(00:00) Dak Prescott signs contract extension with Cowboys
(14:50) Music-inspired Week 1 Superlatives
(32:31) NFL reviewing latest Deshaun Watson complaint
(39:50) PFT Week 2 Power Rankings
(44:14) PFT Live Draft: Week 1 Mulligans
PFT Live with Mike Florio
Dak Prescott signs contract extension + PFT Week 2 Power Rankings
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Progressive casualty insurance company and affiliates, national average, 12 months savings of $744 by new customer surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary. Discounts not available in all states and situations. Well, it started off with a bang. Even before the game was my guy, Dag Prescott's conscious extension, most highest paid player ever in the film history. I mean, numbers, guarantees, and anything you can imagine to, congratulations, Dag Prescott. I could have, I just couldn't like my mouth dropped. I even told her, I said, God damn. You know, I can never be broke again if Dag Prescott owes me money. I mean. (upbeat music) Michael Parsons, his studio is getting nicer and nicer. Nice, that's a nice couch he's got back there. I wonder what, I wonder what someone thinks of the cat. Never, back to the show. Are we live or are we back on? So, yeah, Micah's next up. Micah's next up. I mean, the sleep deprivation has just kind of taken over my brain and I'm gonna let it ride until the end of the season or until I die, whichever comes forth, stay away from me, father time, take your knife and fork somewhere else. So, Micah's up next and, I mean, Micah never should have set foot on a practice field this year for $3 million, that's an insult. I know that's the formula, but that's why it's important for a great player after three years to take a stand and try to get paid. Micah should not be playing. He should not be there until he got his and hopefully the Cowboys would do the right thing and pivot to him next. They probably won't, they like to ride out. Teams like to ride out that fourth year at a bargain basement price and then pay the guy after that. But, this is about Dak getting his four year $240 million extension. We have the full breakdown at PFT, $80 million signing bonus and it feels like they're stuck. Not that it's a bad thing, but along the way, during this negotiation, it seemed like, and I had heard the Cowboys were hoping to get out after two years and we see different periods for different quarterbacks. Derek Carr, Raiders, they had a one year escape hatch and they used it. Geno Smith, Seahawks, they have a year to year thing that they haven't used yet. Daniel Jones and the Giants two years and after this year, sorry Daniel, all that stuff from Hard Knocks last year. Yeah, this year we're actually gonna do it and we're moving on from you. Jordan Lavantua, three years. I think Dak is three, possibly four. And then the contract goes through a fifth year, but in four years, he's gonna be in the exact same situation. He's in now 35, he'll be at the time, which for a quarterback, he's still got one good contract left in him and the Cowboys are gonna be facing the, do we extend it or do we let him become a free agent after the season because they can't tag him, they can't trade him, they can't do anything other than let him go to the open market or pay him again. And he will have made, I haven't written this yet at PFT and this is my reminder that I need to do it. From 2021 through 2028, he will have made $400 million. Damn, 2021 through 2028, Josh Allen will have made under his current contract $281 million. Something is wrong with this picture, Josh Allen, you should be kicking on someone's door. Your agent, the bills front office, ownership, wherever, there's something very wrong with this picture, but $400 million for Dak Prescott from 2021 through 2028. - I think I can hear from Los Angeles, the collective coming from Buffalo right now because they don't want Josh Allen to start getting upset about the disparity in contract levels there and cash flow, especially, but I mean, you make a good point. I mean, Josh Allen has arguably accomplished more than a Dak Prescott and in terms of at least playoff success. And yeah, you can say whatever you want about Josh Allen, he is a great quarterback, he's a great player. So when it comes to those two things, there is a disparity, but I mean, I don't know that anybody has been able to play the business of football game better than Dak Prescott. I mean, Kirk Cousins is the only one that comes to mind that would even be remotely close. And part of that is because both of those guys were mid-round picks, right? And so when you are a mid-round pick and then you play much, much better than a mid-round pick is expected to, then you're going to be able to in some ways have a team over barrel, been less the team decides, "Hey, we're gonna actually pay you, "we're gonna be proactive about this instead of reactive." You know, neither Washington nor Dallas has been proactive in terms of getting these contracts done, except for, I mean, now you could argue that Dallas kind of was, you know, because they didn't let Dak Prescott go to free agency next year and it kind of negates all the things that we were saying last week about, "Oh man, Dak Prescott's gonna be such a crazy free agent." That, that, I, but I mean, the fact that average annual value on that contract, Eclipse Joe Burrow, about $5 million, like that tells you how Dallas was really, really been truly over a barrel and they had to make him offer that he wasn't going to refuse. - Well, and look, if Dak had gotten to the open market, he would have gotten more than 60. The question is how many more than 60. At one point he'd give up a few million in APY to get this done, to have the security, to know where you're gonna be, to eliminate anything from the table that could potentially undermine the massive injury guarantees. He gets hurt, he's getting the vast majority of that money that he's due to make. - And the big difference between cousins and Prescott and how the teams bungled the situation. Cousins didn't become the starter until the fourth and final year of his career. So it's not like he had been starter, starter, starter. After three years, we got to pay him. Like the 49ers will do with Brock Purdy, like the Cowboys should have done with Dak Prescott back to them in a second. So with Cousins, he becomes the starter year for- - Yeah. - The reason they tagged him, and he didn't accept a