Geoff Schwartz Is Smarter Than You - Andy Reid Fixes Chiefs Offense, Bengals Turn the Corner, QB Injuries Pile Up

Episode Date: September 22, 2026

Geoff and Mitch Schwartz break down the wild reactions and biggest storylines following NFL Week 2! Are we dealing with a full-blown QB injury epidemic in the NFL? The guys weigh in on Caleb Williams��� dramatic cart ride to the locker room and share how team outlooks shift when star signal-callers go down. Plus, the Seattle Seahawks keep quietly dominating, but why is no one talking about them? Finally, after a huge Week 2 win, are the Bengals for real, or are we falling for early-season hype?

It is Tuesday, September 22nd. This is a Schwartz football show. I'm Jeff Schwartz alongside Mitchell Schwartz. We're back here to talk all things national football. Maybe we'll sneak in some college football along the way. A big week in the National Football League, Mitch. We saw some upsets, some teams 0 and 2, some teams 0 and 2, obviously teams right in the middle. Let's start out with the Kansas State Chiefs.

You've got an overtime win on Sunday night. They are now 2 and 0 with a schedule ahead that puts them in the driver's seat to have a good maybe division cushion when they get to those full division slate here coming up later in the season. And my takeaway is this, Mitch. We saw in week two an improvement in the offense from week one. You said you came on and said, hey, man, there wasn't really enough play action pass in week one. There wasn't really, you know, sort of counter us to what we saw them do. They did all the week two, man.

They packaged plays together in a way we have not seen a long time where they showed. motion and ran the ball four or five times and boom, you know, a bootleg. They showed this full house formation, ran a couple times, boom, play action pass. Mitch, I thought it was Andy Reed just sort of realizing what he has in a run game and then using that run game to help the passing game against Indianapolis. And this is a huge boost to what we have said forever, which is they need easier offense for Patrick Mahomes. Yeah, you're telling me shotgun play action when you're 65% pass, 35% run.

doesn't work that great when you have all five linemen man blocking spreading out. Yeah, like, no shit. This is what we've been saying for so long that there has been no easy button for this offense. You know, five to seven years ago, it was the RPO game. There was so much advantage created. There were so many mismatches. Obviously, the talent on the field was also better. But they were able to do, and I was part of that a little bit, we were able to do so much

schematically to take advantage of specific defenders or specific coverages. and they couldn't be right. We would either throw it over their head or we would run it depending on what they were doing. Defense is caught up. Shotgun run game when your quarterback stops running Reed Options is totally useless. We saw this with Kansas City.

We've seen this with Cincinnati. Doesn't marry with the play action game. So, like, yeah, the Chiefs would go under center twice a game last year, run the ball. Then you'd still see too high and you'd see linebackers going backwards at the snap. So, of course, those play actions aren't going to work. They knew that they would only get under center

to token run the ball to then set up a play action. So there's no play action cell. So, yeah, you give Kenne Walker the ball. He's on pace for like 475 touches or something crazy. Obviously, he's been crazy effective. And whether it's a one-off with Lou Anirumo and the structure of his defense or not, you are seeing the defense change structure. You are seeing single high looks.

You are seeing, you know, these bare defenses with three guys covering the three interior linemen and two other linemen on the field, five down. And you're seeing the fruits of, committing to the run of being physical. Now, this game, in terms of defense of structure, I think Aniruma went a little bit bare-heavy to counteract the multitude of gap scheme

runs the Chiefs ran in week one, which was something like 17 or 18, which is where the backside guard is pulling. So the best way to defeat that, you kind of put the three in the interior. No one can get a double team. You're kind of ruining things at the point of attack. This week, run game-wise,

a little bit more zone, a little bit more variability there. So, defenses aren't going to necessarily know what they should prepare for in terms of gap scheme zone kind of outside runs. And the play action game looked fantastic. You talked about it. Just matching things up to runs in week one

and week two. I talked about after week one, you're running 17-18 gap schemes. You're not running any play-action gap pass. You're not running any play-action power pass where you're pulling that guard. You're putting linebackers and safeties who are keying in onto guards pulling in in a bind. And we saw that a few times.

You saw some inserts with the wide receivers, you know, going off those duo blocks. You saw a little bit more kind of hard sell from the O line, you know, being able to run at defense alignment and make it look like outside zone from under center because now you're running it and now you're effective at it. So all that was fantastic. Passing game definitely looks like it's been in the best place since, I don't know, 2022 sounds hyperbolic, but I don't think so.

I would say the flip side of that is the run game maybe is not as good as the numbers and as the running back is making it seem. He has, I think it's 290 rushing yards, 215 plus of those are coming after contact. The lanes aren't necessarily there. There's some schematic things that I think the chiefs are still doing that aren't advantageous. So I would say the run game is not going to be as effective moving forward

unless Kenneth Walker continues to break 14 to 15 tackles every single week and be a beast after contact, which, you know, maybe he is. You know, Emmett Johnson, when he gets in theirs look great. But I would say as good as the past game looked, The run game is not as good in terms of like a repeatability factor. Now, the good part of that is it's still been very effective, despite the fact that there's so much to clean up, so much to get better at.

So you have to be incredibly encouraged by the Chief's offense, by the way Mahomes looked, how much more comfortable he was week two, by Khalil Benson's ascension and by, you know, everyone else around them doing what they're supposed to. Yeah, you'll have a video out on your YouTube, right? Mitch Schwartz, go find it on the Chief's run game. He says it's 55 minutes long.

Yeah, that's going to drop tonight, Tuesday night, around 6 p.m. It's a beast. I decided to go through every single run. It turns out maybe not the best idea. So go check that out. You'll check that. I thought the ascension of Thorne in this game was fantastic for the Chiefs. They just need someone to go catch the ball deep, someone with a big body to make somebody's catching.

Xavier Worthy might be slower than us. Like just play speed is nothing. They need something to do here. So I'm glad to you that. Mitch, do Chiefs fans who called for Andy Reid to be fired this spring? I know we talked, me and you, about sort of what the hot seat would look like if they didn't change this year. And they've changed so far through two games.

