The Packers Are in Panic Mode and the Main Characters for Week 3

19:51Sheil Kapadia:I found additional context to this quote. After the game, I bought you some time there. B. John Robinson told Prime Video, quote, I don't know if he drank some coffee or something, but he said this speech. It was like Martin Luther King was in there. I want to know more about this speech. Was Kevin mic'd up?

20:13Tom Pelissero:I love Kevin, but like that is hard to take a stretch. I mean, it's the thing, Tom, is that he's even keel, right? That's the fan's greatest strength. That's the thing. Now, I've seen some of his postgame. He can turn it on. He has those abilities. But, yeah, I've got a lot of questions. Almost as many questions about how C.J. Henderson, who is the ninth overall pick in 2020 and is on his fifth team last night, played like prime Deion Sanders out there. He should have switched numbers with Mike Hughes. It would have looked a little bit more on par in the number 21. Jersey. We got to take a break.

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23:14Tom Pelissero:This segment sponsored by Orgain. It is week three. Sunday is coming up. Tons of great storylines, great games. Let's dive in to the weekly feature. It is our main characters for the week three Sunday of the season. And I want to kick this off with a quarterback who had quite a run in the 2025 season right up until the last game. Drake May, one of, if not the breakout star in the entire league, who has had a bumpy ride going back to that Super Bowl. He wasn't totally healthy. He was dealing with a shoulder injury. Comes out in week one of this season in Seattle and plays maybe the worst game that he's played, certainly the worst game since Mike Vrabel and Josh McDaniels got there.

24:00Tom Pelissero:Last week, they beat the Steelers, but it wasn't exactly an offensive powerhouse performance. Right now, Drake May, one touchdown pass, four interceptions through the first two games of the season. He has the lowest passer rating of the 31 qualified passers in the league, several points behind Justin Herbert, who we've talked a lot about. For Drake May this week, he's got the Jaguars. These are the types of games that the Patriots, if you're going to make another run, you're going to go through the playoffs. You got to be able to go on the road and beat a team like Jacksonville. By the way, week four, they're at Buffalo.

24:35Tom Pelissero:You lose this one, it's going to feel like that's, well, if you don't beat the Bills here, you're three games back potentially in the division. It's over at that point. It's a sneaky big game, Shield. And I understand Josh McDaniels is a really good coordinator. You have to adjust a lot of things in offense that's kind of built around A.J. Brown when he goes out in the first half of the opener. but they've got to be able to find a rhythm. Drake May needs to play, it seems, just with that same kind of confidence and energy and swagger that he did last season. I'm interested to see, knowing that the Jaguars and Anthony Campanilli are going to throw a lot at him, what version of Drake May shows up?

25:12Tom Pelissero:Because you know the Drake May that was a pretty good quarterback all last season is in there. Yeah, physically, he still looks good. He can run around. He can throw the ball. I know he's underthrown some passes, but the arm is still there. The big question I would have with Drake May if I were a Patriots fan is you see sometimes with young quarterbacks when early in their career, they're getting hit a lot and they're getting pressured a lot. And last year, he was awesome in those situations. I mean, he was probably the best quarterback in the NFL statistically when he was pressured. But then you have the playoffs and it's happening over and over and over again.

25:46And now you made some changes on the offensive line. But guess what? The offensive line still is not very good this year. And so when you get that constant pressure for a young quarterback, I think you can develop some bad habits. And I think that's part of what we're seeing here with Drake May. I mean, this is not just a blip anymore. If you go back to last year and include the playoffs, which I think sometimes we hand waved it and said, all right, he was injured. Don't make anything about that playoff run. But if you include it, that's now six straight games where they have had a below average offense.

26:16If you look at EPA and the advanced set, they have not had an above average offensive game for six straight outings going back to last year and then to start this year. So that's concerning. Whether it's Josh McDaniels, I know he's taken some heat in New England, whether it's Drake May, you can look at the roster construction and I know AJ Brown's out, but you did get Romeo Dobbs. You were hoping that the offensive line was going to get better. There's really a lot of blame to go around. It is only two weeks, but you're right. you know, this Jaguars team is tough. This is a very good Jaguars team.

26:49You're playing on the road. And if you don't show up in this game, it does feel like it's going to be heightened a little bit going into week four against Buffalo. And if I'm being honest, I like the Jaguars in that game. I think they're a better team than the Patriots right now. I think they're a more balanced team. I think they're probably a more talented team and they're a better coach team. So it's, you know, it's a two and a half point spread. It's kind of like a coin flip type game, but I do like the Jaguars chances here, Billy, better than the Patriots, given what we've seen out of both teams so far.

27:20Sheil Kapadia:The good news about it being a road game for the Patriots is that the Jaguars are in a weird, like two seasons here, right? This game is going to be played at a reduced capacity. So the upper deck's going to be closed. It's going to be a maximum of 42 ,000 people there because they're currently in the process of renovating the stadium. Next year, the Jaguars aren't going to play at home at all. Like they're going to be playing between Orlando and London games, but this year they've already started the construction. And so 40 ,000 people in Jacksonville, I mean, you have to contend with like the Florida weather this week, probably, but there are cold fronts coming oddly where it'll probably be in the upper seventies, eighties.

