Hey, this is Ryan Fitzpatrick and you are listening to the e A Podcast with Eric Allen. Take it away, Thanks Fitz. Well, the mad Backer is here in studio, Bart Scott. How are you today, sir? I'm good. Can I say thanks Fits to thanks Fits? Yeah, of course, of course you can. Thanks Fitz for great performers last week. Let's get it done. AFC Offensive Player of the Week, Bart, see, now you can't shave the beard because now I was lucky.
Have you? How many honors did you get from the league as far as AFLFC Defensive Player of the Weeks? Did you ever get one? I'm sure me, I'm sure I did. I just never. I don't. I don't track stuff like that. That stuff never like I never cared about stuff like that. All right, So the Jets this week going to Kansas City, how much with an environment in Buffalo that they faced on Thursday Night football help
them in week three? Because guys, to a man like Brandon Marshall, Nick Mangold, I was talking to Brian Winners about it. I said it was in the loudest environments they've ever done it. Well there arguably going to the loudest stadium in the in the NFL. Arrowhead talk about the outdoor stadium that has indoor stadium noise. I think they tracked this. That's the loudest stateium in the NFL. A lot of people give credit to to Seattle Arrowheads the loudest place to play in the NFL. Did you
like playing in there as a visitor? It was crazy, as you know, as unique because they still have a band. They have a live band playing under there, and uh, you know they get they get excited about about their sports. That that is a tremendous It's almost like a college atmosphere. And I know we said that about Buffalo, but you know this is a larger stadium as well, and the construction of it, it seems like they're right on top of you. I'm jealous of you guys though, because you've
got a chance to play in the field. I'm in the press box, which is a separate structure, man, And that's the closest that's the closest to having our I'll ever be. It's way up there in the sky that sture. Man. You should mix it, miss anything. I'll tell you what the night before what you wanna do? You want to go down there. You want to find you a nice
dry rub barbecue spot. You want to enjoy yourself. Make sure you don't eat too much because it's instant nap after you eat some of that good barbecue spots in Kansas City. You know what, I can't I just left there because I did a financial literacy program for the University of Kansas UM. But I can't remember the name of the place. It's a lot of places you can go to, so many holes in the walls there. Man, it don't matter what's your favorite Kansas City barbecue, though,
what do you order? It's weird, man. I like the dry rub, I like the I like the the pork shoulder, the pork tips. You know. They it's like, man, they slow roast that stuff. Man, they smoked that stuff for like seemed like days. You know, most people they're going, they're smoking in the restaurant. They're smoking the inside of a a machine, a smoker that looks like a grill, but it's not really. They got these outside. They got
these outside the old barrel drum. Somebody cut a canister open and half put two hinges on the back and they smoked that thing about fourteen hours. For those Okay, Saturday night, I'm definitely gonna get some barbecue and I'll tell you about it next week. You've faced Andy Reid offenses before, Andy Reid let offenses before. What are the Jets have in store for them this week? Well, they're gonna have to be physical. They're gonna have to find a way to match up with Travis Kelsey. He's a
matchup nightmare. This will be the first time where the heavy lifting is going to be on the safeties in the passing game. You know, before we were talking about all these receivers and outside threats, you know, a j green Um. Last week we were talking we're talking about Sammy Watkins. This week we're talking about Travis Kelsey. They
do a great job and moving them around. So it's tough because they'll be able to identify whether this man or zone because they sent him in motion and if somebody goes with them, then they know it's man to man. And Alex Smith is gonna look for him. You know, he's one of these guys that are able to take a short pass and and and go long distances. He's an athletic tight end. He doesn't want to get involved
in the path in the in the run game. You know, unless he's matched up against uh A safety, he'll he'll he'll in space out there, but he doesn't want to come to the box and have anything to deal with any d n s or outside linebackers. So do you think the Jets and evitably gonna be in situations where they'll be doubling him, or you play more zone. I would bracket him, bracket him, but you know what, you know,
you you can't sleep on macklin Man. He's sneaky fast and he's he's a big play receiver, and so you're gonna have to switch up your your your matchups. Um, you're gonna have to make sure that you you know, disguise your coverages and mix them up. You can't get into a rhythm. Andy Reid is a West Coast Traditionally West Coast offense mean that a lot of horozontal things,
a lot of routes coming to Alex Smith's face. But what happens that you're gonna have to make a one dimensional because Sharkndrick West and Spencer wear has filled in, you know, great for he might be back this week. Yeah, so you know that's a three headed monster. So if they want to take the out of the game, the the you know, the air out of the time out of game and time possession and slow the game down and limit the possessions, they may get a heavy dose.
