NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - DEN-LAC MNF Recap + Gregg's Top 6 Free Agent Disappointments

Episode Date: October 18, 2022

Gregg Rosenthal recaps the Monday Night Football matchup at SoFi Stadium between the Broncos and Chargers, covering the biggest storylines, best plays, and defining moments from the game. Then, Gregg gives his list of the top 6 biggest free agent acquisition disappointments so far in the 2022 NFL season.NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Wide open Dulcich. First game in the NFL. Touchdown. Here's Echler, and that is Echler. Oh, just refusing to go down. Touchdown Chargers. Scott hits it, hangs it high.

It's short. And loose ball. No signal yet. And it belongs to the Chargers. Josh Harris will snap it. That's good. Scott puts it down. That's good.

The kick is good. And the Chargers win it in overtime. Dustin Hopkins, not the hero we asked for, but the hero we deserved on Monday night football. 1916 Chargers over the Broncos. I'm Greg Rosenthal here with producer, Justin Graver. in the LA night as the traffic files out of SoFi Stadium. And yes, you heard those highlights from Troy Aikman and Joe Buck. And early on, you could almost hear the childlike glee in their voice.

Here's a football game with touchdowns and back and forth. And by the end, you just hear Troy with a hopeful, I think it hit him on the punt return that was fumbled because that was the only way that this game was going to end. There were zero first downs in overtime. I'm not even going to email NFL research. That's the first time I'm aware of that's ever happened. And a team managed to win the game. My God, Justin Graver, the Broncos have a way of just sucking the life out of these games.

And this game started so different. And then it just ended in the same way that I believe all Broncos games. are destined to end until they end this Nathaniel Hackett Russell Wilson partnership. Yeah, the good news is the Broncos only have one more primetime game. And they can flex it out. Right. They do have a London game, which is like morning prime time. And it's only in two weeks.

And I don't think Russell's having a Kirk Cousins prime time thing. But I do believe that you could see the weight of the world on his shoulders at the end of this game. You can also see his teammates, Jerry Judy, grumbling to his teammate about not getting the ball and Melvin Gordon sitting there with his helmet off after getting benched and sulking for the entire game. It is incredibly bad vibes. And I can't help but notice that the one good game Russell Wilson did play this year was a few weeks ago. Just at like 405. And, you know, Greg Gumble was on the call.

No one even noticed. I swear Russell Wilson played fairly well in that game, and we'll get to the Chargers. They found a way to win here. We spend the whole offseason talking about how Russell Wilson's going to fit. What's Nathaniel Hackett's offense going to be like? What about all these offseason additions for the L.A. Chargers? Are they the best roster in the league? Is Brandon Staley going to stay as aggressive?

And then you get to the actual season. Half of each of these teams are missing, and the game comes down to Jaseer Taylor. a special teamer on the Chargers making a heads-up play by pushing the Denver Broncos blocker who is right in front of the punt return of Montreal, Washington, just pushing the blocker into Washington. Washington fumbles it. And like I said, I think that was the only way this game was going to end

because at that point in the game, we had had four straight three and outs in overtime, and we had had 17 straight possessions without a touchdown. And everyone is saying, how could this happen? And this is all these bad primetime games. And it has been bad luck. And Russell Wilson being on primetime four times is a huge part of it because he's the biggest mess right now,

biggest disappointment in the NFL. But I also think it is something about this season, which is unique to me, which is that offense and the passing games have taken a step back, and there's been more games like this in general. We see it for halves at a time. Broncos do it for entire games at a time. But, like, that Packers' Jets game was 3-3 at halftime on Sunday.

And there's just more of this, and there's data to back it up. The numbers passing the ball have dipped precipitously, lower yards per play, yards per attempt than there's been, and I believe over 16 years, since that 2007 Patriots team helped change the way offense really looks in the NFL. There are more games like this. And so as bad luck as we've had, Graver, with these prime time games, like it's kind of part of the story of this NFL season. And what we talked about with Dan about power rankings,

there's a lot of teams in the middle. There's not really much separating this four-and-two Chargers team from the two-and-four Broncos team, but the Chargers are feeling much better about themselves tonight. Right. And another issue with offensive play right now, I think offensive line play in general is down. But you also are dealing with left tackle injuries across the league. Tyrant Smith, Taylor Lawan, Slater, Garrett Bulls, Joe Noteboom, all those guys are expected to be done for the year. Two of those are the left tackles that we're supposed to be playing tonight that weren't out there. So that makes it harder to pass.