long-term contract, the tag was 20 in 2016 for a quarterback. They offered him a long-term deal worth 16. It's a no-brainer that you just take the 20 and do the dance again the next year. And then it went to 24. He made 44 million over two years, which was market level big deal money at the time. And then for year three, they would have had to give him a 44% raise. They weren't gonna do it, he becomes a free agent. That's how he played the game to his advantage, where the Cowboys screwed it up. After year three, they didn't swoop in and make Dak Prescott an offer he wouldn't refuse. They went on the cheap for like $4 million by the time. You get some different things that bump you up based upon how much you paid, and it defies the rookie way to go to an extent, but it was an embarrassment when he was getting paid. Then they tagged him, broke his ankle, and it didn't matter, tagged him again. And at some point, Jerry Jones and/or Stephen Jones had the epiphany, we're screwed here 'cause we can't tag him a third time. He's gonna be a free agent. Let's just cry uncle. And they cried uncle with a contract that put them in a position where they had to cry uncle again. The problem is they waited too long to do it because all that all in talk from January. You can't go all in with new players until you get Dak and CD taken care of at a minimum. And maybe Micah, they waited too long to do what they could have done then. It cost them more and it cost them the opportunity to truly go all in. That's where the Cowboys screwed this up. - Yes, it is. And it's a lesson in team building, right? Can you be proactive or can you be reactive? It's one of the things that I think the Eagles do very well is that they are proactive when it comes to getting their contracts on it, but they did with Jalen Hurks last year, right? I mean, you get AJ Brown done when he's on the way in the door, right? So that these things don't become bigger issues down the road. So that's where, man, yes, the Cowboys have had success in terms of the regular season, but when it comes to building your team so that you can have the playoff success, you need all of those guys that can help turn things. And I think that this is part of why they haven't been able to do that. - The Eagles did it twice with AJ Brown. They signed him on the way in the door and after they paid Devontase Smith and after the markets started to move, they came in and signed him again. It is a significant and dramatic break from the way the Eagles were 20 years ago when they would flash that contract around. Sorry, you're not happy. Sorry, you signed the contract. Honor the contract. They used to pick their guys off 'cause you could do a contract with a draft pick two years in at the time. They'd signed with these ridiculous long-term deals. Winston Justice. And there was the Sean, Sean's last name, the interior offensive lineman. They sounded like a 10-year extension. The market changes. It's a bad deal and their attitude was too bad. You signed it, deal with it. They don't do that anymore. And it's one of the reasons why they have one of the best rosters in football. So it was smart for the Eagles to do that. It would have been smarter for the Cowboys to be more proactive with Dak years ago after the 2018 season and more proactive this year when they were back over a barrel that they put themselves over with his last contract and they put themselves over another one four years from now that they're gonna have to deal with. Here's Jerry Jones on if there's added pressure on Dak Prescott given this new contract to win football games. - When I look at what Dak is, he's a leader. He plays the position of ultimate leadership in sports in my opinion as the quarterback. You can put a huge value on measures of success that don't reach a Super Bowl. I will say this that anytime that we've ever made players, the highest played player, key players such as Troy Eggman, the most highest played player in the game, we won Super Bowl. (intense music) - Yeah. - Yeah. - Bro, how long has Troy Eggman been a broadcaster? Come on, man. I mean, you're talking about the highest played player in the 1990s, the 1990s. - That's the last time they won a Super Bowl. - That's the last time they won a Super Bowl. - Which is why it's laughable to say something like that. I mean, come on, come on, Jerry, come on. - You don't will your way to winning Super Bowls by paying players more than any. He's just having to justify why he did. He's a master at coming up with a word salad explanation for anything that he wants to support at any given moment. He would have been a master politician if he had gone that route. I was at an event years ago where he said, I've had 50 concussions. I'd be president of the United States if I hadn't had all these concussions from playing football. Back when they were actually fighting this notion that brain injuries are probably not a good thing for your long-term wellbeing. So yeah, he just says things. He says whatever he has to say to justify whatever it is he's doing in that moment. And now that he's paid Dak Prescott, he's gonna try. And this is the carnival barker in him. This is the Huxter. This is the step right up and give me your money. I've paid Dak Prescott all this money. I'm gonna give you a Super Bowl. So give me your money and come to my games and pay $15 for a tub of stale popcorn, which I actually purchased at Super Bowl 45, $15 for a tub at what wasn't AT&T Stadium at the time, but is now stale popcorn. Interesting. That's a choice by you. I mean, I would, (laughing) I wanna popcorn. - They didn't have popcorn in the press box. - They didn't have popcorn in the press box. - Listen, the joke was on me. They did not have popcorn in the press box. I wanted popcorn. I went out to the con course. I found a plastic tub of popcorn that apparently was filled with popcorn at the same time they made the plastic tubs some weeks before because it was stale. You know how it gets squeaky like popcorn? Like it's like when you bite it, it's just like that squeaky nasty. That's what it was. I paid $15 to have half a handful of squeaky popcorn and I threw the rest of it away. - Well, Jerry, you go to the movies. - Jerry, go to the movies. - When you go to the movies, do you put butter on the popcorn or no? Do you even go to the movies? - No, I'm gonna ask that. - No, I haven't been to movies in a long time. - I'm gonna go butter. - I don't put butter on the