The Ringer NFL Show - Lombardi's Week 2 Reactions | GM Street (Ep. 303)

Episode Date: September 18, 2018

The Ringer's Michael Lombardi and Tate Frazier discuss Mitchell Trubisky's 'Monday Night Football' performance, Seattle's struggles, and Week 2 standouts, and then give out awards for who stole the show this weekend. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Until then, stick with Miller Light. Miller Light hold true. And now, GM Street. Welcome to GM Street, part of the Ringer podcast network. It is Tuesday. it is September 18th, and we just watched Mitchell Trubisky and the Chicago Bears take down Russell Wilson. That's your boy.

And the Seattle Seahawks. It is all happening. The Chicago Bears 1-1, they were 500 for the first time since 2014. People are very excited in the Windy City right now. About Mitchell? About Mitchell, right? Is that what we're going to say? Mitchell Trubisky, he finally did it, showed some Moxie last night.

Can I not be excited, Lombardi? Should I not be excited? I mean, I think, look, I think Mitchell Trubisky is exactly what I I thought he was like week one. I mean, if it goes to script, yeah, everything's going to be fine. But once it gets off script, now he has to improvise and he's no longer a quarterback and he's just an athlete. There's an impulse in his brain that switches very quickly from I'm a quarterback to now I'm an athlete. And that impulse is the reason why he as Mr. Ohio in the state of Ohio.

Mentor Ohio. Mentor Ohio went to North Carolina. There's a reason that happened. Because you want to be a champion, right? Is that what you're saying? No, I mean, if you're Mr. Ohio in that state, you're going to be a buck guy. You're born. When your mama lifts you from the crib, you're a buck guy in that state.

I'm just telling you. You're like, all right? There's a reason he went to North Carolina. And I'm not saying you can't overcome the reason, but there is a reason he went to North Carolina. Then there's a reason he didn't start at North Carolina that you witnessed firsthand. One of the greatest schools of all time. You witnessed this firsthand, Tafras. Now, because he doesn't do that, now we're watching him play.

And last night is an example. I mean, until the interception by Prince Akamara, I mean, I bet you Mitchell's butt was tighter than could be. Because if Russell gets and ties that game up, who knows where this thing goes? You know, they're going to have to win with their defense. He's not ready to put the game in his hands. They've got to manage him very carefully and delicately. And we've seen that on the opening drive. So every single, in both games that we've seen Mitchell come out, he has looked,

perfect because every decision has been scripted out and everything has gone according to plan. Not only has it been scripted, Tate Fraser, it's been practiced. Yes. So it's been rehearsed. So, okay, we're going to play this coverage. It's like ballet at this point. Exactly. We know they're going to be here. We know where the spots are. So the volume of plays is 10 plays. All he has to remember is 10 plays. Okay. Now, once we get past that and we start messing around with things, game on. And that's where we get to the situations where people were complaining about him tucking the ball and starting in the run. But that's what happens. Like he has the one option. And that is the knock on him as it currently stands. And the reason that you're not as high on Mitchell

from the McGicko is because you did not think that he could get past that point. You thought that the ceiling was, this is what he is. If it's open, if it's there, he can make every throw. But if he has to make a decision and he has to do, something that Aaron Rodgers would do, improvise, something that Russell Wilson would do, improvise. That's not his forte. No, it's not as his instincts. It's like when I take Bella for a walk every day, I go to the beach. Her instinct as a Legote or Romagola, which is the hunting dogs, right, is to dig. I put her on that beach. She starts. thinking it's an instinct she can't there's no way it's going to change her it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's red in her mitchell tribisky's instincts take over for him i'm comparing bella to mitchell

i apologize for that bell but anyway so the reality here is is he can't change it and it's going to take time and time and reps will it ever happen i'm i'm not a believer that it will i would say you know it's probably going to be very difficult but it could it could i mean i'm not saying he's a busted pick, but I will say this very clearly. And nobody can argue with this. DeSharm Watson is a better player. And based on two games this year, Patrick Mahomes is a better player. And the Bears traded an asset. They pulled a 76er. They traded an asset to get a player that wasn't the best player in the draft. That's now going to be called for the rest of my life a 76er. On Markle-Folds, right? Trade an asset to get not even the best player in the draft.

That's what they did. It's called a 76er from here on out. I've labeled it. a 76er. And we should say, Pat Mahomes at this point is probably looking as the number one guy in this class. And we're going to get to him a little bit later. I want to keep talking about this Bears defense and what they were able to show. So the interesting part about this Bears team is you have the Khalil Mack, who is proving right now that he is one of, if not one of the top five best players in the league, you know, outside of position, outside of where you play on the field. I mean, he is making Russell Wilson a guy who is a king of, I'm a magician, I'm a wizard. You do not knock the ball out of my hands. He's stripsacking Russell Wilson. He's making him

confused. He got him rattled enough where Prince and Mukumar backs up and basically baits him into making a pass that he would usually not make. So we just got to talk about that Bears defense. I mean, they're a top five defense in the NFL and a team and a defense that we have to really watch out for. They got to carry them. And I think, look, to me, it starts with how you attack the Bear's defense. You're not going to play conventional against them. They want you to play conventional. They want you to run it on first down so you can be in second and long. They want you to run it on, you know, they want to get as many third downs as possible. To me, the game last night was obvious. If you're a Seattle fan, they pulled the Curly in the boat. You know, and I love the

Stooges, but Curley's in the boat, and I've given this analogy many times, Curly makes a hole in the boat, so he drills another hole in the boat to let the water out. Okay, so now he's got two holes in a boat. That's what Seattle did when they fired Darrell Bevel and hire Brian Schottenheimer. They didn't fix the hole in the boat. They created another hole. This offense is actually, and I never thought I would say this tape for Asia, this offense is worse than Bevels. I mean, there's no creativity and there's no adaptability. So you're watching this game, like, and I know Brian's got his sheet, you know, and everybody's got the big cardboard sheets in front of them.

But at some point, you've got to say, look, we can't really handle them. We've got to get the ball out quick. We've got to spread them out. We've got to tire them out. We've got to go no huddle, wear them down a little bit, and get the ball out quick. And not try to establish the run, but establish the spread and then feed runs in to keep the quarterback off balance. That was the only way. And they did it on the drive when they were down.

down 17 to 3. And they scored. That was the best drive of the game. Four for four. Russell looked great. But of course, they come back out when it's 70 to 10 and they're back in their regular, they're going to run their regular offense. Don't forget our record. Their offense is horrendous by design, by scheme. By tempo. By tempo. By tempo. By everything. I mean, they literally were giving that front four time to rest. They literally curled in the boat. They really got worse. They got actually worse on offense than they could last year. Even though I think Mike Solari is a really good line coach. I mean, they tried to help out. But, you know, they're holding onto the ball. They got.

A lot of balls got to come out quicker. They got to do it. It's all about attacking the scheme the right way. And look, I think, look, we all, betting is legal in America, right? Everybody could do it. But when you're betting, when you're sitting down a place of betty, your hard-owned cash, okay? You've got to really think hardly about, write the names down. Vic Fangio versus Brian Schottenheimer.

If you're betting Seattle on that one, you better think about that really close. Just think about it really, really close. You're betting, you know, whatever the coordinator is against the other coordinator, You're betting Frank Wright, who played in Philadelphia last year twice against the Redskins, going into Washington against Greg Mniewski and Jay Gruden. You're betting that. If you want to bet that, that's fine. Go ahead. Right did a good.

Look at the numbers what Wright did in Philly. But you got to think about that. And last night, it was so obvious that Fangio just was messing with him. And he never attacked Fangio in a way that Fangio thought could harm him. And we should say, so most in the NFL so far as sacks in the first two games, Russell has been sacked 12 times. the closest he's had to that is 2015 and he got sacked eight times within the first two games.

So teams are getting after him. And then we saw last night a couple times. I mean, Kalil Mack didn't even get blocked a couple times. We had a tight end that basically barely chipped him and gets outside Will Disseley. And then he's up the field and he's right in Russell's face. And we're running play action rollouts to his side. Right.