Maybe this is it. Maybe they're not going to change the rest of the season. I don't know, but so far it's been great. There's a section of Chiefs fans who want Andy Reid fired this spring because they claimed he could not adapt, could not change. I think they have egg on their face so far. They refuse to admit that they're wrong about this. it does feel like those fans who wanted entire changes to be made after one down season look like they,

is it bandwagon fan? What do you call a fan who wants to coach fired after seven straight championship appearances and three straight Super Bowls? And you have one bad year and you call for everyone's firing. What do you call those type of fans? Maybe impatient or maybe unrealistic in terms of the expectations and, you know, maybe ungrateful for what the coach has provided. Now, I'm going to go into two different realms here. The first is my counter to that has always been.

Every single iteration of the Andy Reid offense has been so different from the previous one. If you go in kind of two-year chunks when he takes over in 2013, under center, fullback, Jamal Charles, running attack, tons of screens like classic Andy Reid offense. You go to 2015. It's all read option stuff. I think maybe that was the year of the year before. No touchdowns for the receivers. You know, Alex Smith running the ball, you know, shotgun runs, horizontal passing game.

That might have been his second year. 30. Yeah, I think it was the second year because that was the year they missed the playoffs. But that 2015 offense, dramatically different from the 2013 offense. Then you go to like 2017, Alex Smith's last year as a starter where he, we talked about in terms of the bow Nick Champagne stuff, leads the NFL in downfield passing, utilizing Tyreek speed, all the speed. And then two years later, you talked about him a home's offense, 2019, when the Super Bowl,

incredibly different from two years ago. So again, 2021, 2021, 2023, 2025. Every two-year stretch has been dramatically different. And so my contention was he's going to change. He's always changed. Whether that change is going to be fruitful, whether he kind of has the goods to run this more under center, you know, Shanahan, McVeigh, Ben Johnson style offense and kind of teach it and coach it in a way that is more modernized. I wasn't entirely sure of that.

I will say I needed to see it for a couple weeks going to training camp. I was like not blown away because you don't get to see the sequencing. You don't get to see the past game and the play action. It just looked like all the same plays, but under center, which isn't necessarily the right thing to do. Now, the flip side to what I've seen you argue with people about, I do think there should have been some adaptability going into last season. Like coming off the Super Bowl, I would say that offense had a very poor year in 2024 to their standards. Again, all the EPA, all the advanced stats still kind of have the chiefs in that five to ten range. I never understood that, by the way.

I pushed back on that. I remember I talked to Aaron Chats about it. I'm like, buddy, your chiefs are like six and DVO. they stink. How is they sixth and DVOA? I don't understand. I know. I never got it. I didn't either. So that 20-25 season last year, the idea going into it was, you know, Xavier Worthy is going to be an integral part of the offense. He is your man-coverage beater because of his speed. You're obviously not going to just like have him on the line of scrimmage at all times. You're going to use them, you know, in stack formations, in motion,

a little bit of a gadget player. And you saw that the second play of the season was like a gadgety-type play, kind of a counter-skeem. If, one or two guys get a block a little better, he might be out the front door for a touchdown. And then he and Travis don't collide, and he stays more healthy. And you see a totally different version of the offense. But like, going into last year, there's

a version of the offense, there's a version of what you expect a week one to look like with him on the field that once he gets injured, you're not seeing. And I do think there should have been a few more changes. I do think going into that year, seeing the direction of the NFL, like, we knew that the run game was stagnant.

We knew that the shotgun, you know, run scheme wasn't working. So I would agree with those fans in the sense that, like, last year probably should have shown more changes. But again, to my point, like, he is so good at reiterating and changing and adapting that it was foolish to think, one, that he wouldn't do it at all. And two, that he wasn't capable. And three, that he shouldn't have been given the opportunity to do it.

That's, I think, your main point that, like, his accomplishments in Kansas City are so unbelievably incredible. as good of a six-year stretch as we've really seen in football, maybe outside of the Patriots or outside of a few of the dynasties. One bad year doesn't mean you're gone. He has earned the right to do that. If this year came out and looked terrible,

the offense was stagnant, the team was poor, he'd be gone. And I think he'd be the first to admit, maybe I need to take a year and kind of reevaluate things, but obviously we've seen quite the opposite through two weeks. And I, again, needed to see that myself. I needed to see what it looked like on the field. needed to see that, hey, it's the fourth quarter.

We've got to go drive to win. I'm still handing that thing off. I'm not just throwing a few times. Like, I'm still giving it to my guy. So we've seen that through two weeks, and obviously the results in the field are showing how brilliant and how fantastic of an offensive mind and just a head football coach he is. Last year, he had no Rashid Rice for eight weeks either.

So he lost Rashid Rice and Xavier Worthy. And that's the, now you can certainly make a case that they have not drafted terribly well. And that's, I don't know if that's any reason. could. Brett Veech's problem. I don't know who is in charge of that. This class seems a lot better so far this year than it hasn't. The Chiefs has sort of done that where they won't draft well for like two years or three years.

Then all of a sudden I have a class with like seven starters that become really good. Yeah, that 2022 class with Karloftus, McDuffey. Like they seem to be streaky in terms of that too. I saw Karloftas with a little burst. He like he push left tackle back on a rep and almost got a sack. I was like in, I was a little off. I mean, that's more power than burst to be. fair, but he did get pressure.

Like a, like a, like a, like a, like a 91 now, rushing the pastures a three technique. I mean, oh, buddy. So good, you don't want to, you don't want to say his name. Can't pull that off. I'm going to skip that one. Sorry. F of you.

F of you. That was one of the things watching preseason games and kind of, you know, hearing stuff from camp. His ability to rush on the interior as a three tech was like a major talking point and something we saw in the preseason. That's something the chiefs have done historically. You know, Mike Dana was kind of that guy for a couple. couple years who was an incredible three tech rusher in past situations. It looked like FAU

is going to assume that role and he's done a great job so far in just a couple of games. So now you're starting to combo guys. You know, Peter Woods hasn't really panned out the way we thought based on camp pipe, but our Mason Thomas has. Obviously, Chris is having what you consider a down two weeks for him. You look at all the kind of pressure numbers and he's not on the list. And normally he's, you know, top three, top five. So he's going to start, you know, doing better in terms of the stat sheet. I will say like in terms of the impact of Chris Jones, watching Quentin Nelson block him, attempt to block him,

and seeing how much effort he put into that, like there are cover zero plays where Quentin's greatest attribute is his ability to block three or four guys to kind of see things, to feel things, know where he needs to help out. And there's a cover zero

where he just goes and gets on Chris. And he lets a linebacker kind of shoot through the A gap. And normally he's backing up, he's putting arms out, he's trying to block everybody. Like, no, I got that guy one-on-one. And he's letting an A-Gap they got pressure go right through to the quarterback.

