And now Move the Sticks with Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks. All right, friends, we're back with another episode of Move the Sticks. DJ is still cozied up in his bed following a long, I mean long.
Trip back to the West Coast from Phoenix.
I mean, my goodness, Bucky, can you imagine how hard that travel must have been for him to not be here at this show, you know.
D I mean, everybody can say I can't bounce back.
Didn't have many guys that can play back to backs evidently, and so DJ.
Hey had a long night, work long? Did that answer the bill? Did that answer the bill this morning? And say hey, we will get up but that's okay, like some guys.
Look, but basically all we could say is, you know, down in San Diego, it's apparently not Grit week. It is apparently not grit week in the Jeremiah household. And that's okay. That's okay, djail back, Grant Thos, Bucky Brooks here with you after a Monday night football double header.
Fact you're watching.
The Manning cast even got a little Scott Hansen from Red Zone in on the Manning cast there, which was kind of fun to see Scott give his little red zone twist with the red alerts there as both the games were going on a lot of fun, and that's where we're going to begin. It is time for the lead block presented by T Mobile for Business. Football needs a network willing to go the extra yard, and so do you so go further with T Mobile for Business.
All Right, we got to start with you know, look a game I think we thought was kind of the Marquee matchup, one of the Marquie matchups really of the week, and it was the Baltimore Ravens and the Tampa bay Bucks. But boy, oh boy, the Ravens are a wagon. I mean, Lamar Jackson, five Tuddies. We got Derrek Henry going over a buck sixty on the ground, Bucky. They had five five, almost five hundred yards of total offense in like fifty plays.
Look, I'm trying not to be a prisoner of the moment, but right, I'll look, this is about as good as we've seen this offense looks. And the thing is they're doing it differently, but they're still the same. Meaning from a cultural standpoint, they still want to be a physical, smash mob team. They still want to run the football, but they're just doing it in such a different style
than they did it. I would say in Greg romans heyday, with Lamar Jackson playing at an MVP level, then not as much zone read, but just a very creative and dynamic running game. But I tweeted this in the middle of the game. I don't know if there's a more perfect marriage than Derrick Henry joining the Baltimore Ravens to play the role that he's playing within the scheme that he's playing again for the team, and the culture that he's also participating in the rest of the league.
Let that happen.
But the Baltimore Ravens are certainly the biggest beneficiaries of a two time rushing champion joining their squad while Steel playing I guess in his.
Prime, I mean, my goodness, eleven yards of pop.
Obviously the eighty one yard run had a lot to do with it, but still fifteen carries, buck sixty nine on the ground, Lamar just Lamar had as many touchdown passes as he did incompletions in the game.
That was fine. And you know what's kind of interesting. I think, you know, we.
Talked a lot about you know, Za Flowers last year, right, Mark Andrews, even though Mark Andrews you know, had a very quiet, you know, first quarter of the season, really started to come on the last couple of weeks. Two touchdowns in this last game, Justice Hill is I think a bigger piece of the attack now that Derrick Henry is there in the backfield. And then look like Rashad Bateman has been like the forgotten man on this offense.
Let's not forget he was a first round draft pick for this team, and here he goes for four and a touchdown, a fifty nine yarder like this, This Ravens offense kind of feels like in a different way, but Bucky, like, stop me if I'm wrong here. It kind of feels like the Lions in that they have so many different ways that they can beat you.
Wide outs, running backs, the whole thing.
They are really the complete package on offense and they're doing it and I would say a very creative but an understated way. Right, Like everyone gets touches, everyone is getting the ball. It's not one person dominating all of the action. They just find a way to keep all their playmakers engaged and involved, and it makes it very
difficult for the defense. To deal with, because when you start out, you have to have a plan for dealing with Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson in every combination of option plays, bootleg plays, whatever it is that they want to do to make you defend both, it starts there, and then they have the right pieces around them with the two tight ends, you got to play makers. They Flowers, the emergence of Raja Bateman as a dependable high end receiver.
I mean, they throw a lot at you, but I think they're going to have to continue to play like this and to their defense and get back to playing the style of the ball that we used to see him from them. But offensively, they're as good as it gets in the national football team.
