Josh Allen Is An Unstoppable Force and the Other Main Characters of Week 2

19:57We'll see what they do this week against the Saints. But I think there are, you know, I think it's bunched up. I don't think there's a big gap. And the reason I say that is because that Bills defense, I'm still not sure about. You know, they have moments. Deion Walker showing up the way he has in the first two weeks is maybe one of the biggest developments in the NFL where it's like, oh, the Bills might have another guy up front where they can rely on that pass rush. I think with the Bills defense all, you know, even going into the season, it was like, this isn't going to look great right away.

20:25This is a matter of, hey, can Jim Leonard figure things out? And you get to November, December, and you're saying, okay, this defense is really finding itself. But I think they're a very good team. If you were like, Sheila, you have to pick one team right now to get to the Super Bowl from the AFC. I think, you know, it might be a recency bias, but I'm like, yeah, I'll just go ahead with Josh Allen and assume that it's going to happen this year. And I think you could pick the Bills to get to the Super Bowl any year. As long as Josh Allen's healthy and is prime, you can literally pick them every year and it's not a bad pick.

20:54But I'm not ready to say quite yet that there's a big gap between them and everyone else in the AFC. Powered.

21:02Sheil Kapadia:Week two, you're not ready? You're saying yes? No, I mean, look, here's the thing. They've had two great wins over teams that are quality teams. They're like, okay, these are great signs. But also, last week it came down to a turnover where the Texans were driving and could have won that game. this week they didn't turn the ball over again. At some point, these balls are going to bounce the other way, and then we might see different results. And it's not to say that the team is different. It's just they've had strokes of good luck. Also, I wonder, because we haven't really talked that much about the Lions.

21:31Sheil Kapadia:We did a little bit, right? But I feel like we're just, this is a mulligan for them, right? Like, they're beat up. You know, Jameer Gibbs ran for a million yards last week. He didn't have that many carries this week. It was a short week for everybody involved. So they're going to be a good team. I saw that you kind of tried to fan the flames a little bit last night and say like, Hey, it's not panic time in Detroit. And the question becomes like, Whoa, is, you know, is this time for a hot seat for Dan Campbell? And you were like, no, you know, like they did choose Dan Campbell. Essentially they chose Dan Campbell over Ben Johnson.

22:01Sheil Kapadia:We're surprised that Ben Johnson stayed as long as he fired Dan. Was that what you wanted him to do? No, not me. I'm just saying people are out there. People are saying, not me. I would never say these things, but like I you know is it time to panic in Detroit like I think collectively as a group this podcast like no like it was a short week it was a tough game they're a bit depleted now but we haven't really focused on the Lions at all we've just been praising you know the Bills the whole time uh go ahead no I was gonna say the the problem with the Lions is they don't have guys on defense right now and it's just like you look at it and you know we always talk so much about coaching and coordinators.

22:43And I'm always like, can a guy do more with less? And I'm just looking at the guys they're trotting out there. And I'm kind of like, other than maybe Mike McDonald, is their defensive coordinator that would be like, oh, this guy could get this group to a top 10 defense. So I think there is a figuring out period for them early in the season. And I thought their defense was going to struggle early in the season. Not to this effect. I mean, they've given up 10 touchdowns on the last 14 times they've been on the field, which is just like, that is, you know, you're not going to win any games when you're doing it that way.

23:13So I think the big thing for them has always been when we get Brian Branch and Kirby Joseph, I don't know, maybe Tom can fill us in on how realistic that is. But if internally they feel like those safeties are coming back at some point, you know, in the first half of the season, let's say we're going to look like a different defense at that time. I can live with that if I'm a Lions fan. It's like our offense still looks pretty good. We had some offensive line injuries and we still put up a decent amount of points. defensively, if we feel like getting healthy is really going to help us, that's one scenario.

23:44The other scenario is how much pressure are they feeling to say the NFC is pretty open. We've got a really good offense. We are the team that needs to make a big move before the trade deadline, whether that's someone like Max Crosby or Joey Porter or someone I'm not even thinking about where they're like, this is the year. Let's go for it. We got to give this defensive boost. Otherwise, we don't have a chance. That's the other thing, Tom, that I have my eye on with the way this Lions team could operate here in the next four to six weeks.

24:16Tom Pelissero:The Lions have not been a big trade acquisition team since Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell got there. Obviously, there was the Matthew Stafford trade, but they were getting assets in addition to getting their quarterback in Jared Goff. They really haven't been a team. They've done some player-for-player trades like they did in the case of David Montgomery, and they got two Scruggs back, who was starting at center last night. but they've not been a team that's like traded huge draft capital for players. I hear you though on if you're going to do it, this would be the type of scenario. The corners are a liability.

24:47Tom Pelissero:The number of people within the NFL off week one who said to me like they can't play with those corners. It rock you sin is starting for them. DJ reads out there after tweaking his foot in practice this week, the best player on the Lions defense is Aiden Hutchinson. But the most important player on the Lions defense, in my opinion, is Brian Branch. That is your attitude guy. That is your culture guy. He's the tone setter. And you can play him all over in different spots, move him around like a chess piece on the board. Without him there, you lose some of that. You lose the juice and you also lose the versatility that can cause some of those problems.

25:25Tom Pelissero:Kelvin Shepard tried to throw different things, corner blitzes and whatnot at Josh Allen. Frankly, I don't know with the Lions personnel what they could have thrown at Josh Allen that was going to make much of a difference in the game last night. Max Crosby might be pie in the sky thinking because he makes so much money. And the Raiders are going to want what they got from the Ravens before they didn't get it from the Ravens, which is two first round picks. Joey Porter, that's an interesting one. We'll see where that goes in Pittsburgh. They're not doing an extension with him. That deadline passed.

25:56Tom Pelissero:Do they take a second round pick? Would he be willing to go even without a contract in place somewhere else? That is going to be one to watch here. you know, as we move forward. And as the Lions examine all options to try to make sure that defensively they're able to keep up with an offense that, lest we forget, in a game they were down 21 to nothing, did not fold up the tents. They made that thing interesting end of the first half and into the third quarter as they try to set themselves up to turn that thing around coming off of a difficult short week, Billy.

