Goff to the Races! Previewing Every Week 2 Game

32:02That was my comparison of him with some of that quickness coming out. But he was fun. He was fun to watch. Sudden. Yeah. Great hands on a touchdown, too, by the way. Geez. I know. He's going to be good. I like Philly in this game. I do think some of the under center stuff work in progress in the run game, but they did hit, I believe it was Wicks, right? That was the deep shot off play action in that one, which was fun to see. Yeah, that was about it. That was fun to see. Give you a little taste. Wicks look great. I mean, the Philly skill players look really good. It's funny. Lemon didn't do it.

32:34But Hustle, man, I didn't like how they used him. It was so predictable. Use him in the middle of the field. Like, let him go work in the blood area. That's why he was brought in. That's what he does. Swing passes and screams. All right. Vikings-Bears. This is a good one. All right. So we are both talking about this one. I mentioned this on Tuesday. Bears fans were like, talk about our offense because we didn't talk about them and our winners. Okay. Here it is. Bears offense. Holy mackerel. That's your side of the ball. You have the fun side in this one, which is Bears offense versus Vikings defense.

33:07Electric. Can't wait for this. What's your key? It's going to be fun. To me, I just looked down there. I just said this was Burden last week, who got the party started from the passing game. This is going to be, this feels like a Loveland game to me. With all the different, with the pressure looks you're going to get, you're going to want to find some quick options and completions for Caleb, and I think you can find him there. So that's my kind of what to look for against this Minnesota defense, trying to slow that group down with all the exotics you're going to get is having answers and having quick answers.

33:40So I think this is a Loveland game from that standpoint. I mean, the Minnesota defense, I mean, Green Bay, for the issues they had protecting in that game, gosh, they still threw for almost 400 yards against them. So that's kind of what I'm keeping an eye on. The crazy thing on the Bears when I went through their tape, and I mentioned it earlier this week on our podcast, was they scored 59 points and left stuff out there. Like Caleb still had a couple stray bullets. Like he still missed a couple throws where, you know, you got crossers wide open. Like there's, I don't even feel like they're banging their head on the ceiling and they just scored 59 points, which is pretty scary.

34:16He, such a crazy game. You're right. Could have been more, but like I, he also, I, I've really loved, obviously he had some insane throws, some super crazy highlight throws that very few people on earth can make some out of structure stuff which like they didn't always hit last year but like on the short throws too like there were so many games last year where he would just like inexplicably miss like a nine yard hitch or something and he was like nails um granted again against you know panther but like i i think everything you wanted to see out of him in week one versus last season in terms of just hitting the singles, hitting the doubles, and obviously the occasional home run.

34:58He met the occasion. So it's a scary proposition. This is a great matchup. Ben Johnson has had a lot of success against Brian Flores. Caleb, I also think, has been good against this defense. I remember his rookie season even, which was, you know, Ibra Flusser I don't even remember who was now it's crazy it was only two years ago and I'm like who's calling plays they switched they fired someone at one point it was Shane Waldron the running back coach was it the running back coach then it switched to the running it was interim anyways that feels like so long ago but even in that rookie season I remember being like really impressed by how Caleb held up against the Vikings defense those were two games where I was like there's something here guys because you know the flores defense like it makes you play quarterback at such a high level and make really difficult throws and he has the ability to do that fast yeah i think that the vikings will struggle with their run game um as anyone will but that's one thing where it against the vikings too there's certain teams that can just like if you can really run the football on them then you can stay out of those third and longs and also the early down blitzes so i i think i think the bears offense if they're gonna be more tested but i do think that they're gonna be able to move the ball in minnesota on the other side we have likely cars it's probably carson wentz against the bears defense and this is the downside of the bears uh the vikings receivers are an absolute mismatch for this bear secondary your guy Thienemann was like the best player out there.

36:47The corners were awful, I thought, in the Carolina game. I mean, when Jalen Johnson's getting routed up by Jonathan Brooks, you know things aren't going well. Down the sidelines. He's running back. Tyreek Stevenson. Coker took, like, went at everyone. T-Mac had a couple beats on Johnson that were really bad. So, you know, and I think the Panthers receivers are pretty, like, underrated, and it's actually quite a good group, but this Minnesota group is a problem. So this question for me is just can Carson Wentz not turn it over and give these receivers a chance to win? I'm going to go Bears here.

37:35I think even if Wentz gets a few I just don't think he's going to be consistent enough to match up with Caleb in this game yeah I thought we might be different there I thought you might go in the other direction but it's just hard for me with Carson Wentz yeah but even with the Bears defense as bad as they are just you look at the quarterback matchup and I'll always have and I love Flores and I love the style and I love the you know the numbers of the numbers and his results are impeccable but I was just in the building when I saw the Charters one year with Keenan Allen who might have caught like 16, 18 balls against them because they just were going to let it go one-on-one out there.

