Football Function
Week 1 NFL Preview
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I'm trying to spread more positivity. Everybody has their own niche. If that's your thing, if that helps you. I don't want that to be my thing. No, no, no, no, if that is just own that shit dog. I mean, don't get me wrong. I never shy away from one of those situations. But I am trying a more simple focus on my parlays. Yeah. Things. Ah, fuck that. Be that minister man, especially if they're playing your team. That's true, yeah. Dude, do whatever it takes. I guess we'll see if that happens. If I have to break out, you know, the below the belt tactics. Break it up, break it up. Joining me on this episode, as you guys have already heard, my humble co-host, student of the game. I'll be that boy. Young Terrence Minnefield. How are we doing, buddy? Bro, I'm doing marvelous. We just got done talking about the preview of our island game. Says we're calling them. It's a Thursday episode. Yes, we just got done talking about that. And, you know, it was amazing. You guys go check that out. Other than that, you know, summer is over. Football is here. I have already wrapped a couple of games. That has been going well. Other than that, kiddo's back to school, which would have been nice. I've definitely noticed in the gaming community, you know, all the little demons that are badass in the game are often school. So it's finally, you know, some relaxing time. Nice quiet. Oh, they're called lobbies, huh? Dude, the lobbies have been great. Me and the boys have been-- No racial slurs. Yeah, yeah, no little kids just chirping in my ear. Hey, let's go over here. Let's do this. What gun are you using? Can I know your note a load out? Come on, guys, let's do the-- Oh, fuck, brother. I don't know how many times we've heard that this whole fucking off season, dude. And it's been a pain in my ass, dude. But now-- Yeah, come on. It's nice. Well, hopefully now you can enjoy gaming in peace going forward. Dude, I am enjoying it so hard. But what I am not enjoying is this fan. Boom. Is it back on, huh? That's boom, right on me. Damn, that thing just-- I mean, I got to admit, I'm not-- You should be well aware. You should be well aware how she and my last room's air, you know, ventilation was. This is so much better. Absolutely sucked. I mean, just think about those hot ass days in the garage. Oh, dude. I remember-- But yeah, trust me, I would not be a fan of that blow-- Or-- I would be a fan of that fan more like me. But hey, you know what it is? It is going to be a little chilly. We're going to get to the bad one. I'll fight through it. Hopefully, maybe, the presence of Hot Take Terry will warm you up a little bit. He might make an appearance. If the time comes. But yeah, we got to do a little bit of a draft. You guys know that's one of our favorite things to do here with anything pretty much. We love mock drafts. We love drafting games for like our, you know, our Sunday watching. It's fun. You know, it's not-- it's one thing to just have the full slate and say, OK, I can tune into each of these games for two minutes a piece and just keep flying through. Yeah. Or what me and Terry like to do is we like to assign a few games to each other. And I mean, I pick my games. He picks his games. And then we kind of go from there. We cover these games as we see fit. Sometimes we have guests on. I know we got Kevin Watson joining us next week. And I handle the week two. Obviously, number two is his former number. I'm pretty sure it's still his number if he's doing any sports. But yeah, it's his favorite number. So he's going to come off from week two. Yeah, good luck. Good juju. That's what we need here on the show. Shut up, kid. So Kevin's coming on next week. I did want to kind of dive in here week one. We thought about having Kevin on. But once he said week two would work better instead of trying to book somebody else, I was like, you know what? Let's start week one. Just you and I here. That's how it's going to be. Get the boat rolling. Yeah. Get the canoe kind of moving down the stream. Remind the Funkeys how things are going, how it is. And not put the pressure of, oh damn, we're back in this van. Let's go on. You know, one of our very kind and generous guests who give us their time to come on and join the show. We definitely appreciate that. And that is an open invitation to anybody who wants to come break down some games with us. Get your opinion, get your predictions. All of that on record here at the football function. Yeah, rather that be on our new couch here. I guess not new, but newly formed stationed where it's going to be a couch where our guests are going to be lovely, you know, parenting here, either here in studio or if you want to send us a little follow. If you're breaking down your game, like our boy, K.G. does with his flash drive. Can't really, can't wait to hear what he's got, especially this week. This week's going to be a heavy hitter of a game for this man. Dallas Cowboys. Yep. I know he's already hearing that a little bit. Oh yeah, I've been hearing it as well. He's got Cowboys fans all in his family. And obviously they're surrounded just in our local area. So he's going to be in Florida. I'm excited to talk about that game. What a week one game for him. Look forward to the flash drive. Oh yeah, great way to start it. Yeah. Let's see here. Okay, so we got eight games in the new slot. Right. We have four in the three o'clock slot, but one of them will not be available to draft. We're going to treat it like a prime time game because Caleb's got it. Shout out to him. Speaking of prime time games, Goose is going to be coming back this season. Handling the prime time edition covering. Let's go, Goose. You know, the game's happening in prime time, and you already know there's going to be quite a bit. So, excuse me, as you guys know, he's going to have his plate pretty full this year. Oh yeah. With all the action going on. He's up for the challenge. Oh no doubt about it. But after the, you know, the two prime time games that we'll talk about, which is the Sunday night and Monday night game. We'll go and get the Browns game out of the way, and then we'll get into our draft officially here. So, let's start it out with Monday night. We got the Jets versus the 49ers this game taking place at Levi Stadium in San Francisco. So, I think that the 49ers are a buzzsaw. On their bandwagon since Kyle Shanahan took over there. But now that they're rosters loaded, they got Trent Williams re-signed. They got Brandon Knight. You extended. What? All the players are coming back. Yeah. Why not believe that they're going to start week one out of the gate? And I need to see it first from the Packers. They started last