The Ringer NFL Show - An Instant Classic in Lambeau, Mahomes and the Chiefs Shine, and More Week 1 Takeaways | The Ringer NFL Show (Ep. 297)

Episode Date: September 10, 2018

With the regular season underway, The Ringer’s Robert Mays and Kevin Clark link up to discuss Aaron Rodgers’s legendary comeback and Mitchell Trubisky and the Bears’ second-half collapse (1:00). Then, the guys introduce new weekly segments to the show where they cover players and teams whose values are trending up or down (18:00), point out the most questionable decisions from around the league on Sunday, and predict the stories that will lead tomorrow’s headlines (45:00). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today's show is brought to you by DirecTV. Good news, NFL fans. Direct TV has expanded the service. If you live in an area where DirectTV service is not available, or you're a student actively enrolled in college or university, you can now get NFL Sunday ticket without a satellite. Plus, there's an exclusive student discount. To see if you're eligible, go online to NFL Sundayticket.tv

and stream every NFL Sunday ticket game this season to follow your favorite team no matter where you live. promo code Ringer at checkout to save 15%. Package is also available for fans living in areas where direct TV service is not available. Today's show is brought to you by Snickers. Did you just lose to the guy who auto-drafted? Are you screaming at the TV because someone who can't hear you dropped an open pass? Did your team just lose in terrible fashion to its arched rival again?

You were probably just blindsided by Hunger. Luckily, Snickers is here to pick your sorry butt off the turf. Get back on your game with NFL Hunger bars from names. Welcome to the ringer NFL show. I'm Robert Mays, joined as always by Kevin Clark. Kevin, how are you? A better than you are. Why don't you explain to the people why you're so low energy right now? This is our first iteration of podcasting after dark. It is currently 11 p.m. Central Standard Time on Sunday. None of this is yet to explain why you're so low energy. The Bears just lost to the Packers. Yeah. Aaron Rogers just came back on one leg in

ripped my still beating heart out of my chest for the 10,000th time. The Bears looked like just a hurricane for the first quarter. Khalil Mack was destroying the game. The offense looked like it was clicking on every cylinder possible. Interesting shit was happening. I was having fun. And then, of course, what happened? Aaron Rogers happened.

Aaron Rogers happened for the 100,000 time in my life. The Bears went into a complete shell for the entire second half. Mitchell Chubisky did not look more than three yards down the field for the entire third quarter and most of the fourth quarter until it was absolutely necessary. On third and one, when they probably just could have given the ball to Jordan Howard again because he was getting exactly what he wanted on every single carry. The only reason they were even in range to take a shot near the end zone is because he somehow pulled a 10-yard run out of his ass on a cutback that was not even supposed to exist. And then they decided this was the time. After not having thrown the ball down field, the entire half, this was the time to take the shot for Tariq Cohen. It was open.

If Trubisky had let that thing rip with Cohen in space against a pass rusher, it might have been a touchdown. But he didn't let a single throw rip for the entire second half. They were completely content to just curl up, run the ball, and ignore every single bit of aggression that had made them even slightly form. in the first half. As soon as they got off the script, it was over. They had no idea how to react. And they completely caved to the moment when everyone associated with the Packers rose to it. And here we go again. I just, it's about as frustrating of a game and as frustrating a version of a game as I possibly could have imagined. Other than that, though, how was it? I just, I can't even believe it was happening. Okay. So this was.

believe it just happened, but it's just, oh, man. This was the horror movie. This was like the bad Jaws sequel where there's just a series of events that make it seem impossible for this not to be the greatest night of your life. Colila Mack looks like exactly the guy who's worth not only one first round pick plus the weird pick swaps, but like a decade's worth of first round picks. Okay, he looks like that guy, the guy you wanted. And then the bears go up, three scores.

Trubisky looks great. And then Aaron Rogers is literally in the injury tent for 10 minutes. And then he's on a cart off the field, looking like he might be out for the season. I don't know what kind of, I don't know if they do, you know, obviously they do the same sort of in-game betting odds that all sports do. If at that moment, Rogers on a cart, if you would try to put $10 on the Packers, you would have been arrested. They would have like sequestered you. They would have not let you around the population anymore, even if we didn't call it prison. You would have been slowly taken to the side.

Well, it would, yeah, it would be much worse than prison. It's called gambling addiction. I seriously just, I mean, I'm glad he came back. I still, I regret nothing that I said. It's, I would have been sucked so bad to just have Aaron Rogers be gone for the season again. And if the Bears are going to win that game, they should deserve to beat Aaron Rogers. And they didn't. So, okay, so let's, let's explore this a little bit.

you sent this in a text and I want to explore, you were okay with the result because he played and the Bears lost. You're okay with that over him being out and the Bears winning? Let's just work this out with you right now. I would rather have... Would I rather have the Bears have won that

game and Aaron Rogers be out for the season? No. Okay. Why? Absolutely not. Because Aaron Rogers is the best player in the sports and I write about the sport professionally and I want the sport to be the best version of itself. I don't, at a certain point, like, you have to see past fandom, especially when you do what we do for a living. It's a touchy kind of middle ground to kind of, and needle to thread anyway.

I'm not going to sit here and hope that Aaron Rogers doesn't play anymore because he's playing my team on one random Sunday night in week one. I'm, I am much more frustrated with the outcome and the performance that the Bears put on in half number two than I am about Aaron Rogers coming back and playing football. This has nothing to do with Aaron Rogers. This has to do with the Bears having every chance to win that game and somehow letting it slip through their fingers. So just to be clear, so I don't have a team. And so what I was trying to, don't have an NFL team, when I was trying to figure out in your mind is how you view a game like that where a guy like Rogers goes out where the Bears blow a three score lead. From my perspective, the only team I really have in professional sports is the Orlando Magic. and if everyone in the league got hurt or like it was a King Ralph situation and they all died

and then the Magic won the championship, I would be ecstatic. Yeah, that's not how I see it, especially because this is the sport that I cover. It's just not how it's going to be. If all 29, if there was a 29 team party in the magic weren't, it was like a designated survivor situation and the magic were just the team that was left out of the building, I would be like, this is phenomenal. I can understand that. That is not how I feel right now.

Part of it is because I want to talk about just the things to take away from this from the bear's perspective very briefly before we get into Rogers. One, the first drive was excellent. There's a lot of stuff in that drive that I really liked. Two, Chubisky has clearly has a ton of talent just in terms of being able to move around. His arm looked great when he had to fit some throws in, especially early. But his tendency to completely issue anything down the field. pull the ball and run, go horizontal, especially in the passing game, in that second half when they were just dumping the ball off to Howard and to Cohen and everything else.

