NFL Stock Exchange: An NFL Draft Podcast - 86. What Matters Most From Every Game of Week 2 in the NFL

Episode Date: September 19, 2022

Hosts Trevor Sikkema and Connor Rogers go through every game on the Sunday slate of games form Week 2 in the NFL and tell you what really matters most beyond the final scores

This episode is brought to you by our good friends at NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV. I'm sure by now you've all got back into your Sunday routines, but they could be even better. With NFL Sunday Ticket and YouTube TV, you get the most live NFL games all in one place, every game, every Sunday. And you can even watch up to four different games at once with MultiView, one of my favorite inventions of this decade. It's exactly what you need to catch all the action. Make your Sundays more magical. And also, YouTube TV is great. I got it this year.

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 telling you what matters most from every game on the Sunday slate of week two in the NFL season. We're trying to go beyond the results, beyond the box scores, and tell you what really mattered most. Not just for these individual games that ended either in wins and losses, but what that could

mean moving forward. The season themes that we are starting to establish throughout the season could be coaches, could be players, could be schemes. Whatever we're seeing, we're going to tell you what matters most. 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 Sikama. That is Connor Rogers coming to you on a Monday morning to recap what was the Sunday slate of action

of NFL games for week two which I will add meant that we got a Jets dub Connor let's freaking go baby so they were not the uh the last team to get a win how long did we run through that bet and we're like oh this does not look good this does not look good it's not the jets it's not the jets they come away victorious in dramatic fashion weren't the only game that ended in dramatic fashion the plot twist it's the colts no they were well shit yeah we're gonna talk about the colts plenty but uh look i mean another a fun sunday of action plenty of games that we want to get to and a lot of good comebacks on monday what we're gonna do is're going to give you guys our what matters most from every single game that's kind of the topic of conversation we're going to

try to hit on as many as we possibly can during the sunday slate because we know that you guys are listening from uh all over the globe all over the country fan bases very diverse here on this podcast so we're going to try to give you our thoughts on all the games in the accident we were able to watch in a what matters most package the whole game the takeaways go beyond the box score beyond the final score tell you what mattered most so connor i feel i mean we got to start with the jets right well we don't have to start with the jets every single week but brother 31 30 finish down to the absolute wire i was it that was a very fun game to watch unfold what was it like through your eyes what mattered most here in this game with jets first win of the season what ironically mattered most

might have been i'll give one for each side i won't do this for every game because i do try to pick that one side matters more but for the browns trevor they thought they won the game, and that's not a good sign. It's, you know, there's a minute and 55 left. They're up 30 to 17. Nick Chubb should not have gone to the end zone, but, you know, how many times do you see that truly bite you like that? He could have just gotten the just enough timeouts. He could have just gone down, and they could have just ran out the clock in theory. But that being said, they're up 30 17 minute and 55 left and they

just kind of started to fall asleep the coverage bust cory davis catches the long touchdown the onsides kick it just felt like the jets were much more prepared than that right and even those two things like you could say they're fluky right like a coverage bust for a long touchdown and onsides kick the last drive Flacco went up the field at his own on his own will like at his like he picked the timing of it you could tell that they did not want to leave the Browns enough time to go down the field and kick a field goal if the Jets scored a touchdown because they're only up a point and they dink and duck their dunk their way down the sidelines and the fact was that Garrett Wilson had his breakout game and the Jets won and so the Browns falling asleep was what

matters most that's not a good sign what matters most for the Jets is Sala has been talking up that this team will always believe and they finally got a win to show it in September and I think now for the rest of the season a a young Jets team, that's not going to win a ton of games in every, they will think they're in every game. They will always look back and say, Hey, we did it down 13 with a minute 55 left in Cleveland on the road, on the road.

Why can't we do it here? Why can't we do it here? So this was huge for Robert Sala, who's really trying to build something with a young young roster yeah i mean that's i that is a it is a huge takeaway that's definitely going to matter most having something that you could point back to that your that your group always believes in one where you were trying to establish a winning culture right i've been around locker rooms a lot you've been around locker rooms a lot and that's been around locker rooms a lot. And that's real.

It's real. It's not just a cliche, the whole, the whole winning culture thing, believing that you're going to go out and win the game. It, it, it does not exist with everyone. Sure. Everyone on the team is a competitor and wants to win. But when that fourth quarter comes down, when it's, when it's crunch time, like people just expecting, yes, we are going to execute. We're going to do what we need to do. We're going to go win the football game because that's what we do. That's something that is learned. And that's something that I think the Jets took a step

in the right direction of learning today, which is a lot of fun to see. I mean, my main takeaway from this game, what I felt like, sorry, but you mentioned it there, so I'm not like crushing your soul or anything. The Browns should have won this game. Like the Browns absolutely should have won this game. Dude,

not even no argument. It is like every, everything that we talk about with the Browns doesn't really matter until they get to Sean back. Right. Because like, what, what,

what am I supposed to evaluate with this offense, which you Kobe were set, right? You look at this game, Nick Chubb had the three touchdowns. They, they had, what was it? 37, 37 rushing attempts as a team.

Like, this felt like a massive – Amari Cooper had over 100 yards receiving and a touchdown. Like, outside of Nick Chubb rushing for over 100 yards because he got 87, it felt like a script in which Cleveland was very happy with. This is what they wanted to do. This is how they win games. Jacoby did not do anything wrong. Let me say that. No, he didn't.

