NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Biggest Takeaways From Preseason Openers

Episode Date: August 10, 2018

A room filled with heroes - Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Marc Sessler & Chris Wesseling - discuss the biggest takeaways from the first night of preseason games, including an interesting pregame meeting between Cam Newton and Kelvin Benjamin (4:00), Andrew Luck’s return to action (10:00), fireworks from Baker Mayfield (20:00), Bill Belichick’s lovely exchange with the Patriots’ sideline reporter (33:00) and a devastating season-ending injury for the Redskins. Dan reminisces about watching the preseason games in coal town (41:00) and gives an update on his passport situation (51:00).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. The Around the NFL podcast does not advertise on other podcasts. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast presented by New Era. My name is Dan Hansis, joined in room filled with heroes. Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling, and Greg Rosenthal. What is up, boys? Hey, Dan. We have some football to talk about this morning.

and isn't that exciting, Mr. Sessler. It is. Wes and I were here last night covering these games, and I kind of feel like I missed the vibe of covering six or seven games all at once. It was quite fun. I think DJ Moors, catch and run, where he looked like Percy Harvin, really put me in the football move for the first time all year.

That's like the flow of the preseason, like two tweets stand out to me with the preseason. There's like 17 different days where people are like, football is back. Like there's all these different. It's like now they're tackling. Now they're at OTA. Last night was one of the nights.

And then another one was just kind of like the flow of the preseason. You're always excited for the first week. And then by the time you get to the third week, which is actually the one that matters, then people really aren't paying that close attention anymore. The novelty wears out very quickly. But it was. It was cool.

How did Mark, Wes, how did Mark handle the newsroom yesterday? I thought he handled it really well. That's good. That's a good sign. It was not annoyed, was not on edge. I saw people even come to him. And you know how he doesn't like people, like, wanting to do water cool to talk about the Browns? Nope.

He handled it well, people stopped by, and he wasn't like, you didn't see him noticeably on edge or anything. No, he wasn't tense in the shoulders. No, I thought Mark handled it very well. I think the newsroom in general was well behaved for the most part last night. There were some disruptions this morning that felt like they were on your radar. There is, I will say, there are one or two new found press. presences in our newsroom that I that are on that are on my radar just to monitor on your radar in a big way and in fact though these these new people and I think it listen let's keep it real it's

really one person and I think without saying who it is that person better hope this brown season does not go sideways they better there's a lot riding on a lot of things uh to your point Greg, and to just speaking about the excitement of actual football, even if it doesn't count this from Lindsay Rhodes. We've got to get back in the studio of NFL network. The top 17 U.S. trends right now are NFL related for preseason games in which almost no starters are still playing. So people like football. Despite some people like to lead you in a different direction, people don't like football as much anymore. people no longer are into football.

They've changed their viewpoint on football. Football is okay. I did see four or five trends centered around regular season major league baseball in there too, though. It was what? After the 17? No, I'm kidding. I did not see anything about baseball.

You know it was... Because it's the top 17. No, I'm saying there. Yeah. I was suggesting that actually five of those, you know, some baseball snuck in, no baseball snuck in. It was noticeable by its absence. Through four or five hours in the newsroom last night covering all these games,

I didn't hear the helmet roll once That's a good point That's nice Not one time Maybe it was a Hall of Fame thing And there was an ejection Which I think if it had happened On the Hall of Fame game

It would have stood out But you're right There wasn't even What was the ejection? For using Chamarco Thomas And Frank Reich of the quotes Set after the game

That was absolutely the right call Right We shouldn't have hit like that We'll have to teach him up It seemed like a pretty clear call But it's just something new That someone would get kicked out of the game for it hit. Okay, so we're going to keep it simple here. There were 12 games played on Thursday night.

Never heard of such a preseason night. I think this is a lot. My beloved Jets play tonight and I guess a small handful of other teams will as well. But most teams played on Thursday. So we're just going to go through each of the games and share first and foremost the final score and just kind of take a look at where the standings are in the preseason. Who's out to a hot start? Who maybe is all a sudden in a sneaky must-win place entering week two. So let's just get into it. Let's go through each game and we'll start. Why don't we hit up one of the big rookie hot shots? So let's go to Buffalo where the Carolina Panthers and Buffalo Bills began their preseason. And you know what? Even before the game, some fireworks. You know, you got hard knocks and all that excitement.

But how about a little buzz between Cam Newton and Kelvin Benjamin, a reporter happened to be, was lucky enough to be on the field right when Cam approached Kelvin Benjamin. Cam had a look of, you know, a bit of a look of confrontation and stuck his hand out. And Benjamin kind of blew off the handshake. So this, of course, comes after Benjamin had badmouthed Cam and said he essentially was holding his career back. So a fun little saucy soap opera there to get into this game. I thought Cam handled it well. I liked seeing that.

Yeah. And I noticed that he... Benjamin did not handle it well. No, he didn't. I noticed Cam... He surprised him, I think. It was a sneak attack. Can just casually dismissed the third player hanging on the periphery.

He was Thomas Davis. He just dismissed him. That's an NFL man in the air. He was like, get out of here. Yeah, he's like, get out of here. You know this confrontation is coming, and I thought Cam handled it well. He handled it strongly, and Kelvin Benjamin sort of danced around and tried to get away. Well, and it's, if you're Benjamin, you started this publicly.

To speak to the man. Well, right. And you're the one now holding. on to the grudge or whatever's going on here. And so it's a much heavier weight on Calvin Benjamin. I thought Cam Newton did what he could do in that situation. It takes a lot of courage and just to be a man to walk up to someone. You've said this about me.

Let's sort it out face to face. And Benjamin shrugs them off, please. All right. So we'll get to the Panther side of it. But let's start with the bills in Josh Allen because Allen is a guy that we were told Wes has all the tools in the world, including an arm that is pretty much unmatched. And we saw that in this game. He wasn't perfect.

His stats were very close to being outrageous because he just missed on a couple of deep bombs. But this guy, you can understand why Bill's fans have a lot of excitement after one preseason game. I thought he came as advertised. He electrified the crowd. He is an eye-catching arresting talent to watch. And I don't know if I've ever seen a player come into the league as a top 10 draft pick and already been written off by such a large segment of the football watching public as a bust

before he ever plays a game. I thought he looked very promising. His arm strength is undeniable. He's raw. There's certain things he has to work on, and maybe he won't start in week one. But if I'm a Bill's fan watching this game, I am entranced bordering on hopeful.

