We look across the NFL at all of the games to watch in Week 3 of the 2024 season. We discuss the New Orleans Saints looking to continue their scotching start to the year, the Baltimore Ravens looking to bounce back and more.
Locked On NFL – Daily Podcast On The National Football League
New Orleans Saints look to continue SCORCHING start to NFL season vs. Philadelphia Eagles in Week 3
[MUSIC PLAYING] It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Well, we got a minute, and I'm going to buy that truck I've been wanting. Wait, don't you need, like, weeks to shop for a car? I don't. Carvana makes it super convenient to find exactly what I want. Hold up. You're buying a car on your phone? Isn't that more of a laptop thing? You can shop wherever you want. I like to do my research. Read reviews, compare models. Plus, Carvana has thousands of options. How'd you decide on that truck? Because I like it. Oh, that is a great reason. Go to Carvana.com to sell your car the convenient way. We're driven by the search for better. But when it comes to hiring, the best way to search for a candidate isn't to search at all. Don't search, match with Indeed. Ditch the busy work. Use Indeed for scheduling, screening, and messaging so you can connect with candidates faster. 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Week three of the NFL season is officially here. And we've got everything that you need to know heading into the weekend from the local experts across the locked on podcast network. Welcome in to the ultimate NFL pregame show. I'm your host, Kevin Ostrich, one of the many NFL experts here on our network, the locked on podcast network, your team every day from the prime time game of Chiefs and Falcons, to the big 425 matchup in Dallas, between the Cowboys and the Ravens, to why that Saints and Eagles game could be really, really good this weekend. We're going to go game by game to making the most informed fan for game day. We'll be going across or across over Thursdays in the segments where our hosts and local experts talk about the keys to victory and predictions for each and every game. So we're going to start off with the Philadelphia Eagles and New Orleans Saints Philadelphia coming off a big tough prime time loss of the Atlanta Falcons, while on the same side of things, they're at core in that Saints team are scorching right now. Do you know, Camillaria of locked on Eagles and Ross Jackson have locked on Saints take you through everything you need to know and how each team can pull up a win. - All right, y'all, it is crossover Thursday here, locked on Eagles and locked on Saints at you know, Camillaria. I'm Ross Jackson, this crossover Thursday edition of locked on Eagles and locked on Saints brought to you by friends over at prize picks, as well as all of our crossover content here on the locked on podcast network, go to prize picks dot com. So it's locked under the fell and use code in all lowercase locked under the fell to get $50 instantly when you play $5. All right, so Gino, what is it that the Philadelphia Eagles need to do to get a win against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday? - The LOE three keys to victory. Number one, as I said, find a way to make that Saints offense be off key one way or another. Put them behind the sticks. They cannot be in second and short, third and short, because that's when you set up those downfield shots which sets up their explosive offense, which allows them to put up as many points as they've had the last two weeks. Number two, start fast. The Eagles, they have started slower than anyone in the first two weeks. Their first two possessions and back-to-back games when interception, fumble, punt, turnover on downs. They have not scored any points on their first two possessions in either of those games. It would be nice to get at least a field goal there. Number three, play 60 minutes. Not 58, not 59, 60 minutes. Because if you can allow the seventh most improbable comeback in the next gen stats era since 2016 against Kirk Cousins on one leg, what can this New Orleans Saints team do to you? - That's big, that's big. And look at that, I love your first two there in particular, they stand out to me because of how much they relate to one another, right? Like the New Orleans Saints in the first two games, as you highlighted, 15 straight possessions with their first team defense on the field, scoring points. And that included six of six to start against Dallas on touchdowns in AT&T Stadium. And so the Saints all of a sudden, and you know, this has not been the case in New Orleans for the past, I'll say about three years, they have not been a fast start offense. They have been a late push offense as of late. And all of a sudden, that has changed on their offense, a coordinated clink, Kubiak, Derek Carr playing it a whole other level right now. And so yeah, I think that like that, making them play from behind the six, giving them those third and longs, which I don't think the Saints saw a third and long last week against Dallas until I believe it was the fourth quarter, and it was like a third and 12. So it was like, it was a considerable third and long at that point, but there's that. And then coupled with Philly struggles early on, like there's an opportunity here for New Orleans to continue to open up an early lead, which has really propelled them over the course of the past two weeks. So the only team in the NFL I believe right now that has not trailed in a game so far through the first couple of weeks. So I think that those are huge. I love those highlights from you. - And you have to start fast, especially if it's going to be a shootout Ross, because if you can go six straight possessions of getting touchdowns, even if half of them are touchdowns, half of them are field goals. - Sure. - You're still talking about 30 points and that's a good offense in the NFL. And we've talked about at lockdown Eagles. 35 points should be what does Eagles offense aspires to be each and every week? They were a point off of that week one, last week got a little slow. But one of the things that in my mind is head scratching with the Saints, the amount of offensive touchdowns in the sport is down dramatically over the last few years. - And it's insane. - And it's still putting up an egregious amount of touchdowns, it does not make any sense. - It's such an outlier. And that's one of the reasons why we're all kind of watching and going like, okay, so when does it settle down and what does it settle down to? Because I think everyone's accepted like, okay, three straight games of 40 plus points. If you go back to week 18 to the 2023 season, this is abnormal. At some point it's got to settle down to but exactly what it settles down to could still be winning football for New Orleans. We just kind of have to see what that's going to be. So I love that. So yours is the LOE three over there at lockdown Eagles. I'm going to give you three of my Jackson five, which is what mine are over at lockdown Saints. So we both have a lot of fun. So number one for me is stopping the run and making plays at the quarterback. If they don't do this, the Saints will probably end up like very close to if not losing this game. Like this is the spoiler for New Orleans is if they don't do that. That's why that's number one to me. I have a lot of faith in New Orleans. I pick New Orleans for this game, all that kind of stuff. I think that they're like on a roll and it's going to continue here. But that's the big key for me in terms of what can decimate New Orleans hopes of going three and O for this one. Number two for me is keeping and playing through offensive identity as we were just discussing. There's no need to complicate things here. Just do the things that work. They line up in a lot of 12 personnel. They love their two tight ends. They use a lot of 21 as well, which would be two running backs. And they dabble, I'll say, in three wide receiver sets. But for the most part, what they want to do is run the football, win with their offensive line and the trenches, give help to their offensive line with their multiple, very multiple tight ends, multiple in that they can do a lot of different things. I'll say versatile tight ends is probably more appropriate. And then, as you mentioned before, threaten deep with two sub four four guys. That's what they want to do as an offense. That's what they'll need to do as an offense. And then finally, I think number three for me is stealing a possession or a score. That could be a special team's touchdown. That could be a defense, creating some turnovers, things like that. I think that that will allow you to get off to a fast start. - One thing I said on the crossover last week to host Aaron Freeman is that with those two veteran safeties, they have their in Atlanta, those guys that love to play with their eyes to the quarterback and almost like this poacher hunter type of role. The Eagles got two guys this week that you're gonna have to worry about as well. The Saints have some good safeties. So if you want some opportunities to make plays on the football, Jaylen Hertz has been better in the last week, throwing the ball, but he still has some balls where you're like, oh, the defender could make a play on that if your wide receiver didn't play corner back for a second. But it is not great in Philadelphia right now, but I think it goes back to your first point. You have to make plays on Saquan Barkley and Jaylen Hertz because what they did last week, if you look at that third down drop and you look at the interception to Jaylen Hertz in a vacuum, yes, it's rough. But to get them to that point where they almost won that football game after a 17 play 70 yard, nine and a half minute drive to basically grind that game out. It came on the back of Saquan Barkley and Jaylen Hertz, even as badly as their coaches coach, sometimes talent is what you need in the NFL. I think this one is gonna be close. Like you said, I think the average has to come back down to the middle some point for the Saints, but I think that one big explosive touchdown could be the difference like Shaheed can cook man. He might be the best in the league right now doing that. - Do you know, I think you and I both preach that, 'cause I'm sure I've heard you said this before over in lockdown Eagles, but the game in the NFL, particularly against two good teams, comes down to one or two place. - Oh, it always makes a difference, right? And I think that's exactly what we end up seeing in this matchup for sure. And it's gonna be an exciting one, man. I can't wait for this one, it's gonna be a blast. - Two teams with good offensive lines, it comes down to the trenches, they can run the ball, run in the football as back in the National Football League. And I really think it comes down to controlling time of possession, who takes care of the ball. And we're talking about 1930s football here in the year 2024, it's beautiful. - For more on Ross and Gino, check them out over at locked on Saints and at locked on Eagles part of locked on podcast, network your team every day. Let's take it to Tennessee where the Green Bay Packers will be facing off against the Tennessee Titans. The big question mark in this one is will Jordan love play? Peter Bukowski of locked on Packers, Tyler Roland of locked on Titans, take it through what could be a very intriguing game now. - All right, Pete, gonna get into predictions, but really just predicting what we think makes the big difference in this game. We talked about Malik Willis and the game playing the Packers used. We talked about the Titans and avoiding shooting themselves in the foot, which I've been saying, they're not just shooting themselves in the foot. They got a bazook out and they're just blowing that thing all the way off, man, like it's gone. They're losing both their feet so far in these first two weeks. But with that being said, I'll get us going here. For me, the big things for the Titans are stop the run. If they stop the run and make Malik Willis beat them, then they're gonna be in a good spot. They have to find a way to win the turnover battle. The Titans have lost the turnover battle significantly in the first two weeks. The Titans have not forced a turnover on defense yet. You cannot win that way. And then finally, for me, it's no special team's blunders. The Titans can't afford to give the Packers a kick return or a big punt return to help out their offense. They can't afford to have a punt blocked for a third time in a row, which hasn't happened since like the 1930s. All right, they can't afford to make big special teams blunders. And honestly, I think there's gonna be a lot of field goals in this game. The Titans can't afford to miss a field goal either. So the Titans have to be the better team on special teams. So stop the run, win the turnover battle. Don't blow it on special teams. Those are my three keys to victory for the Titans. What are you looking for for the Packers side? - I have to just tell you, do you know the number one team being bet on the Money Line this week is in terms of total in terms of total allocation of dollars? - I gotta guess the Packers, right? - Well, okay, so I tricked you. It's the Cleveland Browns over the New York Giants, but second is the Green Bay Packers. 92% of the bets on the Money Line in this game are on the Packers. - That's not good. - Wild to me. - That's not good for the Packers. - No, that's wild to me. - The Titans were the most bet team in week one and look how that worked out. - You usually want to fade the public on stuff like this, but I think the reason for this is you're looking at a quarterback that everyone watched in glorious fashion, blow almost single-handedly two football games for this team, and you see a Packers team that just is coming off a coaching clinic from Matla Floor. And you go, okay, in a battle of a game where the coach and the quarterback matter so much, which coach is gonna put his quarterback in the best position to avoid losing you the football game. And to me, that looks like Matla Floor. So how can Matla Floor take this to the next level with Malik Willis while avoiding having to put it on his shoulders to go and win? That's key number one for me. Key number two is get after Will Evans. You have to, there was a game last year and Packers fans are gonna know what I'm talking about before I even mention it. Monday Night Football against Tommy Cutlets, and it's one of the worst offensive lines any of us have ever seen, and the Packers could not generate juice in that game. They showed up acting like they can just half-ass it and win, and it was bad for them. And they let Tommy DeVito drive them on the final drive of the game, go down and beat them. This is the game where you have to show if you're Jeff Haffley, we're gonna actually pressure Will Evans, which they didn't do against Jalen Hertz, despite the fact that he was brutal against Big Blitz's last year, and that these guys can win one-on-one against one of the worst pass blocking offensive lines in football, I just had the numbers pulled up here. Nicholas Petifraer leads all tackles. 60, he is 61st out of 61 tackles and pressure's allowed. Dylan Radens is 54th out of 60 guards in pressure's allowed, and Peter Skoransky is 57th out of 60 guards in pressure's allowed. This is a game where your pass rush have to win, has to win, or I have big questions about are these players actually as good as we thought they were? Is Kenny Clark playing at the level that he needs to play out given that he just got a monster extension, that he just had his best ever season sacking the quarterback last year? What's going on there? He's still only like 28 years old, so it's not like he's old and washed. And then the last piece of this is, can you get a playmaker other than the run game to pop? In week one, it was Jaden Reid. And so, can you, you know, Jason Hershorne, my colleague over at The Leap, a newsletter I would love for everyone to subscribe to, wrote about it on Wednesday, I think they're gonna build the plane out of Jaden Reid. So, is that gonna work? And if it doesn't, do you have a plan B? Is there something else you can go to? Matt Loeffler prides himself on the play off of the play. It's not just play one, it's play two, when now you're expecting play one. Can you get to some more traditional play action looks? Can you create some deep shots that isn't just, it's third and eight Effit Romeo Dobs down there somewhere? Kind of things, which is what the one throw that they got that deep down the field. Can you manufacture some of those throws? And can you get someone else? Other than these running backs to pop for you, if you can, I think that you can win. Again, I don't love that the public is so on Green Bay, but I do think they look at the quarterbacks. And that's not gonna make me not believe what I think is true on the football field, that this is just a good matchup for Green Bay. And I think that they have a renewed belief. I think they're gonna go, I think they're gonna go in, I think they're gonna win a close game that, I know this for sure, Tyler. One of these fan bases is gonna leave this game going, I can't believe we lost that football game. And I think it's gonna be the Titans fans, but I would absolutely 100% believe that it's the Packers because of one dumb thing late or one bad throw or one bad penalty. And you're going, I can't believe they blew it, 'cause frankly, they should beat the Eagles too, they should be too low and they're not. And so that's where I am with this game. I don't have a score prediction at the moment, but I don't see a ton of points. The over is also being bad heavily. I don't really see that. I think this is like, could be one of those like 17, 14 kind of games. - Honestly, I'm thinking like 17, 16, even 13, 12. I think it's gonna be one of those things where- - A bunch of examples. - Yeah, and basically both fan bases think their team's gonna pull it out throughout the entire game. And then there's gonna be one big critical mistake at the end that somebody makes. And honestly, it's hard not to think that it'll be the Titans after the first two weeks, but I think I'm leaning towards the Titans finding a way to pull this out because I think they'll be better against the run than the Colts are. And I would like to see how the Packers perform when they're not running the ball at it. I mean, I wanted to check on this. I don't have the data. I couldn't figure out how to check on it. But when was the last time a team attempted 50 plus rushing attempts? Like I looked at the top 25 rush attempts and 25 was like 61. And every single instance of it was 1978 earlier. So like, I couldn't get down to 53 to see when the last time that happened. But I think if the Packers try to run the same game plan they had last week against the Titans, the Titans will be able to find a way to pull one out at the end. But I do still think that Will Levis makes dumb plays. And because the Packers will get that pressure and he'll get frazzled and he'll go Carson Wentz. I kept telling people that Will Levis reminds me of Carson Wentz. This was last year, the way that he moves frantically in the pocket, his footwork being so ridiculous and frantic. That's the best way to put it. His feet are just all over the place. No calm, no poise, none of that. And it's because there's pressure on him all the time. And I think that's even worse in week three. But again, if the Titans defense can hold down the run game, we'll see Jordan love the biggest factor in that Green Bay, Tennessee game. But for more great analysis on the Packers and Titans, be sure to check out Peter over at lockdown Packers in Tyler over at lockdown Titans part of lockdown podcast and network your team every day. We've got a battle of two and O teams up next, Los Angeles Chargers and the Pittsburgh Steelers, both teams looking to improve their record to three and O. And we have David Drogamire of lockdown chargers alongside Chris Carter of lockdown Steelers as they take it through everything you need to know about this game, the quarterback battle between Justin Herbert and Justin Fields and a lot more. - We're back here on the crossover Thursday here on the lockdown podcast