NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Who Popped and Flopped in Preseason Week 1

Episode Date: August 14, 2023

In a room filled with heroes - Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, and Marc Sessler tell you who popped and who flopped in Preseason Week 1. First, the heroes have a bongo moment (00:46) and then proceed to inform us on who they think popped and who flopped during the first week of the preseason (5:44). Finally, Ross Tucker joins the show to discuss OL rankings (40:30). Note: Time codes approximate. NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. The Around the NFL podcast, football is back. It's kind of. From the Chris Wesleying podcast studio, it's Around the NFL, Dan Hansis. Heroes, Greg Rosenthal, Mark Sessler, week one of the preseason,

end of the books. And now I'm going to do my best fireman ed. Here we go. I'm taking it down. Let's get a lot of silence in the room. Get the whole building silent. Get it silent. You know what I'm going to be.

A 60-yard field goal try to close out the half. Tucker got the leg into it. It's left it. It is good. Justin Tucker from 60. Are you kidding me? Who said the preseason has no juice? Some go so hard.

Never heard that. Those horns. We've never been to steep into the production. Justin Tucker in the first preseason game just drills one from 60 they win by one point the Ravens 2019 over the defending NFC champion Eagles and now they've won

goddamn near a quarter of 100 games in a row in the preseason the greatest streak since Joe DiMaggio that's how you start the preseason I love it they definitively are angling to win these games

and with each victory it becomes a more impossible record to reach for any other team with the way that the preseason is because think about it also with one less preseason game every year it will take that many more years for a team

to even get there and they won't they won't get there it's never going to be matched if it does you can take me out with a bullet I'm telling you right now it never will be and I've won I also learned something about female assassin You know, best case scenario Just do the job

I think the bills have won like 10 straight or something like that So they're at least You have five more years of life guarantee It's like when this streak started You had children that weren't even born yet That's absolutely true Harrison wasn't on this planet yet

If a female If an assassin took you out Mark from the sixth floor of Amoeba Records in Hollywood Right Not here I thought you're going to say a parking garage And you look up...

Meva has been closed for many years. They moved and opened a new location. Okay? And it's huge. Hollywood and Vine. From the book depository, you look up, your dying breath. Because I know what you're thinking. You're saying, oh, that better be like a leggy brunette assassin.

Okay. What if it's like a fat middle-aged guy named Butch? Well, that takes you out. It's disappointing. I don't think that's... Crushing. Even worse than the death itself would be, that's who got me? After all the fantasizing about the female assassin to get a book.

It would be the wrong way to go. I think the other thing I have wrong is, like, if were I taken out by anyone's bullet, it would not be categorized as an assassination. It would just be a murder. We would call it that because you would call it that for many years. I would appreciate you at least frame it. I would frame it just because then it would have a political undertone, and it would make Greg and I seem more important because we'd say it's connected to the show somehow

and taking us out. Leverage it in any, I won't be here to stop. You'll be a martyr. I'm just imagining the person who like just getting into football turned on this podcast for the very first time today the first two minutes seemed to be some sort of hallucination

what's going on don't worry this is a real football podcast because coming up later today our old buddy Ross Tucker former offensive lineman he wrote a nice piece over there on the 33rd team dot com got emotional

Just thinking about having this conversation. It's a website that does that to people. Ross Tucker, his tears of offensive lines. And if you don't think that that's not vitally important in this sport, we call football, you don't know what you're doing. You're paying too much attention to political controversies and assassination attempts and not enough attention to ball. It's one in the trenches, and Ross knows what he's talking about.

So he's going to come on talk about those tears. But before we get into that, yes, preseason, week one, it's done. So why don't we just have a little conversation? I think a good way to get into this is, and Randy behind the glass today. Eric will be back later in the week and we'll have some things to catch up with with Mr. Roberts, but we'll leave it at that for now. Randy, we're going to talk about who popped and who flopped. Oh, I can't breathe.

We were workshopping a different name, but we've gone with... Right, I thought we were going with who popped and who pooped. That was a big surprise. Listen, there's a couple different routes we could have gone. But then the poop sound effect would have been maybe not for the ears of audience. And that actually was, you know, I think... Of children, you typically would gamble on the fact that I wouldn't probably weigh in with ideas pre-show when I'm on my way here. You came in with a gem.

Yeah, I mean, it just came to me. I said, I have to show this with the group. It was getting ha-haz on the... Big old L-O-Ls, big old digital bellylap. And it just gets, you know, thrown out of the cap. You can still use it. You could use it. Just go rogue.

How about next week for the preseason? Because I know you guys are talking about the pre-season. You don't need to have a sound effect. For this, for you, if you talk about it. It's probably better with... This is better without it. This is better without. No, it's not.

We'll do flop. We'll do flop. If we have a segment called Who Pop, Who Pooped, and we're not having some type of poop sound effect, What are we even here for? I agree. So next time we do preseason takeaways, we'll call it that name. That's fair.

How about that? I think it's equitable. Equitable is right. Well, we're a team, so you use everyone's ideas. See how that works, Greg? I love it. See the togetherness, the teamwork? Football's back.

Kind of. Who popped in week one of the preseason? Greg, I'll start with you. You know, I'm going to start with the same note. I started my 68 takeaways from the first week in the preseason. You can check. plug it on NFL.com. I thought you have to start with

Damar Hamlin just because of everything that we watched and went through last year that he went through, rather, and to see him out on the field. And like, we've been taking these steps in the process that, like, you expected him to be back, but it still was different,

at least for me as a viewer, watching him out on that field. And he was very active. Like, any hesitation you thought he might have had, any worries, like you couldn't see that on the field. He was knifing down. He was very active in the run game. He was blitzing. They almost felt like they were trying to get involved. And our friend Cynthia Freeland was doing the game on the sidelines. And she noted, on top of Hamlin being back, and that's such a great

story. He's part of such a deep safety group there. It might be the best safety group in the NFL with Micahide is back. Jordan Poyer's back. You brought in Taylor Rap. Hamlin's out there making plays. It was the first time since Thanksgiving of 2021. The Allied Poir and Tradavius, White were all on the field together. So that was just great to see. And it's one of those things in the preseason that like when you first heard that he's coming back, you're like, okay, that feels almost strange, but it's also exciting. Like, we'll see what happens.

But it's happening. And it's exciting to see. I do wonder, I mean, if the bills get into a weird situation, they're so deep at the position that if Hamlin, you know, has a so-so preseason and from run up to the regular season, are they ever in a position where they have to part ways with him despite the great story behind it. I don't think so. just because he was such a valuable player for them.

He's a good special teamer. You carry four or five safeties. And I think if he had come back and wasn't sure of himself, but by all accounts in terms of the practice reports and what we saw in the field, how they were using him, like he's going to be a third and four safety. They love their secondary. And they're not very good at cornerback, I would say.

They're not sure if they're going to start their first round pick from a year ago, Kai or Elam. And what I've noticed, a little bit of a trend around the league is like a lot of teams are saying, like, look, we have three good safeties. Let's keep them on the field of starters and only have two cornerbacks. I'm thinking of like the Seahawks are a little like that. The lions are a little bit.

