The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - Week 2 Reaction: Russell Tops Cam, The Cowboys' Comeback, Buffalo’s Blooming Offense & More

Episode Date: September 21, 2020

What a week 2 it was in the NFL! Why didn't more team's buy in on Cam Newton? Did the Falcons lose or did the Cowboys win? Who won the week for week 2? And what the heck happened to the Vikings? Robert Mays and Nate Tice are answering these questions and more as they react to the NFL's week 2 on The Athletic Football Show.Get access to The Athletic for only $1 at theathletic.com/footballshow Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Welcome. The Athletic Football Show. I'm Robert Mays. Joining me tonight, my good friend, Nate Tyson, how are you? I'm doing great. How about that Sunday night game to launch us into this podcast? That'll hype you up. You didn't even need that espresso for this.

No, I did take my two shots of espresso. I am feeling very ready. You're right. I wouldn't have needed them like I might have on another Sunday night. What a game. Just such a fun battle between two quarterbacks playing extremely well. And we'll get into the kind of nitty, gritty details of what that means for each team. But that was just really a great way to kind of welcome back a primetime matchup. Last week was a little bit of a letdown in the sense that the Cowboys didn't play very well. At the end of that game kind of petered out.

This one is back and forth haymakers all the way until the end. And I don't know, man. And Bill Belichick said this week that Russell Wilson was playing as good or better than any other player in the NFL. And watching that game tonight, I still think I'd rather have Patrick Mahomes. But I wouldn't be upset if Russell Wilson were the quarterback of my team. He's creeping up to that S tier, that God tier. I mean, he threw three quarters. So three quarters tonight.

So seven NFL quarters, NFL football, legit NFL football. He had eight touchdowns and seven incompletions. on the season, which just blows my mind in NFL football. That's like non-conference schedule in college football. That was like Gino Smith when people were trying to tank for that. Just that amount. And I mean, just he's playing out of his mind. He's playing smart.

He's not doing it. He's not having any slip-ups, it seems. And we talked about how do you defend it? Yeah. What are you supposed to do? That's my question. Patriots run man. And they blitz cover zero or they run the Fane cover zero where they run into the hots.

but then Russell against Cover Zero is going for shot plays. So he did throw a couple crossers, but he's hitting those for gashes. So then all the other plays, you're running a man against him. You have to worry about Russell using his legs. And it's, I mean, it's just a terrible matchup for him. And it's, yeah, I mean, Russell was just out of his mind tonight against a good Patriots defense, we assume. Yeah. I mean, it's a team.

I thought their defense was carrying them. And tonight they got absolutely shredded by a guy playing as well as anybody. On that first drive, I think he had that 21-yard scramble, which lets you know. if you want to play man today, you're going to be screwed, so you better not. And then if you don't, you're out of your comfort zone and we're dictating the game. It just feels like, and you kind of saw that on that cover zero blitz where you hit Lockett on that final scoring drive that they had. He just seems to have an answer for everything right now.

I love the structure of all these passing plays where it seems like they're trying to go touchdown to that Locket crosser is like a little bit of an outwit. And there's just no answer because he's going to beat you across the field. and Russell's been able to kind of buy enough time on those plays when the pass protection hasn't held up. Everything you try to do, it always seems like you're playing catch up to him right now. And when you combine that, which is the down the field, dimes and everything else, it is really fun to see all of this come together and to see them let him play like this. Yeah.

And D.K. Metcalfe, as we're seeing, it's just such a great pairing because Russell's going to let me. It really is. And it just, I mean, throwing, Russell's throwing it as dropping in the bucket, even Collinsworth said that, said that tonight is he's dropping these throws in the bucket, but also he's letting his guys go make plays. And then D.K. Metcalf's like, okay, I could do both of those things. And like you were saying that's the touchdown to crosser kind of thing, touchdown to checkdown kind of thing. Those checkdowns are becoming guys on the move. So all these kind of quasi. They're big plays even if they're checkdowns. Yes. Yes. It's these ad lit plays that. So Russell extends the pocket just that extra second. The guy's already moving. It's not like he's on a. a stop route and has to, oh, figure out the scramble drill, he's already moving on the crosser. So he's just running away and Russell finds the angle. And it's, it's okay, do you want Russell to run for eight yards on you? Or do you want to get the crosser for 14 yards on you? And that's dangerous.

And they're doing it every pass play now, as opposed to maybe three times a game. It reminds me of, ironically, stuff that Patriots have done over the years where you look at a prospect and don't tell me what he can do. Tell me what he can do for us. And I was a Metcalf Douter coming in just because, you know me. You know the types of receivers that I like. I like guys that are much more open field guys, create separation, change of direction players. Like I'm a Keenan Allen, Devante Adams, Stefan Diggs person.

And McHaff just doesn't fit that. And so I had my doubts about him. And they're not asking him to be that. You know, the change of direction stuff that he's doing, he's doing it at full speed like he did on that touchdown. And just the physicality that he's playing with. You saw that on display against Gilmore today, who is not a small. man. It's like six foot one, two hundred pounds. He's one of the bigger corners in the league. And Metcalf is just pushing him around. Like, I don't know. It's crazy. He is playing with such

physicality and he fits this offense so well. Watching it all come together has just been really cool. Yeah. And the Patriots are going to try and beat you up. They're going to hand fight with you every play. And D.K's like, okay. Like, you know, you're all right. You want to come into these haymakers? Like, it was, it played into them. But the thing was, they missed or he wins that of initial fight like the big play the touchdown he wins the initial fight he wins the fight the entire way down with his hands and then it's just he just pulls away from guys because he's just so big and fast it's yeah again how do you cover this how are you going to match up with this if the pets are going to do it how does he remind you of man like a worst route running t o t o is a t o's a really good one

the other one i had was andre johnson just like big straight line speed yeah yeah Andre could run routes. Andre was a little bit different. Yeah, Andre, like, that's the difference is that Andre still had that. Andre was in that like kind of Julio group where just because their physical phenoms doesn't mean they don't have the finer points of the position down. I would say a little less refined T.O. is also a good one. But just in that group, those big strong, just, and he's a better player than I ever thought

he was going to be and we're still really early. Yeah. And they're easing them into it. You said they bring a great point where they play to these players' strengths. can they do what not what they can't do. And originally it was just he was playing on the one side, all the play, every play, just the same side, just like he did at Ole Miss. And now they're easing him to a full route tree.

You know, maybe not the whole routes, but the, maybe the tree is actually growing on the other side of the formation now. It's getting branches slowly. Yes, it's spawning just a little bit. It's growing, you know, this forest of DK Metcalf routes. So that's kind of exciting to see too. And yeah, it's, I mean, they're just so much fun to watch. I mean, we're not having him talked about Adams.

You know, that's, we haven't even got to the defense that played tonight. He played fantastic. I mean, I would, I'm going to be curious to go back and watch some of the plays in coverage. It seems like he was a little bit slow getting to Edelman in a couple of those plays. That's not the best part of his game. He's more of a wrecker. Yeah. Than he is somebody playing back there.

But on the wrecking side, he did plenty. I mean, really getting, he's their best pass rusher right now, kind of by a lot. And that's a concern. So that's, when I'm watching that game, the only. thing that's in the back of my mind as I'm thinking about the Seahawks ceiling is they gave Cam all day. He had so much time to throw the ball when they weren't sending extra bodies. And even on some of the plays where they were sending extra bodies, he still had a lot of time to throw the ball. So it's easy to get excited about that Seahawks team after they win a game

like that way, how far can this team go? But that is definitely my one takeaway from that game being like they need to get better in this area before they truly kind of distance themselves from other teams in the NFC. Yeah, and they were using Adam almost like an old school monster back where he I truly think on third downs on these passing downs. He was just a QB spy that could green dock, which is which is a late ad. If he sees Cam dropping back, he could add on these blitzes because he was hitting different gaps each time with this. And one time they hit Edelman on the big play, you said, okay, they struggled down the field a little bit with it. They motion Edelman across Adams was doing his monster back thing.

