid holding penalty, knocks them out of field where range they lose. Last year, they're down six and in the red zone to Philly.

A stupid full start penalty ruins them before they... I mean, if we want to play that game, then I hate to bring it up. I hate to bring it up. I'm just saying. No, please. If we're playing the if game, if Jekwarsky Tart catches the ball. Brew. I mean, I'm just saying if we want to play the if game?

What I'm saying is he plays great in every. postseason and you know it. And so that to me is valuable. A guy getting so much benefit. He's a great guy. And he's a very good quarterback. I'm just I think, I just think it's gone a little too far. That's all I'm saying. Particularly at this

point in his career when he's 37 with a bad back. And he's in some sort of chamber. Yeah. A mortal chamber. Maybe I'll be wrong. We'll see. I'll admit it. I'm obviously doing Jalen Hertz. Now look, I've been a part of Mahomes Mountain for long enough. And I know there are some challenges to doing this segment week one.

It's a rich tapestry, right? So if a guy is off of a three-game win streak, do you bake that into, you know, the upcoming year, four-game win streak? You could? Five-game win streak? You're going to make up the Jalen Harts is also a super long win streak. He's not. 10-game win streak?

He's not. It's not true. 11-11 game? He's won four games in a row. 12-game win streak? It's a lie. 13-game win streak? He's won four games in a row.

14-game wins streak. It's a lot. He had a concussion. You're gonna get- He got concussed. He got concussed. See that bottom line, exclude. He didn't win.

We don't know what would have happened. Washington was right-lod. He wasn't injured in the first quarter. It wasn't the fourth quarter. It says, exclusive. In the first quarter, I think that's fair. Four.

Yeah, first quarter. Go ahead. I feel like that should be something. A little bit of momentum, winning 14 games in a row, in one of the games, I don't know if you call. games, I don't know if you caught it, was the Super Bowl. I did. Okay.

Then moving forward, how's he going to do on Thursday when he opens up the season? Well, let's see. Best record season opens of active quarterbacks. Well, he's 4-0. Now he gets to play the Cowboys without Michael Parsons. Maybe it would be an upset. It would be interesting and good content. But I think he'll move his record to 5-0, which would be the best.

And finally, Brew, Matthew Stafford. Thank you, Wilde. Why are you doing staff? Thank you, Wiles. Because you're always going to be like, Wiles, who should he replace? Do you want him to replace? Mahomes? I do.

I don't want it to be top five. But this is a great, great graphic that speaks to at times the fallacy of quarterback wins. So when you look at those, their performances, and that's not, I notice, passing yards, that's total yards. And that's not passing. Well, I would do. Honestly, if we were doing Mahomes Mountain in 1985, I would do it. No, no, no, no.

you misunderstood me. The point I'm making is it's not like those stats are juiced towards Stafford. It includes all the great things Jayland does running the ball. And I think it would, to most people's eye, it would look like, oh, they've played about the same. Right? Stafford's got a better rating. Hertz is a little more completion. Stafford has more touchdowns.

They have the same turnovers. The yards are equivalent. So in a quarterback wins world, it really should be one, one, one win, and one. one win, one win, and one tie. But it's 3-0. Yeah. So do you honestly think that in these three matchups, it's been some Jalen Hurd, Geneseecois that has powered them over the top

or that, hey, in those matchups, Hertz has just been on the right side of it or has had the slightly better team? Because it looks to me like those are, they have played. Stafford's had the better coach? Not according to Wild. According to you. Wilde's thinking, yeah, according to me, definitely. Not going to Walt Wildeke is the second-grade's coach in the history of football.

That's not me. It's Josh. No, that's not Josh. Josh. So like, you understand what I'm saying? Well, yeah. If things are equal and one guy always wins, I put that guy ahead. So we can go through, hey, Hobbs, can we pull up 500 of the Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes' playoff

arguments we've done? Those numbers aren't equal. Those numbers aren't equal. They're not even close to being equal? No. Mahomes were sound in the playoffs. Mahomes hasn't beaten every category. It's not like this.

I thought it was closer than that. I should pay attention more on those seconds. No, Josh has a minus. Josh has really good numbers, but Mahomes has great numbers. Josh, in the playoff game two years ago, at 170 yards. But what we land on is 4 and O. Yeah, and beating him in every statistical category. That's what I'm saying.

It's 4 and beating him in every statistical category and the fact that the bills have had the higher ranked defense in every single matchup. So that's not it's apples to apples here. But again, you want to move Hertz up. I'm okay with it. I'm going to move hurts to the fifth spot. There's no fifth spot.

There's a rose. It's not left to right. Everybody knows that. I wouldn't have Hertz behind Jayden Daniels. That'd be unfair. They played. He blew him out. It was close.

Dayton Daniels ekeed out a 28-point loss. To Jalen Hertz. Jailin Hertz is about to be 15 and 0. Maybe he'll be at top 10. 15 in 0. Yeah, his last 15 games without a concussion. Alex Palo joins the show.

And gives Wilde the silent trip. And you know why he's here? Because he wins the races. Joining us now is four-time IndyCar champion, Indy 500 winner, Kansas City Chiefs fan. Alex Palo, who celebrated with the Astor Cup for winning the season. He did come in second to Joseph Newgarten, who...

This guy is unbelievable. Once! Once! On here! Once! You're celebrating. Came in second place. Spinning around.

New Garden finally got two crew. We needed that. We needed that badly. This is unbelievable. We were in about it. Congratulations, we've had you on the beginning of the show. Had you on Indy 500, now at the end of the show. You've just stacked wins, or end of the season.

Awesome. Just stacked wins, so congratulations. Thank you so much. I don't like that introduction, but thank you. So when this year started, obviously, we talked to you at the beginning. You were laser focused on the season-long championship of a three-peat. With it seemed like a one B being getting the monkey off your back in the Indy 500.

Did you, in your wildest dreams, and maybe I'm short selling your dreams, think, what if I just sweep the whole thing? What if I check them both off and then have a real shot at the most wins of anyone in the season? Like, was that realistic to you? What just happened? Once they won the 500, yes. Before winning the 500 now. Just because it's like having in the same year the best Indy 500 being done. the best that day, having everything work to your favor.

And then also winning the championship, I was like, that's not possible. But once I won the 500, we're leading the points. We had already like three or four wins by then. So I was like, hey, maybe we can do this. So yeah, it was, it's amazing. What felt like the biggest accomplishment to you, the three-peat or the indie 500?

I know it's tough to choose, but between those two. Very tough. It's very tough. I mean, winning your first Indy 500, It's very special. It's surreal in front of 350,000 people. Like that moment, it's insane. Like the feelings I got, but I think that winning three championships in a row,

something that Kansas couldn't do it, my team, by the way. Yeah. Yeah, they couldn't. Winning three in a row was, I think it's very tough. And I think it's, you need to have everything. You need to have your team. You need to have that little bit of luck. Like, you need so much to work in your job.

to work in your favor to get three championships in a row, that I would rate that the lead to the tire. So when you won the Indy 500, the storyline was great racer, champion, not great on ovals. You kind of got over that hump. So I would say that the narrative is for next year, is like, okay, great all-around racer. Is there something that you need to get better at for next year,

even though you keep on stacking Ws? There's always more, like in all other sports, like you can always. be a better driver. I can always be a little bit faster. So is there something specific? You're like, you know what, on this specific course? Yeah. Like, although I won on Oval, like the 500 and then I also won at the Short Oval after that in Iowa, I still need to win more novels. Like I feel like it's still not my place that I feel more comfortable. And your friend, your driver, Joseph won the last one there.

