KSR - NFL Cover Zero: Week 1 Surprises and Reactions to every game!

Episode Date: September 8, 2025

Matt Jones and Drew Franklin dive into the Bills amazing win over the Ravens, who looked like the better team for most of the game!  Aaron Rodgers proved he still has some magic left. Has kicking 60 yard field goals become too normal?  Matt will wear something each week to represent his 'team of the week'.  Micah Parsons didn't play much but still had an impact for the Packers.  Daniel Jones' Colts debut was amazing, but the Dolphins were very disappointing.  Which team didn't play well at all, but still walked away with a win?  The Browns couldn't pull out a win, but Matt was impressed with the tailgate wedding in Cleveland.  Looking back to the Eagles win, is spitting worse than punching someone?  Matt thinks the Chargers win could represent a turnaround for Justin Herbert. Matt called the Raiders win, but were there more concerns about the Patriots? Will the Giants stick with Russell Wilson after a loss to the Commanders?  The Jaguars could end up being the surprise team of the season. Cam Ward made his debut but Drew thinks it could be a long season for the Titans.  We wrap updating the Survivor standings and the Touchdown game!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin is a production of the NFL and IHeart podcast. Absolutely crazy day of football. Week one of the NFL is over. And it is time for our first NFL Cover Zero reaction show. We're going to be doing this every Sunday night. Come down after the Sunday night game is over and talk about all the games of the day.

Drew Franklin and I, We've never done this late at night like this, but we've got Drew. We got, well, we got Billy and Mario here as well. Drew, so I'm going to just be honest with everybody. I think honesty is the best policy. Of course. You're actually hearing the second version of this. Because with 10 minutes and 25 seconds to go in the Sunday night game,

the Ravens were up 40 to 25 and got the ball after an interception. And I thought to myself, well, it's over. Let's go ahead and start. That way we can get some sleep tonight. And then all of a sudden we look up and the bills is a minute to go and they're going to drive and take the lead. We've now gone back and watched it, but the very first version of this show, you'll never hear. It will be in the unedited archives that will release when the history of the show is over. What an amazing comeback by the Buffalo Bills.

Yeah, minor inconvenience for us will be a little more tired tomorrow, but what a great week one ending. Just having that game on the schedule, we were blessed to have that. that's an AFC championship game. And then for it to end... But it feels like the worst, the wrong team won. That's true. No, I mean, the Ravens look like the best team the entire time and the bills are going to get this win. They deserve it.

But after what we saw from Lamar and Derek Henry, it feels like the wrong team won, but they won. But, you know, Mark Andrews last year drops a ball and the other team wins. That's football. It did. And if anyone ever hears the lost episode, you know, it did look like the Ravens were unstoppable. I don't know if I predicted an undefeated season, but for 95, percent of that game, it looked like the Ravens are going to be a force.

Derek Henry with a fumble, you just can't have. It's 40 to 32, three minutes to go. You basically can run out the game if you get one or two first downs and he coughs it up in Bill's territory. You know, he's had such an amazing game.

Absolutely bulldozing. But that's a mistake you just can't make. It's very similar to the Andrews drop last year. These are vets. Can't make the mistake. And one he doesn't normally make. We've been watching that guy a long time and that's not something he does. Ruined an otherwise great night. 170

yards. He averaged like 10 yards of rush. There was the long run, 50 yarder for a touchdown where he's just blowing past the secondary. It looks like peak Derek Henry at age 31. As much as I hate seeing him with the Ravens, I hate seeing him worse, but they cut to him on the sideline and zoomed in on him and he's got that look after the fumble. I hate to see it

go out like that. I mean, this is probably the early favorite for game of the year, even though it's week one. I wonder how many people had turned it off. I mean, I know too. I know too. You and I turned it off. Not many I'd say with those two teams.

Derek Henry, 169 yards rushing. Okay, Lamar Jackson was 14 of 19, 209. Zay Flowers has a career high, 143 yards receiving, and they still lose. That one's got to hurt. If you're a Baltimore fan, that has got to hurt. And of course, Josh Allen gets the win. we got to talk, though, about the Buffalo kicker. 41-year-old Matt Prater, who honestly, I thought retired in 1997.

They show him on the sideline with a minute 40 to go, he looks like he's in a Marlboro ad. I mean, let me just say, he looked older than 41 to me. You know, sometimes people go, he looks good for his age. Matt looks like he'd been rough and then he comes in and gets the kick. I guess Tyler Bass had pelvic pain, and they called. him up. He was retired sitting on his couch on Thursday, and now he

makes the winning kick on Sunday night. That's kind of amazing. Earlier in the game, he had come in for the extra point on Buffalo's opening drive, and I watching TV went, Matt Prater, what is he doing on the bills? That guy's retired. Had no expectation that he'd come down to this, and right before he kicks the game

winner, they're saying on the broadcast that doesn't know his teammates' names, barely he's caught up on slings. He didn't know who Josh. He was. Feels like he should follow the news. But, I mean, I even thought it was a little bit of a gamble putting on his shoulders at the end where the bills are running out of the clock setting up the field goal. You're right there at the edge of the end zone.

You have all these stars and you're putting that whole game with all this, maybe even home field at stake with Matt Prater fresh off the red eye. But he got it done. Let me give you some Matt Prater information. Born in 1984, born in the Reagan administration, right? He was considered one of the best long-distance field goal kickers in history. he has the record for most 50-plus yard field goals in a career. Now, he had been retired. He was living in Mayfield Heights, Ohio, kicked at Central Florida, was drafted in 2006.

How about this? Guess how many teams he's played for. Oh, he's a journeyman. I'm going to say probably five or six. Nine. Nine. Wow. He's paid for nine teams.

And now he comes and gets that. I know him as a cardinal. Long-time cardinal, I think. Matt Prater. Who would have ever imagined? All right. So let's talk about some other things. for this game. First of all, would you

have gone for it there if you were the Ravens? They had the ball, I think, on their own 38 or something. They don't go for it on fourth down. They pun it. Gives the Josh Allen the ball. A lot of people saying they should have gone for it. But if they go for it and don't get it, bills are already in field goal range. What do you do right there?

That's a tough spot of field position. Because normally you said it, give Josh Allen the ball, no. Give Lamar Jackson the ball, no. Give Pat Mahomes the ball. No. Those are the three where you would go for it. But that spot on the field, it's so tough. I think they had to do the right thing. I think whatever they do, you're going to argue the other

if it doesn't work. I think you punt right there just because they're already in field and you don't want to give Matt Prater a chance. The last thing you want to do is put the ball on Matt Prater's foot. What about Lamar gets in a fight with the fan? On a previous

version of this podcast, Billy, you argued that it was Lamar's fault, which I thought was an odd argument. I just say you can't be doing that Lamar. It's usually the second guy that gets caught as well. I wonder if there'll be any something from the league from that. The fan reached on the field and hit him in that. I will say it was a little aggressive from the fan, yes. A little? Yes. I think it's a little more than a little. Here's what I will say. This podcast is going to go up. You're probably listening to it on Monday morning, Monday afternoon. The internet already knows who this guy is. Not that they already know

who he is. They know where he works. They know his social media history. They know his girlfriend. He made a mistake that's probably going to last with him. He's lucky the game was such a good game or he would be the only story of the day. Oh yeah. He loves that ending. I do want to add with Billy here for our listeners. Of the four of us in this room, Billy would be the most likely to push that fan back. Oh, come on. You don't think you would shove it. If he shoved your teammates' head and then shoved your head, you wouldn't give him a little bit of a little pushback? I think you would. Maybe you're right.