Look at that. Graver. Great point here. You know, Graver's filling in. We had some scheduling snafews. And right. as we're about to start the show, you know, it's, yeah, me and Graver doing it tonight, and he just goes, feel free to carry the load. It's like, thanks. Thanks.

I will feel free for that. But look, you deserve to get more carries. You're like Latavius Murray putting Melvin Gordon on the bench. Like, not that Latavius Murray is the greatest player in the world, but he had some juice there tonight. He was one of the few offensive players that I think you can say had a good night. Because I think he earned himself a role on this team. for just about no one else did it.

And it was a great point you made on the offensive lines because that was a key part of this game. The Broncos pass rush pressured Justin Herber at the third highest rate of his entire career. You wouldn't totally think that because he was only sacked two times, but he did a good job getting rid of the ball. They were throwing the ball so short and so many people like myself are upset about what they're doing to our beloved Justin. Herbert with this insanely low average depth of target and these insanely low average completion, he completed 37 passes out of 57 attempts for only 238 yards. But part of the reason that that's the case and part of the reason they were running the ball on first and second down so often late in the game, they didn't run the ball much,

but when they got the ball in overtime in field goal range, they ran it on first and second down. And I'm thinking let Justin Herbert win the game for you. Right. But I think they were afraid of that pass rush at that point, which the Broncos were winning snap after snap. And so they thought, let's just run it twice. Let's lose three or four yards. Then let's let Herbert bail us out with a really good pass to Mike Williams

under pressure for nine yards. And that was about like as close as we got to a highlight there because that made it shorter for Dustin Hopkins, who was playing through an injured hamstring, and he hits it for 39 yards. He was Hopkins. I mean, the way he fell to the ground after every kick was dramatic. It was crazy.

I was just thinking like this game's going to end in a tie because even if the Chargers kick a field goal here, like can we trust that Hopkins is healthy enough to kick it well? But he was putting everything he had into the kicks. They were getting better each and every time. He suffered the injury early in the game. The first field goal he took was the 37-yarder at the end of the second quarter. And yes, he fell to the ground in,

pain. They had their punter do a kickoff where it just dribbled through somehow for a touchback. It was so ugly. But luckily, like, the Broncos barely scored the rest of the game, so it didn't really matter. And Hopkins got stronger and stronger as it went. And so, again, like a clutch kicking performance is the best we could do on this Monday

night football. But you have to reserve a spot in the kicker club for Dustin Hopkins. I mean, he was the toughest guy on the field. Yeah, he was. And, like, looking at the Vox score and seeing Justin Herbert coming in at 4.2 yards per attempt. And it was something like that the average, you know, per completion, he completed 37 passes to do the math there.

That's outrageous. And yet he was by far the best quarterback in this game. Well, we're going to get to Russell Wilson quickly. And I'm sure people don't really need to hear that much about this game. 6.4 yards per completion. But we're going to give it anyways. But here quickly are some of the Chargers, like, targets and yards. Joshua Palmer, I've just made a couple good catches here,

but I'm not in love with the way he runs after the cat. He's at number three, and right now they're asking him to do more. He's 12 targets, nine catches, 57 yards. Echler, 16 targets, 10 catches, 47 yards. Gerald Everett, seven targets for 29 yards on five catches. Mike Williams, their best player. Six targets for 17 yards on two catches. Those are just shut down by Pat Sertan.

Absolutely, but I think it would have served them well, as Troy Aikman was pointing out, to give them a few more chances, especially when they were in field goal range or in the red zone. I believe that Mike Williams made one of the all-time catches in overtime, and they did not challenge it because it looked like such an improbable catch. And more importantly, because Joe Buck and Troy Aikman did not. recognize that there was a legitimate chance he caught that pass. It's weird how the announcers have influence. But Tony Romo talks about this.