That was kind of nice of you to, you know. To let him win? Well, I'm not going to say that, but I mean, he's a good guy. I tried hard. He didn't shut out on here. You didn't, it would a kind of embarrassment of riches at that point. I would never let it win, but I tried hard. I tried hard to try and win it.

But he's very good at that. He's very good at those kinds of tracks. Like, he's better. He's able to get through traffic. And I struggle a lot of those. So, yeah, there's always stuff that I can improve. Okay, when we first met you, we talked about your place in history. And you mentioned your teammate, Scott Dixon,

you know, was in your mind the goat. And he also, he won this year. It was a race I was watching. He was doing great. And maybe I forgot wrong. Yeah, he won. Yeah. The kind of adds to his long legacy of his career.

But now the only kind of hurdle left is can you reach the very top of the history of the sport? Like it's, you have the indie, you have four championships. It's the first three-piece since Dario. Every list you're on, it's even for people that aren't huge IndyCar fans. It's names they know. It's like, oh, Andretti and Frankitty, it's these things. How real is that to you? Becoming the greatest IndyCar driver ever?

I mean, it's there. The chance is there. But, yeah, I think it's tough. Like, AJ has seven, Scott has six. I think what these guys have been able to do and Scott still able to do, he has won 21 different sets. seasons, like 21 different years. He has won a race consecutive.

And I think that's what it's most impressive. I'm winning six championships at different eras of the sport. I think that's what makes you a legend. I've had really good five years winning four championships, but I think I need to go to 15, 20

years and then look back and see what we can achieve. Now, you've denied the Formula One rumors that you might move to that. Are you curious at all about racing in that? and seeing how you do? No, now. I was very curious after winning my first IndyCar championship in 21.

I was a bit younger, and I thought it was a good moment to try and have a chance there. Didn't really have a great opportunity of, like, having a full-time ride. So, yeah, no, no, no. I'm just fully focused on getting hopefully more Indy-500s or more championships and be here living the American dream. We always talk about the Chiefs and the Eagles this year that everyone, biggest game is going to be against them. Now that you're, again, the champion, do you feel like other drivers are going to like scheme

for you or race against you? Like, you know what? We'll see it where the chips, chips may fall where they may, but I want to beat Polo this match, this race, not necessarily even win. Or how are other drivers racing against you? No, I don't think they race me differently. I think everybody races really, really hard. But especially when you go head to head for a win, everybody just goes aggressive to try and win.

I don't feel like they race me differently to any other driver. Yeah, and when he wins every race, if the only way to win is to beat him. So, like, you know what I mean? If New Garden had just tried to beat Alex, you know what I would do? He would have won nine races. I would have my teammates. Here's the plan. You park in front of pillow.

And I. And I. If I just may, on the sake of the show real quick, before you go, we, this is the first year Fox at the Indy 500. In large part, I think we got it. Our boss, our big boss, Eric Shanks, is from Indianapolis. He loved it growing up. It was something he really wanted.

And when we went out there, we were, I think it's fair to say, very casual indie fans. You know what I mean? Watch the Indy 500 didn't know a ton about IndyCar racing. Getting to know you, follow you over the course of the year, you, me and brew, becoming friends. Wilde being a two-crew guy, he's out, has really been awesome. And it's been really fun to watch and kind of learn a new sport and learn it.

And to have a guy who might go down as the greatest ever to be a friend of the show was really, really awesome. Thank you. Thank you. That's a quick Chief's prediction out the door? How will they do this? I hope they win. I hope they win.

I don't know. You guys. What do you think? You guys are experts. Whoever won the previous year he picks every year. Yeah, that's good for you. So you're picking me then? Well, I picked New Garden because he won two Indies in there.

Oh, you've got it this year. Got about 260 days, I think, to the next end of 500. Can I ask one other question on that? If the Chiefs win the Super Bowl, can we roll the video hubs? Will you come back on the show the next time you're in New York and recreate this stupid thing I did? Oh, that was good. That was very good.

Yeah, see, I did that for you winning the Indy 500. You remember that there was the... Oh, but it was the... It was sick. I don't understand it, but I needed to chew the milk. It's like butter. I'm not sure. I didn't get it.

My point is, when the Chiefs win the Super Bowl, you should come back, we can recreate it. Yes, that's a good deal. All right, done. Congratulations, get ahead to the US Open. Always a pleasure. We'll see you when the season starts and we'll see you on Indianapolis. Sounds good.

Congratulations again. More first things first right after the break. Dusty! Good job, Doug. I'm Brady. Talk to Chris Collinsworth, gave out a very nice conference. supplement to Aaron Rogers. Take a listen. What I've always appreciated about him, what everybody does is his ability to throw football and pass it.

It's like, Aaron and his prime, to me, is the greatest pastor of the football the league's ever seen. He could get the ball from point A to be faster and more accurate than any player, I think, in the history of the NFL. Okay, what are the chances that we see a vintage, a prime performance from Aaron, You're your guy, bro. Well, they're very slim. Very slim. But a chance? I would be shocked.

I would be gobsmacked if we saw it. Gob smacked. If we see vintage air rack. Last year, big game, Jets debut. We waited a whole year after he got hurt to see it. Throws for 167. Now, it was a, well, I think it was in the Niners. You know, he threw for 167, one touchdown, one interception.

Niners turned out not to be a very good drive. team. One drive that was like the highlight of Jets football the last five years. 41 years old. Now, Coach, even though I did not pick them to make the playoffs, I would love to see not only a vintage Aaron Rogers game, but season. Like, I think, because I root for stories.

As much as I root for my picks and stuff. I root for stories. And that would be a fantastic story if he could really turn the Steelers into a contender. But I don't see it happen at all. Aaron Rogers, losing to the Jets would also be a cool story. Sorry. Yeah.

I don't think that would be as big of a shock to people. Really? Well, they're the favorite. Stairs are a road favorite against the team. But the Jets defense is pretty good. Aaron Glenn is supposed to turn that defense around. Everybody thinks is going to finish last. Yeah, I got them last too, but I'm just like.

But based off of Jets karma, you know, since they got rid of certain coaches, it hasn't been very good. So to have Aaron Rogers go back to that stadium on opening day and light them up, That would be kind of apropos. That would be kind of... So you think it could happen. Well, here's the advantage that Aaron does have. It's not really an away game for him. He's more familiar with that stadium than he is playing in Pittsburgh at this point.

So there's that. The second thing is... But not a lot of good memories in that stadium. But at least he's familiar with it. The second thing is for the players that are still part of the Jets, and there's a significant part that say defensively, he spent two years with those guys. so he understands their strengths and weaknesses better than anybody else,

better than anybody on the Steelers coaching staff. He was with him. He knows the things that hurt him. He knows the things that they have difficulty with. He knows which guys jump off sides. All the things. Coach, that leans towards Rogers rather than the Jets defense. Because they know him too.

They do to some degree, but it'll be with a different system. And I would put my money on Aaron probably absorbing more of their traits and maybe some of the defensive guys absorbing Aaron's traits. You know, as a quarterback, you're so programmed to look at strengths and weaknesses of defenders and spend all that time with him. That is a significant advantage for him, which I imagine he could take advantage of. So coach is on the record, vintage performance. No, he did not say.