Well, and it translates because the television share in Buffalo, this Buffalo Bill's preseason game and it's spiked when Josh Allen took the field is the highest rated television show in Western New York all summer and it speaks to the drought there quarterback wise the fascination around a guy who's armed talent you can talk about Jay Cutler

Matthew Stafford Not a lot of good TV options Well no but the ball coming out of Josh Allen's hands just looks completely almost like science fiction to me and by the way we this this quarterback back room getting ripped on all summer in its one preseason performance, all three of them perform pretty well. Nathan Peterman, nine for nine, 119 yards, and a touchdown.

A.J. McCarran, seven for 10 for 116. So, yes, everyone looked pretty good. Calvin Benjamin with a pretty great touchdown celebration, jumping into the crowd backwards. I mean, I appreciated that. The Josh Allen showed a little bit of everything. He showed not being totally composed, but he also made great throws. They didn't score their first four or five possessions with him,

but it's with third teamers. And that's all you're looking for is what Chris said, I think, in a preseason game. Because you're not going to draw these huge conclusions. The fact that he had two or three passes that were buttes, and for the most part, just handled himself well, it's like, great. Let's move on to the next one. I mean, effortlessly throws the ball 70 yards. Well, you have to go back about 50 years for this comparison.

But stylistically, I told you this last night, Mark, he throws the ball and moves like Greg Cook. the Bengals legend who was injured his rookie year after one of the greatest rookie years of all time. And Bill Walsh has said this guy's the greatest talent ever to play the position. He throws the ball and moves like Greg Cook. It's interesting because he hasn't gotten first team reps over the last week, week and a half. So I will be curious to see if that changes, if they give him any better of a chance to actually win this starting job. Because right now, he hasn't been playing with the starters. Wes, Cam Newton got a little bit of playing time finished with a completion percentage.

Right around 67% back in May, you laughed at Norv saying he can get Newton in the high 60s. So perhaps it's time for you to eat a little crow, yes or no? Yeah. If we're judging after one preseason game, Norv comes out on the winning end there. DJ Moore. That's what I'm big of you was. Like you're right. Just seeing that one or a couple of those plays from DJ Moore just makes you excited to watch DJ more.

You know, that was like that was my number one takeaway of the night. As much as Josh Allen and Baker Mayfield and Antonio Calloway looked good, DJ more with that move that you just don't see from many NFL players. Let's move on and take a look at Andrew Luck. He played a football game. Ladies and gentlemen, Wes Luck played in his first game since the finale of the 2016 season and didn't do much, six of nine, 64 yards, but also did something which I think is more important even than three.

throwing the ball, he took a couple of hits and showed no signs of issues with the injured shoulder or the repaired shoulder. Yeah, quite the contrast with Josh Allen who really let it rip on several different throws and was unafraid to go attack down the field. Luck either didn't have the opportunity or just didn't pull the trigger on those letter rip throws that would have shown you like a huge confidence in his shoulder. On the other hand, there were no plays where you didn't feel confident in his shoulder. And he said, you know, I feel good about more of the short in the medium game than I do about trying to throw deep balls. It's not a physical limitation. It sounds like that still might be knocking the rust off mentally on that.

He said after the game, I tried to control my emotions. Then I said, screw it. I really had fun. I enjoyed it. Just like his joy of playing and having it being taken away from him, that we're getting into intangibles here. But you do wonder he's a more mature guy since this injury. He's been in the league a while. You do wonder just how that all comes together. and whether that's going to maybe help him have, like, a better year than ever. Just, like, enjoying the process of it and knowing how lucky is to be back. Anything from the Seattle side? Chris Carson looked good.

Chris Carson. He looks good, always in the preseason. And we haven't talked about it on this podcast, but he has been the starting running back throughout training camp over Rashad Penny, their first round pick. They're also playing Trey Flowers. He's a rookie cornerback as a starter right now. There's another Trey Flowers in the league?

There's another Trey Flowers except no why on the end of Trey. So they have more starting jobs open, I think, than any other team in the league right now. Running back, wide receiver, a lot of their offensive line, some of the defensive line. That's how Carol likes it. Like, cornerback, he does. And then the Colts, one quick thing is just that keeping up, like they've lost their left tackle, Anthony Costanzo. They're playing Matt Haig, Joe Haig, rather, at left tackle. The Netherlands?

Who's their backup center? Who is playing center most of the game, left tackle for part of it? They picked up Jamarcus Webb. Luck got sacked when he blew a block. And so you do get a little worried that it's like same old Colts if Castanza just not come back. Well, they also lost Marlon Mack went down and Dionne Cain left with a knee injury just injuries to monitor. When you say they lost Costanza, it's a hamstring injury.

It's not like they lost him for the season. No, but he missed almost the entire offseason with that hamstring injury, got activated and then got hurt two days later. So he has been coming back from that for about six months. And that's, if I'm a Colts fan, that freaks me out because they don't really. have a backup. And Philip Walker added a 10-yard touchdown pass to Darrell Daniels early in the fourth quarter.

They needed it. Indianapolis held on for a 1917 win. Philip Walker. Over the Seahawks. And that's a big win. If you can go to the clink. That really is. If you can go on the road to the clink and come out with a victory,

that's how you get your preseason started off correctly in the momentum to carry you through the next three weeks to finish that preseason with a good record. This is not the same Seahawks defense. I understand it. But when you can go into Seattle, you make a statement. Well, the thing about the pre-season, it's kind of like college football almost boiled down even further. It's like every game matters because when you're 0-1, your season's almost over for the Seahawks. Their backs are right now against the wall.

They only have a four-game season. Need it. Need it. It's a four-game season. They're a quarter of the way to infamy. All right. Moving on, the Chicago Bears and Cincinnati Bengals played football. And, Wes, I'm going to tee up again here because I know you are a.

lapsed Catholic. You were also a lapsed Bengals fan. So I wanted to see you often laugh at the Bengals and their putrid offense last season. But this team, forget about the pick six. This team looks like they're going to be able to move the ball. Yes or no? I would use recovered rather than lapsed in both of those instances. But yes, the Bengals offense looked good.

The pick six came on a play in which John Ross slipped and fell and would not have been an interception otherwise. That's not even, that's just bad luck. That's not even Andy Dalton doing anything wrong. So to me, they moved the ball well. John Ross looked good. Joe Mixen had a play, a touchdown where he slipped a tackle, did a spin move, slipped another tackle,

and got in for the score. This looks like a much better offense than last year. It's almost like you look around the entire AFC North, and Pittsburgh is going to stay obviously what they are. But I thought the Bengals and Ravens last year had obvious issues on offense and were tough to watch at times. Cleveland was a raging disaster. All three teams of those three teams in the AFC North

have a lot more going on on offense. It feels like a division that's going to produce another three playoff teams again. And I base that entirely on preseason games from last night. Mixing and the offensive line, the combination of those two improving, which I think they both will, changes everything for Andy Dalton and the rest of the team.

