NFL Stock Exchange: An NFL Draft Podcast - 193. Biggest Storylines in the NFL Following Week 2

Episode Date: September 19, 2023

Hosts Trevor Sikkema and Connor Rogers each give you three storylines they think are shaping the league just two weeks into the season

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It's awesome. Sign up now at youtube.com slash BS, device and content restrictions apply. Local and national games on YouTube TV NFL Sunday ticket for out-of-market games excludes digital only games welcome to the NFL Stock Exchange podcast in this episode we're talking about the top storylines in the NFL following week two I'm gonna give you three Connor's gonna give you three and we're gonna go back and forth discussing these and this could be anything about coaches players overall teams the draft whatever it is we are talking about the things that we think have impacted the league

already so far early in this year i'm trevor sycamore with me as always is connor rogers let's ring the bell Welcome to the opening bell of the NFL Stock Exchange Podcast. I'm Trevor Sykema. That is Connor Rogers. Joining you guys on a Monday following week two of the NFL season. We're switching up a little bit today. We're not doing what matters most from every single game. Instead, we want to take a different approach. If you guys maybe like this one better, we spend a little bit more time on the topics

that might deserve a little bit more time. And that's just talking about the biggest storylines in the league coming off of week two. So we've got two weeks of action and whether that's a draft outlook, a certain player outlook, how teams are looking so far in this early season, we wanted to talk about the biggest storylines

after these two weeks. So we'll each bring three to the table and we'll have a good rousing conversation about it. But Connor, how are you feeling today, my man? I'm good, dude. Another week in the books, plenty of overreactions, underreactions, a lot of fun stuff. And I think this allows us to really spend more time on the storylines that we value so much. I love what matters most, and we won't completely get away from that. But that is our, hey, the game has literally just ended. It's the second half of Sunday Night Football. Let's just overreact or try to just have a reaction right away from everything.

I feel like we get to marinate on these a little bit more, especially with a two-week sample that we're kind of packaging to get to these. So I'm really excited. Right, right. How was the Zach Wilson experience, 2023 version of it now that he's the full-time starter? Man, you know what? I actually feel bad for him because everybody will just kind of look at the box score and be like, oh, Zach Wilson did it again. He threw three interceptions and the Jets stink with him. Don't get me wrong. They're a much worse team with Aaron Rodgers, but the first three quarters of that game you mean without aaron rogers without aaron rogers exactly i just wanted i wanted to save you i wanted to save you then the clip right there yeah the clip gods ruined my life they canceled me um man it's

they had so many problems against that dallas that were not Zach Wilson problems as well. I think now let's be real. If they lose in New England, the Jets quarterback conversation is absolutely going to pick up because it has to. But it's I don't know. Last year, he he got killed, you know, by the media and analysts. Don't get me wrong. Like it was it was well earned. And there will be times this year where it's going to happen again.

This game, it's one of those like, damn, everybody kind of stunk things. Well, I got a sneak peek at your storylines, and I feel like this is a decent segue into one of yours because I do want to talk about the Cowboys a little bit. You have to. I think a lot of – there are a handful of people, even at PFF, who are like, yeah, Cowboys, like Super Bowl. And I was like, damn, really?

Like, I think the Cowboys are a really talented team. Obviously, I felt like they were going to be a playoff team once again. But there were more people than I thought there were going to be picking the Dallas Cowboys to not only make it to the Super Bowl, maybe even win the Super Bowl. We're two games into the year and, Lord, they look like a house, dude. And you got to see that firsthand covering the jets yesterday so talk to me about one of your storylines and obviously we'll get into some cowboys talk as well i mean this isn't the storyline but they honestly might have the fastest defense in the nfl yes they play so fast i think that they're really well coached, which gets overlooked. Dan Quinn, baby. Dan Quinn.

How the hell is Dan Quinn still on that staff as a non-head coach? Because he wants to be. I think he made the right choice, which is crazy. Dan Quinn, a great defensive coordinator. They got Bones as their special teams coach. And I'll say it right now with my chest, Mike McCarthy called an incredible game yesterday he really he's making life very easy on Dak Prescott he is maximizing their most effective

pass catcher and cd lamb the way they move him around and get him working they are not afraid to feed Tony Pollard it's two weeks you, maybe the chickens will come home to roost, but Mike McCarthy's been phenomenal this year, and I hope he can keep it going. But my storyline is that Micah Parsons is on the road to being the defensive player of the year, and more importantly, because that's not really much of a take, although it's plus 440, which after watching the Giants game and then watching the Jets game, I'd probably put them at plus 200.

I think there's still Garrett. He's the favorite, but miles Garrett's plus 500. There's like a field him and TJ. Why it's a field. People don't think Michael Parsons is the runaway guy. And those guys are great, but there,

I have some lines of thinking to this. I can make the argument that he's maybe the best non-quarterback in football right now. And there it is. That's the take. That's the storyline. That's the storyline. Or him being the best non-quarterback in football is why a lot of people are starting to think Dallas has a shot to make it to the Super Bowl this year. And it's Micah Parsons is an insane talent. Obviously, this is about 95 percent him but Dallas really Dan Quinn really gets it of how to use this guy I mean you just look at the the player pivot yesterday Trevor he spent one snap at left defensive end 17 at left outside linebacker

he played one snap at nose he stands up of course uh three snaps at right end 46 snaps at right outside linebacker and then he played 11 snaps at inside linebacker and i mean it's one of those things where he's becoming the kind of player that every time you get to the line and you almost have to get to the line early because of him you need to identify where he is and what he's going to do. And something that worked for Dallas yesterday. And is it frustrating that the Jets had no counter to this? Like my counter would be when they stand them up and nose tackle, you should probably run at him, which sounds crazy. But when you just drop back to throw and you have wide splits and you have a five man protection, he's making centers look hurt like as bad as they

can possibly look he's making centers look like they aren't nfl players and guards he's too fast and you know on on jets post game um my co-anchor bart scott made a great point it's almost like they use him where the steelers used to let t Troy Palomaro just run around up front and wreak havoc. And it was like, dude, do what you got to do to mess up the play. And I remember the Jets and Seahawks used to do that with Jamal Adams when he was healthy and he was always having a ton of sacks as a safety. And everyone was like, how is this happening with a player like Micah Parsons? It's like cranked up 20 notches because he's 250 pounds, right? He's almost faster than those guys. I think at that size, he's strong, stupid. It's, it's, it's a

creative player, a creative front seven player. And I want to label him a front seven player because he's lining up everywhere. Like even if you say, well, he's not a real nose tackle. He's just standing up at the nose. That's what makes it so difficult. The interior offensive lineman cannot get their hands on this guy. So Parsons is a game wrecker. Shout out to everything around him as well. They have great players in that front seven that they rotate in. Um, uh, did you, uh, played well? I mean, they have a lot of talent on the edge. They have a good cornerback duo that gives him time to get home. He's honestly, I guess the better way to put it, right? Because he's like, there's a big debate over who's the best non quarterback in the NFL.

