Grant and Danny

Scouting The Buccaneers: TJ Rives, Burning Questions For Week 1, Winning Off The Field

9.6.24 Hour 2

1:00- It's time for scouting the opponent, and we have TJ Rives join us who does sideline reporting for the Bucs radio network.

20:35- We get into our burning questions for week 1 of the 2024 season.

33:50- It's time for Winning off the field, what's been going right for you off the field?

Broadcast on:: 06 Sep 2024
Audio Format:: other

This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Whether you love true crime or comedy, celebrity interviews or news, you call the shots on what's in your podcast queue, and guess what? Now you can call them on your auto insurance too, with the name of your price tool from Progressive. 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.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. Hey Mike Valenti here, host a cash to ticket alongside my partner Jim Costa. It's really simple. Are you tired of podcasts claiming there are a bunch of pro bettors when they live in their mommy's basement? Are you tired of podcasts that claim they hit 80% of the games? When really, they just lose like most of us. I think cash to tickets is the spot for you. We're real, we're transparent, we're having a hell of a good time with it, and we sit there and we're there for the sweat with you guys. We're just trying to figure it out just like you. Follow and listen to cash the ticket on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. We're Grant and Danny sponsored exclusively today and every day by the law firm Condori and Murat. They'll guide you and your family in the right direction, help you to draft a will, set up a trust, create a health care power of attorneys, schedule a free consultation with their estate planning attorneys at kmloyers.com. Be sure to tell them G&D sent you so you can get a discount kmloyers.com. Huge DC sports fans, local guys, good friends of the program, they will take great care of you. Let's go to the bet QL guest hotline that's smarter to beat the books. Download the bet QL app visit betql.com. Our buddy TJ Reeves. I've known TJ for many, many years. He has been on the sideline for the Bucks for a couple of decades almost at this point. TJ, it is great to have you on G&D here in the nation's capital as we scout Tampa Bay. How are you? Always great to be with you, my friend. And yes, I used to always call you the young Jedi back 20 years ago when we were working together, Sirius XM satellite radio. I can't get away with that anymore. You're the full on Jedi now. There's gray in his beard, TJ. I can see it from right here. I got the beard. He's got kids. The young thing doesn't work anymore for that. And yeah, you and I have been around each other for a while. And this is your 20 for me with the Buccaneers on the sideline. And looky here. Washington commanders in the beginning of the Jaden Daniels era comes to Tampa Bay this weekend guys going to be fun. So let's start with this. The Bucks last year were pretty good and made the playoffs and won the division and put up a decent fight in the playoffs. Why aren't people picking them to win the South again? Great question. And a year ago, everybody crapped on this team and thought they were going to have an awful season. salary cap help, host Tom Brady. You know, Baker Mayfield's been passed around like the offering played at church. Nobody wants them. All these different subplots. And you know what they did? They put their head down. They won the opening game in Minnesota. They won the week three game in New Orleans that both turned out to be big and won some key games at the end of the year blowing out Jacksonville beating Green Bay at Green Bay. And what do you know won the division? When a lot of people on the record thought three wins, maybe four wins. They end up winning nine games and they end up winning a playoff game. So now we come back around to this year and I agree with you. I don't understand why there's more run being given to an Atlanta team that's got a first year coach. We love Raheem Morris. They've got some pieces. They've added Kirk Cousins, who you guys are familiar with, but what version of Kirk Cousins are they getting at this point? I don't understand it either. Why they're getting more run than the team that's won the division each of the last three years and has a lot of the same players back from all three of those teams, guys. TJ, I want to go deep dive on this defense here because obviously we're focused on Jay Dennell's and the revamped offense. So I want to go to your defense first. There's a player in all three layers that I think is outstanding. Vida Vaya, one of the best at his position there at NOS, DTAC, whatever you want to call it, a Levante David is still a badass. And then Antoine Winfield's a star. Where is this group vulnerable? Where can they maybe be had? And do you think Washington has what it takes to have it? That's a great point you make because in talking with Todd Bull this week, the, the Buccaneers head coach, we talked about that middle of the defense straight through the middle of the defense with Vaya, David, and Winfield may be one of the best defensive players the NFL that gets no attention really because he plays in Tampa Bay and play for the Cowboys. He doesn't play for the Steelers, you know, the high marquee teams like in New York or in LA, but Antoine Winfield is a tremendous hitting safety, great ball skills in terms of interceptions, bumbles caused. So he'll be a disruptive force. The real key is what you alluded to. What about the outside? What about on the ends? Are they going to contain Jayden Daniels if he goes to take off? Are they going to be disciplined or not? The Bucks are very aware that Daniels can burn you with his feet and he and he may elect on more than one occasion to do the safe thing, which is okay, I'm going to tuck