NFL 2025 Week 2 Preview + TNF Recap

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All right, Mark, let's play some fill-in-the-blank.

The Green Bay Packers are

superb.

This makes you feel

tingling feelings in my loins.

This should make the rest of the NFL feel

concerned.

Week two preview and TNF recap begins now.

Heyo, welcome to Heed the Call, an NFL podcast.

I'm Dan Hansis with Mark Sessler, Connor Orr, Justin Graver on the ones and twos,

and it is the week two preview slash TNF recap.

And man, I'm feeling good.

I'm feeling love.

I'm feeling the love.

And I think it's that love is going to project all through this episode because, Mark, real quick bit of housekeeping.

We did the YouTube subscribe challenge just 24 hours ago for our midweek end around show and we had over 400 new subscribers in less than 24 hours, putting us over the 23k mark.

And we got so much love for our heatedness and the heatedness sent it back to us.

So thank you to all of you.

I do.

I like housekeeping.

I like to thank them as well.

It's like

I understand that

verbally at times on the show, I've been rough on the listener.

Or to me, it's discipline in the sense that a parent would discipline a child.

But now I'm proud of them.

They've accomplished something, and you're watching people that you love, young people that you love, do what you want them to do, which is helpful.

Right on the edge, Connor, of patronizing from Mark there.

Right on the edge.

Just walking that tightrope.

Also dangerous to have that reward mentality as a parent.

You have to love them through the bad times when they're not doing what you want them to do, too.

Well, there are many lessons I could learn on that front.

So anyway, thank you to everybody and let's keep banging that subscribe if you haven't, uh, because that is very important to the show.

Uh, what's also important?

Talking ball.

So, yes, coming up in just a little bit, we're gonna break down everything.

And by the way, we have a new guest on the show, Brian Baldinger.

Balding himself is going to become a weekly contributor, uh, breaking down tape and the things that he's excited about in week two.

But let's start by the first game that was played in week two to Lambeau Fields.

We go.

Oh,

sesame, oh, sess dog,

Maybe the course is over.

Mark Sesler is behind a winner.

Jordan Love.

Oh, man, does Jordan Love look comfortable?

19 of 31 for 292, two touchdowns, no picks,

almost nine and a half yards per attempt

in just a wonderful offensive performance for the Packers who roll the Washington Commanders 27 to 18.

It wasn't even that close.

This is one of those games where at one point it was, I think, what, 17, 10 or thereabouts.

And

it felt as if the game was 71 to 10.

The Packers were in total control the whole time.

And it's a really good sign because out of the gates, Mark, Green Bay has quite easily dispatched the Detroit Lions and the Washington Commanders, who were two of the best teams in the NFC last year.

And it looks like Green Bay is one of the best teams in the NFL this year so far.

All that happened happened early was that a major penalty stopped Green Bay from marching for what would have been another score.

There was a missed field goal because it's like, I'm with you.

It seemed like they were just going to separate and drop like an A bomb on this team at some point.

And they kind of like the commanders stuck around.

The difference about this team is like they're the youngest team in the NFL.

And they're kind of all growing up at the same time.

It's like a school that becomes dominant.

I can't like, and I think one of the teachers is Jeff Hafley, who probably his agent is getting calls left and right, like, we're interested in you when this season concludes because we'd like you as a head coach.

He is like an unforgiving captain of a monster ship.

I think two weeks in a row, they've broken a pair of teams we thought could have made the NFC title team this year.

And I love seeing Matt LaFleur furious at the sideline, at the refs, at a couple of his own players.

Like they just seem to me

like it's not just Micah Parsons.

It's everything around Micah Parsons, but that's working out too.

Like everything's just kind of working.

This is a Jordan Love who has graduated and that's why they're fun to watch.

And I thought they should have won by much more tonight, but they were two weeks in a row, they've been dominant defensively.

I think they've got great lines and it's just the way you win in today's NFC.

Made some calls on Jeff Hafley last year, and he interviewed for the Jets job, actually.

And I talked to the athletic director at Boston College, and he was like, you know, know, I'm just going to be real with you here.

We're not getting the best players.

And this guy is winning a lot of games that he shouldn't have as the head coach at Boston College.

And you can see how he's just transforming everybody.

Then you give him Micah Parsons, you forget about it.

I mean, he was over the A gap today.

He was on both ends.

He was standing up.

He was doing everything.

And the way that that one singular player can impact everything, throw off the balance of everything, and then he can play off of that.

He's the creativity knows knows no bounds at this point.

Yeah, Parsons, and you know, that was a popular talking point all around this game that every time they isolated Parsons on the telecast on Amazon, it was just like he was just kicking someone's ass.

So, and he's still, he's working his snap count up, and uh, but his impact on this team

is it could be incalculable.

I mean, it could be one of those moves that is the final piece, a team that is a fringe contender and turns them into a legitimate Super Bowl contender.

That's how they look right now.

Every year, there's a team that comes out of the gates that just is coming at a different speed right now.

And listen, there's 30 other teams that still have to play their second game.

But right now, it's going to be hard to come out of this week saying that anybody else is more confident than Packers fans off this game.

I mean, in addition to love looking good and comfortable, Tucker Kraft going six for a buck 24, just roaming like wide open prairie lands in this game,

just making it look easy.

And Jordan Love getting incredible pass protection.

And when you give Love protection the way he's getting, he's going to do some serious damage, Sesee.

They seem to just have so many different types of weapons because I'd throw Luke Musgrave into that mix too as another tight end.

And everyone contributes.

And it's like, if you're a fantasy player, it's a confusing mix on who to pick there.

But I love the offense.

And I thought that tonight, when it mattered most, LaFleur unfurled two or three very creative plays.

There was a Wildcat play that no one was expecting.

They, to me, just seem at the height of their game when it comes to strategy, coaching, the right coaches, the right mix, and the right players.

I mean,

you couldn't really plan anything better.

Now, I don't want you saying like the curse of Mark is over because it is week two, and then there's a lot more to unfurl.

And like, that worries me a little bit.

But they look like a rounded-out

a ship ready to destroy people the thing about the recursive mark is that you you tend to pick teams that aren't actually good and then they they're on a little streak like this feels like a different type of team that you've selected so if something goes wrong with this packers team it's going to be a problem on the washington side connor um are you worried at all about this cliff kingsbury offense

I'm a little bit worried in the fact that I actually went back because the Packers were getting so much of a jump on this that I went back and I watched at halftime Jaden Daniels' snaps against the Giants to see if there was some sort of a tell.

Like, is the center popping his head up before he's snapping the ball?

Is there something that Laramie Tunsell is doing to give some of these guys such a good jump?

I mean, there were eight pressures the week before, and then seemingly on every down tonight.

And so, not only that, but you watch the way that Green Bays, even their linebackers on the second level, were reacting to this stuff.

They were right in the gaps for every run play.

They were jumping a lot of these shorter routes that Jaden Daniels had success on a year ago.

That's what concerns me because either there wasn't an evolution in the offseason or they can't get into the flow of their offense.

Something doesn't look like it's working here.

No, in fact, if you kind of look a little closer at the game here, they got a fair amount of their yardage in garbage time.

They put up 15 points in the fourth quarter, and I think they finished, what, 230 total yards?

Is that right?

230 total yards for the commanders in this game.

Now, they had well over 400 yards against the Giants, even if the scoring wasn't where it needed to be.

But yeah, the offense was a little bit ragged in this one.

Very, very big bummer.

Austin Eckler at the end of this game suffers a non-contact Achilles

injury, and you could tell just by the way he was reacting on the bench.

There's a very good chance he ruptures

Achilles, and at his age, that might be the last time you ever play.

That's just a kind of reminder of the nature of pro football, that it could all end that quickly.

And I hope that's not the case.

But they also lose now Eckler for the year, who had a role on this team.

And I thought he looked good in week one.

And now it's most likely they'll have to go on without him as well.

So a disappointing game overall for Washington, for sure.

Conversely, they're the oldest team in the league, and it's guys like Eckler that they were hanging their hat on.

And that's a Dan Quinn decision on some level.

It's like, what kind of team do you want to build?

And a little more prone to injury.

Strange balance, though, too, right?

I mean, week one, they were the second highest percentage of rookies that were playing in games.

But at the same time, you're still heavily dependent on, like you said, Bobby Wagner, Debo Samuels, Zach Ertz.

And so where does this kind of balance out and how does it make sense?

Whereas Green Bay seems like a little more cohesive.

Everybody's rising at one time, you know?

Very, very promising start to this season.

for the Green Bay Packers.

And remember, the commanders also traded Brian Robinson to the 49ers late in the summer.

So that running back depth chart is now very thin.

And who's that, who they have at right tackle today?

That was

Josh Connerly.

Oh, my goodness.

He learned some hard lessons about the NFL.

A lot of crazy stuff.

Real quick with the telecast, two things, takeaways before we take a quick break and then get into week two preview.

One,

I thought it was a little peek behind the curtain.

You know, they have like 14 people on the dais, Richard Sherman, the old lineman from the Rams,

Carissa Thompson, Tony Gonzalez, still waiting for him to say something.

Three or four other people.

I think Fitzmagic is there.

At one point, Al goes, you know, I go, oh, yeah, I went out to dinner with you guys, but I turned in around 10.

And I could tell you guys were just warming up.

And then they just started openly talking about him and Kirk that all these people just rage out of control on Wednesday night before the game.

I just thought that was interesting.

It's like, Kirk is like, oh, yeah, they really know how to turn it up on a Wednesday night.

It's like, is everyone okay for this telecast?

It's like Kirk and Al are spooning at 8 p.m.

