Geoff Schwartz Is Smarter Than You - Overreacting to the Ravens, Raiders, and Cowboys, Plus Taunting Penalties Stink

Episode Date: September 21, 2021

Geoff and Gabe talk about the fallout from Week 2 of the NFL season, starting with what the Ravens’ win over the Chiefs means for Lamar and Harbaugh’s expectations, and what Mahomes and Reid can learn from this defeat. Plus, newly-minted Chargers fan Gabe says that Cowboys fans made SoFi Stadium feel like a home game for America’s team, but he’s still not buying them (or the Raiders) as teams that will matter late in the season.Geoff rants about the stupidity of 15 yard taunting penalties before predicting which bubble teams will make the playoffs this season, having a good laugh at Urban Meyer’s expense, and wondering what Tua’s injury will do to Watson trade rumors.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It's Tuesday, September 21st. Hello, my name is Jeff Schwartz alongside Gabe Yeo, and this is Jeff Schwartz of Smarty. We have plenty to get to after a wild week two of NFL action. We normally don't get wild, crazy games until like week seven or eight, sort of like a weekend where the sportsbooks want all the money from all of us in every different direction. Some weird upsets, some weird 0-2 teams, some weird 2-0 teams, things we didn't expect. Gabe, first off, how are you? Second off, you went to SoFi Stadium this weekend.

Everyone who's been has said it's the greatest stadium of all time. How was your experience? It is a very, very nice stadium. It was a great experience right up until the final seconds. Listeners of this podcast will know that I am, of course, a former Jets fan. I officially changed my fandom this weekend, heading into the Chargers game just before kickoff. I said, it's over.

I'm done with the Jets, Jeff. You're done? Four interceptions from Zach Wilson did it in for you? It wouldn't have even mattered. That obviously helped me feel good about my choice. I walked into SoFi and I decided it's time to turn a new leaf. I'm going to raise my children Chargers fans. I'm done with the Jets. And then the Chargers Jetsed me.

Basically, the Chargers did to me what the Jets have been doing for 20 years of my life. And I thought they had a victory and they blew it. And by the way, SoFi Stadium felt like I was in Jerry World. It was insane how many Cowboys fans were at a Chargers game. Insane. I've never seen that many road fans at a home stadium ever before. But it was a fun day nonetheless. Yeah, it was like 70-30, right?

It was 70 Cowboys. Lower Bowl was almost entirely Cowboys. They were much, much louder. It was it was confusing, honestly, because when you're at a game and you don't know what like what calls have been made you don't have an announcer yeah you'd have to base it off the crowd and the crowd would be going wild in favor of the cowboys and would completely throw your whole mindset off i i did notice that the chargers right tackle was using us they were using silent cadence at home right like they were just so they it must have been loud um obviously the cowboys won that game

which was a big win for them and we'll get into more of that later i can't wait to go out to sofi you know i'll be there and the minimum for the super bowl as usual uh covering that game but yeah look it's the cowboys only trip to la to play the chargers in eight years right once every eight years they make that trip now obviously they play the rams in los angeles as well uh more often but for cowboys fans who live in la this was an opportunity to get to L.A., to get to SoFi, see the stadium. So it makes sense. But enough about the Charging Cowboys.

We have a bigger topic to hit right off the start. Yeah, I mean, Sunday night was a treat for everyone. So the Ravens finally showed they're ready to rival the Chiefs, right? They finally showed us the winning blueprint that works against Mahomes. You run the ball all over KC. You score 30 plus points. You let your QB decide to go for it on fourth and down on your own side of the field. You get a turnover on the would-be game-winning drive and you leave no time for Pat.

And then maybe, maybe you beat them by one in September, barely. There's the blueprint, Jeff. We figured it out. We've been waiting. I'm obviously being sarcastic. They learned nothing from this for me, but other people are convinced that Lamar turned a corner and the Ravens have finally cracked the Chiefs code. Yeah. I tweeted sort of the same thing today because it's pretty funny. You know, everyone says the blueprint for being the Chiefs is always run the football,

run the football, right? And my argument has always been, you know, okay, great, but those have to finish in seven. Like, great, you run the football, but those need to finish in seven. Let's look at what the Chiefs did, first of all, okay? So as good as the Ravens played, as good as they played, they obviously needed a fumble from Clyde Edwards to Lair. Otherwise, the Chiefs are kicking a go-ahead field goal. I mean, they make it. The Chiefs had 49 offensive plays.

That's it. Four offensive touchdowns and 8.3 yards per play. That includes, by the way, one drive that went backwards for 20 yards on a bad snap. That obviously includes a terrible Pat Mahomes interception. Pat has, look, I'm actually sort of glad this happened because this is a wake-up call. You can't, I know Mahomes thinks he's invincible. And for the most part, he is. But you can't just throw the ball up in the air on third down

as you're being tackled. It was just one of those that we would make fun of Carson Wentz doing. And I told you it was not going to get Carson Wentz in here. But we got Carson Wentz in early on. It's something that Carson Wentz would do, right? You just chuck the ball up in the air. You can't do that. So that being said the the turnover the bad snap and the fumble which i'll give credit to the ravens in the fumble that was they forced that fumble but the other self-inflicted wounds right people will say well lamar threw two interceptions

yeah but those weren't self-inflicted i mean like, like the Chiefs made a play on those, right? And so the Ravens did all of that, did all of that and still won by the margin of one single point. So my takeaway from this is good for the Ravens. They kind of came over the Chiefs hurdle. But what we learned from this game is what, as a Chiefs fan, I kind of already knew, the defense has a long way to go. The defense is in shambles right now.

