NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - NFL Around the League: September 6th, 2013

Episode Date: September 7, 2013

A room full of heroes -- Gregg Rosenthal, Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler and Chris Wesseling - breaks down the Denver Broncos' blowout win in their season opener against the Baltimore Ravens. Despite Peyton Manning's historic game, Wesseling tells you what leaves him unimpressed. The crew also gives you their hero picks on top of their Week 1 game predictions. 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 agrees to offset contract language. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the League podcast. My name is Dan Hansis, and I'm John. joined by a room full of heroes, Chris Wessling, Mark Sessler, and Greg Rosenthal. What up, boys?

So you've got your own sun-kissed calves today. Yeah, well, you know what? This is my off-day, my scheduled off-day, and I decided Wes wears shorts on his off-day. It's 90 degrees out. I'm going to do the same. It's not the same level of calves. I mean, this guy carved out of, like a sculpture carved from the Greek gods, but I'm trying my best. They're impressive on some level.

Wesleyan when we hired him is a different man than he is today I mean you've found out you're going to move out to Los Angeles it's almost cliche and you just what dropped 40 50 pounds something like that I lost about 25 for 30 pounds I embellished a little that's what I do

it's almost as if he was preparing for the Zarina's by the pool that was the plan and now his body is ready it's a temple okay so first of all we are going to dive into the Thursday night game which is pretty crazy on several levels. Before that, a little housekeeping, the iTunes page, rate, download, leave comments,

anything else, K. Rich, behind the glass. No, that's about it. Just mention Twitter. And, oh, yeah. You can mention Twitter. I can mention Twitter. What about Twitter? Go on Twitter. Tell us what you think about the podcast. Use the hashtag, hashtag NFL, ATL. We would love to hear from you. We've already given out prizes for people who use the hashtag. So, you know, it and abuse it. The poor listener has already been saddled with like seven or eight major assignments. And by the way, the difference between Kay Rich and Wilk Ty and Wilk Ty, you know, God bless him in his new quest to be a TV producer star.

Kay Rich is the girl that makes sure when we promise prizes to people, she gets them out to the humans, including a prize being sent overseas to the other side of the world. To Australia. Oh, yeah. So thank you very much, Kay Rich. All right. So let's get right into it. Who wants to start?

Greg, you are the boss. That is your nickname. It's growing across the nation. It's spreading. Thursday night, crazy Bronco Ravens opener. Well, I just thought how good Wesleyan's prediction of the Broncos looking like the 07 Patriots and Julius Thomas being a breakout star looked quickly because that was about as explosive a half as you're ever going to see. and that's the sign of a truly explosive, unstoppable offense is that they score in bunches.

I mean, they had 21 points in a six-minute span. You don't see that too often. You came out of half-time down 17-14, and suddenly it's a blowout midway through the third quarter. It was a blitzkrieg on the other side of the ball. The 35 points, that was unreal. And I'd say it kind of went down like a lot of has expected it to. Manning is going to be able to just take advantage of those missed points.

matches, and we saw that last night with Welker and Julius Thomas, if you're going to leave them in single coverage underneath or down the seam because you're double covering Demarius Thomas and Eric Decker, it's too easy for Peyton Manning. He's, you know, I wasn't impressed with his arm strength at all last night. He wasn't getting much on the ball deep, but he's like the football version of Greg Maddox now. He's more of an artist. He's painting with strokes out there, mixing up balls and mixing speeds.

I thought he looked great. I don't see how anybody is going to stop that offense. Yeah, I watched the game actually over at Dan's very nice apartment. Showed up uninvited, I might have. Well, no, I was, you texted me and asked if I wanted to watch him. Wes, I think you're correct because it's like Manning's arm, we mentioned that a few times last night. It just doesn't look to have, you hear about how much zip it had and how much stronger it is. It isn't, and it doesn't need to be necessarily with the way that offense functioned.

I saw no zip whatsoever, but I also saw him just dropping beautiful passes. into the bucket right into the receiver's hands, 30 yards down the field. Well, here's a perfect example. I don't want to interrupt it, Mark. One example is the first completion of the game he had to Wes Welker, where you had to get it into a tight spot by the sideline,

and it kind of seemed like it floated in there, but it got exactly where it needed to be, and he moved the chains with it. Daniel Jeremiah on Twitter said it perfectly, which is that Peyton Manning throws the most beautiful, perfect, ugly passes in the league. I mean, that's kind of what he majors in right now, The two touchdowns were kind of beautiful passes, but they were wobblers, but they were still right on the money.