26:28Sheil Kapadia:Well, they also have time to get right. Like, we look at their record and it's, okay, they're one and one and they're behind, you know, the Vikings and they're behind the Bears, but the Vikings and the Bears play each other this week. So one of them is going to take a loss. And then if you look at their schedule, they have a nice little bounce back here. They play the Jets, Panthers, and Cardinals before they get into division play between the Packers and the Vikings the following week. So they have three weeks against lesser opponents to figure it out and get healthy before they start playing the games that really matter to them.

26:57Sheil Kapadia:Also, these three weeks are huge because it's kind of like that. The opponents are not great. If they're getting shredded by Geno Smith, Bryce Young, and Jacoby Brissett, And listen, those guys all looked competent in week one. But if you go through that stretch and we're like, they're giving up 30 plus points every week, then it's just like that pressure gets ratcheted up a notch. If you're like, okay, we played better against these teams. We're still not sure against great offenses. Then maybe you can buy some more time until those guys get healthy.

27:24Tom Pelissero:They also had at least one of those Thursday night injuries, as I would call them, where if it were a Sunday game, guys probably would have played. But because it's Thursday and it's short week, they don't have time. I'm like, Blake Miller should be back soon. They didn't have him. That's their right tackle. They didn't have their left guard, Christian Mahogany. They had a lot of challenges. I have no doubt it is one of my favorites, Rich Mahogany. But there's plenty of reasons to believe this Lions team is going to continue to be competitive, regardless of what they're dealing with. And a lot of that boils down to Dan Campbell and the culture they built.

27:55Tom Pelissero:So let's take a quick break. We've got all sorts of fantastic matchups in Week 2. But who are the main characters? Who are the people who are going to turn the second Sunday of the NFL season? We'll tell you after this. The Ringer NFL Show is presented by FanDuel. The NFL is here and it's your most rewarding season ever on FanDuel. With the all-new FanDuel Rewards Club, every eligible bet can earn you points, win or lose. The more points, the bigger the rewards you can unlock. Head to fanduel.com slash Ringer NFL to start earning with FanDuel Rewards Club. 21 plus select states, 18 plus DC, Kentucky, or Wyoming.

28:37Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. Call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut. Before this, there's this.

28:57Sheil Kapadia:As you celebrate the game, take a deeper look at its roots. The people growing the grass, paving the lots, welding the goalposts, inspecting every football. The hardworking people that make every Sunday possible. Carhartt is proud to outfit the crews behind the game. Visit carhartt.com slash join the trades to learn more.

29:19Tom Pelissero:This segment is presented by Orgain. And we're talking about the main characters. Week two of the 2026 NFL Regulars. Who are the people that are going to be most important? The ones we're going to be talking about when we're doing this show on Monday. I'm going to start out. There's all kinds of players and quarterbacks I could talk about here. I want to talk about a coach who got a week one win and a week two win on top of it would be something that that fan base has not experienced in a long time. I'm talking about Aaron Glenn with the Jets. Goes in last week. they had a pretty solid all-around dominating effort against the Titans and the former Jets head coach, Robert Sala.

30:02Tom Pelissero:They get off to the 1-0 start. AG, who suffered a lot of losses last season, we all know that, made huge changes to his coaching staff, replaced both coordinators, brought in a new quarterback, brought in all kinds of the old heads on defense just to try to become a more professional operation on that side. They got the Packers at home. Jets are going home 1-0 for their home opener. If they beat the Packers, not only a team that we've talked about, you know, all offseason as a potential Super Bowl contender, this would be the first 2-0 start for the Jets since 2015. That was Todd Bowles, Ryan Fitzpatrick.

30:44Tom Pelissero:That is like a lifetime ago in the NFL. You get that win, it's going to be pandemonium. in New York. And there's a long season ahead. And we just talked about the gap of the AFC East. You notice that the Bills, you have the Patriots you have to catch as well. But the Jets being relevant in mid-September shouldn't be a story. I know they had a pretty good start one year under Robert Sala. But it is a big story, Sheil, if they're able to get off to that type of a start. It's a good reminder that just, you know, happiness for different fan bases, it's not equal. You know, like if you told Jets fans this year, You can be 9-8 and you're going to have a chance to make the playoffs in Week 18.

31:28They will be like, that will be one of the best seasons of my lifetime versus... I mean, just think of the team they're playing this week. Packers fans are like, we're 0-1. If we go 0-2 here, we're firing everybody and our team's in disarray. So it just depends on kind of what your lifetime experience has been. I know, you know, and like, I remind that of my kids. They're like, you know, settle down. Like, I'm telling them how good... I'm like telling them how good this Philly stretch has been. They're like, who cares? You know, we don't care that you were 10 years old and they made the playoffs for the first time.

31:58So it just kind of depends. But I think they got a chance here because I think if you look at what's sustainable from that week one game against the Titans up front for the Jets, specifically that offensive line against that Packers defensive line, the Jets offensive line is flat out a better unit on paper. And if they can run the ball, if they can protect Geno Smith, I think they have a chance to do some things offensively here. And so, yeah, they signed all those guys to one-year deals in the offseason. And you tried to make sense of it. My take was that they're trying to give Aaron Glenn a chance here to prove that he should keep the job while at the same time not locking themselves into these bad deals in 2027 and beyond.

32:39Because they're being realistic that we might have a new coach and we might have a rookie quarterback. And we want to build this thing the right way. So I actually have no issue with what they did in the offseason. And I'll be honest, I thought, you know, if you would have asked me in August, who's the coach that you think is most likely to not have a job by Thanksgiving? I would have said Aaron Glenn without really thinking about anybody else in the NFL. That's what it felt like to me. So it would be a great story if they could go to an O, if they could look like a frisky team, if he could say, hey, I took my lumps in year one, but you know what?

