The Big 6 in 60
The Jets And Patriots Kick Off Week 3 With an AFC East Battle | The Big 6 in 60
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Call him at 385-885-28, 385-885-28, tell him to lock down, sent you. Intercap Lending, NMLS, number 19-0-465. For more information, visit intercaplending.com. Thursday Night Football, Week 3, so much will come down to the backfield. Kenan New Orleans Saints stop Jalen Hurts. It is vindication season. Two, two and O'Teens are facing off. Steelers, Chargers, Hurts Cousins is ready for prime time. The Lockdown Podcast Network presents the Big Six in 60. The six biggest national sports stories from the local experts of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Get the real story. Why it matters, what's next, who wins the big game and more? All in 60 minutes. The Big Six in 60 starts now with the biggest story in sports. Thursday Night Football, Week 3, so much will come down to the backfield. You are locked on Jets, your Daily New York Jets podcast. Oh, let's talk about that process for the Patriots. What's the biggest story for the New England Patriots on offense entering this Week 3 game? Well, conventional wisdom would tell you that it would be the passing game. It would be the quarterbacks, whether or not the rookie Drake May is being held beyond his will. And Jacobi Brissette is coming in and trying to take away reps from the Patriots' shiny new toy. But honestly, John, the biggest story on offense for the New England Patriots right now is injuries. And unfortunately, the injury bug has hit the Patriots' hardest in their weakest position, which is left tackle. Hadarian well, the starter for this season, the New England Patriots just released it. He will be out for Thursday nights in the knee injury. He's been battling that, forced him from some action when it came to last Sunday's loss to the Seattle Seahawks. So that's one to monitor for the Patriots moving forward. Of course, City So has an ankle injury. He's their starting left guard. He's going to be out as well. So now you're looking at a starting left side for the New England Patriots of Michael Jordan, who was just signed to the Patriots' 53-man roster, no relation to his earnest. And of course, someone that was on the practice squad to begin the season, and rookie left tackle, Caden Wallace from Penn State, who played primarily right tackle last year. So it's going to be interesting to see if the Patriots can battle through those injuries to make this one a competitive game, because they're having difficulty moving the ball, especially in the bad game, it's going to be a lot more difficult, especially with that fearsome Jets defensive front if they can't provide Jacobi Bursett any protection. Well, it's interesting you mentioned that, because unfortunately for the Jets, the fearsome defensive front became a little bit less fearsome last week, as Jeremy Johnson suffered a season ending injury. He ruptured his Achilles tendon, which unfortunately for the Jets as an injury, they've come to know all too well the last two years. Obviously, Aaron Rodgers was the biggest example of that last year, but they also lost the Elijah Vera Tucker to a torn Achilles, and even a rotational defensive tackle last year, Al Wood suffered in Achilles injury. And as you, as most people know right now, the jet, that's not the only defensive end the Jets are down. Hassan Redick, who was a big acquisition this offseason as yet to play. And there's no sign that he'll be on the team anytime soon, because he's holding out. So this defensive end spot, you know, the tops of the guys who were supposed to be the top two guys, they're both out of this game. A lot of it I think is going to fall to Will McDonald. The second year guy out of Iowa State, he was a first round pick last year. He registered three sacks against the Tennessee Titans. This just defensive end position is not what we've, not what you're used to if you watch this team the last couple of years. Yeah, without any question. And I think that's going to be something that the Patriots are going to try to exploit, especially if they're trying to get their passing game going. The New England Patriots have run the ball very effectively throughout the first two games from Andre Stevenson looking like their feature back, looking like a top back in this league, maybe top 10 even with the job that he's done running the ball in the first two games. Antonio Gibson, the free agent acquisition they got from the Washington commanders in the off season has come in and been a solid complimentary piece rushed for 96 yards in a loss against the Seattle Seahawks, also showing that he can receive the ball out of the backfield. But the Patriots have yet to meld that running game into play action success. This team has been very reticent to push that envelope and to utilize the run to force play action and take some deep shots down the field. Now, there are some reasons for that. Obviously Jacobi Brissette has been very reticent to push the ball because he doesn't want to turn it over. He wants to protect it turnovers for this team are going to be doubly costly, especially with all of the injuries and the problems they have on the offensive line. So they're trying to manage the game not to lose it. At the same time, if you become too conservative, it does give you difficulty and it does give you pause. So knowing that there may be some cracks, some fissures in that Jets defensive front and that Jets defense, Patriots may be wise to try to exploit that a little bit. So it wouldn't surprise me to see them come out aggressive in this game, something they have yet to do offensively in the first two games. Mike, let's turn attention to the other side of the ball. What's the big story for the Patriots on defense heading into this one? And fortunately, it's also injury, John, and it is the season ending injury or at least what we believe to be the season ending injury to linebacker, Joanne Bentley. Look, Joanne is not someone that's going to show up on the highlight reel. He's someone that simply does his job in the middle of that defense, anchors the front, anchors the back and make sure that everybody is where they need to be. He's the lead communicator. He wears the green dot. He's telling everybody where they need to be and calling the plays. Joanne is also one of the most vocal and most respected leaders in that locker room. He suffered a tone pectoral and is going to be gone most likely for the remainder of the season. So not only are the Patriots missing a key part of their backbone, their heart and soul, but they're missing a guy that right now totaled 12 tackles in just a game and maybe a little bit under a quarter that he played last Sunday against the Seahawks when he suffered the injury, but they're also dealing with the loss of someone that really is a heart and soul member of that team. So right now, the New England Patriots are going to struggle to try to make up for that. They'll utilize some of their depth on that position. And it's a good thing. Patriots do have some depth along the linebackers in the defensive front, something they really don't have that luxury of when it comes to the offensive line. Ray Quan Macmillan is someone who played a good amount of snaps. I look for him to increase his total, Jelani Tavay, I think is going to take a step up and play a little bit more off the ball. Kyle Dugger will most likely be the wearer of or the donner of that green dot. He'll be the one calling the plays. He's done it before. Patriots prefer to use that linebacker in that