You Shedeur About That? Preseason Week One Winners

31:21He's, he's not the same player. He was in Dallas where he wasn't reliable behind the tackles. He's getting, he's, he's a hundred percent improved there. Bill Callahan's offensive line coach would not be surprised if the Titans run the dang ball this year. I'm excited. I do want to address the other two. JJ McCarthy's not a rookie, but he is de facto rookie. JJ McCarthy and Jackson Dart before we get to, is this real? We can start with McCarthy. I mean, he barely played this one drive, right? Yeah. Yeah. One drive. It was very much the way they probably want to use him during the season. A lot of under center play action, which was kind of like what they drafted him to do in that offense.

32:03Right. I think, you know, and he had a miss. I'm looking at my notes from them. There was one, there were a couple, the thing that stood out to me, he had to make a miss a couple of screen that got blown up. uh the thing that i the only thing i think that's noteworthy from this other than like them using him kind of exactly the way with that they would they would uh he did not look fearful of contact and i just want to emphasize that because obviously he's coming off the injury when he hit addison i think it was like a deep out or something but um he got blasted and so it was like a slightly inaccurate ball but i thought okay great you know like he is fine they scrambled on the fourth down too right um i think just that was something i was curious to see just coming off of the knee injury how does he look moving back there how does he look with pressure and i thought he passed that test not a lot else to take away from that in my mind yeah the mess on the on the big dig he talked about and he said like you know he should have held his water for another second and like let the window open and i thought that was a good summary where like i did think he was like excited jittery is probably too much of a negative connotation he definitely felt jumpy right there I wasn't like Ward goes out there and Ward just looks so suave in the pocket.

33:18McCarthy has a lot of like movement in the pocket and you just get the sense that like, yeah, the, the bullets are live ish for the first time in a long time for him. Right. He had that major injury. He knows how good this offense can be. And like, he felt young and excited in like, again, like not in a super negative way, but just in a way where like, you could tell timing wise, he just wanted everything to be fast. Wanted to go, go, go, go. It's one drive. Right. I think they were very right to say the, the number one part practice part of today is just the practice of getting ready for a game.

33:45And then we're going to let you do three things. And we're going to reel you back. I'm sure they'll give him like three drives next week. And then they'll reel them back again. Jackson dart played a little bit more. The highlight that's going around, of course is the touchdown, which was a beautiful ball, really great, well-placed notably had pressure just bearing right down on it. It was, this is the one it was a bills broadcast and they like barely show the touchdown because they were talking about the stadium and then they didn't show the replay Giants fans were losing their this is why I love free season football they're like why are you showing our rookie quarterback throwing his first touchdown um I was actually I wanted to see the replay because I was like I think he just got grilled and then they the NFL posted and he did and that's what he did in college right he's he stands tough in the pocket he has a big arm and he's willing to take pressure um so I think you know notable that that translated.

34:39I think otherwise looked, you know, he had his, he had a few sprays, one of which pissed off Brian table earlier on. Um, you saw he's, you know, obviously extremely athletic. You saw that as well. I think that's something that they're going to lean into. I think Dable actually like called a draw for him at one point. Um, so, um, again, you know, I know I sound like a broken record there, but he looked like he didn't, all these guys look kind of like they did in college. And I felt that way about Jackson dart. I felt that way too. I will say that And I feel like a lot of the responses to a lot of the quarterbacks has been, this guy looked the way he did in college.

35:12And the response to Jackson Dart has been like, holy smokes, baby. And I just can't. He played more snaps than the other guys. And so I think there's just more gross good on the film than there were in the other guys. There's more positive plays to talk about. He's also late on enough. There were throws that he wanted to make that he didn't make because he was just way too late on them, which is a totally acceptable thing for a rookie quarterback to be in his first preseason start. but those are not making the timeline as much as right. The, the, the, the touchdown off the sideline is what, what I thought most encouraging about darts game was that table very clearly understands what's going to make this guy successful early, right?

35:50Dart was a little bit more of a project than people wanted to talk about coming out simply because the menu of throws and the menu of concepts he was asked to do at Ole Miss for so limited, right? He had more play action pass attempts than any quarterback in football say for Nico Imaliaba. Frick. I thought I had it, man. I was so close. Nico, the quarterback for the Tennessee Volunteers now with UCLA. It was a lot of shot play stuff, Ole Miss choice rowdy stuff. The menu that Dave will gave him is small. It's very spready. He used him in the quarterback running game. There's a lot of pre-snap reads, RPO stuff as well, talking about with Steichen.