The timing is great between him and the receivers. He's always got that pass as they're hitting their stride, beating a defender right down the sideline. Yeah, and you take a night where, like, Eric Decker, for instance, really had a pretty ugly game. Very ugly. They have so many guys that one or two of your parts cannot be operating at 100%. There were a couple of mistakes there, and it's like it didn't. There was such an onslaught of targets. out there. And I think that we're going to find out, you know, eight weeks from now that

Baltimore's defense is not even the worst of what, you know, in terms of faring against the Broncos, Baltimore will be fine on defense, ultimately. They're a first guinea pig against this Broncos offense, and it's not, it's going to be ugly for a lot of teams to face. And they didn't run the ball at all. The Broncos couldn't run. I mean, they had no Sean Moreno in there the whole first half, essentially, just because he could pass protect. And that's all they're asking their running backs to do. They put Monty Ball in in the second half, running situations near the goal line and they couldn't really run the ball and it didn't matter and that's the NFL right now we probably talk too much about running back problems it doesn't

really matter if you have Peyton Manning and all those receivers and just watch if if julius thomas turns out to be uh impact player this year breakthrough player and eric decker had the worst game of his life when he plays the way he should play what i think i'm starting to be on the west bandwagon with this this could be 500 point offense type stuff we're talking about and And the other thing with Welker, it's amazing how quickly those guys seem to have a connection now. And if he stays healthy, he's going to have 115 catches again. I mean, we saw, so what, the regular season record for pass attempts shattered last night. Right.

Combined pass attempts in a non-overtime game. My question is, there have been so much of a scheme change towards the past game in the last couple seasons. Are we going to see that go down a couple times this season? Yes. I think so because it's not just the past game. the no huddle and the past game. And I thought that as an NFL fan last night, the one drawback of the no huddle offense is these games are long.

And it wasn't just because of the delay. There's so many plays. That was a three-hour, 40-minute game or something like that. It just went on forever. I think the average game last year was about 105 plays. And last night's game was 150. Hmm. I think that's going to be, I mean, with all these eagles, bills,

Jaguars we know are going up-tempo probably a few more teams it's a copycat league I see everybody trying to run 75 or 80 plays this year when does the network decide that the traditional 405 or 415 start for the East Coast games gets bumped to 445

or something next year well they have done it a little bit 60 minutes man the 425 games for the national late games they have bumped it back and we want to move into all the previews we're going to preview every game on this show by the way But the one thing I want to think about the Ravens was it was a worst-case scenario.

The biggest news last night was Jacoby Jones and Michael Orr getting hurt. If those are serious injuries, those are positions. They already didn't have much depth at and could be a big-time problem. That was a game that got away from the Ravens, so I don't want to put too much into it. But one thing that definitely stood out to me, when they fell behind and they need to get back in the game, it jumped out to you the dearth of weapons that Flacco has. How many times did he target Dallas Clark, who was last an effective play? player in about 2008, maybe.

He and Stokely led the team in Target. Stokely who can't move. I think Collinsworth even said at one point, the guy was gas trying to get some separation down the field. He was looking at these guys time and time again, and if Tori Smith is not a number one receiver and they desperately need him to be. And if he's really just a really good number two receiver, they're going to have a lot of, and forget, at Dixon, too.

I mean, that guy couldn't catch the ball. They did not look at an offense. He doesn't move well. He doesn't move any better than Dallas Clark does at age 34. Right. We said in the preseason, how bad of a sign it was that Stokely and Clark started their third preseason game. They really don't seem to have any answers there. They're going to have to win games different types of ways.

If you want to talk about a bad sign, that first pass of the game when Stokely took an hour to turn his body around with nobody around? Yeah, that was outrageous. He should have had the first downing. You thought if that was any other slot receiver, he's getting a first down on that play. I have friends whose fathers could have constructed that play with more power and speed. Before we go on, I just want to ask, should we be worried about the Ravens based on this game, or is this kind of just the one that got away?

I think it went down like we thought it was going to go down. The receivers are a problem. Their tight ends are a problem. It's going to take a while for Flacco to get in sync with him. If Marlon Brown can emerge as a true weapon, maybe that, you know, we've got to get, I think we have to give them some time to get that figured out. In the defense, I think that was more about the Broncos than the Raven.

Yeah, I'm not worried. If that was a preseason game, we would have watched the first half and said, Wow, the Ravens are defending their championship pretty well. They outplayed the Broncos. They ran out of gas in Denver. A lot of teams do that. They didn't have answers trying to come from behind. I think they'll be fine.

I'm not that worried. Okay, so now we turn our attention to Sunday and Monday, the proper start of the season. It's going to be very exciting. I guess the way we're going to do this, we're going to each take a game that really jumps out to us as interesting. We're going to talk about those four games. Then we'll get into, we have our picks.

that we do every week, and you could get it on the Around the League blog. One category that we have for our picks is called the hero pick, which is when one of us picks a team that no one else picked out of the five of us. So whoever took a hero game gets to explain why they took the underdog, and we'll go over those games, and then maybe we'll talk a little about the orphans as well, the games that we didn't talk about. But let's start with Mark Sessler.

What game in week one is jumping out to you on Sunday? I guess for me, the one that I have, whenever I've looked at this schedule, that just pops out, is Green Bay going to San Francisco, you know, just eight months after that very ugly. I rewatched that playoff game, and I can't find another game from last postseason where two teams that you thought would battle equally to some degree, where one of them was just brutalized. Like Green Bay spent its entire offseason saying,

we are going to be, you know, tougher. It's tough. It's weird to hear Mike McCarthy say, we weren't tough enough. we're going to have to get more physical. They dispatched their coaches to try to figure out the 49ers read option. And some people are making a big deal how, oh, San Francisco hasn't done any of that in the preseason nonsense. I mean, Greg Roman is always two or three steps ahead of everyone. I can't wait to see what the Niners bring to this compared to what the Packers have spent the entire offseason trying to prepare for.

