The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - Football GM: Handling of Tua Tagovailoa’s injury, what makes an RB worthy of the HOF, the Jaguars’ potential & more

Episode Date: September 30, 2022

Mike Sando and former GM Randy Mueller discuss the Dolphins’ handling of Tua Tagovailoa’s injury following the scary scene on Thursday Night Football. They also talk about their takeaways from the game before breaking down what makes a RB Hall of Fame worthy. Plus, they get into the Chargers’ injury situation, the Cowboys’ offense with Cooper Rush, the Jaguars’ playoff potential, changes to the Pro Bowl and much more. Subscribe to the TAFS YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6gWjMSDj7-8j3iCc2ZGo3g2:05 Handling of Tua Tagovailoa’s injury11:37 TNF takeaways18:37 What makes an RB Hall of Fame worthy?26:30 Chargers injuries33:00 Thee Jaguars’ potential41:44 Cowboys’ offense44:36 Concerns for the Commanders48:00 Pro Bowl changes53:30 Week 4 Picks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Football Show. Welcome to the Football GM podcast, Mike Sandow here, senior writer for The Athletic, along with Randy Miller, three-time GM, former NFL exec of the year. Good morning, Randy. Morning, Mike. How are we doing, buddy? I feel like it's a little bit of a black cloud over us after the Thursday night game. So we've got to grind away and make it a positive.

You know what I mean? Well, certainly I think our analysis would be pretty good on. it and it was a difficult situation in the Bengals 27 to 15 victory over the dolphins surrounding the quarterback of the Dolphins to a Tung of Blah leaving the game. There's a lot of circumstances, a lot of things to unpack here. Randy actually had a conversation with a former longtime NFL trainer that he worked with and we're going to reconstruct some of that here and give you sort of a front row seat to what the types of conversations that could go on between a general manager and a trainer, medical people, regarding a situation like this,

obviously very sensitive. We are going to get into that. We have a full show of other stuff, too, including that game. We're going to discuss some all-time great running backs today in honor of Derek Henry and Jonathan Taylor being featured this week. We have some thoughts on the Chargers injury luck. Randy spent a decade with that organization. Definitely has some insights there. We're going to talk about the Jaguars. Hopefully we can get to Justin Fields, very critical comments about himself, the Jets tackle situation and their accountability for that. We've got a GM notebook again. Dallas, Washington, canceled Pro Bowl, Ken Dorsey Meltdown. We've got our picks, game previews, the whole thing. Are you ready for that, Randy? I don't know. Let's get to it. We'll see. We always start by saying,

I don't know if we can fill a half an hour. And next thing you know, we're over an hour. So we'll see. We don't want to bore the people. That's for sure. Yeah, yeah. Well, there's a lot of, there's a big range of things. And I think obviously the big story is Tua leaving the game on a stretcher on national TV or national Amazon Prime streaming as it is now on a stretcher with a head injury after getting slammed to the turf, five days after leaving the Dolphins game against Buffalo and then returning to it, despite the fact that he'd staggered after getting thrown down hard and hitting his head in that game. And so, Randy, we can get into some of the particulars of this. I am interested, though, in your conversation, you had recreate that a little bit for us. What did you do? What was your thought process going into it? What did that go like? Well, I really just, and I'll say this initially. When this happened last night, though I guess we're recording on Friday, it's safe to say that. I didn't think a giant thing would be made of it.

At the time. At the time. Yeah. I was thinking, you know, maybe I'm hardened football guy. You know, this happens a lot. I think I may have even texted you. you know, players have never been kept safer than they are right now. But after you think about it and you consider all the ramifications of it, I woke up this morning saying, you know what, how did we get here? How did all this happen? You know, I recollected back to that Sunday game last week. And, you know, when that happened initially,

when Tua got bounced in the Buffalo game in Miami last Sunday, I remember calming it at the time, he's done. That's it. I was shocked that he came back in the game. He got up. He wobbled. he, all of the common occurrences that come with a brain injury or a concussion, he showed, right? Walking as he, as he laid down, then he gets up and he kind of pauses and fields his helmet a little bit and shakes his head like shaking the cobwebs out like we've all seen.

Yeah. And he gets up, starts to walk and then he goes down again. Well, again, I'm no doctor, but gosh, that seems like a lot of common, you know, commonalities to a, to a, what we, all have seen for years and years being concussions. So we went from that to all of a sudden the second half he's back and he's rolling and there's no issue. So then you couple that with the fact that even in a normal week after you sustain something like that. And I guess the initial comments from the dolphins were that it was being evaluated for a concussion. Then it got changed to a back injury of some kind. During the process, the targets got moved around, so to speak, as to what

really wrong with him. At that point, I'm thinking, wow, wait, are we trying to hide something? There was just a lot of things that it entered in then. And in a normal week, when it's a back or a neck or a head, you have a bunch of boxes that you have to check before that player then is allowed to come back. This was a short week, as we all know, it was four days. So some of these boxes that normally take a week, two weeks, three weeks to check had to be rushed because of the timing of their next game. While the NFLPA is initiating an investigation of all of this, sometimes you have a concussion with delayed symptoms. It doesn't happen right away. We didn't have as much time for all of those things to play out, even if things were followed to the letter of

whatever the protocols are. Right. Concerning. So anyway, you decided you would call a trainer to talk about this. Well, and again, I called the trainer who I was with for a long time in the NFL who actually hired and I said, let's talk about this as if it was Sunday, as if it were Monday. And you present to me the case of why, what's going on and then what should we do about it? I'm no expert. No GM is an expert. In Miami, Chris Greer is not the expert. The president of the club is not the expert. The coach is not the expert. We've got to listen to the medical people. And at the end of the day, however we decide whatever the injury is, the team medical, the head of medical, and in this case, because there was a concussion involved, an independent neuro, you know, a physician. Yeah, they're going to be involved,

and they have to sign off on a subjective reasoning at the end of it to let him go back or not. So there's just a lot of things that have to happen. When I listen to the trainer talk to me for 10, 15 minutes, I'm thinking, there's no way I would want this guy to go back out there. What are we trying to prove? We can't, I can't, he can't answer all the questions that we have. And this is our quarterback. So we're going to err on the side of player safety always, no matter the position. But in this case, we've got to play the long game. So I was shocked that after having this discussion that they wouldn't have had this on Sunday, they wouldn't have had it Monday morning as well, and then really played it safely all week long.

Because let's face it, one of the boxes you have to check is you've got to go back out to practice. You've got to exert yourself. I don't think the dolphins practiced last week, I'll be honest with you. I don't want to make a giant leap of faith, but I guarantee. guarantee you they didn't practice on Monday. They probably watched film on Tuesday. Guess what they did Wednesday? They traveled for a Thursday game. So at most, you probably get in a water. There wasn't a regular week of practices to fully evaluate. You're not getting the exertion, the tests, the actual field activities that you would normally get. So I just thought the whole thing was rushed. And really what

he sold me on was this guy probably should not have played. Now, there's a lot of takes to that. I would say this, you have to be there to gather the information. Those of us on the outside, that think we're experts don't know because we haven't heard the dialogue on the inside of these buildings. And there's a lot of things behind the scenes that go on that even, trust me, even social media doesn't get. So there's a lot of information. I say that tongue and cheek that we just don't know. So that was my take at the end of it was I'm going to go with the medical experts. And there's no way in this case this medical expert was sold on this kid playing, especially in a short week.

