First Things First - Updated expectations for Arch Manning, Must-win for Burrow, Mahomes in best situation ever?

Episode Date: September 5, 2025

(00:00) Fair or foul: Colin Cowherd says Mahomes was put in best landing spot in NFL history (25:41) Do we need to see Kansas City’s explosive offense? (41:05) What are updated expectations for Arch Manning? (46:19) Nick reveals 1st Tiers of 2025 season (1:06:21) Must-win for Burrow? (1:20:06) Bills officially Super Bowl or Bust? (1:49:24) Packed Stats: Texas worst case scenario for Stafford Week 1 (1:58:37) Is Cowherd’s comments unfair to Patrick Mahomes? (2:10:56) Like Travis Hunter listed as WR1? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Live from New York. It's the show. Careful. You got nothing? That's going after Mr. Beast number one on YouTube. Buddy. We are going after Mr. Beast. Buddy.

There's no point in doing it if we're not trying to be the best. Why don't we try to be the best in our lane? In our genre. Entertainment and sports. That's what we should do, bro. We can't... How about you... We're not even top one million.

Buddy, you can't even... get an Emmy nom yet. I know that. Well, let's start there. That's what I, you know, goal for 2026, boo, have Kevin Wiles be nominated. There's no chance of that. And I don't deserve that. I deserve to have 300 million followers.

See, this is what I'm saying. There's five people out there. No, that's like, come on. It's impossible. I think you deserve it. I think you deserve it. If I ran through the list, no, there's no, my mom doesn't think I deserve it. I've seen.

First out, the list is unstoppable. I'm out here wearing ski goggles. You can't break. Today, Cowboys Eagles count down to the opening game in the season. New sound from Jerry Jones. Is there a chance? They're actually sleeping on the Cowboys, and they're upset. I am sleeping.

I'm letting you know. Comatose. Comatose. I am dead to the world. Yep, absolutely. Meanwhile, it's been a long summer, but we're back with the, the illustrious and long-awaited return of must win. And it is scored.

Brew will be defending his championship. Yes. That's right. It must win. Was he the champion last year? I don't know. There was no official. It was you, bro.

It was terrible. It was a fulmore. And finally, nothing sure of the greatest segment in all of sports. The committee met deep, deep into the night. It was. It's a 3 a.m. night, buddy. Wow. He's not joking about this stuff anymore.

Yeah. It's all true. He might actually have a committee now. Yes, I did. You should have that. Some of the most powerful people in the sports industry were involved in my meeting last night. Can I tell you something? I appreciate your commitment to the show.

Yeah. But when you were describing the meeting, subjectively and objectively cool people at the meeting, I don't think. You should have just been like, so what do you want, what do you, what do you think about the Jags? It's the job. It's the job. Okay, four votes for the Jags, anybody else?

I don't sound like that, and it's the job. Anyone believe in the Saints? They're paying for their cap. I told you, you're right, I did say that. First hour, first, don't use the voice. I don't use the voice around celebrities. We're starting with a banner night? Hold on, we're dropping a banner.

for winning the championship? I didn't know that. Wow. I'm so locked in. I had no idea. Here's Eagles coach Nick Sariani answering our reporter's question. Slightly long about Banner Night, but it's good. Take a listen. You guys have emphasized moving on from last year. The last Banner Night in 2018, it's famous that the fans booed the Eagles at halftime because they weren't happy with the way things were going, albeit it was Banner Night. How do you feel about the fact that you, even Even though it is banner night for you guys, the fans will still have the standard of performing and winning at a high level. Yeah, I didn't know it was banner night.

We won't be out for that. Your reaction, and do you like Philly's approaching? He didn't know. He didn't know. He didn't know. He didn't know. He's got to change. So this is.

Listen, I, I know that I'm setting myself up to be. even less beloved. In fact, the opposite of it. More reviled in Philadelphia. But such is my lot in life. This is so dumb and so performative and so literally unbelievable. And by definition, I do not believe you.

And it is like he and Jalen have a private competition of who can be more blase about winning the championship. And Jalen's like, I won't even, you know, forget, I won't put on the ring. I don't know where it is. You know, I, I, I was a guy that came up to my car and asked me for change, and I looked in the ashtray, and I didn't have any change, so I gave him the ring. And Siriani's like, all right, all right, oh, one up you, buddy.

What is a band? They give you a chance. We want? Like, the next press conference, I think it's going to be like, I had forgotten. That's right. You're right. We did. That was a big game.

I just thought it was the last game. And I just, I don't know what they are. Do I think it's like bad? Do I think it's going to damage them? No. Do I think it's silly? Do I think there is any positive to it? Do I think there is a reason for the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles

in front of the collected media to tell one of the dumbest lies that a coach has ever told? I didn't know what was Banner Night, but I know we won't be out there. How do you know? If you didn't know, what if they drop it? He's going to have to go back and do his whole schedule. And so I just, I don't believe them. No one believes them. And it seems silly.

I think that's fair. Well, this is your guy. So do you want to go first? I mostly agree with Nick on this. Okay. I don't like the show. charade of it. Yeah.

But so be it. If it's, if it's, part of me thinks as I was trying to be a little more glass hatful than you, perhaps these are lessons learned from the supernatural funk. That we haven't been able to put our finger on why the team ripped off, was it 11th straight, regret that it was like the defense is really bad as the on-field answer. But why was there such a- They were 10 and 1 and then fell apart. Yeah.

And maybe they're overcompensating for a, you know, that's a good thing. for a post Super Bowl hangover. I think that's a good point, and that might be the case. Maybe they went into that year thinking, all right, we were there. We should have won that game. Yep. Okay, so that's fair. Look, there are three ways to approach being the defending champ.

All right, there's the, all right, we're the kings of the hill. We're going to have a target on our back. Every single team we play is bringing their A game. It's their Super Bowl. So we got to be ready. All right, that's one way. The second way is let's do something only two other teams this century have done. The Brady Patriots and the Mahomes Chiefs.

Let's repeat as champions. Or theirs, as you guys said, wait, what? I don't know. We won the Super Bowl last year. Oh, my gosh. Wow. That's the approach they're having. And like you said, Nick, I mean, look, I guess Siriani and Jalen, I don't know.

And I guess I would, I feel like I know. They know their team better than anybody. And they think this is the best approach for them. I'll say this. I think the other two approaches do add pressure. I think most teams go with one of the other two. But those add pressure because it's like, if you acknowledge we're getting everybody's a game. That's 22, 23 weeks where you got to be at the very top of your game.

And that's a lot of pressure. Or it's like we got to match Brady and Mahomes. and when, you know, repeat is champion. So those add pressure, this, I feel like, takes it off where you just feel like, okay, we got another season, let's go out there and win it. Can I ask you a question, though, Brew, in all your life covering sports?

You know, I've never seen a team do it this way. Like, have you ever? Not to this extent. Prior to this, if you would have said, hey, what are the ways teams defend their title, I feel like this third way that you're describing wouldn't have come up because we've never seen a team. Not to this extent.

Yeah, we have seen a team say, hey, you don't defend your title, you win your title, you turn the page. I get that. That's very Belichickian, and I respect that. And the Chiefs tried their best publicly last year to not talk about the three Pete as much as they could. It was too much. Right, but I've never seen this level of pretend ignorance

to having won a championship. And also, and look, look, if Jaylin, is a different kind of guy. We know he's a great leader. I believe him when he's like, I haven't looked at the ring or I don't know where it is. But I also feel like,

enjoy it a little bit. I mean, that's what you play for. So that's my real, I shouldn't have waited nine minutes to get to this. But sometimes I don't, I know what the audience might be surprised by this,

you might be surprised by this. I don't like to say things that I think are going to come across as mean. And my real take on this, I think is a little mean, but it's my real take. I think Jalen's being

authentic, and I think the coach in a weird way is trying to suck up to Jalen. I think the coach is seeing that Jalen's not wearing the ring and doing that, and he's like, all right. And again, maybe that's not even a bad thing. Maybe it's just he's our leader, Jalen sets

the template, and you know what I mean? So how, I guess here's my take. If Jalen's approach was, I'm wearing this every day to remind the team, this is what it's all about. We're to have a handful of these, you know what I mean?

Do we, do you, does anyone think Siriani would be like, it's Banner Night? Or if that was Jayland's approach, would he've been like, yep, we're going to be locked arms saluting it, envisioning all the other ones that are going to drop. And again, I don't even know that that's bad. I don't think that's a bad. I think that's your leader setting the tone.

Yes, and Siriani following suit. You also need to follow up a little bit. Who? The, the media? Yeah, like. You know what was being? You know, it's on a good job with that? You know, it's Thursday, right?

It's not on Sunday? All right, well, that's going to be Thursday night, 8 o'clock. Friend of the show, Colin Coward, talked about what a nice situation Patrick Mahomes was drafted into. Here's friend of the show, so let's not tear him apart. Colin Coward. The great Colin Coward. I'd never say anything bad about him. tear. I love Mahomes, but I think he got the best landing spot in league history. Think about this.

So he comes into the league, doesn't have to start, gets to sit and learn the system under the best coach in the league offensively. Andy Reid. Also as a pro bowler and one of the more grateful and gracious players in league history, Alex Smith as a mentor, Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelsey are already pro bowlers. He had multiple weapons, the best offensive coach. ownership stability. Brett Veach is a top general manager. With that, took the momentum and became a star and deserves all of it. I don't know if there's ever been a quarterback who had more things set moving and headed in the right direction than Patrick Malmes.

Now, Nick, you came into my shared office and said, I shouldn't ask Josh for any full screens because you had seven or eight full screens disputing Colin. Wow. Listen, I think everybody knows my relationship with Colin that spans far before I ever knew him. And one of the greatest, honestly, joys of my life is that the guy I idolized as a kid has become a dear friend, a colleague, and, you know, is better in person than he was, you know, when I listened to him on the radio. Which is why it hurts my heart so much that he has a take this bad. And the revisionist history on the Chiefs that is happening in real time is just mind-boggling for someone like me who grew up watching the Chiefs. And again, I want to make this clear.

I do think Andy Reid is one of, and if not, at the end of the day, the greatest coach ever. And you know what I mean? Like, he was, nobody thought that before Patrick Mahomes took his first snap. Nobody was like, this guy might be the goat. And he was thought of as a good coach. And obviously, I think Travis Kelsey is a legendary all-time player. And Tyreek is a legendary all-time player. I think Mahomes got a far better than average situation that he came into.

There's no denying that. But this idea that he was just dropped in to this franchise that knew nothing but winning and a coach that knew nothing but winning, and it was a perfect circumstance, is belied by every fact on the ground. So the Chiefs, the 20 years leading up to Mahomes getting there, one, one playoff game, one, one. Right, that's where I would disagree.

We're on a longer. We all know the Chiefs were. Well, you want to go longer? No, I can do the, since the merger, till when Mahomes got there. We all know. Hold on. Okay, but hold on.

Then what about let's just, I'm going to get us to the end of it. My point is, before Mom's got there, they went to one conference championship game. It wasn't the Steelers that had been, or the Niners, or the Cowboys or a franchise that was always great. That's the point I'm making. No doubt. What about Andy? Over the last 20 years of Andy's career, the 13 before Patrick, he went to one conference championship game and won four. playoff games and was a winning coach, but, you know, 57% of the games.

Again, I love Andy. Andy was already a really good coach. Since then is where all the accolades come. But this is my biggest gripe brew with all of the, the, put Josh in Patrick's situation, put Lamar in Patrick's situation what we're talking about. It totally ignores the fact that of his contemporaries, Patrick had and has had, over the course of his career, far and away, the worst defensive. So since Patrick took over his starter, the Chiefs have averaged 10th in the league in points allowed

and 16th in the league in yards allowed. It's gotten obviously much better the last two years because the very beginning it was dead last in the league. Lamar's Brew, what's Baltimore? The defensive culture. Always great. Josh, top eight and both. You compare it to the other guys Patrick is chasing in the ring count. Joe and Tom.

Tom came in to a great defense. Joe came into a historically great defense, bro. And so I am not denying Patrick's weapons were elite, and his coaching was great. But in my opinion, the best thing for a young quarterback is not having to score 35 every game the moment they become the starter, which is what Tom got, what Joe, Montana got, what Josh and Lamar got.

And it's the one thing Patrick did not get until recently. So the idea that he had the best setup in the history of the league brew is absurd. I don't think it's absurd. And you know how much I love Mahomes. I think Colin is being fair. I didn't get a whole bunch of graphic. I mean, those, we know the Chiefs weren't great 20 years ago, but that's not the big deal. The one guy, though, this will surprise you.

Because I thought about Montana, Brady. Their situations weren't comparable. Belichick was a bad coach at that time. And I'm not even, I'm serious. He got fired in Cleveland. And he got fired in Philly. Made the playoffs one out of, yeah, but he had a great run in Philly. They kept getting to the conference to the playoffs.

