Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Wvuafm tuscaloosa.
Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the student section, NFL, and thank you so much for listening to 90.7 the capstone. My name is Tanner Thompson, along with Evan Cisneros, Connor Rolls, what's going on? And Alex Brown.
Fellas, I was. I was gonna ask you guys that, but I'm doing great.
[00:00:26] Speaker B: I don't want to get into it.
[00:00:27] Speaker A: You don't want to get into it? Are you sure?
[00:00:29] Speaker B: I have some great tacos.
[00:00:30] Speaker A: I really feel like we should get into it.
[00:00:32] Speaker C: I don't.
[00:00:32] Speaker B: I don't want to get into the NFL how I'm feeling just yet.
[00:00:35] Speaker A: Why do you think we're here exactly?
[00:00:38] Speaker B: NFL turkey.
[00:00:39] Speaker A: To get into the NFL stuff.
[00:00:41] Speaker B: I'll let everyone get settled.
[00:00:42] Speaker A: That's fair.
[00:00:43] Speaker B: How are you feeling, Connor?
[00:00:44] Speaker C: It could be better. To be honest, you don't really watch much football. Sunday. My body was hurting. I was asleep all day. I was at that Georgia Alabama game.
[00:00:53] Speaker A: He looked rough. He looked rough at 09:30 p.m. dude. The next day.
[00:00:57] Speaker C: Yeah. No, I.
It was a long day. It was a great day. Don't get me wrong. It was a great day. But I got out of bed, I want to say at 05:00 on Sunday, my body. 05:00 my legs were just dying. I had no voice. It was.
[00:01:13] Speaker A: You know what's funny about that? My right calf was really sore. My left one really wasn't that bad, but my right calf was really sore. I don't know why.
[00:01:21] Speaker C: Really?
[00:01:21] Speaker A: Yeah. It was very strange.
[00:01:23] Speaker C: That is very strange.
[00:01:23] Speaker A: And they took Alex's water bottle. That was messed up.
[00:01:26] Speaker D: They did take my water bottle. The secret service has it now. Some agent in Rochesters.
[00:01:33] Speaker A: Yeah, man, that's. I swear, that's messed up.
[00:01:34] Speaker D: But I'll tell you what, though. I was at game day, right? So I got there at 11:00 Friday night.
[00:01:41] Speaker C: Wow.
[00:01:41] Speaker D: For game day, I was in that line. And so I got a couple hours of sleep while I was there, too. Thankfully, I left game day at 11:00 the next morning when it was over. And then the whole day goes up until, like, 03:00 when they. I wanted to get in line early because of the secret service, all the security that was there when they get in early, they were opening up the gates early anyway, right? I got in that stadium around 330, not three, probably like 345, 345. Because they didn't let it. They let it open even earlier than they said they were going to.
[00:02:14] Speaker A: Right.
[00:02:15] Speaker D: Because there were just so many people in line. So I get in that stadium at 345. I'm in that stadium for the next.
I don't think it got out till 1045. I was in that stadium for 7 hours. But it was amazing. It was amazing. But that was a long day.
[00:02:29] Speaker A: It was absolutely amazing. Here late. Let me say something real quick for the sake of the viewers. You may have just heard Alex Fade in here. Alex. It was on me. I had to turn your mic up. I was sitting here hitting buttons. All I had to do was move a switch up. We got you. We got the back half.
[00:02:41] Speaker D: Okay. It was game day. First game day. I got eleven to eleven from Friday night into. Oh, my gosh. Saturday morning, and then the game. I was there from 345 till 1045. But it was amazing. If you kept your ticket or you paid for a ticket to get in there, money's worth times ten.
[00:02:58] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh. It was unbelievable. Without a doubt, everything you could have hoped for and more. Evan, I did interrupt you. Please keep going.
[00:03:05] Speaker B: That the on campus experience was basically the epitome of America. Like, I looked around to be an american, especially with the Secret Service there.
[00:03:15] Speaker D: It really was cool.
[00:03:15] Speaker B: Felt. I felt patriotic.
[00:03:18] Speaker C: I looked up and I just saw, I think, eight snipers just standing by the.
[00:03:21] Speaker A: I actually didn't think to look around, but that's. They were up there in the corners.
[00:03:24] Speaker C: Yeah, they were up there. I was like, man, I really do feel protected right now.
[00:03:27] Speaker A: That makes sense. We do. I mean, we did have to talk about it a little bit.
[00:03:30] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:03:30] Speaker A: Just considering the magnitude.
[00:03:32] Speaker C: I love how we're talking about Alabama foot right now.
[00:03:34] Speaker A: That's all right.
[00:03:34] Speaker B: Now, if we want to get into a little mock draft, Ryan Williams, first pick, and I, three years.
[00:03:40] Speaker A: We have so much time to get into a mock draft.
[00:03:41] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:03:42] Speaker A: Right now, right here is number one.
[00:03:44] Speaker C: What I was gonna say was, we're talking about Alabama football. Evan showed up to the show with a University of Miami football jersey.
[00:03:50] Speaker A: Okay, man. I actually kind of like the jersey. I'm not gonna lie to you, but jersey's cool.
[00:03:54] Speaker B: Let's fly.
[00:03:55] Speaker D: Kane's are on college game day this week, too.
[00:03:57] Speaker A: Are they really? That's.
[00:03:58] Speaker B: We are playing cow.
[00:03:59] Speaker C: Why is that?
[00:04:00] Speaker A: College game day. That's fun.
Yeah.
[00:04:04] Speaker D: As you see, ACc this year, and then cals had a pretty good start to their season. They beat Auburn, right? That's not saying much.
Oklahoma barely did, but Miami is still undefeated.
[00:04:20] Speaker A: Oh, man. All right. Controversy. Time out, time out. Time out. You guys know how much I want to talk about college football, but we are here for an NFL show. We have just got to get into it. I do want to lead off with. I haven't said this yet.
[00:04:32] Speaker C: I haven't even looked.
[00:04:33] Speaker A: Yep. I'm gonna be announcing our score updates for our game picks weekly.
[00:04:37] Speaker D: I had a good week last week.
[00:04:38] Speaker A: Alex had a phenomenal week, and I actually, I'll just go ahead and say it now. He had a perfect week.
[00:04:43] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:04:43] Speaker A: He had five total points. We picked five games. Alex went five for five. From the field, I had three. Not my greatest performance. Evan had two, and Connor had four.
[00:04:54] Speaker C: Okay, there we go.
[00:04:55] Speaker A: Four picks.
[00:04:55] Speaker D: I thought he was going, what?
[00:04:57] Speaker C: Yeah, I thought it was gonna go. I was like, dang, did I really do that?
[00:04:59] Speaker A: I wasn't going in descending order. I just thought it'd be fun to do it.
[00:05:01] Speaker B: I swung for the fences and I missed.