It's that initial evaluation from the game on Sunday where they determined that this, you know, quote-unquote gross motor instability was not related to the brain. Once that decision was made, that this was not a concussion, then it followed a course to where after that the protocol is probably pretty much followed, even though it was a compressed week. And then we get into, I think, a more subjective evaluation. I think what's happened here is so much has been put into the protocols, okay, that we've taken away than any of the human judgment part, which for the most part works well. We generally don't want the human judgment part coming in

because too much in history that sides with playing a guy. But I think in this case, it could have sided with, hey, let's just be safe here. And you've got an or not. At the end of each one of these decisions, you're right. two people in this case have to decide that it's okay for this guy to go back and play. And they decided it was.

Yeah. And so now we've got an organization that's already doesn't have the most credibility with, shoot, their owner suspended. That's another story. They've had rad of their old coaches suing them. There's just a lot of, there's a lot of, there's a lot of, tampering behind the scenes. There's a lot of distrust around, you know, them anyway.

A lot of chaos, yeah. Yeah, a lot of that. So they probably don't get the benefit. of the doubt that just automatically that you might if you'd built up a little bit more equity there. I think this is going to be very interesting how it plays out. Hopefully it ends up being a good thing in the future. This was a weird set of circumstances to where that judgment would have made on a Sunday. Then you have a short week.

Then you're playing and traveling. There's a lot of things that came together to make this not fit into the normal box where these things are evaluated. It was really an outlier case that I think it looks like the system broke down. No doubt. No doubt. The system was broken. And maybe from a big picture standpoint, we do gain and learn and improve on the whole process.

But for the dolphins, they're going to pay the price. It's not good for them for sure in any way, shape, or form. And Tua. Yeah. Or Tua for sure, yes. Yeah. And then then it had to happen that, I mean, that was an unusually violent slam down. and you don't normally get slammed down like he did in the game.

That had to happen too. So there was a scenario where he played the game and didn't take a hit like that and we're not even having this conversation. But he did take the hit. We are having it. There's going to be fallout. The PA and a lot of people are upset with it. The optics of it were terrible.

You can talk protocols or this or that, but we just all saw what we saw on Sunday and saw what we saw on Thursday and we know it doesn't smell right. Yeah, I agree. I think it all started though with the, unsteadiness that resulted from whatever they want to call the neck, the back on Sunday that it just snowball got away from them then. And you and I have watched a lot of football. When you see that happen, there's no way that guy's coming back. Or why would you? And especially in this day and

age. So mistakes were made, no doubt about it. I think it's a shame that somebody has to always say whose fault is it, whose fault is it. But in this case, there may be some fault for sure. But there has to be accountability in it. Yeah, no doubt. I think they're going to drive on that now and see, hopefully, Tua is okay. We did listen to Mike McDaniel after the game, thought that it was as good of a situation as it could have been in other circumstances. And he basically said, hey, look, I don't make these decisions. It's not my pay grade.

We were leaning on the medical staff on that. So there's going to be a lot of scrutiny there for sure. And we have not heard the end of this. More broadly on the game itself, we did mention. that the Bengals won the game 27 to 15. Obviously, Tua was knocked out. Teddy Bridgewater came in, ran the offense decently, then not as well, had a late interception of a potential miscommunication.

What do you think of the teams in game itself, apart from the utter? I think I told you, I had a chance to dive into some film before the game, and I really was curious about what Cincinnati was holding them back. What was the chaos? And when I analyzed it before the game, I thought this was a really good matchup for Miami. I thought Miami's power, Miami's physicality, their strength on both lines would win the game for them under normal circumstances. Now, as we just talked about, spent 15 minutes. This was far from normal.

Plus, they had to travel on a Thursday after a game where their defense played 90 plays in the heat and humidity of Miami. So I didn't know what they'd have left. But my guess is that if these guys played four or five times that Miami would win four of the five, you know. That's just what I thought. I just thought they were the better team. And I didn't really see any different last night. What I saw when I dove into the film was we know what Cincinnati's offensive line was evaluated to be a year ago. We saw all the sacks.

Unfortunately, we've seen the same sacks up to this point as well. They have not been good. They changed four of their five parts up front. And I guess what I took take from this and have always kind of. thought this when teams make changes on paper for personnel for rosters doesn't mean you're going to have it fixed just because you change doesn't mean you're you're going to be better and I'm not sure they are better they're playing a left guard who's a rookie a fourth round pick who's struggled really struggled the first three or four games they've got a new center they've got a

new right guard they've got a new right tackle the holdover is a first round pick joan williams from 2019 he might be playing worse than all of them right now that's the scary part about it. I just felt like they're missing a lot of things. And it's not all necessarily individually. Collectively, they're not playing well either. And I think there's plenty of blame to go around for their offense. But that's kind of where it started with me. And I was really disappointed. And maybe the listeners say, well, this is an earth shattering. And we know Joe and has had been sacked a bunch. But when you really break it down, it's more of a communicative thing than it is a particular player not being good. They're just not playing good together. And I think

when you change or make the amount of change that they did, especially up front, the ability to communicate and work together as a unit, those offensive line groups struggle until they're comfortable with each other. And, you know, one of the things we've seen in the past, Randy, is we haven't sensed it as much the last couple of years. But I remember a few years ago, there was a lot of hand-wring over offensive line play early in the year. And then shoot by the middle of the year, some of those units played better, got better together. Is there a possibility, do you think, that, hey, it looks bad now, but look, they don't get the same work they used to in training camp. This line hasn't been together. You changed all these parts. Maybe they're not all better

one guy over the guy he replaced, but maybe as a group they can come together and be better as the season progresses. Is that a possibility or is that Fool's Gold based on the personnel that you see out there? Is it good enough for that to happen? I think you always hope for that. And I do think they can get better. Individually, they aren't playing up to where they probably, their skill sets should have them. I think there are other things that are involved where the Cincinnati offense is far from clicking on all cylinders.

I saw some basic blitzes that were five-man blitzes that they let guys come scot-free on the backside of the quarterback. That's really not an alignment's fault. Maybe it is for directing protections, but I saw some scheme issues in their protections because of that. I saw some design flaws in the run game as well. I mean, they're running basic toss. plays at time and pulling the center.

And it's the craziest thing I've ever seen. The center is pulling and actually behind the back with the ball. So unless the back is going to pitch a triple option to the center, he's wasting his time, effort, and space. And I saw it more than once in the Jets game a week ago. So the design isn't clicking on all cylinders either. The other thing is I just don't think Joe Burrow is the Joe Burrow we saw last year yet. Now, some of this might be because of Rust.

We know he had an appendicitis. He missed time. Yeah, he missed time all during camp. But I see a guy that's edgy in the pocket. I see a guy that has bolted and he's looking for the rush a little bit and bolting early and then not throwing accurately on the run. I thought it was interesting a comment that Curr of Herb Street made and, you know, I'm not a fan of the analysts on Prime.

But he made this point last night about how great of an athlete Joe Burrow is. Joe Burrow is not a great athlete. That's not true at all. He's an average athlete at the NFL level of quarterbacking. So he can keep plays alive by moving around. He's never going to be confused with the Lamar Jackson's or Kyler Murray's of the world. So he's not a great athlete. He needs help.

