Week two of the NFL Report is here. I'm see White and my guy James Palmer rocking the terra cotta right there as he is back in Denver after a long flight back from.
Cincinnati this week.
Jpe, we got a lot going on because you're usually Week two is a.
Much more truth teller than week one.
Right, we can kind of read the tea leaves, and I think we can see what some teams like Cincinnati and Miami might be. He's like, Dallas, do we really know they're too?
Well know how good they are? Wet? Still a ton of unanswered questions?
Yeah, see, how about this if we're telling the truth. What's your take on Skyline Chili in Cincinnati?
Skyline Chili is good.
I'm also but I'm probably a bigger gold Star fan myself. But I don't want to insult anybody in our audience. You know that there's there's a lot of touchy feelings about that. Do you like chili on spaghetti?
JP?
No, I skip halftime meal in the press box when I'm there at Peay Course Stadium. I'm not gonna lie. A double up pregame pre game was good. I double up pre game, get a little something extra. There was sticky buns up there this time, even though I told that's a Philly thing when you say sticky buns too often, cinnamon roll, whatever you want to call it. I call them all sticky buttons. But I had an extra one of those, so I wouldn't do the skyline stuff at halftime, I'll be honest.
And and everybody watching and listening, they're like, oh, these sports writers, they get fed. They don't I don't want to hear them complain about anything. Well, you know that's part of the issue. I'm sure you want to complain about the fact that we also get to watch football for a living.
Shame me.
We saw a fantastic display of what this Ravens offense could look like when they went and they beat Cincinnati.
I mean, this was a huge game.
You heard John Harbaugh talk about it's a big game, players talking about how how sweet it.
Was to send the Bengals to an zero and two start.
You were there, and you were texting me during the game, like, man, Lamar looks really good.
This offense is serious stuff. Tell us a little bit about what you.
Saw, man, Yeah, pregame, Steve and I think I was on with you pregame. Also, when I was talking to that commend members of the coaching staff and they're like, listen, Lamar is not comfortable in this offense. Shed We're not sure how long it's gonna take. We're gonna see how the process goes. But obviously this is very different. He didn't play in the preseason, so Week one was really our first opportunity to see him go out there and operate in it. We didn't see him run at all.
I thought it was really interesting. When I talked to Zay Flowers, the rookie wide receiver, he was like, no, no, no, that was the plan for Lamar not to run. The plan was for him to sit back there, get comfortable, Steve, get a feel for this offense, sitting in the pocket, because why, he knows he can run right, he knows you can find ways to go out there and create and make plays. He wanted to sit back there and feel it. And what did we see in week two?
We saw him go out there and have an extremely balanced attack. I think that's the difference. When I talked to Mark Andrews after the game, he was like, now that we have these receivers on the outside, life's easier for him in the middle. You have explosive players on the outside. You saw after the interception bang right to a fifty two yard reception by Jay Flowers to go deep.
Lamar Jackson was accurate. He was comfortable. If they're wondering how long it's going to take him to get comfortable offense, I don't know. Week three. Now, they're so balanced because at the back end of this game, what did they do? They just kept the Bengals off the field. Lamar ran the football. They ran the football even when Cincinnati knew they were going to run the football. I think this is a really fun, interesting offense to watch now because of the balance it has.
And what's interesting about that is they were down two starting offensive linemen right the center, Tyler Linderbaum.
Center.
Yeah, I mean this was this was we were wondering before the game, you want a pregame show with me.
JP were like, well, Lamar.
Is gonna be on his horse all day because these these Bengals rushers are going to be all over him. He was on his horse on scalded runs and because that's what may have opened up because this offensive line held up well, that is a positive sign because we know left tackle Ronnie Stanley has had injury issues to his legs for years. So if they can have somebody come in and feel incapably, that's fantastic. But the balance,
that's when the Ravens work right. When they have to rely you know, one dimensional running too much or throwing too much, that's not them. But also, and I want to get this back to you, Zay Flowers. You saw Odell Beckham go out with an ankle injury. We don't know how significant that is, but the rookie wide receiver out of Boston College seems to open up this offense, open up the.
Field for Mark Andrews across the middle.
What impact could he make because they have not had not only a deep threat like him, but a route runner like him, maybe a Lamar's tenure.
That's the thing, And there's already such a it looks like chemistry and connection between him Lamar Jackson's nine catches in the first week like from a rookie wide receiver. The interesting part about Zay real Quick is that he already can line up in every single receiver spot they have. He can play the X, he can play the Y. He can be a different member of a trips group, you know, the number two of the three. He can
line up in the backfield. His versatility in that sense and understanding of the offense and being able to do that is extremely important and really impressive this early. But what they're impressed with Steve is how strong he is for his size for a little Yeah, guys on the coaching staff, they were like, you know what he can do. He can't get tackled, and that's pretty important. Is he's hard to tackle and I look like he's gonna be that explosive player to add into making this a layered
offense with Mark Andrews as well. As we talk about offenses, talk about explosive plays. That's usually what we talk about with the Cincinnati Bengals, but we have not seen that very much. We saw them get better offensively in the second half, but what we also saw in the second half was Joe Burrow reaggravating that calf injury. I was in the press room to hear him say this postgame.
Well, when when your quarterback missus camp, it's it's tough to it's tough to start fast, it's it's not an ideal situation. Yeah, I'm still confident. I feel really confident in all the guys we have in that room. Now, Like I said, we're gonna have to see how that feels the next couple of days. It's pretty sore right now, but no telling how it's gonna feel sorrow. I think we're gonna take it day by day.
