NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - TNF Recap & Week 3 Locks

Episode Date: September 21, 2018

In a room filled with heroes – Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Chris Wesseling & a phone calling Marc Sessler – react to the Browns shattering their 635-day winless streak (:30) and share their ���Week 3 Locks’, including the Saints and Falcons NFC South clash (21:30), the “Desperation Bowl” in Houston (36:20), Jimmy Garoppolo and the 49ers cross Patrick Mahomes in KC (45:10), is Aaron Rodgers still OK to play against Washington (1:00:10), will Josh Rosen play against Chicago’s stifling defense (1:07:40) & Monday night is FITZMagic night (1:17:45)!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. Hey, everybody. Navy Federal has a mission to put members first by making their financial goals the priority. Visit NavyFederal.org. For more information, call 1-888-8-4-2-6328, or download the Navy Federal Credit Union app message and data rates may apply. Handoff to Crowell and he will walk in for the touchdown. Here's a cutback for the touchdown for Crowell. And the crowd reacts to the emergence of Baker Mayfield off the bench. Little trick play and a throw to Baker Mayfield to tie the game.

Darnold airs it out. Downfield pass is picked. Browns are going to win. The Browns are going to win. The Browns did win. The Cleveland Browns wipe out a 14. nothing deficit in the second quarter through the fourth and beat my New York Jets 2117 to end one of the most infamous losing streaks in the history of American professional sports.

A 2117 win that moves the Browns to 1, 1 and 1, and they did it because Baker Mayfield enters this game late in the second quarter. Tyrod Taylor completely ineffective and then suffers a head injury, opening the door for Mayfield. who plays really, really well. Makes you wonder if the injury to Tyrod Taylor, not only it bails out Hugh Jackson, who seemed to be slow on the trigger to get the kid in there in the first place,

but in the Brown's 3-0 right now with Baker Mayfield. That's how good he looked in this game, but there's no reason tonight to play the what-if game. I think it's just a celebration in Cleveland, the Bud Light Coolers Unlock. I drank bleach after the game. No, I won't drink bleach. But Mark Sessler, one of my very best friends in the world,

feeling on top of the world, I'm sure, a really tough week for Mark, who had a health scare this week and has been out of work all week and really needed the win and he gets it. And Browns fans get it. So it's a 2117 win. for the Browns.

Mark is going to join me a little bit later because not only did the Browns win, Mark absolutely nailed the greatest go get my lunch prop of all time. Lose Cannon. Were you tracking this? Yeah, we tweeted it out. Did you see it?

I mean, this is insane. I gave, and we'll get to it when Mark gets here, but I gave Connie Fox a heads up at halftime. I said, Connie, because Connie, of course, is hosting a Thursday night football coverage. I said, you've got to be plugged in on this. And I hope, I hope that Mark gets some love after this game on the NFL network airwaves.

But we'll see. That will be a major referendum on whether. Yeah. We'll see her loyalty. Yeah. Well, her loyalty and whether this podcast continues at this company. Absolutely. I think absolutely.

And we'll get to it because it's borderline Robert Stack Unsolved Mysteries, freaky, what Mark predicted. But yes, the Jets jumped out to a 14 zip lead. The Jets didn't play well by any stretch to get to that 14 lead. They got a blocked punt that they then were able to get in on a short field. They had one nice drive the entire game in the second quarter in which they marched down the field. A lot of runs down on the left side. Isaiah Crowell scored two touchdowns after the second one of the more.

I'm surprised Joe Buck didn't faint after Isaiah Correll's second touchdown celebration in which he mimicked a little bit of toilet humor, we'll call it that. Yeah, it's a good way to. And then threw the football into the crowd in his return to Cleveland. But you know what? Isaiah Coel ate Crowe at the end, as did the Jets. And you got to give it up to Baker Mayfield. He's the star of the game. This is the story that Mayfield came in and he breathed life into this team,

into this game, into this franchise. And all of a sudden, the Browns, you have to take the Browns seriously because this defense that showed it for the third straight week, this defense balls out. And now if you have a young, quarterback who can make things happen. And Troy Aikman said it on the telecast. He kind of has that it factor in a wide open AFC,

especially in the lower half when you look at the wild card. And even the AFC North, I'm not going to get, I'm not going to go crazy here. But the Browns are going to be able to hang with any team. So while as a Jets fan crushing loss, because you're up 14 zip against the Browns, you think you're going to take care of it. But I will say this.

And my Twitter feed is going to back me up on this. you're enjoying the game, you're loving the game, but you know the whole time, do not let Baker Mayfield enter this game. Hugh Jackson is keeping Tyrod Taylor in the game. Tyrod Taylor looked completely lost before he suffered the, I don't know if he was ruled a concussion, but the head injury could not make a throw.

It wasn't all on him. The entire offense looked completely out of whack. But Baker Mayfield then comes in and changes everything. So that's where we're at. And I will say this, Baker Mayfield did it. Sam Darnold did not. Sam Darnold, you know, I talked about it with the Chicago Bears

and Mitch Trubisky that week won. Another kind of high pressure prime time moment when Mitch Trubisky took the field after Aaron Rogers, put the Packers ahead of the Bears, and you could just see it that he wasn't ready for the moment. And Sam Darnold in back-to-back drives, One, when they had three timeouts and two minutes on the clock, and he throws a really bad interception,

throws late over the middle as the pocket collapsed inside. And then the Jets get the ball back. And I know at that point, less than a minute to play, no timeouts. They didn't have a real prayer, but they still had the ball, and you're playing the Browns. This is the Browns. And again, Darnold throws a wobbly duck down the left sideline that gets easily intercepted.

So, Darnold will live to see, better days. It doesn't shake my confidence in Sam Darnold, but I know that this was a tough game for a rookie and you're going to see tough games with a 21 year old 20 year old rookie. This was one. Not for Baker Mayfield now. And Erica? Yeah. Can we get Mark Sessler on the phone? Let's get him on. Let's get him on. Mark Sessler, are you there? I am here. I am on the phone. Oh my goodness. Let me start by saying congratulations, my friend. Thank you. I mean, you know, there was a little bit of a tug of war through this whole game because, you know, we have our typical text thread going. And as predicted, when it got a little hairy in the first half for the Browns, I started hitting out, texting a little bit of annoyance to you and others and life in general. And let me be stated, though, I was not doing any bragging or anything. I was not rubbing it in your face. I was just simply going into the same hole that I always go into. And, uh, but then in the, the second half, and you know, we can get into it when it turned around, I realized it was coming

against the Jets, not the Patriots, not the Steelers, not the Ravens, but against the Jets and you, and then you and I had multiple friend groups texting both of us, not quite getting, I think, the situation that you were going through. So, Dan, I'm sorry that it had to happen to get tonight against the Jets of all teams. It feels like the least deserving NFL franchise to have to go through this situation tonight of all teams in the entire league. I, you know, the Jets, I don't need any sympathy. Thank you. I appreciate that, Mark.

Maybe a reminder to people out there that maybe say, oh, the Jets went to some playoff games of, you know, seven or eight years ago. They shouldn't be viewed the same way. But there was really only one team that could ultimately end the Brown streak. And it is the Jets. The Jets are just cursed in that nature. And I'll say this. What was the most amazing thing to me, Mark, is that from the lead up to this game to

the pregame coverage, to Twitter during the game, to the announcers in the booth. It felt like a title wave. And this whole game to me was, this is it for the Browns. This is their moment. This is their moment. Everyone rooting for the Browns and because of that against the Jets. And I thought to myself, this must be what it's like to be a Patriots fan where everybody just roots against you. So only a Jet fan can know what it's like to be a Patriots fan and then get nothing for it.

I mean, the indignity never ends. but it's not this night honestly though forget about that and i meant it when i said it on earlier this week on the podcast that i wanted the jets to win obviously but if they if they did lose uh i'm happy that uh that you're getting this win you've had a really shi week let's be honest so not only the browns get off the schneide uh you get a big time pick me up as the all the all the browns fan so honestly i'm i'm happy for you tonight i really am well and you locked it up I locked it up and I needed that because I was 0 and 2 in locks. And I could not echo more what you just said real quickly because in the first half,

my only note of the game that I was going to come on to the podcast with is that NFL network cannot simply will a team to victory. Just because you have two hours of parades and hoopla leading into the game. And then the Browns are down 14-0 with their running back from last year, Isaiah Crowell crowning them with two touchdowns and rubbing the ball against his butt and throwing it in the stands. It was like, okay, nice job with the pregame show, but here comes reality. But then I thought that what we all hope to see at some point the season with Baker Mayfield, I mean, the bigger takeaway than even the win is that I thought Baker Mayfield to me looked like a bona fide first round, if not a number one overall pick type quarterback tonight.

No, he is. He's a stud first overall pick, and he showed it immediately, Mark. He is the man. Do you guys think Hugh is more worried now that they won because he put Baker in and now he was, you know, not playing the kid earlier? Do you think he was almost in a weird way sort of hoping he would somewhat blow it just to prove that he made the right coaching decisions? That's going deep. What do you think, Dan? I can't get into the mind of Hugh Jackson at this point. No, Hugh Jackson probably got his job saved tonight.