Maybe you're right. Yeah, it's a picture. I'm all in for Lamar. I would have been fine with whatever he did. You can't go up into the stands if you're a player, but if the fan comes to you, then you get to respond. He hit his teammate. He hit his teammate.

He could have hit all the teammates. Yeah, he didn't act like it was, you know, it wasn't an accident. He hit two different guys. And what in the world did that guy think? he was doing. First of all, why do you punch people with helmets on? I've never understood it. I've never understood you hit somebody with a helmet on. It's not going to hurt them. Secondly, they will kill you. Can you imagine voluntarily hitting Lamar Jackson? Bill's Mafia ran a little hot tonight. They threw a drink at Derek Henry when he ran into the end zone. We got this kid shoving

DeAndre Hopkins and Lamar shoving him in the head, kind of making their neck pop back a little bit. It was no easy shove. We like you, Bill's Mafia. Let's just reel it in. Let's stay in bounds. Maybe they're not likable. Maybe we think we like them. But then if we actually see what they do, it's a little bit different.

Well, I know who really likes them, the Phillies woman. She's glad that that popped up. Cleans her off the timeline because that's all I saw until the NFL could talk. She had a rough week until the NFL took over social media. Well, it's crazy because this was such an impressive performance by Baltimore. But now Buffalo gets the win. win, and that's a huge win for playoff seating down the road. There might be a time in January where the AFC championship game is played in Buffalo

instead of Baltimore because of that event, just that fumble by Derek Henry tonight. I don't think it's a mite. It's crazy to say this about a week one game, but I think when we get to the AFC championship, we're going to look back at how this game unfolded and they're going to be in a different city because of it. I do have to also note Chris Collinsworth's a lot of grunting tonight. Big grunt. Oh, my.

Oh. That's what he sounds like. I didn't notice. I'm just saying. The man grunts. Now, probably the second biggest game of the day, Steelers, Jets, Aaron Rogers, who I do not like. But I have to acknowledge he had some of the old magic today.

four touchdown passes. Moving around, not great, but good enough. He and D.K. Metcalf looked to be a pretty formidable weapon. I know it's the Jets, but even in the last few of Jets had a pretty good defense. Were you surprised to see, speaking of an unk? Yeah. You know, this is an unvaccinated unc. Were you surprised to see him do so well?

This is the onk that posts his Facebook opinions. Everybody's got an uncle that does one of those. Definitely. I watched this whole game. I'm embarrassed by how much I enjoy. this game. I want to remind you I ranked the Steelers 30 second in watchability. I even said nothing will

make me watch the Steelers. I don't want to see this crap. This game was pretty awesome. I mean, he looks great. Justin Fields looked great. The Jets went up big, looking like they're going to give it to Rogers, and the Jets might have some of the fields, and then he scores two touchdowns and 50 seconds to come back.

Walking off the field, he's doing the Hogan ear thing, like Darren him to yell at him as they're taunting. I can't believe how into the Steelers Jets game I was. I lived up to the billing. Such a Jets thing to do to turn that ball over. Because, you know, it's going to get lost in all this that Justin Fields played really well. He looks awesome.

Justin Fields looked great. That's the best as a former Bears quarterback. I'm happy for him. I always like Justin Fields. But it'll get lost because they won the game. And the Jets, of course, missed a kick. We'll talk more about kickers as they go. But back to Aaron Rogers for a second.

He was asked after the game, what did you think? about beating Aaron Glenn, and his quote was, I'm happy to beat everyone associated with the Jets. Who is more petty? Him or Bill Belichick? Ooh. Bill's not letting the Patriots in.

Still pretty high, but this is pretty petty. I knew it was a bad breakup, but you're only there a year. Whatever, man. It's the Jets. Just move on with your life. No.

You're Aaron Rogers. Who cares? People will forget you even with the Jets. But no, calling out everybody. Everybody. I mean, the catering, uh, training. doctors, physicians.

Did he mean like even the people that work in the stadium? If you're associated with the Jets, I'm glad you lost janitors, parking attendants. He called them all out. Stick those hot dogs up your nose. You are the worst. That is a level of pettiness I do have to respect, even though I do not like Aaron Rogers one bit. I've always kind of like the Steelers.

I hate seeing him on the team. I was pulling for the Jets heavily, but he wins. Is he going to be, is this a one-week thing? Or is it all you? He looked really good. What's crazy, the Steelers line didn't even look very good. He was kind of made some impressive plays under pressure, but he's still just dropping it right.

He really is one of the best to ever do it. As much as we don't like him. I mean, some of the throws he's making at his age. Is he 40? Is that right? 41. 41. Yeah, I got to hand it to him.

I'm going to get my jokes off all season long, but four touchdowns, no interceptions in your reunion game in New York. He's allowed to talk his talk. What about that hit by Jalen Ramsey at the end? to basically seal the game. I mean, if he doesn't, that's a huge play. I mean, if the guy catches that, they keep going. They have a chance to get in the range to do another field goal and then just, that was a pop.

It was clean. It was. He was on fire all game. He got into it with Garrett Wilson earlier, had some big hits. He'll be a big addition for them too. Another guy that's got a little age on him that has played well in week one for that team. Two very important things about that game. First of all, you know, you and I are good friends.

there's not very many times we can name drop people, but we can name drop I and Eagle. Oh, yeah. Drew and I and I Eagle, we go way back, Tennis Channel days, right? Ion Eagle got, he can't, he can't stand up next to JJ Watting. No, that was unfair.

I don't even know if Ion was standing. I hope he wasn't. I was laying down. I hope he was in a chair. But that was not fair. The picture of the two of them side by side, I'd somebody did I and dirty. A producer like you, Billy, has to say to I and let's not stand next to each other like

both. Or why? Let's sit in these two chairs we have right here. Why don't we sit down? Why did JJ White have to stand up? It's like they put a stool out for Ian Eagle, but then JJ Watts stood on it next to Ion. It doesn't even look proportional. Ein looks like his kid Noah in that.

Another one we know. We're just dropping Eagles. We're dropping names. So I, I feel bad. for you. That was not fair. That was not fair what they did to him. JJ Watt, by the way, thought that I think that was the first game he's ever done. I actually thought he did a really good job, didn't you?

Normally when they bring these dudes in that were high-profile players, throw them in. I don't think they're ready. I actually thought he did a really good job. Yeah, too many guys try to do it and they just need to go pick up golf. It's like, listen, not everybody can do both. But J.J. Watt, passed the test. What about the guy that got stuck on top of the American flag? I have so many questions.

So people don't know they did that thing, which they like to do, where you bring all the people on the crowd and you're holding the flag and then they tell you to wave it. And somehow he ended up in the middle of it on top of it. How do you think that happened? My first guess, I'm being serious, was was he rolled up in it from the last time they used? If you think about them, I'm rolling it, how else would he get in the middle? Right. He's been there since last year. Because they're unraveling it and he just appears the next thing.

You know, he's on all fours. He's out in the 50 crawling across this thing. I can't think of another way he would get out there because he couldn't just crawl out there. Somebody would catch him and stop him. I think he was rolled up in it. Back in the back of MetLife Stadium for months. A lot of theories I thought I had. I didn't think that was one.

