0:00 Pumped for NFL Week 1!
5:29 Ravens vs Chiefs preview
24:24 Rashee Rice avoids Commissioner’s Exempt List
30:32 Hollywood Brown will not play (shoulder)
31:21 PFT Live Draft: Ravens vs Chiefs matchups
PFT Live with Mike Florio
Ravens vs Chiefs set to kick off the NFL season
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Get your quote now at progressive.com. Progressive casualty insurance company and affiliates, national average 12-month savings of $744 by new customer surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Social savings will vary, discounts not available in all states and situations. The mark passed batted in the air and it is caught. Lamar Jackson caught the deflected pass. Back to throw is Lamar Jackson over the middle caught by Zay Flowers. The ball's out, the ball is out in the end zone. Touch back, the chase recovered the ball in the end zone. Lamar down the middle back in the end zone, it's intercepted. Back to back, turnovers in the end zone by the Baltimore Ravens. You can doubt the Chiefs, you can dislike the Chiefs, you can disrespect the Chiefs. You're gonna have to deal with the Chiefs being the AFC champions for the fourth time in five seasons. They could have given us Chiefs versus anyone to start the season and we would be excited about it. Millions would tune in, football is back, but of the 272 games there was only one AFC Championship rematch and that's the game that starts the 2024 season. Ravens at Chiefs, not Chiefs at Ravens, second straight year we're here in Kansas City. In this spot, your favorite remote location with all the activity and action around us. It's 6 a.m. I did want to complain a little bit and be like, wait, I thought last year we went through this. I want to be in the main lobby with the crowd behind us. Nobody's there. Well, they will be soon. I mean, it won't be that long in the second hour, but okay, fine, we're here, all right? I'm happy. Don't worry. I'm with you. Hello. Good to see you. We do have to take care. How are you? We do have to take care of something. Okay, because we never announced or explained or even acknowledged why your giant head is only here one day a week during college football season. And the problem is, and I knew this was going to happen, yeah, I have been inundated with emails. Where's Chris? Where's Chris? Kevin McCorty. Tuesdays with McCorty. Two thumbs up. No complaints about Devin, it's amazing because they'll complain about anything. And I get complaints about anything and everything falling under the broader NBC Comcast umbrella. I mentioned this the other day. Somebody's having trouble watching one of the Fast and Furious movies on Peacock and I got the complaint. It's great. What the hell? I like that person. So they complain at will about everything. They don't complain about Devin McCorty, but where is Chris? Well, Chris is here today. So don't email me. Where is Chris today? But why have you abandoned this show, this audience, and you're only going to be here one day a week. Why have you done that? Because I do have, I have a Saturday college football schedule now that's been added on to my life. And yeah, taking that time to study the games that we have this week and be able to talk to that. This was one of the things that the powers to be thought that, you know, would make sense to maybe take one thing off my plate to lessen my workload. So that's what it is. I'll be Monday. All year long. We'll be together Monday morning. That'll be great. I don't have any other more like there's no other excuses. That's just the fact of the matter. Once we get done with college football, I'll be back to our normal schedule. It's only 13 weeks. That's what you said. It's only 13 weeks. I didn't say that. I think my boss is the boss that said that. That was part of what they said to you. I'm also trying to tell myself it's only 13 weeks because it is like right now am I sitting here. I'm going, wait, wait, okay, I've gotten ready for the Ravens Chiefs game. Right. That's great. We're going to fly home tonight. We got Brazil tomorrow night. I got the college football team going, hey, can you send me clips of Shadur Sanders and Dominic Riola and Nebraska? And hey, what about the Notre Dame game? And they're all fence aligned. So that's my and I'm going, wait, I'm not sure even when I'm going to be able to look at all this here in the next few days. So I do have that on my plate here. I am stressed about that. And it'll be fine. It'll be fine. It'll work out. It's fine. It's fine. When it's time to talk, you just talk. Yeah. But I don't like that. I don't like to just talk. I like to know or at least have real good information to talk with when there's at a New Year's resolution. I miss. You know what? It's fucking you to start the show. Yes. Yes. Yes. We're back. We're back. Welcome to Peacock everybody. Hey, also a quick programming note, not for air, but for the back room. Yeah. I, my computer's not cooperating, so somebody needs to text me the rundown because I don't even know what we're talking about. I know we're talking about cheese. So you were, so you're going to talk to me about being in- I've got a blank screen. I've got nothing. You don't know how to hook up to the Internet. I thought I did. I mean, apparently not. West Virginia, we're doing them proud there right now. Way to go. Okay. But I know that at least like for the next hour, we're going to talk about tonight's game. We are going to talk about tonight's game. We are. We are. We are. Get on the dim. I am. It's the low guess. Okay. You're messing something up there. I was on the NBC. Yep. It's not working today. There's some complaints that I get. I'm having issue with NBC Internet somewhere. That's the kind of complaint that people decide to bring to me. Okay. All right. So either way, back to the game, which I'm pumped about. That gave me chills, the opening right there. It does. I'm a kid in the candy store when it comes to NFL opening day, Thursday night, the kickoff game, whatever, I just, the excitement, as we always talk about like back in the Northeast, the smell in the air, I can kind of smell fall around the corner. I'm really excited for it. And yeah, like you said, how can you not be pumped for this game? The NFL gets the right match up. They got the right match up last year with the Lions coming to town, right? With all the hype around them, we were a little worried like, do the Lions know what they're doing? This is different. This is Ravens trying to get payback saying they don't want payback. But also as the Chiefs going, we know the Ravens want to come here and get payback. The Chiefs played their players in the first two preseason games. They know what's coming in. They know what they're in store for here. And they know the Ravens want to make a splash here to start the 2024 season, right? So that's what I'm excited about tonight. And then we know both teams are kind of chippy to begin with anyways when it's even not the Ravens of the Chiefs. They don't back down from anybody. And we heard, you know, we've heard through this whole process, hey, training