27:55Sheil Kapadia:So you don't even have the heat factor there. Look, the Patriots defense has allowed 16 points so far this season, right? So if they can keep Trevor Lawrence in check, Drake may just has to kind of slowly be getting it back together. and you know the Jaguars have given up points they gave up 20 points last week to the Broncos they gave up 10 points to the Browns but it's not like they're putting up a ton of points as it is the Browns you know it's 34 point game they ended up being better than we thought last week but you know it's a winnable game and this is one of those games that it's not just within the division and things start going you know down south in the east this could be a playoff seating thing down the road between the Jaguars and the Patriots so you want to be winning these conference games because if they let these go, then this could be the difference between, you know, maybe missing the playoffs by a game, maybe being like a six seed or a seven seed.

28:46Sheil Kapadia:So you can't give him too much time to figure it out. He's got to kind of turn it around now if he's going to.

28:53Tom Pelissero:Sheil, your main character, what do you got for week three? All right, I have a question for you too. You know, normally we like to plan the show beforehand and, you know, we go through it. do you do we want to talk more about Justin Herbert or not that that's my question because I've got like I've got three options here if you know make it Billy you're you're on the internet you're getting the pulse of the people you're reading the comments you know do you feel like people are they Herbert it out are they like we've heard enough we don't want to hear this or are they like give it to us this is a main character for week three help me out here and then I'll tell you

29:27Sheil Kapadia:my tech if we're going to be honest by the way that other game Doug Marone revenge game. We didn't even get into that. He's coming back as a Patriots offensive line coach for the first time since being fired. So keep an eye on Doug Marone. Now, in terms of Herbert, you need to tread very lightly here, Sheil, because you were quote-unquote just reading a text from a friend last week, and you proposed this idea of them trading Justin Herbert to I believe the Vikings at the time, but you probably in your head have also talked yourself into, well, maybe they should trade him to the Giants. So the Chargers fans did not like you just quote unquote reading a text from a friend.

30:04Sheil Kapadia:I'm just a man reading texts.

30:06Tom Pelissero:You're also the casting director of these main characters Shields. So we need it to you to pick your main character. Alright. I'm picking Justin Herbert. If we're just being honest who's a main character for week three? Of course he's a main character. He has been probably the guy who's been most talked about in NFL discourse this entire week. And let me try to do something very difficult here. Okay. I'm going to try to have a rational conversation about Justin Herbert. Do you think we can do it? No. Probably not. But we're going to try. I think so. All right. Smart, normal humans. Yeah. Well, sometimes.

30:39They're at Buffalo. They're big underdogs in this game. They're trying to avoid going 0-3 with Justin Herbert here. Now, the ball knowers are defending Herbert. They're telling you it's not his fault. Most neutral observers are just tired of hearing that this guy's really good because he's in year seven and he's never made it past the wildcard round. So here's where I am at. I'm trying to bring the ball knowers, the everyman, get us all together in a room. Let's have a conversation about Justin Herbert. So that's what we're trying to do here. I don't think Herbert's playing well. I also don't think he's the main problem with the Chargers.

31:16I think he's a good quarterback. And at some point in his career, he's going to have a moment, whether that's he's top five in MVP, whether that's he's in the Super Bowl. There will be some point in Justin Herbert's career where we all look at it and go, it's happened for him. Now, Billy's getting mad at me. Wait a minute. See? See? You can't even have this. I can't even get through one point. All right. What are you upset with, Billy?

31:37Sheil Kapadia:No, it's just like the whole argument is he's got to do something at some point in his career. He just has to. And it hasn't happened yet. So he's going to because he has to. No, well, I'm saying it could be like a Matthew Stafford-like situation. Oh. Where he's just, it's a long time. He could be 33. Maybe something happens with the Chargers. Maybe he's on a different team. And it's like, oh, you know, all the ball knowers. Like, see, we told you all along. He's awesome. Look at this. Bad situation. I think there will be some moment like that. But also, I think it's reasonable if you think I'm a dummy and you disagree with that.

32:10And you're like, get out of here. Justin Herbert's overrated because I think there's this idea that the analytics on Herbert are great. And they're actually not great. The analytics would tell you that he's kind of, he is overrated. I mean, he's finished outside the top 10 in EPA per play four straight seasons. He's quarterbacked the top 10 offense once in six seasons. And that's with different head coaches, different offensive coordinators, different supporting cast. So it's like what I was saying earlier. It's a quarterback analysis. Who do we make excuses for? Like if my homes were having to start, if Josh Allen were having to start, if Lamar Jackson were having to start, I don't know that everyone's like, no, we expect better.

32:48You're at a certain level. So I don't think he can be discussed with those guys. So again, I like that.

32:53Tom Pelissero:Sheel, I'm curious. Why is Justin Herbert in your mind viewed a certain way when you're citing the, as you call them, the nerd stats? There's certainly the no playoff wins. Why do you think he is regarded in a different category than let's say Brock Purdy, who Billy will explain later why he's not one of his top 12 quarterbacks in the NFL? Why is it the opposite effect where Justin Herbert, most people would say top 10 quarterback when some of those other stats don't bear it out. Well, I think most people or the ball knowers would say, if you swapped Herbert and Purdy and gave Herbert Kyle Shanahan and that offense, that he would be putting up monster numbers and we'd be having a totally different narrative about it.