popcorn. No, I'm gonna, because it's not butter. It's not butter. It's yellow liquid and as a general rule, I try to avoid yellow liquids, given the connotation. - I also, yeah, yeah, thank you. I also don't put butter on my popcorn. I'm a salt guy, so I gotta get all the salt packets. But I do love the movie theater popcorn, although they really screwed me up 30 years ago. I remember it was the first time and this hasn't happened in a while. There was some group, it was like a four letters, CPSC, something like that, and out of nowhere, they put out there for pun intended public consumption, how bad movie theater popcorn is for you, and that really pissed me off. That was like Newman finding out that the yogurt was fat free and they changed it. It wasn't fat free, they changed it to fat free, and Newman didn't care 'cause he liked it. Some things I just don't wanna know. Let me enjoy my movie theater popcorn, damn it. That was 1994, that scarred me emotionally 'cause going to the movies, and I've been to the movies in a long time. I've been to the movies since before the pandemic. For me growing up, it was a big deal. My dad, that was something my dad and I always did. And when my son was young, that was something we always did. It's a big deal for me, so don't mess with my popcorn. CPSC or whatever the hell you were. All right, let's take a break. I really want popcorn now. I'm so hungry right now. I would eat Jerry Jones shitty stale popcorn if that was my only option. Let's take a break. We've got some music themed superlatives next, and I will be making some very hip and modern references guaranteed on PFT Live. (upbeat music) Well, tonight it's the Video Music Awards on MTV. I don't know how relevant they are. I remember when they were a big deal, but maybe it was because I was young, but they still do them. They are tonight, and Gary had the suggestion that we do a superlative coming out of week one. I'm giving him credit. I'm not blaming him. It may be blame based upon how it goes, but I'm giving him credit for the idea that it is a music themed superlatives from week one. Before we get to that, will you watch Miles, the MTV Video Music Awards? I don't know. Maybe I put it to record on my YouTube TV. So it depends on what I want to do tonight. Where do I want to play some college football 25? Maybe do I want to have that on in the background? On my iPad as I'm playing my video game and taking USC to another national championship? I don't know. We'll see. I might have the sopranos on in the background, 'cause that's what I've been doing lately. One of the things that makes me believe that the Video Music Awards are no longer relevant. Music video, are music videos still relevant? I mean, I guess they are, but they're not on MTV. They're on line, like on YouTube or something like that, but not on MTV. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but like, that's where people are. So people do watch them. Like the "Die with the Smile" music video with Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars. Really, really cool, 'cause they filmed it faster and then you slow it down for slow-mo so it has this very cool visual effect and all that kind of thing. So yeah, I think that music videos are still relevant. Beyonce would be nice if she thought they were relevant, but she doesn't anymore, so that's one thing. But yeah, it's one of those things where if you understand where they are, and how they're, yeah, they are still relevant. By the way, "Die with the Smile" makes me think of the "Joker" movie. 'Cause I assume that song is from the new "Joker" movie. There was a saturation of the, it's not, because I think that that was like a line, like "Go with the Smile" was a line from Jack Nicholson as he played the "Joker" in the original "Batman" movie, which I was disappointed by as we've discussed in the past, but like every time they went to break last night for the debate, there was a commercial for the new "Joker" movie, which we had this conversation on that long ago. I liked the original "Joker" movie. It looks like this next one could be pretty good with "Walking Phoenix" and "Lady Gaga." - Yeah, yeah, well, you know, they always talk about it, the Kansas Festival, you know, in France, like, oh my gosh, they gave me like a 10-minute standing ovation and la, la, la, the joke on light has been like, man, I just watched this movie for the 50th time in my house, and I gave it a 10-minute standing ovation, so there's that. But I think that the movie should be good. I'll tell you this, the trailer for the first "Joker" movie was the best trailer to a movie I've ever seen. The movie did not live up to that standard. This trailer, these trailers that have come out for the new "Joker" movie have also been very good. I'm hoping that with "Lady Gaga" in it that she can elevate this thing that much more, so that the trailer quality matches the film quality. I'm looking forward to it. I'll definitely see it opening weekend. - We might need to do a-- - That's a problem. - We might need to, and by the way, it was the Center for Science in the Public Interest, which created the great popcorn scare of 1994. I found an article, or article, excuse me, article or article is the case maybe on vise.com during the break, so it was the Center for Science in the Public Interest, and apparently, I don't know if their theories were debunked. It was something about coconut oil, but I digress. You mentioned that film festival, and still, we need to do an investigation during the next break. I think the "S" is silent. I think the "S" is silent in that film festival in France, and I'm not even gonna try to say the word because I'm not sure how it's pronounced, but I think the "S" is-- - You know, the sound, I kind of ran through it. Like, I didn't real fast in, like, kind of lower, so it's like, I don't really know if I'm pronouncing this right or not. Probably should reveal the inside baseball. - I think it's con. - Like James Con. I think it's con, like James Con. I think that's what it is. - I kind of think so too. - Yeah, I'm not sure. But I believe the "S" is silent. I think you're right. - Okay, music inspired superlatives for NFL week one, 2024, the Post Malone AKA Wow award. I don't know what that means. Biggest surprise of week one. Biggest surprise of week one. - Post Malone had a song called "Wow." It's a really good song. It's a moment when I show up got him saying, "Wow." And when Anthony Richardson showed up, right, through that ball, yeeted that ball down the field to Alec Pierce, that's my moment for "Wow." 