And I think the bills could be like that too, where they have three safeties on the field most of the time. How about you, Mark? Give me a pop. I can't go flop. Let's stay positive to start. We'll get there. You always want to go negative.

No, I just, I was interested in a flop scenario. You'll get the first flop. Okay, that's fine. Greg can't take it. More teamwork. Because I know you're worried he'll take your flop. And then you're back. Looking over there, I can see.

Don't let him see your screen. I don't know why Greg does that. I don't know either. It's violating. It's sort of like an announced lack of integrity. You're just announcing it. How can you not see it? It's right there in front of you.

Go ahead. I've been talking this team up. Wait, one second. Do you like when Greg looks at your screen? I've made it very clear that it's weird to me and I don't like it. I'll try to stop it. I mean, you knew that, though. It doesn't stop you.

You can't stop. I'll try to stop it. I use a lot of highlighters and different colored fonts. I look at Mark's, you know, face as he's speaking. And the screen's just like right there. It's hard to avoid. It is in your sight line. Stay locked in on those icy blues.

Right. On some level, you know, you wanted that seat on the corner. You wanted, you didn't want the middle. He did. He was very strong about it. That was part of it. Oh, so it's a little constant revenge needling. The new listener is still like, will you ever get to football?

I have been talking this team up. I thought, you know, it was, what would the Steelers look like? I love that they came out with Kenny Pickett. They didn't sit them on the sideline. Goes six for seven. I thought he looked very crisp. George Pickens, you know, I took him a little bit of a while last year to get going, but showed a clear chemistry with Pickett.

They had an excellent 33-yard touchdown connection. I think Alan Robinson, he played a lot of snaps. I still am suspicious of him as a number two, but it seems like they want to make that work. But I just thought it was a great sign for the starters to come out. And if you're Kenny Pickett, they've been talking about him in training camp, I guess I said he's thrown one interception the whole time. I don't know what that means because that's situational.

And, you know, maybe that means he's been too conservative. He didn't look at that way in this game. It's a good sign for Pittsburgh that it looked like a better version of Kenny Pickett than even last, the end of last year. He might have the most pop from a friend Daniel Jeremiah, from lots of national people, lots of local people, just saying in terms of year one to year two leap, and what you see in training camp,

picket pop has been happening. So it's nice to see that confirm. To your point about Robinson, I'm riding this Calvin Austin train here. Maybe it's just because he's 5-8, like 168, and it's fun to see those guys on the field. He was injured most of the last year. Like, he was their leading rusher in this game.

He was their leading receiver. It caught a long touchdown. Like, that might be your third receiver if Alan Robinson doesn't work out. Calvin Austin is kind of fun. And remember that guy, Project Jones. Everyone was like, oh, they stole Project Jones. This is where it's like, oh, you plug and play.

He's your starter for 10 years and everyone puts them in as a starter in the depth chart. It sounds like he's probably not going to start, which I was surprised to read that on The Athletic, that Dan Moore, who was their starter a year ago, is probably going to remain the starter. That's really surprising. And that he would be the swing tackle. So these are little things you learn in the preseason, actually,

because he's not working with the starters. Yeah, I got a pop that, I know America might not be ready for this. And I'm not saying it. I'm rooting for it either, but you know what, at a certain point, we're moving forward. Mark the Browns are going to be good this year the Browns could be really good this year

we just was talking about a smart football person and Aaron Schatz about their defense and how he sees that as a top 10 unit we're going to talk to Ross Tucker a little later he sees them as having one of the best offensive lines in the league they have the best running back in the league they have weapons on at the playmaker as receivers

and it was very short as very small window but I thought Deshawn Watson looked like Deshaun Watson in his one series. Again, that's why I don't go crazy about the preseason because it's such a small sample size. But he threw the ball well and he scrambled well. He looked quick. He looked agile. He looked like the guy that was a very, very good superstar level quarterback with the Texans.

I think there's a better chance we see a very good Deshaun Watson to grade Deshaun Watson than the bad six-game sample. and it's just on my radar as the season gets closer that and we'll be making our predictions come September who's going to win that division I would not be surprised of the Browns have a big year here and whether we want it or not Watson he's going to get another tune up apparently before the end of the preseason if this offense hits the ground running it would knock shot shock me at all good start for Watson in that

offense well I thought Aaron Chats put it really well and how they kind of view what the Browns might be it's like do you take that six game sample size which happened, obviously, after a massive hiatus from playing in a weird situation. I think there was a lot of neck-up stuff going on with the entire team and Watson. Or do you take the rest of his career and assume that at his age, he's not even very old, that he still has that athletic ability. So that was the missing component, or the unknown

component for Cleveland if he flips the switch. The thing that I think people forget about the Browns in general is because Andrew Barry got pulled into all this, and the whole organization was distasteful as so many for their pursuit of Watson, that you forget that Andrew Barry was one of the better young general managers in football before this. And the roster, they had some holes coming into this offseason. We talked about that, short up the defensive line, the O line where it's like, sometimes it's only like a three-year window on these O lines.

And like Cleveland's is still really strong. Ross Tucker will confirm that later when we talk to them. The defense seems to be better. They've got a better coordinator and Jim Schwartz. So it is arrow up. I think for me, Greg, like the one question is there are all these little whispers, like, does Kevin Stefansky's system and the Deshawn Watson skill set really marry the way you'd want?

I think that was my takeaway from that brief time was how much he scrambled and moved. Like, a lot of that was just freelancing, and whether he's going to have the freedom or just chooses to do that more, and that makes sense. That's a strength of his. Like, half the snaps, he was essentially making plays on his own, either scrambling or moving outside the pocket, and he looked effective doing it. in limited time. And you can do that when you have a great offensive line. That's that a great

offensive line can really bring out the best in a great scramble. This is a final note on Stephansky. He made the most out of Jake Brisket last year. He made the most out of Baker Mayfield. Now if he actually has a really good quarterback, I don't know. Mark, I'm feeling it. I'm feeling

a little bit. I'm feeling a spicy a spicy 12. It's a crazy AFC. You need a couple of these teams to like, you need a couple of these AFCs team that everyone's just ticketing to the playoffs to fall off a little bit. I just, like, I, I can see it all. I'm more skeptical on whether it's going to work with Watson and the

offense, just in general, being like a top 10, top five type of offense. You look at the rest of that. The roster, to that division, to me, their roster, as good as it is, it's not any better than the Bengals or the Ravens and maybe not the Steelers either, so it's just a bloodbath. Yeah, but DVOA, like, they, before the season, you know, curtailed with Watson, like, the Jacoby percent in there,

they were, really, if. With Jacoby Verset. Right. Give me a flop mark. I mean, I think the one that just is so obvious, and Greg has already, you know, perused my screen here, so he knows where I'm going here. But, uh, Tray Lance.

I mean, I don't know. I don't think, like, talk about, talk about fit. And I guess that is Tray Lance coming out of that performance. It's all relative, by the way, everybody calmed out. These people didn't really flop, you know. It just rhymes and it's top. Right. It does.

