NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Nick Chubb Injury, Joe Burrow concern and 2023 Week 2 MNF Recaps

Episode Date: September 19, 2023

In a room full of heroes - Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, and Marc Sessler close out week 2 of the NFL season with a recap of the two Monday Night Football games, Browns at Steelers (5:27) and Saints at Panthers (21:40). Following the recaps, we dive into some news (31:51), we hear from Bengals head coach Zac Taylor on the playing status of Joe Burrow (35:33), Patrick Mahomes new deal (38:55) and more!NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Hey, everybody. Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the 6th, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and 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. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Florio, and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast, your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet. We've got the insight to help you crush your opponents.

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. People of London and surrounding territories, the around the NFL podcast is coming back to your neck of the woods. Thursday, October 12th at the Shaw Theater in London. London Town, and you can be there, but you're going to have to buy tickets, Mark.

You got to buy them. Greg, give them the information. If they don't buy them, what are they doing here in London? It's going to go on sale Wednesday morning, 9 o'clock, London time. Wednesday morning, September 20th. So it's soon, if you're listening to this. The pre-sale code is West. Again, the pre-sale 9 o'clock Wednesday morning.

Check our socials on Tuesday. We're going to put the links up on the around the NFL handle. We'll put them up on Twitter, aka X. Don't wait for the general on sale. That goes on sale on Friday, the 22nd. But the Shaw Theater be a little smaller than the one a year ago, so I think tickets are going to go fast. Make sure you jump on it.

Yes, tickets are limited, so be there. It's fun. Always a good time. We love doing live shows in London, and we can't wait to see you again. Here we go, baby. The Around the NFL podcast. Thinks fumbling makes the game more five.

Welcome to another edition of Around the NFL. My name is Dan Hansus coming to you from a virtual room filled with Heroes, Mark Sessler, Greg Rosenthal. It is a super-packed Monday night show. Quick note, you heard at the very top of the show, live show from London. Get your tickets this week or miss out. Also, a little shift to our schedule. We are going to be doing our Monday night program, Monday night recap, and we're adding our news to this show.

So a little different than the schedule that maybe you saw last week. We're figuring out. That's how it works around here. Greg, trial and error baby. And this one is jammed, not just the two Monday night games, which were wild and ugly and weird, but like a lot of big news around the league. Unfortunately, the biggest one happened in this game.

I'm feeling a little bit of a flashback to last Monday night. In terms of the vibes, they'll lose in one of the best players in the league. Yeah, Cleveland Browns running back. Nick Chubb suffered a terrible knee injury, one of those type of injuries that, you know, the telecast does not even show replays of after the game, a win, a narrow win by the Steelers. Coach Kevin Stefanski confirmed that Chubb is done for the season with a significant injury. According to a rap sheet, that injury includes multiple torn ligands. he'll have test done. But Mark Chubb, who's a guy that everybody loves to watch,

one of the very best players in the league to see him go down like this, completely undercut tonight's football. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think if you looked at how you organize offenses, almost all of them are around a quarterback and Cleveland can say it's around their quarterback, but it's been around Nick Chubb for years. And it's pretty telling to me that when he was taken off the field that you're in Pittsburgh Stadium and Steelers fans, the number one rivalry to Cleveland, hate the Browns in many ways, like, and what do you get? You have Steelers fans chanting his name as he's taken away, because I think the Nick Chubb, if you've watched football for a long time, if you watch sports, like he harks back to something a little bit different than the mouthy

athletes you might get from today. He's silent. He just goes about his work. He punishes people. he's consistent he's the heart of that offense and he's gone and uh the the crowd there saw the injury which a lot of people at home didn't uh watching the ESPN broadcast and they mentioned joe and troy doing the game just how how they gasp and we we had a second monitor up at work while i was watching so i did see it too and it's just unfortunate that it's so similar to a week ago that this guy who's a franchise player and to me if like You needed one person on planet Earth to get six yards for you in a given play. And he was playing fantastic tonight.

He was the best player on the field while he was on the field tonight. To me, it would be Nick Chubb. So it's just really disappointing. And then the way the game played out, and what we'll get to that really reminded me of that, too, where the team that couldn't get a first down that was kind of outplayed for most of it ends up coming back and winning that game. The difference here is the Browns lost Chubb and they lost the game too. It's just a nightmare situation. It's, it's the football is a, you know, beautiful game.

But the injury side of it, it just you can't, he just almost can't fathom that somebody as talented as Chubb suffers an injury that gruesome. And now we only hope that this is something where doctors and modern science gets him right and he's back on the field and he's a comeback player of the year type guy next year. But for now, Nick Chubb's season is over. and let's now get to the games. We're going to do both the Monday night football games,

and then we're going to do news, just get you caught up on the other things going on around the league. But let's start with what happened at whatever the hell AccroShore is. One 80, set. Neil's showing blitz. Here he comes. Press your ball out. Picked up.

What? Touchdown Steelers. Wow, that place was going bonkers. Even leading up to that play, that place was going bonkers. And then a huge play there, Alex Highsmith, outside linebacker, beats Jeddrick Willis off the edge, chops the ball out of Deshawn Watson's hands, T.J. Watts scoops it up, takes it in 17 yards for the go-ahead touchdown, midway through the fourth quarter. And that was the difference for the Pittsburgh Steelers who behind two defensive touchdowns beat the Cleveland Browns 2622 on Monday night.

