The Fumblerooski Podcast - Self-Imposed Defeat -Ep 380 The Fumblerooski Podcast

Episode Date: September 6, 2025

On today's episode, Eagles take the Opening Night win over the Cowboys in a wild way to start the 2025 season. Jalen Carter ejected for spitting on Dak Prescott 6 seconds into the game, A wild skirmish, 41 points in the 1st half, AJ Brown only gets 1 target the entire game, and Ceedee Lamb drops 3 passes in the 4th Quarter. Is Philly's defense in trouble? Chris Costich and CJ Medeiros talk all of this and give our Week 1 picks for this weekend!

The Philadelphia Eagles get the win on opening night 24 to 20. And what a way to start the NFL season. Jalen Carter tossed six seconds into the game. We had a torn ACL. We had a benches clearing brawl. Shit, we had a weather delay. Football's back. Football's back.

Football's back. And I couldn't be any more happy about it. This is the Fullmerusky podcast. It may not have always showed it in the staff sheet, but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws. Back-to-back games where he has three touchdowns. Someone's got to get that six or seven spot. He's an elite wide receiver as a rookie.

Truly a lose-lose scenario for both sides. Welcome to the Fulmuruski podcast by Parity, Dean Radio, and Secret Weapon Consulting. I'm Chris Kostich. He's C.J. Medeiros. Football's back. The Friday episodes are back. Of course, today we're going to be doing our Friday picks for week one.

And if you tune in on Wednesday, we already gave our picks for Thursday night and the Chiefs game, the Chiefs Chargers game that's going on in Brazil later tonight. We're currently recording this just a little afternoon. Friday, September 5th, or two days away from the first Sunday of the NFL season, which obviously when you come in when you got the Thursday night game and all of a sudden you add in this Friday night game it's great and all it's great I love the NFL is bringing it back or giving us these games right but it doesn't feel like it's completely kicked in that the NFL season is back

until that Sunday until that Sunday absolutely oh yeah but Got a good one here. But first we're going to take a peek at the or recap the Eagles Cowboys game, which, boy, this was, this was on pace for game of the year. This was on pace for it. I thought that the Eagles were just going to bully the Cowboys out of the water. But, I mean, both defenses did not have a good start to this game.

Let's get that straight. there was no punts until after the weather delay happened Jalen Carter So we we miss the first part of this game, right? We were both working and so I get word from one of our co-workers that Jalen Carter had just gotten tossed out of the game and six seconds in I was like Jesus Christ he only lost at one play he didn't even get a snap No. He didn't even get a goddamn snap. I.

Oh, my God. Have you ever seen that? Because I don't think I ever have. Honestly, no. I don't think I've ever seen a player get ejected before the snap. Has it happened before an NFL history? Probably in my lifetime. I don't know.

Not that I've seen. Yeah, for real. I just, uh. You know, for those who don't know, or Jalen Carter spit on Cowboys quarterback, Dack Prescott, and we found out allegedly Dax spit first. A lot of players spit on the ground. Yes. Dax spat on the ground near Carter.

Carter immediately just took that as a sign of respect and spit on Dack. And Eagles fans are allegedly calling it Spickgate. Oh, Dack. fit first he's not going to be fine and i'm like now see if you're jalen carter dude like i respect your game you're an absolute beast but keep your head on your shoulders big man like what what are we doing here dog you can't be doing that the the memes from this game were off the rails they really are oh and yeah but like i said it's like he he the fact that he immediately took that sinus respect and like decided to do that again

man, come on, like, stop and things sometimes. Like, I mean, Jalen Carter, he's a great player, but you can't let your temper get away from you this early in the season. Yeah, no, and I could see where a guy like, or just any guy in general, you know, you're spinning in a guy's general direction. Like, let's, I think that's a pretty safe way to say what Dax doing. He is, in fact, he may be spitting at the ground, but he is spitting at another man's direction, which can be deemed as disrespectful. But as Jalen Carter, you've got to be the bigger man and not spit on the opposing team's quarterback. Exactly. Knowing full and damn well, you're going to get tossed.

You are the best pass rusher Philly has right now. And without your presence, Philly did not log a single. sack. Yep. So dude, I mean, look, you won. Like, if you had lost, maybe be a bigger thing, but, you know, but Jaylon Carter, come on, man. Sometimes, you know, whatever I'm in, a funk, I have to take a nice, relaxing drive around. Jalen Carter, maybe that doesn't work too well for you or really anyone who went to UGA. But, dude, just hell. Just that's really what it is. Like, you know, it's week one, everyone's a little rusty, tensions run high, but You just can't be doing that.

Yeah. Just can't. Either way, other than that, first half, a fun, very fun first half. 44 points total scored for 41, 41, pardon, because the field goal came in the third quarter. But 41 points total. Eagles had a 21 to 20 lead going into the halftime break. first half that also involved a first half, a skirmish between two sides after a kickoff.

Javonte Williams. Everyone had him on his bench and he decided to go out. Oh my God. 15 carries, 54 yards, two tuds. It's been somewhere every Denver Broncos fan in the United States of America is saying, oh, Javante, why couldn't you do that when you were with us? Yeah, for real, for real. I would say one of the biggest plays of the game, though, was in that third quarter.

A couple minutes before the lightning delay. And Miles Sanders breaks out a huge run down the sideline. And Zach Bond chases him down to save a touch. Because if Bond doesn't chase him down, that's six. A couple plays later, Miles Sanders fumbles the ball in the red. zone, Eagles recover, take over, and that's the end of the Cowboys Drive. And that was the closest they got to the red zone the rest of the night. So that was probably the biggest play of the night right there.

And then the lightning, the weather delay happened. And I remember Mike Tariko on the call was like, man, it hasn't rained here all damn week. And it's not raining now. It ended up raining afterwards, but only a 45-minute delay, which is good. Ended up for an hour-long delay, I should say. Game started back up, but it was clear that the weather delay had kind of killed all the momentum of the game. Offense was very sluggish from both sides. There was no score the entirety of the fourth quarter.

