Bain of Terror: Preseason Week 2 Recap

28:24Dan Pizzuta:But I have enough faith that if he would need to go in, you can do that. I think you can. If you pick them 13th overall, you should trust him to be the backup quarterback if he does need to play. So yeah, if anyone's giving you anything of value for Stetson Bennett, that absolutely pulled the trigger. I think if this team, it would depend on the injury and the opponent. If they were, I don't have a schedule in front of me, but if it was one or two games against bad teams, I think McVay would say, F it, let's see what I can do. Let me go. But if it was any kind of length of time, I'm suspicious of their comfort level, certainly based on how they've handled Simpson this offseason, which I'm just saying it's, I feel like begs a little bit more scrutiny than it's been given.

29:09All right. Let's take a quick break, come back and talk about a bunch of the starting offenses that we saw. We'll rip through them. As you know, managing maintenance, repair, and operations is never easy. But for the ones who always rise to the challenge, Grainger has your back. From professional grade products you can count on to fast, dependable delivery, they're there to help you keep things running smoothly. Plus their technical product specialists are here to help answer your toughest questions. And because Grainger knows safety is always a priority, they're committed to being your partner in protecting both your people and your facilities.

29:41Call 1-800-GRAINGER, clickgrainger.com, or just stop by. Need parts fast? O 'Reilly Auto Parts has fast. Need them now? We've got now. No matter what you need, we have thousands of professional parts people doing their part to make sure you have it. We're O 'Reilly Fast. Just one part that makes O 'Reilly stand apart.

30:05Dan Pizzuta:The professional parts people. O, O, O, O 'Reilly. Auto Parts.

30:18Life insurance is one of those things that's easy to put off because it doesn't feel urgent today. But it's not just another financial box to check. It's about having a plan in place. So if life throws something unexpected at your family, they're not left dealing with the financial side without support. Ethos makes getting life insurance fast and easy. It's 100 % online, so you can get a quote in seconds, apply in minutes, and get same-day coverage. There's no medical exam. You just answer a few simple health questions online. You can get up to$3 million in coverage, and some policies start as low as$30 a month.

30:56Ethos has also earned strong customer feedback with a 4.8 out of 5-star rating on Trustpilot based on more than 4 ,000 reviews. Take 10 minutes to get covered today with life insurance through Ethos. Get your free quote at ethos.com slash sports. That's E-T-H-O-S dot com slash sports. Application times may vary, rates may vary. Trustpilot rating as of June 1st, 2025. All right, we're back. so we've seen a few drives from a lot of starting quarterbacks um and let's just rip through them it's preseason uh there's only so much you can learn but there's actually been some interesting tells last week we talked about joe burrow and how the bangles were clearly trying to rep under center uh so the packers let's start here jordan love still sick i mean just it's so funny watching like some of these quarterbacks these backups and young guys who are just like you know like we said it's a lot of boot and little quick throws to the flat and stick and then watch jordan love just come in and just like rip it um the throw to golden this week uh it was i mean there's a there's it's fourth and one he's kind of steps to his left a little bit to reset threads in the crosser the tight window it's you know it's just you're like all right the starters are different um but that was actually my takeaway here which was I just wrote down Matthew Golden, going to be a thing.

32:25Because we already know about a love. This week he had equal snaps in the slot and out wide. I've been interested in his utilization, although Jaden Reed hasn't been in there. But all summer we've been hearing, this is Matthew Golden, first round draft pick from last year, didn't get going until the very, very end of the season. And judging by these early returns, Stan, I'm of the belief that he will be a big part of their offense.

32:50Dan Pizzuta:Yeah, and he kind of has to, right? Because they got rid of the other wide receivers where they were going, you know, four or five deep last year at times. But they need Golden and Watson to be like kind of those outside receivers because they still ran a bunch of 12 personnel in that game. And it was, you know, they were moving around Golden and Watson, but those were the two guys who were out there most of the time. So I've always liked Golden. I liked him as a prospect. I thought he would. get a little more. I thought he would jumpstart a little more during his rookie gear, but the fact that what we thought was going to be there is starting to show up and kind of the drumbeat through training camp is that he's been playing well and is going to be a big part of the offense.