33:39Tom Pelissero:They literally hired Kyle Jr. and Mike McDaniel here. So that's what they're trying. And it's two games, right? It's two games. Yeah. New coordinators, the personnel may not be a perfect fit. The tackles, that's where all your resources are, haven't played well. But it is interesting where, you know, I'm not going to say he's gotten a free pass because he's played really good football at times. And, you know, Stafford's an example. Peyton Manning didn't win a playoff game for like five or six years, I think, at the start of his career too. But there is something here where it seems like we talk about Herbert in a different capacity than maybe some others.

34:14I agree with you. And because isn't a great quarterback you're supposed to be able to make up for stuff? And if this was a situation where he was like top five statistically and the offense was top five statistically and the defense sucked or whatever, then that's an easier conversation to have. It's like he has nothing to do with the defense, but the offense has not been good for once in six years. The offense has been good. The passing game has been good twice in six years and not since his first two seasons. So I felt early in his career, when he first came in, when they had the Terod Taylor thing, I'm like, this guy's a revelation.

34:45He's incredible. Look at this arm. He can move. This guy's going to win an MVP someday. And I just think it's fair to be disappointed with where he is now compared to where we were after two seasons with Justin Herbert. And again, that comes from someone who is still like a believer and thinks it's going to happen at some point. Billy's ready to crush beyond 12 counts. No, no, not crush at all.

35:07Sheil Kapadia:I'm just wondering, could it be as simple when you're saying, why is it that we don't talk about Justin Herbert the same way? could it be as simple as the nerds as you put them and the ball knowers as you put them simply don't want to admit defeat on him like they had this belief in him they thought he was going to be the next coming of whatever and it hasn't happened yet it still could happen right but it hasn't happened yet so instead of just saying like maybe we were wrong on this one it's just well you know he doesn't have the right pieces he didn't have the right oc his head coach who by the way was also one of this beloved figures within the ball-knows and nerd community, Brandon Staley, until he wasn't.

35:48Sheil Kapadia:Well, then it was his fault. So we were able to sacrifice him to not be wrong on Justin Herbert. And Justin's, again, it's two games with Mike McDaniel. But the conversation with Mike McDaniel and Tua was, well, if he had Justin Herbert, things would be totally different. And now he has Justin Herbert and they are not totally different. In fact, they're slightly worse than they were with Tua, which is kind of dumbfounding at this point. But again, it's two games. So is it just, we don't want to admit that maybe we were slightly off on Herbert. Yeah, I think there is a moving of the goalposts is right.

36:18I mean, go back and look at what everyone said, myself included. In August, I was like, Justin Herbert with Mike McDaniel could be one of the stories of the 2026 season. Everybody, I mean, everybody with great offensive mind, teaming up with a quarterback who's got all the physical tools and it doesn't matter if it's not perfect around them. There should be a certain floor there. You know, it shouldn't look like it's looked the first two games. Like if they were, you know, maybe the 10th best offense and they were one and one, now we can be like, all right, give them some time. It's going to happen here.

36:47But to be where they are after two games, I mean, you're right. And even Jim Harbaugh, it's like, even if you're not a big Jim Harbaugh fan, he's literally wins 11 games every year. He's been to a Super Bowl with another organization. He won a national championship in college. It's not like this is some guy they got off the street and was like, all right, you know, go coach these guys. So you got coach, you got offensive coordinator, you've got offensive tackles. It's like these other quarterbacks, you know, that are performing at a high level. They don't always have those same things. So this is a big spot for him.

37:19I mean, they're going to Buffalo and they're huge underdogs. It's a defense that's gettable. You would like to think that if there was something like, you know, if there's something there in the foundation with Harbaugh and Herbert, that this is a week where you would want that duo to respond. And even if they don't win, it's like, okay, that was a step in the right direction. And listen, the Texans came back.

37:43Tom Pelissero:I mean, it's Buffalo and then it's Seattle. This is an absolutely... Okay, that's true. All right, that's true. It's a brutal stretch. I would say this in defense of Justin Herbert and just the entire operation. Like, those are two bad losses. Okay, when you're looking at the schedule, you're thinking, okay, at least we got Arizona and the Raiders to kind of transition into this. It's still so early. They're doing things so differently. and none of it looks in sync. You know, it's not just Herbert. It's, didn't Joe Alt have like three pre-snap penalties last week? You've had dropped balls. Your investment on the line is in the tackles.

38:16Tom Pelissero:They're not playing well. Your center got hurt. You had to shuffle the interior. You don't have a lot of speed on the team. Mike McDaniel's offense is built for speed and they don't have a lot of it. I do think that the offense will improve in part because it can't get a whole lot worse. I mean, there's, I don't think there's any world where we would have sat there and said, Justin Herbert through two games, against the Raiders and the Cardinals will be 30th in passer rating in the NFL. It can't get a whole lot worse. So I do believe it's going to get better. The question is, how quickly can it get better?

