NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - NFL Around the League: NFC East - August 23st, 2013

Episode Date: August 24, 2013

Handsome Hank joins Gregg Rosenthal, Marc Sessler and Chris Wesseling to break down the latest headlines from around the league, dissect the NFC East and reminisce on its glory days. Don’t miss this week’s Metrics Matrix. Join the conversation on Twitter @NFL_ATL or #NFLATL.Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. The Around the League podcast is on Cawflint Time. Welcome to another Around the League podcast. My name is Greg Rosenthal in the host chair today for Dan Hansis, who is on vacation, but I'm joined still by a room full of heroes, Mark Sessler, Chris Wesleyan, and handsome Hank, Henry Hodgson of Dave Damashek football program fame joining us today.

What's going on? Thank you for having me, guys. I'm a longtime listener, first time a pairer, excited to be here. Isn't there normally another guy? Another one of you guys? There is. There is. He's taking one of his eighth vacations, I believe.

of the year is second during the preseason, during the week, you know, the busiest week of the precinctable. Dan knows he's going to listen to this podcast and within 40 seconds of opening he's going to be slashed by us for. He is on what I have heard is a business trip in Nevada. Oh, in Nevada. Las Vegas. Really? Oh, LA. The NFL's favorite place. I mean, you were talking about your fantasy draft last year, how Hansis didn't show up for that either. And I was thinking, when are fantasy draft? Oh, that's right smack in the middle of our busiest time. again. That is a, you know, Dan sat in remotely for last year's draft. It was two years ago that it completely blanked. But last year, I had to step up to get a glass of water. I'm sure

he is a different version of this story. I said, Dan, I need you to cycle in our fifth pick here in the draft. No problem, no problem. Come back, no pick has been made. We've been auto-picked Stephen Ridley, which actually turned out to be one of the few productive players we had. It's probably better than what he would have picked. Well, the reason he does it is because around week eight, when our team is completely crumbling, he's able to blame me for the draft process. So it's a smart move on his part. It's a veteran move.

It's a very smart move. He's that type of guy. So so far, Dan really hasn't missed too much, but we have a ton of preseason games on Saturday this week. Hasn't been a lot of huge news during the week. One interesting item today, which is Friday, was Felix Jones traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Leveon, Bell is hurt. What do we make about this? Looks to me like a tryout

LaRod Stevens Howling has an MCL sprain so they don't have that passing down specialist who can kind of flare out in the backfield Maybe they try Felix Jones in that role For a couple of weeks I don't think he's guaranteed to make the roster

By any stretch It feels like with any of these trades That are happening in mid to late August These one for one player We've seen what it's our third of the week To any of these guys have like a feel of a lock In the roster it seems like all of them have about a week to prove that they should be there.

Adrian Robinson, by the way, was the linebacker sent to Philadelphia. So, yeah, these guys, we don't even know if they're going to make the right. It just shows how quickly things change. Felix Jones was a first round pick five years ago. Jerry Jones, by the way, said this offseason, Felix Jones was a great first round pick. And I think he was trying to make the same case from Mike Jenkins. We got a lot out of Felix Jones,

and he's so great that now he might be out of the league just a few weeks later. So what do we think happened to him? because I don't think he looked as good last year or the year before on film as he did previous. Did all the injuries just wear him down and he no longer is quick enough? He averaged, what, eight and a half yards of carry as a rookie? Well, that was his thing, wasn't it? And once that speed goes away, if you don't have it left over, then there's not much left in your career. You're very average officer.

Exactly. Right. I think he was, I think he led the league or something like that. In his first couple years, he had a really high yards per game. I always thought he would bounce back. I guess it's not going to happen. He's still in the top five or six active running. backs for career yards per carryout like four point eight or something like that that is right

deceptive though yeah no he is though i think he's tied for fourth with de angelo williams i remember i was making that list earlier uh this preseason and felix jones was there in the top five he might be out of the league now there was more running back news today in the nfc east which we're going to preview at length in just a few minutes but let's talk about david wilson he's going to be the starter for the giants any any big takeaways here i would say that out of all of the the leap features I did, he is the one I feel most confident that we'll make the leap and become a breakout star. I just think he's up there with Adrian Peterson and C.J. Spiller to me is the most dynamic, like, can take it to the house on any run kind of running backs.