We're going to find out really quick what Green Bay's defense is about, I think. And I've expected that defense to be better. but they're not playing with Casey Hayward this week. Morgan Burnett did not practice on Friday their safety, and he's questionable for the game. So that puts a stress on their secondary immediately. And it's not often you see a team sort of build entire off season around the way one game ended

and then start the next season with that game. So, I mean, it's only week one, but it's one of those games that you feel like their game last year, remember in week one that would reverberate through the whole season and that game did make a difference it makes a difference for seeding at the end of the year and I think these two teams are going to be in the playoffs so even though it's week one still an important game and we all predicted that yesterday's game would be high scoring and that turned out to be the case I think the same thing will happen here I'm curious how how healthy Cobb and Jordy Nelson are they I know they're going to play

and they've been practicing but are they going to be the guys that we know them as because without them there's a lot um you know that's a big two missing pieces for them well i think people forget that both of those players were injured last year yeah in that game and that was huge the defense was banged up too right they the packers were definitely not clicking on all cylinders going into that game um and you're right they spent all offseason doing this and if you look ahead a week too they've got rg3 next week so wouldn't it be funny if they spent all off season preparing for this and then greg roman throws them a curveball and doesn't even use the the Reed option or the pistol that much.

Maybe he has something totally new up his sleeve. I want to see what the 49ers defense looks like too, because everyone thinks 49ers, big, tough, strong team. Their defense was not good down the stretch last season. They made it to the Super Bowl really on their offense, and now they got to play Aaron Rogers in a pretty primed offense. I don't know if that 49ers defense is as good as their reputation. Well, this is another team.

We talked about Cobb and Nelson being out last year. Justin Smith, who, when he's right, is among the, top five defensive players in the NFL, Alden Smith were both injured in that game. So, you know, you had Cobb and Nelson on the Packer's side and then the two Smiths on the 49er side, so it'll be interesting to see everybody healthy now. Well, and we saw Alden Smith's sack totals vanish, you know, post-justin Smith injury. And so you're right, Green Bay didn't get a full dose of what San Francisco has to offer either. And for the record, Cobb says his biceps is a non-issue right now, and Nelson is allegedly

running just as fast as he ever has. Did anyone take the Packers? We split. The room split. Sessler and Wesleying took the Packers. Greg and I took the Niners. Even though I had the Packers winning the Super Bowl, had them losing this week.

I like that. Keep everybody on their toes. Okay, I'll go next. Me, I have the game that maybe got the most media in the offseason in terms of the two teams. The Philadelphia Eagles against the Redskins on Monday night. The two things, they're kind of obvious, but I think everyone's fascinated to see how it plays out, how Chip Kelly's offense looks now that you get the vanilla taken out and how they're going to debut in the NFL

and also RG3, how he's going to be used. Are you going to see a similar attack with RG3 moving around and running a lot or is he going to be a more pocket guy in his first game back? I think for me it's almost like that shifts the interest to the two defenses because I'm not really sold on Washington's defense and I'm certainly not sold on Phillies. And Philly doesn't quite know what the Redskins are going to bring

and how they're going to use RG3. But talk about having to be a guinea pig. If you're Washington's defense, and you've been given little glimmers and hints of what Chip Kelly has to offer. I mean, Hazlitt basically said, I went back and watched 24 games from Oregon. I've studied it up and down.

If they have anything else to bring, God bless him. But, you know, I feel like Kelly does, and he will continue to surprise. Can I just ask you a question? You said that that shifts your interest to the defenses. Are you not fascinated to find out how those two things actually play out? Because I feel like as much as they've been covered, still it's like we're finally going to see it. Oh, I'm completely interested in that.

But it's also, it's like these two defenses are going in completely blind to what they're going to see. And so they're part of the equation on how the offense is like. Now we're on the same page. We're on the same page, Dan. You guys just have a chemistry that makes me feel awkward to even be in the room with you. We're under the blanket again on the couch watching the game. Big ball of popcorn. This is a coaching geek game.

This is a football geek game. And it's the perfect Monday night game. Because after this first week, you're kind of ready for that hit of football all off season long. And then you just get overloaded Sunday. And it's almost like too much. And you're almost tapped out a little bit. You're overwhelmed. And you need that Monday night in the first game.

A lot of times it's not that great. And it couldn't be better than this one. I mean, if you're into schemes, into offense, people forget the Shanahan's can cook. up some great stuff with Griffin I mean it's not going to be any better than this and I expect the Eagles to win this game this was actually a hero pick

on the site I was the only one to pick the Eagles and it's partly because I just trust in Kelly and I don't... That's not right That's not right. I'm sorry buddy. Oh that's right. Nice try. Oh, I'm sorry. Nice try. Wes and for the record. That's right. We wouldn't even be talking about it yet. Greg can spread any more lies Greg and West took the Eagles

Cessler and I, kindred spirits, took the Redskins along with Patra. This is the taste of your own medicine game, I think. All right, Greg, do you want to go on? Are you just so upset now? That's good. This is the taste of your own medicine game. The Redskins last year,

through the whole league for a loop, unleashed this new offense in week one, knocked off the Saints, announced their presence as a team to be reckoned with. I think the Eagles might do the same thing to them Monday night. And they're going to kind of, to throw teams for a loop for a few weeks. The test is, can you keep it up once teams figure you out?