And when he's not sharp and the rest of the people around him aren't sharp, he's going to struggle. The other thing I saw was Mixing the running back. Joe. Joe Mixon, his vision not the same. Holes were there that he missed time after time. Again, I'm referring to the Jets game more so than last night. but you saw the numbers per attempt last night, it was no better. They're really struggling to gain yardage on the ground.

But I think some of that is up front, but it's also some of mixing running into the back of the right guard or running into the back of the right tackle. And that's, you know, when there is a crack to hit, he's got to be more instinctive to find that. So I guess there's plenty of blame to go around. It's not as simple as, hey, the offensive line, you know, we can on paper change them and we should be better. What's wrong? Yeah, I think there's a, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, actually are a compromise between what we thought they were last year, which going into the year, everyone thought they were a bottom three team in the AFC.

And then what they ended up in the year, the top team in the AFC, they weren't really either one of those. They're somewhere in between. I think we're seeing that this year with some of the fundamental building blocks of the offensive line or not what they need to be. I think you see flashes of Joe Burrow and what he is and can be. I like some of the aggressive play calling last night when they're basically in a four-minute mode, hitting 30-yarders down against the backup corner for Miami.

even the pass play down in tight, you know, where you could have just running the line and not gotten it. You see flashes of things you like and the aggressiveness and obviously the ability with Jamar Chase and Burrow to throw the ball. You're just not seeing the consistency with it. And maybe a reminder that they were a four seed in the AFC that went to the Super Bowl, not a one seed. And they're good. They're okay. But they're not a Super Bowl team. Is that fair?

I concur. Yep. I think that's a fair assessment. where they're at. They're somewhere in the middle and who knows if they'll get there, but they've got long ways to go. All right. So let's transition into our next set of topics, and we're going to talk about some great running backs. This week and week four, we've got Tennessee with Derek Henry playing Indianapolis Colts with Jonathan Taylor, two of the best backs in the league right now, really big producers over the last few years. I use the occasion to do what I like to do, Randy.

I love to get into the history. I love to look at what does a Hall of Fame back look like from a statistical production standpoint. There's always outliers. Someone like Gail Sayers didn't play as long, but he's still a Hall of Famer based on being unique. But what I did was I took the 100 all-time running back rushing leaders in the history of the league. And I evaluated their scrimmage yardage in their best six seasons, scrimmage yardage then would take into a cap. receiving. And I put together a top 100 off of that. It starts out with a lot of the people you'd expect to see Jim Brown, Barry Sanders, Walter Pate, and Eric Dickerson, so on. Thurman Thomas,

Marshall Fault come in because of their receiving. And there's some other guys in the top 20 that I think are interesting and fun to discuss in LaShawn McCoy, Tiki Barber, Ricky Waters, Clinton Portis, Matt Forte, Otis Anderson. Remember Otis Anderson? Yep. Some of the guys not in the Hall of Fame. Roger Craig's up there too. I think he was 21 and he's been trying to get into the Hall of Fame, been close, but sometimes we don't really know what to do, I think, with someone who is a little bit of a different flavor, right? Those guys I mentioned, some of those guys caught the ball almost as well as they run up.

They were all around players and backs. Any thoughts after seeing that in light of this contest this week with Eric Henry and John Taylor? Yeah, I think your story was not only interesting, but its timing is perfect with the matchup this weekend with Taylor and Henry because they are interesting backs themselves. And I'll be honest, just as an overlying, and I didn't see Jim Brown. He was before my time. But Barry Sanders was the best back I ever saw. He's the best back in my 40 years of being in the NFL, for me, the most complete, the hardest to get on the ground, the most feared. I thought he was the best back that I've seen in my time in the NFL. I don't know what you think about that. Well, here's my question. You said most

complete. He wasn't a good on third down, though. Was he wasn't a catcher? He wasn't a protector. When I think of the best all-roundbacks, I'm thinking of, you know, some of these header guys with that, to me, Walter Payton, now, Jim Brown is the best, for what he did, Jim Brown's the best, but, but when I, I think Barry Sanders is the best runner I've ever seen. Like, I don't think there's anyone comparable to his ability to stop, start, just, he could gain one yard and it could be the best run of the week in the NFL on the play. But to me, like somebody like Walter Payton, who could catch it, block, run. His highlight reel of runs is great. It may not be very standards, but to me, that's more of the all-around. What do you think about that on Barry

Sanders across all the downs? I agree with you. And as usual, your words make more sense than mine. So I'm with you 100% on the fact that Barry is the best runner I've ever seen. Yes. Because he can make yards inside. He can make yards outside. He could make yards on a reverse. He could make yards anywhere. He could make yards any way you wanted. And like I said, he was the hardest guy to get on the ground. So, but I don't disagree. I think the other guys you mentioned in the passing game, especially made them slightly more complete. But I guess you're right. The best runner of the football I ever saw was, was Barry Sanders. I would agree. So we agree on the same thing. You just said it. I just went. You said it a lot better than you. I was like the attorney. I tried to use your words

too specifically. But what you meant was just for your money as a runner, Barry Sanders is in a different category as a runner. And I would agree. I don't think there's anyone who could do it the way he did it. I mean, I don't know how his legs didn't break when he was breaking everyone else's ankles. Just unbelievable ability to stop and start. Of those other guys in there, sometimes when they're more recently retired, we don't have as full of appreciation. LaShawn McCoy, Tiki Barber, Ricky Waters, Portis, Forte. You know, of those guys, who do you like?

Who do you really like? I know you signed Ricky Waters in Seattle. Ricky Waters, I had a chance to live with and be around, obviously love him. I guess the one that surprised me maybe as much as any was LaShawn McCoy. Just because I didn't know he had those kind of numbers. I didn't know he could be in the same paragraph with these other guys. Now, when you watch him, he has skill set is special now. You talk about stop, start, jump cut, all that stuff.

He can do all that. He was amazing in that regard, probably more explosive than some of these other guys that are on the list. I just didn't know that he had backed it up for so long. and I think you had some pre-qualifier numbers that even to get in this discussion, and he had those. So that one probably surprised me more than anything. I've always known Matt Forte to be an all-around guy. He was really a good player on passing downs.

A little bit surprised at Otis Anderson. I don't know back in the 70s and 80s if they threw the ball enough for him to be a factor, but I'm sure they grinded and he was the face of their offense, you know, with Jim Hart and the St. Louis Cardinals per se for a lot of time. So not quite as surprised. Yeah, Otis Anderson was a big back, a really good, how big was Otis Anderson? Otis Anderson was 6-2-220. I have such an appreciation for those types of guys that are just different.

Like, when's the first time you ever saw Eric Dickerson on a football field, Randy? Yeah, 1983. I mean, 1984, somewhere in there when I was a young kid and you have to look up to these guys. But even Marcus Allen, like, have you ever been standing next to Marcus Allen? He was a big guy too now. So one of the amazing things I saw in this, because so Jonathan Taylor in his first two years has about, I don't know, a couple thousand yards. Whatever his yards was was the sixth best in the history of the league for the first two years of a career, okay? Jonathan Taylor.