Bruce always. I'll go, I don't know if it'll be vintage, but I'd say that the odds of him performing well are a lot higher than it could be against most opponents. Okay. All right. First of all, if we're going to do the fuzzy math on who has the karma edge, I'm going to, in this instance, give it to the Jets for Aaron Glenn having the, I think, courage to do the right thing for his football team, which is say, if I'm going to install my own program, I need a clean break from Aaron Rogers, even if there's a good chance that next year my quarterback is not as good. as Aaron Rogers is.

You know what I mean? Aaron Rogers is not good enough anymore for the difference between him and whomever I'm going to get to replace him is not going to be great enough to offset the difference in me being able to install my program. I think that was smart by Aaron Glenn.

And I think that one of the reasons the Jets have a chance to surprise people. Again, I also picked them and finished last. But is because for the first time, coach, in almost a decade, the story about that football team is not about their quarterback. Because they went from

Darnold to Zach to Aaron where everyone was a tertiary character to how good is the quarterback. Is the quarterback developing? Is he on track? Or in Aaron's case, you know, the Achilles throws everything off, but then still it's all about Aaron.

So in that regard. I also think this is not that different than the bar saying earmuffs kids. Chances we see the the tooth fairy tonight. Like 41, soon to be

42-year-old Aaron Rogers, we have not seen vintage Rogers in years. There wasn't a single game with the Jets. He's been saving it for... No, where we were like, that was vintage Rogers.

I had a few where it's like... No, he had not a full game. Not a full game. He had some moments. Not a game. Not a game. Not a game. Right. And I don't think, Brew, he had really a vintage game is last year in Green Bay. Like I...

And so I think we have... I'd have to pull up the pro football reference game logs. But I feel like we last saw a vintage Tom Brady game more recently than we saw a vintage Aaron Rogers game. And he's been retired for a couple years. And so I just think this is...

Well, it's been three full seasons two that he's played. Yes. Where it hasn't been that. So I just... How often in Super Bowl or in history has the opening day starter swapped teams and then played each other in the first game of season? It's rare. Has that ever happened? I was trying

to think of another time. Oh, we're for both teams? Yeah, both teams' opening day starters, right? Justin started for Pittsburgh last year. Everything you said about what Aaron knows about the Jets, Justin Fields knows about the Steelers. Yeah, my heart. He's been committing its memory. He's got it all down. It's like, TJ Watts, O and 4 in the playoffs.

Oh, he is? Oh, he is. How's you saying he is running out. Mahon's motivated by NFL top 100, maybe. Justin feels more. All of sports, the debut of 2025 tiers, the committee meeting deep into the night tonight. Yeah. And doing what? Playing a little guts and meeting. You need to get focused on the actual.

That's where we're meeting. I saw a big party for the committee to start the year. Why don't you mind your business? Well, I don't know. Your friend Brian's got that drinking problem. No, he just. That was prime. It's private.

NFL top 100. Patrick Mahomes came in at number five. Of course. Sequin was won. Lamar, Josh Allen, Jamar Chase, then Mahomes, followed by Borough, Derek Henry. Miles Garrett, Justin Jefferson.

Patrick Sirton of the second. Where do you think Patrick Mahomes will end up next year? Because he's been won. Here's his all-time lifetime rankings. He's been won twice. This is the second lowest he's been. to also evidence we're getting a little dumber.

So that's overall and then his ranking amongst quarterbacks. So I looked up Brady because this started in 2011. Brady never once from 2011-2018 was ranked outside of the top four players, not once. And by the way, like in the 2014 list, he hadn't won a Super Bowl in a decade. And in 2013, he had an 88 passer rating, 25 touchdowns, 11 picks. He was still the number four player because, you know, back when we were a proper country, it was just like, okay, you're a three-time Super Bowl champion, multi-time MVP. We're not going to have you outside of the top five.

But now we've all gone crazy. And so I wasn't even surprised. Like in the morning meeting, I was like, I was- You've handled this really well. Yeah, because I honestly thought he might come in at like 12. 12, not of quarterbacks, but of players. Yeah, I thought Burrow might be ahead of him. There's the, hell, I was relieved when I saw Bow Nix wasn't ahead of him.

for giving the commentary. But I think he's going to have an awesome year, and I think he can be back atop this list. Because this list just goes about stats. It's a stats list. And so I think he needs to have an awesome year. Yeah, look, it all depends on if the light show is back. And look, I obviously think Mahomes is the best quarterback on the planet.

But now with this list, I'm like, just go do it. I'm not going to sit here and complain and rip people for not having him number one because they do vote in December, and when they vote in December, they say, well, his pass race, 93. He had, yeah, 141, but I'm not a quarterback wins guy. So he's not the top, he's not in the top five in anything hard. He's barely in the top 10 in anything.

Like, I'm just saying, I've called you Jordanesque. Go out and prove it. That's all this year. Go ahead, Kate. I think that's fair. I'm a Holmes guy. I think he's the best quarterback, but I think it's,

Brew has a fair point. That would be nice to see some statistical evidence of that. Outside of situational excellence, which I am also a fan of. So just caveman type stuff that I like. Yards. The statistical, the problem with it is where he shined statistically is in the areas we care about the most. He was still a top two statistical quarterback

in the fourth quarter and on third downs. Yeah, but we want to see some touchdown. You want them to be more like Joe Burrow. I get it. Only he could be Joe Burrow. You know that. You want to see the light show. You want the light show.

Live from New York, it's the show that is going to play a practice round at Augusta this spring. It's the third hour of First Things First. Well, not the show. Not the show. I got invited to play a practice round at Augusta. No, you don't. I did. I did.

I swear to God, I did. I knew he'd be so. This is the big surprise. Wait a minute. You just going to be. You said, best friends contract. There was a time in our life. I don't know.

Yeah, I know, but I'm sorry. Someone invited me and I said yes. Are you a big golfer? I didn't know that. He's a big golfer. Your buddy's playing at a cut. Are you nice? I'm okay.

I shot 84 last week. Oh, you can't hit the ball. I can't hit the ball. I can't hit the straight. I got to practice. I'm going to have to, I've got a few months to get ready. I'm not lucky. We were talking about getting a golf simulator.

I got to get better. Who invited you? No, some listener. some what's right podcast very popular. They have a three-something. They said, they can be their fourth as long as quote, I'll buy the sandwiches. So the sandwiches are the dollars. I'll send you a picture.

Can I catty for you? No, no. Danny's. I knew. He's going to be mad now. I knew. He was going to be worthless. That's what I said to the came out.

Look at it. Once he's in, today, he is legitimately shut. I told you, man. There's nothing more. This is a real. This is a test, Danny. You got to deliver.

Yeah, I'll be back. Meanwhile, a fresh episode of QB quarterly. So, Danny, how does this work? For every quarter, every four weeks, I will update my quarterback rankings. And you put them in quarters? I got them in quadrants. Oh, hold on. But you'll deal what one of them's called.

Can I? I'm not talking. It's fluid. It's fluid, bro. It's called it. It's a true trademark. It's an homage to you, bro. Your impact is far ranging.

And it shows how right I am I am. 100% right. But we're starting with Ravensville Sunday night. Ronnie Stanley, thankfully, isn't playing the, oh, it's just another game. It's a long season card. He's out for revenge. Take a listen. That was the last place.

