The Dave Pasch Podcast - Charles Davis

and always good to catch up with him. One of the friendliest people in our business, so good at what he does, whether it was calling college games for all those years at Fox, calling NFL at Fox, are now at CBS. With his broadcast partner Ian Eagle, We'll talk Cardinals, We'll talk NFC West, We'll talk about other teams that maybe under the radar that Charles has his ion potentially to make the Super Bowl. So the Cardinals are as good as shape as anyone. To me, it all comes

down to one thing. Kyler Murray, Cliff Kingsberry, both of them to me, have to find a way to bring the rest of tea the law that the second half of the season is exciting and winning as the first half We are presented by BETMGM, the official sports betting partner of the Arizona Cardinals, and by Hila River Hotels and Casinos. Get ready for a football season like never before with BETMGM, an official partner of the Arizona Cardinals.

Sign up today using code cards one thousand and get your first bet risk free up to one thousand dollars. Visit betmgm dot comfer terms and conditions twenty one and over Arizona only. Please gamble responsibly. Gambling problem called one eight hundred. Next step. Now time to hear from one of the top analysts in the sport, CBS's Charles Davis. First off, Charles, we are in a business where there

are a lot of egos. Like I've had other former coaches and former players coming into our business and say, Man, there are more egos in this business than they weren't football or basketball. You're one guy that has no ego and you work with Iron Ego on CBS. And I've known Iron for thirty years. He was a big help to me when I was coming out of college. Still is a big help to me. Yeah. But the two of you guys are two of the nicest guys in this business. So you've been working together for a couple

of years. Do you ever argue? Do you agree on everything? You guys must be the best announced team to be around. Oh, you're awfully kime first and foremost, Dave. That's very nice of you to say. It's greatly appreciated. Second, anyone who really knows me knows I do have an ego, and

plenty of it. Okay. I mean, let's face it, if we're in this business, every one of us does to some extent because we know what it's like and the willingness to put yourself out there and the whole thing and to believe that, Yeah, what I'm doing is pretty darn good. Yeah, we all have it. My thing, I think is learning along the way and coming up the way that I've had to come up. I have more to prove all the time, Dave. So I'm not one that has a resume that just sings out at you.

You know, I wasn't an All American, I wasn't an All pro I wasn't a Coach of the Year. I wasn't all those things. So I have to keep working to prove. So no no way, shape or form can I jump into the front of the line and go look at me and do jazz hands. It just doesn't work that way. He's unbelievable, isn't he. I mean, as you mentioned, he helped you, he helps me all the time.

There's things we disagree about, but I don't I'd be stunned to find out if we had this question ten years down the road, that he and I ever had cross words. I mean, it's just he's so good and so brilliant and so smart. I'm very, very happy to follow his lead, and at the same time, when I have something to offer, he considers it, you know. I mean, he's everything is legit, and if we decide not to

do something, there's always a valid reason for it. So I don't spend any time going I can't believe he didn't want to do my idea. I mean, every idea I have isn't brilliant. I like to thank you this, but you mentioned I mean, you remind me in some ways of Kirk Herbstreet, who you know, didn't have this tremendous resume in terms of being a player that you know won multiple national championships or an All American or a pro bowler, yet here the two of you guys

are among the top analysts in the world. And take me through because you did such a great job at Fox for so long, whether it was with Gus Johnson or Kevin Burkhardt, and then you get the number two gig at CBS, which includes a playoff game. Take me through the decision Charles to leave Fox where you'd been for a long time and go to CBS. Well, you know that again, I really really appreciate that. And we

know how you know terriffic Kirk is. I mean, look at him east top of the food chain in terms of, you know, the respect, the analysis. Plus he's an incredible worker. I mean, how many jobs does that man have? I mean, just waking up in the morning, I'm tired of thinking about what kirk schedule is going to be this fall, and that he's edited Amazon and everything else. And you know, I always always would tease it before. Now we made that similar resumes if you know what one for you

hear you played quarterback at Ohio State. Okay, at the end of the day, that does not hurt. But when you go behind things, as you've alluded to, and I'll stop here on Kirk after this and move on. He had to wait his turn there, right, If I remember correctly, I think he was a fifth year, first year starter and captain to the team. So the respect level was there because he waited his turn in terms of hey, i went out the starter, but I'm still a great