So the three headed monster. You much in time of possession? How much do you put into a stat like that, because I believe the Jets so far early in the season or averaging thirty seven minutes or so with the ball with time time possession is important because if it freshens your defense up. But also what's important is you got to have time of possession and you have to get touchdowns not field goals because you gotta have time
of possession. Had a ball for eight minutes and kick a field goal, somebody come down to score play like last week, you know they had with the long with the long play, um good. You know that can nullify a long drive that didn't end, you know, with a touchdown hitting pay dirt. You talked about Kelsey, You talked about Macklin the Jets so far, Todd Bowls has talked
about it. He thinks there's spend, miscommunications in the secondary and a couple of coverage bus A lot of folks at home are concerned right now and say, hey, the secondary is giving up five plays of forty plus yards
in two weeks, how will this change? Well, in until you fix it is gonna continue to happen, and teams are can continue to design routes to make You have to communicate post snap, you know, which is which is hard because you know you have to be on the same wave link and you have to discuss this stuff during the week, and you have to be put in the worst case scenario to be able to communicate on the fly. And what's important is non verbal communication hand flashes,
because you're not gonna be able to hear everything. But you know, a lot of times teams are putting guys and and cut splits, meaning that all four the the secondary has to communicate and not just one half. Usually when teams are spread out, you know, it's safety talking to a corner, But when they're going to cut splits and they're crossing people, which you know Alex Smith and the horizontal passing game of the Kansas City Chiefs like
to do. You're gonna have to discuss these routes during the week, and you're gonna have to discuss these routes as you see the game plan as it develops in front of you eyes. You're gonna have to be able to make in game adjustments. How much do they challenge you or put stress on you by what they do pre snap? Because I don't see Snetti was one of those teams where the guys said, hey, listen, they throw
a lot of different stuff at you. How about and he read any any read, he he'll shift change formation, he'll shift her motion. Um, you know he he he has a lot of familiarity. You know, with these type of defenses, you know, aggressive defenses, You're gonna get a
lot of quick screens. Remember when he was in Philadelphia, You got a lot of screens because they know that they can't block, you know, this front of the Jets man on man, So instead of leaving the running back in, they're gonna release him and force you know, somebody to make a tackle in space. With that being said, Darren Lye uh rookie linebackers getting his feet what in the National Football League tied for the team lead with twelve tackles.
He got in and on that fourth down stop the Sheeney McCoy on that tackle with the Sheldon Richardson, if you'll like what you've seen so far unlimited action. Yeah, right now he's playing, he's playing with instincts. They're putting him in in situations where he can flourish. You know, you don't want to put too much on young player's play. You want to develop him so when you get to the playoffs, you know, you get down later in the year, you he has more experience because he's gonna have his
ups and downs. He's going to have bad eyes on certain things. And the reason veterans are veterans not because they don't make mistakes, because they've made every mistake and they've learned from him. And you know, he's had success here and it's it's important for him to remain humble, make sure that he continues to work, make sure that he leans on the guys in that room so that he can, you know, learn from other people's mistakes so he doesn't have to make his many mistakes on the field.
