NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Locks of the Week from a Cricket Match

Episode Date: September 7, 2018

A cricket ground filled with heroes - Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Marc Sessler & Chris Wesseling - react to England versus India cricket match (1:00) and recap Thursday night's season opener between the Eagles and Falcons (3:50). The heroes follow up with their 'Locks of the Week' (11:00), including "how will Andrew Luck fair in his first start since the 2016 season," (18:45), are the Giants a lock against the Jaguars (39:00) and the Patrick Mahomes era begins (43:00)!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 don't know what time it is. Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast from London. My name is Dan Hansen. I am joined in a arena filled with heroes, Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling, and Greg Rosenthal. What is up, boys? Hey, Dan. Here we are

We're at the Big O. Do they call it that? We do now. We're at a big cricket match between England and India. I don't know if it's actually big because it doesn't mean anything or the series was clinch, but they play anyway.

Well, the stadium is packed out. It's Rich with... It's Rich with tradition. Let's be honest. So the minor breakdown that we got on the way to the stadium was that Essentially, the stakes do not exist because the series ended previously. So it's kind of if the calves and warriors, after the warriors swept the cats,

hey, let's get together for game five, and people just don't want to go to work. So let's pack up the stadium and enjoy the contest. And yet the crowd, we asked, and the crowd reaction is apparently no different. So it's one of many things about the sport that we don't understand, but it is fascinating. I get it. And the explanation, Nick Pike from the NFL UK office, he's been very nice. Everyone's been very nice, especially with Chris. trying to explain the sport to us and it's kind of an impossible task and we're still trying

to wrap our head around it well we're stupid people it just yeah it just seems fun it just seems fun to get here and sit in the sun it's about i would say right around 70 degrees and sunny uh and there's a bunch of dudes and white and we're wearing this kind of like a an office um box right above the field watching the game right now or the match so it's a pretty surreal thing and It's just another great experience for us here in London. Mark, you are wearing sunglasses. You are maybe not living your best life right now after we had a long night last night. We did.

I mean, all four of us wearing sunglasses. So that's one way to describe it. But this scene is fantastic. I actually would double back and say the options are two. One, sit in your office at your keyboard and type away or be here. this i don't care if the stakes are low i would be here they serve beer they serve food you're with friends there are incredibly attracted people all over the place why would you not be in the stadium there was an extra large gin and tonic stand like with serious business before 11 a m which

you just don't see on a typical friday in most places so what has been we've been in london now for five days uh west what is this like near the top for you being at this cricket match in terms of experiences? It's up there. I wouldn't say it's as quite as, it's not making quite as big of an impact on me as the trip down the Thames, but it's still a beautiful setting.

You know what? I've noticed about London. How's that? How's it you go out to 8 o'clock in the evening and every single person in the city is out drinking? Like the whole town just gets drunk every night? They seem to enjoy their spirits. You can't find a table.

It's standing room only at every pub in town. What's going on here? I mean, we seem to fit in quite well last night with that plan. So I don't know what the distinction is here. Big show today from England. We have a few days left here, but also business to tend to on the podcast side of things. And that includes, yes, talking about last night's season opener, a sloppy affair between the Atlanta Falcons and the defending Philadelphia Eagles. So we're going to talk about that game.

and we're going to go through each of the week one games, as we always do, including our, oh, yeah, locks of the week. So it's the week one preview show, but let us start with what happened last night in Philadelphia. Second and one. Ajiie to his right. Bowls puts Josh Perkins in motion. Gives it to Ajai touchdown. And their first touchdown of the 2018 season.

Yes, the Philadelphia Eagles got off to a very slow start in their title defense, but they turned it on in the end enough for an 18 to 12 victory over the Atlanta Falcons. You heard there, Jay Ajai, the London-born Jay Ajai, scoring both Eagles touchdowns in this game as well as a two-point conversion. And Greg Rosenthal, the Atlanta Falcons, not their best day by any stretch. It was a sloppy game on both side, tons of penalty flags. But Matt Ryan was not his sharp self. And once again, if you're a Falcons fan, you're freaking out

because the struggles inside the 10-yard line cost them another game. Yeah, I think they got nine points and five trips to the Red Zone. After talking about the Red Zone problems all off-season, it plays out almost identically to the way that last year's divisional round, wild card round playoff ended. And yet those two games were so similar in terms of the score. and exactly how it ended with four plays on the 10. And yet they were such a dramatic difference in quality.

I mean, like, there's a difference of, like, watching a great, two good defenses really playing their best as it was, I think, late last season, and the offense is kind of fighting against them, but they're sharp. To this look like, you know, kind of an extended preseason game. I mean, I think that's going to be a lot of people's takeaway. I don't know if it's the fact that they're not playing in the preseason,

but it is what it is. These teams look nothing like they're going to look in December for good or bad. I'm with you. It was an inauspicious start, a bit of an odd game, a duplicate to some degree of last year's showdown. There was that punt in return that was miffed when it touched essentially an eagle's foot, and it was a turnover that led to a touchdown. I mean, there was Nick Foles. I mean, you want to come out of this saying, oh, let's either ignore everything that happened in the preseason with Nick Foles. I think Nick Foles is just simply Nick Foles, and you start to catalog that playoff run as a two or three game magical journey that is

outlier of the Nick Fool's career at this point. Yeah, I was trying to watch. I was watching the game and wondering when the big passing plays were going to come from. And the biggest plays in the game were the Philly-Filly, the trick play that they borrowed from the Patriots in the Super Bowl, and then Nelson Aguilar on a reverse third down to convert. So I think, yeah, I think the Eagles give them credit, though, for the defense and the running game were there. Wait a minute. The run game when they imposed their will.

Wait a minute. borrowed from the Patriots? It's essentially the Patriots. They didn't just draw it up in the dirt five minutes later. And what annoys me to some degree is that evidence continues to mount that the Philly Special is one of the biggest plays in NFL history. And the other three gentlemen on this podcast will continue to turn a blind eye to the fact that it is so much bigger than the catch from that distance.

I will not calm down. The Philly Philly was when he dropped the ball along the sideline. And second of all, and if we do, if you want to bring it up, we have to touch on it again. If you read the wording of your sandwich prop, where you said that there would be the greatest, like, famous play of all time. You didn't say one of them. I will not come down. That is it. So you lost it.

And you buy those sandwiches. I lost it only because of the viewpoints of the other three people who are shutting me out on this podcast. That's how the game works, man. Well, now you're calling every trick play, the Philly special. They all are very special. and they were operated by Philly. The Philly, Philly play did, it was kind of a turning point for the Eagles

because they were not doing anything in this game for most of, especially in the first half, where Julio Jones, who's the only guy that really did anything, and I know fantasy owners out there, are probably pretty annoyed about the production on both sides in this game, but Julio Jones outgained the entire Eagles offense in the first half. So they were doing nothing, and that play kind of jump started the,

Eagles attack. So I don't know. I'm kind of with you guys. It's it was a weird game. I don't put a lot into it strangely. Like I don't think this means that Nick Foles is now going to go back to being bad Nick Foles. I'd like to see both these teams in week two because it was just strange. Well, yeah, the the Eagles offense in general has no explosive element. I mean, that's what Chris was referring to. Everything was a dink and dung. I don't think that's just Nick Foles. But in the end, their offensive line won the game. Their defensive line played pretty well. And if Matt Ryan, like if Andy Dalton had the game that Matt Ryan had, everyone would be just savaging Andy Dalton. I mean, Matt Ryan was very inaccurate.