And you're going to love this one, CJ. the over on this game was 48 and a half if you were that one guy that took the under I salute you yeah yeah for real uh gotta give credit to Dallas though they were hanging in this entire game the offense was really good of course both of course we can talk about the defense but both defenses kind of just locked in once that weather delay or after the weather delay. So I'm not going to specifically like say the Cowboys defense, but they did pretty solid tonight. There was a lot of plays where they were able to get at least in the back half of the game where they were able to stuff Saquan and A.J. Dillon for no yards,

which was pretty impressive considering they weren't able to do it the entirety of the first half. Jalen Hertz. So we'll talk about C.D. Lamb in a second because obviously his name is big among social media right now. Jalen Hertz and A.J. Brown obviously their relationship is good. But A.J. Brown only getting one target is insane to me.

I just don't understand it. Like, Jalen Hertz, for some reason, thinks that A.J. Brown must be like a nuclear bomb and the fucking football's the dead. detonator. I don't even know. He just refuses

to throw it in football. That's all I can really say about it. It's just so frustrating. Like, get this fucking man on the Pats right now. Get him on the Pats right now. Like, CJ, you're a fantasy owner, but take away the bias.

Like, it kind of is frustrating. Like, not even being an Eagles fan. It is frustrating to watch Dylan Hertz just not throw the ball to AJ Brown. yeah i mean this was an issue that came up during the super bowl of all places and sure they won but that's the thing that's the thing cj is that they are winning so it really shouldn't be a problem but it's like you can only you can only rely on the run so much too but that's just how the game played out for them.

They were able to just control the ground game the entire game, the pretty much the entire day. But later in the game, so we'll talk about CD Lamb. Four drops total. Three in the second, in the fourth quarter alone. Three in the fourth quarter alone. First one was in his hands on a third down. It was kind of in some traffic.

I'll give him a pass on that. second one was a downfield throw that would have gotten them potentially in the red zone he dropped it and then a fourth down pass that was a little slightly overthrown it made cd lamb have to dive out full extendo have to make added his hands and dropped it cowboys go on to lose cd lamb would have had 11 catches 215 yards and and potentially a touchdown if he made those catches. I am a fantasy owner of C.D. Lamb, and that pisses me off. God, yeah, absolutely.

Good Lord. Like, I mean, look, don't get me wrong. He's still at 18 fantasy points, but God, it just sucks when they leave points on the field. It really does. And the thing is, right, as much as the NFL world, myself included, likes to rip on Dak Prescott. Heck, when I worked at that radio station, just around back in Delaware, my boss, who was a Cowboys fan, you know, used the word unclutch to describe Back Prescott. That's rightfully so. But this is one of those scenarios where you can't really blame

Dak for that. Those passes were perfect. Maybe not that last one. You know, maybe not that was a little overthrown. But Lamb, sure, he reached out for it, but he got both of his hands on the ball. But the other three, those were perfect right in the bread basket, right over the shoulder, and Lamb just decided, hmm, no, I'm going to drop these today. I guess I just don't, I don't, I mean, I know it wasn't intentional, duh. Yeah. But good Lord, for a guy who fancies himself the best in the game, you sure didn't make a case for it. Yeah. I mean, like you said, 11 catches 215 yards of a touchdown. And here. Here's the thing. If you get that touchdown, you win because Philly only beat you by four.

You covered the spread. I'll grant you that, but you didn't win. And one more thing. The Cowboys on the defensive side of the ball, remember how Jerry Jones said they wanted to stop the run? Yeah. They gave up 158 passing yards with Kenny Clark. And last season, yes, rushing on it. 158 rush of yards, 158 yards on the ground you gave up. I thought Kenny Clark was supposed to fix that. Oh, wait. Last season, Michael Parsons' run defense grade was actually a tiny bit better than Kenny Clark's. Not to mention, they only got one sack the entire game.

And that was from Marshawn Neeland. But outside of that, they really struggled to get any pressure on Prescott. On Hertz, I meant. And Hertz had all day. the pocket on many such cases and whenever there wasn't anyone there you know he was just able to wiggle through the defensive front to grab the first down and not to mention all of philly's touchdowns were on the ground that michael parsons trade is looking worse and worse to which i set and to which all the cowboys fed say yeah but philly didn't get any sacks well yeah because jalen carter made a

boneheaded mistake and got chucked out of the game you this was entirely self-imposed it didn't have to be this way yeah um but i was going to say and the thing with philly though is philly definitely left a lot of opportunities on the table you know they didn't get a j brown involved they didn't force any turnovers Dallas actually outgained them on the ground but this was just a comedy of errors. I mean, it might be a little early to say who wanted it less, but Dallas, you could have won, and you did not. Like, I mean, it really feels more like Dallas lost the game than Philly one. Like, don't get me wrong, it was a solid effort, but the Cowboys keep shooting themselves in the foot on offense and on defense. Like I said, you can't stop the run, and you're, you only got

one sack generated next to no pressure the entire game. So, yeah, the NFL's back. The NFL is indeed back. Are you worried about the Eagles defense? Uh, no. If this keeps up by like week five or six, then probably. But hey, the first two weeks of the year, you're knocking off the rust. Everyone is.

The Eagles were no exception. They still won. Honestly, if they lost, I'd say, say okay i'm a little concerned but i would say don't panic maybe panic probably week five or six this hasn't changed but you know yeah no i i can agree with that um in terms of jel and carter uh obviously there's probably going to be more ramifications for him for all we know i would imagine i doubt they're going to suspend him for a game to be honest because he basically sat out an entire game so you could probably put that into play uh but yeah

So we'll see what happens, ends up happening with Jalen Carter. We'll probably end up finding out sometime next week, I feel like, once week one is settled down. But they're going to review all the footage and see what's going to happen. All right. We're going to take a quick break when we come back. We can get into our week one picks,

starting with our Ruski game of the week. Don't go anywhere. It may not have always showed it in the stat sheet, but you can see him making throws when he, needs to make the throws. Back-to-back games where he has three touchdowns. Someone's got to get that six or seven spot. He's an elite wide receiver as a rookie.