38:12So then I go into every Flores game thinking, who can do what Keenan Allen did that day? And that's why I'm like, oh, okay, I'll take Loveland. I'll take Loveland, get him out there, find the matchup that you want, and he can win early. Last game before the break, Saints-Ravens is me. I'll be quick here. So I talked about the Ravens offense in the first part of this week. Now I want to talk about the Ravens defense. And basically my key is, can Tyler Shuck handle the Ravens' insane pressures? Very fun to watch back some of these pressures from week one against Indianapolis. The Ravens' pass rush, the four-man rush had a 42 % pressure rate.

38:53The blitzes hit 60 % of the time. It's quite a contrast with Jesse Mentor's old team, sorry, in terms of getting pressure on some of those rushes. the way he used Kyle Hamilton was diabolical in this game. Just he would lay on him behind Tadius Robinson. He'd put him opposite him. He would there were like delayed blitzes with him coming through different gaps. I thought Hendrickson, the way he used him sometimes as the looper, he was also very just he looked pretty good, I thought just rushing straight up. It was a lot for Indianapolis to handle. And Tyler Schuch in the second half really solved the Lions blitz, and that was a big part of the 300-plus yards we talked about.

39:41This is a different animal. I think this Ravens pass rush is going to be a really significant problem for quarterbacks going forward. Everything always comes back to the Chargers. I mean, it's just former Chargers offensive coordinator slash head coach now with the Saints going up against former defensive coordinator Jesse Minner. I feel like calling the Charger games, I get a chance to see a lot of the league. They all kind of like kind of make their way through their time in LA. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So see what that looks like. I'll go. I'm going Baltimore here. Yeah. I'll put you on that one. All right.

40:13Let's take a quick break. Come back out and got a few more games. A couple of really good ones. The greats don't shy away from change. They attack it head on with confidence, preparation, and a clear strategy. KPMG LLP and their transformation professionals work with organizations across industries using advanced AI to help them move faster, work smarter, and adapt with purpose. Because in today's business environment, winning teams don't react to change, they shape it. Learn more at visit.kpmg.us. Whether you meal prep or meal panic, Instacart's new shopping assistant, Clementine, is here to help.

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41:34I've never seen him like it. From 30 for 30 Podcasts, this is The Betrayal of Shohei Otani. Presented by Gusto. New episodes available now. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. All right, we're back. before we get to Jags Broncos let's go Steelers Patriots that's you first yeah Steelers Patriots hold on where did I put this thing on here this is in New England right I'm guessing New England's favorite yeah it's in New England for some reason I didn't write that one down yeah well to me look Pittsburgh catch the football that helps we'll start there that would be a key for them offensively I do like where they are with their fronts, with the offensive line, with the young pieces they have there and the defensive front.

42:24Watt, you know, obviously grabbed the headlines with the splash plays, but they got a bunch of dudes they roll through there. They've drafted well in the trenches the last few years. And I think you saw that. So I picked them like in, which surprised a lot of people. I picked Pittsburgh to win that division just because I believe in them up front. And I thought Rogers would be better another year removed from the Achilles. So we didn't see the numbers because of the drops, but I'm curious on this football team. I'm a little higher than others. And then with the Patriots side of things, Drake was just trying to do too much in that game against Seattle.

42:54There was, he just, it wasn't just the pick at the end of the game. Like he was just, it was trying to just do too many hard things. Just take the easy throw, take the easy completion. I think you'll see as a smart kid. I think he'll make that adjustment. I think there'll be a little more cognizant of just taking the layups, take the easy completions. And I think because of that, you see a conservative, a little more conservative group there, which means they don't turn it over, but I don't think they're going to score a zillion points against Pittsburgh. I think this is going to be a low-scoring game, and I actually like Pittsburgh to win that game.

43:24Low-scoring feels right, especially with A.J. Brown being out. I mean, just seeing how that Patriots receiving group and passing game looked without him. I think Dobbs will be better. I know, he'll be better. But this is what I'm interested schematically in how Patrick Graham, the Steelers defensive coordinator, approaches this and still Joey Porter Jr. remains not playing I guess not playing not on the team he's on the team he's not playing or whatever but you know I think I was so against Cooper Rush there was some definite differences from the Steelers defense of yore which was a very single high cover three man coverage they played i thought more split safety against and but this is one where like i think with drake may too we've seen seattle not put down a blueprint by any means i want to say that but you we have seen him force the ball into split safety coverage now a few times against seattle so if i'm patrick graham in pittsburgh i probably take a page from that a little bit and then you count on your like you said the pass rush you have an advantage there against the new england offensive line for me though like on the other side of the ball like i also think that doing the defense has an advantage against this page this is very i think um i was really impressed by i mean just like gabe ackis like sure in the week one against i thought new england's defense played really well so i'll go i'll go patriots here because I think I just believe in the quarterback more, even though I think both of these defenses, to your point, probably have a beat on both of these offenses and have matchup advantages.