We've seen people be stuck under it before. Yeah, that happens. I've never seen anyone be on top of it. There was a quarterback, Brandon Whedon maybe. Wow. Good call. Some quarterback got caught under it. They were like about to make their first start and they're caught up and getting trampled in the flag.

But never seen one on the middle, on the middle. on the top. And then he was crawling. Am I just waiting? He's desecrating the American flag. I mean, literally, he's literally, think about, what's the worst thing you can do the American flag? Crawl on it in the middle of the national anthem. But everyone has to kind of stop and watch him crawl on it, because what's the other solution? Do you like, you're like parachute him up in the air and get them off of it? I don't know. You just got to sit and wait for him to crawl.

You're right, Drew, 2012 NFL season opener for rookie quarterback Brandon Whedon gets caught underneath the flag. What a memory? He was like, it was like, it was. It wasn't kind of under it. It was like, well, we might have to go to the backup. That is an amazing memory to be able to recall which quarterback got stuck under the flag in 2012. Big Brandon Wheaton got. Interesting. Chris Boswell, the kicker for the Steelers, kick 60 yards like it's nothing.

They used to break into the news when guys made 60-yarders. And now dudes just boom it like it's nothing. What's the difference? It feels like of all the positions, kicking should be the one that the actual act has not changed that much. Something's changed. We need an explanation. I don't know. We got the 71-yarder in pre-season, but that same night in pre-season didn't get attention.

A guy made like a 58-yarder, but it was still going up. Is it torque? I mean, but you're right. The ball hasn't changed. The yards are the yards. Feet are feet. Feet or feet. These dudes are not big.

like, I mean, it's not like Boswell's been working out. Why do they kick it so much farther? I don't get it. He hit 60. That could have been a good from another six or seven yards easy. Should we launch our first cover zero investigation? I would like to know how you cannot just say that it's they've gotten better. Because the act of what it takes to kick, nothing has changed.

I mean, once the one. The one guy just kicked straight on, right, for a long time. And then they go, oh, well, let's kick it like a soccer ball. And that's been the only revolution. Ray Dempsey had a club foot. By the way, it's the only thing I know about him. It's club foot. For a long time, you could have said Dempsey and I would just go club foot.

What is a club foot, by the way? Is it like it's a square? Shaped foot, yeah. So he has no toes? Yeah, I don't know. I'm looking to look into that. During our investigation. Yeah, we'll look into that.

Also, Chris Boswell has been in the league a long time. Like, it's not like some rookie that young kid made in the lab that grew up trying something to do it. It's like just suddenly you flipped a switch. I'll kick from back there. Every week, I'm going to try to wear some piece of clothing that gives a shout out to a team. Now, the Ravens would have been my team of the week, but we were already down here getting ready for the show so I didn't have Ravens gear on. So I'm wearing a Packer's shirt. Now, I'm a Bears fan. So this is in some ways like heresy. But you have to acknowledge, for me, until the Ravens game,

the Packers were the team of the day. Just an absolute annihilation of the Lions. Game was really never close. Michael Parsons gets his first career sack. Didn't even have a tackle for most of the game, but then got a sack, place goes crazy. Are they your favorites now in the NFC or do you still have the Eagles? Well, I actually had the lions. So today was pretty easy to change my pick. I think you probably need to do that. Yeah, Parsons, a little limited. They didn't play him a full game, but he was so disruptive.

You can't just look at the box on him. There was another sack that he created. There was interception he created by getting pressure. He finally got the sack with like a superhuman effort in the fourth quarter chasing down golf. After just running through one of the better linemen in the NFC, it's not fair that they landed him. Because Jordan Love looked good. I mean, it's... Jordan Love looks really good.

I mean, he was a dark horse for me for MVP. We talked about that on our first show. And I think if you had MVP today, after week one, Lamar would win. But Jordan Love would probably come in second. I mean, he looked great. And just to add that, because the Packers, they were already an NFC contender. There's a little question about Love's thumb. All that's good.

He looked good today. But then when you add Parsons the way they did, it's almost you just throw your hands up. Like, that's unfair. He didn't play all that many plays, and they still were dominant. You could still just see it. You can see what he's going to do. You know, Ted, Teddy Bruske, who, a little backstory. You know, when I work at ESPN and I do the Sunday morning NFL show.

And back before COVID, they would fly up there every week. So every week I would have to fly to Bristol, Connecticut for this show. And when my show was over, everybody would go into this big, the war room, and you'd watch games together. And it was quite a scene, right? It was like Rex Ryan, Randy Moss. Back then it was Jeff Saturday, Chris Berman, Tom Jackson, like all these people. Maybe a little Rex Ryan? Yeah, I said Rex Ryan.

All those people were there. And then you'd also have like Dan Rolofsky was my co-host at the time. Anyway, one of those guys was Teddy Bruske. Teddy Bruske was good friends with Dan. And he would always come up. And I'd go, hey, Teddy. And he'd look at me and he'd go, hey. And that was a big connection I thought we had.

Acknowledgement. We were hay guys. We were hay guys. The conversation never went beyond that. But we were hey guys. So I've always rooted for Teddy Bruske. Because of that bond. Yeah, because we shared.

I used to share omelets with Mac Brown during breakfast. And I would share Hayes. Mac Brown gets egg white omelet, right? No, no. He's full. Load it up. And I shared Hayes with Teddy Bruskey. So I always root for Teddy Bruskey.

But then today, Teddy Bruske said that he was worried that Micah Parsons might ruin Green Bay. Said literally he might bring Dallas into the Green Bay locker room and ruin the team. Is that going to go down as the worst prediction of 2025 by my man, hey, Teddy? Yeah, I hate to ruin this lifelong friendship you have by going against your boy here. You're hey guy. Hey. But I mean, no, I don't think it's going to ruin anything. They all seem so excited.

I was watching the post game interview. He did it with love. They already look like their best friend. crowds going crazy. Micah calls Lambo one of one and Packers fans are the best. It's already off to a great start. Now, maybe Brucey means Michael

start podcasting and say things he shouldn't, but I don't think that's going to be the case. I sort of hoped in my relationship with Teddy Bruske, we would move on to a second step. Never really happened. Two years we were there together. Never got past hey. One time I was like,

how are you? And he just, oh, whoa, man. Back up. Keep on walking. Whoa, dude. Our relationship is not like that. I need my personal space.

You know, it's small, but when you look at the TV and he's there with all those guys. Yeah. One of them has said hey to you and the others. Yeah, I don't think Rex Ryan ever spoke to me. I don't think Randy Boss did. Chris Berman, Tom, I mean, they didn't like, I didn't go up to them, you know. My only real riff was in Field Yates. because he told me to get up out of his chair.

And I'm like, of all the people in here, Field Yates, you are not get out of my chair worthy. He since apologized to me about that. Did you name drop, Burski, too? My hey friend over there. Don't let me go get him. I'll say hey to him right now. Field has got some nice hair now.

Who? Field Yates, have he seen his hair? No, what's he had? Looks pretty good. What does that mean? A little slick back hair, a little longer. He's letting it go. Yeah.

Oh, speaking of that. One time I did confront him on air about it. And he was like, I didn't tell you to get up. I said, yes, you did. You literally looked at me and said, that is my chair. And I didn't see any picture that said Field Yates on it. Speaking of good hair, if I may ask, you got to see Warren Sharpe's mustache that we talked about earlier in the episode one.