Well, that's why I'm staying away from, like, any of the rookie quarterback flop situations, like, whatever, like first appearance. This is Trey Lance's third season. Now, if you really look at his career, I mean, he barely threw the ball in college, and he's barely thrown the ball over three seasons or, you know, two plus seasons in the NFL. And I thought that first March, that three and out, where it's like, you're just not doing things the way that Kyle Shanahan wants them done. And yes, you can come make some plays later on. He threw a touchdown pass. It shouldn't even be called a touch, and they have a different category where you essentially threw it.

an interception that deflects off a defender in a totally weird way when you go watch like their actual tweeted replay, you have to watch it like 14 times to actually see where the ball went. It was like a magic bullet that shot off him into the hands of the Niners tight end for a score. Not a positive grade on a PFF scale, put it that way. They would, they would look right past it or they would call it essentially just a turn-up player. Yeah, he had a 37 passing grade, by the way. Well, it did terrible. I mean, like, I think the thing is, to me, like the processing, just watching him. He just does not look in a system where it feels like you could plug Dan in and he'd get 88 yards passing.

Trey Lance still doesn't look comfortable. And I just, I think if anything, they want a good preseason out of him to find out what he is, but maybe to shop him, Sam Donald came in and with one off season in the Niners' offense, probably just a better quarterback, just looked way sharper to me. Can I just say also with this situation, and you could say the same thing about what I was just talking about with the Browns. but of course Kyle Shanhan is going very vanilla with his scheme on offense. He's not turning, he's not using that big brain of his to put his

quarterbacks in the position to dominate in the way he will try come week one. So it makes it hard to make judgments. But yeah, you would think Tray Lance where he is and the Niners maybe where they are and do we want to trade this guy again? It'd be nice if he like lit the opponent up this weekend. They also aren't letting him run though. That's a big part of his game. Their line was brutal in this game.

I'm a little worried about the San Francisco offensive line. I know these were the backups. So that's a big part of it. They were the backups. But I don't think it's a deep offensive line. I don't think it's a great pass blocking offensive line. But he's never played particularly well in the preseason Lance. He had a couple moments in the regular season.

Like, he, I think he took four sacks and a couple were on him, a couple were on the offensive line. But you just look at him and then you look across the field, and it's Aidan O'Connell, who's like a rookie, I'm not giving a pop here, but it was interesting in that game, the contrast and how well O'Connell played, and he was probably one of the few rookie quarterbacks

that was that comfortable. But then you think, like, who's played way more football in his life? Aidan O'Connell or Trey Lance? Like, it's Aidan O'Connell. It's the guy in college that was starting 12 games a year at Purdue, and it's probably the same age, because half the rookies, it feels like,

because of COVID are, like, 25 years old. I don't know what O'Connell's age was, But, like, it's a little concerning. The most concerning thing about the whole Lance performance was actually Kyle Shanhan spending, like, a minute after the game, explaining why he really liked that touchdown throw. Oh. Because he thought he ultimately, like, made the right, like, that he went for it, that he made the right read, that it came open late, and that he pulled the trigger.

And I think that's Lance's problem is he's not making quick decisions, but not pulling the trigger. And that actually the decision was okay. he thought the throw was a bit off and the defense made a nice play on it that was surprising and like that if that was where you're trying to find some positives that's trouble all right hold that thought

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only on Draft Kings with code DK1. Gambling problem. Call 1-800 gambler. Age and eligibility restrictions apply void where prohibited. See draftkings.com for details. We'll be right back. All right, we're back. Greg, you've got a pop or a flop.

Let's get to the rookie quarterbacks a little. I'm going to go flop, but I'm not going to give it to the rookie quarterback. I'll give it to the Panthers offensive. Yes, sure. So you can get around it. Yes. You can get around it. Because I didn't watch the Bryce Young performance live or anything when I went back and checked it out on NFL Plus.

nice plug bra nice first preseason weekend for NFL plus smooth experience for me when I went back to watch I was like I was expecting it was going to be ugly

it's like Bryce Young didn't do anything wrong in that game there was not really much he could do there was one play that was kind of nice where he got to his second read

pretty quickly made a nice throw but man he got decked three times there's this whole idea that Icki Akongwu and like our colleague Steve Smith said like

look he looks like one of the best left tackles in the league in practice. Like, he was a bit of a disaster as a rookie, and he was in this game. And there's this idea that the Panthers have this good offensive line, sneaky good, actually, a year ago. But then you have a new coach, and you have a new offensive line coach, you have a new system. And people don't really pay attention to this stuff. But, oh, by the way, your two starters at guards are coming off of massive injuries, one of them who's still out, Austin Corbett. And like, okay, that's a lot of ifs then.

Like, offensive line play, and we'll talk about with Ross, like, is not necessarily consistent. year to year, especially when you're changing schemes. And so that was very concerning, seeing that man get decked that quickly. I don't think he really did anything wrong. Maybe there was one ball he would like to have back. There wasn't really much to it. But nice job by the Jets defensive line. See that Will McDonald's spin move?

I like this Jets. Germain Johnson. Hello. Edge rushing group. And it's Quinn and Williams. Rice Huff. You don't want to put it all on defense. But man, that Jets defense on paper is.

as talented as just about anyone. I mean, they, I, I thought it had happened at some point. Solomon Thomas just flattens Bryce Young and like, he got right up and said he didn't feel it. I mean, I don't know why. Why is that so surprising? He's been playing football a ton. He got decked all the time at Alabama.

Right. He was hit as hard as like any college quarterback. I watched that. Right. But it is, it is like, it's just this thing that people were waiting to see. So that's fine. I mean, my problem is like, I don't know how to really assess Bryce. Young if he's this preseason

if he's going to be playing behind a line like this because it's Bryce Young under constant It's going to be a bad year. Well, I just, I don't know It shouldn't be like that every week, but that was a bad day. Especially an undersized rookie quarterback, it's, that's doom. You got to, they need to play at a average at least level, you'd think.

There's time, but I mean, it's Yeah, it was a small thing, but it's Frank Greg's coming out being like, well, you know, listen, I don't really take the score in no account. Like, he's like, I do, we are accountable for it. It's like, it's not a great, it's not, the score doesn't matter at all, but just sort of an uninspiring, you know, dawned to the new era. It was 27-0. We should mention the Jets are back.

Yeah, I guess we took off that tough Browns loss. That shows resilience, though. That shows resilience. There it is. That's going to play well on Harn-Nox. Hard-Nox is going to play up the shutout aspect of it big time. I don't really need that. I thought in terms of the Hard Knocks up, so when it got to the Hall-Fame game, I was like, eh. I felt like they were filling.

Let's stick to what's going on in Flore and Park. We'll see. and the Hard Knocks podcast was me and Colleen Wall. They were doing this at the end of the last Hard Night just stretch it out. It was interesting.

