The Ringer NFL Show - ‘GM Street’ — The Suspension, the Trades, and the (Preseason) Games (Ep. 124)

Episode Date: August 12, 2017

The Ringer’s Mike Lombardi and Tate Frazier discuss the suspension of Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott (02:00), the Buffalo Bills trading Sammy Watkins to the Los Angeles Rams (12:30), and standouts of the preseason so far (19:00). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Welcome to GM Street, part of the Ringer podcast network. All right, Lombardi, today's big news comes out of Dallas, where Ezekiel Elliott was informed by Commissioner Roger Goodell of his decision to suspend the Cowboys running back for six games for violating NFL personal conduct rules. For more in the NFL's litigation process and the circumstances that are really surrounding, ending Elliott's suspension. You can head over to the ringer.com to read Brian Curtis's reaction

to the news and more as the story develops. For today, Lombardi, me and you, we're just going to look at this from a football aspect of the decision. What does this mean for the Cowboys chances to repeat in the NFCEs potentially without their top rusher? Well, look, it's a team losing your best player, and it isn't plug and play. You have to just to modify. I mean, they can play Alfred Morris. They can play Darren McBatton, but they're not going to be nearly as effective offensively. Last year, they were the number one team in the NFL in running the ball on first down, 61% of the time, and they got over four yards. So first down, they were just slightly more. Most of the time, which took the, that's not going to happen. Last year,

if you just take the Madden and Alfred Morris, you combine their stats, they average three, five a carry. Now, everybody's, well, McFadden got, you know, in 2015, he was over a thousand yards. Yeah, they won four games. And in 2010, he was over a thousand yards. But they're going to have to adjust and the receiving core, the tight end core to take some of the burden of responsibility off, not having Zeke, because Zeke did make a huge difference. And let's talk about Dak. So obviously, Dak and Zeke come in last year. The rookies, you know, a lot of people were trying to figure out what the Dallas team is going to look like. And obviously, we saw how that unfolded. Dak was, you know, above and beyond. Tony Romo is no

longer there. That's how it all plays out. It was almost to perfection if you were a Dallas Cowboys fan. For Dak Prescott, we've seen him without Ezekiel Elliott on the the field next to him. His completion percentage goes from about 73% down to 60%. What kind of impact will this have on DAC? And will this actually make Dak be more of a leader on this Cowboys team now that he has to basically

be the guy by himself in the backfield? Well, I mean, the responsibility is going to fall on his shoulders and he's going to have to handle it. The team in the National Football League, in terms of running, 46% of the time in the first half of it. Those numbers for the good teams are usually, the Cowboys are now going to have

to change who they are offensively. And Dax's going to have to throw it. And I think Scott Lanahan's going to have to adjust the office. Four yards to get out of third and long or second and long when they had Zeke and they were able to run the football effectively. Now they're going to have to use the passing game. And they're going to have to utilize the arm and the mind of Prescott to offset the loss of Elliott. And look, he's going to be suspended for six games, even though the Cowboys have a buy week, much like Tom Brady was suspended for four games. The Patriots had a buy in week four.

He had to miss the Cowboys game in week five before he could come back. So I think that's the situation at 6. I mean, could we see one of these things where Dallas comes out and maybe they go 2 and 4 or, you know, God knows, I mean, maybe they go 1 and 5 and they have this really rough start? I mean, is there a way to basically what the Patriots and Brady did? You know, they were able to kind of deal with the damage without him and go 3 and 1. Do you see Dallas being able to weather the storm, at least because they know that their guy will be back at a certain point? I think the pressure's on Jason Garrett here. I mean, look, I wrote this summer when I talked about the Cowboys, and I said to in,

suspended about how they were going to have to modify their team and adjust to it. They're going to be really tough. And then you add the 49ers. They play the 49ers in the Rams in the first six games. They're at San Francisco and their home against the Rams. So you've got to think those are two games that they can win just by having better talent. But the other games, the Giants on the road, home against Denver, home against Arizona, and then home against Green Bay. Those are going to be tough games to win. And they're going to need to modify what they do offensive and responsibility. Everybody's talking about DAC. I don't know. the pressure's on Jason Garrett. I think as a head coach, besides clapping, he's got to demonstrate

that he can modify his team and adjust his team and utilize his skills. Let's do in this. We're going to do that. And that's how we're going to play the game. I think the pressure is on Jason tremendously. And my critique of Jason stems back from the Packer game. I think when you look at the Packer, get up that game plan, a way he make great adjustments. And that's what would concern me if I was a cowboy fan. And it's one of those things now with Jason Garrett where he has tried to play a cool with this whole situation. You don't want to comment on Zika-Ele. Do you think he is going to do the whole PR thing where he just doesn't even

