NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - TNF Recap: Panthers at Texans

Episode Date: September 24, 2021

Gregg Rosenthal is joined by the Ringer's Danny Kelly to recap the matchup between the Panthers and Texans. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. That's right. We've got some breaking news for all of our listeners in the UK, London, or if you can just get to London, on October 7th. That's in only two weeks. We are going to have a live show at the top secret comedy club. Erica Temposi is with me tonight. So is Danny Kelly.

We're going to talk Texans and Panthers. but Erica, I know you're thrilled. The show starts at 7.30 p.m. It ends at 9, and you can find details. Again, at the top secret comedy club, we're going to put it on all our socials. It should be fun. Yeah, make sure you check us out on social media.

We'll be posting it. And, you know, London fans, we're sorry, but there is a limited amount. So you better jump on that quick. And trust me, Greg has been talking all day about how excited he is to hang out with every single one of you after the show and grab a pint.

that is true i mean we we don't have anything else to do why not um it ends around 9 p.m but it should be really fun we've done this a couple of times and if you're saying like why are you putting this on the texans uh panthers tnf recap you know what if you listen to this podcast you are our kind of fan and we want to see you live because you know this isn't maybe the NFL's best game in the world again 730 p.m october 7 20 2021 that's this year in london top secret comedy club we look forward to seeing you there and now on to the show darnold's going to keep and get it into the end zone for the touchdown all eyes to mcalfrey and sam darnald takes it in his second rushing touchdown of the year males throw pass caught touchdown miller

Kristen Goal handoff here for the touchdown to Tommy Trumbull. Darnold takes it and is in for the touchdown. Oh, yeah, the Snow Patrol hits Houston. A blizzard's coming, nine quarterback sacks on Davis Mills as the Panthers win 24 or 9. I'm Greg Rosenthal. I'm with Danny Kelly. I'm just trying to add a little fun. excitement to a Thursday night football game that we thought would go a certain type of way Danny

of course you can catch Danny over at the ringer in the ringers fantasy football show and it went that way it didn't go that for about a half we thought maybe Davis Mills will make this a little friskier than we thought but you can you can put a dome over your head you can go to Houston but you can't you can't escape the snow patrol Phil snow's panthers defense is coming for you and ultimately they keep the Texans in single digits and it probably wasn't even as close as the score indicates yeah I mean it is really fun to watch that pass rush though I mean I know that I recognize that it's a a rookie quarterback making his first star third round rookie and so you should definitely temper your expectations but man this the panthers pass rush

was definitely you know as advertised and it was good to see them do it again because aren't they the number one defense I mean yeah I mean if how could they not be if you look at their first two weeks. You know, they give up 14 points to the Jets. Uh, they have the most dominant defensive performance possible, uh, against the Saints. One of the most like single game performance, best single game performances, uh, against, uh, you know, New Orleans. And then they get Davis Mills in this third game. So I'm excited to have the Panthers at three and no and part of this NFL season in a fun, meaningful way. I don't think you can say just because of the way that the matchups have shaken out and, and that Saints team was missing so much. It was a

weird week for them that like we know everything about them but that's okay like let's let's start with the positive because we will get to the injuries which are very concerning with carolina but let's let's talk sam darnold through three games and then especially you know looking at tonight what is your feeling about the sam darnold and carolina experience danny i think overall you have to be encouraged i mean i mean you just you just laughed at the question of how it's going so that's concerning for him no i mean i think i've been moderately impressed obviously it matters with who they've played so far and the fact that he's only he has literally not played a snap yet playing from behind like they've had a lead or it's been tied every time he's taken

snap this year so like the game scripts have been beneficial for him they haven't been having to like get him out and throw a bunch and really sort of come back in comeback mode or anything like that so that definitely matters because, you know, in the highly schemed sort of conservative offense, I think that Joe Brady has put together for him is like well-defined. Everything seems pretty open and pretty clear. In the first half, DJ Moore was just wide open everywhere. It seemed like every snap. And so, you know, he's hitting the throws they need to make. I think he's still a little bit skittish when pressure gets around him and a little bit unaware. He's got kind of like the Danny Dimes thing where isn't quite aware where pressure is coming from. But

But, you know, not every quarterback. Very few quarterbacks are just, like, really, really good in a muddy pocket. So I don't know if I was expecting a miracle or anything like that. So it's still a little bit of Darnold. But at the end of the day, honestly, I've been pretty impressed. And he's definitely going in the right direction. So maybe there is something to this Adam Gase thing. Definitely is something to, like, the gase, you know, glow up when you leave him.