situation, but Kyle plays the game like one. He's up at the line of scrimmage. He'll do just fine in that regard. But as I said yesterday, I'm locked on Patriots. It's going to take a team of players that's going to be able to replace what you want Bentley gave you in New England. So that to me is the biggest storyline. Can the Patriots find a solid compliment to Keon White at the fast rush and in past defense, obviously in the secondary Christian Gonzalez, they need someone to step up and be that third guy that can be a reliable force. And I think something you mentioned that kind of jumped out to me is just having a guy who makes sure everybody's lined up correctly because it feels weird to say this, but the Jets actually do have a quarterback who now can figure out what's going on at the line of scrimmage and then just to play accordingly in Aaron Rodgers. I think one of the things that kind of sets Rodgers apart is that, you know, and I'm comparing with Zach Wilson. But last year, Zach Wilson, you know, saw that the other team was playing a too high look and there was a pass, but he could check to a run. Rodgers takes it to another level. Rodgers can just adjust a route. I mean, there was a play against the Tennessee Titans where it was a third down play and the Titans coverage was very soft. He just threw out all of his art to the sticks. He saw the coverage, the coverage, the Titans just gave Lazar too much cushion. So you just signal to Lazar and break off your route, just run to the sticks, I'll get it to you. So again, it feels weird to say this about a Jets quarterback. It's been so long since the Jets had a quarterback who knew where the ball needed to go when he saw a breakdown on the defensive side of the ball, but you know, I think you're losing a guy who, you know, makes sure everybody's in the right spot. This is a Jets team for once can actually take advantage of that. Absolutely. And again, the Patriots have to be very weary of that because when you're dealing with a Jets team now that has the ability to be able to push the ball, to be able to utilize the strength of the quarterback position to its full might, that's a very scary situation for New England right now who is missing a huge part of what this team loves to do, not just in past defense, but also in run defense. That's why the loss of someone like Juan Bentley is so costly for the New England Patriots. That's definitely not the news. Pats fans wanted heading into this short rest match up with a team that's primed and looks to be ready for the challenge on both sides of the ball. You've heard us talk a lot about Fandool America's number one sports book. Well, we have something a little different for you. 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Both the Cowboys and the Ravens had really tough week two outing. So what's the biggest headline in Baltimore? Yeah, right now it's about the Ravens not falling into an 0 to 3 hole. I mean, like we already know the statistics about 0 and 2 teams since the season expanded only two teams have made the playoffs after starting 0 and 2 32 have started low in two and those two teams in 2022 since 90 Bengals in the 2023 Houston, Texas, so Baltimore already in a tough spot. Now they're traveling down to Dallas and you mentioned it Marcus where both the Ravens and Cowboys are going to be mad coming into this game after how they played in week two. But for Baltimore's the offense, it has to be Lamar Jackson hasn't played bad by any stretch of the imagination certainly hasn't been perfect, but ranks number one in total yards, number one in rushing hours, number five in passing yards among all quarterbacks through two weeks. But he hasn't had a lot of help in terms of his offensive line and his protection. The Ravens ended up replacing 60% of their starters from last season, including guys like Kevin's like their Morgan Moses. And I'm pretty young at the position and it's been a struggle for them. They moved right tackle Daniel Fallele to right guard who his you know, looked flat footed, hasn't been able to get the job done and gave up multiple pressures in both weeks to players like Chris Jones and Max Crosby and from Baltimore, the schedule does not get any easier with Michael Parsons now on the docket and hoping to take advantage of Baltimore as an experience there. They're doing a rotation at the right tackle position between passion McCarry and rookie Roger Rosen Gordon. So the offensive line is the biggest story in the big contention point because even in the run game, Derek Henry seems to have a guy on top of them on a lot of these plays where we know the more Jackson Derek and their special players Marcus, but they can't put on the Superman cape on every single play and do it all by themselves. It all starts up front for an offensive right now while Ronnie Stanley's played well, Tara Lindenbaum looks like Lindenbaum. The rest of those guys are struggling and we should mention Stanley got banged up last week and Stanley's got a really long injury history. He did not practice on Wednesday. Do you think he'll play on Sunday? That's the message from Baltimore right now. Marcus John Harbaugh said after practice he is going to play. So obviously monitor that situation, but John Harbaugh can be pretty tight to the best of those injury designations. So the fact that he went out there and said, yeah, Ronnie's playing on Sunday. I'd say he's probably out there and ready to go. I mean, they're going to need them. The Cowboys have one of the best pass rushes in the NFL didn't necessarily show that it gets the Saints last week, but Kevin, one of the big advantages that Baltimore has in this game is that Lamar Jackson has been so dog on good against NFC teams. I believe the stat I saw today, 20 and three all time against NFC teams. 21. Is it 21 and three 21 and one 20 wins one loss that one loss coming to your NFC East rival or maybe not in Daniel Jones and the New York Giants. Yeah, it wasn't that one of those weird Sunday morning games in London. No, it was a one o'clock game. Lamar Jackson made a crossbody throw across the field. The Patrick Picard out of all people. It was intercepted by the Giants and they ended up kicking out. No, they scored a touchdown, I believe. I tried to wipe it out of my memory because it's such an ugly game. But it's my favorite, not favorite stat is the one NFC quarterback to give Lamar Jackson a loss was the one and only Daniel Jones. Oh my gosh. So that's the big advantage for Baltimore, right? Like Lamar just does not lose these games and actually Kevin, I think it makes sense, right? Like Lamar is so unique and so different compared to every other starting quarterback in the league that when you have an NFC team that faces him, it's really hard to defend him. I even think back to like last year, they played the Lions in Seahawks when both those teams were playing really well in the regular season and they smoked them. I mean, those were like two non competitive games. That's my fear here with the Cowboys is they've only played Lamar Jackson. I believe once or twice and I remember the one game Dallas got absolutely, absolutely throttled. I'm worried that it could be that way because you Lamar is just such a unique talent to defend. And you're exactly right where, you know, these teams that get to play them either once or twice like his AFC North rivals, they get more experience or just being on the field with them. And honestly, it hasn't necessarily helped the Ohio team. She still beats up on Cleveland since now on a pretty regular basis. But when you're an NFC