36:22That's the menu Dart will need to succeed if and when he starts this season. The understanding of where this guy's bread is buttered is good. I'm happy about that. It's a good point. Giants fans, after the break, we're going to talk about your other rookie. I'm going to bring him up, Giz. All right, let's take a quick break. Come back and play Is This Real? Hard Knocks is back, and so is the official Hard Knocks podcast. This year, the award-winning HBO original Hard Knocks training camp heads to Seattle to follow the Super Bowl champion Seahawks. Go behind the scenes with the team as they make another run at a title.

36:53Get unfiltered access to the personalities and challenges that define a championship team. Watch the official Hard Knocks podcast on HBO Max, YouTube, or listen to wherever you get your podcasts. and watch Hard Knocks Training Camp with the Seattle Seahawks on HBO Max. As you know, managing maintenance, repair, and operations is never easy. But for the ones who always rise to the challenge, Granger 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.

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38:03posting your job for free at linkedin.com slash eisen terms and conditions apply all right i teased it so we might as well stay with the giants here is this real the giants could have the best defensive line in the nfl yeah yeah can we talk about abdul carter first obviously that premise is has a lot to do with the other players dexter lawrence who of course didn't play brian burns cave on thibodeau there's also like um i was watching and i they have good defensive line defensive tackle depth now too right like nunez rochez they drafted a couple guys but i would just want to talk about abdul carter holy smokes we're talking about guys and competition and yeah he looked okay against the third stringers abdul carter lineup against dion Dawkins, who is, for those who don't know, one of the best left tackles in the NFL.

39:00And he notably always lines up on like an island, right? I think he has like wider splits than any offensive line left tackle in football. And one of those reps, Carter put like an inside move on him that made me gasp.

39:16He looked

39:21like like one of those like just one of those rookies can come in immediately and just shred i i they pushed him inside on one i mean he only like i think it was like seven or eight snaps um but it was definitely an i've seen enough moment for me watching him in this game because yeah i mean he's like getting him adding him to that group is insane yeah the the number one thing about preseason and training camp for me is always I want to see the rookies in NFL pads against NFL players and do you look like you belong do you look like physically you you should be out there are you playing in an NFL speed and with Carter it's just like not not only yes but so emphatically yes against some of the best competition you'll see in terms of the Buffalo Bills offensive line in such a dynamic way which is what you want from your top five top 10 pick right uh the Deion Dawkins inside move which by the way is the best play of Mitchell Trubisky's life trubisky spins away from abdul carter rolls to his left throws against his body yeah yeah it was really i couldn't believe it i legit i legit was like is josh smaller did josh shrink over the year no it's mitchell so i was great shout out mitch um carter also had that he had that early win against osiris torrance the right guard on a pass rush package right where they've got the three edge rushers on the field the torrance one was funny because carter hits him with the inside move and you can see like the the red sirens going in carter's head it's like i've got him and all i gotta do is just slam past this heavy footed 350 pound guard the way that i've always had in college and then torrance gets like one hand on him and carter comes to a screeching hall it's like no they played a little bit of a different weight class up here that's again those nfl moments where you have to learn about the the the the different athleticisms and capabilities but then he strains through torrance and he gets the pressure the the the the the nascar packages on third down are clearly sick.

41:11I think the point you made about Rakim Nunez-Roches and Roy Robertson-Harris, which I practiced that one beforehand, so I would say correct for the other. They're both good players. Those are such important players because you have to be able to win on early downs to get to your NASCAR packages. You have to be able to get to third and longs. And they have better defensive tackle depth than I think they've ever had before behind Dexter Lawrence. It's a great point about run defense because teams are going to run a lot on them on first down, I believe. Or they're going to face a lot of quick throws.

41:37So I think the linebackers are going to matter a lot too in this defense just because every offense that plays this team is going to spend their entire week game planning for this pass rush, not wanting to face that NASCAR package. So I think for Shane Bowen in this Giants defense, and then we'll see what terms of the offense, complementary football, how much they're having to – like maybe they're unfortunately on the field a lot and teams are able to run the ball and all of that. But it really comes down to like, okay, how can we get into situations where we can let these guys cook? And oh my God, I mean, just Carter.