No, he didn't. And so I just – I don't really know how to fully judge the ceiling what they wanted to do this is how they win games Jacoby did not do anything wrong let me know he didn't and and so I just I don't really know how to fully judge the ceiling of what this Browns team is currently so I do think the bigger storyline is with the Jets specifically I would say the young guys right the rookie class because Garrett Wilson gets 14 targets leads a team with 102 receiving yards has those two massive touchdowns but also Bree Saul right it was a good game for Bree Saul seven attempts 50 yards had the 23 yard run which was which was fantastic also it felt like michael carter was running with a good pep in his step right so the running game just a classic flacco line right 300 yards passing four touchdowns zero interceptions

like joe flacco is just out here still doing it baby it's just this game was so so funny to me it was it was great that the jets got a win but honestly my thing that mattered most is that the young guys and not just the rookies it felt like some other young players too stepping up for the jets which is what you love to see yeah no there's definitely takeaways from each side and one team that yeah they're without their quarterback because he's suspended and that's the decision they made is that you know they're they're supposed to be a Super Bowl roster there's no way around it and they lost to one of the youngest rosters in the league so it's you know and in horrible fashion horrible fashion but we can keep them moving let's let's talk about Jaguars and the Indianapolis colts not gonna lie brother didn't

see this one coming even for someone who really believes in where the jaguars could be going like i think i had them going seven and ten in my season prediction so like i'm close to 500 like i had this jags team way better than they have been in the past and uh who they shut out the colts and like throughout the broadcast if And they shut out the Colts. And like throughout the broadcast, if you guys were watching the broadcast, the play-by-play and the color person, they brought up a couple of times. They're like, oh, you know, the Colts always have trouble with the Jags. Like, this is their kryptonite.

Last time the Colts were shut out was against the Jaguars. Last time the Jaguars shut out a team, it was the Colts. So it's always felt like there was a chance where the jacks could win this game because they know this team really well that seems like they got their number but 24 to nothing connor this is a colts team that i predicted to win the afc south now i am very much on on edge about that being possible because you look at what happened last week you come out of the gate so slow versus the Houston Texans and the Houston Texans are showing that they're not the

pushover team that some people believe they were going to be here but for them to tie that Texans team and for them to absolutely get a donut against the Jags my one thing that matters from this game is, dude, is Frank Reich going to get fired? Like, I don't think that it's in the Colts' makeup and DNA to fire a coach in the middle of this season. So I think at the very least, Frank Reich's probably got the entire year no matter what. But this is bad, dude. Matt Ryan looks like he cannot move the ball. He looks like this is a steep decline from what we saw over the last couple of years three interceptions no touchdowns 195 yards in a game in which they were behind the whole time right that's the crazy thing and so and just so many

other stars so many stars on the defensive side of the ball for the colts aren't showing up coming out of the coming out of the gate so to start this season for as much as I love this win for the Jags the bigger storyline of what matters most is what is this Indianapolis Colts team because they may not be 0-2 and we'll talk about the 0-2 curses but they're 0-1-2 and could have very well been 0-2 for all intents and purposes I'm worried about this Colts team I'm worried about the direction that Frank Reich's got this team going. Because unless we see a massive turnaround, this season might get away from them really quickly, giving the makeup of this team.

They've been shut out six of the eight quarters of football they've played. They couldn't get a single point on the board. One of those quarters, they had three points. They are not, forget being an efficient offensive team they are a total non-factor six of their eight quarters they have not scored a point and they have played the houston texans and the jacksonville jaguars even if you think those teams are better than the general public does they are it's going to get harder at some point folks it's going to get a lot harder i did

all i wrote down for the colts was every what you said i wrote what is the direction because i don't have the answer right now for jacksonville i want to give them a little love the trevor lawrence christian kirk connection looks it looks really good and you know what jacksonville deserves some praise for that because that contract got dragged through the mud sure it might still be an overpay welcome to free agency you needed to help your young quarterback it's not the easiest place to convince free agents to go to you got one that is significantly helping that young quarterback so good for jacksonville that they got their young signal caller a number one target that he can trust in big spots and today trusted in the end zone yep. I agree. I loved seeing that when I saw him continuing the connection with Christian Kirk in week two.

I know it's just two weeks in a row. It's a long season, right? That was the first thing that I thought of is how much I was like, they gave Christian Kirk what? And, you know, it's turning out that he's wide receiver one in Jacksonville. He's a big catalyst of why they're able to. Yeah. And they look good in the preseason too.

So it's, it's legit. It's carrying over. And James Robinson looks great too. He does. Jags are on the up. Jags are on. They are.

They have a lot of, we're, we're getting through all of them. The young teams had some really nice moments today. The teams that don't think they're a playoff, you know, caliber yet, but they're going to be a pest to a lot of people.

At that point, you want to just go to the Lions? Sure, yeah. If you want to go to the Lions game, we can go to the Lions game. Sure, shoot. What's your one big takeaway from Lions versus Commanders in which our Detroit Lions, America's Detroit Lions, came away victorious 36-27? What did you think? They're a total pest. They're a pest. Lions, America's Detroit Lions, came away victorious 36-27.

What'd you think? They're a total pest. They're a pest. They're an annoying team, and that is because they have a good offensive line. That was without Jonah Jackson today, who could be their best offensive lineman, quietly could be their best offensive lineman on a group that has Penne Sewell.

I thought Taylor Decker is as advertised as a run blocker. It's not anything new. It's not like, oh, this guy Taylor Decker is really good. But, you know, they play as a cohesive unit. They have two running backs that can move the ball. I don't think Goff, even though he threw four touchdowns and no picks, was anything amazing today. But he was efficient.

He did enough and the lions right now at home are going to be favored in some football games you know what they really earn that so i think for me the lions are building exactly what dan campbell wants a team that plays hard a team that wins in the trenches and a team that's being smart with the football when they know they're playing a team like the Commanders for as talented as they are can be a little reckless with the football. So the most important thing to me is I think the Lions are exactly who we thought they were going to be this year. Lions are going to be a fun team to root for,

I think, throughout the entire season. I think on the other side of things for Washington, one, this Washington defense still is not the defense that it was fantasized to be even at the beginning of last year right you looked at a lot of these guys on paper and um there were a lot of really solid players for them to kind of like hang their hat on that defense especially along the defensive line right and we believe that this could be a top five defense in the NFL at the beginning of last year. Well, then last year happened.

