LISTEN | Jets Game Preview Podcast | Jets at Panthers (S1E1)

fair enough. Well, you know, I'm excited for this podcast that basically I'm gonna give a little uh, a little staff shot of wats on tap. Obviously, we're gonna talk Jets Panthers. We've incorporated Cynthia's numbers throughout the podcast, but we're also just gonna talk different matchups, the vibes around both teams, especially this week heading into week one, And I just want to paint this picture for the audience.

At one forty four in the morning, East Coast time, there was an email sent from you, Cynthia Freeland, that had eleven pages, over thirty five hundred words of different numbers, different stats, and I just want to know, like, how long did that take to put together. Your girls really excited about talking about actual football. So, you know, it's been a while. Preseason football was I was glad we had it, but Lud, I am ready for some real actions.

So I'm just excited. It's not gonna be that aggressive every time. But it was a little aggressive, just a little aggressive. It wasn't it wasn't maybe it was, maybe it was, but even even still it was. It's very beneficial to us, you know, to me cranking out there or looking at some of these numbers before we start, I've color coded. If you're watching, you can see some of the yellow. We got some orange for the Panthers here. This way, you know, I can keep the jets in

the Panthers separate. Well, this is what we have, all right, We're gonna break each podcast down into four downs, right, so you have first down, second out, third down, fourth down, But before all of that, we have our opening kickoff, and then at the end of the you know, after fourth down. I guess, you know, this doesn't really make sense, so maybe we'll incorporate it before fourth down. Are we punting or or are we going for it? Maybe we're

kicking a field goal? If we're feeling spicy. So well, we'll get there as the podcast rolls on. But let's just start with our opening kickoff. It's been a while since a regular season game has taken place in the NFL. The Jets last played first week in January, week seventeen. Now they're eighteen weeks. This is a completely different roster, new quarterback, new head coach, and of course Cynthia you know in the NFL, of course they're playing their former

quarterback in week one. I mean, you couldn't draw it up any any more entertaining than this. Listen to me, this is actually a win, win win. It doesn't often happen like that. I think it was the right move for Sam Donald. I think it was the right move for the Jet. I think it was the right move kind of for the entire league. This is a great first game. This is not a team, it's not a rivalry.

Barely play the Panthers like once every what four years or something like that, and it's interesting to see, you know, how people evolve. So I actually think it's great for everyone, Like it's it's great TV, it's great excitement for all of us. So I'm I'm in I'm all in. You know, we just went to the one shot. What is over your left shoulder and what that says fantasy on it? Like fantasy? Is it like a Fantasy football trophy? Listen?

You know, like this is the trophy we we play in this Fantasy Live league on NFL Network and this it's it's a monster. It's like it's gigantic. Where else in my house? Am I gonna put this nowhere? It's gigantic? Yeah, of course, come on the match. You gotta do it. It's huge. It's actually kind of heavy. I'm gonna drop it and hurt someone there. You don't don't toss it like Brady did you know on the boat Graade, No

want to catch it. But that's the that's the two thousand twenty league Champion trophy for you, right, yep, I gotta send my title. And how many teams are we talking? Uh, there's twelve in that one. And then there's another one that we're in with the analytics people around the entire league, the actual people who work for teams, and that has fourteen people in it. So that one's hard to win too, but last year too, because I've got to get that dig in there. There's a there's a Giants guy on

our on our team, so maybe he's watching. Okay, all right, you know what if hey, we we even though they're the crosstown rivals, if you're a Giants fan and you're watching, we appreciate it. We we like all viewership. Right, So let's start with first down here. You mentioned Sam Donald, but for the Jets, they draft Zack Wilson's second overall. He's the new quarterback for the New York Jets with

the new head coach Robert Sala. So let's talk about Zack Wilson in this Jets passing offense against this Panther's past defense. And the Panthers have a young defense overall, and you think about where they started in the first round with J. C. Horne in the top ten. But you know, before we get to the Panthers, you know, I got ahead of my skis here. Let's start with this. I found this fascinating you in this is like on your first page of notes, your model, which I think

