Geoff Schwartz Is Smarter Than You - Rookie QB Debuts and Taunting

Episode Date: August 17, 2021

Geoff is joined by Gabe Goodwin to kick off the first week of preseason football. They discuss the preseason debuts of this years class of rookie QBs, the NFL's new taunting policy, and Tim Tebow's future in the league. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices 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, August 17th. I'm Jeff Schwartz alongside Gabe Goodwin. This is Jeff Schwartz is Smarter Than You. And I know we do a long rambling intro. I don't need one today because Gabe, football is back. I'm so excited. Preseason week one. Even though all the games, like the fourth quarter, were boring as can be, I struggled through them. I watched them. I don't know any of the players playing. I do not care. I'm happy football's back. We have real topics to discuss, like all these rookie quarterbacks we played this week. We will unfortunately have to get to one Timothy Tebow at some point. We have some college topics, some over-unders as usual. And Gabe, my takeaway from this weekend is your Jets are set for the future,

buddy. Congratulations. Okay. I don't like what you just did with that comment, so I'm going to ignore it and we'll come back to that attempt to troll me later in the show. I want to come back to something you just mentioned though you just said the fourth quarter of all these games were boring you were watching the fourth quarter of week one of preseason across the league well so the games that were on nationally i watched um most of the four i were on the television. Put it like that.

I don't know if I was like dialed in. But yesterday, the Panthers were on. It was on. We had people over. The Panthers game was on here. We live in Charlotte. I mean, there were people over the house that were like, what's the score of the game?

Who won? I go, I don't know. It's on the TV. You can go look for yourself. I don't know anyone playing. That's my thing with the preseason is the older, the more I get out of football. It's been five years now. The less I know the guys are playing it's hard to watch the preseason unless you know guys that are playing like for example the Broncos Quinn Miners

we've had on our show before he played late in the third quarter in the fourth quarter that Broncos game so I'm watching for that right um but it's hard to watch the preseason if you don't gamble on it which i only gambled on three games this weekend um or if you don't yeah or if you don't like have a personal connection to who's playing you gambled on three week one preseason games um you know jokes aside jeff the reason i love talking to you this time of year is that you know you were not a first round heisman winning quarterback drafted to make tens of millions of dollars and to change a franchise. You were a guy who fought his way into the league, who, you know, sweated through a bunch of different training

camps. You have a really interesting perspective on what a lot of us fans don't quite understand about what really is happening these four weeks before the season starts, how you build a roster, and what these plays can mean for some of the guys out there. So let's start, though, with the big name guys. So all five first round rookie quarterbacks saw their first action in the NFL this weekend. And basically, if you follow Twitter, we're fitting them for gold jackets. They were all worth the millions they were paid. Every single one of them is going to succeed no matter what they looked like this weekend. Somebody saw something that they loved.

Let's start them week one and let's bring them to Canton in about 15 years. Sound good? Yep, they all have the best opening weekends of all time. Everyone's a home run. Everyone had no draft bus whatsoever. I want to focus on really kind of three of the five. And the reason why is, look,

Wilson and Trevor Lawrence are starting they're starting right so there's really no debate no matter how good or bad they play in the preseason they're starting and Trevor Lawrence and Zach Wilson have their ups and downs they look like rookies at times they look like veterans at times I mean they're playing so their their preseason performance is less I mean it's more important because they are going to play as far as just kind of getting um the rhythm of the game down and you know being able to figure out adjustments and snap counts and audibles and things like that but in the end like they're playing so they could be zach wilson could be terrible trevor's could be terrible they're starting week one done down so looking at the

other three guys right trey lance and Lance and Justin Fields and Mac Jones. Let's go to Mac Jones. He played Thursday or Friday, I believe it was. I mean, he looked like I thought he would look, which is just okay. I mean, just okay. And it's worth pointing out that most of these guys and most of the starters this weekend, there weren't many games where starters played starters.

There were a lot of games this weekend when it was ones versus twos or twos versus ones really the Patriots game was one of the only ones where Ron Rivera and Bill Belichick both played their starters that was like one of the only games where both starters played so you have to to analyze the game whether it's any position quarterback offensive line defensive line in those through that lens right so when i talk about these quarterbacks none of them played the first team defense but second and third stringers but that's the first step right gabe so if you're mac jones you played against washington second stringers and he looked pretty good that's good right you want to if you're going to be a starting quarterback in the nfl you have to play well

against the backups to start otherwise you're never going to play well right like that's the first step so when we say oh it's just the second third string yes you're exactly right but the first step is playing well against them so that mac jones was okay the reports today as we're recording this on monday is that cam noon looks shaky in practice the joint practice against philly um i don't know i still feel like cam's a starter their game i don't i don't see anything otherwise i'm a little mixed up because Pro Football Talk said that Mac Jones oozes quiet confidence. It's like he's been in the NFL for 10 years. That doesn't square with your take that he was just okay.

I thought we found our Brady replacement. I thought it was done deal. Bye, Cam. I think they're two in on Cam right now. And again, I've said this before. Their offense, so you're going to have your base offense put in, right? We all know you're going to install what you do, your base, your offense. The Patriots are going to have like their Cam Newton package, right?

All the zone read runs, the quarterback runs, all the plays, the play actions off those, the screens, the reverses, the trick plays. And because of less practice time you don't have time to really work that package with the ones and then also have like a mac jones specialized game plan to him right you can't have to choose one or the other now bill belichick might say you know what look the campaign is not going to work we're going to throw it out and we'll build the mac jones package weeks one through four right We'll add a little bit more each and every week until we feel better about a whole package.

