Takes We Want Back (feat. Mike Ryan Ruiz) + Panic in LA

Oh, my fellow football American so much to discuss in our NFL week one review. Mike Ryan, Brad Williams, 10 day Tony, all on the way. What I'm talking about right now, though, is presented by Jagermeister. Serve it cold or don't serve it at all. Jagermeister, damn, that's cold. For more visit Jagermeister.com, drink responsibly. Now, every time I'm in Miami, I get pizza advice versus in the Elser. My pal Christin told me recently, I had to try their clam pizza. So I did. I was skeptical and man, it was delicious. Now, I don't know that I need clams on my pizza going forward because pizza's already so good. It does, though, prove I'm open to new ideas, which allows me to say this. I've sampled Wednesday football and games down under and you can put me down as a solid meh football is already the ultimate reality TV show because it's a live reality TV show. So it can't be manipulated. Well, let's big 10 referees are involved. Here's the thing about that Rams, Niners game that already feels like it was played six weeks ago. It counts in the standings legitimately. Rod, you're starting to remind me of Icarus games half across the planet. Wednesday nights on Christmas on Thanksgiving Eve. It feels like you're now trying to replace everything, including the sun in the sky with an oblong ball spiritually. Of course, I like where your heads at. Only thing I might like better than football is my old pal TV. But for us to all really work, we have to come together as three. It's sort of similar to what shea lean and Aaron and that other guy who is an Aaron do or don't do what I'm saying is you're gilding the lily. Actually, you're doing worse, Roger. You're messing with something that's already great. It's the football equivalent of like, I don't know, like, let's say a reflecting pool. People already like in turning it the color of Cleveland. Now listen, I know money's what matters most to you matters most to you, right? You're picking up what I'm laying down, but we may have reached our saturation level, at least in terms of the quality of the games. And in a related matter are diminishing interest in said games. Big picture. The NFL doesn't need to try to be popular like this. We've already got the WNBA. I don't know about you, but the last couple of weeks I've gotten a lot of football season kind of snuck up on me this year. On one hand, I agree. It did on the other hand, it's football season hard to argue though the actual games we've gotten in the calendar year 2026 are caused for something other than enthusiasm considered the Super Bowl sucked as did the uninspired rematch to start this season as did that game down under compare that with the return of our comfy familiar space, a Saturday and Sunday football games. At least some of those were actually good all on their own. The proofs in the putting Roger. Don't you see? So please just stop putting claims in our putting. Let's start the show. Oh, yes, hi. Hello, my fellow football Americans. Welcome to football America presented as ever by our pals over at Draft King sports. Now in all 50 states and we are live. So go tell your mom or whoever else you want to subscribe, comment, feel week ones almost in the books. As you can see, if you're watching, I gave myself a haircut. Mike Ryan, my cabbiyotoni collado, you is in with us, both are with us. I think Brad Williams is going to join us somewhere from the road between Hershey P.A. and New York City to talk about Monday night football. Let's jump right in. Shall we fell as Mike? Worst loss of the weekend. You can go with chargers, cowboys, rams. You can dip into Saturday and go Oregon ducks. How are you? Welcome to the show. Thanks for making time and welcome to football. See it's the Oregon ducks. Dave Damishek, the Oregon ducks was the team that I think was most picked across all of the experts to win the CFP this year. And they lost to a team. They beat by over 60 points last year. Their team that got thoroughly handled by Tulsa last week. And it appears that Dan landing is a more real crystal ball merchant. That is the worst loss. Cabbiyotoni, how say you? I'm probably going to have to go with the Los Angeles chargers and my MVP pick of Justin Herbert, who look completely not MVP level. But Dave, I'm trying to think the defense against the Cardinals, not great. Jesse Minter, Jesse Minter, sir, we need some more of that. Juice, wherever you got it, because the chargers desperately need it. Well, Tony, I'm going to allow much like you do on the first tee of of your golf round. I'm going to allow for Mulligan's in just a second in the meantime. It's episode 82. Hello to buddy. Hello to Gino. Let's dip into it. Who in NFL history were the number 82 best? You know, it's funny. Dave is when I think number 82. The guy that comes to mind is Tori Smith for some whatever reason. That's the first name that comes to mind when I think number 82. But then probably Jason Witten might be the next guy. When you actually talk about the best players to where the time it catches. You know, yeah, they deserve to be up there. How about Hall of Fame or John Stolworth? By the way, 82 also reminds me of 1982. That's the year of the Super Bowl tournament. They only played nine regular season games because of a strike. So they expanded the playoffs to 16 teams. Some weirdo results, specifically the AFC title game, Dick Todd and the Jets. Pay a visit to the orange ball. They lose 14 to nothing. AJ Dewey has three career regular season interceptions. Has three interceptions in that game, including a pick six. And I think that's all the dolphins we need to talk today. Let's jump into it and Mike back to you. Now let's do, as I mentioned, Mulligan's. You can take back anything you want. I don't know a fantasy draft pick a pick you made in week one. A projection you had for the whole season. Good or bad I defer to you. Now I want to take back thinking that the Baltimore Ravens were going to be bad. However, things happen in that performance that repeats the same formula from previous years, they already lost their entire wide receiving core in one game. And those guys absolutely brought it in the first week. But well, Morris looked really good. Derek Henry