The Ringer NFL Show - Why Week 1 Really Matters With Andrew Whitworth

Episode Date: September 4, 2025

Former All-Pro tackle and co-host of the Fitz & Whit podcast, Andrew Whitworth, joins the show to talk about his favorite Week 1 matchups, and debate Sheil on what he thinks the big headlines will be next Monday. Games discussed include: Lions vs. Packers Seahawks vs. 49ers Bills vs. Ravens Vikings vs. Bears Sheil ends the pod with a look ahead to the Jets vs. Steelers game on Sunday. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.rg-help.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Host: Sheil KapadiaGuest: Andrew WhitworthProducer: Chris SuttonSocial: Kiera Givens and Brian WatersProduction Supervision: Conor Nevins and Arjuna Ramgopowell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Ringer NFL show. Football season is officially here. Eagles Cowboys kick it off tonight. I'm your host, Shield Capadia, excited for our guest today. He had a distinguished 16-year NFL career, two-time all pro, Super Bowl champ. But you know what? Most importantly, a fellow bald man like myself. That's right, baby.

You know, yeah, I like to welcome in the fellow bald, and he's showing it. And it looks nice and clean. His name is Andrew Whitworth. You can listen to him. on fits and wit, a wave original podcast with new episodes available. Every Wednesday on YouTube or wherever you get your pods. Thank you for joining us today, my friend. I appreciate it, brother.

I'm happy to be on here, man. I'm excited. We're getting started. Week one, baby. Let's go. We're getting started. Here we go. Now we go, what, four months, five months?

I don't know what it is. We'll count the weeks when we need to count the weeks. But we're going to talk week one storylines today. And so I'm going to give, Andrew, week one storylines. I'm going to give them a couple and say, hey, these are headlines that we could hear on Monday, on Tuesday. You know, some of those talking head shows, maybe. You're going to see these headlines? Here they come.

Here they come. Which one do you agree with? And then we'll just talk about the games, talk about the team. So it'll be a lot of fun. So let's take a quick break. We come back and we get to it, week one storylines. This is the Ringer NFL show presented by Fandul, and the NFL is officially backed. So if you're going to be in it, be in it with Fandul.

They've got the goods, futures, live betting, SGPs, Your Way bets, all of it. The app's clean, it's fast, and yeah, when you win, you get paid instantly, which is nice, because Sunday patience doesn't exist. So get your bets in, build something bold, and make every game feel bigger. Download the Fandul app or head to fandul.com slash ringer NFL to get started. The ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit RG-help.com to learn more. about the resources and help lines available and listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Must be 21 plus and present in select states. We're 18 plus and present in D.C., Kentucky,

or Wyoming. Gambling problem. Call 1-800 gambler or visit RG-HELP.com. Call 1-88-78-977777. Or visit ccg.org slash chat in Connecticut. Paid endorsement. All right, here we go. We're back on the Ringer NFL show. Here's the first one for you. Okay, lions go to Lambeau Field, in my opinion. One of the juiciest matchups in week one. Now, which headline is more likely here? Micah Parsons makes instant impact in Packers' dominating win,

or Lions prove they're still the team to be in the NFC North, Andrew. So when you look at those two, Parsons instant impact, it's a tough game. I mean, this one could go in a number of directions. I'm curious to hear what you think. about this game, but which of those headlines sounds like, hey, that one maybe feels just a little bit more likely next week? Well, I think really for me, I think

the energy of Micah Parsons being in Green Bay, that is obviously something that's going to carry a lot of momentum. You're going to be in Lambo. The energy will be at an all-time high. You know that place will be loud and all those things. But we all know this. Any of us that have played 8 to 10 snaps into that game, none of that's going to matter anymore.

It's going to come down to executing football. And I think sometimes we take teams at the end of the season, and that's the picture we have of them. And I think we forget when this Lions defense was healthy, when this Lions team had all their guys just how dominant they were last year. Yeah, they lost some coordinators, but they still got the man, Dan Campbell, leading the way.

They still got a lot of really freaking good football players. And so I look for them really to kind of be the right mix of a team that if you think of how they're built, they can run it with multiple people, they can play action you, they can play defense, they got Aidan Hutchinson who can change the game themselves. Like I think they can withstand the storm a little bit of there's going to be some big energy to start this game.

