Week 1 Recap: Bills, Bears & Jaguars shine, Chargers & Packers flop
STACKED extracted the fantasy-relevant player signal from this podcast and kept the full transcript here for context.
1 hr 23 min
Duration
Estimated from transcript
Sep 14, 2026
Published
Mon, September 14, 2026
27
Player insights
22
Players mentioned
Topics
Trevor LawrenceD.J. MooreDalton KincaidJordan LoveBaker MayfieldBrenton StrangeBucky IrvingCaleb WilliamsChris OlaveChristian WatsonDavid MontgomeryIsaiah LikelyJa'Marr ChaseJacoby Brissett
Player analysis
Player insights
Baker Mayfield
NegativeUsage62:00
Baker Mayfield struggled with decision-making and holding the ball too long, averaging over three seconds to throw and contributing to three turnovers in a nine-minute span, including a costly fumble inside the five-yard line.
Insight pageBrenton Strange
PositiveRole38:00
Brenton Strange was utilized in creative red zone packages, including a switch-verse post route where he scored a touchdown; the source highlights this as a favorite play design of the week.
Insight pageBucky Irving
NegativeUsage62:39
Bucky Irving contributed to the Buccaneers' turnover issues with a fumble that allowed the Bengals to capitalize in a critical stretch of the game.
Insight pageCaleb Williams
PositiveProjection50:00
Williams displayed significant growth in out-of-structure playmaking and consistency in defined drop-back situations. His ability to mitigate sacks, sense pressure, and scramble effectively makes him a highly efficient and dangerous quarterback.
Insight pageChris Olave
PositiveUsage70:18
Chris Olave is identified as the primary weapon for the Saints, recording 182 yards and serving as the focal point of the passing attack during the team's comeback attempt.
Insight pageChristian Watson
PositiveUsage55:34
Christian Watson caught an early touchdown pass, which the source described as 'disgusting' in terms of quality, despite the heavy pressure the Packers' offense faced.
Insight pageD.J. Moore
PositiveProjection17:43
The source identifies DJ Moore as arguably the Bills' most potent pass catcher alongside Dalton Kincaid, highlighting his ability to make high-difficulty plays, such as a 25-yard completion from the opposite hash.
Insight pagePositiveUsage33:32
Moore remains a highly effective weapon, recording 5 catches for 100 yards. His presence creates significant gravity, forcing defenses to cheat toward him, which directly opened up a 34-yard touchdown pass to Josh Palmer.
Insight pageDalton Kincaid
PositiveUsage15:25
Dalton Kincaid led all Bills skill players with a 77% snap share and delivered a career-best 130-yard performance. The Bills are actively weaponizing him out of 13 personnel, utilizing him as a primary receiver in various alignments, including deep routes and motion-based concepts.
Insight pagePositiveRole19:47
The source expresses high confidence that Kincaid's breakout performance against the Texans is repeatable, noting that his role as a full-time player could be the primary catalyst for the Bills' offense this season, potentially even more so than DJ Moore.
Insight pageDavid Montgomery
PositiveUsage41:57
Montgomery is benefiting from a revamped Texans run game that successfully utilized gap scheme and power blocking. His performance, including a touchdown, showed improved vision and flow, signaling a more effective rushing attack than last season.
Insight pageIsaiah Likely
PositiveUsage9:48
Isaiah Likely proved to be a vital component of the Giants' offense, maintaining high-level production even with Malik Neighbors active. His role as a key target was validated by his performance, dispelling concerns that his usage was solely dependent on Neighbors' availability.
Insight pageJa'Marr Chase
PositiveUsage66:18
Ja'Marr Chase remained a focal point of the Bengals' offense, successfully executing big plays out of the slot and in play-action sets despite defensive attention.
Insight pageJacoby Brissett
PositiveProjection47:51
Jacoby Brissett proved to be 'good enough' to run the Cardinals' offense, completing 17 of 20 passes for 167 yards; the source notes he is the right fit for an offense that spreads the field and attacks the middle.
Insight pageJahmyr Gibbs
PositiveUsage73:19
Jahmyr Gibbs had a massive debut for the Lions, recording 34 touches for nearly 200 scrimmage yards and maintaining a 55% rushing success rate.
Insight pageJoe Burrow
PositiveUsage65:30
The Bengals offense under Joe Burrow showed increased diversity by utilizing more under-center play-action and efficient quick passing, marking a significant shift from their 2023 tendencies.
Insight pageJordan Love
PositiveProjection53:44
Jordan Love performed impressively despite facing a blitz-heavy scheme (78.3% blitz rate), hitting several 'sick' throws including a 42-yarder to Matthew Golden; the source notes he has to be 'awesome' to succeed in this ecosystem.
Insight pageNegativeUsage57:21
Jordan Love faced significant pressure due to offensive line miscommunications, specifically struggling against blitzing linebackers like Dallas Turner and Blake Cashman who came in untouched.
Insight pageJosh Allen
PositiveProjection35:35
Allen is evolving by incorporating subtle pocket nuances—moving defenders with his eyes and shoulders—to complement his elite physical scrambling ability. This combination of traditional pocket command and 'force of nature' rushing makes him a terrifying prospect for defenses.
Insight pageJustin Herbert
NegativeProjection50:10
Justin Herbert faced significant pressure due to a struggling interior offensive line, with the source noting that the Chargers' offense failed to generate explosive runs or chunk plays, leading to a frustrating performance.
Insight pageKendrick Bourne
PositiveUsage47:39
Kendrick Bourne was clearly prioritized by Mike LaFleur, earning eight targets in his debut; the source describes his stat line as the most obvious indicator of his role in the new offense.
Insight pageMarvin Harrison Jr.
NegativeProjection48:58
Marvin Harrison Jr. made an 'insane catch' but the source questions if he will primarily serve as a 'big play merchant' rather than a high-volume target, though notes his presence is still valuable for the offense.
Insight pageParker Washington
PositiveBreakout38:13
Parker Washington scored a touchdown on a deep corner route against Miles Harden, showcasing an incredible diving catch; the source notes his usage in a well-designed play that utilized motion to create space.
Insight pageTrevor Lawrence
PositiveProjection39:55
Trevor Lawrence displayed explosive playmaking ability, specifically on a touchdown pass to Zay Jones where he escaped pressure and threw a 'howitzer' while on the move; the source compares his play style to a 'mech warrior' and notes his elite arm talent.
Insight pageNegativeBust40:44
Despite his explosive playmaking, Trevor Lawrence continues to show 'bozo' tendencies, including an illegal forward pass with his left hand, which the source suggests is a recurring 'knucklehead' trait.
Insight pagePositiveProjection59:01
Lawrence had a career-best performance in terms of EPA per drop back and passer rating, demonstrating elite efficiency while throwing downfield. His ability to execute a high-level offensive plan against a talented Browns defense suggests a major step forward.
Insight pageTrey McBride
PositiveUsage46:02
Trey McBride was a focal point of the Cardinals' offense, frequently targeted on seam routes and chunk plays; the source notes the team did a great job manufacturing space for him in the middle of the field.
Insight pageFull transcript
Episode Transcript
0:00Welcome to The Athletic Football Show, brought to you by the U.S.
0:03Bank Smartly Visa Signature Card. I'm Robert Mays. Week 1 is in the books.
0:07Always so good to be back with a new season.
0:10We dug into all the important action from week 1, chatted about a notable Sunday night game, the New York Giants taking
0:16care of business against the Dallas Cowboys. Big days from Trevor Lawrence and Caleb Williams, a monster performance from the Buffalo Bills offense against the Houston Texans defense.
0:24Some WTFs fans of the NFL, and they're going to be a big fan of the NFL, and they're going to be a big fan of the NFL.
0:32We got the NFL moments from the Chargers, the Packers, and Baker Mayfield, and we chatted about what made us feel romantic in week 1 of the NFL.
0:39Me, Dave Hellman, Derek Klassen, let's get to it right now.
0:42Week 1 is in the books, except for Monday Night Football obviously, which we'll talk about tomorrow, but the majority of week 1.
0:49It's always fun to be back at it. My body is never ready for the wall of stimuli coming at you in
0:55the noon window, but a really fun week 1 to kick things off in the NFL.
0:59My energy was like through the roof until like third quarter of the Sunday night game, and then I was like, wow,
1:05I've been wire to wire for like 9 hours at this point.
1:09It like hit me like a wall. It's the first week, and it's overwhelming, and also Mays brings donuts for week 1,
1:15so like you get the sugar crash in addition to just the football.
1:18I probably shouldn't have done that. That was a bad idea on my part.
1:22Dave said it at some point during the noon window where he was like, how do we do this?
1:27Watching it all happen at the same time, your body is never ready for it because it is something that you haven't
1:33done since week 18 of last year, and I don't think anybody's ever prepared for what it's like to try to watch
1:40eight football games at once and try to keep track of everything.
1:43Even by then, by week 18, half those games don't even matter.
1:46Yes, and that's the thing about today is everything matters, and so we're going to try to dig through as much as we can.
1:53We have three games that we're going to hit on the hangover tomorrow, a couple games that are always hangover worthy.
1:59For anybody that's unfamiliar, we always, on the Monday into Tuesday show, we hit a handful of games we do not talk about on the Sunday night show.
2:06We're not going to talk about every game tonight.
2:09Often those are games that, maybe a little bit further down the pecking order, maybe aren't the sexiest games in the world.
2:15Titans-Jets is a hangover game that we circled in like July, so we're going to hit that on the hangover tomorrow.
2:21We are also going to hit Ravens-Colts on the hangover tomorrow because we do want to try to get one juicy game in the hangover each week.
2:28A lot of the time that's going to be the Sunday night game, but because it's week one, because everyone just watched
2:34that Sunday night game and it was particularly notable, we wanted to kick things off tonight by talking about that game.
2:40Just an incredibly impressive performance from the Giants all across the board.
2:43I mean, what they did offensively, they had that game in the palm of their hand for four quarters.
2:49That is such a great way to phrase it.
2:51I am so awed by the game plan, by the execution of said game plan.
2:55The Cowboys touched the football twice after halftime. They just bled the game out in the second half.
3:00It was unbelievable, which I have the stats in front of me.
3:04I haven't looked at them since the game ended.
3:06The New York Giants went 9-11 on third down.
3:09They were 9-10 at one point. Late when they didn't get when the game was already over.
3:13I don't mean it to sound derogatory. I'm very, very impressed, but just a masterful game of keep away and of playing
3:19to your strengths and staying on the field. Jackson Dart was so impressive.