Whenever Jim Nance says, I'm not so sure that was out of bounds, the coaches always challenge. The coaches are watching the broadcast. The people upstairs who give the info. They're just watching the broadcast. And if the announcers really flag it, then they flag it. And otherwise, I don't think they're bold enough. and Troy in that moment didn't say anything

and we didn't get a ton of replays but I went back and watched it and I think it might have been one of the great catches we've ever seen and it might have been overturned I don't know if there was the right view of it but we could have had a beautiful play we could have improved that Herbert yards per attempt

yeah we could have but luckily the Chargers come out with the win anyway and now four and two they're tied with the Chiefs oh my God it's what it's what I wanted because I just felt like this Broncos team deserves to be two and four.

I don't think the charges deserve to be four and two, but it was the better result. I think it was the more fair result. All right, let's get into Russell Wilson before we go. And we're still a ways from going, by the way. Sorry.

Russell Wilson, in the first half of this game, completed his first 10 passes. And it was really interesting because I do this Monday night football coverage in the UK. If you guys actually have stayed up to 4.30 in the morning in the UK or 5 o'clock in overtime and watch this, send me a time.

tweet because you are true fans and you're listening to this like you're a glutton for punishment they started the game and and i'm sitting next to morris jones drew and he said even as he was going 10 for 10 they don't trust him they're managing russell wilson in the way that they're calling the game kind of like you would manage bailey zappy you know like yes the number they were coaching him up well like let's give him credit he also made a nice throw he had two nice plays on the run one was to Eric Tomlinson. Another was where he did the Russell Wilson thing and he just kind of spun around and then there was a receiver wide open.

But the plays in structure for the most part were very protective sort of plays. They were mostly trying to run the ball and it was working. But even though the numbers were good, someone who's watched a lot of NFL football and played in it is saying like

he wasn't really doing the regular Russell Wilson things and going through his progressions. And then after halftime, He ended up going three for 11 for 15 yards. He took four sacks and they had negative 13 yards of offense passing after halftime. That is insane. Well, he had that one third down play that he took a sack on where he had the running back wide open right over the middle of the field or somebody wide open right over the middle of the field and didn't throw it.

That was to start the game. So that's where it can be misleading where 10 for 10, yes. But literally before that play call. they send Jerry Judy, I believe it was, in motion, which gives him a very clear indication, zoner man. And he knows who to go to if it's own, he knows who to go to if it's man. And on that play, it's just, you know,

if it's zone, a simple dump off to Dulcich who, you know, uncovers immediately, literally no one on him. And Troy Aikman said it, his eyes aren't disciplined. Like he's looking for the bigger play. But it just seems strange to me, but it also supports what critics of Wilson, and I've said this too,

and I'm leaning on people that know the game even better, have said in his time, and you can see it, it's in the numbers. Never in his time in Seattle did he excel at the short-passing game or throwing over the middle. It's shorter as a quarterback. Right, those are just two things that he's never been good at, and he needs it now.

Like, he just needs it in those spots, and he doesn't have it. So even when it's going well, you know, they put up, what, 10 points in the first half, 13 points in the first half, including a late field goal drive, which was good in only 53 seconds. And then you go negative 13 yards passing in the second half in overtime. And it's not like he didn't get chances. He had seven possessions, four three and outs, one ball where they got to. a field goal where they got the ball in

field goal range and they didn't get a single yard after that. It was as ugly as it gets and you have former NFL quarterbacks like Dan Orlovsky pointing out on Twitter, the lack of fixes that the Broncos' offense make in terms of protection

is high school stuff. And the charges saw it and they started just sending heat. And once they sent that first blitz that Drew Trankel got through, they blitzed every passing down situation the rest of the game. Tranquil got a couple sacks.

James got a sack. Cleo Mack had a sack and a few hits. That didn't come on a blitz, but they had no answer for like where to slide the protection. Even when to NFL quarterbacks, they're saying this is high school offense stuff. Well, the double A gap blitz that essentially won the game at the end there was just like, you have Mike Boone picking up one of the blitzers, but there's too many guys in Russell Wilson. It's like he doesn't even see, he doesn't pre-snap read the blitz and know that he has to get the ball out quickly. He's just like predetermined that he's going to hold the ball and he continues to hold the ball.