And it's so kind of interesting to watch this thing with the bus. I mean, they're up ten to nothing into the first quarter. You know at home, you're like, all right, all right, like them showing up, jumping them right, Yeah, you know, Mike Evans catches the twenty five yard tuddy and then the Ravens score thirty four unanswered points in about twenty minutes a game time.
Like one o'clock.
I mean, it was just an absolute assault at that point with with with the rains and then like in the fourth quarter, like give it to the box. I mean they kept kind of comming, they kept comming at them. But this this was not as close as the ten point margin would would lead you to believe. I feel like in this game.
Yeah, and you know the Bucks give them credit for fighting back at the end, ye kind of getting into the mix.
But it was a very costly Uh oh, tim boy.
That can call the game because not only do you lose Mike Evans, but then at the end of the game, I mean you talk about like the waning moments of the contest.
Forty seconds you lose Chris Godwin.
And the bad thing about it, like there is I mean, people are going to ty bowles for Wise in the game and those things. But you have to remember only fifty three man roster. Mike Evan goes down, so you don't know how many wide receivers you have activated. Godwin is up and you look, it's the nightmare scenario for every here at coach is to have someone get hurt in garbage time. So unfortunately, Chris Godwin suffers a look what appears to be a very catastrophic injury just located
ankle and just all bad man. It's just look, your heart goes out for Chris Godwin. You kind of feel bad for Todd Bowles for being in that situation. And look, I just wanted a team that was well positioned to be a playoff team to maybe win the division.
Where did they go from here?
Without like I would say, one receiver one beat available while receiver one A is sitting on the sideline nurse in a hamstring.
Yeah, you know, And I think I'll get to that in a second. It's it is a tough one for Chris Godwin, right, who may have now played his last game as a Tampa Bay buccaneer, which which makes it all the more difficult because he's got a void. Uh. He essentially becomes an unrestricted free agent after the season, and you know, he's had a he's had a season ning injury before, right, and and come back for it,
come back strong. And you know, you could see him mouthing on the cart as he's going off to the trainer in the back. He's like, Okay, back to work now, and that's you know, as he's getting carted off the field, I just what a great dude, What a great, you know receiver he has been for this franchise. If that is in fact the end, he has I mean, made an immeasurable impact on that team in the years that he has been there. I hope it's not hope he gets to run it back again, just kind of like
Mike Evans did. And now you know, who knows what Mike Evans hamstring injury. They can get an mr to kind of determine what's going on there and how long he's going to be out. But here's the thing that keeps the Bucks afloat the NFC South. Oh yeah, I mean there's nobody running away with this division. I mean you essentially count the Panthers out at this point, the Saints, I mean, who knows what's going on there?
In a five game losing streak, and you know it's the.
Bucks and the Falcons, and the Falcons just lost to Seattle at home, and now it's like, okay, well, you know the Bucks are four and three, like it's you know, it's not the end of the world, and you've got to find a way to kind of set aside the emotion of losing two bona fide leaders of your team one perhaps for the season, the other for maybe a couple of weeks and figure out a way to manufacture victories and stay afloat here.
Yeah.
Man, it is so tough to like say, hey, this is how we're going to go about it, this is what we're gonna do. But that's what they have to do. They have to figure out a way to continue to make it happen. And you're right, the NFC South is wide open for them. It's there for them to take it. Defensively, they certainly can make it very messy for everyone. They had a competing whip and namely as the Atlanta Falcons.
It'll be tough. But with the trade deadline coming and a snag a wide receiver, maybe Mike Williams to kind of temporarily fill the void at their wide receiver spot. Do they have enough cap space to be able to do that, But I think they have to at least explore the possibilities of adding a wide receiver that can kind of make them hole while the number one gap, Mike Evans, is on the sideline.
Indeed, so we'll we'll kind of keep an eye on how the Bucks move forward here as they deal with injuries to keep players. I mean, one thing to keep in mind is that they kind of now have like three guys though in the backfield.
Rashad White came on, you know, at a big day through the air.