My one bear's takeaway, I'm not sure exactly what this means, but Kevin White was targeted twice on the opening drive. So maybe they're seeing him as a guy who has a chance to start. Mitchell Trubisky didn't play in the first week. They had negative one yard in eight plays with him on the field. He was not happy with that offense after.

And he's had some struggles and training. I don't think. Are we nervous at all about that? No. No. I don't think they barely played him last year. Yeah, I mean, he only played eight plays. Two for four, four yards sacked once and two seats.

A lot of hype around Trubisky this off season. Missing a couple of the starters. Adam Sheehan, who is just a big dude, and they seem to be talking him up as a guy. that could have a big part of their offense look pretty good at the time. The big assumption in this off season, as we know, the bears have been hype bunnies is that they're going to kind of follow

on some level the Rams path. But a lot of that hinges on Mitch Strabisky being able to do what Jared Gough did last year, which is to take all the rookie bumps and then just become a much more complete quarterback. We have to see if he can pull that off. And he's a year ago at this time, he was kind of like the Josh Allen

that the football cognoscenti rode off before his career even started. Just the pause. Oh, that's my... Cognoscenti. One note here, the Bengals off to a 1-0 start here in the preseason. If you remember, I believe it was some sort of sandwich wager where I believe that I said five teams would finish undefeated in the preseason,

and the Bengals are one of those teams that I'm tracking to accomplish. You're going to have half the league after the first week, so that's pretty good. I'm off to a fine son. Also, Roquan Smith has been holding out for 24 days. This is ridiculous. It's really ridiculous. It's the Bears. I'm blaming the bear.

You'll make a million something. play a boys game. No, I'm blaming the Bears. I don't think we need like a low-level mafia figure to get in here at this point. We need the agent to do something. You're making billions to run a football team. Go back mafia, man. We need a functioning.

What side am I supposed to be on here? We need a licensed agent to step in and handle this. Thank you. Cincinnati 30, Bears 27. Moving on, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Miami Dolvin showed up showdown with the state of Florida on the line. It was, speaking of return to. action, Ryan Tannahill, who we have not seen.

What about the Jags? They're, you know, they're just chilling. I think the winner of this plays the Jags. Yes, a buy. Jags got a buy. Anyway, Ryan Tanahill, first game action since December 11th, 2016. Where were you, Mark? Probably unhappy about the Browns.

2016? I mean, it feels like three weeks ago. Probably here, slightly annoyed with a lot of things. Anyway, he in limited work, of course, four of six, 32 yards, only one series. but Greg, that's all you're looking for. A guy coming back from a major knee injury, he got down the field, shook off some rust, and it's healthy. Yeah, everything so far he's checked all the boxes.

I'm more worried about everything around him. I mean, because he's not a guy that's going to lift up the players around him. Devonty Parker's reportedly had a really bad training camp and dominated by Xavier Howard. He was absent. Like, David fails and is beating Brock Osweiler for the backup job, right now so there's i think there's concerns and i think the dolphins fans share it because if you looked in the crowd last night they announced 30 000 that place looked empty and the scrimmage that

they had last weekend which definitely raised some eyebrows for locals had about like four or five thousand people show up for like a free scrimmage and that's the type of thing in a big in a big NFL town you're getting 30 40 50 you know of course like lambos literally packed out months in advance with that sort of thing and they got 5 000 and last night was i'm just there's not a lot of It's a buzz right now. When we were growing up, I mean, Miami's been played, they're sort of like Los Angeles. It's August in South Beach. Are you going to go to a 200-degree hot dolphin scrimmage?

You're going to go to the beach and have that kind of a time. I might go do that. Go to all the hot nightclubs. Well, that too. Make a whole day of it. It's a weird sports town. The Marlins draw like 1,200 people a game. The dolphins seem, I mean, the dolphins are, it's a dolphin's town, though.

But I think right now they're not an inspiring outfit. I think the heat do pretty well there, but obviously with LeBron, it was different. But yeah, anyway, something to track. On the Buc's side, I just will throw it out there that, because you know I'm plugged in on the kicker situation for all 32. They had three kickers last year, the Bucks, including our boy Robbie and Fulk. Both those guys are history. Chandler Canisero, who did a nice job for the Jets last year, but let's not go crazy. He got a lot of money from the Bucks to solidify the position.

he immediately misses an extra point and a 50-yard field goal. So, you know, let's hope that Cana-Denra doesn't have the curse. Maybe. He won the game. He won the preseason game-dained in. Did I miss that he won the game? According to Greg, I think he hit the game winner. By the way, Ronald Jones.

I don't feel bad. I mean, he still missed a couple kicks, but yeah, he had. Well, how long was the kick that he made? 26 yards. Oh, come on. That's an extra point. That's less than an extra point. The pressure, though.

Did we want to see a little more from Ronald Jones, eight rushes for nine yards? No, that's exactly what they were. That's what you were hoping for? Okay, well, good job, Brunnell Jones out of USA. 26, 24. They're almost starting three rookies in the secondary right now. That secondary has been one of the worst in the league, and they are counting on a pair of rookies at cornerback

and maybe one at safety to play some significant snaps. They're undefeated. To your point, though, a couple. It is weird to roll out James Winston second in these games. It's just an awkward. You don't see this in the NFL. All right. Now, this is why Mark is here today.

Third and four, Mayfield with a bullet, Calloway in the open and the touchdown. Baker Mayfield to Antonio Calloway, 70 yards, was it? I believe it was a big-time strike. 56 yards. The Cleveland Browns got two touchdown passes from the number one overall pick. Baker Mayfield in a 2010 win over the Giants. and Mark, I would imagine that combined with Tyrod Taylor looking really good is a perfect way to start your preseason.

Well, I mean, you know, the stat that they've thrown around endlessly is that Cleveland has what 11 first round picks that they're no longer on the team. So the customary experience is around game one, two or three of the preseason, if not deep in September, you realize this guy is not who we thought he was or the the team thought he was, or the fleet of scouts thought he was when picked. And so the Mayfield comes out and produces a quick three-and-out right away, and I thought, all right, you know, I'm not going to, you know, it's a little early to judge, but that wasn't inspiring.

The second drive, though, he started to show what I thought was drive-extending abilities, which was seeing the field, not just looking off your first guy, which a rookie might do in his first game, but maybe he's throwing to the second or third option. Two, I thought, brainy kind of choices to run the ball out of the pocket and get and move the chains on a third down and a critical fourth down. And really making a touchdown, a couple throws on that try, but the touchdown throw to Dave and Ajoku was put in a place where no one, but Dave and Najoku could catch it.