Let's make those mistakes and practice. Let's make those mistakes
and warm ups and let's get them corrected. What does this mean to you when Todd Bowl says he has to learn to pull the trigger quicker where right now mentally is making some mistakes physically, study's give him fine effort and he's playing fast and not playing fast, but you're playing with speed and athleticism where maybe he's early in his career right now, and you can see it as a coach, he's playing, he's playing on instincts and
right now he's not. The game hasn't slowed down for it yet, and sometimes it takes years for the game and to slow down for players, and sometimes you know you want to. You see something, you pull the trigger. But you've got to understand the concept that we're teaching. If your backside, you have to stay backside, you have to stay patient, you have to show patients. And that's that's tough because you want to go a hundred miles an hour. But just like we talked about Matt Forte
having patients to the whole speed through it. When you see it, you pull the trigger. This has to be instant, but you have to make sure that your patient until it's time to pull the trigger. You know, it's just like young running backs as fast and you see him running up the backs of their offensive lineman and they're not letting the play developed well. On the same side as a linebacker, the play has to develop and it has to define themselves. If you just take off and
somebody cuts back, they're reading you as well. Just like we talked about Matt Forte, you're setting up that block, setting up the linebacker. He's seen him there and he pressed the hole to make him step up. When he stepped up, he cut back. Well, a lot of the running backs are gonna do the same thing to him.
They're reading him. He's their key, he's their indicator. And what happens is he has to understand the decent the defense, understand where they're weak and where they're strong, and where he can pull the trigger because he's covered up, and when he can take chances when he can't take calculated chances. You love the match up on the other side of the Paul, You've been talking about it with me since last week. Center Nick Mangold for the Jets against Don
Tari Pope. What it's like sumo wrestling right here? Man? What makes this guy stand out here? Well, first of all, he ran like a four or five coming out. He's very athletic. He's short, just like well Mangoes not short, but you know, they're both about the same height. You know, they're both about the same size. You know, Post probably
a little heavy. I think he's like three forty. He has a lot of will you talk about a guy a couple of years ago that had ten sacks from the nose guard position, But then you're talking about you know, arguably I believe right now, borderline Hall of Fame player and Nick Mango, you know who just he has a knack for being able to neutralize to other teams. You know, good nose guard, a great nose guard because of his hand placement, his his his his football acumen, his ability
to anchor, and his ability to outsmart the opponent. You know, he's just smart. Man Like I just enjoy the matchup between him and Chris Jenkins because it was like two bulls, you know, going aufter each other, and man go won his fair share, you know, you know, because he was able to position himself and our quick quick um Jenkins in certain instances. But I watched him do it against the Lodi. You know, he's just one of those guys that you know, you can always count on him doing
his job at a high level. Now, Andy Reid, said Pope last week, Um had one of his best games in years in Houston, so he shouldn't be coming into this game with some confidence the Jets catch a break here. Justin Houston is still one of the top pass rushers in the National Football League, but Tom Balle still a solid player on the outside as well. When you think about Tom Bali, I want you to think about where
Demarcuts wearing his career. His better days are behind him, but you know him at eight percent of what it used to be is still better than what most guys do. You know, his his his career numbers against the run. You know, he's he's great against the run, and he's great,
he has a knack for winning. And it'll just to be, you know, a tremendous matchup because Claydie and Ali know each other very well for the matchups in the a f C West, you know, so this should be exciting to see that these guys prayer up because what happens is when you know somebody you know their Tennessee's. You know, it's all about who can make the best counters. But on the other side, they got d Ford, who who
was the number one draft pick from Urburn. You know, years ago and he's starting to mature and coming to us own. He's playing fast as well, you know. So it's gonna be uh evenly matched matchup. It's gonna be who's able to make, you know, the better place, the more efficient plays in in the in the game you played for Bob Sutton. It is this more of a traditional three four. But we just talked about Pulpis that
no stackle in there? Or Bob is aggressive? Yeah, I think a little bit of Rex rubbed off on Bob before he was more of the three four of the New England Pagers where it's more read and react, more gap control. But I think Rex showed him that it was another way to do it. And he's very active.
