2025 NFL Schedule Release Reaction!

00:00:04
Speaker 1: Welcome to NFL Daily, where we've seen all the schedules. Aha, we got it, and all your teams are going to have a winning record in twenty twenty five.

00:00:13
Speaker 2: I'm Greg Rosenthal.

00:00:14
Speaker 1: I'm here in the Chris Westling podcast studio with my friends Patrick Claybon and Cynthia Freeland.

00:00:22
Speaker 3: Hi, Hi guys, Look, we got the schedule.

00:00:24
Speaker 4: The schedule, It is right here, my hot little hand.

00:00:28
Speaker 1: It has been released, yes, into the world Peak behind the Curtain for the first time in a long time. We're actually taping this type of show a few hours before it's actually released, so it feels very clandestine right now. No one in the building is allowed to watch this closed circuit, no show.

00:00:45
Speaker 4: They only watch their left leg if they watch it. That's from the signed something in the document. Yeah, we had to sign some crazy NBA, so your left leg is gone.

00:00:55
Speaker 3: If you distribute this to anyone, and it's great.

00:00:57
Speaker 1: That's how much we love the NFL Daily listeners, as we wanted it to get in their ears as soon as possible. Patrick said about this day earlier that he lives for this. This is it, this is X lives. Yeah, that I will not use here out of respect. To Eric and everybody back there, this is a It is fun.

00:01:20
Speaker 5: If this is a show that's just for us, because like you said, nobody can watch this. This is where some there's the naysayers out there, but I am. I am a fan of the schedule. Lease, I believe that this isn't a tent pole event. To me, it's a flagpole.

00:01:34
Speaker 2: I love it.

00:01:36
Speaker 1: So everyone has different processes with which they look at the schedule when they get it. For me, I immediately go to the holidays. So let's just start there. Let's go to Thanksgiving because to me, that's the most important football day on the calendar. Maybe with the exception of the Super Bowl, Conference Championship Day, I don't really know. I would go Thanksgiving, and it's a great one. This year, we're gonna start in Detroit as always, they actually move the time to one pm. It's not twelve thirty pm. That's like a big deal in Eastern Yeah, they're gonna have to just wait a little longer. But we got Bangers on Thanksgiving. We have Packers, Lions in the early window. We have Chiefs Cowboys in the CBS window, which is a change. I feel like lately they've been giving the Cowboys sometimes it's not like the sexiest team ever, because that's the most watched game of the year, no matter who they put in that spot, and they put the Chiefs in that spot. So we're getting the Chiefs on Christmas, We're getting the Chiefs the day after kickoff, We're getting the Chiefs everywhere, but we're getting them on Thanksgiving. And then it wraps up with your Baltimore Ravens feel like they've been on Thanksgiving Night a handful of times hosting the Cincinnati Bengals. That is our Thanksgiving schedule, our Christmas schedule, and it's a tripleheader this year because it's on a Thursday, so you get an Amazon Prime game in addition to two Netflix games. Is Cowboys, Commanders, Early Lions Vikings at four point thirty, and then Broncos and Chiefs. In terms of the primetime game, let's just start there with your Thanksgiving Christmas.

00:03:15
Speaker 2: Any thoughts that you have here.

00:03:18
Speaker 4: I mean, I think like the power of the Chiefs is so interesting because not only do they become the like the you have to they do, they test them out on like the the NBC Plus, like Peacock stuff like that, right, like that, so you know the Chiefs are going to rate. We just know that, right, But I think those are great games. I don't mind the leader start. I'm on the West coast, so it's totally fine by me. But you know, for the for terms of the Lions, it's only half an hour. I mean, it's not a huge deal, I understand. But like you know, in Detroit, that's like a thing.

00:03:45
Speaker 6: Man.

00:03:45
Speaker 4: You know, we've got parades, we got we time our turkey the specific way, so it's ready at halftime, the whole thing.

00:03:51
Speaker 1: Famous last words. But that's the best Thanksgiving slay I can ever remember.

00:03:56
Speaker 5: You could all three of those games, Green Bay, Detroit, Kansas City, Dallas, since Ultimore.

00:03:59
Speaker 6: They could all anchor the holiday. That's right.

00:04:02
Speaker 5: They have to split time with each other, and they're going to be sequential and people are gonna have to make some choices because normally there's that game where I can step away, yeah, monitor things, go outside and base the turkey turkey and the smoker here. No, this you got to be locked in, and you should be because these are all great.

00:04:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's a it's a quarterback league, and so I don't mind Dallas. Like in the kickoff game. We already went through some of the early games that had gone out on our last NFL Daily, went through the international game, went through the kickoff game. But I love that they're doing big time division rivalries there in Week one. And then of course on Thanksgiving Bengals, you know, Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson. That has been one of the reliable, like best games in the NFL every time they play, basically, and then the Chiefs have decided they want Christmas to be their thing and they are going to be the Christmas team every year. This time the Broncos get, you know, a tough, tough ass to go on a short week and go to Kansas City.