year on Monday night, and it lasted about a couple of, the Jets. The Jets. Yeah. Yeah. You already know who I'm thinking of. I need to see more from the Jets. Yeah. I need to see, you know. And that's easy. That's, I mean, that's reasonable. Yeah. And obviously, it's not their fault. It's not like they wanted Aaron Rodgers to pop as Achilles, but it is what it is. At this point, we were in the spot last year. So, you have a, you have a do-over almost, you know? With damn near a better team. I got Tyrant Smith over there. The left tackle, protecting Aaron Rodgers. You just need him to stay healthy, man. Most definitely. That's really all it is. Just stay healthy, utilize the weapons that you have, which is a pretty good little cupboard of weapons, if you think about it. I'm a big fan of what Garrett Wilson can do this year. Obviously, Breeze Hall is one of the best running backs in the league. I feel like that's pretty easy to say, huh? Yeah. Yeah. It's really, really easy to say. He dominates when he's healthy, and he's on the field. I think I've seen a lot, or enough from Breeze Hall to know, like, he's RB1, not in the whole league, but he's in the category, you know? Right. Right. But I just don't know if they're going to have enough. You know, Breeze Hall is probably going to be in for a pretty long day when you look at the linebackers that are going up against him. Did Dre Greenlaw, right? Tour's ACO. Yeah, no, the tour is Achilles. Achilles, okay. So, he's not going to be fine. No, he's definitely not playing. Okay. So, they've got a backup that's pretty damn, you know, a part of, I mean, he's not no Greylaw, but. Yeah. You know, he's a running mate with Fred Warner. That's going to be, you know, an offense that has to plan around. But, you know, these two teams, in my opinion, they mirror each other so much, especially on defense. Coaching staffs. Coaching staff, mirror image defense. They've got bad ass secondary. Always to coach there. I mean, they are, I mean, you're not, you're not crazy. Yeah, I mean, if anybody that knows how to, you know, beat the 49ers, it is going to be solid and vice versa. These guys know, know each other, been in the same office with each other. And this game is going to be, whoop, drop my pen. There's going to be a wild one. And working with the jet fan has been in my ear this whole fucking season of how they're going to win this game. It's kind of cool with jets. I tried to, but this man just keeps uttering on about how, you know, those storylines that chip on the shoulder with Aaron Rodgers, if, you know, if he stays healthy, we all know it. He's going to be explosive. This offense is going to look way different than obviously it was last year. The defense is going to be ecstatic. It's going to be one of those where who has the ball, literally at the last, in the last moment. And if it's in Aaron Rodgers hand, you've got, you've got to go with it. You know, with him not being able to showcase what he has last year, I think he's got a lot left in the tank. So a healthy Aaron Rodgers, awesome. Ayahuasca is going to be a scary one. So I think he's, you know, he's a, he's vindictive. He remembers what the 49ers did to him a long, long time ago. He can't be pissed about that. He's good. He's good old grudges, though. I know he does. Well, we got a minute and I'm going to buy that truck I've been wanting. Wait, don't you need like weeks to shop for a car? I don't. Carvana makes it super convenient to find exactly what I want. Hold up. You're buying a car on your phone? Isn't that more of a laptop thing? You can shop wherever you want. I like to do my research. Read reviews, compare models. Plus, Carvana has thousands of options. How'd you decide on that truck? Because I like it. Oh, that is a great reason. Go to Carvana.com to sell your car the convenient way. I think he's going to show it this game proof. His hat is his home. I mean, he's from California. Yep, he's going to prove to the haters. And I'm one of them. Yeah, he's going to prove it's wrong with this up here. Well, I'm picking the 49ers, although I'm not a jazz hater. I will say that. I'll be on record. I wish him well. I was just as devastated last year. I had areas on my fantasy team. Yeah. So I didn't want to see a season in four minutes. Obviously, I wish no any of the players. But yeah, you just want to see them as a team, not thrive. Yeah, I'll say it, not successful. Yeah, I hope they are. I apologize. I need jazz fans out there. As far as the bills, too. Having to hear that. I hate them the most. But nonetheless, I'm picking the Niners as you are as well. Let's go on a Sunday night. Rams at Lions, rematch of last year's playoff game. I don't want to disrespect the Rams. I do think they're in for a natural regression. Actually, the Lions are better. Retained all their coaches. The Rams lost some coaches. I just think it's that simple. It boils down to that. And obviously, the game's indeed toyed again. My least I forget another go at it. Now you could think, all right. Are they going to get them twice? I don't know, man. That line seems pretty fucking good. So give me the Lions here at home to start one and no this year. I love the Lions in this, especially at home. It's going to be a hard factor for these guys to come in, especially these guys are coming in one and one. The last one being in the Lions favor. But there is a side of me that's going with the Rams. Because only because of their whole pieces last year, their main key pieces, Cooper, Puka, Stafford and all of them. And Karen Williams, they were only on this field for like six games, for eight games or something like that. So all of them healthy this year, fresh start. I really feel like it's going to be a lot closer than a lot of people think. The glaring hole, the glaring thing that's going against the Rams is obviously Aaron Donald retiring. And the people I'm thinking that's going to be a hole that they can just expose day in and day out, which is going to be a mist. And this game will be won, obviously, up front, which leads me a lot towards the Lions, winning this one being the big uglies up front, having them push up on a defensive line. It's going to miss Aaron Donald this year and it's going to show. And they're lightning in the bottle with Dermere Gibbs. It's going to go off this game. I think him and Ty Montgomery are just going to be a bright one, two punch as they were last year. They're just going to feed off of it. And you know, give me the Lions to win this one. Go one and no. I got the Lions as well. I think this is a big statement game for both teams. You see the Lions thrown into the NFC contender conversation. Pretty much anybody. I know every 10 conversations you hear, you're going to