The Ringer NFL Show - Cowboys Win Easily, Fields’s Rough First Start, and Which 3-0 Teams Do You Believe in?

Episode Date: September 28, 2021

Jason, James, and Ryan start by discussing the Cowboys' dominant victory on 'Monday Night Football.' (1:30) Then they discuss which 3-0 teams they believe in and whether it’s time to panic on the 1-2 Chiefs and Seahawks (22:36). They talk about the debut of Justin Fields, Aaron Rodgers and the Packers' comeback victory, and when the Steelers should move on from Ben Roethlisberger (37:09). They wrap by previewing Tom Brady’s return to Foxborough on Sunday night against the Patriots (57:16). Hosts: Jason Goff, James Jones, and Ryan Shazier Production Assistant: Isaiah Blakely Additional Production Supervision: Arjuna Ramgopal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Let's up everybody. I'm JJ John Gstromski. And I'm Jason Gough, and if you haven't heard, the ringer has gone local. I'm bringing the fire. I'm bringing the rain from the Big Apple with my show, New York, New York. And I'm reping Shy Town with my new show The Full Go on All Things Chicago. We've got episodes three nights a week with all the reaction to the local teams and guests. Plus bonus episodes around all the big games and storylines.

So whether you're uptown, downtown, downtown, in the burbs, or a transplant. Make sure you follow New York, New York, and the full go on Spotify or wherever you get your podcast. Yeah, I don't, I'm just, man, I don't know when James Jones sleeps. Like, as I'm falling to sleep last night, I see him chirping about his picks on NFL network going 16 and 0. So I don't know. When is it happening, bro? He said the Raiders going 16 and 0?

No, no, no. He picked all 16 games correctly this week. Hey, I ain't missed one, bro. Yep. I ain't miss one. So you know I picked against the Steelers again. That's a perfect way to start right there. on the Tuesday edition of the Ringer NFL show,

James Jones, Ryan Shazir, Jason Gough with you. Hey, fellas, how y'all doing? Week three is over. And now we look forward. What does the coaches say? We're looking forward to week four. We got to go 1 and 0 this week. If you're James Jones, you can go 16 and 0 this week.

So we can get to the Monday night football game real quick, get that out the pocket, and then start talking about the things that we saw. The Philadelphia Eagles stay in penalty trouble And also, I mean, Jalen Hertz, what do you all think about Jalen Hertz? Let's start that. Because obviously, Dak Prescott and the Cowboys put a big number up on them. They might be the best team.

Not might be. They are the best team in that division. I expected to see what I saw last night. But, you know, Jalen Hertz is interesting to me because this is a dude who, you know, has put up some pretty gaudy numbers, you know, he's got with three games of 250 yards and 65 yards rushing. And they couldn't wait to put that next to Lamar Jackson and say, He's never done this. So what do you guys think of Jalen Hertz in that Philadelphia Eagle situation?

Ryan, we start with you. To be honest, I think Jalen Hurts is a good quarterback, but I feel like we try to make everybody something before they're there. You know, I feel like he's a young quarterback. He's still making young decisions. He hasn't even started a whole 16 game season yet. You know, I think he's on how many games he started last year? I don't remember, but I think a handful, you know, but I, I think a handful, you know, but

I think Jalen Hurts is just a young quarterback. He's making young mistakes. They have a young team over there. And then, you know, it doesn't help when you're not running the ball well. And then, you know, you're not paying your quarterback in position to make good plays. Like we said in the production meeting earlier, they didn't run any motions. They have some of the fastest receivers in football. They're not running the ball well.

Then you have one of the better backs in the NFL and you're not really giving him the ball. So I think it's really hard for you to succeed if you don't give your best players the ball. And I feel like so many coaches try to outsmart the other coach instead of out coaching the other coach. There it is. You know, for me, and this is why I truly, truly, truly respect Coach Harbaugh. Because Coach Harbaugh put all the pride aside. He put everything aside. He brought in offensive coaches to fit Lamar.

Jackson style of play. And if you watch the offense, the offense is built for Lamar Jackson. And then what do they do? They go get a backup quarterback that's kind of similar to Lamar Jackson. You know, when they had the RG3s and all that, to be back there so they can run this same system if Lamar Jackson was able to get hurt. I don't understand some of these coaches. I'm watching Philly last night. I'm watching the Bears, and I know we're going to touch on that a little later. But you have mobile quarterbacks. And you have these guys sitting in the pocket. Not saying they cannot make throws in the pocket,

but they are sitting in the pocket all game long and you're letting these pass rushers come after them and pin their ears back and get them. And it's not like you have the Indianapolis Colts offensive line or a very good offense line. The Bears and the Eagles offensive line is trash. Like they have a bunch of. moving pieces over there. So what will help that offensive line out? Moving your quarterback.

You seen when they had the most success last night in the Eagles game, Jalen Hurts was getting outside the pocket making throws. Jalen Hertz escaping out of the pocket, making plays with his legs. I don't understand why they don't have more design runs for him. I don't understand why he's not on the move more. It's only going to help the offensive line and it's only going to help him be able to make some better reads and some better throws. I don't understand these coaches. They have him dropping back, sitting in the pocket, throwing the football. Even Nick Saban didn't let him do that. Oklahoma didn't let him do that. This boy was back there using his legs running the football. I don't understand how you do not have design runs and stuff like that to get

him outside the pocket to help your offense. Yeah. I think a later conversation we could have maybe episodes down the road is the evolution, not just of the quarterback, but of coaching the quarterback, right? Like, hey, the classic dropback passer and the coaching that goes along with that as opposed to what you have to evolve to now when you've got all these athletes running around under center. So speaking of the evolution of coaching, you had on center stage, an old school coach in Bruce Ariens who likes to drop back and throw that ball deep. And then you got a new school coach in Sean McVeigh in the game of the week heading into week three in the Rams versus the Bucks. Now, James, it seems like every week is a referendum when it comes to Tom Brady during the regular season, right?