00:05:03
Speaker 4: I seem to remember a Raiders team that beat the Chiefs on Christmas right before the Chiefs went on their run to win Super Bowl. So it's not like they're infallible on Christmas.

00:05:11
Speaker 2: Okay.

00:05:12
Speaker 5: I do think the holiday dynamic for both the Lions and the Cowboys and the Chiefs. Yeah, and the Chiefs where it's just like, Okay, you guys are the official holiday representative.

00:05:23
Speaker 3: YEP.

00:05:24
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's yeah from here on out, but this year, the fact that the Lions and the Cowboys are also on Thanksgiving Christmas. I mean, you do see, and it's it's not a surprise. Certain teams are established as truly national teams, and it's it's some of it's about the audience, like like Cowboys, and some of it it's about just how good you are.

00:05:45
Speaker 2: And that's your Lions.

00:05:47
Speaker 1: How weird is it that your Lions are like a truly national team.

00:05:51
Speaker 3: I hate their schedule. Why it's awful. It's so hard. It is insanely hardy.

00:05:58
Speaker 4: And I mean, I guess like the only redeeming thing is and you could kind of take this both ways, right with two new coordinators, maybe goes the other way, but perhaps you can say, hey, at least they won't be seventeen deep on the injury report by the time they get to the hard teams because they start with the hard teams.

00:06:14
Speaker 3: Right they start, so Jack Green Bay Week one.

00:06:18
Speaker 1: Let's talk about week one because that's the other part of the schedule. I immediately go to right off the bat, you get Lions and Packers Week one.

00:06:30
Speaker 3: Yeah, that is, by the way, just to round out the Lions.

00:06:32
Speaker 4: When its goes Packers home against the Bears, then it goes Ravens home against the Browns, but then it goes Bengals, Chiefs, Bucks.

00:06:39
Speaker 1: I mean it's just not I mean not great. That's true of the entire NFC North.

00:06:44
Speaker 3: I just feel like we start off with the main ones.

00:06:47
Speaker 1: Because the NFC North has to play each other, I think it ultimately has the toughest schedule of any division out of division. They also play the AFC North, which has of course, you know, three of the best quarterbacks in the league in Lamar and Joe Burrow. And then you got to deal with the Steelers I guess not one.

00:07:10
Speaker 4: But I also don't like the back to backs of like, like the back to backs are where I hate it, Like, you know, Joe Burrow, then you got Patrick Mahomes, and then you got the Bucks, who, like you know, they've had this thing with right, and then you go back to back Commanders and Eaglesh not fun.

00:07:23
Speaker 5: Yeah, there's all these rematches, and then there's the dichotomy of like you play in the Thanksgiving game because you're Detroit, right, You're playing the Christmas game because you're good, right. So it's the combination of all these things. I would like the schedule.

00:07:36
Speaker 4: I would like to put it out right now there for all the Lions brass who are listening. If you'd like me to come to the game here in Los Angeles on December fourteenth, I'd be happy to come, you know, I'd be happy to be.

00:07:46
Speaker 3: A guest of the Lions.

00:07:47
Speaker 2: Rory.

00:07:48
Speaker 3: I love the mascot, you know, love it.

00:07:50
Speaker 1: That is where the Lions schedule gets particularly hard, like that Rams game for instance. Yeah, that's when the rest of the division, you know, doesn't have to play.

00:07:58
Speaker 2: That's a first place game.

00:08:00
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, it's not great.

00:08:02
Speaker 1: And they're living in primetime, so five primetime games plus the two holiday games, so they're maxing out there. But like I said, I immediately go to look at week one because yep, right now, we are all just crepping for week one, so we knew what the kickoff game was Cowboys Eagles. The Friday night game was what everyone thought it was going to be, which is Chiefs Chargers.

00:08:19
Speaker 2: So another big spot for the Chiefs.

00:08:21
Speaker 1: Although I do think it's an edge to get one of those those early games.

00:08:25
Speaker 2: You get to start training camps.

00:08:26
Speaker 1: A couple days earlier, right if you're on the kickoff or the Friday game, and then you also get just a little extra rest into Week two when everyone is tired. I think that's a nice edge other Week one games. There's eight division games in Week one, which is weird. They really loaded up division games. You have Gino Smith's debut with the Raiders at the New England Patriots, and Drake May that is the game I'm watching in the early window. You have a potential Aaron Rodgers at the New York Jets in the early window if he does join the Steelers, Dolphins, Cult, Cardinals, Saints. Kind of a nice start to the season for either Tyler Shuck or the Cardinals.

00:09:07
Speaker 2: Cardinals got to be thinking like we're really happy.

00:09:10
Speaker 1: And then you got Giants, Washington, Carolina, Jacksonville, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Tampa Bay, Atlanta, and then like some hot late afternoon games, Detroit at Green Bay and then Houston at the Rams is a CBS game.

00:09:23
Speaker 3: That's a sick game, which I'm going to try to.