He caught two touchdowns from Baker Mayfield, I know one of them was late in that kind of you know, that run up. And then Bucky Irving has been really good as a rookie. Sean Tucker, the second year player out of Syracuse, we were already talking about last week. So maybe they can kind of morph a little bit offensively into something, you know, that accentuates the guys that are going to be available for them on the field.
Let's move to the second game here, Buck and the second game, of course, featured DJ's Chargers going.
On the road all the way, I mean all.
The way, all the ways.
Glendale Arizona to be to be accurate there where the Cardinals, you know, came in at three and three. Chargers, you know, came in at three and two and now leave at three and three. After Arizona comes up with kind of a gritty win, seventeen to fifteen win on a last second field goal from Chad Ryland.
It was all field goals for the Chargers.
Cameron Dicker hit five field goals, they could not get the ball in the end zone. In fact, their best player on offense in this on this day was Will Disley eight catches eighty one yards, a guy we don't think about a lot in the past.
Game that way, Buck.
So let's let's first start with the Cardinals and James Connor at a big day, like would you see from that unit and that outfit to get this win?
And the Cardinals continue to be like a team that can surprise, you know, they have these ups and downs where one week they played really well, the next week you just don't know what you're getting. But I give Jonathan Gannon a lot of credit as Calin Murray is rounding in the form and really getting back to the Klin Murray that was offensive Rookie of the Year, a
gut that has played at a Pro Bowl level. This offense can do a few different things, and even though he didn't have a magical performance, it's thread of him being able to do it as a runner and as a thrower that assess up some things. But James Connor having one hundred yard game, being able to average over five yards to carry the physicality and the toughness.
That he brings.
It was just enough for an offense that really couldn't find his sea legs early, but did just enough to win the game in the end of the Fourth War.
Yeah, I think that's a good way to put it.
The ups and downs, Like they got to find a way to kind of flatten out that bell curve because they do the highs and the lows here, and I think that's the sign of a good team is to kind of limit well, certainly to limit the lows. I mean, like you certainly live with the highs, but they need to find a bit more consistency and how they're kind of going about their business in these games. You look at, you know, the numbers, and it's like it wasn't overly
impressive really from anybody mentioned. You know, James Connor had maybe the best individual performance you know, of the day.
In fact, you know, he was.
The guy I think that punched out the football from tier Tart when he had the interception early in the game, Like tier Tart picked off Kyler Murray and then I think it was Connor knocked the ball out. Cardinals recovered, so they avoided having a you know, a turnover there early in the game, and you know they end up getting their first touchdown from Greg Dortch. Again, Marvin Harrison kind of limited in this game. Three catches, twenty one yards,
just didn't have a ton of big time performances. But again credit to them for figuring out a way to get the win. Kyler Murray again with one of those long runs forty four yards for score for the Chargers. I mean, justin Herbert throws for three hundred and forty nine yards that you can't get it into the end zone.
What do you make of that?
Well, I mean some of it is by design in terms of what the Cardinals were doing defensively. I didn't mind conceding, and the fact that you know, it's funny when you look at the stat sheet.
There is not a notable name that has a big day.
So it's kind of by a committee that he gets twenty seven receptions three hundred and forty nine yards.
I mean, that's different.
But what always is kind of the litmus tests or the tailtale for the charge will be the running game. Twenty two carries only fifty nine yards like that, that's not enough to do it any football the way the way that they want to get it done.
That's not going to do it.
Averaging two point seven yards per carry that is not enough. And when you think about how they're trying to do it to grind it out, the longest run was eleven yards. It's hard to win football in the National Football win games in the Nation Football League when you don't have an explosive play on the ground.
It's hard.
And they are not getting the explosive plays. And you know, after you see the success that JK. Dobbins had early, man just botted them up and they made it a very one dimensional game for the Chargers, and it's not the dimension that they want to rely on, which is a passing game.