'Cause that's the thing that made me say, "Wow, the most." I don't recall ever seeing a throw like that where somebody slips and then is able to set themselves, not even quite get all of their body into it and still be able to throw the ball. Almost 70 yards down the field. I mean, he gets this ball at about the plus two, and is able to just go in the end. Hits him in stride. That is one of the most impressive throws I've ever seen, let alone from just week one. So that is my "Wow" moment of the week. - That really is incredible. To not even be able to get everything you have into it and hit Alec Pierce in stride, he's trying to live up to what made him a third round pick, I believe maybe second round pick a couple of years ago, they found him when they went to scout Desmond Ritter and they thought they had something with Alec Pierce and he said he's really gotta prove it this year and he kind of did, he kind of did week one. For me, I go all the way back to last Thursday because the one thing that created the biggest and loudest collective, Wow, was the Isaiah likely non-touchdown at the end of the Raven's Chiefs game. - Yeah. - We kind of forgot about that, it feels stale like AT&T Stadium popcorn by the time you get to Sunday and Monday 'cause man, that was like a month ago. Well, no, that was a game on Friday too, yeah. - Yeah, that was the game that started week one and you get, you know, you get Justice Hill doing the Dosee doe with Chris Jones and Lamar Jackson buys enough time and he finds Isaiah likely at the back of the end zone. I mean, that's Wow, they call it a touchdown and you start seeing these angles and it's like that's not clear and obvious, it is toes out. That's not clear and obvious as toes out. It looks like it may be out but it's not clear and obvious and I made this point on a post, I think I did it Friday or Saturday. You know, the fact that it was an NBC primetime game, there's the one that makes it clear and obvious. If this is a Sunday afternoon third tier game on CBS, you're not getting that angle. You're not getting that angle and there's a chance that's a touchdown and the Ravens go for two and win the game. So that was the wow moment for me. - Well, good thing it was Baltimore and Kansas City because that's not going to ever be a third tier game on CBS Sunday at one o'clock. - But that's the reality. Those lesser games have moments like that and it should be, it should be, they've got the highest level of video technology available for all games, build, build a check. - Agreed. - Educated when he was in the league to have the fixed cameras at every stadium, they wouldn't do it. You know why? 'Cause they're cheap. All right. The Stevie Wonder, don't you worry about a thing, award not you are the sunshine of my life, which was the subject of a gift that we used to announce the show on X today or Twitter as a case may be. The no need to panic yet, don't you worry about a thing goes to who? - Well, first of all, don't you worry about a thing 'cause of all my top three songs of all time. I love that song. It's a fantastic song. It's fantastic album, "Intervision." But also, the Bengals. Yeah, I don't need to worry about a thing quite yet. You know, it was ugly week one, you know, it has been ugly week one for them in the past. I mean, think about what it was last year. Obviously, Joe Burrow wasn't quite healthy last year coming off the cap, but I think that when you are the Bengals and you know that you get off to slow starts, it's gonna be okay. You still have one of the best quarterbacks in the league. You still have one of the best wide receivers in the league. T Higgins, he'll get healthy. It'll be all right. You know, you got one of the best defensive coordinators in the league too, and Lou and Arumo. So, it did not look good week one, but it will be okay. Don't you worry about a thing since 90 Banks. - Yeah, and I'm not so sure that that's the case issue. Something feels different this year. Although, one in eight is Joe Burrow's record in week one and week two games during his career. That to me, when that stat showed up on Monday's PFT Live, I didn't know about that and I thought, holy crap, that's unbelievable. The Joe Burrow has struggled that badly. He has historically turned it around. We'll see if he does. I guess I'll go with the Cardinals because even though they lost, they looked a hell of a lot better than anyone thought they would. And they went into Buffalo and almost beat the Bills and had chances to beat the Bills to start the season. And what a lightning strike that would have been if it had turned out in that one o'clock window on the first Sunday of the regular season, we see the final scores and you see Arizona beat Buffalo. Are you kidding me? So I think they'll be fine. And it gets fascinating as soon as this weekend when they host the Rams. The Rams are banged up. - Really? - Can the Cardinals knock off the Rams? And wasn't it like McShaw and McVay completely dominates? Like the-- - He does. - And there was one turnaround in there. But for the most part, the Rams have had the better of the Cardinals throughout McVay's time in LA. But it makes me feel like the Cardinals might be competitive. In an NFC that I think those last two playoff spots possibly are gonna be up for grabs. We'll see how it goes. Okay. - Yeah. - The Duolipa, did I say that correctly? - You did, good job. Duolipa. - Are we sure it's not con? The Duolipa, whoever that is, AKA Illusion Award, not believing what I'm seeing. I'm sorry I'm not aware of Duolipa. Would be a good name for a dog or a cat. Really, you have Duolipa and you have Leepa. And do not eata, Duolipa. Okay, not believing what I'm seeing is the superlative here, what do you have? - I'm not believing what I'm seeing when it comes to you right now. I have the Saints and that is unfortunately because they played the Carolina Panthers who looked hapless on Sunday. And look, I think the Saints could be good. I don't know that they're beating teams by 37 points, kind of good, right? I mean, this looked like to me a game that you would see closer to the end of the regular season than a game that you should have started the season with, especially considering that the head coach came from the same division. And also you have continuity with defensive coordinator