camp. It wasn't hard to motivate players because, hey, we're playing the Chiefs or playing the Ravens, right? So to see that on the schedule, you know, you're going to get to your players to work and be ready to go from that sense. And that's where I'm excited for the game tonight. And one thing that we won't see tonight, I assume, is only eight carries for running backs for the Baltimore Ravens. I mean, I hope not, right? I mean, we were kind of discussing that a little yesterday when we were over at the stadium. That's got to change, you know, yes, we know Lamar Jackson's great and all that. We had times during the year last year. Now I think we left them off the hook to a degree because they were winning football games and still really good. But I know on my podcast and sitting here with you in certain mornings, we were still going, man, I wish they would run the ball just a little bit more. It'll be good for them. You know, that's when they're at their best when people start to creep up and get closer to the line of scrimmage. You have to worry about that. And then Lamar gets on the outside and they get the favorable matchups in the pass game. But that was the story of the AFC Championship game, right? The big bad Ravens versus oh, the Chiefs and Mahomes and they throw the ball and it was the opposite of that. It was the big bad Chiefs and the Ravens were the ones that tried to throw the ball and do all that. That'll be one of the interesting things in the night because they got three new offensive line starters right with the Baltimore Ravens. And then yes, did they get the memo that you're at your best when the threat of the run game with Lamar and Jackson and your big powerful offensive line can dominate a football game. And then we don't make it all about Lamar, Jackson and Todd Munken and all passing stats and all that. And that's what I want to see. And they got Derek Henry. And of course, that's what we all want to see. I think I hope there are more valence offense this year. Last year, it seemed like they were trying to prove a point, right? I know you used to say that seemed like they were trying to prove like, Hey, look at what we paid Lamar. Hey, look, we drafted this receiver. Hey, we signed this free agent. They were going to make the pass game thing work no matter what. Lamar, Jackson said he wanted a throw for $6,000. That's right. They're going back to the last year. And the biggest game of the year and we know the rest of the rest is history. And now having Derek Henry. Yeah. Obviously, they will run the ball more. I do wonder, and Miles Simmons and I talked about this yesterday, how much gas is in the tanks or running back to his 30 years, had a lot of carries, had a lot of carries at Alabama. Right. That's the knock on the Alabama tailbacks. They come into the NFL. Yeah. Back done. Warren and torn and other running backs do. And at what point are you just not the guy anymore? At what point do you just not muster the same strength, the same explosion? If he still got it, that's a problem. Can you imagine Derek Henry and Lamar Jackson powering that running game? And their prime is scary, right? That's for sure. Now, you know, Lamar has seen this prime running ability as we know it or what we've seen throughout his career. No, I don't think he's that. I think we've said like we think maybe Justin Fields is a better runner, a quarterback now. He's probably going to challenge. He's probably going to challenge him exactly right, but we still know Lamar is extremely dangerous. And I think it goes the same way for Derek Henry. Do I think he lost a step compared to the prime of his career? Absolutely. I do see that, but still effective and big and still has good feet. And then what we saw last year is, OK, maybe not quite as explosive as he used to be. But when he gets going, he gets in the open field, he can still open up and pull away from people. And that is going to be the big thing tonight. Yeah. And that he's going to be in the shotgun more in the Lamar Jackson offense. So maybe not coming downhill in the eye formation quite as much as he was in Tennessee. But I am excited to see them unveil some new tricks and see the game unfold in front of us tonight with two teams that we know got a lot of pride. We'll flip it over to the Chiefs because it doesn't help the Ravens that last year the Chiefs stepped on the proverbial rake against the Lions. And they're prone to that. We saw them lose at home on Christmas Day against the Raiders. The idea that we just show up and didn't the other team get the memo, this is supposed to be our celebration. They need to go along with this. They need to play the role of the Washington Generals to our Harlem Globetrotters. That isn't always the case. And I remember last year when the Lions came out before the game, I think it was too late to change since it picked because there's just a different vibe coming from the Lions and I expected. Yeah. And I think and they were bigger than we thought in person and you could tell they were in no way in fear of the moment or anything like that. And the Ravens are going to have some of that too, but the Chiefs I think would have learned a valuable lesson from that. This is chapter one of a 17 chapter book and postseason as the epilogue. But I think the Chiefs knowing that they are staring at the opportunity to make history, even though it's not something that Andy Reid wants them to be thinking about actively at some level. How can you not be thinking this is our chance and they've never been dominant. They've never made it look easy. And I just wonder if there's a quiet determination this year that almost like some of the stuff we've heard from Brock Purdy out loud, the 49ers quarterback, I want to be dominant. The Chiefs maybe aren't going to say that, they're just going to go out and do it. And it's easier said than done because you've got an opponent that isn't going to comply with everything you're trying to do. But we see what they can do when they have to, if they can muster that have to, earlier in a game, earlier in a season, this is a team that could be dominant if they could just put it all together on a regular basis. I mean, I agree with you there. They play with their food. Right. It's time to bring that phrase back because we've seen the Chiefs play with their food time. Yeah, they're the kings of letting teams that are lesser than them hanging around and being football games, right? That's what we laugh about in so many Sundays where we're like, the Chiefs are killing this team. And here we are in the third quarter and they've messed around and they're only up by four. I don't, I think we'll see a different chief team than we saw last year altogether. I think you bring up a lot of points there that are real good. And I think the first thing is just being in Kansas City last week with bahomes going to practice a little bit. Right. I think first off, they embrace the talk of the three P. They're not afraid of it. It wasn't like when I had my interview with my homes, he was like, Oh, oh, we're not going to talk about that