Yeah, and I mean I'm looking at this, you know now, only one trip to the red zone, right, only one trip on five scoring possessions, and that one ended at the Arizona ten yard line. The other possessions end at the Arizona forty four, the forty one, the thirty two, the Arizona forty six, the Arizona twenty nine, the Arizona twenty two. Like they really that Cardinals defense, you know, perhaps by design, as you're talking about, really kind of stiffened up when they got a little bit, you know,
closer into their own ends. So see if the Chargers can figure out a way to kind of punch through, you know, that ceiling when they get in close and have an opportunity to put a put the football on the paint, can't settle for three in those situations. The Chargers finish six of fourteen on third down, and that's again, that's not quite winning football. I'd like to see that now. I mean, that's it's almost fifty percent, I guess. I mean you could have worse, certainly. I mean, the Cardinals
only converted two third downs in this game. It's still in the winnings, So I mean sometimes it's just kind of, you know, it's it's like who can make a play for us in a in a big spot.
And the Chargers just didn't seem to have it in that one. Okay.
So everybody is back in next week, so a chance for both the Chargers and the Bucks to recover as they go into Week eight in the NFL. For the Chargers, it's going to be a matchup at home against the two and five Saints, and then for the Bucks they'll
try to get back on track. Is a big one against the Falcons next week, and they'll get the They'll get the Falcons in Tampa at home, and then for the winners, the Ravens are traveling a ball to Cleveland to battle the Browns, and then for the Cardinals, they'll head down to Miami to take on the Dolphins. Okay, so that right there is a rap for the lead
block presented by T Mobile for Business. Football needs a network willing to go the extra yard, and so do you, so go further with T Mobile for Business.
All right, we're.
Gonna take a quick break and when we come back, it's time for the Week seven Rookie Draft recap and the Week eight actual draft that's next.
Well, it's good. It's a good thing.
I'm wearing uh, wearing my Hoosiers gear here because we are winning in that regard. Did not win in the rookie draft. Uh this week, Bucko used to dominate.
Dominate. You went Drake May and dominated.
I'm gonna gets myself that's hard.
Well, you had one on both sides, right you You won with both Drake May and Brian Thomas Junior. So you got three points there. Uh, and then you probably would have won if we had just chosen running backs, because Bucky Irving ends up with sixteen Fantasy points. But I end up winning that round because I had brought Bowers end up scoring nineteen, so he gave me three points. DJ remember had the first pick. It took Jade and Daniels unfortunately got injured.
Part of the game. Injuries part of the game week to week for Jayden Daniels.
Hope he is back. So that didn't work out. He got one point or what do we give him a point for.
Participation? Kind of like it?
I guess I guess we did, yeah, because he give him looking at him as as third in everything, So that's that's the way it works. Right now, Bucky's got the lead thirty two overall points. DJ and I are tied for second at twenty or tied for last. However you want to look at it with twenty six points after week seven, so Nebil is going to fearlessly make picks for DJ here and I am going to have the second pick. You're going to have the first pick Bucky.
So it's going to go Bucky me and then DJ will go back to back with no Bill picking our race producer in his stead.
All right, no buys this week, Bucky.
Only injury that we're dealing with is Jaden Daniels, which kind of does throw a wrench in a little bit of our draft strategy.
Here. Where are you going with the first pick?
You know, Red, this is This is tough, right, because normally you always want to go chalk when you have the number one overall pick. Uh.
The easy pick would be to.
Say, hey man, I'm gonna take Kaya Williams. I know it's a battle between potential rookies with Jayden Daniels, but then I'm looking at bo Nick's taking on the Carolina Panthers, and I'm just looking at how everyone has had like a.
Lot of fun, and there's a part of me that is pulled in that direction. But I don't want to get too cheous. I'm gonna take Kaya Williams. But it was a thought. I was thinking about it.
But just okay, so you can do it, all right.
Hopefully we get that rookie versus rookie matchup at quarterback with Kayla and the Bears going to landover Maryland to battle what we hope is Jayden Daniels and the Commanders but I can't in good faith make that selection, or I suppose I could. I suppose I could, although, like what if he gets hit again and he goes he has to go out, you know, because maybe I could sub one out if Jayden does, in fact play, I don't know.
I don't know if I want to do that. I don't know if I want to do that right now.
So what I'm gonna do, uh in this case is I'm gonna look at the fact.
Oh gosh, I got the Jags playing the Packers this week, stay away from.
Brian Thomas Junior. I got the Giants playing this elite neighbors playing the Steelers this week.
That's not great.
I think what I'm gonna do is, I'm gonna take the safest pick right now. Oh man, we got brock Bauers playing the Chiefs.