Trubisky was 25 of 35 for 171 yards. That just shouldn't even be possible. And part of me is where here's how I will try to explain this away, and this is really what I'm hoping. I am hoping that from a Trubisky decision making a standpoint and from a Matt Nagy play calling standpoint, point. This is two guys still in the very early stages of their time doing this and just succumbing to the moment and not understanding they had to keep their foot on the gas. I like a lot of the decisions that were made early when they went forward on fourth down and didn't end up kicking a field goal there. Stuff like that looks bad in hindsight,

but I like the mindset. And they just went away from it in the second half. I'm hoping that's an aberration and just something that we will see improve over time as they get more experience and more comfort and more confidence in these sorts of scenarios. On defense, it was one of those things early when Mac was dominating, you're watching those plays. It's like he's a factor right now, but it's not as if he's stopping Brian Belag on every single one of these plays. He's making Roger step up in the pocket.

He's helping other guys out. There was kind of a subtle influence that he had over a lot of plays. But he didn't play the whole game. They definitely had him on a pitch count. He wasn't in the entire time. They are bringing him along pretty slowly. And it seemed like his impact over the game waned. And that's not surprising at all.

I'm hoping that when that defense is at full strength and when he and Roquan are playing all the time, that's going to show up because Kwiakowski didn't exactly cover a lot of ground. I mean, it's, I feel like that defense with Roquan is going to be in a different level. And it wasn't let tonight because him and Mack were limited to just the way they were used. I still have, I still feel pretty good about where the defense is eventually going to be. A couple of those throws from Rogers, you just can't beat. I mean, the one to Allison, what are you supposed to do about that? I mean, Fuller was in great position.

Allison pushed off a little bit, you know, not in any way that was illegal, but just the tiniest bit of space. And Rogers fitted in. He's a fucking dragon. That happens every once in a while. I feel fine about where the defense is going to be. And I'm really hoping that eventually the offense is going to be in a place where they just trust.

Mr. Chubisky trusts himself. I feel like the play calling was not necessarily the problem. They had throws down the field. There was a ball he missed to Cohen. that he absolutely has to pull the trigger on on third down. You have to. And all of those plays were showing up tonight, and I'm just hoping that's a temporary thing.

So that's where I'm at. It's all correctable. There were moments that I was very excited, and I think that you saw glimpses of an offense that were not available last year. Robinson made some plays, I mean, some contested catches that were not available last season.

So I'm really hoping that this is just a temporary letdown in a really big moment against an all-time great player. and that's where we sit. Well, there's a lot to unpack here. So we'll start with this. The Mac impact, I mean, I think if you hit max impact been spread out over four quarters, I mean, the stat line just speaks for itself.

He, he in a very, very short time. And he wasn't a pitch count. You know, Vic Fangio coming into the game compared it to Aaron Donald's debut in 2017, which I think he played about 40 snaps, something like that. So that was the expectation coming in. Maybe we knew that he wasn't going to get a lot of work in the third and fourth quarter. But I think you're going to take that kind of impact from Kalil Mack. I mean, he scored a touchdown.

He was in the backfield in almost every play. As you said, he was making Rogers stand up in the pocket. So I just think that when you have four quarters of Mack, it's just a different team. And that's something I do think you can look forward to. Roquan Smith is the same way. So I think when they play again, which I think is an early December, this is going to be very different matchup. but I just, I mean, Matt Nagy running out of ideas, basically in the second half, is a much more worrying thing to me than what happened to the defense. Because again, the defense is going to change in October, November, December. It's going to get more complete. It's going to get more in tune.

Kulamax is going to understand the Vic Fangio defense a little bit more. So, Rokwon Smith, who's just a rookie. I think that Matt Nagy having those sort of coaching blips and maybe he's, you know, look, he called plays under Andy Reid. He didn't do it for 10 years. He's not, you know, he's not the kind of guy who, you know, Andy Reid is not the guy to learn from if you want to call plays for five, six years. He's going to take over play calling a lot. He did it with Doug Peterson. He would let Doug Peterson only call plays in sort of small windows. same with Matt Nagy. I think, you know, Matt Nagy came from high school. It was in high school a decade ago. So he's just, he has to learn these things going forward.

It's exactly what you say. Trubisky and Nagy are learning together what it means to call plays for a full season and play quarterback for a full season. So I think that is something you can look forward to, but I think it's going to take a little bit more time than maybe just Kolomack and Rokwantz with him the defense. That might take the full season for those guys to get up to speed. I think so too.

And the idea that it would just be a just-ad-water kind of situation is misguided. I mean, that's just an unrealistic expectation. And it's about steps. And there were a couple steps that went in the right direction. And there were a couple steps that were just maddeningly frustrating. And hopefully those will iron themselves out over time and hopefully they're temporary. And we'll see. I mean, that's something we'll revisit at a different time.

And when they stop becoming temporary, when they become permanent, that's when I'm going to be really worried. Right now, I'm not really. worried. I'm just frustrated the way that it happened in the moment. Is there anything else we want to say about Rogers? Is there anything we can say? Yeah. I mean, you you set it up earlier, but Aaron Rogers is an incredible athlete. He is, along with Tom Brady, the two people we will tell our grandkids about, about this era of football. I think, you know, I think you'd throw Peyton Manning in there as far as retired players, but they define this era of football. And this is one of those things that this is a top 10 thing

we're going to talk about the time he went away on a cart, came back and beat the one of the biggest rivals who had taken a three touchdown lead. I don't know. I don't know it wasn't scheme. It wasn't anything. It was just it was I know that this is not a football term, but like it was just it was toughness. I mean that that that's that's not a scheme term. That's not anything. They didn't do anything unusual. Aaron Rogers is just tough as hell tonight. the throw to Allison, I'll just see it in my sleep for the next week. I mean, that is an across from the opposite hash, 50 yards to the back corner of the end zone. And it had to be in about a two by two space for it to be a touchdown.

It was also, how many guys in this league do we get to the point where they get within 10 and we say, okay, well, we see where this is going? Is it just 10 and Brady? I saw it. I mean, of course I saw it. When did you see it? When did you see it? after the Allison touchdown. After the Allison touchdown is when I started getting really worried.

I mean, just because they're down 10 at that point, it's like, okay, I've seen this movie many times. Yeah, I'm probably with you. That was the moment. I think that's on the earlier end, if you were to look at every NFL player when you would know, I think there's maybe 25 starting quarterbacks where they get to that point, we'd say, eh, still not going to happen. And there's only two quarterbacks where they get to that point. We say it's definitely going to happen.

