Pats Stun Bengals 16-10: NFL Week 1 Analysis & Predictions

 

Mike Marcangelo: Welcome to Missing the Point. I'm Mike Marcangelo, joined by DK Sizzle, Dave Clark, Hollywood, Ray Sean Buchanan. 

Mike Marcangelo: It is week one, the end of week one of the NFL season. Football is back. Uh, and today we're talking about the New England Patriots. Surprising to some, but not to many. Victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.

Mike Marcangelo: We'll talk about what went right in that game, what went wrong, a little bit of Tom Brady. Maybe we'll, uh, we'll throw in something of the Chicago Bears just for Dave, uh, and then we'll do our week two predictions. But before we get into it, how happy, DK, are you to have NFL back on you just dominating your Sundays?

David Clarke: You know, I feel like I didn't get to really let it wash over me properly because, like, I sort of was very excited, like, Saturday night, and I, you know, as you know, out here on the West Coast, the games start at 10 a. m., and on a Sunday, that's about when, like, my consciousness sort of comes online, if that makes sense, so, you know, you kind of sleep in a little bit, and I'm like, all right, I'll get up, I'll take a shower, put the coffee on, and then the The first NFL game's kicking off, which I know is a different, like, experience than what you guys are having.

David Clarke: So it sort of felt like I blinked and my team was down, uh, 17 to nothing, and I was so upset. Like, I have, I don't remember the last time my expectations and reality crashed into each other that hard in any context, not just sports. So, yes, I am, like, sort of picking up the pieces of my excitement that the NFL is back from that devastating first part of the Sunday.

David Clarke: I will say I loved The Thursday night game and I think now that we've like added a random Friday game at the start of the season because I know we're not keeping that up because there's an actual law that says we can't because of uh, because of high school football. It's like on the books between certain dates you can't have Friday NFL broadcasts or games.

David Clarke: So they're not going to keep doing it.

Mike Marcangelo: They're gonna, they're gonna try and, they're gonna try and do Labor Day next year. The entire weekend.

David Clarke: Right, but like, that's still before the cutoff, it's like September, the lines are like September to December, somewhere in there. So, I didn't love the Friday game, to be honest with you but I thought the Thursday game improved, uh, maybe because there was a Friday game, maybe it was just like a point of comparison.

David Clarke: I just thought the presentation of the Thursday game was better, the game was good. And that, like, stoked my excitement. So despite my depression on Sunday morning it's Monday now, and I'm, like, amped that we have Monday Night Football. Like, it's it's they they put together really good matchups across the board for the primetime games, which I appreciated.

David Clarke: I mean, they at least tried to do that for the Friday game, even if it was the worst game of football I think I've ever seen played or presented. I'm But yeah, I mean, I'm excited. I'm super excited. I'm sorry if that was more muted than it should have been, because I really was, like, I, like, suicidal on Sunday morning, so I, you know, I'm kind of like, I'm recovering from a traumatic experience, even though it ended well.

Mike Marcangelo: Uh, Ray, maybe not as, maybe not as quite dramatic as that, uh, but how, how happy are you that football's back?

Rayshawn Buchanan: Yeah, no, I mean, super sad. I feel the same way as they do, like, not suicidal, but definitely, I didn't, I didn't enjoy, you know, The Friday Night Game either for, for what, for what I've seen from it, and I think it's because maybe it would have been in Brazil, but that's not really where you think about football, not obviously the American version of it anyway, so, but either way, I mean, hey, you know, they, they got a chance to see you two teams, so I'm assuming they were excited over there, but yeah, Thursday night was great, but go ahead, Mike, yeah,

Mike Marcangelo: also, like, the presentation on Friday, not to get, not to do like a whole

David Clarke: No graphics packages, no graphics fucking packages anywhere

Mike Marcangelo: hear the fucking commentators.

David Clarke: hear the commentators properly, it looked like there was a weird film grain on the camera, or it was just like raining, or that's just like what Brazil looks like, or the air is different, I don't fucking know. The crowd was like, kind of into it, but then like, not really, and Yeah, and then the field.

David Clarke: I mean, that was the biggest dereliction of duty. Like, those guys couldn't go full out. You could just see it. And, like, the second half got a little better when they all changed their cleats to, I assume, like, 10 inch fucking spikes. But, because they, they might as well have been fucking snowshoeing out there.

David Clarke: But, like, it's, Yeah, I didn't like it. I didn't enjoy it at all. I agree. It was so annoying. We were all in agreement in the group chat about how bad the presentation was too. And it's like, I like the pageantry of it all. You know,

Mike Marcangelo: And how good the halftime show was, DK. 

Mike Marcangelo: Okay, but moving on, uh, to the Patriots stunning, to some, again, victory over the Cincinnati Bengals 16 10. Uh, this, this is the first opening week victory since Cam Newton in 2020. So, Ray, because you are the, the lone person on this show, uh, that last week said that there's no fucking chance that the Patriots gonna win, you laughed and DK'd in my face.

Mike Marcangelo: How surprising was this victory for you?

Rayshawn Buchanan: I mean, I, I think, I mean, obviously, I left about both, but I left more about the spread of what get into that, you know, shortly, but I mean, listen, I mean, I, I, you know, Um, and many others were still corrected yesterday. That, that's one of the better performers they've had in a long, long time. And obviously there's always things you can work on, but I was, I said, I was, I was blown away.

Rayshawn Buchanan: You know, and I was pleasantly surprised that they came away with that victory. Yes, Cincinnati has been notorious slow starters in the Joe Burrow era, but, you know, I still thought they had enough to get that job done especially at home in Week 1, but, yeah, super shocked that they won once again, at the core as a fan, of course, I'm happy that they won the game, but like I said, I was shocked that they came out there and really, really dominated them for most of the game, it wasn't something where they kind of just stumbled into the win, like, they did many things to contribute to, uh, a good game for them in all three phases, so I was excited to see that.

Mike Marcangelo: DK, that game was, you know, it's one of the games that you like the most, right? It's a strong defense it wasn't sloppy by any means. Like, every turnover was forced. So knowing that, like, you were with me last week when we were picking them in the spread. What did you like most about that, about that win for the Patriots?

Mike Marcangelo: And I guess, why were you so, why were you so confident in them covering?

David Clarke: I, I think the thing I sort of pointed to last week towards or the last time that just the three of us were on a show as we were coming down the stretch of that show, I was like, you know, it's all upside for this coaching staff, right? Like they, if they come in and they know. That they have this kind of flawed roster, especially on the offensive side of the ball.

David Clarke: And they're able to sort of game manage a win against a notoriously slow starting Cincinnati Bengals. And they've gotten the team to at least believe that they're not as bad as everybody says. You know, there's, there's, there's a nice little coaching. Lemon falling off your garden tree when it's, you can make them the nobody believes in us team, right?

David Clarke: Where you can really start to G the guys up because if they spent any of their off season watching ESPN or listening to Ray on this show, uh, they think they're a bunch of fucking bums, right? So like not letting that in, that's, that's like a big thing. And essentially, I guess my point is, If they were gonna play well, it was gonna be down to the coaching staff, and it, it looked to me like they were one of the better prepared teams across the entire NFL, uh, yesterday, which I think is just all upside for you guys, because what you don't have is a ton of talent or depth, and that's fine, but what you do have It seems is guys that can do a lot with a little, so usually when guys can do a lot with a little, they can do a lot with a lot, you know, that's in management positions, I, I have said that many times over the course of my life, so I think, uh, I think the O line problems, like, my O line looks so much worse than your guys O line, and on paper, yours is supposed to be twice as bad as mine, like the rankings are like 12th and like 32nd, Or whatever it is, so even more than twice as bad, right?

David Clarke: So, like, the plug and play guys, the way that they were blocking, like, the way that they seemed to be, like, kind of set up and dealing with each other was a huge challenge for us. For you guys, it was like, and I made this point, it's like, you can kind of put one together if you know the plays that you're running and everybody knows their job.

David Clarke: They're not going to be dynamic as a blocking unit, but which they, you know, I wouldn't have called them dynamic. I think it was very, like, methodical first quarter drive. A lot of good runs, and quite frankly, Romandre, I don't want to jump your agenda, but like, look like fuckin LeGarrette Blunt out there.

David Clarke: To be honest, like, like, really, like, real shades of it. And I was like, damn, he's running really, really well. He's not, he's not as slow as you think he's going to be when he gets, like, into the open field and gets his head down because of his, like, frame and the way that he runs. But he's not the fastest guy in the world.

David Clarke: I think he's just super patient and hits holes in such a cool and, like, methodical way that it's, like, kind of fun to watch your offense again, which has not been sort of untrue, uh, now that they're blocking properly down the stretch. So I'd say the coaching staff to answer your question more. Uh, precisely what they were able to do with your offensive line, because we know what the offensive line is on paper, and it looked to me like it just looked like a unit of guys really working together, and they were really well drilled, you know, and that's kind of what you needed.

Mike Marcangelo: Yeah, it kind of looked like the opposite of what we were seeing in the preseason. Like, I was, I was banging the drum the hardest. This was a bad preseason, bad offseason for Mayo. I had real doubts and questions, but like, to your point, they did look so prepared. Uh, and everyone looked bought in. And, you know, we were talking about this last week, the three of us.

Mike Marcangelo: Now the Bengals are 1 5 in their last six openers. I didn't think that they were going to, the Patriots were going to win. I just thought that they were going to cover it, because seven and a half points for week one against a team where their wideout, their star wideout hasn't been practicing, Tee Higgins was out, Joe Burrow, like all those things, um,

David Clarke: like that week one in kind of any situation, to be honest, because like, everything's so unpredictable in the first week, you don't know the preparedness levels of all the teams, like, Miami and Jacksonville, neither of them looked fucking prepared. You guys could have beat either of those teams if you played them this week because they just both looked sloppy.

David Clarke: So it made for kind of a fun game, but like, it was because nobody was like dialed in and like the only team I saw do that, like our first drive, we have all the plays mapped out. It's going to work because we have all the plays mapped out that guys, that teams get to week seven, week eight, week nine. The only team I saw do that was the Pats this weekend, where that, that first methodical ADR drive that they did with like, that ended with.

David Clarke: Stevenson with like a short run that nobody touched him. And I was like, I mean, preparedness

Rayshawn Buchanan: that, that's the, that's the thing too, right? Like they, yesterday was about finishing, right? So many times the last few years, they've been knocking at the door for a win, knocking at the door of a big play, knocking at the door

David Clarke: against the Bengals.

Rayshawn Buchanan: Yeah, yeah, yeah, that, yeah, that too, right?