Oh, these are tough matchups here, guys.
Goodness gracious, that's what it should be.
It should be very tough, it be challenging.
Yeah, I suppose it good.
Okay, So with that in mind, I'm gonna go back and take Gosh, I'm gonna take I'm gonna take Melik Neighbors. I just I feel like there's gonna be something there, and uh give me Melik Neighbors to get back on track here with the Giants.
So that means DJ's up with two picks. Who you got Nobil? All right?
Nobile is gonna take brock Bowers with one. I just think if you're the if you're the Chiefs, like, that's all you're That's all you're scared of is brock Powers. And he's gonna go BETJ. So he's gonna go brocking BETJ two favorite on the mo.
Yeah, whoa, what what? What? What are we doing? BTJ is supposed to be my guy?
No, no, no, you're not gonna get it. You're not gonna get it, all right. So I think what I'm gonna do here is probably take a look at the quarterback. So I've got the choice. I've got Drake May against the Jets. Matchups are not not great. Or bow Nicks against the Pants. Give me bo Nix against the Panthers. Baby, let me have it.
Give me Bo Nicks.
I gave you, I gave you. I gave you that pick.
I mean, yeah, you did, like you just I mean, I just get points for that if it if it works.
Out, yeah, yeah, maybe you can get an agent fee on that one.
All right, So you got back to backers to close it out here, Buck, So you've got your quarterback, you need two skill position players.
Sixth and seventh pick of this draft.
Right now, I'm I'm really at a loss because you guys took my security blanket.
Yeah, what are you gonna do? I mean, let's just let's take a look here.
Let's well, I'm thinking, I'm thinking, I'm thinking the forty nine ers, and I'm thinking Ricky pearsall wow, I'm thinking pretty richy is because I got Deebo Samuel who doesn't feel well. I have Brandon Nyuk whiz out. I have John Jennings who's unavailable.
Yeah, we okay, I.
Gotta throw it to somebody. Pearsol, come on down.
We got to figure out a way to get him in.
We're just gonna let's go slick, Rick, come on, pay me.
So we got we got Pierce, we got Pearceal on deck, and now you know I couldn't get Oh you know what, I could get him. I'm gonna do it two for one. I'm gonna do Caleb Williams and Roma Doomsday. Oh I'm gonna say that he targets the gup early and often and somehow they find a way to get into the pay.
Interesting, that's interesting.
I don't really have a choice. I mean, he guys out there. Not a lot of Ricky's out there putting up big numbers.
No, no, there isn't.
And then Marma Harrison Junior with the concussion. I don't know when he's gonna be available.
Well, I mean like he was.
You know, he's back this week, but it just didn't feel like he was all the way back. You know, he's healthy, but like involved in the offense, it just didn't feel totally right there. And so what I'm gonna do then is.
Oh and a tough week for the rookies.
Yeah, you know what I'm thinking here is I'm gonna go back to the well with Bucky Irving. So you give me Bucky Irving here to continue to be a bigger piece of the Bucks offense. Bucky Irving and the Bucks taking on the Falcons in a big game. Oh no, Bill is doing the is doing the kind of the slick move here. He's gonna say, I'm gonna take Jaydon Daniels for DJ and if he doesn't.
No, no, no, no, no, you gotta make it big.
You don't get you don't get to have option one to.
Come on, Yeah, what are we doing? It is tough. It is tough, all right.
I think what we're gonna do is is we're gonna say we're gonna give DJ Drake May. We're just gonna make an executive decision here and you're gonna yeah, that's you can't you can't do that with a number one pick. Okay, so you're gonna go, DJ gets Drake May, mark it down. That's where that's where we're at with this one. I appreciate your effort on that one to Bil and I know DJ would have appreciated it too. But we're gonna make the executive decision because he decided not to show up today.
Okay, that's where wrapping no stick and lobster there, it is no surf and turf today. All right. That's good.
Do it for us here on this episode of Move the Sticks. But of course back with each and every day this week. So for Bucky Brooks, I'm reet Lewis and the cozily sleeping Daniel Jeremiah will be back later this week as well, and we'll see you down a road,