Reception Perception: The Show

[FULL EPISODE] Week 1 Recap!

Week 1 has come and gone! James and Matt dive into a packed show as they discuss the Puka Nacua injury and the trickle down for the Rams offense, Jameson Williams showing out on Sunday Night Football and Sam Darnold showing he still has it. Plus, a little rookie check-in on Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, Brian Thomas Jr. and Ladd McConkey. Whether it's the biggest stars in the league or new rookies bursting on the scene, you won't get better wideout information anywhere else. Along the way, they'll break down the biggest stories in the NFL and offer up a few big-picture fantasy football thoughts. Follow the guys on Twitter @JamesDKoh and @MattHarmon_BYB. Follow Reception Perception @RecepPerception. Download and Subscribe to the Reception Perception Show anywhere you get your podcasts. Watch segments of the show on YouTube at Matt Harmon!! To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Broadcast on:: 10 Sep 2024
Audio Format:: other

Whether it's the biggest stars in the league or new rookies bursting on the scene, you won't get better wideout information anywhere else. Along the way, they'll break down the biggest stories in the NFL and offer up a few big-picture fantasy football thoughts.

Follow the guys on Twitter @JamesDKoh and @MattHarmon_BYB. Follow Reception Perception @RecepPerception. Download and Subscribe to the Reception Perception Show anywhere you get your podcasts.

Watch segments of the show on YouTube at Matt Harmon!!

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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It works just the way it sounds. You tell Progressive how much you want to pay for car insurance and they'll show you coverage options that fit your budget. Get your quote today at Progressive dot com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive. Progressive casualty insurance company and affiliates price and coverage match limited by state law. We've got our Taycan is loaded and ready. Absolutely dominant on deep routes, absolutely dominant on short routes. Boys are back back. Excellent separation against man coverage. This is reception, reception, that's for sure. Yo, what's cracking everybody? James Cole, Matt Harmon here with you. You're listening to Reception, Perception, The Show. If I sound just a little bit more tweaked out than normal, and I know I usually sound pretty tweaked out anyways, it is because, oh my God, Matt Harmon. We got week one almost in the books here as we're recorded here on a Monday afternoon. And man, I am. I'm stoked, boy. I'm just pumped, man, like to watch all that football and just inject it right into my veins, man. I'm stoked. Yeah, feels like we got slapped in the face by information. The tidal wave, as I say, is what week one is every year. You're completely taken under. You know, we're digesting things as they're happening right now, as they were happening yesterday. You know, I mean, listen, I'm already, it's already just like, you know, the sleep qualities toast because you go to bed at like 1 a.m. on East Coast. And you're all jacked up when you do it too. Like, that's it. That's the crazy thing living on the East Coast. Like, oh, games over 1 a.m. got to go to bed. But I'm, I can question David Montgomery, you know, established the M.F. and run. And like, if you don't, if that, if that drive didn't make you feel alive and like, oh, my God, what a great experience to be alive on planet Earth right now. I don't know. I don't know what, like, why do you watch the sport? If you don't like watching David Montgomery in that offensive line, move people, teach tape style runs there to win a game. And then it's like, all right, now I got to go to bed and then wake up in five hours and immediately start consuming more football information. And I mean, what a great time to be alive, James Coe. It's just what a wonderful, what a, what a wonderful time of year. It's, it's the best. It's also the worst, especially when your fantasy teams sock, which is just terrible. Why would not it's a buzz sauce running to buzz sauce all over the place. Thanks. How many, how many damn Jordan Reed teams can I run into? Dude, like it sucks. Anyway, to read, put some respect on his name, get his, get his name, right? If he's going to spank your team, at least let it get his name, right? No, Jordan Reed. Oh my God. I'm going back to the Washington football team's tight end for God's sakes. What am I doing here? Anyways, can we start the show? Major injury news out of L.A. Puka Nakua is going on short term IR. He's going to miss at least four games. Remember that knee injury that was bothering him in the preseason. Tweeted it again. PCL injury here for Puka Nakua. And man, I mean, I get it. You know, it's like the injuries that it's part of the game. But you know, we, we kind of sort of were worried about this here in the preseason because he had this, this knee injury and it was, it was hampering him all, you know, all off season, man, like what's going on here. And now all of a sudden it becomes this question of Tyler Johnson, Jordan, winning to who's going to Marcus Robinson, who's going to fill in here for Puka Nakua for L.A. Man. But your initial reactions there to Puka Nakua, this injury and what it might mean for the Rams offense. Well, sucks for the Rams offense. That's what it means. Yeah, this is, as Mike Garifolo from the NFL Network reported, this is the, it's a new, more significant injury to the same ligament he'd previously injured. So whether you want to say that's a reactivation or whatever, it's, it's not great. Um, you know, I found it very interesting that our mutual friend and former colleague Greg Rosenthal on his podcast, NFL Daily had basically said, you know, to Evan Silva, it was very coy about it. It was like, I'm not, you know, when they're kind of talking a little bit of fantasy, I'm, he's basically, I'm fading Puka Nakua and just kind of like, he's like, that's all I'll say about it. Left kind of left it at that during, you know, and Evan's like, is it vibes? It's just like, I'll just, I'll just say that I'm, I'm fading Puka. You know, he, he has Jordan Rodriguez covers the Rams on his show all the time. The Rams building is literally right there by NFL Network. So, same building for God's sake. Yeah, can, can, can put two and two together there. So, that is definitely problematic for sure. Yeah, especially just because we know that Puka was a great prospect. He fell in the draft because of injury concerns or I shouldn't say he's a great prospect, but he was a very, very good football player on film in college at BYU. He just, he never really established career momentum because of injuries and I think that's a lot of why he fell in the draft because of that also he wasn't like an overwhelming athlete or anything of that nature. But yeah, so this is a concern, of course, because of that, it's also a concern because I have very mixed feelings about what we watched with the Rams on, on Sunday night, James. Okay, because on one hand, I thought it was pretty unbelievable, like a true blackout type performance where Matthew Stafford behind a banged up offensive line is just somehow running functional offense. For this team. And, you know, Cooper Cup is piling up 21 targets, 21 targets. And, you know, every fantasy analyst on your timeline is, is getting, you know, their pants are getting tighter and tighter. They're sweat coming down the beads and your beads of sweat coming down the brow. Like, Oh my God. Oh boy. Cooper cups. Why does he run overall? And at the same time, the other part of me is like, doesn't this feel very 2022 Rams though, you know, bad offensive line. Cooper cups getting 20 targets and, you know, like eight yards per reception. And yeah, if that, you know, and you look great. You look great. Stafford looked unbelievable. I just, we know what this offense looks like when they don't have a viable another viable threat there like another guy who can help on the outside. I think Demarcus Robinson has shown some things as their ex receiver. He probably could have had a bigger night if it wasn't a past interference in the, in the, in the end zone for him, you know, Tyler Johnson showed some things but at the same time, again, I don't think it will ever get quite 2022 Rams bad for this team. Kishamik Bay is in a better place schematically and I think personally as well but it does make you a little bit nervous the way the Rams season has started here. Okay so let's talk about some of these secondary cast members here for the LA Rams because again as you mentioned I know Cooper Cup saw 20+ targets but you know what's crazy even then there's there's still plenty of targets here to go around because with this team man they're gonna be I know they want to you know be able to run that ball a little bit but they're gonna throw this ball 40 times a game I mean let's be real here