team, you don't go up against them a lot. It's a different type of preparation. And then once you get into the game, he's so much faster than he looks on tape. He's so much more dynamic than the scout team. We heard Mike McCarthy say that the Cowboys feel really good about Trey Lance, you know, kind of replicating Lamar on the scout team, which I'm just kind of like, Oh, well, I mean, look at the athleticism of the other two quarterbacks in the roster. It's that who can't move and Cooper Russia is even less athletic. I mean, kind of had no other option. Yeah, that's the that's their only guy. But you know, you run through a Trey Lance for the week, if you're Dallas, and you get on that field and Lamar is just a completely different beast. And so I think that's the advantage of the more in the Ravens team has over these NFC teams is that it's so different when it comes to tape, when it comes to practice, first getting out there. And so for a Pittsburgh team that goes out there and faces them twice a year, Lamar hasn't really been able to have a ton of success against them because they're able to key him up in some stuff. But the NFC factor of it is if you don't play him enough and you don't have that. Oh, well, this is how he actually is in person who causes some level of an disadvantage. And so you can try to replicate him with whoever, you know, whether it's Trey Lance, Cooper Rush, whoever it may be, but it will be different come Sunday on the field. Kevin, I wanted to ask you about this defense really quickly because I've covered the Raiders for a long time. And I thought going into that game last week that the Raiders were going to struggle to get like 14 points. They move the ball kind of up and down the field through the air. What's missing with this Baltimore defense that just doesn't look the same compared to last year? It's honestly, Marcus, it's flipped face stuff of expectations. A lot of people were worried about the pass rush and you know, when losing Jada V and clowny and having it off, they always step up in a job. Oh, David, a job. Oh, and everyone was saying, well, is this pass rush going to be able to replicate their success? But in the secondary, it's okay. You got Marlon Humphrey, Brandon Stevens, Kyle Hamilton, Marcus Williams. You're fine there. What the pass rush has been really good in the secondary has been the weakness here. Baltimore, it's very clear. They are the best rush defense in the league in terms of total yards. Haven't even given up a hundred total yards on the ground yet they're at 99. But they're last in the league in total yards, given up through the air. And part of that has been miscommunications part of that has been they have been a little bit banged up there with players like Nate Wakens having to miss last week. We saw Kyle Hamilton this practice on Wednesday with a back injury and there were a couple of plays where he was favoring a shoulder in that Raiders game. So is he a hundred percent right now? But they're dealing with a new defensive coordinator and Zach or who I expect to have a really good career as a coach, but he's never called plays before. He's two games in now. It is kind of a similar trajectory to what we saw in Baltimore with Mike McDonald, who also he met. He had called plays in Michigan under Jim Harbaugh when he went there for a year, but the NFL he had to adjust to it and that Miami game and week two a couple of years ago, Baltimore blew that 28th quarter lead. It was just you adjust and then you get better. So as time goes on, it will get better I feel like, but you know, you have questions about Marlin Humphrey who played decently well, but has given up a touchdown or two. And then you have others as well, like Brandon Stevens, who certainly had as welcomed to the NFL moment this season with the Devontae Adams, all mashed up on him a lot. So Marcus Williams, who struggled for response, Smith hasn't had the start. The roll quants misstart the people they anticipated. So some definite growing pains. But if anything, this pass rush with other guys like nominee, Metabique, Travis Jones, and the guys I mentioned has been dominant, which is, I guess, masked some of the secondary issues, but obviously hasn't been able to mask enough. Yeah, we'll we'll see how this Cowboys offense performs against Baltimore's defense. I've got some concerns about the Cowboys offensive line going up against their pass rush, but I would assume if that can get a nice pocket that he's going to find open receivers in this secondary. Can the New Orleans Saints stop Jalen hurts? You are locked on NFL crossover part of the locked on podcast network. Your team every day, Philadelphia Eagles come into town here to the bayou to take on the New Orleans Saints on Sunday. Let's kick things off with what I take to be the biggest question around the Philadelphia Eagles right now. And it centers around the defense. This is one of those things that if you look back a couple of years ago, Ross, there was a game that happened in the Superdome between the Philadelphia Eagles and the New Orleans Saints and the Saints won by a few points. And I remember Malcolm Jenkins pointing in gesture towards the sideline in that game. And the feeling coming out of Philadelphia is can you stop in New Orleans Saints team who has scored a point on every single offensive drive that they have had. And the Philadelphia Eagles defense right now can't stop the run. The secondary has been better. But if you can't stop the run and you're allowing over 300 yards in the first two weeks. And now Elvin Camara is the guy that you have to stop. The Philadelphia Eagles have to find a way to stop sinking this ship before it goes down with the Titanic. Yeah. It was Alvin Camara, of course, who caught that infamous for Philly fans touchdown that led to that gesture from Malcolm Jenkins to Sean Payton. Yeah. I mean, that sounds like it's a huge concern kind of flips on the other side here in terms of what it is that we expect or expected from the Philadelphia Eagles that invested so much on the defensive side that still has Vic Fangio, one of if not the best defensive mind in the NFL. So there's obviously still some opportunity there for this team to get better on that side of the football. But I assume the New Orleans Saints are going to present a pretty unique challenge there being a team that is rush for over 300 or exactly sorry, not four over, but has rushed for 370 yards in their first two games. And I think that's the exact type of game plan that the Saints are going to want to attack the Eagles defense with. And if you look at what Atlanta did and what Green Bay tried to do, it all kind of stems from having one of the better running backs in the league, allowing your offense to play ahead of the sticks, which then puts the Eagles defense in this situation where they're not great at defending play action. They're not great at defending the run. And now you have to worry about arguably one of the best deep threats in the league in Rahid Shahid coming to town. And that's one of the things I don't think the Eagles have faced is that downfield explosive elements. So if you can't stop things underneath in this cover six world with Vic Fangio against the run, it's going to allow Derek Carr to open things up deep. But good thing is Quinon Mitchell and Darius sleigh have been two of the better players for this team. It seems like the Chauncey gardener Johnson invest in him, let him go, bring him back for a lower cost, seems to work. And hey, a familiar face in New Orleans, Zack Bond is turning into quite the football player