Eric Dickerson's got that beat by a thousand yards. And not in a catch-the-ball era. Eric Dickerson was so dominant that here's another thing. Henry Ellard, remember their receiver on the Rams? Henry Ellard never had a wide receiver season that really factored statistically when Dickerson was there. When they traded Dickerson to the Colts, the next year he led the league in receiving. That's what an impact Eric Dickerson was. I think he's somebody who's a little underappreciated for just how big, fast, and badass he was.

he was as a runner. And 6-3-2-20. Yeah, I agree. The size of some of these guys does amaze you. Hey, we had a guy in Seattle, and this, not the board people, but you remember Derek Fener, right? Yeah. Eric Fennar running back. He led the NFL in touchdowns one year with 15.

He's 6 foot 4. So these are big guys that, hey, I'd go play basketball with them any day, you know. So you forget how big they are when you see what they do on the football field. The really special, the really different. guys who are fast and tall and big, I think the appreciation for that can be a little bit lost until you've been on the field and see those guys. It's kind of like being at an NFL game. Unless you've been down on the field, you don't understand how fast it is. And some of these guys are just shocking. So that's the thing with some of these guys. Derek Henry's kind of like that

too. I mean, they're just shockingly different. It's like seeing Cam Newton for the first time in person. You're like, oh, my gosh. Well, it happened to me with Josh Allen and I'd been around the league for 40 years. When I see Josh. Allen walking in the room as a junior at Wyoming and I say, whoa, that's how you draw them up right there. That's different. Different. Yeah. They're different. So, okay, let's move along. We've got some other good topics here. Charger injuries. And I know it's a sensitive topic down there in Chargerland. You ever bring it up? They're sensitive to the idea that anything's different there. But, man, it seems like every year, Randy, there's a list of guys that are premium players for them

a lot of the years who have an injury that is a season ender or a big one affecting them. Justin Herbert with the ribs. We got Joey Bosa with the groin tear. We got their left tackle out for the season. If you could have said before the season, Randy, hey, who are three guys on the Chargers that we want to protect from getting hurt this year? Obviously, you would say Herbert, the quarterback. That's for almost any team.

But you might say Bosa and Slater. Might be two of the next guys. They'd certainly be in your top five. And these guys are out. Is there something systemic here? You are with the Chargers. You know, not necessarily. You were on the road a lot.

it wasn't like you were, you know, in the office with the GM every day, but you were part of that team for 10 years. What the heck? Injuries are an issue with them and they have been. I agree with you. There's really nothing new about this. In fact, they changed trainers. They've changed doctors. They've changed everything along the way in the last five or six years just because of this. I think that the biggest thing for me is, and it seemed like this happened to us about every other year. We would get hit with a bunch of injuries. I never felt like we were ready for. I never felt like the quality backup that we had went and got and actually spent money to get. I don't think that ever was there. It wasn't ever in place. So we were always kind of shifting guys around, much like you saw the Jets do it this year when Beckton got hurt. They signed. Dwayne Brown is like 37 years old.

Chicago did it a year ago with bringing in an older guy to fill in. It's just like we got to have a better plan. We got to be ready for this. We might have to spend some money on a third tackle or something like this. And I've always felt like that's kind of held the Chargers back. They've just never had enough guys to withstand the rash of injuries that sometimes teams get. So again, it's probably why I was never comfortable with our roster, no matter how it looked on paper and how what others might have said about it. Not necessarily with the Chargers, but even when I was a GM was never comfortable enough to say, okay, we're good.

no matter who gets hurt, we're good. You just, you can never know when and where these injuries are going to come from. So you got to be, it's like Abe Gibran used to say on the old NFL films, watch everything, be ready for everything, you know. You can't be ready for everything. I think that the question is, is there something in the water there that makes them have more of these injuries? And, you know, these things are hard to put your finger on, but the Rams have been a quite healthy team over the years. And they have some of their kind of trainers and those types of people have ended up going other places.

Like Minnesota's got one of their guys. Philly has one of their guys. I'll be kind of interested to see if they are on something. Because Randy, doesn't some of this have to do with the management of your roster and your team and how you practice and how the whole thing is kind of interconnected in a way that is hard to see from the outside. but does can you set up a system of how we do things that reduces your chances for injuries or is that just a whole big ball of gray and no one really knows what the hell's going on? Well, I think there's some of that involved. I think injuries are going to happen. You're not going to be able to avoid that. But I do think some teams are further along with regard to setting up load management and how to track it and how to follow it and have done it for years. shoot, Chip Kelly with the Eagles before he got fired there brought his stuff from Oregon.

And the Oregon Ducks were way ahead of NFL teams when it came to load management and tracking and all this stuff. Shoot, soccer has been doing it for years. And I think the NFL has been a little bit behind in that regard. And along the same lines, some teams have been further behind because it is an investment of money. It is an investment that's pretty hefty through tracking devices and everything. some teams have been slower to get on board than others. So really there's no excuse for not being on board fully 100% right now. I don't know that you can put your finger on it or blame anybody per se because like I say,

injuries are going to happen. As a GM, I just think you've got to be ready for everything. And sometimes the most catastrophic things that you never think you're going to happen. You've got to be ready for that too. And the Chargers have earned that reputation over the years for not, for airing on the side of not spending. The irony a little bit this year is that they did spend. and free agency in a way that they haven't always done getting Clilmac or veteran players. They spin on front line guys.

But that's my point. But it doesn't mean that that doesn't mean that then trickles through your whole system of operation of how you do things. Or your 53 man roster. Or your 53 man roster. Those were kind of one-off expenditures. It doesn't mean that everything's changed. So now we're playing a rookie for Slater. You know, oh, you know.

So just planning. That's all. Yeah. Because really one of the issues in this whole division of the AFC West was hey, whoever figures out their right tackle situation because the right tackle is kind of an issue for everybody, you know, could have an edge. Well, now they're going to try to figure out right and left tackle.

That's a lot with your quarterback having bad ribs. So chargers, I don't know. We'll see. Yeah. And we didn't even get to the quarterback playing with bad ribs down 21 in the fourth quarter. You know, that's a whole other topic. Yeah, that's now, because the two-a-thing, that's off. No one's talking about that because the two-a-handling thing was more egregious.

Did you have a big problem with that? I did for the final five minutes. I didn't understand it at all. I'll be honest with you. And I know that the quarterback always wants to be out there. He wants to prove his toughness and every angle to the rest of the team. But I think in that case, Brandon Staley could have put his foot down and said, hey, we got you, Justin. We're going to protect you right now.

You can go over and yell and scream all you want, but I'm not going to lose you because if that kid gets hurt worse in a game that looked like they had no chance to win, their season's over. Not only that. Because I can agree playing them a lot of the game, but that last drive after it's four touchdowns, and I don't know, it was a few minutes left. If he suffers an injury on that drive, like a punctured lung or something is out for the year, there could be, the fallout from that could be unbelievable. Like you suddenly now have a year where you win three games or something. That, you don't just wash your hands of that.

So I think, plus just the right thing to do with. with the quarterback. Okay, they lost 3810 to the Jaguars, Randy. Are you in on the Jaguars? They're two and one, and they dominated 38 to 10. I don't think anyone had 38 to 10 filled out for that one. I've been impressed. Obviously, the quarterback has made strides in a real offense with some real coaching. I think that's been, he's been the most obvious step forward with that group. But having done this, coming in and take over a culture that has struggled forever. We did it in New Orleans in 2000 when I left Seattle. that's what Doug Peterson and his crew has done now. And really, to put a cap on them to say they weren't good is shame on us.