You know, we played last season. And to be able to start off the season like that, you know, it's definitely been talked about. And we're very excited for that opportunity. for that opportunity. That team, you know, sent us home out of the playoff. So I don't think it's just, you know, going into a normal game per se. I think, you know, we're very unhappy with the result. Last time we were there and, you know, a lot of us will give anything to leave there with the dub. Okay, Brew. Who needs a statement win more Sunday night? Well, let me say this first. I like what Ronnie Stanley is saying. And at first I thought, do I want them to

put a lot of emphasis on this Bill's game, right? Because you don't want to, if you lose, then are you messed up for at least a few weeks? But I, look, we know what the Ravens problem is, right? Can they play their best game in the playoffs? All right? I think having some big regular season games where it's kind of like a playoff atmosphere, the Bills, the Chiefs last year was the Steelers. I think that's probably good for them to be in that atmosphere.

Because think about a few years ago, they didn't have a ton of games like that. They were a good team. They were, you know, one of the top teams, but it wasn't. When they were the one seed, when they were, you're talking about when they hosted the age. No, I'm talking about like maybe four or five years ago. You know, I didn't have a lot of those games. Now they got some big marquee games, and they've had a few last few years. I just think that can be good for them when Lamar's admitted I might get a little tight.

So I think that's good. As far as this game, I'm going to say, I think both of them, it's a huge game. I'm going to say the bills, though, because it's in Buffalo. And last year, look, last year, the Ravens throttled the bills in the regular. I mean, whipped them by 25 points, all right? And then in the playoffs, they didn't deliver. So I just feel like Buffalo's at home. If you're Buffalo, look, I don't think either team is going to be wrecked by the loss.

but if Buffalo loses, theoretically you could say, well, last year we beat them in the playoffs here in Buffalo. This year, we're supposed to be better, but we lost to them. So I just, I think the bills need it a little more. So I think it's your Ravens. And you're right at this standpoint, like the loser of the game, barring catastrophic injury, we're still going to come in here the next day and say that they can be in the Super Bowl and their season isn't over. It's a great opener for a ton of reasons. But the Ravens, they need to develop the mindset for whatever you put in this.

And it's unquantifiable that they can win these types of games consistently. They need to build that resume because when they play the Bills and the Chiefs, they play them close. Remember last year they demolished them in the regular season. The one time in the regular season. But since 2019, what you're talking about, five years, this era, they are three and seven against the Bills and the Chiefs playing close. games and Lamar has not been great. And that key there, obviously they can't answer that in week one, oh and three in the playoffs. But against everybody else, the Ravens are everything that you say they are. They crush everybody. And Lamar is great and the games are blowouts and they

look like the best team in the world. And so do the bills need it because they've never been the one seed and they would like home field advantage? Sure, it's a big game for both teams. but the bills know they can beat the Ravens. The bills know they can beat the Chiefs. I think the Ravens still need to build up and get callous to. We can win these big games against these teams. Yeah, I think it's the Ravens, but it's for a slightly different reason,

because I think you guys are both overlooking to a degree how the Ravens started last year. And I was, well, it's not just 0 and 2. It's who they were 0.2 against. I said all last offseason, I thought the NFL did the Ravens a little dirty. having them open with the team that they suffered their heart-breaking playoff defeat to. And then they did to them again.

Last year they opened with Kansas City. They lost a classic at the end when they had a chance to, you know, tie or take the lead. And that actually beat them the next week too when they lost to a Wobagon Raiders team, at least in my opinion. I think that there was no other reason for the Ravens. In that moment, we didn't know it, but you looked at who they were the rest of the year. them losing to the Raiders was, I think... They were in a real must win in week three. It was in Dallas.

Dallas, and they barely, they beat Dallas by three, and then they whooped Baltimore, or I'm sorry, they woke Buffalo in week four, and they were back on track. So this, like, I don't think you can start last, two years ago, you lose to the Chiefs, week one, you lose to them in week one. Last year, lose to Buffalo. Week one, you lose to them. I think it sets the table so poorly. I also think all of these, you know, all of these.

rankings, say Baltimore's at the very least the most talented team in the AFC, and they're the only team I consistently see, if Philly's not number one in league-wide power rankings, it's Baltimore. You know what I mean? Everybody is, you know, praise at the altar at the very least, that Lamar

in the regular season might be the best quarterback in the league. If he's not, he's certainly neck-in-neck with Josh and with Mahomes being somewhere, but some people have him ahead of Mahomes. Like, this is a game that I don't think, think if Buffalo loses, their confidence is shaken at all. And if Baltimore loses, to Danny's

point, it does feel like, all right, we are always put in this class with Buffalo in Kansas City, but when we play them, we're not. See, I looked at it when last year they started 0 and 2 and obviously lost the first game of Kansas City. You make a good point about that Raiders loss probably was due to the week before. But I looked at it like they lost to the Chiefs, their 0 and 2, and then they were rolling. I get it they lost in the playoffs, but you know what I mean? Like, they rolled after that, and they didn't really think about the loss to the Chiefs. How do we give the ball Derek Henry more?

That's a good idea. But I also think that of these three teams, I think home field for Baltimore should mean the most. And I think that- They had it two years ago. I know they had it and they lost, but it also, when we watch those highlights of their game, And the reason they didn't have home field against Buffalo was because they lost to the Raiders last year. You know, I mean, you could pick any game they lost. Yeah, but for Buffalo, you can say it's the one thing they haven't had. They've got the MVP.

They've beaten the Chiefs in the regular season. They've never had the play the AFC playoffs go through Buffalo. No, but they did have, but they also, but twice they've lost at home. They lost at home in round two Cincinnati. They lost at home in round two to Kansas City. Sandwich watch in Buffalo. Oh. Is it, would it be sandwich?

You're with me. Buffalo wings. A Buffalo sandwich though. I'm not sure which type of sandwich. Buffalo chicken sandwich. You think Baltimore beats them? Well, Buffalo is certainly on, I think there, here's the question before we move on that I thought would be interesting. If I'm Lamar, team can't beat us.

We can beat us. I threw the ball away. He should feel that way about every team. With all due respect to the chiefs, he should feel that way. They didn't beat us. They didn't beat us. We beat us. If we play our game, they play their game, we win.

They're on sandwich watch. Yeah. Coming up, Matthew Stafford. Everybody's all-American. His back is... Oh, that's one of proofs. Thank you, my God. His back is back in looking good, in a good way.

Ready to go against the Texans. Here's a quick quip from Sean McKin. Do you expect Matthew to start against Texans? I do. Yeah, he'll be good. Will he participate in the full week of practice? Yep. He just got that working out.

He's probably working out. All right. So, Nick, do you have full confidence, 100% confidence in your guy, Matthew Stafford in the Rams? Well, so in week one, absolutely. In the playoffs, absolutely. I don't know what timeline you're talking about here. It's just this is a little ambiguous question. But if we're talking about right now, absolutely.

I'm not worried at all about Matt Stafford. I think that is back hurt. I also think that part of getting him to come back and agree to the new contract was, you're not going to have too much in August, buddy. You'll be fine. You're 37 years old. Here is what I will say, bro, and I'm curious where the table lands on this.

