The Ringer NFL Show - The Packers Are in Panic Mode and the Main Characters for Week 3

Episode Date: September 25, 2026

Tom, Sheil, and Billy get together to analyze the Falcons' impressive win over the Packers on 'Thursday Night Football.' Then they shine a light on who they think will be the main characters of  Week 3 in the NFL slate before Billy reveals his current QB rankings and tiers. They end the pod with Sheil’s Ringer 107 picks. (00:00) Intro (1:52) Falcons defeat Packers on ‘TNF’ (20:33) Main characters for Week 3 (47:24) Billy’s QB tiers (56:50) The Ringer 107 Check out Tom Pelissero's newsletter 'The Sweep' on Substack!: https://tompelissero.substack.com Upgrade Your Performance with Orgain Creatine. Available at Amazon, Costco, Walmart & Whole Foods. Try ZipRecruiter FOR FREE at https://ziprecruiter.com/RINGERNFL The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Host: Tom Pelissero Guests: Sheil Kapadia and Billy Gil Producer: Chris Sutton Video Editor: Curtis Schultz Production Supervision: Conor Nevins and Arjuna Ramgopowell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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While others follow the noise, we follow the money. Learn more at Bloomberg.com. What's up, everybody? It is the Ringer NFL show Friday, September 25th. Thursday night football. Great night for the Falcons, bad night for the Packers. What do we make of it? We'll talk about that game.

Who's the favor right now in the NFC North? A lot to unpack there. Also get to our main characters for week three Sunday across the NFL. We'll do picks in the Ringer 107. And Billy Gill, who had a controversial take on the show the other day, is going to defend him saying Brock Purdy is a top 13 quarterback in the NFL. When you ask questions, when you complain on social media, when you leave lots and lots of comments, it turns out, some of us do have started to see them and sometimes it requires a little added context. We'll do that today.

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Call 1-888-78-9-77-77 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut. Tom Pelliserro, Billy Gill, Sheel Capadia, all here. Stayed up last night to watch a Thursday night football game. game that Sheel, I just, I like to think the Packers at home, it is their home opener, short week, even with the injuries, even with all the challenges and Josh Jacobs not being there. You just like to think that they find a way at Lambeau Field to beat a Falcons team that had looked grossly incompetent offensively for the first couple weeks of the season. The first couple drives, it kind of seemed that way. Michael Pennix, Jr., looks like very much like a guy who hadn't

played. But the final three quarters or so was all Falcons. I just, I was startled by the dichotomy between the teams and it looked like it was the Falcons who came to play and the Packers that had no answers for anything. What did you make of it? Yeah, we all know that in the NFL, sometimes the team's a big favor and everyone expects them to win and fluky stuff happens. There's a special teams thing. There's a couple weird turnovers. We've all seen those types of games. That's not what this was. If you sat down and you had, hadn't watched any other game by the Falcons this year, didn't know what was happening with either team,

didn't know preseason expectations, you would just come to the conclusion that the Falcons were more talented, better coached, played harder, executed better. I mean, you can check every single box you want. They had 498 yards of offense. In that game, they rushed for 242.

They scored on five straight possessions in that game. So there's a lot of different angles we can get to with this game. to me the biggest one is crisis mode might be an exaggeration for the Packers, but I don't know. Have you talked to any Packers fans in the last 12 hours? I think that's pretty close to where they are with the way these first three weeks have gone. They're one and two. Their only win is in overtime against the Jets.

Their offensive line is in shambles. Their defense looks like it can't do anything to stop the opponent until Michael Parsons gets back. And all of a sudden, it feels like this season is slipping away for them. So I think my big takeaway, if I had to have one from them, that game. It's more the panic over the Packers. And of course, we can get into the positives with the Falcons here

in a minute. The way the Falcons look, you would think that Michael Pennex was the most important person in the league. Because the Falcons didn't, they didn't look like a good team in the first two weeks. And Sheel pointed out, 498 yards on offense. They also only allowed 17 rushing yards

to the Packers yesterday. The Packers really didn't have answers for anything. They had 10 drives. Five of those 10 drives were five plays or less. They couldn't really do anything right. They had a field goal that was blocked. They went for it again within the 15-yard line. They didn't convert on a fourth and one.

The score didn't even indicate how lopsided it was. It could have been 42-14 because there was an interception at the end of the game that they could have run back but decided let's just down it and end this game. It was as lopsided as it could be. And I think that, you know, it's shocking that the Packers are where they are right now. but the Falcons are not a team that should be blowing you out by nearly 30 points in the game. They had almost 500 yards of offense. It looked like there was no answer whatsoever for Bejohn Robinson,

which you would think the starting point for the game plan, I don't care who's a quarterback is, let's not let Bejohn just run all over the field. I don't know how many tackles he was officially or unofficially credited with forcing, but it was a lot between broken tackles and mistackles, the number of guys he's jukeing. And then Drake London goes off in the game, too. Kyle Pitts, I'm told Kyle Pitts is still on the roster.

I saw I'm blocking at one point last night, but this is very much a two-man operation. It's Drake London and it's Bejohn Robinson. What last night showed above all else, taking nothing away from Michael Pennix Jr. If you just have a quarterback who can get the ball to those guys, it makes a huge difference. Where Cooper Rush, from the very first snap of the season,

right where he scrambles and he fumbles and it just felt like this is a mess. Penix, other than the first series or two series, he played well in the game. On the offensive side, I've seen all the criticism of Matt LaFleur. My mentions this morning were flooded with all these people reposting my stuff about him getting a contract extension at the end of last season. I struggle with how we're going to pin what's going on with the offense on Matt LaFleur. Yeah, you'd love to have more answers. He said it after the game.

Like, I don't know what's going on offensively right now. They're scuffly. there's no doubt about it. And the offensive line being gutted, you don't have the right tackle, the left guard's out right now. All those things are completely fair. But if the quarterback doesn't play at a higher level

than Jordan Love did last night, I don't know, Sheel, how often you're really going to be competitive. You know, we talked about James Winston on Monday night. That's a backup quarterback coming in. He kind of expect maybe he's going to miss some throws, although that was really bad. Jordan Love was missing throws.

I know he connected with, Christian Watson's healthy and looks really good. Matthew Golden's taking a step. Tucker Kraft, you'd like him to get more involved. But Jordan Love is missing throws. And it seems like when the pressure is in his face, he's not able to operate the way that he needs to, which that part needs to improve Shield.

And if you want to blame coaching for that, fine. But you're highest paid, your best players need to play their best, and Jordan Love isn't playing his best football right now. Well, the big thing with Love, if you go back to last year, and you're right, is that his splits, from when he was kept clean in the pocket, he was like a top five quarterback, and when he was pressured,

he was a below average quarterback. And so I was looking at that coming into the season because on paper that Packers' offensive line, I was like, yeah, yeah, I have some questions about this group, and then they get injuries. But the history of the Packers, if they get kind of guys you've never heard of to come in, and it's like, okay, the offensive line is at least average.