it and go try to get five, 10 or more yards as opposed to stay in the pocket and take a big time hit trying to deliver the ball. So the Bucks better be ready for Daniel to get outside of those guys you were talking about and trying to make something happen. TJ remind me just as a refresher from the off season. What have they lost in terms of key departures and then big additions? Who came in? So basically they refined the most prominent guys Mayfield at the top of that list signed a three year deal again. He played for basically quarterback minimum wage last year, four million. We'd all love to make four million, but in quarterback money, that's not very much. So he did get a significant raise keys back. You refined Mike Evans when a lot of people thought he would walk as an unrestricted free agent. He agreed to a new two year deal. The left tackle, Tristan Worf's is due to be a free agent at the end of this year. They gave him a new massive deal. Winfield could have walked guys after a great year as a safety approval year. He resigned. So even though the Bucks didn't go outside the building, even though they didn't go outside the 813 area code, they had a really good year in free agency, bringing those guys back. And I can't say there's a significant loss. A Devin White, the linebacker, the former number one pick was really playing poorly for a lot of last year. He left to go to the Eagles, but he's not even playing for the Philadelphia Eagles right on the bench. They didn't even bring to Brazil tonight. So I don't know that the Bucks have a significant loss off the team. And they did bring back some guys that are going to be keys. TJ Reeves with us here breaking down the Bucks at Bucks sideline guy joins us here on Grant and Danny. Let's go to the offense. He mentioned Baker Mayfield. I am not a Mayfield guy. I feel like you guys got that honeymoon Mayfield. That's good. That's the best version of Mayfield. And I'm not sure it's going to get that good again. What's the vibe trying to put me in a bad mood on a Friday and just Kabbash the season and I'm not getting better Baker Mayfield a year later. A little bit because we've been doing this for decades. Like you guys got like the casual Tom Brady Super Bowl and some other stuff. We've been starving in the desert for like a thousand years. And I'm just looking for a morsel. But what's the vibe on on Baker Mayfield and that sounds like you guys are more bullish. He has done all of the right things. He is fantastic to deal with on and off the air. And you're right. You could read into that. Okay. He's got to be on his best behavior. He was on his fourth team in three years after the Brown said no thanks and traded him to Carolina Carolina cut him. And then and then the Rams picked him up and he and he didn't restart with the Rams. People are going what's going on. But I think this guy realizes he's got a chance to put a stranglehold on this job and develop a legacy over the next two or three seasons beyond just last year. I love his moxie. He is a leader. They follow him. Evans, Chris Godwin, Tristan worse. The left tackle is probably his best friend, his past protector. They love this guy. So for right now it is a honeymoon phase. And let's see what happens because certainly in Cleveland he did make the playoffs in Cleveland. But he didn't have near the talent on offense that he has down here to be able to do it again. So let's see if he can do it again. A career high 28 touchdowns to go against 10 interceptions last year in his first 4000 yard passing season for Baker Mayfield got him paid in Tampa Bay. How about the guys he's throwing it to. I know Mike Evans is back. We were kind of kicking around how much he's got left today. He goes for 1000 every year. And last year's numbers were awesome. 79 for 1200 led the NFL with 13 touchdowns. Chris Godwin seems like the Lynch pit in that receiving room right now. Kind of more still in his prime. But what about Jalen McMillan? Who they drafted? Who else do we have to pay attention to from a weaponry standpoint? That's for Evan. He had a tremendous second half of the season. Spectacular catch and run against Carolina. A couple of other huge catches for touchdowns in a couple of other games down the stretch of the season. So Mike is one of the premier receivers still in the NFL. Godwin is kind of an underneath guy. And he he was a little disappointed last year that he wasn't utilized as much as an outside receiver. He's going back to the slot. And you mentioned the name Jalen McMillan rookie from the Washington Huskies. He's a guy that was catching a ton of passes and touchdowns from Michael Pinnett at Washington as they got all the way to the national title game. And McMillan has turned heads here in Tampa Bay and is going to be on the field probably a lot in game number one as the third receiver. We believe that. So let's see if McMillan delivers really. I'm giving a little I think everybody's pretty much done their draft by now because the season started last night. But Jalen McMillan may be available out there. Little sleeper fantasy advice with Grant and Danny on a Friday. Jalen McMillan Buccaneers third receiver. I like it TJ. By the way, Godwin 83 grabs, which sounds like a ton, but he had a hundred four the year before that 98 before that. But he did go for over a thousand for a third straight year fourth out of five seasons for Tampa Bay. Last campaign TJ Reeves here on the receiver's or no joke. My friend. You know that they are no joke. The commanders will have their hands full. That is an issue here. Washington's corners are a joke. So that's not a good exchange necessary. Good mix. That is not a mix that you want right now. Yes. How about the one area? We talked about on the field. They didn't lose a lot player wise. I do think Dave Canales is really good. And he's now the head coach in Carolina. He was the play caller in