45:16Okay, Jags Broncos. Yeah, this is a great one. I'll go Denver offense here. And I'll start, first of all, you know, going back through and trying to figure out what the heck was going on with Jalen Waddell. That was one that we talked about all offseason. Having seen that team in person twice a year in doing the Charger games, I'm like, that's kind of the missing. He's like the perfect missing piece for them. And in my other job as a draft analyst, like going into that draft, I didn't know who to give him in a mock draft. So I'm like, nobody makes sense. And then they make that trade. And I'm like, OK, perfect.

45:48That's exactly what they needed. And then you come into the first game and it wasn't just that. OK, he gets, you know, it's a poor throw from Drake on a third down that he can't convert it. So it's like third and four. It's a wrong shoulder. So he gets like two yards and he dropped a one step slant. that would have been, had a good chance to be an explosive. Okay, take that off to the side. He runs a wheel route wide open, or then, sorry, Bo Nix doesn't throw it. And then I'm like, okay, where's the emphasis on just getting the ball in his hands? And you're running bubbles to Pat Bryant. Like, Pat Bryant is a physical, tough, like he's a good player.

46:26I know they're very high on him, but if we're going to have basically the ball going to one person on a play where there's no decision to be made, I'm getting that ball in Jalen Waddell's hands, especially early in the ball game. They were force-feeding the ball to Pat Bryant. I'm like, what planet am I living on? Why did you go get this guy if you're not going to feature him in plays like that? I didn't understand it. It's okay. So how many can I had a conversation about Jalen Waddell leading up to the game and last week in our preview where the thought process is similar to what you kind of outlined.

46:57This is the missing piece. They need Bo Nix to start throwing over the middle of the field. They need to unlock the intermediate stuff. You bring in Jalen Waddles to get that out of your quarterback. Jalen Waddles. Jalen Waddles. And he is so dynamic with the ball in his hands. He creates opportunities for other people. But what do you do then as a play caller when your quarterback doesn't see it? Doesn't want to live in that world. You have to, to your point, find ways to get him involved. otherwise as you try to coax that out of the quarterback. So there was so much conversation around Davis Webb and is it his fault or is it Nix's fault or is it Waddle's fault?

47:38Kind of all of the above, I actually think, is the answer. Waddle had to drop. But the quarterback has to be better, but as a play caller, I feel like you have to recognize. It also felt like Kansas City just had such a beat on the screens, the boots, and what they wanted to do. And I think the Chiefs defense is going to quietly be very good this year now, and that was kind of one of my biggest week one takeaways. But guess what? Jags defense is pretty damn good, too. This is a good unit. So, yeah, it's a significant challenge. On that side, Walker off the edge was really, really good last week against Cleveland.

48:14They rushed him a little bit inside as well, so they're moving him around. The only thing that I'm, you know, if I'm trying to give Denver some hope here against a Jags defense that just stops the run is that Watson did have, I think, like 38 yards rushing. So you got Bo Nix who's been struggling. You got a team that's going to be tough to just run the ball with your regular run game, but they have been a little bit vulnerable versus an athletic quarterback. I think you could kill two birds with one stone there. And let's get Bo Nix on the outside. Let's let Bo Nix run a little bit and try and supplement your passing game that way.

48:46Jacks offense Broncos defense. So I'm tempted to talk about the run game after what we saw the Broncos defense give up against Kansas City. And I thought the Jags 12 personnel running game looked good. This last week against Cleveland, talking about all these rookie tight ends. Nate Berger sure had more snaps than Jacoby Myers and Parker Washington in this game. They don't take him that high. Yeah, they drafted him for a reason. All these like tight ends in the mid rounds were like quite present. But anyways, so I do think they're going to try to run the ball. I do. You know, they're going to try to do what Kansas City did to some degree.