Steve. This is a team that we were not very concerned with starting oh to one. Now they're zero in two, which is what they did, I believe last year. So what's your take watching this game? Watching a Super Bowl contender start not just oh and two, oh and two in the division?
Yeah, I mean JP.
Normally i'd be like, you know, they're gonna be fine. This seems a little different. There's a feel to it.
And you were there, not me, but in pregame again, you were on the pregame.
Show with us on our game day preview show with Andrew Ciliano and me, and you said, I have been watching him warm up and he doesn't look right.
That calf did not look right. You saw that pregame.
Then he aggravates it during the game, and then we're seeing him and for those of you listening on the podcast, he's got the thera gun kind of gunning and trying to get it loose, you know, after he's staying this, you know, the injury, the aggravation.
This seems like it might be something that could linger. And so you say to yourself, well, will they shut him down?
You know, because Burrell said, we have to figure wait a couple days to see what's going on.
That's not Joe Burrow.
Joe Burrow is usually not that open about how he physically feels.
And when you hear a.
Lot of athletes like that talk about that they know something, they know something, and so maybe they have to shut him down or maybe this is gonna be an issue for several weeks, if not for longer, that he has to work through. And we know, if Joe Burrow is not at full strength with some of the pressure that they allow on him, this could be something where the folks in Cincinnati, and the words of the great animated legend Scooby Doo say rut Row.
Yeah, yeah, say it again, Steve Row. There we go. Listen. This was a dejected locker room. There was definitely a lot of confidence after the first loss. This one was a little bit different, and I don't think it's because they're Row and two. When I had side conversations with players, it was Steve, I have a fear that this is going to linger, like that's my concern, that this calf thing is going to linger with Joe Burrow and that's going to impact our ability to get out of this
own two start. I don't think anybody in that locker room doubts Joe Burrow as a player, doubts that he's one of the best quarterbacks and players in football, that this offense can still be one of the best offenses in football. We've just seen too much success out of this group, right, That's not their concern. Their concern in these conversations I was having in the locker room were man, I hope this doesn't linger like I feel like that might be the case. And that is the major concern
because you saw them in the second half. Steve, after a slow start, I talked to Orlando Brown Junior, is like, we wanted to get out to a quick start. They barely had the ball. They had the ball for eighteen plays and that first half the Ravens had forty seven plays in the first half. The second half, they started stringing together some drives. They really did, and then this happened.
So that's where really, to me, the major concern is everybody says Joe Burrow is the next peg down, and I believe they say Steve from Patrick Mahones, who on his birthday goes out and gets his sixty fifth career win over the Jags, a game that I thought was going to be a shootout and it was just the opposite.
Well, and that's in part JP because this Kansas City Chiefs defense, which typically slow plays it's development into being very good, is off to a great start. I mean, they get Chris Jones back and he plays thirty four plays and none of us really thought he was going to, you know, completely dominate.
Well he did. He did. And once again, to go.
Back to our pregame conversation, that's where I said. One thing about Chris Jones when we talk about his dominance is he does it at the right times.
He does it in key moments. He does it on third line.
This is a three man rush we're watching right here, and he bats it down, just.
Absolutely works the left tackle.
Here's one where we three man rush again gets to Trevor Lawrence. This is one on one This is impact football. This is getting Trevor Lawrence to think, oh my god, there's ninety five coming off the edge from a five technique, not even a seven technique, and I can't get away from him.
Now.
Part of that's the coverage downfield and James. This speaks to the bigger issue of Chris Jones' impact. It effects all three levels of what the Chiefs are doing. They could cloud the deep past and from behind drop their linebackers to cover the intermediate stuff because they know Chris Jones can be that disruptive. That's what we saw over and over again in this game.
And you saw him rush from different spots. He was out there on the edge. Remember when they toyed without a couple of years ago, he dropped some weight and they were like, may maybe he's an edge rusher. Now he's doing it at his current dominance and his current strength that he has in the middle of the defensive line seat, but also can rush from the outside. They always love moving him around finding advantages. But you mentioned it. He's a drive ender, a game ender. You saw him
do that on fourth down. You see how he's able to get their defense off the field to put the best player football back on the field and what's happening with this defense? And when I spend some time Darren Camp there, I was talking to safety Justin Reid and he was like, everybody now understands our system in the secondary. He's like, I was teaching everybody my role and their role throughout all of the season last year. So many
new faces. Now they're to year two into the system, and this group as a defense, which usually starts slow, is playing really well early on and helping out this offense that struggle a little bit. I have to put this out there. As we talked about Patrick Mahomes. This was a nice birthday present from the Chiefs. This is this is from rap sheet right now while we're recording.
This a new deal for Patrick Mahomes. In the restructured deal, he now receives two hundred and ten point six million between twenty twenty three and twenty twenty six, the most in NFL history over a four year span. We knew this was coming, Steve, it is now here and who the offense is sputtered a little bit, but.
I might hold on, hold on, okay, okay, Now everybody who's watching and listening, this is how like TV and all this works. Thirty seconds before we are coming on to tape this show, James and I are talking about this Mahomes deal is gonna get done pretty soon. Don't believe all this hype where Patrick says he doesn't need
all this money. There's been conversations going on for months about getting this restructure done, and now you are saying he's getting two one hundred How does Marshawn Lynch put it two hundred grips two hundred thousand.
Ten million, two hundred ten million, two d two hundred and ten millions.