And Belichick had a great run with the Giants winning multiple Super Bowls. As what? Thank you. As a defensive quarterback. Okay, I'm talking about the head coach. Andy Reed was a great head coach in Philadelphia. He was a great head coach in Philadelphia. Bill Belichick was a failing head coach, even with a pro bowl quarterback like Drew Blesso.

So Brady, I don't think, is comparable. Montana's not comparable. Why? Montana had Bill Walsh. How was the team? When Montana took over? Brew, his first years of started, they had the number one defense in football. What did they do before that? What was the team before that?

When Montana took over. They were six and ten. Okay, there you go. All right. Listen, the one guy that's comparable was Lamar Jackson. Josh Allen is not comparable. They have been to the playoffs once in 17 years when Josh Allen took over the bills. Lamar Jackson stepped into a comparable situation to Patrick,

Super Bowl winning coach, a team that was a great culture franchise, could learn under Joe Flacco like Alex Smith and Flacco had won the Super Bowl. And, you know, quite honestly, Lamar wasn't as good as Patrick. So he stepped into a good situation. outside of that, it was great for Patrick. The Chiefs had made the playoffs three straight years before Patrick became a starter. They were averaging 11 wins a season. Andy Reed was viewed as a very good coach, not in the goat conversation, but a very good coach.

Tyree Gil was a pro bowler. Travis Kelsey was not a pro bowler. He was all pro by that time. Kareem Hunt was one of the best running backs in the league at that point. This doesn't take any. anything away from Patrick, but it's like Magic Johnson. Magic Johnson stepped into a wonderful situation. It's not.

It is very much like, now he didn't have the MVP and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, but I'm just saying like, how can you say Patrick's situation was a phenomenon? No, no, no, no. I said it was, I said it was a really good situation, but I think it is that he was dropped into a team who had literally the worst defense in football. And then his second year as a starter had the third worst defense. They still won 11 and 12 games with that defense with Alex Smith. Right.

And that's why I showed the other stuff. The Chiefs had won, and we don't have to go back 20 years if you don't want, in the 10 years or the five years leading up to Mom's getting there, one playoff game. Oh, yeah, they weren't a great team, but they were a legitimate, what? I don't want to use the word perennial for three years. But under Alex Smith, was a kind of.

a good quarterback. They were a 10 wins that would lose. Yeah, that would lose in the first round of the playoffs every year. 11 wins before. And so, but. With Pro Bowl? With Avengers at all your skill positions? It was as good of a weapons situation.

It was awesome. It was as good of a weapon situation as any quarterbacks I've been dropped into. Kelsey and Hill with a great coach. With an office. That part of it. But that is they, the chiefs have in the home's entire career, they're one of four teams to not have a thousand yard rusher.

They have, they have, Mahomes' entire career are now on their six. Well, I mean, Hunt rushed for a thousand before Mahomes was a start. Yeah. And then he got with respect, and I like career, he got kicked off the team. No, he got, they had to release him after he was, he, that would have been different. But who do you think

has, I mean, Lamar, like I said, I put Lamar in there. I can't think of another quarterback that had a comparable situation. I think Joe Montana You said they won six games before. No, no, no. Yes, and Joe Montana, once he took over as a starter, for a decade straight,

they had one of, if not the best, they had the best defense in the 1980s. But that was him. No, that was not a game. They were bad before he got there, before he started. He did not make their defense number one of years. No, but my point is you said they won six games the year before he became a starter. Correct.

So you got to give him a ton of the credit for terms. turning that team around. Was that defense entirely knew his first year as a start? Honest to God, I don't know, but I do know that. He had the white card. He was solid. And then a couple years into it, he had Jerry Rice. He ended up being a pretty good player.

But he didn't have the weapons that Mahon had. No, I agree. This is where I think the rub is. And this is what I was saying to Wilde's before the show. I think for Patrick Mahomes, for any great off, great quarterback, the best thing you can give them when they're, young is a great defense because they can't impact the ball when they don't have it. So that's what Tom had.

Tom and I, the, the, whatever we, you want to say about Belichick's ability to coach offensive football without Tom Brady, what is undeniable, and this is why I brought up the Giants thing was, he was considered at the time one of, if not the greatest defensive mind in football, the way Andy Reed was considered one of the best offensive minds in football. His game plan for the Giants of Bill Super Bowl is literally in the Hall of Fame, like the document. So he – Yeah, but he couldn't win games as a head coach.

Yes, because Brady is a great player. And just like Andy couldn't win playoff games at any point with the Chiefs, until Patrick got there, and now they win – But he could win them with Philly. Well, again, he had won four – his 13 years as head coach leading up to Patrick, he won four playoff games. He won four playoff games. He won four playoff games in 13 years until Patrick got there.

They've won 17. I just think... You're saying Brady was in as good of a situation as Mahomes when it took over as a starter. Absolutely. That is... That is... That's an unacceptable opinion.

Having the best... They won five games. Brew. Having the best defense in the NFL where you can... That best defense was five and 11 the year before. They won a Super Bowl by scoring two off. offensive touchdowns. I'm not denying that Belichick was a great defensive coach.

But to say you took a team, Brady took over a team that was 5 and 11 and 0 and 2. And it's when he took over as a starter. Mahomes took over a team that had made the playoffs three straight years and had pro bowl receivers and running back. And again, we are. How is that comparable? Because you are talking about the offense he took over. I am talking about the team he took over.

And I think Tom Brady being dropped into a team that in his first four years, three of them had either the best, second best, or third best scoring defense. And in Patrick's first four years as a starter, they had the worst, third worst, and then a league average defense. I think that offsets the weapons difference. It does not. That's no way. That is. And you know, I'm a Mahon's guy. There is no way Brady stepped into as good of a situation as Mahoney.

Not when he, Brew, not when he had the ball, but Brady was able to win a Super Bowl by scoring 17 points. He was able to win the tuck rule game by what scoring 16 points. Patrick, his first year against Tom Brady, led three fourth quarter comebacks. They scored 32, 35 and lost. Like, how, we can't off-s. Set the back.

Are you, so you're saying the Patriots, the five and 11 Patriots were as good as the 12 and four chiefs, 11 and five chiefs? You are, you are focusing on the year before they got there. Yeah, because that's the situation you're dropping. Everything after that, you contributed to. You didn't contribute to the defense. Hold on. You can't, Brady. Okay, so when Drew Bledso gets hurt, when they're 0 and 2,

the defense that had lost 13 of his last 18 games all of a sudden became like Belichick forgot with Bletsoe how to coach defense but once Brady's came in there he learned how to coach defense hold on what's the flip side of the opinion is what that that because what you're saying is the defense was bad and then Brady got no I'm saying they immediately started winning when Tom Brady became a starter

why was the defense straight in 2000? that. Why was the defense was great? That's what I'm saying. I think it is utterly ridiculous for anyone to say that Tom Brady stepped into a situation that was just as good as Patrick Mahon. And I think it is utterly ridiculous for anyone to say a guy who stepped into a situation of literally having the worst defense of the NFL.

How was that working out, Nick, before Brady took over? No, hold on. That's not what I said. No, we got to go. It wasn't working out. I said they were terrible. And yeah, and go ahead, Wiles. We're going to go.

A new Jerry Jones interview next on FS1 at Fox Sports Channel on Series X-F. We're at 26 minutes. Sorry. Welcome back to First Things First America's Game of the Week. Eagles in Kansas City on Sunday, on Friday, first things first game of the week. They put us on the side of the-live from the power and light distance. district. Coach, you have the week off. You're on a bye week. Coach, you should cut. Coach, I'll fly in myself.

Coach, you're on the beach playing. So one week from tomorrow, we will be doing the show live from Power and Light in Kansas City. And I say this, knowing none of the logistics of anything, every single person the city's invited. Just come watch the show. It'll be great. It's a live show outside. Power and Light. Where we watch the world. Cup in Kansas City. Everybody knows the area. I assume Mayor Lucas is finding out as everyone else is. I'm committing for him.

He's going to be there. Some chiefs will be there. It'll be great. A lot like the Royal tickets, they are free for most people. See, this guy. This guy, why is this guy? That's so funny. Wild card to push.

Because Pasquatch was going to stop by just to what that pitcher did to his catcher, he was going to do to you. And you don't have a chest protector. But Kansas City, we will be there a week from tomorrow. Getting ready for game of the year. That's going to be fun. It's going to be great. You are reviled there.

What? Legitimately. It's not a joke anymore. I picked them to win the Super Bowl. I got to. Who should be mad at who? You've been a Chief's guy for as long as I'm not. Yeah, and then, right.

And then they lose one game, and he flips like that, and made fun of them all summer and all show. Earlier today, even non-sequiters about Cooper to Jean Interceptors of Mons. There's all about Dak Prescott. Because you can't help yourself. The Gator is all true. You have been jabbed. Yeah, it's all true. It's all true is right.

Let's leave it at that. That's Friday. It will be excellent. Chiefs have arrived in Sao Paulo. Take on the Chargers Friday night. Mahomes and Company favored by a field goal and keeping it light before the opener. Here's Mahomes and Kelsey. Take a listen.

We've had a plan for this all summer long and now we're just ready to play football game. Travis, what was last night like at the airport? Oh, man, it was crazy. It was a lot of fun seeing all the fans there. And he had that one coming for telling everybody. I didn't know where Brazil was on the map. Most 2024 season. Best record, best completion percentage.

But everything else was not great in his storied career. Is a win by any means necessary what you want to see, Nick, or do you need to see an explosive Kansas City offense? Win the game. Again, you guys want proof the Chiefs are still the team to beat. How do the bills need to beat the Ravens or how do the Ravens need to beat the bills? Would you be happy with a blocked punt in overtime to win

or would you rather lose an explosive? No, come on. How do the Eagles need to beat the Cowboys tonight? Does it matter or do they just need to win? If they can't win three nothing. Yeah. You see why Nick created this question. I mean.

He acts like everybody's asking this. I actually thought it was the other way. When you pitched this question. No, because I thought you guys want to see you guys want to see popcorn and fireworks. I know you do. Here's the thing. If they hadn't just lost the way they lost and if they didn't play Philly in week two, I might feel like, you know what?

Got a game not to play with, but go open it up whatever it is. but what you don't want is after losing one game all year last year that Patrick played, lose Super Bowl, lose week one, and then be staring at one of the two best teams in the league in your building in week two. And it's like, uh-oh, like, are we all of a sudden going to lose three games in a row for the first time of Mahomes' entire career? And so at some point this year, Brew, probably at least when, Rishi's back. I do believe we will see and want to see them open it up all the way.

Weird Friday night game in Brazil against last year's number one defense that's just going to want to run the ball all game anyway. Get on that long plane ride with a win. I don't care if it's like the Broncos win last year where you block a field goal to get it, all three phases. Coach, I am so proud of Nick right now. I knew it. I knew it. Do you know how much Nick has matured over there to get to this point where it's all about winning and not about light shows and statistics and all those other things. Wow. Thank you, Coach. Thank you.

I'm warm. Your heart and, yeah. Look, I want the light show. When there's greatness on the field, I want to see greatness. When Steph Curry's on the court, I want to see threes. When Michael Jordan's on the court, I want to see French pastry. All right, I want to see the excellent point. players be excellent.

All right. That's what I want to see. Now, I ultimate, this was tough for me because that's what I want to see. But I do agree, it's better to go down there and win ugly like last year than to go down there. Mahon's throws for 350, four touchdowns, and they lose. You got to win. I do agree with you on that.

And I'll throw this in. Let's say they don't have the light show, but they're four and two, five and one when Rishie gets back. maybe the light show comes back when he gets there. So I don't, like, as much as I want to see Mahomes be my homes, like coach said, it is ultimately about winning. Can I ask a slightly different question, same thing? Because I, I, we all seemingly agree.

I think the conversation surrounding the Chiefs will be more negative, like we'll be more concerned with a 1614 win. than a 3835 loss. 100%. Like that's, so we're saying one thing, but I think that the, I think the media narrative that is what will satiate, what, you know, the what's wrong with the Chiefs conversation is not,

because winning last year didn't, they were the last undefeated team, they went 15 and 1, and the conversation was it doesn't feel right. What people, what I think the fans or the media want to see is Patrick erred out and be, looked like the NBA. But not in loss. No, it's not. really bad is if they go out and give up a bunch of sacks.

Oh, yeah. That was a problem last year. They go out and the offensive line is a problem and Patrick's getting sacked at the rate that he was getting sacked at last year. And look, the charge has been pretty good in terms of rushing the past, but that's an issue. And I'm a little concerned. The offensive coordinator is talking about the read progression. And when he talks about it, he talks about how they're reading from high to low and how

they've been stressing it, which I understand. but sometimes with offensive coordinators they're looking for their next job. They're not necessarily always dialed in. Not that they're not dialed in, but the light show helps you get promoted. And to me, don't worry about

that. Just worry about which part of the progression is open. I think it's Patrick. Not necessarily. I think that's Nagy speaking on Patrick's behalf. He said I keep reminding Patrick about the progression being from high. I thought that's what it was. And look, I get it. You want to keep stressing, hey,

if we can take the top off, if we can take a shot, great. But the worst case scenario is you start pressing for those plays and now it leads to interceptions or more sacks or you're holding the ball or it hits, unnecessary hits. I don't think that's where we want to be either. We had both soft and hard data that Mahomes wants to do this. He's mentioned he's wanted to do it at the same time. He's obviously going to say anything to do to win.

