Seahawks 17, Broncos 16: Geno's not writing back! (MNF Recap)

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Speaker 1: Let's Homer picked it up, gritty play and sniff flips put it up and caught just Lee touchdown. What a start. Wilson float said, there's Judy pass called Judy still going down inside to and touchdown Jun for bunks from McManus, Mexican. A lot of people were wondering if Geno Smith could hold his own here against his Hall of Fame predecessor coming back to town, and I say he did that and more I would agree with that. A lot of people were wondering, that's right, Joe Buck, but I wasn't, and neither was my guest tonight, Stephen Ruiz, my my co president, I would say in Geno Nation, over the years, it's had it happened the Seattle Seahawks one seventeen sixteen on Monday Night Football, in the return of Russell Wilson. There is so much to get to in this game, but Steven Uh for people that don't know a writer at the Ringer does great stuff. We can get into all that later, But most importantly has always believed, like me, not just as a bit, but in his heart, that Geno Smith was better than people gave him credit for. It. Now is here he just won this actual game. It's an actual thing that happened in the year. I don't care if they go one in sixteen. They can never take this night away from us. How are you feeling? Never? Never? It was a long time coming, man, It was a long time coming. There's been a lot of starts and stops to the Geno Nation agenda. Did you ever think this day would come? Because I kept thinking during the game, and we will go through it all and really give a real breakdown. And there's obviously more to talk about than other than Gino Smith, but his performance, which was fantastic, is certainly a big story. There were moments throughout the game where I was just like, I kind of can't believe this, because I didn't think he'd ever really get a chance as a week one starter, much less as a week one starter on the team, that he just you know, understudied for Russell Wilson in this moment, and that the crowd would be chanting g No Gino like throughout the game early often, and then to finish it like I it just uh, I don't know. I was gonna say, I'm speechless, but all I am doing is honking too much. Uh, let's let's get into the game of it all, Stephen Um. I think let's start at the end and move our way backwards, because as amazing as Gino was in the first half of this game, in the in the Seahawks only had three possessions in the second half. Uh, the story at the game at the end of the game was obviously that last possession with Russell Wilson and Nathaniel Hackett, And I do kind of want to go over that first because that's that was the most bizarre four minute drive to end the game that I can remember, with Nathaniel Hackett and Russell Wilson both simultaneously sort of freezing up and then ending up going for that. Yeah, that long mid six d yard field goal for Brandon McManus, just casually, just asking your kicker to break an NFL record, the second longest kick in NFL history, just casually. You had plenty of time, But like I felt like we spent so much time during the offseason discussing whether, like Russell Wilson will work in this offense and how he left Seattle, and I feel like Nathaniel Hackett, being a first year coach and a guy that's kind of it feels like he's out of his depth already, and he hasn't had like a great He hasn't had multiple years like as a good offensive coordinator. He had the years with Green Bay. But that was obviously Matt Lafleur was calling the plays. This was as rough as a first game as you can come up with. It was not even just the field goal, going back to drive before that, the fourth down, I think he was from the nine yard line. You have Russell Wilson, you're paying him a quarter billion dollars. You gotta go for it there. The field goal just cuts the You had a one possession, you cut it another one possession, and then you end up with the sixty four yard field goal. Just a horror show for Nathaniel Hackett. Yeah, so I'm I'm like the worst podcast sos here. This is why we have Dan hansis usually do it. He sets up the game, he puts it all in order. He would probably let the guests speak a little more than like ten seconds in the first three minutes of the show. But I'm just sort of losing my mind. But to set the table, Russell Wilson and the Broncos we're down. As you mentioned seventeen thirteen heading into the fourth quarter, there had been no scoring in the third quarter at all. The Broncos had moved the ball incredibly well, I would say throughout the night. They ended up with four hundred and thirty three yards, which is a lot when you only had seven reel possessions, eight reel possessions in that game. That they were moving the ball well, They're winning physically, and in the fourth quarter it felt like they were getting anything they want, but they kept getting stopped inside the ten yard line. And you mentioned one of them, not where they lost the fumble, but where they end up kicking that field goal. They get a quick three and out from Gino was the first three and out of the game by either side, and then they get the ball back with four minutes and two seconds left in all three time outs. And the thought there is in a perfect world, we have all the time in the world. We are kind of getting what we want for the most part. We have crazy mismatches on the outside. Are running game for the most part has been great. Uh And Russell Wilson's effect of getting the ball out quickly