PodcastFrom NFL: The Insiders
Don't overreact! Brett & Trevor break down Sunday's Week 1 action | NFL Pro
STACKED extracted the fantasy-relevant player signal from this podcast and kept the full transcript here for context.
51 min
Duration
Estimated from transcript
Sep 14, 2026
Published
Mon, September 14, 2026
28
Player insights
26
Players mentioned
Topics
Josh AllenTed HurstAaron JonesAmon-Ra St. BrownBaker MayfieldBryce YoungC.J. StroudCaleb WilliamsCarson WentzChristian WatsonChuba HubbardCole KmetColston LovelandD.J. Moore
Player analysis
Player insights
Aaron Jones
PositiveUsage20:46
Aaron Jones exceeded expectations on the ground, contributing to a strong rushing day for the Vikings.
Insight pageAmon-Ra St. Brown
PositiveUsage30:17
Amon-Ra St. Brown is a primary target for quick-hitting play-action passes over the middle, a role he successfully executed in Detroit and continues to be a focal point for.
Insight pageBaker Mayfield
NegativeUsage39:25
Baker Mayfield's usage is shifting toward a screen-heavy approach, with 12 passes behind the line of scrimmage in Week 1, suggesting a potential change in the Buccaneers' offensive philosophy.
Insight pageBryce Young
PositiveProjection13:15
Bryce Young had one of the best games of his career against zone coverage, going 17-for-20 for 289 yards, and showed poise under pressure despite the team's loss.
Insight pageC.J. Stroud
PositiveProjection24:36
CJ Stroud had a great start to his season, operating effectively as a pocket passer with good protection; his performance against the Bills suggests he is capable of high-level production.
Insight pageCaleb Williams
PositiveProjection3:27
Caleb Williams showed both structured efficiency and his signature 'wow' factor in his debut, contributing to a 59-point offensive performance that relied heavily on a dominant run game.
Insight pageCarson Wentz
PositiveRole20:40
Carson Wentz entered the game in relief and successfully led a comeback for his team, showing potential for rhythm-based play.
Insight pageChristian Watson
PositiveUsage3:36
Christian Watson had a strong outing, surpassing 100 receiving yards and demonstrating the ability to capitalize on defensive schemes that leave safeties vulnerable.
Insight pageChuba Hubbard
PositiveUsage13:45
Chuba Hubbard served as the primary goal-line option for the Panthers, securing more of the team's paydirt opportunities in their Week 1 game.
Insight pageCole Kmet
PositiveUsage31:33
Cole Kmet is noted for his ability to contribute in pass protection, providing the offense with flexibility against aggressive blitzing schemes.
Insight pageColston Loveland
NegativeUsage12:00
Colson Loveland did not record a catch in the Bears' 59-point offensive outburst, though he is expected to become a more significant factor later in the season.
Insight pageD.J. Moore
PositiveUsage32:25
DJ Moore successfully hauled in a difficult sideline pass from Josh Allen, showcasing his ability to make plays even when covered.
Insight pageD'Andre Swift
PositiveUsage8:15
DeAndre Swift was a key part of a highly efficient Bears rushing attack, contributing to a 291-yard team performance and continuing his streak of back-to-back 100-yard games as a duo.
Insight pageDalton Kincaid
PositiveUsage33:30
Dalton Kincaid was the target of a high-arcing pass from Josh Allen late in the game, successfully beating the coverage.
Insight pageDavid Montgomery
PositiveUsage23:39
David Montgomery is a significant upgrade for the Texans in short-yardage and goal-line situations, providing a reliable 'hammer' to finish drives that the team previously struggled to convert.
Insight pageJahmyr Gibbs
PositiveUsage34:16
Jahmyr Gibbs is off to a strong start, recording 186 total yards and two touchdowns on 29 carries and five catches; his heavy usage confirms his role as a focal point of the Lions' offense.
Insight pageJalen Coker
PositiveUsage13:39
Jalen Coker performed well in the Panthers' high-scoring offensive effort, contributing to the team's 37-point total.
Insight pageJordan Love
NegativeUsage21:58
Jordan Love struggled significantly when not throwing deep, particularly against the blitz, finishing 8-for-17 on passes under 10 air yards with an interception.
Insight pageJosh Allen
PositiveUsage3:27
Josh Allen was highly effective as a deep passer, completing 4 of 7 attempts of 20+ yards for 155 yards and two touchdowns, including impressive throws against Reed Blankenship.
Insight pagePositiveProjection20:07
Josh Allen remains an elite, unstoppable force; the Texans' defense played well, but Allen's ability to throw unguardable deep balls makes him nearly impossible to stop when he is at his best.
Insight pageJustin Herbert
NegativeUsage45:16
Justin Herbert struggled to maintain chemistry with receivers other than Ladd McConkie, leading to a frustrated performance and a late-game interception caused by pressure and a lack of reliable options.
Insight pageJustin Jefferson
PositiveUsage3:39
Justin Jefferson displayed superstar ability in the second half of his Week 1 game, even though he did not reach the 100-yard threshold.
Insight pageKyler Murray
NegativeInjury20:26
Kyler Murray sustained a tough hit early in the game that resulted in his helmet coming off, raising concerns about his status moving forward.
Insight pageLamar Jackson
PositiveProjection3:27
Lamar Jackson delivered an incredible performance in Week 1, though his output was somewhat overshadowed by other high-scoring performances across the league.
Insight pageTed Hurst
PositiveUsage40:07
Ted Hurst should be more involved in the Tampa offense; he recorded no targets until the fourth quarter but caught all three of his targets and posted the highest QBR among wide receivers in the game. He functions as a true X receiver, which would allow the team to move other players like Emeka around more effectively.
Insight pagePositiveUsage40:13
Ted Hurst should see increased involvement in the Buccaneers' offense after catching all three of his targets in the fourth quarter and posting the highest QBR among the team's wide receivers.
Insight pageTrey McBride
PositiveProjection43:41
Trey McBride is considered one of the best tight ends in football and remains a key component of a Cardinals offense that features significant talent around the quarterback.
Insight pageZay Flowers
PositiveUsage3:36
Zay Flowers started his season with a productive performance, eclipsing the 100-yard mark in Week 1.
Insight pageFull transcript
Episode Transcript
0:00Hey I'm Mike Yam and I'm Trevor Sykema and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Show.
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0:37It is your home for everything football. Breaking news, expert analysis, game picks and hear from your favorite players too.
0:43Join me and an all-star cast of experts for everything you need to know from around the league.
0:49Get new episodes of the NFL Report Monday through Friday all season long.
0:53Listen to the NFL Report Podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
0:58The new NFL season is here and you should be listening to NFL Daily as we march along to Super Bowl 61.
1:05It is in the name NFL Daily. You'll have fresh content in your feed every day, all season long.
