The Ringer NFL Show - Week 2 Recap: Dolphins Win Again on the Road, the Giants' Improbable Comeback Win, and the Bengals and Chargers Are 0-2 | The Ringer NFL Recap Show

Episode Date: September 18, 2023

Nora and Steven recap the Week 2 slate, starting with the Miami Dolphins, who beat the Patriots on the road to move to 2-0(3:00). Then, they run through their winners and losers of the week, including the Commanders, Chargers, Seahawks, and more(15:40). They wrap up with their Sunday take purge(1:07:10). The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming, please checkout http://theringer.com/RG to find out more or listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Hosts: Nora Princiotti and Steven Ruiz Producer: Isaiah Blakely Social: Kiera Givens and Eduardo Ocampo Additional Production Supervision: Arjuna Ramgopal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For all your fantasy football needs, check out the Ringer Fantasy Football Show with me, Danny Kelly, along with Danny Hyfitz and Craig Horalbeck. That's the Ringer Fantasy Football Show on Spotify or wherever you get your podcast. Your NFL recap show, I'm Norvindziati. As always, I'm here with Stephen Ruiz. Stephen, happy week too. Happy Sunday night. How are you doing?

I'm doing great. That was a great day of football from start to finish. It really was. And you just said a phrase, which I think, really encapsulates what we just watched over the course of the day, which was that it was a very rough day. We're going to start the show with a great Sunday night football game, Pat's Dolphins, ends 24 to 17.

We're doing this game as the headline because it belongs there because it was a great game and it was really fun to watch. If this had been in winners and losers, the loser was going to be Terry McCauley not being cool and calling Cole Strange short. on the greatest play of the day. Like, how square can you be? You can always count on refs to ruin a game, ruin a good time.

I don't get why they do it either because you just have, like, why can't they have a meeting at the beginning of every season and just be like, guys, if we get an opportunity where an offensive lineman catches the lateral, four yards short of the line to gain and like hustles his way, forward and the only way the team has a chance to come back and tie the game or win the game or force the game to overtime is if this big man gets to make this play or just going to do it and be legends like why can't they be cool why can't the refs be cool because america has a bedtime america had to get to get to sleep and the ref understood that he's like we can't do

normally i'm all for that normally i want my officiating to understand that i have a bedtime and that it is earlier than these games end. But not like, there just should be an offensive lineman doing cool things role. I don't know. I mean, they are talking to America. We had the clip from the Seahawks Lions game where the ref, Orchino ran out to the ref and the ref was like, hold on, I'm talking to America. Intentional rounding, offense number seven.

It's a 10-yard penalty I'm talking to America here, too. The 10-yard penalty and a loss of down, be second down. Calm down, buddy. You got the C-block game at 1 o'clock on a Sunday.

It was actually such an elite performance by the reps this week. I'm sure Sean Payton probably disagrees with that, but that's okay. This is a great game. This is a really, really, really interesting game. Where do you want to start? Patriots, Dolphins,

offense defense. Yeah, I think we should start with the Dolphins offense because I thought like coming off of week one when we just saw like this fireworks show from this offense, what we expect it when we when we expect the top A game of the Dolphins. And then this week you kind of saw what Belichick do what Belichick does and he took away that A game and made the dolphins beat them left handed. And they kind of did like getting 121 rushing yards out of Rahim Moster. Like they didn't have a run game last year.

And I think one thing to keep in mind is this is not what it looked like. over the first couple weeks of the season. They had that big game against Baltimore where like two had blacked out in the fourth quarter, but even around that, they really struggled early on. And then they kind of caught their stride in October. And I think you're seeing that early on this year. And you could see that they have a plan B. Most are, I mean, over 100 yards also kind of had this ended up being such a back and forth

game that there were a few sort of daggers in there. But the big one was that 43 yard touchdown. I mean, that was after Pat's had it as a one-score game. game in the fourth. Then they get the Christian Gonzalez pick. Then they go three and out, really disappointing. Van Ginkle makes one of a bunch of big plays. Dolphins get the ball back in midfield and then they get that instant touchdown. I mean, the way that he was cutting through that Patriots defense, which that defensive line is no joke. And it's a Bill Belichick defense. They're known for being fundamentally sound, able to defend the run. He was really, really impressive. I do think that was

in part because you saw them, they were clearly really trying to put a lid on this offense, make Tua get rid of the ball really quickly, make them emphasize the run game a little bit more as opposed to just having those like crazy downfield explosive pass game

things going for them. So it was a little bit by design of Belichick's game plan. But that's what you look for in a good team is having the counterpunch when someone takes your plan A away from you. So even though this was not, you know, the Patriots defense did contain the dolphins a fair bit. I still thought it was impressive by Miami just because they found a way to get it done.

Yeah, definitely. And I thought it was impressive from New England, too, especially Belichick. Like, that's what I wanted to see. I wanted to see that Belichick still had that fastball in them. Like, he could still pitch a game at a top offense and kind of confuse them. And we saw that even, like, it didn't look great early on, but they found an answer in the second half. Like, they tried everything in the first half. They even went with like three high safeties.

It was a good game plan. I thought it was a positive game from New England. I thought Mack Jones, a surprising amount of dog in that game. Especially because their quarter depth is limited. Yeah, it was impressive working around that. And Christian Gonzalez looks like a star already. That was an amazing. I'm taking positives.

I'm taking positives from this game. From the first two weeks, you're 0 and 2 if you're New England. And I'm taking positives from both games. I wonder if Bill is just like, he's like post offense. He's just sort of, it doesn't matter anymore. It's okay. He's post results. He's post winning.

He's post all of it. Our colleague Ben Solac, wins are not a team stat. That's that's, that's Bill's thing now, except for the fact that he's trying to set the all-time coaching wins record, which it's slow going these days. I mean, this team is still 0-2. I know that New England has gotten into the moral victories business and a lot of couple of years. We've got to acknowledge that that's not great.

And for all of the difference that a professional offensive coordinator makes, it's like they look better and they look better and they look better and they just can't quite get it done. I mean, I thought that the offensive line at the beginning of this game for the Patriots looked like they just really, I mean, they got both starting guards back for this game. So maybe they were getting their feet under them. And they looked just like they were easing into it a little bit. They couldn't get any push, couldn't get the run game going.

As the game went on, they went more to the no huddle uptempo stuff. And it was definitely working better for them. It seemed like it tired Miami out. So they found their stride a little bit. But they got to score a few more points than this. I mean, the chargers could get it done, at least to a greater degree against the Dolphins defense that seemed to at least early in the game really be having them. trouble on the ground.

So I don't know. I don't know that I can totally be like, oh, it's fine. The Patriots look so good. The Chargers have Thor at quarterback. I mean, I think that's the difference. The Patriots have Hawkeye at best in Matt Jones.

And like, yeah, I agree with you though. Like, you can't rely on the no huddle. That's like a situational thing. And like, yeah, I get your offense going, but you can't call that the whole game, especially with the way the Patriots play football. It's not complimentary. That's like that I think is the larger.