49:25get things nice and condensed, make those corners tackle, ask the tight ends to block. So that's definitely something to look for here in this game, certainly after what we saw. But I think my key and what I want to see is, can this Jags offensive line hold up against Denver? Because Kansas City didn't really ask their line to pass protect this last week. Patrick threw the ball and a lightning fast. The Jags with Trevor Lawrence is part of this renaissance or whatever you want to call it. he is attacking downfield and against Cleveland on throws over two and a half seconds 10 for 14 for 189 yards and three touchdowns can you do that uh Anton Harrison and Cole Van Laine and the tackles only gave up one pressure zero quick pressures can you do that against Denver I want to see that right because we talked about the angry Texans defense this Broncos defense has pride too and they're going to want to get after it and by the way the last time they played Jacksonville Trevor Lawrence cooked them less people forget so I think I'm very interested in seeing their approach on the ground but also whether this past game whether this offensive line because if this offensive line holds up again week two against this team what is stopping this offense from finishing in the top five this year yeah no it's it's got a chance to be as balanced as any and i would think that even as much success as they had pushing the ball down the field they're gonna come out trying to run the ball i would guess if you know you think back to like football movies when you were a kid and like hey you fumbled like hey you have to carry a football to class like does riley moss have like a tackling like donut that he has to just like carry with him everywhere and then people just roll it to him and he just work on wrapping and getting guys on the ground that was atrocious so they're gonna have to there's no way denver can tackle that bad again.

51:19Like that was, it was a week one thing. And it wasn't just Moss, by the way. It was not just Moss. No, there was others. I mean, Singleton had a bazillion tackles. He still missed a handful of tackles. Funga came down and missed a tackle. There's a bunch of them. Kansas City went after Singleton a lot. This is always something, you know, when you're an offense coordinator, you look at this Denver depth chart. He's the guy that you're circling that you're going to go after in coverage too. So I wouldn't be surprised if Liam Cohen also tries to get Brenton Strange on him to try to, you know, use the running backs in the passing game.

51:46But, yeah, I think, like, this is to me is, I think if Jags win this game and I'm going to pick them to win, instantly this is, like, they become talked about as contenders in maybe a way that they should be already. But it feels like they need one. This is going to get a lot of eyeballs on it. Yeah, I've been a notorious, like, skeptic, I should say, on the Jags. I just don't know why I've seen them in person and how physical they are. This is my last one. I swear I promised you on my Walt Disney plaque for 10 years. 10 years of service, Mina. I've only worked at the company for six months, but 10 years.

52:29It's gone by in the blink of an eye. That's corporate mergers. You get the credit. You get credit for previous years served. So, yeah, the mouse and everything. I will put my left hand on my 10-year plaque of service and say if the Jags win this game, I will never doubt them ever again. But just one last time, I'm going to take Denver. Okay, good. We're on a few opposite sides here. All right. Magical years, by the way, it says. Magical. Magical years. Have you taken advantage? Have you gone to Disneyland yet? It's a shame your kids are too old. They're all too old. They're too old. My kid is literally at Disneyland today.

53:01I just got texted a picture of him hugging Pluto. Oh, that's good. All right. You have Raiders Chargers. All right. Let's get into it. I have not. Bears fans were mad at me that I didn't pick the Chargers, or probably the Bears as a winner, and then people were mad that I didn't trash the Chargers on Tuesday. So let's get into it. Raiders, Chargers. Yeah. Is this a bounce-back opportunity for LA? What a letdown. They looked, my biggest takeaway was a couple things, maybe even more so defensively than offensively. Thank you. The inability to rush the quarterback. People are not talking about this enough.

53:40Everyone's, because I think it's the Mike McDaniel hype and all of that. And I'm watching this defense. No, they couldn't rush. Tule, the whole group, I don't want to single him out, but they just didn't have, it looked slow. They looked like a slow defense. So they couldn't get home with their regular rush. So then they tried adding on and Arizona picked it up clean. They didn't get any run-throughs. Whether that's the design or the execution, they didn't get hardly any pressure. So you left yourself vulnerable on the back end and you're just playing kind of soft coverage. And they've, you know, Brissette's a veteran quarterback.

54:14He's just going to find soft spots and they just pick them apart. And McBride got the best of Derwin, which doesn't happen very often where, you know, Derwin when usually there's a problem, even if it's in the slot or if it's a tight end, like Derwin kind of gets that matchup and the goal is for him just kind of make it go away. And McBride still was able to get his. So defensively, that was a major concern. And offensively, look, they hit some big ones early, but it almost felt like, you know, just doing too much. They got behind the sticks a ton with sacks and penalties. It was a very sloppy, sloppy game for them offensively.

54:49I'm not as worried there, although I don't know, you know, with Ladd McConkie's situation, that's a concern. When he went out to field, it was rough. Oh, it was nothing. They had nothing. So, and, you know, we'll see if they can get the run game going. But I was more concerned leaving the stadium about the pass rush and the defense, thinking offensively, this is new coordinator, new system. They'll find how it works for them. But defensively is where I was more troubled. Totally agree. Because the offense, I felt like, had a lot of correctable errors. You talked about the penalties, turning the ball over.