And a game that, you know, it's just unbelievable. The Browns against the rival Steelers losing Nick Chubb and then you lose this game on top of it. It's just terrible. For the Steelers, they needed it. They needed this game, Greg, from their defense because once again, the offense. with, you know, there were moments here and there in this game. They were better than week one, which isn't saying much, but they needed multiple scores from their defense to take this game,

and they just happened to get it on Monday night. Right. They had the 71-yard touchdown to George Pickens on a slant, pretty routine play that he just took off, and there was a hole in the Brown's defense. Beyond that, they only had eight other first downs, and basically no big play. Eight, other than eight, other than that one.

There were nine total. They had, like, that 30-yard dump-off to a running back. They just couldn't get yards. And once you got into the fourth quarter and the Browns had retaken the lead, and their offense had their share of struggles, certainly, but they were moving the ball a little bit better. You really thought that the Steelers, who pinned Cleveland back inside their five-yard line twice, were going to have to score to win this game.

The defense was going to have to score to win this game, and they actually did it. And T.J. Watt gets the glory with the touchdown. but Alex Highsmith was part of both touchdowns. He had the pick six early on the deflection, and he had the force fumble, and it wasn't because of injuries. It was against the left tackle Jedrick Wills, their first round pick, and Highsmith has turned into maybe the premier second pass runner-risher in the league. One of them, Demarcus Lawrence.

There's other great ones, but he was fantastic tonight, and he was part of a Steelers defense that had 11 quarterback hits, six sacks, nine tackles for loss, and eight passes defense. They just were all over the place, making big plays. And that's what they needed because their offense wasn't going to get it done. Yeah, I mean, if you told me five hours ago that Pittsburgh at home would have six sacks, four takeaways, and two defensive touchdowns, I wouldn't suggest the Browns would win that game. They're one in 22 coming into this game under Kevin Stefanski in games where they trail by four points in the fourth quarter.

That tells you a lot. The Steelers have won 21 games in a row on Monday night football. Cleveland and Pittsburgh have a... They've won 21 games in a row on Monday night football. Yeah, they have a pretty ingrained DNA against Cleveland. And, like, I would say that, you know, obviously I have my own complicated relationship with the Browns right now, but I found myself getting worked up, and it wasn't just the chub injury. It was just the way that you got into the latter stages of this game, and you've kind of sold your soul.

to surround yourself around Deshawn Watson, who continues to not play very well. You know, Amari Cooper, what a gutsy performance to go out injured with a groin injury and play the way he did to even suit up and go in there. I just, I watch this Browns team on offense, and it's like I'm watching Jim Schwartz on the defensive coordinator. Like, he has dialed in, and this defense is special. And it kind of, Dan, it kind of reminds me a little bit. It's not to the same degree.

But the Jets on defense give you a chance to win. The Browns defense does the same. And I just have no faith that this quarterback and this offense is going to pull you out of a hole. And it's just like they look lost to me on that side of the ball. And I don't know. It was a very frustrating watch. There's so much talent with Miles Garrett and everyone on that side of the ball. That's why I think I have faith that they can still go win nine or ten games without Chubb.

I think Jerome Ford is a seems like a competent, potentially competent fill in for Chubb. but you've lost the heart and soul of your offense, and I don't trust the quarterback. The parallels, Mark, on a personal aside here, are not lost on me, and I'm sure many listeners that, like, you know, your history with the Browns, my history with the Jets,

and what happened last week at the Meadowlands, it was like this special defense that has this star on the other side of the ball, that if you put these two things together, special things could happen. And Cleveland, that's what Chubb represents. Now, Deshaun Watson is the guy that they, like you said, on some level, you could say sold their soul to get that QB1 they've been searching for since Bernie Khosar. But it was Chubb that was the engine of this offense.

And yeah, I think there is something, if you're a Browns fan, to take out of Jerome Ford, who had that beautiful 69-yard run where he almost took it to the house. And you can say, okay, we still have an offensive line that can mall in the run game. and maybe Watson puts it together, but the Deshaun Watson side of it, he, I think he struggled here in one, I think the first big, like kind of showtime, prime time moment with the Browns where you got to make the play. He was kind of holding that ball out like a loaf of bread on the big strip fumble recovery and then was not able to make anything happen on the ensuing drive to dig him out of it. That's what they're paying him for to make a play on one of those possessions and it just didn't happen. So a night of epic frustration.

for Cleveland. Watson not getting it done is just was kind of like the reverse cherry on top. Yeah, it almost felt like the Steelers defense at the beginning of that final drive, Watson gets the ball back needing a touchdown to go win the game in Pittsburgh, tough spot, you know, especially the way that they had looked. And the Steelers start dropping coverage and actually was protected pretty well and made a couple nice throws. That's the thing about the Watson experience, especially this year so far as there are nice throws. He's obviously a talented player. He had five or six throws tonight that were excellent or they were just out of bounds like the timing was off. But there were more plays that just spoke of a quarterback who wasn't confident in what he was seen.

Troy Hickman pointed out quite a bit where he was just late on everything. You thought of the first couple of plays of the game, not a miscommunication on that pick six. We don't know who's at fault, but it was ultimately a bad throw where they're not on the same page. he's late on a wide open kind of hitch route where a guy's over the middle and that's just an unforced error and then on the last drive this is an effect of a good defensive coordinator started sending the heat and they got a lot of pressure on him but you saw his eyes coming down really fast there was a play around midfield where he was actually protected well on that final drive and almost immediately after he didn't see someone open he just sort of started running around in a circle when actually he was protected and he ran into his own pressure and then wound up getting sack. And there were just many of those moments where you could tell he's not comfortable in this offense. He doesn't seem to know what he's seen

in the same way that he used to when he was in Houston. You saw some cutaways to Stefanski on the sideline, including one late in the game. I believe it was the kind of last sack he took before the fourth down. I think that might be the very play I'm talking about. Yeah. And they cut to Stephansky who had to kind of look on his face like, oh, man, we need to be a little better than that.