The end of the Super Bowl, we joke around with it, but it did feel like I'm going to air it out. The game's over. I'm going to air this out. The very first play from training camp where he airs it out. And everyone's watching, he airs it out. His preseason games had longer yards

per attempt than they had in the pre-season. It feels like it's trending towards hey, I want to have this back in my arsenal rather than these short and sweet paths. So I think to coach's point, what I think was

the chiefs obviously dealt with massive injury to the skilled positions last year. I don't think that's as much of a reason as to why it was all short stuff as much as the offensive line issues, particularly the left tackle issue. And so I do think that if Patrick has time, he's going to take shots. And we'll see, you know what I mean? And so if they, where I would be concerned to coach's point, even in a win, would be if it's

like, oh, they don't have time to take shots down the field. Yeah, it's going to be another long season of him getting hit. And I'd like to see him run the ball more effectively than they did last year. What were they, 22nd in the league? And you can build a bunch of shots off of play-action passes. So if they can get any of that stuff going, there's real opportunities that open up, you know, off of that. Mahomes against the Chargers, week four, one by seven, week 14, one by two.

That was the dooint game. Oh, you're right. The backup kicker, doinked it in to win the division. Still counts. Ravens in Orchard Park on Sunday, fifth time in NFL history. The previous two MVP's have faced off in the opening game. Lamar and Josh, Lamar and Patrick, Trell Davis and Kurt Warner. Barry Sanders and Farf.

And that's an old school one. You like that one. Earl Campbell and Terry Bradshaw. I remember that game. I remember that. I remember that. Keep coming. All right.

So it's the consensus, at least in this studio, that Mahomes is Cuban. one out of all the QBs is the second best QB title belt up for grabs. It's like the Intercontinental title. Yeah, like that macho man. For the time being, yes. Wow. But the time being could be a couple of weeks. Because Josh, I don't know if you've looked at their schedule.

Now, it gets tough late in the season. If Josh goes out there and is outplayed by Lamar, guess what their next six games are? The Jets, the Dolphins, the Saints, the Patriots, the Falcons, and the Panthers. So he's gone, like, if he doesn't play well Sunday, he could go out in the next six weeks, you know, light it up. So four home games straight away. Yeah, and they got, I mean, they, you see how easy it is early on. Lamar is different because they obviously, they got Detroit in Week 3, then they got the Chiefs. But I just think these two, we know us a lot about the postseason,

but just focusing on the regular season, you know, Josh doesn't have the guy there like Derek Henry that's going to take some of his shine, but he also opens things up for Lamar too. So I think if Dionne Dawkins is right and Keon Coleman emerges as a star this year, and then you got Shakir be a great number two,

then maybe Josh's numbers really go up. He'll still have his nice runs. But yeah, like I said, I think for that this moment, it'll be like, oh, Lamar's the, you know, better. Josh is better. But then it'll play out over the rest of the season. Yeah, you could argue that this is the battle for the number two spot. And then you'd be justified in arguing it. But I think Burroughs got to be part of that conversation as we've talked about many, many times.

The most exciting thing to me about this game is we're going to get to see where, like what the personality these teams want their offenses to be. And that is always really interesting in the start of the season. I talk about this all the time. You go into the season with who you want to be, and then as a season evolves, and the good coaches figure out who you need to be. So that's what I'm really interested. Are we going to see Josh being conservative, which he was much more last year, which played really well? Are we going to see Josh from a couple of years ago where we had the high amount of interceptions, which guy, is he frustrated that he's not maybe as productive as he could be in terms of touchdowns? So that dynamic is more important than, you know, who's the

next best quarterback because without Joe in that conversation, it's hard to make a legit argument. No, I think you can make a legit argument, and I don't think this game will determine it. Josh Allen's second best quarterback in football. And Sunday night, while I think Sunday night's a hugely important game for the teams, it does not have much rather. to me as far as who I think is better between these two players. Is that based on the playoffs? No, it's honestly, it's based on all of it. Because it's not like Josh is, you know, average in the regular season.

He won league MVP last year. You know what I mean? I don't think when it comes to these two players, unlike in the conversation with Mahomes, you know, early in his career when he had Kelsey and Hill, not only do I think the weapons are comparable. I think as of late, Lamar's had the better one as of last year because, as Derek, Eric Henry. And the bills from the last year with Stefan Diggs to last year without Stefan Diggs haven't had to me an explosive weapon on the outside. I understand Dion Dawkins is,

you know, really promoting his guy and good for him. All believe Keon Coleman's going to be a star when he, you know, when we see him be a star. Do you think Josh got graded up last year because expectations were lower with the changeover receivers? See, I... The numbers weren't great. And Lamar got graded down because of the impact of Derek Henry. I don't know if you look. at all the numbers, you would say it's definitively Josh. Yeah, but if you looked at all the numbers to the two years prior, Lamar didn't have MVP numbers two years prior, but the team was great.

They were the one seed, and it felt like he had the impact, and he obviously, you know what I mean, didn't yet have Derek Henry to aid in the run game. And so I understand that piece of it. Last year, I think Josh got a sympathy MVP, or Justin Deservant, narrative is nonsense. Josh Allen made the undefeated Kansas Chiefs played the Buffalo Bills, and Josh Allen made the play of the NFL season in that run to beat them,

and then he did. The MVP isn't determined by who beats Kansas City. No, no, but it is. Coach, there are Heisman moments when it comes to the MVP, and so the point I'm making is that to me put Josh in poll position was that game, and then the fact that, they finished with a better record than Baltimore when people didn't think they had more talent than

Baltimore. Like, that to me was enough. And so, and then the other thing that helped Josh was the fake he passed, ran, and caught a touchdown stat, which was always fake, but people really liked it. I think the only, look, I think it's arguable, Josh,

the main argument for Josh to me is playoffs. Well, that, yeah, that's... I think that's the one argument. Sure. Well, that's not. Oh, I heard that. He's been better than Lamar in the play. Coach's keys to a Dallas upset next. Longhorns dropped from preseason number one to seven. Now goes Ohio State, Penn State.

Wow, Big Ten. LSU, Georgia, Miami, Oregon, and then Texas. Here's Tom Brady on Arch Manning's bounceback with Chris Collins. A lot of these guys are, they're so young, and they don't, with social media and Twitter and instant, I mean, you can, you know, make someone out look so great and you can tear them down so quick. There needs to be resilience built up in the quarterback as well. So even though he didn't have his best game today and they lost, if he uses this to his advantage, Arch, he's going to be tougher for it.

And he's going to have a better next game because of it. Okay. What are your updated expectations for Arch? Well, listen, I buy that from Tom. But I also think that the things that going into this game, we were thinking Heisman Trophy, number one overall pick. And I don't think it's reactionary to say, yeah, I don't think either one. of those now. Like not this year. The thing about number one overall pick, at least recent NFL

history, those guys had monster years. And we can show you their numbers. The two guys who didn't have like in, so Trevor that year missed half the year, but the previous year had insane numbers. Caleb had a good year, but the previous year even better. But everybody had like these insane walk-off seasons. You know, most of them won a Heisman trophy during their career. I think, oh, looking at it, yeah, the only one who didn't is Trevor, who finished in the top three, two or three times. And so I just, we're talking about this upcoming year's football season, this year's draft, I think that game because it counts and because it showed us where he is right now in his progression, that it's not realistic that he's all of a sudden going to, you know what I mean, go 35 touchdowns, four picks the rest of the year.

Looking at that list, I don't know if you want to be. drafted number one. Okay, well, okay. Outside of borough, I mean, he's the only right. Big show? Yeah. Okay, yeah, and fourth stop. Okay.

But I agree with Tom, and I think you do need to give Arch a little bit of grace here. To start at Ohio State in that facility against the defending national champions with that type of secondary, I mean, it's about as hard and ask as you can get. Now, I'm not making excuses for him, but I do think the last level of hype that went into his start, it was going to be hard outside of a perfect game for him to match the level of hype that people were expecting. And now how does he respond? If he's like his uncles and he takes a step back and evaluates it and continues to improve,

yeah, I don't think, could he be the number one pick this year? I'm not sure how that's going to play out, but can he still progress to where he's a really good player at some point and worthy of that type of distinction? Yeah, it was just, it's way too early and pretty big expectations for it. Yeah, like you guys, I agree with Brady. And I still think he'll be a very good player. I don't know if he'll come out in the draft this year or if it'll be next year. But where you and I differ, Nick, is I don't, I don't put as much stock for a quarterback into like they've been this tremendous high school player or even college.

I think we've seen so many quarterbacks who weren't even all that great in college. college. Tom Brady, obviously, Exhibit A. Josh. Yeah, Josh Allen. I mean, Mahomes, but he was a 10th, number 10 pick. Lamar was the last pick of the first round, right? Like, Aaron Roger. Like, it just, there's so many guys.

So I think people shouldn't overreact. And Tom struggled his first year in pro football where he was, he was doing post practice against the D.Bs. And I was out every day, and he was throwing in the dirt. And he'll tell you the amount. of work that he had to put into to become the player that he eventually became, because it wasn't even close to that when he first started. Brew, it's totally right that, you know, how you, how good or bad or mediocre you are

as a college player is only loosely correlated to how good you are as a pro, but it is directly correlated to where you're drafted. That's the point I made. No, that's... You know what I mean? I'm not saying being pick one, one is the end all be all. What I am saying is, we don't have, in recent history, an example of a guy who's picked 1-1-1 based on pedigree.

You know what I mean? It's pedigree plus the unbelievable performance in college. And I just don't. Yeah, 1-1. Yeah. You get like, you get projects. Yes. It literally, Drake May didn't have amazing college stats.

And third, you can, I'm just really, I'm truly talking about the first overall pick of the draft, which was the expectation for this kid. Now, maybe that was unfair, but that was the expectation going into that game that this kid could win the Heisman, be the number one pick, and it'd be surprising if he went back to school. Tears coming up next, debut of Tears, 2025.

Tears. We actually, one of these guys might be our quarterback. Live from New York, it's a show that would start a franchise with Drake May, but not over. Jaylon Hurts. Let's be honest with it. Who would you say...

Really? Over Patrick? No, I take over Josh. I'm just saying you start a franchise with him. I'm just curious. He would get one of my three votes. He would. So it would be Patrick, Jalen, Drake May.

Those would be your three votes? Over Lamar, over Josh. It would go Patrick. It would go Patrick, Lamar, Jalen, Josh, Joe Burrow. So Drake's wage. You don't get seven votes. Right, exactly.

I thought it was like ranked. I thought it was like MVP. Yeah. Second hour, first thing's first. I kind of painted myself. Today, the return of must win. Aaron Rogers headed back to New York, Justin Fields, playing his old defense from the practice squad, perhaps.

Meanwhile, are the Ravens getting too much respect? Yes. They got a ton of Super Bowl votes. It sprued. I think people saw the show. They saw a coach pick them. I also picked them. I also saw the show.

Coach and I haven't seen Super Bowl, all birds. But right now, oh, you're in for such a treat. Wait, what is your Super Bowl? Eagles over Ravens. The same? Wow. He's got the rewards. All birds, regardless.

So three. Last night in a smoky parlor, an elite group of former superstars, analysts, and people who know how to contact you, you can't contact them. Aw and Toil. Aw and toiled and burn the midnight oil to deliver the best segment in all of sports television. It's an honor.

It's a privilege. And I'm thrilled to say, welcome back to the first episode of 2025 tiers. KW. Yeah. I'm writing. Thank you for that introduction. Hold on a second. I'm writing something.

I think the next 30-ish minutes on this show are going to be the best TV we've done since the day after. for Super Bowl show. Tears into must win on the eve of the NFL season. We could just add a dash of how were the 49ers before Joe Montana got there. Oh, that's why you didn't like

the A block? I couldn't tell why Wilde was annoyed with us. But it's because as soon as Ronnie Lott gets mentioned Kevin Wilde's tune out. Check it on on a podcast. We will also be releasing that on cassette. 8 track.

Can I get to the tiers? Bottom of the tears. Get it together, Arch. So here's the deal. The latest mock drafts with Arch Manning not there anymore. It's names like Garrett Nussmeier, Lenoris Sellers, and Cave Club Nick. And I got to tell you, one of my least educated but believe in my bones take is 10% of being a great quarterback. He's having a great quarterback name.

Arch Manning is a great quarterback name. Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson. Not a lot of all-time great quarterbacks with funny names. Sorry Nussmeier, Clubnik. It doesn't inspire confidence. I'm just telling you. Dan Marino. Exactly.

And guess what? If Joey Harrington was Joseph Harrington, maybe a whole totally different career. Joey, it's not going to work. Drake May. Yeah, maybe. That's borderline. No, exactly. That works.