kind of in the flat to his tight ends and and he should be able to move the ball down the field slowly, try to burn all the clock and go win the ball game on a field goal. They've gotten into field goal range literally every possession that they had the whole game. Let's do that, And that was apparently what they were trying to do early in the drive. They weren't taking um any rush with the all, They're letting the play cock go down. Seattle actually ends up using a time out trying to challenge a call that didn't work, ends up being a first down for Denver, and they're taking their time, and I'm actually thinking this is really smart at some point, like when did you realize that they actually had no idea what they were doing. They were wasting their time and they wouldn't even use those timeouts in the end. It was that last snap like, and their pre snap operation was bad all game like. It felt like Russell Wilson was fighting the play clock all game long, and I thought Russ was gonna call hYP there and all of a sudden he calls time out and then the kicking unit comes on, and then the funny thing is Nathaniel Hackett starts to use his time outs after the Seahawks get the ball back with like six seconds left, then he used the timeouts to stop the kneeling at six seconds. Just I'm astounded. I'm astounded. You would think, like when you when you become a head coach, that's the first thing you kind of study and you locked down. And then just to have that happen in the first game. I mean, I'm not gonna him off after one game, but it's it's it's gotta be hard to have confidence in him going forward to at least for this season. Right. I put a little bit of it on Russell Wilson. I guess it should be on the coach, but like if if Tom Brady is running that team, like there's no way any of that happens, Like, couldn't he have overridden what was going on at some point to play like a little faster so they get their last first own of the game, uh with coming out of the two minute warning, it was that nine yard pass to Javonte Williams. He does not go out of bounds, and again I think, like, Okay, that's that's bad situational football by Broncos. He should go out of bounds. Then again, like they actually shouldn't mind milking the clock a little bit. There's still two minutes. I can almost here Tony Romo in my head, Hey, you have plenty of time. You got all three time outs. Don't be in a hurry. That said, they don't take the next step till one left on the clock. That snap goes totally bonkers. Cody Barton makes a great play in the backfield. Again, it seemed to be some sort of snap operation where it was fusing at the last second. There was a problem for Russell Wilson all night. Barton gets injured on the play, so it ends up being a Seahawks time out. And and after that there's incompletion a short pass uh An incompletion, a short pass again to Javonte Williams who breaks a tackle, and that was it. That was the end of the game. There was then they kicked the field goal. At that point it was fourth and five. Do you think there was any thought of, like, we don't totally trust where our offense is right now out of Russell Wilson to get those five yards and we'd rather have Brandon McManis kick it. I don't know. There's no reason to think that though, like you said, they were moving the ball, and especially the last couple of drives, it seemed like Seattle had backed off. They're playing a lot of like soft zone coverage and if you just wanted to dump a pass off to Javonte Williams for like five yards, they could have had it, and they had the timeout to stop the clock. It was just a bizarre, bizarre decision because when when Javonte Williams got tackled there there was more than fifty seconds left in the game and they had all three time outs, Like what what what would even be the I guess if they don't pick up the first time, but you're you're losing at that point, you're under a minute left and you're losing the game, it makes no sense whatsoever. Obviously, Yeah, it's it's it's not good. And I know we've said that the offense was really moving the ball, but that I think like the things we feared about what this offense would become with Russ is that, like every offense in Seattle became the Russ offense, where you're just living out of struction and you're throwing it deep. And I think we saw that. And although they put up points and are they moved the ball at least they didn't score, they didn't finish hop drives. It never felt like they got in a rhythm as an offense until the fourth quarter when they started going up tempo and they started going hurry up. Before that, I felt like there was there was a lack of synergy between their under center stuff, which I think they really leaned on early, and their shotguns stuff. And for this offense to work, it's the Shanahan McVeigh type of offense where everything is kind of interconnected and you need to set up the play action passes with the run game. And the run game was working, the deep passing game was working when Russ was in the gun and kind of doing stuff out of structure, but the play action passing from under center Russ is a dot tonight was three point two yards. It was all flats. It was like all throws to the flat off play action, a lot of boots. They didn't have that mid range game, and that's always what drives this type of offense, Like you think about like even the Jerk Goff days in Los Angeles, it was always those deep overs. Jimmy g and San Francisco the same thing, uh, Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay, but