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But for today's purposes, from Yahoo Sports and Football 301, Nate joins us for a little preview. Good to see you. And thanks so much for being part of the show this season. Oh no, thanks for having me. I'm fired up. I agree with you. I mean, I'm excited for every football season. I think every red-blooded American male is excited for the football season. But this year, College and Pro, very wide open, very wide open, which even though we have some teams that are a little bit favorites, I think that's going to make it really, really fun to talk about throughout this year. A lot of absent flows, a lot of good storylines this year. Yeah, so the purposes of this, you know, we're not going to go through all 32 teams. But I think, you know, looking at playoff odds, and then again, some of the projection stuff that it's like win the Super Bowl or make the playoffs and then the teams can get kind of scattered. Let's just see how much we agree on or not here. It feels like the Rams, with the way they've loaded up on this defense. Maybe they're on their own. I mean, it's not really the way this league works. Do you include Baltimore in the group with Seattle and Buffalo? If you had asked me, I think they're half tier below those two, but they're the favorites in the AFC, if that makes sense. Or I have one other team I'd like to include here too in the AFC, but I actually, we just did our AFC North Preview as my last one we did on football 3-1 today. And going into it, I was a little bit, I was like, oh no, I think the Ravers are good. I really respect Jesse Mentor. And I think he's a really good game planner and play caller, which is something interesting. I like the OC they hired or at least interested in what they might do in Declan Doyle. I like the online coach for even getting their like to auxiliary parts of a team. But after doing that, all the research, all the prep, I became more bullish as the yes, I do think of them as one of the class. I don't know if I'm okay, but you just let me just jump in. I'm a qualifier. The team, I would say I have slightly above them in the AFC is the Texans because of just where I think the how elite their defense might be and where the offense improvement can be that I think that's a in this AFC, that formula could really work from the seer, but we could talk about this a little bit. Okay, so if you look at some of the stuff, if you just went, hey, it's Rams, it's Seattle, it's Buffalo, but it sounds like you don't even have Buffalo ahead of Baltimore or Houston based on, like, and has that changed in the last week? No, no, it's just that I think they have more questions, and I think Josh Allen, as long healthy, which he has been, is a walking talking top five offense. It's just all the parts around them change a little bit. I like some of the stuff that they're doing. I think we're going to try to do with the DJ Moore trade. They're going to have a great run game, the only offense alignment that they're changing is that left guard, and so they have an options there. But defensively, I actually do really like Jim Leonard, and I think that's a really nice addition. I just don't know if they have the horses yet to carry them to that. So I think they are a playoff ish team, a good one, because they have Josh Allen, they have one of the dudes, and I think the defense is going to be interesting this year, but I think they're an off-season way from getting that defense up to contender, you know, to that tier. I think that they're more playoff team than contender tier. Okay. I kind of want to go through some of these teams with a little bit more depth. Let's at least start with the Rams because as of this morning, too, like if you're a raisins fan, you're going like, "Hey, what's the question?" I think they have the second best odds to make the playoffs behind the Rams in the NFL as of this morning of this taping. I'm sure you can probably find a number somewhere else. I've seen him fourth. I've seen him second. Some people have him behind Buffalo, but it feels like whether it's the Rams, Seattle with that respect and whatever team that you want to put in there, that middle, that middle, whether it's 10 teams, whether it's 15 teams, it just seems so deep. Which again, we'll learn our lesson here with injuries if we get going. How can we thought they were good? But if we look at the Rams, look, what they did this off season to load up in the secondary and then to add Miles Garrett in a trade for a really good player, Jared Vers, the place, the piece that he already had in place with Byron Young and Kobe Turner who are fantastic. And the fact that Aaron Donald is looming here, they must have been so pissed off. They did not get off the field in the fourth quarter against Seattle. They were like, "Whatever happens this year, that will never happen again. We will get off the field and get the ball back to our offense." And that feels like, you know, with Stafford, I just, I love what this team has done to add to what is already in place. The biggest weaknesses of this defense, and actually Chris Shula, their defense coordinator obviously recognized the last name, but him actually has a play collar. It really impressed me too. Yeah, I've never met him. I know some Shula, some parts of the tree, but not him. I know his uncle a little bit, but he is, he has really risen in my head or my, like how I hold him and how I regard him as a play collar and everything because what he had to work with about two years ago with all these, this young defense, a lot of day three picks, undrafted guys. And they're doing some funky stuff that was interesting. Then last year, they were at top 10 defense most of the year, but then tapered off like you pointed at. It was the things that got him in the end and the teams that did damage this defense were teams with big receivers that can just dunk on them and run in breakers because they were trying out of manual forbs and Kobe Durant, who were playing well and really aware because the defensive scheme was so good, but they just got as my old friend Charles McDonald would say out out blue chipped. That's just what happened. They just got blue chip. The five star, you know, Pooke Nukuah is dunking on over. I'm sorry, with a, with the Cocks have that, they're dunking on them. The guys, Tetsuro, McMillan, and Jaila Coker are dunking on them. So those guys are just outsizing them. So, but we, what are we going to get? Trent McDuffy, who can play outside like a look at the matchups with those elite guys out there. They just knew, hey, we have to overhaul this entire thing. That's it. They said, okay, well, look at the NFC. All right, the other team I hold on the highest team this year, or this offseason, the Cowboys, look at their receivers. So the teams are at the elite passing attacks are explosive. The teams that we might have to face and play off are explosive, and they have big dudes. You look at the NFC North. Look at the guys that they have. They could trot out. So you just look at these teams that they might have to go against and they might have to match up against. They have a size issue. So McDuffy's not the biggest, but he plays very physical. He's one of the most aware corners too. Can play inside and outside, which is really cool, because again, Shua likes to be very versatile, run dime, run a lot of 6db stuff. And then on top of it, even if they didn't do McDuffy and they just got Watson, I'd like that's a nice upgrade. That's a good pick. He fits your defense, but then they got McDuffy. And then they did Miles Gary, you know, just to help it. You know, that was just the cherry on top. They had a good pass rush last year, and they had funky blitzes and good game plan stuff. And now they just get a guy that's an ace. So it's really it's father time and special teams are the things that I look at as the ramps, as the things that dominoes that could like go not their way. Between Turner, Young and Garrett, that's 227 pressures from that group. And then it's like, Oh, hey, Aaron Donald's also going to play. And like the worst version of him probably still double team half the snaps are out there, although I don't know. Could they have? I can't believe it. They have a whole bunch of guys that they they're five deep. By our new young, I'm glad you brought him up. He's like an underrated player, like he's a good player. He shows up every time every time you watch them, you're like, Oh, he's in again, you know, but it's just go ahead. Oh, no, no, no, no, I was totally agree with you. Yeah, run pass all that stuff. Droughts in the coverage forum. No, it's it's the their biggest weakness is linebacker, which is actually a lot of teams because a lot, a lot of teams value that and that's kind of the
they've done it before. It's part of their ethos. So, but they know how ways to mitigate that. We'll just get into dime and we have a bunch of guys that can play in the slot. A bunch of guys that are good blitzers. They have three safeties that they can trot out there. So it's funky looks and it's got now they got the person out to put it over the top and that's that yeah, that's a contender defense. It's really funny that you said that about the linebackers because I went through and I'm looking at everybody's grades and I'm looking at all the unit rankings for every single position in the entire time and then you're just going like, how many linebackers do I actually like? Like, there's all these contenders, although there's some offensive line questions that we're going to get to with some of these contenders too. There's like a pocket of like, God, those are kind of bad offensive lines, which again, we have more time on, but you're just going through the linebacker rankings and you go through every unit to be like top seven, top six, top four, and then it's like linebackers 24th. You go, well, who cares? And it's a bit like the first baseman and baseball where it's like, hey, the first baseman's still an athlete. You're like, yes, but by rule, out of the four infield positions, one infield position has to be the least athletic. Okay. And it's not shortstop. It's not second. And it's definitely not third. It's you, man. It's your first base. No one's shitting on you. And I like, this is a rant based on like this first baseman was going, oh, everybody thinks we stay like no one's saying all of you can't move. But guess what? Right. No first baseman. Go to third base unless it's like a free agent signing. It's like, hey, I got old. Let me go play shortstop. Yes. Technically, you come up with somebody who went from first to third based on needs, but you get the point. All right. That baseball hybrid rant over. I loved it. Let's let's rip it in Seattle because when you're looking at like all three levels, and then you want to talk about a linebacker group here at Seattle D line linebacker secondary, I think really only Houston could probably compare. Maybe you could throw Baltimore in there. But again, as we trust us Ravens fans, we have more on them. It's probably like a D line carousel of names for the Ravens there and what they're going to try to piece here together. But this Seattle defense, this unit, we still don't know. Great year from Darnold. The receivers terrific. The offensive lines probably average, but this unit defensively is just so nasty and even losing Maffe. It just doesn't seem like they're going to miss a beat here at all. Yeah. Recall in Maffe, that's it, but they have contingency plans. They have really, it is DB depth, which is champagne problems when defensive back depth is your issue, not a starter. And even though what I would usually say because Ernest Jones is really important to this defense, he's not like an ace. He's not an all star. But him and actually the Texans defense, which you just brought up to, it's like as he's outshare. If these guys were not on the field, it's like you're a little scared. It's there they kind of just they're the rug that ties the room together. And with Jones, what makes me feel a little bit better with this defense, they played a lot of dime. Another team that played a lot of dime played a lot of nickel. Everyone talked about, he man worry's been a little banged up. But that's why you sign Devin with a spoon, just like McDuffy. He can play in the slot. He can play in the outside. He's a dynamo either way. But they have other guys that maybe some of you feel a little bit better. They had their second round pick, but Clark got hurt. But I'm bringing this up with the linebackers is two of their linebackers in the preseason. I've played really well. Also speaks to the coaching Mike McDonald that like these guys that have never really put it together. Chas Sarat and another guy Chris Paul. But he goes by a different name. Poo Paul. He goes by poo. But both of these guys. Well, that's smart. That's just different. Yeah. Well, it's phenomenal. And again, why I'm bringing that up is if you have depth at linebacker, it makes me feel a little better at what was the weakness, but it might change the personnel that they might play like they might lean into something different a little bit this year. But again, I'm not talking about stuff that's crippling. I'm talking about interesting pivots, things that might be just like a little bit okay, rather than the best defense, the third best defense, you know, something of that sort. But upfront, that's the strength. That's the misconception of all those two high defenses. Everyone's focused on the DBs. I just started with the DBs. But it starts up front. You can play light boxes. If you have a bunch ahead, you know, head bashers up front and they do. They have every type you want. They have a bendy guy. They have the Marcus Lawrence, Leonard Williams, Byron Murphy. All these guys are a different archetype. And it's really cool how they just Mike McDonald just implements them and uses them. So yeah, awesome defense. That's other bill. And then offense is built on explosives. And that's if I had a question with this team, it's how more efficient they can be. They've been very explosive. But I actually came away from my preview series coming with feeling a little bit better about their offense than I thought going in. auxiliary parts that they've had or kind of maybe second year guys that they have a full year of Rashichi. They're very high engineering prints. Price, I'm sorry, their first round pick, even with the Charbonne injury and everything. And that's it's a run. It's a zone run scheme. It's a Shanahan scheme. So it's going to lift up the whole line and make the runner back look good. And if the runner backs pretty good, get a nice little boost there as well. So again, old line center and right guard is probably the weakness. It was their weakness last year. And it didn't really matter in the end. So that's how I look at this team and just maybe a little defensive death. But it's they're up there. They're the number two team to me or one B. It's how I really look at them. Yeah, you could argue too with the personnel, maybe other than the right guard on the offensive line. Maybe it just gets a little bit better. And I'm with you, Walker is such an unsung hero of that 25 run, some toughness, some balance. He's desirable in the market. But to spend a first round around price, who we would know way more about if he wasn't playing behind maybe the best player in college football last year. So I hate when it feels like a desperate need thing. I definitely hate when it's like first round running back thing where teams will draft and go, you can just see it every year where you're like, you desperately needed somebody at this position. I don't know that I'd want it. I probably just always want to draft an extra offensive line or a corner, if I just sit there going numbers at it. Yeah. Yeah. That's how you build it or another pass roster. Just screw