0:00 Christian McCaffrey injury status
2:09 Mike Tomlin still has not named Justin Fields as starter
13:54 Andy Dalton's impressive game after replacing Bryce Young
17:52 Trevor Lawrence may not have the sense of urgency that he needs
26:38 Vikings at Packers preview
30:14 Bills at Ravens preview
31:51 Eagles at Buccaneers preview
33:50 Steelers at Colts preview
37:33 Saints at Falcons preview
38:41 Commanders at Cardinals preview
40:24 Bengals at Panthers preview
43:02 Deshaun Watson doesn't want designed run plays
45:00 Myles Garrett wants to play through injuries
46:57 Listen to the PFT/Unbuttoned picks podcast
Hey Applebee's, congrats on becoming the official girl and bar sponsor of the NFL. How does it feel? I'm glad we'll be able to bring some eggs to heat. Any plans to celebrate? Yeah, we got to serve up America's favorite bonus wings for just 50 cents each to kick off the season. No matter the time, price participation in selection may vary, tax number two would be excluded. At your job, do you ever have to deal with a nose roller? How about a snub bully? Well, if you're installing a new conveyor belt system, dealing with the different components can sound like you're speaking a foreign language. Luckily, you've got a team ready to help. Granger's technical product specialists are fluent in maintenance, repair, and operations. So whenever you want to talk shop, just reach out. Call, clickgranger.com, or just stop by. Granger, for the ones who get it done. This episode is brought to you by Progressive. Most of you aren't just listening right now, you're multitasking. But what if you could also be saving money by switching to Progressive? Drivers, you saved by switching, saved nearly $750 on average, and auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts. So, multitask right now. Get your quote now at Progressive.com. Progressive, casualty insurance company, and affiliates, national average 12 months savings of $744 by new customers surveyed, who saved with Progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary. Discounts not available in all states and situations. Oh, baby! You know, Kyle Shanahan has a thing about the annoying headlines that show up at PFT from time to time. But Kyle, quit giving me fodder for annoying headlines. And I specifically, when I wrote about this last night, I tried to make the headline as non-annoying as possible. But let's look at it this way. Quick summary, calf strain for Christian McCaffrey throughout training camp. And then on the first injury report for the regular season, dropped three weeks ago today, Achilles. Uh-oh, questionable for the game on Monday night against the Jets. Okay, it's fine. Monday night, hour and a half before kickoff. He's not playing. What's going on here? Something is fishy about this. And then he's on injured reserve, even though Kyle Shanahan says, "Oh, if it would have been a playoff game, he could have played." Then he misses a couple of games. Chefty reports he's in Germany to get some sort of treatment or evaluation of the Achilles tendonitis. And when Kyle Shanahan is asked the question that we're all thinking, is there a chance this guy's not going to, is he? And tell me you haven't had this conversation with someone you know. Is there a chance, Christian McCaffrey, the offensive player of the year from 2023 isn't going to play? Is there a chance he's not going to play it all this year? And the response is not that I know of, like, who stole the cookies? Not that I know of. It's just not convincing. And one of the things about Shanahan and Chris Simpson and I have talked about this, he really isn't a good liar. And he doesn't like to lie, which I admire. But man, it doesn't inspire a lot of confidence when the guy who should know what's going on with the best player on his team has no update. Nothing about the guy going to Munich to get treatment or evaluation of his Achilles tendon. And then he's asked the very simple question, is there a chance he won't play this year? And the answer is nothing I know of. Not good. Not good. We need to take a break. As promised earlier in the program, next, we'll break down some of the current news in the National Football League, but Charles Robison of Yahoo! Sports. Stick around. That'll be next up here. I'll be up here. Hey, now that you're at three games in, what more do you need to see from Justin? Why not name him the starting quarterback? Because there's no need. You know, I explained to you the variables of the week. It has not changed. He's going to walk in this building with that mindset tomorrow. And so I really, there's no need to. Sometimes in this business, man, there's a myriad of complex decisions that need to be made. I've learned to make them when it's appropriate, and it's not necessary as we sit here right now. When Russ gets to an appropriate point of health, and we have a decision to make, I'll make it, and I'll announce it, and I'll be really transparent about it. But until then, I don't care how many ways you guys ask me. I got no intentions of making the decision that's unnecessary at this juncture. Mike Tomlin from Tuesday, talking about his quarterback situation. We're going to talk about that and more with Charles Robison. You know what I suppose? I love your background too. What is that a map of? It's a map of Houston. A map of home. Wow. Like that. Awesome. Awesome. You know, I have a story about a night when I was over-served in Houston, the night before Super Bowl 51, and I couldn't find my hotel. That map would have been very useful that night. Well, Mike, I got to tell you, my first time ever in Houston was what Panthers Patriots Super Bowl, and I was in the cab on the way home. Well, to the airport anyway, and my colleague at that time, I was working for a newspaper in Florida, and I turned to him and I said, "I don't know why the hell anyone would live in this city. Well, this is the worst city ever." And literally, literally, I moved eight years later. I moved to Houston because of a woman, of course. Oh, we can all relate to that at some level. I've been where I am for 30 years for that very reason. Okay. So, Mike Tomlin's comments about Justin feels, "I have my opinion. I've shared my opinion with the audience. They don't want to hear it again. They want to hear your opinion on what Mike Tomlin had to say about the quarterback situation where, technically, Russell Wilson is still QB1, Justin Fields is QB2, Justin Fields is 3-0, and he's getting better every week. Yeah, I mean, like Russell Wilson's, it's Mike Tomlin's guy. I mean, that's just how I feel. When