2025 NFL Week 2 NFC Preview

00:00:04
Speaker 1: Welcome to NFL Daily, where we hope one day to be guests on the Saint Brown Brothers podcast. I'm Greg Rosenthal here in the Chris Westling podcast studio with my friends Patrick Clayband and Jordan rod Rieg to preview the NFC games. And yes, this is the first week we're trying this out, separating the conferences. Sometimes it's going to be uneven only five NFC games. Some bangers in here, and if you're listening to this and wonder where are all those AFC games that they're in your feed, All of it coming out where we're maximizing our previews forevermore and honking long about your teams to get make sure you're covered.

00:00:45
Speaker 2: And also bifurcating NFL Daily history where people will reference shows pre D merger and post D merger off in the NFC.

00:00:56
Speaker 1: I mean, I hope it's not that transformative of a moment for but yes, we appreciate everyone also checking us out on YouTube and doing the YouTube lives on Monday night, and if you're watching us too on the NFL channel, love you and love this match up here in this week in particular, I mentioned the Saint Brown Brothers podcast well, we hear from the brothers in just the second. But isn't it delicious that the Bears and the lines are like playing right now when they're the most ornery.

00:01:26
Speaker 2: Right now at the Lions, fresh off of loss, taking on their former offensive coordinator and the head coach of the Chicago Bears. It is Bears at the Lions. We're giving up five and a half points. The over under is forty seven and a half. Kenny Albert, Jonathan Vilma, Megan o'livey on the call. As you mentioned it, Grek, we talked about the impending spiciness between Dan Campbell and his former offensive coordinator.

00:01:50
Speaker 3: Here it is. It's a chance for everything to be out in the open.

00:01:54
Speaker 1: I love it. It was part of my off season, you know, monitoring of the game. And we we mentioned how this is a great week of revenge games. And I don't know if like they're all friends, it's all professional, but I think both sides, especially in Detroit, really want to win this game. It'll be interesting to hear how Ben Johnson is received. We know how Amon Ra wants him to be received.

00:02:21
Speaker 4: We two gonna be so crazy. I promise you it's gonna be so electric. But as soon as Ben walks in there, we're booing him. I don't give all booing him.

00:02:29
Speaker 1: Like, yeah, he said it's gonna be lit. I'm not gonna lie. I'm here for it for sure.

00:02:32
Speaker 4: I just want to be a fly on the wall in his meeting room. Bro, how is he as a head coach?

00:02:36
Speaker 1: Like?

00:02:36
Speaker 4: Then?

00:02:37
Speaker 3: That is not you?

00:02:37
Speaker 4: Dog like?

00:02:38
Speaker 5: I know you.

00:02:39
Speaker 4: I'm acting like this, man, Bro, I want to be a fly on the wall for one meeting, just one.

00:02:47
Speaker 1: Nah, Bro, You've done with Ben?

00:02:49
Speaker 4: Now, Bro, it's all turn.

00:02:50
Speaker 3: Bro, it's your turn yet?

00:02:51
Speaker 1: WHOA?

00:02:52
Speaker 5: I love that. I love that so much because you could tell he's he's having fun with it. You could tell, you know, obviously they did some great things together. But you kind of heard this start to wear on, including from a Monra who's asked about it a couple of times in training camp. You could hear this, like, well, what about losing Ben Johnson? Question get asked over and over and over again, and it really started to wear on the Lions.

00:03:15
Speaker 1: And to be fair, I listened to a lot of the podcasts and he said a lot of really complimentary things and he couldn't be more grateful for the creativity and the way that Ben Johnson helped him out. And the other voice that you heard, I should have pointed out was Roma Doonday from the Bear. So it's all in good fun. And yet, you know, it is that tendency thing, you know back when Belichick was playing Manginie or when even Shanahan McVeigh. When you have coaches that know each other really well, do you overthink it? Do you try to stop what they're going to do because you know what they're going to do, but then they're going to do something different. There is something a little extra, And the fact they're both coming off really disappointing week ones for different reasons is awesome.

00:03:59
Speaker 5: If I'm I just try to do what the heck I'm supposed to do with what the plan is, versus getting so far sidetracked off the plan, especially on offense. I mean this game. They started so well last week against the Vikings and Caleb Williams looked incredible, and then everything just started deteriorating, especially as the pressure ramped up. Brian Flores was only rushing for at first, and he was dropping people. He wasn't really doing things. He was doing more complicated things with the coverage at first than he was with the pressure. He started blitzing more and that that really started to hassle the game plan, to hassle Caleb Williams. He started working more out of structure when that started happening, which is a good thing. He can make miracles happen, but sometimes the receivers weren't on the same page. I'm thinking of that the Dj Moore play where Ryan Fitzpatrick was on social media earlier saying it looked like Dj Moore like deviated from the route that he was originally supposed to run. Everything just started devolving and sort of decrescendoing into chaos for the Bears. And so I'm like, I'll take a full game of everybody doing what they're supposed to be doing, less so trying to be you know, moves and counter moves to whatever the Lions are doing.

00:05:07
Speaker 2: Well, we did get to see a glimpse of when everything's working as the way it should on the fake toss play in the red zone thrown in the end zone successful, the exact same play that Ben Johnson called with Jared Goff, and they executed it. It looked a little different with Caleb running than with Jared Goff. But you see the potential there, and combine that with the off schedule throws that Caleb made early where he's.