Truly a lose-lose scenario for both sides. Welcome to the Fulmaruski podcast by Party 18 Radio and Secret Weapon Consulting. He's C.J. I'm Chris. By the way, we're recording this on Friday the 5th. Technically, this episode is coming out Saturday. six so pardon me for miss speaking at the top of the show but that's just what happens i guess you know many such cases yeah yeah rusky game of the week bills ravens sunday night football rematch of the a fc divisional game the schedule makers are cooking over here they're cooking

absolutely cooking. What a way to start out week one, by the way. So we'll get to the actual matchup of Ravens and Bills in a second. But Ravens Bills, Cowboys Eagles, which just happened, Chargers Chiefs, which is going to be happening in a couple out or later tonight, like I said, recording on Friday night. Detroit Green Day, don't forget. Yep.

Don't worry, I was getting there. Detroit Green Day, Minnesota, Chicago is going to be a fun game. That's Monday Night Football. San Francisco, Seattle, that's going to be a fun one. Bro, Bucks Falcons, man. That's going to be fun. It should be. It should be.

And it says what we think. Oh, yeah. So the schedule makers, they're putting their best foot forward this week. It looks promising on paper. Oh, yeah. Houston Rams could be a good one too. So it's going to be a fun slate on Sunday. That's or just, yeah, Sunday's going to be a fun one.

That's for sure. but oh yeah can't i i can't wait like i said they they put their best foot forward it really does feel like the nthl is back yeah all right raven's bills so rematch of the a fc divisional round uh tj just give me some opening thoughts when you think of this game i do love a rematch i really do however it's still in Buffalo though and that's going to be something and I know both Lamar and Josh Allen do in fact have a chip on their shoulder and it's really going to come down I think to defense right because Josh Allen's coming off an MVP campaign Buffalo just threw James Cook the

bag Keong Coleman is looking to take the next step. Khalil Shakir also got the bag thrown at him, not too long ago, I recall correctly. And, heck, they brought in Curtis Samuel. I mean, not Kurtz Samuel. They brought in the guy from the Chargers, Josh Palmer, to pair alongside Curtis Samuel as a gadget guy. Not to mention that good duo of Dalton, Kincaid, and Dawson Knox. The Ravens, on the other hand, Lamar and Derek Henry are still a frightful duo. Mark Andrews, yeah, I know a recency.

Bias would say he sucks after that championship performance. But if anyone's going to be motivated, it's him. Zay Flowers continues to blossom into possibly a top 15 receiver. And don't forget, they just added steady veteran D'Andre Hopkins, who is he in his prime? No, but is he still someone you have to respect? Oh, yeah, if you don't keep your eye on him, he will make you pay. So these teams on offense are pretty evenly matched, but for me, it comes down to defense. I think they're definitely going to be trading scores.

And at the end of the day, it's going to be which defense blinks first. Do you want me to get my pick or because I can. Yeah, honestly, just give you a pick right now. Why not? All right. I'll get my pick right now. I think the bill's defense is going to be the one that blinks first. I think Baltimore goes up on the road and grinds out a win.

Because Alan, airing it out is going to be tough. It just is. Because Jair, they're pairing Jair Alexander, who for once is healthy with Marlon Humphrey. And you have rookie Nate, or second year man, he was rookie last year, Nate Wiggins as your third corner. That's huge. Kyle Hamilton, you just paid. He's there to stay.

And star rookie from Georgia, Malachi stuff. And, you know, Roquan Smith was looking to have a bounce back year. You got Namdi on a BK up front. And Mike Green, who could have gone. on the first round, if not for, you know, the controversies, off-field issues, you know, another NFL player there's difficulty hearing the word no. But don't get me wrong, he's still a problem on the field.

And you also got guys like David O'Jabo, too, who, I mean, we're still kind of waiting for him to develop, but he definitely shows flashes. So that being said, I'm probably, I have to go with the Ravens on this one. I like it. I like it. For me, I'm going to go with the Bills.

I'm going to go with the Bills. You could look at Lamar. You could just look at Lamar's record in primetime games. And just go, you could just pick Lamar himself. But give me the Bills at home under the lights. in front of Bill's Mafia. Bill since 22 have the best record under the lights in the NFL. I like to go by, as you can tell, I like to go by trends.

So I'm going to keep with it on the trends. Give me the bills in this one. I think that Josh Allen is going to keep going off of his, you know, keep that, get that bump from that MVP season last year. and have a solid game. Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson are both going to go off. It doesn't matter how it's going to be. They're going to find a way to have spectacular performances.

There's no doubt about that. Do I think the Ravens defense is going to stand up a little bit taller than the bills? Sure. But is it going to be enough to contain Josh Allen? I don't think so. I don't think so. So that's what I'm going to go with. And also, also, too, I mean, the Ravens had such a terrible past defense last year that I feel like that, you know, we're still in the early weeks of the season.

I feel like shades of that is going to come back into this game. Yeah, possibly. It's just, I don't trust Buffalo's receiving core. Yeah. That's the other thing. Buffalo does have pretty weak receiving core. We've seen quarterbacks be able to find a way to get around that. And Josh Allen has proven that he's one of them.

Yep. All right. Spread on this game, one and a half. Ravens are the favorite team, 50 and a half. Part of me kind of wants to go under on that one. Yeah. That is. That is our Ruski game of a week.

We're going to take one more quick break when we come back. We're going to get into the rest of the week one slate. You're listening to the Fumble Ruski podcast. It may not have always showed it in the staff sheet, but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws. Back-to-back games where he has three touchdowns. Someone's got to get that six or seven spot. He's an elite wide receiver as a rookie.

Truly a lose-lose scenario for both sides. Welcome back to the Fulmorewski podcast, C.C.J. I'm Chris. Time for the rest of the week one picks, starting with the early afternoon slate, or for us Eastern folk, the 1 p.m. Eastern Standard Time slate. We'll start from the top here. Tampa Bay and Atlanta. Spread is Tampa Bay by one and a half. 47 and a half over under It's

I find it odd That this game As such a tight spread The way it is Well there's a lot of hype around Atlanta So that's probably why But there's something about Atlanta's defense That just

Still feels underwhelming to me There's something about it There really is Whereas, like, this game in general, I feel like it should be not a Tampa runaway, but it should be leaning heavily towards Tampa Bay. I think so, yeah. You would think so. Maybe not like a double-digit win, but probably like eight or nine.