It was a perfectly placed ball. And, you know, we're covering the game and it's happening so fast from writing it up. I thought that Brian Baldinger-Baldi put together a reel this morning of what he saw, and he called it one of the better preseason performances he's ever seen by a rookie quarterback, so I clicked in, obviously, to see what was going on there. But he really, I thought, elucidated with each of these throws that Baker-Mia Field is in a different place than any previous Brown's rookie that I've ever seen since maybe Bernie Khosar.

I love it. Just his ability to see the field and what he's doing feels like I think he's been taught very well from the college game on up versus previous quarterbacks they've had, like a Johnny Mansell? Like the last thing you think watching him is he's coming from sort of some offense that doesn't translate to the NFL. It's the total opposite. He looks so comfortable.

His footwork, like his feet are just awesome to watch. I mean, I'm kind of with Baldy. I mean, it's just a preseason game. But that's what you want to see is some things that just make you excited. And I can't imagine like getting more excited off than off of that performance.

And Tyrod Taylor 5 of 5 for 99 yards. And that we know what we're getting in Tyrod Taylor. like he's he is a steady guy and i tweeted this last night god has a sense of humor the i believe in baker mayfield i know who tyrod taylor is they have two competent quarterbacks this coming off 20 years where they had zero so now the decision is for hugh and by the way let me just make a quick aside i don't think in the court of public opinion that the hard knocks premier was on balance good for the browns i thought especially hugh jackson took a lot of fire it was nice for them now to have this preseason game where the quarterbacks look great all of a sudden

And, you know, it's not open season on your brownies mark because they again, you look at them again, like, oh, wow, this might be a team with a future. The decision now for Hugh Jackson is how long do you wait before Baker Mayfield is a starter? Because if he continues to look good, just like with the Jets and Donald, if the young kid looks good, what are you waiting for? Yeah, I mean, I think it's the kind of decision if you're an NFL coach, you'd much rather have than what they've been faced with in that city for years. in years, and they'll figure that out. But, I mean, when you have a good quarterback, one thing that I noticed, because watching a lot of these skill position players in Cleveland that have just been there and they're floating through the year, that a guy like David Najok, who suddenly has two touchdowns and looks

athletic and is in the right place, and Antonio Calloway looked fantastic. It's like a quarterback that knows where to put the ball, everyone around him starts to look better. That simply hasn't happened in Cleveland for a long time. Their running game was an absolute disaster, so they're going to need to throw the ball if it stays looking like that. I can't remember the last Browns player I was excited for as much as Baker Mayfield. It might not be in since Tim Cout.

Brandon Whedon? I, maybe Tim Couch. I don't think it was. Redden Whedon? It wasn't Brandon. Rand Whedon. Fred Whed is still still in the league, by the way. And he is.

He's backing up to Sean Watson. In Houston last night. And yes, a qualifier. Yes, yes, yes. Don't tweet at me or any of us. Oh, yeah. Way to overreact. Game one.

The few. Let's just have some fun and enjoy how these guys look in real time. You're looking for trade. We're not saying it's going to translate, but it's still hard to make those throws that he's making. That's all we're focusing. You don't see that. You also, I thought that on the Najok could touchdown, the easier one.

You were reminded why the Rams traded Alec Ogletree, which is kind of like an under-the-radar move that happened this off-season, and he struggles in coverage, and that's something I think for the Giants to walk. Speaking of the Giants, this was the first carry. of Saquan Barclay's NFL career. Barkley gets the first touch. Barkley makes a few miss. That's why he was second overall, out across the 50,

and chased out at the Brown's 48-yard line, a 39-yard run on his first touch. Well, all right, so that's a radio call that, you know, nice job there, but that does not at all describe what you witnessed, which was him taking the hand off, patiently watching the line, shifting to his right, burning past Emmanuel Agba, right through the heart of the Browns defense and up the right side line.

He avoided three tackles to get into open speed. It was a beautiful, beautiful run. Now, he didn't, nothing came close to it after. He really was, he was shut down on his next three carries, but who cares? It was a, it was a little bit of a flash forward to what, it also, it's a thing like, oh, the giants, how long have they been without a ground game?

How many eons will pass before it's zero help? You're getting 39 yards a game from that backfield. it's a completely different element and it makes them more interesting to watch. That's all you want. O'Dell Beckham, not even on the field yet as they ease him back into action after the broken ankle last year.

You can understand why people get excited about the Giants if these two guys are on the field at the same time. I feel like all of these teams that have been dormants have given us reasons to be excited and that's unusual this early in the preseason. That's why I think we focus the show on this one preseason week because a lot, it is just one game. These players are dotted on teams

that have been in desperate situations. for a long time. Could be next week. They all fall on their faces. And we're likely. Two more quick Brown's notes before we move on. Des Bryant was tweeting again yesterday after John Dorsey, Brown's GM said that Des wasn't returning phone calls.

He said, I'm getting there. He'll be there, I guess, next week for a meeting, according to rap sheet. And more importantly, the number one source for all things, QB judgment related, the top scout, I feel like, in this country, Mark Wahlberg, he had something to say on his Instagram. I'm going to be in the 4 a.m. I'm calling him a boymaker Mayfield. First pre-season game.

11 to 20, 12 yards, two touchdowns getting after number six. Come on, Cleveland got another star. Goosebumps, Mark? I enjoyed watching that this morning. No, Mark Wahlberg's comments. Oh. Oh, you mean? No, you enjoyed watching that.

I watched that because you put that into our direct messaging client this morning. morning and I looked at, I thought, initially I thought he was making a joke that there were other stars on the Browns that he was been tracking, but he meant LeBron. It was early, so. Moving on. Ooh, a tough way to begin the defense of their Super Bowl title, the Philadelphia Eagles get waxed. Whoa, 3114. Oh, he done Peterson got a figure. Whoa, 3114 win for the Steelers, a game that no Carson Wentz, obviously, did Nick Folsom? play? Does anybody know anything about this game? Because I don't. I have

one or two minor notes, but no Nick Foles. Give me a couple of nugs, bro. Well, it's more on the Steeler's side. I think that Mason Rudolph has a nice arm. I think he could be their quarterback. He'll slip right in when Big Ben goes. You heard those draft Knicks.

There were a handful of them that like Mason Rudolph more than some of those top four quarterbacks that got taken at the top of the draft. Not many of them. Certainly NFL teams didn't agree because he fell so far. Not many other notes. I'm gathering from the three months.