network. We're not going to get into predictions. We save that for our Friday shows. That's for that time. And we get to talk with our guests and everything there. But David, let's talk about matchups. That I think we very, very much can do. We're going to do to each side. So I want you to leave with your first one. What is the top matchup that you're looking at that you have a circle? I would say, hey, the Chargers have to win this one if they have a hope that they hope to win this one. - Yeah, well, I think that the first one's awfully easy for me. I mean, it's your rookie first round pick, fifth overall, Joe Al going up against a defensive player of the year in TJ Watt. I mean, that is a monumental massive matchup for the Chargers. This is why the Chargers drafted Joe Al is for matchups like this, to go up against beasts like him. He did a very, very good job handling match Crosby in the week one game, didn't allow any pressures, didn't allow any sacks at all, he did a fantastic job in week two. Rashaun Slater, Joe Al, two of the top tackle duos in the NFL through a couple of weeks. Only a couple of teams have their tackle duos that are ranked higher according to PFF. So that right there is a matchup that could absolutely decide this game because we know TJ Watt can wreck the game. So Joe Al has to do his best to try to keep TJ Watt away from Justin Herbert. - Yeah, I think you're bringing up a good point because Rashaun Slater, I mean, again, similarly, similar on both sides here, the Steelers have drafted two first round tackles, the Chargers have drafted two first round tackles. Don't sleep on Rashaun Slater, just because Joe Al is the new fanciest one there. He's a pretty good tackle too. - Oh, Rashaun Slater has given up one pressure through two games, one. - That's insane. - That's basically three pass blocking snaps, one. - Exactly. And here's the thing is that I think the Steelers in a lot of matchups, you face a team, they'll have one really good tackle. And if that tackles of TJ Watt's side, guess what? That means Alex Heismitz on the other and he's bringing heat. But it's rare to see two teams with two high pedigree tackles, and that's why I think it's a great choice in your part and seeing how that matchup goes. If the Chargers neutralize the Steelers' edge rush, that is a huge point in their favor. My first point I'm gonna look at a matchup here is how they attack the Chargers secondary because you have Asante, Samuel, at Corner and Derwin James at Safety. And those are two guys that are highly respected, they're guys that bring a lot, they bring a lot to the table. Now, the Steelers in week one, they notably did not even try to target the middle part of the field. Why? Because the Falcons at Jesse Bates, they were trying to say, hey, we're not throwing anywhere near that guy, don't let him be the turnover creator, stick to the sidelines. Week two, they said, you know what, Patrick Tan, let's throw to the middle part of the field now 'cause he's on the sideline. But now you have a mix of a guy on the outside and a guy that's gonna be playing in the middle that you have to honor if you're the Steelers. And that's where I think it's gonna be really tricky for the Steelers' offense, when they wanna throw the football, not falling for any traps that the Chargers are setting. And if I'm Jim Harbaugh, I'm trying to mix up my coverage, man on one side, zone on the other, trying to fool Justin Fields into throwing into a situation where one of my playmaker defensive backs can make a play. That chess match of where those guys are and when the Steelers take their shots, I think that's a key part in this matchup as well. - 100% it is, there's no question about it. I think, you know, another guy who's kind of been slept on a little bit is the corner that's on the other side for the Chargers, that's Christian Fulton. Christian Fulton has allowed three receptions for one yard so far through two games. He's been ridiculously good. Obviously that's not sustainable. We know that Asante Sami, Jr. has given up some yards, but hasn't really given up any touchdowns. So I wanna know who's gonna cover George Pickens because when you're looking at the Steelers' offense, obviously Naja Harris is gonna get the ball, we know that. We respect his ability to ground and bound. He, you know, the Chargers know how good of a running back. He is, he's a, he's a bruiser. And the Chargers have a guy like him. And Gus Edwards, like that, he's our hammer. And JK Dobbins, it's like Thunder and Lightning, right? The JK Dobbins is the Lightning. And Gus Edwards is the Thunder. And we know Naja Harris is a big Thunder type of back. He's a big, big runner. So I think it's, who's gonna cover George Pickens? Is it gonna be Christian Fulton? Is it Asante Sami, Jr. And how they fair in that matchup? As, as well as Derwin James on Fire Moothe. I think those two right there are the two most important matchups for this game defensively for the Chargers. - I hear you on that. I'll, I'll switch to the Steelers defense for a second talking about a key matchup there. We talked about the edge rutchers. I think a lot is gonna also be determined on the interior in this game. - Oh, no question. - Because the Steelers have gotten a rejuvenated cam Hayward. There was a lot of questions. He suffered a growing injury that kind of sidelined him and hobbled him for last year. He's 35 years old. Like he, everyone's like, oh, he's got a hanging up. Well, he went through training camp and the Steelers signed him to a three-year extension. And it looks like in the first two games. - Which I think really raised a lot of heads, right? It was like really? - Three-year extension at 35. - But for guys, it's been so far. - Wow. - He's been lightening up. He's been getting pressures. He's been stuffing the run. And he's been joined this year by a healthy Larry Ogong Jobe who's been playing to the pedigree of what he's getting paid in the salary cap. And he's joined by Keanu Benton, who's also playing very well as a second year, second round pick out of Wisconsin. You have that rotation along with Patrick Queen and Landon Roberts, Peyton Wilson, all active athletic linebackers that fit this mode of, if this is a physical game, that's what they love to do. They love to be physical. I think that if you go back and you look at the NFL films and they would start to play like the big music when it would just be like physical football, you're gonna see a lot of that in this game. Lignment, getting to the second level, defensive lineman, trying to blow up plays, linebackers hitting the hole fast and hard and running backs having that clash in the hole, that kind of stuff is gonna be huge in this game. And how the Steelers defensive front keep the linebackers clean, but also gets penetration, that's gonna be huge to determine who wins this football game and who wins the ground game, especially when the Chargers have the ball. - I think that's probably the area that I'm most concerned with when I look at this football game is how are the Chargers interior offensive lineman going to deal with the pure beef that the Pittsburgh Steelers are bringing and the skill level. Obviously, you mentioned Cam Hayward, Cam Hayward is ridiculously good. He's shown it and he's a guy that the Chargers have to try to neutralize as much as they can. He's gonna get his, like he's a really, really good player. They just gotta try to not let him wreck the game. That's the biggest story is how is Bradley Bozeman, Trey Pivkin, Zion Johnson going to be able to handle the interior of the Pittsburgh Steelers defensive line? How they handle him might be as important as how Justin Herbert plays in this game because they can wreck it. They could stop the run and force Justin Herbert to go out there and do what he hasn't done yet in a new offense, which is go out there and air it out. So this is gonna be a really, really fun game to watch a really physical hard-nosed game for 60 minutes. I can't wait to watch it. - The Chargers are looking good, but so is that Steelers team. So one team will have to fall unless obviously there's a tie, but we're gonna see which team comes out on top for more on the Steelers and Chargers. Check out Chris and David on the lockdown Steelers and lockdown Chargers podcast, part of the lockdown podcast network here, your team, every day. The Minnesota Vikings have been a really intriguing team. Obviously, no JJ McCarthy, Sam Darnold, being able to weld that Vikings team to a very impressive win and week two over the San Francisco 49ers and the Houston Texans. Their team will see Jay Shroud was looking poised to compete in the AFC, and especially in that AFC South division, Cody Davis have locked on Texans and Luke Braun have locked on Vikings, have all the answers you need about the biggest storylines, key match-ups and keys of victory alongside some players to watch. - Okay, Cody, so tell me about, so here's, I'm gonna tell you right now. In the 2022 draft, I was a big-time stingley guy. The only reason, like I thought that if I had my druthers and I could control what the draft should have been, I would have taken Sauce Gardenel first overall and Derek's stingley second overall. And there was like a weird chance that he was gonna fall on the draft because of injuries and I was getting so excited that there was like this pipe dream of him being a Viking. Didn't even get close. He ends up going to the Texans. Please tell me that I'm vindicated here because he had kind of a slow start to his career. - No, no, there's thing Lee Julie is slowly, but surely, turn it into him. That's all I gotta say. - Yes, you know. - I've never been wrong. I looked at it like this, you know. This is, and this thing is third year already. Oh my God, what is the time going on? His first year, you know, well, of course, let's just go all the way back. Coming in from LSU, the number one concern about Derek's stingley junior was the injury. So I mean, everyone know what him, Justin Jefferson, you know, Borro, everybody at Phenomenal 2019 LSU team did that year. And after that, the next couple of years, you know, there is thing the junior battle through injuries, hamstring, you know, he has the Liz Frank injury, you know, one of the worst injuries that any athlete can, you know, batter through and stuff. So his rookie season, not only was he trying to get back, get back into just football game speed, but he was also trying to get adjusted to the NFL game speed. And he was playing for a coach at the time, Lovey Smith, who was not calling a defense that suited to his skill set. So rookie season, it's okay. Then I think towards the end, at some point, towards his rookie season, went down with a hamstring injury, missed like half of that season. So it was like, okay, rookie season, you throw it out the window. So it's sophomore year comes alone and you pair him with D'Amico Ryan's. Not only is D'Amico Ryan's has put together a defensive scheme set that is more accustomed to his best attribute, you know, as, you know, a shut down one on one corner. But at the same time, at the same time, Ryan's is also one of the best teachers that he could have develop under. And he goes through his entire sophomore season. We are starting to get a glimpse of D'Aressina Jr. at LSU. Got hurt once again with a hamstring injury in practice. It just popped him out of nowhere. Like we literally just seen him like 30 minutes ago, stretching and everything. The next thing you know, he's out for like four or five games or whatever. But when he comes back, he starts to show the potential that may him arguably if not the best corner in the nation during his time at LSU. And through OTAs, throughout, you know, mandatory mini camp, voluntary mini camp, training camp, preseason, and now through the first two games of the season, we are definitely starting to see D'Aressina Jr. take that leap. And the number one thing that I've basically seen on him is the fact that I think now he definitely has the confidence to say, you know what? Not only am I a good player in this league. And I hate to say it like this, sorry Ross, but I'm a damn good cornerback in this league. And I know he believes in his heart that he can shut down any wild receiver. And I'm just waiting to hear what Stingley has to say about going up against his college teammate. And just Jefferson, because you think they're gonna one-on-one him here? Because nobody has one-on-one Justin Jefferson in like two years, but nobody's had the courage. - I just had this conversation with one of my colleagues a couple of hours ago. And he asked me, do you think D'Aressina Jr. would be, do he feel disrespected if the MECO and the rest of the coaching staff, you know, would double Justin Jefferson? - Like are they gonna give him safety? If they leave him on an island, this is cinema. 'Cause Jefferson has not had that opportunity in years. - I say, D'Aress, Stingley will take it as some form of disrespect, but if I'm D'Aressina, especially looking at the string and the trajectory, and I understand how dangerous Justin Jefferson can be. I truly do believe, man, especially considering what the injuries that, you know, Minnesota is dealing with right now in the office side of the ball, if Stingley can hold his own against Justin Jefferson, you're looking at a situation where not only Stingley would have an opportunity to finally like fully establish himself as, you know, it's gonna be a breakout game. But after that, it's going to have other players on a defensive side of ball to not worry about Jefferson. Now you have an opportunity to focus on other players who could comment, you know, have those sneaky good games due to, you know, the opportunities that they're gonna have due to injury. So I don't know right now, you know, I guess we're gonna have to wait and see, I know the people isn't gonna tell us, but if it's just a man, it's a man, I don't know. Okay, the last time this happened, the last time somebody truly like lined up on Justin Jefferson and said, "We got a corner that can handle you." It was the Saints, it was March on Latimore, no slouch. It was 2022 in London. He went off for a Buck 47, including a game breaking go route that functionally was the dagger of the game. That would be ballsy. But I mean, of course I'm rooting to see it. I don't, other than that, like we haven't seen anybody even try to one-on-one lock up Jefferson, let alone do it successfully. Since, and I don't think anybody's really had like a good game on him one-on-one truly since his rookie year, Jair Alexander had a great game against him, but with a lot of safety help, I have to think that that's what the Texans will do. So I wanna actually circle back to something else you said, which was establishing a run for the Houston Texans, with Joe Mixon, if assuming he's healthy. What are big surprises of the Vikings' defense has been their D line? Not only Grinnard and Van Ginkle doing their thing on the edge, but in the middle, Harrison Phillips playing phenomenal just signed a two-year extension. And then guys like names you kind of forgot about, like Jonathan Bullard and Jerry Tillery playing well, plus really aggressive linebacker play from Blake Cashman, and Ivan Pace next to him. The 49ers ran the ball well on them last week, but the 49ers are the 49ers. So what can the Texans do to break through in a way that, you know, a mortal team like the New York Giants couldn't? - That's gonna be interesting to see. Once again, depending on the whole health situation, I'm not expecting Joe Mixon to play. I mean, the way his ankle-- - Who is it then? - I was like, that's the thing, Damien Pierce still dealing with a hamstring injury. I'm not expecting him. So the next running back that's gonna be, there's another guy you guys are, you know, someone familiar with is Cam Acres. - Oh my God, it's Cam, that's right! - Yeah, so we were all bummed that it didn't work out. He wanted to, we wanted it, but the physical timing didn't work out 'cause he fell in the physical and then he ended up there. So everybody's just pretty bummed about that. We love Cam Acres. - Exactly, exactly, and I'm interested, interested to see how is this gonna work out with Cam Acres because look, let me tell you something. I wanna say the first four week of training camp took place. It might've been like day four or whatever. I'm standing there and I look on, you know, the little training practice, you know, side that third field nobody wants to go to, you know, and I look and I see somebody working out. I was like, who is that? I don't know. Couple days go by is Cam Acres. Next day at training camp, we asked Danico, "Hey, what's the deal with you guys signing Cam Acres?" The only thing he said was, we just brought him in here to see if he was gonna compete. That was it. It was like, oh, training camp body. Nice thing, you know. - Phone number, the Linux. - Exactly, you know, the young man didn't even have his name on the back of his jersey. And I think his jersey number was like 22 or something. They had like another 22 on the fifth side of the ball. - That's not all- - I skipped up the practice jersey from two years ago at somebody left in the locker room. - Exactly. And, you know, he wasn't getting no type of reps, you know, doing 11 on 11, seven on the seven, whatever the case might be. You know, he was barely participating in individual drills. Then all of a sudden, the young man just started balling out. And next thing you know, it's like, okay, you be on the practice squad. Next thing you know, oh, snap. This man has literally made the 53 man roster. And I'm interested to see what's gonna happen with Cameron Acres and can he give this team something in a Russian attack, knowing that mixing and Damian Pierce nine times out of 10 will not be there because Luke, I keep saying this. And maybe this is something, you know, Bobby Sawyer and them gonna have to work through regardless of how good CJ Stroud is, regardless of all the weapons that he got with the wide receivers and the tidying and everything else. If the Texans cannot establish anything in the run, they're still gonna struggle a little bit. We saw it on Sunday. So as you just alluded to, and I kinda knew this coming in, the Vikings, they still have a pretty good deal line. And I know, especially with Jonathan Bernard, they're going to give the Houston Texans hail in some type of way. But there's a lot riding on Cameron Acres shoulders right now. And I'm just like, okay, can you showcase the same potential and production that we saw during preseason when you was playing against weaker competition? I still, I've always liked Cameron Acres. I love what he was doing, you know, before, not one but two Achilles injuries, which is crazy to me that he's still playing. Let me just say that. But I'm like, can you do it now in a regular season when you're going up against better talent? Minnesota Vikings in the middle of a gauntlet right now, coming off the 49ers right into the Texans and then the Packers next week, as well as the Lions and Rams on the horizon. A lot of playoff teams on the schedule. So we'll see if the Vikings can keep up. They're unexpected win streak. Luke and Cody are both great and give your phenomenal insight. And so for Texans and Vikings covers that is unmatched, be sure to check out both Cody on lockdown Texans and Luke over on lockdown Vikings, part of lockdown podcast network, your team every day. Still a ton to talk about in this 1PM slate of games, including Caleb Williams. Can you pick up his first career NFL win against the Indianapolis Colts? All that and more coming up on the ultimate end of the season. You guys see Indianapolis Colts, all that and more coming up on the ultimate NFL pregame show. First, the show is brought to you by Fandal. You first talk a lot about Fandal, America's number one sports book. And I love going on Fandal, seeing everything they have to offer. We have something a little different for you. Now through September 22nd, all Fandal customers can bet $5 in a three week free trial off end of a Sunday ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Then with the YouTube TV base plan, we'll be able to watch every regular season, Sunday afternoon on a market game