1:10That game-winning drive. Maybe it's Herbert. Maybe it's Gino.
1:13Maybe it's Mahomes. We'll have the highlights. If Fernando Mendoza or any of the rookies are balling out, we'll break down the tape.
1:20Join me, Greg Rosenthal, and an all-star cast of co-hosts as we preview and recap every game.
1:25iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:28Thanks for tuning in to our Week 1 Reaction Show.
1:31We've got plenty to unpack from the opening weekend of the NFL season.
1:35From surprising results to standout performances and everything in between.
1:38Listen to NFL Pro on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:43Who said offense is dead? In the Super Bowl era, in an opening week of the season, this is the highest average
1:49points per game going into Monday Night Football. We'll see what happens with Kansas City and Denver.
1:54My God, Trevor. Everybody is scoring, though I will leave room for the possibility, the scant possibility, that everybody's defense sucks.
2:01No, no, no, no, no, no. We're not here to talk about that.
2:04Because the Stars were out in Week 1, right?
2:07Caleb went nuts. Josh Allen went nuts. Lamar went crazy.
2:10I feel like Lamar had an incredible performance and is just getting overshadowed by some other unbelievable performances.
2:16Christian Watson went for over 100. Zay Flowers went for over 100.
2:19Justin Jefferson didn't go for over 100. But, I mean, he was superhuman in the second half.
2:24That's a superstar player making a superstar play. The offenses were potent.
2:28The teams were unbelievable. The play callers were on point.
2:31But also, I loved that the point of emphasis players, that everybody in the stadium, whether you had a headset on or
2:37not, a helmet on or not, whether you were a fan or not, you knew that this player was going to get the ball.
2:45They still got the ball. And I think that that's a sign of really that the offenses were cooking today.
2:51Everybody was scoring, and yet I still found a way to lose every single fantasy matchup.
2:55I'm in nine leagues. I lost in all of them, Trevor.
2:59Brother, I can't relate. I had a good... Business is booming.
3:02Welcome to NFL kickoff weekend. Hot and muggy in Charlotte, North Carolina.
3:06We should talk about Chicago and Carolina off the top.
3:09We should indeed. 59 points is ridiculous. You score 59.
3:12When's the last time they scored 59? December 1980.
3:14And the time before that, it was like 1960, somewhere around there.
3:18Yeah. So it's ridiculous. We're going once every 20 years, if not 40 years, for that happening.
3:23But Ben Johnson said he wanted to have the highest scoring offense ever.
3:27He did. You have to average, what, 38 points a game to do that.
3:31They're already kind of ahead of schedule. What do you mean kind of?
3:35They scored 59. What do you mean kind of?
3:38They almost doubled it up. But it's the way they did it that I found fascinating.
3:42291 yards on the ground. That's the thing. Yes.
3:45Everybody wants to talk about Caleb Williams. And like, Caleb was great in this game.
3:50Caleb had the Caleb Williams moments. I mean, there were some moments from him in structure that looked very good.
3:56And there were also some of those USC Caleb Williams moments that were also there to sort of give you the wow factor as well.
4:03But it really is what the Bears were on the ground.
4:06That, again, when people hear Ben Johnson say, I want to break the scoring record.
4:11Everybody says, well, can Caleb do that? Do you think he's efficient enough?
4:15All these guys. The real question is, do you have the run game to do that?
4:19Because the teams that put up that many points every single week, they do not just have a high ceiling.
4:25They have a high floor. And you have a high floor when you can run the ball really well.
4:31So 291 rushing yards, 82 rushing yards over expected for this team as well.
4:35Which, by the way, that means they were expected to run for 200 plus.
4:39When's the last time that happened? There's a, there's a, look, we talk about the good offense.
4:45There's another side of the coin with Carolina that we'll talk about a little bit later.
4:49But yes, it is this emphasis on the run game and how efficient and explosive this run game was.
4:55Whether it was DeAndre Swift or Kyle Menungay, it didn't matter.
4:58Both of those guys really went off in this game.
5:01And that's how you achieve rare air of being an offense is you're able to run the ball really well.
5:07And they kind of weaponized one of their superpowers, which is, hey, we have one of the best right tackles on planet Earth.
5:14Working together with Jonah Jackson, they ran to the right 64% of the time because they could.
5:19They averaged 7.8 yards per carry to that side because they could.
5:23Last year, DeAndre Swift and Kyle Menungay became the first running back duo for the Chicago Bears to have 100 yards rushing
5:29in a game each since the Peyton-Suey combination. There hadn't been a duo in the NFL to do it in six years since Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard.
5:38These two guys have done it back-to-back seasons now.
5:41It didn't matter what the call was. Like, we saw a bunch of wide zone today.
5:45We saw power. We saw counter. We saw everything.
5:48While we did praise a lot of the offseason acquisitions the Panthers have made in the front seven, it kind of didn't seem to matter.
5:56We were right back where we were last year.
5:58There are two sides to it, but for me, the bigger takeaway of this game is how good the Bears were.
6:04It was a rough game for the Carolina Panthers, but you and I talked about this when we were doing the preview show last week.
6:12It was going to be a great barometer game for the Panthers because of all their defensive investments.
6:17And if they were really able to hold the line of scrimmage against one of the better offensive lines in the league
6:24last year and one of the better run games and just one of the better offenses overall, then you would think that
6:31this Carolina team's ahead of schedule with even the offensive addition that they had.
6:35It was not that today, but I think that's much more of a, oh gosh, this Bears team is better than it
6:41was on the offensive side of the ball last year.
6:44Dude, you talked about Darnell Wright in the run game.
6:47His time to pressure in this game, 4.58 seconds as an average.
6:51Which basically means you're not getting pressure. Which basically means you're not giving up a pressure.
6:56Now, sometimes we know Caleb Williams likes to put on the Superman cape and hold on to it for a really long time.
7:03But even with Caleb Williams, this guy's not giving up pressures.
7:06So, this was a phenomenal game from Darnell Wright.
7:09It was a great game overall from the Bears' offensive line.
7:12But man, those are the two things to point out.
7:15As good as Caleb was, as great as the playmakers are in the passing game, they did all this.
7:20Colson Lovell didn't have a catch, right? Yeah. Didn't have a single catch in this game.
7:25They scored 59 points. And we were thinking that Colson was going to be like their true unlock.
7:31And I think he will be later in the year.
7:34But the fact they can do that without him really needing to be.
7:38Scary. I mean, Rome plucked one off somebody's helmet.
7:40Right. Like, you had wide receiver 5 getting meaningful touches in this game.
7:44Yeah. It's just unreal. And I do want to give the Panthers credit, by the way.
7:49Because I know a lot of Panthers fans are distraught.
7:52You put up 37 points. They put up 37.
7:55And Bryce was good. You talked about the Bears, I think, playing man coverage in this game.