And in preseason we've seen he's been playing early downs. Andre Brown's just coming in on passing downs basically. So to me, like, it's clear they want David Wilson to run with this job. He really just, when you watch the Giants plays, one of the few players they have. right now outside of maybe Cruz that just pops out when you see him take the ball. And I think that they're smart because it's, I don't really care who starts in New York. It doesn't matter. It's like they're going to go with him and Brown.

And it's like, Coughlin's a guy, you just don't want to get on Coughlin's bad side and you'll continue to play and see snaps. But I think he's a very exciting player. And really, I don't see a lot to love about the Giants, but he is one guy that could lift that offense to a place that hasn't gone before. When we picked the making the leap candidates, that was one Chris was all over. We almost jousted it a little bit for the right to go with David Wilson, and he won that. He wanted David Wilson and Henry's boy, Lamar Miller, who's, you know, been singing a different two this month, struggling a little bit.

Did we see this going any different way? I mean, David Wilson is so much invested in him. Was this not the inevitable outcome of this was David Wilson's our starter? No, I don't think so. And Andre Brown, people think it's going to be a split. I don't think. Andre Brown's been a journeyman in his career, so we'll see if he's really going to be a factor.

And behind that offensive line, which is very injured right now, I don't know if either one of them is going to do that well. What do you think about that? Let's move on to the preseason games from Thursday night. Patriots and Lions, the Patriots have been on fire this preseason, and then they go out.

They're losing at halftime when the starters are in there, 16 to 3. They wind up losing 40 to 9. Tim Tebow does. doesn't even get into the game. To me, that was kind of expected. But is there any concern here, any big takeaways now that we've seen the Patriots for three games this preseason?

I guess you could say that the assumption that Brady is so good that all of these new, this new cast of characters is just going to fit in seamlessly. Might be a bad assumption. I'm not really worried about their offense. I think they'll be fine. But there will be some stops and starts along the way. And Ken Browell Tompkins just looked great last night. Greg and I were discussing this during the game

that he beat Darius Slay off the line then he beat Chris Houston off the line he's just so quick-footed and can get off the jam better than you would expect any rookie much less than an undrafted rookie Well and Slay's had a rough preseason because I watched him get fried by Cleveland two weeks ago he didn't necessarily have a great night last night

and I just think Tompkins is one reason every time people say you know the preseason is a waste of my time it's not real football well to the coaches and especially some of these players like it's not just the preseason games but i look at tomkins it's like the whole offseason process has been slowly you know building him into what may be their best wide receiver this season at least the guy that up through now has like looked to be most in tune with brady he's very been very productive and i think it's an exciting guy for them to unearth out of completely nowhere i think you're taking a shot at me when you're saying those people saying the preseason's worthless

That's what 95% of football fans just, I think that's what they say, isn't it? Hank feels differently. He's a big Dolphins fan for everyone out there listening that doesn't know. And he's living and dying with these preseason things. He's like, we're really going to learn what Ryan Tannahill and everything's about this week going into Lassie. Well, look, part of that is psychology for myself, since I have to sit through most of them. I don't want to be sitting there thinking I don't want to be here. So at least I need to convince myself that this a good idea.

But yeah, I enjoy seeing preseason, seeing young players like you're saying that, you know, guys that step up. I think it's interesting, even if they don't do it this year, you know, you have a little thought about, well, that guy could do it a year from now. Hank, you might be interested to know that Greg Cosell absolutely raved about Tannahill's last game on his podcast. He had a great game. He used the word incredible four different times in one sequence of talking about Tanya Hill. Sounds like Greg Rosenthal. Yeah, I mean, the preseason's fun for four guys like Kimber Upton. I mean, going into the preseason, we heard so many good things about this guy that he's going to wind up starting, even though he's an undrafted rookie from Cincinnati.

You're thinking, well, this can't really happen. This is crazy. But right now, watching him, I mean, he looks like a veteran. He looks ready to go. I still think the preseason. It reminds me, there's no predictive value, though. I still think in the preseason. I think that's fair.

I mean, it's hard to say, oh, well, let's look what happened two weeks ago. Every team is using their offenses and defenses so differently. And Belichick especially, I, you know, invariably Twitter was wondering last night, are the Patriots in trouble? And I just think, listen, we can take nothing that Bill Belichick does in August in draw from it a conclusion about where they're going to be two months from now.