It hasn't been this big issue for them in a very long time. but now with the injuries, with the lack of talent, with the offseason moves, it looks like the offensive line is not as good. And it doesn't look like Jordan Love is the type of quarterback who can overcome that. I mean, there's been a lot of quarterback discourse this week. And so much of it is just like, what are you willing to make an excuse for for one guy versus someone else? You know, you could look at a guy like Patrick Bahomes. And it's like, is that a great supporting cast?

And he's coming off a knee injury. And man, that looks pretty good to me. You can look at Lamar Jackson throughout the course of his. career when he's one MVP. Did you look at that and go, man, great supporting cast, great coaching there? I don't think so. Josh Allen's gone through how many different coordinators and skill guys and every year they finish in the top five. So I think that's like one class of quarterback. And then you have this next class where the guys are talented like Jordan Love, but the situation needs to be good for them to perform at that elite level. And there's still a

question about what they can overcome. And the offensive line was terrible in that game. I mean, the stats. It was like doing 25, 27 quick pressures, which is under two and a half seconds, something like that. And he's getting pressure. Like you said, it's really having an impact on him versus maybe some of the other great quarterbacks in the NFL. And then from a coaching perspective, it's like you can't run the ball. You're playing from behind because your defense is terrible. You got to throw the football and you know they're going to attack you. And so it was a tough situation all around. I still like Lefleur. I still like love. But this It feels like a little bit of a pivot point in kind of that partnership with the way the rest of the season comes.

The other thing is you mentioned the 17 rushing yards in the game. They only rushed it nine times, which, you know, there's that, you know, the analytic community will tell you, you don't need to run the ball to set up the play action. But you do need to have the threat of a running game. No one is fearing that offensive line blocking for Marshawn Lloyd and Caleb Johnson and Chris Brooks. So when you don't have the threat of the run, the play action is not nearly as effective. Everybody just assumes, all right, this is going to be Jordan Love throwing the football again, Billy, which puts you in a position where not only are you one-dimensional, but you also are predictable in terms of the way that you're going to be trying to throw the football. All that cobbled together has put them in a tough spot, even though when Matt LaFleur is given Jordan Love's layups, it just feels like they're not automatic, and that's not a great place to be.

No, I mean, to your point, like, even if the run game is not working, at least have a run game going so that they have to defend against the run game and let them dominate you and then you can kind of get your passes up. But if you only rush nine times, why are you even going to plan for them? You know you're not going to do it. I think the disappointing part about this game is this should have been kind of a get right game for the Packers in the sense that this is a Falcons team that they should have beat. And they had a win against the Jets last week, but it wasn't an impressive win by any means. if you're the Packers. They could have lost that game and they had to go to overtime. And, you know, it's not panic time at one and two. They're still somehow in their division, but it can quickly get away from them when they start playing division games and when they're

playing teams that they should be beating that they're simply not beating. Right now they're at the bottom of their division. And yeah, I think we all think that they're going to be in it. But the Vikings survives at 2 and 0 without their starting quarterback. Their starting quarterback, Kyler Murray is going to be back this week. The lions are one in one. They're going to figured out at some point in time. Bears are one in one. Caleb's not going to be out an extended period of time. So at a certain point, you need to start racking up the wins when they're kind of handed to you. And if they're not doing that, then this might be a long season for the Packers. So who's your favorite, Billy? Right now, you just laid it out. The Vikings are two and

oh, but they won scoring nine points last week. They've had Carson Wentz for all but two series this season. You got the Lions who, they're one of I think four teams in the league that have scored at least 30 in each of their games, but they can't stop anybody and they have no secondary. And then you got the Bears who, again, 59 points in week one, three points in week two. I understand there's a quarterback and there's bad weather and turnover at the goal and all that, but it's still, there's some variance. Like right now, if you're guessing who's the team to beat in the NFC North, who is it? I mean, it's looking good for the Vikings just because they survived with Carson Wentz.

And now we're going to see what Kyler is. But, I mean, the problem with concussions is once you get one, that other one can come. And we've seen that over the years that once you have got, whether it be Chris Olavay or Tuwa, once guys kind of have the repeated concussions, you start freaking out. And you also wonder, is Kyler going to be playing a little more conservatively than he's been playing or that he's known to play? Because he doesn't want to get concussed again. So it might change the way that he's playing. We didn't really see much of him at all in week one.

So we don't know what the play style is going to be around him. But if you can make it work with Carson Went. you can make it work with Kyler Murray, you would think. So they have the leg up right now. The Lions, I mean, Sheila and I both did like our preseason predictions. We both had them getting to the Super Bowl. So I think we both wanted to work out for them

so that we don't look ridiculous. Not that it would be the first time or the last time, but I think we want the Lions to work out. And Caleb, you wanted him to take a step forward this season. Last season was a promising season for him. So you thought this could be a year where he goes to the next level. So the three of them are right there. everybody thinks that Jordan Love is this, I'd say, tier two, tier three quarterback maybe when you're looking at it.

But right now, it seems like he's stuck there. And I don't know that he's had enough to carry the team with all the injuries that he has. Yeah, I'm more concerned honestly about their defense. Because Tom, what you said, like, how do you go into that game if you're Jonathan Gannon? And it's like Michael Pennix, Jr. making his first start coming off this injury, I don't understand how the whole game plan isn't just we have to, you know, commit every resource. force we have to Bejohn Robinson and not let him go off and let's make panics hurt us with his arm and, you know, Robinson just, I mean, he got them back into that game and then they started

making plays downfield. I mean, you look at kind of the defensive coaches in this division and what Brian Flores is doing and I know we've talked about it before, but you can't talk about it enough. They're two and oh, and there's that graphic that comes up with like Kevin O'Connell and the other coaches who have had all these different quarterbacks and Kevin O'Connell's got such a better record. And I think one of Kevin O'Connell's greatest strengths is an ability to work with Brian Flores. I don't know how you can look at it any other way. He hired him. Anyone could have hired him.

He kept him in the building. They didn't let him go away this offseason. And so I think the Vikings right now are probably the most balanced team in the division. If I had to pick one, I'm not getting off Detroit yet because I still feel like if their O line gets healthy, if Brian Branch comes back, maybe they make one move at, at, at corner. I'm scared. If it sounds like I'm scared, it is because I am scared

about my preseason prediction, but I would stick with Detroit. And the Bears looked awesome week one. So if Caleb Williams is coming back healthy, they're in the mix, too. So I have the Packers as kind of an easy fourth place right now for me in the NFC North. Maybe that's just sticking to my priors before the season. Maybe that's overreaction to the first three weeks.

But I do like those other three teams at least a little, I see a little gap between those other three and the way this pack. Packer's team is playing right now. Billy Byers sell the Falcons can win the NFC South. Well, I was going to sell until about an hour ago when I saw a tweet from Bleacher Report. So the Bleacher Report came out and they reported a quote from Bejohn Robinson after the game. And I don't know if you guys saw this. Bejohn Robinson says Kevin Stefansky brought the Falcons together with a speech after the Panthers' loss that reminded him of Martin Luther King.