the OC for people that don't know that. It kind of was a quarterback whisper with Baker who raved about him all year. Tell me about Liam Cohen, their new OC and whether or not you agree that the Canales loss could loom large. Well, it's significant as you got to start over and it's a different offense and different terminology. Now interesting Mayfield was with Liam Cohen and Sean McVay in LA for the final four games of the season two years ago, 2022 season after Carolina. They mutually agreed. Baker said, I'm not going to resign here. You're not playing me. Can I go somewhere else because the Rams were in need of a quarterback and he spent time for about five weeks with Liam Cohen. Cohen then left and became the offensive coordinator at the University of Kentucky and they had a really good season last year including being able to run the football. Now this is the first opportunity for him to be the play caller for the for the Buccaneers after Sean McVay was the play caller even though he was the coordinator out in LA and people are interested in this offense. They're interested in how much zone blocking and kind of bootlegs that you're going to see. You didn't see any of that a year ago. We saw a little taste of it in the preseason. It will be fascinating and it may be a work in progress for a little bit, but at least Mayfield and Cohen have an existing relationship guys. TJ, how's this offensive line? I view them as good. I think some of the grading sites and people that do that sort of thing don't view maybe as kindly more middle of the pack, but I feel this is a good group here with the center draft in the first round and I'm a big Tristan Worfsky, but I guess he's going to be playing on the left more. Give me your thoughts on this old line and where they are coming into the season. They had to address center and the kid is Graham Barton out of Duke who is a monster. He's won the starting job not unexpectedly as the number one pick and they love him for his run blocking. Interesting that Barton played left tackle his final year at Duke, but he had been a center the first couple of years at Duke. He was an all everything center out of Nashville, Tennessee, Brentwood, Tennessee, and unlike the three of us, he got into Duke. So there we go. And now is the number one pick and they've got big expectations on him. I think we're all fascinated down here against Dan Quinn's defense. Can they establish a ground game? One of the knocks on the Buccaneers is the ground game has basically been nonexistent even even in the Brady Super Bowl year. It was not great. It was only good at times with Leonard Fortnett. So let's see if the Bucks can establish some things on the ground. And again, it may be a work in progress with the line and the new offense here, but they're very excited about Graham Barton, the number one pick at center. TJ, last one for me just brought brushed in the division. We started by asking why they aren't the favorites. How do you like their chances and what do you make of the other clubs in the South? What am I supposed to say on the show when I'm the Bucks sideline guy? I love the Bucks chances. Of course I do. New Orleans is a threat. Derek Carr obviously is there now for a second year. That's a tough place to play. But again, I say the Buccaneers went in there and won in the Super Dome early on in the year. There are going to be some marketing games. There's a Thursday night game right away in October, early October, Buccaneers at Falcons and Rahim Morris. Again, it's a former Buccaneers head coach. Rahim Morris was the defensive coordinator when they won the Super Bowl with the Rams. Now he's the Falcons head coach. That's going to be an interesting situation. Caroline has a mess. Dave Canales. Good luck to you for your number one with a lack of talent, but it's still going to be knocked down, drag out Buccaneers, Saints Falcons. Right. Me a headline or two here. If it does go Washington's way TJ, how did it happen? What's kind of the script, do you think Buccaneers turn the ball over? Buccaneers make defensive mistakes and the commanders take advantage with big plays. Those are two things that give Washington a chance to win. If the Buccaneers take care of the football, if they don't allow Jane Daniels to make plays with his feet, make that let the big play happen, it should be a good day in Tampa Bay for another opening win. By the way, Buccaneers have never ever, this is the 49th year of buccaneer football. I've never won on opening day four years in a row. They're going for that Sunday only one other time have they won three opening games in a row that was 79, 80 and 81 before the young Jedi was on the planet. That's right. That's the last time a Buccaneers did that. So let's say by the way, we got listeners headed to the airport going to Raymond James Stadium, which is one of my favorites in football. Love the place. Any tips, any pointers? Where should they be spending their time? Where should they be dying? Bring tips, tips, bring the sunblock and hydrate up because even for a four o'clock kick, it is going to be hot. It is going to be humid. The commanders will be in the dark jerseys. So let's see how they hold up physically. But what is there not to like down here? I mean, you got the beach, you got, you got the weather, you got great seafood. Come enjoy, come enjoy until you tee it up with the Buccaneers at four o'clock on Sunday. And then we'll see what happens. TJ, I really appreciate the inside man. Enjoy the weekend boys behave great to be with you. And we're happy to have the NFL back you and me both great to hear your voice again. There's TJ Reeves. The bucks sideline is where he'll be on Sunday during the game. Why do you think Tampa Bay is not getting more run as the potential division champion? I thought maybe he'd have some type of answer. Well, remember, they lost this or they lack that. They