with the Carolina Panthers. So, and there's a lot of continuity with the offense. I mean, yes, offensive coordinator is different, but with the personnel with the New Orleans Saints. So, I think that they could be all right, but I don't believe that they are as good as they looked against the Panthers on Sunday. - Yeah, I'm not believing what I'm seeing with the Vikings. And I'll believe it when I see it against a team like the 49ers, which is coming up, or the Texans, which is coming up, or the Packers, which is coming up. The Giants and the Panthers could be vying for the worst team in the entire NFL. So, hey, it's better to go in and lose, but there's not a whole lot of pride you can take in beating the Giants the way the Vikings did, because it just feels like the Giants are gonna have a hard, hard time this year. And all that said, all that said, and tomorrow's when we really start pivoting into preview mode for week two. Sam Darnell knows the 49ers pretty well. He was there last year and the Vikings beat the 49ers. Kevin O'Connell seemed to have ideas for cracking the code on the San Francisco defense. So, maybe that's gonna be a better game than we expect. Last one, "The Green Day" now, this is, and I even know dilemma, I like dilemma. That's a great song. - All right. - That's from their current album, "Saviors." That's one of the better songs on that album. "The American Dream" is killing me. Look, Ma, no brains. I listened to that album from time to time. So, thank you, Gary, for not making me feel as old as I am. Biggest question heading into week two. By the way, dilemma is nominated for best rock video. So, good to give the old guys a little play tonight. Who has the biggest question heading into week two? - I gotta say, I'm more familiar with Kelly Rowland and Nellie's dilemma than I am with "Green Day." But I do like the album, "American Idiot." The biggest question to me is, "How are the Rams gonna withstand these injuries?" Because there's a lot, you know, especially on the offensive side, when you look at Pukka Nakua being down, offensive line already was banged up going into week one, then you had the suspension, of course, to Larry Jackson as well, with Rob Havenstein with the ankle. I mean, it's more banged up now going into week two. And they had a valiant, valiant effort against the Detroit Lions. You know, they convert that third down, where Matthew Stafford can't quite hit Cooper Cup late in the fourth quarter. And maybe they would have won that game, but it's gonna be tough for them. And, you know, we were talking about the Arizona Cardinals. They didn't look bad, you know, against the Buffalo Bills. And yeah, historically, Sean McVeigh has beaten the tar out of the Arizona Cardinals down there. But this one could be a little bit difficult, just based on the fact that like, you've got to give the offensive line, at least a little bit of help. And so we'll see how they game plan it this week, but that to me is a big question mark. - I've yet to see which game Tom Brady is working this week, which is kind of surprising, because they had made it known to us for months, the game he was gonna work week one. I don't know if it's gonna be Saints Cowboys. There isn't a 4.25 PM Eastern game on Fox. And I mentioned that because the one game that stood out to me was the rematch of Super Bowl 49, Seahawks Patriots, bring Tommy back to New England. And that is a big question for me because are the Patriots real? Was it just a fluke? Are they just the latest team to catch the Bengals napping as they are in Rip Van Winkle, hibernation week one and week two? Or can they actually sustain this? The Seahawks are a question mark because they have a new head coach and they're transitioning from whatever they've been to whatever they wanna be. But at the same time, Patriots gets a 2-0. Man, that makes next week's Thursday night game compelling Patriots jets. Good Lord if the Patriots go in there 2-0. So that's the biggest question. Can the Patriots continue to do what they did against the Cincinnati Bengals to start the season? And oh, by the way, it is New Orleans, the site of, and I'm sure they'll mention this throughout the game. That's where Tom Brady won his first Super Bowl and he'll be back to call his first Super Bowl and hype it up and hype it up and hype it up. So Saints Cowboys week two, week three, not announced yet, by the way. Okay, there's one more. The Katy Perry AKA Dark Horse Award from week one. Who do you have? - Give me the Chargers because I like the way that they competed against the Raiders on Sunday. I thought that, you know, they did a good job, especially on defense. Antonio Pierce's fourth down decision obviously did not help the Raiders in that situation in the fourth quarter. If you're gonna try to go down the field to win the game, it's fourth and one man and you're in a plus territory. Go try to win the game. That was just not a good conservative decision by Antonio Pierce, but what you did see on the other side was a Greg Roman offense, right? And, you know, I think for Justin Herbert trying to kind of take that next step as a quarterback, he's going to have a run game. And we already knew that, you know, if Jim Harbaugh's there and Greg Roman's there, they're gonna be able to have a run game, they're gonna be able to run the football. It was great to see JK Davins come back and do what he did. I don't know if they're gonna be a real playoff team given how good some of these quarterbacks are and some of these offenses and defenses are in the AFC, but the Chargers are gonna be feisty. And you know what, if Harbaugh's there, they've got a shot. - Feisty is just such an underused word. I like the word feisty. I encourage using feisty whenever and wherever it fits the conversation. The Buccaneers are a little feisty and their former linebacker, Devin White, literally owned a horse that he would ride around on, which is what you do with horses, unless you eat them. (laughing) Or turn off their heads and put them in somebody's bed. - True, that was an actual horse head, by the way, from the book based on the making of the Godfather, they tried to make a fake one and it wasn't good, so they managed to get themselves their hands on a real horse head for that scene. Spoiler alert, spoiler alert, if you've yet to see, if you've yet to see the original Godfather, Buccaneers, Dark Horse. I'm gonna say this all year and I'm the one guy that believes in the