Quote, it was like Martin Luther King was there. They responded with a 21 point win over the Packers at Lambo Field. Can I just stop us for one moment and verify, Billy, are you sure that's a real quote? And that's not AI. That's a nice shot by you, Tom. Let's get a second source on that. I was most definitely skeptical about this. I clicked it.

It is the official Bleacher Report account with 20.8 million followers. So if they were fooled, they fooled me. It seems very far-fetched that this is a real quote from Bejohn, but he said, quote, it was like Martin Luther King was in there, and that's what inspired them to win this week. Shield, greatest orators of our time, Martin Luther King, Kevin Stefansky, who you got? I'm just glad that Billy attributed that.

If he was just like, I saw on the internet somewhere, so now I'm putting it on someone. I did not see this quote. No, we're up the hook. I will say, if you are a Falcons fan, to try to get us to an uncomfortable pivot here. If you are a Falcons fan, you're like, hey, I open up the pod because I thought this is the one time our team's going to get credit.

You've been making fun of us all year. That was such a well-coached team last night. Like even just sticking with the two defenses, like Jeff Holbrook doesn't exactly have all pros at every position on that Falcons defense. You look at that depth chart and you'd be like, who are these guys? Is this one of the least talented defensive rosters in the NFL? They have a guy, C.J. Henderson, who I didn't even know,

he was still on their roster. He looked like an all-pro quarterback last night. So that, to me, is coaching when it's like, all right, anyone, not anyone, but a lot of people can do it when you are the more talented team, when you have your all pros healthy, everyone's good. The reason these guys get paid a lot of money, it's always the Don Draper meme. Like, this is what the money's for is when you don't have the guys. You're going up against a veteran quarterback who's making over $50 million.

You're going up against a very good offensive coach, and you completely shut them down. So on that side of the ball, and then offensively, you just have to be encouraged to what you were saying, Tom, that panics, he doesn't have to be Superman.

The ball came out quickly last night, which hasn't always been his strength. It came out quickly last night. He's going to give Drake London shots on the perimeter. Just be like, all right, he's down there somewhere. I'm going to chuck it up. And Drake London has shown he's capable of that. So it was a good reminder that it's only week three

because to your question, I'm like, yeah, of course they could win the NFC South. Do you think these other teams are that much better than them with the way they played last night. It's going to be 8 and 9, week 18, and one of them is going to come through. I found additional context to this quote.

After the game, I bought you some time there. Bejan Robinson told Prime Video, quote, I don't know if he drank some coffee or something, but he said this speech. It was like Martin Luther King was in there. I want to hear more about this speech.

I am. Was Kevin miced up? I love Kevin, but like, that is hard to take a stretch. I mean, it's a thing, Tom, is that he's even keel, right? That's the fancy his greatest strength. That's the thing. Now, I've seen some of his post-gave. Like, he can turn it on.

Like, he has those abilities. But, yeah, I just, I've got a lot of, a lot of questions. It's almost as many questions about how C.J. Henderson, who is the ninth overall picking 2020 and it's on his fifth team last night, played like Prime Dion Sanders out there. He should have switched numbers with Mike Hughes. It would have looked a little bit more on par in the number 21 jersey. We got to take a break.

I need to find the video and catch up on it. We got our main characters for week three Sunday after this too. The Ringer NFL show is brought to you by Fandul. Here's something to look forward to between kickoffs this Sunday With Sunday Spectacular, Fandual Rewards Club members can unlock exclusive rewards throughout the day with offers tailored to their rewards club level. Depending on your level,

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It is week three. Sunday is coming up. Tons of great storylines, great games. Let's dive in to the weekly feature. It is our main characters for the week three Sunday of the season. And I want to kick this off with a quarterback who had quite a run in the 2025 season right up until the last game. Drake May, one of if not the breakout star in the entire league, who is at a bumpy ride going back to that Super Bowl. He wasn't totally healthy.

He was dealing with a shoulder injury. Comes out in week one of this season in Seattle and plays maybe the worst game that he's played, certainly the worst game since Mike Vrabble and Josh McDaniels got there. Last week, they beat the Steelers, but it wasn't exactly an offensive powerhouse performance. Right now, Drake May, one touchdown pass four interceptions through the first two games this season. He has the lowest passer rating of the 31 qualified passers in the league, several points behind Justin Herbert, who we've talked a lot about. For Drake May this week, he's got the Jaguars. These are the types of games that the Patriots, if you're going to make another run, you're going to go through the playoffs, you've got to be able to go on the road and beat a team like Jacksonville. By the way, week four, they're at Buffalo.

you lose this one, it's going to feel like that's, well, if you don't beat the bills here, your three games back potentially in the division. It's over at that point. It's a sneaky big game shield. And I understand Josh McDaniels is a really good coordinator. You have to adjust a lot of things in offense that's kind of built around AJ Brown when he goes out in the first half of the opener. But they've got to be able to find a rhythm. Drake May needs to play. It seems, just with like that same kind of confidence and energy and swagger that he did last season. I'm interested to see knowing that the Jaguars and Anthony Campanilly are going to throw a lot at him. What version of Drake May shows up? Because you know the Drake May that was a pretty good quarterback

all last season is in there. Yeah, physically he still looks good. He can run around. He can throw the ball and he's underthrown some passes, but the arm is still there. The big question I would have with Drake May if I were a Patriots fan is you see sometimes with young quarterbacks when early in their career, they're getting hit a lot and they're getting pressured a lot. And last year, he was awesome in those situations. I mean, he was probably the best quarterback in the NFL statistically when he was pressured. But then you have the playoffs and it's happening over and over and over again. And now you made some changes on the offensive line, but guess what?

The offensive line still is not very good this year. And so when you get that constant pressure for a young quarterback, I think you can develop some bad habits. And I think that's part of what we're seeing here with Drake May. I mean, this is not just a blip anymore. If you go back to last year and include the playoffs, which I think sometimes we hand-waved it and said, all right, he was injured,

don't make anything about that playoff run. But if you include it, that's now six straight games where they have had a below-average offense, if you look at EPA and the advanced set. They have not had an above-average offensive game for six straight outings going back to last year and then to start this year. So that's concerning whether it's Josh McDaniels.

I know he's taking some heat in New England, whether it's Drake May. You can look at the roster construction, and I know AJ Brown's out, but you did get Romeo Dobbs. You were hoping that the offensive line was going to get better. There's really a lot of blame to go around. It is only two weeks, but you're right.

You know, this is this Jaguars team is tough. This is a very good Jaguars team. You're playing on the road. And if you don't show up in this game, it does feel like it's going to be heightened a little bit going into week four against Buffalo. And if I'm being honest, I like the Jaguars in that game.