yet. Right. It wasn't like the New England Patriots type of answer or anything like that. It is like, Hey, it's special. We want it. We know. We know this is nobody's done this and they kind of embraced that. And I do think that is going to be a motivating factor for them throughout the year. It's a way they can separate their dynasty from any other dynasty. It's a way my homes can separate themselves from Brady in some ways if he doesn't catch him at seven. Hey, I got three in a row. Nobody did that. So I think there's a lot of that let alone that I think the chiefs know what they're about to deal with here in that the Ravens are coming to town. Like you said, this next week after that is the Cincinnati Bengals. So they're going, wait, we better be ready. The first two games of the year or two teams that could be the difference between home field advantage and the playoffs. So I think between that and then the lesson they learned last year in Detroit or with the Detroit coming here and being ready, I think you're right. And then also on top of that, something we hit on a little bit. They have that almost they have a whole season. We talk about it in a game format sometimes of the season really wasn't that good last year. The coach and my homes have free reign to kind of keep the hot poker on everybody's ass. I'd be like, we don't even play that good last year, but we won the Super Bowl, right. So there's a lot of, I think, good coaching moments that they've had throughout training camp going back watching last year going, look, we won the Super Bowl, but we didn't even do this good all season on the offensive side of the ball. And I think that has led them to more motivation as well, which is scary. When my home starts saying we're going to attack and we want to attack and we got faster receivers and all of that, they're going to try to reinvent themselves here a little bit this year and show you a different side than what we've seen the last two years, which is, you know, a little more short passing game. Andy Reed is nine and two in regular season openers with the Kansas City Chiefs and he's only had six of those with Patrick Holmes. And again, they lost last year all the more reason to expect that they'll be ready to go. I mean, chubs Tony, of course, you know, that was a factor. That was a factor. That was a factor. It wasn't like they didn't show up last year. Right. They weren't their best, but they blew opportunities and didn't show up in the lines, capitalized. The lines capitalized on the opportunities that were given. Right. And the next thing, you know, they're in a game that they ultimately can't win. But when you look at the schedule, they've got those two big games right out of the gate. Yeah. Then they go to Atlanta. We'll see them week three Sunday night football. They're at the Chargers, which will not be an easy game against them, Harbaugh and company. And then they're at the Saints on a Monday night and they go into their buy. They have an early buy. So this is almost like a mini postseason to start the regular season. Right. Let's just take care of business. One, two, three, four, five, get to four and one or five and oh, ideally, although it's not going to be easy. It's not going to be easy. Three and two could happen through the first five games. And then comes the, you know, the rest of the slate. Right. It's not crippling, but there's some games on there. They have a Super Bowl rematch in San Francisco coming out of their buy week. They play a Buccaneers team that is woefully underrated, I think, at this point. Yeah. Their division rivals aren't going to lay down. They go to Kansas City. They've got the Texans. That's another NBC game. We're going to see them a lot this year. And that's good because they're fun to watch, but this could be the year that maybe they're not fun to watch. This could be the year that they figure out on a consistent basis how to put it together. They don't mess around. They don't care. They, you know, they take care of business. Yeah. The thing though is if they happen to be a dominant force for the first time under Mahomes and Reed, yeah, that's a little more dangerous when the, when the postseason rolls around because I think the fact that they do learn how to play through close games and win the games they have to win, that helps them in the postseason. They have a pretty good catalog of experience from past years that I think will come in handy if they get to the postseason and they haven't been tested this year, but there is value in being tested in some of these games because they just, they know when to press the right button. They know when to make it happen when they need to make it happen and they almost get it. I think they get addicted to that. Yeah. I think they're addicted to it yet they're like numb to the pressure of it. And I think your point is like what you're talking about. We talked to the two Super Bowls ago, Chiefs, Eagles. The thing we worried about in the game was what the Chiefs were battle tested. Remember we were saying that Eagles had it too easy. Eagles, it was so easy. We wondered, wait, if that game got late in the fourth quarter, will they be like, Oh, wait, we're in a close football game or we're losing and how are we going to react? And of course, we know they didn't react to their best year. The Chiefs, we, we really, the first year Mahomes came into the league. We saw that was a year. I think we saw them not play with their food. And of course, they had some other times as well. But yeah, fully dominant like seems like they take care of business weekend, week out, dominate football teams that way. They've never quite been that way. You're right. It's like they get bored. They get a little bored at times during the football season. But I think with this three-peat hovering over them and then the fact that it's the Ravens, the Bengals and then even sneaky go to Atlanta and deal with that where you don't think where he morris and Kirk Cousins aren't going to want to show everybody like, Hey, look, Kirk will work Tuesday that way. Well, he might. I really want to know if he's working Tuesdays in Atlanta, having Michael Pentec's junior hovering over his shoulder would tend to motivate a guy to work on Tuesday. We'll find out if he did or if he does. But I think all those things have led that if you go to Atlanta to interview Cousins, the week of that game, I want you to promise me that you will ask him if he's now working on Tuesday. Okay. All right. Well, I'll ask it. I'll say it's for me. You'll say it's for me. That's the perfect way to do it. Go ahead. I know wants to know. Go ahead because that's the great cover then he won't be mad at you, but I do blame it on me. I will. Trust me. No problem there. I got you. But yeah, I'm excited for tonight. I mean, of course, we have not seen a team go back to back, right? Since the Patriots of 2003-2004, they were good in the playoffs that year, but they lost a Denver that is long, hundred yard, champ Bailey return. Exactly right. And historically struggled in Denver, so that was the end of the road. And