00:05:30
Speaker 5: That one to rome A Dunsay, the.

00:05:32
Speaker 2: One where there's an easy win, a clear win off the edge. I forget which Viking's edge defender that was, and Caleb puts him in the ground with a move and then floats one the DeAndre Swift. Well, you see all the potential there. Just got to add those things together and make them last the entire.

00:05:48
Speaker 1: In the tape heads and I went back and I did want to see some of his throws were really hard on Caleb Williams, But there's a lot of disagreement. Like Kurt Warner watching thought he he ultimately had a positive game overall, that there was a lot more good than bad. I think the issue with Caleb still is and it's a little like Josh Allen early in his career. The bad plays are really bad, like they're extra bad where he gets really panicky, maybe when there's no one there or him miss by a ton. And I don't think it's consistent. He made so many good plays and I think he's getting used to it. But you do see him fritz out a little bit. It was just one game and it was against the Vikings. This is going to be a much easier matchup against the Lions, whose pass rush was if not the worst in the NFL in Week one, it was right up there.

00:06:41
Speaker 5: I would say yes and no, because also what the Lions are going to do is a similar thing they played against Green Bay, which you're going to man up quite a bit.

00:06:49
Speaker 1: Right.

00:06:49
Speaker 5: They use man coverage on about fifty percent of their coverages, so they're going to mix it up a little bit, but they will play some man a significant portion of that, and they're going to try to bump these receivers off their timing. The one thing that Ben Johnson is probably going back into the meeting rooms and doing is saying, we're staying on schedule, We're staying efficient. We're going to build in these plays that keep the quarterback on schedule so you don't have to put them in these high stress situations where he's in an impossible down in distance and our run game is not working and they weren't running the ball enough and then all of a sudden, you know, he is fritzing out, like you said, because he's having to do the impossible and put everything together, and then he's also seeing stuff that's confusing, that would be confusing to any quarterback, especially in a high stress situation. And so I think that's what they're trying to do. But because the Lions are going to try to mix those coverages the way that they did last week, they're going to try to especially disrupt the timing. And it's on tape what happens when you disrupt the timing of what this Ben Johnson Caleb Williams offense is.

00:07:44
Speaker 2: And also on tape was the way Dennis Allen's defense, especially in the second half and the Jordan Mason led ground game of the Vikings really kind of pulled things away versus the first week for the Detroit Lions, We're used to seeing go up and down the field with Jamir Gibbs and David Montgomery, couldn't get anything going to the run game.

00:08:02
Speaker 3: I want to see how things look here in week two.

00:08:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, the the denisance, you know, it was stalled a little bit there in the fourth quarter. Shot out shout out to the Blue Sky user who who responded to one of my tweets about like the Allen Sanz and be like, bro, it's right there. It's clearly Thenisance is amazing. I'm worried about the Lions. It was just one week and that's why this game is is so big, So I kind of don't care what the Lions are doing schematically. If they are that bad rushing the passer, it's a problem. They had the second lowest pressure rate with a four man pass rush, so they sent blitz like half the time against the backers and they still had like the seventh worst pressure rate overall, which is a really bad equation where you're sending a ton of pressure and you still weren't getting there. I know it was a green against Green Bay. And then on the flip side, like they're into your offensive line with a rookie and rat Ledge and a second year player in Mahogany and a veteran and Graham Glasgow. They really struggled too. So if you're talking about problems on both lines, that's not the Lions I love, and I want to see them rebound.

00:09:10
Speaker 5: What I think was interesting about what the denissance.

00:09:13
Speaker 1: We're getting punchy. We're just the start of this this whole two show thing, and we're getting punchy.

00:09:18
Speaker 5: We're getting punchy any of those. The thing that I thought was really fascinating about the quote unquote Denissance too, and what I conpect to see more of from this Bears defense, especially to put some pressure on that front, is just the way that they they were so aggressive, and they were so you know, even Mantes Sweat is out there making plays, right, So it's and he's been hit or miss. I mean, when he's been good, he's been really really good. But when he's not been good, he's been like, hey, is he going to stay on the team. And so I do think that maximizing and picking your spots and when to truly attack the quarterback is an addition that they have with Dennis Allen. You saw that when they brought that blitz at the exact right time to confuse JJ McCarthy and and to pressure and to hassle him at the exact right time at that moment, it could have swung. It could have been ultimately the final swing in the game. It wasn't, as we know, but it could have been. And I think that's where this factor's in too, is attacking the quarterback knowing that his offensive line isn't what.

00:10:16
Speaker 1: It was, and he can't wear that gray undershirt Caleb Williams. Again.

00:10:21
Speaker 3: Why why were people so itchy about the undershirt?

00:10:23
Speaker 1: I don't know, because it looked like like my son's flag football team. It just looked like sloppy, you know. It's like what It's just like, he's just out there wearing a gray looking T shirt. He's underneath the universe just made it. It's maanding all the clean The color of the undershirt was it sort of I guess so there Maybe it feels sort of like a just like a gym shirt that he was wearing. I don't know, there was something about it. I wasn't surprised. I didn't realize until days later that that was like a thing on the internet. But I was thinking about it during the game. I'm like, that gray shirt is extremely distracting and probably the reason they lost.