basically are bringing the same team back from a year ago. I know it was only nine and eight. To me, it's a referendum on Baker Mayfield. It's just that people really don't think he will replicate 4,000 yards, 28 touchdowns, 10 picks. And with that receiving room, I don't know why he couldn't do that again. Yeah, I think that's the best best use case. The other is the year before they were terrible, right? And so maybe last year's viewed as a bit of a fluke with the division being very down, a very pedestrian AFC South where nobody was any good, excuse me, NFC South rather, nobody was any good. It's sort of unsexy, you know, that a nine and eight team that was just okay to repeat it. Everyone's always looking for the new, more exciting thing. You know, we go chalk all the time when a team like Kansas City or, you know, Buffalo and a division, they've been the king for a little while. But if somebody's just pedestrian, if someone's all right, we always look kind of the next thing to overlook and to a degree. Cause I'm with you. I just think, I think Atlanta got a little bit better than Tampa, but it's not a reasonable that they could absolutely win that division. Because you already mentioned it. To me, it's, it's mostly about Mayfield. The injury to Yaya Diabi, who I watched, don't ask why, but like halfway through the off season, I watched this like Buck's draft special and it talked about their group last year and this year, and they had such high hopes for him. They kind of have fallen in love with his game. This is actually not a bad matchup for Washington's tackle position, because there's not a beast. You know what I'm saying? Like next week, when you play the Giants, you've got to deal with Brian Burns and potentially two guys that can get home and really beat you because of Thibodeau. Logan Hall, a second round pick, was going to be making, you know, in his third year, basically. And Joe try on Srienka. Those are the edge rushers. I'm not saying it's a bad tandem, but you heard TJ say it's a question. They don't really know what they're going to get out of the edges. They know that Elijah Cansey was kind of Aaron Donald light, in my opinion, when he peeks and then Vida Vaya, like they got Alan and Payne, essentially in the middle. But I'm glad that they get to open with a bit of a soft landing spot for Brandon Coleman, Cornelius Lucas, Andrew Wiley, a tackle. And that to me means this isn't a terrible matchup for Washington's offense. And I meant to ask teacher and I did and I'm kicking myself, but Logan Hall, the kid that they drafted to be their edge defensive and whatever you're going to call it in the formation, I know I haven't been practicing. I know he's been beat up. He's got a foot thing. I don't know if he's playing or not in this game. So I haven't, I haven't seen an updated practice list, but I know that as of Wednesday or Thursday, I think he was DNP. So that's something to watch as well. To me, this is more about what you're doing on the interior, right? I mean, Vida Vaya is just a grown up who is incredible, right? If he, if you're not double teaming, he's going to affect the play in some way, unless you're going in a different direction. That's something that I think is sort of necessary and you're going to have to deal with it. So this sort of revamped interior, new center, obviously Cosby is the same on the right side, but you added an allegrady. How are they going to deal with Vaya? And if I'm, you know, Tampa Bay, I'm moving him around some, I'm going to, I'm going to be probing and prodding to see who can block Vida Vaya and how often and how well, but you've got to have him in mind, no matter what you're doing, if you're, if you're a Kingsbrain company, or even Biotish and to a degree, Jay Daniels, because that guy is a, not only a space eater, but he is an effector of plays and a disruptor. And they've got pretty good layers. I mentioned this to my question to TJ. Winfield might be the best safety in the NFL. If he's not, he's, he's top three or four. You're pretty good up the middle. They're secondary, you know, probably 10, 11, 12 overall, depending on your grading side, where there's pro football focus or otherwise. It's not terribly vulnerable. They gave up the seventh fewest points in the NFL last year. They pretty much have everybody back. This is not a bad group. Logan Hall won a two bucks who did not practice yesterday to your point with a foot injury. As far as the commanders go, the update, Marcus Mariota, DNP with a chest after being limited on Wednesday. And then Johnny Newton yesterday didn't practice, but it was on the practice field, at least at the start of the session that the media got to see today. He's a wild guard who early in the year, it sounds like maybe we'll be pretty limited, but soon enough, ideally, we get a real look at him because we didn't see him at all in the pre-season. Michael Lombardi joins us next. We want to go around the NFL with one of our favorite football guests on Gratton Danny in moments on the fan. Hey, Mike Vellini here host a cash to ticket alongside my partner, Jim Costa. It's really simple. Are you tired of podcast claiming there are a bunch of pro betters when they live in their mommy's basement? Are you tired of podcast that claim they hit 80% of the games when really they just lose like most of us? Think cash to tickets the spot for you. We're real, we're transparent, we're having a hell of a good time with it, and we sit there and we're there for the sweat with you guys. We're just trying to figure it out just like you. Follow and listen to Cash The Ticket on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Good news. Bad news on GND bad news first. Our guy Michael Lombardi texted me just a couple of minutes ago. Something just came up. He's not going to be able to join us. Oh, bummer. We do not love it. But it happens. Good news is it's