The Fumblerooski Podcast - Swing of Things -Ep 208 The Fumblerooski Podcast

Episode Date: September 20, 2023

Which 2-0 teams are for real and which are frauds? Which 0-2 teams will bounce back and which should panic? Adam Wright and new co-host Chris Costich host special guest Brett Chaves to discuss these topics and more!

Here's Edelman broken up and the pass is no sign yet. Edelman comes down with a football and they're saying it's a catch. It's a pass! it's a kiss it's his cross it's a kiss touchdown unbelievable swings it way down the field the one catch

Sammy Watkins for the touchdown well we are officially through week two of the regular season of 2023, and it's time to figure out who is a contender and who's just flat out complete fraud. This is the Fumble Rooski Podcast by Power88. I'm Adam Wright, and we have a couple big announcements. First of all, with me today on his debut episode, Chris Kostic. We have a new co-host on this show. Chris, why don't you introduce yourself to some of our listeners who may not have been there for the episodes that you've been a guest on.

So I'm Chris. I'm a freelance broadcaster right now. Graduated Plymouth State University. Was calling games up there. To all my Plymouth friends, called me the voice of Plymouth State. It was great. Also on games with Brett Shovs this past summer as well, who is actually our guest.

So there's your early introduction to him. But yeah, that's a little bit about me. Absolutely. It's great to have you on the show, man. We've had you on as a guest a couple of times, and it's great to have you as a podcast host. Great sports mind, even better friend. But we also have a special guest on for this week. He's been on twice. Not enough. We got Brett Shobbs, voice of the Brockton Rocks, president of the production club D News Network.

For some of our listeners who may not have heard you, why don't you introduce yourself real quick? Yeah, so once again, my name is Brett. I am the director of media relations over at the Brock the Rocks. I also work for the Providence Bruins, which is basically the minor league affiliate of the big club, the Boston Bruins. Basically just a giant workaholic that loves sports and loves media

and always loved coming on the Fumble Rooski podcast and making fun of Chris. So jump right into this thing. I know. love coming on the foam aruski podcast and making fun of chris so uh jump right into this thing i know we have the we have the play-by-play guy and the color commentator from this past year on on our show that's that that's certainly something all right guys uh we have a good show planned for you tonight as i previously uh let's say teased when in when introducing this episode we're kind of going over so every year we have kind of done this um 2-0 these teams who is a contender and who's a pretender um i have a list of teams we'll go through go through them quick give me a quick answer whether or not these teams are for real or whether this is more of a paper 2-0.

All right. You guys ready? Let's do it. Let's do it. So, start off with the reigning NFC champs, the Philadelphia Eagles. They're 2-0, but they won both of their last games against the New England Patriots in last place and the Minnesota Vikings, who are also around that spot in the NFC North. Are they for real?

Brett, I'll let you go first. I think the Eagles are for real. I just think they've gotten off to a very slow start. Obviously, people still have to realize that they're getting brand new coordinators. Shane Steichen and Jonathan Gannon both gone. They're working with a brand new system.

They have to figure it out. I still think the talent is completely plentiful. They're going to be completely fine. I think they're going to be contenders. Do I think they'll make the Super Bowl? I don't think so, but I still think Philly's going to be contenders. Do I think they'll make the Super Bowl? I don't think so, but I still think Philly's going to be very competitive. All right, Chris?

I'm going to agree with Brett on this one. Like you said, learning a new offense. Chiefs are doing the same thing right now. Granted, it's a bit of a different situation over there. But yeah, I'll go with Brett on this one. On top of the whole Eagles probably won't make the Super Bowl,

I said this last week, you know, there hasn't been another Super Bowl winner since John Elway that has lost their first Super Bowl and has gone on to win one. So we'll keep that in mind. Yeah. I am – this is going to be – I started off with an easy one. This team is going to be a contender. Yes, they lost a lot of faces from last season in their running game,

in their defense, but they replaced them with a lot of good guys too. So they'll be fine. This is probably more of a feeling out stage, and it's a blessing that this team, for them, is 2-0 right now because as easy as they started 2-0, they could have been 0-2 as well. That Patriots team put up a fight. The Vikings, it was only a one score, and they turned the ball over four times. So things look good for them.

I still think for them to win the Super Bowl, that's a tall task for a team that just lost because that almost never happens. But going on to our next team, the Washington Commanders. So kind of on the opposite end of the spectrum, a team that wasn't that good last year. And this year you bring in, you know, you have Sam Howell. We have some high hope for him. But the team, while they won these last two games, it hasn't looked pretty. So I'll leave it to you guys. What do you think?

I'm going to say that they're a pretender as well. Just going base strictly off their next few games, you got the Bills and the Eagles back-to-back weeks. That's usually never a great sign. I'd say they'll be lucky to come away with one of those games, although they do have the Bears and the Falcons two games after that, and then the Giants and then back to the Eagles. So we take into that account,

maybe you steal one against the Eagles in two of those games. Maybe you come away three and three out of that. Maybe four and two if you're lucky. But I just don't see the Commanders really making a huge run this year, maybe a wild card run. Sam Howell proved that he is a really good quarterback, had a really good game over 300 passing yards, three touchdowns. I think he's going to be really good in the NFL. But as a matter of between contender and pretender, I'd say they're more of a pretender.