you said is run like is double ms and capitals millions. Okay, so eighty one point six million simulations of the regular season and you have Zack Wilson for favorite for rookie passing yards and touchdowns, I do over Trevor Lawrence, which

you know whatever, he was drafted second and for versus first. Right, So the interesting part there is I think this is actually gonna be a really big strength of the Jets if I were looking a little further through the season, because you got to get the timing and the ability to read defenses down. So I'm not suggesting it's gonna come out every single week and through for three hundred yards. I have about thirty nine hundred total yards for him.

That's a All projections in the beginning of the season seemed low because remember everything is kind of put towards a median, and then every week it either goes higher or lower than that. So they all kind of started an average. So for me, Zach Wilson at thirty nine oh seven, very precise. Here, that's the kind of median

projection that leads all rookie quarterbacks. And that even assumes I even pretended that they were going to put in all the rookies to begin so even Trey Lance, even with if Justin Fields were start, Nope, none of that. He's number one. Wow. Alright that I actually get Jets fans pretty excited, especially you consider how Zack Wilson played this preseason. What did your numbers say about his performance in the I guess he only played two out of the team's three games. Yeah, really good. So p f

F Frank's him second and they're grading um. I kind of do it a little bit different. I use like this thing called wind share, which is kind of like war in baseball or player efficiency ratings in the NBA. So what I try to do is to see, like, what's this average above other people and quarterbacks in those valuable positions. So quarterback is always going to have the

highest relative you know, wind share number. So right now for me, Zach Wilson's actually trending as the number it goes with the other numbers as the number one highest wind share quarterback amongst rookies. So that's ah. I liked the performance. I also think the fit with Mike Lafleur is really what drives that why, because what we saw from college from b y U film was this really

good play actions, super efficient. He could read defenses using play action, especially the type of play action that we've seen MICHAELA fleur implement. We saw that in San Francisco. He was incredible at it, like a ridiculous number. In the preseason, Okay, I'm not preseason, he had a perfect pass rating using it. No big deal, just perfect. But I don't expect that to continue because that's just not how it works, right, But ultimately it's going to be

a huge source of strength going forward. You know, you mentioned the success and this type of offense and for Zach Wilson, why Jets fans and why I think the Jets ultimately drafted Zack Wilson. This is a part of your statute, so I have to give credit where credit is due. Wilson had a perfect passer rating on play action passes using outside zone run concepts at b YU and you know, the Jets are gonna love the outside

zone and we're gonna talk about that this show. But that just gives you a glimpse as to what kind of offense the Jets are gonna run. You mentioned you mentioned play action, Well, how about Corey Davis? Right? Are you somebody that really stretched the field last year with the Tennessee Titans who run a similar offense with Arthur Smith last year? Now, in Atlanta as the head coach

to what the Jets are probably going to implement this season. Yeah, so well, first of all, we have to back up one thing because I love offensive lineman and I love when oh lines get better because that makes the whole thing just look feel be way better. And I live in southern California. I watched a lot of Alijah Vera Tucker when he was at USC. That is a huge ad, like figuratively and literally a huge He's a he's huge, so it's a it's a huge at And also McKay

beckson being healthy. We we talked about last season a lot. You know, it's all about that old line, the ability to create some time and space so that you can run any type of concept, let alone outside his own concept. So the moves that were made for that old line a plus. I'm very happy it's all going in the right direction. You know, you don't fix everything in one fell swoop. You need to keep working on it. And all the ads of Morgan Moses that's a great contract.

