NFL Week 1 Preview: Bold Upsets, Breakout Stars & Primetime Predictions (Ep. 2177)

This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human. Some people use ChatGPT to answer questions. Others use it to get real work done. With ChatGPT Work, you bring the goal, plus real inputs like briefs, notes, files, feedback, data, and project plans. It can help turn them into an analysis, tracker, deck outline, prototype, or workflow you can review and keep shaping. You stay in control, giving direction and choosing the final output. Put ChatGPT to work on your most ambitious ideas and projects. Get started at ChatGPT.com by selecting Work Mode. Available on Plus and Pro plans. Game on. Tailgate Week 1 is here. I'm Chris Welsh. Pat Fitzmaurice. Andrew Erickson here. As we are going to be looking and previewing some of the big island games for Week 1. We've got Wednesday. We've got Thursday. We've got Sunday. We've got Monday. Your spouse is so upset, but we're so happy because the NFL is here. We're also going to be dropping some bold predictions for Week 1. That's what this is all about, baby. We've got to figure out what's going to go big and go bold or go home. So that's what we've got in store for you with a little bit of news and notes. And gentlemen, as we just jump right into Week 1, because I am ecstatic here. I would imagine Erickson is pretty ecstatic because your New England Patriots, Mr. Andrew Erickson, locked down Christian Gonzalez on a four-year, $135 million deal. A $102 million guaranteed. He got a $33 million signing bonus, which actually that feels a little light. Maybe. But he's the highest paid cornerback ever at the position. So right before the season starts up, right before the game is going to be kicking off, practically, that deal gets locked down, Erickson. So talk to us about how important this is. And do you think this is a good deal? Do you think this is an overpay for the Patriots to get one of the best corners locked down for a few years? I don't think it's an overpay. Whenever you're the last player to sign the new contract, you always have to pay the most. That is how it works. And I would say comparing him to Witherspoon, they do play a little bit different in terms. One of them is really man coverage. Like, that's what Gonzalez is for, right? You put him on another guy. He shadows that guy for the entire game. And his goal is to just take that wide receiver away. He was the one bright spot in the Super Bowl, making plays left and right in the first half against the Seattle Seahawks. If it wasn't for him, they would have gotten blown out even sooner than they did in the entirety of the game. So Gonzalez, it's funny. I always recall back to when the Patriots drafted Christian Gonzalez. And I want to shout out to my Washington Commanders for taking Emmanuel Forbes one spot ahead of Christian Gonzalez. All 150 pounds of Emmanuel Forbes they took. So that was a total layup. But the story goes that Bill Belichick was actually pushing to draft Keyon White with that draft pick and not Christian Gonzalez. But somebody at the table, I don't know who it was, talked some sense into Bill was like, Bill, look, we can get Keyon White later in the draft. Okay, we have to take Christian Gonzalez. We need a cornerback so badly. This guy is an absolute stud. And eventually Belichick made the right decision. It was actually Belichick's last first round pick as the de facto GM of the New England Patriots. So it is nice to see one of these players have a strong start to his career. And I'm such a sucker for the shutdown lockdown quarterbacks. Again, going back to the Patriots lineage, you have the tie laws. They had Darrell Rivas for a stint when he was a big player. Part of their defense in winning another Super Bowl. So I love Christian Gonzalez. Think that he's super awesome, well-deserved. And the Patriots are going to need him on Wednesday night if they're going to slow down JSN. Do they, do you guys know, do they have any of those like programs for any of these scouts or the people that pound the table? Like they should get like a percentage. They should get like, do you think they get a bonus for like pounding the table and being right? Or if a contract is renewed, like shouldn't there be something like that in the player development department? I got to assume like something. Some team is like, Hey, great job. And they throw you something, but there should be something like official. They should. And, and they should probably, if you take Emmanuel Forbes before Christian Gonzalez, she should probably get thrown in a dungeon or something for that. Cause that was one of the worst decisions I can possibly think of. And I had totally forgotten Forbes went right before Christian Gonzalez. Oh my goodness. I mean, look, the Patriots blow all their wide receiver picks, but as a team that's drafted and developed defensive backs, they have been one of the best franchises over the last, the last 20 years doing that. Fitzy, any hangover on the contract for this first game? I know we're going to, I guess we're going to be talking about it here in a little bit, but any like big money hangover, Hey, the money's in the bag. And then Jason just, I mean, what a bad look. He's the highest paid corner all the time. And then Jason just fries him on Wednesday. Yeah, that's some pressure. But it was interesting that the Patriots waited so long. And I was kind of wondering why they were dragging their feet on that extension, which you knew was coming. Like it was inevitable. If you don't get, him locked up, what, what are you doing? And you know, we got to see on hard knocks them giving Witherspoon, the big new contract and all his teammates congratulating him and everything. And, you know, the thinking then was like, okay, what about Christian Gonzalez? Yeah. Hey, congrats on the contract. You're playing on Wednesday. This is just what you want. Just in time. Cause I mean, I'm, it seemed like he was also noncommittal. Again, I was doing the betting pros primer writeup for the Seahawks Patriots game on Monday on Labor Day. Before the contract news dropped. So I was writing that with some in the back of my mind of there's a chance that Gonzalez doesn't even suit up in this game. What better leverage than that? If Jason goes for 200 yards against the rest of your defense. Oh yeah. You probably should have paid me. Cause I probably got to help a little bit. Some news and notes specific to games. And we stay with the Patriots here is we're going to take a look at some questionable tags. One of the biggest stories over the last couple of days has been the non-practicing of Travion Henderson and the potential. Run of Ramond Stevenson and Erickson's just got to be grinning ear to ear because not that the injury does this or anything like that, but Erickson, I mean you interviewed, I'm forgetting his name now, the, the beat writer with the Patriots that said like, this is Ramond Ray's job. We've seen a lot of other news and notes out here. That's been like, Hey, this is a Ramond Ray situation. Now it's going to most likely be thrown in our face. The guy hasn't practiced in like two weeks. I think he didn't practice on Monday. We're recording this on a, on Tuesday. So I don't believe he's going to be out there all the rest of the week. The reports are, it looks like it would be impossible for him to play. So this is going to be a heavy Ramond Ray Stevenson run, which it's, is a tough matchup, but all Ramond Ray, he has a chance to show out. Or do you think this could be a little bit, one of those like, you know, Hey, it's just Ramond Ray bad matchup. He's I mean, my God, if he fumbles, the world's going to collapse on itself for when Henderson is active. But like, this is a tough matchup where Ramond Ray might not dominate. And if he doesn't, everyone's going to be streaming, screaming for Trevon Henderson when he's healthy. But I don't, I expect Trevion to be playing in this week one game. Yeah, that is an interesting way to look at it where Ramond Ray gets all the opportunities and volume because he's the only healthy running back to have. I know they traded for a guy from the Arizona Cardinals, but remains to be seen what kind of role he will be just being brought into the team pretty recently. So yeah, Ramond is going to have all the opportunities. I think that you're just kind of looking for a, for fantasy purposes, like probably a floor play. He's got touchdown equity. He can catch pass out of the backfield. We know we saw him do that in the Superbowl. Obviously the Patriots were in a heavy pass game, script in that particular environment. So I would expect him still to catch passes, catch them, dump offs against a pretty fierce pass rush for the Seattle CX. So they just have so much depth on that defensive line. And, you know, Mike McDonald's going to be throwing