I mean I don't care what the offensive line looks like they're still gonna try to throw this ball about 40 times a game I don't think Cooper Cup will see 20 targets a game maybe I'm maybe I'm wrong I don't know okay but that being said I think there's a lot of target available especially with Pukinuku Agon now right so can we talk about breaking down Demarcus Robinson Tyler Johnson I have to go back and I'm like is this the same dude that was from Tampa Bay is that is this the same guy literally had no idea I liked him a little bit in Tampa Bay so I go back and I watch the stuff I go back and I watch his I think he went to Minnesota yeah I go back and I watch his Minnesota stuff right and I'm like of course he ends up with LA right he's he's better on in-breaking stuff right and he's tough to bring down after the catch of course of course Tyler Johnson ends up on the Rams it's a beautiful fit it's a perfect fit and we saw some of that you know after catch ability here on that big what was it 60 yard 60 yard catch and run or whatever it was that he ripped there in in that game against the lion so I have personally enjoyed watching Jordan Whittington as well but I think that collection of wide receivers between Demarcus Robinson Tyler Johnson and Jordan Whittington out of Texas the rookie from Texas who didn't play in this particular game but I do I do want to say Matt it's probably just because they weren't anticipating a puka injury when this coaching staff gets Whittington up to speed I think he will factor in into that wide receiver rotation I think Whittington did didn't he play in this game and actually had a I think he had a touchdown called back actually so um or maybe I'm uh I don't know dude it was a long time you might be right I don't know I'm pretty sure that happened but anyways but he didn't although that was literally the only other route he ran in this game I do believe so um that was like a one-time thing Colby Parkinson at tight end looked good too ran 43 routes in this game oh my god wait hold on hold you're you're right dude Jordan Whittington ran literally on one play he played one snap and that was it that's amazing that was a man I must have been I must have been getting food or something at this point I missed that play yeah no I because I was I actually was in the bathroom myself but my office has a bathroom right here so I heard it kind of from the and then I'm like look deep here and out there or whatever and then I see it gets called back so yeah I I almost missed it myself this is how sundays go man but yeah no so Colby Parkinson he was he was involved here too I thought that he looked pretty good in this game as a run after catch option yeah I think I don't have a ton on on Tyler Johnson he's always a guy that people have been here are some draft nicks that were excited about him he just hasn't really been able to catch on anywhere he's bounced around but the after catch ability was interesting in this one the in-breaking routes like you mentioned that's certainly a big part of what they're gonna ask people to do in this offense I don't know I just the whole thing makes me a nervous like a house of cards here I really do think that we are uh we're sitting on kind of some some shaky ground with this Rams offense because we're talking about now two starting tackles are down um you know Alarq Jackson suspended at least one more game haven't signed missed this contest 61 whoever I can't remember the offensive tackle number 61 in this game was a disaster class there's issues on the interior where Jonah Jackson was going to be the center and then Steve Abilah was going to be the center and then Steve Abilah's out of this game Jonah Jackson's this time it's just it's a lot going on in the offensive line so I feel pretty concerned just about the Rams offense overall but I do think that Demarcus Robinson's given them good play uh he was the only one with an average depth of target north of eight in this game so he will probably be their best vertical option going forward yeah I mean you take a look at some of the alignment data here right Demarcus Robinson played about 75% of his snaps uh lined up outside Cooper Cup just 25% outside and even Tyler Johnson just 35% lined up outside right so um if you're taking a look at who could play outside receiver for them it's just not that many options Matt I just I just wonder is Demarcus Robinson gonna be enough you know are they gonna try to move around Tyler Johnson are they gonna try to move around um you know Jordan Winnington and have these guys try to play a little bit outside because I just think at this point at the age of you know this is 30 age 31 season I just don't know if Cooper Cup can play out there on the flanker side I just I just don't know if he's gotten in them yet I'm with you on this one you know we talked a lot about for Cooper Cup's reception perception last season uh in 2023 where you know it's still really good against zone coverage 83.3% success rate verse zone which was uh top eight mark of the players I charted last year still a very good zone beater he ran only 8.1% of his routes against press coverage in the games I charted that was uh one of the lower marks that he's seen in a minute uh so that was certainly helpful in terms of when he was able to be out there in 2023 also his rate of snaps behind the line jumped up to 81.9% which just was a career high by a lot uh his slot rate 60.8% was up from 46.6% in 2022 so that's definitely I'm with you he probably should be in the slot he's got to be off the line of scrimmage we don't want him doing a ton and also you know the ways they used to use him as a you know blocker and on some rushing plays like how much do you really want to be doing with that with him at this point in his career and exposing him to you're already going to throw the ball to him freaking 20 times in a game do you want to then add five more run plays as a rusher and or block you know blocker I I just think there's a lot that you're asking him of him in that regard so um certainly something to monitor his usage in that way because I don't think that yeah I just don't think they can go back to using him in the ways that they used to and putting that much on his plate I think that would be putting a lot on a veteran receivers plate that's why puka was so important because not only was he great in his own right against press man as an outside route runner but he brought that same rugged physical approach to the receiver room that I think is kind of a must to play as a Sean McVay receiver right now and you lose that guy then it's you're kind of looking at all right do we put that back on Cooper Cubs plate or do we get a guy like Jordan Whittington who's a tough player involved because I don't think Tyler Johnson's that guy and Demarcus Robinson is kind of that pure vertical receiver for this team yeah I totally agree um if I had to if I had to pick one guy that might emerge as a wide receiver three all this entire offseason I'm thinking Jordan Whittington right but the more I watch Tyler Johnson play I almost think because of his inside outside versatility again he's not a pure outside guy but I just don't see him as a pure inside guy either I think it might be Tyler Johnson but I'll be I don't know like I said by the way I said this before about other beat riders but bro what come on now where where were the press clippings on Tyler Johnson where where I mean you and I have done this for a lot we've analyzed this stuff like come on brother where tell me where were the Tyler Johnson press clippings I did not see a single one I was shocked I was stunned I'm like how the hell is Tyler Johnson even on this team like what is going on um give me where where were the beat riders talking to me about Tyler Johnson upside where where was this because I because I'll tell you right now I didn't see it Matt I didn't see it I didn't see one one piece during this offseason bro yeah that makes me think that this could just be kind of a one week flash in the pan for Tyler Johnson so that's definitely um on my radar for sure uh this is like this is again this is like with a Brandon IU dog house stuff what was it like two three years ago yeah three years ago right like I didn't see I didn't see no beat reporters talking about that then you know what I mean all of a sudden he's in the dog house like and everyone's like oh well see yeah we were we were worried about that no you weren't we didn't write about this you didn't write about this you talk about dude we've come we've come so far from the Brandon IU dog house days the darkest days potentially in our in our business's history let's let's not bring them back all right let's let's go on the other side uh obviously a huge storyline for Detroit Jamison Williams pops up over a hundred yards I believe it's his first hundred yard game of his entire career um the catch and run ability Jamo looked awesome I'll ask you this