00:09:25
Speaker 1: Get my family too, because my son is a Texans fan, my daughter is a Rams fan, and this is like once every eight years. In theory, the Texans are coming out there and that's not even going to be the national game because.

00:09:36
Speaker 3: We hit your kids against each other starting the football teams.

00:09:38
Speaker 2: Not my fault. That's not even the national game because you have Lions Green Bay. That's insane.

00:09:44
Speaker 1: And then Sunday Night Football Week one, it's Ravens and Bill's Josh Allen Lamar Jackson.

00:09:50
Speaker 3: That's the game right there?

00:09:53
Speaker 4: Can you imagine, like that's that's so interesting because you kind of have the two sides like we we you know, the the defense is where the Bill spent five draft picks and they readd that defense. Good luck, congratulations you get Lamar Jackson first, What do you enjoy that?

00:10:08
Speaker 2: What do you think about that? Patrick?

00:10:10
Speaker 1: As a Ravens enthusiast, and this has happened to them a couple times recently where you have such a massive game on the schedule, like right off the bat.

00:10:19
Speaker 6: Well, considering the way things started last season and the things that had to transpire to get towards the end, it's all cumulative, right, and so it's all going to come out in the wash, and they're all important, every single one of them.

00:10:31
Speaker 2: But no, but you're not really as long you're going to be in the first one.

00:10:34
Speaker 5: Yeah, as long as well, like Cynthia said, there's more changes on that side, there are the Bills have had to do a little more shuffling around. It is at home, Mark Angels will have a chance to catch a ball potentially in the end zone, and maybe people will stop giving him grief about the most worst moment of his career.

00:10:51
Speaker 3: And had you forgotten that it is in Buffalo?

00:10:55
Speaker 1: Just to clarify that Ravens Bills game Week one, Yeah, just looking at the raven quickly, you know they get the Browns week two at home. But otherwise their first six games before the bye is crazy. They're just really important games for them at Buffalo home for Cleveland. Then you have a Monday night game against the Lions, which is like one of the best batchups of the year. You have Week four at the Chiefs, which is in theory one of the big biggest games of the year for them, and then you're back home for the Texans and Rams, two teams that are going to be favored to go to the playoffs.

00:11:27
Speaker 2: Like that is a wild starting.

00:11:29
Speaker 1: I don't like that when you load up like the what looks like the most important games early in the season, we're really going to go with Mahomes versus Lamar and Alan Lamar, Like weeks one and four and get that Lions game out of the way.

00:11:41
Speaker 2: I don't like that, but I want to save it.

00:11:43
Speaker 4: I get I get that, But it's actually, if you think about it, for the way the Ravens play, it feels like you're setting the Ravens.

00:11:50
Speaker 3: Up for a really nice finish because that.

00:11:53
Speaker 1: Sure gets easier, but their defense always stinks at the beginning of the year.

00:11:57
Speaker 3: Well, I mean nope.

00:12:02
Speaker 1: Let's talk a little bit too about that Monday night game.

00:12:05
Speaker 2: That's Week one.

00:12:06
Speaker 1: It's Minnesota at Chicago, and I wanted to just point out that the Vikings are the new America's team.

00:12:14
Speaker 3: If you are they Okay, give me your logic.

00:12:18
Speaker 2: Here comes here it comes, He's don the mouth.

00:12:21
Speaker 1: Four of their first five games are in national windows. Five of their first seven games are in national windows, not just like standalone windows. So we're talking Monday night at the Bears to open the season. We're talking Sunday night football, the biggest spot in the sport. Week two, that's against the Falcons. You have the two international games back to back. We knew about Steelers and Browns in Dublin and Tottenham, and then you have a Thursday night Chargers game in Week eight, which is their seventh game, they have a bye. The other two games that are not in standalone windows in their opening stretch are home for the Bengals big spot Joe Burrow, and then home for the Eagles, the defending champions. Every single one of those games is going to have the top broadcast crew, like it's a standalone game or it's the best you know, non standalone games of that week. So I'm just saying, expect the vikings, good bad or whatever to be just like a huge part of our lives in September and October.

00:13:23
Speaker 4: I'm not I'm not being a hater. Yeah, but like here's here's the well. First of all, there was two games that they're international that by default isn't in America.

00:13:31
Speaker 3: So just curious about that.

00:13:32
Speaker 4: And number two and number two maybe that means that they're worried.

00:13:38
Speaker 3: That like maybe like J. J.

00:13:39
Speaker 4: McCarthy gets off this start and then we don't have to have to worry about them late in the season.

00:13:43
Speaker 1: I should count no reading because the next two games after where I cut it off is at Detroit and home for Baltimore.

00:13:49
Speaker 4: I just like they're not putting those in the nationalsmall you know what I'm saying, Maybe they're worried they're not gonna be good.