3:23I mean, the wow throws probably aren't going to be there for you.
3:27I think he finished bottom of the league in air yards per attempt for week one, but the decision making, the operation, the smoothness with which he operated.
3:34Incredibly crisp game from Jackson Dart. Which is a very crisp game.
3:38I made this joke at halftime. When you consider that one quarterback in this game was year 11 and has been all
3:44pro, and the other one was year 2 and has a reputation for being a bit of a YOLO guy, who would
3:50you have guessed was one and the other? You know, Dak had that ridiculous interception before halftime where he just had too
3:56much dip on his chip, gifted the Giants with a chance to score points, which they took advantage of.
4:01That was the game. Yes. That sequence was the entire game because of how well the Giants possessed the ball in the second half.
4:08That's how important that possession was to waste it.
4:10Usually you think, ah, it's an arm punt. Yeah.
4:13You know, there's however many seconds left in the game.
4:16For the Giants to come down and score that touchdown, it was over.
4:19That ended the game because of how few possessions Dallas had over the course of this entire thing.
4:24The degree to which, like, snap after snap, Jackson Dart just dropped back and it's just, da-da-da, like from one to two, like, okay, that's not there.
4:32Barely under pressure, by the way. Like, between the Giants offensive line and the Dallas pass rush, just absolutely not looking impressive outside of a Caleb Downs blitz.
4:39Just a phenomenally cool, crisp, smooth performance from Jackson Dart.
4:42The Giants are 1-0 for the first time since 2022.
4:45And this is only the second time in the last decade they've started the season 1-0.
4:49Considering where they've been, of course, like all the prerequisites applied.
4:52Week one is a liar. We don't know for sure what any of this stuff means.
4:57But considering where the Giants have been over the last decade and what they hired John Harbaugh to do, to play like
5:03that and get a game like that from Jackson Dart against a team that has basically treated you like a little brother
5:09for the last decade, you are well within your rights to be really, really excited as a New York Giants fan.
5:15For the offensive line to control the game in the way that they did, that to me is the most encouraging part of it.
5:21I mean, the quarterback playing very well is exactly what you want to see from a second-year player.
5:26But if you're looking at the construction of the Giants offense, the line is where they were going to do a lot of this damage.
5:33It's a very well-constructed group. It's completely out of character from what we've come to expect from Giants offenses over the last five to seven years.
5:40This is like a real strength of who they are.
5:43They showed that today. The quarterback was really good.
5:46And for the fact, for the notion that Isaiah likely was as good in this game as he was and as important
5:52in this game as he was, every, the promise of what you wanted the Giants offense to be coming into this season
5:58based on the moves they made this offseason, you got that on pretty much every single level.
6:03It's the most encouraging start you could ask for, including Malik Neighbors playing in the game.
6:07Yeah, like he played, the fact that he played and then Isaiah likely also still popped off the way that he did.
6:13Like, I think that there was some concern about like, oh, well, Isaiah likely is going to have to do that if Malik Neighbors can miss his time.
6:21Is he going to have to do that? Well, Malik Neighbors didn't miss any time.
6:25And Isaiah likely is able to do that. And so the fact that you got proof of concept for both of those,
6:31I thought their running game, specifically all their lead stuff, like anytime they were pulling a guard, anytime they were using Patrick a card was just incredibly dominant.
6:39And like Scadabo is the type of runner that even if he meets the linebacker in the hole, he's going to squeeze
6:45out a couple of yards after that. And he did that a lot of times this game.
6:50I think the thing too, with Jackson Dart, and again, week one, you don't know if he's going to do this for the rest of the season.
6:57It's not that he played well. It's that he played well in a way that he had not ever played well before.
7:03Like him playing within himself, so controlled, taking all the checkdowns, getting the ball out on time.
7:08You just didn't see that much of that last year.
7:11Like you did it a little bit specifically against the Blitz last year, but not like on a regular down-to-down basis.
7:16I want to be sure not to make this sound like a backhanded compliment, but like what made Jackson Dart so enticing
7:23last year was half the time it's wild in a bad way.
7:26And then once every six or seven snaps, he does something insanely exciting.
7:29The Giants weren't exciting in this game. Like there weren't all these crazy explosives or, you know, on the run throws to
7:36the back pylon like we saw in the preseason.
7:38It was very methodical the entire game. Methodical and smooth.
7:41I never would have guessed. Even, yeah, I could have imagined the Giants winning this.
7:45I could have imagined Jackson Dart playing well, but to be as in control as they were, as consistently as they were, I did not see that coming.
7:53He had a 72% drop X success rate for a next gen.
7:56That's really good for a player of Jackson Dart's ilk, right?
7:59The idea that we want to see a little bit more consistency in year two.
8:03On the flip side, that's heinous for Dallas's defense.
8:06Like this, for as good of a start, and I want to give some credit to Matt Nagy and Greg Roman as
8:12well, because that entire offensive staff, there were questions of what is this going to look like?
8:16How excited are we for this? How much faith do we have in this entire contingent heading into the season?
8:22They were as good as you could have wanted them to be, because as good as Jackson Dart was, there were a
8:28lot of very easy, simple throws on the table for Jackson Dart in this game because of what the plan looked like
8:34for Dallas's offense, or the Giants offense. On the other side, it's about as bad a start as you could possibly have for the Cowboys defense.
8:41And I think the areas where they struggled, it leaves you really worried, because the linebackers were always going to be a
8:47big question for this group, even if you could get excited about some pieces on the front.
8:52They remade the secondary. You have a combination of Caleb Downs, Jalen Thompson, Ravel getting time now.
8:57Kobe Durant is there. The secondary is entirely remade.
8:59The linebacking core, you trade for Dee Winters, but other than that, you've got a third-round rookie in Ja'Shawn Barham, and then you have Damari Novershawn still there.
9:07They got picked on this entire game. Dee Winters got picked on all games.
9:11The entire game, and Overshawn. Overshawn got picked on and banged up in this game.
9:15It was rough. I mean, the degree to which the Giants consistently and effectively were putting the Cowboys linebackers in conflict the
9:21entire game and just picking on them, whether it was in the flat because there was some sort of run-pass conflict or
9:27hitting them over the middle of the field, it's about as rough of a start as you could possibly have.
9:33We see this. You know, the two games I would point out, if you were trying to have some cope for the
9:39quality of the Giants or the Cowboys defense over the course of the season, which Lord knows I need to right now,
9:45you think about that week three game, that early season game that the Broncos played against the Dolphins a few years ago.
9:51By the end of the season, the Broncos were an average defense.
9:54The other game I always point to that we don't really talk about very much, two of three for 460 yards and
10:00six touchdowns in game two of the Mike McDonald Ravens.
10:03Like, there are early season games in year ones of staffs that just look ugly on either side of the ball.
10:09Maybe it doesn't get better, but we have examples of teams course correcting after a rough start.
10:14They're going to need to course correct because that's about as bad of a start as you can possibly have if you're the Dallas defense.
10:21We don't have to overreact too much or relitigate all of the preseason content, and I certainly am not, like, abandoning the
10:27Cowboys or the Cowboys defense at this point, but this is something I was really worried about in the sense of if
10:33this game happens at noon, it's still disappointing, right?
10:35But is it the same as, like, the Dallas Cowboys are going to be on Sunday night football and they're going to
10:41get a shitload of hype when they have an exciting defensive coordinator and a big-time first-round draft pick and there's nowhere to
10:47hide, and that's a scary place to be. Like, you're never hiding in the noon window if you're the Dallas Cowboys.
10:53Hopefully not the nude window. They were in the noon window.
10:56They were in the nude window on Sunday night.
10:59They got caught with their pants down on national television today.
11:02There's no way around it. That's as bad of a start as you can possibly have.
11:06I mean, what happened to them before the half?
11:09It's just unacceptable. It's just, it's absolutely ridiculous. And the touchdown play was all of it.
11:13This is going to be a defense where you've got to communicate exceptionally well and the linebackers really have to cover.
11:19And so, like, on that play, they have Isaiah Likely out to the right, tight to the formation.
11:24He's on the ball. They shift Darnell Mooney out to over there and it, like, pushes the corner out a little bit and the linebackers flip.
11:31So now D Winters is over there. He gets the Mooney, like, crashing into him and he's supposed to kind of pass
11:37that off and then get back into the flat.
11:40He doesn't do it at all. Likely just takes the high corner.
11:43The corner on the outside, like, panics. He's like, oh, there's a guy free in the flat now because the linebacker's not coming off.
11:50So they both run to the flat. There's nobody under the corner out for Likely.
11:54It's just, like, stuff like that is exactly what I was worried about, specifically with the linebackers.
11:59And so to see a play like that happen, the last touchdown is something similar.
12:03Like, it was pretty concerning. Again, it's week one.
12:05Like, some of this stuff can get fixed, but it really couldn't have looked any worse.
12:10But it better. It was awful. And for them to get pushed around to the degree that they did and for the
12:16Giants to do anything they wanted to do on the ground, I mean, again, it's as bad of a start as you can possibly have.
12:23And year one, new coordinator, first-time coordinator, these things happen, but it can't happen again.
12:27This has to be the outwire performance if you were the Dallas defense or it's going to be a long season because the offense wasn't great today.
12:34But if you're going to look like this, it's the same story as last year.
12:38The offense has to be perfect for you to stay in these games.
12:42One George Pickens drop to swing the game shouldn't be the reason that you're out of it immediately.
12:47And that's what happened to Dallas tonight. It's, I mean, Dak threw a terrible interception and Pickens had an awful night.
12:53I mean, he had two drops. Yeah. The drop right before the interception is like, that's one where if that doesn't happen,
12:59then that sequence we're talking about at the end of the half, Calvish still probably lose this game considering how bad their defense was.
13:05But that sequence where he drops it and then the interception happens, the game ends right there.
13:10The whole point was, is like the margins shouldn't be that thin.
13:13And if George Pickens has to be perfect every week for you to stand a chance, this is going to be a
13:20shitty season just like last season was. About as good a start as you can hope for for the John Harbaugh era.
13:26About as bad a start as you can hope for for a Dallas team that I had hopes for.
13:31I think a lot of people did. I don't think I was alone on that island and this is not the note
13:37on which you wanted to start that season. All right.
13:40Let's get to some of the other performances that jumped out to us today.
13:44It is time for You Have My Attention. Gentlemen, now you have my attention.