And so there you have a lot of work to do, obviously, on offense, and it's going to be more difficult without Chubb. And like we said, Mark, that Pittsburgh totally flatlined on offense in week one. So you could look at, in some ways, progress. But like Greg said, eight first downs. Like, this is a problem. This is, this is now two weeks in where you have one of the worst offenses in football. You got totally bailed out by your defense that had an all-time prime time effort. Otherwise, you're 0 and 2, and you're asking questions. that you don't want answers to potentially. Yep, I would say a bright spot.

It's George Pickens, who probably had the best game of his career. But I'm looking at an imbalanced attack that had two yards rushing in the first half. Everything that we heard about in the summer, I wouldn't say that that's what I fell for with the Steelers. I just kind of like the idea of their talent growing up together. They're not there yet. And, you know, you're relying on T.J. Watt kind of like week after week. And he went up against a rookie.

right tackle tonight, and that was not a bad matchup for him at all. But like, I'm watching this office. Now, you played San Francisco and you played Cleveland. These may be two of the top three or four defenses in the league. So there's that. And you can keep resetting. It's early in the year. And I do think that, you know, Pickett in general has a lot of chance to grow. But it's two weeks in a row where it's like Matt Canada, you got a lot of pressure on you. They kept cutting away to him. And it's like then they're cutting to the crowd and they're shaking their head because they can't convert X, Y, and Z. And it's like it's a frustrating situation

when one side of the ball is not living up to the other side. It creates problems. I trust the defense 100%. And Pittsburgh's offense is the absolute TBD. Every time they get a couple of running plays going, you can almost smell then Matt Canada is going to do some wonky end around to Calvin Austin that's going to lose like four yards. Or they needed one yard in that final drive to maybe put away the game.

And they do this crazy, complicated play that you could, you know, with motion. and handoffs and pickets like faking it almost like it's an option and it's like something the eagles would pull off and the chiefs would pull off and they'd look great and they just completely botch it and lose three yards and they just seem to not know what to count on but i do think they're talented enough to eventually get there i just don't know if if the coaching is there um one last note here um minkin fitzpatrick um stand out defensive back of the steelers he also suffered an injury in this game as a chest injury and he ended up at a local hospital undergoing

evaluation also you know that the play it's a it's interesting just as from a pure now just watching you know sports fan on tv i don't know where you guys come down on the don't show the injury side of things they used to in the old days i remember napoleon mccallum on monday night football 30 years ago suffered a grotesque knee injury for the raiders that they would show over and over and over again. Joe Thaisman, they would always show that one. Joe Thaisman, I mean, how about this Super Bowl Sunday when you've got, you know, Grandma Nelly watching Tim Crumry,

they showed his legs snapping to, you know. And now we've kind of hit the point where we treat these serious injuries as if how broadcasting treats fans that run on the field, like don't show it. I'm not saying I need to see it, but like I'm seeing a bunch of tweets here by people coming after Micka Fitzpatrick for a low hit and everything. I just didn't, I didn't see enough of it because of the way the telecast handled the injury. And I understand why they do it, but also it is a sports telecast. It's kind of a very, it's a news event for the league.

They just not seeing what happened was kind of interesting. But that's how it's done now. It's just more observation rather than me. Yeah, it's new. I think that's really just the last couple of years that that's come up. But that was a condensed play in the body. where, yeah, he dove at him to tackle him. I think that's a typical football play.

And it's part of the reason why, like, there's a little bit of a downbeat note tonight. It's like that injury happened. There were just injuries everywhere. Greg Newsom, the great quarterback for the Browns, had an elbow injury and left this game. Denzo Ward never came back from the locker room. As far as I knew, when he left the game with an injury.

So it was just Zadaria Smith left at one point and was carted off, or was helped off the field. And then he did return to the game. It was just like an endless sea of misery with these injuries. You've just named three of their top four defensive players. Right. And the whole, the Brown situation for me, like Mark, getting to know you all these years and understanding the kind of shared DNA of pain

and what it feels like to be a fan that your team is cursed. Like the Deshaun Watson situation, really did, like, cloud what remains a great fan base and a team with proud tradition that is trying, trying to get over the hump and back to being competitive team year after year and set up so well. Everyone has their feelings about Watson, but I feel for Browns fans, just like I know a lot of Browns fans and other team and fan bases that never seem to get over the hump felt for the Jets on Monday night. I don't know if you had a anything else you wanted to add mark um well all i'd say is like the one thing about these seasons

because you know you got to ride the wave and like um do i want to be like the seventh grade me that goes into some sort of a shell and doesn't emerge again it's like they they have another game with pittsburgh in cleveland and like so you want to you want to split with the steelers and if you go in any season then knowing you're going to split with your number one rival arch enemy you'd be all right with that and so there's another chance for this um can the offense become more Watson-esque, because it's not so Nick Chub-focused. I don't like the idea of that, but maybe that helps me. It doesn't seem comfortable in this offense right now. That's sort of the huge thing that we just don't know. It's extremely frustrating because I think if you're a

Browns fan, and if you're if you've been following a struggling franchise, there's always going to be one or two teams that just pound you like, you know, year after year. And the Brown Steelers rivalry has not been one. Outside of that, Baker, Mayfield playoff game. And frankly, Baker Mayfield's played better than Deshawn Watson right now. So, like, these fortunes that you seek, you don't know where they're going to take you. And so we'll see what happens. I think if you're a Browns fan and you're dyed in the wool, you've got a great defense

and you see what happens. You kick the butt of the Bengals a week ago. You're one-in-one in the division. You out played the Steelers tonight. It should be mentioned by about 150 yards and dominated on the ground. But that's where I start to push back because they did. but I mentioned that stat under Stefanski. They don't have the DNA of a team

that finds a way in the end to win it. They find a way to just not win it. And it's like, you've got to switch that. You cannot be that team. And they went and got the quarterback thinking that would change all that. And in fact, it made it more emphatic. He seems more lost.