00:13:54
Speaker 1: I did go through and well, we're just gonna spitball and look for teams that you know, didn't have too much national windows. The Jacksonville Jaguars, they do get one primetime game, it's the Chiefs on a on a Monday night, and then they get their international game. The Panthers they got one primetime game. I don't know why I am focusing on the negative here, but I am curious about that sort of stuff. The Cleveland Browns their only solo window is their international game, so they don't technically have any primetime games. The Panthers did get one. I was surprised to see the New England Patriots got a primetime game in every primetime window. One on Thursday night, one on Sunday night, one on Monday night. Good this year and including like a week.

00:14:37
Speaker 3: You're going.

00:14:41
Speaker 4: To be they'll be the second best team in that division. Bills Pats, Bills Pats. And I'm not even need to go the next two because I don't know.

00:14:51
Speaker 3: I actually could flip flop on the Jets, Dolphins or Dolphins.

00:14:55
Speaker 2: I don't know.

00:14:55
Speaker 3: You could go either way, but it goes Bills Pats.

00:14:58
Speaker 1: I think it goes Bill, and then the other three teams are about the same if you're being generous to the Patriots.

00:15:05
Speaker 6: No, Greg's saying, Matt, I think Greg agrees with you.

00:15:08
Speaker 3: He just does agree with me.

00:15:10
Speaker 1: I really don't. I really don't. I've been saying all off season. I like what the Jets have done. The Dolphins ultimately have more proven, good NFL players than the Patriots, and they've won a decent amount.

00:15:22
Speaker 4: When you left tackle retires, you're going to have an issue. I don't care like they It's hard man.

00:15:28
Speaker 2: Okay the Saints are you okay?

00:15:31
Speaker 6: Yeah?

00:15:32
Speaker 2: Gott Oh no, No.

00:15:34
Speaker 1: That's why you got to check us out on YouTube to see Patrick in a lot of pain. Do we need to I need to take a break. No, we're good, but sure, but you're truly playing with pain. You mentioned the Carolina Panthers.

00:15:48
Speaker 5: Yes, And I would like to tell you something that you brought to my attention a while ago about a man named Vic Fangio. Oh wow, it's all connected. Let's go back to nineteen ninety seven, Grant. The Chiefs have just extended their head coach Marty Schottenheimer. But down in San Diego there was a departure. Bobby Ross was no longer the head coach. A couple of coordinators interviewed for that job, JAG's DC Kevin Gilbride, who ultimately became the head coach of the Chargers, and Carolina DC Vic Fangio. It's all connected. Ten years later, Marty Schottenheimer was in a power struggle with AJ Smith and lost. Dean Spanos said that there was dysfunction in the organization because AJ Smith wanted Ted Kotchell to replace Wade Phillips.

00:16:36
Speaker 6: But you know who Marty wanted to interview?

00:16:38
Speaker 2: Who?

00:16:39
Speaker 3: Vic pick Fan FANGIOO.

00:16:42
Speaker 5: In Week one of the twenty twenty five NFL season, it is Vic Fangio against Marty Schottenheimer's son.

00:16:48
Speaker 3: Oh, let's go.

00:16:50
Speaker 6: It's all connected, are you okay?

00:16:55
Speaker 3: I'm very worried about your back here.

00:17:00
Speaker 4: Except for the whole like, I was very fearful that at any moment you were going down.

00:17:04
Speaker 2: I love the revenge.

00:17:05
Speaker 1: I love that it all comes back to Fangio and the Schottenheimer It's true with these these family names, the Kubiaks, like, there are so many different connections of coaching staffs and the Shanahan's.

00:17:18
Speaker 2: Man if if you want to.

00:17:20
Speaker 4: See like nepotism is like rampant in the NFL, it exists.

00:17:23
Speaker 1: If you want to try, uh even just like a little bit harder, Let's go Philadelphia Eagles.

00:17:29
Speaker 4: I was.

00:17:31
Speaker 1: Speaking of revenge like that. Those Rogers games are great, assuming Rogers does play for the Steelers, which I am assuming at this point. That's that's a great week one that they put him in New York, that was intentional. And then there's a Week eight in against the Packers. Uh, and obviously Rogers versus Packers, they put that in Sunday Night Football. I believe that that Mike North, who makes the schedule, said it. You know, it's not all about just Rogers, you know, versus his old team. You know, if the Steelers and the Packers are playing, those are two great franchises. We would put that in Sunday Night Football. But you know it wouldn't be a bad thing. I think they knew making this schedule, not what Rogers was going to do, but that if he does play for the Steelers, and the Roonies are literally on record saying they expect that to happen. And I'm sure they've said that privately as well, that that's a great Sunday night game in Week eight.

00:18:30
Speaker 6: It doesn't hurt the attention.

00:18:32
Speaker 5: But also that especially with the with regards to the Packers and the Steelers, like that game was going to be people were going to pay.

00:18:39
Speaker 6: Attention to that one eventually, no matter what.

00:18:42
Speaker 5: In the event that we do get in twelve days an announcement that Aaron Rodgers has made a decision about playing football, then we have to wait until fifteen days after that he's going to be announcing that he's playing with the Steelers.