I went through that organization in training camp, and I had a chance to spend some time with the brain trust, what was interesting to me was, I said, "You like, hash this out for me." And it was, "Okay, you know, Russ is the experienced guy, all this stuff. You know, we kind of know where we can go with Russ." And then I think they had a huge evaluation on Justin Fields going into the draft where Fields was selected by the Bears. And I think there were members of the organization who were looking at Fields saying, "Well, the upside is so immense, especially the dynamic aspect of him being able to use his legs as a runner, create all these different things. We didn't have under Mitchell Trubisky, we didn't have under Kenny Pickett. We feel like there are elements of that part of his game that can cover for his limitations as a passer, and we can bring him along as a passer if he ends up being the starter, ultimately. Tom leaned into Russell Wilson. Russell Wilson has the calf issue to kick the season off. And I think now the complication is Fields has gotten in there. He's won games. The offensive playbook is still pretty limited as a passer for him, but they have slowly started to open it up from one game to the next. If you look at his passing charts, you can kind of see what they've done. And he's had some big moments, frankly, that were taken off the field by a holding penalty, a drop, issues that weren't necessarily his fault. But I think what I really truly believe what Tom is doing right now is he's just biding his time. He's like, "When we hit a snag, when we lose a game, when there's some ineffectiveness with Justin Fields, I want this tool in my bag called Russell Wilson, and I want to be able to pivot to it." And I just think that's the game that Mike Tomlin's playing right now. I agree with you completely. And you never bench Justin Fields if you don't give him the QB1 label. Justin wasn't benched. Russell Wilson's healthy. 100%. It was the old 100% rule. We said 100% at the same time for different reasons. When the starter is 100% he'll play. When's he 100%? When we need him. When the guy who's currently playing loses a game or does something stupid and we need to pivot, we're not benching him. Because I do believe that Justin Fields is regarded by many in the organization as the future. That they, in large part because he's more than a decade younger. But he's what Russell was in 2012 and 2013. This is the guy that we can build around. They're getting some advanced reps, but they would never have to give him the stigma of being given the hook. If it's as simple as we hit a rough spot. Oh, coincidentally, looky here. Russ is healthy. Let's go. And I, you know, you can't engineer that, Charles. But when it falls in your lap, you run with it. And I feel like that's what Mike Tomlin's doing. And it sounds like we're on the same page. Yeah, and they do think. I asked, again, when I went through there, I said, do you have the 2025 quarterback on the roster? And I was told by a high ranking member, absolutely, we have the 2025 quarterback on the roster. We just don't know who that is yet. And the vibe that I took away was exactly what you just described. It was this immense upside of fields. We'll probably get him some reps. We'll see where he can go. And then we'll measure Russ. And by the end of the season, if Russ is flat, if he's this, you know, we'll get to the point where, when we have to make that decision about who gets a contract extension, fields will ultimately be the guy that I think they would lean into. Unless he was just terrible, unless he just fell apart. And you're seeing, you know, the clips that you're playing, Arthur Smith's done a good job of keeping things short to intermediate with him. There's been a couple of times where he's uncorked some big throws with a big arm. But I think the thing with fields that they're continuing to work on is just speed. He gets the ball out faster, you know, don't take a lot of time to throw. And let's continue to develop that. But I think for Russ to get the long-term extension in Pittsburgh, he would have to come in, be more than average. I don't maybe not be exceptional, but be, I think, quite a bit more than average and show them, hey, there's a three, four-year window here that I don't think they necessarily believe exists right now, or at least they don't know. Will Russell Wilson's people, the folks around him, the advisors, the PR machinery that I witnessed kick in to high gear after he was benched by the Broncos last season? You probably got some of the same emails. Will he resist the urge to do the same thing as the trade deadline approaches? Because I could see a set of circumstances where he's healthy, he's sitting, hey, why don't you trade me to a team where I can play? Mike Tom and you always say we won't volunteer as not hostages. I'm kind of feeling like a hostage right now. Do you think that Russell Wilson will give in to that temptation to try to stir it up a little bit? Because I don't know that Mike Tom and this guy you want to try to stir that up with. Yeah, I don't think Mike is. I do think that if we get into a scenario where it's late October, fields continues to take pretty significant strides from one game to the next, and Russ hasn't seen the field. That's the thing too. These questions that Tom and he's getting annoyed with, which frankly are self-created, they're not going away and all fields has to do to keep this pressure on us. A, win games and B show, look at my tape. Am I getting better? Have I gotten better? Is the offense, are we into 50, 60, now 80, 90% of that offensive playbook? Is that accessible to me? If the answer is yes, if your fields, you're saying, okay, well, there's no reason for me to be sad at this point. Someone's got to make a declaration here. I'm curious to see how long Mike Tomman plays this game, as you said, of, you know, I'm not going to say it as long as I don't have to say it. And, you know, I'll continue to bob and weave and spar with the reporters rather than making a decision that corners me. But I think if you get into late October and Russ isn't seeing the field, it looks like Russ may not see the field at that point. I would not be surprised at all if his representation says, let's look a field and see. Where is their quarterback need where Russ can go in and play? Not a great situation, obviously. He wouldn't have been in an offense or a passing camp at that stage to just go in and all of a sudden pick up with another team, but certainly a better situation than not seeing the field at all for