Yeah. And that's the truth. I mean, Hugh, I don't know if Hugh would have had this smarts, honestly, to take Tyrod out of the game if he didn't get hurt. It seemed like it was trending that way anyway, but Tyrod Taylor's and nobody wants to see anybody get hurt. But that was the best thing that could happen to the Browns because it took it out of the head coach, who frankly, I still believe, is completely overwhelmed out of his hands and made it Baker Mayfield's game and then Mayfield took over. Yeah, and you ultimately, it's like they, you come out of the preseason believing that their assessment, was one of two things. Either we want to just protect Baker Mayfield, and we don't want to deal with

the rookie quarterback because Hugh Jackson's dealt with a rookie quarterback for two years, or we incorrectly believe he's not ready, which I think he showed he was ready in the preseason. So I hope that's not their assessment, but he looks completely ready. And you almost wonder where they would be had he been in those first two games, because those were not too pristine Tyrod Taylor performances. And tonight was an absolute egg laid on the field. Would they have pulled them at halftime if you weren't hurt i i'm not sure i trust the coaching staff i don't either coach to do that i think for once mark fate worked in your favor on this and you hope taylor's okay uh in the short and the long term but i said that at the top of the show the browns might be three and oh

if mayfield's in because he's a star we got we got to we got to keep moving but before we do let's let's let's discuss mark what was the greatest lock of all time and the history of go get my lunch and i'm going to read it okay and let's get some uh emotional mused music underneath, as I do. Mark Sessler, and this was a prop that was laid out before the season began. At least one game. Well, not that one, excuse me. One game will not be relocated due to the weather.

Okay, here we go. Still on the table. Week three, gangrene. That's the Jets. We'll hop out to at least a 10-point lead. They jumped out to a 14-point league. The Thursday night football talking heads will crow over Sam Darnold. Not quite, but don't worry about that.

While the Browns look like a seven-point-point-point-year-old. sitting duck in prime time. That they did. Same old story. Dan and Mark will go silent on the podcast group text threat. But the most part, that's true. Greg and Wes follow suit knowing this game could fracture the group for a thousand generations. All is looking good for the plucky one-and-one jets.

The jets were one-in-one. Until Baker-Mayfield enters the game dealing with at least a 10-point deficit and time ticking away, Mayfield battles through some ups and downs to baffle the Jets' defense en route to a rousing comeback that serves as the opening chapter. in a rivalry that, well, let's just pause there. Everything is right. You got every single thing right. Right.

Weeks in advance. Right. And the rest of it's all kind of, you know, fluffy and fun. And I hope that's all right, too. But that this will start a major rivalry between the two teams and also somehow you threw the Patriots in there. But we're going to let you're going to let you off the hook on that because you got everything right.

I have another question for you. I mean, they tied the game on essentially the Cleveland special. So where are we, you know, we're going to have to bring the Philly special back into the discussion here, too. I think it's sort of a title wave. It's hard to stop this title wave on the Philly Special, too. Listen, that's already been adjudicated, my friend. We will see. But I do, I do apologize to the Jets were treated like Lee Harvey Oswald tonight.

It's the wrong team to play that role, but they'll be back. Yeah, it was, it was. The defense, the Jets defense looks like it's good and the offense could be, but not tonight, a bad night. Mark, congratulations on an amazing win as the Cleveland Browns finally get off the Schneid. Thank you, and I will see you Sunday. Like it. Feel better, Mark, glad to hear from you.

Thanks, guys. To the show. The Around the NFL podcast. Votes for the players of the week. Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hanses, and I'm joined in a room filled with Some heroes. Chris Wesleying to my left.

Greg Rosenthal to my right. What is up, boys? Hey, Dan. Ow! Thank God it. Friday. It's our Friday. Well, it's Thursday.

Most people will listen to it on their Friday. It's true. At the top of the show, you heard about the Browns and Jets. Let's hope that worked out for the old Zusser. Today, we will be getting into all of the week. three games previewing the 15 games remaining on the schedule. And we're going to do it with a mix of analysis. Touch of mirth.

Chemistry, too. A little bit of chemistry. Mark Sessler, as you know, if you listen to yesterday's podcast, is still out dealing with that unfortunate issue with blood clots. Yikes, a scary situation that it looks like everything is under control. and hopefully, God willing, Mark will be back with us on Sunday, but he obviously is going to take all the time he needs, but he will be sitting out this show,

the preview portion of today's show, and we will have much reason to celebrate when Mark returns. Absolutely. Including the Brown's victory that you guys already just talked about. Oh, yeah, no way that's going to look old and dated. What a win. Nice move, Greg. Good potty.

I just want to share a little personal anecdote about my morning. Our research department, great people. Bill Smith, good dude. He sent out an email asking us to meet to go through a tutorial on the new PFF. The NFL and PFF are now in bed together. Sypatico? some patico so that gives us access to the site if everyone that didn't have it previously now has access so there's a tutorial about the site which is quite interesting i chose to attend the meeting you fellows did not that's not the point of the story but i was i think this is the point of it really is not and you'll see it's not we went to the same meeting a year ago so i feel like i got that tutorial good that's not what this is about if you if your conscience can live with that then that's fine enough uh but i was there so i had to i had to i I had to get to this 10.30 meeting.

As I'm wont to do, I was running late. So I'm in the car at about 1020. I have my bag. I have my LaCroix with a straw, as always. I have my research notes, and I throw them into the front seat. And I take off to work, and I'm driving. What is that? I just just assumed maybe you got into like a really bad accident.

accident or something. Oh, well, that's nice. Well, our podcast is now basically a final destination sequel with Wes getting cancer and now Mark having a pulmonary embolism. And Dan's just going to be like walking down the street next summer and an arrow comes out of nowhere and pierces him

in the heart. No, you're next. You're next. I'm like a cockroach. I'm going to be live fast all you guys. That'll be a drop on four tiers board. Yeah, exactly. So I'm driving along, driving along. I get it takes about 10 minutes to get to the office I pull into the lot and it was right at that moment and it was about 1032 so the meeting had

started already had to get to this meeting promised bill would not let him down the way you guys let him down had to get to the meeting realize at that moment that the old zeuser meant to grab his shoes his sneakers on his way out the door did not have shoes didn't have them thought oh maybe there's an old pair in my trunk no got nothing and it's 1032 wait you drove in your socks yes and now which is something I do sometimes. Sometimes when I'm running late, I grab my shoes, grab my bag, grab my lacroix, grab my straw, and then I get in the car and put everything together on my way. Sometimes I do that. So you're like running on your driveway and socks? I just walk from my front door to my driveway and get my car. It's not a big deal. It's not like

I live in like Serbia and there's glass and I feel like I need to put where to be driving. This is not Serbia. If you lived on an island, that would be overdraft. to have socks. Yeah. So then I had to make a decision because if I turn around, it's a 20-minute round trip. The meetings, it's over. Over, basically. So I decide to conduct a social experiment and I parked the car and say, I'm going to go to this meeting without shoes on, but I'm not going to make any mention of it.

And I'm going to see if anyone notices. And if things work out, I'll sit in on this meeting. It's an hour-long meeting. Go back in my car, drive home. I get out of the car, first guy up, the valet, doesn't notice. I have black socks on, dark jeans, doesn't notice. I go in the building, walk by a couple people, nobody notices. I turn in the corner, Charlie Yook, who's a major player here on the network side, great guy, Yuc.

He grabs me, says, hey, I really like that interview you guys did with Reggie and Colleen, good stuff. I was like, thanks, Yuk, doesn't notice. Enter the meeting. I'm late. everyone's already there. I walk in. Everybody looks. No one notices.

Go through the whole meeting. Nothing. After the meeting, walk out, John Marvel, one of our shadowy league figures, says, hey, what's up, Zeus? Doesn't see. Good Marvel impression. In to the car, back to the valet.

What's going on to you? He never sees it. No one ever knew. I've got one takeaway here. What? You were saved by having plain black socks. I think it helped. But it's also, and it reminded me,

it was my Shawshank Redemption Moment. remember the scene where Andy, right before his escape, he needs to put together the full suit when he goes to the banks the next day. So the last thing he does, he shines the warden shoes and puts on the warden shoes before he goes back to his cell and leaves his old prison shoes in the warden shoebox. And the only thing that he had to get away with before the escape was no one noticed that he was wearing gleaming dress shoes.