a football Friday. You can't ruin our mood. Grant and Danny on the fan steering you towards Sunday and Tampa Bay, the commanders at the box in tonight more imminently little Friday night football. Who knew you could play football on Friday nights in America, all in international football league. So how are they getting around the Friday night rule this time? I believe because the game is international. It's this is viewed as like some type of very special situation. I also think maybe it's calendar related where while here we have mostly started high school football, like it gets going in the last week of August, I think there's a lot of places in the country where like this is the first week of the season or something like that. So maybe that's a factor. But I think that it's outside the states was the main obstacle that I heard it made clear. Yeah, this should be what the NFL does then, right? I mean, if you're adding another day to the calendar, just find their loophole. Find your international day, then I would do it that way. I've been trying to get this thing going here. Since frankly, I'm ripping off of something I saw a bar still sports was doing. Oh, okay. They're having this big competition with like picking players to score touchdowns. And I thought it'd be fun to get all the shows to compete against each other one by one. So I just got JP Finley's text today on who the bemitch and Finley show is going to be going with for their part of our pool. I've got the junkies who texted in their picks as well. And then you, me and the fellows behind the scenes will have to come up with our own. Oh, very nice. But here's the league I want to try to pull off. Everyone's doing these survivor leagues now. This is going to be touchdown scoring survivors. So we start with four picks each. We pick four players that are like strikes when you guess a player that doesn't score a touchdown, you lose that strike so to speak until you're down to zero. May the last team win. So I think if there's four dudes on the show, because we always try because the junks are four. Yeah. JP and bemitch are two dudes, but then you put in their producers so we get four and we've got a group of four. Look, let's say this week for the sake of argument, I pick somebody stupid. I pick K Dotten who doesn't score touchdown. Am I, I'm out from our team? It's, it shows. So it's as a show. Okay. So they're just sending us four names. Right. Each of the shows we're going to put four names into the pot. Okay. And then basically we'll play in the last team left, Grant and Danny, the junks, be mentioned Finley, they'll get a point. And then we'll restart again. At the end of the year, we'll see who has the most points basically. So I'll just tell you who they sent in so far. For bemitch and Finley, their touchdown score is this week. Our Christian McCaffrey was minus 190. It's pretty good. It's kind of a cheat code, but you don't get to use them again. So I mean, at some point, everyone's going to use them. Jameer Gibbs, Brian Robinson, they're feeling the burgundy and gold a little bit. They're going with berobs. And then Joe Mixon, which I thought was interesting. Mullins contributed that for the Texans against the Colts. So they're looking at some running backs to bang home. Some like one and two yard runs. The junkies went with Christian McCaffrey for Bish. E.B. went B Rob. He's wearing that burgundy and gold, baby. I sense a theme. Cakes went Justin Jefferson and JP flames said Mike Evans. He does not quite trust the commander secondary. So that was going to be mine. That guy goes for double digit touchdowns every year. Pretty good matchup this week. That's not a terrible one. At some point, we should put our heads together on that here on Grant and Danny. But yeah, it's a big week, man. Hopefully everyone's got their fantasy league set. You got your survivor picks in at least start the season correctly. Don't be the guy that doesn't submit his lineup on week one. Like wait until week. Oh, I didn't know because I didn't Friday game. I messed up. No, no, no, I'm in a league true story last night. The guy I'm playing doesn't have his lineup set and it locks. And so I'm like, you got to be kidding me. I'm going to get such a nubby week one win. Right. And so then he's like texting the commissioner. I want an email where he's saying, yeah, I didn't get my lineup in. I'm going to miss out on points tonight. I thought I sure are. It was like I thought I did, but it didn't take blah, blah, blah. So then they put his lineup in for him like eight minutes into the game last night. Oh, I apologize. He had this is not I'm not one thing I'm telling you is incorrect. He had Xavier worthy. Sure. And he had was the other guy that scored that made me really mad. Pacheco likely. No, it was maybe it was Pacheco. He had two players in Kansas City. She writes maybe. Yeah. So angry. Yeah. I was like, we had all week. Let's figure this out together. A league that I'm no longer in because of this reason. I used to be in 13. I dropped the down to now seven. And one of the ones that got cut was this one. A guy claimed that he was at church. And so that was somehow a reason to not have submitted his lineup. And he then was able to get the commissioner retroactively after the fact to put in a different player after the games had all gone to which somehow beat me by a couple of points. Well, Danny, it cost me a playoff spot and cost me money. You probably don't know this. Yeah. I mean, as the heathen that you are, church goes all the time now. It's a 24 seven thing. You're there all the time. You can't ever leave. And never a moment where you're not in church and where you would be able to submit your lineup. I'm not I'm not belittling church. What I'm saying is submit your lineup. We're all subject to the same rules. I was at my child's soccer game. lineup got submitted. I was I drove to