These are really like savvy moves. I love. That's how you make Corey Davis work. That's how you use the fact Corey Davis if you look to see what he did. Okay, there's a metric that's in the next thing, stats crimes. It's like route yards per route run. And what that means is are you running deeper routes? Are you being used a lot? How efficient are you around the fielding? What what are you doing right? Like? Where where are

you going? How are you used well? Corey Davis ranked fourth in that metric, and the three guys in front of him, yeah, they were all Pro Bowl. There's nobody deal. So there's just a lot of utility there that can be can be really implemented and once they get the chemistry down. And one of those guys, A J. Brown is one of Elijah Moore is really good friends. Going back to All Miss. He's another guy Cynthia that I'm

very excited to see. I mean, if you watch training camp every practice before he heard his squad, I mean, he was making plays left and right. Doesn't play in the preseason, but you look at his numbers at All Miss, they are just absolutely discuss Let you know, aside from the analytical numbers, you talk about eighty six receptions single

season school record at Mississippi. Coming after guy's like a J. Brown and DK Metcalf who had immediate success in the NFL, and yuys, you know just kind of your your standard NFL receiver. I mean, whatever is in the water down in Oxford, it's it's some good H two oh. It's to quote Adam Sandler and the water Boy, it is some high quality H two oh. Because Elijah More he tore up the statue sheet and then he comes here

and he started making place from day one. I like everything that was done from the oh line and in the past catching situation. I think there, this is a great You gotta build for the future, and you also have to be mindful of the present. And I think both the OH line and the receiving corps that was done with a plus. Like if I were you know, I'm grading it right because my brains matter A plus

on both. The interesting thing, look, every single rookie it's gonna be it's they're gonna use is weird because they had a weird last year. Last year was not normal.

And then we have an extra game this year, so we're gonna look at Ricky's and we're gonna have them a little bit of like a mathematical like sort of asterix there because some didn't play last season, some had very abbreviated seasons, some had super weird situations, So like give them a minute to get into the league and get acclimated and get everything going, because it's just going to be it's just going to be a little weird.

Like the rookies last year didn't have preseason and they didn't have any sort of normal training camp at all. This year they have more normal when it comes to that, but they didn't have a normal college season. So let's just you know, well, we're we're gonna not expect him to be your fantasy superstar from day one, but like come week, you know, five six, then we're gonna we're gonna talk about we'll start adding him to our fantasy

lineups and then you can get the big trophy. Went Bed is now live in New Jersey and they're bringing the excitement of went Las Vegas to online sports betting. Get in on all your favorite teams, players, and sports. From fool stip parlays to live in game odds on every major sport. They have what you'll need to win.

Sign up today to receive a special offer risk three one thousand dollars sports download the wind bat up now or visit w y N and Vett dot com to start winning winnet and the Pistol sports book, and gave me a partner of the New York Jets office up to the change in terms of conditions at wimpet dot com twenty one the older at President of New Jersey. If you have someone you know has a gambling problem, call one two seven er or seven one one seven. Hey.

If if Elijah more helps somebody get the Big Trophy, that means the Jets offense, specifically Elijah Moore is doing something right, which is music to Jets fans. Ears. You know, we were talking a lot about the Jets offense because of the new new quarterback, to new receivers. We didn't even talk about Keeling Cole. But how about this Panther's defense because they're gonna go up against a young defense.

Robert Salas said, they're extremely fast. We talked about J. C. Horne, who had just a stellar year, even though if you look at the stat sheet, he didn't really have a lot of past defenses. This past season, he didn't have a lot of interceptions, but he's just one of those guys where you don't even throw to that side of the field because of how good he is. Yeah, stats when it comes to defensive backs just all over, and

so linebackers, coverage linebackers too. They don't really reflect the reality because if if you're getting targeted a lot, that means that they don't really respect you. The other quarterbacks of the other you know, offensive plaguage, you know they're they're throwing it to you. One of the things about J. C. Horne, can you see my arm? He has incredibly long arms.