everything at Drake May with the 12th man behind them. So yeah, Patriots offense has their work cut out for them. And at least for Mondra, you know, he's going to be good and pass bro. Right. And that's really the main reason why he was going to play more than Henderson would anyway, even if both guys were healthy, but if Henderson doesn't suit up, that is an explosive element that, the Patriots will be lacking because when you look at how they match up against Seattle, they're not going to be able to string together 15 play drives. That is nearly impossible to do against a defense, this elite, especially on the road. So they got to generate explosives and that's a little bit tougher when you don't have your really talented second year running back out of the backfield. We'll be talking about and breaking that down that game a little bit. Another running back that has some questionable tags. Fitzy is Jeremiah love. Now it seemed like it could be a little bit more dicey, but as about the last 24 hours, we've gotten worse. Mike, the four says he is optimistic that Jeremiah love is going to play in this game. Your quick take on what you think this is going to end up looking like now that it looks like the trend is that he's going to play. Do you think they're going to unload Jeremiah love? I mean, we're not gonna be talking a lot about this game. The chargers and the Cardinals not gonna be a lot to talk about, but I have to imagine this is going to be kind of like a, a heavy back down version of what I think people are expecting out of Jeremiah love. So do you think people are going to walk out of week one disappointed by love's production? Possibly you would think the Cardinals would be judicious about his usage. He is their third overall third overall pick of the draft coming off a high ankle sprain. But then again, you would have thought they would have been judicious about his usage in the preseason. And Michael floor gave him 14 carries in his first preseason game. So I suspect it's going to be a mix of, of Jeremiah love and Tyler Algier, but we shall see. All right. Erickson, anything that we, we just know the Cardinals are going to do the wrong thing. I don't know if you have any, any take on Jeremiah love. I was just, I was just thinking, what if the preseason game is the only game all year that Jeremiah love is, it has at least 14 touches in the first half. What about any game? 14 touches ever. They're just like, they don't know what to do. It'd be, that'd be actually be amazing. Another injury that looks like it's going on to a positive run here is Alec Pierce. I mean, there was a huge time where we were concerned that Alec Pierce was going to be able to be out there at all in the first week or two. Now it looks like he is expected to play, getting into practices that ankle um they're gonna have the colts are gonna have their kind of full set we are gonna talk about this game but uh do you think there's gonna be any limitations from alec pierce and do you think alec pierce could possibly be in a decoy situation where we could see a lot of josh downs i was doing some research on like first read quarterback is actually specific to the next thing we are going to talk about and i didn't even realize last year daniel jones was the number one first read quarterback um from a percentile standpoint it's like 77 first read so what's interesting about that is you know i mean from the short yarded stuff that guys like tyler warren and josh downs have if they don't feel comfortable this could just be a heavy josh downs warren game and alec pierce is just there to kind of spread the field and open it up for them or do you think we're going to see that big dominant version of alec pierce from last year like what are your expectations on his health in this game i mean that could be his role sort of a decoy role but like that's part of why they paid him what he does and threatens defenses vertically and that kind of opens up room for the running game and jonathan taylor and the underneath receivers josh downs and i guess tyler warren keenan allen so um yeah i mean i don't know how many targets he's going to get but it it does seem like they were kind of playing it cautiously with him all during camp in the preseason and that they sort of expected to have him back well for conversation about them later as the resident apparently lover of the colts this season from earlier in the year i have a little i have a little bit to say about them later uh the reason i did that research was looking at what did the falcons look like going from michael pennix to to a tongue viola who has been um tagged as the number as a quarterback the qb1 for this week now that they're not non-committal to future weeks but because i was looking at it and it's like you know when pennix is out there you're like okay great this is going to be drake london some kyle pitts and dump offs to to uh bijan robinson pennix was like i think top five in first read percentage last year i felt in my in my mind after watching the dolphins last year that tua was a higher percentage of that he really wasn't he ended up being if you took out some of the you know quarterbacks that threw like 20 passes or whatever he's like 19th run 60 almost 65 first read it's just a decent amount less than pennix but he is a little bit more of a checkdown artist so that kind of read needs a little bit more to bijan robinson uh erickson what do you think the what do you think the falcons look like and what do you think specifically like the the core pieces of drake london bijan kyle pitts is there a suffering or is tua just gonna litter them with targets because there's really nothing else i think that this is going to be a scary game for bijan robinson investors for drake london investors on the road against the pittsburgh steelers with juwan taylor as you're starting right tackle who's already offsides as we speak you this is just going to be a bad game for the atlanta falcons this team usually doesn't play that well on the road anyway and now it's against pittsburgh just hostile environment when we got the news that two was going to be starting immediately quote two to that said michael pennix confirmed week two starter because i just don't think that tongue of oil is going to play well at all where the falcons feel comfortable rolling him back for week two i think that offensively you are just praying that bijan robinson gets 10 targets and is just making plays making guys mixed because he's such a special player but drake london i know we talked about it on the ranking show lower on him versus consensus because it's not michael pennix under center and there's also no joy he said he's not going to play you know because he because he wants the contracts i mean that is what i talk about bogman about this that's like one less defensive piece it doesn't help that their defensive line is going to be into his face but from a coverage standpoint like they they might be in a better spot but then to turn it back around that still might not be about london that might be more about pitts the steelers have kind of struggled with tight end coverage in general if they have to put everything on london they could still do something i guess i'm trying to make a case can the the falcons be competitive but probably not i suppose i would be very concerned about how that offense is going to play and that defense is no pass rush right aaron rogers is going to have all the time in the world to throw i think that this can be a massive rico dowdle game this falcons defense just got totally eviscerated from the moments that it showed last year where okay this is proof of concept we have a pass rush we're stopping the run a little bit better and all those guys all those contributors are not going to be a factor here in week one they still have a lot of lack of depth on the defensive line we talked about james like james pierce is not he's suspended like they were they finally got a pass rush and now it's gone jalen walker on injured reserve he's not going to play so i am i love the steelers in this spot and i think it's a terrible spot for the falcons fitzy who has more receptions drake london or bijan robinson in this game oh i think it's going to be bijan robinson just totally away for the falcons to ease the pressure with tj watt nick herbig screaming in off the edges on two like he's gonna have to get rid of the ball quickly and i think it's a sets up well for like an eight catch bijan robinson yeah i think his prop is around 4.5 over right now so go to betting pros yeah go to our other website go to betting pros and check it out maybe lock it in maybe ladder it maybe ladder it to 25 or something like that if you're allowed to but ladder that if you can bijan robinson to the moon in this one i mean it is going to it's going to be embarrassing watching