If I am, as far as confidence in quarterbacks, power ranking who I would want to start a playoff game for my team, My number one draft pick is Patrick. My number two draft pick is Josh. My number three draft pick is that guy. That is he is my number three pick of all the quarterbacks available to me. Burroughs pretty good. Burroughs pretty good.

Stafford's playoff numbers are better than Burroughs. And Stafford has never had the game that Burrow had most recently in the playoffs with multiple second half interceptions, a conference championship game, a 70-pass rating. that game kind of gets lost to the shuffle the last time we saw Burrow in the playoffs. Burrow would be fourth, though, for me. And then we get to Baker, a sneaky great playoff numbers, but I don't want to get there. So, yeah, I mean, if the question is full confidence that he's going to be fully healthy in week 14, no, probably not.

But full confidence in Stafford, yeah. But that's a problem. It's not ideal. 37-year-old quarterback is not ideal. Thank you. Like, we're talking, the playoffs are months away. They're not getting there. Let's all week one.

So Matthew Stafford, no, I do not have full confidence in him. I think the back, because here's the thing, you got your theory about the back. I haven't heard it anywhere else or seen it, but you've got your theory. If that is the case, that's not good. It's better that his back really isn't hurt. But it's like, I'm not all in. The only way you can get me back is let me not be in training camp. So that's not good.

And like I said, Danny, he's 22 and 18 his last three years as a starter. His numbers aren't eye-popping his last three years as a start. He has been good in these playoff games. But we're giving this guy so much credit because he was close to the defendant Super Bowl champions last year in the playoffs.

Because he was close. You mentioned another playoff game earlier that he was closer. Two teams have won the Super Bowl since he did. It's not like he's never, like it's not like we're ages. The Chiefs and the Eagles are the only. teams who have hoisted a trophy more recently than Matt Stafford.

Yeah, but it was three, what, how 2021 was that? It was three Super Bowls ago, two teams. Yeah, and he hasn't played, he hasn't played that well since then. He's had great games here and there, particularly in the postseason, but his numbers have not been great. And I think a lot of it's because he's banged up and I think he's still banged up. Well, so that's the part of it. He's 37 years old with a bad back. And if you're saying his back is totally fine. I'm not saying he's totally fine. I think he was, I think the, the, how bad it was in training camp was overstated. That's what I'm saying. Well, then let's just talk about week one because Matt's staff, a 37-year-old with bad mobility and a bad back is not a great

thing. And when he was under pressure last year, it was weird because he has McVeigh, who's a top five coach. And Pooka Nicole was hurt, but he was there for the majority of the season. Oh, God, we put EPA in the show now. This is for Brew. Excellent, Dan. Yeah, it's for you. What does that mean? What is the top of rank? What does it mean? I should grant Augusta is what is. And here's the thing. He was bad under pressure. And he's going up against a Texan's team that is the best edge rush duo in the NFL

in DeNeil Hunter and Will Anderson. I hope he plays 17 games. Because watching a Sean McVeigh offense with Matt Stafford and now Devante Adams and Pooka Nakua should be very excited. It will be. But I have no faith that he is going to make it through 17 games when Coleman Shelton is his center

and he was a backup on a Bears' offensive line last year that allowed 68 sacks for Caleb Williams. But I guess there are serious offensive line questions for an immobile quarterback with a bad back facing the best pass Russian week one. Aside from Patrick and Josh, who are the quarterbacks that we are fully, and I guess Baker, fully confident are playing 17?

Because Brock Purdy missed time last year. Joe Burrell missed time the year before. Well, what? I guess this is my point. But are you? Are you? trying to say he's no more of an injury risk than a Brock Purdy or Lamar Jackson is. What I'm saying is we talk about him like he's the like he's a straw man and he doesn't miss time.

He's since he's been in the Rams, he's missed time once. Like he gets hurt and plays through it. Like he's not, he's unbelievably tough. He's not, he's not missing a bunch of games. But don't you think. Yeah. Don't you think it's affected. But I don't think.

This is why I asked the question we're asking. Week one, I think he's fine. If we're talking about week one, I have full confidence. If we're talking about at the end of the season, no matter the shape he's in, I don't I have confidence. I don't have full confidence because Sean McVey was like, yeah, he was supposed to go. But then he's three weeks ago. Right.

Well, it's still something. Okay. They didn't say it didn't, that came out of only one coach's mouth. If Sean McDermott was saying that, I'd be like, whoa. Every other coach would be like, what's going on? They got this weird thing there. He's getting treatment in? No, again.

I'm not acting like it is ideal. What I'm saying is Stafford has been, whether it's the elbow or the back, he has been banged up for the last few years and consistently plays. Like it's not, he doesn't miss a bunch of time. But not to his typical level. Other, the playoffs, he's been good. Right. And if you believe, like, you don't think they're going to be in the playoffs. It's totally legitimate opinion.

But if you believe, like I believe, they're going to be in the playoffs. He has gotten to the playoffs. Last year at the end of the year, he looked like a shell of himself, right? You know what I mean? His numbers, they weren't scoring points, and then immediately he started playing really well, which is what gives me confidence. It's not like he was lucky and fully healthy last year at the end of the year. He wasn't, and he still activated this of playoff gear. Bad debut for the goat in college football. 511 NFL games. Bill Belichick never gave up 48 points. He has now. 48 14. Here he is postgame. Biggest things we have to correct some of the mistakes we made tonight. I mean, we just can't perform well doing some of the things that we did.

We got to be better than that. And then obviously we've got to deal with Charlotte and the problems they present. But we had too many self-inflicted wounds that we have to eliminate before we can, you know, worry about addressing our opponents. Okay, here are the numbers last night, Danny. Look at total yards, 552 for TCU, 222 for University of North Carolina. The biggest difference in a week one power four matchup since 2019. Are you confident UNC can bounce back?

No, to put it mildly. I mean, that was a tough watch last night. And I'll say this. In terms of our interest in this story, I think last night was the peak of Bill Belichick at North Carolina. I think it's all downhill. We only care about celebrity college coaches, faces of the program, if you're good.

We didn't care about Jim Harbaugh at Michigan when he was winning eight games. We didn't care about Jim Beaheim at Syracuse when he was going to the NIT. They are a 14-point favorite against Charlotte next week, and Charlotte just got crushed by Appalachian State. If he beats Charlotte, which we all, I would imagine, would expect him to do, it's not an A-block story. No, no. But if he loses to Charlotte.

Exactly. But if he loses to Charlotte, it's an A-block story. So now the floodgates are open on what's going on with Bill Belichick? This is weird. And I'll tell you this, Michael Jordan isn't leaving the Grove to go watch and play Charlotte. Like last night, it was Monday night football. Lawrence Taylor's there, Julius Pepper, there, Mia Hamm, Michael Jordan. That was an event.

It was interesting. I'm there for kickoff of a game with the eighth ranked team in the ACC. They have one game against a ranked team, right? It's Clemson. Yeah. They actually have an easy schedule, but now that we've seen how they looked, it's not that easy, but it's not marquee matchup. So why are we going to care the rest of the way about this? They're just awful.

It's a five-win Tar Heel team, and he's giving us no answers and no interest. They have to be either abysmal or, like, if they're just decent, yeah, you're right. Absolutely right. To add just quickly before you go, Brew, to add to that, that week one win against TCU for Deion and Colorado bought them two months of coverage. Yes. Yes. You know what I mean? Because T.C.