33:36Dan Pizzuta:And to see how he was able to win on that crosser, just kind of the way he moved, that was fun too. So between those two guys, I think this is going to continue to be a fun offense as long as like we hope that they're going to throw a little more because the run game still worried me a little bit so if they can rely on throwing the ball because they have a good quarterback good wide receivers good tight end when tucker craft comes back i this i think this is really going to be a fun offense he went little fleur went run run pass before uh and i just i wrote down this isn't over between us lefleur um but yeah i golden had the big the Crosser, he was lined up wide, but it was out of a condensed formation.

34:20Pulls away, easy separation. I think it was after the rubber pass. It was maybe the pass. He was, I think, facing press out of the slot. Got open for a tough catch. It was against the linebacker. The point is, I think we're seeing a little bit more out of him already, and so I'm intrigued by this. On the flip side, Denver. Bo Nix, we get a drive. So first I want to say the wheel route to Harvey was beautiful ball from Bo. Yeah. And we already knew he's really good throwing outside the numbers. I feel comfortable saying that. The question has been whether Jalen Waddell, in arriving at this offense, can turn him into a better thrower between the numbers, can make them productive, intermediate as well, but particularly the middle of the field.

35:11the um ball to waddle in the seams it's not a good ball i'm not saying this is not a judgment on nicks in the season and whatever it's one throw what i will say is what waddle did there was exactly what you want to see as a broncos fan which is the ball's a little under thrown It's not horrible, but it's just the Lerner Throne. The ability he has to adjust, slow down, and continue to pick up yards after the catch is what makes Jalen Waddell so special. It's that rare combination of contact balance, or just balance. The physical strength plus the speed is why he is such a unique and special player, and you saw it in that single rep.

36:00Dan Pizzuta:Yeah, and he's the type of player that can just increase the margin for error on plays like that. And when you look at the play as a whole, it just shows what Waddle can bring. They have the tight trips to the right side. Evan Ingram is the isolated receiver on the left. And then they have the Waddle's the three inside. They have the switch release, and that puts Waddle on Xavier McKinney. And I love Xavier McKinney. He's not the guy that you want to be having covered Jalen Waddle one-on-one. So you already have a mismatching coverage there. then you have Waddle just running past him to get wide open, gives you the margin for error on that throw where it doesn't have to be pinpoint accurate for it to be a catch and a big play.

36:42Dan Pizzuta:And I think that's just the type of stuff that they're going to have for Waddle. That's what he allows to open up this offense. It's just an element that they did not have last year. And I'm really excited to see what more they're going to continue to add onto it because I just think he's an awesome player that really just gives them something that they were really missing last year. And again, if you like the fact that Nix is going to start making, attempting more of those throws is his best shot at improving upon at them. You know what I mean? So like, I don't mean to like be like, oh, it's kind of under thrown point is he that that's why Jalen Waddle is there.

37:20So just I'm so excited for him. I think it's Broncos offense has a potential to be significantly better this season. uh the commanders we only saw one series and it was a big womp womp jane daniels comes in um and he has three plays on the first one the center julian good jones unfortunately does not live up to his name uh because he struggles to pick up plates uh then they try play action which we you know are here we're gonna get worse under center play action on the second one but the tight ends f it up this time and it completely gets blown up and then the third plays is just their plays just a surrender draw none of this has to do with jane daniels um but and it's just one drive but i guess i ask you this do you worry about this new offense and perhaps more significantly the offensive line because or the blocking ability because you know again it's not like it like i said the first play was the center the second because they let Biotish walk the second.

38:23And then Alec Reddy has had injuries. And then the second play was the tight ends. But do you feel concerned or do you just not want to overreact to one series?

38:31Dan Pizzuta:Well, I'm going to side with Dan Quinn here, who after the game said, we got work to do to figure out where we want to get to at center. Okay. And I think Ben standing at his sub stack has been kind of, I think he showed the progression of how they've talked about center. They were like, we, we like what we have. We'll see how they develop. And it's just like continually just kind of gotten Morgan negative until we got to that play in that quote after the game. So yeah, I am a little worried. I do think there's enough at the rest of the offensive line. They talked about how Sam Cosme is playing awesome at guard.