to it in this game maybe we'll be pleasantly surprised i don't know the final other piece it probably has some ramifications to at some point here it just hasn't happened yet but uh dairy slayton was cut by the giants was actually kind of a shock to some people just because of that wide receiver core that they've got maybe it even speaks to the health of the level of comfort they have with malik neighbors but a lot of teams looking and thinking that maybe dairy slayton would be a fit fitzy i don't know if you have an opinion of a great destination for this speaks to the giants wide receiver room not sure about destination for slayton hadn't really thought of that not sure who might be a good late late pickup destination for him but it probably does speak to their confidence in malik neighbors health to their confidence in uh day two rookie malachi fields to be able to nail down that second wide receiver spot capably that they think they might actually get something from odell becky beckham they've only got four receivers on the roster right now it's neighbors fields beckham and darnell mooney now they've got a couple of guys on the practice squad who they could bring up jalen hyatt braxton barrios charlie jones who they got from the bangles after the bangles let him go but i think it maybe speaks to their confidence and what they have at wide receiver and and maybe it means that they play more multiple tight end sets that we've been seeing from the giants they've got you know now they've got theo johnson and they've got and of course uh offseason addition isaiah likely and i think they've got chris manhurtz as a third tight end who's a good blocker so might be telling us how we are going to see the giants play on offense this year what a good football name by the way manhurtz i like you got a symbol we were just talking about this like one of the me and bogman i don't remember the context but it was like you can have the worst sports name like a there's a closer or there was a relief pitcher like that guy should legally change his name to save it if you're going to be a relief pitcher that shouldn't be the name but there are just some there's some bad names but then there's some amazing amazing football names and manhurtz is like i would might be top five we at some point we're gonna have to in the offseason assemble the greatest names for a football player and that might be one of the brickshaw ferguson yeah i mean mike he was amazing too like if you're good too it might be one of the best name to player combinations of all time all right uh we are going to be breaking down the island games here we've kind of talked about a decent amount about the giants that's going to be when we're going to be looking at wednesday thursday and then penny when you're watching this if you needed to skip past those we are also going to be looking at sunday and monday night football but before we do giveaway time because we want to open up the trunk here at the tailgate and we want to give to you an autograph todd girley rams jersey how amazing does this bad boy look this is going to be your shot and all you've got to do is subscribe to the tailgate youtube channel do it right now drop a comment below on any video and that is it my friends free 99 subscribe comment boom we're going to be announcing a winner right here on the channel so make sure you turn on notifications be around because you don't want to miss the videos and you don't want to miss your opportunity to claim that autograph todd girley jersey that rams jersey looks so sweet i want you guys to pick it up let's jump in to some actual football week one is wednesday night with the first game we're going to preview the new england patriots versus the seattle seahawks what a revamped matchup we've got seattle minus three and a half i think i've even seen some lines move it around a little bit if you guys care about the spreads and you want to make some bets you can check out our betting pros as i mentioned before betting pros has consensus across all the different spots if you want to look and the where the movement has gone and where it opened to what the consensus line is or you know really however you want to play it you can go and check that out but this line is at three and a half with a over under total of 44.5 so fitzy why don't you kick us off here give us your preview of how you think this you don't have to do uh like picks or anything like that on spreads or whatever but just giving everybody what the line is looking like uh what do you think we're going to see out of this game is new england without travion henderson going to be able to pick up a win off of seattle or seattle just going to be too much of a powerhouse even though they're you know it's on it's actually interesting to see if they're going to be able to pick up a win off of seattle or seattle just going to be able to pick up a win off of seattle the running game is kind of a mess across both of these there's depth missing on the patriots the uh The Seattle Seahawks have got Jadarian Price and maybe Helani. The running game is maybe the denominator between what these teams are going to do outside of these defenses. But, Fitzy, what do you think if you're previewing this game? Yeah, it's going to be interesting to get our first look at Jadarian Price, how he fares against the Patriots, who can have a pretty tough run defense. And I think we are going to see Ramondre Stevenson get a lot of work. I don't know how much success he's going to have against the Seahawks front seven that just eats broken glass. I mean, those guys are so good. What I'm most anxious to see in this game, Welsh, is Drake May threw for 295 yards and two touchdowns against the Seahawks in the Super Bowl. But it certainly wasn't a successful game for May. Patriots lost 29-13. May threw two interceptions, got sacked six times. But now May gets to throw to A.J. Brown. And Romeo Dobbs and, you know, left tackle Will Campbell healthy after coming back from an in-season MCL injury last year and really kind of struggling in the playoffs. It also looks like Seattle might have to play without Nick Imanwari because of an ankle injury. Imanwari was a force of nature as a rookie last year. And Seahawks are really thin in the secondary, which is why those of us who did watch Hard Knocks this summer saw Seattle GM John Schneider trying to add Terry and Arnold and Trayvon. I just wonder if the Patriots might try to play with three or four receivers a lot of the game, try to spread out the Seahawks and just let it rip for Drake May. Crown Coins Casino. Winning never sounded so good. What would you do if you won big? At Crown Coins Casino, real people win real prizes every single day. Hi, this is Michael from Georgia. I won 40K and finally renovated my home. Visit crowncoins.com. Sign up in seconds, enter code CROWN and get a free Lucky Wheel bonus. 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Want to know you're on the best path to the right car? Start at CarMax, where every car is CarMax certified and backed by a 10-day money-back guarantee at a price that's up front from the start. Visit CarMax.com for details. Want to drive? CarMax. I really like that take, too, because something that always bugged me, it actually bugs me in general, but that's probably more of a fantasy thing. Your Grand Bay Packers do it. The Patriots did it last year. I hate rotational wide receiver cores. I hate where it's like, hey, we got these two guys, and then now, whoop, let's get them out, and let's get the next grouping in. I've always disliked that, specifically because of fantasy. I wonder if the Patriots did that to a pretty aggressive degree last year, especially with Stefan Diggs, because they had him lower snap percentages. I wonder if they go away from that a decent amount this year. And why I could like that is just. I think Pop Douglas has an opportunity to be maybe even more. He's a really efficient slot receiver. He has an opportunity to just be a little bit more involved in the offense. And then, obviously, you're just going to have Dobbs and Brown out there all the time. I actually think their wide receiver core, just with that ability to be a little bit more consistent, they might have more firepower than throwing out these other groupings, which is super annoying. But, Erickson, what do you think about this? I mean, that's a pretty bold take, I think, going against Seattle kind of in this. But a defensive. Secondary that struggles a little bit, that's the new positive for the Patriots. Running games are a question across the board. This is obviously your team, but an overfield goal push on Seattle. Do you buy that? And do you think the Patriots are going to pull an upset? I wish I felt more confident about the Patriots pulling up an upset, but it's such a hard task when you have to