NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Week Two Recap

Episode Date: September 18, 2017

A room filled with heroes - Dan Hanzus, Nick Shook & Gregg Rosenthal – recap all the games from week two of the regular season. Then the heroes break down the Sunday Night Football game where the Falcons didn’t seem to have any Super Bowl hangover.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. Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the 6th, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else.

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Again, that's podsurvey.com slash around A-R-U-N-D. Thanks for your help. The Around the NFL podcast. is sneaky overrated. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansen. I have joined by Roomfield with some heroes.

Nick Shook to my left. Coming off the bench and great, Greg. Rosenthal, what's up, boys? That was a little too on the nose with that money. We were just talking before the show. You know, if the ratings start struggling or anything, like that would happen maybe we'll bring in like a kid was an idea like a five or six a precocious child to try to boost boost the ratings if you if you are a listener of the show

then out of nowhere a five-year-old girl shows up sitting in one of our chairs just know just like on television when a precocious child shows up in like season eight to a desperate attempt to liven up the scene we might go that same route in fact we're already kicking around ideas for an open audition perhaps so we don't need kids we got a lot of NFL games some good ones today wait is this a little too on the nose to you Greg you were trying to pivot out of that fast well I'm just I want to are you afraid that your chair will be filled by the precocious child maybe your own daughter I feel like Ellis Rosenthal is the prime candidate here she definitely has a big vocabulary I feel like she would do very well if we had to replace a Rosenthal at least

Anyway, we don't plan to do that. In fact, it's just Greg and I from the main team, and Shook is happy, we're very happy to have Nick here to help us out. Mark Sessler was in, is it Carson, California? No, it's, where is the Stubhub, Center? It's Carson. Yeah, Carson, California. Checking out the Stubhub, Center,

and he's writing up a piece that you'll be able to check out, I believe, Monday morning on NFL.com. Wes actually helped out on the website, writing some articles, which is another positive step for Chris Wesleying, is he's inching his way back toward the studio here and we can't wait to get him back but for now we

we go on and a lot to get to week two of the NFL season our flagship show of course presented by head and shoulders and one just one note before we get into the games because we've got so much to get to can't mess around here cannot mess around but I do want to make

an announcement we just spend two minutes talking about a child possibly replacing one of us but go on yes yes just But this is an important announcement. In fact, I would go as far as saying it's breaking news. That's how I'm talking about. The CBS program, Scorpion. If you've been wondering where it's been in the commercials on CBS,

premieres next Monday, September 25th, 10 p.m. Eastern. There you go. You didn't think that was worth it? No, for a show that we spent three minutes talking about downstairs and we all, we, everyone in the room thought the show was Scorpio, called Scorpio. And no one, no one corrected. I was aware. I was aware. But I was playing dumb because I didn't want to feel over eager about my knowledge of the show.

Okay. I'm not sure yet. I'm not sure. I was supposed to watch it, but I didn't get, I haven't gotten to it yet, but I just know that it premieres next Monday. Too many games to get to. We got to get on Greg is antsy. So I know I have to get the show going. So let's start.

heck let's start in Denver simeon under center play fakes to nobody throws a pass to the end zone sanders touchdown Denver play fakes to nobody I feel like that's that's surprising that that worked anyway the Denver broncos looked like there for real Trevor simeon threw four more touchdown passes

and the Broncos no fly zone listen I like Rocky Mountain avalanche I'm on record on that maybe something different but for now no fly zone carries but it lived up to its reputation and a decisive heck a blowout 4217 win over the Dallas Cowboys Greg nobody was talking about the Broncos this summer but I think people should be talking now they should be and uh you know hashtag team trev is feeling pretty good right about now I was saying we don't know what Trevor Simeon's that a real thing ceiling is oh yeah at least Claibon is throwing it

out there has got team trip but as much as I want to boost up Trevor Simeon for throwing four touchdowns and having a very strong game overall. To me, the story was the running game. When you watch C.J. Anderson, and it's the healthy, informed C.J. Anderson. And then suddenly you have Jamal Charles coming off the bench. The Broncos had the dominant running game. And the Broncos run defense, which was a mess last year,

absolutely stopped Ezekiel Elliott eight yards on nine carries. So they've in back-to-back weeks, stopped Melvin Gordon cold, more or less, stopped Ezekiel Elliott cold. And they're running the ball. much tougher team than they were a year ago. And I don't know if any team in the NFL has had a better two weeks than the Denver Broncos. I was actually surprised by the way they played on the ground because, you know, we kind of

saw what we were going to get out of Jamal Charles and his little preseason action in a little bit in week one and the potential there from a veteran. But C.G. Anderson, for me, was the big question mark. And then he comes out today, like you said, 118 yards on 25 attempts. He's got a touchdown. And, you know, any team that runs the ball well is usually going to find success. And another 36 yards in a touchdown. He's one of those guys a little like Doug Martin.

You just got to watch week one or two. And it's like, okay, which C.J. Anderson we get in this year? Is it kind of the banged up one? Is he in shape? No, he's fully healthy. And he really changes that team, takes pressure off of Trevor Simian, which he's going to need. They lost their left tackle. Garrett Bowles today with what looked to be a serious injury, that's going to be a problem.

But this team, if they have that good a defense, that good a running game, they're going to be able to win games. Greg, you said that the Broncos might have looked better. any team. I will throw out two more teams. They just happen to both play in the AFC West. We're going to get into them in more detail later. But the Kansas City Chiefs and the Oakland Raiders, the poor charges. We're going to leave them out of this obviously. But this is the best division in football. And it could be, we're talking an epic division race. That's absolutely true. But you've got to parse the words that I said. I said, no teams had

a better two weeks. The Raiders, you're right, I would say, have looked even better. And the chiefs are right there. But considering where the Broncos thought, or I thought they would be, and just the things that have turned out well for them. For instance, Shaq Barrett returned to the lineup earlier than expected. People were talking, oh, how they're so thin on the pass rush. He's been their best player through two weeks. He's been great. Shelby Harris, like they're in their run defense. The fact that they're improving what was their weakest parts on the team from a year ago that they're now big-time strengths. And to demolish the Cowboys, And this is a great Cowboys team.

This was like a Cowboys-like performance by the Broncos. The Cowboys not being able to even hang in this game. This is simply a performance who did not see all last year. And we talked about in the offseason. It would be hard to match what they did last year. And I'm not saying the Cowboys are now in trouble. The Broncos might be actually a very good team, although I will add the Broncos started, what, 4 and 0 last year as well. So we shouldn't get too excited about Denver.

But I don't know. Like I thought that this was a big game for Dak Prescott. I thought a good test for him, a guy that I was saying. Going into the game, how will he fare against the great defense on the road? He hasn't maybe gotten enough love, which I thought was strange, considering he's a Dallas quarterback. He wasn't ready for that defense. And, yeah, Zeke Elliott, I mean, he did not have any games like this last season that I remember.

This is just a totally new look for the Cowboys. I also don't recall a Cowboys game in which Dak Prescott was forced to throw the ball 50 times. No, but it's not the formula. But last week where they won comfortably, they threw it, I believe, you know, 39 times. and they did not run the ball nearly as much. Like, they went out with, and they tried to spread it out, and I think he made good decisions last week, didn't play as well as he would like.

And then this game, it got away from them early, but they were trying to spread the Broncos out and attack the Broncos strength. It just didn't work. And the Cowboys lost two cornerbacks in this game. They were already down Orlando Scandric. So that should be mentioned. I mean, Manny Sanders, who's just like the best,

an insane route runner, was putting these guys on skates, making them look bad. and a lot of things went against the Cowboys today. I'm not too worried about them. Let's move on. We're on a stunt. The pass to the left side. It's intercepted.