I mean, at ESPN? He was not there that day. No, no, I'm saying. But just last week, you all got to see Warren Sharpe's mustache for the first time. Very bushy. Great mustache, huh? Very bushy. That's what I look for. It's Colts. Danny Dives.

Before we get to the Dolphins being bad, how about a resurrection of Daniel Jones? Let me give you a stat that was given to me by our producer Billy. The Colts scored on every drive. Daniel Jones scored on every drive in the game. Do you know he's the first touch quarterback this century

to score on every drive? As a matter of fact, Drew Franklin, he has scored on every drive this season. Undefeated. Did you ever think that Daniel Jones would have that level of success? Could he have resurrected his career, a la, let's say, Baker Mayfield, second stop is Danny Jones' stop? I'm raising my hand. I know it's a podcast.

No one can see me. My hands raised. I was very wrong about Daniel Jones. I've gotten off my Daniel Jones jokes. I've made fun of the Colts. I think it's hilarious that they even ended up with Daniel Jones as their starting quarterback. I got to shut up. He looked pretty awesome.

He looked great. I mean, yes, the dolphins suck. But I mean, Unitas Manning Jones and Colts. Unitius Manning, luck, dimes. Luck, yeah, Harbaugh. There he is. I'm putting him above luck and Harbaugh. I've always had a soft spot for Daniel Jones for two reasons.

One, he went to Duke. I went to law school Duke. I hate Duke, but I kind of like Duke football because it's pathetic. And the fact that he was pathetic and that was pathetic, everybody was booing him. I liked him. Second, he had a bowl cut when he came to the NFL. I used to have a bowl cut. People are not nice to people that have bowl cuts.

So you have a bowl cut. You're a dork from Duke. And your name is Daniel. Not even Danny. Daniel. I'm pulling for you. And now maybe all these years later, it's finally coming to fruition. So that's a lot about the Giants, too.

There really is something here. You mentioned his look. You know, a lot of guys picked where he is. They get the money. They have the glow up. Maybe they're not wearing chains. But they just look different. No, he looks like he's still just roaming the halls of Duke.

By the way, the Colts were 010 and 1 in opening games until this one, which is a crazy streak. Now, the bigger story, though, for most people is going to be the dolphins who were awful. Mike McDaniel looks like his mom didn't pick him up from school in time after must have forgot as she went to her second husband's house and left poor Mike standing on the curb. He did not seem to be happy. And then I'll tell you who else didn't look happy, Tyree Kiel, already complaining. after he said you know what we're good in the offseason Tyreeks already that that's a disaster Mike McDaniel he's going to be the first what first got fired right

yeah I mean I don't think they've even scored till four minutes left from the game they almost got absolutely shut out and it was a half a catch so the one that it was it was Tesla it also add just McDaniel was wearing these like really gaudy Miami gold rim sunglasses I sat on this show just last week that I kind of like him, but I'm watching him in Indy, and his team's got zero points midway through the fourth quarter, and he's got these Miami sunglasses on. I thought, you know what, it's not working.

It's not working. You're not fooling anybody, man. It's okay. You can be a nerd. It's just now you're a nerd that's not a good coach. I can't watch two-a-play. Yes. I'm worried, like, I just, it makes me not comfortable.

I worry about him, and he took another hard hit today. I just, I don't like it. He needs to do what he needs to do. Who am I to tell somebody what to do? But watching to a play just pains me. Me too, big hit today through some bad interceptions, doesn't look like himself. You know, they got some names on that offense.

And to go to the Colts, who I thought, give me the worst team in the league, I mean, their defense is all right. But to not score any points until the final minutes, what an embarrassing effort by that group. Plus, they got Zach Wilson. That's right. I mean, you know, the most of the most of the most.

moms of Miami are out there. They got Zach Wilson ready to rock. He got to play a little bit. And on Tyreek, I saw he was in a, there was a video went viral. There was like a fan mocking him in the elevator after the game. It's just, it's not good. It's just going to get worse. If anyone in Miami cared about their sports teams, it would be much worse.

Luckily they're, luckily they're in the city that doesn't care. West Coast, 49er Seahawks. Brought Purdy. You got, brought Purdy looks like he loses the game. with a terrible interception down the stretch and then ends up throwing an amazing pass to the backup tight-in who scores his first touchdown after George Kittle goes out. We've talked a lot about the 49er schedule and how it's so easy. I continue to believe they're going to go 14 and 3 and not even be good.

You wait and see this was the first step today getting that victory in Seattle. Yeah, I was ready to celebrate the Sam Darnold era getting off to the win. He wasn't great even before that. The Purdy looked bad. The interception is bad. He had a couple of them. But on that game winner, that play looked so dead. I mean, it looked like he had no chance.

I even saw, we got a shout out NFL next-gen stats. I don't know how you determine this. But wait a minute. This isn't, just for the record, Billy. This is not this generation stats. This is the next generation stats. Way, way beyond us. The next one.

Okay. But it called it the least likely completion of the weekend. It did all kinds of math that's way beyond me. How did they decide that? And it said when the ball was released, he had a 14% chance of completing it. They determined Purdy was running. I'm not kidding. I saw this.

Purdy was running 15 miles an hour to his right. And then the tight end had like half of foot of separation. And then they determined the velocity. This is next gen, Matt. I'm current. I see. That's the problem. I'm present, Jen.

It's hard for me to fathom because it's like, I'm in this generation. But there was all kinds of graphics and things that decided Purdy to Tonjus for the win was the toughest completion of the entire weekend. And it won the game. I'm very impressed that they're able to figure that out. Well, big win for the 49ers. Seahawks, Sam Dardle, the question was, is he more? What's the real Sam Darnold?

Jets, Sam Dardold, Kevin Stefanskyy, Sam Darnold. I think we're leaning more towards Jets, Sam Darnold, right? Yeah, it would have been a nice win. It's a good spot to get a win over the 49ers. I'm sorry. But not a great statistic day. I mean, he was fine. Yeah.

Just not really. It was a Sam Darnold day. He didn't lose it. 13 points is what Sam Darnel gets. Yeah, I don't think he had any turnovers. He was just there. He just showed up. Is there a fate worse for humanity than having to be a Cleveland Brown?

fan. I mean, seriously, I feel you look at all sports and you say, what team would it be the worst to be a fan? Okay. I think in professional sports, it's the Cleveland Browns. Who would be worse?

Those are the lions for a while. Not anymore. You have once Dan Campbell put the abyss up in the bud. That was when it was over. Yeah. It's the worst. They care a lot, though. Like the dog pound.

I know, which makes it worse. It's the hope that kills you. It's the fact that they care. I mean, that's what makes, today, their kicker is named Andre ZM-Y-T. Way too many consonants. The consonant-to-vow ratio suggests failure. Misses an extra point, misses an easy field goal. They lose 17-16.