And then I think we were all on the same page on this on the text thread.

Is

you know Al doesn't eat vegetables, so he's already kind of a little out there, right?

He's never had one.

Al Michaels, is he a moon landing denier?

You be the judge.

Joe Buck wasn't sure it was a full one.

It was close enough.

That's, you know, what can I tell you?

I look at that thing and I said, people landed on that thing?

Steal Armstrong.

Oh, my God.

What a night and day that was, huh?

1969.

Just drifting off into the wilderness.

It's like, what a night and day that was.

It's like he's talking about an orgy he had with Adam West in the Hollywood Hills or something.

All right.

Thursday night football.

Good job, Mark.

I hope this team just goes crazy because, like I said, that if you look at their schedule, now that they knocked off the lines of commanders, now they got your Browns and then they got the Cowboys.

And, you know, they have a chance to really get out ahead of the pack in the NFC North.

And it would not surprise me.

All right, let's take a break, real quick one, and then we'll dive into all the week two previews.

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All right, we are back.

We are just getting getting warmed up.

Thursday Night Football in the rear view, but we have a full slate of week two games to get through.

And as we told you last week, what is the goal?

Ceci, what is the goal of the preview episode?

It is to get you, the football fan, ready and know what to be looking for when you sit down on your couch or love seat or,

I don't know, prison bench.

I, you know, I don't know.

I don't know what your setup is, you know, Mark.

I can't say.

You're speaking to me.

Oh, it's a love seat.

You're talking like where I'd watch these.

You know, we're going to tell you which games to watch and which you can watch later if you want, but it's always on a love seat.

I like to think of your, I've been in your Hollywood apartment, but still, I almost wish I haven't been in it because I want to keep the mystery.

I like to think of your apartment with your beautiful fiancé.

I like to think of it as

Don Draper with the French zoobie-zooby-zoo woman where like it's one of those things where it's a chain hanging from the ceiling and it's a plastic see-through seat that you sit on and the shag carpeting everywhere and incense burning at all times.

It's basically the summer of love at all times at Sessler Manor.

I don't want to dash the illusion, but it is essentially an L-shaped couch at the moment.

But I understand where you're coming from.

Don't shatter the illusion.

All right.

Let us get into it.

As we said, we're going to break it into the early window, late window, and what we do when we look at that early slate.

How many games we got in the early slate today?

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine games in the early window.

Okay.

Let's open up the quad box.

Let's freaking go, quad box.

Brang.

All right, here we go.

Find a way to pound this thing in there.

Yep.

I'm annoyed now.

I don't enjoy a man.

But it gets caught at

all right.

The quad box.

So here are the four four games that we

heartily endorse and believe you should be watching

on Sunday.

I'll get us going and

let's go number 21 in our power rankings, our maligned power rankings, Bears at number eight Lions.

We got Kenny Albert and Johnny Vilmon.

Vilm on the call?

Man, this does feel like a different type of year for the Lions right now.

On the call for Fox.

And, you know, these are two teams that could use a win.

I know it's early, and it's like the season's not over, whoever loses this game, but the vibes are going to be real bad

for the team that doesn't win this game.

I would say they'd be even worse, barring a blowout loss for the Bears, where it's just really grim.

I think

it would be worse for the Detroit Lions, who they were just so out of sorts against the Packers.

And I'm willing, Mark, to give them a mulligan

for that.

It's week one.

They're on the road the packers the packers had a really good day um if the lions offense is stuck in mud again while ben johnson is across the field on the other sideline i'm going to start being very nervous that detroit might have lost a lot of the uh ingredients that made that team special especially in offense you'd like to think that They go home to their dome where the game splits have been different for their offense in general and for Jared Goff.

And you reorganize and you get it together.

But I I think what we saw last week, this is a team that led the league in scoring a year ago,

dominant down the stretch in late in games when their run game would just pound people.

They had 3.8 yards per play last week, their worst output since 2020.

I just don't see an explosive offense at this point.

And, you know, there's been whispers about the communication between the new coordinator and Jared Goff.

And that was such a key element, Connor, to what was happening in these past couple of years.

So it's like, how long will this take?

It might take a little bit of time to warm up, but Lions fans will be freaking out if it doesn't happen this Sunday.

And I don't even think we're just juxtaposing the Lions offense against Ben Johnson.

We also have Tanner Ingstron over with Dan's Jets, who put up 30 points on opening weekend, looked fantastic.

You know, I heard from just some people around the league saying that we haven't seen Justin Fields look that comfortable as a passer since he was at Ohio State.

And he was a candidate for that OC job when Ben Johnson left.

But I think everybody there in that building knew that Dan Campbell was going to ride with Johnny Morton.

That's been his guy since day one.

But we don't talk a lot about the fact that he's had a quick hook before.

I mean, Anthony Lynn was at one time the offensive coordinator of this team before Ben Johnson was promoted.

Scotty Montgomery is another good coach on that staff who I think deserves a look there at that position.

And so how long does he let this linger if it doesn't look good while other options are excelling?

I wonder.

And, you know, like we said, we have Baldy coming up a little bit later.

And when I asked him about Caleb Williams, but on the you know, other areas of the Chicago side, you know, one of the reasons I had some fun about J.J.

McCarthy winning NFC Player of the Week was because it's not like he lit up the box score.

He had essentially a good,

you know, quarter and quarter and a half or so, right?

And I thought overall, defensively, Chicago was encouraging in that game with Dennis Allen as the new DC.

And so if you want to, it's hard to wash the taste out of Monday Night Football out of the mouths of Bears fans, but there was a lot of good, I thought, defensively, including a pick six in the game for the Bears to take out of that.

And now, maybe you're catching the Lions at the right time.

Maybe the Lions, like we're saying, it's going to take a month or it's going to take six weeks for them to figure it out.

They have so much talent on offense that I feel like they will eventually get back to some approximation of a top 10-level offense.

But maybe the Bears catch a break here in terms of their matchup right now, because I thought, Connor, there was a lot good to take out of Chicago's defense in week one.

Well, there's no doubt.

And I don't think that there's a person on earth who knows that personnel in Detroit as well as Ben Johnson.

I mean, that guy stretched it every which way.

And the new trend, and while it sounds dumb, a lot of teams don't actually do this.

Offensive coordinators, play callers, and defensive coordinators sitting together, sharing information and asking questions about what can I do to make life miserable for somebody else.

And so you know that Dennis Allen and Ben Johnson are having that powwow because Ben Johnson's like, I know what routes this guy can't run.

I know what blocks this guy can't make.

I know everything about this team, probably more so than any other offensive coordinator in the NFL knew about his team.

And so I think that's a huge baked in advantage there.

Fun matchup.

Fun matchup.

All right, let's move on.

Next game in the quad box.

Connor, hit us.

All right, I swear to God, I am not going to talk about one of the teams in this matchup at all.

I want to use this as a forum to talk about one of my new pet projects, one of my new favorite players, and I think it has very interesting implications.

I'm, yes, going Giants, Cowboys.

I'm not talking at all about the team that plays down the street from me.

What I am talking about

is Dallas's run defense, which blew my mind in week one.

And they have a seventh-round pick, Jay Toya, who's just my new favorite guy, like massive defensive tackle from UCLA.

This team gave it to the Eagles less than three yards of carry for called

for called runs against them last week.

If, and Jerry Jones said, they're going on the radio this week, they're going with the same lineup for this team.

They liked what they saw in week one.

What if he's right?

And what if the addition of Kenny Clark and Jay Toya and what if this thing becomes incredibly stout against the run?

And it's not that hard to shut down Cam Scatabo and the Giants, but what if through two weeks, they're doing exactly what they said they were going to do trading Micah Parsons?

I still think it's a dumb trade, and I still think Micah Parsons is awesome, and they should have kept him.

But what happens if this is like the best rush def one of the best rush defenses in the NFL through two weeks of the season?

Well,

okay.

I can accept that that would be a positive for them.

But I would say, in general, in today's NFL, you could find Kenny Clark is a special interior lineman.

I get that, but you could find bodies for a lot less than what you had had to do here.

But you got the picks too.

And so I don't think it's complete mythology.

I just think it's a tough sell.

And like, I'm going to need to see that over nine or 10 weeks.

It's good to have a nice run defense, but you're also missing arguably the best defensive player in the NFL.

And you're rebuilding down, you know, you're looking ahead to tomorrow.

And that's got to be part of the sell, too.

Well, that's not what they think, though.

I think part of what, and we don't have to believe them, but they actually think the guys that they have in the building have an opportunity to develop.

And I saw some of that.

Now, the pass rush wasn't dominant, but it was against the Eagles, too.

I mean, that's a tough, tough matchup to draw on the round.

Joe Hurts is one of the most pressured quarterbacks in week one.

Oh, well, there you go.

There you go.

And that surprised me a little bit, actually.

But I feel like that game, I watched that about six months ago at this point.

But yeah, like

I'm open to seeing if the Cowboys have internally scouted and actually can put together

a pretty formidable front.

And if they can, yeah, not only are they set up down the line,

this team can just start to kind of find itself a little bit.

I think there's a really nice setup for the Cowboys who probably were obviously disappointed at how things started, ended in Philadelphia.

But now you get the Giants at home, and I think they're going to kill the Giants in this game.

I think what we saw on offense

from the Eagles is more than enough for me to think that they're going to move the ball at will against this New York defense.

The one thing to keep an eye on, you know who stunk against the Eagles was Tyler Guyton, their left tackle.

The Giants, we know the Giants' strength.

The Giants did a nice job getting after the quarterback as expected against Washington.

That could be a major problem.