33:10I'm a better coach than I showed that year. And the Jets are relevant here. So yeah, maybe. I mean, that is a, you wouldn't have thought going into the Jets Packers week two. Wow. That's going to be an interesting game. It's a very interesting game in week two.

33:23Sheil Kapadia:I mean, it should be fun too, right? Because you look at it like, wow, the Packers, like they got blown out. They lost by 17. Not the case. They had over 400 yards of offense. They outgained the Vikings. They were up. They blew like a 22 point lead at one point. They had 29 unanswered points. They should have won that game, right? So that was just kind of a collapse that happened at the end, which if you're Packers fans you're like can't happen to our division rival we all know what a big rival game that is shield and how much i love that rivalry game so like big rivalry game that's something that you don't want to happen but if you come back and you lay a goose egg to the jets like that i think would be panic mode in green bay can i do small picture so you're like big picture there would be pandemonium two and oh it's been a long time since they started two and oh small picture and i'm gonna say small picture picture prediction here right i think this is the first ever small picture prediction here on the Ringer NFL show.

34:15Presented by Orgain, of course.

34:16Sheil Kapadia:Of course. Orgain was in. They reached out. They said, Billy, we need a small picture prediction.

34:20Tom Pelissero:You have a small picture, Billy. And with Orgain, you can have a bigger picture.

34:25Sheil Kapadia:Exactly. The Jets will intercept the pass this weekend. And that is when the pandemonium will strike at MetLife. As soon as that interception happens, there's going to be a wave of emotion and that's when the momentum is going going to shift this Sunday. I'm waiting for it to happen. I can't believe it hasn't happened yet, but it's going to happen. And I think this is the game that it happens.

34:51Tom Pelissero:Shield, main character, week two. Who you got? Man, I got so excited. I got goosebumps just thinking about the Jets. I'm not even a Jets fan. I'm like, man. How great is that interception going to be? If you're in the stands, that would legitimately be such an exciting moment.

35:05Sheil Kapadia:I think they may stop the game for it. Like, I think they may, and they'll present the ball. Hang the banner, potentially? Yeah, they send that ball off to, you know, canton and it's a whole thing all right i you know i started with the quarterback and then i started you know i like to do a lot of podcast prep you know i don't just show up here and just fire off takes it might sound like that but i do do some prep and i'm like you know what the coach here is actually more interesting than the quarterback and that's liam cohen of the jacksonville jaguars because they're going to denver they're two and a half point underdogs billy do you know what liam Cohen's record is as an NFL head coach right now?

35:44Sheil Kapadia:I mean, one season, right? It's a lot and a little. One season and one game. Yeah. I mean, he won like 13 and 5. Yeah, he won like 13 last year. 14 and 4. He's 14 and 4 in his first 18 games. That's crazy. That's like one of the best starts to an NFL head coaching career in recent memory. And so I was thinking about this more. Here's my Liam Cohen take. Is he Ben Johnson in a smaller market with worse PR? Liam Cohen. Could you make the case? Because you look at this, they're 14-4. If you look at the quarterback, it's the same situation. You had a very talented quarterback. It hadn't happened for the guy before.

36:23You're this smart offensive coach. You come in and all of a sudden, the offense looks a lot different right there. And I'm like, huh? Is he actually doing stuff that's that different than what Ben Johnson is doing with Caleb Williams? I think the difference is the Jaguars defense has been, you know, better than the Bears defense has been. But the Jaguars sent out this tweet, which is, I was like, wow, this is wild. Since week nine of last year, they have outscored opponents by 177 points. No other team is better than plus 96. And they went back and they looked at it. This is the highest point margin over a nine game span by any team since 2021.

37:05So I'm like, man, I wish I would have read that tweet before the season. I wouldn't have picked them to miss the playoffs, this Jaguars team. But it's like, you know, they killed the Browns in week one. Trevor Lawrence looks great. But now I'm looking at this. They go to Denver. Last year, they beat the Broncos. Sean Payton made the comment about their like a cute small market team or whatever. And Liam Cohen responded to that in his press conference. I like that he's a character. You know, we got go back to the days of like Buddy Ryan and Jimmy Johnson going at each other. And I know Liam Cohen and Sean Payton are probably friendly here, but I do like that he's a character that will cause opposing coaches to threaten his life after games.

37:41That is entertaining for me as someone who enjoys, you know, football content.

37:46Sheil Kapadia:I feel like you're burying the lead of this game and who the person of this game might be. There's a big return this week. I don't know if you saw who's going to be returning to Denver for the first time since 2012. 2012 I didn't see this note yeah so the alumni of the game is going to be Tim Tebow who will be returning to Empower Field for the first time in 14 years when he won that playoff game with an 80 yard touchdown pass to Marius Thomas has not been back since they're bringing him in to be the alumni of the game plant the flag whatever it is that they do there now here's kind of like another note and maybe some showmanship here is Tebow's like a Jacksonville guy.

38:32Sheil Kapadia:That was like his home area team. He also ended his career technically as a Jaguar when he was brought in by Urban Meyer to play tight end for the hometown Jaguars. And apparently, he's like, I don't feel comfortable assigning him a mentor to Bo Nix, but Bo Nix said he loved watching him growing up and this was his favorite quarterback and they have since built some sort of relationship so I don't know why it is that they picked Tim Tebow for this game after 14 years if it is or is not showmanship but there's going to be a guy and like say what you about Tim Tebow and his NFL career and everybody you know can laugh at him and say he wasn't a good quarterback whatever that was a huge moment for the Broncos franchise and had they not gotten Peyton Manning might have been their last huge moment before they went on those Super Bowl runs?

39:27Sheil Kapadia:They had to get Peyton Manning.

