NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - 2016 Week 2 Review

Episode Date: September 19, 2016

A room filled with heroes - Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Chris Wesseling and Marc Sessler – recap all the games from action packed Sunday, including the Rams defeating the Seahawks in their return to Los Angeles and the Steelers outlasting the Bengals in another heated AFC North divisional game. Plus, the heroes break down what Jimmy Garoppolo’s injury means for the Patriots before wrapping the podcast by discussing Sam Bradford leading the Vikings to a victory over Aaron Rodgers and the Packers.Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Hey, everybody. Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the 6th, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else.

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Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. The Around the NFL podcast are 100% natural. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansis. I'm joined by a room filled with heroes. Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling, and Greg Rosethal.

What's up, boys? Hey, Dan. Yeah. What is happening? I don't know. Not much. This is Week 2. The Week 2 Recap Show, our flagship program.

And again, people right now, they're in the old device over there, are watching us on Periscope. That's a great way to, you know, watch us. That makes the only way to watch us. because the people up on the third floor, the shadowy league figures, decided not to put us on YouTube. So we said, we're going to bring ourselves to the people anyway.

Well, on Sunday nights, that's true. All of our Thursday game previews, you can check out on YouTube during the week. But I'm excited. This Sunday night show is our best show. We don't need any. We're going rogue. Yeah, the NFL did not need our best show, apparently.

But I have just retweeted for anyone listening or watching the link. But they already have the link because the only way they have it is by watching this. So that was a useless move by me. Today's show, we will go over all the games that were played on Sunday from the early 1 o'clock games through the Sunday night football game between the Packers and the Vikings. And just a little heads up because I know we were all getting a ton of tweets today. A rough day for all the nominees for the team of ATL. The Steelers.

And Titans won, but maybe not too impressively. And the Bucks and Raiders fell in, you know, kind of sad to a humiliating fashion. I mean, another way to mention that would be that the Bengals lost. The Steelers beat the Bengals. The Bengals were the – Oh, I had the Steelers. Sorry, that was my fault. I thought you know.

That maybe should have been the team we did pick for Team of ATL. The Bengals lost. Well, let's be honest. That one was the longest of the long shots, the Bengals one. I understood what you were doing, Mark. And they might be the best team of the four. So, you know, sure. Wasn't getting past legislation here.

No. I understand it. I was open-minded on that. I was more open-minded to the Bengals than the Bucks. Leggweslation. Does that work? Westislation? I don't know.

Okay. So anyway, yeah, we'll get into all that. Our team of ATL, where we're trying to figure out a team we could all root for together. But like we said, we're not going to force it. If we don't find one we like, we're just not going to do it. And today was not a good start. But we have a lot to get to. So why don't we?

do it, gentlemen, and we'll start in the AFC today where the Steelers defense put on a show, shutting down the Bengals' ground game, keeping Andy Dalton and A.J. Green under control. And at the end of the day, the Steelers came away with a 24 to 16 victory. Chris Wessling in some, you know, not great weather, but in the AFC North, that's fine, isn't it? There was an intermittent driving rain in this one. whenever it was heavy rain the offense is kind of bogged down big ben he made his hay when the rain kind of stopped but there were some passes that were floated and off target there were i think at least eight drops in this game so it was a sloppy game but the steelers took control

early and really had control the game the entire game bengals fans will rue the call on tyler boyd's fumble in which it looked like his knee was down they had a chance they were down eight they had a chance to go for the tie, but they would have needed the touchdown and the two-point conversion to even get back in the game. Now in January, the Bengals and Steelers clashed in one of the wildest, most bizarre, vicious football games that we've ever seen as a group. Did it take on that tone today?

Not in the least. I didn't see any fireworks. It didn't seem like the teams were that emotional. Were they hitting? It wasn't like the playoff game where they were hitting like that. It wasn't like a Raven Steelers game because this has the chance to kind of replace Raven Steelers as maybe the best divisional rivalry. Oh, I think it already has.

Did Mike Munchak pull anyone's hair? He did not. But this seemed kind of like a schoozer. Should the Steelers fans feel like, okay, now we've got a team, maybe even a defense that is starting to know what they are a little more, that can win an ugly game in the rain like this? Well, Matt Jones and Jeremy Hill, the two starting tailbacks to face the Steelers defense,

have averaged 23 rushing yards through two games. Wow. That looks like a different element this year, that their front seven is stouter against the run. And their past defense, Andy Dalton's stats were aided by the comeback attempt. He had 366 yards, but a lot of that came late. And I think their past defense can probably still be picked on, but they haven't been picked on yet. Well, I think they've, and especially Mike Tomlin, as looked at the roster and is starting to play to their weaknesses and cover them up. They're not as aggressive, I don't think, on defense anymore.

They're starting to look a lot more like a Mike Tomlin defense, like the one he used to run in Tampa and Minnesota, maybe a little more conservative in the back end, try to prevent big plays and play to the strength of the team, which is the offense. So it certainly helps it. It looks like Ryan Chazir has made the leap from a guy who made a handful of errors per game to a guy who's really a pro-ball talent now.

Has any team had a better start than Pittsburgh? I mean, you've knocked out two good teams right out of the gate. Now, not the skins, but I mean, this was a huge. huge win for them and I Pittsburgh to me is the class of that division absolutely well they they held serve it's worth you know the Bengals lost the road division game that that's expected the Ravens have started out two and no I look at this division after a couple weeks and I thought this beforehand but you're thinking this is one of the better divisions in football and it wouldn't be a surprise if three teams are in the mix in the last week of the season and one is

picking first in the draft we'll get to that let's move on unless anyone has anything else to say about that great game today that was played on in america bengals bengals draw the broncos next week they got to get their running game on track no teams had a tougher opening schedule i believe than the bengals at the jets who i think the jets are one of the better teams right now at the steelers and then the defending super bowl champions that's good for a team that's good for a team though i think Cincinnati that's that's that's the way you want to do it how to you see who you are it's good for a team if you come out of that two and one it's probably bad for a team to come out of it one and two yeah let's move

on gentlemen to the throne of ease yes the throne of ease where jimmy garoppolo as greg leans back in his chair uh life is good or is it no it's not jimmy garoppelow comes in a second game uh subbing for tom brady who's suspended he throws for three touchdowns and 234 yards on the first 25 minutes of game action then goes down with a shoulder injury um takes a hard hit, does not return. The third string quarterback comes in, which is one step away from Julian Edelman being the quarterback. Who's the third stringer's name again?

Jacoby Perse. They're starter now, no longer a third stringer. Who is now, looks like he'll be starting on Thursday night. Anyway, the patch jumped out to a huge lead, hung on at the end when Dolphins mounted a late comeback at 31 to 24 Patriots win. Now without Jimmy Garoppolo, probably on Thursday night. And who knows if he'll be back the next week before. Brady comes back, but at the end of the day, Greg, all is good in Patriotland because now you're

two and oh without Tom Brady or Rob Gronkowski. No. Yeah, spin it, baby, spin it. Well, I would have, as a fan, you would much rather have them look a little sloppy and win a close game and have a healthy Jimmy Garapolo for the next two weeks than what happened in this game, which is they barely held on to win. And I don't blame them for getting ultra conservative when Jacoby Brissette entered the game. that makes sense. He actually went six for nine for 92 yards, but none of his passes were more than five or six yards in the air. I am now worried, of course, about the next two weeks. Can you win a game or two games with Jacoby Brissette, a third round rookie as your starting

quarterback? Maybe they can, but I think the Texans are looking at this Thursday night matchup and thinking, if we're going to go to Foxborough, we just hit the jackpot. Absolutely. This is what you want to go. For sure. But I guess my point being, you got two wins now. In my mind it's house money until Brady gets back. Even if you, even if this guy per said craters, you're still getting the best quarterback in the world back on a loaded team at two and two. So the sky's not falling no matter how bad this guy. Yeah, you talked about getting out of this at two and two as a reasonable, you know, expectation. I was hoping for three and one, but yeah. This is a huge challenge. This is why it's a throwing of ease, by the way, because you're nervous

about the next two games when you're two and oh. You're fine. I agree with Dan. Tom Brady comes back in week five, all problems are solved. That's fair. These are the things you talk. What are the chances we see Matt Flynn at some point in the next two weeks? Well, they've got to get someone, so it's going to come down to someone they trust, and there's not much out there free agent-wise at all. Right. He's been there. He could be someone they signed. There were some concerns. I know they had a 24 to 3 lead in this game,

and then Ryan Tannhill went on a crazy string, 20 for 21 with a throwaway. Wow. It wasn't all just, oh, they're playing. prevent defense. They're trying to make stops. They're playing aggressively. The Dolphins' offense just played better in the second half and they were going to win that game

if the game got any longer. And the Patriots held on I think LaGerry, your boy, LaGerry Blunt has been terrific. The MVP of this team through two weeks and their ability to run the ball and milk the clock a little bit even with percent in the lineup was key to the way. If you're Bill Belichick though and you've got a certain

amount of days to now prepare another quarterback who's inexperienced. three days. What kind of game plan do you think we'd see on Thursday night? A lot of short passes. I mean, Julian Edelman has shown how valuable he is in the last couple weeks, really getting open. Martellus Bennett had a great game and some great scheme calls. These last couple weeks have been all you need to know about Josh McDaniels as an offensive coordinator and what he should show prospective teams when he's interviewing for jobs. To me, to put up the points that they have, because the thing we didn't mention, Carapolo,

was playing lights out. This team looked like it was the 07 Patriots for the first 20 minutes of this game. He had 235 yards and three touchdowns in the first 20 minutes of the game. I can't believe how much better he's looked in the regular season than the preseason. I appreciate the contortionist act you pulled off to find something positive to say about Ryan Tannhill. But this offense could not move the ball for 55 minutes in Seattle and didn't move the ball until the game was out of hand today. But the game was out of hand because of the defense.