Got to keep Dak clean, but otherwise, I feel very good about Dallas here.

Like you said, what if, okay, so they're two balls from CeeDee Lamb away from possibly beating the Super Bowl champions in week one.

And what if it's just like last year?

They waxed this team and put up 40 points.

And Clayton Adams, the offensive coordinator there, who not a lot of people were talking about after week one, but designed the hell out of that running game.

What if they do that again with like Miles Sanders and Javante Williams?

What if, and all of a sudden we're sitting here and I have a lot of very mean things that I have to take back about Terry Jones, right?

But like, I don't know.

I just, I'm very interested to see what happens.

Yeah.

I like, I like this for the quad box.

Some people might not think it's a good one.

I think it is.

And yes, there is also all the melodrama at quarterback with the Giants.

This could be Russell Wilson's final game if things go the way

you say.

And you're right.

I think that's always something to keep in the back of your mind.

Like, we're perpetually on Jackson Dart Watch at this point.

Yeah.

We do know that Connor has picked this because it's on his local plug-in.

Um, we have a lot of it.

So, I mean, this is Connor or

Justin.

Oh, Justin.

I'll give you another chance.

Titan down.

Uh-oh.

Sausie H.

Fingers is at it again.

What?

He has time for the gravedigger drop?

Well, I have to, or you'll yell at me.

Look, this is a draft show Patreon drop.

So obviously I don't have it ready to hit on this show.

Yes, Connor, if you're not aware, has the he's the last man standing, the last millennial standing that has not cut the cord.

All right.

This has nothing to do with convenience and everything to do with spreading the gospel about Jay Toya.

Check it out.

I can believe you.

This is about Toya.

It's all about Toya, baby.

All right.

Next up in the quad box, Ceci.

Okay,

I already know I'm going to get killed by the listeners for this.

We can't think that way, Mark.

We can't think that way.

We need the...

What's the Cecily?

Because you're trying to help the listeners in spite of themselves.

What's the game that needs to be in the quad box?

Take it away, Mark.

This to me

is personal.

What is it, Mark?

It is Browns at Ravens.

And

I want to tell you why, because, number one, the Ravens,

they have got to be angry.

And so

the Browns, we understand, are a bottom three, five team at this point, who played very well and almost beat the Bengals at home.

But you give them

the Bengals and then the Ravens on the road in the second week.

And the NFL knew.

That the Baltimore Ravens were arranging a 30-year anniversary celebration of being ripped out of the belly of the Cleveland Browns

and brought to Baltimore.

You know who's going to be on the sideline before the Browns have to go deal with an irate Lamar Jackson?

Ozzie Newsom.

Bud Carson.

Oh, Ozzie Newsome.

Not Bud Carson, but Ozzie Newsom standing next to Jonathan Ogden and Ray Lewis, who the Browns had traded picks for the year before they moved with an organized plan to take these two players.

And so now Browns fans, and again, if you're a Ravens fan and you're 25, none of this registers.

You don't care.

You probably don't know the history.

But this is an NFL could have prevented this.

I am certain.

They knew that the Ravens were planning this for the opening weekend, and they stick Cleveland right in the middle of this fiasco.

And Joe Flacco, of all people, is going to be the quarterback for the Browns.

It's very visually confusing.

First of all,

it's not quite at the level of skullduggery of Gravy's

Titans and stealing the

worst uniforms.

But

it's unnecessary.

And to quote Roger Dorne, third baseman of the Cleveland Indians in major league, when he walked up to Wild Thing Ricky Vaughn in the tiebreaker game, having known that Ricky Vaughn had inadvertently slept with his wife earlier,

like a couple days earlier.

And he set it all aside in that moment, Dorne.

Even though he wanted to kill Ricky Vaughn for what he had done, even inadvertently, he had the baseball.

Vaughn knows that Dorn knows.

And he's wondering, is he going to punch me in the face on this pitcher's mound in front of millions of people?

And you know what he said?

He pounded the ball in the glove of Ricky and he said, strike this motherfucker out.

That's what the Browns got to do to the Ravens.

That's how you got it.

That's how you stick it to them.

And guess what?

I'll say this, Mark.

I'm going to get out of the way because I want to hear your thoughts.

But I really liked the way the Browns played against the Bengals.

I really did.

I was wrong to keep them at 32 in the power rankings.

They really gave Cincinnati fits, and they made all the mistakes that bad teams make when they can't get out of their own way, big drops, and obviously field goal troubles, but so much about

some of their rookies and how they play defensively and Miles Garrett being at the top of his game.

Like, I don't think

the only thing I would say that sucks is that the Ravens lost in such a heartbreaking manner on Sunday night that they might just kick the shit out of you for that reason.

But I'd love to see it the other way around.

Right.

You lose lose to the Bengals with by one point with a missed PAT, a horrendous missed field goal, and two would-be interceptions that were dropped.

And you held them to seven yards in the second half.

So I do think that this defense in the right team, and I like them playing the division opponent, Connor, they've given the Ravens problems before.

I don't think this is the Ravens team or the Browns team where that's going to happen, but I hope that they respond and come out with some fire.

Most of these guys weren't even born when the Browns moved.

We got a Quidjon Judkins watch, watch, too.

Tommy Reese said he's monitoring his progress.

There's no league investigation that's been wrapped up.

So by my understanding, he's still clear to play and good to go.

And so I'd love to see what Tommy Reese can do with this guy.

I think if they can diversify their run game a little bit, they could make life a little bit harder for them.

Carol Fannin, the rookie, had seven catches in that game.

Dylan Sampson had eight.

Yeah, I think this was a young team.

The young players on this team were fantastic week one.

And Mason Graham, their top pick, was probably the least impressive out of all of the young guys, too.

So let's see what he's got.

And neither INT was Flacco's fault.

I thought he played well too.

So

I'm willing to be open-minded that the Browns, you know,

like gather up all the ghosts and demons under the Berea complex and stick it to the Ravens, but they're catching the Ravens in a very bad mood.

I don't like that.

All right.

Last game in the quad box, Justin Graver.

All right.

A lot of choices left here that I'd actually like to watch, a couple that I don't care about.

But the one I'm going with is, you'll be happy, Dan, Bills at Jets.

Let's get that in the quad box.

Jim Nance, Tony Romo, got to get that game in there.

Bills' offense was unstoppable last week.

The Jets had a surprisingly good-looking offense last week, and the Bills struggled on defense until the very end of that game when they came up with the turnover and the stop that they needed.

But can the Jets keep it rolling against a divisional opponent that has owned this division for a while?

Obviously, they didn't come out with a win last week, but can they keep that offense rolling?

And on the Bills side, can they tighten up the defense a little bit and actually look like the team that's at the top of our power rankings?

Because we put them there, I think, on the strength of Josh Allen and a big emotional win.

But when you dive into the numbers, like this Bills' defense is a little concerning.

So I'm curious to see how these teams look in week two.

Yeah, the matchup.

on paper looks good for the Jets when you look at how well the offensive line played, the fact that they have a very mobile quarterback in Justin Fields, the fact that Brees Hall looks so good running the football.

And there's a little bit of a, I'm not saying they're the same level player, but one-to-one

where that's what the Ravens were killing the Bills with, a mobile quarterback and a good running game.

So I'm, Connor, I'm

cautiously optimistic that they could string together two good games in a row.

It's a really big ask to go up there and win the game.

But again, at this point, I'll take moral victories if

the team looks coherent and the offense, it wasn't just some flash in the pan against the Steelers.

Watching how Quinnen Williams moved in week one, I mean, that speed from a defensive tackle position is still kind of a, not a poison pill for Josh Allen, but it is one of his Achilles heels where you have a guy who can keep up with him in the pocket and try to keep him.

maintained or at least not running all over you.

And even if he does run, you have a guy that's going to make him pay and take hits that he doesn't want to take.

And so I do think that there's something there for the Jets.

I mean, they invested all this draft capital in pass rushers, in the defensive front.

Beat up Josh Allen a little bit.

I mean, don't let him do what he did against Baltimore.

And I think that they can do it.

Aaron Glenn plays a lot of man coverage, which, you know, is good for a running quarterback because people are heading in the other direction.

And

he's faced.

He's faced Allen twice, and Allen, I think, had 80-something yards and 68 on the ground.

This offense is a little bit different.

I think if Sauce Gardner could take care of Keon Coleman, who looks better and better, like it's little things like that, where this Jets team, I thought, battled last week.

It was a new type of Jets team in many ways.

And it would be a huge moment for Aaron Glenn to handle Buffalo in this situation.

It's a tall order, but they beat him without Aaron Rodgers a couple years ago.

I mean, I think inside the division, this is a possible, possible sneaky win.

I should, yeah, I should correct myself because it is not Norton Park.

It's at the Meadowlands.

Very encouraged by Sauce Gardner's week one.

Strategically, something that Robert Sala was never into doing or Jeff Ulbricht was letting Sauce travel with the opposing number one.

He did that.

And DK Metcalf had one catch against Sauce in coverage last week.

And it was that juggling circus free catch that led to their game-winning field goal.

So I don't even really count that as getting beat.

So it's like, I like that.

I really like his chances of shutting down the Bills' number one wide receiver.

What I worry about is, are you going to do the things that the Salah Ulbric Jets struggled with, contain on the quarterback?

I don't want to see Allen rolling out the back door, Connor, and just picking up 20 yards after you've plastered on defense.

Can they be disciplined?

Allen's an impossible guy to stop, but the Jets do have some history, a positive history against them, including two wins in the last three games at the Metal Ends.

Some of the best ingredients are good interior pressure and fast guys off the edges.

They have both.

They have a good defensive coach.