Because what happens is he has gotten through to that team. His coaches have gotten through to that team. They've changed the dynamic of that team. And now all of a sudden they think they can do things. And they don't have to be the most talented team in the league to win the games that they're winning. They have bought in big time. So what he's done is he's got him to come together. And that's coaching last time I checked, right?

And it is a great job by him and his staff to get this group to buy in. They're ready to go. Maybe it's because they've lost for so long. It was that way when we got to New Orleans. They wanted to just be led by guys who knew what they were doing. I think that's the case in Jacksonville now with Doug Peterson and his crew. Yeah, New Orleans had never won a playoff game. You guys come in and win a playoff game in the first year.

I wonder if taking over such a bad situation. So the Jaguars have been bad for 10 years. Yeah. ever since the owner has owned the team. But it really bottomed out with the cultural thing with Urban Meyer to where, I mean, I wonder if it was just a great opportunity off of that for somebody who, for an experienced coach like Doug Peterson to come in, maybe it's an easier buy-in when everyone was,

when you look so much better to the previous regime, right, that it's like, hell, woo, relief, we are with you, you know? Something to be said, I totally agree. I think he was the right hire for them at the right time. And so far, you know, a month in, I think you'd have to concur. Yeah, do you like, now they took Walker, Trifon Walker, the first pick of the draft, you know, a big guy. Do you like, I sort of sense of, I've probably, I mean, shoot, last year they beat Buffalo 6 to 3 and they can, they can kind of beat get a few a little bit up front. Do you like sort of, is there a visceral toughness to their team that you think ties through that draft selection and sort of is a reflection of the kind of what they're.

they want to be with Trent Balke, sort of being a Parcells guy? Or is that way overstating it, Randy? No, I think there's some truth to that for sure. I think big guys are what this game's all about. And I think they made a case for they're going to either have a big guy or a fast guy. There's a couple teams, for example, like Atlanta, who's picked in the top five the last two years, didn't get a big guy or a game-changing fast guy in either draft. So that's almost fatally flawed to me. And I think Jacksonville was willing to take the non-sexy pick in Trevon Walker. and do something with him now. And they've put him in great spots,

week in and week out to make the plays. And not only that, to eat up innings as a five-tech in their defense. So I love the pick. I think we can build around him. They already had a good rusher on the other side. So I think they've got a good group, like you say,

with some visceral toughness that should carry on. And again, I don't know that they're deep enough to hang for 17 weeks because they'll have some injuries and a couple setbacks, but I've been impressed so far for sure with the team build and the execution of the team that Doug has week to week. Yep, there's an identity there.

Let's touch on Justin Fields has not completed more than eight passes in a game, Randy, this season. And shoot, he had his rocky moments last year, but there were some flashes too. There were some games, I think, where he said, oh, okay, that was a little better. He even came out and said, hey, I played that crap, I've got to be better. He's averaging 97 yards passing a game through three games. Worried? Not necessarily. I think it's part of the process.

I think everybody develops at a different time. frame. I think last year was a total waste for him. We saw the Matanaggy offense. We didn't see any growth with this kid at all. I thought the speed of the game would slow down for him this year. Maybe it will in time, but he's going to have to find a way to hang in the pocket and get rid of the ball a little quicker. I haven't studied their system offensively, so I don't know exactly what they're asking him to do. Obviously, he should be, you know, able to be a productive quarterback halfway through, you know, second year, especially when you played as much as he did last year. We'll see. I think that's a total rebuild and really you almost have to take this for him like another rookie year.

So let's get back. Let's revisit that week eight or nine. I wonder if he's a Daniel Jones sacrifice here. They're doing all this stuff and he's going to be lost in the loss. You hope not for his sake. And hopefully now they have, they're not going through a bunch of years of incompetent coaching time. We'll tell on that. Hopefully they're in a better situation. But man, it's been rough to watch. almost felt bad for them watching some of their games. That's also another team, Mike, that had a bunch of changes up front in the offensive line and they haven't come together.

They haven't worked out. Again, changing offensive lines on paper is one thing, but getting them to play together is a longer-term solution that we've just got to wait and see. And their GM is a former offensive lineman himself, Ryan Pohl. So hopefully that's one area that he can figure out, although it doesn't guarantee. I mean, we've seen, we've seen Ryan Grigsman.

We've seen Steve Kime. They haven't always had the best offensive lines. Jets tackle situation caught my attention because I've been saving receipts on the Jets here the last couple weeks. Did he put a target on himself with that comment from here on in? He did. And I really like Shala. I mean, he's a really engaging and bright guy if you've ever talked to him. But that's a tough job for a first-time coach there in that market with that franchise,

just in general. I mean, there's, there's easier places to take over and go. And yeah, I think you can, they say never let you see, never let them see a sweat. Well, I think it's hard to not sweat there in that market. And you get it, you know, you hear it. You hear the noise. And I think the noise has been calm for him, to be honest with you. I think it could be a lot worse. I think when you consider Joe Douglas being there four years, and this is his fourth season, and I know this is his second year, but for them to be sometimes so chaotic and messed up on Sundays, I'm surprised that the heat isn't more and the noise isn't louder. So here's what's caught my attention this week,

some of my good friends in the media who do a great job covering the Jets. I've seen some things out there kind of in Twitter and this sort of thing. Hey, look, you can't just be too harsh on the Jets for having bad luck with these injuries to tackle. And bells are going off in my head because I'm thinking, all right, I can see you sitting up in your chair there a little bit ranger. You know, Mackay Bechton, Dwayne Brown, now George Fance out, not that he was the left tackle, but what do you think of their accountability? Bad luck for the Jets here?

Or team building issues? I think a little of both. I think they have some team building issues. It seems like they've really put themselves in a position to win like a draft pick or win a free agent acquisition. But the way they come together, once they get there, they don't always play good. So I think they've got to find a way to transfer. And I think Joe Douglas, the GM, has done some good things. But the team build is the part that comes together.

And maybe that falls a lot on the coaching staff. And in this case, Robert Sala, that just hasn't happened. And this is the second coach as well. So there's some disconnect, whether it's the criteria we set for the kind of guy we bring in. I know we won the press conference because we had three first round picks and sauce gardeners this, sauce gardeners that. Well, he's kind of been average too, if you ask me, if you really look at it closely. The rusher they got from Florida State, average, been okay. So those, those picks just

haven't jumped and made this team a lot better. So something's holding it back. And I guess time will tell. We're willing to give Robert Sala because like you said, he is a good guy. You can understand where he's coming from. He's passionate. I think he's sincere. Time will tell. I don't know. I just, this team has not come together for what seems like in eternity. You know, we're going to talk about another team, but these teams that seem like they're in rebuild for four or five years, I struggle. Yeah, specifically, specifically the left tackle situation. You know Mackay Bechtin is a 370-pound man with injury and performance and consistency.

You know, Duane Brown's 37 years old and has basically had a foot in retirement for the last couple of years where he's like, yeah, you know, I'll play if the money is good enough. Right. But we had to talk him into playing. He had to talk him into playing. So, you know, that is not an ideal situation. Let's get on the GM's notebook this week. Randy, what do you got? would you sort of scribble down on the napkin as you were doing your film work and that sort of stuff?