We could probably sit here and argue over 10 to 12 different players. Yeah. But I think my point is he's the most difficult, in my opinion, right now to game. Out of any non quarterback, he's the toughest guy maybe to game plan against against him and tyree kill is almost what it feels like right now yeah yeah i mean the those are just two players who are insane athletes like i'm trying to think obviously like what you what you say about parts is like hey he's probably the most valuable or impactful non-quarterback in the league's quarterback is you quarterback is, you can't really have that debate with quarterback just because they impact the game so much.

They have the ball in their hands every play. Right. So that's kind of a totally different conversation. But some of the other players that you think about, like, okay, you think about the players that are of similar positions. You know, Nick Bosa, TJ Watt when he's fully healthy, Miles Garrett, obviously.

And all those guys are phenomenal. Chris Jones as well. I'd be throwing to that mix. I mean, Chris Jones came back for one game and we saw it was an absolute nightmare for the Jacksonville Jaguars, dude. He got off the couch and destroyed the game. Oh, and I feel bad because

you realize he was doing all that to Anton Harrison, right? I didn't even think twice about anton harrison and you remember what we talked about pre-draft okay like i think i think i liked harrison i think harrison was a little bit higher for me than he was yeah a little bit i liked the pass rush profile from harrison i thought he had really light feet i thought he moved very very well and i was like, a guy who is this natural of a pass protector, give me that dude. I'll definitely take that dude somewhere as a fringe first-round prospect.

But for a year and a half, you and I said the same thing. He's got to get stronger. He's got to get stronger. For Steve Spagnuolo to line up Chris Jones at end against Anton Harrison is just Dante Inferno's ninth circle of hell. Like that, like it does not get any worse than that. It, that was, and unfortunately the film, uh, showed that. So yeah, I mean, we throw Chris Jones into that argument as well. Tyree kill. I definitely agree with you. Some people would say like Justin Jefferson and Jefferson

continues to be uncoverable every single week, no matter who he's going up against. But it's really hard to debate against that point of who strikes fear, who strikes more fear in an opponent's heart than Micah Parsons. I think Tyree kills probably the only other one. And that is no disrespect to any of the other incredible players that we just listed off. TJ and Miles Garrett are

hovering around it. And Nick Bosa too. You have to throw in a good shot. Nick Bosa, I just saw this because I was looking this up when we were going to have this Parsons conversation. Bosa's played two games. We have different stats for pass rushing broken down into a couple different categories obviously we have sacks we have quarterback hits we have quarterback hurries uh and but then we have like beaten

defenders which is like how many times you obviously beat the guy in front of you but maybe there wasn't enough time to record a pressure. Like maybe the play developed so quickly or the quarterback just gets the ball out of his hand so quickly that even though you beat the defender, you don't necessarily get a pressure for it. Nick Bosa already has 14 beaten defense this season. The next closest is Max Crosby with eight, which tells you what the next closest is max crosby with eight which tells you what the offense according to think of nick bosa i mean they basically are like we can't allow

him to have a chance right yes let's that's a really good metric because it's basically accounting for you know quick game and like you said it's it is indicative of how insane it is for him. And they're, you know, their rush around him has gotten a little thinner over the years where you can kind of mark him. And so you're not going to beat us. But when you look at the Cowboys, if you sell out and triple team Micah Parsons, those other guys are going to destroy you. And, you know, I obviously opened up this by talking about some Dallas Cowboys Super Bowl predictions and Super Bowl odds. When you do look at their defensive makeup, I should say, with their depth chart and then also knowing that Dan Quinn is the orchestrator of this, it's pretty damn impressive.

There's not going to be many offenses that can handle what they do. Obviously, Parsons wins so quickly and commands so much attention that he himself can be a game wrecker. But DeMarcus Lawrence is still playing at a high level. You mentioned Oso Digizu is playing at a high level. When Mozzie Smith obviously gets more consistent with what he has going on, Dorrance Armstrong as well, like all of those guys are monsters on the front. And then you are pairing that with a very aggressive secondary, right?

Stephon Gilmore. He's one defensive player of the year before. He gets it. He understands it. He's somebody that knows how to take chances. We know that Trayvon Diggs is of that element as well. And then you go to the safety and you see Malik Hooker. You remember Malik Hooker going all the way back to ohio state he was getting an interception every single week so you truly have

an incredible pairing here for the cowboys they're the ferociousness of their defensive line paired with the aggressive ball skills that they have uh assembled in the secondary there and then of course dan quinn being the uh the um orchestrator of kind of course, Dan Quinn being the, uh, the, um, orchestrator of kind of what's going on, the conductor, if you will. And, and that's just an incredible, an incredible pairing there. So it's hard to argue with that. I'm curious if, if there's some people in the comments who are listening to this, who are like, there's no, no, no, no, no, no. Michael Parsons is not there yet. It's gotta be this guy, but man, it's hard to argue that there is a player in the NFL that strikes more fear into opponents

than Parsons. For my big storyline, and I think this is a big one, so I had to lead with this. Joe Burrows hurt, man. And I know that that was kind of a duh, but I had already written this down about halfway through the Bengals game. Really, you look at that Geno Stone interception, and I tweeted about this. Go watch this play because Burrow, after the game, he says, hey, I tweaked my calf again. Yeah, obviously, I'm still dealing with it. He said that he tweaked it again, throwing the touchdown to Tee Higgins with four minutes left in the fourth quarter. I can tell you right now that calf was a major problem long before that throw. Right. Good call.