13:48Each week, obviously we talked about earlier, there's a wall of stuff coming at you over the course of the day.
13:53We want to pick out a handful of performances each and every Sunday that really grabbed our attention over the course of the day.
14:00And let's start with the Buffalo Bills putting up 36 points on the Houston Texans.
14:04The stat that jumped out to me, there were a couple of them.
14:080.19 EPA per play for Buffalo. That is the third worst game of the D'Amico Ryan's era in Houston.
14:13Second worst EPA per dropback game at 0.49 for Josh Allen.
14:16All these things are coming from next gen stats.
14:1825% explosive play rate for the Buffalo Bills in this game.
14:22That is the worst mark of any game of the D'Amico Ryan's Houston Texans defenses.
14:26So an out-of-character day for the Texans defense and a Bills offense that, again, you talk about debuts with new coaching staffs,
14:32about as good a start as you could hope for in terms of some of the excitement that we can start building
14:38about what this version of the Joe Brady offense looks like in Buffalo.
14:41They got them in every way, man. Some of it was scheme stuff.
14:45Like I thought in the run game too, like the way that they can put you in conflict in the run game,
14:51I think is really impressive with their 13 personnel stuff where their entire run game is built on, we're going to put
14:57all three tight ends to one side and we're either going to run weak zone away from it or we're going to run duo at it.
15:04And you have this conflict of like, you're either going to get stretched where you don't have many defenders or you're going
15:10to have to play the mean mash game against a team that like can do that against you.
15:15And so I just thought that they, you know, they popped a handful of explosives there.
15:20And then I just thought all the different ways that they were getting Dalton Kincaid open was phenomenal.
15:25He had, he had the game of his life and to open it, to do that in the opener against what I thought was good.
15:32Yeah. Like what I thought was going to be the best defense.
15:35Like, oh my God. Remember what we said in the preview about how low his snap share was and what a problem that was.
15:42He led the Bills skill players in snaps this week.
15:44He's their best player. I mean, sure as hell looks like it.
15:4877% of the offensive snaps, 130 receiving yards. I mean, even like spiritually, he played the game of his life, but statistically
15:54as well, 130 yards is his best stat line ever.
15:57And he was one of eight players in the league with 40 plus yards of yak this week.
16:02Just a phenomenal performance. The two plays that stick out, the jump ball, essentially the 50-50 ball that Josh Allen just chucks
16:08down the field on their third touchdown drive. That's a play that, obviously, a great play by Dalton Kincaid.
16:13The quarterback just gives him a chance. What sticks out to me on that play, you mentioned it a little bit in
16:19the run game, 13 personnel for this team is not just a talking point.
16:23It's actually a way for them to get their best collection of players on the field and wield them in the proper way.
16:29When they didn't sign, when Reggie Gilliam moved on this year, there's no fullback on this roster anymore.
16:34If they want to get teams in base defense, 13 personnel is what they're going to have to do with those three tight ends.
16:41They were in it on about 40% of their snaps today.
16:4421 plays. They had a 48% success rate. They averaged 6.6 yards per play out of 13 personnel.
16:49Why the 13 personnel stuff to me works for this group as well as any team in the league, maybe outside of
16:55Chicago, is that Dalton Kincaid is weaponized most potently out of those 13 personnel looks because he can just be like a
17:01supercharged version of what Terrence Ferguson was for the Rams last year.
17:04Like you just, you put him in positions where he just becomes a receiver in those situations and that jump ball is a perfect example.
17:11He's just running a deep pylon route off play action as the vertical player on that play.
17:16So that is a way that they weaponized him and then my favorite play from him the entire game, a field goal
17:22drive to go up 30 to 28. He is in, Dalton Kincaid's at number one.
17:26He goes in motion across, like just across the formation and then runs a big circus route and they have to pass
17:32it off to Reed Blankenship and it's a huge chunk gain down the right sideline.
17:37So just the ways they're trying to build some of the passing game and build a good chunk of the passing game
17:43out of the guy that I think is probably even with DJ Moore, their most potent pass catcher, that's what I mean
17:49when I say some of the early returns on what Joe Brady is trying to do with this offense.
17:54That shit is exciting. And then even with Kincaid on the last drive, they hit a 35 yarder to him where he's
18:00like tight to the formation on the left-hand side and like Lasseter is playing like, the thing is when you have one
18:06receiver tight to the formation to one side, in this case a tight end, the corner like has to play off and
18:12outside because you're just going to give up so much leverage to the outside to the boundary if you don't.
18:18And so if you run that deep over route, the receiver, tight end, whoever it's going to be obviously has a ton of room.
18:24The thing is that 95% of the time when at the tight end, you're like, he's not going to outrun me.
18:30He can't outrun me. But like Kincaid actually just straight up outruns Kamari Lasseter.
18:34He's a half Steph Leighton and Josh Allen is an insane throw.
18:37Yeah. Like they just, it's for them to find so many different ways to get him activated and then for him to
18:43just have the play where he dunks on Derek Stingley, which that was the other thing in this game.
18:49I think the Bills did a lot of things really impressively schematically.
18:52They had four or five plays where it was like their guys were just better, which doesn't happen to Houston very often.
18:58Kincaid and DJ Moore did it back to back on that drive.
19:01That drive was just incredibly silly. Like that's just the type of stuff that we can talk about how worried we'll be about Houston's defense after this game.
19:09That's one of those drives where you're just kind of like, well, tip your hat.
19:13You just got to give them credit. The fact that Josh Allen even tries to throw that ball to DJ Moore is an insane choice.
19:20It's a whole shot like 25 yards down the field from the opposite hash and he's flat footed.
19:25It's an insane decision. There's like two people on the planet that can make that throw.
19:30I saw there was some like, oh man, Reed Blankenship's getting greedy there and I'm like, I don't know, man.
19:35I think sometimes you just tip your cap against the vast majority of people.
19:39Yes, against 99% of quarterbacks ever. He at least gets a hand on that ball and like sometimes the MVP is just going to do that to you.
19:47That is what I was going to say about just Kincaid in general though and again, we'll see.
19:52But I'm reasonably confident the Texans defense is still pretty good.
19:55I think they'll be okay. I'm not losing a lot of sleep about that.
19:59So for Dalton Kincaid in particular to have this game against this team where it's not like, well, it was the Titans
20:05but we'll see what next week looks like. No, you did this against the Texans.
20:09That gives me a high degree of confidence that this is repeatable.
20:12The other thing that jumped out to me about this game beyond the Dalton Kincaid stuff, DJ Moore obviously has a big game.
20:19He has five catches per 100 yards. He hit a really big deep out that on like a third down that was really important.
20:25I mean, having him, even if I do think you can make a really serious argument that Dalton Kincaid is the most
20:31potent pass catcher on the team after what we saw from last year in a limited run, having him as a full-time
20:37player and unleashing him is the thing that could really change this offense I think even more than DJ Moore.
20:43The fact that now DJ Moore could be your second best pass catcher is a very good place for the Bills offense
20:49to be in considering where they were at the end of last season.
20:53Not only that and something I wanted to make sure I mentioned came right off that Josh Allen gave to CBS because
20:59DJ Moore went 5 for 100 but is still a viable enough threat that defenses are going to play him a certain
21:05way and Josh Allen said after the game I have never on the post that put them ahead the post to Josh
21:11Palmer 34-yard touchdown he's like I've never thrown that ball to Josh in my life not even in practice like you don't
21:17even think about it but they were cheating to DJ Moore so hard that it was just there for me and so
21:23even like even if DJ Moore doesn't put up these sorts of numbers on a regular basis how often have you felt
21:29that way about a Bills receiver where like the gravity that he draws is going to make life easier on somebody else
21:35the other element of this game from the offense that felt different to me and I was talking to you about it
21:41when we were just prepping for this watching how consistently and effectively Josh Allen was moving defenders in the middle of the
21:47field with his eyes with his shoulders just little tiny subtleties that we typically ascribe to the Matthew Staffords and the Jared
21:53Goffs and the guys that are truly limited to being in the pocket like these are nuances you have to bring to
22:00the position when you don't have the physical ability that somebody like Josh Allen does Josh Allen is 30 like these are
22:06the sorts of things that are gonna start becoming part of his game as he gets a little bit older and if
22:12we're adding those sorts of little tiny tricks and again just the nuances of playing the position on top of the fact
22:18that he can just rip off a 25 yard scramble down the middle of the field and score a touchdown seemingly at
22:24will whenever he wants that is when things get like truly horrifying about what he is gonna be capable of we talked
22:30about this game for like six minutes before we mentioned a 21 yard scramble where the quarterback bowled over three tacklers at
22:36the goal line when I I said this about him and then when we did the Bills preview that he's just a
22:42force of nature at the position that no one else is and that's the play I'm talking about like Lamar had a
22:48rushing touchdown in this game when you let Lamar out on the perimeter and he's done it a million times in his
22:54career what he can do just beating people to the corner is insane those scrambles where he just bolts to the goal
23:00post and just like I don't give a shit who is in my way on the way to get there he's the
23:06only one doing that and the fact that he had one of those in week one on top of everything else just
23:13speaks to the type of performance that we're talking about it needs to be said that he should have been intercepted by
23:19Kamari Lasseter on the second to last play of the game and that might have swung this thing and what I think
23:25there's two things that hang on there one there's always going to be a little bozo in a move when he's playing
23:31extremely well always that's never going to go away and it's I think you just kind of have to live with it
23:37but the other part that I think is worth bringing up with that the fact that this game was that close where
23:43the Bills could score 30 points and if that ball gets intercepted they lose speaks to the quality of the Texans offense
23:49in this game and I think overall I'm comfortable coming to a conclusion where I'm saying hey the Texans defense is going
23:55to be much better than they were today I'm actually encouraged overall by what I saw because of how good the offense
24:01was throughout this game it ends poorly and that stretch near the end of the game where CJ Stroud gives the ball
24:07away coming off the heels of the playoffs is not what you want to see but he played very well I think
24:13over most of this game and I think the combination of his play the way they attack the middle of the field
24:19what the running game looked like what the offensive line looked like even if it's a loss that's going to sting I
24:26think there's a lot about this game if you're a Texans fan that you can take some solace in as you project
24:32forward through the rest of the season I'd be encouraged like if you told a Texans fan that week one we would
24:38score 31 points win or lose you'd take that because you're just like well if we can kind of project that out
24:44to the rest of the season like you said the Texans defense is not going to play like this like they're just
24:50not going to get big boy the way that they did in this game against most other teams like the fact that
24:56the run game looked alive was just so exciting like a lot of their pull stuff was really impressive the gap scheme
25:02stuff is what stuck out because we talked about this every time they would try to do that stuff last year they
25:08would just get annihilated it would get nuked and that's why they kept going back to those duo runs over and over
25:14and over again so the fact that that Montgomery touchdown comes on just straight power with Ed Ingram kicking somebody out it's