The Eagles, by the way, as we know, Trey Burton left in free agency. They brought in Dallas, Goddard, four for 66 and a touchdown. You imagine that he might be a guy that can make an instant impact for that offense. Eagles are going to be fine. They're going to get over this loss, but it's going to take some time. Sidney Jones is just someone I've been tracking during training camp, was a second round pick that people thought could have been a top 15 pick at cornerback a year ago, missed his entire rookie season because of that injury.

And everyone's liked how he's looked at camp. He was their starting slot guy last night. And so that's a team I think actually can be better in the secondary than they were a year ago. Moving on, the New Orleans Saints and Jacksonville Jaguars. So the Jags had the buy in the Who is the King of Florida. So just to pass the time, they went up against the Saints on Thursday. And Cody Kessler, this is a guy to watch here because we all know Blake Bortles's struggles.

and then everybody's like, Cody Kessler, everybody, myself included. Is that a real guy to be a backup in case things go sideways for Blake Bortles in case he gets hurt? Remember, this is a team that is very close to being a Super Bowl team in Jacksonville. Well, he looked apart, Mark Sessler,

14 of 17, 139, and a touch against the Saints on Thursday night. He reeled off a couple of practices lately, too, where he had these sort of nine for nine with a two touchdown type thing. The bigger story for me, because I think, again, it's Blake Bortals is going to live with this until he doesn't,

is constantly doubted for appropriate reasons and others. And he came out, I thought, in the first drive and looked good, converted a nice third down pass to Dedey Westbrook, ran in for a touchdown, six for nine, 53 yards. I mean, the offense looked competent. They rolled right through the Saints defense on that first drive. Then they all fled the field. I don't know what else to make of the game.

The Saints, to me, no Drew Brees, not overly impressive on defense. Let's start there. And the word from Saints camp is like they've had the best camp for a defense that they've had in a long, long time. And on paper, it is a better defense. They're deeper at linebacker. It's the youngest secondary in NFL history, I believe, or in the last seven or eight years a year ago. And they're all growing up and should be better. I don't know what to take from this one.

But now, but Greg, you're coming off a big 24 to 20 preseason loss. You have to circle the wagons if you're the Saints now. Look inside yourselves. The Saints pulled it off. But still, there's a lot to take away from them. You know, I think the early part of the game, you know, what do you do if you're the Saints? I do not know what you're doing.

I don't know what I'm talking about this one. Tom Savage, a newcomer in New Orleans. Top Savage is real. 10 of 14 for 70. Hold on to that roster spot, Tommy. Stay in the league. Get paid. Bit ominous to open your season with Tom Savage throwing the first pass for you.

I think so. I mean, someone named Devaro Lawrence, I believe a second year on drafted guy had three sacks playing with I think almost all in the first half so that's like you know for him like that's what the preseason is about like you might end up seeing him playing a lot

for the Saints and we don't know who he is moving on we're just moving right along guys oh by the way Mark one more Brown's note that's five straight preseason wins with the Cleveland Browns dating back to last year in the preseason I know and everyone talks about

Oh, you went 0 in 16, and what I point to is what happened in August, and I say there's a lot of pride and accomplishment right there. Moving on, the New England Patriots. It's definitely the highlight of Deshaun Kaiser's Brown's career was last August, I would say. The New England Patriots were down 17 nothing to the Redskins on Thursday night, but you know they'd never say die. Hey, go watch Super Bowl 51, am I right, Wes? Absolutely.

Anyway, Tom Brady didn't play. Rob Gronkowski did not play. Brian Hoyer played but didn't play very well. In fact, things got off to a really sore start for New England. And then some poor, poor man working for the local affiliate in Boston, I think WBZ. Steve Burton. Oh, he's a lifer. Yeah, he's a lifer, Steve Burton.

They dispatched that poor man. I don't know what he did to piss somebody off. They dispatch him down to the Patriots sideline to ask what Bill Belichick thought about the first quarter performance of the New England Patriots. Here is how that went. Coach, preseason football is not about winning or losing. Not true. What do you hope to get out of the first half?

We need to do pretty much everything better. Just not good enough in any area. It's good to see good situational football scoring at the end of the half anyway. Yeah, about 38 seconds of good football. That's the toughest job in the sports media. He did come around and laugh at the end. The funny thing is I think like that. that's like a guy he gets along with because he's been there forever and it's just like it seemed

pretty uncomfortable like there's even like an awkward handshake at the end because the guy didn't know what else to do he's like I don't have any other questions uh shake my hand bill this this is how you do the breaking news drop oh hit it oh speaking of the Patriots redskins game yeah an injury to darius geis that was thought to be a no torn MCL Well, Ian Rappaport is now reporting is a torn ACA. Oh, brutal. It's a killer for them. That whole offense was going to be based around him completely changing that ground game.

By the way, Greg, that is how you do it. This is getting hard-hitting Dan reaction in real time. Oh, that's crushing because he was this guy who was a bit of a controversial figure on draft day. They bring him in and he's lurking as a sleeper in that offense, a guy that could really. Redskins have a. announced it, confirmed it. So it's official. So he's out for the year, I assume?

Out for the year. One other note, we have one other bit of breaking news. It's going to be a tough one to follow. Redskins tight end Manasseh Garner also to miss the 2018 season with a torn ACL. Okay, see, that's how you do. I thought it made a lot of sense, Mark. You got news. I just like the sound of the breaking news drop.

Like, it's going to. So what Dan is saying is that he cares about. some humans health and happiness and their well-being any completely disregard that's right Craig I think that Greg has summed this up appropriately did it's an unlikely tag team yeah that's right that's right um so geis out for the year and that is Greg that is crushing for a team that was really counting on an instant impact from guys yeah sadly that's you know the biggest news from preseason week one or at least Thursday night's action by far I mean there it just changes what they want to do.

Chris Thompson's coming back from a serious injury. He's a third down back. They're now not calling Rob Kelly fat Rob Kelly. He's now Fit Rob Kelly. Better be. And it looks like, you know, fit Rob is going to have to be back in the mix. I would think as almost a starter for that team. This might save Samajé Pirine's roster spot.

Yeah. That's a shame because on the play he got hurt. Oh, he looked great too. Like that was the reason why, you know, watching the little that I did. He was the guy I was most excited about watching other than Sequin Barclay. He just had such a fun style of running. And it wasn't like he had injury issues either in college. The Redskins can't catch a break with injuries. That's awful. Last year, almost their whole offense went down. And now here you go, the guy that maybe you're most excited to watch. There was an article in the Washington

Post today, I believe, that since 2010, they are consistently among, if not the most injured teams in the I think what the Redskins should do, you get the Gruden brothers together and combine the Raiders and Redskins into one team. The Raidskins. Maybe this is an opportunity to just move away from the... Or the Redders. Well, I think that's a roster you put those two together.