I think actually last night's game almost plays into Bill Belichick's lap because now he's got something to rally his team around and get angry around and all that. I mean, as much as he said that it was disgraceful after the game, I think he was loving it. Now he has a chance to really tune that team up. My theory on the preseason is much like

when we go to our office cafe the huddle for lunch and we get there and hopefully no one there is listening to this podcast and you get there and sometimes there's no line at all and you think it's going to be really quick but it takes a while sometimes it's packed and you think there's no way i'm getting this meal in 20 minutes but it's right away and so you can look at all these factors that are going on and try to figure out oh is this going to take it but in in the end you know nothing and you're just wasting brain cells trying to figure out ahead of time so wonderful analogy analogy.

Well, the huddle is another operation. The huddle as an entity has been lashed on podcasts NFL-wide because on Damashek, he's gone on it. And you know what? I'm going to say it. They deserve it because you can't go in there. No, listen, I enjoy the product to some degree, but I have ordered probably a grilled cheese and French fries 35 times.

It has never looked the same, and it has never cost the same. And it never tastes good. I wasn't trying to kill it. I was just trying to say, you can't really. know what's going to happen before you go and it's all I'm going on record as pro huddle they do an excellent job on nice Wes we'll move on the other side of that game

Reggie Bush got the ball a ton the defensive line played well the offense has been a little scatter shot anything any big takeaways from the Lions as preseason I have been calling the Bengals the best defensive line in the NFL and I think the Lions might have them I think Jason Jones was

in the backfield on every play I watched last night he's going to love playing with Sue and Fairley taking up double teams Fairley's a beast. And he fits right in in terms of talking trash. Jason Jones was, you know. That was really young, wasn't it? No, no, he did, but Jason Jones did as well. And another time.

They all were getting in Brady's face, but Jason Jones had a couple plays where you mentioned he got in the backfield and he was talking to Brady too. They really enjoyed crushing Tom Brady last night. They did, yeah. It's funny, watching that game and then the other game last night, the Panthers' Ravens game, and both of them, the team that won had almost nothing they could take away on offense

that was particularly positive, but defensively, they both had outstanding games. So was there any concern about Cam or Joe Flacco from that game? I'm concerned about Flacco early in the season, right? I mean, Stokely was signed 12 days ago and was his go-to guy in key situations last night. That doesn't bode well. The one rookie who looked good to me was undrafted Marlon Brown out of Georgia,

and Harbaugh is kind of raved about him throughout training camp. He's a tall guy with athleticism, and he looked to have a much. better rapport with Joe Flacco than guys like Tandon Doss and Laquan Williams who have been there for a couple of years now. And they made a point about Flacco during the game that, you know, he couldn't have done this three years ago, but at this stage in his career after what he's accomplished, he basically told certain coaches, I want this guy, this young guy out on the field with me. I want to test different combinations of receivers. And that's smart because they're going to be doing

that week after week, I think, as the regular season opens. I think if you just look at you know, some facts with the Ravens, and you had said these facts going into the preseason, it would sound like they're in trouble. Number one, Brandon Stokely and Dallas Clark started their third preseason game. I mean, these are guys that no one in the league wanted. Number two, their number one draft pick, and their number two draft pick, Matt Elam and Arthur Brown, are not starting. And Brown is behind Josh Binds, who was an undrafted rookie a couple years ago.

At least he's kind of come up in the system. maybe he's going to be a really good player. But Elam is behind James Aheadabow, who's a journeyman. So those two things. And then number three, I guess, would just be that receiver battle that everyone was talking about. There really hasn't been any young guy to step up. Maybe it'll be brown. But I mean, I think that from the preseason, that's some level of concern.

Are you buying the Ravens, handsome Hank? I'm not buying the Ravens, but only because I am buying the Bengals. So in that division, I think the Ravens are going to have a harder time than they maybe have in previous years. And can we talk about the Panthers for a second because obviously the defense last night was a revelation. I think that, you know, Keeckley, in the defensive line is potentially special

if the outside linebackers can stay healthy, which is a complete question mark years on end. But Cam Newton is not to be doubted, but Cam Newton's offensive coordinator, Mike Shula, I just, I understand that it's vanilla time right now and you're not going to show much, but I'm not convinced that he has much. And I just don't, I look at that offense and I really question,

what can they bring to the table in a division where you're going to have to score points to keep up with the rest of that division? I have seen very little so far to elicit confidence. I guess the devil's advocate here is that Cam Newton has been brutal in the preseason his first two years in the league. It's true. I remember that rookie year he was terrible. Yeah, I mean, he's been.

terrible. And then he comes into the regular season. He's got arguably the best two-year start in the history of the NFL. Well, that's fair. They could be a flip side of the team they were a couple years ago, which was a great offense and a defense that was awful. And then it didn't quite work out where this year, I think you mentioned it. I mean, that front line with the cracking and Charles Johnson and Loe-Taleli and Kewan Short. I mean, that's a pretty good group there. Lo-Telalee and Short were all over the backfield last night, just putting clown suits on the on the Ravens guards. It was,

if you have, if you guys out there did not get a chance to watch this game, go back on game pass and watch Luke Keeckley's first half. It was unbelievable.