practice player, I'm still a great teammate. I'm still ready if they need me. And then when it was his turn, he produced in a big way. But think about nowadays, Dave, and again, I'm not lasting anyone because when I was a freshman at Tennessee, I was very unhappy my first investor. I thought about transferring too. So I get it when people want to move if. I don't think there's any denying that the movement now is well beyond anything we've

seen before. Kirch in this day and age may he may not have stated how he might have found another place, but he did find this his niche there, but he understands what the grind is. He understands the effort you have to put in. He also understands the word patience. So I've been fortunate. I've sit next to some really great people. As you've mentioned, you know from from from Dick Stockton helping room me Tom Brennaman. Before that you mentioned Kevin Now of course the Iron I hope. I'm

not leaving any one out. I will say this, Kenny Albert, who would jump in during baseball season, brilliant guy. I've been lucky, you know, Sam Rosen, all those things kicking in. I'm fortunate. Here's the deal. My time there between college football and NFL football. At a certain point it gat to where I sit, got to you know, there there was conversation that I wasn't quote unquote privy too, but I had understood, hey, you know, somebody else may be

coming in. This may be happening. But as I said then, it made sense because my contract was coming up. CBS was interested in me, and as I tell everybody, without diving too deep at all, that it just made sense for me to be where I am now, which is a CPS and I consider myself grateful that they would want me to join their team. Well, you and I are great together, and you guys are going to be

a great team for a long time. You called the game Sunday for CBS, the Steelers game, but then on Saturday, prior to that, you did our game against the Titans, for a yeah, it was. It was great catching up man. So it's in a way kind of a difficult question to ask for your thoughts on the Cardinals because nobody played. But what did you think based on what you saw? Well, it's it's you're right. I mean, if we're taking off the snapshot of what we saw, you and I can

neither one of us could venture anything. And you're closer to the team than I am. Right. I mean around the league, if you ask teams, ask any anyone who watches their team, Hey, which take th team? I don't know. None of the guys play. I mean Pittsburgh against Detroit played guys a lot longer in Game three than than I would have expected. Nag Harris, there's running back played the entire first half. I think the whole entire starting offense played the first half. T J. Watt played the

first half. I mean, it was you're iway sitting there going wow, this is not normal in this day and age. But that's how the Steelers do it. And I'd say Mike thomas track record is pretty good on it. For the Cardinals, I had to take them an aggregate, Dave, and this is a good football team. We know it's a good football team. They were in the playoffs last year. Did they lose anything anyone? You know that makes the appreciable difference. Well, you're always wondering if this guy's gone,

will not change things with that guy. But I feel like they have such a good core roster and she's not worried as much about that other people up to plug in play. That happens everywhere around the league. So the Cardinals are as good as shape as anyone. To me, it all comes down to one thing, Kyler Murray Cliff Kingsbury that can them. Both of them to me, have to find a way to a long bring the rest of the team a law that the second half of the season is exciting and winning as the first half.

And that may sound trite, but I don't know that there's anything else left for this Cardinals team to prove they're good. They wouldn't the playoffs last year day and you watch them, please tell me if I'm wrong. But the previous two seasons, there were opportunities to make the playoffs in those seasons, but they couldn't close it the on the second half of the year. This past year they sprinted out so far ahead that when they did hit bumps in the second half year, they could weather them.

But they weren't good going into the playoffs, and then they didn't well in the playoffs. And look, Cliff Kingsbury has exceeded what many would have thought when he was named head coach. Why well, look at the resume coming in Texas Tech. Losing record overall second half of any season in Texas Tech, never a winning record. It was gonna be the offin's coordinate at USC all of sudden

head coaching have what just happened here? But he's proven his metal in terms of adapting, putting together a heck of a product, getting better every year on the field, and then getting to the playoffs last year. But that does go with him. The second part is Kylin Murray. We went through the entire offseason with the Kylin Murray

drama of this is that and everything. But as he talented beyond belief, there's times I have to believe, Dave, when you're watching pleasures like did I just describe that? Because when we call games, I mean I am called the Hill Murray. I mean, so we've seen it. But now is he that guy going to move this team ahead and make that type of progress that they have to have in order to go deeper into the playoffs to be a factor, because it's all on him now.