39:14Dan Pizzuta:So I don't think this is going to be something where it completely blows up what this Washington offense is going to be. But I do worry that it might not be able to lean into the under center play action stuff because of that second snap where DJ Wanham just blows right past John Bates. And then you're asking Chica Conquo to come all the way across the formation. And he does okay, but doesn't give Jaden Daniels any room to run away from the actual pressure that's coming. So when you're asking your tight ends to block that often like that, it's I'm kind of worried that by mid season, this is just going to become a shotgun heavy offense again, because that's all they can manage.

39:58Yeah. I think one of the, I mean, we're going to talk about this later this week with Robert Mays, but one of the obviously biggest plot lines of the season is all these offensive coordinators from that world, changing these offenses and who's going to stick with it. And where is it going to work? and Washington is one where I've mentioned this continuously talking about this team. Do they have the capability, not just the quarterback, but everything else? I think that was kind of what I came away thinking. We talk so much about Daniels. What do you play under center? What does it look like? I was watching this thinking, I don't know about everyone else around Jaden Daniels and whether or not this will work.

40:37It's an offensive line that was so promising, but then you lose Laramie Tunzel. Center is suddenly an issue, and now two of the five positions, you start to worry about pretty big way. So that was my takeaway. I'm not panicking, but that is the one area of significant concern I have for Washington.

40:52Dan Pizzuta:Yeah, I'm there too. For the Jets, I'm going to read a post. We got to see one starting, one drive from Geno Smith, who went seven for seven, touchdown. This is from at Triple Boogie. It's a Jets fan. Hey Jets, I'm confused. You said Geno Smith was starting tonight, but instead I saw prime Joe Montana with the best opening Joe Montana. Sorry. I don't say that word with the best opening drive of all time. Please respond. All right. So like, you know, I'm joking. He's joking. I'm joking. We're all joking about the Gino comeback, but I think you saw what you would hope to see if you're a Jets fan, which is a capable veteran quarterback who is capable of placing the ball in the hands of his playmakers.

41:45A couple of throws were actually behind early on, but then you saw some good stuff. One where he hung in there under pressure. One, there was a... Who were they playing? Now I forget. It was... I can't remember. Colts, I think? Oh, no, it was the Steelers. Steelers, yeah. Yeah, yeah. It was kind of a busted coverage, and he hits A.D. Mitchell, who's absolutely going to be a thing this year, by the way, on the corner. It was like a play action. And then there was one where he escaped pressure and Garrett Wilson.

42:15Dan Pizzuta:Yeah. So good, by the way. Hit him on the out. And then there was a wide open touchdown to Jelani Woods. Okay. We're not overreacting. I will say the Steelers did have some starters in, but it was a lot of backups. But I think if you hope to at least witness competent offense from the Jets, this was an encouraging start. I think what I came away with, and I'm scared to say this, was I was more impressed with Frank Reich than I thought. I was going to be just in terms of how things opened up and the way the offense looked and some of the schemed openings that were there. I think there were also if I think if Gino wanted to hang in the pocket a little more on some of those plays where he didn't have pressure, there were some downfield shots that you probably could have taken didn't need to at all.

42:59Dan Pizzuta:But there was still some things that there was more there that could have been taken, which was promising. I think the fact that Gino did have some good protection for most of the game and on those plays where he looked pretty comfortable stepping up and finding someone. So yeah, it's definitely promising. I think on the one play that got batted down and I think Dylan Parham caught it, I think Jeremy Ruckert and Aidy Mitchell run this exact same hitch route to the same spot. So I think there might be some issues that still need to be cleaned up a little bit. But for the most part, I mean, if that's what your negative coming away from this is, it's so much better than anything we've seen from the Jets over the past couple years anyway.

43:44Also, David Bailey on the other side of the ball, second overall pick, blows through Roderick Jones for a sack. It's a little bit on Howard for not stepping up, but he cooked him thus far. Looks good. Looks the part. Low key, all of the first round defensive players have kind of looked good. I, you know, it's crazy, whatever, but Roderick Jones, I know Steelers fans are like, he stinks. And, you know, he's not our actual starter, but he has been a starter. So that's not, no one for him to beat that way. Thus far, you know, just looks like he has the juice as a pass rusher they were searching for.