or you need to do some Google account in the current form of payment, you can cancel any time. So the Ravens and Cowboys will face off in a pivotal 425 matchup and the Ravens open up there is one and a half point favorite. So if you like that line, head over to Fandal, let's visit Fandal.com, download America's number one sports book. We are back on the ultimate NFL pregame show, getting you ready for all of Sunday and Mondays NFL action. I am Kevin Ostreicher, still here with you. We just talked about our first batch of 1 p.m. games, but still a couple more great ones to go here. Caleb Williams will be looking for his first career NFL win. He is currently Owen too. And the Chicago Bears are facing off against the Indianapolis Colts and Anthony Richardson. So Lauren Cox have locked on Bears and Jake Arthur of locked on Colts. We'll get you prepared for the game. What you need to know and what you need to look out for. - Welcome back to crossover Thursday, which is presented by Price Picks. Go to price picks dot com slash locked on NFL and use code all over case locked on NFL to win $50 instantly when you play five. All right Lauren, so again, there's so many things we can tell these two sides to quit making it so difficult on themselves. What are the three biggest keys to a Bears win in this one? - Yeah, I think the Texans and then the Packers laid out the winning formula against the Colts for the Chicago Bears here, right? Like it's not that complicated to say, yeah, the Bears need to get the running game going for the first time all season against the worst run defense in football right now. And then if you can get the running game going, that should help problem number two, you know, salt solidify the offensive line, find some consistency up front. And if you're running the ball well, then the defense can't key off on getting after Caleb Williams. I have to, you know, pay more attention to the running game. You can work some play action off of that and then open things up in the passing game for Caleb Williams. And finally get him going is kind of the number three aspect here. So it's all about the running game leads to the better offensive line of play action, which can then lead to more of a solid passing game because I don't think there's a ton of concern about this Bears defense being able to hold up its end of the bargain. They're going to hold the Colts to a manageable point total that an average offense should be able to surpass. It's just a matter of this offense finally getting going in the way that we've been waiting for it to. And the Colts present a pretty good matchup opportunity that the Bears feel like this can be that opportunity to step forward. - I would agree. I think offensively that's the thing for me, you know, establish the run early again, put, put at least a field goal on the board early so that you're not feeling like you're coming from behind too much to where you have to abandon the run. Get that run going a little bit. Obviously Jonathan Taylor looked awesome last week up until he was yanked from the game, but allow that to set up play action, you know, just like you were saying. I don't think they want to take those big plays away from the offense totally, obviously no one does, but I think you have to be a little more cognizant when you're playing, you know, this defense that Chicago has, one of the better secondaries in the NFL. But, I mean, try and set it up. You know, take, get that run game going, you know, on paper, having Anthony Richardson and Jonathan Taylor in the backfield is supposed to scare guys. So make it scary. And then take advantage of that and, you know, use play action in your option game to set up big pass plays. But what else do you got from the defensive side for Chicago? - Yeah, I mean, I think it's about trying to make, make Anthony Richardson have to do it all for the Colts, right? Put him on the spot to say, you've got to make the plays here. The Bears did a really good job of shutting down Joe Mixon with the Houston offense last week. They had a little trouble week one against the Titans, but I think that was a little bit more of like, Bears still trying to get their feet back under them to start the season and a little bit less of like a longer term concern about the run defense. But I think the Bears shouldn't have too much trouble keeping things manageable with Jonathan Taylor and then being able to force Anthony Richardson to make plays with his legs and then also like, hit big plays downfield, fire into those tight windows, like force him to have to test this Bears secondary because a lot of quarterbacks have struggled with that test. And I think they look at Radartin as a player that, like we talked about earlier, like he's not a guy that's going to make a bunch of boneheaded decisions. But you know, can you get him to attempt to pass and just be inaccurate enough to get that big turnover? Because this defense is fueled by energy. It's the big plays lead to bigger plays for them. It's the big sack leads to that in the interception because there's just that juice flowing through them on the back end. But if the Colts can get things going early, you can kind of demoralize that unit a little bit and things can break down a little bit more as well. Yeah, so similarly, I'm looking for the Colts front to kind of fluster Caleb Williams a little bit. I don't know what to expect from the pass rush right now. I thought they did a good job in week one against CJ Stroud, four sacks, 10 hits. They did not get any sacks last week against Malik Willis. Now that comes with kind of a caveat because that was a very run heavy approach. A lot of quick throws for Willis and he's obviously a mobile guy. So you just weren't going to get a full pass rush set against a guy like that. But in this one, I know guys are banged up a little bit, but Diowa Dango is still healthy. Isaiah Land might have to play a little bit and this one will see Taequan Lewis is still healthy. Grover Stewart's a no, so he's not going to give you much in terms of pass rush. But out of worry or out of tome, out of worry, this might be a big opportunity for him to step up. He's been seeing more snaps. So your main guys are pretty banged up, but the guys who were out there playing are going to have to do something. Like there can't be excuses. They're going to have to play a lot this year. And so they can't just be ineffective the whole time. - Yeah, if I'm the Colts, like they have to test this bears offensive line communication in both the running game and the pass rush department, but especially in the pass rush, like passing off stunts, like pretty basic football 101 type offensive line communication, the bears had a lot of trouble with last week. And then you add in litzers coming from different directions and that's where you get into some real problems. And I don't think it was, like when you kind of go back and watch Caleb Williams adjust protections at the line of scrimmage, he's calling the mic properly. He seems to be getting guys in the right position. They just haven't been able to really execute on that curve. So if I'm the Colts, I'm pressing that button over and over and over again until the bears prove they can pick that up, pass it off properly and keep their quarterback safe. 'Cause that has been something that you'd think professional offensive lineman can do. But in Chicago, that's been a little bit too much to ask. - I hear you there. So what's your vibe check on this one? How do you see this one turning out? - Yeah, I think it's going to be low scoring because I think the bears are going to hold down the Colts offense pretty well. And then it's just a matter of what the bears offense can actually get going against this Colts defense. So if I had to put a score to it, I think it'll be close. I think it'll be tight. I think it'll be ugly quite a bit, but I'm going to go bears 20 Colts 16. A lot of field goals in there, but the bears just get a little bit more and it's still going to be a one score game done. The end, no one's going to cruise away and feel like, ah, this game is firmly in hand, nothing to worry about, but in the end, I think the bears get the offense going a little bit more than we've seen up to this point in their defense. Still gets just enough of a job done there to say, yep, offense doesn't need to score 30. Just get to 20 and then that's a win. - So I absolutely love that score 'cause I had it 20 to 16 Colts. So I, kind of two extremes on the first week. You know, they scored, you know, 27 points week one. They couldn't really get much going last week. So I'll kind of cut it in the middle for them. I'll give the Colts 20 points, assuming they can have the run game working at least a little bit. But I think, you know, they will probably allow the bears to have the most productive offensive day they've had so far 'cause there's nothing on the Colts defense right now that tells me it won't happen. They haven't been able to stop the run until the second half of last week, which is great, but it took them going to a bear front. You know, they can't just do these things all the time. Teams will figure out how to attack them. Their secondary is the area we were most concerned about going into the year, but it hasn't even kind of reared its head yet because teams haven't had to pass on them 'cause they're running so much. So I think it is going to be a really close game. I maybe we'll see a lot of mistakes or just lack of execution. I don't think either of these teams are just going to magically fix the problems that have plagued them for the first couple of weeks. So I do think the Colts have, you know, just enough of an advantage to give them the narrow win. Again, 20 to 16, but man, I've not done well picking these games for the Colts so far this year. - The early beginning of this season, everybody's still trying to figure themselves out. The Colts are figuring out what they're going to be. The Bears are going to figure out what they're going to be. And these are not the mid-season forms of these teams just yet. Maybe these two have been even a little slower than some other teams in really getting to where, you know, they want to be at this point of the year. So it's going to be an unpredictable volatile game with some young teams. And it's one of those things like anything can happen in this one. - Yeah, I think if you fast forwarded this and just put it near the end of the schedule, it might look a little better. You know, Anthony Richardson versus Caleb Williams might have a little more luster than it does right now 'cause I mean, obviously, you know, vibes aren't great around them. People aren't, you know, speaking of them too highly right now, but I'm confident eventually both sides will look a little better than they do right now. But honestly, this could be an entertaining game because it's two sides that struggle and they'll maybe have success against each other. - We'll see if Caleb can do it. That first win can sometimes feel like it takes forever to get, but Caleb and the Chicago Bears have to get the job done against the Indianapolis Colts for that to be the case for more on Lauren and on Jake, check them out over at the lockdown Bears and locked on Holt's podcast, part of locked on podcast network routine every day. Broncos and Buccaneers face off. Bonix, first Baker Mayfield. And we have James Yarko of locked on Bucks as well as Sarah Benger of locked on Broncos in a game that could be an early season defining game for both these teams. Sarah and James answer the biggest questions for the game and what needs to be looked at ahead of the matchup. - Wrapping things up here on a crossover Thursday episode of locked on Bucks, locked on Broncos, cross over Thursday is presented five price picks. Go to price picks.com/lockedonnfl and use code locked on NFL all lowercase to win $50 instantly when you play $5. Sarah, what are the three things that the Denver Broncos need to do to get into the win column and pull off a big road upset of their own in Raymond James Stadium this Sunday? - Well, it's gonna be three things that they haven't done through the first two games. Number one, they're gonna have to run the ball. Number two, they're gonna have to force a few turnovers and number three, they're gonna have to be effective and efficient in the red zone. Right now Broncos are 30 second in the NFL in red zone conversion rates. So obviously they're not scoring touchdowns when they do get to the red zone. And they've been really bad in terms of forcing turnovers at this point in the season. They need to force more turnovers. If your pass rushers are consistently getting to the quarterback as they have been, might have to pop that ball loose. I know it's easier said than done. And then offensively committing to the running game. Bo Nix has been getting absolutely flamed in the NFL Twitter world these days. As you've seen, I'm sure James, because the guy's been throwing, I think he's throwing almost 80 passes in the first two games. That's kind of ridiculous for a rookie quarterback and his first two NFL starts. The Broncos have not been able to run the ball. Gervante Williams, 1.5 yards of carry against the Steelers last week. Jalil McLaughlin, not much better. Three carries for six yards. So they have to be able to run the football and they have to stick to it. They have to commit to it. Stop with these empty sets on first and five after a penalty by the defense and you're running empty. You're giving away what you're doing out there. Sean Payton has to help out his rookie quarterback this week and commit to a running game. Yeah, and look, Sean Payton knows Todd Bowles. And he knows what, what can work, what should work against a Todd Bowles defense. And that has some, some bucks fans concerned because they, they are more than familiar with Sean Payton and everything that he did while coaching the New Orleans Saints. I realized that the Broncos offense is not what the Saints offense was. But that doesn't mean that there aren't weapons and that they can't expose some of the weaknesses of this Bucks defense, especially with some of the injury problems. But look, the Bucks are looking to move to three and O and really be able to solidify themselves in the eyes of the NFL world as contenders. So if they want to win this game, they've got to run the football. They have to get after Bowniks and take advantage of a backup offensive tackle there in Denver. And the most important thing, do not overlook the Broncos. This Buccaneers rushing attack has not been good so far. It's not time to panic yet, but a combined 40 yards from your two running backs against the Detroit Lions last week is not what you want to see. Yes, both Bucky Irving and Rashad White are dual threats. They were not involved at all in the passing game against the Lions. They have to be involved in the passing game, but they also have to run the ball efficiently against a defense that can give up big chunk plays in the run game. They have a good defensive line, but you get to that second level and all of a sudden guys like Rashad, guys like Bucky, they can make players miss and they can turn four yard gains into explosives. As for the defense, they have to get after Bowniks. Zero touchdowns, four interceptions, get the pressure in his face. But more importantly, what they didn't do in Detroit is finish the play, get Nix on the ground. The Broncos are coming into this game with a backup right tackle. This is the time for Yaya Diabi to really step up and show the world that that hype train that he had all off season wasn't for nothing. He's gotten pressures, he's forced bad throws, but it's time for him to start bringing down the quarterback. Same thing goes for Joe Trion-Shawienka. He has made some impact plays, but he has to bring the quarterback down. Todd Bowles is a master of bringing blitzes. He has to bring pressure from different areas without showing weakness in a beaten up secondary. And then the most important thing to me is do not overlook this Denver Broncos football team. It doesn't matter that it's a Ricky quarterback. It doesn't matter that they're Owen too. This has trap game written all over it. And if you overlook this Broncos team, it can spiral out of control. It's real easy for the Buccaneers to look to next week with the Philadelphia Eagles. Then a short week against the Atlanta Falcons. Then you have the Saints, the Falcons again. You have Kansas City, San Francisco, Baltimore, all those games coming up. It's real easy to start to look ahead. You have to focus on the task at hand, send Sean Payton back to Colorado, sad and dejected something they didn't do very often when he was in the division. - Yeah, and for Broncos country, it's really looking back at, it's like almost deja vu. It started Owen two last year, started Owen two this year, took a road trip to the state of Florida and came back wondering, all right, what just happened? Is that even real? Or did we just see a game of Madden played in real life, right? When you gave up 70 points, I keep bringing that up, James commenters are like, let's stop talking about that Dolphins game. It's deja vu, we have to talk about it until we can completely forget about it. But look, I mean, this is the situation the Broncos are in, right? It's almost like, hey, if you can go to Tampa Bay and show signs of life offensively or show us that maybe you can actually, what can we build on offensively from this game? Even if you lose this game because you're expecting, like this is a team the Bucks should probably beat in terms of what the Broncos have done, averaging 11 points a game as an offense. So far, the Bucks are playing at home. They're obviously a really good team that's got some continuity based on last year. So this is a team in the Denver Broncos that the Bucks should beat. So if you can go in there and catch a victory as opposed to what happened last year where things spiraled out of control. Man, this would be, I hate to say it as you'd only be one in two, but for the Broncos, it would kind of be a banner victory early on for Sean Payton this year to be able to go in and beat an old division foe of his from when he was with the New Orleans Saints. As opposed to what happened last year, things spiral out of control. The Broncos kind of become, you know, are they sellers at the trade deadline? What are they going to do? Like Sean Payton said, these next two games for the Broncos, they don't define the season, but they are going to tell a lot about who this team is. And so getting a win on the road this week would be absolutely huge, not just for Sean and the perception of him from this fan base, but man, for both Nix as a quarterback to be able to play well in this game. I think that's maybe even more important. - Yeah, and a win by Denver in that situation can spark a run moving forward. There's no doubt about it. Like you said, it could be a banner victory and it's those kinds of wins that can actually swing things within that facility, with that roster and really make them start to believe like, hey, we can go out there and we can hang with anybody, we can beat anybody. And those are the kinds of wins that you see send a team on an upwards trajectory. On the flip side, the Bucks are coming off of one of those types of wins. So losing this game against the Broncos, undoes everything that they just did. It takes them out of the contender conversation. It takes them out of saying like, this team is for real. They surprised people last year getting to the divisional round. Well, now they turn around and lost to a team that they should not have lost to. We talk a lot about stealing victories that you probably shouldn't get and then losing games that you probably shouldn't lose. The Bucks could see both of those things happen in back-to-back weeks. So it's gonna be a really, really interesting one and I'm gonna be fascinated to watch the way that Sean Payton tries to attack the Bucks defense with the weapons that he has in Denver having known how he used to attack them year after year after year. Baker's been such a cool story since going to Tampa. His comeback and though next obviously hoping to get his first win as an NFL quarterback. So two