in Philadelphia. Yeah, a couple of revenge games on the way between those two guys. I want Saints fans to remember too that the 70 yard one play scoring touchdown last week against the Dallas Cowboys was against the cover six, you're going to see a lot of that when it comes to this Philadelphia Eagles Vic Fangio defense doesn't mean that they're going to have the perfect play called every time. But definitely something New Orleans Saints have found some success against. We'll see if that continues with Rashid Shahid. Real quick before we flip over to the offensive side, you know, I got to know, like, is everyone pumped for the revenge game opportunity here between when it comes to Garda Johnson and Bonner is the there's the expectation a little bit different. Chauncey gardener Johnson is a one of one getting under your skin type of guy and I'm sure he cannot wait to come back to the Superdome. I'm sure the fans are going to try to embrace him, but I'm sure he's going to make up some story to get under the fan skin just to give himself that edge and he's a player though. If you look at one of the biggest plays for the Eagles last week, it was him coming downhill filling the gap stopping Bijon Robinson on a big fourth down. I think New Orleans Saints fans know exactly what this guy brings. He brings the juice and in that building when it's going to be so loud, you're going to have to find a way to subdue them one way or another. I think DJ is going to try and make a big play and he hasn't been able to take the ball away from a fumble or an interception perspective and that was his calling card a couple years ago. Yeah, it's a need to get back to that if they want to stop this team. I can't even believe I'm saying it out loud Ross. I played Ford on every offensive. We're not talking about like Tom Brady. We're talking about Derek Carr and the Saints, man. This is impressive. Hard to tell the difference right now, man. Very hard to tell the difference Derek Carr's name is up there and all those lists and places where we maybe never thought we would see Derek Carr's name. But yet here we are at the beginning of this season. Very glad they picked up that flag for CJ2 after that after that great stop that you were talking about because that there was a reason for that. All right, let's flip over to the office. It's our biggest story for the Philadelphia Eagles offense. What are you looking for there? We know Devontae Smith. We know Saquan Barkley. But the guy who had the most targets outside of those two was Britain Covey last week. Yeah. And I'm sure Saints fans are like, who on earth is Britain Covey? And that's exactly how Britain Covey should be used for the Eagles. He's our punt return extraordinaire, but he was used in this offense way more than they needed him to. They acquired Johan Dotson. They still have Dallas Goddard in the building. But Dallas Goddard only had two targets until the final drive in the fourth quarter. That has to change. Johan Dotson had a lone touch in the first quarter. That has to change. AJ Brown, more than likely won't be playing in this game yet again. We know the star that's Saquan is. We know who Devontae Smith is. But Kellen Moore, how can you start to spread the ball around? Because one of the things that helped the Eagles get to 34 points in week one against Green Bay was that they were able to distribute it to those playmakers outside of the big three. Because just like a basketball team, we always say on our show, you got to find your Jamal Crawford, that six man that can hit the corner three. The Eagles did not have that last week. Yeah, that's big. I will say, I will say, you might find some Saints fans that know who Britain Covey is. There's a lot of BYU fans that are Saints fans. They're probably familiar through the Utah. Oh, yeah, there's a probably familiar through the Utah connection there and everything. He's a gamer, man. He's a short king too, about my size, five foot eight. So I root for him through and through, but this is the end of the show. I don't know if we want to be targeted in him too much next week. Yeah, well, hey, at least you'd rather the short king out wide receiver than at quarterback if you're a big Carolina Panthers. So look, over the offensive side as well, you know, the philanthropy he was interestingly going through like a similar evolution on the offensive side to New Orleans. How's that been working out so far? Motion is the lotion is all my friends from Damon College. Physical therapy would say way back in the day. It really is. It's the one thing that can just make your offense go without having to win every single one-on-one matchup. And that's what really killed them in 2023 was that they put these two guys out there. AJ Brown, Devontae Smith said, hey, you guys are good enough. Go win your one-on-ones, but everybody else, they couldn't quite do that. But now with Kellen Moore, a reason why you can target Britain Covey so much is because you're scheming them open. You're getting them into space, taking and utilizing this cover six heavy world where teams are playing zone, zone, zone. We have to understand pacing, timing, space. And that's what the Eagles offense really has been under Kellen Moore. Jalen Hertz has a lot more autonomy at the line of scrimmage to call out blitz to recognize where some of that space is. And I think it's been a benefit to him. He's been much better against the blitz in this season. And I think a lot has to do with Kellen Moore giving some answers to the test that maybe he didn't have last year. Five minutes later when our team in this stadium was rocking like it was earthquake. A huge big 10 matchup with USC is where does that is to say Michigan is making a change in quarterback. Alex Orgy cut a surprisingly, I say this surprisingly, I'll explain why in a moment. Named the starting quarterback against USC. I think that's surprising because I didn't anticipate. I was talking to some colleagues before the press conference today. And they're I said, do you think that we're going to hear anything? And they're like, no, why would why would you run more even say it? So that kind of tells you that they're going to put the full force behind Alex Orgy. And because he says, hey, he's going to be the starting quarterback. He's going to go forward. It's going to be all him. So I think that that is interesting because obviously that means that he's going to have the full week with the ones. Everything is going to be geared behind him. Everything that they he says they had everything installed as far as offensively is what the types of stuff he would run. But that means that they can hone those things this week. They can figure out what kind of passes work best for him and what kind of run place. So this is welcome and encouraged news. No good team over the last few seasons. Has pulled a defeat out of the jaws of victory. Quite like and quite as often as the Baltimore Ravens, it seems like the only way they lose is in games that they were sure to win in fourth quarter on Sunday. It was a twenty six. It is vindication season. You are locked on Vikings. Your daily Minnesota Vikings podcast part of the locked on podcast network. Your team every day. I got to know about what's going on with the Houston Texans sort of a trendy Super Bowl pick. That's been a minute. I mean, like we are not that far away from like deep darkness in Houston. We're like two years removed from that. And then and we're talking contender and it's like justified, right? Yeah, definitely. It's definitely justified man. You know, there's there's been so many