42:13I just, he was very obviously the best pass rusher in this draft. It was not a debate. And I think though, the question was, is he like good? You know, is he, or is he like one of those, can we, is he like Will Anderson Jr. level? Early results look really good. That's all I'll say. We don't have to get into it too much. I wish he was in a single day. And I'm pretty excited. My big concern is Burns in zero, Thibodeau in five, and then Carter in 51. Just aesthetically, it's not going to look good on the graphic, man. 51 is not a cool – it's not cool. You're going to get him into like eight. I don't know if that's allowed in the Giants history or not.

42:49A cool number. If Dexter Lawrence stays healthy this year, I just don't – I don't know what you do. Okay, is this real? Let's go on the negative side. Bengals fans should be panicking about the defense.

43:06like i panic they should be deeply deeply concerned i i will i will tell you the sliver of hope that i retain that keeps me from panic is the sliver hope that tanner mckee is a golden god and they just ran into it that's a separate conversation the schematically when they walked out against the eagles and you know oh pre-season schemes are always very vanilla yes but they are immediately like run blitzing from depth on first and 10 and, and, and rotating coverage on the backend. And very clearly Al golden has an understanding that we are going to have to do some, not unsound things. And even as coordinator, we never say unsound, but we are going to have to do some high risk, high reward things to try to win some base downs, get into some second and longs, generate some turnovers, generate some explosives.

43:52Because if we just try to line up and play, we are going to get outmanned. We are going to get outgunned. And that is absolutely the case. Cincinnati's back seven is not fast, not experienced, not particularly playmaking. They're in a new system. If they try to just line up and cover guys, they're going to lose. Defensive on the front, they have a little bit more talent. They have a little bit more potential. There's a chance they're better. But still, without Trey Hendrickson right now, the pass rush is nothing. And even then, the interior run defense is you're kind of hoping and praying. So you have to get creative.

44:22And Golden's willingness to do so early indicates to me that they understand the reality of the situation. However, the situation is pretty dire. So it's a little unfair to say that Tanner McKee dog walked the starters because Hendrickson didn't play. Cam Taylor Britt didn't play. I believe Dax Hill didn't play. But there were a lot of guys out there. Let me tell you something. You put those three on the field, McKee's going 23 for 30, 300 yards. Don't even worry about it. I think your point is good. It really comes down to sort of creativity on the part of the defensive coordinator. I think also if they can get a little pass rush juice, obviously Hendrickson swimming, they, you know, I think they're going to probably try to get something done with him.

45:05Shamar Stewart, the rookie actually made some plays too. I think that's a little bit contrary. And it was interesting. They were going, it was lining them up everywhere. You know, like there is really trying some stuff with him. He had the TFL. I thought he looked really explosive. Taven Bryan. Also, I made a couple of plays. I didn't know he was on the former first round draft pick, defensive tackle but i i just worry so much about this back end i worry about the linebacking group which i thought looked pretty rough and then i worry about the corner room again there were a couple guys out but like dg turner ivy this one like it is a bear cupboard so and then gino stone got hurt and he's all that um i think the tave say they address the actual premise it's less like panicking and it's more i think the feeling that this is going to be more of the same like this is it just kind of the hope is that you know al golden to your point um not only can be creative but also in terms of taking some risks schematically but also can develop some of these younger players and it's early so you're hoping like maybe the second half of the season you see some guys take a leap but early results concerning uh well the flip side of that i do want to address is this real tanner mckee yes should be a starter i like people thought i was in the nfl in the nfl people thought i was doing a bit when i said he could start and i listed the teams they're like this is ridiculous i really don't think it is and you can check my tanner mckee receipts i've been here for years this was not off of one pre-season film against the bangles that dude the week 18 game against the giants just just making reads post snap on the fly going through the process in the pocket he was a five-star recruit i think he was four or five Pretty sure he was five.