Picked off to the 40 outside of the numbers to the 30, 25. Bobby McLean, inside the five. Touchdown Tampa Bay. Robert McClain takes it to the house. Our good friend, Gene Deckerhoff, the Mike Lennon Revenge game went sideways. And James Winston threw for 204 yards and a touchdown to leave the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

to an easy, easy 29. to seven win over the Chicago Bears. The Bucks looked great after their Irma forced hiatus, and this is kind of the perfect start to their season, a game where they jumped out ahead early, and everything seemed to be working. So if you were a fan of the Bucks on hard knocks, and sometimes it doesn't translate over in the season,

I'm like, hey, that's not the team I fell in love with. This is basically what exactly you would think how this game would go at home. It's not how I thought it would go. go. After the Bears played very frisky last week against Atlanta, I thought they would be a tough team to deal with. But it was Tampa's defense, which I honestly wasn't sure what we're going to get out of Tampa's defense this year going into the season. I think maybe they got a little too much hype last year. And yet in this game, it looked like a different Levanti, David. Kendall Beckwith,

who's a rookie, had a big game, Kwan Alexander. They forced three Mike Glenn and turnovers in the first half alone to the point where James Winston and the Buck's offense didn't really have to do too much. They ended up being able to sit on that lead, even without Doug Martin. Yeah, you know, just like you don't want Dak Prescott, really any quarterback throwing 50 times asking when Mike Lennon's throwing about 45 times, you know you're in a bad way. And when you have no rushing game, Tariq Cohen, who had, of course, the huge breakout game last week, seven carries for 13 yards.

He did have a bunch of catches, but they really didn't get anything explosive out of him. Jordan Howard, nine carries for seven yards. So that's 16 carries for 20 yards. And that is not going to get it done. That's just over one yard per carry for all your math wizards at home. I didn't know. I had four yards of carry in my head. So thank you for correcting me on that.

I think with this Tampa Bay defense, you know, Greg, you kind of said maybe it was a little overhyped. I thought the only weakness that they had was in the back end was at safety. And then they went out and fixed it by getting T.J. Ward, who kind of fell into their laps. Okay. And then they've got some. I'm not saying overhyped was strong. I didn't know what they were getting a lot of hype And I just didn't know what I'm going to see out of this

It's a Mike Smith defense Usually it's like his it's like his footwear It doesn't really get me going in the morning Is that a Tevis shot? That's a shot at the Tevis I thought you were going to hit You were going to hit Shook what you hit me with And make a parse words commentator

Bang me with a parse words I'm still recovering I'm reeling off so now I got to parse everyone's words in here I'm just saying I was saying I wasn't saying they were the best team in the NFL. They just had the best two weeks. But I'm saying those other teams had a good damn two weeks also. The Raiders are a fair point.

I don't know if I can argue with you on that. Anyway, and do we think, you know, Mike Lennon, obviously they're probably overmatched in this game and now they're 0-2. Mitchell, don't call me Mitch Trubisky. The whispers are going to start getting louder. What do you think, Shook? I mean, I think you kind of have to give them the benefit of the doubt here because the Buccaneers have a sneaky good pass rush.

And that's kind of the point I was kind of leaning toward there or working toward. And I don't necessarily think it's on Mike Glennon. However, I don't think that team is also the best team around him. And at the same time, maybe this becomes a loss season at some point. We're going to see triple-season sooner than later. This is not a team that can fall behind in games. I mean, you go to, you know, Kendall Wright caught seven passes. Josh Bellamy caught four.

Deonti Thompson caught four. I mean, this is not the 99 Rams trying to come back in games. No, they are not. Greg, let's move forward. Over the middle, the pass is moving, running with a football, Mertavis Bryant. He outruns everybody to the end zone, beats them to the left pylon, right to left, 27-yard. Pitch and catch for Ben and Martavis. Ben Ralthusberger threw two first-half touchdown passes, including that hookup with Martavis Bryant.

As the Pittsburgh Steelers eased to a 26-9 win over the Vikings at Hinesfield, you know, they're really trying to bring back the mystical quality of Hinesfield, they said this week. I didn't know there was a mystical quality. What was that even mean? Who said they are trying to bring it back? I think it was Big Ben. They said they want to bring back and make Hinesfield some type of special play. It's not exactly Lambeau Field guys.

Let's calm down. But aren't they a great home team? What am I missing? Were they bad last year? Yeah, it's just like this idea that it was like a supernatural home field. I don't remember that ever being the case. Who cares? That's not the point.

269 win and Minnesota's chances of winning this game took a major hit before kickoff when it was announced Sam Bradford would be side up, sideline with a knee injury, that led to four more quarters of the old Zeus are watching Case Keenum play football, which, you know, speaking of Hard Knocks, Case Keenum last year and for the L.A. Rams, hard knocks seemed like a very nice guy. His wife seemed delightful. I hope everything's going well with them, family-wise. But do I really need to see more games with a starting quarterback Case Keenum? It felt like watching the Rams for stretches in this game. So all that goodwill or excitement, if you're a Vikings fan, You could still have that and just think, okay, with Case Keenham, obviously, we're not going to move the football. But there is this other minor issue is that Mike Zimmer after the game, when asked about Brad for his future, he had a knee injury, kind of popped up in the middle of the week, and it cost him this game. There was a comment make, and I don't have the exact quote, but he said something along the lines of he can miss one game, he can miss six games. But he'll be fine.

But he'll be fine. And I don't know what that means, but what I do know is that the Viking season is over if this guy misses six weeks. I thought the Vikings had a great chance to win this game if Bradford was healthy. And the fact that they hung with Pittsburgh, really through the first half, I would say, supports that a little bit. Sure. Offensively, for the second straight week, Pittsburgh didn't have to look like Pittsburgh to win comfortably in this game. But there's no way.

I mean, the Vikings, I guess if you're going to take an L, you might as well do it in Pittsburgh with Case Keenum. like you might that's a tough game to win anyways but this team isn't going anywhere and it's just sad because that literally last week was the high point of sam bradford's NFL career isn't so fitting isn't so fitting though he didn't even get he it's more concerning that an injury didn't occur in practice it was just something after the game in terms of swelling and it's the knee that's been hurt before and that's a major concern he's in a contract year yeah and he's got a history of knee problem so this shouldn't come as that much of a surprise but the way it was kind of dropped on us midweek and then today and announced that he wasn't going to play he came is a little bit of a shocker. And here's the thing. When you're the Vikings and you have backup quarterback option last year was Sean Hill before you traded for Bradford and now you have Case Keenum. I mean, anytime you lose your starting quarterback. That's the NFL though.

There's only so many good backups. Like I don't mind them having Case Keenom. And you have to give some credit to the Steelers defense. I know they've played Deshaun Kaiser and Case Keenum in back-to-back weeks, but we wanted to see their defense play better and more consistent and take care of business the last few years. And they're getting the pass rush. And they've been good the first two weeks.

And you know it has to kill Teddy Bridgewater, who probably is watching that game and thinking himself, if my knee was just right, if I could have gotten back in a year, this would have been my chance to get back in the lineup. But he continues to be out of the picture. And a couple of the thoughts about this game. That Martavis Bryant had a nice game and a productive game, and it reminded me a lot of the guy that really surprised people

and became one of the most explosive players in the league two years ago. And by the way, Steelers fans tweeting at me, pipe down. I didn't say Martavis Bryant was done or anything. They're just like, I know what? I thought you said his career is over. He was targeted. I was like he's quiet. Let's see the old Martavis.

He was targeted four times. He had three catches for 91 yards and that touchdown on a day when Antonio Brown was held in check. He was targeted 11 times just had five catches for 62. And Lev Bell, who just was unable to get his numbers at the end of the day were okay, 87 yards, but it made 27 carries. And a lot of that, I could understand what makes, Lev Bell so special is how patient he is. He waits for it to open up and then darts and it just hasn't opened out yet. So there's a lot of dancing and waiting and then everything collapses in.

I still imagine that is going to all work itself out, but another slow game for Lev Bell. And finally, my final thought on the game boys is just fun watching Big Ben. He doesn't care. There was one sequence or he's like he just threw a bomb to Antonio Brown, incomplete, Screw it, third down, throws another bomb to Antonio Brown. That didn't work either. This guy just throws the ball downhill, downfield over and over again. And there's just very few quarterbacks that play like Joe Namath in 2017.