Yeah. Atlanta could get their licks in, but me personally, I'm going with Tampa on this one. I'm going with Tampa, too. Mm-hmm. No pun intended with the defense coverage. But yeah, I feel like what was that? I said elite ball knowledge required. Yeah, for real.

If Tampa is going to win the division, then I feel like that it's going to start with a good divisional win against a divisional opponent that's going to compete with you for that division title. in my opinion the NFC South is really just Tampa is to lose at this point and it starts right here and it's not going to be a

I don't think it's going to be like as you mentioned a convincing win like a double digit win but I can see it hanging around that one score I could see it hanging around that one score area you know. Absolutely. Absolutely.

All right. Moving on to the next game on the list, Cincinnati and Cleveland. This is another one that's kind of, I feel overwhelmed to the Bengals. But. But, you know, are you thinking of what I'm thinking here? Joe Flacko. No, no, no, not even that. What do we think?

To everyone watching, here's what I have to say, are you familiar with, The curse of the week one and two Cincinnati Bengals. Oh, yeah, that's right. That is right. I believe. Like, as long as Zach Taylor's been a coach, they're like either two and ten or 11 and one in weeks one and two. That's. That's concerning.

That is a thing. And look, I'm aware that the Browns. You know, they're the Browns. But it's in Cleveland, and you know how those, especially AFC North rivalries get. And I ain't go out of you. The Bengals thing is very, very real. And, you know, Joe Flacco's not necessarily a bum at Q me. You know, you got Jerry, Judy, rookie Quinn Sean Jenkins, David and Joku.

The Bengals also have no doubt. Defense. You know what? Screw it. Give me Cleveland. Give me the curse. The Bengals curse, that is. Don't curse me, fake odds. But yeah, I'm going Cleveland. By the way, that's my upset of the week. This is the textbook definition of a trap game. I'm going to, I like it. Honestly, you almost just swung me to pick the Browns for a second there. I'm going to pick the Bengals. I do think that the Browns are. going to be better than what most people think this year, mainly because, like, I refer back to our conversation with Tony Pauline a couple months back during draft season, or just after draft season, where, you know, it's, this is a Brown's team that ended up having a ton, a ton of injuries. Like, it was basically Detroit Lions level of injury, just minus that they were like, just minus the fact that the lines were the top seat and that entire NFC

and the Browns were the exact opposite. Minus that, they're a solid team. This could very well be a solid team. And I think if like the only thing that's probably going to hamper them is quarterback play. But that's going to be dependent on what we see out of the offense in general, honestly. Are you, hey, Flacco did win

comeback player of the year with Kevin Stafansky so Yeah And for what it's worth I just want to say I don't think Stafansky is a bad coach

And the fact he's on the hot seat I think is stupid Yeah It's silly Andrew Barry should be chucked into Lake Erie But so whatever We don't always get what we want

Yeah Next game Colts and Dolphins In Indian Annapolis, Daniel Jones is your starting quarterback against the Dolphins. Dolphins, of course, with Tua, this is nothing about this Dolphins team I like. And there's nothing about this Colts team that I, this was honestly kind of a tough decision for me. because I almost chose Colts

but then I had to remind myself that Daniel Jones is the quarterback and look throughout the entirety of training camp like there was no clear winner of the starting quarterback job until Anthony Richardson got hurt

which goes to show Daniel Jones what he's capable of if that makes sense yeah and it also goes to show what Anthony Richardson is capable of

which is a terrible terrible terrible terrible predicament to be in if you're the Colts when you look at the dolphins they got the fate

of being softer than puppy shit on their side I mean literally just look at a quote from one of the dolphins players after their joint practice

with, I forget which NFC team it was. Do you remember? Not off my hand. It was basically like, oh, it was like,

they were basically calling whatever team fake tough and stuff like that. Basically like shitting on the other team for going 100%. 110% probably. It was like,

honestly, I'd rather be that team that goes 110. 10% in the preseason rather than Miami, which is a team that has never gone 110% at all in Mike McDaniel's entire coaching tenure. Yeah. For real. You know what?

God. What? Who are you picking, CJ? Because I'm at the point where I don't know. This is another one where Miami has a lot of talent. But the Colts actually do have a. solid defense. But for me, the difference maker for Indy is Daniel Jones and Jonathan Taylor. For Daniel Jones, I don't need you to be Patrick Mahomes. I don't need you to be Josh Allen.

I don't need you to be Lamar. I don't need that from you. I need you. If I'm Shane Steichen, I'm going to Daniel Jones and I'm saying, I need you to limit the mistakes. I mean, I know that stupid conservative play not to lose mindset but if you don't turn the ball over we win essentially because they're receiving corps is actually solid you know michael pitman alec pierce josh downs tight end tyler warren and the big difference maker for me jonathan taylor i do not believe Miami's going to have an answer for them. And while the Miami offense, you got Tua,

you got Tyreek, you got Waddle, I urge people to remember Miami, outside of Minka Fitzpatrick, you've got Jack at defensive back. I didn't mean to rhyme. That's just kind of

how it works. Roll with it. Javan Holland is now a New York giant. Jalen Ramsey is gone. Artie Burns, who you grabbed in Fragency, is hurt. You are trotting out, Rasul Douglas and Storm Duck. This is a race to the bottom. And low key, I'm tilting Colts solely because it's in Indy. If ever in Miami, I'd say Dolphins all the way, but I feel like the Colts defense is suspiciously slept on. And ever since they

fired Gus Bradley, I think it's going to get better. But I feel like Miami's just a tiny bit more dysfunctional. Yeah. I would probably end up having an ultimately lean Colts with that point. I also don't really think that Miami is going to have much of an answer for Jonathan Taylor at all. That was a big weakness. just in last year in general for Miami was their running defense and I just

Colts had a pretty solid run game last year of course and yeah Jonathan Taylor so it's it's kind of you would have to think that Jonathan Taylor's going to run all over him but who knows Colts Colts okay New England and the Raiders the Raiders breaking news though Unfortunately. Breaking news in regards to this game, Christian Gonzalez officially ruled out for week one. Unfortunately. Just unfortunate. I hate to see that.