25:20like alright we can work with that and there was enough of that today to get excited about it it was Ingram
25:26and then the combo that Ursary and Stover put on the backer and then Stover peeling off to the safety I was
25:32like holy shit man if they're just going to move people like they've got a run game that was the promise of
25:39the offseason is that the tight end depth and quality compared to last year plus the additions along the offensive line and
25:45David Montgomery were we going to see a different version of the run game and week one yes we did see a
25:51different version of the run game this is where I'll point out that the Bills were horrific against the run last year
25:57that's fair maybe they're that is a decent place to start maybe they're just not better Houston didn't even do this against
26:03no no for sure we didn't even take baby steps that's fair the ability to do this against anybody is a step
26:09in the right direction for the Houston Texans offense they only had 11 runs of 18 plus yards last year by like
26:15design runs by running backs so to hit one for a touchdown in the first go of the year was like when
26:21Montgomery got to open space I was like well this looks different like that's not what I'm used to seeing and he's
26:27with a 39% rushing success rate I mean they weren't last year's Rams but it's again I think that there's a lot
26:33to build on from what we saw in this game they still hit a handful of like really impressive and I just
26:39thought the backs looked good like Montgomery the way that he was seeing it and the way that he was flowing was
26:46really impressive Woody Marks I thought looked impressive like they just looked good to go back to your point about baby steps
26:52they had at least two because they had two fourths and shorts they had at least two if not more short yardage
26:58situations where they converted they converted like the ball got across the line to gain it wasn't the most beautiful thing in
27:04the world but I just I'll never forget what a running joke it was last year when the Texans would go short
27:10yardage and we just knew before they snapped the ball what was going to happen so to have any progress in that
27:16department in week one was nice yeah I think to put a point on it not a good start for the Texans
27:22defense a group that we expect to be better about as good as you can hope for for the Joe Brady version
27:28of this offense again because I think some of the things structurally they were doing and I wanted to see this team
27:34be a play action attack the middle of the field offense and we saw a lot of that in this game it
27:40was either that or empty and that collection like that combination of flavors with the group that they have plus again all
27:46the 13 personnel stuff that they were doing which makes total sense for them I think it was a really encouraging start
27:52with both the ideas and the execution with a year one head coach even if he has been their play caller before
27:59in Buffalo one can I give one more note before we move on of course game Greg Rousseau yeah yeah unbelievable this
28:05game like I just really quickly wanted to give him his flowers what if the bills have been hunting for that edge
28:11rusher forever and it's just their own guy this whole time it turns out to be you in coverage in this game
28:17he was awesome the Texans were backed up and they dropped him off and he had a PBU he had the game
28:23ending sack against against Trent Brown he had a strip sack like he had a run stop early in the game it
28:29was like yeah it turns out the answer was he was on the roster let's just take his hands off the dirt
28:35and let him do some other stuff only one player per PFF maybe those numbers will change but only one player in
28:41the league had more pressures week one than Greg Rousseau wow and Oliver had a couple moments too I mean those are
28:47the two guys that are gonna have to carry the front if that if this defense is gonna be good enough for
28:53the bills to be serious by the end of the season and so a heck of a start for the Buffalo Bills
28:59another team that had a heck of a start today Chicago Bears scored 59 points today comfortably 59 points the Chicago Bears
29:05and their offense you guys firmly have my attention I want to be clear that I did not elect to put this
29:12in the show brother everyone else's you can be a you can look I get it you don't want to come across
29:18like a homer this is the highest point total in an NFL game since the 2023 season and only one of four
29:24performances of the last decade with 59 plus points 2023 Raiders beat the Chargers 63 21 that was obviously the year the
29:30Dolphins hung 70 on Denver and then in 2019 Lamar did 59 10 on the Dolphins the Dolphins I remember that game
29:36yeah that's it though yeah this is like this is it doesn't matter who does it when you score 59 points in
29:42the NFL it's a headline how does that make you feel Colson Loveland had no catches and he scored 59 points and
29:48he didn't he didn't impact the game it was it was incredibly encouraging and we talked about this throughout the offseason in
29:54terms of what would need to happen for the for this offense to take the next step and there were two things
30:00that I kept coming back to really as part of the Caleb Williams extended conversation we had during the lingering question show
30:06we did in June or July their scramble drill stuff last year awful like I think people think about Caleb Williams is
30:12this out of structure off schedule quarterback and that's where he's best their numbers last year in those situations were actively bad
30:18they talked about it a lot throughout the offseason the first two moments he had in this game in those situations he'd
30:25shucks a chucks a 50-50 heave for Rome down the right sideline who mosses a guy inside the 10 and then he
30:31makes that play rolling to his left to find Kalief Raymond on the move they didn't there were games last year where
30:37they didn't have two positive out of structure plays when he was throwing the ball not just as a scrambler so the
30:43fact that you filled that bucket up and then the other thing was could he just be crisper and more consistent in
30:49defined drop back situations and he was it wasn't just made up of explosives in this game there were plenty of them
30:55I mean that touchdown to Cole Komet is as good as it gets that throw is as good as it gets but
31:01to me it's the checkdowns it's taking what's there it's the consistency you finish with a 59% drop back success rate today
31:07and when you combine that with the explosive nature of the offense across the board that they are going to have those
31:13are the factors in combination that needed to come together for them to feel like this and I think that's the thing
31:19they didn't I think sometimes when we have these like super explosive players in any realm the idea is like well we
31:25have to tone down something to make them more successful they didn't tone down anything they were still chucking it all over
31:31yard they were trying to do all the stuff 10.3 yards per attempt and he was still just like making the throws
31:38it's gonna sound funny because he's a young quarterback that hasn't proven as much as Caleb Williams but it reminded me of
31:44the command that Jackson Dart just showed against the Cowboys but with the explosive element like with I mean Jackson Dart averaged
31:50like four something air yards per attempt Caleb was up at 10 like he was winging it around when he could but
31:56the just the efficiency and the the calm demeanor of this and he knew when to scramble and he was so good
32:02at scrambling by the way like that like that went really well in this game his the sack avoidance and scrambling carrying
32:08over from what they were last year that part is really encouraging because there was at least a little part of me
32:14that when you look at that those are volatile situations and so for him to be as good as he was at
32:20mitigating sacks last year and escaping pressure when it would happen you wonder does that fall back to earth a little bit
32:26really the only play where that happened today is he thought he could be Jalen Phillips to the edge and took a
32:32sack because of it but other than that we talked about I mean his ability to sense pressure coming off of his
32:38blind side and wheel around and make unblocked guys miss is really uncanny and he did it multiple times again today his
32:44like when he retires and when I'm thinking of him in like 20 years the the lasting image in my mind of
32:51Caleb Williams is going to be he gets a pressure off his blind side and he does the thing where he steps
32:57up just a little bit ducks and then wheels back out of it he gets guys to bite every single time on
33:03it because if you don't respect it I mean Pat Mahomes does that like a lot there's one guy that sticks out
33:09to me Rogers it was Rogers yeah all the time that's this is my own experience coloring it but it reminds me
33:15of like Tony Romo at his very best as well like Romo was so good at some of that shit when he
33:21was still mobile just an incredibly impressive performance and we haven't even mentioned the fact they ran for 291 yards they've run
33:27for 280 plus yards three times in the 20 games that Ben Johnson has coached they've done it one other time in
33:33the whole history of the franchise going back to the merger it's they really did just assert themselves on the ground for
33:39like a good majority of this game you said in a real time it seems like every run is gonna go like
33:45every time they run the ball it seems like it's gonna go it literally and they only had like a 43 percent
33:51rushing success rate it wasn't even the best of the day or anything but it's just when you watch it you're like
33:58every run is either gonna pop or it literally does like it it's just like a feeling do you know why I
34:04think part of that is and Caleb said this after the game and I thought it was a really mature observation from
34:10him he said the Mononga touchdown run that's the type of offense we want to be go back and watch what happens
34:16on that run Rome pick somebody off Khalif Raymond pick somebody off Cole Komet completely caves in that side of the line
34:22of scrimmage the blocking that Jaday Walker did in this game like we talked about this in real time the idea that
34:28Luther Burden was a guy that was like how much does he love football and there were some questions just about makeup
34:34coming into the draft and now he just blocks like a banshee get every time he's given the opportunity really speaks to
34:40what they want this offense to feel like I think that's part of why it does feel like every run can go
34:46is because 10 guys are blocking their asses off on every single play maybe that's what it is there's always someone down
34:52the field who has hands on yeah there's never a free safety how easy must it be to get by in when
34:58you see the explosives that this offense generates they gave Jaday Walker a touchdown they like that there you're gonna get yours
35:04if you block in this offense Burton had the fumble early in this game and it kind of felt like he disappeared
35:11for a little while after that and like revisiting the game getting ready for the show I was like ah disappointing debut
35:17for Luther Burden he had the fumble and then I pulled up the box score and he had like four for 65
35:23like he had a perfectly very good day for a second year receiver in this offense like there's just I mean there's
35:29touches to go around for everybody and they're usually very productive let's get to another young quarterback who had a monster day
35:35today you have the stats on hand I'm gonna let you you take it from this Trevor Lawrence and the Jacksonville Jaguars
35:41offense they scored 34 points in this game but they did it at will especially when they were throwing the ball Trevor
35:47Lawrence and the Jags passing game you guys officially have our attention after today yeah 34 points 24 of them in the
35:53first quarter and then after that they kind of just took took the foot off the gas Trevor Lawrence in this game
35:59and this is exactly what their offense needs to look like he had 10.5 air yards per attempt and a 69.2 percent
36:05success rate the only other games since 2022 that arrived at that was Geno Smith did it against the Lions in 2024
36:11Lamar Jackson did it against the Giants in 2024 and then there was one other one that I'm forgetting but it only
36:17happened three times in in that time span and he did it week one against the defense that like we don't know
36:24how good they'll be but they're talented they're decently talented yes this is not I think people are gonna look at him
36:30like oh man whatever they did it against the Browns the Browns defense even without Myles Garrett there is a requisite amount
36:36of talent on this defense for them to steamroll them in the way that they did today yes oh the last one
36:42Jared Goff did it last year against the Bears so this is a type of performance we're talking about the 2024 Giants
36:48defense in the 2025 Bears and he just came out and did it also to your point regardless of who you're playing