This this is cash dollars. I'm assuming this is guaranteed bread that is get per in.
Listen to this. Steve Mahomes has now received over two hundred and seventy three million in guarantees since the deal was originally signed in twenty twenty, an NFL record that's unbelievable. But I mean this, and this is this is how
this team is operating, Steve. And it's interesting when we talked about this whole Chris Jones situation and everything that was going on and Chris Jones wanting this new deal, We've talked about how this team has looked to build moving forward, they move on from Tyreek Hill to make other money. They look how they're moving everything forward with Patrick Mahomes in line. How does that change everything else We're going to find out this offseason.
Well, and let's let's also not let people forget Wow, Patrick Mahomes is getting all this money, this and that in hard cash dollars. The amount of money he took in the first three years of that ten year, four hundred and.
Fifty million dollars deal was minimal. Isn't a lot.
I want to say it was around sixty million. Now minimal to NFL players, It's a lot for you and I. But the fact that he was willing to sinimal for Steve Wych, yeah right, damn right if you took that little money, when you see some of this other upfront cash these players got, this is this is a just reward for him to get to two Super Bowls. Plus it's going to allow, as crazy as the sounds, the Chiefs to create cap space along the way, so maybe they can get Chris Jones done depending on how the
structure of it is. We're not going to get into all of that good stuff right there, all right, JP you're gonna get the final word before we move on to the B block.
Yeah, I'll say this, they were just waiting for Joe Burrow's deal to get done before they really pushed this things forward. Once they had those numbers, they were able to readjust everything they wanted to do moving forward. Now, as we move forward with this show, Steve Wera have Jeff Schadea on to talk about a couple of these comebacks. Who is gift rapped of victory and who had to go out there and actually earn it More coming up on the NFL Report. Welcome back to the NFL Report.
James Palmer, Steve White, John by Jeff Chadea.
Who.
I'm not sure how close, Jeff, you lived to Patrick Mahomes, but you might want to swing by and see what's happening over there at Mahomes Manor. It's been redone and now they have some more money for future upgrades, even though it's all Brent spanking nouah.
Yeah, we're not in the same neighborhood. I can promise you that.
Come on, yeah up to see where he's You're adjacent. You're adjacent, right.
Not the right right word to use.
I'm more like he's up here and I'm way down here with the other peons. But yeah, you know, look, I think one thing that we knew when he signed his first big extension was that that was not going
to last for ten years. The numbers sounded great, half a billion dollars, but at the end of the day, he took a team friendly deal with a discount, and they weren't going to allow Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson and Deshaun Watson and everybody else, you know, justin Herbert, all these their quarterbacks to be paid more than the best quarterback, the best player in the league. So this
was definitely not a surprise. The numbers aren't surprising. I think James in the break we talked about just the possibility and then looking at this again in four years and redoing it. But they're always going to make sure that he's at the top of the pay list, and they're also going to try to make sure he has his money. But they have the flexibility to keep making moves to keep this team going.
And yeah, real quick, explain that because people who may not necessarily know how to finesse the cap say, wow, he's getting you know, two hundred ten million dollars over the next three years.
We're going to be hamstrung.
But that money, when it's amortized over the length of the deal, it actually creates cap space.
But it does, it does, and really, and they've been doing this for the last couple of years where they don't want to get into this world and I don't want to go too deep into the weeds and how NFL contract works, but they don't want to go into this world where they're always trying to borrow money, get players restructured, and try to get create salary cap space. They feel like having him at a number that's manageable for them, they're able to go to him and create
cast spaces when they want to. But they also know he's getting paid as well, so this number will be spread out over the course of the deal. I don't know exactly all the details involved, but even though it's a big number, it's really more about the years and the way that the escalators are set up, the way that they can actually spread it out, uh, you know, pay to pay it to him over the course of that deal. So a lot of ways to work and make it flexible, which.
Is big for a general manager Breadfeach. And with that said, Jeff, look at what they have to do this offseason. You have to pay the two guys that are right there in front of Patrick Mahomes and centered Creed Humphrey and their left guard, right right right guard.
The guard guard, his guard.
You know, those those are two of the best guys that their positions right now in football, and they want to hang on to the interior portion of that offensive line. And both of those guys, Steve are up uh and looking for for some cash of their own.
Uh.
And you've got to pay some of those guys if if you're gonna build all this around Patrick Mahomes, protecting Patrick Mahomes is a big part of it as well.
So as you guys know, that's that's when you have guys in the roster like, hmm, I'll be thirty two the time of this next deal. I've got two years left on my contract. Honey, let's go ahead and put the house up for sale because we will not be here next year. One guy who will be in placed for a long time is Giants quarterback Daniel Jones, who, like Patrick Mahomes, signed a big deal this offseason, not
for as much bread. But here's Brian Dayball talking about his quarterback and his team rallying from three touchdowns down.
Yesterday to beat the Arizona Cardinals.
Belief.
But you can talk about it till you're blue in the face, pat belief, it's got to happen. You have to see tangible results too. So I think we have some mentally tough players on our team and coaches.
It's not always easy to be mentally tough.
When you're you know whatever, it is, sixty to nothing after a game and a half.
Yeah, mentally tough. You better be because, like he just said, like Brian Dayball has said, Jet, you have not scored after being outscored sixty to nothing after a game and a half. You're playing the Arizona Cardinals, who I'm sorry, aren't really that team.
You gotta do something.