Every move has made in the offseason, every move has made in the preseason, in my mind, has been a reflection of management saying, give Kyler what he wants or what we believe he needs to make us better. That's my own estimation of it. I want to get back to Kyler, but you mentioned Cliff, and I've had to remind people that are cardinal fans of this. Often in today's NFL head coaching hires are as much about ability to develop and get the most out of the quarterback

position as we've ever seen it. It's not necessarily about being CEO managing the whole organization. It's about that relationship with the quarterback. And you think about who Cliff worked with, and the problem is, other than Mike Evans, he didn't have a lot to work with for his quarterbacks, but he had case Keenum Baker Mayfield, Patrick Mahomes, Johnny Manziel the year he won the Heisman, and now La Murray. And he deserves credit for helping all of those guys

along the way. I'm curious if have you noticed any changes in the way Cliff has approached things, because we have here in terms of I think the biggest thing that stands out to me, obviously I'm close to it, so we see it every day is I think Cliff's he's such a humble guy and just a good dude that I think initially he didn't want to step on anybody's toes. He heard exactly what you were talking about, people saying, oh, why does he have this job? So I think he wanted to make sure that he didn't

step on anybody's toes. And now that he's more comfortable, he's one, he has proven himself at this level. I think we're seeing more of who Cliff really is. He's a lot more comfortable with the media. We saw an edge last year with officials. I think that's really who Cliff is. So I'm curious if you've seen other things or heard other things about how he's grown and changed

over the last few years. Dave, I think that's a great synopsis on it on Cliff, because the back round on and you know, some people may not be aware of Cliff comes out of this like so many others.

He's the son of a coach too, raised in the game, cerebral quarterback who produced at a big time level of college football, had the cup of coffee in the NFL, was never a threat to be a starter, but a guy that you liked having on the roster was going to know your playbook, was gonna work hard, all those things. So he didn't just take in quarterback play along the way he took in coaching one oh one, relationships, all

of that. So go back, and I agree with your point of getting the job hearing oh my god, who hired? What are you kidding me? And feeling it from the peers and that are in the business. You and I understand that, Dave, because when we're getting it, if we get a certain job, we may get congratulations, not all of them our heartfelt now, because that's just the way we are. Because some people are like, how do you

get that job? Right now? The truth of the matter is you and I both privately have said the same things ourselves, how big get that job? And that's just the way. No, no, never, never, never never, Well, okay, let me but what the funny part is, you know, Clifford had to go through that, so I think you're spot on with that one. But now he's been through the fire, he's done these things, and I think that and what I've heard is more time with other positions,

even though he's still running the offense. More time with those other coaches. In the beginning, hey, I'm counting on you to like you be the CEO of defense or whatever, that sort of a deal. Still that's there, But now I don't think I don't think he's shy about offering an opinion about what he's seeing, how it's being coached, what's going on out there, And people keep forgetting just because you coach one side of the ball more exclusively than the other doesn't mean you don't know what's going

on on the other side. In fact, your experiences on that side of the ball can help you and help your other side of the ball get better. If you're a defensive coach, you're going to sit with your offense Cordner and tell him, Hey, this is what i'm seeing from your crew, and this is how I would stop you.

This is what I want to do. If you're an offensive coach going to the d coordinay, Hey, these types of things that I'm running or I'm seeing, or what I suspect they're going to do with you, And this is how I think they're going to attack you use

those eyes to help that go on. And so I think he's gotten to that stage, and I think it burns him to know that that records out there the second half of a year and trying to figure it out to where they find where they finished strong and they got into the playoffs and have an opportunity to win some playoff teams and go deeper. That's the next goal for him, and he's a competitor throwing through. He's not taking that lightly, and I think he's going to

try and attack that as well. And obviously the team has to produce. But Dave, imagine if if that's what you're hearing everywhere you go, and the problem is, it isn't what'sit deal. This isn't one where we're just talking about it. We can point to actual numbers and say, okay, here they are. How do you fix that? You've known Charles and covered Kyler Murray going back to even when he was at Texas A and M before he went to Oklahoma and won the Heisman Trophy and then was

the number one overall pick in the draft. You know the family he played against his dad. I think you guys were in college at the same time play against him, but we were the same time frame. And this is how old I am. I called a bunch of Cliffs games at College of Texas Tech, So I'm an old dude. You've been doing this a long time and at a high level. So, but what's your assessment of Kyler's ceiling Because you talked about it and you witnessed the game

