The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 3 & Out - Reaction to the Philadelphia Eagles DEFEATING the Dallas Cowboys on TNF
Episode Date: September 5, 2025Former NFL scout John Middlekauff is BACK breaking down the NFL Kickoff game of the 2025 season in which Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles defeated Dak Prescott’s Dallas Cowboys 24-20 on T...hursday Night Football. John reacts to Jalen Carter being ejected for spitting on Dak Prescott and how that became the main storyline throughout the majority of the game. Next, John reacts to San Francisco 49ers star RB Christian McCaffrey's reported calf injury. John wraps up reacting to the viral news that Tar Heels head coach Bill Belichick has banned the New England Patriots and Denver Broncos from UNC practices. Plus, John is joined by betting guru, Stuckey from The Action Network to break down the upcoming weekend in both college football and the NFL. They dive into the biggest matchups, key storylines, and deliver their expert insight on where the value is for bettors. From Saturday’s slate of college games to Sunday’s NFL action, they’ve got you covered with sharp analysis and some of the best bets to make this weekend. Follow John on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube for the latest. Check out Gametime - the fastest growing ticketing app in the US, and the official ticketing app of 3 & Out and GoLow - for tickets to all of your favorite NFL, NBA, NHL, NCAA teams. Concert and comedy show tickets, too. Go to Gametime now to create an account, download the app and use code JOHN for $20 off your first purchase. #VolumeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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We just did a live reaction on YouTube, which is also our podcast.
You will hear that from the game that we just witnessed.
The Eagles beat the Cowboys from the spitgate to Jalen Carter,
getting ejected before the first snap, to the lightning delay, to C.D. Lambs drops, to tush pushes.
We got it all the night.
What a start for the National Football League.
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Where, oh, where do we start?
That game was a marathon, literally, with the lightning delay, hour delay,
bananas start to the game with Jalen getting kicked out.
The Cowboys get the ball back with under three minutes with a chance to drive right down
the field.
I thought Dak played really well tonight.
Even at one point in time, my wife looks over to me.
She's like, did Dak get good?
I'm like, well, you know, he's actually a decent player.
He's playing pretty well the night.
He was slinging that pill around.
Obviously, at the end of the game, hit C.D. Lamb right in the bread basket,
and that ball comes flying right out of his hands.
Everyone was moving so fast.
It really wasn't that close to getting intercepted,
even though it went through a Philadelphia Eagles defender's hands as well.
But that was kind of the game.
I personally, you know, I think it was fourth and three or fourth and four.
It was fourth and three.
I hate a go route.
I hate something deep breaking down field.
I understand you're in a one-on-one situation.
I understand you're with one of the more talented players at any position in the NFL.
You give him a spot to make a play.
But, you know, Dak kind of off his back foot throwing it up.
Now, I'm also not a proponent of running like a, I don't know,
some quick moving play outside of the pocket that takes out half the field.
You see that play run sometimes.
and if it gets taken away, the quarterback has nowhere to go.
I don't pretend to be some offensive schematic genius.
But I do like some relatively easier options.
Listen, you know more than likely Fangio had been blitzing down the stretch.
You might need to get the ball out of your hands quickly.
But when you throw that moon ball, I don't care if it's Randy Moss, Terrell Owens,
Calvin Johnson, C.D. Lamb.
I mean, obviously you're throwing it up to an elite player.
It's kind of like a coin flip.
It feels a little bit like you're playing roulette.
I love playing roulette as much of the next guy.
When you're hot, it's badass.
But when you're putting chips around hell,
when you're putting on a red and black
and it's going up the opposite, it sucks.
And when that ball's in the air,
let's face it, it's not a high percentage to being completed.
So the Cowboys were in a position
where they were massive underdogs
with the Eagles, as Chris Collinsworth said,
the moment it happened,
the best defensive player on the team
and easily one of the more talented young players
in the entire NFL gets booted before you can even blink.
Huge advantage for the young offensive line.
They're in a position to drive and win the game.
And they don't really give themselves a chance.
Now, I also think, let's start with that situation
because that's going to be a major headline tomorrow.
I would say as the first half played out,
it's one of the more jarring starts to a game I've ever seen.
I don't ever remember.
Now, you can argue my memory.
slipping a little as I age.
But I'm pretty good with football stuff.
Don't remember a player getting ejected in a situation where the game...
You've seen crazy things happen before the game.
You remember guys have been suspended by their own team.
Like, remember James came out in college in his pads,
and Jimbo Fisher was pissed off and told him to take him off.
Like, we've seen crazy stuff happen way before the game.
Fights, probably more in college,
that happened in the pre-game warmups.
But once the game starts,
and the kickoff happens
and they're kind of setting it up to start for TV
and the two huddles are taking place.
All of a sudden you don't really know what's going on
because this dude on the Eagles just tore his ACL
who was coming off last season
where he tore his knee and missed the entire season.
You see his face going,
how the fuck can this be happening again?
Kind of feel bad for the guy.
And then all of a sudden,
Jalen Carter is ejected.
You're like, what is going on?
Obviously as it plays out,
you realize you spit on them.
I'm getting texts from people in the NFL
like he's getting suspicious.
He's going to get suspended. How many games? I don't know. One game, two games. And I'm not some proponents like,
this guy has to get suspended for this. Honestly, it didn't cross my mind. He was going to get suspended at first.
Then Floreo reports about the rules. He's like, Jalen Carter's going to be in some trouble.
He just impromptu, you know, unprovoked, goes up to the starting quarterback on the opening night for the
National Football League. And you can say, listen, you know, Jalen Carter was in a vehicle that ran another
vehicle off the road where people died. Now, you could argue it wasn't in the NFL yet, but like
the NFL looks past a lot of shit. But when you mess with their games, when you devalue the shield
on the, this is how they make their money. That is the revenue generator. NBC, Thursday night,
Sunday night, Monday night, the prime time games. If I had to guess, I mean, I don't know,
but 17 million people just watch Arch Manning play Ohio State. So if you told me Cowboys Eagles,
Thursday night, 35 million people.
And clearly, we've seen the demos,
a growing number of women,
that was not gonna fly with Raj.
He was fucked.
But then the video comes out
and I would imagine it took place this way.
Jalen Carter's in the locker room
telling, you know, Siriani
who's telling the trainers, telling Dom,
they're forwarded to Howie.
They get word that,
hey, he provoked me.
Now, Dex spit at the ground
and gave him a nod.
part of sports is getting under people's skin.
Welcome to, I don't know, the NFL.
And listen, this is why during the draft season,
so many people in the media is always like,
you're so mean, you can't say this about their character, you don't know.
Jalen Carter was a massive red flag.
And one of the main things I consistently heard,
and this happens to a lot of players,
struggles with emotional maturity.
And you saw it right there.
the guy was tossed before they played a snap.
I started thinking, I can't even imagine how mad Fangio is.
I mean, he's your best player,
and he's the player that the other team,
with young offensive linemen, a rookie guard,
has spent all week long and probably all training camp long,
talking, thinking, and game playing against,
and he's gone.
And it was a huge advantage for the Cowboys.
They go right down the field.
And really offensively, in the first half,
they fucking dominated.
And this was an offense that last year couldn't run the ball.
It was, and just, I mean,
their running back room was terrible.
And the night,
Giovante Williams, once upon a time,
was viewed as, as like a pretty good prospect,
a pretty talented guy.
Obviously, he had a bad knee injury.
I thought tonight he was running pretty hard.
I don't know what his final numbers were tonight.
15 carries, 54 yards,
had a couple touchdowns,
but I just thought he ran hard.
He gave them kind of a physical element.
And not having Jalen Carter,
I mean,
has a huge domino effect on the defense.
Now, I do believe this.
The video of Dack does not absolve Jalen
Like, he's going to get fined.
1,000%.
If you ask me right now, do you think he's going to get suspended?
That probably gets him off the hook.
I wouldn't bet on it.
You never know with Raj.
Because, again, that just made the whole thing look a little bad.
And there are a lot of people.
It's not just me and you drinking beer sitting on our couch watching the game.
What kind of laughing going?
That was crazy.
It's a lot of women now.
And it's a changing demographics of the people that watch the sports,
why so many people are watching the sport.
So I would say it's still on the table,
but clearly the Eagles wanted that message out
because listen, I had to Google like,
well, who do the Eagles play next?
Oh, they play the Chiefs in Kansas City.
And they're coming off a long week,
but so is Kansas City.
And I'm going to assume,
I would imagine the Chiefs win in Brazil.
And if they win, you get two one and no teams
losing Chris Jones, or I mean,
losing, I mean, you're Chris Jones, Jalen Carter,
would be a pretty big deal.
But this also shows,
and I'm not going to try to, you know,
psychoanalyze this entire situation, him as a player, their situation, big picture.
But I always struggle with like, you know, they're going to have to pay this guy.
We always love doing that like seven games in to a guy's career.
Even Jaden Daniels, like, you don't have to pay him for four years.
Well, let's just see him do it for three more.
And I love Jaden Daniels as much of the next guy.
It was like Jalen Carter, they're really going to have to break the bank.
He had one good season.
You know, part of getting paid huge amounts of money is,
Every year doing it at a really high level.
Right.
So especially with the amounts of money that we're talking about with defensive linemen,
we got a long way to go.
Because that was a moment, even if you want to say, hey, listen,
Dak got under his skin, the Eagles got to be furious.
Howie, Fangio, like that wasn't embarrassing.
The other players on the team, like Collins Orr said the night,
it's basically spitting on all your teammates.
That's essentially what you're doing, getting booted out.
I mean, you're screwing everybody.
And you immediately become a man down.
It's one thing when guys get injured.
It's part of the sport.
No one can't control that.
Like Landon Dickerson's Tortoral and, you know,
painkillers wear off as the game goes on.
No one can't control that.
So they're down on an offensive lineman.
When you do that and you get booted,
especially when you are, I mean,
there are some star players in this game tonight.
There's a lot of money on this field.
From Saquan Barkley to Dak Prescott to Citi Lamb,
obviously to Jalen Carter as one of these guys.
So you remove one of these guys.
so you remove one of the major chess pieces,
it just has a huge, huge impact.
And listen, you could argue like that was the Cowboys' Chance.
Now, it's hard to really figure out and quantify, like, the second half.
Was everyone thrown off?
They have to disappear in the locker room for an hour.
I can't even imagine the buildup for this game.
I'm sure it's humid there.
You're just naturally exhausted as the first game of the year.
And then it's a tight game.
It's actually a very entertaining game and all of a sudden we call time out for you know over 60 minutes and you got to go back in the locker room and just kind of sit there
That really threw off the flow
So trying to act like the end of the game or the last whatever 20 plus minutes and put that into context
It's hard because the game had a much different flow until that happened and then the game became completely different
I mean the Cowboys defense and this was the argument of like hey even
if Mike is there, this defense is going to be atrocious. Obviously, he would help. He's a fantastic
pass rusher. You watch the Cowboys defense in the first half. You're like, Jalen Carter looks like
Barry Sanders. Or I mean, Jalen Hertz looks like Barry Sanders running around. It's like,
what is going on here? They look atrocious. And then they come back from the delay, and they're
just stuffing Sequan behind the line of scrimmage. They're chasing Jayland out of the pocket. It's like,
God, they look fast. They look pretty good. So I think that it's,
that delay had a huge, huge impact on the game.
But listen, if you're the Eagles,
you get your best defensive player kicked out of the game,
you know, your starting quarterback.
This is the thing with Jalen Hurst.
And this is why I think it's very, very difficult.
Like, Dak at this point in time,
he had one run where he ran for four or five yards.
He looked like me running.
Like his days as a mobile quarterback, they're done.
Now, I wouldn't say Dak's mobility is Kurt Cousins or Jared Gough,
but, you know, or Joe Flacco,
but he is no longer what I would consider a mobile quarterback.
He is a pocket quarterback who could run a couple yards.
So the ankle injury, the hamstring injury, he is a pocket quarterback.
Now tonight, he was 21 to 34, countless drops.
I thought he was slinging that pill.
I thought he was playing at a really, really high level.
Jalen, very efficient, but you look up and at one point before that A.J. Brown,
and I love this A.J. Brown, the elephant in the room is like,
AJ Brown hasn't had a target.
At one point in time, it's like, you guys are up in this game.
Why are we worried?
Isn't the goal, isn't this a team game?
Aren't we worried?
A.J. Brown's on his third contract.
So I understand sometimes if you're a young player, it's like production leads to getting paid.
A.J. Brown's, not his rookie contract, not his second contract.
His third contract.
He's a fucking elite player.
A. Dominant, dominant player.
No one questions like, I wonder if AJ can produce.
We know he can produce.
He is a dominant individual player.
They're going to be games for whatever reason.
that he doesn't have much production.
Who cares?
The point of the game is to win.