They seem more lost than at any other time on some level considering the talent. And I don't like that. And the Steelers, 1991. October 14th, 1991, the last time they lost Monday night football. Am I crazier? Is that actually like we had fun with the Ravens preseason winning streak? Isn't that even crazier?

It is. It's crazier. I don't know how that one slipped. I mean, it's a testament to how incredible they, in terms of consistency from Chuck Null to Bill Cowher to now Mike Tomlin, but to never lose once. And they play Monday night every year a couple times. Dude, I was getting like a hard C-minus in algebra two the last time they lost a Monday night football game.

It's like Vanilla Ice was like on the top of the charts. That's 1991. All right. Let's move to the other Monday night game. This one played in Charlotte. Ian Jones makes a cut and scores. From the practice squad to the end zone. What a night for Tony Jones Jr.

Stepping up after Jamal Williams went down, and the Saints stretch the lead to possession game 314 to play. The annoying thing is that Chris Ilave had a really great play. He just stepped out of bounds. So it gets marked back, and then we have a fairly routine touchdown run by Tony Jones. But you know what? It was that kind of night. It was that kind of game.

Yeah, it was that kind of night. You're right. Wait, does anybody want to hear the fact that I needed three points from Jamal Williams tonight? My fantasy league? No, probably nobody in the Zia. I do. Please tell us more. Another injury. Another injury.

The Saints take care of business on the road, beating a Panthers team that is still searching for it on offense. 20 to 17. Derek Carr and the New Orleans offense. No great shakes in this game. Again, playing without Alvin Kamara suspended and losing. Jamal Williams early on. That doesn't help a lot. You got a lot of Taysam Hill in this game. And just like last week, Derek Carr maybe didn't overwhelm with a great quarterback play, but when he needed a big play, he hits Rashid Shaheed for 45 yards. That was a major,

major conversion in this game. And from their market was about the defense of the Saints, which pretty much that this looks closer than it really was. It was 2010. And then they played this like crazy preventee, which drives me nuts to give up eight more points. It was 29. But Carolina did nothing in this game on offense. Yeah, like, so I would give credit to Derek Carr because I think that the opposite of what I just talked about with Cleveland's offense is that two weeks in a row, you know, Carr seems emotionally unaffected by the slow start and finds a way to make plays and get the Saints out of trouble in this. You're helped by, playing a Carolina offense that is, uh, you know,

underdeveloped and lost at sea. Um, their offensive line play is rough. Uh, you've got, you've got Adam Thielen and DJ Chark as your wide outs. They had 44 yards rushing like midway through the third quarter, 85 yards total in the first half. Bryce Young is just sort of figuring it out. Um, and the Saints defense comes in and takes advantage of that. I kind of watched this and felt like, why is this on prime? It's not feeling a prime time game to me. It did not feel like a, I mean, there's two islands. tonight, but it didn't feel like it belonged on any island to me. It was a bit of a rough watch,

but it's like, you're going to get that because you're throwing Bryce Young on national television in week two, and like, I like some things I see, but it's like, that's just sort of, that's the Saints, just, it's a sitting duck for the New Orleans Saints. Well, not all prime time games are created equal. Certainly not.

The, you know, the ESPN, ABC chooses which game to send the A team to. That was the first game we talked about. And then it's a spot where you get the number one overall pick in primetime before. They might have a bad record later in the year. This is only 0-1.

Unfortunately, a lot of times early picks aren't really put in a good position to succeed right away. Now, C.J. Strouds looked okay, and Anthony Richardson's had his moments. It hasn't stayed on the field. But Bryce Young, you mentioned it, is just surrounded by so many things that aren't working, his offensive line, a lack of explosion at receiver, and he's not able to overcome that either. and it's largely because he's playing a defense that seems almost built for this moment. They built for this season because I was thinking the Saints didn't give up a touchdown in their first 118 minutes of this season until that garbage time.

I was like, wow, well, like it's not going to be this good though when they start playing real teams. And I look at the schedule and it's like there aren't many good offenses on this. Atlanta will be a challenge and there'll be other challenges. Certainly they play Green Bay next week. I'm not saying they're a favorite for that. But you look up and down. You don't see them play a murderer's row. And they seem like the type of defense that's been together a long time.

It's players not plays. Marshawn Lattimore has given up 15 yards this year. DeMario Davis made the biggest play of this game with a big time sack on Bryce Young. They're just in tune. Pete Warner's making plays all over the field. Cameron Jordan's there. It's just it's a good defense that I think is going to beat up on some bad offenses. And they got a lot of bad offenses on their schedule.

Yeah, and that's what, kind of just from a purest standpoint of, uh, I want this game to match the score to match with the game was. I wish they would have played real defense on that last drive because they let the, the, the panthers dink and dunk 75 yards for the touchdown and two point conversion. Bryce Young finished with 153 yards passing. I think, I think virtually all, if not all those 75 yards on the last drive were on checkdown passes through the air, a little dump offs.