8:00But if you go to the zone coverage stats for Bryce.
8:03Bryce was 17 for 20 for 289 yards versus zone in this game.
8:07It's one of the best games he's ever played.
8:10And it's not a win. And, dude, when you look at how he was under pressure as well.
8:156 for 9, 83 yards, a touchdown. 17.3% completion percentage above expectation.
8:19Bryce was great in this game. Jalen Coker was great in this game.
8:22The running game was fantastic for the 1-2 combination.
8:25Chuba Hubbard got more of the paydirt opportunities for this team.
8:28But this was a great offensive day for Carolina.
8:31And it's hard to feel as bad about this as I know probably Panthers fans and Dave Canales and the whole staff do after you score 37.
8:39It's one of those. It's a different feeling if it's 59-37 versus if it's 59-10.
8:44Yes. At least something was working. Right. And I think you can reasonably assume you're not going to give up 59 every single week.
8:51Yeah, you would hope. It's just can we carry the 37 through and we give up 25?
8:56I was very impressed by the offense. Yes. Again, we previewed this game last week.
9:00I had my worries about them on the offense with how explosive they could be.
9:05Now on the other side of things, I'm still worried about the defensive line.
9:09Yes, I just gave more credit to the Bears offensive line.
9:12But Derek Brown, 7.1% pressure rate in this game.
9:15Jalen Phillips, just a 10.7% pressure rate. That's not really what you want.
9:19Both of those guys had a time to pressure of over three seconds.
9:23So neither of your studs are getting consistent pressure before three seconds into play.
9:27Of those stats, okay, not great signs. This is the one that doesn't feel great.
9:32They blitzed on more than half of their snaps.
9:34They blitzed on 51.3% of their snaps and still only got total pressure 33% of the time.
9:39That would have been bottom half of the league last year.
9:43Total 33% as a team. So you're blitzing more than half the time and you're still not even getting top half of
9:49what would have been the average team pressure last year.
9:52It just goes to show it's still a work in progress in Carolina.
9:56You like what you saw from the offense. But again, to me, the big takeaway is who the Bears were in this
10:03game rather than the negative of what we saw from the Panthers with the loss.
10:07Yeah, I think it's a shot across the bow for the Panthers defense.
10:11They have to get it corrected. If they don't, they won't make the playoffs.
10:15For sure. But at least you can hang your hat on, well, we won't be blown out because our offense can put up points.
10:22We have a quarterback that can really rise to the occasion even though the rest of his defense didn't.
10:28Yeah. I think there are positives to take away.
10:31I wouldn't entirely panic if I was a Panthers fan.
10:34I'd panic about the defense, but it's better than panicking about everything.
10:37100%. Oh, that last thing. I think it was a little out and up.
10:42Maybe a wheel route. I can't remember. The throw that Bryce had at Tet that it was almost a touchdown.
10:48That was it. He lets go of that ball like before Tet even turns up the field.
10:53And it's still he just turns his head and it's in his hands.
10:57That's Bryce Young at his finest. Yeah. That's Bryce Young, Heisman Trophy winner at Alabama type of player.
11:02And we saw a good offense for them. They just ran into what might be the best offense ever.
11:08We'll see as the season goes on. Well, the season goes on against the Vikings.
11:12Yeah, because the Bears play the Vikings next week.
11:15That's the second game we got to talk about because, I mean, you and I both thought the Vikings were going to win that game.
11:22We did not think we were going to win.
11:25Never in doubt. No, never in doubt. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
11:31Never in doubt. Never in doubt. There's a little bit of doubt when Carson Wentz did it.
11:36I will not. I will not let the people see how the sausage was made this afternoon when they were down 22 to 10.
11:44I will not let them see that. Flashback to like the middle of today while we're watching the game.
11:49We're like, oh my God, we're going to get cooked in the comments.
11:53We're seeing the Vikings going to win. What a crazy game though.
11:57I mean, this was the most Brian Flores game I've seen since that one primetime game when he was in Miami.
12:03You remember when he blitzed Javon Holland off the edge like 30 times in one game?
12:08This I think was probably the most aggressive game he's had since that game.
12:1278% blitz rate on pass downs. Are you out of your mind?
12:16It works though. I'll give him that. He's just me playing Madden.
12:19Engaging until you can figure it out. Go ahead.
12:22Beat it. Period. Right. Dude, but that goes into obviously a great comeback for Minnesota.
12:26Rough to see Kyler take that hit early. Obviously, it was really, really, really tough hit in a bad situation where his
12:33helmet's kind of coming off and he's getting hit while he's going to the ground.
12:37It was just good to see him moving afterwards.
12:40But Carson Wentz comes in, obviously leads the comeback for them.
12:43The Viking side of things, it was... I didn't think that Aaron Jones still had that in him and they had a
12:50great day on the ground, a better day than I thought.
12:53But all of this to say, to me, Brett, the real takeaway is actually the Packers struggles.
12:58And specifically, to your point of Flores blitzing as much as he did, he was testing this Packers offensive line.
13:04They failed. Because when you look at this offensive line, four out of their five offensive linemen had a time to pressure below two and a half seconds.
13:13You can't function that way. There's no offense that works, especially because you pair that with...
13:18When people talk about the Jekyll and Hyde of Jordan Love, a lot of people look at sort of first half versus
13:24second half splits because obviously in this game, they're great in the first half, they're great in the second half.
13:30I actually don't think it was necessarily just a tale of two halves with him.
13:35I think the big issue was when he wasn't throwing it deep, he was not in rhythm and he was not comfortable at all.
13:42When you look at Jordan Love, passes under 10 air yards.
13:45He was 8 for 17 in this game. So below a 50% completion percentage.
13:4951 total yards at interception. And a negative 20.1% completion percentage over expected.
13:53So when you're getting blitzed, the way that Flores is blitzing you, and your offensive line is relinquishing pressure that quickly, what do you have to do?
14:01You got to hit the hot route. You got to hit the hot read on wherever your safety blanket is.
14:07And he just could not do it. They had 10 unblocked pressures in this game.
14:12He had 22 pressure dropbacks, which is already insane.
14:14Yeah. And I'm not entirely sure who is calling protections in Green Bay.
14:18I don't know if Jordan's doing it. I don't know if the center's doing it.
14:23Maybe it's a little mix of both. But when you have that many free bodies at the quarterback over and over and
14:29over again, first of all, it's a fundamental issue with your protection plan.
14:33Clearly, Flores knew exactly what they were going to do when he presented certain fronts, certain looks.
14:38He knew exactly how they were going to protect it.
14:41And he attacked it. But eventually, you have to have some sort of answer offensively, whether it's, okay, we need to add
14:48extra bodies in protection, or we need to be able to be on our P's and Q's when throwing hot.
14:54We cannot just let free runners at the quarterback over and over and over again and have no answer.