When he walked back to the prison, no one noticed. So now I know what it was like. climb through two five football fields of smelling foulness Yeah, yours is a true story On the other side His is fiction

I'm proud of you though That you did not use the occasion Sort of at the end of the meeting To You know, make yourself the hero Not only putting out Oh, you're proud of me That we're not there

I'm saying like you could I thought you would have wanted to point out to everyone That you were so committed To making this BFF meeting Like I don't need shoes What if everybody noticed And they were all like Jesus Christ

It's certainly possible. I didn't get the feeling because I didn't really know a lot of the people in that meeting well. So it's possible they notice, but I don't think anybody knows. Anyway, a little story there, my little Shawshank escape. Let's get to the week two games starting. Oh, yeah, Greg, you love it. Everyone loves it one of the best rivalries in the league. The New Orleans Saints traveling to the site of Super Bowl 53, the Mercedes-Benz dome in Atlanta to face the

Falcons, two teams one-in-one, and we'll start with you, Chris Wessling on this. The Saints, extremely fortunate to be one-and-one sneaking by against the Browns with the help of Zane Gonzalez, and the Falcons, who looked a lot better in week two, I feel like the Falcons are in a better place right now than the Saints. Do you agree? I think so, and for this reason. Greg touched on this in his quarterback index, and when I'm watching the Saints-Browns game, I'm thinking, we think of the Saints as this loaded offense,

but really it's Alvin Kamara. And Michael Thomas. Yeah, and Michael Thomas. But Alvin Kamara is the offense. He didn't touch the ball in the entire third quarter, and they didn't move the ball. And this has been a problem that maybe their tight ends are not good. Maybe their wide receivers beyond Michael Thomas aren't good.

Maybe their running backs without Mark Ingram beyond Alvin Kamara aren't good. And maybe that's why they're having trouble moving the ball. Yeah, I really think it's a case where they trust their system to create yards that you can almost kind of like the Patriots have done over the years. You can almost plug anyone in and be their slot receiver. You can plug anyone. And even when Kobe Fleener's struggling, and he's putting up 600, 700 yards. But I think they've gotten to the point here where Drew Breeze needs more help around him.

When he's thrown to Austin Carr at the end of that game and he can't get on the same page as Austin Carr. And you have Ben Watson, who was thrown to five times last week for a total of 19 yards. He's 38 years old. I think they've been trusting that their system is going to fix everything a little too much and not notice that the roster is very top-heavy because the Saints at their best are a spread it, spread it out, and you don't know where the ball is going to be going type of team. How big is the absence of Mark Ingram for the Saints?

I don't think it's quite as big as, say, Treyquan Smith not playing yet. or not knowing all the wide receiver positions enough to play yet. To me, it seems more of a passing game. And Ben Watson not being this big leaping monster in the end zone that Drew Breeze needs at tight end. He overthrew Watson once, and it felt like not only Jimmy Graham, but a normal tight end would have caught that pass. And Alvin Camara has looked great.

He's looked just as good as he did a year ago. I do think it makes a big difference just because you need another quality offensive player. And it helps you diversify when they're both on the field. And Mike Gillisley's been terrible. Right. And they have bad backups. And Cameron Meredith is the guy I haven't even mentioned.

He signed there for good money and he's not even active on game days right now. So this is, I think, a week that Saints fans, I've talked to a couple of them, including a regular listener of the show, Adam, who's helped us out over the – They're afraid of this because you don't want to be going into Atlanta. Adam Bond. You're not – you don't want to be going into Atlanta feeling – like you're not at your best because this is a game that means a lot to Saints fan

and I think the Falcons are coming to this game looking a lot better and that's why I'm going to go lock them up. Wow! Wow, I was just going to say after all that analysis I bet the Saints drop 40 on them. This is such an unpredictable rivalry

and both teams are so talented that it's not like that would shock me in any way, but I do think the Falcons are a better team right now and they're at home. And like we said, we like the cannon fodder in week two when it fires off all those storylines

that people think they figured out every team in the league fire away the Falcons have no hope in the Red Zone four for four in the Red Zone four touchdowns all by Matt Ryan two passing two rushing last week

they did not have four Red Zone touchdowns in any game last season and that's why I was so angry about him on my fantasy team if these are the Saints that were used to seeing they will find the weaknesses in the Falcons defense they are shorthanded they did give up

a lot of points to the Panthers. So I think you might be on to something, Chris, that this could be like a 38 to 30. I would not be wanting to lock this game. Especially like this is your favorite rivalry in the league. It's unpredictable. I know where West. It's absolutely unpredictable.

Every game is unpredictable. I know what Wes wants to lock up. It's the next game we're going to talk about the Denver Broncos. Oh, yeah. You and O undefeated in the AFC West after knocking off the Raiders in the last seconds of week two. Now they travel to Baltimore, are a great test here for the Broncos and the Ravens. It will be interesting to see how they bounce back

because they definitely, after basically a cakewalk in week one against the bills where it was even hard to take anything out of it because we have no idea the bills might be that bad. The Cincinnati Bengals handed it to them a little bit, Greg. So the Ravens are stinging after a loss and the Broncos are feeling good. They're feeling good, but they should feel lucky.

I mean, I know it is... Unlucky. I mean, they should. should feel lucky that the Broncos got a win last week because let's not go crazy giving them too much credit as a touchdown favorite squeaking out a win over the Raiders. I think their secondary is the part of the team that concerns me because you normally expect that to be a real asset. And so you go from one week giving up a ton of big plays to Russell Wilson and the Seahawks to the next week letting Derek Cargo 29 for 32 and almost being a little too conservative.

This is another great matchup. I don't think Joe Flacco is a guy that should scare you, but I'm wondering, like, is this plus Broncos secondary with some of the talent that they've had over the years totally gone? Because they have not looked good. Vance is Joseph is not happy with his secondary, especially as cornerbacks and wants them to be more aggressive. But I would take the other tack and say they were very unlucky against the Raiders. Cortland Sutton and Tim Patrick came within whiskers of outstanding touchdown catches. Cortland Sutton and Demarius Thomas came within a whisker of outstanding. sideline catches deep down the field, they could have had 30 points if these plays are made.

This could have been a better game, but the secondary is an issue. And did you guys hear- Are you worried of that they threw the ball of Demerius Thomas 11 times and he got 18 yards? That's one of the worst games. Oh. Efficiency-wise, any quarterback receivers had that I can remember. He played poorly and drops were an issue, but it doesn't feel like he can't move well anymore or something like that.

I feel like the talent is still there. How about Trail Davis? Hall of Famer. TD saying this week, Philip Lindsay's going to break his rushing record for the Broncos. Oh, what is the rushing record? I think it's 7,000, 8,000 yards. It's doable if you stuck around for eight years.

His body, is he built for, or is he more a guy? It's a complimentary guy. Isn't he like 180? He's listed at 190. I think he's listed at 165. He's like the lightest running back I've ever seen. Is that right? I thought it was 185.

But if it's what, to my point, it's like, listen, He's not that light, but he's muscular. NFL, he's listed at 190. I don't know where I saw that. 185 is what I saw. He can run inside. That's what's different about him compared to other scatbacks. And that play, that long run he had where he changed direction and mid stride,

and that set him free for that long run. Not many guys can do that. He was listed at 165 in college. So he has put on whether they're inflate. They're probably not inflating. He's put on a lot of weight since he was in Colorado. He doesn't look under 190 to me when I look at him. He looks fine.

I think he can run inside, and I don't think that they're ever going to try to give him 20, you know, carries a game. He's always going to be in a committee attack, but he's the real deal. Are you ready to go that far? He's going to have that kind of state in power where eight years from now he's still on the Broncos. I'm not, but a Hall of Fame or is. No, I mean, he's, who knows if he can stay healthy? You want to talk unpredictable. Imagine Philip Lindsay winning NFC rookie of the year honors over Sequin Barkley.

Well, that would really hard to do. I'm not surprised. Being the top running back, rookie running back in this class, that would be wild. It is pretty amazing after all that time. And it's only two weeks, but you're right that Lindsay's had as good or better

than any running back in the league. You're right, Dan. I'm going to lock up this game. You are. But I'm turning heel. I'm locking it up for the Ravens. What?

Whoa. You're right, Dark? Whoa. Oh, Ravens at home. Broncos feeling a little, you know, a little too big. They're pretty heavy. I mean, they're big favorites. The Ravens are a better team, right?

Wes is in his own right now. He's cancer free. He's 2 and 0. And this is a perfect pick because it's kind of like, it's a nice job. He can look in the mirror. But even if he was having doubts about looking in the mirror, the fact that he's been riding the Broncos, you can't fault the guy for this.

This is a nice little pick. I like what you're doing here. Well, you know, Greg knows this because of his history. in the desert when you're on a rule and you're picking with your mind and not worrying about like what your senses like you know yeah like I know the Ravens are the picking like on the blackjack table if you if you start to get hot that's the time you get in like I think when you're when you're in a game with no rules you take like the biggest favorite possible every week that no one will give you any grief about and that's the way to go it's still on his way are great what are you

talking about I picked against an undefeated team this week they're like six and a half point I don't care what the people in the desert say they don't know anything to say it let's not Get crazy. Oh, last week the people in the desert said the bills are a great team and no team in the NFL's ever a cupcake. Stick your desert talk where it don't shine. You don't know anything. Right, I'm just saying let's calm down about picking a touchdown favorite last week and they win by one. Just keep talking up the bills is a great NFL team, Greg.