They were not that top five defense. But going into this year, again, on paper, you can get sold on it. I was kind of like, okay, you know, maybe I don't have a lot of faith in Carson Wentz in the offense. But I think the defense will bounce back. Well, the defense really has not bounced back. It's been bad. And it's been bad. And on the other side of things,

you're getting the full Carson Wentz experience feels like, and I know his stat line wasn't terrible today, three 37 passing three touchdowns, one interception. So it's not like he was abysmal or anything like that, but yeah, it's just, they were in such a hole early in the game that they were not able to dig themselves out of how many points. I can't remember exactly how many points i can't remember exactly

how many points they got in that fourth quarter uh oh it's third and fourth quarter combined 15 and 12 points so they scored like all of their points in that second half yeah shut out zero points in the first two quarters of the game it just can't happen man you've got to be able to come out you've got to be able to dictate the game a little bit better than that i know it was on the road so that's that's sort of a tough ask at times but I just feel like the Washington commanders are going to be this up and down team the whole time the defense is not as steady as I thought they were going to be and if Washington was going to capitalize in this division this season I felt like it would have been riding the Carson Wentz experience up and down you've got Jahan Dotson there you hope he's got

a good impact. He has already a little bit this year. You know Terry McLaurin's going to be steady. They're getting something out of Curtis Samuel as well. So, like, you have some of the offensive weapons. You figure you just ride the wave of Wentz. That was a tongue twister right there. But I was hoping the defense would be a little bit more rock solid.

And it just doesn't feel like they can lean on that as their identity at this point. So I'm worried every week about how much confidence I get to have with them. And, you know, I don't know, I guess, which one means more towards the season because I didn't exactly think Washington would be a playoff contender. But I don't really think Detroit is either. So maybe the better one big takeaway is kind of what you mentioned with the lions where they are an up-and-coming team things are getting better they are fun to watch every single week and now we got back-to-back weeks

for the lions scored 30 points so um i guess maybe that's more of a takeaway than uh than anything else is that lions are good washington's a little bit of a roller coaster with less of a steady defense but i mean did you see it the same with with Washington's defense I just feel like we can't we can't count on it right now no I know they're beat up you know they're they obviously are hoping for chase and there's a lot going on there but it's just it's an underperforming unit right now that I think has I think has problems on the back end and I think that's something that we were kind of bracing for so all right uh moving on to dolphins ravens oh this was the next game that i would have brought up another thriller another thriller i mean everybody it's one of those games where you look at it when you get to halftime of of what other games you're watching you're like all right

well we're not going to check in on that one and then you blink and miami's just chipping chipping chipping away trevor the most important thing to me in this game is that i think mike mcdaniel could win the coach of the year like that he's that good of a play caller and i think he's even better of an adjuster. I think Mike McDaniel went into halftime, and he kind of knew how Mike McDonald was attacking them, was attacking Tua, and he put his young quarterback in a place to succeed, and they did an excellent job getting the ball to the two guys that they have invested a ton of draft capital and money into

in Tyreek Hill and Jalen Waddell and listen to a yeah sure he had the two interceptions but he threw for six passing touchdowns and he was accurate he was on time in the second half he had two big time throws and he was I don't want to say consistently pushing the ball down the field but getting the ball to a point where they can hit big plays with those two receivers. And that all to me goes back to Mike McDaniel, because I still don't really think he's working with a great offensive line.

I don't think he's working with a, you know, supremely talented quarterback. He's working with a quarterback that can run his offense based off timing and accuracy. And that goes to the play caller. So for me, the most important thing is for the dolphins. Mike McDaniel is, is elevated them that much in my opinion i mean it's a really great call out when you look at how this game went what was it six of their seven possessions in the second half went for touchdowns they couldn't be stopped what was it one two three four five six so five out of six not six out of seven it was five out of six of their

second half possessions went for touchdown connor they went into half of that game down 28 to seven you mentioned turning the channel back over to the to the dolphins game and just kind of checking in on it that's kind of how i felt i was watching red zone a lot of the day and so i don't want to specifically comment on two because i didn't see all of his throws i know know commenting on Tua as a passer is a hot button topic, obviously. Yeah, you're not allowed to just sit in the middle. You have to pick a side. And I think today was a Tua day that you can sit in the middle. You could say he held them back in the first half.

You could say he floored it in the second half. He executed what McDaniel gave them, and that's good. Certainly the box score is nutty, right? Six passing touchdowns over 450 passing yards but i mean it's a great call for mcdaniel and i think it's a really good point by you because i i i look around the league and i look at these different coaches who for whatever reason really stumble out of the gate and can't overcome it or just have second halves like you look at mcdaniel in the raiders game which we'll talk about in a second where that's another team should have had

the cardinals put away and they just couldn't do jack shit in the second half and it came back to absolutely bite him in the ass mcdaniel feels like it's the opposite mcdaniel feels like this dude's getting warmed up and something i love about him is he is not afraid to force feed the best players on his team right on a day where arthur smith head coach of the atlanta falcons was asked hey what about more targets for kyle pitts because kyle pitts only had three targets two catches 19 yards again for the second week in a row he had 19 yards and arthur smith's reply was we're trying to win football games not play fantasy football well you're not you're not winning you're not winning football games either and i'm not winning