I thought back all the way to when I was growing up watching the Dolphins, just assuming they were going to win three in a row after they go 17-0, man handle the Vikings in 73. They're on their way. The Sea of Hands game against the Raiders. And that was when the Raiders were finally like, you know, they'd great regular season, but they couldn't do anything in the postseason. They finally broke through and that was like, wow, this has really changed the narrative because it was all Dolphins, Dolphins, Dolphins. Steelers had a chance they got to the AFC Championship and again, the Raiders, that's when the Raiders busted through to the Super Bowl, otherwise we would have had to re-match the Steelers Vikings. That would have felt very good about that in Super Bowl 11. And you've been mentioning like some of the 80s era stuff with your dad's Giants team in 90 being the one that kept the 49ers from going three in a row. Exactly right. You know, it wasn't my dad on that day, right? But it was Jeff Hostel, but still nonetheless, right? It is a little bit, we go into the year here and go, who's going to be that team? Who's that team that's going to stand up to the Kansas City Chiefs right now in the AFC? I think it's a fair question. You know, we know there's a lot of talent in the AFC. There's a lot of good quarterback play, but as far as complete teams matching up and being a team that can really dethrone, right, the Kansas City Chiefs, I think you look at those teams and go, okay, hey, yeah, obviously the Ravens are in that combo. I think Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals are the giants to the 49ers or the 49ers to the Cowboys with Jason Garrett and the Troy Akeman team, right, who won two in a row and then lost that third NFC championship game to the 49ers out in San Francisco with Deon Sanders and all of them. But that's, hey, that's something I'm intrigued by this year. Are we just going to, who in the AFC is going to rise up to the occasion? Are we just going to sit down here and lay down to the Chiefs and let them just, you know, run the world in the AFC? And I look at those three teams as to be three teams that I think not only have the players and the team, but I think have the quarterbacks too that want to go, wait, wait, wait, I'm sick of this Mahomes stuff here. I want to make my mark and win a Super Bowl. To me, it's the Bengals because we've seen it happen. Exactly. Joe Burrow lives for the postseason and it changes. Some guys turtle when the postseason rolls around and other guys step up and Burrow transforms into a superhero, even more of a superhero. It's not Clark Kent's Superman, it's Superman to Superman on steroids by the time Joe Burrow makes it, not that I'm not saying Joe Burrow is on steroids, it's the example of Superman. I don't know that steroids would help Superman, but work with me on that. But that was missing last year because Burrow was hurt. We had that, and I remember when the schedule came out, New Year's Eve, we got to wait until New Year's Eve for Chiefs Bengals. This classic postseason matchup where the Bengals beat them one year, the Bengals had them on the ropes the next year and somehow the Chiefs pulled the rabbit out of the hat. We got to wait all the way until the brink of the postseason for this game. No, no, no, no, no, let's do it early this year, we're getting it early. And I think that the Bengals are that team that stands out above the rest that when it's time to face down the Mahomes mystique, they welcome it, they want it, they wouldn't have it any other way. Agreed. Agreed. That's what I look at. And listen, I know we're doing some predictions later and all that. I've already predicted my Super Bowl matchup and all that and I'll be one to just, you know, kind of talk about that a little bit here and just go, Hey, yeah, I picked the Bengals go to the Super Bowl this year for the reasons you talked about. I did. I, you know, again, I know, I love the Chiefs. I got major respect for them. I would love to see them get to the Super Bowl and have a 3P. But yeah, I think that the Bengals are a team that I look at and go. This Jamar chase thing is about the only thing I'm worried about on their football team. I know we'll discuss that a little later, but yes, they have the qualities that you're talking about. And I think they, the way they talked all off season OTAs, the way Jamar chase talks and we know Joe Burroughs not scared of the Chiefs or any of that, you know, they refuse to back down from that. And they do look like the team to me that is the hungariest to the throne, the Kansas City Chiefs. And I would say on top of that, yeah, they have the quarterback that I think is most capable of being cool and big pressure against the guy like my homes and being one of those few guys where you go, wait, we know my homes is going to come out on top against just about everybody. Oh, I'm not sure about that one and that's where Cincinnati and the Bengals I think are extremely dangerous. But yeah, I look at it and that, you know, I kind of went off a history a little bit with my picks that way going like, hey, it's always the team that's the biggest rival that knocks you off to, because they're, they're all year, they're sitting there watching the Super Bowl. I can remember my dad and 89 watching the giant, I mean, the 49ers beat the Broncos. I could tell he was disgusted and bothered by it when I was sitting there watching him with it. He was like, Oh my gosh, Joe's got four and we only got one and, you know, we can't beat them and blah, blah, blah. And they were bothered by it. And that's of course why they started out 10 and 0 and 90 because they knew, Hey, this is the 49ers. They're going for a 3P. We need to match that kind of, you know, intensity and I think we're going to see the Bengals match that intensity through the year just that chase thing bothers me a little bit. Well, and again, until somebody can knock off the team that's climbed at the top of the mountain, two straight years, we look at it and we say, we don't think anybody can do it. I look at it and I say, I don't think anybody can do it. That's one area and, you know, who knows, we both may be flat wrong, but we both see chiefs and Bengals crossing paths in the postseason and it could go either way. That's the beauty of it. Again, that's why this, this dynasty is not boring like ones we've seen in the past where it's like, Oh, could somebody else please have a turn? Would somebody else play, because even when the chiefs win, they really keep us in doubt. They keep us on the edge of the seat. They keep us guessing all the way until the very end when they somehow snatch the entertaining jobs. The $5 meal deal at McDonald's means you get to pick between them a double or a chicken. Then get a small fry, a small drink and a four piece McNuggets. It's a lot of McDonald's for not a lot of money. Get the $5 meal deal today, prices and participation may vary for a limited time only. First of all, congratulations on becoming the official grill and bar sponsor of the National Football League. How does it feel