Yeah, I'm kind of in the sense that I look at their schedule, and it is one of the most difficult schedules in the NFL. I mean, not only do you have to face the Cowboys, Eagles, and Giants twice, you also have to play Miami. You've got to play New England. You've got to play Buffalo. You're playing Dallas again, like I mentioned before, at the end of the season.

They have a very, very tough schedule. And to do that and to still make the playoffs is definitely a tall task. If they had an easier schedule, I'd say they're contenders. I think they had a shot at making the wild card, but I just think the cards are stacked against them here, and I am going to go pretender. We're all going to stand in agreement yet again. I think the Commanders, they might have a bright future.

That offensive line is a little sketchy, and Sam Howell needs more time to develop. I think overall they might have a bright future, but they are not quite there quite yet. The Baltimore Ravens, this is a bright future, but they are not quite there quite yet. The Baltimore Ravens. This is a team that, yes, they're 2-0. Yes, they added some really good pieces, especially on the offensive side of the ball,

but they have been hammered yet again with the injury bug. Is this team going to survive with the pieces that they have right now i'm going to go ahead and say they are pretenders um i have never been a fan of john harbaugh's team the last five years only in the sense that when things go wrong injury wise the team just falls apart and we saw it a little bit with huntley last year where they were able to figure some When things go wrong injury-wise, the team just falls apart. And we saw it a little bit with Huntley last year where they were able to figure some things out on offense, but this team never can put it all together. The defense is always getting shaky at the end of the season.

The offense and the run game falls apart as well. I've never been a huge fan of the way the Ravens finish the season. They always start out so hot and finish weak. It's why their playoff runs are never satisfactory. So I'm going to go ahead and say it happens again. History repeats itself, and the Ravens will be pretenders. Okay, Chris. I'll second that.

There's nothing really much else to add. And on top of that, too, with a really competitive AFC North, last week we were talking about how the browns could potentially make a run at it with their performance against the bangles last night doesn't really seem it but you know it's afc north divisional matchup um or when this gets aired it will be uh monday night but two nights ago but regardless afc is still really competitive. So I don't think the Ravens are really going to be able to make it out of there.

I'm going to go against the grain here. We can't all agree on everything on the first three, first three teams. I think this Ravens team, while they've been hammered with the injury bug already, it hasn't been quite bad enough so that we can say if this continues, yeah, then that's it. They're, they're done, but they still have a lot of good pieces. Their offensive line is still for the most part intact. I think Ronnie Stanley is going to come back soon. And I think this defense is still solid. Okay. So I, I'm going to go with contenders.

The Ravens always find a way um outside of a couple years ago to get back to get back into the playoffs with lamar jackson um they added some pieces for him to throw to which is very very important for lamar jackson's health you can't have him running all the time so to have some pieces zay flowers, Odell Beckham Jr., we'll see if he's back soon, Devin DuVernay, Isaiah Likely, we got Mark Andrews, of course. They have enough pieces right now. If it continues, sure. But as we stand right now, 2-0, you still have some pieces left.

I'm going to go contenders. I think also, though, you could – like you could say contenders. If they could stay healthy, yeah, they can potentially make a run. But the thing is, Lamar also hasn't really proven himself in the playoffs yet too. Granted, so last year missed the playoffs, right? Hundley took over. Hundley's not a bad quarterback in any means. He did what he could to lead that team to the playoffs.

But, you know, going up against the Bengals in the wild card, that's not always the best task in the world. But Lamar, regardless, hasn't proven himself in the playoffs yet. Went back-to-back years, getting bounced to the first round, beat the Titans the year after to go to the divisional. And what do you know? They ended up losing the divisional anyways. So there's only one playoff win and a bunch of bad playoff losses on Mars

record. So it's a matter of that. They can't even make a deep run to begin with. Certainly, but can you, isn't it possible to have something to prove while still being in contention? I mean, there's teams who are,

there's, there's some quarterbacks who just aren't the best in the big moment, but they've been quarterbacks on plenty of contending teams. I mean, Peyton Manning, namely, of all of them. In some of his best – some of his Super Bowl winning seasons, two of them, all two of them, he was terrible but they still won he was god awful yeah especially in that last and that's the thing sorry bro you can finish no i was gonna say that

last season with the broncos it was statistically his worst season ever it was it was horrible and in 06 when he won i think people forget that he had a three to seven touchdown to interception ratio. That was the only season where he failed, where he failed to, he didn't throw double digit interceptions during the regular season. He made up for it in the post season. Believe me. So like there are, there are quarterbacks out there. Like they may not be the best in the big moment, but they're still, they can still be quarterbacks out there like they may not be the best in the big moment but they're still they can still be quarterbacks of contending teams every dog has a step oh yeah and there was always the people that were sick well regardless of the manning winning in 06 leading

up to that no one believed that manning could even get it done in the playoffs anyways because he kept having to face brady in the afc championship. And Brady had his number for the early part of those 2000s, basically the entirety up until 06 and 05 in the regular season as well. But 05, 06 was when he started to actually get his number again. But up till then, Manning didn't have any believers in the playoffs. So very well, this could end up being the same thing for Lamar but we can only go with what history has told us yeah all right we have we have time for a couple more of these I'm going to give you I'm going to skip over this next one