Sounds weird, but sometimes when you guys get these guys who are real, like real long armed, he can like back down things that are further away from him than others, right, and he uses his body control exceptionally well. The Panthers really liked him because of what they saw from his body control. So he can get closer and in situations and kind of scrum it up and be a part of, you know, knocking people down, even if the status he

doesn't reflect that. So when they were throwing kind of to to an area he could get to, then he gets to and he just he's just he's like annoying, like your you know, your brother would like, you know, it's just not touching you, not touching you, but still touching you. You know, j C. Horne and all the rookies. You're gonna have a little bit of an adjustment period as one does, right, Like Zack Wilson, to your point,

played exceptionally well in the preseason. Robert sala has made it very clear throughout training camp and to this point on, you know, the leading up to the first game, like, there will be rookie moments, right, not all moments will be glamorous, So expect that from not only Zack Wilson, Elijah More also j C. Horne on the Panthers side. But before um, you know what, I'm gonna save that question for after second down. So let's move to second down here, let's focus on the Jets run game. You

mentioned the offensive line. It all starts up front for the Jets on both sides of the ball. But for the offensive line now with Elijah Vera Tucker at left guard, Connor McGovern loves this scheme. Kai Beckton entering year two, the one guy I want to focus on is Morgan Moses. And as we're recording this podcast, Robert Salis says, whether it's Moses or George Fan at right tackle. We do not know the answer to that right now. You're gonna find out when the Jets play on Sunday at one.

It's Moses. It's Moses. Come on, Cynthia's Jane is Moses. I mean, I don't know, don't even don't take the bait. Don't take the bait. This guy's a great run blocker. Especially, what do you want to do? Oh great, he's I don't know. I guess I'm that's my opinion obviously, and I think you go with like the better talent, but you give everyone chance and rotating in a few different types of looks. That's really smart. So it's not like

I'm saying that one is bad or whatever. But I just think Morgans like very underrated run blocker, very highly underrated run blocker. So I want to focus on Morgan Moses because again I'm pulling up my cheat sheet here.

I think this contrast is interesting. PFF had him the sixth highest run blocking great among tackles in the NFL with minimum one blocking snaps, but on the contrary, his number as a pass protector don't seem to be very very good in comparison to the run blocking numbers, where he's tied for ninth most pressures allowed among tackles in

two thousand twenty. Okay, let's put a little let's everything needs con text, right, So sometimes when you get these numbers and there you have to rank them, they just they are what they are, right Like, if you have allow thirty eight pressures, then you allow thirty eight pressures. That's just what it is. But at the end of the day, you have to add in context, who's standing next to him, who was he going up against? What was the situation were you on? Was it third and

twenty two? Because it's you know, I think that the pass rusher is probably gonna know what's going on where you were the other team blitzing a ton like, So you have to put it in context and take that run blocking and use it in this scheme and realize that for the return on investment, if you can get him too run block, then you're putting yourself in much better situations for more favorable passing situations, so that the defense has to stay honest and respect both the run

and the past. Way better way, but everyone's numbers look way better if you're balanced. Yeah, and this is this is why we have you. Right, you give us the numbers and and you give us the context, because in a vacuum the number is not great. But to your point, everything does deserve context. And let's say it is Morgan Moses at right tackle on Sunday at Carolina. What do

you make of this Jets offensive line? Assuming it's fully healthy with McKay Beckton at left tackle in year two, Elijah bar Tucker Conumer Governed, Greg van Rowden and then Morgan Moses. This is going to be a challenge this week because this defense, the way that they've re done their defense. And by the way, Brian Burns is a very very good pass Russia. Kind of underrated league wide, didn't. You don't hear his name kind of popping up as

much as you hear some of the other guys. But it'll be interesting because they have a lot of defensive looks as well. So it's a young line. They're just learning how young meaning working together and you know, the two most important facets, in my opinion, two most important people on it are both first or second year players.