hasn't lost a step yet. So maybe I was wrong about suspecting a Baltimore Ravens are at the end of the rope. They look like they got a little run here. I think we can just stop expecting. Sorry, Derek Henry to get to get to drop off. It's never going to happen. This guy is unbelievable. Every year he looks just as quick as he did the year before. He's 32 now and he's still just running through secondaries every week on our televisions. It's unbelievable. This guy, well, he is going to drop off at some point. I can almost guarantee it, but Tony, I think that brings up a great question. He is real deep as a big back. Those guys almost always wear out. The only historical comp is Jerome Betis. So Tony, I'll say you, you get to pick one guy, Derek Henry, definitely on his way to the Hall of Fame. Jerome Betis or Derek Henry. Derek Henry. I think that's the correct answer. As Derek Henry now, solidly, a top 10 Super Bowl error, running back in your opinion, yeah, I think he's close to the top five. I think he's close to the top five. No, I'm, I'm agreeing with Tony there, the longevity that he's been able to sustain without without really an injury. And Dave, I did this math coming on football America because I want to bring you guys stuff that you're not getting anywhere else. So I did the math between high school, between college and between professional carries. Derek Henry is almost at 5,000 career carries between all those years. It like the, the tax that he puts on his body that he continues to go out and run over secondaries at basically all times the year. Doesn't matter if it's in the summer, if it's in the winter, he's better in the winter, just running people over at that size and speed. It's like, yeah, I think he's probably top five of Super Bowl error running backs. Yeah. And when you also consider the error in which he thrived and which that position was diminished, yeah. And so for me, Derek Henry is better than Emmett Smith. Oh my god. I was holding on. I don't hate that take. It is. Buddy Badaski is too close to it. He's a gator. Derek Henry is better. No, it's listen, I hear what you're saying. I understand the logic. It's just nobody's ever thrown that take out before. So it caught me off the edge, but you're probably not far off from he's a little bit fumbly for my taste over the course of his career. And he's not much of a pass catcher. So if you talk about era specific stuff that he's deficient in that area when most of his peers can catch a ball and are relevant in the past game. But I do think, like I say, maybe five is too rich for me, but I do think he's right there around eight, nine, ten among all the great Superbuyer running backs. Tony, do you have an answer for the Mulligan that you would like to take here? Yeah, I want to take and I'm not going to keep the chargers one off because I think we're still there's a lot of runway for Justin Herbert to win MVP. I think for me, the Mulligan, I want to take back as the Los Angeles Rams, thinking that they were going to be one of the best teams in football. And I still think they can be the issue is Miles Garrett now on the, on the IR with a knee injury, him getting scoped is kind of a big deal. Aaron Donald still not really there. The secondary look shaky to a bunch of guys. The Sean Struggling got hurt. They had Mike Evans running around. DeMarcus Robinson got loose for a long touchdown. Like the ghost of Debo Sam, you're still running around and you're telling me that secondary couldn't do anything to stop Brock Purdy down under. That gave me pause. Also, Dave, I want to get your thoughts on this. I feel to me like the offense is a bit too siloed to Pukinikua. They need to be able to spread the ball out. I mean, as I keep saying, he is the Jenga piece. I know JSN and Seattle is a massive factor in that offense too, but, you know, the Seahawks present as defense first in my book. Yes, everything runs through Puka, who's had a trouble to eight months. They're entirely dependent on him. If you remove him, the Jenga piece, the whole thing is potentially going to implode. Yeah, I think I don't know how durable a loss that is in the sense that I don't know that it carries over as far as even next week, which losses are disconcerting about what it says about the next three months for a team. That's kind of why I maybe lean where my grinds go in there with with the ducks. I, you know, maybe I went into the weekend thinking, boy, the SEC is in some peril here. Now Ohio State and Oregon are both down. So I'm not sure what exactly that says about, uh, about the big 10, but my Mulligan number one above all else is I am cursing myself. Why, why did, why did you fall into the charge or strap again? Let's wait and see on that. I wish I had taken the Jags more seriously. The, and not because the Texans lost to the bills, but man, I think we don't care about the Jags because as I say, I don't get the sense that anybody in Florida cares about the Jags. So if they don't care, why do I need to pay attention to them, right? But is that fair that the Jags have a chance to be mighty this year? Yeah, that offense. I mean, I know it was the Browns and everything, but that offense looked phenomenal. Trevor, the throw to, uh, Josh Coleman, I think his name was, I'm blanking here in the back of the end zone. Like the tape of that from the all 22 is ridiculous. I don't know how he fitted into windows. He was great at the end of last year, and it looks like it's going to carry over into this year. If he plays at the level, we kind of all expected when he was the number one overall pick. Like they are going to be a dangerous team in the AFC South for sure. I have one breakfast ball. I apologize to Travis at the end for saying his name and correctly this whole time. Yeah. Hey, Chan, that's what it is now. We've been saying it wrong all this time. I don't know why he doesn't step up though and clarify that. Now I feel like he. No, he did. That's what happened. He, he in the off season, we had all been calling him. It's the end. And then he was like, yeah, I just kind of let it fly, but my name is actually HN when he went over to the scene. So that was new. No, it's not. No, it's not. Hi, before we lose you, because you have real life stuff