Brock Bowers OUT(!), Plus One Stat for Every Game in Week 1
STACKED extracted the fantasy-relevant player signal from this podcast and kept the full transcript here for context.
1 hr 24 min
Duration
Estimated from transcript
Sep 10, 2026
Published
Thu, September 10, 2026
31
Player insights
29
Players mentioned
Topics
A.J. BrownJalen HurtsAaron RodgersAmeer AbdullahBaker MayfieldBrock BowersC.J. StroudCaleb DouglasChris BellD.J. MooreDak PrescottDeshaun WatsonGarrett WilsonGeno Smith
Player analysis
Player insights
A.J. Brown
PositiveProjection38:15
The source highlights A.J. Brown's strong outlook against a decimated Seahawks secondary that is elevating practice squad players to safety positions, projecting a high-ceiling performance.
Insight pagePositiveValue63:35
A.J. Brown is a player the analysts have strongly recommended, with many listeners drafting him based on their advice.
Insight pageAaron Rodgers
PositiveUsage33:29
Rodgers is expected to have a productive outing against the Falcons due to his quick release and the Falcons' limited pass rush; he averaged a league-low 5 air yards per game when blitzed last season, which aligns with his immobile, quick-passing style.
Insight pageAmeer Abdullah
PositiveUsage46:44
Ameer Abdullah is highlighted as a key addition for the Texans' run game, as he led all running backs in EPA per rush on man-gap runs last year. His presence is expected to help the Texans improve their 31st-ranked rushing success rate.
Insight pageBaker Mayfield
NegativeValue42:11
Baker Mayfield signed a 3-year, $165 million extension with $110 million in guarantees. While he has become the soul of the team, there are concerns about his durability due to his reckless playing style and refusal to slide.
Insight pageBrock Bowers
NegativeInjury5:35
Brock Bowers is expected to miss one to two games due to a meniscus trim procedure. The news was unexpected, coming shortly after the team indicated everyone was expected to play, and is considered a significant blow for fantasy managers who invested high draft capital in him.
Insight pageC.J. Stroud
PositiveProjection48:36
C.J. Stroud is expected to have a bounce-back season, aided by a favorable schedule against easier defenses in the first five weeks. The team is prioritizing a more effective run game to support him and reduce turnovers.
Insight pageCaleb Douglas
PositiveBreakout16:46
Caleb Douglas is starting for the Dolphins in Week 1. He has stood out during the preseason, OTAs, and training camp, generating optimism despite the team's overall lack of readiness.
Insight pageChris Bell
NegativeDepth Chart13:56
Chris Bell is starting for the Dolphins in Week 1 despite tearing his ACL in mid-December. The source notes this is highly unusual for a rookie receiver to start immediately after such a late-season injury and limited offseason participation.
Insight pageD.J. Moore
PositiveUsage57:03
DJ Moore remains a focal point of the Bears' offense, having demonstrated clutch performance with game-winning plays, including a touchdown against the Packers.
Insight pageDak Prescott
PositiveMatchup62:09
Dak Prescott has dominated the Giants, remaining undefeated against them in meaningful games since his rookie year 10 years ago, with a 16-0 record in that span. The source suggests this lopsided history makes the Cowboys a strong play in their upcoming matchup.
Insight pageDeshaun Watson
NegativeBust49:13
Deshaun Watson is considered a major liability, with the source citing his -66 EPA through the first six weeks of 2024 as the worst offensive performance for a quarterback in the 21st century.
Insight pageGarrett Wilson
PositiveBreakout45:03
Garrett Wilson is viewed as a potential smash hit this season. Despite poor quarterback play, he commanded elite target, reception, and yardage shares through week six last year. The source notes that Geno Smith could be the best quarterback Wilson has played with, and the Titans' defense allowed the most fantasy points to WR1s last year.
Insight pageGeno Smith
NegativeProjection47:16
The source views Geno Smith as a league-average quarterback who is a viable start in two-quarterback leagues due to his experience, despite the chaotic environment he faced with the Raiders last year.
Insight pageGeorge Kittle
NegativeUsage13:32
George Kittle is expected to be on a snap count for Week 1, likely playing no more than 30 to 40 snaps, making him a risky start for fantasy managers.
Insight pageIsaiah Likely
PositiveSleeper67:16
The source reiterates Isaiah Likely as a sleeper candidate, suggesting he will lead the team in targets during any games that Malik Nabers misses due to the lack of depth in the Giants' receiving corps.
Insight pageJahmyr Gibbs
PositiveProjection41:32
The source suggests Jahmyr Gibbs has 2,000-yard rushing upside if he stays healthy and the Lions' offensive line returns to its peak form from two years ago.
Insight pageJalen Hurts
NegativeUsage55:42
Jalen Hurts faces a significant scheme change as the Eagles look to incorporate more play-action and throws over the middle. Historically, Hurts has thrown over the middle the least of any qualifying quarterback, and his ability to adapt to this new offensive requirement is the biggest question for the Eagles' offense.
Insight pageNegativeUsage57:12
The source notes that while Jalen Hurts is a winner, the Eagles' offense is limited by a refusal to pass over the middle of the field; the team had the highest three-and-out rate in the league last year at nearly 30%. Success depends on whether the offensive line and Saquon Barkley can effectively move the ball on the ground to set up more manageable third-down situations.
Insight pageJared Goff
PositiveUsage40:02
Jared Goff is a high-end fantasy option at home, where he averaged nearly 20 points per game in 2025, ranking fourth in passing yards and second in touchdowns at home. The Lions' offensive scheme relies on play-action and a strong run game to keep him clean, as he has the highest performance delta in the NFL between clean pocket and pressured situations.
Insight pageJoe Burrow
NegativeProjection40:18
Joe Burrow is entering a critical season where missing the playoffs for a fourth straight year could lead to the entire coaching staff being fired. The team is attempting to get him under center for play-action, though he has historically thrived on big passes outside of that structure.
Insight pageJosh Jacobs
NegativeInjury53:33
Josh Jacobs is confirmed out for the Packers' game against the Vikings and is expected to miss an extended period of time.
Insight pageJustin Herbert
PositiveProjection59:24
Justin Herbert is highlighted as a top-tier quarterback option for Week 1, noting that he was the most efficient quarterback in the league by EPA per drop back when playing with tackle Joe Alt last season. With both Alt and Rashawn Slater healthy, the Chargers are in a prime position against a bottom-three Cardinals defense.
Insight pageKyler Murray
PositiveProjection51:56
Kyler Murray is historically a top-tier fantasy quarterback during the first eight weeks of the season, averaging 22 points per game since 2019. The source expects him to start hot for the Vikings before potentially declining later in the year.
Insight pageLamar Jackson
NegativeUsage18:36
Lamar Jackson's usage under center is a key trend to watch. His career rate is 14.7%, but it rose to 33% last year. With new OC Declan Doyle, who comes from a Ben Johnson-led Lions system that utilized under-center sets 48% of the time, the Ravens are expected to be more play-action heavy.
Insight pageLuther Burden
PositiveSleeper56:44
The source is high on Luther Burden, having drafted him in multiple leagues, and notes that he carries significant expectations as part of the trade package involving the Bears and Panthers.
Insight pageMalik Nabers
NegativeInjury66:10
Malik Nabers is practicing and expected to play in Week 1, though the source suggests he may be on a snap count. There is significant concern regarding the Giants' wide receiver depth behind him, making him a focal point of the offense.
Insight pageMichael Mayer
PositiveUsage6:51
With Brock Bowers sidelined, Michael Mayer is expected to take over the starting tight end role. He is a viable add for fantasy managers, particularly those who drafted George Kittle, who may be on a snap count in Week 1.
Insight pagePatrick Mahomes
NegativeInjury68:33
The source expresses extreme concern regarding Patrick Mahomes starting Week 1, noting it has been less than nine months since his ACL and LCL tear. The situation is compounded by the Chiefs' lack of a solidified offensive tackle plan, with an undrafted rookie starting at left tackle.
Insight pageRome Odunze
NegativeInjury60:55
Rome Odunze's status for the upcoming game is uncertain after being limited in practice; fantasy managers should monitor his availability.
Insight pageSaquon Barkley
NegativeProjection58:13
The source identifies the performance of Saquon Barkley and the offensive line as the primary variable for the Eagles' offensive success in 2024, specifically regarding their ability to establish the run to avoid third-and-long situations.
Insight pageFull transcript
Episode Transcript
0:00This episode is brought to you by Paramount Plus.
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0:43Icy Hot, you're so back. Football Show. My name is Danny Heifetz, and I'm joined by Danny Kelly and Craig Horlbeck, and
0:50today we are going over week one of the NFL season because we're here.
0:54Football's already been played. Craig, season's here. Season's here.
0:56I can't believe that the Seahawks won by 100 points.
0:59That was a record. That's amazing. No, we are going to be reacting to the Seahawks-Patriots game, but we're going to be
1:05doing that on the Bill Simmons podcast live after the game, which is like you'll have already – this is in the future.
1:12So if you want to hear us recap that game, you'll have to go to the Bill Simmons podcast feed.
1:18You probably already knew that, but just letting you know.
1:20We're like Kyle Shanahan. This is usually going to be our Friday episode, but this week it's on Thursday, and then we're
1:27reacting to the season opener that's usually on Thursday, but we did that on Wednesday.
1:31But yeah, so our reaction to Seahawks-Patriots is on Bill's show, and that is up probably now wherever you're listening.
1:37But we're also going to have reaction to the Niners-Rams-Australia game.
1:40Maybe it's going to be a fiasco. We'll see.
1:42That will be up on Friday, and we'll make our Ringer 107 picks on that one as well.
1:48What, DK? What's so funny about Australia, DK? Fiasco.
1:50Fiasco, fiasco. Well, the way I say fiasco is a fiasco.
1:53It's not English. It's fine. Anyway, we're going to go through, and this is going to be our Friday preview for the season.
2:00And we're going to need a little spin on it this year, right, Craig?
2:04Yeah. The way we want to approach this year's preview show is we're going to give one stat for every game.
2:10Each of us are going to provide one stat for every game that kind of stood out to us.
2:15This is our way into the game, something that piqued our interest.
2:19So we're going to go through every single game, preview every single game, but through the lens of kind of the one
2:25stat, the one fact, the one notable thing that jumped out to us.
2:29And we're probably going to start a little unconventionally here because we're going to start with the Raiders-Dolphins game.
2:34Isn't that right? We are. But first, we're going to throw to a quick conveniently timed advertisement.
2:39Oh, that's right. Okay, yeah. Break. Boom. Boom. This episode is presented by Verizon.
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3:06Additional taxes, fees, and terms apply. All right, we're back from an incredibly well, conveniently timed advertisement.
3:10That was so smooth. Man. That's why we're pros.
3:13Love when a plan comes together. Yeah. Danny Kelly.
3:16Yo. Yo. The game everyone's waiting for. Miami Dolphins at Las Vegas Raiders.
3:19We've all waited nine months for this game. What's your worst stat, DK?
3:23Hilarious we're leading with this. Well, I was going to have a very interesting stat, which was the Dolphins are starting two
3:29rookie receivers, but something bigger happened right before the show started recording, which is Brock Bowers, superstar, sexual football robot.
3:35Brock Bowers. I added a sexual part. Uh, sexual football robot from heaven.
3:39Brock Bowers is going to miss one or two games with an MCL.
3:42They clipped his NCL. I don't really know what that means.
3:46They called it a trim, which is like, it's not a haircut.
3:49It is a meniscus trim, not an MCL. Oh, my man.