00:18:55
Speaker 4: We can when's the day where all the things are done, like all the camps, you know what I mean.

00:18:59
Speaker 3: Like, I just don't think he wants to participate in anything until I buy it, Like I just don't.

00:19:04
Speaker 4: Like he was in Egypt last year and he took a lot of flak for I think he's like I've been doing this for like more than half my life. I don't owe you guys whatever, Like I'll come when I'm ready to come, Like I just whatever day, do the math backwards to figure out whatever day that is.

00:19:17
Speaker 3: That's when we'll hear.

00:19:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, let's go through the primetime schedules a little bit like the Thursday night, Yeah, Sunday night, Monday Night. I mentioned some of the things that stuck out to me in terms of standalone games. The Saints, who are another team that had zero standalone games. Not a surprising in terms of where they're at.

00:19:34
Speaker 2: What you know.

00:19:34
Speaker 1: Another thing, one thing in that division that took out Atlanta Falcons in Sunday night football, the biggest spotlight in the sport twice in the first seven weeks of the season. So Atlanta Falcons fans, so I feel like, probably feel like they have been ignored sometimes over the years.

00:19:51
Speaker 2: That's a nice spot for them.

00:19:52
Speaker 1: And they have another early Monday night game against the Buffalo Bills. Anything stand out to you, Patrick in terms of the Thursday, the Sunday, the Monday.

00:19:59
Speaker 5: Night, generally Thursday night. I'm going through and looking at these weeks, I would take the Thursday night game over the Monday night game. Of that of all of these weeks almost eighty five percent of the time.

00:20:12
Speaker 2: Okay, So you're going you're just saying better.

00:20:15
Speaker 5: Than theF schedule, Like if we go to if we go to week week two, you get Washington versus Green Bay on TNF and then on Monday Night Tampa Bay, Houston.

00:20:26
Speaker 6: Kansas City.

00:20:26
Speaker 3: That one's kind of equal to me.

00:20:28
Speaker 5: Yeah, Chargers at Vegas would be the Monday night game that week. We get the of course, always fun revenge in Division Thursday Night game Week five, San Francisco at the Rams, and then Monday night is Kansas City at Jacksonville.

00:20:43
Speaker 1: It does feel a little more evenly distributed. Even Sunday Night Football doesn't seem like it's miles better. On paper. They have some really big spotlight games, but there's a couple of weeks where like it looks more like a T and F Monday Night football game. I think they're trying to spread out. One thing that was interesting though, there's four Monday night doubleheaders this year, So if that that's more than than ever.

00:21:07
Speaker 5: As a shield robot, obviously I celebrate all events of the National Football League. I would like these standalone games to literally stand alone. It defeats the whole purpose of having Monday Night football. If you're having to flip the channel and you know, divert your attention from one to the next, it's just it's not good.

00:21:23
Speaker 2: All right, let's take a quick break.

00:21:25
Speaker 1: We'll wrap up figuring out the entire schedule right after this.

00:21:34
Speaker 2: Back on NFL Daily. Yeah, your Lion's all over prime time.

00:21:37
Speaker 1: You know, it stands out to me a nice little Cowboys Lions late in the season on Thursday night just everywhere.

00:21:47
Speaker 4: Great, that's one of their easier games, I mean, compared to the rest of that stupid schedule.

00:21:52
Speaker 6: Stupid.

00:21:53
Speaker 1: Well, let's talk about like if there's trends in terms of general schedule thoughts. I did a very rough thing where I tried to pick which divisions I thought had the easiest schedule, and it's obviously the NFC West. Yes, they play, they play each other, and it is a very tough division. Arguably the second or third best division in all of football. I think NFC West like it's it's balanced, but out of division they play the AFC South and the NFC South. I know, you run a lot of numbers in terms of totals and everything. Did you have that effect and help the NFC West one percent?

00:22:27
Speaker 3: Yeah?

00:22:27
Speaker 4: I mean, the the Niners getting a fourth place schedule and that it's like here you go. I mean, know, their defense is completely remade and they've got a lot of things going on, and.

00:22:38
Speaker 3: Rock party needs get paid, et cetera.

00:22:39
Speaker 4: But it feels like it sets up very well for the Niners to go from you know, we always people go from worse to first, so playing that fourth place schedule for them especially is extremely valuable and that actually narrowly edges them over the Rams for me to win the division because the Rams have a harder schedule.

00:22:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, the Rams in terms of their first place schedule is harder, but ultimately I think the Rams and the rest of the division just has to be happy because I went through and I just did my own little division rankings, my own little strength of schedule, because I don't really believe in the strength to schedule just out of division games and for the most part, most of them are similar. But the NFC West just stands out as way easier than the rest. The hardest I thought was the NFC East. Now I would argue the NFC North maybe even has it tougher because they have to play each other, and then out of division, the NFC North still has a very tough schedule. AFC North, nfcs NFC East though has to play against the NFC North. So that's that gauntlet with the Packers and the Vikings and the Lions, even the Bears are better. And then in the AFC they have to play the Chiefs, the Chargers, and the Broncos, and the Raiders are thrown in there too. So to me, that's probably the toughest out of division schedule NFC East for sure.