Rayshawn Buchanan: Exactly, right? So, it's just like, for them to finish yesterday is, is the biggest takeaway by far, because to be up 10 0 at the half, when it really should have been 17, but whatever, they just didn't do some plays at the end, but should have been up 17 0 at the half get the ball at, you know, the beginning of the half, which up here we used to call the double whammy up here, And once again, I said they, they just dominated from start to finish.

Rayshawn Buchanan: And once again, if you're gonna block like that, I think 'cause listen a cole for, and if I'm saying his wrong name, wrong whatever, he don't deserve his name. Just be said it, right? Because he, he sucked yesterday. Thank, thankful for them putting in for Dar Lowe, who once again hasn't been someone the write home about, but he was, he was really good yesterday.

Rayshawn Buchanan: So if that's part of the combination going forward, uh, ironically we had someone named Michael Jordan , you know, blocking for us yesterday, so. Uh, once again, maybe, you know, you know, thanks, MJ, like, like, I'll take it but yeah, like I said, I can't say enough about the line and how well they protect it.

Rayshawn Buchanan: Once again, zero sacks, zero sacks, like that, if you, if you had told us that on, what's today, uh, September 9th, if you had told us that on August 15th when they had lost to Philly here in the previous season, when I went to that game, if you had said that this team would give up a zero sacks in week one or any given point at the season, I'd have been like, yeah, like, yeah, okay.

Rayshawn Buchanan: So, I'll take it,

Mike Marcangelo: I will give them credit though, they did this last year too, like they had an atrocious offensive line in the preseason and then opening week against Philly. Like, that was actually a shootout, and Philly had what we thought was a good defense at the time, and they didn't sack Mac Jones once in that game.

Mike Marcangelo: Now he was sacked a thousand times every week after that, but they were able to, they were able to hold up. 

Mike Marcangelo: Now, there, obviously, there are lots of positives, right? We already talked about, uh, Ramondre, we can go a little bit more in depth about that. Ray, I want to know viability, right? Like, Jacoby Brissette, his stats, they're not great, but 15 to 24 for 121 yards.

Mike Marcangelo: No picks, no touchdowns. How many games can they win with a quarterback stat line like that?

Rayshawn Buchanan: still don't think there's many because my thing is, and this is all contingent on the line holding upright, but 15 to 24 for 121, once again, unless the defense continues to play a light shot like they did yesterday, that won't be a recipe for success, right? And that's for any quarterback, right? That's just how it goes, but listen, the seven rushes for 32 yards were more impressive than anything else.

Rayshawn Buchanan: He, you know, extended some drives. As Sharron Mayo said, he's the slowest black quarterback in the league, and I'm like, that's a fact of life. I was like, absolutely. I don't know if that was AI or not, but we said it, like, it's a fact. So, yeah, I mean, listen, him extending some plays was the biggest thing.

Rayshawn Buchanan: Thank God to Hunter Henry. You know, didn't give up on that play at the end zone because that would have been the only negative play that he had and yes, it is game, but yeah, I mean, you know, in the long run, it wouldn't be something that would be sustainable if he played like that, but, uh, if you only speak it to him being mistake free and then, you know, being smart with the ball, then yeah, if he's going to be, if he's going to do that, then yeah, they have a shot, but yeah.

Rayshawn Buchanan: On, on the, on the surface, 15 to 24, 121 is not something where, you know, you look at him as a threat running the ball. I mean, passing the ball.

Mike Marcangelo: now, I just have to correct before I go to Dave, uh, on the sheet, it does say one sack for one yard, so they did let up one sack, it was, but, you know, it's fine. Uh,

Rayshawn Buchanan: Yes, sir. All right.

Mike Marcangelo: Now, this isn't, this isn't a guy making his first career NFL start and throwing for 94 yards, right? Like, this is a, this is a 10 year vet coming into a situation where he doesn't have a ton of weapons.

Mike Marcangelo: Their leading receiver had 31 yards catching. How sustainable is that type of offense?

David Clarke: Well, I mean, I guess you could take, you could take either of you, you could sort of say, The conventional wisdom in the NFL is that your quarterback wins you games now, you know, in order to, less in order to win a championship, you need an elite quarterback, and more, if there's an elite quarterback involved in a championship, he's probably gonna win.

David Clarke: If, I didn't see any elite quarterback play happen in this game. Uh, on either side of the ball, so you can win a game a different way when, when that, when that's the case, right? I, I think the same was true of the Bears game and I think the same was true of the Steelers game. So you have three QBs this week that posted no touchdowns.

David Clarke: Uh, no offensive touchdowns at, at all, for two of them, and, uh, a dub, right, so, I, you know, I don't know, I, the chances are this isn't a new day in the NFL where

Mike Marcangelo: Yeah.

David Clarke: start happening all the fucking time. I started to think, like, could I mount that as a, as a, as a point here, as a hot take, but, I mean, no, it, like, clearly not, like, any, if Patrick Mahomes played any of the like, you guys, us, or the Steelers, I don't know, you know, I don't know if it goes the same way, right?

David Clarke: So. Non quarterback Klay, at an elite level, being sustainable as a winning team, probably not, but I did see a lot I liked out of him to be honest, and in a situation where he's there to buy you time and help develop your guy, so, I mean, all he needs to do is his job, running the offense, and quite frankly, like, as a I'm a big fan of a team that's, that's been doing, you know, move the ball well on the ground, stop the run on the other side, and like, don't let them kill you, uh, football for my whole life.

David Clarke: Then, yeah, so, you know, I mean, it's, I like it, personally. I like when teams win like that. I like when, I like when defenses are good, uh, and, you know, I see that across, there's parallels across like three major teams in my life. The Patriots, for obvious reasons, are a major team in my life, where I grew up, you guys.

David Clarke: The show's theme, my wife being a Steelers fan, and my team, like, there was a lot of like, put your nose to the ground and fuckin win kind of stuff happening yesterday with all of our teams, which I really appreciated. Is it sustainable? No. You're not gonna win a Super Bowl with Preset as your QB. Like, that's never gonna happen in a million years, I will eat my own dick if it does.

David Clarke: But, but, uh, All upside for the coaching staff, like I said. I mean, that's what you're looking at right now. If they can get him to do a job, that's a big deal. If, I mean, it's part of the reason why we brought in, uh, Waldron, an offensive coordinator on, on the Bears, is he, he had that year with Geno Smith.

David Clarke: You know, it was, it's that thing of like, oh, you can like, you know, you can mold a QB. You can get a QB to play at a certain, like, level of play. Like, that's, that's so big for what you, what your guys future is over the next 10 years, because what they're proving right now is we're not going to get Drake Mae killed.

David Clarke: And we're not gonna break his brain. And we can probably make him good. Because look what we're doing. Yes, veteran, and I agree, you know, he's gonna come in with like a different mindset, and he's not gonna get like wigged out. But I mean, I just like to look at what I saw, like structurally,

Mike Marcangelo: Yeah. It just, it just looked like a game plan, like an actual NFL game plan, something that we

David Clarke: which I know you it's been foreign to you guys for a couple years, which is strange. Yeah. So tell me about it. I've been there.

Mike Marcangelo: so, but like we, we were railing on, uh, Alex Van Pelt the entire off season, the entire preseason. And. He looked to have a competent offensive strategy against, uh, against Cincinnati.

Mike Marcangelo: Now, we can talk a little bit about this being more us winning or them, them losing, but before we do that, I do want to talk about Christian Gonzalez. Because we have been, me again in particular, have been, uh, questioning whether he is actually number one or maybe we just didn't get to see enough of him.

Mike Marcangelo: He covered, uh, Jamar Chase on, on 20 routes. On the 20 routes that he was covering him, Jamar Chase went three for 15. Three catches, 15 yards.

Rayshawn Buchanan: And get no fucking contract on me.

Mike Marcangelo: Yeah. So what, yeah, what do you make of that soundbite? That's a, that's a hell of a thing for a second year player to say

Rayshawn Buchanan: Let's, let's go. I, I, I would, that's, I'm, I'm here for it because, once again, we seen it last year. We was like, yo, when Tyree got fired for 40, right, did that, that's on tape, Tyree got fired for 40. He was doing well in that Dallas game too before he got hurt. This is one of the last parting gifts that Bill gave to us.

Rayshawn Buchanan: That, that man is special, and we're about to find out how good he is, you know, going forward. You know, he's going to get tested next week. We'll talk about that later on in the show. But he, like, he seems to be the real deal. And once again, you know, we, you know, we talked about it, you and I, in the previous season, like, you know, is it something to worry about him being towards to practice?

Rayshawn Buchanan: And, uh, you know, he didn't look great in the preseason, but, uh, hey, if you're going to show up like this when it matters most and it wasn't just him, you know, Keon White was special too, we get to say that too, but yeah, that's, man, phew, um, I'll take it. Like I said, hey, like I said, that's gonna, that's gonna be a lockdown guy for, for years to come, like, give me more of that, honestly.

Rayshawn Buchanan: And I love that mentality that he had, love it.

Mike Marcangelo: dk you love defensive players. So you got a second year guy coming back from entry, shutting down, uh, one of the top five receivers in the league and at, at the, you know, after the game he says, you know, he ain't gonna be getting a contract on me.

David Clarke: I mean, that soundbite alone, that soundbite alone was fucking sick. Uh, you know, and the fact that it was like off camera to like, he was just like, G'd up and fuckin like talkin that shit, which I really like, um, obviously, uh, that's what we're all here for, I think yeah, I think, I think the job of like shadowing Jamar Chase isn't, uh, a fun job, regardless of what the contract situation or the QB situation is in, in Cincinnati, but, you know, he can still light you up, he's still Jamar Chase, like, if you're not playing well, like, he's gonna just burn you, even if he's not, um.

David Clarke: Mentally, they're 100 percent or hasn't been practicing with the team. I mean, you know, I thought everybody's thing about CeeDee Lamb was overblown. It's like, dude, come on, like, it's CeeDee Lamb. Like, he'll just run and he'll be open and he'll get found. Like, it's fine. I think, I think it's a challenge to, to match up against him one on one regardless.

David Clarke: I thought, that jumped out at me, and this isn't me dampening Christian Gonzalez, I think he played really well, and I do, I do lean, and also quieting the noises from, from camp, apparently there was some shit going on in camp where he was getting kind of lit up or

Mike Marcangelo: torch.

David Clarke: and, uh, and people were saying like, oh, he's taking a regression after this injury, that's gonna suck but it doesn't look like that's the case, he definitely hasn't lost any snaps, so I think that was great, the thing that I was watching it as a more neutral observer, though, was I was like, damn, Joe Burrow looks like, Dog shit.

David Clarke: I was like, he, I don't know if his wrist is ever gonna be like good again. I don't, it's such a weird injury. I said this to you guys on two shows, uh, over the last couple of weeks. It's weird there. Jamar Chase decided he was gonna play on Sunday. I think the Christian Gonzalez question feeds into the, you know, did they lose?