Caleb, Willey. It works. Jayden Daniels. Jayden Daniels. Yes, that works. It's got a floater. Tyler Shuck. I don't know.

It's a bad take. It's an Eastern step. It doesn't work. What are he talking about? That's a good name. Pretty good, man. Okay. All right, this is my point.

These teams are going to be looking for a quarterback. Cam Newton. Great name. John Elway. I just don't know to the moving it. Tom Brady. Joe Montan. Joe Madge.

I told you that. It's a great take. Donovan McNabb. I like it. Mike Vic. Michael Vick. Yes. We're going to be doing this.

These are all great days. We won't do it anymore. All right. You're going to do it. I'm not going to do it anymore. All right, next row. Boomer us, I got a bunch of I got a bunch of,

I'm going to put it up. I mean, whatever. That's the wrong. Sorry, Cam Ward. Great name, by the way. Exactly. Cam Ward. Yeah.

But whatever. Oddly trendy. I don't quite know why, but these four teams... Jackson Darth. These four teams are popping up in a lot of playoff pictures. This group has some of them. They're an oddly trendy group of teams that I don't... It's not that I don't believe in any of them.

I almost had the Falcons on playoff myself, but I can't quite figure out why they all of a sudden are popping up. At least there's a floor. And here's what I mean. I think Dak, if he's healthy, gives your team a floor. I think that Kevin O'Connell plus Brian Flores gives your team a floor, and Tomlin, obviously, gives your team a floor. I think those team's ceilings this year are incredible.

The ceiling and floor might be a one-bedroom, one-story house. But at least there's a floor. Boom or bust. Oh, no, sorry, that's not next. I spoiled my own thing. More than spoilers. I think all three of these teams are making the playoffs. And certainly, at least one of them

is going to be more than just, oh, late season spoiler. They're going to be playing late season meaningful games. I think everybody has the pats in the playoffs here except Brew, is that correct? I almost sold coach on the Raiders, couldn't quite. And you guys saw Greg almost went with the Jags, too. More than spoilers. All right.

Now, to the tier that I mentioned before, boom or bust, and here's what I mean. You can see how any of these four teams could boom. Like the Niners get above average instead of well below average health from their stars. Purdy gets back to, you know, doing what he did best, running Shanahan's offense and not trying to color outside the lines. CMC has a Sequin-like Christian McCaffrey-like impact. They're awesome.

The Chargers build on what they had last year. Herbert doesn't turn the ball over. You know what I mean? They do a hypnosis before a playoff game, tell them it's a regular season game. Broncos defense, the Bengals offense. We can see how they could boom. Any of these teams, though, that missed the playoffs because of the expectation going into the season, there's going to be some hard questions to answer about why,

either for the coach or the quarterback or for the team at large. Like, why did we not fulfill our expectations? You guys are going to hate this one? The student becomes the teacher, question mark? Oh, this is great. We all remember. We all remember CJ putting his arm around with Caleb and be like, let me teach you some things, young man.

For those that maybe don't remember is at that moment, CJ Stroud in his career, had 26 touchdowns, five picks, an 11 and 6 record, and a 101 passer rating. Since that moment, he has 17 touchdowns. 12 picks, a 7-and-7 record, and an 85-passer rating. I'm not saying those things are related, but I'm not saying they're not. And I do wonder if this year, if, you know, if the next time they play, if Caleb's not going to put his arm around CD, he'll be like, don't worry, man, it'll get better.

Stop taking those hits. Yeah. Isn't that what he said doing? Dangerous in the dance. No, we don't have time for this. We don't have time for it. Guys, we're doing tears. Please do not come out right now.

Guys, don't worry about the doorbell. We don't have time for it. We're doing tears. Thank you, though. That was a real. I was scared. I know. The bucks and the Rams.

Ruin a good segment. You know, it's always awkward when, you know, your ex and your current are in the same room together. But this is where they are. Goodness. And for what these two teams have in common is, nobody wants to see either of their quarterbacks or their offenses in the playoffs. Like, you guys can say, you guys can say, that I'm too high on Baker. Baker's postseason numbers speak for themselves.

And no matter how many times Bruce yells the name, Jaquosky Tart, Matt Stafford's postseason number speak for themselves as well. The Hunters, these are the three NFC teams trying to run down the Philadelphia Eagles. These are the three teams that make the Eagles the hunted. The Packers, adding Parsons, the Lions, who I think believed they were the best team in the NFC last year.

They just had a bad time to have their worst day. The commanders who obviously were not as good as Philly last year but are ascending and were way, way ahead of schedule. All those teams believe this year they can be the NFC representative in the Super Bowl. This is a prestigious tier. And I know Sean McDermott's talked a lot about how hard it is to make four straight Super Bowls, how no one's going to do that again. I don't know if anyone's going to do what these two teams have done again. Five-time defending off-season champions, the Bills and the Ravens. like Ali Frazier of fake off-season awards.

Like they just go back and forth. Who's the team to beat? Who's got the best roster? Who's got the best quarterback? It's five years in a row those two teams. That's almost as impressive as being the three-time defending conference champion Kansas City Chiefs. This is why it's a committee.

Rules or rules. The rules of the tiers are very simple. We don't have many. One of them is, however. the first tiers after a Super Bowl and the first tears before a season, the defending champion is atop the tiers. We've never broken that rule.

People were like, oh, Nick, it's a Chief's tears. No, it's just the Chiefs win all the Super Bowls typically. It's not this year. So the Eagles, for at least this week, are atop the tiers. Can I ask you a question before we open it up for discussion? I'd love it.

Let's say the Eagles win and the Chiefs. The Chiefs, they both win 2414. Okay. And they both look, and everything looks identical. Well, it would be hard because the Chiefs are playing, you know, they're not at home, they're in another country, they're playing a much better team, they're not playing a team as a straightaway their best player.

So again, it's a rich tapestry, and we'd have to see. But if what you're describing is if they both, if they were to have the exact same amount of yards, the exact same amount of yards given up, the exact same score, but the Eagles are playing a beaten, battered, Cowboys team at home while the Chiefs are playing a team that a lot of people think can, you know, make the conference championship game in Brazil. I mean, I don't know. How are you a beaten battered Cowboys team in game once?

I'm just, there's eight and a half. I'm just telling you. I know they're going to be eight and a half now. Holy. They're eight and a half points. That's too much. So I don't know. But again, I can't speak for the committee.

Okay, yeah, of course. I don't know. I mean, but if your question is, are the Eagles guaranteed to stay atop the tiers as long as they are undefeated? No, if they win 3-0. So, yeah, that would be, no. Probably not. Okay, but yeah. All right.

Thank you. So as much I usually disagree with the tears, I always love the categories. Oh, that are. Again, they are always fantastic. Marshall's sneaky tiers MVP. Really, really fantastic. And, Wiles, I'm not going to do any ore farming here. This is, I'm just going to tell you the why.

The why the Giants should be moved up from where they are to where Jacksonville is. And let me just point out some facts. So you got Tyrone Tracy, 4.4 yards of carry last year. Scataboo, like him a lot. Malik neighbors, 109 receptions, arguably one of the top four or five receivers in the league. All that's just good as Brian Thomas. I think he has a chance that he'd be even better than he was last year. Andrew Thomas left tackle.

He's coming back. Theo Johnson, you don't know much about him, but you might want to put him on every fantasy team. The tight end is better than you think. And then you've got Michael Parsons, who we talk about all the time, but a lot of people feel that Abdul Carter's got a chance to be like that. There's that. Well, we'll run defender or everybody hates and they trade away. Maybe he'll be a little bit better against the run.

But let me just show you this random stat that I think you'll enjoy. Okay. So of the last 18, since 2009, outscore the preseason opponent by 60 points of those previous seven teams, six made the playoffs, two won the Super Bowl. From the Super Bowl, average 11.1 wins, and Russell Wilson was the QB for two of those 17. That is a, so I'm not saying. That's a good stat. I'm not saying it means anything, but it might mean something.

That's impressive. That is a perfect something or nothing stat right there. Okay, so I'm, here's the only problem. There's no problem. It was perfect. I respect, no, it mostly was. It's, and I'm going to put it on the producers. Then bullying you into making this somehow anti-Trever propaganda is unfair.

You always like, what do you want to do? It's not anti-Tremor. No, here's the thing, KW. It's pro-reality. You're confused. On the mountain. Oh, yeah. If one goes up, one must go down because it is a mountain.

Rest versus Roast. Yes. I'm rusty. In tears, just say bump giants up. I forgot we could do that. There's not a quantity per row. We don't have to blow out the giant. I forgot.

Jags handled a. I wanted to bring him down. All right. I didn't get bullied. Yeah. Go ahead. I do think the Rams are too high, but I don't want to continue to kick on Matthew Stafford in his team. So I'm leaving him alone.

You got to get off this Raiders kit, me. Like, I'm sorry, the Raiders are not going to be good this year. All right. Look at where they are. Yeah, that's too high. All right. They, they, Ashton, Genty, I like him. He's going to have trouble finding holes to run through.

The receiving core, if you think Amari Cooper is going to bounce back and have a renaissance year, good luck with that one. They got, Gino's got, he got tight ends, but not the receivers. I don't think that are great. The defense, how's it? And coach, I think, is with me. I'm about culture. I told you, I believed in the Ravens defense coming along because it's the culture. Well, you know what the coach is.

is with the Raiders. One time in the last 18 seasons, have they had a team that was in the top 20, or inside the top 20 defensively? Once in the last 18 years. So they're not going to be good defensively. So I think they're the worst team in a very tough division. So I got to move the Raiders down.

And I'm moving the Steelers up. I know I don't have to, but I'm switching those teams. Because I do think the Steelers not going to make the playoffs, but I think they're going to win nine, ten games and be competitive in the hunt. So that's my. Coach.

If you had a team that really struggled, historically speaking, with defense, do you think maybe adding a fringe Hall of Fame coach who made his name on defense to multiple stops for maybe a good first step? He did a Legion of something? Yeah, Legion of Boom seems like, you know, that maybe that's a way.

That's a good first step. Exactly. And if you don't have How many tackles is he don't have? If you're a team that just doesn't yet have explosive receivers, would having great tight ends and a top five pick running back maybe makes sense? I don't know. Seems like a good idea. I'm not, listen, I'm a Chiefs fan. I've hated the Raiders my whole life, but I see it how I see it.

Last week we had a meeting. Oh, this guy. And it wasn't prescriptive, which I appreciate it. But I was like, hey, I want to talk about Cam Ward and Titans. And they're like, Wilde, we know you're the Cam Ward guy. It's obvious on the show. You're the Cam Ward guy. And as Cam rises, so will your career. Yeah.

It'll be like me with you. No, Holmes has done for me. Exactly. Once Cam Watton gets really good, you'll let him go. No, no. You'll be on to the next project. They say, but Kevin, right now the Titans are not super interesting nationally. Do you have another idea for tears?

And I said, I do. I'm moving the Panthers up. Nice. I like it. You should have stuck with the times. I'm moving the Panthers up, and also I'm moving the Jags down. Again, I forgot this was not. I forgot that we didn't have to bang on the Jags to move the Panthers up. But I wanted to move the Panthers up.

But stay tuned. There is a Mahomes highlight coming up. Okay. I baked in Mahomes. First of all, Kevin, why are you doing this? One, I believe in Bryce. Bryce is not only a good quarterback, also a nice guy every time we run into him,

run into him at the Super Bowl. He had a nice little, not even Renaissance, just a first Sons. Sons. Nassants. He started to get good again since maybe a Renaissance from Alabama. But last three games were good. Now he also added T-MAC,

as a first round weapon. So how do top 10 wide receivers usually do? Thousand yards, 80 catches, six touchdowns. He is going to take the spot in the lineup that Adam Thielen had, who had 615 yards, 48 catches. So that's it. It's not a massive leap, but it's a, you don't need a massive leap.

And why is that? Because I know when you look back and you're doing your tears for this year, you're kind of skipping over. The Panthers, you're just like, oh, the Panthers are no good. Yeah. Really?

Really. They were good at the last, look at this. This is 2727 with under a minute left, and Mahomes does something Mahomesian, so be it. You lose this game, and you have a few blowouts on your record last year, but this one was close.

The next game, they played the Bucks. Everybody loves the Bucks, And what was the score? They were up three with 30 seconds to go. Defense couldn't get a stop. Baker gets a field goal. Then they had another field goal after oddly they fumbled the ball. Then they lost to Philly, 2216.

Close. Close. Margins. That's what we're talking about. Margins. Yeah, that was the game that A.J. Brown got mad after. I was like, we need to be better passing the ball. And why is that?

Because only scoring 22 against Carolina is so mortifying. Exactly, because everyone doesn't believe in Carolina. Turns out Carolina pretty good. All those scenes took them lightly. If AJ Brown was like, man, this Carolina team played Mahomes to a standstill and then the bake show with his 40 touchdown played them neck and neck, we're lucky to get out of there with a win. Maybe that wouldn't have inspired Jalen Hertz to have that big game against the Steelers. You got him in the playoffs, don't you? Yes, I do.