So he threw for about 75 yards in the first 58. minutes of the game. They did nothing. They couldn't really get anything going on the ground, Carolina, only 19 carries. So they kind of took that out of the realm of things as well. And yeah, for me, what you're saying is right, Greg. I don't see the Saints. I pick the Saints in the division because you just don't see a huge level of competition around them. So like the Saints and the Falcons are two teams that stand out to me as. groups that can win 10 or even 11 games. How about those two and no bucks?

We got three undefeated teams in this division. Wow. You're not there. I'm not really putting that. I didn't even. That's true too. Yeah. And the Panthers are hanging out there.

They're waiting for liftoff mark because this idea, of course, is that you finally get the quarterback you want. But maybe David Teper is learning that, well, it's not that simple either. You've got to build around the kid. And right now there's just not a lot for him. Yeah. I think their strength, if anything, you would say, would be a defense that can, you know, disrupt certain opponents.

Shaq Thompson heard tonight. J.C. Horn, obviously, out for a while. That's a big loss. Like, I know he's not been on the field as much as you'd want at all, but, like, he is a fascinating cornerback. That's a big loss for them. So it's like they're another one of these teams, just like you're taking players out of the mix over and over.

And who knows what their overall, like, team-building philosophy is, but we're a couple years into this general manager and like the offense is punchless without a lot of big names and you got a rookie quarterback in a tough situation and a defense losing guys. So it's like once again,

the panthers a little, they're a step behind and it's like, it's a developmental year. And like I like Frank Reich and I think Frank Reich is, maybe I'm saying this incorrectly, but I feel he's like a little over celebrated where it's like, oh, it's Frank Reich,

so it's security and a great offense. Like, maybe. I don't know what he's done that's such a difference. situation from a coaching level. I think he brings like a Ron Rivera offensive type vanilla security to the organization. But I'm not overly impressed so far. It's like I don't like the offense at this point.

The good thing is it's a baseline and they can reset expectations that they weren't maybe going to be this like great surprise team. But it is something where you just are hoping in the middle of the season, they start having one of those runs where you can see the progress mostly out of Bryce Young, because they have played well on defense. I mean, you mentioned Bryce Young had 75 yards late in the game. I mean, Derek Carr wasn't above that in the middle of the third quarter. He had about 20 throws for 100 yards and had been sacked three or four times at one point.

And you got Frankie Louvo and Brian Burns. And it's very similar to their week one game where the defense balled out for about two and a half quarters. And at some point, they just had to give in. And that's why, again, I say players not plays. the Saints have some good players. I mean, Michael Thomas has looked good enough. Like, he looks like Michael Thomas. He made a big play in the red zone to set up a touchdown.

Chris Olavay had one of the best catches of the year on the sideline, making a diving catch with that one hand that was just unbelievable. And then you mentioned Shaheed. It's like you dial up a Shaheed play every once in a while. Tassum Hill gets in there. He starts playing running back because Jamal Williams is in it. Tassum Hill always is good for a few good plays. It's like they got some good players.

year they haven't protected car well that's their number one they got to be way better on offense to actually be a team that matters though like they are not like you said they're not protecting car who is now been sacked eight times in two games they haven't scored in the first half and either game they they're hitting some big throws late in the game and in general getting the play here and there to beat mediocre competition but this is not going to last against big time teams but to your point Greg there aren't a ton on their schedule. So I don't know, maybe they're the Vikings this year. I could see that. I could see that. They're like the defensive version of the Vikings.

It's going to annoy people, but especially if the Falcons end up playing one, we'll see about the bucks, but this NFC South schedule is going to help everyone. And those teams are going to have a chance to make the playoffs, you know, multiple teams in this division potentially over some teams that are more talented. I can't buy into the bucks being in the this equation late in the year, but I totally can see the Saints and Falcons. I'm not even quite there with. I'm not quite there on the buck. You don't need to occupy your mind space with the bucks at this point. Dan, let's in fact, there's too many, there's too many teams in this NFC South that I'm

potentially supposed to be taking seriously. And I don't know if I could do it with any of them. So I'll settle for two right now at this junction of the season, but I can't go there with the team in Tampa. Even that feels generous. So that is a little bit. It is a little bit. It is a little bit. Um, all right. Let's take a break. here, and then we'll get you caught up on the news. What's up, everybody? Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Sticks, we take you

inside the game from scouting reports and player development to team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. Every week, we study the tape, talk to decision makers, and share the insights you won't find anywhere else. It's the kind of conversation that

connects the dots, from college football prospects to the NFL stars of tomorrow. We break down the draft, and analyze matchups and evaluate how teams put it all together on game day. Plus, we dig in the coaching strategies, roster construction, and the trends that shape the league year after year. Whether you're a diehard fan or just love understanding the game on a deeper level, we give you the full picture.

If you want insight that goes beyond the box score, this podcast is for you. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Six podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Matt Jones. Now, I'm Drew Franklin. And this is NFL Cover Zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different.

Did you see the Colts Pretzel? That was my other big takeaway from that game. What was that? Oh, my. We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining. And twice a week, that is exactly what you're going to get. Listen to NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. All right, we're back. Let's dive into the news. Here's what you missed today. If your head was in, well, you could have been doing a lot of things. And that's what we're here to do. This will get you caught up today.