And it's always fun to watch it. I can tell you you're definitely enjoying the bomb-throwing Big Ben based on your tweet. I think going back to that bell point, though, it's going to be one of those seasons for him and for Zeke where they kind of worked their way into flourishing for both of them coming off of really great years prior. And also, Bryant today, statistically illustrated why we looked at the Steelers. is such a threat this year, is because you have Antonio Brown go out and, you know, catch however many balls for 100 plus yards a week prior.

Then they try to shut him down. You go to Bryant the next game. I mean, there are so many weapons. How are you going to stop them? They're going to get more than 330 yards, which is what they had today. They have to be worried that T.J. Watt got hurt. But again, I think this team has a lot of depth. They have Bud Dupree having a big game.

They have Ryan Chazir. They have Cameron Hayward. So even when Stefan Tewitt, who's one of their better players, goes down, this is not a thin team. this is a team that can survive some of the injuries that occur over the course of the year. You mentioned Bud Dupree, who made a big play and then busted out a dance that I will give the name

The Erotic Frog. So if the Indianapolis Colts general manager ever asked me, my favorite type of frog, I will tell him it is, well, do you want to ask me? What's your favorite type of frog? The erotic frog. Let's move on. He stands in his pressure.

He clutches. He throws a lot down the right. For Grunt, he makes the catch at the 35. He'll mean to the 20 to the 15. Shakes the defender at the 10. And Grott is into the end zone. Touchdown Patriots. Is that Tolzac or who is that again?

Scott Zolak. Is that Zolak again? Up to his old tricks. That's your team, Greg. That's your team, Tamposi. It's like a frat rager in the booth up there. It's not a source of. pride for me on the throne of ease tom brady threw three touchdown passes uh including that

deep strike to gronk his 69th career scored nice and the patriots rolled over the saints in a 36 to 20 win at the superdome uh was that three or four touchdowns total for tommy i know he threw three in the first quarter it was just three it ended up sticking at three tough for fantasy owners who were staring down the barrel of the all-time performance in fantasy but still Still, a great, great showing from Tommy Boy. Greg Brady had a game's worth of production in the first quarter, and the Patriots got exactly the type of win they needed after that week one letdown. This was one of the best Tom Brady games I've ever seen.

It is certainly one of the best Tom Brady halves of all time. And every clown that immediately says, well, it was the saints. That's the laziest answer to someone that hasn't watched the game. If you watch this game, Tom Brady had about four. five or six throws in the first quarter where he made outstanding moves in the pocket or he made a beautiful throw. He was five for five on third down. This is all with only three receivers on his team,

two of which got hurt during the game, Chris Hogan and Philip Dorset. So they were in and out. And Brady was just playing with some of these Saints safeties. And a lot of these throws had to be right on the money. I'm telling you, if you watch it, just not many. There are so few quarterbacks in NFL history. that would have done that, even though it was the Saints, it was a really impressive bounce back from week one.

Brady, 30 of 39, 447 yards. His third highest yardage total ever, like I said, in a game where Rob Gruncowski ended up leaving after three quarters with an injury. They called it a groin injury. Dorset was out late in the game. Burk had a little injury late, and yet they were just still moving the ball really at will. I mean, that's the magic of Brady,

is that he, whatever, whoever's in there. And this was even before he became a statistical monster. He's always made the best of his cast around him. He completed 30 passes to nine different receivers. Granc was targeted nine times at the six for 116 in touch. That's something to watch, though. I think he injured the groin, I believe on the touchdown catch, came out of the game later, also dropped a touchdown, a short touchdown at the end of the first half. and there was a report on NBC from Mike Floreo pro football talk that the Patriots at least publicly are saying

it's not thought to be a serious injury or something that's going to cost him extended time but that doesn't necessarily that's going to mean that's going to be the case and if you know the Patriots you know they'll be very tight-lipped about this but who knows with Gronk at this point he's a big question mark every time he gets hurt it is it's a concern because for a second you got excited that this is the old Gronk with a 53-yard touchdown and being physical.

He played so well against Kenny Vicaro that the Saints benched Kenny Vicaro in the second half of the game because he couldn't cover Gronk one-on-one. And I'm thinking he was on top of Gronk and all those plays. Who can cover Gronk one-on-one? I think that was a leftover from the week prior

when Kenny Vicar got burned a couple times against the Vikings too, so I think that's a build-up. And, you know, for the Saints, what do you say? I mean, here we go. O-N-2 again, the defense once again looks like to be a major liability. And it's the same thing over and over again at this point.

The team that's gone seven or nine year after year, Drew Breeze and the press conference afterwards says, you know, this is not acceptable and it's not where you want to be. And it just all starts, it feels so familiar of the plight of the Saints now. Always starting slow. Yeah. And you just wonder, you know, how many more years of this we're going to see. With Sean Payton, the coach and Drew Bree is talking about how they got to put it together

and get a run. Because what usually happens they do get a run. and they get back in position by the middle of the season. But at the end of the day, these slow starts, they kill you because you can't go into another funk. And now they're staring down the barrel at 0 and 3 going into next week. And year after year, it always comes back to their defense and how they've struggled to address these problems, whether they've been helped by the cap or they've missed on some picks. Even your guy, how do you say his last name, Alex Anzolone, was caught, you know, fishing, I guess, today on a touchdown.

I'm the Grankowski played. But that's kind of what I was talking about. that was clearly an improvised play where gronk and brady both read the same thing brady threw it when gronk was anything but open he had great pass protection so you can fault the saints for that and that's just two hall of fame players kind of coming up with something out of thin air and drilling a rookie who had covered gronk well on that play so that's them getting beaten i would be a little more or just as concerned if i'm a saints fan that the drew breeze and the saints offense to me was out of sync for much of this game they only had 13 points, I believe, through their first eight drives against a pretty, I think, vulnerable Patriots

defense in general, and they couldn't finish drives, and the timing was off, whether it was Ted Ginn or Kobe Fleener on one play, just someone, Brandon Coleman, making just a small mistake and Breeze not being like 100% sharp, and they have to be so good on offense to survive with this team. And no running game whatsoever, 54 yards rushing until the final garbage time run by Mark Ingram. And keep an eye on this Adrian Peterson, eight for 26. That's about three yards of carry.

And we'll see if this season starts going sideways, what happens next? One last thing, or two last things quickly. Patriots may be... There's no such thing as two last things. All right. Two things works.

Patriots might have found a pass rusher in Dietrich Wye's, a fourth round draft pick who had four or five QB hits and a sack. Between him and Trey Flowers. You're excited he is shook. That's good. He wants another ring. Two rookies start. Sure.

That was a great performance. And then after the game, And Tom Brady pointed out that James White, he called them one. I've had a lot of great teammates, but James White is absolutely one of the best teammates I have ever had. And James White has really gotten better. Chris Wesley and our friend pointed out on Twitter that this is a guy that's developed to another level. He was essentially a wide receiver for them today and has made a huge difference. What a great time to be a Patriots in.

All as well, they had to deal with like nine straight days of uncertainty now, but everything's figured out. Eric has a bounce in a step. newsroom Erica you could tell she's just got a grin everything everything's back to normal right they were down to one healthy receiver and they got to play on Thursday how they're going to do it out how are they going to do it I don't think they can let's move on black go in the gun first and goal from the two takes the snap roll to the right throws quickly touchdown ravens Jeremy macklin on the receiving end and the ravens as time expired get back in the end zone Joe flacco look good Jeremy Maclin made a play, and the Ravens defense was at it again, forcing five turnovers,

four from rookie passer Deshaun Kaiser en route to a 24-10 win over the Cleveland Browns. I believe Erica Tamposy, Mark Sessler locked this one up, so we probably should do a little housekeeping here. A little housekeeping. In Mark's defense, I mean, that's bold. Yeah, it's housekeeping. He's not going to listen to this anyway. Shook, this had been billed as a season,

or, you know, still has been billed as a season of rebirth for the Browns, but this one felt like just another double shift at the factory of sadness. I feel like I'm taking the blow for that housekeeping there. I felt that one in my chest. The Browns. Nick Shook, for our listeners, we should point out that you, too, are afflicted with the Browns. More conventional, though, he was born in Ohio and raised a

in Ohio. Born and raised in Akron, Ohio, and spent many, many sad Sundays in Section 149, row three, seat one. There you go. And how old are you, Nick? Just so the audience knows? I am 25 years old. And how long have the Browns been back in the NFL? What's this, 2017?