3:52That's meniscus. That's apparently apparent. No, apparently this is, uh, not the worst thing ever, but he is going to miss two games.
3:59Um, and so that's coming, you know, mere minutes or, or hours after Clint Kubiak went in front of the press and said, everybody's expected to play.
4:06So I don't know what happened in that timeframe, but he is now supposed to miss two weeks.
4:11Uh, Michael Mayer, I guess is going to take over.
4:14He's a good player, but obviously Brock Bowers, superstar fantasy player.
4:17Get him out of your lineup. That's the deal.
4:20This is not to sound dramatic, but this is like a legitimate disaster.
4:24I think it's a catastrophe to start the season.
4:26I can't believe this happened. There was one clip.
4:29I don't know if you guys remember that went around two or three weeks ago.
4:33Brock kind of like limping a little bit on, on one knee and everyone was like, what was that?
4:39And then he like caught it later. He had some tape on his knee.
4:43Um, I will say though, there's, there's the dramatic side.
4:45Like the season's already over. I can't believe I spent twice as much on Brock Bowers as I did Trey McBride.
4:51A lot of people did that. Um, but also I have a little bit of, um, I know we don't like to,
4:58you know, the Twitter doctors, you never know who's right, who's wrong.
5:01My, my friend Jackson has had a lot of knee issues in his life and he texted us.
5:06I like this going to patients. Yeah. Meniscus trims are generally like three days and you're fine.
5:11If you are sewing it up, then it's like six to eight months.
5:15And I said, I didn't know you had one of these.
5:18He said, I've had three. He said three meniscus trims and he said three days and you're good to go.
5:24So maybe they're just being cautious with Brock. He's going to be out for two games and then everything will be fine.
5:30Hmm. Well, that's, that is encouraging. Yeah. What I saw from the Twitter docs is it's not, it's certainly like best case in terms of a knee injury.
5:38It's not going to be a huge deal. He should be out there soon, but for week one, especially if you spent
5:44big on him, second round pick, maybe even a late first round pick.
5:48Uh, this is pretty devastating news, especially it's just so random.
5:51It came out of the blue. It's a kick in the balls.
5:55It happens on Tuesday. Like why did they just did it?
5:58Why they didn't know what did something happen? It's like, he got always happened at camp.
6:02What does that mean? That's the problem. And that won't, won't, what a kick in the balls to ensure that this information
6:09comes out after literally everyone's drafted their fantasy teams, but also it's bad because they waited this long and were clearly hoping
6:15it would just feel better over time. And then it didn't either that, or there was a setback of some kind either way.
6:21It's bad that he needs a meniscus trim for either.
6:24He had a meniscus injury or something that they did not.
6:27His meniscus did not respond in the way they were hoping, uh, either way it's bad and no offense to your friend
6:34Jackson, but if he's already, I talk about being out one week or two weeks, then it's clearly not three days.
6:40This sucks. Well, and I'm angry because I've been plugging Brock Bowers like an idiot.
6:44This is a professional athlete who's, whose season long health is of the utmost importance.
6:48So perhaps for somebody who's not in the NFL three days, you could probably go about your day, perhaps with him, they're
6:54being a little bit more cautious, understandably. So do you guys with the videos of Jeremiah love delivering pizzas to the team plane?
7:01And like, it turns out that that's not the same thing as playing running back.
7:05Right. Do you guys think that Michael Mayer is worth a little grab for this game?
7:10He won a Michael Mayer at the back. Again, he was a highly picked guy at a Notre Dame second round for the Raiders.
7:17Michael Mayer won a lot of people fantasy championships last year.
7:20Cause I don't think Brock Bowers played in week 17.
7:23I think Michael Mayer had like a hundred yards or something.
7:26I forget off the dome, but yeah, it's, he is.
7:29I mean, it's weird. Cause you don't need a stopgap tight end at week one, but I absolutely think if your tight end sucks in the mix.
7:36Yeah. Michael Mayer has always been a guy who I thought is better than his, his, his like fantasy performance.
7:42He's like, totally how much he gets the ball, how much you get, then he gets credit for.
7:47I mean, he was like borderline a first round pick.
7:50He was the 35th overall pick like three or four years ago.
7:54And he was a guy, I think good. And I was a guy I think people thought was like going to be a thing for the Raiders.
8:01And then Brock Bowers came in and everyone's like, nevermind.
8:04But I do think Michael Mayer is talented. It's weird because this is the only week all season where you don't need a tight end streamer.
8:12That's right. Honestly, the answer is actually probably if you drafted George Kittle, because he'll probably be on a snap count.
8:18And even if they're like, oh, he'll play George Kittle is probably not going to play like more than 30 or 40 snaps this week.
8:25So if you kind of have Kittle and don't have a tight end, that's probably the answers I would add Michael Mayer.
8:31But the other, I do want to just mention what we're talking about injuries and comebacks.
8:36The Dolphins starting these two rookie receivers. The fact Chris Bell, who was a first round receiver prospect who then tore his
8:42ACL at Louisville in December, like mid-December is now starting for the Dolphins in week one.
8:46I cannot immediately remember any kind of prospect who tore their ACL basically at the end of the college football season.
8:52He missed almost the entire offseason program too, in terms of being on the field and practicing.
8:57He was just activated like a week or two ago.
9:00It's very simple. It's kind of crazy. We love Chris Bell.
9:03He's like an A.J. Brown. We do like A.J.
9:06Brown. But DK, this is kind of reckless. I mean, look, this is this is a tank.
9:11This is this is the implication of this is the Dolphins are bad.
9:14Like that is the bottom line. There's this almost never happens.
9:17By the way, I actually when I was looking into this, there's like been like three or four examples in the last
9:24like 20 years where an NFL team in week one, week one, importantly, the first week of the season before like shit
9:30goes to hell and you start like trotting out younger guys just to get them experience like week one.
9:35Everyone's still trying to win. Theoretically, it almost never happens that as team starts to rookie receivers.
9:40There's two teams that are going to do that.
9:43I think this week, it's the Browns and the Dolphins because the Browns are starting Casey Concepcion and I think they'll start Denzel Boston.
9:50They may not end up doing it. He might come in later, but whatever.
9:54I think it's just the state of these two teams, the Browns and the Dolphins, but the Dolphins in particular, this poor
10:00bastard, Blake Willis, get signing on and getting his real shot here.
10:03And then they're starting two rookie receivers in week one.
10:06Chris Bell and Caleb Douglas. Caleb Douglas was the guy who everyone was like, who?
10:11When he was picked in the third round, he has he has stood out.
10:15In the preseason and OTAs and practices and training camp and everything.
10:18So I think there's optimism there. But yeah, this is this is a sign that this Dolphins team is certainly not ready to compete.
10:25I'm very worried about what they'll do. I'm worried about A-chan.
10:28You know, I'm worried about Willis to an extent, although I think his running will will prop him up enough to make him be a fantasy factor.
10:36But yeah, I don't know. First of all, who do you guys think is going to win this game?
10:41This is this is one hell of a game right here.
10:44Dolphins, Dolphins, Raiders. The line did move to three after Brock Bowers was declared out.
10:49I'll be picking the Raiders. I think I will be picking the Raiders as well.
10:53And I think we should pick them in Ringer 107 because of the whole they're starting to rookie receivers thing.
10:59And that's we can't even find the time that happened.
11:01OK, I want to get to the rest of the early games here.
11:05So again, early as we have argued about often 1 p.m.
11:08Eastern, 10 a.m. Pacific noon central. We're going to call them the early games.
11:12First up here, DK, we have the Baltimore Ravens are at the Indianapolis Colts.
11:16Yeah, my one stat for this game is Lamar's career under center snap rate is 14 percent, 14.7 percent.
11:22That is for his career. Now, last year it was up to 33 percent.
11:26The last two seasons has actually jumped pretty dramatically.
11:28So, you know, not just not crazy, crazy low anymore.
11:31It's like 33 percent last year is like 25 the year before that.
11:35But I think it's important to note that based on kind of what we're hearing, some of the stuff we saw in
11:41preseason and training camp and everything, I think the Ravens are going to be much more under center play action heavy.
11:47That's just kind of the way that I think Declan Doyle, the new OC for the Ravens, learned it under Ben Johnson last year.
11:54Ben Johnson ran under center stuff 48 percent of the time.
11:57So almost half of the snaps. And then under the when he was the OC of the Lions, he led the NFL in under center snaps.
12:04And that is, you know, Declan Doyle is coming from that world.
12:08So I just think it's going to be fascinating to watch this Ravens offense, what kind of offense they look like, how they change from last year.
12:16Is it a much more under center? How does Lamar look in that?
12:19To me, that's endlessly fascinating. And it's going to be one thing I'm watching early on.
12:24I thought people were not lukewarm on the Ravens, but I didn't think that they would be among the most selected teams
12:30to win the Super Bowl or be in the Super Bowl until I feel like everyone in the last few days has been giving their Super Bowl picks.
12:38The Ravens are much more popular selection than I thought.
12:41I had them in the Super Bowl. I have the Rams because fuck it, even though Super Bowl teams never win and their quarterback is 38.
12:48But I kind of was like, screw it. They're really good.
12:52Yeah, I guess I was just a little bit surprised that everybody was kind of all aboard this this this this Ravens,
12:58Jesse Minter, Declan Doyle bandwagon in year one. There's a lot of moving parts here.
13:02We don't know anything about Declan Doyle. We don't know anything about Jesse Minter.
13:06I mean, he's a good he's a good defensive coordinator.
13:09How is it going to be? We know more about Jesse Minter than Declan Doyle.
13:13He's a first time head coach, though. So as a head coach, fair enough, as a head coach.
13:18Yeah, Jesse Minter's first time head coach. But he's been calling defenses for quite a while.
13:23DeWayle, it's like, who knows when you're not calling plays?
13:26It's hard to know what assistant offensive coaches are doing.
13:29Totally. And then obviously the whole is Lamar cooked based on last year or is that just like a one off?
13:35He was hurt. He just didn't look like himself.
13:37And he'll be back to being the MVP caliber player that he has been over the years this season.
13:43That is a huge question. And going up against the Colts on the road, I think this is a fascinating matchup.
13:49The Colts were actually very good at home last year.
13:52They averaged 29 points per game at home last year, which is fifth most among teams.
13:56So I don't want to underestimate this Colts team, even though I don't think we're super high on them.
14:02But I think the Ravens going into this game, the type of offense they run is going to be a huge variable.
14:08It's funny. Every year, every couple of years, I feel like, you know, trends shift and come and go in the NFL
14:14and new patterns show up and there's kind of new buzzwords.
14:17And I feel like, I remember when we first started doing the show, it was like, so-and-so star receiver is moving into the slot.
14:24And it was like, oh shit, you got to get A.J.
14:27Brown into the slot, right? Because then you can do so much more.
14:31It's like, why is he in the slot? And then it was like the motion.
14:35And I feel like this year, it's all just like under center.
14:39How often are they going to be under center?
14:41Joe Burrell is going to be under center. Multi-tight ends.
14:44There's going to be three tight ends on the field.
14:47Heavier sets. It's like Jalen Hurts, Joe Burrell, Lamar Jackson, all these guys, the whole conversation is like, well, how much are they going to be under center?
14:55And I just, I enjoy hearing the new buzzwords every couple of years.
14:59It's funny. They're all connected. And it's funny because through all the buzzwords, it's very, like the way football's played is so
15:05complicated, but then you break through and it's like the actual reason they're doing all these things isn't that complicated at all.
15:11Like to this, oh, putting Justin Jefferson in the slot seven years, six years ago.
15:15So it's just get the best player of the ball by any means necessary.