39:29Tom Pelissero:Well, because it was the only way that people would shut up about Tim Tebow. There's a lot of reasons. But you remember Peyton, he didn't play in 2012. He had neck surgeries and nobody knew if he was ever going to be able to play again. So the Colts cut him loose. They reboot with Andrew Luck. Denver was in a spot where people were so obsessed with Tim Tebow that they couldn't just go, you know, bring in whoever off the street and say, well, here's another good quarterback. It would have been, no, it would have been pandemonium. Like, Tebow was on that level. There's different reasons with all these guys, but it's in like a Colin Kaepernick, Shadur Sanders, like Cam Newton.

40:12Tom Pelissero:The people that you can't have a rational conversation about, because people are so passionate about those people and those players, and Tebow was there. That touchdown pass, Billy, look up what Tebow's stats were in that game. If I remember correctly, he basically didn't complete passes most of the game and then drops back and it's against the Steelers and just heaves one down the sideline and the place goes absolutely nuts. It's the winning touchdowns that defines the best moment of his career. You had to do something. Peyton Manning, even at that late stage where he didn't have much arm left, he had more in 2013 that he did a couple years later when they won the Super Bowl.

40:53Tom Pelissero:And it was like, it pained me watching Peyton Manning trying to throw the football at that point. But then the full circle back to, there were, I don't even think Tebow playing tight end was top 10 weird things with the Jaguars in that season, which I think was 2021 with Urban Meyer. There were so many bizarre things. He had Travis Etienne playing slot receiver. He had the meeting with the coaches where he explained that he's a winner and they're all losers and like all these different things but like Tebow at tight end is up there for the funniest strangest asides to the less than a year Urban Meyer was an NFL head coach.

41:32Tom Pelissero:What were his stats Billy?

41:32Sheil Kapadia:He was 10 of 21, 316 passing yards but then 316 you had 80 to that on that one play. Listen his rating was 125.6 his QBR was 96.7 like on the stats It doesn't look terrible.

41:46Tom Pelissero:But he completed nine passes in regulation. Yeah. For a lot of yards, obviously. But nine passes. Like that, it just, you know, I can still remember like the draft day scene. Remember, it was Josh McDaniels was the coach. And they get Tebow at 20, whatever, 22 maybe. And he's like going nuts. And Josh is hugging everybody and they're pumped up about it. Josh was gone before this entire thing happened. You know, with Tebow having that play in the playoffs. but it's just like all these ripple effects of all these different decisions and somehow all lines here, she'll trace back to Tim Tebow. Listen, Liam Cohen, I just want you to know if you need some more fuel for your disrespect campaign, Sheil Kapadia at the Ringer NFL show tried to give you some credit, tried to point out how good the Jaguars were and Billy Gill is so bored by your team and thinks you're so irrelevant and thinks no one cares about you that he got us into a Tim Tebow conversation.

42:45Mr. Cohen. All right, Coach Cohen. Okay, listen, I'm just saying, if you need to have something that Saturday night meeting in Denver, you're at the hotel, you're trying to get the guys fired up, we can, I'm sure producer Chris can get you a clip of this and you can play that for your entire team.

43:04Tom Pelissero:Don't forget. Don't forget we get Robert Sala versus Liam Cohen week 10 and 12 because he's now with the Titans. You remember the whole signs? They steal signs better than anybody and Liam took it personally. It's one of the weirdest post-game interactions where it's Liam getting pissed. Then Sal is going, I was giving you a compliment. I was giving you a compliment. And like that was the whole post-game interaction. Go ahead, Billy.

43:28Sheil Kapadia:I don't know how you would rank like moments. So like there's the moments in NFL history. You're like, I know exactly where I was when that happened, right? The Tim Tebow 80-yard touchdown is not there because I have no clue where I was when that happened. But I remember when it happened, like seeing it live, because I believe it was first game of overtime or first play of overtime, right? Like it was right away that that happened. It was like a broken cover. It was like, how did this happen? So I don't know where I was. I don't remember that. I remember when it happened, I was like, oh my God, like I cannot believe what we just saw.

44:00Sheil Kapadia:It was pandemonium in the stadium. But again, it wasn't the level that I know where I was. But it was a huge moment for the franchise.

44:07Tom Pelissero:I think we should do, this is probably an off-season joint, so someone remind me about this in like six months. We should definitely do a top moments you remember where you were. But they have to be not just like great play. They have to be something quirky. I feel like we could have an endless list of those moments. My mind went straight to the butt fumble. As you were describing that, I'm like, I have a terrible memory. I'm not going to be able to remember any of these. All right, let me see where my mind goes. My head was in Jim Harbaugh versus Jim Schwartz postgame and chasing each other off the field and PR guy Bob Lang getting in between them.

44:44Tom Pelissero:Like, all time, all time moment. Billy, your main character, week two.

44:50Sheil Kapadia:My moment was Antonio Brown burned his feet training when he was on the Raiders and he couldn't walk anymore because he burned his feet. He froze his feet in the hyperbaric chamber,

45:02Tom Pelissero:the cryo chamber, and he froze off the bottom of his feet.

45:08Sheil Kapadia:So my main character for this week, I went back and forth because I knew the game. I knew what we wanted to do, but I couldn't figure out who the main character was. So my main character is Romeo Dobbs. I was going back and forth and I was like, who do we pick from this team? Who is it that we really need to focus on? Should we do Drake May? I feel like we do Drake May a little bit too much. So Romeo Dobbs has a moment here. And Tom, I'm wondering because you're an insider, you're plugged in, you know all of this information. So Romeo Dobbs, he's brought in. He's there to effectively replace Stefan Diggs.

45:45Sheil Kapadia:He signs a four-year contract. I think$39 million guaranteed. He can get up into like the$68 to$80 million range. So he had no receptions last week, three targets. It was not a great debut. But they also brought in A.J. Brown, who during the offseason, you know, Diana was very strong. Longruchini was like, this is a move that they're going to make. This is a move they're going to make. Pissed off all of the Eagles fans are like, this is, she's just making this up. This is a whole situation, right? So they bring in Romeo Dobbs months before. That ended up being true. They were trying to trade for AJ Brown.