15:00Or it looks like that. They scored 22 points in the fourth quarter.
15:03Packers scored 22, period. That only happens because, first of all, Packers fans, I understand there was a rough call on a crucial third down.
15:11Yes, we didn't like the call either. That call isn't why you lost the game.
15:15There was a whole bunch of points that were scored after that.
15:19There were turnovers that happened after that. Yeah, it didn't help.
15:22It didn't help. But, like, come on. There were multiple moments throughout the game where you could have stopped the run, stopped shooting yourself in the foot.
15:30Yes, it was a bad call. I agree with you guys.
15:34You're right to be upset about that. But I think you're channeling your anger towards that one specific inflection point, as much as we believe in momentum here.
15:42You're channeling your anger towards that. Oh, brethren. It's good.
15:45I know. There's dozens of us out there. There are dozens of us.
15:49But you have to also look at every other opportunity, all the other high leverage plays that the Packers failed on in
15:56the second half, defensively and offensively specifically. Yeah. They needed a couple drives to put them away.
16:01They couldn't do it because they couldn't answer all this pressure.
16:04Yeah. So, yeah, you can be upset at the penalty.
16:07Be upset about a whole lot more than that.
16:10We can't put ourselves behind the sticks because you're playing right into their hands.
16:14That's when they want to give you all those pressure looks.
16:17Vikings offensive line, on the other side of things, I think did play very, very well.
16:22They didn't have a single offensive lineman with a pressure percentage above 7%.
16:26I mean, this group was really, really playing well.
16:28And it's a Vikings offensive line that's really gone through their fair share of injuries over the last couple of years.
16:35You and I were just talking about Christian Derrissaw and how many injuries he's gone through for his career.
16:40But when this group, this five, is fully healthy, you feel pretty good about it.
16:45And, again, we go to a little bit of a preview of Bears-Vikings that's coming up next week.
16:50Yeah. And it's going to be a very interesting matchup because these are two very, very good offensive lines.
16:56You know, what's the Bears' offensive line going to look like against Flores?
17:00And what's he going to throw at him? You know, how desperate are the Bears' defensive line rotations and everything?
17:06Like, are they going to try to match that blitz percent?
17:09Well, they're not going to match the blitz percentage because nobody matches the blitz percentage.
17:14They can try. You never go full. You never go full, Flores.
17:17But, you know, it's going to come down to, like, these could be very potent offenses here, depending on if Carson Wentz
17:24is able to get into a rhythm the way that he was in this game.
17:28We'll obviously see what Kyler Murray's status is. But very much look forward to that game that we've got coming up next week.
17:35I'm really fascinated by whatever answers Ben Johnson can come up with.
17:39Obviously, we're going to talk about this game in the preview show later this week.
17:43Historically, whether Ben was with Detroit or with Chicago, it's been very under-center play action heavy because he wants to be able to, A, draw the linebackers up.
17:52Because the linebackers, as we talked about last week, they're under a lot of pressure in this scheme.
17:57They have a lot of ground they have to cover because you're throwing bodies, extra bodies at the quarterbacks, which means there's less bodies in coverage.
18:05So the linebackers are really, really stressed here. So Ben Johnson has kind of stressed them even more with play action.
18:11You have to honor the run fake. You already have a bunch of space over the middle you have to cover.
18:17And then if you're doing these quick-hitting play action, you know, like with Amon Ra, like 12 yards over the middle.
18:24Right. He would just eat with those in Detroit.
18:26He did it also in Chicago. I am fascinated to see if Flores has a plan for that, which might involve just not blitzing as much.
18:34I wonder if he's maybe going to do that because he saw what Christian Watson did to him today.
18:40Right? I mean, if you get in a chance where, hey, we're starting to throw bodies at the line of scrimmage, but
18:46they're picking it up really well, you know, whether it's the running backs who are nice pass protectors themselves, whether it's Monungay
18:53or DeAndre Swift or obviously Cole Komet, who can sit in and pass protection as well.
18:58Like if you start to get into some action protection looks and you start putting some serious speed against those older safeties
19:04that have to cover a lot of ground, Christian Watson showed you that, you know, he could capitalize on that in the first half of this game.
19:12And so just very curious if Flores is going to still stay aggressive for as good as that Bears offense was this week.
19:19Speaking of torching safeties, let's talk about Reed Blankenship.
19:22As a Texans fan. It's okay, Reed. Not my favorite segment.
19:25He's an alien. Josh Allen is an alien. So he had 155 yards just on four throws in this game because he took seven shots.
19:33I'm talking about Josh Allen, obviously. Took seven shots at 20 plus yards, completed four of them.
19:38Got a buck 55 and two touchdowns on those four.
19:41Two of them were against Reed Blankenship. One of which I kind of understand.
19:45For sure. The sideline one to DJ Moore. There is no universe where as a safety you're thinking somebody's going to make that.
19:52Yeah. Nobody's a... Him and Mahomes. Right? Yeah. And Herbert.
19:55Herbert might do it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But like, again, Reed just spent a bunch of time in the NFC.
20:01He's not seeing those guys often. That's true. Yeah.
20:04Yeah. He's not used to that. I got baptized a little bit today.
20:07You go going over to Josh Allen like that.
20:10There was the high seven to Kincaid late where Reed got got.
20:14You know, Kamari, unfortunately, also got got late in the game.
20:17It's just Josh was throwing these bombs down the field.
20:20Yes. It's just going to happen. For sure. I don't really think the Texans defense played that bad of a game, even
20:27with as many points as they gave up. It's just sometimes you have an absolute all-time quarterback that throws unguardable balls deep down the field.
20:34This is a beauty of a game. This was just a fantastic game to watch because what was the pivotal point in this game?
20:41Kamari drops the interception that would have sealed the game.
20:44Yeah. And it was either the next play or the play after.
20:48I think it was literally the next play. Josh Allen throws an absolute seed and there's a touchdown.
20:53Boom. There it is. Against Kamari, by the way.
20:56And that's sort of the two sides of the coin of how this game could have gone.
21:01And it was literally just one drop bobbled interception.
21:04And we would be sitting here talking about the Texans still have Josh Allen's number.
21:08Or like, you know, they're on their way to a deep playoff run.
21:12They maybe still are. But that was just, I think, a microcosm of a game of two of the best teams in
21:19the NFL that went up against each other. The Texans scoring, you said this earlier and I think it was beautifully said.
21:25The Texans scoring 31 points and losing is a Josh Allen stat.
21:29Yes. That is a Josh Allen stat. That because I'm pretty sure every fan base other than maybe the Broncos, maybe Broncos
21:35fans would take the Texans defense over any defense that they had.
21:39And Josh still, he can still do that against Denver.
21:42He scored 36. There's no defense on this planet that can stop Josh Allen when he's at his best.