It's just sort of like what level can Darnold get to? I think tonight I saw a couple things that I, wanted to see more of, and I still want to see more of, but those were plays that he made on his own. There wasn't a ton, but when pressure did come that he escaped the pocket, or he navigated the pocket, and he made a play under pressure. More importantly, there was a couple where he went to his second and third read. I think through three weeks, it's pretty clear.

Like, if Darnold is protected in this offense and he's going to his first read, he's pretty money. He can do that. I think they need to start. They're going to need to add more elements to this offense as they go, but that's not a criticism. He's, he's just starting out. They're three and no while doing it, but it's a lot of just DJ Moore is awesome and wide open. And guys are are wide open for him in general, but that was true for Teddy last year. And Teddy moved the ball. And Sam Darnold's had a pretty good track record through three games finishing these games. They're not scoring a ton of points. That's the thing. They haven't had to. He's fumbled four times, which leads the NFL. So that is a little bit of a concern, like whether he's going to just lock on his guy and freeze up a little.

But I did see a couple plays tonight. I just think you're going to need to get Robbie Anderson and Terrence Marshall involved at some point. And they really have not been this year. I mean, Robbie Anderson's sitting on about 100 yards for the season. And Terrace Marshall's under that. And so you're going to keep having to add elements. They play the Bucks. twice and the bills in their last four games. That's three of their last four. But the schedule's pretty reasonable until then. You get the Cowboys Eagles next week and stuff.

So they're going to add elements. It's just going to be harder without Christian McCaffrey. So we'll mention the injuries here. McCaffrey leaves with a hamstring injury early in this game. And so Darnold kind of did have to carry them a little more. They ran less, I think, than they probably would have with Chubbard back there. and then J.C. Horn, their first round, cornerback, breaks his foot, according to our guy Ian Rappaport. It's expected to be a broken foot, maybe not season ending, but very disappointing

injuries. And especially without McCaffrey, you're the fantasy guy. Like, what do you think about Hubbard? What do you think about the Panthers, you know, and their offense moving forward without McCaffrey? Because it's a little bit different game planning for Darnold if he's not there. Right. I mean, man, we can. And we could see it so in the early part of the game, like McCaffrey is just so good. And the way that he changes what they can do on offense, the way he can take just a simple little dump off pass

and create explosive plays. Like they're not going to be able to recreate that. They're not going to be able to get that from Chuba Hubbard. But I think Hubbard, you know, he does bring an explosive element. It's Chuba. It's Chuba. It's Chuba. Yeah, it's Chuba.

You know, he's good. He had like a 2,000 yard season two seasons ago. So it's not like he's just some Joe Schmo. But at the same time, he's definitely not McCaffrey. and he doesn't give them what McCaffrey brings, like tackle breaking, all that stuff. He's an explosive play creator if he has space. I bet they'll get Royce Freeman involved a little bit, you know,

but at the end of the day, it's just not going to be as good. So they're going to have to figure out, you know, I think you're right. They're going to figure out ways to get Marshall more involved. They're going to have to figure out ways to get Robert Yenner. So he had two targets in this game, which is just bizarre because he had like 1,000 yards last year. So I do like the fact that they've sort of swapped the role.

that they had last year because last year was like DJ Moore running these clear out routes for the love of the game and then Robbie Anderson was getting everything underneath and now Moore is the guy he is a one he's a true one he gets open every every snap and I think if you watch the Panthers last December yeah and this you know obviously still with Teddy Moore start kind of started taking over and I wonder if rule kind of realized at that point like oh Robbie's great we're going to give him his contract and we need him and they need him to do more than this. But more is the guy there. I love me some DJ more. Yeah. He's so good. He's really, really good. And I think Marshall has a chance to be really good, too.