Greg, you say there are no rules. Right. I've said this a million times you never appreciated or understand what I'm trying to tell you. Chris Wesleyan, can you look in the mirror? Absolutely. That's all. That's the rule. Yeah, that's the rule.

I think you picked the wrong fight on that one. Let's move on. The Cincinnati Bengals, 2 and O, and here's a little weird quirk. They won each of their first two games by the identical score, 34 to 23. And now they travel to Carolina, Charlotte, to be exact, to face the Panthers. The Steelers off to a slow start, West. The Bengals, are they now the favorites in this division? How high are you about this team after two weeks?

think there is a favorite in that division like it feels like it's 33% across the board Steelers Ravens bangles to me no love for the oh one and one browns browns have to win a game before i ever like they might have earlier on this show we're really step in the limb yeah let's do it yeah uh no love for them i don't trust their coaching staff never have trusted their coaching staff and they usually do the wrong thing and this is a nice opportunity to play a banged-up panthers team whose offensive line is still a little bit in trouble like this this is a this is a road game that when you looked at the schedule, that's a tough matchup, but I feel like the Bengals are good enough to hang with anyone. Why not?

Not only have the Panthers running backs not really run the ball well, the run defense disappeared last week, and now the Bengals are playing without Joe Mixing, so that would be an interesting matchup. Geo Bernard is a really good backup. One thing I want to see from the Panthers, DJ Moore needs more playing time. The Gerius Wright is not like a starting caliber NFL slot receiver in my mind. DJ Moore is a playmaker and needs to be on the field. That's one of those things on draft day. You see DJ Moore.

You immediately expect people are like, that's their number one receiver. And so often when that happens, you get to week one and he's playing 20 snaps between guys that are all kind of replacement level guys like Jerry is right and he can't get on the field. That's just how the NFL works. You expect that these rookies that you love so much

are going to make a huge impact. He's made very little impact. Well, they're giving him the Cordero-Patterson starter kit, which tells us that he probably isn't a great route runner and doesn't know the receiver positions that well. We talked about on Wednesday's podcast, West, during our conversation with Will Brinson and check it out if you haven't seen it.

And by the while, I'm here. People have been saying, how do we watch the Twitter show? You can just click into it, even though it's a live show by nature. If you find any of our Twitter profiles in mind, I have it pinned on top of my profile, click in, you can watch that. I know some people said,

Is there an audio version of this? I don't think maybe that changes down the line, but I think that's what the show is. It's our video show. It's a different show than the three audio podcasts, and we want to kind of keep them separate. But we could always have that conversation. Is there a reason why it couldn't also be an audio show?

Probably they wouldn't want that to be the case because they want you to watch the video show. I like it as a video show. We got enough audio. Yeah. And it's actually, it's a show that's driven to be viewed. So I don't want to put out something that has, you know, as an audio show when it's really,

It's a visual thing. So let's just watch it on Twitter. Enjoy it. It's something we're proud of and excited to do all season. Next show will be Tuesday at 1.30 Pacific, 430 Eastern. Wes, on Wednesday show with Will, we talked about how more than ever teams are getting their running backs involved in the passing game. Christian McCaffrey has 100 catches in his first 18 career games, fourth most in the Super Bowl era. So he is a guy from day one with that team.

they have used him, and he seems to be really hitting his stride now. Yeah, I think that's a product of the era in which he plays. Plus, there aren't many running backs in history who have had his skill set. He's almost as much of a slot receiver as a running back. Tough matchup against a good linebacker group. The Bengals, who I think the – even though the numbers aren't quite there for them, the sum of their parts look really good. They have so many good parts on defense.

Their young linebackers, Gino Ackins and Dunlop get paid, and then they come out of the gates on fire. I mean, every play Dunlop makes seems to be just a massive play. And Gino Atkins been dominant. William Jackson's good. This is a tough matchup, I think, for Carolina. Jesse Bates has been really good at safety. Sam Hubbert was a fine.

They're a more complete team than the Panthers. The Bengals are quite a complete team. I don't know if they're perfect, but they can do everything well. They don't have a huge weakness. They are definitely good enough to lose in the first round of the playoffs. Well, it does. And, well, I was going to say, they have that 2015 feel to them a little bit. Maybe not as dynamic on offense.

when Eifford and Dalton were in the zone together. But just you get a much better feeling around this team that they feel like this could be an 11-5 team, but we shall see. It is a wide-open division. Moving on. Week three is fun because when two teams start 0-2, desperation is in the air.

The Desperation Bowl in Houston, the New York Giants are 0-and-2 after two uninspiring efforts in losses. to the Jaguars and Cowboys, especially on offense, travel to Houston to face the Texans. Greg, Deshaun Watson, Eli Manning, two quarterbacks that are getting a lot of scrutiny right now. Forget about that story with Watson and the d'i-coach that made the comment down.

I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about just in general his start to the season, Eli's start, your QB index, which you roll out every week. Where did you put these guys? What's going on? I'm waiting until week four, I believe, five, to break out the complete rankings. You've got to see him for a few weeks. For now, I'm writing about trends and whatnot.

And my trends for Deshaun Watson would not be that concerning based on his personal play. They haven't protected well. He hasn't been as explosive, but I think some of that's been the play calling. You're not getting guys wide open like we did a year ago. He's not quite as athletic maybe, or at least showing it as he was a year ago. But I think for the most part, you should be pretty happy with how he's looked in his first two games. coming off a torn ACL. Eli Manning's a different story.

I mean, that was a rough performance a week ago. But I am surprised looking at this game. This isn't gambling advice, but... No, no. But it's shocking that the Texans are overwhelming favorites in this game because at this point, the Texans need to try to win a game, and they haven't been particularly impressive on balance in either one of them. And to me, it's a toss-up.

I don't think the Giants are necessarily going to be some awful team just based on what we've seen from the first two weeks. DeAndre Hopkins was a deserving all-pro last year, and Deshaun Watson deserves the credit he gets. But Will Fuller's the difference maker on this offense. When he's healthy, they score a lot of points. They move the ball better, and he makes plays. He was excellent last week in that game.

Good ball player. And J.J. Watt is licking his chops to go against this Giants' offensive line. He did not get a sack again last week, but seemed to win every single snap. and credit the Titans coaching staff, which coached this game like a Super Bowl without their top three tackles. At one point, Derek Henry

had five straight runs out of the Wildcat. They were doing everything they could to not have Blaine Gabbard dropping deep, and Watt was just missing or blowing up the running game, but he's winning at the line of scrimmage ever since the second half of the season opener. And to that point,

and I know you guys don't want to say it, but I'll throw it out there. I'm not making an excuse for Eli. He's been bad through two weeks. But that offensive line, in which they put a lot of resources into rebuilding it, he did not have a prayer against the Cowboys. The Cowboys are not, you know, the sack exchange being garneted.

They're getting better, but I hear you. He did not have a lot of time to operate in that game. It was not a good performance. And if that offensive line, their whole theory, and if you want to buy into why the Giants decided to stay with Eli, their theory was 2017 was an absolute disaster. We didn't have the right coach in place. We had a terrible offensive line and injury.

bad luck. If we get a new coach and we get healthy and we redo the offensive line, we can still get time, a good season at Eli or maybe two. But if the offensive line is still terrible, nothing works. Right. The Jenga piece. And the bigger, the bigger problem to be, I can't move. And that is, that's a part of it. I think maybe even a bigger problem has been their run blocking. And I've heard some people already criticizing the Giants for taking Seekuan Barclay, which I think is totally fair when you have all these great quarterbacks available at the top. And the people that are defending the Barclay pick are saying, well, yeah, but there's no, you know, there's been a ton of negative runs for Barclay in both games, by the way, a lot of

negative runs, a lot of second and 11s, a lot of third and nines where Barclay gets no yards in the first two and sets up Eli in a bad spot. And the people that are defending the Barclay's pick are saying, yeah, well, there's no, there's no good run blocking. The line's not good. And I'm thinking, that's the point. If you take a running back number two and he can't create yardage on his own because your line is that bad, then why are you taking a running back? Barclay is not, he's going to be a great player, I'm sure, but he hasn't helped their team right now very much.

This theory that you mentioned with Schumer and Gettelman, their entire offseason, the jury's in, and they're handing the judge a rope right now. Ooh. This was a miserable offseason for the Giants. Wait, we'll see. We're going to execute? I mean, it's a bit of a metaphor.

I mean, that seems kind of harsh, Wes. I thought we got to dismiss. this whole like oh i'm west i'm after surgery i'm kinder and gentler and now you just want to like hang people it's a little metaphor it's a little bit i'm jack the ripper wow um to your point though like saquan barclay could be a generational talent but another generational talent talent is todd gurley look at his 2016 season and his 2017 that's fair dog any running back you need to have that support we should mention marcus maria sander then you could do anything but oh sorry go ahead no that's it I'm getting totally scrambled of who's possibly available in this game.