moments going back to I want to say week 11, week 12 of last year where I just look back and just think to myself, man, the Houston Texans are really here. And it's just that like for me, I just getting all about how fast this rebuild just went from the dark ages all the way up to, you know, we do the locked on power working every single week. And I never thought that I would see the day where the Houston Texans will be ranked number two. And we will power work. And I remember a time we started the season at 30 at 32. And we only rose to 31. It was and he liked it. And I'm happy with that. I liked it. I remember one time in our country, we ate potato. We liked it. We weren't grateful, man. We were grateful, man. But you know, as of right now, man, the 2024 campaign has kicked off the Houston Texans. There are two and a lot of people say some people say they got lucky getting that victory against the Chicago Bears. I'm pretty sure you saw it the Sunday night game. The defense. I would call that lucky. The defense looked good. However, closer than it looked, I think. Yeah, it was closer than it looked. But it was only because the office looked kind of shaky. And that's the biggest storyline for the Houston Texans going into week three. You know, first and foremost, how can the Houston Texans office kind of, you know, fix some of the issues that we saw during week two. And not only that, who's going to be your starting running bad? Because regardless of how good CJ Stroud has looked, regardless of all the weapons. And I'm talking about a plenty of weapons that he has to choose from and the wide receiving unit, you know, your offensive line. Even though they had shaky production against Chicago, you know, it's still pretty good. So to say, and even at your tight end unit, this is a team. This is our offensive coordinator and Bobby Soil, who still relies heavily upon the run. And as of right now, after Wednesday's practice, both Demi and Pierce and Joe Mixon, both of them were sidelined. And as of right now, they are questionable for Sunday's game amidst against the Minnesota Vikings. And I'm looking at it from a standpoint, if the Houston Texans cannot establish a run against the Minnesota Vikings, it could be another situation where we're looking at the Houston Texans often saying, you know what, yes, you have CJ, yes, you have Stefan, yes, you have take, yes, you have Nico, but it's still going to look a little bit discombobulated, only because a lot is still heavily dependent on the run. And two of the players on the Vikings defense that are going to have the most to do with that, and we'll talk more about the Vikings in a second, are former Texans, Jonathan Bernard and Blake Cashman. And on the other side of the ball, Stefan Diggs, and on your defense, there's Daniel Hunter. So here is, I guess, the question that I have here. Do you have a sense for how those two, this is what Vikings fans want to know about how these two guys are doing for first of all is, how are our boys doing? Okay, we love Stefan Diggs, Minneapolis miracle guy, fond memories forever. Okay, he'll never buy a drink in Minnesota again. And of course, you know, we all loved Daniel Hunter as well. It was mostly just money. That divorce was as amicable as that kind of thing gets. So how are our babies doing? And do you think that they're coming into US Bank Stadium with a chip on their shoulder against, you know, going to play in the stadium that those, both those guys played forever for the first time as the road team? Well, of course, you always want to, you know, put on the show against your former team. You know, as of right now, Daniel Hunter, man, from the very first moment that we met him from the very first moment, we had an opportunity to speak to him, done his quote, unquote introductory press conference. I mean, he's just your typical chill guy who just comes to work, do his job and go home, play his simple man. And, you know, that's him off the field, on the field, man, two games into the season. You can definitely tell that he has made a difference in the Houston Texans defensive line. I remember he made a statement by saying, you know, in Minnesota. He had a couple more responsibilities to carry a couple more burdens to carry in terms of how they wanted him to play. He said his favorite part about, you know, being here in the city, if Houston is the fact that they're not asking him to do a lot. The only thing they want him to do. Yeah, he was Superman here. The whole thing funneled into him. He had to really be like the pillar. Oh, yeah, yeah, he talked about all that. He said, now his number one priority is either get the quarterback or stop the running. Two games in, he has done that. On the flip side, everybody's favorite quote, unquote diva per to say, man, we love Stefan Diggs here in the city of Houston. I understand it's still the honeymoon phase, but, you know, for me personally, man, having an opportunity to talk to Stefan Diggs when I was in Houston. You know, having an opportunity, you know, to get to know him, man. The one thing that I noticed about him and that I'm still hearing down at home is the fact that he is a guy who is still going to be a quote unquote. He's becoming a coach on the field for a lot of the Houston Texans young guys. And there are so many times, you know, you could talk to Nate, you could talk to Tank on and off record. Meeko on and off record. John Metche on and off record. That's right now, you know, John is, you know, going through his little personal. I don't want to call him problems right now, but, you know, two consecutive games of being a healthy scratch. You know, he's going through something right now. We still trying to figure that out, but regardless of what it is, even on the defensive side of the ball, you know, so many guys have talked about how they have had an opportunity to just call Stefan Diggs up, pick his brain about stuff on and off the field. And he has been helpful for that. And everybody inside the door of 16 and Kirby has been happy. It's heck to have Stefan Diggs on this roster. That's all I got to say, man. So is he, so when he was here, and for a long time in Buffalo too, Stefan Diggs, you could run the offense through him. And, you know, you'd start to get people doubling him. Like he could be the one A number one option. Not a lot of guys in the league can be the only guy on the team, right? You've got to have somebody else, whether it's an Adam Thelin or whether it's a Cole Beasley or a Niko Collins. But is Stefan Diggs that guy for you? Is he the one A option? If it's third and five, are we going, this thing's got to go to digs? No, and it's only, and it's no shot at where he is at this stage in his career. I know some people talk about two games and maybe they've seen at the corner, whatever the case might be. I haven't really seen at the client. I've said this a lot, you know, like on Texas. Yeah, you're a team, you know, eventually he's going to get up there. I say here a lot. I said, say this a lot on lockdown, Texas. Stefan Diggs, my opinion has been consistently a top 10. And then one time a top five wide receiver in this game for over a decade now. But, you know, it's the fact that the Texans just have so many weapons, you know, I just go back to Sunday night game against the Chicago Bears. You know, Stefan Diggs really didn't do much, but in a way he really didn't have to do much because you had Niko Collins giving you was it like a 50 or a book 30 or whatever the case might be, you know, and the Texans get to hit you in so many different ways. So he no