We're going to struggle with Mac Jones early on. I feel like they're not at that point yet. And I haven't seen Mac Jones take reps to the ones very much. And there hasn't really been a lot of practice reports about Mac Jones besides oozing confidence of being fantastic. On the other hand, Trey Lance and Justin Fields, who both saw significant time this past weekend, there are practice reports telling us they've been really good

the last two weeks of training camp practice. So Justin Fields played first on Saturday, and he looked good. And again, he has the twos and threes. I get it. Some good throws, some good rushes. My thing with this quarterback situation, and everyone's going to turn to Pat Mahomes sat in 2017 fair enough i get it but you have to look at the situation he was in right alex smith had been the playoff multiple years in a row they were a they were a afc title

contending team with alex smith the quarterback who then went out and had his best season of his career in 2017 the bears are going nowhere nowhere with Andy Dalton. Nowhere. Nowhere. There's no future in a one-year deal for Andy Dalton. You've got to let Fields play early in the season, preferably week one. You have to let him get his feet wet, make mistakes,

learn from those mistakes, and improve. He said after the game, and I hate that he said this game. It bothered me so much. I like the kid. You know, from the start, I've been rooting him he said it was everything was slow out there for him oh no oh that's gonna no okay even if it was slow for you don't say it no because guess what

when you play the ones in week one it's not gonna be too slow for you buddy it's gonna be very fast for you in the n, out of any sport, of course, I didn't play baseball or basketball, so I can't really say this with definitively. But I'll tell you, for football, it will humble you, Gabe, so fast. The second you think you've arrived in the NFL, you will get your ass smacked back to reality.

And it's going to happen to fields. Don't know if it happens in happen to fields don't know if it happens in week two don't happens week two the preseason week one against the rams whenever he gets to play dude it's gonna speed up i promise you it's week one of the preseason and you played the twos and threes just like don't say that just keep it to yourself even if it's true okay but let me ask you this because i i agree with you. Obviously. However, what I thought the quarterback supposed to project confidence is the alternative that he says like, man,

these guys are fast out there. And then we're like, no, he thinks they're fast. Wait till he sees the ones. No, I think you just say, you just say like,

you know, I thought it was good. You know, some good things out there. You know, blah, blah, blah.

It's just bullshit. Like, like every quarterback says. Just say a bunch of nothing, like all athletes at all times. Yes. From that position, yes, I would prefer that.

You saw every single veteran who played in the NFL on Twitter was like, yeah, no, don't say that because we've all done it. We've all done it. I'll give you my example. This is week three or two of 2010 it's my first full

season starting the nfl my third season overall playing the tampa tampa bucks at home i'm playing right tackle and the guy over the left tackle was really good but the guy that was playing over me the left the end was not very good it was like an undrafted free agent seventh round draft pick whatever it was and all week the older players were like Schwartz this is easy for you man you've got this like you're gonna have an easy week like don't even why are you even practicing kind of things like that it might do this is my my fifth or sixth start I played pretty well up until that point so of course Gabe right I kind of let my guard down I allow four pressures two holding penalties and like two and a half sacks never made the

mistake again in my entire life of playing football never again right you you think you've arrived i had it i'd started six games five games you think you've arrived and you get smacked back down to earth so fields i'm rooting for you man uh but just don't don't say those things as far as as far as go ahead can I mention, just because Hank, who helps us put this rundown together, pulled up a great stat, and I think it underlines everything you're saying. Here's Mitch Trubisky's 2017 preseason week one stat line

versus Denver. 18-25 for 166, touchdown, ran it three times for 38 yards. Pretty similar to what Fields did, and he's Mitch Trubisky now. So, you know, I guess we just can't read too much into it is all we're saying. Well, I think Kevin Clark of the Ringer always tweets this out. He tweets out an article from early in the preseason of 90,

it would be 98, and he says, Leaf outduels Manning in the preseason. Yeah, exactly. That's the right way to look at it. Like, just be mindful of this, right? In the preseason, again, you have to see who they're playing against and what reps they're getting,

what units they're playing against. But also, again, Gabe, like, Fields has to play well against the twos to earn reps to play against the ones right like you you have to start somewhere and if you are an elite level player you will play well against the twos I mean this is really there's a Steelers offensive lineman I know Kevin Dotson he's one of their guards and Tom he hasn't been practicing because he's been hurt and like Mike Tomlin's made some sort of thing about how he has to earn the opportunity back

so he started the preseason game the second game this past weekend against, I think they played Philly. And Dotson played against the twos and threes, okay? And he dominated. Like it wasn't even tough for him. It's like, yeah, he's a starter. He should dominate those guys, right? So there is some value in saying and seeing guys do that.

All right. Well, so then trey lance who of course also is being fitted for his uh gold jacket but like there's a few more question marks than fields who's just marching right to canton his numbers are a little more confusing and the qb situation is very confusing so like what's our honest read, our get smarter read on where Trey Lance is? Because you've been hot on him. Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, the numbers don't tell the whole story

because there were a couple passes that literally hit guys in the hands that were dropped. Yep. I've said this from the beginning that I think Lance will have the best rookie season because he's in the offense most designed to help him play really well. Yeah. And look at that offensive line.

Obviously, Kittle and Juszczyk and Brandon Iyuk and Debo Sandberg, all of these weapons they have. And Shanahan makes throws easy, right? He makes it easy. And the difference between the ability for him to run and make plays with his legs and Jimmy G is not even close. The question, obviously, is Shanahan, does he think Lance is ready on third down?

Because that's what sets a lot of quarterbacks apart, right? Third down, when you don't have the scheme to offense, you have to anticipate the pressure's coming. You have to make adjustments. If he's ready on third down, you have to play him, I think. They traded up a lot of assets to get him, Gabe. And letting him sit for a year, I just don't think that that makes a lot of sense when you give up all those assets again I mean you could you could point to you know the Alex

Smith situation this this is most similar if you're looking at around the NFL whether it's Cam Noon or or Andy Dalton because Jimmy G has made a Super Bowl and I think if Jimmy G's healthy the team will be really good but they'll be even better with Trey Lance. And we've heard he's the only one so far of the three guys we've just talked about who has gone first team reps. Whether it's a special package for him, he's gone them already.