a birthday party lineup was submitted. I was living my life. Got that lineup in. It cost me money and it cost them one fantasy player. Let's get some burning questions for week one as we get ready for the NFL season from our producer, Darris Dameron. What's up, Darris? Who will be the first NFL coach to be fired here in 2024? I'm on record with Dennis Allen of the New Orleans Saints. I think Dennis Allen is on a red hot seat already. In fact, I was talking to our buddy Christian, who runs the delicious restaurant in the French Quarter Brennan's that you should all go to when you go down there. He'll take good care of you if you tell him written Danny sent you, but he was telling me like people already want a bench, Derek car and they want to fire Dennis Allen and they haven't even played a game yet this season. It's getting pretty odd around here already. They play the Panthers. If they don't meet the Panthers, pants off in the debut of Dave Canales. This Sunday, Dennis Allen is already walking dead as far as I'm concerned. Then they play Dallas, then they play Philly and there's a very real possibility. They get the Chiefs after that and the Bucks, the Falcons, and they could start like going 506. So I'll say Dennis Allen. So the other guys at the top of the favorites list, Robert Salah, Mike McCarthy, Matt, April flus. So I'm a believer in the jets this year. I don't, I don't think Salah is getting fired. Mike McCarthy, Jerry Jones doesn't really fire coaches during temper tantrums. He let Jason Garrett clap on the sideline while doing nothing for a decade. April flus, I think Chicago is okay. Allen is probably my favorite, but for the sake of not just repeating. How about Brian Dabel of the Giants? They internally, I think incorrectly, by the way, seem to think they're going to be pretty decent. And maybe if they're not, maybe Dabel is the guy that pays the price. Who will be the first quarterback to be benched this season? Oh, I love there. I would have said Sam Darnold had JJ McCarthy not gotten hurt, but I'll say this is probably pretty boring. I think she could be percent. I think he gets a few weeks and then in straight mainstream. Maybe that's a cop out because it's really about the rookie. It's the kid. So I'll go with that leaving a couple doors open for you. Gardner, mint you. There you go. Let's say Aidan O'Connell gets the call in like week five or something like that. Raiders play the Chargers in week one. Mint you typically puts up okay numbers and his team is okay. Remember last year with Indianapolis, he was very fine. And the Colts actually played in week 18 in their 17th game for the division title against the Houston Texans. But I don't think the Raiders are very good. I think Antonio Pierce is an Aidan O'Connell guy. I think they honestly wanted him to win the job anyway. He was there as kind of a holdover previously. Mint shoes that the new hot noise. So they'll let him play a few weeks. They're going to lose a bunch and then it'll be Aidan O'Connell's turn. I'll go with him. All right. Let's go with who will be the most impressive rookie after week one. What do you think will be the most impressive rookie after week one? So you're thinking QBs Jaden against Tampa. Caleb Williams has Tennessee, which is somewhat favorable. Bonix question mark. He had a great preseason name. The starter is taken on Seattle. Malik neighbors of the Giants is one of my sneaky and they put up huge number rookies this year against the Viking secondary. I think that's sexy. Who's Marvin Harrison Jr. got the bill secondary? I'm going to say let's say the Bears hang 30 on the Titans win a game by seven, 10 something like that. Caleb Williams throws for 300 yards and a couple touchdowns and everybody's praising him after the opener. I think we forgot we forgot that Marvin Harrison Jr. special with all the I'm not running for you or jogging for you or jumping for you. We're doing anything at any point in time. Are we allowed to say his name or do we get sued? Actually, I don't know. I think you can just say it. We're allowed to. And is he going to play this week? Because it is a football activity. And it's really hates doing it. I'd like it. All he's been is the number one receiver in the draft for years, right? And what happens when you're up the top? Everybody's just finding reasons why you shouldn't be there. We forgot that dude's awesome. He people are going to be doing that. Good type reaction to what he does starting week number one. He is going to have a ridiculous year. It was really good. He better be because man, I see a pain in the took us. That guy, but he's a good football player. No doubt about that. And we're talking about football. So it's football stuff. Yay. Just don't try to buy his jersey. Whoa. Oh man. We've done overrated and underrated teams. Give me your overrated and underrated player here going into 2024. That is tough. Overrated, underrated player. All right. Underrated player, Colin Murray. Again, I don't think he's a world leader. I don't think he's a top five quarterback or anything, but people forgotten how effective they were at times with maybe mediocre personnel there in Arizona. I think it's been sort of making chicken salad out of, you know what? But when that guy's healthy and around, he's dangerous. People remember that playoff performance where I think was the Rams dared him to stay in the pocket on their way to a Super Bowl. They beat the brakes off of him in Arizona. People think, oh, he stinks. That can be a pretty good weapon and a lot of regular season. So I'm going to say he's underrated in terms of overrated. That is a harder for an individual player. I'll give you an underrated one. I think Trevor Lawrence of the Jags got paid this off season, led to the discourse on how terrible he is and overrated he is and not good. He is a very, very solid quarterback, somewhere between generally