[00:05:04] Speaker A: But, hey, I'm only one point ahead of you, so I really can't say that much either. But, um. But that I will say our totals right now. Connor and Alex are both tied at seven for the lead. Then we have me at five and Evan bringing up the rear at four. So, hey, but it's a long season, a lot of games to pick, and obviously we'll get to that later in the show. But first, I guess we should probably talk about those games a little bit, don't you think? I think anybody might as well. Anybody jonesing to talk about one game specifically. I know that the two men in front of me, Evan and Connor, do not want to talk about their football teams.
[00:05:37] Speaker C: I'll talk about football team.
[00:05:38] Speaker B: I'll talk about it.
[00:05:39] Speaker A: Let's here, tell you what.
[00:05:40] Speaker B: I have some stuff to say.
[00:05:41] Speaker A: You have some stuff to say.
[00:05:43] Speaker D: Let's start with Miami. Yeah.
[00:05:44] Speaker A: Yeah. Let's start with Miami. Let's hear it.
[00:05:46] Speaker D: I want to see Evan.
[00:05:46] Speaker C: There's not much to say about Miami.
[00:05:48] Speaker B: There's a lot.
[00:05:48] Speaker A: Come on, give him a chance. Give him a chance.
[00:05:50] Speaker B: This.
At some point, you have to look inwards. You have one of the best offenses of all time the past couple years.
[00:05:59] Speaker A: Right?
[00:06:00] Speaker B: Thanks to Tua, McDaniel and Tyreek. You still have McDaniel. Tyreek Waddle, one of the best backfields in the NFL. New tight ends according to PFF, a top ten offensive line. There is no reason why every other team with a backup, we see.
[00:06:21] Speaker A: The.
[00:06:22] Speaker B: Vikings backup quarterback, 40 Sam.
[00:06:25] Speaker C: Looks like Sam Donald does quarterback really good.
[00:06:27] Speaker B: Even still, we've seen Joe Flacco, backup, won the game. We lost to a backup this week, and the Titans had Mason Rudolph come in, lost to him. Every other team can compete with backups.
[00:06:40] Speaker A: I do have a quick question about that. Specifically, I was not able to watch this game. Did they take will love us out?
Okay.
[00:06:47] Speaker C: Yeah, he had another meme moment where like, he just, oh, really was not on the ground again. He was just, you know, diving carried and landed on his shoulder and like.
[00:06:55] Speaker A: Anyway, sorry, keep going.
[00:06:57] Speaker B: Anyways, in the past seven games without Tua, we are one in six. With the one win coming against the jets two years ago to get us into the playoffs where we didn't score a touchdown. We didn't score an offensive touchdown going into this game, by the time we finally did score a touchdown in the fourth quarter, there had been 172 minutes of regulation without a touchdown. That is insane. At this point last year, we had over 200 points. About probably. Yeah, it's insane.
Anyways, back to my point. Every other team can compete with backups, and the supposed best offense in the NFL can't, right? We might as well give two of the MVP this offense looks horrible with. I'm joking.
[00:07:40] Speaker C: Let's see who has started quarterback for the Miami Dolphins. Skyler Thompson isn't a good quarterback.
[00:07:46] Speaker B: What Tyler Huntley was in college.
[00:07:48] Speaker C: Tyler Huntley was good in the Ravens offense because he could do somewhat of the same thing as Lamar. Just like it is run.
[00:07:54] Speaker A: It is such a different offense.
[00:07:56] Speaker C: It is.
[00:07:56] Speaker B: If you watch the game, though, they limit them so much. And it really does come down to the concepts are a little difficult. They can't hit the quick throws that tua can. They can't hold the defense like tua can. And it's really not stuff you can see in the moment. But, man, whenever he's not there, it's night and day. Because our receivers, there's no way they aren't getting open. We have good receiver coaches. We have two of the best receivers in the NFL, right? And these guys, just one.
I think the offense is just too complicated for these new people coming in. And it's so ridiculous that you can't simplify even a little because when they do try to simplify it, it's inside runs right to the what burst? Defensive tackle drafted in the tev?
[00:08:45] Speaker C: Andre sweat.
[00:08:45] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:08:46] Speaker B: Yes. Tavandre sweat. Or we're running screens. We ran a quarterback draw on third and ten. This is insane. Our offense is horrible, and it's really because McDaniel is too arrogant about his offense. If it's not working, if it's too complicated, you can simplify it for the new people. And you can. Every other team has their backups ready. Why are we not yeah.
[00:09:10] Speaker A: Miami is definitely missing their starter more than most teams are on the other.
[00:09:14] Speaker B: Side of the ball. Our defense has the best third down stop rate in the whole NFL.
[00:09:19] Speaker A: I didn't know that.
[00:09:20] Speaker B: That's actually, I think, 26%. But, man, it doesn't matter when they're getting the ball at the positive 40 every time. We're giving them great field position.
It's horrible to watch.
I'm a commanders fan for right now. I love the Dolphins, but I'm on the commanders boat.
[00:09:39] Speaker A: Right. Fun fact about that game. Snoop Huntley was the passing leader of the game with 96 yards through the air.
[00:09:45] Speaker C: Wow.
[00:09:45] Speaker A: Wow. Isn't that what a game? Twice a game.
[00:09:48] Speaker B: Great, great performance all around.
[00:09:50] Speaker A: Tell you what. Do you want to talk about Eagles bucks before we go to break here, Connor?
[00:09:54] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:09:55] Speaker A: So hit me.
[00:09:56] Speaker C: This is what this is. I'm going to run you through my Sunday. What happened? I woke up and I was like, okay, eagles are on. I don't have any high hopes. There's no Lane Johnson, there's no Devontae Smith, and there's no AJ Brown.
[00:10:08] Speaker A: And it's the Bucks, too.
[00:10:09] Speaker C: Yeah, it's still the bucks. And they just came off of that weather, which is like they said it was like close to. It felt like 100 something degrees.
[00:10:14] Speaker A: You guys, also, terrible weather. Can't seem to beat them generally, but.
[00:10:17] Speaker B: I feel like typically the y'all's, our titans, are y'all's bucks. It's always one of those games. Yeah, it's a worse team that is going to beat you.
[00:10:27] Speaker C: But I mean, just, I wake up, I'm like, okay, the Eagles. Come on, let me turn it on. First drive, faker, maybe torture zone. I'm like, I don't feel like doing this right now. So I turned it off and I was like, I'll just check in periodically and all that kind of stuff. And, I mean, I will say it is very hard to move the ball when you don't have two of your probably a top three receiver in the NFL. And then Devontae Smith, who is one of the best wide receiver twos in the league.
[00:10:51] Speaker A: AJ Brown is in top three, but we'll talk about it in the next section. Continue.
[00:10:55] Speaker C: Sure. But it's hard to do that. And then your other wide receivers are like, you know, John Dotson, who honestly created the. I saw he created the most separation between anybody that was a wire, ran routes for the Eagles.