He was come down to slot. And all of a sudden they had to signal real quick. And he's like, oh, shoot, oh, shoot, oh, shoot. And Edelman beats him across his face. That's when he landed on his head at the one yard line. And I just noticed that, too. And it's like, I think they're truly just letting them roam on some of these plays. Because there was another one, he had a TFL that it was like, why are you over there?

Why are you in the flat over there? So I'm thinking, I'm truly, I want to watch this because I'm thinking they're truly making them a monster back on some of these plays where it's like, hey, Adams, just go be you. Go make plays. And they're going to get burned a couple times on these. And this is just a theory because this is pretty cool. crazy. But they truly were having him Green Dog and be a spy on Cam. And as soon as Cam dropped back, they said, go. And he was hitting different gaps. Russell Wilson was incredible tonight. But I'll tell you what, man, Cam Newton was going step for step with him. So Cam led all

quarterbacks in EPA today. It was over 20 EPA total, 21.63. And most of that came as a passer. You know, he's going to do some work as a runner. They used him in the red zone. Obviously, that last play play call I completely agree with. He was. phenomenal throwing the ball tonight. I mean, just putting it everywhere that he wanted to. The only two throws that I think I would probably ding him on that he would want back are the interception to Dunbar, and then he had another one. It was pretty much the exact same play, that little speed out to Demir Bird that

almost got intercepted by Dunbar. You take those away, he was pretty much on point the entire night. And these were not gimmee throws. he's just placing the ball down the field. I watched that game from Cam Newton tonight, and I have so many questions. And this is not revisionist history for me. This is something I was saying when the Patriots first signed him

when other teams didn't. I need some real reasons as to why your team did not sign Cam Newton for what? A couple million bucks of guaranteed money if you didn't have a, an answer at quarterback because there is no reason. Like the Bears, for example. I'm not trying, this isn't a like shit on the Bears segment,

but they were one of the teams that absolutely could have and needed a guy like Cam Newton and could have used him because they wanted competition at quarterback. The whole argument of, well, he didn't know the system. He got to the Patriots on the 4th of July. He was the starting quarterback by Labor Day. They completely remade the offense for him in like a month. There is no, that is not, that does not hold water whatsoever. You cannot make that argument.

It is just insane to me that so many teams that don't have an answer could have just brought this guy into the building. And they were like, you know what? We're good. The Patriots scoop him up for nothing, create an entire offense around him with limited skill position players. And the guy is going punch for punch with arguably the best quarterback in the league on Sunday night football for the entire world to watch. It is mind boggling to me. Yeah. And not even this week that he's so comfortable in the offense.

Last week he was making, he was signaling. He was like signaling plays against pressures in the week one. And it was like a comfort thing too. It wasn't like he was like, oh, what am I supposed to do here? He stopped the motion. This is week one against Miami. He stopped the motion and signaled the route and it falling incomplete. But it was one of those things where I was like, holy crap, he's comfortable in this.

And you saw him in the two minute drills. There was no like he was trying to figure something out. He was comfortably signaling plays. There's no excuse. I mean, other than people were scared of the medical, but who gives it crap? Give him $550,000 and guarantees. Who cares? If his body doesn't work, you release him during training camp.

It's no harm, no foul. It's nothing but upside. That's what just is, it's astounding. It really is. How about two, this just cracked me up tonight, too. The Patriots on a third nine ran a power read and no one bad at a nine. They didn't even talk about it. Like in the middle of the game, normal, like it wasn't like they were trying to kill time.

It was a true third nine. I think tie ball game or something. They ran a power read. Collinsworth of Michaels didn't say anything. They acted like it was just like a screen pass or something. And it was just like, no one bad at night. And like Belichick has turned this team into the Navy midshipman.

And it's just one of those things. He has his dream now. He's running a single wing offense inside the five yard line. He's running power read on third down. Like this is what he wants. But so that's last week we saw the novelty of it, right? And it was all the runs and he was really keeping the ball on his hands a lot. And I think that it was a legitimate question to ask, okay, when that kind of wears off,

when you need a big play down the field, can this team get one? And they can. It's what Julian Edelman, but they can. And that is such a testament to how he is throwing the ball right now that you just have no concerns

about their ability to create big plays in that game. By the third quarter or so, you're just expecting it when he's going back and they're running play action and they're trying to get some shots. I was so, so impressed by how he played today. It's the best game I've seen him play in

years. I mean, legitimately years. I mean, did he play a game in 2018 that was this good? Because even though his completion percentage and everything else, you know, those numbers looked better. Like the aesthetics and the box score was better than he had been in a couple years. That was not a down the field push the ball offense. There was a lot of quick pass. It was a lot of short stuff.

I cannot remember him throwing the ball like this, you know, since he was really one of the better players in the entire league. it blew me away how good he was tonight. I agree. The stuff, even just the accuracy was just the big. That's the most accurate. That's the most accurate I've ever seen him. On the move,

and even when he does his like, like, I'm cocking back and like leaning into this throw, like those balls were coming out accurate. He wasn't sailing anything. So that's a testament to what they're working on with him. They're making them comfortable where he's not guessing where he has to throw these balls because he's comfortable progressing.

It's fun. I'm excited to keep watching this team. I mean, it's, today. I mean, I know they lost this game, but it really kind of recalibrated my expectations for them. After week one, you think, oh, they could be kind of interesting. You know, I thought it was notable that I think it was Pat Thorman and established the run, who does a great job with the pace numbers they have.

Under Brady, New England was up near the top of the league in the top five or so in situation neutral pace pretty much every single year. Against Miami, they were dead last. And they clearly were trying to bleed out the game. And I thought, okay, that's what this team is going to be this year. You know, they're going to play slow. They're going to try to win games 20 to 10. That's just the style they want.

And I don't know how far that gets you. And the fact that they can stick in this game with Russell Wilson playing the way that he did, I don't know, man. I mean, they suddenly get real intriguing in the AFC, the wild card picture. And even in the division, if Cam is going to play like that. And that's why you sign him. Because this is what it brings. Because even if the possibility of this is 3%, whatever it is, even if it is remote,

the fact that it exists is why it's worth it. It's why you bring him in the building and you just see what happens. Even if you don't think or believe that he is MVP Cam Newton anymore or you're concerned about the medical or whatever, the best possible version, the best case scenario is this. And even if that is a far off remote possibility, it is still worth whatever it would take to see if it could happen. It is. It's a dice throw. And I'm just going to just say, agree with you.

I mean, I hate just always doing that. But it just blows your mind. It was a lottery ticket worth buying. And they bought it. And they're reaping what they sowed, which in a good way. They get the rewards for no balls, new blue chips. They laid it out there and they get rewarded for it. it. So let's go to another quarterback who played pretty damn well today. And I have a lot to say

about this game. And it's easy to do Ha Ha, ha, Falcons for what happened today. And there's some of that. But I also think that we should give a lot of credit to the Cowboys, for one, never giving up on that game. And Dak continued to play excellent the entire way through. Another kind of subtle thing with that, the Cowboys went for two when they didn't. have to in the fourth quarter. They didn't get it and they were down nine. Guess what happened when that happened? They knew that they needed to score twice.

So they played with an urgency that they wouldn't have if they had gotten down and not gotten the two-point conversion at the end of the game. So it gave them a chance to kick the onside kick, get it, and then go down and win the game. It was not pretty. The fact that they really could have let that one slip away. And it's not like they played poorly in the first quarter in terms of not being able to move the ball.

It's not like DAC was throwing picks or throwing the ball at people's feet or whatever. They had three turnovers, if you count the fake punt that did not work. And they did not let the game get out of reach. And I legitimately think that is a season-changing win. I mean, they are now one-on-one. The rest of the teams in their division are 0-2. They absolutely could be in the driver's seat here a couple weeks in, and they should have lost that game. So I am much more impressed with the Cowboys at the end of that game than I am going to point and laugh at the

Falcons. And he's like it turned so south. How you said it might be, it's a season defining win this early. They lose this week. They have that kind of stars, all-star team vibe this year. That stuff, that shit can turn south really quickly. If you got that, those expectations. If you lose that game 42 to 10.