They've never cared about stopping the run and the reason why they haven't cared about that is because they're always ahead at the end of games so why would you allocate resources and technique work and time in the meeting rooms and on the field to do something that you're really not going to have to do most of the game because they're always ahead right you know look go back to 2019 playoffs oh the Titans are going to come in there and of the game because they're always ahead right you know look go back to 2019 uh playoffs oh the times you're coming there and run the football with derrick henry and guess what you know they're down 14 points in the third quarter the browns run the ball down 14 points in third quarter like you teams have to abandon that ravens as well in in the previous two games but the ravens were close the entire game so you got to keep running the football and the chiefs defense oh boy gave like even the fourth and one point the final point of the game they weren't even

aligned properly so they got to move Chris Jones back inside enough of this Chris Jones a defensive end thing the Ravens abused him in the zone read game they used him he's the one he's doing out there he's not a defensive end put him back inside Juan Thornhill's got to play a little bit more but if you're a Chiefs fan you can eliminate the silly mistakes on offense, right? Bad snap and Pat Mahomes on the boy. But defensively, you need something, right? The year they won the Super Bowl, they got really good about week 10 on defense. Now, last year, the defense was good enough. I mean, they didn't lose because of the defense. But man, it is a poor start of defense for them. Well, let me ask you this. I'm going to use this sort of a silly analogy,

but I think it'll work for some of our audience. Like, are the Chiefs kind of like a Chappelle or a Seinfeld going into the comedy cellar at one in the morning and just like working on bits? You know, because they do know that they can do the full hour special and it will crush. They do know that they can turn it on when needed. So are they just trying to figure out things like can we move chris jones to the outside or you know do we want

to increase micole hardman's touches like are they just sort of toying with the people right now and and or are they trying to win this game and it just gets out of their control i think they're trying to win this game um you know the hardman fumble is interesting because I mean, let me call him the Clyde Rottel right? People are going to mock Andy Reid for running the football in that spot, right? Because Pat Mahomes had not been stopped all night. In this situation where people have said, oh, Andy Reid's game management,

right? Game management is a problem. And you would see some of that, I think, if they really didn't try to win the game. But if he had thrown the ball and they had got an incomplete pass, and now it's third and three, I got another complete pass. Let's just say that, you know, that everyone killing your own poor clock management,

poor cause. He just, he made a poor play. I think they're trying to win all these games, but, but my homes has been able to cover up issues on defense. And it's sometimes clock management issues because he's so good. And in a game,

it's a good opponent on the road, that's tougher to do. And it's one of those situations where they lost the game, obviously. And look, give credit to Baltimore for staying strong in that game. They were down, I think, what, 11 points in the third quarter. They fought back and won. But the Chiefs need to tighten things up. They need to stop making self-inflicted errors and realize that they are vulnerable

if you continue to make those mistakes. I do think that at times, because of how good Mahomes is and because of what they've done in the past throughout his entire career, their game, there is apathy at times of like, oh, Mahomes doesn't make us right. He'll figure it out for us.

If we play poorly, it's okay. I mean, look, they don't seriously think that, obviously. Like, you know, the guy defense not being like, oh, you know what? I'm not going to play hard because Mahomes will save us. But I think there's a general thought of like, and I play on teams like this every now and then, where you're like, okay, the quarterback's going to help us

win the game no matter what. And the Chiefs feel that way. And I think they need to play with a little more sense of vulnerability. And that this, you know, look, they were down 22-10 to the Browns. They lost the Ravens. And we'll talk about the Raiders in a second. Like, you can't just throw your helmet and win these games, right? You need to tighten things up, stop making mistakes,

and just play the game you play. Because again, not many teams outside of Tampa Bay, when you play your A game, can beat you. It's just plain and simple. They're too good offensively. I think there are some positives. Look, we saw Byron Pringle with a big touchdown. They needed a number two wide receiver.

Hardman played well. Robinson had some catches. Obviously, Kelsey's incredible. Tyreek Hill. They doubled Tyreek Hill. They said, we're not going to let you beat us. And the Chiefs' offense was unstoppable still. They had plenty of options.

The offense is fine. Just stop making stupid mistakes. And defensively, got to figure something else out to do because it's not working right now. Yeah. All right. Well, so then let's look at the other side of this because I was sort of being a wise ass to start the show. But people we like, people who are credible, who don't overreact, are throwing MVP and Lamar around again.

People are genuine in saying that this really was a meaningful win and like Harbaugh and the Ravens really have figured something out. If you want to take that point seriously, are we now at a place where the Ravens are what everyone wanted them to be or are they still the team you've said, like, great, good job, see you in January? Yeah, I'm going to go with the see you in January. I just kind of laid out all the reasons why the Chiefs should have won the game.

And mind you, without that fumble, and again, I want to give credit, the Ravens player knocked it out. I mean, he deserves credit for that. But it was a poor block by the left guard. And if they just hold on to the ball, Gabe, they get one first down there. They run the clock out, kick it, field goal, go home with the win.

None of this is said, right? That one fumble changed the entire way we talk about Lamar Jackson, Ravens, John Harbaugh after this game. And we love that fourth down. It's pretty interesting, Gabe. The fourth down, everyone's like, you know what? He asked Lamar Jackson. Lamar said yes?

Yeah. No shit he said yes. What do you expect him to say? No, coach. You know what, coach? I'm a, I'm done for today. Bring the punt unit on.

What are the, what are the stat guys say? Yeah. Yeah. Bring the punt unit on. Every person will say that Zach Wilson would say, go for it. Game.

Like, of course, of course the player said, go for it. He just wanted to make the player part of the decision making process. Right. He knew what he was doing. He was going for it for it and i commend her but he should have gone for it she couldn't stop anyone all night of course i should have gone for it it was an easy first

down it wasn't even contested he just he wouldn't touch so he got past the line of scrimmage um but yeah that that one fumble changed the way that we talked about the ravens after this game and it's wild how one play can do that right right? Yeah, well, it's like this is like Tom Brady's whole career is the same thing. That one thing goes his way and then he capitalizes and he makes the most of it. But like, man, in every one of those rings that he's got in every, you know, playoff run that he's been on, some little quirky thing happened for him that gets forgotten. That just history just ignores, oh yeah, he shouldn't even had the ball, or like, oh yeah, the defense got him the ball at the last

second, and it worked that way for Lamar and the Ravens. I do think it's funny, the idea of going to Lamar, like, yeah, Jeff, I asked my kids if they wanted ice cream, and what do you know, they thought it'd be a good idea to have ice cream after dinner, they were into that, like, of course the quarterback's gonna say he wants to do it, and he should. You know, these very same people, many of whom I like and trust with their takes on the NFL, are the same people who today and all this week will be talking about two more teams, the Raiders and the Cowboys. Okay, so the Raiders are serious AFC contenders if you listen to all these people.