And then it's going to come down to who out-executes who. And we can't forget, Michael Parsons coming in, but Kenny Clark went out. Is Green Bay's run defense going to be good enough to stop the Detroit Lions? And also, you know, when you think about this game, the Green Bay Packers have really struggled in their division. They haven't been able to prove it. So this is a game for them.

As we always say in the locker room, there's this little inkling of doubt, right? We didn't play well last year. We got dominated in our division. Can the Lions create some doubt to the Packers? mindset. So I think for right now, do I think this Green Bay team will reach where they're supposed to go? Sure. But I think Michael Parsons hasn't practiced much. He's still going to have an effect, but there's going to be a little bit of running out of gas at some point in this game. And I think the same thing's

going to happen to this team. There'll be some big energy to start it. But I think the Lions are built to withstand it. I think they win this game. I'm with you. I like the Packers a lot this year. But I was thinking about that Lions team and they're looking over at Green Bay. And now Green Bay is a very Buzzy Super Bowl team. And I even think back to two years. Remember when Dan Campbell, they lose that crushing game in the NFC championship. And he comes out and says, we might not ever get back here. The next year, they go 15 and 2.

So I think there's like an infrastructure there in Detroit that probably gets underrated. I mean, they're 27 and 7. The last two years, best record in the NFL. I did want to ask you, though, that lion's offense specifically, we're going to find out some things, I think, right away because they lose Ben Johnson. they have some changes on the offensive line. Kevin Sightler leaves, Zitler leaves, Frank Ragnow retires.

Are you, you sound like you're relatively confident that they can keep the train moving here, or are you more, hey, let's see how this looks with those moving parts? I think there's definitely some questions. I do think them being healthier on defense, that as a total team, we're going to see a better version of them even than we saw at the end of the season last year.

But I do think there's going to be some growing pains. I think there's this clip on the quarterback Netflix show that I go back to, every time somebody asked that question about this game. And if you remember golf's talking about the game where they're really struggling and he's had a bad day, he's throwing picks. And he's sitting there in the huddle and he's like, man, I hope Ben Johnson calls this play. And he does call it.

And he's like, man, we were thinking alike. Those are what it's like when you've got a coordinator and a quarterback and a vision for an offense where we're on the same page. We've got a feel for how games are going. And it takes time to develop that. And it takes a play caller who's got a really good feel for his team and what it needs in the moment. And so I think when you think about that, it's not about whether the job can get done and whether this is the best Lions team we're going to see week one.

It's this will be a process for them as well and getting to know each other. What's their style? What are they going to lean on in crunch time moments? So I think there will be a little bit of, hey, a lull in these first few weeks of just maybe not optimal as good as we've seen them. But they're going to be a really good football team because they have too many good players and too many guys that have been in the moment. And that's the other big part to me. this Packers team is yet to prove in the big division games that it can find a way to win them.

The Lions have continually done it and they've shown in big games they can win. And I think a healthy defense is going to be the factor that's going to set the difference for them. Yeah, most injured defense in the NFL last year. I mean, what Aaron Glenn did with that group, given the guys who went down was incredible last year. I'm excited for this one.

I mean, this could be NFC championship. These are two teams that could legitimately get to the Super Bowl. We get it in week one. Packers are. two and a half point favorites in that game. All right, let's move on to the next one here. It is a time for a special part of today's episode brought to you by NFL Sunday ticket on YouTube TV.

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All right. One game I'm going to have on my Sunday ticket, Andrew. In the late window, Seahawks, 49 years. I mean, this NFCWW. A lot of questions on that one. Yeah. It looks very intriguing, wide open decision. So let me ask you this.

What's a more likely headline? Kyle Shanahan has his fastball back as Niners roll or Sam Darnah lights it up in his Seahawks debut. 49ers go to Seattle. What do you think? Man, you know what? As a ram, I am really torn about this game. I'm stressing out because I don't know who I want to see come out and be the best in this game. Because obviously we've seen when the Niners are healthy, when they're rolling and Shanahan's got his fastball, they've proven what they'll do.