David Clarke: Did you win? I do think you guys came out with a great game plan. I think you would have beaten a lot of teams yesterday. But Man, the Bengals look like shit, dude, that's, they're gonna come forth in that, in that division, that's what, is what that game told me, Joe Burrow doesn't seem interested, or, or switched on, uh, maybe he's hurt, I don't know, still, I don't know, uh, Jamar Chase, Jamar Chase.

David Clarke: Big contract dispute stuff, obviously, T. Higgins not in the building, uh, a lot of weird shit going on in Cincinnati right now, so yeah, I mean, you still gotta, you still gotta kill the wolf though, you know what I mean, it's like, you still gotta go out there and stomp them, so I don't think it takes anything away from your win, necessarily, I don't think it's that cut and dry,

Mike Marcangelo: Yeah, yeah,

David Clarke: they just looked ass though, they really

Mike Marcangelo: he isn't, isn't a good enough team to, to not put in the work in the, in the, in the week and come out and still beat you,

David Clarke: I mean, I think it's

Mike Marcangelo: Kansas City could do that.

David Clarke: yeah, totally, I mean, absolutely, and they always start slow, and it's like a lack of preparedness that I think Cincinnati fans, I was exploring their Reddit today, their subreddit, and they were, uh, they were just like, fuckin this guy's just never fuckin ready for a fuckin game.

David Clarke: Season to kick off, like, they're fucking, like, coaching, stuff, da da da, they're never fucking ready, and I'm like, yeah, I'd be fucking frustrated too, one in five, and, like, honestly, I think, I think it's cool that, like, you guys went out and, like, did it, and I think it makes it cool that you're about to go play Seattle, because both the Pats and Seattle look like, though, maybe they're better than we thought they were, they look a little nippy, a little crafty type teams so it's kind of gonna be a quick answer for you guys, like, how you look against Seattle, so that'll be fun to sort of watch, and it's, You know, it's, it's interesting to pay attention to now because it's like, you know, maybe you're a little feisty.

David Clarke: Maybe you're a little feisty. We could see.

Rayshawn Buchanan: Right.

Mike Marcangelo: Well, just remember you, you tried to convince me that the Patriots are only going to win two games this year. Just remember that. And I had to

David Clarke: mean, I'm still on track to be totally honest.

Rayshawn Buchanan: Yeah, I mean, right.

David Clarke: but I'm still, I'm still kind of feeling fine about it. If I'm, if I'm being totally honest.

Rayshawn Buchanan: listen, I'm the one that was more gung ho about it than UDK, like I, like I said, I was just certain that they

David Clarke: You're right. Your, your schedule's rough,

Rayshawn Buchanan: Yeah, yeah, it's brutal. I mean, but the thing is, Brian, I know we'll get into this because Mike has it down on the paper, but it's just, to me, it just speaks to, like, okay, if you control what you can control, and I know that sounds cliche, but

David Clarke: No, that's a real thing.

Rayshawn Buchanan: you can, you control your effort, you control your attitude.

Rayshawn Buchanan: And I know Mike took a shot at our head coach as far as him being an overrated player

Mike Marcangelo: It's not a shot if it's true.

Rayshawn Buchanan: feel, no, but allow me to finish there, but I appreciate it. What I, what I, what I think happened yesterday is that, overrated or not, he was seen as a hard nosed player while he was here. He was seen as a tough player while he was here.

Rayshawn Buchanan: They adopted his attitude yesterday. Regardless of what you think of him as a player, what he was, what he wasn't, they adopted his attitude yesterday. And if that's the case, that, you know, maybe they overachieved, because if you say you think that he overachieved as a player, if that's the case, then maybe they do the same thing.

Mike Marcangelo: You need to let this go. I didn't say Gerard Mayo sucked. I just said he wasn't great. He

Rayshawn Buchanan: You said he was overrated? No, I, I, I didn't, I didn't, I didn't, you didn't see me, so you, you just put it on. I just said he's, did you say he's sudden? I just said you said he was overrated. That's all. And I'm saying, if that's the case, like I said, he was, you know, he was tough, he was hard nosed, he played hard.

Rayshawn Buchanan: That team adopted his mentality yesterday. That's all I'm saying. Nothing more, nothing less.

David Clarke: know, we talked about this.

Rayshawn Buchanan: It's a positive, Mike.

David Clarke: we did talk, we

Rayshawn Buchanan: okay. I'm being positive today. You be nice. No, no, no,

David Clarke: I think that's a lot. Like, I think we talked about how difficult it is, like, the Dan Campbell, like, thing of coming in and changing, like, the mentality and the culture of a whole organization and team and doing it quickly.

David Clarke: I mean, we talked about how difficult that is. I'm not ready to say that that's happened yet in New England, but I think

Rayshawn Buchanan: no. Not that.

David Clarke: I think, like, if that's true, I mean, you guys would know more than me, if it looked like a, like, he had stamped his, you know, Identity a little bit on the team. I mean, that's so positive, you know, for, for the future of your franchise.

David Clarke: Cause like, that's where you start building from.

Rayshawn Buchanan: Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead. Go ahead, Mike.

Mike Marcangelo: I was, well, one thing I was going to say was, uh, I think it's interesting that, like, the way that we're talking about this win, uh, specifically because a lot of the players that shined through, And this week, we're players that Bill left us. So I think there's, there's, uh, uh, for me there's always gonna be this, this other thing I want to talk about every time we talk about the Patriots.

Mike Marcangelo: So I'm just gonna warn you now, so you don't get sick and tired of it, is, if this team does better than they did last year, which I still don't think they're going to, but let's just say they do. Let's just say they get six wins. Again, I, I don't want that to happen, but whatever. Uh, And it's all their guys, like, what does that really say about Bill?

Mike Marcangelo: They just tuned him out at the end. And now Gerard can actually get these guys to do what, what they did two to three years ago.

Rayshawn Buchanan: It's the same thing, and we talked about this analogy before, and David would appreciate this, him being a basketball guy, but you know where I'm going with this too, Mike. It's the same thing with Papa San Antonio. Same thing. Once again, we know that Papa's, if not, if he's not one of the best, he's damn sure Revered is the best coach in NBA history.

Rayshawn Buchanan: But, once again, once You know, 21 left, and, you know, Tony Parker leaves, Manu leaves, and, you know, you run Kawhi out of town. You know, yeah, he's getting, he's about to get a second chance with Wembley to, you know, redeem himself to an extent, but okay, that dude's a beast, but it's like, his, his messages, I think, have fallen on deaf ears and they just haven't had the talent, also, and I think that's what happened here in New England, like, yeah, Bill had the cachet because of what he's won, and what he's meant to the league, and what he's meant to the organization but his message, his philosophies, you know, just everything that he was doing had fallen on deaf ears.

Rayshawn Buchanan: And I feel like that had been the case for a few years, not just, you know, last year. So yeah, it seems like, I think, I don't know if it was Tom Curran or somebody else that mentioned about, uh, you know, players ready to run through a wall for Jaramillo. So, I think it's because he had the relationships already built.

Rayshawn Buchanan: In that locker room the last few years because he'd been on the defensive side of the ball. So when he stepped into this role, he already has some cash aid with the guys, which is why Craft probably went with that decision regardless of what we felt on the outside, they knew when they knew internally what he meant to that locker room and what he could potentially build into if, uh, if things went right.

Mike Marcangelo: How dumb, Dave, are the Bengals for letting Joe Nixon go?

David Clarke: Yeah. I mean, I don't, I don't know. I don't know what the fuck's going on over there, to be honest. I don't, I'm not really sure what the sort of overall game plan is or what they're really going for. They seem to be hitting their timing weird on a lot of those contracts. And like, again, I still don't know what the fuck's going on with bro's wrist. but you know, to the, to the Belichick point, I just wanted to say like, I think my theory on what happened there is, and this is with no actual information, purely speculation, but If you're 21 in Bill Belichick's last year of, of coaching, I don't, you didn't viscerally experience the things that he did in the game like we did in, in real cognitive years.

David Clarke: So you're sort of being told that he's a legend, which like, I think all, like, we all know, like, yeah, you can respect guys and like, you know, take people's word for it, but like the ones you see are the ones that like really like make an imprint. And. Gerard Mayo being like 38 and a former player, I think gives him a huge leg up on what's a pretty young team.

David Clarke: You know, for better or for worse on Bill's drafts, like they're all still At least like molding age, right? So there's something to be said for that. And I think it might just, it's not to say that Bill Belichick became a worse coach overnight. There's just no way. But like he was probably really used to having a certain amount of, like you said, cachet or like gravitas or whatever you want to call it, where when he would say something, everybody would fucking jump and hop too.

David Clarke: And maybe that's just not the case anymore. And also. You know, I mean, I'm not saying he can't still do the job, but he's an older man, and like, there's a certain probably amount of energy that is required to be an NFL head coach. I doubt it's a I doubt it's a short work day. Every day. You know, I think they're probably, yeah, they're probably in there, like, a lot, you know, so.

David Clarke: Bill was never really like a rah rah, like, man manager, like, get everybody hyped up type of, type of coach but it seems to be really effective to be like that in this, you know, Day and age in the NFL with this, this, these kids that are coming in. So, and everybody likes it, you know, it's box office and Bill Belichick was like certainly not box office, especially by the end.

David Clarke: Like it wasn't like, it wasn't like the funnest thing to do to go listen to the press conferences, gents, you know what I mean? So like, I mean, uh, injection of energy, it doesn't necessarily mean, I mean, he was automatically a better coach than Bill Belichick because he took a very similar roster and like, but an injection of energy, context, these serendipitous things, they matter.

David Clarke: You know, they matter in life, they matter in football.

Mike Marcangelo: Before we get into, uh, like the preview for, uh, Seattle, and then I want to talk a little bit about the Bears, just for your date, um, is it an overreaction to say that this game is something that they can build on for the rest of the season, still knowing that they're not going to be a contender? Or should people start thinking, well, if they can win games like this, maybe they can be a 7 8 win team? Well, based on your neutrality, Dave, What do you think?

David Clarke: I think if you can build it, if you, if you can do that, and become a 7 or 8 win team, you then automatically win. Right away, I think, get a lot of the cachet back from around the league as far as players wanting to come and play there the sort of legacy that that place has, you know, as, as the last great dynasty and not really much before that, you're sort of new money in, in NFL circles, so when you have like a, I think the San Francisco 49ers are a really good example, like, they're always good.

David Clarke: Right? Like, they're always good. They're always there, thereabouts. They're always trying to be, like, there, thereabouts. You see them in a lot of Super Bowls. And, the fucking uniforms are the coolest shit. So, people want to go play for the San Francisco 49ers. It's just like, you, you, you remember Joe Montana in the, in, in that uniform.