He made far more plays than Nick Foles, who did nothing. He made some really positive plays. But he also had, you know, five or six throws that were just pretty terrible throws that you're not used to seeing out of Matt Ryan. He threw three passes out of the end zone when you have four plays to win the game near the goal line. Like that's pretty inexcusable. and it's like a falcons team that you don't want to get too caught up but at the end of the season the game might mean something even though they weren't playing that well and then more importantly like they're just a team that loses games that they should have won

they should have won this game they look like the better team for most of the game one thought i had like if you're a patriots fan or if you are the patriots do you watch this version of nick foals and just wonder what on earth happened last february because it really was it really was one or two games where he suddenly jumped into hero mode but you see this and you're like how on earth did we lose to this guy but it's a little bit of a different Eagles offense in general it's a different team it's a different coordinator it's different receivers they are not synced up and I don't think the Falcons were really too synced up either maybe just from not playing in the preseason I don't know like Fletcher Cox was the

best player on the field for whatever reason Eagles teammates that's your defensive player of the year think I just my defensive player of the year so you're going to shine that bell all season I am that he's a different player this year which is it would be amazing because considering how good he already was. And for those scoring at home, there were no helmet penalties in the first game of the season. But there was a catch roll fiasco. A big play that looked like a catch.

Julio Jones, a 55-yard or it would have been. He juggled it as he went to the sideline. It looked like he gained control. That was a big play in the game as well. So the Falcons are shooting themselves in the foot in these big games and they have to get out of it. I did enjoy that the crowd booed the Eagles off at halftime in at parts of the third quarter.

I mean, it's on dance, that's on dance radar. It was a three point game. I mean, it was not a fun game to watch, but it did not take long for the worm to turn. These lace curtain Eagles fans who have already forgotten what it is to be a downtrodden fan. So the Eagles are 1 and 0, Falcons 0 and 1. Let us now move into the previews of week one. But before we do, let's check in on our cricket matches.

Anything happened, Mark? Well, I'm the wrong person to go to. What I see is roughly 50 adult men dressed in white, some of them with wooden sticks. Maybe less than 50. There's also 30,000 people in the stadium, some of them also in white. There's about 25,000 people here. It's a beautiful facility. There's not a bad seat in the house.

173 years old. You see the skyline. It's in a beautiful little neighborhood. I imagine this is I haven't been to. Mark, I know you've been to a church. Chargers game. I imagine this is what Chargers games look like in Carson, California. It has a similar vibe, except those games would have some sort of stake attached to them if there was a regular season affair. That's definitely on your radar.

Well, listen, I enjoy the leisure. I just view it as a leisure at activity. I think that's, let's start and stop there. And I like that part of it. I think you have to take this up with a minister of sport, the prime minister. We're tight. I could DM her and we can discuss. I think I'll lose the argument. All right. And a little later on, we're going to talk about our experience at Sky Sports on Wednesday. And if you are listening to the show ahead of the Sunday games and you're in the UK, we'll be on live with Neil Reynolds and company all throughout Sunday.

So we're really excited about that. Also be at Piccadilly Square on Saturday if you want to come out and see it. Is it square or circus? Anybody? Circus. Circus. Our presence will be T-Based. and a big event we're going to be doing stuff on the stage we'll be at a theater

doing a show and taking questions it's going to be a big weekend for the around the NFL podcast let's get into week one let's start in Baltimore a one time team of around the NFL nominee like Chris wrestling so we're going to start with him the Ravens after what I viewed as a very optimistic offseason where people like their draft class, everybody liked what you heard about Joe Flacco, they're a buzzy team a little bit in the AFC. They open up at home against the bills who will be starting Nathan Peterman. It doesn't feel like a bad way to start your season if you're Baltimore. Feels like a great way to start your season if you own the Ravens Fantasy Defense.

I love this matchup for them. Their defense and special teams were excellent last year. Same personnel is really back this year, and I look for, I couldn't even lock this game up. I thought the matchup was too lopsided. Unlike you, I'm sitting two feet away from an Erica Tamposi-sized bottle of, I guess it would be Cabernet. I do like this matchup to such a degree that I'm going to come in quietly here, and I'm locking this up. I don't need to be loud and shout. I'm just going to roll to a nice 16-0 lock-up title, as I promised I would, locking up the Ravens, sit down.

team that plays the bills. I am going to pick every opponent that plays the bills all season and just ruled. No one cares how it happened. I will simply win. So we're okay with taking tomato cans and cupcakes this year? Mark is. Okay.

Okay. The rest of this will take the segment seriously. LaShawn McCoy versus the stout Ravens defense. He is playing in this game, by the way. I think that that is a little bit of a surprise, isn't it? because with his offseason situation going on, there was the thought that maybe he could end up missing games, and perhaps he still might,

but he's here for the beginning of the year. He gives him a chance, but you don't know what you're going to get out of their offensive line, which has three new stars, which looked terrible in the preseason. Nathan Peterman did move the ball in the preseason. The Ravens are one of the only teams that got a significant amount of snaps for their starters in the preseason. And I don't know if that's going to make a difference in this game

because this game has played last year, even with some of the new additions the Ravens' Offenses played, you would not expect the Ravens' to score many points in this game regardless. As bad as we don't like the bills, and I think they are the biggest underdogs of the week. By far, they're like, you know, two-score underdogs. It wouldn't be that surprising if this is just an ugly game that Nathan Peterman has a chance to win at the end

and then just doesn't. People sleep on the Ravens' offensive improvement down the stretch last year. I think they average about 25 points a game in the second half of the season. Let's move on. The Pittsburgh Steelers are opening their season on the road against the Cleveland Browns. Mark Sessler. This is the Browns who are looking now for their first win in a long time. Of course, 0 and 16 last year, a lot of positive vibes around the team.

And this feels like the right time to get the Steelers who appear that they won't have Labion Bell, who's in a bitter contract dispute. Yeah, I mean, we've been asked, you know, as we go around the media rounds all week, about this matchups come up a lot because of the Browns fanship by me. And I will say that I think if you're Hugh Jackson, you simply cannot get off on this season to an ugly, ugly start. You have a really rugged schedule out of the gate. And the big issue with most every Browns coach outside of Mike Petton in 2014 is that since 2010, no other Browns coach has beaten the Steelers. Big Ben is 20 and two against the Browns. That is in the NFL downright embarrassing.