I think they're a better team than the Patriots right now. I think they're a more balanced team. I think they're probably a more talented team and they're a better coach team. So it's a two and a half point spread. It's kind of like a coin flip type game. But I do like the Jaguars chances here, Billy, better than the Patriots, given what we've seen out of both teams so far. The good news about it being a road game for the Patriots is that the Jaguars are in a weird,

like, two seasons here, right? This game's going to be played at a reduced capacity. So the upper deck's going to be closed. It's going to be a maximum of 42,000 people there because they're currently in the process of renovating the stadium. Next year, the Jaguars are going to play at home at all. They're going to be playing between Orlando and London games. But this year, they've already started a construction.

So 40,000 people in Jacksonville, I mean, you have to contend with like the Florida weather this week probably, but there are cold fronts coming oddly where it'll probably be in the upper 70s, 80s. So you don't even have the heat factor there. Look, the Patriots defense has allowed 16 points so far this season, right? So if they can keep Trevor Lawrence in check, Drake may just has to kind of slowly be getting it back together. And, you know, the Jaguars have given up points.

They gave up 20 points last week to the Broncos. They gave up 10 points to the Browns, but it's not like they're putting up a ton of points as it is. The Browns, you know, it was a 34-point game. They ended up being better than we thought last week. But, you know, it's a winnable game. And this is one of those games that it's not just within the division and things start going, you know, down south and the east.

this could be a playoff seating thing down the road between the Jaguars and the Patriots. So you want to be winning these conference games because if they let these go, then this could be the difference between, you know, maybe missing the playoffs, but a game, maybe being like a six-seat or a seven-seed. So you can't give him too much time to figure it out.

He's got to kind of turn it around now if he's going to. Shield, your main character. What do you got for week three? All right, I have a question for you, too. You know, normally we like to plan the show beforehand and, you know, we go through you. Do we want to talk more about Justin Herbert or not? That's my question, too.

Because I've got like three options here. You know, make it, Billy, you're on the internet. You're getting the pulse of the people. Sometimes, yeah. You're reading the comments. You know, do you feel like people, are they Herberted out? Are they like, we've heard enough? We don't want to hear this.

Or are they like, give it to us? This is a main character for Week Free. Help me out here. And then I'll tell you my tech. If we're going to be honest, by the way, that other game, Doug Marone revenge game. We didn't even get into that. He's coming back as a Patriots Offensive's line coach

for the first time since being fired. So keep on on Doug Maron. Now, in terms of Herbert, you need to tread very lightly here, Sheel, because you were, quote, unquote, just reading a text from a friend last week, and you proposed this idea of them trading Justin Herbert to, I believe, the Vikings at the time,

but you probably in your head have also talked yourself into, well, maybe they should trade him to the Giants. So the Chargers fans did not like you just quote unquote reading a text from a friend I'm just a man reading text You're also the casting director of these main characters, Sheel

so we read it to you to pick your main character. All right, I'm picking Justin Herbert if we're just being honest who is a main character for week three. Of course he's a main character. He has been probably the guy who's been most talked about in NFL discourse this entire week. And let me try to do something very difficult here. Okay. I'm going to try

to have a rational conversation. about Justin Herbert. Do you think we can do it? No. Probably not. But we're going to try. I think so. All right. Smart, normal humans?

Yeah, well, sometimes. They're at Buffalo. They're big underdogs in this game. They're trying to avoid going, going three with Justin Herbert here. Now, the ball knowers are defending Herbert. They're telling you it's not his fault. Most neutral observers are just tired of hearing that this guy's really good because he's in year seven and he's never made it past the wild card round.

So here's where I am at. I'm trying to bring the ball knowers, the every man, get us all together in a room. Let's have a conversation about Justin Herbert. So that's what we're trying to do here. I don't think Herbert's playing well. I also don't think he's the main problem with the Chargers. I think he's a good quarterback.

And at some point in his career, he's going to have a moment, whether that he's top five in MVP, whether that he's in the Super Bowl. there will be some point in Justin Herbert's career where we all look at it and go, it's happened for him. Now, Billy's getting mad at me.

Wait a minute. See? You can't even have this. I can't even get through one point. All right, what are you upset with him? No, it's just like the whole argument is he's got to do something at some point in his career. He just has to. And it hasn't happened yet.

So he's going to because he has to. No, well, I'm saying it could be like a Matthew Stafford like situation. Oh. Where he's just, it's a long time. He could be 33. Maybe something happens with the Chargers. Maybe he's on a different team, and it's like, oh, you know, all the ball noers. Like, see, we told you all along, he's awesome.

Look at this. Bad situation. I think there will be some moment like that. But also, I think it's reasonable if you think I'm a dummy and you disagree with that. And you're like, get out of here. Justin Herbert's overrated because I think there's this idea that like the analytics on Herbert are great and they're actually not great. The analytics would tell you that he's kind of, he is overrated. I mean, he's finished outside the top 10 in EPA per play four straight seasons.

He's quarterback to top 10 offense once in six seasons. And that's with different head coaches, different offensive coordinators, different supporting cast. So it's like what I was saying earlier. It's like quarterback analysis. Who do we make excuses for? Like if Mahomes were having to start, if Josh Allen were having the start, if Lamar Jackson were having to start, if Lamar Jackson were having to start, I don't know that everyone's like, no, we expect better. You're at a certain level. So I don't think he can be discussed with those guys.

So again, why do you think that is, Sheal? I'm curious. Why is Justin Herbert in your mind viewed a certain way when you're citing the, as you call them, the nerd stats? There's certainly the no playoff wins. Why do you think he is regarded in a different category than let's say Brock Purdy, who Billy will explain later why he's not one of his top 12 quarterbacks in the NFL? Why is it the opposite effect where Justin Herbert, most people would say top 10 quarterback when some of those are. stats don't bear it out. Well, I think most people, or the ball-knowers

would say, if you swapped Herbert and Purdy and gave Herbert Kyle Shanahan and that offense, that he would be putting up monster numbers and we'd be having to really different narrative. They literally hired Kyle Jr. and Mike McDaniel here. That's what they're trying,

and it's two games, right? It's two games. New coordinators, the personnel may not be a perfect fit. The tackles, that's where all your research versus are having played well. But it is interesting where, you know, I'm not going to say he's gotten a free pass because he's played really good football at times.

And, you know, Stafford's an example. Peyton Manning didn't want a playoff game for like five or six years, I think at the start of his career too. But there is something here where it seems like we talk about Herbert in a different capacity than maybe some others. I agree with you. And because isn't a great quarterback you're supposed to be able to make up for stuff? And if this was a situation where he was like top five statistically

and the offense was top five statistically, and the defense sucked or whatever, then that's an easier conversation to have. It's like he has nothing to do with the defense, but the offense has not been good for once in six years. The offense has been good. The passing game has been good twice in six years and not since his first two seasons.

So I felt early in his career, when he first came in when they had the Tarad Taylor thing, I'm like, this guy's a revelation. He's incredible. Look at this arm. He can move. This guy's going to win an MVP someday. And I just think it's fair to be disappointed

with where he is now compared to where we were after two seasons with Justin Herbert. And again, that comes from someone who is still like a believer and thinks it's going to happen at some point. Billy's ready to crush beyond 12. No, no, not crush at all. I'm just wondering, could it be as simple when you're saying, why is it that we don't talk about Justin Herbert

the same way? Could it be as simple as the nerds as you put them and the ball knowers as you put them simply don't want to admit defeat on him? Like they had this belief in him. They thought he was going to be the next coming of whatever. And it hasn't happened yet. It still could happen, right?