Yes. And all of a sudden the finger point starts happening. You got a lot of new faces in there that aren't used to the vibes of each other. And all of a sudden it's like, wait, like, you know, I'm getting mine. What are you doing? And so now they avoid. even get into that situation. So I agree with you.

The fact, I mean, the Cowboys were awesome tonight. I mean, the onside kick was incredible, as we all saw. I mean, C.D. Lamb was, I mean, he was my favorite receiver coming in this draft. I love C.D. I think he's going to be a great player. And he looked awesome tonight. He had a great route in the two-minute drill that set up the field goal. And, I mean, all the receivers played pretty well.

They didn't have the usual. Everybody had a huge play. Every single one of them had a huge play. Yes. And that's why you get excited about this team. That's why I think that we too often pump up skill position groups and get a little bit overzealous with guys that have good past catching cores and everything else. And we forget about the other elements of what makes good offense.

And I do think the offensive line is a problem right now, but they will get healthier. And you can lean on your skill position players. Cooper made that huge play down the field with that fingertip grab on that first downplay action throw. Yes. And Lamb made several big plays in that game. Also, Dalton Schult, isn't that his name? Dalton Schultz had nine catches. It's amazing.

What played John would be doing in this game. I thought, and I really do, the fact that Dack just kind of came back and kept moving forward. I know it's like another, you know, 28 to three, ha ha falcons thing, but I just really do think you have to give a ton of credit for how the Cowboys handled that the entire game. Yes. And also just, you know, they're beat up on defense too. I mean, just beat up overall. And like what you were saying, they're one-on-one, the rest of the division zone too. Okay, hopefully they can get a little bit healthier, and that's going to help them revamp a little bit as well.

And you mentioned the O-line as well. They're hopefully going to get healthier in a couple weeks and these next couple weeks. They got better as this game went on. They really did. First quarter was ugly. I mean, ugly, ugly. Second quarter as well, I might, I got to see if exactly what happened there. But in the second half, they adjusted.

And that's a really good sign to see, too, is that rather than, as you said, also it wasn't that 4210 game, but it's just like they just kept, you know, beating their heads against the wallets, keep running the same stuff for running. They at least did some stuff. Something happened with the O line and with what they're doing because the Falcons were blitzing. They brought some, like, safety pressures. I mean, they brought some stuff and they got them. They were getting some heat on them. But then by the second half, it was just, you know, it looked like a seven on seven game.

And that it's something. And I mean, speaking of a seven on seven game, Calvin Ridley had a great game on the other side. He was awesome. Phenomenal. He had a blaze out route that was so pretty. He had another one for the touchdown that was on the right side of the field. And the second touchdown he had was the same kind of thing. He broke inside a little bit and then he left him going back to the corner.

And he is just so good at creating space in that area of the field. It helps that Julio creates so much space for him. But he's a perfect second banana to Julio because he's so good when he's given that space to work. And he's given so many one-on-one matches in the Red Zone because team. systematically take Julio away. Yes. And what number two corner is going to be able to keep up with him? That's exactly right. Yeah, I mean, who can keep up with that?

And then also you can move around a little bit. It's like, and he's got the full route tree. So how many number, okay, maybe play a team that does have a decent number two. Then you can start switching styles and they can start gaming up. Okay, maybe we put the smaller corner. We get the smaller corner on Julio. Okay, that's a great matchup as well. It's, yeah, they used them so well today.

Hayton Hurst had a nice game as well for their offense. But, I mean, I know. I don't want to just say it law falcons, but I mean, the on-side kick was brutal. I mean, it was the new styles of these onsite kicks with, like, Young Wayku has had a few these last couple years with the new rules of onsite kick, or just kickoffs. And it's kind of cool just seeing these, how these kickers are going to solve this problem, you know, and just figure out how they're going to go about not using a T or they, or they're just going to have these new methods, just like O-Line or quarterbacks and everything,

tricks of the trade in the off-season. That's what the kickers do. So we're going to start seeing some things like to create ideas. They have like four hours a day to work on this shit. What hell else are they going to be doing? Oh, did you see Justin Tucker catch a ball? He was so proud. He, like, did a perfect drop afterwards.

He was so proud of himself. Just catching it. He just went right to like a nice little QV drop. Like, he was ready for that. The other storyline that I think we should hit before we move on to some other categories here, just a crazy amount of injuries today. I'm just, and I want to look at the numbers because I think every once in a while we get caught up and just, oh man, everybody's getting hurt, and that's sometimes when it's big names.

You know, Nick Bosa getting hurt, Sequin Barclay getting hurt, Garoppolo left the game today. So when the guys are, you know, premier players, when you have big name guys, I think it becomes a little bit more visible some of the injuries that are happening. But even if you take out, and then a couple other guys today, Byron Jones got hurt, Rahim Moster got hurt. There's a lot of injuries. And also, even beyond the people that had to leave the games with big time injuries, There are so many players that came into these games or even coming into the season that had soft tissue stuff.

Mike Evans almost didn't play in week one. Julio is clearly hobbled. Amari Cooper's had a hamstring issue. Devante Adams left the game today with a hamstring issue. So it just seems like guys are, it's kind of iffy right now in terms of how ready guys were to play. Are you surprised by this at all? I mean, as somebody who actually had to get ready for a season and watch guys get ready for a season, And is the ramp up that big of a deal?

Yeah, I mean, yeah, I was definitely doing more watching than actually having to worry about it. Sure. But yeah, no, with these, that's what really camp is, is you're acclimating your body and your legs to that workload. I mean, that's really the benefit of training camp. But some of these teams were doing just such limited hitting. I mean, ACLs is kind of like, you can't really ever account for ACLs. I don't know if body acclamation could ever help with that kind of stuff. But I am definitely sure this wear and tear and then people starting to compensate for that. Maybe they're not so used to it.

But they're already in the grind of the season as opposed to week two in camp when they maybe could take two practices off. Now they're, no, I got to get ready for Sunday. So now you rush back and that stuff all accumulates over time. So I think that's kind of just what maybe that's my theory of it is. It's just bodies just aren't acclimated. But you know, but you get the freak injuries still. And maybe it's just a random domino following. and that's just how this multiverse broke this week, you know, this season is just these injuries are happening to these stars players.

So, of course, we're going to notice it more when it happens to start players. But, I mean, it happened to a lot of players this week. So obviously something is up. The 49ers lost. It seemed like a dozen guys. And it didn't matter. They still destroyed the Jets. The Jets are very, very bad.

I don't know if we need to say that to anybody, but that's embarrassing. To get just that pants beat off you by a team who loses. their starting quarterback came into the game hobbled and then lost multiple players during the game. At this point, it's kind of embarrassing the effort they're putting forward every single week. I mean, we were talking about before the show, the first play of the game on defense. It's all you need to see. They just didn't want to be there. It was, it looked like they didn't want to be there. It looked like, I don't know, it looked like a training camp practice when everyone's just tired and they just got gashed all the way down. It's like, and that's the first play. That's how

you're setting the tone against a good team. It's like, if you're not going to come out and play at home and I get you know a crowd situation but I guess those you know reigning n-fc champions like what are you going to get up for like what's going to get you go cares if there's no crowd you got to sleep in your bed they're flying in from san francisco it's still an advantage and staying in jersey probably you know it's like so one of those things where it's what are you going to get up for that like if that you're not going to get up for that game then what happens and so it that's just like you said it's just embarrassing it's it's they just came out and it just like listless.

Beckton the left tackle were great. Okay, so there's one positive. That's it. That's the same thing last week. That's where we're going. Best player on the Jets right now is their left the left tackle rookie. You know, love you, Sam, Donald. But, you know, it's pretty rough right now.

We joke about that. But at the same time, I think we coming into the season, Barnwall and I talked about it during the preview. At this point, it is a, like, it's not all about this, but it is a lot about the Douglas guys playing well, and them starting to build a little nucleus with the players he's drafting and the team that he's shaping for what it's going to look like

what Adam Gase is gone. And at this point, it seems like that's going to be sooner rather than later. If you're the Johnson's here, how much longer can you really look yourself in the mirror and say that this is the best possible situation for your football team? I mean, it's,

what the upside is there right now? That's kind of what I'm saying. Just move on. Yeah, just move on. Maybe there, you say that like this, his hand and him, being in charge of everything is better for some of your younger offensive players. But I don't even understand how that's the case.