15:19It's like in the NBA, would you like just switching, get the best player into the worst, the worst guy on the
15:26floor to how are, I don't care how many picks we got to set, get the best matchup we can for players.
15:32Stop making the talented people do hard stuff. Let the talented people do the easy stuff, which is why are you going on the outside?
15:39Go inside. And then it started switching. And so then defenses got good at that.
15:43And then defenses were like, screw it. We're taking away the explosive plays.
15:47And we called it the too high thing, but I hate that term because it's really like, if we can fit the wrong with six.
15:54Another great buzzword. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I was like, oh, too high.
15:58Too high. Fucking ruined football. The front seven in football became a front six.
16:02Like it just became a front six. And we have like that.
16:05Now we can have five guys in pass coverage.
16:08That's kind of, I think it's simpler way to think of it.
16:11And then defenses were like, the offenses responded. And I think the reason we talk about it so much is Bill Bornwell
16:18has this amazing stat that explosive play rates passed turnover battle as the thing most correlated with winning.
16:23If you have more explosive plays than the other team, it's basically neck and neck with having more turnovers or having fewer turnovers than the other team.
16:31And that's augmented by kickers these days, hitting 60 yard field goals almost every time or with regularity.
16:36Yeah. The explosive play rate has always been a big stat in terms of correlation to scoring points.
16:41And it's a really important factor. I mean, Pete Carroll was talking about this, you know, decades ago.
16:46But I think it, I think it has been even strengthened even more.
16:50Think about the drives where you hit a 20 to 30 yard pass.
16:53You're already in field goal range almost with the way that the, you know, the kickoff rules and, and where the ball is placed now.
17:00I think it's just, I mean, if you get one big play in a drive, you're, you're almost guaranteed to score.
17:06And that, and that's the thing. And so I, I, we almost have to have a shot game this, like this season on Fridays.
17:13Every time you mentioned, yeah, well, you just got to get under center, establish the run, hit shots with play action.
17:19Like you almost, and everyone's saying that, but the reason is you can't for that way.
17:24Defenses can't play the room six. They have to bring people down and then crowd the center.
17:29It's kind of like opening up space around the three point line.
17:32You have to bring defenders down threes. And so it becomes as complicated as it all sounds.
17:37All it is, is you need a guy's closer, defenders closer to the line of scrimmage.
17:42So you can get over their heads. And it becomes, you know how like we're out of munitions right now, like in
17:48Iran and all this stuff, we're kind of out of anti-air defense.
17:51Like it's a supply issue. College football doesn't make enough linebackers.
17:54We don't have enough. That's what all this is really about.
17:58There are not enough linebackers going around. Teams can't find enough linebackers that can be competent enough at run D and pass.
18:04So you're going to put someone on the field who sucks.
18:07Well, they're all like 220 pounds. Yeah. Coming out of college, they're all 220, 225 or whatever.
18:12You don't have any of the, you know, the old school 255 pound guys that can kind of lurk in the second level.
18:18And offenses, everyone's trying to do this and all these tight ends go in the draft because you're just trying to be
18:25like, I bet you're going to put on someone who's too small linebacker to run block or tell me who's big, but
18:31not fast enough to do pass coverage. And college football is just not making enough linebackers.
18:36And that's kind of like where the, and that's why everyone's going to shove tight ends on, try to force them to
18:42put linebackers and be like, you can't where you just, you just don't have enough on your roster.
18:47And so that's why there's like six different teams.
18:50We're going to be like, yeah, can this guy who's in shotgun play at a center?
18:54So anyway, that's a long rant, but that'll come up a lot.
18:58Yeah. The next game here, Craig, this one's amazing.
19:00Falcons are at your Pittsburgh Steelers this week. Steelers are favored by three and a half.
19:05Yeah, that's right. My one stat. What's up with this line?
19:08You think it's two, you think the Steelers should be favored by Moore?
19:12Yes. Because of Tua Tungavailoa? I do agree. And I think we should have a lead against the Steelers.
19:17However, my one stat is that the Steelers are three and nine in the playoffs since Mike Tomlin started playing Minecraft.
19:23You guys hear about that? I was shocked. This is the Kyler thing.
19:27Mike Tomlin has been building a city in Minecraft for 12 years straight.
19:30How many kids does Tomlin have? I don't know.
19:33Probably two or three. Because if he has kids, you do not have time to be a coach, have kids, and play video games.
19:40He does have kids. He's playing video games with his kids.
19:43That's who he's blaming it on. He got into it because of his kids.
19:47And now his kids are gone and graduated in college and are living their life.
19:51And Mike Tomlin's still playing Minecraft. He said he's been doing it for 12 years.
19:55There are three and nine in the playoffs since then.
19:58But slightly disappointing. Sounds like he made the playoffs 12 times since he started playing Minecraft.
20:03Yeah, sure. Well, no, that's not right. No. But my way in here is that this is the new Steelers.
20:09The new look Steelers under Mike McCarthy. And specifically with this game, the thing that Rodgers doesn't want the most, Aaron Rodgers, is to get hit.
20:16He's basically the quickest release in the NFL at quarterback.
20:19And they're going up against an extremely limited Falcons pass rush.
20:22When blitzed last season, Rodgers averaged a league low, five air yards per game.
20:26And the Falcons now, James Pierce is out due to suspension.
20:29Jalen Walker tore his ACL. He's out. And they have five new starters on their front seven.
20:34So I think this is like the perfect kind of way to hit the ground running for this new offense for the Steelers.
20:41The Steelers haven't lost to the Falcons also in like 20 years.
20:44This is at home in Pittsburgh. Interesting. I just think this is a great spot for them.
20:49Also on the defensive side with like the Steelers defense being healthy right now.
20:53Great front seven. They brought everybody back going up against Tua.
20:56It'd be great if the Steelers offense was just good.
20:59I don't know if it's going to be. I don't think it's going to be particularly explosive in terms of pushing the ball down the field.
21:06It just needs to be fine. You know how Aaron Rodgers is like just completely immobile and just gets the ball out really quickly.
21:13And you're like, there's no one else that could be, you know, more immobile and get the ball out faster than him out of fear of getting hit.
21:21And then they're playing the Falcons in Tua this week.
21:24And you're like, oh, my God. I didn't know there was someone slower and more afraid of getting hit than Rodgers.
21:30And I was wondering if we have to give out the Elizabeth Holmes Nathan Fielder award for the.
21:35Of course, I'm not trying to deceive you because like seeing Nathan Fielder get out awkward in it by someone on camera was unbelievable.
21:42That kind of reminded me of two. Wait, so wait, what?
21:45What is the category? What is the comp you're making with Elizabeth Holmes?
21:49I don't know, but I just we have to find something for the I'm not trying to deceive you.
21:54I guess that's the Raiders for doing Brock Bowers.
21:57But no, I agree. I also kind of just think I wish I could bet on T.J.
22:02Watt to have a pick six off some pathetic to a turnover and some little screen pass that he jumps.
22:07I just think this is a pretty decent spot for Rodgers because of the Falcons.
22:12Supposed to be 80 degrees in Pittsburgh on Sunday.
22:14Craig, what was your immediate reaction to Mike Tomlin playing Minecraft?
22:17I was upset. And surprised. I mean, like if you had to pick a head coach in the NFL.
22:23Who was most likely to play video games? Would Mike Tomlin not be the dead last pick?
22:28A hundred percent. He'd be the guy who I think didn't even have like a phone.
22:32Yeah. If I was like Tomlin, what do you do on the weekends?
22:36I would expect him to be like, I go and sit by the river and look at the water and think.
22:42If you told me Mike Tomlin. He's in Minecraft.
22:44Yeah. If you told me Mike Tomlin was into Minecraft, I would have assumed he liked going to mines.
22:50Right. Yeah. I would have said he like he's working on his Minecraft by being a miner.
22:55Yeah. By being the 49ers guy. I would have said he's like into woodworking.
22:59Not. Yeah. Not video games. So do your parents?
23:01Jackie's parents play Mario Party. Do the board game and everything.
23:04Yeah. I don't think my father, my mother, I don't think has ever played a video game.
23:09I don't think my dad has played a video game since like he played Super Mario Brothers with me when I was like eight years old.
23:17Who's the most likely head coach to be addicted to video games other than Tomlin, I guess?
23:22Good question. Dave Canales? Kingsbury just playing in his mansion.
23:24Yeah. Canales. Canales is not a bad answer. Yeah.
23:27He already has a self-admitted addiction to something else.
23:30You can't have an addiction to porn and to video games.
23:33He's over it. You wouldn't have time to do anything in your life.
23:36You'd have to replace the addiction with something else.
23:39Sure, sure. And maybe it's video games now. Kellen Moore, just a video game freak?
23:43Oh, that's not bad. I mean, you could say like McVay.
23:46I just think McVay's too dialed. He's too crazy.
23:49He's not going to play video games. He's disciplined.
23:52I could say when GTA 6 comes out, we'll find out if any of these guys play video games.
23:57We're going to take the Steelers in rigor 107.
24:00100%. We have to. There's only so many times left in our lives we can bet against Tua.
24:05I'm scared how confident I am in the Steelers in this game.
24:08I agree. The next game. So this is still in the early slate.
24:12The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are at the Cincinnati Bengals.
24:14Bengals are favored by three and a half. It is a fun game.
24:18My one stat is that Joe Burrow and the Bengals have missed the playoffs for three straight years.
24:23Yeah. It's a very basic but powerful one. Joe Burrow has not been in the playoffs.
24:28That's right. For a very... Small but mighty. Yeah.
24:30And I actually think this is true for both teams.
24:33Buccaneers and Bengals. But if the Bengals don't make the playoffs this year, I think everyone's fired.
24:38I think the entire coaching staff is gone. I think the front office might be gone as well.
24:43Which, I mean, the Bengals kept Marvin Lewis for almost 20 years.
24:47And I think everyone in the Bengals is going to be out if Burrow misses the playoffs for four straight seasons.
24:53The Buccaneers, I actually kind of think Todd Bowles is also kind of in a playoffs or gone situation as well.
24:59But I just think the Bengals are way more desperate.
25:01And you see that, again, they traded for Dexter Lawrence and the Giants.
25:05The Bengals did not have a first-round pick for the first time since 1989.
25:09Like, they are a slow and cautious organization that has spent a lot of money and dealt a lot of capital to build a good team.
25:17The defense is the obvious one. But Joe Burrow, you know, can he get under center?
25:21Establish the run? Take shots on play action? They're trying to get him under center.
25:25We'll see. I think it's going to revert directly to the Joe Burrow offense if they do try and do that.
25:31Did you guys see that Baker Mayfield signed his contract?
25:34Three years, $165 million contract extension, $110 million in new guarantees.
25:37So that, I mean, that's nice for the Bucs.
25:40I think he certainly, they shouldn't have let him leave, certainly.
25:43You can quibble over how much they gave him, but I think it was a good move.
25:48Baker's in the Kirk Cousins zone. He's good enough to get paid.
25:51Is he good enough to win a Super Bowl?
25:54I don't know. I think we got to see him, like Burrow, we got to see him stay healthy this year, man.
26:00This is the worry with you got skinny guys or somewhat undersized guys.
26:04Like Baker is, I think, just a little reckless.
26:07He's in that Jackson Dart era or like category where you just want him to kind of like chill.
26:12Don't try and run this. Just, you know, slide.
26:15And he doesn't really do that. I don't think Baker or Joe Burrow get hurt because they're slim.
26:20I think they get hurt because their willingness to get absolutely rocked just if it increases their chances.
26:25Sure. They just need to be more disciplined, I guess.