So it'll it'll take a minute. I don't think this is going to be like, it's not gonna be like last year, but it's going to be like, it's not going to be like you know, it's not the Browns old line, but it is all it is not last year. So going in the right direction and then it's gonna be it's gonna look a lot better because Zach Wilson's any to execute a lot of different things is a really good fit for who's teaching him, and who you're

taught by is very important. So I think that their skill sets matching will make the everything will look better. Everything will look better. I'm glad you mentioned Brian Burns because he's somebody that we should definitely talk about, especially now that the Panthers have added Hassan Reddick in free agency. And the interesting part about Hassan Reddick is that from two thousand seventeen to two thousand nineteen it felt like his numbers were decent. Ny explodes double digit sacks twelve

and a half in two thousand twenty. Then you have Derek Brown in the middle. There. Do you like this Panthers defensive line and where do you give the matchup advantage right now as we record? So what I like whenever a team does what the Panthers did. They created a list of attributes that they wanted to execute for so they said, we want to run this defense. This is our theory, this is what we know how to teach, this is what we're good at coaching. We're gonna select

for those things. Speed is one thing that it sounds really silly, but like they want really fast guys. Speed that they love that. I know everyone says that, but not everyone really knows what that means. And they went for on the pads, on on the field speeds, right, so not just like forty times of talking about like measured speed over the course of actual game footage, So they went first speed. I think having a cohesive strategy is the best way to sell if we're all rolling

in the same direction. Boat goes that, how many puns can I make? Whatever? Like so silly, but but but I like what they've done, and I think once they jell together, it's going to be a I actually think the Panthers are a sneaky underrated potential playoff team, especially in that division with kind of the Falcons and potentially the Saints having some down down years. So I do think that the Panthers are, in my opinion, sneaky, sneaky good.

So I do think that they have a a very strong team, and I think it's you know, losing to the Panthers is if that happens, it's that's like, it's not losing to a team who didn't win any games last year. It's not losing to a team is going to be middling. I think that this is at least about an above five team, if not playoff bound. I feel like that's the vibe around the Panthers right now, where when you talk to and you hear different analysts talk about the Panthers like they're a sneaky good team.

They're young, they're together, right, you know, they put all the pieces there. Now you have to execute. But the pieces make good sense on both sides of the ball, and that leads me to third down. But before we get there, I just want to say again, this is the game preview podcast. I'm e Think Greenberg, Cynthia Freeland. This is presented by wind Bet Betting as a team sport bet together at wind Bet. So moving on here to the Panthers offense, you gotta we gotta talk about

Christian McCaffrey, right. I mean, this would not be a game preview podcast if we were not to talk about the third player in NFL history with a thousand rush yards and a thousand receiving yards, which of course happened in two thousand nineteen. Yeah, so obviously it's coming back from injury. In twenty nineteen, no offensive player played more

nor no non quarterback offensive player played more snaps than McCaffrey. Uh, he's a The problem with McCaffrey when you're trying to defend him, I've seen you know, you know who's actually really good at is Todd Bowles because that we've seen him do that now at Tampa Bay. But the problem with defending Christian McCaffrey is that we don't know what he's added to his game in the season, right, Like with Joe Brady, who if you remember the L s U offense, you know, back when Joe Burrow was just

absolutely letting it up. That guy knows how to game plan for some passes and some runs, and Christian McCaffrey does both. So at the end of the day, it's going to be difficult to see what happens with him, and especially you know, I actually love the Jets defensive front. I wish that Carl Auston were there obviously, but you know, I think they've done made a lot of great moves. I don't think it's going to be this game where, you know, I I just I don't think it's gonna

be Look, I don't think it's gonna look bad. I just think it's going to It's really hard to stop Christian McAffrey, even if you're Todd Bowls with a Super Bowl winning defensive front, so it's it's or superwoarning defense, right, So, you know, Christian McCaffrey is just a very hard person to defend, especially given the the they did some things on their on line to help their on line is not complete, it's not, but Christian McCaffrey does erase a

lot of those problems. And he's somebody that's you got to count for on every single down. He's got speed, he's got strength, quickness, he's got it all. That. The number that stood out to me most Cynthia was, you know, he played in three games in two thousand twenty and last year the Panther scored about five more points per game. They had four hundred sixteen yards with him per game compared to three hundred thirty four yards without him. They