They had an interception in their hands that they drop, goes through, his hands. Bingles guy catches it and the Bengals win the first game. What was it? Zach Taylor was like one and seven in his last four years in the first two games of the year and they get this win. And start the game, the Bengals

went right down the field and scored and I thought my goodness, Burrow was about to just light this game up and then we get this low scoring game. Burrow didn't do much after that and the Browns have a chance to win it and hit the Bengals with another early season loss that's going to affect their playoff push. But then they

still end up pulling it off. It was an ugly game, but something about Joe Flacco out there. I just, I like Joe Flacco. I think Flacco, in general, I thought he played five. He had guys drop passes. He had got, yes, your guy. Oh, yeah, that's a big story in Cleveland right now. What? In Joku. In Joku. I didn't get my touchdown, but even bigger, he's not even like the starting, the tight end anymore. The Harold Fanon Jr. is a rookie from Bowling Green, and he got like all of the targets. I just want to go for the record in our game of pick who's going to score a touchdown.

Drew could have picked any player in the NFL and you picked a player who didn't even start. He started, but this Harold Fannan Jr. from Bowling Green got like eight targets. Even Browns fans are like, in Joku, is he done? I like how you call him Harold Fanon Jr. from Bowling Green. Well, I mean, really? Have you heard that guy?

That's what I want to call him for the rest of the year. Harold Fanon Jr. from Bowling Green. I have not, no. No, but I didn't ask the story. He was like money for the Browns and Flacco was going to him all day. Like that was one of the bigger things for the Browns is who the hell is this guy, but he got most of the targets on offense. Well, Harold Fanon Jr. from Bowling Green, they did not get the win. But hopefully he was able to be one of the groomsmen for what I think was the biggest event of the day, which was the pregame wedding in Cleveland.

Two Cleveland fans who call themselves the Brown Spider and First Lady, they got met. married in the parking lot of the Browns-Bingles game. Very romantic. The women dressed as cheerleaders. The men dressed as like football players slash bowling league participants. If you looked at the shirts they were wearing. For some reason, the preacher was dressed as Batman, which didn't really fit the theme. But he was dressed as Batman.

did you see, and there were a lot of people there. Did you see the wedding? I did. I love it. I love a good NFL wedding. I've attended one. I was actually a witness to a Bill's wedding one time outside of stadium, and it was incredible. Was it the wedding or the engaged?

The wedding. Really? It was Monday night football, Bill's at Titans. Several hours before the game, I got a little walk, get a little coffee. We see a wedding on the bridge. Wait a minute. So the Bill's fans. got married in Nashville.

At a road game. On the bridge with Titan Stadium behind them, Monday night football. We're walking by and I'm getting video and then I'm wearing a Titan shirt. I step in. I get my pictures with them. I'm in like the official family photo. But it was incredible. I love the crazy NFL fans that do this because, you know, some people, I want the flowers

and the chapel and I want it to be perfect. No, give me the parking lot in week one Browns Bingles. Not Brown Spider. Or in my case, a road game. I love the NFL weddings. Brown Spider and First Lady have their own. I mean, can you imagine what their wedding nights like? Although the problem is now it's sad.

Yeah. I mean, they lost. You know, stupid Andre Smith misses the kick. And now Brown Spider's like, this just didn't working for me. They're going to remember that forever. Yeah. So where do you think they honeymoon? The dog pound.

That was it. Caledalito. Well, good for them, though. Congratulations. You know, this is the kind of game the Bengals have not won over the years. Don't play particularly well. Everything, you know, it's not all clicking, and they still get a win. Is that a good sign for Cincinnati?

Normally, this would have been a loss, like, in the last 20 years of Bingles fandom. Yeah, I think the people that are the saddest about this are Bengals fantasy owners with Chase. They already have, like, 20 yards. Higgins didn't do it. much. Burrow didn't light it up. This offense, we think it's one of the best in the NFL. I don't think this will determine what they

are, but that was a quiet game for all those guys. What about the defense played pretty well? Protection is still awful, though, for the Bengals. Like, I mean, they supposedly upgraded their offensive line. They were awful. The protection, the entire game. But they got the win. How many games does Cleveland win this

year? I still have a little more belief in Cleveland. I mean, they're not going to make the playoffs or anything. But they looked all right. I mean, what they did to that bingo's offense. In Flacco, we mentioned the drops. We now have Harold Fannan Jr. from Bowling Green. I say I'll give the Browns four or five wins. All right. I'm giving you a job, Billy. You have a job going into this week. If you're able to do this, you will get a reward for me. Oh, okay. And Mario, can you can help, Billy. Your job is to see if you can get Brown Spider and First Lady on our show.

That'd be great. All right, right after Tate Ratledge. No. Well, first of all, you're already supposed to, well, you're already going for Tate Routledge. Where is he? Is he here? If we could get both, well, Tate Rattlidge lost, this is probably in the week to ask him. Matter of fact, scratch Tate Rattlidge. Okay. I want Browns spiders. I want Browns, well, we can't have them either. They lost.

But I want Brown Spider and First Lady. Presumably they're on their honeymoon. So they might have to like interrupt it. But when we do the show net this Wednesday, you can get me Brown Spider and First Lady. I'll get you a Tate Rattlidge, Jersey. Oh, wow. Wow. Okay. Okay.

This is a big deal. I'm on it. Two things will happen. First of all, no one else is going to request them. Secondly, no one's bought a Tate Ratel in jersey. So these are going to be two huge moments. Do you think you can do it? Yeah, I'm going to reach out to the dog pound.

I'm sure somebody's got their contact info. So yeah. If you can help at Billy R Sports on Twitter, we would like to. I'm not kidding. I would love to talk to them. I think it would be good. I think they'd love to talk to us. I think they would too.

This is Matt Jones. You're listening to NFL Cover Zero. me just say we're trying to continue to grow the podcast we've had such great feedback do me a favor if you haven't yet subscribe and just tell one friend say hey it's the NFL a different way like subscribe and tell your friends about NFL cover zero let's go back and let's talk about the games on Thursday and Friday Eagles Cowboys Eagles win um all anybody's talking about suspending uh were you did you think it was said you think it was as bad as everybody else else did that they,

that Jalen Carter spit in his face. First play of the game. Not even first play before the first play of the game. Yeah. What a way to kick off the NFL season with one of these stars in the Eagles defense getting ejected. But we just, we can't be in a society where we accept spitting people's faces. He had to go.

We just, we can't do that. Why is it that we think spitting is worse than punching? Because we do. Like, people fight all the time. And it might be dumb, but like, we don't, we don't get furious at them.

But spitting. It's a level of disrespect. But I can't go like to the hospital with a spit. I could go to the hospital with a punch. But I, most people myself and glue would rather be punched and spitted or spat. Punch, it's a, it's not respectful, but like, we're gay, it's combat.

Spitting, you are beneath me. Historical combat. Yeah, you are beneath me. You are. scum is my DNA. Yeah. I mean, there's just a lot to it. DNA is part of it.

It is just, it's like the punch too, though. I'm aware. It's just, it's one of the lowest things you can do to someone, especially directly in the face. Yeah, in the face. So he had to go. Well, yeah, he did have to go. Would you suspend him for another game if you were in the NFL?

Is it spent worth two games? I don't know about that. Prom time Thursday night football, week one, you're jacked up to play, hit somebody your first game and you're sitting out and. People are talking about you for the whole night. You've got to be smart. I think that's enough. I think he learned his lesson.