Like if he puts up big numbers, is, oh, Tom is still Tom. And if he doesn't, it's like, all right, are we starting to see some of the, you know, some of the chinks in the armor here? I don't think that game was necessarily on Tom. And I still, I don't think Tom Brady is a guy that you want to have a throw 45, 50 passes any longer. Like, you know, you want to keep it in that 30 range for Tom Brady. run the ball, especially if you have a lead with that defense. But the defense was the problem. The Rams were running wide open, butt naked open out there. As you talked about yesterday in our meeting with Cooper Cup and all of his touchdown seemingly being wide open this year, Sean McVeigh

scheming things up. Matthew Stafford has been refound or rebirth out there in L.A. The Rams, Bucks, the Rams looking good right now, and the Bucks, you know, took it on the chin. Yeah, the Rams looking very good. They got after the Bucs. bucks. And just like I said in our production meeting, I woke up this morning to Twitter, and Richard Sherman is on his way on a visit to Tampa Bay because of what we've seen this week. They cannot hold up. The young fellas in the back end cannot hold up. And they might be some athletic players. They're in the National Football League. I respect everybody in the National Football League. But at the same time, when teams understand that you guys are having

trouble and struggling in these bunch formations and you got to communicate with the defense when these receivers and tight ends is going witching every way because that is what Sean McVeigh did. He got in these bunch formations. He had a bunch of rub routes. He had a bunch of double moves and they could not communicate and get this stuff going. You bring in a veteran like Richard Sherman, who's extremely smart, extremely savvy to be able to communicate with these young fellas. He's mentored a lot of young fellas in Seattle and San Francisco. You You bring in him to be able to help that defense out because if you cannot get a pass rush, as we've seen,

no JPP was in that game. They could not get a pass rush. Matthew Stafford throwing touchdown after touchdown to uncovered receivers. We see Deshawn Jackson down the field wide open three or four times. Like he could have had three or four touchdowns that Matthew Stafford could have made the throws. You see Cooper Cup running wide open, you know, through the defense.

This is a problem. I don't care how good Tom Brady is. If you can't cover, and that's why it's good. We got Ryan on the show, a defensive player. If you can't cover or stop nobody, you ain't going to have no chance to win the Super Bowl again. And that is what the Tampa Bay Buccaneers want to do. But they have to find ways to cover and stop people.

They couldn't stop the Dallas Cowboys. Amari Cooper still going crazy on them. You know what I'm saying? They couldn't stop the Atlanta Falcons. You know, Matt Ryan was throwing for a bunch of yards on them. They was killing them in the past game. And then it went in the week three. against the Rams, they could not stop the Rams.

So Richard Sherman is on his way sending help, but if they want to get back to the Tampa Bay that we used to see in the Tampa Bay that we've seen in the Super Bowl against the Kansas City Chiefs, they're going to have to get some people to cover in that back end. That's the one thing. That's the one thing. When you got a Dominant D-Line,

you feel like you can do it, you can just do whatever you want in the secondary. I remember when the Steelers, even when the Steelers had all the great defenses they had, And I'm not in the 70s and all that stuff. But basically when it came to Dick Leboe and those guys, the secondary was solid, but the only really big-name guy was Troy.

You know, like, Ike was good. You know what I mean? Fatten was good. But dang, damn, deal breakers. You know, but like I love Ike, you know what I'm saying? But in the day, it was that D-Line. It was that them linebackers, that pressure that get to you. And then when that pressure don't get to you,

boy, it turned into a long day. on the defensive side of the field. And I've been on multiple teams. I've been on teams when we have pass rush. And I've been on teams when we didn't have a pass rush. And I promise you, those stats look completely different when you don't have a pass rush.

You know, every team throwing for $300, $250, $400 on you. When you got a pass rush, oh, man, they got one of the best DB cores in the league. They got $150. Yeah, because every time you throw the ball, you got somebody in your face. And in this situation, the Rams, they got a good old line. But the defense of bat me, not a deep, the D line couldn't get there.

Then it allowed Matt Stafford to really do what he wanted to do. And I'm watching these highlights right now. He's saying Cooper Cup was a wide open. But I'm going to be honest, this man is a little saucy out here. So, you know, hey, he talked 10 in my book. I don't know what James talking about. But going back to last week for Jay. Hey, Cooper Cup wide.

Hey, I know what highlight you watching because it was one or two routes where he put them boys in a blender and barbecue chicken. He did put that... Barbecue chicken alert. He did put that one, too, on them. You know what I'm saying?

But it was plenty of them, too, where he running wide open, man. But, hey, y'all already in the Pro Bowl. He got five touchdowns. Y'all already know. Hey, I can't put him in my top 10 just yet, but y'all know I'm a fan of Cooper Cup, man. He's top 10 this year.

But the thing is, though, man, I feel every great player plays a little bit different when it's another great player on the field. And the thing is, the Rams have two great players on defense. And I'm not going to, you know, their defense isn't, their defense is good because everybody knows their role.

But they have two playmakers out there that, you know, if I'm on this side of the field, if you try to run the ball, I'm stopping it. If you throw it on this side of the field, I'm stopping it. And I feel like that kind of affected Tom a little bit. And, you know, when you have somebody getting in your pocket every play, man, you don't turn it to the same player.

So I'm not going to say that Tampa Bay, they're definitely good enough to go to the Super Bowl again. But I'm not going to say they're my favorite. They're definitely not my favorite in the NFC. Yeah, you know, speaking to what you were talking about with the time, Ryan. I remember you used to talk to Alex Brown and Tommy Harris about this. And they would say if that quarterback could pat the ball, I didn't do my job, right? Like, especially if you're sitting in the shell

that Tampa Bay sits in for most of the game, that quarterback could pat and look around. That means corners out there covering for five, six seconds, you know, the wire receiver know where he's going, right? The corner of the corner don't know where he's going. Jalen Ramsey, good, but Jalen Ramsey ain't Jailen Ramsey, if you can run a route for five seconds. Right.

You know, I'm not going to lie, man. This man, Jalen Ramsey, man, he's a great quarterback, but I've just noticed this, too. Oh, here we go. Hey, James, here we go here. I just noticed this. It goes the slander of another great player. It was Lamar first week.

No, I'm not slender. No, I'm not slender. No, I'm not slender. No, I'm not slender. But have you guys noticed this man, Jeline Ramsey has always had a, like, premium pass Russian? Like, always. You never know, like, if you really think about it. Yeah, Calais and Janik and Jacksonville, right?

Right. Yeah, he had Caledanian, and then he come and then get Aaron Donald and these boys. Hey, man, this man, know what he doing, man. This man is smart. man. It's a smart on here, man. I mean, when you, when you're the head chef, you ain't got to go work at the burger joint, right? Like, when you, when you, when you making that kind of money

and you, you can pick your spot, yeah, man, Jalen Ramsey's outstanding. And they had him playing, like, seemingly like a lot of off coverage in that game as well, just to break on balls because they knew the Aaron Donald was going to get there. And that's where the conversation should go. We played around with this thing long enough. we got into, I won't say a heated argument, but it got kind of spicy

because you and James Jones had the nerve to disrespect one of the greatest, the greatest defenders of all time and saying that Aaron Donald is going to be or is the greatest defender of all time. And I don't want to put words in your mouth and they didn't disrespect Lawrence Taylor. You didn't say words in my mouth.

I brought up Lawrence Taylor. But Aaron Donald, he is on the way to being another defensive player of the year. He's already a candidate. I mean, he was it four straight years of 11 sacks or more from the interior at that. The dude is unstoppable. I don't know how he dropped to 10 or 11.