And that's Tom Brady and Aaron Rogers. There are a lot of plays in that game where you can think about the Bears performance in totality and have it be super depressing and just overwhelming. But breaking them down to individual moments helps. I mean, if he hits Robinson on that fade, they step on their neck and I think the game is over. And then the other one was that fourth down call. I mean, if they get that, then who knows? I still like the call in the moment.

So there are tons of things to take from this on both sides. I mean, Rogers is, they're going to be there if Rogers is there. I mean, it's just that simple. he's the best player on Earth. And the Bears are slowly doing things that are starting to encourage me. It's not at a pace I would like. It's an immensely frustrating locks. And I'm not even sure if they come back from it this season.

But there are things to build there. There are things to build on from that game. And I don't know. Can I say one more thing? Sure. So I am tolerant of literally anything in my mentions. I don't care what anybody says. If you want to troll me, whatever.

Here's what I'm not tolerant. enough, Raiders fans coming at me and saying that I'm an idiot for saying the Mac trade was bad for the Raiders after that game. I've got people, because I've been tweeting about it a couple times about how ridiculous that trade was. And I got people coming out and say, well, they still lost, buddy. The bear's still lost. So how's that going for you? Yeah. It's one game. It's one game where he did not play most in the second half. But not only that, but when he did play, he looked like the best player in football. I felt pretty good about where Calillo Mac is. So, So he played on a small pitch count and looked incredibly dominant in those reps.

And the bears at one point when he played looked unstoppable. So I wouldn't be trolling. That's my suggestion. I also have two car family members in my mentions who are angry about some of my Raiders slander, unnamed car members. What a time to be alive. Before we move on, let's take a quick break. People always ask me for advice, and usually it's what team to bet on this week.

The truth is, I don't know who's going to win. But if you think you know, you've got to check out my booking. I always tell people to bet with my booking. Trust me, guys, they are your best bet this season. They've been in business for years, have great reviews online, and their mobile site is easy to use. Not to mention, they have in-game live betting and the most rewarding place. player perks in the business. Plus, for you fantasy guys out there, you can even bet the over-under on how many fantasy

points a player will score each game. So, lay down some cash and win big today. You win, they pay. Join now and my bookie will match your deposit dollar for dollar. Use the promo code Ringer NFL when creating your account to claim up to $1,000 in free play. That's M-Y-B-O-O-O-K-E. And don't forget to use the promo code Ringer NFL when creating your account to claim the bonus. You play, you win, you get paid.

All right, let's move on. So this is our first time doing this show this time. And we're going to change up the format a little bit. We're going to be going with a couple different ideas that we're going to hit every single Sunday night to kind of give you guys our best synopsis of what went down over the past 12 hours. So we're calling this next segment Stockwatch. We're going to do three stocks that are up, three stocks that are down every single week. We're going to start with the ones that are up. after week one. And I feel like the only place to start with this one, if we've already

moved past Aaron Rogers, is with Patrick Mahomes in the Kansas City. Yes. Yes. Yes. I mean, so let's talk for a second about our expectations of Patrick Mahomes coming into this season. We both looked at it as he has a very, very high ceiling and we weren't sure about the floor. We're not surprised by the four touchdowns. I think we're more surprised about the zero interceptions. Do you agree? Yeah, I think so. I mean, the Chargers defense did not play well. I think that, you know, we talk about this in reference to Khalil Mack. I mean, the Chargers were probably missing Joey Bosa today. I mean, there are just moments where you obviously see what one pass pressure can do for you. And also, I'll say this, the four touchdowns is nice on paper. It looks really good.

I'm not looking at this as like a four touchdown game that Patrick Kamal has dominated. No, I mean, two of them were essentially shovel passes. Yeah, two of them were just a, excellently designed plays. You know, one of them was Tyreek Hill taking a slant for, I don't, about 70 yards, you know, just a nice throw, but not something that Patrick Mahomes should necessarily be credited with. I'm more so just talking about how the Chief's offense looks in its totality. You know, there are going to be moments where we think about how brilliant Patrick Mahomes

was. He's raining fire down. He's throwing 50-yard touchdowns that, you know, actually travel 50 yards in the air. That wasn't one of those days. but the Chief's offense still looked as if it could move the ball however it wanted. And they did it without Travis Kelsey. So for me, this is more the stock is up for the guys who sat there this off season and said, you know what?

We had maybe the most explosive offense in the league last year with Alex Smith. And that's okay. We are ready to move on and we know this is the guy to move on with. And his ability to just run that offense seamlessly was incredibly impressive. It was awesome. I'm so excited for it. I think that our goal on the Sunday of week one is not to overreact to these games. I mean, the Bucks are not going to win the Super Bowl.

The Saints are not out of contention. The charges are not out of contention. But I do feel like a lot of our fears about the chiefs have been calmed. Their defense is not going to be an absolute tire fire. I'm not ready for that yet. Okay. And I don't think it's going to be like historically bad or anything. Phil Brubber's through for like 430 yards.

and the Chargers drops, two would be touchdowns. Ron Parker got a pick. He's been on the team again for like five days. Yeah, I'm not quite ready to say the Chiefs defense is going to be fine. I think that defaults are going to be fine. I don't know they're going to be fine. I think they can hold opponents to less points than the offense can score more times than not.

That's the only thing they need to do. Okay. I mean, it's not a high bar they need to clear here. But what I'm saying is I feel if there, if there's a only thing, there's any team I feel a lot better about tonight than I did this morning, it's the Ken State Chiefs. And that was a team we already thought, we already knew had a lot of roster talent. Yeah, I guess it's just nice to see it. You know, there's always these unknowns. Mahomes is, I was going to say he's like Trubisky. He's not. He has less experience as a starter.

So, I mean, it's reasonable to assume that there'd be some growing page, but in reality, they move the ball extremely well. I'm excited just to see what they're going to do. And I guess, that's what I'd say about Kansas City after week one. Nothing that I saw from them. It dampens the excitement that I had coming into the year. Yeah. No, I totally agree. A couple things we can take away.

Number one, the Los Angeles Chargers have no fans. That was terrible. It's really bad. It's really really bad. Roger Sherman, our colleague, put a photo up of sort of a end zone celebration after a chief score. And he said, look at these Chargers fans or find a Chargers fan. or find a Chargers fan, and there were none in step up center.

There are two throws I want to point out from Mahomes. Just be, I mean, one of them was a touchdown. One was not. You know, we look at the four touchdowns. But the throw he made to Sherman down the lights, down the left sideline, which I don't know how Anthony Sherman is now catching like 50-yard bombs from Patrick Mahomes, but apparently he is. That was gorgeous.