Giants need this game, by the way. They both need it. They both need it. Who gets it? I think the Texans are the better team. I don't trust anything about the Giants right now, and you're totally right about the offensive line, but Eli has fallen into so many bad habits,

and he wants to take the check down now. I'm picking the G-Men. Shocker. I'd take the Texans, but I don't feel great about it. Moving on the Tennessee Titans one-in-one. beat those Texans last week, 20 to 17, travel to Jacksonville to face the Jags who looked awesome against the Patriots

last Sunday. Marcus Marriota practiced again on Thursday, which points to him returning to action or being on the field as a starter in this game. Will it matter, Wes? I think it will. And oddly enough, the Titans controlled this matchup last year,

winning both games. I don't know if there is, physical and offense. I think both of their tackles did return to practice this week, so that bodes well. One player to watch, rookie Harold Landry, who missed the first game, and who was a first-round talent who fell to the second round, was a terror coming off the edge against the Texans. He has power, he has explosion, he has a dip move, which he uses to get around the left tackle, and I think he's a transformative player for this defense.

They're a better defense with him on the field. Well, they really needed him back. Or they needed something off of the edge because they weren't getting much. Roshan Evans, their first round pick hasn't played. He plays a different position, but they haven't gotten much out of him.

You're right. Taylor Luan looks like he will play in this game. Jack Conklin, they're all pro, probably not back for a few weeks, and they're hopeful. I think Dennis Kelly, who's their swing tackle, will play in this game.

And that's a big deal. I like... Who's going to be back with Shaliman? Taylor Luan. No, the other. I'm Jack the Ripper. Jack Conklin? He's not.

Not back. Dennis Kelly, though, is. But Jack Conklin. I thought you had a drop prep for Dennis Kelly. I was about to be impressed. I was pretty excited for that. This is kind of a sneaky, huge game, though, because if the Jaguars win this, there might be a little bit of separation in the division and not a lot of hope that any of these teams are going to come catch them. Yeah, I think the Jags are heading for a first-round playoff by.

I mean, I know it's early, but that division, they're clearly the best team. And I know I've ripped on Bortles. So I want to compliment him a little bit. But I've called him a poor man's Cam Newton because you never know from week to week what his mechanics are going to do. But I do think he's gotten better at going through progressions and knowing when to take a risk and when to dump it off. And I think that he's a smarter quarterback than he was a couple years ago.

I think his coaching has gotten better too. Yes, Nathaniel has done a good job. The fact that Mariota is practicing, but the coach, Mike Brable, was still saying that he's, like, working through, getting feeling in his fingers. Only football would be like Marcus Mariotta. but still didn't have feeling in his fingers a week later not be that big of a deal last week. It's a man's game.

It was just like, okay, yeah, he's not really feeling his fingers yet. So maybe he'll play, maybe he won't. Like, that seems insane. Erica, hey, chicks, move aside. This is a man's game. I'm Jack the River. One more note about the, that's a good point, Greg.

One more note about Leonard Fournett. What was my point? No, that football is a brutal game. It's a brutal sport. It has to be tough to play. I don't think we know for sure that he's starting, by the way. Might be Blaine Gabbard again. Leonard Fournett is limited in practice,

but he seems to be headed back to the lineup. One note, in four games without that, man, that offense is way better. They're averaging over 30 points a game and have not lost. So Leonard Fournette, who another running back, who was a first round pick, has not had that type of impact in Jacksonville. Moving on, here's a nice matchup. The San Francisco 49ers travel to Arrowhead to face the 2-0 Chiefs.

The Chiefs have looked awesome, at least on offense two weeks. week's Patrick Mahomes won another Player of the Week award. Are you okay with this one? Yes, I'm okay with this one. I still would have Tyreek Hill number one in my own personal MVP rankings. Okay. I think he's...

But no rant about the player of the week this week with Pat Mahomes? I think Pat Mahomes is great. He's going to be a phenomenal quarterback, but Tyreek Hill right now is like Randy Moss in his prime. He's going to make any quarterback under center throw for way more yards and touchdowns than they would otherwise. Gotcha. So here come the Niners who survived against the line.

I'm curious what you guys think about that game because that was one of the ones I watched on Sunday. But I have to say, Greg, I want to tee you up on this because I know you did write about some cracks in the Jimmy G. veneer through two weeks. Just that he's had a two-game stretch where he's had struggles that he didn't have in any two-game stretch. Happy feet. A year ago. Different problems depending on the game.

Happy feet, certainly in the Red Zone. in week one. No, and last game. And then week two a little bit that he just, I don't know if he froze or he just held on to the ball too long. And Matt Patricia, who knows him really well, had a great game plan. They took advantage of the lack of talent at wide receiver,

man-to-man coverage, whatever it was. Garapo was holding the ball forever. Four of his six sacks, he held the ball more than seven seconds, which is unheard of eight seconds on one. Even the two that were closer were four or five seconds sacks. So he was confused. He had a few inaccurate throws. He got bailed out by a bad intercept.

He just hasn't looked as comfortable in these two games. I don't think it's a big deal at all. I think every quarterback's going to go through this, and Kyle Shanahan and him will figure it out. But he's not playing to start this season at the level that he was at last season. There's no question. Yeah, you asked if we were worried about him after the first week, and I said no.

And I'm still not worried about him. It's been eight starts in his NFL career. It's not time for panic or anything. but I do think that what separates good from great quarterbacks in the NFL is how they play in the red zone. And since he's taken over as the 49er starter, he's really good about moving the offense up and down the field, moving the chains. And then once they get to the red zone, maybe it's more of a function of who he's throwing to and maybe hasn't figured out red zone defenses as well yet. But the offense tends to stall when they get to the red zone. And Cape and I talked about this a little bit last week.

But the one thing, if you want to get super pumped, like the Jaguars, a lot of people will say right now, who are the favorites to get a buy in the AFC? The Pats are always in the mix. But a lot of people are going to say, Chiefs, Jaguars. Well, let's say, Chiefs have given up over 1,000 yards of total offense in their first two weeks. That offense will probably cool off a little bit. It did last year at least. And if it does, the defense is just going to have to be better or they're going to come back down to Earth.

And football outsider's metrics, they are number one in offense, number one in special teams, and dead last in defense. Wow. It's kind of fun. They call that, you know what that's called the golden sombrero? No. The golden shower. Well, that's also not a, not typically.

The golden triumvirate, I don't know. No, well, only two are going. Okay, let's just move on. We'll work on that. Moving on the Raiders. The Raiders. Oh, and two, just a really tough rip out your heart loss of the Broncos because that team needed a win,

but they could not find a way to close out the game. game and now they fall they head to miami to face i was going to say the surprising dolphins but no they've done a nice job with a favorable early schedule they won at home against the titans in that in that silly seven-hour game and then played pretty well against the jets on the road in a 20 to 12 win so they're two and oh um west let's talk some dolphins let us talk some dolphins go outside of the move that Albert Wilson put on Buster screen for the touchdown, I was not impressed with this offense, in the least, the Dolphins offense against the Jets.

But I am really impressed with their defense, and it starts with Robert Quinn, who has looked great since the beginning of preseason action. He looks five years younger. Devon Godchall at defensive tackle had an awesome game against the Jets, and Minka Fitzpatrick, who I included as an honorable mention in my top 10 defensive rookies and Dolphins fans lost their ever-loving minds on me. going at i know i know west is feeling good when he's just taking shots at entire fan bases well the

dolphins fan base is ridiculous and they're the worst fan base in the nflb right now by far by absolute far care to just unpack that a little bit yeah why because they like they have less security about themselves than any fan base in the league they know their team's boring and directionless and they're not going to go anywhere and clip this off and send it to the miami well not only that I want one of those. Erica, you're great at those. Henry is like the rare dolphins fan who is able to take a sober-minded approach to his team.

I want one of those social posts. Erica, you know, you're young. You're a millennial. You can figure this out. You know, like a picture of Wes's face with a lot of big pull quotes of all the things he just said about the dolphins are insecure

and all this stuff. Oh, they're incredibly insecure. Like, they are just riddled with insecurities that fan base and they lash out at every little things. Just that in the counterpoint. Doesn't that make them somewhat relatable because we all have our insecurities that we wrestle with. No, they're more...

Sneaky good fans, though. They know their team and they're passionate, which people don't think of the Dolphins fan base is very passionate because you look at the crowd and they're not there all the time. But I think actually they are a knowledgeable team and you can tell by the coverage that they get. They have a million blogs and a million newspapers

and they're all just pumping out dolphins. We have different definitions of what makes a good fan. I don't think that like knowing only your own team, ignoring the other 31 teams in the league and getting overly passionate about everything your team does makes you a great fan. It just makes you narrow-minded. Greg, please in the future, try not to talk over my Miami Sound Machine bits.

Oh, try it again. Go for it. Yeah, especially for a team owned by the Miami Sound Machine. Gloria Estefan. So, yeah, to wrap up an underrated defense and overrated fan base. Okay. And on the Raider's side, They need a win in the worst way.