Well, we do know, right? He means his numbers tangibly, like, he's not the tallest. He's not the biggest. He's just out there to beat your ass. And I remember the senior bowl where he was tearing things up out of Pittsburgh and people were like, wait a minute,

who's this dude? It's like, no, you should have watched them all year long. And now he's in the NFL creating havoc. Ryan, James, you guys actually said that he has been the best player in the NFL the last few years. And a lot of people look to the cover boys, you know, guys like Tom Brady, guys like Patrick Mahomes. But Aaron Donald, man, he is not only a 99 in Madden, but 99 in real life. That dude is a monster. Like, it doesn't matter how long you hold him down.

At some point, he'll make some plays that'll affect the game. Yeah, he's a 99 in my heart. I'm saying like that. No, I'm going to be honest, man. Everybody love quarterbacks. They love offense. And, you know, Tom Brady, he wins. You know, Aaron Roger, he wins.

He paid points on the board. You know, Mahomes, he does the no-look passes that actually didn't work in his favorite this week. But he does all that stuff. And it's style points that people like. But when you're just talking about straight dominance, Aaron Donald is the best player in the NFL, probably the last five years.

And the reason I say that is, because in the last five years, he's won three defensive player of the years. And he could have won five defensive play of the year. And honestly, and the thing is, he's on the run to possibly win another one. And he makes a play almost every other play. And then if you don't hear him in the first half of the game,

just know in the fourth quarter, you're going to hear Aaron Donald number 99 makes a tackle, makes a sack, a strip sack, body slam your quarterback or something. This man acts like he playing a bunch of kids out there. And he's the greatest football player I've seen with my own two eyes. I've seen a lot of football.

And I'm going to be honest. He's the greatest. I've seen my own two eyes. I know that there's a lot of guys in this party. That's a lot older than me, you know. But to be honest, like I haven't seen a defender, you know, do what he's done. I've never seen Lawrence Taylor play. I've seen highlights.

But from my experience, you know, it was other dominant players. Like Warren Sapp and all those guys were dominant, but I don't think they're doing anything close to where Aaron is doing right now. You know what? You know, I never disrespect the greats. No, no, no, no, no, no. No, no, I'm saying you're not disrespectful. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I never disrespect the grades, man. Like, Lawrence Taylor, phenomenal. You know what I'm saying? Warren Sapp was a gorilla. You know what I'm saying? He was a beast in there. These are dudes that really changed that position. When Warren Sap came along, there was nobody that was truly dominant in between the

tackles like that at this de-tackle position like Warren Sap was. He made the three techniques famous. That's why the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was able to sit back there and cover two because Warren Sap was causing problems by himself up through the middle. You know what I'm saying? Lawrence Taylor coming off that edge, like they really like changed the position. You know what I'm saying? But when you watch Aaron Donald, every game this man goes into,

the protection is slid to him. Like, we must stop this dude from wrecking the game. You know what I'm saying? And this dude is at that three technique. He's at that detackle position where he is getting doubled and triple team every single play. That's why every guy that plays on the defensive line with Aaron Donald ends up leaving the Rams and going to get paid. Because they have had one-on-one blocking for the last 16 games.

They played with Aaron Donald, and they're coming off the edge, ended up with 10, 12 sacks because this dude is taking on the double team. And with that being said, he's still in there causing problems. Every single game Aaron Donald makes a play, no matter what quarter it is, It's Aaron Donald time, and you see this man coming through triple and double team, sacking the quarterback and making the play. And not only that, the boy plays the three technique.

Then they say, you know what, bro, go out here and play this D.E. And the boy goes out there and plays this defensive end and gets a strip sack from Tom Brady. And I ain't even saying just that last game, that is what he moves around on the whole D line and causes problems. to me. He the best defensive player that we have seen. And that's no disrespect to Charles Woodson, D.R. Sanders, Lawrence Taylor, Warren, Sapp.

But what he's doing on the pace to be the first player in NFL history to win four defensive players of the year. And to be honest with you, is four defensive players of the year, no braino. Like, if I get it. And in the league that emphasizes the score. Yeah. It's not even saying like, ooh, we, it was close between him and this is no braino. Like, this dude don't won three of them and it's like, man, it's him.

And then, you know, whoever else for second, we could talk about that later. I ain't going to lie. I ain't going to lie. TJ should have won it last year. It was a mix. It was a, hey, hey, hey, ain't a lot. Like, you got to think about it. You got to make it even, James.

Just throw Max Crosby out there so that we can get all team allegiances out to it. Don't do that. Don't do that. Here you go, man. And I'm not even doing this as a still a thing. Like, I don't feel like, like, Aaron. I'm not saying Aaron got robbed. I mean, TJ got robbed or nothing like that.

But TJ literally led every single stat that defensive player could have had in like as a D-Lomin. Like every stat. Like rushing, I mean, rush quarterbacks, quarterback hurry, quarterback heads, sacks, TFLs, forced fumbles, like, all that. But see, Ryan, that's why I feel like some of this stuff, you know what I mean, and I ain't in on the voting and all that. But some of this stuff has to come in account of the triple and double team.

No, no, no. And that's why I feel like, that's why I feel like, I'm not, that's why I say I don't think he got rob of it. But I feel like TJ was like, yeah, he damned. Like, if TJ won, like, TJ should have, like, it could have, it was either or. So you basically saying last year it could have went. If TJ would have got it would have been like, okay, he earned it. Yeah, yeah.

Every other time it's like Aaron Donald is Aaron Donnell. It's a no-brainer, man. And like I say, for you to be all pace and God forbid he gets hurt, you know what I'm saying? Like, this dude is possibly going to come out here with six to seven defensive players of the year. Man, we'll see. If he does that, if he does that, Jason, is he the best of all time? If he has six. Yeah, of course.

Of course. Yeah, I'm not going to, first of all, I wasn't arguing against. I just, when you, see, when you, when you, historical significance, when we, see a player's career only halfway over. Like, I always sit back in the cut, like, I want to see it, right? But, you know, it's kind of like you give certified lover boy one spin and call it a classic. You know what I'm saying? Like, we're on the first couple spins of Aaron Donald's career. Trust me, he's trending towards exactly what you guys are saying. It's just we already know what some of these careers have been. And, you know, and I was saying being a dude here as a Bears

fan, the dude that I think the first name that came to mind when we were talking about in the pre-production is Dan Hampton, another 99, right? All pro-de-tackle, all pro a defensive end. He just had 17-plus knee surgeries, right? So back in those days, they were going in with, you know, an ice cream scooper and a chisel. Like now, now it's more high-tech. And now guys aren't getting cut as much, you know, because of the rules and safety parameters. So, yeah, man, listen, I'm not going to be the guy arguing against Aaron Donald on any,

on any platform. I think Aaron Donald's an amazing player. Now we got to get to who do you believe in? Who do you believe in and what records are real? What records are not real? And I don't want to say contenders versus pretenders, but you got four 3-0 teams, and you got two one-and-two teams that we spotlighted.

