What? I mean, special teams still hasn't been good, but what is going on with Los Angeles? Yeah, I mean, the special

teams is a disaster, but the punter actually came through at the end of that game there and made the kick.

To me, it's a little bit of like, you know, remember the Philly super team with Vince Young where we talk about how good this team is going to be and how unstoppable they are? Well, I mean, there's a little bit of that going on where they were just sloppy yesterday.

Arizona played great, held them to field goal attempts until the very end, but they just don't I don't know.

It's kind of like they've hit these bad matchups and have lost.

They got smoked by the 49ers, obviously.

49ers are

And like losing to the Titans, you know,

And they're worse against the pass than they are against the run, which certainly played into Carolina's hands, even though they were down Jalen Coker and Xavier Ligon.

But, you know, I was so surprised, and I had given out the over in my column, so I thought there were going to be points that ended up hitting.

But I was really surprised and impressed with how the Panthers decided to attack in this game.

Because, you know, we talked about it, a lot of times it feels like they just want to run and try and, like, bog the game down and don't want to, you know, attack you.

Yeah.

It felt like they really wanted to attack using Bryce and using Pat and using that passing game, knowing that was the weakness of the Lions and the best way to win the game.

And so the fact that they actually executed that, like they actually drew up that game plan and then executed it, to me, big plus from a coaching standpoint.

Like, I

I mean, we've been talking about this for the past month plus.

It's like that offensive line has to stay healthy.

And if it doesn't, you know, there's trickle-down effects, whether it's, you know, like a...

I mean, like, just how it works for any offensive line, right? Like, if you lose a guard, you know, suddenly the center, who maybe was being propped up a little bit by having those strong guards next to him, you know, you see a drop-off in play there, and then the immediate, you know, drop-off from there is to Bryce, right? Which is it immediately drops off to the receivers, so forth and so on.

So, I mean, yeah, I mean, it's, you know, they're...

There are very few NFL teams that don't have at least one fatal Jenga piece.

And I think for the Panthers, that Jenga piece, it's an offensive line, man.

explain how problematic it is to draft a quarterback in the NFL?

Is this just injury-based?

Yeah, I mean, the offensive line is a problem.

The running backs are a problem.

I don't know that Josh Jacobs, if he comes back and there was a, I don't want to play legal beagle here, but there was a, I believe the judge refused to seal the evidence of the case today, which means that from a macro NFL level, what you can expect is, so in other words, there's no guarantee that the video won't come out.

which means that Roger Goodell and the NFL, just based on knowing how they operate, they're not going to take him off the exempt list until they know that that video is either out or is sealed.

Because they learned their lesson with the Ray Rice stuff.

When they suspended him two games, video comes out, they got blistered for it.

How bad is it really for Los Angeles?

Is this just injury-based?

Yeah.

I mean, the offensive line is a problem.

The running backs are a problem.

I don't know that Josh Jacobs, if he comes back, and there was a, I don't want to play legal beagle here, but there was a, I believe the judge refused to seal the evidence in the case today, which means that from a macro NFL level, what you can expect is, so in other words, there's no guarantee that the video won't come out.

Which means that Roger Goodell and the NFL, just based on knowing how they operate, they're not gonna take him off the exempt list until they know that that video is either out or is sealed.

Because they learned their lesson with the Ray Rice stuff.

How bad is it really for Los Angeles?

Well, they were available.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And, but, you know, it's like, I think that the, the priors and the biases that we build in based on what we see when something is like historically bad like recording just how we operate with quarterbacks right it's like right justin herbert's a loser and i mean i'm not saying that we i'm sure we'll get to justin herbert i'm not suggesting that the chargers and justin herbert are good right now but it's like justin herbert can't win big games we always do we do this with everybody it's always you know maddie saverin can't win big games um was a thing for a while so I think it's like Bryce thinks, and he just never can't ever be better.

The quarterback play we saw last year was so terrible.

And, you know, you look at what they put around him.

Jaron Coker is awesome.

Yes.

What is going on with Jim Harbaugh's team?

Yeah, no, no, no,

for sure.

Look like I independently was like looking at the lines.

It was like, God, this teaser looks really good.

And then when I went in to put it into the rundown, it was two of the teams were listed on RJ's list of teams, which made me feel great.

Uh, but I think bucks minus two and a half.

And Jags plus eight and a half is a really good look.

Will, talk to me about the Bucks and your approach there.

Are good? Does it matter how good the Texans' defense is? The Bills will score on anybody?

I think we're talking about building this bucket of teams that are going to score a bunch of points and maybe not be able to stop anybody.