straight up is it sustainable or is this a week one blip or what are we looking at here with Jamison Williams this Halloween ghoul all out with Instacart whether you're hunting for the perfect costume eyeing that giant bag of candy or casting spells with eerie decor we've got it all in one place download the Instacart app and get delivery in as fast as 30 minutes plus enjoy zero dollar delivery fees on your first three orders offer valid for a limited time minimum ten dollars per order service fees other fees an additional terms apply Instacart bringing the store to your door this Halloween what's better than watching your team win winning money while you do it I'm Jim Costa and I cash the ticket Mike Valenie and I give you the edge to make every game playable at college football NFL we're breaking it all down game by game your podcast feed is going to be filled and you're gonna love it you can click on the games you care about we do it all with our analysis we're fighting games that other people aren't talking about returning every Saturday and every Sunday in the days where you got a chance to win don't just sit on the sidelines cash the ticket with us follow cash the ticket in the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts have you ever wanted to learn another language maybe it's something you've always wanted to do or maybe you're planning a trip abroad but trying to memorize endless vocabulary words never works that's where Rosetta Stone comes in for over 30 years they've been the trusted experts in language learning helping millions of people get the chance to learn different languages Rosetta Stone immerses you in the language from day one no English translation so you truly learned to think speak and listen in that new language and they keep the process simple whether you're on your desktop or learning on the go with their mobile app it's all about flexibility so don't put off learning that language there's no better time than right now to get started listeners can get Rosetta Stone's lifetime membership or 50% off visit rosetastown.com/rs10 that's half off unlimited access to 25 language courses for the rest of your life redeem your 50 percent off at rosetastown.com/rs10 today i mean shoot his first game over a hundred yards james co this is his first game over 70 yards in his NFL career there you go i mean it's only his third over 50 receiving yards he had 53 yards in week six last season he had 69 yards nice against the Dallas Cowboys in 17 last year and then 121 on Sunday night football so i mean that's yeah it was definitely his first 100 yard game james and Williams there man i think this is so fascinating because the main thing i thought was interesting with james and Williams in this game you know and look for if you're new to the podcast uh james and i did a 40 minute breakdown of james and Williams this off season uh he was a guy he currently the 2023 james and Williams reception perception profile is the longest one in website history so this is a guy we we discussed a lot james and Williams in the off season we talked because his profile was that interesting right that was my big thing with him was his his profile was so fascinating because if you go for again for new listeners the first three games i sampled of his 2023 profile were like unspeakably bad you know like Chris uh Quentin Johnston level bad Justin Hunter level bad you know Jalen Rager what it makes Jalen Rager look like an all-star what the what Quentin Johnson was doing there um very early on in this in the in the charting data from last season however the magic final five games are added to the sample it's basically from that Broncos game through the playoffs you know you look like a functional NFL receiver like anyone who's just posting the route chart or just posting the percentile graphic from the website is a clown because there's so much context that's going on within this profile i'll talk about that final five games where he finished with a 67.3% success rate verse man which is above average and an 84.8% success rate verse zone which would have been a top five mark among all players charted in 2023 and then 64.7% success rate verse press which is certainly his most problematic result but i'll kind of start there because i thought it was interesting about his usage last night usage and deployment for james and Williams is they were not just lining him up at x receiver you know he was he took 71.4% of his snaps out wide he was that he's definitely an outside receiver not a slot receiver but man they were getting him in in motion you know they were getting him full speed at the snap motion getting him off the line of scrimmage for some of these targets i mean truly scheming him up for looks you know for first read like he's the guy on the concept 42.9% first read target share for james of Williams according to fantasy points data i thought that was interesting and you felt it when you're watching it some of these plays like yeah there's the one go route you know where he i mean i wouldn't even just say he got open against tridavius white i would say he obliterated tridavius white on that route he got open so bad that tridavius white tried to tackle him in in in the route and missed the tackle uh tried to like interfere with him and he was so open by so much it was it was crazy but we know that Williams can burn on a go route you know even in this reception perception profile you know from we know he we know he's got world class speed but the plays that were encouraging to me james were the crossing routes over the middle some of those full speed routes getting him in space because when you go back to his prospect profile slant route success rate of 82 percent dig route success rate of 73 percent and both of those routes coming at high volume post route success rate of 80 percent also coming at a high volume those were the routes where it's like oh man you know um that that could be special ability like in addition to the world class speed getting open separating particularly against zone coverage where like i mentioned the success rate from the back half of last year but even in his collegiate profile 82.5 percent 77th percentile mark that's the type of stuff where it's like he can add things to your offense and mostly that gap ability you know because i i love i'm on our same brown but you know and he wins in the open field after the catch but he's not doing some of that stuff that james of williams does and there's obviously so many things that same brown does that that williams doesn't do either but uh just in terms of adding value on your targets i think a lot of that uh is information that was in that back half five game sample and it's in his prospect profile which makes it so encouraging that we saw it on monday night we you know he's got to string it together we got to see it multiple weeks but again we're encouraging debut for james of williams a really interesting stuff too in the fact that again he's second on the team in terms of routes run 30 for alman raw saint brown 28 for james and williams he's the most targeted player for detroit when nine targets versus six targets for alman raw saint brown and as you mentioned the deployment by ben johnson uh in regards to using james and williams' speed so that he doesn't you know what i noticed in this particular game matt was that ben johnson you're talking about all the motion stuff and like whatever it is he is just trying his best to get jameo away from man coverage doesn't matter what it is whether we're talking shallow crosses whether we're talking you know uh you know uh uh you know crawl deep crossers right like deep overs like it doesn't matter like it's just we're utilizing james and williams' speed but we're sweeping him across the field right drag routes i saw a couple of drag routes there he had a one big drag route where he you know again just catch and run for like 30 yards or whatever it was right so um and then when you take a look at the final stat sheet right he's got 121 yards 68 of them came after the catch right so more than half his yards come after the catch so whatever ben johnson is doing he's like yo i got to get my guy james and williams away from man coverage definitely away from press coverage and we're just gonna sweep him across the field and if jared golf and if he comes across jared golf's vision in the middle of the field perfect great we're gonna trust jared golf who's one of the best uh you know in breaking route throwers in the nfl we're just gonna trust him to make that throw and if it's not there that's fine we've got Amman Ross apron you know i mean so right i just i love i love the the the usage of james and williams what they they got there in detroit i just know from a fantasy perspective okay people are oh man they're bringing their hands man they're just they're worried about alman raw saint brown i just i'm curious to see as you said can he can he stack these