You're hoping he's going to take the fake. Good luck with that. Like at some point, the guy's only playing pass anyway. Like he's never playing the run. He's never taking a fake for the run. Chris Carson's not scaring Kalil Mack at this point. No, he could, you know, actually, if you really wanted to, run the ball inside of him because he's just going to run up the field.

I mean, that's what you do. He was still going outside and being guys and coming back in and making plays. I mean, to me, the design of Seattle's offense has got to worry you as a Seattle fan because it's not any better than it was last year. And that's a problem. And then their game management, the way they set up the game, how are we going to attack this? It just doesn't work. And I think to me, Russell Wilson is taking a lot of heat for it, and they're going to have to get it fixed.

They're going to have to figure out a way to get this worked out because they're just not good enough on defense, have the defense carry them. And we did see that beautiful graphic that ESPN put up, brought to by the Avengers, where they, you know, faded out all of the former defenders on the team. And left, you know, KJ. Wright, Bobby Wagner and Earl Thomas. And at this point, I mean, we saw Earl Thomas last night. If you kept an eye on him, he was going up to King

and some of these other guys on the defense and just trying to light a fire under him. You know what I mean? He was trying to assert himself in a way as a leader. But it's a young group. It's a different group. You know, Griffin looked great. He had those two picks on Mitchell Trabiski. That's exciting if you're a Seahawks fan.

But at the same time, they have to move on or figure out what the identity is of this team because the defense looks lost and the offense looks lost. And the whole game last night, we never talked about a Seattle defensive alignment. We never did. There was never never, never mentioned about them. There was never any Seattle defensive alignment that stood out. Frank Clark made a play that talked about that. And he was off sides. And he was offside.

But Pete Carroll's, that's because your boy, Trubisky refuses to change the snap count. It's always on Sunday. Sunday, Sunday, Sunday. It's on one. Everybody in America, Sunday's one. Monday's two, Tuesday's three. Okay. All right. So they literally just, you know, they don't talk about it. And you have to understand. One of the great things that Ernie Adams does, and I wrote about this in the book, another shameless plug for the book, Grid Iron Getus. People always ask me all the time, what does Ernie Adams do? And in the book, I wrote about this. When I was in Cleveland, Art Modell, the owner of the Browns, used to walk around the Browns facility. He was a funny man. He was a, he was a funny man. He really was a very funny man. He had a great sense of humor. And he would always ask, I'll pay anybody $10,000 if they can tell me what Ernie Adams does in this building. Because he was paying him and he really didn't understand. But Ernie's value is tremendous for the Patriots.

He's not as much in personnel or game management or that. He's in rules. He knows them better than the officials themselves. And he's also a historian of the game. And so when Ernie studies a defense, he just doesn't study the last three. He studies the origin of the defense. And the origin of Seattle's defense is built on the front. It's all front-based.

It's Minnesota's defense in 1985. That's what it is. And when Pete Carroll is playing a game and there's no talking about the front, you know he doesn't have a good defense. It's really easy to connect the dots there. So that's really the biggest issue that you see. If you're Seattle, you're not good enough to win with your defense and your offense is really bad.

And so when you break down a team after. after two weeks, you have to look at it this way. There's production and design. You know, you make a car, you design a car, you produce it, right? Same thing with a football team. You design the football team, then you've got to produce. What I see in Seattle is a huge design problem. Then it translates to a production problem. And that's really what the cause of the offensively, particularly. Does it feel like it's because it's designed for a pastime that's not there? Is it the offensive? Are we trying to figure out where guys are there? Brian is from the, So, okay, origin of where you're from,

Schottenheimer is really more of a North Turner offensive guy. That's what he was with the Jets when they were successful. Yeah, with Mark Sanchez in 2009-2010. The numerical system. There's a little West Coast in it, but it's more, hold the ball, get it down the field, run H-Option, run F-Post, all these kind of things. And that's why you're seeing the sack rate go up because Wilson's, it's not a West Coast, one, two, three, four, five, bang it out.

One, two, three, bang it out, you know? And that's when he looks best is when he goes back to, his old Bevel offense, which he can bang it out. And he knows how to run that. And we saw him a couple of times, even on the goal line. Remember when he had the quick pass option and he held on to it for a second? It feels like Russell, if you know Russell Wilson at all, he's a very stickler. If someone tells him what to do, he's going to go and abide by whatever the rules are. So if he's trying to lean into what Schottenheimer wants, he's going to play differently than he would have played before. You know what I mean? Because he's trying to appease his

offensive coordinator. No, and I think, like I said, this is a design problem. This is a design problem. And, you know, Pete hired Brian. Brian was with John Schneider, the general manager, in Washington. So they have a friendship. And I'm sure they both respect one another. But at reality, here is, is the line coach, Mike Solari, is from a West Coast background. So he understands that. And so you're merging these systems, and it's going to, it's not blending. And it doesn't fit the quarterback. It doesn't fit what Russell can do. Russell's a one, two, three, banging out. As bad as Beville was, this is worse. Like, I didn't think Bevel was creative. I thought Beville installed the day one of the West Coast

offense. He ran it. That's what he did. Okay, say what you want. But this is not the right fix, and I think this is why Seattle's Owen, too. That game was for the taken last night now. Yes, yes. I mean, the bears were in the same situation that they were with the Packers. You could tell that they had the lead, but they were very

terrified that there was going to be a reckoning coming. You know, the Bears play Arizona this week. I think they're six and a half point favorite. If you put your money on the Bears, you've got to hope Mitchell can hold on, can create a six is because let me tell you something naggie did you see naggie's card last night is why i call him the waffle house menus that's so beautiful that it's so designed i mean it's so perfectly

i mean one thing about being in the NFL you know excel you get to learn excel it's one of the great but i would recommend everybody learn one note but excel's good too but anyway so the reality here is is he had on the play sheet and of course we never talked to be you be you thank you take phrase a nice observation you would think they would have talked about it what does that mean it meant it, to me it was a message, and this is my interpretation. I could be wrong, that don't get tentative in the fourth quarter. Be you, be yourself, call the game the way you want to call. And I think that was a conversation. But speaking of conversations, I mean, at some point, can they just get McFarlane up in the booth? Yeah, Booker was great. Well, they're talking to him

the whole game anyway. I'm not really sure why he's not in the booth. I think it would be fine to have three people in the booth. I think honestly it would help Jason Wooden out a lot. He's got a lot You got a lot of questions. I mean, what did they ask him last night that was so? I was like, how was he going to know? The last drop kick was. Yeah. Like, when do you think, you know, he made it a good enough observation, you know,

bringing up with the redskins or some time when it happened. But it's not comfortable. It's not, yeah. It's not. It's not comfortable. It's the, bookers having fun, though. I think he'd be nice to be up there. For a guy who's on the side, like, I, like, to me, that's the job that I think, like,

I, poor Lisa Salters, we don't even know. She must be a witness protection somewhere. She think she's in West Cape May? Yeah, maybe. She might be in West. He might be the first player in West. Well, that's right. We put Nathan Peterman in West Cape.

It's probably playing chess or something like that. It's amazing. But to me, you know, I always thought that McFarland's job is to watch the sideline, watch the coaches in between breaks, and tell the fans actually what's going on. What's the adjustments? What are you hearing down there? Like, you know football. Okay, here's what we got to do.

We're going to come out and play this or that. You know, that kind of thing. But to me, all he talks every play. Like he's a part of the booth. I mean, they should just get him up in the booth. I got to ask you, too, we brought it the BU thing. I honestly, in my head, when I saw BU, I thought that was a message to Mitchell. No, he's the caller, you know, so.

I just in my head, I'm just, you know, every time he comes, I was like, you know, don't do too much. Because I feel like that is the message. And it might be, but I took it as don't be tentative BU to yourself. And they were comparing him to Doug Peterson talking about, you know, he was a guy that will go forward on fourth down. I mean, that was so people were very upset. I mean, that's the funny thing. They were comparing him to Peterson and Kansas City.

Peterson and call a play in Kansas City. Well, yeah. I mean, let's be honest. He didn't call a play. You know, and actually Nagy got the job. Peterson got sent out of the organization, and Nagy got the job. I mean, that's the fact. Nobody can deny that.