fantasy football thanks same as a conference drafter and on the other side of things you've got mike mcdaniel who got jaylen waddle 19 targets and he got tyree kill 13 targets next closest target per the next next closest target getter on the team was mike isicky with four okay they have two stud all-star players in miami at the skill player positions and you know what connor they're gonna get the ball they're gonna get him a damn football and they do it in different ways why they vertical way the reason why they won this game is because they got their stars yeah the football and i think that that's that is an overarching theme of what you brought up which makes a potential coach of the year somebody who gets the most out of their team somebody who's worth that honor honestly so been fun to watch

mcdaniel no doubt about it another what matters most you know i think this is very thrilling and i think that for miami side of things you touching on the coaching is probably their biggest takeaway outside of just the big one win on the other side of things lamar jackson's gunner for mvp man i mean like yeah this dude is on fire over 100 rushing yards today led the ravens and carries with nine shouldn't have led the ravens and carries with nine because greg roman should have run the ball more in the second half but i digress nine carries 119 rushing yards and a touchdown had that 79 yard uh long run which is was the highlight of the game and then passing dude over 300 yards passing three touchdowns no interceptions 142.6 quarterback super clean ball i mean like for what lamar jackson is dude couldn't be playing his

brand of football better and i i just think that when Lamar does that he's already got the MVP hardware to prove it so obviously you don't want to be losing games like this you want to be winning them but I really do think that Lamar Jackson is uh playing some of his best football right now and it's great to see and he should absolutely be in that MVP conversation even though the Ravens lost today I'll tell you that this team is still right in the hunt for the one seed. And I think that they're one of the most dangerous teams in the AFC because of how Lamar is playing.

I'm with you right there. I think the Ravens are going to be just fine. All right. Want to go Bucs Saints? Sure. Yeah. Why not? So admittedly, I don't really have like a scorcher.

Like the Mike McDaniel one, I feel like was one of my scorchers in the holster. Yeah. For me, the most important thing to me in this game was that Marshawn Lattimore getting ejected was a net positive for the Bucs, no matter who the hell went with him. He just, he drives them insane.

He drives them absolutely insane. And at the end of the day, the Saints did not have the offensive juice against a very good Bucs defense. I think that's something that is really my most important football takeaway here. The Bucs offense gets so much attention because of Tom Brady and the skill of players around him, and I think that's deservingly so,

that it overshadows how talented Bowles' defense is. And I think it's been a well-coached unit so far through two games. And they have playmakers at all three levels. And if the Bucs are going to win a Super Bowl this year, I don't think it's going to be because of the offense. I truly think it's going to be because of their defense. Well, it'll be, I mean, it's dumb, smart football guy here. We'll be both.

But like if for them to play the defense as as well as they are right now i don't want it i don't know why i said like that the defense for them to be playing as well as they can on that side of the ball is really important i think devin white's playing really really well this year he's playing better in coverage this year than he has in years past the secondary is absolutely locked down the defensive line is playing really well even though vita vea really hasn't had the best start to the season. Joe Triant, Joe Yink is playing well. Shaq Barrett's playing well.

They've got a very deep D-line rotation there. So the whole unit together, which you would expect from a Todd Bowles coach team. So the defense not really a surprise to me. It's the other side of the ball that I'm worried about and the thing that matters most here. When Bruce Arians was the head coach even though it was a lot of collaboration for a lot of the game plans both with offense and defense it was still Bruce Arians like he still had his his fingerprints all over the offense specifically and with that I feel like the Bucks were very pass heavy on neutral downs

they really weren't today they were very run heavy I neutral downs. They really weren't today. They were very run heavy. I don't have the exact numbers in front of me, but they were running on first and 10. And even like they were running on like second and 10 in like instances where you are putting yourself behind the eight ball. And for Byron Lefkowitz, who's the offensive coordinator who has still been the offensive coordinator

for the last three years. I don't really know where this switch in philosophy is coming from because under arians it wasn't really this way they got into a groove with how pass heavy they were on early downs because guess what connor that was the strength of their team they had the receivers they had brady the ball is best in brady's hands and i know things are a little bit different the receivers were banged up today no godwin no Julio Jones uh after Mike Evans got ejected no Mike Evans either the offensive lines a little bit beat up but still for as run heavy as the Bucks were in neutral situations today neutral down and distance situations it just perplexed me and and worried me a little bit because the best teams in the NFL,

when you get down the stretch to playoff time and, and, and seeding and certainly going for super bowls, the best teams in the NFL are the ones that could put their pedal to the metal on offense. Yeah. You gotta be good on defense too. But like we saw last year, I mean,

you gotta be able to score. These are the best offenses in the NFL that are getting there in the end. And I just, I'm worried that the bucks might be trying to score these the best offenses in the nfl that are getting there in the end and i just i'm worried that the bucks might be trying to might be handcuffing themselves a little bit with whatever philosophy and mindset they have here so what matters most in this game it was a wild one it always is it's a cage match every time the bucks and the saints match up against each other we got another saga in the mike evans marshhawn Lattimore drama, which is just absolutely beautiful. But the main takeaway for me is that if the Bucs continue to have this

offensive identity where they want to run their offense through the ground game, they are limiting the ceiling of how far they can go this season. When all of the receivers are healthy right when Godwin gets back when they have Julio Jones when they have Mike Evans back there when hopefully the offensive line gets a little bit more healthy Tom Brady is the best way that they could win I know it's dumb to say that out loud because it's a duh but the game plan they had today was not that they played really conservative and that's not a great way to go against some of the best teams in the league so i would i would say that that is my thing that

matters most for anybody that has tampa as a super bowl potential team which i do the offensive identity has got to push the envelope a little bit more than they did today all right um let's move to can i read an ad can i read that real quick yeah do an ad i i know where we're going next okay all right all right give you a little bit more time to play for it. NFL action is in full swing here at DraftKings Sportsbook, the official sports betting partner of the NFL. We're talking touchdowns. We're talking big plays and now even bigger wins.