I could see the Eagles winning a couple of surprise games early on, then going through like mid-season doldrums like the Redskins did last year. I don't know if they're talented enough on defense to then come back at the end of the year and get hot like the Redskins did last year. I would love more than anything to see this game go into overtime 3-3, and then someone hit like a 49-yard field and just watch Twitter melt into itself. That would be great. This is the perfect John Gruden game, by the way.

Just him and the coaching and him getting. I might be muting that one. This guy. Hey, Kyrich, who do you have in this game, by the way? Oh, you guys didn't know? The big Philadelphia Eagles fan? No, of course we knew. We really don't know what we're going to see out of either of these quarterbacks.

No. I mean, RG3 could be the same guy or he could be totally different. And Michael Vick, everyone forgets, was kind of a disaster by the end of last season. What is the Eagles fan expecting out of Michael Vick? This is honestly what I expect. As an Eagles fan, putting all of my prejudice aside, I feel like Mike Vick will struggle a little bit in his week one game before later in the season he gets back to his 2010 self. But the first game, I believe he will struggle. I'm not saying they will lose.

I will not say that about my team right now. But I feel like he will have to go through his Chip Kelly growing pain. I feel like Greg and I have more confidence in your team than you do. Well, that's, Crystal makes a good point, though. Hart has been broken year after year. Wow. So you're saying that the growing pains will be on the Eagles side,

not on the surprised defenses side. Yeah. I didn't know what he was talking about either. Yeah, neither did I. That's a good point that Kerritch brings up, though. If Vic struggles out of the gate, how long rope do you think he gets? Long rope.

Yeah? Yeah, I think so. Because, I mean, well, personally, I just think that, you know, whether or not the Eagles have their quarterback of the future, Kelly seems like he wants to pick a guy and stick with him versus creating chaos that gives you Nick Foles on the other side. Wes, do you want to give us your game of the week?

Yeah, I'm interested in the Bears and Bengals. Two teams that I picked to be wildcard teams, I don't know that they're the class of the NFL, but they look pretty strong to me. I think most people see the Bengals as having a stronger roster. And the Bears, as much as we've liked, their offensive line from what we've seen in the preseason, this is a big test for them because the Bengals have

arguably the best defensive tackle in the NFL and Gino Atkins and a stout line overall so this is going to be a big test for the Bears This is one of the most predictable picks We'll have all season You have Cessler who thinks the Bears are going to go 19 and O Wesleying who just despises the bangles To the point where he'll never pick them

And then you have two people Sanity in the wilderness Greg and I picking the bangles I couldn't even remember who I picked in this game It was the toughest game of the entire 16. This one in Panthers, Seahawks, I thought. It's such an even matchup. And Andrew Whitworth is not going to play in this game.

He's doubtful. Most likely he's out. And he has to go, you know, now they have a backup left tackle going up against Julius Peppers. Henry Melton's going to play in this game. There wasn't a single Chicago bear on the injury report this week. And that is arguably, you know, everyone talks about the Bengals, maybe the best defensive line in football. If everyone's right in Chicago, couldn't they be in the mix?

They could be. I think the lions are now. Just an update. Greg has picked the Bengals. Dan has picked a girl pop outfit from the early 80s, the Bengals. Ah, yes, Susanna Hawks. I don't know where she's still looking good. Yes, she's a great woman.

One thing I will say, actually I knew it was the team and not the fading pop in. But one thing I will say about the bears, look out, because if they get off to a fast start, I think they'll really start rolling. And I could see them being a 12-win team if they get out of the gate fast. Two quick stats. Wes and I noticed this on the NFL network feed before we came up. The Bears gave up two rushing touchdowns at home all last season. I love their defense as much as I think their offense will sing.

But also, Andy Dalton did not complete a 15-yard or plus yardage pass all preseason. I watch Hard Knocks, and I am not surprised by that's that. I just, you know, for me, it's a huge game for these two quarterbacks because they're both under pressure. They've been surrounded by more weapons than in the past with the scheme's been dressed. around them. A lot of pressure to succeed. I think that, for me, what's what I'm interested to look at. I have visions of Tim Jennings catching three interceptions against Dalton. I could see it. This is my favorite football day of the year, by the way, because of this game, it's like we don't know what's going to happen with Tressman and Cutler and everything's

new. And people always say, oh, division around, this is the best day of football. The first Sunday of the year is the best football day of the year because you have no idea what's going to happen. It's been so long since you've had one, and most importantly, you have the most football in front of you. So I think it steadily goes down and down after this. This is it right here. That's very convincing. I'm buying into that theory. This is also the number one chance to go 0 and 16 in the picks, because, yeah, like you were saying, there's no way to really know.

Right now, Cessler, you're the only one on pace because you picked the Ravens on Thursday night. Thoughts? Yeah, no, I got hung out to dry on that. And, you know, listen, it's a long season. I'm due for some tough times after what happened last year. You were one of the best prognosticators in the entire country, and that is not me embellishing what you did last year. So let's see if you can keep it going.