Mingo started that game for the Panthers. That was one thing that was nice to see. Let's see. I have one that I want to hit. I'm not going to, I don't have too many flops. If I'm a Dolvin's fan, I want to see Mike White play a little better

because you're going to see him this year in games that count. But I'm going to stick with POPT. And I'm going to leave this one open because I know Greg wants to talk about it, so I'll let him do it. And I'll stick with the Bears. This is a

big year for Iber Flues and company, and DJ Moore was such a big get for that offense, and he scores a touchdown. Justin Fields then dumps off a pass to Khalil Herbert, third and long. He goes 56 yards for a touchdown. Stiff arms a dude, takes him to the house. And this was a great stat, and I'll credit ESPN on this one. So Fields, you know, you look at his stats, I look like, Justin Fields, this guy's going to win the MVP. Just basically two quick short passes.

But it matters because the Bears ranked last season, dead last in yards after catch, 1,100 yards. They did not have a single play rack up 50 yards after catch all of last season. Zero in 17 games. They had two in those two series with Justin Fields. Is that going to continue week after week? No, it's not. But I think especially with more, just seeing what, having a true number one, how that could help and really. lead to liftoff for Justin Fields

and what's such an important third year for him. I mean, Moore is already part of one of the greatest plays in NFL history that catch from Fiji Walker. It's a fact. This morning at the, I'm glad this randomly came up, at the breakfast table. Right. Walker's got on an NFL produced YouTube video,

the greatest throws of all time in NFL history. Produced by who? Walker. NFL film. Or Greg. It's like. It's a Rosenthal. His NFL films.

Yeah. That PJ Walker throw was on it. How about this? How about we... Jay Moore caught it. How about we kicked the extra point? Yeah. We can talk about what a great win it was.

I mean, they had like... There was probably like 125 throws on this thing, but it was one of them. In fairness, DJ Moore took his helmet off, making the extra point 47 yards. That was stupid. You should be allowed to take your helmet. You know, that's... That rule comes and goes. They're very...

They choose it when they want to. They also have a healthy darnel Mooney, which is nice. I think Herbert's a nice player. I think there was this thought that Roshan Johnson comes in, the rookie. This is where you watch the snaps. Herbert gets all the snaps with the start as Roshan Johnson, who had a nice run is playing pretty deep with the third teamers in the second half. So just a little fantasy neck there.

All right. Mark, go ahead. Pop or flop? I'm going to go pop. Oh, good for you. Yeah, I was at the Chargers game, and, you know, last year the Chargers struggled to run. Oh, oh, King of the Castle, King of the Castle. It costs like $14 to go.

It's fine. Going this week with my children, too. Oh, really? Going a lot. It really hits that building. The children were not there Saturday. No, they weren't. No, they couldn't go to that one, but they will go to the next one.

They missed out on them the Stetson Bennett fire show. Yeah, I didn't stay for the entire thing. Just Mark with a, it was going to beat this crowd out of here. Mark alone with a diet Pepsi and his binoculars and his little clipboard. That's exactly. That's exactly what this happened. The offensive line rankings chat. But there were some.

huge plays from the try i think last year like they couldn't run the ball six point nine yards per carry against i mean a a rams defensive line that is um ram shackle problematic yeah 214 rushing yards um elijah dotson undrafted out of northern colorado had two crazy runs 37 and 40 yards in the second half they just stuck it to the rams later on i thought easton stick looked pretty good as a backup i mean some of these teams like the bill's backup situation we can get to at some point is sort of a blooming disaster. And like, Easton Stick looked as good as he's ever looked. And it was really, like, he ran the offense really well. I think he's going to be, I think he's going to drive people nuts because he has some, he does some stuff, you know, his hands just disappear, but then he'll

make a crazy play and you can see it all. There's this guy, Darius Davis, who, another rookie out of TCU, yeah, an 81-yard punt return for a touchdown. So I don't know, these guys seem like they want to be a more physical team under Kellan Moore on the ground. And in the one game we've seen it, it showed. Davis, I think, is going to be a story this year. It was the best returner in college football. That one return was enough for me. Yeah. Because it wasn't really about the blocking. It was about the hesitation and the burst and the vision. And it reminded me exactly of Kavante Turpin of the Cowboys last year who popped a couple in the preseason. You were like, oh, wow, is that a guy? And he ended up being a total game

changer for the Cowboys, one of the best return men in the league. Quentin Johnson's on my radar, not a guy I would want to take in fantasy. No. I think he's going to be their fourth receiver. You couldn't hear this because you were at the game. But Dan Fouts doing the coverage was like Johnston's, he had a couple drops early in this game, two drops. He was just like, he's had a rough training camp because of those drops. And it's like, oh wait, that's the first negative thing. I've heard any announcer say about anyone on the team that they're covering this entire weekend because they're all working for the team and you never heard it. And it's like, I'm going to file that away. He's probably wide receiver four there behind Palmer. If the guy's saying,

that for, and he's getting paid by the team, right? These guys for the pre-season coverage. The guy has to look pretty bad. Although he is explosive. You could see he's getting open. I think it's hot and cold. And he had a great touchdown. He could be a red zone guy, but yeah, not. All right, Greg, you have

you have so many. You have 63 takes. Too many. So you got to throw out another one. I want to go with, what's, like, what's the most surprise? Oh, we should hit the quarterback stuff. Let's go, uh, let's go Baker playing. I just because I think it's newsworthy. Baker played well, composed,

and Kyle Trask wasn't a disaster, but wasn't good. So it was a clear and decisive Baker victory in preseason game one. And then because I'm writing that article, I checked out a little pewter report action. Bucks cup stuff

over that. They noticed that Baker had like his best practice day of the year on Sunday and threw a bunch of touchdowns and Trask had a bad day. So it feels like the separation created. No big surprise there, but Just so you know, it looks like Baker is going to be the guy. Trask will get to start preseason week, too, but I think that's going to be his last time in the competition.

All right, I gave you a chance, Greg, and so now I'll bring it up. I thought the Saints looked good and limited time. Derek Carr in the field. It's like the Joker movie, the Todd Phillips one. So many things. So many Batman-related things, Jetson and Hudson, that you've got to differentiate. The Todd Phillips film, The Joker.

right I think Derek Carr is good tired of pretending he's not I think he's going to do well in that offense playing in the dome and Gregi Alvin Kumar did look very feisty and frisky

in his limited play as well it's unfortunate that he's not going to be around for the start of the season that's his own doing with his suspension and it's also unfortunate that Kendry Miller their rookie injured his knee in the game I don't know how serious it is

but we were told it's a sprain that could go in two very different directions. It's from Dennis Allen. So they don't have, they have depth, depth issues there, of course. You made sign someone. So somebody's coming into that building regardless, it sounds like. But Carr, Michael Thomas, I like the vibes there. If he can stay in the field. And yes, Kamara looked very good. He should be ready to roll in late September. Joanne Johnson delivering on that fantasy. Chris Olavé, they've said, has been the MVP at camp there. And then it just sort of caught me by surprised when, like, Jimmy Graham caught a catch.

You know, Jimmy Graham is on this team? He's not going to... Is he going to make the team? I asked our friend Adam over at the Saints podcast and it was called the Saints Twitter podcast. Now I forget what it's called. They changed the name. Bad job by me.