go on the road to Seattle, Super Bowl winning team. We know that the trends do not favor teams that lost the Super Bowl in week one, very, very bad against the spread record. Playing in Seattle, Seattle has been lights out at home straight up over the last two seasons. I believe I have the number at 10-2. No, that's. Yes, 10-2 is a home favorite specifically, but they're 16-1, 13-4 against the spread as a favorite, dating back to last season, and that includes the Super Bowl. So when this team is supposed to win and take care of business, they tend to do so. Another trend that I thought was really interesting, too, is Mike McDonald. Mike McDonald dominates, dominates rematches. Like, this guy just finds ways, especially because he's seen him rematch all these NFC West teams between the 49ers, between the Rams. When he gets a second shot or a third shot at these teams, the Seattle Seahawks play even better. So, understandably, the Patriots are a different team. I think that Fitz makes really good points about secondary issues that they have, the fact that the Patriots' receivers are better. I actually like the over in this game, as crazy as that sounds, as the undertaker that I take. I like that persona and betting pros, because I think the Patriots realize, dude, we have to be aggressive. We can't try to string together, oh, we'll get a 12-play drive and we'll kick a field. That's not going to fly. Like, they're going to get crushed. If that's the strategy going in here, take advantage of your big play threats on the outside. You have big bodies between A.J. Brown and Romeo Dobbs, and then that's not even considering guys who are getting back from last year, too. Like, Matt Collins can make plays. Hunter Henry. We've seen this Seattle scheme before get taken care of by tight ends. So, Hunter Henry. Eli Raritan. Maybe as an explosive element, a rookie added to the fold that Seattle maybe not is going to be able to account for, given all of the turnover that they've had in their secondary. DeBarrie Douglas, I like, too, as kind of like a sleeper type of touchdown bet or someone that's kind of an X factor. So, that's what I'm going to be looking for on the Patriots' side. I would say on the Seattle side, I think Rashid Shahid could have a monster game. Me, too. That's kind of the guy I'm circling as. What's the new wrinkle in the Seattle offense? You have a new play caller. We obviously have talked about the backfield ad knowledge. So, I think that's what a lot of people want to be watching. I would say, and Welsh, you mentioned this, what happens if Ramondre fumbles? What happens if Jadarian Price fumbles? Because that was something that he dealt with a lot at Notre Dame, and he did not touch the ball that often. So, I guarantee if Rabel has been in the ears of all of his key bits of players this week, hey, get the ball. Jadarian Price. He has not handled the ball that much. It's going to be loud. He's going to be excited. And I think that could potentially be a, if the Patriots come away with the upset, it's because, again, it's very cliche, but they've got to get some turnovers. Get some fumbles. They've got to take some risks. A pick six. Have someone jump a route. Because Sam Darnold, we know, can also be turnover prone. So, those are some things that I'm looking at. Yeah, I think bottom line I keep staring at is I wonder if the Seattle Seahawks can become more one-dimensional. And that ends up favoring the Patriots. I think the Patriots have designed their offense in a way that I think they can succumb if they can't run or they can't pass. I just don't know if Seattle's not able to set anything up. You've got one of the best corners in the league against one of the best wide receivers in the league. The X factor. The Seahawks is going to be other players having to step up. And do they have those players where I look at the Patriots and I think they do. So, it's an interesting one. Now, we are going down to Australia for the Friday, Thursday. Don't ask Shanahan what day it is. It's Friday, Thursday. It's 7 p.m. It's 2 a.m. He doesn't know. We don't know. But we do know we're going to be watching Thursday night football action against my San Francisco 49ers and the Rams. What a freaking way to open up. The Rams are a two and a half point favorite in this one. So, less than a field goal. And the total is sitting at a very high 49.5 for this type of travel. A lot has been made about the 49ers have been there a week. The Rams, I think, are leaving. As we're recording this, I don't think the Rams have left yet. And I think they're thinking about leaving. And I've seen both takes on this where it's like good on the 49ers or bad on the Niners for being so focused on it. Regardless of the point, it's a pretty big line. From an injury standpoint, it looks like the 49ers are going to have both Nick Bosa and At least it's trending in that direction, which I think is big. There was a McCaffrey didn't practice. Don't worry about it. The 49ers are going to be at relative strength, especially 49ers relative strength. They're going to have Bosa. They're going to have their offensive weapons. They're going to have all those pieces. And it looks like the Rams are going to have Donald as well. So, like, this is a power big matchup. But, Fitzy, let's go to you here. What do you think is the takeaway in this game? How are you looking at how this game is going to manage itself? And work? First of all, did you see the rationale for why the Rams are going late? I don't think I saw that. I think it was so that they didn't have to experience the like the the weird time changes and the adjustments and they just go. But that was just one of them. Tell me you're going to have. They said they they said they were at least partially influenced by last year. They went to London to play the Jaguars and got there on Saturday. day morning for a Sunday afternoon start and 135 to set. of it so that their experience of doing this worked out for them but also they had been on the east coast for a week because they just played the ravens uh you know east coast to london flight is uh about what three times uh less than a flight to australia so it's going to be really interesting to see obviously the rams are going to get second guessed like crazy if they come out flat for this one but um yeah i mean obviously i cannot wait to see miles garrett and aaron donald play football together like that's what everyone is going to be watching for this game i think did you guys see that video of that like bodybuilder dude that they're like yes he's teaching aaron donald to hit harder and every video he's like doing this and then they would it was cinema they would cut to a scene where donald is just hitting the guy like 30 feet over and you're just like give me a break dude the last thing this guy needs is someone that's going to teach him to hit harder it was amazing i know but i think that the key to this game welsh for your 49ers i mean we saw how much trouble the niners had putting any pressure on quarterbacks last year and it made what's normally a pretty good secondary look really bad because they were doing so terribly in terms of pressure rate sack rate just could not hurry up quarterbacks to any degree um now i guess nick nick bosa is going to play he's back um although i don't know if he's going to play he's going to play but i think he's going to play i don't think they're going to have sam uh oku okuanu is that how i pronounce it well uh he's he's on ir but anyway um they they need nick bosa to be nick bosa because the way their pass rush was last year they could have had ronnie lott merton hanks and eric wright in the secondary and those guys would have looked bad yeah you just my heart just grew a couple sizes just say bright young just give me a couple more of those old 49ers and i get excited yeah i think uh when i stare at this game i look at an offense that needs to be efficient because i think they're going to be playing from behind defensively pretty much at all times the rams historically all the guys whether you look at kyron or matthew stafford they just have success against the 49ers so they get some pass rush that's great but the 49ers are going to have to be offensively efficient and not have those just gimme way drives and that's going to come from a steady dose of mccath ironically mccaffrey kittle evans i think dejean stripling is an x factor in this game because i think you're going to have to be a little bit more efficient and i think you're going to have to have a lot of defensive coverage locked in i think kittle might be sitting around for a little bit more pass blocking i think there's going to be a hyper focus on mike evans and that could lead to opportunities of one-on-ones with stripling so i think he's a big x factor but their offense has to be efficient erickson uh