That is utterly embarrassing. And the record against Pittsburgh since they've come back in 1999 is absurd. That said, no other Brown's team on paper has had this kind of talent with Lev Bell out of the mix and, you know, legitimate discord inside the locker room towards him. This is your one opportunity to take out Pittsburgh. If you do not do it here at home, I don't know what sort of start you can expect Cleveland to get off to. could be problems down the stretch people like the browns people are picking the browns what do you make of that though because you're big on the desert scenario i mean there it does seem a little crazy to me yeah there's a lot of a lot of people are taking the browns this week i don't know

they've just turned into a public team for for whatever reason right now people are riding it in this matchup like this is a game they should be able to score points how about this you didn't like my lock i'll switch it up i'll lock this team up the browns they're going to win this game I think, whoa, at the Oval, a shocking move locking up the Browns to end the 16-game losing streak. Well, I was basically trolling the Ravens. I had that planned all along. Just as a terrific play was made by the man Manning Cal Corner out there on the field. He's doing a nice job out there today.

Mark just goes wild. England's up 27-0, which I feel like in any sport is an ass-whooping. Yeah, it is. Is it in this? It's got to be. India is like, well, this doesn't. matter. Right.

I think India is saying with the Atlanta Falcons. You know what I'm saying? Oh. All right. Let's move on. The rest of us have the Steelers in that game, by the way? Yeah. Yeah.

I'm taking the Steelers, even though they have a history of laying an egg on the road in one o'clock games against mediocre competition. Good call. We crack on. A little parlance. Dan's accent, you know, the accents around the table have really been improving throughout the week.

We crack on. and we head to, listen to it's a plug. Very polite applause. Eric, I just caught. Extremely polite applause after what I imagine was a smashing play. Andrew Luck is back. My goodness, and a game that counts,

and that's exciting. First game since 2016. He opens up at home against the Cincinnati Bengals, Greg Rosenthal, a team that could give Andrew Luck trouble a good defense and luck maybe a little rusty. You can imagine he will be. We've seen so little.

What? I just heard a commotion in the crowd and it was like, what's going on? That was a fantastic introduction. I was not even listening to myself. Back to you. I think that was great analysis on Andrew Luck season. I don't really have much to add. I actually don't even know what I said.

I'm excited like he is like the games I'm most looking forward to this weekend are the ones with the biggest mystery in terms of just like what you're going to see and watching Andrew Locke play 65 plays that actually count I think's going to tell us so much and I've been waiting to watch and play and to me the preseason struggles he have I don't take too much away this is a defense that is fine but I don't think it's a shutdown defense by any means if anything I just don't really expect like the Colts defense to be able to get many stuff I'd like to see carryover because for all this like oh sean mcvay is so smart he didn't play anyone in august look at this new innovation i mean the bengals did play their starters quite a bit andrew luck did play i thought for the middle game that he played in august that was not so great he sandwiched that with two stellar performances where we saw versions of andrew luck that makes you think of where he was before the bengals offense looked new they looked fast and i want to see that continue for both teams this is sneaky one of the better games in the afc although normally you look at this say snooze fest it is not well like the majority of andrew luck's career the deck is stacked against

him in this game i think his left tackle anthony costanzo is not practicing this week the bengals defensive line is the best position group on that team and they could be dominant in this game yeah i want to see like tyler ifert is playing football now john ross is playing football now for the bengals like it's a different bengals offense than we saw for a year the first game it's 616 days for Andrew Luck. Let's move on. The Tennessee Titans and Miami Dolphins open their season. And this is the first game for head coach Mike Brable and Marcus Marriota.

It is Chris Wessling. Perhaps a make or break season, isn't it? Yeah, I think that's fair. And Greg says he likes games with mystery. We don't know what the Titans offense is going to be with Matt LaFleur. left hour we've seen a really we've seen a pretty

boring dolphins offense for the past couple of years but now Albert Wilson is telling us that this is this team's going to shock some people on offense Albert's never said a lie I need that again about Al you need it again Mark I need it again La Flower Wait something's going on on the field

There's a bunch of men running on the field There's some raucous uprising There's a groundskeeper There's some stretching Everyone's wearing the same uniform. This is the loudest reaction we've gotten from the crowd. Three groundsmen coming out to fix. Apparently a divot being fixed in the dirt.

The crowd goes wild. This is the real game. Wait, can you just start chance? Let's do one. Phil that divot. Phil that divot. Phil that. It's catching on.

Wouldn't you say it's also a make-a-break year for Ryan Tannehill? Yeah, considering both these quarterbacks on some level. Considering all the talk leading up to the. the draft that the dolphins were thinking about going for a quarterback in the first round i think that's that's legitimate this is the most under the radar game of the week they're throwing like the cbs seven set number seven team on this like the crew that gets like three assignments all year he's getting this one and back to mariotta just to contextualize how disappointing his year was last year this is a team that actually won a playoff game and

he and he did play well uh made some plays against the chiefs but last year he finished last in yards per attempt passing yards per game passing touchdowns in interceptions, pass a rating, he needs to be a better player for Tennessee to be convinced that he's the guy they thought he was when they drafted him early in the first round. Dolphins are a team that should struggle on defense that should struggle to stop the run. And I think the Titans running game, they don't have Jack Conkman back for a little while, so their offensive line's not totally set, but they're a team that should be a great running team. And I think that's the way Mike Ravel wants to do it.

Let's move on and talk a little. Gee, it is time. Jimmy Garapolo, who won five straight. He's just feeling it back there. The Paramore is in the house. She's doing a little dance, a little Antoine Walker Shimmy. When she heard Jimmy G's name, she just gets excited. Jimmy G., who, of course,

one five straight games with the Niners to close out last season, but they still want six and ten. Here they have a chance to make, oh, you know I love him, Greg, a huge statement in week one in Minnesota. Mark Sessler, the Vikings are the favorites in this game, but do you give San Francisco a shot? I do. I love this matchup for basically the offseason narrative of Jimmy G and the Niners are just going to play the role of, you know, upsetting the Apple Card and the NFC role and potentially roll into the wild card round. But now Jimmy G have to win five straight last season, you put them up against a defense that on paper looks like a Super Bowl level defense.

You got the Kirk Couss and things going on. It's the perfect test for Jimmy G in week one versus putting them up against some sort of tin can kick with his foot 40 feet across the field. I think the Vikings' defense is a lot better at home, too. This is one of the better home field advantages in the league. To me, as much as I like Jimmy G, this would be a major upset if the 49ers went in there

and won this game. This is, by the way, the 49ers Vikings game is the early game on Sky Sports today. Who is the kind of player your most excited? to see in this game i want to see dalvin cook on the field uh in games that count again he was a favorite or looking like a potential favorite for offensive rookie of the year before he tore his ACL you got kirk cousins in his first game unfortunately we won't get jarer jerick mckenon in his first game after he tore his ACL uh but it's going to be there's a lot of fun subplots

in this game this would be one of the games the most excited to watch george i loca that's that's who we're looking forward to watch up safety i can not just kidding kirk cut Cousins, of course. I think everybody's going to be paying attention to how he does after getting paid. I like a little George Kittle. He also seemed, Cousins seemed like so over the top after, like, his one bad preseason game. And that's kind of how Kirk Cousins is all the time, so I don't put too much into it. But it has to be on his mind taking over a new team and everything that's going on with him. Like, he does not feel comfortable yet.

here's the this is the recipe that the Vikings thought they were going for in terms of taking this thing and finally winning a Super Bowl you have now what you believe to be an upgrade at quarterback and kirk cousins he's the first guy to ever change teams after a 4,000 yard season he's in his prime he's supposed to make the offense better the Vikings held 12 of their 16 opponents last year under 20 points this is team is built if things go right to blow teams out so will they take care of business against san francisco? I mean, it's almost disappointing if they don't go to the Super Bowl, and it puts Kirk Cousins in a bit of an odd position on some level. The Cowboys Panthers, by the way, is the late afternoon game on Sky Sports this weekend. We are, speaking of Sky Sports, we were there on Wednesday. Wednesday. And it was, we did a ton of media related things on Wednesday. I'm a brag.