And then he made one in the third quarter that was a third and 13 where he got outside the pocket and just ripped a ball down the sideline that was just so impressive. And that's the type of stuff he can do. Again, I feel like the stat line is a little overblown, but I wanted to mention those two throws because I forgot about the moments early. God, I love Patrick Mahomes. I'm very, very excited about this. I'm less excited about the Chargers. I feel bad for Chargers. We'll get into that. Don't worry. We'll get into that. While we're sticking with offseason plans that have looked pretty good so far, I would say that the Vikings offseason plan of going to get Kirk Cousins and bring in John D. Filippo looks pretty

all right. You're damn right. I mean, it's exactly what you wanted to see. 244 yards, two touchdowns, no picks. This is a, you know, an Eagles light situation where the roster is so deep that you don't even, anything you get from a quarterback is, it's not icing on the cake, but, you know, the Eagles just won the Super Bowl with Nick Foles. The Vikings got to the NFC championship game with Case Keenum. When you have that sort of roster, there's a floor. And if Kirk Cousin's going to give what he gave on Sunday, they're going to win a lot of games, 13, 14, 15 games because he's not going to make mistakes and he's going to get touchdowns. They're often stagnated in the second half a little bit. I feel like the 49ers defense played a little bit better in that half. But in the first half,

I was extremely impressed. They did such a good job of just kind of mixing up how they were trying to attack teams. I mean, you had a lot of plays designed to get Dauvin Cook in space. And Cook, look healthy, boy. He looks like he is just ready to go. As both the runner and your receiver, he got a ton of work. I was impressed with him. Cousins really ripped some balls.

I mean, there was so a couple of throws where I was like, man, I didn't remember him having that kind of arm strength on these tight window throws. And he kind of just shook me a little bit. I was like, all right, that looks pretty damn good. And then Diggs and Thielen, man. I mean, the Diggs touchdown is just, that's all right, let's have our guy just go on a double move and I'm going to put it up for you. And that stuff works when you're playing with Stefan Diggs. Thielen made a ton of tough catches again.

This is just an offense that's completely loaded. And Cousins is a guy that can make it go. I mean, we knew the type of talent they had there. I just don't think we understood if Cousins would be that significant of an upgrade. And I know that they didn't blow out San Francisco. I mean, this was a close game, but I still feel like there was enough there where I'm just like, you know what? This is going to be all right. I have a very good feeling about how this is going to go for an entire season.

The Vikings won 13 games last year. And again, I just don't see a scenario unless Kurt Cousins falls off a cliff or there's massive injuries in which they don't do that again. I think that what we saw tonight from the Packers and Bears, I do think as exciting as that was, those teams are playing for second place. Yeah, I totally agree. think that the Vikings clearly are the best team. I mean, the Packers need Rogers to be a superhero. The Bears are at this point. Let's just see how much progress they can show before the end of the season while we

pump the brakes as we get there. With Minnesota, I think the best version of that team, the sky is the limit. I mean, they might be the favorite in the NFC. I mean, I understand we're excited about the Rams. I just picked them to make the Super Bowl. Yeah. I mean, that team that I saw today, I think they're really scary going forward. It's only week one, obviously, but we've seen the requisite piece.

is in the past. And the way that defense played, which we get into if you want. I mean, that I was, the offense is more exciting just because it's the unknown and we're seeing it for the first time.

But what Zimmer did in the second half and how he just scheme the shit out of San Francisco. I mean, just essentially said, I'm going to blitz you, Jimmy Groppo all of the time. And I'm going to dare you

to make bad throws. And that's exactly what happened. I mean, the pick six, it came right on the heels of George Kittle dropping it would be. touchdown most likely that Garapel put right on the money. And then Zimmer just went with a ton of pressure off the right side.

Jimmy threw it up for grabs to just that the right area to the sideline, pick six touchdown. I mean, one of those throws that it was intercepted was a, you know, close throw that was just tipped. I mean, it's not as if he threw three balls right to the other team, but there were a couple plays where Zimmer essentially said, I own you right now because I know exactly what I have to do. I mean, just the plays he dialed up in that half are amazing.

and Harrison Smith was unbelievable. On the goal line stand, on the first and goal that ended up with the goal line stand, Harrison Smith had a hit on the fullback. Yep. Was Earl Mitchell. Earl Mitchell. I wanted to make sure.

It was Earl Mitchell, who's over 300 pounds. Harrison Smith is a beast. I just, that entire, you've written extensively about that defense, but they don't really have, holes. And if they do have holes, Zim can scheme them out of it. It is an intellectual defense. It is a

violent defense. It is a brutal defense. And they know exactly what to do within Zimmer's system. And the pieces they have now, like Sheldon Richardson, the guys they went out and got, those guys fit right in or they will fit right in. And so I think that team is loaded, dude. Yeah, they really are. They're loaded. Mike Hughes had to pick today. Shelton Richardson showed up with a sack. All right, let's get to our last stock up and let's stay with rookie cornerback. Speaking of Mike Hughes, Denzo Ward had a big day. I want to talk about just the young stars on the Browns defense. Obviously, again, if I'm the only team fan base I feel worse for today than the Bears is the Browns.

You mean to end their losing streak and not win? Poor Browns fans. I mean, that was tough. But again, let's look at the bright side here. Miles Garrett was a monster. He was an absolute monster. He is who we thought he was going to be. He was so good today for the Browns.

And I thought Denzo Award was awesome. I mean, the first pick that he had, we used to come off and find Brown on that route. I mean, he was just kind of lurking. He read it. He had another interception that was on a tipped ball, but he was around the ball so often. Antonio Brown did not make him look like an absolute moron today.

And for any rookie cornerback, that is amazing. If you're the Browns in order to orchestrate this turnaround and you get all these top five picks, they need to be good. And for those two guys, their last two top five picks outside of Baker Mayfield, obviously, to show up the way that they did today, that's the type of stuff that can just say, that make you look at this Brown's team and say, you know what? All right, let's go. This is the recipe. This is the start of something. So it's interesting to me, you mentioned the Brown thing. I talked to a cornerback in this league about a month ago.

And we're talking about guarding Brown. And he was saying the thing about Brown is that once he's in the open field, there's no tape you can watch. There's no anything. It's all improvisation. And so the only thing you can do is just have a real feel for who he is, what he likes to do. I mean, it's just, it's not, it's tendencies, but it's not. It's just, it's almost like basketball. And it's what's he going to do now?