we've talked kind of at nauseam about how we think this game is an underplay this huge travel they've got to work with you look at two high power offenses it feels a little bit overplayed but what is your take on this thursday night game rams can win with defense in 2026 i think that's a good idea i think that's a good idea i think that's a good idea that's going to be their recipe for success i think you're going to see it here in week one even against a high powered san francisco 49ers offense well rested they know what the top what is it kyle shannon's talking about time travel basically yeah yeah he's like i was talking with my wife and it was yesterday and he's like i don't understand how that worked so love the under in this game think 48 and a half is ludicrous ludicrously high for this type of matchup when you have to consider all the travel all of the time zone implications the fact that these teams are very familiar with each other the fact that when these teams have played in regulation before they've only gone over 48 and a half points twice in the last five matchups so these games aren't even going over every single time they match up and i just think the biggest thing is just the rams team is different than it was last year last year it was on the back of matthew stafford's arm winning the mvp throwing touchdowns the davante adams and i just don't think that's going to be their recipe for success as much this year i think it's going to be about miles garrett i think it's going to be about miles garrett i think it's going to be about miles garrett maybe a little bit of aaron donald but the secondary as well i mean trent mcduffie right how do you not popularize one of the other biggest moves of the offseason when the rams traded for trent mcduffie well you get miles garrett and then the other one doesn't seem nearly as important but he totally revamps this secondary and he was only one of the chiefs cornerbacks that they were able to get from last year bringing over jaylen watson as well so the ram secondary was their achilles heel last year that's why they played in so many shootouts again the rams are on a streak of six straight overs that streak ends on friday morning slash thursday night in melbourne australia yeah whatever day it is uh it'll be football and friends is before we get to sunday night football and monday night football football is back and it's time to level up your approach to the nfl and college football this season because polymarket is here polymarket is a legal prediction market now available in all 50 states and unlike traditional sports books on polymarket you can trade on all things football from saturday and friday to friday and friday and friday and friday and friday and friday and friday and friday and friday and gives you the freedom to cash out instantly if the momentum swings you sell it off in real time you're in control no one can lock you out and you can also buy in any time so when the market dips like if a team starts slow and drops to say 40 that's not a loss that's when you buy in at polymarket you can buy cheap and ride the momentum back up polymarket is so confident you'll never go back to the old way they're issuing a challenge they're giving you a fifty dollar bonus when you deposit just ten dollars sign up right now with promo code fp pod that's polymarket dot us and use promo code fp pod to get a fifty dollar bonus when you deposit just ten dollars sunday night football the dallas cowboys and the giants dallas a three point favorite the total kind of swings around around 48 and a half on the over under erickson why don't you kick us off here for sunday night football the dallas cowboys and the giants we've talked decent amount at the open about the giants and kind of some of the weird setup they've got and got a really low wide receiver room they didn't make it up with a whole bunch more running backs there's a little bit of office space of like what would you say you do here with all of these pieces how are they going to compete does this line seem a little bit low by the way erickson against the dallas cowboys or is it uh you know three bears just right i think it's way too low i think that dallas should be much heavier as a favorite i realize that they're playing on the road and usually you want to gravitate towards these week one home underdogs but dallas just owns the giants dak prescott is so good 14 and three his career record against the new york giants when he sees blue it's more like seeing blood in the water for dak prescott so i think that the dallas cowboys just steamroll the new york giants they don't have dexter warrens i don't think they're going to stop the run it sucks that the cowboys are going to be without i believe it was tyler smith that was put on injury reserve their starting guard so that's unfortunate i do do know they did make a trade for another offensive lineman a couple weeks back but besides that i'm not really worried about dallas playing on the road this is a spot that dak prescott has dominated 10 and 6 against the spread as a road favorite in the nfc east and look harbaugh has done a lot of things he's made some moves we'll see if it ends up playing out in their favor but just this offensive coaching staff we even talked about earlier just the personnel what are they doing exactly is this going to be going to pound the rock with our four different running backs is that going to really be a way for them to keep up and the dallas defense way better than it was last year they even showed signs of growth last year after they acquired quinn and williams the secondary is definitely the biggest weakness for them between the guys that they have at cornerback but the giants just given the fact of their current wide receiver room maybe they can't really take advantage as much especially if malik neighbors is not 100 full go as he gets amped up or ramps up from his season ending acl injuries so i like dallas a lot here again interesting point the week 18 line when these teams last play that was actually the last time that we saw the giants beat the dallas cowboys when they rested all their starters and joe milton started that game going in we didn't even know who was going to play for dallas the cowboys were five and a half point favorites on the road against the new york giants and now it's three and dak prescott is starting in this game yeah this one seems squirrely to me and you know the one thing i would point out though is like i i want to say that dallas cowboys are a little bit too much for the dallas cowboys the dallas cowboys are a little bit too much for the dallas cowboys the dallas cowboys are a little bit too much for the dallas cowboys if they were just having an empty wide receiver room you got four guys can they really afford to have 60 snap share or something like that a malik neighbor so i assume they're good to go but it's still to me fitzy doesn't it still doesn't change anything to sing and feeling like this line is just i don't know it just seems wrong it seems like the dallas cowboys might be someone that you know i mean especially as we're talking uh polymarket you want to ride hot and colds just ride the dallas cowboys and you know i mean especially as we're talking uh polymarket you through the end of the game yeah and um erickson kind of hit on what i am excited to watch in this game and that's the dallas defense with christian parker their new defensive coordinator who a lot of people think this dallas defense is capable of going from a complete liability to good to above average and if that happens dallas might actually be a a super bowl contender or at least contend to uh lose to the rams or the seahawks in the nfc championship game but um yeah so i i can't wait to see what dallas looks like and yeah maybe the secondary is a liability but i'm i'm sort of eager to see caleb downs the rookie safety play who was just a monster at ohio state i'm actually excited to see both of the uh top 10 ohio state defensive picks in this game arvel reese for the giants who looked like was just hitting everything in sight in the preseason so yeah this is this is gonna be a fun game final game on the island games which, by the way, incredibly great slate out of week one. And I mean, Dallas and Giants might be the worst of that group because Monday Night Football, we've got the Denver Broncos and the Kansas City Chiefs. Chiefs around a two and a half point favorite line sits around the forty three and a half on projected total points. This one is there's so many interesting angles from a Kansas City standpoint that we finally get to see what Ken Walker's going to look like on this team. But it's against the Denver offense. You know, is Rishi Rice going to get back to form? I meant Denver defense on both of these sides. And then on Denver side, will there what will