They'll end up in Super Bowls, right? And that's how good of a football team they are. With the Seahawks, there's just so many questions. Like, what does it look like now, Cooper Cup being a Seahawk? And how is he involved in that offense? How does that worth with Jackson Smith and Jigpa? And really Sam Darned on his blend of where the targets are going and really how this offense is going to come alive?

Because we saw last year with Kubiak, it was really run-oriented at first. And it was a lot of play actions, that kind of game. And is that the style that really Cooper and Jackson are built for? And so it's really going to be interesting to see what is this Seattle offense, because defensively, I think we all think this should be a really good defense. And so I just think this game is one of those to me that it may not be the every fan's question, you know, big built-up game of the week type situation, but it's going to really tell a story, I think, for the rest of the season of what these two teams look like.

And is Sam Donald for real after having an awesome year in Minnesota? And then San Francisco, are they back? And is this the Niners that we've had to deal with? Yeah. I think for me, I think the likely answer is, I think in a week one game, I go to the play callers. And I think that when you have a chance to have Robert Sala in the house, you've got a chance to have Kyle Shanahan in the house and they're back together.

They know how it was made. They made the magic potion before of what got them to play championship-style football. So I just think the Seahawks, it's a tough week-one matchup for them because I think there's going to be a storm coming from the Niners. My question for the Niners is just who's the playmaker outside of Christian McCaffrey at the wide receiver spot, who's really who they're going to be able to lean on. Yeah, it sounds like Kyle Shanahan told reporters, Joanne Jennings expected to play. So you see how he looks there coming off the injury.

Ricky Pearson. But I'm with you. I am bullish on the, I was bullish, you know, on the 49ers in July, Andrew. And then every time I looked up, another guy was going down and training. I know. I might need to change this take by the time But I kind of know more Seattle to start building momentum. That's my problem. I think, I think that this defense could be a big story for them. And if Sam Donald's for real, I think they could be trouble. We all know Seattle is a tough place to go win. And if they're playing great on defense, it is loud. It is a tough environment to go and win in.

And if they really get it together on offense, this is going to be a team that people might sleep on how good they really could be because week one might tell us that story. You're the perfect person to ask this question because I worked in Seattle for two years. And in my preseason projections, I had their defense, I think, can be the best in the NFL. I'm with you. That could be a story of the season. Their offense, I am not as bullish on.

And so some of my old friends in Seattle, they're telling me, Clint Kubiak can mask some of the deficiencies on the offensive line with the under center, the play action, the boots. This is going to be easier than it's been previously. Like, how much can his scheme maybe, because that offensive line has been an issue for them for what? A decade, maybe we're talking about every year. Is that something that you say, no, he actually can go in there and make that offensive line? Maybe look a little bit, a lot better than it looks like on paper, or is that a little bit over? blown. I think he can. I think he can go in there for sure. You look at what the Saints were last year. I mean, shoot, I'll never forget. Tony Gonzalez on our show picked the Saints to go to the Super Bowl

after the first couple weeks in our pick-em deal because it was like, that's how good they looked on offense, right? And we thought, man, this team looked unbelievable. But the reality of it is to me, and this is where I come back to is what you know about your opponent, right? And you always say, hey, man, you need to know your opponent better than know yourself. I look at Robert Sala. And I look, what did he used to have to face all the time when he was with the Niners? Sean McVey and an offense that loved to play action when we first had golf in 17 and 18. That's what we did, the boots, the actions.

And what did he do? He came up with adjustments because Kyle Shanahan's wired the same way. They're sickos. And they sit around and they think, how could you stop me? How could I stop you? All those good things. And he came up with an adjustment with his ends

to really take away the boot game against us and force us to have to run the football and play drop back pass. I think the Niners are going to take an approach where they're going to say, hey, we're going to force these guys to stay out of the boot game. If they're going to beat us, they're going to sit in the pocket and throw the football, and we're going to keep him in that pocket and not let him get out.