36:54points on your first four drives of the season yes like your first four times you touched the ball they were up
37:0024 nothing with six minutes to play until halftime I mean yeah the stats are our video game ask my favorite one
37:06similar to what we were talking about with Caleb Trevor did all of that I mean you have the numbers second best
37:12EPA per drop back of his career best passer rating of his career he threw a third of his passes 15 yards
37:18or more they're just chugging I mean that's exactly what I want to talk about he threw five incompletions and four touchdowns
37:24while chucking the ball down the field like again this was not manufactured bullshit this was Trevor throwing lasers at will and
37:30pretty much all of them getting completed I loved beyond the quality and the production what they were doing offensively was incredibly
37:37exciting beautiful there were like four or five plays where I was like holy shit that's cool I mean they you can
37:43go there's so many of them early in the game like the first like 11 yard chunk to Parker Washington I I
37:49don't know this for a fact I'm curious to ask I think that they watch some Niners stuff this offseason like when
37:55you look at what the offense was doing that chunk to Washington on the first drive that we get Brenton strange on
38:01obviously I'm sure they didn't put this in after watching the Niners in week one but that little kind of like banana
38:07motion that we see from use check we got that from Brenton strange play action little in breaker behind it chunk the
38:13Parker Washington touchdown is an incredible design it's third and seven they have LaQuint Allen in motion they get him out and
38:19his route to the flat actually creates a pick on the linebacker as Parker Washington is moving from the slot on that
38:25deep corner against Miles Harden it's an incredible diving catch for a touchdown they had tons of plays in this game where
38:31they just did such a great job of getting five out using space yanking guys out of like certain areas in zone
38:37coverage like I just I love the plan I love watching them go at it the the strange touchdown I think might
38:43have been my favorite where they're in the red zone and a lot of times what you'll get in the red zone
38:50is teams will try to play like Tampa too and so what the Jaguars did is they said they're tied into the
38:56left-hand side into the boundary into the short side and one receiver over there and then two receivers and the back to
39:02the other side to into the field so that the pole linebacker in this case Carson Swessinger he's always going to open
39:08to the strength into the field like that's his rule and so what they do is they get strange on this like
39:14switch verse post right behind him and Trevor Lawrence just rips it dude that's my that or the camera touch are my
39:20favorite throws of the day both of them just like lasers a hundred miles an hour the laser to Cameron the strange
39:26thing what what is most impressive and just really sticks out to me about that play he comes back to that it's
39:32on the back side he starts on the right side he comes all the way back to the back side puts his
39:38foot in the ground and just rips that thing to Brenton strange for a touchdown he had a couple of those today
39:44okay I love this though and these are all good answers also Josh Cameron one of my day three pet cats scoring
39:50in his NFL debut incredible but my favorite is the one that was the most just like F you I'm better play
39:56which was the Jacoby Myers touchdown which when I like when I imagined Trevor Lawrence a decade ago as a prospect and
40:03an NFL quarterback this is the type of shit I was imagining where like Anton Harris Harrison lost his rep he Trevor's
40:09dead the edge rushers got him dead to rights he squeezes between the end and the D tackle like 99% of quarterbacks
40:15get sacked squeezes out of it goes left and then just uncorks a howitzer to Jacoby Myers in one-on-one coverage just when
40:21you talk about like a mech warrior playing quarterback like a very Josh Allen-y sort of play but like that's the type
40:27of shit Trevor can do he's just explosive man yeah like the the strange touchdown I just talked about the play before
40:33he just launches like a third down deep comeback to Parker Washington just like you just have to have the arm for
40:39it the nuclear arm to do it and he put that in there speaking of Josh Allen you just said Josh Allen
40:45is always gonna have a little bozo in him Trevor's always gonna have a little bozo in him for all of the
40:51great things we just said about him he still had an illegal forward pass with his left hand in this game he's
40:57just always gonna have a little bit of knucklehead in there for the play my high school offensive line coach used to
41:03say if you give me 60 plays where you're playing as hard as you can I'll give you one where you play
41:10a little too hard and that's how I feel about Trevor Lawrence and Josh Allen yeah if they're gonna give me the
41:1660 plays they gave over the course of these games I think we're allowed to give them one yep with the Jags
41:22and the Bears two offenses that took the league by storm last year just in the sense of new play callers new
41:28places quarterbacks that we want to see more from teams go to the playoffs their top 10 offenses by the end of
41:34the year I think hovering over their entire off season was can they do this again like what does the follow-up act
41:40for Ben Johnson and Liam Cohen look like like can these teams stave off regression when it would typically come for you
41:46in these moments and so for this to be the first act for the Bears and the Jags offenses in week one
41:52about as good a start as you can hope for and neither of their games I know the Bears fans in this
41:58room might disagree neither of their games were overly stressful I mean the Panthers gave the Bears a better game than the
42:04Browns gave the Jags but I was done worrying about the outcome of the Bears game in the third quarter yeah it's
42:10stressful just in the sense that the defense is going to make me of course turn into the Joker over the course
42:16of this game like I it's gonna be a rough year if it continues to look like that but if the offense
42:23is scoring 59 points a game then it doesn't really matter we will talk like I said at the beginning we will
42:29talk about the Ravens tomorrow they would absolutely be involved here it's week one there's so many things that happened and we
42:35wanted one juicy game to really dig into I kind of want to re-watch the whole game oh I can't dig into
42:41it and so that will we will have a chance to do that on the hangover tomorrow I will let y'all get
42:47into it in depth but they absolutely did get my attention because you said it Derek during preview season where you used
42:53to just be able to count on the Ravens to do that shit to somebody week one like every year and midway
42:59through the second quarter it was like I was like oh no the Ravens are back all right we are going to
43:05get to the some of the stuff that was not as fun in week one before that we're going to take a
43:11quick break are you the kind of sports fan that wants to dig into the story behind the stats join the athletic
43:17live on YouTube to cover all the sports stories you can't stop talking about on game days we'll watch the biggest matchups
43:23alongside the athletics most tapped in reporters and you can become part of the show in the interactive chat the athletic live
43:29is presented by Google Gemini subscribe now on YouTube what the I'm gonna love that that's dropped the entire year each week
43:36they're gonna be some things that just confound us whether it's a moment a game a performance so we're gonna dig into
43:42a couple of those today the Los Angeles Chargers were the biggest favorites in week one everyone expected them to come out
43:48throw the ball all over the yard it was gonna be the Mike McDaniel Justin Herbert moment instead they go down 26
43:5414 to an Arizona Cardinals team that not many people had a lot of high hopes for coming into the year Los
44:00Angeles Chargers losing to the Cardinals as the biggest favorite of the week what the that game was I want to work
44:06all the way backwards and start at basically the end on the Chargers his last drive and really like their last play
44:12it was a fourth and 18 and in Joku is running this like deep over route where he's gonna try to get
44:18to the sticks and then just sit down and he shoves Will Johnson to the ground so egregiously like in so much
44:24frustration that it was like the entire 60 minutes before that had just came rushing out of them and it was like
44:30you could kind of just feel that boiling over the course of this entire Chargers game so for the fact that it
44:36like ended like that against again a team that they it's the NFL things are always gonna happen it's a it's a
44:42any given Sunday type of league but like that game was that was tough I said this to you when we were
44:49prepping for this but this my big picture takeaway we can kind of dig into the specifics the Cardinals did all of
44:55the things to the Chargers that we expected the Chargers to do to other people as the best version of themselves and
45:01there are two things that really stick it stick out to me when I say that one the way the Cardinals just
45:07massacred the middle of the field in this game throwing the ball and all the ways they pried open the middle of
45:13the field in this game was phenomenal I think that we were living in a condensed world now offensively and we thought
45:19the Cardinals would be that sort of team the next-gen numbers weren't available when I was looking at this it was only
45:25from the Thursday and Wednesday games for in terms of formation with I'm very curious to see how spread out the Cardinals
45:31played in this game because it felt like it was very spread out now coming from a McVeigh world that Michael Fleur
45:37lives in and when you do that and you stretch out these shell defenses you get a ton of space and a
45:43ton of answers and so I thought they did a phenomenal job of manufacturing space horizontally either formationally or with motions and
45:49actions and then accessing things back in the middle of the field on throws between the numbers in this game Jacoby Brissett
45:55was 17 of 20 for 167 yards they had anything they wanted anything the first throw of the game was like a
46:02monster seam ball yeah McBride and they just kept doing which was a straight under center drop back that they would hit
46:08like a 20-yard chunk play up the seam to to Trey McBride they did that the entire game like they just did
46:14such a good job of again just manufacturing space in the middle of the field and they the ways they were picking
46:20on the linebackers specifically Phillips and Dayon Henley had a rough time there were so many moments I'm curious what the coaching
46:26point is on this where the linebackers are like really flashing to the flat hard and then they're just throwing stuff right
46:32behind them and I just and that's the other element of this the Chargers were a team with Jesse Minter that they
46:38felt so buttoned up in zone coverage where they squeeze things so effectively and the team that was doing that way better
46:44way more consistently throughout this game was the Cardinals like if you look at the depth the linebackers were getting what again
46:50the safety is just squeezing down on things their ability to really squeeze some of those windows was incredibly impressive over the
46:56course of this game and that's the type of team we were used to the Chargers being and so the Cardinals were
47:02essentially just what we hoped the Chargers would be throughout this entire game and I did not expect to see that I
47:09don't think anyone had that on their bingo card I'm not ready to read litigate the Cardinals entire situation after one week
47:15but I mean we laid it out this was one of the most injured teams in the NFL and Jacoby Brissett wasn't
47:21it wasn't it's obviously wasn't all good last year but they were in a lot of games with Jacoby Brissett like they
47:27played a lot of better teams tough and we talk the skill talent is evident I mean Trey McBride was awesome in
47:33this game Jeremiah Love really nice debut for Jeremiah Love Tyler Algier our guy Kendrick Bourne that's the most obvious stat line
47:39ever for a guy that Mike LaFleur clearly prioritized when he got to Arizona he had eight targets today this this just
47:45is not the roster of the worst team in the NFL and Jacoby Brissett's probably not always going to look good enough
47:51for the result to look like this but good enough I think is the right framing yeah he's good enough he's good
47:57enough if the offense is well constructed with the skill position talent they have and the offensive line clears the bar he's
48:03good enough to do this this is not a hopeless team other than the fact that they just punted on really answering
48:09the quarterback situation this season yes and he is in theory the right quarterback for what you laid out for the offense
48:15where it's like we're going to be able to get under center we're going to spread things out and we're going to