I guess. We started at the NFL, U.S. UK office where we did a round of interviews, press interviews. I did a 14 second spot on Good Morning Football. One of the press interviews, you know, these are journalists, journalos coming in and sitting in a conference room and asking us like over and over and over again, Dan, what do you think of Sam Darnold? Strangely, guys, is Aaron Rogers overpaid, but it popped up a lot.

And now some of these interviews are showing up in the local dailies. what was the what was there they used a choice line of something that i don't even remember saying about tom brady that now i'm quoted in an english paper of record that tom brady is about to collapse they asked like what superstar is going to fall off a clip and you said well you got to mention tom brady right i guess so that is now on record so i guess i'm now back in on the hashtag gradual decline uh just because of the british uh newspapers and there's also a a poll quote that they enlarged where it says London NFL team is in the pipeline it's no pipe dream I did we say that I don't know I guess it's a lesson for us I'm not sure why we're learning this now that when

journals have microphones burning and we're on the record and we say something that it is recorded well that one I probably said that because earlier that you definitely said it Mark and I went and saw you know the minister of sport uh and she now that's a humble bread yeah and then you know we took a little tour we you were really impressed by the toilet tree well not that it was so essentially i feel like we've uh you know got to discuss this there was a very ornate room uh incredible wallpaper looked like something out of a stanley kubrick film to some degree but a panel of walling that they open up and inside of it just a toilet and who is allowed to use that toilet only one person on the entire planet who is that person it is the queen no one else goes to the bathroom on

that toilet but the queen and we saw it that's amazing she has her own no one else in the world can use it i mean i'm in a hotel room right now where i'm only only person using my toilet too but it's a little bit different but when we when we were there the the minister uh tracy Tracy right I should be getting this Tracy Crouch she she was rather confident about getting a team in a Super Bowl here and that's her right annoyed that I didn't stand point there that's her job to beat no I set you up I want right the crowd is in full murmur so yeah's going on I wanted to hear about that dirty throne that the queen left behind.

No, it was pristine. I don't think she's been there in a while. This has gone off the rails. Later, we went to Sky Sports, and we hung out with Neil Reynolds. We were never being allowed back. Like, just Henry hearing us talk about cricket is going to cancel any possibility of making this trip ever again. And Mace and the whole crew over there, we had a lot of fun. They split us up for some of these media engagements.

and it was just done at random, I think. But for whatever reason, Mark and I were sent to their part of the Sky Sports giant complex. I've never seen anything like it. That was, we thought we were going to do some regular, you know, sit down in their sports department. Turns out we're getting miced up when you look around. It's a very, like, heavy, serious room. Yes, somber. And somber is a good word to describe it.

And there's this big set in the middle of the newsroom. me and mark all of a sudden go on and we sit down and two very highly polished looking anchors saddle up next to us and it's at that point mark that we realize that this is not some like fun sit down to talk to shoot shoots shoot the ass about american football but yet an indictment or a massive questioning of the entire sport yes and uh i mean the way it played out you know normally you want to get into the headspace of i'm ready for this i'm going to handle this. All good thing is, like, I'm in sixth grade.

I have no idea what I'm doing sitting in this chair. I have no idea what to say. And then suddenly, we get through this thing. And Dan's final comment at one point, that both anchors are like swirling their hands. Just say, please get done. Please get done. Dan, just please finish your comment. We're just about to go off.

So, like, they rushed us off stage. We go upstairs and, like, Wes and Gregor, like, floated out on a couch with, like, legs over the cushions, like, having this, like, breezy conversation about fantasy football. Just having a great time. Everyone's sitting around drinking coffee and champagne. Oh, look at these two. They're just so great on air. Their careers are on fire.

And it's like, yeah, when we were sitting at our, like, hardcore news interview for the CNN equivalent in the UK, they're like, but does Colin Kaepernick deserve to play football? And then we walk back and we're like, homana, hama, hama. And then we walk downstairs and, like, there's this woman lounging on like a chaise couch with the boys. And they're like, isn't fantasy football just the best? Wes is like, I'm not sure I really play myself, but I have so much to say I'm in such a relaxed mood. Like Mark and I are sweating, like,

I have tired of soaked our clothes. This is not how I remember that. This is exactly how it was. Well, you can find Wes and I's leisurely appearance on Facebook live, and you can never see what Dan and Mark did again. Well, you can watch it. Oh, let's import that and embargo it and send it to NFL.com. And do not, because what we said at the end, probably they would not like it all.

You can watch our experience from Sky Sports on NFL.com and Twitter. But I would say just to focus on the Greg and Wes adventure. Please. Our horrific ordeal. You also, to your credit, you both rebounded separately later. We taped a preview show for Sky Sports inside the huddle with Neil Reynolds, which I believe is also a podcast. And you wiped off the flop sweat and you did a great job in that show.

That was enjoyable. We were with our friend and that felt like we're back in our zone. The first thing was a bit traumatic. Colin Kaepernick, electric chair. Hamana,

hama, all right, let's move on. The Houston Texans. Ooh, one of the big, you know, I'm still thinking about that interview.

Must have been harrowing. It was harrowing. The Texans are, They have a high ceiling, they have a low floor, and they have what I imagine to be, or I feel is a almost impossible matchup to go into Gillette against the Patriots. The Patriots still stinging Greg from that embarrassing Super Bowl loss. Just couldn't get off the field on defense. Bill Belchick tarnished his legacy with the Malcolm Butler benching, just a lot of great stuff. Tom Brady couldn't catch a ball, a lot of good stuff at that game.

But now it's a new start. going to take it out on the Texans so they always seem to handle in their building well except last year when you know Texans kind of went up and down the field on them and Deshawn Watson gave them all sorts of problems and they it seems like a team you do not want to play in week one because you have no idea what the Texans are going to throw on you and I would expect them to score a lot of points on the Patriots I don't see this as some game that is unwinnable for Houston that was the game against the Patriots last year that had me I feel like I uttered it once or twice incorrectly on the podcast last year

that the Texans were the team that would scare me if I was New England in the AFC playoffs because they were so bizarre and you have no offensive line and yet it did not matter at all and this is the team that we talked about a bit of a boom or bust based on the health and what version we get of JJ Watt what version we get of Deshawn Watson

if the line can do anything to stop a defense it's amazing how seasons turn like that because it was not unreasonable after that game to say that the Texans will give the Patriots problems it was the game where you said Deshawn Watson's for real. It was the game where you knew that the Patriots had serious issues on defense. And I'm not sure if those issues are really fixed.