He's starting to inch his way forward with one less preseason game. It might be difficult for these guys to start early on, but I've liked this pick from the beginning just for that reason. All right, let me talk to you about what you brought up with third down so for people like me or who know maybe even

a little less about what you're describing what what do you need to see him do on third down to feel like he can be a starter just explain what what you mean specifically about so you know you know first and second down um you see more generic defenses right base defenses you're running the ball rhythmic passing but third and seven to ten right no more play action pass no more screens no there are obviously some screens every now that right no more quick quick passes um you know the the offense is spread out the defense is bringing pressure can you identify who's coming, where they're coming from? Can you navigate the pocket and make sure you find that guy, right? Can you move in the pocket with your head up

and looking to find where those guys are at? And, you know, again, it's not really, your coach is not in your headset telling what to do. You have to get up there. Okay, do you know how to change the protection? If you have a protection where you're sliding right, let's say, but they're bringing too strong, do you know what to do? Can you change the protection to not throw hot?

Because it's third and 12, and you don't want to throw hot. You want to throw the ball 12 yards. And defenses know this. Defenses, sometimes in third and long situations, will bring more guys in the offensive line can block. That means the quarterback is hot, right? When he's hot, he has to throw the ball early because they bring one extra guy that he can't account for he's going to get hit in the face it doesn't throw the ball and on longer developing

routes that's not good right it's third and 12 and the quarterback has to throw the ball quickly you're not getting the 12 yards unless you break a tackle and so you want to stay out of hot situations unless you're a very veteran quarterback and you know what you're doing you know there are times when being hot's okay if you know what you're doing Lance is not going to be there yet so it's making sure that he understands if he does get to play what his options are in third down again the coaching can't help you with that it's not help is no there's no scheme set up for that there's no special play set up there's no this and that and so he has got to learn I think if ifanahan feels he's ready for that then he'll play okay i'm most interested in him of all these guys but there's a couple people you just skipped over because you said well they're just starting so i'm not

100 sure that we can just say zach wilson is definitely starting week one no matter what because um he is a boy and his team is not great. And I don't know why they wouldn't just put whichever Johnson they have on the bench in to just get them through week one through four if this kid isn't ready. And I get it. He threw the ball and completed a few passes in his first preseason game. But like, he ain't Trevor Lawrence. Trevor Lawrence is probably just going to start no matter what,

and he has a maybe even more capable backup in Minshew there. But why is Wilson guaranteed to start? I go off of what I've seen in practice, right? He's taken all the routes at the ones. So we're just all in. The Jets are just like, okay, let's hope this goes right. I mean, look, I definitely don't follow the Jets beat reporters every day on social media. But from what I've seen, he's taken all the reps.

Look, again, there's ways to tell where guys are positioned based off of these media reports, right? If a guy, so we're talking about with Cam Newton and Mac Jones. If a guy is taking all the reps with the ones, again, limited practice time now, one practice a day. If Zach Wilson is taking all the reps, he's playing Again, limited practice time now, one practice a day. If Zach Wilson's taking all, he's playing. He's playing week one. They're getting ready, because if he's not going to play week one, you have to get the other guy ready to play week one. That's my point about Cam and Matt Jones.

That's why, again, Trey Lance, the reps are sneaking in with the ones, right? He's getting more reps with the ones. And that's the first sign, Gabe, is when reps get changed based off of what unit you're on. And so if I see Zach Wilson go to the twos, that's true, but he started week one with the starting offense. Like the starting offense played

against the Giants there. So he's in. Again, you draft him second overall, let him get his lumps this year. The team's not very talented, so he's not going to go very well probably and just get him ready for next year. All right, last thought lumps this year. The team's not very talented. So you see not going to go very well, probably. And just get them ready for next year. All right.

Last thought on this topic. How much does playing against the ones on your own team in practice actually matter for these rookies? I mean, I think it's important, but we remember that, you know, practice is scripted,

right? So, and it's not all scripted, but it's scripted for different reasons. And coaches want to see certain things happen. They want to see you get in certain pressures. And then you have move-the-ball periods that are called in the huddle that Coach Wade is in the play.

But eventually, you get used to your team's pressures, right? You get used to their tells. It's good. Don't get me wrong. I think individually, like if i'm going against aaron donald every day then i play not aaron donald okay a little easier for me on sundays but i think as far as a a unit thing like entire unit uh i mean it's good i guess but you know every defense is running the same pressures and practice. That's the only thing about the preseason that's really changed is these defenses in the preseason, they bring a ton of pressure.

That used to never be the case. Bringing pressure and exotic pressures is now the base defense. That's what teams do all the time. So it's good, but I'm not really sure. I mean, I don't know how much it matters in the end. Okay. Well, we're going to get to how much all these snaps matter or don't when we talk it matters in the end. Okay. Well, we're going to get to some how much all these snaps matter or don't when we talk Justin Herbert a little later.

I know you have more thoughts on that. He's only a second-year guy, but he's basically not playing this preseason. Updated odds. Would you still go Lawrence plus money on the Offensive Rookie of the Year betting, or did any of these guys leap up and make you want to bet them now? Well, I've said that I've been with Trey Lance since he got drafted. Trey's the best value pick if you want to bet a rookie. Here's why.

Okay, so Lawrence will play the most, I think, of all these guys. Probably hurts his case down in Jacksonville. Yes, exactly. Urban Meyer, again, I don't really trust Urban Meyer. I don't think he's going to be the best of the young players. Zach Wilson, again, team's not very good.

I'm not going with Zach Wilson. Fields is interesting. Fields has, his offensive line, though, is pretty bad. They're bottom-tier offensive line in the NFL. So I have some worries

about his play. When Trey Lance gets to play, he'll be in the best offense. That's why I go with Trey Lance. Even if he plays, let's say week 12, excuse me, week five,

he has 12 games in. That's enough. He doesn't need a whole season. So to me, that's what it's about. It's about the offense that Lance will play in.