38:48Tom Pelissero:It also does occur to me that maybe at some point, playing in the preseason might be a good thing. I think Herbert played his first three preseason snaps ever this year. This is what it looks like when you have new schemes, new coaches. You don't have game reps. I know that we've gotten away from that in general, and September is kind of the preseason now. But not when you're the Chargers and you lose those games. It's one thing to be figuring out your identity in the early going. It's another thing to be figuring out your identity while losing games you have to win before you go into the games that on paper nobody expects you to win.

39:22Tom Pelissero:Billy?

39:22Sheil Kapadia:Well, Sheila, you're saying that he needs to have a moment, and it's coming up. He's going to have to have a moment with this stretch that he has coming up. He has to win these games now. So he's going to have to force these moments and prove that he is the quarterback that a lot of us think he's capable of being. He just hasn't shown so far this season. But you're going to have to win either at Buffalo or at Seattle. You're going to have to win a game like at Kansas City or at the Rams. You have to win these games. Like you just have to or your season's done. And, you know, to follow up, you can relay this to, you know, whoever was mad at me, Billy, for the, you know, reading a text message.

40:00I'm trying to help you here.

40:02Sheil Kapadia:As the kids say, you chose violence today, Shield, because you could have gone in any number of directions in terms of main characters. You could have picked any game. I like Herbert, Billy. Did that not come? I actually like him. But I actually think that if this does go disaster mode for them, I don't think... It's not trading Herbert. I mean, it's going to be another coach. I don't know what they're going to do at GM. But now you're going to have this list of here are all the people that have gotten fired since Justin Herbert. He's a coach killer. came into the league. What is that the answer?

40:33That's the other thing

40:34Tom Pelissero:you have to ask yourself is like, is another change the answer to help Justin Herbert or is it, let's ride this out as bumpy as it might be. Let's look at this as a two-year plan. Jim Harbaugh's got two years left in his contract beyond this one. I don't see the Spanos family eating that money if they lose this season. Justin Herbert also has a no-trade clause. So even if you get big offers, he could go, hey, my fiance lives in LA. I don't want to leave. I'm going to stay here with the Chargers. there's a lot of moving parts. We are pretty early into this entire thing. As I'm looking at Billy, he's got a look on his face like he really wants to say something here.

41:10Sheil Kapadia:No, there's another team in LA with an aging quarterback. Maybe there's a transition plan. If this doesn't work, then your girlfriend doesn't have to move.

41:17Tom Pelissero:And sometimes if a team decides, hey, we want to trade you, that might be a good sign for you to go, all right, you're done with me, I'm done with you. We're not at that point with Justin Herbert. All right, Billy, main character, who do you got for week three?

41:30Sheil Kapadia:I was between two here because she'll kind of had she was like the A plus student that had multiples here that he was going to go to. Then he picked one. So I felt the pressure to have more than one. I'm going to go with Sean Payton. I think this week as a main character. So this is a big game. It's the Rams at the Broncos. It's a measuring stick game. Both of them had disappointing first weeks. Tom was there for the Rams in Australia. That was disappointing. Broncos were in Kansas City. That one was a blowout. Last week, they both had kind of bounce back games, get right games. But I mean, this is this is going to be one of those weeks that we kind of see exactly who the Broncos are.

42:09Sheil Kapadia:They had a game against the Jaguars last week that they won. That was a big AFC win. But this will show us where they are just within the NFL and how they hang with the Rams. The Rams obviously are still a little bit banged up, but it's also a question mark for Sean, because Sean, you know, We talked about a little bit of turmoil earlier this week when Mike McDonald's story came out about Sean Payton and the accusations of cheating. And then there was maybe possibly a confrontation in or outside of an elevator on the floor of a hotel in Indianapolis that ended up being a giant nothing burger, some people say.

42:42Sheil Kapadia:And they didn't really say anything to each other. It's just like, hey, coach, hey, coach. And that was the end of that. He then says he called and reached out to Sean Payton and apologized. And this is a whole embarrassing situation. So now it's a situation where is, is Sean kind of a little bit sensitive? Is he, does he have the toughness to run this hard nose Broncos team that we think they are? He's got to prove it this week against the Rams. He's got an opportunity to have a big win here. Very fun game. I like Sean Payton. It feels like could probably be the main character, like 12 out of 18 weeks,

43:13Tom Pelissero:major main character energy. All major. That's well said major main character energy. I don't think he minds that at all. I was very encouraged by that Broncos game last week. I thought the way their defense really kind of put the clamps down in the second half, their defensive backs played awesome. Riley Moss had a big interception. So this is a tough spot, I think, for the Rams where, you know, it was like, all right, week one, don't overreact. It was weird. Australia travel plans. Week two, they're fine. But it's like they beat the Giants with Jameis Winston. And now I know they've still got the Pukunukua injury.

43:47Maybe we can do a little what's Tom hearing on that one. I know they've got some injuries to the rest of their offense there, but I think this could be a tough spot for the Rams going up against the Broncos team that maybe is more likely to have put week one behind them than this Rams team is.

44:03Tom Pelissero:considering how generally optimistic Sean McVay is about injuries, the fact that he doesn't sound really optimistic about puka is worrisome. I know they've said it's not a sports hernia. It's not a core muscle thing. They don't think it's that. But you're talking about his second injury, because Sean said it's different than the one in camp, to the whole groin psoas area down there. And when you're having repeat issues, if you don't give those time to rest, they're not going to get better. So that would be another huge loss. It didn't deter him at all last week against the Giants. They're also facing a way better defense this week in the Denver Broncos.