And obviously the Bengals are sitting here. They're 0-2. But you go and you watch that interception from Geno Stone. Yeah, okay. Probably just wasn't a good decision overall. Probably shouldn't have gone to that throw. But watch the throw man burrow already does not have a strong arm there is no power in the lower body on that

throw none he floats that thing in there like it's coming off of a noodle of an arm and burrow doesn't have that bad of arm strength i know people have ragged on it before but it's not nearly that bad you watch the mechanics and you people have ragged on it before, but it's not nearly that bad. You watch the mechanics and you watch his body when he throws that football. He is so ginger, I would say from the waist down and you can tell he's trying to torque his chest and his shoulders more to get something out of it. This dude's calf is still,

it was still hurt before he quote unquote tweaked it, which that's a problem now because he first injured his calf back in July. July 27th is when he injured that calf. So it's been a, it's been a, I almost said a year and a half. It's been a month and a half. And his calf was still bad enough to where it was truly affecting how he was able to play football you go to some other statistics as well that i looked up it from from these last two weeks from burrow 7.2 average depth of target lowest in his career by far a lot of people are like man bangles are going quick game

a lot they're throwing a lot of screens or burrows checking it down they don't have themselves why are they doing right they don't look like themselves burrow can't throw it deep you even watch some okay obviously he had a couple of nice throws later in the game that got the bangles close but watch him watch how much air he's putting under that throw because he cannot drive he cannot drive the football and that's why the average set the target is down his time to throw is quicker than it's ever been in his career it was it was 2.31 i think which is is yeah it's a career low for him so he's getting the ball out of his hands quick it's a it's a lot of quick game stuff and it's just because he's not healthy now it's a big storyline because next three games for the ramp for for the, for the Bengals. I remember their own two, obviously Rams at Titans at Cardinals,

not the worst thing in the world. If Burroughs got to sit, this is probably the stretch that you would want him to sit. The three games after that at Seahawks at Niners versus bills. Actually, I think the Seahawks team might be at home. So it's Seahawks at Niners versus the bills. That's rough. He better be healthy by the time they get those three,

or this season is going to get ugly real quick for a really talented Cincinnati team. So that had to be my big storyline is where Joe Burrow is at right now. Take it from me. your quarterback being hurt sucks. And Joe, Joe Burrow, man, I give him a lot of credit. I think he like all great competitors do. And he is one of the true great competitors at this position in the NFL. I think there was no chance in hell he was missing week one. And hindsight is 2020. Looking back at it, you just have to wonder if they push it or he pushed it or and calf injuries are weird, man. They're one of those things that

you can't really play through it. Like I've asked guys about this that have had them and i'm like man when when a fan sees calf injury they're like seems minor and a lot of guys that have had them in the league are like man it's probably one of the worst things you could deal with because you just look you nailed it trevor everything about it especially from the quarterback position physically what that does to you and if you do push through it it's just not typically going to get better no so now they're at a crossroads where you know they probably looked at it and were like man we could push in we're going to be a little different but we could probably get through this one and one

at a minimum like at a minimum they will be cleveland yeah and it's been really ugly in both games and now you have a guy who's i thought he how honest he was after that game I was like this is kind of serious he's even like being open about being hurt now like you said it feels like he was hurt but wasn't being open about it but now it seems more significant yeah they're one of my favorite teams to watch in the NFL because of him because of Jamar Chase I think the defense I've said this before on this podcast, is one of the rare NFL defenses that there's not this superstar that everyone has their eyes on.

They play as a unit. They're like the Spartan shell. Like, okay, we have our numbers and everybody does their job rather than we have two superstars. And if you don't stop them, you lose. And they have great players, but they don't have the guys we talked about at the top of the pot, right? Micah Parsons, T.J. Watt.

So I hope they can figure this thing out. But another sneaky thing here that came up, and once again, take it from me, I know about not having a backup quarterback when your star goes down. I mean, can they afford for him to not play, Trevor? Do we know, can Jake Browning keep this ship afloat? No, and that's why this is a major storyline in the nfl okay major since 2020 so since they have expanded the playoffs to

seven teams to get in there's only one team that has started oh and two which the bangles already are that have made the playoffs and that team is last year's Cincinnati Bengals. So they know how to do it. But the problem is that if Burrow's got to sit, now the Ravens are sitting here at 2-0. You're already in the toughest division in football. The Ravens are now 2-0 because they beat you this past weekend. If the Browns win tonight, it's Monday Night Football.

And even if the Browns win tonight, then you've got two teams at the top of the division that are 2-0, and you're sitting there at 0-2, and your quarterback's hurt. I mean, but even if the Steelers win, then it's 2-0, 1-1, 1-1. And they're just staring down the barrel of, he better get healthy within the next two, three weeks. And when I say healthy, I don't mean that he can just play. I mean, he's got to play like Joe Burrow, a healthy Joe Burrow can. Because the Seahawks, we saw what they can do.

Like week one was really hard to believe for the Seattle Seahawks. They had some injuries. They were dealing with stuff along the offensive line. The Rams came out and hit him in the mouth, and they couldn't recover as the game went on. They went into Detroit and had an incredible comeback against Detroit. That game was amazing to watch, and that's just a team that's always going to be tough every single week.

And then it's, of course, the Niners and the Bills, which are going to be two of the best teams in the conference. So if Cincinnati is sitting here a couple weeks from now, and I know this is like an obvious like, duh, but if they're sitting here like, hey, yeah, i know this is like an obvious like duh but if they're sitting here like hey yeah joe burrow's fully healthy again but we're two and six it don't matter at that point to me the afc is too good you would have to go on a miracle run after that and it's just it's hard it's really hard to not be negative about the Bengals situation. And that's coming from somebody who picked them to win the division.

Again, the Ravens look, look incredible. Lamar looks great. The passing weapons look awesome. What Mike McDonald is doing with the defense this year in Baltimore has been stellar so far. It's,

uh, I don't know, man, I'm really worried about the Bengals. i'm really worried about the bangles i'm really worried about the bangles what scares me the most there is i agree with you like the ravens look good but i don't even think they look close to who they're gonna be they're still figuring out todd munkin's offense and when they get humming it's like how much better are they going to be? And you already.