And JP and I were talking about this before the show, the coaching that Brian Daball and that staff had to do not only to motivate those guys, but to scheme them back.
And to get them rolling again.
Jeff, what about being able to come back from a game like that when they really were reeling?
Yeah, you know, I do. The first three column every week, and I thought about writing about this team. The Giants are what to make of them for what you just said, which is, you've got a team that got destroyed by Dallas. You got a team that couldn't score a point against the worst team in the league for the first half, and then they have this great comeback. And then they also by the way Sakuon Barkley gets hurt, you don't
know how his ankle is going to respond. I feel as if the Giants are a little bit of a mess right now, and I think you have to do all this work to beat the Cardinals. You've got some problems, and I'm a big fan of Brian Dable, and you can say that they did a great job of coming back in this game, but I also feel like they got away with a lot of stuff last year, got
some things that break their weight. They're not doing it to happen now, and I just feel this is more of a team that's going to end up being around six seven wins than a real playoff contender.
Yeah, Jeff, you just said something that has been talked about kind of behind the scenes for a while, and so I mean, even speaking with folks of the Giants. They'll tell you last year they won, but they did it with smoking mirrors and some optical illusions because they were not a fast team, right They did not have a ton of speed, and they had to upgrade their speed to be able to compete. And I don't know if they necessarily did that by adding Darren Waller and
this and that. They've got to be tougher and better at some of the positions of the coaching job Brian dave Ball did last year was worthy of him winning the Coach of the Year honors. But Jay, you know again, you look at this team. They play Thursday night against the Niners. Saquon we don't know if he's gonna be able to go because of that ankle.
You know, I'm with Jeff.
I mean, you just don't know what to make of this team right now because we still don't know what their identity is and I don't know if anybody still is really sold on Daniel Jones.
Well, part of that identity seed was gonna be you bring in Darren Waller to be really probably your number one target, and you don't know how his season's gonna go with the hamstring right now, and how that's gonna move forward, especially with some of the offensive line issues that they have, and what we saw on the second half, Yes, that was the most yards, by the way, Daniel Jones has ever thrown four and a half. I think it was two hundred and fifty nine, most he's ever done
in a half. But it was essentially him and Saquon. I'd like that they got Jalen Hyatt kind of like into the mix of sense, maybe you can find ways to stretch the field a little bit, Jeff, because you're gonna need to do that if that's your offense. Essentially Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley trying to somehow half run it, half throw it as a because there are definitely some concerns, but I do agree that once again, what I saw was a locker room that kind of believes, and that
was a definite defining moment. When you get embarrassed in Week one and then you're going, well, we have the Cardinals and then you're getting embarrassed when you walk into halftime, that might be a defining moment to where this season somewhat salvage. But I think their margin for error, Jeff, is really really thin. If they think they're a playoff.
Team, Yeah, certainly. And look the money that Daniel Jones got paid this offseason. Sometimes when you pay a guy that usually usually when you pay a guy that kind of money, you want to turn him into somebody who can justify that kind of payment. I agree that this was a big moment for him and this team, But again, if you have to be down twenty to nothing in every game you play against bad teams to find yourself, I just don't think that's a great place to be
and discover your identity. They did a great to have a coaching this team up last year, but weapons wise, they're still lacking in a lot of ways. And by the way, no one really talks about this, but came on, Tipada's gonna start doing something it.
Yeah he doesn't. You're right, You're right, Yeah, you're right. I mean, he's got he's got to start making it. And here's the other part.
You know, we're talking about the Giants and them rallying, they're still probably, uh probably they are the worst team in.
The NFC East because the Washington.
Commanders folks are two and oh the team we thought that was gonna be busterrific is two Sam right now, and because they had a big time comeback against the Denver Broncos. Jeff, We're gonna talk about the Broncos a little bit later on, and some great stuff you wrote in your column at NFL dot com slash Jadia. But what about the Commanders right now and the fact that Sam Howell, who you wrote about, looks like a real dude.
The biggest surprise of the week for me. And I was certainly a doubter and Sam Howell did not see him being a prime time player. But you know, I watched a little bit in the preseason game when they played against Baltimore, and he showed some of that savvy and that and kind of that cavalier style of play. But to do it in week two, when you're on the road and you're down and you have to forget a lot of bass that's happened and still deliver big
plays for you. I was mesmerized by what he did, and not just the throws, but leading the offense, keeping things together. I feel like he and Eric Bienemy right now, this tandem is it's almost like Dangiel Jones and Brian Dabole last year. Like they are surprising people with the way the enemy's coaching him and the way Howell's responding.
I love that you brought up eb I mean, I'm not gonna say that the Chiefs are struggling offensively because Eric Vienemy is not in the building, but I'll say that the Washington Commanders as an offense that definitely have some weapons. I talked to Patrick Sardan in the locker room last Wednesday before this game, and he was like, Terry mccluurin is the most underrated receiver in the NFL. That's in Pat's mind. He's like, I don't understand why
he doesn't get attention. He can do everything. But he also told me Johan Dotson is an up and coming star in his eyes. That's one of the best cornerbacks, maybe arguably the best cornerback in Football's opinion of these wide receiver duo, let's let's just remember this Steve before we get to break they had, they were down eighteen on the road, Sam Howse first ever WROT start in the NFL, and then they really go on a thirty two to three run in a stretch in the middle
of this game. That is just ridiculous.
I mean, who the hell would have thought that Eric b Enemy might be able to coach up a quarterback. Jeff, We're going to see you a little bit later in the show as we get ready, as we move on to the next block, Chef A Baker, We've got Jordan Love and a new dog in Atlanta, the Beijon Freeze here on the NFL.