their offense look like? A between this running back room, Dobbins is there, Harvey, but then Jonah Coleman and then the addition of Jalen Waddell. So is this team even more dangerous? But it's just it's two, you know, two defenses specifically designed more around the Denver Broncos that are going to, you know, butt heads, big butt heads. So, Erickson, what is your big takeaway from this game when you're? Previewing the Monday night football matchup that the Denver Broncos are being highly disrespected here. I get that the Chiefs are the home team and they have Patrick Holmes and he's going to play in this game. But that's about it for me when it comes to why the Kansas City Chiefs should be favored. I think the Denver Broncos showed last year how good they can be defensively. They were top five unit offensively. It was more of a mixed bag. But you saw the signs of what it could be. And especially in the second half of games again, Bo Nix. Bo Nix made a ton of comebacks. Now, you can't always expect that to be the case, but that's why they went out and got Jalen Waddell, right? OK, how do we avoid having to play catch up in the second half of the game? Oh, play with the lead. Get the lead in the first half. That's where they're going to see more aggressive play calling, talking about how the Rams kind of poached all of the Chiefs secondary pieces. Mansour Delane, really, really high. They went up after draft him. He's got his work cut out for him. There's a lot of good receivers on this Broncos team, and they're not going to shy away from, oh, we're going to go. We're going to attack this. He's a quirky cornerback. So I'm very interested to see how Delane matches up against guys like Jalen Waddell and Cortland Sutton and Pat Bryant and Marvin Mims and Troy Franklin. Like, there's a lot of talent, a lot of depth on this Broncos roster, especially offensively. So the Denver Broncos, obviously a very disappointing way to end last year's season with Bo Nix's injury and then them just really not having a chance, just the way that the AFC championship game took out. But there's a lot of people and I think smart people that believe that the Denver Broncos could have beaten the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl. Had they actually given the opportunity to get there and not had their quarterback go down because of a freak injury. So I think the Denver Broncos, I think this is a statement game for them. And that's like, hey, the AFC West does not go through Arrowhead. It goes through a mile high. And we think that we're going to be the better team this year. So I'm interested to see how this Denver Broncos team rallies after the way that last season ended. Fitzy, does the West go through Denver? Like, do you think this is a statement game for Denver? Do you think this is going to be a lot more competitive than we're talking about? Broncos. That would be my pick to win the AFC West. And what I'm anxious to see is how the Chiefs offense looks with Patrick Mahomes coming off the major knee injury and Kenneth Walker being added to the mix to maybe give Patrick Mahomes the thousand yard rusher he has never had since becoming the Chiefs starter. So I want to see what that looks like. And boy, that offense is going to be put to the test immediately against one of the top defenses in the NFL. All right. Those are your Island games. The Wednesday, the Thursday, the Sunday and the Monday. Those are our previews for them. But we're not done because it's time to make some bold predictions. We each have two bold predictions for week one. And for some reason, the only thing you two care about is the Dolphins and Raiders because you both had to go with your first prediction. Neither one of you could move away from it. You had to have this. But Fitzy, you get to go first. So I'm spoiling a little bit. You both went with Dolphin Raider predictions in week one. So Fitzy, what is your prediction? Your bold prediction for week one? Dolphins Raiders has one of the lowest Vegas totals on the board. Welsh at 40 and a half points. And I hope my friend, the Undertaker here is not going under on this game because they're going to be more than 50 points scored in Dolphins Raiders. The Dolphins have Malik Willis and Devon Achan running behind a mammoth offensive line. And having watched Malik Willis play for my Green Bay Packers the last two years, I'm pretty optimistic he's going to be better than most people think. The Raiders certainly don't have an elite defense. And then on the other. Side of the ball, the Dolphins might have the worst defensive backfield in the league. Like their best cornerback might be rookie Chris Johnson, who's never played a regular season snap before. The other starting cornerbacks are Juju Brantz, who's bad and 2025 fifth round draft pick Jason Marshall. Starting safeties are 2025 fifth round draft pick Dante Trader and fifth round rookie Michael Taft. And the Dolphins do not have any marquee pass rushers to take pressure off those inexperienced. Like Brock Bowers could go absolutely nuts in this game. Kirk Cousins might throw for 400 yards this week. And I think Kirk Cousins is washed like there are going to be points in this game. All right, Erickson, your first bold prediction in the same game. So what do you I mean, that's that should have been your bold prediction right there. How about Kirk Cousins? 400 passing yards. There's the boldie for Fitz. But Erickson, where are you going in the same game? 400 passing yards and four interceptions. For Kirk Cousins in a great fantasy day, but not a great day for the Raiders in the win loss column. So I'm going to go with the Dolphins beating the Las Vegas Raiders. I've talked about this on a number of social shorts, my bold prediction of the week, my upset of the week here. I'm going to the Miami Dolphins. I just don't think that the Raiders are this team that needs to be feared. I get that the Dolphins are the inferior roster overall, but I look at the Raiders and I think, why is this team so good? Kirk Cousins is the star. I mean, quarterback, the Dolphins killed Kirk Cousins last year, 34 to 10, a team that's not that much better defensive than it was last season. So I think that there's already a proof of concept that Kirk Cousins could get manhandled by this defense. Potentially, I would say in the Dolphins defense. Yes, their secondary is probably the worst in the NFL. They do have some talent at linebacker and on the defensive line. They have some high draft picks at those certain positions. So how do you take advantage of a or how do you not take advantage of a really weak secondary? When you're. Best wide receivers, Trey Tucker, potentially. So I like that type of matchup for Miami to come away with the ups. Again, I'm not saying that this is going to be a lower scoring game. I kind of agree with Fitzy that I at 40 and a half points, I would definitely like to lean towards the over here. You have dome conditions and Malik Willis and HN, I think, could both have monster games. The Malik Willis thing where he's an unknown commodity in this offense reminds me a lot of what we saw from Justin Fields week one of last year, where nobody really knew how to stop and no one really know where it was coming or how it was going to play out. And then he comes out making plays looking like an absolute superstar. It obviously did not last for Justin Fields and the Jets offense. But for one week, it was, man, Justin feels like really good in this offense. I think you could see something similar, just given the fact that the Raiders defense is not special whatsoever. They have a brand new defensive coordinator, Rob Leonard. He's coming in and he's installing a defense that was similar to the Mike McDonald Seattle defense. What does that defense give up a ton of? Running back receptions. So I think it's going to be a lot of Malik Willis running a lot of Malik Willis passes to Devon HN and those guys running up and down the field scoring points for the Miami Dolphins. And I think that the Raiders, Kirk Cousins, I think he's washed. So I think that he's going to make a couple of mistakes. The Dolphins are going to take advantage of it and the Raiders are going to lose. And you're going to see the chance for Mendoza to put him into the game and to make him the starter for week two for the Las Vegas Raiders, despite the fact of what Tom Brady thinks or says. Because two rookie head coaches going head to head. I don't see why the Clint Kubiak Raiders are at such an advantage here, even if their roster is marginally better than the Miami Dolphins. Well, you kind of took where I was going to go. I'm going to ask you guys both this. And I think we know where your point is, Erickson. But who has a better fantasy day, Kirk Cousins or Malik Willis? Willis. Easy. Fitzy? I'll say Willis. I'll say. You said 400 yards for