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if your team wins when you place a five dollar bet on any football game it's promo code pff only drafting sports book an official betting sponsor of the NFL. Minimum age and eligibility restrictions apply. See show notes for details. All right, what do we got next? Giants-Panthers. This one's pretty direct for me. The best move the 2-0 New York Giants made this offseason was hiring Wink Martindale.

Oh, absolutely. Was getting a pro in there to coach up a defense that is a work in progress, right? They have a lot of young players, a lot of day three pick young players that are trying to mix in with their premium guys up front. They're going to reach a point where they're going to get Wink his corners,

and this is going to be a much better looking unit in a year or two. But Wink is working with what he's got, and you know, this tweet from Bobby Skinner was really interesting to me. It says, Wink Martindale's Giants defense has held opponents to four for 22 on third downs this year. That's 18% over two games. Wink is scheming up how to get them off the field with different blitz packages he's not working with much folks he's not and he's finding a way to get it done so the giants are two and oh and honestly i think wink martinville is the guy that deserves credit for that because they have a very uh they're playing it safe with their quarterback i'll say it kindly they're not doing

anything crazy on offense. And once again, I don't think they're loaded up with the playmakers they need on defense. So shout out to Wink. I think the one thing that matters most – Wink's a good shout out, man. I like that. That was a good shout out. One thing that matters most,

I don't think either of these quarterbacks are going to be on these teams next year. No. Or starting anywhere. Dana Jones ain't it. I mean, Baker Mayfield, it's ain't it in Carolina. It would take a massive turnaround for Baker Mayfield to really be able to, I think, set up a future there.

And I think a big reason why is because there's going to be a lot of turnover in Carolina. I'm reading right now, and I didn't know this until two seconds ago when I read this Panthers are oh and nine in their last nine games that's a problem Panthers haven't won in nine games I mean that's Matt Rule first coach fired longest active streak in the NFL I think Matt Rule is Matt Rule had the second highest odds to be the first coach fired last Friday when I looked. Or was it McCarthy who was one?

It was either McCarthy was one and Rule was two or vice versa. It was one of the two. And it just, games like today don't help your cause. 16-19 just felt like the Panthers are right there, but can't exactly get the win. The Panthers, to me, embody what we talked about earlier in the show, not having a winning culture. They do not know how to win. Matt Rule does not know how to win in the NFL.

And I think that reflects his players. They're not getting blown out. Certainly today they didn't get blown out they lost by three they're close they're talented defense is super young i think the ceiling is high i don't hate baker mayfield as a quarterback i really don't the offensive line's still coming together they're still budding you're still getting the skill position players worked out but mcafree's back rushes for over 100 yards today who's mcafree in the passing game five targets four catches 26 yards right but shadowed xavier m McKinney man oh is he bought was he bottled him up McKinney's a good player

oh McKinney's a really good player yeah I think he played a big part in that so I mean for as much as you want to praise the defensive side of the ball and and the ceiling of those guys it it's just clear to me that that ruled is not instilling a winning culture in Carolina. They are taking the identity of their head coach, and even if the Panthers are going to be right there in some games, I think they're going to fall short more often than not because I don't think this team knows how to win, and I don't think Matt Rule knows how to win,

and honestly don't think he's going to be in Carolina long, and that's what matters most to me is that this this carolina panthers team is is gonna be in for a full sweep i think of of quarterback head coach i think general manager i don't know how much scott fitter is distance himself from what's going on in this regime but i i think it really gonna be hard for scott to hold on it is gonna be hard for scott to hold on it is gonna be hard for scott to hold on especially because there were people thinking that they should have uh cleaned house last year this one's almost a free year that they're earning so that was my big one where do you want to go next what game patriots stealers kenny picket time baby that's

so yeah you take away mine's very easy here kenny mine's very easy here. Start Kenny. Mine's very easy here. Enough. Enough. I get it. You had to go with Mitch first because it's easier to hand off from Mitch to Kenny, not the other way around. Here's a couple numbers for you, and I will be dumb with this game because I think the Steelers are a good roster without a quarterback right now,

and they do have one on the bench that will eventually be their guy. I mean, Trubiskyisky man he had the pick he had two turnover worthy plays he averaged 5.1 yards per attempt that's a nightmare his adjusted completion trevor his completion percentage 63.6 his adjusted completion percentage 63.6 they're not leaving anything on they're not leaving meat on the bone like it's not anyone else's fault Trubisky is not doing anything for this team the comeback story that I don't know how it was invented it's it's Kenny Pickett time sooner rather than later because the Steelers can win games this year I I know they're a good football team but they are a good football team without a good quarterback playing right now.

I think a lot of people are going after Matt Canada as well, their offensive coordinator. People are saying, hey, for as much as they want Kenny Pickett in there, how much of a difference is Kenny going to make because Matt Canada is still the offensive coordinator? And I will say that for as much as Matt Canada has been frustrating over the years certainly to start this year a lot of you guys have been pointing that out on Twitter showing some of the play design some sort of these showing some of the blunders of play calling and all that sometimes a quarterback

change can spark a lot of different stuff maybe it you know changes the way an offensive coordinator sees the field or limitations or expectations what can be had in a certain play what he calls where because he trusts the guy differently i i know that people out there are going to say hey it doesn't matter if matt cannon is still there i wouldn't say that it doesn't matter there's a chance that things could change but my big takeaway from this game is also the fact that it's basically picket time at this point there's not really a reason to delay the inevitable unless you really just don't think kenny pickett is ready in that case we're in for a long couple of weeks until he is falcons and