I want to go to the Miami Dolphins so So a team that had a quick start to last season, just like the previous team we mentioned, got hit with the injury bug last year. So far has been able to stay healthy. Is this team legit? I think the Miami Dolphins are legit. I think for the first time in Tua's reign, I think I can say the Dolphins are legit. I think they've built up the offense enough to where they can protect Tua. And the

fact that he's wearing a specially designed helmet for him that protects him from concussions, I think is a huge plus. So that's your big concern. Tua should be healthy, barring anything else. The defense has gotten to a point now where it's developed and it's really starting to form. I love the fact that they have Jalen Ramsey, who's going to be coming back week five. Add that with Zayven Howard and the guy from the Cowboys, I'm forgetting his name, the cornerback.

Byron Jones, Byron Jones. Adam with Byron Jones. I really think that secondary is going to take off. If they're able to compete at that level with some of the top dogs in this league, your Kansas City's, your Buffalo's, if they're able to go into shootouts with them, I think Miami's going to super bowl shot. I've always said that with Mike McDaniel. I thought it was the same way in San Francisco. If you can take Kansas City and Buffalo to a shootout, you have a shot at the Super Bowl. And I think Miami's at that point. So I will say

they are big-time contenders. Yeah. Well, i'm not completely sold yet it's just that byron jones retired but did he retire i didn't see that all right well but he but replace him with jalen ramsey he's going to be out a few weeks but they still have xavian howard so still still very good points i um i guess i'll go i guess i'll go, I guess I'll go next. Um, I'm going to go, yeah, I'm going to go contenders. I think we are, I'm, and I'm also, I'm not just looking at the dolphins. I'm also looking at their competition in the AFC East.

I let it, this past, these past couple of weeks for Josh Allen have left a really, really bad taste in my mouth. And the more I sit and marinate and think about what has happened in the previous couple of seasons where Josh Allen has turned the ball over a ton, especially during times when it really matters most, the more I think, I'm not saying Josh Allen isn't a good quarterback, but maybe Stephon Diggs is overshadowing some of his weaknesses. All of the weapons that he's had around him for these past few years, maybe it's making things look a little better for him than it actually is. And meanwhile, the Dolphins,

when they're healthy, they win games when it matters. They have good coaching. They have a good defense. The only issue that I have with this Dolphins team, the only issue that I have is that offensive line looks very shaky. It got to a nearly killed last season. If they can hold up this year, then they'll be in contention for the number one seed. And I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that. Yeah, I can agree with that, especially with the Chiefs struggles. Granted, I just got done saying that they're in a similar situation as the Eagles when they're trying to figure out the offense.

And seeing that receiving core for the Chiefs isn't very pretty. Josh Allen, obviously, I'm a big hater. So they're going to find a way to possibly screw it up in a few games. Bills of Miami are coming up in the next few weeks as well. So I'm expecting that those two teams are going to split the two matchups as well. So or potentially Dol potentially dolphins steal too. We'll see about that. But yeah,

I think that with the weapons and we saw with Sunday night as well, they took care of that. Pat's defense pretty well for the most part in the, in the first half, not as much as the second half. And that's kind of been the theme through the first two weeks with the pads as well, not showing up in the first half and then kind of showing back up in the second half.

But I think I can agree with both of you guys that Dolphins can make a run at the top seed or at least the top three seeds. Yeah. Or, yeah, top three seeds. All right, so we'll stand in agreement on that one. All right, last one, the Dallas Cowboys, a team that hasn't made the NFC Championship literally since the 90s. They're 2-0 right now.

They did make some improvements over this past offseason. You had Brandon Cooks to go opposite CeeDee Lamb. You bring in Stephon Gilmore to go opposite Trevon Diggs. You have some pieces now that front seven is still intact. What do you guys think of them? Look. They face the Giants and the Jets. They face the Giants and the Jets. They face the Giants and the Jets.

If I could say indifferent about the Dallas Cowboys, I would say indifferent because I literally have zero idea with them every single year. They're just that one team that could go off for 45 points one day and then next week put up two. I just have no idea with Dallas. Look, they're going to be a contender every year as long as Jerry Jones is owner of this team.

Contender. Contender. If you want to put the technical term on it, they will be a contender. They will make the playoffs. They will go at least to the first round, at most second round, maybe NFC title game, but I can never see them as a Super Bowl contender because they're never able to finish. And it's just because of coaching, and it's because of just bad clock management.

I think it's a little bit different this year because now you have to add in the element that Mike McCarthy is calling the plays now on offense instead of Kellen Moore. That's been a different change, and it seems like Dak Prescott and ownership has been very happy so far with McCarthy calling the plays instead. I want to see, and I want to see more time with how that offense progresses. I will say they are a contender for now, but I say that with a very, very, very thin grain of salt.