David Clarke: Like, you remember the guys that came before. You have to cement yourselves as that as New Englanders now, and I think that there's, there's something to be said for, I, I'm usually, Mike, you know, I'm usually, like, the don't be a dog shit seven or eight win team, but, If that was in a situation where I was like firing fucking coaches on week two, you know what I mean?

David Clarke: Like that's just not gonna happen. You're gonna see how this plays out one way or the other, right? For better or for worse. So, and like, you gotta at least give him the Drake May year, maybe plus one, you know, you kind of have to let, let, like, let's see how this project works out. So at the beginning of it, excitement is great.

David Clarke: But if he can basically outperform with what they can do as a coaching staff, it seems Maybe you don't need that super, super high pick, you know, like, I mean, some teams, like you said, I mean, you made this point, like, on our last show, it's like some teams build great teams without a top five pick ever, you know, so, and if people want to come and you free up a little cap space, which you have done, then all of a sudden your fate's, it doesn't take four years, your fate's turned around in two, which is, it's great, you know what I mean?

David Clarke: You're, you're a winning team again by the end of next year.

Mike Marcangelo: Ray, given that you wrote this rundown, it seems to me that you are pretty, uh, you're pretty excited about this win. So what do you think their identity can be?

Rayshawn Buchanan: I think it's more smack you in the mouth, running the ball. I mean, once again, I, to me, I've always been a guy, and I'm a throwback type of guy. The run to me sets up the pass, and I know that's not what it's supposed to be now. Yeah, you have to, you have to, yeah, you have to throw it, you have to throw it all over the park.

Rayshawn Buchanan: I get that. But the runs just have to pass. And you saw yesterday that when they got first down for Andre, they was able to do what Alex Van Pelt wants to do, which is a run to play action. And then, you know, listen, he made Tyquan Thornton get made positive plays yesterday. I would, I, that, that to me, you got Tyquan Thornton to get two catches for 27 yards.

Rayshawn Buchanan: And I was. I was in awe that he was able to have two positive plays, you know, more than he had at all last year. So, I'm, I'm thankful already to Alex Van Pelt for that moment alone. So, I'm, I'm cool, cool. We got that out the way. But yeah, running it, running, running the ball. You know, playing sound and technical defense and I think that's, that to me is where the identity can be built.

Rayshawn Buchanan: I think that they just have to continue to be disciplined. I felt like there wasn't a lot of penalties called. Once again, in the preseason, there was a penalty. I felt like every other, every other snap.

Mike Marcangelo: Well, the first two games of the NFL season, it was just like fucking penalty fest.

Rayshawn Buchanan: Yeah, and that's why, you know, we were talking about it in the chat, and I was, I was so annoyed because, you know, that point of emphasis about, oh, like, don't, you know, don't be behind the line of scrimmage, whatever, whatever that rule is, but it's just like, yo, like, calling it on every down,

David Clarke: literally doesn't matter, is the thing. It like, literally doesn't fucking matter.

Rayshawn Buchanan: it really doesn't, I don't,

David Clarke: thing that I'm just like, why are we still talking about this?

Rayshawn Buchanan: Right. It's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's ridiculous. It's ridiculous, honestly. So, but yeah, I mean, listen, I, I think like I said, if they keep running the ball effectively, uh, to set up the pass and then, you know, just like I said, playing sound, technical defense but just like I said, keeping that discipline on both sides of the ball and really at all three phases.

Rayshawn Buchanan: Like I said, special season was great yesterday too. So yeah, I just think, you know, cause we talked about the identity going forward, but I just think to me, if you, and once again, I've gone back and forth on this stance, it's, About, you know, them losing. Listen, I want to be clear. The priority for me is still Will Campbell.

Rayshawn Buchanan: I want to be clear. But, but, right, there's a but, right? If, if you're able to maintain this level of play then yeah, if that, if that maneuvers you to get to 8 9 wins, then once again, like Dave said, you build the cachet for people to want to come here, because that should be the goal anyways. You build through the draft.

Rayshawn Buchanan: And you get your final pieces to give credit to Dave for what he said a few weeks ago. So, that's what I ultimately want. I'm not trying to be sitting here in 2032, still waiting for them to make at least the first or second round of playoffs. Like, I'm not trying to wait that long. So if we can get this in within a two year span, as opposed to four to five, sign me up.

Mike Marcangelo: I mean, listen, if they, if they can win six or seven games, now again, these are still big games, I'm not, I'm trying not to overreact, but I think it's worth talking about it. They can get to six or seven wins with this squad. You would think after a year of developing, Drake May would be able to come in next year

Rayshawn Buchanan: Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Mike Marcangelo: and a half or three more wins.

Mike Marcangelo: And now you're at your nine to ten wins. And you figure out free agency, right? So

Rayshawn Buchanan: Exactly. Correct. Right. Because they got to catch this in two years. So I'm like, figure it out. Figure it out. Figure it out.

Mike Marcangelo: DK, I don't know where you, like, where your head was at in terms of, I think you were in agreement with me in terms of Drake May and how, like, you should probably wait as long as possible to start him with, based on what you saw in, in, uh, just one week of football, if they can play like this, is there any reason to, to, to rush?

Mike Marcangelo: Drake May into a starting position, uh, this year.

David Clarke: if you can sustain the O Line, the, the, the, the thing about, uh, Bursette, you know, I know he said he was like crying on his way to the stadium or whatever the fuck that was all about, but the, uh, the, the, uh, sorry, I just, I only read it for like briefly. I don't know what the context is, but I was like, stop crying.

Rayshawn Buchanan: I'll tell you why I was crying. I was crying because he was going to be the starting quarterback. I

David Clarke: That's probably why he was crying too. But I would just say like, he's a crash test dummy, so you can't put him out there until you watch the O Line Protect Your Investment for like, I don't know, at least four games. At least four games. Like a, like a, like a, like an IR, PUP type, uh, type thing. Time span, right?

David Clarke: Like, uh, we just need to see that he's not gonna die if he goes out there. And then, yeah, I mean, fuck it. 

David Clarke: If you're, if you've won three games out of your first five, and the O line looks like it can protect him, and the, the QB play from Brissett hasn't been stunning. It hasn't, I mean, look, I think the most important thing in his stat line, I would say this about Caleb Williams, too.

David Clarke: I'll say this about Justin Fields. The absolute most important thing in this stat line is that goose hegged interception. I think that is how, like, a quarterback can kill you, obviously. Like, that's nothing anyone doesn't know, but you can win a game in other ways if he does that for you, if he, if he, if he throws zero interception.

David Clarke: So he hasn't done anything wrong, but like, would you, if week five, if this is pretty much the level of QB play you're getting from him, but you're winning games, is it that crazy to think like, wow, we're winning games, like it'd be pretty sick if like Drake May went in there and also

Mike Marcangelo: So you, you would,

David Clarke: QB play, you know, it'd be hard, it'd be hard to resist if I was in your position, I think.

Mike Marcangelo: if they're three and three going into week seven, you would start Drake May?

David Clarke: If they're three and three going into week seven with two provisions, one. SAC numbers are low, right? SAC numbers are low, and it's because he has time, not because he's, like, crafty and is, like, runs for his life well. And, which he isn't, because he's slow, and, but, like, any, you know, I mean, he chose the exact right times to go for those scrambles, and I think that's often more important than really being super explosive.

David Clarke: But, uh, yeah, if that provision is there, and those, that, those advanced analytics really, like, work. Say, Drake May shouldn't die, if he goes in there, let's see and additionally, if a couple of those games were close enough that you can sort of say to yourself, like, if we had a little bit better QB play, you know, it's, if it's justifiable, if it's justifiable, then yeah it, and you'll know when it is, and it, and, and a big part of it's gonna be that O line, because like, it, what could happen is in two weeks, you could be like, oh my god, don't let him, don't let him go in there, Jesus Christ, like, he'll die, no way.

Rayshawn Buchanan: mean, I've jokingly said, I don't know if I've said this in a group chat or if I've said this elsewhere, but I, I had a, I had a worker theory that, you know, Brissette gets knocked out on the sideline on September 19th, week three, versus the Jets.

Mike Marcangelo: Yep.

David Clarke: be prophetic.

Rayshawn Buchanan: You know, it would be poetic. Like, that's how it has to happen. Like, that's how it has to happen. He's gonna go for a run on the sideline. C. J. Mosley or whoever, Toscano's gonna knock him out of bounds. And they're gonna say, oh man, recess on the sideline. Like, what happened? Drake May comes in and Damn, baby.

Rayshawn Buchanan: Like, the rest is history. But all jokes aside, like, I feel like eventually we may have to see him later on this year, pun intended. I just, I just think that if you're looking to have the passing game as an actual threat, right, because now If, if you continue to run the ball for 120, 130, as they could easily do with Steven Sika, I think he's that good.

Rayshawn Buchanan: I've been on the bandwagon since he's, since he's been here in New England, so has Mike and, uh, you know, the rest of us that are past fans in the group, but you're going to eventually start putting A in the box, if you know that's all you're going to do, right? And, If you're saying that 121 is the ceiling, like, that's gross.

Rayshawn Buchanan: I'm already set. Like, I'm all set. So, I'd rather have the eventual threat of that. Once again, I think I'd rather have all the options available, so I think that once Bourne is back and then, you know, Moody and, you know, Oswald, like, have everybody available before you're like, yo, let me throw them out there, but if the line continues to hold up and you have all the weapons available, like, why, why not give it a shot?

Rayshawn Buchanan: If that, if that's the case.

Mike Marcangelo: Listen, to your

Rayshawn Buchanan: it has to be at Cabellon,

Mike Marcangelo: to both of your earlier points, like that you, you, you run to set up the pass. I 100 percent agree with that. Once you start putting eight in the box, like you have to be able to pass. Or else they're, they're, they're gonna get you. Right. And I don't, and I don't, I don't know, like Jako, I don't think Brit's gonna lose you a game.

Mike Marcangelo: I really don't. I, but I also don't think he's gonna win you one. And so the way that I think about this though is that if, if through seven weeks, eight weeks you're, you're 500 or you're one game below, I think Brit is doing enough to, he. Earned his, his, the right to play that, to play out the year, continue to build and implement the new system with Alex Van Pelt, and continue to teach Drake May that system, uh, in practice.

Mike Marcangelo: Because it's only going to get better next year. So like there's, for me, there's really no upside to them being five and five or four and four, and then putting in Drake because, okay, yeah, maybe you go nine and eight and you get smacked in the playoffs. Or maybe you go, he goes, oh, and six, and then you've, you could have just ruined the Like, just let him, let him be a backup for you.

Mike Marcangelo: It's fine. There's, there's no pressure on him, in my opinion, to come in and start or win any games for the Patriots this

David Clarke: I mean, I think you're probably right, but that's no fun.