When is he going to break? You have to read his body. And the point this cornerback was trying to make was that you have to really have to have a lot of experience against Antonio Brown to understand what he's going to do. And so for a young guy like Denzel Ward, as you said, to not look like a fool against Antonio Brown says a lot. I was, I loved watching both of those guys today. And again, it's a frustrating day for the Browns, but there's stuff to take away.

I mean, that team is not going to go winless this year. It's going to be a much better situation, even if I spend the entire season just being unable to wait for the next coaching staff to get there and take over. this roster. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Are you saying you didn't like Hugh Jackson trying to not start Josh Gordon and then accidentally starting Josh Gordon because of the personnel grouping? Did you see that?

And then just not playing Josh Gordon for huge swats of time. Well, no, he went out of his way to say he's not going to start Josh Gordon. Oh, I remember. I remember. Yeah. And then he accidentally started him because of the personnel grouping. And so it was a mistake. That's great.

Trying to make a point and then not making the point and then screwing up by trying to. forgetting that he made the message. Yeah. It's absolutely wonderful. All right. Let's get to some stock down. I'm going to go with Jimmy Garoppolo and the 49ers offense. I mean, they did.

I mean, obviously it's Minnesota. You know, we just talked about how great Mike Zimmer was and how great that defense is. But that offense looked like it, it stagnated in all the wrong places again. I mean, they really do struggle in the red zone. I mean,

that was an area where they just could not punched in last year. And that showed up again. I mean, they do struggle when the field. shrinks. His ability to kind of orchestrate the offense in that area of the field, it just is not the same. And I did not like his decision making today.

I did not like a lot of the approaches he took. I mean, you saw some of the things he could do extending plays, but overall, it was a disappointing day. So you've written extensively about him. Is this the kind of thing? Is this a one game blip? Or is this, you know, we talked about Mahomes and how he answered some of our questions. Is this the opposite situation?

where now you have a little more fear than you had this morning? I'm going to wait and see. I'm not going to throw this away. I still love Kyle Shanahan. There was still so many plays where he had guys running open down the field. I mean, again, that kid will play as a touchdown. And this team was close. I mean, if Alfred Morris doesn't fumble on the goal line,

and a pick six changes the game, that game seems kind of lopsided, but it was closer than it seemed. I just think there were individual moments and individual areas where I'm starting to think that there are actual holes in Garopolo's game. It's just a matter of do the holes matter more than what he brings? Wait, what are the holes? The Red Zone.

I think their inability to function in that area of the field worries me. That is, I think it's a genuine concern. And they could easily be corrected. But right now, that's a problem. The other thing I feel like we need to talk about with this team today is the fact that they lost both starting guards. And it showed up in a big way. They were unable to block the Vikings on the interior. And it just showed up for most of the game.

And the amount of blitzing Zimmer did as a result, making guys pass off blitzes, making guys pass off twists. And they attacked a decimated offensive line. It showed up in a big way. So I think stocked down for sure. But I can definitely see it taking a bump back up in the near future. Well, I also think that we're going to look back on playing the Vikings and say, and how much you could have done.

I mean, I really do think, I do think they're a bit of a buzz saw at this point. I totally agree. I feel like we could, the Niners can easily bounce back quickly, but for right now, it's a dour note on which to start the season. And that's, that's one of the things that we need to keep in mind with all of these games. I mean, it's exactly what I said earlier about the Bucks and the Saints and all. I mean, all of these results, all of these results are going to look completely different in two weeks, three weeks. I mean, what did the Steelers go out and lose to the Chiefs?

What if they get killed by the Chiefs? Then we're looking at the Browns a little bit differently. I'm just saying everything we're doing this week as far as analysis, with the exception of the Bears and the Packers game, should be taken with a huge grain of salt just because the NFL starts over maybe more so than ever in this era because of the more player movement, because of the changing of the schemes, you know, even more so this year with all the new faces. So, you look at the offensive coordinators, the quarterbacks, all of the changes this year.

The league is a blank slate maybe more than most years. That makes week one a little more wonky than usual. I totally agree. All right. Let's stay with another stock down. The Texans offense, you can probably lump in with Jimmy Garab. Oh, boy. I mean, one of the quarterbacks we were most excited to see.

I mean, obviously, Watson has that massive start to the season. He tears his ACL. it just really was such a bummer. I mean, was probably one of the toughest moments in the entire NFL season last year. Everyone loved watching Watson so much over that stretch. Then he's taken away from us.

And he's back playing the Patriots. And that offense really struggled to move the ball. So let's address the elephant in the room here, which is you have the top five young quarterback in the NFL. And he gets hurt. And your number one, priority. Everything Bill O'Brien and last year, Rick Smith should have been thinking about every single moment. They should have been saying, how can we keep our quarterback upright? How can it be

a better season for Deshaun Watson where he's not going to hit? Because he was hit a lot last year. He wasn't injured because he got hit. Yeah, that was just a freak sort of non-contact thing in practice. But he was hit a lot last year. One of the secrets to the Eagle's success is that they have a lot have good linement. They have a great infrastructure for a guy like Carson Wentz or even Nick Foles. And so the idea that the Texans did not go out, just overpay for people. Overpay. Overpay for the guys you think are worth it. They didn't solve the offensive line problem. It's not like the Patriots have a world beating defensive line. And Watson was getting hit on every other play. It was absolutely unacceptable. Losing out on the Nate Soulder thing is going

be maybe a turning point in their season because they just have absolutely no chance on the edges. Sean Charles Henderson goes down in this game. When you lose Sean Charles Henderson and it's a problem for you, you know you're in a bad way. Yeah. I saw that update. Like, oh, he's got an injury. Oh, is that supposed to hurt? They had no chance against the likes of Adrian Claiborne and Derek Rivers. It's going to be a huge issue. I just don't even know what do you doing? How that offense functions at times. And this is against a team that doesn't typically put a lot of resources or focus on its pass rush. So I don't know. The Patriots? Yes. They traded Chandler Jones who led the league in sacks. That's how much they think pass rush can be schemed, basically. They don't have the talent

like everybody else in the NFL where they're just trying to, you know, get a four-man rush and throwing $200 million out. It's not the Jaguars here. This was not a focal point for them. and yet the Texans made the Patriots look like the Jaguars. That's not good. We'll revisit this as we keep watching during the season, but it just seems like this is going to be a consistent problem. One more thing I want to mention about New England, they just picked on Zach Cunningham and Kevin Johnson the entire game.

I mean, that's what they do, but this was such a great example of that. I mean, their ability to just completely isolate Gronk on Zach Cunningham, whether it was either up the seam or up the seam on tons of plays, whether it was up the sideline on that back shoulder touchdown, Brett's Burkhead was wide open for a touchdown against him on that same drive where Grunk scored. Brady just missed him. They just hammered it over and over again.