And we got the Raiders at 3-0. You got the Broncos at 3-0. You got the Cardinals at 3-0 and the Panthers at 3-0. We'll start there. Of those four-RAMs, right? Rams. The Rams. I'm sorry, and the Rams.

So we got five. three and no teams that we want to talk about here. Who do you believe in in those five and who do you expect to have some kind of fall maybe because of schedule or, you know, the luck's going to run out or they're not as talented as they seem? So the Rams, the Raiders, the Broncos, the Cardinals, and the Panthers? Who do you believe in and who do you expect to falter the rest of the way here? Well, I believe in the Rams.

And the reason why I say that is because the Rams can win pretty and the Rams can win ugly right now. The Rams have it going on both sides of the ball. If they need to score 40, they can score 40. If they need to hold you to 10, they can hold you to 10. That's just how they're built right now with Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey on the defensive side of the ball. They got it going. They're the most complete team after three weeks in the National Football League right now. And that is who I believe in. Sean McVeigh, Matthew Stafford, I believe that that connection. They got it going right now with that relationship. And then like I said, they can win them ugly games and create turnovers and with that defense and find a way to win some dirty games.

So that's who I believe in. Who I don't believe in is the Broncos. And the reason why I say that is because the Broncos is going to have to come see the Chief soon. They're going to have to come see the Raiders soon. They're going to have to come see them charges soon. The Broncos have beat the Jacksonville Jaguar, the New York Jets. And you don't make your schedule?

and it's another sorry team on there that they beat. Oh, no, it's the Giants. So, yes. So they beat 0 and 3. They beat 0 and 3 and they beat 0 and 3. Hey, you just lace them up. Hey, you just lace them up like they do. Hey, you don't make this schedule.

Ladies and gentlemen, you could tell who Ryan believes in by the rebuttal right now. Ryan, I understand. I understand you just lace them up and play, Ryan. But sometimes you look at that schedule and then you look back at your wife and you say, oh, we are blessed this season. You're looking at this first month. See, I know he felt this at Green Bay, but I don't know about it at the Raiders.

When everybody play you, it don't matter who you playing, you're about to get their best. Hey, well, first off, I started 0 and 10 at the Raiders, so we ain't going to talk about that. So you was that, you was that team on the schedule. Oh, yeah, so you know that.

That season with the Raiders, I was watching TV and they was like, well, they beat the Raiders so that don't count. I'm sitting there like, yeah. Y'all was homecoming every week. I'm like, man, we got to get our stuff together, man. They're saying we're an NFL team. We don't even count, bro.

And look at you. Now you're doing it to people. All right, Ryan, of those five, three of those teams and we highlighted, who do you believe in and who you think is going to falter? So I believe in the realms. That's my preseason Super Bowl. I think they're going to Super Bowl,

so I'm not going to use them because James just used them. Right. So I believe in the Cardinals, but it's like an asterisk on it. You know what I'm saying? Like, where does this belief go to? Like, does this believe go to like the playoffs

or like the championship round? Right. You know what I'm saying? Like, I believe it might go to like division or championship round. Like, I don't think they're going to, I don't think they're going to Super Bowl. I don't think they're going to Super Bowl.

because I feel like they have the weapons on the D-line, but they're kind of in the same situation as the bucks to me. Like, they have Buda Baker back there, but the other guys, they're kind of so-so. You know, and then their linebacker core is some younger guys. So you have to really trust in those guys. The guys, but their offense is potent. Like, you get collar the ball.

He's bound to pit up 30 points. So he just got to stop turning the ball over. but I think I can see them going divisional or championship round. For the guys I don't believe in, I want to say the Raiders, but I'm going to use the Panthers. And the reason I'm going with the Panthers right now

is because with Chris McAfrey being hurt, that really hurts that team. Like, they really lean on him. And I think one of the reasons he's getting hurt so much lately is because how much the team really, like, use him. Like, they, I think he's overused. They're running them to the ground.

Yeah, he's overused. Like, he, he has, you know, 90 yards receiving, 90 yards rushing, 19 carries, but non, you know, non-receptions. It's like, man, like, get his man a break. You know what I'm saying? Like, I understand you try to win, but God, though, which, like, like, this man, he can't, he can't catch a break. So as long as, if he's healthy, they're 100% of contender.

Their defense is good. They never really saw the defense. But I feel like they lose their identity a little bit when he's hurt. I think Sam Donald's really good. But I got to throw my shade. I don't think the Raiders are going to go that far. I don't think they're going to win their division. I think they're going to go about – I think it's three teams in front of them that's better than them.

They might go to the playoffs, but I think they might be the third team in their division. Hey, this is funny as hell to me, by the way. As a Chicago Bears fan, I'm hearing Ron. Ryan Shazir say, yeah, I don't think they're going to go that far. Maybe the divisional round. Maybe the championship round. Like, I'm sitting here hoping for back-to-back playoff years. And this man in all his stealer glory, he's trying to stun on us, James.

No, no, no, I'm just saying. So you can, you know, you can talk your mess, James. No, I'm just saying, like, because when we're saying, like, who you believe in, like, I'm thinking, I believe in the, I think the Rams going to the Super Bowl. You know what I'm saying? But I didn't want it. Like, if I'm using another team, I'm going to go. with, you know, the Cardinals

because I think they have a solid I think they can compete with anybody in the NFC. That's, and that's what I mean. I feel like the Raiders, you know, everybody's like, oh, these are the Raiders and it's like, oh, snap, like the Raiders are actually playing well right now.

So, like, like, nah, nah, they're not. There it is. There's the analysis that we came here for. No, that boy. They're not. Hey, the Raiders beat that boy still is, man.

He's still hurt. We didn't know if he was going to participate today. I'm not going to lie, man. Like, y'all hurt my dog, TJ. If he didn't get hurt, y'all was losing. I'm going to be honest. That man had a sack in the first three minutes of the game, strip sack. Hey, when TJ on fire, I team different.

Hey, in the famous words of my dude, Ryan, Shazir, you know, you just play who out there. Yeah, I is. If an influence of fifth, we'd all be drunk, right? All right. All right, so a pair of one and two teams, two teams that are struggling that we had high expectations for. And I got to be honest with you. Every single year, we do this about the Seahawks since that defense broke up. So the one of two teams we're going to talk about here is the Chiefs and the Seahawks.