[00:11:08] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:11:09] Speaker C: Including wide receiver, tight ends, running back, all that kind of stuff. And we didn't really target him at all. During the game. I don't know why. I don't know if it's like a trust issue with Jalen. Hurts like he just came in.
[00:11:18] Speaker A: Could be a timing thing. He's so used to throwing so many targets to Brown and Smith. I mean, that timing is important. Also, Johan Datsun hasn't been with the team very long.
[00:11:27] Speaker C: Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. It's something like that. But what really bothers me the most about Nick Sirianni is one we are always underprepared going into games and we're always behind. We are the only team to not score a point in the first quarter this entire season.
[00:11:42] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:11:42] Speaker C: The only team.
[00:11:43] Speaker A: I did not know that.
[00:11:43] Speaker C: Like, I just don't understand how Nick Sirianni, day in and day out, has a job. I don't know how he's still.
[00:11:49] Speaker A: I wonder what those pre game speeches are from Nick Sirianni for you to never score a point.
[00:11:53] Speaker C: I wonder if he just sits down, it's like, do your thing. I guess. I don't know. He's just one.
[00:11:58] Speaker A: I guarantee you he tries a really emotional speech and then all the players just sit there uncomfortable.
[00:12:03] Speaker C: Yeah. I don't understand what his role is. Yeah, he does nothing.
[00:12:06] Speaker A: I've been. I've been.
[00:12:08] Speaker D: Why is it his fault if he does nothing, though, as a head coach, you're so.
[00:12:12] Speaker C: I mean, you're supposed to be the person that he's not.
[00:12:16] Speaker A: He's not a leader from a scheme perspective, so he has to be a leader from a emotional and just general team leadership perspective.
[00:12:22] Speaker C: And still at that point, yes. I do like it when he gets emotional about the game. Like, you would love your coach to get fired up, but I don't want your coach freaking taunting people or doing all this stuff during the game when you lose.
[00:12:36] Speaker A: Do you remember when we talked about this, when you taunted the Chiefs and you disagreed with me?
[00:12:40] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:12:40] Speaker A: Anyway, keep going.
[00:12:41] Speaker C: Sorry, I don't get. Like I said, we were out. Devontae Smith.
[00:12:45] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:12:46] Speaker C: AJ Brown. Lane Johnson. So we had Fred Johnson, who allowed, I think it was 13 pressures, the.
[00:12:51] Speaker A: Most on the team.
[00:12:52] Speaker C: So you have ten carries for Saquon Barkley.
[00:12:55] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:12:56] Speaker C: Ten carries. He averaged 8.4 yards a carry. 84 yards for ten carries.
[00:13:00] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:13:01] Speaker C: How do you not run the ball more? This happened his first year with the Eagles. The Dallas Cowboys ran the ball two times into the. In the game.
[00:13:08] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:13:09] Speaker C: And then it continued. He kept. We kept going after him. We kept going after him. Fire Nick Sirianni in this. By week and I'll be happy. And to just trade Darius Slay, I'm tired of it. He is. I think he's giving up.
[00:13:21] Speaker A: Was it Darius Slay that Baker Mayfield ran through on a read option to score a touchdown?
[00:13:25] Speaker C: It might have been. I don't know. And Darius lays allowing, I think the third or fourth best passer rating allowed. Throw it when you're throwing his way.
[00:13:33] Speaker A: Right?
[00:13:34] Speaker C: And then the thing that ticks me off the most is after we lost the game, it's not like, okay, you know, I'm gonna, you know, it was, we'll just get better. He then tweeted his career stats in his Pro bowl and his all probably, and then deleted it and then got on a the podcast with Michael Parsons and talked down on his teammate.
[00:13:54] Speaker B: That's why that's a leader.
[00:13:55] Speaker A: There's a lot of things to fix in Philly right now.
[00:13:59] Speaker C: It feels like it's really just two simple things. Get rid of Darius Lake before the locker room is just destroyed and then fire Nick Sirianni. And then I think we'll be happy.
[00:14:07] Speaker A: I hope so. It could. It might be really deeper that than that, but I guess we got it. We've got to go to break here for a little bit. We come back, we'll talk about the rest of the primetime games. Maybe the ones that were slightly more interesting than the Dolphins and Eagles game.
But for now, we'll see you guys.
Wvuafm Tuscaloosa hey everybody, thanks again so much for listening to 90.77 to Capstone. We are the NFL student section and we are back.
I do want to start. Alex, I know you are wanting to talk about some Steelers ball. I kind of want to let you tell us about why this team is rolling right now.
[00:15:04] Speaker D: Well, we did have that loss to the Colts last weekend. It was Joe Flacco led Colts for three quarters of that game with Anthony Richardson getting his hip pointed by Minka Fitzpatrick on a big hit. But I think the Steelers are in a prime position to succeed moving forward and we'll talk about this guy later in the program. But I really think that Devontae Adams could be a huge addition for the Steelers offense because right now the Steelers offense pretty one dimensional and we have a great running attack. We have a quarterback that can run a little bit too. And we have George Pickens. George Pickens is trying his best to be a number one wide receiver. He was last year for the Steelers as well, 1100 yards, but he had Deontay Johnson filled in for about 750 last season. But now this year they don't really have that guy that's going to get 750. Frymuth maybe he'll get 600 over the course of a season, but he's a tight end. He's not going to get you that wide receiver. Two type numbers that you need to have a quality offense.
[00:16:02] Speaker A: Right.
[00:16:02] Speaker D: But the Steelers right now, all the teams have a winning record, meaning a three or one, three and one or better record so far through the first four weeks in the NFL season, they have the lowest amount of points scored, 75. The next closest is the Texans with 79.
[00:16:21] Speaker A: Right.
[00:16:22] Speaker D: So the Steelers offense is not scoring much, but they don't have to because the defense is so good.
[00:16:27] Speaker A: Right.
[00:16:27] Speaker D: But if you look at Artie Smith's track record, though, the new Steelers offensive coordinator, he was the offensive coordinator for the Tennessee Titans in 2019. That team was nine and seven, but went on to lose in the conference championship game to the Chiefs, 35 24. But during that season, they had 402 points for an Artie Smith's first year with the Titans as their OC. Their number one wide receiver, AJ Brown. It was his rookie season, though. Rookie season. Their second wide receiver was Corey Davis. Corey Davis was awful that season, too. It's not like they have guys are doing that much. Corey Davis got 601 yards that season. The next season they go for 491 points scored that season. That was fourth in the NFL. And they're doing it with a defense that wasn't that great. I mean, their defense has given up 439 points.
[00:17:20] Speaker A: Right?
[00:17:20] Speaker D: That's 20. That's 24th of the 32 teams. So if you look at the Steelers right now, if the Steelers can put up 21 to 24 points per game, they're going to win a majority of the games that they're in because the Steelers defense is so good. But if they added Devontae Adams or another wide receiver, that could really put them over the top. That offense is going to be dangerous and look out for the Steelers. But they're not there yet. They were interested in IUK over the summer. They did not get him. I think they'll be interested in Devontae Adams. But can they get him? We'll find out.