48:22like use every bit of the field can you throw through some of the car wash that might happen over the middle
48:28of the field Jacoby Brissett is not afraid to do any of that now clearly wasn't in this game and so if
48:34they're really going to lean into that I mean like it's not a one for one but like when Brissett played fairly
48:40well in like Cleveland a while it was a little bit of some of that same principles and so I think if
48:46they can continue to access that that would be huge again Trey McBride was they did so many different things to access
48:52him in this game Kendrick boring having the game he did he only had one catch but like Marvin Harrison did make
48:58an insane catch in this game like yeah if he is just kind of going to be like a big play merchant
49:04for them every now and then if the other guys are enough of floor raisers like again we can litigate whatever we
49:10want about top five pick but like that would be good enough for this offense to be interesting it's not ideal if
49:16that's all Marvin Harrison is but they have a 25 million dollar receiver now like so they answered it and like I
49:22said it's not the ideal order of events but it works itself out I guess I was just incredibly impressed by the
49:28early in the game the chargers were getting some chunks over the middle of the field by moving the pocket a little
49:35bit giving I think the pass protection and their ability to just create space for Herbert early in the game you saw
49:41that on some of those chunks over the middle of the field and over the course of the game I just thought
49:47the Cardinals did such a great job of squeezing that space and getting creative in how they were getting bodies there right
49:53whether it's Budda Baker dropping Budabaker dropping down just so many different ways of again squeezing that area and the car the
49:59chargers really had no other place to go and then the other element of this game that is worrying for the chargers
50:05because this is not something that's probably going to get better the interior of the offensive line looks like it's going to
50:11be a problem again on that fourth and three that game swinging fourth and three Dante still is just puts Trey Pipkins
50:17in Justin Herbert's lap and those are the guys we're going to see on the interior for the chargers this year like
50:23there's no reinforcements coming some of that is obviously a shitty break because you lost Tyler Biotis before you played a single
50:29snap but did it feel good enough when Tyler Biotis was available probably not I'm not convinced that that's the case and
50:35I like I thought that was strange heading into the year and then guess what it's a hundred percent chance of injury
50:41game so the odds that you were going to get through it fully healthy anyway we're not good and here we are
50:48again yeah it's this chargers team it was going to be if the defense was going to take a step back which
50:54I think is reasonable to expect given the fact that this is still not a defense with a ton of elite talent
51:00at first first time play caller applies here as well but if we if this continues if this version of the team
51:06continues where the defense isn't quite what it was last year the offense was going to need to be the unit that
51:12picked up the slack and for them to come out and have such a dud in week one it's a frustrating start
51:18given like all the ink that we spilled this offseason talking about the chargers offense and the other thing I would say
51:24and it's only one game the chargers longest run in this game was 14 yards what's the point of the offense if
51:30that's where we're gonna be like I'm sure they will clearly have better games than this but like that is the entire
51:36point of the offense is that we're gonna create at least 120 25 yard chunk at some point they just weren't really
51:42able to do that at any point we'll also never know but it's worth mentioning at least it was 16 14 chargers
51:48absolutely still could have won this game they'd forced two punts in a row when semi-fajoko blocks that pun and what it's
51:54a three-yard possession to take a two-score lead I mean the chargers were punting from their own red zone so maybe Arizona
52:01takes the ball anyway and changes the complexion of the game but you just you just gave it to them you just
52:07gave them a three-yard field to essentially put this game away or at least put you in chasing mode down two scores
52:13in the fourth quarter they absolutely could have found a way to win this game without a completely unforgivable special teams gaffe
52:19it was all too familiar that that's what I'll say it was all too familiar the special teams gaffe lad McConkie getting
52:25peeled off the field at one point in this game it just if there was any hope that it was gonna feel
52:31different for the chargers this year this is not the note on which you wanted to start I mean it's reminds me
52:37a little bit of situation with Dallas it's like we can have this conversation over and over and over again like this
52:43time it's gonna be different this time it's gonna be different and then to come out in week one and have it
52:49not be different it's a tough way to start let's keep going here the Green Bay Packers up 22 to 10 with
52:55512 in the third quarter not only lose to the Vikings but lose to the Vikings by multiple scores they lost by
53:0117 points to the Carson Wentz Vikings after being up 12 or 22 to 10 with 512 in the third quarter they
53:07led for roughly 50 minutes of this game because they they kicked a field goal pretty early in the first quarter and
53:14didn't officially surrender the lead until there were like six minutes left in the game so it's by three scores the final
53:2020 minutes from the Green Bay Packers what the this entire game was this game was insane too because Flores I don't
53:26know what the final blitz numbers are gonna settle on it felt like every play I mean it was hovering around 80
53:32percent depending on that is insane even for Brian Flores that is like truly insane level of play and honestly for a
53:38lot of this game like for I would say three quarters of it like Jordan Love in the offense like handled it
53:44relatively well like they were hitting chunks and obviously they were explosive they were they were willing to like if Brian Flores
53:50was like I'm gonna kill you with these blitzes Jordan Love was like I'll try right back and he was hitting a
53:56lot of them by the fourth quarter I think my biggest issue with this team kind of started to rear its head
54:02the offensive line just doesn't have it and you have two backup guards and two backup guards and who like the left
54:08guard I don't know if Jennings if he had ever even really played with like the first team or the main team
54:14at all over like the preseason or anything like that like I was shocked to see him in the line isn't it
54:21really Packers coded to do that so we're like we were arguing about the guard situation and I don't think we brought
54:27up Donovan Jennings during the preview and then he is out there with the with the starters and pregame warm-ups and I
54:33mean it did not go well per next gen Vikings blitz Jordan Love on 78.3 percent of his drop backs which is
54:39the fourth highest rate by a defense in a game since 2018 I can't believe it's only the fourth highest rate yeah
54:45that's kind of shocking is one of them the Brian Flores Lamar game I don't I don't have it in front of
54:51me but I assume Brian Flores is involved in some of those games I don't I don't want to I was so
54:57impressed by a lot of what Jordan Love did in this game and it did make me think of our preview where
55:03Jordan Love is just gonna have to be awesome if this is the ecosystem he's playing in and the passing game is
55:09gonna have to be awesome it's gonna have to be incredible and I wonder he had so many sick throws in this
55:15game like the throw coming out of his own end zone to Matthew Golden for 13 yards was it made us both
55:21like just laugh out loud during the second window the 42 yarder to Matthew Golden was disgusting also like him buying time
55:27in the pocket and making that throw is nasty the early touchdown to Christian Watson was disgusting but crazy the reason I
55:34bring it up though is like on that play Flores brought heat and I think it was Theo Jackson like he whiffed
55:40diving for that ball and just and it like that led to the explosive and I just wonder if Flores was like
55:46okay do that eight more times today and we'll see who comes out on top because that's what it felt like where
55:52he was like like Marshawn Lynch like I'm gonna get got but I'm gonna get mine more than I get got like
55:58that's how it felt watching this game and Flores wound up on top in the end we really had the anatomy of
56:04a collapse like all the elements that you need for a truly horrifying collapse were in play the play that will probably
56:10be forgotten except by Packers fans that had to live it when they're up 22 to 10 miles price returns a kickoff
56:16down to the 28 yard line with five minutes left in the third quarter miles price yes miles price down to the
56:2228 yard line set up a short field they score a touchdown so that is what gets it to 22 to 17
56:28then we have the taking points off the board when it would have been 25 17 and choosing to go for it
56:34on the quarterback sneak and not getting it that is classic collapse type stuff and then the one drive where you have
56:40an illegal contact a roughing the passer and a defensive hold and root to a touchdown for the Vikings like it could
56:47not have been a more frustrating 20 minutes of football if you were a Green Bay Packers fan than what you had
56:53to watch in this game I was curious because and and they had the penalty that made it fourth and short instead
56:59of fourth and like five and a half or whatever it was but in the Jordan Love era Green Bay is 24th
57:05in the league in go for it decisions they were 20th last year like Matt LaFleur is just not the most aggressive
57:11guy and I think that's part of the rationale for why you can be okay with the decision in the moment trying
57:17to put the game away even if it ultimately costs them I kind of applaud it really like you know hindsight's 2020
57:23I was like proud of Matt LaFleur for like let's just end this right now if we get a yard game's probably
57:29over and he's never gonna do anything about that yeah they did not get the yard and the game was not over
57:35he's never gonna do it again after everything that followed that failed sneak I mean what Blake Cashman and just like the
57:41linebackers did as blitzers in this game I mean he came untouched on I mean the two plays in a row Dallas
57:47Turner comes untouched off the right side just destroys Jordan Love and then Blake Cashman comes untouched on the very next play
57:53and that's the one where the offensive line stuff and all the shuffling I think is where you saw it because they
58:00had a linebacker lined up in the right side a gap and then the right side B gap and Jacob Monk I
58:06think is supposed to take the B gap player and let the back scan from a gap all the way back out
58:12and you like anybody well but you can see the back he scans and he looks at the a gap player and
58:18he drops out and then he's out and so Monk goes to nobody because he slides to the guy who drops out
58:24and then the guy in the B gap is just like free to go hit the quarterback and so maybe that's on
58:30the back but I think that's on the garden it's just like a miscommunication but it's just it was that exact stuff
58:36where like a backup center is now you're starting right guard and things like this are gonna happen against especially against Brian
58:42Flores defenses speaking of Brian Flores defenses the one play I wanted to point out just because it is so crazy to
58:48me Harrison Smith signed like five days ago he had a huge PBU on that drive where the Packers ultimately took smoke
58:54Matthew Bolden right smoke Matthew Bolden the coolest part about that play though he's mugged up on that play he's bailing deep
59:00and then puts his foot in the ground has to come back downhill to get the PBU the man did not practice
59:06the entire the entire summer and he's doing that crazy shit before the play and ultimately getting a PBU by the time
59:13it's all over I've got to believe Harrison Smith was like doing calisthenics in his backyard just like shuffling the backyard with
59:19for when he got it's not about the physical aptitude it's about the fact that he hadn't played football the entire summer
59:25he's been practicing for like four days and then he's doing that short of sort of weird disguise shit the thing is
59:31you don't need to practice when they build the defense for you like Flores does a lot of that stuff because he
59:37had Harrison Smith that's so true but that's always been true right yeah back to the Zimmer days I said this when
59:43he resigned I'm if you actually tracked how far each individual defensive player has moved before the snap over the last decade
59:49he wins going away oh he's the record holder I mean it's not even close is that information available I don't know
59:55if it were he would absolutely be the winner just you think about how many times he's been on the line of