He looked like Erlocker. And it was a freaky game and largely because that play where he shot through the backfield and created a bumble. You could watch that 12, 13 times in a row and not be done.

Greg hopped on instant messenger and said, holy, did you see that play? It looked like he was in fast forward. He's going to be one of the most fun defensive players in the league. And, you know, Greg Cosell, who you mentioned earlier, said he thought he was the best middle linebacker in football by far in the second half of last season.

And that kind of showed up that he's going to be a big star. And he's going to need to be, I think, because that offense has a lot of declining players or guys that haven't proved themselves. Steve Smith is their most reliable player. He's getting a little older. Greg Olson's good. And then after that it's a lot of question marks. It amazes me that it seems like forever, Steve Smith has been their outstanding receiver and they've been looking for a number two receiver. and they still haven't managed to achieve that.

Oh, yeah. That's incredible. Much less the number three receiver. I mean, they got Ted Ginn and Armani Edwards. It's ugly. Let's move on to a division where there's a lot of questionable team. This is a division that Bruce Allen, the general manager of the Washington Redskins, said in a radio interview this week is the SEC of the NFL.

And I'm talking about the NFC East, of course. First of all, what do we think of the NFC East as a whole based off of that comment? There has been this blatant snobbery from the NFC East who think they are somehow head and shoulders above the rest of the NFL and it just doesn't hold water.

You mentioned this on the last podcast. Does any of the teams in the NFC East have a defense or a secondary that would scare anything? Crystal behind the glass are producers. is getting very upset. She's flexing her muscles. She's not excited about how this conversation is going.

I am highly upset. As a huge Eagles fan all my life, we have always been a fierce division. Just because we go through a little bit of growing pains for the past couple of years does not mean that you can take away from our legacy. The Eagles are the best thing going in this division for about the last 10 to 15 years overall,

but it's a pretty bad division. How many Super Bowls do they have to show for that? Why did I always get thrown an R-B? It's what, two in 17 years? Two in the last 17 years, but not only that, the Cowboys have one playoff win in that entire time. The Redskins arguably one of the worst three or four franchise in the league over that time because they've had almost no success.

And then the Eagles and the Giants obviously got their two Super Bowl. The NFC East, I do agree with the snobbery comment, and it reminds me of way back in 2000 when George Bush and Al Gore were running against each other, both trying to connect with the common man and the working man both who came from enormous riches and they described them as basically guys who were born on third base

thinking they'd hit a triple when they had just been... That's a great quote listen this NFC East is what we grew up loving and watching as kids speak for yourself well I'm just saying you have to admire the division for what it was during that great run it is not that division today

Henry as a fan from the UK that somehow fell in love with the NFL from there. Was the NFC East? Oh, yeah. I mean, I was thinking about, as we're talking about this, if you look at the ratio of primetime games, let's say, over the course of a decade, to

you know, great, actual great teams, it's way out of proportion. I mean, that division at one point, you know, you heard them speaking as if they were going to go and form their own league. You know, they'd be like the NFC East is breaking away to create its own, you know, it was

considered that good. Right now, Let's see how they work out this season. I think it's an interesting division to me this year, at least in that it's kind of tough to predict how it's going to shake out. And that's always a fun thing. But in terms of quality of those four teams, not the strongest division in the league by any stretch. Well, Henry's title here at NFL.com is the director of programming.

What is your nickname? The DOP? I did not. I don't give myself nicknames. Something like that. Well, he really respects the numbers. And that's what the NFC East is kind of about. Even though you can not enjoy the fact that the redskins under Jim Zorn were on Sunday night football and Monday night football seemingly every week for no reason.

The reason is because people watch. That's the truth. The best rated games are NFC East games. I think it was eight of the top nine Sunday night football games of all time were Dallas Cowboys games. And so people watch this division. They're interested. Let's start going around the room with our one question per team. Let's start with the Cowboys, Mark.