games together man but nine targets five catches 121 and a touchdown that's pretty impressive yeah i'm on raw saint brown six targets in this game that's just that's the second time since week eight of the 2022 nfl season that he's had six targets uh one time uh saint's game in week 13 actually you know maybe not so coincidentally that was that one crazy although williams was generally terrible as a route runner that was one of those bad games i sampled but he had that one crazy uh rush i think like a reverse or some kind of rushing play where he housed that one but yeah two catches 49 yards and a touchdown and that one for Amman Ross apron um yeah so six targets that's two times in the last you know basically year and a half he's had a game with six or fewer targets and that's it so this is obviously a clear outlier for saint brown who is such an integral part of what they do on offense he's a great player i'm not worried about that um what i think is interesting is something that you pointed out with clearly clearly they did and i they being ben johnson dan campbell and this detroit lion's coaching staff made a concerted effort to get saint brown away from press coverage you know get him on the move prior to the snap you know if you look back at their charting data from last year jameson williams 2023 84 85.6 percent snaps on the line of scrimmage the only players that i sampled last year they were higher than that was nico colons rishott bateman and devonta atoms um he's right there in terms of deployment like brandon ayuk is at 84 percent mike evins is at 83.3 percent i haven't gone back and charted this game just yet i would say that that number is not even going to be close to 80 percent in terms of snaps on the line of scrimmage right and then on the inverse of that i'm on rasein brown last season 37.9 percent snaps on the line of scrimmage i i wonder if that's actually higher from this past game because and i think there's a couple things at play here number one we talked about this in the off season with i'm on rasein brown that he's a player who every single season has gotten better in terms of his ability to beat press coverage i mean just generally he's gotten better every single year but that third season he clears 70 percent success rate versus press you can now have faith putting him as an on the line player he'll probably still be a slot guy but i think you can he's not going to be a true x receiver but like the farthest outside guy in a tight condensed split or even if sam laportas your farthest outside player off the line same browns in the slot there on the line or williams is your farthest outside guy off the line you know from a formation perspective you can make a lot work the lions did a great job last year kind of hiding sam laportas a blocker because they could trust on rasein brown to be a power slot and fit the run in that way and now that i think they're trying to get williamsies looks too the fact that they can continue to push same browns snaps on the line up i think that is just it's even more impressive because that number was even 37.9 percent is way higher than it was in same browns rookie season so these guys kind of changing and evolving in conjunction is really cool to see yeah i i think that same brown from a production standpoint will be fine but i will say that if if williams is like let's just live in a world where he does stack these performances in the next three four weeks and he continues to be this player because he really did have a great i mean he had a great prospect profile and he had a great final five games charting like not great but he had very good charting data to end last season let's say he continues to sack these performances and this the guy he is i mean James it does kind of change the complexion of what we imagined the lion's distribution to be right but that's been my whole point is is he ever going to be the more than the fifth most important player on offense for this lion's team you know behind the two backs same brown and laporta i mean he's the guy that we saw on on sunday night and and and they're going to continue to trust him and give him those opportunities those schemed up opportunities yeah the answer to that is probably yes like he will be he will continue to climb that ladder so i'm not saying like old panicle and same brown fantasy all that stuff but there are things that james and williams can do that i'm on raw same brown can't do that is true the inverse but it is absolutely true that he brings unique value in terms of who he is the player i do wonder if it's it's it's also fair to mention matt that i did not think that detroit's offense looked that good overall though i know james and williams had himself a good performance as a matter of fact he had a great performance okay that being said he's the most targeted player in this offense and it is absolutely fair to bring up the fact that detroit's offense did not look that great overall yeah i i agree with you and it was defense that they should have put away a lot earlier oh hundred percent uh hey listen the ram's defense on paper matt and i don't know if you agree with this but i think it it's it's one of the two or three worst in the nfl when you just look at it on paper oh i was gonna say look no further than they did put it away but when they just put their big boy pants on at the end of the game and ran the piss out of the ball and um they said good night good night real quick to that ram's defense there at the end um i it was a little bit almost like i i've described this sometimes with offenses these great offenses that it's kind of like what are they doing it's like they're playing with their food a little bit that's kind of how i thought about the lions at times uh on sunday night you know it's sometimes some of it's jared goff stuff right where he's not uh hundred percent yeah we don't need to do a whole jared goffing but some of it's jared goff when he's not he's not the most creative thrower when there's any sort of pressure anything like that there were some surprising moments i think by that ram's defense and i'm interested to track what they they're able to do over the course of the year but i agree with you that i i think that's what's um i don't know is you know i i i i definitely feel this way sometimes too where a receiver has a productive day and like the whole offense is not better for it exactly totally there's a there's a little bit of that at play here so i i hear your point but at the same time i i just my my ideal world is that they can keep about 80 percent of what they got out of williams and then give some of that 20 percent back to to a player like same brown um yeah i i i just wonder like what happens to la porta you know he's another guy to consider here too but um yeah i i i do think there's a little bit of you can't put the toothpaste back in the in the tube here with what we saw from james and williams um i did like i said it's all about stacking performances here can he be this guy over multiple weeks over multiple games and of course over the you know a full 17 game season and into the playoffs we don't know that yet even even that magical five game sample that we talked about for ad nauseam this all season and and we're talking about it now there was only five games so let's do it over the course of a season let's be the guy that we were the final season at alabama when he was a great prospect part of the acl tear um and if he is i mean holy shit this lion's offense is downright terrifying it really is and i think it's going to be a little bit of a learning curve for ben johnson in terms of calling plays as well you know he was he was very much in his bag last year right but he knew exactly who his guys were like i'm going on or saying i i'm going to say on la porta i know exactly what i'm doing uh and so no i think it's a little bit of a learning curve for him too and and and he's the kind of you know coach that i think we can trust and say man this offense in week one is showing you some bits here but in week 12 oh baby if this team is healthy and functioning man like they are just going to be absolutely wrecking shop i'm really excited to see with this offense you know has in store for us and forget about four weeks from now i'm just saying like six eight weeks from now let's see what these guys got going on man so it could be really really exciting um you know randomly matt i i know james and william's talk was dominating the timeline for sure but for us in particular um sam darnell talk oh it's god yeah very popular on the timeline um you have called you've called myself you've called nate ice uh sam darnell the oligarchs and the oligarchs have risen up and we've spoken okay because let me tell you so sam darnell i i'm calling i don't care i'm calling him sammy dimes sammy dimes looked good my boy from usc sammy dimes looked straight up good man he was he was ripping some throws man