[00:17:51] Speaker A: It's a. That'll be a really interesting situation to follow. You have to assume again, I think one of the big leaders is the commanders as of right now, and that's for a few reasons. One, they have the cap to take on the deal. They are an NFC team. The Raiders are going to feel a lot better about sending a player of Devontae Adams caliber to a NFC team rather than AFC team. People have tried to say the Chiefs, but there's just no way that the Raiders are going to hand the Chiefs Devontae Adams, in my opinion, but that will be a very interesting situation to follow. But overall, man, the Steelers got a lot to be proud of.
[00:18:25] Speaker C: I do think if the sealers were able to land Devontae Adams, I think it's a huge, huge, just Steelers dodgeable if they, if they get Devontae Adams and not letting Brandon NYuk because I mean, so far Brendan Iuk has just not been good. I mean, Juwan jettings has been beating him out as like, you know, the top wide receiver while Debo is out and he, I don't know if it was just because Brittany Nyuk missed so much time during training camp. I'm probably sure that's why.
But I mean, like, yeah, people talk.
[00:18:55] Speaker A: About the contract year and the year after, but. Sorry, keep going.
[00:18:58] Speaker C: No, I agree with you. I think once you got that money you can just kind of just not go at a certain pace.
[00:19:06] Speaker A: But yeah, he's not, we'll try not to speculate too much on, you know, his general effort, but there. It definitely could be a factor at the end.
[00:19:14] Speaker C: Yeah, I just think it was a huge dodge that the Steelers were not able to land him because I think Jordan George Pickens has still done a pretty good job as a Steelers wide receiver. I do think they need a, like, just depth at that position. Yeah, but I think they have their guy in George and I mean, I think it's a great, great, great move to just keep Justin Fields and not go into Russell Wilson just because there's no reason to shake that up at this point. And I think besides the Steelers or like the commanders or that kind of stuff, a sneaky team that would be kind of fun to land. Devante Adams. They're in the AFC. Yeah, but why not just give Josh Allen another weapon?
[00:19:57] Speaker A: That would be.
[00:19:58] Speaker D: They don't need them. They don't need them.
[00:20:00] Speaker A: That team's looking pretty good. Like, don't be wrong, the Ravens had an absolutely great day, but I think they should be gorgeous. Look pretty good.
[00:20:07] Speaker C: The guy, though, I think there's always, I mean, yes, they can get away with it against like, not the best offenses.
[00:20:14] Speaker A: Right.
[00:20:15] Speaker C: But I mean, I feel like there's a certain point where you need the guy that you can go to.
[00:20:19] Speaker A: Right.
[00:20:19] Speaker C: And I think if you give Josh Allen Devontae Adams, I think that team will just probably, my opinion, be my Super bowl favorite.
[00:20:27] Speaker D: But what we have said that about Stefan Diggs and Stefan Diggs was with the bills. That was Josh Allen's guy. He was excellent. He was going for 5th 13, 1400 yards a season and now they don't have them anymore. And that offense has gotten even better. That offense is better.
[00:20:41] Speaker C: I think the reason they've gotten better since the phon digs left is because he became a cantor in the locker room and started just oh, you're right.
[00:20:47] Speaker B: I think Josh Allen's also playing a lot better football than he has in the past.
[00:20:51] Speaker C: Oh, no, I agree.
[00:20:52] Speaker B: If he's got a guy like Devontae Adams who's probably a little more unselfish than Stefan Diggs, and he's already got his jump ball guy, he's got his slot guy, he's got all this and he just has that one x. I think that I would be scared of that team for. I already am, but that would definitely put them over the edge, I think.
[00:21:11] Speaker A: I'm not sure. I'm not that familiar with the Bills cap situation, but I'm guessing that would be what stops them.
[00:21:16] Speaker D: That Devontae Adams contract is ridiculous.
[00:21:19] Speaker A: That's what I'm saying.
[00:21:20] Speaker D: This season is not bad. It's not like 25 million is his cap hit this season. But if you look at the next two years, he's under contract for two more years, but at the same time, not really. So he's going to get the cap hit, is in the forties for the next two seasons. The forties that make him the highest paid wide receiver of all time. Obviously that will get restructured somehow, but he's none of that's guaranteed either in his contract, but as soon as he gets signed, traded to a different team, obviously because he asked for it today, they're going to have to rework that deal. And I think he'll be receptive to that.
[00:21:52] Speaker A: Absolutely. I mean, I think you kind of have to be in his position, especially when you're at this point of your career. You're probably looking for a high quality team, not necessarily a spot where you're going to individually flourish. I think he's done that enough over his career. He probably wants to, at the end of the day, win Super Bowls. But again, with that contract, you're just not gonna be able to do that. You're not gonna be able to find a team that's in that spot and it's gonna be able to take on 25 this year and 40 the next or whatever, Alex said. But again, really interesting situation to follow that guy is still a top tier wide receiver and I, the quarterback play in Las Vegas has been a little on and off, but yeah.
[00:22:37] Speaker D: Have you seen how the way Antonio Pierce has handled this situation, too? The pettiness of a former NFL player and now a head coach in the NFL is, is really baffling.
[00:22:48] Speaker A: This does make that quote interesting. I forgot about that quote where he's saying some guys made business decisions and.
[00:22:53] Speaker D: They exactly do that.
[00:22:54] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:22:54] Speaker D: And then he likes a Instagram post. I don't know why is he on Instagram to begin with, but he is on Instagram and he likes a post that says, hey, maybe Devontae Adams is going to leave the team. He might be looking for a trade. He likes the post. I mean, it's not like Devontae Adams is a scrub.
[00:23:13] Speaker A: Terrible idea.
[00:23:13] Speaker D: Devontae Adams is one of the best wide receivers that we've had in the last ten years in the NFL and now he likes the post. And let's not forget Devontae Adams. He probably has friends on the team.
[00:23:25] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:23:25] Speaker D: There's no way he doesn't have friends in Las Vegas. And he now hedgesthem. They see that their head coach likes a post on, on Instagram saying he's going to be gone. I mean, how Petty does it make Antonio Pierce look? It's embarrassing for him.
[00:23:42] Speaker C: Did you see the press conference today? They asked him about like the guys that were missing from last week's game and how they're doing and he said, max Crosby I think will be okay. And number 17 is he didn't even name him. He didn't even say his name by his number.
[00:23:56] Speaker A: That's crazy.
[00:23:57] Speaker D: And he tugged at his caller, too.
[00:24:00] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[00:24:00] Speaker C: It's going to be interesting. I think he's gone in 48 hours. I think they can't have him that locker room for much longer.
[00:24:04] Speaker D: No, that's. He can't be around Antonio Pierce.