All right, I want to set this up because I believe this really tells us what we think about what Dallas accomplishes this season. We know Tony Romo's entrenched with that new contract. There's no question about them moving on from him. Will Jason Garrett be the head coach of this team next season? Wow. I'm picking the Cowboys to win the division, so I believe he will be.

Spoiler alert. Not supposed to give that away, you hope. Sorry. I'm sure everybody was on the edge of their seats waiting for my pick on the NFC. I have confidence in him, but he's probably the one coach most on the hot seat entering the season, isn't he? Him and Ron Rivera. I mean, in the division for sure. Definitely in that division. Yeah. Do you think Jason Garrett's back? I don't want to spoil anything, but I may also be interested in the Cowboys potentially theoretically winning the NFCs. So I have a feeling that he would be back.

that situation, but I will also caveat it and hedge my bets by saying, if they don't, I think, honestly, if they don't, let's say, break nine wins, I think he's done. I don't think he's back, and I wouldn't be surprised if he's not coaching the team by December, because I think everything they did this off-season with the defense is a problem. Well, they can't pull John Gruden out of the booth until after December. Well, I don't know. You never know. But Bill Callahan's in place, and he's worked with Gruden before, and Monty Kiffin, too. So they can have Callahan take over.

See, I think he'll be back. It's kind of seamless. You always can see that next off season. It almost feels like the wheels have already been set in motion for Gruden to seamlessly transition in that. See, I think he'll be back because of Jerry Jones, as delusional as he seems to have become, I think he understands that Garrett is the kind of coach he can control year to year. if Garrett will stay there. I don't think he can bring in the big name coach and make that work.

He tried that. But they have to win. And if they don't win this year, I don't think there's any chance Garrett's back. And I think they really hurt themselves when they brought in Monty Kiffin, who, by the way, couldn't have done a worse job at USC, was pretty much pushed out the door in Tampa Bay his last few years there because they were struggling with the Buccaneers.

Everyone seems to forget that. Has a style of defense that have kind of gone out of date in the NFL. and now he has to transform all these guys. A lot of them were older and injured. Interesting. Interesting that you mentioned Tampa 2 going out of style because, again, back to our man, Greg Kosell mentioned this last week, that he has a theory that Tampa 2 will come back

because of all the read option, that you need quicker players and playing closer to the line of scrimmage. And they have a couple, I mean, they have probably the best, most exciting young linebacker duo in the league and Sean Lee and Bruce Carter, our number two guy on making the leap. So I like those two guys. But the guys up front, Jay Ratliff,

counting on him to stay healthy. He's going to be tricky. Anthony Spencer, not sure what we're going to get. Let's move on to the next team, the Washington Redskins. So I have a question about the Redskins. A lot of optimism in Washington and elsewhere in the NFL that, you know, RG3 is coming back.

He's going to be healthy and this team's set for takeoff. What happens if RG3 comes back and he isn't the same guy Or even worse, if RG3 comes back and gets injured relatively quickly this season. Where do we see the Redskins going and, you know, is, do they have the pieces in place to win without RG3? I think for the Redskins, we forget what their record was at some point last season. Wasn't it like 3 and 6, right? And Greg, I believe as a around the league group, we wrote them off entirely and had to eat those words. But I do think that they also simultaneously have developed one of the ones.

of the game's better backup quarterbacks in Kirk Cousins. And if RG3 can't sustain a 16 game season, I don't think that the offense changes, no question, it loses some of its dynamic abilities, but it doesn't fall off a cliff. Some of my questions with the Redskins are more on the other side of the football. I think that they have a plan in place if RG3 can't do it, but I still don't see them as being quite as impressive as they were last season. Right. Let me couch this by saying that I firmly believe in RG3. I think he'll be fine. I don't think the knee's an issue. I did see that Ron Jaworski came out today and said that he didn't like what he saw from RG3's mechanics,

that he was off, the knee was causing him to throw differently. But to answer your question, if RG3 is not under center for some reason, I think they fall flat on their face. I agree. I think they're the worst team in the division if RG3 isn't playing. But you are in the camp of cousins of thinking he's capable. I think Cousins is a fine backup, but I think they do a job of managing him. The coaching staff does. He's more like, to me, like an Alex Smith type of quarterback. I don't think he's a difference maker, whereas RG3 is one of the few difference makers. Right. And that difference you have to make is making up for the defense, which just is flat out not that good. Tom Brady wasn't the same coming off a torn ACL. Why do we just