Let's start with Saquan Barkley, who exited action late. in Sunday's big comeback in Arizona with an ankle injury. He looked very frustrated when it happened. Reports in the locker room painted him as an unhappy camper amidst a ton of smiles and celebrations. And you're just fearing for the worst. However, reports from Rapsheet, there was optimism that he avoided a major injury. And then a very strange report got out there that the ankle injury is in, I think the term

was an ordinary ankle sprain, which is very strange way to put. I guess that means not a high ankle spray. I think they're saying lower. That's what that means. Yeah, why don't we say lower then? Ordinary is a very strange way to put it. Anyway, he's expected, according to Schefter, to miss three weeks, which is not ideal for the Giants, but it could have been worse. Well, that obviously, we already knew that the 49ers on Thursday night was a no-go.

But the Giants basically already are in a playoff schedule-type scenario because you go on to that next game against the Seahawks, then the Dolphins. Then the bills. We'll see if he's there for the bills. It's such a TBD, but, you know, minus, you know, 25 minutes of football on Sunday. The Giants looked like a total disaster to turn it around. Right out of the gate coming off of that, you lose Saquan Barclay. I like Matt Breedah. It's a major step down from Saquan.

Their whole offense is built around Saquan. And it's kind of just like another like... You said Matt Breedah? You what? I like Breedah. I don't like him as much as much as... Okay. Yeah, you've got Gary Brightwell and Eric Gray, if that's your cup of team.

I mean, Matt Breed is not an old man or anything. How old is he's been around about 40 years at this point? He has bounced around many teams. You are correct, but he is only 28 and is seven years. Why don't we call Joe Morris? I mean, what else? Who else can we excavate O.J. Anderson? Two years old or something.

It's a different situation than the Browns, for instance, that we saw Jerome Ford, and they were really excited about Jerome Ford in the preseason, and we saw two specials. runs. He also had a run that should have been like an eight-yard loss and he ends up having a nice gain on it. The Giants have one of the most lackluster backup running back rooms, I think, in the league. So they could even look to pick someone else up, but it's Danny Dimes time. It's time for the passing game to really carry them. And I got to say, I know it was against the Cardinals, but I was quite encouraged by his performance in that game. I think it was one of the best games of his career just in terms of

of the amount of really high-quality throws he made. I don't know if he can back that up week after week, but it was encouraging considering the way this season had started because they're going to need that passing game to carry them now or else they could be one and four. I mean, like, the over-under on them winning those three games is what? One win out of those three games? I think a Giants fan will tell you in his darkest hour,

he will admit, just give me one, keep my season afloat. Get the two and three, yeah. Giants fans are not that reasonable from what I recall in my life. Danny Dimes, he's back. Joe Burrow suffered or aggravated that calf injury suffered originally in training camp. Bengals head coach Zach Taylor, you know, he was pretty open. He wasn't sure whether Burrow will be on the field in week three against the Rams. Here's Zach.

That's hard to say right now. You know, I did it really one of the last. Three plays of the game, probably. So just sore. We haven't done anything on the field yet. All right. This is tough. Now, let's, I want to check out this Bangle's schedule because I think the move,

and I know fantasy heads don't want to hear this, and Bangle fans don't want to hear us. I think you've got to shut this guy down for a few weeks and see if you can get this thing taking care of before it blows your season in the second half. They have home against the Rams. Then they have. Joe and Troy don't want to hear that. They're the Monday night football game next week. I know. These primetime games are getting dinged a little bit with these injuries.

Rams at home at Tennessee, at Arizona. I'm telling you, today's September 18th, we're taping this game. I'm keeping burrow out of the lineup until October 15th V. C Hawks. That's just me. I'm very concerned about this injury. It's going to be something. If they don't really give it the proper time, I don't think it ever heals. And it's, it could blow up their whole season. It's kind of a worst case scenario. It is. But it's like, you know what? you know what they already did was give him that amount of time to heal from it it's like uh and when he injured it um you know there were people saying that he had like kind of a sleeve on his calf already like something had already happened to him he alluded to that that yeah that he was already fighting

through it the day that he got hurt so i think it's like you can unless doctors are saying it's one of those things well it can't get worse if you play on it but i don't think that's how calves work you could rip the thing or god forbid the achilles goes and then all of a sudden we're talking in an even darker world it's just one of those injuries the calf is a tricky one for a professional athlete and i'd be super nervous uh in the midwest and it's it's sort of you know over the couple weeks of this season it's it's just yet another team where um their destiny just teeters on the on the brink on the edge because i it was i kind of was like listening to people saying like all in the lead up to the season like oh we don't know about burrow's calf and it's like

well, isn't he healthy? Like, he's, like, not on the injury report. He's fine. Like, probably he'll be okay. And, like, bang, out of the gate, like, he's hobbling after that loss. And it's just like, man, this thing could go so far south. And it's like, you take him out of the mix and the Bengals are a five-win team. And they already didn't look good with him in the lineup.

Right. I mean, their offense has struggled with him in there. You have Jake Browning. This was something I was hammering over and over in the preseason that I didn't understand why they would go into the season with Browning v. Simian, who just both look terrible, terrible in the preseason. And honestly, it might have been a little canary in the cold mind there, because they were playing with the starters at some point,

and they couldn't move the ball with T. Higgins and Chase, so maybe it was more of a systemic thing. But Burrow talked after the game, and he just sounded so downbeat, and it's so unlike him, and it was so different than how he sounded after week one, where he was very defiant after week one, saying, like, basically, I'm going to be great, and we just got to work through this. And then after week two, he's saying, I need to get some sleeps. I really can't tell how this is going to be.

You could tell he was down about it. Yeah, I mean, it's got to be hugely frustrating because it was something he thought was in the rear view. And for it now to pop back up at a time when the team is struggling, I think he just feels, I would imagine, in a vulnerable, frustrated spot. His rival, his greatest rival is Patrick Mahomes. There is nothing negative to report around Mahomes on this Monday night because the superstar quarterback and the Kansas City Chiefs agreed to terms on a restructured deal that pays the QB $210.6 million between now and the 2026 season. That's the most in history over a four-year span, according to Rapsheet and the Pell Razor.