it. Throw another one in there. Yeah. But he, no, they're they're high on them. The reports are good on them. They, I liked him coming out. I wouldn't say I loved him. I thought, you know, I had him like in the 40s on my big board. Yada Yada this draft class was just so after pick 20. It was just like, whatever you want. Yes, sure. You know, candy for dinner. You know, whatever you want. But yeah, that's kind of how that felt. But they, we just talked about the line. Kind of, you know, I agree. The right guard is the weakness. The gray is able though. The left guard is like a star. And that's what I mean. Like there's a there's a version of this. We're actually gets better than better. What would you say? It's like above average unit last year. And they went as simple. Yep. Above average and help by scheme. You know, I would take this online over the 49ers online. I would take him over, you know, a good deal of offense aligns. It's not the sexiest one. It's not top 10. But Charles, Charles Crosse is a good left tackle. Gray's able is a good left guard and Abe Luke is a good right tackle. Now a lot of teams have that. And again, like I said, the scheme helps. Yeah. I mean, if we're running, it looks Seattle's in the group with with L.A. You know, I wouldn't put him in the Jacksonville group. I wouldn't put him necessarily maybe in the Houston group. Maybe you would put him in the Houston group. We'll get to all these teams here. But I think let's do more on Baltimore here because this is another one of those teams. And I'd say there's about a handful and some of them that I just mentioned were offensive line. You go, okay, probably not a strength receiving group. You know, Andrews, I expect to be fine. You could argue there's a dip there. I like Zay people can make fun of the contract. I'd rather get in front of it where the market is reset at the end a little bit later on. Yeah. So I'm not going to get mad at a team for overpaying early as opposed to then having to fix it later when the cap goes up. It's as much as it does every single year. It's clear that it feels like they want to try to reinvent themselves with like the Mike McDonald thing where it's like how close can we get back to the guy that then went somewhere else and won a Super Bowl. Well, let's bring in Jesse Minner, who coach with McDonald from 17 to 20. Let's go back to that defensive stuff. All of our guys will like it. Look, there is a version of this where it all comes together. But whether it's all the D line names that I kind of like, but you're like, what's the rotation going to be out of these eight or nine dudes? And it's also where they spent a top traffic on Zion. I think there's a lot of rounding up. Again, this is talking about the Ravens in the odds. I couldn't believe it's second best odds to make the playoffs behind the Rams. And so if you're telling me the Ravens can win the Super Bowl, I think you're talking best case scenario on four or five issues that other teams don't have. Right. I really like the Ravens, but I didn't consider them. I can believe even till we talked out how high they were, how I started doing the research and saw how they stacked up the defense. I'll start with the defense because like Minner has earned my respect from Michigan and then to the last two years with the chargers that that national title run with Michigan was like child's play, like what he was doing to opposing college offenses, like just what he was scheming up, how good he made everybody look. And then he goes to the chargers. And this is something when I was doing a chargers preview before I got to the Ravens preview. I, you know, looking at Crystal Leary, the new defense coordinator for the chargers, doing research on him. And I kind of was like, I don't know how to weigh this, how much Minter was helping this defensive personnel or how good the defensive personnel is for the chargers. Like that's what I was trying to weigh. That's how good Minter is that I haven't even questioning like how good are these guys or is it just how good the scheme was like one that was biggest weaknesses. This is like how well versed the DBS and the linebackers were for the chargers. The weakness of the chargers defense the last two years was scrambles because DBS were so looking at routes and the route concepts and the combos and their zone coverages, no one was looking at the quarterback. So that, but that's how well in tune and locked in their DBS and everything where. So no one looked at the quarterback. It's kind of like a weird byproduct of being too tuned in. Why and bring that all up Ravens have much better personnel. They have a great, they have a really interesting DB room. Nate Wiggins is coming back from his injury now. But I mean, Hamilton, Starks are great fits for this defense. You got several guys that can blitz. And I think Minter's going to blitz a little bit more than he did with the chargers. He's big on those creepers simulated pressures, which are you only bring four, but drop seven, but you're kind of making them look like a blitz. And then get him out of BK back is huge. Because two games last year, thought he might be done for his career. Don't done.
he was retiring. I heard after I thought he was done done. I was like, okay, you're never considering to do again. So him back, but even just the Hendrixson thing, Trey Hendrixson bringing them in. The weakness of that Ravens defense the last few years is they couldn't really create pressure. Last year, the 27th, the pressure rate, the 24th and knock down rate, which is hits and sacks. And yeah, you can manufacture some, but once it gets into the playoffs, which I'll talk about a couple other teams, that's the great equalizer as a pass rush. Hendrixson is bad against the run. I'll write bad, but we have a bunch of guys that are good against the run. So just go, baby, like pin your ears back and go. That has me feeling a little bit better about where they're sitting as opposed to maybe I was maybe a couple months ago. Like they're, they're the math of them. The variables are kind of coming together for me. Defense. I'm worried about the old line. They switch out both cards, including a first round draft. Okay. So maybe that's better. I'm worried about the depth after Zay. I imagine Andrews is still fine, even if you're arguing with declining because the numbers tell you that he is. I'm worried about Lamar without the rushing element being this holy shit, what are we going to do? And that was a massive drop off. Maybe that's fine. I'm also worried about I think the D line gets figured out because of the possibilities that they have. I think it linebacker, Rokwan Smith's been to be much happier playing in the system. I'd also say that Marlon Humphrey, like some of the numbers now scare the shit out of me. He's the only corner they gave up over 900 yards of production. Wiggins gets targeted almost as much as Riley Moss, where I don't know if Riley Moss gets targeted because of Sir Tan or because he's white, but like, let's face it, I mean, tough combo right there. If you're a corner play, he's not a linebacker. It started as because he's white dead serious. Riley Moss is good. He's legit way good. You know, one of those on the other side of it. Wait, you think those are the two best corners in the NFL? That's the best corner pairing. Them and Texans, Texans are real good too. Yeah, no, those two. Yeah, I would say those are top two. I mean, it's still in the mix. Who's that? Who'd you say, Philly? Philly's weird because the jeans are just a slot. So it's, you know, I know I'm not counting him. I'm talking about. I'm going to leave one. Yeah. And then, no, because I would have Moss. Yeah, Sir Tan is better than Quinion. I love Quinion. I think it's all pro last year. And then so Tan is once you really get attention to it. Yeah. And I know that, like, technically, he graded behind maybe one or two guys. I don't know how you grade him. Yeah, he's the best corners ever seen. I made the mistake of thinking like some other guys right at his level. We were doing our top five stuff with him. And then this year, I just went and you could again say this year actually wasn't as good as the year previous. It's fucking stupid how he tracks like the route and looks like he's not even in on it. Deon type shit. It is. And he, yeah, yeah, Deon type shit is the how he accelerates. Like he'll kind of bait stuff baits you in. Yeah, he baits you in on crossing routes. He baits guys on CUB's on crossing routes all the time. No, Andy tackles. I know that's, I know that sounds like old gritty coach. No, he's physical, tackler. No, he was an unbelievable prospect. But it's like he's exactly what you expect when he looks like the prototype. He was coached by Nick Sabin and his dad was a pro bow corner. It's like, oh, that's exactly what you should look like. That's how he plays. But no, Sir Tan is one of the best not quarterbacks in the league and one of the best corners I've ever seen. But Moss, Moss, I think was literally the most targeted corner in the NFL last year. I have the number as the most targeted. And then I saw number somewhere else that there was like one of three that were targeted over a hundred times. When you watch Denver, you can't believe he wasn't targeted two hundred times. And he's the guy. He's like a, I know there's highlights against where he's getting dunked on or he has a penalty or anything. But it's like a guy getting dunked on a basketball. It's like, yeah, I know he got dunked on. But he also blocked three. Like that's the issue is that he gets targeted so much. Everyone remembers some of the low lights. It's like, no, there's a lot of good there. He just gets targeted a lot. No, yeah, we got to talk about that. But even just talking about these guys, you know, talking about you, which is the Ravens, go back to Ravens offense real quick. Who's playing center is a big question. The right guard, big eye on a they drafted from Penn State. I liked little struggles and preseason. I noticed. But that's fine. These are Ricky right guard. I did like the Simpson edition. And then yeah, they're relying a lot on rookie receivers to stand out or a rookie tight end as well. That's a big variable. And while Jacobi Lane like tore it up for a couple of weeks and preseason, he's kind of come back to earth a little bit. And Elijah Sharot's kind of been up and down. I like Sharot is like a what I call a power slot kind of like an oversized slot guy that can block and kind of do some tight end stuff. So I want to see with that. But if Lane is decent, that's a archetype Lamar's never really worked with the kind of ball when they they tried like old man DeAndre Hopkins, but like a ball winner. So that's kind of like one of those things where I'm like kind of that could be interesting. But it's a big question mark. Yeah. Third and fourth round pick that have to play in a passing offense that last year was 27th passing years per game and a defense that was in the middle of the pack last seed. So a lot has to be fixed here for me to look at them as the second best odds. And look, it's it's not just because they have an easier schedule and gets 9th or 10th, depending on what you want to look at there. I'm a little surprised in some of those numbers. Not to say they can't go in a run and put it together. Lamar's back at MVP level. Let's pivot. Oh, sorry. The last on that I just want to throw us in there is the Lamar running. I'm quick with my transitions. I'm sorry. It's the radio guy and I just go long. And I've all only done podcasts for with unlimited time. So I'm sorry. No, but it's I know. But with Lamar is yeah, he last year, he only ran it on design runs twice a game. And when it was 2019, it was seven and a half a game. And the yardage went down from the yards a game to 26 last year. And they know that if this is next version of Lamar, it's they're going to be under center more. And he's pretty good under center. He's done. He can do some play action stuff off it. He throws dig routes like really well, all those in Declan Doyle and Ben Johnson had a Eek those middle over the middle throws from Caleb Williams. Since 2013, Lamar's thrown over the middle of the fifth highest rate among all quarterbacks that played. So it's not something they have to eat out. So there is some like stuff that works that yeah, we're going to go under center. We're not going to use Lamar's legs as much. And I actually think Lamar has some positives there. But it's the math. The run game has to pick back up because we're going to lose that element of the game. And that's the thing that dropped off more than anything last year. That was the worst run game Lamar has had as far as running back runs was last year. They're like, I use success rate. They're at 35% last year. 2019 was 46% 2024 is 45% that's just running back runs. That's not Lamar runs. So that's really what has to pick back up for me to feel real good about this offense. 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YouTube TV required terms, restrictions and embargoes apply. Device and content restrictions apply to multi view. Commercial yukes excluded, no refunds. If you ask me New England, Denver, who do you want? More wins goes further than the playoffs. I don't even have to think about it. I like Denver's roster so much better than New England's. May, NYX is the only, I don't think it's a conversation because I like more than NYX. It's funny. McShay and I were talking about NYX going. It's really hard to unsee the Auburn stuff and it's something I have to get over. We have to get over that because it's pretty clear of Will Stein puts together that season that he does with him in Oregon and then Sean Payton's like, this is the guy that I want and will be fine. If they have NYX, you know, who knows elements, playoffs, all that kind of stuff. They probably win that game against New England. It certainly would be a lot better chance with NYX and some of the stuff that he did coming back and not it being here. It's the them and they were still in this game. Maybe it's the weather and game planning here. But when I compare units here, I don't even think it's close between New England and Denver. Overall, no. It's death. No. I think the, I'm very bullish on the Patriots offense. I will say that. But I think the Broncos offense was not, it wasn't a great last year, but it was still average. And they did the, they added the one two pieces. I'll go to here with two pieces that they desperately needed, which was speed at receiver. I got a legit guy to take top off, come down with the ball down the field and create YACC because that in Waddle, right? Yep. In Waddle. Because Bownex can be a little bit, he's kind of can be, I'll talk more about Bownex. He led the league in past attempts for a reason. They use a lot of RPOs on second down. They use a lot of underneath stuff. They're basically extended screens. So let's get a guy that can add some juice to those outside of Marvin Mims. So I actually like that. And also the fit in the receiver room is great because they already have a bunch of horses like they already have Sutton. I like this guy Patrick Bryant that they have. He's a second year guy. He can be what I call those power slot guys, but he works, he can work perfect with Waddle. They look huge when the receivers line up against the Pochons every week. Go ahead. He's always going to have monsters every saver. That's what he goes for. It's something after my own heart. But he said he got it from Mike Shanahan when he was like watching the old Broncos teams. And he was just like, I want that. And I was like, I like that too. Yeah. But the other guy is Jonah Coleman, the fourth round run back from Washington. J K Dobbins is a nice solid player, but you can't rely on J K Dobbins to be healthy. They drafted RJ Harvey last year. Harvey ran like an X quarter back. And that what I mean.