I think that will be their plan going to the game. And I think that's why it's going to be tough because you're going to put Sam Darno, Cooper Cup and Jackson Smith & Jigpa in the situation where we got to be on to start. The first week one of the season, live bullets, here we go. We've got to be firing on all cylinders, and they've got to run the football well. And Robert Sala has great adjustments to that. Look for them to stunt, one gap, slants, all those good things to try and take away some of that zone game. It's a lot of the same things that drove me freaking crazy when I was a ram

and we go play the San Francisco 49ers because Shanahan's over there telling Sala, this is what would kill these plays if you did this. Those two together, it's going to be a problem. I love that. Salas got like a Ph.D. in this type of scheme that the Seahawks are trying to incorporate this year with Clint Kuby. That's a fun matchup. Sala versus the New Look Seahawks.

And then the other side of the ball, I mean, McDonald versus Shanahan, two of the best in the NFL. They had some back and forth last year. What does it look like this year? So that's going to be a lot of fun as well. All right, with NFL Sunday ticket on YouTube TV, 1 PM is actually the best part of your Sunday. You're in the driver's seat of your viewing experience. You have your pick from every game, every Sunday all in one place, and you're controlling the chaos like a champ.

New users grab it for eight payments at just $34 and 50 cents per month. Go to YouTube.com, ringer NFL to sign up now. new users pay $276 or eight non-cancelable payments of $3450 per month with first payment charged at purchase. Payment plan is not available everywhere with NFL Sunday ticket for out-of-market games and YouTube TV base plan for local and national games. Requires base plan, excludes digital-only games, and commercial use, terms, embargoes, and restrictions apply no refunds. All right, let's take a break. I got two more for you. Andrew, we'll get to two more of these games in week one. The Ringer NFL show is brought to you by Fandul. Football fans, the weight is over. The NFL is back and the best place to kick off the season is on Fandul.

Because every game day during week one, Fandul is giving all customers a no-sweat NFL bet. From the money line to player props to same game parlays, your no-sweat bet can be used on any NFL wager type. And if it doesn't win, you'll get bonus bets back. I'm looking at the Browns plus five and a half. at home against the Bengals. I know the Browns aren't going to be great, but I think their defense can be a little feisty. The Bengals' offensive line, the Bengals' defense.

I'm not sure about those. So that's what I've got. You can go with that. You can go with whatever you want. But remember, this season, make Van Duel, your go-to app for any snap. Just visit Fandul.com slash wringer NFL to kick off the NFL with a no-sweat bet

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I mean, if you're not juiced for this game, I don't know why you watch football, honestly, but we got one of the matchups of the year, two teams that can legitimately win the Super Bowl, which storyline is more likely? Bill's secondary gets exposed in week one loss or self-inflicted mistakes, doom Ravens in loss at Buffalo.

And let me explain to you where I'm coming from here. So again, two Super Bowl contenders. The bills have a glaring weakness on paper. That's cornerback. Christian Benford limited in practice. Treadius White did not practice Wednesday. First round picked Maxwell Hirston on injured reserves. So this feels like something we might be talking about for a while this season.

So you can pick their kryptonite if you think they're not going to get to the Super Bowl. For the Ravens, I had a trouble. I had trouble picking that. kryptonite. Like, what is the weakness on the roster? But there do seem to be, there does seem to be this thing in big games where they're not at their best maybe in big spots. And John Harbaugh is up there saying, well, he made mistakes here. And Lamar's saying, I can't believe we did that. So I don't know if you agree or disagree with that. But that's where I'm coming from with the headlines. What do you think? Listen, I go back to, we're talking about our Fitz of Witt podcast. Pitz told this

story last year. He goes to the playoffs. He gets to do, you know, the intro of the Bill's game. He rips his shirt off. He gets the whole place going crazy. The Ravens take the opening drive down the field, just easily get seven points to start the game off. He's like, I'll never take my shirt off again. That's literally like where you're at, right? And I think when I think about this game, the reason I say that is the Ravens, when they have energy, they believe in themselves, and they've got the talent they have, they are a really tough beat. And that's why when you get into the playoffs, and it's like, man, the years gone on, and now it's about just this three-hour window that you try to find a way to have an answer for Lamar and