Pisses me off. JK Dobbins got hurt, man. Yeah. This is me off. I know. I, they always go back to the Gus bus and they're doing this,

you know, obviously split share with him and, um, Oregon state justice Hill. Thank you. It's amazing. I can remember the Oklahoma State. I can remember the college and not the player's name.

That's like sick draft brain. So anyway, yeah. Okay. So storyline number two for me. Back on some good vibes here. Staying in the AFC. Man, I think Mike McDaniel might win coach of the year. I really

do. Got a good shot And what's the odds now? Plus 1300. Yeah. Who's the favorite? The favorite is not him. Um, I just looked this up. I think he he's second or third. Okay.

So the favorite is Dan Campbell, which these odds are weird to me. Dan Campbell's the favorite at plus 950. Matt LaFleur is the runner up at plus 1300 tied with McDaniel. And then Sala is plus 1500. What you have to remember with coach of the year is you need a coach that will get all the credit if things go well. So Andy Reed's not like love Andy Reid. And he's a big reason the Chiefs are so great.

A Patrick Mahomes led team is probably not. Yeah, Mahomes will win MVP before Andy Reid wins coach of the year. So that's the conversation here, right? Is that like two is tied with Mahomes right now for MVP front runner plus 700. And two look very well could hang around. Mahomes are tied. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah yeah yeah yeah dude yeah good for two a man for real i mean i really mean it so far what a season but people voting on this because it's decided by humans we haven't given the coach of the year to ai yet thank god it's the only thing we're holding on to as a society is the coach of the year vote what's the ai movie it's

like the creator or something and it's like yeah man they've taken everything from us obviously other than the ap poll in college football perfect perfect so mike mcdaniel he's a very front facing coach. Like everybody, he goes viral all the time. Everybody laughs at his videos. He's quirky. He's a very interesting interview. He's also an offensive genius. And he's also going to get a ton of credit for the Dolphins being really good, which I think he deserves.

I'm not saying he doesn't. I think Mike McDaniel could be on the path to winning coach of the year. And I think the Dolphins are very for real. And I think their defense hasn't even found it yet under Vic Fangio. And they're missing Jalen Ramsey. They've dealt with injuries. Jalen Phillips didn't play week two. Like the injury bug catches this team a lot.

And I think the defense is underwhelmed, but there's a lot of context with that. I think offensively, they can literally score with anyone. And I know there are people listening, not everyone, but people listening are like, yeah, but they're always one to an injury away from disaster. And I don't really disagree that much with that. So is every team's quarterback. Thank you. Yeah, we've already seen it.

So exactly. And I think they're more equipped for it this year. Not to be like, you know, Mike White, but like I think he can get them through a couple games if it came down to it. Anyway, Mike McDaniel, what he's doing for this Dolphins offense. I wanted to, the reason I had this storyline

is not to give people like a long shot bet, which is fun, fun part of it. It is interesting what they're doing too. As this league has really fully dove headfirst into we talk about this a lot every team's leading formation from their offensive personnel is typically 11 personnel right like it's even if you're a team that does it 60 of the time that's going to be your majority formation right and then i always say you have the mcveighs of the world it's like 91 like that's the you know the range do you know the dolphins leading personnel

group this year on offense is 21 alec ingold has played 64 i think exactly 50 of their offensive snaps are right around there wow they i know i was shocked by this as well when i went on ultimate and did some research for this whole mike mcdaniel thing now they have run basically it's like this they've run 21 personnel 47.6 percent of the time 11 personnel 46 percent of the time then almost nothing else nothing else 22 personnel five plays you know they just they must pretty much all they do i mean they they must be doing that and it's kind of smart if i'm just trying to think about it on the fly here. Like, if you certainly have somebody that you trust out of the backfield to run the football with, when you've got a 21 personnel set, you're forcing the defense to go a little bit heavier.

And you have two of the fastest receivers in the game. So you're ready for this? Yeah. So they've run 60 plays out of 21 personnel they've run play action 19 times out of those 20 of those 60 plays they've only run play action two other times all year so they are like you that is you just nailed it Trevor you literally just threw me the alley oop of what the Dolphins are doing is they are trying to get teams to go heavier to match up with their personnel. Look, yeah, but they don't give a shit that only one or two wide receivers on the field for them have to win because they do because they're so fast. Like it's always a numbers game, right? Like everybody's trying to put three or four wide receivers

on the field because they're like, how do we spread everyone out and beat coverage? The Dolphins with McDaniel are cheating the game because they have two guys that can automatically beat anybody in the league. The Dolphins get to have their cake and eat it too. The Dolphins get to

be heavy but not play heavy. That's, to me, a mastermind calling this offense that's I love that man because because too when you when you go to the running backs that they have on the roster it is Raheem Mostert Devon A-chain right and I mean I know it's 4-3 right Right, and it's one of those things where if you put a lead blocker in front of them and that blocker springs them into open space, they're gone, you know? Like they have put together a game plan

where you absolutely have to win in the trenches on a 21 personnel look because if you give most your space we saw it last night against new england yep he'll he'll beat you to the corner he's that fast so man i absolutely love that i that's that's great research by you and obviously that's that's a great job by mike mcdaniel for for what he's doing with personnel that's awesome that's that's that's a great shout out there i love that it's, I just am obsessed with the trends of like, who's doing something different that's working?

Yeah. Because everybody will follow. Because Mike McDaniel is the Moses of the NFL. Everybody is fucking... We're getting in trouble for that. Think about it. People love the numbers game. Oh, I thought about it.

Ten Commandments is just get Tyree, kill the ball, written ten times over in stone. I'm glad it landed at least. You could have just completely ignored me, and I wouldn't have been offended. All right, so what was I going to say? Something about Moses crossing the Red Sea. I don't know.