Derek Carr played tremendously well. He deserved a W as much as anybody else. He played like an MVP, to be honest with you. But it wasn't enough. And then this week, because this is now, especially when you don't get the W, you know, the bad vibes. I wish the Raiders had won just to calm everyone down. The storm clouds continue to follow.

The latest was here, John Gruden, and this was seized on in certain corners of the Internet, was disgusting. It was a little too easy. It was discussing, you know, their issues getting to the quarterback. Here's what Cruden had to say. It's hard to find a great one. It's hard to find a good one.

It's hard to find one. You just said it. And, you know, college football now, they're not really dropping back to pass and throwing footballs anymore. They're throwing laterals and they're throwing bubble screens and they're running read options. So you've got to train these guys. It takes a little bit of time to learn how to rush the pastor.

and we've got some guys that are in that process right now. The obvious thing there, and it's fair to say, though, if you're aware how hard it is and it's harder than ever to cultivate pass-rushing talent at this level, you don't let the best one of the last 10 years out the door. But this is just the negativity that's around the Raiders right now. They need to win as badly as anybody. You know what?

I think the Dolphins are going to give it to them. Really? I think the Raiders get off the Schneider. You're going to lock it up? No, I'm not going to lock it up, but I like the Raiders in this game. I wasn't that I'm with Wes. Their defense looked good against the Jets. I don't take anything out of the week one game.

It was just a mess. The defense looked good. The offense pedestrian and Ryan Tannahill, meh. Yeah, Marshaun. Yes. Ryan Tana Hill, me. I think, yeah, we need to see more, but it's been, that's kind of what he's been under out.

I think Adam Gaste does a good job of not exposing him and not making him the reason that they lose games. But, you know, You want a little more out of your franchise. Someone should trade for Raider safety, Carl Joseph. That's one of my takeaways, too. He's not being used on that team, and I think he's got potential. Let's move on the Buffalo Bills, O and 2.

They fell last week to the Chargers. They got killed in week one by the Ravens. Now they travel to Minnesota. Greg, I would imagine the desert people are pretty confident that Minnesota is going to have their way. It's wild. It's wild to see a team favored by as much as the vice. Vikings are this early in the season. And of course, you can't.

We won't get into detail. You can't argue with that, especially because I think the Vikings are showing that they do have a higher ceiling even than they did a year ago because of Kirk Cousins. And that's, how can that not get you excited? Even in a game where Mike Patton had a great plan to stop Kirk Cousins early, that they managed to figure it out during the game. And right now, his numbers going deep down the field are actually better than they were in Washington.

And they were good in Washington. But now, I mean, it's early, but he's five for 10 throwing deep down the field for something like 150 yards, four touchdowns, no interception. You know why? Because he's got better receivers. That's a big one digs and Adam Thielen are really freaking good. Right. So he has better receivers, but a couple of his throws have also just been wow throws. So it's that combination that just makes you excited thinking there's not a lot getting in the way of this team other than maybe the offensive line.

The offensive line's better than people thought it would be. I don't see that as a weakness at all through two weeks. Not in the Packers game so much. I agree. And in other Buffalo news, Jordan Matthews, who just re-signed with the Eagles, had this quote this week, which I quite enjoyed. When I was in Buffalo, there was, like, nothing to do there except ellipses. Have fun with your wife.

Orson? Ah, the French champagne. She got pregnant. So we always say we got a Buffalo baby. Ain't nothing to do there except each other. That is an early contender for a quote of the year. I can't, you know, I'm 0 and 2 in the locks. I would love to lock up the Vikings here,

but here it is. Perfect example. Daddy looks in the mirror. Nope. I've been monitoring this, though, because I'm trying to figure what point is the mirror. And I figured out it's about a touchdown. If it's more than a touchdown,

you can't look in the mirror. You're quantified the mirror? If you're going to make a game, I feel like it needs to have rules. You get way too much credit to the desert. Moving on, the Indianapolis Colts are one-in-one and look pretty damn good against the Redskins. especially on defense in their win in week two.

They now travel to Philadelphia, and the big story, of course, here is Carson Wentz, who returns to the lineup, Chris Wessling, and not a moment too soon. Yes, you and I and Lindsay spoke about this on Wednesday's show, should we expect Carson Wentz to struggle at first? And my point was even if he's fully healthy, his surrounding talent is so much worse right now.

But I thought it was interesting that Jimmy Kemsky, who is a beat writer for the Eagles, tweeted out that Carson Wentz in 2017 had the best training camp he's ever seen by a quarterback. And he was even better in the 2018 training camp. And he expects Wentz to be good right away because Wentz is just that good of a player. Interesting. But then again, training camp to me doesn't indicate much. I mean, Carson Wentz started last season slow. Do you remember the conversation about mid-September last year? People were like, oh, is he going to come along? I just think. To your point, he needs more help from the play calling.

They've had a lot of changes in the coaching staff. Is that going to provide a big edge? And then is the running game going to at least be solid? Is the receiver going to help him out? I think the defense, especially in this game, should be fine and that they should get the W. And don't forget, Frank Reich, this is his first game against his old team. He knows the tricks.

He knows the skeletons in the closet. That's an advantage for the cops. Who would have thought three weeks ago that when you look at this game, And nobody would be shocked if the Colts win. I'd be surprised, though. I wouldn't be surprised at all. I'd be surprised, but not shocked. I would.

I would because it's in Philadelphia, and as well as the Colts have played the last couple of weeks, I think the Eagles coming off a loss, it's still a big step up to me in quality. A couple of compliments for the Colts. They are the best third down offense in the league by a wide margin right now, a higher percentage and six more converted third downs than any other team. that's Frank Reich and that's Andrew Luck and that's playing without your left tackle and I think another thing about Reich

compared to the other new coaches I think it's safe to say the Colts are already finding an identity yes they looked like a totally different team on both sides of the ball so the credit goes to Iber Fluse for really changing kind of their physicality and just the way that they look you're right I mean Andrew Luck year after year was known for throwing the ball down the field there's a stat average

depth of target, which he would always be near the top of the league. Right now he is dead last in average depth of target. But I think that's good coaching because they don't have great protection. And they have routes that get guys open quickly and they're getting the ball out of their hand. And it's almost like he's kind of building Andrew Luck up

in his system. It's going to be a long-term relationship and they're kind of starting at the ground floor and I think they're just going to add and add and add. And now the Colts are like one of the teams I'm excited to watch every week. Let's pause here for a word from our sponsor. Bragging rights and huge cash prizes are up for grabs this weekend.

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In total prizes, that's code around NFL only at Draft Kings. The game inside the game, minimum $5 deposit required, eligibility restrictions apply. See DraftKings.com for details. Let's move right along the Green Bay Packers. Oh, they kissed their sister. They laid it on her. Ew. Gross. 102, take two.

Ah, the French champagne. 29-29-29 tie against the Vikings. They got screwed. Clay Matthews had the play. Should be 2-0 right now. But that's not how life works. They're 1, 0, and 1. And now they travel to Washington to face the Redskins.

Aaron Rogers versus Alex Smith. I love it, a little 2005 draft heat, Greg Rosenthal. Ooh, didn't even think about it. that after two weeks, I was kind of thinking big picture that I feel as good about my Super Bowl pick, the Green Bay Packers, as I did going into this season. Are you concerned at all that Aaron Rogers is telling the media that he's concerned

that his knees not stable and could get worse? Because there goes your Super Bowl pick if that happens. That is concerning. Because on one hand, you see that he doesn't practice all week and that means it's really serious. And then on the other hand, you watch him on Sunday and you think, well, there's, I don't know what quarterback I would rather have than a gimpy Aaron Rogers, maybe none.

He knocked awfully quick when he scrambled for that first down and dove at the... Right. So I don't know what to think, but it is a problem if you're not going to be able to get it over. But Aaron Rogers was never the concern. It was everything else. And I do see the defensive pieces coming together, and I think I'm seeing the offense come together enough as a whole to think they've got enough here that if they can be peaking by November, December,

they should be thinking about themselves as one of the real contenders. One of my takeaways from watching the game is that the big Jimmy Graham game is coming soon. They seem like Rogers is looking into him often and they were just inches away from big plays on several. We've got sandwiches on the line there, Daniel. What's that? Jimmy Graham. He looks good. I only know this because Wes sent out a tweet earlier this week about your Kai four baths.

Ooh, that's going to cost me. Which is not looking good. Glad I took you up on that. Wes, I trust your eye more than anyone. But let's see him stuff as stat sheet because it's been a while. That hurts that you trust him more than me. Don't look it that way. It's the way of getting into the conversation.

That's fair. But I think it speaks volumes to me that Aaron Rogers really trusts him right now already after one week. What was the Graham Wager? I think it was 700 yards. It was a random one. But, yeah, that he would get under 700 yards. You weren't buying it. Greg, you surfaced it, so you should have been doing this.

That was it. You sure? Yes, I'm sure. Okay. I apologize. I'll stand down. We'll see. This is an interesting game, though.

