Just Jalen Hurts in general, where, where do you sit with him? Because I genuinely think that as the year goes on, he's actually getting much better in the Sean Mannion offense, which is far different than what he's ever had in his career.

It's a fascinating discussion because he's won a lot, as you said.

I think you can describe that two ways.

I think, uh, if you're ranking front offices, the Eagles aren't landing outside of anyone's top three, right? You're debating them and the Rams or Ravens or whoever you wanna-- Seahawks now, whoever you wanna put up there, but Eagles are top three, right? Maybe the best.

Um, consistently putting one of the best teams out there, offensive line, defensive line, playmakers.

They've done a great job.

So Jalen Hurts blessed with that.

[beep] Hey,

Yeah

...

Cincinnati hype generally, because the entire offense was returning.

They've had slow starts to their offense at various times.

I think the difference in the game with the Texans was just their, their dudes made plays, right? Ja'Marr Chase, uh, incredible catch.

Burrow scramble drill touchdown.

They just stepped up and made big plays when they needed.

Yep

But I want to hear what your takeaway so far with the Las Vegas Raiders.

Dolphins games are interesting if you just go, let's watch Jacob Rodriguez or let's watch Caden Proctor.

Just watch the rookies, maybe.

Patrick Paul.

Yeah, exactly.

Go individual players.

Yeah, it's tough for me to buy the Raiders and say, hey, they're going to do this all season.

So a spitballer versus a knuckleballer.

What do you make of the Chargers losing at home to Arizona?

So I've been struggling with Arizona because I thought last year they had the best personnel they had had in about three years.

And through a few weeks, they looked, as I expected, a feisty team that might not make the playoffs.

And then they just fell apart.

but they still have some talent in Arizona.

The offensive playmakers, you know, with Michael Wilson, Marvin Harrison Jr., Trey McBride, Jeremiah Love in the backfield, they do have playmakers.

And Jacoby Brissett has played just good, solid football the last couple of years.

What'd you like and what'd you not like in the Week 1 loss to Philly?

What do you make of the Chargers losing at home to Arizona?

So I've been struggling with Arizona because I thought last year they had the best personnel they had had in about three years.

And through a few weeks, they looked, as I expected, you know, feisty team that might not make the playoffs.

And then they just fell apart.

but they still have some talent in Arizona.

The offensive playmakers, you know, with Michael Wilson, Marvin Harrison Jr., Trey McBride, Jeremiah Love in the backfield, they do have playmakers.

And Jacoby Brissett has played just good, solid football the last couple of years.

What'd you like and what'd you not like in the week one loss to Philly?

W- what do you make of the Chargers losing at home to Arizona?

So I, I've, I've been struggling with Arizona because I thought last year they had the best personnel they had had in about three years.

And through a few weeks they looked as I expected, you know, feisty team that might not make the playoffs, and then they just fell apart.

But they still have some talent in Arizona.

The offensive playmakers, you know, with Michael Wilson, Marvin Harrison Jr., Trey McBride, uh, Jeremiah Love in the backfield.

They, they do have playmakers, and Jacoby Brissett has played just good solid football the last couple years.

So I hate looking at the Cardinals as the team that was picking number three overall.

Yeah

When are we allowed... to get very excited about Cardinal Tate because I'm having a hard time tempering my expectations, Steve, considering how good he continues to look as a wide receiver one right now on this team.

Right now.

Right now.

Get excited.

I think it's time.

We can't overhype Cardinal Tate.

It was interesting because I thought at draft time, I loved that pick at four.

Steve, if I gave you the end product this season for the Titans and told you the Titans are a playoff team in 2026, how confident are you that could be a reality as the Titans try to become that next surprise team in the AFC like the Jags did last year? And what's got to happen for them to get to that point?

So what does a good one do for the offense as opposed to a running back, per se?

Yeah, so...

I can't believe they sent you guys all the way out to San Francisco during the preseason.

Ramon, you've got some sway with the league.

You should be complaining here.

It's supposed to be all local games, you know? Come to Cincinnati or something.

Anyway, I always talk about the passing game as you want to put the defense in a bind with four or five playmakers.

How do you view those two quarterbacks' lives

Will you expect him to run a similar style defense or have his own little defense?

Yeah.

Again, this is, it's such a tough thing to predict because football is like the only, the only world where we say, Hey, you worked under this guy.

We assume you're going to do something similar.

That's like the assumption in football that doesn't happen in under other industries.

Right.

I'll make that joke again.

But I'm curious, from an outside perspective, how do you feel about Jaden going into year three and what do you expect to see from him going forward?

Will you expect him to run a similar style defense or have his own little defense?

Yeah.

Again, this is, it's such a tough thing to predict because football is like the only, the only world where we say, Hey, you worked under this guy.

We assume you're going to do something similar.

That's like the assumption in football that doesn't happen in under other industries.

Right.

I'll make that joke again.

But I'm curious, from an outside perspective, how do you feel about Jaden going into year three and what do you expect to see from him going forward?

I

remember watching overall, just generally, guys, it's a funny world.