18 years. Okay. Do the math, everybody. I was at the first game at that stadium. Anyways. You don't know Bernie Gozar? No, I was just a, you know, not exactly a person. Go ahead, Shook.

So, well, tell me. Clint and Daddy Shook signs. Tell us all why the Browns were so thoroughly overmatched on Sunday. That's a correct way to say it. Well, you've got to start with Deshaun Kaiser, who took a major step back this week. Everything was positive. The sun was shining. Everybody was excited about the Browns after last week, and their close loss,

because the bar is very low. But Kaiser did not look as sharp this week. He was about a full beat behind in the pocket, holding on to the ball too long, not getting out of the pocket, some decisions that just really, really didn't bode well for them. He threw three interceptions, and this is most of those coming after, he returned from having a migraine. He had a migraine that kicked him out of the game.

And in relief, Kevin Hogan, who started a little controversy with one quick drive for a touchdown then fell apart as well because the quarterback situation there is dire as usual. It is what it is. But on the other side, the Ravens, I mean, their defense is playing extremely well. Joe Flacko had more of an expanded role in the passing game for once. All right. How did Flacco look physically? Watching week one, and I didn't get to it until later in the week,

I left that game thinking, oh boy, like I would be a little worried if I was a Ravens fan just because the way he was moving like a guy who had a back injury. How did he look today? I kind of thought that at times too, especially when he was trying to evade pressure, but he was mostly accurate. His numbers, he was, I think he was in the third. Yeah, it looks good, about seven yards for attempt, too. Yeah, and except for a few times when he threw a ball up,

that was basically an arm punt that was intercepted. He looked pretty effective for the must run, but he did kind of look stiff in those throws. Yeah, I think I thought he looked good. When he rolled to his right, and I believe it was the Macklin touchdown, he showed he was able to move. But at the end of the day, you look at the Ravens, and we talked about if they're going to have a big season,

it's going to be riding that defense. And 337 total yards of offense, today, and they didn't light it up last week either. So the defense got the job done. And this is what you expect. If you really do have a premium defense and a rookie quarterback comes into your building, this is what you're expecting. So I wouldn't, you know, I know there's going to be a lot of Browns fans.

I don't know if Mark's one of them. And I'm curious where you come down on this show that I don't feel any differently. I think this still kind of points to a season potentially of growth for the Browns. But there's some things I don't. like. I don't like how grisly the quarterback's performance was here. I don't like that they suffered injuries. Corey Coleman now, this is the second year in a row. We're talking about Corey Coleman's suffering a hand injury,

Jamie Collins, who they just gave a lot of money to, and they're expecting him to make plays. He hasn't made a lot of plays for Cleveland, and he left this game with a concussion. So there are some things to start to get nervous about. Now that all of a sudden, all that positive vibes, it's 0-2 is 0-2. This is one of those games.

We're in the last six minutes from the Browns are down by two possessions. I was kind of sitting there just watching going, let's get this game over with to avoid injuries on either side. And that's when the Browns actually incurred most of those injuries. So you're right. It's really bad when it comes to that. But I had them at 4 and 12 going into the season overall to finish the season with a height, maximum height of 6 and 10. Anything below 4 and 12, you're talking about maybe a coaching change, which would be really bad for this entire regime, considering it's a multi-year rebuild. It's only one week, though.

Yeah. Yeah. If I'm a Ravens fan, though, I'm excited about the fact that, yeah, I'm winning games with Buck Allen as the lead running back, and Alex Collins and Terrence West, you know, is out of the line. So far in two games, I just did the math. I would have scored a lot higher than 39 on the New York State and Man did the math test. Yeah. 12 targets for Mike Wallace and Brashad Perriman over two weeks. 12 targets, a total of 20 yards from those two players. And yet they're winning. Is that good? That's not good. but I think this team has upside. They have players that can be better on offense.

I think they're going to figure the offense out as they go. And if they're winning games and their defense is this good as they go, that's a team with a high ceiling. Yeah, I thought there was going to be one team in the AFC North that would be, you know, the Browns are rebuilding. There would be a team that was kind of next to the Browns and not really in the mix. I thought that was going to be the Ravens,

and I thought the Bengals were going to be okay. Now it looks like those two teams are going to flip, you know, at least in the way I saw it coming. So the Ravens look great, and if their offense does click and just get to the marginal level, get to the mediocre, because I don't think they're there yet, they're going to be okay. I mean, CJ Mosley, just the fact they have huge difference makers at every level of the defense.

Like their linebackers are playing really well. They're defense, like all three levels they can make plays. I think they have a chance based on that running game. You know, we talk about how Alex Collins, Buck Allen. They both looked pretty good and they didn't go down after the first hit, which is saying something for that offense. offense. If the Ravens are one of the best defenses or the best defense in the AFC, the Carolina Panthers, making a claim as the NFC's best defense. Let's check in on

them. Here we go, fourth and 11. Bill's at the 33-yard line. The snap, Taylor, looks downfield. They flood the field with receivers. He got a man open, Zay Jones, and he can't make the catch at the four-yard line. Zay Jones got both hands on it at the four. It was up high. He could not bring it down, and that will do it with nine seconds. left to play. That's the Bill's call for sure. Bill's rookie, Zay Jones, couldn't come down with a slightly errant pass from Tyrod Taylor, allowing the Panthers to escape with a 9-3 win in an uninspiring effort by both sides in Charlotte overall.

This was a costly one for the Panthers, too. Tight-end Greg Olson, who's been the heart and soul of that passing game for years, will be sidelined indefinitely after suffering a broken foot after the game. Olson, who started 81 straight games for that team, third most in history of the Panthers said, I'm going to miss a lot of games. So that's a big bummer. And Cam Newton, again, looked very rusty. And his accuracy remains a major concern.

He misfired, and this was the low point of his game, which was, I believe, the last passy through of the day. He misfired on what was a gimmee touchdown to Christian McCaffrey. He should have been a two-yard touchdown. Would have iced the game late in the fourth quarter. open the door for the bills down nine three and uh god it's tough being a bill soon it has to be tough because after the all this fight after all this fight the defense putting it up putting up such an incredible fight all game and keeping the offense in the game they they cross over into carolina territory and they just cannot make plays a jones i think should have had the ball you should

it should have been ball at the two yard line with i don't know what it had been 30 seconds or so left Maybe even a touchdown. Maybe they get in. Maybe they don't, but that's the difference between good and bad teams. And you wonder, guys, if the bills, and I know Tyrod Taylor is not all to blame, but how much rope he has in Buffalo. He threw for 15 yards in the first half, and they had one first down in the first half, and they scored three points after scoring 21 against the Jets last week.

The bills have problems on offense. They do, but I think they're playing, as you said, one of the best. defense is in football. I said it going into this season that on paper Rivera, I think this is the defense he's really been building to the whole time he's been there. I know they had a 15 and one team, but I think the potential of this defense is even greater. When you have Julius Peppers coming back to the flow and getting a couple sacks in the mix too with Thomas Davis still making plays and then the younger players on this defense also stepping up, they're going to be a lot. I mean, look, we've talked about defense kind of winning the day early in this NFL season.

The bill's had 176 yards. The Panthers only at 255. Those are games. What a game to watch, guys. Those are games we were not seen in 2016 too often, and they're happening a lot more often. Yeah, I think the bills are in a weird position for me as a franchise. I know early in week two of the season, but they have some signs of a team that could either go a few, changes away from being competitive again,

or they could be a few changes in the opposite direction away from blowing the whole thing up. They're caught in the gray. They're caught in the gray. And Cam Newton, something to watch, he got his ankle twisted. It was the same ankle he's had surgically repaired. He said after the game that he kind of stopped himself.