But it hasn't happened yet. So instead of just saying like maybe we were wrong on this one, it's just, well, you know, he doesn't have the right pieces. He didn't have the right OC. His head coach, who by the way, was also one of this beloved figures within the ball knows and nerd community, Brandon Staley, until he wasn't. Well, then it was his fault. So we were able to sacrifice him to not be wrong on Justin Herbert.

And Justin's, again, it's two games with Mike McDaniel. But the conversation with Mike McDaniel and Tua was, well, if he had Justin Herbert, things would be totally different. And now he has Justin Herbert and they are not totally different. In fact, they're slightly worse than they were with Tua, which is kind of dumbfounding at this point. But again, it's two games. So is it just we don't want to admit that maybe we were slightly off on Herbert? Yeah, I think there is a moving of the goalpost is right. I mean, go back and look at what everyone said, myself included.

In August, I was like, Justin Herbert with Mike McDaniel could be one of the stories of the 2026 season. I mean, everybody with great offensive mind teaming up with a quarterback who's got all the physical tools. And it doesn't matter if it's not perfect around them. There should be a certain floor there. You know, it shouldn't look like it's looked the first two games. Like if they were, you know, maybe the 10th best offense and they were one in one, then we could be like, all right, give them some time. It's going to happen here.

But to be where they are after two games, I mean, you're right? And even Jim Harbaugh, it's like even if you're not a big Jim Harbaugh fan, he literally wins 11 games every year. He's been to a Super Bowl with another organization. He won a national championship in college. It's not like this is some guy. They got off the street. I was like, all right, you know, go coach these guys.

So you got coach, you got offensive coordinator. You've got offensive tackles. It's like these other quarterbacks, you know, that are performing at a high level. They don't always have those same things. So this is a big spot for him. I mean, they're going to Buffalo. and they're huge underdogs.

It's a defense that's gettable. You would like to think that if there was something like, you know, if there's something there in the foundation with Harbaugh and Herbert, that this is a week where you would want that duo to respond. And even if they don't win, it's like, okay, that was a step in the right direction. And listen to Texas. No, I mean, it's Buffalo and then it's Seattle. This is it absolutely.

All right, that's true. It's a brutal stretch. I would say this in defense of Justin Herbert and just the entire operation. Like those are two bad losses. Okay, when you're looking at the schedule, you're thinking, okay, well, at least we got Arizona and the Raiders to kind of transition into this. It's still so early, they're doing things so differently, and none of it looks in sync.

You know, it's not just Herbert. It's, didn't Joe Alt have like three pre-snap penalties last week? You've had drop balls. Your investment on the line is in the tackles. They're not playing well. Your center got hurt. You had to shuffle the interior. You don't have a lot of speed on the team.

Mike McDaniel's offense is built for speed, and they don't have a lot of it. I do think that the offense will improve, in part because it can't get a whole lot worse. I mean, there's any world where we would have sat there and said Justin Herbert, through two games against the Raiders and the Cardinals, will be 30th impasser rating in the NFL. It can't get a whole lot worse.

So I do believe it's going to get better. The question is, how quickly can it get better? it also does occur to me that maybe at some point playing in the preseason might be a good thing. I think Herbert played his first three preseason snaps ever this year. This is what it looks like. When you have new schemes, new coaches, you don't have game reps.

I know that we've gotten away from that in general and September is kind of the preseason now. But not when you're the Chargers and you lose those games. It's one thing to be figuring out your identity in the early going. It's another thing to be figuring out your identity while losing games you have to win before you go into the games

that on paper nobody expects you to win. Well, Sheila, you're saying that he needs to have a moment and it's coming up. He's going to have to have a moment with this stretch that he has coming up. He has to win these games now. So he's going to have to force these moments and prove that he is the quarterback

that a lot of us think he's capable of being he just hasn't shown so far this season. But you're going to have to win either at Buffalo or at Seattle. you're going to have to win a game like at Kansas City or at the Rams. You have to win these games. You just have to or your season's done. And to follow up, you could relay this to, you know,

whoever was mad at me, Billy, for the, you know, reading a text message. I'm trying to help you here. Yeah, I understand. As the kids say, you chose violence today, Sheel, because you could have gone in an annual number of directions in terms of main characters. You could have picked any game. I'm trying to, I like Herbert, Billy. Did that not?

I actually like him. I think he's good. But I actually think that if this does go disaster mode for them, I don't think it's not trading Herbert. I mean, it's going to be another coach. I don't know what they're going to do at GM. But then now you're going to have this list of here are all the people that have gotten fired since Justin Herbert. He's a coach killer.

He came into the league. What is that the answer? That's the only thing you have to ask yourself is like, is another change the answer to help Justin Herbert? Or is it, let's ride this out as bumpy as it might be. Let's look at this as a two-year plan. Jim Harbaugh's got two years left in his contract beyond this one. I don't see the Spanos family eating that money if they lose this season.

Justin Herbert also has a no trade clause. So even if you get big offers, he could go, hey, my fiancé lives in L.A. I don't want to leave. I'm going to stay here with the Chargers. There's a lot of moving parts. We are pretty early into this entire thing. As I'm looking at Billy, who's got a look on his face, like he really wants to say something here. No, there's another team in L.A. with an aging quarterback.

You know, maybe there's like a transatlantic. position plan. If this doesn't work, then your girlfriend doesn't have to move. And sometimes if a team decides, hey, we want to trade you, that might be a good sign for you to go, all right, you're done with me. I'm done with you. We're not at that point with Justin Herbert. All right, Billy, main character, who do you get for week three? I was between two here because Sheel kind of had, she was like the A plus student that had multiples here that he was going to go to. Then he picked one. So I felt the pressure to have more than one. I'm going to go with Sean Payton, I think, this week as a main character.

So this is a big game. It's the Rams at the Broncos. It's a measuring stick game. Both of them had disappointing first weeks. Tom was there for the Rams in Australia. That was disappointing. Broncos were in Kansas City. That one was a blowout.

Last week, they both had kind of bounce back games, get right games. But, I mean, this is going to be one of those weeks that we kind of see exactly who the Broncos are. They had a game against the Jaguars last week that they won. That was a big AFC win. But this will show us where they are just within the NFL and how they hang with the Rams. The Rams obviously are still a little bit banged up. But it's also a question mark for Sean because Sean, you know, we talked about a little bit of turmoil earlier this week when Mike McDonald's story came out

about Sean Payton and the accusations of cheating. And then there's maybe possibly a confrontation in or outside of an elevator on the floor of a hotel in Indianapolis that ended up being a giant nothing burger, some people say, and they didn't really say anything to each other. It's just like, hey, coach, hey, coach. And that was the end of that. He then says he called and reached out to Sean Payton and apologized, and this is a whole embarrassing situation.