Normally, it's a numbers game with 11 personnel, and you're trying to get as many wide receivers on the field as possible because you're trying to win the numbers with bodies. But the Miami Dolphins, the only numbers that they care about is 4-3. 4-3 wide receiver, 4-3 wide receiver, 4-3 running back. That's the numbers game the Miami Dolphins actually care about, is that we've drafted and assembled better athletes than you are ready to cover. Are you ready for them to trade a fifth-round pick for Kyle Pitts?

You know what was weird? I looked this up. So Puka Nakua has 26 catches in, in his first two games of his NFL career, which is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. It's insane. Kyle Pitts had 28 catches all of last year. Puka Nakua is Puka Nakua has 26 currently two games into his NFL career. Kyle Pitts had 28 last year. Pukunukuwa has 26 currently, two games into his NFL career.

Kyle Pitts had 28 last year. Now, Kyle Pitts only played in 10 games. But Kyle Pitts still played in 10 games. 10 games, dude. I looked that up yesterday, and I didn't really know how to craft the tweet correctly. That's the worst, isn't it? You're like, I have something here. Yeah, I'm like screaming at my family. They're just me you know hey how's your day i'm like i can't figure out this

tweet i need the copy i need an editor oh it's tough so yeah i anyways i love the point absolutely love the point big shout out to my container potentially being coach of the year i'm gonna i'm gonna turn into a negative nancy or negative Nelly. Which is just so unlike you. I'm going to end it with a positive note. I'm going to end it with a positive note. Hey, Baker Mayfield's the GOAT. I don't have anything to complain about in Tampa. So now I've got to find some stuff to complain about around the rest of the league.

I know. He's fully back. Shout out. Speaking of coaches, shout out Dave Canales, their offense coordinator. That dude is in his bag early this season, and you really do love to see it. But that's not what I'm talking about. Unfortunately, I have to talk about the team that they were playing, the Chicago Bears. Oh, no, Bubba. Who look truly horrendous.

Yeah. I think a lot of people are looking at Chicago's situation, and they're going to tell you, well, I think that there's a lot of culprits here. Think the coaching staff and play calling, offensive play calling is bad, which I would agree with. I think the offensive line's not nearly where it needs to be, which I would agree with. I think the offensive playmakers were overrated going into the season, which I would agree with. And I think that Justin Fields is still a tick slow when it comes to reading the field, how to read the field and where to get the ball. And I think all of those things are true. You can hear a lot of people on Twitter go at one of these points and sometimes they're going to tell you, no, no, no, it's this. I'm telling you it's everything. And when it's everything, that's a major issue for a coaching staff

that finished with three wins last year. What were they, three and 14? I think it was three and 14. That sounds right. Yeah, that sounds right. Now they're 0-2 to start this season. And I'm telling you, man, I don't know if this ends well for Matt Eberflus. And this, I like Matt Eberflus a lot.

I liked the hire when they made the hire. And I am somebody who believes that you've got to give coaches more than two years. You do. Yeah. But unfortunately, I don't know if he gets it. I don't know because Chicago is on their way to another disappointing season. It's going to look bad on the offensive line. It's going to look bad on a lot of the guys that they acquired. And it's most importantly going to look bad on Justin Fields. And the biggest problem is that they are entering a draft scenario

where they have two first round picks and it's getting really hard to believe that they wouldn't use one of those on a quarterback, especially given the quarterbacks that are in this current class, because fields, if you were to keep him and say, no, no, no, we're still committed to him. Even if they struggle this year, if they go, no, no, no, we're going to keep them. We're going to fire the offensive coordinator. We're going to get a new offensive coordinator in there. Maybe it works. Maybe it does, but I think it's going to keep them we're going to fire the offensive coordinator we're going to get a new offensive coordinator in there maybe it works maybe it does but i think it's going to be really hard for ownership and for ryan poles to sit here with two first round picks this year knowing that his offensive line is still not where it needs to be and knowing that his defensive line is still

not where it needs to be to think we're going to go into year four of a, we still don't know with Justin Fields, not take a quarterback with one of our two first round picks, knowing that we are still a year or two away in the trenches from being able to compete. And then guess what? Once you get to that point in the trenches, best case scenario, of course, then you've got to sign Justin Fields to a second second contract. If you believe he's worth it, a lot lot of ifs a lot of ifs in that statement and Connor it's getting harder and harder it's it's an it's an early season I know

they got 15 games to go but it's getting really hard for me to think that this ends well for what the Bears have been trying to build since they drafted Justin Fields. It feels like we're going to come to an end because I don't know if you can get this fixed during this season. And then they're going to have two first round picks to really think about it. You're a hundred percent right. And I'm glad you brought this up because it's getting scary fast in Chicago for everyone.

And I think ultimately Ryan polls is fine because putting my politics hat on i would think before he traded away that first rounder he had a conversation you know with ownership yeah went something like hey you know if i'm am i given next year because if so we're gonna run to that justin out there in 2023 we're gonna do everything we can to support him and get him a better offensive line get him better weapons i have a deep running back room and if it doesn't work then i have ammo in what i deem as a better quarterback draft you know opinions aside maybe it is maybe it isn't of course a better quarterback draft will i have that opportunity to get my guy my own guy and most do right everybody usually gets to take

their guy at some point if they have to so i think polls will be okay i don't know if i could say that about anyone else maybe trevor though polls protects iues, right? It's one of those like, hey, we probably need a new offensive staff, but you're going to stay, I'm going to stay, and we're going to try to get on a timeline together. It's the GM, the head coach, and the new quarterback. Right. Some people might not like listening to us, you know, riding off fields yet, but it's time for a hard conversation.

It's not working. I still think Fields is incredibly talented. And I think that that's the big cop out. But the problem is, I just don't know if that gets better in Chicago now. That's the point that we are- Like fresh start time? We are basically to the point where

even if you still believe in Justin Fields, which I do still think there's reason to believe in him, we're losing excuses or reasons to believe that that's going to happen in Chicago. That's good. That's a good way to frame it. I mean, we're going to know soon, though, because here's the reality. Nobody expects them to beat the Chiefs next week, like whatever. 0-3.