Also because Tana Hill went five drives without moving the offense. That's fair. That's fair. I mean, let's see Ryan Tana Hill do something with the game competitive. I guess if I was thinking of all the reasons why the Dolphins lost and should be concerned, and they should be. Tana Hill in the passing game was the one positive. You get Devante Parker back. He looks good.

Jarvis Landry has a big game. Kenny Stills. Jordan Cameron. It's not really a positive? The game's already out of hand by the time you finally move your office. People always say that, but the throws here is making, just watch the game, are into tight windows, tough throws. Why isn't he making those throws earlier?

Why didn't he make those throws in week one? And Jarvis Landry put it well in a quote to the Miami Herald after the game. We can't be an almost team. That blank is over. And I get it. You're frustrated. I'm sure if you're a Dolphins fan, handsome Hank downstairs. Well, you know, he's dying too because it's like, yeah, nice comeback.

I know you actually had a shot to tie the game on a last second heave. But the fact that you were getting your doors blown off, I mean, it's just embarrassing. Well, and there were major problems for them. Arian Foster's out with a groin injury. Who knows when he'll be back. Stunner. Jay Jaya has been kind of a disaster. Inactive last week, fumbled this week, didn't look good.

Their running game is a non-starter because they're starting four left tackles on their offensive line. And the one thing that looked good last week, their defensive line got steamrolled by the page. Dolphins fans want to see it. They're tired of this year after year, and you're not spinning it, but you can hoist up any positive angle you want.

I would just say they're at one positive thing in a sea of disaster. Right. Think about this game at the end of the season. And again, Tanahill has really nice numbers. You're like, oh, why aren't the dolphins better? Well, you've got to do it when it counts. Let's move on, gentlemen, and we'll talk about the Houston Texans. Will Fuller, rookie wide receiver, has another big game,

104 yards against the Chiefs. He became the first rookie in club history to begin his career with back-to-back of 100-yard games leading the way in a 19-12 win for the Texans over the Chiefs. Mark Sessler, a little revenge after that. embarrassment thumping the chiefs handed down to the Texans in January. It was, and it's what we talked about on Thursday, that that game really, you know, does not in any way reflect what this matchup was because Houston, over the course of an offseason, reorganized their passing game.

They got a better running back in Lamar Miller, who ran for 83 yards today. And you finally have someone across from Duke Hopkins who is not just contributing, but is an absolute game changer. They had, they both had 100 yards today. That's the first time that's happened for the Houston Texans since 2013. And yes, you know, look, I think it's still something else you talked about. These players are playing together in just their second game in many cases. Unlike the dolphins, they're producing results, though.

And it also has to do with their defense. JJ Watt, who I think last week was, you know, getting cooked back into the game plan a little bit. One and a half sacks today made some big plays, looked mostly like his old self. And they had four sacks overall. he's not the only player on this defense, you know, wrecking the quarterback. DeShon Jackson is the only other rookie in NFL history to have 100 yards in his first two games receiving. And if you look at this Texan's offense last year, they had outside of DeAndre Hopkins only two 100-yard receiving games. They were both by Nate Washington.

Will Fuller's already done that in his first two games. This is not nearly the same team that lost, got blown out against the Chief. Yeah, and for people that are, you know, into fantasy football, Will Fuller is going to give you one of these 40, That's so derisively. No, I mean. You're not happy with the fantasy community right now. Look, I'm fine with them. Let's be honest.

I'm fine with them. I don't need every single play analyzed based on other people's fantasy teams in our newsroom. It gets a little bit much. We'll open the kimono. We are sitting directly next to the entire fantasy empire. And, you know, we now have a front row seat to, they're doing their job. They're wonderful guys. They're getting excited.

But, you know, Mark, you like, you're concentrating on your games. I don't need to hear it. I don't like every. play in football analyzed only on whether or not someone's, you know, voyeuristic from a distance football roster on a computer screen is doing well or not. We're all voyeuristic with football, though. I'll be voyeuristic in any way I want, but it's not, I'm just saying I don't, go have fun with yourselves. Let's get back to this game, though.

Who had a better week than the Texans, by the way? The Colts and Jags are 0.2. Now they get to go to New England. Like you said, all the new, they get revenge on the team that they beat them in the playoffs. Well, and with the Chiefs, one thing on the Chiefs, they got killed by turnovers today, and they're the kind of team that cannot go in and have three turnovers. They're not going to win games like that. There's a lot to like about this offense, and we thought they were maybe starting to hit, like, peak Andy Reed form, and they got crushed today by their own mistakes. At Houston is one of the toughest defensive assignments in the NFL playing against them at home. I'll go, I'll throw it out there, by the way,

and I'm not saying this, I'm not pushing this, but the Texans are a lot of interesting pieces if our team of ATL nominees all falter, throw it out there. There are a better option. than what we ourselves hoisted up last week in a ridiculous show by us. Oh, stop. Just because they lost. It's a long season. It was a ridiculous, you know,

piece of work on our part to put up three total stinkers as, you know, a team of ATL options. We can't look into the future. You never know how teams are going to perform. Just one week. Well, that's where I stand right now. It's not all about final results. It's about the journey.

We said Thursday the Texans are an interesting sleeper for team of ATL. Yeah, they are. They pulled through again today. Your boy, Lamar Miller, 60 touches through three weeks, two weeks. I like that. Let's calm down a little bit. That's what I'm saying. Let's see how that holds up.

Bring that down to 43.3 yards per carry today. Let's just take it down to about 25 touch. 30 a week is asking for some Alfred Blue in week nine. Exactly. I like, I didn't like the dolphins giving him 17 touches a week. Let's go right in the middle. Keep my boy healthy. I want that sandwich.

Get on the phone with Bill O'Brien. You have his email. You have his phone number. Billio? Okay, well, do I? Sure. We have all that stuff at our command. Okay.

Let's move on the. The first game at NFL football game in Los Angeles in many, many years took place today. It was the game that counts, I should say, and the Rams against the Seahawks. And the Rams coming off an absolute embarrassment on Monday night football, a 28-0 loss to a 49ers team. We all pretty much agree. Stanks. So what happens? Classic Jeff Fisher.

He gets the Seattle Seahawks in his building, shuts down the Seahawks offense with a pretty obviously hurting Russell Wilson. A 9-3 lead with less than two minutes to go, and the Seahawks marching, and they're going to steal a game from an inferior team like they did to the Dolphins next week? No, because this happened. Third down in 10 snap. Wilson drops. He's well protected. The pocket collapses as he throws at right-side numbers, caught by Michael, puts his shoulder down. The ball comes out. Ogletree is on it. And there you have it. There you have it. It's a fumble.

Rams have turned the Seahawks over inside a final minute at the Coliseum. A 9-3 final. The Los Angeles Rams with a victory. Mark Sessler. What did you see? I saw a Jeff Fisher fever dream from another planet. I mean, this is how Jeff Fisher, in the middle of the night, when he just thinks about peak moments on the football field,

it's winning a game like this, 9 to 3. In a game that resembled something out of 1932, too. What can you do? You got Case Keenham as your quarterback. And yes, they won the game. And their defense overpowered Seattle's line. And they were in Russell Wilson's face all day long. It didn't show up necessarily in the box score in terms of sacks, only two sacks. But I think Russell Wilson clearly bothered by the ankle. He was not the same quarterback today. Wasn't accurate. But he had a chance at the end of this game. We just heard the replay to do what he did last week, which it came very close to another miraculous finish here, and the Rams

defense got it done. But I just look at the Rams. I'm not taking anything away from the win, but I am very concerned about Todd Gurley, who looked like one of the new NFL stars last year, his trajectory, if you look at his yards per game and yards per average, from the first four games in the NFL to the rest of last season to now is plummeting downward. And he's not the problem. He's not the problem. But teams know to just stack the box against the Rams and put it in Case Keenham's hands. Keenham did not have an awful game for what Case Keenon is. Eight yards per attempt.