Report does just can you just talk about how that game was?
It was so crazy.
You guys looked like you were, you know, kind of down for the count, and then you come back and you just kind of take us through never done.
When you see the nflcons out there, will never be down for the count. We're gonna fight until that clock, kids zero. So you know that's what I'm proud of this team and everyone on this team for not giving up, not you know, and just keep going out there and just fighting so that clock kids zero.
I thought Stockings quarterback Desmond Ritter is now James and I are joined by Sarah, And I gotta tell you, like, if you're if you're a teammate of Desmond Ridder and you see that, you're like, that's my quarterback, especially after the way he just played. I mean, they made some fourth down conversions. He made some really gritty like run type place and big throws to Mac Collins and Drake London down there as they come back from twelve down, Sarah to beat the Packers and to move to two
and zero atop the NFC South. And you were telling me earlier that you know, you had a conversation with the team owner just by a chance, by the way, about.
The optimism first circles. Does Sarah run in like just hunting this Sarah gets down?
Yeah, guys, I just you know, I didn't make it to the owners meetings, the fancy owners meetings that you get to go to. So I was just playing around. No, I was actually in Atlanta. I was at Mercedes Benz Stadium on Saturday for a different kind of football, soccer related because Arthur Blank, as you know, owns Atlanta United as well, and so he has just given the US Soccer Federation a fifty million dollar check. They're going to break ground and have US Soccer's training facility in Atlanta.
I also cover soccer. Again, everything, as you know in life is a very very small world. So I was up there. I was at their stadium on Saturday, with Arthur Blank and obviously the season is very young, there's a lot of optimism. And I was actually standing out on the field, which was the soccer pitch at that time, because they were about to play a game after this.
Press conference, no message, no.
There were people yelling at me, and I was like, you guys, don't think I wanted Messi to be here. I was doing this. I was doing an unrelated press conference announcement, and then Messi was supposed to be playing thirty minutes later. So I was staying I was all in on this thing, and like fans are yelling at me, I'm like, yo, I want him out on the field just as much as you do. I actually don't know if Arthur Blink wanted him on the field because it
was better for his Atlanta United anyway. But they're so
excited and this is it. It was crazy because we're standing out on this field and I was talking to a team in play and I'm like, it's insane to think that since this stadium was built, there's been a Super Bowl there and there has not been a The Falcons have not hosted a playoff game in that stadium, which feels like it's been around for a while now, so to think that you erected this beautiful stadium at host Super Bowls, Peach Bowls, all these exciting games, like
they are clamoring for a playoff game to be in Atlanta in that stadium, and it hasn't happened yet. And you know, I saw the Falcons last year too, and they were knocking on the door, as you could say about every single team in that division, right because they were all separated by one game with the box and then everyone else's tied, so it could have gone either way. But look, they've shored up that defense. They need Desmond
Rudder to not make mistakes. He needs to make the plays when he needs to make them, and we saw him do that in a really gritty, gritty win. I think to the sense about Arthur Smith is, you know, this hasn't been like the most when you look at wins and losses. Hasn't been the best start right of anyone's coaching career when you come in and like you want to go right away, right to the postseason, and
that hasn't happened for him. But anyone you talked about Arthur Smith, there's just so much respect for him around the league and how smart he is, and there's always just been this sense like they are going to get it on track, and it sort of felt like they were really putting the pieces in place this offseason and you're starting to see this. I mean, look, he's doubled down on Desmond rd Or this offseason when they could have looked elsewhere, and he was like, Nope, this is
our guy. And that was the first time I saw his comment, Steve in that press conference and when I was sitting here when he was saying that and cut off their porterns like nope, never doubt. I'm like, yeah, like I'm in. I get it, like I'm in. So I think this is a Falcon team that's certainly heading in the right direction. I'm not surprised by that. To enough start.
Listen, not everybody's sporting a mustache, but this team has Arthur Smith's identity all over it, Steve like, they are physical in every way that they play on both sides of the football. I found it interesting talking to people in that building this morning after their win. One of the most interesting things that said that was said to me was we really love Drake London and Mac Collins as a one to two. You're like, Matt came in
as an afterthought. He leads this team in receiving right now, and they really like those as a one two wide receiver combo. Now you're looking at it and going like, well, that's kind of interesting. But they like that matchup, Steve, because of all the other pieces they have as well. Right, they are wowed by Bjeon Robinson and what they can do with him. He's their second leading receiver honestly, and
where they can put him all over the field. I was told we're just scratching the surface about what we can do with Bijeon, and and you're seeing this is right now. I know we're two weeks in. This is probably offensive Rerookie of the Year materials so far, this is what we're looking at. I mean, I think Andrews and Siliano hosting that show with you, Steve said his moves have moves, which is essentially the way Bijeon plays, but he also plays physical. I think that's the other
aspect of it. I'm curious how Kyle Pitts fits into this coming off with the knee, does he become another added element. We'll see if that happens. But what I like is they have enough talent Steve where they do think Desmond Ritter is making mistakes, but they feel like he's making rookie mistakes because they do consider him still
a rookie. They have enough talent around him right now in a physical enough defense to where if he doesn't make rookie mistakes that cost you games, they're still in a very good spot as he grows.
Yeah, and look, I spoke to Terry font No years ago and they were building this and twice passed and two drafts passed on quarterbacks, and he said, look, we want to build our rosters.