But then they got the Broncos and Commanders, Vikings and Raiders. If you're not better than 1-3 in that four-game stretch... Yeah, if you're not 2-2 in that stretch... You're in deep, deep trouble. If they're 1-3, obviously, they're starting the year 1-6. There you go. And they're basically going to be in the frontrunner

or the driver's seat for the number one overall pick. And you know damn well they're not about to trade the number one pick two years in a row. I mean, nobody that can take Caleb Williams, I don't think, is trading that pick. Yeah. That seems insane. It would have to be a situation. No, there's no. No.

No. And the crazy thing is, Trevor, looking at the Bears' schedule, if this isn't the year you're getting your answer on your quarterback, their schedule is not anything crazy. I haven't pulled it up. We said the Chiefs this weekend, then that four-game

stretch, they have to show you something. Denver, Washington, Minnesota, Las Vegas. Okay, then the chargers in the saints chargers defense ain't shit so you'd like to see something there but the chargers will outscore them they'll be coaching the team by then all right circle halloween with a red pen does staley get to dress up as the chargers coach for halloween oh my lord what a line what a zinger the good question though he probably does he probably gets the year they only get to dress up as the Chargers coach for Halloween. Oh my Lord. What a line. What a zinger.

The good question though. He probably does. He probably gets the year. Yeah. They're not getting, they, I don't think they're going to fire him in the middle. Boy,

is he feeling it though? Did you see that? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I get it. I don't know, man.

I, it's frustrating though, watching that team and knowing what they have. It's frustrating. All right. So that'll take me to my final storyline here. Yep. And this is a fun one. I think B. John Robinson is the best running back in the NFL.

Let's go, baby. I really do. Let's go. People might think I am. I have i am i have lost my two weeks in man this dude when you look at what pff are riding yeah the running backs are back baby running back first offense so he's gotten 29 carries on the year for 180 yards and uh he's 115 of those 180 yards are after contact he this just this weekend he forced six missed tackles in the run game against green bay he was just making him look silly i mean he's averaging over six yards per carry he's averaging four yards after contact per attempt that's insane

for the nfl is pretty insane it's pretty insane for the nfl good yes he's been targeted 11 times he's caught 10 of them uh he has forced let me pull the missed tackles for that four missed tackles after the catch two explosive plays already in the past game and here's the thing get away from all the numbers throw them all out and they're good they're really good doesn't he look different out there you just watch him run it's bijan robinson is the leonidas of fighting against running backs don't make a difference, don't matter, they're replaceable. Like this is the guy where it's like, oh, no, this is different.

I'm going to make three people miss and a run that should have went for three yards went for 18. This is the guy. Oh, we could throw to him six times a game and he's going to basically be Alvin Kamara in the pass game. Prime Alvin Kamara. Cool, but I could also turn around and handle the ball 20 times a game.

It's almost the Micah Parsons conversation, I think, on offense, and he's not obviously that level of player yet, but you could just, you always have to watch where he is. You always have to watch where he is, pre-snap and post-snap. And the one time Green Bay didn't watch where he leaked out of the backfield

and they just threw it to him. I mean, it was like, you can't let that happen because he'll kill you. He'll absolutely kill you. I love watching this dude play. It's different. I think part of it is too, and it's harsh because it's first year starting. I don't think Desmond Ritter has looked good at all in two games. I know some people are seeing some growth and positives and hopefully he finds those. I think this is a training wheels offense for him. I think he got away with some stuff in week two. And I think at the end of the day,

it doesn't matter right now because Atlanta can win a lot of games by featuring B. John Robinson, the way Arthur Smith coaches, this offense, we know they spent a lot of money on defense. I think B. John is the best running back in football and people will come around to

that by the end of his first season. I think Nick, I think Nick Chubb's the best runner in the nfl sure i think christian mccaffrey is the most valuable running back in the nfl but bijan robinson's in both conversations yeah and it's really crazy to say that two weeks into his nfl career Right. Running back is very up and down, right? I mean, there's going to be some games where you're absolutely stuffing this stat sheet wild, especially for a guy who can impact both a run and a pass game. And then there's going to be games where it's a little bit more quiet.

But the guys that can successfully impact the game one week on the ground and then one week through the air, those are the ones that you draft high. And that's what you and I were preaching before last year's draft i mean i think i had him as my number two overall player um i don't remember where'd you have him where was he i'm gonna pull up right now i think i had him i had him either number two or number three can't remember if i had will anderson ahead of him but he was he was top three for me and there were some people who i remember they looked at my big board your big board and they're like hey do you take positional importance into account because you have bijan robinson as high as you do so like i'm i i gotta

ask the question and it's a it's a great question i'm not getting on anybody who asked the question but it allowed i think you and I throughout the course of last draft season to say, yeah, we take positional importance into account on a big board, but this guy's this damn good. He's that good of a player. He does the things that are independent of offensive line that is just truly unique for running backs. And I believe that Christianian mccaffrey

does the same thing now i think that bijan could even be a better runner than christian mccaffrey is because there's times where i kind of question what christian mccaffrey is like as a rusher out of the backfield but he's you know his impact in the passing game is paramount to both teams he's been on the the panthers and the niners bijan presents you with that same opportunity so like i said i think nick chubb's the best pure runner in the nfl i think christian mccaffrey is the most valuable but i think that bijan is to me basically number two already right behind christian mccaffrey because of what he's able to do so why don't we're sitting here thinking about that okay you know fourth all right yeah

he's only behind will anderson bryce young and jaylen carter which like for a running back it's crazy it doesn't be crazy no it's a great shout out i'm gonna i'm gonna stay along the same lines i'm gonna shout out the falcons this is a storyline that I want to talk about because I think the Falcons are a legit team, man. I'm worried about the defense holding up the way that it needs to. But Falcons are sitting here at 2-0. Amazing comeback this past week against the Green Bay Packers. And it was a comeback that had just some guts to it, too. Going forward on fourth down.

You know, and I think Arthur Smith, Arthur Smith's a phenomenal coach, man. I think that Arthur Smith needs to be in that conversation potentially as coach of the year for what he does with that team. I looked this up, okay? Well, this first stat is courtesy of Kelly Price, good friend of mine who I went to University of Florida with, who now covers the Atlanta Falcons.