Derek Henry and you win your ops on offense, you can win the game. But when you look in the regular season and it's like we've put game plans together and here we come out and you don't know what we're going to run, it is going to be a freight train of Derek Henry, Lamar Jackson, this offense, taking chances over the top with this receivers, and then this defense, how they've upgraded it. I just think to me, the Ravens are the kind of team you don't want to have early in the season because when they're rolling and they're healthy, it is an extremely big ass to stop them offensively. And the bill's being beat up, this is going to be a challenge. So I don't think this is a game that to me tells the story of the whole season, although

I'm a component that I'm one of those people. I believe week one matters a ton. Okay. But I'm not one of those that thinks this is the end of the bill season, but this is where they stand. I think this is one of those games that, to me, a beat up bill secondary, some things that you go, all right, I could see where maybe they take advantage of them in this game. And then I also look at Josh Allen and this bill's offense, to me a little similar to Burrow and the Bengals offense that early in the year when there's so much on Josh Allen's plate to make this whole thing go, and there's so much on Burrough's plate to make their thing go, that if they're just not all the way on, it's a little slow.

And you're facing the wrong kind of team to come out and be in any way slow on offense. I'm curious you said that you believe week one really does because you know what's going to happen next week. after either there will be like overreactions or there will be, you know, like everyone's settled down. They're going to be fine. Is that from your playing days? You feel like you could maybe notice some things or tell some things or why do you think week one maybe matters more than other people might think? Because we're in that locker room.

You lose week one. You're in that locker room saying it's okay, guys, it was just week one. We got another one. But here's the reality. All right? We say it's one game, but history tells us otherwise. You win week one. You got a better than 50-50 shot of making the playoffs.

That's what history says. You start 0 and 1, it's less than 25%. Right? You start 0 and 2, you're basically cooked. So the numbers in NFL history say that that's just the reality of what your season goes like. We can say it doesn't matter, but even last year of all the playoff teams, right? Four out of the five teams that did lose in week one lost to a playoff team. So to me, does week one matter?

Heck yet does. Your loss better come to one of the teams that you think is the best in the NFL that season. Because if it doesn't, it probably tells. the reality of what your season's going to be like that you may end up coming up short because week one does matter. Now, having said that, my LSU Tigers got a victory this past week

over the Clemson Tigers, right? Now, listen, here's this. I thought Brian Kelly's comments were hilarious, right? He says, basically, listen, our fan base is supposed to be eroding. We're not able to stop the run. We can't run the football. The head coach is supposed to be on the hot seat.

And now all you same talking heads that said that on Wednesday last week think we're one of the top team. in the country. That is the beauty of football, baby. We might be off their trail after week one and think, hey, man, this team's done and cook. The Buffalo bills are bad. The Ravens beat the snout out of them. And then week two, they have a big win and everybody's going to be back on the train and here we go. That's what we do, baby. We ride the waves. Week to week, you know, if you don't want to ride the wave and I like watching baseball, but I don't treat baseball like an

NFL season. Yeah, you can't do it. That way it is a, it is a, you know what I like to week one, Andrews, because when I was a beat reporter, the coaches, you know, who were lying to me in July and August and saying, we believe in this guy or this. And then I get and then I sit there and it's the first snap and I, wait a minute, that corner, where is he? Wait, he's inactive 90 minutes before. Wait, they just said last week. So I always say week one, they have to tell you the truth because their only motivation is put the guys out there who they think can win them the football game, whether it's snap counts or inactive. It's a. That's why I like week when you get some answers. Week two, they struggle again and they go, oh, we benched him. Wait, I thought you were committed and this is the guy for the future. You can't ask that question, though.

That's right. No, he doesn't have a short leash. No, where we're? Wait a minute. All right. Last one for you here, Monday night, another. I mean, talk about overreactions. I think this is the game that, you know, whichever team wins this game, their fan base is going

to be over the moon and whichever one loses this game, they're going to be a little bummed That's because the Minnesota Vikings go to Chicago to take on the bears where there's uncertainty with both these teams. I think they're high variance teams where it could go one way or the other. There's uncertainty about the quarterback. So the two headlines I've got for you, J.J. McCarthy looks the part as Vikings start 1 and 0 or fireworks for Ben Johnson, Caleb Williams in week one victory. So what do you think? J.J. McCarthy or Caleb is a tough. I feel bad even asking you because this is so hard to predict. But you got to pick one. Which direction are you leaning in?