However, if he does it again, we're looking at a major suspension. All right. Then Friday night, they go to Brazil. Chiefs lose to the Chargers, Justin Herbert played great. Is this the year? He rises to the next level. This was a game. Speaking of teams that usually lost,

Chargers have lost a version of this game 30 times in the last decade. They win it this time. Impressive? Yeah, I actually, I had the Chargers money line. I'm confident in them. It was the only bet I won all weekend, got murdered today. But I wasn't that shocked that they pulled it off. I don't know that the chiefs aren't going to be bad,

but they're gradually sliding as the chargers are coming up. I think they're knocking on the door. You lose that game, start 0 and 2. You know, historically, the Super Bowl loser has had a bad year the next year. And we think the chiefs are immune from that. Only winless team in the AFC West? It's just worth noting. Historically, the only only only.

only one. Historically, that's been a tough spot. I think they'll be all right, but I think Xavier Worthy out. We don't know what his status will be. Outside the game, the biggest story, I think, was Mackay Beckton. He had to miss the game for the Chargers because he was in the emergency room with, what, bad beans and rice? The Instagram caption that he posted said, Don't eat the beans and rice in Brazil from a hospital bed. Huh. Seems like they should be the two safest things to eat, though. Beans and rice. First of all, if I go to Brazil, that's what I want is beans and rice.

I feel like that. I bet the spices are good. Yeah. I don't know what. McCa may not want to blame. Maybe it's him. Maybe his stomach doesn't, it's just not a very tough stomach. This is another example of what a lot of players bring up, though, with traveling these

games, is the food. And now we've got a guy at least claiming that beans and rice have put him in the hospital. That seems like the simplest thing that you couldn't mess up and get sick on, though. I don't know that I believe his beans and rice story. I'm going on record as saying he probably took tequila shots. Might have found something. He was like, oh, no, the beans and rice. Yeah, I'll blame the beans and rice.

Definitely not the worm and the tequila or anything else. I have found Brown Spider's Twitter account that has 27,000 followers. No way. He does not have 27,000. You can also RSVP for his wedding on his Twitter account. So he must be like a local celebrity. Oh, yeah. Yeah, he's...

So when you RSP on the Twitter account, does it give you an email address? Let me see an idea. Actually, hang on. The NFL has said to us, we can help you get guests. And I think that they've meant like, you know, big guess,

George Seaford. Matt Prater. Matt Prater. I don't want Matt Prater. Actually, I do want Matt Prater, but Brown Spider. Maybe they can help. us. Hopefully, you have to be verified to DM people that don't follow you. So hopefully he follows

me back. Oh, because I won't pay for Twitter. Okay. But usually celebrities already get it. You didn't get it? No, they didn't. Well, I should have. Well, you're going to be able to do this, Billy. And hopefully our listeners will help you. I want to see Wednesday Brown Spider and hopefully with First Lady. She may be harder to get. But I think you can get Brown Spider. We'll break into the honeymoon, see if they can do it. We definitely should call the NFL and say, you're like, what's the first guest you want? On Spider, first leg. What's the best duo in the league?

All right, so those are the big games. Let's go to some of the smaller games. I pick the upset of the week, Raiders Patriots. I'm not going to say I called it on Wednesday's show, but I did call it on Wednesday's show. But what was interesting to me is it didn't look like an upset. Raiders dominated that game. Only won 20 to 10, but really they were in control the whole time.

Yeah, you got your Ashton Genti first TD. That was a good run, too. It was. Good, hard run. Yeah. Welcome to the lead. What was about to say? A lot of got excited.

Rumbling, bummling. Oh, Vrabel, speaking of running, the Pats, not much I did it there on off a day. They had like 60 yards rushing. Didn't look good at all. I thought they were going to take a little bit of a step forward this year. Maybe Drake May, not quite the second coming that everybody acts like, only, you know, didn't, didn't quite do it for. I mean, lose at home. by 10 to the Raiders when you have

Sight set on a playoff bid. I think that's, it was a poor performance by Drake. Yeah, and Max Crosby. Not the only part Drake that's had a bad year, I might add. Max Crosby was let him know about it too. There was a moment where he was like taunting the whole sideline. He hit him with the little crybaby, the win. He did do it a crybaby.

So yeah, Vegas showed up with some attitude and really rattled him. I like that. I think a Vegas team that talks trash is what the league needs, right? Brock Bowers got hurt during the game. He's a stud was playing well before he did. He had a great day. So hopefully he'll be all right, right? Because he's a freakish talent.

Yeah, unreal game for him. Didn't get in the end zone, but put up a bunch of yards with a lot of catches still getting dinged up. I've always liked Gino too. Yeah. Gino had a lot of yards. You mentioned rumbling, bumbling, stumbling. That comes from Chris Berman.

Back to talking for a second about going to ESPN and watching the game. Chris Berman was there. And Chris Berman talks. In private, like he talks on television. Oh, that's awesome. No,

I'm not kidding. When he's watching the game, it was like 60 people in his room. He comments as if he was on TV. Like your T, so like if Ashton Genty was doing that run, he would sit there going, rumlin, bumlin, stumbling,

it's a touchdown with the Raiders. What? No, what, what, what? He does that. I'm not even. kidding with you. He just does that in his regular conversation. Tick, tick, tick, tick. I would love you just said, watch a game with him. Tick, tick, tick. And then, you know, he'll make some nickname during the whole thing.

But he does that and you're sitting there and it's almost freaky. But what's also interesting is the other people are so used to it, they don't even acknowledge it. Just like, here's Chris going to No, he's got an opportunity. You know, a lot of people, they're on Twitch and all the stream, and he should just be on his couch with the live stream, just making noises. What? I'd watch. Red Zone on one TV.

Chris Berman on his couch is tick, tick, tick, tick. Burt, be homebley 11. Bill Belichick. He would have been proud of the circle in the wagons tonight on Sunday night football. He would have. Bill Belichick announced after the Carolina game. on Saturday that the Patriots are not invited to Carolina practices or games because he's not allowed in the Patriots facility,

which again, speaking of pettiness, love it. I'm so tired of Bill, but also give me more Bill. This is so stupid. It's not even the same thing. You're not allowed to building because you don't work there anymore and you got fired. They're coming to your building to recruit your college athletes. I love it. Who would like to be seen by the Patriots?

These are in no way the same situation. I love it. I think it's the best form of pettiness you could possibly have. No. And I like the idea that he doesn't get invited so they don't get invited. So even though it's not being fired, it would be like me going, yeah, you know what, the Kentucky governor. No, you can't come because I'm not allowed to come to your governor's mansion anytime I want.

I got fired from Sam Goody in high school. You know what? Y'all aren't allowed in my house. Don't come by. You got fired from Sam Goody. Yeah. So, like, you can't get the CD from Sam Goody anymore. No, no, no.

That's unfortunate. It was tough. Had a lot of jobs. What'd you do? Didn't he, you know. Did you steal? Kind of. It was an organizational thing.

What do you mean you kind of stole? You either stole or you didn't. It was part of a, I was part of a bigger effort of stealing. Oh, it was a crime ring. Yeah. It was unintentional. So we're actually now turning this into a RICO case. Yeah, now I'm afraid of what I should say.

No, I had a boss. Like, he'd be like, great. You had a boss. No, no, but he'd be like, great job this week. You won the contest. Here's your PlayStation 2. Like, that's awesome. And we learned later that he was just taking it off the shelf and handing it to us.

And there was like no record of us winning this PlayStation 2. So they're like, Drew, do you have the PlayStation 2? I'm like, yeah, I sold the most DVD cleaners. And like, yeah, well, you don't get a PlayStation 2 for that. So it was a lot of just. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, this is not. this is even crazy. So your boss was just taking things off the shelves and rewarding.