I won't. Greg, what is your game? Mine's Saints Falcons, because this has been one of the best rivalries in the NFL for the last four or five years, and it's not a rivalry like the Jets and Patriots, where it's a lot of talking, but the games aren't great. The games are classic every time. and they always seem to bring out the best in each other,

whether it's Michael Turner getting stuffed on fourth and one, whether it's the Saints winning, I think, the division, and then celebrating on the Falcons logo, and there's controversy after that, whether last year there was one moment in the season where we thought the Saints might get back into it, and they actually beat the Falcons at home in the Superdome. It doesn't matter what the records are.

You have two of the best quarterbacks in the league. You have two very good coaches, and it's always a tight, close game. I have made sure to watch, I think, every Saints-Falcons game as it's happening for the last five or six years. And I would say it's the number one rivalry. Well, I know. But I'm saying on Sunday, that's the game on watch. I think it's the best rivalry in the NFL in terms of the games are always fantastic.

The Falcons should change their logo to a running loop of Michael Turner getting stuffed on fourth and one. Well, hopefully now they're not going to happen. Stephen Jackson now against a very suspect Saints defense. And normally everything's lining up for the Saints in this. I mean, for the Falcons in this game, you would just think the continuity that they'll score 40, 50 points. But the Falcons always bring out the best in the Saints, and it's in New Orleans.

Well, outside of the really tragic fact that this game will always occur in a dome and therefore reduces my interest level by at least half. Interesting. I hate Dolgames since I've been a child. I cannot stand. Mark I do not like dome football. And talk about two warm weather cities that don't need a dome to begin. with, please. It's never inclement weather

there. Anyways, enough with the don't thing. I do think for me, I cannot wait to see, listen, I don't feel bad for the Saints after what happened last year. It's a really edgy, nervous fan base that seems to hyperreact over everything. But, sorry, I've gone off on a tangent

hands on. It's not even true. Well, no, they were a little edgy last season, but I do want to see, and it's not just in this one game, over the course of maybe the first quarter and half of the season, Sean Payton's effect on this team. Are they who they were last year, which I suspect they are,

or do they go back to what they were two seasons ago, which was a dominant NFC team? You know, you guys raise a lot of good points. The Saints always play the Falcons well. They've got this great offense. You've got Sean Payton coming back. This game wasn't that hard for me to pick. The Falcons are a much better team.

I don't think the Saints can stop any offense right now, much less the Falcons. Yeah, the defense seems crippled. Am I wrong? The defense is awful. Where is the talent on that side of the ball? There is none. For the record, by the way, Wesleying took the Falcons.

The rest of us took the Saints. Wow. But it's not a hero pick because Patrick also took the Rockies. Yeah, Kevin Patrick, you've got to include there. Well, Rob Ryan, as a... I took the Saints? Sessler can tell you, you know, he can cook up some one-game defensive schemes to help win a game. And maybe it doesn't last.

He could also cook up some doozies. Yeah. Okay, guys. So let's now go over to our hero picks, as we laid out before. Whoever picked it, no one else picked that team. So Chris Wessling, you are the man up first. Who is the team that you picked that no one else picked this week? I have the Carolina Panthers at home over the Seattle Seahawks.

I believe the Seahawks are a better team. I think they are probably the best roster in the NFL right now. I liked how the Panthers played the Seahawks last year. They played them really tight. Should have won that game probably. and I think the Seahawks are literally unbeatable at home. They went undefeated last year. I think they're going to go undefeated again this year.

They were a 500 team on the road last year. I don't think they're that intimidating on the road. I think the Panthers' defense is a lot better than people think. And for those reasons, I'm going Carolina. I was so tempted to take Carolina. I struggled with this. These picks just torment me. I almost feel like it's not worth it to be even involved

because I thought about it all week. And then once I saw Wesleyan took the Panthers and he was the only one, it just crushed my soul a little bit for some reason. I regretted it. But the reason I didn't take them, and I hate to say it, is because Seattle just seemed like such a finely oiled machine in the preseason that they were just one of those teams that comes into the season ready to go. And you never know if it's going to stay that way the whole season.

Things change up and down. But they're one of those teams I could see in September, already being kind of where they left off, whereas most teams are not like that. I agree. I think it's a gutsy pick on your part, and it is tantalizing because Carolina is one of these teams that has talent in certain areas where, I think we talked about this before, wouldn't be a surprise that they went 10 and 6. Wouldn't be that surprising if they went 6 and 10. I think for me, when it comes to picking games, though, I look at Seattle. I'm going to pick them almost every single week, and I will be wrong probably three or four times, and I can live

with that. The matchup I'm looking forward to is Marshawn Lynch, Kristen Michael, and that Seattle running game against Carolina's newfangled defensive tackle combination, Kwan Short, Starlo to Lele. That was their biggest weakness last year. Now maybe it's a strength. And if Seattle can't run the ball, that's what they still base things off of. I don't know if they're going to just be able to throw the ball 35, 40 times, and score a lot of points. Well, Brandon Browner is a game time decision, so you can probably guess which matchup I'm looking forward to the most. Cliff Avril also. 89 versus the mouth of the West, Richard Sherman.