Made some big throws and big spots, some long yarder, some get long gainers, but they had a first and goal from the Seattle four and came away with a field goal. Again, a Jeff Fescher, that's a dream scape for Jeff Fisher. But you have got to punch that in. You cannot hope to score 10 points and win games like that. I think Jeff Fisher's shown he can beat great teams in games like this in Los Angeles or in St. Louis or whatever stadium he wants to play in.

This is the third straight win he has over the Seahawks in three different stadiums. But the trick is, can you do it more than seven times with this style of football? Against other teams. And, you know, Russell Wilson's four and five against the Rams, but you're playing 31 other teams. And it's fun to watch. You know, is this really what you want to sign up for for three more years? And this is the thing, too, with Russell Wilson, that when you have a bad ankle

And a high ankle sprain is one of the worst injuries you could have and still be playing. I was on that Sunday game day couch blitz show earlier today. Kellyn Winslow Jr. was sitting on the couch as well. Me and Kellan Winslow on one side. Tim Meadows of Saturday Live on the other side. A real power trio. And Kellyn Winslow. Power duo and Dan, but yeah.

Said that NFL players rather have a broken leg than a high ankle sprain because the leg heals. when you treat it right, but the sprain keeps on lingering. And a lot of the plays that I would think that Russell Wilson, he does, he gets away from the pass rush. And then when another quarterback throws it away or scampers for a three-yard gain, he creates a 45-yard reception. I mean, he's that type of guy. So you take that out of his game, and it really hurts.

It's the, it's on his throws, too. It's not just rushing ability because it clearly, you know, it toys with your ability to throw comfortably. So why aren't they saddling up Kristen Michael in the third and fourth quarter when he's ripping off eight or nine yards? It's interesting what happened. with, listen, again, credit to the Rams, they shut down Seattle's ground game

when they tried this Thomas Rawls, Kristen Michael combo. Ralls at the end, they had 14 rushes for 14 yards, the Seahawks at half. Rawls had seven rushes for negative seven. He did not look healthy and he got pulled for a leg injury at halftime. Then Michael, and we talked about this,

Michael is a flow runner. You got to give him the ball and get everyone off the field and let him do it. And Michael had a nice second half, 60 yards, six yards per rush and he should be their guy, We had a nice second half, except he had the worst play of the game. He had a catch and a fumble that ended the game. You're right.

But you can't say he had the nice second half when he makes the biggest mistake in the game. And he made a couple big mistakes last week. I'm just saying that's the Kristen Michael experience. You're going to get some of that. But he is the better runner right now. Wes is sandwich on him being a top five fantasy back in September's in deep trouble. In September alone, that could be a problem. 91,000 people, Greg, to your point, at the L.A.

I'll see him today. They were going wild. And they were into the game, 12 total points, 19 penalties. Yeah, and one, yes, exactly. Rams will not be the team of ATLD. They need to get more watchable, but I will say this. For fans that remember watching the L.A. and Raiders and Rams back in the day, the sunlight on the Rams uniforms look beautiful.

It looked like something that we have not seen in so long to go from that dome they were in. And I'm sorry for St. Louis fans, but to this, it was a major victory. It's writing the articles for the L.A. Times because this, it looks exactly like the late 70s, early 80s Rams, 9 to 3. Did you just besmirch the Edward James almost? I apologize to that facility, but I did. Case Keenham now with, what, a six-game leash? Jared Goff stole the team?

We're like a six-year extension. Wouldn't it be amazing? Would anybody be, well, it would be stunning, but if they quietly release Jared Goff. They are not getting through that. All right, moving on. And let's continue talking about some NFC football and Dallas Cowboys who lost a had a one-point loss in week one at home, travel to Washington. And Dak Prescott, you know, I watch this game pretty closely. And Dak was a guy that he's not going to kill you outside the numbers it looks like, but he'll hit you in the seams and he can make some plays.

And I thought he played very well against the Redskins. The engineer drives a 94, 75, and 80 yards for touchdowns. And that was enough for a 27, 23 win over the Redskins. Redskins start the season with two games at home, lose them both. That's a killer. And the game-winning touchdown scored by Alfred Morris, who got some revenge over the Redskins, who did not bother to bring him back in the offseason.

And the reason Alfred Morris scored the go-ahead touchdown for the Cowboys is that Ezekiel Elliott put it on the floor twice and got yanked in crunch time. So that's something that bears watching. But the Cowboys with a big bounceback win and the Redskins in deep trouble, Chris Wessel. I don't know if the Cowboys are a good team, but Kirk Cousins is still not beating a good team in his NFL career. Kirk Cousins did not play well at all in this game. He missed several throws that should be routine for any quarterback,

let alone one making $20 million. And there was a PFT report after the game that some Redskins players were grumbling. Greg wisely and astutely put together or tied together some strings. Who knows? I'll just say Deshaun Jackson was missed on two wide open throws that should have been touchdowns, not to say it was him. But there's some grumbling, and there really should be because I'm not saying the Redskins were going to beat the Steelers last week

because the Steelers just overwhelmed them as a much better team, but they should have won this game if their quarterback played proficiently. I don't know how many teams had worse the first two weeks than the Redskins, losing two games at home, one to do a division rival, and with your quarterback playing as one of the worst five or six quarterbacks in the league, back-to-back weeks, doesn't get much worse than to start the season. And two very visible games, you know, you've been outclassed in the course of a week. That's bad.

Kirk Cousin, not to dwell on Kirk Cousins, but he looks like the Kirk Cousins that was Kirk Cousins before he had that really nice run against a bunch of crummy teams last year. And if you're the Redskins, you're thanking your lucky stars maybe at this point that we didn't give them a massive deal, but you still paid them a lot of money. And if this is going to be the cousins, and if their actual is grumbling, it's very early, but this has some of the makings of, you know, there's going to be one team in the NFC East that really crumbles as an in the picture. Is that going to be the Redskins losing back-to-back home games? That's tough. Well, some of it has to go on the team building, too. You know, their defense doesn't look any better.

No, it doesn't. It might be worse. They're giving up 24 first downs to a team led by a rookie. This is a team that they've talked about being better up front. I don't think that's really shown up on either side of the ball. So it's not just cousins. They have a lot to be disciplined. I have one question about the Cowboys because I think they're a fun team to watch if you want to talk about that.

But last week, the Giants kind of sealed that game up by running right through the heart of their defense over and over. How did the Redskins look on the ground against Dallas? And that's more of a Cowboys comment than a Redskins question. I mean, they were okay. Matt Jones scored a touchdown. He did pretty well at 13 for 61. They didn't run the ball a ton, though. I mean, Kirk Cousins threw the ball 46 times in this game,

which you probably want to avoid, especially on a day when Kirk Cousins clearly isn't spinning it very well. So you put that on coaching. To me, that's interesting. I think they look at the Cowboys and they think this team has no pass rush. We've got all these weapons. The way to beat them is to throw in them like crazy, which makes sense if you've got the right guy, you know,

throwing the ball, but maybe they don't. Well, and by the way, you don't have a deep, exciting backfield either. I still think Matt Jones got. I mean, I know, but come on, it's like of all the backfields that have been, have a potentially disappointing, it's the skins. And two more points on the Cowboys offense. They made a concerted effort to get Des Bryant the ball. They targeted him 12 times seven for 102.

Dez looked healthy. And Elliot, he did fumble twice. He lost one of them, but he had a couple runs where he started to look more like the guy that we were expecting. He finished 21 for 83. So that's a big win for the Cowboys there. And if you're the Redskins, you're starting to get a little bit nervous about what's going on there. The Cowboys have the Bears and the 49ers next. I think each one of these wins they can get, certainly in the division with Dak Prescott is a huge, huge bonus boost for them.

And Josh Norman did not exclusively cover Des Bryant, but he played a very strong game. This was not on judgment. Enough with that story. Yeah. moving on gentlemen let's talk some carolina panthers people the defending nfc champions a home opening destruction of the san francisco 49ers but actually a 4627 win not quite accurate they kind of niders are hanging around in this game for a while but they were simply again kind of overwhelmed by a better team newton through cam newton through four touchdowns two of them

to a scary giant Kelvin Benjamin, Greg Rosenthal. That is a pairing that is going to put up monster numbers this year. I thought during some parts of the game that Cam Newton and Kelvin Benjamin just being bigger and stronger than their opponents was all that mattered. It was like they were hitting Cam Newton and sometimes it doesn't matter when you hit Cam Newton. The Broncos learned it last week. I thought he played a great game despite them destroying him.