44:22All right. Last starting team we'll talk about before we get to preseason standouts is the Carolina Panthers. We got a drive, a couple drives out of Bryce Young. The first one got blown up by pressure and a run stop. By the way, so weird to see Rook Aroro on the other side there as a jag. I'm just like, what is a jag? But the second drive was great. You had great Jonathan Brooks run, great block from Tommy Tremble, Monroe Freeling, who I think has looked really good for them at right tackle. You had Bryce stepping up in the pocket, hitting Tremble after that, and then the crosser to T-Mac from the slot, notably.

45:04So that connection appears to continue to pick up right where they left off last year. Generally just, you know, I thought again, Jags didn't have all their, didn't have a lot of starters in, but pretty comfortable outing from Bryce Young. You know, I think my big takeaways were Brooks and Freeling look good and T-Mac. I'm very interested in his utilization moving forward because thus far nine of his 22 snaps in the preseason have been in the slot, which is something that a lot of folks have been wanting to see. What was your general takeaway from watching the Carolina Panthers?

45:35Dan Pizzuta:Yeah, that was pretty much it, how they've been structuring this offense. And it's interesting with TMAC, like the limit is NAS, but 60-40 outside split on early downs, but then you're going 40-60 the other way on third down. He was 80%, 85 % wide in 2025. So they are getting him more in the slot. Like you said, that big crosser came from the slot And then on the next pass, there's late motion that puts T-Mac in the slot. And it could have been a touchdown. He goes down at the one. So they are figuring out ways to get him into more space because that put him with space against a safety. So that's fun.

46:18Dan Pizzuta:And I think that's just more creativity that they weren't using quite as much last year. But I think with moving Coker and McMillan around, I think it's cool to see. And I would like to see how that continues to go through the regular season. Of note, too, from a creativity and deployment standpoint, that the Carolina Panthers have a new play caller, which kind of flew under the radar a little bit. Yeah. And Alice giving play calling duties to Brad Idzik was kind of a little bit of a head scratcher. But like you said, it did look good early on. And it would be really cool if Jonathan Brooks comes to say, by the way, at bat, because I did like him a lot as a prospect.

46:54Obviously, suffered through injuries early on. but I think he's looked fantastic so far and Freeling again also very important because it's a team that Taylor Moten's status is very unclear they lost a Quan who's hurt so you know it was like they went from having too many offensive tackles to being grateful for the depth and the fact that they took one in the first round and early on it looks pretty damn good so optimistic I'm going to talk more about Bryce Young later this week by the way on my second podcast so put a pin in that Carolina Panthers fans All right, standouts. I've been looking forward to this, getting to talk about some of the guys who we think have really impressed early on in the preseason.

47:36I will go first. Ruben Bain Jr.

47:43Played two drives this last game. And just looking at my notes, the first one, it's so funny, by the way, because, okay, so on the first drive, you saw good play against the bronze, good athleticism after uh can't see you get some early penetration to stick with it uh then on that i think the next step he gets doubled and diaby wins he's a 101 against left tackle then on the second drive we got him about first of all dropping a coverage twice todd bulls yeah just demolishing she's i can't remember which one rerouting him yes yeah and then on third down this glorious moment where both Diaby and Bain Jr.

48:28win. Bain Jr. with the hump move that we've seen. And I think just watching it as a Bucs fan, this is everything you hoped for when they got Rip and Bain Jr., which is to say Diaby's always been an underrated good player, but he has not had a running partner over the last few years. And with Bain Jr., now you have someone who can eat double teams, create opportunities for other players, but also if given an opportunity can win on his own and suddenly you feel way better about this I had the Bucks as a top 10 defense in my top 10 defenses pod this was the premise of it which is now we have a legit pass rush a versatile pass rush and guys in Bane Jr.

49:09who will create opportunities for other players as you saw with Diaby so I'd be feeling pretty good if I was a Bucks fan after watching what that defensive line looked like are those two drives yeah defensive line was definitely fun and i think any thing that you might have dinged bane for with the

49:25Dan Pizzuta:the short arms and we talked about this after the combine that that hump move is like his best move he's not new to the short arms so he's learned to play like this he knows what he's doing so when he he gets in there he's already mastered that uh and he's throwing offensive linemen back and getting in there and then when you add that to uh just the kind of the the guys that they have going in the secondary two guys that stood out for me uh tyreek uh tyreek smith uh their safety who would have been like my second team all pro safety on if i had a hypothetical ballot last year and then uh kyan j scott who uh the rookie corner i'd like plays in the slot he played a little more around the line of scrimmage those are two guys that are just going to like run as fast as they can toward the line of scrimmage uh so when you have those guys behind that pass rush i think that the potential to be a lot of chaotic fun for this Buccaneers defense this year.