storylines there for sure in that game for more on Sarah, more on James. Check them out over at both lockdown Broncos and lockdown Bucks, part of the lockdown podcast network. Your team every day. The last of the 1 p.m. slate, the New York Giants going up against the Cleveland Browns. The Giants are a team that suffered a heartbreaking overtime defeat to their division rival and the Washington commanders in week number two and the Cleveland Browns coming off of a win against the Jacksonville Jaguars looking to continue that momentum, Patricia Treina and Jeff Lloyd of lockdown giants and lockdown Browns get you ready for the game. All right, everybody, welcome back to the crossover Thursday edition of La Thon Giants, La Thon Browns. He is Jeff Lloyd of lockdown Browns. I am Patricia Treina of La Thon Giants and we are going to outline our respective teams keys to victory and Jeff, let's start with you. - Well, I think there's a couple of things that point out to me. Look, if I bring it up offensive line plate and it's not been where it's been in the past for the Cleveland Browns, you know, I'm worried about guys certainly like Dexter Lawrence. I certainly Brian Burns, you know, other pass rushes for the, you know, Giants and Browns are going to be tested until this offensive line starts to look like, you know, what has been, you know, the standard here for this team. And I understand it's going to be an offensive line in flux, you know, Dwan Jones is now entrenched. He is going to be the right tackle from here on. You're not going to take what this young man has done to this point and move him because the Browns do see a chance where they are going to get some financial relief on that offensive line by having Dwan Jones there. On the defensive side of the ball, you have to kind of look at what the league neighbors does. And I don't think anybody's really surprised. I mean, the polish that he had at LSU. I don't know if it is just an LSU thing, but these guys are definitely emotional players. You know, certainly cover Jarvis. I've covered Odell. You know, you see Malik neighbors. You definitely see, you know, some passion to him, you know, the drop and, you know, basically didn't want to talk to him. I mean, nobody needs to be told to drop the ball and say, oh, you know, ad avoid. Look, players know what they do with, you know, do right and what they do wrong. But he is going to be somebody. I think the Browns, look, they have three good top corners. So you're going to show them Denzel Ward, who's a top corner in the NFL. You have a burging talent in Martin Emerson. So if there's an opportunity for Martin Emerson to go out there, who's a little more physical, got a little more length, you know, can beat on a guy. You're going to want to lean on the rookie a little bit. That's the way you do it. If you're going to line them up in a slot, Greg Newsom, you know, I'll play some something. Greg Newsom plays slot, you know. So you want to keep mixing it up certainly, you know, on a player like that. And look, you know, I think they're going to be extremely aggressive on Daniel Jones. Look, you don't have to just say, I mean, you say Jim Schwartz, you know what's going to be aggressive anyway. But you know, there's maybe difference where, hey, it's Patrick Mahomes. We can only be so much aggressive before it bites us in the can. Or it's Daniel Jones, you know what? I'm going to keep attacking him to make him prove that he could, you know, basically make me pay for being this aggressive. They like to play man. They like to rush the passer. It's a simple thing. Obviously Pat, you know, it's time in the Eagles. You know, you've seen this in action plenty, plenty of times. But those are the two biggest things. You know, certainly the New York Giants pass rush. And then if you're the, the Browns, and this is something they usually do pretty well, is we are going to take your best playmaker away from you and make you find another way to beat us. - Yes, indeed. And you know, you mentioned the pass rush with Daniel Jones. That's actually something that I'm interested in seeing play out now. The Giants offensive line, I said this on my show the other day, I said, giant fans, if I had told you that the Giants offensive line would actually be ranked not in the bottom third, but actually a little higher, would you believe me? And I haven't checked the responses yet, but the Giants offensive line has been pretty solid. All right, not top five just yet, but it's a case of all five guys, you know, it's interesting. All five guys, you look at the individual performances outside of maybe Andrew Thomas. All five guys are playing, you know, okay, passable, but put them together and they are getting the job done. And that's going to be so important because the Browns have a top five pass rush. If I'm not mistaken, I think the Browns are ranked in the, somewhere in the top five with total sacks. So that's going to be something, obviously, to keep an eye on, can they protect Daniel Jones? Because look, when that rush comes at Daniel, he is known to panic. He is known to throw the ball away or to throw it into harm, you know, a window that he has no business throwing it into. So how is he going to respond to the pass rush if they are able to penetrate the offensive line? That's definitely something to keep an eye on. From the other side of the ball, I guess you can go the same way, like you said, it all starts in the trenches. Now the Giants pass rush so far has been kind of quiet. We haven't really seen K-Vontibido and Brian Burns really come out and, you know, set the league on fire. Sometimes it takes a little startup for that to happen. And then they say sacks and pressures and all that stuff come in bunches. But the Giants are going to need to get after that offensive line of the Cleveland Browns and get into the backfield, rattle the Sean Watson or whoever ends up playing quarterback and just, you know, take away his options because look, the Giants defensive secondary remains a big, big problem. It really does. They've got Deonti Banks, who's a good young player, Adori Jackson will probably start now, especially if Cordell Flott is not healthy. Nick McCloud is not healthy. But that group has been shaky and they are, you know, that it's just kind of how things kind of worked out with the Giants to where, you know, that front seven now, that front seven of the Giants defense has got to get after the passer and force some mistakes because the longer these guys have to hold the ball and make plays down the field, the more likely the Giants are going to end up getting in trouble. So we'll have to see about that. And if they can, you know, protect the back end of the defense. And then just real quick, we mentioned before about the Giants with the kicking situation, they have signed Greg Joseph to be their kicker with Graham Ganau ailing. So just, you know, thought I would throw that out there. Go over to the ground. Yeah, yeah. So, so yeah, it sounds like to me, Jeff, it's going to be a battle of the trenches. That's going to result, you know, going to determine this game. Would you agree? I would think so. And, you know, certainly, you know, Giants have played, obviously, I mean, offensive line good to this point, you know, the Browns hoping to get better in that aspect. So, you know, it's certainly usually, most of the time it kind of does come down to that. And then, you know, as, you know, both quarterbacks have had their share of mistakes that of course are team ball games, that's going to be certainly something else that we have to keep your eye on. All right, well, both teams need this win. It's going to be quite the clash. The Giants probably need a little bit more than Cleveland, but, you know, I'm sure Cleveland won't turn away a win. So, Jeff, you want to throw out a quick prediction before we say goodbye? We usually save these for the end of the week, but, you know, look, it's inexcusable. You know, this is a team in the New York Giants that are 0 and 2. The Browns last year only lost one game at home. They've already lost one game at home this year. I don't, you know, they have the Dolphins later in the year. They have the Chiefs later in the year. They certainly have all their division opponents. I don't think this is going to be the one. I don't think the Browns are where they're going to play like clean and efficient yet. So, you're going to get one of those, you know, field goal combination scores. But if you wanted to say 26, 13, 26, 14, something like that, but the Browns like to get ahead. And then they like to go ahead and play their nickel of dime and just, you know, rotating passrushers. And that would be the ideal plan for that, of course. All right. Well, you know, I said that if the Giants didn't win the first two games, I would have a hard time picking them to win. I got to see better football. I saw a little bit of improvement, just a smidge, you know, some bright spots here and there, particularly on offense. But until this team shows me they can play complimentary football until they show me that, you know, they can stop the run. I don't know that I can pick them. So, I'm going to get the edge here to the Cleveland Browns. I'm going to say 28, 13. Oh, and three is what you got to avoid in New York Giants, hoping to avoid that against the Browns and the Browns, looking to go to two and one. So, for more on the Giants and the Browns, check out Patricia over at lockdown giants and Jeff over at lockdown. Browns, part of lockdown podcast network routine every day. That concludes the 1PM slate, but don't go anywhere. We have a lot to dive into on the ultimate NFL pregame show, including some incredible four o'clock window match-ups, plus three prime time games, including two Monday nighters, all that and more. Next on the ultimate NFL pregame show. First, the show is brought to you by prize picks. Prize picks is America's number one daily fantasy sports app, with over five million active members. Prize picks is the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports. Unlike other apps on prize picks, it's just you against the numbers. All you do is pick more or less on two to six player staff projections and watch the winnings roll in. So, one kill of Williams passing guard, gets to one win on prize picks every week in September. That's why only one yard gets you an automatic win every football weekend in September. Four weeks of free W's don't miss the deal on prize picks, you guys, it's gone when September ends. 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There are plenty of incredible matchups across the NFL in week number three, including a bunch of four o'clock matchups, and that primetime window has its fair share of juicy ones as well. This is the ultimate NFL pregame show. I am at Kevin Ostrecker, bringing you the expert analysis across the locked on podcast network from our hosts and experts. Getting ready for the games. And we're gonna be diving into a lot of these 425 matchups as we get ready for them. And we have to start in Dallas. The Dallas Cowboys coming off of an embarrassing effort against the New Orleans Saints. In week number two, we'll face off against the reeling Baltimore Ravens who are a surprising 0-2 team. So the Ravens trying to avoid an 0-3 hole. The Cowboys looking to bounce back from their week two defeat. And so myself, Kevin Ostrecker, the host of locked on Ravens as well. As Marcus Mosher, the host of locked on Cowboys will be taking it through all the biggest storylines, key questions and more for the matchup. This crossover Thursday episode is brought to you by prize picks, go to prize picks.com/lott.nfl and use promo code Lott.nfl to win $50 instantly when you play $5. All right, Kevin, let's talk about the three things the Ravens need to do to win this game. What are they? - First of all, get out to an early lead. I think to me, with what this Ravens team has done over the first two weeks, it's been offensive inconsistency, which has been a little bit of an issue for them, where they'll either start fast, like we saw in week one. They go up five pairs for Derek Henry's score, touchdown, or it's the other part of it where you start slow and then you find something and then it kind of falls off after that. So a consistent 60 minutes of football with a fast start on the offensive side of the ball. And obviously that does include protecting Lamar Jackson, opening up rushing lanes on the offensive line like we talked about earlier. The second thing is late game execution and just situational and game awareness in general. John Harbaugh's taken a lot of flack over these first two weeks and a lot of it deserved for his game management, obviously in that Raiders game in week two, challenged a pretty obvious Devontae Adams catch, lost them a timeout in the second half and they needed that timeout and were able to give the offense enough time to drive down the field to try to tie win the game. They didn't have it. And so there's been a lot of that. The Ravens in their fourth quarter leads, they've blown more fourth quarter leads in the last five years in any team. The Raiders hadn't won a game being down 10 plus points in the fourth quarter in 49 games, but the Raiders got that lucky number 50 against Baltimore. So if they're up in the fourth quarter, you have to be able to shut the door on this Dallas team. You can't let any momentum in because we saw in that week two game, it was just time after time, play after play. You could see the momentum slipping away from the Ravens and the final thing is don't let CD Lam beat you. If he's able to play in this game, he's the guy that you have to be able to cover. He's the guy you have to be able to take out of the gameplay. Now that's much easier said than done. See if he's a heck of a player and I still expect him to go and get his, but against the Raiders it was well, stopped Devontae Adams and Devontae had over 110 yards in a touchdown. So make a guy like Brandon Cooks beat you. Make a guy like Jalen Tober put you. Jalen Ferguson, if he's a guy that plays, make him be the guy that beats you or the run game. Even that, but if CD Lam beats you, you know that's the guy that can and will eliminate the Cowboys best player and that to me at least gives you a shot and you're okay with someone else being the guy that beats you at the end. - And then Kevin on the Cowboys side of things, they've got to find a way to get to third of long. Last week, it's hard to believe that Saints had one third down in the entire first half. - Well. - And it was third and short. Mike Zimmer is one of the best defensive coordinators in the league when he gets to third and long and he can design some of his exotic rushes. Now he's not going to blitz a lot, but what he's going to do is show six or seven blitzers, drop three and then send four in all of these crazy directions. Last week, they weren't able to do any of that stuff because they never got the third down. They never got the Saints into obvious passing situations. So whether that means run blitzing on early downs, however you can get the Lamar Jackson and the Ravens into some of these third and sevens, third and eights, you're going to have a chance to win on defense. On offense, I get the feeling, Kevin, that this is not going to be a game at which the Cowboys put up 450 yards, 500 yards. It's going to be a more, you're going to get three red zone drives. You better convert on all three red zone drives in the touchdowns. Last week, the Cowboys had to settle for too many field goals inside the 20 yard line because of sacks, fumbles, drop passes, miscommunications. You have to be more effective in the red zone. It's been a problem for the Cowboys early on this year. It was a problem for the Cowboys early on last year. So you are at home, take advantage of those red zone opportunities. And the last thing, and this is probably the most important, one of the disturbing trends about this Cowboys team is when they get up in a game, they start to roll, right? Like they have all the confidence in the world and that's why you see so many blowouts. And it's why you see this Cowboys team have one of the highest point differentials in the league each and every year, Baltimore's up there as well. But with things go poorly, they tend to let it snowball, right? The offense starts to press if the defense gives up back to back touchdowns. The defense starts to be over aggressive and that's when they get beat with plays down the field. The Baltimore Ravens are a good team. I know the record doesn't say that, but we know they're a good team. They're going to make some plays. They're going to score some points. Don't feel like the game is over if you give up 10 points in the first 20 minutes. Don't let things snowball. Try to keep this close and see if you can steal a game at home at the end. Yeah, and that's going to be big for both teams is we could very well see this come down to the kicker matchup and either one of those guys in a Justin Tucker is one for seven from 50 plus yards and dating back to last season, but these are two of the best kickers in the NFL. And this could be a game that comes down to the wire, but it's going to be on both teams to not get caught up in the early game. Obviously, it's important to go up early, but I mean, this is football. This is the NFL. Anything can happen and both these teams are talented, but obviously Dallas doesn't want to fall into a one and two hole. And of course, Baltimore, that Owen three hole kind of feels like a, you know, pretty big blow to your season if it comes to that. Yeah, I would love to see this turn into a kicker battle. That'd be really fun. I believe I'm not to double check the stats, but I believe Brandon Aubrey is three for three on kicks over 60 yards in his end of the career, which is pretty crazy. He actually gets Cleveland in Cleveland hit a 66 yarder, but the Cowboys called time out before he made the kick. Pretty incredible. I get the feeling, Kevin, that we're going to get one outrageously long kick in this game. What do you think? Man, yeah, these two near the two best kickers in the league. Yeah, I think we have to a 60 plus yarder. Oh, it's coming, right? I think we might see one from each kicker. And I know Tucker's been struggling and I know that the confidence in him for a lot of the fan base is down, not me personally, but you know, just it's been tough. Maybe we see is maybe that's a bull prediction out there out. 60 plus yard field goal for each kicker in this game. There you go. I like the idea of one made field goal above 60 yards. I would like to see what kind of odds we can get from Fandall on that. If you want more Ravens coverage, you can go check me out over at lockdown Ravens. And if you want more Cowboys coverage, Marcus has a covered over at lockdown Cowboys, part of the lockdown podcast network or team every day. San Francisco 49ers coming off a tough defeat to the Minnesota Vikings in week two are dealing with a ton of injuries. And they will travel to Los Angeles to take on the Rams who are certainly dealing with their injuries themselves. Just an injury riddled pair of teams here and Brian Peacock of lockdown 49ers as well is Doug McCain of locked on Rams. Have everything you need to know about the latest on injuries and how it might affect the game. And welcome back to lockdown Rams and lockdown 49ers. We've got a crossover edition Thursday. Third segment, we're gonna throw out some keys to victory. We're gonna throw out some predictions. But as far as the wide receivers go, I mean, you're looking at a golden opportunity for someone to step up, get targets, make plays last year when two to at well, you really fell off. You got supplanted by Demarcus Robinson. He really stepped up as a red zone threat. He really built a lot of chemistry with Matthew Stafford. And he's one of the first guys I'm looking at to be that go to guy for Stafford, along with Tyler Johnson. - So this is what's interesting to me. So we saw Tyler Johnson kind of jump into the Puka role. Demarcus Robinson's kind of always been his role. But I don't think Demarcus Robinson's role would change that much, even with Nacua and now Cooper Cup out. 