[00:24:07] Speaker A: That's really interesting. I do. I guess real quick, while we're, while we're talking about a top tier wide receiver, Connor, you did say earlier that AJ Brown was a top three wide receiver in the league. Yeah, I do think that is kind of an interesting take at this point.
Especially, I mean, if you think about the top two, I don't think he's better than Jamar Chase. Can we all agree?
[00:24:31] Speaker C: I think he's better than Jamar Chase.
[00:24:32] Speaker B: That I think.
[00:24:34] Speaker C: I think he is.
[00:24:34] Speaker A: Wow. Really? Everyone does. That's very interesting. I disagree. I'm not going to say significantly, but I confidently believe Jamar Chase is a better receiver. And I was going to say Justin Jefferson.
[00:24:44] Speaker C: Justin Jefferson is the best receiver in the league.
[00:24:45] Speaker B: Tyreek Hill. If we're talking this season, too many drops. I mean, I can't see the full.
[00:24:50] Speaker A: There has been a problem with the whole. But I guess that probably should impact.
[00:24:54] Speaker B: Tyree kills he hasn't been getting.
[00:24:55] Speaker A: But also there's a very similar issue with AJ Brown in Philly. I feel like that's probably a fair thing to say.
[00:25:01] Speaker C: I don't think he's dropped an insane amount.
[00:25:03] Speaker A: I mean, I'm not saying drop specifically, but just a lack of production.
[00:25:06] Speaker C: Well, he's only played one game too.
[00:25:08] Speaker A: That's what I'm, that's what I'm saying. Those, these things would impact sayings who when somebody is a top three wide receiver in this league.
[00:25:17] Speaker C: Yes. He hasn't played much.
[00:25:19] Speaker A: Right.
[00:25:19] Speaker C: We played one game. That one game though. I need to see this.
I mean, Jair Alexander was.
What's it called? Following the entire game.
[00:25:28] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:25:28] Speaker B: So he own merchant.
[00:25:31] Speaker C: I mean, under the new defensive coordinator he, I know previously he never really traveled, but with the new coordinator he did travel and in that game he had five catches for 119 yards in one touchdown. So I mean, you could still see he could handle his way through an elite corner. And I mean, last year, you know, he broke the NFL record for most 125 plus yard games in a row with I think 13. It was.
[00:25:56] Speaker A: Right.
[00:25:57] Speaker C: So that alone just tells you everything you need to know. I mean, he's great, you know, just a deep threat as alone, but he's also great like yards at the catch. You can break tackles. His hands, I think are also really underrated. I know we saw a couple insane grabs he had last year. So I could see you like saying, okay, top three. No, but I can confidently say I'll give you talent wise and better than Jamar Chase.
[00:26:25] Speaker B: I think for sure talent wise and domination whenever they are in Tyreek and AJ are up there. But based on this season, probably not. I do agree.
[00:26:33] Speaker A: I'll quick. I do agree these top five, but I think I would confidently take Justin Jefferson over him. Justin, as we all agree at this point. CD lamb, I would take over AJ Brown.
[00:26:42] Speaker D: I would do that too.
[00:26:43] Speaker A: I think.
[00:26:43] Speaker C: Yeah, I would.
[00:26:44] Speaker A: Yeah, I think we can all agree on that. And again, I'm still going to stand by Jamar Chase. I still think that's, and I don't get me wrong one, maybe, maybe this impacts it. That that one play that he had against the Carolina Panthers this past Sunday. Did anybody else see that play? He catches like a pass across the field and literally breaks three tackles and runs 50 yards for a touchdown.
[00:27:04] Speaker C: We see AJ Brown do that all the time, though. I mean, those are big receivers, don't get me wrong.
[00:27:08] Speaker A: But I do think that AJ Brown, that is definitely. AJ Brown's like main strength. I don't think that's Jamar Chase's main strength as a receiver. You know what I mean? AJ Brown is known for being the physical guy. You want to hit him on a slant, you want to let him work across, you know, across the field. But this probably. It's probably a pretty marginal argument. I consider him top five, six.
I do think we should talk about Jamar Chase more at some point. But with that being said, I do want to talk a little. Again, not that much because there isn't a whole lot to say about the Carolina Panthers. But there's one really dark spot from this game, which is that Shaq Thompson ruptured his achilles and he was probably the only bright spot left on that defense outside of JC Horn, especially the only bright spot in the front seven. And on top of that, a Shawn Robinson is missing games. Jadavian Clowney is missing games. Not injury related, but it's still a concern.
It's going to set up for a lot of losses if our front seven is. If nobody steps up, I guess if we can't defend the run, we're just going to lose a lot of games. At the end of the day, I will say one. One small bright spot. Xavier Leggette did have a pretty good game and they also. He looked like he could separate and I think that was the biggest thing that we're looking for from Xavier Leggett. Coming out of college. We knew he's a physical beast. We know he can win at the point of attack and all of that, but he could really separate this game and I was really impressed by that. But at the end of the day, we failed a fake punt in our own territory, which pretty much sealed the game. Unfortunate, but we're probably looking at a few more losses in the future against teams that can run the ball healthily.
[00:28:45] Speaker C: Your offense isn't bad, though I will say the run game again looked really good.
[00:28:50] Speaker A: The Panthers run game? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Then it's nice seeing that steadily improve over the past few weeks. It kind of started out slow and literally it boomed as soon as Andy Dalton stepped in because they're not loading.
[00:29:01] Speaker C: The box like it did with Bryce Young.
[00:29:02] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. But yeah, I think that's. Oh, actually, I might do this when we come back from break, but I am going to talk about Minnesota one just to, I guess, explain a little bit how they got here cause I don't think many people saw Minnesota playing the way they are right now. But for now, we're gonna go to break with you guys.
Wvuafm Tuscaloosa hey, everybody, welcome back to the student section. We're going to continue our talk on just the trends that we're seeing in certain teams and then we're getting going to get into our picks for next week, hopefully talk about them in a little bit of depth.
First I did real quick, before we want to get into the rest of our sections, I did want to talk about overall what the Vikings are doing as a team. I think going into the season, especially based off last season in the defensive performance and just how the offense was going, it was a very, very concerning roster going into it. But Evan, you're very familiar with Brian Flores at the helm. This defense, man, it is unbelievable.
[00:30:29] Speaker B: What's their blitz pressure percentage?
[00:30:31] Speaker A: I'm actually not sure what their pressure percentage is, but I will. I can tell you why their blitz works so well is because no team can defend a secondary with six players like the Vikings can right now. Their use of palms and quarters is unbelievable. And that followed up with Connor. You know what Bob protection is. I assume you're defensive end in high school. They line up on teams in a way that forces them into a Bob protection, and I'm sure as you know this too, Bob will fail against stunts and Brian Flores is a stunt mastermind. And then you have all of that where they can rush five almost every single play and then they can have six that play each side of the field almost perfectly. It's just one of the best, one of the best match concepts I've seen run, especially through four games at this kind of stretch.