Yeah. So anyway, I mean, look, I think the two issues here, if you're Seattle, you've got to worry about, you know, how good are you on defense. I mean, I've said all along, it's rebuilding here in Seattle. Now, they've got to hope they play Dallas this week, crowd noise, their defense can rush a little bit better, get some things going. but the offense to me is by design. It's not very good. It'll be interesting to see if Pete Carroll, who obviously is in that front office role as well,

we'll try to reach out and maybe they try to make a move, especially to get possibly a pass rusher. I mean, a guy like, you look at a guy like Kalil Mackle and Chicago Bears, imagine if the Seahawks made a move and were able to try to get him up there, you know what that could have done for that team. And instead of Tribisky. Yeah, they can't afford it. They can't do it because they got their quarterback whose contract's coming up again.

Yep. You know, so they're going to be locked into a lot of money. That's why having these rookie quarterback deals again. Again, it comes really back down to, you know, I think and John Schneider would admit this. It's hard to draft good when you're picking so low all the time and you're going to have some blown draft picks. And, I mean, two years ago, Malcolm McDowell, I think Malik McDowell, it didn't even play. Didn't even get to the field. It got hurt and they had to cut them.

So, you know, that's what happens when you don't have draft picks coming through for you. Let's talk about draft picks. Draft picks were being sent from the New England Patriots or one draft pick. And specific, a fifth round draft pick for the services of. Josh Gordon, a man that we know from Hard Knocks with the Cleveland Browns and Hugh Jackson said the bird has landed when he came back and joined the team. And finally, the final straw apparently has happened in Cleveland and he now will be with the New England Patriots. You were, I texted you this yesterday as soon as I saw the news. I said, you know, this is Randy Moss 2.0,

right? Josh Gordon's going to go deep for Tom Brady. And you told me to pump the brakes. Why is that? Well, I think this. I think, look, I think Josh Gordon's an immensely talented player. But Randy, Randy Moss loved football more than any player that I've ever been around. He was smarter than any player ever been around. He loved the game. You know, people confused that West Virginia twang for not being really overly intellectual. He really was smart. And so...

That's what they do to people in the South, I'm sorry about that. You know, they kill me for my accent and my inability to pronounce names, but I do have a hearing problem. So that's why I do this. But anyway, so, you know, the reason it's not is because Josh Gordon, when I was around Josh, his love of football was never obvious. Like he was talented. He was a great athlete. He was gifted. He's been spoiled his whole life from Baller.

You know, he was catered to at Baller. He had these social issues at Baller. Got kicked out of Baller. Went to Utah. Transfer to Utah. Couldn't even play at Utah because of the same situations. Got drafted in the second round when everybody knew he was talented. And the Browns took a chance on him, figure they could get him turned around.

And we did for one year. But when you observe Josh, the love of football from him and Marlon, are completely different. And so when he's going into New England Patriots, I compare it to going to Navy Buds. Like, he's going into Buds school. You know, and the reason they have all those helmets of the Buds quad is because guys can't handle the volume. Every guy that goes to Navy Buds can handle the testing, okay? You don't get in if you can't handle the testing. What gets you sent out or makes you quit is the volume of the testing that every single day you've got to do this, this, this. It's a regiment. It's stacked on one on top of another, on top of another.

And that's where I think Josh is going to have issues because when he starts to get into some confusion, it becomes a problem for him. And then the off-the-field issues become a problem. Josh is not a malicious kid whatsoever. Not at all. He's not a malicious kid. He's just got addiction problems that is documented. They're documented. And so those addiction problems come back up.

And I think that's why I'm a little bit wait and see. And I wrote about this yesterday in the athletic that they're not going to be. be, you know, that I wouldn't have traded for him. And because I would have traded for him, the reason I wouldn't have is because I think that his issues are bigger than his love of football. You know, we have to stop wanting it more for Josh than Josh wants it for himself. And, you know, this is a kid now. He's going to go into England, Tate Fraser. And he's going to, like, you and I, we did how many podcasts about the difference between the, you know, people like Lombardi, quit comparing everything to Bellochek. Well, I'm just, it's hard for me not to do that, right?

So we compared Hard Knocks Cleveland to what I've been around. And what Josh is about to embark on is going to be completely different. First of all, he's going to have to get there early in the morning. He's not going to be able to. When I was in Cleveland and we would practice inside, you know, because, of course, it was cold. We had to go inside because they had to practice perfect conditions. Forget about mental toughness. We had to go inside.

So Josh would go into his locker when the defense was running through their scripts. He would go to his locker and check his phone. Nobody said a word to him. Like, that ain't going to happen. Got to get these texts off. Yeah, I got to see what's going on. Greg Little and him would go in there and go hang out. Like, they were superstars.

Greg Little, yes. That's my favorite. That's my favorite superstar. That's your guy, Greg Little. Of course. They ain't go in there and a half day. They'd go and check their phone. Work scout team?

No. No. Love of football. No, you just wasn't there. And so, you know, that's where I had. And now he's going to, you know, he's going to have to do extra conditioning because he's going to have to get in the shape, the New England Patriot shape. Like, he's going to run a hill probably today,

Today's Wednesday, right? Or Tuesday, tomorrow he will run a hill after practice. The whole team will run hills after practice. So my question to you, and the reason that I find it very interesting because of what you're saying in general is that there was no one to tell you, hey, Josh, get your ass into, you know, get your ass into gear. You know what I mean? And I don't think he's ever had a leader in a locker room that will come over and tell him what to do. No, maybe.

But look at a huge reaction. The Eagles landed. What if Brady comes up to Josh Gordon and says, hey, man, I need you. You got to be my guy. And he says to himself, hey, TB wants me to be his guy. How many people in Josh Gordon's life has given him that speech? Has it worked yet? No, it hasn't worked yet.

But Tom Brady hasn't given it to him. But it doesn't matter. It doesn't really matter. Or Belichick hasn't. They're going to give it to him once and they're going to watch him. And once he screws up, they're going to set him out. If he can't maintain it, he won't. Now, he's going to have to learn the most complex offense he's ever.

Like, remember when he just threw his book into his locker and said, I got this, man. I don't need to study. No, no, this, he's about, he's about going to take on master's class type mathematics. I mean, he's going to be at a high, high level. I mean, it's going to be where, you know, like in Goodwill hunting, that guy's doing that kind of crap. But if I'm Bill Belichick and I'm Tom Brady and I'm going against Matt Patricia this weekend, who I know I can expose in some sort of way, do I just go if I'm Tom Brady and I go Monday night football with Mike Vic and to Sean Jackson? And I just go to Josh Gordon and say, just run deep and I'm going to throw it up and go run underneath it. No, I think, you know, look, is there a chance that happens? The Josh McDonald's practice against Matt Patricia every single day of his life. Yeah, it's going to be.

If you talked about coordinator versus coordinator, this weekend, that'll be fun to watch. No, that's going to be, yeah. And they might not have Darius Slay their best court. Yes. And so if they get into, if they get, I mean, the best thing the, the best thing the lions can do is play Ropadoop. Because that's the only chance. Even though the Patriots, to me, when I watch this Patriot team, Trey Frazier, they lack mental toughness on offense. They really don't have it.

I mean, they went down in a Jacksonville. They miss Edelman. They miss Amadola. They miss Edelman. They miss their core. Brady was going crazy. McDaniel's went crazy on the sideline. There's no toughness to this team right now on offense.

They don't have an identity. They miss Dionne Lewis. I mean, Sonny Michelle may be a good player, but they don't have that. Get the ball to Dion. We'll get the drive going. They don't have that. No safety valve, yeah.

James White is a really good catcher of the football. He can't get any yards after the catch if he has to break a tackle. He's really good player and he's an efficient player. But he's not a mentally tough guy that's going to stir things up. So Josh walks in there. Will they get them the ball? Sure. But, you know, I mean, they don't run a lot of deep ends. And they don't run, you know, I mean, think of the routes that Edelman and all those guys run.