'Cause his role is kind of his role. What has me fascinated and really excited is the guy you mentioned, Jordan Winnington. 'Cause you look at his, how he's built. He's really good after the catch, that big power slot player. And if he slips in there and starts running the Cooper Cup routes, that's what has me excited. That's what has me excited about my fantasy team and picking him up and being like, can this be a lightning in the ball situation like we saw? And I don't want to put it on and be like, he's the next Puka Nacua, like it's that easy. I don't think it's always going to be that easy. But if there's a team and a scheme and a quarterback and a coach that you could find a guy in the sixth round and be like, well, this guy's tough. He'll go over the middle. He'll make plays after the catch. He'll make those catches in traffic. And guess what, Cooper Cups hurt. So you're playing his position now and you've got those slot targets which are some of the most valuable targets now in the NFL. I feel like the upside is a little bit higher with him even though he's a rookie. - 100%. I mean, this is a golden opportunity for him too. Not saying it's going to be this year's Puka Nacua, but if he has a couple of good games with them out, he can jump in front of the guys ahead of him on the depth chart. And it's really interesting when it comes to Jordan Winnington because in the opener against the Lions, he played just two offensive snaps, but he would have scored a touchdown if it weren't for AJR Curry's holding there where he was grabbing the face mask. And then you look in week two, 26 snaps. He got two passes, no gain, and then had another one for 22 yards, but he remained the starter for the last part of that game. I think that you look at that right there. You probably say, oh, you're probably not going to be a starter, right? You're probably going to look at guys like Demarcus Robinson as one of your starters. And then a combination of Whittington, Atwell, and Tyler Johnson. But I think when you consider the fact that he played the entire second half on Sunday after Cup was injured, I think he's the guy that stepped up and is the starter. And yes, he is a sixth around pick in just his third game, but this guy just built different, man. He's got that, man, dude is straight up jacked. I mean, he's got the physicality. He just feels like the moment's not too big for him. And I almost think that he's saying, you know what? It's next man up mentality. I think he's built for this. I totally think he's going to be a big factor for the Rams, at least as far as just getting the opportunities. And Whittington was blocked a little bit at, and it was kind of a hidden gem at Texas. There was two guys that were first round caliber dudes that were there with him as well. So I think he probably, you know, if 80 Mitchell doesn't transfer to Texas and stayed at Georgia early in his career of Whittington, maybe he's the number two guy there. And does he get drafted in the fourth round instead, right? The third round or something like that, because the tape is good, but he was just kind of got lost a little bit. Jordan Mason was the same story. And the 49ers plucked him as an undrafted free agent. He got, he got supplanted as the, he was the starter early in his career at Georgia Tech. He got supplanted by the guy who ended up being number 12 picking the draft in Jordan, in Jameer Gibbs at Georgia Tech. Jameer Gibbs was the biggest prospect they ever got, the biggest recruit ever in that school's history. But in any transfer to Alabama and we're like, oh yeah, Jameer Gibbs, that's why Jordan Mason didn't play that much. So I think there's some similarities there. Guys that were blocked on their college team that were a lot better might have got drafted higher. - And that we're highly tied recruits, right? Jordan Wynton was a five star recruit, just goes to show. I mean, some of these guys like the Ohio State dudes, you know what I mean? The first couple of years, you're gonna be behind that dev, Charlie at Marvin Harrison Jr. He's behind in Jigba, he's behind Olave's behind all those dudes and Garrett Wilson at one point. So I mean, for me, I'd rather go to the bigger program where I can learn and then less wear and tear. And now Jordan Wynton's in a perfect spot with a better organization that kind of has the ability to utilize him. But when I asked you a couple of questions too, as far as this offense without CMC, this offense without Debo, you saw Jordan in the first game. I think it was 28 carries, that was the most ever by a Shanahan led team. I mean, what does this pretty, what kind of challenging this presents the Rams versus what they've seen in the past, as far as how you CMC last during Debo. I mean, are you gonna go run heavy? Are you gonna see a little more on the outside? I mean, what do you expect from how the game plan is gonna look from Shanahan? - Yeah, you know, there was a surprisingly few amount of play action snaps last week in the Minnesota Vikings. And I don't know why that is because the Shanahan, it's all about motion and play action. And so I think they're gonna get back to that in this one. You're gonna see more motion, more play action. And yeah, they're gonna get that, Cal Shanahan's such a genius in this way. And that's why I brought up the linebackers 'cause he does that thing where you have a running back, you know, he's right next to the quarterback. And then he just shifts, he doesn't shift across the formation. He shifts three steps over. And all Cal Shanahan wants is that angle. He just wants that linebacker to go, okay, I'm gonna go this way with the running back. And then they've got that cut back angle that they want. And so that's why I'm fascinated with the linebacker matchup in this. And that's probably what Cal Shanahan's looking to get after. So I have a feeling it's gonna be a heavy run game again. And Cal Shanahan loves his RB ones. Jordan Mason could never get on the field when Christian McCaffrey was healthy. And now that Christian McCaffrey's out, he won't take Jordan Mason off the field either. He's gotten every snap, but one in the last two games running the football for the 49ers. So maybe you see a little rookie Isaac Garendo in there, but I think it's gonna be a heavy dose of Jordan Mason once again. And I'll be shocked if he has less than 20 carries in this game. And a little glimpse into the future with the 49ers passing game. Because when you sign Brandon Ayuk, he's two years younger than Debo, his body was probably going to have less wear and tear than Debo's and last a little bit longer. So when you look ahead to this 49ers team in 2025, 2026 and beyond, that's why you sign Debo Samuel to be that number one of the future, even if he's not the number one option in the offense right now. Well, Christian McCaffrey's already hurt and Debo's out now. So we're gonna kind of get a glimpse on what this future passing game is gonna look like for the 49ers with a true outside number one wide receiver in Brandon Ayuk with your young quarterback that might earn upwards of 50 to $60 million as a free agent. And so I'm fascinated to see what that looks like without Debo and Christian McCaffrey, getting those automatic, we're game planning to get you touches early. Kyle Shanahan doesn't have that in this game. Yeah, and that's where it's kind of one of those things, especially with guys out. Do you play the hot hand? I mean, do you play the hot match up? And I think you were kind of going back to the Jordan Whittington thing, you're gonna see him a ton in motion. I mean, that's how they're gonna use him. I mean, week one, they had 42 snaps with Cooper couple reason motion and 12 in week one as well. So it's like, I mean, this guy is constantly being utilized in the same fashion. I think the X factor for the Rams, though, it has to be Kyan Williams. Where has the 2023 version of Kyan Williams been? And a lot of that in week one was the fact that the offensive line was decimated by injuries. So you kind of had to go to more West Coast quick passing game to try to keep Stafford upright. But I mean, he just has been non-existent. I mean, last game, 12 carries, longest rush, nine yards, caught four passes for 27 yards. But I mean, most of that came when it was garbage time anyway. So second straight week that Kyan Williams hasn't been that true impact running back that we saw last season. The first two games, 75 yards on 30 carries this season. So if you can get the Kyan Williams that we saw last year, there was one of the big reasons why the Rams went on their second half run. It's gonna go a long way to see. If you can just stay in this game, if you can just stay in this game and keep it interesting late and hopefully walk away with the win. - Yeah, and one thing with the Rams and it's why I don't want to count the Rams out, not only in this game, but when you look at a season, let's say they go 0 and 3. And the reason they're not gonna tank, the reason they're not gonna end up with the number one pick in the draft or something like that or even a top five pick, it's because Sean McVay's too good and Matthew Stafford's too good. And we have a great coaching quarterback. That is the thing that you want in the NFL. Now they might have a lot less on top of that right now and the defense might not be willing to allow them to do that. But guess what? Maybe some fireworks in this one. We've got the number one and number two, passing yardage leaders in the NFL right now in Brock Purdy and Matthew Stafford. So yeah, let's just let them sling it and have a little fun on Sunday. - Exactly. I mean, both teams kind of look into get a get right game in some capacity, Rams 0 and 2, Niers at 1 and 1. I mean, you lose to your former quarterback, backup and darn all the other crazy 97 yard touchdown with Justin Jefferson. I'm sure you haven't enjoyed watching that highlight. All week. But yeah, it's a great opportunity for this Rams team to say, OK, if you can get this win, then that early buy that you have in week six starts to feel a little better. And you start to change the entire outlook of your season. If you have fall to 0 and 3, then things get really, really dicey for you at that point against an opponent that you've lost to a lot. I think it's eight out of 10, eight out of nine times in the regular season, which is pretty wild. But it's going to be a tough one. Any predictions, though, do you throw out scores on the crossover episodes, Brian? Usually, we kind of wait for the final episode for the predictions. But I'll say that the spread-- I don't like that the spread is over a touchdown. The half a point is getting me here. And these are really familiar teams. And when you go on the road against division opponent, it's hard to consistently blow those teams out. Even if I do like the 49ers in this one, if there's a way to bet on this, looking at the fan dual odds, maybe you take the points with the Rams at 7 and 1/2, and you think they keep this within a touchdown. But the 49ers are going to be a little extra angry. I've been a little tougher practices this week, coming off a loss. I don't like that for the Rams at the 49ers' loss last week. You probably don't even get that, oh, we're going to look past this team that's kind of decimated in injuries this week. Yeah, it's tough to talk myself into a pick, for sure. I mean, I'm still kind of reeling off the only two start. But I still think that, yeah, there is an opportunity there for this Rams team against this 49ers. They're going to come up. They're going to be ready to play. It's the home opener. You're getting guys back. Like you say, you still have Stafford and Sean McVeigh. Also, I mean, look, this team, they just need a break. They need something good to happen for them. Just, I mean, I was looking at doing a little prep for the show, saw the 49ers. Second worst, third down, defense, the NFL. Well, guess what? Rams, one of the worst at converting, right? Just seven of 23 attempts. So kind of my point is something just kind of have to give in this game one way or the other. And hopefully, you'll start to get that positive aggression to the mean if you're the Rams. So, you know what, I'm not afraid. I'll throw out a prediction. You know what, 0 and 2, they're going to go 1 and 3. They're going to be 1 and 2 after this game. I got the Rams winning. Give me the Rams 24 to 16, 24 to 16 in this one. You don't have to give your prediction, but what do you think about that score? What are your thoughts? Oh, man. The camera isn't catching what you're drinking down there before we recorded this podcast. But no, look, I was confident that 49ers last week, after seeing them on Monday night football, and they went on the road and they lost to Sam Darnell. And the Rams have a better quarterback than Sam Darnell. That's for sure. And a pretty darn good coach as the Vikings do as well. I do like the 49ers in this one, though. And I think the loss last week, you know, actually hurts the Rams chances as well. The 49ers are going to be ready to play. Getting Hufanga back is going to help their third down defense, hopefully, and maybe a little bit more pass rush against a beat up offensive line, I think, is just the thing the 49ers need to get right after a big loss. So I do like the 49ers. I would be surprised if the 49ers dropped the second one in a row. Brian and Doug, great. For more on Brian, check him out over at lockdown 49ers. For Doug, check him out over at lockdown Rams, part of lockdown podcast network. Your team, every day, the Miami Dolphins are going to move forward without to a talk about Lewa after his scary injury on Thursday night football. And they'll be traveling to the West Coast to take on the Seattle Seahawks in week three, who were 2-0 on the new head coach Mike McDonald. So Kyle Krabs have locked on Dolphins and Corbin Smith have locked on Seahawks, getting ready for the game and everything you need to know. Welcome back to Crossover Thursday. I'm Corbin Smith and locked on Seahawks. Glad to be teaming up with Kyle Krabs from locked on Dolphins here for our week three crossover. Both these teams have had playoff appearances in recent years Seattle just missed last year. Miami made it the last two years. Little more murky situation with the quarterback tag of Aloha going down with a third concussion in the last couple of seasons. But nonetheless, the Dolphins still have a lot of star power on the offensive side of the football. Plenty of good players on defense as well. They're not going to be taking this game lightly and they're going to be looking to get the upset. Kyle, looking at Miami's situation with Skyler Thompson, being under center, some of the changes that they've had, personnel-wise on defense as well. What do you think the Miami Dolphins have to accomplish in this game to be able to beat the Seahawks on the road after making that super long trip cross-country? So I'll stay away from low hanging fruit, like win the turnover battle with Skyler Thompson playing a quarterback, right? But I think the red zone has been a big issue for the Dolphins on both ends of the field throughout the first two games. Miami is two of six on offensive possessions in the red zone, converting for touchdowns. And they have allowed four touchdowns on five defensive trips into the red zone. That is not sustainable for any level of success, regardless of who's playing quarterback. So when things get tight and you have to make decisions faster, what are your answers in this game, especially against a defense that are you going to see more simulated pressures where you think you're having space to access based on pressure, but guys are actually dropping out into those areas of the field and you have to make those snap decisions. How do you choose to navigate giving your offense answers and execute it at a level that's going to allow you to get the ball into the end zone? This is not a game that you can settle for three points a couple of times because as you mentioned earlier in the crossover, do you know Spis playing a really high level football right now and they have weapons? This is a team that if they have to and be aggressive, they're probably gonna like their matchups. And the Ryan Grub offense, they're spreading the field and forcing you to cover every inch of it too. There's a vertical element to this, but this is a pretty well balanced based off of what I have seen passing attack as far as where they can attack you. So you need to be able to do your part and then when Seattle gets down in there, your veteran players that you brought in, Jordan Brooks for his coverage in the middle of the field, Jalen Ramsey was better in week two than he was in week one after he didn't practice for a couple of weeks, Kaleis Campbell up front alongside Christian or Zach Sealer, Kaleis Campbell replacing Christian Wilkins, Jalen Phillips, getting matchups, your leaders on that side of the ball, you have to win that exchange with those possessions because Miami's probably going to play a little bit more of a possession oriented game with trying to possess the ball, shorten the possessions for both sides and hope that you can make the situational plays to win the game. - It's interesting because I think the Seahawks are going to try to play a little bit of possession football in this game too, even with the quarterback situation for Miami, how do you limit Tyree Kill and Jalen Waddle and A-chain and all those explosive weapons? You keep them off the field. And as I mentioned earlier, it feels like this is a game that the Seahawks, one of the things they have got to get going, that run game was weak last week in New England. They really struggled to get it going until late in the game, they got a couple of decent runs from Zack Charbonay, but they got to be able to get the blocking up front so that Charbonay can get rolling downhill. He is not quite as explosive as Ken Walker the third. It takes him a little longer to get up to speed. Can they get that run game going? And if they are able to do that, I think that the matchups are there, even Jalen Ramsey, I mean, DK Metcalf and Jalen Ramsey have had some epic matchups over the years when Ramsey was playing in LA. And the last couple of times, these two played against each other, Metcalf actually won that matchup. When you look at the numbers, he had a game when he touched down in one of those games against Ramsey as well. So Geno Smith is not going to be afraid to target Jalen Ramsey with DK Metcalf. But I will get the other matchups, Kendall Fuller going up against Tyler Lockett or Jack Smith and Jigma who can play inside and out. I'd like the other matchups there if Geno Smith has time to throw. It feels like getting your run game going, at least having a complimentary run game is going to be able to take some of that pressure. Don't let Jalen Phillips and some of those guys be able to really pin their ears back. So I'm looking offensively at this game. The run game, particularly between the tackles where they struggled last week. Can he get it going against Miami's front seven? If they can do that, I think there's going to be a ripple effect. They've got some matchups they can take advantage of. And on defense, I think you do need to open up things a little bit as far as what kind of looks that you're going to be bringing in. And I'm even going to go as far as saying this is a game where Seattle may takes a few more risks with the blitz because you're going up against an inexperienced quarterback, even though he is more athletic than Tagvaloa. Thompson is a player that feels like with that lack of experience, looking back at some of the preseason tape, if you can get some quick pressure on him, he can be forced into some bad decisions, even with some of the weapons they get on the outside, make the young inexperienced quarterback, have to beat you in those situations. So mixing more blitzes, some sim pressures, maybe not open up the entire toolbox, but get some of those extra plays we haven't seen to this point. And mixed looks up a little bit, send some pressure from different levels of the defense, try to confuse the quarterback. I think if they can check off those boxes, the Seahawks have a really good chance to win this football game. As far as odds