55:26Also, there was a blocked punt. Yeah. There was some fluky stuff in there. There was some weird stuff. When Hampton runs into the back of his own player and fumbles when you're getting ready to score. The pass game with McConkie did look quite explosive at times. So I think it was... Probably the bigger disappointment for me was I thought the run game off tackle would be more... I don't know. It's obviously... I was so excited about it with McDaniel. and it felt like they just weren't, like some of the tight ends, and they weren't getting the blocks off the way that they thought they would when Hampton would run to the perimeter.

56:05But I think that'll all be better. Obviously, the interior of the offensive line remains, like Dante still is. Especially in third and long. He's cooking the platoon, by the way, of left guards, which I don't, maybe you can explain to me the logic there. But the defense, I'm so glad you highlighted it, because I think it's been lost in all of this. um jacoby percent against the blitz in this game eight for 12 for 84 yards in a touchdown it just wasn't affecting him and i i hated to you don't want to always talk about the one who got away but like compare that to the blitzes i saw in baltimore that were like you know right i was talking about having a 60 pressure rate on those blitzes and they they were trying to blitz a lot which is the charge defense never blitzed last year but it felt like they were forced into it and then they weren't good at it.

56:54So some concerning stuff on that defense, and that's kind of been my fear all along, is that even if the offense does improve, the defense is going to take a step back without Minter, and that was my worry. And by the way, now you're going up against a Raiders offense that is not perfect. I think Cousins is somewhat of a limited quarterback at this point, but looks incredibly well-designed, I thought. Clint Kubiak knows what he's doing. He is going to find ways to run the football. on LA and the Raiders offensive line improved. Well, here's their better coached. They're better coached. And it's not like they've made, I mean, you get to upgrade at center, but, and Colt Miller being back helps, but there's still not a great group up front, but it just shows you the difference that some coaching could make.

57:39I was more space and God, God willing that you could play the Miami dolphins every single week, but that was more space than JT ever saw at any point last year. And it's no surprise. He didn't just go from this hyped player, you know, who a lot of folks, myself included, really believed in to like, he's just not any good. Like, he was running into a wall. There was no space last year. So that's encouraging if you're a Raiders fan. And then I don't know where we are, you know, as we're recording this, what Bauer's availability looks like. But I would imagine if he's watching what Trey McBride did last week that he'd be wanting to get out there.

58:13I'm going to go Chargers bounce back here. I just think the quarterback's not going to have another bad game. like that and this I think some of it had to do with everyone myself included underrating the Cardinals a little bit and some of the talent they had real guys on offense professional quarterback I thought some of the young defensive players played well too in that game so but I just think Justin Hurwitz bounces back how about you have you looked at the Chargers schedule after this game I was trying to pull it up no is it is it gnarly it's gnarly yeah so so there's there yeah i hate it so it's terrible broncos chiefs rams oh that is not nice gotta win this game god damn so i'm uh i'm gonna pick the chargers i think you'll see a a little urgency there knowing what's on the horizon okay so i have not uh dolphins Niners.

59:12So I think just what I want to focus on here is why the Stauffman's run game can get going? Because I think as good as the Niners defense was against L.A., you did see, I thought the Rams actually were really good at running the ball on them. It's just Matthew Stafford was like bizarrely bad in that game. And I thought, you know, with Malik Willis and A-chan that this was going to be a really fun creative wonky let's throw it back to you know 1920s run game and it it really wasn't um and i thought like hn didn't do anything week one but also i like it was so much of him running under center i thought like i know it was funny because we were talking about that in lennifer live it's a league-wide trend all of that that's not what i want from this offense i almost like When Waddle walked and Willis came in, I was like, I kind of wish Greg Roman was calling this offense this year to just get freaking weird with the run game.

1:00:14But unless they can find a way to run the football better than that and get both the quarterback and the back involved and put defenses in conflict between the two of them, I don't see how they move the ball in San Francisco. Yeah, I do want to touch on what you said, though, because I thought that, man, if the Rams would have just stayed with the run game against the Niners. They might have had something going. Kyron and Blake Corum had a combined 52 % success rate. Corum was hitting explosives. They were moving it on. And some of that is structurally, I think, the way the Niners' defense played them.

1:00:48And maybe they won't play them quite the same way. But I still... The Dolphins should be able to run them all. They're not stopping them, so they better... Taking San Francisco here. Same. If you've shopped online, chances are you've bought from a business powered by Shopify. You know that purple ShopPay button you see at checkout? The one that makes buying so incredibly easy? That's Shopify. And there's a reason so many businesses sell with it. Because Shopify makes it incredibly easy to start and run your business. Shopify is the commerce platform behind 10 % of all e-commerce in the U.S. From household names like Mattel and Gymshark to brands just getting started.