The thing I think where the Patriots were, I think Belichick is thinking, and I haven't talked to him. But what I think he's thinking is if we put Josh Gordon out there, somebody's going to have to double his ass or put a guy on him. Yeah. We're opening up the offense. For Grunk. Yeah. And the back. Over the middle of the field.

That's right. The seam is open now because we have it stretched this way. Because even if we can't get much out of the guy, Somebody's got to go out there and defend them. So, and we'll get him the football, but his route tree won't be extensive because he's going to have a hard time learning the tangos and the calls and the checks. And when Brady sits in there and repoints the mic and rechanges everything at the line of scrimmage. But that's what I'm saying. Just run deep every time.

Keep them honest, right? I mean, I don't, I'm not saying that, you know, that was a long-term solution. But just for the idea that every single team now is to respect the idea that Josh Gordon is going to run 40 yards. And maybe that's the way to get him in shape. Well, they'll get him in shape. Trust me. They'll get him in shape. He'll be much better.

When he's done here, assuming he gets through it, he'll be in great shape. Now, whether he can, whether he'll, you know, the route tree that he's going to have to run slants and that stuff. Sure, he can do all that. Will he learn it? Yeah, Josh is a smart kid. Like the intelligence, this isn't Des Bryant who's only, you know, not going to learn the system. Yeah, that was one of the conversations before that people talked about Des going to Patriots. But that doesn't change anything.

You know what I mean? Josh Gordon is separation. That's what he provides. Exactly, Dave Frazier. The Patriots have enough guys that can get covered. They don't need another guy like Des Bryant who's covered all the time. They need a guy and get open. And Brady needs a guy that can get through the window. And it's going to take some time.

And this is the perfect opponent to play because there's nothing Matt Patricia is going to do with his defense that Tom Brady hasn't seen at the line. That's what I think is going to be a field day. I couldn't, for Josh Gordon, I cannot think of a better scenario for you talked about having a final last chance to see if he really could string this thing out. For this to be the first game he goes up against this defense, the Matt Patricia runs, for them to have that familiarity,

for them to have made that trade and know that he is expected to play this weekend. I don't know. All signs point to maybe this could be something good for Josh Gordon. I hope that it will be, but we'll see. Hey, look, I'm rooting for the kid. I hope the kid can turn his life around. We had a chance to trade him when I was in Cleveland in 2013 to the 49ers.

We came really close to doing it. I think the public perception, The owner didn't want to do it. The owner was really convinced that Josh could turn his life around, you know. And so we pulled away. It was a, I think we could have gotten a second round pick from the 49ers. I regret doing it. Yeah, we should have done it because I knew then that it was not going to turn around.

There were all signs pointed then that he didn't love football. Yeah. And his lack of, like, when you, when, look, when you have addiction issues, there's no easy cure for that, right? There's no easy cure for that. But you have to create some other love. Oftentimes people that are addicts will tell you they'll start running five miles every day. They have to do something to get away from their addiction. You know what I mean?

I don't know quite the word this, but that's kind of how it is. For the reality of it is, Josh just never really has a passion for anything. He's great at football, but I wouldn't say it's his passion. Well, we hope that he can find that passion point. We'll see what happens with the Patriots. It's a very interesting move. We're going to come back after this break, and we're going to give the five performances that jumped out to Lombardi this weekend,

and we'll keep this thing rolling. Before we move on, let's take a quick break to talk about Fandul. Football season is underway, and I'm sure a lot of us already have major regrets about our season-long fantasy teams. It's like you spend all off-season researching and getting excited for the season, and then comes the pain. That's why I'm so excited to be playing on Fandul all season. If Fandul, you get the excitement of researching and building your team each week.

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up and running, we'll have a Sonos expert deliver and set up your system. Absolutely free. Just order from Sonos.com and select Up and running at checkout. if you qualify back to GM Street. All right, and we're back. It is week two, the five performances that jumped out to Lombardi this week. The first one, obviously, is a talking point for pretty much everyone at the sport right now.

If you believe in QBR, he hit a 97.3. That is in A-plus and most schools in the world. He threw for 326 yards, six touchdowns, no picks. Of course, I'm talking about Pat Mahomes, Lombardi, Pat Mahomes, and this Andy Reid offense looks pretty unstoppable right now. And he set an NFL record. broke the record set by Peyton Manning, Andrew Breeze through his first two games. He has thrown 10 touchdown passes. Breeze and Manning both through nine in the first two games. So Pat Mahomes,

is he now the greatest quarterback of all time. It looks like he could be. I think Andy Reid's the greatest quarterback coach. Really, I think he's one of the great quarterback coaches of this generation by far. I don't think it's close. I mean, the guy designs offenses around what the quarterback can do. He's got a unique skill to make the quarterback play better. I mean, Alex Smith played well for him. Donovan McNabb. These guys leave Andy and they don't play as Michael Vic. Michael Vic. Yeah. I mean, Doug, I mean, even Nick Foles at first play well for. Jeff Garcia. Yeah. I mean, there's so many guys that he has brought into his offense has made them look great. It's really, and he does a great job. A call in the game. He sets the game up. And look, I'll say this. I mean, Terry Bradshaw has been on Mike Tomlin's ass for a while now. You know, he's called him a bad coach. And I don't, I don't completely agree with Terry. I think Mike's a really good motivator. But I think Mike lacks the details and attention. And you can see it. I mean, they have penalties galore on their team.

They don't reroute the receivers. They don't jam a receiver. Their defense, all the details that you have to do when you're playing at the top level, they don't handle. And they're giving games away. They're like, you know, you've got a defense that can't stop anybody. And Ben's taking a third and nine shot down the field and throws the ball out of bounds. Like, you've got to understand who you are as a football team. Like, we need third.

We need to convert. You know, we need to get it. I mean, I said last Friday, you know, we're talking about this game. They had a force Kansas City into a lot of third. downs. And so what did they do? Kansas City had five third downs for the whole game. Five, take pressure. They played Canadian football to the highest level. I mean, really, they should get the Grey Cup today. They should get the Great Cup. I mean, they played Canadian football to the highest level. And that's how you win. This whole nonsense, well, what's the best friend for a quarterback?

Nobody's giving us that rhetoric now, right? Nobody's talking about, well, the best friend for quarterbacks are running game. No, no, no, no, no, stop. The best friend for a quarterback is throwing the ball on early downs. And so you stay out of third down. That's the best friend for a quarterback. And I'll give you, as evidence, Patrick Mahomes, against Pittsburgh five third downs. Five third downs. And they really took over.

And I want to talk about you mentioned everything that Rathlisberger and the Steelers, you know, all fences really go in through. He still throws a 452 yards. The Chief's defense is horrendous. It's horrendous. Like that over there for that game was the greatest bet of all time. Like, you should have just taken everything that you have in your life and bet that over because nobody's playing defense. I'm like, nobody's playing. Kansas City won't play defense against Jimmy.

Not that Jimmy Garoppolo is playing well. I think Jimmy Garoppolo is not playing well at all, even though he played better this week. I think he's holding on to the ball too long. He's not decisive or accurate. But he will have a good game against his chief defense. Yeah, and I want to ask you, we're going to get to the Gropolo later. I want to talk about that Shanahan marriage because there is a little bit of back and forth going there. It seems like there's a little bit of growing pains.

But we're going to get to that. But Rathustberger and Antonio Brown. Antonio Brown, someone tweeted at him that if Ben Rathusberger wasn't his quarterback, you know, whatever, whatever, he would never be as good as he is, yada, yada, yada. He responded to it, said, well, trade me and we'll see. So this, you know, got people all up in arms. And obviously you got Juju Smith-Schuster,

a guy who's getting a lot of targets and catches for their team now. We obviously have the James Connor, Laveon Bell. So there's a lot of possibly potential lame duck situations on this offense. A lot of guys want to get credit for why the offense is so great. And Mike Tomlin, how do you nip this in the bud is really the question? You know, I was really shocked by the, by the Steeler players coming out and ripping Levi-on Rarely does the locker room take sides with management and a contract holdout.