All right. Let's move along. This is another topic that is, can really only be a play in. All right. Let's move along. This is another topic that is – can really only be a topic in the preseason. So it's not just players who are getting used to some new stuff. So are officials. So we know this offseason the NFL made it a priority to crack down on taunting, whatever that is, perceiving a lack of respect to opponents last season.

So guys standing over each other, shouting at each other, flexing in front of each other. So we got our first moment where we noticed how this might be enforced. Penalty called against running back on the Colts, had a 10-yard run, powerful run, ran through a few guys, finished it strong, and then stood up and kind of flexed a little bit. Boom, here comes the flag. And then all of sports media freaked out, including you, Jeff. Just about every single person had the same take, which is that this is terrible and the NFL sucks and they need to fix this. Bleach Report actually screen grabbed yours and put you in a

bunch of sort of a gallery of a lot of sports media people who thought it. I'll say this, Jeff. It's preseason. Ref needs rep. Refs need reps, too. They blew the call. All right, move on. Like, it's not that big a deal. Taunting's not going to screw up the whole season. Well, first of all, Bleacher Report put me an Instagram post and did not tag me in the post. That's kind of messed up. Like, if you guys are going to use... They're taunting you. Yeah, they are taunting me. I'm going to flag them for that.

Anyone listening from Blue Chip, just tag me, man. Like, just – I said it. You can't just tag – you're using it on your Instagram to just make yourself some more money. Like, just throw – hey, just throw – hey, follow Jeff Schwartz on there. So here's my take on this. on there um so here's uh here's my take on this um it wasn't the preseason for the refs is what you said it was i mean it is but like this is what they're going to call this year

and the thing that i'm reminded of and it's not i'm not the first person to think about this um is every year they have a point of emphasis, right? So the point of emphasis is, you know, legal use of the crown. One year was holding hands to the face one year. And they call a bunch in the preseason. And a bunch of week one, two, three, and four. And they kind of just taper off as they kind of get the public's opinion on how it's going or players. The taunting penalty is so odd to me, Gabe,

because what constitutes, what is actual taunting? This running back, by the way, is a young player. He ran through an entire team for about 15 yards. He gets up and just flexes on the guy. And that's it. Walks away. It's not really taunting. Like, we're an emotional sport with grown men that are hitting each other all game.

You're going to say some things. Like mean words should not be taunting. Flexing on someone should not be taunting. If you would tell someone like, hey, I'm going to kill your mother, okay, fine. Flag them for that. But I'm like,

I've been this way for a while. Anti-taunting penalties. I understand if you take a ball and you kick it in the stands, fine. Get a flag for that. But like the piece, like the Tariq Hill thing, like then the Bucs player, Antoine Winfield, did it to him too, right. Get a flag for that. But like the piece, like Tariq Hill thing,

like then the Bucs player, Antoine Winfield, did it to him too, right? Like they went back and forth. Like it's okay to have an emotional part of the game. And the thing with the rule changes is, who is this rule change helping? It's not helping the NFL image because everyone likes when the players show emotion.

They like players showing personality. It doesn't help the players. The players want this to happen who is this rule benefiting i i guess i don't believe this but i guess the argument would be if you don't contain the taunting it leads to fights which leads to ugly situations that the league doesn't want to see that fans don't. And so I guess they're trying to protect against an image problem that they think could come if they let everyone act the way they want to act. I don't buy that logic, but I think that's probably what this is based on.

It's 100% what it's based off of. And that's BS because where's the evidence of this? Where's the evidence that we're seeing massive fights during games because players are showing emotion? Yeah, I mean, every now and then they push each other around. I mean, like, you know, in a game. But like, there's no brawls.

Not because of something like this. It seems crazy. And if there are, we know. I mean, you know better than any of us. But we know that the actual beefs that turn into, like, real problems, violence we remember, scenes that are really ugly and not just guys pushing and shoving, has to do with stuff way off the field.

Things said and done, nothing to do with football that carries over onto the football field. You know, famous fights in NFL history have nothing to do with like a holding call. They have to do with someone they're dating or something they said or where they grew up. It's not about pulling on a jersey. No, it's not. It's not about flexing. Like, it's not about spinning the ball.

It's just, let the players show emotion. Let them have fun. Again, it's a very violent game. It's very physical. It's very mentally taxing. And it's okay to let out a scream after a big physical play. It's okay to tell your opponent to eat shit after a play. Because guess what?

The next play, when he beats you, he might tell you to eat shit too. Excuse my language. You know what I mean? Like it goes back and forth. We enjoy that back and forth conversation. Unless someone goes to the ref and says, hey ref, you hurt my feelings.

No one's feelings are hurt out there. So this doesn't make the product better. And the NFL often does things to make the product better. And this doesn't make the product better. Have you been involved in a situation that you can describe for us where you felt like there was healthy normal taunting back and forth or the alternative of it it somehow went too far and wasn't appropriate anymore and should have been penalized we had a we had a we're setting up for a field goal, and it was like a timeout or something.