And 89 is going to get in his grill and embarrass him. Ooh. Because that's what 89 does, bottom line. Do we think Richard Sherman stays as the best cornerback in the league this year? No, I don't know if he's the best cornerback in the league last year. I think this, I think I'm going to cook up a post idea for West right now. You write up whatever happens in that game when that matchup. Okay.

Greg's that all right? You're the editor. That sounds great. Thank you. Never gamble against the 89. He might come find you. All right, let's move on. I'll do my hero pick because I don't feel even remotely good about it, but listen,

sometimes you've just got to go with your gut. I have the Chargers on Monday night upset victory over the Houston Texans. This is starting to feel a little personal because I did pick the Texans to go eight and eight, so I got to find eight losses. Also, I went on Houston radio, and they gave out personal information trying to get me in trouble. So a lot of this just seems to be coming from a deeper place But if I need to give details of why this would happen I guess I could say first of all

It's a home Monday night 1020 start on the west on the east coast And I um so it's a time zone thing is really what I'm no That's a detailed and rich answer What I'm going with here is the weird things could happen on a season opener on a Monday night I like that Foster or I don't like it But Foster might not be ready to really be foster at this point as he comes back from his injuries. DeAndre Hopkins got cleared from a concussion, what, three days ago? So I don't know if we're going to expect him to immediately be that number two option opposite

Andre Johnson. And, you know, as I've been on record saying, I like their defense a lot. I love their defense and they have two of the best players in the league on the defense. But I don't like Matt Schaub. And maybe they, you know, we're talking like a game they shouldn't lose, but they do, 16 to 13, something like that. I think you also just completely gave the reason why this will go badly for you, which is Cushing, J.J. Watt, Chargers offensive line, Philip Rivers stuck in mud.

I feel pity for King Dunlap and DJ Fluker. Whichever side J.J. Watt lines up on, it's just going to be a nightmare for them. A lot of time readers come at us on Twitter or email or whatever, and they're like, you're a hater, you hate my team. And you know, they just, you can hear that from every team and they think it's personal. But with this, with this Texan damn thing, I think he really does. He's trolling the entire city of Houston right now.

I think it's gotten to that point. And for the record, you people out there who give the comments, it is personal, but I really do hate your team. And you're the reason why. All right, unless anyone else wants to jump on board and why the Texans are going to slaughter the charges, which is probably more accurate. Greg, why don't you give us your hero pick, which I really love whenever this happens. What team do you think is going to win that none of us think? Well, I've got a couple hero picks this week, I guess. I'm the only one.

And I'm going to start with the New York Jets. And, you know, part of the equation here is I don't mind playing the game a little bit. If there's a game that's a 50-50 toss-up, and that's how I see this game between the Jets and the Bucks, and I have an inkling that maybe everyone's going to go the other way or it won't be a popular pick, I'll take the underdog, because I think this is an even matchup. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers potentially have one of the worst. passing games in the league, not just based on what I saw in the preseason, but just Josh Freeman being up and down. I've said all preseason that I think the Jets defense will be pretty

good, and they're at home, and I see them winning six games. This is one of those types of games that they win, surprise everyone. I think you're underestimating Vincent Jackson and Mike Williams quite a bit, and I don't know that we have any confidence in D. Miller or Kyle Wilson to stop them. Cromarty's great, but if there's a weakness on the Jets' defense, it's in the secondary. I'm counting on the front seven being good. And Quentin Copels isn't going to play this game, but otherwise, looks like Kenrick Ellis will probably play.

I think they can get a lot of pressure. I think they can keep it a low-scoring game. And I sometimes think of the season as a whole, as a narrative. Can't you just see this week one, Jet surprise everyone, kind of get them off their backs? and then people are like, wow, wow, isn't Gino a little crazy? I can see that. I can also see a tire fire by the end of the first quarter. It could be.

And things snowball the entire season. There are two types of jet seasons. There's one that's completely hopeless, starts poorly, ends poorly. Think 95, 96, 2005, 2003, those type of seasons. And then there's the one where they suck you in. And I feel like this could be the one where they potentially... You could make the case. I didn't pick the jets.

Greg did. but you can make the case, they'll suck us in because the Freeman will implode. The poor guy can't even be a captain of his team anymore. He'll implode and throw a few picks and the Jets win 1310. That's how you sell it as a Jets upset. I would say I entered the summer

believing that line that the Jets could surprise the whole league and everybody's down on them. But every successive week just brings more and more embarrassment and more and more. It looks like they're frauds. I mean, I don't see anything about the Jets to get excited.

I think this could go like last season, where the Jets rolled out a week one victory that had everyone high as a kite. That's what I'm talking about. Right, by 20. The Jets are not putting up 48 points on Sunday. Then the wheels just come off. Dan, by the way, is in a glowing green t-shirt right now, which has nothing to do with his loyalties. You know, I think it's going to be tough for Gino Smith. You may not like Tampa's passing game.

I also sort of disagree with you because I think they've got two established receivers there. Freeman, when he's cold, is a nightmare, but when he's hot. The Jets aren't been able to stop that if that's what they get. Gino Smith, it's going to be tough for him to be rolled out. He didn't get a lot of work in the preseason to basically come out and be real effective week one. That's a big gamble. It is. And so was my other hero pick.