to tend to, I want to get in a quick drip drill, a first of the season here where we tend to the matters of fashion and aesthetics here. As uniform matchup, you saw this first weekend of the NFL. I know it was delayed by bad weather, but the weather and still water was spectacular. And it really allowed the contrast of the Oklahoma State Cowboys to pop with the green bottoms and green shells of the Oregon ducks. I thought that game looked like a million bucks. Very nice. I go with them with the pack and the bikes look grand obviously to traditional teams, but they had the good sense to where their traditional get ups against one another. I'm not usually a fan of the Packers on the road, but it looks real nice against the the ancient rival Vikings. And then for a new fangled look, how about the jets and titans, the green pants, as you say, they look very much like the Oregon ducks did in still water in Nashville and the Titans. They look detourious in terms of football. They look divine to my eye. What a what a what a new age matchup that was Mike. What's the worst uniform matchup of the weekend bears panthers. The contrast was awful. You had the Navy pants against the the black pants and the black shells, which usually you need some contrast there. You can always count on the silver helmets for the Carolina Panthers, but they went black helmets now independent. I like both of these looks. I think that's a pretty solid look for in terms of variance for Carolina. I dig it, but they historically always wear white at home to start the season. Luki, he went into all the fame with the white jersey because, well, with the black jersey because that signifies playoff colors where they always wear white at home to start. It was I was like, this seems like the team from playmakers who is this and you had a contrast against Navy. It just was hard on the eyes for such a wonderful game with all those points being scored. It looked terrible. It felt like, yeah, it feels like you're saying something to the world when in week one, you wear an alternate uniform. It seems like you have self esteem issue. You know, like what you don't like, you don't like what you're with every day. You have to step out. Again, I hate to use the the comparison, but it really does feel a little bit like Shea Lee, but she's not getting everything she needs out of the primary. So she has to go to an alternative. Worst uniforms for me, cards at chargers. And I think you'll pick up what I'm laying down here, Mike. The cards all whites are heavenly. I really think those are underrated. I think they make the very short list of most underrated get ups in pro football. And obviously those chargers ones, those might be the best in their closet there. The powder blue with the white hat and the white pants. But together, it's too much white. You know, you move that white hats. What are you going to do about that? But if you're going to wear the powder blue and you don't come into there, well, we wear all white when we're on the road, say the card. And so then the charge was have to meet them halfway and wear their gold pants because otherwise, it's too much white. Same thing, commies, Eagles, classic ish uniforms, I guess, but the commies, you have gold pants and you have maroon pants. But I love their white pants. This almost was a good matchup, but it let me down. And so it makes my list for worse matchup. I'll say you, Mike. That's a look. I think that that's nowhere near as bad about the potential that they hadn't so far was so great with the gold pants. Hell, even the powder blue pants, but there was way too much white, especially when he get the hard hats in there. It was way too much white. I was like, I should be liking this more, especially it's something was off about something was off. It's my TV color right. So I'm with you there. Yeah, while there's weird, the one that filters the light and makes the colors look different more than any other is the big the the the jawah move or thing, you know, at the start of Star Wars. That's what the liking stadium looks exactly. It does kind of look like that. Now that you point that out, Dave, that's a good reference. Yeah, that's a good reference. Honorable mention to to Jags Browns, the Quincy Morgan Memorial, that game look great in the sun. Those two uniforms look great juxtaposed in one another. Yes. Final thoughts before you go, Mike. I'm worried about cam ward. My hot take is that cam ward will not be a Tennessee Titan next year. Wow. Because we can write off cam ward. I think Caleb Williams has shown us that we can't write him off. I think we all believe that he has a talent. That's a tough situation, but he's got to do better. And I think that the the temptation because they're going to be picking a top the draft at Orchmaning in a state of Tennessee is going to be too good to pass up. And I think that cam ward's going to be traded somewhere. I think it's a Tennessee Josh Rosen situation here. Only hopefully he can turn around and I feel faith that he can where I didn't with Josh Rose. I think cam ward has a talent, but he very clearly needs a deep program himself from the habits that he formulated at Miami. He's trying to do too much out there too. But I hated the tape pick. I hated the head coaching hire. I hated the Tony Pollard contract that they signed years ago. Every move that this franchise has made around cam ward has been bad. And now it's led a lot of believe that the decision to draft cam ward was bad. Jackson Darden help it matters. Yeah. Sure. It is. I mean, I have faith, although cam I may be wrong about what I think cam ward is as a pro QB. And if that assumption is wrong, then maybe it's just straight up bus. Man, it really does remind you of how much situation matters. I'll say I'll say for the million million in first time. Do you think that Brock Perty does what Brock Perty does in San Francisco? If you put them on pretty much any other team, I guess what the Rams I could buy Brock Perty being dynamite, but otherwise. And then you know, you watch Malik Willis running around there. That was fun to look at. I think cam ward's kind of lost at sea on that level at this point. He's in a bad system. And I don't think I don't know the way to think about it, Mike is, is it cam ward's fault? Is he a bust? Or is there another quarterback in the last couple of years that were you to replace ward with him? Let's say Jackson Dart or Tyler Schuck. Do you think the vibes would be better in Tennessee right now? I don't think there's a worse place for cam ward to be on the planet than the Tennessee Titans right now. It is they can run the ball. They can't protect them. Their receivers are mid as hell. They're coaching staff. You have questions about because they're repeated failures. It's a bad, bad situation. I'm a homer. So I know that that's going to be out there. And I don't want to fully drop the hammer on cam ward. There's plenty of people doing that. I think cam ward can be good. I just don't think it can be good there. All right. Let's let's let's avail ourselves of Titan stock here. Except I just want to say one more time. Three words for those uniforms. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So those those those look terrific. But let's talk about relevant teams. Even if they they disappointed us on Sunday. Thanks for showing up. Mike, um, buddy, we didn't get your worst loss yet of the weekend. All right. My worst loss, Dave. We already mentioned the chargers. Do we mention the Packers? Because how how was that game? Sorry. I'm moving around here getting adjusted in everything. How? First of all, the Packers are incredible at dominating a football game. And then you look up in the fourth quarter and they're only up a score and the other team is driving. That happened to me yesterday where I look up. I'm like, man, Jordan love has been fantastic. The Vikings are out there with Carson lens. They haven't played very well. The Packers have played very well. And all of a sudden, it's a five point game and the Vikings have the ball. And here they come. And then all of a sudden, next I look up and they're down 17. And I'm like, what the hell happened there? That that loss was crazy, but also I thought the Texans Whoa wait, before you move on that one, that's a juicy one, buddy's leaving a juicy one there We got a lot to talk about a lot of things to say about leaving leaving a little meat on the bone there But let's we'll talk about the Texans in a second But yeah, that Packers game just the way that game played out Is the same as it played out if you blur your eyes with like the shame is the same thing as if you're the Patriots You lost to the back up man in a pinch fine, but Carson whence did that to you yikes, right? I mean that those are those are some some gut punch losses there that everything including me Everybody was excited about the Minnesota Vikings in large part because of the infusion of of Kyler Murray Into that offense and then he goes out in the first like 20 seconds of the game and The Vikings end up still whipping the Packers. I'll say you Tony. Dave. There's a lot of things from that game that I just kind of look back And I'm like that's why I picked the Packers to miss the playoffs earlier on in football America like there's no There's nothing that the Packers do that is a Tear right everything is B tier and I saw B tier coaching from the floor taking points off the board to dry go try to go forward on Fort down I saw C tier discipline D tier discipline on three Straight third downs where there was a penalty on the play that extended the drive for the For the for the for the Vikings. I'm any tears are there. You're down the D already. I know what was up after you It's it's eight F tier. I saw D tier discipline I just Christian Watson's a revelation for them like that's huge development for them It is they finally have a guy that can be that's not a 79 overall receiver like a go-to guy, you know But but he had cotton candy stats what you do six for 148 and and two scores or whatever and what happened? They got beat by yep 17 points. Yep against Carson what it's against Carson once and Dave I was talking to to buddy earlier like when When Kyler got hurt. I was like, okay, let's see how this goes. We know J. Jim McCarthy is Banished to the don't matter horn, right? Can I say that is that is that accurate? Yeah, absolutely Okay, I wanted to give credit to work credit was due don't matter horn J. Jim McCarthy He needs to be right there next to whoever else is on there. So I'm like all right Wentz is gonna come in Kai. We're not seeing Kyler for this the night Let's see how Wentz plays because he's been very skittish especially behind some offensive lines They've been leaky and I was telling buddy like when he made that first passage just in Jefferson That was like an 18 yard out route. I was like, okay He's got his feet about him like let's see because his biggest issue being such a big quarterback at 65 Is he stands and I don't know if I can stand but I'm gonna stand here and show you guys he stands with a very wide base Right like there was a play with a buzz and even with your tear your terrible throwing motion Maybe you can approximate his way exactly right. So he's in a muddy pocket, right and again You want to stand at 65 here you want to be here balls of your feet getting ready to throw he's He's here you can't see my feet But they're wide as can be and he sits there with this wide base and when he throws He's gonna be short because he doesn't have any torque to get his hips around So when I saw the play to Jordan Anderson we had a comeback open for about 10 yards and he maybe could have made a wiggle A wiggle move and gotten it first down or even a touchdown and he missed him short and late I was like oh boy, but things got back on the rails and I don't know how I would probably add Kevin will come to that Brock Perty conversation too by the way That's a place that Brock Perty would land and he would be a superstar also That's right. I agree with you about KOC as I say everybody has their miss you know Shannie has Tray Lance KOC has JJ McCarthy, but his body of work tells you that he gets the best out of almost every quarter back Yeah, he works with some other bad loss candidates. Oh Dave America's a legit team. Oh, that was rough That was rough. I mean it comes down to is this about right that George Pickens drop up the right sideline Costs them the win. I feel like they win the game if he