We saw a slightly better pass rush in the preseason, but I don't know if that's going to hold over to the regular. It's a much better looking roster. I think the Patriots are just going to be so different that I don't think, I mean, I'm sure Bill Belichick's smarting from losing that Super Bowl. But to me, this team is what about having his legacy tarnished is so totally different. I mean, you know, he's five and three in the Super Bowl. he'll survive and although because I forgot I like that we're in preview season again because

football's back that's fun I did forget when I set Greg up on a Patriots game he immediately explains why the Patriots are really up against it this we're back we're back my point it was 3633 last year and there's no JJ Watt they were back in our zone oh and four against the Patriots that's fair taking over that's my point you're right though I didn't remember that how well they played in the year before in the in the playoffs, but you don't know what the Texans defense is going to be. You don't know how ready Clowny is for the season. I mean, that's something watching Thursday Night Football, why it was bad,

because everyone was dog tired after 30 plays, and it was just like which team can make plays while they're insanely tired. It's a different week than any other week, but if Watt and Clowny actually can play the whole game and they're doing their thing, it could be a problem. One note, looking at the AccuWeather update, It is meant to be 67 degrees with partly sunny skies at Jolet Stadium on Sunday. Now there's just a bunch of dudes wearing white standing on the field.

And there are 25,000 people in active conversation while these guys are just chilling out. People are getting there. I think it's sort of everyone's sort of fooling employers and fooling everything. I don't know what the overall game plan is here. It's just like an inning change in baseball, right? Yeah, it's two hours of play, though. And then after those two hours, the two teams do have a 45 minutes. at lunch, which they eat together,

eat together, which is not a joke. Which is kind of the moment where as Americans, we just don't really understand what's happening. There's a tea break later, too. Henry's like, tisk, tisk. Please enjoy my sport. I'm enjoying it, Henry. I'm loving it. I just don't get it.

Moving on, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are heading to the Superdome to play the Saints. The Bucks will be without James Winston, who begins his suspension for off-the-field Malthyza. It's smashing. And now the Saints get a chance to take the next step after their heartbreaking loss in the divisional playoffs on the Miracle in the Minneapolis.

Alvin Kamara starts the season without Mark Ingram there as their top running back. Mark Sessler, your thoughts on this game. I mean, if you're the Saints, you have to believe internally that you have one of the most complete teams in the NFC, the entire NFL. And this is the team, the Bucks, that I think the Bucks probably will be better than some believe when they... Something's happening, Mark. I don't know, you're right. There is an uproar suddenly. Dan putting the mic through the window to get a little bit of ambient crowd noise.

But nothing's happening. Is the chef no longer cooking? Is he not up anymore? Alistair cook? I mean, Greg, you can't honestly be asking us for tangible updates. His final friendly, not friendly. His final, what is this called? test test

before he ends what is a illustrious career of the chef retiring at age 32 interesting sorry Mark go on no no problem I think actually what you did was probably more critical than what I was about to say about this game but uh the Saints very complete and if you don't handle your business here

oh how's that how's that how's that how's that how's that how's that every year there's a shocking upset in week one where it makes you think differently about a team and I wonder if Tampa Bay's defensive line front seven will have a chance to push around the Saints because the Saints offensive line was one of the best in the league last year.

But this is a revamped front seven for the Bucks with Jason Pierre Paul, Vita Vayaa. They look pretty stacked on that line. This is one offense that looked great in the preseason if anyone cares. I know nobody does. We've been through this before. The Bucks had the worst past defense.

Yeah, not really last year. But if their front seven is much improved, everything flows in a better direction. And they always play the Saints well. They beat the Saints in a game that Saints desperately wanted to win in week 17. I've never heard about that game before. This also would be like the worst.

We've also talked about this season too much. This always happens every week one preview is that we've kind of run out of things to say about these teams. But it's kind of steroids because we're going with each other. How many times have you guys heard someone ask me to explain my thoughts Sam Darnold and the optimism around New York. I mean, roughly 450 times in the past four days. Let's move on the Jacksonville, Jaguars, London's preferred franchise, kind of, maybe,

open their season at the Meadowlands against the New York Giants. The Giants coming off that disastrous 3 and 13, but they have a new head coach and a new running back in Saquan Barkley, who missed a lot of the preseason with a hamstring issue West, but now he gets to face off against one of the league's top defenses. That's a fun matchup to watch. It is. And you joked about this being London's team, the Jaguars,

but that's been one of the things I've noticed this week. Even though so many people here have disparate rooting interests, the coverage of the Jaguars is certainly headlining the NFL here. They do feel like the home team for London. And there's going to be a lot of people interested in this game here. I think, to borrow Greg's phrase on the mystery, the Giants, to me, may be the biggest mystery in the league. How much Saquan Barkley and that offensive line improvement will breathe new life into Eli's career, getting O'Dell Beckham back. And then the defense, an entirely new scheme, a new coordinator, guys like Jason Pierre Paul are gone.

What's this defense going to be like? People are into the Jaguars. I think there are a lot of people's second favorite team. And, you know, an American view is like, oh, how could you have a second favorite team? It's like, well, to be a fan here, you came upon your team in a strange way. We probably said it the other night, but, like, there's no casual fans here. You know, I had the experience last night of kind of having that UK fan experience, which the game was delayed 40 minutes, which didn't help, but the game started at two.

It ended at five. I was tweeting about it, and there's 60, 70 British people staying up to watch a game of two teams that they don't even follow. So they'll like one team that that's their team, but they'll also kind of root on other teams. They just like the sport, I think, as a whole. And I think that kind of allows them to just root on the Jaguars because what's good for the Jaguars, in theory, is kind of good for London football. And they play this defensive style. And I think they're a terrible matchup for the Giants in week one.

Even though I think it'll be a much better Giants offense this year, like this is a rough way to start. Greg, it was a really solid analysis. But I have to say, I, you know, I'm kind of, I like that the Giants on some level. They're not my team, but they're New York team. So I don't mind when they succeed. And also, I like Eli Manning starting over with a new coaching staff and with Odell Beckham. Seleuckin and Seleckon and Selein-Barkley and Sterling Shepard and Evan Ingram and an improved defense. There's a murder in the crowd.

Locking Meadowlands and a Jaguars team that still thinks Blake Bordels is the answer. And for all. Wake up reasons and so many more. Hey, London, I'm going to lock it up. Lock it up. Jimons. Oh in one.

That's going out on a limb. It just blew out Erica's ears and all 25,000 people just looked over at us. They were just like, please stop interrupting me. All right, let's keep. No, I believe it. I think the Giants are going to win. I think they're going to win 10 games.

So I got to back it up. I'm sorry, Eric. Are you okay? Yeah, I'm good. Eric was boozing a little bit last night. Stunner. That's not what happened. Her ear canal has just been destroyed by your chant.