Nice. Because I believe in them. Panthers up, Jags down. Why are to put the Jags down? And that. completes our Carolina Panthers coverage for the 2025 NFL season. I'm telling you, watch out. There will be more.

There won't be more. Yes. And you get the numbers in Carolina's local bad. Welcome back to first things first. It's time now for the most confusing segment in all of television must win. Now, I know what you're thinking. Must win.

What? What? You foolish? None of these teams are going to be eliminated. I understand that. They don't have to win, okay? It's like you don't have to buy your wife flowers on Valentine's Day. You don't have to, but you have to.

That's your own personal version of must win. Also, it will be scored, so you will be getting the best out of brew, the best out of coach, and you are always good. Oh, that's the nicest thing you ever said. Wow. You're just always at 100%, but these guys go to it. You're just like Patrick Mahomes and these guys in Super Bowl. And these guys are like Jalen Hertz. Like, oh, my God, I didn't know you could be that good.

Must win. Explain it? I just explained it. No, that's what I mean. I'm always scoring segments in my head. That's why. After each segment, I determine a win. You don't really change that much.

And so for me, the stakes are the same. Steelers at Jets, the QB swap. Oh, only happened one other time, coach. Josh went into the archives, went head-to-head right after switching teams with each other. Aaron Rogers and Justin Fields and, of course, Stafford versus golf. Of course, it's in the Super Bowl era. We're going to look at it through Rogers lens. Rogers back in New York.

Brew, you are the defending must-win champion. You want to go first? Did you go on? This disputed. I really did think it was coached. I seriously thought of it. Well, Coach has a nice little running upset of a little rig. Every other week.

Coch certainly in the highest winning percentage. I got a family. I can't move to New York. Rudy, you want to go first or run the anchor leg? I'll go first on this one. This is an absolute no-brainer must-win for Aaron Rogers. It's not even a must play well. He must win.

Even if he doesn't play well, they must win. Why. Vives in Pittsburgh are high. I've heard players coming out or commentators, former players watching practice saying he's back. He looks like the old Aaron Rogers. The players, I mean, they get it. He's 41, but he's a future Hall of Fame.

He's one of the best to ever sling it. The players believe they're like, finally we have a quarterback. It reminds me of when the Jets were two in one last year. They lost the first game to San Francisco. You think, okay, the Niners are good. Then they beat Tennessee, somebody else. They're two and oh.

They beat New England. And New England had beaten Cincinnati. So you're thinking, remember Rogers came out with that snide remark? I don't remember exactly what he said, but he was like, yeah. Now we have to figure out how to handle success. Yes, yes, there it is. Vives were high. They lost the next five games, and that was it.

The season was over. Right now, vibes are high. You lose to the Jets. Like, this is week one, but you're, you lose to the freaking jets and a team that all your teammates in Pittsburgh know you got to beat because that's where you were last year, that could ruin the whole season. So it's a muscle. I love the way you pander to the judge right off the bat with the vibes are high. He's a vibes. We all know that. All right. To me, this is a must start the way he finished.

And it's a little known fact. You guys, I don't remember. His last game in MetLife, 23 of 36, 274 yards. How many touchdowns? Four touchdowns. One interception. Beat the Miami Dolphins to give them a losing record. He got Mike Tomlin, the longest tenured head coach in the NFL, against a rookie head coach.

You've got familiarity. He's got more familiarity with MetLife than he does in Pittsburgh, and he knows the personnel. Add to the fact that the Jets are paying him more in dead money than the Steelers are, he's got to perform the way that he finished. I like that. I like that. I mean, four touchdowns, one interceptions last game, right?

But the vibes. You guys are all correct, but for the wrong reason. Brew's talking vibes, you're talking about last year's season against a, who doesn't beat the dolphins in cold weather in January? Give me a break. Of course. Four touches. There are only a handful of games all year where Aaron will defeat.

Aaron will definitively be the better quarterback on the field. And this generously, I will give him as one of those games. They have seven games against Baltimore, Cincinnati, Detroit, Buffalo, and Green Bay. So those seven are out. Then you then have four more against the Chargers, the Patriots, the Seahawks, and the Bears, where he might not be the best quarterback on the field. Yeah, and so when you have only six games all year where you have an edge at the spot that was your big offseason edition

and you're a road favorite, one of the only times you're going to be all year except for your game at Cleveland. You must win. Forget Rogers for the team to have a chance to make the playoffs in the AFC North. It's a must win. One nothing, coach.

Next up, Trey Hendrickson's teammate, Joe Burrow. Trey Hendrickson's teammate is how you called him. It is. He is. Lots of praise for putting up huge numbers in missing the playoffs. He struggled against the Browns early.

But better lately. Last year he was 2-0. Passing yards went down, but five touchdowns, no interception. Passer rating. Now at 122. From 2020 to 2023, is that 86? Coach, you were up first. For Joe Burrow, is this a must-win game? To me, this is a must-change-the-narrative game for them. And all they've been talking about is how they're so sick about how everybody talks about their slow starts. or here's their opportunity to start fast. Here's their opportunity to change the narrative against the Browns. So career against the Browns, he's 3 and 5. Here's his opportunity with all the money spent on the offense, all the weapons that he has, not just wide receivers,

tight ends, backs, offensive line to start his MVP run, which will happen. Which coach predicted. KW, I don't know that we should have necessarily included this game because this is almost like having a playoff game and must win. Because this is a literal must win for Joe Burrow for his head coach's sake. If they lose this week, the coach enters week two against, because people don't believe in the Jags the way I do,

where people feel like, well, if we start 0-2 against Brown's Jags, with the next four being at Minnesota, at Denver, home for Detroit, at Green Bay, that is Zach Taylor going to skyrocket up those first coach fired rankings? Again, he has not gotten his... much scrutiny as you would think a coach would get from missing the playoffs and back-to-back years when they have Super Bowl expectations because, unlike Coach Manjini, a lot of folks in the media are like, ah, he's an offensive head coach, not his job to coach the whole team.

Like, they don't put any of the blame on him. If they lose to the Browns, when no one has any expectations for the Browns, they face a very frisky Jags team in week two with all the pressure on them. They have to start one and up. Excellent. Absolutely a must win. Because here's why, there's nothing worse than having an aha moment become, it really wasn't an aha moment. And all offseason, Zach Taylor, Joe Burrow, they met and they both were like, aha, we got it.

We know why we're one in nine in weeks one and two. We haven't been playing in the preseason. That was the aha moment. They played in the preseason this year, and if they go out there and lose the first game again, your aha moment was, what was that? We misread it. Not to mention it puts you in a bad spot for the playoffs. So, yeah.

If you're there. Thank you. Thank you. There wasn't a lot there, but he made it work. It's the theatres. He made it work. Whatever it takes, baby. That wasn't.

I don't know if you're used it. That was not. That was a terrible comment. It was like a pop song with like the lyrics or nothing, but like I like it. It was like, get up and move. No suspect. Slammon beat. It was just another.

It was all about, ah ha. Yeah, I was like, ah ha. I know the judge. You look at the lyrics like, what, that's song of the year? I'm out here talking about my wife. There's a lot of songs like, a lot of pop song. Okay. Next up, you've got your chance. You're going first year. Vikings at Bears, friend of the show when Danny Parkins is on, Ben Johnson, making his debut against the Vikings in J.J. McCarthy.

Division foe that he handled with ease as the Lions OC, 5 and 0, 400 yards and over 31 points. This guy's out here. Is this a must win for Caleb? All right. This is where I'm really going to test your integrity as a judge. Sure. If you're grading the point that's the best or the point that appeals to your priors. It's a little bit of everything. Okay.

I hope that you actually appeal to your priors on this one. No, it's definitely not a must win. And in fact, by Kevin Wilde's own metric, Caleb is allowed to turn the ball over a couple times, struggle really on offense, and then tell J.J. McCarthy would have. six scheme Brian Flores has. And if anyone criticizes him for it,

they're a bad guy. Because Brian Flores, and I quote, does have a sixth scheme and you shouldn't have led with that point, Nick. But Benney Johnson has figured it out. For 100 yards. Right, but the great Kyle Shanahan and Brock Purdy couldn't. I don't know. I'm just, no, the standard

has been set by the judge here that any poor quarterback performance against the Vikings is totally acceptable and okay because Brian Flores is exotic Blitz schemes. Listen, he's no Matt Patricia at Ohio State, but he's something. And so no, it's not a must win for Caleb Williams against the 14 win Minnesota Vikings. Clever take? No, this one is down to me and coach. Brat Purdy had been in the Super Bowl. Bob Brad Purdy had walked off the

Super Bowl with a lead against the great Patrick Mahomes when he said, oh, wow, they had a good scheme. So it's totally different. This is an absolute must win. You're facing a second year quarterback just like yourself, although that quarterback has never played. He's basically a rookie, J.J. McCarthy. So if you get beat by him and you've got the offensive coordinator that is saw Brian Flores' defense, and not to mention just about all the other quarterbacks in your class,

for the time being, have passed you. We saw that scale. All the executives voted a couple of, segments ago, Jaden Daniels got a lot of votes. He got more than Lamar. Bo Nix got a vote. Drake May got a vote.

You know who didn't get a vote? Caleb. And then if J.J. McCarthy comes out there first game and outplays you and beats you, oh, no, there's no way that can happen. And it's in Chicago, too. It's at home. They're already thinking about badging.

You think the noise is loud now? It's not loud now, I don't think. All right. It will be if they lose the freaking J.J. McCarthy. Where's the noise about Tyson, this is his, he loves that. This is his Cooper Rush thing. Oh, yeah.

He heard it from somewhere. Yeah. Beijing got a nice guy. He did get a nice guy. He did. Not to be a sturdy, no he did. I mean, for a backup.

For a backup. Yeah, I'm glad you guys played on this question, but it's an absolute must win. And we talked about Ben Johnson. And the way he's figured out this defense, that's great. But now add to the fact how he played the last time he played Minnesota in Chicago. It was one of his best games of the season.

He had 340 yards passing. He was 32 for 47, had two touchdowns, no interceptions, over 100 quarterback rating. He figured out Minnesota's defense last year in Chicago. Now you had Ben Johnson, now you had the rookie quarterback on the other side of it. This is absolutely a must win for him. Do you say we have one more or is this the final one? The bonus. This is the last one, the score.

Coach, you did an excellent job saying it was a must win. No one brought that up. Obviously, we all said it must win. There was only one person brave enough to say out of all of these that it wasn't a must win and it was the money ball. The surprise victor of episode one of must win is Nick Wright. Wow! Starting the year off with a bang. Coming up after the break.

Wow. It's just shocked out. Houston, we have a problem, trademark. Wow. You're judging. Because Nick played up to your ego. No, we just say over and over and you said it. Afternoon headlines, sponsored by Hillgarten in, Hilton.

It's for the stay. Ravens got 16 of 29. 29 votes from NFL.com's analysts. Far and away, the most. Poor Bill's got five, Chiefs got three. Well, yeah. It's more than every other team combined. Seems absurd.

Only one person thinks the Eagles are going to win. Brew, does Baltimore deserve this much respect? Also, do you feel like not special anymore? No, I feel very certain. When did this come out? Today, I believe. Okay. was my pick.

That's a good point. When did coach pick the Ravens? Yeah, you're right. Predictions. I picked first. Yeah, you picked them a full year ahead of time. But I doubled down. This year I picked them, then coach.

Uh-huh. Without seeing my pick them, right? Pick them. And now all these executives picked them. Look, 16 to 29 is high. But I think, Nick, look, they do have, I think most people would say the best roster in the AFC and arguably the league.

And I think Nick, it boils down to people are like, look, Lamar is so good. He's going to win at some point. It just historically, I mean, everybody that's won a couple of MVPs has won eventually. So I think they feel like this is, he's got to win at some point. So this is a year. And Chiefs went to three straight Super Bowls. Only one team's ever done four straight. Right.

So they're taking them out. So, yeah, I think. So, I understand. understand that a lot of the smartest people, like highest IQ, that cover the NFL, are very pot committed to the take that results schmultz. Like, I mean, playoff metal, clutch, those are things. Thanks, okay, Boomer, thanks for that take. But we can actually, I don't know.

But, you know, if you really understand the game, you understand that the Ravens and specifically Lamar's playoff shortcomings are nothing but bad luck and bad timing and small sample size theater. I get it. I'm a Neanderthal. I think that some guys play better in big spots. Some guys play worse. The, but what I would ask is this. if we are now for at least the second and maybe the third consecutive season entering a season where the general consensus is, that team in Purple's got the most talent, they've got the experience, they are the favorite, that if they once again do what they've always done, which is not only not win the Super Bowl, most years not come particularly. particularly close to winning the Super Bowl

and no years make the Super Bowl, is there going to be any introspection or any accountability? Not for the players, for the take artists out there. If ever, and I mean, the, the, because Brew has been honest

about what, what you think is happening, which is that their best guy has not played his best in the biggest spots. But that is, it's not as controversial to take his mind, but that's not, the, the take is, it's just been bad luck in action. Actually, when you really crunch the EPA,

Lamar was amazing in that playoff game if you throw away the two turnovers. And so I'm just, it is always, I would never have thought there would be a time where the Mori-hardened Rockets would be the pick over the field going into a season. But that's where we're at. And so you've got the MVP multiple-time MVP, the best record in the sport a couple of years ago. You've got everything in front of you've just gotten unlucky. You missed 27 straight threes.