is like some division was lacking, bounced a lot of runs, he's fine, but he's an auxiliary piece. He's not a guy you want with games that you need 15 hard runs. He's not that guy. If they have an old line built that way, and they have a scheme built that way, and Coleman fits that scheme, and he can play on passing down as well, and the coaches won't shut up about them, which is always like, all right, like Champagne's like, this guy's a pro. Davis Webb does. He's like, this guy's a pro. We love him. We only need to see two plays in the preseason. We were good. So yeah, I'm with you. I don't think this is a elite offense, but it's an offense that is actually think of big improvement on last year. And I had some qualms the last year's offense. So even a bonus plays exactly the same. The pieces around them got that much better that I feel much better about it. Yeah, and this is all built around the best offensive line in the NFL. All the guys are coming back. The tackles are awesome. The defensive line is awesome. There's pressure numbers all over the place. Like they win. Whenever you look at that stuff on ESPN, and I love that, like pass block win rate, run block win rate, pass rush, run stop win rate, it's just like Denver across the board. And if you have that right, bonics doesn't have to be patchable homes. Although, I'll give it to next like as much as I was just kind of like, I don't know, this feels like a guy you're going to be replacing. Maybe Peyton's like a quarterback slut. He just likes all of them, because he's like, I can make it work with every single one of these guys. He is. Yeah, some stats that work. I know he's it's always last call last call at the bar for for Sean Peyton with a quarterbacks. He's like, yeah, good enough. That's that's kind of what he does with quarterbacks. I can take it back first. Yeah. So all right. So if we're if we're looking at New England here, it's just hard to get past like there, there's a parallel here. I think between Chicago and New England, where I think both teams could be better. Both quarterbacks can be better. And they're not going to have as good of a record. And they're not going to have. Look, the Bears win one playoff game. The other game was a lot of fun. You know, we're going to get to Chicago here. Don't worry. But at the end of the year, it may feel like you're worse and you actually may be better. And that's kind of how I look at the paths. Let's start there. That's exactly how I look at both those teams. Yeah. And the Patriots. I I think they've done a great job. But they did this offseason with the offense, whether it's O line, AJ Brown, even if they just did Romeo dobs, I would have been happy with the improvement. But then they got AJ Brown, a motivated AJ Brown. I think that's very apparent and needed. I also think, you know, I like to kill low move pick, because yeah, everyone's probably the will Campbell stuff. But I actually think that gives them nice depth that it was he does have to improve his print improve his play strength. I liked him, but he does have to improve that. But say a guard gets hurt like very Tucker, then you can bump Will Campbell because he gets hurt all the time. He always gets hurt. But now they have contingency plans and that's right. That's those are stuff that kneecaps teams. That's the O line depth or O line injuries. As we all know, that can just totally take you out of this season. So if you just have auxiliary plans, that's just those kind of like tie breakers for me. But I look at the defense and I I'm fine with the defense. I like it. There's parts I really like. I really like no Williams. I like the corners. I like Craig Woodson, one of their safeties. They have no depth on defense. They are like an injury way or two injuries away to be like bottom 10, which is what happened to them for a stretch last year before all the guys got healthy at the end of the year. So that is they got a healthy season from Carlton Davis, which has never happened before. Christian Zalas had missed a couple games as well. And he's also been the guy that's had some injury stuff as well. He has contract stuff that I'll get figured out. But I do think that that is what kind of I think they are better because I think the offense has a chance to be very, very, very good. I'm a huge believer in Drake May, but I also like the ecosystem they put around them. But that defense, I just can't, it's hindering me a little bit. And schematically, they don't do something down like, oh, they do some funky stuff that's going to have it's a very kind of missionary position defense. Yeah, look, we all like the secondary, but this team was fourth and points a lot in the end of the last season. And that's because of the schedule. It's not because of the personnel. So I like the interior of the D line. There's a linebacker here or there. They bring in Byrd to go along with Woodson, who I thought was really good last season. But it just feels like it's going to be impossible to match what was ahead of schedule 25 is completely ahead of schedule. So if we, if we look at the positive here, like may having a higher ceiling of options to throw to with AJ and Dops coming over, what do you make of the Will Campbell thing? And you know, the guard that we're talking about here is Vera Tucker, who apparently grades out as like one of the best guards in the NFL, but over two seasons, he played seven games. He did play 15 games. What was it in 24? So he's, yeah. So they already knew the whole reason the guy was available as a former first round pick is that he's hurt all the time. So they're like, okay, boom, we're going to go ahead and do this. They're going to slide Wilson back to center here is the Will Campbell thing. Like it kind of turned into a bit of an NBA playoff thing for a starboard. It's like, well, Drake was hurt and Super Bowl and Will Campbell was hurt towards the end of this. What did you see from Will Campbell at left tackle where, you know, it was kind of a need pick. It's like, hey, who's left tackle is available. We'll do this. It's not ideal. And it's a guy who loves LSU games. Like I get the pedigree of him, but I don't know that I felt like he was kicking everybody's ass all the time. The way a top 10 left tackle would when these guys usually picked. So then they closed the season and you're going, is this guy going to get kicked inside or is he going to play right tackle? So if somebody then understands it far better than I do, what do you make of like Campbell and the way they've tried to maybe brace for some sort of changes here with other personal decisions? Well, the lumbar pick indicated a lot to me. Exactly. That's that's all you know, it teams tell you a lot contracts tell you a lot and that's told me everything I need to know. This year's plan is Campbell attack. You know, and then and we'll see and then but I also think that's that whole contingency plan with the offensive line. That's in the back of their mind too. And that can maybe force the experiment or force like, hey, Lone was actually a little better. And the hey, well, thanks. Hey, you're a great team guy captain. Yep, you're a guard now, you know, we're going on the Joe Tuni plan or something of that sort. Right. I'm with you. I end up having Membu last year, who the Dretcher after it as my tackle one or alignment one. I did have Campbell as a top 10 guy because I I called him a best five and Abler that no matter what you can get your best five offense alignment out there. And that's the appeal of Will Campbell. Whether it that's just good play or a proble play will figure out. I will say before he got hurt, he was solid. Great and a run game. And I'll say past protection was exactly what you expect. The kind of east is got him. And then I would say if he was kind of the same standing as the edge against him, he was good. The scheme helps a little bit as well. They put him on the island a little bit. But I do think that the over the playoff thing is just one of those where it's like, you know, it's someone's at meme or the at this point. So I do think that they've given themselves a plant. I do like the Jared Wilson move back to center because I was scared that they were just going to go, oh, Garrett Bradbury was fine and off. We're good because Bradbury was a below average center. But that I'm glad that was kind of some nice self scouting reflection going like because they easily could just go, no, just keep everybody we're good. But the fact that they're like, no, no, we got boosted a little bit more was actually kind of like encouraging to me. I think from like a team building standpoint. But that's better maybe for 2027 than 2026. Question. If you believe in the chargers, is it a rule you also have to believe in the Jags? Just because concerns. Well, we could do that. I mean, we'll add the list of of offense. Well, the charges at least have the personnel there, where Slater and all are good to go. Yeah. Then, okay, this is actually going to be an awesome offensive line. And Slater miss is basically all season alt miss half of it. And then you see what you see in the playoffs against the paths where it's like Herbert just in a mode where he's like, I don't and people can shit on him. And that's fine. But I see a quarterback that goes, I have no chance back here. All right. I think it's just because I don't know which group it is. Can you like Lawrence and Herbert? Do you have to like one or the other? You supposed to think both suck because I think there's a lot of like social. This is like the NBA's version of a conversation around Herbert and around Trevor Lawrence because there's an argument made with Jacksonville and some of the defensive personnel and the way Lawrence closed the season out that you're like, hey, this may actually like play out over the course of season. He's a really nice quarterback, maybe not top 10, maybe he's 10 to 15. That's good enough with some of the other personnel there. I am more dismissive though as I'm saying of Jacksonville than I am the chargers. And I honestly don't know why, but it's just how I feel about it. I, I, I, I joke that our pot football three of one is the national Jaguars podcast. Whether it's because you guys are early on it last year. It was just in whether it was because like, you know, my dad coach there for a couple of years. Well, I don't know what it is, but they drafted Trevor and I was maybe the one person that watched Urban Myers one year and all 22. It was really bad. But I watched that. I was just like, all right, how's Trevor doing? It was just, you know, it wasn't great. But I was like, hey, he's not taking sacks. That's interesting. Okay. But no, I don't, no, I want to be very bullish on them. So it's everything. It's a heart versus head. Like my head is just going, no, no, no, no, no, they don't have the old line that you love. Like they don't have those kind of ass kicker. Like Anton Harrison's pretty good. They're moving him to the left tackle. PFF ranked their offensive line unit 30th. And I know people get like into this whole argument about PFF. But like, look, if they're putting a 30 next year, something's not right. Right. You can say about the middle. It's my top five, really matters more than anything in bottom five than the muck in the middle. And that's, that's my concern, though, is that Liam Cohns earned a lot of respect for me because he's shown that he committed it. But that's regular season. Playoffs is so different. And the playoffs is just like, it's just like the NBA. We're just like in baseball too. Like these things just, the, the things that are important just change a little bit. Some are the same explosives, all that. But a pass rush is just the great
equalizer in the playoffs. And what do you stop? How do you stop a good pass rush of scheme and offensive line talent? And scheme can only go so far. So that's why I just always look at that is like, okay, that can kneecap you. And it's like, do you feel better about the Texans online or the Jags online? Because that's what I go back and forth on. And that's, I mean, even asking you as you looked at it, like, which ones would you even prefer? I mean, for me, that's what that's what was hanging me up is that that the fact that's even a question is the issue with the jacks because we make so many jokes about the Texans online. And then also, I know they got all these new names and then with the Jags, it's like, Oh, okay, like, all right, this is supposed to be better. And last year they're off into line or the run game fell off that passing game picked up. They traded for Jacobi Myers and Jacobi just calmed everyone down. I've made this joke before. Some players just need a teammate that kind of chills them out. And then for I call C biscuit, the horse needed pumpkin, like the little fat horse next to him to kind of show them out. And like Brian Thomas Jr. needed his pumpkin, which apparently was Jacobi Myers. And he kind of just chilled everyone out. They had Parker Washington. So the passing game became a top five passing game in the run game became a bottom five run game. And now I'm like, does the run game pick up? And that's the question I'm trying to answer. Having said that, I do pick them having them double digit wins. Like, I actually am pretty bullish on them after just laying that all out that I'm not bullish on the old line overall. Well, the Houston Jacksonville conversation with the offensive lines is a good one here because if you also look at like yards per carry, what's the other issue? Neither of these teams get any consistent going on the ground. Jacksonville's 27th yard per carry. Houston's 29th. I think the argument to say, Hey, and this is a massive assumption. I'm not even saying I'm right. But if I look at the left tackle for Houston last year's rookie, go like, Hey, there's something there. And then they add another first round pick from Georgia Techett Center. You're like, OK, maybe because I haven't seen enough of it be bad. Then I'm assuming that it's going to be better where Jacksonville, you look at the interior of the line and you just go, what are we doing? Like, is it going to be, is it going to be like that again? And I've told people this and I'm making the other announcement, like, I'm just becoming an offensive line guy because they're never available in free agency as you and I have talked about. If you're not drafting these guys is so boring to take a guard 14th. I don't blame anybody for doing it anymore because you can't buy them. And if you can't figure out a way to stop these freaks in these front sevens and these hybrid safeties that are linebackers that think and play like linebackers, but are fast and weigh 225 and all this pressure combinations where it's all over the place. Like everybody talks about that pre snap read and finding identifying where all that stuff's coming from. And if you don't have smart athletic guys and like almost like a starting pitching rotation for baseball, hey, we need like back in the day, maybe not so much now, but we need six seven starters. We need two guys in triple A like because we know a couple of these guys are going down. It's very hard for me to look at the handful of these teams that we all like and go, hey, could they win a Super Bowl? And collectively those five guys up front feel like there's some of the six or seven worst units in the league with these teams that we're talking about. And that's the thing in it's defenses are just so good now. Now he just always say it's town scheme, town scheme. There's everybody can rush the pastor now. You get maybe one Seattle big guy, small guy, bendy guy, bully guy, all like there's a million they get one linebacker there for them with Seattle who