They're on top of Kelvin Benjamin. it doesn't matter he's going to catch that touchdown pass benjamin has shut up whatever offseason narratives there were about his conditioning and come out and just been a total dynamo better than he was as a rookie he is huge not just the conditioning there was this sentiment and fantasy football circles that kevin kevin benjamin just isn't that good of a football player as if his rookie season he wasn't beating the top cornerbacks in the NFL on a weekly basis he's always going to drop a few passes, but this guy is the perfect frame for Cam Newton to throw to. This is a game that the score is somewhat misleading, and it shows where you can get into trouble

with the Chip Kelly offense. I mean, the Panthers' offense didn't have a point for the first 20-plus minutes of the game, but you have to have an offense that moves the ball occasionally that doesn't give up points on their own. The first seven points the Panthers scored were by their defense, and don't turn the ball over. Gabbert turns it over three times. They keep giving possession after possession to Carolina and eventually the size and strength of Carolina just overwhelmed that 49ers defense, which I think could be pretty good, but it's not going to be good enough to hold up against 15 drives of the Panthers in Carolina. I love week two because it blows up so much garbage that came out of week one.

And I look at the Panthers right now as a rather unstoppable team because we talked about team building already a couple times on this show. And the way that they draft and develop players over and over and over. That is how you keep it going for, you know, five, six seasons in a row. This is my team in the NFC. I don't think there's a better team in the NFC right now. Well, they have to be concerned, Jonathan Stewart leaves with an injury. You know, Fuzzy Whitaker's up next, has a good game. He's not a between-the-tackles grinder like Stewart.

They're going to have, I would imagine they'll have Cameron Ortis Payne active for the first time next week. I wasn't impressed with him at all in his rookies. One of the weirder names in the NFL. Right. And the defense, you don't know, you know, you assume the defense. will be good because it's great on paper. So far, this season, they did not have a good week one. This game's hard to evaluate against Blaine Gabbard and company who didn't look great.

Ultimately, the 49ers moved the ball a lot, scored some points in this game. It was a strange game. Shouldn't he just change his last name to Artist-Painter? I like that. Cameron, Artist, Painter. I like it. Are you ready for the most surprising stat of the day?

Yes. Blaine Gabbard has thrown a touchdown pass in 11 straight games, the second longest streak in the NFL behind Russell Wilson. These are strange times. Another strange stat. Vance McDonald scored a 75-yard touchdown in the National Football League. Your old one for 75 and one stat line. Two catches, two touchdowns.

All right, gentlemen, let's move on and talk about, yes, a team of ATL nominee of the Tennessee Titans who were stumbling again on offense and Marcus Marriotto was having a rough day, but he stepped up when it mattered most. On the Titans game-winning drive, he went nine for nine for 70s. four yards and a fourth down touchdown pass to Andre Johnson in Detroit. Matthew Stafford said, all right, all right. I saw what you did, Marcus.

Now I'm going to go down the field and lead my team to another dramatic victory, but instead this happened. Stafford, pressure coming up the middle. He throws. Intercepted. Cox to the ground. Parrish Cox. I. N. T.

Wow. Um, phrasing. So Perish Cox with the game clinching interception, Stafford's first pick in 21012 passes. And yes, the Tennessee Titans hold on for a 16 to 15 win. Wes, your boys, the Titans. How are you feeling coming out of this game? I know they won the game, but this game, in no way, shape, or form helped their chances

of being the team of 18. Interesting. They were a boring watch. There is no downfield element whatsoever to their passing game. Marcus Marriota seems to be regressing under Mike Malarkey's golden. They need a downfield element to their passing game. There's no real creativity on that. And the Lions are flagged 17 times.

The Titans need a fourth and five to beat a team. Flagged 17 times for 138 yards. Had three touchdowns called back on penalties. And a team in the Lions that gave up a lot of points last week. If nothing else, I thought the Titans would move the ball a little better, but they had three points going into the fourth quarter of this game. They did. I was not impressed with the Titans' offense at all.

Where does Jim Caldwell versus Mike Malarkey rank on all-time worst coaching matchups? Oh. Let's just keep it real here. It is somewhere on that list. The bottom 10? I don't, I'd have to do more, you know, more findings and study on that. Either of these men have a job next January. Caldwell's been in a Super Bowl.

He's coached the team to a playoffs. There's a lot of bad coaches in NFL history. I don't think he would be on the list of the worst one. Peyton Manning was the head coach of that team. Well, the Lions. Homer Rice versus Lou Holtz. That's pretty bad. I'm sure there were many bad ones, but you see my point.

Wait, hold on. Gabe Schuller versus anyone. One question, Wes. Again, this is another team where you've got a lot of people playing together sort of for the first time. Do you really feel that what you saw today is who they are? Do you don't expect them to bounce back with after all we've talked about with this team? They're hard to figure out because their first half versus the Vikings was pretty good.

It was impressive. It was fun. Then they went about five straight quarters of brutal football. The second half of last week and the first two and a half quarters of this game, just awful football. And they don't look well coached. Did they still have the heavy mixture of like exotic looks and crazy shifting? They didn't do nearly as much of that today. Probably because it didn't work that way.

It didn't work. And their numbers are going to look good, 139-yard rush. 67 of that came on one DeMarco Murray run where he got past the first level of the defense and just cruised for 65 yards. A lot of Lions fans asking if they could be a team of ATL potential. There was never a chance of that. What a disappointing loss for them. The NFL does try to hook up these teams by playing each other early in the season.

It's not a mistake the Titans' early schedule. This is about trying to gain some confidence and momentum. And the Lions were set up to be that team that maybe they're not great, but they get some early wins. Are you insinuating that the least? Are you insinuating that the league schedule makers build the schedules to try to pump up the confidence of certain teams? They definitely play the worst teams from a year ago against each other early.

They've talked about it. Well, outside of the annual like Week 13 Jaguars Titans Thursday night game in late December, you're right. They play each other early so you can get some wins. Hold on. The Lions outplayed the Titans in this game. They can, the penalties in the place that could call back for touchdowns, Matthew Stafford is playing with a much higher confidence level than Marcus Mariotta right now.

And really, the Lions defense, they were down to like one linebacker by the end of the game. They just lost a lot of bodies during the game. No one could say Wes is unbiased because he's getting after his Titans team here. Look at Marvin Jones. 118 yards Marvin Jones. My boy, Wes. About 50 of that came on a missed tackle from Parrish Cox, I think. Well, I would say he made the tackle.

That was a pretty bad mistackle. By the way, I know it was not a great week for the Lions. I still like that Cooter. There's a lot to like about the Cooter. It's a good coach. All right, let's move on, gentlemen, and talk about the Denver Broncos who welcomed the Indianapolis Colts into their building. And the cults simply, what's up, Mark?

It's just, that's bizarre phrasing, but yes. Are you okay, by the way? You got the vapors over there? Mark, for everyone not watching on Periscope, which is, you know, most of you listening to this, is waving a few pieces of paper with some... Intermittently. I got the vapors.

Some will come help. It's not the whole show, but occasionally need to get a little cool air on me. The rod diet has messed with your body temperature, you believe? Body core, yeah. It's going to rage on for another week. We'll get to that. Rage on. What if we ever could get some, like, actual budget on the show if we got you a fainting couch,

right next to you on the end there? A couch. We've asked for a couch before. You know, like the old-time fainty. Yeah, the fainting. Oh, I'd like that. That way we know you're safe, even if you do get overheat. I would appreciate that.

Anyway, the cults came to Denver and they could not keep pace with just an amazingly tough, stout Denver defense. The game was somewhat close until Von Miller decided to step in and say, no more game. Game, go bye-bye. Luck's in the gun, three to the right, one of the left. Denver and a two safety defense. They rush five. Luck in the pocket. He goes Von Miller.

Miller's got him and the ball is free. Picked up by Shane Ray to the five. Touchdown, Denver. Vaughn Miller. Miller wrecks the Colts with 1.42 left. Stripsack, knocking the ball away from Andrew Luck. 34 to 20, the Broncos over the Colts. Chris Wessling, the Broncos defense just as good as last year, or dare I say better?