Yeah, like you didn't have a headache before that. Moving on to Kansas City Chiefs, 10 and 6 last season, a really bitterly disappointing playoff loss to the titoons of all teams. So what do they do? They begin the future. with Patrick Mahomes, they trade Alex Smith away. So it's Mahomes' debut as the starter against the Chargers, Greg, who I know you love to death. Well, how about this?

At home against a rookie quarterback, not a rookie quarterback, but a guy starting his first season as the starter, why not get behind your team right now and say they're going to take care of business, not blow it and do it some stupid Chargers thing where they kick the game away or blow it at the end. Go win a football game here. think they will. I think week one as a time I'd be afraid of playing Andy Reid. I think there's a reason why he always wins games coming off a bye week. It's a reason why the Patriots had no clue what was about to hit them in week one a year ago. Not that they've started every season like that, but just with that arsenal, I think they're going to end up cooking up a few plays

that just catch the Chargers off balance. And overall, the Chiefs are just a better coach team, certainly offensively. I don't know about our defense. Yeah, aren't we worried a little bit about the defense here? I think this is a mismatch when the Chargers have the ball. Like this is my favorite game to watch the week. This is going to be a game in the 30s. I don't care. It's a week one.

This has to be a start all your players' fantasy matchup. The Chargers, to me, are the better team. And even if they take an early lead and you worry about Bosa and Ingram, then the Chiefs will just have to keep passing because we don't trust their defense. We don't trust that secondary, certainly. So if they have to play catch-up, this could be a fantasy boon. Andy Reid against Anthony Lynn. I just got spooked a little bit.

I am right now in sort of a late Diane Keaton period where I'm wearing sunglasses and I'm suing to have a large top hat on me and just roam everywhere with that and I'll put a pants suit on soon. Big baggy, like, yeah, pantsuit. I could see that. You're not getting that Chief's Chargers analysis anywhere else, you know?

Well, it's like sometimes you just run out of things to say so you must come up with something else very quickly. The Washington Redskins open their season. against the Arizona Cardinals. This game will be played in Arizona, Mark. Alex Smith making his Redskins debut. Cardinals have Sam Bradford at quarterback, at least from now. And David Johnson, welcome back to the NFL after missing almost all of last year with that wrist injury.

It's funny because we haven't asked also multiple times about all these players coming back, right? And it's obviously the quarterbacks get the attention, the Andrew Lux, the Aaron Rogers, the Teddy Bridgewater's. but David Johnson seems to get lost in that conversation sometime, and it's easy because one year removed to forget how dominant he was, how much of a central figure he was in that offense. This, to me, you've got Adrian Peterson going against David Johnson, and what is what the Cardinals are another team that just simply has been a bit forgotten, I think, without a little bit lack of an identity at post-Brus Arians,

and they might be a team that I wouldn't be surprised to see go seven and nine, eight, and eight and surprise some teams to play a little bit of a spoiler. How about Adrian Peterson? officially announced as the starter already already taking rob kelly's job you're loving life you like it's feels good that you've been on adrian peters and corner at least for a few more but now the game start we got to see if is he going to stay healthy and is he going to actually perform but things i mean you were saying you were calling this west when he was without a job so you're definitely he's now set up to prove people wrong yeah you know a couple of days before they signed him

Jay Gruden said Rob Kelly's our starter. And then Adrian Peterson got in there and basically blew the doors off that he impressed him so much in his short time there that they knew obviously he was the better runner. Before we move on to the next game, any takeaways, Greg, from our live show on Tuesday from the Curtin Club. It was a great experience. If you haven't checked it out, please check it out on the podcast. Also, we've posted some clips. on our social media after the show we had a meetup at another establishment that went

past midnight that was a lot of fun too your thoughts Greg just how much fun it was I mean and that I can't wait to do it again and I'm glad that our first live show was in London like that felt like the right audience for us they were so they were excited I think we all had a blast and I think it's something we're going to keep doing like now now we showed the NFL that we can And we can do this. And I think it's something that. They don't know we're going to be doing this during the season. We have some hopes that could be happening in the states during the season.

And like, let's fly. I think we were like thinking going in, like we were sitting up at a table upstairs on the sort of rooftop bar slash diner area of this hotel thinking, you know what? We should have done some sort of dry run of a live show somewhere else. Because now we're about to do it. It's 10 minutes away, a little bit nervous. But then we rolled in and the energy of the crowd was fantastic. I felt it was one of the most, I want to say easy shows to do, but enjoyable shows to do that we've ever done. And the minute we sat down in those chairs with that crowd, it just came naturally.

The energy was there. I love sort of the interaction afterwards to the two things that almost every single person came up and said to me were, we all feel like your friends, that we're like the fifth member of the show, that we're sitting down with you guys when we listen to the podcast, which is great. Sorry, Tim. Great to hear. Well, yeah, Erica's friend, too. Of course. Erica was sort of a secret star of the night, please.

She knocked it out of the park. Also, how many people have a grandpa or a sister or a brother or a son or somebody in their lives who went through cancer? And I heard that from a lot of people that they really got a lot out of us talking about it on the show. That was a career highlight for me, a career highlight for all the guys. So to be able to experience that here with you guys in the UK. that we're able to come out. That was awesome. And if you did miss out on that this week on Saturday, 12 p.m.

will be on stage at Piccadilly Circus, the big NFL kickoff event. Also, if you have tickets, we have two shows at the Bafta Theater. We have to check. I believe that's sold out, but I'm sure the scalper market is intense. So spare no expense because it will be an unforgettable show. We have to see if we can get our walk-up song because that's one part of the show that was not on the recorded podcast that I think was my personal favorite.

Like ever since I was a little boy, it's basically been my dream to come out to a live show of some sort. I didn't have a sport to play, so it really took a while for this to come together. And hear the sounds of Faro Manch, get the fuck up, and then jump onto the stage

and just feel the energy from the crowd. The song is actually Simon Seventh. Simon Says is the official name, but everyone knows the important part is in the parentheses. Ironically, and that was an episode of Greg likes rap. Ironically, the song that I came out to was called Friken in the Bushes. Sorry, Erica, a little post work by Oasis, which was a little nod to the English people here. Mark, of course. I mean, sorry, Erica, for the general language that you're unfurling in general to a room.

I mean, the sailor's language is out of control with the two of you. Go ahead. How, please. He's a little big figure angry behind me. I just heard a deep exhale. Mark came out to Orinoco Flow by Eni. He's like, let's not give Erica too much credit here. Please.

No, Mark came out to fuck the world by Enya off her second. No, I did not. And Wes, a touching, a song that you want to tell the audience. Well, did we talk about this on the show already? I can't remember. I believe that part was cut out. It's called Empty Me Out by Liz Weiss. And I'm not a religious man.