My buddy Skip Bayless is asking if Derek Carr is an MVP candidate. All right, yeah, sure. And then, of course, the Cowboys. They win that fluky game I was at. So even though they had the moral victory week one and the barely victory week two, they're basically champs of the NFC right now, according to all these people. Are we getting a little ahead of ourselves week two on two of the more popular teams in the league suddenly being back? So let's go to the Raiders first.

The last two NFL seasons, who do you think has the highest drive score percentage in the NFL? Like quarterbacks that have taken their teams down for scores. Who would be number one in your opinion? I would have guessed the Chiefs or the Bucs. Right. It is Pat Mahomes. Okay. He's got 49%.

The average is 40%. Okay. Tampa's at fifth. They're 47%. There's actually three teams tied at 48%. Guess who one of the three teams is tied at 48%? Are you going to tell me the Raiders? The Raiders.

Yes. Derek Carr. Yeah. Yeah. He's got 817 yards so far this season uh we saw last year glimpses of this offense start picking up a little bit right and and i think offensively grudenkin has always been able to coach offense and we're seeing kind of the fruit of the labor with the additions they've made and a more cohesive offense and car letting it rip downfield with something that he hadn't done really much of his career until about the beginning, middle of last season.

And offensively, I'm there here to stay, unless Gruden just pulls a disappearing act as he normally does the second half of the season. And the question, obviously, is defensively, is this going to hold up? Now, they played the Ravens week one, and again, should have lost that game. I mean, the Ravens, again, had the opportunity to win, did not do that, and credit the Ravens for that. And they played the Ravens week one and again, should have lost that game. I mean, the Ravens, again, had the opportunity to win,

did not do that and credit the Ravens for that. And they put the Steelers who were just completely beat up on offense. Like their offense is not good. They get the dolphins next, I believe, um, do the Raiders. And that's without probably without Tua,

who is dealing with some rib injury right now. And just, he may play. We don't know yet. But I, I would not, I, their offensive line in Miami. Oh, geez. I don't know. I can, but I would not. Their offensive line in Miami.

Oh, geez. I don't know. I'd maybe keep them out for a couple weeks. So banged up Dolphins. Yeah, and make sure they're ready to go. And then they get the Chargers and the Bears, who obviously Matt Nagy refused to play fields, but still could.

The Broncos, Eagles. I mean, we'll find out a little bit more about the Raiders moving forward. But I will say, and I'm a Chiefs fan, obviously. I do like poking and prying the Raiders fans on Twitter. They deserve the love they're getting for their offense. They're playing really good in offense. I did not see this coming. This show is called Jeff Schwartz is smarter than you.

It could be called Jeff Schwartz hates the cars more than you. You are always ready to tell us why they aren't as good as people think they are, why John Gruden's an overrated coach. And here you are saying, yeah, what? Yeah. Look,

we need to see the second half of the season, which has been their issue throughout Gruden's career. But I am, I can't ignore what I've seen. I mean, I think, I think people listen to me because even though I might not quote unquote like your team,

I mean, I'm not like against the Raiders. I just, I love trolling their fans on Twitter. But if I see something that I think is good football, I will tell you it's good football. And vice versa, if I see bad football, I will tell you it's some bad football.

And right now, Derek Carr is playing really well. They're scoring a lot of points. They're hitting a lot of deep shots, which is very important, obviously, for the offense. I mean, right now, through 10 games, his advanced numbers, I like using Ben Baldwin's website. You'll find Ben on Twitter.

He's 10th. He's 10th right now in the NFL. So he's in a lot of plays, 110 passing plays so far. So they're passing the ball a lot there. The rushing efficiency is not very good. But Carr is doing what he needs to do in this offense. Hitting some home runs. Being efficient. And the Steelers' defense is no joke. That's a really good defense.

Again, I talk about this a lot. When your offense doesn't match your defense, it's harder for the defense to continue to play well than vice versa. If your defense is poor, the offense can keep scoring. So the Steelers are going to have trouble this year because, while the defense is really good, their offense is not getting the job done,

and their defense will suffer because of it, right? They'll be in the field more often, and they'll be a little bit depressed, and they won't be as emotionally excited, and those are some issues. But nonetheless, the Raiders deserve credit for this win. Now the Cowboys, Gabe, you know that I like the Cowboys to win the NFC East. They have the best quarterback. And we saw, finally, a healthier Dak in this game. We saw an offensive line, mostly healthy.

They didn't allow Collins back, but Terrence Steele played well. All the weapons are there. Tony Potter looks better than Zeke Elliott right now, which anyone could have called, right? I mean, don't pay running back second contracts. We know this, right? Defensively, Parsons moved to defensive end because Lawrence was out. Played well.

The hype train just took a deep breath, everyone. The Chargers right tackle was like the third string right tackle and did not look very good. He was doing some things that I was infuriated watching on the couch. Like, he just was letting Parsons beat him by his sets. They get the eagles this weekend i believe let's see parts gets lane johnson before we decide he's he's a pro bowl defensive end but nonetheless they won a game that actually both teams typically lose someone

had to actually win in the end and they won the game and despite some of the ugliness and obviously the injuries they're they're they're dealing with they got a an ugly win which you kind of have to do if you want to win divisions and make the playoffs you know not every game is going to be perfect they get the eagles panthers giants i mean so they have opportunity now to start stacking some wins together they'll be favored home against eagles they'll be favored home against the surprisingly 2-0 panthers by the way um and they get the giants uh they got three favorite home against the surprisingly 2-0 Panthers, by the way. And they get the Giants. They get three straight home games. So they tear off a run right here, go 4-1.

You're feeling pretty good about them. Okay. But I, listen, you know me, Jeff. I've been a producer for a lot of years. A lot of what I did had to do with social media. And I can just tell you, I'm just going to let people in on something. When these shows get put together in the morning or the night before, one of the things

that good producers think about is like, hmm, what do people care about in social? What are people talking about on Twitter? And there's all kinds of tools you can use. And you know who over-indexes on social every single week of the NFL season, all year long for that matter? The Cowboys and the Raiders. So you know who get talked about a little bit more than everyone else? The Cowboys and the Raiders. They just have more passionate fans all over the country, as evidenced by a nearly full stadium in LA with Cowboys fans. Yes. So I'm here to say that these are two teams that have done a little bit of good.