46:50He was a high caliber recruit who just missed some time at Stanford. He had, I want to say, a Latter-day Saints mission as well. So he was an older prospect coming out and just was a classic Harry Roseman day three dart throw. I think if you put McKee in the Cleveland Browns quarterback room, I absolutely think the training camp reports would be the best quarterback here at 16. I firmly believe that. He went 20 for 25 for 252 yards. Just a cool 10 yards for a 10. A lot of starters. I think my takeaway was just that he looked like a vet. He looked so accurate and compared, you know, just again, especially after watching all the young players this preseason with their ups and downs, it was only ups with Tanner McKee.

47:33That said, he does have, of course, a lot more experience than some of these guys. Yeah, I think it doesn't give you a ton in terms of athleticism, but it's like, and I think that maybe that's sort of what has worked against him. You talked about being an older prospect. I think he's, you know, when teams are thinking about their backups, there's a sign of prep, like you feel around the league. Well, I want a guy at least maybe I can like call like a, you know, have a robust design quarterback run game. That's not what you're getting here. But what you are getting is a guy who can probably execute just about every offense.

48:05I mean, I just, it's funny too. Like if it was any team other than Philadelphia, I would say trade bait, let's go. But they're in such a unique spot because they are obviously Super Bowl contenders to repeat so he is it's weird even though he you know he's not a threat at all to Jalen Hurts he is kind of paradoxically more valuable to them than he would be if he was on a bad team that might trade him that said I heard I think it was you and Sheil talking about not trading a second or giving like accepting a second for him you guys are freaking crazy that was that was that was not me I don't think but I kind of blacked out after the game and there's a chance that I said it.

48:47I said, if Jerry Jones called me and offered Micah for McKee, I would tell him to throw in a pick. That's where I'm at on, on Tanner's value. Okay. Did you hear feedback right now in your, do you hear that sound back there? No. Oh, I think, I think I'm pretty sure it's just the quarterback factory in the background, just producing more and more. Okay. Okay. Wait, no gun to your head. What would you, what would be the floor for accepting if you're Eagle, if you're Howie Roseman for Tanner McKee? So like a lot of it depends on what I think of Kyle McCord and what I think of DTR slash the veteran quarterback market.

49:22Cause quarterback two is legitimately like the Eagles will tell you one of the most important positions on their roster. I think if a team said, oh yeah, like early day three pick, like round four, I'd be like, no, no, no, get serious. Like this is the day two pick a quarterback. If you're going to take this, what if they throw in, what did the Eagles, what did the Eagles trade for Kenny Pickett? That's the real question. Cause it's something more than that. Yeah. But okay. What if I know I'm dealing in insane hypothetical, there's a potential to get a starting corner back because that was my other takeaway from this game.

49:49CB2 not looking so good in Philadelphia. Granted, it's pretty unfair to go up against Jamar Chase in the preseason. That should be outlawed. That said, this was a concern coming in. Would that maybe sway things for you a little bit? Yeah. I mean, I think if you can turn a QB2 into a starting corner in a time at which you think that you are a contending team looking to push back for the Super Bowl. Correctly. Yeah. Yeah. I think that that's fair. it's also the case where it's like all right that needs to clearly be an improvement on keely plus a dory plus jacorian right so right now they have so many dart throws it'd have to be like a dude but yeah i mean i would i would hate to see him go i would i would weep a little bit when i sent him but i would send him and then he would prosper elsewhere man he would be a great player okay i'm just saying the geno arc is coming for tanner mckee just you wait it's not really a geno arc i just the good he's good and i love him that arc is coming you see the sign that gino smith did double birds to that i heard the sign was terrible i just had the sign was like gino as big a bust as jamarcus russell and i was like oh what that doesn't even make sense he wasn't a first round draft pick he's not a bust he also you acquired him for nothing in seattle is like just a lot if you're gonna be an a-hole at least be an accurate a-hole with your taunts.

51:08Anyways, obviously I'm on Team Gino and Pete. I like how Pete backed him up with the double bruise there. Pete was trying to grab the sign. I saw that picture. He's like jumping up there all 72 years of him. Miss him. Okay. Couple more. Is this real? Ted O 'Romew McMillan, T-Mac, really trying to practice not calling him Ted, is going to finish as a top 20 receiver. That feels rich, right? T. Higgins and Devontae Smith are top 15 receivers. The 20 is probably too far. I think you can get me to 30. I think he can be in that range. We talked about Abdul-Carter and a sense of belonging. Watching T.