But in other news, Stefan Dix is good to go for week one. So there's that. This is a very interesting game. I think this is Obviously we're Pat's fans We're going to say certain things about the Patriots But this truly does feel like One of the more interesting week one games of the season

You know, you look at the Patriots, they have a revitalized defense Got a brand new weapon in Stefan Diggs Got a new weapon in Trevion Diggs Who you got in the second round of the draft Trivion Henderson, but yeah. What did I say? Trivion Diggs. Trevion Henderson, yeah.

You look on the Raiders side, kind of a new look. You got Pete Carroll as your head coach. Gino Smith is your quarterback, which also we should probably don't know how we, Amari Cooper also just retired yesterday. I don't know how we just glossed over that fact. let's take a quick moment for Amari Cooper solid career Absolutely

Hall of very good I think that's a fair way to describe Amari Cooper Yeah now Amari Cooper Was always even at his best He was always underrated Whenever I think of like Prime Amari Cooper Not even his Cowboys tenure

But on the Raiders Good God I just think of that waste of potential with him car and crab tree yeah we all remember that one really good 2016 year yeah amari cooper what what an absolute legend though uh one of the better wide receivers when he in his prime but yeah i will say he was you know drafted in 2015 and throughout 10 years in the NFL he hasn't and And 33 receiving yard, 64 touchdowns on 711 catches. You know what?

I'll tip my hat to you, Amari Cooper. Oh, and five Pro Bowl appearances as well. That's pretty good. Any all pros? So, yeah. I didn't think you made it all pro. I'm looking at it now. I don't believe so, no.

Okay. Yeah, so all of very good. unfortunately not a Hall of Fame resume but I mean it's he's still going to be one of those players that we look back on and say damn they he was a it was damn good receiver it and it's unfortunate that it kind of started to fall off a little bit once he got into Cleveland and then Buffalo we didn't really do much at all and then um there was a practice video that got

released right after uh Mara Cooper announced his retirement and it was bit he just had nothing left in him which unfortunately happens and you know what good on amari cooper for recognizing it and stepping away before the season got underway no to the all right back to the raiders themselves chino smith p carroll got through that ashen gente is now you're running back a team that had a bottom five running game in the league now could potentially have a top 15 running game in the league with Ashen Genty as your tailback.

That's big. That is pretty big. That's, I feel like that's basically the conversation here. Can the Patriots contain Ashton Jenty? Can they contain Brock Bowers? Those are really the two biggest questions in this one. Other than that, I'm not keen on the Raiders defense. I feel like the Patriots could have a,

solid day throwing around on them minus the fact that they got a key in on max crosbie so with that being said i'm going to go patriots on this one pats have been terrible at since brady left there's no there's no getting around that but now we have a new era a mike variable era with Drake May and that home dominance comes back yeah uh for me i don't like the line as a pat's fan i'm scared everybody says oh if new england's good this year take it with a grain of salt because and i quote they have a cupcake schedule look if you watch this show at all you already know how i feel about the way the lead you term and strength of schedule i think it's wrong. The way they do it is severely flawed, but whatever. But I would push back on that narrative.

See, the Raiders aren't pushovers. They were last year, but they're not. I mean, they're not a high ceiling team, but they're a high floor team. I mean, you know, with Gentie, Pete Carroll, Gino Smith, they're just cleaning the slate. They're going to be solid. And the thing with New England is, I'm worried about how they gel. They brought in some good names this off season, but at the end of the day, you can't be like a Frankenstein's monster of names just stapled together. But the fact that it's in New England with that new era, and Mike Rable is an experienced head coach, that gives me enough to say, I think New England's going to win. And I was worried about Max Crosby and Will Campbell, but Will Campbell's a left

tackle and Crosby lines up on the right, which is good because Will Campbell, I think, is a small ankle injury, but he's going to play. Gonzalez being out would concern me a lot more if Carlton Davis was unhealthy, but Davis is fine. Alex Austin, I think, is underrated, and they have Marcus Jones. And I was concerned about Ashton Genty, but if you're a Patriots fan, let me give you two names, Milton Williams and Christian Barmore. I'm going to England.

Oh, yeah, that's right. We got Christian. That's right. That's right. Pat's got Christian Barmore back. I forgot about that. God bless. They recover from the blood clots.

Jesus. Yeah, I'm so happy. I mean, as a Pat's fan, I'm happy to have him back. But as a whole, I do think I'm just happy he's okay. Blood clots are nothing to play about. And I'm just glad for him and for his family that he saved.

Yeah. Thank God. Moving on to the next game. Cardinals Saints. Cardinals. Cardinals. We don't even mean to explain it, just Cardinals. Yeah. There's a wrap-up for the Saints and Cardinals right there. I don't even care that's in New Orleans. Like, yeah, nah, look, there's going to be no energy there, like, just Cardinals.

Yeah. Spencer Radley's your quarterback. Cardinals defense, looking pretty solid. You picked up Josh Swett and Free Agency. Cardinals, I feel like, are going to look. I feel like this is going to be a bit of a Kyler-Murray feel-out, Marvin Harrison type of game. Hopefully we get more of that connection. Maybe Trey McBride has himself a big game as well. I can see it. Yeah, either way, Cardinals by a billion. I don't even know.

We're hammering the over. Yeah, we're hammering the Cardinals toll over. Another game that is probably up there for one of the more interesting games of week one is Steelers at Jets One year removed and Rogers returns to MetLife This is a bit of an

I'm going to say Steelers first off Or Pardon me What did I write down I think I said Steelers Originally and I told myself Jets Yeah You know what

Let me sell you on the Jets Okay Let me sell you on the Jets. Sell me on the Jets, Chris. There's not much to sell. There's not much to sell. This is just one of those games that I just feel like. It's a trap game.