So now it's a situation where is Sean kind of a little bit sensitive? So you have the toughness to run this hard-nosed Broncos team that we think they are. He's got to prove it this week against the Rams. He's got an opportunity to have a big win here. Very fun game. Sean Payton, it feels like, could probably be the, main character like 12 out of 18 weeks. Major main character energy old.

That's well sent. Major main character energy. I don't think he minds that at all. I was very encouraged by that Broncos game last week. I thought the way their defense really kind of put the clamps down in the second half, their defensive backs played awesome. Riley Moss had a big interception. So this is a tough spot, I think, for the Rams where, you know, it was like,

all right, week one, don't overreact. It was weird. Australia travel plans. week two, they're fine, but it's like they beat the Giants with James Winston and now I know they've still got the Puka Nakua injury maybe we can do a little what's Tom hearing

on that one. I know they've got some injuries to the rest of their offense there but I think this could be a tough spot for the Rams going up against the Broncos team that maybe is more likely to have put week one behind them than this Rams team is. Considering how generally

optimistic Sean McVe is about injuries, the fact that he doesn't sound really optimistic about Puka is worrisome. I know they've said it's not a sports hernia. It's not a core muscle thing. They don't think it's that. But you're talking about his second injury because Sean said it's different than the one in camp to like the whole groin-soas area down there.

And when you're having repeat issues, like if you don't give those time to rest, they're not going to get better. So that would be, you know, another huge loss. It didn't determine at all last week against the Giants. They're also facing a way better defense this week. in the Denver Broncos. Sean is, I think that the whole, it's a classic, like, made for our 2026 society story that Mike McDonald is telling just like a funny story that he doesn't think is on the record,

even though he probably should have been aware ultimately. And then, like, it gets out and everybody's got to apologize. Like, these guys don't care. They want to, when they face off in week six, they're going to want to slit each other's throat. It's not because of that, but because it's a big game. They want to beat each other. That's it.

All right? We don't need to. Oh, man, he hurt my feelings. He said that I was mad at him. Like, I think I mentioned it the other day. It's like, no one's surprised that Sean got pissed off at somebody and came at him. Like, that's just Sean. That's his personality.

And that's fine. Then Mike's got a little bit of, you know, serial killer. Like, I'm not going to let you mess with me energy to him as well. And so it's a classic type of clash. They come across differently. I don't think, I'm sure we're going to be talking about it going into week six. I don't think that that really had much of an impact in building from everything I understand. In Denver, it's one more thing out there.

Sean addressed it once. For this week, it's just, it's a really good game for the Broncos to once again go and show what they could do. They responded really well. Week one was a disappointment. Came back and beat a good Jaguars team at home last week. Let's see what the Rams coming in. Now it does feel not a pivot point game, but definitely sort of a, okay, who are we on the level with right now? If anybody said it's Broncos Rams in the Super Bowl going into the season, you'd be like, yeah, it sounds like a reasonable argument.

Well, here we are getting that game right now in week three. Tons more to come. We got a 49ers injury update to get to. And speaking of the 49ers, it's time for Billy to defend himself against the comments. How is Brock Purdy not a top 12 quarterback in the NFL? Billy's got his list after this. This episode is brought to you by ZipRecruiter. My favorite team was looking for a new coach.

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Four to five employers who post on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate within the first day. Go to ziprecruiter.com slash ringer NFL to try it free. That's ziprecruiter.com slash ringer NFL. ZipRecruiter, the smartest way to hire. Stop us if you've heard this one many, many times over the past several years. 49ers with a concerning injury to a star player popping up on a Friday. Nick Bosa popped his calf. According to ESPN, going to miss at least a few weeks.

Added to the list, Bosa was just coming back from you. He really didn't do a whole lot in camp. looked really good in that opener against the Rams now. We'll see if he ends up on injured reserve, but he's not going to be out there this week. And for some time, it seems to come here. 49ers already had their challenges as a wide receiver. They're signing Brandon Cooks off the street.

They're just trying to piece the thing together, which all brings us to the man who so often holds it together. And that is quarterback Brock Purdy. I brought it up on the show the other day. highest passer rating. He doesn't have the qualifying number of passers, but if you put him up against Lamar and Aaron Rogers, highest passer rating,

by some margin, by multiple points in NFL history, I asked you guys if you'd have Brock Purdy in your top five. You both lean no. She'll, I don't want to put words in your mouth, but I believe you said probably not. Probably top 10, not top five.

Then Billy doing what he normally does, which is then just push it a little bit further, said, ah, maybe got him in the top 13. which when we posted that clip, the social media, and my only frame of reference, I'm not sitting there scrolling the comments, but I will see the little red dot that I've got some stuff on Instagram,

and I go in there, and it's just people murdering Billy over his Brock Purdy take. So, Billy, you challenged yourself, even more than we challenged you or the internet challenged you. Give us your top 12 quarterbacks and whether, after further thought and examination,

you found Brock Purdy in that. Well, okay. Thank you for the context on the front end because I will say this. People were upset when that clip went out, which I feel like, you know, the whole context wasn't there. Sheel said he's a top 10 quarterback. And I said top 13. So no one was mad at Sheel saying top 10.

And I simply said maybe there's two more between then 11 and 12 before we get to Brock 30. I'm just saying, people got very mad at the situation to say about Brockford. And if I'm to say he's a top 13 quarterback, there's nothing to say he's not number seven on that list. I'm just saying he's in the top 13 semantically. So what I did as she'll know is because we did this whole thing when Mike Sandow's list came out. Mike Sandow goes and he gives a quarterback tears every year and he goes and he interviews all of these GMs and, you know, coaches and all this stuff, all anonymous, all cowards that

don't want to put their name on it. And Mike Sando himself, not to call anyone out a coward because he won't put his name on his own list. He blames everybody else in these anonymous sources. So as She'll knows every year, I'll do my quarterback tiers as well. But I don't go and I don't source these from other people. I go and I do the work myself. So I have the tiers. They're in no particular order, similar to Mike. No particular order, but I have separate tiers.

And that's how I get in the top 13-ish. And I'll explain it a little better. Okay. So the first tier we have is top of the mountain. Okay. In the top of the mountain tier, we have Joe Burrow, Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Matthew Stapp. In no particular order.

Five guys. We would all agree top of the mountain, that tier of quarterbacks, right? Are there any debates there so far? I think we'd agree they're all in the top tier, yes? Sounds fine to me. So far. They're all safely top 10 quarterbacks. Obviously, there's very anterior to year.

But I think most people would say those guys all belong somewhere in their top 10, if not their top five. Yes. Exactly. Okay. Thank you. So again, another important piece of context is these are done before the year, okay? So we don't adjust the rankings during the year based on two weeks performance.

That would be very short-sighted. So before the season is when these tiers were done. My next tier is, I know they can tier slash I think they can tier, okay? And these are quarterbacks that I either know they can or I think they can, all right? This tier is slightly larger. The little engine that could tier. So this tier is Sam, again, in no particular order, Sam Darnold, Jalen Hertz. they've done it. We know they can.