The agreement could reach $218 million with escalators by the end of 26. And here's the thing that's kind of interesting about this one, Gregi. 210, all guaranteed over four years. and the deal, the original mega deal, is basically done. It's basically ripped up. So it went from him having eight years left on his deal with the chiefs to three, which really opens the door wide open for the New York Jets. Let's start from that angle.

Yeah, I didn't think stop. He surprised me. It's like, I've got my dorky contract point to make, and then you hit me with that. It's funny because he said it effectively ends after 2026, but that's unofficially, officially it like goes on beyond that, but it's like these weird ghost dummy years that I'm not totally smart enough to fully understand, but they did similar stuff with Drew Breeze and Tom Brady in the sense that like, we're going to have control of you,

even though we know we have to make you a new contract at the point, you're not actually going to have any chance to get to the open market. But this was a bigger deal than I expected because it's all guaranteed. it gives him more control sooner in the deal. And I guess it's that point we talked about when he first signed it, that at some point they're going to have to fix him and make him the highest paid guy again. And it only took a few years until he was like,

I'm sick of playing against this dirt bag in Cleveland that has $50 million more guaranteed. And then now like five other quarterbacks have more guaranteed than me. It's time. I'm just saying that contract. Let's not forget that contract. I just like I would have had a, if I owned a house, I would have wagered the fact that there was no way he was just going to sit pat in that 10 year deal or whatever it was, you know, year after year and just, of course this was going to happen. And like I try to, you know, with all the white noise we're dealing with left and where like in this league, like the contract stuff, cool. You got richer. You deserve it. Have a nice day. It doesn't affect me. One of my least favorite recurring storylines. I've said it on this podcast of the last. three years has been has been a hand wringing about look how underpaid

Patrick Mooms is relative to these other quarterbacks like these contracts he signed a 10 year deal but it wasn't like we're revisiting it in 2030 they always make adjustments they always change it and look now yeah look at all the digital ink spilled wait it's it's it's it's because it's like a salary cap it's it's it's it's socialism inside of a free market emper enterprise people like the most american thing of all is capping these dollars it's the same reason why lebron jane brown make the same amount of money it's like you can't give lebron james any more money well that's like you that's a whole broken league over there but that's essentially what this league is

the top 10 quarterbacks all make basically the same amount of money because like you can't even go any further no i would say like jalen brown that would be like i don't know jimmy garoppolo being the highest paid player in the league right but rudy gobert makes that money too It's like it's totally, it's totally ridiculous. But that's, that's Jimmy Garoppolo, Dan, at one point was the highest paid player in the NFL. See, I made that point for you. It was before Patrick Mahomes. Remember when Joe Flacko got his big payday?

Right. He was too. Joe Flacko, he went to McDonald's after signing his big mega deal. He's just an average Joe. By the way, I saw Joe Flacco in person. And I think I told you this couple times, like, during the New York Super Bowl, with the snowfall coming down on that Monday morning after, and Joe Flacco exited the hotel where I was staying. And it was like, in my impression of Joe Flacco was kind of dull, boring, but in person, like, dashing, far taller than you'd expect, commands of presence. Like, all these, like, mid-tier looking quarterbacks, like, in person are, like, five times more, like, we've heard the.

Mark has decided Joe Flacco is hot now story I don't think Yeah but you know what It was just striking He's not alone There's actually a subculture On Twitter

Of like Baltimore people Who just like post pictures of Joe Flacco Like at the local McDonald's Because he's just like always around walking Around the different place A lot of it maybe it's I had McDonald's on the brain

But it's just like random places in Baltimore Where he's hanging out And he's like really casual And he's kind of looking more like a surfer now And it's just And it's all these I think I think he's popular i think he's popular with the ladies well he's probably going to be the jet's quarterback in three

weeks so maybe he'll get a haircut maybe he won't we'll see the i you know speaking of storylines that need to go away i don't need to be talking about cam acres and the rams too much longer uh acres um you know he he disobeyed the the culture or something for los angeles and was taken out of the lineup last week and this coming after the drama last season and there was a culture disobeyment then as well and and the culture needs to be adhered to and blah blah blah so NFL networks Ian Rappaport reports that the Rams have had trade talks centered around running back Cam Acres which we heard last year as well no trade last year and guess what I don't imagine any team is going to want a malcontent on their team anyway so he'll probably just get released in a couple

days. Well, they did a bad job by whoever, you know, leaked all this, the cultural reporting. Why let that get out there about this so-called malcontent before you try to shop them for what, like a tube of chapstick? I'm not sure we were going to return. He had 29 yards on 22 carries in week one. What is the asking price? Well, maybe the Giants would they give up a seventh round pick that could upgrade to a sixth round pick if he had 200 carries or even just swap seventh round picks so that the Rams don't have to have the embarrassment of cutting this guy.

But you're right, Mark, because that sideline report, I hope all the teams know about that sideline report of like whatever the culture thing was. I think it was that he didn't, you have to pledge allegiance to the Rams when you walk in. It's this whole thing about Les Sneed and McVeigh, and he didn't do that when he walked into the building. Then McVeigh tried to say afterwards,

Oh, no, it was nothing. We just thought it was best for the team. He's been great. It's like, no one, no one's believing you. You have disobeyed the culture. If you disobey and do not follow our culture, you will be eliminated. Something like that. Kyron Williams' fantasy owners, let's go.