And when we get to the point where we find a quarterback, he has got a nice landing spot. He'll have time to develop. He's got land Ron who can carry this seat.
So they've got those types of players. You know who else is two and oh in this division? Though, the team that nobody thought was gonna be two and oh, Sarah, those are the Bay Buccaneers who just put a absolute waxing on the Bears.
You were there, You.
Saw that game at Baker Mayfield. Two and oh for the first time in his career. What is transition from Brady to Mayfield not only done for Baker, but kind of the rest of the guys.
You're saying, yeah, we can win without Tommy.
I think what's interesting is that it's not that Tom is his own entity, right, Tom is his own universe in the football world and even bigger than the football world. And as soon as Tom was gone, these expectations change. And I don't necessarily think that it has to be in a bad way, because when I say the expectations of change, like, no one expects them to win. Everyone's saying that they're going to fish last in the division. And while you would go, wow, is that a good thing,
it just took pressure off these guys. They have been under the spotlight every single game since the day that Tom Brady announced he was coming to Tampa Bay. And then you win a Super Bowl. That doesn't lower the expectations. And so I just think that that starts to wear on you in a different way. And look, expectations are a privilege. You hear pressures of privilege, all those things. Yeah, that's great and all, but this is a team that's like, Okay,
nobody's looking at us, nobody cares about us. Like that's fine, We're just gonna go out have a good time. And I do think it's sort of changed this mentality of the team where they're just kind of out there having a good time. I know, Steve, you and I talked about it when I was in Minnesota last week and I was in the room right next to where the box their locker room. I've never heard them screaming and hollering after a game the way they did when they
beat Minnesota take out the Super Bowl. That's a different thing. But like, this is a team that's just operating in a different manner because one people discounted them. But I think that they're enjoying that. I think they're enjoying being out of the spotlight. Every little thing that this team has done in the last three years has been picked apart and scrutinized in every single way imaginable. And if you don't have that on you, it's almost like it's
a relief. And like, let's be honest, Chicago came to town and after they're terrible Week one, the pressure's on Chicago. I mean everyone's looking at like the sky is falling in Chicago, whereas in Tampa they're like, hey, great Week one win.
We surprised.
We went to Minnesota and like no one thought we'd come win, And now we're down here and no one still expects us to win, and they win again, and they've done it in a myriad of ways. The defense has been really good, really lights out, and Baker Mayfield one of them. I know you guys are on a stat show, but tell me if this surprises you, because it surprises me. Baker Mayfield is leading the NFL right now in third down completion percentage number one, and like
that was something they struggled out last year. Do you have Is that not surprising to you?
I surprised.
It's unbelievable he's been He's he's converted eighty seven percent of the time on third down. I mean that's like insane. And this is a new offense to him, a new team, and so I think they're just really enjoying themselves here in Tampa right now.
Yeah, it's I think Sarah that's been the biggest surprise I think for all of us. Everybody's seeing.
Uh.
I think Baker. Let me do the math here. My math's not as good as yours, but I think he's played for fourteen teams in the last twelve months, and he goes out there and he plays the way that he's gone out and played, specifically on third downs protecting the football, which I think, I will say this Steve, everybody's kind of waiting for that Baker stretch to happen, where you go, what was that throw? Right? But it
hasn't happened yet. It hasn't happened yet. And I do think that there's something between him and Mike Evans specifically when plays breakdown, and I think Mike is, you know, definitely that type of player, and Sarah you know him well in terms of being able to make plays when things are off script, with the size that he has, the speed that he has. We'll still see ingim going out there just being one of the best receivers in all of football. But Baker is the one who's making
this go. In terms of all of us being surprised because this is a talented roster, Vidavea and Twine Winfield Junior, I mean the linebackers. I mean they have Tristan Wurf's on the offensive line. I mean they have a lot of talent and one of those guys that I didn't mention, right, there is a pass rusher in Shaq Barrett's there. Yeah, and hey he goes out, and he goes out and
makes an unbelievable play to seal that game. But what happened in the end zone just on another level compared to the play that he made.
Yeah, here's the thing. And for people that aren't aware, and I think most people are shocked. First of all, it's coming back from a tour Achilles that happened I think in week eight of last season, so he's just trying to make his way back right. And then horrific, horrific tragedy this off season, his little two year old daughter, Ariah drowns in the family pool. So what he has had to endure over the last several months of his
life are it's just incomprehensible. And he talked about it yesterday that before the first game of the season in Minnesota, that he just sat in his locker room and started crying because it hits him in different moments. And yet he stepped to the podium yesterday and he was so joyful, and I had this like I actually had this anxiety of like, oh my god. So he just has this
pick six end of the game seals the deal. But he's going to get asked about his daughter and what it means and like, this poor guy, because he's now he's going to get up there, like how is he going to handle it? And he had the biggest smile on his face. He had this huge, blinged out necklace that was a heart and it was his little daughter on it, and he was so joyful though, and he was like, I was so happy that happened because I blew her a kiss and like it brought the spotlight
back to my daughter. And which was like a very way of thinking about it, because I mean this he's he's going through it and he's going to be going through this for a long time. And Todd Bowles was asked about, you know, how do you see Shack being able to maneuver what he've been able to maneuver through not you know, he has an injury that he's still working his way back from. And he said it's unbelievable. I mean it's it's unbelievable what he has been going
through on and off the field. And so to have that finish, the people that know that story behind that, to have the finish that he had yesterday. It was just crazy, and it's been a very an amazing start for a Buccaneers team that there were a lot of question marks about. And then of course, you know the Eagles are coming to town for Monday night football. Soever and goes, okay, here's here's the test now, so we'll see what happens on Monday night.