against Buffalo a couple of years ago. I mean, he can he can do that now, I mean the crazy, the unimaginable, he can do that. The question ever on everybody's mind here is, you know, can he do it consistently? Can he deliver not just in one big game, but in a series of big games to get you to a championship. Look, you said something that I've really latched onto, and you talked about how Cliff has coached all these

quarterbacks and helped make them better. And what I always talk about is to me, and you call a lot of college football too, So please tell me if you sink something different. I don't believe the game of football is as quarterback centric as it is right now, like it's never been this quarterback centric. I grew up in an era where you could actually play around your quarterback by how the game was played. If you had that,

that that horrible expression of game manager. See to me, a game manager is Tom Brady, is Peyton Manning, It's it's Drew Prize, it's you know, Patrick Walls. The guys at the top of the food chain manage the game better than anyone. But I know the way that we use it popularly as game managers. Guy who is not quite the guy that you point to hopefully won't get you, be hopefull he'll make the right decisions. All of that. I could open era when you could do that with

your quarterback and still win championships. I don't think you can do that now. I think your quarterback has to be that person everything runs through. You're too big, the the the Baltimore Ravens defense that carried him to a Super Bowl, and everyone talks about that. No. My reminder is Dave Trent Dilfer was a first round pickular quarterback, right, so I know you're ripping him, But at the same time, It's not like he didn't have talent. Was it a

weird year? Yeah, they went to the entire bunth of October Then's quote off as a touchdown and won a Super Bowl. So yes, that defense was predominant. But there's less and less where one side of the ball, meaning defense in art this case carries you that far. At some point your quarterbacks gotta be able to make plays. To me, there is no ceiling with Kyler Murray, now that we've broken down the barrier about height and people

so concerned. This kid never was Paul Bunyan. He's always played, having to learn how to do that and to go undefeated in high school, to go through some bumps in college and come out the other side. You know, he wasn't total silver spoon Texas A and M. It didn't go so great as verse year. He and Kyle Allen both transferred out. Then he goes and get shit behind the Heisman Trophy winner in Mayfield longer than he thought.

Still managed to hang in there, win the Heisman. This posun picking baseball, Dave, I don't think there's a ceiling. I think there's nothing he can't do. He can be that exciting the consistency is going to be the word meaning to me down the stretch, bigger games, and can he find ways to win when he doesn't have his best stuff. It's like a great pitcher, you know, he used to used to get in fifteen ten, you know, ten twelve strikeouts the game. Now he doesn't have that.

But can he pitch his way and keep his team in it? And all of a sudden go strikeouts turned into the ground balls. Okay, he doesn't have his best stuff. Instead of winning, you know, two to one, he finds a way to hold him the four runs. His team wins by four. Those are the times when you find out about a quarterback. When you're seventeen to thirty eight going into the fourth quarter and somehow in the last drive you fashion it together and go six verse seven

and stick it in the end zone. That's when found a quarterback. Not to days you're twenty eight at thirty one, that's not when you find out who you are. And those are the things that we're looking for. I think from a Kyler Murray was more than capable of doing everything I mentioned and ends up and I couldn't agree with you more about what you said about and the Cardinals no that that's why they gave Kyle to the contract. The hope is that it works out great, but if

it doesn't, Okay, you had to. You had to. You're in a position. We absolutely had to do that. And definitely you know, the last two guests we had on this podcast, we had Jason Light the Buccaneers GM think how his life is different with Tom Brady coming back as opposed to not And Dabo Sweeney, who I just had on the other day. You know, Clemson and made the college football playoffs six straight years. They missed it last year. Well, why well, the quarterback didn't play well.

And San Francisco clearly Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch feel, Okay, Jimmy Gee, We've got a great defense, We've got Deebo Samuel who can do everything, but Jimmy just can't get us to that next level. They think Trey Lance Ken, how much you've seen if Trey Lance I don't know if you had San Francisco at all last year, but do you think do you think Trey Lance in the forty nine ers are a contender in the NFC West and beyond. I think that they are. I did a lot of work on him Dave prior to the draft.