Let it roll.

Jim Nance and Tony Romo.

We'll get get a look at Romo face again.

You've been waiting.

I've been counting down the minutes.

There's no way that didn't get back to him, by the way.

I mean, that's, you know.

I know.

You know what?

Justin is an incredible producer, and he picked up on the, oh, this is a talker.

And then he put it out on social media.

And I kind of cringed a little bit.

I was like, shit, I don't want to be that guy that's like saying, look how weird this guy looks.

Not exactly what I was saying, but you look different.

I did too until I saw my side-by-side Angels in the Outfield comp, and it was pretty good.

It's pretty good.

That becomes problematic.

Hit the ding.

Angels in the Outfield just got into another show, even as a callback to the prior.

Yes!

Yes!

All right, Tony Danza.

Rest in peace.

I mean, the character in the film, as I recall.

Mel Clark.

Yep.

Yeah.

All right, let's spin over to the late games.

There's only three, I believe, on the late game schedule.

So if we're doing two screens,

what's on the big screen, Mark?

Well, there's an overt, obvious answer.

It's the Eagles at the Chiefs, Super Bowl rematch.

And I don't put a lot of, I don't know what to put into this because the Chiefs have changed a bit.

But the last two times we've seen them on defense in the Super Bowl and last week, they've been taken care of.

And the Eagles destroyed them on the ground.

And then you get the Chargers taking care of them with Justin Herbert through the air.

So they're at this point where I don't just assume the defense is going to be a major factor.

If the offense, they're missing Xavier Worthy, they're missing Rashi Rice.

Like, you're really compromised at this point.

You didn't run the ball a week ago.

This is kind of this weird place.

It sort of reminds me of the Lions.

If they go 0-2 and it looks really bad, like, we suddenly think very differently about the Chiefs, despite the fact that the Ravens also went 0-2 a year ago after a loss to the Raiders, and people were freaking out, and then they wind up 12-5.

So it's like, I don't know when to panic, and I'm not going to sit around panicking about the Chiefs, but they're suddenly back where it seems like they were before with injuries, and I can't trust the defense.

Well, also, we saw it seven months ago in the biggest of all stages.

They're a bad matchup.

The Eagles are a bad matchup for the Chiefs.

I mean, Connor, like, what,

you've been on this, and I agree with you.

Like, we shouldn't be focusing on like, oh, is Patrick McMahomes not magical anymore?

He is, but he's just like any other quarterback, even the best ones of all time.

Like, you need, he needs to have some more proper villains around him, and he just simply doesn't do it.

He doesn't have it right now.

The worthy injury sucks.

And Kelsey, while maybe he looked a little more limber because he lost some weight and is taking things seriously, he still looked like a middle-of-the-road tight end at this stage.

I thought in week one, the PFF popped the hood metrics, bared that out.

They had him right in the middle of the pack.

It's just like, where do the points come from?

Because we know the Eagles, I think, will score points in this game, right?

I think so.

And the reason why I think the Eagles are going to score points, and by the way, PFF hates Jay Toya, so I hate PFF.

So I'm just putting that out there.

Yeah, they're big.

Big anti-Toya, but that's okay.

I watch the game.

They call him La Toya, which is, I think, disrespectful after the Jackson sister.

Or settling scores.

Settle down, Dave.

I reached out to a couple people after week one, and one of the things that got flagged for me after that Eagles game was, look at what they did with Jahan Dotson.

And so I actually went back and I watched a bunch of

Jahan Dotson last year in Philly, and he was almost always in a service role where he's like, I'm going to run a route that's going to kind of get Devonta Smith or A.J.

Brown open, and this is going to be how I'm going to help the Eagles open up the offense.

They flipped the script and they had that giant 51-yard game to him on that big, slow post down the middle.

He worked all summer with Jalen Hurts to develop that rapport and that relationship.

He's a former first-round pick that just didn't get any run with the commanders.

If they have a legit, streaky deep threat who the other guys can get open, that's a dimension that this team didn't have necessarily last year.

And I think that they are building the foundation to call some wild shit with these guys later.

That's why A.J.

Brown scored like 2.5 points for my fantasy team.

I love this development for me.

Jihad Campbell, by the way,

played very well in his first game.

So

he had, according to PFF, sorry, Connor, the fourth highest PFF coverage grade at the linebacker position in week one.

So if that is, if you're worried that, man, if you're thinking as a Chiefson, we're going to need a big Travis Kelsey game.

Well, what if Campbell locks down Kelsey?

Where does the quarterback go with the ball?

I'm very,

you know,

this is a tough spot for them.

Now, the Eagles, let's just say this, though, right?

The Eagles didn't play very well in week one.

They are, of course, getting back Jalen Carter after his his weird suspension.

So that's going to be a big lift for them and additional problems, obviously, for Mahomes and the Chiefs' offense.

But my eye will be out a little bit on what version of the Eagles we see because I thought they were a little sloppy and uninspired and squeezing by the Cowboys.

One little ethereal nugget to this.

Back in 2023, the Eagles rode into Kansas City, won, went 9-1, and Siriani was giving the bird to all the the fans and mouthing off to them.

And then they nosedived after that, so it was sort of a turning point.

Yes.

So keep an eye out for that as well.

I don't think he's going to do that again.

He should.

Sure.

He should?

Why?

Why should he give the finger to the fans?

What did they do?

Well, I just think it's one of those things where

they wanted him gone

at this point last year.

Five weeks into the season, they were calling him a crazy person, and he won the Super Bowl and now he has money and contractual security.

It's like a

professor with tenure.

You can just do whatever the f you want.

Yeah, but there's also something to be said for your head coach not being an asshole goon,

giving fans the best.

In other places, maybe, but this is like Philadelphia.

Milieu, you know, this is who he is.

Agree to disagree on that.

That middle finger up in the air.

You know, maybe, maybe like over in Tennessee, we could use Brian Callahan, could have some of that energy to him.

But, you know, I would be disappointed if my head coach, Aaron Glenn, a man of class and dignity, did the same thing.

You would eat that up.

Class and dignity is not something that is valued at a high level

amongst the world that he inhabits, Mr.

Siriani.

I'm disappointed in both of you, quite honestly, for your take on this.

I remember you used to salivate over vintage Rex Ryan.

You didn't care.

You loved it.

You ate it up.

Talk about the originator of this in this century, please.

Rex was a goon.

You know, he was, but he was our goon, you know.

Okay, so that, sure,

okay.

But guess what?

Nick Siriani is not my goon, so why should I protect him?

I don't understand.

He's not your goon.

Yeah, but he is a goon.

You're not protecting a goon in individuality.

What you're doing is you're protecting the right to goon.

It's bigger than you.

It's a whole thing.

Yeah.

Okay.

Dan's like, no, I'm not.

Okay.

You guys, you know,

this is idiocracy in real time, and I'm moving on right now.

We talk football.

The president is going to be a professional wrestler next.

Maybe he already is, actually.

All right.

What else?

Oh, one more game.

Connor, grab.

What's the small screen game?

I'm going to double dip on the Colts.

I had them last week in my draft, and then they're playing the Broncos this week.

What I want to see is what are you going to do with Daniel Jones now?

Because he became the first quarterback, obviously, since 1978 last week to score on all seven of his possessions.

And the reason that was because the Colts basically just gave him the keys to the car.

They said, you check at the line of scrimmage.

You get yourself into positions where you're comfortable.

That can work against a very bad Miami Dolphins defense.

That's not going to work against Vance Joseph.

So how does the mind meld work with Shane Steichen?

Is he still going to give Daniel Jones that confidence and say, no, no, we're riding with you.

We believe in you.

So I'm going to watch that.

Watch how active he is at the line or lack thereof in that game.

And that's what gets me really fired up and excited.

If the Colts go 2-0, I'm going to be obnoxious as shit on this show.

I don't know.

It might, well, maybe it will be bounced out when Russell Wilson gets benched in week two, also.

But here's the thing: like, this one is screaming.

And I'd be happy to be wrong because it's a fun story.

And I like when the league zigs when you expect it to zag.

But the Colts profile to me as the perfect ideal example of why you week one lies and don't get too excited.

Daniel Jones,

I give him all the credit for taking advantage of a sleepwalking, zombified Dolphins team.

He had a very positive game script in front of him within about six minutes into the game, and then he played within himself, and he really did look good.

I'm giving him all the credits.

The Denver Broncos defense is not going to be the same as what we just saw the Dolphins pretend to put out there as professional football.

And I think if

Daniel Jones comes out of this playing well, it's going to be one of the biggest stories in the NFL.

So I'm cool with it as our second screen.

I just also think we might be giving our listeners right now a second screen where the game is 31 to 3 in the third quarter, potentially.

I'll say this, though, okay?

So I don't feel good about Denver defense, Mark, against Daniel Jones and the Colts offense, okay?

I just don't.

Man,

was the Denver offense with that quarterback bad?

Bo Nix was terrible.

And this is a much improved Colts defense, A much improved Colts defense.

And, you know, you can give him a bit of a pass.

It's week one.

He had a bad day at the office.

But my radar is up a little bit after that because not only did he throw multiple, have multiple turnovers in that game, he could have had even more when you go and watch the tape, including a pick six that they nearly got on.

I mean, he was that bad.

So let's see.

I mean, the Colts could have an opportunity if Nick's keeps them in the game, but I think they're going to struggle to score points here.

If Chris Ballard has done one thing well, and it's

it well, no, he stretches back a number of years.

I think that their front seven and pieces on their defense have for years when they've had no quarterback, the defense has been punishing and rugged.

They've got some huge-bodied people there.

I do want to see how that defense performs.