We had extended a little bit of a delay. And so we're kind of just in our stances, like the offensive line, you know, and the field goal protection. And we're not really, like, in our stance quite yet. And the defensive line is sort of, like, on a knee in kind of their stance. It's kind of the defensive line. So that's the one of our offensive linemen, like, hey, hey, Gabe. Hey, Gabe. You know, we have a dental plan in the nfl you need to fix your bleeping teeth dude for whatever

reason it's the most benign thing ever every single person on that field was laughing their asses off it was some of the like we it was very clearly got a messed up grill and we laughed so hard it's the most we've've ever laughed in the field. And it was the most, again, the most benign taunting thing of all time, right? Hey,

you don't have a dental plan. Like, like nothing. Like, it's like a juvenile joke. Yeah. But for some reason, either because we were kind of

just all hanging out there waiting for the snap or just there was a little bit of dead time, we all laughed. Like, both, like the offensive line and the defensive line were giggling as a ball was being snapped we're all laughing together you continue for 30 seconds um we had a time where so nothing happened nobody nobody punched each other no and then so okay we had a time where we're playing an opponent

and one of our offensive linemen knew one of the defensive linemen well. And excuse my language here, you probably want to put some earmuffs on your kids if you're listening to the car. Our goal for that week was every single play someone had to call him a bitch. Every play. And we knew that would get in his head

because we had good intel on that. And it did. And we did every play. Someone on the offensive line would walk by this said player and say something to him, and by the end of the game, he was pissed.

Like, no fighting. No, just, just, couldn't do his job. So in every single play, someone would say it to him, would like walk by him and say it after every single play. And he hated life. Now, if that guy at some point in that game had like run through one of you

and sacked the quarterback and then stood over him and called him a bitch and got a taunting penalty, we wouldn't know that watching on TV. But all of you guys would, and you'd probably be like, that seems fair. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We would, of course. I mean, you know, the Super Bowl,

we had Ryan Jensen on the Buck Center. He lives for this, right? He lives to piss off defense alignment. And they end up, you know, Chris Jones punched him in the Chiefs game in the Super Bowl, got a 15-yard penalty. So you can incite these guys. Again, they're not fights, stuff we see in the Chiefs game, in the Super Bowl. Got a 15-yard penalty. So you can incite these guys.

Again, they're not fights. Stuff we see in the trenches. And so those should not be regular out of the game. Again, I've been called cracker. I've been called fat marshmallow. I've been called all this stuff. I don't care. It's funny to me.

It's fine. No one's complaining about the taunting being too heavy or too harsh. We all like doing it. Okay. Well, I'll go back to where I began. I have a feeling that the league office will review the tape like they do, and they'll say to that crew, hey, guys, we definitely do want this to be a point of emphasis.

Keep an eye on taunting. We've already put it out there. We're watching. Maybe this isn't one where you needed to call it. Let's like loosen it up a tiny bit. The line is here, not there. And this probably goes away is my guess. I think that was the intended application of the new rule.

But I think to your point, there is going to come a point when NFL's like, yeah this is a little too much yeah all right well let's keep an eye on that one throughout the preseason and into the season i don't think personally this will be as much of a pain in the ass as what is a catch has been for the last few years you know like oh catch this yeah and all the subjective stuff that leads to review or doesn't and that's very complicated and annoying subjective crap that slows down the game and doesn't feel fair to some side no matter what just asking your team to not do something after the play ends so that they don't get a penalty seems very manageable even if it's annoying for us as fans i feel like coaches can correct that.

You know, figuring out how to defend certain plays or whether a catch is a catch has been maddening for us as fans, and I put it in a different category. Well, we don't know because guess what? The players don't know either. It's not like we know what a catch is sometimes. Yeah, right. All right, well, let's keep an eye on that.

Here's somebody who did not have a catch and may never have a catch, despite my hope that he does one day. So Tim Tebow played a few snaps for the Jags as a tight end, wearing number 85. There are two clips bouncing around Twitter right now that everyone's dunking on. They're all profiting off of the views they're getting from the video of Tim Tebow sort of lazily kind of missing a block and falling down and looking silly and then missing a you know another assignment and having a

defensive end make a tackle and in both cases everyone who ever played the game or covered the game is crapping all over Tim Tebow because for some reason he doesn't know how to block in a preseason game he may be cut by the time some people hear this this week he may not be on the 53 by the season you shouldn't be yeah so just why is it so fun for you guys to shit on this guy just because he didn't have a pancake block in a preseason game what what's wrong with you so tebow here's here's the most telling stat of the weekend, by the way, about Tim Tebow. He had no special teams reps. None.

That's a stat you need to know. That means he ain't making the team. Because you don't carry a third tight end who can't play on special teams. That's what it is. Now, the rest of the conversation we can have. That made us smarter, by the way. The reason the show is called Jeff Schwartz is smarter than you, I had not heard that elsewhere.

That is a worthwhile thing. Now, let's get back to the annoying fun stuff okay so i think for a lot of us um you know a lot of us had a hard time earning our spot in the nfl right like it was a grind to get to where we were and he's just being handed opportunity that none of us got and we don't think he deserves it and that's where a lot of this blowback has come i think a lot of us look at him and say, hey, you know, I spent my life dedicated to blocking people. It's fucking hard, man. And like, you're trying to come in at 34

and just learn how to block guys and you clearly can't. I mean, the first rep, the one where he's sliding back, he could have thrown a pillow at that guy. The guy was so out of position, it wouldn't have mattered. And we just think it's a mockery, man. Like, think it's you know we we put a lot of time and effort into into a lot of us to

be successful and look i was not a first round draft pick as you mentioned i was a seven round draft pick i busted my ass in practice and trying to make the team and if i had a guy on my team who just decided on a whim like oh i want to play football again after being out of the league for so many years yeah look at him sideways too and that's i think what a lot of the issue is is that we look at him and like why are we doing this for what's the purpose to give him a chance because for because you're friends with urban meyer like the leadership thing all of us have said hey the leadership thing is a waste of time and i'm not really i'm not really on this boat about giving this spot to someone else.

I mean, whoever they give it to would have made the team either. But I understand the idea of like, hey, if I was squeezed out of a spot because of the Tim Tebow, I'd be pretty pissed, right? And he's taking reps away from guys that have a chance to actually play in the NFL. Like guys on his roster, right? Other tight ends on the roster. And I just don't get the experiment. If Urban was a friend

he would have said to him hey no no you're done playing the one thing I do feel a little bit I've come to the conclusion

I'm not sure this I don't know if this is true or not Gabe I mean maybe you could have an answer to this I think Tebow like needs the locker room environment like he needs that in his life

because otherwise a lot of us are like yeah we can't play anymore alright like I was totally cool with being finished I don't miss the locker room environment. Like, he needs that in his life. Because otherwise, a lot of us are like, yeah, we can't play anymore. All right. Like, I was totally cool with being finished. I don't miss the locker room. I miss my buddies. I talk to them.