ripping some throws he looked amazing pff's number one graded quarterback let's go uh week number one let's go sam darnell dog what come on i love it yeah unbelievable uh sam darnell the korean exchange stats in his vikings debut nineteen of twenty four two hundred eight yards and two touchdowns while completing each of his first twelve passes on the day the odds of darnell completing twelve of those passes according to completion probability of each of them it was just 0.8 percent korean exchange stats so i mean yeah that was vintage darnell uh they tried to blitz him didn't really work um he failed miserably very very confident in the offense with sam darnell and um let's let's get one thing out of the way here by the way i love how you gave him sammy dimes like not only did he beat daniel jones he took his exactly right that's exactly that's exactly my point dan danny dimes is dead okay it's it's the rise of sammy dimes all right i mean danny dimes let's not even go down that road how did you like the twelve targets for wendell robinson that was sick um oh my good that was beautiful what are we beautiful stuff uh what do we do but anyways yeah here's an oh sam darnell like nobody says he's gonna come out and have a bad week one i'm talking about check in with me in october okay okay when sam darnell uh you know if he's he can talk about stacking weeks bro you're about stacking weeks can sam darnell stack weeks when he's week five i believe it is he goes to london to face the jets his old team uh let's we'll do a referendum pot on on sam darnell then but yeah no look all credit to him great great start uh i love the fact that you oligarchs get to get a dip behind your bully pulpits with your microphones oh my god mina kind from espian is calling talking about it this is what i mean oligarchs i mean mina kind of works for espian ever heard of it pretty big media company uh you know you're over here nay tights work for anaphyl network like you're you're big you're back in suits now on tv bro you oligarchs in your positions of power uh yeah you're still able to exert influence over the nfl audience the fact i'm getting pummeled with tweets in week one about sam darnell's performance but yeah again let's stack the weeks let's see if he can continue to do it because the rest of the offense around him looked great erin jones was awesome running the ball of course he's he's healthy we we know he can be right now but um i'm interested to see what this fighting this offense looks like and i hope sam darnell can uh prove me wrong yeah i mean two year point you know um sam darnell his first his first uh you know couple games actually what really with uh with carolina uh he started out gangbusters you know i mean i mean the first uh was it this first four games of 2021 uh sam darnell had a sixty eight percent completion rate he had five touchdowns versus three interceptions he had three hundred yards passing per game over his first four games he was dealing he was absolutely dealing uh and then it fell apart uh and then an absolutely fell apart so to your point uh sam darnell's got to put together we we've seen this sand like this version of sam darnell before uh these are the highs but can he avoid the lows uh and i think that is a very fair point to make but man uh certainly kOC uh some of the best coaching he's gotten in obviously with just jones jaferson the best receiver he's seen by a million miles too right so again it's just all the same talking points that you know people like myself and nate heists have been talking about anyways whatever we move on can we talk about some of these rookies though i want to start i want let's talk about have a really uh quick rookie conversation and and when i say that we're gonna kind of delay the marvin heierson thing okay that's going to come out in in the episode a couple days from now and that's going to be a much deeper dive okay but i want to talk about the the the couple of uh quarterbacks we saw uh in calib williams and jadon daniels and then i want to talk about btj and lad mcconkey but let's start there in chicago calib williams to me matt wow he looked bad um and i get it he's a rookie it's his first game um all that kind of stuff but bro what the hell did i watch there in chicago that is not the calib williams um that i was anticipating at all from a quarterback standpoint he was an abs i thought he was a mess his throws were all over the place his feet were just i mean could you just set your feet one time yeah set set your feet and just throw the ball you know and uh and obviously there was a drop touchdown pass from um from keen and allen as well but overall calib williams just it was it was a bit of a mess there in chicago at alma we know the connection between you and your therapist matters but if you're already feeling stressed and burnt out the idea of trying to find a therapist you really connect with can be overwhelming that's why alma's focused on helping you find the right therapist for you when you browse their online directory you can filter your search based on the qualities that are most important to you then you can book a free 15-minute consultation call with any therapist you're interested in seeing so you can get a feel for whether they're the right fit before you commit to a full length session alma also makes it easy for mental health care providers to navigate 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your commerce platform better be ready to sell whenever your customers are scrolling or strolling on the web in your store in their feed and everywhere in between upgrade your business and get the same check out experience as business powerhouses like alo all birds and skims sign up for your one dollar per month trial period at shopify.com slash odyssey podcast all lowercase go to shopify.com slash odyssey podcast to upgrade your selling today shopify.com slash odyssey podcast hey it's tiki barber getting ready for game day looks a lot different for me now but the one thing i look forward to most these days are my snacks my favorite is buffalo chicken dip and the best way to make it is with some best foods real mannays best foods mannays is the secret to bring out the rich and creamy taste in all of your game day dishes so give it a try and may your game day be delicious with best foods real mannays shop at your local Walmart program or grocery store and add some extra deliciousness to your game day dishes this football season oh for sure how great though for the bears that they're number one overall pick you know this prince that was promised type is objectively horrible in his debut 93 yards 29 pass attempts and they win the game that's classic bear stuff i mean shoot the bears are the bears baby they're went on the back of defense and thanks to will levis which by the way uh-huh will levis that surrender cobra i mean in the middle of a play after kind of like flipping it for no reason probably the greatest play of the season already i'm ready to say it so there was that talk about troubling performance will levis against this bears defense but yeah i think the stat that perfectly encapsulates calib Williams is that on throws where he held the ball longer than 2.5 seconds he went three of 13 for 34 yards that's a 23.1 completion rate if you're not big on the math that felt it felt that way watching him where you know a lot of the stuff that he did on on sunday i thought was just it was very i know that sounds like old boomer analysis but it's the truth like can't get away with that in the NFL kid can't get away with that in the NFL like did in college not gonna work in the league a lot of that type of um you know the raptors testing defense seeing what they can get away with i think he learned a lot of lessons um that brutal sack that he took comes to mind the fact that he completed zero of his passes beyond 15 ariards uh you know there were some there were some times where you saw the arm talent but you also saw him kind of like needlessly try to show off that arm talent from an angles perspective so um hopefully settles in gets a little more comfortable because this was definitely a rocky debut against the defense that i think i would kick my expectations yeah i mean that's the thing i don't think tennessee's defense is that great you know i so and again uh it's the i think you could argue that this is the best setup a rookie quarterback has ever seen uh coming into start number one i mean you've got three guys that you know uh are at an all-pro you know could be potential all-pros here you know we're talking about kina now who isn't all pro kina you know dj more should have been an all-pro um and roma dunes a sky's the limit right so um and the tight end room again pretty you know uh pretty good pass catching tight end room the running back room pretty solid as well so you couldn't ask for a better landing spot if you're cala williams you just got to be able to put together a