Proceed with caution, Brett Schaub says. Yes. I like it. They're still they're still losing they're still losing to the niners in the divisional round that's all i'm going to say about it it's going to happen everyone knows it niners are a better team cowboy i don't know why we're talking i'm talking about the niners because that's obviously a team that's going to be a contender but cowboys never going to be a contender. But Cowboys, never going to be a contender, especially with the Eagles, Niners, and all the other really good teams.

Rams could even make a run at it with Bakua and Akua. So I think that there's a lot better teams that will make a run other than the Cowboys. Yeah, I've been trying so hard to believe that the Cowboys will just come through one year. It's got to happen at some point. This team has been competitive for the entirety of these past two decades. You've had a couple of pretty solid quarterbacks in Tony Romo and Dak Prescott. You've put together some good pieces around them.

So what the hell are you doing? Get to the NFC championship, let alone the Super Bowl. Not performing. That's what they're doing. They won 12 games a couple years ago, and I thought they were going to the NFC championship then. Nothing happened. They lost in the first round to the Niners.

It just keeps on happening. Dak's rookie year, they also, I believe, won 13 games, and they lost in the first round of the Packers. It just keeps on happening. Dax, rookie year, they also, I believe, won 13 games and they lost in the first round of the Packers. That was probably the most devastating. That was a great game. I remember that game. The list goes on. They've had, over and over again, they've had teams that you would think would at least be in contention right 2014 you can mention tony romo in that run too all right so that's the end of our contenders

and pretenders so where we talked about the two and oh teams we're also on the opposite end going to talk about the oh and two teams so we're going to get to that next. Should we be panicking about these teams? That's next. This is the fumble Ruski podcast. Gentlemen broken up in the past. No sign yet. Edelman comes down with a football. They're saying it's a catch.

It's a catch. Oh! It's a catch! Sideline! Touchdown! Unbelievable! Slings it way down the field. The walkout!

Sammy Watt takes for the touchdown! Welcome back to the Fumble Rooski podcast by Power 88 and Sequel Weapon Consulting. Adam Wright, Chris Kostic, special guest Brett Shobbs. All right, guys. So here's the thing. Teams that start 0-2 have a 9% chance of making the playoffs historically. That is how much of a hole it is. It may not seem like much, but it certainly is. Some teams overcome it, which is what we are going to discuss right here.

Is it time to panic for this list of teams? We're going to start off with the Cincinnati Bengals. Yet again, for the second straight year, they are 0-2. They have similar issues that they had last year at this time. Is it time to panic? No. Not one bit. The Cincinnati Bengals have always been a competitive team.

It's always been a factor whether or not Joe Burrow will – how should I put this? It's just a matter of time until Joe Burrow actually warms up. He's always been notorious for taking a couple games to really settle in and be Joe cool, but it's not time to panic games to really settle in and be Joe Cool. But it's not time to panic yet. I think they'll be just fine. They'll go on and win nine, ten games at least this year, the Bengals.

Yeah, I actually saw this on Twitter. Someone said this on Twitter that I just remembered. You know, there's also a lot of these teams are probably going to be under the same case as this. So you think about how shorter the practice weeks are, like training camp and all that, all the restrictions now. And, you know, I think we're possibly even gone from the days of how teams will start up really hot, right? Kind of like the Cowboys did, even though their offense wasn't even that great. It was more their defense. But in general, teams are kind of going off, especially offenses, are coming out to this slower start

because they're not getting as much time during the preseason and training camp to really prepare especially with the bangles we were talking about this last week how burrow didn't really get a lot of practice time with bangles or with his offense in general because of his calf injury and it seems they kind of re-aggravated that calf injury now too so lord knows how that's gonna affect him in the next few days is it time to panic yet considering it's week two i would i would say no um i would say give it a couple more weeks maybe till week five then maybe we could start panicking but in general i'd say it's enough yeah they figured it out last year they'll do it again this. And this year they're in a much better spot because last year they did improve that offensive line, but you added a lot of new faces who had to perform right away. When you have Lyle Collins and he's your backup

tackle, that is a luxury that very, very few teams can afford. And you have that. So I think the Bengals are going to figure it out. I don't understand why this team can't just come out of the gate strong and just take the league by storm. But I guess if this is how it's going to be, this is how it's going to be for my preseason Super Bowl pick. All right, this next team is another one on the easy end. The Chicago Bears had some high expectations going into this season. They worked on every spot that they needed to work on. Offensive line, they brought in another tackle to bookend with Braxton Jones.

Wide receiver one, they covered it with DJ Moore. On the defensive end, you brought in a very, very good linebacker duo to add in for that front seven. Why are they still 0-2? I'll give you Justin Fields, but I'll ask you what you guys think. Yeah, they're done. They're done. That's what I think.

Bears might as well just start to pack up for that number one pick. Justin Fields, this is his year to be a great passer, and now there's clips coming out of you missing four wide open wide receivers. How do you explain that? You get great protection. You have four wide open targets. One of them, maybe two, could have been for a touchdown, and you decide to run straight into your line for a sack.

I mean, and it's not like this was just a one-off thing. It's been constant. He's missing open targets. And I don't know if he's expecting them to be as wide open as his guys at Ohio state were or something, but he's got to figure it out because how statewide open isn't the same thing as NFL wide open. You're not going to be able to sit in the pocket for five hours and wait for your Ohio State guy to run down the field past Miami, Ohio or whoever the hell they were facing that week. The NFL, you've got to deal with the guy being on your guy's hip for 20-ish yards or whatever the route ends up being. You've got to actually get rid of the ball now.