There's plenty to like. They might even compete in their divisions. But they don't actually matter. The Raiders started 2-0 last year. Derek Carr looked like an MVP after week two last year. I don't remember hearing about them ever since then the Cowboys, we know their season was a mess and they're probably going to go nine and whatever it is eight this year.

But do we really need to think about these guys as a serious team with all the injuries they have? Yes, because they have the best quarterback in the division. And when you have that, you'll make, you'll make'll make the playoffs right and obviously anything can happen in the playoffs especially if they get healthier get some guys back defense just kind of shores things up yes game who's better in the division right now uh taylor heineke no daniel jones no jalen hurts no they're not as good as dak prescott when dak prescott's rolling i, that Heineke kid, that opened a lot of people's eyes.

I didn't see him throw a ball anywhere but the perfect spot in his chance the other night. He looks good. Hurts looks very good. Maybe the Giants just aren't any good. The Giants are not good. No, no, no. We don't need to talk about the Giants.

I mean, they have a Pats intern as a coach. That doesn't make any sense. The other two teams in that division can give the Cowboys a run for their money. I think they can, but which division in football right now, by the end of the season, is going to be one with a quarterback who's like Taylor Heineke or Jalen Hurts to a Dak Prescott. You're saying give me a, you want me to name a division where a lesser quarterback beats out like a

really good quarterback? Yes. Well, apparently everyone thinks Derek Carr's going to be doing it. The Chiefs will win the division in the end. I'm talking about like, like by the end of the season, you're gonna have Josh Allen, right? Is the winner there. In the North, you're either getting Lamar or Baker, most likely.

And those, I think, you know, in the south, you're probably getting Tannehill, who's the best quarterback in the division, right? So the north, you're getting Rodgers. The south, you're getting Tampa and Tom Brady. In the NFC West, you're probably getting either Russ or Stafford or Garoppolo Lance. I mean, so I just don't buy the Cardinals 2-0 start, by the way,

for those who are getting on their horses. Cliff Kingsbury, by the way, speaking of Arizona, because they're just very quickly. You're all over the place now. You just named every team in the league, Jeff. Just very quickly. Because I want to talk about, you know, we're talking about surprising teams. Just very quick.

Because Arizona fans are going to be in my mentions because I don't like Kingsbury. So in 2016, Kingsbury lost his last 6-8 at Texas Tech. The following season, guess what? He lost his last 6-8. In 2018, his last year at Tech, before he got hired to go to the NFL, he lost his last five straight games he lost to end the season. Not good, right?

2019, first year in Arizona. Started 3-3-1, finished 6-10. Last year, started 6-3, finished 8-8. So it goes along the lines with the Raiders too, right? Like these coaches that have not coached well at the end of seasons. Let's just give it a second, everyone. So the Raiders thing, I think Raiders are for real,

but I still have the back of my mind like, I don't quite know about the rest of the season. And for the Cowboys, they have the best quarterback in the division by far. They're going to win that division. Well, we're going to keep talking about them because everyone else is going to keep talking about them.

I just, I look at the league in general and I go, who will actually matter the second weekend of the playoffs? And these are not two teams that I care about. Yeah. They're, they're probably not going to matter, but Dallas will get a home game at least.

Well, or they could come to LA and feel like they're right at home. It doesn't matter. I mean, they're very, yeah, very true. Yes, they do travel well. Well, I mean, look, I don't know if there's more to say on this other than what you've already told us,

which is Zeke was not going to be worth the second contract. They already seem like they're regretting it. I got to imagine we're going to be hearing a lot of grumbling from him. He's never really kept his feelings private. Pollard, I don't know if he's a great player or just anyone behind that line would look pretty good, but he looked pretty damn good from my eyes at the game yesterday. Is there something more to be said for the running back situation in Dallas? You like the quarterback. What about the running backs? I mean, Tony Pollard looked good,

man. He looked explosive. And the Cowboys got back to the tried and true tradition of, let's just run behind Zach Martin. It's pretty good, that right guard. And it worked pretty well for them. I mean, look, Zeke had a couple breakout runs, but Pollard just looked more explosive. I mean, did he look that way to you?

Oh, no question. Pollard just looked better. Looked more explosive. Yeah, no question. Pollard just looked better, looked more explosive. Yeah, and they both put up pretty good numbers. I mean, if you had either of them in your fantasy league, you did just fine yesterday. I think it was 140 and a touchdown for Pollard, 70-something and a touchdown for Zeke. So neither looked terrible.

But when it came time for someone to make a bigger play, you'd look up and you'd see, oh, that was number 20, not number 21 who did that. And it looked like Pollard more often. Zeke did catch the ball a little bit or at least ran some routes like he could a little bit. And I wondered, it seems like they want Dak to hold the ball a lot more. You know, he's going to throw it a lot more, it would seem. Do you think that they're going to sort of use those guys in the passing game more as the season wears on?

So the Cowboys do a lot of those RPOs, right? So some of the passes are really called runs, right? So you have to kind of get out of this idea of looking at Dak Prescott's attempts as like, as, oh my God, you know, they're not running the ball enough. And it makes sense, right? You run the ball, especially, you know, when you have a good box count. It makes sense to do that. But yeah, I think that as the season goes on they'll try to exploit matchups where they can find running backs against linebackers those are great matchups to be had but i'm not

sure i i mean it's hard to tell like right now whether they're going to use them more in the passing game i think you're going to see a split as producer hank notes you know zeke had 18 uh 18 touches and pollard at 16. Feels about right. I don't think they're going to go more like Pollard more than Zeke, but you can't ignore that Pollard brings a different dimension to the game. And maybe we see some two running back sets, right. And find ways to mess with defenses with both guys on the field. But I think that's about where you're going to see,

you'll see Zeke a couple more touches a game. He starts the game as well. right? Then Pollard does. Yeah. All right. Well, you mentioned a few other teams a minute ago, and we're going to get to the losers in each of these matchups on the Raiders and Cowboys side. I want to hear more of your thoughts on the Chargers, especially as a newly minted fake Chargers fan.

But we'll get to them in our little over-under game. I also want to talk about two more themes that keep coming up, at least on Twitter. So injuries, everyone's freaking out. A lot of injuries this week, some serious, some not. Tyra Taylor, Carson Wentz, Andy Dalton, that's the one I want to get into. Tua, you mentioned. I'm not making a joke here, but it seems like the football gods are trying to sort of send us a sign. Field zero needs to begin. And yet Matt Nagy says if Dalton's healthy, he's playing. What the hell is going on in Chicago still? So the injuries are an issue.