They look terrible. It just feels like they're not going anywhere. And this is just a detriment to the growth of whatever players you want to be part of your team moving forward. And you think Adam Gase is going to be in there going like, yeah, you know, hey guys, we're just going through a rebuild right now. He wants to win 10 games. He thinks he's one player away from winning it all. You know, I mean, that's probably his mindset. So it's one of those where it's like, all right, we're not, we're not clicking.

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he looked, I mean, that team looked great today. I mean, both sides of the ball were firing, but especially on offensively, my first note is, oh, McVeigh's feeling it again, because Goff started out 12 for 12. 13 for 13, baby. 13 for 13 for 158.

And that's what it looked. It was, everything was just clicking. Goff's head was going right to the immediately to the open Kai. I think they started 4 for 4 on third down, and like a couple of them were to cup. and like they have no one that could cover cup and so that shows that McVey's feeling it

not only on these base downs and play calling then he's feeling it on third down he's designing these things are getting these guys wide open the first touchdown was great out of a bunch they ran just like nice little like quasi pick route they were like switch released them

that was really sweet to the tight end Higby and Higby's another weapon for him now now they have a tight end weapon I mean they're hitting them in different ways too it's not just as to the typical play action screen stuff they they're on sprint out on third down, these isolation routes running for a cup. I mean, it just, it was awesome.

He was clicking. He was unconscious as a play caller. Henderson had a nice game too. Ager's went down early. But then Henderson gave them a nice little burst back there from the backfield. And when they're blocking as well as they were blocking today, those gashes as opposed to the six, seven yards that Malcolm Brown was getting, Henderson was hit them for a little bit further.

And, you know, another thing is, I actually wanted to talk about this too. We were talking about, you know, again, Akamator and camp with these injuries. And maybe that is one of the advantages, the, the, the, the, Rams have while they're able to look so good so early on right now. During camp, previous years under McVeigh, the starters were never playing the preseason games. They would sit out, the vets would sit out a lot of practices. Maybe they're used to this limited practice schedule and short installs for the starters that get their backups a lot of reps. And maybe they're just, they were more prepped for maybe this kind of scheduling with COVID.

And that's just maybe a theory is why they look so good early on. And I also think that their offense forces a lot of defensive communication. The amount of misdirection and everything else, I think, and with the continuity they have, they're able to play so fast, and they do play fast. I mean, their pace is ridiculous every single year. So the speed at which they're playing and the continuity they bring, I know there's a couple movement new pieces, but for the most part, you have golf, you have cup, you have Woods, the offensive line, most of them were there last year, even if they were a little bit dinged up.

So I think that's a huge help. And it really is just so many of the things you come to, expect from them. I love what they do in the red zone. I mean, just the way they can attack you horizontally, the way they use space is so cool. I mean, the little end around touchdown to Woods is like a perfect little compliment, perfect little kind of counter punch to some of the other stuff they do down there. And they called it the five yard line, which is like not a where you usually see an end around. You might see a jet sweep, but that was a true end around out of a bunch. And yeah, I mean, the fact they call it at the five yard line is so cool. They really, and he, that is such a,

just an indication that he is feeling himself. They had to play to cup. I wanted to ask you about this. The completion they had to cup that kind of looked like a middle screen, but it wasn't a screen on that boot. How would you characterize that? It was early in the game.

I think it was in the first quarter. They had a play action, the run to the right, golf boots left, and it's that little release that the tight end had is into the flat, but instead of going to the tight end,

he dumped it back to cup in the middle. What would you call that? The Shanahan offensees love that on their naked, where they call it like a slam flat, or a slam delay. But since McVe, usually it's a tight end doing that. But since with McVeigh, they're in so much 11, they have Cup and Woods, sometimes acting as a de facto tight end.

That's what it was. It was this delay. So you have the typical flat control, whatever they had on that time. So Cup is pinning that pinning down, pinning down. And then he has the last leak out route. Not why leak. Oh, we'll get to the leak in a second. Yeah.

Yeah. But just a little leak out route. I think they just called a slam delay or a slam leak or something like that. So Cup was acting almost like as a tight end there. It's like a little safety valve, but it was like it was perfectly done. Yeah. And you know who used to hit it all the time was Matt Ryan to Jacob Tammy when they were at the Falcons. That used to be the kind of like Tammy special on these late little leak routes.

He just throw it right behind them. It would go for like eight, nine, 10 yards. That's when I golf was just feeling it too. He didn't waste his time going to the flat. He just looked at it to the flat and then found Cup right away in a little crowded space. So that was pretty impressive to me. They had a leak touchdown to Tyler Higbee. which they love those leak routes to receivers usually in the way that McVeigh runs them.

Multiple leak route touchdowns today. Hayden Hurst had a really long one in the Falcon game. The Chiefs tried one late to Travis Kelsey and didn't get it because there was pressure. I think it's the first time ever a leak play hasn't gone for a 40 plus yard touchdown. But that was cool to see. My one question for you, and I think that the third down point is a good one. And they really went to cup early. They had a really, golf had a really nice one, I think, their first or second drive,

where he waited for a second window to kind of come open for a cup coming across the middle that was nice. And he relies on him so much in those clear dropback situations. When they were in the gun, their offense changes so much, that's not where they want to be. So if you were trying to kind of construct quick game and drop back game plans for golf, outside of just saying, Cooper, we know you can get open in the short area, what would you try to do to kind of play to his strengths? He does a great job of attacking those overrouts in the seam area.

and I would really, you know, what he really excelled at at Cal was forverts and hitting seam benders. I would kind of focus on that kind of stuff. And also what all those nakeds are are built like a Y crossplay that's so popular in the air raid offense or just really offense as a general because it's a great play. What that typically is is a go route by the X receiver, an overroute of some sort and then usually a dig, a post or a comeback by the ZA on the backside and with a little flat controller by a tight end or a running back. And that's really what a naked will break down to with an overrout. You got a little flat and you got to go that runs them off. I would kind of run maybe a little wide cross because that's the same read for him. It's just he's not moving on it.

So those types of plays would be ones that I think he'd be super comfortable in and where he can still attack the middle. And when they really do dropback stuff, it is all just to isolate one guy because McVeigh is really comfortable sometimes. And sometimes they just throw screens, a little receiver screens and just, hey, hopefully someone makes a play. But that's what I think that they would try to do or what I would try to do with him is really let him attack the middle of the field where he's really comfortable And that where he doesn't end up late on some of those outside throws Although he was throwing outside really well today He was I thought he looked good today

I'm not saying that he looks poor in those situations I just think it's something to keep in the back of your mind When you're thinking about this team When they can dictate and when they're in front of the chains And they can play from under center He just looks like a different quarterback He's so in rhythm and he's so comfortable When you make him play quarterback and you don't have the fakes, he does look like a different guy.

I think it was a better version of that guy today than we've seen in the past. But I do think that that distinction is there still when you kind of watch them in those kind of diversion situations. My guy today, Josh Allen, man. I mean, what is that what else is there to say? He was just really good today. I know that the dolphins lost Byron Jones, you know, early in that game, which I think, think really did come back to get them. Igbonogamy is his name right?

I think so. Yeah. So I think you said that right. Close enough. Igbonogamy had to come in and cover digs, which did not go well for them. But at the same time, Zavian Howard's still real good corner and John Brown like ate his lunch a couple times. When I was thinking about what the bill's offense could possibly look like, you know, with all

the players that they have and if Josh Allen had taken a step forward, some of the throws today are what I had in mind. The one that he hit to Diggs, the kind of the shot, the whole throw down the right side line off play action. That's exactly the type of throw I was thinking of. He also had a crosser to Diggs on play action near their own goal line. That was a well-placed throw coming across.

Matt Bowen from ESPN tweeted out the end zone view of it because he gets the L-22 early, I guess. And it was beautiful. I mean, and those are just the types of throws with the placement is just fantastic. He had a deep shot to Cole Beasley. was really nice. He had a deep shot to John Brown that was really nice. I mean, there's really no caveats to the game that he played today. He had the third best passing DVOA in the league today after Cam Newton and Ryan Tanna Hill. There was nothing fluky about the production.