Well, it started last week for sure for me in that Dallas's win over the Giants. I thought Dallas probably played their best game offensively that they've played in a while in a style that I think they need to continue to play even when DAC comes back. You know, Cooper Rush was really good in that he was efficient, no delay a game calls, got the team in and out of the huddle. I thought Cooper Rush has been really calm and cool and collected and probably is making himself some money for somewhere down the road at some point. I just thought he was outstanding. He makes the throws that he has to make.

I think when you rush the ball like they did, I think they had 175 yards rushing. Both backs got the ball. Both backs carried and were productive. And then through for 200. I mean, that's the perfect formula, right? I thought that the plan that Kellyn Moore put forth was the best plan he had done this year for sure. And I think there's something to build on there.

So I liked where they were coming from. and I think Cooper Rush is a name we're going to probably hear for a while around the league, if not in Dallas somewhere else. One of the things that we've heard is, God, the game plan sure looked different for Cooper Rush. You know, wow, almost in an exciting way. And I almost feel like Dak Prescott said a little bit of a low here, you know, that he was, I thought, rising early last year coming back from the injury.

Then, I don't know, he did his cap. It wasn't good. He wasn't as good the rest of the year. It wasn't looking great before he got hurt. Obviously, it was hurt very early in the year. How do you feel about him? Because he's been in that system a while. I mean, do you think he comes back now and it's going to be great?

Or do you sort of like, you know, shoot Jerry Jones is talking about he wants a quarterback controversy, which is ridiculous, but on its own merits. But I mean, I don't know. What do you just think of the whole quarterback picture there? Well, I remember us talking about this about halfway through last year. And one of the questions I had was Dax's sharpness and his decision making and his ability to process and get the ball out. it didn't seem like it was as sharp as it was prior to his bad leg injury.

What I'm seeing at a Cooper Rush this year is decisiveness. I think the ball's coming out on time. I think there's much more crispness to the decision making and the processing than even when DAC was in there. So I think there is a comparison to be made. I don't know how it works out. I don't think there's any way Dak doesn't have his job when he comes back. That's not what I'm saying.

But I'm saying that the proficiency by which Cooper Rush is running this offense has got to be matched by DAC this season at some point, otherwise there will be something to talk about. Dak has to sort of get his edge back, right? His sort of mental edge of the game and playing it fast and not just a guy coming back. He has to come back and really be alive and hit it and mesh with the coordinator and just have it feel right again. And we just haven't seen that for a while from him. So that's definitely something to look for after he comes back. You got Washington in your list in the division. They're playing Dallas. You know, Washington's the other team that I kind of lump in with the Jets, and I really don't know why other than it always seems to me like

they're worse than they should be. They've been in a rebuild year for four years. I think this is Rivera's third or fourth year. It might be his fourth year. I just think they've been kind of embarrassing again this year. I feel like, and I know Ron Rivera's a good coach, I spent time with him with the chargers. The further removed from running the defense he gets, I think the worst this franchise suffers on Sunday. I am so with you. Because that's what he is. Yes. Yes. Yeah, and I like the head coach who coaches the whole team and doesn't have to be calling the plays, but I think they've got a real issue there. His loyalty to Jack Del Rio.

Yep. Jack Dale Rio was probably a better head coach than he was a defensive coordinator. Would you agree with that? Yes, 100%. I think that these coordinator roles are so important that you can see in Detroit. They get Ben Johnson in there. And I know they got some better talent than they had before, too. But it's like you're excited about what they're going to do next.

And I said coming into this year, talking to Ben Standig, who covers Washington for us on his podcast when I was at Commander's Camp, who is out there going, I can't wait to see what Jack Riddle Real is going to do with this defense. I think that could end up being what brings down. what brings down Rivera if he doesn't have the right guy running that defense that had talent up front I know they've had injuries and whatnot but they're not good enough on that side of the ball at all and I'm willing to take it to the other side too Mike nine sacks last week and Scott Turner runs that side of the ball

it's not Norv it's his kid Scott so I think what we're saying here is and we have this saying around my place and have for years because they know how I feel. I'm not for the friends and family plan. I'm not. I'm not going to hire friends, family, everything else that goes with this just to have my guys around me.

I want competent and the best I can find. And again, Scott Turner and the offense for Washington has struggled just as much, in my opinion, as defense. When you give up six, nine sacks, there's systemic issues there. That's a problem. And I'm not willing to blame at all on Carson wins. So I think both sides of the ball have some share in this blame.

But I think it's because Ron got away from this hired friends and family. You could even say that the front office roles are filled with friends and family as well. People that's familiar. Marty herney in there. Yep. More friends and family. So I think the friends and family are great if it's Thanksgiving.

But I don't think it's friends and family if we're going to go battle Sunday to Sunday is I don't think that's what serves you best. And I do think the offense has had at least some hot halves here. And I do think that Carson Wentz, I mean, of those nine sacks, I mean, I don't know. I think a fair number were on him. But I think your point more broadly is very valid in terms of what is sort of the ethos of our organization. At what stage is accountability the most important thing. And that's a good question.

Above and beyond the friends and family stuff. That's what I'm talking about. Yeah, yeah. But how you handle that stuff permeates then how you do everything else. Yep, no doubt. So there. Pro Bowl went away. Randy, you happy?

Static. Never watched it. It was hard to watch. I thought it was the worst thing on TV that the league could put out. The worst content every year. It wasn't football. It was bad for the game. A bunch of guys running around, you know, playing grab ass for the most part.

Don't want to see that. Don't want to get hit. I mean, it was almost insulting to anybody that would watch. And for those guys that played it, and I understand, they're not trying to get hurt. I get it. But for them to say this is something people care about and want to watch. It's total embarrassment. So they couldn't get rid of it soon enough for me.

And I think maybe the players wanted that at the end of the day. And that's why they stoop so low with effort and everything else in that game. I'll be interesting to see what replaces it. I know they're going to have a skills competition and all that. But football is football. So we'll see. Remember when guys used to, I just dug up a couple of clips, guys used to hit in that game, you know. Yeah.

Especially the fourth quarter, remember Sean Taylor. I saw that clip you put out. Yeah. I mean, and then everybody celebrating and stuff. It just shows you how the, in a lot of ways the game's, changed for the better in terms of concern for the player. Obviously, we talked about a setback in that realm with Tua. But I think in general, you know, the game's gotten better that way. But those were some, there was something to those days, too, when guys were really competitors in that

realm, too, and really wanted to go out of, that I do admire. I do admire. And now again, we're all friends and family and part of the same union and everybody just goes out and they might as well put flags on their hips, you know, around trying to do that. Yep, yep. Okay, what else did you have on list. A couple more in the GM notebook. The other one that I thought was funny, and you probably saw it, was the Ken Dorsey meltdown after the Miami game in Miami. And, you know, Ken Dorsey's going to be a candidate for head coaching jobs this year, if not this year, next year, former quarterback at Miami and in the league, I think is known

for the most part for being a calm, collective guy. He completely lost it. He didn't get the memo from the league that said, we're supposed to take care of these iPads and we're not going to smash them, like Tom Brady went through two the week before. So I just thought it was kind of comical. But having said that, I've been there. I understand it. We all can have a meltdown.

We're all capable of having a meltdown. I remember I had one or two as a GM. It just, it goes to show how much you put into this thing on Sundays. And if it doesn't happen, the frustration level can even rise above where the calmest, most level-headed people in the whole world can can still let it affect him. And it got him that time. I just, it was kind of interesting. I wondered, will he have to answer that question in these head coaching interviews now?