Like they have these moments where it's like, oh my gosh, they brought in the tush push and they did it. And what a cheeky little trick play. And oh, this looks great. But it's just there's a consistency that's still. It's almost like it looks better than it is. And then, you know, deep into the second half, you're picking your head up and being like, ah, three points. I do think Mack Jones has impressed me, though. Like I'm someone who is willing to criticize Mac Jones.

I get a chance, but I'm not going to do it after this game. Like I said, he had a surprising amount of dog in him in the second half and made plays under duress when I, like, I didn't expect him to make plays. Yeah. No, I mean, he, like, it's not, he made some throws. They're doing some good things. I just, I don't understand what the stakes are for this offense or for this team. If the stakes are like don't look like a disaster class, congratulate, like flying colors.

But they're own two. Like this is the sunniest oh and two. I think you could find across the league right now where it all feels like, oh, man, they had a great, like great defensive game playing against Miami. And they've played two good teams. And they have played two good teams, right? And they've been competitive in both of those games. I just still don't.

I don't. quite get what the end game is here. This is different, though. This is so much different the last two weeks. Like, they've been competing with top teams in the NFL, like top talent. And that was always the thing the last couple of years is they don't have speed. They don't have the athleticism. They don't have the talent to run with these, like, top teams.

Over the last two weeks, we've kind of seen that change. I think it still needs to happen on offense a lot more, especially at receiver. We saw them try to throw a downfield and it didn't really work against Miami. But I think on defense, at least, this is a modern defense again. We're not like we don't have linebackers built like refrigerators out there trying to run with Tyree Kill. And I thought the fact that they were able to slow down Tyree Kill was a great, great sign. I mean, we were talking about the Gonzalez pick, but the way that he high pointed that ball was just so impressive. And that's they're going to be playing these guys.

I mean, who knows who the coach is, who the quarterback is, whatever. But like that's that's the type of play you see get made and go, oh, if these two are lining up against each other, for X number of years. That's going to be a heavyweight battle season and season out. They were, I mean, I think they were smart in, for the most part, they played a lot of zone. You did see right after half time, they go man one of the first times clearly in the game. Tua, hats off to him too, like immediately recognized it, recognized it, saw Waddle getting

the matchup on Miles Bryant and just attacked it immediately. So they're still getting beat in some of those. But it's Miami. You're going to get beaten some of those. So I agree with you that the difference in the talent level matters. I just don't think like at some point we do need to ask this team to have some actual results. No, I agree.

But I think if you're going to lose the two teams, those are the two teams. Like those are maybe two of the four best teams in the NFL. I think even the most optimistic Patriots person wasn't expecting them to compete with those two teams like that. And who knows what would have happened if Terry McCauley could have been cool for once in his life. I mean. Probably nothing. I don't even care. It just was like it was a great play and it should have been allowed to be a great play.

And it was close enough where like if they would not have overturned it, nobody would have complained really. I don't think anybody would have complained. It was close enough. Yeah. Very disappointing. And they had to overturn the call in the field. Like, come on. What are we doing here?

You're talking to America. Anything else from this? No, I don't think so. I think the dolphins right now, can we do like a quick, like power ranking of the top of the AFC? Like, if you had to pick the best team in the AFC right now, who would it be? Because I think it might be Miami. I think it might be Miami too.

I think it might be Miami. Okay. All right. Fine. They get a moral victory. We will bang the moral victory gavel and award the New England patrons. Those should count for Belichick. Let him retire a little bit earlier.

Don't make them chase actual wins. Okay. The fourth down conversion that wasn't was the best play of this game. The second best, I guess it's not a play, but the second best moment of this game was the way, like, the world's most disgusted challenge flag throw I've ever seen. for Bill on the possession after they got the field goal blocked

that was just I mean that was all time that's why I say I think he's he's post offense he just wants to like innovate on special teams come up with a good defensive game plan get some turnovers

and stare at an official like he wants him to see death incarnate that's the name of the game. He wants them to see whatever Sam Darnold saw on that Monday night game. That's what he wants him to see. All of the ghosts. All of the ghosts.

It's so good. It also like it went it went so straight down was the amazing thing about it. Like usually he, you know, you always see them try to throw it near the ref or onto the field or something. It was just, I mean, he lasered that thing into it. It was like he was spiking it. But with more disdain. Like not with anger. It was just like, this is stupid.

I'm so over you people. More arm strength than we've ever seen Mack Jones have. No, come on. I'm just kidding. Mac was good. I'm not going to criticize Mac tonight. Even the throw that got the Savian Howard pick, like, he boxed Devonte Parker out. But that, I don't know, that had a little mustard on it.

Yeah. And like that's the point. What's Devante Parker? What's his thing? If that's not, if he's going to be able to get boxed out on a goal, like a sideline fade. Why are we paying him? I don't know. They still need a receiver.

It's been what, like five years now? Yeah. Good game. Good stuff. All right. Take a quick break. Come back to winners and losers. I think we're going to start in the AFC East.

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Yeah, my first winner is Buffalo, 38 to 10 over the Raiders at home. It was a professional display from this offense after whatever. that was on Monday, that was not professional, that whatever that amateur hour display was in the second half against the Jets, this was the opposite. I thought it was a good game from Josh Allen. He didn't,

he made plays out of structure, but he didn't force it ever. And that's what you want to see. As long as he's doing that, this offense is just so hard to stop. Ken Dorsey, another good game, in my opinion, dialed back on 12p. I just think getting more receivers out there

opens up space for Allen. I want to see that going for it. Hold on. Hold on. Did you just say 12P? Yeah, I'm trying to be efficient. You can't say personnel. You're just your post personnel. I'm talking to America now.

Excuse me. Excuse me. I'm talking to America. Yeah, he dialed back on 12 personnel. Sorry, sorry, sorry, 12 personnel. And I think that was because he wanted to attack Las Vegas's defensive backs. And I thought on Monday he wanted to attack New York's linebackers.

I don't know. I really like this offense. As long as Josh Allen keeps his head on straight, they're going to score 30 points a game. True or false? I totally agree with you. I'm just going to be a troll here. True or false.

The touchdown to Khalil Shakir, about as between two closing defenders as some of the throws that we were maybe a little bit critical of last week. Yeah, and that's why you don't want to be overly critical of Allen because you don't want him to lose that edge. I think we talked about this midweek that there's a, a delicate balancing act there.

And I think Josh Allen has talked about it, the double-edged short, as he puts it. And I mean, I can handle one turnover-worthy throw a game. Just don't do it repeatedly in weird situations. Like, don't do it with the game on the line in the fourth quarter. When you're up by 14 against the Raiders at home, fine. Like, go for a play like that. But not against the Jets in the fourth quarter.

I'm just saying we often say with Allen, we take the good with the bad. And this was the good. It ended up a great play. but it's a little sneaky going on. A real difference for them, I thought, is they could run the ball suddenly, 183 yards on the ground. And I don't have in front of me exactly how much of that was Josh Allen, but it wasn't a huge amount.

No, it was mostly James Cook. And James Cook looked good. And I think just going up against a worse front helped a lot. Like you're not going up against that Jets front, which just stops every run game you go up against. But being able to beat up on these bad teams or these mediocre teams, at least with the Raiders, is a very good sign. And I think like this performance is enough for me to forget about week one already. Completely forgotten.