I mean, he probably would have been a first rounder if he hadn't. There's a lot to like. I mean, there's a lot of really good skill players. I think the defense can survive the absence of J.C. Horn, although it's a pretty big loss because you don't love the depth in the secondary. They're going to get A.J. Boyer back next week, supposedly. But he hasn't been great. Like Dante Jackson, who's their corner, is a much better two. He is perfect for this defense. Phil Snow, that's the name of the defensive coordinator. He looks like a character in the Sopranos or something.

He has a very, everything about him is very surprising. And he runs kind of a college defense, which relies on like a lot of energy, a lot of blitzes, and it's working. I don't know if it's going to keep working. Are you annoyed at all about how they used McCaffrey in the first two weeks? because he had 59 touches and like some Panthers Twitter is coming at me being like, well, how come you didn't tweet that before the game? It's like, hey, bro, I wrote it down in my notebook. Maybe I don't tweet everything, but I did write it down in my notebook.

59 touches in two weeks coming off a major injury. And these teams like get so worked up about, oh, you can't use them anyone in the preseason. But then the season starts and use them 59 times in two weeks. And they were giving them carry after carry up three scores against the Saints. That's where it bothers me more. When you know you have a Thursday night game, why are you giving them tons of inside carries up 26 to 7 against the Saints? Bad job, Matt Rule.

Right. I think that contractually, as a fantasy guy, I have to say, I love coaches who give their players. Not if it gets them hurt four days later. No, I'm just kidding. I know, I know. It is weird, though. It's kind of bizarre because, like, nobody else really does that anymore.

Derek Henry. Steelers, I mean, Henry's coming off, 41 touches. Yeah, Derek Henry. There have been, like, stats, you know, Jason Lisk did this, that the whole, like, curse of 370 carries maybe isn't so much a thing, but that the plus 30 or around 30 in one game is a thing in terms of causing injuries in the week or two after. And then you recover, but that's exactly what they did with McCaffrey.

And it does bother me. This whole, like, everyone's in bubble wrap in the preseason. I even get annoyed by people on Twitter. I was like, oh my gosh, I can't believe you, you know, you put them out there for five snaps in the preseason or if someone gets hurt in the preseason, it's a tragedy. Meanwhile, half of the NFL is on IR right now from the last two weeks. And it's like, oh, that's fine. That's just football. Right. I don't know. There's some sort of like cognizant, cognitive dissonance there. I'm just ranting. This is how these shows go, Danny. Do you want to talk about Davis Mills? What do you want to talk about Davis Mills? When did you first see the neck picture and do you think it was photoshopped? Oh my gosh. I don't think it was Photoshop because, you know, checking the tape, there's a bunch of other pictures of him where it's clearly a very long day. And it was pretty long. It's an advantage, though, kind of like I told my son just started baseball.

And I told them, like, being short, you know, there's like less of a strike zone. So that if you crouch a little, like that's actually kind of an advantage in some ways. It's like the Altuve advantage. Now, Davis Mills's neck is like a dis is an advantage too, because you can get a lot of penalties. to the head and neck area. You know what I mean? It's a bigger sweet spot for them to hit so you can get more 15-year penalties.

That's, wow, I didn't even think of that. That's really brilliant. It didn't matter in this game because they just teed off on him and because he's a rookie, I guess, and because no one knows he is. Wait, they should have called one or two of those. One of them, they did hit him in the neck,

seriously, and they should have called that. Yeah. Overall, though, like, I was, somewhat not impressed is not the right word it wasn't gross it wasn't a terrible terrible job by him i think that the the texans game plan was just so so conservative insanely conservative was like run run you know dump off run run screen and it wasn't even like run run pass where you're actually going past the six it was just like doing everything they could to make him a complete non-factor he looked pretty good in the two-minute drill before the half um you know he looked good at times in the

second half when they were having to pass and I think you know if you're a Texans fan you'd have to come away somewhat I guess encouraged that he's just not a complete train wreck he's he's not like a Nathan Peterman type performance here where you're just like you want to gouge your eyeballs out so I wouldn't say it was super impressive but for a third round rookie you know obviously there's so much background we have to we're also obliged to to mention that he was like the top overall high school that is mentioned a lot so you can't say his name without I am I am a little bit it's like the Jimmy Graham played basketball thing. I hate to just like react to the reactions, but, you know, there was a lot of that on Twitter

and by Troy Aikman. It's like, oh, he served himself well. It's like, yeah, I mean, you're right. The game plan kind of kept him down and they were maybe too conservative early. Ultimately, though, the Texans gained 193 yards. Yeah, and the score was 24 to 9. And like, you're going to be the worst offense in the league if that continues. You're going to need the running game to be better.