assume that Robert Griffin the third is, who's entering his second year, didn't get to practice. I'm worried less about the mobility and more about the accuracy. I mean, that was the thing that stuck out to me. Week after week, he might have been the most accurate quarterback in the entire NFL. It's, I mean, it's tough. It's tough enough if you're just going into your second season and you're healthy and you've practiced. And, you know, you mentioned the defense and the, I mean, Brandon Meriwether, they're

still hoping is going to play a role for them. And DeAngelo Hall's still on that team. And Bacari Rambo, a rookie is going to be playing safety. And there's not a lot to be excited about on the defense. Let's move on to the Philadelphia Eagles. That's you, Chris Wesleyan. So we've seen in their preseason games, we've already seen Chip Kelly running some pretty exotic schemes.

But I saw Brent Seleck say this week, he can almost see the smirk on his face saying, I can't wait to unleash what we're going to do. My question to you guys is just how much different is the Eagles offense going to look than the rest of the league? Have they been so vanilla so far, even though we have seen exotic schemes? It's Chip Kelly just going to throw the whole league for a loop.

I could see it happening. I mean, if they're vanilla in the preseason, and it's pretty interesting. They got four tight ends on the field. They got no tight ends some plays, and then four wide receivers stacked on top of each other. You don't know what's going on with that. And they're playing at a very fast pace.

I could see it. Yeah, I agree with that. I think we've, like any other team, we've only seen a fraction of what Kelly plans to do, maybe what is even implemented to some degree. What I love is the options that he's given Vic and Foles on certain plays where it's like you can give the ball to the running back, but there are four different targets within 10 yards of you

that don't have a defender on them and you don't see what they've done anywhere else. My question really when I watch the Eagles is how dunderheaded is the rest of the league that if it succeeds, no one else is copying it very quickly. Right, but we don't know if it succeeds yet. I mean, it's great to talk about exotic and it's going to be fun to watch.

No doubt, more reason to tune into NFC East games and put them in prime time. But does it actually translate into wins? I mean, let's just wait and see on that front. Because, you know, a lot of coaches subscribe to that. I think it was a, in Hard Knocks, it was a conversation between two coaches and I can't remember who it was, saying, you know, it's all about keeping it simple. And that's the other philosophy that coaches have of like, you know, it was Marvin Lewis. And I can't remember who.

Mike Smith, yeah. Mike Smith, there you go. So, but, you know, it's, it's about keeping it simple. Now, is it really the case that, like, doing 100 complicated things translates into, you know, 12 wins? But the way the NFL works, you always got to try to be a year ahead of everyone. Everyone's going to the up-tempo offense now. Everyone's going to figure out their own ways to defend the read option. You've got to be a year ahead.

That's what the Patriots tried to do. And we kind of knew what the Patriots were doing in week two or three last year with this up-tempo pace. And no one really caught up. I mean, they had a pretty great regular season. So I think it's tough to adjust in season. I think if they come out and they're as exciting as we think, I think, you know, sky's the limit, especially in this division. They remind me, you know, that's the one game I'm most looking for. forward to see that Monday night game just to see what Chip Kelly has in store.

Absolutely. They do remind me a little bit of what the Redskins did last preseason, where they were just, they slow played the rest of the league in the preseason, and then they came out against the Saints and just unleashed this whole new offense. But they are giving us hints, and obviously, like Chris Brown wrote that one column where he actually sat down and linked where you could see remnants of Oregon's offense, but also stuff completely different from that. And, yeah, if that's just a hint of what we're going to get, then you're right, that opening game for the Eagles and Redskins is a doozy. It's multiple storyline.

Everyone's going to go RG3, but I think the real, like, football fans are going to see exactly what it is the Eagles do. And there's talent here. There's remnants of a team that was expected to be very good. I mean, Michael Vic in the right system. You have Lashon McCoy might be one of the best running backs in the league. I would certainly put him in the top three, I would say. You have a top pick at tackle and Lane Johnson. You've got Jason Peters, I mean.

Deshawn Jackson, who's had, from all accounts, the best training camp of his career. The question is the defense. Can anyone name the Eagles defensive coordinator? Maybe I shouldn't do this. It's Billy Davis? Yeah, okay. See, we know what we're talking about here at Rodney the League. Well, will he be their defensive coordinator six months from now, a totally different conversation?

It's good to have a defensive boss named Billy. Not a lot of experience on their defense. There's a lot of experience on the Giants defense in terms of the coach. coaching. They have a lot of continuity. But my question is about the Giants' defense, and basically, do we think this Giants' defense is going to be a big liability? Yes. Well, it was last year.