You know. These guys move all over the place. You know, they blitch, you know, but they also have, you know, a great matchup and noon Wall could be matched up with Barry, or he could be matched up with UH with Ron Parker, who's a former corner who plays safety for them, that does a lot of the pass coverage and when they go into their when they go into their dying package, Barry actually drops in into the box and play the position that I used to play. Where
do you anticipate, uh, Marcus Peters plan. So when they move him around, when they try to match him with one barter or well, he's a physical guy. You know. You talk about a guy last year that had you know, led the League of interception to last week against Houston, he gave up some place. But he's a playmaker. He's a playmaker Johnny on the spot and he knows when he gets the ball in his hands, you know he can do damage. He takes the ball to pay dirt. Um,
he's a physical guy. So I don't think that you know, it would be the same as it was last week against Darby and Gilmore because he's a he's a bigger kid, you know what I mean. So he can put heavy hands on and he won't be as easy to move and push off against, you know, in the passing game. Um, but you know they're gonna have to sure that you know, they're able to attack him as well, because he does give up big plays. And you know, you got two of the most craftiest veterans in the game and and
Marshall and Decker, and they'll find a way. You know, if he's getting heavy hands on and he's matching up. Then watch them to move his man into the slot so that they can get a clean release. How concerned were you for Brandon Marshall when you see him go down against the Buffalo Bills. Uh, I don't think it was a dirty player which is trying to reach out and try to make a tackle brought him down. Everybody's getting punched in the face, but chet's nation health. It's
collective breath. When they see the number fifteen to the tunnel. Well, well I don't. I never get concerned when I see a guy get twisted up. But it's a contact issue because you rarely tell your a c L by being contacted. Usually when you tell your a c L, it's a
non contact you know issue. When you see somebody walk off the field and nobody touched him, you know it's one either Achilles or the a c L. You get nervous when you see those type of things, like Brandon marsh you worried about them and they skis or the m c L. So once I saw that he was able to get up and he walked off and he went to the back, I knew that he would be fine. Just you know a matter of time if you didn't come back for that game. I knew he wasn't done
for the year. You were always a guy who h was fun in the locker room when you decided to give the media the juice per se and and Brandon is a guy who you know, he's eloquent, He's an eloquent speaker, He's a very thoughtful introspective. This week he was kind of fun though he said that U uh, I gotta watch out for myself because Quincy is sneaking up. You never know when a guy is gonna take your spot. As far as hey, listen, if I missed the game here,
you never know found me. Because well, well I think that's a compliment to the work that a noon I was put in. You know, I think, you know, he's one of his biggest cheerleaders saying that, you know, he you know, has made the biggest lead from one you know, from one year to the next. And the fact that I think that Brandon Marshall a larger, more physical receiver. He can he can watching momic to his preparation and how he runs routes, and he can pick his ear.
You know, I think as a as a veteran leader and an elite player, is your responsibility to make other players around you better. That's always a sign of a great leader, of a great player. And I think he's raised his level and you got I think you have to get some credit to Decker as well because he's performed at a high level. He's a larger receiver. You know, you think the Jets, We think about the Jets. You
think about the largest receiving corps in the game. Before people were thinking about a Noon why as a tight end, you know, and Chan has had this before when he had m Reggie Nelson. Yeah, David Nelson, I'm sorry in Buffalo, but he didn't have the physical tools, the pure brute
force and mass that a noon one has. And he's going to be a matchup problem going against you know, Nichols in the slot if they decided to go that way, or if they're matching up with him with their third corner, because he's a big person, so like he can just box and shield these guys out. And right now with Fitzpatrick and his ability to throw the back show their faith. You can't be right. What stands out to you about
the league so fast for two weeks? Well, you know what I've been surprised that, you know, the kicking game hasn't you know, usually the kicking game rears his ugly head as far as block punts and things like that, right long returns. That really hasn't been the you know, the case so far. Um But right now I think, you know, the cream has a rise to the top. You know, everybody hasn't settled in. I think it's gonna be some teams that kind of come back to earth.