Like, Lindsay and Ingram have been pretty good this season, so I think they thought they would get more out of them. But it was exactly the game I expected. There was barely any drives. And I've watched a lot of Davis Mills this year. Let me tell you. I think I watched all of his preseason snaps. I watched last week.

I watched this week. And, like, every game is the same, which is if he is protected, he will spin it, and it looks good. You're right. I mean, it looks good. But, like, that's just, not how the NFL works. And he's really not good when he's not protected. And that hopefully

gets better. But I've been burned so many times by this exact type of quarterback, Mike Glennon, Zach Mettenberger. Um, even, even, even, he reminded me a little right. Right. Um, something like that. I don't know. No, because his arm is, he's got great arm. I guess shop, shop could throw it a little bit back in the day, but mill, mills can spin it. And I don't know. Like, if you he can't move too well and I don't think he reacts to pressure well right now and that's fine he's a rookie but the tech I'm just annoyed because we I thought that this panthers Texans game could have been a lot of fun on TNF with Tyrod. Tyrod was playing so well it would have been like a it would have been like a fun weird hey they give the NFL network um like the teams that

only get into prime time once for the year get it on the NFL network early Thursday slate but this would have been a fun version of that with Tyrod the way he was playing. And I think the Texans might very well have won that game. You know, if you put Tyrod in this game, I think they win. Yeah. But we didn't get that game. We got the Davis Mills game.

And I'm sorry that that had to be your first, you know, around the NFL experience. That's all right. That's right. I agree with you, though, because the Panthers, as impressive as they have been so far, they let the Jets hang around for a while. They let the Texans hang around. Clearly they just demolish the Saints. And so that was definitely a really good game.

But it seems like they're sort of playing with fire a little bit and, you know, kind of letting these games, you know, last a little bit too long, I think. And so, yeah, they're definitely going to have to play better if they want to continue to be a legitimate contender. And for people to consider them, like, real, you know, because 3 and O is great. But we need to see them playing from behind. We need to see them, like, what Sam Darno looks like when, you know, there's some, you know, trouble. And he has actually, like, start throwing 30 times a game or something like that. is pretty sweet. He's just got to play a little faster. Everything needs to happen a little faster.

That's kind of the story of Donald's career. It's still, to me, the story, but he's obviously, when he gets the ball out on time, it's nice. He just gives me a stress level because, like, they take the clock down to zero almost every time. You see zero every time, and that's just, like, everything's just a little bit slow. It will get better, and it's nice when you know you can get better at 3 and 0. I don't think you can get any better, Danny. the fantasy football show multiple times a week over at the ringer podcast network that's right right what night what days it was dropping now yeah we're we are recording yeah so the ringer fantasy football show i know i remember formerly known a regrettable name i think you guys did the right

thing and change it no i'm kidding the the the SEO turns out when you type in dantasy it just shows up as fantasy football which you're not going to find a lot of stuff that way um yeah so it's on sunday monday for wednesday and friday and then we also yeah four a week and then we also do a green room on sundays a couple green rooms on sundays that's like live people should uh check that out danny's great check out his writing fantasy or not he uh he does it all draft season he's great he does it all he's a renaissance man he uh he joined us he talked panthers texans um the texans fun whole idea of the Texans fun season is over. They play the bills next and then the Patriots

and I just don't think it's going to go well with Davis Mills, but that's fine. They don't deserve it, karma-wise. Sorry, Texans fan. That's just how it goes. If you made it to the end of this podcast, though, we love you because you're a true diehard. Thank you to Danny and Erica, of course, behind the glass.

Until Sunday, I guess I'll say it this time. Eat the call. We're going to be able to be. This is an I-heart podcast.