46:14Sheil Kapadia:But I'm wondering if when they brought him in, he thought he was going to be the number one. And then when he wasn't the number one, if there was kind of a mixed feeling. And I'm wondering what you know or what you heard on that situation. because of the injury to A.J. Brown now, he has the ability to step up, which we didn't see him do last week. So did he think he was going to be the number one?

46:37Tom Pelissero:He was getting paid, is getting paid, like a high-end number two. 20 is not the mark for, you know, you're talking 30 and now$40 million a year. It's a very good, solid contract for a guy who, remember this, Romeo Dobbs, it was not that long ago, was upset with his role in Green Bay. He left practice. He got suspended for conduct detrimental to the team. So there's a history of maybe a little bit of riding the wave of emotions that he has. And lest we forget, he had a drop in that game against Seattle that felt like one of those gut punch, this is not going to be our night type of moments. I don't know that that flips the entire game.

47:21Tom Pelissero:Seattle, even with Drew Locke in there, seemed pretty well in control for a lot of it. But it was a huge play. And I know Vrabel was asked this week about, you know, what do you say to him? And it's basically like, guys, drop passes. And that's the thing we always have to remember is it's like, you know, the greatest coaching point is always, catch the ball. It's like, yeah, we know. You don't need to yell that. There's no need. So I appreciated how Vrabel was just like, guys, drop passes. Like, he's got to come back and play well. But to your point, Billy, now with A.J. Brown out, Romeo is not going to just like slide into the A.J.

47:54Tom Pelissero:role because AJ is all outside and try to get him isolated, you know, singled up and go attack that matchup. Romeo can move around the formation. I anticipate that between him and some of the other receivers, they're kind of going to take a multifaceted approach here. But taking AJ Brown out definitely changes how you game plan, Shield. If you're Josh McDaniels, you know, you liked having, you could put AJ Brown out there and let him go one-on-one against somebody all the time. Now, yeah, I think there is more pressure on Romeo Dobbs. There's no doubt about it because not only did you pay him and the fans know that you got paid, you also had the big drop last week.

48:31Tom Pelissero:And now you're clearly the number one guy, at least from a perception standpoint. It's a huge week as you're also trying to bring your quarterback out of, what was it? I mean, frankly, a really awful performance and uncharacteristic for Drake May in Seattle. And then the other thing is Patriots fans are so fired up about this Kayshaun Booty trade. It's like his legend grows every time that they, You know, every time that they're going to have an offensive performance, that's not great. They're like, why did we trade Kayshaun Booty? But I think for Josh McDaniels and this Patriots offense up front, they got, they have to figure out how to protect to get Romeo Dobbs and these other guys, the ball.

49:06And I do think it's a big spot to not have AJ Brown, where you can just throw him a slant and it could turn into a 35 yard gain, gain because he's so physical and so good after the catch, because that's what I would be concerned about if I were a Patriots fan going into this game. and they're four and a half point favorites. They don't want to lose. They don't want to go 0-2. They've got a tough schedule here the next two weeks. But in the offseason, they tried to address the offensive line with signing Elijah Veritaker, with moving the center, Jared Wilson over one spot. And then obviously in the first round with Caleb Lomu.

49:39But like, I'm not convinced it's a good offensive line. And this Steelers defense, I know it was the Falcons last week, but it's just like they have guys up front. When they're healthy, TJ Watt, Cam Hayward, Alex Highsmith. I mean, they are deep where they can really rotate guys in and out. I think they've got a good defensive coordinator in Patrick Graham. So if we're kind of cooking up, what's the recipe here for an upset for the Steelers? I think it's one of those games where maybe you're watching red zone and it's like, oh, there's TJ Watt again, sack fumble, Steelers are in the red zone already and they take the lead here in the second quarter.

50:13I think that's the big thing I'm watching with this game.

50:15Sheil Kapadia:I think this will be a first real test for both teams also, right? Because last week, you know, if you're the Patriots, you're playing the Seahawks, defending Super Bowl champions. You can look bad against the Seahawks, right? And if you're the Steelers, you can look good against the Falcons. So it's going to be an actual test. You know, TJ Walk looked good last week. He had the two sacks. He had the interception return for a touchdown. Alex Hyas has two sacks. So it's going to be a tough game. I didn't want to make Drake May the main character, but he kind of is the main character of this situation because you did have the questions last year, how much did the Patriots actually benefit from that softer schedule?

50:51Sheil Kapadia:So last year, the opponent win rate was 410, right? Which was the worst, I think, that it's been in 20 years. They were seven and three in one score games, which really could go one way or another. They were very lucky with a turnover margin where they went from minus 11 the year before to plus three. So that is something that, you know, also you can improve on, but that can go either way. Last year, they were also very good in the first quarter and they were good in first quarter success rate and first downs, right? Last week, they didn't score a touchdown until the second quarter. And last week, the Steelers allowed a touchdown to the Falcons in the first quarter, but then they kind of clamped down.

51:27Sheil Kapadia:So these are things that you start looking at as the season progresses and you start actually figuring out how good were the Patriots last year? And will there be kind of like a regression to the mean this year because they're playing a tougher schedule? If they're not doing the things that made them successful last year, like scoring early, scoring often, and having successful first downs. And here's the other big thing to add to that is that they were the healthiest team in the NFL last year. When you look at that adjusted games loss metric, which kind of tracks that stuff at the end of every season.

51:58And Mike Vrabel in August is like, I don't really like the depth on our football team. And I'm like, I agree with you. I agree with you, Mike. And now you look at it and they're only in week two. AJ Brown's out. Carlton Davis, we don't know if the corner, I think as we record this is going to play in this football game. He's had a neck injury. So it's kind of like, you know, some of the flaws on the roster that when all your starters are healthy, you're like, okay, we can make up for those. It's not a big deal. Once the backups start to get in there, it becomes a lot more difficult. And that's something to track with this Patriots team as well.