we didn't get that with Russ. So you know, you look at the stature, you see that Russ is average almost like ten yards per ten three hundred four ends up with three hundred forty yards. Judy goes over a hundred and Sutton goes over seventy two. But you don't you don't think that it really was a good feel. I'm with you, No, it's I think it's gonna be hard to sustain. There was no completions over the middle, like over ten yards, ten to twenty yards, and that's like an area of the field you really have to attack, and this offense in particular, and they just were unable to do it. And I think, I mean, you have to go back and watch the film, but I'm pretty sure. Aikman said that Jerry Judy was running wide open over the middle on the play. I think it was the last play before the field goal. When he checked it down, they said said was running wide open over the middle. That's where Russell kind of miss his throws. He kind of motioned like how come the ball didn't come my way. He ends up going to Davante Williams who does break a tackle. It could have been like fourth and ten, and it actually would have saved Nathaniel Hackett uh from this nightmare, because I doubt he would have lined up McManus for a sixty eight yarder or a seventy yarder. They probably would have just gone for the fourth and tent. But Russell didn't see that. And that's why I don't want to be like too critical on Russell Wilson when, like I said, they only had eight possessions, they moved the ball that well. But people smarter than me are watching this game, Shaun King my my favorite two lane quarterback of all time, and just saying like Russell is so off tonight. There were those two throws into the end zone UM, one of which should have been picked off by Quandri Digs. It went through his hands where he throw inside on the I think it was like a go route essentially, and then he threw inside on another UM vertical route on the outside that should have gone to the outside later. And I wouldn't say that Russell Wilson was so off in this game, UM, but it almost felt like the situation not to get inside the head of it like everyone was amped up in this game, and and he didn't seem to be seeing the field too well. Jamal Adams also had as uh, you know, annual or almost uh almost gamely every game that he has a ball go off his helmet at some point early in the game. Unfortunately he went down with an injury, and it just felt like, Yeah, Russell Wilson's been in the league a long time, but Russell Wilson and Nathaniel Hackett have not been in the league a long time together. And especially the two minute operation which you saw at the end with Russell Wilson's usually good at and then just getting the snap off and and having everything set before the step was a nightmare. They had three delay of games and the fumble on the goal line one of the fumbles on the goal line I have to point out because there was more than one inside the tent. It was partly because Russell Wilson did not get the ball snapped until the very last second, and it was another frantic operation where the defensive lineman on that plane I think it was Al Woods. I wish I knew off the top of my head, you know, I could see that it's going from one to zero and it's just flying off the ball and the offensive line really wasn't ready for it, and he ends up causing a fumble on that place. So their operation just was very weak one, which we've seen around the league. But what is a concern? Yeah, and there was such like a big thing made about Russell Wilson really taking ownership of this offense. So I do think like it's fair to criticize him for even the last snap where they let the clock run down. So I'm gonna take every opportunity to put it on Russell Wilson because that's yea, yeah, I'm trying to hype up my machine. Now, Okay, let's let's get to the good stuff here. I mean people people are listening to this thinking like, I can't believe you just spend like eight minutes or ten minutes talking about the end of the game and Russell Wilson before Gino. I don't think I've ever had uh my mentions be as active in a single NFL game in my entire life. I I don't know about you, Stephen, what about you? No? No, really, it was every every second I was getting a notification on my phone like what I was about us, so, like in theory, it would be great. You know, I would love it if if Mark and Dan were here on this podcast too with me. We're trying something different on Monday nights. We're gonna have a guest every week and and they'll have their say on Tuesday too. I know that they would be giving me grief right now, Stephen. They'd be hating life. They were absolutely rooting for the Broncos because they knew I'd be so insufferable, uh, for the rest of the week because of this. But this is not the fair and balanced podcast. We're gonna bury Russell Wilson and we're gonna praise Gino Smith. And he gave us so much to praise that was it even better? And I know they didn't score in the second half in the final scores seventeen sixteen, But in terms of Geno's performance, what was it even a little better than you there dreams Stephen Ruis. Oh yeah, I was telling people, I'm gonna be unbearable when he goes seventeen for thirty one for like two hundred yards in one touchdown. But he did much better than that. He did much better than that, and two nice no turnovers are no yeah, no picks. I know he made that one throw, the crossfield throw, but that was a dime. Just I didn't expect him to be that good, and I think he he made