James White picked on him on the touchdown that he scored. It's endless. They know exactly where they're going to kill you and they do it over and over and over again. This was the discussion we had this week in the office when it came, oh, who's going to be Brady's receiver? What's happening? They only have Gronk and Hogan. It doesn't matter, dude. It doesn't matter.

By the way, the Patriots are going. Did you see that they're going eye formation and still dominating them today? That's eye formation. Devlin was on the field all the time. The Patriots do the shit constantly. They're going to use those personnel groupings and then screw with you and use them in 20 different ways. It's going to be eye formation.

Then Devlin's going to be out wide. Then it's going to be empty. That's what New England does. They do such a good job of using players in unconventional ways. Burkhead was wide open on that touchdown. He roasted Honeyham on a slant and go. He's a running back. It doesn't matter.

They do this stuff. It's seamless. The positions are fluid and that's why they're great. And we just saw it all on display again. I was super impressed. The other thing I want to mention in reference to Watson, we're talking about AFC South quarterbacks coming back that we've wanted to see for a while.

I know they lost. I was so impressed with Andrew Luck. I'm totally impressed. I mean, I just, you know, they lost the bangles. You look like, no, no, no, no. I'm building up to a Robert. So, no, I'm excited. I'm very happy.

The Bengals, the Bengals look better than I thought they were going to look. But, and this is just a roster thing with the Colts right now. They're just not good enough. But I was so impressed with Lux's ability to just look, look-esque. He's not 100%. He doesn't have every, you know, all the zip and all that stuff. But he looked competent. And that's after basically, you know, almost two full years off.

It was New Year's Day, 2017. that he last played, the end of the 2016 season. So, I mean, to come back and the speed of the game not be overwhelming, that's an accomplishment in and of itself.

I mean, Andrew Luck, if Jack Doyle doesn't fumble on the 15-yard line, the Colts probably score and win that game. I mean, they were driving. Bengals' defense didn't exactly look great today.

I mean, I think that my favorite thing about luck was just how comfortably looked in the pocket. He was so comfortable just moving around, navigating, keeping his eyes up field, seeing throws. His timing with Tima Hilton seemed like it was pretty good.

I just, that defense is so far to go and the Bengals were able to move the ball. But I was so encouraged. I was so happy to see him playing well because the sport changes in the league changes when he's there. And everything I saw from him today is just excites me about what's going to happen going forward. All right, very quickly, one more stock down, James Winston's future in Tampa Bay. Oh, boy. Because by all accounts, and what's the.

going on right now? I don't know, man. It seems like, I mean, the Bucks offense looks really good. I will say this. I'm attributing that a little bit more to the Saints defense aggression we saw coming in, but who cares? If Tampa's going to play like that, even against a regressing Saints defense, why should James Winston ever play again? I dislike that we spent the entire offseason talking about the young generation of quarterbacks, Baker Mayfield, Josh Rosen, who balls out week one, Joe Flacco and Ryan Fitzpatrick. We'll get into Joe Flacco situation.

I don't really have any interest to talk about Joe Flacco there. So the real situation with Winston is he has a fifth year option next year. The cap hit at $20 million. If you're the bucks, you essentially have to start thinking about the sort of mega contracts that starting quarterbacks get. And if Winston wants one of those, don't even entertain it.

Just say, yeah, just say, see a dude, hit the open market because it's not, it's not worth even talking about. But if, you know, I guess the question is, if Winston comes back and he's competent, from a team building standpoint, do you accept him on a lower deal or do you just want him out of the building? I just want him out of the building. Yeah, that's the route I would go as well. Just start anew. Figure it out. I was so impressed with the Bucks offense, but I was really disappointed with the Saints defense. Ken Crawley was horrendous.

I mean, so, so bad. Just got torched left and right, had a big pass interference call that it kind of changed the game at the end and really stole the Saints chance to even think about coming back to win. It was a terrible performance overall. Mike Evans, Pete, Marcus John Lattimore for a deep touchdown. I mean, we'll see what happens. I mean, we'll see which one of those is more real. But after we go on, the Saints' defensive aggression, it feels like it's coming for them hard.

Yeah. The way I would just, the Saints will hear me a little bit. But on the other hand, how much improvement did they have last year? And how much. Exactly. After two weeks, we saw Dennis Allen. Dennis Allen is not exactly a top five coordinator. But in my opinion, they're going to be able to figure some stuff out by October to

where they're in the hunt. Now, it just gets into what. does that division look like? Is Carolina going to win double-digit games? Is Atlanta to the point that maybe the Saints just don't have the kind of time to figure it out? But I still am not, I'm not backing off the corner of the Saints are going to win that division. I'm still here.

I think they're going to still be a force. I mean, on offense, they looked excellent. Alvin Kamar is a reason Michael Thomas are doing. Alvin Kamara did not run the ball extremely well just in terms of his efficiency today. But he's such a weapon in the passing. game and Michael Thomas looks amazing. Now Michael Thomas to have the most receiving yards bet looks pretty good after week one.

I feel all right about that. What about a hundred? He's going to get 200 targets. What about a little guy named Nick Foles? Sorry, that's a good point. All right. So after Nick Foles, I think Michael Thomas still is the best bet right now. Before we move on, let's take a quick break.

Today's show is brought to you by Direc TV. We want to stream NFL Sunday ticket live every Sunday. even if we can't get Direct TV where we live. Because we want every play. Even if we don't live in a house with a satellite. Because a lot of us live in apartments or on a college campus. But we still want to stream NFL Sunday ticket. To see if you're eligible, go online to NFL Sundayticket.tv and stream every NFL Sunday ticket game this season

to follow your favorite team no matter where you live. Use promo code Bringer at checkout to save 15%. Packages are also available for football fans living in areas where DirecTV service is not available. Today's show is also brought to you by Snickers. You know the guy that whines about the refs before the game even starts? The guy whose game day ritual was wearing Giants themed underwear and nothing else. Or with that friend who got a Super Bowl champs tattoo for the losing team?

Yeah, that guy. Turns out he was just hungry. Get the man of Snickers and get your game day back on track with limited edition NFL hunger bars. Get a Snickers NFL hunger bar today in a store near you. Now, back to the show. The next segment we're going to be doing every single week, we're calling it our challenge flags of the week. We are going to throw a couple challenges against a couple things that popped up. This might be a decision.