44:41Tom Pelissero:Sean is, I think that the whole, it's a classic made for our 2026 society story that Mike McDonald is telling just a funny story that he doesn't think is on the record, even though he probably should have been aware ultimately. And then he gets out and everybody's got to apologize. that's like, these guys don't care. They want to, when they face off in week six, they're going to want to slit each other's throats, not because of that, but because it's a big game. They want to beat each other. That's it. All right. We don't need to, oh man, he hurt my feelings. He said that I was mad at him. Like, I think I mentioned the other day, it's like, no one's surprised that Sean got pissed off at somebody and came at him.

45:22Tom Pelissero:Like, that's just Sean. That's his personality. And that's fine. Then Mike's got a little bit of, you know, serial killer. Like, I'm not going to let you mess with me. Energy to him as well. And so it's a classic type of clash. They come across differently. I don't think, I'm sure we're going to be talking about it going into week six. I don't think that that really had much of an impact in building from everything I understand. In Denver, it's one more thing out there. Sean addressed it once. For this week, it's just, it's a really good game for the Broncos to once again go and show what they could do.

45:53Tom Pelissero:They responded really well. Week one was a disappointment. came back and beat a good Jaguars team at home last week. Let's see what the Rams coming in now. It does feel not a pivot point game, but definitely sort of a, okay, who are we on the level with right now? If anybody said it's Broncos, Rams, and the Super Bowl going into the season, you'd be like, yeah. Sounds like a reasonable argument. Well, here we are getting that game right now in week three. Tons more to come. We got a 49ers injury update to get to. And speaking of the 49ers, It's time for Billy to defend himself against the comments.

46:28Tom Pelissero:How is Brock Purdy not a top 12 quarterback in the NFL? Billy's got his list after this. This episode is brought to you by Ethos. Buying a house is one of those moments where you realize, oh yeah, I have responsibilities now. And if you have a family, you want to know they could stay in that house if something happened to you. Ethos makes life insurance painless. Get a quote in seconds, apply in minutes all online with no medical exam. Take 10 minutes to get covered today with life insurance through Ethos. Get your free quote at ethos.com slash ringer NFL. That is ethos.com slash ringer NFL. Application times may vary, rates may vary.

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48:22Tom Pelissero:ZipRecruiter, the smartest way to hire. Stop us if you've heard this one many, many times over the past several years. 49ers with a concerning injury to a star player popping up on a Friday. Nick Bosa popped his calf. According to ESPN, going to miss at least a few weeks. Added to the list, Bosa was just coming back from a year. He didn't do a whole lot in camp. Looked really good in that opener against the Rams. Now, you know, we'll see if he ends up on injured reserve, but he's not going to be out there this week. And for some time, it seems to come here. 49ers already had their challenges, a wide receiver.

48:59Tom Pelissero:They're signing Brandon Cooks off the street. They're just trying to piece the thing together, which all brings us to the man who so often holds it together. And that is quarterback Brock Purdy. I brought it up on the show the other day. Highest passer rating. He doesn't have the qualifying number of passers. but if you put him up against Lamar and Aaron Rodgers, highest passer rating by some margin, by multiple points in NFL history, I asked you guys if you'd have Brock Purdy in your top five. You both leaned no. Sheil, I don't want to put words in your mouth, but I believe you said probably not.

49:32Tom Pelissero:Probably top 10, not top five. Then Billy, doing what he normally does, which is then just push it a little bit further, said, ah, maybe got him in the top 13. Which when we posted that clip to social media, and my only frame of reference, I'm not sitting there scrolling the comments, but I will see the little red dot that I've got some stuff on Instagram. And I go in there and it's just people murdering Billy over his Brock Purdy take. So, Billy, you challenged yourself even more than we challenged you or the internet challenged you. Give us your top 12 quarterbacks and whether after further thought and examination you found Brock Purdy in there.

50:11Sheil Kapadia:Well, okay. Thank you for the context on the front end because I will say this. people were upset when that clip went out, which I feel like, you know, the whole context wasn't there. Shields said he's a top 10 quarterback. And I said top 13. So no one was mad at Shields saying top 10. And I simply said, maybe there's two more between then 11 and 12 before we get to Brock Birdie. I'm just saying people got very mad at this. I have nothing but nice things to say about Brock Birdie. And if I'm to say he's a top 13 quarterback, there's nothing to say he's not number seven on that list. I'm just saying he's in the top 13 semantically.

50:48Sheil Kapadia:So what I did as Sheil knows, because we did this whole thing when Mike Sandoz list came out, Mike Sandoz goes and he gives a quarterback tears every year. And he goes and he interviews all of these GMs and, you know, coaches and all this stuff, all anonymous, all cowards that don't want to put their name on it. And Mike Sandoz himself, not to call anyone out a coward, because he won't put his name on his own list. He blames everybody else in these anonymous sources. So as Sheil knows every year, I'll do my quarterback tiers as well. But I don't go and I don't source these from other people. I go and I do the work myself.