And telling you there were a contest. Like who can sell the most of X? He was probably getting a perk on his end for all of us selling stuff. So like, Drew, you want April. Get anything you want. And I'm like, oh, I want that. And like, awesome. Congratulations.

But why didn't they fire you for that? Well, I said fired. It was more of just a mutual burden. Wherever this is going, I want nothing to do with it. Okay. But yeah, he was just. So he was just taking things. off the shelf and handing them

to the employees. Like, congrats. You had a great day today. I love it. Here's... He sounds like the best boss I've ever heard. And we thought this was like a company policy, like you get rewarded. I think you would... I think that. Yeah, like, sure I want are we there yet too on DVD tonight for working hard. Yeah, I'll take that home with me, boss. Thank you. I did put

in a good four-hour shift. You had the first one. You wanted to see how it ended. Yeah. Well, there was some mortgage. conversational concerns. I didn't know that, but now I see why they ended up in bankruptcy. Saints and Cardinals. Kyle or Murray, I like watching.

He still runs around with the football in one hand. He's the only player I've ever seen do that. He holds the football like when I was a kid and I could show I could palm a basketball. And I was like, look at this. And he looks so tiny scramble doing that. When he runs around what he's going with the ball. But I don't, who cares? The only story about that game that matters is what were the Saints wearing?

I turned that game on and genuinely thought I had. found like a random D2 college game with that Saints jersey. Exactly what it looked like. It looked like a high school generic jersey. That looked like, you're exactly right, that looked like a southern HBCU uniform. That's exactly what it looked like. I genuinely thought what game did I just, wait, I thought this was the Saints. And then I had to think, are these like color rush?

What is this? And then I wasn't even sure. Is there even a logo on it? What is the reason for it? Was it celebrating something? Not sure. They did say, I did hear the announcers at one point go. is their alternate jersey. I was like, alternate to what?

We're aware. Anything. I mean, the monochrome pants to monochrome shirt look, it reminded me of what 70s baseball uniforms look like. You ever seen those like the old pirates and white socks uniforms? It reminds me on a mad in the video game, if you create a team, they give you like a basic uniform that you can kind of add logos and stuff to. They just got the generic giving me the golden black. How many of those you think they're going to sell? I mean, the whole point of having alternate uniforms is to sell them. How many of those you think they're going to sell after losing it home to the Cardinals?

Can't be many. Lowest rated game of the day? Oh, I tried to watch it. Not good. Not good. Not good at all. Saints had a chance to win, and it was a fitting drop there to not do anything. It's one of those games that when you're at a bar and there's like eight games on and there's one that they're like,

do I just sitting on any television? That was Cardinals Saints today. Cardinals got the win. commanders giants um malique neighbors already done with Russell Wilson

Russell Wilson burns through receivers as quick as anybody on earth Malik Neighbors was done they might be done with Russell Wilson he didn't look too good either but neighbors looks like he wants on the first flight out of New York

to whatever team will take him the game saying do you commit to Russell Wilson for next week? No it did not look good you can't even get through week one and he said I mean Jackson it's Jackson Dart time

But Russell Wilson is, it's over for him already, right? Yeah, Darts was one of the preseason darlings, one of the hot names right now. He's got a little bit of the swag. He can bring some life into your franchise that's been bad for so long. Give it to him. Nobody wants to see Russell Wilson. Yeah, I know. That's a good, just theme for life.

Nobody wants Russell Wilson. Nobody wants to see Russell Wilson. Honestly, commercial anywhere. Do you, I mean, he's my, he would be my first. third quarterback on that team. I go to Winston before him. Oh, yeah. And they won't let they're not letting Jackson Dart or James Winston

speak to the media, which is, I mean, I guess in the NFL, everyone is always allowed to speak to the media except those two. It's just open locker rooms. Which is interesting to me. You wouldn't let the backup speak. But it's clear Jackson Dart is starting next week. That's the shortest lease

anyone's ever had. Didn't even get through a week. Yeah, the camera Scott neighbors yelling at pretty much anyone on the sideline that he could yell at. We couldn't tell what he was saying, but I can only assume he's yelling, give me Jackson Darder. I'm out of here. Well, it's understandable. Although even with all that, they had a pass right there to Wendell with a chance.

I mean, commanders didn't look great. No, they have that rookie running back, Crosby. They call him Bill. That's what I was going to bring up. I just love that his name's Bill. Jacori Kroski Merritt, I think is one of it is. Why do they call him Bill? I don't know, but he had a big game today, and just the fact that he's Bill.

I think there's a cartoon character that he looks like. He used to watch as a kid. Yeah, yeah. So his name is Jacori. Crossky Merritt. None of those names are close to Bill. Which makes it awesome. He had a touchdown today.

So Commanders fans are excited about that, that Bill got his touchdown. Yeah. Well, I can understand that. Everybody likes a good Bill. but that's weird it's weird to have no names that are even close to it and take them but the commanders get the win panthers jaguars was the game i oddly was kind of excited about to see Travis hunter go both ways he did did um had had a couple catches i think um there was a long weather delay that's what hurt this game yeah i was into it till the delay that i kind of forgot to go back and check i honestly forgot it happened until it was uh until it was over and I did look online, though, because I wanted to see. The good thing about the Jaguars is because they're boring on the field, they have always a weird cast of people off the field.

Urban Meyer, of course, a couple years ago. Well, their owner, Khan, speaking in great mustaches, a little bit like Warren Sharp in the mustache. Did you see the speech he gave Liam Cohen after the game? Oh, no, I did not. He gave Liam Cohen a speech, and it said something like, today is the start of we win forever. Yeah.

Forever, which I think is, that's confidence. Jaguars really have never won of any significance, and he's like, starting today, we win forever. But if you're Liam Cohen, are you like, wait a minute, are you expecting that, like, undefeated? Forever. Hey, Cohen is undefeated. One and O is a head coach.

Big win for your boy, Liam. I have said all during the offseason. I think they're going to be a surprise thing. I think they're going to make the playoffs. I think the combination of Trevor Lawrence needs to do something. Liam Cohen's a good coach. We saw it here at Kentucky. Travis Hunter is going to be exciting.

They got a good defense. Josh Hines Allen, you know, coming off the edge. I think the Jaguars are going to be good this year. Yep. They're going to take that crappy division. And Bryce Young looked like the Bryce Young. look like the Bryce Young of the year before

than this one. One game, but not a great performance. Had a couple picks. I like seeing my guy, Hunter Renfro, get a couple catches. Did you see how he ended up on the Panthers?

The story with his daughter? No. She was watching Bluey on his phone and the Panthers called him 10 straight times to sign him and she kept declining it. He almost did not become a Panther because his daughter

kept hitting decline. I love it. And then he gets to Carolina and I got a couple catches today. That's actually a really good Sorry, I did not know that. Bucks Falcons. So your guy, that's your team, Billy.

Amika Abuka, is that right? Yeah, rookie from Ohio State. Yeah, had a great game, including that catch at the end. That passed from Baker was amazing. The catch was terrific. The game was kind of back and forth. The Falcons had the ball, I think, 11 times inside the 5-yard line, 11 plays and then finally got in.