There are a lot of injuries this year. And a lot of injuries to important players. Which is the way every year has injuries. But this year just feels like there's even more. Carson Wentz sprained both his ankles. Not just one, both his ankles. Got two mentions. Gabe said before the show, guys, that I wasn't allowed to talk about cars i don't want to mention so far um and yes injuries are there a

lot and and it's it's concerning and we'll get i'm sure we'll have more articles and things written along the way about why that is uh people you know will try to blame the offseason program it's not for that my my as i've always said the less practice, the less hitting equals more injuries. Your body's just not ready to play football. I keep saying that. The NFLPA just doesn't care. They're going to keep asking for less practice time. There was a cringy moment today with Matt Nagy. He was

asked, is Andy still your starter, if healthy? Probably put that in there. Matt Nagy said, that's something I'm not going to get into with scheme. Reporter, that's not scheme, Nagy said, that's something I'm not going to get into with scheme. Reporter, that's not scheme. Nagy, yes it is. It's not scheme.

I'm going to start saying that. Like when my wife was like, can you do chores? It's scheme, babe. Can't talk about it. Can't talk about it. Can't do it. Scheme, can't do it.

Yeah, can't talk scheme. So I don't know what they're trying to do here, man. I did not watch much of Bears-Bengals. Sorry to either of those fan bases. I did see, by the way, that Bengals fans are now doing the, oh, well, yeah, the Jamar Chase thing is fine. Our offensive line sucks, but I'm glad we didn't draft an offensive line in the first round.

Isn't it funny how we see this throughout the NFL, right one it was like Bengals fans like yeah hell yeah screw Panay Sewell we didn't need it we didn't offensive linemen and then he plays really well in week one you're like oh maybe he's good and then Joe Burrow gets his ass handed to him the entire game against the Bears it's like ah maybe we need an offensive lineman now, right? The question was, is Jamar Chase plus Jackson Carman better than, let's say, Panay Sewell plus Terrence Marshall Jr., whoever else you get in the second round, right? The answer is going to be Panay Sewell, who's going to be a stud for his entire career,

and Terrence Marshall over Jamar Chase and Jackson Carman. Nonetheless, I digress. Fields needs to play. Like, the Niners and the Bears have got to rip the band off and play their young guys niners are different spot niners have a chance to win this year right they're two and oh they have a chance to be really good the bears don't they beat the lowly bangles by three points right they like two late touchdowns like just play justin fields your point the football gods are saying hey hey hey hey naggy i'm gonna do this for you if you don't make decision

on your own like play Justin Fields let him get his run and let him deal with the ups and downs I cannot stand the idea and that Nagy has not said this out loud but people have intimated and written about it and thought about it the idea that you know he's he's following the Pat Mahomes Alex Smith plan they're not the same situation I've said it for weeks, for months, they're not the same thing. You have to be able to evaluate the situations differently. And you're going nowhere with Dalton. He was 9 of 11 for 56 yards yesterday. Fields was 6 of 13 for 60 yards. It wasn't much better. But like, you're just not getting a lot from him. They won this game yesterday, and I kind of wish they would have lost they won this game yet with 206 total yards on offense i mean really like come on naggy you

really need dalvin playing this game or playing games future just put justin fields in let's put him in yeah well especially if you have a now hurt old quarterback who doesn't seem to be doing anything all that much better you know like it just doesn't make any sense at all. So I just would equate it to like when you're entrenched and we're both dads, when you tell your kid no until X happens, then you're stuck. Even if you want to do the thing you said no to, but if they don't do that thing you said they had to do first, like you can't have your fruit until you eat your meal.

Well, now you're sitting there. You can't give them fruit until they eat the damn meal. You're just stuck living with that decision. And that seems like where Nagy is. But just to have, but like he didn't have to make any promises. He didn't have to, like he could have just let this play out instead.

Yeah. He's sticking to some promises that he doesn't have to keep. Like Dawn's a big boy. He's a, he's a long time NFL quarterback. If you tell him's a big boy. He's a longtime NFL quarterback. If you tell him, hey, man, we'll go with the young guy, yeah, is he going to like it? No, right?

Fitz Patrick last year, and he came out this year and said, I didn't like being benched last year. I thought it was a joke. I laughed when they told me I was being benched. Okay, well, guess what? Fitz is fine, survived. He's starting again this year. Now, obviously, he's hurt.

But Dolan will get over it. He'll be just fine if you tell him hey you know what we're going to the young guy he makes more sense for us they should bring Chase Daniel in and then he'll be like backup's good for me guys that's where I like to be no need for me to start everybody making my millions here on the bench with a clipboard he's the finesse god man oh what a career what a career. What a career. Really triumphant. And Andy Dalton could have that career for the next few years if he wanted. He'd be one of those very happy to be a backup kind of guys.

So we'll figure out what Matt Nagy's thinking. Here's another group of people who we can't figure out what the hell they were thinking. The rules committee or the commissioner, whoever the hell we have to blame for the enforcement of this taunting nonsense, I can't even possibly read you all the tweets from you and all your friends in football media crying and moaning about all the taunting penalties. And while I agree with all of you, the amount of people whining about this actually makes me want to take the other side. Hey, everybody, get over it.

It's a new rule. They're learning how to enforce it. Big deal. Get used to it. That's my take. new rule, they're learning how to enforce it. Big deal, get used to it. That's my take.

So the problem with the taunting rule is no one asked for it outside the competition committee. And the competition committee and John Morrow, the Giants owner, spoke on it. And it was very cringy when he spoke about what they wanted out of this, which is essentially like, yeah, we want good old fun and no talking to each other and no emotions. Just sound like a bunch of, you know, that gif of Grandpa Simpson like yelling at the clouds.

That's what it feels like. The funny part about these tauntings, they're not even like that bad. I mean, a guy flexing over a player like for for a second, the horror, the horror game, kids, close your eyes. You can't watch football. It's ruining the game, right? For years, spinning the ball was fine. Now all of a sudden it's a taunting penalty, right? Like the game is played by players who have emotions and it's a violent physical game. Sometimes there's times you don't even realize you're flexing after a play. Like, you're just like, yeah!