And I'm going to start with the Seahawks. Every year we start with the Seahawks like, oh, it's Russell Wilson. And then I look around like, yeah, it's Russell Wilson. D.K. Metcalfe, you know, Lockett. They got some dudes on offense. But defensively, outside of Bobby Wagner, since that, Since Russell got paid and they had to break up that secondary, which is what happens, you got to pay your quarterback at some point. And then when you pay your quarterback slowly, pieces start to go missing because you can't pay everybody.

I don't expect the Seahawks. When I see the Seahawks in the 10-11 win season, I'm like, oh, Russell out there bawling. But I don't expect that team to do as much as other people expect every single year since they broke up the Legion of Boom. So the Seahawks are at one and two. The Chiefs are at one and two. which one are you more fearful of maybe not making the playoffs and continuing this tough stretch? James, let's start with you.

The Chief's defense, the Seahawks defense, both of them giving up points now. Both teams have phenomenal quarterbacks. Both teams have pieces on offense. Both teams right now struggling, though, at one and two. Yeah, I'm definitely more worried about this Seahawks team. And the reason why I say that is because they're in the best division in football. You have the San Francisco 49ers. You have the Cardinals.

you have the Rams. And we already know that those eight games is going to be dog fights. You know, like those could go either way. And I just don't like what I'm seeing on the defensive side of the ball from them. They can't stop the run. They can't stop the pass. And yeah, Russell Wilson is capable of putting up 30 points here and there, but they're not stopping anybody on defense.

I mean, you watched my man from the Vikings, the backup running back down when Cook wasn't even there. And he was running the ball. down the Seattle Seahawks throat. And then you get in man-to-man coverage. You get in zone coverage. You see Adam Thielen and Justin Jefferson just going to work. We see King Henry, King Henry went for 180.

You know what I'm saying? Like they're not playing any defense. I mean, you at home, you lose, you up by 11, and you lose to the Tennessee Titans. You know, then you come out and you go on the road to the Vikings, and you just strictly get beat up by an O. and two team and the Vikings, you know, and I just don't like what I'm seeing from the defense aside. I know Tyler Locker going to make some plays. I know DJ, D.K. METCap going make some plays. Russ going to make some plays. Chris Carson going to make some plays. But I'm

not a believer in that defense, and that has me worried. The Kansas City Chiefs, I just feel like they get everybody's best punch, period. Patrick Mahomes, Super Bowl champion, Travis Kelsey, and all that. Like, when teams come to Kansas City, that's the measuring stick. So they're getting everybody best punch. And the only thing that I'm not worried about them is they easily could be three and oh. You know, if you don't turn the football over, if he don't fumble in that last possession of the game and get the ball back to Lamar Jackson, they win that game.

You know, last week they come out, they got four turnovers in the first, three turnovers in the first half, four turnovers total. That's fixable stuff. You know what I mean? If you take care of the football, you don't turn the football over. This offense is going to be there. What have they been? been missing, they've been missing another good receiver on the other side of Tyreek Hill.

So what do they go do? They say Josh Gordon reinstated. Come on to our squad. Yeah. The rich get richer, boy. And they just added Josh Gordon. So what does that give them? That gives them, okay, you want to send two shell help over the top of Tyreek Hill.

Well, now we got a big body dude over here that could run that could make plays and win the one-on-one. So now you can't double Travis Kelsey and Tyreek Hill are Josh Gordon going to be. beat you up and we still can run the football. So if they stop turning the football over, the Chiefs is going to be just fine. They easily could be three and no right now. They're looking at one and two. So I'm more of a believer in the Chiefs. The Seahawks, I'm worried about them.

Yeah. I agree with James on this one, man. The Seahawks, they can't stop the run at all. They can't stop anybody. Anybody. And, you know, like you said, Tyler Lock is doing his thing. but Russell's been doing this for a while, man. Like, Russell has really been carrying this team by himself.

Like, they run the ball well. Like Chris Carson, he's a dog. And obviously, I'm going to give him his credit because his credit is, dude, he's a good running back. He's a hard, hard running back. But they don't put no key pieces around this man, Russell, and then expect them to go to the Super Bowl or the playoffs every year. And I think, I don't know if their goal is to win a championship

or just go to the playoffs. Because the way they build their teams, don't build them to win the championship. Yeah. You know, and I know, like we said before, once you give that QB that money, man, it get difficult to figure out how you're going to build a team around them. But, man, they're struggling right now. And like you said with Kansas City, nobody's worried about Kansas City, man.

Like, if they really want, they pit up 30 points whenever they want to. And it's almost frustrating, you know, like being a defensive player is like, man, I'm not trying to just see just the scoreboard on fire right now. I want to see a little bit of defense. And, you know, but I think, like you said, everybody giving them their best punch. It's really hard to sometimes, sometimes, you know, you're not going to be great every game, you know. And the Kansas City Chiefs been great every game for the last three years. And I'm not going to say every game, you know, they lost here and there.

More times a lot, though. Yeah, they've been great. every game, like they said this is their first time having a losing streak since 2015. So you're telling me since 2015, they either you know, win even one in one or they've been winning. Like, come on, man.

Like, be serious. These guys, these guys, they're not perfect. They're human. So, you know, they're going to, Patrick Mahomes going to make, I knew he's going to throw a turner, he's going to throw a pick eventually. You know, like it's September. He's going to throw a pinch eventually. So, like, I think, I think it's about, about Tom, you know, he's going to start, he's about to go through a little adversity.

Honestly, I tell people this all the time. I think Patrick Mahomes is a great quarterback, great arm talent, one of the greatest quarterbacks we've seen in this early of a stage of his career. But the one thing that Pat has not have gone through is adversity. And we're going to see how his team go through adversity. Like going down in the game and knowing you had the best offense is not adversity. Like adversity is, you know, somebody getting hurt or, you know, you start the season off, you know, you're down, you know, you have a losing record or, you know, you're, you know,

Tyree Kill go down or Travis Kelsey go down for the whole season. That's adversity, you know, like he hasn't really had to go through nothing like that before. So we're going to have to see how he bounced back from this, you know, one and two start. Speaking of adversity, painfully so, it's time to get to what I witnessed here in Chicago this last weekend. And I saw the sabotaging of a. young quarterback's debut in Justin Fields. Matt Neggie, I don't call for people's jobs often in this city.

I've been working in this city now for 20 years, and I've maybe called for two or three people's jobs across all sports. What I saw was a dereliction of duty on Sunday. 30 dropbacks, 21 times the man had five-man protection. There was three rollouts. The first misdirection came on the seventh sack of the game. If I didn't know any better fellas, I would think that Matt Nagy was like, all right, y'all want to see this dude in my offense?

Here he is. And I'm sorry, Monday morning, if I was Virginia McCasky, I'd have woke up, you know, read my daily bread, you know, had my tea, and fired his ass. You would have read the mama and fired him? Yeah, yeah. I mean, you got to get to send out your heart before. you cast it upon somebody else, right?