go going to this game, the Seahawks are a four and a half point favorite right now. Kyle, you and I both are going to ditch out our game prediction as far as scores on our Friday episodes. But with that four and a half odds being a favorite for the Seahawks, how do you think the Dolphins handle this football game in terms of that? Are they going to be able to cover that? Or is this going to be game that with the quarterback situations could be difficult for them to be able to keep this game within four and a half points? - Yeah, I think the biggest challenge is this was not an offense that traveled particularly well last year with your starting quarterback on the field. And some of that's based off the timing of the offense with the timing of the motions and everybody being able to communicate as far as what the calls are and when the ball snapped with the motion or is it out of sync? So it could go both ways, right? Where that in a very difficult place to play, rears its head, or maybe it's simpler because you have to have the backup quarterback in so you can't do as much. And maybe it gives the offensive chance to do some more simple things. If I were a betting man and I'm not, but if I were, I would probably like Seattle with the four and a half points at home just because I don't know how well this offense travels in general. And then there's the layer of the quarterback change on top of it. - If you want great Dolphins and Seahawks coverage, be sure to check out Kyle over on lockdown, Dolphins and Corbin over on lockdown. Seahawks as they get ready for a potentially intriguing matchable over their out West part of lockdown podcast network, your team every day. Still a lot to talk about here on the Ultimate NFL pregame show is we will wrap up the rest of the four o'clock window games, a couple of West Coast games out there, the Cardinals hosting as well as the Raiders hosting so stay tuned a lot to get to on the show. First the show is brought to you by Fandall. And again, you heard us talk about Fandall a lot here on the lockdown podcast network and the ultimate NFL pregame show, it's American number one sports book and Fandall are so many different things, so many different ways that you can get involved. And I love just seeing everything they have on the docket. And we have something a little different for you. Now through September 22nd, all Fandall customers can bet $5 and get a three-week retrial. I know it's time to take it from YouTube and YouTube TV. So then with the YouTube TV baseband, you'll be able to watch every regular season Sunday afternoon on a market game. All you need is that Google account and the current form of payment you can cancel anytime. So when you're talking about the Sunday night matchup, the Chiefs, the Falcons, the Chiefs open up is three point favorites in that game. So if you like that line one way or the other, head over to Fandall just visit fandall.com download America's number one sports book. We return here on the ultimate NFL pregame show. Kevin Ausrecker still here with you getting you ready for all of Sunday and Monday's NFL action. Really exciting week three on the docket. Let's round out the four o'clock window game, starting off with the Arizona Cardinals who will be hosting the Detroit Lions. The Lions trying to come back from a tough week to defeat in the Cardinals. Kyle and Murray and Marvin Harris and the junior certainly got on the same page last week. They'll hope to continue that trend in week three. Matt Dairy have locked on Lions. Alice Clancy have locked on Cardinals are here for you answering the biggest questions of the game. - I'm like 65% terrified and 35% confident. I think it should be flipped for the Lions. I think that's about right where-- - I'm lower, I'm at 55-45. I've told you this game has scared me from the minute the schedule came out. I was like, why you said, I said when we did, you know, you didn't do the schedule game on the show. And I said, I'm counting this as a loss. No, I didn't have them losing the Tampa at home, but I don't know where I'm going with this. I don't, I think this is dangerous. I think going out west is tough. I just like how Ganon coaches, I think you guys are, ran every game like you were last year. And Kyler to me could be the difference maker and maybe a Prater 55 yarder or something, which we've seen in Detroit could decide this game. This is not going to be an easy game for the Lions. - What are the passive victory for you for the Lions? Like, what are the keys to victory here? - Well, they got to get back to running the ball. 55 pass attempts last Sunday is unacceptable. And I think they will. Pounding David Montgomery, that could be the thing. The Lions offensive line could just manhandle the Cardinals front and Montgomery could get 20 carries and get 100 yards and Gibbs could get 17 carries and get 90 yards. It could be that type of day. When the Lions were so successful last year, go back to the Green Bay game and Green Bay and some others, they just pounded people with that ground game and that was Dan Campbell football. So if they get back to that, certainly containing Murray, I just think, you know, Hutchinson's going to get in there. Kelvin Beachameth as a backup right tackle is a solid bet, but he's not Williams. So if Hudge can get there, he's got to finish. There's got to be, you know, taking Kyler to the ground or at least a pressure or a hurry that forces a throw out of bounds as opposed to a Murray 12 to 15 yard scramble. Alex Anzaloni is going to be a question mark for this game. He's been their best linebacker the last two years and if he doesn't play, that's a guy that can run down Kyler Murray. Not they raced Murray would beat him, but you know what I mean? So I think those are two real big keys at the Lions that they want to win have got to kind of shore up a little bit. - Yeah, if you can't protect Kyler Murray, none of this is going to work. So what I've said since 2019 when he got drafted, that's never more prevalent than on Sunday where this is a true test for this, you know, offensive line that's been moved around. You know, Parrish Johnson Jr. looked good last week. Evan Brown left guard seen he was the highest rated, I believe he was the highest rated, pro football focus rated offensive lineman for the Cardinals. Left guard was the biggest whole void that the Cardinals had last year. You know what the Froholt is, a fringe pro baller at center coming out of nowhere, got a contract extension for the season started. And then Will Hernandez and COVID beach them on the right are going to have their plates full with eight hundreds and et cetera. I do see the Cardinals running a little bit more shotgun just because, you know, it gives Kyler Murray an extra second before eight hundreds in his face. I think they're going to run the ball and they're going to try and establish the run like they always do. This is a run first team, which could, you know, render eight hundreds and a little bit more obsolete than if they were thrown the ball 35 times. And for the Cardinals defensively, the player that scares me the most is Ymir Gibbs because he's the one that could break a 75 yard or whether it be a swing pass, screen pass, whether he's running, you know, wheel route or he's just running the streak down the sidelines. He's the one, the biggest thing for me. It's not even on Ross St. Brown that's going to eat him. He's a possessed, he's going to have 15 catches for 150 yards in it. Like it's one of those things that Cooper Cub I expected to have last week. The big plays are the things that'll kill the Cardinals because the defense can't afford to do it. They can't afford Jameson Williams running a go route and just burning, you know, a bracketed cover which I'm sure it will see from time to time from whatever corner and whatever safety, whatever side of the field he's on. The big plays for Jameer Gibbs and Jameson Williams are the ones that terrify me the most. And I think that, listen, man, if I have to opt between passing and defending the run, I'm just hoping that the Cardinals can sustain under five yards a carry and have them run the ball a lot. I didn't invite that more than Jared Gough throwing 40 plus times against his defense. - Yeah, I mean, you know, Lions have a lot of talent, they do. And I love the fact that they want to win up front and they have for the most part. Like I said, especially with a D line being so improved. Now you're going to get, you know, Lee McNeil freed up a little bit. Now the DJ reader has a game under his belt alongside Hutchinson and if Davenport's healthy, that's a pretty good, you know, pretty good mix up front. And again, I think Murray just finds a way to escape, which is a little bit scary, no matter what defense they're putting out there. The interesting to see how the kicking game goes. This will be a test for the rookie Jake Bates, his first road game, kicking out there. And I kind of see this as, you know, Vegas had it and our friends at Vandal had it about 51 and a half 52 for over under. They think it's going to be a high scoring ish game. I could see the line squeaking by, but I do not think this is going to be an easy one at all. - No, and I agree and I, you know, the confidence or kind of wavering confidence in your voice for the last 26 minutes and 24 seconds, like listen, we're serial. It's not if then it's not if it's when things kind of fall by the way. So this is a different chapter in both of these, you know, organizations, or is that organizations, you know, just history that neither of us really saw happening. You know, we talk about this like, if you would have told me 10 years ago that, you know, the Cardinals would be here that the Lions would be where they are. You'd be like, what drug test you, you know, kind of thing. So it's just going to be interesting to see, you know, the one thing that I think the Cardinals may have a leg up on which is very, very much a work in progress is, I don't see the Lions having a killer instinct. I don't see the, we're going to step on your proverbial neck team and just take what's ours. The NFC is wide open. The NFC hasn't been this wide open in quite some time, especially with the injuries in San Francisco. So there needs to be a team that comes out of the woodwork that has that killer instinct that can just go get a win ugly, pretty, whatever. - I'll say this, the Lions aren't cocky though. Like if you want a, like the one thing that I really liked about this franchise and organization led by Dan Campbell this entire summer and spring was we're not going to come out and think just because sports illustrated says we're a Super Bowl team. We were 20, 30 minutes away from it last year and gagged it in San Francisco. Oh, we're just going to come out. They've been very grounded. They have said, hey, we're focused on the Rams. And last week, all right, we're one and oh, but we're focused on Tampa Bay. Now it's, all right, we got to go on the road. What can be that step on their neck moment this week could be big drive up three, four minutes to go. And it's just Montgomery down your throat and they're taking me and they win by three. That could be a watch this. We're just going to pound it. You're not going to stop it. They did that a couple of times last year and they can do it again. That could be that as opposed to what you're right. What you're saying is a team like Minnesota now feels like they have a chance off to a 2-0 start because the rest of that conference is kind of up for grabs. I see what you're saying. - And kids don't step on people's necks. We're talking in hypotheticals and we're talking, yeah, in a, you know, metaphors. - We'll see how it all unfolds for those two NFC foes for more on Matt Moore and Alex check him out over at lockdown lines and lockdown Cardinals part of lockdown podcast network. We're a team every day. The last of the four o'clock window games, the Carolina Panthers after benching Bryce Young will be traveling to Las Vegas take on those Las Vegas Raiders who came out with an impressive win over the Baltimore Ravens in week two. So Julian council have locked on Panthers and you'll board Q of locked on Raiders. You'd be all the insight you need to know as we figure out which team could take home the win on Sunday. - Back here on lockdown Panthers and locked on Raiders. It's a locked on NFL crossover Thursday presented by her friends over at PriceFix.com/lockedonnfl and use code all lowercase locked on NFL when $50 instantly, when you play $5 Raiders, one and one to start off the season of Panthers. Oh, and two, they have a common opponent. The Chargers week one, we're able to run on Raiders in the second half of those close game there in a divisional match up at halftime to the Panthers. Well, they weren't really in the game at any point once they kicked it off. They had an opening kickoff face mask penalty and Felipe Franks on the Panthers was like dancing on a clear face mask. I knew right then and there this team was cooked. So we'll see if they're still cooked. Now, Andy Dalton, is it gonna be the starting quarterback but they gotta do some things, Q, a lot of things. I just three things with a lot of things. They're gonna turn things around moving forward but starting out on Sunday on the road against the Raiders and I guess God trying to find three things and pin down, convert on third down. They are two for 22 through two weeks. It's embarrassing just and it's not like all these have been like third and eight, third and nine. They've been in some third and long situations. I look like look back at last week, had a couple of third and twos and could not convert, converted one out of those four, which is just embarrassing that they were even in that situation. Another thing I think I had to really be able to do, just try to stretch the field vertically. If teams understand that you wanna run the football which Dave can now stop but he wanted to be stubborn about running the ball. So far, the two backs, Miles Sanders and Juba Hubbard have carried the ball 28 times. That does not sound to me as if they're being stubborn at running the football. But if you wanna be able to run the football but you also wanna be able to stretch the field, try and get the defense, come up a little bit more. Get some play action going on. Get down the field, use a guy like Xavier Lee Gett who did not get a single target last week. Your first round pick out of South Carolina. Deontae Johnson, maybe try to find him down the field. Even Adam Feeling was wide open down the field last week in that game. He gets the Chargers and Bryce shown completely missed them. Got to be able to do that this week if they wanna find a way to make some defenses on, especially defense like Las Vegas. That is pretty stout up front. You can't be trying to just run the ball on them all day. You gotta be able to throw the ball vertically and in defensively, I mean, guys, this is one of the worst run teams in the NFL through two weeks. You can't be their get right game. So, for the love of God, show some pride, toughen up, stop somebody. Derek Brown, he's not coming back, shot tunnel. Even if he's out there, he's a liability. You need guys like Jaden Peevey to step up. Well, Brian Ray's gotta step up. Some young guys, Nick Thurman as well. Aishan Robinson's been fine so far this season, but he's also been a part of two, like really bad rushing defense performances so far this season. So, gotta find a way to stop the run. If you can't stop the run like JC Horn said, can't stop anything in this league. - There's no doubt. There's no doubt about it. And the Raiders definitely don't want the Panthers to be able to use the Raiders as their get right game either. I mean, the funny thing is like people are talking about the Raiders now because they beat Baltimore 'cause nobody expected them to beat Baltimore. And so now one of the conversations is like, okay, well, now you don't wanna be the team that most people don't believe the Panthers are gonna win. And then all of a sudden they go in and beat A. AP said it on Wednesday. He said, we don't wanna be on the wrong end of that conversation this upcoming week, right? We wanna make sure that we're focused. And he said, how do we play after having success? How do we come back after having success? Do you, like I mentioned earlier, do you play at your level of your expectations? Or do you play down to your competition? Do you ride a roller coaster? And he said, we don't want anything to do with the roller coasters. So yeah, it's gonna be interesting, especially offensively, I'm interested to see how the Panthers attack the Raiders. And especially with Andy Dalton, who's a widely veteran. And he's obviously gonna be able to see the feel better than Bryce Young. And just understand what he's seen and be able to just execute it a lot quicker. The processing should be quicker with Andy Dalton a long time vet. When you look at the Raiders, man, and I mean, just one of the things that they have to do in this game, and I've said it for the first two weeks and they haven't done it, you mentioned it, they've gotta run the ball. They have to run the ball, man. They've got to run the ball. They cannot keep thinking that they're gonna get away with not doing that and think they're gonna win games. So I don't know how they're gonna have to open that up. Like I said before, if you have to throw first and then get to the run game, but somehow you've got to have the run game established for multiple reasons. Like you mentioned, play action pass. If you can't run the ball, nobody cares about that, you're doing play action 'cause they know that, well, you can't run. So it doesn't matter, right? So they don't have to worry about it. They don't have to respect it. So you have to be able to run the rock. That is so important as something Antonio Pierce said, way back in training camp. We wanna be a Smash Mount team. We wanna run downhill and we wanna be able to throw the ball around the yard when we want to because we've already battered and bruised them with the run game. So they've got the running backs to do it. Can they go out there and execute it? That's gonna be the question. So that's obviously number one. First and foremost, they've got to be able to run the rock. Number two, they've got to protect the ball, right? There was a bad interception that Garner men shoot through against the Baltimore Ravens and on his way off the field, Max Crosby grabbed him. It was like, hey, man, we need you to be you. We need Washington State Garner men shoot. We need you to snap back into it and be the guy. Like we got your back, but you need to be the guy. And then he turned around and had a good second half of the game, but he's got to protect the ball. It really does. I mean, the worst thing that you could do for a team that's struggling offensively is give them a short field, right? I mean, that's the worst thing that you can do. Turn the ball over, give them a short field and then all of a sudden Andy Dalton's out there on the 40. All I got to do is go half the length of the field. Boom, good, straight, right? And that can happen. I don't care how good your defense is, you're gonna give up some yards. You're gonna give up some big plays here and there. So you've got to be able to protect the ball, stay very stout and hold on to a ball. And really, honestly, have a few drives. The Raiders are averaging about 60 plays offensively per game, right? They really want to get that closer to 70. Make those drives a little bit longer. Have a few more plays. Have the time of possession be a little bit more lopsided where it's more in your favor than as opposed to like 50/50, like the first two games have been. I mean, again, they had 60 plays against Baltimore, 59 plays against the Chargers. So, I mean, I'm not a genius, but you can tell they're around 60 plays a game, right? That's what they're averaging. And then defensively, I just think that they have to continue to do what they do. They just have to trust who they are, right? And creating turnovers is great. I'd love to see them create a couple more turnovers. They finally picked off a pass last week against Lamar. They do look for turnovers, but as all of a sudden out there