converted nearly fifty percent on third down. I mean, and this is just somebody who played, like I said, in just three games, So that the numbers are staggering with such a small sample size, at least to somebody who's not very analytical like me. Yeah, look that the numbers are staggering for good reason. The Panthers also have a really good wide receiving core. You know Robby Anderson, who Jets fans are very familiar with, but d J. Moore

is like super underrated just league wide. Nobody talks about him as much. He draws coverages very efficiently and effectively creating more space for everyone else. So I and even Terrice Marshall's Jr. Who they drafted this year, remember l S you ties back to Joe Burrow. They worked together there, so to Joe Brady sorry, and Joe bro Um, but ultimately Terace Marshall, he's kind of like a possession receiver.

He's got that big body and you know, he's a good addition to the other receivers that they had along that core too, So they're they're they're pretty stacked when it comes to those key skill areas, even though we don't other than Christian McCaffrey. I don't know. Sometimes you I've been doing a bunch of fantasy football drafts, You're like, you forget about DJ Moore, you know, you forget about you know, other people, and maybe not Jets fans, but

others might forget about Robbi Anderson. You know, like these are good receivers, like very good receivers, so and both and both those guys had over a thousand yards receiving last year. DJ Moore a couple of number stood out to me. He averaged eighteen yards of catch, just north of their last year, fifth in the NFL, and receiving yards since two thousand and eighteen. I mean, those are some legitimate numbers for d J. Moore, And I think

you're right. I don't think he necessarily gets the credit that maybe he's deserved, because when you look at his numbers, he's a very productive player. I think that's the matchup that a lot of Jets fans are keying in on the Panthers receivers. Like you said, d J. Moore, Robby Anderson, Terris Marshall against this Jets young young, young young one more young young cornerbacks group, and that's going to be

a big matchup for the Jets. Yeah, I think. I mean, look, I I definitely we're not gonna get through this down without talking about I love Sheldon Rankins that we're going to talk about him in the kind of the impact I think he's gonna have because you gotta like have some time to throw the ball. So maybe that's you know that right pressure, you get the bet, you know whatever. So in this in the middle of their old line

is a spot. But I do think, you know, look, young young corners mean they need to learn a little bit. So it's just tricky because if you want to put it in fantasy football terms with Teddy Bridgewater last year, the Panthers had three top twenty five wide receivers, kind of sneaky and didn't When I looked at that, I was like, is that true? Like I had to look at it twice, right, So did I put the right numbers in there? I know, I'm like, is that does

that even? Does that even look right? But you know, so it's kind of you just don't think of them as this like passing powerhouse, but maybe we should because the numbers support it. Winn Bet is now live in New Jersey and they're bringing the excitement of Wind Las Vegas to online sports betting. Get in on all your favorite teams, players and sports from boost at barlays to live in game odds on every major sport. They have what you need to win. Sign up today to receive

a special offer risk free five dollar sports beat. Download the wind Beat up now or visit w y n and dot com to start winning. Winn bet an official sports book, and gave me partner up the New York Jets office up to the change in terms of condition that wind bet dot Com must be twenty one older in President of New Jersey. If you have someone you know has a gambling problem, can zero seven one one

seven right? And that kind of leads us into fourth down, which is Sam Donald right and the Panthers passing game, and you talk about Sheldon Rankins. This is this is the down to talk about Sheldon Rankins, because the Jets are gonna have to get home to Sam Donald in order to have a chance to win this game. With interior pressure from Quinnin Williams and Sheldon Rankins. To your point, Carl Austin would have been a huge part of any

game plan. Definitely this week when you look at that Panther's offensive line, I feel like talking to different people the most. The bigger question on the group comes on the left side of their offensive line, which is where Carl Lawson would have lined up. Fun fact, right now, their right tackle, who they franchise sagged and subsequently paid. Um, he's from my hometown and from a very small town in Michigan. So like from my town. Um so is like the only person in the league like ever so