Justin Fields answered every question he had to answer at the end. He was, he was, you know, he was a little perturbed because he didn't go through this at the Ohio State, right? Right, Ryan? But it was bad, man. 48 yards on 42 plays. I've seen some bad offense in my lifetime. I've never really had a quarterback that it was drafted and developed in my lifetime as a Bears fan. So to see this kid's career start off this way, it was painful.

It was painful. I don't know what else to say, man. Matt Nagy, the dude won coach of the year and was the offensive genius the first year he was here in Chicago. But I keep telling people, that might have been the outlier season. Like everybody always thinks things have to trend up. But if two years would have been bad and then he had that one season and then one year was bad, we would say the third year was the outlier. Maybe the first year was the outlier with this dude.

James, you're the offensive guy. I don't know how you put a rookie quarterback in that position, especially when you got David Montgomery and two tight ends that you spent money on and drafted and Cole Comed and Jimmy Graham. Alan Robinson is trying to get himself a new deal. Darnell Mooney is a young wide receiver on the rise. But your tackles are cooked. Fetty and Peters. You put them on the island out there against Clownie and Miles Garrett.

I don't know what you expected to happen. Miles Garrett had his best day in the end. Miles Garrett is a defensive player of the year candidate every year. He had his best day in the NFL against your offense on Sunday. I don't know what else to say, man. Hey, James, you can tell he emotional about this. I'm hurt, man. I'm hurt.

You know, and on top of it, we finally got a brother back there. Like, like, there have been three brothers that I've watched play quarterback in my life in this city. Vince Evans, Cordell Stewart, and Justin Field. I ain't going to count Henry Burris because, you know, he was here for a cup of coffee. But three brothers, you can't treat the brother like that when he get his chance. Like, I was, I was so mad. I don't even get that mad about football. But I got mad on Sunday, man.

It was all bad, Jane. Hey, no, it's crazy because watching the game, I felt the same way. Everybody's been saying, man, we want to see Justin Fields. Justin Fields needs to go in there over Andy Dawn. What are they doing? What are they waiting for? At least me, I was saying that. And I kind of felt the same way.

Is he doing this on purpose? Because everybody been asking for this dude? Because at the same time, if it's one position on the Chicago Bears team that we knew. was not good, and everybody knew was the offensive line. Right. So why would you put the young quarterback in there and run five-man protection the whole dang game?

Like, you ain't go no double tight, you ain't run no read option to slow them down. You didn't, you didn't do any of that. And then he sacked five times, and you still ain't doing none of that. You still saying when he comes to the sideline, hey, man, hey, dude, open down the field. Hey, did you see the end route?

Like, they still coming after him. The Davion Clownie coming, Miles Garrett coming. And you did nothing to help this man out. You didn't do no chip blocks. You didn't do no double tights. You didn't get them on the move. You got this dude just standing in the pocket, taking a beating, like he's Andy Dalton.

So the most, the thing that I hated the most is that you're supposed to be an offensive guru. And the plan you put in for Justin Fields looked like the same plan you had for Andy Dalton. And these are two totally different quarterbacks. Like when Andy Dalton was in the game, the very first game of the season,

against the Rams, When you brought Justin Fields in the rare zone, you didn't keep him standing up in the pocket. You ran the read option. You got him outside the pocket. He was looking to throw and he made a play with his legs. So I'm thinking like, oh, we, we're going to see some of that. It's going to be tough for these pass rushers to get to him.

Matt Nagy did none of that. Matt Nagy said, no, you know what? I know we're going up against one of the best defenses in the National Football League. I know we're going up against two of the best pass rushers in the National Football League. I'm going to let you sit out here. with 37, 38-year-old Jason Peters

to be able to block Miles Garrett all game long on one-on-one. And I'm going to let my other dude. I don't even know who the right tackle with. Jermaine Afetti. There it is there. Jermaine Afetti. Block Jadabion Clownie one-on-one, and I'm going to leave you in this pocket.

I just thought the game plan was disgusting. They weren't prepared as a coaching staff. They did not put their rookie quarterback in the position to succeed. I don't know why. And then you don't even. protect him. Like, that's how you ruin a player, man. That, that is how that is how you ruin a player. And I know as a competitor, you know, Justin Fields is coming into the film, watching this film room like, hey, I could have did this, could have did that. But no, Matt Nagy,

you should have protected this dude. It should have been double tight. You should have been running the football and you should have been moving as God. The game plan was absolutely disgusting. And they didn't, they didn't do that man, no justice, man. It was, it was hard to watch. Ryan, how much, how much fun would you have had if you were on the other side of that game plan? Oh, no, that was a, hey, hey, party at the ball. Look how he's smiling. Hey, that's party at the ball. Hey, party at the ball.

Nine sacks, when you get about five and you're like, oh, yeah, hey, we got like three whole quarter. Like, we got two quarters left, yo. Like, that's all you thinking, like, hey, man, anybody can get a sack in here today. Like, that's what you really thinking. Like, everybody just feeling to get a sack. Like, because now you just know, like, hey, man, it's. it's too easy. Their offense is not doing anything that make it difficult for the defense.

And like you said, the bears, all their Olamen right now, I know they have some young guys, but there are two tackles right now are in the league because they're still collecting checks. They're not trying to win anymore. They're collecting checks. You know, obviously they're trying to win. Obviously, you know Jason's people trying to win. A fevers trying to win.

Yeah, but you're getting dudes off the couch. I mean, that's tough. Yeah, them dudes are trying to, them dudes collecting checks right now. And there's nothing wrong with that. You know what I'm saying? But those aren't the tackles that you want for a young guy to be blocking one-on-one versus arguably one of the best outside rushers in the NFL right now. You know, so to me, is your owner, are they like owners or something else?

And this is like a part-time gig because it's like, it's the family business right here. Like Virginia McCasky is the matriarch and the McCasky family. No, McCaskys ain't that invested. Our Nagy married a daughter or something. I don't know what going on. And they don't fire coaches in the middle of seasons. I mean, we saw it with the Mark Trussman area. They brought a CFL dude in here.

I talked to Lance Briggs on the full go podcast on Sunday after the game. And when Mark Trussman came in here, the locker room was lost immediately because he came after Lovey Smith. By the way, this is still the curse of Lovie Smith. They fired a 10 and 6 coach, and they haven't been able to get back on top since. But, yeah, man, it's just, I don't know, man. I don't want to bore the ringer NFL audience with the talk of subpar football any longer. You can just go to my podcast and hear me cry for an hour and a half about that.

Moving on, moving on to a subject that I know James will adore. Boy, James Jones teams out here doing well, ain't anything? Hey, ain't any time to be wrapping up? It's time to go, Brian. Hey, man, Aaron Rogers put a scare in everybody in that first game where they had three points and then all of a sudden, hey, 37 seconds, one timeout, length of the field. No timeout. Oh, yeah, no timeouts.