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1:03:20all right uh we got four more games uh next up is commanders cowboys that's you yeah commanders cowboys we kind of touched on a little bit of this um i won't spend a ton of time on this one antonio williams is going to be the fun uh matchup for me uh opportunity to win there against that that secondary in dallas and i would say on the dallas thing to keep an eye on with Jaden Daniels and his athleticism, man, they put Malachi Lawrence, the rookie edge rusher, in conflict on some zone reads and just went at him in the run game. He was a little bit slow on the take. And so I would imagine with the athleticism that Washington has there that they could take advantage of a little bit of that.

1:04:03DeMarion Overshone injured the linebacking group was a bit of a disaster. I mean, the entire Cowboys defense was a disaster. Not great. So bad. The offense really was okay. We're fine. They just didn't have any possessions. Yeah, I thought they would run the football better on New York. And I talked about this on Tuesday. You know who I thought was incredible? Well, we're going to get to Giants-Rams. Abdul Carter. Ooh, buddy. Yeah, he's juicy. Kid can play. I think you want to really steal some of the Giants playbook. Like, J. Daniels, just ball out fast. don't let the Cowboys defensive tackles are good but boy there are a lot of other places that you can attack see if they've fixed any of the problems in zone coverage that we saw last week that was just disastrous um on the other side though like I will say I I didn't get to this at all I thought the commanders defense um had some nice moments against Philadelphia particularly the front like I was impressed by some of their pressures um that Sonny Stiles had some pretty cool made some pretty significant plays in that game.

1:05:13So, you know, this could be a little bit... I think they're going to be improved on that side of the ball. Can I pick against the Cowboys? It's a tough one. Sonny Stiles, by the way, that was a tough one for the preseason bust police that want to throw that label out there. That was one play where he missed it. That wasn't his assignment, but he missed it again. Yeah, I'm going to go Dallas here. Dallas offense, I feel like that's a bad one. to go Dallas. I stinking pick Dak to win the MVP. They can't start out so I'm going to selfishly pick Dallas although I do not have a high confidence level based off what we just saw that defense.

1:05:51CX Cardinals is me. Drew Locke. Still don't know when Sam Donald's going to be back. Against Feisty. We talked about it. Feisty Cardinals defense. So I'm going to focus on that because it's kind of the biggest X factor in this one. And I think what I'm going to say is if Drew Locke can stay protected in this one, I actually think he can attack them. Against New England, very good when he was kept clean. They used a lot of play action. When he was under center against New England, he went 7 for 7 for 160 yards and a touchdown, perfect passer rating. The thing about Drew Locke is at least he'll attack.

1:06:40He's not scared. Sometimes that can lead to bad moments and misses. I do not, I'm not going to tell you right now that here that he should be a starting quarterback. But your offense isn't heavily, like you are actually able to use, like attack through the passing game in a way that like with some backup quarterbacks, you just can't. I think where things get kind of froggy with him is when he's under pressure and he's in panic and not just in terms of like turn the ball over or the risk of that, but like inaccuracies. So if they can just keep him clean in this game against Arizona, I think he has, you know, the Seahawks can, there's a lot of mismatches for them through the passing game.

1:07:24Herbert, by the way, actually killed him on play action a bunch in the last game, too. So, you know, I thought that we talked about Dante Stills. I thought Roy Lopez, again, some of that had to do with the Chargers offensive line. but I feel like this is just a kind of a, this is going to be very similar to the new England game. Can drew lock give you two, two touchdowns kind of game because I think Seahawks defense will rise to the occasion. Yeah. My two things on this one real quick is I think you'll see Seattle's going to catch them in a blitz because I don't think they're going to be able to get home with just their four.

1:07:59So they're going to send extra bodies and JSN has the ability to pay that off. So we've already seen what that looks like. So I think they get enough explosives off that if they can time that up well. And then the other side of it is I think that you'll see Love get more involved in the pass game on the Arizona side of things. I think he only caught two balls last week. I think that's one. Again, Seattle, that's your best shot. That's your best matchup is to go see if he can get out there and do some things. I was thinking about that as New England. Because Seattle, I think, went into that game against New England with such glaring weaknesses in the secondary.

1:08:31And they weren't able to exploit them for a litany of reasons. one of which was just they're so damn well coached. They're just connected. Dude, like seeing some of the coverage busts around the NFL this week and thinking back to the Seahawks game and just watching them move on a string in coverage. Yeah, I don't know. I really hope people appreciate what Mike McDonald is able to do with that unit. And Cardinals, I mean, Trey McBride gave Derwin terms. business. He is an unbelievable tight end. So I think they might be able to attack the safeties. I think, I haven't checked if Tai Okada will be, I think he's going to be healthy in this one.

1:09:17I think they try and get to Ernest. I think they try and get to Ernest out with Jeremiah Love getting to Ernest Jones and coverage. That's the one. I think even with Drew Locke, I think Seattle can win this because the defense and I think Drew Locke can do enough. But this is obviously going to be close. Yep, I'll take Seattle. All right, we got two more. I actually didn't put them in correct order. So one of them is mine and then we Giants-Rams were doing both. I have Colts-Chiefs.