plays like 300 snaps and has like the best pressure rate of all of the snaps. All these guys and it's team after team Texans are 60, you know, all the contenders have that and the offensive line. Yeah, it's like being able to block these guys is matters. And it's not like you I'm glad you were up to just the mental aspect because he used to be able to you can like hide a center and we'll just scheme it up now center. You need talent because these guys and you need guys that are mentally astute because the games that these defenses play the schemes that they run the pick plays the twists the late rotation. They the center is just as important as the quarterback with that. And it's become the centers just become as important as the left tackle to me and interior guys when you see guards can paid some of that is because there's talented guards can paid but also because look how good the defensive tackles are right now. And all these guys have like I was it. So the Steve Spags giants that they've made the run they upset the Patriots the NASCAR package. It's crazy. They got four defense events. Every team has that now. Everybody has guys that they can just trot out one after another in to further your baseball analogies to me. It's like the past rushes like everybody has relief pictures that can throw 102. It's like all right here comes another guy that's got junk here comes the lefty that's got junk like right when you cover anybody like you're playing 30 snaps. You're coming in on these packages. You're going to be fresh all season long and just go and it sucks because it's like that quick and you know on this point too a little bit and I promise not it's not going to be just an offensive line podcast this year. But I am so spoiled from watching Brady throughout his entire career that I started to kind of like whatever like throw a couple of big guys from Iowa out there you'll figure out although having big guys from Iowa up front probably is a great strategy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But the greatness of Brady of all the things that you want to talk about with him when they'd have those stretches where the offensive line was completely fucked up which didn't happen very often underneath Skaernekia and used to be in Hall of Fame. Uh Brady we go. Oh, okay. Like we can block anybody this afternoon. I'll fix it. I'll fix it with the routes. I'll fix it with all of our hot like hey Edelman we're going to do this and hey we're going to do and get all the tight ends together and they just be in sync and they he would fix a blocking problem in a couple series and the offensive line would be getting its ass kicked and it wouldn't matter because he wasn't going to let it disrupt and they'd still end up winning the game and so watching that as much as I was I think I'd look and say there's a guy's be like how come you guys can't like it's not what Herbert does. Alright Herbert doesn't go halfway through the game. Oh shit no one can block. Let me figure out all of these adjustments that we're going to make like there's just not many quarterbacks that are capable of carrying or covering I should say for that front five when it's just an awful Sunday. And that's the thing too is that well also the Patriots too is like when they they were ahead the game on some stuff like when they kind of got lesser in the old line like in 2010s they got heavy so they won a whole bunch of tight end looks they went fullbacks on the field they kind of you know they went to the the spread looks with Walker and all that and Edelman and stuff like that and then and then they just kind of got tighter again because if you want to help out your old line you get tighter you don't want them in islands like spreading it out puts your old line on islands and you know the philosophy of like Mike Leach of what it was was get the ball quickly but then defenses just alright they tighten down on that so you need to block at some point yeah back back to like the lack of even developmental depth coming through colleges like everybody loves the influence of it going up college to the NFL and spreading it out and throwing the ball a little bit more but if you're sitting there and you never actually have to win in a past block rep because the balls out and half a fucking second like how are you ever developing any skills to figure out what you're doing there so that's another problem at the league and look you smart guys have been talking about this far beyond just us going like hey where are they where are the dudes and that's why you have three guards like I just can't imagine being like an NFL fan and going to the live draft you're like from West Virginia left guard and you're just like damn it no well also it's tied to this white we see more zone coverage now and what zone makes you do is hold on to the ball longer so it's we're supposed worlds for quarterbacks so now you got the pressure getting there quicker and then the zone makes you hold on to the ball longer and now that's what you know I know we talked about some trend stuff that's what defenses are daring quarterbacks to do is right now they're should throwing the ball shorter than they ever have and they're tackling better than they ever have like yak is the lowest it's ever been per reception I think quarterbacks this year will push the ball again and I think that's where because that's what they're daring to do you want to do with the defense is daring you to do which is if you want to play cover two you want to play all those quarters all this stuff with deep safeties rotating safeties hit them over the top like don't attack underneath their eyes are down down low they want to tackle a rally that's what the sea ox do so wonderfully so that's it's all tied together with that and that's where I that's where the whole under center play action conversations coming from it's like that's the way the offenses are like all right we don't have the whole lines what's wotted up and that way we can attack 20 yards down to feel 30 yards down to feel and kind of loosen up these defenses okay so as much as we love Houston defensive personnel which is in all three level defense again which is pretty rare here what do we make a stride because the last time we saw it it was ugly and it even felt like hey what happened rookie to sophomore year and then you go okay we can blame the offensive line we can blame a receiver going down what blame they can't run the football I can't I cannot avenge in a scenario where CJ Stroud's rookie year was just a fluke and now he's going to be a guy they're thinking about replacing I can't get there yet I can't either I I still I have I still consider my what I call top half the week starter so 16th or better I still hold them in that kind of tier I think yeah it means you get assigned to a big deal yeah oh yeah I think they sure should have I actually think that was a I once they know they know something about them but I don't think there's anything wrong with CJ Stroud but that's something one of those things where they wanted to get ahead of the market don't you want to get ahead of the market oh that's just me but I do think that Stroud got into hero mode a little bit he was pressing some of that is circumstantial and to me is that I got asked if that's scar tissue or now because that's always the thing you don't want corebacks develop scar tissue you don't want any young athlete develop scar tissue I consider an open wound that's that's how I said I don't know if it's scar tissue yet and why I'm bringing that up is that the run game is sucked around him like outright was has awful hair right tarot doesn't matter doesn't matter the year you look at since 2023 since he's earned the league they're 31st in rushing success rate on running back runs 31st in EPA these are my nerd stats 28th and stuff rate stuffs are TFLs or gains of zero yards so you're not doing anything he's average this is what just was strut on the field he's average 30th and average average distance to go on third down so he's had a lot of third and longs they have one of the highest penalty rates on offense. So when that was Larry McTonson.
on his false starts, but just, they can't block anybody. And to top it off, they won the worst blocking running back groups, like in the league for a couple of years. Our offensive line wasn't bad enough. We're also not going to be able to access. Yeah. It's just the capper on it. So, and it's their native game. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And guess what? Oh, yeah. Now we're playing Brian Flores. Woo. Like, this is great. Um, so that, that, so it's been in a lot of circumstances where he's had to be aggressive and push the ball and build it all back up and hit his one biggest knock. I would say for me is when he does take a sack, he loses a lot of yards on the sack like because he is not a guy that's looking to scramble. He's a classic pocket passer. That's very aggressive. So I, it's one of these, I much rather have the wild horse and hone them in. Then ask a guy to push the ball. Like, can you try this window? Strauss going to do that. So it's really more about the surroundings around him, which means, yeah, he's not a weak guy, but he's a guy you extend because this is a guy you can win a Super Bowl with. So the too long they don't read. If you want to know, it's like, yeah, you go in a Super Bowl with this guy. And I think you have some positive performances too. Raising Keynes is turning 30 this month to celebrate the milestone. Keynes is hosting a 30th birthday pop up museum in Baton Rouge, located directly behind the original restaurant, the mothership. Todd Gray's will be unveiling the museum on August 25th. And in honor of 30 years of Keynes, the brand is also launching a commemorative 90s plush puppy available beginning August 26th featuring Kane in her 90s best net proceeds benefit pet welfare organizations. First time Baton Rouge 2008 overtime game never like unbelievable. Go like going to Disney World as a kid, even though I never did. So this made up for it. And then throughout it all, they're like, oh, we got to go to Keynes. I'm like, for what? Like, what are we doing? Isn't there gumbo or something? Like, nah, nah, we're going to mix it up here. This guy Todd Gray's, he decided that he was going to make chicken fingers. It was going to spread the love through chicken. And I walked in and my life changed. I just had it the other day. We filmed it out over here. It is so good. Cainiac extra sauce, no slaw, extra finger here or there. Raising canes, chicken fingers, one love has Kansas City fixed this offensive line. Yeah, pending what's what's going on with Simmons. I never know with him. The left tackle, Josh Simmons. But yes, if he is healthy and what it, because he looked like an all pro, future all pro last year when he was on the field. If he is what I think he is, that's an offensive line. I could saw I could say like top eight, maybe him better. And on top of it, they found some depth this off season, unexpected depth, undrafted free agent. God, what was his name? Khalil Benson. And that, that's interesting to me, because he's been like kind of right guard, right tackle. He's a guy that was at Indiana and Colorado. But he looked really good this preseason that I like that interest me as well. Just again, depth, depth, they don't have a lot of tackle depth or anything. So again, you're going to have to consider that. I just brought Josh Simmons having issues there. But I do think that they, they have the low line that that's going to be the strength of the team really. So bigger picture with Kansas City, it feels like, I mean, this is weird to just be like, is everyone just collectively off of them? Is that how it feels to you? I know. And I've talked myself more into them. Like I think they defensively, they actually have done some cool things this off season. So even though they got jettisoned everybody, but doesn't it feel weird to talk yourself out of Patrick Mahomes? They don't think Patrick Mahomes can win nine, ten games, a wide open AFC. And if, I don't know, that's, I've talked myself back into them as like the seven seed. If I, if I'm being honest, like after I did my previous series, I just, I look, I mean, what's the worst that they're going to do? I mean, to me, they're the team that, at the worst is in the, in the hunt graphic all the way through like 14, like that's the worst. Although there's been some in the hunt graphics where you're like, well, why do you guys keep putting up the dolphins just because mathematically, it's still in play here, more than 11. Why are they up there? No, I, Mahomes of course, like even though they got rid of everybody, they take on Montsor who I think is like, he's that good. Okay. He's very good. That good last year. And then Williams, the other guy on the other side is like completely unharmed because we're constantly talking about Watson and obviously McDuffy. And this felt like a very beach. Hey, we need to reset this part here. This is what we're going to do with our resources. We're not going to caught up in all these contracts. We're going to have to do a reset here on the fly, which I think some smart teams do. Yep, that's exactly. And he's done it several times. I have my friends with beach, but he has done this several times where he, it's not, he's not, no half measures when he has a, when he thinks there's a problem on the roster. Like when they though off into line, they, they lost to the bucks. It wasn't just one guy they brought in. Nope. We're drafting two and we're signing a third. You know, it's like that is the way the DB room that they built. Like that was the, that was the big thorn on their side. Then they turned into a top five defense on their second sir or got now I forget all the numbers third Super Bowl run. Because that's how many they freaking win. But this defense, that was the thing I even have noticed is that their blitzing got really bad last year, which is significant because Steve's back in all of Blitz is a lot. And it was the most he ever blitz last year because they've no problem. That's the problem is, is it like, hey, it's not working. Do it more. That's what he did. And it was back. It was, uh, they basically, in 2023, when they made that run, they just, the EPA played and nerds that, um, they went from basically when they blitz, they made every quarterback like the worst starting quarterback in the week, like Shadur Sanders to a borderline. Then last year when they blitz, every quarterback was like a top 10 quarterback, basically like, that press got last year. Like that's, that's what, when they blitzed and they blitzed the most in the league. So how do you help that out? Let's get some young fresh talent in here. I, like you might, I like the lane. I think he's a great scheme fit too, because he's really smart. Very, he come off zone and kind of bait some guys. I also like the slot that have Chris role in Wallace. And that was been a big weakness for them in the last couple of years. If you want to really get into it, um, then they got Kyra's Tonga from New England. And that was another weakness that they had. They couldn't really stop the run when they're in their base sets. So they, they did some nice moves. And they also have some kind of like, you know, guys that can be wild cards, Peter Woods, Armies and Thomas, their draft picks that they can kind of move the needle as well. And the top of that law on Armies and Tonga, if you're a nut fire. Come on. They got a nut boss on this team, who looks great in preseason, by the way. I'd like to see me, me, my home, sit out the second quarter with a little Tom O'Brien Boston college stuff for the first series in