Brett, time to panic. The Bears, I don't – as much as people want to blame Fields, I think this is an issue of coaching. And I had known this since they hired Matt Eberflus. I was never a fan of the hire. I knew if they wanted Fields to be good, they needed to hire an offensively-minded coach that's able to focus on developing Fields strictly. Because Eberflus is a defensive mind, you're kind of just dumping all of the responsibility of Fields developing

on your quarterback's coach and your offensive coordinator. And because the staff isn't good to begin with, you're just kind of throwing fields to the wolves. And I don't really think he's had a fair shot with a really good coaching staff. I honestly think if Matt Nagy was the head coach instead of Matt, he reflux, like I thought fields could be better. Like I, I like Nagy more and I just think with all of the,

the negative factors that the staff brings, I just don't think fields has really gotten the fair shot. I think there are other areas they do improve as well and play design and stuff, but yeah, it, I'm not panicking because they suck. No, I I'm going to, I'll agree that coaching is a problem, but there is still a lot of evidence to put the blame on Justin fields, you know, play calling obviously isn't the green Chicago, but even if at that,

you still have plays where guys are still opening up and it's up somehow working. You got to be able to capitalize on those bad plays, the black bad play designs and capitalize on what's actually being given to you. And Justin Fields hasn't really been doing that. Granted, week one, he had us all week one, but last week was a complete embarrassment. Yeah.

All right. We have time for one more. Save the best for last, Denver Broncos, a team that improved on their offensive line, out with Nathaniel Hackett, in with Sean Payton, and you try something different. You're so far getting relatively the same results. Brett, I'll start with you since this is your team. Everybody says it's the same result, but it's not. I have watched the Denver Broncos play the last two weeks.

Yes, as a Denver Broncos fan, it sucks seeing the same win-loss result happen. But when you look at the product on the field and what Denver has done, it is completely different to last year. They were only averaging about 15 to 16 points per game last year. Even with miscommunications on offense, they put up 33 points against the Commanders. They put up 16 points against the Raiders in a defensive showdown between the Raiders and the Broncos. Max Crosby was all over Russell Wilson. And despite not getting the wins you want, your want your own two the offense has definitely looked

a lot smoother ross looks a lot more natural in the pocket yes he still needs to improve on some of his communication with sean payton but that'll warm up as things go on i i'm not worried and i'm not panicking about the broncos yet i think sean Sean Payton's just fine. They're just taking time to develop this offense and work out some kinks. They will be okay. Yeah, I'll have to agree with Brett here. You know, Russ had a really good game, but we can't deny that. Three for 300 yards and three touchdowns. 300 yards, three touchdowns.

You can't deny that. If you want someone to blame, I guess, for this past week, you can blame the defense. Oh, so bad. Yeah. But in general, I would say it's not time to panic just yet. You still have a much better coach than Sean Payton back there. It's a new offense, new system that they have to work through now.

So I'd say let's pump the brakes on that one. Now, despite the way I transitioned into this part of the segment i have actually it towards a lot of other people been the bronco defender uh namely our mutual friend nathan sloat for you listeners we've had him on the show once. He believes that Sean Payton just got lucky with Drew Brees, but Russell Wilson is a pretty good quarterback in his own right. And with better play calling, this offense should be much better, which it was this past weekend. Five to one touchdown to interception ratio, nearly 500 yards on the season for Russell Wilson. Much better numbers than last year.

And you have to believe that this defense is a lot better than it has been recently. I know it's not great. They don't have that flashy name in the front seven. I mean, kind of Frank Clark, but not anymore. Randy Gregory is the biggest name out of them all. And he's not even statistically the best one.

Zach Allen, who came from the Cardinals, is your best defensive end. Right. And you still got some really good cornerbacks back there too. You have some good corners back there. The coordination and the defensive play calling has just not been there. Vance Joseph came to Denver once, completely ruined the defense, and he's ruining it again. I will fully say that.

I blame last week on Vance Joseph. Horrible play call. All right. Despite that, I am going to give them the – I'm going to give it the label pretenders or time to panic. I think the fact that they started 0 and two after last after last season's disaster um that's a gut punch especially since you should have had this commander's team and yeah the defense hasn't been great but um i just think it's there's got to be a mental factor here too where you know you

you feel like you improved on things and regardless regardless, you're 0-2 right now. So I think maybe they'll be more competitive than they have been. They won't go 0-3. They won't go 0-4. Actually, they could. They're facing the Dolphins in Week 3. They could very well go 0-4. Yeah.

0-4. So they're losing to the chicago bears one and three what do we have for the next what do we have for the next six for the broncos then you got the new york jets i think that's a team you could win that's two and that's two and one or two and three excuse me two and three kansas city chiefs yeah two and one or two and three. Excuse me. Two and three. Kansas City Chiefs. Yeah. Two and four.