Two big games. I mean, if I'm going to give up like a day three draft pick for a running back in today's NFL, I'm going to go get Jonathan Taylor for a fifth. I mean, that's just me. in other news here's some injury quick injury stuff before we say goodbye brown is jonathan taylor that would be kind of spicy but anthony richardson and jalen wattle cult's quarterback dolphins wide receiver both in concussion protocol they have to clear that uh to play in week three we shall see lines running back david montgomery uh he's out a few weeks uh what did he get hurt what was his

malady was a quad injury and he told reporters in the locker room odd quad yeah it's going to take a couple weeks and then dan campbell went on the podium like 20 minutes later and was said he's day to day so that that's one team that like they haven't gotten the injury messaging across to their players because david montgomery was just being honest but dan campbell was not right he just he walked up to the assembled media so i got an odd quad james houston their pass rush around six eight weeks and Halo Vaitai may go to injured reserve. They only have their defense, which looked improved against the Chiefs, a lot of questions coming out of the Seahawks game.

One sack on the year, you've lost Houston. Charles Harris, decent player. You've got the O'Quarrho, Julian and Romeo are brothers as pass rushers on this team. That's an unusual scenario. That was news to me. But you're kind of thin there. And I thought they didn't really, they had a chance where they were playing the Seahawks on Sunday with two backup tackles and didn't impact the game much. So I don't love that for Detroit.

Like I'm a little concerned about the depth at edge. All right. Also, the Cardinals were without Buda Baker, their best defensive player on Sunday against the Giants and get used to it because he's headed to injured reserve with a hamstring injury. He'll be eligible to return week seven. against the Seahawks. And finally, in injury news, Eagles cornerback ofante Maddox, he'll undergo surgery for a torn peck. That's never a good thing.

Many times it will cost you the season. Also, this is a bad one. Chauncey Gardner Johnson, the man who started the blue mask trend in Detroit, he is out indefinitely with a potentially torn pectoral, is the report. NFL Network Insiders Rap Report and Garifola reported Monday night, Monday, night. He could miss the rest of the season as well. Outchers. He's an important part of what they do and a leader in that locker room. And finally, I don't know how plugged in people are on this, but in our town where we live, it is a Mondo deal. There are a couple different strikes going on right now that have completely shut down the entertainment industry. And because of that, networks and streamers and everyone else, are scrambling for content and things to put on the air this fall. Well, ABC, they shrug their shoulders and they're just going to put the entire Monday night

football slate on their, I guess, you know, Channel 7 where I grew up. So their network channel. I feel like the ESPN's like, hey, wait a second, that sucks. But I guess maybe they get the ratings. I don't know. Right. I was thinking like if they're going to do this and it's the same company, it's like the same, you know, four companies that own.

the entire world like why don't just do this the whole time you could have just had monday night football i'm sure it's doing better than uh you know the repeats of alias i can't think of an abc show was that a show i haven't watched an abc shows so let me see abc hit shows i dan i grew up with gray's anatomy too gray's anatomy like i i grew up with channel seven two i was just wondering like um i was just thinking this like reading all this it's like uh how many what is the subs set of people that if you are attached to cable, which everyone has been for 40 years at this point, that you don't have ESPN, but you do have ABC. I feel like there's more people that have ESPN and don't care about ABC or have ABC. It feels like a weird, I don't know

who you're, what subset you're trying to reach it. Let's bring the satellite back. Let's bring, they are kind of coming back. I don't know if you know this. We're bringing it back, Dan. Satellite dishes. People are buying the old bunny ears and you don't have to pay anything. You just buy the ears. You put them up and you can watch some Jake Browning versus the Rams next Monday night. Cool. Here's some ABC shows. I mentioned anatomy.

Blackish. I think that's still a show. That was a hit. Abbott Elementary, that's got good pop. I watched one app. It was fine. Colleen. Colleen loves and Keisha love Abbott Elementary.

That trip to Tybee was like all Abbott Elementary. And I fell for it too. I'm a fan. I didn't follow it up after that weekend, but I was a fan. I believe it's set in, like, Philadelphia, so that, I'm sure, factors in as well. Apparently America's Funnies Home Videos, Mark is still in the air. Those videos are still funny. Oh, The Bachelor.

That's a big one. That's their biggie. Yeah, that makes sense. That's a biggie. I think Elias is set to come back. Jennifer Garner, 2.0. Let's do it. And I guess Wonder Years is back on again?

Is that a lot? They've rebooted it. They did reboot it. No, you don't say. New situation. Great. That's great. That's what we do now.

We don't have new ideas anymore. We just reboot good ideas from 30 years ago and try to pass them off. That's where society is at. Big Funk in our chat here lets us know there's a trend of Gen Z on TikTok using paper clips or staples even as antennas on their TV. And they can make it happen. That sounds like a fun thing. Aren't you plucky underdogs? And also, Funk says it actually just got canceled.

Wonder years, I believe, is gone. I mean, everything's getting canceled. I'm glad we're not canceled. Well, just wait. Everybody's number gets called eventually. All right. Weird night. I hope you're okay, Nick Chubb.

I know you're not okay right now. let's get them back on the field week one next year adrian peterson style and uh and that would be nice uh and we'll be back on wednesday with the great coline wolf and uh check out our NFL plus game of the week uh which uh was falcons packers and it's all coming up again around the bend he's a call 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 philosophies, coaching trends, and 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. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Florio, and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL fantasy football podcast, your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies.

Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet, we've got the insight to help you crush your opponents. 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. This is an IHeart podcast. Thank you.