hear the Lions name come up very soon. People believe in them this year. It's not a lot of there's not a lot of super bowl buss for these guys. Yeah, I think so. When you go to the NFC championship, you lose that game. You're thinking, all right. Yeah, we're getting back and we're going to right our wrongs. We're going to get some retribution. However you want to look at it. So I am picking the Detroit Lions. I believe it. You want to know. I believe it. And, you know, come out and start. Come out of the gates fast, man. Don't especially know what the Packers will also pick to start want to know. Yeah. That division race is going to be a little bit tighter than people might expect. Right. And I just think that the Lions can't give up any ground. If you're an NFC contender, you've got to beat teams like the Rams. Kind of take the take the life out of them early, rather than, you know, have them do it to yourself. The jump, week one, every game matters. And, you know, if you're wanting to be the Super Bowl, a Super winning team, you have to think about that. You have to think from when you step out of the locker room on week one. And when the games are serious to, you know, week 18 or whatever, you've got to take every game, one game at a time. And I think the, you know, I think the Lions, goddamn, I couldn't think of the names. I think the Lions have that who's, you know, ready or, you know, oozed all over the face. They're just ready to get this fucking season started. I'm with you. Cowboys at Brown, this one's pretty interesting. You know, really, we kind of just can talk about the pure pass rushing talent that's going to be on the field in this game. It's going to be the star of the motherfucker. Miles Garrett are going to be, you know, taking a pretty good shot at both of these quarterbacks. Obviously, both of them wear number four. It's going to be a lot of number four on the ground, possibly what I'm kind of predicting here. I didn't even think about that. That's funny. I'm a big fan of Miles Garrett. What he brings, obviously, I love Michael Parsons. I've just daydreamed of him being a Falcons since pretty much at 2021 off season, seeing him just wreck us and then wreck the entire league pretty much. Yeah. You can't help but just, you know, want that type of talent on your team, but man, Miles Garrett, coming off a defensive player of the year season. I'm on record saying that I think 2023, last year, was the first of a three-peat DPOY for Miles Garrett. I can see it. We didn't do a yearly awards draft this year. Oh, shit. I didn't even think about it. Oh, shit. Man, we're slacking. It may have to come mid-season. Second week projection. Yeah, we're going to have to be something because what the blank. We didn't do a plump week. We still have to do a plumb crazy, crazy takes for the season. We need to get with Howard for that. But nonetheless, I'm a big Cleveland Browns guy, obviously. Yeah, house team. He's the house team. It's hard not to lean with them. They have corners, man. Martin Emerson, Greg Newsom. I know Denza Ward's dealing with some concussion stuff, but he's still one of the best corners in the league when he's right. And he's going to be locked up with CD Land following him everywhere. Yeah, this is going to be a tough game for the Cowboys, especially the fact that it is in Cleveland. Yeah, and especially the fact that Miles Garrett, D for the player of the year, is going against a rookie tackle, trying to protect... You just saw me. I mean, no offense to any Cowboys fans. Yeah, yeah. Or the Cowboys as an organization. For sure. They're going to have a phenomenal year. Anything we say, please do not take it. Great team. But, I mean, the Browns, if there's anything... I mean, let's talk about Amari Cooper as well, just the fact that, you know, he's going to be trying to make a statement, although I did take his under foolishly. We'll see. Hopefully, you know, if the Browns are making moves, they're going to Jerry Judy. They're going to Elijah Moore, David and Joku, maybe get the running game going. Maybe the Cowboys can put all their focus on Amari Cooper, limit him. We'll see what happens. This is going to be an interesting matchup. One of the better games of the season, honestly, probably would have been my first pick if it wouldn't have been, you know, off the table, luckily for Caleb Gray. He's going to be flashing in here and doing his thing. But yeah, I'm going to pick the Cleveland Browns and get the home win. I'm also picking the Cleveland Browns. This is just a tough road game to start the season off. And I think a lot of the off-season noise, I think a lot of that's going to play a big factor with how this team's going to go forward. I do like how, you know, how they handled, you know, with Zeke coming back and obviously the signing with CD Land. I love how players can dictate, you know, their livelihood and how their bank rolls and how their paychecks are. You know, that aspect of the game, I'm loving more and more. But as far as the game goes, I believe that the firepower of DeShawn Watson with his weapons and obviously the defense and the holes that they are going to exploit, I think it's going to be a little bit too much for the Cowboys. This is going to be a game where they look back, lick wounds, watch a lot of the film, and from there on out, they continue to look like, you know, Cowboys team that we know. All right, it's draft time. It's time for, and I told you, I'm giving you first pick here. So remember, we got eight noon games. We got three, three o'clock games. To roll with here. So we're both going to try to get four each in the noon slot and then we'll just divide up the three o'clock games, how we see fit. There might be an undrafted. Who knows? You know, we've had that before in the past for a game and so shitty that we're like, you know what, ain't happening. But week one, I highly doubt we're going to have any snooze fest just because I mean, you know, teams are trying against opening week, you know, let's have a damn good year. So you're up first. I will give you the floor. All right, with my number one pick, I think this game is going to be one of the more underrated games. I am excited to see a certain player come back off of injury and a certain team to see if they continue their hot streak. Give me the Houston Texans at the Indianapolis Colts. I love this game because you have the unknown factor of, you know, Will, Anthony Richardson, Jonathan Taylor and company. Look like how we want them to look. And can CJ Strout and company new weapons and stuff on digs? Old weapons coming back in Tinkdell. New web or new additions on defense. I mean, the Texans are looking like they are in jump for a better season than they had