50:19Yeah. Take he like the fact that he, you know, we have him on the field and you have Kante Saad that Winfield junior could just play the post and yeah, a lot of opportunities on the backend created by the front end. Also the possibility that Todd Bowles doesn't have to blitz as much as he has, if he has like a legit front four, which appears that he does. And of course they kept Vita Vea, which I didn't talk about when it happened, but was hoping would happen if you're Tampa. But yeah, with the way things are going with the rest of the NFC South too and some of the injuries, it does feel like the Bucs are once again ascending back to being the favorites in the NFC South.

50:54All right. You give me one of yours next.

50:57Dan Pizzuta:I would just go to stick with the same game, other side of the ball, the R. Mason Thomas. Man, he was fun in this game too. The first pass play they have is third and 23. they run a screen at him and he just kind of isn't really there the next play or the next time they run it later in the game he's all over it and like almost Van Gingles it so the fact that he was they ran it once, he saw it and then the next time was already there that's awesome to see I think he already had a couple of really fun pass rush snaps and then just kind of to throw off of it like Metsward Delane too reads a screen, the receiver has to dive at him, and then that clears the way for the other corner to make a tackle for loss.

51:46Dan Pizzuta:And then the next play was the Thomas screen that he breaks up. So there's just a lot of just fun, energetic pieces coming on this Kansas City defense, too, that I think they really needed to step up, especially at edge, which we just kind of wondered if they were going to get that type of guy and if our Mason Thomas can be on the field and get some of that pass rush, just be in lane disrupting things. He's going to be a real fun player. Yeah, and the first pick, Woods hasn't really done a ton. Peter Woods in the preseason thus far, but not the first pick, or Master Delaney was the first pick.

52:24But Armisen Thomas has absolutely looked like the juice guy that they hoped he would be. So explosive off the line of scrimmage. It's like you just, watching it, I just felt like, damn, I haven't seen this on Kansas City in a long time. Yeah. Right? Like, it's been a while since they've had legitimate juice off the line of scrimmage. I think he's held up decently versus the run as well, which kind of was one question I had, like, how much can he play? FAU, who was the first-round draft pick, who hasn't done much for them, and he's been injured as well, but I thought he looked pretty sharp, pretty exciting in this game.

53:00And, you know, this is all pivotal for Kansas City. Like this offseason was about rebuilding the secondary or this defense, pardon me, with a youth movement. And thus far, the early returns are pretty, pretty good, honestly, especially with our Mason Thomas and Delaney, who is as advertised. So definitely agree with our Mason. Yeah. That when he blew up that screen, it really was very reminiscent of Van Ginkle in a way that I enjoyed. All right. I'm going to go to offense now and I'm gonna talk about a quarterback. Jack Strand. Yeah. Falcons. Thus far, the story of the Falcons preseason. So, all right.

53:42I got to start with this caveat. So, I watched him a little bit later. It's, you know, we can't say that other young quarterbacks like Simpson or whatever are getting a simplified offense and not mention here. Start by saying, you know, it's a lot of boots. It's a lot of cutting the field in half. And, you know, like there weren't many, there aren't like high degree of difficulty NFL throws happening here. Right. But we're talking about an undrafted quarterback from, I forgot the school, Minnesota.

54:19Dan Pizzuta:Minnesota State Moorhead. Minnesota State Moorhead. D2, not even FCS. I think what you're excited about, if you're a Falcons fan, is he looks the part of a developmental prospect, which is to say he has a big arm and he's athletic and the game simplified game does not look too fast for him. I thought he made good decisions for the most part. You know, he's missed a couple of opportunities little off here and there, but already shows a decent level of accuracy throwing downfield coupled with, of course, like the athleticism, the scramble touchdown legitimately impressive. Like he isn't a legit athlete.

54:59He's big as well. So, you know, I'm not saying, again, he should be the Falcons starting quarterback per se or whatever, but if you're talking about an undrafted quarterback who gives you some excitement to develop, I think it was a pretty impressive performance from him. And, like, given that bar, he's absolutely cleared it.