So, you know, even though you're not necessarily seeing the, you know, win rate or the, you know, pressures that you're used to from Chris, there's still a ton of, you know, impact that he has on the field and a ton of planning that goes into a game. Of course, of course. This is why I take issue with some of these metrics, right? Remember when Aaron Donald was like the, his one, his run win rate was so. So that was, that was Brian Burke. I talked to him at like the Sloan conference.

He would still argue that he would still argue that he. was correct because so no I mean let's be real he created this model he said that basically Aaron Donald was giving up a lot of runs and cutbacks because he was just up the field you know the proverbial three tech that kind of didn't care about the structure of a defense and his argument was I don't know if it was when they got Brandon Staley or whatever they started doing they asked him to play a little different and so he wasn't getting as far into the backfield by their numbers in subsequent years and the run defense and his like kind of run impact was was better based on their model.

So he would say that maybe I messed up and maybe I should have overran that original model a little bit, but I do feel good that he got a different coach. He was asked to play different stylistically. He wasn't up the field as much and all of a sudden, the run defense as a whole got a lot better.

So to give Brian a little bit of credit, he's a great dude and he's willing to talk about it and defend it. I think he was a fighter pilot jet too. So he's not afraid of confrontation and not afraid to go back and forth, which is great. Like you don't like guys who, just like put out the stats and don't defend their model.

So, um, but yeah, in terms of like the impact of defenders in a way that is more conducive to like football players seeing it and feeling it and knowing how to game plan for that. Yeah, Chris is still having a huge impact. Of course, of course he is. Um,

all right. Let's get to a guy who's having another impact for, for a team. Dexter Lawrence for the Bengals. Let's talk some Bengals and Texans. Um, look, I thought the Bengals defense,

a little food gazing week one against Tampa. Tampa Bay scored in all seven possessions that, the Bengals didn't force a turnover in. And then we get to Houston, and this Bengals defense was absolutely fantastic. It's just started with Dexter Lawrence inside. Their pass rush in the fourth quarter, I thought, was very fruitful. They tried to revamp the pass rush. It looked away.

The Texas offensive line stinks. That's also part of it as well. But my takeaway from this game is twofold. The Bengals might be real, right? Like, they might be real, especially if they have a defense now. But, man, I wanted to like the Texans this year. I think I even came on here and said, hey, Texans, 16 to one, Super Bowl, just, light that tick up and flame Mitch.

I'm so over like waiting for teams to play like they should. We'll get to the charger in a second. Houston, week one, good and offense, bad on defense. Week two, bad on offense, good on defense, bad special teams. Like,

you now lost to the two top AFC contenders in Buffalo and in Cincinnati. And I'm out, man. I'm out. I'm out. I'm out on Houston. No more Houston talk from me. Out. Maybe we'll see next year or later this season, Mitch, but I can't do Houston anymore.

Am I fair for getting off of Houston? Yeah, I think so. I was the one who every single time, I would say the Houston over on the wins. It's way too low. We're going to bank on that defense being top three. Cs-Drow is going to be a little bit better. O-Line's going to be a little bit improved.

And yeah, to see it be this frustrating, like Stroud had a solid game overall in week one. But first drive, I think either Stripzak or some sort of pocket awareness thing, drive of the game, another issue. So, like, even in the spurts where he's playing a lot of good ball, still having some issues. The Texans, like, don't have their, you know,

I think early second round nose tackle that was like, you know, how much impact is a rookie nose tackle really going to have? Like, it would be great to get them back and see, but it's been incredibly disappointing. I don't really know, you know, what else to say there other than, I think you're right to feel like I'm kind of getting off of the bandwagon, getting off of the hype train a little bit. On the flip side, Cincinnati is a team I wanted to talk about because going into this season,

them and Dallas kind of got put in the same bucket that the offense should be fantastic. You got the two receivers, the quarterback. They're kind of aligned very similarly in terms of how they're constructed. Really bad defense the year before. theoretically, better defense coming into this year. But, you know, Cincinnati maybe put a little more into it with the Dexter Lawrence trade with the Maffei signing. And you look at some of the, you know, stats and they've got three guys and

top 15 in terms of like pressures. They got four guys in like top 30, top 35. It has been much better than we expected. And that was like a get to 16 to 18. And with a top five offense, you're going to be a great team. Well, what if you can get to top eight? What if you can get top 10? What if you can be even a little bit better than that? So to me, they've been kind of the surprise team from a holistic view of the defense really improving in a way that, you know, maybe everyone didn't expect. And you pair with that offense. I mean, that that catch, Jamar J's had just absolutely ridiculous. And sometimes I get a little snarky in my own head.

I don't always say it out loud. But when everyone's like, oh, my God, what a catch. And they kind of do the whole thing that everyone has to respond on the timeline. But that was a legitimate reason to do it. Like a dude just flipping his body, fully outstretched, toe tapping. Yeah. And then you watch the game and you like, you see a guy catch a pass. Like, damn, who's that?

And you kind of remember like, hey, they got T. Higgins too. And he's a fantastic player. And the O line has been doing a fantastic job. job. You know, they came into the season. A lot of people thought not as good just in terms of like Cincinnati's O-Line and they've had issues since Burroughs been there. But Mims is having a great start to the season. Alano Brown's gotten better over the last few years. I think Fairchild, a couple other guys in the interior playing better and, you know, kind of younger guys on the rise. I think Reisner is the right guard. He's kind of always been better than his contracts

have been. He's had a weird kind of free agency journey. So yeah, if the O-Line is going to keep protecting like that, keep opening up some land. passing game defense there's no reason that Cincinnati isn't going to be for real and obviously the the dreaded oh and two Zach Taylor slow starts he's finally flipped it around the last couple years Steelers Jags Dolphins Ravens Titans Falcons Steelers commanders Saints Browns Chiefs Panthers Colts Ravens Browns easy schedule man Easy schedule and I've said this for a long time now I don't if you feel the same way I fear Joe Burrow more than I fear Josh Allen Lamar in the playoffs

like by far, I, maybe it's the result of, no. You fear Josh Allen more? Yeah. I mean, I know what, so Burroughs, Burroughs only made the playoffs twice as it? No, I'm saying, yeah, I fear him more. If I were to see Joe, as a Chiefs fan, if I were to see Joe Burrow in the playoffs more than Josh Allen. I think that's crazy.