In the I think they can portion of the I know they can, I think they can. We have Trevor Lawrence, Drake May, who was right there on the doorstep last year. I think that Prescott, Jared Goff, Baker Mayfield. These are, I know what they can. I think they can based on what we've seen. And then we go to the following tier, which is, I need to see a little more, okay? You had 12, by the way. There's your dozen right there. There's 12 there. And I will say this.

I will say this. The person who was closest on the list to get out of the, I need to see a little more into the, I know they can, I think they can, was Brock Purdy. But we can't just have tiers that have seven, eight, nine people. And then we have to break them into tears.

You just did. He just said seven in that last tier. But not eight or nine. So this next tier, okay, I need to see a little more. We have, again, in no particular order. We have Justin Herbert. Caleb Williams, great season, need to see a little more.

Bo Nix, great season, got hurt, need to see a little more. Not sure if he can. Brock Purdy, Jaden Daniels. Now, why is it that Brock Purdy falls from, because you're going to say, well, you have Sam Darnold in there, he won a Super Bowl. You have Jaylon Hertz in there. He won a Super Bowl. You know, we have Brock Purdy.

He hasn't won a Super Bowl, but he's got into a Super Bowl, which is why you have Drake May in the I know you can. I think they can, right? The reason is Brock Purdy was in the I know you You can, I think you can, to your last season, as she'll knows. This season, he fell out of it, in part because of an embarrassing playoff performance. You can't stay in there when you lose 41 to 6 to lose and end your season. You can't get blown out.

I know that the wins are not a quarterback stat, right? We'll all say that. 51 and 46 for a career, even though it's not a quarterback stat, not that impressive. So we need to see a little more. It's not to say that he can't get out of this tier. Wait, what number is that 51, 46? What's that? $1.46.

These are just numbers that we've seen out there on the internet, you know? So these are things that we need to take into consideration. That's not his record. You made it sound like that was his record. That's not Brock Purdy's record.

What is 51? These are the, Sheila, if you want to defend your top 10, we'll give you the opportunity to that you say that he's in the top 10, not the top 13. But 41 to 6 is a bad loss. Okay, we would agree on that.

So we just need to see a little bit more. Jaden Daniels is in that tier. He had a great first season. He has a, been healthy. Caleb Williams, not healthy this year. Bo Nix, we need to see more. Justin Herbert, I think we feel pretty good about that. I need to see more tier for him this year. So that's all I'm saying. I'm not saying that he's necessarily, you know, number 13. I guess technically in this tier, he could go all the way back to 17, not to agitate 49ers fans even more. We just need to see

more from him. And I don't think that's unfair to say. All right. So Tom, he doesn't. I do think we have to issue a correction. He's not a top 13 question. quarterback, he's a top 17 quarterback is what I got from that. He's somewhere between 13 and 17. I don't know. He cannot get to 12. He just told us. He cannot get to 12.

The last one out of that tier, so he could have been as high as six. Fundamentally, I don't know how Brock Purdue, I think, is in year six and Justin Herbert in year seven can be in the same category as third year guys, right? The guys who have gotten their contract. And I don't, I guess where I'm struggling to follow the logic, Sheel, you can comment on this too is how we're having Trevor Lawrence, Dak Prescott in a tier above Brock Purdy, where both of them have put up numbers.

They haven't had the level of playoff success that you would expect. I would have him closer to that than some of the other guys. So I do think it's fair. Okay, can you put it together over multiple years, which those other quarterbacks, the third year guys, have not yet been able to do? I would agree with that. I think you could also say,

if you swapped Brock Purdy and Sam Darnold in that playoff game last year, what's the score and who wins? And does Brock Purdy go and win a Super Bowl? But I know you like Data 5146. You don't like to deal on hypotheticals. So I don't want to put words in your back. Billy, tell me the leading receiver.

Who had the most receiving yards for the 49ers in that playoff game? In the playoff game last year? I will give you seven guesses and you will not get it. Who Brock Party was throwing to? the most receiving yards of any 49ers player in that playoff loss to the Seahawks. Last year, you're saying. Last year, that 41-6 you keep talking about like it's a Brock Purdy stat.

Tell me who was the leading receiver in yards. No cheating. So the 41 to 6 game, you're saying, hold on. Let me think here. Don't pull up the box score. Just take a guess. Tell me who you think it would be. Let's think here.

You want me to guess, Billy's taking this time. Demarcus Robinson? No. No. One guess, no. You have seven guesses between you. Demarges Robinson's a no. Seven? I don't want seven.

Seven guesses. Let's just do one. Keep saying names of guys on the team. You're not going to get it. Yeah, well, it's not McCaffrey, Kittle. No, wasn't Kaffrey, Kittal. Joanne Jennings? No.

It wasn't DeMarcus Robinson. He already guessed that. It wasn't. It wasn't Kendrick Born. Not Kendrick-Born. No. Was it one of the one of the one? of the other tight ends?

There was another tight end, wasn't there? Three deep, if I'm not including the McCaffrey and Kittle non-guesses. Not Brian Robinson, Jr. You check. That wasn't him? None of those guys. The answer, final guesses.

Wasn't Pierceall. Jake Tanges was the leading receiver for the 49ers in the playoff game. No offense to Jake, because it was a really good solid player. He's out for the season with that MCL tear that required surgery. Let's take the context in. The 49ers, the fact that they got to that game is a credit to everybody who was

still upright, including Brock Birdie. Obviously, Mac Jones filled in for a stretch of Bernie was hurt. I just think, I think it's hard to hold that against him knowing what they were, what they were dealing with last season. Can I make amends? Because I feel like this, you know, I feel like you guys, if I'm going to be blunt for bad teammates in this segment and you do not defend this whatsoever. You just threw me to the wolves. The whole point of the segment was for you to defend yourself. Yeah, I will say this. I'm willing, and Sheila, you know, this is unforeseen. We've never done this before. This is not common in any place.

I'm willing to move Brock Purdy up a tier to I know they can, I think they can for the season. And I hope for the 49ers and for Brock that they don't make me look foolish in doing so. Don't back down, Billy. I stand on. Aboo is already cutting the social clip that's going to show you defending the list. Don't now change the answer. Well, Abu, take out

that 51 and 46 is. I don't know where that came from. He's 32 and 15 is a start. By the way. Yeah. All right. You know what? You know what? Internet 49ers fans? Tom is right. Okay? Brock Purdy does not deserve to be a tier higher. He deserves to be

exactly where he is in the 13 to 17 range. So Tom, I'm sticking by you as a good teammate. Brock's staying there. I need to see a little more. All right. Shield, Ringer 107. We got some, we got some picks. Tell us the standings, too. How is, uh, it's really, it's you and Billy, but how is the team ringer NFL show doing here? Well, real quick, I'll apologize to Mike Sandow, my friend Mike Sandow for Billy's remarks, you know, unnecessary chrapnel for Sando, who spends more time camped out in Marriott Skyways than anyone, getting people to talk to these things. We love you, Mike

saying, you know, no. Billy might be coming for your corner because those were some pretty good tears, but I'm just saying, we appreciate what you do as well. All right. So today's Ringer 107 is brought to you by Fanduel. Make this your most rewarding season. Download the Fandul app to check out all our 107 picks and boosted teaser every week this season. All right. So the updated standings, the Ringer NFL show in first place. Wow. Let's go. Six and four. Two weeks in the season, 10 picks down 97. You hit on the T's, right? You hit on the T's last week.