That being said, like normally, like last season, they were not a good defense and it's because they didn't have the guys to run this kind of defense. And seeing what they do now with the guys, I mean, it's just complete lockdown in the name of the game of defense today is just confusing quarterbacks, and I'm watching these guys play rush with a five man stunt coming across two defensive ends. Then you have quarters on one side and palms on the other. I have no idea what you are supposed to do as a quarterback in 90% of these situations. It's unbelievable.
[00:31:53] Speaker C: Sometimes quarterbacks don't even know what they're supposed to do.
[00:31:56] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:31:56] Speaker C: Rock purdy after the game, and Mike Tutt was like, I don't know how I'm going to do this to Brian Flores. Like, that defense is insane.
[00:32:02] Speaker A: Exactly. And it's even like, I would try to explain quarters and palms, but it would take me ten minutes probably in the basis of it is a match coverage. They start in zone and then they move to man based off of what the receivers do. In one, they read the wide receiver, one on the outside, and the other one they read the inside wide receiver, and they just make their decisions based off of that. And as you can imagine, at the NFL level, that is very hard to do. To have the athletes that can make those decisions and be decisive enough to actually be at the play when it happens and also playing quarters, man, you can have nine players defending the run, which normally the biggest revolution in defense that we saw in the past, you know, 20 years was obviously the Legion of Boom, which was a cover three match concept, which did start a lot of single high trends in the NFL because the people wanted more guys in the run game. But this is so much more creative because these safeties, if you can, if you get them right from a practice perspective and they know their responsibilities well, you're playing with way more guys in the run game than you would be in single high.
[00:33:03] Speaker C: And I mean, the linebackers in general, like Van, Van Ginkle, who, former Dolphin.
[00:33:09] Speaker B: We should have never, out of his.
[00:33:11] Speaker A: Mind, are so good.
[00:33:12] Speaker B: He is phenomenal.
We let him walk to get the guy from Penn State. I'm blanking on his name right now.
[00:33:20] Speaker C: Chop Robinson.
[00:33:21] Speaker A: Chop Robinson.
[00:33:22] Speaker B: He's done nothing for us. Van Gingal can play short coverage. He can blitz. He is phenomenal. And I know he went there because of Brian Flores, because he was on that 2020 defense that I think from 2019 to 2020, they got 16 games in a row with a takeaway.
[00:33:40] Speaker A: Right.
[00:33:40] Speaker B: Right now, the Vikings have four takeaways against Green Bay, two against Houston, two against San Francisco, two against the Giants. And it goes back to confusing the quarterbacks.
[00:33:51] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:33:52] Speaker B: Like, you have great pressure coming because you're. They have the highest blitz percentage on second down.
That's just. I'm sorry, who blitz on second down?
[00:34:02] Speaker A: First of all, Brian Flores.
[00:34:03] Speaker B: They have 41% blitz percentage in general. Yeah, it's his coverages and his schemes to get pressure while still having good coverage over top is insane because my.
[00:34:17] Speaker A: Favorite thing to watch from this defense is generally on third down when Brian Flores comes out in zero looks. It is so fun because one, the pre snap look is, let's say you have three receivers off the ball. You'll have three defensive backs, probably ten yards off these receivers, depending on where the first down marker is. And then every single other player on that defense will be on the offensive line, will be on the line of scrimmage. In one of those situations, you have no idea who's going to drop back and cover the middle of the field or if they're going to just drop to freaking four. Out of nowhere, I watched a play where Harrison Smith. Smith was on the line of scrimmage and dropped back to play to be the last man down the field, start on the line of scrimmage. It's unbelievable.
[00:35:04] Speaker C: It's amazing what Brian Flores has done for this defense in general, because I feel like last year, the defense was just so poor. I mean, before Kirk husbands got hurt, they were putting up, like, insane yards, points, all this kind of stuff, and the defense would always fail them. And, I mean, now their defense is, like Evan said, creating a ton of turnovers, confusing everybody, and not even just talking about the defense in general, but that offense, Sam Donald, I mean, he's looking like the guy that was drafted by the New York jets.
[00:35:31] Speaker A: He really is.
[00:35:32] Speaker C: He's looked amazing. I think just, you know, not having a real shot at the beginning, you know, going from the jets, the Panthers.
[00:35:39] Speaker A: I saw something terrible. It was a tweet about, there was a 49 ers beat writer around when Sam Donald was brought.
[00:35:47] Speaker B: They left him in there.
[00:35:48] Speaker A: Well, yeah, they said. Well, they said that he was. He said that he was the best throw of the football he had seen since Steve young talking about Sam Darnold.
[00:35:55] Speaker C: It's crazy.
[00:35:56] Speaker A: Isn't that unbelievable?
[00:35:58] Speaker D: Wild.
[00:35:58] Speaker C: It's wild. We go from making fun of Sam Darnold because of him saying, I'm seeing ghosts out here against the Patriots, and then him.
[00:36:05] Speaker B: And guess who. Guess who is defensive on the defensive staff for those Patriots? Was it really Brian Flores?
[00:36:10] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:36:11] Speaker B: He was their linebackers coach.
[00:36:12] Speaker A: That guy's a master.
[00:36:13] Speaker C: And then, I mean, it also helps when you have, like, the best receiver in the NFL right now.
[00:36:16] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:36:17] Speaker C: And then Aaron Jones is just. He's been unreal so far this year.
[00:36:20] Speaker A: That catch that Justin Jefferson had going up the sideline in the end zone, I can't remember who he was on or who was on him. Excuse me. But the catch he pinned against his chest with one hand against blanket coverage was unbelievable.
These Vikings, man, they're fun to watch out of nowhere, but they are so fun to watch, man. It's, it's unbelievable how far that team's come and.
Yeah, I mean, if we want to move on from the Vikings, we've got.
[00:36:45] Speaker B: I want to talk about the Chiefs. They are looking human.
[00:36:48] Speaker A: We'll talk about that in the mullah, get into our picks. But please.
[00:36:52] Speaker B: Yeah. First of all, their offense just looks stagnant. Patrick Mahomes isn't really playing great. Tyree, I mean, not Tyreek, Travis, Kelsey. Like, he hasn't done basically anything. He did get open down the middle of the field a couple more, a little more this game.
[00:37:06] Speaker A: Right.
[00:37:06] Speaker B: But 17 points near the Chiefs, that's unheard of. They were tied going into like four minute quarters. I mean, in the fourth minute. But one thing I find funny is we were talking about this last year. If it's a close game and you see Patrick Mahomes trotting out, it's like, I've seen this one before. I know exactly what's going to happen.
[00:37:27] Speaker A: Right.
[00:37:27] Speaker B: It's the exact opposite for Justin Herbert. And it makes me laugh every time. He comes out with three minutes left down three or seven.
[00:37:34] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:37:35] Speaker B: You know, he's going three and out and it's always two sacks because he just tries to do too much.