Connor, the thing you said, like if at this stage in his career, Danny Dimes is now being allowed to control audibles and everything at the line of scrimmage, he's not the first guy I would peg to excel at that based on what we've seen historically.

I will say this, like against the Dolphins, this is an acid test of a different nature.

The Dolphins provided the third lowest amount of pressure against Danny Dimes in his entire career, and they have a broken secondary.

So now you're playing a completely different type of operation.

Colts have weapons, though.

I think it's a little undersold how many pieces they have on offense that can do different things.

And it's probably the best environment that Jones has ever been in.

Right.

I mean, I think even with neighbors, even with the 2022 season when he had Barkley and they made the playoffs, this is top to bottom, the best skill position player set and the best offensive line that he's ever played with.

And we're seeing how cursed that Giants' offensive line is for players that get to go somewhere else.

Why aren't we giving Daniel Jones not the same leash, but the same potential ceiling as Saquon Barkley with a real offensive line?

Like this guy was good at one point in his career, good enough to be a top 10 pick.

Now he has a real offensive line.

Now he has a top 15 pick at tight end.

Now he has an elite top five running back.

Like, okay, you know, why can't he be good?

All right.

I see where you're coming from on this.

This is

a big, obviously it's a big Bonnicks game, too, and we can talk about that.

And he didn't look comfortable, but I mean, I'm just

a lot of the Colts, right?

And we're all the same with this shit.

So this is not calling you out on it.

But yeah, we're all, we could be victims of confirmation bias.

And I know you were high on Jones going into the season.

So you get the first game where he plays well.

I really need to see this second game, but you will get all the credit in the world, sir, if he balls out on Sunday.

We're going to throw a parade for you, Connor.

Daniel Jones is the biggest story in the AFC out of which.

In my favored Indianapolis, my adopted second home city.

Oh, my God.

It's going to be a tough year for the Zeuser.

If Danny Dimes and the Colts are roaring and then the Packers are 15-2, it's just

like, holy shit, these two.

Well, when was the last time I scored any sort of a victory with that prediction?

I'm rooting for that too, buddy.

I root for you.

You are my friend.

All right, let's take a break.

When we get back, Connor's going to go.

It's like when Liam Gallagher goes off the stage and then Noel takes center stage and he does, you know, little by little and he does don't look back in anger and he does half the world away.

No one knows where Liam goes when he goes off stage.

He goes and does something.

Connor's going to head off stage for about 10, 12 minutes, and we're going to welcome Baldy onto the show.

So stay right there.

Brian Baldinger up next.

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All right, it's time.

We're joined by Odyssey NFL insider Brian Baldinger, host of the Best Football Show podcast.

Insider calls are brought to you by Nationwide for your insurance and financial needs.

Nationwide is on your side.

Baldy, look, a reunion, an NFL media reunion.

It's good to see everybody, man.

It's good to be with you guys.

And we've known you long enough, Baldy.

We know exactly where you are.

You're in your man cave at NFL Philippine.

I have a good routine.

I have a very good routine.

So

don't try to knock me off of it.

Don't try to change me.

Like, I know where I need to be.

And everything is good when I'm in my routine.

Yeah.

And I also like, since we, because we haven't talked in about a year, Baldy, and we're going to hit a couple topics and stuff you've been breaking down over on Twitter.

But

the logo that you have on that t-shirt, like, you know, when the people do the thing, and I'm sure it's annoying, it's like, hey, Baldy, can I see your pinky now?

It's like, no, just look at my logo.

I'm not going to show it to you, but you can.

I mean,

there it is.

I mean, just give me a give me a clicker.

You know, give me a video screen.

Give me some games.

I'm a happy kid, man.

Simple approach.

Don't bother me.

I'm good.

The man is branding.

All right, let's get right into it.

It's going to be a recurring segment on the show.

And

your knowledge and tape breakdowns are the best in the business.

So let's start with a couple of guys we saw you.

I know you chop up all the tape, Baldy, but let's start with the Rams on both sides of the ball.

Starting with Matthew Stafford, you had a cut up that you were talking about that was a great point of Stafford, how he still has it.

And being able to hang in the pocket and kind of drop sidearm and just drill one down the field.

Um, there's been a lot of concerns about Stafford.

Did you see a limited quarterback at all in week one?

No, that's the thing, Dan.

I didn't see any of that.

All the stuff that we heard this summer about, you know, disc, you know, disc issues and bad back.

I mean, and he got hit in this game, too.

It wasn't like they took it easy.

I mean, he was getting slammed.

And thankfully, Kyron Williams is great at blitz pickup because they came after him in the game.

But he still knows how to fire the the pill.

And, you know, whether it was to Devontae or Puka, it really didn't matter.

He's just still so accurate and tough and will hang in there as long as anybody to deliver the ball.

And honestly, like he's still just as skilled as he's ever been in my mind right now.

I mean, they even had him do a QB sneak at one point.

So it seems like, you know, we were trying to parse what Sean McVay was saying for weeks and weeks, and it bubbled into this like mystery.

But clearly there's confidence um but right now they've got two injured guards and a third lineman with an ankle injury and there's a chance they aren't on the field that's when i start to get worried about what we were wondering might happen like you you know better than anyone like how much does that impact your preparation going into a big game here against the titans

Well, I mean, if you watch Jeffrey Simmons last week, he destroyed Denver for the first three quarters.

I mean, he was a wrecking ball, and he could do the same thing.

Now, Bo Limmer stepped in at left guard last week for Avila when when he got hurt, and he played pretty good.

He's a pretty dependable guy.

They get the next guy up.

I mean, it's cliché, but that's how they roll.

They did it all through the year, a year ago, and got to the divisional playoff game with the Eagles.

They get the next guy up.

Is there a little bit of a drop?

Like, I think Avila is a great player, but Bo Limmer played great at center last year when he got a chance to play.

In fact, I thought he was the best center they had over Colton.

But regardless, I mean,

that's just what they're going to do.

I mean, it doesn't matter who goes down in that organization.

They seem to have the next guy ready to go.

Yeah,

they do things their own way.

This defense in a post-Aaron Donald world, like you thought, oh, the Rams might be floating away from us.

Instead, they rebuilt it very quickly with, I think, a truly exciting group of violent, fast players like Jared Verse, Byron Rung, Braden Fisk.

Like, what do you see when you, I thought they're just a good tackling team and very fiery.

They are,

they've just reloaded and, you know, they've struck on all their picks.

You know, I mean, Colby Turner is, you know, he's, he's their nose tackle.

Like, he's a beast.

Byron Young, Verse, like you said, Fisk, like some of these new guys that are in there right now.

Like, it's, it's,

you know, really, it's been fantastic to watch.

And because they're young and they're very talented and they rotate those guys through, but they were very, very, very strong at the point of attack last week.

And I expect, you know, because they're young, they can still practice really hard and they can really work on the fundamentals of using their hands and keeping good,

you know, good pad level.

And, you know, a lot of those guys.

like a Colby Turner, like he honestly, you know, he learned a lot from Aaron that last year with him, how to practice, how to prepare, you know, what you do in a walkthrough and how you get something out of it.

So I think they were initially really well taught by Aaron and how he went about his business.

But now, like, the culture is there.

And I don't think anybody really wants to see Jared Verse in this league one-on-one right now with the amount of power that he possesses.

He gave Houston a lot of problems last week.

So the Rams get the Titans this week.

On paper, if you're a Rams fan, you're probably feeling pretty confident.

You know, I was struck by Balding.

I'm curious where you come from on this because Ward, like many young quarterbacks,

high-draft pedicree, there's a lot of pressure to immediately make an impact.

And then I'm watching that game and some of the play calling and the supporting cast and, quite frankly, some of the coaching decisions.

I was like, shoot, I'm a little worried about this kid.

But at the same time, you were cutting up the film and you liked a lot of what you saw from Ward in his first start.

Well, first of all, I mean, you know, catch the football, first of all.

You know, I mean, Calvin Ridley catch the ball.

I mean, he's putting it on your hands, like on some tough throws.

But the one thing about him, like, I mean,

if you want to call him a gunslinger, that's fine.

Like, the guy was, you know, it's a one-score game, you know, to the very end.

I mean, he's trying to, he's got series after series.

He's giving them a chance.

And he played the game with no fear.

No fear.

A lot of guys around this league right now wouldn't even attempt some of the throws he made down, you know, especially against that defense, which there was a lot of.

ball hawks on that defense back there, but he showed no fear.

I don't think their offense line is very good.

You know, the left tackle struggled, the right tackle struggled, regardless.

He hung in there, took his hits, took his lumps, and gave him a chance all the way to the end.

I was encouraged, honestly, because

they're not a complete team by any stretch, but I was encouraged by how he played, how he saw the field, how decisive he was, all the things that sometimes young guys really struggle with.

I didn't see that from him.

Yeah, he played with confidence, I thought.

I'm excited to see.

This is obviously a tough matchup against Los Angeles' front, but at home, there's going to be some juice in that building.

Our producer, Justin, is a Titans fan.

He's going to be excited for it.

Yes, we got Brian Baldinger here.

Baldy, of course, insider calls are brought to you by Nationwide for your insurance and financial needs.

Nationwide is on your side.

All right, last topic, Baldy.

This one, I think everybody was scratching your heads, especially if you're in Chicago.

The Chicago Bears, Ben Johnson, all the juice in the world in that building, right, Baldy?

They go right down the field with their predetermined play calls going into their first drive, touchdown, and then things dry up and the Bears suffer a letdown loss.

And Caleb Williams, you know, his accuracy was a little up and down, to say the least, for the majority of that game.