I think you put the Bills right.

A Bills-Bears game would be explosive.

It's these teams where you can absolutely see one of them getting snuffed out in the playoffs.

by a really good defense, like whether it's the Broncos or the Texans.

And I know the Texans were, you know, thinking of, you know, like an AFC matchup there.

I think it's disappointing that they only scored 14 points.

I

mean, I think it's fair to question what the bills will be on both sides of the ball, and not like in a, oh, what if they stink way, but offensively, what was Sean McDermott making Joe Brady do from an offensive standpoint, a.k.a. is he going to open it up and pass a lot more often? Will he pass early? We're going to test out of the gate against a really good defense.

Defensively, I think I mean, Denver did a lot to keep that defense kind of patched together.

So I'm curious to see how they're on that side of the ball.

I do think, though, that the Bills win the division.

New England, easiest schedule in NFL history last year.

There's going to be some regression there.

How do you see the South?

What's your read on, A, what the Rams paid him and what kind of impact he's going to have?

Well, yeah, I mean, I think, you know, I believe I called this, like, months ago.

And, you know, I'm not shocked.

Rams are the best team in football.

Had a game of the season, or at least the favorite to win the Super Bowl.

Add Miles Garrett in the offseason.

A few more talented pieces on defense, and then you get Aaron Donald back.

But what do you make of Burrow's comments and, honestly, their chances? You know, the Bengals are interesting,

Mm-hmm

... running backs, you know, fantasy football, all that.

I mean, that, the, those guys matter.

Quarter- quarterbacks matters more than anything, any position in any sport, um, to, like, a, a, a massive degree.

But quarterback play is dependent on other things, too, and the number one thing that quarterback play is dependent on is offensive line.

And I think with Bryce Young, you know, you're talking about a quarterback who is in this group of guys, and it's a large group of guys in the NFL, quarterbacks, who are...

L- like, there are a couple guys, like a Josh Allen, a Patrick Mahomes, and they, they can't overcome, you know, like, the worst offensive line in football, but they can overcome, you know, issues on the offensive line.

Yeah.

insane.

And it's just how Jackson Dart plays the game.

Unfortunately, you know, he's got to be a little bit more in control.

He needs to learn.

We see this with young quarterbacks who can run all the time.

You know, it'd be easy to blame it on his Ole Miss education, but I think that, you know, more likely would be, you know, more likely it's just his style of play.

And he's reckless, a little bit reckless.

Watson when this season begins?

He was awesome for maybe not quite a decade, for seven years.

Russell Wilson, before he was traded from the Seahawks to the Broncos, I always say I don't think I've ever seen a player moonwalk out of the Hall of Fame.

But, like, Russell Wilson, like, kind of did that in his last three years with his performance where, like, I think going into his, you know, before that first year with the Broncos, he was sort of a kind of a lock Hall of Famer.

And I still think he can get in.

But, you know, because of his performance with the Broncos and the Steelers and the Giants, it just didn't, you know, it really took the shine, to your point, took the shine off, like, what was probably a Hall of Fame career before that, which is just weird how that, you know, how that works.

But, yeah, I mean, like, he won a Super Bowl.

He was... consistently one of the most efficient passers.

Get tickets now at highschoolot.com.

Aaron Donald, what are your thoughts on is he coming back? And if he does come back, is that unfair with him and Miles Garrett? Or does two years out of the game make it unlikely that Donald is even close to what he used to be?

So Aaron Donald, I thought, and I mean, I don't know if I'm pretty sure I wrote this or tweeted it somewhere like back in 2014, either 13 or 14 when he came out of Pittsburgh.

But like I said, he's like, I thought he should have gone number one overall.

Right.

He ended up, you know, ended up being, you know, one of the rare good calls by me.

And, you know, he's a like, you know, I mean, surefire Hall of Famer, one of the greatest defensive players of all time.

I don't think, and I'm answering the question in this way for a reason, I don't think Aaron Donald would come back to football unless he could be Aaron Donald.

How does that change, if at all, the way you look at the Kansas City Chiefs?

Every

year.

Yeah.

I mean, I, I, I mean, I don't think you would, I mean, I think you would, I don't think you would exclude New Orleans when you're, when you're talking about, you know, I would possibility.

I don't know.

They, they, they, they appear to have killing more.

It looks like he's a good coach.

And I think that after this year, they'll either just, you know, I think after this season, they will either know that they've got to get another quarterback or they can invest in Bryce and maybe Kenny Pickett can be their career backup.