It's a little bit about religion, a lot about religion. But when I was getting out of surgery last summer and completely dependent upon other people, Keisha's mom came and stayed with us, Rota. And I sort of taught her that song. She learned all the lyrics and she would sing it, you know, sort of at my bedside while she prayed for me. So it was a nice, nice. Big call back from me. It was a little tough to follow.

that up with like done done done done yeah it worked done done done watch the best of the live show on twitter on our various handles you could you could get that let's move on back to the games the dallas cowboys uh nine and seven tough season last year dealing with the zeke elliot drama uh they now travel to charlotte to face the panthers uh west uh two young quarterbacks uh that are sometimes inconsistent, Dak Prescott and Cam Newton square off here. Does Dak have the weapons to hang in a game like this? That's a good question. I don't think anybody knows the answer because this is a game where the two biggest question

marks are the offensive line without starting center Travis Frederick for the Cowboys. And then the Panthers are just beat up all over on the offensive line. So is Ezekiel Elliott going to be able to establish the run? Are those wide receivers and tight ends good enough to keep Dak Prescott in a game with Cam Newton? And I think those are legitimate questions. After an offseason of the Panthers defensive line repeatedly getting upset that they weren't ranked among the top 10 defensive lines by NFL.com and bringing this up repeatedly that no one respects them, this is a nice spot to get something over on what, in theory, is one of the best offensive lines in the league, but probably isn't anymore. Because if the rookie Connor Williams' play in the preseason as any indication,

They might have a couple weak spots right now, and we haven't seen that for a few years. And if you take away, if suddenly the Cowboys offensive line is not what it was, and that was their entire identity, we brought that up on the show roughly 75,000 times, what is this offense? I mean, what are the Cowboys? If you hold Zeke Elliott under 100 yards,

and this is reductive, but, like, if you do that, do you feel like you're going to lose to the Cowboys? If you can control Elliot, and he is against a run defense that could stuff in this game, I don't know if Dak Prescott has been set up properly by his team to carry the day if he has to. So that's a big subplot here. I think he can have a great season. It's one of the reasons.

Week one is my favorite week because it's been the longest since you've seen football. And because all of these conceptions that we have about the team are probably going to be blown up over the next month. You really don't know. It's one of the Bill Belichick cliches that I actually do believe that is every year is like a totally different year. And you might as well just throw away the one before it. All right. moving on the so neelist the Seattle Seahawks travel everything must die in the end mile high to face the Denver Broncos and the Broncos have Case Keenum quarterback they're trying

to turn things around after a rough 2017 but the question mark a lot of people are going to have here is how will the Seahawks defense look no Richard Sherman no camp chancellor Michael Bennett Cliff Averill Sheldon Richardson all history it's a new beginning for the seahawks and an uncertain one. Yeah, I mean, you can say that these two teams are both mystery teams. I feel every one of these teams that we're discussing are mystery teams. But Seattle is fascinating to me simply because they've had such an entrenched identity for so long. Entirely, maybe through the entire run of this podcast,

and now we're looking at the Seahawks team that we are waiting to find out who they are. And a Broncos offense with Case Keenum, where Keenum to me, I mean, listen, suddenly you're in an offense that I think is completely different in terms of talent level than the Vikings, but there are some young pieces here. I think Cortland Sutton is going to be one of the rookie of the year candidates if Case Keenham can get it done from a quarterback perspective. I am

so high on this Broncos rookie class. I love watching games at Invesco Field. There's a little revenge factor here for Super Bowl 48. Ooh. Something cooking here. Now this is a lockup. One of our

that's a callback to one of our favorite running through lines of this week. Now this is London. So last night we were out with a bunch of friends, ourselves and other friends, and we probably did roughly four to five video skits of, I mean, I wish we could put Tamposie on the mic just to describe. Come on, Tamposie.

Guys, now this is London. So we're going to put together a sizzle reel of all of our various videos, right? Now this is London. That's the only thing Eric has said. Eric has, she has eight words in her vocabulary. Seriously, you could say something else, right? Now this is London.

So she's mentally sick. So we've got to get her help right after today's cricket match, which is over in approximately six hours. Just another grand mystery to unpack. Boys, please identify with my sport. Cookie with 31 runs or whatever, what is it called, 31? It's 60 to nothing. It's 60 to nothing.

India. Wake up, bro. They're playing India, right? Correct. I don't know if India's batted yet. It's just like a slow pace. So you take turn. It is the dictionary definition of a slow burn sport.

This is after 22.5 overs. Yeah, the chef is cooking. Come on, chef. Do what you got to do, chef. You're not going to like what you see. You locked up the Broncos. I'm taking the Broncos with the locko. I like that.

How about Shakeem Griffin starting the first game of his NFL career? I mean, I know it's because there's an injury to K.J. Wright is a primary reason, but he also looked like a player that absolutely belonged and could make an impact pretty early in his career. I'm going to agree with that, but also, Wes, you pointed out the rookie class. Bradley Chubb in the preseason looked fantastic. And what this defense can do from a past rushing perspective, that would concern me if I'm Russell Wilson. I also think because of what Shakeem Griffin's overcome, it's almost overlooked that the, that these two brothers are on the same team.

Not that that's not talked about. That's a very Seahawks move. It's just like insane. Like it's insane that, okay, this is a new Seahawks defense, and we've got the two Griffin brothers in the back doing it. I mean, it's great. It makes me want to root for them. I'm rooting against you this week, Chris West.

I can handle it. Seahawks to the playoffs. Yes, Stan. Are you a little annoyed that Chubb is not a Cleveland Brown? I mean, I'm annoyed about roughly 45,000 things. It's one of the things I'm annoyed about moving on Sunday night football A great rivalry game It's a very honest take there

Exactly right that's unvarnished truth from Mark Sessler Something happened with the chef Oh no I think they're all going to go have tea now The Bears and the Packers at Lambeau Lambeau nice job schedule makers Fun fun robbery great setting But what they could not have planned at the time

was that one of the best defensive players of the past decade would be traded to the road team. So Khalil Mack will make his debut on Sunday night football in front of Al Chris, Michelle, and the world. Greg Rosenthal. It's amazing that in a game where Aaron Rogers is returning, that I'm almost as excited when the Bears have the ball. The Bears are the team of around the NFL.

I don't want to hear any people honking that we curse them if they go 5 and 11, they could go 5 and 11, but they'll be a more interesting 5 and 11 than John Fox. They probably should be better with that defense, but if anything, they'll be watchable. Well, this is my favorite team of ATL because it's a team that could potentially deep six, and I would enjoy the disaster aspect of it.

What I love, and we've talked about Mike Petten being the new DC for the Packers, is that you look at the quarterbacks that Mike Petton had when he was with the Jets, having to win those games all based on defense and then when he's with the Browns you're getting Johnny Mansell

you're getting Josh McCown who is a nice player but please I mean he's never really had anyone now you have a pet and defense paired with Aaron Rogers this is one of the bigger factors in the NFC for all these teams that we call Super Bowl teams

by the way India is no longer shut out they have scored I don't know if it's a run or a point something I know I'll get tweets about it that feels lopsided a little bit I think that's why the crowd got in to it we uh you know uh one of the biggest reminders that the preseason is meaningless is

rg mark that rg three's rookie year the first game against the saints when kyle shanaham slow played the entire league throughout the preseason and i wonder if there's going to be sort of shades of that with naggy and trabisky here in that offense they didn't they didn't tip their hand on anything in the preseason do we trust trubisky to be an rg three rookie of the year type player sure i have no idea what he's going to be you know what it's going to be you know what Let's find out. Moving on to Monday night football, and as it is the case, as is the case every year, there are two Monday night games in week one.