Yeah. You know, it's the return of Aaron Rogers. You got a new coach in New York. Yeah, the Jets are going to fucking suck. Look, they're going to suck. You got Justin Fields as your quarterback. There's nothing good that can come from that, really. and I just got a feeling that the Steelers are going to have a weird little slug fest with the Jets

and the over under for this game is kind of saying the same thing as well. Over under is 30 and a half or 37. Oh, please, the over under should be like 25. Yeah. Now. Yeah. Jets are. Jets are going to be looking for a little payback on Rogers.

They don't want Rogers coming in with his new team and just laying the smackdown on them. I usually don't like picking the Jets because I hate the Jets, but I think it would just be so fucking hilarious to see the Jets beat the Steelers this week. So give me the Jets. All right. I see the vision. I do. I am going with the... There is no logical reasoning to my pick.

Yeah, no, it's a trap game. Like, there's no logic behind trap games. Yeah. But I am going with the Steelers, and I'll tell you why. First, this is also a revenge game for them. They don't want Justin Fields to win. They don't. They want to, you know, they want to march right to MetLife Stadium and say, you ain't shit.

Second, the Jets is also Justin. and Fields thing. The Jets have no confidence in fields. Did you hear about their game plan? It's going to be run, run, and run some more. They're like, oh, if Fields has to make a play on third down, we'll let him, but it's going to be runs. That's what it is. It's all running. And while I've made no bones about my thoughts on Mike Tomlin, you know, maybe being a tiny bit overrated. This is one of those scenarios where experience will win out, especially with rookie head coach Aaron Glenn. I'm going Steelers. It's just, I feel like Tomlin's going to scheme up something especially nasty for fields. Yeah, I could see it. I mean,

this is just, the spread, the over under, this just all screams. Trap game. slug fest and like you could just flip a coin Washington New York Giants Washington Washington I feel like this could be one of those games or the Giants bait you into having hope

they're probably going to be up by three at halftime then the second half jane Daniels just crushes them because that's how division games tend to go I feel like it's going to start out close but then by the time the third quarter kicks off, commanders are just going to pull away. Because look, like the Giants' defense is nothing to scoff at. It's really not.

And it only got better. They really only got better. Just look at Abdul Carter. That's your one example right there of how the Giants got better. However, I was going to say what also is a big sell for the commanders is that the offensive line got better. You drafted Josh Connerly, and you have Laramie Tunsell. The only real interesting part of this is see how Russell Wilson does.

That's basically all it's going to be him, Slayton, and the names of Cam Scadabotabo, Tyrone Tracy. This is a besides Russell Wilk, this is a pretty young offense that we're looking at here. True. And Tunsell, and Tunsel. Wilson and Tunsel. But other than that, pretty young. But, yeah, this just screams Washington all day. All right.

Yeah. Carolina and Jacksonville, the last one o'clock game that we have on the slate. The Kitty Bowl, as it were. I'm not going to lie to you of that. That's actually kind of. a tough. Yeah. That's genuinely a bit of a tuffy.

Yeah. I'm just going to keep it real with you. Keep it real. Carolina invested a lot in their defense. And I guess the Jags have the higher ceiling. But the Panthers are another team where I'd say they're not pushovers. Dave Connollas show promises a head coach. And remember how Bryce Young did kind of turn it around.

I want to see if he can capitalize on that. Not crazy about the Jags defense, though. But the thing is, the Jags offense, Brian Thomas Jr., Trevor Lawrence, and their army of running backs of Travis E.T.N., Bayshall Tootin, and Tank Bigsby. That... It's interesting.

That is, this might be the most evenly matched game we have. This is, forget a spread. I'd call this more of a coin flip. Would you like to know the spread for this game? I would, actually. I've never really cared about spreads all that much, but I'm genuinely curious about this. Jacksonville, three and a half.

Ooh, I'd take that. Give me Jacksonville. Really? Really. I'm honestly taking Carolina to cover. Okay. I just say like I got the Jags winning I mean can the Panthers cover yeah probably but I feel like it's going to be close though yeah that's the thing I think this is going to be a

fun game to watch that's for sure I think not to mention maybe I'm being too swayed by home field advantage but that's going to help and even though Bryce Young is on the come up I think the Jags just have a little more firepower and a little more experience. For the Panthers, your X factor is, can Xavier, we get, take the next step, and can Teteroa McMillan contribute early? If that's the case, then you're golden. If not, I don't know. Because Lawrence does have some weapons to play with.

Yeah. and a new offensive-minded head coach in Liam Cohen. That's the big thing, too. If Cohen can do that with Baker, then Warren's, I mean, he should be able to replicate it. Yeah. The Jags are a work in progress, but I'm still taking the Jags. Yeah. But this can also be another case of, you know, offensive coordinator is just a better

offensive coordinator than a head coach or coordinator's better coordinator. Hey, there have been many such cases of this. You could be right. I'm going to go with the Panthers. I feel like they're ready to take this next, like, small step into what they want to become. The Jaguars, I feel like there's still questions on if they're going to be able, because we're in year, whatever, year six of year five, year six of Trevor Lawrence. And we still have zero fucking clue. Year five, either way, we still have no fucking clue what's going to become of Trevor Lawrence.

And, you know, we, Justin Herbert gets a lot of excuses. I think Trevor Lawrence is, like, right up there with him on that. Yeah, he's not, Lawrence isn't quite an if-man territory, but he's runner-up. Yeah, easily. So you got Jags, I got Panthers. Yep. Where it seems that way. Yeah.

All right. We're going to take one more quick break. When we come back, we're going to get into the late afternoon picks and Monday night Football, listening to the Falmaruski podcast. It may not have always showed it in the stat sheet, but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws, back-to-back games where he has three touchdowns. Someone's got to get that six or seven spot.

He's an elite wide receiver as a rookie. Truly a lose-lose scenario for both sides. Welcome back to the Fulmleriski podcast by priority 18 radio and secret weapon consulting. He's C.J. Medeiros. I'm Chris Kostitch. Week 1, late afternoon, aka the 4 p.m. Eastern Standard Time Slate, which you were saying earlier, I mean, this entire week one has got a lot of good games going for it.