26:28Yeah. The, you know, I'm glad Baker got paid.
26:30I do think that Baker is probably in that middle ground of like when you're paying him, you know, 55 million a year.
26:37It was probably a lot cooler when he, you know, he was getting like those lesser deals.
26:42But I mean, he earned it. Like he's become the soul of the team, honestly.
26:46But it's funny. This is also one of those teams though with the Bengals.
26:50The last three seasons, teams running play action from under center have 1500 big passes.
26:541500 big passes, play action under center. Joe Burrow has one of them.
26:58So it's like he just makes big passes, not under center.
27:01He just rips it. Just ripping passes. So this is the, he doesn't mean any of that bullshit, you know, any of the cheap stuff.
27:08No, I don't know. The other men, the other thing I mentioned for this game, a Mecca Buka.
27:13This is from Rick Stroud earlier. Looks fine. I'll take it.
27:17I don't know what that means. What does that mean?
27:19I'll take it. We're going to see his toe.
27:22I don't know. I think he's going to play is the bottom line.
27:26He's wearing like a steel toe boot out there, but I like that he's practicing.
27:30Oh, wait, I'm just seeing here that a Mecca Buka is going to his meniscus trimmed.
27:34No, not a big deal. Oh, sorry. Okay. Next game here.
27:38This is probably the best game of the day is the Buffalo Bills are at the Houston Texans.
27:43Bills are favored by one and a half. Craig, is this the game of the year?
27:47Wow. I would say yes. Yeah. I think we can officially say that.
27:51There will be no better game this season. My one stat, I want to get nerdy for a second because I think
27:57this matters to the overall Texans situation on offense this year.
28:00The Texans ran the second most man gap runs last year in the league.
28:04And David Montgomery, their new running back, led all running backs in the NFL in EPA per rush from man gap runs last year.
28:11So the reason why I bring that up is the question is, can the Texans offense be fine this year?
28:17Can it be decent? Can it be good enough to support the defense and score enough to make this team like a legit Super Bowl contender?
28:24And one of the main reasons why I think the Texans have always struggled is, sure, Stroud has had a couple bad games.
28:31I think Stroud's a good quarterback. They can't run the ball.
28:34They haven't been able to run the ball. They're 31st in rushing success rate since they drafted Stroud.
28:39And so I think, you know, they've done a lot of changes to the offensive line, question marks to whether or not they'll be better or not.
28:47But they brought in David Montgomery, and this is year two in Nick Caley's system.
28:51And if this is a good fit and the Texans can run the ball a little bit, I think, you know, we
28:58tried to figure out who was going to be the Colts offense this year.
29:02I'm not saying that the Texans are a lead candidate to do that.
29:05But if we start watching week one and they can run the ball, move the ball a little be a pretty productive offense.
29:12So I'm very interested to see what they can do in the run game.
29:16Yeah, I love this. I really I would love to see Stroud have a big bounce back this year.
29:21You know, I just when he's on, he's so exciting to watch.
29:25He's very like his rookie season. He created some big plays, super accurate down the field.
29:29I thought he played with a ton of poise and then it's just kind of fallen apart since then.
29:35But I do think I agree with you, Craig.
29:37A lot of that is just he doesn't have the support from the run game that I think any quarterback really would need and want.
29:44I find it fascinating that running backs are different or better and or worse in different schemes.
29:49Like, you know, some guys are just better at sort of the hesitation or letting letting the you know, the offense sort
29:56of or the defense, I guess, sort of sort itself out in the second level before making a cut.
30:01Some guys just have a better feel for man gap versus like zone style runs.
30:05And so very excited to see what David Montgomery can do.
30:08Also, last year, Bill's terrible run defense. They gave up the third worst yards per carry to running backs last year.
30:14And I will say the Texans, if you look at their schedule, the first five games, pretty easy on the defenses they play.
30:21The Texans open up the season with the Bills, the Bengals, the Colts, the Cowboys, and then the Titans.
30:26So it's the right time for Stroud to kind of get right and get his feet wet.
30:31That is nice, too, because we always on the Sunday week one recap every year, I feel like we're always like, oh,
30:37yeah, this is just an extension of the preseason.
30:40But the first week, kind of the first two weeks are kind of an extension of the preseason.
30:45There's a lot of rust coming off and like all these players, like everything looks rusty.
30:50Like it is kind of nice to have the easy schedules up first.
30:53Like, you know, honestly, Stroud needs the confidence. I think the team needs the confidence in Stroud.
30:58I don't always say that. Like, it honestly might be nice to have the bad teams at the end of the schedule.
31:05But I think the Texans organization, the defense. Yeah, it would be nice to see Stroud start hot so they don't have
31:11to do what Ernest Jones did last year. And it's like, if you're not in with Sam Darnold, then fuck you.
31:17Like the defense, like they need they can't have him fumbling and turning the ball over all the time.
31:22Like they need to see it. So I can't believe they're cramming this game into the fucking 10 a.m.
31:28slate with like 10 other games. Give this a put this on, you know, primetime.
31:32I mean, look, come on. There's like there's too many good games now.
31:36Every prime time game is good. I don't know where it would go.
31:39Would you what would you replace it with? The Super Bowl matchup?
31:43The Rams and the Niners in Australia? Dallas versus the New York Giants?
31:47Or I would replace it with that. The Broncos?
31:49I know I know that I know that like probably money wise, Dallas or Dallas versus New York is very good for the NFL.
31:56But like, I would way rather watch this game in that slate than that.
32:00I do. I always laugh. I mean, I do it, too.
32:03But I always think it's funny when people are like, I want to change the schedule as the NFL makes twenty one billion dollars every single year.
32:11They can make twenty four. They're making they're making enough money.
32:14I just want to see a better game. That's all.
32:17Jerry never gets. Jerry's always going to be in primetime, baby.
32:20Jerry's always going to be in primetime. There's going to be no shortage of good games, DK, this year.
32:25Don't worry. You just settle down. It's a long season.
32:28Wait till Christmas morning or Thanksgiving Eve when there's a fantastic game on.
32:32All right. All right. Somewhere out there is a Chevy truck and the person who drives it.
32:37Well, that's a Chevy person. You probably know one.
32:39Your buddy. Your sister. Ones who always show up.
32:42They're the first to rise. The last to leave.
32:44They always have that little extra something. And maybe you've got it, too.
32:48Chevrolet. Today, together, let's drive. Visit chevy.com slash trucks to explore the lineup.
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33:34The next game here, Chicago Bears are at the Carolina Panthers.
33:37Bears are favored to win by three. There are a lot of things I could talk about.
33:42Nerdy, interesting, but there's only one thing to talk about when the Bears play the Panthers.
33:46My fact is that here's what the Caleb Williams trade ended up being.
33:50The Panthers traded up to the number one pick and got Bryce Young.
33:54So the Panthers got Bryce Young. The Bears got, in exchange, Caleb Williams, receiver DJ Moore, right tackle Darnell Wright, Tyreek Stevenson
34:00at defensive back, their punter, Torrey Taylor, and cherry on top, Luther Burden at receiver.
34:04I didn't realize that Burden was a part of that.
34:07Burden is carrying kind of a lot. But he's burdened with a lot of the weight of this trade, I feel like.
34:14Wasn't Tyreek Stevenson the guy that gave up that touchdown when he was talking shit to the crowd?
34:19Yeah. DJ Moore famously got along great with Caleb Williams, and there was no problem there.
34:23I mean, don't just write off DJ. DJ Moore caught the game-winning ball against the Packers.
34:28That was, at the time, the best moment Bears have had in years until he did it again later in the playoffs.
34:34DJ Moore caught a game-winning touchdown in overtime with, like, 12 seconds left.
34:38I know. I'm just playing devil's advocate here. But, all things said, that is a horrific trade for the Panthers.
34:44Is there a playoff team? Is there a 2025 playoff team that people could give less a shit about than the Carolina Panthers this year?
34:51No. Well, the Steelers. Really? Would you say that people are more bullish on Carolina than Pittsburgh?
34:56No, no. Yeah, the Panthers. The Panthers, when you do the whole, well, you've got to pick playoff teams.
35:01You've got to pick someone out. You're like, all right, Carolina just gets immediately just iced.
35:06I know. I feel like if I was a Carolina fan, I'd be upset.
35:10I'd be like, hey, we almost beat the Rams twice.
35:12Why are we not being respected? But they're not.
35:15I just had to bring up this thing. No, and you know what?
35:19We're going to talk about the Bears, too. Because I'm sorry about the Panthers.
35:23But they're just not as interesting. We'll see if Bryce Young's good.
35:26But I do want to just note the Bears.
35:29Ben Johnson literally said we're the number one regression candidate this season.
35:32And that's so lame, but it's true. The Bears were lucky and or if you believe in Catholicism, the Pope was from Chicago.
35:39And then suddenly the Bears won seven games last year where they were losing inside of the two-minute warning, which is the most by NFL team.
35:46It's called Clutch Gene. Clutch Gene, God. But it's the most in the Super Bowl era.
35:51The Bears had the fewest turnovers on offense. The Bears forced the most takeaways on defense.
35:55And so one, that's awesome. Great season. Also, those are all the statistics that in a really lame math way just come back to normal.
36:02And so the result is either the Bears will be like kind of disappointing and everyone will put the Madden curse on them.
36:09Or what Ben Johnson says, we want to break the scoring record and the Bears are going to try to be the
36:15new Bengals or the new Cowboys where I think their defense sucks.
36:19And they'll try to be a shootout team. Or they're just going to be a little disappointing.
36:23I mean, when you said that, I think the hardest thing to do and the least consistent thing year in and year out for defense is like turnovers.
36:31Forced. It's just such a random thing. They recovered over two thirds of their fumbles, which is the most random thing there is.
36:38The ball just bounces a certain way. Man, I don't know what to make of this Bears defense.
36:43I do. It sucks. It's also very old. It's the worst front seven for any team that's seriously trying to win the Super Bowl.
36:50Yeah. And I don't know why Max Crosby is not on the Bears, to be honest.
36:55But that could make them extremely, extremely fun. Also, Roma Dunze, maybe not going to play in this game.
37:00It's unclear right now. Keep an eye on that for fantasy lineups.
37:03He was limited in practice today. But I think there's some question that he may not play.
37:08Do you guys get any texts from friends or people who listen to the show that say like, hey, you better be
37:15right about this player because I just drafted them because of you?
37:18Like, do you guys have that every year? Yeah, of course.
37:21Yeah, in some form. Yeah. This year, I've had many people be like, hey, I'm doing this fucking Luther Burden thing because of you.
37:28All right. So this better work. So... Craig, you put your money where your mouth is.
37:33You drafted him in several leagues. I did. I did.
37:35I have him in two of my three leagues.
37:38Who is that guy for you this year? Both of you.
37:41Mike Evans. Oh, yeah. If Mike Evans gets hurt in week three, I'm going to...
37:45Good God. I mean... I'm going to go into witness protection.
37:49The 49ers already had a guy, Terrence Patella, tendon in Australia.
37:52Alfred Collins. Yeah. Good God. Also, what is with this team?
37:55Position for them. So, yeah. The Mike Evans, I think, is probably one of the big ones.
38:00And then Kenneth Walker would be the other one where people are just like, can you please shut the fuck up about
38:06Kenneth Walker for the love of God? Hi, Fitz.
38:08Who's yours? For me, it's... I thought it would be Brock Bowers, but it's probably the people that I've gotten the most texts about.
38:15I took this guy for you. It's A.J. Brown and Derrick Henry.
38:19Oh, yeah. That's A.J. Brown. Yeah, A.J. Brown. A.J.