houses that he catches that takes it to the house Just before the half the vibes in the locker room make it so that the Cowboys survive maybe maybe Dave But I want to say something about the Giants. I want to give them a lot of credit There was a lot of talk I think the others. I think Dak throws the game away. I think that in her perception Yes, yes, yes, you put it on the the Cowboys defense and I think the Cowboys defense Despite the evidence that we've been given now over these 60 minutes now I'm skeptical of my my faith in it, but I do think it will round in the shape but knowing that we don't necessarily trust that unit that cannot throw that ball I think just got loose with it and was trying to get it out of bounds and failed to do it But no matter what the the excuse is it added up to them losing the game that should have gone to the half with them tied up there and And it completely altered the way the Giants approached the second half. They had the ability to bang away with scataboo And so they did yeah, David I do just think like I want to give some credit to the Giants here Which is you say okay? They scored that touchdown before the half and the game is completely different But the there was a lot of talk about the vibes in New York and how John Harbaugh is going to change the culture there Change the vibes change the energy you could feel that that energy was different in that stadium Amongst Giants fans and then on the field yesterday like I thought the Giants were Awesome Jackson Dart was great the defense did enough But you want to talk about the Cowboys thief so I'm not necessarily sure that like one touchdown goes the Cowboys way It's what I was trying to say and that game could change it completely because I think the Giants showed a lot of resolve in that game in the way They handled it the way they managed it in the way they wanted in the second half with two really long drives But you want to talk about the couple as far as the Steelers fan, but what I advocated for Last spring was that they take Jackson Dart and I knew that they were out on Tyler Schuck in their process So I knew that wasn't a Possibility, but you know again when you don't have the QB They should have been taking those swings and people were a little down on both Dart and Schuck now. They're both looking pretty good there I you know, I I lament that they that the Steelers needed a Mulligan to go back a year and a half ago things would be very different I wonder if Mike Tomlin is the head coach of the Steelers if they take if they had taken Jackson Dart last spring either way Go ahead. Yeah, I was just gonna say on the Cowboys defense like in terms of Browning into form later in the year Maybe but also here's this stat which is that the Cowboys had the worst defensive performance by any team in week one based on EPA per drive It was also worse than all but one of their defensive games last year and since the start of last season it was 571 out of 574 so their defense as bad as it was last year which was historically bad Their first performance that they put trying to with a new defensive coordinator Caleb Downs added to the mix and some other Pieces as well was even worse than anything they put on the field last year and that's a huge concern and that's buddy and Dave This is what I want to I you guys bring me on here to give spicy takes to bring out what think what people aren't really thinking I as much praise for big blue. They did a great job in taking care of a great offense defensively and then exposing a bad defense offensively right I think that the New York football giants are full school. I can't agree with that. I'm not a huge believer in Matt naggy Yes, that's my that's my biggest thing. I'm looking at Matt naggy and you're looking at Greg Roman who have run predictable Offenses for too long in this league right Matt naggy got blown out in Chicago for doing a completely just just a Hack job with that offense Ben Johnson comes in and has them scoring 60 points right a couple of years later when I look at this Offense there are too many things that can fail right I look at Jackson Dart electric as he may be has a lot of the time The lights are out yep, right? I look across Malik neighbors coming off a multi-ligament terror and surgery Do I love that know is the electric player? Yes, but I have questions cam scataboo the same thing man By the way, is there anybody I always talk about like when a guy changes teams so it often happens when they go from college to the pros They just cut a very different figure like that's that guy yeah from Colorado last year That's the same guy doesn't look at all alike to what he did six months later. Isaiah likely I You could show me that guy me like this is a person who you've watched play pro football for the last many years That's a good point. This is a good thing to that person is I would never know who number nine is is he twice as big now? Yes The deception of the single digit on a big guy really warps your brain, but I think it's more than that I think he added like 70 pounds or something to either way if you get Malik Willis and Isaiah likely and then Mooney serves as Your three that's pretty good in terms of your passing game. Um, you know, I'm with you on the on the coaching staff But you know the early returns are pretty good. I guess Tony what I'm getting at is as best you can and by the way There is often a mirage effect to the week one results as a reminder if you don't believe me the Raiders beat the Patriots in Foxboro and week one a year ago, so it's not as though you should you should make a hard pivot to everything you Thought was going to happen before week one just because of the these results. So which are the things that you saw that are Sustainable good or bad like for instance the Sean Watson and the Browns. Imagine yeah, oh you eat all off season You ate all on and this is what you get what what what a bummer same goes by the way quick shout out Do the aforementioned Caroline of Panthers, you know they're the division division champ but I know we make fun of the NFC South which by the way is collective now in four but the panthers are coming out home opener oh they almost beat the Rams in the playoffs and Bryce Young has