What are you going to do? Then next year is their year. Okay, and if it's not, what is it? That's the only thing I, that's the only question I have for everyone. It's not bad. It's not bad take. Where are you at? I'm a Lamar guy.

Well, you got the Ray. But he's basically, that was basically a Jalen Hertz take. That was a Jalen Hertz take with Chiefs, you know, wrapping paper on it. More first things first coming up at five. Thank you. Hey, how's it going? Chad, Danny, Chad. How's it going, man?

Nice to meet you. Is that a new suit, Danny? This is a new suit? It's a blazer. It's a blazer. San Jose? Get out here. So what 12th team did you do?

What 12 cities? I couldn't come up with it. I was saying it didn't count. What are you talking about? I was saying it didn't count. 12 cities that have all wars sports. That's awesome. Oh, San Jose is a tough one.

Well, San Francisco is what it is. They're giving San Francisco San Jose. Yeah, Casey's. I wouldn't count that. My second home. My mom's family's from my wife, my wife, San Jose from there. I did.

If you fly into San Francisco, it's 50 minutes, 50 minutes, and if you fly into San Jose, it's 40 minutes. Oh. But they, you know what I mean? But they're not, the cities aren't 10 minutes apart. You know what I mean, but it's just the- Anyone mind if I'd go, you know, cover the lead.

What's your men's wear brand? If we had Sacramento, then Golden State, we drive. Just for fun, you know, drive from Saturday. I don't know if I've heard anybody yet. So go through saying, I got to think of her. Nautica. You know, because you do a bunch of, like, research. Get to, like, flyer.

First Things First is sponsored by Ram Trucks. Live from New York, third hour at First Things First, and it's the show that promises you that if you want some hot, just scorching takes on the 49ers pre-Joe Montana, you missed the show by two hours. If you really are like, ooh, oh, Eagles Cowboys coming up in about 28 hours, what's going on with Alex Smith's legacy, you in Kansas City? You've got to go back to 3 o'clock.

At 5 o'clock, we're going to talk about what's happening now in the sports site guise. But there are some, oh, there are some primo evergreen sports content at 3, about 12 in the podcast. We'll also be released on vinyl. Did you like it? I thought it was fantastic. I thought it was great. It actually was sneaky good. I loved it.

Thank you, Danny. Brew sang to Nick that's an unacceptable opinion. You're going to hear that the next 20 NFL songways. Brew would you get Brew going on like. It was so great. Brew, I don't know. It's like you want to do like Cowboys Eagles. You want to do like Lawrence Taylor, Reggie White.

He's like, I'm interested in that. That is a good comment. Just quickly. just at any point. Be like, Isaiah Thomas, Rank him. Third hour.

That was a good discussion. I agree. It was great. Today is an Aaron Rogers Renaissance on the board and will it start in New York again.

We've had that conversation a few times. Meanwhile, the three stats that you have to hear. It is the pulp fiction of segments. The suitcase statistics

with Danny Park. suitcase stats. Nope. Suitcase statistics, that's better? You tell me. I'm trying to get the words. I'm trying to get the pulp fiction of sub. All right.

Well, you're the leader of the show. Packed stats. Packed stats. You like that? Suitcase stats isn't bad. It's more of a briefcase. Okay, we'll get there. Right now.

Josh Allen, preparing for the Ravens on Sunday night. And also preparing mentally for the Super Bowl parade. Here is a cleared, the rare, cleared clip from Hard Knocks. Take a listen. I can see the parade. I can feel it. I can, you know, five degrees brisk rolling down here in the bus roll over all the salt and the ice. Thousands upon thousands of fans filling up downtown Buffalo.

I can see where we're going up on the steps at City Hall. Like, I see it all. So you've got to make it turn it into reality. Okay, Brew. Are the bills officially asked Bob, and did you like what you saw there from Josh Allen? I like Josh Allen. I want Lamar to get his first.

Mahomes is going to get some more. I want to see Josh get one eventually. He went too far. Oh. I mean, you know, like... Visualization. Visualize your season opener. Oh, God.

I don't even. I even think you should be visualizing a playoff game against the Chiefs yet. Like, I think he went too far. It's cold out. It's five degrees. It's the ice is on the road. And I just, I just think he went too far.

Now, S. Bob, is that even up for debate? They're absolutely S. Bob. And I think because of their history, it's not just get to the Super Bowl. It's winning. They've been there before.

We know they went four straight times. Because of the pain associated with just getting there but not closing the deal, I think they are, we got to win it. And it's absolutely, he's SBOP every year until he wins one. I agree with that completely. They're the most S-Bob team. There are other- Even more than the Ravens, you think?

I do because they've been better than the Ravens longer. Josh Allen is the second best player in football to Mahomes and has been for the last five years. And I look at Buffalo as a Super Bowl for them with Josh Allen is inevitable. It's not necessarily this year. Obviously, I picked them to do it this year. But they have been so clearly the best regular season team in the NFL. How many one seats do they have? None.

This is a zero? That's weird for the best regular season in the NFL. They've bludgeoned their opponents the last five years. We've division. Yeah, absolutely. Which is why this year I do think they get the one seed. and I looked up that you could clinch a division as early as week 11 in Annabelle history. I think they're going to laugh the AFC East.

But the thing that they have going for them that Baltimore doesn't is while Lamar has gotten better, we have legitimate questions and data. And Nick, you talk about it all the time of, like, Lamar playing his worst game at the worst time. That is not something that Buffalo fans have to worry about. They know that, like, if they get into the playoffs, Josh Allen is going to deliver. Yeah, until the final drive down three or, you know. Against the chips. Listen.

A couple of years in a row, he's had struggled in that spot. Fair enough. I agree with that. You kind of ever like, that gets glossed over. Yeah. But even post-failed tush-bush. Duh. Just, go ahead.

Boiling it down to the sample of like one drive executing or not. Does not say that that guy is not going to show up in the playoffs. No, he does. Listen, listen. He's an excellent playoff performer. He is. So, yes. Objectively.

Yes. Yes. There are a little slight addendums. would put on it. One is he more than any player literally in NFL history has either been subjected, either been hurt by or benefited from the lack of the two seed getting a buy. So because they have he throughout NFL history when you've been as good as the bills and Josh Allen, you don't play around one playoff game until recently. They've been the two seed consistently and gotten these absolute trademark brew tomato cans in round one that he has, whether it was the Patriots

or the Steelers, the Dolphins one year that snuck in. I mean, he has that game against the Chiefs, the right where he had four touchdowns, 300 yards, a loss in overtime. No, no, no. So listen, that's right. It's a great game. No, that it's having to be a loss. Correct.

And that game, he was great throughout and delivered and delivered and delivered. It is true that the last two years, it was the story of the story of the the bill's season ending was not, man, Patrick Mahomes. Patrick was great in those games. But in both of those games, Josh had the ball. Josh had the ball and the time was dwindling enough to where Patrick might not get it back. And two years ago, Josh had the ball and drove him two field goal range, but not give me range, two field goal range, and they missed.

And last year he got the ball with 333 on the clock, with three timeouts, down three. and they went 17 yards. And so, again, I agree with you that he's second best player in the league. I agree with you the bills are going to be excellent this year. I also think if I am going to be fair for my criticisms of Lamar in the postseason, I can't act like Josh has been.

There are no question marks. Josh has been much about him at the game of the playoffs. Listen, I think 100%. But if I can answer the question quickly, I actually don't think there are, Rob. Wow. I think that they can't lose to Kansas City

and Kansas City can't make it. But I think if they, if Baltimore beats Kansas City in round two, if that's how it breaks, and Buffalo plays Baltimore in the AFC championship game, and then Baltimore beats Buffalo, I don't think it is franchise devastating. I think if Kansas City beats Buffalo in the playoffs again, that is franchise devastating.

And I think if Kansas City, honestly, and you guys say this is unfair, I don't care. Sean McDermott, he said it. He's a grown man. He knows the score of everything. Sean McDermott, whether he meant to or not, I don't know that he guaranteed the bills were making the Super Bowl. He did guarantee two times yesterday. The Chiefs were not.

Here's the audio of him talking about the great people of Western New York and all they've been through. And just because it didn't work out, four years in a row. Nobody's ever going to do that again. They don't know how hard that is to get to four straight Super Bowls. It'll never happen again. He's not...

Well, yeah, he didn't. I mean... How many Super Bowls have the Chiefs been two in a row? I don't think he was thinking about the Chiefs have been to in a row. I feel like he's just like... Couldn't you argue... Nobody's ever going to do that again. But couldn't you argue that... That's fair. It's fair. I hate to admit. But he was talking

about a team losing all four? That's not what he said. He said, nobody talks about how hard it is to get to four straight. Nobody's ever going to do it again. He then had a moment and he said it again. So I'm just saying, I don't know what his crystal ball is, but I do know it doesn't have the chiefs winning the conference. He told us it's impossible.

No one's ever going to do it again when the chiefs are three quarters of the way there. So I don't know. I just think they can't lose to Kansas City. I think that's what they can't do, Danny. I think it's far more devastating. Like the scenario you painted, it wouldn't be as devastating to lose to the Ravens. Now, maybe losing to somebody else other than the Chiefs or the Ravens. Like, if they lost to Houston or something, then that would be devastating.

Yeah. I think the Ravens, because they're kind of both pretty equal, that would hurt as much. To Joe Burrow in Buffalo when they scored, I think, 10 points in that playoff game. Like, or maybe it was 17. I think it was 10. Like, that wasn't a good. That's the only point I'm making about Josh, Danny. I think he has been an A-Triple plus when the double-plus when the,

bills are touchdown favorites in the playoffs, and he's been a B plus A minus when they've had equipped, when they, it's been a fair fight. That's the, that's the point that I'm making. It's pretty good. It's pretty good. Most guys as underdogs would take A minus. Moving on to Jerry Jones. He was on Good Morning America this morning and was talking about how the Cowboys will get better because of the Micah Parsons trade. Take a listen. We have two kinds of capital or currency in the NFL. One of them is draft picks, and the other is the financial, because every team is limited to the same amount of resources to spend. And having said that, Micah enabled us to have four, possibly as many as six players for the future. That's a good

trade when you need numbers. I'll take the numbers every time. Okay, so a lot of talk about the future of the Dallas Cowboys. Danny, do you think there's a chance that we are sleeping on Thursdays Dallas Cowboys. No, they're a big underdog, and they deserve to be. They're probably going to lose on picking them to lose. But there is one path that I can see to Dallas winning the game. And it's not just some like pie in the sky, turnover luck, injury, any given Sunday or any given Thursday type of thing.

We might be overlooking all of the losses on Philly's defense. Like, it's possible that Philly's defense is merely good and very young. young and will get better over the course of the year as they get coached up by Vic Fangio. But they lost C.J. Gardner Johnson, Darius Slay, Isaiah Rogers, and Avanti Maddox just from their secondary. Then you add in Josh Sweat and Milton Williams. It's almost 4,400 snaps. Brandon Graham, too, who retired. He wasn't a huge contributor, but he's a leader at the very least. And NCOBE Dean is out until at least week five. So it's the youngest defense in the NFL. and Dallas is a year removed from being the highest scoring team in the NFL.

They led the league in points two years ago. And they've added George Pickens. So if you have real questions about Philly's secondary, and that is like the only question really in Philadelphia and the youth of their defense, and DAC now has Pickens and C.D. Lamb, maybe they can win a shootout. To me, that's the only, we're not coming in here Friday morning and be like, wow, Dallas won 1917. Like that's off the table. Not going to shut down the run game.

Now they got rid of that dredge Michael Parsons just undermining their whole defense. But like 30, 27 and DAC has 400 yards? Yeah. But I'm just saying like that. That's the only path I see to a victory for Dallas. Now, yeah, I mean, look, I think they're going to get housed in the opener. They're coming off seven wins. Philly's not going to take them lightly.

I think Philly's attitude, like they're going to be focused. focused in on them. I agree that Dallas, the offense could be good, but how are they going to stop Philly? That's what I guess. Shootout's the only scenario. Yeah. So, it's sealing for this season, look, for the Cowboys, if we're talking about the season, I think, I don't think they'll make the playoffs. We know I didn't pick them. But if Washington, Jaden does have a sophomore slump, they come back to, to, you know, Earth, so to speak, have a bad year. Dallas could finish second in the division based on, I'm just saying if you want to know what their ceiling is, like I wouldn't be completely shocked if they did make the players.