the second quarter, just to develop, obviously, O'Brien didn't bench Matt Ryan for the entire second quarter, but he used to, he used to start with Mike Lennon and Russell Wilson. Then he wanted to do that. That may have been Tom O'Brien's undoing. I just remember telling him, I was like, I really like that you do that. He's like, you might be the only person that likes it. I was like, okay, thanks. No, I don't know. But, you know, you're looking at the receiver group with Xavier Worthy, who's and nothing's funnier than when just the Sunday guys don't watch Saturday and they see Worthy in his first game ever, and it's the national televised game, and people are like, I can't believe Kansas City got this demon, and the bills let this happen. You're like, look, he's kind of a go-go ball guy. Rishi Rice has had all of his issues, and then you've got Taikwan Thor in a, in a best case scenario, do all three of them come together, play every single week, and work good to go maybe. And obviously, my home's elevates every single guy, but you would just love to see some consistency for this group. And I don't know. I don't know. I just, I'm not sure that's going to happen. Everyone's really high in Cyrus Allen, but it's a fifth round pick. And so that's the thing. It's like, yeah, you can be high on them, but that might be high because he looks just good, relative to the guys. That shit does nothing for me. You mean the guy you guys that looked at a board of 200 people and the person that you drafted, you're going to tell us after two practices, you like him, no shit, you like him too. I'm glad you brought Worthy because it's, so I'm a, I'm a, I'm a big sizeist when I scout guys and especially at receiver. And I have thresholds for reason because really, really smart personnel guys and coaches, they have thresholds. So why not just copy the smart people, but no, but also just time. It's like, it's the NFL's a hard leak. 17 games at the long season. And to start at receiver and take those hits like in any position, really, I include quarterback here as well, is that like you have to have a certain size threshold. If you don't have that size threshold or made that size threshold, you'd be very special with a ball on your hands. And to me, Worthy is not special. He's a splitter. And fast, small splitters don't usually work unless they're Dishon Jackson, who is one of the best deep ball trackers of all time. You know, like there's not a lot of that. Dishon's in a different thing because it's the same thing. If he gets two of these, we lose. Right. And Devote Smith, who's another undersized guy, he's special as his hands are special. He's one of the best route runners. He's just also his own thing. He's a wiry, strong, one-on-one guy. So it's like, you know, Bruce Irvin, like the list is not long of guys that have been successful and been undersized. Anthony Carter, if you want to go way back. But no, it's like, I look at Worthy. I was, I, I think they're over him either way. Like I think they're trying to, like it's banged up all the time or practices. It's like, you can't work with them. You can't win with that. Tiger on Thurnton's got weird chemistry though with my homes, which is funny. I always love when there's random receivers that we're chemistry with with Corvette. Well, that's saying something. If you're like, it's Thurnton's actually the guy that I'm going to trust them. Right. Third and seven. And you know, maybe that injury, which we all expected to have happen at some point last year, like you're watching homes every Sunday. Like there's no way. There's no way. So who knows what he even looks like. Although I argue that he's probably going to be like 43 with like fused ankles, finding a way to convert third downs because I still think he's that special. When they see the Eagles and the playoffs in Super Bowl, they, it's, he had a high ankle sprain and no one remembers this. And it's like, he ran all those scrambles and running around with high, like we've seen Gimpy Mahomes be awesome. So that's why I think I'm pretty bullish on it because he's one of the toughest dudes in the league. I don't think he just gets the credit for that because the baiting the hit stuff.
you know, I get it. I didn't expect to say that's maybe a couple of years ago, but the Bears Detroit, if we went like Bears Lions here, the Bears offensive line is clearly better than Detroit's at this point. The weapons part of it, I mean, look, Detroit is in a brutal spot with a secondary because you get Kirby who's out. You've got Branch who's out and then the Isian, the third guy they brought in, he's not going to be available for the Oprah inner two, which I think is from this weekend. Now, if you want to go schedule, you go to Troy, it has the sixth easiest. If you look at the numbers, there's a lot of argument that Chicago is now going to face the single hardest schedule in the entire NFL. Who's going to win more games? I have the Lions in a slight lean just because on that schedule, some of the offensive stuff, it's hard and the Bears defense is scary, not a good scary, but I couldn't get over the top where even with the Bears, where there's things for regression, turnover, stuff like that, they were on the lucky end of all that. I think the offense is going to be great this year, and I think Ben Johnson is deserving of the accolades. He's buying into it, but I think he's the real deal, like he's awesome. I'm a believer in Caleb. We'll see where he ends up, but I do think that when I look at these teams and everything in the schedule and everything, I actually believe the Lions defense, even with the DBs, they're front, I like a little bit better. I like the offensive. The ecosystem a little bit better. I just can count on them a little bit better or a little bit more right now, and what the offense can be, and just the team can be, and the schedule. Yeah, the Bears were plus 22 last season, and it's just hard to go. Hey, let's just do that again this year. With you, and like we said, I think they're going to be a better team this year. I don't know if they're going to play in the second playoff game. You factor in that schedule. Maybe Detroit gets off to some bad start, but there's still enough talent. I think on this Lions team, that if they can get that secondary healthy in the entire deal, and look, that's another one. It's not as scary as maybe the Houston and Jacksonville and even Baltimore projections on the O line, but Detroit's had to move some stuff around. So it was going to be left tackle now, so you don't know how that changes things because of the Decker, who's still available, by the way, I guess. He was bad last year. You kind of, it's the ship sailed off. Well, that's what I was going to say, how optimistic me is going. I think I like their first round pick, Blake Miller at right tackle. And kind of the mat monkey math I've done is like, all right, is Blake Miller is a rookie better than Decker at right tackle than Decker was at left tackle. Like because Decker last year was like a D plus C minus. So I think it's still say though, what 33 in his pedigree, it's a little, unless he's just waiting for somebody to get hurt or whatever spot it is. It's a little strange. I don't know what his motivation is, but again, I was looking at Decker's this morning and I go, oh, he's still out there. So yeah, I forgot. They've had center injuries. They signed Kate Maze and he got hurt right away. So they, they got lost in the community news for me over here. Not every night, not just you NFL guys. Some of us have to keep track of their stuff. So like, nice little my cheap option. It's best we could get out of it with the wolves, you know, it's best we could have done. So my I actually don't mind it for the wolves at all because you probably just run them out there with a second unit and be like, go ahead and take a bunch of shots. No problem, but the problem is Kaminga's run around thinking he's a $35, $40 million player. And you're like, guess what, dude? Yes. You're not. Okay. That's I know. Let's trust me. I know, right. I know. I know. I know. Like, do you think I want all these personalities on my favorite team? I had somebody text me that was like, we can't keep signing your favorites, huh? And I went, yeah, all right. Let's let's talk about one of my teams that usually is like, hey, I'm going to hold out hope for you. And that's the Green Bay Packers. They lose four straight. They lose five straight, including the playoff game, the old lines in issue. I still, I think I've had times where I looked at this receiver room and I went, oh my God, do they have too many bad asses at receiver? I'd say the first three guys, though I'm still really excited about and craft the tight end. Mike is going to start on the public list here. The old lines are real issue. And I, I think Jordan loves, I don't know what to do with him. I think he's good. I think he's going to be good. But I also think I might be wrong. So not sure. I love him. I think he's awesome. Oh, just, that makes me feel better. Embrace the, the, it's, it's, it's a, what feature in our book. The, the, the, the bonehead turnovers are feature, not a buck, you know, or he, if you want the good with Jordan, which is that he has some of the biggest colonies in the entire NFL. He doesn't take sacks. He plays, and he plays quarterback. I don't mind. You know, through a couple of Sizzlers into traffic and you know, there's eight extra picks. I've come to the, like a few years ago, I'm like, I want, I want eight of those. I don't want zero. Right. I want 30 of them, but incorrect. You have to, like, and he doesn't take sacks. So that's the thing. He can get away with it. I, I've did a little study this off season and about, you know, expected points. We don't get too much into it, but two and a half sacks is worth a turnover. So, no kidding. So that's about the math because it's just your punting, right? So, so yeah. So if you can go, yeah, exactly. So, but if you can keep it under two and a half sacks, it's basically a turnover. You know that you're getting away with it. You can kind of create with it. So that's maybe the love's math that works. They, I want to see them use tempo. I'll pick it up a little bit. I want to see them chuck it a little bit more on offense. I think they're going to do that though. Watson, Christian Watson's turn from player. I didn't like to play or I do like. I was that. I like him. I like him now. Yeah. I think he's great now. He's been one of the most effective receivers on like a great basis. Like and he's explosive. He's just kind of, he's just kind of tougher like really. He's like just willing to now. He does like the dirty work stuff. He's just be kind of a go ball guy. But no, I, I, I think they're going to chuck it. They're going to speed it up. And I can talk about tempo too. Like, I think that's going to be a trend in the NFL this year. Look, speaking even of the Rams, like they've clipped Kingsbury on staff. And that's one way you can kind of get to see how to defense is go tempo, go fast and make them very simple. So I do think that some teams are going to look into using some more no huddle or hanging huddle stuff, just to make defenses declare and bullets a little bit less. And that's something to keep an eye on. I think the packers are one of those teams because they're slow. Like they're methodical motions, shifting and all that. So I think they might lean into, hey, we got this guy that's a big play machine at quarterback. We've on all the little nerd stats. This has been a top five top six offense the last couple of years. They're super explosive. They got some juice out receiver. So like, let's lean into it. The run game is a question mark because they're a line. It's hard with the packers. They're coaching their scheme really does. It's like Shanahan. They, they do a lot to help them out. And they're like, it's really sound. It's some of the best stuff protection wise rule wise and everything. So that's why I don't know how to ever stack them up because it's like, I look at them. It's like, that's the 29th best of line, but they play like the 14th best of line. Like they always outperform what they are. But I want to see how much on the way it is because Josh Jake does have some something interest. I don't know what's going on with Josh Jacobs right now. The run games got a little bit more explosive. Maybe Lloyd can be that, but the defense is really my hang up with the packers as a team. But I'm high on their offense. I think they're going to be exciting this year. Yeah. Green Bay 22nd overall defense on the adjusted stuff there. We're not going points for game on every one of these. I like even Buffalo. Sometimes I look at the personnel and I go, how are they 13th in defense? And then they're even higher. I think in opposing points allowed like 7th, 8th and that kind of spot. And then I'm doing the personnel stuff and I'm going, I like this corner, but he can't cover. Right. I think I like this edge guy, but I'm not sure they're changing what they're doing with their edge guys this year too. After getting out of McDermott's system here. So you seem to have Buffalo like closer to the middle than then just I guess maybe there's too many of us that are going to Josh Allen like going to put the cape on. They're going to be five and rushing that doesn't matter if they don't like. If you look at the receiver group, I think he on Coleman was the second highest receiver in yardage after Shakira last year with 400 yards. They're second highest wide receiver yardage total was. Yeah. And honestly, you're like, how do they not make it to the Super Bowl? It's kind of crazy. Some of the smoking mirror stuff there with the bills. Yeah. And that's when you have every D.P. at quarterback. That's what I guess when you have a drag in that quarterback that really helps. You know, like that really covers up a lot of warts on your team. And the online has been good and well skimmed. Joe Brady, I've been making a joke that it's like, it's a little bit too much cool substitute teacher vibes. I'm getting right now. Like I always get alarm bells when a assistant gets promoted and it coaches all the players, they interview they go, God, Joe's awesome. You know, isn't it cool? He's so much fun as opposed to Ben Johnson gets hired and it's like, dude, he's a he's a stickware for details. He got on my ass about, you know, so just again, just over time and sports, I just always have that alarm bell going off. So there's a little bit of that. But having said that, Brady's put together good offenses. He's willing to lean into the run game. So it's not like this guy that's gonna chase points. I think they're gonna pass a little bit more this year with DJ Moore. But it just I, it's hard for me to say that there are often some lines been really healthy for a couple of years. Last year, Spencer Brown got hurt. Is this is this the year that it falls off? Deon Dawkins kind of feed it a little bit. Spencer Brown. I know, because it's like if those two tackles are right, you know, they're good and they can run it and they can just do that. And Alan can take over and cook was terrific and cook actually didn't have as many receiving yards last year as I thought that he did. He's a shot play guy. But they talked about they might use him more on those kind of Sean Peyton choice routes. That's how I thought James Cook would be in the NFL. And no, he's a, he's become like a really good in between the tackles runner, which pleasant surprise. But passing him wise, they just use him on shop plays, like just like design or red zone stuff. But it's not, it's not high frequency targets. Okay. So we have some teams left over here.