It gave up, I think, the 31st most points in the league. Unless anything's changed. Justin Tuck said yesterday the day before he believes they could have the number one defense in the NFL, which means they only have to get 30 places better. Well, they're hoping something changed. I mean, they brought in Cullen Jenkins. They drafted Hankins in the second round. They're hoping Justin Tuck kind of revives his career.

I feel like the defensive line will be fine. I guess Jason Pierre-Paul is the major question mark there coming off a back surgery. But the linebackers were bad last year and looked pretty bad this year. The secondary was too easy to throw on last year, and they still look easy to throw on. They always seem to get some crushing injuries in the secondary. Right. And this is like the six year in a row or something where their schedule is so rough down the stretch.

They always give them this kind of cream puff slate up front. And then it's a murderer's row, and they're never fully healthy. And in the past, that's how they've, as a 9 and 7 team after starting like 6 and 2 or something, have snuck into the playoffs. I don't see them starting that way this year. I just think that there's too many liabilities on defense.

And this is pivoting off the defense a little bit. But let's say they go 7 and 9. nine or eight and eight are we then back to talking about eli manning as just kind of how we talked about him a couple years ago before he won the second super bowl and everyone was forced to pretend he was a top five quarterback that is the only one that's an excellent question because i thought the exact same thing i think actually now he is he is the quarterback that people thought he was a few i think he is tangibly better now than he was three or four years except for that stretch last year when he had a dead arm and he refused to admit it

Yeah, and we can't just talk about, oh, let's lay out the issues for the Giants. They're all on defense, and then when they go seven and nine, let's blame Eli Manning. I think he was not the guy. He's not a two-time Super Bowl winner in the sense that he alone tugged them there. He played really well. He's got two of Justin Tuck's Super Bowl MVP trophies. Basically, I mean, it's like, you know, he's a very reliable guy. He's not as bad as they're going to say as either if they crumble.

No, for the record. I mean, I think he's very good. I don't think when you're putting him up in that class, those are the types of quarterbacks to just carry a team and just make everyone better. And I don't think he's... He's not that guy. He's not that guy.

If his name were Eli Schappenfrost, would he be... Or is it Eli Manning that helps him be put in that class? He would not be getting the same amount of commercials if he was Schaffin Frost. I wish he was. All right, let's go around the room and predict the division here. Mark, let's start with you.

Okay, and it's weird because Wes and I seem to continually have the same records here. but I have the Cowboys winning the division at 9 and 7 The Redskins also 9 and 7 but missing out on the playoffs like the rest of the division And I have the Eagles at 8 and 8 I think they'll be a very intriguing team

To watch, fun to watch And then the Giants based on what we're just talking about I see them at 6 and 10 And I think the floor sort of falls out Wow I think that would be the end of Kaufflin's career Just on his own decision if that happened Does he get time to

Does he get the opportunity to call time on his If it goes wrong this year, he can still say, I want out rather than being told, excuse me, Tom, we've just removed your office. I think he's earned that, but I think he would want out is the thing. I really think he's so year to year right now anyways that I don't know if he'd want to be back. Hank, I know, you know, you haven't been with us for the other predictions, but do you have some NFC's predictions? I do have NFC's predictions.

I want to say how much quickly I admire you guys, because as I understand it from talking to each of you, you've actually worked out your predictions by work, you know, not everyone can be 10 and 6, someone has to lose. So congratulations. I haven't had to go through that. So I can just throw out whatever I want. So I'm saying the Cowboys are going to win the division and I have 10 and 6 next to their name. I'm going to say the Redskins are 9 and 7 and miss out on the playoffs. I think the Giants finish 8 and 8 and the Eagles at 7 and 9. So it's pretty close. It's going to be exciting. Like I said about this division, I'm excited to see how it shakes out because I think it is all pretty tight.

I agree with it. I think it's a very mediocre division and it's a very even division. I have the Cowboys at 10 and 6 winning the division. The Cowboys are the favorite suddenly? That's three for three. I don't think the rest of the country believes this, but just the three men in this room. So far.