Yeah, exactly, And Sarah, just real quick, yeah, yeah, just just we're all parents here, and so the respect for Shaq Barrett to continue to wear a smile on his face going through what he's going through just immeasurable.
Thank you so much, Sah.
Community is just devastated.
One of the best dudes in the league, man, one of the best people in the league covered him for a long time. Unbelievable. Yeah, all right, Sarah, appreciate it. We're gonna move back onto the football field a little bit. A couple of legendary coaches, Steve in terms of Sean Payton, Bill Belichick, both Owen two, how about Brandon Staley Owen two, whose seed is the hottest? Well, Jeff tod is gonna come back and tell us.
Russell in the pocket now bounces around set it throws the ball up in the air, the ball.
Deflected Johnson, good Cook Logan, Well, I mean the hell Mary did not get to the end zone. Steve Jeffett did not reach the goal line, but somehow it was caught in the end zone Brandon Johnson. That was the hell Mary from Russell Wilson to Brand Johnson, but no two point conversion. Some debate about a penalty in the end zone, there wasn't called, and the Broncos fall shorts and lose thirty five thirty three. But it wasn't that hell Mary, even though we saw Russell Wilson play a
little bit better. Sean Payton still having some issues with the operation. Sound familiar, Here's Peyton.
There's a number of drives you know where we're late with personnel getting out of the huddle. We took a while. I mean, that's got to change. We had to burn timeouts in the first half and I'm not used to doing. We got to be better, and I've got to be better. Russ's got to be sharper with get getting the play out and then we got to look at how much we have in But you know, if we need to riskband it, we will.
Well you know, one too long ago when Sean Payton was talking about Nathaniel Hackett and the bad operation because he was a bad head coach Jeff. Now he's getting it kind of a reality check, talking about going to wrist bands get personnel out today. On Monday, he said he had to shorten the verbiage now of the play calls so they can get to the line of scrimmage.
Quicker.
I mean they're they're searching for answers already, my man.
Yeah, building a glass house over there is what Sean Payton's doing. It's easy to throw stones when you're watching from a farm, but once you're actually in there dealing with the quarterback, things get a little bit different. I thought it was ironic that he was talking about these kinds of challenges because I thought Russell Wilson played fairly, played fairly well, and Russell Wilson even said they played their best half of offensive football this year in that game.
First of all I see with this team right now is that all the talk about culture and teaching people how to win and getting the right people in the room, it just it takes a while to make this kind
of stuff work. And I will say this. The Broncos are probably a better team right now with Sean Payne coaching them, but the numbers game is not working in their favor because when you lose two games against teams you should beat at home, and you have the Dolphins coming up next, a couple weeks down the road, you get the Chiefs and the Bills and the Packers and the Chiefs again, it's starting to look like this team is going to end up being two and six, you know,
two and five as they near the midpoint of the season, and that's just not going to get it done in a crowded AFC. So I understand the concerns and Sean Payton desire and make Russell Wilson as good of a quarterback as he possibly can be. But you're up twenty one three at home. You got to win that game.
Hold up, John, if they're two and five. If they're two and five, what do they do a quarterback?
Because you know people are going to be screaming for Jared Sidham or whoever.
Oh man, it's I think part of it depends on how it looks, because you can be you can play well.
Yeah, this the second half that squandered this one.
Away, thank you, thank you. No one wants to talk about that part of it. But defensively, they're not the same team they were a couple of years ago.
Yeah, And I want to chime in a little bit before we move on about this whole situation that is being talked about here in Denver at nauseum on Monday, the play calling and about it taking too long in the operation first point. I was told repeatedly after Sean Payton's initial comments to jare Belle and USA today this offseason texts from multiple members of that coaching staff from a year ago that just kind of all had the same sentiment, wait till Sewan starts working with Russ. We
had these issues constantly last year. I was told repeatedly that there are issues about plays getting in too slow, and that blame kept going on Nathaniel Hackett and the offensive coaching staff. And now we're seeing the same issues
with a new coaching staff coming in. And I remember at the beginning, maybe third of training camp, I asked Sean Payton about that communication between both sides, Steve, and he said to me, ninety percent of it is on the play caller when things go wrong, it's usually the play caller's fault. That is not where he's coming from. Right now, it looks like it is the same quarterback with two different play callers, that this is an issue
with the verbiage. Now, the interesting part with the wristband was Russ was wearing a spand on Sunday, So I guess they're gonna change some aspects of the wristband, change some of the verbiage. This has been an issue with Russell Wilson his entire career. This was a big issue in Seattle. They just work ways to work around it. Michael Robinson has talked on our air at nauseum about the help that he gave in the huddle to Russell Wilson at times. So it's finding ways around it, which
my last point. I know I'm going home with this, but I'm fascinated by it. During training camp, you always see right the play caller with the with the walkie talkie and they're talking to the guy. They're talking to the quarterback. That did not happen during training camp here in Denver, Sean Payton was in the huddle giving the plays. What I'm curious about was are we not practicing this or is there an aspect of this to where this
is slowing down our operation in training camp. So we just have to make sure I get the play in so the rest of the other ten guys aren't affected. Jeff like, we have to get work on this. We can't let this slow us down to camp. I'm curious to try to get to the bottom of this because apparently it is an issue in Denver.