That's a shame. All right. One quick Pat's takeaway. Derek Rivers, who missed all of his rookie year, is a big man, and they need a pass rusher. He looks a little like Willie McGinnis out there. Wow.

He's coming off in ACL, right? He's coming off in ACL, but he's looked pretty good. And Jason McCordy, who's a guy, people just kind of slotted in is going to be their starting quarterback, has been running with the third team in practices pretty often. Didn't even play last night. You might not get the McCordy brothers. How about this?

You think Jeremy Hill iced a spot on the roster last night? If everyone's healthy, it's probably him or Mike Gillisly, and he looked pretty good, Jeremy Hill. And one more note on Tom Brady. Probably would not have played in this game, but Boston Globe reporting does have a sore back. Just keep an eye on these things. He's an old man.

That's what happens in old age. Get old. You start feeling pains. Back starts to get tweaked. Get stiff. Sciatica. Remember Larry Bird laying on the parquet floor? Absolutely.

Layed out. And in the 92 dream team, he was on the floor for most of that. Even as a child, you can tell this man's career is ebbing slowly towards its conclusion. There are limits. In the same geographical reason, that may be happening. Limits to human biology. I'm going to say that Tom Brady has. is not moving the way Larry Bird was moving at the end he's moving a lot better than Larry Bird had retired like six years younger than then Brady is now seven or eight yeah he wasn't winning MVP's all the time all the time oh we got Hoyer so it's all good is your home and ADT home get ADT and help protect against break-ins fire and carbon monoxide for a limited time get ADT's lowest rates starting at just 2899 a month for the most trusted name and home security that's just a dollar a day I don't own ADT is

the first security company to help keep you safe at home and when you're on the go with a new ADT go app. I've got it. I use it and I feel like it's effective. My home safe at all times or appears to be an ADT helps. Go to ADT.com slash podcast to take advantage of ADT's lowest rate ADT trusted, trusted, tested, proven with 36 month monitoring contract, early termination and installation fees apply, excludes taxes and fees, applies to traditional services. Only certain markets excluded licenses available at ADT.com. It's been a long off season without football, but Fandul has spent it getting into the best shape of their lives.

How about that for a trope? That means the Fandul, that Fandul is ready for more, more ways to play, more ways to challenge your friends, and most importantly, more ways to win. If you're not a fantasy expert, then Fandul is clearly the best place to play. They have all kinds of contests just for casual fans. In particular, beat the score contests are great

because they pay out everyone who hits a, a certain score. So all you have to do is finishing the money to split an equal share of the cash. Oh, my God. Fandul also has new options for playing with your friends because the only thing better than winning cash is winning your friends is cash. That's true. I hate my friends.

Best of all, Fandul is doing their part to make the preseason bearable with preseason fantasy contests running up to week one of the NFL. Right now, you can get a $20 bonus when you make your first deposit on Fandul. Just sign up. Fanduel.com slash around the NFL. That's fanduel.com slash around the NFL age and state restrictions apply. Moving on, the Baltimore Ravens spanked the L.A. Rams playing without Jared Gough and Todd Gurley. So let's not get too excited.

In fact, he sat the entire starting lineup except for maybe one lineman, I believe, offensive linemen. So Sean McRae. Yeah, who's suspended to start the year. So even that made sense. Right. So the Rams obviously have a certain strategy. Now the fans that are at the game are paying full price. see this but that's a other that's a whole other

conversation they're in Baltimore so I think they enjoyed it did they don't you want to see stars if you're paying like if you if you if you I think we talked about this last year but if you are a season ticket holder and they make you pay full price for the preseason games the two preseason games yeah don't you deserve an NFL product little Cooper Cup yeah because those are the thing like we growing up in Jets Giants territory the only games you could go to because they were so expensive

and you couldn't even get into Giants games were preseason games and you go I go watch Brown's Jets in the preseason and the players that you adore that are all over your childhood bedroom walls are in the game for seven minutes right what what are you doing there maybe a solution oh dan stop being a jerk what's your solution it's like 25 percent of a real football game so charge like 25 percent of what a regular season ticket is for those two games you're not being a jerk you're a man from a cool town working out for the working class customer listen where i grew up it was hard to get any football teams and we with my dad we would go to a lot of the preseason games because those

of the tickets that would be floating around. The guys that got stuck where my dad work down in the coal mine. Yeah, they'd be like, hey, do you want to take these two tickets? And they'd come up. They put the two tickets in the bucket at the bottom of the coal mine, and then they shimmy it up. Hold on.

And then I would, the little boy, the big blue eyes, I'd be looking down that well, I'd be like, Dadda, and I wouldn't see my dad, but then I'd see the two, like, the Jets versus the Dolphins preseason action or Jets Eagles. And then we'd be off to the metal ends. Two notes. Odd to play division foe in the preseason.

Secondly, why bring the tickets down into the coal mine? It feels like you'd keep those in an envelope at home. I was, as a boy, I was kept shielded from what happened down in the coal mine. Well, so was your whole family. And yes. That was your dad who didn't work there. Honestly, I don't love talking about this. There's a code to PR, Pearl River, that we don't talk about what happens down in the coal mine.

So I would appreciate it if you stop asking what. happening down the shaft. That is my job to ask those questions. Anyway, point, you know, these preseason, they were fun as a boy to go to, but with a free ticket, I'm sure. It didn't hurt that as much. Okay.

It's kind of a playful song for the coal mines. Someone just had a nice little riffety in there. Well, music is a release for us. It's a way to express that, yeah, sometimes times are tough, but we're a community and we celebrate. Okay, we'll let it fly. With the guitar.

We'll let it fly this time. Listen, you ask the follow-up question. By the way, can I point out one box score that is putrid? By the way, shout out to Keith Hansis, who had knee surgery, knee replacement surgery. Get well, Keith. Get well soon. He's moving. He's like Nameth now.

He has a fake knee that is going to ramp up his quality of life significantly, so we're excited. Good opportunity to sit down and listen to this show a little bit, I'd imagine. Well, he listens to every showkey. It's tough. I mean, it puts a lot of stress on your knee in the coal line. You know? You can only imagine. I'm just glad he doesn't have black lung.

He survived that. The lungs are intact. Thank God. All right. Joe Flacco looked good, by the way. I mean, he is moving better. He made a throw moving to his left, 30 yards down the field. And I know people are like, well, he's playing the backups.