last year. And I'm on the bandwagon from the Texas. And I love, I love, I love every aspect of the games. The additions on defense line, the additions to, you know, not only the defense of rookie of the year, and we got a badass player. God damn, I cannot think of his name. But anyway, the addition that they. Daniel Hunter? Yes. Daniel with a fucking cornerback hunter. And she's going to look deadly. And then the teams are going to be physical. A lot of teams are not going to look forward to playing, especially the defense and then coming to find out that the offense can just fire on any will. And any will, man, we'll mix it in can makers. I saw can makers running hard. God, yes. Even the backfield, there's no holes in this, in this offense. Oh my gosh, this offense is loaded. Yeah, give me, give me the Texans in a game that's going to come down to, to be one of the thrillers of the week. I'm ready to see if Aunt Richardson is looking like how a dual quarterback is supposed to look what they can and of an arm. Beautiful accuracy. I love everything about this game. I just hope he stays healthy. It's just not in the cards in my stomach, actually, to pick a guy who hasn't proven themselves versus a guy who's, you know, the rookie of the year, really pretty much. And, you know, a badass player that doesn't look like he's going to regress in anything with the additions that have been made to the team, with the team following him and believing in him. It's just unbelievable what the Texans are doing. And I love this game. I'm going to pick it for number one. I'm also picking the Texans to win that game. I think that, you know, I'm not going to go back and do the research, but you could imagine how many week one games the Texans were laid out for slaughter, for the high power at Indianapolis Colts offense led by Peyton Manning and a flurry of Hall of Famers. Revenge time. It's time for the Texans to get some get back. They're the bullies now in this division, and they're going to get a chance to really take it out on their rivals. Now, I'm going to make my pick here. I'm going to take the only other 325 game. I'm rolling with the Washington commanders at the Tampa Bay Bucks for multiple reasons. Number one, just like, you know, the Lions pop up in every single NFC conversation, in terms of the contenders, every single NFC South conversation I hear, you know, it's Falcons or Bucks, Falcons or Bucks. I want to see what this Bucks team's got. We play them. I think it's week five. So we got a little bit of time to kind of see what both teams are made of by the time we get there, but I want to see right out the gate what they do against the head coach that's familiar with them. Dan Quinn. I want to see what Quinn can do with the Washington commanders. I want to see Jayden Daniels. I want to see this offense under Cliff Kingsbury, obviously. There's a lot of reasons to want to watch Washington. For sure. But also, you know, Tampa Bay Bucks, can they recreate that magic? They have a new offensive coordinator, forget what his name is. Every team in the NFC South for the first time has a new offensive coordinator this year. That's a crazy stat just to think about every team, all the shake up that's going on. But I am going to pick the Bucks to win this game. You know, I did like what the commanders did. I want them to win. Like, this is one of those things where I'm like, okay, please, please, commanders do this. Let them start 0-1, let us start or let them. Yeah, let us start 1-0, let's get this division raise off to the, you know, the right foot for us. But I have a feeling that I ain't going to work out like that for me. I apologize, Thomas, just for me picking, wanting you guys to win by default is going to bring my negative luck to you guys, unfortunately. But who knows? I've seen rookie quarterbacks ball out. I'm sure he remembers RG3's first game. Destroyed the New Orleans Saints, maybe, and I was in New Orleans. This game in Tampa Bay, maybe we can get some more magic, baby. Heisman Trophy winning quarterback, rookie quarterback, let's go. I'm still going to roll with the Bucks, but I do want the commanders to whip their ass. Yeah, I'm rolling with the Bucks as well. It's just a hard task for, you know, to ask for a rookie quarterback to come into, you know, hostile environment and perform at a high level and will a team that was less fortunate. I want to say that to, you know, put a little bandit over it. You know, less fortunate last year in the winning columns. You know, it's hard for somebody to just lift up in the next year. It's going to take a while for this team to look, you know, how we can see it on paper or how we see it in our head or whatever, how the fans want it to look like. This team isn't bad. This team isn't going to look anything like it was last year. The weapons that you had last year, you've had success with mediocre quarterback play. And I think you've got your guy in Jalen Daniels. These weapons haven't seen in caliber like him. So just imagine a couple of years under his belt with the weapons that you have. I mean, I wouldn't say years. This guy is talented enough to accept a game, learn the game and operate the game in a high level quick. And I really believe that Daniels is going to be phenomenal for this team. Looking forward, as long as, you know, the health issues, let's stay healthy, let's stay up. I do believe that the commanders defense had also upgraded as well. So all in all, this team is just not there. And that's a positive. Let's not, let's not take it as slander to this team. It's just not their time at this moment. The Buccaneers fully believe that their team is ready. And I think they're returning a lot of returners, a lot of starters from last year. So it's going to look the same Buccaneers team against a thriving, newly restarted, refreshing commanders team that this time is coming. But just not right now. Yeah, well said, well said. You're on the clock. So I apologize that you don't have any time to catch your breath. Yeah, you were on the clock. So yeah, short and sweet. Who you pick or what game you're picking, who's winning and why? All right, this is going to be a game where I believe it's going to be high scoring. Probably one of the highest scoring games of this week, a barn burner in the Jacksonville Jaguars versus the Miami Dolphins. I love both of these teams, what they bring to the table with both their quarterbacks and Trevor Lawrence and Tua making some big moves this offseason. So that just plays in the factor of whoever wins this game, their team made the right decision of paying their quarterback or whatever. So that has a lot of playing in my eyes. But it's hard to play against this or hard to bet against this Dolphins