And then he gets that final catch.
But we all know, we're like, well, I bet he was going to be really hot,
probably still not happy, but at least he gets his target now.
Listen, that's part of dealing with wide receivers.
You got to deal with it.
But that was clearly like kind of floating around, you know, like a cloud.
It's like, oh, this is, you could win this game by 10.
But man, if he goes, if he gets a goose egg, not even a target,
you know that dude is not going to be happy.
Best thing with Jalen.
He's got like 140 yards passing, but he only has a couple of incompletions.
You watch him, you think he's been pretty solid, but he doesn't throw for that many yards.
Kind of dinks and dunks a little bit.
But his running, especially in the first half, is just such an element.
Listen, I was dead wrong on the player.
When he came out, and I watched a lot of Oklahoma and Alabama football,
especially when Lincoln was the coach and Nick Saban was the coach.
I did not think he was an NFL quarterback.
Completely wrong.
He throws it dramatically better now than he did in college, obviously.
but he's turned into a very solid
thrower of the ball.
I did not think he could throw in college.
Hell, neither to Nick Saban.
But his running, I said,
listen, if he can't,
if this throwing never works out
and Nick Saban was right,
he could be 100%
like a Pro Bowl level starting running back.
And you watch him run the night.
And listen, he could go for spurts
over the course of a season,
especially the last couple seasons,
where he doesn't really run.
Tonight, maybe it's early in the season,
maybe it's because they're playing the Cowboys,
maybe he's just amped up, hasn't really played life football in a while,
he just turns to that running back.
Like he's not, he's not Kyler, he's not Lamar.
He's really more like a Frank Gore in the open field.
He's kind of slow, steady, instinctive.
And you look, and he's got 14 carries, 62 yards, couple touchdowns.
It is just, it's natural.
There is a calmness to his game.
Honestly, both these quarterbacks.
I thought very under control the night.
I mean, the opposite, what we saw of, like,
Arch and some of these quarterbacks in college,
kind of freaking out,
getting those frenetic feet.
Both these guys just very calm, cool, and collected.
Obviously a couple times, both their offensive lines got smoked.
You know, Jalen can scramble much better than Dak at this point in time.
But, you know, Jaylin, it's weird.
He's not, he's kind of hit or miss in the pocket,
but he does throw a nice ball.
And he hit Dotson on the one deep ball.
He throws a beautiful deep ball.
He's kind of turned into a better version
because he's a much better runner than this player.
But like when Deshawn Watson was really good with Houston,
because he's such a good playmaker outside the pockets
and he turns into a great runner
and he's pretty solid from within the pocket.
He's definitely just good.
One thing that he brings to the table
that I don't think he gets enough credit for
is he will just get rid of the ball.
And he's good at just getting rid of the ball
either to his checkdown or his tight end
kind of near around the line of scrimmage
kind of down in the flats.
He does that a lot and it just kind of keeps the chain moving.
Now listen, they voted on it this summer
or I guess this spring.
And my take was simple, like, listen, I don't care either way.
If they let them keep playing, it's a legal play, this is football, they do it better than
everyone, they have this quarterback, and really they're running back that squat like combined
1,500 pounds.
It's part of strength.
Milata was being quoted by Collinsworth, like, this play sucks on my body, but it
obviously works.
And if they banned it, like, I wasn't going to complain.
I got to be honest.
It's a terrible play to watch.
Now, I get it if I'm an Eagle fan.
You know it.
And I think part of it's a terrible play to watch,
you just know what's going to happen.
Part of what makes football fun,
whether it's Tom Brady, Peyton Manning,
or like Daniel Jones.
When the ball is snapped,
even if you're very confident,
like Tom Brady's going to complete it,
you don't 100% know what's going to happen.
I mean, they were plays tonight.
It's like, oh, they're going to give it to Sequan.
Sequin's probably going to bust a long run.
And he'd get like a TFL for three or four yards.
It's part of the,
great part about football. It's why people often freak out, especially the coaches, when it comes
like the Conor Stallions or the Belichick, you know, deflate gate, or not a deflate gate, but
spy gate or stealing of the signs. It's like the purity of the game is the defense does not
know what's coming. Now they can study and they can get a good idea, but if I even have
half the idea that I know you're running left, even if I don't know the run, whether it's an off
tackle, whether it's a pitch, whether it's off the inside of the guard, that is a huge advantage.
Most times, the defense is taking educated guesses, but they don't know run past what is coming.
And the tush push just feels like an inevitable play, right? It's almost feels like watching in baseball,
I don't even think they do this anymore because they automatically send them to first base,
but most of my life, when they just go like this and they just throw four straight balls.
You're like, what's the point? And thankfully, baseball just kind of outlawed.
that and just sends the guy to first base.
But it's just not a fun play to watch.
Now, I don't blame them for doing it.
I would do it too.
It clearly is a very effective play and it works.
But it is, it's kind of a crappy play to watch.
Other than that from this game,
yeah, CD, man, I'll reiterate what I said earlier.
I do think on fourth and three in situations where the game is on the line,
I just don't like kind of go routes and just finish.
50, 50 balls down the sideline.
I'll just never be okay with that.
I just think that that is,
that's taking too big of a chance,
especially in a situation where it's one thing
if you're down multiple scores
and you're kind of desperate.
It's another thing when you're down four points
and you're driving the football
and your quarterback's played really well.
Like you have a $60 million quarterback who,
listen, we can nitpick Dak all we want.
He's not a top five quarterback.
But tonight, like he played like a guy
that you'd feel confident calling
the seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth,
guy, like in that range, right?
He's been very accurate,
very confident in the pocket.
I don't know the exact route
combo to run, but run two or
three routes that are breaking
off a yard or two past the
first down marker. Give yourself a
much higher percentage pass.
Like I just said about Jalen Hertz,
one thing they do a really good job
with him as a passer, and I get it drives people
nuts because he does have these
explosive plays. But he's got no
problem on first and 10 turn it into second and six because he just threw the check down or some
little curl route to Goddard for four yards. They do it all the time. He's going to do it all season
long. Most of his stat lines are going to be 160 yards, are going to be 200 yards. He's not
throwing that often for 380 yards. This isn't Joe Burrell. He's not having Lamar Jackson or Patrick
Mahomes in his prime stat lines, but it's very effective and keeps the clock moving, keeps the
momentum going down.
And listen, I did get, not emotional, but as someone who's lost his dad and my dad meant a lot
to me.
And I don't even do like my dad was a farmer.
Like my brother works in that world.
So I can't imagine being a guy like Brian Schottenheimer whose dad was a extremely famous coach,
a really high level coach.
And him talking about his dad pregame and then during the break when they showed him
getting emotional during the, uh, during the anthem like that.
That was a pretty powerful moment.
And it was cool, and I'm guilty of this too.
Everyone's been talking a lot of shit about the hire.
And I stand by like no one else was hiring him to be their offensive coordinator,
let alone be the head coach.
But Jerry Hiring would be the head coach.
And I thought tonight he did an extremely respectable job.
He's also the play caller.
And I get it, they lose Jalen.
But him going against Fangio, who is, I don't know,
five, six million dollar coordinator, probably.
I mean, I think there's a pretty good chance.
He's the highest paid coordinator in the NFL.
Maybe solid for them to get him back this year.
But, I mean, you're talking, paying a guy a ton of money who is a lead at his job.
And Chattinheimer went blow for blow with him tonight with Dak Prescott, who, while he makes a lot of money, we all think, is a little overpaid.
Now, I also think you saw, and I might have been wrong on this a little bit, George Pickens does definitely add from a talent standpoint, a huge positive for them, gives them, you know,
an explosive player on the other side of CD.
Obviously, he, in theory, should be a 50-50 guy.
He caught a nice, kind of contested catch down the sideline.
Did have an awful penalty where he tried to decapitate a guy.
But, hey, that's the George Pickens experience.
But overall, long game, fun game, and we're off and running.
We got Chiefs Chargers tomorrow.
I don't have much to say on this game besides just big picture.
I think the Chargers, I think you're going to come back to Earth a little bit.
I know the 5 seed last year, I think losing Slater's a death blow,
a ton of pressure on this young running back who, in theory I was high on,
but when I've seen them in pads and training camp,
haven't loved it.
Their receiver group is still pretty questionable.
I just, I never bet against Harbaugh,
and it's not like I think they're going to suck.
But if you told me they went 8 and 9 this year, I wouldn't be shocked.
If you told me they went 9 and 8 and 8,000, I wouldn't be shocked.
To me, they're an 8-9 win team.
and I think Chiefs, I don't know if they win 15 games again,
but the more I think about it, like I'm just,
I'm done picking against them, I'm done betting against them,
I've done it for a couple years,
took the Ravens in the AFC championship a couple years ago,
took the Niners in the Super Bowl,
I took the Bills last year.
I was like, I kept thinking, like most people,
like, how are the Chiefs doing it?
They just do it because they got Andy Reed and Patrick Mahomes.
It's not that complicated.
An elite defensive coordinator, a fantastic GM,
who's a good personnel guy,
who builds this thing through young players,
they're going to be really good
and I expect them to win tomorrow.
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Hey, it's us, the Jonas brothers, and guess what?
We have some big news.
What's the news, name?
Huge news.
We created our own podcast.
called Hey Jonas.
We invented a podcast?
Well, we didn't invent it.
We just contributed to a...
We're the first people to do podcasts.
Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there.
But this one's extra special.
So how did we actually come up with the name Hey Jonas, guys?
I honestly don't remember.
I think it was on a call about what we should call it.
Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band.
Before Jonas Brothers was...
This is how you guys remember.
Remember it going down?
Yes.
I have a very different memory of this.
We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast,
where people could call in and say,
Hey, Jonas.
And then I wrote down on my little notepad,
Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast.
But thanks for remembering that, guys.
Listen to Hey Jonas on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcast.
Just listen.
We don't care where you hear it.
What's up, fam?
It's Isaiah Thomas.
And I'm CJ Toledano,
and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds.
Like LeBron heading into.
the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed.
And finding ways to win no matter what.
He's the smartest player to ever play the game.
His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before.
And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves,
I got to manipulate the game.
We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs.
I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series
because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup,
he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid.
He has to guard Julius Randall.
And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night
the night bases on offense.
And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson,
we dive into some playoff history too.
Steve Nass would get that thing.
That man, hell get the flying.
He running up the court, licking his fingers,
why he got the ball.
Like, you go through a training camp with that, I said.
You figure it out real quick.
Get your ass up and down the court,
and you're going to get the ball.
So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app,
Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.
This week on Crimless,
we're joined by our first ever guest.
Sorry, our first ever human guest.
I don't think I could be in the same room with Shamrock the parrot.
I'd be too nervous.
That's right.
The very funny Will Ferrell joins Rory Schovel and me, Josh Dean,
for an episode dedicated to the many crimes committed by people also named Will Ferrell.
They called to his fellow officer for the nippers.
What are the nippers?
Very good question.
No, I was thinking, would that be a good question?
name for like a salad dressing simple assault and it's a play on word salt maybe not i say we invest
and we see there's only one way to know this did not amuse the cops by the way normally the cops are
amused but this did not abuse the cops will even comes clean about some of his own crimes i didn't get
caught you know why if you don't want to be suspected of anything you whistle as you walk listen to
crime list on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
Agency, the ability to know that we're the experts in our own body.
On the podcast, cultivating her space, Dr. Dom and Terry Lomax create a space where black
women can show up fully and be heard.
I wholeheartedly think, you know, you hit 30, you shouldn't have to share one with anybody.
Mm-hmm.
From navigating friendships and healing to setting boundaries and prioritizing your mental health,
These are real honest conversations.
We don't always get to have out loud.
Totally unreasonable with different parts of life, right?
Like, oh, have all three meals and make sure you're mindful during all of them?
Absolutely not.
During one meal, I'm standing.
I'm standing and handing my children food.
Because healing, empowerment, and resilience aren't just ideas.
Their practices.
And this Mental Health Awareness Month, there's no better time to pour back into yourself.
Listen to cultivating her space on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
A couple other things before we get out of here.
Listen, this player, when he's right, is one of the more fun players offensively in recent memory to watch.
And once he got with Kyle Shanahan, it was like the football gods created a marriage.
and I remember when McCaffrey first got there,
Kyle Uscheck was doing an interview
and he said, he said,
it was crazy how often when Christian first got traded
through the first couple weeks,
he would look at me during these team meetings
and be like, is this really happening right now?
Because like the way and how deep they got on offense
and Christian's a football junkie.
And obviously when he's on the field in this scheme,
he went healthy, a dominant.
player, an MVP level player. Now, it's hard for any non-quarterback to win the MVP, but that's how
good he is, right? Sometimes injuries just derail people. And for whatever reason, whether it's just
wear and tear, whether it's muscle composition, you're just wound too tight, whether it's just, you know,
age, I don't know. I'm not a doctor. As a sports lover, we have seen guys that you wouldn't think
be able to stay healthy that are just durable for 15 years.