some plays that were unsustainable. He's not gonna be able to like move up in the pocket and throw those little floaters over his own coverage that he did like it felt like he did like four times in the first half. But this Gino Nation thing started with one idea, okay, and the idea was that Gino Tino can play. That's all we were arguing. No one. We weren't saying he was a top twenty quarterback. We weren't saying the Jets should build around him. All we were saying was the guy can play. Although you do a quarterback rankings at the Ringer, people should check that out along with our our great Quarterback Index by by Mark. I think that they're great companion pieces. You had Gino pretty high, you had him above two. I remember how high was he going in to the season. I mean that would definitely if I was still doing QB and X. I don't know if I would have had the stones uh to put him there. But the thought is, and I think Dan thinks this is a bit and to the point that I've held to carry this torch forever, I guess it sort of is. But I always thought he showed early in his New York career enough that he was like a professional quarterback and and that he he literally never got the chance to and because it was New York, but he became a punchline. And people have this idea that like Gino went through this like horrible uh string of games where he struggled. No, he he finished off season, Well that's the that's the four game stretch. They make fun of me on the show. And he's had like a handful of starts the rest of his career, literally five more over the last seven years. He never got the second chance after the I I K and Polly punch And that's what he's been working on all over these years. And I think tonight actually gave some hope that like he's look, he's improved. He's a thirty two year old quarterback. Now he could be better. And I agree with you. The way he moved up in the pocket was really good. And when he's impressing Troy Aikman, Stephen with his command at the line of scrimmage and all the changes that he's making and the checks and how he's setting the offensive line. Like if he's impressing Troy, It's like Sam Darnald's not impressing Troy out there. Troy's burying Sam Darnald. He's not burying Gino. No, he's not. And you can't like this. This is all over Gino's film too. I'm telling you, man, I've been banging the drum all over preseason film. He was he was calling out protections, he was changing the plays. It was something that Drew Lock wasn't doing. It was very clear who was gonna win this battle. I know, like the media in Seattle was making the thing about it because you got to you gotta get attention on the QB battle. But it was clear all all summer who was out in front and what Pete Carroll valued. And we saw today he was like the perfect quarterback for Pete Carroll. And I think the one thing that people get wrong about Gino is they don't realize like how tough he is in the pocket, Like that's his main thing is like he's a pocket passer. And I don't think people give him credit. He's like the air raid quarterback he was. He was thrown for like five yards every game at West Virginia. But this dude can run a pro style offense, and honestly, he could run an offense. Run the offense of this the Seahawks want to run a lot better than Russell Wilson can do. Speak on that. Why do you think that? Because when I was watching it tonight, I definitely thought this is what Pete Carroll wants to do. Now, I don't think he got the running game going nearly as much. I'm kind of shocked that Gino threw the ball twenty two times or eight times, and uh, they only ran at thirteen times if you don't count Gino's scrambles. They obviously didn't have that many plays in general. It's just one of those types of games. But they kind of went past heavy for the most part early, or at least balanced Like it was almost him being like, as Troy said during the game, May, Yeah, all right, we're gonna let you know, cook a little bit, so yeah, we can win that way. Russ. I mean, it's gonna sound crazy to say, and it's it's only sickos like us to think about the game like this and think about Gino Smith like this. But I obviously, obviously Russell Wilson is a far better quarterback than Gino Smith and it's not even close. But the thing about Russell Wilson is he needs this particular style of offense. And we we don't like to talk about his height being a factor, but it matters. Like, like we've covered, he doesn't see the field over the middle. It's tough for him because he's like five ten. Offensive linemen are huge. It's tough to see over the middle of the field. And another thing he doesn't like to do is play from under center. And when you run this like outside zone, the Shanahan McVay stuff, you have to run that from under center because that's like just the timing of the runs. The outside zone play is hard to run from the gun. So, like I mentioned earlier, there's this lack of synergy between what Russ wants to do in the past game, what Nathaniel Hackett wants to do in the run game, what Shane Waldron wanted to do in the run game last year. And if you listen to like Seattle players, they were talking about like Rashott Penny during the offseason was like, Oh yeah, I really like running from under center, and we're doing it a lot more now. He didn't say because Russell Wilson is gone, but that that's the My part is that it's because Russell Wilson is gone. So I think while they'll they're losing a lot of talent at the quarterback position, the gap is kind of smaller