She tweeted that the Falcons are outscoring their opponents 27 to nothing in the fourth quarter this season. I went back even further. I was like, okay, that's an awesome stat. 21-0 in the fourth quarter? That's some big boy football. I took it back to last year as well, and I looked up just in the fourth quarter, that's some big boy football. I took it back to last year as well, and I looked up just in the fourth quarter

how the Atlanta Falcons do. They're fifth in the NFL, just in the fourth quarter, since the beginning of 2022. Fifth in the NFL in EPA per play on the offensive side of the ball. And 11th in EPA per play allowed. That's with a bad defense. That's crazy.

That is the crazy part their their defensive roster was horrendous last year now there might be some context of i don't know you know teams maybe lighten up a little bit but they're top five on the offensive side of things and almost top 10 on the defensive side of things that tells me that you've got a coaching staff that understands adjustments coaches Coaches that are able to make mid-game and end-of-game adjustments are the ones that I think have so much value in this league. And Arthur Smith, to me, is one of them. He gets the most out of his players in crunch time. He gets the most out of them, whether they have a superstar ceiling or barely even a

starter ceiling or a rotational player, whatever it is is i feel like he's getting the most out of these guys and he consistently has his teams playing their best ball down the stretch that is that is a big storyline to me because with the falcons sitting here two and oh we don't know what's gonna happen with carolina and new orleans um tonight later on monday night football but new orleans could win as well and they then would go to two and oh but i think a lot of people looked at the Falcons as maybe a potential contender in the NFC South. I felt like they were still a year away figuring that defense out, not really sure what they were going to get out of Desmond Ritter.

To me, they're already overachieving, especially with the way that they won against the Green Bay Packers. So Falcons could hand some teams in the nfc an extra loss or two that we were not expecting going into the year because i think of how good of a job arthur smith is doing as a head coach no disagreement for me i find him really funny so doing the fantasy show every day arthur smith has kind of become oh he's public enemy number one he he like he really gets dragged by the entire fantasy community you guys want him you guys have him on a most wanted list

now there's no you guys in this i i find it hilarious i don't i'm not really for or against him i like that he torments the fantasy community but i also uh like i also dislike it at times i had kyle pitts in fantasy last year trade i had to trade him immediately yeah but i also love that he wins games so nobody can check his ass like it's not like well arthur smith like you didn't throw to kyle pitts 11 times today and you guys lost by two touchdowns he's like yeah we won the game like try me and it's like. And it's like, damn. Yeah. It's just funny to me. The whole thing is really, really funny to me. So.

Yeah. What was it? Drake London. Drake London last week. One target. Zero catches. Zero yards. Falcons win.

Drake London this week. Seven targets. Six receptions. 67 yards. And a touchdown. Falcons win. It doesn't matter. It doesn't. Like, whatever it takes to win whatever it takes to win and people forget this is the man that the two years

he was the offensive coordinator in tennessee i think he ran derrick henry almost 800 times yeah yeah it's true it's true man so i like arthur smith a lot i really hate it it almost makes me wonder and he's probably at fault a little bit for this because if you, like, the head coach has some say in how you use those top 10 picks. If he has a quarterback that can be slightly good? I didn't want to repeat the exact thing that I said last week, but Ritter made some really nice plays this past week. You know, they don't have that comeback without Ritter.

So I want to give him a shout out there. But can you imagine if the Arizona Cardinals have the number one overall pick at the end of the season and the Falcons get to trade for Kyler Murray? I'm intrigued. Right? I'm intrigued. Imagine this exact Falcons team with Kyler Murray going into the offseason and then an entire offseason to also then give you even more defensive talent.

All of a sudden, to me, this would become a playoff contender immediately for the next year. Yeah, I mean, they're going to, I honestly think they're going to get there in the NFC anyway. It's just very funny how they could do it. Spent a lot of money on defense. They got a hell of a running game.

I think they'll get there. They're for real. I got a couple other things that I wanted to shout out before we get out of here, but I definitely want to tell people about DraftKings, what DraftKings is doing, because if you're into sports betting at all, you got to listen to this. We're back with another week of football this upcoming week.

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responsible in gambling resources as well. So see sportsbook.draftkings.com slash football for terms and eligibility, responsible and gambling resources as well. Bonus bets expire seven days after issuance and eligibility and deposit restrictions do apply. All right, I just had a couple more things because we're not doing what matters most, so I wanted to shout out a couple more things. We kind of did the Brandon Staley thing. I don't know if Brandon Staley is long for this head coaching world. I just don't know if he is.

I like that. We did the Brandon Staley thing. I just, what else do we say about it? You know, we've done, we've, we've,

they cannot win one score games. They are. So while I was checking how good the Atlanta Falcons are in the second half, I was like, Hey, you know, I'm here. I might as well. I checked the chargers and expanded it in the second half. I was like, hey, you know, I'm here. I might as well. I checked the Chargers and expanded

it to the second half overall. So not just the fourth quarter, third and fourth quarters. They are, I believe, bottom five in the NFL in EPA per play on offense and then bottom 10 in the NFL in EPA per defense in the second half of games. It's the complete opposite of what

I just talked about with Arthur Smith. You're playing your worst ball when it matters in the third and the fourth quarter. And I certainly, I don't think Justin Herbert is blameless, but I certainly do not think he's anywhere close to the top of the list of reasons

why. And I'm just not so sure that Brandon is going to be coaching much longer, man. I'm just not so sure that the brand CEO is going to be coaching much longer, man. I'm really not. I guess the combo for us becomes where did they go from here? Right. It felt like Sean Payton wanted that job and you know, then it, it didn't happen. I don't know. I don't really know where they go from here. I'm just going to say Dan

Quinn as every head. I'm just going to say Dan Quinn is every head coaching vacancy because I feel like I said the same damn thing last offseason. I asked the question and you gave the best possible answer. That's how it goes.

What else you got? Oh. Washington win that's how it goes um what else you got oh washington commanders we can end on this one huge shout out brother sam howell looks awesome he looks like he is really settling in on his into into uh into his own that touchdown was it to johan dotsner was it to terry mclaurin i can't remember i think mclaurin the one where it was in between three defenders whatever it was the man thought he was wearing powder blue again he thought diami brown was down there somewhere like he he thought that it didn't matter and that his team was going to outscore whoever they were going up against and he let that thing fly and it was an absolute dime i I love what I've seen from Sam Howell so far.