38:21Brown kind of does need to work for you.
38:24It already happened, guys. How do you feel about last night, Hi, Fitz?
38:28Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Watch it just week one, two years in a row.
38:31Can you right now predict what A.J. Brown did in that game against the Patriots, against the Seahawks?
38:36What was his stat line? Seven targets, six catches, 78 yards, and a really, really cool touchdown.
38:41Wow. Yeah. I would agree. The Seahawks secondary is decimated right now.
38:45They have like two safeties on their roster. I think they elevated two guys from the practice squad who I have barely ever heard of.
38:52So that's an interesting thing. I'm going to wait until next episode to give my prediction, but...
38:57Oh, okay. That's good. It's like DK. Okay. I'm going to wait until week 15 to tell you who I think is the Super Bowl.
39:04And then I still won't feel good about it.
39:06DK. Next year, we're going to let DK just predict who he'll predict will win the Super Bowl in week 15.
39:12He'll be like, no, I don't want to do that either.
39:16The next one... Do we need to get into it again?
39:19I was responding to your response, not to the fact that you asked me...
39:23No. Some people didn't hear it. Just go ahead.
39:25You just don't want to pick the Super Bowl winner.
39:28He doesn't like it because he doesn't know who's going to win.
39:32I was picking the Super Bowl winner, but when Craig was like, really?
39:35You think that? I'm like, I don't know. We're just guessing here.
39:39What did we say, DK? Have a take. That's what we...
39:42Have a take. Not, I don't know. Anybody could win.
39:45That's... Next time I'm on... Yeah, people are on the clock in a draft.
39:49They're like, DK, who do I take? I don't know.
39:52There's so many players. I don't know. The next game here, New Orleans Saints are at the Detroit Lions.
39:57Lions are favored by six and a half. DK, what's your one stat for this game?
40:02Oh, this one's fun. I'm going with Jared Goff.
40:042.5 good pregame shits over expected in this one.
40:07Jared Goff, famously very, very good at home. Not as good on the road.
40:11I think it's because he has the safety of his own bathroom and he can take his nervous shits and just get
40:17them out and feel good about it going into the game.
40:20You never know where you're going to have to shit when you're traveling.
40:24Things go awry. And so Jared Goff at home in 2025 averaged almost 20 points per game in fantasy.
40:29He had the fourth most yards, 18 touchdowns, the second most.
40:32And this is like home road split. So like the second most touchdowns at home for a quarterback and the fourth best pass rating at home.
40:40So, I mean, when the Lions were at home last year, they averaged 32 points a game, which was more than the
40:46Rams average than they were the number one scoring team last year.
40:49So, I just think the Lions are going to have to turn it on offensively.
40:54And I think they've always been really good there in Ford Field.
40:57I don't think the Saints defense is especially good.
41:00I think they're going to score a lot of points.
41:03And I'm excited to see this Lions offense and this iteration of it and what they look like this year.
41:08Yeah, I'm interested to see if the Lions can get back to the Lions of the last three or four years.
41:14And I think a lot of that will come down to like, is the offensive line good enough to protect Jared Goff
41:21where he can feel comfortable in the pocket? But I am excited and I want the Lions to get back to the
41:27old form because they're, I think, one of the most fun teams in the league to watch.
41:32Yeah. If the Lions had the O-line from two years ago, I'd be talking about Jameer Gibbs rushing for 2,000 yards if he stays healthy.
41:39But I really, it's important to see if the Lions off, because the Lions off its line could be great again.
41:45It could suck. And it could swing the NFC.
41:47So, in terms of starts. He is, Scott Barrett, pointed this out the other day.
41:52Like, he has, Jared Goff has the highest delta in terms of how he reacts to pressure versus what he, so like,
41:58his clean pocket performance versus his under pressure performance is the highest difference of any quarterback in the NFL.
42:03So, obviously, keeping him clean is a massive, massive deal.
42:06That's why they do so much like play action under center, why the run game is so important.
42:11They try and protect him that way. You establish the run.
42:15Throw it over their head. Play action shots over their head.
42:18You need to keep him clean. Otherwise, he'll shit his pants.
42:21You know what I mean? Exactly. But if he's at home.
42:24You know that was the joke in the Super Bowl, right?
42:27What? He pooped his pants? Have you not seen the thing?
42:30So, the Patriots, before the Patriots-Ram Super Bowl, they literally were telling reporters, we're going to make Jared Goff piss his pants and shit his pants.
42:38Oh, piss his pants. They literally were saying that.
42:40Oh, piss or shit? When he was playing for the Rams.
42:43I think both. Because let's be honest, when you shit, you piss.
42:47Like, come on. Right. Sure. That's interesting. It's a good point.
42:50It's like a sneeze. It's like a sneeze poop.
42:53Yeah. Yeah, that's very true. That's a good, because you can't sneeze while you're peeing, because that's a disaster.
42:58Yeah, because it's weird. Shart really doesn't, because that's a, I guess it's a shit fart, right?
43:03Where it's like, you think it's going to be a fart and then it's more than that.
43:08But it's really, it's kind of a sneeze poop.
43:10What? You know what I mean? Unfortunately, I do know exactly.
43:13Well, because it's like with a shart, usually when you're, when you fart, you like, you try to fart, right?
43:19Yes. But when we talk about kind of the unexpected shart, that's more of a sneeze than it is a fart, because you're usually trying to fart.
43:27It's rare that I try to fart and then, you know.
43:30But you're not trying to sneeze, necessarily. Exactly. I think a shart is more involuntary than voluntary, is my point.
43:36You know what I mean? A fart is voluntary.
43:38Ergo, a shart would be voluntary. But isn't a shart more involuntary?
43:42Yeah, this is an accident. It's an accident. It's like a sneeze.
43:45And it happens at the worst time. Yeah. What do you think, Heifetz?
43:49What do you think about that? Heifetz is really thinking about it hard.
43:52I kind of want people to email us about this.
43:55I'm a little different. About is a shart voluntary or involuntary?
43:58Well, if you want rankings, go to fantasyfootball.thringer.com. But if you want to get emails about sharts and farts, email us at ringerfantasyfootball at gmail.com.
44:06It's kind of our corner. I feel like, I get what you're saying, but there's no like, you're trying to do something
44:12and then you sneeze because you were wrong. That's my issue with it.
44:16But I guess, I'm quibbling with the definition of a shart.
44:19Like, is it that, I feel like, spiritually, it means that like, you just shit your pants explosively.
44:24Oh, I see what you're saying. But the definition, I guess, is like, well, it's like when you try to fart and you accidentally shit your pants.
44:32I feel like that's not the spirit of what a shart is.
44:35It's just kind of like a sneeze. The spirit of a shart is like an explosive, holy shit.
44:40Like you couldn't make it to a toilet. Exactly.
44:43You're saying there's two kinds of sharts because there's sneeze sharts and then there's like, you took a gamble and you lost.
44:49Yeah, that's, yeah, exactly. Wow. Okay. We got to categorize the two sharts.
44:53Okay. Anyway, speaking of sharts, the Jets are at the Titans this week.
44:56My one stat is, I want to talk about, it's hard to get serious here, but I'm going to try to get,
45:03I'm going to go back into it. My one stat is about Garrett Wilson, who I think is kind of a fascinating character heading into the fantasy season.
45:11Through week six last year on the Jets, wide receiver Garrett Wilson was third among all wide receivers in targets, receptions, and receiving yards.
45:18And he was tied for second in touchdowns. That was all through week six.
45:22And that was a Justin Fields and Tyrod Taylor throwing him the football.
45:25We all know that the, the leading receiver on the Jets last year was in fact, Garrett Wilson with 395 yards after
45:32he left in week six and never came back.
45:34He was still, that is insane. Receiver. The only team to ever not have a 400 yard receiver since they went to
45:40a 16 game season, by the way. And so I'm kind of sitting here being like, this is a great spot.
45:46I think for, for honestly both teams to like not look terrible, but the Jets with the Titans secondary, I'm kind of
45:53like, is there a chance that Geno Smith is by far the best quarterback that Garrett Wilson's ever had?
45:58And Garrett Wilson is one of the smash hits of the season.
46:01That's all I'm thinking about. Looking at just the amount of targets he commands and has commanded on the Jets with terrible quarterbacks.
46:08If Geno's all right, Garrett Wilson's going to be a huge success.
46:11Yeah. I think that's all he needs to be is all right too, which is nice because the bar is so low
46:18with, with the Jets over the last, however many years.
46:21Um, and I think Garrett Wilson's a very talented receiver.
46:23He can get open. He could make it acrobatic catches.
46:26He can run after the catch. If he can stay healthy, he has a real chance here.
46:31I, I do think we swung a little too hard on, on the pendulum with Geno.
46:36I think obviously last year was, was a disaster, but there were so many things about the, the Raiders last year.
46:42That was a total, total just clusterfuck basically from their offensive line, the coaching, you know, pairing Pete Carroll with Chip Kelly
46:48and, and there's just a million Pete Carroll's sons.
46:51Pete Carroll's sons and then Tom Brady kind of like using his influence in certain parts of the offense and certain parts of the team.
46:58Um, and then of course, you know, kind of, you know, self-destructed a little bit and throughout that, and I'm not like
47:04absolving him of blame at all because he, he was a turnover machine and, and I think he kind of spiraled, but
47:10I do think, you know, we're kind of forgetting how good he was with the Seahawks for a couple of years and
47:17I think he is a good, he's a really good quarterback and I think like league average is, is well within the realm of possibility with him.
47:24Specifically for week one, I'll end on this, that the Titans last year gave up the most fantasy points to wide receivers, wide receiver ones.
47:31So it's a good spot for Garrett Wilson. I think these were the two worst teams in the NFL last year.
47:37They literally ended up with the top two picks of the draft.
47:41I mean, you have Geno Smith playing, I mean, they bet Jets, he hit was a Jet 10 years ago and you're right.
47:47I'm afraid of the Garrett Wilson thing because I've been like, what are the odds that Geno Smith a decade later works
47:54with a coordinator who's been out of the NFL for two years?
47:57And I'm like, well, you know what? Maybe it will work because since Geno left, the Jets are literally like dead last
48:03or second to last in like points and yards and touchdowns and winning percentage and time spent with the lead and have
48:10the most time spent losing and I think last year they had like a like half their drives they were losing by double digits.
48:17Like, yeah, maybe actually Garrett Wilson is fantastic this year solely on just how it's hard to measure how bad it was.
48:23And like, I'm a little afraid of that because I've been out of the Jets.
48:27If you're in a two quarterback league, would you rather start Geno Smith or Cam Ward?
48:32I would start Geno. Probably Geno just because he's actually done it.
48:35His experience factor, I think. Although Cam, well, it's worth the other Jets thing while we're talking about the 40 yards thing.
48:41Jets did not intercept a pass last year, which we have to keep saying until they do it.
48:46The Jets, the only team that I don't intercept a pass.
48:50Can they be the only team to do it two years in a row?
48:54Let's see. Well, that's the thing. On record since 1933.
48:56Just throwing it out there. Yeah. Okay. Also, we didn't even mention Robert Sala, Titans coach versus the Jets.
49:02True. Oh, right. Revenge game. Good call. I really want Sala to crush them.
49:06I'm not going to lie. I still think Sala got absolutely railroaded by Rogers.
49:10The next one here is Cleveland Browns at the Jacksonville Jaguars.
49:13My one status from the ringer zone, Austin Gale.
49:16Ooh. Deshaun Watson's going to start this game for the Browns.
49:19And the last time we saw Deshaun Watson was the first six weeks of 2024 where Deshaun Watson's expected points added was minus 66.