team. The fast pace that they play in and just how fast they can just operate their offense. I know a lot of key players on defense left, i.e. Christian Wilkins, which the Jacksonville Jaguars will exploit a little bit. I think they're going to run the ball with ETN up the hole. We're going to see, in between the tackles a lot, runs a lot more this season. I think with Trevor's ETN being the focal point there. This game, like I said, is going to come with some firepower. We're going to come with a lot of air mileage. We're going to see a lot of track meet like plays. And I think the Dolphins are just going to edge it out. This game is going to come close. But, sorry, Jacksonville Jaguars are going 0-1 this season. If this game took place in November, then I'd be pricking the jags, probably. But because the Dolphins just always come out so hot, they're always going to put their best foot forward at the very beginning. It's like they just blow their load in the first, I guess, quarter of the season. Tyreeks on pace for 2,000 yards and all of a sudden, bam, they kind of just get stagnant a little bit. They barely did. They even win their division last year. I don't think so. Pretty sure the Bills won it, right? Yes, Bills won. Bills won the division. Dolphins get their ass kicked. I'm pretty sure they're losing the first round of the playoffs. Yep. Yeah, so. I just, I mean, yeah, give me the Dolphins week one, but I wouldn't have really much confidence in them if this game took place. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Further down the road, it's going to be a huge test to see what kind of team. We're going to get the same from last year. We're going to get an upgrade of the Dolphins. Well, let's see here. I'm trying to, you know, you've already got two new games. I don't have any new games. So it's probably smart if I go Pluck 1 so you don't just get all the good ones. Give me Titans Bears. I got a parlay that involves Caleb Williams. I want to see what he's got out of the gate. I like it. And see what the Bears do, what they look like, a full four quarters of their starters. They look pretty good on hard knocks. It's a pretty good little training camp year with them. That's what hard dogs does though. And it makes you believe. It makes you believe in the team. I don't look on record. I believe in Caleb Williams. Oh, facts. One hundred. Me too. I feel like Titans are good though, man. Titans are really good. It's really good. Yeah, we'll have. It's the divisions they made. Pretty loaded on some of the areas. The wide receiving group amongst the best. Yeah, it's up there. I mean, you know, Calvin Ridley Hopkins Tyler Boyd 2018. Oh my gosh. This wide receiver course given everybody problems. Yeah. 2024. A little bit like it. TBD. TBD. I'm not sure. We'll see. Will Levis has to take a step forward. I think it all obviously starts with him and the end of the uglies up front. This is this this year, especially. J.C. Latham. Did you draft him? Yes, J.C. Latham is going to pay a big dividends of protecting his boy, Will Levis. All right. All right, so. You're going to Chicago? Yeah, I got Titans Bears and I am picking Chicago to get the win. I am picking Chicago as well. I am up with my next pick and I am just going to go ahead and fucking rip off the Band-Aid of. You getting gritty? Yeah, I'm just kidding. You know, this was going to be a tough one because it's. Start of the new season with new roster, new head coach, new quarterback, new everything. Well, it's clear we're sad. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, but. Could be new quarterback, but the roster is necessarily in position. Hey, Drake May is a beast. Facts. No, I'm a Drake May guy. He's a stud and it's. It's time. It's only a matter of time. It's a baller. Matter of time. As can't keep a legend in the shadows for long. He'll be in the he'll be in the game this season. I'm going to let you know that right now. But we are facing a legend in in in the making right now. Unfortunately for you guys, Jamar Chase did show up to practice with that whole. I mean, he's been in he's been at practice. He's been in a held in. Yeah, exactly. But it's a big difference from actually throwing the cleats on going out there running some routes and he wasn't just jogging. And he was he's getting ready to play on. Yeah, I think even without them, without Jamar. They still would have took this. Without Jamar, this could probably could have been a week where he could have said, you know what? Yeah, yeah. I don't really show these guys, but you know, I don't blame them. Show get the get the you know, you want to you want to put up the best season as possibly can playing 16 games instead of 17. It would have hurt your year at the end whenever you, you know, do get over it and you do actually show up. It would have definitely affected it. Yeah, as far as this game, I think to cover your perspective, we've seen what he could do. He we've seen the struggles. We've seen the highs. We've seen the lows. Definitely remember to Kobe back in when he was back when he was a patriot. We've seen him all these years. Great quarterback, not knocking anything that do Kobe Percette does, but he is going to present with some struggles. He's going to be, um, thrust it in a position where I don't think he's ever been in the starting quarterback position of a rebuilding team. New head coach, I, you know, I'm, I, I well believe that he's up for the challenge, obviously. But this is going to be a lot healthy. Joe Burrow back for, for revenge back for what belongs. I think to him, this, I think this being those teams locked and loaded for, you know, inevitably the Super Bowl run, they're going to be my pick to be, you know, Super Bowl contender. Contender? Okay. Yes. And I was about to say, I mean, it's not like it's, it would have been like a crazy take or anything. I was just like, damn, I didn't expect that. Yeah, I think they're on a path. Nobody wants to be one of the best five teams in the AFC. No fucking doubt, and I just like the commanders. I just don't think it's our time, especially against a bust Saul, like the Bengals are going to be this year. So it's my turn to make a pick here. Why not? You just did it and you are one of my idols. So I'm going to go ahead and copycat you right now. Steelers at Falcons. Thanks, though. You're talking about the spirit of revenge. Arthur Smith. Good to see you, bud. Yeah. Bring that mustache over here. It's nice to see you, pal. No, it's, you know, it's going to be nice to see Art. You know, hopefully he is drawing up some of the same concepts that he was drawing up here in Atlanta. But we'll see. Honestly, I'm not really sure exactly what to expect. The Steelers offense, I