It is. It's not that I give the Redskins a chance. I'm not jumping off the bandwagon just because they lost last week, but this is certainly a tough matchup. I think the Colts did some things to Washington defensively that certainly give you pause for concern. They're going to need to show that they can go down the field a little bit more. They're going to need to be consistent week-to-week running the ball.

They certainly weren't very good running last week. Do they give you pause and cause for concern? A double-up? I took a pause, and then I was concerned during the pause. Their wide receivers are on notice. There was a cause to the pause. Josh Doxon and Paul Richardson, they looked into Josh Gordon, and then they went out and signed two former first round picks,

Prasad Perriman and Michael Floyd. Paul Richardson had a bad drop. Josh Doxon isn't making plays. They're always a little hurt. They're a team that on paper I really like the wide receivers, but it hasn't quite translated, and Crowder hasn't been a huge factor early either. And Brashad Perriman never change your profile photo.

What is it? Just don't change it. I don't even want to get into it. Just let it be this one forever. Use it because it's one of my favorite. Wow. That's really derogatory. It's basically, you know how we say on this show?

Sometimes hair recognized hair. This is like hair. Hair shaming? Doesn't recognize hair. Or hair recognizes bad hair. Moving on, it's the battle of Los Angeles. Oh, my goodness. The Los Angeles Rams, who are piling up yardage this season.

They have one win to show for. and two tries now they travel, travel, in quotes, to the L.A. Coliseum to face the Rams, who look as good as anybody in the league right now. But also a little bit of a soft start to their schedule, Oakland and Arizona. But here's a real test, Chris Wesleyan, because the chargers have the firepower to hang.

They have the firepower on offense for sure, and then on defense, Derwin James looks like an early rookie of the year favorite. They're using him like Troy Palomalo. He had one sack. He blew up a handoff to LaShawn McCoy and took down Josh Allen. And then he also forced Josh Allen into Uchennano Nuwazu's arm for another sack, and he broke up a play down the scene to Charles Clay.

This guy is phenomenal. It makes you want to see what they look like with Joey Bosa on the field, especially in this game where you're going to need every last person possible, because the matchup I'm more excited about is when the Rams defense is on the field. I mean, they bring in Sue, Peters, and Talib. I wouldn't say they've been under the radar, but just the nature of the games that they've played, this is to me a much better test because that secondary has been awesome.

Peters and Talib have looked awesome together, and John Johnson in the back row at safety is looking like he... You love John Johnson. I have since he came in the league, and he's already looking like he might be a Pro Bowl type player. Sue had a really good week, too. Again, it was against Arizona. But this is an all-star-looking defense going up against one of the smoothest passing games that's in the entire league.

It's about as good a matchup, I think, on one side of the ball, at least, that you can come up with in the NFL right now. I think the Rams have an advantage over a lot of teams in the NFL and that they're trying to win. What is that supposed to be? They're doing everything possible, salary cap-wise, and whatnot? So many teams would have said, hey, we're going to stick with Josh Reynolds at wide receipts. We drafted him, we're going to develop him, we're going to play him. And the Rams said, no, we want to win. We win a Super Bowl.

We're going to go get Brandon Cooks, who's perfect in this offense. He looks good. I think many NFL teams do that. They talk themselves into settling for what they've drafted, what they're trying to develop, instead of saying, we want to get as good as we can possibly get right now. The offensive line for the Rams has looked really good. I think part of what you're saying, though, Wes comes down to coaching. You have to have a coaching staff that can take.

good players from other teams and know what to do with them. And the Rams have that. With that said, I'm not just handing this win to the old Ramsies. No, you shouldn't. You're a house divided on this one. Philip Rivers looks great so far. He always looks great, but just the... They're a top 10 defense right now.

They're the number three offense, the Chargers. The touch. And Greg loves them. And Wes is on the bandwagon, too. The fabric of our lives. Beautiful. Way to hit the falsetto, Wes. But guess what?

Screw your charges. I'm locking up the Rams. They're going to win the battle LLA. And all your chargers boys can go home because they're not ready for this. You're not ready to face it. That's a mirror looking right there. I look right in the mirror.

And it's not only my look in the mirror, I see the two of you in the background. And I'm not in our approval. And I'm like, hey, yeah. Stand up guy. My theory held strong. That's right as a touchdown favorite. I like this theory.

That's the mirror. The mirror is a touchdown. You try to pick a team that's as close to that as possible. You've got to be right on the mirror. Interesting theory. Moving on. The Chicago Bears one in one.

They won on Monday night against the Seahawks. Great effort by the defense. Prince of Mukumarro with a pick six to put Russell Wilson and company away. Now they travel to Arizona. There are nobody likes to go on the road in the NFL. It's hard to win on the road in the NFL. But if you have to go on the road right, now maybe outside Buffalo

Arizona is where you want to go Greg Rosenthal I just want to Did they change the name for that stadium by the way Is that still University of Phoenix Stadium or do they have a crazy name for it It's a bad sign for this game that this is the lead conversation I shouldn't have brought that up off the top of

of this conversation the Cardinals University of Phoenix Stadium It still is okay Wait they strike stadium naming rights deal with state farm It's confusing It's about to become State Farm Stadium, or it already has. Don't care. Okay, let's delete the last minute from the program, Erica,

and start right now. Your thoughts on this game, Greg. I'll tee up you again. The Bears, there are a few places that a team wants to go on the road. Arizona's one of them because they suck. Everyone loves going into State Farm Stadium because the Cardinals have an offense that doesn't know what it's doing. Remember how we were like, oh, Sam Bradford's coming

off the two best seasons of his career it's like that that you see him in that season opener that is that is so good it's so over they're averaging four yards per attempt they've somehow made david johnson look boring or not much of a that's a sin and they're going up against a great defense that i really think is so good on every level it's rare in the NFL that defense can just win some games on your own bears can win games on their own against the seahawks and the likes of the cardinals their team of a tiel is going to be two and one yeah i should have locked this up with that have been allowed no no no no no it's not can you look at the same you look at the the mirror?

You can't look in your mirror. See, that's weird, though. They're actually less of a favorite. And a contrarian looking at the mirror. It's not contrarian. They're less of a fate. I'm with you. It's less than both of your teams.

So that's, it breaks your theory because you can't pick the team to be what there's a better. My mirror is more like statistical, I guess. There's a better chance of a quarterback change than the Cardinals win in this case. I will say this. I love my friend Jason Zumwalt. He's a listener to every show. I go back years of them.

He's a big time Cardinals fan. But if they do not, after they get killed in this game, if they are not starting, their frickin rookie for week four, get the Cardinals out of the league. Their season doesn't. Put them in the cannon and fire them away. Their season does not matter until Josh Rosen plays. Join us, Arizona Cardinals in modern football. Get your rookie quarterback that everybody wants to see in the game.

So your games are watchable. This is rough right now. And for the sake of the two Hall of Famers on your team, Larry Fitzgerald and Patrick Peterson, and who are watching a bunch of people go through the motions around them. I also, I enjoyed this week, the annual midweek Mike McCoy, Miacolpa that said, I'm going to start paring back the offense. Every year, whatever team Mike McCoy is running,

at some point during the season, they're like, well, the players don't really understand what's going on. Let's pair back the offense. Doesn't that seem like a problem that has to happen every year? That's it. That's the problem. Moving on another late game here, the Cowboys. one-on-one travel to Seattle to face the Seahawks.

This is a, I caught a little bit of fire in my mentions, Wes, from Seahawks fans that were upset on Wednesday show that I said that the Seahawks don't matter anymore. Don't take it personally. Actually, they were more upset that I floated the theory that Greg, you have the, you believe the same, that Seahawks fan have to have regret that that window is now closed

on what was a tremendous run of about seven or eight years. They only got the one ring out of it. There's no way, any Seahawks fan, you look in the mirror, you know it, that that sucks. You probably should have, no team at a better core of stars together longer than the Seahawks. And they got the one rings. Don't get mad at me. I mean, you could reopen it next year with a new coach or whatever. You have a quarterback, but you're right.

The window's closed. I find Seahawks fans much more palatable when their team stinks. Well, here we are because they're O and two. Interesting. Seahawks Twitter is more likable. with a down Seahawks. It's also very possible that I've blocked all of them

and no longer hear from it. The Seattle Seahawks, oh and two, they need a win. They're desperate for a win. The Cowboys are, no one's definition of a world beater right now,

even if they beat the Giant Sun Sunday night football, Wes. The Seahawks, they're going to find a way here, right? At the clink? This is a pick-em game, I think.