I'm not picking them. Wow. But I think if they, you don't think their ceiling is the playoffs? Well, listen, I think they're going to have, I think the, let me do both. I totally agree with the only, the only game script that is a Cowboys win is an over.

and DAC, you know what I mean? DAC crushes. And I do think the script of Philly getting off to a rough start is entirely about if the defense starts really poorly. If it's actually similar maybe to Baltimore last year. I know that Baltimore had a new D coordinator. Philly doesn't, but you might as well almost have a new D coordinator

if all the players are, you know, so many of the players are new and they get better over the course of the year. Because you said just the secondary, I would add the pass rush. Like Jalen Carter's a great player. Yeah, but I, and those two, obviously go hand in hand. So I think it has to be DAC cooks. As far as the totality of the season, I don't think

that's sustainable to make the playoffs as proven by the Bengals and Joe Burrow last year, and I don't think they have that level of talent. And I think that I am not of the belief that, hey, you lost Michael Parsons, but in other ways the defense is going to get better. I think the defense is going to be terrible.

And I think that that is not going to be a sustainable way for them to win. I know they're now, in my opinion, throwing good money after bad by signing, they gave Durand making the fifth highest paid corner in football. Those same pro football focus rankings they, Mike has stunk against the run,

had Duron Blan, let me go ahead and check. Oh, 163rd amongst corners in run defense. Now you can say that's not his job, but that's not Micah's job really either. He's a pass rusher. And so I just think, and I also think, real quick before we move on, KW,

I think if it were any team other than the Eagles, the Cowboys were playing in week one, you would say there's a lot of ingredients of an upset. I'm starting to get a little bit nervous. I knew he was. It's like the Micah trade. It's like we've talked so little about George Pickens.

Yeah. Like, oh. And like Vic Fangio's never seen George Pickens and C.D. Lamb on the field at the same time. Like, what's going to, I don't know. Dax's like, you know, it's just, you have so much faith in the Eagles. You haven't done it. but there's a lot of elements of like the almost like the when your coach gets fired, you get a temporary bump, the bump of like nobody believes in us.

We don't have Micah, the Eagles. Now, I know they're not going to be distracted by the banner being dropped because they didn't even know. But maybe that'll be disorienting since they didn't know they're going to look out and be like, what is that? Wow. Good job. Finally, Aaron Glenn, coach of the Jets, did not want to talk about Rogers' tenure with the Jets. He shut that down.

But he was willing to discuss. Aaron Rogers, the Steeler. Take a listen. Really nothing to talk about because of who he is. So he, like, challenges in all ways as far as him as a thrower, getting the guys in and out the huddle, being able to see the defense to be able to make their put the guys in the right position. So listen, guy, he's a future hall of famer. We all know that. So he's going to cause problems no matter what.

Is a Rogers Renaissance on the board? heavy dose of week one, if you could, Danny, if I could make a request? Heavy dose of week one? Yeah, sure. Other than week 17. He knows the Jets personnel really well, so it's a nice favorable matchup for him. But, yeah, I think it's on the board. I think I'm the only one here who picked the Steelers to make the playoffs, right?

In prediction week, I had him 10th for my top 10 teams coming into the year. Let's just play a little game. Okay. A little game? Ready for you can have a pencil, play along at home. let's just look at quarterback production in the last four years. And you guys tell me if you can fill in the blank on who we think maybe that is. 63%.

86 passer rating. 86 pass rating. Can I say, could it be a conglomerative players? Yeah. I think you nailed it. The Steelers quarterbacks. Okay. Look at you.

You'd like to solve the puzzle. Yeah. Steelers quarterbacks. The last four years. Great job. You didn't win upset. Oh. But what's kind of amazing about that is that.

is that that totally pedestrian amount, 86 pass rating, 16 touchdowns a year, 200 yards passing, was good enough for the fifth most wins in the AFC over that time. Chiefs, Ravens, Bills, Bengals, the only teams in front of them. And Aaron Rogers, on the Jets last year, shattered those numbers. So the idea that it is so ridiculous and off the board for the Steelers with that version of Aaron Rogers, to be better than they've been, which is the fifth best team in the AFC over a real body of work,

to me is just reasonable. So I hate to do this to you. I know you've been on tilt ever since. You found out I'm going to be playing Augusta in a few months and you're not going to be. And I know Wilds is very mean to you before the show. But that's not the question. The question is not can the Steelers make the playoffs?

If the question is, can Aaron Rogers all of a sudden be great again? The answer to that? I think you're saying he doesn't have to be great for them to make the playoffs. Maybe. I think that there are a lot of things that go into quarterbacking that don't show up in passer rating that Aaron is at a deficit at that will hurt them this year, but we'll see. But if the question is, is the story of the Steelers going to be like far of the first year with the Vikings, like throw, you know what I mean, the throwback there, I think that is off the board. I think a great Aaron Rogers season is off the board.

I think that those are gone. You don't think they need that. Maybe it's true, but do you think that's on the board? I don't think that's on the board. Danny's microphone is dead, and he can't answer. Danny, if you want to write something down, I will say. Really? Oh, wow.

He tells you it's been a rough day. He does think he's on the board. Danny, look, and I'm not as down on the Steelers. I'm not as down on the Steelers as Nick is, and I don't have them making the playoffs. I don't have them making the playoffs, but I think they'll have nine, maybe 10 wins. Here's the problem with your graphic, though. We can say to say he had a better year than Zach Wilson the season before,

and didn't they win fewer games of Jets? That's the problem. We could have put up Zach Wilson, and I think I probably even did say they won seven when Zach Wilson doing this. That's the other thing, Bruce, because you don't know this, Bruce been all in on Rogers for year after year after year. pick the Packers and make the Super Bowl one year. It's really big the Jets every year. Yeah.

Remember it was on that graphic. So, yeah. I have a message from Danny, since his microphone doesn't work. He says he's proud that you're going to play Augusta. Wow. That was nice. That was nice. More first.

Thanks first after the break. Danny will have his hope fiction of, shoot, I don't have it yet, but there's a briefcase, you know, next on first six years. Two case stats. Two case stats. Stick with it. Welcome back to a week one. One edition of packed stats.

And sorry, the nightmare is over. I have my voice back. They can hear me. They can hear me. Everyone was dreaming. They were so excited that I wasn't able to talk. But coach, you weren't here last week. Willie was the type of guy who would shove me into a locker back in high school.

But I never leave home without my trusty stats. Impressive. Secret agent over here. That's exactly right. That's exactly right. And so these stats will reveal all you need to know heading into week one. And stats can be a little boring. But not when you give me my lights.

Now with a briefcase. Now with a briefcase and the light show. Let's do it. Stat number one. Thank you. The great reveal. Ben Johnson, you might not know this, has Brian Flores' number. That's right.

Benefits of hiring a coach within the division. Ben Johnson offenses against Brian Flores' defenses. He went four and O against Brian Flores, and his offenses scored four. 30 points per game. So not only does he know Brian Flores from his time in Detroit, he brings that expertise to Chicago, but he also has the success going against those defenses. Of course, the Bears and Vikings open up on Monday Night Football.

And I already know what you're both thinking. Caleb Williams is not Jared Gough. The Bears' offensive line is not Detroit's offensive line. This game is not being played in a dome. I know all of that. But I watched Caleb Williams as a rookie against Brian Flores just last year, and he looked Pretty, pretty good. Three touchdowns, no picks, pass a rating of 97, 283 yards a game.

And one of those games scored 27 points and lost in overtime. Gentlemen, the Bears are an underdog at home for Ben Johnson against Brian Flores. And frankly, I think that's incorrect. Yeah, I actually am with you. I think the Chicago Bears fans should be excited because not only does Ben Johnson do a great job, but you mentioned it last year, Caleb did a really good job in Chicago against him as well. And that game was one of his best of the year. 340 yards passing on 47 attempts, two touchdowns, 68% completion, and 103 quarterback rating without Ben Johnson.

So you put them together, they got a chance to light him up. Yeah, my take is, listen, for Bears fans, I hope you just understand this is in a rubber stamp situation, right? What happened in Detroit won't happen to Chicago. You mentioned the personnel. You understand Detroit Lions had five all pros and six pro bowlers, right? And so the significant level of talent that the Lions were able to display, and have been able to display, it's a big gap. I even going back to last, the first matchup last year,

Vikings versus Lions. Like, Jared Golf was sensational. First of all, he's number one against the Blitz. You talk about the office line. You talk about Jamarcus, had a big game, 115 yards, two touchdowns. There's just a big gap. My only concern with Bears fans is that they want to live in this microwave. Plugging Ben Johnson, plugging all the talent they have.

Super Bowl, here it comes. That's just not how the league works. And so for you, Danny, I pray for you at night because I can feel the tears trickling down your face every Sunday. If you don't get the same results in which the lines had with Ben Johnson. I think the difference is Caleb knows he can play well against his defense. And there's not a lot of teams last year where you could say that, but he knows it. But there's no Sonic and Knuckles in Chicago.

I know, but if he could do it with Shane Waldry, you can do it with Ben Johnson. I mean, come on. This team is better than last year. And here's this thing. Like, say I'm going to cry myself to sleep or whatever. I've gone 38 years. 38 years without a quarterback, without a Super Bowl.

It would just be more of the same. But I think you guys would instant success. Yeah, we do. Instant gratification. Well, when you're the number one pick overall. Yeah. How long am I supposed to wait? How long are I supposed to?

All right. That's stat number one. I would say I have one for one. Yeah. Lights. Stat number two. Never leave home without my stats. I'm not invited to too many parties.

Stat number two, Matt Stafford and the Rams. Texans might be a worst case scenario for you in week one. This is, again, Rams are favored, but the Texans have the best pass rush duo in the NFL in DeNeil Hunter and Will Anderson, the only duo that were top 10 in pressure percentage for these two guys. And the Texans sacked their opponents

three or more times in half their games. The Rams allowed three or more six. sacks in half their games. The problem was the Rams went one in seven in those games. So to me, I don't trust Coleman Shelton, the new center for the Rams. Stafford's immobile, bad back, and you face the best pass rush duo in the NFL week one. I just think it's a terrible matchup for Stafford out of the game. Yeah, I think the worst case scenario is Matthew Stafford doesn't make it out the building, right? Because due to injury, you talk about their left tackle or Clark Jackson dealing with blood clouts. He lost and missed some of the same.

time in the off season. Now he just started getting stuff prepared to play week one. And by the way, he has Will Anderson, who you know is going to be humming off the edge. If I'm the Rams right now, you have to lean on this run game led by Kyra Williams because he's a grinder and he's a fishing in the red zone. The key to neutralize a pass rush is running the ball. They can do that. I understand from a past protection standpoint, they may be shaky. But when it comes down running the ball, you can neutralize the edges and open up the screen game and get significant yards. And by the way, what they really have to do is force his secondary in the Texans.

to commit to the run. If you're able to, if you force the secondary of the Texas commit to the run, that's going to open up beat shops down to field that Vonte Adams and Pookin the Cool. The good news for the Rams is you don't last as long as Matthew Stafford's last without understanding how to deal with past rush. And they were really good last year at getting the ball out quickly. They were the fourth best in the NFL and getting the ball out quickly at 2.66 seconds. And the O line, I think they gave up the fifth least amount of sacks as banged up as they were. They kept 10 offensive alignment on the 53, which is really. rare. Now, the way they're presenting that is that they felt there's so many quality,

offensive alignment that they had this year that they needed to keep those guys. It could be more of an injury issue. But the fact that they've got, they've got depth, they've got options, they've got a veteran quarterback, and they've got a head coach that's not going to put that guy at risk. Let's get to the third packed stat. As I see, sometimes people's eyes glaze over with these stats. We're going to see an NFL record fall in week one with Travis Hunter. This, I think, an unbelievably cool thing. Most snaps played in a game ever. We've only been tracking this for about 20 years, 2006, but it was Reed Blankenship and 116 snaps. Travis Hunter averaged 114 snaps per game in college. And one game, he only played 54 snaps because of an injury.

Another game he played 44 snaps because of an injury. I think it is possible that this kid is just different. And the Jags have said, you know, you know, he played 44 snaps because of an injury. I think it is possible. We are going to play him early and often and a lot on both sides of the ball. I think in week one, Travis Hunter will play more snaps than any player has ever played in an NFL game. Coach, my goal was never to hurt anybody. I'm going to be honest. But I want to see if I was out there this Sunday, I'm going to see how much this kid loves football. I want to see that 12 up close because this isn't college.

This is the pros. The level of durability, the level of attention to detail is extremely different. I love that the fact that he's able to have that that type of nuanced thing to him. But overall, man, if you allow him to make this a goal each and every week, they're doing him a disservice, right? Because they're looking forward to him playing both sides of the ball. I simply don't think he can hold up. Not at 185 panels, coach. No.

It's nine and a half. Oh, come on. Look, modern athletes. You can go ahead and break that record in week one and break it in week two and break week three. And you may not have them for the entire season. Like, you want to, this, and Colorado played good opponents, but it's not like the guys he's playing every single week in the NFL. He opened up with North Dakota State.