mean, they're missing in their left guard. They're playing with a rookie center. Yeah. Uh, I mean, their offense kind of, you know, really wasn't that great, even without Arthur Smith, and I'm not the biggest believer in him. Now, the Steelers defense got a lot of good stuff going on, man. And, you know, this, you know, I don't want it to sound anti-stealers or anything like that. But I mean, this is a matchup where we're playing the Eagles next week. You play in the Chiefs the week after that. It makes you think, okay, like the Steelers are a good opponent to start the season against, you know, at home. They're probably going to have more fans there than we will. It's a nice test opening. No doubt. This is, you know, this is a game where I feel like, you know, a lot of people think because the Falcons hired a Rams assistant. They're offensive coordinators, Zach Robinson, from the Sean McVay tree. The Falcons, I mean, they don't even have a full back on the roster. So clearly we're going to be running a lot of three wide receiver sets, 11 personnel. Nice. But the thing is, I think this week in particular, it would probably be smart to run a lot of 12 personnel. One running back, two tight ends. Yeah. Obviously Kyle Pitt's a little bit banged up and saw this. He's got a hamstring injury going on right now. But one thing I will say is I think we're going to run a lot of 12 personnel because, I mean, it just makes sense the last time we played the Steelers. TJ Wall actually had one of his worst games of the season. And it's not because our offensive line was able to shut him down or anything like that. Clearly, we were chipping him the whole game. And I think we're going to do that same thing. Whatever side he lines up on, which is usually on one side, right? They usually don't like to hide what they do. They're just going to say, no, we're going to line up and we're going to beat you. That's what the Steelers do for the most part in the front anyways. And I think that you could do that if you run 12 personnel. You got two wide receivers out wide. One of the tight ends being Kyle Pitts. You could still split him out in the slot, have the other tight end. Charlie Warner is our second string tight end in line, whatever side TJ Watts on. And you have a chip every single play. And that's kind of what we did the last time he had two pressures, but obviously, which was the season low. But I mean, you're not going to keep him quiet for the whole game. He had a fumble recovery. He's a game changer. He might have actually forced it to right place, right time. This is just someone that you know, you can contain him for four or three and a half quarters. But at some point, he's going to make a game changing play. And that's kind of what happened. You just hope that now the Falcons' offense is at a point where they could score enough points where they can survive a mistake like that. Or that won't break their back because the margin for error isn't a small. For sure. Given the fact that yeah, we could score 25 points a game, but I mean, if we're allowing 30, then what the hell does it matter? With you have the additions that you have now, you expect them to take a big step forward. I am picking the Falcons to start one and no for the second year in a row. I think that we can get this done, but I'm not counting out the Steelers. I'm not necessarily just thinking this is going to be a cakewalk by any means. I'm thinking that we're going to have a hard-nosed AFC North team come into our stadium and we're going to have to earn it because the damn sure isn't going to be given to us. Yeah. And you've got to look at every game with Xs as a nose, right? And your Xs show Russell Wilson versus Kirk Cousin, right? This is going to be a battle of these two veterans, veterans in new spots. I think this is going to be our first time for that to happen, to battle each other on different teams after being pretty much a franchise player for another team. But this is going to be a game where you could see has Russell Wilson remembered how to play football again? And do we know if he's been known to beat the Falcons though? Well, I mean, he's got that going forward, but this is a lot of people got that going. This is a different look Falcons though. This is a team I think the Falcons that are going to be able to put up points and contend with a lot of offense of fire power. Kirk Cousin is a guy who loves, in my opinion, his tight ends. And you've got a great tight end in Kyle Pitts, who has not been utilized how he's supposed to. He still has the tread on the tires, so to speak, who we want to see become a Pro Bowl tight end. And I think he's got the capability this year with the best quarterback he's had since he's been drafted. So 2021 with Matt Ryan, man, Ricky Union, a thousand yards. The same, I mean, he is Matt Ryan. I was declining Matt still declining. It's the same same amount of time. I think this still they are there about, you know, I get what you're saying. I got to get into it. Still, give me the Falcons at home. I think this is going to be too hard for the Steelers to come out. Tough defense. Defense is going to win them, win them a lot of these games. It all depends on how that quarterback room looks. Who this is going to be? This quarterback is the Steelers for future to come. Are these Russell Wilson going to do it? When are we going to see Justin Fields? This question. When are we going to see Terrence Minifield make his next pick? It's coming up right now. Yeah, let's go with my fourth pick, right? Let me, let me see. One, two, three. Yeah, you got three new games. Let me go with a four o'clock or a later game, I guess. A game where, I think it's going to be more interesting. A lot more interesting than people were going to give it. I'm not going to go in a way. A lot of people are going. Give me the Raiders in the Las Vegas Raiders versus the Los Angeles Chargers game. Jim Harbaugh making his coaching debut as a charger with his Herbie fully loaded. I just don't think they're loaded with weapons for Herbie to throw it to. And Max Crosby is on the other side of that looking into licking his chops to continue being that endless motor that he is. Give me the Raiders, Gardner Minshew in a different spot. He earned himself a starting spot. I think so. Playing so well in the Apples last year. I think Uncle Rico is going to do a great job with weapons. Jacobi Myers. Let's hop on the pick. Devontae Adams. Yeah, I'm going Raiders. I truly believe that they're a better team at this point in time. Give me them by at least a touchdown. Home and road really don't matter in this game. I feel like this is pretty much a neutral side game. It is taking place in the sofa. I stayed in Boston Echler. Oh, that