I'm really concerned about Caleb against the Minnesota defense just because I just believe that, you know, I remember too hearing Jared talk about even just when you face them, just all the things you get and the ways they attack you and put you under pressure. It's a lot in a week one game to go against that defense and have a lot of answers. But having said that, I think the reason I feel the way I do, I don't know if fireworks and sparks is going to be the way this game will be won. But I will say this, I think Chicago Bears have no other choice because you bring in Ben Johnson. And he's supposed to change this generational talent, Caleb Williams, to really, hey, he had a rookie year where we feel like there's more in there. And we're just trying to find somebody who can tap into all the potential he has. Ben Johnson has been unbelievable with the Detroit Lions.

Here he comes. I relate their story a lot to 2017 when Sean McVeigh came in and it was, let's take Jared Gough and let's go, right? Like, you're the guy to do this. Let's create it. And who did he bring in with him? Wade Phillips, a veteran defensive coordinator who'd had a lot of success in the NFL. Who's been Johnson guy?

Dennis Allen, a guy who's had a lot of success in the NFL as a veteran coordinator. He's been really good everywhere he's been. And so to me, when I start to look at that, matchup, I go, man, this is an opportunity here. Can you bring some stability to this organization? Can you improve this quarterback? You're at home. Monday night. We're all together. This is our moment. The difference is in 2017, the Rams have been so bad that we started off our game at home against the Colts and there was maybe 5,000 people there. But in the Coliseum, so there wasn't a whole lot of energy. But this is a big moment, a big game. I'm still going to lean to. I think the Bears have to do this.

And I hate to say that because Kevin O'Connell is my guy. I love him to death. But I think the Bears have to get this win because it means so much to everything they've committed to what this organization is supposed to be for the next few years. Yeah, I was looking at those matchups. You mentioned Caleb Williams going against Brian Flores.

It went a little better for him than I remembered from last year. You know, he had one game. He threw for 3.40 and a couple touchdowns in week 12, week 14. He had a tougher time. And then I was looking at the Ben Johnson, Brian Flores matchup, because that's, I mean, we talked about McDonald versus Shanahanham.

This is another great one. Jared Goff, you mentioned a couple times, completed 85% of his passes against Brian freaking Flores' defense last year. So Ben Johnson was doing something there where he had some answers for that scheme. They scored over 30 points in both those games. The last thing I wanted to ask you about

about both these teams, just they both remade the interior of their offensive line. And that was a priority for both the Vikings and the Bears. Now, there are different ways to build an offensive line? Do you feel good about what both those teams do? Are you more, let's wait and see what this looks like, you know, a couple months from now. Where do you stand with kind of what they did up front? I had a chance to talk to Ben Johnson at the owners meetings, and that was one of the things,

you know, after speaking with him, that, you know, we sat down and just kind of hung out for a little while. And, you know, I thought really impressed me the most is that I said, you know what, I was really interested. Here's this coordinator who's believed to be this amazing play caller. And obviously you see all the talent the Lions had and you go, man, who couldn't call plays with all those guys? But there's a way to marry that all together and to make it all look the same, but it's totally different. He's attacking you all these ways.

There's a genius in it. And he was so good at it. And to me, it comes down to that golf thing or brother. It's a feel thing. He can feel the way the game's going, what the next call is. It's not just about schemes. It's about feel. And so I think he has it.

For his first move to be, let's go do something aggressive and let's fix this offensive line. Let's fix the interior of this offensive line. To me, he gets it because I'll never forget my first meeting with Sean McVey. People say all these things about schemes and all this with Sean McVey. Very first time I sat down with Sean McVey and he's telling me his plan and his vision is that, hey, it starts with two things to me. Number one is obviously the quarterback.