Mike Marcangelo: But it's the

David Clarke: no fucking fun. Yeah, whatever. Well, fuck that. Like, put the kid in. Let's see him. Let's see him run for his fucking life! I wanna

Mike Marcangelo: but you, you live, listen, you lived

Rayshawn Buchanan: you, we three, baby. We three.

Mike Marcangelo: you lived that with Justin Fields, and you loved it, and then you quickly hated it.

David Clarke: Um, I didn't I, for the record, I didn't hate it until Caleb Williams was on the table. Like, I'm just a little slut.

Mike Marcangelo: Which, by the way,

David Clarke: my problem.

Mike Marcangelo: he was on the table week six of last year for you.

David Clarke: When the, when the Panthers were, uh, going to shit, you want to hear a fun fact? We have their second round pick this year. Ha ha ha ha ha ha! In the same trade! It's fucking the gift that keeps on giving, dude! It's fucking crazy! They might as well be our feeder team! It's wild! Yeah, I mean, look, I, I, you're probably right.

David Clarke: Mike, but to me, if it's, if it's looking like Brissette can lead you to a 7 10 season, and you honestly think Drake May can lead you to a 9 8 season, and you're all of a sudden a playoff team again, I mean, you gotta take that. You gotta take that, right? And, like, I don't think that's such a bad springboard.

David Clarke: I agree that, like, let him sit here, et cetera, et cetera, like, conventional wisdom, Jordan Love, Aaron Rodgers, I get it, Steve Young, I understand Pat Mahomes, I get it. I just think that's fucking dumb and boring. Let's see him play!

Mike Marcangelo: you think it's smart and boring.

Rayshawn Buchanan: quarterback we just named, we just named a few moments ago, we're all better than what Brissette is currently.

Mike Marcangelo: All.

David Clarke: That's true. There's a reason all those guys were on the bench. You know

Rayshawn Buchanan: No, no, no, I'm saying, you know, you were saying, like, Rodgers, you know, love, and then, you know, like, even Alex Smith was like, come on.

David Clarke: No, totally, I mean, but even the Alex Smith here, it made sense why Alex Smith was the QB, right? Like, there was, there was a lot of data that said,

Mike Marcangelo: both are agreeing.

David Clarke: Yeah, right, exactly, so it's like, it's that thing of like, we don't need to, you don't need to rush him, but at the same time, all those examples you're talking about paid off, because like, those guys learned from like, some of the best QBs to ever play the game, with the exception of Alex Smith, but like, you know what I mean, you know, it's

Rayshawn Buchanan: learn from those guys than learn from a son of luck. So, that's,

Mike Marcangelo: of, uh,

David Clarke: yeah, I don't think it's gonna move the needle that much, I think that Drake May is gonna be what Drake May is gonna be, no matter what your Kobe Brissette does,

Rayshawn Buchanan: Kobe Bryant has a new nickname, Cinderblock, because that's how we pronounce it, Cinderblock.

David Clarke: I, like, I like him, I, you know, I like that he won the game for you guys, or, well, he didn't lose it for you guys, but, I think that, like, Drake Mays future doesn't depend on GKobey Percept, for the love of God.

David Clarke: No, of course it doesn't.

Rayshawn Buchanan: thank you. That's all I wanted.

Mike Marcangelo: Uh, speaking of great quarterbacks. 

Mike Marcangelo: Uh, Tom Brady made his broadcasting debut, uh, this week, uh, he covered the, the Dallas, uh, Cleveland game, which, again, did not go the way that any of us thought it was gonna go, besides Bobby. What do we think about, uh, about Brady's debut? I, I actually, I know how, how DK feels.

Mike Marcangelo: Were you underwhelmed, or did you feel like, like, it, I think Tony Romo ruined it for us a couple years ago, when he, cause when, that, that first year of Romo, he was excellent. Like, even you have, uh, said that. 

David Clarke: He was electric that first year.

Mike Marcangelo: Brady wasn't that.

David Clarke: No, he was, um, he was, he was bad.

Mike Marcangelo: Heh heh.

Rayshawn Buchanan: Oh yeah, he's, he's too, he's, he's, yeah, yeah, he's robotic, but. He's too much of an all shuck. Like he, he, he's not what he was on the field. Like if he transform into what he was on the field, that's a different story. 'cause that, that guy that, and he can't because that, that's not, I don't think he wants to be that, but it's like, like, 'cause that guy's the most competitive guy I've ever seen.

Rayshawn Buchanan: If that's the case and will bring it and will try to get better. Now I'm sure that he hears. The memory, here's what was said already, and I'm sure that his next performance next week will be much better than it was you know, in week one. I thought he was okay for that arena football game that he did over the summer, but once again, that was a low level, you know, low vibration, low pressure, you know, situation, so it was like, okay, you kind of just eased your way into it, but, yeah Yeah, it was, it was underwhelming only because, like I said, the personality has to be there.

Rayshawn Buchanan: Once again, there's no one that could question the football knowledge. Like, let's be, like, the football knowledge is second to none. What I've seen him break down on Colin Cowherd's show, what I've seen him talk about with Stephen A, like, the dude, the dude is next level, obviously, when it comes to breaking down players and talking about, uh, the state of the game.

Rayshawn Buchanan: But he doesn't, I don't know if he has the voice for it either. You know what I'm saying? Obviously, you have to find your voice eventually, but I'm saying like just, can you turn it, it's one thing listening to an interview, or listening to a podcast with him on it, but to be on there, you know, where You have to play off the play by play guy I'm not, like I say, he didn't have it yet, doesn't mean that he won't get it, but as of now it wasn't where, you know, we thought it would be or could be, uh, coming out the gate.

Rayshawn Buchanan: And like you said, Mike, uh, it's true, you know, Romo out the gate was unreal. Like, it was just, I can't believe, you know, you was like this and you, you know, you couldn't get past a certain thing and you thought like this. Like, the way, I mean, once again, I hate, he's become, you know, annoying and robotic to an extent Mini Romo, but, you know, the way he still breaks down stuff is still excellent.

Rayshawn Buchanan: It's just, you know, he just, you know, he just became a little more robotic. So, you know, people can't stand him now, but, you know, he's not, he's not bad. He, he, he, no one, no one's worse than him. No one is

Mike Marcangelo: off. No, are you out of

David Clarke: are you talking

Rayshawn Buchanan: I can't stand this. I'm sorry.

David Clarke: That's, but

Rayshawn Buchanan: Here's a guy every five seconds, please. So y'all, okay, we disagree on that, sorry, yeah, we disagree

David Clarke: Chris Collinsworth has, is mastered, he's mastered the art of, of making it seem like you fucking, he's sitting next to you on the couch, just, just calling a great game of football.

David Clarke: Him and Mike Tariq are the absolute gold standard

Rayshawn Buchanan: I know, I love Mike Tirico, but I'm not a

Mike Marcangelo: Mike Tirico is no Al Michaels. So, like,

David Clarke: Mike

Rayshawn Buchanan: Okay, who is though? Who is?

David Clarke: Yeah,

Mike Marcangelo: mean, it's, it was a massive drop off. But don't you think, DK, isn't, Isn't Tom Brady kind of cucked by the fact that he can't go into any walkthroughs, he can't go to any practices, and he can't talk negatively about the refs, because he's trying to be an owner of

David Clarke: I don't fucking feel, I don't fucking feel bad for him. He's like, I get to do this job because I, like, did a completely unrelated job, basically, that, like, doesn't give me any of the fucking skills that it takes to, it's, it's always annoyed me that when a, when a player's profile supersedes their talent.

David Clarke: To do that job, I, we all went to fucking school for this, you know? Like, we, we have respect for broadcasting, our opinions on good broadcasters may differ, but we have at least respect for the fucking art form, you know? Like, the, the Al Michaels of the world, you know, cut, like, Edward R. fucking Murrow, you know what I mean?

David Clarke: Like, people, people being good broadcasters, not just sports broadcasters, is a difficult thing to do, and you have to be, like, incredibly high level to be announcing an NFL game one way or the other, and quite frankly, the contract that Tom Brady got, The job that Tom Brady got for what his skill set is, is Probably the most one sided, like, just, or lopsided, uh, payment for level of talent I've ever seen, except for the CEO of every company, ever.

David Clarke: But I think

Mike Marcangelo: how good Greg Olsen was.

David Clarke: Greg Olson was fine. He was fine. Uh, he was, he was, he was fine and he was getting better, I thought, year on year. Uh, every year, Greg Olson got, like, slightly less annoying to me, even though I liked him as a player. But again, like, that was a growing pain situation. Will Brady get better? Sure. But, like He's not good.

David Clarke: He's, and the thing is, like, I, uh, my point was actually gonna be before you slandered Collinsworth, my point was literally gonna be I, uh, how unfair was it that you were, like, listening to Brady late into the later games, and then they throw to Chris Collinsworth, and it was like, holy shit, like, why did they let that opening act fucking go out there, like, they got slaughtered when they got followed up, like, Collinsworth was just, because the thing is Brady sounded tense, which is fine for your first game, but it throws it to Collinsworth and that man doesn't have a care in the world.

David Clarke: He's so happy to be there. He loves the game of football and he, yeah, yeah, he thinks every, all those guys are really good players. He's just like, I, well, I mean, honestly, I think the thing he builds from is he's like, honestly, These guys are all great. These guys are all just wonderful athletes. And I'm like, it's happy go lucky.

David Clarke: He brings a Mr. Rogers Neighborhood type vibe to the whole thing.

Rayshawn Buchanan: I think maybe, so, to add to that, right, I think maybe, and this goes back to what Mike said about, about Al Michaels, maybe I like the pairing of him and Al

David Clarke: I was upset when they broke up too.

Rayshawn Buchanan: Then, then, then him and Sirico, maybe, that's, I've always been a

David Clarke: him and Tariqo have really figured it out.

Rayshawn Buchanan: Yeah, you know what I'm saying? So, that's where I'm stemming from. But, I mean, listen, he was great with watching, I love the, what game was that?

Rayshawn Buchanan: I think it was Indianapolis, where Gronk ran over a dude and just scored a touchdown. It was a few

Mike Marcangelo: Oh, yeah, yeah.

Rayshawn Buchanan: Honestly, he was just like, oh, yeah, like, like, that's, that's the thing that's on the couch, so I, that I get what you guys say in that regard and just for me, some of those moments that happened too few and far between for my, for me anyways, but like I said, he's had great moments, I just wasn't the big, or I'm not the biggest fan of him, but he's had great moments, though, that's not,

Mike Marcangelo: He also just knows how natural it is, like, to let the announcer actually breathe. Like, he never steps, he never stepped on Al, he never

David Clarke: Brady, Brady let the announcer breathe until he died of

Mike Marcangelo: I know, I know! Oh!