No, Tom, I've missed the T's. You hit two weeks in a row. If we didn't have to do the T's, who knows what our record would be? But you had Saints. We only lose on the T's. We had the Saints last week. That was a nice pick. We had them plus eight and a half.

So listen, we're just going to stack three and two weeks. We're not trying to be a hero here. That's all we're trying to do. So for those who don't know how the contest works, you make during this podcast, I will make three picks and one teaser, and then before the games on Sunday, there will be an additional pick, making five picks for the week. If you have any questions, Billy's email is somewhere on the internet or in the show notes here.

Okay, first pick, Carolina Panthers, minus two and a half at the Cleveland Browns. It's gone under the radar. Bryce Young has played maybe his. best two-game stretch of his career through the first two weeks of this season. I think he looks good. I like a Dave Canales. I think their wide receivers have been good so far this season. And maybe that week-one defensive performance against the Bears was a little fluky

because they came back last week and their defense looked incredible. So Deshaun Watson's going to start this game at home for the Browns. I think those fans are going to be ready to boo him if things don't go well in the first half of that game. I like the Panthers minus two and a half. How are we feeling? I like it. Good? I think it's good.

Yeah. My question isn't the booing. My question isn't the booing if he does bad. It's what is the level of cheering if it goes well? Is it that easy to flip around everything? He goes out and throws another bomb the Denzel Boston, who looks like a rookie of the year candidate so far on the first drive. You can't tell me that place isn't going to be pandemonium.

It's not, we are simple creatures and people will cheer regardless of how they feel about the past four years if they're looking good on offense. First home game, plus they'd be two and one. You're right. You're right about that. That could be under the radar story to keep an eye on here this weekend. All right. Second pick, the New York Jets, plus six and a half at the Lions.

I know I said the Lions are still the favorite in the NFC North, but right now that secondary is so rough. The Jets have looked competent. Tough OT loss last week. I didn't like how they handled the end of that game. Obviously, the game management stuff. That's been discussed. their defense has looked really good through two weeks,

but they faced the Titans, and then they faced the Packers in bad weather last week. I'm really curious to see if Aaron Glenn has this defense playing, the whole is going to be greater than the sum of the parts. That's what it's looked like through the first two weeks. Let's keep it going. JETS, Jets, Jets, Jets, plus six and a half at Detroit. All right.

Third pick here. We go to Brazil, the Baltimore Raven, minus three and a half against the Cowboys in Brazil. There's questions about the playing surface down there, which in my take on that is always, that affects the pass rush maybe more than anything. So I think we could get a lot of points in this game. I just don't buy that that Cowboys defense is ready for a matchup like this.

I don't think they showed much improvement last week against the commanders. I think it was just the commanders. And they left some touchdowns on the table. So I think the Ravens offense played well for the most part, week. They learn from that loss to the Saints. They come out and they say, you know what, we're in a different class than this Cowboys team. We're going to beat them by more than three and a half points. So that's the third pick there. And then the teaser. We got to hit on one of these. We got to hit. I think this is the week. Okay. Now, you might disagree, given what the first

leg of this teaser is for those who don't remember, the teaser means you make two picks and you can move the line, six points in any direction. So are you ready for the first leg of this teaser? It's Let's hear it. Bring it on. The Los Angeles Chargers plus 13 and a half at the bills. Come on. Show a little fight. Herbert. Harbaugh. McDaniel,

show me a little fight in Buffalo. Don't get blown out. Plus 13 and a half chargers at Buffalo. They are 7.5 point underdogs in this game. We're moving that up to 13 and a half. Let's see how I'm feeling about Justin Herbert

by the time we get to Sunday night. So that's one leg, other leg, Seattle Seahawks down to one and a half against the commander. So they are seven and a half point favorites. They just got to cover one and a half. If they do that at Washington, if the Chargers cover 13 and a half, then we win the T. So those are the picks. The last pick will be on social media or on the ringer later this weekend. But to recap real quick, Panthers minus two and a half at Cleveland.

Jets plus six and a half at Detroit. Ravens minus three and a half against the Cowboys in Brazil. And then the teaser, Chargers plus 13 and a half, Seahawks minus one and a half. Those are the Ringer 107 picks. Today's Ringer 107 is brought to by Fandul. Download the app now to find all our 107 picks and make this your most rewarding season.

Fandul, play your game odds subject to change. So there you go. How are you feeling about that Chargers, that charges pick in there? I feel like we're unnecessarily playing with fire on that game. Like, you're just trying to kind of, I feel like you're feeling good in first place and you're just like, let's do something crazy here. Let's see how good we are at this. It wouldn't be fun if you're just picking chalk toss.

I like it. Shield's pushing the envelope, picking the big games, the ones everyone's going to be locked into. It's part of the magic. I just want to come back and be able to say, see, I believed in you, Herbert, if he plays well. I believe in your ability to not lose by 14 points. You got to start somewhere. Yeah, I guess. It's one bar to clear for the charges this week.

I figured out what the 51 and 46 was. 51 games played 46 starts. A couple columns over. If we did merch, I would buy a Ringer NFL shirt that just said 51.46. The look on my face. and Shields were both going, how has he started 99, 97 games? It didn't feel right when I said it too,

but I had it in my notes and I was like, this is the danger of like scrolling on two different like computers and like jotting it down. Listen, my daughter's sick, not to make excuses, my dog had a tooth removed. There's a lot going on in the Gill household right now, yeah. Okay, all right. Good stuff.

Hopefully everyone gets well soon. So it's their fault, not mine if anyone's going to check at home. And Sheila, I wouldn't put it on merch yet because I'm sure I'm going to say something dumber. It's only week three. Good stuff. Fellas, thanks to everybody for watching, for listening. We are back with another one on Monday.

We're on every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, Spotify, Netflix, everywhere you get your podcasts. I'm sure there's some other really cool stuff that I don't even know about yet, and someone will inform me later. So thanks to Arjuna, Chris, the whole team behind the scenes for Shield. And Billy, I'm Tom C. 21 plus and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino

or 18 plus and present in D.C. or Wyoming? Gambling problem. Call 1-800 gambler or 1-800-mine.mireset. Call 1-88-7-8-9-77-7-7-7 or visit ccpgg.org slash chat in Connecticut or visit MDGamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gambling helpline MA.org or call 800-3-2-750-50. for 24-7 support in Massachusetts, or call 18778-8-8-Hope-N-Y or text Hope-N-Y in New York. For Louisiana, call 1-877-7-7-70-78-6867.