You're just like, you know, like, you're just pumped. You had a great play. And a 15-yard penalty for that should not dictate the outcome of a game, right? It should not make a team win or lose a game because of a taunting penalty. It's absolutely atrocious. It's not helping a team win or lose a game because of a taunting penalty. It's absolutely atrocious. It's not helping the game be better. And these fans, and I mentioned this, well, I just want to watch the game and not worry about it.

You wouldn't even know it was taunting if they didn't call it. That's the thing as well. You wouldn't even know. No one talks about it. It's not like Joe Buck's like, oh, there's that Schwartz guy taunting again. They won't even call it. They won't even talk about it. And so the thing with, it's just so frustrating because I feel like these leagues, especially

baseball does this too. They just make rules that the fans just don't want. And you make the product worse. No one wants games to be won or lost because of the taunting rule it's a 15 yard penalty for making a play getting up turning to your opponent telling him he sucks and maybe not nice words and walking away like that's it's unbelievably stupid it doesn't help advance the game into into making it a better product for the players or the fans. Yeah, I don't.

Normally on this show, I try to sort of gather the takes and give you a version of what other people are saying. I can't find a single argument for this being good from anyone on any side of any debate. And we've had a lot of very passionate two-sided debates in the NFL world over the last few years. I don't know anyone who's taken the other side of this one. It seems like a colossal mistake. So it's almost not worth talking about. I guess the question is just, will they start to quietly,

will the referees start to quietly make it less of a point of emphasis and realize they went too far okay i think i think they will because you you have to there's too much and i'll give the nfl credit here because you know they they do do this right like they will back off of certain things because of um of uh of public anger essentially right and i do think we're going to see this. We'll see a lesson as soon as it goes. I felt like there was very much a point emphasis in,

in the game games this past week. Like the NFL referees were told you need to call this. Yeah. Well, and, and people are comparing it. I saw Ryan Clark, who we like comparing it to,

you know, the new emphasis on targeting in the college game. And I would say that that is a little bit different because at least the intent behind enforcing targeting more aggressively is safety, right? They might get it wrong sometimes. It might feel like it's ruining the game to some of us, but the goal is not let guys get very badly hurt.

So you understand the emphasis. There's no safety involved in this taunting stuff. It doesn't help anything so yeah i i think we can and i also don't think it's going to stop anything because again players i mean subconsciously like i don't talk a lot of shit in like in life i mean and maybe on twitter you think i do and like in a game like after a big block, man, like there's times I'm just like a big scream and maybe I call the defensive lineman a mean name and yell in his face and like 15 yards.

I didn't realize I'm doing that. Like I can't imagine 15 yards after a play because I yelled and like fist pumped and like screamed in the defensive lineman's face and called him some mean words. And he called me the same mean words one play later. We go back and forth. I couldn't imagine a 15-yard penalty for that. And I feel like in this situation,

again, players are subconsciously doing it. They're just showing the big emotion of big moments of games. There was one where it was Von Bell, the Bengals safety, just blitzed off the edge, moved his third down. And like, he's just talking to Dalton. They flagged him for it. I'm like, what are you, what are we doing here? What are we, seriously? We're flagging the guy for just talking to someone? Get out of here. No one's, no one sees, no one hears it besides them

two and the referee right there. Who cares what they say? I'm always, I've always been this way. We should not throw flags for mean words all right i'm an adult you're an adult we're playing a violent physical game if that person cannot handle me saying mean words to them and they say mean words to me then we should both not be playing the game the referee no one's no one you move no one cares what your opinion is we're not talking to you we're talking to each other's two grown men talking man stay stay away from us go over there it doesn't lead to any also to it doesn't lead to fights like i think they think

it's gonna lead to fights how many fights are there one a year in a game but maybe ever like it doesn't it doesn't lead to fighting i just i don't like it man it's it's not good for the product of the game it's not good for the product of the game. It's not good for the fans of watching the game. Yeah, you know what is more likely to lead to a fight than saying mean words? Smashing your 280-pound body into another man. That's going to lead to more fights,

that violence and that pain and that aggression than calling somebody, fill in the blank word that they don't like. Obviously, but that's inherent to the game that's always going to be there nobody's trying to get rid of it so yeah we're stuck i think this is just going to be a topic for another week or two until they sort of start to adjust and admit they were wrong without admitting they were wrong again it's like parenting just like i was saying like eventually i just give the kids the fruit and try to pretend like i didn't say that thing. Okay, fine.

Here's your iPad. Just stop. Just stop talking to me. Yeah, it's because of what did mommy say? Okay, well, then now it's allowed. Yeah, that's what you do. All right, let's move the line. Hit a few more topics in our quick over under game.

We'll take a quick break. We'll be right back. All right, Jeff, we're back. It's time to move the line. I'm going to throw some over-under topics at you so we can hit on a few more names and teams. Odds Urban Meyer makes it a full season in Jacksonville. I'm placing it at 1% chance.

What do you say? Over-under. Well, oh boy. So this morning he put out a tweet with a quote from the coach talking to the fans. Hang in there with us. We're going to get better. The one thing about Jacksonville and the 904,

go to sleep knowing there's not going to be any group working harder to get this thing flipped. Urban Meyer. Yeah. Good, good, good Lord. It's week two. There's 15 weeks left of the NFL regular season. No one's transferring.

Yeah, you can't, No one's leaving the program. The fans aren't going anywhere. Recruits aren't decommitting from Jacksonville. What's he going to do when they're 1-10? Oh, my God. I don't know who this is for. He's 0-2. Like, what's he?

Oh, my God. I don't know who this was for. He's 0-2. Jeff, I love how much you love this. Just because I played on a 2-14 team. I couldn't imagine after week two, I didn't even know we were going to be that sucky. My coach being like, you know what, guys?

Just hang in there. We're working to fix it. Yo, shit, you are. It's the NFL. Of course you're trying to win the game. It's just like, it's such an amateur hour. It's such like a college football. Oh, we're 0-2 to Ohio State.

We just lost to Toledo. Like, let me put out a message for our recruits and fan bases. Like, it's just the silliest thing I've seen all week. I like how much you like it. I just, let me throw this at you. The last few years, the Jags, their players have just basically like quit and refused to play for them. They've demanded trades. They've made up injuries. They've come up with all kinds of nonsense to not have to be there. Maybe Urban realizes like whoever he's got on that team that's halfway decent is going to just bail. And this is his way of saying, please don't do that.