49:26So minus 66. So he literally, Deshaun Watson, on average, cost the Browns 66 points over expectation through six games, which is 11 points per game.
49:33This guy. And which was the worst for any quarterback in the database that goes back to 2000, making it not only
49:39the worst offense and worst quarterback in the history of the Browns through six weeks, but also surpassing Jamarcus Russell for the
49:46worst offense of the 21st century through six weeks of the season.
49:49And then hold on, hold on. So then after that, he tore his Achilles twice.
49:53Yes. And now he's starting again. Now he's playing.
49:56Oh my God. I will also want the Jaguars in the world that can play quarterback for them.
50:01There's got to be. Where's Will Levis? Somebody get eyes on Will Levis.
50:05Where did Will Levis end up? Did he sign on some practice squad or something?
50:09He'll be somewhere. He's just chilling. Honestly, he could trot him out for Cleveland.
50:13I would rather have Will Levis than Deshaun Watson.
50:16I, yeah, I want the Jaguars evening. Buyer's remorse.
50:18Buy a new car? I'll be moving in. Let's get started.
50:21Uh, sorry, I think there's been a mistake. I bought it from Carvana.
50:25You what? Yeah, great price. I even have seven days to love it or return it.
50:30So there's no... No, no buyer's remorse. More like buyer's rejoice?
50:33I guess I'll let myself out. Congratulations. I mean it.
50:36Buyer's rejoice. Buy your car today on Carvana. Limitations and exclusions may apply.
50:39See our seven-day return policy at Carvana.com. The Ringer Fantasy Football Show is brought to you by Fandle.
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51:09Just put three or four of them together. I would actually do McCaffrey, Evans and Devontae.
51:14They're all going to score. It's going to happen.
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51:49The late games. DK, this one's fun. Green Bay Packers are at the Minnesota Vikings.
51:53Vikings are favored by a point and a half.
51:56Yeah, this one. My one stat from this game since he came into the league, Kyler Murray and that's 2019 seven seasons.
52:02Kyler Murray is the quarterback four in fantasy points per game over the first eight games of the season.
52:08So if you separate the season into two halves, Kyler Murray is one of the greatest fantasy quarterbacks of his era during
52:14the first eight games of the season. The only guys that have scored more points to him during the first half of
52:20every season since 2019 are Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, and Patrick Mahomes.
52:24He averages 22 points per game in the first game of the season in those seven seasons.
52:29So, I mean, obviously we were joking about the Minecraft thing earlier.
52:32Kyler Murray is notorious for going downhill as the season goes on assuming there's not like injuries and stuff early on in the season.
52:39and I'm very fascinated to see what this Vikings offense looks like with Kyler Murray under center and Kevin O'Connell calling plays
52:45and Justin Jefferson catching passes and I don't know.
52:48This to me is like one of the must-watch games of the weekend because I just truly have no idea what to expect from this.
52:55This is why I think the Vikings, Craig was all mad at me, but the Vikings are the perfect candidate to be
53:01the Colts this year because they'll be, I think they can start out hot because Kyler starts out hot every year and
53:07then GTA 6 comes out and the season's over.
53:10The drawing of the, is it the horse or whatever where it's like all detailed and then crude at the end.
53:16It's kind of how Viking seasons go too. They're kind of a perfect marriage.
53:20I think this is an interesting game just because it's two teams that I don't know how I feel about and I
53:26really want to watch where the Packers are like, so Josh Jacobs is not playing this game, going to be out a while, we think.
53:33There's no Micah Parsons, Tucker Kraft pitch count. You kind of immediately are like, all right, so what are we working with here with the Packers?
53:41Like how many guys do I actually feel good about in this game?
53:44And then Minnesota, obviously it's the Kyler Murray question, but this is one of the more like, we're going to learn a
53:51lot about these teams after week one. I feel like I like the Packers more in this game.
53:56I just think we're probably underrating how good they are.
53:59I think that they're still a very good team.
54:01I still trust LeFleur to, you know, put together a very good offense, a very efficient offense and Jordan loved to run it.
54:08I don't know. I don't know what to expect from their defense, I guess.
54:12I just feel like the Packers are a depth team without any depth anymore.
54:16Like they're not a star power team. It was like all B pluses, but like even through their third stringers and now
54:22it's like, well, they don't have any A pluses and they don't have any depth.
54:26Yeah, they got raided in free agency and now it's like if you just go through who will enter the game if
54:33anyone's injured and it's just, it is really, it's dark.
54:36I mean, Sky Moore might play, is going to play for Green Bay this year.
54:40Yeah. So, I mean, you know what? At this point, I'm going to, I want to know because I still feel like
54:46I don't really know where you guys stand. Do you think the Kyler thing is going to work for the Vikings or not?
54:53Define work. I think it's going to work for fantasy.
54:56It's the first half of the season will people be like, oh, Kyler was signing with the Vikings is good.
55:01Kevin O'Connell did it again. The Vikings are good.
55:04Why didn't other people? Yes, because JJ McCarthy is now a third string quarterback.
55:08He couldn't even beat out he couldn't even win the backup job.
55:11So, yes, it's a good move for the Vikings.
55:14I would say it's more likely than not that by week eight, everyone's like, the Kyler thing is working.
55:19And I think by week 16, people will be like, I can't believe we thought the Kyler thing would work for the second half of the season.
55:27Yeah. Does JJ McCarthy being inactive make you more skeptical of Michigan, DK?
55:31Every week, I'm just kind of like, why me?
55:33I don't know. Every week, I'm like, man, maybe they were.
55:36I'm the one who's skeptical of Michigan now. Yeah.
55:39The next one here. So, Washington Commanders are at the Eagles.
55:42Eagles are favored by five and a half. Bill talked about it in his show this week, but he's right.
55:48These games are always weird. All divisional games are, but Commanders, Eagles, some weird stuff always happens.
55:53This stat, again, Warren Sharp, Rich Rebar, it's the same thing we've been talking about.
55:57Past five years, Jalen Hurts has thrown the ball a third of the time between the numbers.
56:02Like a third of his passes go between the numbers on the field, which ranks last among the almost 40 quarterbacks who
56:08qualify for passer rating in that time. So, 39 quarterbacks, Jalen Hurts throws it over the middle the least.
56:13And everyone in the league, including the Eagles, are trying to do the whole get under sender, heavy packages, play action, throw it over the middle.
56:21Is Jalen Hurts going to throw it over the middle?
56:24Are they going to ask Jalen Hurts to throw it over the middle?
56:27And how will he do? I think that's the biggest question for the Eagles.
56:31He could immediately do great and that would be cool.
56:34But either way, like this is a huge thing they're asking him to do.
56:38It's a huge change. This reminds me so much of the Russell Wilson narratives for like a large portion of his career.
56:45And, you know, the Seahawks won a lot with Russell Wilson over the years.
56:49So it's kind of the same deal with the Eagles.
56:51Like the Eagles have been winning a lot. He's just a winner.
56:55He constantly wins. I get all that. But it does really limit your offense when you just like refuse to attack the middle of field.
57:02That's a big area. It's huge. The margins are small when you're trying to push it down the sideline and have your
57:08superstar receivers win, especially when you got rid of one of them.
57:12In the offseason. So I think that's the problem here is like, is Jalen Hurts a winner?
57:17Absolutely. Like he gives them a better chance of winning than almost any other quarterback would, right?
57:21Like the way that they play, the way that they play, the tush push, all that stuff.
57:26But there is a very strong limiting factor if you just refuse to pass over the middle field that, you know, and
57:33look, he's had some success when he does pass over the middle field.
57:36So like I tend to give him the benefit of the doubt and hope that he can do it.
57:42But after going through this with Russell Wilson for a large part of his career, Wilson just never really changed.
57:47You know, he just never really started passing over the middle field.
57:51People don't change. People don't forget. I hope they can though.
57:54I was wondering if I've been hard on Jalen Hurts this whole time and then I remember the FDN almanac had the stat.
58:01The Eagles offense went three and out more than any team last year.
58:04It was the most frustrating offense. Almost 30% of the drives were three and out.
58:09Yeah. It was the most frustrating offense to watch that was supposed to be good in years.
58:13Yeah. I, the Russell, the offensive line is a big variable here.
58:17If they're healthy and good, everything could change. It's like the real question.
58:21It's not like to me, it's not, can Jalen Hurts throw over the middle of the field?
58:25It's like, can they run the ball? Can they actually move the ball on the ground to set up the pass to
58:32make it easier on Hurts to do what he wants to do in third and two instead of third and nine?
58:38Like is Saquon in the offensive line going to get back to 2024 is the big question to me.
58:43They're putting him out to pasture and they look great without him and they were like, hey, we had to move on with that.
58:50You know what I mean? We'll see what happens.
58:52Maybe it really was Kevin Petulo's fault. So we'll see.
58:55The Russell Wilson, Jalen Hurts thing is the perfect comp because their shtick is so endearing when you're just crushing the rest of the league.
59:02Right. And when you suck, it gets old fast and it's cool when Russell Wilson's just like a work ethic guy when you make back-to-back Super Bowls.
59:10Yeah. But the moment you stop, it's annoying. Yeah.
59:13It's Seth Rogen and Step Brothers. Okay. Yeah. I get it.
59:16Yeah. 30% of your drives are three and outs?
59:18It's starting to look a little fucked up now.
59:21Yeah. All right. Arizona Cardinals are at the Los Angeles Chargers.
59:24My one stat is that Joe, Justin Herbert, Joe Herbert, Justin Herbert played four games with tackle Joe Alt last year and
59:30when he did, he was the best quarterback of the last five years by EPA per drop back.
59:36And not only does he have Joe Alt, he also has Rashawn Slater, two all pro level tackles and they are playing
59:42the Cardinals who by every metric you want to look up are a bottom three if not dead last defense in the NFL.
59:48This game is in LA and there's a chance that the Chargers score 50 points in this game.
59:54If the Chargers lose this game, how much are we going to panicking here?
59:58Like what's the DEFCON level? DEFCON one? What's the bad one?
60:01One? One's bad. One is bad? Yeah. What's the bad one?
60:04We have to invent a new DEFCON. Oh, Christ.
60:06This is exciting. I want to see him with a good offensive line.
60:10I want to see what, you know, what Mike McDaniel can do in this offense.
60:14It's so exciting. And, you know, theoretically, this is a one of the easiest matchups they'll have all year.
60:20The Chargers losing this is like, yeah, there's a 10% chance our show will be extinct if the Chargers lose this game.
60:26That's right. Do we show up on Sunday night?
60:29No, we might have to just go dark for a month.
60:32No, it's just that more. Yeah, darkness retreat. This should be Elizabeth Holmes' thing, the Chargers every year.
60:37Just, I don't have anything to deceive you on.
60:40Of course, I'm not deceiving you. If the Chargers lose, I think we need to go to Antarctica and discover the lost world that's down there.
60:47You know what? It's funny. The thoughts were more extensive than I thought.
60:51I didn't realize he was saying there was a society underneath Antarctica.
60:54Yeah, it's like an inner world society that exists.
60:57Rogers really believes this like Halloween stuff. Inside the world.
61:00There's a world inside the world. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
61:02Have you seen King Kong? Like King Kong in this core of the earth instead of lava, there's just like a reverse
61:08gravity Kong world where there's all these giant gorillas that are walking around basically on the inside of earth, but they're attracted
61:15to the, so it's like they're kind of like upside down world.
61:18Yeah. King Kong world. Yeah. And that's kind of what Aaron Rogers thinks, but with people.
61:23That's making a lot of sense to me. He thinks it's just like unvaccinated people running around down there.