Right. But that year, they weren't that good. Right. You know what I mean? Colorado State game. Right. But it was, TCU was better than at least ranked higher than this year's team. They were coming up.

No, they were, oh, yes, Colorado started well. But I'm saying that was week one. TCU coming off the national championship, Colorado won, and it gave them a long runway in the relevance. And Dion kept rolling out the stars. You know what I mean? It was an interesting cult of personality figure that would say great. Phil Belichick's not going to say anything.

And also try, you could also, even when Colorado wasn't winning, Travis and Shador were interested. Yes, correct. The offense was still high flying. I don't know. It's getting late early in North Carolina. Exactly. Late early.

All right, coming up next, Danny's QB Quarterly. This is interesting. KW., don't look where Jalen Hooks is. Are you really playing Augusta? I was inviting. You better say, guys. Back in on first things first on a top 10 Tuesday. Every week at this time, I will be updating my top 10 teams.

And Coach, you were not here to see my flawless top 10 last week. Yeah, Willie Colon had a few problems with it. I don't really remember. But there's the perfect top 10 teams. No issues, I assume. Well, I have a few issues. I don't have San Francisco going to the playoffs. I don't have the Steelers going to the playoffs.

But just focus on San Francisco. I think their biggest issue is how is Brock can respond to the contract. extension. And that is a big problem because guys often try to justify the new money they got and be someone that they're not. So I think that's part of the problem. Can they get over the history of injuries that they've had? It's year and year out. Now we see it in the receiver room. Hopefully CMC's back, but I just think there's going to be too much for them to overcome. And I'm not buying the Aaron Rogers working out in Pittsburgh with Arthur Smith. If he could win with Mitch Trubisky and Kenny Pickett. That's the logic I'm taking.

I've been wrong on the Steelers so many times. So tune in next Tuesday because I can't change it from last week to this week. Yep. No games happens. It is what it is. Nothing happened. So we're going to unveil something that we're going to be doing every four weeks here on the O-T, which we're going to call quarterback quarterly.

You get it. We are going to, it's not, now, like, Mahomes Mountain is not left to right. This is not exactly where they are on the graphic, but the quadrant that they're in absolutely tells the story of where I have these quarterbacks going on. So as we begin our first installment of quarterback quarterly, we began with the I just can't quadrant. So this is Joe Flacko, Bryce Young, Tua, Daniel Jones, Justin Fields, Spencer Rattler, and Russell Wilson. Now, with Bryce specifically, he was the closest guy that I was going to move into the other tier that we'll get to here in a second because he finished last season legitimately impressive.

It was seven touchdowns and no picks in the last three games. Panther's offense averaged 31 points per game. They showed a little life at the end of the season. But with his size, some serious questions about just the overall direction of the organization, I don't know if it was a mirage. Teams at the end of the year, some teams are gearing up for the playoffs. Other teams are sitting playing backups. Yeah, exactly.

Like, one, two, three, Cancun. I just, I don't know if it's real. But I got my eye on Bryce to see if I can bump him up out of the I just can't tear. The next quadrant for quarterback quarterly, though, this is the biggest one. And it's there's hope. There's a lot of guys here. Pennix, Drake May, Kyler, Trevor Lawrence, Bo Nix, Gino Smith, Cam Ward, Aaron Rogers, Sam Darnold, Caleb Williams, J.J. McCarthy, and Jordan Love.

Trevor Lawrence was the guy that I was closest to keeping in the I Just Can't. Because right now, everything about Trevor Lawrence to me is it's like, well, maybe Travis Hunter will turn it around. Or maybe Liam Cohen will turn it around. Cohn will turn it around. The guy just, to put it mildly and to put it nicely, makes dumb decisions. Like, I don't know the man. I'm not calling him dumb. But when I watch him play football, he's fourth in red zone turnovers since he entered the league. And he has the most fumbles since he entered the league. 6-5 rocket arm looks the part. But he just makes dumb decisions out there.

And I don't know if that ever leaves you when it's still there five years. into your career. Conversely, Jordan Love, yeah, there's a lot of hope. But here's my thing on Jordan Love. He's streaky. Yes. He is very, like, since becoming a full-time starter, first nine games, 14 touchdowns, 10 picks, then the next nine games, 21 touchdowns against one pick. Oh my God, this guy's the MVP of the league. Next nine games, 18 touchdowns against 13 picks. Then the next nine games, nine touchdowns and zero interceptions, and then he caps it off with the three interception game in the playoffs against Philly. So if he's going to be streaky for forever, I just can't bump him up above the tier that he's in. And now we get

to the Chris Broussard trademarked. It's fluid. What does that necessarily mean? Just for clarification. I'm glad yes. Nobody knows. It's fluid. I think every fan of every one of these teams likes their quarterback and believes that they can win a Super Bowl with their quarterback and because of their quarterback. But on a given day, on a given month, it can go left. Yeah, and the ranking can be like, I say Justin Herbert would be at the top of this. But if you said it was Jade and Daniels and you said it was Matt Stafford. Exactly.

That's a little over, sir. Yeah. And I'm not really going to, you know, pound the table. Because there's enough of a resume that there's a show they can come out. on either the great side or something catastrophic could happen, they can end up on a bad side. Exactly. So these guys are all legit, good to great quarterbacks

who for a stretch of time can carry their team. And I'll just say one thing about Jared Goff, because I think sometimes people overlook him in these conversations. Over the last three years, first in passing yards, first and passing touchdowns, third in rating, fourth in completion percentage, fourth in yards per attempt. But he is closer to the upper echelon than I think. a lot of people give him credit for.

So I wanted to just highlight my guy, Jared Goff. It is related that I picked them to be in the Super Bowl now three years in a row. And then the last installment of quarterback quarterly, there is really no debate here. This is just the class of the NFL. We can all debate the order. Obviously, Mahomes would be one. For me, it would go Allen, Burrow, Lamar. But if you wanted to say it's Lamar, Burrow, Allen, I have no problem with it.

These are the minted guys who I know you've got your issue with Burrow. But these are the guys that everyone kind of agreed. Oh, yeah, if they won the MVP or they won a Super Bowl, I wouldn't be shot. So that concludes our first edition of quarterback quarterly. We will do it again in four weeks because I assume, Willie, there were no problems there. No, there's a lot of problems. The biggest glaring problem to me is why isn't Jalen Hertz in the class of the NFL? We're talking about a guy who just won a Super Bowl.

It is criminal and is obnoxious that we put this man in the B category when, for Christ's sakes, if you look at his total body of work, I mean, in the regular season, 18 touchdowns, right? You talk about rushing for over 600 yards. You talk about having 14 rushing touchdowns. If you want to go to the playoffs, I mean, his completion rate was 71%. In the Super Bowl where he won MVP, he had a 77% completion rate. And by the way, the chiefs dared him to be great. and he said, give me that.

He was great in the Super Bowl. And he was great. Not just the first Super Bowl, and it's both Super Bowl. So for me, when I sit here, I'm like, what does the man have to do to prove that he's amongst the elite? And for some reason, it's all about, well, you know, he had a really good offensive line. He had a really good runner back. So that's all who fooled his effort. It was just like, now I forget, when he was called upon to be great, he was great.

He beat, on a lot of people's list, Patrick Mahomes is the best quarterback in the NFL. Every time Jalen Hurts played Patrick Moore Holmes, what do you do? Well, he beat him once and he lost him once. Right. But from a performance standpoint, what do you do? Walk the dog on him. He played very well in both games. The fumble in the first one was a pretty big play.