because they can run the scheme they actually want to run. So You're making so many amazing points and every once in a while, I'm just like laughing, and it's not because you said anything funny. It's because I'm just like basking in this moment that this is the most indulgent podcast I will ever do. NFL Media, we've been doing. This is our tenth season, and it's all been leading to this. This could be like kind of the the top, and it's almost a sign that we've gone over the rubicon. Like we're gonna spend twenty minutes on Gino tonight because this was the Geno Super Bowl. I don't I really don't care what happens the rest of the season. Of course I care. I wanted to go well, I've said all along. I think this is a nine and eight type of Seahawks season that Pete Carroll like enjoys more than virtually any season he's ever coached. And I can still see that all happening. But to win tonight and to have the m v P m v P chance of Gino at one point, which was just hilarious, uh, and to hear everything you're saying, which to me makes a lot of sense. Uh. And I think it's absolutely true. I think Pete Carroll at a certain point just wanted someone that would do what he said, and like they maybe that's not how the boss should feel. I was kind of on the hook hook saying, like, did ownership should absolutely choose Russell Wilson over Pete Carroll, But it became a choice at some point. They clearly um didn't get along ultimately or didn't agree on how this organization should be run. And I did find it interesting. James Palmer, our NFL network reporter at the scene, said, you know, Gino and Russell, great conversation. They've always gotten along really well. Um, Russell's tapping up everyone before the game, He's talking to everyone, He's on the field forever. Pete Carroll's out there and Russell says hi to just about everyone. And those two men are like twenty ft apart for much of the pre game, and they didn't say a word. They didn't say a word. That's a real he. Everyone tried to make the Belichick Brady he this is the real he. And it ends this way. I think with Pete Carroll winning the type of ugly, weird game that they shouldn't win, and yet it is the type of game that they have won a lot of times with Russell Wilson. Gino, though, did um come through on third and longs? I thought that was like a really key part of the game. He went six and ten on third downs overall, and they were averaging I think eight yards on those third downs, and to go six and ten when you're averaging, you know, eight yards to go is really good. And he was making good decisions and you said it he was feeling himself when he threw that cross body pass. That's when I knew it was just like Gino was having an odd of body experience. And then they called me like the quarterback sweep on Gino design run game, Gino Lamar Jackson a little he could do it all. He could do it all. He was he was running a little too much. He he ran actually the play before that as well, on a scramble and he didn't get down and took a big hit. And I was just like Gito was a little faster, and you think, but he's not a good runner, you know. He's like Daniel Jones is really fast and not a good runner. Gino is not fast and not particularly a good runner. He's right, but he's still like Jami's He's still like a little faster than you think. He picked up some keyyards with his legs, but he was getting a little too full of himself. Maybe maybe he was just letting the emotion overtake him. I mean he was doing the fist pumps on the sideline. He was dancing early in the game. And then after the game, Gino with just the most beautiful quote, uh to the sideline reporter on Monday Night Football. They wrote me off, I right back, that's the problem, al right back, let's go. I don't even know what that means, but I like it. And we didn't write you off, Gino. Don't you forget that? No? Does he follow you on Twitter? Stephen not to get like too weird about this, but no, but he's liked a couple of my tweets. Okay, because yeah, same, And at some point he he did follow me in the last year or two when I I don't know so I had said something or written something incredibly you know, generous to him, and at that moment he followed me. It was a big moment. He he hears what's going out here. I wish they could just uh, I wish someone could just send him this podcast and he could listen to it on, you know, on on his drive into work. This week. I had I had a banger that he ended up retweeting and then he deleted the retweet. But I like it was right after Jimmy G had signed his deal in San Francisco that made him like the highest paid player ever. And I compared, like Jimmy G's last seven starts are his only seven starts forty niners to Geno's last five, and was better. He was way better statistically. Yeah, dude, here's the thing. I actually think the defense for the Seahawks was more concerning than I expected in this game, which sounds strange, but they lost Jamal Adams and This is part of the reason why the Broncos should have won this game. The Broncos were getting pretty good push in the running game. They end up with nineteen carries, uh for o were five yards per carry. I mean, when you're running for six seven eight yards in the first, second, third quarter like you expect, that's a huge advantage for you. It should set up the passing game. Uh. And then the Seahawks lose Jamal Adams during the game. Uh. Who else did they lose? Their Trek Woollen I believe went out during the game. Who's starting at quarterback? They benched their