00:23:53
Speaker 6: Yeah, outside of the division, inside of the Vision, they all get to play the Giants.

00:23:55
Speaker 3: Wait, wait, hold on, can we talk about the Giants schedule?

00:23:58
Speaker 6: Sure?

00:23:58
Speaker 4: The Giants are playing a one two three fourth place schedule and they have from October nineteenth until they're buy in week fourteenth. So October ninteenth is week seven. They're away at Denver at Eagles hosting the Niners, at the Bears hosting the Packers. So that's two times at home at the Lions, at the Patriots on a Monday night, and then a buye So they have two home games from October nineteenth until December fourteenth.

00:24:24
Speaker 3: What you're asking, I never know what to.

00:24:28
Speaker 1: Do it those I agree with you. That's a brutal stretch, but that means they get it back. On the other end, the problem that they don't get back is that that they just have to play all these goods.

00:24:36
Speaker 3: So you're asking, you're asking.

00:24:38
Speaker 4: Okay, so you're asking a new quarterback to figure out the commanders. Then they this is how it starts at Washington at Dallas, Dallas.

00:24:47
Speaker 1: Find that's an average first two weeks, except it's two roads Washington.

00:24:50
Speaker 3: Yeah, you're gonna be Heay.

00:24:52
Speaker 4: Then you got the Chiefs and the Chargers. Okay, fine, you know what, Fine, it's easy the old.

00:24:57
Speaker 1: You're right, it's just the first two games didn't scare me as much as that other Eagles at Broncos at Eagles, that's read absolutely brutal.

00:25:08
Speaker 4: October nineteenth to December fourteenth, you were home twice and it's the Niners and the Packers.

00:25:14
Speaker 1: And even the game before that is home on a short week against the Eagles.

00:25:18
Speaker 2: Like it's yeah, that's brutal.

00:25:20
Speaker 4: Maybe maybe it's great that abdul Carter has no idea what's about to hit it, mackbe it. They've never played it any schedule in the NFL before, so you know, like maybe they won't know what you don't know.

00:25:30
Speaker 5: Well, the problem is an Abdul Carter, right, The problem is right now because Jackson Dart at some point it's going to have to come in to try to save everybody's job.

00:25:37
Speaker 6: And when the opportunity, I guess will be October fifth at the Saints.

00:25:41
Speaker 5: Right. But the problem is if you start Jackson Dart on October fifth, then you have to play him against the Eagles at the Kist, the Broncos at the Row on the.

00:25:49
Speaker 3: Road to Row Eagles, Broncos Eagles, and oh and.

00:25:54
Speaker 6: Your first starts Jackson Dart.

00:25:56
Speaker 1: Enjoy so much about like, if you're going to have a better than expected season or worse than expected season is just in the divisional peration. And it's in injury luck and other stuff like that in terms of the teams that you play, whether they have injury luck at the time you play them and not. But a lot of it is just these division schedules either rising, you know, helping out a lot of teams or crushing.

00:26:18
Speaker 3: But let's compare. Okay, so I told you how the Giants start. Now here's how the Commanders start. Giants.

00:26:23
Speaker 4: We know, Okay, at Green Bay that's hard, but then they get Raiders and then at Falcons that's their first four not like maybe three wins of that right like that, and they're playing the second place schedule.

00:26:36
Speaker 1: It's also I think if you're a bad team or you're in a you've had a couple of tough seasons, you do want a softer early part of the schedule. Now, this is one thing where the NFL says they try to have the teams that have struggled play against each other early in the season to help them out. So, for instance, the Panthers start with two games on the road, three out of four at Jacksonville at Arizona. But the best team that they play, like in the first seven weeks is Atlanta or you know, New England or Doubt. Like, they don't play a team that you expect to have eleven twelve, you know, wins this season in the first seven weeks. So they're saying to the Panthers, here here before it gets tough, here's a chance to have a good start. I think the Patriots got a similar start to their season. They open with the Raiders, which like, no game is going to be easy for them. They open they're at Miami and then they're home for the Steelers and the Panthers. Now it's not like they're going to be favored by a ton in any of those games, but it's three out of four at home and the best team you play in that group is either Miami or Pittsburgh. So that's what you're looking for, just to just avoid the superhumans like Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahoemes.

00:27:48
Speaker 4: I think also like avoid the people who are going to be extremely tricky and the Raiders defense, as much as the front of it is very nasty, it's not.

00:27:57
Speaker 3: Like they're going to give you false leverages.

00:27:58
Speaker 4: And Drake May's not gonna have to like, hmm, is this man or zone that's not gonna happen, you know, like it's they they had to read like their corners are still an issue.

00:28:06
Speaker 3: It's not fixed yet, so perhaps it'll be easier. What are you laughing?