405, we're going to get into the 405, the two 405 games first. Tennessee and Denver. In Mile High, Denver is overwhelmingly the favorite at eight and a half. They have an eight and a half. Eight and a half-point favorites. Shit. Yeah.

I would have to choose Denver. Yeah, I'm going Denver. And look, friend to the show, blame Bishop. Please don't be too upset at me. But look, you're starting a rookie in Cam Ward. I'm already not a believer in head coach Callahan, Brian Callahan. I'm just not. But Denver, say what you will about Bo Nix or Sean Payton or whatever, that defense is ferocious

and you're a rookie, right? And you're, you know, you're starting week one and your first game, you're going to mile high stadium, which is a notoriously tough place to play. I like Cam Ward. The deck stacked against him. Give me Denver. I mean, yeah. I feel like Cam Ward is going to be fine.

But forget being chucked into the fire. You're getting, you're getting chucked into a volcano, essentially. This is, it's going to, it's going to be, it's going to be tough. Yeah, I, I echo what you're saying, you know, you're going into mile high, one of the tougher places to play. That's A, B, you're going up against one of the better defenses in the league, like a top five defense in the league. So it's, it's already not bearing great for you. So, yeah, I'll, Broncos, Broncos. San Fran and Seattle

Okay Okay I know We've been talking down on Seattle a lot We've been We've been talking down on San Francisco We've been talking down on a lot This is a team that also was dealing with a lot of injuries last year

This is a team that's getting a lot of players back For example Christian McCaffrey healthy Ready to go Finally is it It's not a bad running back room as well You trade for Brian Robinson During the off season

Which fuck me by the way I am on my dynasty team And I trade him for a first round pick Only for him to be traded And be RB2 And only be projected four points this week So Yeah

Who Um Um Seattle is revamped on offense JSN Cooper Cup I don't know

The question is What type of Sam Darnel are we going to get? Are we going to get damn near MVP Sam Darnold Or are we going to get Jets Darnold Which is kind of the questions that we were asking During the off season Um San Francisco

As mentioned getting a lot of pieces back Fred Warner is going to be completely healthy. Trent Williams is still one of the best tackles in the league. I think I'm going to go San Francisco on this one. I believe I'm going to go with Sam Fran as well. For all the reasons you mentioned, I know going into Seattle is going to be tough, but with Sam Darnold, it's definitely going. to take some time to gel.

I do think that. And Purdy, this is put up or shut up here. You know, you got him, Jennings, Ayut, Kittle, McCaffrey.

I think there's going to be some fireworks. Honestly, that's my projection. Like, whatever the over is, I think, hammer it.

Because the Seattle defense, their pass rush is very underwhelming. Their defensive backfield's good, but Purdy still has a bunch of capable. weapons. That much we know. And the San Fran defense, which is usually

pretty good. You know, you still got Diomador Lenore, Nick Bosa, Fred Warner. That's good. But they got ravaged. And I think it's going to be a high-scoring affair. I feel like Sam Fran eats it out probably 31-30. And for what it's worth, I know you viewers like, oh, CJ Chris agree again. Shiver me timbers or whatever. I want to let you know.

that our other friends of the show Adam Wright and Justin Tucker picks Seattle. We are not a united front on this. No, definitely not. Yeah, definitely not united. That is for sure. Next game.

Definitely would have been a contender for a Ruski game of the week. It's the Lions and the Packers. Oh, baby. Just give me all the football, man. Just give me all of football. Absolutely. This is, this could potentially be a game of the year.

This among some of the other ones that we've listed, of course, earlier today, could have the potential to be a game of the year. This has the potential to be that. Have you noticed the amount of hype the Packers have gotten recently? Never mind the Micah Parsons Strait. never mind that they've gotten a ton of hype like it got elevated like a mother

when Mike Parsons uh join the team but they're like people got like power ranks going where they're like top five top three yeah do I believe the hype that is the hype that is the

question. I'm going to believe it. Give me the Packers. The Lions are going to, here's my thing. It's the two new coordinators that Campbell is working with, right? Yep. Lions kind of got, they didn't get picked apart per se. They're still returning a lot of guys.

And that was their biggest thing was all the defensive injuries. They're returning a lot of guys. I do believe that they're going to come out in all cylinders. I do. But I see this as a bit of a heart attack game for the Lions. You have a great year last year. Two consecutive amazing years. Week one against your rival Green Bay.

Two new coordinators, but the Packers got a little extra push in them. That's kind of how I see it at the moment. And the lions are going to lose in a way that's going to be like, what the hell happened? What the hell happened? And that's going to be the heart attack because you're going to get week one of doing this. And then the next week, they're going to go out and go ballistic because, you know who they have week two? Who do they have week two, Chris? Do bears.

Oh, boy. Oh, yeah. But, yeah, just give me the Packers. You know what? Give me the lines. And, yeah, I know I've raised alarms about the fact that they've lost their coordinators. And that does concern me. But guess what, Packers?

It's not Toyotathon quite yet. It's not. And the thing is, I know it's. it's in Green Bay, but I'm still not sold on that receiving core. I know you had Matthew Golden. Like, but like I said, it's just, it's a crowded room. Someone has to stand out, whether it's Golden, whether it's Jane Reed, whether it's someone else.

I need to see more out of Green Bay. And I mean, maybe it's foolish to go on history. but I urge you all to consider that on paper the lions run circles around them the X factor though Micah Parsons he's going to be an absolute game record of course

you know apparently he's got like a back injury that could be a problem yeah like he's getting injections for this back injury and the Packers didn't know about it until after they signed the contract which by the way they're probably they probably ran a physical on that on micah parsons first and there was probably nothing serious like this is probably nothing serious but still kind of ridiculous that it's a spinal

injury that he has to get injections for like how does that slip under the cracks yeah i i don't know but i am weaning the lions i think it's going to be close that is a game that both sides are going to sweat, but the Lions all of me come away probably with like the last second field goal. I like it. I like it. This is another coin toss game, and I want to be surprised how the either, I want to be surprised if either team would win and how the outcome would turn out.