other rookie cornerback, Kobe Bryant. I mean the Seahawks are playing two mid to late round rookies and then replacing them with like journeyman like Sydney Jones. Uh. Cody Barton got hurt at the at the very end. But like, this is a defense that wasn't getting nearly as much pushed as I guess I expected up front. And that's part of the reason why I'm being a little hard on Russell Wilson is most of those yards that he got were after he had a lot of time in the pocket. He was protected better and I think that's a good sign for the Broncos ultimately than he was for most of his his Seahawks career. Yeah, that stood out. It's the Seahawks pass protection stood out. But I agree with you with the defense. The young secondaries really concerning because they brought in a lot of new assistant coaches. They're trying to change the philosophy. Pete Carroll's known for his cover three defense. They brought in shawna Say, they brought in Carl Scott. These are guys that run these more modern defensive coverages, and part of it is that they like to the You need communication because they're they're matching up, they're passing off routes, and when you have a young secondary, that's gonna be hard. And you saw it today. There was like a lot of air in the coverage. There's a lot of open receivers over the middle of the field. And then you add in the runs, the running game. If you can't stop the Nathaniel Hackett version of this offense, and you're going up against the Kyle Shanahan version with Trey Lance and all right, let's not let's not break it down. Let's just enjoy this moment. You know that's true. That's this. Um, this was special. I mean, like I said, we've been talking about Gina Smith for for a long time on this show, and um, I was so confident Stephen on this show that this reference will have no meaning to you whatsoever. But leading into this weekend, I actually broke out something I only do it in a rare case. Let's let's play it here, Graver, that's right, the Rainmaker came through. I I was just taking Seattle plus six and a half. But I did predict in eighteen to seventeen Seahawks victory. So you got them straight up, you got him covering, and then some like it all happened. It all happened on Monday night. Never doubt, never doubt this. We had confidence in our guy and he came through. I feel like I had one more like important thing I wanted to get to it. I'm just blanking on it right now. How about the Seahawks defense holding the Broncos at the one yard line on two different possessions and then another goal line stand to force a field goal. You talk about the Seahawks defense not playing too well, but those were huge stops. That's absolutely fair. I mean they're see the Seahawks defense over the year has always been ben don't break. They've always been great at situational football. They've always been making big plays in the key moment that you do wonder when you look through this defense, like which guys are gonna be able to step up? Do they have enough playmakers? Jordan Brooks Maybe not that he had a great game. Nuoso had a couple of moments in this game when when he came in on some stunts. Uh, you're absolutely right, Graver. They made they made some big plays in the big moments. Yeah, I think they're like a year away from being good. Like willen Is, I think he's very talented, and he still has some some rough parts of his game, But like in a year or two, I think they're gonna be good, especially when they get this new philosophy really installed and the young guys grow up. And I will say this, going up against Russell Wilson, it just makes for a weird game. So maybe maybe I'm too quick to write off the Seattle Dave. This this was a Week one game like this. It was crazy how loud the booze were. Were you a little surprised about the aggressiveness of this Seahawks crowd, like hating on Russell Wilson. Uh No, because I think I think things had a little strange over the off season, like back in March or whenever the trade happened. I would not have expected those booze but like over the last couple of months, there's there's been all these like stories and expose's that have come out, so I think it makes a little more sense. I think there's like a little bit of bitterness from Seattle fan fans, now, mm hmm. All right, So every Monday night on this recap, thank you everyone for joining us. Thank you to the viewers who stayed up with me on Channel five in the UK, which is a new uh a gig. I got to enjoy this game live on that coverage, And thank you too to everyone listening. In the plan for these Monday night shows, Stephen is, We're gonna go through the Monday night game and I'm not going to spend this much time on the Monday night game every week, but it was just too much not to. And then we would fire through a couple of little thoughts or some takeaways from our Monday film watching Now. We went so long here on Gino. I'm gonna do like a speed round with you because you you are truly one of the best football nds out there. Like we're having fun here with Gino Smith, but people should check out all of Stephen ruiz Is coverage over at The Ringer and everything he's doing on the ring or podcast and everything. I'm just wondering why why you were breaking down some tape on Monday Sunday night. You seem like a Sunday night type of guy. Even uh you're on the East Coast. You're staying up late with us, aren't you. Yeah. I didn't go to sleep last night. First Monday of the season I had. I did write down the morning. Yeah, I mean we're sting. No point you're