Yeah. It's water under the bridge. Wow. You're like a cornerback short memory. That's right. That's good. I mean, look, it's, I do think that this is meaningful. One, because we talked a lot about how not that the vibes were bad, but just that they

were a little chaotic. So a get right game for the bills in this spot, I think was important. And it does seem like it's turning out that, okay, the division might have the favorite in the conference in it, but it's a little bit more wide open than it might otherwise have been just when we felt like, okay, going into the season, here's this huge gauntlet. Bill's should be at the top. Jets, Rogers, dolphins, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. things are all topsy-turvy. So if you have a week one stumble and then get it together, fine. I do think that like you take the good with the bad and this is the good and there's

probably more bad in there somewhere that we're going to see during the season. But the ground game is really critical. I think the Raiders are okay. Not a great team, not a great defense. but good performance important for Buffalo to get it together. Can I give you a winner? Yeah.

The commanders, Sam Howell, a little spicy, rebounded after the Broncos got off to a great start. This game, obviously, we got to talk about how it ended because Denver has the D.E. keep ball working with Russ until the second half. Washington defense starts getting pressure home. Russ can't,

can't find something else to do. Then suddenly, commanders mount this comeback. They're booing in Denver. Trade at a first and a second to be 0 and two to Jimmy Garoppel and Sam Howell with Sean Payton. And then all of a sudden, a Hail Mary,

bobbled three times. Brandon Johnson coming down with it in the end zone. And then the reps probably miss the DP on the two-point conversion and Sean Payton is upset and the commanders escape in a very wild game. Did you see this live, Stephen, or did you watch it later? Did you just see people suddenly tweeting up a storm about it? I saw the ending live. I saw the Hail Mary come up like 10 yards short, get batted into the end zone and get caught.

It was really, I mean, it was just like a volleyball play. You almost like knew it was going to happen right after that first like bounce. It was like, oh my God, this is going to go. to this guy that's standing in the end zone. And then it happened. Tough second half for Russell Wilson. Because after the first half, it seemed like he was back. We saw two moonballs, two deep moon balls. They were out to this lead. Then it just all fell apart and it looked like the Russell Wilson we saw last year, all of last year. I think Champagne is, I think Champagne's pushing the right buttons. And I think

that's the bad sign is that I just don't think Russ has it in him to be, I don't know, a top 15 starter at this point. Yeah, I mean, it seems like, Look, it's better than last year. Not the bar is on the floor, but it is definitely better than last year. But it does seem like the things that start working, he gets so attached to. And then in the second half, the pass rush was getting through with a little bit more ease. And he was just holding the ball, which, you know, that is not. We've seen this movie before.

But he doesn't have enough answers. he doesn't have the answers with his legs that he used to just because there's a diminished amount of athleticism. And Peyton is definitely sort of pulling the strings in a way where if game plan A seems like if game plan A is not working in perfect harmony, then all of a sudden it's sort of chaos, which felt like it happened a little bit in the second half. Credit to Washington, though, the defensive front I thought was pretty feisty. And then Howell looked really good.

I might take away that really good. He looked good. He looked good. He looked decisive. He used his legs when he needed to. He finished 27 of 39, almost 300 yards, two touchdowns. You like to see it. Magic Johnson tweeted something like,

enjoy the win for one day because then it's back home to start working on next week. So, you know, all's happy in Commanderland. Yeah, and Eric B. Enemy, he looks good outside of Kansas City. That's two games in a row. And the Chiefs don't look so good offensively. Hmm. Wonder if there's a connection there. And I thought the commanders fell behind early because of like self-inflicted mistakes.

They had the coverage bust that allowed for the Russ Moonballs. I thought how early on, I don't think Howell looked great, but I do think he bounced back. But early on, he was holding onto the ball for forever. and he made some bad throws, took some bad sacks. But I think that's just part of his game and you're just going to have to deal with it. But so far, we've seen them put an offense around him that not only takes advantage of his skill set,

like his strengths, but I think it hides his weaknesses. And that's all you want out of an O.C. Like, Eric, the enemy, A plus through two weeks. I'm kidding about the chief stuff. The chiefs offense is struggling because they don't have enough wide receivers. But optically, it's got to feel good, right, given the way that the circumstances around him getting that job and it being a lateral move and the way that training camp went and all the questions about his style and his attitude and how it worked with their players.

It's one game, right? But for them to get off to a decent start and have how it look like he's at least got a little something and you can see why he won the job. I do think it matters because this, whether it has to do with what happens with Ron Rivera there, or just if Bianami starts looking for another job or a head coaching opportunity at some point, these are the kind of referendums that are not fair, but that do shape people's opinions. So good for him. He's another winner. Through two games, Washington is 16th and EPA per play.

Kansas City is 17th. Philadelphia is 18. We'll be sure to check back in on that. One coordinator, actually two coordinators because Spag stayed. But that's a different case because Spag is a veteran. Only one coordinator from that Super Bowl didn't get a job. I don't count Spags. He's a D.C. lifer from now on.

Spags had a good day. Spags was in his Spaggs bag. Trevor got Spags. It happens to the best of us. The Jags got spagged. Trevor did. It's a dove scene. All right.

First loser. Should we just play the Brandon Staley audio? I know you wanted to play it. I feel like that just explains what happened here. I don't even have to say read off the score. This is just, this is from Brandon Staley's post-game press conference after the Chargers lost to the Titans in overtime.

And Ryan Tannihill looked like mid-career Tom Brady. And he wasn't having a good time. I'm not, I'm not worried about the. Jacksonville loss. The Jacksonville loss hasn't carried on to the season whatsoever. If you've seen our training camp or you've seen the way we've played in the first two games, it hasn't had an impact on our team whatsoever. Our team is connected. Our team has played it's hard out in two games and we've lost two tough games. But there has nothing to do with the Jacksonville game. A man definitely not falling apart at the seams. It's definitely not

cope there. No, honestly, after watching this game, I thought the defense would look worse than it did. I don't think it was that bad. I really think the reason they lost it. game was because Staley's game management, which is supposed to be the thing he's good at, and it's supposed to be the thing that you can control without, like, it doesn't matter what talent you have. Like, just, they're punting on fourth and short, the third down play calling on third and medium, like third and four, third and three, they're running the ball with Justin Herbert. He could say that the Jaguars game isn't on their mind, but they were coaching not to lose

in the fourth quarter. Yeah. So maybe it's not in your mind, but it's somewhere in there, and it's influencing how they they call the game their conservative decision making. The other thing, though, is that it's sort of like, yeah, I mean, maybe it's not the Jacksonville game. Maybe it's any number of the soul-crushing last second disastrous losses that have befallen this team during the time that he's been the coach. And like I like Brandon Staley. I really want to like Brandon Staley.

I really want Brandon's Daly to be good at his job because I think he's smart about a lot of things. but sometimes things just don't work. And like, we are both sort of analytically inclined people who want things to make sense. And I think a lot of football media is this way. I just think this isn't working. And too much has happened. And no one seems okay. Right.