I've not had him as a professional yet, but I think that they are and should be because of what we talked about a little bit, meaning that defense is so good you don't want to waste it. And it's a calculated gamble. Jimmy G's been to an NFC Championship game and a Super Bowl. So if you're going to turn your back on a guy who's gotten that far, you got to have conviction that that did it's not going to get better. And that's why Lance became the guy.

So you're saying, now, okay, we're bringing in the guy whos gonna take us farther calculated gamble. The Rams did that with Jared Goff, who had taken them to a Super Bowl or have been a part of a Super Bowl team. How for the Rams fans want to talk about it. He was the quarterback and if they get a catch in the end zone in the Super Bowl game, the outcome might be different too. But they decided that

he was only going to take them so far. Calculated gamble and if boy, it paid off, Matthew Stafford, they get it. They want it. Class guitar dropped an interception. We might have a different script going how big, but the bottom line is it gets done. So now everybody's like, Okay, maybe I'm bolder. Now I go for it. Lance's skills are phenomenal. Oh, Dave, I don't know if you've seen him in person. Yes, he played in one of the games last year against the Cardinals. He played instead of

Jimmy g Yeah, how gorgeous you to look at? Oh my goodness, right, but remember one season at the one double a level, one game the next year, and then essentially not much play since then. So you're counting on him making a big leap in a short amount of time, which is essentially kind of his rookie season playing hurt last year. But I do think that they feel like

they can play around it a little bit. Kyle is not averse to running the football, and they run it quite well and let him get his sea legs and then start expanding his plate as they go along. It won't be easy, but they're taking that calculated gamble that he can get them over the top when it comes time, that he'll make those plays. And maybe they didn't get before from Jimmy Garoppolo. It's an interesting fix, an interesting

situation in a day. You're good enough to get to a Super Bowl, almost won it, You're good enough get to an NFC championship game, almost got to another super Bowl. That's not good enough, and they move on. And we've seen people do this throughout time, college programs that aren't great, but somehow this coach is winning eight or nine a year and they go, you know, we can win more than eight or nine a year, and they fire that coach and the next coach doesn't come close to win

an eight or nine. So it's a calculated gamble. It's so hard to repeat too now in the NFL because the quarterbacks, there's so many great quarterbacks spread throughout the league. And you know Matthew Stafford, who knows with the elbow situation, if he's going to be one hundred percent at the beginning of the year or maybe even throughout the year. And the Rams, like you know, it came down to the last game of the season. The Cardinals win that

game at home, the Rams are on the road. Maybe they still make the Super Bowl and win it, but it would have been a different path in terms of locations of their games. It wasn't like they were a great team all year. They got hot in the playoffs. Do you see them legitimately being in the conversation in the end to repeat this year? I do, And the

reason is, and you framed it perfectly. I'm going with Okay, let's say Matthew Stafford is more than healthy enough somehow somewhere right they were past the elbow or is not going to hinder him and he can play and all that, I think they are. There's a confidence that goes with doing what they did last year. There is a you saw how guys and how they keep filling in different people on the roster. We know about the f those

picks T shirt. The unwritten part of it is, yeah, those I you did make those pretty darn good and accounting on some of those guys to be even better this year, like in Ernest Jones at linebacker, Well, I love coming out of South Carolina. Didn't get much burned last year, but he's can be account out to be a frontline guy and I think he can play to that level. So those are the types of things you see them developed well. With the Sean mcvayan crew. He

had a chance to do the introspection. He had a chance to come over to the dark side with us, right Dave big money too, Yep, and he realized that's not who he is. He still burns to be a coach. That speaks well for him. Aaron Donald's talking about for the retiring what have you, Well, it certainly looks like he's still firing. I'm not in favor of anyone swinging helmet than anyone else. Believe me, if there was any

type of action taken, I would be applauding it. I know that they're not, and they have to study that in the future. But I'm feeling about Aaron Donald the essence of wanting to be a great player, which he's always been. I don't think that goes away. And I just think that they still feel like there's more out there. I say, you know, they want to be the next Patriots who that that repeat. People haven't done that in a long time, and I feel like they've got the

firepower to do it. Remember, they didn't get cam Akers back till the end of the year last year, and even then, you know, he had a good game against you guys, But was he one hundred percent truly now, so again you're projecting a little bit like, hey, if we get all this back, we can be right in the mix. And I think so. And is that, as I said, that confidence that goes with it. Cincinnati was ten and seven last year. None of us saw them racing to the super Bowl, but they did. And now