All he's done is play the Chiefs well. In the playoffs, the two times he's been in. I don't know. I just think, okay, six. years ago? Like, we're going to go off stuff. I was playing six years ago. I, I, I, I, so if you're going, so in an ASE championship game, you're more worried about Josh Allen than you are Joe Burrow? Absolutely. Oh, we're off. Look, I know Josh had a really bad game that last one and maybe he's at the point where he's trying too hard and he's kind of

pressing a little bit, but Josh has been the best quarterback over the last two years on a per game basis, especially regular season. So I think that's kind of crazy to think that you would want Burrow, who's barely gone there and is riding off of one season. I mean, it's just such a small sample size. Like, and it was a while ago. So maybe if he stays healthy. The playoffs twice the correct in two years.

Right. In six or seven years. So as much as we want to crap on Herbert and his own three record, at least he's made it three times. We're going to get there. I know. But no, Burroughs barely made the playoffs. He already got hurt week one.

You know, he was questionable going until last week. No, he said, you know, there's no doubt he was going to get there. So I think we're still a ways away. I, you know, if he gets to the playoffs, then you're probably talking about him in terms of an MVP candidacy would be my guess based on kind of their trajectory. But no, I think Josh Allen would be the guy you want to see the least in the AFC, the non-Mahom's, non-Mahom's edition. Well, Joe Burrow has made a half-year team Super Bowl's two appearances in the playoffs. So that's, we'll see if they make it back this year. All right, let's get the Chargers, Mitch.

Here you go. Ready to charge of the second team NFL history to lose back-to-back games by double digits with both coming at home against teams that had a sub 200 win percentage the previous season. The other was a 1926 racing tornadoes. October 10th and 17th you played just one more game before folding as a team. I love seeing those old-school names like the Redbirds. It's a very baseball stat. It's a very baseball stat.

Like, that's a thing you'd find on a Ross Porter. Rick Monday, Ross Porter. Ross Porter with Vince Scully, throwing that out there. Okay, look, I've had many iterations of this, of this sort of cake in my head the last couple of days. I'm tired of these excuses for Justin Herbert. I really am. But then you watch the film, and you're like, fuck, man.

What's the guy supposed to do, man? Like, I don't, I want to say, Hey, it's Herbert's fault, enough excuses. I'm tired of excuses. I get it. But you watch the game and you're like, dude drops a pass. He threw a pass, for those who missed it, he threw a pass to an open guy that was deflected by his own teammate diving for the ball.

Like, the guy was open, his own teammate dove for the ball anyways and like tipped it out of his hand. He had a ball that hit a wide receiver's chest, not something there for interception. The protection is not good sometimes, and sometimes it is, Mitch. I think the thing that's most shocking for me is I know you loved Mike McDaniel as a signing for the Chargers and so did I.

Not at the same degree, but I thought you combined him with Harbaugh and you get sort of this creative, run-based offense with play action pass with a lot of creativity. And there is some creativity that's kind of stupid. Like I'm tired of seeing so many guys line up in the backfield

and do weird motions, like, and do weird, just fucking line up and play football. Like, what are we doing? And it's just not working. It hasn't worked through two weeks, and maybe it fixes itself at some point. Let's go to 14 points as Arizona and the Raiders. And so I'm tired of like excuse making.

I get it. It's not all Herbert's fault. But then again, some quarterback just overcome it, Mitch, or they overcome bad scheme, they overcome bad play. They make enough plays to win a game. Herbert is not doing that right now. I know. That's kind of always the crux of the argument with him is like,

it feels like they're still a missing piece. It feels like we want more. It feels like you want your superstar quarterback to overcome the situation to do something, to raise the talent level. But then, again, to your point, like you watch the film and he had seven drops or something like that. His interior O-line kind of sucks. I think McDaniels done an awful job. Stop running the two-of-all offense. Please run the Kyle Shanahan offense that you got hired for.

Correct. Why is Herbert and the pistol in the shotgun? Why do you have a guy four yards off the line of scrimmage out? the offensive tackle, like your old school red right under center, but you're not under center, about to run 22 protection going to the fucking flat. Like, stop that. You don't need to be super tricky. I get it.

Your interior line's not what you wanted. Now you only have one healthy tight end in the roster. Like, McConkey's been injured. I understand that. But please go back to a traditional style offense under center that kicks ass. You overcome bad offensive lines, like not by this kind of trickeration. And also that trickeration was great when it was Devon A-chan running 4-5, getting corners. You've got a great running back, but he's a big-ass dude.

So you have to be a little more downhill, a little more sledgehammery, and you overcome poor O-Line play, poor interior play by running off the ball and kind of running through them, not running quite as lateral and doing as much trickeration as I think that they're doing. So that would be my thing. After two weeks, again, I was calling for Michael Daniel to be infused into the Chiefs offense. I'm glad that he's not because Andy Reid's doing a heck of a better job than than what I've seen. It just is confusing because it feels like he's not doing the thing that he got hired for. And to defend Herbert a little bit, even though I still think that like,

I don't know, it just still feels like there's that one thing missing. But to defend him, like I've always been when Mahomes is not playing at his best, he is being influenced by his surroundings, doesn't trust the O line, receivers aren't in the right spot. drop passes, they can't trust him, scheme's a little outdated, like all these things that I would say from a home, it's kind of reading body language and understanding, you know,

a little bit of what's going on. Well, how can I not apply that same thing to Herbert? Like, that is kind of the truth. Interior O line, you know, poor roster construction and then a couple of injuries. Receivers, you know, maybe poor roster management, you know, a couple of injuries. Tight ends all hurt, like offensive coordinator,

coordinator, maybe not doing the best job. Defense, like the defense, of scheme. Mentor obviously was doing more with what they had than what the current DC is doing. So yeah, there's like, I believe in both of the things kind of at the same time that like entirely not all on Herbert is doing as much as he can is absolutely affected by his surroundings. How can you not be as the quarterback? But also like still, can there be that one little thing more that he does? I don't have that answer. But I think that's what we're feeling. That's what we're kind of asking for. And obviously what we'd love to see. like people think I'm a chiefs homer. I want good football.