He did do a really nice job like stepping up in the pocket and finding Dulcich for that one touchdown play. I mean, but that was like the only play he really maneuvered the pocket well. Even the Judy one, he should have been sacked by Mac and he got lucky that he got out of that one. I mean, yes, he's still athletic enough to, you know, run around a little bit and find someone wide open after four or five seconds. But these guys that he's playing with aren't as good as Tyler Lockett and D.K. Meckoff at doing those scramble drills with him.

And so, yes, that one time he made it, but he held on to the ball five or six seconds at play. And ultimately, that's not going to work for him. He's not Lamar and he's not Russell Wilson from seven or eight years ago. So you'll hit a couple plays here or there, but then you can get into long stretches. where there's no structured offense. And I do put a lot of it on the coaching staff, too. Yes, you would love Russell Wilson to be like Tom Brady or Aaron Rogers and be able to set all these protections, blah, blah, blah.

Yes, you would love him to be able to coach up his young receivers. I mean, the thing that made Tom Brady special is even as like a fifth year quarterback, he's got afterthoughts at wide receivers sometimes and he would make them into good players. and Russell Wilson's not doing that. That said, Bailey Zappy is coming into this game over the weekend for the Patriots, for instance. And they're blitzing him like crazy the last couple weeks, the Lions and the Browns. And I know those aren't good defenses, but all of those blitzes are getting picked up.

And it has nothing to do with Bailey Zappy. It's the offensive line, and it's the coaching more than anything. And so the coaching is absolutely failing, and Russell Wilson is absolutely. failing and shrinking and it's happening together and it's happening with everyone watching in a way that I personally can't quite remember for a likely future Hall of Fame quarterback that's still young and it's coming off where he was productive like I can't think of this big of a decline certainly not in like a new location as a as a guy who got all these picks traded for We're into kind of different territory, at least for the last 20 years in terms of what's happening.

And it's depressing, Justin. Thankfully, other than that London game, they're not going to be in prime time too much. I mean, the Broncos hired a bunch of guys into positions that they hadn't held in the past, like promoted people into new positions. And it's like they don't really have hardly anyone experienced at the role that they're doing on their staff. And that's one of the reasons. What did you think about the decision, not decision, but just the entire management, the last regulation drive for the chargers

where they end up just running the clock down to one second and throwing a Hail Mary that comes up 10 yards short of the end zone Justin Herbert takes a huge hit against a three-man rush. What were your thoughts on that whole sequence? I want to defend Brandon Staley instinctively because he thinks differently, he's aggressive, I like that, he's trying to do different things. And yet these end-of-game sequences are, you know, very Broncos-like.

And they were in the second year. And last week was messy as hell against the Browns, too. And not just that they went for, but the way that they set up these plays. Like, you don't want to get caught in the third down situation that they were there. They have a quick pass to Echler for no gain in that situation. They do pick up a first down. They get to third and one. And then they throw a no-gain pass to their fullback.

At that point, I don't think it was crazy, actually, to do what they did and run it down. Because at that point, they were in trouble. They could have been hyper-aggressive and hurried up and gone for it on fourth and one. And I understand why you would want to do that. I want to be aggressive. But these are the same people who are killing Staley for not going for it. Last week, in this situation, I think, asked for more caution because of the way their defense was playing. And I think they were really confident that they weren't going to give up any points to the Broncos.

So they would take overtime at that point. The problem was they just didn't get first down. How are you running a third and one pass play on a pass that's short of the sticks? Like they just, they have all these short yardage plays and people kill them for going for it on fourth down. They're bad at it. Like, they're bad at third and fourth downs in short yardage passing the ball. They actually were good at it today, like third and four, third and three, third and five. They were hitting those third downs.