00:10:56
Speaker 2: He can act on a few of those passes and the shirt is not an issue. The Lions used a whole lot of man in Week one against the Packers, and Caleb struggled against man coverage last year, so we'll see if there's growth there. Let's go to a team that also had a heartbreaking loss in Week one. Their loss came at home as well. It's the Atlanta Falcons who are now going on the road to take on the resurgent j J.

00:11:21
Speaker 3: McCarthy Minnesota Vikings, who.

00:11:22
Speaker 2: Are four and a half point favorites against Atlanta. That over under is forty five and a half. It's Sunday Night Football, Jordan, Mike Rico, Chris Collinsworth and Melissa Stark. How do you feel about Michael Pinnock junior in the Falcons offense on the road against one of the better defensive adiece defensive coordinators in.

00:11:39
Speaker 5: The NFL and one of the more difficult places to play in the NFL as well. Also, my Survivor pick from last week, just just wanted to reiterate that.

00:11:50
Speaker 1: I mean, I think we've mentioned it many times.

00:11:51
Speaker 5: Well, I just want you to remember that I take it so seriously, Greg.

00:11:55
Speaker 1: If you were both of you were trying to mess with the integrity of the survivor pick. Unfortunately, I am just that You're right you you would you love them so much. They are really Jordan's Vikings. Let's just be real about it. Adore, you wanted to take them again this week, and we had to explain the rules of Survivor to you.

00:12:15
Speaker 5: Yes, I was so excited about the integrity of the game that I just wanted to keep picking the team that I dared to pick in the first chann't take.

00:12:22
Speaker 1: Them again, and I wouldn't take them this week. I don't feel good about this.

00:12:25
Speaker 5: For them to talk, what's kind of interesting. There's so much crossover between these two coaching staffs. This is Raheem Morris and Zach Robinson. It's Kevin O'Connell, West Phillips. It's cross training staffs, coaching Trees whatever that would be called doctor Trees or whatever like it's it's all of these people that know each other so well and know how each other likes to game plan and know how each other likes to escape.

00:12:49
Speaker 3: Doctor Trees is a shop.

00:12:50
Speaker 5: Overall, it's a new show. It's a new show.

00:12:56
Speaker 1: That would be a good I mean it's probably happened, but kind of like an office but plus for legalized weed shop, I think would be like a fun show.

00:13:06
Speaker 5: Yea, oh my god, I forgot what I was saying.

00:13:09
Speaker 1: Don't worry about it.

00:13:11
Speaker 3: Plus see TV Thursday next week.

00:13:14
Speaker 1: You can come up with you know, four different shows like that and I'll pick out the fake one really interesting game. This one. I'm shocked. I guess I shouldn't be shocked, but I'm surprised the Vikings are favored by that much. This is definitely one of those games where my, hey, these these both look like one in one teams. Uh like way of picking games factors in just like they both kind of feel like one in one teams, Like neither one should be two and oh, neither one should be zero and two. So a lot of times that is, you know what happens. These teams find their water. And I thought the Falcons had a lot to be happy with. I think they outplayed the Bucks last week, and we spent so much time talking about the rookie pass rushers and they didn't have a massive impact for the Falcons in long term. They will need to and you know soon. But man, they started two rookies in the secondary and Xavier Watts was out there. I was talking about, you know, the tape heads not liking Caleb Williams. Like Xavier Watts had a great week as a rookie safety. They're also starting Billy Bowman and.

00:14:16
Speaker 5: Don't forget Jesse Bates is still there.

00:14:18
Speaker 1: He is and AJ Terrell, and Ajterrell has always been one of my guys. And I remember the year where he was one of the best cornerbacks in the league and like early planning that flag even the year before with Nate Tysling, this guy could be an all pro type of player, and then he was and he just hasn't been since. It's been injuries or whatever this happens with cornerbacks. Cris he's been good. I think he was good last year. Man that Week one I was feeling twenty twenty two a Jterrell vibes or whatever that season was. And if if he becomes that dude and he found something in Watts and he found baits like the Raheem Morris defense plan. It's coming together and it might be tough to complete passes for McCarthy.

00:14:55
Speaker 5: This week, and Jeff Ulrich is there, and so there's a little bit of a schematic show they're able to. I think you know you saw it. Yes, Baker Mayfield had a ton of time to throw, but like they were getting pressure. They weren't converting necessarily, but they got fifteen pressures that in that Week one game. And I do think that that's a positive start. You hear so much pop about James Pierce and what his potential is, what his play energy is, and I think when you match that potential with a really developing it and bright spot so far in their coverage and especially that safety position, I think that you're starting to have something here in Atlanta and on the other side of the ball. I do think that the part of the reason why this, I guess is looking the way that it is, at least on paper in Vegas, is is that, like you saw what Brian Flores's defense could do, and you saw what it would do to a young quarterback, and you saw how I compared it to like, sometimes they hit you and they pressure you all at once, right, and it's it's overwhelming, and it totally you reel from it and you just never recover. Sometimes it starts out slow and almost reels you in and almost fools you, and then builds and build and build, and all of a sudden you're drowning. And that's what he does. This is his ethos, It's his entire thing. He can do any of them as well in his defense, even though they will be missing Blake Cashman for a couple of weeks with the hamstring, you know, which is a huge loss for them. But Blake Cashman left the game and that defense still played their butts off. And I'm not saying he's not missing him as not a factor. It absolutely is. But this veteran defense, they're going to give Mike Pennix everything that they've got. I actually but I really believe in this quarterback. Yeah, I love this quarterback.