I really do. I think that we talked about this last week. The quarterback conversation of like, oh, who's Washington's next quarterback? You know, are we going to talk about them in mock draft scenarios? Are we going to start giving quarterbacks to Washington? I've fully cooled on that. Certainly until Sam, if Sam ever turns the other way around, I'm not going to

be talking about that because i really like what i've seen from him early on i like the investment there he's going to go up and down and that's fine but you love what you've seen early on from him um that team really just feels like they're clicking i know charles leno jr after the game said man you just feel that this locker room is different defensive lines playing well they got to defend the run better there's no there's there's to me there's no question about that they've got to defend the run better but chase young getting a sack this past week it's great to see him play well getting a pick as well his first interception so his team's playing well man his team's playing uh his team's playing really well so i wanted to shout out the

washington commanders here to them show i like. I'm rooting for them. You know, obviously new ownership, a quarterback that I really, really like. I felt like he kind of got the short end of the stick in the draft. I like the comeback story of Chase Young. Great game from him, which is a huge sign for this team. The only play who was on your schedule, and the Commanders have now taken business against two teams that they should have beat. And they're right in the thick of it in the NFfc east that man the nfc east man like we've laughed at it at times it's starting to be the nfc beast again i mean you got dallas is great the eagles aren't going anywhere the

giant season was on life support i had the giants in a survivor pool oh my god you were almost on life support i walked i walked upstairs and told my fiancee do i i wish i think we might we might have a camera up there so i might need to get this security footage because i walked up there at the end of halftime and i was like well i'm out of the survivor pool already and she's like what what what the hell happened? I was like, I picked the Giants. And I immediately just started word vomiting, defending my choice, picking the Giants. And how stupid it is that they were down 20 to nothing. It's not me.

And then the third quarter came around and I went back upstairs and I was like, hold on, we kind of got life here. They scored a touchdown, almost like sarcastically. And then they brought it to within a touchdown and I ran upstairs and I was like we're still in it and then they tied it up and i was like they're gonna do it and then they won and i was like i'm getting a daniel jones tattoo oh my god dude yeah that well they shouldn't have put you in that spot in the first place gable said that he didn't take over play calling i don't know if i believe it because there's shots of him on the sideline covering his mouth with a play sheet signaling something in and that was

right around the time the giants actually started to play well so you know if he doesn't want to make the switch he's obviously not going to say that to the media. He's not going to say like, yeah, I took over play calm, but Kafka is going to take it back next week. Obviously like he's not going to do. Yeah.

I wonder that is an interesting little plot. That shit was like covering his face or I, yeah, he was, he was like covering his face for the play sheet. And he was like, you could tell that his mouth was moving. So I was like, I wasn't calling the place.

I was just giving input no mike don't call that call this i wasn't calling the plays i was just telling them play what to do i didn't call the plays i just told them what to do whatever they got out of it and they're alive i don't know how that happened man i don't know how it happened people people want to go like all hail daniel jones i don't't know how that happened, man. I don't know how it happened. People want to go like, all hail Daniel Jones. I don't even know about that. I'm not going there either. It just happened. It just happened.

I mean, Arizona kind of looks like who we thought they would be. It just took a little while. Right. It took a half. And then they completely, you know. Arizona doesn't have much on defense, man. They just don't. No. And they didn't have much on defense, man. They just don't know. And they didn't have a lot of life in that second.

They were a little shell shocked. They got some young players out there. It's tough. It's tough. Each look good, though. Shout out to a car. We'll do the show as long as we can confirm some draft priors. That's all matters.

Keep your car. It's good. It's all care. It doesn't matter who wins and loses the games. No, I don't know. Unit people know listening to this. I don't,

I don't watch the games. I don't watch the games. Just look at the grades and look at my draft rankings and then get on this podcast. I was right that I liked did something good. Great. Oh, he played poorly.

I didn't see it. I never saw it. It didn't happen. Let us know. It's just a preseason. It's only September. Give us know. It's just a preseason. It's only September. Give him time. It's amazing.

He's only four years into his career. Some guys need time. Look at Geno Smith. All right. He needs a second chance. A fresh start. It's amazing what you could talk yourself into. Why we're still here working.

Let us know what you guys thought of this past week's nfl games obviously the form was a little bit different we gave you some storylines that we love so we didn't hit on all of these games so if you had something burning that you really wanted us to talk about or that you wanted to talk about sound off in the youtube comments youtube.com backslash nfl stock exchange is the best way to do that we see all the comments that you guys are throwing out there and the conversations that you're having about your teams we absolutely love it it helps keep tabs on of course like what you guys want to talk about. So let us know about the format as well.

I know y'all probably love the What Matters Most because we're covering every single game. And like Connor said, we're going to try to do that as much as we can. But we wanted to throw this one out there because in the weeks where work might be getting in the way for one of us, this is kind of a way where, hey, we can still shout out the things that we want to talk about. Right. Just not hit every single game.

So we'd love to hear from you guys as well. So hit us up in the YouTube comments. It's a great way to do that. If you're audio only, at Tampa Bay Trey, at Connor J. Rogers on both X and Instagram. DM us, follow us, all that good stuff. We'll be able to go back and forth with you that way. Connor, you got anything else before we get out of here?

No, fun show. It's always good when we get to kind of just scatter plot this and go around what we're excited about in the league. And hopefully everybody listening, you know, shares that excitement. And as always, just comment what you want to hear about. We got another show this week. You know, we'll obviously tap into a little bit of what's going on in the college draft world, what's going on in the rookie world

and throw us your ideas like you always do, because we love hearing them. Yep, we absolutely do. All right. Well, we will be back with you on Wednesday, probably talking a little bit more college ball, because there's a lot to talk about with some of the stock up, stock down. Maybe we'll do a first stock up, stock down of the season. We'll do that. Plan the show on the show.

Look at us. We're back. I'm Trevor Sycamore. That's Connor Rogers. Thank you guys so much for listening to the NFL Stock Exchange Podcast. We'll see you on Wednesday. Bye.