I want the best quarterbacks playing their best ball. I want the best offensive minds creating the best plays because it's fun to watch great football. And I want him to succeed. I want him to be good. I think I tweeted five years ago, the Herbert Mahomes rivalry has a chance to go down is like one of the best interdivision rivalries in NFL history

if they have 15 years against each other. And it's kind of, they have great matchups. Rogers always play the Chiefs well, but like that specific rivalries just hasn't come to fruition in a way that I thought, especially after Herber's first year or two. Yeah, you're right about the missing piece. I'm trying to think of like what, what, you know, like, you know, Josh Allen's had bad team around him that still played well. No, the last couple of years. Okay. The Allen thing, this is kind of the Nick Wright.

Allen had great regular season defenses and the numbers now look bad because Mahomes torch Buffalo's defense in the postseason. So, like, his defenses gave up 37 points in the postseason. Yeah, because Pat shredded them. No, my point is, like, when before Josh got the good run game and offensive line, which he just seemed to ignore, like, he's had top five defenses. Sure, but he's still. He's always had either elite O line, great receiver and digs, great running game, and or a defense that was top five, top 10.

There really hasn't been a year that he's had to put everything on his back. So is there no Herbert comp for a guy that's, like, overcome a lot? and just continue to try to play well through it. I mean, it's... Well, I mean, we're a little maybe young, which is funny to say. I feel like everyone's kind of pointing to Marino that like he still was able to kind of be this amazing QB, but I feel like Marino still kind of had like the stats

and the elite play through it, despite the fact that the team around them never got good enough to, you know, kind of get to the Super Bowl or get to the championship games that he saw in the second year. Sure. I mean, I watch Marino highlights and they come up every now and that. I, it's fucking awesome. I mean, I think the, the comp is probably Stafford.

That's probably the closest thing to it. You're just, right, Stafford with the Lions. Like, there were people that were truthers for him, and it's the organization. It's the surroundings. He had Calvin Johnson, but still, bad defense, bad o'ling, like all these things. He gets, you know, an elite head coach and play caller in McVeigh, wins a Super Bowl, you know, has a couple of great seasons, wins an MVP. So you would hope that that is the comp and that, you know, he's finally able to,

able to get his Sean McBay. I thought that would be hardball. I thought that would be McDaniel this year. That's what happens when, you know, I don't want to call guys out by name, but you sign a certain alignment and you play certain guys in the middle, and it's just, it's not working. It's definitely not working. A team that is working for it.

I feel like I have a blind spot for it. Maybe I just don't know. But Seattle keeps winning football games, Mitch, and they keep not allowing points, not allowing explosive plays. Is that good? They keep on their opponents. And they're now two and oh. They basically won two games with Drew Locke.

And why do they not get the attention? Is it just strictly they're in the Pacific Northwest, sort of out of sight, out of mind? They play a lot of their games, you know, maybe in that one window when there's other national TV games on. So we're not really watching. How many people watch Seahawks Cardinals this weekenders, right?

Like no one did, right? And it's not their fault, of course. But we did watch them play national TV week one. I mean, like, not on national television. But it does feel like they're just not getting the attention. If I told you, Super Bowl champion came off of their championship in the first two games, they're not along any explosive plays and 17 points, and they've won both games with a

backup quarterback, you'd be like, great, they're going to repeat again. And no one believes in them. Why does no one believe in Seattle, Mitch? So I think it's relatively simple. They beat the shit out of you, especially defensively, every single week. But they don't have, like, a super. either edge rusher, interior guy, in the sense of like a marketable name. The Texans, you know, had Will Anderson and Daniel Hunter, and those are flashy names.

They get a ton of sacks. Like Seattle does it with everybody. Marcus Lawrence, obviously, Maffa last year, like Hall, Murphy in the middle, Leonard Williams. So their style of play is just everyone's great across the board. They got guys at every level. But like, we don't necessarily go out of our way to say, I'm watching because of Devin Witherspoon, or I'm watching because of Eminwarie. like those are harder positions to market and to be reasons to watch.

There isn't, again, like an Aaron Donald, a Miles Garrett, a JJ Watt. There's not that one absolute game record that Chris Jones, like they've got great players in Leonard Williams, might be bestie tackle over the last three years. Byron Murphy, best guy in terms of run defense, splitting double teams, taking a knee, all that. Like, again, what DeMarcus Lawrence has done since he's been there. But it's just not that like one marketable thing, even Legion of Boom,

like super physical Earl Thomas, Cam Chancellor, they just haven't coalesced into a marketable package, I would say, despite the fact that they kick out to win Super Bowls. And then offensively, like, JSN is a great name, all that stuff, but like Drew Locke kind of taking the shine out things a little bit

in terms of, again, the marketability of it. I would say for this season, the Rams overshadowed them in the offseason. That's just the reality of it. All the superstars, all the names, L.A. I understand that. week one Seattle wins

I think the narrative coming out was like New England bad Drake May terrible decisions like that was more the viewpoint and then this past week just no one's going to watch

a Seattle Arizona game that's just kind of the reality of it so I guess I understand it but it is surprising how good they were last year Super Bowl all that that more isn't being put into them on a national level

but I would agree that it's kind of like a under the radar best team in the NFL and they got the title, they got the hat, and there's no reason they should be knocked off. And then the Rams go and lose the first week in pretty convincing fashion against a division rival. And still Seattle isn't getting that best team in the NFL, no doubt about it.

So it is pretty odd. And they were trying to find a starters off the team that won last year, which is not common for Super Bowls, I don't think. They go to Washington this week. They play Mario, I would imagine. So they're probably going to be three and no. No one's going to watch Washington, Seattle. That's just what's going to happen.