Green Bay Packers. That's a tough one. I say you win that one. I think they cover the spread on that. Yeah, I think they win that one. You got the Chiefs again. I feel like you can take at least one of them. They're going to make it close for one of those games. Everybody thinks I'm blasphemous for saying the Broncos can beat Kansas City

a mile high. I don't think it's out of the picture. It's almost happened a couple times. I think they're going to get smothered in Arrowhead. It happens every year. Even with Peyton Manning, they get smothered in Arrowhead. It's just not their game. Drew Locke almost beat Pat Mahomes in mile high.

It's possible. Everybody thinks I'm blasphemous for saying it, but I think it's realistic for Denver, especially with a new offense. I don't think people realize how much of a home field advantage that Denver really is. I mean, it's like playing on Mars. And with the thin air and everything, I have to believe

that this team is competitive enough so that they could at least split, especially with how vulnerable that I really believe Kansas city is this year. Um, you know, you don't replace the wide receiver one, who is the guy who you had before him was more of a two. So you've got worse than where you were before and you better hope that travis kelsey doesn't get hurt that's just a whole side tangent all right um so brett we have this last segment do you can you stay or do you want to i i unfortunately have to take off because i have building duty in 30 minutes and i still have to go get a case of water. All right, man. Well, I'm sorry. Loser.

Yeah, I know. No worries, man. It was great having you on. It was great being able to catch up and enjoy. Enjoy your senior year at Dean. Thank you guys. We'll be in touch. I might be on another episode.

We'll see. Hey, yeah. All right. I'll see you around, buddy. See you, Brett. All right. Well well that was brett schaafs and with that we are going to transition to our next segment which is chris kostich he is as in his debut episode he's going to debut his segment which is some uh fantasy football trivia for this week. That's next. This is the Fumble Risky Podcast.

Fumble Risky Podcast. is no sign yet. Hamilton comes down with a football and they're saying it's a catch. It's a catch. Oh! It's a catch! Side-hide! Touchdown! Unbelievable!

Swings it way down the field. The walk-in! Sammy Watkins for the touchdown! Adam, you're muted. It's not letting me back in. Can you hear me? Yeah, I can hear you now. Hang on, let me... Oh, well, it's just letting me back in can you hear me yeah i can hear you now hang on let me oh well it's just me now i literally cannot see myself it still says browser well i can clip if you can see me then that's fine i can see you we can see you don't worry we can see each other all right uh welcome back to the Fumble Brewski podcast by Power 88.

Seek a Weapon Consulting. Adam Wright with Chris Kostic, even though I can't see anyone right now. Technical difficulties here, but either way, Chris is going to debut his new fantasy football segment. So, Chris, what do you got? So, originally I was going to do – I wanted to do scoring leaders. I didn't really know if I wanted to do just straight up top 15 scoring leaders from this past week and see how many you could get. Give you like three, five strikes.

I'll give you five strikes because I'm nice and it's the first time. So I decided we're just going to do the top 15 scoring leaders, PPR, according to ESPN Fantasy Football, and see what you get right. All right. Let's see it. Well, you got to guess, my man. Okay. You got to guess who they are. All right.

So, all right. Let's think. Top scores from this week, right? Yep. Top 15 scores from this week. All right. Okay. Okay.

So, I think I'm going to go Brian Robinson for one of them. Brian Robinson is on the list. He actually comes in at number 11. He scored 28.9 points, 87 yards, two touchdowns. Okay. I know Keenan Allen had himself a game. He scored. He was fourth, 32.1 points, eight catches, 111 yards, two touchdowns.

He had 42? Holy crap. No, he had – no, no, no, no. He had 32. 32. Okay. No. All right.

I'm trying to – let's see. Give me – give me Saquon Barkley for 300. Saquon Barkley is not on the list. Saquon is not on the list, even after scoring 27 points. He actually came in at number 16. Ooh, just missed. Let's think. Saquon at 27.2.

Let me have the Eagles defense. Eagles defense is not on the list. Eagles defense is not on the list. Okay. So that's two strikes. All right. Damn it. Kirk Cousins. Kirk Cousins. Number two. the list eagles defense is not on the list okay so that's two strikes all right damn it kirk cousins kirk cousins number two 34.5 points there we go kirk cousins i got one of them um let me think um

i know ooh to a tongue of ilo I know. Ooh, Tua Tungavailoa. Tua is not on the list. Wait, didn't he? I must be thinking of – okay. Another Miami player is on here though. There's a Miami player on the list. Huge game on Sunday night. Jeez.

Let me go Jalen Waddell. No. Okay. How about Tee Higgins? Tee Higgins is on the list 28.9 i know he got him had himself a game um eight catches 89 yards two tutties who is that guy on the rams oh i know there were a couple of them. One of them was Kyron Williams. He's on the list, number 15, 28 points. There we go.

And you're right, there is another one. He came in at number five. He was actually on my fancy team. I started him this week. Oh, my God. You lucky bastard. Yeah. Jesus. Uh-huh.

You know, I accidentally left Brian Robinson in my lineup. I was going to start Damian Pierce. Then I forgot to set my lineup. Yeah, I had a couple friends that did that. Yeah. Mike Evans. He's on here. He's number six.