And here you go, Mason. Go ahead and make this field go so we can laugh at everybody. Like, the Green Bay Packers, as long as you got AR, man, I don't know what else you could ask for. Like, there's long been the conversation who the better quarterback was because him and Tom. Brady or contemporaries. I've always been on the side of Aaron Rogers physically is damn near the greatest quarterback I've seen. I put them up there with Elway and Marino and them boys.

But Aaron Rogers did Aaron Rogers things again in a game that they should have lost. Yeah, I guess 37 seconds is too much time for 12, man. With no timeouts, you know. But what's crazy, though, is people don't understand that he prepares for those situations. And what I mean by that is every Friday, we used to go out there as a team and we'll have a two-minute drill on. But the two-minute drill wouldn't be with any coaches.

We would go out there as players. It would be defense. It would be offense. And we wouldn't necessarily be running none of our plays. We'll be drawing plays up in the dirt and putting yourself in certain situations. You know what I'm saying? To try to get in certain holes of the defense and all that for situations like that. That's why when you heard him after the game, he like, yeah, you know what I mean?

We basically drew that up in the dirt this week. You know what I'm saying? And we like, hey, remember what we did on Friday? Let's use that in this game, you know what I mean? For situations like that because it's the end of the game. You know, they're going to protect the sideline. You know, they're going to protect the sideline. You know, so you got 37 seconds.

You catch the ball over the middle and you got to hurry up and get down. I wish Tay would have got down sooner. I'm yelling at the TV at him. Tate, get your butt down, Tate. Get your butt down. Quit trying to fight for extra yards. You know, get your butt down. And then they did it again from the other side.

You know what I'm saying? But those are plays that the drill started off like as a joke. Because it used to be like a fun Friday. Like, let's just go out here as a joke. You know what I mean? Do a little two-minute drill. You know, you got the fullbacks out here running routes and all that. It started off as a joke.

But as we started doing it, when the defense stopped us, they started getting more confidence. Like, man, you know what I mean? And then it was like, it was kind of like, you know, kind of like a joke in the locker room. Like, yep, last Friday's was ours. We beat y'all, but it was a fun. But it started getting competitive.

And we used to be drawing this stuff up in the dirt just to beat our defense for that day. And we would take some of these plays to the game and use some of these plays. You know what I mean? Plays that not necessarily in the game playing, Ryan, that you put in during training camp and all that. These are just plays.

Let's draw them up in the dirt. You know what I'm saying? And sometimes you get out there and you get in situations like that where it's the end of the game or sometimes you're in situations to like, man, hey, we down 20, this game over. You know what I'm saying? We down 20 is one minute left in the game. We get a little drive.

Hey, let's try some. Let's do that play we did in practice on Friday. And it works and you kind of start putting that in. You know what I'm saying? So, you know, it's crazy to go out there and see like some of them plays that they worked on that they drew in the dirt, man. Got them a W. It makes sense, though, now because, you know,

So when Matt LaFleur comes in and all of a sudden he was trying to, you know, put his stamp on things and Aaron Rogers like, hey, man, we've been, we've been cooking here for a little while and the guys around me know how I do things. Your story right there, your anecdote right there makes sense on why maybe that clash happened in the beginning because Aaron Rogers knows what he wants to do and it's kind of situated the guys around him to understand this is just how we do things. Ryan, it's now your turn to speak on. We could talk about the Packers.

We can talk about the Packers. Hey, I want to hear it is. It's not your turn, Ryan. Like, you can't, it's not always going to be good days on this pod. Are we talking about distillers every week? Like, you gotta calm down, man. It's one of the great franchises of NFL history. We heard from you in episode one.

I do want to ask you a question, though. Hey, I just got one thing to say, y'all didn't let me talk about the Packers. This man, James cannot talk about the Steelers. That's all I'm saying. I'm not going to talk about the Steelers because it really ain't nothing good to talk about, Ryan. Hey, all right. No, but I want to ask you,

you being in that building, you know in the Rooney family very good. Like, when do you move on from Big Ben, man? Like, for me watching the games, Ryan, Big Ben is the problem. I'm not saying the guys behind him is better than him and they could possibly come in there and do better.

But at the same time, Big Ben is the problem. the problem. This offense is not going right now because of the play of Big Ben. When do you move on? I'm going to be honest. I'm going to be honest. Distillers, they're very, unlike some organizations, they're very invested, you know, in their team, in their coaches, in their, in their, in their, in their players. And especially players that's done a lot for the franchise, they, I feel like they almost feel like their family. Obviously, it's business, but they kind of feel like it's family. I feel like Ben has done so much for them

that they're giving him a last shot to be like, hey, you know, we know you can figure it out, you can win games and tough it out. Coach Tomlin has it in him. He's not the type to tank. He's not going to tank. So one thing I know is that Ben and the team understand when TJ get back, when our defense get healthy,

you know, we're going to be in a fight. We're going to make it, make it a battle. But the thing is, The thing is, it is, it is Tom. I think this might be Ben last season. You know, I love the man. I think he's a great dude. But we can't be playing football like this, man.

You know, like, I understand Ben, Ben is doing well. He's making good money. But, like, when you can't get under center, man, Najee's a, Naji's a pro-style, you know, one-one-back, you know, two-back pro-style running back. pick this man so he can go downhill and he already have momentum like derrick henry i'm not saying he derrick henry or anything like that but since ben's been getting older we've been in all shotgun and we're not we don't have any downhill runs and all this you know all this shotgun runs is cool

and all but when your old line is not up to par like it once was you have to go downhill and have those guys going downhill and all our guys are going side to side now and it's it's it's It's not looking good. So I know, Ben, you know, you can definitely see that he's not the same player that he used to be. And he's still trying to play that way. And with him trying to play that way, I can see it's hurting the team. So, you know, I think this might be his last year. But I just know how the Rooney family is.

I know how they were to me. People that really have really done a lot for their franchise and really are, you know, they grasp a lot to the franchise and really close. I think they basically like, hey, I'm going to get you your last, you know, farewell. I'm going to get you your last shot and see what you can do because you got to think about it. Everybody was saying, Ben this, Ben, not, Ben this. You know, Ben is the same reason we went 11 and O last year. Ben is also part of the reason we went 0 in 6 last year too, you know, but I'm saying, but he's, he's

pointing, he's the reason that the team has had so much success in the last almost 20 years. You know, so I think there's like, man, we're just going to give you the respect and don't play it out until it's over. But if they were to change, Ben, this season, I feel like they should, I know Mason is the backup quarterback, and I know Duane has had a lot of trouble, but I would prefer to play Duane over Mason, 100%. And not a black, white thing. Just like, I think Mason.