And I think that that's scary. When you consider the rest of the talent they have on that team and how good their defense is probably going to be, if he's just playing like this and he's capable of playing like this, I don't know, how far can they? go. I mean, all the way if he's playing out of mind like this. I mean, they're legitimately a contender if he can play like this. Absolutely. Oh, yes, yes.

We're going with, I mean, how they played last year on defense. We know they're almost a proven product on defense. Yes, they gave up 28 points to the Dolphins today, but that happens. It's the NFL. We know they're good on defense. What we all the question mark was is, could Josh Allen get out of his own way? Not only did he get out of his own way, he excelled today. and those throws like you were bringing them up all of them weren't like oh the receiver made some hell

of a play they were on the money like they were throwing he threw he finally was fixing his deep balls it was finally like he had touch on them and they were going where they were supposed to go as opposed to crossing your fingers on them and yeah even looking at this like if you just look at the box score too he only had four rushing attempts that shows improvement he's playing quarterback that he's playing quarterback he's not an athlete back there he's a quarterback playing back that's an athlete and i mean that's just a great sign and just how he spread it out was great. I mean, he had 13 targets of digs and six to brown, six to Beasley. That's kind of how it's going to break out. And that's great that he's spreading around. It's not like he's like, oh, I only could go to one guy. He's actually reading stuff.

And that's that those are all just great signs to see out of them, especially this early on week two. To be this efficient and he had, it was 10.89 air yards per time today. I mean, I tweeted this. I mean, he, he's calibrating that fucking missile launcher that he has attached to his right arm. That's what is. That is. That is terrible. And so that last year, he made strides as an intermediate passer, but the deep stuff was still, it was awful. He was maybe the worst deep passer in the NFL last year. When you're watching him and cut some of those throws, the digs, the ones we're talking about the on target ones, is there anything that you've seen mechanically that just looks different for him right now? I think the mechanical improvements has been his more of a mental improvement in that it's calmed down and slowed down for him.

So now he's not ending up late on these throws. He's ending up anticipating or throwing him on time. And that means he doesn't have to kill these throws and throw it as hard as he can or throw it late and go, oh my God, I got to kill this in there. And that leads to an accuracy because then he'll overstride. His arm will sink down. Now that he's comfortable and he's in rhythm, like we were talking earlier with Cam in the pocket and rhythm, these big guys are allowed to throw and actually use their proper mechanics as opposed to get all disjointed.

And I think that's what he's able to do now is that slowing down for him mentally. he's learning that sometimes he doesn't have to be Superman, even though last week he has a couple of those moments, maybe that reset him a little bit, you know, that coming in this week, maybe that they got on again and just said, hey,

remember, this is what we're talking about, all those turnovers. And I think he's just becoming comfortable and more calm with it. It's exciting to see. It's cool to see a guy, see the game, maybe him taking a leap

and seeing the game slow down for him mentally, and that allows him to excel physically. So last year, I went out to Buffalo. I talked to Josh Allen. He was playing well at that time. I mean, it obviously was an uneven end to the season. But I went out there and talked to him just about how you essentially improve as a quarterback.

I mean, it was, it seemed that it was a simple idea, but it was a complex answer. And he said something to me that I thought was really interesting. He was talking about how he hasn't played as much quarterback as a lot of these guys have. He played a bunch of different sports. You know, he played at a small high school. He wasn't a great prospect. So it's not as if he was this full-time quarterback camp, you know, I'm getting trained. by guys some time I'm 12 years old. He started playing a lot of golf and he was comparing

his growth as a passer to his growth as a golfer. And what he said to me was always in my mind when I was growing up playing quarterback, I thought throw it hard, throw it hard, throw it hard, throw it hard. It's the same thing with golf, swing as hard as you can. Now it's how can I hit my five iron and get it to draw from right to left. It's just an easier swing. And that's how I feel like I'm throwing the ball now, which I think is really interesting. Because when you're playing golf, you don't think about distance first. You think about how can I get my swing down and the distance comes. And I think that's what we're seeing is that he kind of got some of the things down. It's almost like shooting a basketball where your range goes out and out and out. If you get the

mechanics down on easier throws, on shorter throws, then you can kind of extend it. I feel like that maybe it's an oversimification, but that's kind of what it seems like is happening right now. Yeah. And that's just going with. I mean, that's, So all these off seasons, we always talk about basketball players in the summer. Some of these stars pick up a new little trick. Football players are the same exact way. You might see more with receivers or dbs because, you know, you could see them out in space a little bit. But some of this stuff is subtle, some of these improvements.

And like you said, it might be more of a mental aspect with the golf. And that allows for that mechanical improvement. So it's one of those things that also as time goes on and I want to see maybe the defense is a just off what they're doing right now, but the bill's offense is playing pretty well overall and not just Josh. And I think that their game plan was perfect. You know, a lot of play action, a lot of man beaters. They knew the dolphins were going to play man because that's what they do. They're putting him in positions to succeed. And that was kind of my thought about the bills coming into the season is that everything else was in place. I think Daibel is super underrated. I think the guy should be a head coach.

I mean, he's, I've been impressed with him even last year when their offense wasn't necessarily Homan because of Allen, but I liked the pieces and I liked how he was using them. Now you drop digs into that equation. You have a really complimentary, diverse skill sets in the receiving core, a decent line, a good play caller, and now you got good quarterback play. You got all that stuff, now you can start cooking, and they absolutely are. All right, let's get to a couple more here for who won the week. I want to talk about Aaron Jones just really quick because he was fun as hell today.

I mean, obviously the numbers are great. He scored three touchdowns, you know, 236 yards from scrimmage. If he's on your fantasy team, you're in a good mood. But I love some of the ways that are trying to use him. One of the things they do, they love pitching the ball back to him and kind of giving him a runway, which I think really speaks to his skill set. I think it allows him to kind of work in space. They also have not been afraid to use him vertically as a receiver.

He made a ridiculous catch today. So when he was the best player on the field for Green Bay today. And I thought that when, I mean, Rogers wasn't necessarily playing bad. And when you can have a running back be that valuable, and I don't want to have this be like a, let's make fun of the Packers, you know, offseason thing again. But I'm asking you genuinely, what do you think the thought process is for using a second round pick on a running back? When you have a guy that is not a cog that you're scheming stuff up for, it is a centerpiece type player for your offense, and you have a guy in Jamal Williams who's pretty good, is it worth drafting a guy in the second round? just because you're not sure if you want to pay Aaron Jones for next year, it just feels like they outsmarted themselves here.

Yeah. The last sentence was actually basically what I was going to say. They outsmarted themselves. They thought they're trying to be two teams at the same time, just like as we said in the preview where it's like they're, they want to think ahead in the future terms, but they also want to win right now. And that's really hard to juggle two balls.

And really, that's not a position you do that at. You do that at a line. You do that at D line. You do that at corner. Exactly. Let these guys sit maybe a year. Premium positions, not running back when you already have a legit stud, like a stud stud, like a stud stud guy, not just like a pretty good back.

If you think he's replaceable, fine. If he's a drop it in, he can get what we're going to put in front of him, that's fine. But he's not that. And it's clear that he's not that from the way they're trying to use him. If they saw him in a different way, then maybe, okay, you know, they don't think he's that good, whatever, but they clearly think that he is a weapon in high leverage situations. And if you think that, I just don't understand distributing your resources that way. I don't either.

And honestly, I think some of it stems. And this is just a little theory I've kicked around is that he was poor in past protection last year. You know, I'm a coaches are going to harp in on that. And then they're just like, fine, we're going to find somebody that will do it. And that's like, that's like my one little thought like that's in the back of my head is like, oh, we want somebody that's a complete back. But guess what? Aaron Jones might not be able to pass protect,

but he can do a lot of other things really, really well. A couple more I want to hit here. Let's just, we can do this quickly. The Ravens defense. You know, we talk about Lamar all the time. Lamar was fantastic last week. I was so impressed with how the Ravens contain the Texans today. I love when teams, their identity is distilled,

and they take advantage of the skills that they have, and they really know what they want to be. And the Ravens are essentially line up and say, We trust our guys to cover the guys that you have, and we're going to use limited resources on the back end and come after you with our front seven. They are not afraid to send extra bodies. They were sending Elliott a lot today to kind of make Deshaun uncomfortable.