We're not going to be pretension again. And they're going to go be three and oh and be one of the better teams in the NFL. All right, Mitch, a few more things I want to hit here. Quarterback injuries, they happen every year. I'm tired of people like over exaggerating the injuries. They happen every year. They're bad. Jane Daniels was bad.

The problem with the Daniels thing was the dumbass play call. Just kick the field goal. I've actually been more harder now, Mitch, into field goal kicking and taking the points than going for it. So in this situation, right? I think you were down seven, correct? It was near the end of the half. You had the ball, I think the one yard line. You just failed two plays in a row.

End with a field goal, score three points. You feel great heading in the locker room at 17, 13. And you get the ball out of the half. Like, the argument I always make, look, you can correct me if I'm wrong here on this argument. But like, going in a halftime with three points as an offense, I would be, I'd feel good about that. Great job, guys.

We got three, ball out the half. you miss, let's say a quarterback doesn't get hurt. You walk in the locker room like, oh shit, we didn't score. That kind of sucks. Now we have to make up like we have more to do to get back on the board to score points. I know that you can't measure that.

I get it. And the analytics thing always says go for. Alex was asking. No, no. I was going to say, I'm going to give you props for having the right field that match the analytics. The numbers change when it's at the end of the half

because you don't pin them back and then you don't get the field position. to then go be in a great spot to score the next drive. So the math absolutely changes when you're talking about the end of a half, the first half especially, in terms of kicking the field, taking the points, because a huge advantage of going for it in the tight red zone is if you miss,

they're backed up, high probability of getting the ball back with midfield, maybe minus 40 field position. That's not the case when you're doing it at the end of the first half and times down. So your feel is actually analytically correct. Look at that. Yes. And I will say in terms of the,

quarterback injuries, Bill Barnwell had a great pushback against somebody who was saying that. So NFL will have 38 QBs through at least five passes through the first two weeks of the season of Stafford stays healthy. Through two weeks in the years past, again, the number is 38 QBs. If Stafford stays healthy, he did. So five years ago, 38. Five years before that, 36. Five years before that, 37. Five years before that, 37.

Five years before that, with only 31 teams, 39. Five years before that with only 30 teams, 39. five years before that with only 28 teams 33 five years before that 36 then 35 so again this is what I say every year when training camp starts and guys are getting hurt why is there so many injuries training camp rules like it always feels that way but usually we're just kind of in the normal amount of injuries uh which sucks to say but no we are not in some abnormal version of reality where too many quarterbacks are getting hurt or too many guys are kind of leaving early uh i'm i agree and the the Kaylee Williams cart thing.

I'm a veteran cart rider, broken leg multiple times, dislocated toe, all that stuff. It is sometimes hard to know whether you're watching AI or not. I thought the video of him, like, basically like fist pumping the crowd was AI. It's not AI, right?

It's real. I think so. You get the hamstring injury, gets card off the field, and then like the report comes out. It's actually not that bad. Maybe he'll play this week. I think he's going to be out.

And Badge is in concussion, So he might be out as well. But Mitch, what would you make of Caleb Williams' fist pumping to the crowd with a hamstring injury? So funny enough, you know my friends, Jack and Andy. We have a little group chat and we were discussing this. Andy was kind of making fun of the cable thing. And Jack pushed back in a way that I was very surprised and was like, I don't really get

on athletes for the way they respond to injuries and you don't know what they're going through and all this stuff. I'm like, Jack, we make fun of Paul Pierce for taking a, you know, wheelchair to go to poop. We make fun of Dwayne Wade for like separating a shoulder and needing a wheelchair to get out of a basketball stadium. This is a thing that we, you know, do with athletes. We make fun of you if you have an injury that you make a look is like a season-ending injury and it ends up only being a one or two-week injury. So I understand the fact that maybe he's never like popped a handstring or torn it in this way and it felt like a season-ending injury.

And then, you know, he's maybe a little more emotional guy. I don't know and reacted in the way. maybe just the fist pump or the whatever was him realizing in the cart, I feel better than I initially realized. And I want to tell you guys, everything is going to be okay and I'll be back out there sooner than I can. But a guy on a cart given the fist pump or the thumbs up usually means him out for the year, than you guys for the support. But my contention was we kind of have an expectation of our elite athletes that they know their body extremely well.

Yes. And that when they get injured, their response kind of influences us on what we think of the injury in real time. So that is the separating factor here is that the reaction from Caleb was very different than what the reality of the injury ends up being, which is a grade one, potentially hamstring strain and a week-to-week injury with the chance to play right away. So, yeah, a long way of saying, I think we've got to still make fun of the reaction. Of course we do. Also, when Jackson Dart got hurt and then he walked off the field, and I was like, well, obviously it's not an ACL, I was like, I can't handle two quarterbacks in one week. having season-ending injuries, and then five minutes later, just being out for a week or two. So, yeah, I mean, obviously, in this day and age, the memes are going to get popped off.

He's going to, you know, get trashed for, you know, a very long time. But I think it's still fair to, like, expect that the athlete, this is, okay, real quick. This has always been my thing with penalties, especially with, like, receivers and DBs, basketball especially. But how can you be like a 4-3 athlete and sane change direction, super aware of yourself and space and time, and physicality, and then just like not know you pushed off or not know that you swiped early when the ball is coming. Like, how are you, it's so frustrating because we're, again, we are quote of quote,

part of the best athletes in the world. Like, I pretty much always knew when I held. Oh, yeah. Or I always knew that like there could be a holding. Now, there was one time, this is my penalty story. I got both. There was a screen to the right. It was a play action screen.

So you kind of got to get on the defensive end. Ideally, he gets up the field. but he started to go off. And so I latched on. I chased him. I ran my feet. I got both a holding and a block in the back on the same play while being engaged with the same defender. And I told the ref after, how can I both hold him and block him in the back?