the Steelers. Well, and if I was the Steelers, I would not move on from it. I remember when they traded Josh Dobbs right before Ben Rothersberger's elbow exploded in week two of the 2019 season, and then it was duck hodges at one point. You don't trade away a backup quarterback that you might need. And we saw last year how many teams needed their backup quarterback. The moment you trade Russell Wilson is the moment Justin Fields gets injured the next game. That's just the way the football gods would mess with the Steelers potentially. And I think why Thomas tried to do here part of it is he's aware that Russell Wilson is paying attention to everything. And maybe you play Kate Russ by letting him believe I'm still QB one. I'm just not a hundred percent. I'm still the starter. They still love me more than Justin Fields. And maybe it's kind of a psychological game that Tomlin is playing here to try to keep Wilson engaged and accept the fact that maybe he won't play at all this year. Good luck getting a starting job elsewhere in 2025 if you haven't played at all in 2024. That's absolutely right. And I think part of I think part of the thought process to coming into the season is especially when he named Wilson the starter. I think the thought was well Russell come in and if he doesn't play well we can go to Fields. And if Fields doesn't play well it's we still have the ability to go back to Russ. Now reverse that. Say Fields comes in. He doesn't play well right. And then you install Russell Wilson at that point. Russell Wilson doesn't play well. I think it's a stickier situation going back to Fields if he's not playing well. Then it is switching from Fields to Russ. You see what I'm saying like you know Russ then Fields then back to Russ. This is how we want to juggle this versus the opposite because at the very least and I think this is what Tomlin really values in Russell Wilson is he does have experience. He is a capable passer. There is a floor there with Russell Wilson that is frankly much higher than the worst that we've seen of of Justin Fields. And I do I think that's part of why Mike Tomlin is playing this game. Like he does not want Russ checking out. I think he wants to make sure that he gives himself the space to make that change. And to do it at 100% the way that you spelled it out under the guise of we never named a starter. Like I named Russ the starter. He got hurt and then we had to go this other route. So it's not really a benching of Fields. It's just the other guys healthy and now we make the change when it's appropriate. There were no such nuances in Carolina only 10 days ago when Bryce Young went from being the starter after the week to loss to not the starter in advance of the week three ultimate victory over the Las Vegas Raiders. Do you think and I always am fascinated by the Sunday splash reports the different things that teams will put out there fully cognizant of the fact that certain reporters will just repeat anything they're told to curry favor with their sources. This idea that Bryce Young will start again this year put out by the media conglomerate that's partially owned by the Panthers. I don't buy it. Do you buy it? You and I are of the same mind on this and and I will tell you that when Bryce got benched I reached out to someone in the organization and I was like what like helped me out with this what's going on here. And the response I was given was this is he needs time to heal like he's mentally like he's just so cashed at this point mentally that he needs he just needs a break and and we need to you know put him in the background for a while let him settle down mentally and then revisit this down the line and and again this is inside the organization I'm being told this is not necessarily a permanent thing. As soon as I got off the phone I was like I don't I can't believe this like I can't trust this because it was not David Tepper who I was speaking to and frankly even if it was David Tepper I was speaking to I'd go David Tepper's background as such that I can't put any weight behind this being the absolute honest truth because David Tepper changes his mind all the time and David Tepper gets involved in football operations historically and even if that has changed this year which when I went through Caroline I was told no no no no like David understands the situation now he knows it's got to be a coach GM driven operation he really just has to you know be hands off and let us do what we need to do you can say all that but when push comes to shove David Tepper has shown us who he is and that to me is suggestive of you know Andy Dalton getting in there and seeing positive results it's it's a that's a drug right like it's there's no doubt in my mind that David Tepper is not sitting there going oh my god we had a kid who in week two I think he threw six passes to our wide receivers in week three Andy Dalton comes in and throws 16 passes to our wide receivers and you completely see the offense transformed there are areas of the field that are now available to us that were not available to us one week before and and that transformative quality to me um leads me to believe that ownership for sure is going to want to lead into the guy who can access the field give you wins and and I thought when Gabe Canals came out and said this is the guy who gives us the best chance to win sure it's it's the head coach saying that but I think ownership is it's a three-headed monster there but it's really always a one-headed monster there and I think as long as Tepper's happy with what is happening under Andy Dalton I just have a really hard time seeing Bryce and getting back onto the field for them and that's the one caveat I'll apply I don't believe for a second they went into this saying Bryce just needs a break and he'll talk to me he's only going to be back if David Tepper makes the sudden decision Andy Dalton sucks now we got to go back to Bryce Young we got to put him back on the field that that's the only way it happens the the owner is very impulsive he wants what he wants when he wants it he's basically Veruca Salt and if it's only going to be Bryce Young again the moment David Tepper rolls out of bed and says I want Bryce Young back under center Dave Canals go tell the world it's your decision which he probably isn't that blunt and direct about it but it may not be that far off given what we've seen from David Tepper all right Trevor Lawrence before we wrap this up because I've been very interested in the aftermath of this disaster we saw for the Jaguars and the thing that makes this different