55:20Dan Pizzuta:Yeah, and like you said, it was, my notes are like, he looked in control the whole time. It really didn't look like there were a lot of things that were just too much for him. But then there were a couple of really nice throws. That deep slot fade he throws from empty to Anton Wells, that was a nice throw. And then comes back later, like a straight seven-step drop from under center, and he has the throw just to go around down the sideline, which was nicely placed. So he does have those throws in his arsenal, which was nice to go on top of the boots and some of the shorter throws that he was doing just to get him in rhythm.

56:02Dan Pizzuta:Yeah, it's a lot of fun. It's an interesting situation because he is the type of developmental quarterback you'd like, but do you keep him as the quarterback three because of the injuries and play of Tua and Michael Penix where you just might need that Cooper Rush who's currently on the team to stick around because you might need him sooner rather than later. So what do you do with, do you have four quarterbacks? I think that's an interesting roster thing, but the fact that Strand, a guy out of D2, has made that an interesting thought that they will need to figure out is fun. Yeah, he was definitely fun to watch and would like, he's the type of preseason guy, like when we talk about the developing quarterbacks in the NFL, like he's the type of guy we should be trying to develop in some way.

56:53Dan Pizzuta:because it's fun. And there were a lot of flashes that you feel like can build on something. It's funny because he, if he was backing up Penix, he actually has some similarities to him. I think in like you mentioned the beautiful, the placement, he actually threw another really nice goal ball that wasn't caught, but yeah, you know, the ability to throw downfield and the power is legit.

57:17I think like, you know, it's one thing to do this extremely well, protected against backups. Escalating this to week one is quite an escalation. I'm just saying, you know, and also Penix, by the way, finally back at practice could not be better timing. I don't think there'll be a time for week one, but given what we saw from Tua in the preseason and what we've seen from him or heard about him in camp, this is a real opportunity for Michael Penix Jr. to come back and take this job. Falcons fans are probably clamoring for it. So this is it, man. I feel like this is, you know, Penix's kind of make-or-break chance this season.

57:58It'll never be better than this. All right, who do you have next as a standout?

58:02Dan Pizzuta:All right, I mean, how can we have a preseason podcast without talking about DeSean Stripling? I got him a dynasty, and boy, I celebrated. Yeah, as you should. I'm going to catch like 900 balls this year. It's just insane. Five targets on seven routes this past week. It's basically a 50-50 split between wide and slot snaps so far this preseason. He looks like a juiced up Juwan Jennings. And that's someone who loves Juwan Jennings. The fact that he has just more smoothness and explosive ability, it just feels like the perfect type of Kyle Shanahan wide receiver who's going to be able to win tough off the line, but also get into space for some of these explosive plays they can draw up.

58:47I think that's my big question with him. is like, is he just replacing Jennings or what is the potential to do more beyond that? And Jennings was incredibly productive and important on money downs. Especially third down, yeah. And his diner's offense, very good blocker. You know, when they drafted Stribbling, that was my thought. Like, okay, cool, he can do the Jennings stuff. They need someone to fill this role. But now we're seeing there might be a little bit more to his, a little bit, there might be more to his game like you alluded to. And maybe can he replicate some of the production they had anticipated from getting out of Ricky Pearsall at the Z.

59:20I think that's what I'm interested in saying is, do they use him at all three levels? Do they use him downfield? Because Brock Purdy does want to push the ball downfield. We've seen that. And outside of Evans, who's not a lead separator at this point, but will still win downfield, is there anyone else on this roster who can do that? Can he do that? I think that's going to be one of the interesting things to watch with San Francisco. Yeah.

59:47Dan Pizzuta:Yeah, and I think he can. And especially when there's like if and when Kittle comes back, you're going to have more of that just the focus in the middle of the field and you're going to have a lot of focus on Evan. So he's going to have a lot of opportunities, I think, to just be one-on-one in whatever level of the field it is. I think he's going to be a big part of this offense. And from what he's shown already, I'm pretty excited to see what that kind of adds into a Kyle Shanahan offense too. All right. My last standout is Kyle Williams in this last game playing with Tommy DeVito. He had, I think like 75 yards.