discuss Elliot in any sense of the word or any fashion at all? I mean, I think it's the next man up. I think he's got to figure out, he's got to have a meeting with his offensive staff. And I'm sure they should have done this in the off-season and say, look, if we lose Zique, what will we do? How do we handle this? Change the dynamic of how we call plays. I mean, as I indicated

earlier, I mean, this is a team that like to run the ball on first down. This is a team that like to run the ball in the first half. This is also a team that was very effective of getting the lead in the first half. We didn't talk about their defense. Their defense is going to have maybe seven, eight change on defense. Now they've got to take away their best play in the football. Because remember, during the early part of last year, the Cowboys, the time of possession for their offense, they kept the ball away from their defense having to be on the field. And their defense got better as the season went along. If that reverses and their defense has to play a lot

of snaps because they can't keep the ball on offense, I think it's going to, I think this is Jason Garrett's got to sit in his office and tell Lennahan and tell Rob Marinelli. This is how we've got to manage the game moving forward for the next six weeks. Do you believe when Ezekiela returns in a Cowboys uniform and is eligible to play that Jason Garrett will still be his head coach? We talked about this a couple weeks ago on the show where Jason Garrett really needs to prove himself as a head coach, and now he almost has a little caveat. I was like, you know, we don't have our full team, our full roster. So he's not going to get the blame of things go off the rails.

I don't think he can survive with no excuses. I think the NFL is the no-excuse business. I think he's got to figure out a way to win games without Brady. A lot of teams, the Packers figured out a way to beat the Cowboys on the road without a lot of their star players on defense. I mean, so you have to be able to find a way. And I think this is going to put the pressure on Jason Garrett. And I feel like he has to modify his team so he can get around.

He's got to look at who he was offensively. You know, they were predominantly a team that was going to run the ball. They were going to be in the second. Now that stuff isn't there as much. anymore because if they put McFadden on the field, I mean, McFadden has missed career. I mean, he's not been, you know, he's not, so he, you can't say, well, you're just going to put McFadden there.

He's going to be fine. No, he's missed over 40 games in his NFL career. And Alfred Morris is a good runner, but Alfred Morris is very, Alfred Morris is very poor in the passing game. So when he's in the game, the defenses know, they tell him one other, hey, the ball's going out for, because they know he's not good in particular with as an offense, challenge. And this is where Jason has to be a head coach.

not in charge of the assistance. There's no trade you're going to make. What you have to do is figure out the solution with the current roster you have, and the Cowboys have pieces. I mean, they have enough talent offensively. And I think the other misnomer take that we have to talk about this idea that can make yards behind that offensive line. Well, these two backs that were running behind the same line, Elliot was running behind,

you know, average 3.5 a calorie combined their stats. So what people don't understand is the offensive line is good. When a back's great, it makes the line better. it's that one guy you make miss that makes the run 20 yards or makes the run 10 yards. And if you can't make that guy miss, and Elliott can, then it's a four-yard gain. And Morris will bring to the table, and I think that's where the lack of the elusiveness, those plays you draw on the blackboard, they look great. But when you have a talent like Elliot, he makes that guy miss that you don't have

accounted for, and all of a sudden that four-yard game becomes 12, and those things add up. And just the final thing, when you were in Cleveland as a GM as the Browns, dealing with a suspension. And what was that process like? Do you have any personal anecdotes or little stories they've had to deal with? I don't know if you weren't there for the Josh Gordon situation. I don't believe in Cleveland, correct?

No, no, Josh had, you know, Josh was, he had a really good season when Hoyer was there and then the next year. But there was always something hanging over your head there. I think you have to decide. You have to move forward. I think the best case was when Tom Brady got hurt in New England. The Patriots, just by happenstance had two quarterbacks coming in on that Monday to work out. Christopher Sims happened to be one of them. And Belichick sent both

quarterbacks home without working them out because he didn't want to send a message to the team that they were going to be reliant on someone else outside the organization that they needed to bolster to find the solutions from within. And I think that's the message that Jason Garrett has to handle. He's got to address the team, address the media, and say, look, here's the league with one man. We're all in the draft. We've got to replace them with a team effort and then start working on that team effort. Yeah. We're going to take a quick break and we'll be right back. Every throw, every catch, every two minute drill, every fourth and inches.

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That's NFL.com. slash the ringer. All right, Bill's time. All right, Lombardi, the Buffalo Bills are making some moves today. Two, two big moves for them. First, they announced that Sammy Watkins has been shipped to the Los Angeles Rams to join his former wide receiver buddy, Robert Woods, along with a 2018 six-round pick.

They're going to get E.J. Gaines and a 2018 second rounder from the Rams. And they weren't done there. They also acquired Jordan Matthews from the Philadelphia Eagles and a 2018-third rounder for Ronald Darby, a great quarterback out of Florida State. People remember from the National Championship team a few years back. Just looking at this trade, the Buffalo Bills, they're making a lot of moves. You said this is one of the sleeper teams you want to watch this season. Do you like this deal for them?