from any other 0 and 3 start for any other team that has its its season going sideways less than a month ago the owner of the Jaguar Shod Khan said this is the best Jaguars team that has ever been assembled my expectation is to win now they had the Dolphins beaten they let them off the hook they got embarrassed by the Browns at home and they got blown off the field by the Bills and I'm looking for signs of life frankly in Jacksonville and one guy who's come under focus here but I don't think anywhere else is Trevor Lawrence who got the big contract I got an email from a former offensive coordinator questioning Lawrence's emotion and passion and we were visited the other day just kind of spontaneously the comments made by Trevor Lawrence before the draft about not having a chip on his shoulder like does this guy really care does he seem bothered by their asses getting kicked by getting embarrassed on national television so I was curious to see Charles and we're going to play this I'll shut up I promise we're going to play Trevor Lawrence from yesterday talking about whether or not his own experience will help them out of the bad start but just pay attention to how he delivers the words how he seems is he really all that upset about what happened on Monday night here it is it's a long season and I'll say that to say we have time to waste because we surely don't anymore but saying that is it is a long season and we've been in we've been in a worse spot than this before and we found a way out of it and I got full faith we're gonna we're gonna do the same but you know we gotta we gotta go prove it so excited for that opportunity just remember to have fun too like you know this situations like this a lot of times make you get tight and tense and be on your details and be locked in and we got to prepare the right way and put everything into it during the week but also have fun you know we're playing a game and we have an opportunity to do things that not many people get to do so keeping that perspective and let that relax you let you play better you know not to say that it doesn't matter because it does and we take a lot of pride in it but you also do have to have the perspective I think that helps you play better and looser because you want to go out there and fly around and not be thinking about everything and be able to go play free they worked two and six in 2022 and I remember after the loss in England to Russell Wilson and the Broncos Trevor Lawrence kind of had a little like if I'm ever going to be anything worth a crap in the NFL I need to really wake it up and they did and they made it to the final eight that year so they have turned it around before but man it just all seems a little too chill for me am I wrong well so personnel departments call this the the country club mentality for quarterbacks like you know they'll in their assessment sometimes they'll look at quarterbacks and they'll say has he kind of had the best of it throughout his career you know was he you know he was a high blue chip prospect in high school did he have private quarterback coaches did he have access to everything he needed to grow in the position and then how did that affect his mentality versus other quarterbacks they're evaluating where it was hard they faced some adversity they showed emotion you know the like let's talk about like Baker Mayfield one of the things that I think um front offices liked about Baker Mayfield before he was taken first overall with the Browns was Baker had been pissed he'd gone through coaches he'd he dealt with you know getting benched he had this mentality where he's like people who doubt me screw those you know people and and I'm going to overcome it and I think those same individuals if you would talk to them about how did Baker make it to the other shore you know how has he gotten to Tampa and played better shirt certainly it's the surrounding personnel there's no doubt about that but there is a mentality aspect to Baker Mayfield where he does fight his way out of difficult spots and situations and he does show emotion and I do think teammates respond to that so I think in terms of the body language what you're talking about with Trevor Lawrence I do understand the question and it's interesting I'll give you an example so I'm doing the training camp tour and I'm I go through it was I was headed like Chet's camp and it was the week that they had joint practices with Jayden Daniels and the commanders and I'm talking to somebody with the Jets and unprompted this person says to me he's like you know they got a dog with Jayden Daniels like I didn't even ask about Jayden Daniels whether like that kid is really good you can see it the way he carries himself like he he was so competitive in these joint practices so I stuck around for this this preseason game and Jayden Daniels they're playing they're often sometimes terrible they're playing like I think when they're starting tackles the game was like their third string guard I mean it was just it was like Cliff Kingsbury please God whatever you do limit it get the ball out of his hands don't let him do anything where he has to hold the ball and let it play develop so they send a plane with Austin Echler and it's a screen pass and Jayden Daniels decides at the line of scrimmage I'm gonna go ahead and audible out of this and I'm gonna throw a go ball to to Diami Brown that takes some time to develop and it's he just saw something on the field needs said screw it I'm gonna do it ball snaps play develops he throws it ends up being a beautiful deep completion along the right sideline and he turns to the sideline and he's grinning because and you know later you find out he's grinning because he's like I know I just did something they told me you know like I wasn't supposed to do I know I'm in some trouble now because I took things into my own hands and I went and did it after that game you could see his teammates were just like man this dude like he just wants to win like this dude will he they knew he defied the the orders from the sideline they knew he changed the play absolutely was not supposed to change uh Dan Quinn afterward he called it the buzz the tower moment uh in in top gun like he buzzed the tower you know and took it into his own hands I ended up going through commander's camp a little bit later and I brought it up with different individuals and they they were like look they were pissed they were like that's not funny to us like it's cool we saw it happen but that is not funny to us he could have gotten hurt and and and they were like we talked to him