And that's the crazy thing is I think they're just scarred. Like, I think they just can't get over the hump in the fourth quarter. And I think Staley doesn't even realize that's the case because he's not making the same decisions he was when he first took over the job. Yeah, I mean, the punt decision. Like, that's the opposite of your schick, buddy. You got this job because you didn't make choices like that. The aggression is just gone. And I don't know if it's just sort of reading the press clippings or if it's the sting of some of those losses.

But either way. it's bad news. And this, yeah, but this was another game that they just gave away with like penalties on third down.

One drive they gave up like two penalties after getting third down stops on personal fouls that had no bearing on the play whatsoever. They find ways to lose and that's what poorly coached teams do. So I like, I like Brandon Staley as a defensive play caller, but I don't know how to defend him as a head coach. I just,

I haven't seen it. But also like, okay. I can name you some individual game plans where I've been like, man, Brandon Staley came up with a good one. That's smart. I mean, we were talking about the Dolphins game just last week, right? Not this one, but the one last year.

Overall, though, it's not like this team has had year in and year out good defenses. No. And they have good players. They don't, you know, like, we can. Like who they have a run defense and blah, blah, blah, blah, but okay. I think they have players with names that we all recognize. I think this roster is very overrated, and I think Tom Telesco needs to hear more criticism. Some of that might be, some of that might be totally true, but they're not, this is not a bottom tier roster.

They're not deep, they're top heavy, the stars are not who they once were, but he is not, he is certainly not doing more. with less and I mean, Tanna Hill through three interceptions last week. He had a 38.8 rating. He did not turn it over this week. He completed 83% of his passes. He had a 123 quarterback rating. Like, Ryan Tannahill can have a good game.

That's fine. But it's just, it is always them. It is always this team. It is. I think Ben Solak tweeted it out. What was the stat? I'm forgetting it. It was like the only team to throw for over 280 yards and have no turnovers and lose the game.

Or it was like 80% win percentage before this game. And then the Chargers found a way to lose. For the second straight week, they've had one of these weird stats where they're one of the few teams. But this is the thing. Yes, the stats are incredibly weird. Also, for the second straight week, the weirdest bad stuff that's possible to happen in a football game happened to the same team because it is always the Chargers. That's what I'm saying.

I don't think Ryan Tannahill actually played as well as his stats because he took a bunch of sacks and those don't get included in the box score. Like Brandon Staley called a good defensive game, actually. They had like five third down sacks. They were getting free rushers on every third down. They give up two explosive plays, one where Asante Samuel like forgets that you're not supposed to backpedal for the whole play. Burks beat them deep. The second one was like a great throw and catch and the Chargers actually defended it really well, but it was a contested catch.

That was the whole offense. Those two plays sparked both touchdown drives and regulation. Around that, the Titans' offense couldn't move the ball. It wasn't good. But like I said, they find ways to lose. So I think Brandon Staley is a good defensive coordinator. I just don't think he's a head coach. He's a past game coordinator, maybe.

I'm downgrading him. Should he and Callen Moore just switch jobs and see how it goes for a few weeks? I got a bonus pick with Kellynne Moore, too. Third down runs. Third and four, you have Justin Herbert and you're running on third down and then you punt it on fourth down anyway. Jet sweeps to Mike Williams, who turns like a semi-truck. I think they get too cute. I think both coaches get too cute.

And one of the, like, this is a perfect example. Third and one in overtime, around midfield. Derek Henry is on the sideline. He's tired. He needs a breather. Brandon Staley calls time out and allows him to get back on the field. And then they get the first down because, Derek Henry does Derek Henry things.

Like that's an example of him thinking his plays are more important than the talent on the field. I think you're just thinking too much. You're out thinking yourself similar to what happened against the Raiders two years ago. Well, and just not being situationally aware, right? Like, is he making that decision because he's going the net benefit of my getting my perfect call in is better than the net benefit of them not having Derek Henry on the field? I don't even think it's that. I just don't think that he's, I don't, I don't think he is holding that many factors in his mind, which is like the mind boggling difficulty of being a head coach.

I could never do it. I would never want to do it. I would never try. But that's the job. And it doesn't seem like, like, it just seems like he forgets. And yeah, that's, that's, that's probably coordinator syndrome. And. He's a really smart guy in a lot of ways.

But I just, I think at a certain point, you got to say good try, valiant effort, some good things happened. This isn't, this isn't a good idea anymore. I do say, I will say this. I think it's way too early, early to write this team off. I think we've seen good things over the first two weeks. I think we realize how good that Dolphins team is. And playing them close, I don't think is like the worst loss. This is a bad loss.

But I do think we've seen good things from the offense, especially when they let Justin Herbert controlled the offense at the line of scrimmage. Like that's when they've been at their best. They did. I mean, they pushed it downfield a little bit more. Yeah. He had an A dot over 10 on Sunday.

He still got rid of the ball quickly. The running game just totally disappeared. I think that was the difference between week one and week two. They'd average 2.9 yards per carry. They just couldn't run the football on early downs. I don't blame them if the seat is a little hot there. I mean, it should be.

It's just the truth. But and I really, it like, it really does feel like, I mean, I'm not willing to say it's nobody's fault, but it's, sometimes things just don't work out,

right? Like, it's like the Trey Lance thing in San Francisco. Sometimes it just ends badly. And that's okay. And we, you just got to move on. You just got to recognize that you're having a bad time.

Because that guy up there being like, it's not the Jacksonville loss. It's not the Jacksonville loss. It's not the Jacksonville loss. Like, that guy is having a bad time. And I don't know that he should be holding the reins of a team that has, like, right now, playoff run aspirations. Yeah.

And I would say him being the play caller on defense gets in the way of game management. Like, that's a conversation we've had plenty of times. Like, think about all the play calling coaches. They have the same issue. Andy Reid, Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVeigh. It's not surprising that he has it to and that he wouldn't miss the day. Derek Henry thing if he is juggling those two things, those two roles. But it's like you don't, you don't want to take him out of the thing that he's, he's,

right. So genuinely can be very good at. So yeah. Well, I don't know if that's a solvable problem. The Bengals are my next loser. And I am concerned that the Joe Burrow injury is not quite so solvable of a problem as we might have once thought it was. the Bengals

Lost to the Ravens 2724 the big news from this one I mean Joe Burrow had 36 passing yards at halftime of week one and it seemed like

that couldn't get any worse he had 35 passing yards at half time of this game he is not healthy like he said after the game that he retweaked his calf he was using a massage gun on it on the sideline a bunch

He was limping around out there. Yet again, not a single play from under center. They've lost two division games and their quarterback's not healthy. So I don't know how there's a single team in the league right now that's more panicked about how the season is going after two games than the Bengals. Yeah, and his first scramble of the season came in the second half. And the play that it looked like he tweaked his cap on was a play where he had to move and kind of evade pressure in the pocket.

It was the T. Higgins touchdown, the second. one. That is a very bad sign when when he has to strain that calf like it it seizes up. I think maybe we overlooked it being an ongoing issue throughout the season, but through two weeks, that's what it looks like. It's going to be. I don't know that it was, but I don't know that it was overlooked because all people said about him getting hurt during training camp. And in the preseason, when he wasn't out there, it was just like, well, you know, it should be fine. It's. it's a few weeks long injury, but calf stuff can linger. And he was asked after the game, do you think you'll be managing this for the entire season?