I think this week when Philadelphia goes back, they love went He's going into Pittsburgh. I think they're gonna get a real sense of really who it is because let's be facing He's faced to JV the first two weeks. If you're a rookie quarterback coming in the league, you would love to go against these two teams. You'll love
to go against Cleveland. You would love to go against you know, the up and down Jake Cutler, you know Chicago Bears, and you know, you know two defense that pretty much played traditional coverages, traditional defenses and not really have the personnelity to really you know, put pressure on the offense. You just once there's a lot of rookie quarterbacks playing right now, you got Dak, Prescott and Dallas, so I think it's hand on himself pretty well. All
these guys. You know, it's funny because him and Brussette, you know, or you know, I do a financial literacy program with Morgan Stanley, So I've worked with these guys and they've hurt my spill for like the last three uh two times, you know what I mean. Uh when I wasn't allowed to go to New England, but when the program with New England, Uh Roussette was you know, he's he's a he's a lively guy man. He loves what he's doing. He's happy about it, and um, he's
gonna tremendous opportunity to learn behind three guys. And you know, that's what what I'm saying. You never know, you know, you never know, you know when that backup is going to be called, when your number is going to be called early. And I believe that Prescott is really setting itself up to make the Cowboys have to have a very tough decision, and one in the next one or
two years. As you know, he continues to get experienced with Tony Romo comes back, and he continues to get injured you're talking about a hundred million dollars that you can take off the books and you can go apply that to other players and don't have to pay your quarterback. That's kind of been the recipe. You think about the success that the San Francisco forty Niners have a Kaepernick because they didn't have to pay them. They were all
go out and getting the Seahawks as well. You think about, you know, the Ravens before they had to pay Flacco, the ability to go get key veterans, and then you know what happens is when you have to pay that guy, then you lose some some some key guys and key veterans. You think about a Kwina Bolden, you know, being lost to the team at the you know pretty much helped carrying that offense, but they had to pay Flacco. I think, you know, Dallas is going to have some very tough
decisions coming forward, you know, a very near future. That's a good point. It's an interesting model with these young guys like Russell. We just saw him get the big contract, but early on they tried it with Andrew Lucker just never worked out because they never got any offensive linement. Early on. You can have that great talent base and spend money elsewhere. Up until that point of the second contract, everybody talked about the Jets first six games before the
years started. If they can get this one, he go to two and one, which you think it's gonna be a huge task in Kansas City. It's just I think this is a toss up game. This is a toss up game. You can go either way. It's about game plan. It's about who's going to make the big plays, who's going to not have self inflicted wounds, you know, who's not going to have penalties or the the procedure type
of things. Sloppy game. You know the Jets, you know, I think they were gassed up and they were tremendously focused on the Buffalo Bills. This is an opponent that you don't play very often, so sometimes the people can surprise you because you don't know. You don't when you play a team all the time. And I'm just looking because we still have the Buffalo Bills up on the screen. Well, you know what Larry Hughes does well, and you know
how they try and use them. Well, some of the players there, that's not the guys that are the the superstars are the guys that you have scotting reports on. That's when you get hurt. Like so, you can't you can't let a guy like the Anthony Thomas come in you don't know what he is and like, oh, he's the gadget guy because you don't go against him he makes a big play to you know, a big play in the game. Or Chris Conney because you don't really know what he does. Well, he comes in, he hurts you,
you know. So those are the type of things that so it's monstrous during the week to get your preparation and because on a short week against the Bills, there's some familiarities you but you played on a bunch you kind of know what they're all about. Now with the Kansas City team, there's a lot of newness on both sides. So that and the Chiefs are gonna have to be looking at the Jets the same same way. Yeah. Okay, so uh, I want to get your thoughts on college
football here. Okay, so far during the season is in Alabama and everybody else I don't know. Man, Louisville, I think is Louisville legit? I mean, come on, man, six or three points against Florida, Mike Vick saying this guy is better than him. That's saying a lot. And the thing is most of those guys like Michael Vick, this dude has a cannon for arm as well Jackson and and once and once again. You know, I love them or hey them. You know, I don't particularly care for
the guy. But you know, Bobby Petrino man As went back home for the second time, and he's doing it again. He's getting a tone. And then Clemsons in the mix. What do you what do you make of Herbaugh and urban Meyer and that dynamic and a big time that that's that's that's something that you would pay to see. But you can't sleep on D'Antoni man because he's like the dark horse in that division. You talk about Michigan State and their ability just to play great defense, you know,
and they're one of these teams that's sneaky. They're always consistent, you know, they're always physically defense on the top end. I was surprised that they laid SmackDown and Notre Dame, I mean Notre Dame made a late run now, but it was third. There was thirty six seven at one point in the second hand, and they do it physical, so you gotta watch out for those guys. You know, the Big Ten is getting slept on because traditionally when they played against the SEC teams or a SEC teams,
they couldn't keep up because they had a team speed. Well, Hardball has brought speed to to to Michigan and Herbert Myers has brought that Florida philosophy to to to Ohio State. So now they're not traditionally Big ten teams they stay. There's so many more athletes on the field than Oklahoma, you know, and that's not a knock at Oklahoma either program. Well Oklahoma. To think about Oklahoma is they can't win recruiting in their state right because they gotta compete with Texas.