And they do such a good job. They end up with four sacks, 13 quarterback hits, and they have playmakers. The fact that we both love the play that Marcus Peters made, that's just a guy making a play. They were in man coverage. Randall Cobb ran into the flat. He stopped.

So Marcus Peters pretty much said, we know he's stopping. I'm going to fall off. He makes a great pick. The Marlon Humphrey strip on the touchdown that they scored. His reaction, that's when you know that a defense is feeling it. When guys are trying to create turnovers and trying to make plays and trying to score touchdowns, I know what that looks like. I've watched a lot of Bears football in my life.

It feels like the Ravens defense is there right now. It's not just about getting stops. They're trying to take the ball away. And it's almost like, this is just a pet theory. They have, there's such faith in their offense that it almost allows you to play a little bit looser and free around the defensive end because you can take chances. You don't have to win game 17 to 14 so you can just kind of build your defense with playmakers that are going to try to make game swinging plays.

When you watched them like last week, too, you know, some of the pressures they brought to, they got the one on, they got Baker. They have Klyas Campbell backing up there. You know, they're attacking these protections that these defenses have, what Wink Martindell is drawing up, and they can do that because their corners are so good. And they got Matt Judon paid because they kept all these pressures. Guess what? They get a decent pass rusher against tight ends and running backs.

They're getting a legit dude, and they're creating these matchups, and they're creating chaos. And, oh, this is what we also talked about last week, too, was when you're building a defense with an offense like they have, then go on these. runs just like what we were saying with the basketball team they go on these runs and also it's like out of nowhere it's they just scored 14 points on you and they have the ball again and it's like whoa we were weren't we just ahead three and you know it's like also and you just like yeah it's also it's like boom boom and like if you're watching red zone you're like and also the next time you see the game you're like wait a second wasn't it the score just 7 7 and also now they're up 24 7 you know

that's that's what these what the chiefs are trying to do and what I think the ravens are trying to do they're just trying to be aggressive as hell create these turnovers and and just get the ball back for Lamar and try and win these games. I want to go back and watch it. I assume this is true, but I'd have to actually look at the film. I bet on especially defined passing situation. So every third down, I would assume that over the course of a game, their four guys up front either line up in different spots or end up in different gaps on essentially

every single pass play. Judon was doing a ton of crashing inside. They were doing a ton of looping, a lot of blitzing. they are so varied in the way that they can bring pressure, and they can do that because of how much they trust the guys on the back end. Again, it is a cohesive vision for what they want to be, and that's what makes them so dangerous on both sides of the ball. One more guy here that I want to hit.

I want to talk about Kyla Murray just for a bit because I do think that he arguably is one of the guys who won the week, but I want to just throw cold water on this a little bit because he played well. There was some splash plays. I mean, the throw to Isabella was great. The throw to Kirk down the right sideline was great. In my opinion, it feels like their offense is firmly in the exciting but unreliable stage.

Would you say that's fair? Yeah. I would say that is fair. I would say that maybe when they play these better defenses that maybe know what they're trying to do, as opposed to maybe just putting all the stuff together, like Washington's trying to do who has a whole team right now. And I think that's fair. I think they're very exciting. They're very unique.

So every week we're going to want to watch them. But I think they're going to have some weeks where it's going to be ugly and they can't move the ball or they can't convert on third down. And I think that's going to be one of those weaknesses that will crop up against some of these teams that know how to blitz them and know what they're trying to do. Like right now they build somebody in their passing game. The run game stuff is really fun. And that's unlocked because of Kyler. That first touchdown he had. It was a fake shovel pass that they sweep around and had the running back lead block for him.

It was so cool and it was in the red zone. That's the stuff you can do when you have a guy like Kyler. But when you get into the passing game, they're doing. doing a lot of quick game, but they're doing a lot of these three by one concepts where they have three eligible receivers on one side and D'Andre Hopkins on the other. So they're building these isolations. And we were talking earlier. It's almost like a pick and roll. They're running a pick and roll with D'Hawks and the other three guys are like how the Rockets have it where it's like they're, okay, Kyle can kick it out to them if he's reading it right. But I think what happens

when you get to that, when you got maybe an even matchup with D'Andre and the corner that's playing them and can the other three make a play for you? And they did that a little bit today. Isabella deep ball to Kirk as well. That was a gorgeous throw. It was. Okay. It was. And but are those is that going to be sustainable against a team that's really going to sit on their stuff? They're not running crazy concepts. They're running snag basic concepts that defenses have seen. So maybe they get to a team that it's anticipating them of those sitting on those like the Saints were last year. So I think that going back to your original point, I think that is very fair to say is that they're exciting, they're fun, they're creative, they change stuff up every week. But I think there's going to be some week.

where they maybe have a rough go of it, especially on money downs, third downs, and reds on opportunities. It does feel like, and I hate to make two basketball metaphors here, but it does feel like the kind of an NBA jam team where it's DeAndre and Kyler Murray two on two against your guys,

and their guys are better than your guys, so it's going to work out every once in a while. It's not dissimilar to kind of how I felt about the Texans' offense when Deshaun and DeAndre were there. It kind of had this similar feel to it where you're like, all right, let's roll the ball out, and our guys are just going to be able to out talent your guys. And that's what they're doing.

right now. And some of it's fun. I love that there's a little fake pitch to they pit, it was a little reverse pivot pitch that he, and then he hit Arnold on the seam. It was like, that's like a beautiful little play action concept. Like they do stuff like that where I'm like, man, that's cool. But I want to transition from saying, man, that's cool to, man, they're scary. Because that's when you think about Russell Wilson today or Patrick Mahomes, who we'll talk about in a second, it's just this feeling of inevitability where no matter what you throw at them, they're going to be able to kind of find a way to wiggle through it and get where they want to go. And I just don't have faith right now in the Cardinal's ability to kind of plow through the adversity

and plow through the bad moments and say it doesn't matter. We're going to be able to find the yards we need and find the plays we need because of where we're structured and the quarterback that we have. And maybe he'll get there. I think that he's going to be a good player. But right now I just don't have that feel with them. Yeah. We said it last week. It's a little bit of Kyle Rgo do something.

And right now, that's fine, but, you know, it's a long season. That's a lot of hits. That's, you know, that's a lot of improv that you'll have to do. A lot of weight on a little guy's shoulders. Before we move on, let's take a quick break. Last week is in the books. Now it's time to review the tape and prepare for this week. There is no better place to get in all the action than with Draft Kings,

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All right, let's get to some of the lesser moments from the week here with what just happened. The Chargers deciding to punt the ball to the Chiefs on fourth and one in overtime. What just happened to the Chargers? Don't we know this by now that you just can't do that with Patrick Mahomes? Every single time you leave the door open a crack, he is going to swing it wide open and make you pay. And I thought the Chargers played a nice game. We will talk about Herbert here in a second. But you just can't do that, especially when so many teams around the league the last two weeks have been rewarded.

by being aggressive in those moments. Yeah. And like you said, they were playing a great game up until that point. And I mean, they did. They played a really good all-around game. It's whoever's that those elite QBs are, you just want to keep the ball out of their hands as much as possible. And wouldn't you want to just bet on yourself and go rather than let Mahomes get the ball and beat us? What's us win the game?

Or us just get this first down. And okay, but it was on us. It was our offense rather than, okay, it's out of our hands now. Yeah, we got a talented defense that played out of their minds today. They match up so well against the Chiefs with their pass rush and the corners they have or the DBs they have and what they run. But it's like, all right, you're playing well. The rookie QB is actually, you know, he looks like he's stepping up a little bit. Let's trust it.

Let's go for it. Screw it. It's a division win. This could be huge. And I don't know. I just didn't like that. I thought, I think afterwards the EPA was exactly the same. But then even the notes you can say is that doesn't account that you're punting the ball at the patch.