You know what Mason is. Yeah, we know what Mason is. Duane, I feel like the same thing with the Bears right now. I don't think that the coaching staff wanted Duane on their team in Washington, and I feel the same thing with the Bears. I don't know if Matt Nagy really wanted Justin Fields, but the ownership probably wanted them. And you can see it because even in the TV today,

he was like, oh, all three quarterbacks are up to start. What? Like, you know, Justin's obviously the best quarterback there. It's just you're doing dumb shit. So I feel like it's the same thing in Pittsburgh. You know, Mason, we know what Mason going to do. And I think Duane just has a better arm talent. So if we're going to go with a young quarterback,

you might as well go with the one that went in the first round and not the one that went in the third. It is. Real talk from Ryan Shazier. As we wrap it up here, fellas, and we just talking about Tom Brady at the top. And by the way, it's very anti- It's like the Steelers are the anti-patriots, right?

The Patriots cut you two years before they need to. Like Troy Brown, Willie McGinnis, Richard Seymour, they moved them boys on, right? The Steelers do it the other way around, right? Because Jerome Bettis maybe was done before he was done. Yeah, I think of it too, though. Like a lot of owners, not all, but a lot of owners are like, you know, they own other businesses. So like football, they want to win so bad that it's like, hey, yo, this is fun to me, but I'm doing whatever I have to do to win.

You know, with the Steelers, like, this is their family business. So it gets more emotional, you know, like Robert Kraft, he might have a connection with, obviously he has a connection with Tom Brady. They might have something, something. But it's probably not as close as Ben and Mr. Rooney. Right. You know, so, so, like, cutting him, he was like, man, like, I cut CEOs every day, like, CEOs, like, you know what I'm saying?

Right, right. But when it comes to cutting somebody that's almost like a son to you, You know what I'm saying? It's a lot, it's a lot harder to cut that guy. Yeah, I mean, you look at Hines Ward and Jerome Bettis, like guys, guys who are part of that Steeler vibe, you know, even maybe a year after they might be cooked, you know, you still got a job until you don't want to play anymore.

So it'll be interesting to see how Steelers fans react to. And when you got a team that has given you so much glory over a decade and a half and a player who's done that, it's tough to see him perform this way. So, yeah, like you said, hey, trust me. And I know about the shotgun run. runs because on third and two, on third and two, there was a shotgun-toss sweep called against the damn Cleveland Browns to the short side of the field, by the way. I wouldn't even do that on Madden, but I digress. I digress. Big game coming up. We can wrap up with the big game coming up.

Just mentioned the Patriots. Talked about Tom Brady at the top. Tom Brady makes his way back to Gillette Stadium, play those New England Patriots and Bill Belichick off of a loss. By the way, Tom Brady, as we talked about, suffered a loss to the L.A. Ram. and he was not happy. He definitely wasn't happy with G.O. Bernard getting his ass steamrolled into his lap a couple of times on Blitz pickup. So what are we expecting out of Tom Brady

against Bill Belichick on... Is it Monday night football? Is that the Monday night game or is that the Sunday night game? Sunday night game. Yeah, what are we expecting out of that one? You know what? I'm ready for the chess match. You know, Bill Belichick is this ultimate defense of mind football coach.

He's been playing against 10th, Tom Brady in practice for the last 17, 18, 28 years. That man, where if you're 17, 18, and 28. You know, so if it's anybody that knows Tom and knows that, okay, this is some of the stuff we need to bring at him and shoot at him, you know what I mean, and do this, disguise, this, doing that, knowing that, you know, Tom, seeing all these defenses.

But if it's anybody who knows him extremely well, is Bill Belichick. knowing some of the stuff he may have struggled with in practice, knowing some of the stuff he'd been thinking about like, dang, man, if I was playing Tom, this is some of the stuff I would do. So this Sunday night, he has his chance to go out there and have this chess match with Tom. And the same thing with Tom.

I know exactly how Bill Belichick's defense moves. I know exactly how they think. I know exactly what they're trying to do on the defensive side of the ball. So I'm looking forward to seeing this chess match between these two. I know both of them want to win extremely bad. We already know Tom is a competitor. We know Bill Belichick stands on that podium every day and gives you absolutely nothing.

He's a competitor. He don't want Tom to come into Foxborough and win this game. You know, so I'm looking forward to seeing that chess match between these two and seeing how it's going to go, man. You know, so his first time back in Foxborough is going to be fun. To me, I think obviously everybody wants it to be Bill Belichick. versus Tom Brady. But Bill Belichick is not about to be able to do this

is because Mac Jones. I don't think Matt Jones in that offense is good enough to do what the Rams did to that defense. And obviously they have a top five defense, so I think their defense will, the Patriots, they're going to keep the game close because Bill Pelichick, like Coach Tomlin, like a lot of great coaches who are defensive among the coaches,

They know how to keep the game close. I'm a, I'm a stay in the fight. I don't, but I think at the end of the day, Tom Brady going to pull it out because Mac Jones probably going to throw a pick in the fourth quarter and they're going to lose the game and probably Patriots going to win. Like, the Patriots are going to probably lose like 24-17 or something like that. There it is. There is.

I'm looking forward to the game because of how much hype and all the close-ups we're going to get. Every time a play is made on either side, you're going to get a close-up of Tom Brady or a close-up of Bill Belichick. The production staff for that game, is going to be the MVP of that one. But I agree with y'all boys. I think the Bucks are going to pull it out

because the Patriots and because, you know, the Bucks lost against the Rams. And I'm sure this ain't going to be a fun week of practice. Bruce Ariens had a hyper-extended knee in that game. Like, everybody upset about that. You see Bruce Aaron's got rolled up on in that game. So I'm sure on this is glorious Tuesday, everybody is trying to lick their wounds

and come back better in week four. So it'll be the marquee matchup. And we will all. be watching. This has been a spirited edition. You know, I got to cry my bear, bears tears. We, we keep seeing James Jones spike the ball because the two teams that he played for out here winning, and Ryan Shazir just wants to stay away from Steelers' conversation. So it seems like three weeks in a row, we're starting to get a good rhythm here. We want to thank you for hanging out with us on the Tuesday edition of the Ringer NFL show.

Next up on the Ring of NFL show is Kevin Clark talking about Brady versus Belichick. And we'll be back every Tuesday right here on the Ring of NFL show for the entire. entire NFL season. Check out the full goal with me, Jason Gough, every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday night on Spotify or wherever you get your podcast. I want to say thank you to our production assistant, Isaiah Blakely, for production on this episode with additional production supervision by our guy, AR, Arjuna Ram Kippal, for James Jones and Ryan Shazir. I'm Jason Gawf, signing off. We'll talk to y'all next Tuesday.