51:20Sheil Kapadia:So I have the tiers. They're in no particular order, similar to Mike, no particular order, but I have separate tiers. And that's how I get in the top 13-ish. And I'll explain it a little better. Okay. So the first tier we have is top of the mountain. Okay. In the top of the mountain tier, we have Joe Burrow, Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Matthew Stafford. Okay. In no particular order. I think we would all agree top of the mountain, that tier of quarterbacks, right? Are there any debates there so far? I think we'd agree they're all in the top tier. Yes. Sounds fine to me so far.

51:55Tom Pelissero:They're all safely top 10 quarterbacks. Obviously there's variants year to year, but I think most people would say those guys all belong somewhere in their top 10. If not their top five.

52:04Sheil Kapadia:Yes, exact. Okay. Thank you. So again, another important piece of context is these are done before the year. OK, so we don't adjust the rankings during the year based on two weeks performance. That would be very short sighted. So before the season is when these tiers were done. My next tier is I know they can tier slash I think they can tier. OK, and these are quarterbacks that I either know they can or I think they can. All right. This tier is slightly larger.

52:33Tom Pelissero:The little engine that could tier.

52:35Sheil Kapadia:So this tier is Sam, again, no particular order, Sam Darnold, Jalen Hurts. They've done it. We know they can. In the I think they can portion of the I know they can, I think they can, we have Trevor Lawrence, Drake May, who was right there on the doorstep last year, I think, Dak Prescott, Jared Goff, Baker Mayfield. These are I know they can, I think they can, based on what we've seen. and then we go to the following tier, which is I need to see a little more. Okay.

53:06Tom Pelissero:You had 12, by the way, there's your dozen. There's 12 there.

53:11Sheil Kapadia:And I will say this, I will say this, the person who was closest on the list to get out of the, I need to see a little more into the, I know they can, I think they can was Brock Purdy, but we can't just have tiers that have seven, eight, nine people. And then we have to break them into tiers. so this is seven in that last year but not eight or nine so this next tier okay i need to see a little more we have again in no particular order we have justin herbert caleb williams great season need to see a little more bo nicks great season got hurt need to see a little more not sure if he can brock purdy jayden daniels now why is it that brock purdy falls from because you're going to say well you have sam darnold in there he won a super bowl you have jalen hurts in there he won a Super Bowl.

53:59Sheil Kapadia:You know, we have Brock Purdy. He hasn't won a Super Bowl, but he's gotten to a Super Bowl, which is why you have Drake May in the I Know You Can. I think they can, right? The reason is Brock Purdy was in the I Know You Can, I Think You Can tier last season, as Shield knows. This season, he fell out of it in part because of an embarrassing playoff performance. You can't stay in there when you lose 41 to 6 to lose and end your season. You can't get blown out. I know that the wins are not a quarterback stat, right? Well, I'll say that. 51 to 46 for a career, even though it's not a quarterback stat, not that impressive.

54:33Sheil Kapadia:So we need to see a little more. It's not to say that he can't get out of this tier. Wait, what number is that? 51, 46? 51, 46. These are just numbers that we've seen out there on the internet, you know? So these are things that we need to take into consideration. That's not his record. You made it sound like that was his record. That's not Brock Purdy's record. What is 51, 46? These are the... Sheila, if you want to defend your top 10, we'll give you the opportunity to that you say that he's in the top 10, not the top 13. But 41 to 6 is a bad loss, okay? We would agree on that. So we just need to see a little bit more.

55:07Sheil Kapadia:Jaden Daniels is in that tier. He had a great first season. He hasn't been healthy. Caleb Williams, not healthy this year. Bo Nix, we need to see more. Justin Herbert, I think we feel pretty good about that. I need to see more tier for him this year. So that's all I'm saying. I'm not saying that he's necessarily, you know, number 13. I guess technically in this tier, he could go all the way back to 17, not to agitate 49ers fans even more. We just need to see more from him. And I don't think that's unfair to say. All right. So Tom, he doesn't, I do think we have to issue a correction. He's not a top 13 quarterback.

55:40He's a top 17. right. Cause he's somewhere between 13 and 17. I don't know. He cannot get to 12. He just told us he cannot get to 12.

55:49Sheil Kapadia:The last one out of that tier. So he could have been as high as six.

55:54Tom Pelissero:Fundamentally. I don't know how, Brock Purdy, who I think is in year six, and Justin Herbert in year seven, can be in the same category as third-year guys. Right? The guys who have gotten their contract. And I guess where I'm struggling to follow the logic, Sheil, you can comment on this too, is how we're having Trevor Lawrence, Dak Prescott in a tier above Brock Purdy, where both of them have put up numbers. They haven't had the level of playoff success that you would expect. I would have him closer to that than some of the other guys who I do think it's fair. okay, can you put it together over multiple years, which those other quarterbacks, the third-year guys have not yet been able to do.

56:32I would agree with that. I think you could also say, if you swapped Brock Purdy and Sam Darnold in that playoff game last year, what's the score and who wins? And does Brock Purdy go and win a Super Bowl? But I know you like data, 51-46. You don't like to deal on hypotheticals. Let me ask you this.

56:49Tom Pelissero:So I don't want to put words in your mouth. Billy, tell me the leading receiver. Who had the most receiving yards for the 49ers in that playoff game?

56:58Sheil Kapadia:In the playoff game last year?