He said, I don't even want to say what I originally thought it was, but it was otherwise seemed relieved that it wasn't more serious. But I thought it was telling it. And maybe it was because he got dinged up. But that drive I mentioned early on when They had first and goal from the one-yard line with a chance to make it 13-3, and for all intents and purposes, end the game. That is prime.

If you've been watching the Panthers the past five years, Newton, one of their little gadget plays where he just, not even gadget play, he called play, and Newton sneaks it in, either on a draw or getting behind a center or guard. Speaking of guards, Marshall Yenda, got hurt for the Ravens, and we'll see how serious that is. But in this case, with the Panthers, Newton never tried a running play.

Never tried a running play. They passed it, did a run and a pass, and it didn't work out. So are they still going to use them the same way? Is his body okay enough to use it the way they used to? We'll see. He was one of the best short-yardage, but backs in the league. I know he's a quarterback, but he's one of the best short-yardage players in the league. The numbers say it.

It's what made their offense and running attacks so special. It's been surprising to see Christian McCaffrey bottled up the first couple weeks. This has also been a season where we've kind of worried about franchise quarterbacks with Newton and luck. So I'm not totally surprised to see that they're not running him at all. Does that affect their offense and how many things they can do? Definitely does. And just to put a bow on it, the Ravens did to circle back announce Marshall Yonda, who a lot of people believe the best guard in football meant to mention that during the Browns game is out for the season,

which is a monster loss. That's a big loss. Let's move on. He's up. He's got plenty of distance. He missed it. And he missed it. He missed the kick.

I'm done. It's like a bunch of grandpas all fired up. A failed field goal conversion has felled the charges for the second time in six days. Youngway Coo's 44-yard attempt sailed wide right with seconds to play a sour ending for the Chargers in their Los Angeles debut in 1917 win for the Dolphins who get out of Dodge with a victory. That was actually the Hodgson family's reaction watching from the crowd. They went to the sea there, they'll have a dolphin. Yeah, congratulations to Hansom Hank. Nick Shook, Coos failure shouldn't overshadow the heroics of Cody Parky,

who's 54-yarder with 105 to play served as the difference. Cody Parky, who was a kicker who in Miami last year couldn't make a game winner. Just a little flashback to that. Yeah, he made three field goals down the stretch that was huge for a Miami offense that continually struggled to get the ball in the end zone when they really needed to. and the Chargers gave them as many opportunities as they'd like but credit to the Los Angeles defense for standing tall inside the red zone but really this game comes down to why couldn't the Chargers hang on to the lead

because they had a 17 to 10 lead for what seemed like in eternity and completely abandoned the run game I know they weren't doing well on the ground to begin with but when you have a lead and you're at home and you're in your home opener in a new stadium bleed some clock and they didn't do that and it came back to bite them in the end because they gave the dolphins enough time to get down into field goal range and nail one. For the Chargers fans that followed the team and stayed with them, you know, up the five, you know,

freeway into Carson, this has to just feel so ridiculously familiar that you get into another fourth quarter and you go punt, punt, missed game-winning field goal to end the game while you give up two scoring drives to the other team. It's the exact same thing of what's been happening now for a year. And after a while, it's got to make you go, crazy if you're if you're Philip rivers if you're a charges player right it was making me go crazy

and i'm just barely adopted them well you i mean you are all down in the newsroom you were i was a mess you were like so emotional and uh i get it i get it because if it's a team that you imagine actually being a fan though you'd be dying and seeing coo miss it and i was going a little crazy not to cut you off yeah about uh the game management at the end of the game anthony lynn settling for that field goal when he had more time it's okay to try to get the ball further this isn't herm edwards right or the marty schottenheimer school of football where oh let's just once we get a 45 yard field goal let's stop playing football and make it as hard as possible on the rookie kicker who by the way just barely made an extra point and missed

the kick from the exact same distance earlier oh by the way yeah it brought back flashbox for me for Doug brian in the 2004 agency playoffs you do not listen you don't you have your quarterback slide over and to set up the right hash mark for your field goal kicker when you're kicking a chip shot when it's like that but when you're sliding doing that slide where you snap it and like to take two steps and go down 25 seconds yeah you do that you don't do it setting up a 44 yard field goal because I know the kicking game has come a long way in the NFL and a 44 yarder is a lot more solid an attempt than it used to be but that is not a gimmie you're much better off trying to like a little and you got philip rivers who's one of the most accurate pastors in the league who is moving the ball

Moving the ball. He's 31 of 39 in the game. All you do is do a little post route. You get like two or three yards. You make that. You stop the clock. You spike it. You spike it.

You just don't do that because guess what? The football gods, who are probably already annoyed about the San Diego thing, let's be honest. He moves over to slide a little bit to the right. And then the kicker misses wide right. My goodness. And I hope that kicker has a job because I know a lot of people are rooting for the kid. I am. It sucked away.

Things ended last week when he actually made the game tying attempt in his first. game, only to see the ice timeout, that Colleen Wolf loves so much. Hope you were happy breaking that guy's heart, Connie. And now he's missed another kick, and you wonder if his job's safe now. That's football. I do give credit to Rivers to Rivers for handling it, like, a pro after the game. Oh, he's used to this. Instead of getting questions about how heartbreaking was another last second loss,

because they lost to the Dolphins on one of the final plays last year, too, with the Kiko Alonzo pick six, which pretty much wrapped that one up. Happened to him again this year. That was the one that ended their season. Yes, exactly. And then he goes in the press conference this year, and instead of getting questions about the game so much, he's getting asked about, how'd you feel about the atmosphere? What was it like to have a bunch of dolphins fans in the stand? That's annoying, especially

off a loss. And he said there was a lot of dolphins, like I like the energy, there's a lot of dolphins, but we're used to it, essentially. Big concern for them that they can't get any running game going, by the way, Melvin Gordon, 9 for 13. I thought you're going to say there's a big concern that they got $25,000 in that building for the first game, not a sellout at the Stubbub Center. And we'll hear from Mark Sessel on Tuesday, who's there covering the game. And by the way, one positive for the Chargers. Antonio Gates finally got that elusive 112 touchdown. He's now the all-time

NFL leader at tight ends. Congrats to Antonio Gates. Who did you know guys used to play college basketball? Welcome back, Jake Cutler. A look for redemption, left to right, clean snap and spot, right-footed kick. It's in the air. It's got the leg and it's good. Phil Dawson connects from 30 yards

out, and he redeems his mistake at the conclusion of regulation. Phil Dawson's 30-yard field goal in overtime served as atonement. I like the way I described the better after a miss at the end of regulation. And the Cardinals escaped Indianapolis with a 16-13 win over the Jake Briscuit-led Colts. Shook, we won't be handing out lollipops to a Cardinals team that needed five quarters to beat the Colts. But Carson Palmer and Company will take any comeback victory that comes their way.

It was a battle of an aptitude. Both teams were just not very good for most of the afternoon. For a while, it looked like Mr. Brisket was going to get that elusive W until we got down to the final moments. And Phil Dawson couldn't hit the game winner, which, as you said, a nice atonement in overtime. Yeah, bro. And not get, send them home with a W. I think kind of a big win for the Cardinals just because it would have looked really bad for them to lose to the lines on the road.

If they lose the Colts on the road with Andrew Luck and a sling or whatever, it's like, it's over. Absolutely. And I also think it's still an uphill battle for them. But, hey, you know, they're treading water. They didn't have John Brown in this game. I mean, this is not the Cardinals passing attack that we knew. John Brown's not there pretty often. David Johnson, obviously, he's not there.

You know, you have Geron Brown as your second receiver. He had 11 targets, but only four catches in the game. You never know how a season's going to go. That's why these wins sometimes early. You always can turn it around, but they're going to be on Monday Night Football against the Cowboys next week game I'm going to, and they have some tough sledding coming up.

Shook, I do have a question. So Carson Palmer was tracking other games more closely during this game. And his numbers at the end of the day look okay, 19 to 36, 332 yards. He threw a touchdown, had a pick, but 9.2 yards per attempt. This is a game. My tweet deck was just filled with people putting Carson Palmer underground and moving on as a franchise.