Please stick around. Or maybe he's talking to himself. Maybe he's like, what the hell did I do here? Hang in there, buddy. It'll be okay. It just,

it's just so like, it's, it's, it's, it's so college dude. It's so college. All right. Well then speaking of college,

I'm not allowed to mention urban Meyer's name this week without saying it. Any chance of USC? You've talked about that on our other show. Urban Meyer, USC, odds of that 1%, 2%? I don't think it's happening. I don't think USC, in the end, really actually wants it. And plus, their president, I don't think Dr. Fultz is going to go for it. Urban's is not going to happen. uh well i hope you're right uh okay let's talk about tom brady i hate doing it but we got to it's a football show and uh we got to talk about tom brady so

big game again this weekend beat the falcons put up a million fantasy points here's what i want to know tom brady touchdowns this season over under 55 and a half. There's significance to that number. Yeah, that's the Peyton Manning number, right? Mm-hmm. Yeah. I don't know, man. I heard a stat today on someone's podcast this morning.

He's thrown more touchdowns in his 40s than his 20s. I believe that. Yeah. Man, they look good. That game was 28 to25 in the fourth quarter, and it ended up being 48-25, I believe, or 49-25, right? Yep. The Bucs just, when they turn it on, man, they turn it.

I think one of the guys, by the way, got a taunting penalty on one of the defensive touchdowns for just turning his back and back pulling into the end zone. Like, it's so frustrating. I think that's a possibility that he could get that i think for him there's always a goal that he uses to motivate himself when we all do that in life right like i have goals i'm sure you have goals i'm sure anyone listening has goals tom brady's goal just happened to be like winning super bowls and throwing 55 touchdowns and

he's going to break the all-time passing uh yards record in green in a green but in in in new england in two weeks as well um that's going to be wild to see him do that and he'll try to throw for 18 touchdowns in that game i'll tell you that um so i think there's a chance that he will try to get this now as the season gets a little bit longer and there's actually next a week now as well which will help him get there you know he'll play some cold weather games i obviously on tampa um but i it'd be tougher to probably get as he goes on but i think he'll try to yeah i think if he starts smelling he will try to do it yeah i think it's the over and i think he's gonna see that goal attainable it was his record he wants it back there's very little that you can really ask for this guy to do anymore but holding all-time

record seems like a new thing. So how about Gronk? Gronk touchdowns this season over under 17.5. He owns the record for tight ends. He is way ahead of where I thought he'd be this year. I just picture Gronk just showing up in big games in the Super Bowl. But he's already just being a mismatch. We look at Travis Kelsey, and he had some great plays.

And then you see Rob Gronkowski and you're like, there's still like the gold star, right? I mean, Rob is just, and Travis Kelsey is a first ballot Hall of Famer too. But I mean, he's just, his size and the way he runs routes and just his physicality and all that. It's so impressive. So I would, I would, I'd put Munningham over, I think, if they were to bet on it. Maybe over, probably.

Yeah, I mean, he's got a couple in each game this year, and they throw to him in the red zone. I mean, he's not getting the targets like he was a few years ago in New England, but he's the guy they look at in the close and short. All right, how about odds of Deshaun Watson getting traded to Miami now that we know they got a real problem with the quarterback position with Tua injured? Let's say over under 50% chance.

Well, you can't do that because you don't know what his status will be with his legal proceedings. Like, I think that... That doesn't mean you can't trade for him. Yeah, but you can't trade as many assets as you want to trade for him until you figure it out i will say this if he gets cleared of civil suits no criminal charges and nfl says basically like yeah you can play i think there's a near 100 chance they try to trade for him um and is it miami you think yeah the problem is

their offensive line is really bad. I don't remember last year, Gabe. I don't even spend as much time on social media as I do. But when they made the switch from Fitz to Tua, a bunch of us argued that, hey, this is great and all, but the offensive line is not very good there. Tua might get killed. And everyone's like, no, no, no, no. The sack rate is going to go.

Fitzpatrick throws the ball very quickly. He hides what ails this offensive line. And of course, all of us were right. Dolphins fans were like, oh, watch the film. You're not watching the film. You're not watching the film. Okay, guys. And guess what? Do you think anyone ever apologizes to me when they like yell at me for months and tell me I'm wrong? Never once, never, right? No apologies ever. But we were right, as usual. So what a surprise. Well, Jeff, I'm sorry if I ever doubted you. But just for the record, my screen time would indicate that I spend plenty of time on social media, historically and recently. So please don't doubt me again on that regard. Over under 75% chance or confidence, I guess guess really uh that you have in these following

teams being playoff teams i want to rip through a few of these you've mentioned some of them in passing but i want to cover more of the league cardinals looking pretty good this happened last year are you fairly certain they're a playoff team this year no no because you don't like cliff kingsbury he's been he's shown that to be made no adjustments okay and so and they should have lost yesterday anyways which you kind of need some times to make the playoffs but no they definitely should have lost yesterday that was heartbreaking did you hear the announcer paul allen yeah like i like paul a lot too but yeah it was uh yeah that was that was a bad one he blew that one uh all right wow so even though the whole rest of the NFL media

is in love with the Cardinals you're not buying it the Saints boy they're confusing I know I won't bet them for several weeks where are we now week one they clobber the pack then they come back and they crap the bed what the hell are they playoff team I think they make the playoffs you know

they they need to get some guys back on defense. I just think that it's going to be a roller coaster all year with Winston.

Like, you're going to get good and bad. But if they get their defense back healthy, I thought they'll be fine. So, and the Panthers,

by the way, lead the NFL in sacks and quarterback pressures. They can rush the passer a little bit. So, I would say, I would say yes

for the Saints. The Matt Rule era in Carolina. Everybody loves Matt Rule. Look out, Matt Rule. You're taking over. You believe in him? I'll tell you what, man. Sam Darnold. Stop. Just stop.