Well, actually, I didn't think it was that big of a gamble, which was the Arizona Cardinals winning in St. Louis. I'm a little surprised no one else picked that game. I saw this as a coin flip. I see these two teams both winning about seven games this year. We haven't seen what Bruce Ariens can do. There's a surprise factor. I think the Rams are slightly overrated in general as a surprise team. So to me, these are two teams with pretty good talent on defense, big questions on offense.

I like the coaches, especially on offense, better for the Cardinals. So I like them pulling off the week one upset, getting people a little excited in the desert. I think both these teams are bound to disappoint by the end of the season. But this is also, I think, the best hero pick of the week, because why can't the Cardinals go into the Edward James Dome or whatever it is? Oh, sorry, Dome Talk. Didn't mean to hit up a soft spot mark. But I don't see why that can't happen. I mean, are the Rams that good?

I don't think the Rams are that good. Are the Cardinals that bad? No. One of the worst home crowds in the league. I agree. This is a coin flip game. I expect both these teams to be about seven and nine this year. I went with the home team.

I vaguely recall the Rams were very tough to beat at home last year. And very tough in the division, too. Well, I think the Rams are potentially a little hyped up this offseason, but I think so were the Cardinals, frankly. We've talked with the cardinals. Suddenly the Cardinals are this potential playoff team with all this talent. I need to see it first. This to me, though, I think you got the hero pick because a bunch of us kind of coin flip the choice and you got the one that no one else picked. You never know how it's going to go. I thought Vikings lions would have been a coin flip and all five of us took the lions. No love for Minnesota. Mark, you have a hero pick that Damshek will not be happy about. Well, I had two. I had two and the first was the Ravens and that went down. Hill very fast. Yes.

But my second was, I predict the Tennessee Titans to upset the Steelers. And I know logically, even as a Browns fan, it's hard for me to picture Pittsburgh losing at home in week one. That's unusual. That's rare. But something about the Titans feels different to me after watching what they did in the preseason. I think they've rebuilt.

They actually rebuilt the line and it worked. The line looks completely different. Chris Johnson looks like a different player to me. I think he's actually happy for the first time in a while. And, you know, Greg Cosell called Jake Locker, the most improved player he'd seen on tape. And I think that means not that they're trying to make him do things that he can't do, but they've built the team around a scheme that actually works for him. And I'm excited to see it.

I think the Steelers, we just assume we're going to be this 10 and 16. I picked them to win the division, so I think they'll rebound. But this one is going to be a tight one. Titans win it. I like the way you say rebound. Rebound. Rebound. That's like how handsome Hank says weekend.

Is that anything like insurance? I'm just glad Chris Johnson is happy, because that's the key here. I mean, if he's happy. I don't know. He seems a little bit refreshed to me, rejuvenated. What do I know? I don't know the guy. I'll see your, I'll see your Greg Cosell and raise you one.

I was listening to him yesterday. He loves what he's seen from the Steelers defense, especially Troy Palomalo in the preseason. and I don't see the Titan scoring more than 20 points in this game. Mike Tomlin means business this year. I really think this organization is embarrassed about what happened last year, losing all those close games. Mike Tomlin is so serious that the only people he follows on Twitter are his players and he wants to monitor their activities.

And when the roster went from 75 to 53 over the weekend, Mike Tomlin promptly unfollowed all of those players that he cut. Yeah, K. Rich is angry about this because we had to hack the news segment this week because we had so many games to talk about. That would have been a perfect one for you, K. Rich. That's okay because my song intro is still in the making. So when it's coming together, then it's going to reach out to anyone. No one's really talked about it formally, but it's going to happen and people are excited. It's going to happen. You guys will see. All right, so let's move on now to what I like to call the orphans. These are the games that didn't fall under the hero pick

or seem to be particularly interesting, although that's not really true because they're all kind of interesting. But let's go, Greg, why don't you give us some breakdown of one of these orphans? Patriots bills, you know, Bill Belichick said this week, all the Buffalo Bills have run this preseason is no huddle. That's it. That's all we've seen out of them. So they're not trying to hide anything. That's what they're going to do. I think we're going to see a lot of plays out of them. It's E.J. Manuel's first start in the NFL. Their offense is healthy. And I'm really excited to see what a Doug Marone and E.J. Manuel offense looks like. All right. The game I'll talk about is the Sunday night game. I know Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants. I know a lot of people are sick of the

Sunday night game between the Cowboys and Giants. I always like it. I'm from New York. Those games always get people excited and it's usually a close game. And there's usually at least one awesome cut to Jerry Jones's box where something funny is happening. So people are excited and sick of it at the same time. That's cut to me. That's kind of accurate. You're right, actually. And the Cowboys never win this game if it's in Dallas. Yeah, they've never won since they opened. This is another sore spot. West got this wrong during the Win West's Toaster game. AT&T Stadium, formerly Cowboys Stadium.