better performance man like yeah i i think the coaching staff i don't know if you agree but i felt like the coaching staff tried to get him on track with quick throws and a lot of times he just he either didn't trust the read or he just didn't want to throw that read um and and to your point man just the holding of the ball and the happy feet it just oh that was a that was an ugly ugly watch it really was yeah i will say the one area that is concerning is the interior of the offensive line i thought tennessee was able to and they have some they do have some good players on this defensive line i thought they were really able to to rattle him with pressure up the middle which that doesn't say anything to uh killabliams every quarterback pretty much gets rattled for sure up the middle um so he he just has to know how to evade in the pocket and not bail out of the pocket that's the thing that's going to crush him in the league in my opinion okay so in washington jade and daniels got off to an incredibly rocky start as well look um i i'm not a quarterback evaluator by any stretch of the imagination there was a little bit of me that said okay well he's thrown to two guys that are top ten picks you know um but it should be fine the ball placement i thought at lsu was fine wow matt the ball placement in game number one was not good was not i mean he's missing these guys by a wide wide margin um so there is some i don't know i'm just i'm really worried about you know the long-term accuracy when we're talking about jade and daniels here i don't know what did you see in washington uh man uh i i've such bad vibes with the commanders right now um by the way their defense is oh is unspeakably bad yeah it's what baker mayfield i mean four tds completely a blitter and i think this buck's offense is going to be good this year but i i mean shoot that was embarrassing on that side of the ball and offensively man it's just we talked about kyla Williams and how he held the ball right you know and and some of that is to his detriment but a lot of it is because he's a playmaker you know jade and daniels is supposed to be like a scrambler a playmaker he got rid of the ball 2.35 time to throw it's so crazy like and and it just feels very cliff kingsbury right that that's that's the thing that's the thing about this commander's offense that you know we talked about it with tarry mclaurin on a on a pretty recent episode oh well you know the the preseason alignment was it just was it just preseason or was this was uh are they going to come out with new wrinkles um nope i'm not going to come out not going to come out with new wrinkles nope uh tarry mclaurin this is from grant paulson who uh who charted the game uh grants covered the commanders the washington football team and their other name because they had local legend in the dnv area he's called cover 15 forever uh he said unofficially went back and count up 46 times where tarry mclaurin lined up on the left and three times on the right baby zero times in pre snap motion this is this is i think the the thing that is the most frustrating about cliff kingsbury is like motion is good like quick throws to get your get the quarterback in a rhythm those are all good things the problem is dude cliff do that shit with your best players do that shit with the guys who are good but even dating back to arizona it was always like let's get the micky mouse players in motion let's get these little tiny and like we got ole meaty zik he is getting these you know motion targets and stuff like that well yeah we just got tarry mclaurin doing the icer receiver stuff just like we had diana hopkins doing that so it just i don't love the way the office is set up the personnel is outside of mclaurin who as i mentioned i think took a step back last year is i is brutal i got the receiver room is brutal zak earth's is getting targets in the year twenty twenty four i feel pretty discouraged about where the commanders are right now um yeah i mean i i mean again these are these are thoughts that that you and i have had and we've quietly and maybe not so quietly said look i can't believe i know i was not quite about this at all but i can't believe washington brought in cliff kingsbury cannot believe it can't believe they did that um and this is why because completely i mean what's the most the most frustrating thing about it matt is he's had time away from the nfl to regather himself right like he could he could have absolutely updated his offense he chose not to right yeah it failed in the nfl and he he saw that and said you know what i don't need to update my systems at all i'm assuming his thought must have been it's just the players right my system works it's just the player because this system that we saw on sunday against the box which by the way their their secondary is not very good either jamael dean's you know a slightly above average corner but that's it right i just i you can't get away from the fact that this offense looked completely unimaginative it's the exact same offense we saw in arizona which the league figured out within like four or five games um and i'm not sure how this team is is supposed to support their young quarterback in jade and daniels now that being said could jade and daniels have played better yeah i think he could have absolutely played better too i mean again some of these off target throws were so unbelievably off i mean terra mccorn didn't have a chance i mean there was a play where he is wide open down the sideline if jade and daniels puts it in the area code he's catching this ball maybe he's walking that one in for six you know what i'm saying but it's just so far out the sideline you you couldn't even do anything with it right so certainly jade and daniels need some of that too um need some of that responsibility too but man it just all goes back to i was sounding the alarms this off season like yo are we really sure this is what we want to do with cliff kings berry and we got our answer here in week number one i just don't see that changing here for the rest of the season i think about how the colts offense looked in week one last year with anthony richison and how this commander's offense looked in week one with jade and daniels and like i don't necessarily mean to compare those two guys as players because richison had had almost really no experience as a starting quarterback whereas jade and daniels actually has an absurd amount of experience as a starting quarterback but they're unique athletes at the position with live arms that can attack every blade of grass uh did you feel like jade and daniels was a quarterback with a live arm who could attack every blade of grass they and even just think about how and you know again these two guys are different types of receivers but maybe they're not even really that different right like michael pittman and terry miklorn think about in week one last year right michael pittman was just the for the colts was just the first re target over and over and over again for the indian ablas colts it's like this is my best guy i'm getting in the football freaking you know he's getting you know he didn't get a ton of looks in the first half but he ended up having a great game uh he was within the games at richison started he had a thirty five percent for a thirty two percent first read target share the two leading receivers to the commanders yesterday are they're running backs yeah right yeah that that's not gonna that's not gonna cut it um so yeah some of it is on jade and daniels but i also think he has been i don't know that he has been set up to succeed here in washington with the players that are around him um and the offensive coordinator here and just the whole the whole situation and again i went in on washington earlier right like i'm like what are you doing why are you trading away jahan dotson what do you you've invested in this young quarterback invest in it properly you can't just say i'm drafting him so now all right you're on your own kid like that that's how that's how you know broken franchises stay broken you know um and again we just went in on on calib Williams that like i get he but he played poorly but the the team set him up to succeed so that is why when the criticism comes down it's like all right well no actually most of that is going to be on calib Williams this one how do you parse out the the responsibilities here you know you didn't give him any receivers other than taren mcclorn but then you drop an offensive system you bring in a guy and cliff kingsberry that doesn't know how to get the ball to the number one it's just it's maddening it's absolutely maddening what they're doing uh in washington anyways let's move on let's talk about some of these wide receivers who did play really really well um i want to start talking about uh brian thomas jr and lad mcconkey for the jaguars and charges respectively um i thought both of these boys came out and they said nope