51:50Mac get off the line of scrimmage, watching him elevate for footballs, and watching him play against NFL caliber size corners, which Browns backups for sure. It's no question. We have more to say. It's very clear that he's going to be able to be the caliber of ball winner that, all right, like win the contested catch, win the vertical one-on-one stuff, like that floor is there. The question with T-Mac was always the ceiling, right? It's like, okay, what can be as a rat runner separator middle of the field? And you just didn't see that, a ton of that from a usage perspective in this game. And I think with Bryce Young, you're just not going to see a ton of that in general.

52:22But the box check for T-Mac, I think is as emphatic as it was with Abdul Carter, where it's like, oh, the thing that we need you to be good at in year one, you're going to be good at that for sure. He looked like, I know, again, I hate to say this exact phrase again. And he looked like he did in college. You would hope, though. You would hope that we watched him in college and he looked like that and then that's what happened. Yeah, especially if you're not going against the best competition per se, it's harder to look like you did in college as a first-round draft pick when you're facing more challenging matchups.

52:49But the traits that he flashed in this preseason game, body control, the hands down the sideline are exactly why he was the eighth overall pick. I also loved, I think after the go ball, which was awesome, Bryce hit him on like an in-breaker, I think. It was like maybe the next play. Love more. I don't want him to be just a go ball merchant in this offense and just a guy who's winning on the perimeter. Very important in my mind that Dave Canales and Bryce, that he is an important part of this offense working in the middle of the field, which is something he's good at, I thought, on slant, sticks, using that big body to box out defenders and give an easy target to the quarterback.

53:32I also think Bryce young that's needs to be an important part of the offense for him. Right. So seeing that there's a little bit of miscommunication in the end zone. And then Bryce had the great, he had the extended play with Coker where he redirected him back. I mean, he's good too, man. I think that was the other thing I would say about like TMAC as advertised. Awesome. feeling good about this group because what i've always said and we're gonna talk about this on the nfc south preview what i always felt about tmack was if he could be the player that he was in high in college the true number one x receiver in this offense everybody else slots into such a nice nice spot and you're like oh i really like suddenly i really like this group as a whole yeah i i strongly agree the the thing about this this wide receiver room that i i love so much is that firstly you're enormous as very clear priority from dan morgan to be like let's just become as large as conceivably possible on offense they did with the offensive line and then right coker who's just like you know speed threat udfa out of holy cross downfield guys is 6 3 2 13 and it legitimately is like a field stretching caliber of a player mcmillan is 6 5 2 12 xabriel agate who is lower on the depth chart than i thought it was where is xabriel agate xabriel agate is there he is 17, six, three, two 27.

54:50Right? Like if that's your starting three and have Adam Thielen is your primary slot player, you just have such a, a physical presence, but Coker's not really a great, uh, the middle of the field guy. They try to make, look at the middle of the field guy last year. It's not necessarily clearing things out. Yeah, exactly. It used to be what he was really good at. He's a little bit long in the tooth. Now, if you can get that from T Mac, then everybody else makes sense. And, and, and it's just, you can see how, how good it will be for Bryce, who just, The thing that unlocked it for Bryce was, hey, just shoot.

55:20Just fire. They're going to make you right. Just go, go, go. If he has this big cadre of receivers who create that space, oh, man. It's the window. It'll make it work. Seeing T-Mac reward him for throwing that ball on the right sideline early on. It's just like, yes. This is going to build the habits, the timing. That's everything you wanted to see as a Panthers fan, so I'm feeling good about that. Okay, a couple more. Let's do the – this is a small one. So, you know, I'm excited about obviously Gina Smith and this Chip Kelly and this Raiders offense. And I have no thoughts on like scheme or Gina or anything.

55:57You know, when you're locked in, focused and fearless. Welcome to the WNBA. Your vision narrows. You can't look away. Every assist, every stop, every logo three. From beyond the logo. Every did you see that moment? You bet. What records are going to be broken this season? All of it right here. Lock in. It's the WNBA on ESPN all season long. However, is this real? Should Raiders fans be worried that the offensive line might limit this offensive potential? Tank it in some ways. Yeah, that's real. Like I should be worried that it could, I think is, is, is correct. Right? There's no doubt that the interior of JPJ, who I thought the move to guard was good for JPJ.