Yeah. I have a hard time understanding how a quarterback who's played as long as Russell Wilson's played can't understand verbiage or can't get play calls in. It seems like it should be second nature, right, It's it's a miss draggery. It's it's hard to understand it, and it's happened so many times now that it's easy to say, oh, it's the play caller, but it's got to be the quarterback.
Yeah, look, look and the guy. Let's let's not forget about this. He has had tremendous success in his career, but for things.
That kind of wine always told me, Steve, not everybody's perfect. Somebody everybody has everybody has a flaw in their game. This is something russell'sn't been great.
Hey James, what is it about being in Denver and bringing up how mama has raised you. I'm just talking about Colorado, I should say, not Denver. That's a part of the whole Colorado State Colorado thing, all.
Right, Hey, Jeff. Another coach who who Sean Payton supposedly was.
Going to replace before he got to Denver's Brandon Staley with the Chargers.
As we know, this team is loaded.
They spend all their money on defense, I mean tons of it on defense, other than on their quarterback.
They're owing to. They've lost games the same ways. It's tough teams. Now well to Miami and then well Washington.
They're doing all right, but they just keep you know, they just keep getting I'm sorry the charge loss of Tennessee beat on the deep ball. Defensively, they're not affecting the quarterback the way they're paying people to do that. And Brandon Staley is a defensive coach. We know last year there are roamings about his job security. The way this team has started. Are you concerned about this?
Yes?
No, without without a doubt. You're talking about again, a team that was supposed to be pushing the Chiefs every year we hear this right. The Chiefs owned the AFC West for the last seven years, But the Chargers are always that team that's snipping at their heels and getting close and on the version of a huge breakthrough. And I just don't get it. Brandon Staley is a I like him as a coach, I like him as a person, but he's supposed to be a defensive guy, and the
defense has never been good since he's been there. There was a great stat that I read earlier today that said the Chargers as a team have given up more pass completions of over thirty yards than any team in the league since Stateley became the head coach. And you're talking about a secondary that has Derwin James, that has j C. Jackson, that passed for us is Khalil Mack and you know.
Joey Bosa, all these guys, and it just never seems to work.
Again, oh to two with against teams that they're good enough to beat. You can't do that in a crowded AFC, and certainly when you're chasing the Chiefs.
Yeah, that's the one that blows me away. And the other part is if you look at the numbers, the way Ryan Tannehill has closed out games with the Tennessee Titans that are in overtime. He's five and one. If you look at what's happened with Justin Herbert in these late games, the stats are not the same. A lot of times, guys, that's coaching right, what happens down the stretch. And a lot of times also we think one guy's
gonna win Rookie of the Year, Steve. Maybe another guy, a sleeper already through two weeks, could be the rookie of the year. We'll tell you who Steve has his eye on. Coming up next on the NFL Report.
Are back with a final block here at the NFL Report And JPI was at the Rams Niners game yesterday.
A fantastic game, Trucky.
The Rams are a lot better than we give them credit for their very physical upfront. Matthew Stafford looks absolutely reborn.
You saw that in joint practices with the Broncos.
But rookie wide receiver Puka Nakua, a fifth round draft pick, the latest mid to late round draft pick the Rams had that have been developed by wide receiver coach Eric Yarber, who is the secret sauce to this offense no one talks about.
He went for.
Fifteen catches against the Niners. He's got twenty five over the first two games, the most by a rookie. First off, the fifteen catches the most by a rookie in the game. Twenty five most by a rookie over two games. But you know, I'm speaking of Niners players. After the game, Talaa Hufona was like, oh, I know his brother.
Well, I'm tight with his brother. But I always knew Pookap was a dog.
And they said in the first half he was their zone buster, right, and they saw it on film against Seattle the week before that. He saw the seams in their zones and was killing them. So in the second half they went up, they pressed him a little bit more, they put a little more traffic.
In front of him.
He had eight catches in the second half after having seven.
In the first, so he was better. He's a real dude.
And here's the thing, when Cooper Cup comes back, because right now he's playing Cooper Cup's role, I mean lining up at flanker, cracking guys like Nick Boges at the line of scrimmage.
When Cup comes back, he may change roles a little bit, but he clearly.
Is trusted by Stafford, as you can tell by the twenty targets James he received against the forty nine ers.
Yeah, we should make it abundantly clear with Cooper Cup comes back, this is not just like all right, Cela ter Pooka that that is not the case. He's definitely gonna have a major role in this offense. And when they had those two joint practices in Denver and I was there, I was just like, this guy is torching a secondary that's supposed to be very, very good. Now through the first two games, we haven't really seen it plays women at that level, but he was really the
dominant player in those two games. And I love that we bring up Cooper Cup repeatedly because that's what I love about Team Steve is this guy drops in the draft due to concussion due to speed. He was like a four to five guy. You know who else was a speed guy that dropped. A guy that dropped because of his speed, Cooper Cup. And this is a team that has not really been focused on the speed aspect of it. It's understanding defenses, understanding space, understanding ways to
get open. And this is just a great example, just like Cooper Cup to go out there and be a dominant player when the whole league apparently is based off of speed.
JP he's got football speed because they were using him on jet sweeps and things like.
That as well. They were getting the ball in his hands, speaking of speed.
This edition of the NFL Report, it flew by j Peb. You want to thank Sarah Watash and Jeffshediah NFL dot com. Slash first read for more on Jeff and We'll be back on Thursday. Also listen to the podcast