They don't know. They don't have a patched home. It's on the other side. It's it is the definition of playing not to lose. Because in your mind, when you make that decision, you say, oh, if we don't get it, we're going to lose. Not if we get it, we're going to win. Don't think about, oh, we're on our 30. Think about that you have a yard to gain.

That is the, it is a moment where there's probably some cognitive dissonance with coaches as they think about it. But it's just we have to recalibrate and redefine the way we think about those situations, especially when you have a guy like that on the other side. What were your impressions of Herbert? I mean, it was shocking that he was in there. I mean, obviously, you know, if people haven't heard, Tyra Taylor, sending some chest pains before the game, so it was a late scratch.

I mean, when he was in there for the first snap, I was like, what the hell just happened? Like, why is he in the game? And I, I don't know about you. I came away fairly impressed. I thought he played very well considering he did not practice this week with the first team. He was thrown in there cold. I mean, he was thrown in there cold.

I thought that there were definitely some moments from him today. Yeah, it was better, you know, watching him at Oregon. I watched him a little bit this spring. And they kind of kept it similar for him. They had some naked and screens for him to make it a little simpler and maybe get him on the move. But, I mean, the touchdown at Tony Romo pointed out was pretty crazy.

He had the outside go versus coverage. Scores. Yeah. And the corner was flat-footed. But the thing is, probably the corner was probably flat-footed because the corner was going, there's no way in hell he's going to throw that ball. And he threw the ball. So I think it was one of those where it was like, you know, he, he, he, he, he,

did the unexpected and that's what worked he still has some accuracy issues you know he tries to kill a lot of throws he'll sell that you know talking about josh allen and overstriading Herbert has that a little bit to him too where he's like oh i'm going to kill this and whip this in there and then the ball because he overstrives his shoulder rises and the ball sales 10 yards over the guys had so i do think he still has a lot of mechanical stuff to work on but he think that's a tall quarterback thing absolutely the fact that he his limbs are so long yep and and tall quarter it's hard to play compact yes and we talked about with Robert Quinn and the long arms and stuff like that. It's just they have long levers and these long limbs a lot more can go wrong. It's, you know, think of it as a golfer too. You know,

a taller golfer, you're like, oh, they can hit it further. But on their swing, so much more can get disjointed on their swing down. So just think of that too with a long quarterback is that the step can be too long, the step can be too short, you know, just there's too much gangliness that sometimes guys can't account for. I'm knowing that as a six five guy. That's, that's, I'm going to make that, I'm going to make that excuse to say that's an issue for all tall quarterbacks, not just me. But no, but he did some, he did some nice things. It still had some of the issues that he had at, I saw at Oregon. But like you said, no one knew what you were starting until the national anthem or until, you know, until the coin toss.

It was just, it was insane. Like all of a sudden I looked and I flipped the game on, came on. All of a sudden I just said, oh, they showed Tyra Taylor sent on the bench. And I was just like, oh, they benched them already. Wait, the game hasn't even started. So it's, yeah, yeah, not bad for a guy that probably was expecting. to be listening to the plays and writing some notes down today. I was so impressed by the way that the Chiefs kind of played late in that game.

It wasn't their best game. They had a hard time dealing with the Chargers front for a lot of that game. Outside of the throws that Mahomes made, you know, the touchdown of Tyree Kill, I went back and watched it again. It's ridiculous. It was ridiculous. It's ridiculous. I mean, it's just, he never stops.

And just like the torque that he can create with his hips and with his torso. And it's almost just like, like, a catapult, like the way that it all works. Just the, the mechanics of it are so hard for me to kind of comprehend. I mean, he just uses his arm like a whip. And to get that sort of power behind that throw is just crazy. He had a couple really nice throws. The two-point conversion was just stupid.

I mean, like, it's, I don't even understand how you think you can fit that ball in that space. But the thing that I was most impressed with him today was the work he did at the line of scrimmage in the fourth quarter and threw overtime. The Chargers had four offside penalties in this game, and he really, I think, kind of came to understand in the second half that he needed to control the tempo with his cadence. They were doing a lot of going on to, a lot of him hard counting,

not only to get guys off sides, but just to make Bosa uneasy because it felt like Bosa was playing with his hair on fire and making him think for that extra half count, I think really allowed them to kind of dictate the action down the stretch because he didn't feel like he was being pressured as often. Yeah, and just how the domino effect, how these things go the counters to the counters to the counters and everything. Yeah, he starts using the cadence.

They start chip helping because they're just getting their butts whipped. I mean, they, the Ingram and Bosa really took it to the chiefs of line today. I mean, they really did. And they were really impressive. But the chiefs adjusted in the second half. They started chipping just like they did in the Super Bowl last year. They started helping with that. But like you said, with the cadence.

And then what comes from that is what the, Chargers started doing because also they weren't in the pass rush with four guys, they started blitzing. And that's where the third and 20 came from where Mahomes ran for it. They blitz all those defenders who have to play with inside leverage because of how the play is designed, the defense is designed. They have all their backs turn to Mahomes. It's like a two-man play.

And they always say you don't want to run two-man against a running quarterback. Mahomes can work from the pocket, but he can still ad-lib and run like this. Mahomes was quick. He saw all their backs turned. He took off and run and ran for it. And I thought that's what just kept happening was they were blitzing. Some guys weren't getting open and he was just run for first downs and he was just taking what they were given to him. But that's such a weapon with a quarterback that can use their legs.

But Mahomes is known as a running quarterback, which is that's just how good he is, is that he does that extremely. He's mobile enough, baby. He does extremely well at living and being mobile and no one even talks about it usually, unless, you know, we have the Super Bowl play or the playoffs play. where he's run down the sideline against the Texans. You know, but he's, I mean, he's something else. He's just always one step ahead and he sees everything. I mean, that first quarter was ugly for him. And in the fourth quarter, you have no idea.

He throwing that ball to Tyree Kale, both feet are off the ground when he threw it. Just insanity. All right. Let's get to one more here. What just happened to the Vikings? I mean, they're 0 and 2. The Packers are 2 and O and the Bears are 2 in 0, I guess. I guess the bears are also tied for the division league.

Hoor. God, that game too. I swear to God. I really should. I tweeted this. I should just start taking up smoking cigarettes. I need to chain smoke during these games in order to make them palatable. So the Vikings, you know, go to O and 2 today, and they looked really bad doing it.

You know, both of us picked this team to win the division. And I think there are other teams. If the Cowboys go to O and 2, they can survive if they lost that game today because of the rest of the division. Now the Vikings are two games back. My question about them is, what do they do well? What can they rely on? right now because I'm not sure there's an answer to that question. Their defense is not playing well. They got diced up again today and they couldn't move the ball against the Colts defense that

I thought played better than they did last week but still isn't one of the more dominant groups in the league. So are you surprised by just kind of how rudderless the Vikings look and do you feel like there are kind of answers to come here? Yeah, I think I'm still going to hold out, hope they can improve. But I, you know, going with you said like the Kirk Cousin, Cousins, can't have those blackout bad moments that he has they seems to have every game sometimes multiple like i think there's 50 seconds left in a half he just bombs one up and throws a pick and i get it's third and 10 and i get it you're trying to let your guy make a play but not before two minute because they returned it and the colts were able to get a field goal and then he threw another pick on a hill mary but

then he comes out in the second half and he throws another interception and what has happened before when cousins has those moments where he he's trying to do too much or just has those blackout in the bad way moments that the defense bails them out gets a ball back forces a three and out we've seen it a million times it's third nine Zimmer brings a blitz on third down boom they're punt in and offense got the ball right away no harm no foul but you can't they like you said they're they have nothing they can rely on right now they have no identity they have no strength of the team right now they are just a little rudderless at the moment and I wouldn't say they didn't play inspired uninspired or anything but it's hard to see you watch that team and you go oh we have to worry about

this. I don't think you see that with the Vikings right now. I do still trust their coaches, but it wasn't a great performance today overall. I was impressed by a couple different things with the Colts. I thought that DeForest Buckner played well. Fantastic. I mean, just dropping him into that defense. I mean, he had a couple kind of splash plays that you see the highlights, him just knocking the shit out of people. But, I mean, there was one play. I think that safety, he kind of got three guys came after him. He was taking up traffic, opening things up for other guys. I thought he was everywhere. Julian Blackman, their rookie safety,

made a couple nice plays. I mean, he was somebody that was hurt during camp a little bit. I don't know if they really expected from him coming into the year. But he may have the tip that led to the interception. I thought he was flying around. Darius Leonard was the same thing. So I thought the defense was really kind of playing downhill, you know, in a way you need to when you're playing that scheme.