What? Because Twitter isn't a thing anymore? I guess. I don't know. Just like a rebranding. Saints X-Pod is kind of cool. I don't think it was related. I think they had changed it before that happened. But he thinks Jimmy Graham's making the team, so... Well, why go through the motion of, like,

bringing him back just to have him there for three weeks unless he can't play? Saints Block Party podcast. There we go. Oh, okay. But what did you say? He thinks Jimmy Graham's making the team. Michael Thomas, Jimmy Graham, it is weird. I like their first round pick look pretty good for C.

Very good. We got Ross in a couple minutes, so anything else. I have one that I feel is somewhere in between pop and flop, because it's a rookie quarterback. I want to talk about him, but, like, Anthony Richardson, I don't think he flopped or popped. I mean, I just think it's like... Plop.

Sure, it's that. Yeah. I mean, I don't want to overly critique him. Watching him, it's like, you can see it. I don't know if he needs to really start the season necessarily based on what I saw. Put him underground. I thought he looked good. Well, it was fun.

It was kind of what you expect. It was a lot of... He had a terrible interception, which is fine. I let have anything, though, like, I thought he was going to try to, like, like run off, run out of the pocket on every play, like kind of stood in there and threw the ball, had that bad turnover. He just, the way he throws the ball,

like, he's got some sidearm action, but like, I think his mechanics are just a little strange. They're wacky. He has a quick release, and I think he got rid of the ball quickly, mostly, and made good decision. You're right, there were like two throws that were just way off, and that's just apparently part of the package

reminds you a little of rookie Josh Allen. But then he also ran over, who was that, Taran Johnson, I think, of the bills. He just like steamrolled him like it was like a 250 pound fullback over a little child. And you're just like, oh, man, that's a quarterback. And then he made a couple of really nice throws. And they like really went out of their way after the game to point out, Isaiah McKenzie made a mistake on that interception that he didn't read the blitz right.

He didn't run the right route. But Richardson made a big mistake too. It's like if your receiver messes up, you could see him almost panic in real time and then just force it. You got to just throw it away or run to the sideline and eat it. But Reggie Wayne, our former colleague, was apparently very upset with Isaiah McKenzie, who literally apologized publicly about that interception. I thought he showed enough that he's going to be the weak one start. Well, I mean, of course he will be, I guess.

He could have had a touchdown that. Alec Pierce, he hit through a nice ball downfield. Alec Pierce dropped it and was upset at himself. I thought on that run where he bowled the guy over, it wasn't like lowering the shoulder and getting like low. Like, he just basically stood up and ran through him. And it reminds you he's like as fast as people, but like 50 pounds heavier, made of muscle. It's like a young cam.

I mean, in terms of size and speed. He jumps out. Like everyone's been saying, he's watching him and just jumps off the screen. You know what I want to give a little pop to? Just because it's newsworthy. It's not preseason really. Joe Burrow out on the field, not only practicing aggressively. Kind of stretching pop, but yeah, okay.

yeah well he like went through this whole workout and he did it in front of the cameras so to me that was his no your cake's good Randy behind the glass hidden pop on that maybe I don't know if we need I said pop I hear pop let press pop yeah that's okay listen he's got a point shout out to rann I think that was him telling the greater Cincinnati area I'm good relaxed so I think we'll see him back there soon and they I wouldn't be too relaxed watching you know Trevor simeon and Jake brown and stink it up you got to get a backup quarterback Cincinnati. Stop messing around. Did you see the Trevor Lawrence touchdown?

Where he evaded it? Like 18 people. People were coming up to him. That wasn't him, was it? Rourke, you mean? Nathan Rourke. Well, he had a night. We should be so blessed to have Trevor Lawrence making that play.

I mean, the Nathan Rourke, Jaguars. I thought it was, too. He has a similar build. Oh, you know, I just saw it on like a Twitter replay. I was like, that's Trevor Lawrence. Holy cow. Lawrence had a nice touchdown too.

But Rourke, I was not familiar with this man, did some research. CFL product was like in the MVP mix in the CFL this year before an inquiry. That play, and Bill Barnwell, who's going to be on a show later this week, doing some over-unders with us. He said, doesn't matter preseason or not, that has a chance to be the best play made by an NFL player this year. That's one of the best players I've ever seen. Whoa.

Mr. Hyperbole over here. threw off three. It was incredible. Three guys. It was a great play. As his knee is half an inch off the ground, throws a dime for a game winning touchdown with 30 seconds left. I mean, it doesn't. It's not a real game, but yeah. Yeah, I just watch

the NFL's greatest throws ever. I mean, it would put it on. It would fit. It would fit on that list. I would have ruled him in the grasp, and I would have ruled him down, and I would have waived the play. That's not fun. Personally. It was a great, it was a great effort. And, Mark, as you're known to always say, we are nothing without our fans.

I mean, I can't have one conversation with Mark without him saying we're nothing without our fans. And with that, said over. Are you trying to suggest that I, in reality, could care less about our fans? No, I mean, I'm saying. I very much am thankful for the fans. Let's check in via X slash whatever. And look at this. Look at this.

Regan Chipson out here at the hot ass Bank of America Stadium watching A.A. Ron and his Jets can't help but think Dan Hansis and Greg Rosenthal around the NFL. You can't see my boys' Patriots. Cap, but he is a diehard O.G. Brady fan. He was born in Connecticut, after all. We love football in the ATN pot. Now, that is nice to see from the fans. It's really nice. Wait, what's my face? No, it's a nice message.

You can't help but think of Dan, Greg, all the guys. Oh, there was a follow-up. There was a follow-up. Oh, yeah? Mark two. There it is. Oh, I got my own tweet. You got a follow-up. I got my own tweet. After someone. Well, it's a total afterthought, but yeah. I know what I think I know what she's attempting to do.

Thank you, Dan. I don't think she was attempting. I don't know. It was, well, I think she just, it was Jets to, you know, to try to walk, you know, to try to save her. Jets, Dan, and then her son, Patriots, Hat. So there was like a connection. So I was organic, just organically left out. That, that does, that's no problem at all.

Regan, if you're listening, just know this will live inside. I'll be sleeping. I'll be tracking this heavily up. He's not sleeping. This week. All right. Let's move right along. I think we have a guest.

We do. Hit the music. Mm. Joining us now is a former. Joining us now as a former NFL offensive lineman played seven years. Cowboys, Bill's, Patriots, Washington. Football team. The guy went to Princeton.

Hello. And now he does color for CBS Sports and Westwood One. He's got his own podcast. I mean, Ross Tucker, my goodness. He got his own podcast, the Ross Tucker football podcast. And now he joins us to talk about his latest rankings over on the 33rd team. Ross, welcome to around the NFL. what's up fellas love love the music love the intro and nice to see all you guys happy football

season happy football you mentioned there that you know we're going to be hearing ross on sundays now on nfl games oh hell yeah that's a first i'm look at congrats on that pro that gig we are very serious about studying those teams and and to have you crack in the rotation that's something to look for it it also put you in the crosshairs here we're sometimes critical we do ranking so now you're part of it too you know what i am totally fine with that that's very fair i listen i do rankings on mondays on the rothacker football podcast for the press box food for the different stadiums i'm in and i always say like i am very grateful for the free food i am not complaining i'm just evaluating right i'm just i'm just reporting it's my job so as long as you guys are are tough but fair i'm fine with

I will say this, really excited to be in the booth, three-man booth. Chris Lewis will do play-by-fly, and then the other analyst is Jason McCordy, which I think is awesome because, number one, he just retired. Number two, I had known him since I think he was a senior in college. I've known him for a while. And then I also have always kind of thought, guys, that the ideal booth is a guy like Jason who played corner or receiver and is really. an expert in coverages, coverage techniques, route combinations, all that stuff with a guy like me

that is really an expert in the front seven stuff, O line, D line. Because you're not going to really find like an offensive line or defensive line that really is an expert when it comes to wide receiver DB stuff. So I kind of feel like hopefully we'll have the best of both worlds. Do you feel like when in a three-man booth, you've got to kind of elbow them out to get your comment in there sometimes. There's sort of an extra human being in there. You know, it's funny because I've done it several times now.