00:16:38
Speaker 2: Because if we're talking about young quarterbacks, and all due respect to Caleb Williams, he's not playing as well as Michael Pennock Junior has or has the entire time that both of them have been playing football. And the as far as what was available to Michael Pennocks Junior against the Buccaneers at home, it wasn't very much. They had to lean on the short passing game. The rushing attack. He almost out rushed Tyler Algier and Bejean Robinson. They had twenty four yards, he had twenty one on the ground, to the extent where if something was to get done, Michael Penick Junior had to do it himself. And so, like I'm excited about the way that the defense of jeff Aulbrick are looking, but I'm my eyes are firmly on Zach Robinson for this game because it shouldn't all be the second year quarterback making he hasn't been in the NFL.

00:17:23
Speaker 1: He's not a normal second year quarterback with six starts, though I do think you see the difference of him being a twenty five year old with a lot of college experience. We'll see what JJ McCarthy really looks like at the NFL level, but for right now, I would feel more comfortable with Pennex in a lot of ways. I think they remind me of each other. They would be what nineteen nineties analysts would call gamers, you know, like there that they do what it takes to win when it's winning time, and that they just got a little something extra. Because I saw that in Penix last week, and I do love the way he played in the fourth quarter. It got overshadowed altnly because Coo missed the kick in Baker Mayfield, but I thought every winning play that needed to be made, Pennix made it, and he has ultimately more experience based on college and based on you know, the NFL experience that he has.

00:18:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's why the whole game winning drive thing that we put up for quarterbacks is a huge liar. If you want to look at two games last week where Aaron Rodgers gets like seventeen yards of Chris Boswell hits a sixty yard field goal versus Michael Pennocks Tutre going all the way down the field with no timeouts and Ku Yanks won.

00:18:29
Speaker 1: It's not fair, done fair.

00:18:31
Speaker 5: We talked about a dabble, a smattering of revenge games. Michael Pennix and JJ McCarthy once faced each other for a certain national championship game in college. That's it the fact check that real quick. Sorry to be rude, I was on no, but that's a fair points.

00:18:46
Speaker 1: That's a good point. Dog. Also, you know the Falcons could have taken You.

00:18:51
Speaker 5: Tried to, Dorothy, you tried, you took that first.

00:18:53
Speaker 1: No, I just completely forgot because taping so long, I was like I used to listen the Mike and the Mad Dog. That was fun. One last thing on this game and then let's move on.

00:19:04
Speaker 3: Let's do it.

00:19:06
Speaker 1: I thought, my cues is the weakness in that secondary, So can Adam Thaland or Jalen Naylor really be the guys that take advantage? And then I think we talked a little that it was Colleena on a Tuesday show about a possible this is the year for Kyle Pitts, and I thought he looked good last week. I thought after the catch, there's a little bit of that juice that I think, because of injuries, we haven't really seen consistently at the NFL level. So just just something to watch. Little Kyle pitsasance. Okay, I'm overdoing sos.

00:19:38
Speaker 3: The song that we have had a lot of songzs.

00:19:40
Speaker 1: We're having a sance of Sonce.

00:19:41
Speaker 2: We're having a seance for brock Party as we're concerned about his injury status. The San Francisco forty dollars six and a half point favorites. As I am looking at this all this piece of paper, I feel like that may change. At the New Orleans Saints the over under forty six and a half again right now, Kevin Coogler, Daryl Johnson, Allison Williams on the call, we may be back to Mac greg Rosenthal.

00:20:03
Speaker 1: How does that make you feel interested? I am. Look, I had a whole segment planned for Tuesday show that prety and that first drive by the forty nine ers offense was a fantastic omen because even though Perty threw a couple interceptions in that game, I thought he dealt with pressure and ultimately with the guys around him, like did the most in a game that I thought the Seahawks defense played well. Now he's hurt and you lose a lot, and it will really hurt this team long term. But if he's going to miss games at New Orleans, is not a bad one to miss. You have Jacksonville and Arizona coming up at home. We'll see how long it takes. And I'm curious. I'm curious to see mac Jones in the offense that Kyle Shanahan wanted to draft him in. According to reports, you know, back in the Tray Lance draft that John Lynch went over the top, you know, and got his guy, Trey Lance. Neither one of them long term really worked out. But man, mac Jones was slanging it in the preseason. Sometimes watching those preseason games pays off, and it's for a moment like this, so that I can tell you America that Mac Jones was slanging it. Uh.

00:21:15
Speaker 5: If I'm recalling some of the cyclical nature of the sport correctly, there was once a time in San Francisco, where a sort of unheralded quarterback signed a massive contract, then got injured, then Brock Purdy took his job.

00:21:30
Speaker 1: Uh.

00:21:31
Speaker 5: Now Brock Purdy is injured, we're not sure if we're going to see him when he's gonna play. And Mac Jones has been waiting in the wings, uh for this exact moment to take basically everything he can get to show he still deserves a starting job. But no, no, George Kittle, Juwan Jennings is banged up. Kendrick Bourne is there now, Greg, You've been sort of calling this out for a while that Kendrick Bourne will at some point arrive in s Francisco. I think he's gonna play.