Taylor Molten. But is there a day named after Taylor Molten in your hometown yet? Like we have like four stop signs, like three lights something like that, so probably you know, maybe like maybe the railroad crossing, who knows, but you know whatever. So the right side is good, that he's a good right tackle. The left is spicy, So you're right, the Carl Lawson, the loss of Carl

Lawson would will be felt in that specific spot more so. Um. The interesting part for me on all of this is the interior stuff is where we've seen Sam Donald have some issues. Right, So Sam Donald, the pressure was coming from all over, but it was especially daunting when it was kind of coming in his face. Most quarterbacks, that's true for outside pressure, they don't really see, so typically

they won't feel it doesn't mess up their mechanics. So it'll be interesting to see how My reason for liking Sheldon Rankin so much is that as he was injured,

people kind of forget that he's really fast. So his first you know, he had achilles injuries, right, so you know his first burst and I like burst because bursts, like like Aaron Donald is the most bersty player to ever play, right, So and you see that that birth, you see it, it's like twitch whatever, And I think people don't recognize that Sheldon Rankins is more twitched up than than people give him credit for. Right, So you know, he in that in that Saints defense, They've got a

lot of twitchy guys, right. Cam Jordan's very fast as well, so maybe it didn't look as fast as it will look for when he's now that he's a jet. Well, you know, Sheldon Rankins had eight sacks a couple of years ago. That's a very impressive number, especially coming from the interior of the offensive line and against his Panther's offensive line. The Jets defensive line knows that that they have their work cut out for them because of the young secondary in the back end, and that's probably gonna

be the case throughout the course of the season. But you know, Cynthia, in terms of Donald, I I wonder what the numbers from your perspective say about him, because if you look at the box score and you look at it, you go to Pro Football Reference, you go to NFL dot Com, you look at his numbers. The numbers aren't aren't great, right, there's no way to sugarcoat that. But then you hear people talking about Sam Donald. You called it a win, win, win, win for the Jets,

win for the Panthers, win for Sam Donald himself. The the book around Sam was, well, was it you know, was it coaching? Was it the supporting cast out wide? Was it the offensive line? And it feels like across the league, and if you're the Panthers, you're hoping that the glimpse of talent that you saw, especially like Sam's rookie year towards the end of the season and throughout his career with the Jets, you hope that is what

is what transpires more consistently. But what the numbers, like, how how do you break down a player like that where maybe it's hard to break down analytically the situation

that he was in. So first of all, let's the number that's interesting to me is what the expectations say from a money standpoint, right, So you know, the trade happened, and then they franchise tagged him, so it was like it ends up being an average of like about ten million a year for him, which is the same as Washington is paying for Ryan Fitzpatrick, which is the same as many teams are paying for if you look at that ten If you use that ten number, it's the

same as many teams are paying for a backup. Now, the Panthers were drafting eight eighth was not in this draft. We all knew that wasn't gonna be good enough to get up high, Like what would you have had to get to get even to three, which would be monstrous. So they were looking at it as Okay, who can we get that can execute the stuff we want to do and be in the right price range so that we can make our whole team better. Because getting J. C. Horne then made a lot more sent from them from

like a whole strategic standpoint. A j boy, of course they brought over. I believe he's still suspended. That's whatever. Two games, whatever, one two games, something like that. So the idea of creating more value for every one and being able to say, Okay, we're gonna take a shot on this person whose skill set matches exactly what Matt Rule and Joe Brady know how to coach. And that's that's to me where the wind wind comes in. Now, Sam Donald's numbers have to all be taken in context.