And, you know, he just said, I don't know. It's hard to know. I'll just do the best that I can. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But I think that's a fair question. We're not going to be able to know the answer, but it's very much within the realm of possibility. And I don't know. I mean, in the second half, part of this was me,

was before he, it seemed like the retweaking happened. They found some rhythm doing the short stuff. When they went on those two long touchdown drives, just getting the little dink and dunk completions. And it seemed like he was more comfortable with that when the ball would come out really fast. But I don't think that this team, like this team is not built.

to win that way over any extended period of time. If they're not able to locate the deep passing game, they made some of those adjustments going over the course of last season. But I just don't think that it's just ridiculous to think that they can reach anything close to their ceiling if they can't locate any of the deep passing game. And he can't move around back there at all. I think even those two touchdown drives weren't like super encouraging because that's not sustainable. They went on like a 12 play, 13 play.

You can't live like this. Both over 13 plays. I forget who was commentating, but they were like, these are the Bengals we know. And I was like, no, it's not. They're not the Bengals we know. This is the team they have to be. It's not going to work out. The Bengals we know are like, holy shit, Jamar Chase caught that four yards away.

Not nice five yard out route, T. Higgins. was like jumping around back there and throwing the ball 60 yards. Like I don't know those bangles. I don't want to know those bangles. And like one of the things that Joe Burrow does when teams do like flood those underneath areas is he uses his legs to kind of manipulate defenders. And he can't do that right now. That's why it's not working.

I think what I said earlier like we kind of overlooked the injury. I think we overlooked the injury not because like we didn't diagnose it well. I think we just misunderstand Joe Burroughs game and how important. his mobility is and how that separates him from the typical pocket passer. Like I think if you would have said in August, like Burrough doesn't have to move around. He could just, you know, kill teams from the pocket. You would have been like, oh, yeah, that makes sense. But we're seeing that's not the case.

He needs mobility. And he doesn't have it right now. This to me is a huge, on the brighter side, I guess. This is a huge opportunity for the Ravens. because I know the injury bug has already hit them, but today felt like the first good look at what the Todd Monkin offense there is supposed to be. And it seemed like, and I didn't see this whole game, but it just seemed like it was starting to really click.

So I know they're down a few key pieces and we'll see how that stuff develops over the course of the season. But at 2 and 0, your main. your main division rival really going through it and maybe having compromised health at quarterback for an extended period of time and starting to see some of that stuff come together. If there's a bright side, I think it's in Baltimore. Oh, yeah. No J.K. Dobbins, no Tyler Linderbom, no Ronnie Stanley, O'Dell Beckham leaves in the, I think it was early second half, no Marcus Williams, no Marlon Humphrey.

And they win easily. And look like good. I've never seen Lamar dominate in that way. We've seen him dominate games, but not in that way. He was a pocket passer. He wasn't like bombing it downfield either. This was like the Lamar we wanted to see.

And by the way, guess who's third an EPA per run this season without Greg Roman? It turns out we didn't need Greg Roman to have a good run game in Baltimore. Who would have thought? That a running game with Lamar Jackson. Yeah. Was going to be fine regardless of who the coordinator was. And he's gotten rid of the ball so much quicker.

2.6 seconds in time to throw through two games. He'd averaged 2.96 seconds time to throw during his first four seasons as a starter. This is from next gen stats, which was the longest of any qualified quarterback. I mean, we talked about, we've talked about the holding onto the ball issues and the time to throw being a piece of the puzzle that wasn't working in Baltimore, tons, right? going back years, that to me does seem like one of the most obvious signs that something has clicked with this new offense. It would be great to see it with the Ravens starters at some point. I'm not sure if that's something that we can ask for.

You're asking for too much. No. Yeah, I know. We can't have nice things. This is apparently what it is in the AFC North. Have you ever seen a Bengals Ravens matchup where like both teams were healthy? I don't know if we have. It's been a while with like Lamar and Burrow.

I mean, if they are at the beginning. of the game, typically not so much by the end. But that would be nice. A girl can dream. But even still, as long as Lamar stays healthy, I think it's really encouraging. And they are the, I mean, they, to me, are the clear favorite in the division.

I think that's fairly, like, if Joe Burroughs hurt, I think that's probably, if the man can't line up and shotgun one time, like, I don't know what we're talking about here. but their season prospects, despite the injuries, I think, are still, still look good in part because of what's happening in Cincinnati. We're also going to have, I'm going to have to ask Jamar Chase to not do any pregame trash talk next week.

We have the elves thing against the Browns. And they got their asking by some elves. Yeah, he said he's never heard of anyone on the Ravens defense before this week. He said it in public during a press conference. and then got chokeslaid by a rock you're sin in the end zone and dropped a touchdown. Oh, that's tough. I did. The elves thing was funny.

I will give credit to him because he really owned it. I don't know what his post game was today. And if he said something similar with that. But I'm pissed because I called them elves and we just got beat by some elves was really good. So if we're going to get that every week, then I don't know. for it. Talk your shit, Jamar Chase. Okay. Okay, fun. He should learn Kyle Hamilton's name, by the way.

He's that 6-5 guy that tackles you with ease all the time, by the way. The only person I've ever seen tackled Jamar Chase with ease is Kyle Hamilton, which is Kyle Hamilton. All right. You got another winner? Oh, yeah. I don't even know who to name the winner in this game. Giants 21 or 31 Cardinals 28. The Giants can only be a winner in like the most literal sense of the word. They don't at anything else. In Arizona is a winner in my book. The Cringleor, Jonathan Gannon,

gets him out to the 28 to 7 lead, realizes at halftime what the task at hand is. I hope someone showed him like Caleb Williams highlights at halftime because he can't be messing around with this. They're getting too close. They could be 2-0 easily.

They almost beat Washington. They had this lead against the Giants. This is not what we're aiming for here, Gannon. But the Giants, I mean, Say what you want about those first, what is it, six quarters. The last two quarters, they averaged over 10 yards per play and had a 60% success rate in both the run game and the past game. Like, that's everything you wanted to see from that team.

So I'm willing to overlook the first half of this game because they scored 31 points. Sequin Barkley going down with the ankle injury, I think he's getting an MRI tomorrow. That's a huge red flag because he was such a big part of this comeback. Him and Jalen Hyatt, the rookie receiver. Daniel Jones played well, but the Giants have problems. I don't think that second half is going to solve them. I don't care what the stats are. It's against the Cardinals.

They're not even trying. The Sequin X-rays, I guess, were negative. So he didn't break anything. I think high ankle sprain, which is an injury he's dealt with in the past, is the concern. So probably not something that is like season ending, but doesn't mean that it's minor. and that would be a big deal. It's a really good thing that the Giants found the end zone.

I don't know what else I'll say. It's the Cardinals. Yeah, congratulations. Play action game was working. Cool. Josh Dobbs was good, by the way. Let's give a shout up to Josh Dobbs. Running zone,

throwing dimes outside the numbers. Like, he looked like a very good quarterback. By the way, our colleague Benjamin Szilak, tried to get on my case about overrating the commanders in our power rankings last week because they didn't cover against Josh Dobbs. And I was mostly kidding and just trying to get them off my case in our Slack channel and just said Josh Jobs has a little something or I don't even remember what it was. But Benjamin, haven't heard from you.