[00:37:40] Speaker A: I want to say something real quick, like, as we talk about the Chiefs being human and such, just what some of his injuries, but like, just kind of to depict Patrick Mahomes and what kind of player he is, we're saying, oh, he didn't really have a great day. Guy was 19 for 29 with 245 yards and touchdown.
[00:37:56] Speaker B: And a pick.
[00:37:58] Speaker A: And a pick. True.
But yeah, this, that's what I mean, though, like, by a lot for a lot of guys, that's a pretty, that's a great game. You know what I mean? So it's funny to in it, but you still are, right. Like, Patrick, it's not, it's not the Chiefs that we've seen. Absolutely. And the season is it the Chiefs that we've seen before? I feel like we've had this dialogue multiple times through, usually this amount of weeks of all the chiefs, we always had this dialogue. That's what I'm saying. And we, we've been down this road and they seem to just figure it out.
[00:38:27] Speaker C: They do. And one thing that does kind of just give me a little hope for this Chiefs team is we talk about, I mean, their defense is still showing up and they're still like, you know, being able to keep the offense in the game until Patrick Holmes just becomes the Patrick Holmes that we all know. And, you know, score a touchdown at the end of the game, won the game. But we look at all the weapons that are out right now. You know, Isaiah Pacheco broke his leg, so he's gonna, he's on IR.
[00:38:52] Speaker A: Right.
[00:38:53] Speaker C: Rasheed Rice just tore his ACL.
[00:38:54] Speaker D: It might not be that as bad as we thought.
[00:38:56] Speaker C: Who, Rashid Rice?
[00:38:58] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:38:58] Speaker A: Really?
[00:38:59] Speaker C: So I didn't see the MRI, but I know they said they feared it and the injury looked bad. It was.
[00:39:03] Speaker A: They declared him out almost immediately.
[00:39:05] Speaker C: Yeah. So that was rough. Travis Kelsey. Yes. Does not look great right now, but I'm sure he's, you know, as soon as, when it crunch time later in.
[00:39:13] Speaker A: The season, I believe he was a receiving leader for this.
[00:39:15] Speaker B: He did. He still had seven catches for 89.
[00:39:18] Speaker A: This is what this.
[00:39:19] Speaker B: Kareem Hunt's a solid backup.
[00:39:20] Speaker A: Yeah. This was his first real pretty solid game for Kelsey. He has been at a bit of a skid to start the season and.
[00:39:26] Speaker C: One thing I am really waiting for and I really want to see is when Hollywood comes back.
[00:39:35] Speaker B: Wow, that's gonna be great.
[00:39:36] Speaker A: That's gonna be a huge addition to the offense.
[00:39:37] Speaker C: That's what I wanna see because, I mean, Xavier worthy as a rookie, yes, he has a speed, but he's still, like, just still kind of established himself into the league.
[00:39:45] Speaker A: The place that he's successful on are place that are set up.
[00:39:48] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:39:48] Speaker A: Pretty well for him.
[00:39:49] Speaker C: So I'm excited to see them have that weapon that everybody knew was gonna scare people when they got him.
[00:39:55] Speaker A: Right.
[00:39:55] Speaker C: And I know he's on iR, but do we know? I don't think the injury is like more than four weeks.
[00:40:00] Speaker A: Yeah. He should be coming back relatively soon.
[00:40:02] Speaker C: Yeah. So I'm gonna hold off on the whole dialogue of Chiefs being not as good as they were until they can start getting the offensive weapons back.
[00:40:11] Speaker A: Right.
[00:40:12] Speaker D: I accept it. I think that the Chiefs are great team once again. If, if they didn't have injuries, maybe they would be, we would be talking about them a lot better at this point, but injuries are inevitable. They've been fortunate the last several years. They haven't been affected by injuries too much at all. But now that they're starting to get hit with injuries, I think it's going to hurt them moving forward. I think we'll pick the game between the Saints and the Chiefs in a little bit. We'll see where we go with those picks. I am not confident with the Chiefs moving forward this season. I don't think they'll win the Super bowl again. I don't even think they'll make the conference championship this year? Year. It'll be the first one in six years without the Chiefs without the Chiefs being involved in it. And it's just because I think that they've finally hit their wall. They've hit their wall. Injuries are affecting them. Their defense is the best part about their team, and I think that we'll continue to see that the rest of this year, and it's. This is more of a retooling year. I think once we get to the off season, we'll see what happens. But they have a lot of holes on that team. They really do have a lot of holes.
[00:41:12] Speaker A: It'll, uh. Again, I feel like we've probably had this conversation before.
[00:41:16] Speaker C: I know I had it before.
[00:41:17] Speaker A: Exactly. Me, me and you have definitely had this conversation before, really, on a few times in relation to the Eagles, but, um, obviously they've got. They've got things to fix, but, man, they've had things. Things to think fix before. Excuse me. And, I don't know. I'm not quite out on them yet. I'm gonna give them a little bit more time.
[00:41:33] Speaker C: Super bowl with Marques Valdez scan as their number one wide receiver.
[00:41:37] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:41:37] Speaker B: I still think they finished twelve and five, at least.
[00:41:40] Speaker C: Yeah. I'm not counting them out by any chance of the imagination.
[00:41:43] Speaker B: I just don't think this is their Super bowl year.
[00:41:45] Speaker A: That's fair. Well, with that being said, I mean, we can go and just pick that game first. Since we've been talking so much about them, does anybody want to start for New Orleans at Kansas City?
[00:41:56] Speaker D: I'll start. I go with New Orleans. I think New Orleans could have a big bounce back game. I think they'll find holes in that Chiefs defense. There is some holes so much in the secondary, but if you can get. If the run game can get going a little bit with Camaro, we'll see what happens. You have to kind of run right at Chris Jones if you want that run game to be successful against that Chiefs defense, because if you run it at him, it kind of put pins him back a bit and they could get some extra yards. At least that was effective earlier in the season against the Chiefs.
I think. I think the Saints will get this one.
[00:42:28] Speaker A: There you go. I'm. I'm also going to roll with the Saints on this one. I know I just sung my praises of the Chiefs, but I do think that it's going to take time for them to return to what they can be for the rest of this season. So I'm going to go with the Saints right now.
[00:42:40] Speaker B: I'm going with Chiefs.
[00:42:42] Speaker A: Evan going with the Chiefs. Connor, it's Arrowhead. We know Arrowhead said that matters.
[00:42:48] Speaker C: We know when Derek Carr does get hit throughout the game, he kind of gets a little rattled and he's thrown off his game. And I think Arrowhead being Arrowhead on a primetime game, I don't think there's, I don't. I don't say there's not a way because of course there's a way that saints have looked really good offensively and defensively so hard this year. I just think the Chiefs are going to find a way to do it again like they always do.
[00:43:08] Speaker A: There you go.
[00:43:09] Speaker C: Some going Chiefs.