they've got you know, Okay, here we go again. And I'm gonna tell you what the difference is is I see a day between the two of them. They got to the super Bowl. The Rams have been on the scene for a while. This is not new. They'd already been to one super Bowl with Sean mcback, so this isn't new. Being the hunted for Cincinnati. I think you've heard the same thing I've had when you talk with other other franchises. Tell me if this is correct. Hey,

respect the heck adam great run last year. Let's see how they handled now being a marquee team, right, yes, okay, And it's not just being a marquee team where hey, you went to the super Bowl circle on the calendar. Well, one organization pointed out. I said, Okay, if you are a bad team, you play every week at noon or one o'clock, right noon Central one o'clock Eastern, because no one ispecially would be very good. When you are expected to be a good team, your schedule is total flux.

One o'clock this week, Thursday night, Monday night, Sunday night, short week, all of that because the good teams go, oh yeah, by the way, don't feet four twenty five get a lot of those slots too. So now you're getting back later and you're doing things. That's when you find out you're a franchise. It endoors when you can handle back year in and year out. The Rams have been like that, you know, Kansas City has been like that, Tampa's been like that. That's what Cincinnati's gonna face this year.

I'm not saying they're not up for the challenge. They very well could. But that's what people are wondering. Hey, let's check it out and let's see the Cardinals play Kansas City week one. Clearly, yeah, it is a great matchup. Clearly, that game is on CBS. Clearly they're gonna be fired up. Oh yeah, Tony will be all jacked up watching that. They're gonna have a great time with that one. Do you think Kansas City gets back to the top of the Mountain. It just for whatever reason. I know, the

offensive line, you got to look at that. But it just as great as Patrick Mahomes is. He had some some moments that were very unlike him last year in the playoffs. Do you do you see them getting back though to the Super Bowl? I see I'm getting back to being contenders in a big way. I really do, Dave, and that you know the mum stop out with Mahomes. For me, I'm a zero in on one particular one

second half against Cincinnati. I'm staying at home on the couch watching the game, and you know it's easy hindsight twenty twenty, right, So I'm counting on you knowing me that I'm going to tell you something that I would go take a lot detector testock. Watching the second half and a certain point in the second half, I said, oh, this is the first time I've seen Patrick Mahomes play not to lose instead of playing to win. He got tight.

Remember some of those throws. Those are so unlike Patrick Mahomes. I thought, off my coach couch on the couple of us, WHOA what happened there? He wanted to be so careful and so precise with the ball as to not make a mistake that it hindered him, it hindered their offense, and all of a sudden, offense throttled down and here came to Cincinnati. And the beauty is he actually has said that himself. I thought with a headline where he said, I'm the one who did it. He took it all

on his own shoulders. I'm the one who throttled us down. I didn't make throws, I didn't stay free wheeling. That doesn't mean reckless, but he said I didn't take the shot that should have taken that we're there. I was trying to make the safe play, and I heard our team. How about that for mature. They also have trusted him like you have trust like the league trusted a Brady,

like the league has trusted Aaron Rodgers. And might say the league the Packers Tampa Bay before that New England where they didn't spend a lot of draft capital on the guys out of the perimeter to do they Green Bay still has a drafted in the first round receivers in two thousand and two. They count on that quarterback bringing those guys along. That's what Kansas City told Patrick Mahomes this offseason and canceled some OTAs and mini camps and said, oh, Patrick's got the guys. Is this summer

with him, He'll take care of that. An inordinate amount of trust in a youngster, But I think it's trust well placed. I think that they have a good chance to get back there. They built up things on defense. They were hurt a lot on defense to begin last year. It took a while to jail. I think Spags what he does, the Spagnola does a great job on that side of the ball. I think Patrick Mahomes would bring along these guys on offense, but boy would have division

they're in now. This is no longer Kansas City and Chase Denver is going to be better with Russell Wilson. That Herbert and the Chargers should have gotten to the playoffs last year, and the Raiders did get to the playoffs and not. Josh McDaniels is in Downiso, Davante Adams. The AFC West is gonna be a fun one to watch. Last one, Charles, and we'll get you out of here. You mentioned Cincinnati. There were a team that nobody saw making the Super Bowl, and I don't know as good