going to be in the 10 to 15 range in the NFL. I think when we ranked it out, we had him in the 14 to 16 range or whatever. But like as an example, the Jaguars are playing the dolphins, a favorite to make the playoffs again in Miami. Do I like him less than two, a tongue of Iowa who just got more money than him and is a franchise QB who's going to put up 4,500 yards again? No, absolutely not. I do not. So I'll say Trevor Lawrence is underrated. So overrated, we were just talking to TJ Reeves about it. I think you got the best you're ever going to see from Baker Mayfield. I don't think that's who he is. I think we got a much bigger sample that says it's a much lower completion percentage. It's highly less effective. It's more turnover prone. It's more sacks. It's more, you know, saying weird cryptic barking things at teammates and running guys who would like to get paid under the bus and all sorts of other stuff that has led to be on 900 teams in about five minutes, numbers approximate. They got the best Baker Mayfield ever going to be last year and they got fooled and lulled into it. I don't think you're going to see what he did again. Overrated. It's hard, right? I'm tempted. It's got to be a player though. Yeah. Like I'm tempted to go Jim Harbaugh year one because I just think that there's just a lot of thought that the Chargers are going to have the Harbaugh pixie dust and be better than everyone thinks. And I don't see it in the first year. I don't think they have the talent, but I'll stick with a player. This is going to sound like I don't like this guy and people that listen for a long time know that I actually love the player. Aaron Rodgers, I guess. Same reason. Everyone thinks he's just going to show up in the jets are going to go to the Super Bowl. That's not really how football works typically. I know that getting a ton better at quarterback does make a big, big difference in their built around him very, very well, but it's he's old. He's coming off a really serious injury. I just have my questions. I'll apologize in advance for that, but I got some questions. Speaking of questions, those were good questions. There's thank you around the NFL. We go ahead of week one. We got to dive in deeper on the commanders. We'll take out a shovel next hour. Win if lose if what will we be saying if they win? What will we be saying if they lose? We'll get to all those things in the four o'clock hour. It's Friday and it's a football Friday. So let's win off the field next. Tell us what little thing has gone well in your day. You're a little mini moral victory. Nobody else would care about at 800-636-1067 on GND. [BLANK_AUDIO] Finally, a chance for the commanders to start winning on the field again with the kickoff of a brand new season on Sunday. Welcome back to GND. It is time for our double play at 3.45 driven you by your local Washington area haunted dealer stopping for a great deal on the rugged and capable Honda pilot contact your local Washington area haunted dealers today on Fridays. Our double play is winning off the field. This is something cool that happened that made you smile that nobody else would care about, but the key is it's got to be pretty insignificant fun, awesome moral victory, but insignificant. So I'm going to try to help guys understand a little bit. I'm going to offer two if that's okay. I mean, is that crazy? Is that something we could do this? Sometimes you are two and oh off the field. There you go. I played pickleball this morning on my home pickleball court. Jeff Karen and Brian came over and I wore my weighted vest and I played pickleball this morning. Therefore, I was winning off the field. Secondly, I had a lunch meeting today with somebody and they suggested why don't we go to the Chipotle right by that's kind of in between our two places of residence. I'm like, I haven't been to Chipotle in a minute. I love Chipotle. So as I'm in line trying to figure out what am I going to order? What am I? What am I feeling in that moment? They had just finished doing their slow roast of the barbacoa, which is that pulled beef, slow roasted marinated, et cetera. And it was as hot as it was going to possibly be, not sitting in that like steaming container for a while. Now there's nothing wrong with that, but there was more right with the fresh hot right off of the whatever the clunk or the grill. I don't know, barbacoa. So I got myself a barbacoa burrito. Therefore, I am winning off the field. It's pretty good day for you. What I did. Yeah. I came into the office today feeling a little bit hungry, but not wanting to go get food. I didn't want to spend money, had packed anything, didn't want to wait till dinner time. But I said, at some point, inevitably, I'm going to have to just break down and go get something eat. And then Chris Russell opened the door and told me, hey, bud, I cooked up some pasta and snausage. And there's a big bowl of it over here if anybody wants to eat it. Now he has claimed that it has nothing to do with any kind of guilt he was feeling about taking crab pasta out of the refrigerator yesterday. Some could find correlation there if they were looking. He said it was unrelated. I'm going to take his word for it. He occasionally does just cook for everyone on some Fridays. Yeah. He likes to cook. He's good at it, especially the Italian dishes. And I got to tell you, I had a bowl of it. It was fantastic. It was really, really good. I think you had some as well. I love it too. It was delicious. Really scrumptious. So because a pallet work provided us with a meal out of the goodness of his heart, certainly not to get out of the dog house with anybody after yesterday's transgression. Therefore, I am winning off the field. Let's go to Jason, who is in Richmond on G and D. Hello, Jason. Hi, Jason. How are you, pal? Good to see you now. This one might break the rules slightly. It is insignificant to