56:48I thought they made him better last season. I think that's solid. But then it's Jordan Merritt at the center and Dylan Parham on the right side. DJ Glazer at right tackle. Just outside of Colton Miller, there's just a lot of if this, then that. If he can do this, if we can take this step, if we have this improvement, then we have this caliber of a player. And when you introduce that many hypotheticals, you're going to miss one of them. And you're going to have at least one problem to solve. Once you have two or three, then you start running out of resources. I think that what Chip wants to be in terms of the running game, which is a highly multiple, a lot of different schemes, a lot of calls and checks at the line of scrimmage, sort of a rushing attack.

57:23I think that's a really tough ask for a line that doesn't have a ton of snaps together, has had some shuffling and is generally inexperienced as well. And so I think you're going to see that Chip can't run the way he wants to run. And then, yeah, we know what Gino can be in the pocket, but we also know that one of his strengths is his willingness to just kind of hang back there against those pressures and then you get the high interception games and so there's concern to your point there was a rep in the second drive where it was with genti was still in the game where i think they were trying to run like power or something and the and dj glace was trying to come across and the left side just got caved so quickly it was doa and i was watching that thinking like who to you what you're saying about like chip however i will say of note um they took out colton and parham so it was backups on the left side of the offensive line in the second series so i think you're worried about the interior but the most of this game it was not the starters on the left side of the offensive line and i think the optimism would just be okay the depth sucks um if we can just get the interior squared away but yeah so yeah if i'm an ashen genti fantasy holder i'm not panicking but you're a little nervous not about him but about the offensive line and they added Alex Kappa and then they drafted two guys in the third round they drafted Caleb Rogers out of Texas Tech and then the William and Mary I think his name is Grant yeah Charles Grant uh uh who I liked William and Mary quite a bit I liked Charles Grant come out of the process as a 2026 guy right he was always going to be a developmental player Rogers is a tackle kick guard player so you have dart throws we are in it's the middle of August you would have liked if one of those dart throws was going to be a contributor for you in year one you would have expected to hear more about it by now and so i think that their five they got starting is probably the five they got starting and maybe by mid-season they have a surprising contributor but just right now it doesn't sound like they're getting that from some of those off-season ads is this real the jacksonville jaguars only have to gain 10 yards after every touchback to score because they have the greatest weapon in football cam little on their side 70 yard field goal for those who missed this incredible moment.

59:33Um, I was, I looked up his stats as a, just curious to see like, is it so in, as a rookie last year, he was a six round draft pick. He went five for six on 50 yarders and he had a 59 yarder. So this isn't like totally out of nowhere. Um, but Holy. What? Like what I want to, what I want to know is who at, like who on the sideline was the first person to be like, listen, even even if we don't get it past the 50 like let's just do it right like they because cohen talked about this a little bit in the um and the postgame presser he was like we're trying to do like you know like a last end of half situation we're gonna run you know quick play and try to get it past the 50 and then oh like you know to win the game like the justin tucker kick against the lions a couple of years ago right just get it close up and we'll try uh but they didn't end up doing it and they didn't they didn't get past the 50 and he was like cam looked at it was like let's it.

1:00:26I just want to try and keep almost like sure, whatever preseason like fine. But I need to know, like on the Tuesday before the preseason game, did the special teams coach come to Cohen and be like, listen, our range is, you know, to our 45 yard line. That's just a preposterous thing to say. What does it mean, though, in all seriousness, if you have a kicker who you feel comfortably can hit, let's say, 65, right? Does that actually change your approach on game day? I think it changes the last 30 seconds of both halves, which feels insignificant. That's one of 60 minutes in a game clock, but it's actually extraordinarily significant.

1:01:10I'm like, thinking about Bill's Chiefs playoff game from a couple years ago, the 13 second game, the defensive of structure that you're going to get in end of half, end of game, you know, it's a three-point game, it's a one-point game situations, is predicated on an idea of like, okay, we generally know the yard line that you're going to try to get to. And if I can shave five yards off of that, and I'd say, no, actually, we don't want to get, we don't need to get to your 40, we just need to get to your 45, your 48, then it becomes a lot easier to execute that six-second play, because it's a lot easier to execute that 14-second, throw the seam, fall down, and spike it.