Even my buddy Jason Zumwalt, who's a huge Cardinals fan, had a tweet along the lines of blow it up and start over. Did he get hot? Is that because his numbers look okay to me? Super inflated by the second half. It was so bad in the first half, Bruce Ariens basically threw him under the bus to the sideline reporter, who came out with... That very rarely happens, by the way. Scathing sideline report to open the second half saying that Carson Palmer was the problem and that they needed to get fixed in all kinds of things like that.

You know, I love Bruce Ariens, but like, you know, Bruce is pretty wild sometimes. Yeah, yeah, and he was pretty wild there, too. And I think they're feeling the heat. I mean, they kind of, I think they all have it in this head that they have to make this season count and you're suddenly down at, halftime against the Colts and it's feeling like wow this is a long season ahead it does make a huge it does make it a huge win just to get it get it in there you never know I get it yeah I guess I'm just saying like the sideline report everybody knows it's silly and ridiculous and probably doesn't need to exist if I was the coach I would go the Greg Popovich route I would like send it up

and be subversive about it and not actually be roasting my quarterback to the country I don't know you keep that stuff in house I do have to give credit to JJ Nelson who stepped up with his other team out five catches 120 yards and a touchdown and should have had two touchdowns if he could have gotten a little quarter of his foot inbound Nick it's very big of you to give a shout out to j j nelson let's move on russell takes a shotgun snap looks now he's got a scramble now he's got a left side throws to the end zone it's caught is he and he is touchdown seahawks that paul richardson touchdown catch was 709 to play was the difference for the The Hawks, whoever came another subpar performance on offense to squeak past the 49ers, 12 to 9 at the clink.

These are the games that Daddy was watching today. You got the offensively challenged games? I got 12-9. I got 9-3, and then my favorite team lost 45-20. So let's, you know. Spoiler alert. Let's play the game. I didn't say who it was.

If you're new to this podcast, you have no idea which team I'm talking about. Anyway, Seattle snapped the streak of more than 112 minutes without a touchdown with that score. That's the type of stuff that gets offensive coordinators fired in Nick Shook's home state. But for the Seattle Seahawks, I think they're willing to write it off and expect this to be the start of better things. The Seahawks started last season in a very similar fashion, basically going one-and-one to start the year with absolutely no offense. they've traditionally started slow for whatever reason the issues remain the same the players are different though the fact that chris carson guy that we talked about a lot in the preseason was the one closing out the game here the eddie lacy's a healthy scratch healthy scratch they said

after the game pke carroll said we wanted to get thomas ross kind of into the mix slowly he'll get more and more work as he goes like it's it's pretty telling that carson is the one out there and had a pretty good day from the looks of it car he he made a number of number of big plays on the ground. I mean, he's not explosive. He's not making you think this is Marshawn Lynch and his prime, but 20 for 93 and move the chains and put them in good down and distance situations. Thomas Rawls, who a lot of people thought he would end up winning this battle and be their bell count. Maybe that happens, but it makes you think that they still don't think he's right. He had just five carries for four yards in this game. So, you know, I think

they'll figure it out. I'm shaking a little bit. My confidence is definitely shaken. Two teams that I thought we're going to have really strong offenses this year, Cincinnati and Seattle, and in both cases, it's kind of a mess right now. Seattle, I feel more strongly about them getting it together, but they were just good enough to beat the 49ers at home. And to me, that's a little bit alarming. They got to show us something going forward. I have a feeling we're going to continue to see a little bit of a revolving door in the backfield just because we've seen in the past that Pete Carroll's not afraid to go with the guy who he thinks he's going to work best on a week-to-week basis. I think this was no different. But yeah, what's up with the Seattle?

battle offense and a lack of points and also a little bit of a leaky offensive line for the second year in a row and also what happened to the uh kyle shanahan's offense will travel and you know brian hoyer maybe he's not a superstar but he'll put up numbers in that offense not so far has not scored something gross first of all quarterback throwing for 99 yards and four quarters is grim a we don't even this is sub gabbard zone 3.7 yards per attempt that's hard to watch the axe defense has shown up for eight quarters so that that that so far exactly what we expected. Let's move on to the AFC.

Here's Henry on the left side to the 15, to the 10, breaks the tackle to the 5, barrels his way, into the end zone. Touchdown! He's a grown man. Derek Henry, Delaney Walker, and Jalston Fowler all rushed for touchdowns in the Tennessee, did I got the right? Jalston? I like that. Yeah. All rushed for touchdowns, and the Tennessee Titans had no problem pulling away from the Jacksonville Jaguars.

a 37 to 16 win and I guess there's two big picture takeaways from this for me guys the Titans do not they take care of business doing a nice job washing out that week one loss which was probably a little bit humbling to lose at home to the Raiders and then the Jaguars welcome back to Earth after you know we in this very studio I remember there being conversations oh well you know what I'm buying it on this team with their defense and running game maybe they're one and one you're trying to totally buy Yeah, you don't know. No, well, you can't buy out if you never bought it.

What I'm saying is in the NFL, and I know this is the new dominant defense NFL. Everybody gets excited for this year. But at the end of the day, you cannot hide your quarterback in Blake Bortles. Here we go again. There's two more picks and is just not the answer. And any time, Greg, they get in a deficit, they're going to need their quarterback to make plays.

Right. It was the final score feels misleading because it was six three at halftime, but the Titans offense basically woke up, did what they wanted to do in the second half. I think you have to give a game ball to our friend Chris Wesleyan. Let's do it. Maybe a second one to Dan Hansis, and I'll explain why. The first one to Chris Wesleyan.

At halftime, he's saying Eric Decker not really looking great, DeMarco Murray, not looking too good. Let's get the ball more to Derek Henry and Taiwan Taylor. So what happens in the second half? They get the ball to Derek Henry, and he really picked up that running game, gave it some juice, made it possible for them to control the ball. Taiwan Taylor didn't have a monster second half by any means,

but they got him the ball a few more times, including a 42-yard gain. He adds a little juice where Decker looks like a guy that maybe, in Wes's words, might have left a little something on the operating table. We'll see long term. So that was a good adjustment. And then Dan Hansis gets a game ball too. Because he said, if you want me to stop calling you the Titans, then you've got to come in and you've got to show up with a big performance

and just put this team away. And what do they do, 3716? They're not, they're the Titans. So you're saying I motivated them? Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Okay. Okay, well, if we're going to talk about names. All right.

What happened to Saxonville? That's a game ball? You set me up there. What happened to Saxonville? If we're getting rid of Taitunes after this week, what happened to Saxonville? Well, I think they held on for as long as they could, and Bordals and the Jags' offense had turnovers and three straight drives, setting up short fields, and after a while you can only do so much. It bummed me out because I spent a couple hours watching the Jags Week 1 film and giving them all kinds of credit for their offensive line.

And this week fell flat. I'm checking out the Tennessee Titans 2017 schedule I'm not ready to call it I'm not dropping Titans I want a big win it's not difficult their entire division has a nice schedule in division out of division they're fine about this at home against the Seahawks a team that we know is a very good team but maybe struggling a little bit on offense give me a W there am I is that asking so much from the Titans to win that game no excuses no oh well it's a tough opponent no you're in your building you're facing a team

that has not been able to get on track yet, win that game, and we'll revisit this. Save it for the week three preview pod. What about if they get that win? You're going to keep it going? Probably, because it's a good podcast. And if that happened, like Marcus Mariotta can't have a first half like he had against Jackson board, they just kind of didn't show up, couldn't move the ball at all. Can't do it.

Can't do it. Let's move on. And he will slide down at the 19. Mason Foster stepped in front of a Jared Gough pass with less than two minutes to play, ensuring the Redskins would escape L.A. Kurt Russell bit there with a 27-20 win over the Rams. Minutes earlier, the Redskins, because you could tell by that call, how exciting that play was, a major point of the game.