Did you see a difference in Williams from week one and what you saw last year?

Do you have any concerns about him at this stage?

I got concerns.

I got concerns about the offense.

There doesn't seem to be a great deal of timing between his drops.

He was under center a good deal.

Like Ben Johnson, you know, wants his guys for play action and a lot of things that he wants to do.

I didn't see a lot of timing between his drops, whether it was seven steps under center or five stops or three steps.

Caleb's ready to throw and nobody's open.

Nobody's looking for the ball on a number of occasions.

Now, when it did look good, a couple throws down the field to DJ Moore were on time and rhythm, and it looked really good.

A couple couple of check downs were good.

But even in the opening drive, I thought there was a lack of timing between his drops.

He's at the top of his drop.

He's hitching.

He's ready to throw, and nobody is looking for the ball.

Like, that's alarming to me.

Now, it could be Caleb, just RPMs, like, you know, the game is just speeding him up, and he's too fast.

But the timing between, it's got to be, they got to marry together, the route combinations and the drops.

And you want that ball being thrown on timing from the pocket.

And there was very little of that.

even on the opening drive.

I mean, he made a couple of really athletic plays, you know, extending some plays and buying some time and moving around to keep them on rhythm.

But then at the same time,

he missed throws.

He just missed them, you know.

And

whatever reason that is,

you know, whether he needs more time with these guys or he's got to work on his mechanics, he missed throws that he can make.

And you can see it in his face.

Throws that, you know, here's the guy, here's Cole Komet, you you know, coming back to the ball, and it's over his head.

And, you know, there was probably five or six real clear misses on his part with a good pocket.

Now, up front, their offense line, all we talked about in the offseason was, oh, they fixed their line, was terrible.

And Jonah Jackson struggled, and Drew Dahlman struggled.

You know, the tackles struggled.

Like, there was, there was some bad football.

Now, the Vikings are as good as anybody in the front seven, as good as anyone.

They've got players, and matchups are tough.

And Javon,

you know, Javon is a tough matchup for just about everybody, but

they did not play well up front.

That's why they didn't run the ball well at all.

Yeah, you know, I've been watching that the Cowboys series on Netflix, which is incredible.

And I'm sure for you, it brings back a lot of memories from that time of life

in the NFL.

Like, you know, it took Aikman a bunch of years to.

kind of get it together.

And it's the team around you, right?

And so it's like, I don't want to like to, I don't want to,

whether whether it's Cam or Caleb, like, what is the, if you're a new coaching staff, how much time do you get to, like,

when do you, when would you move to like Tyler Bajant?

Or do you just say, we're sticking with this no matter what?

Because I hear Bajant's name bubbling up.

It's like, this guy's actually someone they re-signed.

They like him.

He's a solid good player.

Like,

I'm just asking the question.

I'm asking the question, like, do you make that decision now?

Because I felt like Ben went out of his way to praise Tyson all preseason.

Then they gave him the contract extension.

And I felt like he was trying to light a fire under Caleb in some of that.

Some of that is psychology.

Like, man, this kid's, this is what I want.

This is how it's done.

You know, and I felt like he was pumping him up to help his starting and to light the fire with Caleb.

Now, I could be wrong with that.

That was just my outside look at it.

But the ball does need to come out on time.

I just, the timing just was off.

Now, how much time you give it, you give it a whole lot more than a week.

But if it's six weeks from now and you still see that lack of rhythm between the quarterback sets and the receivers not even not getting open and not looking for the ball, then I think there's something wrong with the offense.

And that's on Ben, the receivers, that's on Cabs, that on everybody right now.

All right.

I choose to be optimistic about that offense.

They'll get it together

for the Chicago football fans.

They deserve it.

They do.

Yeah.

Baldy, thank you very much.

That was Odyssey NFL Insider Brian Baldinger, host, as I said, of the best football show podcast.

Insider Calls are brought to you by Nationwide for your insurance and financial needs.

Nationwide is on your side.

Hey, Baldy, do you now, you're a world traveler.

You've been to the jungles, to the seas, to the top of the mountains.

Is all that stuff get just pushed to the sidelines until January, February at this point?

I was on that 17-hour flight from Korea, from Seoul, Korea, back to Miami.

And when I put my foot on the ground, it was over.

Like the offseason ended, you know, and it was just full speed ahead right here.

You know, I've got Monday through Sunday.

Like it's all mapped out.

Like there is no other, like my mind doesn't wander, you know, that's it's over.

I had a great time in Asia.

I had a great time in the Bahamas.

I had a great time in Costa Rica.

And I had six good vacations this year.

And so

I'm fully focused right now.

Farewell, Korea.

I've always envied people like Baldy just to have the discipline is like, this is my zone to do this.

And now that's over.

And now I will do this.

It always bleeds for the old Zeuser, but Baldi.

Listen, there's time to look at it.

And there's time to break down Caleb.

And then there's time to go, you know, see a good part of the world.

So I try to balance it up a little bit better.

All right, Brian Baldinger.

Thanks, bye.

Thank you.

Yep.

See you next week.

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All right, we are back.

Thank you to Baldi.

And now Connor has rejoined us.

Connor,

you just did your Liam Gallagher.

You were missing for 14 minutes.

I don't imagine you were with groupies or doing anything else rock star-like, but what were you doing?

Maybe you were.

I'm not here to judge.

We don't get snipped yet.

Still got a loaded gun.

The only thing better than groupies, I think, was enjoying a sandwich that I planned literally my whole day around, and it was fantastic.

Glorious.

So you're fully.

That is a suburban reply to that question.

Mark's like, why do the humans eat?

Do they need it for substance?

Do they need it?

Well, you went from rock star with groupies to sandwich.

So I'm just saying there's a bit of a chasm between those two.

Do you want to know what was on it?

Do we care?

Sure.

Yes, now I do.

Sure, Connor.

What was on the sandwich?

I don't want to tell you now.

It was good, but I don't know.

Like, do you deserve that?

Hey, sound off in the comments if you want to know what's on Connor's sandwich next week during the Baldi segment.

You know what it's going to be like, let Connor, let Connor eat, let Connor speak.

What's on the sandwich?

Guess what?

Sound off in the comments.

Let us know that

Mark and I'm complete indifference to what was on the sandwich.

That was wrong.

How about this?

Subscribe to the Patreon and I'll make it for

everybody live.

How about that?

Wow.

Okay.

What?

That's a Patreon special?

Like, take us into the kitchen of the ore.

I like that.

Yeah, I will put it down for everybody.

I'll show them the ingredients.

I'll show them how to make it all.

Great idea.

It's pretty complex.

So, yeah, let's do it.

So, what are the, just to be clear, What the assignment is for what do they have to do to make this happen on Patreon?

They just have to say, We want to know.

Subscribe, and then

you would have to leave some sort of a comment like hashtag sandwich or hashtag let or eat or something like that.

Sam and Master Marketer ring to it.

Yeah,

I'll make the sandwich for you.

Now, I'm getting hungry, so we got to get into get it back into the conversation.

All right, let's hit up the primetime games, starting with Sunday night football.

Uh, the Falcons

Number 20 in the power rankings.

Traveled to Minnesota to face the Vikings.

Number 13 in the power rankings.

I was just told during the break that

J.J.

McCarthy and his wife have welcomed in a child, caused him to mispractice.

And I would imagine this will be, there will be think pieces written about JJ McCarthy.

What a classy young man.

So responsible at such a young age.

But congratulations to them.

When you talk about the things that we endure over the course of a season,

we are less than a week into what I think is an we need inspiring stories.

And I think J.J.

McCarthy is an inspiring story.

And you are going in the completely other direction.

My only other note is if we dial back nine months, nine and a half months,

During J.J.

McCarthy's injury-riddled season, he created a baby.

Right.

Some would say that's irresponsible.

That was an injury risk.

He could have re-injured the knee.

Well, or time filler.

Time filler.

Yeah.

I just love how this boy just somehow stepped on Hans's minefield somehow.

Like he just did nothing, was totally innocent, was holding hands in an autumnal suburb with his wife at some point in time and just and really just blew himself up in your age.

It's not his fault.

I'm looking at the machinery, the corpse machinery.

How to create a superstar when you don't need it.

Like, we don't need any evidence that he actually is one.

He just looks like one that we'd like.

Let's turn him into it.

That's all it is.

But again, to the same Daniel Jones comment, this is why the beginning of the season is so fun.

At home, after they have this exciting Monday night win where they get off the mat, the offense gets off the mat.

McCarthy, you know, he's leading the way, and they knock off the Bears.

And now they're flying high and facing a Falcons team that obviously

is coming off a very disappointing loss where they get a field goal miss and they get nipped by a division rival.

So, you know, Mark, good, this is a

pretty good Sunday night game.

I would say I expect a little bit more than Falcons Vikings in week two, but you know what?

There's plenty of good subplots for a football fan.

There are.

And

we'll get to one of my other favorite players in this game, but I thought against the Bucs that the Falcons defense was a big story.

Like Baker Mayfield walked out of there with three touchdowns and no picks, and I think it's there were like three to four dropped interceptions.

Now, you can say if you're a great defense, you get those interceptions.

They weren't all easy, but they're a different group than they have been in the past couple of years, which raises the floor.

My one concern in this game, Connor, is like Michael Pennix versus Brian Flores, and they have Drake London is banged up.

Darnell Mooney is out.

Kyle Pitts is going to need to step up and be really big here because the biggest injury on this team is Caleb McGarry, who has a right tackle essentially, is a left tackle for a left-handed quarterback.

And they are missing pieces around an offense with a young quarterback who could still aggressively sling it.

He's going to make those plays.