If you're talking about difference-making plays in this game, game. They channeled last year's defense. Akeeb Taleb had a pick six, too, when the Colts had come within three points. So that was early fourth quarter extended the lead to 10. Luck comes down and drives down with a touchdown drive. And just when you think you have a chance, it's a six-point game with luck starting a two-minute drill. And Von Miller undresses Joe Wrights for about the third or fourth time in the game. That is not a matchup the Colts are ever going to win.

And frankly, the Colts had no business being in this game. It's just that the Broncos formula for playing football, usually leads to close games. How many games in a row is Von Miller going to win at the end? I mean, the AFC championship, the Super Bowl, week one, he ended up having the big sack or the big hit at the end of the end. And they said, it's four in a row. That's unprecedented for it.

Do you want the answer? Okay. Next week, he's going to be slowed a little bit, and he won't be a huge factor in the game. Wow. How did you know that? You don't get that on other football shows. NFL Network doesn't need that analysis, though, do they?

How did Andrew Luck look? because I was so excited when I finally really looked at his week one game. I thought that was one of the best Andrew Luck games he's ever had last week. It's hard to imagine events being stacked against the quarterback to the level they were today. Is this the quarterback version of Todd Gurley? Yes, it absolutely is. You're talking about a quarterback who never has a running game to keep a defense honest. He's 6'4 with one of the highest releases in the NFL,

and he got a series of passes batted down because Denver's defensive line is pushing the Colts offensive line back the entire game. And then you take Dante Moncrief out of the mix with a head injury. He's the only physical wide receiver the Colts have. Philip Dorset and Ty Hilton are not beating Akeb to leave and Chris Harris at the catch point. Shame on the Colts if they're going to start wasting years of Andrew Lux Prime surrounding him with this substandard talent. Come on, guys.

Come back to us. The Colts. It's a defensive talent more than anything. Well, they're decimated by injuries in the secondary. We're without five cornerbacks right now. They lose Darius Butler to a hamstring injury on what would have been a pick six. Got sniped. He got snipered, and then they lose Roshan Melvin during the game,

and Tony or Comardi is going in and out of the game with a shoulder injury. They're basically down five or six cornerbacks, and they have no chance. And they don't have a pass rush to begin with, so it's a combination of bad planning and bad luck, which is... Their only pass rush today was sending Mike Adams their safety on blitzes. I said the Texans, who's had a better week than that? I don't think, well, I said the Redskins have to have one of the worst week. The Colts and the Jags falling down two games right off the bat in this division. It's real.

Oh, what happened in the games, Dan. It's no longer 1989. Some people don't. Some people don't call their sports. Some people wait until a podcast comes out to find out. We've been down this road before. Some people actually do. The Colts are so undermanned that it's incredible they've been in these games late in the fourth quarter. C.J. Anderson came down to Earth a little bit after his dominant week one.

But West, Trevor Simeon, I'm just looking at the numbers now, and you could tell me if you saw something different. But 22 of 33, 266, 8.1 yards on average through a pick. But that's good enough, right, with this defense? Throw it out. Throw out Trevor Simeon's game because the Colts don't have NFL caliber cornerbacks. They don't have a pass rush.

You cannot, I don't think you can judge Trevor Simeon on this game. So can you almost say you should have done better than that? No, I think that's part of. Gary Kubiak and Rick Denison's coaching style, play close to the vest and don't let the quarterback blow it. Should he maybe just not have played? That's another. Absolutely. Another option.

Can I have C.J. Anderson doing wildcat all game. How about a blockbuster? You give a first and a fourth to the Cowboys to get Mark Sanchez better, put him in? Bingo. Does this make any sense? That's team building. How about two firsts to the Patriots for Jimmy G? I know he's hurt.

Who that crap? I say you evaluate Trevor Simeon based on what he did in the open or assume that's who he is, and then we'll reevaluate him in week three. I throw this game out for quarterback purposes. Now that both Brady and Jimmy G. are out. Who's this third quarterback again? Jacoby Brissette. Third round pick.

I mean, I'm taking in the same round as Russell Wilson. We have to have like a cycle on all the blogs about how hot this quarterback is. Well, I think we're looking at like top 10 hottest quarterbacks not playing right now. We're starting to get that article rounding the corner. Crank it up on the end around this week. All right, guys. Let's move on. All right, Mark.

It's that time of the show. Let's do it. The Cleveland Browns jumped out to a 20 to zero lead on Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens. But guess what? The Ravens came back. The Browns didn't score another point the whole game. And Joe Flacco led the Ravens back to a 25 to 20 win over the Browns. This in the Cleveland home opener, one of those classic 2000s depressing Browns games here, Mark.

But how did the Ravens pull this off, down 20 Zip, all the way back to 25-20 win? You are asking me, I will answer you. The Ravens, to me, this was a textbook. That's what we do here. This was a case study on why teams like the Baltimore Ravens, when you've had the same coach and quarterback, and when there's such confidence in yourself as a team and the players on your roster, that a lesser team gets down 20 to nothing,

everything starts to break down and you're looking at a wipeout. The Ravens never flinched. I think they know that the Browns are not that team that did that out of the gate. The Browns deserve credit for putting forth one of the more interesting games that they have in years and years, to be honest. But Baltimore is just that team. And as soon as they started, the first four drives for Joe Flacco were a mess. And then they started to chip away, get field goals, start to make plays downfield, big throws, and you could feel it. And I am now 80, I'm now 90 for 90 calling Brown's games. And not in the fourth quarter, but in the second quarter, sometimes even the first.

You said it in the second quarter that they were going to lose when it was 20 to 12. Much to Greg's disappointment. He hates when you do this. But I am 90 for 90 because Cleveland does provide every week a very clear turning point of doom. But when you're playing a team like Baltimore, you can't make some of the mistakes they made. You can't score 20 and then do nothing the rest of the game. And a lot of credit goes to Justin Tucker, who had a big game, had a 50 yard. I think he had four field goals in this game.

and you know this is before the season started when I was saying I thought that the ravens were going to be better than people thought and I put a lot of that on that coach I mean John Harba was a great coach and to your point mark that that coming back from 20 nothing down and it was 22 immediately when they blocked an extra point and ran it back which brought back memories of the Thursday night game or was it Monday night game last year but that is just you know having a structure in place where you don't just go into a panic or go into a shell and that's exactly what they did and Josh McCown mark Like everyone expected, he comes in for RG3. He gets hurt. He makes it through the game and what you could classify as a gutty effort. But that guy looked like he was pretty hurt and left shoulder. Oh, he was in severe pain. And I think that he did the Cleveland Browns an absolute solid because at one point you've got rookie Cody Kessler who saw very, you know, really didn't see much action in the preseason and is not someone that looks, you know, ready to throw into a game. He looked terrified.

And Josh McCown with a, with a absolute. The second week in a row, your starting quarterback is a non-throwing issue, non-throwing shoulder issue, and he was grimacing on the sideline. This was, I think Browns fans have to look at this game. You just want to see progress. I don't care about the score. There were playmakers on the field. Corey Coleman, two touchdowns in that 20-point outburst at first.

He is the first wide receiver Cleveland has in years and years that is a match-up issue. And he himself had a big penalty in the game. He was about to be joined by another one. they drafted. Josh Gordon in two weeks. I just think that Q. Jackson, they are going to go to some rough times this season, but to get to become like a team like the Ravens, they've got to see this through. Some of their young draft picks also on defense look good. They stopped the run today for the first time in about 45 years.

The problem is if Cody Kessler winds up starting a lot of games, then you're in, then you get C.J. Anderson and have him run wildcast. Which is possible, right? I mean, we don't know. Honestly, I would roll Terrell Pryor out there before I do Cody Kessler. Mike Silver reported that the Browns are bracing for bad news on Josh McKen. I think his shoulder did look. It looked, it did not look good.

And it should be noted, one last known in this game, that Terrell Pryor, the Browns are set up with 19 seconds to play first in goal or first in 10 from the 10-yard line down by, what was it, four points. And Terrell Pryor got flagged for a personal. foul for flipping a ball that happened to Nick the defender. And this is an ongoing thing I'm noticing in the beginning of the season. These referees are throwing these personal foul taunting penalty flags like they're nothing. And it has big effects that essentially ended the game.

Ended the game. And there was a lot of debate in our newsroom. Keep it in your pocket, refs. It's fair about people said, some people said absolutely that that follows the rules of taunting. I got to say, I look at that. In the place it happened in that game, it was not to me a. flagrant outburst by Terrell Pryor. I'll go one step further.

When I watch it in slow motion, it looks like he starts to flip it and then realizes, oh, no, this could be almost perceived a taunting. And he, like, goes to stop himself and it comes out in a very weak stream out of his hand and nicks up the shoulder pad and, like, the millisecond and hits the guy's pad, the flags out. It ended the game. It ended the game. So, you know, the officials, I don't know. Hold on.