everybody else but me. Okay, but I have just done my 120th at a 120 payments on my federal student loan forgiveness. My student loans are done. That is why I am winning off the field. I'm going to give it to you. I'm going to give it to you. Now, some would claim that's an on field win. That's tricky. That's a pretty big deal. But I'm in a good mood. I think Danny's in a good mood. Evelyn today. We're going to give it to you. Also, what a great field. How about that feeling, by the way? What a feeling, 120 payments. Can you imagine? Yeah, I can, by the way. Yes, I can. Can we clap it up for him? We can. That's a pretty good day. That one honks. Way to go. Let's go to Herb, who's in ward off on G and D. Hello, Herb. What's going on, fellas? Everybody be happy. So the other day, I went over to crumble cookie. It was getting ready to close down. I was looking for one specific cookie that they didn't have. So they say, you know what? We're going to give you some more anyway. So therefore, I am winning off the field. Can I ask you, first of all, it's always good. That's a perfect one. It's easy. What cookie were you looking for? Okay. So they had the, I can't remember the name of it because they had this banana bread that they just had. They just made my wife wanted to try it out. So they were short on it. So they only had one though. And I was like, we both got to have this. I got to have my own. She had it. She's got to have her own. So keep it sharing. When they didn't have it, they just had one. And there's no way I'm sharing with her. And she's not, it's going to be a battle. Like you're not going to touch my cookies. I'm not going to touch yours. Reason. Have your own. So they say, you know what? We're going to compensate you. Just give you like three, three more. So I was like, wow, okay, I'll take that. So nice. It worked really well. That's the way the game is played. I like that he's dug into there. There is no, we'll just work this out together, me and my wife. He gets it. Yes. We're not, we're not doing that. I'm not having, I'm not going to be putting, not putting myself in that situation. I don't want to be in that situation. We're going to avoid it at all costs. Now, I know that you're not the right person to ask. Okay. Because you are, how do I want to say this? Psychotic. Insane. Yeah. There you go. Clary was on a first date at one point. Okay. And ordered chicken wings. And the young lady that he was on a date with assumed because there was a plate of chicken wings on the table. Hey, maybe I'll be able to get one of these wings. Clary on a first date. This is like, let's, you know, maybe we'll show her that I'm a good guy. Maybe I'll send a message that I can be trusted. Slapped her hand away and said, uh, denied, not up in town mode. Clary, it was a second date. I will say my apologies. It was a second. Now, were you recorded without your knowledge on that second day or would you just say again, what you think about Grant and Danny, like lean inches, but can you say it louder? You're employers and their listeners. What do you think of them? You said Danny and Grant are really, really hard to work with. But yeah, I did. She asked for a wing and I said, I'm sorry. I don't really like to share. Oh man. That's so great. Now it was that, was that a main for you? Was it an appetizer? No, it was a main. Like that was my meal. So not a Massachusetts or Vermont main. I think I obviously, I obviously cosign that. But if it's planned sharing as an appetizer, we can talk about it. But you can't just come over and start annexing. It's not outrageous on both the players. We are putting our what foot forward. On a second date, assuming we're not recording a person to try to get them fired and ruin their life. What else might we be doing on a second date? We let's not waste each other's time. Nope. This is who I am best. This is what I'm looking for. Dammit. Best foot for two options. Yeah. Record someone, ask them this to give their opinion on things in private and then post it so that everyone gets angry and gets them fired and ruins their life. Uh huh. Or you could just put your best foot forward. Oh yeah. I feel like there's a range in there. But that's I guess those are the two ends. Colin and Fredericksburg. How are you? Hey Colin. You mean Bill? Yeah, sure. Totally. Yeah. Can you say you understand the mistake? Can you just be Colin? Bill and Colin, they sound very simple. Colin from Fredericksburg. Yeah. I know a guy named Bill Collins could just do to talk to you. There we go. Can you say say Colin but make it sound like Bill? Because clearly you had to have done that for Ryan to have written Colin. Well, thank you. So I'm a special education teacher and I work in a behavior support classroom and two of my toughest kids were not here today on a Friday. Therefore, I am winning off the field. It's an easy day at the office. Boom, bam. Yeah. I mean, I don't play favorites, but I was going to say appreciate the calls. Very good. Go win off the field people. Do it. Let's have a Friday together. It's football season. There was a game last night. There's a game tonight. There's games Sundays. Therefore, we all are winning off the field. Winning off the field. Thank you, Bruce. That way, Blitz is next on G&D. Hey, Mike Vlini here host a cash to ticket alongside my partner, Jim Costa. It's really simple. Are you tired of podcasts claiming they're a bunch of pro betters when they live in their mommy's basement? Are you tired of podcasts that claim they had 80% of the games? When really, they just lose like most of us. Think has to tickets the spot for you. We're real, we're transparent. We're having a hell of a good time with it. And we sit there and we're there for the sweat with you guys. We're just trying to figure it out just like you. Follow and listen to Cash the Ticket on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.