And it is different for sure because when you're the only analyst, there is no question who's talking. It's the right. It's the raw show. It's the raw show. And also play by play play, man may not even get in there. No, but the other thing is, Greg, is, you know, if people don't realize, and I, and I said this to Jason already, the big difference between radio and television, right?

is radio, which I love, I can just say whatever I want at the end of every play. TV, TV, you got to be talking about what's on the screen. So what that means is a lot of times, you know, as the play is happening, I don't know if anybody's ever described this to you guys, but as the play is happening and the play-by-play guy is calling it, I am hitting the button telling the producer and director,

you know, 53 Blue Tele, 53 Blue, Blue, telling because the linebacker came flying through and and blew up the play and made an awesome play or maybe they're telling me, you know, wide receiver corner ISO. And so you got to look at the monitor a lot because it does you no good if you're looking at the field talking about the pass rush and they're showing the wide receiver and the corner's coverage on him. So there's just a lot more communication on TV, a lot more in your ear. So I bring that up to tell you guys it's a little different when it's a three-man booth for TV like that because what if Jason wants to talk about one thing

I want to talk about another thing but the way it works out is there's certain camera angles right like the all 22 that's going to be Jason if we're showing the all 22 it's because it's a coverage if we're showing a wide receiver ISO that's going to be Jason if we're showing the high end zone which is the O line that's going to be me so there's just things that you work through you talk through

but there's just a lot more involved with TV stuff than the radio. I know. And that's sometimes, and we're guilty of this as well. And you think about infamous booths like, you know, Witton's run there and Booger and, and Greg, you've had it out with some people in the past. And, you know, guy flubs one thing or, you know, some type of, you know, error like that. And we're all killing them. But you don't really realize what's going on and how much work it is.

I have a lot of respect for that job and what you're doing, Ross. Good luck to you. transition. Thank you. I'll give you guys one quick story, right? Hold transition back to Tucker. One quick story. Saturday night. Yeah. I did the Ravens Eagles

preseason game. I do the preseason games for the Eagles. And the quarterback for the Raven, I can't remember if it was Josh Johnson, who I didn't even know was on the Ravens again, or Tyler Huntley, who I saw your tweet, Greg,

about him playing in the second half, which is beyond interesting to me. But one of them, you know, rolled out to the right and just kind of had to throw the ball away, right? Well, the producer says, or maybe I said, I don't know, but let's show the coverage because there's nowhere to go with the ball. And then we go, so I show the coverage,

nowhere to go with the ball. I looked down at my phone during the commercial break and somebody was like, the reason why he rolled to the right was there was great pressure from Cantavia Street you didn't even mention it. All you talked about was the coverage. Be better.

Who sent that? Cotavius's dad. It wasn't drag, but somebody. I mean, it's just so funny because like, if the producer says we're going to show the coverage replay. Yeah. I'm talking about the coverage replay.

I'm not talking about Cantavius Street, you know, chasing the quarterback guys on the other side. Like, I don't know if that was Cantavius' agent or like his uncle, but it's just hilarious to me, like, be better. They don't realize that we don't. really always have a say and I hate be better. By the way, if we could declare a moratorium on be better,

let's stop. That sucks, be better. Never do be better. It's so condescending and snide and it's just like, let's lose it. You're fired into the sun. Be better, be better. Tyler Huntley, by the way, might not make that team. Because just the way John Harba is talking,

I just feel like they've been trying to replace them all offseason. They played Josh Johnson ahead of him. But then again, he kept that 24 game winning streak. by playing quarter of a hundred games straight. Let's talk all lines. Yes, let's do it. So, Ross, great stuff over on the 33rd team.com. You break down your offensive line rankings into five tiers.

Elite, above average, average, below average, and poor. You could see where Ross has your team and get mad at him accordingly. Elite tier, Eagles, Lions, and the Cleveland Browns. And that kind of connects with a point I was making earlier in the show, Ross, about how the Brown just seemed to have a lot of things lined up well. We know about the Eagles and Lions and what they were able to put together last year. Brown surprised me to be this high in this exercise.

And you know what's funny, too, just looking at this, and we'll talk about the elite, obviously, and I know we'll get to the ones below. If you think about it, guys, you really just, if you have poor, you have no shot, and if you're below average, you probably don't have much of a chance. chance. Whereas it's great to be elite for sure or above average. But even if you have an average

O line, you probably can get stuff done. You really just can't be below average and poor. But we have seen the resurgence in Philadelphia last year and in Detroit. I think you could argue that they were almost led by their offensive lines, right? I mean, both quarterbacks played probably much better that anybody thought they would. I mean, nobody thought her to be second in the MVP voting. And then golf, I thought that was maybe the best year he's ever had, maybe at least other than the one year in L.A. And I think they were led by the offensive lines.

And so, you know, when I look at this list of the elite teams, my thing is if Deshaun Watson can't play at a high level in Cleveland this year, then that's kind of a Deshawn Watson thing. I mean, you know, I'm still fascinated. by the way, by the fact that that guy was considered a top five quarterback the last full year he played in 2020 when the Texans went four and 12. I mean, is that the worst record any team has ever had when their quarterback had unanimous quote unquote top five play? I mean, I would have thought it's impossible to have a quarterback, you know, be top five in the NFL. And everybody

agreed with it, and the team goes four and 12. How do you even do that? I don't know. Now I'm going to, I want to go look where we had it. I mean, maybe, maybe, you know, Archie Manning or something like that. Yeah. Right. It's pretty rare. I want to ask you about the Eagles real quick.

They have Cam Juergens, who's going to move to right guard there, and you mentioned in your piece that he's essentially just been a center. But you must have immense faith in the development, the coaching in Philadelphia. Obviously, they pour so many resources into both lines, and it is the heart and soul of that team.

But to go from center to play guard, is it, you played it? Is the position switch kind of like, no problem for some guys? Or is it like a wait and see how this works? So it is much different playing guard than center, and people don't realize that. The easiest way to describe it is when you're center, there's no real neutral zone, the nose tackles right there. and so you kind of just snap the ball and like grab them with the other hand

and you're very rarely isolate a one-on-one and pass protection. You know, you usually have one of the guards helping you at least initially. Whereas guard, there's space, a little bit of time, and a lot of times you're one-on-one against an Aaron Donald or whoever, and they basically have a two-way go.