21:48When he is at, when Josh Allen is at his best, the only thing that can stop it is Josh Allen.
21:54That's it. Or his offensive line holding up, which they did hold up pretty well.
21:58They were good today. Both offensive lines were. That's the thing.
22:02If I'm a Texans fan, I'm not that upset.
22:04If I'm a Bills fan, I'm not that upset about the defense.
22:08This was just two really good teams going at it.
22:11Scored a bunch of points. There were big plays on both sides.
22:15It was a playoff game in September. It was a good game.
22:18It was, yes, 100%. I'm not panicking at all.
22:21So Houston's offensive line, we talked about it a lot this offseason and we talked about it a lot last season because they weren't very good.
22:29A lot of new additions, a lot of new guys in there, some young guys, some old guys.
22:34They're trying to get the best five out there kind of a thing.
22:38No Houston offensive lineman had a pressure percentage above 10% on 42 dropbacks today.
22:42And it just got them at the worst time.
22:45That's a good stat. I think that you feel really great about that, especially because all of them, now think about it.
22:51CJ Stroud, he's not Caleb Williams. He's not Josh Allen.
22:54He's not going to hold on the ball for forever.
22:57He's more of a pocket quarterback. He wants to operate more in structure.
23:01All of the offensive linemen had a time to pressure average above three seconds.
23:06That's pretty good. If you give CJ Stroud that kind of time, guess what?
23:10You score 30. Yeah. And so this is another situation very similar to the way that we talked about with Carolina Panthers, where stings, sucks, no moral victories.
23:18I get it. You can feel okay about this one.
23:21I think that the Texans and Texans fans can go, hey, if we see him again, we'll get him.
23:27And I think that you're not believing in a fantasy to say that if you see them again in the playoffs.
23:33And there were some issues that this team had last year that they showed they at least improved on.
23:39Like David Montgomery was a lifesaver in short yardage.
23:41Yes. Right? Yeah. Last year, they were awful in goal line situations.
23:45The goal to go situations, like down in the low red zone.
23:49Like they could not punch the ball in at all.
23:52You bring in David Montgomery, who's an absolute hammer.
23:54And while the blocking was better, he can still finish those kinds of runs way better than running backs that they had previously.
24:01And I love Woody Marks. He's not built for that.
24:04Montgomery is why they traded for him. Yeah. He got three touchdowns in this game.
24:09Last year's Texans, if Josh Allen did what he did today against last year's Texans, they would have gotten blown out because
24:15they couldn't win in those short yardage, high leverage situations when they absolutely needed to.
24:20And they would burn drives. They would end drives at the two yard line.
24:24Sometimes they would get to the two yard line and end up at the 10 because they would take losses over and over and over again.
24:32The fact that they showed, hey, we can actually operate in short yardage.
24:36We can convert in high leverage situations. CJ played well.
24:39I really, I think so too. The sack fumble late.
24:42This is a great start to his season. Yes.
24:44Great start to his season. You want to get 70 million a year?
24:48Do that. Sure. That, that, what CJ Stroud did today will work more often than, than it won't.
24:54Yeah. How many teams are scoring 30 something against?
24:56Well, yeah, obviously. Yeah. Very short. Pretty much, pretty much just Josh Allen at this point is the evidence that we have.
25:03I do want to give a shout out to the Bill's defense and specifically the Bill's defensive line because on the preview
25:09show and a couple of other shows that I was on, you know, when we previewed this game, I said, I'm a little worried.
25:17I'm a little worried about what it looks like right out of the gate with them switching from that even front zone
25:23heavy Sean McDermott defense, which a lot of these players were acquired to run.
25:27Now there's only so much change that you could do in one off season.
25:32Now you're switching to more of an odd front, very aggressive, multiple front man coverage type of a defense with Jim Leonard as their defense coordinator.
25:39I thought they were excellent. And specifically there was one player that I really want to give a shout out to because
25:46I was worried about this player because without him playing well, I'm not sure how well this works.
25:51And because Deion Walker, the Bill's defensive lineman played really well, I think a lot of stuff worked around him because he
25:58was a focal point to line up as a nose tackle, to line up as a four eye, to line up as
26:04a three technique, whatever it was that length and that overall size that he has that strength profile.
26:10I thought, especially in short yardage situations, it was excellent.
26:13Two solo stops from Deion Walker today, negative 2.2 yards per rush allowed of a different of a differential for when he
26:19was on the field versus when he wasn't. So they were giving up more than two yards to carry on the ground
26:26when he was not on the field. I think that is a serious NGS stat that points to the fact that Deion
26:33Walker was one of the best players that we saw in this really good game.
26:37So shout out to the Bill's defensive line, you aced this first test and you proved me as a little bit of a doubter wrong here.
26:45I'm very excited to continue to watch this group throughout the season.
26:48The hope is that Walker can be, you know, their like DeForest Buckner, Calais.
26:53That's the dream. Taller guy, but even though he'll have leverage issues because he's a taller guy, he's longer and stronger than
26:59a lot of guys that are across from him.
27:02So if he can get hands on quicker, his leverage issues are not going to be that big of a deal.
27:08So plus his lateral agility for a guy, his size, he's slanting.
27:12Like he can get in the backfield in a hurry.
27:15Yeah. He, this was one of the times where he looked like, you remember like young Kentucky Deion Walker?
27:20Yes. Yes. Before the back injury. Yes. Before the back injury.
27:24He looked so unbelievable. Yes. Yeah. People were like, he was a true freshman.
27:28We'd be like, Oh my God, is he gonna be a top 10 pick?
27:32Right. That looked like that. Yeah, he did. He did.
27:35Let's talk about New Orleans and Detroit next because obviously Barnburner goes into overtime.
27:39I mean, both teams score a touchdown in overtime and Kellen Moore is like, absolutely.
27:44We're going for the win. We're in Detroit. Why not?
27:47You're on the road. We're playing with house money.
27:50If you will, we got to this point. We thought we were, you know, they were down on the scoreboard in the second half.
27:57And what an incredible game that this was to me.
28:00For me, it was a, it was a half soft game to Tyler Shuck because I went into this off season thinking,
28:06yes, I'm excited about Tyler Shuck, but I wasn't quite there yet with other people who just were saying, Hey, Oh yeah, he's, he's totally good now.
28:14Like he is good to go. Like we're totally believing in him.
28:18New Orleans has their guy. I was like, I think we got to give it a little bit more time.
28:24Sophomore slump, very real for these pro quarterbacks, especially when defenses have an entire off season to take a look at your
28:31film at your tendencies, all that kinds of stuff.
28:33First half for Tyler Shuck, not great. He was 10 for 22, 85 passing yards, just a 3.9 yards per attempt average.
28:40One interception and had a negative 20.8 completion percentage over expected.