You think it'll be brought up in these interviews? I think it creates a perception of a person that you can't, you know, that first impression. I mean, how many people knew Ken Dorsey played in the league. They knew he was the coordinator there. But this is probably the number one thing now that people will associate him with, which I don't think helps him. It probably is something he has to overcome. I was even thinking, though, before that happened, they kept showing these, they keep showing these things. cameras in those booths. I've been kind of surprised that they have those and they're showing them

in real time because I think if you're there at work, it's there, but you don't, you forget that it's there. You're in the middle of your job. And I think all of us feel like we should probably be able to in our worst moment slam your fist on the desk and yell a curse word, right? I mean, have you ever done that when you're not in a professional setting? You know, something just, and you just go, you just want to release, right? You're just like, absolutely. I do. I do. It was in a professional setting, Mike, a professional setting with a plexiclass partition between Mike McCarthy, who is our offensive coordinator of the Saints and myself, when we had to lead late in the game and he threw like two or three passes in a row and all we had to do is run the ball

to win the game. I pounded on that thing with my fist and yelled out the worst expletive I could and told him to run the freaking ball and everybody looked at me like, what the hell happened to the boss? He just lost his mind. Yeah, he completely lost it. And Mike looked at me. like he just saw a ghost, but it happens. That's my point. It just happens sometimes. You just can't hold it in. It's a bad lesson.

I get it, but, you know, it gets the most calm people. Tell me about it. Yeah, I think it's something he does have to deal with that. We'll see, I think ultimately how well they do offensively,

how he's perceived in his role in all of that is probably the most important thing. But I think that didn't help him. Yeah, so is that our full GM notebook? Yeah, just one other note that, in fact, you help me remember this from the Jolani Woods, the tied in from the Colts. came out of University of Virginia last year.

He's one of the tight ends that we kind of highlighted in our pre-draft show or two. He caught two touchdowns the other day. You know, this kid's peculiar and very interesting in that he's six foot seven, six foot eight, a real tall, hard-to-cover guy. And I think they found a target in a red zone that you and I found in our pre-draft evaluations that he can be thrown to even when he's covered. This is a big, long dude now, like a rebounder that I don't know what you do. You're going to throw it to him even.

even though he's easy to find, and he's always open because of that. And Nicole's found that last week and caught two big touchdowns for him. Do you think he's a nightmare for defenses on third downs and in the red zone as a matchup guy? I think they've done a nice job getting big targets for Matt Ryan. I just think they're lacking in speed. And that is a real issue for them to round it out. That was something they didn't get that I think is hurting them. But he's certainly a big target that helps a veteran quarterback or any quarterback in

Ryan there. Let's get into our picks and preview a couple of these games before we run out of time. Randy, last week we didn't really like any of the games. We decided to take San Francisco giving a point. And that didn't work out well for a variety of reasons. I still would pick him. If they played again tomorrow, I'd still pick San Francisco. Maybe that's how dumb I am. Yeah, yeah. So we missed on that one. What do you got this week looking at the picks? There's two or three games that kind of jumped out. I mean, there's some. games that, like you said, we're going to preview just a little bit of that are really interesting games, but I wouldn't surely take a betting position on them. I like Dallas over Washington for the

reasons we just talked about in the podcast. I think Dallas is headed in the right direction offensively right now. I think the Washington team has got issues. I think they're both sides of the ball. They haven't been consistent enough to win a game. So Dallas is a three-point favor over Washington. I like them. I think Detroit is a four-point favorite over Seattle. Again, a team I think Seattle is taking on water. I don't think they're going to be able to stop the run. I could see a team like Detroit, if they're healthy, rushing for 200 yards on Seattle. How about Detroit hadn't been a favorite in two years, and now they've been a favorite.

They're favorite all the time. Yeah, two of the last three weeks. So I guess Vegas is buying into the biting kneecaps, so I'm good with that. The other one for me, and I'll just give you all three of mine off the top, is Minnesota, minus two and a half over New Orleans. But here's my reasoning for picking them. New Orleans traveled to Carolina last week and lost a game. and then that night flew to London.

So they spent all week in London. I really like what Minnesota did. They won the game last week. Their plan was to always be in Minnesota this week so they could separate the London trip and last week from a mental standpoint and a preparation standpoint. They have been in their own beds, staying all week long in Minnesota.

They're going to travel. They traveled Thursday night. They woke up Friday morning in London. Going to go right to a walk through in a practice. And they'll have a day and a half to get situated there. But I just like that. plan of preparation better. Don't tell Mickey Loomis, the GM of the Saints, that I don't like them going over there for a week. But I just like the approach that Minnesota is having. And therefore,

I like their chances in the game and being a two and a half point favorite, I think is just fine. I think they'll cover that. Yeah. I might take Kansas City, I get a point against Tampa. I just feel like the Bucks offense is probably in a tough spot this early stage. I think Kansas City can rush the passer from the inside. And I need to see Tampa Bay be able to do something with it. That said, I mean, I think that Kansas City isn't exactly, you know, I think they could have some issues against the Tampa Bay defense, too. I'll just, I'll just side with Mahomes' ability to create versus Brady and where he's at with his weapons right now. And by the way, do you feel, you know, it's always a, you're always wrong if you say,

ah, I think this is the end for Tom Brady. Are you worried at all where he's at over the course of this whole season, or you think he'll be fine? I think he's fine for this year. I'd be concerned if I had to go long-term plan more than this year. I think his parts have broken down around him now. He's going to get a couple of those receivers back. But the thing that is got to carry Tampa and it has has been their defense. They've given up 27 points in three weeks total. So their defense is what's going to have to carry them.

So that's a little different than in the past. The thing about Mahomes in Kansas City is for me is the special team meltdown last week. I'm going to hope is a one-off, but that was atrocious last week, whether it was the missing of the field goals, whether it was the muffing of the punts, whether it was trying to fake a field goal and it failed. They're special teams which are normally really good were bad last week. Horrific. Historically bad last week.

That's one of the worst you're ever going to see. So, you know, if I were to pick another one, I'm pretty much with you on the Detroit, you know, given four in Seattle. I do think Detroit's defense is terrible. So like it wouldn't surprise me, kind of like last week, Seattle played Atlanta. Seattle got 23 points and probably could have easily. had more. I think Seattle will score on Detroit, but I just think Detroit's going to score more. And really what I think of when I look at Seattle is, you know, they've had some issues

to start seasons on both sides of the ball throughout Pete Carroll's whole time there. I mean, they've had this year, the first two weeks, they scored eight and a half points of game on offense. Well, that wasn't even their worst on defeat. They've done that before with Russell Wilson. There's always points with this team where it feels like. the coach or somebody has to kind of take over a little bit and they make an improvement here or there. That's harder to do without Russell Wilson. We'll see what happens offensively. But defensively, they've got to make some adjustments here. There's got to be some kind of a pivot or something to get some of these guys. You mentioned Gerald Taylor in the first game, just looking lost out there. I don't think that's necessarily changed.

So I'm watching them from a staff standpoint over the next month to see if they can be representative defensively. Because that was one of the things. They changed staff now. And they were excited about those guys' ability to adjust. And I don't necessarily doubt their ability to adjust. I just think something has to change there. I think they've got to tie up some loose ends. The details aren't there when it comes to setting the edge and playing gap sound football.