1:09:52All right, so we talked a lot about the Chiefs on Tuesday on the show and the run game and the commitment to it. the Colts just got bodied on the ground by Baltimore. Derrick Henry, 144 yards, four 10-plus yard runs. Going back and watching some of them, I mean, it was the defensive line for Indianapolis really, like DeForest Buckner, God love him, but they got pushed around by Baltimore's offensive line. And then the safeties in the corners as well really struggled to tackle. We just saw Kansas City, their philosophy on offense this year is we're going to make a tackle. So if they can't improve, if Indianapolis' defense can't improve upon what I saw on Sunday in terms of run defense and tackling, I think Kansas City can move the ball on them just the way that they did on Denver, even though they're not taking them by surprise.

1:10:47Yeah, I think they have a little time to get ready for this thing. I think it's a better matchup for Indy than what they saw last week. those you know sauce particularly does not match up with a flowers that's the worst style of wide receiver for him to cover um and they don't say flowers is on another planet from what he's going to see from kansas city out there so i i think that's a better match up there i think lamar and having to account for him in the run game helped open things up as well for for derrick henry mahomes scrambled around a little bit but that's not the same type threat and i the kansas city team i as good as they ran the ball the pass game was not in any sinker rhythm under center i think I think Mahomes is nearly as comfortable operating under center as a thrower.

1:11:26He was 0 for 4. Yeah, it was, we talked about this. It's so weird how he always overthrows Taequann Thornton on those shots. And it doesn't, she's past game. I mean, it's crazy that they put up 31 and Mahomes didn't have to do anything other than scramble a little bit. I mean, their best play was a pivot route to Kelsey. and you get McMillan misses a tackle and it's what 59 60 yards or what have you so I don't know I just think it now it's this offensive line more is a much better run blocker than he is in pass protection if Indy can just win some early downs I don't think that this Chiefs passing game is you know where I think it's going to get better but I don't think it's where it needs to be right now and I think they can find some success there but if they if they get hammered on first and second down it's going to be a long day I wouldn't be surprised if Lou Anarumo plays like we see some early down run blitzes he plays it really aggressively and just dares them to beat them through the air I did feel like Denver got a little bit taken which is crazy kind of because like everybody knew that Kansas City was gonna like that was their commitment you didn't think that they would stay with it I thought they they came out I'm like okay this is their statement gonna come out running the ball you know repeatedly and then eventually Andy will kind of get back he'll back off from it, but they stayed on it.

1:12:46It was such a change, not just in terms of running the ball, but I talked about this on NFL Live, the condensed formations, putting Tonga in the backfield. They really committed. All the skilled players, like Bryce blocking as well as he did. Kelsey blocked well in that game. I know, it was crazy. Kelsey's out there blocking people. I did a tape of the duo run back on their own goal line. the one where it's Rasheed Rice and Kelsey on the same side. And I swear to God, that's like the best block I've ever seen. I know. As good as I've seen a block. I've watched it for a decade plus. On Nick Bedito.

1:13:24But on the flip side, like, you know, I think this Baltimore defense is very good, but I also think this Chiefs defense might be good. I mean, they just look so refreshed, dude. And it seems like, by the way, Mansoor Delane might play in this one, if I'm checking right. oh that's good yeah even FAU FAU is alive Felix Anadike that was I mentioned that on NFL Live after a quiet two years he played great dude okay Armaze and Thomas the get off awesome love that .79 seconds was last time you saw that consistently in Kansas City Peter Woods made plays but like FAU the forgotten man in this defense I thought he looked good in the preseason and then he was excellent in this game.

1:14:13Backers were excellent. The non-Delayne, Noel Williams, Nick Bolton was all over the field. Nick Bolton was all over the field. Just across the board, it felt like they had such... And by the way, talk about pressures. Last year, those Chiefs blitzes stopped getting home against Denver. They had like a 60 % hit rate on blitzes again. So we just saw this Colts team really struggle with some of those Baltimore pressures. I am worried about them in this matchup as well. I'm taking the Chiefs. Yeah, I'll take the Chiefs. I don't think the Chiefs are going to be able to physically run the ball and manhandle them the way they did.

1:14:48The tackling was so bad from Denver last week, so I don't think it'll look quite the same, but I think they have enough to get to the finish line, so I'll take the Chiefs. Giants-Rams, final game Monday night, a game that now looks a lot more competitive than it did two weeks ago for a couple of reasons. The Giants coming off of their week one triumph. The Rams now without Miles Garrett in this game. I assume Aaron Donald will play. I haven't really been following that, but I assume we'll see him a little bit. You can go first here. You have Rams offense, Giants defense. Yeah, I wrote down a little bit what we referenced earlier.