I think that's like undefeated. I don't think there's ever been a case where the locker room is defended management. I mean, that streak's undefeated. But when you're losing, you know. Yeah, but this is before they even lost, DeFrasier. I mean, this is before the game. So there's something in their culture right now that's not good. There's something in that team that's not good.

You know, Ben wants to retire. The next thing you know, he wants to play five more years. Like, I don't know what's going on there, but I know this. There are details as a football team. aren't there. Too many false starts, too many holding calls, too much, too much stuff that affects the game. And when you play against a good opponent, and even though, you know, as great as Can City was on offense, Kansas City had more than an ample opportunity to win that game. I mean, Pittsburgh had more an opportunity to come back and take it over. That was my, really, my main takeaway from the whole game,

as much as Mahomes was incredible when he threw the six touchdowns, and I'm amazed by how awesome the offense looks. The whole time you're thinking, well, Pittsburgh is still in this game and they have a chance to win this game. So you can't really overreact on one side of the football. football, right? Right. And Mahomes is going to come back. I mean, there's going to be people that are going to study them. They've got to have to jam their receivers.

You can't let Kelsey run free down the field against cover three. I mean, it's high school throws. And this is what Kansas City has done before. I mean, if you wanted to surefire bet every single year, bet Kansas City week one to win because they come out of the season. They're hot. Andy Reid has everyone prepared. And the first, we talked about it, week one to week five is a different time before we get past that point.

We're going to see who these teams really are. And I think Mahomes is great. I think Mahomes is, I mean, he's going to always. I mean, there's no limitations on the throws he can make. No, he can hit every blade of grass on the field, which is important. And, you know, and again, you know, he's, he is a guy that's in the right place at the right time. And I don't care. We don't need much more evidence.

He's better than Mitchell Trubisky. I'm just telling you he's better than Mitch. We don't need any more evidence. He's better. I'm going to have to edit that out. But now we're going to get to a guy in a really good situation. And that is Fitzmagic himself. That is Ryan Fitzpatrick.

He has thrown for eight touchdowns and has also rushed for. rush for a touchdown in their first two games. This is the first time the Bucks have been two and oh, since 2010. That has been quite some time. And they take down the defending champions. We see O.J. Howard. We see Mike Evans. We see Dishon Jackson. We see Dishon Jackson's Clothes. We see Ryan Fitzpatrick put on Deshawn Jackson's clothes after the game and do his Connor McGregor impersonation. Everything looks like it's going well in Tampa Bay. And I have to ask you, is Ryan Fitzpatrick the quarterback of the Buccaneers now. Well, yeah, I think he has to stays the starter. I wrote about that too. I think he has to. I think he's been too productive

for him to lose a starting job. I mean, first of all, he's playing out beyond his own mean. I mean, there's going to be a mean regression here. When I was a kid growing up, as you know, I am a diehard 70s fan. It's a painful existence. I would watch the Sixers play the Celtics, and I wanted Larry Bird to be hot in the first quarter. I wanted him to make shots in the first quarter. I didn't care if they got up 42 to 20, you know, because I knew in the fourth quarter, he wouldn't be hot. They would have to balance up the numbers because you have to, right? It's just, just, that's why we have percentages. Return to the mean. Return to the mean, regression. So there's going to have to be a mean regression for Fitzpatrick. And if the

Eagles could have tackled O.J. Howard, and they had ample opportunity. Ronald Darby and this is a horrendous thing. They get them on the ground. All they need is one tackle and they're probably going to win that game. Instead, they give up too many big plays and it cost them. The Eagles, to me, is a fascinating story. I mean, when Doug Peterson and Belichick met at halftime of the field. Belichick's first thing he said to him was, man, it's hard to find any tape of you guys behind in the game. That's the first thing Belichick said. And it's true. They played from in front the whole year. They only threw 118 passes last year trailing in games. 118. They've thrown 79 already this year, Tate Fraser. They have yet to score in the first

quarter in two games. So they're not the same team. And then when you watch them on defense, that defensive front isn't they missed Jernigan badly. They miss Jernigan badly. They miss Jernigan. badly. And so they can't control the game. They're secondary. Jalen Mills can't cover you or me. They can't cover. They give up 613 yards in the Super Bowl in 26 minutes. That ain't covering anybody, right? But what they can do is affect the passing game through their defensive line. And right now, their defensive line, Fletcher Cox got a sack, but their defensive line got tired. You know, I think Nata played the most – Fletcher Cox had not have played the most plays last week. I think Nata played like 34 plays. Michael Bennett played 27. So when they're

playing a lot of plays, they're going to get tired. And they don't have the same depth that they had last year in the defensive front. Those guys aren't as good as last year's depth. They miss Vinnie Curry to a degree. They miss those guys. So I think that being said, I think Tampa's a lovely story. But like Kansas City, Tampa's defense is atrocious. And I mean, the defense, they have a bunch of rookie defensive backs that are out there playing.

Well, they play zone. So Carlton Davis, MJ Stewart, Jordan Whitehead, all those guys are out there. So there's rookie guys that are having to step up and play big minutes. So eventually that will, as we've said, rookies will be rookies at some point. I mean, the Steelers are favorites on the road this week, and the Steelers are 0 and two, and they're two and oh. I mean, think about that, Trey Frazier. But I think that's the best thing about Fitzpatrick, though, is that he has said in all these interviews when they've talked to him, not necessarily this week, but before,

said he knows that I have, you know, he said, I've thrown five touchdown passes in a game, but I've also thrown five picks in a game. I know who I am. I know when I'm hot, I know if I'm not hot. And this year, I'm just trying to, once I see that I'm not, I'm trying to protect the football. But if I am hot, I'm gunning. So at least there is an acknowledgement of who he is, right? I mean, I've seen it before when he's with Chey Gall. He's had these four touchdown pay. He's never had a five. He's had one six, and he's had a bunch of fours. But he's never averaged. There's only been five times in his career. He's averaged over 10 yards per attempting games. And two of them have now happened with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

So there's going to be, and actually, one of them happened, the first game he ever started when he played against the Houston, Texas, Houston Texans when he was playing for the Rams. And that was in 2004, I think. So there's been a huge gap in between. There's a big sample size here on Ryan Fitzpatrick. And eventually it's going to come back to the meme. I just, you know, can it go against Pittsburgh? I mean, look, could there be a better team to play?

Exactly. That's what I'm saying. You just keep it rolling for now. And then I think the real question will be if James comes back and they are 3-0, 4-0, whatever it is. And then what is the trade? What is the market for James? Do they want to get rid of James?

I don't foresee James being very excited about playing behind Ryan-Sittpatrick, but the team seems to have leaned into Fitzpatrick. I mean, there's a lot of question marks that will come down to a team that is actually doing really well. I mean, Millie asked me this question the other day. She said, how smart was the ESPN Monday Night crew to have Tampa in a third preseason game?

I'm like, yeah, I would have never, like, I would have never done that. I would have never done that. Tampa versus Pittsburgh, you know, third Monday night. Like, that's pretty crafty. I got to give them that. I mean, you know, pretty good pick for that game, right? Yeah, absolutely.

And we're definitely excited to tune in for that. One more note on the Eagles, which is that Jason Peters and Mike Wallace, both got banged up. Peter hasn't finished the game yet. And Mike Wallace has got the, broke his fibula. But the other thing we haven't talking about

with the Eagles. He may be out for the year, right? The fibula, you can come back from that. But Mike Wallace is not, they miss Alshan Jeff. They don't have any skill on the outside. This is going to be the biggest challenge for Carson Wentz as he comes back,

is where is the skill coming from? You know, I really thought the Eagles might have traded for Josh Gord. That was one of the, they did call. I think there were 10 teams that called about Gets. I know. Somebody said 10 teams, but if you trade Josh Gordon for a fifth and get back a seventh,

and you also get back another seventh if he doesn't play for 10 games, there really wasn't a good offer on the table. So there might have been 10 teams that called. There wasn't 10 offers on the table. Because the one thing fans have to understand is most of the time, 99.9% of the time in free agency, there's only two teams competing for one player. That's usually, there's never three or four. That's always just media talk. And there's never more than three teams competing four players. Now, I think there were for Mac. There were a lot, right?