David Clarke: is that Brady just wouldn't talk. I was like, Tom, that's you. Like, time for you to go, and he just wouldn't. And it was like these horrible, uncomfortable silences because that's probably what it's like to hang out with Tom Brady, dude.

David Clarke: He's a weird guy. You have to be a little bit of a psycho to have done what he did. So now the more

Rayshawn Buchanan: you

David Clarke: personality, like the roast, the roast was like funny, but it was weird as fuck, dude. It was weird as fuck.

Rayshawn Buchanan: you imagine Michael Jordan calling NBA games even

David Clarke: Yeah, I think you would do great, to be

Mike Marcangelo: No, you don't, no.

David Clarke: think he would do awesome.

David Clarke: I think he would

Rayshawn Buchanan: even not

David Clarke: They made a

Rayshawn Buchanan: Michael Jordan would come on there and say, now this dude, this dude sucks.

David Clarke: is. They made a whole, like, six part series about how fuckin cool as shit and competitive Michael Jordan is. I think he'd do great. I don't, I, I think he'd do awesome. Yeah, totally. The only thing he shouldn't be is a fuckin GM.

David Clarke: Yeah,

Rayshawn Buchanan: I, I, I think that he would, he would slander every player possible.

David Clarke: that'd be great. That would be must

Rayshawn Buchanan: The only guys he would rock with is guys that North Carolina.

David Clarke: TV. Must

Rayshawn Buchanan: yeah, he, he would, he would, he would rock with guys and went to North Carolina and then he would big up Russell Westbrook. That's about it.

David Clarke: I bet he would, I think he would love, I think he would love Anthony, Anthony Edwards. I think he would

Rayshawn Buchanan: Oh, sure, for sure,

David Clarke: over Anthony Edwards at all times.

Rayshawn Buchanan: You believe Sonny's next to you? Ha, ha, ha,

David Clarke: but listen, I just think that Tom Brady is the kind of guy that thinks he's good at a lot of things when, in fact, we've seen him be good categorically at one thing.

David Clarke: Now, he was the best to ever do that, but come on, man, you can't have it all. Give somebody else the job that's, like, way better than you. 

David Clarke: 17

Mike Marcangelo: Before we get into our preview for Seattle and our Week 2 predictions, we talked about it earlier, the Chicago Bears were down 17 3 at halftime.

David Clarke: 0 at one point.

Mike Marcangelo: yeah, and I could, I, we could all, we all put out a watch for, uh, for DK. They didn't score, what's that, 21 unanswered points? Uh, or was it 24 unanswered points?

Mike Marcangelo: Yeah, 24, 24 unanswered points to get a 24 17 victory over those Titans from Tennessee. Dave, what is your takeaway from that game? Like, what, what are your happy things you're going to build on?

David Clarke: I was gonna fucking kill myself, I swear to God. I was like, I

Mike Marcangelo: I mean, you said it. You literally,

David Clarke: I can't fucking believe this is happening. I was. I usually am so much better at tempering my expectations, like, especially about the Bears, but, like, some combination of, like, the first overall draft pick and, like, the moves we made in the offseason and hard knocks, like, I just got so drunk on the bubbly,

Mike Marcangelo: the hard knocks.

David Clarke: that was the Chicago Bears, like, the last episode of hard knocks, like, Like they just, it was like just this sweet montage of like Caleb Williams throwing dots and like a sweet like song where everybody's like just catching ball and I'm like this is just about to be the greatest Chicago Bears like run ever.

David Clarke: We're finally back, we're so back and then just reality punches you straight in the mouth and the Tennessee Titans provide the fist and I can't. Uh, stressed enough how I was gonna kill myself. So I'm really glad that they, uh, they fucking turned it around cause here I am talking to you today. It's, it was, it's a really inspiring story.

David Clarke: I

Mike Marcangelo: Listen, I, I thought that Kayla Williams had a Uh, an okay game from the standpoint that he didn't lose it for you. And that, that's the, and I told you that two weeks ago. Listen, he doesn't need to win you any games in the first six weeks. You just can't lose it. I was a little surprised by the lack of production from DeAndre Swift and from, uh, Keenan Allen.

Mike Marcangelo: But aside from that, I mean, maybe it's just first game jitters, or, I, I really

David Clarke: offense, no, I mean, the offense looked like shit. The offense scored zero points. Uh, they looked absolutely fucking atrocious and they all need to take a long, hard look at themselves. I think that the blocking was awful. Uh, there was centers getting pancaked by linebackers, unacceptable. It just, it was a mess.

David Clarke: We tried to triple team a guy at one point, and then like a, like a, uh, I think it was probably a defensive back came late around the side, around the corner, and just got to Caleb. Like we said earlier you gotta establish the pass with the run. DeAndre Swift couldn't get off the ground. We ran Herbert at weird times.

David Clarke: It, I didn't mind Waldron's. The things he was doing, they just weren't working, they weren't clicking. That being said, were two Caleb Williams accurate passes and a non drop by a guy who doesn't drop the fucking ball in Keenan Allen away from him having three touchdown passes? Like, he, he Made the reads so I know that like the the like the internet was really loud today And I was like fine lay it on me.

David Clarke: I want to hear it I want to hear everybody do the victory dance that like he's not the guy he's already a bust like whatever I think you sound stupid calling it one way or the other but I genuinely after one game, but I genuinely will take making the reads but not having the accuracy with At this level, like, being a rookie, your first ever game, and you see those routes, when fields couldn't see open guys through the middle ever.

David Clarke: He was decent on the deep ball on the sidelines, and he was decent with the bubble passes, but even then, I would, I would want, I would have wanted as much zip as he was putting on his ball for the fucking Pittsburgh Steelers, I'll tell you that much. He was, he corrected a lot of stuff, I really enjoyed that, but overall, I, like, he saw the reads, he made literally rookie mistakes, like, He, he didn't get rid of the bond, he got sacked on that big sack where he lost like 19 yards and like that's just what rookies do, you know what I mean?

David Clarke: Like he just, the thing is, it's It's contrasted by the fact that Levis releases the ball at the end of the game, when he's going down for a sack, and we take it in for an easy pick six, so it's like, well, you know, it could have been worse, he didn't throw any interceptions, uh, factually, and overall the offense wasn't clicking, like, you don't think that if Swift was and making, getting first downs and like making it work that Kayla Williams stat line wouldn't look better?

David Clarke: Of course it would. Of course, it's just like, with both of those, if one thing is true, then the other thing is gonna be true. So, too early to tell. Too early to tell, to be honest. I still think the way he can throw the ball with weird body shapes is elite. I saw him make the reads that he needed to make.

David Clarke: And I also saw him, like, not let everything fully fucking fall apart when it started to go badly. Like, he, he definitely was, like, Everyone fucking relax, okay? Like, there was a little bit of that, and I was like, alright, that's good, like, he didn't let the whole world implode, which fields would do from time to time, so, uh, increasingly, actually, as time went on, but yeah, I mean, too early to tell, I'm relieved that we won the game, to be honest, because we had to win that game if we were in any way close to where I thought we were as a team.

Rayshawn Buchanan: Well, that, that's what I was telling you about when we did the picks you know, last, last week, you know, so just go back and listen to that, but I was thinking about how Tennessee would maybe run their way into some games they had no business winning. And for, you know, majority of that game, that's what was happening, right?

David Clarke: Smack in the mouth at the start, that's the way you do that, right?

Rayshawn Buchanan: Right, exactly. So, so, you know, we'll let him show us who he was and just, you know, 

David Clarke: Can I actually point out a funny thing real quick? Sorry to interrupt you, because I know I talked for fucking ever, but I just wanted to say there was one play, I don't know if you guys saw it, uh, Will Levis, they were talking about like how rough and tumble he is, like they were doing that commentary narrative, and they were like, Will Levis, he's just like getting his big body in there, and then right as they're done saying that, fucking Will Levis like makes a run through the middle, and uh, Edmunds comes out of, out of the, like, the left side and hits him in midair, and the commentator was forced to be like, Well, I mean, he's 6'3 230, but Edmunds, unfortunately, is 6'5 250, so now he's a little banged up, and I was like, Yes, fuck it, cause like, he just cracks into him, like, really hits him, and then it's like, heating pad on the back for Will Levis, it's like, The thing is, is like, one of the things, I, I don't want anyone to get hurt, I, I don't, I really was mad when Jordan Love went down, I, I don't want any injuries, but honestly, your defense has to be like, get out of here with that fucking noise, dude, you're gonna run through the middle on us, you're the quarterback, fuck you.

David Clarke: Like, you have to bang him up. If he, if he decides he's a player now, oh, you're a runner now, you can play the game of football. You fucking jack him up at every opportunity, you jack his shit up. You're not sliding, you're going forward, You're getting fucked up, dude. That's a literally, it should be in a linebacker's contract to make sure that fucking happens.

David Clarke: So, the fact that that happened, and then all of a sudden he started playing like shit, was music to my fucking ears. The defense looked great. So yeah, sorry. Will Levis, you're right. Uh, he

Rayshawn Buchanan: Oh yeah, that's what I'm

David Clarke: up, though.

Rayshawn Buchanan: Right, oh yeah, so, so, show us who he was and the defense to go by. And I'll say what I said to you, you know, you know, when I messaged you, I was like, yo, that looked like old school Bears defense,

David Clarke: Real 06 vibes, yeah.

Rayshawn Buchanan: Jonathan Nolan is, you know,

David Clarke: Simone Biles wife! I love

Rayshawn Buchanan: yeah, yeah, giving us Mike Brown vibes.

Rayshawn Buchanan: So if you know, you know, uh, you know, so hey, I'm, you know, I'll, I'll, I'll take it. I said they, they looked good in the second half and that's all that matters. Once again, you finished the job. So yeah.

David Clarke: Brown, for the record.

Rayshawn Buchanan: Oh, no, yeah, no, he was, listen, amazing dude was Mr. Pick Six for a while. People talking about Durant Blaine now, but Mike Brown, Mike Brown was the guy, yeah, so

David Clarke: he was also such a hard tackler, which I loved about him, like, he would come absolutely through, through guys, like, I agree wholeheartedly, when you say stuff like that, it makes my 16 year old heart flutter. It's, it's like a real

Rayshawn Buchanan: listen, listen, if there's anyone that's going to take you down memory lane, baby, you know it was me, you know it was

David Clarke: do, you do have, like, an honestly, like, a really good, uh, depth of knowledge about the 2006 Bears roster. I've, I've heard you call out, like, a couple

Rayshawn Buchanan: yeah, I mean, I mean, we did, I, I, because, well, so,

David Clarke: Marty Booker, you mentioned, like, not too long ago. I was pretty

Rayshawn Buchanan: Booker was, was, was awesome, yeah but, but the thing is, we, we watched, I feel like we watched both basketball and football pretty similarly, so that's why we can, we can do that, so, you know, and it's cool, it's cool to reminisce on, on the glory days and how good players

David Clarke: Mike Brown, dude. It just made me so happy that you brought that

Rayshawn Buchanan: clip. Hey, we love, we love Mike Brown,

David Clarke: Loved Jonathan Owens, too, actually.