Listen, be in the top 20 in pass attempts? Is that too much to ask for a tier one quarterback? He's 22nd in the league in pass attempts. They don't ask him to throw the ball. But that's not his fault. But there's a reason. He's putting his team first. If the strength of your team is running the ball, you run the ball.

It's not about my stats. Of course he wants to throw the ball. Of course he wants to show up each and every day. Go back to the Pittsburgh game when he was called out before that game. And it was a response to like, well, we don't throw the ball enough and we're stagnant. He said, okay, what did he do? He threw the ball and lit the Steelers up. So it's not that he can't throw the ball.

He's doing what's best for the team. All right, coach. Any nits to pick? Look, I've got a lot. But I'm going to just start with the one. And it seems like you and Nick have it out for this guy. And I'm not saying I'm his biggest cheerleader by any. stretch. But I don't know why you have two in the I Just Can't category. And here's my feeling

on this. It wasn't too long ago that people were discussing him to be the MVP of the league. Like he was in that conversation, whether you agree with it or don't agree with it. But now you've got Sam Darnold in the tier that's above him and he's had one year of serious production. So if you look at these two guys head to head over the course of their career, there really isn't any comparison. He's better in completion percentage, pass yards per 10. attempt, yards per game. Look at the TD to interception ratio. I don't know how you can see it.

I'm sorry. I can see it. LASIC. The best decision I ever made. But the thing at the bottom there, though, of your graphic, 83 games played for Darnold, 64 for Tua. Tua has played a full season once. Like, so when I say I just can't, it's like,

I just can't get there with trusting a guy that I don't believe is going to survive full seasons in the end of it. You can't want to say that about. McAfri there are a bunch of seasons that he missed. I wouldn't be my quarterback. I wouldn't put Chris, but I wouldn't put Chris McAfee in the I just can't as a player. There are some guys that unfortunately have more of an injury history and the Dolphins making the decision that they made to pay them what they paid with the concussions.

Look, I don't think I would have done that organizationally. I don't think I would have done that if I were the head coach. But when he plays, he's played pretty well for him. And he's obviously played as well as Sam Donald. Sam Donald, and it's hard for me to imagine that anybody says he hasn't played better than Sam Donald over the course of the games. No, in terms of what he has accomplished, listen, obviously he's accomplished more than Michael Pennix, so I had in the There's Hope category, and Pennix has played three games.

But I just, the ability for me to trust if I'm a Dolphins fan, I'm going to have this guy and he's going to be there for 17 games, and then I'm going to leave Miami, and I'm going to go to Kansas City or Buffalo or Baltimore or Cincinnati or Pittsburgh and win a couple of games in the cold when he hasn't shown that either. It's like two things. It's the availability for Tua and then it's the late season performance for Tua that I just can't get there. That he thrived the most when they had a legit run game. I mean, we got to understand I think 2003 they led the league in Russia where most are in company in 23. So when they were cooking in that department, he was extremely efficient because he was on stride and in rhythm with

letting the ball out his hands. Somehow with the loss of Ron Hunt and that office line kind of weakened, they've taken a step back. So I'm with you 100%. I love Tua, but it's the injuries that scare me as far as putting him on the next extra loan. Yeah, I don't think you'd give him the money that you gave him, but they did. And obviously, their doctors and their organization believes in him enough

to think that he can get through the 17 games in the playoffs. I think you've got to give him a little bit more love than you're showing him. All right. Well, we'll be updating this again after week four of the NFL season. and we'll do it. It's called quarterback quarterly. Coming up next, the Chiefs are calling their shot and saying that the like show and the big plays is returning. We'll see if that comes back in week one next on FTF. Welcome back to first things first. I'm Danny Park. It's alongside coach Eric Mancini, and one of us is on an energy drink. Willie Cologne is here. We start in Kansas City

ahead of their week one matchup in Brazil, which is Friday. We get to get him Thursday, get again Friday. Offensive coordinator, Matt Nagy, and what do you expect from the offense ahead of week one. I think it's for sure the mindset. It started not just right now, but it's started in OTAs. It's the mindset of, you know, being able to know you might not throw the post, but it's, you're going to start there. And it's always been that way, but I think the repetitive nature of where we're at, it's important. And he's had that. I mean, the whole, since OTAs, you know, we talk internally. We have some reminders for him. And, you know, it's good for him. So I love this because the first step,

to solving a problem is admitting that there is one. Okay. And the Chiefs, when Mahomes burst onto the scene, first year is a starter, second year in the league, and it's 5,000 yards and 50 touchdowns and Tyreek Hill. It was unlike anything in the modern NFL, and it basically carried on for five years, right? Like 2018 to 2022, the Chiefs were the big play offense in the NFL.

First in explosive passes, third in air yards, first in 20-yard touchdowns. And now the last two years, they've won a Super Bowl and lost a Super Bowl with that disappearing. It's been like Mahomes is clutch. Mahomes is a winner. And their defense is top three. Now, obviously, Tyreek Hill leaves. That's a huge piece of it.

But now, Xavier Worthy, year two, upgrades on the offensive line, at least at left tackle in theory in Simmons. And sneaky week one matchup against the Chargers. Good scoring defense last year. really good rush defense last year, but no team in the NFL allowed more big plays in the passing game. 20-yard completions last year, 11 touchdowns, no picks, most touchdowns allowed there. I feel like if we're going to see the return of the light show that Matt Nagy's talking about there, coach, we should see it Friday night in Brazil. Yeah, I'm always skeptical, though, of anybody who talks about what they're going to do prior to the first game.

Because if you're really, if that's really your game plan, The last thing you're going to do is in a press conference, go, yeah, yeah, we're going to light it up. We're definitely throwing deep. Get ready for the deep ball. You wouldn't do that. So I am skeptical about that. And I do think that as much as we got spoiled and excited by all the things that they did early with the deep ball, what have we seen consistently?

We've seen consistent winning. We've seen their 15 to 1 last year, right? We didn't play the last game. And to me, that's so much more valuable than whether or not they're hitting the deep ball. is are they going to the right place? Are they collectively doing what's best for the offense? And you do worry a little bit about an offensive coordinator whose focus is on big plays.

Because that's about getting your next job. That's not about necessarily doing the things you need in this job. So we might want to temper that down a bit. Yeah, I'm what you call it. Coach, life show is tough. I mean, if we're keeping it 100, I mean, this team was four points in the block field with the way from being 4 and 13 last. You know what I mean?

Like this is a situation where if we look at it closely, man, I mean, they're 11 and 0 on one score games. That is tough to repeat. They won a lot of close games. And that's rough to swallow. And so when I look at this, and coach is 100% right, I think this team is going through an identity crisis, right? Because so much of who they were prior to last year, you know, it was almost about being

big explosive plays, unpredictable, they were extremely dangerous. They added a level of football that a lot of people just couldn't compare because what they had on the field and Patrick Mahomes at his level of play. I just don't see it. I mean, at 15th and points per game did last and 15 of you showed it right there, 15 plus yards down the field. The biggest issue with the Chiefs right now, they don't have a number one receiver, right? When you talk about Rashid Rice and the suspension, Hollywood Brown shows flashes,

it just doesn't on the field right now. It doesn't look at the Chiefs that we grew to love and fear. They've lost their fear factor. And if you're the Kansas City Chiefs right now, you're simply game by game hoping Patrick Mahomes gets you on the right side. things or Chris Jones has a game-breaking play to get you on the winning column and get you in the winning column. So in reference to the light show, we're witnessing the end of an era. The Kansas City Chiefs are done.