1:00:29He had one 69 yard touchdown. Beautiful, by the way, rep from him. He has this gorgeous release and beats, it was Ambie Thomas, right? Yeah. but then upon rewatching it he could have had like 150 plus in this game holy mackerel I mean he was open downfield like multiple times and again like this receiving group they're deep they're stacked but his ability to stretch the field is unmatched like he has a different level of speed and separation. He's still not perfect in terms of some of his routes underneath, but it's hard for me to not imagine him being useful for this Patriots team because of the space he creates.

1:01:18Dan Pizzuta:Right. Okay, your final spotlight player is one I've been excited to talk about because I haven't, and I just love him. Yeah, Arvel Reese. Yeah, he knows what he's doing out there, which is, I think, just when you watch him, It's just he's always in the right spot. The first run play, Chargers and blows up the fullback, who's the lead blocker on the run play, and then still gets in for half a tackle on the actual play. There was a fumble later where he's up on the line of scrimmage. He moves a couple gaps over, and he would have been in for a tackle for loss, but the ball was already hit out. When he's so smooth, when he looks like he's dropping back into coverage, also just always in the right spot.

1:02:04Dan Pizzuta:He has yet to look lost on the field, which is awesome for a guy that some people thought he would play edge because the Giants have all the edges. He's going to play linebacker here. Like I'm, I'm surprised he's not higher in defensive rookie of the year odds. Like just based on. Yeah. If he has linebacker tackles and some edge sacks, like I think like that's, he's going to have a numerical case and I think he's just going, to be awesome too. It's just been such a reminder early on in his 20 plus snaps or whatever that like he is a very good off the ball linebacker. And like you said, that was kind of lost in the conversation around him ahead of the draft.

1:02:45But you alluded to it. I think the thing that's also jumped out, there's been a few moments where he's just been really quick to diagnose misdirection, right? Like on a rollouts and whatnot, or you're like, oh, this guy knows what he's looking at. Like not only is an incredible athlete, not only is incredibly strong and fast, but he's a smart player and is exactly kind of what New York needed or looks like it because, you know, I've talked about this, certainly when they made the pick, but all off season, this was a team that was absolutely abysmal against the run last year, despite having an incredible pass rush, I expect them to continue to have incredible pass rush, but they needed backers who could protect, protect their edges who are on the smaller side, Burns, Abdel Carter, who are awesome at getting after the quarterback and they didn't have that last year.

1:03:23And now it looks like they do. I mean, that's, that's literally, like just wouldn't his, ability his performance against the run in these two preseason games has been so encouraging for me to watch um it's exactly what you would hope to see if you're a giants fan so yeah arville reese looks awesome looks as advertised and looks entirely worthy of where he was picked i'd be

1:03:43Dan Pizzuta:pretty excited about it if i was a fan of new york yeah absolutely it's it's a a real fun front seven i think right now and uh i'm i'm excited to see you like and and we haven't really seen we saw a little bit with him like up at the line of scrimmage, but I still think there's more that they're going to be able to do disguising what he does. He's going to be one of those guys like you're mucking up in the A-gap and things like that. And what Denard Wilson's going to do with him during the regular season and seeing that he's already kind of just got it mentally in these preseason games is projecting what that can turn into.

1:04:18Dan Pizzuta:Could be really fun. All right. That's it for this week. Later this week, as I mentioned, going to have Robert Mason talk about work through things. I still haven't figured out about the NFL season. And I'm also going to be joined by the fantasy footballers to do the same thing, but for fantasy, which is we're doing a little bit more fantasy, not ton, but excited to have them on. Dan, where can folks find your work right now? I just said, follow me on a blue sky. We'll be doing some more Instagram stuff to you. Just Dan Pezuta everywhere. It's easy. I'm the only one. So if you're just looking for something, you can, you can find it there.

1:04:52Dan Pizzuta everywhere You also can read his work in the FTN Almanac Joined by Aaron Schatz later to talk about that It's always a must read But Dan is Available to continue writing about football anywhere So if you're listening to this and you're looking for incredible football Writers, one of the best in the biz Hit him up or hit me up and I'll connect you to him Thank you as always to everyone at Omaha Productions Kirsten Zubecki, Owen Saylor Jack Foster, Tucker Tashin And we'll be back later this week

1:05:26Booling