los angeles rams yes get this one 31 to 27 this was close at the end falcons in another thriller here i thought this one was another one that was just going to be uh over by halftime and i wasn't going to have to really pay too much attention in this game anymore but instead falcons ended up scoring 17 points in the fourth quarter uh only had three points in the first the entire first half they were down 21 to 3 i think at one point they were down the magic number of 28 to 3 so uh could have been redemption for them if they completed this comeback but instead 31 to 27 final score what's the thing that mattered most from this game connor we already we already went over it and i'm dying laughing at your tweet of the guy yelling at the glass at the cat that he's gonna free you

and you said that about kyle pitts i i'm with you i'm with you here's my frustration with the kyle pitts thing rather than just being like a short-term you know yelling at a fantasy football situation the falcons right now need to try to be developing their young players for whoever the future is of this team at quarterback. That's going to make them a winning franchise again, whoever that is. I don't know if that's Bryce Young. I don't know if that's CJ Stroud. I don't know if that's Desmond Ritter because they won't play him either. The bottom line is Trevor I don't see a good in a a well thought out enough effort to get Kyle Pitts the football and you can't sit here and tell me that hey maybe he's just not good enough in their eyes or this or that Kyle Pitts as a he was a 20 year old rookie when he started the season last year, had a great season

for a rookie tight end, a great season. He had over a thousand yards. We've already seen it. Why is this so hard for Arthur Smith right now? You're, you're not good enough to win games without featuring Kyle Pitts. Newsflash, you don't have the talent to do it. It was nice to see Drake London have a good game. That made me happy. That's it. You don't have anything else. I don't know who else needs to tell you that. So, I don't have anything else to say about the Atlanta Falcons,

but if Arthur Smith can't figure that out, then he's not the guy for this job. This shouldn't be that hard. This shouldn't be that hard, and they are making it look very, very hard. Kyle Pitts had three targets today. They didn't try to get him the ball. Three.

No effort. No effort. Abysmal. Another thing that mattered most, Allen Robinson lives. Allen Robinson is alive. We can't confirm. Scored a touchdown. Should have had, almost had, almost had two touchdowns, actually.

So, I agree. That's my point for the Falcons as well. Let's let's move on San Francisco, 49ers, Seattle Seahawks, 49ers, 27 Seahawks, seven. I think the thing that matters most is, is obviously Traylon's getting hurt. Right. I mean, we can, we can talk about that plenty Jimmy's situation is took a pay cut he's with the 49ers for one more year Lance is now hurt looked like he snapped his

ankle yeah he's getting season-ending surgery getting surgery tomorrow so I mean what we're just we're just in the same situation next year, right? Yes, we are in the exact same situation next year. We'll be two years into the Trey Lance contract and we'll still have no idea what he is. And that's dangerous. But I don't think they'll have the Jimmy G lifeline next year. No, they won't.

I mean, I think they tried to trade jimmy for whatever but imagine if they did oh man yeah it would have been would have been catastrophic wouldn't it because i think i mean i think this 49ers are still going to be competitive this year they're going to be really good make no mistake about it and the niners are going to be just fine i feel awful for trey lance but they're going to be just fine I do too it's it's just a tough situation that they're in now because you're you're going to go into year three of a potentially five-year rookie contract with Trey Lance but it's still going to be uh he what was it in 2020 he played one football game because of COVID it's not played a lot of ball in 2021 he didn't play at all really and then in 2022 he started a

game and a half so the last time in when we start the 2023 NFL season the last time that Trey Lance will have started more than two games in a row will have been 2019 for North Dakota State it's this dude still got a ton to learn man that's the yeah that's the issue with Trey Lance will have been 2019 for North Dakota State. This dude's still got a ton to learn, man. That's the issue with Trey Lance is that- Does Kyle have the patience for that? We thought, I don't know if he doesn't have the patience for it, but it's just, the timeline's getting shorter, right? For how much longer that you have to really decide

if this guy's going to be the guy or not. And we figured that it was going to be a little bit of a learning curve for him. Anyways, a longer of a learning curve because of where he was coming from the situation now he hadn't started for forever maybe he comes out next year lights the world on fire maybe he does uh odds are he doesn't though and that's what really sucks is that not only is he going to have to now physically get over an injury uh mental reps too those things that you miss that game time experience that's that's extremely important for a young quarterback in his development. Now, he's still a young quarterback.

I'm not worried about age or anything. The timeline just gets a little bit weird, especially with Jimmy G moving on and going elsewhere. I do also want to shout out, though, Talano Hufonga, who Ben Solak, people who listen to this podcast probably know who Ben is. He's been highlighting Hufonga on his timeline with some clips and everything. Dude, Hufonga looks like one of the best defensive players in the NFL, two games in. He is nuts. I mean, he is all over the field.

He's in the backfield. He's making tipped interceptions. He is, he is a presence in the box. Like this dude is flying this year. I have, there are very few football players who are playing with more confidence than the 49 or safety talent over a fungus. So if you haven't seen him watching these 49ers games,

he has been awesome. I talk so much about the 49ers defensive line and their linebackers going into the year. Well, Bunga is taking that up to another level and that's why ultimately I think the 49ers are still going to be competitive because how good that defense is. All right.

Bengals Cowboys kind of a stunner here. And I'm total stunner for me. I thought the Bengals would bounce back decisively win shut down Cooper Rush I thought this would be like a 21 to 7 kind of game and the most important thing for me here is number one good for the Cowboys because I didn't think they would have a shot in this game and I want to get that off my chest that I was dead wrong about that but the most important thing for me in this game is Joe Burrow is on pace to be sacked 111 times this season.