00:28:09
Speaker 5: I don't know, No, I just loved I love Mike Rabel and Pete Carroll in completely different scenarios with completely different players, and we expect a certain thing.

00:28:20
Speaker 6: I don't.

00:28:20
Speaker 4: I don't know you're going you're doing a record now and taking this and taking the Raiders.

00:28:25
Speaker 6: I don't want.

00:28:27
Speaker 1: I don't know what I'm expecting, because why not. The last time I saw Mike Rabel coach a team, they were terrible, and for the most part, his defenses in Tennessee were fine. They were they were like average, uh and the best thing about those teams was weirdly an offense run by like Ryan Tannehill and Arthur Smith. Oh, by the way, Dereck Henry, Yeah, I guess he mattered just a little.

00:28:48
Speaker 6: Seems like he might have played.

00:28:49
Speaker 1: He probably was like the most underpaid player in the league in hindsight at the time.

00:28:54
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I mean not today.

00:28:55
Speaker 1: Yes, we might as well throw some news in there. David Henry signed a two year contract for a reported thirty million according to our NFL media insider Ian Rapaport, with twenty five million dollars guaranteed.

00:29:10
Speaker 2: So I like it.

00:29:11
Speaker 1: It's the most apparently any running back over thirty has ever made, which is a pretty big caveat, but I think it's a fair deal. Running Backs are getting paid again a little bit.

00:29:20
Speaker 4: I mean, between he and Saquon Barkley, they should, like those guys prove themselves and they're still you know, they're not in a situation where you know, the team actually is like.

00:29:30
Speaker 3: We have like a substitute one that we could put in for you.

00:29:33
Speaker 4: They don't have substitute ones like it helps Lamar Jackson having Derrick Henry. It helps everyone having Saquon Barkley on that Eagles offense.

00:29:43
Speaker 5: But for context, they essentially for two years, Dereck Henry is going to make twenty twenty five Daniel Jones money.

00:29:49
Speaker 3: Correct, right, Yeah, So like, well it is bad. It's hard to compare those quarterbacks with.

00:29:55
Speaker 1: No but it's true though even he's getting like last year, for instance, he was getting like Jordan Lewis the nickel back for the Jaguars money like ten or leg you know, and even that was like he did not have a strong market last year and they got a bargain out of it. Multiple things can be true, though at some point Derrick Henry has to not be a bionic superhero and next year, like I would like to see them maybe take the load off just a little bit so that that twenty twenty six guaranteed money, all that money that they gave him is well used because at at some point as well.

00:30:31
Speaker 4: Yeah, but on some level are you like I will say, when it's a team like the Ravens, they're so smart with their cap there's probably the way that it's structured and I don't know because I haven't looked into it, and I don't have the information necessarily, but like the way that they structure things, perhaps they are paying him basically like a bonus for what happened last Yes, because.

00:30:49
Speaker 3: The way other players get paid. But let's be fair that this isn't happening with you know, the Bengals.

00:30:54
Speaker 4: They have to figure out how to rub two pennies together to figure things out.

00:30:58
Speaker 3: Sometimes this is not with the Raven.

00:31:00
Speaker 4: You can look at that and say, well, however, they're guaranteeing it. I can pretty much say that they're being fair with how they're paying someone, probably for his past performance and not necessarily into the future, like you know.

00:31:13
Speaker 5: And the volume doesn't necessarily have to be a certain thing to justify the contract. Like you said, like the best case scenario for Baltimore and for Derek Henry is, you know, around two hundred carries, around twenty touchdowns. The best case scenario for some of these backup quarterbacks is them never playing right.

00:31:31
Speaker 4: Yeah, actually that's in many cases the best thing about it. Every time with the Chiefs, you're like, great backup quarterback is their best case scenario.

00:31:40
Speaker 3: He never sees the field.

00:31:41
Speaker 1: These North and North battles. Just thinking about the Ravens are just They're just awesome all season. Like part of the reason that the Ravens feel so frontloaded with awesome games is like because there's awesome games throughout even without with all that front loading. They have the Thanksgiving game against the Bengals. They actually play the Bengals twice in three weeks. You hate when that happens. I know the NFL tries to avoid it. It's really hard putting everything together and avoiding stuff like that. But they play twice in three weeks between weeks thirteen, and.

00:32:12
Speaker 3: I love those division games at the end there.

00:32:14
Speaker 1: And then they also have it rather than all they have an at Green Bay on a Saturday, which, just as a quarterback lover, is like Jordan Love Lamar Jackson, you get, you get the Joe Burrow versus Jordan Love.

00:32:26
Speaker 2: It's just these matchups.

00:32:27
Speaker 5: That you know, the benefit of playing the Bengals for the Ravens two times in three weeks is Jamar Chase may be tired or running down the field mount h by that second game.

00:32:35
Speaker 3: Stuff.

00:32:35
Speaker 4: You got another safety, Malachi Starks is there. It's going to be good. Everything's going to.