You know, I keep in touch. But it feels like he needs that connection to people because the baseball thing was weird. This is odd. He's not making the team. Like, he's just... I kind of feel bad a little bit that he can't give it up.

Yeah. I mean, he's the greatest competitor I've ever seen. And a famous locker room guy. In college he was. College. He hasn't played in college in like 12 years. Yeah, I understand that. But can we agree that he's in the conversation

for greatest college football player of all time? Yes, but this is not that. And then he got to the NFL and started a bunch of games and won a lot of them heroically. Do you know how many games he started at quarterback in his career? About 12. 16. Yeah, okay.

And he has a winning record in those games but just the way the same way he is unfairly some might argue being given a chance to take it you know to get a job that he hasn't really earned the right to get he was also his job was taken from him the same way like he never failed he never, like, couldn't do the job of playing quarterback. Yeah, he was a terrible quarterback. Okay. Go on. He was winning the games that he was the quarterback of. I've never, I've never, you're a very rational person, Gabe.

Yeah. And I know that you play a character sometimes. This is, like, actually real Gabe, though. Like, Gabe really loves Tebow. I do. No, this is, like, a real Gabe. Like, Gabe, he wasn't a very good quarterback he I mean he wasn't Tom Brady and Peyton Manning but he was winning a bunch of games in the NFL if he was that good he would have played longer than

three NFL seasons well they they ruined him my team ruined him I'll take some responsibility for it there was the happiest day of my life as a football fan was when Tim Tebow came to the Jets and then all the worst days after were when we couldn't figure out what the hell to do with the guy. And by the way, they tried to make him a tight end. Because this is,

okay, good. I'm glad you mentioned that. This is also something that I think a lot of us are pissed about, right? Like a lot of us have moved positions or done what we had to do

to make the team and he refused to do it. He wouldn't move the tight end. He wouldn't move to H-back. He wouldn't do anything else he had to do. Because why should he? Because Mark Sanchez and Greg McElroyroy were there i mean mark sanchez did make two straight afc championship games i thought it didn't matter if he won or lost the

games he sucked too what are we talking about that's why he didn't play very long it's a starting quarterback it's the same the same reason tim tebow was good is the reason mark sanchez was good he was on a team that won nine or so games and made it to the postseason. He did just enough that they're the same level of quarterback in the NFL. One happened to be the greatest college quarterback of all time. The other one was okay at USC. But I guess what I'm saying is like, I understand your perspective. I do fully get how some people feel like this is unearned and unfair, but it's a business. This is how things work. Urban Meyer isn't Urban Meyer without Tim Tebow.

Okay. Would you say in the game that Tebow had a combined, let me get my calculator out here he had a combined uh let's see 69 nice plus uh 43 so he had 112 total yards in a game would you consider that and they won the game you could say that because of tim tebow's doing uh he didn't lose the game he was two for eight passing two they only asked him to throw it eight times. Two for eight passing. Gabe, you can complete two NFL passes. All right. So we're predicting by the time people hear this, he's been cut. Whatever favor Urban Meyer was doing is over. No, I think he makes it through the first round of cuts. Okay.

There's a belief out there that this has to do with getting him a pension. Apparently, that's not the case apparently he might get greater nfl benefits for the rest of his life if he gets another eligible year but like this i think is just urban okay so genuinely so tim tebow has played three official nfl seasons that's my understanding unless things have changed you need to have three years and three games so four seasons to get the pension so i people keep saying this i don't think it's true so i'm not just blaming you but people have said oh he's made his pension already at least according to what i know definitely could have changed in the cba new cba you'd have three years and three games to make your pension well i think that this probably is worth a double check, but my understanding is that it ratchets up a little bit more.

If he made the team and got another eligible year this year, then the benefits get even better. But that was the logic people were trying to apply is, oh, Urban's trying to hook him up and get him this thing that would be worth something to him in the long run. Yeah, pro football talk, unless this has changed changed this wasn't the way when i played i mean it's definitely possible that changed but there's there's i'm gonna look this up because i don't think that's that's true well either way tim tebow's got a way to get the health insurance if he wants it tim tebow's got a way to

make money if he wants it it's what you said got a way to make money if he wants it. It's what you said. The guy wants to be in a locker room. He's a competitor. He doesn't give up on challenges, and he wants to prove he can do this. So, you know, maybe he won't. I think it's probably a good segue

to the first topic I want to cover. In the NFL thing, you have to have four years of vested veterans. I don't know what... Four got something wrong. Shocking. know what, I don't know what floor got something wrong. Shocking. I mean, I'm the last person who should be talking about legalese in the CBA agreement.

So I think I'll, I'll recognize in myself a weakness here and say, I ain't no lawyer. All we know is urban Meyer tried to hook his boy up and it hasn't gone well for week one. And I just think everyone on Twitter who's loving the retweets they're getting they're loving the engagement it's it's been good i mean my retweet right here has yeah my engagement uh only uh only 340 impressions 340 000 impressions that's not enough i'm gonna retweet it right now you use sports media types love tim tebow when it

means more engagement but you also love trying to dunk on him when he Misses a meaningless but any other guy misses a meaning first of all, we're not aiming cameras at nobody third string tight Oh the one the one video. I mean these are just these are just regular we're not looking for Tebow But here's a reason is when you saw if Tebow was any other team or any situation if you signed any Quarterback in the same role to play tight end, we'd focus every single ounce of energy on him. This is not unique to just Tim Tebow. This is just because this is what comes to the territory of signing him, the scrutiny that comes with it. Okay, well, that's my segue to talking Taysom Hill because I'm pissed now,

so I want to get you pissed off too. You hate talking about Taysom Hill, the Swiss Army knife in New Orleans. We don't know if he's going to be starting quarterback or some sort of weird tight end thing. I don't know if he's going to be starting quarterback or some sort of weird tight end thing. I don't know if he can block any better than Tim Tebow, but let's talk about him when we move the line next. We'll take a quick break. We'll be right back.