to serve up the NFL? Man, it's a real dream come true. I'm glad we'll be able to serve up some extra heat this season. Do you have any plans to celebrate? Absolutely. We serve up America's favorite bowling swings for just $0.50 each to kick off the season. Any of our sources, whether it's in restaurant or to go, it don't matter, it's all $0.50 all the time. Are you worried at all about any competition this season? What competition? Limited time price participation in selection may vary, tax and gratuity excluded. The NFL on CBS streams live on Paramount+ all season long. Why Paramount+? Stream the NFL on CBS and you can watch your local game live every week and catch featured national games. That includes pivotal afternoon matchups, the Thanksgiving game and the post season all streaming live on Paramount+ visit Paramount+ dot com slash NFL to sign up today. Another great season of the NFL on CBS awaits streaming live on Paramount+. Right. Right. It is. Right. It definitely is that way. A couple of news items that relate to the chiefs and who will and won't be available tonight, Rishi Rice, the receiver they love who picked up the offense faster than Tyree Kill had nearly a thousand yards last year stepped up in the post season. It's one of the reasons why they've tolerated some of the things that he gets into when he goes to Dallas. Sure. We've seen this story time. And again, Guy goes back to where his friends are and their bad influences and he changes when he's around. Hey, you're awesome. You're famous. You have money. Oh my gosh, you got a car. What are we going to do tonight? Let's go and see this group. And you get you get trapped a little bit. And that became a horrific street racing incident. Yes. It was well documented. We've seen the video on this program more than 10 times. I still can't believe no one was killed and he's facing eight felony charges. And when the NFL started with the commissioner example list, the fancy name for paid leave back in 2014, it was the Ray Rice, Greg Hardy, Adrian Peterson stuff that all happened. The NFL decided screw innocent until proven guilty. There are going to be situations where a guy is facing charges, even if he has never been tried, even if he has never been convicted, we are going to tell him, you stay home, we'll pay you. It's not punishment in the NFL's opinion, which I think is ludicrous because it is punishment. Some guys get cut when they get put on paid leave because the team doesn't want to pay him to not play. Of course. All player that has any real accomplishments, chasing history, trying to win championships, trying to make it to the Hall of Fame, whatever the case may be, you want to play, guys want to play football. It's one of the reasons why work stoppages never pan out. Yeah, they don't want to lose a game checks. They also want to play football. So the NFL has used paid leave from time to time. And with Rishi Rice, I just assumed there's no way he's going to be here week one. Yeah, I hear you. He's either going to plead guilty and be suspended without pay under the personal conduct policy, or they're going to put him on paid leave. He's got eight felony charges arising from this incident that could have gotten somebody killed. How was he not on paid leave? The difference is the way it's played out, domestic violence cases. That's where the NFL is quicker to use paid leave right for a situation like this, even with injuries. No one was killed, but there were injuries and the video and the video is thought maybe that would be the final nail in the coffin there. And Karim Williams and I talked about this last week. Do you penalize the outcome? Do you penalize the behavior? I think you penalize the behavior because you want to discourage the behavior because once you engage in the behavior, it's literally Russian roulette at that point. You don't want that kind of reckless conduct because sometimes it gets somebody killed, like Henry Ruggs, three years ago, sometimes it doesn't. Let's deter that behavior. That's not the NFL's position, at least not so far. You're not going to use paid leave, barring a material change in the case. And I think the way this is going to play out, rice is people are going to try to kick the can through the season. Yeah, seems that way. Plead guilty after the season and then have the eventual suspension without pay kick in a year from now when we may be sitting right here, having the same conversation about the kid and city chief. Very real. And I'll be good. Can we get in the big lobby? The concern is, if the chiefs went in again, I will move heaven and earth to get us to the big lobby. Okay, all right. Get ready. All right. The concern is if he plead guilty during the season, then that would be the kind of material change that would put him on paid. Got you. So, get it through the season. I'm trying to find out when there's a trial date. I heard something yesterday about December, but we know how these trial dates are. There's a trial date and then all of a sudden there's another one, five months later. And then there's another one. I think they're going to successfully push this through the season. Plead guilty out because I don't know how you I don't know what your defense is. There's factual guilt and legal guilt. The factual guilt we've seen. We just watched it again. There's no getting away from this. He's going to have to accept responsibility. He already kind of has the question is what charges do you plead guilty to? Which ones do they drop? What's the recommended sentence, et cetera, et cetera? I just think that at this point, they want to get through the season. They want to try to get the three feet. Of course. Let's spend it. Let's do it next year. And I'm not saying it's right or wrong. I'm just trying to discern what the strategy is. The strategy is here. Let's get him on the field all season long and whatever medicine he has to take, he takes it next year. Yeah. Listen, it's big. It's big because one, it's the chiefs and we know they're good and he's really good. And not just really good. Like I think I think this is the year you see the passing of the baton, right? And if you made me make like a proclamation about the Kansas City Chiefs, I think this will be the first year we've seen in the Mahomes era, right? Where the number one target on the football team will not be Tyreke or Kelsey, right? Tyreke. It's going. I think it will be Rishi Rice. And that's where I think it is a big deal. Hey, they draft Xavier Worthy. He's got speed. We know that. Is he ready to be a hundred catch? We can depend on him every game, all game for 10 to 12 targets? No. I don't think he's going to be that. He's going to be, you know, take the top off the defense gadget guy, go deep, do all that type of stuff. Hotly with Brown. We know he's hurt. That's things he doesn't get to play tonight, but he's a similar guy that way, too. I think Rishi Rice is going to be the meat and potatoes of the offense. You'll see those two going downfield. You'll see Rishi Rice go downfield at times, too. But I think really what you'll see is almost a roll