Watch the games. 6 p.m. Eastern this evening, things were not going great in the New York metro area in terms of the football teams. It did get significantly better after that with the Giants scoring 24 unanswered end up winning this game. But things are a little bleak there in the early Eve. Yeah, but I still think you're worried, you're concerned just because the pieces that they add in the offseason haven't really hit yet. Like Darren Waller, he made some catches today, but we haven't seen him make a true impact on the game. I still think they're relying on like Darius Slayton targets too much. And like high.

had played a good game, made two good catches, but I still think that's not a player you want to bank on if you're a playoff team. There are issues, and I think the defense has issues still. I don't think Wink Martindale has quite figured out how to call the best defense for this group of players. But I mean, I guess they got the win, but I'm not too optimistic about them. It was like the first time in 30 years, I think, that a team didn't score in the first six corners of a season. It's pretty bad. It's bad.

I mean, but they scored 31 in the second half. I guess the Cardinals. We have, so I have tickets to the Monday night football game and to giant Seahawks in two weeks or something. Well, so we have four tickets and meant to invite friends. friends before the season started. And like before the, before the season kicked off, giant Seahawks Monday night football like kind of a good ticket, kind of a fun invite. You're thrilled to get that invite, right? You know, you got to go to MetLife and it's a pain.

Then the Giants and the Seahawks were probably arguably the two most disappointing teams of week ones. We're like, oh God, we should have offered before. Who's going to go to this with us now? And I was personally glad that they came back. I'm not a Giants fan, but I was personally glad that they came back in one because we texted friends being like, do you want to go to this game and hadn't heard back from them? And I was just like, no one wants to go watch the Giants score zero points with us. This is so embarrassing. Gina revenge game, though. Gina revenge game.

The Seahawks are my next winner. Great game against the Lions. Quality win too. Really impressed by Gino, who I thought was really resilient, almost had the disaster play. He took the 17-yard sack just after the two-minute warning while Seattle was trying to hang on to a three-point lead. Lions get the ball, tie the game with a field goal. But all that had to happen after that was Drew Locke went out there and won the coin toss. And then Gino was just absolutely surgical in overtime.

Six or seven on the drive, big throws to Noah Fant, D.K. Metcalf on a big third down. And then Tyler Lockett scores the game winner. Even without the two starting tackles, I just thought he was really, really impressive. The backups both had no penalties, no quarterback hits allowed, no sacks allowed. They're playing with a lot of the tight ends. Smart game plan. Really good game from Gino. was doing, you know, both

Gino and Jared Gough put up some numbers in this game, but Gino was doing the hard stuff and like converting third downs and doing it with the backups. Jared was just like averaging 10 yards of play on first down, but then turning the fall over for the

first time in like 300 plays or something. But this was a really good game. You know, the Seahawks ended up winning it, but I thought both teams looked pretty good. The Seahawks were just able to execute on the Sleigh higher degree of difficulty stuff and ended up with a really quality win after the flat performance against the Rams.

They didn't get pressure on them, Detroit, on Seattle, but they forced Gino to make some really tough throws outside of the numbers. So the Lions gave up a lot of points, but I don't know if this is like a game where I'm like, oh, it's the same old Lions defense necessarily. They just got beat by a quarterback who was just on his game today. At the same time, it kind of feels like it's more of the same for Seattle. Like, it feels like last year again. If Gino is on it, they're going to score a lot of points and have to outscore the other team.

Because the defense just, after whatever changes they made in the offseason, I think they went back to the Pete Carroll style of defense after experimenting with the Fangio style of defense. It's still not working. And until it does, like, I can't adjust my expectations for this team. It's the same as last year. A wild card contender, but I can't go further. I think that's fair. I think this is a tough. I mean, the lions, you know, they're coming off this big win against Kansas City.

They're at home. The crowd's crazy. That line in the running game still is what it is. You would have liked to see Seattle be able to get them, get them to third down, get them to third and long a little bit more often, which they just couldn't really do. But I think it's still a tough opponent in that sense. tough matchup for them because of that. I agree with you that, especially because, look, like some of the problems that they had in

this game, they're going to have them against San Francisco. So in terms of where they rank in the cream of the crop and the NFC, I think that's right. I think that feels about right is that it's hard to feel like there's another big step to be taken unless they do it on defense, regardless of how good. Gino is, but he really is calm, cool and collected back there. I do think it's impressive that they were able to do it without Charles Cross, without Abe Lucas. And, you know, we'll see.

It's a long season. I don't, I'm, I think the lions are good offensively and a tough matchup for them offensively. So I don't, I think, I agree with you that those were the problems, but I don't think they'll have those in every game. The good news is they're facing a quarterback who's like 510 and weighs 180 pounds next week. So like if the defense is going to, and they struggled, the panthers struggled last week. So if they're going to have a bounce back game, this is when it's going to be.

Yeah. Yep. Really fun game. I really liked watching this game. Do you even a loser? I do. I'm going to make the Packers a loser. They lose to the Falcons 25 to 24.

I thought Jordan Love looked really, really good in this game. But the Packers gave this. game away with penalties, dropped interceptions. Desmond Ritter tried to give them like four interceptions. They caught one of them, but they didn't catch the rest of them. With the lions losing today, the Bears losing today, the Vikings losing on Thursday, like they had a chance to get out in front NFC North and they passed on it. Like, this was a bad game, sloppy game.

And I don't think it was Jordan Love and that's a surprise to me. I thought they were really missing Aaron Jones. Yes. AJ Dylan Yeah that was not great I mean if they're without Christian Watson too but the young receiver is kind of stepped up but AJ Dylan is is not getting it done

And Jones is just Well Wasn't working On the other hand Bejohn Very fun First team all he moves different Yeah a lot of wiggle

Stymal wiggle. He like makes cuts, sets up his blockers, and does it all at at top speed. It's amazing to watch. He's like, he's like Jamal Charles to me, the way he glides down the field. It's like he's running downhill. Like he's skiing almost downhill the way he slaloms through the defense. It's very impressive. I'm not mad at that pick so far through two games.

Yeah. No, I mean, positional value. Shmish, me, jim, jim, mish, me. Couldn't land some plane on that. one, but you know what I mean. He's really fun to watch. Um, is the Falcons defense good? It might be Ryan Nielsen. Like a little good. This is the Saints defense recreated. Cool. Yeah. They get pressure. They get free rushers. They, they stick tight to routes. AJ, uh, Torell had a huge game today. I think they're good. The Falcons, I've said many times.

They're not a football team. They're a performance art. They're a social experiment. But if they were a football team, this is not a horrible way for their games to go. I mean, Ritter was pretty bad until late in the game. But if they'd been better in the red zone, they were two for five there.

It might not have needed to be such a, you know, late comeback. Defense looks like they might have something. I like that they're really aggressive on fourth down. Bejohn's super fun to watch. They're very ambivalent about your fantasy team. Arthur Smith still has the mustache. What was he?