Formerly Jerry World. Now I know the corporate sponsor of a stadium. Yeah, I think ultimately the Giants are going to lose one of these games. I don't think it's going to be this one. But that will be a fun game to watch on Sunday night. Alan Chris will be pumped. I would keep an eye on David Wilson, our breakout star, my number one guy in the Making Elite piece that was published today,

that Dallas Cowboys' defensive line is missing Jay Ratliff. They're undersized. I'm not sure they can stop the run. What's your game was? My game is Raiders going into Indianapolis, and this is going to be a bloodbath. The Raiders are down to their fourth left tackle since training camp opened. Is that good? It's not good.

So, wait, the more left tackles is not better than this one. You do not want to accumulate left tackle. But that's not an important position. Interesting in theory. Especially not when you have a quarterback making a second career start. So the Raiders have a left tackle, right tackle combination of collegiate. Leif Barnes and Tony Pachos, who once paved the way for a 236-yard rushing attack and no sacks in Indianapolis, unfortunately, that was six years ago when they were playing for the Jaguars.

Break that out for toaster time. That was impressive. Wow. Mark, that was really impressive, Wes. Mark. Well, the game that I've been given that apparently nobody cares about is Miami v. Cleveland. That's like saying an orphan and no one loves them. We love all these games.

So if you're adopted, that's how the segment was sold. If you were in an orphanage and adopted, you're not, people don't care about you? They should be loved. But they aren't. Whoa. So what are you looking for, Browns, boy? Okay. Well, I think, I think for me there's many angles, but I really wanted to see the Dion Jordan versus Barquevius Mingo, which one of these guys can do more torment to the opposing quarterback.

Mingo is out. You're not getting it. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. Stop. Well, I just don't know. A very mysterious injury. But listen, is Brandon Whedon, this wonder boy that showed up for 10 days during the preseason?

Or is he everything we thought he was last season? I have much more faith than Ryan Tannahill sustaining drives with Miami. I think that that guy is legit in the real deal. It's going to be a real tough game for Cleveland who has not won a home opener or any opener since 2004 to pull this off. Barcavius Mingo has a bruised lung. Mark Sessler, bruised heart. If you can't get fired up for the Devon Best Bowl, what can you get fired up for?

Fair point by Wes. Greg, you got another one, right? Minnesota, Detroit, and for all the legion of people out there that don't quite believe in Christian Ponder, this could be quite a game because you've got the Detroit defensive line given pressure up the middle, on the sides.

Ponder does not handle pressure well. Maybe that's why we all took the Lions. And this is kind of one of those games that the Lions, if they're really going to be part of this division, you've got to win division games at home. We think the Vikings are headed for a fall, so it's a big early season game for them. I could see us all being wrong about this one.

I mean, I think we all love what we've seen from the Lions' defensive line, and maybe that's what has us so confident, and we hate what we've seen from Christian Ponder in the preseason. But I like everything else about the Vikings roster. I just don't trust the quarterback. How about the quarterbacks in Casey Jacksonville? Well, do we know who's going to start for the Jaguars? I don't think it matters as far as my pick to.

The guy with the barely functioning throwing thumb. It would be very surprising if Gabbard didn't start. I don't think the Chiefs are nearly as good as everyone else thinks they do. There's some trendy pick this year for some reason to make the playoffs, and I don't see it at all. And as much as everybody loves the Andy Reed to Kansas City story, I think Jacksonville has a better head coach. So did you take the Jaguars? I did. Who else took the Jaguars?

Patrick. Kevin Patrick out there Hopefully he's still listening to the show It's been a long one He's supposed to be working right now He's supposed to be covering us In case breaking news goes down All right guys

So that was a week one preview Such a taskmaster I thought that went well What did you guys think? I thought it was good Let us know Yeah that's and you know how you let us know You contact us via Twitter

At NFL at ATL Or underscore ATL And then also on the iTunes page But only positive comments there please Just we are very sensitive We have a very special announcement starting on Sunday. Greg, take it away. We're going to do a Sunday night podcast every week after the games are over.

I don't know if there's going to be any podcast out there talking football for you fresh popping into your iPhone or whatever on Monday morning. It will be ready. We'll go over all the Sunday games, all the immediate fallout. And yeah, check that out. That should be ready late Sunday night on the Wednesday. West Coast and early East Coast morning. What the listener should realize, too, is that we'll be doing this podcast at the tail end of what will probably be about a 12 to 14-hour day.

And that just tells you the level of care that's going. It's like we're not Rex Ryan going down to Clemson to watch a kid standing on the sideline. We're all in. We're ignoring our children. Probably a lack of quality, too. We'll probably be totally out of our minds after 15 hours. I'm excited about this. This is something I would listen to, definitely.

Well, that's good. At least we've got Wesleyan. Yeah, we got Wes. And Kay Rich is also going to have to stick around, and we're very thankful for that. I'll see you boys there. All right. Yeah, that's very fun. Okay, so until Sunday, thank you to the mailman, the sizzler, the boss, K. Rich, and Lyle, the ATL intern.

We'll see you then. Football time. If she's gorgeous, I'll do the cookie. And I married someone who ended up being like a professional chef. It joins you for other food a little bit, though. I have a hard time eating anything that's not good. Yeah, I'm sure you do. Well, of course, married to a professional chef, Mr. Spoiled.

Can we change his name to Mr. Spoiled at the end of the show? Mr. Spoil. Mr. Spoil. Hey, everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Six, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies. To evaluate team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a

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