So the past protect, The way I always describe it is like, I could have started a whole year at center and been fine. I could have even the way we slid left so much. I could have started a whole year at left guard and been okay. And it's changed a little bit. But right guard with the amount of one-on-ones they get, that's when I got exposed. Like I couldn't hold up against really good interior rushers over a long period of time. And so I was worried about Cam Juergens, really worried.

I mean, there's a guy that played tight end, his first two or three years at Nebraska. They just moved in the center, and he was unbelievable last year in the preseason for the Eagles as a center. Now, I didn't watch him take any reps at guard and practice. I don't even know how many he did last year. But I've been in training camp a couple times because I had, Mark, to your point, I had major concerns about that. Sayamalo's good. Samalo gets overshadow because he's in between probably two Hall of Famers in Kelsey and Lane Johnson. But Sayamolo was good.

but I've been to enough practices now Cam Juergens is good like to answer your question mark he's one of those guys that it just it just worked for him right away some guy I've seen multiple teams I've been on where they will like try to move a tackle

to guard and have him be at the start right guard and it was a disaster 2002 Washington 2007 Washington whereas Jurgens I don't know how the OTAs went but watching him in training camp watching him in one-on-ones and going against Fletcher Cox, he's not going to be a problem at all.

In fact, he's going to be really, really good. That was just a good pick. Along like just in terms of trench talk from somebody who's done it, because you're hearing about it, in the below-average tier, you're starting, you start with the Jets at 24, and this is less about the Jets and more just about what you're hearing about Mackay Beckton,

about how drafted as a left tackle, they're trying to make a work at right tackle, and you hear these guys that get flipped on each side of the line and say it's like learning a new position and having to do everything backwards. Is that like one of those things where, you know, like patting your head and rubbing your belly? Some people can do it.

Some people can't. And how difficult is that a task to be to flip from one side to the other and expect to pick it up in the middle of the summer with games that count right around the corner? So have you got any of you guys ever like broken your throwing hand or your writing hand or wrist or anything like that? Because that's the way I always describe it to people. It's like I broke my, I actually had a bad, that's a long story,

but I had a snowblower incident when I was in ninth grade, okay, with my right hand. So I couldn't use my right hand for a while as that was healing. So I just started, you know, playing basketball and stuff with my left hand. And I got pretty good at it. But it was never quite as good as my right hand. And it took me a while. That's kind, it's similar to that, right? Like, it's, you're still just dribbling a ball or you're still just writing, but it's

not hand that you've used over and over again. So it's a different stance and a different weight transfer. So picture like three hours a day, every day, you're in this exact same stance and every step you take is pushing off your left foot and left leg because you're in a right handed stance. And then all of a sudden they have you switch and go to left. And for three years, you were in this one stance. Think about the hours you put in. And now they put you and you have to put, now you're pushing off your right. Now you're using your right hands, your inside hand. Some guys, it happens faster than others. You absolutely can do it. And

And if you're a guy like I was, your job is to be able to do it either side at a moment's notice. That's what you practice. You practice actually both. But it's the guys like Bechton that have only ever done one that when they have to switch to the other, it's like they're writing with their opposite hand. And you can probably get it done to the point where people can read what you're writing, but it's not going to be like a handwriting masterpiece, that's for sure. flipped me and Cessler right now, I would have a panic attack.

Just where you're sitting, you're saying. Yeah, right. Well, no, but we've been sitting in the same place for like nine or ten years, to your point, Ross. You can't play left toes. I want to get to the teams at the bottom of the list at some point, but I do want to ask you about two at the bottom of the top ten, Chargers Packers. Two teams I'm kind of mentally circling that could exceed expectations. Chargers, I might be doing this for about the 15th three years.

I mean, these two offensive lines. to me have a very high ceiling. I keep looking at the Chargers' offensive line, and I'm thinking, like, why couldn't this be the best offensive line in the league or close to it? Rayshan Slater's back at left tackle. People might remember Zion Johnson.

They drafted him the first round last year. They're moving him back to his natural position at left tackle. They really found something in Jamari Salier. And you pointed out, Ross, maybe it's not easy for him to go from left tackle to right guard, but he's now going to be in their starting line about right guard. They have a great center in Lindsay. Those are four

really good players and the Packers are kind of similar to me too. If Bakhtiari's healthy of Bakhtiari Jenkins, they have a second year player, Zach Tom, which looks great. Am I wrong to think that this Chargers offensive line, especially new offensive coordinator, but the same line coach, like, could be

really dynamic and it's such a change from what it's been two, three, four years ago in Los Angeles. Not at all. I think they have a really good chance you a top 5-0 line. If Sawyer can play at right guard the way I think he will after the way he played at left tackle last year, in a weird way, Greg, it's almost like a blessing in disguise for this season that Slater was hurt last season because it allowed them to discover that

Sawyer is a good player. And even right tackle, which had just been such a disaster for them for multiple years. I think Pipkins is solid. I think Pipkins is fine. So I think they have a real chance to be a top 5-0 line. I think the question mark is moving a couple of guys around.

You know, you don't see that at other places necessarily. And how Pipkins and Sawyer play next to each other is the only thing really preventing them. I think the left side and Lindsay will be awesome. And then for the Packers,

it's really just a Baktiari health. thing you know i mean i can't remember the last time a guy they're telling us he's fine now i mean it felt like two seasons in a row maybe longer than that he kept going in and out of the lineup and having his knee drained i really thought he was done to be honestly i thought this isn't going to happen for him i'm really happy for him it sounds like they think he'll be able to play the whole year which is kind of remarkable because i think he got hurt three seasons ago and this will be the first time where they really think he's all the way back I'm sure they're managing it, but I kind of thought last year when he was in and out that he was just going to be done.

Isn't he kind of like the offensive line version of Michael Thomas? Like you want this guy. He could be a difference maker and a star and then you pencil him in in August and you just cross your fingers at this point. But he has that level of upside. All pro five straight years first or second team. You're right. Yeah, he feels like about as big of like an X factor for any team. Especially, especially with a young quarterback.

because also then if he can't play, they got to move a bunch of guys around. I don't know if they'll put Elton Jenkins out there who I think is a really good player. I can't believe DJ Reader said he's never heard of him. Elton Jenkins is awesome. That just goes to show you most of the time these guys don't care.

They don't pay attention to offensive linemen from team they don't play against. So Elton Jenkins is really good. Like he's a really good player. So yeah, I think that's a, I mean, if Bakhtiari stays healthy, they're top 10. if he's not, you know, then they're very average at best.

So the Titans, interesting case study, because I think if you were a super casual fan, you probably still think because that's been their identity that they still have this strong offensive line. They're a disaster. They're number 32 on your list. That's a free fall from where they were 700 days ago. What is the team that in this offseason did the most to improve their ranking?