This might be something we overheard in a broadcast. Anything we felt like we needed to just call attention to and maybe take some steps back on each and every week. Kevin, we're starting in the same place. I'm going to let you ride with this one, but what's your first one going to be? Well, so last year, the Buffalo Bills who were in playoff contention started a guy named Nathan Peterman, and he threw five interceptions and a half in Los Angeles. And we all assumed that that was the last week's see of Nathan Peterman. Either he'd move on in the offseason, he'd get cut, he'd get traded.

You couldn't bring them back as anything other than a third string quarterback would then lose a quarterback competition to move on. That is what the entire world thought of. I mean, it was basically, I would say we all, agreed upon it except for two people and those two people happened to run the Buffalo bills, Brandon Bied and Sean McDermott. Because we kept hearing reports in June, in July and August and Nathan Peterman was hanging around the quarterback competition with AJ McCarran and with

Josh Allen. None of us believed it. And then I'll be damned if Monday didn't come around and Sean McDermott did name Nathan Peterman starting quarterback. So what happens? Nathan Peterman looks like absolutely. dog shit. Absolute dog shit.

And the Buffalo bills lose by over 40 points. Who could have seen this coming, Robert? This is a farce. His, what is the point? In two career starts,

in two career starts, 11 of 32 for 91 yards, zero touchdowns, and seven interceptions. What is the point of putting him in the game? What are we doing? I understand

if your stance on this entire thing is, we don't want to put Josh Allen in because his development is too important. We understand our timeline. We understand how terrible the infrastructure is. He has no chance to succeed. So we're going to let Peterman take the lumps. And then after two and a half quarters, that no longer applies? Well, also, was the fifth round pick from the Raiders that important to get rid of McCarran? Or was McCarran that bad? $5 million when they had 53 in dead money. That was it. But it was McCarran, they just had to get him

out of the building. What was that? I mean, at least McCarran has played competently in the NFL. I just don't understand why this was necessary. I mean, putting Watson in last year in order to try to jumpstart your team is one thing. I mean, that's a team with DeAndre Hopkins and Will Fuller and Lamar Miller. You've actually tried to build a reasonable team. You have JJ Watt and Whitney Merciless, Devin, Connie. It's like, all right, this is like, if our quarterback is good, maybe we'll be all right. The bills are not that. You've essentially conceded the season. Why is now the time to just throw Josh Allen in there? If it was, if he was all right to play, if you were fine with him even stepping foot on the field, he should have been out there to start

the game today. I have no idea what the hell was going on. And then furthermore in the post-game press conference, Sean McDermott, reserving comment on the performance of Nathan Peterman until he can see the tape. Yeah. We thought this team was going to be an absolute disaster. And we have no reason to not think they are. But it's just so strange because it's self-inflicted. This team made the playoffs last year. Yeah. And Tyraud Taylor was their quarterback. And no, I understand that. But I mean, it's not like Tyrae Taylor is a world beater. I mean, he's a good quarterback. He was not that good today. But he doesn't turn the ball over. I'm saying, there's a big difference between league average and above average and Nathan Peterman. There's a big difference between

functional NFL quarterback and Nathan Peterman. Yeah, that's what I'm just, a guy who can make a throw. Yes, that guy was a quarterback last year for the bills and they made the playoffs. The bills don't have a functional NFL. What I'm saying is that there's a lot worse quarterbacks than Tyrod Taylor in the NFL who can win a game with the Buffalo Bills. They wouldn't have beaten the Ravens Day. It wouldn't have happened. I don't know, man. That list is pretty short for me this year. That team is absolutely terrible. What I'm saying, I'm talking about six wins, not one win. Do you get what I'm saying? I understand. I understand. All right. Let's get to the next one.

here. I want to throw a challenge flag on myself for picking the Chargers to be very good this year. Yep. Yep. I feel like I should just punch myself in the face right now. Well, I got to tell you something. I'm feeling even worse because I'm never even on the Chargers bandwagon. And then I got on the Chargers bandwagon this week for you, with you. And then the next day, Joey Bosa gets, it's announced you might miss the game. And I was in a walking boot. I feel like this can get better. also gets back. Dirtwin James made some splash plays today. Tyrae Williams dropped a touchdown.

It's, I don't know. But then Joe Barksdale gets hurt today. Their offensive lines are already falling apart. They can't run the ball again. They needed to get the ball to Gordon in space for him to even have a chance to have an impact on the game. Keenan Allen does some stuff. I mean,

Orlando Scandrick had no chance. But it took Alan a while to get involved in the game. I still feel like this team just has so. much talent that it's going to eventually win out. But what a frustrating start of the season. I mean, just the worst possible outcome if you're the Chargers. I mean, I guess they have a lot of talent,

but if Bosa's out, Jason Verrett's already out. He was in a walking boot on Friday. Yeah, I mean, that could end up being a problem because they need both those guys to really dominate. But I still feel like the defense is pretty decent. On the second level, they're very inexperienced, but I mean, just that linebacker

period, but I don't know, man. I just still have faith that this team is way too much talent to just go away. I mean, the chiefs, we feel like the chiefs office. Did you watch the game? Yeah. I watched a very good check of it.

Did you see the part where Philip Rivers was trying to draw the chiefs offside and he couldn't? I did not see that play. So he couldn't. And then Dan Fouts explained that he couldn't because the crowd was too loud because there were too many chiefs fans. That's so fun. Like at some point, that catches up with you. All right. What's your second one very quickly here?

So, Robert, what the hell is going on with the Cowboys offense? I don't know. I didn't think they would be, I didn't think they'd be very good this year, but that was, even for someone who has low expectations of this team, that was pretty abysmal. They scored eight points. I'm aware. One of these teams has Norv Turner as offensive coordinator, and one of them looked out of place. And usually it's Norv Turner's team looks at a place.

and instead, Norv Turner looked like an offensive genius in a 16 to 8 Panthers Cowboys game. What the hell was that? I don't even... I really liked a lot of the stuff I saw from the Panthers offense. I know they only scored 16 points, but they ran a triple option. They ran a triple option. I was encouraged with a lot of the stuff I saw. North Turner looked like 2010 Chip Kelly out there.

Yeah, it's, there's some fun stuff going on there. Again, their offense did not, was not. not exactly thriving and losing Greg Olson's huge blow. But still, there's more just excitement involved with that group than there is with the Cowboys. And that seems so hard to reconcile. So I don't know what the hell is going on with Dak Prescott right now. Those receivers are also absolutely.