What is going on? Is that real or is it an exaggeration? No, that is according to StatMuse on Twitter. Holy smokes. Apparently that is very real. One, two, three,

four, five, six. We had six sacks today. I mean, there you go, man. I mean,

that is, that's the takeaway. It's the offensive line. I mean, at one point, at one point, they look terrible. No,

no, that's the takeaway. I mean, did you see the clip of him yelling to Zach Taylor on the sideline saying no empty set? Don't go empty. Yelling. Yelling it. My biggest takeaway is that they got to figure this out quick,

or else the team that was in the Super Bowl last year is not even going to be in the playoffs. And they go to the Jets next week, which they're probably thinking, hey, this is a good game for us, and maybe it is. But they lost to the Jets at MetLife last year against Mike White. People don't forget. The Jets are going to do one thing. They are going to try to rush the hell out of you.

So they got to figure this out very, very quick. And if they lose to the Jets next week, the Bengals are in massive. I'll write them off. I'll go and say it. I'll write the Bengals off if they lose next week the Bengals aren't massive they're I'm I'll write them off I'll go and say it I'll write the Bengals off if they lose next week well the Jamar Chase Penesul meme lives on right the uh oh god it really it just won't die I mean it can't die not with the offensive line the way that it is look I think that bro the Super Bowl last year. I know they did, which is just unbelievable. Now, yeah. Look, the offensive line in Cincinnati is bad. And it's tough because they brought in Lyle Collins,

which is a signing that I liked. I think that showed that they were making an effort into making the O-line better. They signed Alex Kappa, right? I mean, so they brought guys in. They tried to allocate resources to not ignoring the offensive line. And so those are commendable know, commendable additions, but it's not working early on.

Burrow takes his fair share of sacks. He holds the ball. Burrow is one of those quarterbacks that you do have to live with some quarterback-caused sacks, and that's just the way that it is. But unfortunately, we're seeing the worst of both worlds, where we're getting those sacks and that's just the way that it is but unfortunately we're seeing the worst of both worlds where we're getting those sacks from burrow and the offensive line is also you know getting eaten alive by mike parsons which all due respect to mike everyone does because he's one of the best passers in the game but like they're not doing what they need to do there's no doubt about it

shoot last year to for a little bit of context last year joe burrow was telling zach taylor get us an empty give me a quick wide receiver i can go to give me something i'm comfortable with this year he's looking at the sideline he's like brother enough if you unless you want me laying on the floor again like i was two years ago you better stop calling empty and it's just night and day where they were last year, talking about how much confidence this offense had to go empty, even with what was probably a worse offensive line. It's just that mindset is not there right now.

They're spooked. Burrow clearly doesn't have confidence in where to go with the football. And if Burrow can't play empty, like if they can't play that brand of football that's when he feels like he's most on fire and when he's seeing the field the best then i think you really start to get into an identity crisis with the bangles so i think that that is also my biggest takeaway is that um not just the game and the offensive line is is the reason but the overarching theme for me is that the Bengals are dangerously

close to getting away from their identity that got them to the Super Bowl and that was how much confidence that offense was playing with because it doesn't feel like they're playing with very much confidence right now Houston Texans and Denver Broncos Broncos 16 Texans 9 this game was pretty damn close a lot closer than it needed to be. I think on this podcast, I took Houston plus 10, so you boy got a win there. I know I got a win there. I haven't looked back on it. But yeah, what's the biggest takeaway here

with Denver getting this win? Feisty effort from the Texans defense. Indeed. I just think that Davis Mills handicaps in offense. And I know it's early to say that I get it it's he deserves the time like everyone else does but I just watch him play Trevor and you know 4.7 yards per attempt there's just no they can't push the ball down the field and maybe they don't have the proper talent to do so yet but I didn't think he was accurate today I don't think he moves overly well when

you compare him to the rest of the league and he doesn't have this cannon of an arm to push the ball down the field I just think Davis Mills in my opinion is going to be a really nice backup in this league for a long time and once again maybe it is foolish to write him off this early or have this guy I just watched the Texans offense and i go man they are so limited because they lack explosive plays it's so evident that they lack explosive plays that i i think it all starts with the quarterback for them i mean it's it's fair i think that a lot of people wanted davis mills to be a fun story but i think that that's kind of just what he was last year i think he was a fun story i don't think this is somebody that they're realistically going to build a franchise around

and i'm with you there on the other side of the football what matters most to me is uh i don't know how much longer nathaniel hack is going to cut it man like i get that i get that the broncos won but i mean even outside this might not be the job for him dude even outside of just like the panic that it feels like this team has when the play clock runs down or when he's like simple things well like bro he had he had i think it was a third and two play that he ran a uh a tight end rod like sweep to the outside on like third and two it's like dude what are we what are we doing here it's it nothing feels confident in denver right now they seem to be making things very difficult and hackett really seems to be

struggling with those backs against the wall need a quick decision need the right decision either to go for in a certain situation or when to use timeouts or just looking at the play clock at all. I mean, did you see that there were Denver fans that were chanting the play clock when it got below 10 to try to help the offense out because the delay game penalties. I've never heard of that at an NFL game. I mean, this has got to be the worst feeling win of any team this week. Maybe the worst feeling win

that we're going to see this year. It's, Hackett's tough right now, man. I don't know. This is, I'm very, very dicey about him because it's not even about play calls, right? We talk about that all the time with head coach, with coordinators who become head coaches and you go like oh okay like the play calling is not the way that needs to be don't like the play calling like some of the the schemes and the the the game plan going

in the game this dude doesn't even seem to know how to deal with the clock like with the time running down like you're paid to know this man so or you could pay somebody to do that for you sure have somebody yell at you yeah pay somebody to tell you what to do mike mccarthy does it with his entire job okay anyways moving on uh all right last game that we're going to talk about arizona cardinals las vegas raiders cardinals somehow some way come away with the victory on this one 29 to 23 connor did you were you able to catch the end of this game i did because it kept popping up on red zone and i was like what are these plays it's just kyler murray video game quarterbacking running around for like 80 seconds and nobody can do anything about it so you know okay so um bengal if you

guys know him out there he runs a very successful youtube channel we've been on his podcast uh before last draft season uh he's awesome he's a funny dude love following on twitter he tweeted this i wasn't listening to redstone at the time but he said that scott Hanson at one point said that Kyler Murray is going above and beyond the call of duty. And if he did that on purpose, then Scott definitely did. Unbelievable. Well done, my friend. So anyways, what's the thing that mattered most from this game, Connor? Man, that the Raiders,

the Raiders need to learn how to win in crunch time and it's like cliche and low-hanging fruit but i think in the afc west you can't afford to let these kinds of games get away from you because it you know every win matters so much more like okay and this is annoying probably to raider fans and i'm not trying to be annoying. You watch Thursday Night Football. The Chiefs did not play their best game. Patrick Mahomes did not play his best game. And they just find ways to win and find ways to close out games because they've been there so many times before.