56:59Tom Pelissero:I will give you seven guesses and you will not get it. As to who Brock Purdy was throwing to. The most receiving yards of any 49ers player in that playoff loss to the Seahawks.

57:11Sheil Kapadia:Last year, you're saying?

57:12Tom Pelissero:This past year, that 41-6 you keep talking about like it's a Brock Purdy stat.

57:16Sheil Kapadia:Yeah.

57:17Tom Pelissero:Tell me who was the leading receiver in yards.

57:20Sheil Kapadia:No cheating. So the 41-6 game, you're saying, hold on. Let me think here. Don't pull up the box score. Just take a guess. Tell me who you think it would be. Let's think here.

57:31Tom Pelissero:You want me to guess, Billy? You got to guess while Billy's taking his time? Demarcus Robinson? Was it? No. No. One guess. No. You got seven guesses between you. Demarcus Robinson's a no. Seven? I don't want seven. Seven guesses. Let's just do one. Keep saying names of guys on the team. You're not going to get it. Yeah, well, it's not McCaffrey, Kittle.

57:49Sheil Kapadia:No, it wasn't McCaffrey or Kittle. Juwan Jennings? No. It wasn't Demarcus Robinson. He already guessed that. It wasn't. Wasn't Kendrick Bourne. Not Kendrick Bourne. No. Was it one of the other tight ends? There was another tight end, wasn't there?

58:06Tom Pelissero:Three deep if I'm not including the McCaffrey and Kittle non-guesses. Not Brian Robinson Jr. Juszczyk. That wasn't him. None of those guys. The answer, final guesses.

58:19Sheil Kapadia:Wasn't Pearsall.

58:20Tom Pelissero:Jake Tonjes was the leading receiver for the 49ers in the playoff game. No offense to Jake, because he was a really good, solid player. He's out for the season with that MCL tear, the required surgery. Let's take the context in. The 49ers, the fact that they got to that game is a credit to everybody who was still upright, including Brock Birdie. Obviously, Mac Jones filled in for a stretch when Birdie was hurt. I think it's hard to hold that against him, knowing what they were dealing with last season.

58:49Sheil Kapadia:Can I make amends? Because I feel like this, you know, I feel like you guys, if I'm going to be blunt, we're bad teammates in this segment and you did not defend this whatsoever. You just threw me to the wolves. The whole point of the segment was for you to defend yourself. Yeah, I will say this. I'm willing, and Sheil, you know, this is unforeseen. We've never done this before. This is not common in any place. I'm willing to move Brock Purdy up a tier to I know they can. I think they can for the season. And I hope for the 49ers and for Brock that they don't make me look foolish in doing so. Don't back down, Billy.

59:28Tom Pelissero:Stand on. Abu is already cutting the social clip that's going to show you defending the list. Don't now change the answer.

59:35Sheil Kapadia:Well, Abu, take out that 51 and 46s. I don't know where that came from.

59:39Tom Pelissero:He's 32 and 15 is the starter, by the way. Yeah.

59:44Sheil Kapadia:All right, you know what? You guys are, you know what? internet 49ers fans Tom is right okay Brock Purdy does not deserve to be a tier higher he deserves to be exactly where he is in the 13 to 17 range so Tom I'm sticking by you as a good teammate Brock's staying there I need to see a little more

1:00:03Tom Pelissero:alright Sheil Ringer 107 we got some picks tell us the standings too it's you and Billy but how is the team Ringer NFL show doing here. Well, real quick, I'll apologize to Mike Sando, my friend Mike Sando for Billy's remarks. What unnecessary shrapnel for Sando who spends more time camped out in Marriott skyways than anyone getting people to talk to these things. We love you, Mike Sando. Billy might be coming for your corner because those were some pretty good tears, but I'm just saying we appreciate what you do as well. All right. So 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.

1:00:52Alright, so the updated standings. The Ringer NFL show in first place. Wow. Six and four through two weeks of the season. 10 picks down. 97 to go.

1:01:07Tom Pelissero:You hit on the tease, right? You hit on the tease last week. No, Tom. I've missed it. You hit Saints. Two weeks in a row. If we didn't have to do the tease, who knows what our record would be? We only lose on the tease. We had the Saints last week. That was a nice pick. We had them plus eight and a half. So, listen, we're just going to stack three and two weeks. We're not trying to be a hero here. That's all we're trying to do. So, for those who don't know how the contest works, you make during this podcast, I will make three picks and one teaser. And then, before the game's on Sunday, there will be an additional pick, making five picks for the week.

1:01:42If you have any questions, Billy's email is somewhere on the internet or in the show notes here. Okay. First pick Carolina Panthers minus two and a half at the Cleveland Browns. It's gone under the radar. This Bryce Young has played maybe his best two game stretch of his career through the first two weeks of this season. I think he looks good. I like a Dave Canales. I think their wide receivers have been good so far this season. And maybe that week one defensive performance against the Bears was a little fluky because they came back last week and their defense looked incredible. So Deshaun Watson's going to start this game at home for the Browns.

1:02:21I think those fans are going to be ready to boo him if things don't go well in the first half of that game. I like the Panthers minus two and a half. How are we feeling?