61:28Like what does he think? Yeah. Immunized. Immunized. Yeah, I know.
61:31DK is such an interesting pair with Rogers. Like they could be in a movie together.
61:36Yeah. You know what I mean? I would actually, there are very few athlete podcasts I would like to hear.
61:41I might listen to Aaron Rogers and DK Metcalf.
61:44I was going to say, what do you think they talk about?
61:47DK Metcalf is just bringing like gummy worms to foursomes and Aaron Rogers is just talking about Tony Fauci.
61:53Yeah. Rogers is like, you know people already live on Mars, right?
61:56DK's like, really? Damn. Holy shit. Holy shit. Okay.
61:59Sunday night football as Jerry Jones demands, the Dallas Cowboys are playing the New York Giants.
62:03Cowboys are favored by two and a half. They got to get the Giants into prime time before the Giants suck.
62:09John Harbaugh coaching the Giants. My fact, the last time the Giants beat Dak Prescott in a game that mattered was his rookie year 10 years ago.
62:17Wow. This does not get talked about, but the Giants are two and 16 in their last 18 games versus Dallas.
62:23Oh my. And it's somehow worse than it sounds because one of those wins was last year in week 18 when they benched Dak for Joe Milton.
62:31Because the Cowboys have made the playoffs already. So that doesn't really count.
62:35The other one was like five years ago. They beat Andy Dalton as the quarterback of the Cowboys.
62:40So Dak Prescott is kind of 16 and 0 versus the Giants since his rookie year.
62:44He should do like a like a championship belt something or other or like I own them, you know, like like the Aaron Rodgers thing.
62:51I own the Bears. He does. And it doesn't get mentioned.
62:55I feel like, you know, Brady versus the Bill.
62:57He needs to talk more shit. Talk shit, buddy.
63:00It's not really a rivalry. The Giants get stomped by voice.
63:03That's the worst worst act I've ever had in the show.
63:06Holy shit. That's the worst. That was method acting.
63:09I just was saying stomped. Why is that happening so much?
63:12Are you growing? Going to puberty again? That was a really good one.
63:15I didn't even know I could make that sound.
63:18Can we like isolate the sound on that and really slow, like just cut everything else out?
63:23I just want to hear that. Giants get stomped.
63:25I can't believe that that just happened. That was like a cartoon.
63:29I didn't think I could be more embarrassed. The fact that that was during a conversation about the Giants not beating Dak
63:35in 10 years, I didn't think I could embarrass myself.
63:38I'm going to ask Cam to do a me getting left hanging on a fist bump type Zapruder remix of that because,
63:44you know, I got some comments about that. People are really making fun of me.
63:49Craig, you really left me hanging there, buddy. We will go to if you want to go to Instagram or TikTok Ringer Fantasy Football.
63:55We will some I am sure you guys will make something very embarrassing and put it on Ringer Fantasy Football or Danny Heifetz.
64:02Go follow us on Instagram and if you want whatever horrible thing they cook up with that.
64:07So you guys want to talk about my voice cracker?
64:10I mean, either way, it's embarrassing. Yeah. What do you think of this game?
64:14I think they're going to get their ass beat.
64:16It's going to suck. I want John Harbaugh. It would be nice.
64:20The bar could be lower for John Harbaugh. The Giants have been eliminated by Thanksgiving nine of the last 10 years.
64:26I just want them to just like be 500 by Thanksgiving.
64:29The bar is so low. Tyler Smith's not in this game.
64:32He's an important guard for them, but I'm a little worried the Giants are going to get carved up, man.
64:38How do you feel about the Giants defensive line?
64:40Not as good as you'd think. If you just list all the names and the defensive ends, it's incredible, right?
64:46Like, I mean, just having Abdul Carter and, you know, Brian Burns had a ton of sacks.
64:51Like, Kayvon Thibodeau as your rotational guy. It's good.
64:53The interior of the line is a mess. Dexter Lawrence is traded, obviously.
64:57I have ranted a lot that I just don't understand why he's supposed to get half the return of Max Crosby.
65:03I think he's an incredible player. The Giants traded Leonard Williams for some second round pick three years ago and then he's
65:09led the Seahawks defense to a championship and just was voted by executives the best defense attack in the NFL.
65:15He's so awesome. And everyone's like, well, he's 28.
65:18Get rid of him. I'm like, well, he's 31 and just got voted the best defense attack on the NFL.
65:23Best player on the defense. I don't know why we're getting rid of Dexter Lawrence for one first round pick.
65:29I like Francis Marinoa. Anyway, but the other guy behind him also towards Achilles, Roy Robertson Harris.
65:34So it's going to be like DJ Reader, who we signed like weeks ago and then Shelby Harris.
65:39Like it's an old ass defensive line in the middle.
65:42I kind of think the Giants run defense is going to suck this year, which is the problem.
65:47Shelby Harris is 35. DJ Reader is 32. It's insane.
65:50Like it's it is like by far the weakest part of the team and I'm very concerned.
65:55And Arville Reese, I love, but he's a linebacker.
65:57He's playing inside linebacker like he will not be good initially inside linebackers.
66:01You can't be good as a rookie at the beginning.
66:04Also, one of the more underrated things I feel like with the Giants that we haven't really discussed is that I think
66:10Malik neighbors is going to play week one. He's practicing.
66:13Dude, the Giants depth chart at wide receiver out behind.
66:16If Malik neighbors is not feeling great, doesn't look right.
66:19Dude, there is nothing there. It's Malik neighbors who I, you know, I think it's good that he's even playing.
66:24I hope he's on a snap count. Malik I Fields, who is, you know, went to Notre Dame.
66:30I think he's, if Matt Collins was like a really great contested catch receiver, I think Malik I, if he's a big
66:36body, like they don't have any size. He's a third round rookie.
66:39He's a third round rookie on Notre Dame. He didn't get much experience catching passes at Notre Dame.
66:44Darnell Mooney, who is, DK hates, and then you have Odell Beckham.
66:48He's 177 pounds though. 177 pounds and is always her.
66:51And then you have Odell Beckham who like didn't even play last year.
66:54Odell Beckham is like, kind of, this is the only team in the league that would have given him a shot.
67:00He's not even on the goddamn Dolphins. It's so funny that Odell Beckham is one of the big stories of the Giants right now.
67:07I really think it's a PR move. Adam Schefter's tweeting about it.
67:11It's like, NFL Network's covering it. It's like, God, man.
67:13This is why we kept saying Isaiah Likely's a sleeper.
67:16Like, I think any week neighbors misses, Isaiah Likely's gonna leave this team to target.
67:21So I'm a little concerned. The offensive line better be good.
67:24I could rant about this, but again, the Cowboys are just beating the shit out of the Giants for 10 years.
67:30And again, the Giants in those 10 years have been like basically the worst team in football with the Jets.
67:35Yeah, but you're gonna be happy when the Cowboys win because Jerry is going to get his flowers.
67:41Craig's gonna be talking about Jerry's cooking right now.
67:43Jerry's, this, Micah Parsons trade, he won. Won the trade.
67:46When I saw what happened inside the tank purge, which might me, Craig the Audi, didn't know until I saw the clips.
67:52Your Jerry Jones take, I agree with it. And I don't know why.
67:56I wanna see, I kinda wanna see the Cowboys succeed.
67:59I don't want the Cowboys to succeed. I want Jerry Jones to win a Super Bowl.
68:03I don't want the Cowboys to do it. Is what I said at the tank purge.
68:08Yeah, yeah, yeah. I, it was hard though to not do the stat that Jackson Dart's been to the blue tent 43%
68:14of his games for a concussion check, but I just think no one knows that Dak beats the Giants ass.
68:20All right. I didn't know that. I mean, I didn't realize that.
68:23Yeah. Unbelievable. Okay. Monday Night Football, Denver Broncos are playing the Kansas City Chiefs.
68:27Chiefs are favored by two and a half points.
68:30DK, what's your one stat? This statistic is a time frame.
68:33It has been eight weeks, sorry, eight months and three weeks since Patrick Mahomes tore his ACL and LCL.
68:39So we are looking at essentially a nine month recovery and he is going to start week one.
68:44And that to me is kind of remarkable and crazy and I'm a little worried about it.
68:49Can I add to your worry? Yeah. Fun fact, Josh Simmons, the left tackle is going to miss this game.
68:54Right. The person who Andy Reid has said will start for the Chiefs at left tackle is Khalil Benson, who is an undrafted free agent rookie.
69:02It just doesn't seem like a great strategy. We're going to look back on the Chiefs and marvel at how they just like fucked up the offensive.
69:09I think this is insane. I think what the Chiefs are doing is insane and if they bounce back, that's awesome.
69:15But the recklessness that they have approached, the offensive tackle position, it was one thing when Mahomes was healthy and could scramble
69:22and they just every year at right tackle, they would just find some veteran ring chasing for money.
69:27But now they're like literally just having an undrafted free agent week one left tackle and then your right tackle is a
69:33Jalen Moore who's like never even played left or right tackle really.
69:36They have no plan. Did you guys see the story?
69:39This is insane. Did you see the story about how Mahomes was like trying to beat his kid to the to walking or whatever?
69:46Sorry. Don't don't say that Patrick Mahomes was trying to beat his kid.
69:50He was trying to defeat his child in the race to walking or something.
69:54He was trying to walk before his child did recovering from an ACL while his child is just a child.
70:00To be clear, he wasn't beating anyone. But defeating, yes.
70:02Am I alone? I think it is insane that they're trotting out the best quarterback.
70:07I mean, literally taking the tour, the baton from Tom Brady as one of the greatest quarterbacks ever.
70:12I think Mahomes never played football again. You could argue he's the fourth best quarterback of all time.
70:17And they've, they're have, they're going to trot him out after under nine months from an ACL tear.
70:22And they're trotting out an undrafted rookie to play left tackle.
70:25And then the right tackle situation was already a mess before anyway.
70:29This is fucking crazy. Yeah. Also, the Broncos defense is good.
70:32Well, this is like an, this is a very interesting matchup.
70:35Chiefs are favored in this game. Yeah. And the Chiefs have been really good at home that I think that is kind
70:41of working a lot in their favor with the line here.
70:44Certainly the Chiefs have the second best home record over the last five years.
70:48I saw this only the bills are better. But obviously that's maybe sort of including a, an era of the Chiefs that
70:55is no longer, that doesn't really apply to this, this certain team.
70:58The Chiefs are funny, man. They are kind of like, you, you look at it and you're like Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelsey.
71:05And then you look under the hood. It's like that.
71:08DK, I actually think you watched this movie. Do you remember that movie, the Alto Knights that came out last year?
71:14Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The movie sucked. That movie, if you look at it, it's a crime movie starring Robert De
71:20Niro, directed by Barry Levinson and the guy who directed Rain Man and a million other good movies.
71:25And it's written by Nick Pelleggi, the guy who wrote Goodfellas.
71:28And you're like, holy shit. Yeah. And it was literally the worst movie I've ever met.
71:33And then like 20 to 30 minutes in, you're like, wait, is fucking De Niro playing two characters in this?
71:39What the fuck is going on? And then you're like, I'm bored.
71:42And you turn something else on. You're like, wait a minute, Nick Pelleggi's 93.
71:46Barry Levinson's 84. Wait a minute. Yeah. I tried to watch it on a plane, Craig, and I had to turn it off.
71:53I also watched it. I was like, I'd rather be raw dogging this right now than watching this movie.
71:58That is the Chiefs, though, because you're like, the Chiefs have been boring for two years.
72:03And I know Ken Walker, they signed Ken Walker, but that isn't just going to magically change it.