we finish up. And this was kind of like the contender series because I don't want to go through 32 teams. I can't believe I haven't talked about the Niners. Maybe the first time ever, I haven't just assumed the Niners will figure it out. But I have major concerns with them. Quick Niners thoughts. I have major concerns with them. Are you totally okay of leaving them out of the contender group? Yes. Yeah, I think I might miss the playoffs this year. And that's nothing against Kyle Shanahan. I think he has deserved his praise. He's always puts together top 10 offenses. But George Kittle coming off to kill these George Kittle is super important to that offense. But it's like run game and past game. CMC's coming off 400 something touches like Ains past 30. And also the run game wasn't very efficient last year. Trent Williams. No, an offensive line that you're old. Trent Williams. Yeah, Trent Williams. I had a Trent Williams collective of it. But go ahead. Yeah. So Trent Williams who trust me. Hallfamer. He allowed 14 quick pressures last year. So that's a pressure within two seconds. The previous three years combined, he allowed 15. And that's their best player up front. That's a little and in the receiver room, which was building up to a great strength is now trotting out Mike Evans who has a growing devosamual who's, you know, very effective in this offense before. But another year older requires explosive plays. All right, explosive athletic ability. That's another year older. I like struggling. I actually did not think that was much of a reach. I really, really, I really do like him. He's like the Juwan James replacement. I think a little bit better. But there's just a lot of cause of concerns. And on top of it, the defense they, they wasn't a good defense last year. It was, I know guys got hurt. Fred Warner got hurt. Bosa got hurt. It's 25th. Yeah. And they were, I mean, they were, they had, I think there's 30 seconds in sack rate. They had no TFLs, no stuffs. And I think it will get better. I like some of the young players. Hopefully my kill wounds comes back healthy. Yeah. This Romeo hike guy they got also to Gazeua they traded for. So I like what they did up front. But it's not ideal. The background, the back end's not ideal. And also really more some that's super high on as like a play collar. Like they're, they're going to have to manufacture some stuff. I don't know if that's kind of his game. So yeah, I have a lot of concerns with them this year. You mentioned that Trent Williams dad. It made me think of the Giro Bowl stat number one pass block grade in 25 didn't allow a single snap and a hundred and eight hundred and two pass block snaps. Not one sack 802. Yeah. Fucking stupid. That dead for offensive line. Which I'm going to put up, I'm going to get a poster of it, put it up in my house. So I think I'm going to save the best for last year. And that is not Cincinnati. Cincinnati's in the mix playoff wise. I think it's a burrow default as a top five quarterback. You know, I don't know if my face is going to be Tray Hendrickson. But you could also act, you could probably argue that the best version of Mafe maybe is a little bit more versatile than Hendrickson's kind of straight line. Like hey, let's just collapse. The offensive line has felt like a disaster. The defense has not been good. There's a couple guys here and they are like, I don't know. I mean, I kind of put Cincinnati in that San Francisco thing. Like talk to me a week eight. But I'm not going to have high expectations for even though it feels like burrow is probably good enough to win you a few more shootouts than anybody else. They are also one of the big teams this offseason. That's doing the under center. We're going to do this offense. But it's one of these where they've talked about that before. I want to see it in week six. Just like you. Like is that it's just offseason talk and we'll see when the bolts are flying. Those lines actually pretty good. Surprisingly, Emery's Mims is going to be like, do it close to the second half. It felt like when their coach is good. Again, that's me read it. Not watching me. No, no, but it's not great. It's better than it's that's the thing. It's like, I can't remember. Yeah, right. It was like, hey, those last six weeks. The Texans would love that. No, but that's the that's kind of like, no, the run game is very efficient. They they're offense. They have to get their explosive plays back. And that's me. I have to see it to believe it. They when burrow and chase and Higgins were popping off and very explosive. They were just using with this play called 99, it's a champagne stable, but 99 is a nine is a go ball. So you can imagine what 99 is two go balls. Let's go, baby. Justin Jefferson touched down is a Joe burrow in the playoffs way back in the in college at LSU. That was the 99 concept. It's really just a we have a better place than you. The players than you. That's that's that concept. But what defensive did said, okay, we'll just run cover two because cover two, you can't run go balls against cover two that unless you're rainy moss and sure enough, Joe burrow against cover two only has one when he's under center only has one explosive play. And but the thing is for the entire season, the last two seasons, when he's under center and defense is around cover two, he has one explosive play. That's it. And so I look at this. And overall when they face what they call cloud so cover two and cover six version of cover two, half cover two, they're 26 knee paper play. So they're bottom eight offense when they don't face cover two or cloud, they're fifth. But the thing is they face the most cloud and cover two than anybody because they have to against and jamar chase. So defense is just go will make you be hyper efficient 12 plays in a row. We bet you can't do that for four quarters. We bet you can't do that for 16 17 games. And they've been right because it's really hard to do. If you get like their middle of the pack explosives like when they face cover two, they're 29th and explosive play rate. When they face all of the coverages, they're still just 18th. So they have to get that back and they have to find ways to get that back. That's why the whole under center talk is it's not just play action. It's that's how you push the ball is because that's you throw the ball further. It's all that stuff we talk about protections and helping the offense align out. Getting under center can help do them attack more vertically because otherwise teams are going to do it. This is the last little stat I'll leave with is a normal drive. This was just last year NFL teams average a touchdown on a quarter of their drives 24.4%. If you get one explosive play, it jumps up to 42%. So it goes about two and five chance. If you don't get any explosives, you have a 4% chance of scoring a touchdown. So you have a 10 times better chance if you get one explosive to score a touchdown. So why that's all everything we're talking about. The defense is how they're playing. Offensive line. How can they hold up? You got to attack vertically and that's what I want to see from them. And for me, it's more theory than anything. I have to see it in in October and November and December. You should have to ask the Rams for Ferguson or something with all that cover to just be like, Hey, we want just a seam baller right down the middle. Exactly. I'm a big Ferguson guy. So you'll get used to that. Okay. All right. I saved the best for last. First take usually uses them first. It's your Dallas Cowboys 30 second defense last season. But you gave me the heads up. I know they are Mike. I'm take committed on them right now. So what's the deal? Like how many of these teams are below the Cowboys for you? I have the cow. Yeah. When we come with like, Hey, let's talk about what the contenders are. I would put the Cowboys as either the fifth or sixth best team I feel about in the entire NFL. Wow. And yeah, I know. Trust me. I hate that. I'm not saying you're wrong. No, I know. And I'm I get it. I get everyone wants to talk about the Cowboys. But for it's real this time. It's real this time. I promise. Um, Brian Sean, I read to me. I was indifferent on him. I never thought he was anything like he got talked about to be a future head coach for years, years and years and years. And then he actually becomes a head coach. I'm like, Oh, you actually are pretty good at it. Like and not just play calling and all that. He's really a good communicator. Like, you know, I think he like he gets a lot of players respect. You can tell. So it's just these things in between the lines. I'm bringing that all up because what this offense is is I think this could be the best offense in the NFL this year. Um, I think the offense line's pretty good. I would even say good. Uh, I think Clayton Adams who's their OC, but he's an old line guy is very creative. Uh, he he's great. The run game. He's he's going to be a future head coach. Um, and on top of it, Dak, I think is a guy easily you can win with. And then the receiving room. This is a side CDLAM in George Pickens. There's they can get into any personnel grouping and that guy that rotates in whether it's the third receiver, which is Ryan Florida, the second tight end, driven span forward or the fullback Hunter Lipki. They're good. So they can get into it's all about pivoting playoffs. We talk about the NBA having matchups. Same with the NFL. That's sort of the whole impetus of the Rams going to 13 personnel was that we might have to do this in playoff time. And so here it's like the Cowboys have that already. They have the ability to go tempo. So I think this offense is going to be really, really cool this year. Like supernova cool. And then the defense, I think this defense could be at least league average if not better because not just the DC, the Christian Parker who they hired. I really do think that the additions that they had and second year players that they have can make and make a big jump for it. So yeah, I it's been one. I've marinated on outside the last month. I've kind of unleashed that take, but yeah, I'm pretty high on what the Cowboys could be this year. I love it. I love that we did it last though, you know, just a nice little book and we have more stuff. We just went an hour 15. So the other stuff that we talked about, let's save it. We'll save it for when Nate is with us every single week, every Monday, here on the pod. And we are pumped to have him from Yahoo Sports. Again, football three. I want thanks, man. Thanks, dude. That was fun. Netflix is expanding its NFL coverage in 2026 from week one to the first ever Thanksgiving Eve matchup in two Christmas day games and a playoff game in January week one of the upcoming NFL season will feature the league's first ever regular season game in Australia on September 10th between divisional rivals, the Los Angeles Rams and the San Francisco 49ers heading into the holiday season. Netflix will add the NFL's first ever Thanksgiving Eve game on November 25th, featuring the Green Bay Packers visiting the Los Angeles Rams. Then on Christmas day, [BLANK_AUDIO]