Yeah. But in this case, I think 10 teams called, but I don't think anybody was going to put a firm pick on the table. It seemed like as far as specifics of the deals that were coming out, it seemed like the 49ers were a team that really had interest in them. They need them because the reason Garoppolo is holding the ball is they can't get anybody open. Exactly. They missed Marcus Goodwin, bad.

Dallas was the other team that came up. The Dallas is making the call. But Dallas is a team that's going to leak that just, you know, that's good PR for them and then the Patriots where the other team and the Patriots end up making the deal. But get back to the Eagles and Wentz coming back this week, I mean, there's not a lot of skill on the Eagles on the outside. Mack Collins isn't dressing. Jeffrey's not healthy and ready to go. They're not the same team. They don't have, they don't have Tori Smith from last year, right? So they don't have him either. They miss some speed on the outside. They're not the same unit offensively. And so I think that's affected.

So it's going to be interested to see Wynne's playing now with all. Look, he's got to be careful with his mobility. there's no deny on that, how he handles that if these receivers can't get open, especially when they're playing against the team that's going to play some straight-up man-to-man. And that is a very interesting game, him versus Andrew Luck, because we're going to get all the commentary about, is this guy 100%, how is he? You know, that whole game will be us, you know, over-analyzing every little thing that happens with Carson Wentz and Andrew Luck. So get ready for that.

And Andrew Luck played good last week. I mean, look, I think this. Somebody told me I need to talk about like a sleeper player every week, and I'm going to give you one right now. The Colts drafted this kid from South Carolina State, Darius Leonard, in the second round. He's a linebacker. Last week, he was one of the best players on the field against Washington.

He made almost every tackle created sacks. He was outstanding. You watched the game tape of him, and he was really, really a good player. And that cold defense flies to the football. They're fast. They're not going to be a man-to-man team. They're going to play the Tampa scheme. They're going to play the Dallas-Tampa-type scheme,

but they can run to the football, and they're going to lock those receivers down to Philly when they have to because they did it to Washington last week. Well, let's talk about a team that, has no problem locking up any opposing receiver and no problem talking about it. And that is the Jackson v. Jaguars. And of course, Jalen Ramsey leads that defense. They took on the New England Patriots this week, obviously the class of the NFL for the past decade, possibly more.

But the Jacksonville Jaguars made a pretty big statement. Blake Bortles goes and gets four touchdown passes out there to the world. People are very excited about that. I'm sure Blake Bordell's facts will pick that up. And we also get it without Leonard Fournett. I mean, without Fournett in the backfield. and to see Blake Bortals do this. I mean, does that devalue, you talk about devaluing the running back position?

Blake Bordels, I mean, he was basically the runner. You just fell right into the trap. Leonard Furnett's injury was a good injury for the Jaguizu to have this week. Yes. Because the Yelden? Because the Patriots have a hard time with horizontal lateral quickness. Their defense is slow. They can't handle this field spread.

When you make them defend the width of the field, okay, and the verticalness of the field, they get into problems. But when they can play a back like Fournette and they know the ball's really going to come from tackle box to tackle box, it plays into their strength. And then they know that 25 to 30 of those plays that is on the annual Hackett's play sheet are runs for Fournette. So that takes a lot of time away from them exploiting the weakness of the Patriot defense. It was the perfect storm for Jacksonville. I think Fournette's a really good player. But in this matchup, in this specific matchup for Nets not the perfect back. The perfect back was Grant. The perfect back was yelled to make them defend the field. Get Blake and read options. Get him to force the Patriots to have to play a space game and then take advantage of it. I think the thing that was amazing about this game was, yeah, I mean, Blake Bortle's fax is going to have a tough time. A lot of work. Yeah, parsing through this one. Yeah. And Blake played good through the one interception, but he played really well, made some great throws. Cole made some incredible.

But this game that not a lot of people are just, Josh Wells, the backup left tackle, went in for Cam Robinson in the middle of the second quarter. And he owned the Patriots. He played as well. Like usually when you lose your left tackle and they have for the season. Yeah, it's going to be a problem. Like that's one of those injuries that you have a hard time overcoming. Eagles did it last year with Vaitai went over there and he got through it. You know, we lost Nate Solder in 2016 when I was there with the Patriots. And really at the end of the day, we really never really overcame it, but you try to, but it's hard. There ain't left tackles just walking on the street. So, you know, and this kid went in, Josh was one in the game, and he blocked them like you couldn't believe.

And so to me, that was a great matchup for, by not having Fournette, it was a great matchup for Jacksonville in the game. And I think that's really why they, and they dominate. Look, they kick New England's ass. And they were more physical than New England, and they were tougher. They controlled the line of scrimmage. And Cole Westbrook, all those are those. Those. specialist guys that they have on the outside. Pitchers have no pass rush. They miss flowers. They have no pass rush. They couldn't win the game inside. And it became the most concerning thing. And I talked about this in the Josh Gordon segment. Like there was no toughness out of Patriot offense. There was no toughness at all. There was no, we're going to get after you. They, you know, right now they're

behind where they usually are. Let's talk about a guy that the game is behind him at this point. And he decided that at halftime. That was the biggest story. I'm still waiting to hear the exact breakdown of how it all went down. I love that Vante Davis had tweeted back in 2013, never to quit anything. I said that I think he left. He did not quit. But Vante gets out of there at halftime.

The Buffalo Bills, I mean, it's just a more of a larger conversation about what is really going on in Buffalo. This Vante news comes out. People were upset. People were talking about how they found out specifically in the locker room. And just overall, McDerm is putting up with a lot. This is a team that went

to the playoffs last year, but this team is a complete disarray right now. It really is. And frankly, you know, the more I look at the bills, they should have kept Tyraud Taylor. Or is it how on it? Tarad. Tarad. I know Millie keeps correct to me every time I say it. Tarad. They should have kept them. Tarad should be the starting quarterback in Buffalo and Baker Mayfield should be the starting quarterback in Cleveland. Because at least with Tarot, they could manage the game. Josh Allen's not ready to play. He's all over the place with the ball. He's inaccurate. He can't control the pass. You know, too many negative plays. He can't overcome them. He doesn't sack five times.

I mean, it's just snowballs down, right? So they would be much better. They should have held on to Tyrod, Tarrad, and Baker should be starting in Cleveland. Because really, what are they getting out of Taylor in Cleveland that Baker couldn't give them? I mean, seriously, to me, it's the most ridiculous thing. You know, you just hold onto the ball, really, trying to keep possession. Like, to me, they're better off growing with Mayfield and having him in there. And the bills, they should trade them back.

Yeah. Because that's the power. Or maybe trade for James. Or trade for James. Well, but they can't. They got to us out. But look, I'm saying this to it. We have to officially call what Vante Davis did a cutty from the wire.

Okay. Because the game just wasn't in him anymore. Yeah. And he just quit. And, you know, it would be nice. I'm watching the tape of the game. And I see him make a tackle in the first half. And I'm like, didn't he quit?

Like, it didn't dawn on me that literally he was actually competing and then stopped competing. Yeah. I think they wanted him to make some adjustments. And he's like, all right, well, I'm out. I'm out. When you retire, okay, when you retire, whatever. bonus money he got from the bills to sign there, he got to give it back. Oh, you got to pay him back

out. Oh, you got to pay it back out. Like, this is not coming off cheap here. That's what I was saying. I wondered, I mean, if you're under contract, you can't just. So the signing bonus, if I give you a five million. If I give you a $5 million signing bonus, right? It's prorated and I give you a five year contract. That signing bonus is prorated over those five years. So if you miss any, so that's divided by five times 16s divide. Every game that you miss for suspension or for something that you do, you owe that money back to the club. Yeah. Okay? And so he's, he, he, he, he, he, he, going to owe him some coin.

We'll see what happens. We're, we're, we're, we're going to miss you from the game. He's had some great moments. Been, been, been through some tough situations, Colts, Dolphins, Bills, you know, that's his three teams that he played for in his career, but he, he's also had some very hilarious and some very spectacular moments. So he was a great football player for quite some time. Let's talk about the biggest story of the weekend, and that is the lack of specialists.

and the lack of success on special teams and the lack of kicking. So much so that Dan Bailey, a guy who was waiting for a contender to come after and give him a call. Minnesota Vikings do give him that call. Dan Bailey, not going to join Mike Zimmer's Minnesota team.