One is pulling him towards me and the other is pushing him. What game was this? Chicago. I think it was 2018 late December. I think I have the play on my phone still. I think I think it was clean. I still think it was a totally clean play. but like he's trying to disengage

so I'm chasing him with my hands engaged and then I get to you know the contact point where he's starting to hunker down to like you know trying to make the tackle and I shove him and I got the holding for the initial and then the block in the back on the shove and I was like I can't get both of these penalties at the same time they are opposite

that's crazy I never seen God you got both those the same time that's that's not great wow okay I don't think we're going to penalty I'm going to find this play now that I want to watch this play Okay, a few more quick hitters minutes before we get out of here. The Atlanta Falcons are the first teams in the 2008 Rams to have no red zone plays in the first two games of a season.

How? How is that possible? Like, that feels impossible. Is this a, obviously, quarterback issue, play call issues, Stefansky issue? I'm shocking, dude. Not one red zone playing the first games in the season. We can't even make fun of two and four for it. That's the sad part.

If it was too, everyone would be blaming him. Obviously, you know, head coach and scheme are part of it. They should not have let Ledford go. Their offensive line coach, who is one of the better kind of outside zone. Blockers, he got multiple guards paid. I'd argue the guard they paid this offseason. Probably not worth it. Jake Matthews has taken a bit of a step back, not quite the player he used to be.

But it's kind of everybody. You just, you got Bejohn, you got Drake Lundon, you got Kyle Pitts, like obviously very productive guys. you'd expect, regardless of kind of O-line and quarterback, that, again, Stafansky runs a scheme that should be friendly, should be conducive, under center, play action, naked, boots. Like, regardless of the QB, you should get to the plus 20-yard line at some point. So, yeah, it's just, it's kind of mind-boggling. Like, even at the end of, like, you're down 37 to 3.

You don't get, like, in the red zone. Then in the game, just, like, well, the Panthers are, their backups are in. rather, rather shocking. Another team quickly, because I'm right, I've been right on this team, I'm glad I was right. So congrats to you. Congrats. Thank you.

I appreciate, thank you, because I can't pick NFL side. So it looks like some futures right. The Bucks are three in 10 since week eight of last season. Only NFL teams are the worst records in that span. Titans 2 and 11. Commanders 2 and 11. Cardinals 2 in 11. Are you surprised at all Tampa Bay has started this poorly?

I'm surprised I lost to Cleveland. I would say, can we just stop the narrative that Baker plays better when he, feels disrespected and he's just like amazing guy. Well, okay, so my Baker thing, if we want to go to it. So Cleveland obviously very frustrated with the last five years of quarterback play and should have kept Baker and should have this and should of that. I don't agree.

Should not have kept him. Like, I get that he was injured that last year. He was fighting through stuff that maybe he should have sat from. But he has even admitted he was an amateur quarterback at the time. He went to Carolina the next year. First game against Cleveland created shirts about how he was so disrespected, fucking lost, then got cut. halfway through the year and then does show up in LA and starts on Thursday

football after two days, which was an impressive performance. But like he needed that year or two to be humbled to realize he wasn't the shit to kind of change his mentality. And he's talked about it. And then gets into a great situation in Tampa. And he's kind of shown he's as good as though Linus. He's as good as the weapons are when you had, you know, Godwin, Evans, Buka, like obviously not at all at the same time always.

But when the weapons are great, Liam Cohen, Canales, you know, had a good year. there. The O.C.'s great. The offensive line's great. Yeah, he's going to look awesome. I did not understand this whole push to sign him and this kind of last minute rush to make him a $50 million quarterback. Now, the QB market's at 65, probably going to get to 70 next offseason. So he's not at the upper upper level. They're starting to be kind of the second tier of quarterback contracts, which is great for business and the NFL in general. But make him show that he's worth that contract. Like, make him do that. And then this idea that like, well, when Baker feels disrespected or when Baker, is up against it, like he's this awesome player.

We just, that's always been the narrative. But I think that goes back to one or two games in college. It hasn't really been who he's been on the field. And hopefully this loss of Deshawn Watson where he got absolutely outplayed by Deshaun Watson and the Cleveland Browns, we can put that narrative to bed. I'm with you. I just think that Baker's old. That's like, that's okay.

But he's old, but he plays like he's 23. Correct. And he plays like he's not going to get hurt. And he plays like he can go out there with reckless abandon and not turn the the ball over and not get strip sacks when he's running. Like he hasn't really changed as a quarterback for better or for worse. Sometimes that is for good, but I would say maybe for worse, he just needs to kind of bring it down a little bit.

He might be feeling like the O line isn't as good as it's been. He doesn't have Evans, doesn't have his weapons. Maybe he's pressing. But yeah, it's been frustrating. And, you know, hopefully that contract doesn't turn into, you know, too big of loss for them because it is fun to watch Tampa when they're at their best. I don't know what their best will be this year. so we'll find out in that division.

Lastly here, so I was watching Sunday night, and I just saw this Twitter. I'd saved this. I'm curious your thought on this. So the Colts owner walks up and down the sideline, taking notes during the game with an earpiece in. Do you think that undue pressure is the wrong way to put it?

But like, you just had a bad play, okay? You walk off the silence, and the owner is staring you the face, like writing notes about your shit play, you just had. I feel like this is not probably great. I don't know what else to frame it, Mitch. Like, I, like, some owners are super, like, with the giants, the mayor of family.

They're super intimate. Like, they're there every day. Their job is the Giants. You see them in the facility. They're at practice. Like, you know they're there. Like, you're not, you know that, right? They're at the games, like in the locker room of super intert.

The Hunt family is not. They're not there all week. They live somewhere else, Dallas, right? They fly in Sundays. And like, that's in the Vikings. I was with the Wilf's, like, they live in Jersey. They come in on Sunday. That's just what the Jerry Richardson with the Panthers.

His baby's the Panthers. He's there every day. So like there's different ways to do it. But none of them paste the sideline during the game taking notes. I just, I don't know, man. It's just, it's an odd sight to see. And I'm curious if it ever affects the Colton negative way. I mean, it's worth, it's worth questioning.

I would say the single worst owner interaction is Harther Blank taking the field in the Super Bowl and that going sideways. Sure, sure. So I actually, I like what she does in general. I think she has a great point that I need to have the headset on. I want to see how people interact with each other. Like I'm making the decisions for everything in an organization. I want to see who meshes on the field, who lifts their guys around him, like all that stuff.