And what do you see for, you know, maybe they can make some noise in the AFC East this season? Well, I mean, everybody looks at them. Well, they traded away two good players. I mean, Watkins has been hurt quite a bit. Okay. And the corners, Sean McDermott plays defense. Corners are, they're going to be zone corners, really efficient and effective in the run game.

and I think he was able to get value for both players. I mean, if he keeps Sammy Watkins all year, they didn't pick up the option for the fifth season. He would have gone into the compensatory pool. He would have signed as a free-age pick for him. That would have been the most, assuming, now he gets a second round pick locked in his hip, which is better than it.

He can go on and start building his program and doesn't have to worry as Sammy. True in Buffalo. We talked about this in our four-person podcast yesterday. I think that McDermott's a true head coach, things he has to do for the team, and I think that the bills may not be the most dynamic team and they're trying to rebuild the culture within the framework of their team

and I like it. They have first round, they have two picks in each of the first three rounds next season. They're not a bad team right now. They'll play hard. I don't think they're tanking at all. I like the moves for Buffalo. And also Buffalo,

I mean, Jordan Matthews is a legitimate number one target for Tyrod Taylor. I mean, that's Sammy Watkins obviously was dealing with the health stuff, but for them to get Jordan Matthews, I feel like he's kind of been under the radar in this deal a little bit. I mean, he had a great season last year for the Eagles. And with Alshan being in Philadelphia now, he's probably the number one guy. This gives Matthews an opportunity to really have a new environment and a new system and probably get some more shine in Buffalo.

So I like it. Yeah, I mean, they have Bolden as an inside slot receiver. Matthews can play in there too. He's a bigger body. I think they're changing their team. I think this is a message to tolerate this. I mean, we're trying the administration. We made too many mistakes.

We beat ourselves way too much. We're going to bring players in here that are going to comply to the system. that want to be involved in the right culture. Again, the only way you're going to beat the Patriots is that's what the bills are trying to do. Fans are reacting to these player trades when the reality of these trades are more about culture building than they are about one player here or one player there. Remember, Watkins doesn't stay healthy. Darby was on a defense. They gave up a lot of yards last year.

And they found a way to get it resolved. They traded away an asset and a draft pick. And I think the Rams, look, the Rams are trying to get pieces around Jared Goff. and they're going to recreate the Bill's organization passing game from last season. It'll be interesting to see how that all works out. Yeah, that's what I was trying to wonder. I was like, does Shaw McVeigh strictly watched Bill's offense tape and decide those are my two guys? That's who I want on my team for Jared Goff?

I mean, Sean McVease, you know, a young coach who obviously loves receivers and thinks that's the way to get it fixed and look, he had some really good talented receivers there. I think the Rams problem are cultural. Today they make this training bonus acceleration. Watkins' this cap number isn't as bad. They still need to get Aaron Donald re-signed. They've got to get him handled because he's holding out. And we still don't know about golf.

We're going to find out whether Goff can play or not. They've given them a couple receivers around them that'll show what he can do. I'm going to have to – I want to see it on the tape when the game speeds up to believe it. I need to figure out all these adjectives and ways to describe situations, exceeds expectations, and light years ahead, all this stuff. I feel like we need to have a cap of how many times you can use it. because if you're using light years of head and you're the warriors, maybe that's correct. But if you're using light years ahead and it's Jared Goff, maybe you need to take a step back and reevaluate.

Yeah, I mean, yeah, I mean, it's like you're not, you don't know, you don't know really the Rams. Yeah. They had another player. Now we're going to find out what the cup was playing their third round pick. They should walkins to the mix now. You know, you got Robert Woods, Wackens. You got Tavon will be in the slot. Farrow Cooper, too.

And E.F. Cooper. Yeah, so you've got a, they've been drafted receivers. I mean, it's going to come down to who's their left tackle. can their left tackle block Whitworth Ken? You know, they've got a good left tackle and can their right tackle play and can Goff make plays? It's longer to come down to one guy at Goff. Yep. As expected,