He's got the mustache and he's got the weird like performance tech short sleeve hoodie. It's like the Belichick look, but it's like tailored. Like he didn't make it himself. Well, and it doesn't, yeah, it's not, it's not good. Someone's got to, someone should do something about that. They should do something about the mustache. Let's step one. That's step one.

I don't know what step two is. Put some sleeves on. Yeah. Put some sleeves on. Yeah. I mean, vests are stupid, but a vest over a short sleeve. I'm not positive that that's what it was, but it looked like he was wearing like an under armor t-shirt and then had a hoodie vest over it.

That's what I thought. I studied the tape, though. I studied the tape. Oh. I think it was all one. Seamless. I think it was a shirt, one shirt. You know sweatshirt.

I do. I don't know. Is that what is that a sweatshirt? Does that count? I don't know. Can we talk about David Bakhtiari, who didn't play? Sure. And Matt LeFlor was asked about it.

And he was like, I don't know. This is how it's going to be for the rest of the year, I guess. And he was very mad about it. But a week after, or a couple days after complaining about turf on Twitter, he doesn't play in their first game on turf. And I think there's a connection there. And LeFleur was asked about it. And that's when he gave that weird response.

That was really vague. You think he's holding out in protest? No, I think he, I don't know what it is. Like he's been in and out of the lineup for the past two years. Right. With no rhyme or reason to it. No pattern to it. So I don't know.

what it is. Should we go back and analyze if he's, if he's missed all of the games that were on turf? I mean, that can't be. I mean, LaFlor says that's not the case. I'm going to take his word for it, but it is, I don't know. Did somebody ask him? Yeah, he was asked after the game. But he said, he said, he was asked, like, does he not want to play on turf? Is that what's going on? Yes. Yes, yes, directly. And he said, I'm not getting into that is what he said. And then there was a follow up. there was a follow-up and he was like, I'm not getting into it, but this is how it's going to be

for the rest of the year. You didn't say no. That is wild. That is fascinating. Yeah, that sounds more like, yeah. I mean, I don't know anything. I'm just speculating. That definitely doesn't sound like no,

and it kind of sounds a little bit like, yes. Okay, he did say no. Let me say. The first question was, did he not? It's a weird answer. Let me read the answer to back. The first question was about, Did he not play because of the turf?

And he said, no. We all know Dave's been dealing with this on and off. And then he was asked to follow up and he's like, I'm not getting into it. We all know this is two years now. I'm not getting into it. It's probably going to be like this from here on out. What does like this mean? I don't know what like this means.

Yeah, I just think two years after a major injury, if you are on and off available, something is just not right. like if that I'm I would imagine like what would it be other than a physical issue but that's he's a good player but I don't I don't understand why they wouldn't do you want to try to count on that for an entire season where it's just like you already know some weeks he's going to be in some weeks he's not going to be after all of this time it that has been one of the weirdest situations and we're going into to years of it but that's that's that's That's fascinating. I mean, I'll be watching this press conferences more closely, I guess. Anything else from Packers Falcons? No, I do think that like if I'm a Green Bay fan tomorrow, I know it was a tough loss. I know you gave the game away.

Jordan Love looks so good. Like that's all that matters for the long term. Is Jordan Love looking good? When they get fully healthy on offense, Aaron Jones back, Christian Watson back, Bakhtiari back, maybe. I think it's going to look a lot different. So I wouldn't let Sunday kind of spoil what happened in week one. Yeah, I mean, also the division is wide open.

So I'm sure they, and they have a team that is ready to win games. And with how love has looked through the first two weeks, they should have fairly high aspirations. But also this is, I mean, this is a marathon, not a sprint. So there's no, no need to get worked up over one bad loss. It is the Falcons though. Don't let the Falcons do stuff like this to you. last loser of the day. Who is it?

It's the Jaguars. Trevor said it was embarrassing that they couldn't find the end zone. And it kind of was. They lost the chiefs. Neither offense really delivered. But two weeks into the press Taylor play calling experiment, I can't say I think it's going great. I don't want to make too much of that.

I mean, Doug's standing right there with a headset on. So it seems like the buck shouldn't. stop with with press taylor necessarily but yet again um even though i they they overall looked i mean at least trevor looked pretty good in week one the situational stuff was really bad they couldn't um they scored three points off of three chiefs turnovers they really struggled on third down for the second week in a row there were three of 12 um over two on fourth down and then oh for three zone. Chris Jones definitely dominated this game, made it a lot harder on Trevor Lawrence,

sacked him on fourth and five on the Jags' last possession before the half, and then late in the fourth quarter, Jacksonville had a chance to tie and Jones and Felix and D.K. Zoma combined for a sack fumble that set up fourth and 12 and an under turnover on downs to hugely impactful plays, that's, that's your O of two on fourth down right there. So he was making a huge impact. The Jags offensive line is definitely leaving something to be desired. But Trevor Lawrence is playing pretty well. Like, Trevor looks great. And you got to score a touchdown. Is my opinion. I think this is where the Jags offensive personnel like shows up. Because they have a bunch of small receive. Like Calvin Ridley is the number one receiver, but he's very

small. Evan Ingram is a good tight end, but he's not a blocker. That's not his game. It's hard to score in the red zone when you don't have those guys blocking on the edges or you don't have, or on like fourth and one and short yardage situations. I think that is an issue with this team. They need to get tougher and it has to happen at the skill position. It's just tough because I feel like we've spent a couple off seasons being like, well, they need to get faster. They need to get faster. And I agree they do need to get bigger, but I don't quite know how they're going to do that in the short term. I was going to say, I think the way to do it in the short term is like find ways to work around that. I don't know if press tail, and that brings up the press tailor issue again.

Yeah, because that's what I was going to say is just like, I think you have to focus on how you deal with it situationally in the short term. And that's where I do like, I do wonder if you, you say, even subtly, right? Like, you know, just turn, turn Doug's connection to the quarterback headset on, you don't need to tell anybody. Just fix it. Because I do believe that he has good ideas about that stuff

and would be getting it done a little bit more than this. I will say this. Usually when a team is built like this, when they do have personnel constraints, having a good quarterback, having a top five quarterback tends to bail you out. So I think Jacksonville will find it. answer with Trevor eventually.

Yeah, I agree, particularly because, look, they're not going to go three of 12 on third down every game. Right. And some of this stuff is just, they're just the high variance plays. But they masked it really well in week one, but some of these things were problems in week one. It just showed up more significantly this, this week. against a Chief's team that, like, I mean, was barely trying to win the game. They had 12 penalties.

Juan Taylor was called for two false starts. Another illegal formation. Two holding penalties. Andy Reid yanked him at one point after, I think, the fourth penalty, but he did go back in. you're playing a good opponent, but they're not giving you their A game. Just one touchdown. Seems like one touchdown would not be too much to ask for. No, I will say this.

They had this same problem early last year. Like Trevor referenced the Texans game early last year when they like dominated and we're in the red zone every possession, but still somehow lost. So I do think there's a track record of them like figuring things out. Yeah. I'm not too concerned because I'm not too concerned. I'm not too concerned about them either. Also because I just, I don't, I really don't think it's all press Taylor's fault.