But the Bucks won. You had to be happy? Yeah, really dramatic. A lot of reviews laid as well. reviews. Took a while. But, you know, Atlanta swept Tampa last year. So that was a big one. It was a nice win for Tampa, but I came away very impressed with Michael Pennix, Jr. He was great. That stretch he did to score to the touchdown was one of the most athletic plays I've seen. That was a while to me. He had a great game. Had that stretch, had a couple other runs, 300 yards passing.

It's a shame they couldn't get it done for him because he looks like he's going to be a second year now. Looks like he's going to be a good sophomore season for him. That division, those teams all play each other seven times during the year. They don't play anyone else. They're all going to, I mean, I know the Bucks have won it four or five years in a row, but I think it's going to come down to the end. I don't make huge generalizations about one game in the NFC South. Titans and Broncos.

Oh, boy. Yeah, talk to me about your Titans how they looked. What do you think of Cam Ward's debut? I did like some Cam. We couldn't catch the passes he was throwing. Ridley, who's supposed to be, is his guy dropped two. I don't know if you saw, but they cut to Cam Ward's dad in the crowd, and he leaves his seat and walks over the aisle and puts his, he just lays on the rail.

Like, he's just so disappointed. You laid on the rail? Yeah, even the Denver fans around them were like pat him on the back. Cam's dad was going through it, but my Titans, it's going to be a long year. They're bad. They're so bad. Your coach is awful. Yeah.

Why is he so bad? Like, last year, they were so poorly prepared, it seemed like for every game. And it didn't look a whole lot better. had some clock mismanagement before the half. I love the Titans. We're in Titans' shirt right now. I couldn't wait for this game. Guys, I admit I fell asleep during my own team's game.

I watched a lot of football today. I fell asleep. Felt asleep during your own team's game. I fell asleep once today, watching one game. It was my own team. Well, can I give you one thing that might make you feel better? Please. Denver was an eight and a half point favorite.

Rookie quarterbacks starting in their first game were 0 and 10 against the spread in the last 10 games. the Cam Ward covered by half of the one. Here we go. Does that make you feel better? First player in 11 games is a rookie starting in his first game to cover. That's got to make you feel better. I do have, it does make me feel better.

I have faith in him. It's just the pieces around him, there's just, there's not much hope. Ridley, I thought was like the one thing we had going, and he had two bad drops on some deep passes. They could have been difference makers.

But it's not lost on me. I ranked the Titans fifth in watchability. And they put me to sleep today in week one. people need to watch out for a Bo Nix slump. I know they won the game, but that was my Survivor League team. That should have been an easy game. And it wasn't.

And the Titans led for a significant part of the game. The Bo Nicks regression year is coming. The Drake May regression year is coming. I said both of those before the year, I stand by them now. Texans Rams, maybe the worst game of the day. And I thought it was going to be good. Both those teams are interesting to me. The Rams won.

It was 14 to 9. It was awful. I tried to watch it. I could not get it. I'd love to give you a review. All I can say is, Sean McVeigh only wears under armor shirts. But beyond that, I have nothing to say about the game.

I'm all in on the Texans going backwards. C.J. Stroud going backwards. So far, so good on that. He threw a pick. Didn't have a great day. I'm with you. It wasn't a very entertaining game. At one point, Pooka Nakua was.

like bleeding from his eye. That was real scary. That's, what was that? I don't know how you bleeding from his eye. Made him look like a bad ass. To be honest, but that was a big story line of the game.

He did look like it was coming from inside his eye, which is, I don't, he seemed fine. He was walking it off, but to see someone like bleeding from their eye. It's a very football thing to do. You're bleeding from the eye,

walking off, kid. It'll be all right. That was honestly the big thing I remember is his eye bleeding. And Matthew Stafford looking all right. What's your note from the game, Drew? I believe it. It was really crazy looking.

Is it good? Do you need to go somewhere and get that checked out? Yes. So let's go over part of our pick. So we did the, this week we did the Survivor League. I picked the Broncos, one. You picked the commanders.

You got it. And Billy took a little bit of a wrist, picked the Jaguars, got it. All three of us moved to the second round. And none of us picking one of the, best teams. So all three of us kind of, you know, getting a solid early start. Yeah, good week. Was anyone even threatened at all? I know my commanders weren't. Bronles were down a little bit early. It could have looked like it.

Trying to think what would have been the game where you were most likely to see people eliminated? Maybe some people had the dolphins against the colds. Yeah, it'd still be a weird thing to put your survival release overchargers. Maybe. Probably a lot of people had commanders and giants, but they weren't. one pretty easily. I mean, I'd say this would be a year where most people survive the first first game. Would you agree?

There was no crazy, probably the biggest upset, I guess, would be Colts, dolphins. But how many people are going to pick the dolphins in the first one? No, that was even like a one-point spread. Even the upsets, I think we're all like a field goal spread. Chiefs, Chargers, and Raiders, Patriots were probably the biggest upsets by point spread. Yeah, so we all moved to the second round and we'll, on Wednesday, pick our other ones. We also did our touchdown game. You picked Najoku, who didn't get a lot of catches because of what?

Harold Griffin from Bowling Green. Harold Griffin, Jr. from Bowling Green. Harold Fanon Jr. from Bowling Green. So you get zero points. Zero. Did Billy McAfrey? Or not Billing McCaffrey. He did not.

He did not. But you know who did score? Hurts. That would be Jalen Hertz. Twice, right? Yeah. But we just, you get only, you get won a game. So I'm up now one zero zero after the, I take an early league in the touchdown game.

I did my big anytime touchdown parlay at one o'clock. It didn't win. Otherwise, I wouldn't be sitting here. But it's so fun. That's just, that's my favorite way to watch the game. Why is it so fun? You say that all the time. I don't play fantasy.

So like if another team's in the red zone, if I don't care about the team, I really stand up, like, is my guy in? Are we passing? Are we throwing? And in normal games, I wouldn't care as much. I get dialed in when they're in a scoring position. So should I expect that next week you're picking Harold Fanon Jr. from Bowling Green? Actually, I probably should.

Probably should. Okay. Just keep picking Browns, Titans. Well, here was my- That was one of the worst picks I've ever seen. You could have picked anyone in the league and you went with Harold Fanon Jr. or Bowling Green. They said that. They said Joku was the most bet, prop bet of any players. So I think you're incorrect on that.

Did he's- popular pick? He had four catches. But I had this Fanon thing. Here was my logic, though. I didn't think Flacco could see down the field being 50 years old. So I thought it was going to be tight ends all day, which it was. I just had the wrong tight end. So I was going with Flacco being an old man and just relying on my tight end there.

But here comes Harold Fanon Jr. from Bowling Green. Well, all right. So Billy, remember your job, Brown Spider. Brown Spider. And the first lady. If not, second is Matt Prater. Okay. That's the order.

I'll get the NFL involved. And if you can only get one of Spider-First Lady, you can pair with Matt Prater. So if it's like First Lady and Matt Prater, we'll figure it out. I think it would be good to interview Matt Prater and the First Lady together

and see what hijinks occur. Just two of the three. Those three get two of the people. All right. Thank you guys for enjoying or listening. Hopefully enjoyed the week one review. We'll be back on Wednesday. Please like, subscribe, tell your friends,

associates, your family. This has been NFL Cover Zero. NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin is a production of the NFL and IHeart podcast. For more podcasts from IHeart Radio, visit the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.