So these are a couple big ifs here. You're going on the board. That's fine. The light show is done or the, like, the dynasty and the winning is done. I think he's saying the dynasty is done. I did say that again, four points in a block field goal away from being 4 and 13 last season. They can't ride. I mean, they have a rabbit foot up their butt.

That's luck. I can't see them doing that again this year. Five, I mean, five trips to a Super Bowl, best coach, best quarterback, top five defense, Hall of Fame tight end, Hall of Fame defensive tackle. Like, the other side of that coin is. They lost the Super Bowl. To Jalen Hurts.

They did. But they got to the Super Bowl. I understand getting there, but if you're the light show, right? The other side of the coin, though, is that they upgraded at left tackle. I don't know if it's an upgrade. Okay. I'm just keeping, you don't like, you want to talk Olai play? I don't know if it's upgrade.

He looks pretty good at Ohio State before he got hurt. And he also was coming off of ACF. Patela, right? Yeah. And so they are, I will not be calling the, I will be, I will be late to the party to bet on 29-year-old Patrick Mahomes being done winning. He was 30, he was sacked 36 times last year. That was the highest in his career.

So if we're talking about being 15th in points, lack of explosive plays, struggling to have an identity and explosive plays, watching this defense, who, by the way, the only highlight on that highlight on that defensive line is Chris Jones. Like, it's hard for me to believe that they're going to be the big back chiefs that we've grown to love and fear.

That is not who they are anymore. I just think that the one score games, to me, is a sign of resilience and a strength of the team as opposed to weakness. Well, they're a great in situational football 100%. Yeah, see that as a real superpower as opposed to a negative thing

them being able to win the, come out on top on those games. They can't repeat what they did last season. I just don't see that. They're not going to need to when they're scoring all those points with the light show. No. Meanwhile, in Green Bay, Don Van Nata and Jeremy Fowler had a deep dive on the trade that shook up the NFL preseason here. And it quoted an anonymous NFC executive on Micah Parsons.

Curious on both of you guys takes on this. He said, it's okay for Green Bay and that their interests are to get beyond the first or second round. I think Parsons is a very productive regular season player. I think when teams start running heavy in the playoffs, he becomes less scary. I got my theory on this, but you've game planned and coached players like this, you've blocked players like this. So coach, I mean, valid criticism here of Micah? I don't see it being just about the playoffs.

I don't see when you go into the playoffs that it just becomes this run-heavy offensive philosophy. I think teams do what they do. The discussion with Micah is if you want an elite pass rusher, he is an elite pass-fresser. and he's special in that area. The question is, if you're able to run the ball at him and force him to hold up against run consistently, you know, are you getting that complete player? And that's where his weakness is.

So there's certain things that guys do really well, and he rushes the passer really well. There's certain liabilities that he has. He's not truly a linebacker. He's not truly a defensive end. So there's give and take, and you get the upside of the experience. that he brings from the pass rush,

but you get the downside of him not holding up as much as you would like from a player of his stature. What about you blocking someone like that? Yeah, I'm gonna get after him. But the bottom line is I think we have to stop shaming Jerry Jones for what the league already knows that Michael Parsons is a liability in the run game. And that's, you talk about the Cardinals, Niners, and bills

all made it a part of their game plan to run at him. Right? That's just a fact. I mean, we go back to 2003 versus the bills, zero. Zero solo tackles, two assisted tackles, zero tackles for losses, zero sacks, zero quarterback herbers. I mean, that's, if you're a guy who warrant the money he just got, that's not an impact player. When you talk about T.J. Watt and Garrett,

Miles Garrett, excuse me. They own the edge. They're a complete package in the run and pass. You just highlighted right now that he's an elite passer, but I can go back and turn on games against the Niners where they ran, they double Tied him and couldn't find him, where he was neutralized over and over by the Philadelphia Eagles. I mean, right here, this is supposed to be your star guy.

This is supposed to be your guy. He gets caught up in the watch time after time. And outside of the past, you can't find him in the run. I mean, this is one-on-one blocking. This is him getting beat up, right? Coach, you can tell you. I know you would be yelling at you guys. You have to own the edge when you're out there.

It's all about containing, pushing everything back into the teeth of your defense. I've seen enough tape to realize that's not a strong suit for him. When you talk about Madagher and T.J. Watt, whether you're running at or running away from him, whether you're double team, they say. still have an impact in their presence as felt. So when it comes to Michael Parsons, man, I think we just have to admit, Jerry's right in that regard.

Well, listen, not every player can be great at everything. There's a lot of value in being an excellent pass rusher, right? Von Miller, an excellent pass rusher. Derek Thomas, an excellent pass rusher. No one would be like, man, Von Miller, unbelievable against the run. There's a value in being a great pass rusher. Not one player can make a whole defense.

I would also, because I think. But then you can't get compared to Lawrence Taylor. Then that's what people see. stall off at the Loris Taylor comparison. And that's fine. Maybe the greatest defensive player ever. But I would just say, Micah Parsons hasn't shown up in some of those playoff games. We do the same thing with Dak Prescott. We do the same thing with Mike McCarthy. A lot of those guys have not shown up in the poster. And I don't see this as just being a playoff scenario. I think this being more understanding what his strength is,

understanding what his weakness is. And if you're an offensive coordinator, it's similar to running at a cover corner. You want to make cover corners tackle. You want to to make guys that are lead pass rushers play well in the running game and take away, you know, try to limit their strength. The top 10 is out finally. We're done with list season. But I do have an issue with number one next on FTO. Gentlemen, our nightmare is over. List season has come to an end. The NFL Top 100 list is out.

They have dropped their top 10. Saquan Barkley, number one. My issue with this list is like the voting is before the playoffs and they vote for their favorite players, but not everyone votes and you don't fill everyone out. It's just horribly inconsistent and it really prioritizes just last year. And Sequin Barclay is an amazing football player, obviously, one of the great running back seasons ever. He's not a better football player than Lamar Jackson or Miles Garrett or Patrick Mahomes or Jamar Chase. Like just like I say Jalen Hertz is somewhat helped by everything around him in Philly. How is that logic not also applied to

Sequin Barkley? Again, great, unbelievable football player. He's not the best player in football. Who's with me? I'm not. You're not, neither one he's with me. No, all right. Adding a thousand. I think Sequin, it was interesting about Sequin, he was brought to Philly, not to just be a featureback to stabilize the offense, right?

He had to be, they needed a legit threat in the presence on third down, and they got one. On top of that, he was also brought there to elevate Jailen Hertz. That happened. And he did all this while, being selfish. We've got to go back to the week 15 game against the Giants, where he could have broke the single season record. sat down. And set down. And he elevated the runnerback market.

So with all that said, and he has highlights for days. For me, he is the number one player in the league. And I just loved him. He won a Super Bowl. How can he knock that? If MVP wasn't just a quarterback award, he would have won it. There you go. But it is.

He'll win it again. The only person to do that with Marshall Park. Hey, he's got a shot to back up the 2,000-yard season. Coach, Willie, I'm Parkers. We're back tomorrow on FTI.