The receivers are coming in. So, Dak Prescott 19 completions for 170 yards. Cam Newton today, 17 completions for 161 yards. an incredibly weird game. But Newton has a bizarre game. 13 carries for 58 yards in a touchdown, whereas Prescott had five yards,

excuse me, five carries from 19 yards. Elliot, and this is where it's 15 carries for 69 yards. Top receiver on the Cowboys, Cole Beasley, 73 yards. Second leading receiver, Deonté Thompson with 27 yards.

A bizarre, bizarre game between two teams that should have looked much better. The past catchers are just not there for Dallas, and I do not trust anything about that scheme in order to get guys open just by virtue of design. And when that's the combination, you're going to be in real trouble. And I know Carolina's defense is consistently good, consistently sound, but it's going to be a long year for the Cowboys moving the ball. I really believe that. Yeah. I mean, Scott Lennahan looks like he's out of ideas. This is such a... He's looked like he's out of ideas for a year and a half. Okay. So,

there's so many things riding on this season for the Cowboys to know if, you know, Dak Prescott's deal will have to be start, they'll have to start kicking that around after this season. What do you do? I mean, they have to know what they have in this, this core going forward to start building.

One of the things, you know, you talk to people around the Cowboys, one of the things about them is that they really did get caught a little a little bit flat-footed with the rookie quarterback thing. They couldn't do what Philadelphia did or some of these other places. or Chicago could do where they could go all in on a quarterback because they didn't foresee Romo, you know, having that season ending injury or essentially seasonning injury.

And then Prescott coming in, making $600,000, $600,000 a year for a three-year period. And so they just didn't have the foresight to know this is all going to happen. And so they don't get the fruits of the rookie quarterback stuff. And they haven't built anything around DAC. and they have to start essentially next year, but that's when he starts to become expensive. You're going to have to start talking contract with him. So this is a pivotal year for them to figure out what the heck they have

and we're off to a bad start. I was not looking forward to this cowboy season. I think they'd be very good. I just don't think they have it. I didn't think they would score eight points. I feel like it's going to be a really, really tough year on that side of the ball. All right, I want to do one more before we get to our last segment here. I just the Browns just decision makers on the offensive side of the ball.

I don't know who decided it was time to run the ball on first and 10 with a chance to drive down and win the game at the end of regulation. And then just completely short circuit the one drive you had to probably jump on the Steelers and win that game. But good God, man. I mean, just please. What do you have to lose? This is your shot. This is your chance to take advantage of a terrible. Ben Rathesberger game and finally win a football game.

And they just roll over. It's like, all right, let's go to overtime. This sounds great. I just, I can't even deal with it. I mean, even in the moment, it was just. You're surprised that you're surprised that Brown's coaching staff let you down. It's just headache inducing. It makes absolutely no sense.

It makes all the sense in the world. If you've ever seen a Browns game under Hugh Jackson. I know, I know. In like this realm of logic, it makes absolutely no sense. Let's get to our final segment of the show. We're going to close out every single one of these Sunday shows by kind of playing early edition. We're going to predict the news cycle.

The news cycle over the next 24 hours. We have to clarify that because we have to clarify that because if we said early edition, people would confuse it with the terrific Kyle Chandler show from the mid-90s. Almost didn't get him Friday Night Lights, by the way. that's how much Peterberg hated early edition. Peterberg is on the wrong side of history. Hey, that is a fantastic show. Take it up with Peterberg.

Stick him with the Steelers offense. The performance that James Connor put up today, I feel like we are going to be getting a lot of, do the stewards really need Levian Bill headlines over the next 24 hours? I would say there's going to be headlines, but I think aside from that, there's going to be a lot of hot takes because it's a lot of things. It's the perfect sort of inflection point to just get into the Steelers,

you get into Leveon Bell to get into holdouts because people are just going to look at James Connor stat line. And what do you have? 192, two touchdowns. 192 yards from scrimmage, two touchdowns. 31 carries, 135 and two scores. Yeah. So that's the kind of thing where they're just going to look at it and they're going to say,

well, you don't need Leveon Bell back. And it's going to be people who don't understand what Levyon Bell gives that offense, how much, you know, having one breakout game is one thing. But the ability, I mean, there's a reason that Bill Belichick, when he's played the Steelers in the past, has sold out to stop Levy on Bell, because he is such an offensive weapon. One of the funny things about the contract negotiation is the Bell wants to be paid, not like a running back, but as an offensive weapon. And a lot of times when you hear guys complain how they're not paid, you know, correctly at their

position, you know, tight end with Jimmy Graham. me wants to pay the receiver, whatever. Levy on Bell should just be considered an offensive weapon. That should be his positional title. He is just an incredibly versatile athlete. And I think that, yeah, the Steelers need him back. They need him playing on the tag. There's not a lot they can do right now.

The deadline has passed to come up with a bigger offer. And Levyon Bell has said many times, he just wants to maintain his health going into next season. so he'll just show up when he has to get into crude season. But yeah, they need him back because they tied the freaking Browns today. And as good as James Connor looks and he looks very good. And he looks like a very good player in this league. And he has a bright future ahead of him.

They really need Levion Bell back in that fold. Can Levi-on-Bel play quarterback? Because that's what I'm going to. Ben Rothesberger was really bad today. I mean, they tied the Browns team that had a quarterback that went 15 or 14, missed a ton of open guys. I know the weather was bad, got sacked seven times. The Steelers defensive line just crushed Cleveland up front.

Pittsburgh is really good. I mean, this is a loaded roster, and Rathus Berger just did not have it today. I mean, again, maybe it's a blip. It's week one. You don't want to overreact, but he just had one of the worst days of anybody on Sunday. All right, buddy, that is all we have for week one. I thank you for dealing with me tonight. I appreciate you.

This was a, this was a, I just want to make clear to everybody. listening. This is maybe the only time we'll just have a therapy session on this show or no. It'll be more. Yeah. I mean, it's never going to get as bad as that. So hopefully rule that out, buddy. Every show will not be dedicated to me emotionally processing the Sunday night game, thankfully. I'm glad the bears will have lower billing on a lot of these weeks so we can get into other stuff. But we'll be back on Thursday, kind of taking a step back. But for now, as always, thank you guys for listening to the ringer NFL show. the Ringer Podcast Network.

Today's show is brought to you by Draft Kings. It's week two of football season, and this weekend, Draft Kings has over $2 million in total prizes, and you can play free with your first deposit. Draft a new team every week with no season-long commitment. Download the app or go to draftkings.com now. Use code Ringer to enter a contest for free this weekend with your first deposit,

and compete for your share of over $2 million in total prizes. That's code Ringer, only. at Draft Kings, the game inside the game. Minimum $5 deposit required. Eligibility restrictions apply. See draftkings.com for details.