after this we had to sit him down and go listen you need to know what we're doing and you can't you know can't put it in your own hands and risk yourself that way I thought to myself though this is the quality that players respond to this is the quality that teammates respond to where um it was like that in in in like I don't remember if it was like full metal jacket but there's this talk about when you go through boot camp and you get to the point where you're just getting to the point where you're a little bit out of the control of your instructors you're growing a little bit beyond their control that's when you're ready to go to war and he he has that kind of quality to him so when I think of Trevor Lawrence I think why do I look at Jayden Daniels and see what's happening happened right now in Washington where the offensive line is terrible where the skill positions are not great and yet you have this guy who's who's thriving and you see players responding to him I thought Brock Purdy had the same thing happen as soon as he stepped in with the 49ers I was looking at Trent Williams and how he was interacting with Brock Purdy on the field and I'm like that doesn't seem like the last pick in the draft the way that an all-pro Hall of Fame tackle is treating him and the energy I see on the field there's something different about this guy I don't know that I've I hate to do this to Trevor Lawrence but I don't know that I've watched Trevor Lawrence consistently through his career and thought man he just everybody really gets behind him and he really gathers that kind of mentality with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Great stuff and I have to tell you this as you mentioned the Buzz the Tower moment I had this instant vision of Dan Quinn had on backwards coffee spilled all over that t-shirt that he wore to the press conference the off-season that created all sorts of a buzz that that was my image uh if you want more insights from Charles Robinson check out his quarterback room article every Tuesday at yahoo.com/nfl great stuff Charles let's do it again thank you so much enjoy week four thanks for having me Mike all right there he is Charles Robinson when we return Hall of Fame head coach Tony Dungee getting you ready for week four of the 2024 NFL season that's next year on PFT Live. Everybody's talking about shrinkflation companies are now giving you less for the same prices before at Domino's we're giving you more mix and match any two medium two topping pizzas and we'll upgrade one to a large for free that's more flation and that's Domino's for dinner prices higher for some locations select online only offer through September 29th prices participation delivery area and charges may vary two at a minimum pimp pizza extra exclude specialty pizzas only one medium two topping pizza will be upgraded to a large. First of all congratulations on becoming the official grill and bar sponsor of the national football league how does it feel to serve up the NFL man it's a real dream come true i'm glad we'll be able to serve up some extra heat this season do you have any plans to celebrate absolutely we're gonna serve up America's favorite bonus wings with just 50 cents each to kick off the season any of our sources whether it's in restaurant or to go it don't matter it's all 50 cents all the time are you worried at all about any competition this season what competition limited time price participation in selection may vary tax and gratuity excluded this time of year saturday's mean one thing and one thing only college football with sling you get access to hundreds of games and the biggest network starting at 40 dollars a month that's just 40 dollars a month sling takes your love of college football to the next level it's a no-brainer streaming games and saving on them too and it's not just college football sling has live sports news entertainment channels you love and less of the ones you don't so you save hundreds of dollars on live tv sling also lets you choose and customize your channel line up so you can choose the channels you actually like to watch sling's cloud dvr lets you record your shows to watch on your schedule there's no complex technology no long-term contracts and no hidden rigamarole get rewarded for watching college football sling lets you do that visit sling dot com slash play to learn more and get started that's sling dot com slash play sling dot com slash play we certainly got you know one of the best coming up as far as offensive coordinators and i've had my share of tough days against the floor and his offense is dating back to when he was in tennessee um you know had a tough day then a few years back and you know quite honestly you know we have to do everything we can to stay ahead of you know a guy like a guy like matt and he's uh i don't think it's being talked enough what's talked about enough what's going on over there with Malik Willis um i think from that to go in his bag and be a west coast guy and then turn around and he's got this whole zone read rp o counter read i mean that's that's pretty impressive the man who holds the position that 30 years ago our next guest held in minnesota defensive coordinator brian flores talking about the packers offense the dramatic difference between jordan love at quarterback and Malik willis that's one of the big games this weekend we say hello to hall of fame head coach buccaneers and cults head coach super bowl winner tony dungy hello coach aria hey might do them well good to see you and i was actually thinking about brian florries and putting myself in that position and saying yeah it might be easier on him if jordan love is back because everything they're doing now with Malik willis is totally different and matt leflory brian's right he's done a tremendous job getting him organized in this new offense for green bay you know we hear about this all the time and the packers seem to be taking full advantage of the uncertainty with jordan love they milked every issue that they could ounce of it that they could last week and they're going to do it again this week how difficult is it as a coach as a defensive coordinator to be ready for two different guys well like as a practical matter what does it do to you and the team in the days preceding the game it's very tough so you have 15 seven on seven passing plays that you're going to run against your defense in practice you have about 25 team plays well what am i going to use am i as brian said am i going to work on the zone reads and the rpo's or am i going to work on the dropback game to jordan love features