28:43Those are the NGS stats there. But if you get to the fourth quarter in overtime, when it really mattered, really, if
28:50you go to that, I don't remember what it was.
28:53It was like a fourth and eight, fourth and nine that he completed.
28:57And you don't complete that game. The game's over.
28:59And he rockets it in there. They convert that fourth down.
29:03Basically from that moment on, 17 for 23, 231 yards, 10 yards per attempt instead, two touchdowns and 17.5% above with the completion percentage above expected.
29:10So Tyler Shuck, when it mattered most, when the lights were brightest, when his back was against the wall, he was nails.
29:17And he was nails against, you pointed this out, man coverage.
29:20When he saw man coverage and he was able to notice that little separation with his receivers, he gave him a chance.
29:27And a lot of times it was dimes. It was dots.
29:30It was whatever you want to call it. He put up the points.
29:34He got them there. They almost got this win.
29:37I was very, very impressed with how he was able to turn it around and have that short-term memory in this game.
29:43Yeah. The man coverage aspect of it. And the Lions ran a lot of man last year.
29:48They're just a man-heavy team. Not necessarily good enough personnel to do it for the last couple of years, but they certainly wanted to.
29:55And really, if you're seeing the tale of two halves, to me, it's about the amount of man coverage he was facing
30:02because the Lions are not good at man coverage.
30:05And they kept doing it in the second half.
30:07I found this very curious. So I do have a stat here.
30:1112.5% man rate from Detroit in the first half.
30:1435% man rate from Detroit in the second half.
30:16Man, that's a lot. Yeah. Huge jump. So I was like, why?
30:20It was working. Why would you suddenly play a bunch of man coverage?
30:24What I found is that it was actually field position dependent.
30:27So when the Saints started getting down into the red zone in the second half, the Lions started switching to their red zone defense, which is very man-heavy.
30:36Like 87% man coverage rate in the red zone.
30:38They had three touchdowns against man coverage in the red zone.
30:42So, I mean, that's just the philosophy of the back of the end zone is an extra defender.
30:47Basically. They're just saying be aggressive. But Shuck's best ball is a fade.
30:51I'm with you. It obviously didn't work. The first one was a great fade.
30:55I mean, it left it a little bit long, but receiver made a good play.
31:00Like he hit a corner of the back pylon, and, you know, there's a huge slot fade late in the game against man.
31:06I think it was DeVele off the top of my head.
31:10I think so. Yeah. And when he started getting these man coverage looks, as they started getting deeper into the Lions territory,
31:16where for whatever reason, they're very zone-averse there. They want to play man, especially zero.
31:21They really want to play zero in the red zone.
31:24Super aggressive defense. It kind of clarified the look for him.
31:27The two picks that he threw in the first half, it was against zone.
31:31I have no idea what he was looking at.
31:34I looked at the all 22 five minutes after the play was over.
31:38I was like, I don't have an explanation for those picks.
31:41He just didn't see the field well. And then when you clarify the look for him with man coverage in the second
31:48half, where he's like, I have a one-on-one here.
31:50I'm going to throw this one-on-one. Because if there's one thing that he's really good at, it's putting the ball where he wants it to be.
31:58Yes. Especially outside the numbers. Yeah. So if you don't confuse him pre and post snap, and you let him just make
32:05a throw, he's going to make the throw. So to me, it's kind of on Detroit, honestly, for kind of letting off the gas a little bit.
32:13I would have just continued doing what worked, which was playing zone coverage, doing a lot of post-nap rotation, and then just
32:19trying to slow down his clock enough for Aiden to get there.
32:23It was working. I think it's a lesson for other teams to take away when preparing for the Saints.
32:29It's like, oh, if we take away that clarity of man coverage, let's make him beat us.
32:34Yeah. And I mean, the whole goal of what you want to do with young quarterbacks is you want to make them think.
32:41Yeah. Because, you know, they'll hitch a couple extra times.
32:44They'll hesitate. They won't be looking exactly where they need to.
32:47I think it was one of the interceptions that Shuck had early was, it was a read route with him.
32:53And I cannot remember if it was a receiver or a tight end, but they just totally read it wrong.
32:59The tight end was going to the outside. Shuck thought he was going to sit right where he was when he was cutting.
33:06And the safety was already coming down because the safety was already there.
33:10And Shuck just throws it and it's an interception.
33:12And those are the things where he's struggling because you're making him think.
33:16Yeah. When you play man coverage, a lot of times you're not forcing quarterbacks to think, especially when you're playing zero.
33:23He's just looking across the board and saying, okay, all right.
33:26I know, I know because at that point, at that point, you don't have to second guess yourself about what's happening on the defense.
33:33You only have to think about the route that your wide receiver is running.
33:37That's it. You can lock in on a guy.
33:40It doesn't matter. You're timing it up. You're seeing when the separation is going to be there and you're going to give him a chance.
33:47So there's, there's no, there's not enough thinking involved.
33:50And I agree with you. I believe that that was part of the catalyst of what really just let Tyler Shuck catch
33:57fire is he just didn't have to think as much.
34:00And he got to play very free with a heck of an arm.
34:04And obviously we saw what the results can be with, with them almost taking down Detroit and Detroit.
34:09Now, one of the reasons why they didn't take down Detroit, because I want to be a little positive about them too.
34:16Jameer Gibbs. Not bad. The MVP candidate that we highlighted in our season preview is off to a good start.
34:22Yeah, absolutely. If every, if even most games are like that, he's going to end up with 2000 yards from scrimmage.
34:28Yeah. What was his final, what was his final yards from scrimmage here in this game?
34:33What do we have? I think it was like one 60.
34:36Here it is. So he had 156 rushing yards on 29 attempts.
34:39And then he had five targets, five catches for 30 yards.
34:43So it was 186 total yards on the day for him, two touchdowns.
34:47And yeah, he also ran 17 routes to go along with 29 carries.
34:51So they paid him. They're going to use him.
34:53They paid him and they are going to use him.
34:56And obviously it's a great thing when you do use a player that does that talent.
35:01He was great. Penne was great. Amon Ross scored like all the usual suspects.
35:05And I mean, Jamison, he had a bad drop, but all the usual guys that we praise for Detroit's offense showed up.
35:12But yeah, you know, Blake Miller, my guy, my guy, first start.
35:15Not bad. You know, we worry about the health of the interior because they're already down two thirds of it as far
35:22as what we had a month ago. I saw mahogany got hurt.
35:26I didn't, I didn't check on that afterwards. So I don't know the severity of it.
35:30But May's already went down. Right. Yeah. So we worry about that, but I think Detroit's offense is going to be fine.
35:37What I worry about is the defense. Can they find a solution that isn't man coverage?
35:42Because I don't think they can play. Are they going to be willing to?
35:46Maybe a good way to say it too. They're very stubborn.