is true. You got Joshua Palmer. Joshua Palmer. Mike Williams. Who else? I'll tell you what. Give me the Chargers. Okay. And I'm going to see a nice Justin Herbert leads these guys. Yeah, this is a running team. But guess what? Lad MacConkey. Rookie. Two touchdowns in this game. I forgot you're glad. And I think the Chargers get it done. Give me the Chargers. And now it's my turn. Go for it. Glad you didn't take this one. I'm getting another new game. Okay. And I'm a big fan of what Josh Allen does obviously. So I'm going to roll the bills and Cardinals. But I am more excited to see Maserati Marl. He's doing it. I mean, I got him in multiple fantasy leagues. I'm hoping this dude breaks the rookie record. Let's break the single season receiving yard a record for all players. Yeah. Like, I want to see Maserati Marl go off. Like, do your thing, bro. I just-- I love that dignity. Let's start the season off, right? Let's, you know, stamp this offensive rookie of the year. You're just lucky, or Michael Pinnox isn't playing. But I'm just joking, obviously. Marvin Harrison, Jr. One of the better players that I've seen coming to the NFL just polished someone that's been running NFL routes since he's probably in the third grade. Definitely a fan of what this dude brings. But just the team as a whole, the Cardinals, I don't think they have what it takes to, you know, outlast the team in Buffalo. It's a cross-country trip in FC versus AFC. NFC West versus AFC East. I'm taking the home team in this one, and I think the Cardinals get it done. You're-- Oh, my gosh, bills. I apologize. You're taking the bills even after all the exits that they've had, I guess. Keon Johnson. Who the fuck here? On his flight. He's no Marvin Harrison. I just think, you know, obviously, Marvin's other than Caleb Williams, I think Marvin Harrison fell in the perfect spot. Keon Coleman. Yeah, Keon Coleman. Fuck him too. Almost-- almost had it land. I knew you were many. But anyways, I love how the Cardinals finished last year, being a team that contended for every game, every breakdown that we had. I remember. We have an email from a Cardinals fan. Let's go. I need to actually pull this up. I forgot to tell you. I'm so glad you mentioned this. Hey, let's go. Yeah, I'm actually picking the Cardinals, not because I dislike the bills so much. I mean, they're probably-- my number one hated team in my-- you know, they suck. But anyways, I just think they lost too much. I think it's going to be relying on Josh Allen a little more than they want. I know that their run game is going to be a lot of what they are presenting this season. James Cook has hit a phenomenal season last year, and I think he's going to take a step forward in that run game. I think that that's going to be pretty much, you know, their firepower, their bread and butter. RPOs trying to get people in misdirection and getting you looking this way while they want to throw this. So what they're, you know, excellent quarterback and Josh Allen, but give me the Cardinals. I think they're going to do it. All right. All right. I want to read this real quick, because I've been meaning to you. I am terrible because I apologize. If you've sent us an email and it's gotten just lost, that is on me. I will get better at this. But we appreciate the love. Continue to send in the feedback. Yes, please. At some point, I will definitely read this. Yeah, we'll come across from the time. We actually just got in recently. It's from Cody from Scottsdale, Arizona. So clearly a Cardinals fan. Dude, golf heaven over there. All right, you ready? Shut up, Cody. This is from Cody. Love the show. But I have to give some honest feedback here. And I always love honest feedback, obviously. So the fact that he started off with that. Yeah, got to appreciate it. I love it. I'm curious why you guys never give the Cardinals any love. It seems like they fit you guys as a criteria for what you like in NFL teams. Okay. Fancy uniforms, state of the art stadium. What? Up and coming team. What? I know they haven't been as good as some other teams, but I see you guys cover teams that really aren't that good. No offense. The Falcons. You see, you got to take a little shot there at the Falcons. I appreciate it, though. I mean, I'm right there with you, man. And I agree with you, number one. But he just wants to see us talk about the Cardinals a little bit more. That's pretty much how we started it. I love that. He's a fan of the show. But he wants to see us show us a little bit of love. He says that we do. We show love to teams that aren't as good. Hey, I will throw the Patriots right up there then. And so I will say that that reminded me. I wanted to read it on the show whenever I got it. So bear with us here, Cody. We're going to pay the Cardinals a little bit of attention. But number one, I will say last year, do you not remember the formula? Where were you whenever I was saying every single week? The Cardinals have a specific formula. They need to pattern or they need to pattern every single week. Yeah. Look, competitive. Number one, lose the game because you want to keep your draft stock. And that was a recipe. Who did who were we saying all season? My love. Here you got. Marvin Harrison Jr. and you got him. It worked out. So I'm hoping that this is going to be a great season for the Cardinals, obviously. Yeah. And there were some fair points there. You know, he's truly a listener of the show. Exactly. He knows what we look for in a team that we like. Yeah, and he's not wrong. Shady uniforms, get out of here. Bad stadium, forget about it. We're not talking about it. Forget about it. The Cardinals do check a lot of boxes and for whatever reason. They really do. I feel like maybe it's because of the contact. But maybe we can get Cody to come on the show. Oh, and representation of the Cardinals, because we haven't had any Cardinals fans. Any representation of the Cardinals. So this could be a great opportunity. But yeah, show it to Cody for the email. And that goes out to anybody else that wants to send out an email. We will definitely read it here on the show, even if you take a shot at the Falcons. Yeah, I mean, taking a shot at the Falcons. I'm throwing the Patriots in that category right there. And I'm starting off the week in my boy's favor and Cody's favor. I'm picking the Cardinals to beat the shitty ass bills here. I really do love all their editions. I hopefully that doesn't bring any voodoo, bad voodoo towards the Cardinals. But I will plant my flag with Marvin Harrison. I loved it. I love how he adds a different aspect to this team. A different viewpoint of how defense have to pay attention to this guy. You can't forget about Kyler. But you have to pay a lot of attention to