How many times does someone get mono? Like, not a lot like there are there's not a lot of friends in the lifetime. Probably no. I mean, like you know, many come as a quarterback at Mondel while they're playing in the NFL, like this doesn't happen like and then there was a strange season, like just a lot of strange nus. Last year was also a strange NUS as well, right, So I mean everything was backwards and you didn't get a chance to have like the normal sort of learning

curve because there was no you know, no communication. It was all zoom whatever. So long story short, like wipe the clean this leak the slate clean, and then say what does Sam Donald do well? Well, since usc Sam Donald's been a really good deep passer. He needs a little time to do it, because most people do. He's not quite the off platform thrower that like say a Patrick Mahomes or even a Josh Allen is. He needs to get his his his base set. He needs his

fundamentals right then he can. Then He's a very good deep passer. First year when he was playing under Todd Bohls, like, we saw a lot of good deep passing. He took a lot of sacks and he kept going right and could connect in those deep routes. So deep routes was game changing plays. Those are really the areas where you can totally turn things around very quickly. So I think what will happen is Joe Brady will be able to

kind of rehab. Remember Joe Burrow had some gnarly numbers the year before he came to l s U. L s U obviously was stacked with like a bunch of first round talent absolutely everywhere, but that aside, he still was able to craft an offense where Joe Burrow had historic numbers from you know, not so great numbers elsewhere, so I think it'll look better Like I actually think

Sam Donald, this could be. You know, I'm not gonna call it Ryan Tannehill, but it's gonna be, you know, because to me, when you talk about Ryan Tannehill, it's like there's also like you know, it's not that just Derrick Henry Julio Jones. Now you know, I'm not gonna go that far, but I am going to say it's gonna be more towards that trajectory, all right, some high

praise also, I mean, you're right. You did see the glimpses throughout his Jets career and his rookie year and then even last year the two off platform throws that I think about where week two against the forty niners and then week three against the Colts when he bought some time with his feet. So I mean, this is

this is an entertainment business. Everyone for this. But he got set on those right on the run and off platform different right when he can get set, as long as he can get set deep bob bam, it's it's smoking. But and look sometimes you just got like you're better off, like like everyone's I think, I truly think and I'm like, this is not in any way, shape or form like hyperbole. I think it is one of the first win win wins that I've seen in since I can remember. When

it comes for a trade. I think that sentiment the win win win is kind of what everybody thinks. That seems to be the consensus about the trade. And you know, to wrap up our first episode of the game Preview podcast, Cynthia, where do you think the biggest mismatches for the Jets and what mismatches then do the Jets have to take advantage of to give themselves a chance to come back

home and host the Patriots one and all. Well, I think that the corners, the Jets corners in this matchup are going to be a tricky one because it would seem that getting Christian McCaffrey going and then using the past game to kind of get Sam Donald back in his groove, it's a little poetic, right. I wouldn't be surprised if they have some Sam to Robbie packages to you know, capitalize on the the sort of fun of

all of it. Right, Like, you know, you you go back and it's like hey, like like they're coming to our place and We've got this big cat surper and he needs to see you score a touchdown, Robbie, you know, like something like that. So you know, I I would imagine those corners are going to get targeted quite a bit because I think they're trying to get his get

his groove back. It is Mojo backs. I think that that's probably But then on the other side, I'm telling you, I think you're gonna see some really nice pressure up front. I do think the Jets defensive front is going to be a strength that we're gonna talk about all season long. And I'm really I am excited to see what happens with the receivers and the past game. And I am so stoked to see Zack Wilson. I'm telling you, like week five, weeks six, it's gonna be like I'm gonna

want to talk about him in every single down. I'll try to work it out, like I'll try to end around you to get it. But you know, in this first one, I'm I'm looking at this front because that is Robert Salace, bread and butter, and I love it. And I also know sneaky good. Like I'm I'm really excited to see a really good. Um, it's on ESPN, but it's a great story about Solid this weekend too. It's my teath. Hey, the energy is high around one

Jets Drive. Cynthia is bringing the Jews from California Hermosa Beach and that's how we close the first episode of the Game Preview Podcast presented by Wind. Bet Betting is a team sport bet together a win bet Jets Panthers Sunday, one pm in week one. Cynthia, thank you again and and we'll see you next week.