We're sure changing the Ravens here. We haven't really talked that much about them. Who saw Dennis Pitta coming? Right. Well, that was a big note of my write-up. Dennis Pitta for the second week in a row, and I don't mean to shortchange the Ravens at all, because I think the team-building thing

and who they are and what they are as a team is the overall message here. They are the better team. But Dennis Pitta led the team in targets and catches. He is a major part of this passing game and is a sneaky comeback story of the year. I think everyone viewed him as kind of an afterthought, and it's like, oh, it's cute.

He's not ready to let go yet. And here he is a big part of that offense. From one comeback player of the year candidate to another, Dan very nice uh wow there west uh patch yourself done back i'm out of here very harrowitz style for that uh listen victor cruz for the second week in a row uh after missing 700 days uh between games he missed 700 days before games had the game winning catch against the cowboys and then had the big catch a 35 yard uh 34 reception 34 yard reception against the saints on sunday that put the Giants in field goal range.

They got a field goal from Josh Brown, who's back from his one game domestic violence suspension, and the Giants won 16 to 13 over the Saints, the Saints who have to be dying. That's two straight, narrow losses for them to start their season. But this was a game that once again proves nobody knows anything. These two teams combined for 102 points in their meeting last year. an NFL record 13 touchdown passes in that game,

including seven from Drew Breeze. And in this game, the Giants beat the Saints in a game where they turned the ball over three times and did not score an offensive touchdown, and they beat the Saints. So that just tells you how different this game was. So the Giants behind a rebuilt defense are 2 and 0, and to me look like the best team in the NFC East right now.

Wow. They do. Yeah, I totally agree. this early season has gone perfectly for the Giants because Victor Cruz is a factor. We had no idea of Victor Cruz. The reports we were getting out of training camp was that he wasn't moving well. He's made difference-making plays in both games, and the defense is quite clearly much better than last year.

And that usually doesn't work out when you do that massive rebuild. It doesn't take. This looks like it really has taken. And the Giants' offense, their wide receivers, my Sessler was off. I'm going to say it because Sterling Shepard was targeted 18. times today and had eight catches for one 17 one of the more burst our stance let's be honest though their offense isn't playing well they've they've scored 20 points against a cowboy team who can't rush the passer at all and that's why it's so promising that they're not even playing well yeah I think it's but that

doesn't mean the guarantee the personnel is there the defense the defense is there too 20 catches between shepherd Cruz and uh O'Dell Beckham yeah had a bad drop today and he's prone to those every once and a while but he hasn't gotten going yet once Beckham gets going they're going to start putting up 25, 30 points regularly to me. So the fact that they haven't really broken out on offense that are still 2 and O, to me, is a really good sign. Well, getting all those quarterback hits on Drew Brees, which is one of the toughest quarterbacks to hit because he gets rid of the ball so quick.

That's back-to-back weeks where that defensive line has been probably the key to their game. I mean, sometimes we make a little too much, I think about close games. You win a close game and suddenly you get all the love. You lose a close game. That's sports. Tom Coughlin has to be wondering, like, why couldn't I win? Well, as Dan, they were in every game like this. As you wrote in your write-up, the Giants lost this game about eight times last season.

And not exactly. Right. They lost this exact type of game over and over and over again. And I think Ben McAdoo, by the way, I can't figure out what freaks me out about his hair. There's something wrong with it. Looks like he cuts it at home. Is it real? It's like a little touch boy.

I've seen him in person and it's real. It is disturbing, though. It sits on his head in a way that is unnatural. Is he a goober? So listen, I don't want to throw out goobers. That feels like that's a shot. It's just a shot. And it's fair that you ask the question.

I don't know if Ben McAdoo's a goober, but I know he knows how to manage a clock a little better than Tom Coughlin, and I know that he's leading his team to close victories, which the old guy couldn't do. No, no disrespect to Tom Coughlin. Guys got two rings. But it was time. It wasn't happening for him.

And we... I'm just saying they're going up against the worst cornerback group in the NFL that lost PJ Williams, who has barely. played. I get what you're saying, but do you get what we're saying that Victor Cruz looks like he can play and we've had good signs. We know Sterling Sheppard. I'm just saying I don't think that they're suddenly in way better position than the Cowboys

of the Eagles because they beat the Cowboys by a point. I do. I think Greg is slightly concerned about his conceit that the NFC South is the most exciting division of football because we're going to get a nice hot, a nice, you know, six and ten Saints team that throws the ball over the place every week, but

I'm sorry, you're not a full team and you stink. Also, it's never I thought you were going that the NFC East was going to be the most exciting. NFC East, I've typically varied down on the NFC East, and there are two really exciting teams in that division right now. We haven't seen the Eagles Week 2 yet. Oh, by the way, post-grip, Greg kicking and screaming to give the Giants any credit. This isn't a surprise in this podcast either.

I rarely give them credit, but I am today. I like where this team is headed. Well, they're fun now. I like where the team is headed. All right, let's move on, guys, and talk about the Arizona Cardinals who had a dreadful week-one loss. I thought it was one of the worst week-one losses by any team at home Sunday night football and you lose to a team Patriots team without Tom Brady or Grunk. Super Bowl contenders aren't supposed to do that type of crap.

But what do they do? They bounce back in a big way against the Bucks. A Bucs team, Greg, that you thought at least was going to go into Arizona and really compete, but they never came close. Four touchdown passes for Carson Palmer and the Cardinals more than made up for their stink fest with a 40 to 7 win over the Bucks. Total meltdown game by every facet of the Bucks played poorly. James Winston started forcing the ball, made mistakes.

Also one of those games, everything that could go wrong, went wrong, a tipped pass that Charles Sims, one of the best receiving backs in the league drops, gets returned for a touchdown. James Winston has a fumble where his own teammate knocked the ball out of his hand. He picked it up. You know, it took the Cardinals a minute to get going in this game. offense didn't really move the ball initially, but once they did, they started dropping bombs.

Only one team in the league can score 40 points when you get 22 yards combined out of Michael Floyd and John Brown. John Brown's been MIA this year, and it's like it doesn't matter because they just have people coming out of the woodwork and no one looks better at running back Chris Wesleying than David Johnson right now. He's the best running back in the NFL. I'm sorry. He just is. It's not just, you know, the pass catching that he gives you 98 yards today. The past catching. And just how tough these catches are.

Wide receivers couldn't make catches like he makes. The game-breaking speed, the dynamic explosive jump cuts that he has, he is the best running back in the NFL. If you're the Bucks, you're concerned that Chris Conte's given up multiple touchdowns. You're concerned that he's on your team. Right. Again, Brent Grimes, like, you know, they've got some issues on their defense. defense. I think these games are going to happen. I'd take the long view as someone who's

definitely not giving up on the Bucks' team of ATL, and I think they're going to have a good season. They had two road games to start the year. They went one and one. They got the road winning division. They had a young, immature meltdown type of game. I want to see how they bounce back from it. I'm with you. This is a disturbing loss, but also when did Doug Martin go out? Because without Doug Martin, that team is completely different. I think the second quarter, and if he's hamstring injury probably means multiple weeks. And they are not the same. same offense. That's true.

And they haven't been able to run the ball in both of these games. They did not run the ball well against Atlanta. I thought Martin looked good, even though the numbers weren't there. He looked like last year's Martin and he just didn't pile up yards. So if they don't have a running game and it's just throwing it up deep, you know, they have weapons on offense. I don't know Vincent Jackson still Vincent Jackson at this point. So it's counting on Mike Evans to do a lot.

Mike Evans looks great. But the Cardinals, they got to just be feeling great week. They watch the Seahawks lose. they get a couple they get the Rams and the 49ers and the bills coming up everything after a bad week looks a lot better for that a question I'm you say Mike Evans looks great and I like the player but six receptions off 17 targets what what happened no I'm just asking I didn't have Patrick Peterson this is what happens when Patrick Peterson's on you and James Winston it's good match you is just going to

keep throwing at you no matter what especially when they were down I mean they're just throwing bombs down the field once they fell down 17 points trying to catch a ball at once it wasn't working. And this was exactly the game that the Cardinals really wanted to see. Scoreless after a quarter, by the way. Does Dirk Cotter need to bury the ball? I don't know. But this is exactly the type of game that you wanted Carson Palmer to play if you're Bruce Ariens

because he'd been shaky through the playoffs, not a good week one, but looked like Carson Palmer again in a big way. So the Cardinals back on track. Let's move on guys and talk about the San Diego Chargers who, after having a crushing meltdown in Kansas City in week one, lost Keenan Allen and then lost the game in which they were leading by 20 points late in the third quarter, I believe. But they took the Jacksonville Jaguars and the woodshed in San Diego,

a 3814 win, Phillip Rivers carving up that Jacksonville defense. And once again, once again, Greg, Blake Bortles and the Jaguar's offense completely inept early in the game. And by the time they started making some plays, the game was long since decided. It was, and they got beat by a better team. That sounds obvious when you look at the score. But I am so impressed by this Chargers team and this defense.