60:01scrimmage and ends up 20 yards in the defensive backfield the fact that he was doing that after practicing for like four
60:07days in a huge moment in a week one game it's a very good thing that the Vikings have Harrison Smith back
60:13the fact that the Vikings won this game after what happened with Kyler Murray we said in the moment to be a
60:20Vikings fan this entire summer and talk yourself into man it's so nice to have just a capable human quarterback again that
60:26we can hopefully get the ball to Justin Jefferson we can be a reasonable team just be normal enough for me to
60:32enjoy this and you lose him five pass attempts into the game is the ultimate gut punch and for it to end
60:38like this something you could not have imagined when he went down in this game in the first quarter so much of
60:44this game it just felt like you were living a slow death you know like 22 10 it's like well it's only
60:5012 points but what is Carson Wentz done to give me this degree of confidence like it it did not really feel
60:56like it could happen for Minnesota until it did all right before we move on let's take a quick break one more
61:02performance we wanted to dig into the Minnesota excuse me the Cincinnati Bengals beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 33 to 27 you're
61:08going to see those 33 points and think man what a huge day from the Cincinnati Bengals offense something that we've come
61:14to expect they had a 48 success rate they were fine the Bucs turned the ball over four times it was a
61:20pretty wild performance from the Tampa Bay quarterback and he is unfortunately the subject of this Baker Mayfield so many decisions in
61:26this game truly what the my first note on Baker Mayfield in this game is he's trying to do more than ever
61:33and he looks less athletic than ever and that is he's getting older yeah that is not a good combo if you're
61:39going to try to be Baker Mayfield Baker Mayfield looked like he like he like he thought he was at OU like
61:45with the like the amount of time he was holding the football in these in in these snaps where he fumbled or
61:51got stripped I mean I know on the final one that really like put a nail in the coffin that people give
61:57Tristan Wirfs a lot of shit because he technically gave up the sack Baker held the ball for four seconds the time
62:03to sack in this game was I think like 4.7 seconds yeah they were not like snapping the ball and getting pressure
62:09on Baker Mayfield it was like him holding onto the ball he was pressured you felt the front but it was better
62:15than last year but it was like oh my god the Bengals defense I thought all things considered was encouraging but absolutely
62:21they pressured Baker 10 times per PFF and he averaged just north of three seconds to throw yeah like it it was
62:27there or at the very least it was there for Baker to get rid of the football and the unwillingness to do
62:33that I don't even really know how to completely judge this game because three of these turnovers happened in nine minutes of
62:39game time one of them was Bucky Irving's not all Baker he waited another hour for the for the third fumble but
62:46when you like when you turn this into a three score game in a matter of nine minutes of game time I
62:52mean it just it went sideways before I could even blink and one of them the last Baker Mayfield turnover was that
62:58they were like inside the five like they were about to score a touchdown so you give the first turnover he gets
63:04stripped sacked and Demetrius Knight returns it for a touchdown and then you give up the other touchdown fumble recovery for six
63:10put gives the Bengals their first touchdown the Bucky fumble came right after that and put Cincinnati on there plus 33 that
63:16leads to that makes it 14 to 3 and then you just mentioned Baker fumbles he and he did his he actually
63:22looked athletic he did his Baker magic thing he escaped a sack juked a couple guys and he's gonna have them first
63:28and goal from the four when he fumbles into the end zone like you're talking like 21 points worth of swings from
63:34three plays in a matter of nine minutes of game time at the first one he's just doing way too much on
63:40the Miles Murphy strip sack but I think in the big defensive moments in this game for Cincinnati you felt the additions
63:46that they made this offseason right so Mafé gets the initial pressure on that first sack the even the Bucky fumble that's
63:52a play where Brian Cook tracks him down in space and what do we say that the front obviously so much talent
63:59that they added this offseason compared to what they had a year ago it's night and day difference but the other thing
64:05that you watch this team last year that was just basement level bad was the second and third levels tackling in space
64:11Brian Cook was arguably the best third level tackler in the league last year like what he gives you as a safety
64:17in space is so much better than what they've been working with and he tracks down Bucky Irving in space he eventually
64:23gets there first Mafé finishes it off and you saw you felt Mafé multiple different times in this game and even the
64:29strips or the sack fumble at the end that Mafé gets if you go back and you watch that play the Bucks
64:35are trying to run like a dagger life concept with Chris Godwin coming back across the middle of the field Brian Cook
64:41is the one that gets underneath it and then Mafé finishes it off so Baker contributed to this again just trying to
64:47do too much way too often but you really did feel all of the additions that the Bengals made this offseason most
64:53of those guys had at least one moment where they contributed to what this game felt like for Cincinnati it's also not
64:59to to give some credit to the Bengals and not just put it all on a Tampa implosion it's it's got to
65:05be refreshing to be a Bengals fan and just like benefit from these things absolutely please run off the cliff and just
65:12let me be the the less stupid team in this game for a change Jonathan Allen had a sack yeah on a
65:18stunt where he was the penetrator I mean just everybody that they added seemed to have a moment in this game and
65:24I think that's very encouraging place to start the one Bengals offense thing I wanted to mention was just the drive after
65:30the fumble inside the five to me is a perfect expression of what they want this offense to be as they play
65:36more under center which they did a lot more of yeah in this game I don't have the numbers in front I
65:42have one uh so at least since 2023 in games with Joe Burrow this was their fourth highest under center game and
65:48if you just look at the first half it was their highest damn so like they they were doing it a lot
65:54they were 28.6 percent under center per next gen which is I think they were last year where they were under 20
66:00percent yeah so that's at least like a 10 percentage point or about a 10 percentage point tick up that drive where
66:06they go down and they score a touchdown after the fumble inside the five the first big play of that drive they're
66:12under center it's play action jamar chase is in the slot that they're in I think 12 personnel bucks are in single
66:18high right and so single high under center play action we get jamar chase on like a big corner out against a
66:25single high coverage for a chunk there's a little dump off to uh sample in the flat off of play action which
66:31again just easy completions that this team didn't always have off play action and then you combine that with really efficient quick
66:37passing from the gun just the type of stuff we're used to seeing with this team and then they're to start the
66:43third quarter out of gun they run a little pin pull where they get chase brown on onto the perimeter so we're
66:49diversifying the gun run game we're doing things under center play action wise we've never done before and if we want to
66:55just play ball control consistent efficient offense from the gun we know our quarterback can do that like when you watch all
67:01those things get mixed in together that to me is what the promise of the bangles offense is supposed to be this
67:07year and you saw it all on that drive it really was everything like the the one to me the one that
67:13was really encouraging obviously the one to chase where they get him on the little sail ride i thought was nice the
67:19one you mentioned with drew sample where they're in the high red zone and they have like they shuffle the wide receiver
67:25in to make it look like duo and then he inserts and runs that corner clears out the space and samples wide
67:32open that's just a rams play yeah it's just that they needed some of the rams play to let their gun stuff
67:38breathe because that's all it is like you can still be 70 gun and that can be your identity that's fine you
67:44just need to let it breathe like you need something to force defenses to think about other things we still have and
67:50we do see this right i think plenty of teams really weaponized this type of play action in week one as we
67:56went more under center where you're trying to get the linebackers to step up or trying to hit crossers behind it i'm
68:02just thinking about some of the stuff the jags did in this game but a lot of the things the rams did
68:08with their under center play action game last year out of those heavier personnel looks was just having spitting the ball to
68:14a tight end in the flat for a 10-yard gain just giving yourself easy completions and the bangles just didn't have many
68:20easy completions like that that are they have easy completions but they're not plays off for everybody else like that's a playoff
68:26for everybody else that gives you a 10-yard completion and having more of those within the offense on top of trying to
68:32make yourself more explosive there are benefits coming in multiple directions by playing this way and we saw them access a couple
68:38of those t had a couple fu balls one of them got reversed on that challenge by todd bowles but like t
68:45did some t stuff in this game but like the bucks held jamar chase down and and this was still a perfectly
68:51efficient at times explosive bingles offense i thought i thought that was really encouraging even even if the turnovers did get it
68:57out of whack we're gonna wrap up whack up we're about an hour and 10 minutes into a week one show we're
69:03gonna wrap up all of these shows with a moment that made us feel or a game or anything from the week
69:09that made us feel romantic about football each last year we all picked one this year we're collectively going to land on
69:15one and where we landed in week one was that the lion saints game everything about the lion saints game is just
69:21a perfect distillation of what week one and a return to the nfl should feel like on so many different levels we
69:27had a game that felt over it was 21 to nothing we had a random comeback that somehow snuck up on us
69:33we game went into overtime there was a controversial choice in overtime there was a controversial call at some point in this
69:39game there were guys who were just like oh shit look at that guy right like the way that the game that
69:45tyler shuck had in this game so many of the throws he made in the second half there was just a little
69:51bit of everything in this one and as we got down to the witching hour and we're all sitting there watching that
69:58thing finish up that is what a week in the nfl should feel like when you get to the end of the
70:04early window and this was a perfect encapsulation of it i really think this was a perfect early window game and especially
70:10for where it was on the card because like if you're going into this week just trying to figure out what you
70:16want to watch like of course texans bills is going to be like the big top of the top of the and
70:22then bengals uh buccaneers you've got the quarterbacks going against each other and like i don't know probably fourth or fifth on
70:28the pecking order you're really excited about this game like we but like but it's it's down a little bit you know
70:34and like quickly into this thing you're just like oh this isn't really living up to my expectations like the lions aren't
70:40really firing on all cylinders the saints haven't done a whole lot shuck at two horrible turnovers like multiple horrible turnovers two
70:46in the first half and then well he had three total because he had this sack fumble as well as two interceptions
70:52were gross and the pick i will i think i will put on noah fan okay they're running like a choice route
70:58and fan breaks it out i think what shuck saw was that fan is running the choice route and the safety playing
71:04over the top is so far away from him that he's expecting fan like just sit down let's take the five yards
71:11here we'll be fine fan breaks it out the db is there by the time the ball gets there and it's it's
71:17over but still that's like week one miscommunication i just really love like by by midway through the second quarter i was
71:23just like ah i don't know how many more times i'm gonna be looking over here today and then that like sealed
71:29it when the lions went up 21 nothing where you're just like ah tyler shuck we're not closing the book on you