How much of the list do I have now? So you got Kirk. You got Keenan Allen. So you need one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. Ooh, Puka Nakua? Yeah, Puka Nakua. Puka Nakua? Yeah. Puka Nakua. Puka Nakua.

Yep. Right. All right. 31.1 points. Number five. Number five. Jeez, who was number one? It's going to surprise you, man.

Jeez. His name was mentioned earlier actually was he mentioned earlier shoot who is that then trying to think um which segment would you know um it's while we're talking about the time to panic segment. Time to panic. Okay. Who is it time to panic for? Who is it time to panic for? I know.

Was it Russell Wilson? Yeah. He was number one. Holy crap. 35 was number one. Holy crap. 35. Excuse me. Yeah, 35.9 points. You said 35?

35.9. Jesus. So 36 points. All right. Which spots do I need to fill now? You need to fill three, seven, eight, nine, ten, 13, and 14. How many strikes do I have left? You have – I think you have two.

Two? Two? Oh. I'm tempted to just – because I want to know. Now I want to know. I can give you some hints if you'd like. I would like to buy a hint. So you have two more quarterbacks, a handful of receivers, and a handful of running backs.

No defenses, no tight ends. Okay. Pretty big mix. Are these guys who I would know? Oh, of course. Yeah, there are a few that you will know, but one of them might take you five yeses. Maybe one. Well, I only have two.

Jesus. All right. Time to buckle down here then. Give me Geno Smith. That was a great guess, but no. Shoot. All right. He did have a great game though 25 points 328 yards two tutties

only had nine completions i know yeah he had himself a game if he had any more any more touchdowns than he had then he would have he would have done it um so we them. It was a time to panic. No, no, no, no, no. We already mentioned that. We already mentioned it. Uh, shoot. Okay. Um, how about Cowboys defense? Cowboys. No. Oh, Oh, Oh, you told me there were no defenses. Oh, I'll give you that one back. All right. Oh, that's a one back. All right. That's a lucky one. All right.

How about... Most of these players, I would say, are on the eastern side of the United States. Eastern side of the United States. Eastern side of the United States. All right. Give me Jalen Hurts. Yeah. He's on it?

Yep. He came in at number eight, 29.2 points. All right. Because he had two rushing touchdowns. How about Devontae Smith? Yep. 29 points, four catches, 131 yards on five targets. Most of his points came on that huge touchdown catch that he had.

The huge catch he had. I don't know. I don't remember if it resulted in a touchdown or not. DeAndre Swift. Yep. All three of them, 8, 9, 10. Holy crap. What do I have left?

So you have one. You said Mike Evans already. One, two, three, four. All of them outside, or one of them inside the top ten the rest are out all right give me justin jefferson justin jefferson just barely not on the list all right that's 17 so the ones ones you were missing daniel jones the number three, 33 points. Raheem Mostert, 29 points. Oh, I wouldn't have gotten Raheem Mostert. Oh, come on.

He torched the Pats on Sunday. I know, but I wasn't watching the game. Oh, you weren't. Yeah. Yeah. 121 yards, two touchdowns, including one that was supposed to seal the game. The rest, so Daniel Jones was three. Mostert was number seven.

Then you had George Pickens at 13. He had 28.7, four catches, 127 yards on 10 targets. Most of his points came on that 71-yard touchdown that he had. And Nico Collins, 28.6. He had seven catches, 146 yards, and one touchdown. Houston wide receiver. I forgot about that one. Yeah, Nico Collins had himself a game.

C.J. Stroud looks like he's pretty good too. Yeah, they might have found something in that game. I was just about to say that when i brought up like once i said nico collins i was like oh cj stroud actually did really good at now that i think of it oh yeah how much they lose by uh i believe 11 it was 31 to 20 so i mean it's in your rookie year you're for a quarterback you're only looking for flashes for the most part oh yeah it's very rare that you get you know the dac prescotts or the justin herberts it's very rare that those guys just just jump in and they're just already firing on all cylinders so yeah 384 yards two touchdowns i mean look it's not like we're gonna get a guy like cam

newin who was just immediately good right off the bat and was automatically already a difference maker. C.J. Stroud has shown flashes of that. The problem is he's on the Texans, which kind of sucks. But, you know, with guys like Nico Collins and pretty solid running back and Damian Pierce, you never know. Also, that offensive line is – it's going to get better.

They lost Titus Howard, their right tackle. Laramie Tunsell, their left. They lost two other guys in the interior as well. So without four-fifths of your offensive line and you're still throwing for over 300 yards and two touchdowns, I think he's still pretty good. Who's the head coach again? Four-fifths of your offensive line, and you're still throwing for over 300 yards and two touchdowns. I think he's still pretty good. Who's the head coach again?

It was DeMario Davis. DeMario Davis. I keep getting them mixed up with DeMario Douglas. But DeMario Davis, he's a good coach over there. He got a lot of high praise when he first got hired. And, I mean, they're trusting CJ Stroud to throw the ball 47 times. I think that's another thing to look at. Yeah, that is.