But when they get in these fourth down situations, Justin, they tend to go with these quick passes, these outrout. And they get deflected half the time. They got deflected twice tonight. The only reason they picked up the first fourth down they went for was it deflected off a guy and they caught it. Right. I do think they had some success. Maybe I'm crazy, like running the ball on third and. fourth and short or third in short. They actually weren't bad in short yardage tonight. That was

one of the things they did. They had a 15 play drive in the first half. They had a 14 play drive right after that. So in the second quarter, they had two drives that took up over 14 minutes total between the late first quarter and second quarter, which is crazy. But that's the offense that they are every week. They're a station to station, boring six-yard pass at a time offense. They average 3.6 yards per play. They average a yard per play less than the Denver Broncos tonight. And I just got to think there's a better way here with Justin Herbert as your quarterback. I really think it's a case where he makes, he's a deodorant that makes everything look better. And so that their coaching is not great either on offense. But he

saves it for the most part and so that they don't take a lot of heat. I'm going through now. and counting, and I'm at five third and short runs that were successfully converted by either Sony-Michel. They were 11 for 22 on third down overall. Wow, that's crazy. It's a lot.

That is a lot. Man, that was frustrating. What a game, though. And the Broncos, the Broncos are extra frustrated because they really have something on defense. I would put them in the top three defenses in the league right now.

their defense is so good they just brought Justin Simmons back Sertan's insane Baron Browning is insane like you know it when you see it he looks like a young Robert Quinn he is so explosive it's so athletic outrageous

and I know like his combine numbers were crazy and he was playing inside linebacker like they really found something Randy Gregory didn't even play in this game but they're getting a ton of pass rush each and every week They have a great secondary. I think their defensive coordinator of Vera, who's new, he's doing a great job.

And I think that makes it even more frustrating for them. And they're going to be getting even more and more annoyed that they are bawling out each and every week. And the offense just can't do anything. Mr. Unlimited. Yeah. It's, it's, I mean, sorry. It's just like putting everyone in a bad mood. I'm not trying to be too down.

But what else are we going to say? This is tough. Yeah. Here's the thing, the chargers are four and two. They don't, the quality of these wins the last couple weeks where it's been iffy, it doesn't matter. They're not like the Broncos. They have Justin Herbert. They have Khalil Mack.

J.C. Jackson has been a problem for them, but they have Derwin James. They will get back Joey Bosa. They have Austin Eckler. They're getting back Keenan Allen. They've had levels this season. in moments this season where they looked quite good. This has actually been very unchargery. They are usually so much better than their record.

Right now, they've played much worse than the record, but I don't think it really matters. They just need to keep moving forward and find a way to improve because I think they can. Their left tackle, Jamari Saylor, actually Salier has played well enough and that he hasn't killed them. They really miss Corey Lindsay when he's out.

Do you have anything else to say on this game? I've said way too much. I just think neither of these teams deserve to win. And as much as I wanted to, like, get out of here on a Monday night late, I was rooting for a tie at the end of it because that's what I felt like they just both deserved. They just neither one deserved a win. So, like, just get out of here. Just Sierra Taylor made that play.

I was like, I was up in my seat. Get me out of here. Yeah, I was saying to people around us, because we both, we had this conversation a second ago. But was that a penalty? you push somebody into the returner, and it's like, I don't care if it's a penalty, end this game. No, it's not. I thought the same thing at first, and quickly it was told like, no, of course you can block whoever you want to block.

It's great if you block them into the player. They coach them on that. So that was a beautiful play, and it saved them. And the Chargers defense for the most part was good tonight, but everyone's good. J.C. Jackson, did he get benched at the end of this game? Did he? I don't know. But he's a part of my next list.

So every week on Monday Night Football, I have a little top six list to end the show. And even going into the show, I thought this was risky because what if Russell Wilson has a good night? But I just thought six most disappointing offseason acquisitions this year. I hate to be negative. But with J.C. Jackson in this game, who was the highest paid free agent in terms of guaranteed money in this entire offseason was J.C. Jackson, biggest contract. and Russell Wilson in this game. I just thought, hey, I get into the offseason. So let's do top six or bottom six offseason acquisitions this year.

This might feel mean, but I threw an O.J. Howard at the end. He didn't even make the bills. He had the most guaranteed money of anyone that did not make a team this year, $3 million. Number five, Alan Robinson. I know he had a little bit of a production on Sunday, but it's not it. Like if you had to choose right now, if you're the Rams, Do you want to keep Squarnik for the rest of the year or Alan Robinson for the rest of the year?