1:01:44And then you get the chance to get the kickoff and then once you get the chance to get the kickoff you know close your eyes say your prayers cross yourself and see what cam little does like you did your job and so i think it it changes your operation there in the last 30 seconds of each half which can turn a loss into a win and can turn a 17 into a 16 you turn a wild card to a division round and that's that that's significant yeah i it's it's you know you get both sides are now baking that into their models people are just like they don't know who's on the field they know who's on the the field.

1:02:10And if you're playing a team with a kicker who can make routinely hit 50 plus yards, that is something you're baking into how you approach situational football, particularly at the end of halves, as you pointed out. That's a big deal. Okay, final one. Is this real? The Rashawn Slater injury is dooming the Chargers offense before the season starts. I'm going with the most dramatic possible interpretation of this. It's a big one. It breaks my heart to say yes, but like, yeah, the vibes are really bad. When you sign Mike Williams in free agency and bring it back to the Chargers, and then when he gets hurt, your solution is to sign Keenan Allen back to join the Chargers again.

1:02:54I'm already in a position where I'm like, you are so tempting fate. You are so lining up a full Charger ring right now that it felt like something was going to come down the mountain. And for Slater, just mere weeks after the extension, to then have a season-ending knee injury. In a season in which the Chargers addressed all their other positions but didn't address the offensive line the way we were hoping to, and now it's year two, let's switch the side of Joe Ull, our first-round tackle, to get Trey Pipkins back on the field? It's just way too much Charger behavior for me to ignore the ominous clouds circling on the horizon.

1:03:29so I will say Trey Pippkin's pardon me is not a disaster at right tackle right like this is not we're not looking at this and thinking every you know Justin Herbert is going to be dead out there Jeff Joel of course played left tackle in college uh he the position switched for him rookie was going to the right side there's hope that you can still get pretty high level play out of him. Pipkins, I think 2023, he started it. He's played at like every position I feel like for the Chargers over the years. 2022, they did a three-year deal with him. And then yeah, he played right tackle. So it's not awful.

1:04:09I think it just limits the ceiling in a way because there was already question. I already had questions about the interior of the Chargers offensive line yes the tackles were supposed to be the strength but now it's no longer a strength once again the line is a question mark i think there's a world in which you can get average offensive line play out of this unit it's not entirely outside the realm of possibility but the vision i had for this offense where like all the run games can be so much better and obviously they invested in you know marine hampton and whatnot that to me is a little bit murkier and i feel like once again we are going to be forced to say yeah but justin her it was under pressure on you know and and the other thing is that i would feel a lot better about our wide receiver room is a uh primarily a slot receiver in lad mcconkey and then we added another slot in keenan allen we're trying to figure out the downfield stuff i feel a lot better about that i feel a lot better about we have four tight ends that we're going to rotate and we don't really have like one clear emphatic starter i'd feel a lot better about hey like we thought we had to help our interior offensive line.

1:05:21And now we have to send more help to our right tackle now, it's our left tackle injury. I feel so much better about all this. If I really, really trusted the offensive coaching staff. And I really felt like the offensive coaching staff had proven that they are good at not just installing what they do, but in coaching around the limits and the realities of their depth chart, which for everything that Greg Roman brings very positively as a running game designer, as an innovator, as a pistol, a quarterback option run game for all the positives he's brought. Roman has historically showed that he is struggles when it's time to coach around the limitations on your roster.

1:05:51And this offensive roster has some limitations. And so I just, I, I, I dread the film. I'm going to turn on in week seven, when after six games of Trey Pipkins getting attacked on passing downs, Trey Pipkins getting attacked on passing downs. And we're just, we're just back to the same stuff week in and week out. All right. Well, something to watch a note to end on. I have the chargers actually next Saturday, they're playing the Rams. And I suspect that we will see the starting offensive line because they're going to want to get combination reps. So that will be an interesting one to watch. Ben, as always, great to have you on.

1:06:30Have to have you on again soon before you go on leave. Once the season starts, I'll be back later this week with the NFC South with John Legyard wrapping with the AFC South, their final division the week after that.

1:06:47This is what I Ruby