Just stop. Oh, Darnold. Okay. Seahawks. Playoff team? Yes. That was a horrific loss for Seattle they're up 30-16 missed the extra point allowed two touchdowns

in the fourth quarter and then in overtime you know then in overtime they actually forced a three and out but got a roughing

the passer then actually forced a punt eventually then it should have been a safety to end the game went backwards on offense

and then eventually Tennessee went down and kicked a field goal so horrific loss it's so Seahawks but yeah I would bet them to end the game uh went backwards on offense and eventually you know tennessee went down to the field goal so horrific loss it's so seahawks but yeah they're they're gonna i would bet them to make the playoffs yes okay so then i think i have to know the answer here the niners you think are better than them so they're also a playoff team yeah i think there's i mean there's a chance with the way that the seedings work this year that maybe all four nfc west teams get in maybe although you're trying to tell me the cardinals are not. Well, I don't think that's going to happen,

but I'm saying there's a possibility that that's the way it works out. Part of the year last year where we thought that was likely to happen. Alright, let's stay out West. You know, for I think the whole early session yesterday, both West Coast divisions were still undefeated. They were 12-0 after the early games.

And then the crap started to hit the fan around the time I had my second drink at SoFi Stadium. So the Chargers, close game, but they lose. What do we think about them? Playoff team? They got to just fix their offensive line again. I mean, Rashawn Slater's good, but the right side now is just horrific. And they just Chargered it again, right?

Just errors and penalties. Like, they just, and they did, they just charged it again, right? Just errors and penalty. The penalty on the, when he threw it away and they lost like 30-something yards late in the game. I'm not sure that, I don't know quite, they were like, that was like first and goal to one, wasn't it? And they eventually just went backwards. They backed him up like half the field.

It was insane. I don't know. That was odd. I think he was, he got hit as he threw the ball, right? So to call and touch on ground on that feels a little odd. I think he was... He got hit as he threw the ball, right? So to call and touch on ground on that feels a little odd. But I would say that... I would say yes. I'm not going to come off them yet.

Okay. Even though the Raiders are clearly looking like the better team. And then the team I have to bring up... Hmm. The Broncos. Dealing with some injuries have to bring up, hmm, the Broncos. Dealing with some injuries, but Teddy looks pretty good. The Broncos. Playoff team?

So this is a tough one here. You know Teddy Bridgewater? I wrote this for Fox Sports. Teddy Bridgewater, in his career against the spread, is 38 of 14 as a starter. That doesn't surprise me at all. And the reason why is because he takes care of the ball yeah he does exactly what the offense tells him

to do it reminds me a lot of what nick foals did with the eagles when he was successful right that one year just the the ball is supposed to go here i'm throwing it right there ball goes go here i'm throwing it right there right there and the problem i have with that idea is if things are going a little bit haywire, if you're playing the Raiders, Chiefs, Chargers, and your defense just isn't as good that day, can you score enough points to keep up? That's my concern. So I would still say let's see it play out another couple of weeks.

I believe your JETs are down in uh in uh in uh west and denver they're like 11 and a half point dogs 12 point dogs already um don't the barns be three no i mean they're three no you got to really consider it right yeah they're not my jets anymore but um i made that public come on uh all right titans i don't want to talk about the titans they won but okay whatever they are they a playoff team? Yeah, because the Colts are just bad. Fine. So if somebody has to win that division, it's them. The Steelers, you were already, and then that didn't go so well.

Their offense is even worse than I imagined it to be. No chance. So Steelers are out. Okay. And then most of the top, top teams we don't need to cover because we already kind of know where you sit on those. So I'm hearing another good year for the NFC West, and if the Cardinals do a little better than you expect,

we might even get three or four teams out of that division. That'll be interesting. All right, we're a possibility for that. All right, last question. Coming off the Emmys, I would like to know, in a future season, do we think Ted Lasso comes back and coaches American football? Could that be a story arc? I'm going to say 99% chance that happens.

I'm still one episode behind. I haven't watched coaches wild night out, which I, everyone said it was me. So polarizing, right? Was it that polarizing? I'm also behind.

I'm just looking big picture here, Jeff. No, because the charm of this is he doesn't really know what he's doing. I think if he goes back to football, he'll know what he's doing and the kind of charm of it and just like the Rebecca and Keely characters. You're not going to get those characters. You're just not going to get any of those.

You're not going to. I don't think he does that. Unless, so hear me out. First of all, I'm not 100% sure we should believe that ted lasso does know anything about american football we've not seen that demonstrated at all i don't know how he got the coaching jobs back home but there's no like football pedigree to anything he's doing and why couldn't he bring roy kent and team over and become that coaching staff of an american football team with those kind of guys doing for American football players

what he's doing for British football players. Why wouldn't that work? I guess he could. I mean, how many seasons does this show go in England? I mean, I feel like why would they stop? He's making a ton of money now, Sudeikis. Well, yeah, I'm with you. You know, it's interesting.

I don't think that happens. Okay. I'm with you. You know, it's interesting. I would... I don't think that happens. Okay. I'm taking the... They're going to figure out a way to bring him home for good or bad reasons in the plot. And then he's going to go back to coaching American football and the whole thing will be flipped on its head.

Now we got British people teaching Americans how to do things over there. That's what I think. It's possible. I mean, you know more about the media business than the entertainment business than I do. I just don't think it would happen. I also know more about the Brits coming to America to show America's a thing or two.

Yes, you do. I know both those ends. Well, I'm betting on it. They had a great night at the Emmys, so I figure that Apple's not going to stop paying them to keep making the show. They're going to have to come up with something.

That could be it. Jeff, anything we missed around the league? I know you got picks to give us on Thursday and more college talk then. You preview a few of the bigger games

on the college slate. Anything we missed from the NFL? We just got to get back to winning some games on the old gambling slate. Yeah, tough weekend, huh? Yeah.

But the thing about it, it made me feel better that everyone had a tough weekend. So it wasn't just me. The books made a lot of money this past week. No, man. Look, we're going to think of things. This weekend I'll be in Chicago at Soldier Field for a watch party for Fox Sports

during the Notre Dame-Wisconsin game. So that'll be a lot of fun. But I'll be back in my chair Sunday morning to watch all the football as usual and we'll be back with all our shows next week. But yeah, gambling show on deck and hope you guys have a good couple of days. Please rate, review, subscribe.

If you're listening this long, you obviously like me and you can hit five stars on the iTunes review. That'd be very helpful for me and for the show and for all of us. All right, guys, have a great one. Talk to you guys on Thursday.