72:08I don't know. I don't understand how you could have the best.
72:11Like, literally all you could ever want in the world was to Patrick Mones to be your quarterback.
72:16And the fact that they're just like playing games and tackle is insane to me.
72:21I know they traded up for Manchester Lane. They could have Spencer Fano and Spencer Fano is good.
72:26And I don't know. It's just weird to gamble with his fucking knee.
72:29Can we close here? I would like to make an announcement about the Los Angeles Rams have landed in Melbourne.
72:35They're there. Oh, hell yeah. Made it safely. It was a 14 and a half hour flight.
72:40I got some info about the flight itself from Joe Pompliano that I like to read.
72:45You guys found it interesting. And this was a question I had in the lead up.
72:49I think we talked about this. I tweeted about it.
72:52So this is from Joe Pompliano. The Rams took a Qantas Airbus A380 from LA to Melbourne.
72:57This is the largest and most expensive commercial passenger airline ever built.
73:00And there are enough live flat seats for every single player and some coaches.
73:04Wow. But, this goes deep back into an argument we've had on the show before.
73:09However, these planes don't have Wi-Fi. Why do they not have Wi-Fi?
73:12So for the flight, 15 hours there, 15 hours back, no Wi-Fi on the plane.
73:16I would argue maybe a good thing. These guys got to go to bed.
73:20You know what I mean? Maybe help you sleep.
73:23You're not scrolling. I mean, you can still download movies and stuff like that, but it limits what you can do at least a little.
73:30But like all those movies in your plane not have Wi-Fi.
73:33But all those movies in your seat and everything, is that streaming?
73:37Like aren't those just on there or no? Streaming?
73:39What's up? Like when you have this little thing in your seat rest, like you're looking at the screen and playing.
73:45I don't think that's Wi-Fi. No, but if you have a live flat seat, I doubt you're watching movies on the little TV in front of you.
73:53But yeah, I feel like you're trying to sleep.
73:55But it at least allows you to not really just be like scrolling on your phone, texting on this flight.
74:01I'm really hung up on the idea that these planes are too big to have Wi-Fi.
74:06I don't know. I'm not sure why there's no Wi-Fi on these planes when you're quite literally the longest plane route on Earth.
74:12Why not have Wi-Fi? Did you get any info on why there's no Wi-Fi, Craig?
74:17No. They're like, these are too heavy. We can't add Wi-Fi.
74:20It's the planes too big, too strong, too thick.
74:22I think it's pretty remarkable that for 53 players plus coaches, so maybe 60 people, there's lay-down seats for 60 people on this flight?
74:29Yeah, that's wild. It's fucking crazy. Planes are big.
74:32Well, this one, I've never seen a plane even get close to having 60 lay-down seats.
74:36So who do you think Who do you think is going to win this game, Rams or Niners?
74:41Niners. I want the Niners to win. Dude, I flew back from...
74:45I think the Rams will probably win. I took a red eye from LA.
74:49I couldn't sleep on the plane. I was a mess.
74:52Yeah. I kind of want to know... I just want to know which players slept or not.
74:5624 hours after I went to Italy last year, 24 hours into the trip, I was a zombie.
75:02Yeah. I'm just fascinated by this lie-flat, no Wi-Fi flight.
75:04I'm seeing online that it's actually there. They can have Wi-Fi.
75:08It's physically possible, but they're so big, it's just really expensive to add it.
75:12I have a feeling the Rams might have paid for that.
75:15We'll see. They carry 500 passengers. Dude. I would love to know if there was like a screen time limit, like, hey, everybody, like, lights out at eight.
75:23Like when I give to Calvin? Yeah, like, everybody gets three hours of screen time and then it's betty-bye.
75:28Yeah. I want to know what the rules were for like, they have to give guidance.
75:33Oh, coach, can I just play one more game?
75:35Come on. I'm almost done with my show. So, you guys want an email before we get out of here?
75:41Yeah. 49ers email from Paul. Paul. Paul. Paulie. P-Bone.
75:44Breakfast was three cups of iced coffee and a Chibana yogurt.
75:47Strawberry yogurt. Ripping coffee. Yeah. Three cups. So, Paul says, I'm a lifelong 49ers fan who grew up in San Francisco, surrounded by the fellow faithful.
75:54I think Dajon Love saved the 49ers season. Great take.
75:57The vibes were so bad this offseason with the substation, Kyle Shanahan's car crash, Ricky Parasol's injury, our owner getting discount mobile
76:03home hookers, and Nick Bosa, allegedly, and Nick Bosa getting knee tendinitis, which gave me Christian McCaffrey flashbacks.
76:08Then a hero emerged to reset the vibes. Dajon Love.
76:11Because there's nothing funnier than Dajon Love and his stupid videos with the 49ers and his helmet everywhere.
76:16Every group chat I'm in making jokes about it.
76:19I guarantee that is true for some actual players on the 49ers.
76:22Dajon Love flipped the conversation around the 90s season from a weird, terrible, horrific offseason to jokes about a grifter and his 18-year-old sidekick.
76:29Nothing to do with injuries or substations. Thank God for Dajon Love, Paul.
76:33Is it a plant? Was he a plant by Shanahan?
76:36Maybe. Take the heat off of him. I really regret not throwing Heifetz in a Niners helmet.
76:41and taking him to Santa Monica and having him run around.
76:44Oh, my God. How did we not do that?
76:46How did we not? Damn it. Everyone beat us to it, man.
76:50I guess. That could be a good fantasy punishment.
76:52Oh, that should have been the fantasy punishment. You have to make like a hype video and run it out.
76:58You have to raise one million dollars from people pretending you.
77:01You have to bilk people out of their money.
77:04Well, yeah, the crime was taking the money. Right.
77:06Well, the crime, the videos were arguably also a crime.
77:09We don't know. Crime against football. But we don't know if it was in fact a crime to impersonate a 49er.
77:15That might be legal. We're still not quite sure.
77:18I think it depends where you're doing it. At the game, probably a crime.
77:22Yeah. It's like if an artist sues you for using their music.
77:25It's nuanced. Right. Right. But this was like a parody.
77:28I liked it. Yeah. Dejano Love saved. If the Niners win the Rams game, I actually think this is true.
77:34Dejano Love saved the Niners season. I was feeling pretty good about like zagging on the Niners offseason from hell and then
77:40Alfred Collins tore his fucking leg in half and I was like, well, never mind.
77:44I will say, it's so funny. The Rams, no matter what happens at Rams Niners, it'll feel so obvious.
77:50I know. Yeah. If the Rams walk in and are kind of like half asleep, you're like, yeah, why the fuck did
77:56they fly in and they just play? That's stupid.
77:59It's gonna be a fun game. Honestly, I can't wait for it.
78:02Okay. We will have a recap on Niners Rams on Friday.
78:05We'll also have a ringer one of seven picks.
78:08We're gonna be bringing that out. We're bringing that back this year.
78:11We'll usually do that on this show, but again, this show will be on Fridays.
78:15We have Sunday recaps. We have Monday. We won last year.
78:19Don't forget to tell people. We did. Our rankings are at fantasyfootball.theringer.com.
78:22If you want to start sitting, we have rankings at fantasyfootball.theringer.com.
78:25Go check that out. Be updated on Sundays as well.
78:28And thank you to everyone for listening. And the season is here, which is insane.
78:32So the next time we talk, it'll be about games.
78:35Wow. Thank you to DK. Thank you, Craig. Thank you, Cam.
78:38Thank you, Nikhil. Thank you, Austin. Thank you, everyone for listening.
78:41But of course, we thank you to Deshaun Love.
78:44Thank you, Lord! Lord! Thank you, Lord! SNL lineup was announced.
78:47Lauren's back in the mix, baby. Oh, yes! Jalen Brunson hosting the premiere episode of SNL this year.
78:52Could not be more excited. It's rare. I could not be more excited.
78:56They don't do a lot of athletes. Jalen Brunson, I would probably say, is one of the lesser famous athletes to ever host SNL.
79:03Is he a good actor? Have you ever seen him do anything?
79:06He's very reserved. He's very quiet. It'll be interesting to see how, I'm sure like New York's going to love it.
79:12I wonder like broadly how it'll play. I think if he was, if what had happened had happened in any other city,
79:19I don't know if he would even get SNL, but the fact that it was in New York, it was like, it
79:25was honestly the biggest New York event. Like, I think it's a good move.
79:29I think it's a cool move by SNL. But you're right.
79:32If he was like on the Pacers, they would have never done that.
79:36Did you guys see the live show that we were, you know, there's after the live shows, you know, people, you know, can wait in line.
79:43Like, you know, meet people. We take pictures with them and one guy comes up and I had the cleanest app I've had in years with this guy.
79:51We embrace it. And you guys were like, is that like a friend of yours from like high school?
79:56How do you know that guy? It was like, oh no, he's just wearing a Knicks championship.
80:01They just fucking reverted to the New York talk immediately.
80:04It was like crazy. But that's how it is, man.
80:07It's like the amount of people getting Knicks tattoos this year is crazy.
80:11Like, it's, yeah. You ever have a friend who, you know, is either from somewhere else or just bilingual or whatever and
80:17like, you know them in one language and then they, like, you're just watch, you watch them as they see or meet
80:23someone from in their own language and then they just like go off and talk in this language and it's like crazy
80:30and it's like completely changes your like perception of them as people.
80:33That is how I feel. That's how I feel when Heifetz meets another New Yorker and they just fucking go off into
80:39their New York thing and it's just like, Heifetz, it's like Heifetz's home, really.
80:43That's like, it's just very funny to watch. It really felt like you two had the same DNA, you and that guy.
80:50It was so good. The Knicks are cool, but have you guys ever listened to Heat of the Moment by Asia from 1982?
80:56Banger. Heat of the Moment. Fucking hard guitar. It's great.
80:5980s Month. Untitled 80s Month. By Asia. Now that's what I call 80s Month.
81:03I don't know, but Heat of, do you know that song?
81:06Fall Back into the 80s. Sing more. Sing more till I know it.
81:10Well, of course, it was the heat of the moment.
81:13Oh yes, of course. Telling me what my heart meant.
81:16It's a great song. I was looking into the song or I was looking into the band Asia and I was like,
81:22where did, I'm going to Google it right now.
81:24Where did the band Asia get its name? And it's kind of hilarious because we have, there's, you know, it's like you
81:31never, it gives you a couple options. The band Asia got its name from a suggestion by their manager, Brian Lane, who
81:37wanted a big sounding name that started with an A.
81:40I just, the 80s are the best. Or the 70s, whenever they started.
81:44Their names weren't taking those. They were formed in 81, Craig.
81:47There you go. They're an English, an English rock group for the record.
81:50I just love it. A big sounding name that started with an A.
81:54Sure. You know what's big? You know what's pretty big?
81:57Asia. Why don't you like, it's like a continent.
82:00Can you go for like a planet or something?
82:02I don't know. I just, that's. Asia. It's so simple.
82:05And like, if that was happening right now, if we, if the three of us started a band, we were like, what's it?
82:12And I was like, we kind of liked that letter A.
82:15And I was like, what about just like fucking Asia?
82:18That's huge. What about, where's a place where you would never want to start a land war?
82:22Asia. Is anyone in this group Asian? No. Won't that raise some questions?
82:26Absolutely. Who cares? God, I love it. And I think, I think it all, there's also other things that said they wanted to be an A.
82:33So that when you're like, searching for bands, in the yellow pages or something, it's just awesome.
82:38Just great. Anyway. Heat of the moment. Good song.
82:41Banger. Goodbye, everyone. 21 plus and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus and present in D.C.
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