Jared Goff, all the pressures on you. It's not his fault. He was just the number one overall pick last year. I want to talk a little bit about preseason. I know that it's not the most exciting time in football, but we talked about this yesterday on Bill's podcast when we did the four-person GM Street, House of Carbs,

every single ringer podcast all smash into one episode about the pre-season. preseason and he, Bill told a story about Terrell Davis when he came out. And in his first preseason game, you know, I looked this up afterwards. He comes down and makes this big tackle. And then he obviously ends up making the team, makes a name for himself, ends up becoming, you know, the Super Bowl winning running back that we all remember. But just to say that, it's just that preseason really does matter. And sometimes it can help get you a roster spot and launch your career. And people also remember Victor Cruz sort of the same thing, made a big name for himself in

preseason. And then from there, the rest is history. So preseason does matter. in a certain sense. I know you've watched some of these games. I just wanted to see if there's any names of any guys that really have stood out to you. Obviously, mostly younger guys or maybe, you know, third string guys, third quarter guys that are coming in that a little under the radar, maybe not as well known. But I know you're one guy, Mack Hollins had a touchdown on his first game as an Eagles wide receiver. So I know you're excited about that. I thought Mac played really well. I thought Mitchell Tribiskey played really well last night. I was able to watch that game. I thought he played well. I thought he had a good rhythm with the ball. He threw the ball effectively. He's running. You know, it was against the vanilla defense. I thought he looked more effectively. You know, and Kaiser for the Browns looked effective. I think the only way these young quarterbacks were really going to know about them, they play against the first team defense and the speed of,

I think that's going to have to show. I think Dalvin Cook is going to be a really good player. He looked like it in just a little bit of footage I've seen. So I think when you watch the preseason, I think the guys that flash in week one, they got to see them play in week twos and three against the better defenses so you can judge. Everything in pro-season is the level of comp.

Yep. and you can't make the All-August team. That's the one team you don't want to always be on as the All-August team. You want to be on the All-September team as a rookie, not the All-August team. Could it have been a worst start for Mike Lennon's career in Chicago?

He comes into the preseason game last night. He throws a pick six to open. His quarterback rating at the end of the game was 0.0. And then the rookie that a lot of people were upset was traded up to get drafted, comes in, throws a touchdown. He's 18 for 25 on the night.

He just looks like he has everything all together. and he looked like he was a veteran quarterback, and Glennon is just on the sideline. I mean, that's a lot of millions of dollars that is now going to be on the sideline for the Chicago Bears probably in the future. When you see that and you're Ryan Pace and you're the GM there,

I mean, it's got to be a little upsetting from a GM perspective to see that, but you're also excited for your rookie. You play good, but the rookie's going to play good against the level of comp that he went against. I mean, he did exactly what he had to do. I think if your pace, you're worried about Glennon. The team's got to buy into it. The hardest thing John Fox is going to have is stand in front of his team,

and tell his team that Glennon's better than Trubisky when it hasn't demonstrated in games. That's the hard thing to do. This is how he could make. Yesterday, Bortles, the other day, Bortals didn't play, whether he can be scripted for success. I think Bortles needs to play to show his team he would. Hany came in and played well.

We'll see what happens. But you want to script success so your team can buy into the guy first and foremost. Who's going to hang around longer in Florida as a quarterback? Chad Hennie or Matt Moore? I just feel like those guys are just... I think Matt Moore will. I think Henny, you know, Henny, if Henny was more accurate, I always liked Henney.

I just think his accuracy. I love Tenney in college. I just can't believe he still in the NFL. Yeah, he loses the strike zone. And when you lose the strike zone, like, that's what worries you about like a Kaiser. I think you've got to be concerned as the game speeded up, is his accuracy going to be good. Kaiser is usually on the line with his throws, but sometimes they're in the dirt and sometimes they're too hot. Ones they get picked, see when the game speeds up is going to be critical.

And just one last point on a rookie. Leonard Fournette came in, and he said the NFL is, in quotes, it's really easy. you know so the thing that comes back to it seems like these preseason games are getting more and more of these young guys that are playing more and more of the game so it used to be at least in the first four

or five series you could see some of these guys and see how they stack up but now it seems it's more and more of the young guys and it's maybe given some of these rookies a little bit of a false confidence I saw last night people were comparing Mitch Trubisky to Joe Montana so we're in quite the time with the preseason stuff

I'm not to shut up I mean the preseason ain't the regular season okay Did you see the inactive list for the Patriots last night? Yeah, exactly. I mean, although, you know, so when you play against real players and you do good, I mean, it wasn't like he gained nine carries for 100 yards. I mean, let's face it, sometimes saying nothing is the best thing to say. Two ears, one mouth.

Use them in proportion. Thanks as always for listening to GM Street, part of the Ringer podcast network. We'll be back next week. Thanks again to NFL game pass, every throw, every catch, every fourth and inches. Whatever your favorite game is, NFL. NFL Game Pass has got it. Better yet, they've got you covered for this year's action, too. That includes live out-of-market preseason games, full game replays, and condensed games with all the action packed into 45 minutes.

Why can't they just make the games like that? If it's NFL football and it happened, NFL Game Pass has got it. So kick off the 2017 NFL season with a free. Yeah, that's right. Free NFL Game Pass trial. Sign up now at NFL.com slash the ringer.