playing the stout defense that they've been playing have done a really good job of stopping the run until late in games, when it's all of a sudden, you know, like I said, they've been out there on the field too long. Then on the team start to get off a little bit. So, I think as long as they're able to do that, you mentioned that the Panthers struggle on third down. In that case, get off the field on third down, right? Get off the field on third down. If they're already struggling to convert third downs, then make sure you handle your business. Pin your ears back, do what you got to do, understand that that's a weakness right now and exploit that weakness. So, I'm sure that they're studying that on film, but I have a lot of faith in the defense. I really do. The offense is always gonna be a question until it's not, but the defense to me is the strength of the team. So, as long as they go out there and play the defense the way that they know how led by Max Crosby and Christian Wilkins, I think they'll be fine, but they've got, they can't, they can't, they can't say, oh, this is the Panthers, the only two Panthers coming in. And I laugh when I say that because, man, look, they lost to Baker Mayfield in the Rams, 48 hours after Baker Mayfield signed with the team, right? - Oh, yeah, that's first and night. - Yeah, they lost the Tyson Beige in the Bears last season, right? Tyson Beige is like a D three quarterback and he carved them up and made them look silly. They lost to Jeff Saturday when he came out the ESPN booth and was the, you know, the, hey king. Yeah, I mean, you know what I'm saying? Like so, oh no, I didn't realize it was that bad. Oh my God. - Oh my God. - Yeah, it's not a Panthers thing. Like, I want to make it clear to anyone listening and watching that I'm not disrespecting the Panthers. I just know the Raiders' tendencies that they have played down to their opponents and that has to change. And that has to change on Sunday. They cannot do that and say, oh, this team's already had a quarterback change and this team struggles on third down and this team can't do this that in the third. They can't play like that. They've got to play like they did against Baltimore. They got to play like they did against Kansas City last year when they went in there on Christmas to beat them. That's who they have to be. They can't beat this up on roller coaster team. So, and believe me, I got more of those stories where they came from. - They lost it just Saturday. - Yeah, man. - Who can get out of it? And they, and then the Colts lost every game from then. - Yes. - I mean. - Yes. - Yeah. - You know, it's funny. You bring up Tyson Beige and I had something like this. I mean, getting some wild DMs this week about what the pants are going to do a quarterback moving forward. Someone asked me, "Hey, should the Panthers "go after Tyson Beige?" It looks like he could be somebody. He's like, "Come on, man." - Oh. - Oh, man. - He's got it. - The Bears thought he was somebody. They would not have got Caleb Williams, which I mean, that's crazy to pass up anyways, but come on. Y'all, let's not, let's not be like this. All right, so I know it's Cincinnati. You got to wait to go out there and bet on it. Bandle, that's our partners over there. Five and a half is what they have right now. Raiders, five and a half point, favorite. And of course, five and a half point underdog. You can look at the last couple of weeks. A line has been pretty similar. So to you, Raider fans out there, maybe you want to get that ult line 'cause I don't think you make that much money with that minus five and a half. If you go out there and you maybe minus 19 and a half, you might be able to make some coin. And there's a couple of sports books out there too, pant of fans that y'all might want to go ahead up too. Of course, you spandrel, but you know, if you want to make money everywhere, just, you know, just try to help you. Just, just trying to help you fund your trip, just in case things don't arrive for a third Sunday in a row. So yeah, man, we'll, we'll see. I'm a little concerned. I've gotten used to watching bad football. Mainly is from like the home team, the Panthers. I have not really had to watch a lot of rock fights. And that would be a departure from what I'm typically used to watching, at least from the opponent. So I'm concerned that that might be what we see, maybe a little bit excited about it, but it's a COVID interesting one on Sunday in Las Vegas for sure. Yeah, it could be. It could turn into a rock fight. I think that, you know, the Raiders are going to try to do everything that they can to build off of what they did in the fourth quarter against Baltimore. And, you know, I think they found something obviously with Devontae and Brock Bowers. And that's really the key, man. Look at those two dudes. And I think that you'll see a lot from them. And, you know, they got a guy in a trade talker that could stretch the field. So they haven't really done that yet this year. But I think that you're going to see a little bit better of an offense, but until we see it, I just can't say, oh, I guarantee this is what's going to happen. I know Devontae is going to get fed. I know Brock Bowers is going to get fed. Everything else is kind of on the table. So we'll see what it looks like. But they're trying to find their offense. So if there's a silver lining for Panther fans where, hey, maybe there's a something there that we can exploit, that it could be that right there. The Raiders are still trying to find their identity offensively. Julian and Q providing great insight and for more on Julie and more on Q, checking both out over on lockdown Panthers and locked on Raiders respectively. Part of our on podcast network, your team every day. That does it for the four o'clock window, but that does not mean we are done here on the ultimate NFL pregame show. Coming up, we'll talk about the prime time battles, one Sunday night game in two Monday night bouts, all that more next here on the ultimate NFL pregame show. First, the show is brought to you by price picks. Price picks is America's number one daily fantasy sports, absolutely over 5 million active members. Price picks is the easiest, most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports. Unlike other apps on price picks, it's just you against the numbers. All you do is pick more or less on two to six players that projections and watch the winnings roll in. So you can now run up to 100 times your money on price picks with as little as four correct picks. And price picks is the best way to get action on sports in most states, including California, Texas and Georgia. So if we talk about that, chiefs in Falcons game, maybe we're she rice, you like him, you want to pick more on his receiving hours, maybe the passion of my homes, more on his passing yards, you can do all that over on price picks. Now the price picks out today, you just go to lockdown and get $50 this and then when you play $5, let's go lockdown on if I loan price picks, you get $50 this and then when you play $5, you don't even need to win to receive the $50 bonus. It's guaranteed price picks run your game. We return here on the ultimate NFL pregame show, Kevin Ostreicher is still here with you. We talked about the 1 p.m. games, talked about the four o'clock games, we're now talking prime time. And first up is a battle between the Kansas City chiefs in the Atlanta Falcons, Kansas City traveling to Atlanta, Kirk Cousins put on a show in that final drive for him in that Monday night game against Philadelphia. They'll look to continue that momentum on the Kansas City chiefs pulled out a squeaker against the Cincinnati Bengals and stayed undefeated. So Chris Clark of lockdown chiefs, Aaron Freeman of lockdown Falcons take you through what you need to know ahead of Sunday night football. Aaron Freeman of lockdown Falcons here joined by Chris Clark of lockdown chiefs and it is cross over Thursday presented by prize picks. Go to prize picks dot com slash lockdown NFL and use code on all or case lockdown NFL to win $50 instantly when you play $5. So Chris, let's talk about these keys to victory for each one of these teams. What are sort of the three things that you need to see from the Kansas City chiefs in order for them to walk away with a bigger. - So the big thing for me and I will say I'm probably gonna continue to have this until the chiefs actually do something about it and end up on the right side of it, but it's one of the turnover battle. Go watch the game against the Bengals. They had three turnovers versus the Bengals, one turnover. They could have had four. If you look at the penalty or the one they got called back on penalty, you have to take care of the ball better. And the only way to beat teams regardless of how good they are and there's questions whether or not Cincinnati was a good team going into that game last week. But the big thing is if you give up the ball three times and you give up your possessions, you're not gonna generally win games. You cannot continually do that and beat the good teams or even mediocre teams, I don't think on a regular basis. So to me, the first one is win the turnover battle, keep control of the ball and I think you'll be in good shape. - Okay. For me, as I mentioned earlier, I think it's pressuring Patrick Mahomes is one big key as I mentioned with the stats that the chiefs in Patrick Mahomes become a little bit more human when you can get him on the ground. And again, I think you got to take advantage of that one weakness at the left tackle position that several teams so far have been able to exploit and the Falcons have to find a way to exploit it even further. And that's going to lead to potentially a big day for Matthew Dajon and this is potentially the game that they're gonna need him to show why they traded for him. - Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. When I look at my second key to victory for Kansas City, it's just do your job. And that goes back to what you were just talking about, the left tackle doing his job, keeping Jude on at bay. But it also comes down to catching the ball when the ball's thrown to you and Mahomes making good decisions. And it also goes back to not making penalties. If you can do those things, just doing your job, I think you have a great chance of walking out of this game with a victory because if they play basic fundamental football and are successful on a regular basis, then I think that they're gonna score points and it should be a game that they should be able to win. - Well, when you're talking about doing your job, my second key is someone do the job of blocking Chris Jones. If you can do that, good luck. I'm glad I don't have to worry about that being my job. I just get to talk about it on the podcast. But good luck, too, ever is tasked with that. As you mentioned earlier in today's episode, Chris Jones lines up in a number of places. We'll probably see him going up against Falcons right tackle Kayla McGarry. We'll probably see him going up against both guards, Chris Lynch from Matthew Bergeron, and maybe they'll even have him go up against Jake Matthews, as you mentioned. Several of those guys tend to be a little bit more vulnerable to power than other guys. And so that's really where Chris Jones makes his hay as a pass rusher, where he can just use that length and that size and that physicality and just walk you back into the quarterback. And that could be really problematic with a quarterback like Kirk Cousins, who isn't necessarily the most mobile quarterback at this stage, will not be doing all the Patrick Mahomes magic outside the pocket that we've seen on a regular basis there. So it's going to be really important to keep Chris Jones at bay. However you can, whether that's chips, whether that's doubles, whether that's keeping, you know, two running backs in the backfield Tyler Algier and Bijon Robinson to kind of help out there. So the Falcons have to figure out some way to keep that top pass rusher at bay, something that they did not do in week one against the Pittsburgh Steelers and TJY. - Yeah, you make a great point about Chris Jones with his power, but I will say this. The one thing that you continue to see from time to time is people try to be ready for that power and they over set themselves and he takes advantage of it and uses speed to get around him and pushes their hands down. So that's something that they got to watch out for. Well, you know, the other big key to victory for me, if you're Kansas City's, you have to make you a one-dimensional game on the Atlanta side. Take away the run, bring up a safety into the box, slow down the Atlanta running game. And one of the biggest reasons why that is such a big key in this game is because you're in a situation where the Chiefs have consistently had struggles late in the game with, especially against the Baltimore Ravens, where conditioning looked like it was a little bit of an issue and you're not going to have a ton of guys that are going to be up and able to help you on a regular basis. So to me, it's make this a one-dimensional offense, stop the running game and then make Kirk beat you with his decision-making and his throws. If you can do that, I think you have to feel pretty good because I think the Chiefs secondary can be ready for it. - Absolutely. And, you know, when it comes to not only that first dimension of the Falcons offense, running the football, I think the last key for me is that second dimension, which is get cowpits going. It'll be nice to see cowpits having a big game on a national spotlight so that the narrative about, you know, them being overrated or him being a buzzed, all these various things that seem to surround cowpits who is a heck of a football player, but just hasn't necessarily put out the production. And as we've mentioned already on today's episode, the Kansas City Chiefs have struggled in the first two games, covering tight ends, you know, as Chris mentioned, Isaiah likely and Mike Aceki are good tight ends. I don't think either one of those guys is on the level of an athlete like cowpits. So it will be nice to see Zach Robinson being able to feature cowpits and attack that vulnerability in the Kansas City defense and get cowpits going and that's going to create opportunities for some of the other weapons outside. And especially if you can couple that with the ground game, spearheaded by Bijon Robinson and Tyler Auger, that is going to give you a complete offense that will allow you to at least try to keep pace with this Kansas City offense should Patrick Mahomes do Patrick Mahomes things as he so often does in, you know, a dome stadium. So, you know, the environment's going to be conducive for him to do Patrick Mahomes things. So, you know, it's going to be a exciting game, regardless of what the result is going to be, but Chris will leave out on sort of what's your final prediction for this Sunday night matchup between the Falcons and Chiefs. - You know, I think the last time I can remember them playing and Atlanta Mahomes had a 75-yard pass to Terry Kill. I'd like to see something like that again to save your worthy. Don't know that we'll see it in this game, but that was a fun, I think it was a preseason game, but it was a lot of fun. You know, when I look at this, it's a question of can Kansas City put up the points on the board and I think that they can. I think that you look at what Mahomes and the Chiefs were able to do. The offense only scored, I guess 19 points on the Bengals. No, sorry, 20 points because they went for two and they didn't get it. So that's not horrible of an offensive output. 27 points the first week against the Ravens. So I feel like they're going to be able to score points. The question is, are the Falcons going to be able to keep up? I think Kansas City's defense is playing not necessarily where they were last year, but I think they're playing well enough to slow the Falcons offense down. I'm going to go, I think, 27-20 Kansas City. - Yeah, I think that's about where I'm at. You know, as I mentioned earlier, I think Steve Spagnell has a history of keeping the lids on, you know, whether it's Kyle Shanahan, whether it's Sean McBae, whether it's Zach Taylor, Kevin O'Connell, et cetera. And so I'm not expecting Zach Robinson to be the exception as opposed to the role. So that feels like the Falcons are probably going to score around 20 points. I don't know if that's enough against this Chiefs offense who feels like a pretty comfortable that they're going to score around 24 points. I think because of some of the issues that we've discussed on today's crossover Thursday, I don't expect the Chiefs to put up like, you know, months of points like that we have seen this offense do before, but I'm expecting this to be a 24-20 Chiefs win. I think a very competitive game. I think it will come down to the wire in those final minutes. And unfortunately, you know, it might be decided on who has the ball last. As we saw last week against Kirk, with Kirk Cousins against the Eagles, the Falcons have the ball last, good things happen. But of course, the Chiefs know that, you know, they got seven plus years of that other guy having the ball last. And he tends to find ways to get the wins. And so I do expect that to be the case. So Falcons maybe potentially fall one and two, Chiefs continue their, you know, undefeated streak. Aaron and Chris, great insight there. I think this game honestly underrated to be the game of the week. I think this one could be really, really good for more on Chris, more on Aaron, check him out over at Lockdown Chiefs and Lockdown Falcons, part of Lockdown podcast network, your team every day. Let's move to the Monday night, two games on Monday night, the first of which is the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Buffalo Bills. So Tony Wiggins of Lockdown Jaguars, Joe Marino of Lockdown Bills have everything from big matchups, key concerns and more is these two teams are set to face off against one another. - Cross over Thursday is presented by prize picks. Go to prize picks dot com slash Lockdown NFL and use code all lowercase Lockdown NFL to win $50 instantly when you play $5. I'm Joe Marino, host of Lockdown Bills. Tony Wiggins, host of Lockdown Jaguars, it's time to talk about the most important thing or things for each team to do to win this football game. Tony, O and two Jags coming into Orchard Park. What's on the top of the list? What are those top three things that have to be true for Jacksonville to come in and give the Bills their first loss of the season? - All right, the first thing is mental. The first thing is you got to lead the stink of last week. Don't get on the plane with it. And that's probably easier said than done because you could be motivated by it but even sometimes that is bad because now you're pressing and you're trying too hard. So this is a new game. You have to treat it like a corner that's just got beat for a touchdown. Next play, next game. Start all over and functionally in the football game, I think some of the things that they have to do is make sure that when they're on the field defensively, obviously contain Josh Allen in the pocket. Do not let him on third and five scramble for six yards. You have to get them off the field on third down. And then when you're on offense in your Jacksonville, obviously the goal is to make sure you convert third downs. And I think they'll have some success at doing that. I really believe they have to score touchdowns when they cross the 50-yard line. They have to finish drives with touchdowns. And one of the ways that they can do that is maybe go with some match, protect and try to hit Brian Thomas Jr. DV is a real, real good football player. He is fabulous. I think he is a future superstar. He should be the guy that Trevor Lawrence goes and tells ownership, look, whatever you got to do for the next 10 years, that's my dude because he has been outstanding. He's been open a lot more than his statistics will suggest. But I think they have to learn who to lead with. You can't just use your depth and keep running all of these different combinations. No, when you're struggling, you have to look at your best players. The dudes that you