Rayshawn Buchanan: Yeah, yeah, he's awesome

David Clarke: because, like, Mike Brown, Jonathan Owens, it makes a lot of sense. Like, they're both kind of weirdly undersized, but they, like, Like, what I loved about Jonathan Owens in that moment was he was so, he was first to the ball, like, mentally.

David Clarke: You know what I mean? Like, he was just there, and I think that's how you make an impression on special teams, and that's how you start to get real rotational snaps in, because it's like, he was just first to the ball, like, ready to go, picked it up, scooped it up, good hands, into the end zone, like, all this, all this simple stuff happened correctly, which is, like, what Eberfluse has been smashing on, so yeah, I'm pumped about the defense, for sure.

Mike Marcangelo: I kind of feel like I'm infringing upon your, your, your two special time here, but in the order, in the essence of moving things along, we're gonna go to week two, uh, to our week two predictions. 

Mike Marcangelo: Uh, it does, it does start off Thursday night football on prime. The guy Al Michaels is about to call Buffalo at Miami.

Mike Marcangelo: So, and the line right now, it's Miami is favored by a point and a half. So Ray, who are you picking in this game?

Rayshawn Buchanan: Uh, I'm going with Miami because it's down to hard work, right? Hard work. Yeah, so yeah, I'm going with Miami, like Miami at home early on in the year, they're pretty strong there, so, and like I said, I know Buffalo ended up coming back and winning, uh, yesterday, but I'm rocking with Miami.

David Clarke: Yeah, I don't think I'm going to strafe that too hard. I didn't think Miami looked bad, I just thought they didn't look really, like, 100 percent prepared. Neither did Jacksonville, thankfully, for them. I thought that Tyreek Hill. Arrest video turned in. Turning into the arrest celebration was pretty cool. I thought his touchdown is, was something that we shouldn't ever take for granted, uh, that a guy can do because it's so crazy.

David Clarke: Uh, like the way that he was able to go, like over and then underneath two different guys that like should tackle them, stay in bounds and then just like turn on the jets and be gone. Was bananas.

Rayshawn Buchanan: Unreal, unreal.

David Clarke: Like, let's not start just saying, like, you know, let's not get jaded or cynical about how fucking insane it is to watch Tyreek Hill play football.

David Clarke: Cause like, quite frankly, like, those cops, you should tell those cops, like, he was there because he wanted to be there. Like, if he wanted to get away, like, he would have gotten away. Like, just, just so you guys know, like, just to make sure that, like, you guys understand that he was there

Rayshawn Buchanan: moves around there. There's no, if he wanted to run up University to the stadium, I'm telling you, they were, you're not catching him up University.

David Clarke: catching them. Here's the thing, this isn't, this isn't the movies, I've actually in real life seen people run from comps, and honestly, with those belts and stuff, you got a chance, like if you were at all fast even in high school, like you got a chance, you might as well try it, they might shoot you, but like, you know, if there's a quick corner, take it,

Rayshawn Buchanan: out of there.

David Clarke: but uh, just get out of there, if they don't have your license or anything, just get out of there buddy but the great advice from Dave, um, but, Um, I loved it, I loved watching Tyreek, it was a very footballs back type game, uh, that game.

David Clarke: The Bills looked shaky and weird, I know that they came back, and I think that was like Josh Allen being a gamer, I was, I appreciated it, but, ooh, warning signs there for that Bills offense. Yeah, Miami early in the season, dumb, dumb to bet against them, honestly, and that's, it's an annoyingly small point spread.

David Clarke: But it means I would definitely take Miami the whole way.

Mike Marcangelo: Yeah, I'm taking Miami too. I thought, yeah, I thought Josh Allen had an impressive game, but you shouldn't have to score 34 points to beat the Cardinals at Buffalo. Like, that's not,

David Clarke: But the Bills do that to themselves, you know what I mean? Like that's the kind of, that's the way they win games, but that's the way

Rayshawn Buchanan: They had, they had that type of game a couple of years ago.

Mike Marcangelo: they do, they have, they have like three of those

Rayshawn Buchanan: thought they played, they played them hard. They played them hard. You know what I'm saying? But Arizona, weirdly, they have about three or four games a year where you're just like, if they did this all the time, they'd be, they'd win 10 games, but it just doesn't happen enough.

Mike Marcangelo: So we all, we all have Miami, and then we have the Saints at Dallas. I'm taking the Cowboys.

Rayshawn Buchanan: yeah, Dallas.

David Clarke: Yeah, I mean, I, I, you, it wasn't, it was a year ago that the Saints beat up on shittier teams, and lost

Mike Marcangelo: were one of them.

David Clarke: better teams, but that, they did that all year last year, they were just, like, good at beating up on teams that they, like, kind of, could, could potentially beat up on, or whatever, Um, doesn't make him a good roster, doesn't make him, uh, doesn't make him able to beat the Cowboys, I don't think, but, then again, uh, the Browns really shot themselves in the dick, and that was maybe the worst quarterback performance I've ever seen in my fucking life, so, I don't know how high it makes me on the Cowboys either, so, like, it's not out of the

Rayshawn Buchanan: couldn't massage his way through the problems.

David Clarke: What's that?

Rayshawn Buchanan: I said he couldn't massage his way through the problems.

David Clarke: He could, he could have, but he didn't really want to. I mean, the fact, here's the thing. Don't, the lesson is, don't guarantee a whole massive contract if you don't absolutely fucking have to. or you're not absolutely fucking sure.

Rayshawn Buchanan: so quick, yeah, quick, quick aside. 

Rayshawn Buchanan: He should be done. And like I said, we don't have to get into all of it, but we, if you've seen the report I don't, I don't care what comes of it or what comes out. I don't, I don't care. As you can see, I'm overreacting. But the fact that this resurfaced again, like, get, get, get the fuck out.

Rayshawn Buchanan: See you,

Mike Marcangelo: But it's true. Not but. Another lawsuit came up from 2020 to John Watson as we are recording this today.

Rayshawn Buchanan: Yeah. So, yeah, see you, see you later, dawg. Like, I'm, I'm sorry.

David Clarke: Yeah, but also because he's awful.

Rayshawn Buchanan: it's awful. So, yeah, see you later, dawg. Like, that's, the fact that stuff keeps, continues to come out, nah. It's not a money grab, it's not no whatever you want to call it, it's once again, it's once again someone else was harmed by you over some, over some wild shit, it's time for me to go.

David Clarke: I might throw seven picks, but I'm pretty sure I could get it to Amari Cooper more than three times.

Rayshawn Buchanan: Right.

David Clarke: Like, I might throw seven interceptions in a NFL game, but I'm pretty sure I could get it to Amari Cooper more, maybe four times, maybe, if, like, I think,

Mike Marcangelo: yards or more down the field?

David Clarke: I mean, but why? You know, like, just let him, just let him

Mike Marcangelo: he couldn't. He was 0 for 10 on passes longer than 15

David Clarke: Oh, dude, he was

Rayshawn Buchanan: That's insane. That's insane. That's insane.

David Clarke: He didn't look like he wanted to be, it's going to be like arm soreness, two weeks, watch. Arm

Mike Marcangelo: Oh, yeah.

David Clarke: Right arm sore now, shoulder,

Rayshawn Buchanan: not going to say what I was about to say,

Mike Marcangelo: Yeah, let's

Rayshawn Buchanan: going on. I'm sorry.

Mike Marcangelo: Yeah, that's not going to end happily for him. Okay. 

Mike Marcangelo: So, Tampa Bay at Detroit. This is a rematch of the Divisional game last year, right? Uh, so I'm gonna go, I'm gonna pick Detroit. I think Detroit's favored by seven points. I think Tampa Bay, listen Mayfield look good. The Buccaneers look, they're gonna be, they're gritty, they're fun.

Mike Marcangelo: Detroit looks like the real fucking deal. That overtime win, I mean, I'm ready for them.

Rayshawn Buchanan: I'm going with the upset. I'm going with Tampa Bay. I think today, I think, because I just think to me, I don't, I don't know what they found down there with, with him, but it's amazing how they've, like, the resurgence of Baker, but it's unbelievable. Like, we'll talk about Sam Donald later on, but that's, we were kind of spot on about that, we talked about that, but that's unbelievable how well he's looked down there, and I get it, when you have a Hall of Famer, wide receiver and Mike Evans, and you have a really good number two, and Chris Godwin they just found a way to figure it out, and offensively, they've been decent, And yeah, everything that he was supposed to be in Cleveland he's become in Tampa Bay.

Rayshawn Buchanan: And like you said, they're fun to watch. And Bobby, I'm rocking, I'm going with the upset on that one. It'll be, it'll be like a two point game. I'm going with the upset.

David Clarke: I mean, I was still high on the, on the lines. I just did see some stuff last night that I didn't love. Like sort of constitutionally. I think that there was this Dan Campbell thing, like it's, it's so on a knife's edge, you know, like the way that they played and it does make it fun and exciting and they are really talented, but They can also do stuff where it's like, wow, this other team's like getting back in, I, you know, I think you had a lot of McVay moments of magic, where he's just like managing the game, he's not panicking, and he knows when to get back in.

David Clarke: I also think Cooper Kuploth Like, superhuman. Like, I, that was crazy. Like, he's not even that fast. His route running's wildly good, though. It's like, really, like, maybe the best I've ever seen, because he just throws every coverage guy off. Like, he never, nobody, for whatever reason, nobody knows where he's going or what he's gonna do next, and he's like, always finds himself open, and it, it must make Stafford's life so easy to have a guy like that.

David Clarke: Goff? Shaky at moments yesterday, honestly. There was just, there was just a couple moments where I was looking at his face and he looked like he, you know, he looked a little, uh, sort of over, overawed by the moment which we sort of saw happen at the end of last season, too, which is concerning, I still really like them though.

David Clarke: I still, I'm still really high on them. I think that they, they have one of the better units, uh, overall in the NFL. Just like, not like one of those, no, I can't find their weaknesses really, if it does exist, it might be at the quarterback position, but I've always been maybe lower on him than you guys. So, you know, I can, I can, Pot out my, my rod there, but I think against Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, I believe it when I see it more than once.

David Clarke: Like I, it was a good, yes, he's better there, and it's, it is working, and they do have some skill players, but I wouldn't overreact to that win, to be honest.

Mike Marcangelo: So you're taking Detroit?

David Clarke: Yeah, I don't want to overreact either way.