And I know they're not going to be the team of ATL. But they might be one of the teams of THAL, Rosenthal, because I love this response. What is this? I love this response. It's about me drop there. Wow. It's about me.

You put Jason Verret on Alan Robinson, most of the game, and he shuts Robinson down. This is a guy making the leap. Denzel Perman has a nice game. Brandon Flowers. Everything should be woe as me for this team after last week. They lose Danny Woodhead gets taken off on a cart. Big loss.

And they just dominated. And I think they have a chance to be pretty good despite all their losses this year. Hopefully Woodhead is going to be back for them. But what a response by them. That's all I'm saying. Well, look at it from the flip side, too. everybody wanted us to choose the Jaguars for a team of ATL, and they're frauds. They are frauds, and their wide receivers are supposed to be among the best in the NFL.

They lose the matchup against the secondary for the second straight week. It was really the kind of game that blows up everything we thought about what would happen to both of these teams. And for Jacksonville, it is a disturbed. Look, the offense, to score 14 points, that's one thing. We thought they had a high-powered offense, but to give up 38 points. And all very quickly. I mean, it was one of those games, the Chargers. They just looked like the better team right out.

Is there any pass rush? Fowler ended up getting a couple sacks in this game, but it was intermittent. I mean, Rivers gets rid of the ball so quickly. You have to give Philip Rivers a lot of credit. And I was in Miami with my new beach house. Well, it was a couple minutes from the beach. And you know what? She might be spending more time at that beach house because the Jaguars are looking brutal.

They were a tough watch. And I declared before week one that I would sit out the entire off-season cycle if they failed against the Packers, you know, It's a good thing I didn't say for this week or I would have been out of work for half the year because I was disgusted watching this team played it. I was because, I mean, they were not competitive and you're saying, oh, the Chargers were the better team.

Well, nobody really thought that entering the season. And nobody would have thought that after Keenan Allen. That's why they played the games. That's what makes it fun. If you watch the Chargers for seven to the eight quarters this year, you would think they were the best team in the NFL. They've dominated seven quarters of this thing. And the Jaguars have been on Dan's, you know,

rather ugly list for a while. And it's because you expected very potentially for this kind of result to happen, and that's fair. The best thing they have is that woman, that fan. I do appreciate her saying that at her beach house is actually a couple minutes from the beach. It's sort of a non-humble brag. She clarified that. She could have just left it.

She could have just left us with an illusion that wasn't real. I don't think she understands how beach houses work. Well, they have a couple home games here, Ravens and then Colts, although that Colts game is in London, so not a real home game. What was that insane stat that Michael Lombardi had on the BS report this week about Bortle's first quarter touchdowns in his entire career? Three? I believe he has three, which is now the same as Jimmy Garapolo.

I mean, think about that. Jimmy Garapolos got three. I hear you. Two games. All this, you know, Blake Bortles is a guy that needs to start performing now. I mean, absolutely. And also, Gus Bradley's now got to watch out because they've done a good job being patient in that franchise, but we all know there's a lot of talent on that roster,

and we are not seeing any of it paying off. I think something that happens when we cover this sport 24-7 all year long that we can fall in love with certain off-season narratives and, you know, trajectories. And the Jaguars looked like they finally were going to turn the corner this year. And it's not happened at all yet. Their GM did his job. He did his job.

He really upgraded the talent on that roster. It's on Gus Bradley. And we know who the new number one wide receiver is in San Diego. Travis Benjamin looked really good in this game. So he is the top. Do we trust him like week to week as a number one receiver? I don't. I don't trust him, but he look good today.

Tyro Williams looks like a player. We talked about him in the preseason podcast that he looked like someone that could make an impact. He looks like a starting wide receiver that's going to be a good option for Rivers and certainly a good fantasy player. I agree, but they're going to feel the Keenan Allen law. Oh, of course. Oh, absolutely. Their ceiling is lower. To Dan's point, though, that's 400-yard games out of five for Travis Benjamin.

and he does do that occasional games. He'll blow up. And Spicey should be proud of Melvin Gordon because he is running hard. He is looking like primary back. He is fighting through tackles both of these. We're coming back on the show, baby. We might have Spicey back by December.

Oh, easy. Prepare yourself. December, you know, third. Hey, Spice Rack had a nice Twitter exchange the other night talking about the best past catching backs of all time. He's feeling it. And a lot of people. He's back.

He's back, living the high life. He's doing great. He's in Vegas. He's coming back on this show. His arrow is pointing up for the half of the people that don't know what we're talking about, Spicerack, your Desert Consigliary, who once advised Melvin Gordon would be the next, what, Tony Dorset or something? He said last year if the Cowboys drafted him, he would lead the NFL in rushing as a rookie.

Are you proud to call Spicey once more your Desert Consigliary? I've always been proud of the Spice Rack. I've just been a little nonplussed and dumbfounded at his at his. some of his appearances on this podcast. Well, I think we're going to get him on again, but Melvin's got to keep it up. Let's move on, gentlemen, and talk about the Atlanta Falcons who went into Oakland. And you want to talk about a team of ATL team that disappointed today.

The Raiders should have, you would think, like the Jaguars, a team that's been building this program, and a lot of people think now is the time where they're going to make that leap. The Falcons coming to the building, Atlanta coming off, an uninspiring week one performance. They play better. They outplay the Raiders. and they come away with a 35 whatever great the bucks bro a 35 to 28 win over the Raiders

and a game that you know you would watch us if you watch us in a vacuum you'd say oh the Falcons are a better team than the Raiders and Matt Ryan had a very good did a very good job in this game him and Julio Jones combined for a 100 yard game but he also found eight receivers for multiple reception so a big game for Matt Ryan and a tough loss for the Raiders in their home opener. Especially coming off such a dramatic onion-hanging win in the Superde.

The tweet from Ice Cube after the game. What a Cube say? As it usually does, says it all. It said, what happened to my Raiders? No D? There's no D in Oakland. No D and Oakland. I'm sorry.

70 points allowed in two weeks. That would be the number one reason that I'd have an issue with them as team of ATL. Almost everything else about them would fill my needs. I've got a great stat for you. The Raiders have allowed 1,035 total yards in two games. That breaks a 65-year-old record for the most yards allowed through two games held by the 1951.

Hashtag... The Yankees. The Yankees held this record. Team of ATL. That's not a good sign. But they are fun. I mean, part of this, you know, we are allowed to actually have fun with the team of ATL, and they had dramatic games. We're not picking the team of 2-0.

because it seems like some of the Twitter response is like, well, they all lost, you know, you have to be a two and a... No, that's not it, but if this team is inherently flawed because they can't play defense, I don't want to root for them. It's concerning. It's how you go six and ten. See, that was, by the way, a little slip there by West

because he talks about he doesn't like women that are inherently flawed, or you do like them. He does like that. Oh, he likes women that are inherently flawed, so maybe the Raiders will find a way into us and all. Isn't everyone flawed? Well, right. Have you ever met a woman that's not?

That was always the key to the statement was a woman who realizes she has flaws and works to correct them as opposed to one who is broken beyond repair and maybe this Raiders defense is broken beyond repair. West brings it around. Original total access analyst Ken Norton Jr., the defensive coordinator, going to be getting some heat that Pete Carroll coaching tree has struggled to really bring the Pete Carroll defense anywhere else. I want Ken Norton, Dan Quinn I'm putting in an early Dan Quinn won Early request for an offseason podcast

Just Wes Some music underneath The kind of romantic music And he just talks about What a woman needs to do To be inherently flawed But not broken beyond repair How do you do that

West puts it together for all those women I can wax philosophical on this topic for hours By the way shout out I know that's why I think we got to do it Shout out to Simone Sessler, who's writing on the Periscope comments. We love all these comments coming. Oh, also, shout out to Kyle Shanahan. Falcons averaging 30 points a game.

Matt Ryan averaging 360 yards a game. Matt Ryan back? By the way, it was last who said this Falcons' offense was going to be fun. A lot of other people did not. I want to watch this game closely, but I don't love what they've done with Matt Ryan, which has turned him into an overly safe dink-and-dunk, not fun quarterback to watch. What comment did she leave? Let's find out what she actually had to say.