52:30Tom Pelissero:Travion Henderson, full participant in practice yesterday, spoke with the media, which is since, you know, for 25 years, that's been the tell that a guy's playing, because if you're not playing that week, They hide you in the back room and don't have you out there for the media availability. So you would hope that having that level of a back in the backfield also is something that's going to help the Patriots. So I will admit, you talked about T.J. Watt, Billy. I had the thought, getting the new Sunday morning Miles Garrett's going on IR out at least four games, and then watching T.J. Watt single-handedly take over.

53:02Tom Pelissero:I started to think, is T.J. Watt going to win another NFL defensive player of the year? I know that he's a little bit in an advanced age, but he's on a team that's going to, you know, they're going to play good, solid defense. He does have some other marquee players around him. He does have balance in the pass rush with Highsmith. I wouldn't be surprised. Based on everything I've heard, how he's attacked training camp, how he's looked, and then watching him in week one and what he did in the second half, that guy might have a chance to be the best defensive player of football again, which is a pretty wild thing to say.

53:30Sheil Kapadia:Could you imagine being J.J. Watt, having like this storied career, Hall of Famer, and it's like you're the second best in your family.

53:37Tom Pelissero:Well, TJ stayed healthier. TJ stayed healthier other than the whole lung thing last year. Like he's been pretty healthy, JJ, at the end, especially in Houston. Like he was missing a lot of games, you know? The longevity with TJ, I think, is part of what's impressive out of all this. We still got to make picks on this show. More accurately, Sheil and Billy need to make picks. It's the Ringer 107. We've also got some key injury updates could impact games this weekend. That's after this. A couple quick injury updates. We don't, as we record this, have all the injury reports. But Joe Burrow on the field for the Bengals for the second straight day.

54:15Tom Pelissero:Had some back issues early in the week. From everything that I understand, doesn't sound like this is a major concern. Joe knows his body better than anybody. Full expectation that he's going to play, barring some type of setback before Sunday. They're playing the Texans in Houston. We talked about them on Monday is a team that you start 0-2 against a couple AFC contenders at home. That's not the world you want to live in, even though they were 0-3 and made the playoffs last year. Nico Collins not on the practice field again today. He's had a history of hamstring injuries. At this point, I would say there is virtually zero chance we see Nico Collins play on Sunday against the Bengals.

54:52Tom Pelissero:I get concerned, again, based on the history and where we are in the schedule. Is he going on IR? Is this going to be a multiple-game type of an absence? because if it is, that is a massive player for the Texans to be without at a time that they need to get this thing rolling. Shield, you got the Ringer 107. You know the drill. I turn it over to you. Let's do it. Today's Ringer 107 is brought to you by FanDuel. Make this your most rewarding season. Download the FanDuel app to check out all our 107 picks and boosted teaser every week this season. All right. The Ringer NFL show, guys, went three and two last week.

55:30We're going to stack up those three and two weeks. We're tied for first place with my guy, Tony Bunz, Anthony DeBundo. You can find the standings on TheRinger.com. Here's how it works if you're a new listener. We make four picks against the spread every week and one teaser. I'll explain how a teaser works if you're not sure. When we get there, we'll do four of the picks now. And then the fifth pick will be on social media during the weekend. All right, here we go. First pick, gentlemen. We haven't talked about this game. I don't know that if you're just like a casual NFL fan, you're going to be locked into this one.

56:04But we're going to Atlanta. And my first pick is the Carolina Panthers minus two and a half at the Atlanta Falcons. I kind of just want to pick against the Falcons while they have this weird quarterbacks. If they don't know who their quarterback is going to be, you know, on like Fridays every week, I feel like, and if it's a two and a half point line, I'm just going to take the other team. I thought Bryce Young played really well last week. Jalen Coker looked really good last week. So always the chance that there's some NFC South weirdness and Bajon Robinson runs for like 250 yards. And I will say the Falcons defense played well last week, but I'm going to take the risk a little bit.

56:43Panthers minus two and a half at the Falcons.

56:46Sheil Kapadia:What does Jack Strand have to do to get some playing time? Not get taller. He's a very large man. This is your option. Did you see the video of the drills of the quarterback drills where they're doing the long lunges backwards?

57:00Tom Pelissero:And Cooper Rush just kind of moonwalks back there as slowly as possible. Jack Strand, man, is a big physical athlete. He's like Ryan Mallett if Ryan Mallett ran a 4-5-40. Like, that's Jack Strand. He played D2 football at some small college in Minnesota. An interesting prospect. But I also get where, as much as we all want to see the Jack Strand show, it's like, you got Bijan and Drake London and Pitts. Just get Cooper Rush out there where he can kind of distribute the football. He won a lot of games in Dallas. They got Cooper Rush's record there. I don't blame him for doing that, at least until one of the other guys, Penix or Tua, is healthy enough to go.

57:39Yeah, the two-yard pass where then Bijan Robinson makes like seven people miss and picks up 40. That's a good play. Keep that in the playbook. Lean on that as much as you want to. That looked pretty good at times last week against the Steelers. All right, that's the first pick. Second pick, we're going to Baltimore and I'm taking the Saints plus eight and a half at the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens had a great first week win, week one win. However, it might've been kind of costly. You know, they lose the rookie Jacoby Lane. Zay Flowers has not been practicing this week. Even guys like Trey Hendrickson, Ronnie Stanley, those guys were on the injury report.

58:17So like a lot of their key players, it feels like are not going to be 100 % for this game. That Saints defense was under the radar last year. And the big thing that they do with Brandon Staley is like, we're not going to give up explosive plays. Now, that could result in Derrick Henry running for 200 yards in this game. Yes, that wouldn't shock me. But at the same time, just throwing over the top of their DBs, that's what they prioritize over everything else. And so I think they're at least going to make the Ravens work for it a little bit. Tyler Shug, he'll chuck it. You know, you got to look at some of the times the backdoor covers.

58:47Like they could, the Saints could be getting dominated in this game. Down 14. They get the ball with two minutes left. It doesn't really matter, but they drive the field and they score a touchdown. So I'm taking the Saints here plus eight and a half. I just think it's kind of a big number. Billy, I like it. Oh, you do? I do like it, Billy. I like to read your facial expressions. When Billy goes silent and just goes, you know, something's on. He said it all.