00:21:58
Speaker 2: He took a visit and they a number in front of him and Kendrick said, no, no, you're gonna need me.

00:22:03
Speaker 3: I'm gonna leave.

00:22:03
Speaker 2: I love vent Porn was right because the press did go up, the need went up as well.

00:22:08
Speaker 1: And to be clear, Party's not playing in this game. Shanahan said it could be a multi week injury. And since we started recording, literally the forty nine ers line has gone from six and a half to two and a half. So it is viewed more as a toss up. Ultimately, the Saints need to show some of the stuff they showed last week. Number one. To Mario Davis and Cameron Jordan, I mean still got it. Our friend Ryan you know dat boy Wolf on Twitter from the Saints Block Party podcast, he suggested a segment for NFL Daily called the Unks of the Week. I was like, I don't know if I'm the man to really pull off that segment, but if we had some Cameron Jordan and to Mario Davis, like longtime veterans seventeen years deep for to Mario Davis and Cam Jordan is literally the oldest player to ever have a sack for the New Orleans Saints, they would be the Unks of the Week.

00:23:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, just in terms of hilling, because it's a it's a violent game to fill gaps as a run defender and for tomorrow Davis to still be doing it at this level on a defense that it has had some problems and a lot of teams have had rushing success on Otrey Benson averaged almost nine yards of carry against the Saints. That being said, uh, still played pretty well and they were in that game. They were in the game, and the Ratman made some throat the snake emojis are flying up on the top.

00:23:36
Speaker 1: I think he looked good. I think he looked Spencer Rattler better than a week ago. I don't want to move past like the big story here though. Do you think I pulled off the segment? I tried, Ryan, Yeah, if you're out there, I tried.

00:23:47
Speaker 2: It's it's I don't know where the where you feel like the laps would be great?

00:23:51
Speaker 1: No, it's it's cannon. It's happening. You know who wouldn't have been would be Trent Williams. I was shocked watching that game last week. It might have been the worst game of it that disturbed you did leave the game at one point. He also didn't you know, practice or play that much in the preseason. And then Matt Barrows of The Athletic responded to my tweet because I was just watching it being like, wow, this, I just can't remember Trent Williams ever looking human, and he noted that Trent Williams gave up more pressures in that game than any game in seven or eight I think it was eight years. Yeah, So that that's something to watch because I would assume he's going to work his way into shape. But if he's not Trent Williams, they are a different team.

00:24:28
Speaker 5: Obviously, opponent factors in. But what if I told you guys that the Robert Sala defense by the way, Brandon Staley revenge game coming up now that we're keeping track of revenges and whatnot, although I guess it doesn't really count because he was like an assistant. But anyway, what if I told you guys that the Robert Sala defense the Sance. The Sala Sance finished third behind the Colts and the Broncos in Week one in passing defense EPA per play. What if I told what's your reaction to that? Greg?

00:24:57
Speaker 3: Yeah, they had Donold looking looking kind of crazy out there.

00:25:02
Speaker 1: He only threw the ball to one player. Literally, I've never seen that ninety percent of the air yards. Yes, from Darnold last week to where it said Jackson Smith and Jog. But I think it's a really positive sign. That was a better secondary to performance than they had almost all the last year.

00:25:17
Speaker 5: And I'll say jokes aside, they did look way better. They looked more active. Robert Saal is actually blitzing so far at about a ten percent more frequency than he ever has before, which is good because we've been talking about this all off season that he has to evolve a little bit where he went from not really you know, necessarily liking to blitz so much, but now he has to because he's not exactly getting exactly what he needs from even the odd fronts that he likes to run sometimes, so he's blitzing the linebackers more, sometimes the DB's but mostly like de Winter was the guy that he's blitzing a lot. The other part of this is they do have some areas of I don't want to say weakness because he's a young player. Was his first game, but Seattle tried the plan where they're like, let's throw it at upton Stout and see what happens. And he plays in the slot. And the Saints have three receivers who are really good who can all play in the slot. I mean two receivers who are really good, one who's a veteran receiver.

00:26:08
Speaker 1: One that I have a note here that they need to take him out of the lineup.

00:26:11
Speaker 5: And that's bred I'm gonna say. I saw your face and I was like, okay, let me take that back. Two receivers really good, not the one who needs.

00:26:19
Speaker 1: A veteran like resting. Greg reaction face is not good. And I don't know, but everyone I needed that. Everyone told me about it. It just happened to be written down. It's like they need more. Remember the preseason, it was a lot of fun. Mason Tipton, just let's get some speed in there. Devon Valley we traded, They traded for him. I went, we like, let's let's get him in there. Brandon Cooks at this point, you can't play him just because of the contract. Maybe it was the scheme though, because I didn't see a lave and Shaheed getting much room either. It was a great job by Arizona. They were so pass heavy the Saints, even though Alvin Kamara looked good and they ran it.

00:26:55
Speaker 5: They want to throw the ball so bad.

00:26:56
Speaker 1: And they played so sure. They were on the ball and they were playing hurry up. And Ratler looks good there. I do think you saw some growth from Rattler one year one to year two. That makes me more excited about watching the scene. Just he looked like an NFL quarterback and he's going up against the guy in mac Jones who's had a lot of struggles when he's played over the last what three or four years. There was one time, though I've said this before, that he was in the Rookie of the Year race with future Hall of Famer Jamar Chase.