And then guys that are built like Greek gods just can't stay on the field.
So there aren't any answers.
But at this point in time, we have a long history of going,
you kind of just got a bet on Christian McCaffrey being an injury question mark.
And it's almost like a couple years ago in 2023 was an outlier.
So when the news broke today, I was shocked when Christian McCaffrey had to leave practice with a calf.
But then I started thinking about it.
Part of the reason I guess I was shocked is because he's been healthy all off season.
He's been healthy all training camp
and then going into week one,
just like last year,
all of a sudden he's injured.
How does that happen?
But it did.
And it does.
And I think it's extremely concerning
because the reality is
if Christian McCaffrey
is injured,
I would even say compromised,
is not 100%
for the majority of 20205,
the 49ers are not making the playoffs.
They could still be a competitive team.
But if you tell me,
Christian McCaffrey,
is in and out of the lineup.
If this calf turns into an Achilles, turns into missing games,
but they're not good enough.
They're not deep enough.
They're not talented enough.
And they are just too Christian McCaffrey dependent.
And I think this offseason,
anytime that you try to quote unquote save money,
I think it's hard for people to get behind you.
Now, when you cut a player who's making a lot of money
to quote unquote save money because that guy's not good,
no one has an issue with it.
It's like, yeah, that guy, you're paying this guy who's a,
diminishing player. You cut them before week one so you don't have to pay them $20 million or
$15 million or whatever the money is not guaranteed. Any fan, anyone in the league, like totally
makes sense. But when you just start cutting guys or trading guys like, oh, we don't want to pay
Jordan Mason a couple million dollars as our backup running back. Well, you don't know that Christian
McCaffrey can stay healthy because based on recent evidence, you would say that is definitely
up in the air. And then you get a bunch of young defensive linemen. You go, well, we want some
young defense. We'll save $10 million by
cutting Leonard Floyd. We didn't miss
a game last year. Even if he's
diminished slightly, you
have a bunch of cap space, you don't
have that many proven players at
those positions. Why wouldn't you keep
him around? Was he a bad guy?
No, he's a really high character guy. We really like him. We just
want to save some money. That's hard for
people to get behind. It's understandable
in baseball, pirate fans
expect you to not spend money.
Sacramento A's fans
like how I dropped that. They're actually the
Oakland A's, Vegas A's, who knows where they're playing.
They're actually currently playing in Sacramento.
Expect for a low payroll.
But when Hal Steinbrenner comes out and says, you know,
we're going to trade a couple players because we've got to reduce the payroll.
No one's going to give you any compassion.
No one's going to get behind you on that one.
And I think when you're an NFL team,
whether you are Mike Brown and the Cincinnati Bengals
or you're Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys,
we all know you got money and you can afford it.
You're just choosing not to.
So I think if this 49er season, if Christian's injured and he's in and out of lineup and they end up missing the playoffs with this joke of a schedule, it's like, God, they didn't have enough good players.
Like you chose to get rid of some guys.
Like, I understand letting Tile Noah Hufunga go.
Like he's been injured multiple times.
You're not, they're going to offer him a big contract to go to Denver.
Okay.
You drafted a bunch of safeties.
Totally get it.
But when you just impromptu, yeah, we'll just trade Jordan Mason to the Minnesota Vikings.
What are they paying them?
Like $10 million a year?
No, just a couple million dollars.
But we got like a, you know, fifth or sixth round pick.
Like, no one cares.
And then all of a sudden McCaffrey misses week one against Seattle.
It's like, well, we go with Brian Robinson.
Yeah, he just showed up a week ago.
Was Jordan Mason better than him?
Could you have both of those guys?
Yeah, we could have, but like we, you know, we want a little extra money.
It's hard for people.
And I'm not, you know, one of those people.
I'm the opposite, actually, when it comes.
You got to pay everybody.
Everyone deserves the max contract.
Like, I'm not pro that.
But I'm also not for pension.
pinching pennies just to get rid of a guy to have a bigger cap number just for the hell of it.
And that's what it feels like the 49ers did a little bit with a couple guys.
And now the injury props up and you go, what's going to be the end result here?
This thing could get weird before it even starts.
And if Christian McCaffrey's injured, it derails a lot of your guys' fantasy teams.
Because hell, I mean, maybe I have too much faith.
Maybe I'm just, you know, I don't know, rose colored glasses with the guy.
But if you would have told me, should I draft them number of?
number one overall.
I think that's a little risky.
Should I draft him seventh?
I'd be like, yeah, why not?
Fifth?
Yeah, do it.
One, why not?
I mean, what if he plays, you know, 16 games?
He could have 1,800 yards and score 20 touchdowns.
And it turns out, yeah, he ends up playing three games.
I mean, that's, if you told me right now, he plays three games, totally believable.
If you tell me he plays 10 games, totally believable.
If you tell me he plays the majority of games, that feels kind of unbelievable at this
point because certain players, their body just breaks down on them.
Okay, we'll end on this.
During the Belichick game the other night,
and I've talked about this now, I think, three days this week.
When the Pete Dammel report came out that he was being hard on the scouts
and giving out shitty, you know, too deep to the scouts and the media,
I just immediately started texting some of my buddies.
And I started getting people just pepper me back like, yeah, man, it's,
I haven't gone, but one of our guys went.
It was a, it's a shit show.
It's a disaster.
very pro-friendly and they've banned the New England Patriots.
And so I put it out just as used it as a take.
And I knew if it, you know, people heard it, which they would, you know, people listen to
podcast.
They would gain some steam.
It gained a lot of traction today and it kind of went a little viral that Belichick has
banned the Patriots.
And then Benjamin Albright, who's in Denver on the Broncos, tied in with the Broncos,
tweeted out that they banned the Broncos too.
I guess one of the dudes that works for the North Carolina personnel staff,
was fired by General Patton in Denver.
So they're just extremely bitter.
One thing I just can't wrap my head around,
and I won't,
is I understand hating someone for firing you.
I do get that,
whether you've made $100 million or whether you've made $5.
We all would,
emotionally, if we've invested a lot,
have some resentment and bitterness,
even if you're an optimistic person,
even if you're just Gary V,
always like the positive,
side. Just head up, smile, battle through it. Don't look back. Listen, we're all human beings.
Whether you're Belichick or whether you're me or you. But there does get to a point where you're
running an organization, especially in college. The NFL is very interwoven in the college game.
The scouts, especially in these Power 4 programs, scouts, assistant GMs, hell GMs,
are around all the time. It's a huge, it's very normal if you're at Alabama, if you're at
Georgia, if you're at Ohio State, if you're at Texas, you see these people constantly.
They're just interwoven in your day to day. So to push back on that side of it, which again,
I like Michael Lombardi. I've said over and over, I listened to his podcast for years.
He's come on this podcast. I've texted with him. He was a GM. They would know that doing this
is counterproductive from their entire messaging.
And I heard someone say this.
I forget who to give credit to.
It might have been Josh Pate when he was talking with Colin.
A lot of people have been saying this,
but I think it was Josh.
The coaching in college and coaching in the pros,
well, you're both coaching football,
and first and 10 is first and 10, right?
Fourth and goal from the two is fourth and goal from the two.
A 40-yard field goal is a 40-yard field goal.
Now the hashes are a little bit differently, but still, football's football.
A couple rule changes, right?
One foot in out of bounds.
If your knee hits, you can get up in football, in the pros if you're not touched.
Obviously, there's a lot of different rules.
O.T is a little different.
But the NFL coaching job is dramatically different than the college coaching job.
And whether you like it or not,
and listen to, I'm a believer that recruiting isn't as important as it used to be.
Like being a great recruiter 20, 30, 40 years ago, a huge part of that, like you're going in people's homes.
You are having dinner with mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, the high school coach, their family, their uncles, their brothers, their sisters.
You're going to high school basketball games.
You're doing a lot of shit that NFL people never have to do.
Don't even have to contemplate doing.
Honestly, laughed at.
Nowadays, you don't have to do that as much.
You know, Dionne Sanders has never done a home visit.
He doesn't have to.
Now, I would imagine that Sark and some of these guys still do occasional home visits,
but money has changed the game.
What have we been talking about it all week?
Like, you know, 10 years ago, been hard being critical of Arch.
Well, Arch is making $8, 9 million.
Makes it a little less like, bro, you're no different than any of us.
You're making more money than 99% of society, 99.9% of society.
So you're going to play that bad, like, we're just going to talk about you like a
pro. And hell, I've been told by my scouting buddies that the head coaches tell them that they've
become a little more cutthroat. Like, when they know the NIL is paying their middle linebacker,
$700,000 and he's supposed to be an All-American, and then he goes a month and he's just missing
tackles left and right. Like, it's a different experience than 10 years ago when that was my guy.
I've known him. I'm going to build with him. I know if this doesn't work, I'm either going to cut him,
or if he hates me, he's going to leave. So we're in a different day and age. But being a college coach is a
completely different job than the NFL.
You're dealing with boosters, you're dealing with the Board of Regents, you're dealing with
the president, you're dealing with an AD, you see the softball coach every day, you just deal
with that you would never deal with in the pros.
And I have changed my tune in a short period of time.
I thought Belichick would probably be able to turn it around.
But when I see stuff like this happen, and listen, it's not even about banning the
Patriots.
I'd say the bigger issue than banning the Patriots is being anti-NFL, being anti-the-NFLts.
Do you know what an advantage that is for Miami, Clemson,
in Florida State, who already had a massive advantage on the University of North Carolina
for the last, I don't know, my entire life?
So you're putting yourself at a disadvantage when you were already behind.
That feels like the opposite of everything Bill is already, you know, always done.
In Texas with some people today, it's like when you're that stubborn,
you almost don't care about things that when you were in your,
right mind and younger, you never would have operated like this. And listen, we give Jerry a lot of
crap. Listen, everyone has ripped Jerry Jones. It feels like at one point in time over the last
couple of years. And a lot of it is like he's brought that on himself. And some of you are so young
you don't remember this. The last four or five, six years of Al Davis were pretty ugly. And if he
would have been in this modern era of social media and more podcasts and TV shows, it would have
been really, really ugly. But again, a lot of itself inflicted. And it feels like this stuff
with Bill, you're going to make mistakes naturally, right? You're going to recruit the wrong guy.
NFL too. You're going to hire the wrong coordinator. What were the Cowboys? They had a first
round pick that didn't even dress tonight. You have the wrong draft picks. You hire the wrong
trainer. Humans. We all make mistakes. There is not a human alive that hasn't made a mistake.
this week, some bigger than others, but the more and more you rise and whatever business you're in,
the more mistakes you're going to make. And the quicker you can pivot from them. And the quicker
you can realize, well, if I don't do this, I can avoid that mistake. I don't need to step in
this situation. I can just avoid it. And it feels like he's just stepping in it, double middle
fingers, because that's how he's been in New England, where I just, I don't think that's a good idea.
you know and I clearly it's going to backfire and this story is just an ugly one for them it really is
and it's one of those I didn't make it up I was told by enough people I'm like it's true and you never
truly know it's like it's not like I had tried to do a school call and then the North Carolina
confirmed it yeah they're like yeah they're not welcome I'm like damn they not only do they
not hide from it they embraced it they said well the way they treated us there's no way
we're going to treat them well so
F you to them.
I'm like,
geez, Louise.
I've been hard on a lot of coaches.
Two guys that I would say
until it's hard for me to be critical
because they've won a lot of games
would be Sark and Ryan Day.
One thing, and I like Sark more
and I like Ryan Day,
but one thing you cannot dispute
with either guy is they take recruiting,
they take dealing with the NFL world
and helping their guys take the next level
and dealing with the scouts.
very seriously.
And, you know, you saw that Ryan Day learned that from Urban Meyer and Sark learned that from
Nick Saban.
And that's a really, really big deal, right?
And I just think it's kind of a sad ordeal at this point in time.
Okay, that'll wrap it up for night one.
And I guess sources say that we will be back for tomorrow night.
Chiefs, Chargers, and let's just keep our fingers crossed that we don't get a lightning delay.
We don't get pushed back an hour.
But hopefully everyone enjoyed the football,
and I will see you soon.
Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers,
and guess what?
We have some big news.
What's the news,
huge news?
We created our own podcast called,
Hey Jonas.
We invented a podcast?
Well, we didn't invent it.
We just contributed to it.
We're the first people to do podcasts.
Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts.
We're starting a trend.
But this one's extra special.
So how do we actually come up with the name,
Hey Jonas, guys?
I honestly don't remember.
I think it was on a call about what we should.
should call it.
And, well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band.
Before Jonas Brothers was...
This is how you guys remember it going down?
Yes.
I have a very different memory of this.
We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast,
where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas.
And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas,
and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast.
But thanks for remembering that, guys.
Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcast.
Just listen. We don't care where you hear it.
What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas.
And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast, Point Game is about defying the odds.
Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed.
And finding ways to win no matter what.
He's the smartest player to ever play the game.
His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before.
And he knows. Without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game.
We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs.
I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series
because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup,
he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid.
He has to guard Julius Randall.
And then he has to give us everything he gives us
on the night-to-night basis on offense.
And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson,
we dive into some playoff history too.
Steve Nash would get that thing.
That man, hell get the flying.
He running up the court, licking his fingers,
why he got the bar like,
after you go through a training camp with that, I say,
you figure it out.
real quick.
Oh, yeah.
Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball.
So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your
podcasts.
This week on Crimless, we're joined by our first ever guest.
Sorry, our first ever human guest.
I don't think I could be in the same room with Shamrock the parrot.
I'd be too nervous.
That's right.
The very funny, Will Farrell, joins Rory Scovel and me, Josh Dean, for an episode dedicated to the
many crimes committed by people also named Will Farrell.
They called to his fellow officer for the nippers.
What are the nippers?
Very good question.
No, I was thinking, would that be a good name for like a salad dressing?
Simple assault.
And it's a play on word, salt?
Maybe not.
I say we invest and we see.
There's only one way to know.
This did not amuse the cops.
By the way, normally the cops are amused, but this did not abuse the cops.
Will even comes clean about.
about some of his own crimes.
I didn't get caught.
You know why?
If you don't want to be suspected of anything,
you whistle as you walk.
Listen to crime lists on the Iheart radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
Agency, the ability to know
that we're the experts in our own body.
On the podcast, cultivating her space,
Dr. Dom and Terry Lomax create a space
where black women can show up fully
and be heard.
I wholeheartedly think, you know,
you hit 30.
you shouldn't have to share one with anybody.
Mm-hmm.
From navigating friendships and healing
to setting boundaries
and prioritizing your mental health.
These are real, honest conversations.
We don't always get to have out loud.
Totally unreasonable with different parts of life, right?
Like, oh, have all three meals
and make sure you're mindful during all of them?
Absolutely not.
During one meal, I'm standing.
I'm standing and handing my children food.
Because healing, empowerment, and resilience
aren't just ideas.
their practices.
And this mental health awareness month, there's no better time to pour back into yourself.
Listen to cultivating her space on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
Okay, I've been getting asked, when the hell is Stucky making his return?
And I just assumed we were just, and I realized I had texted him and he texts me and I'm in Hawaii drinking mitis.
I'm like, hell yeah, next Thursday, let's roll.
back and Adam from the Action Network. Big bets on campus. Go subscribe. Action Network
podcast. This guy is a gambling extraordinaire. And I can't imagine like me. You just,
last week was pretty fun. You know, obviously the NFL, we're recording this before Thursday night game is awesome.
But that college football weekend, especially with the big games, do you see some of those television ratings?
Stucky. Action Network. What's up, bro?
What's going on? Yeah, it's good to be back. We were like halfway back last week with
college football, full slate this week.
Now we're all the way back.
It's like NFL Thursday Friday, full college football slate Saturday, full NFL
slate Sunday.
And from here until the Super Bowlers, there's no rest.
So yeah, looking forward to another season of chopping it up and hopefully you can pick
some winners.
Okay, before we dive into the NFL, I remember last year, wasn't one of your favorite college
bets Michigan to miss the playoffs, like two or three?
Three to one.
Yep.
You, you know, you live in Lexington, SEC country, you're a college, just fucking fanatic when it comes to football and basketball.
Anything you saw last week, like, did you change on Clemson?
Are you now all in on LSU?
Arch looking kind of like a scrub.
I mean, clearly Texas is good, but does that give you pause?
Ohio State, more impressed?
Expect that.
Any big takeaways from your big picture, maybe a big bet you had in terms of the playoffs,
something you saw last best week that impacts the, you know,
final eight, final four national championship hunt.
Yeah, I mean, the biggest question this year, it's wide open.
I mean, you can go look at the odds board.
There's no, like, clear, uh, there's no clear alpha team.
And the biggest questions with many of the teams at the top are quarterback.
A lot of the teams have uncertainty at quarterback.
You can look at Texas.
Like, everyone just assumes the man he name that he's going to be the guy.
But we still haven't seen a lot.
Like last week was his first.
road snaps and he he was pretty inaccurate. It doesn't mean he can't get it together,
but there's definitely questions. And Texas also lost a lot of pro town elsewhere.
Ohio State, new quarterback, lost a lot. And I think San looked okay. I don't think they really
tried to do much. They were relying on their defense, but they only have 200 and,
I don't know, 203 yards of total offense. So there's still some questions there with saying,
Alabama, I was low. I am not a Ty Simpson guy. He did not impress me at all.
I don't know what's going on with Alabama and DeBoer, who's like always so trustworthy.
And now he's lost.
Remember we love, we love gambling on him.
Biggest bet of my life to date is still betting on him against Sark in that semifinal game.
Yeah, it's.
And remember the week before he beat Lannning.
He was like, you know, almost a 10 point dog in the championship game.
Yeah, and even before then, anywhere he's gone, like, offense coordinator had, like, he's always been so successful.
I don't know.
I mean, I don't think since I think they have to go to one of the younger kids of quarterback, but we'll see.
The effort just wasn't there on defense, like some of the clips you saw of some of the guys.
It was, it was definitely concerning.
So I'm curious to see where Alabama goes from here.
The team that I was, I was pretty low.
I was lower than the market on Clemson.
Everyone was just like crowning Clemson.
I said, like, pumped the brakes.
Like this team last year, I know they bring everyone back, but this team that shouldn't have even made the playoff.
They needed Syracuse to beat Miami.
they lost to every SEC team they played
Klovenik, yes, he played better against Texas
but for the whole season,
if you looked at the toughest competition,
he didn't play that well.
So I still had questions about Clemson.
Like I knew that they were a good team,
a top tennis team,
but people were just like crowning them already.
The team that I came away most impressed with,
the team that I was high on coming to the year,
that's on the winly SEC.
The only national title future I have now is LSU.
I was super impressed them.
The biggest question on the team,
I loved all the trenches they brought in on a defense.
I'm a Blake Baker guy.
That defense is trending up.
It seems like they figured out how to use Perkins.
That defense was outstanding last week.
The biggest question, and we know Nussmeyer, of all the top teams,
who do you trust their quarterback situation?
LSU has to be up there at the top.
So that's a good starting point.
That's a good place to be right now.
It doesn't mean like someone else can't come and catch them
and one of these younger quarterbacks can ascend.
But LSU's in a really, really good spot compared to a lot of these other top teams
from a quarterback perspective.
They have all the town on the outside.
the biggest question was their offensive line.
And you know, you lose four guys to the NFL.
But if you go back to last year, they could not run the ball.
They were the worst rushing team in the SEC.
They had no balance.
So it was just now, Nussmeyer had all day, he was protected well by all these NFL
offensive linemen.
But they couldn't figure out the zone run blocking scheme.
So you put all these new guys together, some young, you know, five-star freshmen,
some transfers.
If you can actually get some semblance of a rushing attack and then give that,
give Nussmeyer some balance,
because he's not going to run the ball.
Like this offense could be really good.
So, yeah, them going on the road,
they even had a touchdown taken off the board.
They fumbled, gave him a field goal.
Super impressed with LSU.
You told me to pick a national champion right now.
I know you could say it's overreacting,
but I'm going with LSU,
a known quantity at quarterback that I'm very confident in.
What's your take on Florida?
I know it's hard to, I mean,
half the top teams played, you know, nobody's.
But clearly that quarterback,
I was texting with someone yesterday who's just, you know,
diehard football guy, and we were texting about Arch.
And I was like, you know, the next couple weeks,
no one's even going to, it doesn't even matter.
But in, you know, what, three weeks from Saturday,
he takes on Lagway, like, to see another guy that clearly is an elite talent
with a team that might be pretty good.
That could be a really tough spot.
If all of a sudden Florida's 3 and O going in that game wins that game,
could they be a legitimate SEC contender or are they not as good as like,
you know, George, I thought Tennessee, you know, again, Syracuse,
but they look pretty good.
Yeah.
Syracuse is way down this year.
I mean, they lost just a ton.
I don't know if Joey Aguilar can,
the Ab State transfer, or was it?
UCLA for a minute can actually, you know,
lead them to an SEC championship.
It's kind of like a rebuilding year in a way for Tennessee.
They're still going to be very competitive,
but it's not a team that went into the portal heavy.
Like, they're like developing guys.
They're doing it.
I think more of the right way.
I think you want to have a good balance.
So just from a roster perspective,
I think that they understand that this is,
they have a couple freshmen waiting in the wings at quarterback,
that this is probably a reset here.
Florida is interesting with Lagway,
is one of the most talented quarterbacks in the country.
Their schedule is just acid.
I mean, they should beat South Florida this week,
but that game is, you know, that might be difficult.
Then they go LSU, Miami, Texas, Texas A&M,
Mississippi State, who's better, Georgia,
at Kentucky, at Ole Miss.
Tennessee and then Florida State now
looks significant proof
so that's that looked like a gimmee coming into the year
I can be one of the hardest schedules
in like the history of sports
it's it's insane the one thing I'll bring
a lot of Florida you can't take too much away from playing
the Long Island sharks
I didn't know they had a football team
it's they're bad but the one thing I'll mention
is that they have a new right tackle
who was getting destroyed
by Long Island they get up 11 tackles for loss
he was getting destroyed
I don't think they can have them out there
Like, you want to go play Miami in a couple weeks?
And those Miami defensive ends with a right tackle who was horrendous.
So their offensive line was like a strength.
They had a bunch of guys returning.
But the right tackle, new guy in there, had a horrendous game against Long Island.
So something to watch with Florida as they ramp up a competition is that right tackle spot.
But, yeah, I mean, they're a really good team.
I think I'm like a top 15 team, power ratings wise.
They could ascend to top 10, maybe in top five.
But the problem is, can you get through the schedule without?
Maybe they go nine and three, though.
With this schedule, you can still get them in.
But, yeah, they're one of the better teams in the country,
and they have a quarterback that you can definitely rely on.
I watched a little bit of the Michigan game
and didn't watch any of Oklahoma.
So I went back and watched the highlights last night of the two quarterbacks.
I mean, obviously Underwood, easy to see why, you know,
relative his talent compared to Arch, not even in the same ballpark.
But Mateer, I thought had like a little like Farvian Josh Allen gunslinger,
to him. I mean, she's like, holy shit. But the ball comes out of his hands. I do, I get it.
And I texted a buddy with Oklahoma. He's like, yeah, he's got a chance. Now, this is a huge game.
I do think if Oklahoma covers, you know, Michigan's getting four and a half. It's always hard.
I mean, this guy's a true freshman. Now, probably the highest paid true freshman, not named Cooper
Flag in the history of the NCAA. But, like, that's going to be a tough. And that place is
going to be rocking. It's at night. Oklahoma's defense, right, a ton of returning guys. Honestly,
last year, remember when I went to the Texas Oklahoma game, that game was basically tied with a
couple minutes left to the first. They were good on defense last year. Their offense was just a joke.
And I do think if Oklahoma kind of commands and wins this game, they might have something with this
quarterback. That four and a half is kind of in that weird zone. I guess you would just have to take
history, true freshman, but what if this guy really is that special? It would make me a little nervous,
but that's historically been a pretty tough place to play. Now, Michigan's probably got, you know,
They got an NFL defensive coordinator in Wink going up against Mateer.
If Mateer plays well in this game and, like, throws three or four touchdowns,
hell, just throws a couple touchdowns, has like a Nussmeyer type game.
And you just like, he's going to start darting up the draft boards, is he not?
Yeah.
Number one, Underwood was super impressive guys.
That running back they have from Alabama, Justice Haynes.
Like, I guess you're beast.
The problem with, like Underwood, yeah, every throw, you're like, wow, this kid can make every throw.
So the problem with Michigan is they still have, like their offensive line still has some questions, and their receivers just aren't great.
So, and you lost Loveland at tight end.
So he doesn't have as much help as you might think.
Michigan's recruiting very well.
Like next year, they should look better in that department.
But they're, they're like supporting cast outside of the running backs, leave a bit to be desired.
So I'm very curious to see how he looks against his Oklahoma defense, which is really good.
You like Oklahoma in this spot?
Yeah, I mean, if you look at last week, a lot of these very young quarterbacks, like, making their first start, going on the road, I mean, look at Alabama, Notre Dame.
If you faded all of them, you had a good weekend.
So it's a tough spot, like really tough defense.
Off its line isn't great.
Secondary, I mean, excuse me, wide receivers aren't great.
Going on the road, hostile environment, first true road start is a true freshman.
That's tough.
but Oklahoma is not without its flaws.
I mean, they played Illinois State last week.
There's not too much you can take away from it,
but they couldn't really run the ball.
Their offensive line is still a question mark.
They couldn't run block last week.
I have two true freshmen on the offensive line.
So Michigan's defensive line down the step from last year,
but still really talented.
I assume that Wink is going to blitz a ton of year.
So if they can, like, if Oklahoma can't run,
and they're in like third and long and,
obvious pass downs. Wink's going to blitz. He loves the blitz. And we're going to see how
Matier can process the blitz against a much talent or defense because you can look at this two ways.
At Washington State, he struggled a bit when he played power 14s. So if you look, he was, you know,
he was sacked 10, he was like eight times against Boise last year who blitzed a ton. He had a little
trouble processing the blitz and getting it out to his hot read. Texas Tech in Washington last year,
He wasn't great.
He was great running, but not throwing.
And this is a step up from there.
So we're going to see what he can do throwing the ball because I don't think
Oklahoma is going to be able to run it.
So this really profiles is like, I mean, it's boring to say, but it probably, even with
so much excitement of quarterbacks, it probably profiles as an under game.
Now, but it's come way down.
It was at like 54 this summer.
It's at like 45 and a half now.
But it's hard for me to see Underwood as talented as having much success without, you know,
without much at wide receiver offensive line.
And then I think Michigan's defense will come to play here.
So there's probably profiles as an under game.
Four and a half, it's probably a stay away for me.
Oklahoma got that really early.
They were minus one and a half, went up to six and a half.
Michigan got bought now sitting at four and a half.
But I'm really, I want to learn more about both quarterbacks.
It's the tier against top tier competition and then underwood.
What can he do in a hostile environment?
Because if he can win this game, man, you've got to be super impressed.
The last note is Barham, one of Michigan's best linebackers.
He's suspended for the first half due to a targeting.
So that's noeworthy.
He's really important in like the blitz and pass rush.
So we'll see if Oklahoma can take advantage early.
My favorite story of week one, none on the field was Clemson.
Was it?
Yeah, Clemson realized that that LSU transfer from Houston got kicked out in the second half of his last game.
And no one's new.
No one's paying attention.
No one's watching that game.
That's college football for you.
before we dive in the NFL, let's transition through Belichick.
Did I see it correctly that that number was originally at about three touchdowns, like 24?
And now it's down.
21-1-5-2 games last week.
And then obviously it comes down.
Under two touchdowns now?
And then, yeah, it opened back up around like 17 and then got bet down to like 12.
I think over two touchdowns it's worth a bet on Charlotte, just on the spot.
Charlotte might be really, really bad.
I mean, I had Charlotte
week one plus seven.
They closed plus two.
They got destroyed.
They should have lost by 60.
To upstate,
an upstate team that was brand new.
They looked horrendous.
So it's hard to really quantify how bad they are,
but it's also.
What was the score of that game,
the final score?
A lot too little?
Because Belichick,
I saw him say that they got killed too.
I didn't even...
42 to 14 or something.
Let me say.
So it was a complete blowout.
3411, but like,
it could have been worse.
their defense looked really bad.
Brand new team, brand new coach.
So it's same with North Carolina.
But the spot is so bad for North Carolina.
Like so much went into that game, so much hype, so much buildup.
It was on a Monday night.
Now you're turning around playing on Saturday.
Like that never happens in college.
And you're playing at Charlotte in their stadium, which is weird,
that North Carolina is playing there.
But that's their Super Bowl.
Charlotte also played last week, like during the weekday.
So they have extra rest, extra time to prepare, which is important with both of these teams, which are brand new.
And North Carolina looked completely lost.
Like after that opening script, it was bad.
So I need over two touchdowns or 14 plus, but just on the spot alone and the uncertainty,
I think I got to make North County approve they can win by two touchdowns on short rest with Charlotte Super Bowl,
extra rest here.
They could just come out a little flatter than you might think.
I know this Belichick loses this week
You're looking at a long season
I mean you might be talking like two-win team
Right I mean they clearly would have no talent
What you just don't know like look at Florida you know last year
Brand new team after they were national title contenders
And they won two games North Carolina is not at that
Even at that tier so it could happen
Hey it's us the Jonas brothers and guess what we have some big news
What's the news? Huge news
We created our own podcast
called Hey Jonas.
We invented a podcast?
Well, we didn't invent it.
We just contributed to it.
We're the first people to do podcasts.
Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts.
We're starting a trend.
But this one's extra special.
So how did we actually come up with a name,
Hey Jonas, guys?
I honestly don't remember.
I think it was on a call about what we should call it.
Oh, we were thinking I'm originally calling it
one of the early names of our band.
Before Jonas Brothers.
This is how you guys remember it going.
down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the
podcast, people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad,
Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that,
guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
Just listen. We don't care where you hear it.
What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about
define the odds.
Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed.
And finding ways to win no matter what.
He's the smartest player to ever play the game.
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And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves,
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We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs.
I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series
because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup,
he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid.
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And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense.
And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too.
Steve Nass would get that thing.
That man, hell get the flying.
He run up the court licking his fingers while he got the ball.
Like, after you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick.
Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball.
So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
This week on Crimless, we're joined by our first ever guest.
Sorry, our first ever human guest.
I don't think I could be in the same room with Shamrock the pair.
I'd be too nervous.
That's right.
The very funny Will Farrell joins Rory Scovel and me, Josh Dean,
for an episode dedicated to the many crimes committed by people also named Will Ferrell.
They called to his fellow officer for the nippers.
What are the names?
Nippers.
Very good question.
No, I was thinking, would that be a good name for like a salad dressing?
Simple assault.
And it's a play on word, salt?
Maybe not.
I say we invest and we see.
There's only one way to know.
This did not amuse the cops.
By the way, normally the cops are amused, but this did not abuse the cops.
Will even comes clean about some of his own crimes.
I didn't get caught.
You know why?
If you don't want to be suspected of anything, you whistle as you walk.
Listen to Crime List on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
Agency, the ability to know that we're the experts in our own body.
On the podcast, cultivating her space, Dr. Dom and Terry Lomax create a space where black women can show up fully and be heard.
I wholeheartedly think, you know, you hit 30.
You shouldn't have to share one with anybody.
Mm-hmm.
From navigating friendships and healing to setting boundaries and prioritizing.
your mental health. These are real
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to cultivating her space on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
Let's dive into the league.
Okay, I'm going to start with some dogs.
These games are ugly, but the morning slate, especially week one.
We don't have buy weeks.
We don't even have the doubleheaders quite yet on Monday night football.
So we got a lot of games early on.
You got a lot of Carolina Jacksonville's.
And that number jumps out to me.
Like, I'm out on Jacksonville this year.
I'm just like, I know everyone's like, Liam Cohen.
Travis Hunter.
We've seen this song and dance with so many different coaches,
with so many different players.
I'm just betting against Trevor Lawrence.
Now, listen, Carolina, what we saw down the stretch,
was it a little of no one taking them seriously?
Was it a little of Bryce actually might be pretty decent?
Is there coach decent?
Getting over a field goal in this game.
Now, still, defensively is going to have some issues.
But I got a buddy that works on the staff.
He's like, our offensive line, Carolina is fucking good.
like their offensive line is good
if Bryce is just solid now weapons
wise obviously draft
McMillan really high you know we'll see
I've seen a lot of question marks still with Leggett
you get rid of what's his name
trade him to Minnesota and then you bring back
Renfro which clearly didn't make your team because
you didn't think he was good enough a week ago
so that's not ideal
but Carolina plus three and a half I'm
doing it
I can't get there mainly because I don't mind
your line of thinking
I am a Liam Cohen guy I mean you look
at the Kentucky teams of the last four years. He had two stops. It was the only time Kentucky's
offense been good. Other times really bad. You saw him with the Bucks last year. It was really good.
Last year's Jacksonville team was a joke, like just schematically, the things that they were running
and no motion, no platch, no innovation. Like, he should be able to provide a bump.
You said you don't want to bet on Trevor Lawrence. If you do want to bet on Trevor Lawrence,
I did bet anytime touchdown, like four to one. You can find even a little better. There's
where that they might be going.
to push on all short yard situation.
So you can get four to one and they're going to do push push.
And Lawrence can run a little bit anyway.
Like he could run it in that way.
But if they're going to do push push near the goal line,
that's a good bet in my opinion.
But the thing that scares me the most about Carolina,
obviously their defense is terrible.
It should be a little better this year because last year they were terrible and hurt.
So you get guys like Derek Brown back.
They're a little healthier, but it's still not a great defense.
You mentioned the offense.
The office line, yes, is very underrated.
very strong, but they might be without their left tackle.
I think he's doubtful now.
Equano, their left guard, who's really good.
Damian Lewis, super underrated.
He's questionable.
I think their right guards even, so like the offensive line's not healthy.
And then you mentioned the weapons.
You lose Thielen.
Coker, who they were going to rely on, just got put on IR.
So now you need Legat to hit.
You need McMillan in his first start on the road to be good.
And then, like, it's David Moore.
So all of a sudden, this offense, which was starting to ascend last year,
they need the offensive line, which doesn't look like it's going to
fully put together. And then the weapons don't look as strong as it did a few weeks ago.
So that's a pass for me. But I did bet on Lawrence touchdown. Would lean over.
I'm a little afraid about Carolina, but with some of these injuries. But I think both
these offense still score, and this could be a higher scoring game. And you have the new kickoff
rules. Field position could be much better this year. And there could be a lot more exposed
of plays on the return. So that's something worth watching as well.
Okay. Giants Washington are. Are you of the, I guess,
conventional wisdom that Washington's got a little regression in them last year after winning some
of those crazy games? Yeah, I mean, they were, they went 20 of 23 on fourth down. That is
completely obscene. It's like it's hard to even put into words how crazy that is because it's
not like they had 23, fourth and ones with the tush push and J. They're like fourth and sixes.
Yeah, and that even would 20 to 23 for the Eagles on push push is like, that's like pretty good.
Like you want you probably, they're like 90, you know, 85, 90%. They did that on just.
just all four downs. A lot of them are fourth and five, fourth and four, they were throwing it a
lot. There's just no way. No way. And think about, they played in a bunch of close games,
and they did well in close games. Think about all those fourth down. Like if you take away like
six or seven of those and then you're still good on fourth down, but in close games, like that,
those swing entire games, the win probability. And so yeah, they are probably due for some
aggression. I still have questions about the defense. I think the key is probably going to be
Latimore. What does he have left at corner? Is he washed? Is he bounced back? And because if they can have
him is the lockdown corner. That does a lot more for Quinn in that defense. So I'll be curious
to watch him against neighbors who torched them last year. But I... Well, really, they did it with three guys,
right? Latimore was last year during the season, but then they, instead of using cab space,
which I don't, I'm not against because who you're really buying in free agency, they trade for
Debo, who's $16 million in a contract year that he could be washed or this is a rebound season.
Yep, Debo too. And Tunzel, while still good, because Serio, I think pretty well established at this point,
pretty good at his job was like, I'm not going to give this guy a $100 million contract,
so I'm punning right now.
And Washington goes.
So they get Debo, they get Latimore, and they get Tunzel, who are veteran guys who are,
you know, especially Debo and Tunzel are going to think, like, it's time for me to get paid
if I start doing well.
That's this young, kind of vibrant locker room.
Now it's like oldest team in the league.
You bring back Ertz.
Is Bobby Wagner still in the squad?
So it's like, you had Vaughn Miller.
So for as sexy as Jaden Daniels is, like, no one would argue against that.
A lot of like interesting kind of dynamics in that locker room.
That's not just like young and hungry, you know?
Yeah, fascinating, fascinating team to watch.
But there's definitely some aggression.
I mean, there's a team that won on a, they won on a hell marry against the bears.
Like, that doesn't happen in the other.
That was sick.
Insane.
While one of the Bears, Stevens.
Well, what was I got?
They're the second.
Yeah, just celebrating on the side.
Unbelievable, just taunting fans.
One of the funniest moments of the year.
So yeah, there's some natural regression.
And historically, week one, it's a dog week.
Divisional dogs, you know, you're talking 60, 65%
depending on the time frame you're looking.
So, yeah, I think the Giants are the only way you look here.
I do think the Giants are a bit underrated coming in the year.
Like, I don't know how much Russ has left,
but look at the quarterback situation last year.
And this is a team that went,
was in a ton of close game still.
The offensive line, you have your left tackle back.
That's big.
So the offensive line should be a little better.
then like defensively this team could be feisty i mean they have one of the best pass rushes on paper
in the league i like their safeties you add holl and i'm always been a newbin guy since he came
out of minnesota last year and then your corners their cornerback too is still a major question
but you you bolstered that room so this giant's team could be feisty and uh you know they
have there's there's tape down what this daniel's offense is going to look like there's some
potential regression. So yeah, I think the only way you can look there is the Giants.
Well, I think there are two teams last year, the Giants and the Titans, that if you just give them,
you know, like the middle of the road quarterback, maybe slightly better, like Dak Prescott,
what he'll probably be this year, someone like that. They go from drafting one and third overall
to drafting like 14th, right? They're not a playoff team, but they are on a weekly basis,
if they're playing well, can beat anybody last year. I mean, the Levis situation, and the Daniel Jones
getting cut in the middle of the year.
I mean, it just couldn't get been much worse.
In the modern day NFL, when your quarterback is that shitty.
This is not college where, you know, I mean, Texas, even if Arch's average, can win eight,
nine games with ease, right?
In the NFL, if you get really bad quarterback play or below average quarterback play,
you're going to lose a lot of games.
And I think the Giants, now, I'm not a Russ guy.
I do think is pretty interesting.
I don't know if it was shocking, but once it comes out that Jackson Dart is the number two,
I saw Jordan Renan who covers the team.
He's like, when you're at practice, Brian Dayball is by this guy's side.
He's like a dog, you know, just falls around Jackson Dart.
And the other two guys just kind of do their own shit.
It's pretty clear, like, I don't know if they're going to go to the bullpen week one.
But I, what you're over under for us seeing Jackson Dart?
Month?
Yeah.
I mean, it depends.
The Giants have a tough schedule.
So, like, there's a, there's probably a good chance that they fall behind record-wise.
And then, yeah, I think then...
You pull the trigger.
And Russ could just get hurt.
I mean, he's older player.
It's not like he's that mobile anymore.
He takes a lot of sacks.
I mean, my guess, would this happen much sooner than later?
This is Brian Dayball's handpick guy.
Clearly likes him a lot.
He's in this weird dynamic of, like, kind of coaching for his job.
But kind of, if you're the owner, do you let them handpick a guy in the first round
and then fire the coach who's a quarterback guy?
Kind of in a weird spot, right?
Yeah.
Yeah, I think if he go to Dart, like, it's,
as long as it's not a complete disaster this year,
I think you give him another year.
I agree. Let's see what you have.
I think, I mean, Dave, he wasn't put in a great spot.
Like, this giant team was ruined, like cap-wise, management-wise,
and like, it was a disaster that he walked into.
And then they had that one, that one,
that one, that one year where he led them to the playoffs out of nowhere and won a game.
So, but, yeah, I played, I did play the Titans week one.
If you go back to 96, 46, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 8 plus point favorites in week 1, 16 and 36 against the spread.
So I mentioned it's a dog week.
Like, a lot of that, what's baked into this is that, okay, the Broncos are going to be as dominant defensively as they were last year.
On paper, yes, they are.
But that's not guaranteed.
Like, defenses are fickle year to year, year over year.
year. So they might not be, and they were one of the 25 best defenses from an EPA perspective
over the last 10 years. Twenty-three of the previous 24 dropped by an average of eight in the
rankings from an EPA perspective the next year. It's hard to maintain that level, hard to
maintain that level of health. So we'll see. Think about last year. Just throw this out there.
Going into last year, everyone was saying the Jets and the Browns defenses are two of the best.
No, that didn't really play out that way. The secondaries didn't play as well. There were some
injuries. And so we don't know if Denver's going to be as dominant. And last year, look,
They won 10 games, but they got their 10th win because Kansas City benched everyone.
They only beat one playoff team all year.
They went one and six against playoff teams.
Like, this is a big number to cover the NFL with a small total, like 42.
And yes, the Titans, all they had, they upgraded a quarterback with Cam Ward.
They're uncertainly there.
It could be a disaster.
It's a tough spot going to Denver and Althageud Week 1 first start.
Rookie quarterbacks have not had success.
Number one drafts have not had success in their first start on the road.
I think they're like six and 23, but they're usually on bad teams.
they're about 500 against the spread.
Last year, disastrous quarterback play.
Like a guy just giving the ball to the other team.
As long as Cam Ward doesn't do that, you're a step ahead.
The offensive line last year, it wasn't all on Levis, was a disaster.
So they bring in a left tackle.
It allows Latham to go to right tackle.
You bring in one of the better right guards,
four to five unit, really good offensive line coach.
They should be much better there.
So the offense is not just the complete disaster.
Defense is pretty good.
It's like it can be a league average unit,
especially if Sneed can give them something.
it as a number one corner.
And then the special-
Didn't Simmons drop a bunch of weight
to try to be a little bit more
of a pass rusher than like a one-stuffing
defensive lineman?
Yeah, a little quicker off the ball.
Because now you have sweat there too.
It's kind of like who can take that role.
So, yeah, the defense has potential.
And then something that a lot of people
don't talk about last year with this Titan team
because they were just the,
they were the worst against the spread team of all time.
Their special teams were one of the worst
in the history of the NFL.
I mean, like middle school type plays
that cost them games,
cost them close games they overhaul the whole unit it's not going to be an elite special teams but as long as you're not again like the quarterback giving away games then you should be better there too so yeah i think that this and what profiles is a lower scoring game um uh i think cam war can keep them in this game i wouldn't be shocked there's always one or there's going to be a couple there's going to be a couple games this week where you're like every year where you're like whoa how did that happen uh i if tennessee won it then
wouldn't completely floor me.
Well, it's different.
I actually think Titans, I mean, if Cam Ward is just like rookie of the year level good,
the upgrade you would have from Levis to him is dramatic.
And you get them seven and one to make the playoffs.
I mean, I think they, you know, their floor is much more seven or eight wins than what they were last year.
I'm with you.
I like the Titans just this year to be kind of feisty, but that's a lot betting on Cam Ward,
which you never truly know with rookies.
but I think it's a pretty good player.
And I mean, you watch some of these quarterbacks in college.
Like, he was so good last year.
I mean, he was kind of, he's a different type player,
but, I mean, you've watched a lot of college football in your life.
Like, I'm not saying he's Jaden Daniels,
but in terms of, like, carrying a team that was atrocious on defense.
I mean, what do they win?
Four or five wins if they just have an average quarterback play at Miami last year?
Yep.
Yeah, to get that last wild card spot, if Cam Ward hits,
I don't hate it.
I played their win total over.
over five and a half. I think, yeah, like you said,
floor is much higher. But, yeah, this could be one of the shockers.
There's probably going to be one, maybe two, every year.
It was Patriot's Bengals last year, right?
Patriot Bengals was last year.
There's always going to be a shocker.
And like I said, eight plus point favorites in week one,
16 and 36 against the spread last 30 years.
Okay, one team I liked a lot last year.
I mean, you get them like eight to one to get the number one seed.
That didn't hit because they're offensive line and offensive coordinator.
and offense was just atrocious.
I do think they're going to be better on offense.
And defensively, you know, you talk to people in the league,
if you just, it's pretty clear when you just look at the talent.
I mean, they got two guys that are under 25 that are top, I don't know, 15, 20 players in the league in Will Anderson.
Definitely, I think Derek Stingley, you know, if you put him on the Cowboys, on the Rams, on the Packer,
I mean, he would be considered, you know, like one of the way we talked about Revis or Sherman.
I mean, he's a fucking elite.
Like, Soss Gardner's never going to be good as him again.
They met at a fork in the road and Stingley hung the left
and Soss hoping to resurrect his career.
And I just think D'Amico is just like Mike McDonald,
one of those coaches, if they were offensive coaches,
we would discuss them way different,
but we just discriminate a little bit against defensive guys.
It's not as sexy, especially younger ones, right,
the way that we hype up Kevin O'Connell or LaFleorre and those type guys.
I think Houston's going to be really, really good this year.
And getting three points at L.A.,
We got a lot of question marks at Stafford, you know, with this back, I mean, is it something that if he gets hit during the game, it could happen? Is it something that's going to catch up to him as the season goes?
Obviously, there's a lot of hype about the Rams before the Stafford back situation propped up.
Like you were saying before we hit record, I mean, the question mark still is going to be Houston's offensive line.
The one thing, you know, part of the reason Florida State sucked last year is because Verson and Brayden Fiss disappeared and those two guys were awesome in the NFL.
So those two guys are ass kickers, and they already have.
had what's his name from Wake Forest. They drafted the year before who's a good player.
So yeah, I mean, I just like Houston in this spot. Not saying they're going to win,
I'm not taking them to win the game outright, but you're getting three points. I think
Houston's going to be one of my favorite bets of the year, Stucky. It's come down a little bit.
It was plus 110, probably a month ago. It's like plus 105 is just Houston to win that division.
I just have a hard time seeing them. I think that would, you know, the way the Ravens and the
bills get treated in their division, I think Houston should probably get that treatment.
And I think a lot of it is some of that's the stench from the Sloic offense.
I think they're going to be a lot better this year.
Yeah, one of the interesting storylines here.
I mean, the Sloic playc calling, the timing of the plays, the first down playoff was so bad.
It wasn't all on him.
The offensive line is also a mess.
And they had wide receiver injuries, which were killer last year.
But I think from an offensive coordinator perspective, huge upgrade.
They bring in Nick Kelly.
One of the interesting storylines of this game is he comes from the Rams.
this is a McVeigh guy who's the passing game coordinator last year.
He's now their office coordinator.
Upgrade, clearly, in my eyes.
But who has the edge there?
So he knows the Rams defense was just the passing game coordinator,
but this is a McVeigh offense.
The McVeigh knows we've had all offseason.
So that's interesting chess match.
I think, yeah, you got to take,
get three here, you got to take it.
I think this profile is a lower scoring game.
The Texans defense, one of the best in the NFL.
You mentioned Stingley.
Stinglingling, that's like the corner conversation.
and their edge rushers,
they have all the pieces on that defense.
The one thing that concerns me with the Rams defense is always their,
their back end,
but their front is really good.
Their first team in NFL history to have their first,
their top four sack guys in a season,
be all first or second year players,
which happened last year.
So Young, they hit on the draft.
He's a Wake Forest guy, right?
Young.
Yeah.
They hit on the draft.
They needed to because they were in a tough position.
And they went, look, they did it right.
You got to get a sneak credit.
Because they went out.
They sacrificed their future on paper to get a Super Bowl, got it.
And they were going to be in a tough shape roster wise, depth-wise, everything,
unless they hit on their draft picks, specific on defense.
And they did.
So that front is really good.
And the biggest concern for Houston coming into the year,
they upgraded their weapons, should be healthier.
They upgraded the offense coordinator,
should be better from a play calling perspective,
but the offensive line,
did they upgrade it?
I don't know.
It could have got worse.
It's hard to be worse than it was last year,
but major questions there.
So that's going to be the biggest question.
So Los Angeles could really dictate the line of scrimmage
when they're on defense.
So it might be tough sledding for the Houston offense.
But on the other side of the ball,
I don't see this Rams offense coming out firing.
And we have a ton of data that says quarterbacks
that don't play in the preseason,
also that we're dealing with injuries.
I mean, look at Joe Burrow over the last couple years.
was fit that same exact mold.
He's a lot younger and right at this point better than Matt Stafford.
It's a struggle early, timing, especially at Stafford's age.
So I wouldn't be shocked if that offense looks extremely clunky early on.
And who knows, the back could flare up and he might not finish the game.
It's going to be something that's at his age with that injury all year long.
It's going to be an issue.
So we'll see how the Rams handle that.
left tackle is also a concern for the rents i don't i think jackson might play but another thing that's
going to be storyline all year long really good left tackle got paid he's got blood clots cost them i think
eight games 2022 that could be a problem something worth monitoring i think there it's probably
to be a get they'll make the decision this weekend i might have missed something today uh but
that's something worth noting but this profiles is a lower scoring game so yeah taking the points here
makes sense especially with the uncertainty with stafford so uh i would agree
with you.
Match up to watch, though, is that coordinator battle, that new office coordinator against McVeigh,
knowing each other, and then how does this Texans' offensive line hold up?
And it's not like the rents have an amazing, crazy home field advantage.
It's like, home field isn't, and there's a travel.
Like, they know in this game.
So, yeah, I think you got to take the points here.
And I would look under as well.
I think my favorite long shot division winner bet, because I think, I don't really like
any of them except Seattle at like 5 to 1, who went 10-7 last year.
who, you know, their coach is good.
They get Kubiak who, I mean, through the first two games last year with the Saints,
looked like he was his dad.
I mean, I think clearly knows offensive football,
and that is very quarterback friendly.
Bring in Sam Darnold.
They have a couple talented running backs there.
Their defense on paper with some young, interesting guys,
if you follow college football, could be excellent.
Now, I'm not saying that, you know, the Niners somehow are still favored.
I think that that's a little bit of,
what has happened in the past more than now.
Not saying they can't do it, but their margin for error, pretty top-heavy team,
you know, with a lot of young, random question marks.
They're trying to do what the Rams did two years ago, right?
Reset the roster, build.
Got a head on all your graphics on defense.
And we just don't know.
So to me, five to one with Seattle is by far, to me, the best long shot.
This game's a little weird.
I think the Niners are going to have a huge, I mean,
they were such an embarrassment last year in the division.
Remember what they lose, like four games where they had leads in the fourth
quarter to all three teams, but specifically Seattle.
They had a bad loss to Seattle at home.
D.K. Matt Kalf scored a touchdown.
Gino's like celebrating on their field.
Now, granted, he's gone, but I don't know.
This is, to me, it is a stay away because the Niners are getting, you know,
are favored on the road, which to me feels a little off.
But whenever I bet on the Niners, I lose, whenever I bet against them, I lose.
So I don't even know.
I'm just, I'm saying, but this game's one of the better games the weekend.
Bet it's a good overtime.
So, yeah, who's, I mean, the last year of the 40-dars was so unlucky from an injury perspective, which it seems to happen.
Who's their strength and, strength and training coach has been there for like six years.
Is there any, I had them saying it's their fault.
But this is all but one year where they've been like one of the most injured teams in the league.
Do you have any thoughts there?
Like, why does this happen every year, it seemed to me?
I mean, I think they have draft like they drafted Ricky Piersall who had some shoulder injuries and then he gets there and he's got to.
shoulder injuries, right?
You know, they just sometimes draft some guys that have been injured.
And then the quarter, you know, Nick Bosa was hurt in college and they got hurt again
in the pros.
You know, I mean, and they do, like Kyle really likes physical players.
And it's like, yeah, the wear and tear on these guys body, you're Trent's older,
but McCaffrey had been hurt a lot, you know, so he gets hurt there.
And the other thing is Kyle's not really a big like, let's rotate our guys.
You know, it's like, Jesus, give some of these guys a blow.
Now, by all accounts,
Kiddles really healthy. McAfri's really healthy.
Trent's really healthy. Boas's really healthy.
Warren's really healthy. They love Pearsall.
Remember last year,
offensively, I think we view, oh, shitty-ass year.
They were actually really good 20 to 20.
They were just terrible in the red zone.
Yeah.
Now, I think they're high on Pearsall.
Joanne's a little happier now.
Is James going to play?
Yeah, it got his $3 million.
The calf injury, it's kind of like the Micah Parsons,
but I do think it kind of comes down to Trent Williams and Christian McCaffrey.
If you tell me they play 15 of the 17 games,
I think they'll be okay.
If you tell me one of those guys missed half the season,
the other guy's banged up.
I'd say they're being in some trouble.
Yeah, the Seahawks, Saul is back.
That helps.
Yeah, if they've needed him.
It's not going to be an enormous schematic change.
There's a lot of the other coaches still on staff.
They've just needed his voice and presence for years.
So I think that's a good marriage.
Their defense is going to come down to their offense is going out of his health, as you mentioned.
And then their defense is like all these guys.
Like, I don't need, I'm looking at the Ross.
that they could start.
Nick Martin, I don't think it's going to start, but they could.
They like him.
He'll end up, I bet in a couple years to be a really good player.
But, I mean, depending on him as a rookie, the kid from Georgia, Mike Lill.
I mean.
Up and stout who I like, his size is the question mark.
weighs 120 pounds.
Yeah, we're going to see if you can hold up in the nickel.
You're going to get Mustafa back eventually.
I know a lot of 49% don't like Brown.
Lenore's a good player, obviously.
You know, Ricardo Green from Florida State when he plays.
had showed promise, but he's been banged up.
Yeah, but there's like three or four rookies that if they hit,
this defense could be really good.
If they're bad, you're going to need the offense to be good and stay healthy.
So, yeah, there's some variance there.
The Cardinals, do they not fade away like they do every year?
And then the Rams with Stafford could be hurt.
Might not make it through the year.
So, yeah, could the Seahawks take advantage?
Possibly.
I think now looking a step back,
Ryan Grubb, like DeBore, if we're going to start to question them, I mean, Pennix,
but by the way, that the Falcons this week, how much did Pennix help them?
And then last year, the offense really wasn't that great of a fit.
Schematically, like, I love some of the things Kubiak does.
The offensive line was a big question, but they seem to have hit on Zabel, that kid from North Dakota State.
And like, they've hit on some of these guys who really, they run the same type of run blocking.
team in North Dakota State that Kubiak wants to run. So it was like a really natural fit. And they
look like to hit some of those guys. So their offense could be better than many expected. And yeah,
this is going to be a top 10 defense as long as they stay healthy under McDonald's. So,
yeah. You think Seattle's a playoff team? Not necessarily to win the division, but are like,
are you viewing that way or no? No, they're close. They're fringe. A lot of it. But like, they have,
they could, I don't mind the bet to win the division because there's a lot of variance with some
these other teams the nineers defense and health stafford's health um and then you know the cardinals like
keiler next step does keiler fade away in the second half like every year so yeah that they're they're
close like it's gonna come down to can they protect darnald enough that the past protection when he
needs the throw that's what i worry about he doesn't have don't have the same weapons like cup is he's not
what he once was he hasn't have the same weapons that he out of minnesota so that would be my concern there
but there could be massive upside with this Kubiak.
And like, so yeah, very interesting game.
I will say I don't expect a ton of explosive plays in this game.
Like, so the 49ers right now,
they don't have their full complement of weapons.
And the Seahawks defense is really good
and good of taking away explosive plays.
And then if you look at the Seahawks offense,
it's like there's no D.K. Metcalf to go down the field.
They're going to rely on the run game.
There's going to be a lot of running in this game.
So I don't mind the under, but I will say I'm probably not going to bet at pregame.
What's probably going to happen here is I would expect Kubi Act have a good game script here.
And then you're going to have them at home hyped up against, you know, young defense.
I could see Seattle going down and score a touchdown.
Shanahan, one of the best in the NFL, if not the best, at opening game script.
I could, is that all offseason?
I could see the 49ers going down clinically, scoring a touchdown.
It's 7-7 in the first quarter.
total, live total goes up.
I'll probably look at taking a live under
because then I can see that game dying and this becomes more
of a running possession battle.
So if this gets the three, I'd take Seattle, two and a half,
probably pass, but we'd look at a live under there.
And I don't hate the Seattle take a shot
for the division game with the combo of Kubiak and McDonald.
The only, the longest shot.
Kittles own Seattle and they drafted that kid in the second round
from South Carolina who's going to be with Kyle Hamilton, right?
Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, they're going to use him like Hamilton.
Really, really impressive player.
So, yeah, just another piece for McDonald to work with.
The only long shot I took division-wise is disgusting.
It's the Giants.
That's 30 to 1.
Probably has no prayer.
Would need help.
Would need, like, Hurts or Barclay to get hurt, right?
Washington to regress hard.
You know, the Cowboys trading Parsons helped.
But it's like, they're going to have to win a ton of close games.
Have a ton of things go their way.
and then like Washington and Philly with injuries like fall behind.
But maybe Dart is like the guy, they bring him in and he ends up.
So like there's some variance there and I think the defense will be really good.
That's a lot.
I would not recommend following along on that.
But that is the longest division shot that I played.
That is sick oh material.
Yeah.
Hey, it's us, the Jonas brothers.
And guess what?
We have some big news.
What's the news, huge news?
We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas.
We invented a podcast?
Well, we didn't invent it.
We just contributed to us.
people to do podcasts.
Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there.
But this one's extra special.
So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys?
I honestly don't remember.
I think it was on a call about what we should call it.
Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band.
Before Jonas Brothers was...
This is how you guys remember it going down?
Yes.
I have a very different memory of this.
We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast,
where people could call in and say, hey Jonas,
and then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas,
and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast.
But thanks for remembering that, guys.
Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcast.
Just listen. We don't care where you hear it.
What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas.
And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds.
Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed.
And finding ways to win no matter what.
He's the smartest player to ever play the game.
His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before.
And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves,
I got to manipulate the game.
We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs.
I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series
because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup,
he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid.
He has to guard Julius Randall.
And then he has to give us everything he gives us
on the night-to-night basis on offense.
And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson,
we dive into some playoff history too.
Steve Nash will get that thing.
That man, hell get the flying.
He running up the court, licking his fingers
why he got the ball, like,
after you go through a training camp with that, I said,
you figure it out real quick.
Get your ass up and down the court,
and you're going to get the ball.
So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Agency, the ability to know that we're the experts in our own body.
On the podcast, cultivating her space,
Dr. Dom and Terry Lomax create a space where black women can show up fully and be heard.
I wholeheartedly think, you know, you hit 30.
You shouldn't have to share room with anybody.
Mm-hmm.
From navigating friendships and healing to setting boundaries and prioritizing your mental health.
These are real, honest conversations.
We don't always get to have out loud.
Totally unreasonable with different parts of life, right?
Like, oh, have all three meals and make sure you're mindful during all of them?
Absolutely not.
During one meal, I'm standing.
That's not realistic.
I'm standing and handing my children food.
Because healing, empowerment, and resilience aren't just ideas.
They're practices.
And this Mental Health Awareness Month, there's no better time to pour back into yourself.
Listen to cultivating her space on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
This week on Crimless, we're joined by our first ever guest.
Sorry.
Sorry, our first ever human guest.
I don't think I could be in the same room with Shamrock the parrot.
I'd be too nervous.
That's right.
The very funny, Will Ferrell joins Rory Scovel and me, Josh Dean,
for an episode dedicated to the many crimes committed by people also named Will Ferrell.
They called to his fellow officer for the nippers.
What are the nippers?
Very good question.
No, I was thinking, would that be a good name for like a salad dressing?
Simple assault.
And it's a play on word, salt?
Maybe not
I say we invest and we see
There's only one way to know
This did not amuse the cops
By the way, normally the cops are amused
But this did not abuse the cops
Will even comes clean
About some of his own crimes
I didn't get caught
You know why
If you don't want to be
Suspective anything
You whistle as you walk
Listen to crime list on the Iheart radio app
Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast
Okay let's get to the
to the main event.
We got night game Bill's Ravens.
They played multiple times last year.
Obviously, the Ravens worked them in the one game at home,
which was a pretty big moment.
And then obviously the Bill somehow pulled that game out of their ass
in the second round of the playoffs last year,
which was one of the best wins in the franchise in decades.
I mean, it was a big, big win.
I don't really know what to make of this game.
You were telling me before, obviously, the Bill's, you know,
the first round rookie,
from Kentucky, he's been banged up and he's not playing in this game.
Trey White, did he get hurt in practice?
So he, I mean, now, granted, he's hurt a lot and he was an older player bringing
him back, but it's easy to root for when you're watching Hard Knocks.
Like, yeah, this is coming on home.
This is sweet.
He just seems like a good guy.
Clearly that kind of fell, fell apart.
It just feels like when they're playing, it's almost like in a boxing match if a dude
that weighed like 170 pounds was playing, was fighting a guy that was like 220 pounds.
but that 170 pounder is just like,
you don't want to bet against him,
but he should not win this fight.
That's kind of what it feels like
when they're both on the field at the same time.
But they got like a crazy right hook,
and that's just Josh Allen.
So it's like he can just keep him in the game.
But it just doesn't feel like the bill's guy for guy
remove the quarterback.
It's even that close, does it?
Yeah.
I mean, the Ravens are probably better.
I mean, maybe the Bill's offensive line is better,
but the Ravens, from a whole roster perspective,
are better.
The rookie, they're going to have a new kicker,
Tucker, who fell off anyway.
So that's, that's worth watching that I'm interested in.
As a Ravens fan, myself, I always, and I can sympathize with you.
He was a 49ers fan.
One of the things last year, that was a disaster.
It was their special teams dealing with Moody.
But I had like 10, 15 years where you just were like,
okay, we're going to make this kick, which is a very nice feeling because most NFL
friends are like, John.
It's pretty rare.
Yeah.
So we'll see how that works out.
for the Ravens who had a they fell off special teams like the first time they didn't finish in the top 10 in 15 years part of that was Tucker falling off um so yeah these two teams like the ratings had the better roster i have them power rated higher number one they're the most like complete roster in the NFL right now um and then but you know you get the bills home field advantage and the bills don't lose at home over the last three seasons they lost twice at home that's it um Jesus they lost to the Vikings one year
in a weird game by like one, I think,
and then the Broncos in a really weird game.
I think in overtime by three.
Like, that's it.
Those are the two games they lost at home.
And wasn't that Vikings game,
weren't they down big and cousins?
That was when Justice Jefferson one-handed catch.
Remember that?
And there was like a big review.
Yeah, that game was crazy.
So that's it.
That's the only games they've lost at home in the regular season.
But, I mean,
I get the bills respect,
home field advantage.
Harball, by the way,
is the most profitable coach.
in week one in NFL history.
I think he's 12 and 5 against the spread.
Really good with prep, really good week one.
So they'll be ready.
The team that knocked them out last year, whatever,
the bills will be ready to.
That's narrative street.
But I think the Ravens are in better shape roster-wise.
It's hard to bet against Allen at home.
Usually when either of these two quarterbacks are a dog, you take them.
The Ravens were a dog.
Now the Ravens are favored.
So I think the Ravens win this game.
Do I really want to go bet it now that they're favored?
probably not. I have to have too much respect for Alan. This is what about I'm projected right where this is now because the bills are beat up. And they have a couple guys they added in pre-agency along the defensive line who were suspended the first four to six games of the year. They're going to be death pieces, but they'll contribute. That's no worthy, but they're still fine there. They have a lot of depth of defense line. The most important thing is their secondary. That's the biggest question coming into the year. Every year for the last, I mean, the bills have averaged 12.2 wins that were last since COVID. And they have no Super Bowl.
appearance to show for it because their defense lets them down specifically the secondary
can they put it all together their safety's very big question mark again this year
right there's no hide anymore like there's no poir it's can bishop and rap be the guys in the
back end and then the cornerback room is a major question mark you drafted harrison out of kentucky's
now and i are you're going to need him to hit tray white way past his prime he's her didn't
practice again today christian bedford one of the better corners
in the NFL really good fit for that scheme.
He didn't practice yesterday.
I think he returned today that I just read five minutes ago,
but it's a groin.
I don't know if he's going to go.
If he can't go,
you're talking about a questionable safety room.
I think they would start.
I don't know for sure,
but I don't even know it's on the raw.
Like, I know every roster inside and out.
I think it's Dorian Strong,
a rookie from Botech.
I don't even know who the other corner is.
You have Ben, you have Terran Johnson and Nickel.
It's really good about it down year last year,
but he's really good.
I don't even know the other corner.
would be if both them are out.
Because now you're down your top three corners on the outside.
It's probably rookies.
That's bad news against the Ravens.
So, yeah, the injury situation is definitely worth monitoring.
That's why the line is flipped.
I think the Ravens win this game,
but I do have a ton of respect for Allen.
If Alan guides his team down, opening drive, touchdown,
I'll be better than the Ravens line.
I'll tell you that.
And you want to bet, narrative street,
Mark Andrews touchdown.
Anytime touchdown, like two to one,
he fumbled the game away.
last year against the bills the bills can't cover tight ends questions at safety now there's
cornerback questions they're going to have to help on the outside way more that's going to open
the middle of the field up likely's hurt you know i just know knowing the ravens harball i can
already he wants to get answers in the end zone probably early to shake those demons off from last
year stark fresh andrews was killing himself all offseason because of this they're going to try
to get him the end zone doesn't mean it's a lot but two to one i think it's worth a flower i can
already see him harball laughing and like hugging him after he gets in the end zone.
All the team surrounds him. Like they're going to try to have that moment. So, and it's a good
matchup for him. So I think that's worth a bet. But really fast in the game. Generally speaking,
you get one of these, any of these quarterbacks as an underdog, you take them. So I couldn't
fault anyone for taking either side. Like you're going to say like, hey, even if you give me a point
and a half with Allen at home, I'm taking it. I just think these bills injuries on defense are
are probably too much, especially given that the roster was already a step behind the
Raidens overall.
And weren't you saying they do a little of the quarterback sneak stuff with Mark?
Yeah, Andrews also could get in anytime touchdown.
He could get in, like, go line stuff.
Lamar doesn't do the tush push quarterback sneaks.
So every once in a while, though motion Andrews, like you'll see it on a fourth down.
Lamar will be in shotgun.
It's like fourth and inches.
and I'm like, oh, my God, because there's nothing that makes me anger than shotgun.
Lamar usually gets it, but snapping the ball five yards back on fourth inches.
But then you'll see fourth inches Lamar and shotgun, Andrews will come motion, get under center, quick snap.
So they could do that at the goal line, for sure.
And this game, after what happened last year, you want to get Andrews in the end zone?
Probably a higher likelihood of that happening at the goal line as well.
I think John Harbaugh saw when the Mahomes did that sneak and that kneecap came out.
He's like, we ain't ever risking that.
As long as I'm here.
Andy hasn't done it since.
Yeah, I don't think he's sneaked it one time since.
I do think the quarterback sneak.
Some guys are good at it.
You know, Brady was really good.
And some guy, you could tell Arch, in fairness,
it's not a play you really practice.
It's kind of an instinctive.
You either got it.
Like Jalen Hurts has probably been natural at that since he was like seven years old,
quarterback sneaking.
You just feel comfortable.
Some guys are just like you, we were talking before.
Drew Brees, like it takes some balls.
Drew's not the biggest guy.
he's leaping over 320 pounders putting that ball over.
Now linebackers, you know, like Troy Paul, he was unfazed.
Fearless.
Yeah.
So, I mean.
The two best, by the way?
Yeah, it's weird how some guys are good at it.
The two best in NFL history with a sample size from a success rate standpoint,
I purchased probably out there.
I didn't look at this in a year or two historically, but going back ways.
The two best were Brady.
who was like automatic
and not the biggest guy
just knew how to do it
and Joe Flacco
Joe Flacco with the Ravens
for like 10 years was
automatic on quarterback sneaks
so you can't even look at a guy
and no
but once you see them do it
you're like okay he's good at it or is not
but you can't if you put like 10 quarterbacks
in a room and like with their body
type height no clue
you wouldn't be able to tell but some guys have the knack
and know how to do it, and some guys just don't.
But Brady and Flacco were always the elite, like 90%.
It was 92, 93% of the time they were going to get it.
So, but yeah, it should be a fun game on a fun weekend.
I guess I won't talk to you still after Monday Night Football,
you got Caleb making his debut with Ben Johnson against Flores.
I guess Ben Johnson obviously has experience coaching against Flores,
but this combination, you know, the Vikings,
you have the Ravens, Power Raiders,
the best roster in the league.
I would imagine you have the Vikings pretty high, don't you?
Guy for guy, not a quarterback.
Yeah, the question is the quarterback with them.
But just remove, if we just remove every quarterback from every team,
just do roster for roster, they're a top two or three roster in the league?
Yeah, removing quarterbacks, they got the receivers.
Now, receivers not in as good of shape right now.
Assuming they're healthy and not suspended and stuff.
Yeah, the offensive line, elite,
they added mason to the running back room which i think is important so running back room is really good
the defense added to the defensive line secondary has questions they got to make up for that
schematically that's where they're like a step behind the ravens who have just like five first
round draft picks in their secondary um but they're up there and then they're everything's going to
come down to the quarterback who's basically a rookie um compared to like a multiple MVP award winner
but yeah their roster's up there Flores and they're coaching they have arguably the best
coaching combo.
Like that you can put the 49ers up there.
Chiefs.
And yeah, Chiefs.
But you have O'Connell calling the offense.
And we've seen what O'Connell could do with all kinds of quarterbacks.
So that's got to be, gives you at least to feel safe, your Vikings fan with McCarthy.
And then you have Flores, demand scientists defensively.
I will say Johnson has gotten the better of him over the past couple of years.
this is a perfect litmus test for Caleb Williams.
So the Bears roster is pretty good as well.
This is going to come down to does Williams take the next step?
So in order to beat this Flores' defense, what did Goff do?
He's sending pressure, blitzing.
Goff's getting rid of the ball quick, getting it to his playmakers in space.
It's going to be well-schemed.
So that's what's going to happen here.
We're going to bring pressure.
They're going to be blitzing.
does Williams, is he able to process and understand the offense, understand his reads,
not pat the ball, not fail, and can he command the offense?
It's a perfect test.
It's like, okay, you have jobs.
We're going to learn so much about did Williams progress, did he grasp this offense?
Is this Bears team going to be a real player in that division?
Because you're going up against the Flores.
You have Johnson who's had success against Flores, knows how to call an offense,
or knows how to put a quarterback in position to have success.
Ken Williams do it.
Can he make, no, not try to make the superhuman play.
Every once in a while, yeah, you can do that,
but can he actually make the quick read, make the right throw,
understand what the defense is doing,
what Johnson wants him to do.
So I can't wait to watch to see how far along he's come under Johnson
and that chess match between Johnson and Flores, which is always fun.
It's the best game of the week from a podcast sports radio standpoint.
Oh, yeah.
Hot takes a lot.
Oh, because even Bill's and Ravens, it's like, oh, once Bill's gets out, they're both going to be good, you know, even Niners Seattle. It's like, let it play out. They'll be fine.
Good coaching. This, there are a lot of unknowns. And there's a lot of your cliff on Twitter going viral.
Tyson Badgett.
Ayla Williams is done when they lose 38 nothing. So. Well, you agree it's a little weird how the head coach constantly talked up the backup. And then they gave him a random extension. Now you could argue.
from a value standpoint. It's not crazy.
Little weird to do when you still have an unknown with the number one overall pick of
a quarterback. And then you're like, okay, that second preseason game happens.
But you go, well, if you look at the bills and chiefs in the second preseason game,
they clearly are hard charging in practice and their guys are done and then they don't even
play their starters. But by the third preseason game, the chiefs are a good example,
they treat that kind of seriously. And they tried. And Ben Jotson was like, this is an embarrassment.
What the fuck was that? So you're like, it's just a little, just unknown. I'm not, I'm not
right and Caleb off, but let's face it, his style of play, unless he can change it,
which is much more Deshawn Watson and Russell Wilson, which is the antithesis of what Ben Johnson
clearly is looking for.
A couple steps, get rid of the ball, do what I tell you to do.
It's why he loved Gerf.
It's also the same way in New York with the Jets.
You got someone who came from the line staff.
Justin Fields does not fit that line.
That's going to be a disaster.
Thanks from offense.
So fairs are a little better shape roster-wise.
Yeah.
And Williams is a little better than fields.
But same kind of thing.
Like can they mold Williams?
Like, well, you want to keep some of those traits, but for sure.
Can they rein them in enough to operate this offense?
It's going to be fascinating to watch.
That whole division is going to be a fascinating watch.
Well, I was full when I'll get you out of there.
I was flying to Hawaii.
And I watched, I downloaded like the first half of that game.
And you watch Mahomes.
I think what makes Mahomes.
so awesome and you watch them against the bears.
It was a preseason game, but the chiefs clearly focused like it was like we want to get
some real reps here.
He can make the spectacular play, but he can also just like on third and six knows how to
get rid of the ball and diagnose.
It's just like he's just playing quarterback.
Now, I'm not comparing Caleb Williams and Mahomes, but ultimately to be the quote-unquote
playmaking guy, what Mahomes does it so great is he can also do the easy shit.
That's why Peyton, Tom, with his eyes close and you've got to be able to, you can't
function in the NFL when you can't do the easy
shit. It's impossible to beat good teams.
It's impossible to beat random teams. If it's like,
well, you just third and eight, it wasn't even close.
He fucking went to the wrong spot. You're fucked.
Yeah, and it's so much hard. Teams are
making you drive the field
consistently now.
Taking away explosive plays more,
more, you know,
too high safety looks changing. It's hard.
Look at the Chiefs offense. The Chiefs offense is
not explosive. In order to drive
them, you're going to have to hit some of those easy throws.
You're going to have to execute consistently.
otherwise you're going to kill way too many drives.
Okay, Stucky, you know how coaches talk?
Like, I don't sleep much Monday through Friday.
I feel the same way like Thursday through Monday.
I'm just watching football getting up early.
This is when I turn into a coach just to sit on my couch and consume.
Yeah, it's, I don't, I'll find a nap every once in a while.
Not even during the weekend.
Like Tuesday, I can nap Monday sometimes.
That's, I'll sleep in April.
April to all I'll get some good sleep
But yeah
I'll be running on fumes in a month
But it's good to be back
Okay enjoy the week
I'll talk to you next week
Alright brother
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Hey guys it's us
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a strong way to put it, but, you know, tired and sick.
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Listen to Hey Jonas on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts,
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We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season.
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If we didn't talk ever again, I was crying.
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Then after that game seven, Marquisie,
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This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Listen to How Hard Can It Be with Diana Maria Riva on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Will Ferrell's Big Money Players and IHart Podcast Presents Soccer Boms.
So I'm Leanne.
Yeah.
This is my best friend, Janet.
Hey.
And we have been joined at the hip since high school.
Absolutely.
A redacted amount of years later, we're still joined at the hip.
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This is a podcast we're recording it as we tailgate our youth soccer games in the back of my Honda Odyssey.
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Why did you get hard seltzer instead of beer?
They hit a bogo.
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