59:12Sheil Kapadia:I don't know what to say. Look, here's the thing, right? Sheil's got the hot hand, so I'm not going to question him. He has us right now as a show in first place in the Ringer 107. So, Sheil, if you're feeling this, like, you keep going, man. I'm not going to doubt you. I like that. Good teammates right there. All right. They're not going to make fun of me. You can make fun of me after the fact, you know, when the Ravens win. Oh, by 40, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Or just text me, yeah, like, you know, 2 o 'clock on Sunday afternoon. What were you thinking with that pick? All right. Third one here. we're going with the 49ers minus 13 and a half at home, Billy, sorry, against your Miami Dolphins.

59:49It's okay. I'm just not going to overthink it here. Kyle Shanahan with what looks like a pretty healthy offense going up against one of the worst defensive depth charts in the NFL. Sure, weird stuff could happen, special teams, turnovers, but it's just like series to series. I don't think the Dolphins are going to stop that 49ers offense. And I was thinking, we probably didn't talk enough about that 49ers defense after that game against the Rams. I mean, Raheem Morris, I thought coached a very good game for them. Fred Warner looked 100%. They looked healthy. So I like the blowout potential here.

1:00:21Maybe we get stung with the backdoor cover, but I like the blowout potential for the 49ers against the Dolphins.

1:00:28Sheil Kapadia:So the Dolphins and the 49ers are playing. Obviously, there was that game in Australia between the 49ers and the Rams. The Rams get the extra day off where they have Monday and the 49ers get the Dolphins. So they basically have a semi-bye week as long as everyone stays healthy, Like, don't go out there. Don't get hurt. Like kind of get back in the swing of things and we'll see you next week for the 49ers. I don't think it's going to be close. I heard someone say, I think it might've been Joe House with Bill. I heard someone say like, we're going to get a real idea of who the Dolphins are this week.

1:00:52Sheil Kapadia:And it's like, I think we know who the Dolphins are. Like, I don't think this is the week where we're going to get a good idea of who the Dolphins are. Like, we know. They may not win a game this year.

1:01:01Tom Pelissero:Bobby Sloick, who's the Dolphins offensive coordinator, former Kyle Shanahan assistant. And Bobby Slocke and D 'Amico Ryan's actually shared an office when they were both quality control coaches for San Francisco early in the Kyle Shanahan tenure. So there's going to be no surprises. Obviously, you know, Bobby's a really bright coach, but it's like their scheme has a lot of similarities to what San Francisco runs. You're not going to be able to surprise people and catch them off guard. That Miami team, like watching them last week, they're a well-coached group. They're just not that talented. it.

1:01:31Tom Pelissero:It's the youngest team in the NFL going up against the oldest team in the NFL in San Francisco. And, you know, lest anybody think, you know, it was just the Rams and the travel and all this stuff. I had one Rams coach tell me after that game when I was asking kind of what happened, it was just, that's the best team that we're going to face this season. That's how strong the 49ers are. Now, can they withstand injuries? Can they withstand all the, you know, all the different things that could happen through the year? We already saw they lost is on scribbling for like the next 10 weeks. You know, if they lose, if you were to lose a kill, you lose a McCaffrey.

1:02:05Tom Pelissero:Obviously that changes the game, but it's a really good veteran group. They got some juice, you know, they brought the linebackers back together with Dre Greenlaw coming back and rejoining Fred Warner. Debo being back. That was the best Debo we've seen in like three years. You know, let's see, because older teams, we talked about with the Rams and now Myles Garrett's on IR. Older teams, it's harder to stay healthy just statistically, But week two against these Dolphins, it's an uphill battle for Miami. Put it that way.

1:02:35Sheil Kapadia:Shield, can I ask Chris to do a favor? So earlier you asked Chris, hey, cut that up and send it to Liam Cohen and the Jaguars and use that as bulletin board material. I would say use that fact from Tom and send that to the Seahawks. Send that to Mike McDonald and be like, you hear what these coaches are saying after that game? This is the toughest team they're going to face all year. Disrespect for the Seahawks again.

1:02:55Tom Pelissero:It's a combo, though. It's the players, but it's also Kyle. I mean, Kyle is the best, maybe the best adjustment coach in the entire NFL. Like with the way that they came out in the third quarter and just tweaked these little things that completely had the Rams bamboozled up front. And they just ran it up the gut. You know, he did a great job, you know, running to the bubble and like doing the different things we see Kyle do. He's just, he had such a great feel for how the game is going to unfold and how you set things up. It's one of his superpowers. and now he's going up against, again, a Miami team, the youngest in the NFL, all the challenges that they've got.

1:03:31Tom Pelissero:I expect them to come out and fight hard. Jeff Halfley, by the way, another former Kyle Shanahan assistant. Like the whole building, we talk about it's Green Bay South. It's also San Francisco East. San Francisco East, yeah. Southeast, yeah. I think that works. All right. Fourth pick here. This is a teaser for those who don't know what a teaser is. Okay. You pick two sides, but you can move the line six points. This is part of the competition. You have to pick a teaser. I'm not telling you. Maybe I would have just picked one game, but we got to pick a teaser here. So here's what we're doing. We are teasing the Bucs.

1:04:07The Bucs are eight and a half point favorites against the Cleveland Browns. We're moving that to two and a half. So the Bucs have to beat the Browns by three for us to cover that side of it. And then we're going to Monday Night Football. I'll be honest. I'm a little nervous about this one.

1:04:22Sheil Kapadia:Dangerous. But the The Rams are seven and a half point favorites against the New York Giants. We tease that down to one and a half. So here are the two things that need to happen for us to win this pick. Bucs need to win by two and a half against the Browns and the Rams need to win by one and a half against the Giants. So those are the two sides there. I really don't think the Bucs played poorly last week against the Bengals. I thought it was just a weird game with turnovers and I still like the Bucs quite a bit. I think they're kind of a little bit of an underrated team there. offensively. I thought they looked good and defensively, I'll just kind of take any defense against Deshaun Watson until he proves me otherwise.