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Most reliable based on root metrics. US report. Results vary. Non-endorsement. All right, Jeff, welcome back. We're moving the line our little over-under game. None of these are real this week.

Let's start with a trigger for you. I want to know over-under three and a half wins when Taysom Hill starts at quarterback for the Saints. Oh, I mean, they'll win if he starts all season. How many?

Hey, I don't know. Maybe he starts, maybe he doesn't. They'll win more than three and a'll win if he starts all season. How many? Hey, I don't know. Maybe he starts, maybe he doesn't. They'll win more than three and a half games if he starts. You think with him as a starting quarterback, how many games do they have to let him be the starter for to win four games or more? That's a lot of games. I feel he, I mean, eight or nine.

I mean, the Saints are a very talented team. Okay. Who is going to be the starter in New Orleans? That's really what I want to know. I think it's going to end up being Taysom. He's got the first reps in game one. I don't think that changes. So why isn't Jameis Winston the starting quarterback in some other place?

Well, he's on the roster in new orleans that's why i look tasem hill sean payne i've said this for a while now wants to sound smarter when it wants to i mean almost like me right wants to be the smartest person in the room but he's going to prove to everyone that he's smart enough to play tasem hill tasem hill is going to be his guy i feel that all along like there's some arrogance to playing tasem hill that's not going to play Taysom Hill. Taysom Hill's going to be his guy. I feel that all along. There's some arrogance to playing Taysom Hill that's not going to change right now. This is a chance to play Taysom Hill. All right.

Well, I'm not going to understand it. And I think they're an irrelevant team this year. And we know that the salary cap sort of decimated the roster they had. So I don't think we have to talk about the Saints or either quarterback who starts for them this year. And I'm nervous about Alvin Kamara. I don't know which receiver to take off that team in fantasy wide receiver one I basically never heard of. So you know, I think the Saints are

a non topic for us. Let's move along. Over under point five appearances for Justin Herbert this preseason. You had some thoughts on him not playing the first week. Yeah, so this is a very interesting dynamic. The last three Super Bowl champions coaching, right, Belichick, Reid, and Bruce Arians, all started their starters across the board in week one. Now, Mahomes played four plays, Brady played six, but the rest of the guys kind of stayed in around them. And then all these young guys, all these young coaches don't play any of their starters ever. It's a very odd dynamic game because I default to the guys that have done it really well.

And if they're playing their starters, then maybe there's a reason to play your starters a little bit. Being fearful of injuries is not a way to coach. And we look at where Herbert's at, let's say. He had a great first season. But now he's a new coach, a new coordinator, a new offense. Like, get him out there for a couple series. It's okay.

He'll survive. He'll make it. Herbert also hasn't played an NFL game yet in front of fans. Last year, there were all the games he played. Maybe Tampa Bay had fans when he went to Tampa but for the most part no fans he give him a couple series in front of fans get him used to playing game with crowd noise I don't like why Sam Darnold what why didn't Sam Darnold play yesterday like I don't understand this game so I I again I lean toward

the coaches have done it a long time and and if they're doing it and they're winning a lot and they're starting fast every year, maybe there's a reason for it. Yeah. I mean, obviously, that's sound logic. I guess, is there something specific about Herbert, his health, or the offense you're talking about? Is there some reason that he might not be ready? Or do we think this is truly no like no

no strictly he's just not playing he's not gonna play the starters yeah well that makes me nervous as a someone considering keeping him in my fantasy league uh i wouldn't be nervous about about you think he'll play well this year yeah i think he'll be fine yeah okay all right you're a bit of a homer there you you've always been high on him but but you were right and that's how i have him on my fantasy team, so thanks for being a duck. Let's stay in college football. Over under one and a half teams

from the Big Ten, Pac-12, or ACC in the college football playoff this year. Could they get two in between those three conferences? Yeah, because you're looking at typically one SEC team. Yeah.

Oklahoma, Ohio State, Clemson. Right? I mean, what's going to be any different? So you're looking at typically one SEC team. Yeah. Oklahoma, Ohio State, Clemson. Right? I mean, what's going to be any different? So you're giving me the Big Ten champ and Clemson because of the ACC. Yeah. So you're thinking Clemson over – Clemson without all the star power that we've seen the last few years. Well, the quarterback was like the number one player in the country two years ago i mean he can play it's just a matter of how quickly he can play

okay but there's like a little bit of dent in the image it's not quite what it was yeah in week one they play georgia i mean like that's a big game that that'll be a tiebreaker right it could be a tiebreaker right it's the playoff so the acc might not get one in you've covered the pack for a living you know they're not guaranteed anything. A lot of people think North Carolina could be the ACC representative this year. They don't play Clemson until the ACC championship game.

Sam Howell is supposed to be a top draft pick, a quarterback. Mack Brown has done a good job of building up that roster. There's a lot of North Carolina love. I'll mention Hank behind the scenes. Hank's a lot of north carolina love i'll mention hank behind the scenes hank's a texas kid yeah but he's a young guy and i don't think he ever spent any time in austin when mac brown was around so i don't know if he just got as excited as as some texas fans did how's mac

brown doing this i don't understand like how does he go to north carolina and make them nationally relevant. That's wild, right? I mean, you pay for good recruits. That's a joke. If there's a lawyer listening, you're kidding. Well, no, it's fair now, right? It's NIL. All right, fair enough. Okay, I want to know,

over under two and a half teams still trying to trade for Deshaun Watson right now, at this moment? Any market? Zero, zero. And it's a really bad situation when the NFL's in. They have to figure out what to do with him. Watson doesn't want to be in Houston,

but the Texans want him to play for them. They 100% want him to play for them. He's doing a hold in, right? He's there to not get fined. But I've talked about the commissioner's exemplist issue, right? If you put him on the exemplist, how do you get him off the exemplist if he's just civil suits, right? That take a long time.