longer has to carry that burden like he did in Minnesota, like he did in Buffalo, where he has to go out there and be this team's, you know, number one option, you know, there's going to be moments where I think the best why I could put this. And I think this is where he's going to have his best impact on the Houston Texans offense, is the fact a lot of times because he's stuff on these and because he can still out there and dominate your opposing team's defense, a lot of time they're going to just use them as a decoy because he's going to draw that much attention was just going to allow Tainte Dale to get open. John Mitchell, whenever he gets an opportunity to get open, Niko Collins go back to that game against the Indianapolis Colts. Like we've seen how much attention he draws, which is just going to open up the door for this offense a lot more. You've heard us talk a lot about Fandoule America's number one sports book. Well, we have something a little different for you. Now through September 2nd, all Fandoule customers can bet $5 and get a three-week free trial of NFL Sunday ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. 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Locked on sports today brings you Canvas analysis opinions and new streaming 24/7 on YouTube or the free Amazon fire TV channels at part of the locked on podcast network your team every day. Two two and O teams are facing off Steelers Chargers. You are locked on NFL crossover part of the locked on podcast network. Your team every day. It is an interesting start for both of these teams. Jim Harbaugh, new to the Chargers, not new to the NFL, a well respected coach. You know, I'd say similarly to Mike Tomlin, you got two teams that are playing a style of football that I think a lot of people were thinking, Oh, that's long and dead. You don't play defense first and running the ball and controlling the clock. You pay fast. You pass the ball. You throw it all over the lot. And these two teams are punching against that right now. When you look at how these two teams match up, David, it seems to me like they represent the new wave of the NFL that is kind of going back to an old school wave, if you will. They do say that history has a tendency to repeat itself. And we know that running the football, establishing the line of scrimmage and dominating time of possession is one of the ways that you can win in this game. And also playing incredible defense, right? That's the other thing that you have to have along with that if you're not going to throw it down the field and attack vertically. And also when you're able to run the ball, when you do want to pass it and you want to take advantage of that play action, you can do it. And it hits a lot more than if you're just an aerial focused attack. Absolutely. And you mentioned playing great defense. The number two defense of the NFL right now is the Pittsburgh Steelers. The number one defense of the NFL is the Los Angeles Chargers. So there's a lot of excitement here. We're going to get into those matchups in a bit. But I want to stay on this topic though of being like this because the Steelers, I feel like they're in a unique position right now where they kind of have to be this way because you got Justin Fields, Young Justin Fields, you're hoping Russell Wilson comes back healthy, but you haven't had a real sling it over the lock quarterbacks since maybe even 2018 Ben Rotha's burger. So it's been quite a minute. So you kind of have to win this way. And they've been doing it. They haven't had a losing season. They've been in the playoffs through the last four years. That's what the Steelers do. Pretty but pretty good. Yeah. Right. Right. They know how to do that. But the charges have Justin Herbert. David, why does Jim Harbaugh subscribe to that style when you got a guy like Herbert who is respected everywhere in the league? Well, it's all about taking some food and some some some problems off of Justin Herbert's plate. Ah, not asking Justin Herbert to be Superman. We've seen he is capable of being Superman. Like, we've taken account the game last year against the Vikings where he threw for over 400 yards and was just absolutely insane ripping throws while having constant pressure in his face. But the Chargers had to win that game on a last second interception because they just could not run the ball. They couldn't control the clock. They had a very, very bad defense. And so they were asking Justin Herbert to be near perfect. When you can run the football, when you can dominate that time of possession, you establish that line of scrimmage and you know, you're able to keep possession of the ball and ultimately, you know, punch it in and score touchdowns, then you're able to assert your will and dominate the football game. And I think that's something that has really been lost. But that's been a calling card of Jim Harbaugh since he started coaching, right? He's always been about ground pound, absolutely knocked down, drag out, fight type of football. Like he wants you to feel it after you play his football team. And it's a welcome change for the Chargers who the last several years have not been able to play defense at all. They haven't been able to run the ball at all. And they haven't won a lot of football games, which I think is a direct correlation to the win and loss record for the Chargers. I also think you see a correlation between how these two teams have tried to prepare to set up this era because two of the top picks of the Chargers recently, one Joe Alt, one Rashaun Slater, two of the top picks for the Steelers recently, one Troy Faltano, one Broderick Jones, getting first round offensive tackles, making them a priority, making them pillars in your offense for the future to try to get to that point. I do think it's about that. But also on the defensive side of the ball, both these teams, both athletic and talented edge-rushers that bring it. They got athletic guys in the secondary from Asante Samuel to Joy Porter Jr. to Derwin James to make up its Patrick. This is a, these are two teams that I think have a lot more in common than people realize before they start looking at the rosters. Like, wait a second, these line up a lot. Yeah, especially on defense. I would say like most, most, most regularly, spectacularly on defense. You see a couple of really talented edge-rushers on the Chargers. You see a couple of very good edge-rushers on the Pittsburgh Steelers. You mentioned the safeties. You mentioned the corners. I think the Chargers have some really young, very fast physical linebackers as well. And both these defense, like as you mentioned, number one and number two in the entire NFL. So they are playing fast. They are playing physical and they are dominating their opponents. Yeah, let's be clear. It's also weak too. You know, this is, it is subject to change every single week. But I do like what I've seen out of both of these defenses so far, both of them get after the quarterback, both of them like, like to make plays, you know, on the ball. I think that that's going to be, I think that's going to be a huge part of this, of this game moving forward. But, you know, again, for the Steelers, I think the one thing that they really need to be careful of in this, in this game, and we're going to get some matchups in a bit, but like the Steelers have to play this way. If they, if they, if they go off track, if the Chargers get a lead, we don't know what it's like for Justin Fuels to have to play comeback ball for him to have to drop back, attack down field consistently, and not playing