Who did the most? so to your point first mark it's funny my first game for cbs week one will be the titans at the saints so really looking forward to being in gregg rosenthal city in new orleans they have any good food down there i like food if you guys didn't know um i think but it's on you if you don't find good food yeah really so but mark it's so the titans are like the best example maybe i've ever seen of how fast the NFL can come at you. It feels like it was two years ago that they may have had the best O-line in the league and it was like Taylor LeWan, Roger Saffold, Ben Jones, Nate Davis, Jack Conklin,

maybe that was three years ago, but now it's like they're all gone. Like not one of those guys is there anymore. Like that's how fast it can change. They need Dillard to play to play well at left tackle. That way they can keep Skorowski at guard. And if they do that, I think they'll be in pretty good shape. You know, it's funny. I guess to answer your question, I would say Denver.

The two that jump out to me are probably Denver and Denver, Pittsburgh, and Chicago. That's three, by the way. But Denver bringing in McGlinchie empowers, although that remains to be seen. You know, like just because a team pays to bring in two established, from other teams, doesn't necessarily mean those guys are always going to play quite as well in their new city or with new teammates. But certainly Denver went up in my rankings because of adding those two guys. And then Pittsburgh and Chicago, I mentioned earlier in the show, I think Sayamalo is a really good player. And so for Pittsburgh to get kind of his veteran

presence and to have him next to, if Roder Jones ends up starting at some point at left tackle, the rookie first rounder, I think it's invaluable to have Sayamolo next to him. Kelsey, Jason Kelsey for Philadelphia, said that Sayamalo is the smartest player ever played with. So that really helps a rookie like Roderick Jones

to say Amalo can essentially just make sure he knows who to block every play. That's a big step in the right direction. And then, you know, the bears are kind of the opposite of the Titans. Last year, the only reason why I didn't have the Bears ranked 3030 is because there's only 32 teams.

I mean, last try, I thought the Bears O line would be a disaster. But what happened is it turns out the Tevin Jenkins of all people who had been a bust for two years in a row at tackle is a good guard. And they had a rookie fifth round pick from southern Utah named Braxton Jones,

who I think is a starting left tackle in the league and pretty good. And then they added Nate Davis and Free Agency to play right guard. And they've got Darnell Wright, who I loved out of college to play right tackle from Tennessee, and that enables them to have white hair at center, which is definitely his best spot.

And now all of a sudden the bears go from me thinking that they were poor last year to average this year, which makes a really, really big difference for fields and the offensive skill guys in Chicago. Very good. Ross Tucker, you've said it all. Good man. Good luck in the booth.

we will be, listen, are we going to be fair? Yes. But are we going to be rooting for you? Yes. Absolutely. When it comes to time to really measuring what's going on in that booth. And let's tease it this way. And again, check out Ross, the Ross Tucker Football podcast and everywhere else.

Next time you're on the show, Ross, snowblower incident. That's how we lead. Oh, yeah, that's a bad story. But I'm happy to tell it. Yeah. The mystery of it might be better. but we'll just tease it that way. Maybe we'll always tease every Ross appearance going forward with the snowblower.

Next time we'll never actually hit it. That's the plan. Ross, thanks, bud. Thanks, Ross. Thank you. Thank you. Hey, thank you guys for having me. Great seeing you guys.

Keep up the great work. Thanks, pal. Thanks. There he goes, just so everybody knows, Ross's countdown one through 10 is Eagles, Lions, Browns, Chiefs, Ravens, Cowboys, Falcons. Falcons, Vikings, Chargers, Packers. Some of the teams towards the bottom are more like, yeah, we expect the Seahawks to be good.

He had him 26th. The Jaguars fans, I think, will take some issue with them being 31st. He factored in the suspension of their left tackler. Sure, they drafted Anton Harrison, who looked okay this weekend. I think he's playing right tackle. You got Walker. I mean, it makes or breaks team. If they really were the 31st offensive line,

then they're being overrated. Like Seahawks, he had 26. we'll see Jets. We've talked about those concerns. The 49ers, I mentioned them. I don't think it's the best Shanahan. It might be the worst line they've had since he's been there. The below average tier and down is Jets, Giants, Seahawks, Bucks, Cardinals,

and then started with the poor tier, which he also called Ross the no-chance tier. Commanders, that seems problematic with a young quarterback. Rams, Jaguars, and as we said, the Titans. That is five playoff teams from a year ago. Someone once... It's fair. You know, Justin Graver can't be very happy about this either. I would love our old producer.

They were a disaster this weekend. And on paper, they are a disaster. They actually had one of the more surprising storylines. I know we're getting going. But the fact that Malik Willis versus Willis is a legit battle, and people thought it was going to be Will Levis versus Tannahill. And Willis looked much better than he did a year ago. And Levis looked like a lot of the rookies a little overwhelmed.

and is playing behind Willis right now. It's one of the more surprising storylines. And they're all in deep trouble behind that offense. Well, that's the thing. Like, you've got half these guys playing behind the starters of the 32nd ranked line in the league. Backups to the worst line. So it's like, and you got, you know, that, how do we, Will Levis, like, put, I'd start him a game or two just to see them behind some starters. Maybe they'll flip them.

Maybe they'll flip them. But I really feel like Tannehill's been done dirty. done a disservice. Tough sitch. Tough sitch. Two quick running back notes before we say goodbye. One, Rapshi reports that Jonathan Taylor, who has been away from the team, getting additional rehab on his ankle. That's one way to put it.

The other way to put it is he's pissed because they won't pay him. The cults being the they. He's back with the Indy as of Monday. He remains on the Pupp list, and his stance, according to Ian, has not changed. But he has returned. And in other news, Kendry Miller, I mentioned him earlier in the show, the Saints Rookie Running Back, reporting out there now from ESPN. He is not expected to miss extensive time after leaving that game with a knee injury,

according to a source. Good news. There is one other, J.K. Dobbins, has been activated from the PUP list. Oh, great. Whenever the hold-in situation is. Nice little bundle there of running back news to close the show. Backfield bundle. Beautiful.

Speaking of beautiful, great work, pinch hitting Randy Chavez. total confidence that he would succeed. Christy Stableton behind waving her arms, why don't I get the respect? I was going to say, Christy's really the reason why the ship didn't go down. That's the leader that you are. And you don't have that funk music, by the way.

Do you? I do. Because if you do, I'd really love to sing your praises. And yeah, Christy as well. A little funk. Jake Funk had a, he got through the line a couple times for the cults in limited action. It was surprised.

Not you. Not at all. That's how it works. They only need like four more people to get hurt or hold out or... He'll always find out. He'll find out. This is time. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Thank you, Randy and Christy. Holding it down. We'll be back. Let's keep this. Let's play out with this. We'll be back on Wednesday, the three of us, with another program. Not just any program. The 47th annual fantasy extravaganza with special guests.

We will get you ready for your fantasy draft. Hell or high water. This is one you don't want to tell your friends about. Right. You get that edge up on them. Right. But that would affect our metrics. So tell everyone

I don't know I'm a little torn Because I do want our diehard listeners To do the best Right But the fantasy extravaganza Is back on Wednesday And of course tomorrow

Colleen and I are back With Hard Knocks recap episode 2 Immediately after the West Coast airing of that NFL Films HBO Joint Anything else Gregie I think that's it

Until tomorrow the call. Turn this up on my earphones. This is an IHeart podcast.