But just overall, in general, we saw the Browns have struggles with it. Just across the board. I mean, I feel bad for the Brown kid. They had to cut that kid. But at the end of the day, Zane Gonzalez, the end of the day,

this is what everybody's missed the point on the Browns game. Okay, the kid missed the extra point at which would have put him in the lead. But the Brown's defense, allowed the Saints to move back down the field again. Okay? And Sean Payton did a blunder.

I mean, he should have run the ball once he was in field goal range to reduce any chance for them to come back into the game. And so that kid didn't lose the game for the Browns. That kid didn't lose the game at all for the Browns. I mean, maybe if he makes the field goal at the end, I think that's probably right. But they had to make the decision. I think Dan Belly did a smart thing because Carlson's kick when you watch the tape

of that game. Like, they weren't even in the same area coat, Tafrasier. Like, it wasn't like, oh, he just missed it. Like, they were like 20 feet over. Like, it wasn't even close. Like the best part is they asked Mike Zimmer. They said, Mike Zimmer, you know, what was that decision like, you know, to cut your kickers?

It was the easiest one I made. They were like, why? He was like, did you see the product? Yeah, it's the easiest decision I've ever made. I cut him. I mean, he had no choice, right? I mean, the people over. They thought they're going to give some sympathy, but Mike Zimmer does not play that game.

In between the goalposts, maybe fans should have helmets in case they get hit with the ball. Watch out. Like, if Carlson's kicking, they're going to have to give it from the hash marks. Yeah, spread it out. Like from the numbers out, because it was dangerous. I mean, I've never seen it. It was so bad. John Wall even said that he thought he could kick better than that.

He was putting his services out there. So if you get NBA players thinking they could be kickers in the NFL, it was not good. Look, look, it's just a byproduct of where we are. These extra points, I mean, they can't make them. The guys, like the Raiders didn't even block one guy. I just walked in and, you know, like, that's really, when you're a coach in the NFL or you're a coach in college or even in high school, you always should tell your team, I'm evaluating you more on the field goal rush after an extra point than anything.

Like, who shows effort on that play is the true competitor? That's the true competitor. And the Raider game, I mean, it's half their right side of the line that didn't even block anybody. I mean, Broncos just walked in and batted it down. It was like volleyball. And we're going to get in that conversation again with John Gruden and, you know, the $100 million man going 0 and two. Everyone's all up and I actually thought the Raiders play better. That's what I thought.

I mean, the Denver Broncos are playing these home games. and that's a nice advantage to play in the Mile High City. Case Keenham was horrible. I mean, he brought him down the field. But, I mean, if they think Case Keenom's going to lead him to victory, good luck. I don't think so. I don't think they've bought into the 2-0. I think the Raiders will have a better record at the end of the year than Denver will.

I mean, at least they got car to throw the ball down the field. At least he got him in there to hang in there because he gets rid of the ball too quick. You know, I think Bruce Ariens has been great on television. So maybe we need Brian Schadenheimer to go down there and be his offensive coordinator and tell him to hold onto the ball and makes him throws. Yeah, I mean, he just holds the ball to, he wouldn't hold the ball. He's got that Eli Manning, get it out of my hand quick. Speaking of that, yeah, let's talk about that. Can we talk about that for two seconds? Like NBC's watching Eli Manning go 11 plays 23 yards, and we don't have the conversation about maybe it could be over for Eli. When will that conversation ever happen?

There must have been a memo passed out that you're not allowed to bad mouth the quarterback. Well, he's throwing it 44 times. That's the other thing. I'm all in for, you know, this is going to be Sequan's team and all that sort of stuff that they're trying to put out to the world. But if Elon Manning is going to throw it 44 times, I mean, this is not Sequan Barkley's team. You know what I mean? It is still Elon's going to be a great player. I don't deny that. But he has eight negative.

The Giants as a football team have eight negative rushes already this season. Eight. They've got eight sacks. Nothing from John Stewart, nothing from Wayne Galman. Nothing for Barclay really in the running game. I mean, this is, it all starts with the quarterback. It's not going to change until they change. Look, we said it all off season on GM Street that,

the giants are living a delusional life. They're living in the past, remember when, according to Tony Sprano, is the lowest form of conversation. And the giants are remembering when Eli was good. That's all I'm going to say. I'm done. They're still living the dream of Eli Manning. I want to get one more note before we get on and move to the awards for the week. We're going to take one quick break. But before that, I want to ask you about the Cam Newton hit. That was the big storyline of this Atlanta Falcon game. Cam takes a big shot. No suspension will come from this. A lot of people down in Carolina, as I know, are very upset about this. I didn't think it was as bad when you watched the replay as it appear live.

Live, when I saw it live and I was at a terms of script, Giants game. I was like, wow, I thought he was really injured. Honestly, the way he got up, I was, very fortunate he was not. But then when I saw the replay, it didn't look as, now, obviously it was bad. And, you know, when you slow mo and I'm sitting on, I'm sitting over Tony P's drinking, you know, I mean, that's easy. But I didn't think it was as bad or as egregious as it appeared when I saw it live. But if you're going to be, you know, if we're playing this whole protect the quarterback game,

if you're the NFL, isn't this easy just, you know, give this guy one game suspension and everyone knows not to do this because now it gets into the world. That's what the Panthers fans and it seemed like Rivera. I mean, he said it was a terrible play. But they have that visual proof, right? Yeah, that's the problem. Now, they, they know, one thing about. But there is no precedent that's being said.

Look, the NFL is, is better than any, you know, they're the Warren Commission in what comes to invent visual proof. I mean, there's just, they're incredible. I mean, they, they've created visual proof that. Tony Carrento was right on the Clay Matthews hit. I can't see it. They can see it. I mean, they can see stuff. They obviously never saw a shooter underneath the, underneath the,

unit underneath the span in Dallas on in 1963. So they're good. They can do that, right? Yeah. They can invent it. So they can just make up anything they want as they go along. I mean, there's Clay Matthews. I don't know what he could have possibly done with his body. Like, I really don't know.

What would you like me to do with my body when I'm tackling this? Like, what would you like me to do with it? And Von Miller went on ESPN and they were asking about that play. And he was like, I'm not trying to defend other people. but I'm just saying, what am I supposed to do? I'm supposed to roll out and not hit it. What am I supposed to do? Just, okay, like, I'm going to lose 30 pounds in a second here and get off as though my body late.

I mean, come on. And that ended up leading down to the drive. It was like, it was an interception. They don't care. In Park Avenue, they could give a crap. You know, they don't care. All they care about in Park Avenue is making sure they're on that 5 o'clock train. Yep. That's all they give it.

You know, as long as they're on that night, trying train getting home. That's all they care about. Winds and losses, that's no big deal. That's all we got all these ties, right? They don't care. That wins a loss. That's your fault. You get fired. Maybe if we make some kicks, we won't have some ties.

All right, we're going to take one more break here. We want to come back and we're going to give out our awards for the week. One more quick break to talk about Seekek. Buying tickets can be complicated and confusing, but there is a simpler way to buy with Seek. Seek is the smartest, easiest way to get tickets to every type of live event. Whether you're catching your favorite musical tour, shopping for the perfect gift, or searching for a last minute deal to see your favorite team,

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First up, time to go on the lamb, which is, course of reference to get out of town. Get out of Dodge, back your bags, do what you got to do, getting your luggage. The Buffalo Bills, are they on the landlombardy? They got to be. I mean, look, this is bad. I feel bad. I like Sean McDermen as a coach. I thought he did a great job last year.

Their team is, they don't have a quarterback that can actually function, and it's affected everything else with their team. I mean, they traded Taylor. They should have not traded. They should have kept Taylor for one more year. Like, they would be better with Taylor. Not that Taylor's the answer, but he would have allowed them a bridge to get to Josh Allen.