it's totally different and you've seen most of what jordan does so now i think they would work on the Malik willis offense feeling like boy we better get ready for that but now you spend your whole week on that and here comes jordan love that's a problem which approach and i think you've already hinted at this but you know we've seen what brian floris is done to a west coast style offense with all the uncertainty they create if you are just running downhill that's the best way i i assume to counter a defense it's trying to fool you there's you don't you don't need to think if you're just running and jordan love is playing great football and make no mistake he's their guy but if i was matt with floor saying what brian floris has done to the 49ers and houston back to back i might say jordan you take one more week off we're going to go with Malik willis we're going to pound this ball at him and run uh and you know this is how we're going to attack this brian floris defense this week and then you'll be ready to go next week and i had heard in the aftermath of the jordan love mcl injury that happened in brazil a game you were at that week four week five or week six was the target for his return so it's up in the air and the the packers will take full advantage of that uncertainty to keep the Vikings guessing you will also be in baldamor on sunday night for the bills ravens game that's just one of these games that like all of a sudden it's like wow that's a hell of a game when you look at what the bills have done so far this year the ravens getting their first win of the season who's got the tougher challenge in this one the bills run defense or the ravens pass defense i think that's going to be the challenge both ways and i i'd really believe the bills have to make it uh a fast-paced uptempo game and the ravens have to make it ugly and slow it reminds me of when we used to go up to foxborough and play against Rodney's patriots we had this high flying offense and we put up 40 points manning's throwing 50 touchdown passes and bill bell check would slow the game down play two tight ends pounded at us kind of be physical get after the receivers at the line of scrimmage blow the pace down and i think that's what it's going to be uh i thought the ravens found their identity against dallas they slowed down a dallas offense pretty good for three quarters they pounded darrick henry that's what they have to do again test that that buffalo run defense can they hold up make josh allen get impatient have those six seven-minute drives make him want to really come out there and move the ball right away when he gets on offense slow it down and make it ugly yeah and you got those young receivers that are still finding their footing in prime time without another game going on at the same time so they can't hide if they have any issues no overlapping double headers for us on sunday night football one game in one game only earlier in the day the eagles at two and one heading to tampa bay to take on your buccaneers and you know in a season where we've seen a lot of running as opposed to passing saquon barkley has been spectacular for the philadelphia eagles how can thawd balls defense in tampa bay slow down the guy who may be the best running back in football right now well philadelphia it's our appeals run pass options you've got to take away the run this is what you have to stop and you got to live with hey if he pulls it out and throws it to those receivers i'm okay with that you got to load the box play every player's a running play and they've got tampa does have a little edge here because aj brown of the vontay smith may not be in the lineup but if you don't stop this it's going to be a long day they don't have beat of air uh he's going to be out with an injury so that's uh another knock against tampa right there but you got to load that box and make the eagles throw the football what went wrong for the bucces last week they look so good through the first two weeks of the season and then is it just one of those you know you're not going to win them all some days you're going to be a little flat some days you're going to get you're going to get punched earlier you're not going to be able to respond there there's some injury factors there on the defense not having Antoine Winfield is a big miss for them but i think just living here mike it was more than that all i heard all week from the bucces defenders well this is a college offense they're not doing too much with bownecks they're keeping it simple for him we're going to be fine well that that college offense gave him some problems and some issues i don't think they were quite prepared for it yeah college offense probably a quote that no defensive player should choose after we saw what happened to the box and what happened to the bangles on monday night um we were talking during the break about the Steelers this year your former team taking on your other former team the team you're played for versus the team you coached in indianapolis on sunday steelers are three and oh i think a lot of people are surprised i'm not even though on paper they should be in last place in the division here they are all alone in first place with everybody else at one and two it really or and the bangles at 0 and 3 how are the steelers pulling this off i'm not surprised either mike this is classic steeler football we've seen it for decades and mike tom and wanted to get back to this so going after russell wilson justin fields we're going to change our quarterback room we're going to get good solid quarterback play we're going to get guys who can make a play when we need it and we're going to preach that you don't disrupt things you don't make that drastic decision that puts us in the hole we've got a good defense we can run the ball uh we're bringing arthur smith we're going to pound the rock a little bit and get back to our our roots and so i'm not surprised at all justin fields has played very very well they're not putting up big numbers but they're getting efficient play and they're believing in what they're doing um we looked at the game last week and ryan and i talked about it on our post-game show the chargers jim harbaugh had brought this mentality hey we're going to be tougher than everybody else we've got the leading rusher in the national football league uh nobody can stop us pitzburg went out stop that run game held dobbins to 44 yards made them throw then turn the pass rush loose and that's what they're all about so uh when you quarterback that style of game you don't have to make every single play