gave all of this money to, the dudes that you invested all of these resources in, on offense, it has to be Trevor Lawrence, Travis ETN, Brian Thomas Jr. And I don't care if you have to go to them until Buffalo stops them, you continue to do it. You put pressure on them by using your best players, even if you have to dial something up and you can't keep going with this where we got all of these weapons and all of these people rotating in and out. No, no, go with your best players until you find an identity and win the game. But when they cross the 50 yard line, they have to get touchdown because if they don't, I think they're going to end up losing yet another close game on the road. - Tony, it's interesting that you talk about the best players, the identity. And you bring up Brian Thomas Jr. You bring up Travis ETN, who I expected you to say. But as I've thought a lot about Jacksonville and what team they were going to be this year, I was mindful of some of the new pieces that they have on the offense. But I kept on saying to myself, well, they got to have an Ingram and Christian Kirk. Well, I've an Ingram, obviously, pre-game injury kept them out last week, but Christian Kirk, two catches in two games, like what's happening there? - Drops, drops against Miami. And that's what I talk about about extending possessions. They had a drop on third downs. They keep that, Miami probably doesn't win. Now, Travis ETN fumbled too. They don't win if Travis ETN just walks into the end zone and makes it 24/7. But you think back, we only think about plays that are missed at the end of games. There are plays at the beginning of games too on third downs that if you convert them, it causes the game to go in a totally different direction. And then just last week, Denzel Ward knows they weren't letting them get open. Last week, Christian Kirk, he might as well not even have been out there because it was tough sledding for everyone because Trevor was running for his life again. But the couple of times that they did hit something, you saw some max protection. You saw it when Miles Garrett was not in the game and his rotation was in. They were able to get downfield. And then you saw at the end of the game when they were on a two yard line, they went for an up, they went for it in it, a little slant and go that was wide open, but Trevor didn't have a chance to get to it and he got sacked for safety. So they just have to know that they have to come out and get their best players involved. And right now, Evan Engle, even in week one, wasn't considered one of their best players that day. And neither was Christian Kirk. And it's perplexing because you would have thought coming into the year that those guys would be the leaders and then you'd sprinkle in and bring Brian Thomas Jr along slowly that hasn't materialized. It's clear that he's the most talented weapon on that team other than Trevor Lawrence. - Man, he's got some vertical elements to his game that are really impressive. And I wondered, you know, me, I'm a draft guy, Tony. And so I was wondering about Brian Thomas because you watch him at LSU, it's like, man, this is really good. He can run by everyone and catch the ball down the field. But like how much more is there to his game? I think that they've already unlocked a lot of that. And I think he's got a lot of potential and he's certainly shown that through two games. Tony, when I think about the keys for the Bills to get their third win of the season, three things come to mind. Number one for me is that the Bills offensive tackles need to meet the moment. Bills extended both of their tackles. This offseason, Dion Dawkins at left tackle who I think has developed into the one of the premier offensive linemen in the league. And then right tackle Spencer Brown entering his fourth season. He was scheduled to be a free agent after the year and the Bills went ahead and extended him to a big contract, $18 million a season. You've got an expensive pair of tackles. They've been great through two games. We're also talking about Arizona, who doesn't have much in the way of that rushing talent. And Miami who, you know, Jalen Phillips is a great player but still coming back from the Achilles and they don't have Bradley Chov, they're playing rookies and Emmanuel Ogba. They haven't been tested like they're gonna be tested against Jacksonville with Joshua Heinz Allen. So we no longer have Josh Allen and Josh now. I threw a celebration for that this offseason. And that was tough to deal with. And then Trayvon Walker, number one pick entering year three. I think he's kind of really stepping into his stride here. Player that was always gonna need a little time. The appeal there was always the upside with the physical traits. I think you start to see that manifest itself into play making. And so that's a big test. It's a new test for this bill's offensive line. And so I think they're gonna be really important. So the offensive tackles for the bills need to meet the moment. Number two is they gotta be able to beat man coverage. You know, like we've already kind of talked about, it's a new test for Buffalo. They've not seen man coverage like this yet this season. And, you know, I think it's obviously gonna hurt Jacksonville to not have Tyson Campbell. But, you know, I think one of the fair questions that people might have about the bills is do they have wide receivers that can consistently beat man coverage? Well, we're gonna find out. Now, I think there's some challenges with playing a lot of man coverage. I think that opens a door for Josh Allen to maybe run the football. Is that offset by, you know, his left hand and the injury that he's kind of playing through there. Is that gonna limit his appetite to run? We'll find out. But if receivers can beat man coverage, that's gonna be important. I'm looking at Khalil Shakir. I'm looking at Dalton Kincaid, looking at Curtis Samuel as the players that need to be the catalyst in that capacity. Number three for me is discipline defense. This, I hate to use the word desperate in week three, but Tony, they can't follow in three to Jaguars. That's not, that's a tough spot to be. I know that they've gotten out of some holes in the past, right? But don't, you don't, I mean, that's, that's gonna be a really, really tough situation, especially listening to Doug Peterson and Trevor Lawrence coming out of the Cleveland game and the messaging. It feels like, this is a, this is a huge moment for Jacksonville in this, in the season. Maybe a road trip against, you know, an AFC contender is exactly what they want to get their season on track. And I think the bills need to be ready for to some level of desperate Jacksonville team that's looking to get their, you know, to get the, the season going. And Doug Peterson, I, I have questions about him. I, I think in two situations now we've seen the more his fingerprints get on an operation, the worse it gets. I thought he caught lightning a bottle in 2017. And, and congratulations, they won the Super Bowl. And that's gonna get you a lot of opportunity. But I'm concerned how things played out in Philly. I'm concerned how things are playing out in Jacksonville. I will say this though, he's creative. He's creative. And so what does he have up his sleeve to try to find an edge against the bills who have a lot of newness on the defensive side of the football, including having to play several backups in the back seven due to injuries. And so you better be disciplined and be ready to handle any curveballs that come your way from Doug Peterson and the Jaguars. - Yeah, you made a very interesting point about our defensive lineman. And I could echo that about yours. Cause, you know, with, I hope I say his name correctly, Epanesa or Epanesa and the kid who drove from, from Miami. And then Von Miller can still give it to you. He said, you know, he's been showing it that if you, if you forget about him, he's still, I think the first ballad hall of fame with a bullet who still has some stuff in his system. But they just play in a certain way, man. They play, they just have this identity. It's like a computer program and they're gonna, they're gonna go out and be themselves. That's the reason why I think it's gonna be hard for Jack, the Jaguars to win because they're still searching. Now, in that, in that searching, there are very talented teams that can make explosive plays out of the passing game with Travis ETN, the run game with Travis ETN. And of course, we mentioned Brian Thomas Jr. And it'll be just my luck in your luck that Christian Kirk steps up and has a big game this week, right? That's usually the way it works. I'm sitting there poo-pooing. I mean, you asked about him and then all of a sudden, he steps up and he does exactly what you're afraid he might do. - Tony and Joe were great for more on Tony and Joe. Check him out over at Lockdown. Jack Wars and Lockdown Bill is part of Lockdown Podcast Network, your team, every day. That leaves us with one. The Cincinnati Bengals in an O and two hole already again, nothing new there for that team. They'll be looking to get out of that against the Washington commanders. Is Jayden Daniels picked up his first career and FL win. So we'll be talking here. James Rapin of Lockdown Bengals and David Harrison of Lockdown Commanders about everything these two teams need to do to get the win. - It's Bengals and commanders on Monday night football. This crossover Thursday presented by prize picks. Go to prizepicks.com/lockdown, NFL and use code all lowercase locked on NFL to win $50 instantly when you play $5. All right, David, let's dive into on the commander side, the three most important things. If they're going to win, if they're going to improve to two and one and send the Bengals to somewhere that even though they've started O and two in back-to-back years, and this is their third straight year at O and two, they've never started O and three. So the pressure is on the Bengals to keep that streak going as much as it is the O and two starts that they always seem to get off of. But what are the three most important things for the commanders to win on Monday night? - Yeah, man, I think the pressure is on the Bengals. I think that's something to remember heading into this matchup as well. And I think the three things the commanders got to do continue to get Jay and Daniels the opportunities to make plays for his offense and try that growth is going to continue to be there. Score at least three touchdowns, three touchdowns, which might be a tall task. And I think you got a frustrating tomorrow chase, you know what I mean? I think those are the three things. Again, get Jay and Daniels' opportunities to make plays, score those tuddies instead of those field goals and frustrate Jamal Chase in front of his own crowd in prime zone. - Yeah, I like it. I think if you're putting up points, especially early, you're getting, I don't wanna say getting in Jamal Chase's head but getting under his skin a little bit, not allowing him to get going early. Yeah, that's the recipe, especially if you can get that ground game going. And that's, that goes into where I'm at, the most important things for the Bengals to win this game. Number one, it starts on offense for me. This offense has to do sort of what it did against the Chiefs where they did produce some explosive plays. Jermaine Burton had a 47 yard reception. Mike Disicki had a 30, I think it was 37 yards but had a really big play as well, 35, something like that to get them into the red zone. But the thing they didn't do is convert in the red zone, especially early. And so score touchdowns, as simple as it is, it hasn't been easy for the Bengals to do. And even on one of the touchdowns they scored on Sunday, they had to go for it on four down inside their own five to get it. So you got to score touchdowns and generate explosive plays. That would be number one. Number two is stopping this run game. And that's Jane Daniels, that's Brian Robinson, that's Austin Echler out of the backfield. That's all of those things from a pass catching standpoint. I'll group all of those guys together. You can't let that happen. And that get going because if it does, then it's going to potentially open up stuff downfield. And the Bengals have been good at containing that for two weeks. It has to be three. The last thing you want is for Brian Robinson to be running for five and a half yards per carry or something like that, which isn't crazy when you look at the state of this Bengals defensive line. And then three, make Jane Daniels uncomfortable. Get pressure on him. Don't let him stand in the pocket all day. And it's been a mixture because Trey Hendrickson has been good in back-to-back weeks. Last week, he was able to get to Patrick Mahomes. The week prior did not get to Jacobi Bursett. They had one sack on Bursett. And it was where he kind of slid down and was tagged down by Dax Hill. You need to get some pressure on the rookie, make him feel it early. So he's questioning things a bit. And I wonder if they can, well, I know they can do it. I wonder if they will do it. And so if they can get pressure on him early and slow down the run, I think that would be huge. You know, I think if the Washington commanders make one request in that stadium on Monday night, it would be, don't play the Monday night football music. 'Cause here's the thing, Jane Daniels is a cool cat, right? I've actually had this analogy all through training camp. I shared it with Jane's mother and she loved it. She was like, it was spot on. And I said, Jane's the kind of dude that if his house, if he wakes up in one day and his house is on fire, he's gonna collect all of his valuables. He's gonna collect whatever pets or anything that he loves in his house. And he's gonna walk very slowly out of his house 'cause nothing gets this dude to panic. Like nothing makes this guy panic. But again, first NFL game on the road, you saw that clock speed up again. I don't get to panic. I don't get to the level where I say he was panicky, but you definitely saw that clock was running very, very fast and eternally. It's your first prime time game. It's your first Monday night football game. And any football fan grew up watching Monday night football. You hear that Monday night football music in James. I mean, you're human, man. It just does something to you and you're in the jungle. You got these bangles fans. Yeah, man. So I mean, Jayden's gotta keep that point. So far, he's been on keep it. I haven't yet to see a moment where on the guard, he shook a little bit. But if there's an opportunity so far in his career, this is definitely the biggest one. And if the bangles can get after him early, maybe get a big explosive from Jamar Chase, right? 'Cause nothing gets a young quarterback going more and you see that other quarterback, that other LSU Heisman quarterback, throw a deep touchdown pass. You wanna go out there and you wanna match them one for one. That's obviously the biggest leg up. But for the commanders, there would be nothing greater for them than to hear bangles fans booing at the half, right? That would be the biggest coup for them to get in during this game, because that gives you the leverage coming into the second half. And that's exactly what they're looking to do. And yeah, I mean, I think, I think I said, Brian Robinson, they were able to run the ball really well against Dr. Dexter Lawrence, Brian Burns, Kaevon Thibodeau, and this banged up Cincinnati bangles front, man. I'm just wondering, is it just gonna be more of the same? 'Cause I mean, seven drives. Seven, seven, eight, if you count the kneel down at halftime, seven real drives for the Washington commanders, usually get like 12 in an NFL game. They definitely look to reduce that game against the New York Giants. So if they're looking to do that against the Giants, you know they're gonna look to do it against the banks. - Yeah, and so starting fast in a game like that, where it is slower and there are gonna be fewer possessions, the bangles have to start fast. And that's one of the things that the Patriots did so well, is they got off to their start and which is kind of seven nothing, seven nothing. And it's just kind of lolling and that's what it was. And then you look up and it's like, man, if they don't score here, they're down two scores. If they don't score here, the game's over and they're gonna lose the New England and that happening. And I'm not comparing commanders since. I'm not comparing the Patriots to the commanders. I think the commanders are a better team. But the point is the same. If you can shorten the game, get off to a good start, take the crowd out of it a little bit, then, man, like that is the recipe. And just going back to what I said earlier, that the pressure is on the bangles because they can not dismiss. They in Joe Bruce certainly didn't dismiss the O and two. I mean, he was as frustrated in his, frustrated is the word argues. Frustrated is I've ever seen him outside of maybe Super Bowl 56. And so it's not like he's brushing off O and two. But I think there are some people that are like, all right, they've been in this position. They know how to respond. But you still got to go respond. And that's what I think is important here. If you're the commanders, you want to plant that seed of doubt midway through the first quarter, and then have that doubt just extend midway through the second quarter. And then, like you said, does it get to halftime where there's real pressure amounts? I do wonder now, do I expect the bangles to come out and play? Well, I do, but there is no doubt more pressure on them going into this game. It's a must win because if you fall to O and three, it's really, really tough to envision the scenario where they find their way into the playoffs of the AFC. Yeah, 100% is a must win for the bangles. It's definitely a one win. I kind of talked to commanders fan, Joe, the over-under preseason was six and a half wins for the season. And I said, I think they hit the over, but I kind of have them right at seven wins. And there were eight games against playoff teams last year. There were two games against teams with winning records that missed the playoffs. And I said, the commanders need to split those two games, go one in one. This is the first one of those games. So if they can win this one, you get that split out of the way. You already have that split in the bag going away for the rest of the season. So if you pull this off and again, all the pressure is on Cincinnati because just look at the spread, man. Washington is not supposed to win this game and no offense intended for anybody, but in the grand scheme of the NFL community and the national ecosystem of football, commanders fans know it. The Patriots and commanders are kind of in that same community. They're in that same group of teams that nobody really respects and thinks much of, you beat the Cincinnati bangles. And as much as commander fans would love to say, well, now the national media will talk about Washington. No, actually what they'll do is they'll talk about how bad Cincinnati may actually be this season, which is why there's even more pressure on the bangles. - David and James are great for more than David and James. Check them out. David on lockdown, commander James on lockdown bangles, part of lockdown, podcast network, your team every day. That's all I happy here today on this ultimate NFL pregame show week three edition. We get you ready for the games here. Key matchups, big concerns, questions, and everything else you need to know heading into Sunday and Monday's games. So hopefully a good stretch of games on the docket here. And we will be back here next week for the ultimate NFL pregame show. Week number four is we'll start to get a little bit more of an idea of what the NFL looks like, which teams are contenders, which teams are pretenders and a lot more. So be sure to subscribe, follow along both in video form and audio form here on the ultimate NFL pregame show. We'll see you back here for week four. Enjoy your Sunday, enjoy the games, and we'll see you back here soon. A prime members, you can listen to this lockdown podcast ad free on Amazon music. Download the Amazon music app today. (upbeat music)