I actually think it's a pretty easy choice. You would choose Squarnik because he's helping more. And he has more production. More versatile, too. So it's just like that's a pretty big letdown. Number four is Carson Wentz just because of what they gave up for him. I don't think he's playing particularly better or worse than he's played the last couple of years. So that's more on the Washington commanders for giving up so much for him.

when Matt Ryan went for a third round pick and that didn't make any sense and now Wentz is going to be out four to five weeks. We'll talk about that on Tuesday show. Number three is J.C. Jackson. Supposedly he was lighting it up in training camp but that's what they said about Alan Robinson too.

Right. Then he had an injury. He maybe came back too quickly from it but he's also going to a different system and I tell you there's something about defensive players especially when they leave Belichick that I don't know. He was an undrafted player who got better and better and better

and he's not as good in his own and man and he got confused a couple times tonight. He's number three. Number two is Baker Mayfield. We've talked too much about Baker Mayfield. I think we'll see him again this season, but I would say he's, he would be my pick as the worst starter,

week one starter, in the NFL this year. But I think Russell Wilson would be right there. Like, if you're ranking all 32 starters this year, just in terms of how they've played this season, season who is where is russell wilson like in mark's cuby index we can ask him yeah we should i can't imagine putting him anywhere higher than 29 or 30 like davis mills is in that mix but i think wilson's hurt them more and he's obviously number one on this list uh something's got to change

the broncos beat writers are out for blood with hack it because wilson has all this guaranteed money He's not going anywhere, so something's got to change. This is a level of struggle bus, I just can't believe it. Even as someone who's kind of been a bit of a Russell hater, this is too much. Like, I'm not enjoying it. This is too far gone. Now it feels mean to pile on. I did a quick Twitter search while you were talking there.

Monologuing? Michael Davis replaced J.C. Jackson at cornerback midway through this game. It makes sense. Michael Davis has started a lot. lot of games for the Chargers well over the last few years. Something's up. J.C. Jackson's a really interesting player. I could talk about him a lot, but he had his ups and downs.

He's had his ups and downs in life. He had his ups and downs as a Patriots. An incredible confidence player. When he gets going, he gets going. But they always say a cornerback, like, what a great gift it is to forget about the last play. He is extremely streaky. He can be the best cornerback in the league. where he can struggle hard for a couple games.

He had taken out that sort of streakiness in the last year or two, but he's certainly in a rough streak now and maybe feeling the pressure. Hopefully he gets better. Hopefully the Chargers get better. And hopefully they flex out the Broncos from that week 14 primetime game. Hopefully Monday night football gets better, but I think who do we have bears? Monday night football has been great all season. This was the first dud on Monday night.

It's been pretty good for the most part. But, yeah, we get Bears Patriots. But it is Bears Patriots. Yeah. We'll get a special guest for that. I'm excited. You did great. Thanks.

I'm sorry if I carried it too much. No, I just think listeners should know that, like, every time I ask you a question, you put your head into your hand and, like, leaned on the desk. Why? What does that even mean? Just like, I can't believe I have to talk about this. No, it's more just like, it's more, I'm just frustrated by this game. Sports are supposed to be fun. And that's what I, that's what kills me if you're a Broncos.

fan sports are supposed to be fun and yes it's terrible they're two and four but man is this russell wilson experience not fun yeah you know i mean i guess that would be the case no matter what if they were two and four but the way they've gotten to two and four with one of the worst passing games in the entire league oh man is this not fun Trevor simeon was more fun than this yeah i mean he would get the ball out of his hand quicker at least probably right now even more fun. Yeah. Oof.

I think this is... Joe Flacco was more fun. This is a good lesson in... Teddy Bridgewater was more fun. They all were more fun than this. It's a good lesson in never having high expectations because the only thing that can come from that is disappointment. Okay.

That's our summary of the 2022 NFL season. No, there were a lot of great games this weekend. Just they weren't the primetime games. Hopefully they get better this week. We're going to get better on the Tuesday show because we'll have Colleen Wolf in the chair along with Dan Mark. Mark and I. Until then, I'm Greg Rosenthal for Justin Graver. It's been a thin slice of heaven. No, wait, that's damage X-Baid.

I'll see you on Tuesday. He'd the call. This is an I-Heart podcast.