When I make a play call, what puts him in the best position to be successful? The number two thing has got nothing to do with anybody else other than the offensive line. and sometimes that becomes one if I can't do what the quarterbacks comfortable with because of the group I have. So when I'm a play caller, that is how I'm thinking about the game. So if I'm going to ask Caleb Williams, which I've heard every pundit say,

I want you to hit your back foot and get the ball out on time. I want you to play within the timing, rhythm, with snaps. I want everything to be on time. We're going to completely change your game. You can't do that if you've got interior pressure and you're feeling steps in your feet and you're thinking, I've got to get this ball out faster, I've got to get out of this pocket and run.

You can't do that. You can't ask him to do that and not give him that security. So I thought it was incredibly smart and aggressive by Ben Johnson to say, we are going to make sure that this pocket gets better for our quarterback. Before I ever ask him, how we're going to advance you as a quarterback. And before we ever work on any of those things, I'm going to give you the space to do it in. So to me, I was really excited to see that. And I think that will be the difference maker.

I think Ben Johnson's not only a good play caller, he has a vision for how he thinks this thing should all go. So I'm really excited to see his impact, not just on Caleb, but on this team as a whole, because there was lots of things that needed to get fixed outside of just Caleb. And I think Ben Johnson's going to do it. I love that. See, the old lineman not blaming the quarterback for all the sacks saying, listen, sometimes you hit your back foot and you have pressure and what are you going to do? So I love that. Yeah, you look at that last year.

Now, listen, I was a tackle. You got to remember, I'm screaming at him to step up. So I was just just mad at the garden center who got beat, right? So you ask Andy Dalton, Jared golf. I played with some young quarterbacks, right? And a new coordinator, I think about it. Andy Dalton, Jay Gruden, you know, Jared Golf, Sean McVeigh,

new systems trying to learn their way. If you think I wasn't dog cussing them in every huddle, get your foot to eight and a half. Get up. Stop being so deep in the pocket, damn it. You know, hey, listen, I was on them every time. But you know what? That's the kind of things they have to learn is what their line feels,

what they see, the coordinator, giving that confidence to your line of where you are going to set up in the pocket. That's all things you learn about each other. But it all starts with the interior. If you get interior pressure, it's over. That's why you're Aaron Donald, your JJ Watts, your guys like that that can create that, they're so rare and they're so effective to a defense

because if you can affect where the quarterback can step up to, you can ruin an offense fast. Both those interior offensive lines will get tested right away here in week one. All right, this was a lot of fun. First time guest on the Ringer NFL show, Andrew Whitworth. hopefully we can have you back. You can listen to him on FITS and WITS a Wave Original podcast. They had Josh Allen on last one, baby.

Yeah, you got to check that on a Wave Original podcast with new episodes available every Wednesday on YouTube or wherever you get your podcast. Andrew, thanks a lot for joining me, man. This was a lot of fun. I appreciate you, man. It was an honor. All right, the hurry up is our closing segment where I give you a take on news in the NFL. And man, if you are a Jets fan, you got to feel.

like you just can't catch a break. The team, according to ESPN, fears that starting right guard, Elijah Vera Tucker, suffered a season-ending torn triceps injury at practice on Tuesday. Now, come on, I know nobody is expecting the Jets to be a real contender this season, but we've talked about their formula, potentially fun run game with a potentially strong offensive line and a good defense. And now they just lost their best offensive linemen, again, according to, to the ESPN report. I mean, Berra Tucker, easily one of their best offensive players.

So this is such a tough blow, especially this close to this season. And here's the problem with the Jets. It's not like they're one of these teams that's going to be able to win in different ways. They have a very specific formula. And that formula is based on the run game and the offensive line being good. If they have to pivot off of that, it could look a little bit ugly. So they get a big test right away against maybe the best defensive front in the NFL in the Pittsburgh Steelers going to MetLife. Aaron Rogers going to MetLife on Sunday. So adversity right away for Aaron Glenn. And I'm curious to see how the team will respond and what this offense looks like with Justin Fields on Sunday afternoon.

All right. Appreciate everyone listening. Thank you to Christopher Sutton for producing Kira Givens on social. additional production supervision by Connor Nevins and Arjuna Ramgopal. Everyone, enjoy Eagles Cowboys' first game of the season. I will be back tomorrow to talk about it on the Ringgarenna Film Show. Must be 21 plus and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus and present in D.C., Kentucky or Wyoming.

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