off it with the run and getting here and being conservative and letting the defense win the game. The Chargers, though, I think represent a different kind of challenge because I think you could trust Justin Herbert and granted the receivers situation is not what it was a couple of years ago when he was just throwing it all in place. Right. Well, do you, how do you feel about this team as it's constructed, the Chargers being being able to scrap this style of play that Jim Harbaugh has said, just for the sake of, wait, we got to get to the finish line in this game. Is that something that you're confident about this group doing? Or is that something that you're like, I still need to see them do that? Yeah, I mean, as far as the game plan, like the identity is the identity. They are going to run the football, like Greg Roman, Jim Harbaugh, they're going to run the ball, like that's what they do. And yes, we understand the challenge in front of us as far as the Steelers defense, they're spectacular against the run. But the Chargers can't compromise who they are completely based on who they're playing. Obviously, you are going to game plan specifically to beat the Steelers as the Steelers are going to game when specifically to beat the Chargers. You have to factor that into account. But I think you have to do that while also keeping in mind your identity and how you want to play football. You're going to have to change it up a little bit. Like, I mean, that's going to be one of the things we talk about is you got to you got to be multiple, like, especially on offense for the Chargers. Like, you know, if you think you're going to run it into the ground over and over and over and over again against, you know, one of the better run defenses in the league, that's not going to always work out for you. You're going to have to be able to make your throws. You're going to have to be to work on play action. You're going to have to be able to throw it down the football field. If you're going to want to win this game, in my opinion. No, I agree. It's going to need to be a part of this game. Balance is going to be the key here. Both teams have a top 10 run defense right now. Both teams get it get after, like you said, athletic linebackers on both sides, defensive fronts that are going to be challenging. You know, I think, and I think that's going to be a huge part of this game. But again, just looking at how it represents kind of what the future is, you see a lot of teams. If you're not Patrick Mahomes, if you're not a team with Patrick Mahomes, or Josh Allen or Joe Burrow, one of those types of guys, and again, the weapons to go along with them, you kind of need to subscribe to a different style. I mean, look at even the Chiefs right now. The Chiefs aren't playing the way they used to with Tyree Kill and Travis Kelsey. They're playing a more balanced style of football with the way that they run their offense. And I think that's more to the fact that they acknowledge like, hey, we got to play to this different kind of style until we get all these weapons around Patrick Mahomes again. But I think it's interesting that while a lot of people have zigged in the league, the Steelers and the Chargers are trying to zag, and I think that that's a smart approach than trying to fit a round peg in a square hole. I agree. And also, it's just when you look at the top teams the last five or six years, those are all teams that have been able to run the ball. They've also had balance, and they've also had very good defenses. It's no mistake that those teams are winning a lot of football games. It's no mistake that Mike Tomman and the Steelers haven't had a losing season in their entire partnership together. That's just that's winning formula. That's winning football. And like I said, it takes more work off of your quarterbacks plate, which is going to be good for the entire football team. Five minutes later on our team in this stadium was rocking like it was earthquake. A huge big 10 matchup with USC is where does that is to say Michigan is making a change in quarterback. Alex Orgy kind of surprisingly, I say this surprisingly, I'll explain why in a moment named the starting quarterback against USC. I think that's surprising because I didn't anticipate I was talking to some colleagues before the press conference today. And there I said, do you think that we're going to hear anything? They're like, no, why would why would your own more even say it? So that kind of tells you that they're going to put the full force behind Alex Orgy because he says, hey, he's going to be the starting quarterback. He's going to go forward. It's going to be all him. So I think that that is interesting because obviously that means that he's going to have the full week with the ones. Everything is going to be geared behind him. Everything that they he says they had everything installed as far as offensively is what the types of stuff he would run. But that means that they can hone those things this week. They can figure out what kind of passes work best for him and what kind of run play. So this is welcome and encouraged news. No good team over the last few seasons has pulled a defeat out of the jaws of victory quite like and quite as often as the Baltimore Ravens. It seems like the only way they lose is in games that they were sure to win in fourth quarter on Sunday. It was a 26. Kirk Cousins is ready for prime time. You are locked on NFL crossover part of the locked on podcast network. Your team every day podcast. So Chris, my friend Chiefs are two and oh getting their first road matchup here on prime time. You know, something that's not too foreign to them. The Falcons don't have too many prime time games although they're coming off a very impressive win last week against the Philadelphia Eagles. Chiefs coming off I guess a less than impressive win but to me it's always impressive how the Chiefs always manage the way to pull off a win even when they don't necessarily play their best football. But I'm curious when you talk about this chief team heading into this matchup traveling on the road to Atlanta, what do you maybe is the potential biggest concern for you? Well, first off Aaron, I'm enjoying having the chance to talk to you again. It's been a while since we've done one of these. We just don't play that often. But you know, I look at this game and I look at what's the chief's did against the Bengals and my biggest concern is their Jekyll and Hyde. And what I mean by that is if you go back and look at week one, there's a lot to be excited about. They played pretty well against the Baltimore Ravens for most of the game. Yeah, it came down to a last second play at the end of the game with Isaiah, likely stepping out of bounds when they were able to win. But offensively, I think they played pretty well. And then you go back and you watch what happened in week two. They started off the game. They played very well in the first quarter of the first drive. They didn't get down to third down until they were inside the 10 yard line and they had two third downs inside the 10 yard line including and then also two fourth downs inside the 10 yard line, converted one and then kicked a field goal. So I think you look at this and then the next possession, they come back and they throw an interception. But the offense just wasn't, it wasn't crisp the entire day. I think that's my biggest concern going into this one is the offense still hasn't figured it out yet. One of the big things it really stuck out to me was, you know, Kingsley Suamatia, the rookie left tackle got benched