turned a corner and boy those pass catchers that they have are for real and they have some nice defense of pieces if you pay attention to it they gave up 59 points and yeah but they scored 37 but they scored 37 Dave like Bryce Young look guys pretty good visitor we have a visitor from a red Robin somewhere in America a red Robin red Williams. Yeah. Wow. Be drinking an orange crush though I hope oh this is very exciting see this is the sort of stuff you get with a live show he is the man you know obviously if you listen to the levitar show you know this fella he's one of our favorites to yap with about the Broncos and really about more importantly the game of life height and babble is his podcast he's our pal Brad Williams coming to us somewhere between Hershey PA in New York City how are you fella happy football season. Happy football season to you Dave Damacechek it is great to be here live with my bottomless steak fries here at a red Robin they are not paying me to say that coming to you from Pennsylvania I don't know what town we're in but we're between Hershey and New York but I will take time out out of my day a for a red Robin seasoning on that bottomless steak fries but also to talk Broncos with you my friend. Ah you're a mens through and through first question steak fry where does it rank on types of french fry. Oh definitely in my top five I don't know if it's me take real take real take all potato preparation you're talking about we're not just talking fries you're talking any type of potato prep and you're going steak fry top five. I thought you were just doing fries. Yeah I thought we were doing fries too. Are there more than five kinds of french fries. There Dave. Hold on. Come on. That's why it would be in my top five. Let's talk through this. No you've got skinny you've got crinkle cut. You've got waffle. You've got smiley. You've got potato wedges curly fries. Thank you Danny B. You've got steak fries. There's there's a million. You can get fries in the top two in there. Yep. There's plenty of ways to prepare fries. Brad you're a man who is out and about quite a bit around football America. How do you explain that the curly fry and only the curly fry gets that spice and you can never get that curly fry without the spice. Great point. Great point. Great chance. I think that's a fantastic observation and I don't understand it. You think you'd put a curly fry to the curly fry spice maybe to fry the edges of a quesadilla. That might be fun. There's so many more things that you could do with that but no just the curly fry. Personally, for me, if you're going top five fries, waffle fries. Absolutely number one with with the bullet love waffle fries. Good shot. Typically, specifically the Chick-fil-A waffle fries. Go to shout out to them. Shout out PDQ as well. PDQ we had today. Great waffle fries. Fantastic. And then shout out to Red Robin for the whiskey river barbecue chicken wrap that I'm about to enjoy once this conversation is over. All right. I don't want to hold you up any longer. I'm picking up what you're laying down there. Two things quickly. First of all, did you get a chance to take a look at the team that a lot of people were picking to win the AFC West this year, the LA Chargers yesterday against the AZ Cardinals? I did. And let me recount my reaction to watch watching that game last watching that game yesterday was a ha ha ha ha. Wow. That was so much fun. I loved the camera shot. Justin Herbert throws a touchdown pass. They cut to Madison Beer. She's jumping everything. Everything's moving in the right places. That's all. Justin Herbert's got good fans, Brad. Good fans. He's got great fans. Great fans. And I get it Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey are already married. So there's nothing else to build up. So now Justin Herbert and Madison Beer become the sort of it couple of the NFL. And I would I would be okay. If we kept a camera on her just for those reactions, both both good and bad. Preferably more bad than good this year. I was laughing so hard. Mike McDaniel was walking around the sidelines, which is designer sunglasses, which look, which looked like he's related to a chic of some kind. And it was absolutely fantastic that the Cardinals, where everyone's talking about how they're not even trying this year, how they got how they got McBride. They got their rookie running back. And that's about all the bright spots they have. Roasted up. Roasted wasn't they were never as the charges really at some point. It felt like are they even in this game? I mean, this is that this is a this is a lame week one effort at home. I mean, really bad. Worse, I think really as bad an effort in front of the home crowd as we saw in week one. That was percent. I mean, I'm trying to think of another home loss that would have been that bad. But the fact that they came out, all the announcers were touting a new offensive line. Oh, this is the line. This is the offensive line that keeps that pretty little pun him of Justin Herbert from being driven into the turf. And that was not the case. The defense was bad. The offense looks stale. Justin's out there like he does do every year where you can always identify that he himself is great. But everything around him was just kind of falling apart. And it just makes me laugh. It just makes me happy. Chargers still get a charger. It's wonderful. I think I think he deserves more of the blame. People let him off the hook very easy, but that's a pretty lame week. That sack he took on fourth and goal. Dave was bad. Like that's just a bad sack. You cannot take that spot. Take that in that spot. He's on the QB two first name all star list. But otherwise, he's a disappointment just in Herbert in complete. All right, let's talk about your Broncos now. Exactly why I'm not trying to bug you, but I'm going to say why Denver fans and their players were raw about having to open on the road. Okay, you won the division. Good for you. What is that get you? That's not me. I think football season is football season. You're going to play a bunch of home games. You're going to play a bunch of road games and you're got you've got Monday night. You got Monday night football on the road. Casey really a sort of a statement game. The