Minutes earlier, the Redskins had taken a lead on a Kirk Cousin's touchdown pass to Ryan Grant. This was not the same Redskins team that stumbled their way to a week one lost at home And I'll tell you what, Greg Rosenthal I'm very happy that we've removed our locks on the Rams Because that's right The Rams like the Jags came down to Earth in week two They did maybe we got a little too excited

And you have to point out as our friend Chris Wesleyan did on the write-up Again, he's back in the mix right in that great game ball Let's get the game ball He pointed out how Rob Kelly and Chris Thompson both really got it going. They had 167 yards rushing at the half. So they controlled this game on the ground and kind of took, I wouldn't say the Rams' hearts that way,

but it really settled down a passing attack that wasn't as good last week and set up the passing attack for success. I was worried late with the Rams driving that Kirk Cousins was going to do a Kirk Cousins thing and throw a pick or whatever he might do. I have a buddy who calls him Kurt when he plays like that instead of Kirk. Is it the GM?

Yeah, that's the president of the team. Are your president? Bruce Allen. But no, I was glad to see him follow through. Hey, Bruce, it's Nick. Vegas, Vegas. Palms? Bowling alley sweet.

Go ahead. Here's the thing with the Rams, though. We kind of had to expect a game like this against the Redskins. Obviously, it's early. We don't really know everything about every team. but we do know a little bit about the Colts, and the Rams weren't going to look that good this week. Right, and the Redskins knew they had to get this game.

Suddenly, the entire NFC East, if the Giants win Monday night, is one and one. So that's a big win for them. It's not like anyone's panicking. Goff in this game, I would say probably still look better than just about any game he looked last year. He looked professional. Todd Gurley had a very nice game.

Chris Wesleyan wondering if it's going to be a comeback year, 136 yards from scrimmage that's the most he's had since 2015. I'm making plays, being a little more decisive, beating defenders to the edge. even on his touchdown he lepto he had a leap over a defender the former hurdles champion in college so that's kind of the time girl we've been waiting to see for for what a year and a half now so maybe that's a sign of good things the Redskins lost Rob Kelly fat Rob in this game a two lane grad Ryan Grant by the way he scored that touch on another two lane grad they're just loaded with them on Washington they lost their right tackle they lost Jordan Reed at one point it was in and out so they got some injury concerns Save her for the unsung heroes of Tulane podcast, Greg. Yeah, me and Sean King hosting.

All right, let's move on. And then Seth Roberts, Carg, got a lob one right side. Crabtree comeback catch, and he's in the end zone again. Touchdown! Blurred. That was one of three Michael Crabtree touchdowns from David Carr's. The Raiders took care of business. 45 to 20 home victory over the completely overmatched New York Jets,

who we can go ahead and probably remove from the, quote, in the hunt list for an AFC playoff spot. This game, you know what? This game was actually competitive for two quarters, into the third quarter, even, I'd say. It was the play that really changed the game was late in the second quarter. The Raiders got up 14 zip. The Jets scored 10 points.

Josh McCown and Jermaine Curse, who's looking like a nice little player for the Jets. by the way, two touchdowns. It was 1410. And then somebody named Khalif Raymond muffed a punt for the Jets, gave the Raiders the ball right near the goal line. They punched it in 2110. And for all intents and purposes, game over.

I hate to point this out, but I don't feel as bad because I know you feel, you know, dead inside on some level about the Jets. That right before that punt, when the Jets got the stop and it looked like worst case, they're going into halftime close, you said, yeah, this is all you can ask of the Jets. They're not embarrassing themselves. They're not embarrassing. And then the next play, the ball out.

They embarrass himself. I also said David Carr. It was Derrick Carr. Yeah. And that's the thing. Actually, I thought they were going to get out of there with their dignity. But then what happens is, you know, they just break down because there's such, they're just two different, totally different leagues, the Jets and the Raiders.

And the thing I guess would be the most disappointing from the Jets standpoint is their defense looks very bad. And especially the run defense continues to get carved up. They're missing tackles. And when you have an offense that we know is limited, if the defense is going to be a lower third unit in the league, that's when you start getting worried about whether you're going to get a win. That's the magic potion because this isn't a special, the special teams for this team isn't special either.

It's funny. You take them out of the in-the-hunt category. That's usually where the Browns reside is out of the in-the-hunt category after a couple wins. And then you bring up the whole, you know, maybe not getting a win or being worried about getting a win. This might be one of those seasons for the Jets. But on the other side for the Raiders, excuse me, I'm really excited somewhat about this trend of putting wide receivers in the backfield.

First, it was Ty Montgomery. Then it was Michael Campanaro with the Ravens today. And then it was also Cordell Patterson with the Raiders. Three carries, 57 yards, including a big jaunt right up the middle. They're using Patterson in interesting ways that the Vikings never knew how to unlock him. And he is one of the best special teams players in the league. I remember writing down last week just like, what a great. signing he's going to be for the small amount of money, and that's before they're using

him like this. They just got players upon players. Jalen Richard was only in the game for 17 snaps, and he somehow ended up with 109 yards on eight touches. I mean, he is an explosive player, and he's like the eighth guy you think of. Derek Carr, it's very early, but I feel like Derek Carr is, you know, starting to build the base of what could be a really special season. Like, he's one of those guys that you would think is going to be in the mix for some hardware

at the end of the year. Now, if you're Team Trev, I think you'll be the first to admit you were a little slow to get on the Derek Card train. Absolutely. I was so wrong about Derek Carr, especially after his rookie season. He looks great. He looks tremendous both weeks now. And one last note from the Raiders side of things, Marshall Lynch again looked like Marshall Lynch. Numbers don't jump out at you, but he scored his first touchdown in a couple of years.

And in what was really a nice moment, especially to remember that we're running out of time now for the Raiders in Oakland. after they went ahead by three scores, I believe, and the game was put away. They showed the cameras, CBS cameras caught. Lynch just dancing like a maniac on the sidelines, swinging his dreds around completely. Like that old thing, dance like no one else is watching. There was like 80,000 people watching them

because they put them up on the Jumbotron. And the entire stadium is losing their shit and enjoying the moment and enjoying Lynch. And I'm sure if you're, you know, some Jets fans or some football fans, you might not like that display by Lynch. But that's exactly why the Raiders wanted him back to add that just, yeah, the final piece to their offense. But this guy that's almost like a goodwill ambassador to Oakland,

the marriage cannot be going better two weeks in. So 45-20, the Raiders moved to 2-0. Let's move on. Now, quick, getting dropped, Kareem Hunt, at the 40-yard line, Angling left 30. He's at the 25, 20, 15, 10, 5, touchdown. Kansas City, the rookie Kareem Hunt, blast a run to the left side. Chief's rookie Kareem Hunt scored twice, including that 61-yard touchdown, you just heard.

And Travis Kelsey took a shovel pass 15 yards for a go-head touchdown. The Chiefs held on to beat the Philadelphia Eagles 27-20. the Eagles recovered an onside kick late and did have a Hail Mary, but it did not work out. So Greg, the Chiefs, you know, you can make the argument that the Chiefs are the most impressive 2-0 team in football right now. Two good wins, a strange game, entertaining. 6'3 at halftime didn't seem entertaining then,

and then the floodgates kind of opened offensively. But what really stands out is the Chiefs have different ways they can beat you. They show that against the Patriots. and to go toe to toe to with the Eagles front defensive line, which played very well in this game, but to actually make a bigger impact even than the Eagles defensive line, I'm going to give you some stats, Dan. I like stats.

Six sacks, 10 tackles for loss. You just don't see that too often. And another 10 quarterback hits on top of that. They were in Carson Wentz's grill. So it's not just Justin Houston, who I think has come out of the gate on fire. It was, you know, Chris Jones. and Betty Logan who came over and D. Ford and they're just coming at you and waves and those guys up front really kept this game close and ended up making the difference.

Well, think about it. I mean, this is an offense that is multi-layered with a lot of weapons and they're being used in innovative, fun ways. So that side of the ball is looking good and the defense is hitting its stride immediately. I mean, it has the makings of potentially special season for the chiefs who a lot of people forget, won the division. vision last year and they look just as good if not better. I also really like that they scored on a shovel pass to Travis Casey. Yeah. I mean that's the thing. The NFL's a strange game and it

turned on a few little plays like Alex Smith just evading, you know, he's very good at evading the rush in the pocket to set up that touchdown or you know, he could have been taken down. It would have been a field goal. Who knows then? And also you know, the game turning interception came on what

Carson Wentz attempted to be a throwaway which just took a fluky bounce and they turn it over and score on a short field. So it was a very tight game. I don't really feel any differently about the Eagles after watching this one. I like the Eagles. I like both these teams. I'll give you something to be a little bit afraid of Greg.