1:05:02Does that mean? I'm sorry, Billy. Come on. I'm sure he's a nice guy. Oh, no. He's not.

1:05:07Tom Pelissero:He's not a nice guy. Deshaun versus Baker for the first time since the Browns shipped off Baker and acquired Deshaun Watson. Oh, I like that. Okay. That makes me feel even better about this.

1:05:18Sheil Kapadia:A little birdie told me, Tom, you're going to have a deep dive in that in the sweep this week.

1:05:21Tom Pelissero:I will have an interesting look back. I've done a lot of digging back into that trade in recent days. So stay tuned for that over the weekend. Real quick, Sheil, I have a quick confession to make. I don't know what the hell you're talking about with the teasing down. I wasn't on this show last week. Can you, for the audience and mostly for me, just re-explain what you mean by that? Yeah, yeah. So it means that the line's 8.5. So you move it 6 points, 8.5 to 2.5. So we get two and a half. Whereas if you were just betting the Bucs, you would get eight and a half. And why do we get that? Because you have to get two picks right.

1:05:59So we have to get that and the Rams. Correct. If we don't get the Bucs and the Rams correct, then we lose the pick. If one of them doesn't get it. So you're counting on two teams coming through for you versus one team there. So there you go. Those are the rules. By the way, where can we read or subscribe to The Sweep?

1:06:21Tom Pelissero:Yeah, good question. It's on Substack. So if you go to tompelicero.substack.com or come close to spelling my name correctly and Google it, it'll pop up. It's called The Sweep with Tom Pelicero. All the good stuff that you should be thinking about and what you should be thinking about next. We do it every week. So finally getting in a rhythm since I'm not editing things on a 15-hour time difference like last week. So it should be a good one. There you go. Check out the sweep bar. So the second game there is the Rams, Monday night. Again, they host the Giants. We just need them to win by one and a half.

1:06:54So there's a scenario here where the Giants really beat them up up front. That has me a little nervous. That Giants' own line looked good last week. Giants have some pass rush. But also, the Giants' defense was not great last week. They were only on the field for six possessions, and the Cowboys scored three touchdowns. I think that gets lost a little bit. It was really all the Giants offense just possessing the football. So I was going to ask you, Tom, because there's this theory about the Australia stuff. And I know we've talked about this a million times, but that the 49ers made the best decision to win that game.

1:07:26But the Rams might have made the best decision for the season because they're going to get reacclimated to their usual time zone quicker. Is that something you heard? Is there any truth to this? Can this help us get the Rams to beat the Giants by one and a half points, at least on Monday night?

1:07:41Tom Pelissero:What Sean McVay told us was he did, they experimented with staffers and players and charted a lot of different things. He also talked to athletes, like people do Ironmans around the world about like, how do they do it? And the feedback from everyone was, no, getting there isn't the problem. Coming back is the problem. That's where you get slammed. I don't know that it makes a massive difference because they got 11 days in between games, essentially. So by the time we get to Monday night, are they really feeling the effects? It's what, Friday? I don't have to play a football game, but I feel spectacular.

1:08:13Tom Pelissero:And I didn't get back until 1 a.m. Sunday on multiple delayed connecting flights. I don't know that it's going to make a big difference for either team. And I don't know that it made a big difference in the opener either. But I would bet we'll be talking about it again because the NFL, I'm confident, I think, I don't know, that the NFL will be in Australia regularly, particularly over the next five or six years until the 2032 Brisbane games to promote flag football and all the various initiatives here. So buckle up. Can't wait to be back there next year. That's to you, Sean McVay. I like to say,

1:08:48Sheil Kapadia:we're never playing there again. I never want to go back to Austin. Yeah.

1:08:53Tom Pelissero:That was amazing. If he had won, maybe he feels good. Yeah, that's true. A tiny bit different about it. So that's the T. So those are the picks here. We've got to recap them. We've got Panthers minus two and a half at Atlanta. We've got Saints plus eight and a half at Baltimore. We've got 49ers minus 13 and a half at home against Miami. And then the tease is Bucks minus two and a half at home against the Browns combined with Rams minus one and a half at home against the Giants. And then you can see our fifth pick on social media this weekend. So yes, Billy.

1:09:31Sheil Kapadia:Sheo, I saw a fun stat, not an advanced stat that you would necessarily like or see, but I saw it during the Bills game last night that's applicable to the Browns game. So Josh Allen has nine total touchdowns in five days. Deshaun Watson has eight total touchdowns in 1 ,041 days. And that comes courtesy of Anthony Lima of CBS 19 and the fan in Cleveland. So to your point, Deshaun's going to have to prove that he can do this to a lot of people. There you go. I like it. Let's get another three and two week. Today's Ringer 107 was brought to you by FanDuel. Download the app now to find all of our 107 picks and make this your most rewarding season.

1:10:09FanDuel, play your game. Odds subject to change.

1:10:13Tom Pelissero:Real quick, Shield. Do you feel any worse about that Saints pick knowing that Ronnie Stanley, Trey Hendrickson, Zay Flowers, all back on the practice field as we speak and as we record this? See, the timing of this, you know, it does hurt a little bit. Now, listen, if I were not a man of honor, I would say we are not live. And we can redo that segment. Let me go look at what the line is. But you know what? I'm a man of honor. And Tyler Shug, you know what? They didn't believe in Liam Cohen. They don't believe in Mike McDonald. And some people don't believe in you. But you know what? You're going to throw some bombs downfield to Devon Vele this week.

1:10:51And you're going to make the Ringer NFL show look smart. So there you go.

1:10:55Tom Pelissero:Said like a true psycho fan. All right, we are back on Monday, the Ringer NFL show. We're on every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Appreciate you all being here. Juna, Chris, behind the scenes. For Billy, Sheel, I'm Tom. Enjoy the weekend, everybody. See you.

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