No, you just have to watch the game. He's moving better. He looked really, like he looked like he was moving better than. he had in a couple years and made a couple of throws that were beautiful here's the thing though watching lamar jackson run it's kind of like josh allen throwing the way that lamar jackson just sort of winds his way through defenders for suddenly 12 yards 13 14 yards and no one knows what to do with them i don't know how you keep them off the field i don't know that though i'm not saying starting quarterback i'm not i don't i don't think he's doing it fine so far i think he's doing i think he could be

michael i think he could be michael vick like where yes you can do it uh he has not been lights out in these first two preseason games throwing the ball by any measure. But yes. There's other aspects to his game. The Rams are saying that there's a report, it's not the Rams are saying, Sean Mannion, who we were crowing about a couple years ago here. We were? Well, just as this sort of sneaky guy.

I don't remember that. No, remember. The Rams really like Sean Manion. They're really excited about Sean Manion. Yeah, the Rams. He had three for 13 with an interception, and they said that he's really been struggling in camp, so we'll see. All right. Moving. Did I say a final score in that game, by the way?

Because it was 33 to 7. What a wasting. What a crash down back to earth for the Rams after all the excitement. Well, you know, we were told that whenever we appear at a Rams event like we did for the playoff game, that we are bad luck. We were told that by the team, a high-up executive on the team. And within days of our arrival at Rams camp, they get stoned by the Ravens in Baltimore. We were not at this game.

Well, moving on the Houston Texans and Kansas City Chiefs, Deshaun Watson made his return to the field after missing the end of last year with an ACL tear. He did not do much. I think he played one series. What did you see maybe from any of the quarterbacks, including Patrick Mahomes? Absolutely nothing. This is a zero takeaways game. Deshaun Watson threw one pass for four yards.

He only played one series. They got him out healthy. He looked fine. Patrick Mahomes played two series Both ended in punts Took a sack and overthrew Travis Kelsey On the second series That's all really you can take from this game

I think I didn't keep a close eye on the second half Because I was writing Josh Allen And other things No need to explain yourself But the starting quarterbacks Like the coaches just didn't give us much to go on here How is Stepp Durham's

One snap at left cornerback Number 47 West? The man's name is Step He has a 0.0 on PFF so they didn't think much positive or anything. I didn't scout him. Brandon Whedon, who came up, led a 12-play 68-yard scoring drive, cap-by-six-yard touchdown pass to rookie tight-end Jordan Ackins.

Quarterback controversy. Interesting. And Eric Barry, by the way, in case you're wondering, coming back from Achilles' surgery, did not play in the game. Something weird's going on with Jadavian Clowny. They're saying it's not in football shape. There's a contract situation looming. It's not practicing.

That's been on my radar. Like, what's something going on? I think you might be right about that. The difference between the way your radar works and the way marks. Up next, let's talk about the Green Bay Packers and Tennessee Titans. Matt Lefleur. Sorry, pronounce it. If you want the correct French-based pronunciation.

Lefleur? Matt Lefleur. His first game is offensive coordinator. and a lot of people think this could unlock Marcus Mariotta and Marriota only had one drive, but the Titans marched down the field. A-place 71 yards for a touchdown. Three passes, one run by Marietta.

So so far so good, Greg Rosenthal. Yeah, and I think from, you know, the Packers winning 3117, it's like Aaron Rogers led, you know, read them the riot act and they responded. That's so true. You're so right. It's like just, it's up there with relax. That's leadership. Who is a Martellus Bennett said this week in some interview

that Aaron Rogers the best pure thrower of any quarterback he's played with but Tom Brady the better quarteract just because of the intangibles as well and being a teammate, well maybe Marty Bennett should take a look at what happened today on Thursday night with Green Bay how they react Well maybe he changed his opinion now

Maybe This could turn the tide It feels likely the preseason opener Would have that kind of gravitas Brett Hanley looks like he's ahead of your boy Deshaun Kaiser right now for the backup job. Whose boy is that? You're?

Marks. No, it's not my boy. It's not good news for Deshaun Kaiser or Mike McCourt. Packers do have some interesting young receivers, though. This guy Marquez Valdez Scantling. I like the name to begin with. Doesn't sound real, but 101 yards last night. And Jake Coomero, he had a big 52-yard,

big 52-yard bomb TD, and Rogers was going nuts on the sideline. I don't know what's going on with Aaron Rogers and Jake Coomero. I think Rogers adopted in some of it. I don't know. Something interesting about that situation. Devante Adams had a 48-yard catch. By the way, top five fantasy-wide receiver, Devante Adams. And by the way, coming up next week, next Wednesday,

our fantasy extravaganza, 2018. So it was a little tease for what the people can expect. Devante Adams, a guy to really target maybe round two in a PPR league. You know my first instinct was that sounds strong just because Devante Adams isn't thought of as a Julio Jones or an Antonio Brown. But he has more TDs, receiving TDs than anyone else over the last two years.

And with Jordy Nelson out of the picture, you have to figure he's going to be a target monster this year. You know he's the first look in the red zone. Mid-second round pick, though. You're kind of paying for it. I'm not into that. I'm not into that because I'm looking at Keenan. Here are guys taking after him.

Keenan, A.J. Green, Mike Evans, T.Y. Hilton. Like, I'd rather have all those guys. That's fair. That's fair, dog. All right, moving on. Hey, Dan. Yeah. Did you get your passport?

No, not since we last year. You'd better get on that. You better get on that. I am. You can't travel abroad without a passport. Where? You can't travel to London without a passport. Passport

Hey, Dan Better get your passport This is passive-aggressive. This whole song is passing. You're not going to London Without a passport. Are you dumb? Okay, where are we?

That wasn't really passive at the end. No, that was pretty aggressive. Just straight aggressive. Wait, the funny thing about that, there's literally nothing you can do at this point. No. You're simply waiting on government agencies to get your passport.

We are recording this. You could have maybe had a working passport. before this all happened. That would have been a functional answer. Some people get to gallivant to Japan and back every year. Not all of us have that in the cards. We can't even afford to fly. Some of us have a sort of an odd fear of leaving the country.

Or what about Canada? I mean, it's just good to have to have just in case. I like the Canadians. What do I have to go to Canada for? Mexico. It's very close. You just never know. Boy, if I didn't have my passport yet, I would be riddled with anxiety.

That's what I'm saying. That's true. Today is August 10th. And we're leaving in exactly three weeks. Have, did you get the expedited version and whatnot? I was in the window where I didn't need to do that. No, no, no. See, you don't do, you don't just, you know.