71:35but the the lights were a bit too bright in week one bubba and then my favorite part of this whole thing
71:41like i said uh interception early throws it to barnes coming right out of halftime and then miss the blitz by roger
71:47mccreary strip sack that's when uh amin raw scores to go up 21 nothing i didn't even see this in the moment
71:53because i had six other things to worry about first play after that tyler shuck just bombs it deep to chris olave
71:59he's like this i'm like i'm not we're not going out like this who had 182 yards today because he just like
72:05tyler was just like screw it i guess i gotta throw us back into this thing tyler shuck at one point in
72:11this game was 10 for 23 for 85 yards with two interceptions he wound up throwing like 56 balls obviously went over
72:17400 yards he threw 20 passes in the fourth quarter and overtime alone and it's like some darts like a lave obviously
72:24dropped one in the bucket to devon vele the play before the touchdown in addition to the touchdown like he threw like
72:30eight insane passes from like mid third quarter onward in the fourth and 12 he hits in the fourth quarter is a
72:36nasty play they're the deep shot to a lave with like 119 left as he's getting hammered by adan hutchinson and then
72:42the out and up to juwan johnson in overtime just a gorgeous throw his the touch he puts on some of those
72:48throws like second and third level throws down the field i he's just a he's a very good thrower of the football
72:54just like purely as a thrower of the football i really enjoy watching tyler shuck play and that's why the beginning of
73:00the game was so disappointing yes it was just like man coming off of the way that he ended last season like
73:06the fact that this is act one of year two for tyler shuck what a bummer and then for him to come
73:12back and play the way that he did down the stretch just encouraging if you want to be excited about the saints
73:18moving forward this season absolutely because like and like especially about him because i think the run game like did not look
73:24as good as you wanted it to but the fact that he was able to rally back despite that and despite the
73:30early turnovers and like chris olave is really good but like otherwise this is not like a star-studded now pass catching roster
73:37like devon vele is fine and did make a couple of good plays like the touchdown he catches and then the deep
73:43diving one down the right side is like a crazy play by him juwan johnson is like a fine tight end but
73:49again he's not like a needle mover that everybody's super excited about the fact that he was able to do that we
73:55were talking the third receiver for this team until jordan tyson's healthy again and for one week at least it did not
74:01matter we were wondering what the saints run game was going to look like after a rough year they did not run
74:07the ball effectively in this game and i think that's where that's where the lions need to be good and so that's
74:13a good sign we also talked about whether the lions running game would be better than it was last year bucks checked
74:1955 rushing success rate for jameer gibbs in this game who had 29 carries we're gonna see a lot of jameer gibbs
74:25this season and i think that's probably the right path forward for the lions 34 touches for basically 200 scrimmage yards it's
74:31pretty pretty good for your debut i was gonna ask you that because you have been so dialed in on the saints
74:37run game are you more worried that the run game looked like more of the same i gotta go back and watch
74:44it like i know that's a cop-out answer but i i haven't i couldn't even begin to tell you where the i
74:50was just sitting there debating i was like is it bad that the saints still can't run the ball or the answer
74:56to that is yes well yeah but also is it or is it sick that tyler shuck did this without a complimentary
75:02offense to help him out that's down 21 nothing he was just like screw it i guess i gotta just drop back
75:08and bomb away and it worked i mean they obviously didn't win the game but it still worked yeah the fact that
75:14the lions run game looked like it did against a saints team that was an incredibly good run defense last year like
75:20that was the calling card for the saints defense down the stretch is that they were one of these light box teams
75:26or neutral box teams that was really able to defend the run out of those shell looks for the lions to be
75:32as effective as they were that's what you want to see for a lions team that needed a bounce back on the
75:38ground and to put a point on it the fact that it was like success yeah like success rate like down to
75:44down wins because last year they were still as explosive as anybody i mean jameer gibbs is unbelievable but the fact that
75:50like they got the five and six yard runs that they wanted on top of all the explosives what did you make
75:57uh you mentioned the controversial call what did you make of the chase young touchdown recovery fumble that wasn't by the letter
76:03of the law it's the correct call i've just never seen that rule before so i want to read the actual the
76:09verbiage like the the the text that comprises the rule the terry mccauley tweeted this out during the game and i felt
76:15is it it's a very clear explanation of why they called it the way that they did it's going to read it
76:21word for word if contact by an opponent materially affects a passer after the passer begins his throwing motion it is a
76:27forward pass if he passes the ball and this is the key part regardless of where the ball strikes the ground a
76:33player an official or anything else when you watch that play in the just your gut feeling of what you're seeing there
76:39is well it's either a fumble or he threw it and if you're going to call it an incomplete pass he threw
76:45it backwards so shouldn't that be a fumble like that's how my brain is processing watching that play in real time but
76:51if that's the rule then technically that is the correct ruling yeah i think it's a bullshit rule like i i just
76:57don't understand why that should not be a fumble if the ball ends up going backwards but if that is the actual
77:03letter of the law i i guess that's the correct way to land it is strange that like so we talked about
77:10this before the show like he doesn't lose control of the football he's obviously like still going through his throwing motion and
77:16moving the ball with his arm there's a lot of empty hand examples that other people were using this is not one
77:22of those it's not empty hand yeah he had the ball but my question is why so clearly it's the the defender
77:28redirected him to where he's throwing the ball backwards yes why isn't that a fumble and like to your point like no
77:34no i know it's not i am with you when did we decide that that was okay it's like well the defender
77:40redirected him it's like yeah well that means he did a kick-ass job exactly exactly i just don't really understand the penalizing
77:46a defensive player for doing that like the defensive player should be rewarded for that play his point the point of him
77:52is to make the offense do the thing they don't want to have you're supposed to redirect people as a defensive player
77:58that's that is your charge if you forced jared goff to throw the ball backward that should be a fumble i agree
78:04although but like i spiritually i agree even if i understand that the rules say that it's not but like by the
78:10letter of the law i watched it and i was like yeah like they they definitely got this right it's just why
78:16is the rule on the books yes that's that's where i land with yeah i mean it's obviously an incredibly strange and
78:23specific rule i mean we may never see talk about this again yeah i've been doing this for a long time i
78:29can't remember that rule ever being placed in front of me now i'm just thinking about the fact that we agonized about
78:35jared goff's hand size coming out of college and that's like a strong the fact that he held on to it with
78:41his baby hands is kind of amazing again week one no reason to make sweeping proclamations how are you feeling about both
78:47of these teams coming out of this game i think i feel fine about like i think the lines offense is going
78:53to continue to be really good they obviously a little bit of a slow roll in this game but if the rushing
78:59offense is going to have that gear to them and i did think some of the offensive line changes look good like
79:05sewell left tackle looked good i thought miller had a good game um and so that i think was pretty promising the
79:11the saints defense i think is probably the thing i would have like going into the year i had the most concerns
79:17about but week one against the lions offense like i'm not it's not like they got run over again they didn't get
79:23run over for most of a lot of short a lot of short fields they ran the ball efficiently but again i
79:29think the lions are a team that we expect can run the ball efficiently even if the saints defense was very good
79:36in that area last year i think this is actually also why this was another good and perfect week one football game
79:42i came out of this not like second guessing anything i thought about these teams going into it like this was like
79:48kind of mostly what i thought about these teams and someone had to it was a little closer than i would have
79:54guessed but like not out of the realm of possibility for either team i'm not saying i thought the lions were gonna
80:00blow their doors off but they were seven point favorites at home i thought they would cover that spread like i thought
80:06this would be a touchdown to 10 point win for detroit and so for it to come down to i mean the
80:12saints could have won this game we didn't we haven't talked about the kellen more yeah love the decision absolutely you have
80:18to go that you have to do it there lions played the play extremely well i i hate to like armchair quarterback
80:24but it really looked like olave was clearly the reed at the front pylon and dj reed did a phenomenal job of
80:30getting around the trash to cover it and i know like he threw the corner to the back pylon but it didn't
80:36really seem like there was somewhere for the ball to realistically go after olave was covered and i was like maybe maybe
80:43we could have called a play with more than one real read but like that's the epitome of armchair quarterbacking yeah i
80:49think you go for that every single time every single time you're not getting the ball back and so you're playing for
80:55a tie at best especially pick that extra point you were your seven point underdogs with second year quarterback like nobody's got
81:01high expectations for you and you've got steel one you got the lines on the road yeah so i i loved it
81:07um and just to go back to the part about this being romantic i mentally checked out of this at like 1
81:1345 p.m and i was just like ah maybe next week saints you just weren't ready and then i was riveted to
81:19the last 40 minutes of this game like i think texans texans bills ended and i was like okay i don't give
81:25a shit what's going on with packers vikings show me the saints lions game and that's that's what the early window is
81:31all about that's exactly right like that's we we have not had that feeling in quite a long time and so to
81:37have that feeling one witching hour moment that was worth it uh in week one that is why we love doing this
81:43and that is what made us feel romantic about football one week into the season all right that is all we've got
81:49with our week one recap again we will hit three more games on the monday hangover show that we do that will
81:56be available for you on tuesday in all of your podcast feeds and here on the youtube channel three games we are
82:02hitting ravens colts raiders dolphins and titans jets are our three hangover games we're back buddy it's like an inverse of the
82:08three-headed monster me like ravens colts is gonna be i'm actually really excited to watch the raiders game might be interesting i'm
82:14very excited to see what the raiders offense did in this game because the other thing too really quickly if you look
82:20at like all just like the team efficiency stats from today the dolphins are at the bottom for like everything so i'm
82:26kind of curious about like how bad that got i'm looking forward to watching the raiders offense and seeing some of the
82:32stuff they did today it was nice to have ashton jenty show some life i'm looking forward to that and i'm i'm
82:38curious to see what the jets did you know like the fact that the jets won convincingly i'm i'm curious to go
82:44back and watch that again we do not hit all the games on this show we've never done it that way uh
82:50it's just a way to be able to talk about them with a little bit more depth that's why we do the
82:56hangover show each and every week and we will be back tomorrow with that show right here for now that's all we
83:02got appreciate you guys listening we'll talk to you very soon thanks for tuning in make sure to hit that subscribe or
83:09follow button so you never miss an episode if you enjoyed what you heard please like comment and leave a rating we'll
83:15see you next time you
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