you don't have to win every game and i think that's going to be great for justin fields or russell wilson whoever the quarterback is you know i think you appreciate this i make more references to the late danny green your former boss in minnesota than probably anyone in the media combined i talk about the valley of zero and zero all the time how hard it is if you have a great season you got to reset like everybody else you got to go back to winning one week at a time nobody cares what you did last year but i've been thinking about him a lot recently because 1998 brad johnson breaks his leg week two rando cutting ham comes in as spectacular well when's brad johnson going to be back when he's a hundred percent as soon as he gets healthy never never he's never going to be a hundred percent you can't lose your time to injury but you've got to be healthy before you get back in the lineup and and isn't that just the simplest explanation for what mike tomlin's doing this has fallen into his lap justin fields is great he's not the starter so if and when it goes sideways he's not getting benched russell wilson's a starter he's healthy now but if it keeps going well russell wilson is just never healthy just not quite a hundred percent yet but you know what whoever plays either one of those quarterbacks is going to play well for them right now because of the mentality of the rest of the team and that's all that uh mike tomlin was looking for give me a quarterback who can keep this locker room and this meeting room and on the field functioning well and we don't have to put up 30 points every game we don't have to be spectacular we just have to make as coach knoll would say make the ordinary plays uh all the time don't have to be extraordinary do the ordinary things well and i think either one of these quarterbacks is going to do that and that's going to be the biggest challenge for russell wilson as he processes all this he's got because you're right they just needed competent quarterback play he's got to be thinking i'd still be better than justin fields if they'd let me play so as weeks go by and he does get healthier mike tomlin's gonna have a delicate situation but of any coach in the nfl who can deal with a delicate situation at surely tomlin saints at falcons saints had 91 points the first two games they had 12 against the eagles falcons desperate to get a win after they almost knocked off the cheats cheats which which offenses is closer to the real one for the saints the one we saw week one or two are the one that we saw sputter week three i think it's right in the middle i think they can be very explosive camara is fantastic a la vin some of those receivers their car when everything's going well he's fantastic but this isn't a total dominate you offense that that we saw in those first two weeks i love atlanta's defense i was there the friday before their game watching them practice rahim morris is is he knows what to do on defense i think we're going to see a low scoring game and i'm not sure who's going to win but i don't think it's going to be a shootout huge significant game with significant ramifications in the nfc south one of those swing games falcons desperately needed saints want to get back on track there's a lot of great games on the schedule this weekend one of them is an old nfc east reunion game i remember the days of why is the arizona cardinals in the nfc east and they were until 2002 now they get together again with the washington commanders two great quarterbacks which guide do you expect to make you say wow a little bit more loudly jadon daniels of the commanders are calamaria cardinals when i watched calamari and you you see those wild plays i mean you he does some things where you just can't even describe it but jadon daniels i was impressed with him on monday night again making the place from the pocket delivering on time throwing accurately getting to the right play uh he played like a veteran player and one thing we have to remember mike i remember the 1999 draft and there were all these quarterbacks winded taking shawn king and tamper in the second round but andy reed took donald and mcnab and i remember talking to andy afterwards he said i like these college quarterbacks who played a lot of games they've got a lot on tape they'd worked in different systems and jadon daniels started 55 games and college okay so he's not coming in like the normal rookie and he also played in two different systems so getting this new system in washington it didn't face him and he's playing like a veteran i think we're gonna see nice steady very good play from daniels we'll see those spectacular wild plays from kyla and i'm not sure which one is gonna win the game but it's gonna be great action commander spann is very happy because they finally have something going on after a long dry spell and we'll see how how long it will last for them last game i want to talk you about the bangles and the panthers and i don't know how many times you were 0 and 3 i doubt that there were many chris talks from time to time about just how the tension ratchets up with each loss i mean what's going on for the bangles coaching staff right now because i think there's a dramatic difference between 0 and 4 and 1 and 3 oh there is and i was on 3 one time my first year in tampa we didn't have the high expectations it was my first year they hadn't made the playoffs in 13 years so everybody around time is grumbling about 0 and 3 but when you expected to be a super bowl team and we heard jamar chase say we're the team to beat in the afc and you're 0 and 3 yes now it is problematic everybody is talking about it and you cannot afford to go 0 and 4 especially against a panther team that that people kind of are still looking down on the panthers and Andy dalton i can see it in their eyes hey we've got a chance to ruin their season uh Andy dalton former bengal this is gonna be fantastic let's see how they play us how they treat us all the pressure is on the Cincinnati bangles they cannot afford to go 0 and 4 in this afc north division hey and coach really the best thing that could have happened for the bangles in advance of this game they moved from brice young in carolina to anti dalton for week three and the raiders are the ones that stepped on the rake because otherwise the bangles would be the ones who were thinking okay this is fine short week we go to carolina check the box get the win uh oh what happened so they can't say they didn't see this coming because we all saw what the carolina panthers with dalton can do yes no doubt the preparation