Kirk Cousins. Willis is not going to be big. Willis runs for 150. Okay. Well, I really like you. By the way, I mean, talk about props. Look at the rushing yard prop for sure. All right. My boldest prediction might be that I'm just not focusing on the Raiders and the Dolphins game. So I'm doing something different. But that focus is going to go to the team I talked about very early on when I started jumping on these shows for tailgate is the Colts. I think the Colts are going to be a bit of a problem. The thing that has changed since that time where Erickson and Debro just chastised me and bullied me and were really rude about me thinking that the Colts could go. Over their win total this year is that we can see Daniel Jones is healthier and is going to play. And you now also have Alec Pierce back. This is a good matchup against that Baltimore secondary specifically for Josh Downs and specifically for, as I mentioned before, Dana Jones is a first read guy. You're going to be able on the lower 15 to throw out Keenan Allen to the corner. You've got Josh Downs on short routes and you've got Warren. You've got Josh Downs on short routes. While Alec Pierce is spreading the field. I think it's going to give Baltimore's defense fits. This is also not Pat Fitz, but Fitz. And this is also not even implementing Jonathan Taylor. Obviously, I think the offense for Baltimore is going to be really key, but I like the Colts in this game. I like it as a statement game. I think they're going to come out hot, similar to they did in the first half of last year before everything fell apart. And they are a three and a half point home dog. And I think the Colts can win this one outright with an onside. slot of their offensive weapons. And I think Daniel Jones is going to have that big statement in there, regardless the big flashy Lamar and say Flowers is a little bit banged up, I think they can put them on their heels. And I think Jonathan Taylor is going to have a big day, but I more specifically think Warren and Josh Downs are going to have a big day. And my bold prediction is the Colts are going to beat the Ravens outright here. So that is my bold prediction for my first one. Now let's go to number two, where Fitzy, you are kind of against my bold prediction. So you can kind of talk about it if you want, because you are sticking in this game, but with a specific player. Yeah, this sort of runs counter to your Colts enthusiasm, Welsh, but this is more focusing on the other side of the ball when the Colts are playing defense. I'm going to say Derek Henry runs for 150 yards and two touchdowns against the Indianapolis Colts. I'm guessing that the Ravens new offensive coordinator, 30-year-old Declan Doyle, is not going to want to be overly cute with this play calling in his debut. No one wants to see the boy wonder dialing up 45 passes when you've got Derek Henry back there. And I think run defense could be a real problem for the Colts this year, just because their linebackers are so shaky and inexperienced. I think that's going to be a problem unit for Indy this year. Now they are, in theory, good up front with their defensive tackles. DeForest Buckner, who's had a terrific career, but Buckner's 32 and has missed a lot of playing time the last two years. Colts other defensive tackle, Grover Stewart, really good run stuffer, also 32 years old. However, so I, I think this is a plus matchup for the Ravens. And I think Derek Henry does Derek Henry things in week one. Fitz, what do you have against 13-year-olds? Yeah, I was about to say, like, what are you, you're making 32, like it's so old. The worst thing that the NFL and sports has done to us is make us think that 34 is like, you're the biggest unk, that whole term unk. It is all because we think 33-year-olds are the oldest people on the planet. We're all washed up, Erickson. You've got, time is running out on you, buddy. You're living up before you hit 32. I mean, you basically just called DeForest Buckner washed and we're the same age. So let's, let's see, when was he born? So his birthday. Well, while he's looking that up, Fitz, this is what's problem with Erickson. Erickson is still in that phase where you look at your life and you're like, I could maybe play. You know what I mean? Like he's still like, we can't, I'm, I'm 43 years old. I can't do it. Erickson's still in that place. He's like, if I worked out for the next six months, I could be a, I could be a story and I could still play like three years in the NFL. You, you haven't aged out of that. I got all my college football eligibility. All your, dude, they're, they're accepting everybody right now. You could go and play. You'd be great. You still have time to play Erickson. And that's the difference. That's what the age thing is hitting. Whereas I'm at the age where Gordie Howe is the only guy who has ever played at this age. So you know what? You'd make a great story though. They're accepting eligibility. I like that a lot. All right, Erickson, your second big, bold prediction. For week one, Jaguars blow out the Cleveland Browns and Trevor Lawrence combines for not one, not two, not three, but four combined touchdowns, whether they'd be passing, rushing, maybe receiving, because I think that the Jaguars are just going to have their way with the Cleveland Browns led by Deshaun Watson, the Browns defense. I don't think people are considering enough the fact that they lost miles Garrett number one, and that's a big loss. They lost their defensive coordinator, Jim Schwartz. He was kind of the guy that made a lot of this stuff, work for the Cleveland Browns defense and make it an elite unit over the last couple of seasons, obviously with miles Garrett being that major piece that made everything work now getting Jared verse very good player, but I don't think his impact is going to be nearly as big as miles Garrett's was in the past years. The Browns defense. I've talked about this at a lot of different shows. We've talked about it when we're breaking down the Jaguars backfield between base shell to it and Chris Rodriguez, they play completely different on the road. They're a much worse defense on the road. And what's interesting, I looked at the Jaguars margin of victory last year at home. They were number one in the NFL. They almost won every game at home by two touchdowns, 13.7. The Browns were the fourth worst team on the road last year in terms of average margin of loss. They lost every game on the road by nearly 12 points. So I think that this line here, it feels weird laying this many points in any NFL game. But when it comes to the Jaguars, this would be my survivor pick. I'm not with the chargers card. This thing that scares the crap out of me. Yep. Jags and survivor. I think that's the path to go. Cause I think there's going to absolutely smoke the Cleveland Browns. They've shown in the past. Well, we'll get to you. I know I've read it. I saw you moving up there. I was about to say you could, my brain was just like the whole time you were talking, the wheels were turning and I was ready. And so when you said survivor, cause it was all I want to talk about survivor, but yeah, that's your point. And we'll do that. The last point I wanted to make was last year, the Jaguars were not afraid to run up the run up to run up the score on bad teams that against the jets that against the Titans multiple times. I think Liam Cohen wants to have a statement game here and be like, yeah, we're not the hyped up Chicago bears team, but our offense is as just as good, if not better. And what we saw Trevor Lawrence do with the second half of last year, I think you're going to see a carry over here into week one. It makes a lot of sense for the Jaguars to build some momentum here against the Cleveland Browns because they have a brutal schedule after this particular matchup. So I know the Cleveland Browns. I'm going to ask me, should I start Trevor Lawrence this week in fantasy? It's the Browns defense. That's a bad matchup, right? I don't think so. Especially when you look at the way that their defense is designed. They have really two strong perimeter cornerback, sick, Brian times two, your go run your sprints. You're not going to get targeted anyway. So Parker Washington's going to eat me inside the tight ends. I think the run game can rip off some explosive plays between two in and Rodriguez. And when push comes to shove Trevor Lawrence, we'll just call his own name, run in the end zone for another rushing touchdown. So give me the Jags laying the points Jags by double digits, Jags blowing out the Cleveland Browns, who I don't need to really go into why their offense is not good. Right. Yeah. You guys get that. Yeah, no, you don't. Yeah. It'd be interesting because that was the thing I, like I said, I was working through like, do we think the Jags could be like one of the number one