as Joe Burrow was in college. If anybody saw, especially after that injury, him being this good this quickly. Who are some teams that because in the NFL year to year things change. You've got teams at the beginning of the year you think are going to be Super Bowl contenders that have terrible seasons, and other teams that were bad last year that end up being great. Who are some teams that are under the radar right now that in your mind will be either playoff teams or in

contention at the end of the year. AFC East, I'd go right to Miami. I think Brian Flores included a great job with infrastructure. Mike McDaniel think is going to profit from that. Two of goes into a season not rehabbing but ready to play. You get Tyree Hill and the under understated part of that defense stayed intact, including coaches, and they were good on that side of the ball. So I'd keep a real strong an eye on them.

I think that in the AFC North, if Lamar has helped the all year long, Baltimore was six and two mary and they still missed the playoffs just by one game. Last year. Struggling, they've they've refurbished and replenished. Their draft was terrific. I keep a big eye on Baltimore and the NFC North. If I go over to the NFC, I think Philadelphia's ascending. I think that Nick Siriani is

the head coaches settled in quite well. Was gone from being ridiculed about his Flower analogy, which actually worked quite well with that team to get to a playoffs ahead of schedule. And it may be a referend to mint Jalen Hurts as a quarterback, but boy did they surround him with talent, including a J. Brown coming over from Tennessee. I keep a really good eye on them. I saw the Titans in preseason. I liked that franchise. I think Mike Rabels one top five coaches in the league. This

guy is on point. Everything has instant respect from his team. And let's face it, day we have the twelve and five. Last year, Dave and played ninety one players, the most ever in NFL history, and somehow we're twelve and five. Yes, Internet, gall I'm in the playoffs. That's a good franchise, that's a good team. But those are a few that just catch my eye off the top and I want to just talk to your off and go to a team

by team, but those are some of the ones. And obviously your Cardinals team is always going to be a story. And if you come out of that first one with Kansas City and the home, I mean, Murray kind of outduels the Homes quote unquote, even though it doesn't totally come down to that, you're off and running. But I think the whole league is just waiting for Okay, we want to see the Cardinals November December. That's when they

have That's when they have to really prove themselves. That's when everyone will believe, and I think this team is more than capable of doing it. Charles, this was great. You're one of the best in the biz. I really appreciate the time. Have a great season. Hopefully we'll see at some point, I certainly hope. So you two, Dave, and please be safe out there to travel. You do you know to put in the excellent work that you do.

My goodness, I'm always like David's where and then He's where each and every week you in your travel, but make sure you tell all your teams and your squads in your group that you work with. Hello, for me. You got some really neat people that are around you, but you are simply one of the best, not to mention, nicer than me and I combine, all right, Charles, I appreciate it. Man, have a good one. You're the best day. Take care of Charles never shy to tell you what

he really thinks. And he's bush on the Cardinals, of course, like everybody, waiting to see if they can finish what they started. They haven't done that the last two years. But he's very confident in Kyler Murray and Cliff Kingsbury is a duo being in the playoff picture. But Charles is also high on the other teams in the nf West.

Despite the quarterback change in San Francisco and some questions about the health of Matthew Stafford and the difficulty of trying to repeat this day and age as a Super Bowl champion, Charles is still pretty high on the ramp. So it's gonna be a difficult schedule for the Cardinals, starting Week one against the Kansas City Chiefs, a game that will be on CBS. And you heard Charles mentioned that Jim Nanson, Tony Romo, the eighteam for CBS, will

be on that called. Charles will handle the Steelers. He works with the Iron Eagle on the number two CBS broadcast team. He'll be on the Steelers telecast the first two weeks, but hopefully we'll see Charles at some point during the season. We are presented by bet MGM, the official sports betting partner of the Arizona Cardinals, and by Hila River Hotels and Casinos. You can follow us on Twitter at pashpod. Go to your podcast platform and tell

us what you think. I've noticed as I've gone on iTunes where I listen to podcasts, that you have some thoughts on the Day Pash Podcast. We want to hear more. What do you like? What do you not like? Who are some of the guests that you've really enjoyed. Who are some future guests you'd like to see on the Dave Pash Podcast. Please go tell us would you think? Thanks again to CBS is Charles Davis, and thanks to you for listening to another edition of the Dave Pash Podcast.