We'll start with the New York football jets, with Sam Darnold making his NFL debut, the youngest week one starting quarterback since the league merger. Mar-on, so it is a new era of jet football, and they are going into to Detroit to face a Lions team that I imagine with the Jets having no pass rush, a really promising secondary, but I worry about that pass rush and how that will fare against Matthew Stafford and a really great trio of receivers in Ghaladay, Marvin Jones, and Golden Tate. I don't know if it played into the thinking of starting Darnold Week 1. I'm sure it didn't, but this is a perfect start for him.

I think this is one of the teams that you can pass protect against. I think it's one of the teams that came out of the preseason with more questions than just about any defense of just they don't know who's going to play. And Matt Patricia, like Bill Belichick, I think it's just going to try to figure it out over the first month. And I think you might be happy to play the Lions, especially their defense in September compared to where they are later in the year. I think it's a game that Darnel can play well. Dan, we went to the Lego store yesterday, bought some Legos for our children. And we're going to be, it's not a humble brag. It's simply a purchase.

So we are going to be landing on Monday a couple hours before Monday night football. Are you going to roll into your house? Your kids are going to want to sit down and build legs with you and hug you and climb on you? Are you going to lock on to this game? What does Dan the dad do in this situation? We're landing at a half time and then we have to go through customs. So Daddy's in trouble. That is going to have the game DVR.

No spoilers. Please, gentlemen. I don't know how it's going to play out with balancing that. I'm assuming I'm not going to be alive by the time Monday. afternoon rolls around so there's no sense planning that far ahead like someone will take you out or dan parishes just before a franchise quarterback lands in florin park uh yeah so i i could see it would be incredible if donald got off to a fast start here and it is it is not the worst matchup um at all uh but the lines should win this game though i mean the lines should take care of business against

a middling or worse Jets team with a rookie quarterback 21 years old. If the lines do not take care of business, I'd be very worried in Detroit. The people in the desert think the Jets are the worst team in the league. Really? Really? Yes. In what way? In terms of over-under wins, you're saying?

Yes. Matt Patricia also making his debut, of course. So we'll see how that goes. Finally, the Los Angeles Rams last year's team of around the NFL, travel to the black hole. to face the Raiders, a traumatic week for Raiders fans after Cleo Mack was traded. But now there's a season that begins. And we'll see, Wes, how things go for the Raiders and Derrick Carr and the beginning of the John Gruden era, a really stiff test in week one.

Yeah, you know, we just talked about the Jets saying the people in Vegas think they could be the worst team in the league. I think maybe the only thing keeping the Raiders from that category is they have a veteran quarterback. and it's much easier to see a season going sideways for a team with a rookie quarterback and not much surrounding talent. But the Raiders, to me, that defense was already terrible. Now you lose Khalil Mack. You do have some interesting rookies. And then the offense, all these plans you made for wide receivers are walking out the door

and what do you have left? I think the Raiders are a team that are easy to dismiss because of Gruden. But one thing Gruden actually, you can. Look at that. statement imagine saying that back in january the raiders are easy to dismiss because of gruden right because of some of the moves that were made and just the way that he talks but one thing gruden was good at was like winning seven games like he was a wow let's that on the hall of fame flag let's play a lot of veterans let's play things very safe let's get rid of young players almost jeff fisher right like

he played it so safe that he was always a seven to nine win type of team and i think there's not many huge reasons why the raiders can't be that with a good offense defensive line with those rookie defensive linemen. I mean, they might have the best, like, group of rookie defensive linemen, you know, that we've seen in a little bit if they can knock them through. Good defenses don't play a bunch of rookie offense defensive linemen. And that said, I mean, this is a Rams team. I found this fascinating that we learned got in heavy to try to trade for Khalil Mack.

They do need pass rush help, but can you imagine had they pulled that off? And they were not in the deep distance. It's just that they were outbid to some degree. There's more proof, by the way, that I'm completely convinced that the Rams somehow through a loophole that the league or the media is not aware of do not operate under the salary. Well, they actually have a better salary cap situation than many other teams going into next season. You can push money into next year. You know, you have a rookie quarterback on his rookie contract. It's going to come do somewhere.

You have a lot of minimum players that Wade Phillips coaches up to help, like a guy like Troy Hill or whatever that. Yeah, they're one of the youngest rosters in the league. They're a young team. Despite them not playing in the preseason, I think they're going to be so well coached and so prepared that they take this one easily, and I'm going to lock that. Well, and it is, it's a student-vers mentor. You're locking it up.

Locking up a road team. I like that, Greg. I mean, the Raiders may be the worst team in football. We're also out of games, so that's it. I'll say this. That's a factor. This is a student mentor type thing, Gruden and McVeigh.

I mean, they are essentially harping copies of each other. A shout out to the London fans. This game begins at 3.15 a. And there will be people that we've met that are going to sit up and watch this thing. That's the difference between London and anywhere else. If you're overseas, you are pulling late night shifts, then you're rolling up into your data entry job at 5am, 2 hours later, with nothing, no sleep under your belt.

Sit down. I've talked to some of these. I was so confusing. Who is sitting down in this scenario, the data entry guy? The company, the data entry company has got all these employees that have gotten no sleep and you're trying to get the entry. You're not getting any data. There was an NFL game last.

night we're dominating why are profits dying on mondays and tuesday mornings this is why friday mornings too it's part of the appeal here sort of like how i'm a sessler today sort of how american celebrate like st patrick's day and sinko to myo when when there's an NFL game at 315 in the morning here it's a bit of an event and they're sort of a they're sort of a perverse you're getting away with something feeling when you're up at 315 watching football and drinking beer and everyone else has to go to work the next day. Cheat and life. Okay, there is our week one preview.

A reminder, 12 p.m. We'll be on stage at Piccadilly Circus at the NFL kickoff event and then two shows at the BAFTA. Check out that secondary market and don't be afraid to spend, spend, spend. Watch our experience from Sky Sports on NFL.com and Twitter and hit quick rundown of our Sunday at Sky Sports for you locals, 5 p.m., British and pregame show 6 p.m. 9ers, Vikings will be involved with studio segments with Neil Reynolds, Rob Ryman, Rob Ryan, Solomon. Ooh, we had some beers of Rob Ryan the other day. He was fun

to talk to. Solomon Wilcoz. And then after the Cowboys Panthers game during that game, which is at 925 local, we'll be part of those studio segments during that game as well. And then, of course, because that is not something we take it very seriously. The definitive, the flagship recap show, every Sunday night will be up late grinding grind 30 is when we record the week one recap which will go up live on Monday so make sure you check that out thank you to everyone for listening and we will now get back to our cricket match which has hours and hours to go it is 64 to 1 at 1248 local time thanks for listening until then this is dan hansis signing off for the quiet storm the mailman the old boss and a loose cannon with her earbuds on till sunday This is an IHeart podcast.