of, I don't want to say Travis Kelsey, but I think you're going to see him over the middle, intermediate routes a whole lot. And anytime there's a big third in seven or anything like that, where hey, Travis Kelsey might have been the main target the last few years who we draw up the play for. I think Rishi Rice is going to get his fair share of that this year. And that's where it's big for them. And especially with no Hollywood Brown tonight, if they didn't have Rishi to go, Rishi Rice to go along with that, I'd be worried about them with the Baltimore Ravens defense and that talent over there with lack of weapons. But he's playing and they should be damn good on them. It's a shame they won't have Hollywood Brown tonight for a couple of reasons, one of which is he would have a chance to go against the team, the draft and the team from which he wanted to be traded, and he tried to thread that needle. It's not about Lamar. It's about the offense. Remember when that all went down, but I mean, the bottom line is, and that was a narrative with the Ravens, one of the reasons why they hired Todd Monkin to be the offense coordinator, one of the reasons why they throw it more than they ran it in the AFC Championship last year, you want receivers to want to go there. You don't want to only be able to get your receivers from the draft where they have no choice but to come play for you, and Hollywood Brown was a guy who wanted out, but he is out tonight with that injury. He suffered in the preseason opener. So let's do a draft of the matchups to watch tonight. You can go any direction when we've done these before. We're getting back into regular season form. The stuff and the way we talk about it is changing as of today. We haven't talked about anything like this, so give me your number one matchup to watch Ravens Chiefs. I think the thing I'm most concerned with the Ravens is the three new offense alignment. So that's where I start, and then I start with the interior. They're going to have two guys on the inside as far as guards that are new to that position. So like, hey, left guard Andrew Voorhees, USC, guy that got hurt at the end of his college career, and the Ravens are smart. This is how the Ravens work. They drafted him in the seventh round and said, "Don't worry, we'll let him get healthy next year because we need him for this year." So they foresee the future, but nonetheless, he hasn't played much, and he's got Chris Jones coming tonight. So that is what I look at. We talk about Derek Henry and the run game and the Ravens and all of that. And I want to go, yeah, but this is the first time their starting offense is going to be on the field the whole year. The offensive line got on the field in the preseason, but that is a whole offense. And it won't be the first time for the Chiefs. They played a little bit. They're going to be ready. And of course, we know they don't have a lot of different parts on their defense anyways. They know their scheme and what they do and spags defense and all that. So that is certainly one matchup I'm right away, I'm worried about. So interior offensive line versus Chris Jones basically. Exactly right. I'm going to keep it very simple and broad at first because I think this gets lost as time goes by other names emerge, other matchups become relevant. Coach versus coach. I mean, John Harbaugh worked for Andy Reid for years. John Harbaugh was the special teams coordinator with the Eagles. He had that one year as defensive backs coach, which effectively got everyone to not focus on special teams, coordinators don't become head coaches, although they should as evidenced by John Harbaugh success in 2008. I was on radio in Baltimore earlier this week and there's Ravens fans that are like should Harbaugh go because we've won one Super Bowl and can't get back. Well, we dealt with the back end of the Patriots dynasty, the front end of the Chiefs dynasty. What are you supposed to do? And this is a chance for him to just remind everyone, hey, I've been a pretty damn good coach. The two of the most accomplished coaches, both I think destined for the Hall of Fame, Reid walks into the upper room, Harbaugh still gets in at some point for what he's done. And this is a chance for Harbaugh to just have a moment, like, can I just have a moment? Yeah. You may get it again in the postseason, but can I just have one where I've beaten you and I can say to my fans in Baltimore, it's not impossible to take down a great team like the Chiefs. I think it's a good pick by you. Hey, we talk about the other quarterbacks, are they going to step up to my homes or what they were doing, watching the Super Bowl going, oh my gosh, he got another one and all that. You don't think that John Harbaugh had those feelings last year? I mean, especially last year where, hey, you know it, I know it, everybody in football, it was their year last year. It was their year to win the Super Bowl. My homes in my interview, he tells me a story which I thought was kind of cool about going to Buffalo, and I don't even think I told you this, and I know you didn't watch the interview because you don't like me anymore, but either way, he's not even listening to me. Hear this jerk? I'm listening to you. I'm listening to you. But either way, he goes, he goes, he said he's, we're on a plane flight to Buffalo and he goes, if we win this one this year, we're going to piss a lot of people off. And he said, because this isn't supposed to be our year. So how do you think Baltimore feels? We dominated the year, right? We went into San Francisco and wiped the floor with them late in December. We looked like it was all lining up and you know John Harbaugh's as chippy as they come. That game in late December, the one with the one where you just said they're going to get shellac and get their asshole by the four-year-old and you know what, I didn't know we haven't had this conversation. I think I'm going to take flowers with me tonight to give to Lamar Jackson because I am Mike Floris. So this is my chance to make events. Well we should be surprised. This tonight's our chance to go see Lamar and you know, just say hi because we've had a lot of back and forth through the years through Twitter and on TV and whatever else. And I have great respect for Lamar. I'm excited. I haven't seen Lamar in person. So I'm excited to see him in person with a first time tonight. We'll be on their sideline. That's where we're set up. That's cool. It's going to be interesting. So let's keep our eye on a swivel. Head on a swivel. You never know when a ball is going to accidentally on purpose come my way. Now your head's a bigger target. He won't do that to me. He likes me. I'm just hoping he does. Hey, we've always supported him. We've always supported him. We have. Oh, you're critical of Lamar. He doesn't have an agent. Well we wanted to get the most he can get and eventually he got a negative that way. It was late. Right. It was longer than it should have been. He had to play out five, four years before he got what he deserved. So we've always been banging the drum from Lamar Jackson, two