Buccaneers and I'm sure they'd prefer I didn't. They'd like to say no one anywhere, anyhow under any circumstances believes in this year. I got them going to the NFC Championship. They kicked the crap out of the commanders and I think they're, that's been overlooked 'cause it's like all the commanders, all the commanders. Well, I think the Bucks are better than people realize and I think they're gonna continue and they get the Lions this week. Ooh, they get the Lions this week. Chance to go back and hopefully they'll manage the clock a little better. Hopefully they'll call their timeouts when they realize the Lions are trying to piss down their legs and give the Bucks a chance to force overtime in that game. Let's take a break. When we return, there's been a development, a new development in the newest Deshawn Watson sexual assault lawsuit. We'll tell you what's going on there. Next on PFT Live. (upbeat music) Starbucks iced apple crisp oat milk shake and espresso. Made with blonde espresso, creamy oat milk and spiced apple flavors. It's an icy crisp sip you can enjoy all autumn long. 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(air whooshing) (air whooshing) On Monday, immediately after we posted our initial item on the new lawsuit that was filed against Deshawn Watson arising from an incident that allegedly occurred October 10 of 2020, a contact to the league for comments sent them a link to the story. They declined comment. And I've seen this happen before where I think I asked too early for comment because they get caught flat-footed and they don't know what they're gonna say. Spontaneous the yesterday, they sent out a statement to a bunch of different media outlets us included that they are reviewing the latest complaint. He will not be placed on the commissioner exampleist. And I'm surprised they even went there because you don't use the commissioner exampleist for civil allegations. It is for criminal allegations. And I guess there is one potential exception that you could make if you believe something did happen and there isn't a criminal case you could. But I thought that was kind of gratuitous and maybe a signal that they are taking it very seriously. If they took it seriously enough to consider whether to put them on the commissioner exampleist, maybe they'll take it seriously enough to fully investigate and potentially attempt to discipline him. The biggest argument if I'm the union though is you had your chance two years ago. You had your chance anything you knew or should have known about and you either knew or should have known about this one and you should have included it in the in-house effort to suspend Deshawn Watson and you can't do it again. You can't have a second bite at that apple. That would be the first defense I would explore if I'm the union acting on behalf of Deshawn Watson if this goes anywhere. - Right, but I mean, I think the conduct that is alleged in this lawsuit is a little bit different than some of the other conduct that has been punished. So I think that if you're the NFL, then that's what you would come back with. That we punished him for X, but this is why, you know? And so now this is a different situation. And, you know, if what is alleged is true, then I think we would all say that Deshawn Watson should be punished for it. - The question then becomes how much will the alleged victim cooperate with the NFL? That's one of the big flaws in the NFL's in-house justice system and has no subpoena power. You know, with a guy like Ezekiel Elliott, the alleged victim in his case from seven years ago was interviewed by the league literally seven times. So the more someone who has no legal obligation to cooperate is willing to cooperate, the easier it is for the NFL to come to its conclusions. And it comes down to a battle of credibility between witnesses. There's usually not a third party or any other objective evidence. Now there could be some objective evidence that makes the timeline not fit because I'd look back at the Texan schedule from 2020. October 10 was the day before the first game without Bill O'Brien, they were hosting the Jaguars. I don't know what Deshawn Watson's whereabouts would have been with the Texans that day, but that would be something to look into. Are there objective facts that would shed light on whether it didn't happen? At the end of the day, it's gonna come down to two people with very different stories. And who does a jury believe in a civil case? Who does Judge Sue Robinson, who's the person who handles these cases? What does she believe? And she's already come to the conclusion that Deshawn Watson doesn't necessarily tell the truth. So if she's handling this again, that's bad news for Deshawn Watson if it goes that far. So Mike, what is the next step then in this process? I mean, well, from a legal standpoint and then from a league standpoint? Well, the league would have to find out is this person. They would contact Tony Busby, who represents the individual who filed as a Jane Doe plaintiff. Is she willing to cooperate? That's the first step 'cause you can't really do anything. You can't get off square one unless you can talk to the individual who's making the allegation. And if she won't cooperate, then you have to monitor the litigation. And if there's a deposition at some point, if it goes to trial at some point, that becomes your basis for doing something. If the league ever gets enough evidence to act, and if it is something they didn't know about or shouldn't have known about at the time they acted, 'cause again, that would be the argument. You had your chance. You knew or should have known about this allegation. You didn't do it. If they can show they didn't know about it and had no reason to know about it, then it could become a potential suspension attempt. Judge Sue Robinson would be the finder of fact and would issue the decision. And here's the reality. If he suspended for even one game, the Browns can pull the plug on the remaining guarantees in the contract, $92 million for 25 and 26 combined. That's their only way out. Under paragraph 42 of his contract, we have a copy of it, he had to have disclosed in writing any of the off-field issues. If this wasn't disclosed in writing to the Browns before he signed and he gets suspended for it, they can void the guarantees and then cut to Sean Watson. - I mean, this is something that obviously could affect the Browns going forward. And it's one of