Netflix will again air two games at one PM Eastern. The Green Bay Packers visit the Chicago Bears. It's soldier field followed by the Buffalo Bills against the Denver Broncos at four 30 Eastern and week 18 with playoff stakes on the line. Catch the final game of the regular season live on Netflix. Watch week one of the NFL on Netflix starting with the Los Angeles Rams versus the San Francisco 49ers live only on Netflix Thursday September 10th at 835 PM Eastern 535 PM Pacific. We'll be right back after a quick word from our sponsors. It's Fran from Chicks in the office. The weather is getting cooler and Abercrombie's fall drop has everything I need for the season. The best selling A&F Sloan Taylor pant is a closet staple for me. I'm always wearing it to work events. Happy hour anytime I want to be a bit more dressed up and the viral Dillon dress is easy one and done perfection but my fall uniform will always be denom pair with a handly sweater a bra free top. It's comfortable effortless. It just never fails. Find your fall capsule at Abercrombie shop in the app online and in stores. You want details? Bye. I drive a Ferrari 355 Cabriolay. What's up? I have a ridiculous house in the south fork. I have every toy you can possibly imagine. Best of all kids, I am liquid. So now you know what's possible. Let me tell you what's required. Life advice, life advice
[email protected] Kyle and Saruti with us. Ready to support. Good to see you guys. Good to see you. Big football on the brain lately. Today's episode for for real. It's Thursday night. It's going to be the end of the past preseason and I'm I'm going to watch it. I'm going to watch that past brown tonight. So I'm excited. I even like was holding off like paying for my fantasy league. I was like one of the stragglers. I'm just like I'm not doing it yet. Not doing it yet. Didn't really have a whole lot going on up here this summer. That wasn't like fun stuff. So you know, exactly like my brand of fun stuff. So I'm like today's like the first day I think. I sent the sent the money for fantasy yesterday and going to watch some preseason football tonight. Shout out Nate Tice. You were on the fence about watching the past preseason. I haven't watched any of them. Really? I didn't watch any of it. I don't know. It was just like I don't think I'm going to see. I don't think I'm going to see the guys I want to see. Yeah, it's last year was like we're going to get a little Drake a little bit maybe like last year was looking searching for glimpses. But you know, Drake's a man. I don't really need to search for that anymore. So you have an AJ Brown jersey yet. Do I know? Yeah. Fanatics. If you're listening, no, I don't. I was going to say that sounds like what's the overrun? I'm thinking I was it's probably going to be Gonzalez next as long as they don't fuck this contract up. It'll probably be Gonzalez. I do want a defensive guy. I think that's a mistake a lot of people make. They just have a bunch of offensive players and you don't have any cool defensive ones. But we got to revisit though. Your track record in Jersey is recently as terrible, right? It's been bad. Yeah. Yeah. You're like my buddy Hartford Pete. He had a run of. He had a run of jerseys. Like as soon as as soon as he got to Jersey. It was like the opposite of me when I moved to a town. It's just championship parade banner. I mean, it's ridiculous. My resume when I moved to a town. It's just say you guys want to fucking win. We've covered it. We can do it again. Frank the sheriff's. Yeah. It was four told. Yeah. He used to go. That's seriously. Like if I moved to another city at some point, they'd be like, you hear fucking moved here. Like tell the tell the Tampa Bay Lightning. You're like a good luck chocolate for sports teams. It was a great call on me again. The Mac Jones t-shirts Jersey. By the way, I did not pull the truth. Wait, no, no, no, I have. You set the tone for that entire relationship. You're like, I'm only going to get the t-shirts Jersey for Mac Jones. What do you think he what do you think is play collar thought of that when? Yeah, that's a bummer. By the way, Mac Jones kind of graded out pretty good less. Oh, dude, I'm totally supporting. I'm looking at Jacobi Berset. Like, yeah, you get those jacks back on track, dude. Apparently Bella check. And Bella check is exactly doing many favors. But like, hey, here's the deal. You're going to be a mid first round pick. You're not going to have any fucking receivers. I'm going to try this defensive guy on play call. Like, if there's a Mac Jones, like depression TEDx talk when he's 50, you know, my first year or two, it was tough. I was second year. I think it would say it's second. First of all, he just did that this summer. I forget who he was on with. And he was super diplomatic about it. But he did let everybody know. It's just like, just want to remind everyone what was happening at Gillette back then. Anyway, if Mac Jones had slugged somebody in his second year atlboro into like a taco stand, I would have gone, you know what? I got to get like that guy blow off some steam. Yeah. Yeah. I think it makes I think it makes sense. Um, yeah, Hartford Pete bought a bunch of different jerseys. Like, I think you get a Jim Corsi jersey. Leave for the Red Sox. Like, immediately was off the team. You get a Stu Grimson jersey. They didn't just lose Stu Grimson. The whalers moved like the next year. So Hartford Pete had it just an off. There's a couple other ones on there. The whalers move. That's crazy. Yeah. So all right. Uh, been on two dates. Do I help or move? This is when I was trying to find it early this week. Six to one 90. Well, you're six two. You're going to meet somebody else. What about? Uh, 24 years old pick up comp. I've gotten Pascal Siacum when I play with friends, but more serious games. It's more of a rotational big who grinds the offensive boards plays a good team ball. I can hit a few shots here and there. Maybe a John Collins type without the 40 inch vertical Jim stats, old school dad. So grew up on push ups, sit ups, pull ups, running, just did the found with road race last week. And hey, shout out. And uh, four sets of seven reps, two or five in the bench. All right. That was very specific. We appreciate your specific guy. It sounds like I went out with this girl last night. This is, uh, all right, then no, the no. It was the first one on one date we've had. We've been talking for about a month, went on a double date with two friends last week, where I honestly killed it in bar trivia. Wow. Love it. We're just in the airs. Yeah. Like he's so smart. He knew everything about friends. For background, I was in a two and a half year relationship that ended in January and I've been on a bunch of dates since then. But this girl's definitely the date that I felt the best about. We really clicked and had an awesome time and I went home feeling great about everything. And just generally excited to continue to see her. She was equally excited. The problem is last night when I asked her where I could go see when I could see her again. She gave me some dates, but also asked me if I could help her move next week. Dude. I have no problem with this face value. I don't know. I don't mind helping and I know it's probably hard for a girl in New York City to move apartments. But at the same time, I can't help feeling it's kind of crazy to ask someone you've been on one real date with to ask you to help move, especially when I know she has guy friends in the city who can help. I do really like this girl would honestly like to spend time with her by helping her, but also I feel kind of weird because we went on a great date. Then she kind of immediately asked me to do it. It's kind of insane. Am I overthinking this whole thing? I actually don't think that you are. No. I think you're asking some good questions here. Is this a normal thing for her to ask and shouldn't I feel weird about helping her? Am I right that this is unusual? And there's a little bit of being used vibe here. This is maybe an excuse on her part to spend time with me. It's actually a good thing, especially because she could definitely ask someone else. Oh, man, this fucking circling each other in the Coliseum of thoughts. Well, at least she doesn't have a roster because she could totally ask another dude. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, if she's a smoke show in New York City and she actually helped move, you need anybody else? Thank you. All right. Yeah. Thank you. All right. What should I do to tell, should I tell her I'll help her? Is she testing me? These are the thoughts swirling around in my head. Would love any advice. Again, I think she's great and don't think there's any weird shady motives on her part, but I also don't know her that well yet and kind of feel like this is a big ask. So early into spending time with each other. Move your sucks. Yeah. No, it's ever once that call. It's always worse than you think it's going to be to even if you psych yourself up for it to suck, you know, halfway through or maybe towards the back and you're like, holy man, this is this is awful. I can't believe he asked me to do this. The one thing I'd add on to this, you're supposed to feel weird about asking your friends to help move and be like, yeah, they come not going with movers. I'm just wondering if I could get any, you know, rally the troop. You're supposed to even feel weird about that. Let alone a, you know, a guy who was a complete stranger four days ago. But you say, you know, we talk about the guy who just like puts up shots, you know what I mean, and doesn't think about it. Maybe there's women, there's like a woman version of that out there. I don't know. I would certainly commit to being busy that day, but maybe you can show up and get some credit at the end. It'd be like, I'm going out to lunch in my grandmother. It's in West Chester. It's it's kind of far away. But if we wrap up, you know, the blue plate special, I'll, you know, maybe you could show up for the last 45 minutes. Do we really think there's a possibility though that she just set this whole thing up with you so she could find somebody to move like, no, like I think she didn't think so. That seems so. Sure. It's on the, it's on the people. But she hasn't really had enough time to like ask him for money yet or whatever else those the users would do. Yeah. There hasn't been a lot of opportunity. Yeah. Maybe I'm being naive here. That's just that that's such a great, that's a level of crazy that I don't even know like, I think that's rare. But maybe I'm wrong, but that's just that's it. I think, you know, maybe she, maybe she likes, I think first of all, I think you can't really say no. I mean, in some way, unless you really have something to do, like it's kind of a bad look, like for you to just be like, actually, I'm not around it. I can't help you this early, even if it is a crazy ask because, you know, I don't know, like it's it first, you're still kind of in that first impression stage. If you really like her, like that's just mentioning telling your dad, like, oh, yeah, like I, you know, I asked this guy to move and he said, no, she's, I would be like, what the fuck's this guy's problem? Like he's not invested, you know, like, I think the dad would go, it's only one real day and then a double day. Yeah. I said, no, it's not going to happen. So I think, I don't want to do corn balls coming into this awesome things. Yeah. Yeah. The other thing, too, is like, what a sim.