And I look at the Raiders, and it's not just a car issue, but some weeks it is a car issue, and some weeks it's a defensive issue. And I know they're a new staff, so they deserve the time to figure that out as well, but a lot of the players aren't new. The Raiders are in a division where Chiefs know how to win. It looks like the Chargers are going to know how to win a lot of games. The Broncos have not looked good for the first two weeks, but the Broncos are going to be

annoying for a while because they have a good roster and they traded for russell wilson daniel hackett decisions aside which are just unbelievable the raiders really have to learn how to close out these kinds of games because they can't afford to let any more like this get away from them with how tight things are my uh my thing that matters most is kyler murray worth every penny and i don't even know if that's true the words that are coming out of my mouth it's a war zone the new one comes out it's true then that's what everyone's november 16th is going to be the big uh you know the um that's going to be the big determining factor with kyler murray but i i i think that when you look at this game,

the only reason why the Cardinals won is because of Kyle Murray. And the reason why you pay him the contract, and it's funny, I was talking with my fiance about it as we were watching football. She's like, dang, they gave Kyler all that money? Like, is he even that guy yet? And I was like, no, really, he's not. Like, he's shown that he can be a special quarterback, but he hasn't been super consistent with it.

But ultimately, you paid him for what happened today. Kyler took over. Kyler took a game that the Cardinals had no business winning and turned it into an overtime win. And for as much as Kyler is not a perfect quarterback and there are still doubts about him and the doubts are valid, he is one of very few quarterbacks who can do what he did today and completely change the game with his arms with

his legs that two-point conversion was it's a madden play it was the stupidest thing i've ever seen in my life it is it's a two-point conversion like annoyed me and he was he was standing at the 21 yard line bouncing up and down, pointing at different receivers before avoiding pressure in what is now the pocket that's 15 yards back further from the line of scrimmage. Whatever his pocket is. Then rushes it in. I mean, it just came down to them having their backs against the wall and Kyler delivering time and time again in that second half.

They should not have won that game, and the only reason why they did is because Kyler was able to do what he did. So, look, there are still concerns about him and his ceiling and how consistent he can be but the reason why you pay him is because he is one of very few quarterbacks who can do that and pull that off and pull that win off and so he is saving Cliff Kingsbury's job he's saving Steve Kime's job he's saving what is think, a poorly constructed roster's jobs from just being absolutely blown up completely starting from ground zero. Everything is on Kylie's shoulders this season.

And if I'm going to be honest, it's not going to go as far as what some people hope for the Cardinals. But it's also, I don't think, going to be catastrophically terrible because when those moments get tough, there are going to be times when he's able to completely bring this team out of a hole like he did today. So that's Kyler Murray magic is what the biggest takeaway for me is because as long as they have him,

there is a chance that the Cardinals could compete week in and week out. All right. Any other final thoughts? I want to show on two things. Okay. One, the Bears do not trust Justin Fields to throw the ball, but we could talk about that more when we preview the Bears on Thursday night. It's insane.

I think he has less than 30 pass attempts the whole season so far, which is just nuts. Wow, he had 11 attempts? We're recording this at night. We're recording this on Sunday night. Yeah, as we're recording this at night we're recording this on sunday night so yeah the game the game as we're recording this the game ended um the last one is cliff kingsbury's post game quote usually i've just lost and i'm super hung over on sundays in vegas so this was a good change up that's it that's all i have left that's unbelievable uh before we get out of here gotta

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the promo code n-f-l-s-e to receive a free team stock valued up to $150 just for signing up. PFF teams getting in on symbol action this season. Connor already told you he's up big on the weekend. You love to see it. I have commander stock, so that took a little bit of a hit this week. But, you know, we're riding the wave for a little bit. Eagles, I also got Eagles, and then I still got to throw some money on. Before the Thursday show, we tell you all the moves that we're making so on thursdays that's normally when we we tell you how

we're diversifying our portfolio this week go download the app create a free account enter the promo code nflsc to get a free stock valued up to 150 and compete against connor and i uh as we as we go throughout the season and it doesn't just have to be football. Like Connor said, you can bet on it. And it'll be everything. Let us know who you've got stock in this season. And hey, maybe we'll tell you. Maybe you guys are better than us. We'll see.

It'll be a fun season to go back and forth about it. So download the Symbol app. It's a really fun way to get some skin in the game when it comes to sports. All right, brother. That's the NFL recap. That's a wrap. But we are back tomorrow as you're listening to this for the College Football Stock Watch.

Let's go. Connor's favorite podcast. It's the best show of the week, so tune in. We'll be talking about stock up, stock down. Some guys who had good weekends, maybe not so good weekends in college football when it comes to the 2023 NFL draft. We get back to the roots on this show, and we tell you who you need to pay

attention to. Who's having a great year to start the college football season and who might be in the first round of the upcoming NFL draft. I'm Trevor Sycamore. That is Connor Rogers. Thanks guys so much for listening to the NFL stock exchange podcast. We'll see you.