I have the Redskins also at 10-6, but not in the playoffs. All right. Giants at 9 and 7. The Eagles bringing up the rear at 7 and 9. I believe the Eagles could easily finish first two. I just don't have any faith in their defense. All right, I did communicate with Dan this morning. He was just waking up at one in the afternoon,

but he texted me his prediction, so we would have him for the record. Redskins 10 and 6 from Dan, so he's the first person to have the Redskins repeating. Giants, 9 and 7, Cowboys 8 and 8, and the fourth straight person to have the Eagles in last place with 5 and 11. I'm sorry, Crystal, but I'm going to make your day right here

because I'm going on with the Eagles and Chip Kelly. Forget about last place. I like them for first place as the surprise team in the NFC this year. Greg, you're my new favorite person. I've got to get to stay in the host chair now. That one last comes back. With Crystal, trust me. Oh, wow.

I have the Giants at 9 and 7. Even despite the concerns, I just think the coaching's good there. Redskins, RG3 is not quite the same at 8 and 8. And I have the Cowboys, led by a poor defense, going 6 and 10. in last place. So yours are exactly flipped from what everyone else had. Apparently, yeah. We had four eagles in last place, three cowboys in first,

one for the Redskins, yeah. I mean, this division, I don't think anything would surprise. Right, but I think the one thing you do know about this division, when it comes to the playoffs, this is the fourth seed, and this is the team that gets knocked out by a wild card team. Is there any scenario where Chip Kelly is won and done? No.

No. Why do we laugh that off? Like, it's so impossible, though. is there, it's, it can't, it cannot happen. If he was 3 and 13, I don't even think he'd be won't done. There's nobody, the people above him aren't, aren't smarter than him. Okay. And they know it.

Yeah, like usually when they're in it, they're in it to win it with Chip Kelly at this point. Usually when a coach is one and done, it's because he's kind of a laughing stock. I don't think. Cameron was one and done, and he was no laughing stock. Oh, wait. Let's move on to the Metrix Matrix, America's favorite running segment about pageview. Let's start. If you haven't heard the game before,

I throw out three stories from the week that all did surprisingly well and our guys are going to try to guess which one did the best. All right, starting off with Terrell Pryor is wearing the number two jersey formerly worn by Jamarcus Russell in Oakland. That's choice number one.

Number two is John Moffitt. Mark Xavier in Cleveland didn't last there long and then was traded from Cleveland over to Denver. John Moffat is choice number two. And number three on the list, New York Jets wide receiver. We almost went a whole show without mentioning the Jets with Dan Gond, but here we go. Santonio Holmes is milking his injury

according to some Jets organizational members, according to the New York Post. So once again to review, we've got Darrell Pryor wearing the number two jersey of Jamarcus Russell in Oakland, John Moffitt traded to the Broncos, and San Antonio Holmes milking his injury. Let's start with you, Mark. I'm going to go Moffitt because I think that Seattle is huge in terms of readership, and so is Denver. Henry who should really win this game every week because all he cares about his numbers he doesn't even love football

he's just into the metrics I'm just kidding he loves football but he's into the numbers he loves the numbers that's true I am also going to go with Moffat I think there's a couple of reasons not least that it's the oldest story of the three that you just gave us the options on

and you like the Greg CoSell of metrics you come in with like a completely different view with a playbook and and so it's had more chance to collect page views? See, now, I got to defer to Henry a little bit on that. I wasn't even thinking about the... You can jump on that bandwagon.

I'm not going to do it. You know, a trade story always does well, and a screwed up trade story even does better, I'm sure. And Jamarcus Russell does well. I'm going against my mantra that the Jets that fans don't care about the Jets nearly as much as the media does. I think when you throw in the term milking it, I think that's going to get people a little riled up, wanting to read about San Antonio Holmes.

So I'm going with San Antonio Holmes as milking his injury. All right, Wessling goes with San Antonio Holmes. Wesleyan, you are absolutely incorrect. But he won it last week. And Mark and Henry had the same answer. John Moffitt gets traded after briefly being to Brown over to the Broncos. And you guys are absolutely correct. You got it.

There you go. It had all the elements. Henry, your prize is you can come back to the show anytime, and you pretty much could any time because you're kind of our boss. I'm not your boss. That's not true, but I'd love to come back. If you invite me back again, and in the meantime, I'll be listening to all your shows instead. All right.

Well, we've gone long today. It was a lot of fun. We'll be hitting the NFC North on Monday. We'll also recap all the preseason games on Monday for Mark Sessler, Crystal Rich, Behind the Glass, Henry Hodgson and Chris Wesseling. I'm Greg Rosenthal. We will see you later. Hey, everybody.

Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the 6, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team-building philosophy's coaching trends in how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else. It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sunday.

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