It's kind of like a room Raider situation, too, or you can get, you're gonna get to know her really queer, you're gonna see all of her shit Like you're gonna see all of her stuff. This is like a really good glimpse into what her life is about early on So, and yeah, you might not pay off well and you can see some red flag things in there You go, man, this was a double. You get to see where she moved to as well. Yeah. Yeah, the Zelda costume Maybe she's into cosplayers. You're in it. Yeah, I got it. I'm still lighting so professional in this room So anyway, yeah, like I'm moving below it was but I Think it's there's an interesting opportunity here, and I think yeah, like why not help her if you don't have shit else to do sure sure I think I would I would try to make it so that I don't feel like I'm being used meaning I'm not the primary mover and I'll show up somewhere in the process of this move Where then like it's not gonna be the worst thing, you know, not driving this bus to the you know the worst day of my life But I can I'll get out of the bus and I'll help I think that's simple The great thing with all the technology dating is is that you know, you have more options now at the bad part of it It's really hard to do the background work on this because do you have anyone in her orbit where you can be like Hey, but the thing is is if you tell somebody that she's close to then she's immediately gonna tell on you anyway And then we go to get down to some of the hardcore facts, especially if it's New York City. How many floors up? Yeah, don't even talk to me about a staircase. Where are we moving into is it an upgrade? Wait a minute. It's a downgrade, and I'm gonna get together with you because you got to go from like Subletting in a hostel You know, so there's a lot of stuff. I think the the room raider reference there from sorority is perfect It's valuable. It's certainly if you go through with it. It's very simple Like do you like her? Do you think you like her? Do you think the vibes are on there could be a great origin story It could be a really great or just story You're gonna spend it's gonna be just an absolute blitzing of spending time with each other and the fact that you're doing this It's gonna raise your credit I think you have to take the chance that your equity the amount that you're going to gain from this because it absolutely fucking sucks And you what do you want like a bunch of dude? She's friends with to be over there and being like hey I've always liked you because moving's emotional and Two sun cruisers in a closing one door Yeah, like that was my next question though like art. Is it just you are you sure or they're gonna be like all their friends there cuz then you bring two people And then you have to buy them pizza and beer for the rest of the week What if you show up though and there are some other dudes there, you know like maybe she you know You're just like one of a few people like that's her sort of bachelor the move Bachelorette the movie. Yes, that would be well It has everything to do with how you feel about her So yeah, you already have your answer go ahead, so I just got a million questions like what if like behind the scenes though like her friends You're like oh my god I can't believe she found the loser who did say yes to her movies Been trying to do this for months and like to a week before the move she finds the guy who's the sucker You know that can also be you too but it's the other way and they're like dude He was so you know, right so strong. Do you see him pick up that ottoman by himself? That was awesome What if he hurts himself? He's need putting up two oh five though, so I think he's fine It would be really funny if you size up the situation and you're like oh, I am that loser And then you go have clock now You know there's there's a chance of having like three different avenues of a really good story here You're toasting at the wedding Being like I didn't want to help her move at all and then she's like I can't believe you help me move And I can't believe you asked me and the brothers like going you know, I wasn't even I wasn't available She called him. It was a test. He passed the test all the stuff or you're on your next date in a month going the last fucking girl Passing to move I moved her out and then she ghosted me all you may not want to say that on the first date It was Sunday because then she's gonna think potentially your loser included or not your six to you with marathons from around 200 pounds So all the important stuff I think what you can't do is try to be like well who's who's helping how much help do you have? I think you either of course either a soft commit or you're busy or like but I wouldn't I wouldn't be there as like the first like the guy There at eight o'clock and it's just like oh no one else came my friend said they were gonna come and they didn't and now you're the now You're the one pair of hands, you know, so There was a guy worked with the DSPN again, he's a friend, but he was like hey, I want to ask you a question I went okay, it's like I just started working there. He has a moving He's just got a new contract. So he's upgrading houses and he never had like a nice house And he's moving like a really nice house, but I think they're somewhat close to each other He's like you think if I just kind of asked a bunch of like the the PAs I'm six of these guys. He's like that's like five or six of the PAs if they help me move all my furniture out of this house He's like it's basically into the truck and then out of the house and then into the next house He's like if I just grab him like a couple cases of beer and some pizzas. I think that'll work And it was like don't you make like a million bucks a year man If you fucking do that everyone is gonna hate you and they may even say yes But they're gonna the amount you're going to lose approval rating That's abuse, that's abuse like You didn't want to pay anyone to move. Yeah, and I told him I was like do not do that like don't do it If you don't lose it you don't that's and you do something like that. That's pretty That's a scumbag thing to do. I'm just gonna say look. I'm I'm Currently in the midst of it again here, and I I got the quote and I'm like how the fuck am I not because the last time I did something like this I did the you pack thing and it was like oh I saved all this money like I'm gonna load it I'm I just hire a guy. I don't need dude. I'll just it sucks and then it weighed over me forever too I'm like oh that's coming up in 10 days. Oh, it's nine days. Oh that Saturday is absolutely gonna suck And it was even worse. I like fucked up my groin like two seconds I knew what my great so now I'm hurt the whole time and I packed up all the stuff And then when it showed up where I needed it to be all of it like 80% of it was fucking destroyed Like just everything was rubbing against each other the entire time and I'm like, oh cool. I saved two grand I'll never do that again. Never do that again. If I'm homeless, I'm still gonna pay somebody to move my bag Love a follow-up on this by the way, so Okay Not to the email I'm saying. I think we all want to know like what how this ends or what happens. Yeah, I'll give you myself one number I know you all right Shame and a lost air pod of great sleep 46 5 10 2 15 recently got myself down from 238 stout I've also been working and getting my bench back up last April I could bench 135 for five now I'm back up to 185 Not consistent enough in the gym though lots of steps better diet dad life. That's fine. Dude if you don't have a good job with the bench There's a bad day just master the Doesn't go well and they kind of look back at the bar confused I mean, you know if you make eye contact with somebody else's so you struggle with 185 One rotation yeah, yeah, there's a lot. There's like three go-tos for anybody that's having a bad day at the bench It's like people are looking and you're just gonna master those you'd be fine Like just confuses if it's a different material You like air ball a layup or something you just like you grab the boy kind of look at you bounce it a couple times Like all right. Yeah, it's not must not be regulation obvious. There is blow on the hands. He blow on the hands. Yeah I wish there were more blow on the hands things in life. Yeah, just yeah, just a rough scenario and you just go Warm up warm up the old palms my bad. I didn't know we were ready yet. We already started. Okay For a player cop I'd say I'm PJ Tucker I can shoot around 35% from three I can drive to the whole reasonably well I'm a good rebound or I'm probably about average defensively. One thing I definitely don't have is much of a handle I'm not creating my own shot off the dribble. You're probably not going to get it back at 46 I've been a fan of the show since SBP wanted to rant about Marathoners always telling you about their running accomplishments I never thought about writing it until now Just waking up from my dilemma. So we get this real early occasionally. I have a I have trouble falling asleep ever since I heard you say that your friends use the pot to put their kids asleep An entire group did it again this week in France or this summer in France. I was not in France again This apparently like this car loaded up with these people I was with and but I was in the other car and The kids were rambunctious and then one of the other guys is like put your silhouette and the kids fell asleep and they were like what the fuck? So I need to find the Kids book and I'm gonna do that in the next couple weeks. We're just gonna have a stand alone episode Where I read your kids. Yeah, you guys could cancel your calm subscription. We got you just put this one on a loop Yeah What happened to him? He's reading kids books kids are passing out left and raised killing is a huge following it's something you don't know Maui he's on kids YouTube, though. They're not gonna find it on regular YouTube. It's not kids you do All right occasionally I have trouble falling asleep. We said this I I tried it myself. It works great. There's just one problem. I have a dream about you or the show It's always some reincarnation of me having worked for you as a producer and then I text you to say what's up last That I was in a work all hands meeting someone mentioned that You're so the dream was I was at work all hands meeting someone mentioned that you're really good at cyber security Which happens to be my field my boss then went on a rant about how you suck at cyber security and told me to text you that he said it Well, fuck your boss What is wrong with me? I promise I never think about you outside of this. I have no broke crush I just like the pod and I like the fact that it helps me pass that over and again But when I wake up with this weird sense of embarrassment and then a lost air pod So what do I do give up on being able to pass out quickly or just live with the morning shame? I feel like those are my only two options here Going to be every night. Yeah
I'm not judging you. So we don't know each other. That should help. I'm not going to run in India probably ever. First off, this is dreams 101, right? Like you just, you think about, you dream about something you think about before bed and like that happens and then your brain just that's just what happens. So it's not all time though. And it's not like, I mean, I'm not, like it's not, they're not like weird dreams. Like they're just like, you know, I mean, weird things. You think I'd be bad at cybersecurity or good at it? I don't think it'd be enough for you. I don't know. Yeah. I don't think I'd be passionate about it. I think I can go through on the right track there. So maybe his boss is right. I think he had my back. Think of it that way. You listen to the show. You've been there since the SVP days. If somebody was going to trash me in an all hands meeting, you had my back, man. That means a ton to me dream or not. Couldn't you just beam something else into your ears that like maybe if maybe if music doesn't work, like what about a history show, you know, there's like a million world war two, like monotone, monotone guys that like, you know, you'll find the market here. It can't be me. Well, I mean, he's, he also listens to the show too, right? So I mean, it's just like he's got this relationship with you and it's weird in him out. He's freaked out, man. You can tell by the email. But by that logic, anything he listens to, he's going to dream about, feel weird about. So why not Ryan? Yeah, I'm not, I told him I was okay with it. Well, so maybe now that you know, it's not weird for him. Maybe that's all he needed. This was just like getting off his chest. You can say, if you don't, if you don't want to feel weird about how much you're dreaming about Ryan or Solo, then I think maybe just do beam something into your ear while you're going to sleep that you don't have a connection to. Also, you don't have to put air pods in your ears anymore. I hope you do find that. But there's like these sleep masks that have like, Oh, I don't know. Yeah, they have like headphones. You can even put something in your pillows now. There's like, there's way better options than like jamming an air putt in your ear. You guys dream about you ever? No, I don't think so. No, no, I don't, I'm trying to think not really. I do have one reoccurring dream though. And this is like an old school radio thing, Ryan. We're like, you know, like the silence alarms that we used to get back in the day when like it would be nothing going over the air. Like I'll, I'll wake up in a car like thinking about there being a silence alarm. And I haven't worked in radio and God knows how long. So that's always scary. Like on my co-hosts, when we filled in on Mike and Mike just decided upon himself to have a moment of silence for something and didn't tell anyone. And it means the entire network would shut down while we were on Mike and Mike and Mike. And then somebody got in my ear because I was driving and it's like, talk, talk, talk, talk. Why is that the right move? Why is that the right move that if there's 10 seconds of silence, everything shuts down? What? Like what, what, like what would that prevent that would be so horrible? Never heard of the Taliban? Yeah, but how does it track? How does it track that? I mean, I had to say a word that does sound sound serious, but like how does it? How do the dots connect? How does anything bad come from just like people being like, what's checking their radio dial for a second? Why would it shut down? Because they want they want the entire network like, I don't know, it's 400 something affiliates or something like that. So they wanted that meant at that time, there was dead air. And so I get it. Because the other guy said, let's have a moment of silence. He didn't tell anybody. And then I'm like, well, if I talk a second into his moment of silence, I'm going to be on 400 radio stations looking like an absolute dickhead. Yeah. But then nobody knows how to explain her. The entire system is shut down. Yeah. Ryan Resilla, awful announcing Ryan Resilla interrupts moment of silence just because to be a dick. And in the meanwhile, I have somebody in my ear being like, you have to talk, you have to talk to the entire system to shut down, talk, talk, talk. So it was a quick moment of silence. I was like, oh, okay. Thank you. And then you kind of like gave me a look. I'm like, you don't know what you're doing. You're just making this shit up right now. That was a wild, wild morning. Anyway, back to the dream thing. I don't know. I could maybe do some like positive thinking stuff. Let me try one. What if everything is actually going to be okay? There you go. You get anxiety. You worry about stuff? How about that? A little lesson. You had to play that one on a loop over and over again. I'll just read the kid's book. How about that? That was stupid. When you just do one of them, that's stupid. If you did like three good ones, I think it would have landed, but one you did enough. Yeah. I think Baltimore's offensive line can be good this year. Just do like tailored ones instead of cameo. Yeah. Yeah. That's good. Yeah. I'm not worried about Will Campbell at left tackle. Neither should you. That's a good one for me. Yeah. Yeah. That's like short arms. Jesus. Yeah. There you go. Kyle, you have short arms for your torso, right? Is that what you like? Will Campbell so much? All right. Well, now you lost me. I'm not supporting you. I thought you had shorter arms. Didn't you discuss this? I thought I had a longer. Measure it. So then legs. Get back to us next week. Okay. My brother just did this. Think I have a longer torso than legs. Yeah. Vampelts get a long torso, but he's a long guy. Yeah. So we know it's all kind of long. I think we're done. I think it's time. We're done talking. Have a great week, everybody. Go Pats. Thanks a time, Kevin, Saruti, and Kyle, all of our episodes available on Netflix, the Reiner's Silo Show, are still sports.
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