I mean, they're good, but they're not the, I'm not saying the level of competition is the same. These are men, and these are proud men, and these are men that all feel that they're different and all got there because they're the best of the best. So he's a little bit slight to be going out and doing that week and week out with that kind of volume. It's hard to imagine it's going to last. I think we thought that about Shohei Otani until we saw him do it. Yeah, that's baseball. I understand, but some athletes are different.

You ever see Showy Tanya can tackle? Yeah, nobody's seen his thought block. Nobody's hitting Showing at times. Exactly. I understand, but some athletes come around and change the game. You have to open up your mind. You can probably do it in golf as well. You can do a lot of sports.

Open up your mind to the possibilities that Travis Hunter is just different. Jacksonville is going to try it. I open my mind up to different ice creams. Not this. This is nonsense. Expand your mind. He's setting a record in week one. It sounds like I went two for three with my stats.

You guys did not really like that last book. Coming up next, though, Patrick Mahomes. Every day, there's a new way to slight the Kansas City Chiefs. Yesterday, frankly, it was Willie Colon today. Colin Cowher. That's next, FDF. Welcome back here. First Things First.

I'm Danny Parkins with Coach Manjini and Willie Colon alongside, friend of the show and a mentor of sorts. Colin Cowherd was talking Mahomes and his draft situation. and landing spot, and he took a shot, maybe? Here's Colin. I love Mahomes, but I think he got the best landing spot in league history. Think about this. So he comes into the league, doesn't have to start, gets to sit and learn the system under the best coach in the league offensively, Andy Reid. Also as a pro bowler and one of the more grateful and gracious players in league history, Alex Smith as a mentor, Tyreeke Hill and Travis Kelsey, are already pro bowlers. He had multiple weapons, the best offensive coach, ownership stability.

Brett Veach is a top general manager. With that, took the momentum and became a star and deserves all of it. I don't know if there's ever been a quarterback who had more things set, moving, and headed in the right direction than Patrick Mahomes. So I was there when it had. I was there for all the years leading up. doing radio in Kansas City. And then I left in January of 2017, and they drafted Mahomes in April of 2017. So I was there for those Alex Smith teams,

Travis Kelsey, Tyreek Hill. Rahm Hunt. Yeah. Eric Fisher is the number one pick. You know, Eric Berry, losing in Foxborough, 11, 12 win teams. Colin's not wrong. It was an unbelievable offensive situation

to be dropped into, but it, to me, doesn't at all take away from the historic greatness of a kid in his 20s. Can both things be true here? It was an unbelievable situation, and Patrick Mahomes is unbelievable. I don't necessarily think those two things

are in conflict with each other. Well, the thing is, Colin dilute the fact how great he was in 2018, when he threw 50 touchdowns, he threw for over 5,000 yards. I mean pretty much he was a snap away, off sides away from taking the Chiefs to the Super Bowl, right? The Fords play, yeah.

Right, so it dilutes that aspect. And also how much he carried that defense. That defense was ranked 24th in the league that year. So for a kid that was handed the keys to the porch and asked not to crash it, man, he was sensational. So that's the only pushback, not the pushback. But I think Collins, right now, if you look at 2018 and winning the Super Bowl in 2019, Patrick was phenomenal.

And that's what he has to end on. Yeah, I don't think it takes away anything from what Patrick did, but Collins is absolutely right. And when you look at the fact that he was able to come in, Alex Smith was there, and you've got to give Alex Smith a lot of credit because he knew he was there to take a spot, but he was incredibly gracious with it. And he was the type of guy, very smart, was willing to mentor him. We hear a lot of quarterback saying, hey, that's not my job. So you get that value.

You get a year to sit. That's hugely valuable. And then you can't underestimate the effect that Andy Reid had on the situation either because when you look at Andy's success in Kansas City prior to him getting that, that's one component of it. But look at what he did in Philadelphia. They were four years in a row where they went to the NFC championship three years, and then they ended up losing the Super Bowl in the fourth year. He went to the playoffs nine out of 14 years. So you look at the situation Tom Brady came into with Bill.

Bill Belichick had nowhere near the success that Andy had had as a head coach. Bill was a defensive coach. Andy was an offensive coach. So that value as well add to the fact that you've got Travis Kelsey, you've got Tyree Kill, you've got incredible weapons to accentuate the things that you bring in the table. It was a pretty amazing situation. And again, I don't want to take away from the things that Patrick's done. But I think Colin's absolutely right in terms of fit for him to take off.

The only thing, though, is like, I kind of would want to say to Colin, so what? Because going into that draft, I mean, Miles Garrett was the number one pick. It was not like Patrick Mahomes was a consensus. had that back. No, yeah, no doubt. But the Bears had the third pick and traded up to two and took Mitch Trubisky. And I left Kansas City to do Chicago Radio, right on from Kansas City Radio to Chicago Radio. And when we saw what Mahomes was and then we saw what Trubisky was, we basically did two years of, well, what do you think would have happened if the Bears would have drafted Mahomes, who was number two on their board, and Trubisky would have been the guy that Kansas City traded up for. Because I do not

believe that if Mitch Trubisky was the quarterback in Kansas City with Tyree Kill and Travis Kelsey and Andy Reed that we're talking about Mitch Trubisky is one of the greatest of all time because the situation was just so great that he was dropped into. But when Tom Brady came to New England, he wasn't ready to play. We kept four quarterbacks that year. And what if he hadn't come into a situation where the head coach was willing to keep four quarterbacks, where the head coach was willing to wait on his development? And I think there's a lot of guys whose future and trajectory can be dramatically

outcomed or dramatically changed by where they end up falling. To your point, that defense carried time, right? That defense was, I mean, that- Yeah, we scored three offensive touchdowns in our first Super Bowl run in the playoffs. Yeah. So do you think then if Mahomes ends up on the Bears and Trubisky is a chief that we're just that we've forgotten about Hatchez? Like you said, when you have Pro Bowls ready for you.

You have an officer line that stabilized. You have a great mind in Andy Reid. All Patrick had to do was play football, right? He didn't have to really more than that. Well, he didn't have to reset a culture. The culture was set, which a lot of young quarterbacks, when they put in that position, is asked to be the white knight, the all savior. That wasn't Patrick's job.

He had to sit, learn, and be ready. And he was, and he was super, he was super efficient. And I don't know where Mitch would have gone if he had been drafted there, but maybe he would have realized the highest level of his potential as opposed to, you know, where he was. near that. Yeah, to Philadelphia. The reigning Super Bowl champs, of course, kick off the season tomorrow night. What comes with that game is often a banner dropping. Nick Siriani, though, yeah, he had no idea. Here he is. You guys have emphasized moving on from last year. The last

banner night in 2018, it's famous that the fans booed the Eagles at halftime because they weren't happy with the way things were going, albeit it was banner night. How do you feel about the fact that even though it is Banner Night for you guys, the fans will still have the standard of performing and winning at a high level. Yeah, I didn't know it was Banner Night. We won't be out for that. You probably love that, Coach. Come on, you loved it.

Come on. Here's what I love it if it's sincere. But it's hard to not know that it's Banner Night. I've been fortunate to be a part of three Banner Nights. And I knew when all of them were happening. Let me guess. It was the opener? Yeah, it was the opener.

Oh, okay. And it's been the opener in the NFL for a long time. So to say that it's the right message, and I like that aspect of it, do I feel it's totally genuine? Not necessarily. Yeah, I don't know if it's genuine or not, but I do think it's the right message. I can only go back to my experience after I won my Super Bowl. The next year, man, two things. One, we never stopped partying.

That was a big issue. Like, we were partying as if we won that day. Also on top of that, man, I know from a team aspect, we were, we was always waiting for the magic to just happen, right? I level of detail, our expectation just go out on Sunday and, oh, we're going to be down by 14 and, oh, we'll just walk out the window and be up by 21 at the end of the game. That was unrealistic. And I also think it's important for Nick Siriana to set that tone because you think about how many guys the Eagles have lost. You talk about losing Brandon Graham, Benton on the office, excuse me, on the office line. they've lost some significant pieces on that championship team.

So if you're going into year two and your Jalen Hurts and company, you have to really kind of reset and understand like what we were last year, this isn't who we are this year. And we got to earn this thing every step in the way. So I appreciate that he kind of had this like, oh, I didn't know mentality. No. Because it's necessary for what this team is right now. Yeah, but two things can also be true, similar to the Mahomes conversation.

It doesn't have to be black and white. We can live in the world of gray here for a minute. It's fine to be turning the page and we walk. lost those guys off the team, and last year's Super Bowl isn't going to win us this year's Super Bowl, and the goal now is to win this year's Super Bowl and the past. All of that is fine, one week at a time stuff. But, and Nick said it earlier in the show, and it was the first thing I thought of when I heard the soundbite, if you didn't know it was banner night, how do you know you're not going to be out there? What if we were dropping the banner between the first and second quarter?

You don't know. It is obviously not true. He obviously knows that it's banner night. Right? We all agree with that. I mean, we don't logic. We all know that Nick Siriani knows that it's Banner Night. We know the reporter did not alert him to that fact, right? We're all in agreement on that. No, my favorite thing that the reporter said is that the fans booed the last Banner Nighter and a half of it.

Because the fans are going to remind him that the things they did last year didn't matter. And that happened to us in New England as well. We won the first Super Bowl. And then you go out that next season and you think that the magic is just going to happen. You're going to get into certain situations and you're going to be able to pull it out. But what you have to realize is you've got to do all the things that you did well the year before.

And you've got a target on your back. Yeah, you've got to target. You've got to do it all better than you did the year before because of that. And on top of that, there is also this expectation that you don't realize how lucky you was to win a Super Bowl. So many things have to go right. I remember my game. You know, we play Philadelphia one week four or whatever, and we gave up eight sacks

in that game. Turned around and had to play Buffford. and we squeaked out because Melde & Moore had a big third down and we was able to kind of kick a field goal to get us out the building. If those situations don't happen in reference to us coming on the other side, we don't win the Super Bowl, right? Even Troy Palmer's pick six in the AMC championship against Baltimore.

Not to say it's lucky, but it's kind of lucky to suit your opponent. So it's so much has to happen. And that's why I kind of, I understand him saying, I don't know what it is. We're just going to move forward because you have to set that tone right now. So you had one, right, one Super Bowl? One Super Bowl.

And you said you were part of three Banner Nights. I got to say, this is going to come as a huge shock to the audience. I have zero. It's going to be a huge shock. But I think, I've talked to enough athletes who, like, if they really believe in their coach, they could be like, oh, the sun, maybe it doesn't rise in the east and set in the west. If coach tells me that it rises in the west and sets in the east, I'll believe my coach. Do you think that Nick Siriani has that hold over his?

his team? Because you said it has to be genuine. Does he come across like this is genuine? I don't. You don't? No. Why does it have to be genuine for him to lie to his team? Like, I think it's... Well, I mean, I would generally assume I'd want to not be lied to. Coach's lie for the benefit of the team. I don't know if it's lying. It's more presenting the situation in the way that you want it to be perceived. But what I think that Nick really has to focus on and what I'm hoping is that they're going to stay to this And one of their biggest challenges is being comfortable, winning, boring. And that's hard to do. And remember last year they started those first four games.

They threw the ball 30 times. Each of those four games, they went two and two. When they went to a more run-centric offense, then things changed dramatically. There was a lot of infighting and sideline complaining about not throwing the ball. We saw the reading books on the side. All that stuff. Can you come back this year and be comfortable? winning ball. Yeah, I understand they got a new OCE and Jellahurst has a new quarterback

coach. What does the synergy and how well do they gel to move forward? That's going to be an issue as well. Travis Hunter, the depth chart is out. Changing the game. Next on FTF. To Jacksonville, the Jaguars have released their official death chart and depth charts don't really mean much, but two-way player, Travis Hunter was listed as wide receiver one and their backup cornerback. And all, ever since the draft, the questions were like, are the Jaguar's really going to play him both ways. They've been telling you exactly what they're going to do. Here is Liam Cohn, their new coach, from the Rich Eisen Show.

If you're saying you're going to play 65 to 75 snaps on offense, let's call it, and if he's playing 80% of those snaps or so, and then similar defensively, you look at trying to be able to match that number as much as possible. To me, boys, I hear that from Liam Cohn, and he's saying he's going to play about 80% of the offensive snaps, and 80% of the defensive snaps. Yeah, I believe him. I think they're going to do that. I'd rather he be DB1, play on defense first,

and then play on offense in spots, because offensively you can control what's happening. So play them on offense, play them on offense on third down, red zone, and maybe two minutes. They switched it up. And you just don't believe it's possible. Well, no, listen, I hate it, but I understand.

Only from the standpoint that learning how to play receiver in the league is hard, learning the playbook is hard, getting on the same page with the quarterback, is even tougher. But he was the rated number one quarterback coming out. This defense gave up 45 touchdowns last season and 29 of them were touchdowns. I can't wait. I can't wait.

They're changing the game down in Jacksonville. It'd be the biggest story in sports. Well, for how long? Back tomorrow. Right.