Broncos first part of the schedule. Really tough. If they come out of there three and three, I'd be thrilled. But then after that, the schedule gets a lot easier. There's a lot of dolphins. There's a lot of jets. There's a lot of other teams where obviously the Raiders twice. So the second half of the schedule looks really great. So I'm not going to be skies falling if the Broncos lose today, but it would obviously be amazing to get a win to start off the season. Patrick Mahomes coming off the ACL surgery. How does he look? Travis Kelsey coming off of, well, the summer of a lifetime for him is he back in football mode. Can he do it? How do they incorporate the Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker to the offense? And then how do the Broncos look at JK Dobbins? He's he's back, but we dropped it and running back whose looks to take the mantle. Jalen Wattel how you got the speedster in the offense. That's the big one, right? I think people let somehow when he got signed, it slipped through a slip under the radar, whatever. I think he is the maybe here's a bold statement, the X factor, the AFC. If he's as good as I think he has a chance to be in that offense, I think the Broncos have a great shot of getting to the Super Bowl. I love that because Cortland Sutton, he was the number one or super last year and he's a good number one, but getting a little up in age, he has really had the number one that we all wanted him to be, but now he's got Jalen Wattel on the other side. So it's not like the entire offense has to flow through Wattel. You also will have Sutton getting a lot more one-on-one looks with the with the attention being on Wattel. How does the defense look after the offseason, lost in pieces, gained some pieces, but Bantz showed up his back and if the defense is a quarter of what it was last year, we are going to be sitting pretty. So I'm excited for this season. I'm like many football fans where week one, you are brimming with hope and that is what I am for my Denver Broncos. Also hopeful that in week three, we now no longer have to face Miles Garrett. All right. Well, yeah, you're all set with that one. Yeah, changes everything. Last thing before you eat your chicken wrap in bottomless steak fries. I think people, if I remember correctly, Levitard asked you this before, but the Broncos might have the best offensive line. If you're out there for one series, you're spelling JK Dobbins. How many yards could you make? They're going to hand the ball off to you three straight here. See how many? If they do the Mike Leach strategy, I have a chance. Now for those of you unfamiliar, the Mike Leach, the RIP Mike Leach, but the fame, college football coach, he had a strategy of actually implementing a little person as a running back and then having someone on the offensive line being no other way to say this, the tosser. Okay, so little person runs. We do a little alley you and then I think if we're doing that strategy, I'm getting like, is this guy's the limit. How far, how far can the guy throw me that, it, I mean, and unless, unless the deep, unless the defense also hires a little person and then they try to toss as an interceptor missile. But that's like hitting, that's like hitting a bullet with a bullet. I think that's too hard to do. And so if you implement the my cleave strategy, I think, I'm, I think I'm getting a first out. It's like when people wondered if the, if the Eagles could do the push push the entire length of the field for a drive. Like, could we just go, just do it every play? Yes. Just go down the field. I mean, I would have my reference is that we do the toss over the line and then you have a wide receiver or a tight end, run the in route so they could actually catch me so I don't actually hit the turf. Let's find out when the Broncos by week is and see if we can set this thing up in that and see if the proof is in the pudding here in the meantime, not putting bottomless steak fries and all the rest of it. Brad Williams, you're the tops pal for making the time for us side of the road somewhere on your way. But listen, you're on a road trip. Your Broncos are on a road trip. I think it also comes together for us. Best wishes to Denver and and may we see our two teams play each other in the playoffs this season. I would love that and but it's not going to happen, not because my team's not going to do it. But if you look up at the great team that's on the banks of the three rivers, I don't believe that they are making the playoffs this year. Ravens looked awesome last night. You know, cut him off. I said goodbye to him already. You heard me. Dave, can I get this Texans take off? I would like you to, but you know what? Thanks to Brad, but buddy before you go, I want to get this in too. By the way, I mentioned Dan before. And a lot of attention being paid by Dan and beyond to running back Hollywood smothers. A great name and not just because he scored a couple of big touchdowns against Ohio State, but his name is Hollywood smothers. So he Jesus, that's from heaven. But on the other side of things, on Ohio State, are you aware of this guy? I mean, he's been on the team for a little while now. There's a guy on Ohio State name Lamar Jackson. I mean, you know, that's his name, so be it. But that's a pretty good comp to have as a football player, but his nickname is bow. I thought his name was just bow Jackson. I didn't realize his first name is also Lamar. So he's named Lamar. I talked about gilding the lily at the top of the show. This is what I'm talking about. You're already Lamar Jackson. Now you're bow Jackson to fan double fact. That's what brings me to this roast and toast. This is brought to you by labat brewed for the best rivalries and the sacred art of trash talk labat brewed for the roast. First of all, this is a special one for me. I really do love labat blue. First of all, I'm going to roast my old hockey loving pals and me Brett Ben Josh Irving rich. When we were growing up, NHL games were exotic. They were pumped in from the great white north. And so the commercials were Canadian beer commercials for labat and we saw so many labat blue ads and we came to associate it with hockey greatness that we saw if and when the Pittsburgh penguins ever