Who I'm not sure is going to be the answer. because he's so inaccurate. I mean, he's all over the place with his ball. And, you know, I know he's going to work with all the gurus and all that. But where's George Whitfield when you need him? Man, I'll tell you what. He does not have control of the football. He does not have it.

And Buffalo defensively, they can't play good in the red area. They can't turn the ball over. Those are the two staples that they lit last year. It's bad. It's bad. I mean, they're not very good. They are not very good. And it's good for the rest of the AFCEs.

Speaking of the AFCEs, let's talk about the Fred Palermo Award. and that is all about preparation. I thought Miami did it this week. Miami, I don't think Miami's a great team. I thought they would be one of the worst teams in the league this year, and they've won two games so far. But I thought Miami didn't. You know, people, I always say this,

you can't win until you avoid losing. And people say, well, Lombardy, that's so obvious. Okay, it's so freaking obvious. Why don't you tell Pittsburgh, okay? Because all Pittsburgh does, everything they've done is just lose. Okay, and the Jets in that game, everything they did in that game was lose. They turned the ball over. They fumble, you know, they give up penalties.

Everything they did, and Miami didn't look pretty at all. I mean, Miami's second in the NFL in having the most negative plays by an offense, okay? But yet they're able, they punt the ball. They're not turning the thing over as much. It's a field position always. It's a field position game. They've played it well. Their defense has made enough stops.

So for me, you know, they went in New York. They beat a team with really a simple game plan and they were able to execute it. They stopped the jets from running the football, which, you know, you want the quarterback to have some balance. right. 41 passes for Sam Donald's not going to cut it, especially when he's a young guy, and if they're not throwing it on first down. So to me, I thought Miami deserves props for that. And I will say Tanna Hill has been great at just controlling the game as far as being able to run the ball. I mean, he had like 44, 45 rushing yards, something like that, and threw for 168 yards, two touchdowns. I've been impressed with Tannenhill just basically, it's a game managing type of way to do it.

I think this week will be a challenge for him against Oakland because I think Oakland will attack him, and much better with, you know, Gruden's coming off of playing Denver, which is the same scheme that they run in Miami. So he's kind of had like now. It's familiarity. Yeah, perfect. But it'll be interesting game. Let's get up to the KGB Award, the team that got duped this weekend.

He got Lombardy. Oh, it's got to be the Redskins by far. The Redskins are the most front-runner team I've ever seen in my life. I mean, first of all, this Adrian Peterson thing. Everybody's talking about how he comes back. He can't gain a yard. Washington got their ass kicked up front on both sides of the line. They really did.

Now, they don't have any skill. They signed two receivers. They signed Perryman today. They signed Michael, Floyd. Their skill, their receivers is bad. Alex Smith was taking the checkdown like it was nobody's job. Thompson got a, I think he had like 13, 14 receptions. I mean, him and Eli are going to compete for who's going to take the checkdown faster.

But, I mean, they got, you know, I mean, Indianapolis came in, took the opening drive right down the field, they scored, they executed, they played with a high tempo. I think Washington is so inconsistent. And if they, like, they play Green Bay this week, if they get the lead early, they're going to front run it. But if they ain't in the lead, they're not. And, you know, Josh Norman tried to cover Ty Wight Hilton. and he couldn't cover, he couldn't cover Tiwi.

Yeah, that's what I was going to say. I mean, you look at Andrew Luck, you talk about he's got two good options right now that he really relies. Ebron and T.Y. Hilton are both playing really well. They're both getting in the end zone. And Mack and Heinz, the two running backs, they're really like more scatbacks than they are. They need a power back in Indianapolis. But for the most part, those guys played good. Washington's team, you know, I thought they would lose in Arizona because I thought this is who they are, like so inconsistent.

And they went out there and they won. But they're so inconsistent. I mean, the details, everything about them. Their offensive line played like crap last week. I thought they got new. But the good news is the NFC East is wide open. When you look around there, I mean, you look at the Giants, you look at the Cowboys, look at the Eagles, you look at the Redskins.

Every single team is very back and forth up and down, ebbs and flows. Except for the Giants. Yes, which is just down. But then Wenzh is coming back, which could separate the whole thing. Can't tell my courage from my desperation. We've got to talk about the Patriots right, taking this move for Josh Gordon. I think the Patriots were desperate to make the move. I think they had to.

I think they have no skill on the outside. I think Mike Reese has been keeping track of the transactions on wide receivers. And really, you could do a 30 for 30 on why the receiver situation in New England is the way it is. It could be, it's not a half-hour documentary. It's at least an hour documentary. Perfect. And it starts with really this thing. And we can talk about it next week.

But the reason it's so difficult is because Brady has been there for so long. So every year, the playbook grows to Brady. And so it's now, just think of it as this way. It's now three Manhattan phone directories. We used to have phone directories when we were growing up. TafeiFrager, I know you don't have any. I know what they are. North Carolina, we still have those things.

It's like huge. So when a rookie comes in, he's got to learn like four volumes of this whole. It's just, it's hard. Even veterans have a hard time learning. And you can't scale it back because Brady ain't scaling it back. He's going forward. They have no skill on the outside. You know, they missed with Britt.

They missed with Jordan Matthews. They missed with some guys in the offseason. Patterson is what we said he was. He's not going to be able to live on the outside and play consistently. enough, you know, so they had to make this move. And now we're going to see if they're courageous or desperate. I think if you can't tell my courage from my desperation, we know that the Patriots will take a chance and Bill Belichick and Tom Brady can, you know, they've made magic work before, so what's here they do. This is why they have September. September, they figure

out who they are as a team, they modify it, they adjust it and they go forward. The receiver thing, they'll get in them and back, that'll help. But they better figure out a way to get the team tougher on offense. And final one, if you don't know, now you know. I think Kirk Cousins proves to everybody he's really good. I mean, I know last week, you know, and I said this in a pot on Friday, bad lines don't travel well. And Minnesota is not a great line right now, but they do enough to help them. But I think Kirk Cousins has played well. I mean, there was a couple opportunities that Packers had some dropped interceptions and could have made the game a lot easier, especially they got a, you know, the penalty helped them. But I think Cousins is a really

good player. And I think if you compare Cousins to Alex Smith, he's a better player in Alex Smith. I don't care what anybody says. And so I think Cousins is a good player. I think Minnesota's got a good team, and I think Cousins is going to make them better. I think Dalvin Cook is back. I think he's sensational. He can impact the passing game.

And the other thing you've got to know is, I think Alvin Kamara is one of the best players I watched all week. I mean, he's just so much fun to watch. He can do so much in the so different things in the passing game and the run game. So those are the two things. Those are the two things. And my final thing is Todd Gurley,

let the man continue to go for these two-point conversions. It is a modern Marvel. It is changing the game of football. They should do it all the time. I mean, nobody's going to stop them for two yards. Hey, look, here's the thing about the Rams. The one thing to know about the Rams is if, again, if you want to bet on a game and there's a high point spread,

the Rams never take their foot off the gas. Never. They're never going to take it off. They're going to keep doing their thing. Even after the game, they said that the offense was about a BB plus. They weren't quite where they wanted to be. No, they're going to keep going. It wasn't even close.

It wasn't even close. I mean, it wasn't even close. So I think to me, you know, that's a good sign. You know, the Rams, the thing you've got to like about the Rams is they're not just a good team on paper anymore. They're a good team on the field. Absolutely. And we'll keep our eye on them. We will be back Friday.

For usual, we're going to do all of Lombardi's five picks for the weekend. Three and two this weekend, four and one the first weekend. We're going to get into week three this week and hopefully try to get 100 percent. We need it. We appreciate everyone listening, as always. And again, see you on Friday. Thanks again, to Fandle. Football season is underway.

and that's why I'm excited to be playing on Fanduil. FanDil has never been more fun or easy. It's the place to play if you're not a fantasy expert. Fandul has something for everyone and there are more ways to win than ever before. Like their gridiron pickum contest every single week. New users get a $20 bonus when they make their first deposit on Fandul. Come play with me at fandul.com slash the ringer. That's fanduil.com slash the ringer.