we're for reals um we're putting legal legal notice we're rookies it's our first game and yeah we're we're we are legitimately the wide receiver ones of our respective teams yeah i i couldn't be more impressed the brian thomas jr who got some shadow coverage from jaylon ramsey in start number one which is pretty crazy um jaguars fans were having some fun with that especially because jaylon ramsey used to be a member of the jack civil jaguars and did the whole brinks truck thing and um you know then got traded by the organization so they had some fun with that of course they classic jags ended up losing the frickin game so who cares but um in my numbing fashion too i mean i i watched decent bit of that game no i it was on one of my main screens here and i am stunned i mean i i'm not stunned because they're the jags and they find ways to lose these games all the time but yeah but etn is going in etn is going in to put that game on the ice baby and the ball gets peanut punched out like oh no that was crazy that was tough i know and that's the worst part about this loss for jacksonville because obviously i'll touch on tom and it says second but there were things like i thought the run game looked good you know tank biggies bringing them something they're running the ball with authority at times and there's still some mind numbing moments some misassignments by bigsby uh you know etn not the most consistent runner either but still i thought they ran the ball well and then brian thomas jr man he's like exactly what they yeah he looks great and he's exactly what they need and i i've i've actually been impressed with how refined he's looked so far you know i thought he might be a little bit of a developmental player but you know they're having to move around to multiple positions um the his touchdown catch like how many times last year james did that touch did that like get bobbled a little bit or one toes out of bounds you know how many times did zay jones are calvin riddly kind of messed that play up last year totally brian thomas just brings it in i thought that was very indicative of where he is as a player by the way by the way can i just say from a body language standpoint like you know when he caught that ball it was like not a big deal for him at all yeah do you know what i'm saying like he caught it casually like that's what's that's what's insane you're like dude your own rookie player first game he caught that ball so casually like hey not a big deal i caught it okay let's move on like unbelievable i was so impressed with btj yeah and if i think mike renter is the one who posted this you know he's worked for pro football focus but if you watch the end zone all 22 angle of where brian thomas was to where trevallorence releases the ball it he's not like it's not even really in the same zip code and then he just trusts thomas to get there and he does i thought that was a very impressive play for a rookie receiver that i thought might take a little time to get up to speed being that guy everything is just for basically the last month i'd say has been all positive reviews of btj and this debut certainly i think put a hammer on that man i think he's gonna be i agree with you i think he's the number one target on this team he's the most dangerous receiver and man he is exactly what they needed as an offense let's just hope the rest of the team can um kind of get the stuff together i've been talking about how btj and trevallorence they're gonna elevate each other's game you know this is a lot like hulio jones matt ryan as it feels you know it feels very much complementary you know like these guys have skill sets that complimenting comparison hulio jones no i get it i get it i totally understand you know i and again i'm not saying he's the next hulio um and and and actually for for a site that i a piece that i wrote for my site i said you know again it's like you know it's kind of like um matt staford and calvin johnson not come not saying that he's the calvin john i'm just saying sometimes when these guys get together and they've got skill sets that match like that's when magic happens and i feel like this skill set with trevallorence because by the way i mean awesome route running from btj but dude the vision and creativity for trevallore's to throw that ball right there that was so impressive again super impressive on both sides i think they've got skill sets that match each other and it's really going to bring out the best uh in both players okay but in in in la for the chargers at that again lad mcconkey it was a little bit slow start it was an entirely slow start for the chargers offense in general but when the game was on the line second half comes around lad mcconkey i thought step forward and again established himself as the number one pass sketching option uh there for the chargers yeah he ran fewer routes than josh palmer and quinton johnson in this game but i can't imagine that's gonna hold up forever uh he he's touched on catch with sick jukes out both uh safeties yeah man that was that was a thing of beauty and that was who he was in college right uh he he had a little bit of that like kind of golden tape badassery in the open field i thought that was uh just yeah pretty cool player um i i can't wait to see more and more of him i i because there was a couple moments in this game with josh palmer where it was like i don't mean i don't mean to be disrespectful to josh palmer but you know he's he's he's fine he's like a mmm fine nfl number three wide receiver but there was a couple times where like herbert tries to get him the ball downfield and it's just uh he's expecting him to be yeah it's expecting him to be kind of a little bit farther here or a little bit and it's like those those end up looking like bad decisions from the quarterback but i actually think it was just palmers a little bit now where he's supposed to be or he does he runs the route fully when he probably should have settled and it's just like you're just a little bit better man i i admit we we we really be cooking here but i'd like to see lad mcconkey get more and more of those opportunities because i think he can handle downfield work uh so more and more lat is is the answer for the charges for sure yeah he was a third on the team in terms of routes run at 21 quent and johnson with 22 and josh palmer with 26 seven targets though did lead the way five receptions again led the way 39 yards sadly led the way for the chargers i can't believe 39 yards is the leading receiver for the chargers dude welcome to the hard ball greg roman era good god man i mean you got just a herbert dude come on man he's just an herbert for for all i can't believe we've got justin herbert out here throwing 26 pass attempts that's nuts i think greg roman had to be feeling great you know that i think it was like four pre-snap penalties um they're leading receivers 39 yards jk thousands goes ham in the run game and they win and they win and they and they won the freaking game uh joe ult was fantastic in this game uh both the interior wasn't as inspiring that is a little bit of an issue for the chargers from a pass protection standpoint but they certainly can set the tempo run the ball the tackles played well in pass protection so um i've been a little higher than consensus on the chargers offense all off season because i really like jim harborn i think obviously greg roman is he's greg roman the passing designs are never going to be perfect but the run game was looked really good i would look explosive under jk dobbins just thought it was a shock uh you know dobbins totally less than a year away from a Achilles tear or about just 12 months away from an Achilles tear so that was surprising how about just even that first half like both guss edwards and you know uh jk dobbins looked absolutely downright horrific i was like count i was looking at my watch like all right when when do we start kamani vadol okay because both these guys look terrible uh but yeah i know jk jk went absolutely freaking ham sandwich in the second half he was nuts yeah and one other thing to look i know quinton johnson is quinton johnston that being said he had uh 38 yards second on the team 38 yards okay can i can i bring up one thing about quinton johnson though did you notice that they just stopped having him try to throw catch anything over his shoulder everything he caught was basically coming back to the quarterback which again i'm just saying like they don't have him on the move on like these like over's or you know drag routes or anything they're just like nah dude just go stop come back and catch the ball and he actually looked more comfortable that way you know yeah three missed tackles uh for quinton johnston nine point three yards after the catch per reception six point three yards of contact per reception um this is all according to fance points data that hey that's who he was in college right get him get him working uh lots