35:49The Buccaneers and the Cincinnati Bengals, reluctantly for me, as somebody born just south of Tampa, Florida, talking about this game.
35:55But hey, I want to give credit to Cincinnati's offensive line.
35:59And I want to give credit to their offensive line because it just feels like the narrative has been so old and
36:05tired that Cincinnati doesn't have a good offensive line.
36:08They've never invested in no line. They can't protect Joe Burrow.
36:11Look, this is a revamped Buccaneers defensive line that has some really good players on it.
36:16And outside of Kalijah Kansi getting the better of Dylan Fairchild and quite a few one-on-one matchups that they had because Kansi was great in this game.
36:24I thought Cincinnati's offensive line played very, very well.
36:27Outside of Fairchild, every other Bengals offensive lineman had a pressure percentage below 8.1% per next gen stats.
36:32Specifically, Amarius Mims, who we talked about as really maybe taking that leap.
36:36As that top offensive tackle there on the team only allowed two pressures on 37 total dropbacks.
36:41So for me, that was a big time story for me.
36:45There's a lot of things to kind of take away from this one.
36:48Look, if you're going to turn the ball over four times, it's really hard to beat anybody.
36:54I think the Bucs were, I don't want to say lucky because it was their own talent to come back in this game.
37:00But for them to even make it as close as they did with four turnovers is a credit to them, but also
37:07a reality that you just cannot be doing that.
37:10But man, Cincinnati's offensive line, I thought did a really, really good job in this game.
37:14And it's a great sign for what could be the ceiling of this Bengals offense and just overall this team.
37:20If I'm a Bengals fan, I'm really happy that we won in a way that wasn't the usual.
37:26Right? This wasn't, oh, we're calling 989 over and over again.
37:29Yeah. Jamar, it's T. Yeah. It's Joe. Yeah. You know, it's 35 to 33.
37:33It wasn't like that. Right? The pass rush played really well.
37:37Like Cassius and Boye both had four pressures each.
37:39Like the first strip sack six since he got was actually...
37:43Way to enunciate that. That would have been... That was the...
37:46I could see the tongue twister. I was working through it.
37:49I was like... You were practicing that in the mirror.
37:52I could see it. It was great. I'm giving you your flowers here.
37:56That was good. But that... It started off with a Boye-Mashvay pressure.
38:00Baker gets a very good right tackle in Luka Deke.
38:03Yeah. Right? Yeah. So he flushed Baker. The OTB route was open.
38:06Baker would have thrown it if he didn't have to step up away.
38:10And so then, you know, the windows close, unfortunately.
38:13So then you got to move out of the pocket, try to create a play.
38:17You know, just like a second phase. But he got ran down from behind.
38:22Stripped. Ran it back. Like... But that all started because Boye got the pressure.
38:26Mm-hmm. Right? The guy they invested in this offseason.
38:28Yeah. Cassius got four pressures. He even got around Tristan Wirfs one time.
38:32Yeah. I'm like, dude, if you can run the arc on Tristan Wirfs and flatten at an eight-yard depth, most of the
38:39time Tristan's going to push you to ten. You're not going to get a shot at the quarterback.
38:44Right. You got to pressure running the ring at eight yards on Tristan Wirfs.
38:48Yeah. That's a major win. A lot of the Bucs O-line stats didn't really look good in this game.
38:54You know, when you look at them in next gen.
38:57I think a little bit of it is skewed because, to me, the offensive line and Mayfield just kind of weren't on the same page.
39:05Like, with how long he wanted to hold onto the ball, where he wanted to step up.
39:10It just felt as though they really were not very cohesive.
39:13The offensive line just didn't have a good feel for where the ball was and where Mayfield was, I think, all day long.
39:20Two interesting notes for the Bucs offense in this game that I think are worth noting moving forward.
39:25Mayfield had 12 passes behind the line of scrimmage in this game, which was tied for the second most in a single
39:32game in the Mayfield era that he has been with the Buccaneers.
39:35So you think of all of the different offensive coordinators that the Buccaneers have had while Mayfield has been there.
39:41There's been like four of them. Yeah, I mean, you can barely count it on one hand.
39:47I wonder, hey, is this sort of a lean into the Zach Robinson version of what we're seeing here, where it's a
39:53lot of stuff at or behind the line of scrimmage?
39:56They're really going to invest a little bit more in the screen game?
40:00Are the running backs now, you know, maybe even from a fantasy perspective, are they going to get more involved in the
40:07screen game and in the passing game? And then I think they've got to get Ted Hurst the ball a little bit more.
40:13Ted Hurst didn't have a single target, didn't have a single catch, until the fourth quarter, but caught all three of his targets.
40:20And he had the highest QBR of any of the wide receivers in this game.
40:25So I think it might be time to get Ted Hurst involved in the offense a little bit more there from Tampa side of things.
40:32And I think that'll just make Emeka more effective, right?
40:35Because Hurst is really more of an X than Emeka is.
40:39So if Hurst is just like, that's the pillar that we put there at X, he's on line of scrimmage.
40:45We can move around Emeka. We can move around everybody else.
40:48But that's what it revolves around, like that fence post in the ground.
40:52I think it can make their overall pass game better.
40:55I think the talent they have on the offensive line and at the skill positions, this should be a good offense.
41:01They just need to not turn it over four times, right?
41:04And if I was the Bengals, I'm very encouraged by the pass rush.
41:08I'm encouraged by the offensive line. I'm encouraged by the fact that Jamar was held, not even in check.
41:14Jamar didn't do anything in the game. And they still were okay.
41:17Which you got to feel good about if you're the Bengals.
41:21Yeah, it means we don't have to have him go off, right?
41:24And also, by the way, Jamar didn't do anything.
41:27That was largely because of the buck corners that we talked about.
41:31Which is a big question mark for them. We were worried about it.
41:35Yeah. They did okay. They did do okay. Yeah, no doubt.
41:38I mean, there was a whole bunch of individual matchups.
41:41I was looking at the matchup data on next-gen stats.
41:44So Keontae Scott matched up with him 10 times.
41:47That's a lot for rookie. He gave up the only catch that went for any yardage.
41:51He gave up one catch for 16. And then when he got targeted against Benjamin Morrison, the other young corner that we
41:58were excited about, he lost four yards. And every other Bucs corner didn't give up a single catch against him.
42:04So if we're giving up two for 12 against one of the three best receivers in football, I feel a lot better
42:10about the Bucs corners now than I did a day ago.
42:14I agree. I agree with you. We got to touch on the Cardinals and the Chargers because this was the game where
42:20I think the Chargers, whether it was from win probability or odds to win this game, whatever it was, the Chargers kind of a runaway here.
42:28And the Cardinals come away with a victory here in SoFi.
42:3126-14 is the final score here of this one.
42:34Overall thoughts on sort of how this happens? I mean, is this a tip of the cap to the Arizona Cardinals in the Mike LaFleur era?