1:02:31Tom Pelissero:I like it. Good? I think it's good, yeah. My question isn't the booing if he does bad. It's what is the level of cheering if it goes well? Is it that easy to flip around everything? He goes out and throws another bomb to Denzel Boston, who looks like a rookie of the year candidate so far on the first drive. You can't tell me that place isn't going to be pandemonium. It's not. We are simple creatures and people will cheer regardless of how they feel about the past four years if they're looking good on offense. first home game, plus they'd be 2-1. You're right. You're right about that. That could be an under-the-radar story to keep an eye on here this weekend.

1:03:10All right, second pick, the New York Jets, plus 6.5 at the Lions. I know I said the Lions are still the favorite in the NFC North, but right now, that secondary is so rough. The Jets have looked competent. Tough OT loss last week. I didn't like how they handled the end of that game. Obviously, the game management stuff, that's been discussed. Their defense has looked really good through two weeks, but they faced the Titans, and then they faced the Packers in bad weather last week. I'm really curious to see if Aaron Glenn has this defense playing. The hole is going to be greater than the sum of the parts.

1:03:45That's what it's looked like through the first two weeks. Let's keep it going. J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets, plus six and a half at Detroit. All right. Third pick here. We go to Brazil. the Baltimore Ravens minus three and a half against the Cowboys in Brazil. There's questions about the playing surface down there, which in my take on that is always that affects the pass rush, maybe more than anything. So I think we could get a lot of points in this game. I just don't buy that that Cowboys defense is ready for a matchup like this. I don't think they showed much improvement last week against the commanders.

1:04:23I think it was just the commanders and they left some touchdowns on the table. So I think the Ravens offense played well for the most part last week. They learn from that loss to the Saints. They come out and they say, you know what? We're in a different class than this Cowboys team. We're going to beat them by more than three and a half points. So that's the third pick there. And then the teaser. We got to hit on one of these. We got to hit. I think this is the week. Okay. Now you might disagree given what the first leg of this teaser is. For those who don't remember, the teaser means you make two picks and you can move the line six points in any direction.

1:04:57So are you ready for the first leg of this teaser? It's going to shock you. Let's hear it.

1:05:01Tom Pelissero:Bring it on. The Los Angeles Chargers plus 13 and a half at the Bills. Come on, show a little fight. Herbert, Harbaugh, McDaniel. Show me a little fight in Buffalo. Don't get blown out. Plus 13 and a half Chargers at Buffalo. They are seven and a half point underdogs in this game. We're moving that up to 13 and a half. Let's see how I'm feeling about Justin Herbert by the time we get to Sunday night. So that's one leg. Other leg, Seattle Seahawks down to one and a half against the Commander. So they are seven and a half point favorites. They just got to cover one and a half. If they do that at Washington, if the Chargers cover 13 and a half, then we win the T.

1:05:47So those are the picks. The last pick will be on social media or on the Ringer later this weekend. But to recap real quick, Panthers minus two and a half at Cleveland. Jets plus six and a half at Detroit. Ravens minus three and a half against the Cowboys in Brazil. And then the teaser, Chargers plus 13 and a half. Seahawks minus one and a half. Those are the Ringer 107 picks. Today's Ringer 107 is brought to you by FanDuel. Download the app now to find all our 107 picks and make this your most rewarding season. FanDuel, play your game. odds subject to change. So there you go.

1:06:27Tom Pelissero:Billy, how are you feeling about that Chargers?

1:06:30Sheil Kapadia:I feel like we're unnecessarily playing with fire on that game. You're just trying to kind of... I feel like you're feeling good in first place and you're just like, let's do something crazy here. Let's see how good we are at this. It wouldn't be fun if you're just picking

1:06:44Tom Pelissero:chalk. I like it. Shields pushing the envelope, picking the games, the ones everyone's going to be locked into. It's part of the magic. I just want to come back and be able to say, see, I believe in you, Herbert, if he plays well.

1:06:56Sheil Kapadia:After that segment earlier. I believe in your ability to not lose by 14 points. You got to start somewhere. Yeah, I guess. It's one bar to clear for the Chargers this week. I figured out what the 51 and 46 was. 51 games played, 46 starts. A couple columns over. If we did merch, I would buy a regular NFL shirt that just says 51-46.

1:07:22Tom Pelissero:The letter contact. The look on my face and Shields were both going, how has he started 97 games?

1:07:31Sheil Kapadia:It didn't feel right when I said it too, but I had it in my notes and I was like, this is the danger of scrolling on two different computers and jotting it down. Listen, my daughter's sick. Not to make excuses. My dog had a tooth removed. There's a lot going on in the Gill household right now. Yeah. Okay. All right. Good stuff. Hopefully everyone gets well soon. So it's their fault, not mine, if anyone's going to be back at home. And, Sheil, I wouldn't put it on merch yet because I'm sure I'm going to say something dumber. It's only week three.

1:07:58Tom Pelissero:Good stuff, fellas. Thanks to everybody for watching, for listening. We are back with another one on Monday. We're on every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Spotify, Netflix, everywhere you get your podcasts. I'm sure there's some other really cool stuff that I don't even know about yet. And someone will inform me later. So thanks to Arjuna, Chris, the whole team behind the scenes for Sheil. And Billy, I'm Tom Seager.

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