It just wouldn't be surprising, but it's going to be a hell of a game. Rams, Texans, the last 4 o'clock game that we have. Rams are favored by three and a half. The Rams, man. Some about the Rams that I'm just loving the Rams. I'm just loving them right now for some reason. It's just. And I understand.

I think it's, I love a good high flying offense and that's what the Rams have. That's what the Rams have. You know, that's, that's kind of their history, right? High flying off. that do fucking damage. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Texans,

Texans were just so underwhelming last year. And I feel like looking at what they did for this season still makes me feel really underwhelmed. Like, there was so much excitement for them last year where,

and there was a lot of, Like, very good reason to be excited last year, but this year feels very different. And so I'm not really excited to watch this offense or just watch this team in general. Like, is this defense going to be able to hold up against the Rams offense? Is the Texans offense going to be able to move? Like, the Rams defense isn't that great. But the way that Houston played last year. I don't know if they would put up 20 on the Rams, to be honest.

Especially with the injury to Joe Mixon, and God knows if he's going to play this season. True. Not to mention, there's one thing you're forgetting. The offensive line got worse. Yeah. Where's Laramie Tunsell? Where is he?

Oh, yeah. You traded him. Now, why did you do that? Don't you feel silly? I think the Houston defense, though, with guys like Will Anderson and Derek Stingley, that's going to give them a little trouble. But that Rams pass rush against that Texans offensive line. As a fact, the Nico Collins is coming off injury.

Unless Christian Kirk or, like, Jaden Higgins step up in a big way, I don't know. If Christian Kirk wasn't stepping up in Jacksonville as the number one, I don't know if he's going to step up in Houston as that guy either. Probably not. I honestly, I got to go with the Rams, frankly. Give me the Rams. All right. Monday night football, the Vikings and the Bears.

This is great. I love the story lines in this one. J.G. McCarthy, second year quarterback making his first career start. But this is basically his rookie. season as we have brought up a couple times in the last few weeks this is his rookie season we do not know what's going to happen with j j mccarthy still got a good still got good talent around him though erin jones jettas brought back out of theelin to fill in for jordan addison while he serves his suspension um jalen nailer i'm not a big jeline nailer guy i'm just throwing his name

out there at that point T.J. Hawkinson. He's got weapons to work with. Can he get the job done? I think he'll do well. I don't know if it's going to be enough to beat the Bears, though. I think this Bears team is going to really live up to the expectation of what everyone has been saying in terms of Ben Johnson, Caleb Williams, Roma Dunzee, DJ Moore, Colston Loveland

I think we're going to see a big revitalization of DeAndre Swift Colquemette I think this is going to be a fun bear they should be a fun bear's offense to watch they're at home

prime time if we're going to do the same thing with Cam Ward I'm going to give the same reasoning on J.J. McCarthy tough place to play rivalry game game at Soldier Field give me the Bears This is a tough one.

Vikings. I'm going Vikings. Look, I know J.J. McCarthy's unproven. But you want to know it's more important. and more unproven. Ben Johnson. I'm sorry, like we can't, for everyone, say, oh, JJ McCarthy's unproven. We just go overlook the fact that an entire head coach of the other goddamn team is unproven. Furthermore, McCarthy still has Justin Jefferson. He still has

Aaron Jones. He has Jordan Mason. He has T.J. Hawkinson. Oh, and you just traded for Adam feeling and yeah you know i'm jordan addison but for me what's going to set it apart is the defense brian flores is a defensive genius and you know he's gonna put caleb williams in hell that is a hell of a test to start your coach and tenure for ben johnson and i know he's been an O.C. in the NFC North, so he knows Brian Flores well. But counterpoint, Brian Flores knows him. And another time we're just experience wins, you know, Flores and their head coach there whose name escapes me, and I don't know why. I don't know why he's a damn good head coach, but I'm ultimately going to have to go with the Vikings.

I respect it. You would be you in Vegas are one and the same in this case because the Vikings are favored. Kevin O'Connell, by the way. By one and a half. I would consider this another coin flip game, though. This could really go either way. And it's going to be incredibly fun to watch. because I love football.

That is all the scheduled content that we have today. One last thing before we end the show. Obviously, everyone is really mad about Red Zone having commercials. There's a new report that just came out that Red Zone, the commercials that will be shown, is only for 15-second commercials. Don't care. It's a travesty. Exactly.

I don't care. Great. For one minute of commercials? Cool. but you know it's seven hours of commercial you've it is now six hours and 59 minutes of commercial free football uh we need the full seven that's that's all it is true once again once again greedy business executives get in the way of our fun thank you ESPN you have shown And once again, you do not know what the fans want at all.

And also Pat McAfee being like, oh, we don't have a problem with it as they have as they have. Yeah, that's literally what ESPN is telling him. Doesn't he like literally have a contract with them now or something? He's had a contract with them. But like I'm. Exactly. So yeah. So their hands firmly up his ass.

Well, no, I'm saying like the irony of it is he was literally saying this in a dual screen. with like an L-Barr Dr. Pepper graphic ad going. Like he's saying I just think that was extremely ironic coming from Pat McAfee who

seems like who has I feel like is a big persona of his is kind of being anti-establishment but hey man go where the money is. Mm-hmm.

but that'll do it for us today thank you for tuning in to another episode of the fumble rusky podcast we'll just go back to normal schedule of course uh for week two so once again new episode coming out at on tuesday at 730 potential to have it earlier so keep an eye out for that uh and of course now that we have the two a week episodes back tuesdays at 730 Fridays at five besides today, of course. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel. We also have all our episodes available on Spotify, Spreaker, Apple Podcasts, IHeartRadio, Google Podcasts, and so much more. Be sure to follow our Instagram, Fulburwski, underscore, podcast, to keep up in the pod, and the latest coverage on the NFL.

Otherwise, he's C.J. Medeiros, I'm Chris Kostich. We'll see you on Tuesday. Over now.