From what I've seen from when they show her, for the most part, she's doing her own thing. Like she is taking notes. She's kind of staying out of the way. It's not like she's right next to the stike in like, hey, call her run. Like I think that for her, it's being part. of the action, seeing it, being on the headset and being able to kind of like feel that interaction out in real time. And I don't mind it at all. Like, are you going to play any better or worse because the owner's down there? No. Like, you're going to be so locked in. So as a player, I'm going to play

as good or bad as I decide for myself. Like, I'm not more scared because the owner's out there. I think she does do a good job of kind of staying out of the way, quote unquote, and kind of keeping to herself and doing all those things. Like, to your point, you're kind of, you're bringing the reality of the fact that you are evaluated for every single thing that you do, like to the forefront because she's there with the headset and taking the notes. But we all know that that's the case anyway. We all are in fear of getting cut at basically any time. So I don't think that that's putting any more pressure on the players that coaches. I think it's a cool idea, you know, especially being hands-on and wanting to be involved in the franchise. Like,

that to me is a better version of ownership than someone being distant. Hey, they're going to do their thing. I'm going to stay in my office, my office. I'll get the reports. Then I'll make the decisions. She has that kind of real world data, seeing how, again, coaches interact on the side. Like, we see all these videos of, let's just say, like the AJ Brown reading the book. Or what was it, Kelvin Shepard was talking to one of the defensive line guy or defensive. Oh, no, it was the Cowboys defensive coordinator talking to a guy.

And it looks like a terrible interaction. But like, if you're the owner and you're seeing that on TV, that may be a a lot different than the reality of being in and hearing on the headset. So I actually like what she does. I don't think it adds any pressure. I don't think it makes things awkward. She seems to be staying out of the way and doing a really good job of still letting everyone do their job. And I kind of wish more owners were that invested and that interested that they want to be part of the action.

And they want to be down there and they want to see and hear everything. Because as you know, it is a totally different ballgame when you're down there on the sidelines. And yet Chris Bowler is still the general manager there. Oh, did you see, was that him sprinting to the ref at the end of the game when Jones got popped? like right against the sideline. Oh, that was not a penalty, but sure. No, that one wasn't. I think the first one was.

Sneed was three yards out of bounds going back towards the and Bolton hit him late. But no, the one at the end of the game, I think Ballard came flying in and was like giving it to the ref. It looked like him at least. Okay, I went with this, and then if you have any more comments,

but I thought the very end of the chief scheme, by the way, that that, so my biggest gripe with replay at the moment is that they've stopped with the, threshold of indisputable video evidence to overturn a call in the field. Like, they've just thrown that out. That's just not what they use anymore. I thought the end of that game, Mitch, that should have been a fumble recovery by the

Chiefs, not you thought he would, he had control the ball with a hand on his back? I did know, the hand on the hip. I think the hand brush the hip. I think there was an indisputable evidence to overturn it. Hopefully we can end the frickin' chiefs get all the calls narrative. They literally could have ended the game on the spot. My thing with that is, I don't know how you have interpreted that rule over time, but I always thought if the receiver got contacted on the way to the ground,

that was part of like the catch. I didn't realize that you had to fully possess the ball and then be touched. I always thought it was just like, guys, because. Yeah, yeah. So any time, so this is my thing, anytime a receiver and DB are going up for the ball and they clip feet and the DB catches it, and it's an interception, and then he runs for 40 yards,

and they go and rule that he was down by contact, every single time you're telling me they're looking to make sure it's fully possessed before they tangled feet, it's never been the case. It's always been if they make contact while they're in mid-air, then it becomes down by contact.

At least that was my interpretation. Maybe I'm the idiot. Between that and the whole thing that the quarterback is trying to throw a forward pass that override the fact that the ball goes backwards, those are two real things that I think are just a lot different than the interpretation of what I've had over the last 20 years.

I've never understood the quarterback throwing the, I always think all the time, like if the ball goes backwards, isn't that a live ball no matter how it ends up going backwards? I've never, I've always thought that. I've always thought that like, well, it is.

But I would guess, I guess they would say that like the, I don't know, again, that one, to me is a new rule interpretation that maybe they're fully interpreting the rule as written. Because in the past,

if you're a quarterback and you're doing stuff and you're getting hit, like, doesn't that kind of negate the tuck rule too? Like, I don't know. I've, I, I, yeah, I don't know. Stump the Schwartz's. Any last words? Anything we got up your mind here? No, I'm just enjoying more football.

You know, the first couple weeks, as we talk about, it's kind of hard to filter through what's reality, what's not. The Ravens, very surprising. You know, they looked legit and what we saw in the field felt real. Obviously, a huge step back in week two. But no, just excited for more football and excited for Falcons on Thursday night football. Are they playing Pittsburgh, though, too? Or no, Packers. Green Bay.

Okay, at least we get boring. Okay, real quick. On whatever your favorite gambling app is, do they have odds of coaches being fired? Yeah, they're out there somewhere. Because if LeFleur loses that game, that could be an interesting one to kind of, Keep an eye on. So some of the prediction markets, I think, have those as well. I'm looking up right now for you.

First coach fired, Matt Lafleur. It's probably not high. My thing is Green Bay doesn't have one owner that's going to get frustrated and say, I'm done with you. So the lack of true owner and the ownership structure of the Packers probably makes it easier for him to not get fired mid-season. But after the first week and then if they end up kind of losing to this Falcon team, which has talked about, I would have to have.

imagine people are going to start calling for that. So next coach out, the one who has the highest odds is Matt Fulfur. Really? Yeah, and then next and then Syriott. This is dumb. Siriana? Where's Glenn in that? He's right below that.

Glenn's out. What an atrocious way to end that game for the Jets. Just an incompetent bumbling disaster of a coaching to end that game, which again, this is why he's not a good coach. He'll be out after the season. All right. Anything else, Mitch? No, I can't believe he said he never considered timeout.

That's a wild statement. Why he's not a good coach. All right, please rate review, subscribe. We'll be back on Friday with our gambling show, which again, net at us zero wins as usual because I suck at the NFL. But we will do it anyways, and we're back on Tuesday. All right, take care, everyone.

Have a good one. Please rate review subscribe. Thank you.