And it looks like the Patriots got things together here. But the Chiefs could be barreling towards 13 and 3, something in that neighborhood. And you got that head-to-head matchup. That means you've got to finish a game ahead of the Chiefs if they have that type of season. It's something to be wary of. I would be wary if I was the chiefs of the four games left against the Raiders and the Broncos. This division is outstanding and they got to play the NFC East out of division. Those games aren't easy.

So you say they're frauds. You don't believe in them. No, I think the chiefs are great, but you're going to have to be an unbelievable team to win 13 games. They might be that, though. Whether it's the Raiders or the Chiefs or the Broncos, they all going to play each other. They can't all win 13. I think the Chiefs might be the one that does. Okay.

Okay. That's fair. They've done nothing to prove you wrong. That's for sure. All right, let's roll. Look out, look out, and he just flips it away because Big Beasley came out. It looks like it's a live ball. If it is, it's going to be a touchdown.

And that's going to be true fun. Oh, Sunday night. The Atlanta Falcons must really be good at hydrating. Because, Greg, there ain't no Super Bowl hangover here. Wow. How long did you work on that? many, many hours. Matt Ryan threw a touchdown past

Avanta Freeman, ran for two more, and the Atlanta Falcons toyed with the Green Bay Packers. I'm going to say it. A 34 to 23 win, and it wasn't that close, folks, in the first game at Atlanta's new home facility there. Very impressive, but don't take it from me. You've got three and a half hours of Chris Collins worth telling you. So Nick Shook, this is a game that you thought

Maybe it would be a shootout, but just like the NFC championship game, what you hoped what was going to be a close game was pretty much a one-sided affair. And then you look at the stats. Whoa. Thank you. Carrie Wonderwood, just coming at Shook. Does Carrie Underwood know, like, how well-built Nick is? You guys got to be careful.

She's jumping in on my points like she jumps in my dreams. Oh, hello. Now he's way off. Here we got. Go. Rogers, 33 for 50, 343 yards, two touchdowns. It wasn't even close. A lot of garbage yardage in the last quarter and a half.

Well, they're missing their top two tackles. And then just to think about the players that left throughout the game, Jordie Nelson leaves early with a quad injury. Mike Daniels leaves with an injury, doesn't return. Randall Cobb leaves late. I mean, you're talking about not just starters for the Packers. You're talking about the most important players on the team practically other than Aaron Rogers. So that's a lot going against you on the first night.

in another team's building. I have to say, because I was, you know, history told us or tells us how much teams can struggle coming off a Super Bowl. And I really did think the Falcons would be in a tough spot and get off to a slow start. And whether you connect those two things, a lot of people say that's silly, blah, blah, blah. But they look good. I mean, maybe not as explosive as they were last season in these first two games. But this to me was a really good sign that the Falcons have put the Super Bowl in the

rearview this is a new season and if you're a packers fan you're just part of you worried okay you know are we going to have to get in a situation where we're going to have to go on a run is this going to be another slow start and all of a sudden you're going to be four and six down the road something like that i want to get too worked up this was a tough tough assignment on the road on sunday night in a new building you play the two biggest nfc powers going into the season one at home one on the road you split them you'll sign off for a split there i don't think they get stuck in the Whoa, you got double dropped by the Sunday night. They were like, what do we need, Carrie?

Let's put more Sunday nights in that song. I do have one follow-up question, Nick. You said that Carrie Underwood jumps in your dreams. Tell us more about that. I mean, you know, she's a very beautiful woman who's very talented. All right. It's good answer. Yeah, I'm going to keep this straight and, you know.

Continue on, Nick. We got him. Shook, knocked off his game. He shook. Here's my point. Shook, shook. I don't think we give them enough credit to the Falcons defense, a pass rush that's led by Vic, Charlie Castro likes to call him,

Victor Beasley, who had one sack tonight, but a lot of pressures. He was in on a lot of hits on Aaron Rogers, which forced some turnovers. And overall, the Falcons are playing some very opportunistic defense, which helps them come away with a big win like that. I think they're deeper on defense in terms of Dionne Jones, Devondry Campbell, got Adrian Claiborne back had a big hit, looked like he wanted to take Aaron Roder. head off late in the game.

And then their offense, maybe it hasn't been quite as explosive, but their running game really struggled in week one and was totally back to normal with Tavon-Colman and DeVante Freeman looking great. And you know what really annoys me is an overused football cliche is a quarterback was efficient. That usually means they really didn't play that well, but they won the game.

But Matt Ryan was efficient tonight. 28 passes, 250 yards, spread it around. A lot of chunk plays, Didn't need to throw it. That's efficient. That's what you're looking for. And so there you go. They're 2 and O and they go to Detroit next week.

This team, I thought a good point was made on the Sunday night telecast that, you know, they were playing on the real surface in Chicago. This is a different team on turf. They get to go on turf on the road at Ford Field next week. I expect them to score points. Then they come home and face the bills. Then they get a buy week. Then they get the dolphins.

And then they go to New England to face the Patriots and a Super Bowl rematch. which is October 22nd, which is five weeks away. So I think the Falcons are in good position to go into that game, feeling really good about themselves. And this was, I would say, a very encouraging victory to beat an NFC superpower with ease. Well, so, you know, bring it all around this NFC South now to start the season. The Panthers, the Bucks, and the Falcons, none of them have lost the game.

And it reminds me of the AFC West where none of those teams have lost it. We went into the season saying these are the two best. divisions in football. You're going to have to win a lot of games to win these divisions. I think it's going to be part of the story of this NFL season, these two divisions being really the powers of their conferences. All right. So that's it for the week to recap one more game,

a Monday night affair between whom are, Greg? The Detroit Lions and the New York Giants, and it's a rare double lock. It's a lock off, baby. It's a lock-on-lock crime, and the Lions are going to win it for me. Yeah, well, the crime will be against me, but the DA will drop the charges because he'll say understandable what you did to Greg.

That's how I feel about it. Okay, one quick program note, and this is important. Yes, it's been long teased, but beginning this Tuesday, it is time for the subreddit Super Contest. If you are on the subreddit around the NFL subreddit, we're almost 7,000 strong now,

So Erica Tamposy, loose canad behind the glass on Sunday, on Monday morning is going to post a thread on the subreddit. What are you going to be writing on that thread? Tell me more, Temposi. I'm not really sure. I'm just going to make the title, you know, the around the NFL subreddit, and then people are going to answer and reply to that. I wouldn't say make the title on the subreddit around the NFL subreddit. I would say what you should do is say subreddit. It's Super Contest Week 1.

That should be the title. You got it. And then you could write in the body of your thread. I'll take you through this. Thank you. If you're interested. Like, I'm an editor. I'm not a writer.

Yeah, come on. Well, we talked about this before the show. In the body of the Post, right, if you're interested in being a contest for week one of the Super Contest, reply to this thread. Everyone that replies is in the running for week one, the group, the around the NFL group, we will pick from that group at random three names. And those three people, at least the first person, has a chance to win the trivia contest on Tuesday. We'll go as long as it takes to find a winner.

So be on the lookout on the subreddit. And guess what? You can't join unless you join the subreddit. You can't be in the running. So make sure you sign up for the subreddit if you haven't already. Tomorrow morning, West Coast time, I'd say around 10 a.m. Look for an Erica Tamposi jam on there. It's going to be fun.

All right. Get ready, Greg. Stan Hans is signing off for Nick Shook. Thank you, Nick, for helping us out. The old boss and the loose cannon behind the glass. Sign up for the subreddit until Tuesday. Hey, everybody. And I'm Bucky Brooks.

On Move the Six, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else. It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sunday. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever, You get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast.