The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 1403 - FIRST 15: NFL Week 1 Recap

Episode Date: September 8, 2025

Pat, Darius Butler, and the boys recap everything from Week 1 of the NFL season including Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers starting hot, the Packers dominating the Lions with the help of Micah Parsons, Justin Herbert's hot hand on Friday night in Brazil, Josh Allen and the Bills winning a late night thriller against the Ravens, and the Colts providing a big statement win over the Dolphins. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ladies and gentlemen, it is time for the first 15. We'll be doing this on overreaction Mondays throughout the rest of the year. We think these are the top five things that you need to know about. And if we miss a couple, we'll certainly pick those up. This is the first 15. Let's get to it. Number five starts in the Steel City, the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Rogers reminder still got it. You know, there was a lot of conversation last year about whether or not this guy is worth a damn at professional football. You know, he flew all the way from his home. And beautiful Southern California. I mean, he's got a gorgeous. Oh, yeah. Huge.

good views. Waterfront. He walks on that beach, too. He's got his dog Apollo come around. You know, he's having a good time. It's a beautiful house. He said, you know what? I'm going to go fly back to New York

whenever they get to new GM, new head coach. I want to talk to them personally. So I want to go ahead and just kind of see where they're at. If they're to move on, hey, that's their prerogative, if they can do what they want to do. But just wanted them to know that I would like my jet's tenure to end in a good way is what he told us verbatim. Flies all the way over there.

It's about four and a half, five hours. Depend him on a jet stream behind them. You know, sure. there maybe five and a half depend yeah there's you know a lot of that thing gets all the way down there in Teterboro dries over the facility sits down Aaron Glenn says you can go ahead get fuck out of that is uh pretty much yeah we don't want you now I don't think those are the exact words now the way Aaron describes the encounter and the lack of description of the encounter from Aaron Glenn makes us believe that it probably was pretty uncomfortable situation no doubt

so then Aaron leaves and now he's trying to figure out his life remember close personal friends going through a cancer battle we would then inevitably learn It had to be there for them. People that rely upon him were going through some very heavy things. He had his offseason. He was thinking about potentially retiring. Doesn't join any team. Everybody's loud.

This guy needs to make his decision for a draft. Little later, that was going to happen. He wasn't going to be making a decision for a long, long time at that particular case. In the Pittsburgh Steelers, Mike Tomlin was calling him every single week, checking in on him, seeing how he's doing, how's it going? They were preparing an offense, allegedly, for Aaron Rogers, even when he wasn't a Pittsburgh Steeler at the time. So you wonder with all that shit and all the noise and everything that's going on,

How would fare thought it was going to be a cagey affair because these two teams obviously defensive stout. I'll tell you what, Justin Fields might be the right fit for an Aaron Glenn offense in New York. They might have some things to be excited about. And on a flip side, Aaron Rogers slicing Dyson for four touchdowns. You Steelers fans got to be losing your mind tone. Yeah, we are. It was really cool. Once the Steelers got their first kickoff and you saw Aaron run out on the field, like it was a surreal.

Like, holy shit, Aaron Rogers is our quarterback. And then you watched him orchestrate that offense like Leonard Bernstein. was a thing of beauty up to the line just changing plays manipulating the snap count like it was awesome he was where everyone got involved like literally everyone offense got involved four touchdowns oh and he had a game winning drive which is what you know is something that we haven't had in a long time it was so cool to watch aaron rogers be a quarterback for the pittsberg steeler four tides for him d k mecalf had some big time plays had a first drop early obviously there was some other things going on but you can see the dk is worth the money and uh dk

is the best athlete whenever DK is wherever DK is. And not only that, you guys have a kicker who is potentially doing a hold-in, Chris Boswell. Well, he didn't hold in, and he did play. And I think he made some 55-plus yarder earlier in the game, and then to win it, 60-yarder. Now, granted, there's a minute some left, so they could have come back and taken that from Chris Boswell. Under a minute 30 to take the lead, I think everybody would call that a game-winning kick. Chris Boswell does that for the Pittsburgh Steelers, so damn pure. Now, there were some misses from the kicking department around the NFL, and I think we should all

like kind of, you know, kind of view it the same way. If a ball is kind of drifting to the right for a righty, okay, not an absolute miss. A miss is going to happen where you just miss a sweet spot, your swing, just like in golf, you kind of come across it. But if there's one like drifting to the right, not normally the ball, probably because the kicker's trying to guide it a little bit, you know, trying to guide it. Like when you're throwing a baseball or a football, it'll be in the vicinity because that's what you're actually doing, but it won't be your pure ball.

Does that make sense? Yeah. Like Luke, the kicker for the Baltimore Ravens, his first kick was a 52 yard. That thing was drifting a little bit right. He has a massive leg. That kid has a very, very strong leg. Misses the next point. Obviously, people pissed off about it.

He is a very talented kicker. So his first one going a little bit to the right, I'm like, ooh, he was trying to guide that a little bit, probably thinking about it. Still goes in, still very good for a very long time. Boswell hits this 60-yarder. Under pressure, first week, contract dispute. Okay, money.

This is actual, every ball is a money ball. Yeah. Every ball is a money ball. This was supposed to be a 58-yarder. They actually lose two yards to play before that. They tried to pick up a couple more yards for him and ends up going back. So he comes out there. This ball is pure. And that leads to Mike Tomlin describing Chris Boswell in only a fashion that Mike Tomlin could describe a kicker.

And I can't say enough about Boz. And our kicker is a serial killer. Man, he's, he got a low pulse rate. He can't wait to deliver. That's what I'm talking about. Boss is not thinking about guiding it. Boss doesn't think about anything. Boss said he just goes out there, thinks about his steps, hits the ball, doesn't even watch it, and just leaves the field. He's One of the greats, one of the greatest of all time. Happy he got a chance to step up and perform and deliver for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Hell of a start for Aaron Rodgers.

Congrats to the injures. Law and drama over there. Yeah. Law of drama over it. Came down to a 60-yarder. Yeah, okay. Came down to a 60-yard. Big hit, Jaylon Ramsey, too, new addition.

Big hit, knocking that ball off of Gary Wolfson. The way he's talking is he loves the culture of the Steelers. Oh, yeah. Like he's talking like we, like, he's doing a lot of like, hey, we are, are, this is how we play. We're not going to let people kind of come in here and not play this style. It's like it does be like Jalen Ramsey's supposed

to be a Pittsburgh Steeler. Same with Aaron. I mean, even watching Aaron to him walk off with Cam Hayward at the end, Cam and Coach Tomlin and have walked off the field together basically for like the last five, six years since social media has really been capturing it. We don't know how much longer before that. But them waiting for Aaron and then Aaron

walking with him. Yeah. Like this is a cool moment. This is a very cool moment. Especially walking out of the stadium that he was at last year. And once again, fly all the way over there. get the hell out of here. I mean, that's a cool moment for the Steelers.

Steelers fans got to be pumped. Okay, let's move on number four. Is Michael Parsons going to be in game shape? He's Michael Parsons going to be able to play football for the Packers after being traded so late. He did address being traded so late where he was like, if we were done this at the right time, I could have been working with these guys. I think Michael loves his time at the Packers. Now, obviously, they get a win.

Yeah, it helps. Obviously, he gets a sack. If that helps. Obviously, he becomes the highest paid non-quarterback player of all time, 47 million a year there's a lot of honeymoon things but boy when Jared Goff just hears a banning and behind him I assume that he thought no fat so no de lineman no defensive man nobody over 220 pounds is gonna be able to walk me I have a 20 yard head start on all remember field is 53 in a third

wide Micah hunted him down necton mentality like a damn shark and obviously he has a celebration point in the sky the number one looks much cleaner than I He all thought it was going to be. Jordan Love was slicing and Dyson. Feels like the defense is very good. Green Bay Packers fans thinking Super Bowl this year for the pack. Yeah, without a doubt. I mean, there's no question now.

I didn't know going into yesterday because, again, the Lions are still very good. But boy, did the Packers dominate this game from the onset too. You mentioned it. I think the Micah stuff, we'll get to that in a second. But Jordan Love, like people are talking about him winning an MVP this year. He had to do it. He came out, started 10 of 14.

And they scored two touchdowns and we're up 17. you know, three very early, which they were playing from behind against the Lions all year and in division games. They just looked crisp. And everything you were hearing from the Packers offense was like, they're really hurt in the receiver room. They don't really know. Like, we thought Josh Jacobs was going to come out. And if he wasn't scoring multiple touchdowns, like this Packers' offense was going to be in trouble, not the case. Love looked phenomenal. And then you mentioned it, Michael Parsons. I mean, everyone can say whatever they want. I get it. He only played 45% of the snaps. Only got one sad. Only had three pressures.

those three pressures, okay? There was a two yard, uh, uh, two yard loss for a completion on third down, caused a punt. He had the sack. And then, uh, they also, he, he got to Jared Gough and Jared Gough through an intercept. So those are pretty, you know, also guys playing alongside of them. Yeah, that is the, that is, that is what, it ultimately what this comes down to is Lucas Van Ness had his best game as a Packer yesterday. Rishon Gary had a sack and a half.

Like he makes all the guys around him so much better. And it, again, you could, you talk about all that stuff. him being happy. This is a different guy than we saw in Dallas. Like sure, there's some of that but everything I heard from him post game and like he's ecstatic to be a packer. From some people that were there they said when he came out

of the tunnel said it was the bit the loudest pop they've ever heard in Lambos. Well welcome to Cheesland. Micah Parsons, what a way to kick it off. The packers look like they're legit. Are the lions dead? Oh, wow. Oh, wow. Yeah, I'll tell you what. No, no. Everything we were worried about this all offseason was exposed yesterday. Detroit is

burning to the ground right now. It's not good. Well, you guys got new coronators. The offensive line is the biggest worry. Proxy, the Applebee's commercial. You get rings for those? Dan Campbell's F game in that one. Even he admitted he wasn't as funny in the Applebee's commercials. That was a sign. Let's be honest. That was a sign. Oh, no. Oh, not Detroit from five years ago.

Yeah, the biggest worry, though, Ragnow being gone was so evident. That's a killer. Long season, though, we got the Bears next half to beat them. I believe in Dan Campbell. Yes. So I don't think having a rough start with new coordinators is a bad thing. But, boy, they're going to have to get much better out there for Lions fans not to lose their mind. Let's go to number three.

We've got to go back before the weekend. Should be talked about Herbert's hot hand hand of skates. This guy was electrifying. This was exactly what Justin Herbert was kind of billed to be. This is what we had all hoped that Justin Herbert could be this season. Second year in the Jim Harbaugh culture. And you're talking about Quentin Johnson doing his thing. Keenan Allen.

Oh, yeah, he's back on the Chargers. And what's he doing? Oh, scoring touchdowns again. Justin Herbert was outrageous. I mean, everything he did was seemingly the perfect decision at the right time. His leadership very evident. His press conference afterwards sounds exactly like a robot. Like sounds, hey, hey, we need.

AAI. We need a quarterback. It's tall, handsome. He's going to date another celebrity. He'll be very happy. I need him to have the proper composure and massive moments. He needs to be able to throw football like a goddamn animal. That's what he needs to be able to do. Needs to be able to run people over. Needs to be able to be more physically gifted than everybody else on the field. And also have an incredibly cool ability to slide. Yes. And stay in bounds, high football IQ. Let's go ahead and seal this game. But also whenever he speaks to the media, just needs to say just all the right stuff just everything needs to not even come close to be in huh uh huh yeah we're just focused on tonight playing our best football what do you got next week

well we're just going to i think we're going to focus on playing our best football and we're going to do our thing yeah oh it was great to have him in here he works really hard we try to work really hard uh how do you feel about coach harborough he's the best every day is working so hard it's just every day we're kind of focus on that day that is in front of us and if we keep stacking days we're going to be good okay what do you think about your wider series they're all so good they all run such good like everything he was saying was just super perfect quarterback, movie quarterback. And he has been called the blueprint.

He, Josh Allen, the other very tall, very large, very athletic, very fast, very durable guys are like what everybody's looking for. Is this the year, D. But you've been on the Chargers, Justin Herbert Hight train for, like, four or five years. Yeah, since inception. Since Mr. and Mrs. Staley, coaching tree. Yeah, Bruce and Linda Staley's coaching tree have come through there. You've been on the Herbert train, I would say, since the beginning. I'll tell you what, Friday had to feel pretty good for that train as they got off the stop down there in Brazil.

Yeah, and even before that, we had a great coach BA sitting in this chair. And when he was here, he asked the great quarterback. If you have a clip, what quarterback would you build your franchise around? Believe it or not, I like the guy with the Chargers. Just, yeah, Herbert. I think they just kind of, they've kind of gone by the wayside. Oh, and I got a lot of side. There was a lot of side eyes up here on the stage.

I saw a bunch of comments on X. And he showed out, man, 25 and 34, 318 yards, just dotting up. And it was a past first offense, too. Something you don't expect from Greg Roman. Something you don't expect from a Jim Harbaugh football team. Just opening up, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass. Got after that Spag's defense. Everyone was involved.

You mentioned Ladd, you mentioned Kenan Allen, been back, and Quentin Johnston. If he can continue to play like a first round pick and ball, they'll be in a great, great spot. Did the thing of his arm, but with his legs. To end the game once, Chris Jones got a little greedy. This is kind of what makes Chris Jones great. You go and take a chance on the edge. You don't dive inside. Herbert gets the edge and seals it with this beautiful slide using his legs to seal this game. So yeah, Justin Herbert and the charges look like they might be the real deal this year. Uh-oh, AFC West has a lot of competitors. Can you see Chiefs going to have to figure it out pretty quick. They're getting loud over there in Kansas City around the world.

I hate to say it. I think the Chiefs might be dead. No. No. They might be. The Chiefs is still the Chiefs and always will be until these eyes don't see Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelsey, Andy Reeve, Bradfee, Spags, and Tobe S. The NASCAR, we'll talk about that later. We're running out of time here.

We need NASCAR. We will certainly talk about it because that was one of the posts. We need it right now at 140. Yeah, we need NASCAR. I don't know if we have enough time. Yeah, I don't know if we have enough time. We don't. So like for that NASCAR kick that they did right before half there, there is a cutoff

They were certainly at. Oh, yeah. And we got two. That was on, but, yeah. Well, ladies gentlemen, number two headline that I think we need to be talking about, Josh Allen and the Bills.

She's right. You all were probably asleep. I fell asleep after watching Lamar Jackson run 200 yards to pick up a first down after he was outrunning the entire Buffalo Bills D line and they were up 15.

I'm like, well, if this is happening in the fourth quarter, it has seemingly been the Ravens' night to begin with. Josh Allen has certainly made some massive plays, but these Baltimore Ravens team looked unstoppable. And when Lamar's doing this shit in the fourth quarter and they have a lead, my brain just said, you can go to bed now. What did I miss? Oh, record breaking final four

minutes where a team is down by 15 with under four minutes, 359 right there, bang, fourth and two, tip ball, Keon Coleman, touchdown. Well, now we got to, you know, now we got to hope for something else good to happen. Well, Derek Henry, who was having a career evening in Buffalo. Don't for 100 early, couple touchdowns, does something he never does because Ed Oliver is an absolute monster on that Buffalo Bills D line. They scoop it. Obviously, Josh Allen and the bills do what they do. They score, missed the two-point conversion. Now they're down to Baltimore gets the rock back.

They can run the clock out. They don't leads to what? Matt Prater, 41 years old. Walk off, field goal. Buffalo Bills beat the Baltimore Ravens. What a night for Josh Allen. What a night for the bills. And the number one headline is the coach going to win a Super Bowl.

Wow. Cool. And that is no question. And that's because the big three, as coined by Edger and James is how I heard it. The big three are holding people accountable in that building. Carly, Kaelin, and Casey, congratulations on being undefeated owners. And Danny Dimes, we got a chance to catch up with them earlier today. We'll run that interview in about an hour or so.

He is in the perfect place here in Indiana. Indianapolis. It was fun to watch Tyler Warren, this guy, his Sasquatch actor. This dude's unbelievable. And Danny Dimes loves them. Danny Dimes is getting the ball to everybody. I mean, everybody was eating. Jonathan Taylor had a big game. Offensive line did some amazing stuff. I mean, it was the most fun we've ever had in the Loud House. By far. Since becoming fans of the team, like show. You hear like in the suite. It was spectacular, electrifying. Cam Bynum. You know, I said to that Danny Dimes earlier, what you'll see in the conversation

about an hour from now. Cam Bonham between every single play was like this. And he gets a turnover. You can see that he is just a juice machine, and he's everywhere. Lou Ann Rumo's defense held him to a shutout in the first half and only gave up eight points or whatever it is. And Cam Bonham hit the scene. I mean,

that is unbelievable stuff. I wish he would have hit the Kip up into the pop lock, but nonetheless, the Colts look different. And with these eyes, and boots on the ground, actually, they're going to win Super Bowl. Yeah. This team's a real deal. 7% optimism in that athletic poll from a lot of people that were AR fans on the Internet.

And those AR fans are saying a lot of terrible things about me whenever I was pointing out the obvious last year. And now they were saying very negative things whenever Danny Dimes became our quarterback. And everybody kind of said that this team stunk. Everybody. People forget we invested in defense. We got a new defense coordinator.

We got dogs across the board over there. And on the offensive side, Danny Dimes has loved his weapons here since the day he got here. The only reason why I know that is because I had a chance have dinner with him a couple weeks into his stint here, and he started rattling off names, who he likes. And he saw Pittman Jr. do his thing. Downs do his thing.

Tyler Warren do his thing. Big Moe Alley Cod. I mean, Pierce is doing his, I mean, there is, we got, we got a team. We got a team. Like our guys. And shout out to boss man, you know, certainly pushing the Pacers on a little bit of run.

Yep. And I'll tell you what, if Jim Mersey's going to be doing a little bit of run for his Indianapolis Colts, we'll certainly enjoy the ride, brother, one last time. It was a fun day celebrating the boss. A lot of alum came back into town. Saturday night there was a gathering as well. It was a perfect weekend here in Indianapolis for the Colts,

and the team looks damn good for real, Connell. Well, that's the thing is that it was just justifying watching the entire thing because it was domination. You know, we talked about some of the games earlier, like the Packers, they dominated the Lions, start to finish. The Colts are one of those teams who dominated week one, the dolphins from start to finish. And when you just look at all of those weapons that you just mentioned, this is why living in Indianapolis and watching this team has been such a nightmare for the past five years, because this wasn't the first time they've been out on the field with all these great players, all these great receivers, all these great players on defense, and performed well.

You know, that's why it is stunk because we've seen the potential. You see A.D. Mitchell, Pierce, Downs, you know, Tyler Warren now, Pittman, like all those dudes have been there, minus Warren. and they haven't had a quarterback like Dan Jones. They haven't had an old line play that well like they did yesterday. It was just a big time like, okay. So we haven't been watching or talking about the Colts like absolute idiots. They have been this good. They just needed a quarterback to come in and Danny Dimes is the guy.

A lot of pressure on him, too. Yeah, a lot on the Colts as a whole. On Dan Jones, specifically because you come in and you have a very publicized quarterback battle. We know what he did in New York and what that was. So it's a lot of pressure for him to come in. Okay, now it's obvious that he won. this job. You know, and when I reached out to people in the building once he was named the starter, nobody was surprised. And now you see why. And then the game plan, you know,

you'll see it more in the conversation with them. But it was pass, pass, pass, pass, pass out of the gate. And I definitely didn't expect that. But yeah, he showed up. And then his defense, Luano Romo, been in a new spot with a bunch of new pieces. They were seven minutes away from a shutout. So, yeah, all things are clicking right now for the coach. Indiana Jones and the Dimes dive, brother. We're about to have a run over here. In top. Tyler Warren ain't from here. No. He is gigantic.

Add him to the list. And I think he might have the head. The skull, like AJ has one of these ones. Just a super thick, massive, massive head. Like a cannonball. It is like cannonball. It would have to be to survive that hit. We saw Penn State.

Correct. The way his head snapped off that. It's the most violent thing I've ever seen in person. Just complete, bang. And they just, oh, that shit. All right. They got a handoff on the next play. Yeah, his hair, I mean, he is, he is awesome.

And we got OGs that are good, but you're right. It was, like, kind of like, justified. Just like, thank goodness what we've been seeing and talking about. It isn't just us. Well, Chris Ballard's probably thinking the same thing. Yeah, oh, my God. Jesus Christ, I thought we've had a good team for a while. Okay, quickly, Dee, but you heard the top five there.

Anything we missed that people definitely need to know about. Oh, speaking of violence. I saw something violent yesterday. Out there with the Rams, Pooka Nicole, an absolute dog. Front of the program took a nasty, nasty hit. from that nasty Houston, Texans defense. But guess what? He didn't cry.

He didn't pop. He went back to the locker room. Showed his quarterback. All right, go pass that shit up and get back out here. Need your 12. And he came back out and he showed up and they got a big time win. Tough opponent. Look, week one, it's all about getting a win regardless of how ugly, how pretty is.

You want to get that win. But it's not just about offense. That defense, Shula got the boys still hunting. Landman had a huge, huge punch out. But this is the cover of the rent right here with this nasty. interception on the sideline. Just nasty had to replay it to make sure it was an interception like they do all turn. That guy's name is Landman? No, no. This is Durant. This is Landman. Yes, and this punchout is phenomenal. The peanut punch, Marlon Humphrey, all these guys have made it famous,

not even going in thinking about a tackle, just going in with an actual laser missile on that punchout. Unbelievable turnover. Rams found a gritty, gritty win. And the recovery, I mean, recovery is just as nasty and as athletic as the punchout. This was one great, great game, another great game, down there in the NFC South. Landman. We didn't talk about the Tampa Bay bucks in the Atlanta South. Who is Landman? Hold on that.

Landman. That is his first name, like Rock Landman or something? I will never say his first name. Punching Landin' Bond. Slatman. Boom. Landman, land man, land man. Landman.

Yeah, yeah. Okay, sorry, right. That's a great name. Something else you definitely got to talk. There's a great game down there, NFC South. They always have bangers weekend and week out. But Michael Pinnick's just always. First of all, the Falcons made the right decision. They made the right draft choice.

And the Falcons are going to be all right. It's a big time throw in the fourth quarter to get his team in a position to come down and possibly win this game. The River McLeod had two phenomenal diving plays. This one was a fourth down scramble to the left where he dove and got the first down and made it a go-to-go situation. Unbelievable athleticism here. We know what he can do throwing the ball, but this is just showing off his athleticism. And it didn't stop there. He had another one here. Another one fourth in goal. where he had to stretch out, keep all his lower extremities off the ground and get the ball to break that plane to get this game close.

But, Bake, it started off a little shaky. Atlanta looked better on defense as well, but they got a superstar, a budding superstar over there, wide receiver at Bucca. And we saw him during the whole Ohio State run. He's always kind of a guy not talked about, but he always shows up in the biggest moments.

This was an absolutely nasty throw-a-seed and a great throw. And then a great throw-and-catch here to basically go up and win the game, just big time, big time player. I think he will become that wide receiver one. We know Mike Evans, he'll be a first ballot Hall of Famer or it should be. Chris Gottwin will get back in the foe at some point. We got Irvin.

We got all these other pieces. But Ibuka, you will not be able to deny him. He'll get open. He'll make big time plays weekend and week out. And he's going to be nothing but a perfect teammate down there. Yeah, for sure. You know, Marvin Harrison Jr. was the big conversation in Ohio State whenever he was there. Then Jeremiah Smith was the big conversation whenever he was there.

And what did he do? Oh, just be the second. leading receiver every single year. Yep. He's not as the one. So he won't get into shit. Seems like he'll be a great teammate. Oh, yeah. Block his ass off. Smart. Everything about him. Yeah, he knows where to play everywhere. He's durable, reliable. He's like Terry McLaurin.

Yeah. Yeah. I'm excited to watch him. And shout out to the Buccaneers getting a big time win. Falcons defense is playing pretty good there. Oh, yeah. Well, they get it figured out. And Pennix being a guy. He's certainly sweet. Hey, what are the big storylines coming out of yesterday that we should maybe pay attention to, pal? All right, pal, let's rip him off for you. I think we start with the New York Giants and the fact that Brian Davel, the head coach, declined to commit to Russell Wilson as a starting quarterback after the game, despite repeated chances to do so. The time to go to Jackson Dart, the Giants' rookie first round track pick is coming. We don't know whether it's going to be

this week, next week, next month, but make no mistake about it, Jackson Dart's time as the starting quarterback of the Giants is coming. We had a number of notable tight end injuries. Brock Bowers left the game with a knee injury that he said after the game, he didn't think was serious. George Kittle, the great 49ers, tight end, left the game with a hamstring injury early on, did not return. You would have to figure that would sideline him for a little bit here. And the Broncos tight end, Evan Ingram, left the game with a calf injury. We'll see if he misses any time. And to talk about the entire week as well, we'll probably hear something from the NFL today regarding Jalen Carter and his spitting incident with Dak Prescott.

We'll see whether the league decides to take additional action. Usually in the past, They have not. They've let the one-game suspension stand. In this particular case, I think back to what Troy Vincent, the NFL executive vice president, told NFL executives and GMs and coaches at the owner's meetings in the spring. He said, we are not going to tolerate anything that demeans the game. We want only good sportsmanship, and there'll be zero tolerance involved. We'll see how the league decides to handle that in. In regards to tonight's game, The Vikings and Bears. Harrison Smith did not make the trip for the Minnesota Vikings.

The Vikings have, but the Chicago Bears have no sympathy for the Vikings because they have a number of question marks around a number of their defensive backs. Jalen Johnson listed as questionable. Uh-oh. I don't know that he's going to go tonight. I have my doubts about whether he's going to play tonight. Tyler Gordon put on the injury report with a hamstring injury. I don't know that he's going to play tonight. Oh, no.

So the Bears could be down Jalen Johnson. They could be down Kyler Gordon. They could be down any number of defensive backs. As J.J. McCarthy makes his first NFL start. People forget that. He didn't play at all last year. He was the only quarterback from the great class of 2024. That didn't take a snap in a regular season game.

He gets to start tonight. And Pat, he grew up in Chicago as a Bears fan, the first ever NFL game he attended. The very first NFL game that he ever attended was that Soldier Field Bears Vikings, remember the game where Adrian Peterson ripped off those runs as a rookie running back? That was J.J. McCarthy's first game

as an NFL fan tonight. He'll have the opportunity to go and be the starting quarterback for the Vikings and you have to figure some young Chicago Bears fans going to be going to his first game tonight and he'll get to see J.J. McCarthy in uniform against a depleted Bears secondary.

Well, shout out to that future J.J. McCarthy that's attending his first ever game tonight. Monday night football. Let's have a good one. Congrats to J.J. McCarthy having this be his debut. What a magical moment. Honestly, last season had to suck for him. Obviously, everybody talks about his Uber competitive spirit and his leadership abilities. So having your entire career basically stopped before it can even get started, had to suck. I'm excited to see what he's

able to do with Kevin O'Connell. I'm excited to see what he's able to do with this offense. Obviously, Justin Jefferson is absolutely insane on a football field. He's always open. And for Caleb Williams, we've seen some great out of him, right, in the preseason? There were some great moments. And then obviously there is always going to be negative chatter until they have some sort of success. Tonight could be a brand new era for both of these teams. The J.J. McCarthy era potentially begins in a huge way. And Ben Johnson, the super genius, first time head coach, could kick off in a beautiful fashion as well.

Schefter, hey, I feel like we just did the first 15. I feel like we just did the first 15. 32 minutes. You know, it's first 15 place. Yeah, yeah. There's a 15-minute clock just, you know, on there. It's sometimes a 15-play drive, you know, might only say eight minutes, but in real time,

that's 35 minutes of real time. Bingo. That is a good call. Some things have a commercial. That is a good call.