You're trusting your rookie. You're trusting your rookie quarterback this early on to huck it around 47 times. I mean, granted they're down the entire game. They had to get something going. So obviously you're going to have to throw it around a lot, and that could be a reason why he got up to 47. But regardless, 47 pass attempts as a rookie, no one usually ever sees. Mack Jones probably made it over 30 times that rookie season,

maybe like once or twice. I think once against the Cowboys that game and twice. I forget if he even got it twice. Yeah. Well, there was one time where they didn't even trust him to throw it more than like, what, three times? Yeah. In that Buffalo game.

Not even. Yeah, that was a great game. But, yeah, I think C.J. Stroud could definitely end up being potentially, hell, we could be talking about CJ Stroud top 15 quarterback next year for all we know. Absolutely. All right. Well, I think that's about all the content that we have left,

but do we have any other thoughts before we end the show tonight? Unless you want to talk about Nick Chubb and the games last night. That was tragic, especially since one of my friends on my fantasy team very nearly convinced me to trade him away hours before that game happened. It happened, and then I sent the trade. It happened, and then I sent the trade in. Oh, yeah. It didn't work he he sends a screenshot

of the text he goes that was quick adam yeah no he i was at my buddy's house watching the game we were switching back and forth and i i was in charge of the remote actually and we hadn't changed it back from the steelers game because I was flip-flopping still. And we didn't change the channel, and all of a sudden that happened, and they were both down, and we were like, oh, that's kind of odd. And obviously the camera angle isn't great. And when they said that out, when Joe Buck said, we're not going to show the replay, I just knew his season was done.

If you got to broadcast the announcers saying, we're not going to show you the replay, that's how bad it is. He's done. He's done. There's no other way to really say it. Yeah. I mean, like the fact that i mean i i just i didn't see that game i just saw a replay on twitter that i immediately reposted to our page holy crap yeah and like

i had somebody respond saying like he's probably fine like dude did you not see that his leg went the other way his acl left the chat it literally went farther it went like farther than 90 degrees if you actually look at that that was farther than 90 degrees it was bad like you when you see that play oh the reap no the replay was up on Twitter. Probably a good three minutes after that. It happened. Yeah. And then it was thing too.

The funny thing too, was that we were trying to rewind the game to see if we could actually see what happened. And the cable box wouldn't even let us see the full thing. It just saw us the tail end of the play. Yeah. and the cable box wouldn't even let us see the full thing. It just saw us at the tail end of the play. Yeah. Like after the fact that he had gone hit and was down.

And we were like, oh, what the hell is going on here? Yeah. Tragic though. It was – wishing him a speedy recovery. He probably won't for a very long time, unfortunately. Not rooting against him but um running like running backs it's going to be at least two years and even by then is he even going to be his his false his old self physically because he's going to he's getting up there in age isn't he like it's a well regardless if he's getting up there in age, that's the same knee that he already had some sort of knee repair with too.

You know, that's so, you know, especially with how the running back market is, you only can imagine how that's going to look for Chubb's career. If the Browns even keep them at that point, that's another thing. How much is left on Chubb's contract? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean,

you hit the nail right on the head, but, uh, we're going to see how long it takes for him to, uh, recover. It's really unfortunate to see that, especially for a running back who,

you know, running backs rely on their legs for obvious reasons. Uh, so we'll see it. We'll see how long it takes. We do have to end the show tonight, but you have any other thoughts? I got nothing else. You got anything?

Nothing. If I do, I'll save it for the next episode. We can spend the next three minutes ranting about the Pats real quick. It won't be three minutes. It'll be three hours. If we rant about them. Man. Get this man Mac Jones a weapon in an offensive line.

They got the weapons. They just had no line. They just had no line. They'd be better with an offensive line, but they need a skill position too. Jackson Smith and Jigba would have been nice. Same with Zay Flowers. Yeah, especially Zay Flowers. Getting a Boston College guy back in Massachusetts.

Yeah, I love that kid, Christian Gonzalez, though, that they got. I made a whole reel about him. Spent four hours making that reel yesterday, and he flopped. And then it wouldn't post. Jesus. I hate Instagram sometimes. right hey the hey the actual christian gonzalez one act ended up posting at least yeah well yeah i i made a new one i reposted it earlier today and it went pretty well so i you just have to make the real about

christian gonzalez when i posted it first it looked like it was more of a Patriots thing, but it was just the fact that this rookie who doesn't talk just shut down Tyreek Hill completely. Oh, yeah. It was unbelievable. Hey, let him hang around the league a couple more years and gain some more confidence. Then he'll start talking. Oh, then he will, yeah.

They all do. Remember Jair Alexander? Never talks. Now he talks more than any corner that I've ever seen in football. Look at Josh Norman. He wasn't talking until he had his one breakout year with the Panthers and then got overpaid and sucked. Got stiff-armed into oblivion.

His career's done. Yeah, man. All right. Well, we got to end this show now now now we'll end it yeah all right well thank you for listening to us we have new episodes out on tuesdays at 7 30 p.m eastern standard time be sure to subscribe to our youtube channel we have all all our episodes available on spotify Spreaker, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Google Podcasts, and so much more. Also, be sure to follow our Instagram at FumbleRooski underscore podcast to keep up with our podcasts and latest coverage on the NFL. Otherwise, we'll see you next week.

Over and out.