And I'm just kind of wondering if it really diminishes what they can do on the road.

So two things.

I totally agree that the Falcons' defense are a story, and they were the least prone to blitzing in the NFL last year.

They raised that percentage by almost 10% in week one.

I wonder if Raheem Morris and Olbrick are kind of trying to reinvent themselves.

They did try to bring pressure in that game, and I'm sure they're going to try to bring pressure again against J.J.

McCarthy.

The second part of that is, I don't know, and this isn't a knock on Brian Flores, but he was so good.

And now he's got to reinvent himself because this defense is most of the time self-called.

Players on the field know what they want to do and they get the green light from Brian Flores to do it.

But that was when you you had Harrison Smith.

That was when you had Blake Cashman.

That's when you had all these really smart players that you brought together or you inherited to call this really cerebral defense.

You're running out of those guys very quickly.

The green dots changing hands.

What does that leave Brian Flores?

Because we noticed there wasn't a lot of that guerrilla mindset against the Bears in week one.

What does he bring to the table in week two?

I'm looking at this Viking schedule.

So they gave Monday night week one.

They gave Sunday night in week two.

Week four, they're sending him to Ireland.

This is like the making.

McCarthy going to Ireland.

Yes, J.J.

McCarthy going to Ireland.

This is the making of a superstar quarterback.

Now they just need the kid to back it up, but they're putting all the work in that they need to.

Can't bring the baby.

The new mother can't be thrilled that J.J.

McCarthy's disappearing across the sea to Ireland like days after the baby birth.

I mean, they're also living in a mansion as a result of his football career, so maybe that would be, and they probably have an au pair, I would imagine.

Of course, you want to

have a partner.

Yeah, multiple nannies.

Anything else from this game before we check out?

There's ridiculously two Monday night games, but anything else about this matchup?

We can shift.

All right, let's shift.

Let's move.

Double Monday nights.

How many do we get those this multiple weeks or is this the only week?

I think a bunch this year, but then are they going away for good?

I heard that like they were deciding that this was not going to be part of the new television conglomerate.

Landscape, as it were.

A little whispers, but

all right, so it's a 7 p.m.

Eastern and then a

10 p.m.

Eastern.

That is not good news for Gravy, for our recap.

He's in the central time zone.

It's going to be a late night for the gravedigger.

First game, number nine, Buccaneers at number 18, Texans.

That's Fowler or Orlofsky and riddick

on the call what are you looking for in this one connor

i'm i'm looking to see more of baker mayfield and we got chris goblins

it's a wazzi it's a woozy it's a fairy dust it doesn't exist it's never landed it is no matter it's not on the elemental chart it it's not

real

I forget that that drop is like 38 minutes long and you just have to kind of you have to hold your point and you're just like bouncing in your seat getting ready for it to go 11 seconds but yeah

I know the feeling.

Baker Mayfield, for sure.

I mean, I thought he had a fantastic week one and is just really in his bag.

But also, Todd Bowles really reinvented himself against the Falcons, was sort of classic in terms of the way that he brings guys.

And everybody knows what a Todd Bowles blitz looked like.

He's shifted his whole kind of perspective on that, looked very different against Atlanta.

And could he kind of be the secret ingredient for this team after flying below the radar for so long?

And, you know, it's a Mike Evans thing.

It's a Chris Godwin thing.

But I think all along, it's maybe been a Todd Bowles thing, too.

I'm a little concerned about Houston's offensive line.

I know they tried to pour resources into it, but it wasn't a great situation against the Rams, and they've got a great front.

But I don't know.

I just want to see Nico Collins, who I think is a top five receiver, winds up with 25 yards off of three catches.

Like, is it going to take this team?

Because they've got, and Nick Chubb, the person I love, but they are compromised in the run game, too.

This offense feels like it's going to take some time to find out how to hit maximum speed.

Collins is such a talented wide receiver.

Usually when you have a true alpha number one who doesn't get fed enough and has a slow game, they are going to make an effort to really funnel to him in this game.

So don't be surprised if you get a big Nico Collins game and they could use it.

They need a little more explosiveness in this offense after what we saw last season.

Also, keep it on the Houston defense.

Their pass rushing was really good in week one.

They really, really got after it, and I was impressed by them.

And

we'll see if they can continue to turn the heat up against the Bucs line that

is missing Tristan Worf.

So that's a big deal.

The second game, number six Chargers coming off that big win over the Chiefs

at number 22 Raiders.

This is a Buck and Aikman call.

Got to love it.

Troy is back on the mic in a late game.

I was really,

I'm high on these Raiders.

I like them in this spot at home.

I think the Chargers obviously showed last week all the reasons why you should believe in them.

Justin Herber playing at a high level.

The offensive line, the defense

has a lot of dogs on it.

But I think the Raiders are going to hang in this game and maybe even win it.

This is one of my upset specials of the week.

I love that.

I mean, that the Raiders going 2-0 would be a story because they looked looked like a team that had transformed so much.

A couple little questions, Mark, is like how healthy is Brock Bowers and what's going to happen there?

That's a big part of their offense.

But

Connor, you had mentioned this.

Ashton Genti, it's like he comes out of the first game running the ball 19 times at two yards per carry.

I think some of that was offensive line issues that can be worked on and changed, but it wasn't an explosive debut.

It's one week, but that's someone.

room.

I didn't watch that.

Yeah, see, I think it's partly an offensive.

They've done a really good job, New England, just stuffing that up.

And yeah, but I didn't come out of the game because I watched that one in real time last Sunday being like, man, Gentie doesn't have the juice.

It was just more like, man, there is no room for this guy right now.

So they got to do better there.

They've got to fix that.

But it's like they're counting on him to be a massive piece.

The stat on that was I think it was like 44 rushing yards after first contact and 38 before.

And so it's just that, you know,

there just wasn't any room for him to go.

But a lot of that's on Chip Kelly because if you, if you have Ashton Jenny and you drafted him as a true third down back, and I think he played 85 or 86%

of the snaps for the Raiders this past weekend, you have to do what Zach Robinson did with Bijan Robinson last weekend.

Like he's got to gain 100 plus yards from scrimmage somehow, and it doesn't matter.

And you have to manufacture touches.

And if this offensive line isn't working, where's the pivot?

And, you know, luckily you got Chip Kelly in your corner.

So it'll be fine.

I have, as we record this, a tweet from Ryan McFadden

with ESPN that landed 28 seconds ago.

You couldn't get more up-to-date Brock Bowers information in real time than right now, Mark.

No.

Brock Bowers said he.

Sure.

Why not?

Now we're getting further away from the tweet and it's losing some of that majesty.

Brock Bowers said he's hoping to play versus Los Angeles, but here's the quote.

I'm not sure.

We'll see how it's feeling throughout the week, but I'm hoping to play.

So that certainly, that type of quote, he's hurting.

He's banged up and that will be a big deal.

That could affect my upset pick if Bowers is inactive for that game.

All right, let's do this.

The other ones segment.

And don't get, listen, again, don't get on us if your team is in the other ones.

Okay.

If your team performs, they will exit the other ones segment.

Okay.

And even some of the teams that are in the other ones,

maybe they don't deserve to be here, but that's how it works sometimes.

That's really, Connor, in a way, it's a reflection of life itself.

Sometimes it's not fair, but in the end, you hope that in life things even out.

So just try not to get too disappointed by this week's edition of the Other Ones.

Start your own podcast.

Like,

do you remember Governor Chris Christie?

We had in New Jersey, the governor.

Of course.

The big, uh, we used to call him.

Sitting on the beach.

The beaches were closed.

He shut down the beaches, and then they had a helicopter.

He captured him just like hanging out on a beach chair with his family in front of like miles and miles of empty beach.

It was a great PR crisis in politics.

My favorite.

We used to call him the big jelly donut governor, one of my favorites.

But he used to always, when he was confronted with something, with like an issue that someone had with him, he would always say, okay, run for governor.

And then if there, and then if there was a retorting,

he'd start like escalating, and he'd be like, Cause you're not going to, because you're lazy, because you're scared, you know.

And so that's always been, I've always borrowed that from him.

I keep that tucked away.

Whenever we can be combative with the fans, we will.

All right, let's get into it.

Let's do this, Connor.

All right, Justin, let's put 90 seconds on the clock for each of these games.

Mark, I'll start with you.

The number 11 Niners at the number 29 Saints.

And this would be a game that doesn't doesn't look so hot in terms of competitiveness, but

Brock Purdy ain't playing, and nor is

Kittle, who's going to be missing a few weeks.

Nope, Trent Williams is banged up too.

He's going to play, I'm sure.

But this is the Niners right back where they were a year ago.

In fact, even worse, our quarterback is out.

I'm going to say that I am interested to see, because Sam Darnold went to San Francisco and it helped revive his career.

He had done a few things before that, but the Shanahan connection showed us a different player.

Like, is there a different Mac Jones despite what's around him?

It's not a great environment, but it's the Saints.

Robert Sala nearly killed the Seahawks last week, and he's not even bringing extra guys.

He's just rushing like the standard amount, and he's generating free rushers.

I'm praying for Spencer Rattler.

All right, let's move on.

Next game:

The New England Patriots, number 26 at the number 32 Miami Dolphins.

You know, two teams, very disappointing week ones, and the team that loses this is going to be in a full-on panic, Connor.

I messed it up.

I thought it was 90 for the whole damn thing.

So

I was talking like I was about to get

hit by a subway train.

Yeah.

Two has got to.

So now the narrative is out there, and Mike McDaniel challenged that during the week that he is not just a guy who can't operate once his first read is taken away.