what Marvin Harrison can do to you. Oh, and they have James Connor in the back foot. Who is a fucking freight train? You know, Cody's right. This team does embody what football function wants. And I don't know. When he said that, I wanted to end his point. Yeah, he has an amazing point. I love that. Shout out to my man's here. Okay, so we each have four games. I just made that pick. There's three games left. We got two new games and one of the three o'clock slot. You make your pick here because once you make yours, I'm going to make mine the final game will go undrafted. And we'll still cover it, obviously. Okay, so I'm more interested in seeing two quarterbacks who might be on their last string. Might be on their, I'll say last contract, last, you know, last showing of what they can do to earn a contract for next season or with their team in general. And I'm going with the Minnesota Vikings versus the New York Jets or Giants here. Sam Darnold coming back to the stadium where he was first drafted as a jet. He knows the stadium in and out. I think this is a first year where he's gotten weapons and actual weapons on the outside that compliments, you know, his style, his, his gun style and his air raid type of arm. I believe in Sam Darnold, I love what, you know, he can, he can manage the game for you until, you know, you're known JJ quarterback and JJ McCarthy comes back. I believe in them. I believe in this jet. I believe in this Vikings team being over powerful for this Giants team. I don't like what Daniel Jones brought to the plate for, especially playing most of downs in the preseason. You know, that just doesn't wash for me. I think they let go the wrong person and sign the wrong person, but they're soon find out. And, you know, letting go and say quangalade jazz. But yeah, I love the addition of Brian Burns for, for the Giants. Him and Quitty, Quitty Pay, him and the Quitty Pay are going to be a phenomenal D for the front. But the Vikings just, with Kid Dynamite, Aidan Jordan Addison Jordan Addison. Same thing. If you're reading his name on a roster, it might sound like that. I got it right. Yeah. I think there's going to be too much. He has a hamstring thing, I think it's just, you know. I'm picking the Vikings too, but it's really only because of Daniel Jones. I don't really trust. I don't really trust them either. You know, the Vikings got weapons, man. They got a running game. They're going to be able to get this thing going. Aaron Jones probably going to be out for vengeance. TJ Hockinson is going to be tough to guard, especially against Giants. Yeah. They lost Xavier McKinney. So I don't really know what their plan is to guard a tied in like that. So yeah, maybe with the Hawkins have a big week here. John State banks didn't then they drafted a couple of years ago. I think he was played pretty well last year. But you know, other than him, I can't really think of secondary and the Giants. I'm sorry if that's, you know, if you're obviously a fan of this team. But week one, buying power of the Vikings on offense is going to be a little bit too much. I love how this offense is going to complement the defense. You know that the Vikings defense always is going to come with bad intentions. I know they lost a no hunter, but I feel as we know, Mr. Viking himself. I love your Mr. Viking's more than the guy that I'll bring it up. Shout out, Grimry for a man. Big shot. So we need to hear from our boy. I know things didn't work out in previous takes that we were supposed to record on. It's tough, man. Overseas. Yeah, it's hard to balance out. It's like 4 a.m. right now where he's or where he is. And the thing about it, he's more than willing to do it. And that's so awesome. Our boy Grim is just the best. If you haven't heard any of Grim's takes on his rivalries or anything like that, you're definitely missing out. Go take a gander at our boy Grimry for. Okay, so I set up picking the Vikings. So that takes us now to the final pick, which is going to be rematch Super 48. Bronco, C-Ox, they play in season. Open up a lot, isn't it? No, lately, but do you think Bowniks can do it? Not really, it's not in Seattle. Yeah, it's in Seattle. It's one of the toughest place, if not the toughest place to play in with, you know, two rookies in Sean Payton and Bowniks coming in. It's done. It's going to be arguably one of the hardest tasks to ask somebody. Maybe just quick turn the page because the last game, obviously, that got undrafted Carolina Panthers at the New Orleans Saints. The RAW report? What did it go? Cat's... Wait, was it the... No, it was the Cat's Scratch report or something like that. I don't know. Was it the RAW report? We're going to have to ask him to add that to our dogs for you. That's his choice, 13 of the day, but... Yeah, so New Orleans is going to be, you know... Want to know? Do you think so? I mean, I do, honestly. Yeah. Carolina Panthers, offense was a new coach. Who is the new coach last year, but their defense is actually kind of good. Who's the new coach for the Panthers? Canalis, I think. Dave Canalis. Is that Dave Canalis? I think so, okay. Yeah, I mean, former offense coordinator for the Bucks. He worked with Geno Smith as well. He pretty much was hired to get Bryce Young right. Oh, man, I hope so. I hope he jump starts his career like we've never seen before. I think the year... Hopefully, year two is the best year two in statistic wise that we've ever seen somebody jump. I hope that is an actual thing in Carolina. Hey, I'm right there with you for a guy seeing him. I want him to have a good football team. You know, I want him to just think, "Oh, Panthers are going to..." So, like, the Panthers used to be a very respectable organization. Yeah, where you keep going. That's what I was going to say. Offense was a disaster last year, but their defense was actually surprisingly good. So, like, we're going to see their defense. Hopefully, take another step forward this year. Maybe the offense could do the same thing. But that does do it for us here on this week one preview. Thank you to Cody for the email. Yeah, thank you to Goose. She's going to be helping with the prime time. Thank you to Caleb. And I was going to say, last undrafted game, maybe we can get seen. You know, I did actually say that. So, that's how you know it's been a long night. But either way, that's just, you know, how podcasting goes. Just podcasting, baby. I am running out of gas. We are at the finish line. Thank you guys so much for tuning in. Have a damn good weekend. Enjoy whatever festivities you have celebrating all this football that you're watching. Hell yeah. Just at the end of the day, what? Passionately, in the direction of your dreams, and we'll talk to you soon. [BLANK_AUDIO]