1:15:25Just stay with the run, too. Stay committed to it. Get yourself in third manageables because, you know, as well as New York played the other night, they gave up 8 of 11 on third downs. so there's going to be opportunities for this Rams team if they can get in those manageables to not only keep drives alive but they can get explosive so you know obviously you ideally you don't even get to third down but just don't find yourself in third and long against this front from the Giants because of the the juice they got coming your way and then on the Giants side of things I'm just excited to see kind of the continued evolution of Arvel Reese and how they use him and what they do with him.

1:16:02He was fun to watch. He got fooled on one play action, but outside of that, he ate up two screens. He demolished the blocker on one and just used his speed to close down the space. I think there's more meat on the bone with him as a blitzer, so I'm curious to see. They have a lot of fun chess pieces with this front, how they can utilize those guys. I'm curious to see how they continue to grow and evolve his role in a game like this one. It really does seem like, on this side of the ball, Rams offense, Giants, defense, a matter of can you get them in a third and five? Because they're advantage Giants, right?

1:16:36You saw that against San Francisco, by the way, that the Rams were awful on third down. And I mentioned this during the game. They, last year, were not a good third down offense. They just were never in third down. They never got to it. Because they were so damn good at running the ball on early downs. So I think for New York, that early down run defense, and for the Rams, commit to it, stick with it. you're extremely good at it still. Even if the Giants, I do think the Giants' run defense is improved. Obviously, on last year, it would be hard not to be improved. But this is a good test for how improved they are.

1:17:10On the other side of the ball, we got a Giants offense that we saw last week wants to put a fullback on the field, live in 21-22, run the ball, Sound like a team that just played the Rams? I'm not saying that it's comparable just because they both have white running backs and white fullbacks, my friend. JB pointed that out to me. But I do think they're going to try to take a kind of similar approach, right? Which is the Niners put their big bodies on the field. The Rams matched it with Nickel, as they do, and they threw them out the club. If you're New York, why would you not try to do the same thing?

1:17:59You want the Rams linebackers on the field, right? So I think they're going to live in those two back sets. They'll throw out of them as well. Ball's going to come out quick out of Jackson Dart's hands, even without Myles Garrett. And if they can, I actually think like, I'm not saying that they can do exactly what San Francisco did. The passing attack is there is just more complicated. But I do think that they'll be able to run the ball in L.A., or at least they'll try to. Yeah, and I would say from a scouting standpoint, maybe one of my favorite matchups of the entire week is when you get McDuffie working against neighbors.

1:18:38That's pretty fun. That is really fun. That is fun. How about Isaiah Likely last week? I didn't talk about that. He's still open. They haven't covered him yet. The Cowboys don't even know where he is. the Rams safeties are stronger and it's the Niners really went at Quentin Lake week one and they really I remember like even like putting Mike Evans in the slot they were pretty good at hunting matchups I think for New York for the brain trust of Matt Nagy and Greg Roman trying to find ways to get neighbors off of the McDuffie matchup is something that they should endeavor to do but also just to find those matchups for Isaiah Likely, in addition to the ground game I talked about.

1:19:20I think the Rams bounce back here. I think the run game that you alluded to is going to be pivotal for them in this one. I think they'll have success on the ground against New York. And then, couldn't you just see Aaron Donald coming back in this one and making a big play and reminding folks that he's Aaron Donald? I don't know. Maui Noah and Aaron Donald, young and old. Let's go. This is, you know, it's closer. Let me check the odds on this one. I'm interested now. It is, yeah, okay. Whoa, geez, Luis. The Rams might open at 8.5. Wow, I would hammer the... I mean, I'm picking the Rams to win, but that seems...

1:19:59Yeah. It's in LA. It's a big number. It's a big number. I feel like Angry Rams maybe is a little bit playing into that. I assume you're Rams too, or... Yeah, I'm going to go Rams on that one. I just think they've got to stick with the run, And I think they have success on third down. Off they go. All right. That's it for the week. You guys can check out, as we mentioned at the top, Move the Sticks, wherever you get your podcasts. It's also on the ESPN NFL YouTube page. This podcast lives on youtube.com slash at Mina Kimes. We'll be back next week with Ben to cover the aforementioned Giants-Rams game.

1:20:38Also, programming alert. this Sunday I'm going to be on NFL Network are you going to be there? let's go I'm going to be in there I'll see you in there on Sunday game day morning let's go here we go so before the game I'll be on TV I have not worked on a Sunday in quite a while so we'll see how that goes thank you as always to Omaha Productions Kirsten Sebecki Owen Saylor Jack Foster Tucker Tushin and I'll see you guys on Tuesday

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