42:42Or is it more of, okay, Chargers, this is not good here.
42:45What's your bigger takeaway here from this game? So the next-gen stats win probability model had this at 80% in favor of the Chargers.
42:53Which, to our credit, we both said, ugh, I don't know about that.
42:57We were like, 80? I mean, 60 maybe. I believe 60, but 80?
43:00With how potent this Cardinals offense was last season?
43:03What, was that just going to go poof, gone?
43:06I think potent, sort of. Inefficient through volume, I think they put up a lot.
43:10But you look at the... James Harden's still an all-star.
43:13James Harden's still getting paid. Volume shooter, baby. But if you look at the...
43:17Beyond empty calories, right? If you look at the substance that they added on the offensive line in the backfield, because we
43:24love Jeremiah Love, they made additions to the offensive line this offseason, bringing in Sam Mala.
43:29Unfortunately, Besantis got injured. But they made an actual effort to improve the offensive line.
43:33Quarterback is what quarterback is. But we said if Jacoby Verset just doesn't lose the game, there's so much talent around him with the receivers.
43:41Trey McBride, you have one of the best tight ends in football.
43:44You have a great back. You have an improved offensive line.
43:48And we knew they could put up points, even against what we think is still going to be a very good Chargers defense.
43:55It was just, can the Cardinals defense and special teams still be on that level where the offense can score enough and still win the game?
44:02They were. Yes. Yes. And I thought that the Cardinals offense was also much more efficient and regulated, it feels like, than what the Chargers were.
44:10We spent... So many people spent all offseason just talking about the...
44:14What if of Mike McDaniel's offense with the Chargers and Justin Herbert.
44:17And like, there were moments where it was good, but it was not consistent.
44:22And I think the time of possession speaks to that alone.
44:25Cardinals time of possession, 37 minutes, 31 seconds. Chargers, 22 minutes, 29 seconds.
44:29When you look at third and fourth down, the Chargers, EPA per play, bottom eight in the NFL so far this week.
44:35We got a couple of games left to finish up, but like bottom eight in the league when it came to converting on those third and fourth downs.
44:44I think specifically, the big point to note here with the Chargers though, is how night and day different in a bad
44:50way this offense was when Ladd McConkie got hurt.
44:53Oof. When Ladd went out in the third quarter, we can look at on-off splits with NextGen.
44:58With Ladd McConkie on the field, okay? They had an EPA per play of 0.12 and 8.9 yards per pass average.
45:04When Ladd McConkie was not on the field, it went from 8.9 yards per pass average to a 3.9.
45:10Five whole yards! It's not functioning. And the EPA per play went from a positive to a negative, negative 0.61.
45:16Herbert had no chemistry with any other receiver that was not named Ladd McConkie.
45:20That's worrisome. I just... The Chargers always feel like they're one injury away from catastrophe.
45:25And unfortunately... Because they are. Well, unfortunately, this team has suffered those injuries, so we have seen a lot of the downturn and the spiral.
45:32But you've got to be deeper than that, man.
45:35And I think Herbert, he sensed that they were in trouble late in the game, and he pressed.
45:40That interception that he had... For sure, yes. And they set it up well, right?
45:45It's a quarters beater. It's like, okay, we're going to pin this safety down.
45:49We've got the vertical behind it. But Roy Lopez got a pressure right up the middle, and it kind of flushed Herbert to the right.
45:56Wingard on the backside didn't have any vertical threat to his side, so he was free to go hunt.
46:02That's how quarters coverage works. Easy. And when Herbert's rolling to his right, he's especially thinking like, oh, I'm just going to follow his eyes.
46:10I'm going to flow with him. Herbert's eyes took him right to the ball because he had no other responsibility holding him on the backside.
46:17And when Herbert's moving, the defense is going to move with him.
46:21It was a mistake. He was... It was first and 10.
46:24Yeah. In the fourth quarter. He was frustrated. He was very frustrated.
46:28Yeah. He was very frustrated. And I think part of it is he was not getting enough from the third phase of
46:34the game, and I think he felt that pressure, that third phase being special teams.
46:39This is NFL Pro, so we will talk about special teams EPA per play.
46:43Hell yeah, baby. That, to me, was really what kick-started that pressure that led to the Herbert interception.
46:48Right? That punt block, that was plus four in EPA.
46:51Yeah. Yeah. A special teams play added four expected points for the Cardinals in this game, or took away four expected points
46:58from the Charter, however you want to phrase it.
47:00The Cardinals' special teams was dead last in the NFL in EPA per play last year.
47:05They were sixth best in the NFL this week, as of us recording this.
47:09We'll see what happens with Monday Night Football. But the fact that they had four massive special teams plays, you had the
47:16punt block, you had really good kickoff coverage from them, you had good punt coverage from them.
47:21Like, repeatedly, the Chargers would take these kickoffs, get to the 23-24, late in the game got to the 13.
47:27And I think if you're looking at, you know, all the hidden yardage or lack of yardage they were getting on special
47:34teams that Herbert then had to make up. Right.
47:36Because they were getting bad field position. Like, that just put so much pressure on him.
47:41It led to that crucial mistake. They were already kind of in trouble before that.
47:46And that's how you lose a game that you're, quote-unquote, 80% supposed to win.
47:50Yes. We could sit here and honestly talk all night about week one takeaways because it feels like there's so many of them.
47:57There's so many different directions that you could go.
47:59But we got to dive into the tape before we get to that.
48:03These were some of the numbers that really stood out to us when we were watching live and we were working with
48:10the NGS group, which, man, shout out to that team.
48:13Do an incredible job. Hopefully, you guys already understand from just this first week one reaction show how powerful that NGS team
48:19is and how fun these shows are going to be that we're reacting to all the week one madness and everything.
48:26So, the next show that we have for you guys coming to you on Friday.
48:30Like we said, we're going to get to the tape.
48:33So, we're going to have some X's and O's breakdowns.
48:36Obviously, more numbers to talk about what we saw this week, what we think we're going to see in week two.
48:42And then, obviously, as the season goes on as well, we're going to take a look at those league trends on both sides of the ball.
48:50Hey, sometimes the third phase as well. We're going to take a look at those league trends, see where anybody's getting an advantage.
48:57So, make sure that you guys are subscribed to the channel here at NFL Pro to make sure that you can come
49:04back and hang out with us every single episode.
49:06For Brett Coleman, I'm Trevor Sykema saying thank you guys for watching.
49:10We'll see you guys on Friday. That's it for our week one reaction show.
49:14Thank you so much for listening. And we'll be back Friday to get you ready for all the week two action.
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49:35It is your home for everything football. Breaking news, expert analysis, game picks, and hear from your favorite players too.
49:41Join me and an all-star cast of experts for everything you need to know from around the league.
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