during the game. He had a really hard game against Trey Hendrickson and they ended up benching him because of a holding penalty late in the game after he given up a couple of sacks. Brought back a huge play by Travis Kelsey and you hate to see that. But I think that that's the big question going into this one is what is he going to do? What is really going to do? Who's he going to start left tackle both Juan A. Morse and Kingsley Suamatia are preparing to start at left tackle for the Chiefs on Sunday. So don't know that we'll know until we get into, you know, getting field reports at the stadium. Yeah. And I'm curious from your perspective, Chris, do you have a preference on who's going to start either one of this game? Because for me, I've watched Suamatia struggle these first two games. You know, I don't know if Juan A. Morse based off of what little I saw, you know, did massively better than him? Do you feel like one of those guys gives you a better shot against his Falcons team where I'm imagining Matt Junon is probably, you know, licking his chops to get as big as one of these guys as he should be. No, I think if you look at it, you go back and watch Juan A. Morse last year when he started, he struggled at times. The big thing that really sticks out to me, you know, you go back and watch week one. They didn't really give Suamatia any help. And that's something that they've done from time to time is put their tackles on islands. But Reed usually will give guys when they're struggling some help. He really didn't do that. He started to a little bit in the Bengals game. I'm curious to see if that's something that continues to me. If they think Kingsley Suamatia is their left tackle of the future, I think that you have to put him back in there and you have to start him and you have to try to get him to play through it. I mean, it's his second start in the NFL. Yeah, it was rough. His first start wasn't great, but he's got the potential. I think he's got the, you know, the pedigree to be able to play the position and play it well. It's just acclimating to the NFL level. And I think that there are things that you can do to help him. I mean, maybe don't take many deep drops or give him a tight end that's right next to him and shipping or running back shipping every time. And then he's coming through. You can do things to help him in this game and going forward in the next couple. Yeah, now when also maybe one thing that could potentially help them is the run game, right? He's not past protecting. That was the thing that he was known for at BYU as being a physical run blocker, Suomataia, that we're referring to. And I'm wondering, you know, is there, how much concern is there for this run game with Isaiah Pacheco being out for two months or more with his injury? Does that mean, are we going to see a lot more Carson Steele or is he going to be more continued to be that short yardage guys? Is it Samaj P. Ryan? We just picked up Perim Hunt? So who are the Falcons potentially going to be preparing for at that running back position? I'll be honest, I have no idea. And I say that because right now it's a question. I think if you look at who they have on the roster, you'd have to think it's going to be Carson Steele. I think that you would look at it as a situation of he would become in. He would come in and be the starter. I don't think that they want to use Samaj P. Ryan in that role. I don't think that that's something that he will excel at. And I don't think that you want him taking those hits. I think you want him fresh later in the season. This is the time to give Steele and to give him a chance to, you know, get back from what he did last week. He had a good, you know, pick up on a fourth down and then he fumbled the ball. That's something you're going to do as a rookie. He's got to play in my mind. I think that that's the direction they go. For me, Kareem Hunt is a guy that's an unknown right now. We know what Kareem Hunt was six years ago, but he's not the same player. And the bigger question is, is he wasn't in training camp with anybody this offseason. So he's probably not going to be in football shape. I can't imagine that you want to stick him out there for 20 or 30 plays and have him be your guy this week coming off as a street free agent. Now, could he, because he knows the protections that he knows basically what the scheme is? Potentially, yes. And I think that's the other thing that works against Samaj P. Ryan is he's trying to learn the offense at the same time. I don't think he want to throw him in there with all of it. So to me, I'm guessing it's going to be Carson Steele. They also brought up Keonta Ingram from the practice squad. They just elevated him. And really quick, before we go on further, I will say that we did get some good news about Isaiah Pacheco. He had surgery on Wednesday and it was announced that his surgery went very well and there was no complications. So it should be six to eight weeks before he's back, which puts him around the bills game for me. And I would think that that would be great for the Chiefs to be able to get him back for the stretch run. Yeah, yeah, he's a very important player to this Chiefs offense, you know, in addition to all the stars that everybody else knows, he's probably that big X factor when it comes to the run game. And we'll see if the Chiefs can sort of figure it out without him, as well as some of the concerns on their offensive line. Is there anything going on with the Chiefs defense or is it business as usual? Spags, Chris Jones, all those guys rolling as usual? I would say it's business as usual. The thing that stuck out to me that I'm going to be curious to continue to watch, you know, week after week is what they do with Leo Chanel. I was not expecting him to have the role he's had the first couple of weeks of the season and he has just continuously gotten more, lined up in more different positions and gotten on the field more than I was expecting him to. He even lined up a couple times on offense, which is fun to see kind of in a Mike Ravel type role, though he didn't get a pass thrown to him, but it was still fun to see him on the field in, you know, jumbo situations in that situation. So I'm curious to see what they do with him. But Trim McDuffey is Trim McDuffey. And I think that what you're going to see is Jalen Watson is playing a lot better than I was expecting he was going to. So the question I'm going to have going into this is how are they going to attack Kyle Pitts? And how are they going to try to defend him? Because the Chiefs have really struggled against tight ends the first couple of weeks. Yeah, we'll see if Kyle Pitts is due for a breakout game and it must be nice to be the Kansas City Chiefs, where you can feed the ball to Leo Chanel and Juan E. Morris in the end zone, as opposed to the Atlanta Falcons who've been dealing with their issues of getting their top playmakers that everybody expects to get the ball, the football in the end zone, but the Chiefs just they just do such a good job that they are able like, it's still a six offensive lineman out there and let him catch a touchdown pass. Let's put a line back around there and see what he did. Who doesn't love a big man touchdown, though? I mean, come on, be fair about it. Yeah, it's great. Everybody loves a big group. I love it. I'm just so jealous that, you know, the Chiefs success. So I'm just being petty and bitter about it. Nope, I did. A prime member. You can listen to this locked on podcast ad free on Amazon Music. 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