those, I mean, we talk about the word quote unquote distraction. I mean, is this not the definition of that? I mean, my gosh, you know, having to go into week two, dealing with something like this. And frankly, I kind of feel like it's something that, you know, the higher ups of the organization need to be addressed in some sort of way, as opposed to just head coach Kevin Stefanski, who has been the one a lot of times to have to address these kinds of issues because he's the one who has press conferences, you know, twice a week during the practice week and then on Sundays and on Monday. And this is not something that the Browns need to have for their team right now. - And one last point, then we got to go to break. The thing to remember here, because there is affirmative allegation of sexual assault. I remember most of the other cases, it was not quite to the point where there was an allegation of basically rape. I mean, the way that the complaint reads, it dances around the term rape. That triggers the five year statute of limitations. I thought this was over because anybody, there's gonna sue him for this stuff he was accused of under the other 20 plus cases would have had two years. This happened allegedly during that window when other things allegedly were happening that he was sued for. So it's able to be filed now because it's five years. And I don't think it was an accident that this thing got filed the Monday after the first Sunday of the regular season. That was the same day we saw the Ray Rice video. The Monday after the first Sunday the regular season. That kinda steals some of the thunder, although this didn't land with the same thud that the rice video did because it was a video and it was shocking and it was stunning and it took over the entire news cycle. But I don't think this was an accident. And this is gonna be a problem. This is gonna be an issue. The League, the Browns, effort to Sean Watson. Let's take a break. Power rankings for week two are out. Very scientific process with many factors in variables and decimal points, not really. I just kinda kind of go with my first gut feeling. You'll see what my gut feeling produced next here on PFT Live. (upbeat music) - Bears stack the line of scrimmage. Are they blitzing? They are. Let us swallow it up. Gets rid of it. (crowd cheering) And it is intercepted down the sidelines for the 20 to the end zone. Tyreeks Stevenson. The easiest pitch sets you're gonna find. Here's the snap. Now steps up in the pocket. Now he's gonna run and the beast has once again been released. Can you say MVP? - I actually can't do it back to throw. Wants to beat one. - Now he's got Tyreeks. Tyreeks have a 40, 35, 30 got it. Now the track landing goes. Touchdown Miami. Oh my gosh. Speed kills once again. Cousins gets the snap. Looking TJ-1 gets their TJ-1 slings them down. And the play that will end this game, TJ-1 abounds to the crowd. The greatness cannot be stopped. - Some of the update homers from week one. And now we go straight into week two. The power rankings, I put them out every Tuesday. We talk about them every Wednesday. Unchange the top, the Chiefs and the Lions. Cowboys get a big jump. I guess I had them too low at number 19. The Bengals take a plunge down to 14 from seven. And the Packers without Jordan Love, for at least the next couple of games, he's back week four at the very earliest. Packers drop seven to number 10 miles. What jumps out to you as the biggest problem with the top half other than your Browns aren't on it? - Man, should they be on it? I mean, as long as the quarterback is still playing like that, I don't think they should be. I think that, and the defense obviously didn't look very good either. So I can't really quibble with you on that part of it. I think you got the Buccaneers a little high. I think I would probably have the Bills and Texans above them, but you know what? The Bucks, that a really nice game against the Washington commanders, so that is okay. I also don't know that I would have the Lions above the 49ers, frankly. I mean, I think that the Lions are a great team, yes, but I think that the 49ers is runner-ups. They didn't show anything to me that would say that they shouldn't still be the runner-up. So you probably had them a little low to begin with if they moved up and they're only number three. So those are the things that stand out to me at least at first. - They were four going into the season just because of the whole brand and I, you Trent Williams, we don't know what's going on. Are they gonna be ready? So they moved up with the win, but they didn't leapfrog the Lions. I had the Bucks leapfrog, the Bills and the Texans, because I thought their win was more impressive than what the Bills and Texans did, and then there's your back half. The Panthers would be lower than 32 if that was mathematically possible. The Panthers are clearly the worst team in the NFL right now, and there's no good way out of this for them anytime soon, and it's probably gonna drive David Temper to either drink or throw drinks or both. - I think it's probably the latter. What's interesting about the Panthers, and I was on radio in Vegas yesterday talking about this, they play the Chargers this week and they lost Derrick Brown. And if you're trying to get yourself together and all that, you need to be able to stop the run if you're playing a Greg Roman offense, and you just lost your best defensive player and a guy that's huge and plays in the middle. I don't know what the Chargers are gonna do this week, but if they don't run for 150 yards, I'm gonna be surprised. - Yeah, I don't disagree with that at all, and I think the Panthers become that soft spot on everyone's schedule, and the question is, for how long will David Temper cling to the guy he wanted last year, Bryce Young, hoping against Hope that he finally becomes the guy that it's starting to look like he's never gonna be. But then again, maybe the Panthers ruined him and maybe he goes somewhere else and he becomes a great player. We'll find out if and when that ever occurs. When we return, we'll find out our week one Mulligans. That's our draft. Who wants, but can't get a Mulligan for week one next on PFT Law. - At least you got to see some more football than you would've had at one o'clock Eastern on Sunday when it just starts, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, and it's everywhere. And you're like, huh, huh, huh. And you watch Red Zone and you're thinking to yourself, oh my gosh, I've missed this so much. Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, that's disturbing. Oh, that's disturbing. That's gonna give me a seizure like Mary Hart's voice. Okay, that's, man, that's pretty impressive that you had, that kind of energy at four a.m. or close to it. - Yeah. - Pacific time. Well done. - That's right. - All right, all right, we gotta get the traffic. - We gotta shift into high gear here. Week one mulligans, who wishes they had to do over for anything that you want. This can be as broad as you want. I got some outside the box ideas and there is a fine line between outside the box, what's in the box and just plain kooky. What do you have? - Give me Isaiah likely because my goodness, if he could take just his toe and move it just an inch further back, then we could have had a very different ending to that first game of the season. I mean, obviously the Ravens are still a really, really good team, right? Lamar Jackson, reigning MVP. We'll see whatever was going on, practice he didn't have it on Monday. We'll see if he's there today. But look, I mean, if Isaiah likely just gets his foot in, then oh my gosh, we might have had a really different ending to that game. - I'm gonna go with Kyle and Murray because the Cardinals were down six in Buffalo and Marvin Harrison Jr., who had one catch in his NFL debut, was wide open down the right side of the field. And Kyle or Murray, who, you know, probably has a hard time seeing over the line, didn't see that Marvin Harrison Jr. was wide open. They could have won that game after they blew the lead, fell behind by 11. They could have come back and won that game. So I'm sure Kyle or Murray would love to have the opportunity. Here it is again. With a minute and change to go, tick, tick, tick. Marvin Harrison Jr. broke wide open down the field. And instead, Kyle or Murray threw the ball underneath. Watch Marvin Harrison Jr. He, oh my gosh, there is no one. That's like that. In Super Bowl III, the trick play that the Colts ran, where I think it was Jimmy Orr that was wide open. They ran the same play during the regular season, or was the guy, and for whatever reason, they didn't throw to him. And it caused some people to think that somebody was maybe on the take for that game, because that was one of those moments where it's like, wait, this is their play. This is the first read, why didn't they throw the ball? Okay, what do you have next? That was very obscure. I've been sitting on that fact for about five years, waiting for the right time to use it. I'm still not sure it was the right time. All right, what do you got next? - Well, that's okay. My next mulligan, guys, we'll love us. Oh, no, we'll love us. What were you doing? Second half of that game. - Carson Wentz. - Why are you trying to backflip that thing? You said Carson Wentz, when it was going to earlier in the show, Brandon Whedon did the same thing against the Eagles in one of his first games. Why are you trying to flip that thing back in? Don't do that, man. You gotta learn from that. I'm sure he will try to, but I mean, if he doesn't do that, then maybe the Titans keep control of that game and they go on to win. Titans defense really didn't let up anything against the Chicago Bears. It was the defense and the special teams of the Chicago Bears. That was partially because of Will Levis. I'm sure he wants them all. - Next one for me, and this is one of the benefits when the NFL gets into the regular season and there are controversies. There's always a bright, shiny object that will quickly pull the plug on the controversy. And the best time to have a controversy is on a Friday night game. 'Cause there's not that usual flow of shows the next day that you would have on a weekday after a Monday game or a Thursday game or a Sunday game. And then into Sunday, you've got the explosion of games. The Friday night game, the field was inexcusable. Whoever was responsible for that field should be fired. And I hate to say that, I don't say it lightly. They should be fired. I don't know who was ultimately responsible for it, but it's unacceptable. It's a safety hazard. It impaired the enjoyment of the game. It undermined the integrity of the game. Whoever was responsible for that field would like a mulligan so they could go back. They need a mulligan so they could go back and make it a field that actually plays like an NFL field should play. Let's take a break. One more round. Week one mulligan. It's when PFT Live continues right after this. Week one mulligans, we've got one more round to go. Miles, who do you have or what do you have or which team do you have? Just give me the Browns defense. I need a mulligan because here's the thing. The offense certainly wasn't helping that unit. It couldn't sustain drives. Quarterback wasn't playing well at all. And this is a very talented defense. We already know that. They got reigning defensive player of the year, Miles Garrett. I think that they will be better. They just kind of ran into a buzz saw in the Cowboys. They might have got a really good game plan. It didn't work out. But I think that they'll be fine going forward. Just give them a mulligan. Last one for me. Anyone that had Christian McCaffrey ready to go in a fantasy game on Monday night. When all they needed was a Christian McCaffrey performance and they would have won their week one game because they got screwed. And I asked the league about this whole thing where Jordan Mason came out and said he found out on Friday that he was starting and the 49ers labeled McCaffrey as questionable on Saturday. The league said declined comment. Well, they could have said everything they did was fine. So I wonder what's really going on behind the scenes. And I think there should be a requirement to downgrade a guided doubtful at some point. You shouldn't just be able to say questionable on Saturday and then just drop him as inactive on Monday an hour and a half or four kickoff. At some point you got to send up a flag so folks can make their adjustments accordingly. That's it for today. Have a great Wednesday. See you tomorrow. What do we want? The Popeye's Chicken Wings. Why do we want them? They're the official wing of watching football. At 599, 4, 6 piece. When do we want them? When we're watching the game. That's right, game time is wing time. I'm from that chicken from Popeye. 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