time MVP, Mahomes, two time MVP. It's amazing. Only three guys have won the MVP awards since 2018. Mahomes twice, Jackson twice, and your guy Aaron Rodgers. That's incredible. It is. It'd be interesting. And it feels like it could be a year for somebody new. Right. That's where we go. My next one. Yeah. Kelsey, Kyle Hamilton. I think that's the one I look at where Kyle Hamilton, I think you look at the Ravens defense and go him, Rowquan Smith, I think are clearly the two best people on the defense. And then Kyle Hamilton has a skill set of basically be able to do anything he wants in the back end of a defense safety, nickel, linebacker in a dime situation, whatever. But I would think in some big moments tonight, we see Hamilton and Kelsey matched up. Right. Kelsey kicked their butt a little bit in the AFC Championship game. You know, and whether it's him one on one with them all the time, I doubt it. I bet you they're going to have some like, Hey, if he goes inside, I got him. If he goes outside, somebody will be there too. But you know, more than more than a handful of times, I certainly think we'll see them matched up man to man. And that'll be his task there, Hamilton to stop Kelsey. I'm going to stay in the coaching side, but I'm going to move down one level. And this relates to what you're saying, but it's broader, right? You've got Zach or first year defense coordinator going against Matt Nagy slash Andy Reed, but the Ravens defense traditionally takes a while to get going. They're being years where, you know, we'll sit here and we'll say, I don't know if the defense is going to be any good to get this new guy. I don't know about this guy. And then as the season goes along, it gets better. It gets better. It gets better. And before you know it, it's a same old usual Ravens defense. They can't afford to start slow. They can't afford to build it up. They're getting the baptism by fire right out of the gate. So Zach or who was a great player for them had to retire because of neck issues. And now he's emerging as a big time coach, Mike McDonald gone. You know, that's what helps the Chiefs to. Yeah. Continuity in those key positions. Agree. Guys who have been head coaches, two of them in Steve Spagnolo and Matt Nagy, guy who was at one point mentioned as a potential head coach and Dave tote that gets back to the whole special teams coordinators. Can they be head coaches and they're back and they're back and they're back and that helps with the Ravens, you lose the guy who ran a very effective side of the ball. Definitely. You got to figure out. Yeah. Quickly. Yeah. What you're going to do against my homes and Kelsey and Isaiah Pacheco and Rishi Rice and everybody else. Zach or against, you know, just from a game planning standpoint, when do we zig? When do they zag? Right. What do we see here from film? What are they going to have? What new wrinkles? How are we going to adapt to them on the fly? Are they going to make us look stupid with it behind the back pass or some other ring around the rosy thing? We know how they like to do it. They have that sense of style and moment. This is a night to come out and do something like that. 100% we're going to be talking about tomorrow. I mean, damn, they're telling us they want to attack. They want to throw bombs. Bombs away. My homes is coming. Yeah. Zach or has got to be going. Damn. I mean, so what do I expect? Like, this is not going to be the same attack that we've seen from the Chiefs the last year's. They're going to change. You know, again, this is Tampa Bay. Not Super Bowl changed the Chiefs where they got into and everybody copied Tampa Bay. Hey, let's just play deep zones and let's make them throw it underneath and slowly but surely the Chiefs got great at that. But they're going to reinvent themselves this year and they don't want to play that style of football. And that's where it's scary because now, oh, they get the deep pass game going and they are very good at the underneath pass game as we've seen in the last two years. It's like pick your poison and you don't know what to expect tonight. What kind of new plays, what new wrinkles are they going to have out there tonight that are, you know, we haven't seen that we didn't see on film last year. How are they going to use this Xavier worthy? So that's it's a scary proposition. There's no doubt about that. Let's pull that thread a little bit more because and this is one of the realities and I'm going to have to deal with. I can't remember which co-host I talked to about this because there's a different one every day. But it wasn't me. That's all we know. I know it wasn't you. We had Patrick Mahomes with Tyree kill and there were times where Mahomes held onto the ball too long because he wanted to throw the deep ball to Tyree kill. Right. And one of the reasons they let Tyree kill go was now Mahomes operates the offense, doesn't try to force it 50 yards down the field and the guy that he tries to go get it, take what's open, have a little more traditional West Coast, move the ball, move the ball, move the ball, control the clock, score points. Right. Now, I'm with you. I feel like they're trying to go back to the deep ball but more strategic. Right. And the one example that I personally can relate to the 98 Vikings with Randy Moss, Jake Reed and Chris Carter, they use the deep ball strategically, not Randall Cunningham or Brad Johnson running around trying to buy time. I know Randy Moss is going to be open deep. I'm going to throw it to him. He's always play action around the 50, flea flicker around the 50. It got to the point where I knew it was coming. Right. And I assumed the defense was coming but they couldn't do anything to stop it. I feel like that's what gets incorporated now. Dial up deep ball, not call a play and Tyree kills runs go route and we're going to throw a deep battle. Right. And I'm going to, yeah, this is going to be, we are deliberately, right. Pateco here, underneath the counter here, Pateco again, oh, here you come off. There goes Xavier where she writes, not even not even waiting to do it. I hear it. Not running around. I think that's where they're dangerous. They got a little more, a little more, you know, cards to play with or whatever you want to say. They got more, you know, more, more ways to beat you and I think that's what's scary about the change. And that's what turns a close game into a blowout. That's why I think that's important. You do a play like that at the right moment. You're up seven in the third quarter. You're up 14 and the other teams deflate it. If you can surgically use the deep ball to deliver the dagger, that's where they failed. They struggled to deliver the dagger. And when you've got Rishi rice, Xavier worthy and Hollywood Brown, when he's healthy, you're in a better position to take advantage of that opportunity to deliver the knockout punch. Yeah, I hear you. Their most dominant year as far as what we're talking about, I feel like with score and record was the year they lost to the Chiefs, I mean, the Patriots in the AFC Championship game, because of what you said. Yeah, they