used survivor pool ones? I haven't looked cause I'm in a couple of different, so I'm not doing the big $21 million or whatever, but I haven't looked at the percentages, but I have to imagine chargers are one Jags or two. Yeah. Okay. I have to, I was in say Jags have got it. And one of them is going to be a sweat and it's definitely going to be the chargers. I don't think the chargers are going to be a sweat. Give me, get out of here. Well, I'm going to talk about the chargers in a second. I mean, so you would take, so if you had to pick one of the underdogs, you'd take the Cardinals at the point. No, no, no, no, no, no. I'm I'm saying I'm, I think the chargers are going to beat down the Cardinals, but that doesn't have to, like, I like this Jags one. I think it's Jags one is the play, but there's always, there's that line though, in survivor of like, are you a, I just have to get through week one, or do you want to systematically play the schedule? So you're not using up your teams. Are the Jags a team that you care about blowing early on? I'm really not sure. I just don't want to back the perennially cursed franchise in week one in a survivor pool. And when you can bet against Deshaun Watts, I mean, there's only gonna be so many weeks you can bet against this guy. You got to take advantage. Yup. Yeah. I've got the Jaguars in both my survivor pools. Yeah. Let's go. All right. Well, good. Well, good. I'm going against you. And one of them in our big pentathlons and I know where to go to keep with you. So speaking of the chargers, my last on the bold predictions as we finish this out. Yes. I think the Cardinals are going to stink it up this year. Uh, but I've really over the last month, just gotten infatuated and obsessed with how I think the chargers are going to want to use Justin Herbert. And I think how they're going to want to do it early. I think Mike McDaniel is looking at this fun, new toy. It's a toy that never did the things his old toys did. And he's like, well, now I've got to have my, you know, my action meter and that's Herbert. Herbert could throw the ball deep and McDaniel just couldn't do that. And I think that's what I keep staring at. And the player that gets hyper-focused on that for me is Quentin Johnston. And I think Quentin Johnson is going to come out and have a big game in this week. One, I think he's going to go for over a hundred. I have a buck 25 and I think two scores. And I really think the big one is I think he's going to rip off a 50 yarder on the Cardinals. I think it's to be very early in the game. They're going to be able to establish some play action because Keaton Mitchell can be a little bit of a problem. Hampton is clearly going to be a problem. Lad is I think going to take a lot of hyper-focus on the offense. And I think when Johnson is going to rip some big ones, because I think they are going to try to get that ball deep. So Quentin Johnson, big day. That is my bold prediction. Do you really think the Cardinals are going to make that competitive game? I would say the thing that makes me scared of it is Jacoby percent showed last year that he could be a king of backdoor covers and they weren't afraid to throw the football a lot, which could still be in play this week because Jeremiah love is not a hundred percent potentially. And the fact the chargers don't have any home field advantage. They have zero home field advantage that much either. So, okay. But I'm still, you're, you're getting 10 and a half points. You're getting 10 and a half points. 10 and a half points with the team. That's not even playing on the road. Essentially. Are there going to be more Cardinals fans? Are there more Chargers fans? There might be more charger fans. You'd be surprised who's going to this game. Not that not air. No one lives here. Like I live here in Arizona. Guess what? I'm not from Arizona. I'm from California. We have transplant. So that's one of the things that Cardinals Trey McBride was complaining about it the other day. He's like, Oh, no, no, no. And then he felt bad about it. But yeah, because there's, you know, who lives here in the truth, people like Fitzy, Wisconsin, Chicago, it's all transplant. So it's like, there's not a ton of excitement built around this Cardinals team. I think you're going to be surprised at how many charger fans there. I don't think home field advantage is a thing for Arizona. I will say, I think the Cardinals are going to lose a lot of games because their schedule is murderous, but they had so many injuries on defense last year. I think their defense is going to be better just by virtue of improved health. Okay. Well, so apparently my bold prediction, cause you guys, the car, they're going to win. The chargers are going to win. I'm not saying that they're going to lose. I'm just saying, this is going to be a sweat. Like it's going to be like the fourth quarter. How is this game tied? Like we're going to pan to the West coast, uh, Scott Hanson and red zones would be like the chargers and Cardinals are in a nail bite or what's happening here. And again, sweat is the first 60 seconds of this game if the cardinals have the ball that'll be the only time cardinals are gonna lose by 30 in this game okay that's my bold prediction what are your guys's drop your week one bold predictions in the comments below let's hear it you guys can also uh talk on the uh the big island games as well but i really want to see what your week one bold predictions are have fun with us play into it when you do so and you're subscribed you're gonna enter yourself into win that todd girley autographed jersey we want you to win it and we want you to hang here we got a lot of great stuff uh for the tailgate this year with some i believe wednesday live streams that are going to be in there that you're going to want to hang out a little bit of we have to do a a bird watch segment where we check in on our falcons and cardinals and see who has won a game or not yeah the cacao every week we gotta do bird watch have i forgot have the redbirds won a game yet this year checking in with washington erickson well and i don't think i'm a part of the the review episodes because we're gonna in season have like a i don't remember it's monday or tuesday that's gonna be breaking down what happened we're gonna have the thursday episode which i will be on previewing the week and then we should have a wednesday show that's in there that's a live show which erickson and myself will be a part of so make sure you're locked in don't miss any of it come hang with us live make sure you're subscribed for the episodes as we're kind of talking about it all having some fun real nfl talk with some real fans right here on the tailgate let's get into it you guys have a fantastic one for erickson and fitzy i'm welsh we'll talk to you next time it's tailgate we're out of here peace crown coins casino winning never sounded so good what would you do if you won big at crown coins casino real people win real prizes every single day hi this is michael from georgia i won 40k and finally renovated my home visit crown coins.com sign up in seconds enter code crown and get a free lucky wheel bonus you may win up to 10 000 sweeps coins crown coins.com that's r-o-w-n coins.com no purchase needed code valid for new users only void we're prohibited by law 18 plus terms and conditions apply crown coins casino t-mobile is reinventing business internet with super broadband whether you run a small office or a factory of 500 connection is everything powered by america's fastest 5g internet plus starlink super broadband from t-mobile reaches every zip code in the u.s super broadband a new era of business internet visit super broadband.com to learn more a flawless makeup look starts with the right foundation shade sounds simple right but finding your perfect match can honestly be one of the hardest parts of your routine but there is good news sephora has all the best brands in one place with so many shades finishes and coverage options to choose from plus their beauty advisors shade matching tools and free samples make it so much easier to find the one that's just right for you visit sephora and find your match hey y'all what's up this is lauren la rosa from the latest with lauren la rosa the podcast remember varnell hill from the 90s sitcom martin he's back and now on paramount plus more than 30 years later tommy davidson is stepping back into the spotlight in an all-new martin spinoff the varnell hill show and varnell has just one question did you miss me now he's got network execs a wild writer's room family drama and everyone telling him he's past his prime varnell isn't slowing down bringing raw unfiltered jokes every step of the way from executive producer martin lawrence the varnell hill show is now streaming exclusively on paramount plus this is an iheart podcast guaranteed human