The other guy that jumped out for me, I mean, Jonathan Taylor had a nice game, but that was to be expected when he had a bigger role. Moe Allie Cox, man. I mean, we were joking about it earlier. He's a 270 pound tight end. Jack Doyle's hurts or he's getting a bigger role. He made some ridiculous plays today. And he fits so well with the way that Rivers plays.

It's, we already laughed about it. But it's like that play was a third down and it looked like an Antonio Gates Chargers Rivers play where it's just, it's like a corner stop, but it basically turns into a basketball boxout play. It's like, okay, get past the first down marker. out your guy and I'm going to stick it on you. And I think you said just how even Rivers, his like demeanor on the play, like gave you deja vu. You're like, oh, that step up, that river step up in the pocket where he's just like a little bit off balance, throwing that corner route. I've seen him do it 10,000 times to Antonio Gates in my life. Yeah. It just, it felt

comfortable watching him do that play exactly the way it happened. Yeah, I was really impressed. I mean, they were using him in ways it's like, just splitting him out. Yeah. I mean, he was running routes. He ran like a comeback. Yep. As the single receiver isolated on the right side on one play, I was like, man, he's doing some stuff. I always thought he had some juice. I was actually joking about it with Stephen Holder during our AFC preview.

I was talking about, man, I kind of like that guy. And I was definitely proven right today. I mean, he did a lot of great. He was the best receiver. Yeah. And Tyoy Hilton dropped another touchdown. They lost Paris Campbell during this game. You know, Pittman did a couple of nice little things, but they really needed him today.

and he came through in the clutch. So we'll see what happens with the Colts. I still have faith in their ability to kind of figure it out. Nice convincing win today. I just think they're a solid team. You know, Rivers getting a little loose down in the red zone. You know, that red zone picked today and then another one that was tipped that Pittman eventually caught.

I just, that worries me a little bit, the fact that he's being so careless with the ball in that area of the field. But I, this win, you know, again, it's not as if they squeaked by. They really took it to the Vikings who, you know, aren't a terrible team. So I feel good about them. I think that they're going to be okay here moving forward. And one more thing I want to hit on before we get out of here, their loss last week looks a lot better when you consider how Jacksonville played today.

We're going to a little long, so we're only going to have one out of an end before we get out of here. Let's talk about Gardner-Minchu. I know you want to. What has stood out to you, and again today him playing the way that he did, just about the command he's had of this offense? It's everything that happened last year. We saw those promising things as pocket movement and how he progresses. Now we're seeing what Jay Gruden calling plays and designing plays. And Garner is picking up like the back of his hand. He had a touchdown to James Robinson who also stood out who stood out these last couple weeks. He's a really fun rookie. If you haven't watched him yet, he's really fun. I feel bad for making fun of James Robinson. I feel bad. I made fun of James Robinson after the four net trade. I made a joke about people that. invested in the Jags backfield needing to seek help. And I regret my joke and I was wrong about James Robinson.

I'm more than willing to admit it. At least it's early. You got it. You got it in quick. But no, but now at least I didn't pass on signing Cam Newton. Exactly. Victories where you can get them.

But no, but so like on this play, like in this is just a perfect. Garner Minchu has run this play mesh a million times probably at Wazoo, Washington State with Mike Leach. And they, uh, they bring pressure on.

him. They bring pressure on him and he doesn't have Titans do. Doesn't even hesitate. He throws this wheel route to James Robinson and puts it on the money. And on top of it, James Robinson makes a nice play. But the hands in his face, but Garner, if you want it on the replay of it, his face is just so calm. He's like, he knew he was going there and he knew he was going to have a hand in his face. So he's a second year QB that knows protections already, which is astounding. He knows he's a great scrambler. Last year, he led the league and scrambles and scrambles and scrambles. attempts on past plays and he was getting like eight nine yards a pop on him so he's a good scramble he knows what he is like and it's yeah he is just a fun player because he's ruining their tank

i mean he is the anti tank commander he's the anti tank commander right now you tank in the off season and i i think that rolling with your six round quarterback is good tanking hiring j gruden as your offensive coordinator is bad tanking they should have just gone with jason garris and just let it ride with somebody terrible. They hired too good of an offensive coordinator. There is no way this team finishes with the worst record in the NFL when the Jets exist. No, no zero chance. I mean, that offense is so much fun to watch.

I highly suggest looking at it, even just going on YouTube, watch the highlights. Because what they're doing is so creative. They got Levinsky-Schneul back there. He had like six or seven carries today. So they're just being creative of what they have. And it's just a lot of fun. DJ Charks are great player. It's a fun offense and it was so unexpected.

I knew Jay Geroon was a good offense coordinator. His Bengals offenses were a lot of fun and really good teams. Oh, yeah. And the Washington offense is for a couple years. Some of them were really good. Yes, yes. I always thought he was a great play caller. I think my thought, and I still think this might happen,

I wouldn't be at all. I mean, I would be a little bit surprised because if they have to bring in another quarterback or whatever. It wouldn't shock me if he is the head coach of that team next year. Oh, okay. that's spicy right yeah i mean if they keep playing offense like this and you just kind of say we need to start over yeah but we believe in what he can bring for us that would not surprise me and usually i think those choices are terrible when you elevate as an assistant because they had a good

showing for one year but i think with his track record i don't think it's the worst idea in the world yeah and also where his past head coaching experience was at you know it's kind of one of those things where it's like you know we'll give you a mulgan on some of the stuff that happened there This is not Adam Gase. Yeah, it's a sliding scale. So it's a sliding scale. So it's like, we know what situation you were in there. You did good there.

Okay, we're not going to hold that against you how it ended up. One more thing before we get out of here. I want to revise something I said earlier. We should talk about the Falcons onside kick situation because I have seen the clip a couple more time since we've been recording. Have you watched it? As far as the guy's staring at it, like it's a punt. What are they? Why aren't they going for the ball?

You know what it looked like? It looked like when there's a bunt down or something down. Yeah, down the third. Yes. No, a bun. Like a ball. Like a ball.

Yes. With a B or a punt. Yeah, punt and bunt. But like down the third base line and you have the catcher, the pitcher, the pitcher in the third baseman just all staring at it like waiting for it to go over. That's what it looked like. And it just blows my mind that they just didn't box out one guy dove on it. How many guys they have around at four at one point?

Like before the scrum started. It, yeah. That was, that was bonkers. And again, that's maybe it's this crazy kickstop. just threw them for a loop that they're like, oh my God, it's not, it's not a flutter ball like we're used to. They're expecting the pop-up ball. So, also, they get a sidewiner, granny-style bowling style, you know, so I have no idea. But I want to see what all these new on-site kick styles are going to be because I think this is just going to,

this is the first of a whole bunch of new styles that we're going to see this year. Ben Cutwicka is the special team's coordinator for the Falcons. He's having a rough day and it's not going to get better tomorrow. I can tell you that right now. That is going to be a tough little film session that happens in Atlanta this week. They have slow-mo available. That's just going to be even more brutal

so they can just count the inches as though it balls going. It's going to be a much better mood in Dallas and Seattle when they go back and look at things today. But it was a wild week two, as we should come to expect at this point. Nate, thank you so much for doing this. Really appreciate you, buddy. It really enjoyed it.

As always, guys, thank you so much for listening to the Athletic Football Show. Please subscribe, rate and review on your favorite podcast platform. Please go to theathletic.com slash football show for a special offer to subscribe to the athletic. We will be back on Wednesday, the very fun slate of guests for you. Until then, thanks a lot. Talk to you guys soon. This was the athletic football show.