00:27:25
Speaker 5: Who do we think pick pick someone? Who do we think on the Saint Smack Jones is going to try.

00:27:30
Speaker 3: To fight well everybody by anybody can?

00:27:35
Speaker 5: I will say too to your point on Tomorio Davis earlier, Greg, we saw him having the time of his life at practice when we were out there earlier this summer. So I'm stoked for him. It's translating into the season.

00:27:44
Speaker 1: It's one of those things that I just hope it can keep going because I thought he did start to look like he was slowing down a little bit. Cam Jordan, you know, just talked about he wanted to be more productive than he was a year ago. And they're after a great start, and your d winsor shoutout is a great one because he looked awesome. And I like it when you hear the hype pieces from the entire offseason and d Winters has been the subject of him, like, this guy looks different this year than he's ever looked at the back and you can kind of see it, and he's probably a perfect fit for that offense. Let's take a break and we will be wrapping up the NFC after the break, including the matchup that all the networks fight over every year. Back on NFL Daily Revenge Week. The biggest revenge game of the week is actually going to be played two lane Darien Mensa, their star freshman quarterback who left the two lane Green Wave to go to Duke, matching up against each other on Saturday. That's what I will be watching and Yulman Stadium. They might be a top twenty five team if they could win this game. But this kid, Mensa, we will be talking about him in the path to the draft in about a year or two, depending on how long he stays here, because he is awesome. But now playing for Duke, let's talk.

00:29:07
Speaker 3: I'll go ahead, yeah, and then you will be a Mensa member. Not as much right now while he's playing.

00:29:12
Speaker 1: But I love him though. But the puns, we've now broken the record there. It is ranking newis Congratulations and let's.

00:29:19
Speaker 2: Get to our next game, the New York Giants, and they're a quarterback for now. Russell Wilson taking on the Dallas Cowboys, who are six point favorites at home the over under his forty four and a half. Joe Davis, g reg and Pam Oliver are on the call as Jordan. We saw a lot of frustration from the Giants offense. What are you looking forward to seeing against the Cowboys from them this time?

00:29:39
Speaker 5: Frustration and not much else. I mean, my goodness. They could not move the ball on the ground, They could not move the ball in the air. This was also a huge factor of Andrew Thomas not being there. They're left tackle who is still not practicing as of our taping on Wednesday, but Brian Dable expects him back later this week. He's actually surprisingly honest with reporters earlier on Wednesday morning when they asked him directly about whether Andrew Thomas was planning to be back at all. Having him back is significant. It's also probably part of the reason if he does come back, probably part of the reason why Russell Wilson is still starting this week, because they have to see what it looks like when Andrew Thomas is on the field with this offensive light, and he creates such a statistical differentiation that like you actually have to see if you've even got anything with Wilson before you make the move to Jackson Dart, which I still think is going to happen soon.

00:30:27
Speaker 1: Love that theory, and part of it can be that you also don't want to start Jackson Dart without Andrew Thomas right if he's not available, because they say it's part of his rehab plan to miss Wednesday and practice Thursday or Friday. But nobody really knows what's gonna happen here. The biggest upset of the week would not be the Giants winning this game. It's kind of shocking though that they're six point underdogs. That's given a lot of credit to the Cowboys coming off of a losing effort. The biggest shock is that this is a one pm game. I don't think in my time covering the NFL that this has ever been a one o'clock game because end of the time, it's usually as I said, sorry, Patrick, it's not Panthers Cardinals that the network's fight over all, it's this one. Because you look at like the highest rated games of all time in the NFL, and half of them are like Giants Cowboys games on Sunday Night Football, they always were shoving it down our throat. Now they're still giving us the Joe Davis greg Olsen treatment my number one booth. Yeah, not just in Fox, but in America, Joe Davis, I mean killing it with the Dodgers and in football. And there's no one better than grag By this thing being at one o'clock, how the Mighty have fallen?

00:31:37
Speaker 5: And the legend Pam Oliver on the ground as well. And I think that this is interesting because I kind of think we know what Dallas is going to be all year. Like I'm pretty sure they're just going to be this right. They're going to be able to put up points. They have good matchups, they have two receivers, they can get the ball to CD Lamb minus the Drops really had to if you take away the Drops had a really good game. Dak Prescott looked incredible. You know, I don't know how effective they're going to be running the ball at any point.

00:32:04
Speaker 1: That's what I would like to ask you both, when you say you think we know what we're going.

00:32:07
Speaker 5: To be, why didn't say we you say that, like, uh, I thought you did say we.

00:32:14
Speaker 1: You said we know what they're going to be this year, And I guess I'm I'm positing after that Week one performance, but I'm doing it in a question like how high do you think the ceiling is for this running game coordinated by Clayton Adams coming up over from Arizona, because it is one of the things that I feel differently about after watching one game.

00:32:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, if we can track the growth of last season, where the season started and again I understand as different parts of this coaching staff where there was nothing available with then as Rico Dubell kind of got going late to the middle part of last season, it's like it was a viable run game. It already starts looking with like some injuries questions up front, starts looks like it looks like a viable running game to where the offense can actually have that balance and if Dak plays like that, they're going to be in every single game.

00:33:04
Speaker 3: Yeah, but again that's all the health of four.