So I'm, hmm, it's a bad situation. I think that if the NFL were to clear him, teams would trade for him right away, or at least attempt to. But until the NFL makes a determination on what they're going to do, you can't touch him. Yeah, and I don't see how the NFL can stick their necks out and say that they're putting their name on clearing him,

not knowing what else might come out. So they'd rather leave one guy in limbo, and maybe it's not fair, I don't know, but they'd just rather deal with that than risk saying, oh yeah, he's fine in our book, and then more stories come out or another lawsuit comes up, and all of a sudden they look like they endorsed it. Agreed.

So, tough situation. Yeah, I mean, i can't imagine being a team no matter how bad our situation at quarterback was calling the texans to try to talk work out a trade but i've heard some rumors i've heard some interesting rumors about teams that still might want him um you don't think broncos dolphins raiders i mean the broncos would definitely try to trade for him i think but again i don't But again, I don't think he's going. You can't give up all those assets and then not have him play this year. Yeah.

Well, but you could also just, if you feel like he's a decent guy and that's for them to decide, if you feel like you can weather the PR part of this, if you feel like you can wait out whatever the length of a suspension is, he's still Deshaun watson in his mid-20s ready to lead your team for 10 more years right i mean if if you're good with those first few things yes yes well i mean so there's probably a few teams are considering it all right last one over under three and a half times uh we will catch dac eye rolling after Mike McCarthy speaks on Hard Knocks this week.

You and Matt are very out on Mike McCarthy, huh? I got nothing bad to say about Mike McCarthy, other than I don't quite get why he has another job, but whatever. Yeah, I would say under. Hard Knocks was pretty good, And there hasn't been that breakout, like who's going to be everyone that we root for, but then gets voted off the island in the final cuts. There hasn't been that guy.

Maybe it's the international offensive lineman, Isaac, who really wanted the cake because he was running gassers. Maybe that's the guy. But it's been good so far. I mean, it's just very produced right like oh oh zeke zeke hey can you can you uh can you uh gift wrap this uh this gift for dac that we got him um you know can you give it to him and like in the meeting room in front of the cameras and make it really awkward please do that yeah here's a cake dac cake hey hey dac

we're gonna dump it in your face yeah Yeah. Okay. Right? It's very produced. Extremely produced. Usually, though, to good effect. You mentioned Zeke. Here's what I want to know is, who's the guy who every fantasy league, there's one guy who thinks he got an inside look because he watched Hard Knocks. Who's the guy who somebody reaches for because they looked decent in Hard Knocks in a montage? Is it Zeke? Are we supposed to just believe he's back?

There's no one there. There's no one yet. I mean, it's Zeke, but Zeke's already known. There's not been someone on the show, at least in the first episode, where you're like, dang, I got drafted from my fantasy team. By the way, I saw you and a few other big guys getting all worked up

because Zach Martin was ranked something instead of something better than that. Why are you guys all so hot on Zach Martin? Well, there's this disrespect that's going on with Zach Martin. Not cold play Zach Martin. No, the Cowboys right guard. Zach Martin's the best guard in the NFL. And a lot of people just don't want to live in that reality. And it's very frustrating because, guys, he's been in the NFL seven years.

I believe it's seven years. He's been an all-prone six of those years. Chris Martin, by the way. I cracked myself on my Coldplay reference. It's totally meaningless, but I don't know why I called him Zach Martin. Chris Martin's Coldplay. Keep going. He's been in the NFL.

Just because my lack of pop culture knowledge just let that one slide. You were not phased. You were like, yeah, I guess. Not phased at all. I was like, whatever. The guy from Coldplay's name is Zach Martin, I guess. Whatever Gabe said. So he's just, he's really freaking good, and no one gives him the credit for it.

A lot of us that watch Offensive Line do not understand why he doesn't get the credits. Yeah, well, I can see that you were upset about that. It's funny to see the things that get personal for you and guards being ranked 85th instead of 55th is like a Jeff Schwartz trigger zone. But we found a few of those today. We have Tim Tebow getting to play tight end. Guys who run over other people

and then get flagged for taunting. These are the things that get Jeff Schwartz a little hot under the collar. Jeff, we're almost done here. Is there anything we missed from week one of the preseason that you should tell us about or anything we should look for in this coming week? I think just look again,

if you're looking for competitions, look where the reps are going, right? If you're looking at the quarterbacks, if Lance and Fields aren't getting more reps with the ones, probably it's not happening. Maybe not. And then remember,

when you watch week two, and we'll have a show before the start of week two. We'll have one later this week with Matt and I. We're going to continue our division previews. Just, well, look who they're playing. Are they playing the ones or twos?

Because that's an important distinction to make, especially if you think a guy's better than he is. Well, maybe it's because they're playing against guys that won't be in the team in two weeks.

But that's what you should watch for. Okay. Well, that's helpful for me. And gambling. At Jeff Schwartz on Instagram. All my gambling picks are up there I don't need to go there

because if you tweet something good Bleacher Report will grab it and share it for you so I'll just follow them instead it's quite upsetting

that they would do your boy like that so Bleacher Report tag me in my Instagram stuff man you use my tweet please it's important

I need to try to grow my Instagram follow okay alright well thank you guys for joining us. We are back to twice a week. This has been a lot of fun. I'm so glad football's back.

And we'll talk to you guys on Tuesday. Excuse me. Talk to you guys on Thursday. All right, take care, everyone.