But I remember watching Kirk Cousins for much of his career thinking, this dude is calculating his passer rating in his head as he plays.

His team is down three scores, and he's just checking down, and he's like, man, I'm going to get over 100 this game.

And he's struggling the whole game, and at the end of the game, he's got like 100 passer rating and a couple garbage time touchdowns.

I'm like, this dude is playing to his stats.

Mm-hmm.

No,

What, what, [laughs] what are your thoughts on him? And, and how you answered that question, I thought, was, uh, gonna be appealing to some Texas fans probably.

Yeah, I mean, Arch, Arch is, uh, he was, he's already been a hot button issue for, for everybody.

You know, he comes in with all the hype last year, and they lose in week one, and everybody, I think, kind of wrote him off.

And, um, I think there's some positives and negatives to Arch and his game from a prospect perspective and just from a, hey, you know, what can Texas do next year perspective.

So, um, I, I think the, the name probably helps him a little bit.

I'm sure that, you know, there's some hype there.

But if you take the name away, you got a big dude who can zip it, is extremely athletic.

Right

And I, Tell me who came out at the top when you did this before last season, and then tell me what the look on your face looked like as the season went on.

Well, thank you, Andy and Ari.

You guys are going to be my marketing arm right now.

So I get to talk about this.

So, Mike, yeah, I built this side company because this all started a couple of years ago where I right when I left PFF, I built a draft model and the draft model as I tested it was really, really good.

And I was like, wow, this is this is good.

What if I what if I drafted like this every year? And I just kept trying to.

I am fascinated by teams that actually put together rosters that would test well, but their coaches didn't get what they should have out of them.

Um, what do you think of Akis?

Yeah, and, and there was some dropoff, I think, in the edge rush group.

You know, d- uh, there's some eye of the beholder with that second, third tier of edge rusher, but Akis, he was really impressive.

I know he was listed at 270 at Illinois, weighed in at 260 in all the workouts and everything, but if he, if he was playing at 270, some of his bend and speed to power, and no, no matter what he's playing at, bend, speed to power, the ability to turn the corner, I think is really impressive.

Um, he would line up inside sometimes, hold his own from a power perspective.

I think he's got some versatility there.

So I think he's, he's a early down, solid run defender that can get after the quarterback.

[laughs]

Right

... and he loves his style, and he knows his style, and he thinks that's the best style.

And so I have elements of that where I learned the game through this PFF lens, this analytical, uh, production grading lens.

And for people who don't think it's real, I mean, it's real.

I mean, it's 300-page rubric, and we're talking rules around the six scenarios when the right guard and right tackle are down blocking the three technique on power.

What does a zero grade look like? What does a plus .5 look like? What does a minus one look like? And you're training people up just like you're training them in a system-

Yeah

... what are you doing?" And so they're, they're just not a run first type of team.

Where with Kyler Murray, it might be the best game you've ever seen, it might be the worst game you've ever seen.

I think you unpacked a lot of, a lot of the nuance really, really well there.

There's, uh, there's a lot of what I call yeah, buts about the player, right? This is really good, yeah, but this other thing that you have questions for.

Um, even Russell Wilson at his best, I think there's certain quarterbacks...

Like Russell Wilson at his best, if you talk to people around Seattle, they almost purposely, I don't wanna say purposely neglected their offensive line, but they felt like, "Look, this guy is an escape artist, and he plays like that.

He invites pressure, probably makes them look a little bit worse." And, but they're in, in there like, overall he's very, very good, right? Russell Wilson, very good quarterback.

Um, our, our analytics friends would probably, you know, look at EPA per play, and look at these advanced numbers, it's all very, very good.

So if you get started now on the future, while not making the biggest sacrifice, it's probably the wise way to go.

What's this offensive line group look like on the interior if they do have to replace one or both of those guys?

Yeah, I mean, preferably just they have to replace one.

You guys would know a little bit better than me as far as how close they are, how likely that is.

You'd rather not have to go with, you know, replace two-fifths of your offensive line.

Buffalo's offensive line continuity over the last few years, really an underrated part of their success.

They have not had to deal with this over the last couple years other than, you know, filling Osiris Torrance in the second round.

They haven't had to do it that often, so...

Where did you land?

Analytically, how do you look at this matchup?

I mean, everybody's gonna be on Seattle, I think.

Um, what are they, four and a half points, uh, favorites, if that hasn't moved.

Um, Seattle probably looks like the better all-around team on paper, but the Patriots' defense down the stretch here has been really good, and so trying to weigh that, right? So analytically, you're looking at the whole season versus, hey, when Milton Williams has been out there, things have been a little bit different, right? So the, the pressure that they're able to create...

So I think the Patriots' defense has a chance to absolutely be the difference here.

But when you go on paper, you're looking at Seattle's offense, efficient, defense, one of the best in the league, maybe top two with Houston, I would say Patriots on their way up.

And then Seattle's special teams, I hate talking about special teams on my show, but I always talk about it with Seattle because they've been the best in the NFL this year, and that was one of the things that I think makes Seattle probably the favorite here.

So I think, yeah, I think that real Sam Darnold's still in there.