00:32:38
Speaker 2: Be the Speaking of news our Darius Washington Achilles.

00:32:43
Speaker 3: I hate, I hate that injury.

00:32:45
Speaker 1: A really good starting safety who is going to be part of you know, three safety rotation starting.

00:32:51
Speaker 4: Well, atleast they got Malachi Starks though, like in general, Commander can imagine if they want a different direction than the draft now, it would be very different.

00:32:57
Speaker 1: Why Why are younger athletes tearing their actilities more often? Says the Boston suf It's a rough week for Achilles.

00:33:06
Speaker 2: You know what I'm not.

00:33:06
Speaker 1: Surprised about with the release of these schedules is that the Bears, who you're always looking for to get into big spots, are in big spots. They get the week one Monday night football game, they get the Commander's Monday Night football game, they get the Black Friday game, they get a cool Saturday game against the Packers, and they get a week seventeen Sunday night football game, assuming that you know, hangs out against the forty nine ers before we go. Is there just any other kind of takeaways? I know you run the numbers with your win totals once the schedule is put in. Was there anything that came away from all those numbers that we're interesting to you?

00:33:47
Speaker 3: Yeah?

00:33:47
Speaker 4: So there's two things that are action items. Not for us because we work for the NFL. But I believe that the markets are undervalue. You're going to get a good stock price on if you want to ideally the stock market you buy losel high. So you want to be buying the Seahawks right now. I think they're undervalued in terms of how Las Vegas believes that they will finish.

00:34:07
Speaker 2: Not me.

00:34:08
Speaker 4: I don't know anything about that, but fine. And then the other one is the Patriots. They're undervalued as well. Those two teams I believe are last year I.

00:34:16
Speaker 1: Was in there like eight and a half or something, seven and a half. Hats yeah, I think it was seven and a half. Yeah, I guess it depends on the spot. But man, that that seems fair.

00:34:27
Speaker 6: I'm great out that the Patriots are going to be bad.

00:34:31
Speaker 4: Listen, we all work together for enough years now, my lion like like the lion luck stuff.

00:34:36
Speaker 3: I get it. I'm with you.

00:34:38
Speaker 4: But for everyone else at home, the Patriots are undervalueds fair.

00:34:42
Speaker 2: Shout out to the Seahawks. I kind of thought they might.

00:34:44
Speaker 1: Be ignored in the Sam Darnold, you know, post Pete Carroll era, and actually they're in a lot of fun spot good. They have a Thursday night game against the Cardinals. They have a Monday night game against the Texans, although that is an ESPN Plus game. They have a Sunday night game against the Commanders.

00:35:01
Speaker 3: They have they were calling it ESPN plus. Mooreth think she's just.

00:35:03
Speaker 2: ESPN Thursday night game. Okay, good to know.

00:35:05
Speaker 1: Thursday night game against the Rams like a Saturday game. So the NFC West is in a lot of big spots. So that is your action items.

00:35:13
Speaker 3: Okay, those are my two actions.

00:35:14
Speaker 4: Last year, my action items were the Broncos and the Seahawks, and both of them were already actioned by like week eleven, So those are.

00:35:22
Speaker 1: My Well, not only that, Cynthia, you have not made a big enough deal about the show that we do together.

00:35:30
Speaker 2: We're doing it today, game debut. We do it.

00:35:33
Speaker 1: We picked the games every week all season. Before the season, you had the Eagles winning the Super Bowl against the Kansas City Chiefs. You hit the exact Super Bowl result.

00:35:45
Speaker 3: You know, thanks, I appreciate you remembering that.

00:35:48
Speaker 1: At a time when not a lot of people were picking the Eagles to win the Super Bowl.

00:35:53
Speaker 2: Last year.

00:35:54
Speaker 1: In fact, I had picked them to win the Super Bowl like the previous two years, then got off of it like an idiot.

00:35:59
Speaker 4: That's what's going to happen to you again this year with your Super Bowl pick.

00:36:02
Speaker 1: I just know I'm keeping that close to the on this show. We have a long time to talk about all the all these games. I think we've done a good job here. Unless anyone has something just now they have to get out here. It's been a great week here at NFL Daily. Thank you guys for flapping.

00:36:18
Speaker 3: I miss you.

00:36:19
Speaker 4: It's weird because I don't, you know, during the season, I see you guys so often, and then I feel like it's been a long long time.

00:36:24
Speaker 1: Well, you know what, you're going to really enjoy the show we do in just a little bit together too. Thanks everyone for listening all week on NFL Daily. We will be back on Monday morning.

00:36:36
Speaker 2: Over night.

00:36:38
Speaker 1: We're actually going to have a fun one some ranking over and that's going to really like what does.

00:36:43
Speaker 3: That even mean? You know, you're like late night. It's like late night.

00:36:47
Speaker 1: When you're staying up late and you're listening to the new schedule, Oh.

00:36:50
Speaker 3: Late night time with Greg. I see how it's going.

00:36:52
Speaker 2: Falls back