00:33:08
Speaker 5: This is a lazy comparison, but I'm gonna make it anyway. They're kind of BENGALSY twenty twenty four to me a little bit. Obviously, it's really extreme talent receiver. I think they're going to run the ball better than a lot of people expected. The Bengals last year did that as well with Chase Brown. They pleasantly surprised me with how they were running the ball because even enjoyed, they weren't getting any movement at all, even when they were allowed to hit at practices. And so for them to be able to come out and look, like I said, surprisingly adequate and even then some.

00:33:38
Speaker 1: Kind of frisky and cohesive too, like creative.

00:33:42
Speaker 5: I really liked. You could see they were running, you know, Brian Schottenheimer and and Clean Adams. They the way that they called that game after Jalen Carter came out. They were calling especially inside zone. They were calling some gap stuff, they were calling some duo stuff. They were really actually spamming the place where he was not right. And so I think that type of multiplicity in the run game is also important that you call what works in that situation, that you have it even in the bag of tricks to use. I think again, I guess you know. To me, I believe that they're very twenty twenty four bengalsy, which is not necessarily a good thing, but it's better than what we thought they were going to be.

00:34:23
Speaker 1: They got a little extra rest. I know, it's early in the season, but I'm always on three days extra arrest watch not nothing. And this is a great matchup for them because I would we have this idea that the Giants defensive line is great, and it is. It is at the edge positions and Dexter Lawrence, which is a lot of the defensive line. But I saw last week where sometimes they had a three man like true defensive line where they have, you know, the edge guys standing up and the three guys in the middle are Roy Robertson, Harris Nacho Nunez and DJ Davidson. And this is a team who's run defense stank in twenty twenty four, and they stunk in Week one too, giving up two hundred and twenty four yards. And I do think the edge guys are good, and obviously it is I do think this might be a team that you can run on because sheen Bowen like show me something like he's just kind of there and it's a passive kind of staying back kind of defense. So maybe this is a game where we do see the Cowboys run the ball a little.

00:35:26
Speaker 2: Bit and I ultimately over on the other side. I know we talked about the Jackson Dard thing, It's a tough needles of thread to coach well enough to keep your job and then like hide and protect a quarterback who's there essentially for Brian Dabeles purposes to keep his job at some point to put him in and show promise, and like you have to have that promise. It's like a very delicate balance to try to have while you're coaching a football team.

00:35:51
Speaker 3: Then I don't I don't know if there's a way.

00:35:52
Speaker 5: Well, Brian Dables a delicate.

00:35:54
Speaker 1: Guy, you know, right, I think I think if they like I think Brian Dable, I mean, I think this is it for Russell Wilson. If he struggles, I think it'll be it this week and just the defense. Like I mentioned, I don't think he's going to do many favors. They lost Michael McFadden, so that's a serious injury. It's going to be multiple weeks. I think he's going on injured reserve. It's not for the season. And o'cara kay was a guy that they were really excited about at one point and is struggling and struggled a week ago. So I think there's weaknesses there at linebacker, at cornerback, and uh maybe maybe those six points aren't that crazy and it might not.

00:36:29
Speaker 5: Be a big deal. It might be a big deal. Malik Neighbors was limited this week to start the week.

00:36:35
Speaker 1: Good to know, and Deron Bland missed practice, which was a surprise. I didn't even know he was hurt and that would be a significant loss for the Cowboys at cornerback. We've made it to the end of the road here, Patrick, we came.

00:36:46
Speaker 5: Everyone really is fighting over yes.

00:36:48
Speaker 3: Fighting, scratching and clawing.

00:36:49
Speaker 2: The Carolina Panthers are zero to one at the Arizona Cardinals, who are one to oher who are six and a half point favorites. The over under is forty four and a half sprial DTAs out of Archelida and a ddkickball are there?

00:37:01
Speaker 3: Greg?

00:37:02
Speaker 2: At a certain point, we need to have a different conversation about this Carolina Panthers run defense. It has been historically bad. It was historically bad. Once again, what.

00:37:14
Speaker 1: I don't know, I don't know. Derek Brown can't just fix everything. That was the end of the question, right.

00:37:20
Speaker 3: That was it?

00:37:21
Speaker 1: Yeah? Why?

00:37:23
Speaker 3: What?

00:37:23
Speaker 1: Why? Is another question? How?

00:37:26
Speaker 3: How when do they do something different? Like where do you find the answers?

00:37:31
Speaker 1: Oops?

00:37:35
Speaker 5: Okay, if I see the Cardinals throw the ball one gd time in this game. It's the wrong game plan.

00:37:41
Speaker 1: I'm just saying, maybe they'll miss Clayton Adams. By the way, because their run game wasn't great against the Saint Well that James Connor runs weren't great. I guess they were fine. They were they had a normal running game. But yes, you're right, this.

00:37:52
Speaker 5: Don't run the ball fifteen personnel. The whole game is.

00:37:55
Speaker 1: This feels like a Panther's Cardinals Jordan game. For the first time, we can now announce Sunday Jordan Rodrigue full recap show. She's getting the assignments. You know, we're going to figure out who has what games. And this feels, if you're down with it, like a Jordan game.

00:38:16
Speaker 5: Oh, this is a this is a very very me game.

00:38:19
Speaker 1: It's a Jordan coded game. So I think if you're okay with it, this will be the game that you focus extra hard on, you try extra hard on in the afternoon game.