went a Stanley cup, the first beer we drink is a labat blue and the proof that that is I still have the beer bottle. So here it is right there. That's the beer bottle I had when the old label in a green bottle, Dave. Wow. Check that out. Look at that. Oh, I drank it down. Similar, similar to you gave better beer than that one. A while. We're on the subject of toasting gold Pittsburghers a shout out to another Pittsburgher and a former bartender, much like me and the aforementioned bread are Mike McCarthy. Mike McCarthy, the prodigal son of Pittsburgh. He was out and about doing this and that around football America and now he's landed back where it all started wasn't pretty, but the Pittsburgh Steelers and his first game are victorious one in a for coach Mike McCarthy. And you know what, I said this a couple of weeks ago and now I mean it times a million. I feel that every team should be required to be coached by a local guy. We can't do the thing like unfortunately we can't have the players all be from from the area or else it would just be a tournament between South Florida and Texas and probably some parts of California and the rest of us would be lost at sea. But at least can we get the head coach? I think that we can get behind that spiritually, right? Cuban guy coach in the Dolphins. That would be amazing. Yeah, Tony Tony's in on that one. I might actually be the coach. I mean we have crystal ball coach in the canes right now. So exactly. All right, I want to leave you time. So there you go. Thanks LeBat. We're really excited to be joining with you and enjoy that LeBat Blue is Pittsburghers traditionally do after a big victory. But buddy, before you try to sneak that one in and I also want to sneak in our Monday night football picks there. How did we do in our debut of our drafting sports picks picks picks for anybody who missed it? Each of the three of us, me, you and Gino and we got to get Tony doing this as well. A favorite and over under and an underdog that we liked. How did each of us do? Yeah, so I'll just go name by name here Dave. You went one and you went one and two. So you missed on the Eagles minus five and a half against the spread. You missed on Bucks Bengals under 50 and a half. But you did nail the Jets money line as your dog. So you went one for one and two there. Gino also wanted to wasn't a money line. I like them either. They were, you know, you like, yeah, you look down in Nashville. All right. Either way, you cashed it. So I'll have you down to Jets plus one and a half. Either way, that one, that pick was correct. Gino against the spread. He picked the Texans plus one and a half, which we'll get to here in a second. That did not work out. The Giants and Cowboys state under 48 and a half. Thank you. We didn't even coordinate that. That was awesome. Gino, that, uh, that taunting penalty led to Brandon Aubrey missing the extra point. And then, uh, which kept it under at exactly 48 points. And then he had the dolphins on the money line, which was a little bit aggressive, but whatever will let it fly. And then your boy yours truly three and oh, what a start to the season for your boy, Dave. Bears minus three. Lions, Saints over 50 and a half. That one by the skimmed them by teeth, man. I was worried about that one in the middle of that game. And then I had the Jets as well over the Titans. So the season standings, Ethan has three points, Dave and Gino tied with one. I could give you what I actually would have picked with you guys, because I have it in my head on another pick situation. I would have taken as my, as my favorite. I would have taken Texans minus one and a half. I'm writing this out. I would have lost. I would have taken Lions, Saints over me too, which cash. And I have Broncos tonight lost. Okay, you know what? I buy this. I'm ready to do myself a loss in one that we haven't seen yet. So clearly he's not John. So you have the Broncos tonight. Yeah. Broncos tonight is my dog. You also what's the spread? Are you going money line? Digs and and wait, who's one of my friends? Who else the taunting anyway? These two jackasses. And by the way, getting those penalties, it's a penalty. And you know, it's a penalty. So why would you possibly do this? And this is I'm not up on Mount Pius about this. I'm old enough to remember you guys would never know this name. Jarvis Red wine from Nebraska. One of my earliest football memories was a highlight of him running down the sideline from the corn huskers and turning away from turning back to a DB who had no chance of catching him and looking at him and like summoning him like, come on, come get me. And he knew he had no chance of catching him. And I thought it was I thought it was the most bad as thing young Dave had ever seen before. But it's against the rules. And you know, both guys were trailing when they got those when they got. The digs one. The digs one Dave was was just indescribable. You've been here. I said I'm a levitator. Oh, yeah. You've been around for a million years. You've caught 8,000 touchdowns. You're 267 years old. You know, anytime you touch the goalpost, either dunking it, either grabbing it like you did, taking a cell phone out of the bottom of it. You know, it's going to be a penalty. Have some situational awareness. He doesn't have a ton of situational awareness in his regular life. Let's be very clear. So let's be very clear. And then the last thing Daniel says, like, what are you going to do? Because he knows he can't piss off Stefan digs. Exactly right. He's got cars like carte blanche. I should have tried to get in his way and not let him do embarrassing embarrassing. You're the veterans to find digs. Hey, quickly. I'm sorry, buddy. I don't think in the last 28 seconds here, we have time for your bills. Take Kansas City Denver Broncos. The Chiefs win at 2120. Same score that they lost to the Lions by in their season open or two seasons ago. I think this is an important game for my homes and company. They feel like as they try to get back on track here, 2120. Tony go. 24 20 Broncos. I don't have a score. I'm taking the chiefs. I think my homes comes out hot tonight. 17 14 Broncos. Thanks so much, my fellow football Americans. Talk to you soon. It's been a thing slice of heaven.