Let me say. Was it positive? It was yes. And then now a smiley face for me mentioning her name. I said, tell Mark, I'm at my mother's house. Oh. I still love you, but I need some space. What does that mean?

That's weird. A lot to work out. A lot to work out. Kind of a weird forum. Breaking news. An odd forum to raise the topic. We probably could have handled that later. Simone with a hammer drop in the comment section on Periscope.

Surprising. Rocking marks personally. Also, no one's watching your kids right now. A couple issues bubbling up. All right, let's move on. To Sunday night football. Yes, a game where Sam... That is your edition version.

Sam Bradford throws for two touchdown passes and 286 yards to... That will be enough of that song. Thank you. I like that. I want that even on Tuesdays. And the Minnesota Vikings... without Teddy Bridgewater and losing Adrian Peterson to a knee injury that looked a little scary and we'll see how that plays out.

For one day, everything's okay because their defense carried the way to a 17-14 win over the visiting Green Bay Packers in the opening of their new beautiful facility called, what, Wes? Viking Stadium. I don't know the name of it either. But, yeah, they opened their stadium in style with a big 17-14 win. Yes, the Vikings, doom and gloom a couple of weeks ago. Now 2 and O atop the NFC North. And there is no one more excited about this game than Mark Sessler,

who was quivering with excitement. Listen, let me tell you something right now. The one thing I told you about Mike Zimmer is that he's a top five coach. That will be shown this year. It already is being shown. And I don't care what you people do. With team of ATL. Why is one of your feet on the desk, but not the...

You know what? You're trying to sell me this hot garbage like the Bucks and Raiders and Titans for Team of ATL? This is my team of Sestiel. You three can go your own road, have a nice time with it. This is my team. Wait, what about... It's about me. What about the part on Tuesday where we all could officially nominate teams?

Because I know it won't get past the board because of one guy, Sam Bradford. But this was the first memorable Sam Bradford game. And it makes sense. He's on a good team. Stefan Diggs is a star this defense is nasty that's what I like The defense is absolutely nasty

They made Aaron Rogers look human Very human in this game Rogers finished 20 of 36 or 213 yards A touchdown to pick Less than six yards per attempt Not looking like the Aaron Rogers we know Sacked five times They fumbled it a thousand times

Greg only lost one of them This game could have been a blowout The Vikings defense has unbelievable athletes at every level and for Trey Wayne's to come up today as the big player of the game is incredible for them and they have to be so excited. But when you bring up the Packers,

I'm thinking that 5.9 yards per attempt looks familiar to what he did last week against the Jaguar's defense. What's going on here? It didn't play so well in week too. Things are taking some time for this Packers' offense to get together. They've been the problem. I mean, as well as Bradford played, I thought he played fantastic.

Played well. Overall, the Packers' defense did their job. They gave up 17 points. I can't make sense of what's going on with this Packers' offense, Wes. And maybe you can help out here because Aaron Rogers is healthy. Eddie Lacey, we're told that he's in better condition. He's running people over. Randall Cobb is healthy.

Jordy Nelson's back. I know he may not be all the way to pre-injury Jordan Nelson, but he's on the field. And yet this team on offense looks like the same team that struggled for so much of last year. What is missing with the Packers right now on offense? You've got to evaluate the game, not the name. and Jordy Nelson isn't 2014, Jordy Nelson. I don't care what anybody says Eddie Lacey is not 2013-2014, Eddie Lacey. His footwork is not nearly as kind of elusive as it was back then.

I don't believe either of those two guys. And if you look at, we don't have the All-22 yet. I'm betting if you look at this game, you don't see any open receivers. Yeah, there were a couple plays from the view we had. It's why did Rogers just throw to that guy? Everything's challenged at the catch point. I think it has a lot to do with who they face tonight. Absolutely.

But the Packers also barely beat the Jaguars last week. Right. That was a road game, and they start this, you know, season with two road games against what we thought was tough teams, and they finish one-on-one. That's not the tragedy. The problem is for almost all the last season, the offense is let Rogers run around and try to come up with something. And that's what it's been for two games.

It looked the exact same. And he comes up with some great stuff, but he also comes up with a couple fumbles. He doesn't come up with a consistent offense. And for this one game in this bizarre world, Sam Bradford made more pretty throws than Aaron Rogers. And you said it. The most memorable game of his career to me was the overtime tie that he had as a member of the Rams back a few years ago. This was better. I love it that it's kind of Vikings like, though, that they open the stadium with this great win

and yet they lose maybe their greatest franchise player in the game. It was a sad turn. I think this team under Zimmer, and this sounds a little, you know, it's not necessarily something you can say about, you know, winning or losing teams. They are resilient as hell. And it's the minute Bridgewater went down, the first thing Zimmer said is we are a team.

We're not about our quarterback. And this is not a good loss. Adrian Peterson would be a huge loss. They don't have much. Geron McKinnon is not a three-down foundational running back at this point. At Asiatta. Give me a break on Matt Asiata. But like, I mean, this team, they are a fun team to me.

So the three of you, go have fun with yourself. Well, all right. Now, the Vikings fans were after us last year. I wonder, Mark, if you're trying to cozy up with that collaborative. I could care less about the Vikings at the bar. The cozy in a few minutes. I will. You know what?

This team gets me excited. I don't know what else to tell you. On a day when all of our team of ATL teams floundered, I am not personally, my heart is not closed with the Vikings. I think Sam Bradford is something I would have a hard time really getting behind. besides an exciting Sunday night football with the new stadium opening. But I will say this. You want to tell me that the Vikings are for real

and this defense is good to the level where they could make a deep playoff run. I want to see what they do next week at Carolina. Now, there is a beautiful test on the road for this team. If they do this much more of the same and they get out of Carolina with a win and Sam Bradford is making plays, maybe they are not in a worse place

than when Teddy Bridge already got hurt. If San Bradford's going to play at this level because he played extremely well. Chris Collinsworth, Wes, was in heaven watching San Bradford. He almost passed out. He had the Vapas. I think it was the best game I've ever seen San Bradford play. And I don't know how we went this far into the analysis without talking about

Stefan Diggs, who looked phenomenal in week one again Sunday night. And he looks like a legit number one receiver. Well, he's got, we were talking about it off air. He's got the quickness of the guys in the slot. like a Welker or whoever you want in the middle of the field in terms of his short area. But he can go outside and get deep. And when you put that combination together and his hands are incredible and he can catch the ball in tight traffic, you think of Antonio Brown type players.

I'm not saying he can be Antonio Brown, but through two weeks he has made that leap to where the statement I saw on Twitter, he's the best receiver Sam Bradford's ever had. It seems wild, but that's probably true. He easily is. I can't think of anyone better. I mean, Jordan Matthews would probably be number two. I mean, with both clubs he's been on, wide receiver was a huge developmental issue for the Rams.

And the Eagles, this season at least, had a very questionable group before he left. And this is how the Vikings are going to have to win games. I mean, Linvall Joseph, Brian Robeson never seems to, they always want to get rid of him and he always keeps playing. Everson Griffin had a game. Harrison Smith week after week. This is how they're going to have to win is 1714 if Adrian Peterson's gone for a while.

It's not like they have a lot of receivers either. They have one and they have Kyle Rudolph playing better. Well, so let's see what happens. The Vikings look great. The Packers, you have some questions, but I would like to, let's give them a month or so and see where they are in October before we get too worried about that offense's struggle. I know they're not going to score 530 points. That's a sandwich prop that is not going to work out.

You could buy us those sandwiches tomorrow. I think I might. We should probably buy Irishman some of the sandwiches soon, by the way. Greg's good. Oh, you guys? I got you this week. Which day do you want it? Wednesday.

Wednesday I got you. I'll get you sometime when I feel like it. That's fair. Sessler feeling it. The Vikings got the wild eyes. I love it. Listen, I am not kidding. This is my team.

I am no longer even mildly concerned with what the three of you do on your little hobby horse path into nowhere. Go pick the bucks. You're abandoning the podcast. I am more plugged into the podcast in this season because of this game. very strange i wish periscope was still on it so everybody can see sessler leaned back in his chair with his foot on the desk looking like he's the king of this podcast when you when you are a fan of a long suffering team you have to pull joy from where you can yeah to keep going to keep fueled and the vikings are doing that you're not pulling it from your jaguars lock of the week pick that's for sure oh oh nope and thank you for the people on twitter reminding me of that as if it's going to keep me up at night i couldn't care

less about lock of the week. All right. That's it. It was a good show today, guys. Mark, I'm happy that you're happy. I mean, I'm mildly happy. All right, good. This is Dan Hans is signing off for Quiet Storm,

the mailman, the boss, and Irish behind the glass till Tuesday. Hey, everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. the six, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find

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