And it just hasn't been there. So I don't know that the players are there at the end of the day. them to resurrect a season that's got off to a similarly slow start in the past. Like you said, they had a Russell Wilson, or they had a Bobby Wagner, or they had, you know, some of the Legion to boom around there to kind of right the ship. I don't see that kind of leadership and really skill set from players on this roster to stop the bleeding per se. It's going to be interesting, too, D.K. Metcalfe.

I know he got paid, but he's a potentially volatile guy. And if the targets aren't there, you know, those sorts of things you're going to have to of the course of the season, if there's frustration, will be interesting for them as well. So I will take Detroit, give the points. We'll see if Seattle can get things fixed. But just defensively, I think they're a prime target for this offensive line of Detroit. And even without Swift playing at running back, the lines may have enough.

So we'll see on that. If we look at a couple more games that we're not going to pick before we wrap up here, Buffalo, Baltimore is kind of an exciting matchup. There could be weather issues there with wind. Maybe that's a, you know, Josh Allen is sort of a four-wheel drive quarterback. You know, maybe he carries a day on that one. How do you feel about that game not having to pick it? But do you lean one way or the other?

I think it's the best game of the week. I'll be honest with you. If I could get on a plane and fly somewhere, it would be there. I would pay to watch Josh Allen every week. I just, I enjoy watching him, running game, passing game, just his style and demeanor. I love it. Now you get a bonus. You get Lamar Jackson, too, who's off to his best start of his career.

I mean, leads the league with 10 touchdown passes, a 119 quarterback rating. I like this matchup. I think it's drastically different. Obviously, the bills ran 90 plays last week against the Dolphins, who ran 39. So two of the top five defenses in the league. It's just got a lot of storylines and narratives that I'm kind of waiting for this one to play out. I don't have a clue who's going to win. But I think it's two really good teams, and they'll be fun to watch.

Yep, I'm looking forward to that one, too. I don't know which way to lean. but I think it's a great matchup. Jacksonville, Philly is maybe another one. Could you give Jacksonville a decent shot, or do you like Philly too much? No, I think you could give them a shot. I agree with you. I'm really on the J. and the Hertz bandwagon.

I think what he's done with his game and where the Eagles are at, I think they're the best team in football right now. Interesting. Yeah, so I'm all in with them. I think they're probably at the end of the day too good. But, hey, you know how this league is, Mike? every week, anybody is capable of beating the other team because the other team is really talented. Even the worst teams in the league have talent.

So I think Hertz is, again, another must-see TV. I enjoy watching them. And they have an identity on offense that I'm not sure the Jaguars are going to be able to hold up against that running game. You know, you liked Hertz's pocket development last year. The ability to win from the pocket is still a critically important thing, even if you're a dual-threat quarterback. So at this point, are you, if you were them, and at what point have you seen enough, Randy, would you be comfortable doing a deal with Joan Hertz? Well, there's no reason they have to now.

They can do it later. Yeah, but I have seen nothing to say that this guy's not the guy. He's just progressed every step of the way. And I say it at nauseam, going back to his Alabama days. He's gotten better at every stop. He got better at Oklahoma. He got better when he got to be in Philly. Now, this is the second year in a row with the same offense.

and guess what, he's got exponentially better from the pocket, especially throwing downfield. I think he leads the league in yards per attempt right now. He's throwing the ball all over the place. So whether he can put together a consistent body of work to warrant a quarterback contract extension, we'll find out over the next 12, 14 weeks, but he sure is trending that way. And I would be happy as heck if I was Howie Roseman, that's for sure. Because they were one of those teams that could have been in the mix for a quarterback next off season, right? They stockpiled draft picks.

there was a chance they might get kind of caught in between where they were good enough with Hertz to not be drafting early, still have some draft capital, but maybe be competing against other teams that didn't do as well in the field and could be picking higher in that realm. So here's what's interesting for him is Jalen Hertz has been very effective on third down as well. And look, it's three games. It's a small sample size. I mean, shoot, Carson Wentz is. in the top 10, too, Geno Smith is. So it's not everything. But Josh Allen's number one, Hertz is number two, and Mahomes is number three. So, you know, that's pretty good group to be in

with on a down where it's harder to get that going. We'll see it's probably not going to be that way the whole year, but there's been enough from him that we like it. And now, do you think their positioned as a team to be better in the playoffs? Because remember, they made the playoffs last year and then just got rolled by Tampa. Maybe do you see them as a team? You said best team in the league. Do you think they can go to the Super Bowl then? I do. I don't have any doubt. about that. I don't know if they'll do that, but I think they have quality at all positions. They've upgraded the parameter for Hertz, and I think Hertz is that much better as well. So I think their defense is solid. The key for me is, and we saw Slay play really good a week ago

on the national TV game, if he can continue to play like that, I think he's a big, has been a question mark for me until now. If he can continue to play the kind of coverages that Gannon wants to play on defense, I think the Eagles are going to be really good. And frankly, I think they are setting themselves up, not only for a run this year, but you mentioned the draft picks. This franchise is well positioned to be good for the next several years. Yeah, pretty good position to be in. From where they were, not that long ago with the Carson Wentz fiasco, firing coaches,

all of that. I think we've seen some promising things from their staff as well. Now, they may lose Shane Steichen to a head coaching job, but they've just been pretty solid. You know, they've gone from a really bad spot, kind of an embarrassing spot where they had to eat the money on Carson Wentz and all of that. They were a little bit amiss to this situation now. You've got to say, great job. And I think one of the things about them, because they've had a lot of kind of front office turmoily, weird things. But Jeffrey Lurie wants to win and is willing to pay.

And one of the points that was made to me when I was preparing for a column one, a while back that I thought was interesting was not every owner when they get to the mountain top still has that edge to keep doing it and to me

when you look at Jerry Jones you won those Super Bowls with God in the Hall of Fame and all this stuff they've been a mess for 20 years he's not trying to do it's all about Jerry he's not trying to do the best

to win anymore he may think he is I'm sure he wants to win but Jeff Lurie is in this thing to win it and there's an edge to him and there's a commitment and there's a willingness to like we said

eat the once situation. They're pushing. That organization is pushing and they won the Super Bowl in the last five years so it's not like they haven't gotten in the mountaintop. I think that's a potentially underrated component to an owner of a team and I think you have to tip your cap

a little bit to him. No question. I think he's very well respected throughout the league too. He's a different style than Jerry, completely different public person. And I think that bodes well for him, Jeffrey, inside his building and outside his building. Absolutely. Well, hey, thanks, everybody, for coming along this week.

We've made it. We're always worried if we're going to make it 30 minutes and here we're over an hour in. So there's always something. I love it when we get going like this or any. We had no plans to talk about Philly in that level of detail this week. We had a good conversation. Hope people enjoyed it. I'm not going to ask you this week where people can find your work.

Thanks, buddy. I appreciate it. But you can find out of her. Andy's work at Muellerfootball.com. Also, he's on Twitter at Randy Mueller underscore. By the way, why did the other underscore get in there? Was there another Randy Mueller out there? There was.

Yeah, there was. It just didn't come out of the blue. You weren't going to buy them out. I wanted to be different. Esquire was taken or something. So at Randy Mueller underscore, you can find me, Mike Sando, at the Athletic and at Sando NFL on Twitter. Thanks, everybody.

We will talk to you next time. This was the athletic football show.