You know, Texas Tech gets a couple of them as well. You know, Texas and them get something. Now, see like he's just getting people now exactly. Houston is a sneaky team. To Houston plays Louisville, I can't wait that's gonna be the matchup. We were hoping that Louisville can make sure that they stayed on top so that win. Whoever wins that game, it means something. You know, if Louisville, if if louis Will still gotta be Climbs in they gotta
go to Climbs in a couple of weeks. But if Louisville, even if they lose a Climpson, they'll still probably be a top ten team. So then when they make that matchup, if Houston is able to win, you know, because their schedule is pretty powder puff, you know, if they have those two signature wins, then that can propel them forward. That would be something that big five. They can get into the playoffs, no doubt out that, no doubt about that.
That that would be fascinating. All right, man, Um, we're not gonna put your in the spot with the prediction, you know, No, no with um Jets chiefs. Yeah, I mean that's that's that's a tough I said. This is you know last year, last week I picked the Jets because I just thought that the Bills were justn't have enough firepower to keep up. I mean, don Terrapol really mean the lack of Marshall Darius been in the lineup really hurt them. Because now when what happened, this change,
Gilly forced you to play Nicols. So now you have a light box. And when you don't have a player like Darius in there, then now he can't take two guys. So now you can put a man on the man and now push your minutes pressure on the secondary because they don't have time to get there. This week, I think the Chiefs have the Ontario Postle. This would be a little different challenge. You know, it's a challenge that the Jets should be up for because they understand how
important it is. Whenever you have a tough six games, it can define you because if you come out on a positive side and the other end, everything else fills downhill. And then now you have to just make sure you don't have any lapses in judgment. You to make sure that you don't have any hiccups when you go loose to a team you shouldn't lose to them. Yeah, nobody in that locker room will be sleeping on the Chiefs
top bowls. Will make sure that I know people at home are saying, wow, this is a good matchup for the Jets, and it might be, but this Chiefs team has won seven games in a row at home. Yes, they spotted seeing diego a big lead, but they came
back and I think people are we were talking about something. Yeah, and I also think that people took taking an account too much what happened to Kansas City in Houston, because like you were talking about before we went on air, Houston, it's a good football team, especially defensively, and they can give a lot of people problems. Yeah, Houston, you'll see you'll see New England struggle as well, because you talk about a team. J. J. Watt is getting the Sea
legs underneath him. He was disrupted of two sacks of former recovery like he always is. Connie starting to come into his own and Um Merciless is a great player as well. And what happens if people want to talk about the Houston defense, Houston defense hasn't given up. They're given up, averaging twelve point five points a game for the last ten games. You know, it's a stat that is mind boggling that in ten games they haven't They've given up an average of twelve point five points. Yeah,
and so so it's not who your play is. When you play them and you're playing them coming off a loss, they're gonna be motivated because they know they can't lose to in a roll, especially been a division with the defending channel. What's the linebackers And this is one of the last one here, what's the linebacker's job when LX Smith goes to option? If you're the outside, tell me what a good thing? And now is just on film. So now the defensive end outside linebacker understands he has
to slow play flow down. And he's not that he's not the quarterback man. He's probably the pitch man, you know. So you have to make sure that you play the game. Sometimes you take the pitch, sometimes you take the you take the you take the quarterback. But you have to play the game. You have to discuss it. When you get that look, you have to understand that looks gonna come with an all set back to the open side. If he's not offset to the open side, you really
can't run the option. So you have to understand and pay attention to the little Things's key though neutralized Kelsey, Yeah, man, you better stop Kelsey. Kelsey has a great day that it's going to open everything up for everyone else. Everybody was seeing that it's