00:38:29
Speaker 5: Yes, and also it is interesting that you ask me as we're taping, because what if I would have said no, it's not okay. I can't just say then I'll take it okay.

00:38:36
Speaker 1: I mean I'll take it and you can have the Super Bowl rematch. It's quite a difference, it is.

00:38:40
Speaker 5: It is a that's a little bit of whiplash there.

00:38:42
Speaker 1: I have different strategies though, Like I like to watch those closer sometimes the next day. Anyway, So I'm fine, I'm fine missing.

00:38:49
Speaker 5: I do I do really want to watch this game because I do think that this defense with the Panthers. First of all, there's still they're still undermanned, right and overwhelmed, and so far it's one week, right, but so far it's the same story, and it's sort of a ticking time bomb in terms of you know, a Gerrell Everro being there and his entire staff and like, that's that is just a situation to keep an eye on, and it's something where you don't want to keep changing and changing and changing and changing. But you know, and I would also argue that yes, they went out and got some they paid some veteran free agents to come in Christian rose Boom and Bobby Brown, and then they are trying to figure out what they're doing at corner and all this stuff, and that's their prerogative to do.

00:39:29
Speaker 1: So Okay, say the line, say the line, but it.

00:39:32
Speaker 5: Also is it also is like, okay, it's bang your head against the wall enough times, you're going to knock yourself out, Like come on.

00:39:41
Speaker 1: Their pass rush was completely non existent in terms of pressures, you know, per snap, by far the worst pass rush of any team in the league last year. I mean last week it was against the Jaguars offensive line, and maybe the Jaguars are a really improved group, but that's not one that you think of, you know, when you're thinking of like great, great offensive lines, and it's such a big game for both teams, Like Carolina goes on the road, wins this game and they're one and one.

00:40:05
Speaker 5: It's just like, yeah, then we're worrying for nothing.

00:40:07
Speaker 1: Everything's fine, and you just start moving forward. They lose it, and you start thinking about, man, when those last time the Panthers were in a season in mid October, forget get into December, when is the time they were I went and checked. They were one and seven last season to start the year. They were one and twelve the year before, which was the it's hard to keep track of all their coaches Frank Reich year. And they were one and five the year before, which was the Matt rule. Year.

00:40:32
Speaker 3: Yeah, the Matt Rules stuff doesn't.

00:40:34
Speaker 1: So, but it's just it's just been a while since they were even in the mix, like, and you just don't want to have that sort of slow start. And I think if you're the Cardinals, I heard Jonathan Gannon say it this week, He's like, we were pretty rusty last week. We need to wake up a little like now, like, let's get going well because they were given a gift by the schedule Gods getting Saints and then home for Panthers to start take advantage and you start out.

00:40:56
Speaker 5: Fast well year, I think allowed the grace of a slow start. If you run into a scenario that Kyler Murray admitted he ran into in which he was up at four in the morning, very ill the night before the game, I think, if you're not going through I didn't know this.

00:41:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, he was, you'll put on the report late because he was he was going through it.

00:41:17
Speaker 5: He was going through it, and he was pretty open about it on like an influencer twitch screet stream. Is that I don't really know if I'm using the right words.

00:41:24
Speaker 1: I thought he played fine though, but that's what.

00:41:27
Speaker 5: He was saying. He was saying, he was like it was bad news for Kyler earlier that, very much earlier that mor.

00:41:34
Speaker 1: This communication wasn't the only thing that was open. You're saying, you know, there we go? You want more show you got it?

00:41:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, As a super Bowl we're focused on.

00:41:46
Speaker 1: I do feel what have I done? There we go? I do feel like we should wrap with that. But I do want to just give some pop because I know Cardinals fans they want to they want to hear their team talked about a little bit. The Will Johnson Max Melton combo last week looked freaking awesome. Will Johnson back.

00:42:04
Speaker 5: Can watch that Will Johnson game.

00:42:05
Speaker 1: I love that. And Melton too, was all over a lave and and is a guy that under the radar second round pick who was impressive last year and he might be taking a step. That's exciting if you're a Cardinals fan. Having guys like that next to Buddha Baker. I'm looking forward to this game. We need a Bryce Bryce AUNGBA.

00:42:23
Speaker 5: He needs to play better.

00:42:24
Speaker 2: A bounce back from a nominee performances the worst thrower of the Year nominee.

00:42:31
Speaker 3: Get it back, Bryce.

00:42:32
Speaker 1: If you're gonna have a nominee, Week one is the right time to do it. We have a whole season of throws that are gonna be worse and throws that will be better in games that will be worse. We did it. We got to the end and I loved it. That is it for the NFC and all of our preview shows this week. If you're just listening to this and you're and you're wondering, you know, where's my Bengals, where's my AFC team? Like all the AFC preview games are in the podcast. If you if your team's playing a home game in the AFC, like even the Rams are in there because they're they're going on the road to Tennessee. That is in your feed as well. Right now, that's it. We will be back in your feed on Thursday night, Nick Shook and eye handling that primetime game. So one of the best Thursday night games of the year, Commanders Packers.

00:43:23
Speaker 5: That's going to be fun. We previewed it earlier this week.

00:43:26
Speaker 1: This this uh, this was a lot of fun. I think the Sans as sance it's happening