You can bet your ass that Mike Frabel's taking the first read away, and let's see what happens.

I mean, think about the fact that the Dolphins were crushed in a dome.

They're a speed team.

They're a non-weather team, and they were crushed and dissembled.

I mean, I think the car crash is happening before our eyes.

So they'll probably win.

Yeah.

I mean, listen,

I need evidence at this point that Tyreek Hill is still

an all-time speed threat playmaker.

It's been a while since Tyreek has looked like Tyreek over a year now almost.

On the Patriots side, there's a little bit of like buzz in the local New England market about Drake May and concerns about his footwork and some of the mechanics and his missing high-on throws.

That was a very disappointing way to start the season, losing at home to the Raiders.

So I expect them to bounce back.

But New England, all Patriots fans know,

even in the Brady Belichick era, they struggle down there, and it'll be hot and uncomfortable.

And let's move on to Seattle at Steelers.

Another game, Mark, I'm excited to see it.

I don't want to take anything away from what Aaron Rodgers did because he stuck it to the Jets and put together a big day.

I just want to say, if you go back and watch the snaps,

I don't think he played like exemplar football.

I don't think it was incredible performance.

He had some short fields that he worked with and he threw four touchdowns.

But now against this defense in Seattle,

this defense, it's at Pittsburgh this game.

I want to see how he fares here with Mike McDonald's team getting after him.

The Seahawks are a fascination to me.

I think it's the Mike McDonald thing.

It's just like how they're approaching a lot of new elements here.

And I'm with you.

I think Rogers, he was certainly serviceable.

There's another variety where he's a disaster, but

he worked with DK Metcalf to some degree.

This is Metcalf versus the Seahawks.

I wonder if there's anything cooked in there.

And how they use Sam Darnold as well, because the Seahawks using Sam Darnold, he threw the ball 24 times last week.

They want to be a run-heavy team.

Pittsburgh was the fourth worst rushing defense in the NFL last week.

How about that?

And the Jets ended up being the fifth best rushing offense last week.

But Seattle, like you said, wants to run the ball.

I think they have a lot more wrinkles there.

And I'm keeping my eye on Cooper Cup, too, because he was all over the field.

Maybe didn't make those impact plays, but he was lined up at running back.

I think he was helping out with some of the audibles and some of the checking that they're doing.

I'm keeping my eye on this guy because I think there's something happening there.

DK Metcalf against his former team, and I thought Zach Charbonnet looked a lot better than Kenneth Walker in week one.

I wonder how they'll dole out the ball carrying in Seattle.

The Jacksonville Jaguars, number 16, and very high in our power rankings at number 16.

Travel to Cincinnati to face the Bengal.

Mark, I thought the Bengals obviously didn't play at a high level on offense.

Well, they started out well.

They actually scored touchdowns in their first two possessions, and then things kind of got away from them.

I'm not concerned.

I think that Cleveland's kind of a tough place to play.

I know it's Cleveland, but I think they come out and they do a lot better in this game.

In fact, I think a 40 Burger could be coming against Jacksonville.

Well, I need to see it.

I mean, that's.

And you will.

We'll see.

I mean, this is a team right back in narrative world, and they're under a lot of pressure.

And they fell apart in the second second half.

What bothered me the most, if I'm a Bengals fan, well, a lot of things did, was A, watching Joe Flacco dice up your defense,

but B, Miles Garrett, and it's Miles Garrett, fair enough, but there were others too, creating intense havoc for Joe Burrow.

It's like, this is another quarterback.

Like, I'm just going to have my eye on this offensive line.

Two things for me.

Yeah, sorry, go ahead.

No, I was just going to say, I know that they missed that extra point in a field goal.

I wouldn't say that Flacco diced up Cincinnati.

I'm sorry.

That feels like it.

It's 293 yards.

I didn't see a dicing, but agree to disagree.

Go ahead.

I'm going diced up.

Travis Hunter is supposed to play more on defense this week, according to Liam Cohen.

And Shamar Stewart, if you rewatch that Bengals game from start to finish, grew more than any other rookie, I thought, over the course of one game.

I'm looking for him to make a big, big difference in this one.

All right, finally, the number 31 Panthers at the number 25 Cardinals.

I would like to,

one one narrative that I don't want to be revisited is us once again saying, you know, the Panthers are terrible.

The Panthers are a mess.

Bryce Young is a mess.

Like,

how about get off the mat here, Panthers, and play a good game against Arizona?

But their defense could be formidable this season.

That offense looked horrible.

And so I guess it just

asked the question, like,

how do you get a quarterback like Bryce Young when you've got a so-called quarterback grower and guru to get him to start where he finished?

He's not got the greatest stuff around him, but

I think that's a, that's he's under a lot of pressure to pick it up.

And so is the whole team, because here's a team that's not really made any progress year over year in years.

Both Marvin Harrison and Kyler Murray talked about after the game last week, how they had worked on deep ball magic over the offseason and had improved their timing on that front.

If they can unlock that against a very soft defense, I think that the Cardinals could roll in this one.

But I got to give it to Bryce.

I mean, I know he's in battled right now, but I think three or four times a game, he still makes freaking incredible throws, but it just doesn't matter because there's really not a whole lot around him.

Yeah, and I'd like to see Kyler Murray obviously gutted through it.

He had bad guts.

He was in the stall.

Huge diarrhea.

Huge diarrhea.

He's healthy now, as I understand it.

We'll see how he plays against this Carolina team.

And yeah, Arizona, they spent a lot of money money on their defense and brought in reinforcements.

And they were the third highest team defensive grade per PFF in week one.

So let's see if they can stack.

It's a nice opponent to gain some momentum.

All right, that's it.

That's all the games.

Before we go, as we do every week now, the locks are back.

First, let's take a look at the standings.

I believe.

I believe.

Yes, Justin.

I hit that sound because we never talked about Connor getting his lock correct.

The Vikings on Monday night football, which, yes, as we take a look at the standing spots,

pull that one out

in last place with an 0-1 record, and the rest of us got off to a hot start.

I love it.

I love it.

See, that's just motivation.

It's a must-win game for the Zeuser.

Week one lies, as they say.

With that said, let's take a look at the, again, these are blind locks.

We don't know what these spreads are if it's out of the mirror zone.

Throw it up, Justin.

All right, let's check them out.

Again, these are blind locks.

Blind locks, which means we don't know what the spread is.

Maybe we came across it individually at some point, but we have an honor system that we're not, we don't know.

And if you lock a team that is favored outside the mirror zone, which is seven or higher, it automatically doubles and you got to cover double whatever the spread is.

So be careful trying to

take a favorite and

getting a dub.

So I'll go first.

I need a win.

The Jets broke my heart.

I almost pulled it out.

Look, we were that close to going 4-0.

A 60-yard field goal.

F you.

Serial killer.

That's your own head coach calling you a serial killer, Chris Boswell.

All right.

Let's see.

Hmm.

I didn't think about this before the show, so we're gunning it.

Nor did I.

Let's go.

Scanning, scanning, scanning.

Yeah, everybody is down on

the Bengals after week one.

Like I said, I believe the Bengals will score a lot of points at home against Jacksonville.

And I think the Bengals are going to lock this one up and get to 2-0.

That haunting starts to the season.

They're going to be in a good spot at 2-0 after they spank the Jags.

And I feel like that's going to be in the lock zone, so I'm not too worried about it.

All right, Mark, you're up.

Can we pick duplicates?

Because that was exactly what my eyes were on.

Yes, I'm going there too.

I feel a little worried about it,

anything could go wrong.

That's life.

Justin's like, move on.

Good analysis.

Yes.

Connor, you're up.

What's the point threshold again?

If it clears six and a half, once it cracks seven, it doubles.

All right.

I'm going to lock the Cowboys over the G-Men.

But I'm taking a risk here because that spread could be

spread could be.

I think you'll be okay i think

you'll be okay i do too

you know

should i do the wait should i go sessler and should i go and pick the bills against the jets

are the jet are the bills in that zone

see that's why the line locks are tough they're right i'll ride it sese let's ride together let's lock brotherhood together let's stick with cincinnati whatever went whoever lost by getting behind the cincinnati football that's that's what i've always thought uh justin you're you're locked

all right i'm gonna sweat this one out till the end of a 10 p.m.

Eastern kickoff.

Give me the Chargers over the Raiders.

Good call.

All right.

Okay, yeah, that's.

I think you'll be okay there.

Am I supposed to believe that Justin, a ferocious gambler, does not know any of these spreads that he just kept away from this?

Yeah, you know, I didn't build the graphic that has all the spreads on them either, so whatever.

Yeah,

I think there's a little flaw in the logic here, but we're just going to trust Justin's integrity and ethics.

All right, let's see what the spreads are.

Just out of curiosity, if we're all in the clear, Cincinnati minus three and a half.

Yeah.

Cowboys are minus four and a half.

And yes, Chargers laying three points of wood.

All right, good.

So we all took favorites.

Let's see if the favorites all take care of business.

All right, that is our preview show and our Thursday night recap.

Remember, we'll be back on Sunday with the full flagship program recapping all the games we just previewed.

And don't forget,

if you're on the Patreon on Friday morning, you'll see our draft where we decide what games each of us will be tasked with covering.

So I love it.

I don't know about you guys, but it can be chaotic if you work in this business, that whole late summer, all the different shows you're putting together and the game plans of how you're attacking a season.

But now we're kind of just in, we're in the

schedule of the season.

It just, I love it.

We're in that Matthew Stafford cigar-shaped healing tank and the doors are locked.

Yes, the amoral chamber.

All right, everybody.

Have a great and safe weekend.

We'll see you on Sunday.

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