[00:43:09] Speaker A: I love a good split. We've got me and Alex taking New Orleans. We've got Evan and Connor taking the Chiefs. Next one. Let's go with a couple other NFC south teams. Let's pick Tampa Bay versus Atlanta on Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay forever. Quick and to the point. Kind of interrupted me, too, but I'll let slide. Sorry, Connor, what are you thinking here?
[00:43:30] Speaker C: I'm going Atlanta.
[00:43:31] Speaker A: I like it.
[00:43:32] Speaker C: I don't think the Buccaneers have the pass rush to get to Kirk Cousins, and I think Bijon will just be able to run all over them because Tampa Bay hasn't really had a good run defense so far this year.
[00:43:42] Speaker A: Right.
[00:43:43] Speaker C: So I think if Bijon can establish a run like I think they will, I think Kirk Cousins will have his way of play action.
[00:43:49] Speaker A: Right, Alex, where you at?
[00:43:51] Speaker D: I think Atlanta needs this game more than the Buccaneers do. I'm gonna go with Atlanta.
[00:43:54] Speaker A: There you go. Alrighty. I am gonna roll with, man, this is still a tough one for me as well, but I do think that Tampa Bay can get this one done.
They are in Atlanta, but I'm gonna go and roll with Tampa Bay on this one next. We'll go ahead and pick Dallas and Pittsburgh. I guess we should let Alex pick this one probably first.
[00:44:15] Speaker D: I'm going to go with Pittsburgh. I actually don't think it's. I don't think the Steelers will make this game even close. I think the Cowboys, even though they have a long week going into it, DeMarcus Lawrence is out for them defensively. Micah Parsons, he's banged up as well. The Steelers should get a good run game going if their offense gets 21 points, book it for at least a four point victory.
[00:44:35] Speaker A: There you go.
[00:44:37] Speaker C: I even heard Michael McCarthy saying they're preparing this week without Michael Parsons. And I don't even think Michael Parsons would make a difference in this game. I think the Steelers will win by double digits.
[00:44:48] Speaker A: So there you go. I'm also going to pick the Steelers. Are we going to Steelers sweep?
[00:44:51] Speaker D: I like it. I like it.
[00:44:52] Speaker A: Who would have thought going into the season we would pick a Steelers sweep against the Dallas Cowboys?
[00:44:57] Speaker C: I would.
[00:44:58] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:44:59] Speaker C: Not for the Steelers, but I just didn't think Dallas was that really, was really that good.
[00:45:04] Speaker A: Another one that we probably wouldn't have guessed would be interesting. Jetse and Vikings.
Who wants to lead this one off?
[00:45:11] Speaker B: Vikings. I don't. I've, I'm not. I'm going to doubt the jets until they start proving me wrong because the one convincing, really convincing win they had was against the Patriots and the Patriots are bad.
[00:45:22] Speaker A: Right. Fair enough.
[00:45:23] Speaker B: And Aaron Rodgers is a little bit banged up coming off that week, last week.
[00:45:28] Speaker A: He is. And he's going and he's facing a tough, tough, tough defense.
[00:45:32] Speaker C: I, I will say I agree. I am going to go Vikings as well. I think that jets defense doesn't look as good as they were last year and I think Aaron Jones, I don't say will have his way, but I think he's going to have a pretty big day through the air. I don't have really been able to guard running back so far this year and I think Sam Donald will not have. I think he might turn the ball over once or twice just because of like they have players out on the secondary like Sauce Gardner and read. But I think that's.
[00:46:04] Speaker A: I'm sorry, are they both out for.
[00:46:05] Speaker C: No, but I'm saying they, they have the personnel.
[00:46:07] Speaker A: Gotcha.
[00:46:07] Speaker C: So I think they could still like, you know, cause problems just because they're there.
[00:46:10] Speaker A: Right.
[00:46:11] Speaker C: At the same time, though, I think Sam Darnold will still put up a good amount of yards and I think that defense will be a huge problem for the jets. But just because, I mean, the Broncos held him to nine points last week.
[00:46:24] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:46:24] Speaker C: That's insane.
[00:46:25] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:46:25] Speaker C: So give me the jets.
Give me the Vikings.
[00:46:29] Speaker A: Here you go.
[00:46:29] Speaker D: Give me the jets. I'll take the jets in this game. I love it with the Vikings. I like Sam Darnold playing against his former team that drafted him, but with it being in London, I think that benefits the Jets. I think the jets will be motivated coming in this week. Not that the Vikings wouldn't be, but I think the jets in particularly, especially after all the troubles on offense, they're going to have a big week. Bruce hall is going to have a big game to expect a low scoring game, but jets victory.
[00:46:53] Speaker A: I was worried that I was going to be. I was having a hot take picking the jets, but I'm glad I've got some backup with Alex. I'm also going to pick the Jets. I do think that, don't get me wrong, that Flores defense is scary, but Aaron Rodgers is a guy that I would trust to handle tough defense out of anyone.
[00:47:08] Speaker B: I would definitely Rodgers, so.
[00:47:10] Speaker C: But would you trust Nathaniel Hackett?
[00:47:12] Speaker A: I don't know, but Aaron Rodgers is going to have a pretty significant role in the outcome of this game. And don't get me wrong, you are. There is something to be said for Nathaniel Hackett here, but I do think that Nathaniel Hackett will be good enough for what this offense needs going into. Well, I guess I was going to say going into Minnesota, but going into London. So another split. I'm liking where we're headed so far. We got one more. Bills. Texans. Let's make it quick.
[00:47:37] Speaker B: Bills.
[00:47:38] Speaker A: Bills. There you go.
[00:47:40] Speaker B: They got punched in the mouth, but they're definitely gonna bounce back.
[00:47:42] Speaker A: Yep. I'm also gonna pick bills.
[00:47:44] Speaker C: I'm going. I'm going. Texans.
[00:47:46] Speaker A: Alrighty.
[00:47:47] Speaker D: I love the bills.
[00:47:49] Speaker A: That's your pick. There we go.
[00:47:50] Speaker D: It plays right into my theory, though, that the Texans are going downhill.
[00:47:53] Speaker A: I thought you were just giving a statement right there.
[00:47:56] Speaker B: I love Josh Allen.
[00:47:58] Speaker C: I do agree. So far the Texans have looked kind of lackluster compared to what they were last year.
[00:48:04] Speaker B: Said that Jags game is gonna be close, 24 to 20, right. Came down to one of the last possessions in the game.
[00:48:12] Speaker C: I just think the Texans need it more than the Bills. The Bills have looked really good this year. Texans kind of been struggling with some of these wins. I think they're going to come out to a hot start against a really good team.
[00:48:22] Speaker A: All right.
[00:48:23] Speaker C: And if they don't, they're going to get blown out.
[00:48:25] Speaker A: We've got a great picks bed this week. I'm excited. I'm excited to see how the score ends up after next week. Me and Evan both need a little comeback here, but I will hope to have good news by next week and everyone see you until then.