I think the Cowboys' defense might be the best unit in this group, and that would have shocked me to say it in the off season, but they've really impressed me so far this year, year. One thing with the Seahawks, I think they're getting Bobby Wagner back this week. KJ. Wright's still out. But Bobby Wagner, when he's on, one of the defensive player

of the year candidates in the NFL perennially, it seems like. But they had him week one. And the defense hasn't been the problem. That's the thing. Devens played fine both games. I mean, they certainly gave up a couple plays against the Broncos. They'd like to have back. But they played pretty well against the Bears. They're figuring it out. They're not as talented. Bradley McDougald, if you didn't know who he was, like he's looked like a pro bowl. in the first couple weeks. Like their Frank Clark is playing well. Their defense is fine,

and that's why we can kind of expect this to be a close game. But I'm with you. I think the Cowboys defense is actually the best group. And I'm not ready. You're saying like they're not world beaters right now. Let's let it breathe this season, Daniel. That's just the way. That's the way things are.

It's week three. They haven't been world beaters. No, they might be. I'm not saying they won't become that. Yeah, they might be good, this Cowboys team. I want to just see it come together. I think they've got enough going for them than it could come together. I think they should have been in that mix for Josh Gordon, personally.

I still have the same issues about the past. Nothing about their offense other than I think Jack Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott and Tyron Smith are all great players and they're on that team, you know, and Zach Martin. They have some great players. I've stood by Dak Prescott for a long time, but the word great should not be used. That's fair. I shouldn't group him with those other three guys.

I think he can be an asset and he's certainly, I don't think he's a lot. I'm beginning to wonder if he's really an asset or if he's just always going to be a mediocre quarterback. He seems to be one of those quarterbacks say like an Andy Dalton who's only as good as the talent around him. And there are worse quarterbacks to have, but he's not the rising tide that's lifting boat. They've had the same coordinator for a while.

The talent is certainly not there. That coordinator has not been an asset lately. That's what I'm saying. Let's move to Sunday night football. Yeah. We've got the lions again. We got them on Monday night football in week one. and now we have them on Sunday night football hosting the Patriots.

Patriots ate a little bit of humble pie. Yeah, that's what they served on the throne of Slees last week, Erica. So I hope you guys all enjoyed that. Stuffing your face with the humble pie. Oh, my God. That was pretty agro. I'm Jack the Lipper. Dan, like, looked over at me with a real sense of menace.

It was actually, Erica, but you could have caught a sideways glance as well. They get the Patriots coming off a bad loss, which I would never want to be a team against the Patriots and Bill Belchick and Tom Brady coming off a bad, humbling loss. I think this one can get ugly. Greg, you think the team playing the Patriots is always in great position. Do you think the Lions are? No.

You're right that you don't want to play them coming off a loss. I think now is a good time to play the Patriots generally because I think their offense is going to be figuring things out for a while. I don't think they're a world-beating offense, and they might not be until mid-October. But this, on paper, is a perfect matchup, a team that shouldn't be able to apply that much past rush pressure. I know Matt Patricia has been around Tom Brady, like he's been around Jimmy Garapolo, but I think Tom Brady is going to figure out whatever the lions are doing, and the personnel defensively just isn't there for Detroit.

No, it's not. And the offense just seems out of sync. We're still waiting to hear about this great new ground attack, and I know he's played against really good defensive tackle so far, but Frank Ragnow has not been playing well as the first-round draft pick. Matthew Stafford had a handful of overthrows last week. He's looked bad. They need him to be, remember, there was talk kind of like,

oh, this is the year, including by me, that maybe Stafford, like, is in the top five. I thought so, too. And he hasn't looked like. Kenny Gallaudet looks fantastic. Marvin Jones and Matthew Stavard seemed to be off by a couple of steps on every throw. I'm really curious. These are two teams that have both looked pretty different depending on the week. I want to see what Patriots defense shows up.

I have pretty high hopes for them, not a good performance in Jacksonville. Detroit actually did some things against San Francisco. You could have made a case that they certainly could have won that game on the road. It's not like they were an embarrassment last year. When I made the point about Frank Reich and finding an identity, Matt Patricia's Lions were the team I was thinking of as the contrast team. Are they even close to having an identity? identity.

The Patriots with Tom Brady since 2010, 25 and 8 in primetime games, 72 touchdown, 16 interceptions, over 100 pass rating. Would you guys hazard? Is that like worse than their normal win loss? Just bad. Not the same, yeah. It's about badass, but that's what the Patriots and Tom Brady are. Matthew Stafford, 18 primetime games in his career. Anyone want to hazard a guess how many wins in primetime for the Lions?

and that's Stafford. He's got to be like two. I think he's below the Dalton primetime line. I'll go like five and 13. What's? I'm with loose cannon two. Greg, hit it on the nose. Get to the desert, Greg.

Five and 13. Wow. I knew it was going to be bad. It started out really bad. And they got some wins in recent years because this is one of those stats. They trotted out for a while. I think that's right at the Dalton line for prime time. Yeah.

Finally, Monday night football. Oh, good job. The ESPN got lucky on this one. Oh, yeah. Because Steelers at Bucks seemed meh three weeks ago. But then Ryan Fitzpatrick took the NFL by storm in the first two weeks of the season. And he's all of a sudden a hot ticket. And now he's in prime time against the Steelers team that can't stop anybody and can't get a stop on D.

Really since Ryan Chazier exited the lineup. But there has been no, they have not been fixed the problem as the new season begins. They are 0.1 and 1. Antonio Brown. that drama this week he apparently was not excused for practice he did speak to the media said he's just pissed

the Patriots suck right now they're trying to pull it all together will they be able to pull it together against Fitzmagic Wes The Steelers are allowing about 30 points per game since last December when they lost Ryan Shazier

that includes the playoffs but they're not a good defense to me I googled the record for most targets in a game because Antonio Brown when he pouts tends to get well most NFL receivers number ones tend to get heavily targeted 28 targets Brandon Marshall had in one game with jay cutler it was it was when he broke the record in 2009 with 21 catches um I think Antonio Brown could flirt with that this week knowing that it's probably going to be a shootout

with Ryan Fitzpatrick and his merry band of basketball playing wide receivers See, you're not buying that this is Ryan Fitzpatrick's last start where James Winston comes in next week. Nobody's buying it. I do think, and we talked about it in the Twitter show, I do think there's a chance that Winston gets the job back sooner than people expect because as exciting as Ryan Fitzpatrick has been, I think it's so easy to forget.

He's still Ryan Fitzpatrick. We have 13 years of evidence. Who may or may not be better than James. Winston. I believe James Winston is better, has shown more potential that you drafted him number one for reason. He's never done anything close to as good as Fitzpatrick's year with the Jets. Really?

No, he's been a turnover machine, James Winston has. You've been grading him on potential for a long time. He does a lot of... Let's talk about what he really is, not what he could be. Well, he's a backup for now, and unless Fitzpatrick totally blows the next two weeks before the team's week five by, you know, Fitzpatrick's going to get a little bit of a longer run. But I disagree.

I mean, Fitzpatrick got... First of all, you know, we don't need to judge that jet season, but he had more dropped interceptions than anyone in the league. You know, they certainly had their ups and downs even that year. I do think if you want to go win some playoff games, and that is the point, I think James Winston gives you a better chance to do that long term. I couldn't disagree more, and I think that Ryan Fitzpatrick, I've seen Pro Football Focus has graded his first two games.

Yes. Highest in their history through two games. Football Outsiders has him behind only 2011 Tom Brady through two games. this guy's legit and it's in a lot of it credit has to go to todd munk and their offensive coordinator receivers are running wide open the scheming has them spacing really well right now the bucks are getting the Steelers at the right time for a few different reasons but one thing we always talk about get the Patriots early because once they get hot and fair enough that is absolutely true Steelers are similar they are 1914 and one over the first five last five seasons and their first eight games of the season 26 and six over their last eight so they This is not anything totally new. I know every season is different, but it takes them a while to get cooking, and then they start to surge.

So I would not be blown away if the Bucks win this game. No, I wouldn't either, but I do think that the Steelers are too talented to tank the season. I don't think they tank either. Right. Even in the game last week,

I mean, it's even in the game last week where they're going up against the Chiefs, Ben Rathusberger did a lot of things that made you think, like, okay, they're going to be fine. I mean, he looked great. They're trying to get James Washington involved. This is an awesome Monday,

game to have like all the fantasy games are going to go down to this because there's just going to be so many points being scored and you could see this being similar to last week where it's 3531 something like that I think it's time to pull the plug on ryan switzer who i've never seen make a play in the NFL outures keeps getting chances hey game pass by the way if you want to be like the scientists and then study these games and then have your own opinions it's always good i mean most opinions should be your own absolutely game pass seven-day free trial right now at NFL.com slash game pass. Check it out. again, the Twitter show every Tuesday

live at 1.30 Pacific 4.30 Eastern. You can watch last week's show, including an excellent star turned by Matt Money Smith at the cold open. That's a little jargon for you guys. So we'll be back

on Sunday night with our flagship program where we recap all the games that we just previewed, so please be there for that. This is Dan Hansa signing off for Oh, and read Mark Sessler's long form. It was great. Yes.

Great job, Mark. Decades of Brown's Fend. Dan Hansa signing off for the mailman, the old boss, and the loose cannon behind the glass. Till Sunday. This is an IHeart podcast.