I would have gotten that expedited. This is on you. I recently had to do the same thing before I went to Mexico, and I was under the same situation. You actually cannot try to get the expedited one unless you're within the window. I got the expedited one a few weeks ago, and it arrived within a week. I know what you're talking about, Lindsay. That's a different scenario where if you were inside a certain window, you can get it.

almost day of. I wasn't in that window. That wasn't an option. There is for a higher fee. You can pay more. You can get the expedited. I said, hey, I'm in the window. Daddy's in the window.

Well, guess what? Daddy's in hot water right now. Daddy's in the anxiety window. I mean, ultimately, you do have three weeks. Wes, you handled this correctly by doing, you paid a little bit of extra money to get this thing done. Dan is sitting in limbo and we have chorus singers,

you know, counseling at this point. You're a professional. I, really, I absolutely loat. The professional passport. I loathe paperwork. So to me, it was like, I'm willing to pay this extortion rate to get rid of the anxiety that I know Dan is currently. This is an upset because we kind of talked about before all this happened, that West versus paperwork is one of the biggest position battles. One of the biggest dreads matches of the last 10 years, at least in my life.

I've done nothing wrong. I did the paperwork within the window. It just, you know, listen. You're going to be all right. Will the government fail me is the question. How could the American government? possibly let you down. Worst case scenario, Neil hosts like three shows that week for us.

Worst case scenario you get arrested. By the way, this is happening again, by the way. This comes up almost every week now. Greg starts the daydream about a different host. It's not only on the show. It's down in the news from he'll go off on these reveries. Like, everyone's joking around. Like, yeah, the next thing is so-and-so's the host.

You just wouldn't be on the show for like maybe three weeks, but maybe it would extend to maybe a couple months. wouldn't be on the show and we'd have to find a work around it was Aaron Coscarelli was floated I believe at one point yes she's being considered earlier this week of what was it earlier we have to be prepared if there's like a car accident I know there's a there's a replacement me down there in the newsroom there's a replacement for all of us Dan and Koscarelli aren't allowed to travel in the same airplane right uh all right finally one last game to talk about uh oh the renewal of an old rivalry one of

the greats 49ers and cowboys and uh here we go It starts with a 24-21 win for the Niners. Listen, this is a game I don't have any awareness of. So somebody else jump in. I think the bigger takeaway here than the Jimmy Garoppolo side, which was, you know, he really didn't play that much and we need to see more of him, was that we had Cole Beasley come out and say

that the Dallas wide receiving corps was going to shock people. I don't know if they shocked people. I wouldn't say that. But Michael Gallup, using his speed, made an incredible touchdown. catch off a beautiful pass from Dak Prescott to open the game. Then the Dallas offense essentially went off the field. There's no Ezekiel Elliott, but a nice start for him

and they need him to step up and be a starter right away, and he looked the part yesterday. I'm not saying these are the two best uniforms in the NFL, but I've noticed the last couple of times this matchup has occurred. This is the best uniform matchup because they complement each other. So it's a clean, crisp look when these two teams...

And as we talked about, I say, it's the other thing about it. They haven't gone and changed the uniform 25 times. So it reminds you of when they played back when it was Aikman v. Steve Young, and back in those days in previous rivalries, too. I'm glad Dak went out there and did something positive, not just because people have been freaking out that their offenses struggled in camp, but that graffiti mural of him that puts him in the sunken place that looks like the get-out thing.

Like, that, that haunts me. Like, I don't know if I can look at Dak Prescott the same way. I guess it's an effective piece of art. It's unfair. Maybe it is unfair. Where is this graffiti? But it's in Dallas. It is just, I don't know.

There's something about that. I have not stopped thinking about that since I saw that. It's effective artwork. It was effective. The context, of course, being that Dak Prescott has said openly and publicly that he believes everyone should stand for the anthem. And that he's, you know, supporting everything Jerry Jones said. So I sided with his owner. And the ownership, you know, and Jerry Jones said like just, I believe yesterday.

Thursday, you know, like I, I love everything that Dak said. I don't know. There's something to it. So I'm not worried about that back Prescott that he's had a tough training camp either. One little Niners note that this game, they started yanking starters immediately by the end of the first quarter because they lost George Kittle, their tight end to a shoulder energy. Matt Brita, to a shoulder injury. They had, I think it was Solomon Thomas left with a head injury. With a concussion. They had a guy with a hamstring, too. I mean, they had five Big players for them. Five guys leave the game in the first 10 minutes.

It's like evacuate ship. It feels like Kittles injury, I believe this morning they said it was not serious. Yep. Two more notes in the D.C. area, the Ravens, 2-0. Two-and-0 starts. Halfway there? Well, they're the only team that can go 5-0. That's the advantage of playing in the Hall of Fame game.

Absolutely. They control their own destiny. Their magic number right now is three. You just get goosebumps thinking what can happen once you get... Five and no beats four or no. The last week of the preseason, if they have that opportunity. So we'll track that breathlessly. Also, speaking of that area, so Geis, again, that's a bombshell.

The rookie second round pick for the Redskins out for the year with a torn ACL. Does it open the door west? But yeah, boy, Adrian Peterson, to get a job. That's a good question. My assumption is that they'll turn to Rob Kelly and Samajai Piron first, with Chris Thompson playing on passing downs. I, no, I just feel like they would look in-house on that one. If ever there was a team, though, I could kind of,

it just somehow makes a little sense that they'd give Peterson a shot. You know, not every team I think would. I don't know. It kind of makes sense, because you have your passing down back. You really don't have options that you like at all for the power downs. You're under the impression they don't like Rob Kelly and Samajah. No, yeah, I am.

Maybe they didn't like Fat Rob, but they like Fit Robb. Maybe. All right, we will be back on Monday And we'll recap the rest of the preseason action As well as a special guest on Monday too Very special guest I don't want to even say it yet No, no, no, just hold on to it

A pretty big fish in the entertainment It's a genuine superstar Yeah, if it happens A legend of his field And I'm not talking about Evan Silva I'm talking about And it's a he, so let's note no, it's not Little Debbie We're holding her

for another time. Of course. It would have to be the most famous person ever on this podcast. Yes. Maybe Lil Debbie adjacent. Adjacent to Little Debbie. We'll get to it. You'll find out, hopefully, unless this person does not actually come on the show.

And then everyone will just be annoyed about us, as usually. All right. That's it. This is Dan Hansa signing off for Quiet Storm, the mailman, the old boss, and Lindsay Fulton behind the class. Bitcoin Princess, well? Bitcoin Princess. Like that.

Till Monday. This is an IHeart podcast.