off with us now I'm going God, you know I love the energy and I apologize for making you work extra. Just give me give me two quick things that that stuck out from you on your film watching today. Bengal's offense was the most interesting thing to me, and it's people are gonna talk about the seven sacks, but that's not what I'm interested in. The thing that really surprised me and stood out is the lack of perimeter deep throws that Joe Burrow made, Like the Steelers were able to take that away. And I think the Bengals are going to see a different type of coverage, a different type of coverage this year. They saw a lot of like cover one, a lot of like one on one matchups on the outside, a lot of man coverage. Teams have learned their lesson over the off season, and Joe Burrow talked about it during the off season. He said, like, we're gonna have to sustain drives more. You can't rely on explosive plays. And the Steelers really forced Joe Burrow to to take those mid range buckets and he was unable to make them, and like he threw into coverage a lot and the interceptions happened. But I think Joe Burrow is gonna be better going forward. I think the offensive line was actually better than the stats make it look, but that's going to be a subplot to watch over the first month of the season. We could have a little like Chiefs Bills situation from last year where they were having a lot of trouble getting those downfield throws. I think the Bengals are this year's version of that. That's a tasty nugget, and that makes sense. I think that Mike Tomlin is like a bad coach for a division opponent to face in Week one. I was thinking about that too, as the Patriots are playing the Dolphins. I was just thinking how Brian Flores is the worst coach for them to play, and not Brian Flores, rather Josh Boyer is now the defensive coordinator there, and now Brian Flores is gonna be helping the defense they play next week in Pittsburgh. But I was thinking Josh Boyer and the Dolphins were the worst defense for them to play because they knew exactly what to do, uh, in terms of heating up Mac Jones with all these blitz is in Week one. Not that other places couldn't have figured that out, but when you see it week one and you see how it works so well, it's like, Okay, everyone's gonna copy that. Everyone's gonna see what they did and try to replicate that. And I think in the same way, Mike Tomlin and Brian Flores UH would be among the two defensive minds in Pittsburgh that I would not want to face in Week one because right off the bat, I think you're gonna see some dangerous stuff. Uh. One one thing I saw watching on tape today And we'll leave it with this because because let's face it, this is all just like an afterthought to Gino. Um was was how different the Saints looked entirely like all of their strengths are looked like we weaknesses suddenly, and all their weaknesses now look like strengths like that used to be able to really have faith in this offensive line. And I don't know, like they got some serious problems there with James Hurst that left tackle and just the lack of synchronicity. Uh. And their run defense has been so good year after year and they really got run over and their defensive tackle situation looks bad. Then again, Um, they're great at wide receiver right now. And if they get in a situation where they trail and if they can sort of figure out the balance of letting Jamis be Jamis and being shotgun a little more and throw the ball down the field like suddenly, that could be a very dangerous part of their team. So they just look like maybe it's just weak one, but they just look like such a different team than they've been the last couple of years. I'm gonna give them a bit of a pass because of that Week one weirdness. Thing Like the Falcons I think are one of the most unique schematic teams in the league. This year, they were basically running like a college offense with Mariota and it was it was a lot of option runs and that's what the Saints were having trouble with and They're not going to see that going forward. So I'll wait. On the defense. I still think they have good pieces on the defensive line. And then on the other side of the ball, going up against Dean Peace, who's like the most creative pressure designer in the league, he was given them them fits. So I'll all to be worried about. The Falcons are like like play an app state early in the college football season, or it's some like under It's like an underfunded, under talented team with like a crazy and innovative coaching staff, except there an NFL team, so that that really what you want. But I do think they're coaching staff is kind of ahead of where their personnel talent is. Um nothing's getting ahead of tonight though. This is it. Stephen we enjoyed. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed having you on. Like they can't. They can't take this away from us, like they said it was a bit. They they never believed that. Let's hear it from Gino again, Graver. I mean, what what is it? They said it? They wrote me off, right back, that's the problem. Right back, let's go. They wrote us off. We ain't writing back, Stephen Ruise, we ain't writing back. That's a lie. I'm gonna write back all night long. I'm gonna be replying to tweets all night long. I'm not going to sleep. Thanks Steven again. Check um out at the podcast at the Ringer uh and all of us coverage there for Stephen Ruise. I'm Greg Rosenthal. We will be back on Tuesday with Colleen Wolfe's coming up soon, So then heat the call.