I agree with you that a lot of it is personnel, but I also just don't think like this isn't working and you don't need to be doing it. So maybe don't. Yeah. And there are worst teams to lose to. I know the Chiefs didn't play well, but Patrick Mahomes played well. And as long as he's playing well, they're going to be hard to be. Happy 28th birthday, Patrick Mahomes.

Exciting. Good stuff. All right. one more quick break come back do a little take purge get out of here yeah all right we are back and we're going to finish things up with the take purge by the way thank you to our friends at the ringer fantasy football show um their take purge episodes are always some of the best stuff of the year um and it's a fun concept and we're totally stealing it so thank you to those guys stephen copycat league copycat league i'm gonna dust off an oldie but goody i went on a podcast with you last

season, late last season, and suggested that the Giants fully commit to running Daniel Jones in like a triple option type offense, same prescription for the other New York team. Zach Wilson isn't going to work. Let's get a mobile quarterback in there and just run the triple. Who? It doesn't matter. Cam Newton. It could be Malik Willis.

It could be anybody. Anybody that could run the football. Oh, Malik Willis. Josh Jobs would be fun. Robert Sala, I think this was before the game, said, like yeah, Zach Wilson, you know, we might have a limited quarterback, but teams win with special teams defense in a good running game. Well, the Jets didn't have a good running game today, and they didn't have a good defense today.

So I think they're going to have to figure out how to run the football. I think their defense will be fine going forward. But as long as Jack Wilson is out there and defenses can load the box, it's going to be tough to run the football. I think you need somebody that evens up the numbers. And I really do think that makes the offense viable. We saw it in Arizona. like Arizona's offense has looked decent enough just because Josh Dobbs can run a little.

Right. I think that's a cheat code they need to use. Yeah, the question would just be, where do they find that guy? The thing is, I think these mobile quarterbacks are more available than we like to think. Like I said, RJ3, he's throwing his name out there. He will definitely play. RG3. Like, Malik Willis, I think, is a player that you can get.

I think Camdun is a free agent, although I think he's probably been too long since Camden. has played, but there are backups in the league who can run. I like it. Zach Wilson is a good athlete, too. Yeah. If that would be a really interesting, like, that would be the thing that would be interesting to see is like if they could come up with something, I just don't think that they can convince Zach Wilson to be a different person overnight.

And that's the problem is they're trying to do this like conservative, Zach don't kill us offense. When Zach Wilson is just not, that is not how he wants to play. That is not how he's built to play. He's built to go for the big shots. He's built to take risks. And he is in a situation where him taking risks is just the worst thing that he could possibly do.

And I, like, I think it's easy to say, oh, well, he's pretty athletic. So maybe just like get him to run around back there and, and do some dink and dunk stuff and protect the football. That's a hard. that's a hard coaching ask. But I'm with you on this one because I am very much on Jets. Please just go get somebody. Island.

They got to do something. I want to see this team be viable. And I just don't think that they're going to be viable with Zach Wilson. I mean, I didn't see a lot of this game, but my dad texted me in the middle of it and was just like, Garrett Wilson is yelling at Zach Wilson on the sideline after every play. I thought Zach good at first. but when the game got out of hand, he kind of reverted back to his old ways. And that's, you just don't want to see that.

I don't know. I think coaches almost think about this backwards with these quarterbacks that are limited. They're trying to protect by, you know, running the ball in first and second down. And then all of a lot, like, when they do have to pass, when Zach Wilson does have to pass, it's usually like in third and long when it's hardest to pass. Yeah. Yeah. I think finding a way to run an offense where you can pass the ball downfield on first down,

that's the best way to go about this. Running the football on early downs is just going to make it worse, especially if you can't do it. We should clip that. Sage wisdom, sage advice. I have a take for you. All right. Sean McVeigh, coach of the year.

I'm fully there with you. I'm there with you. The Rams didn't win, but they were pretty feisty again against a really good 49ers team. I mean, he's got Pooka Naku out there. with more receptions than any player ever in his first two games. This is a really impressive coaching job.

He's turned Tutu Atwell into like a real live player who needs to be accounted for. He weighs 150 pounds. I don't even know if it's safe for him to be in the NFL and he's a productive player. That's always how I feel is like that's not, this is just not a good idea. This is going to end so terribly. But he's out there being a viable part of an offense. Stafford, I mean, this is not. this is more Stafford than McVeigh.

But Stafford looks incredible. Mm-hmm. He threw two picks today, but one was like an unlucky bounce off the hands. Yeah, whatever. I mean, also like, he's not Stafford. Sometimes he throws some picks. But he's trimmed down. He's running around a little bit.

Like, I just, I think this is, I think this is sort of a miraculous coaching job. Maybe his best coaching job ever. It was one thing when they did it when the Seahawks couldn't get, couldn't get any pressure on them whatsoever. And it was week one and it seemed weird. they've now done this against two good teams. And Seattle rebounded and played really well this week. I'm not saying their defense looked awesome. But these were the 49ers.

You got to tip your cap. I wonder how many wins he has to get them to. Just because usually the formula for coach of the year is completely different, right? It's team was really bad. And then they win a bunch more games. And if there's not a change at quarterback or something, than we say, ah, coaching job. Rams probably aren't going to win double-digit games,

even though they're certainly a lot closer to that and it's a much more realistic possibility than I would have thought it was before the season started. I just wonder where he, like, does it have to be like nine? Where does he have to get them to get that kind of credit for this coaching job? Because I can't think of one that I think is more impressive than getting this group of players where they started training camp with like 38 rookies

or something like that. I wrote a story about it. I'm spacing on the exact number. I've just got like a few dozen 19 and 20 year olds running around out there. Like that's ridiculous. In like April, they didn't have a single special teams player, like a specialist. They had a single special teamer. And now their entire special teams unit, all of them were born after.

the year 2000. Not one of them remembers Y2K. Not one of them was alive for White. I don't really remember Y2K, but whatever. It's pretty impressive. Yeah. And it's not like it looks, it doesn't look like the Giants offense last year,

for instance, where it's like they're piecing things together and just scraping by. Like, it looks good. It looks like a Sha'iqvichs. No offense to Daniel Jones. That was very offensive to Daniel Jones, by the way. Yeah, that was meaner than I mentioned to be.

good yeah and screw you all right i think that means we should end the podcast but we'll keep we'll keep sean mcvay on coach of the year watch um we will keep zach wilson and any other quarterbacks on can you run the option with the jets watch and that'll all be very exciting this has been the ringer nfl recap show i'm nora princiati as always he's stephen ruiz thank you stephen this is been fantastic. We will be back in the middle of the week, breaking down a whole bunch of stories. But first, Ben and Sheel will have extra point taken for you on Monday.

They'll be covering a double header of Monday night football games. That'll be exciting. Our thanks, as always, to Isaiah Blakely for production on this episode and to Arjuna Rangipal for additional production supervision. Must be 21 plus and present in select states, Fandual is offering online sports wagering in Kansas under an agreement with Kansas Star Casino LLC, gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler, or visit Fandul slash RG in Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Tennessee, and Virginia. Call 1-800 next step or text next step to 533-42 in Arizona, 1-888-78-7-77, or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut, 1-8009 with it in Indiana, 1-800-5-2-2-2-2.

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