of quicker routes uh you know and and get the explosiveness here so i thought that was encouraging for for quinton johnston yeah quinton johnston well let me go back to lad mcconky very quickly lad mcconky played about 45 percent of his snaps lined up out wide 55 percent of his snaps lined up in the slot and then in regards to quinton johnston 92 percent lined up outside so yeah they've they've got that little split going there i i'm i'm at this point it seems as if quinton johnson's locked and loaded as their um their x receiver um and um and if they could get lad mcconky on the field a little bit more um now that being said the the routes run part is very equitable so i think that's fine but i do think that this team would be better off if lad mcconky ran more routes played more snaps and and kind of sort of just aid into what josh will palmer does yeah probably i mean palmer's fine but he i think he's just a guy uh they did actually have lad mcconky in some like 13 personnel looks uh or when there was a single wide receiver which if they're gonna do play action uh on those plays he he also will be probably off the line in those are in those plays because you can have two tight ends on the line uh and then you know if it's 13 personnel look you can have that third tight end off the line and then lads also on the line or you know a little inverse of that and so you can get that free a little bit more of a free release or at least ahead of steam going against man coverage and he's gonna be the target on those plays a lot he's gonna make some big plays uh on play action if they can establish this run game so uh i thought really good debut for lad mcconky and like i said that touchdown was one of the sickest plays uh i saw yeah it was really really nice um so yeah there you go um okay so can we break down add and i mitchell very quickly here i know we're running just a little bit long but i thought add and i mitchell had a really interesting um i mean he had a really interesting uh debut here uh in week number one now again he was wide open on a touchdown you know Anthony Richardson overthrew him and then again pretty open but uh again missed again on another long touchdown in the fourth quarter as well add and i mitchell could have had an absolutely electric day if he just converts on one of those if he converts on both i mean people's hair would have been on fire talking about add and i mitchell but just the connection was just not quite there uh yeah pretty brutal uh some of those misses i do kind of wonder if Andy Mitchell didn't run the route exactly how Richardson was expecting him to on that first play that would look like an egregious miss and still Richardson was not consistently accurate in this game and that's uh going to be going to be a part of the experience every game with Anthony Richardson is going to be a Rorschach test because you know that that some of the misses were egregious uh at the same time the touchdown to Alec Pierce to start the game that is like a one-of-one throw that might be the best throw we see all year um but yeah Andy Mitchell i thought looked good he he from just watching the broadcast was consistently separating um you know 0.11 yards per out run not his fault man i thought he could have had a much bigger day looked like there were some things for him i thought alignment wise pretty interesting you know we've talked a lot about this how they've been using him in multiple formations with with uh Josh Downs not being in the mix here nobody on the team actually lined up in this or ran a route on more than 33.3 percent of their out of the slot so like Pitman Mitchell Pierce they all kind of rotated there obviously i think when Downs gets back he'll be in that spot i do wonder a little bit you know your boy Alec Pierce James um he obviously pops up for some big plays and how sustainable is that i get it but uh definitely i think that the analysis that operes is just going to completely be a 0 that i'm a little like skeptical of after week one so we'll see how that works with the rest of the receiver room but yeah i thought from a Mitchell isolation perspective you know this is a game i'd probably like to go back in chart but i thought he i thought he did play well and it was an encouraging debut for him just not as big in the box scores it could have been yeah no i mean and the same goes for Michael Pitman you know again uh routes run Alec Pierce Michael Pitman led the way with 18 a piece Michael Pitman saw eight targets on those eight routes so that's pretty good overall unfortunately just connected on four of them for 31 yards but i do think better days will be ahead for Michael Pitman there and 80 Mitchell meant like i said good night man he was so close uh to connecting on two gigantic plays which would have absolutely changed the entire tenor uh of this game Colton end up losing 29-27 um but again hey by the way when i was caping up for Alec Pierce you know again i i this is part of the analysis was yeah he's been doing some good stuff downfield as your charting has shown right he just hasn't had a quarterback that could unlock that right and so finally he's got a quarterback that can uncork some big deep shots down the field and and obviously in this particular game Alec Pierce um was a beneficiary regardless Matt i think you do have to agree having him on the field and having him be able to get open downfield certainly should open up this offense and just open up when you talk about every blade of grass i think that he will allow that to happen i don't think he's going to be your traditional space eating x as you like to say but he will certainly you know um that will be i think his primary role will be eat up a lot of space and and get that cardio in but man every now and again bro like you're gonna see plays like that and that is truly what i think is going to keep defensive coordinators up at night yeah i'm with you that he is definitely a sacrificial x receiver as Alec Pierce the thing is he plays for a quarterback who is willing to sacrifice what you would i don't know how to make the analogy here but like he's he's willing to do things he's willing to sacrifice himself okay to to get out there and make some crazy throws and crazy plays yeah so he will take some throws that you know garner mints you wouldn't believe you wouldn't even dream of trying to attempt so physically couldn't even do yeah if he tried to if he tried to contemplate himself doing it you know visualize and manifest himself doing it he would spontaneously combust so um he just just not possible so far out of the realm of reality but yeah Richardson will take some of those throws that might just be a clear out route for Alec Pierce but um yeah he he just goes and rips it i will i will commend the uh beat writers if i'm gonna be negative i get i got to be positive here too the beat writers for Indianapolis have consistently said that Alec Pierce has had a pretty good training camp and that he will be part of the game plan um so don't be surprised you know i know because i think they even were like a couple of them were even saying like i know people want to get excited about 80 Mitchell and and that's fair he's had a great camp too but they're not going to cast aside Alec Pierce because he's also had a pretty good camp too and they see a role for him and and obviously that's kind of sort of played out there in week number one again i'm not anticipating this kind of production each and every week but the threat of it though the threat of it Matt i think will elevate this cult's offense in general all right so now we just got to get we got to get Anthony Richardson to stay healthy man come on you know the longer he stays healthy the better is for the game because he's just an exciting young player yeah and like let's just let him continue to develop every game doesn't need to be a referendum on Anthony Richardson totally so it'll be some highs gonna be some lows oh yeah we're at uh counted up by the end of the season and kind of see are there more highs or more lows and where the cults are as a team all right there you go so that's the show uh in our next episode we will be talking about Drake London we'll be talking about Mark Harrison of course we'll give you a week to preview as well all right but we got to go from Matt Harmon i'm James Co remember it's never too late to chase your dreams peace at king supers pharmacy care is making it easy to get vaccinated care is helping you stay protected from flu covid and rsv seasonal vaccines are available seven days a week with evening hours care is giving you a shot at staying healthy this season walk in whenever is best and get multiple vaccines in one visit at your local king supers pharmacy so come and get the protection you need while protecting those around you king supers a world of care is in store visit king supers dot .com/vaccines for more. 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