would be up 20 to 13, but then he'd hit two or three bombs and we'd go, Oh, my gosh, this is unbelievable. It's 34 10 and they're running away with this thing. They had that that year, but you're right. The league caught up to them and figured them out a little bit and they're reinventing themselves for a second time here. And you know, hey, the chiefs, we know, motivated and certainly have a wanting to to be more explosive on the offensive side of the ball. My last pick, I'm going to go Trent McDuffie versus a flowers, say flowers. You got to feel like it's going to be motivated by the night, right? He's got to have a little bit of a, a, a pit in his stomach still from last year, fumbling going in on the goal line, right catches another big play down the field, gets up, stands over, man junk in the guy's face, right? Gets a big penalty. So those were two big moments of the football game. Got to think he's motivated by this. And he's not legit, doesn't have to deal with the jereus need this, this time around. It's Trent McDuffie, who is awesome. So that's the matchup I'm looking forward to there because I would think spags, they play a lot of man and big moments. It'll be a flowers versus Trent McDuffie and that'll be a good matchup. This one seems easy and lazy and obvious, but so what, because sometimes it's the most obvious. Sometimes Coca-Cola is just the best. Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson, because Lamar Jackson standpoint, when are you going to be the guy? You're not the guy because you haven't beaten the guy and this is your chance with everyone watching in a game that feels like a postseason game to outdo the guy who like you has won the regular season MVP twice. And it's not going to change the narrative about the Ravens in the postseason. That's always going to be there until they win in the postseason. And for now, you can kind of put people on notice that I'm not backing down to this guy. I can beat him. I can out Mahomes Mahomes, if need be. I can run the ball better than Mahomes ever could. I've got my new weapon in Derek Henry that I can use to help me. We're going to show up as a team effort. We're going to take down the Chiefs and we're just going to tell everybody, hey, hey, this is possible. So don't give up on us, don't overlook us, don't say anybody's going to kick the, you know what out of us because, and that's the thing, the Ravens have the capacity to do it. Yes, they do it. We've seen them do it with Lamar Jackson, with John Harbaugh. We have seen them when it all clicks. They are, they're special, better than anybody, not as good as anybody, better than anybody. And tonight can be one of those nights where it all clicks. Yeah, that's right. We just haven't seen them do it when they need to do it. And that's the difference between them and the Chiefs. The Chiefs go, wait, it's time to do it. We got to do it. And they pull it out. And the Ravens have not been able to. I'm doubting my pick now. Because we've seen them do it in moments like this, where it's regular season, no one thinks they can do it. Remember that Rams game in 2020, 2019, the year that Lamar Jackson won MVP. Holy crap. That was kind of like the Holy crap. This guy's great. Yeah. They were dominant. The team is great. Everything, everything you're saying, exactly right. Hey, this is a big year. It's a big year for the Ravens. It's a big year for Lamar. He's two and four in the playoffs, right? I know he's got two MVPs, but you can't even be in the conversation with Patrick Mahomes if you're two and four in the playoffs, right? We've lost what? A playoff game to Phillip Rivers. We've lost a playoff game to Ryan Tannehill. We've lost a playoff game to Josh Allen, and we've lost the game to Patrick Mahomes. And our two victories are what? I beat Ryan Tannehill in a game in Tennessee, and I beat a rookie last year in C.J. Stroud, right, right? There's got to be more to that resume. There is. Plain and simple. For where Lamar wants to go, where we want him to go, right? Where Lamar fans may know how great he is, but if you want to be Hall of Fame and up there with the all-time greats, that's certainly the area that has to improve, let alone what? They've only beaten the Chiefs in the regular season one time as well. They've had not had their number in any capacity, really, right? So that's where, yeah, these are the things and now it's the next step of what we know Lamar's awesome. Now it's like, hey, he's got to beat Barrow and Allen and Mahomes in some of these big moments and really show us that he's as great as we really think he is. The Ravens wouldn't even be here for this game if the Texans division around contest kept going the way it felt like it was going. Yeah. It was after halftime that the Ravens woke up. I still want to know what the hell was said. I think it was Lamar. There was a lot of cussing, but they came out in the second half and turned that very close game that could have gone either way. It was like Mike Flores said we were going to win today. We got to win. Mike Flores, back to it. I did pick him to lose tonight, but not not to get the SH dash T. We're trying to be shocked if we saw anything like that. This is going to be a hard fall. I would really think a close football game. And I can see the Ravens win. Of course. I feel better about it if the Chiefs hadn't lost to the Lions last year. Yeah. I think that looms over everything. Let's not screw up another banner raising celebrations that they're looking. They're also they watched the AFC Championship game last year and you know this group. They're offense didn't watch that game and go, Oh, we played really good. They went, wait, we did some things early on in the football game and then we disappeared for the next three quarters. So that's the other aspect Kansas City has working in their favor too is they're going to watch the AFC Championship game go last year and go, eh, that like left a bad taste in my mouth. That wasn't pretty. We can be better than that. So I think they have something to prove in that manner too. That's what makes the game fun. It's rare. I feel like where you go into the first game of the year and the team that won the Super Vol seems a little bit chippy and motivated and that's where I'm excited to see the Chiefs take the field tonight. All right. We're going to take a break. They will be kicking off tonight. Not far from here between the Ravens and the Chiefs. One of their mutual rivals got some good news sort of yesterday to see what the better news comes today. More PFT live right after this. The $5 meal deal at McDonald's means you get to pick between them a double or a chicken. Then get a small fry, a small drink and a four piece McNuggets. That's a lot of McDonald's for not a lot of money. Get the $5 meal deal today. Prices and participation may vary for a limited time only. First of all, congratulations on becoming the official grill and bar sponsor of the National Football League. How does it feel to serve up the NFL? Man, it's a real dream come true. 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