is going to be better for Cincinnati but now they've got an energized carolina team that suddenly believes we can make this happen so this is going to be an exciting game i think we'll see Cincinnati come back and play their best football but that defense they better be ready a lot of great games on the docket for week four one of the best will be on sunday night in baltimore coach dungy will be there with ronnie harrison and jack collinsworth coach safe travels thanks for some of your time all the best let's do this again soon please it's always great being with you mike i enjoyed so much have a great rest of the show you too uh well have a great day not rest of the show unless you want to hang around but you probably don't you probably had enough of it 15 years just like ronnie ronnie's doing tomorrow ronnie hasn't had enough of me maybe you have all right we'll take a break talk a little to shawl watson when pfd life continues right after this seeing more design problems in the game plan i don't mean just for me yeah no i'm i'm i'm i'm not going in there to ask them for more design or i'd say but i don't have to run i'm not going to run so i'm not trying to take any of it because i'm not i'm not a running quarterback in a sense i can make things happen but i'm not trying to run i'm not running back it's not my specialties you know they sign me to patrol the ball make decisions and be a quarterback night a runner that's a perfectly sensible take from to shawl watson and it meshes with things i say all the time with quarterbacks it's a very simple scientific exercise the less times you get hit the less likely you are to get hurt because usually it's like a routine play where uh oh guys down something's wrong if you avoid getting hit if you avoid the contact you're going to avoid those moments where it's basically a role of the dice as to whether or not you end up getting injured so i like that it's just hard to listen to it when you consider how much this guy is struggling as a passer it's different if patrimah home says it it's different if josh allen says it but shawl watson has not been good this year as a passer so you get to a point where i got to do something and if we don't have a running game beyond me to help take the heat off the passing game i got to run it myself to try to soften up these defenses a little bit so i can throw it more effectively that's the problem if your passing game isn't working you start doing anything and everything you can to make it better and maybe for the browns one way to make it better is throw caution to the wind a little bit and let him run the ball on a design basis quarterback draw whatever the case may be so maybe you can find more openings in the passing game and get things going um and you know p-rays is the question is there something to be said about watson saying he doesn't want to take any hits when you've got miles garret doing everything he can to get himself ready to play i don't have a problem with that because the quarterback is the guy who has to stay healthy you owe it to your team to stay healthy and be available we used to ridicule not me because i wasn't in the business then but they used to ridicule jim Everett for taking a seat instead of taking a hit when pate and manning did it he was praised for being a genius avoid the hits if you can avoid them look at tom brady late in his career he just throw it up for grabs he had those interceptions in the second half of the 20 20 AFC NFC excuse me NFC championship game because he didn't want to get hit and that's fine he was 40 what at the time 43 44 i can't remember but yeah don't get hit if you can avoid it nothing wrong with the shawl watson a guy who's got an injury history who only played in six games last year because of injury avoid the hits however however you can still do design runs and get down you roll out somebody's coming slide get out of bounds do whatever to avoid the hit that might open up the passing game whatever it is the browns have to do something because they're not getting the return on the tashon watson investment at some point he's got to play better or the browns are going to have to make a tough decision do we pay him to not play and remember that whole sexual assault lawsuit pending maybe a suspension void the guarantees the browns and tashon watson don't feel like they are bound together through the end of that five year fully guaranteed contract and if he doesn't improve significantly this season like i said big decisions to be made by the cleveland browns all right let's take a break we will wrap up this thursday edition of pro football talk live right after this it really is an amazing schedule for week four and i say that because i have about an hour between the end of this show and the taping of the weekly joint chris sims unbutton pftpm picks podcast and you know you want to get as many games right as possible i'm looking at these games it's like i don't know what i'm going to do here i might have to resort to the dreaded coin flip for some of these games and it makes for a great weekend of football viewing cowboys giants tonight saints falcons we talked about that game earlier with coach dungy you've got vikings packers you've got jaguars texans where the jaguars are desperate the steel is trying to get to four and oh at indianapolis which is trying to avoid one and three the schedule is littered with great games this weekend and sunday night bills at ravens ravens desperately need that one too so a big week of football action to come check out the picked podcast later today and we'll see who ends up being more right than the other guy thanks for some of your time we'll see you back here again on friday with the five dollar meal deal at mcdonald's you pick a mcdouble or a mc chicken then get a small fry a small drink and a four piece mcnuggets that's a lot of mcdonald's for not a lot of money price and participation may vary for a limited time only first of all congratulations on becoming the official grilling bar sponsor of the national football league how does it feel to serve up the nfl man it's a real dream come true i'm glad we'll be able to serve up some extra heat this season do you have any plans to celebrate absolutely we're going to serve up america's favor boneless wings for just 50 cents each to kick off the season any of our sources whether it's in restaurant or to go it don't matter it's all 50 cents all the time are you worried at all about any competition this season what competition limited time price participation in selection may vary tax and gratuity excluded