Mike Marcangelo: We have Indy traveling to Lambeau Field to play the Jordan Loveless, uh, Green Bay Packers. I think that Malik Willis is going to be the starting quarterback for the Packers. Um,

David Clarke: He's so bad.

Mike Marcangelo: Spreads three and a half in favor of Indy. I would hit that all day. I'm gonna take Indy in this game.

Mike Marcangelo: I thought Indy, Anthony Richardson looked great, uh, last

Rayshawn Buchanan: That, that, that, yo, that throw, whoo, off the back foot. I, I, I mean, once again, we've seen a little bit, we've seen glimpses in Florida, but whoa, I was like, damn, like that, that is, that

David Clarke: a lot of fun

Rayshawn Buchanan: That, that's, that's fun. I was like, hopefully I said he, he stays healthy. I was like, wow. That was, that, that was a special throw.

Rayshawn Buchanan: That was special. Yeah. But this should be a clean sweep, like in, in, in, in Indianapolis is gonna win this one.

David Clarke: It's disappointing because like Jordan Love shouldn't really be hurt because he shouldn't have been playing that stupid fucking game on the Friday in a dumb field that was like all busted up anyway. Yeah. It's annoying that that happened. I'm glad it's only like I didn't the actual moment of the knee popping looked a lot worse But that was gonna be really fun matchup watching watching those two guys play each other and it would be a totally different and more Interesting conversation we'd be having right now about that game if it wasn't for the fact that Jordan Loves Hurts So like fuck that game.

David Clarke: Fuck that Brazil game, dude.

Rayshawn Buchanan: Yep. Agreed.

Mike Marcangelo: So you're taking Indy?

David Clarke: Mm

Mike Marcangelo: Okay. 

Mike Marcangelo: Uh, The Jets at the Titans. I mean, this should be. I'm taking the Jets.

Rayshawn Buchanan: Yes, yeah, stop. Yeah, that's

Mike Marcangelo: Okay. Uh, the 49ers at the Vikings. 

Mike Marcangelo: I know that, you know, obviously Sam Dunnell had a, uh, had a great week. They look good.

Rayshawn Buchanan: I was, I was blown away. When I, when I looked at the, I didn't see the game live, but I was just keeping up with the stat line. I was like, yo, he's 11 11 for 142 in the first half with a touchdown to Justin Jefferson. I was like, oh my God. Like, I said, what, what is going on? What is happening? Like, they made him look confident.

Rayshawn Buchanan: I said, oh my God. But this is what I was talking about. I was like, Can't, when you get around better talent, can you look a little better? And, and he did it for that moment. He did. Once again, it's not gonna be, it's not gonna be a thing that keeps going on and on, but, oh, but he looked decent.

David Clarke: It was the Giants Giants

Rayshawn Buchanan: Hey, NFL team.

Mike Marcangelo: Ray, so Ray, you're taking, you're taking, you're

David Clarke: Barely a fucking NFL team.

Mike Marcangelo: over to the 49ers next week?

Rayshawn Buchanan: No, no, no, I'm, I'm just saying it just looked, he just looked decent, but no, definitely San Francisco though. No, no,

David Clarke: I thought that's what you were getting at. I really, I really thought that's what you were getting at. I was like, no. It's not going to be the same kind of game. Uh, fucking Giants means nothing. No. The Vikings, no. Sorry. I, I bet a lot of, I bet the people who are the highest on the Vikings prospects right now all have Justin Jefferson as their number one overall wide receiver.

David Clarke: So, you know, great. I'm happy you guys had a good week, uh, but No, it's the fucking Giants, dude. Sam Darnold. You get, the thing is, is like, we can't continue to do this thing where we pretend we haven't seen him play football before. know what I mean? Like, we, what, like, I, I'm not, it's like, is it a new, it's that fucking ESPN sort of like, we gotta fill the airtime, like, is he gonna be, no, Sam Darnold, still Sam Darnold.

David Clarke: He didn't switch brains, he didn't Freaky Friday with anybody,

Rayshawn Buchanan: no, but, but,

David Clarke: Darnold. Like, it's not,

Rayshawn Buchanan: that's, no, that's, that's, that's valid, but, and we're saying this is human too, So, yeah, to your point, to add to your point, we've seen him against every type of team possible, and he still fucking sucked. So it didn't matter who he played. I'm just saying, for yesterday, he looked like an actual quarterback, just for

Mike Marcangelo: Yeah, I mean, I guess having Justin

Rayshawn Buchanan: it's not a transition to other games, but for yesterday, he actually looked like an actual quarterback. I was like, oh, wow,

David Clarke: not saying he did good, but it's because he played the Giants. You say NFL team, I think I

Rayshawn Buchanan: No, I'm saying that he

David Clarke: I would maybe take Bama if, if I got a decent point spread if the, if Bama and the Giants played. I might take Bama. There's like a chance. Talk me into it.

Mike Marcangelo: He has Justin

Rayshawn Buchanan: I've not seen him, I've not seen him, and I'm telling you, it'd be close though, it'd be close.

Mike Marcangelo: everybody look better. We're gonna keep moving. 

Mike Marcangelo: Uh, Seattle at New England. Uh, Seattle's favorite three and a half points. Well, I love, uh, listen, I love everything that we talked about about the Patriots. I think Seattle had a really good win against Denver Broncos and Bo Nicks. That being said, we're probably gonna take New England cover the spread and lose this game. By three.

Rayshawn Buchanan: yep,

David Clarke: like that. I like

Rayshawn Buchanan: yeah, same thing, and you know what my angle is, like, to me, you got to show me that you can do it at home, once again, they've been better on the road the last few years, regardless of their bad record, so, show me you can win a fucking game at home and, you know, but, yeah, I don't think that happens this weekend, so I think that they that they lose, like I said, by three, and then, you know, move on to next week.

David Clarke: I mean, I'm hoping Seattle, I'm hoping they both look punchy like they looked in week one, and it doesn't get like, you know, I hope that it's a good game, and I think it will be, uh, maybe a better game than we thought this time, you know, last week, so I think that's exciting, but yeah, I think it's actually gonna be close, and I think that, uh, it's kind of a running back battle.

David Clarke: And like, a smart blocking battle, and like, we'll see how that goes, like, I hope they don't cancel each other out, I think it might just be a, like a trench war, which would be fun to watch, so. I'm, I'm,

Rayshawn Buchanan: Yeah, I

David Clarke: bet there's gonna be positives to take from it again, though.

Rayshawn Buchanan: Yeah, Kenny Walker's good. Obviously, you got Metcalf, you got Lockett. You know, Smith is

Mike Marcangelo: I wanna see, I wanna see, I wanna see Gonzo versus DK Metcalf, that's

Rayshawn Buchanan: I do, too.

Mike Marcangelo: let's, let's see what we can do.

Rayshawn Buchanan: I just hope he's in the Patriot place.

Mike Marcangelo: uh, we have Dave Saritain, the Giants, uh, at the Commanders. I, listen, I think Jaden Daniels looked every bit the part of a starting quarterback last week, me too. Uh, I'm, I'm picking the Commanders in this game.

Rayshawn Buchanan: Yep, same.

David Clarke: I'll take them. Definitely, the Giants are so bad.

Mike Marcangelo: Okay, this is easy, Chargers at, at Carolina Panthers.

David Clarke: Panthers are the only team worse than the Giants.

Mike Marcangelo: Chargers,

Rayshawn Buchanan: What do you think of the boys, bro? I was like, golly. But yeah, yeah.

Mike Marcangelo: it's bad.

David Clarke: Fucking hell.

Mike Marcangelo: Uh,

David Clarke: We're Bryce Young. I feel bad.

Mike Marcangelo: Cleveland at Jacksonville.

David Clarke: Jacksonville. They're not turning the ship around with this weird Deshaun Watson shit yet. Uh,

Rayshawn Buchanan: they shouldn't. I hope they lose every fucking game.

David Clarke: I think they'll start to look a little better when Chubb gets back. I still think Myles Garrett's, like,

Rayshawn Buchanan: Won't matter.

David Clarke: three. So, and I like their defense. They are factually worse than I thought they were going to be, though, so now I don't want to pick them.

Rayshawn Buchanan: Yep, I'm good, so. I hope

David Clarke: Rays out. Rays out. I actually like Jacksonville, though. I did. I was high on them, and I was, you know, they were a little sloppier, but

Rayshawn Buchanan: put 50 on the server.

David Clarke: It looked like Talent vs. Talent with those two teams playing, which I liked. I hope they can dial it in, because I think they'll look decent this year.

Mike Marcangelo: I got, I got Cleveland winning that game. Alright, so now we have Vegas at Baltimore. This should be a fuckin bloodbath. Like, this should be Baltimore by 25.

David Clarke: Vegas looked every

Rayshawn Buchanan: It won't be, but Baltimore,

David Clarke: Vegas looked every bit of Luke Getzey run offense, down to punting when they shouldn't punt. I know that's not 100 percent the offensive coordinator's call, but I was like, yep. That's, I recognize that guy. He, he fuckin he ruined my weekend a lot of times. I've seen this before, and it looks the exact same, if not a little worse, and it's, it's bad, because like, Devontae's still sick.

David Clarke: Uh, yeah, it's too bad. I mean, that, whatever that, that experiment was didn't work out down there. I

Rayshawn Buchanan: yep, yeah, time for him to say, you know, move on, but, you know, I don't know

David Clarke: hope you can find one more really good QB before he retires.

Mike Marcangelo: Yeah, I'd love for, I'd love for him, I'd love to see him in, uh, in LA with the Chargers. I think him and Herbert would be, would be fun to watch.

David Clarke: awesome. I think I think Baltimore are gonna win by a lot.

Mike Marcangelo: Okay, me too. 

Mike Marcangelo: Uh, the Rams at, at the Cardinals. Divisional game, I think it's going to be a bounce back week for the Rams. I think it will be close, but I think I'm going to take the Rams.

David Clarke: I'd take the Rams. Yeah, they're just a better team, I think, and they have a better coach.

Rayshawn Buchanan: Yep,

Mike Marcangelo: Uh, Steelers and Mile High at Denver.

David Clarke: I mean, all they do is kick field goals, so,

Rayshawn Buchanan: his name.

David Clarke: here we are. Like, it's the exact stadium I'd want to go to if that was my entire offense. I played against the Steelers kicker, he had like 22 points. Uh, it's, you know, it was, it was crazy. They just, that's all the, the only way that they scored. And, uh, Denver looked alright, I guess.

David Clarke: I just, like, I don't know, were you guys, like, lukewarm on Bo Nicks? Like, was it like, yeah, there's

Mike Marcangelo: I thought it was, yeah, it was fine.

David Clarke: Yeah, it was fine. It was like, it didn't really tell me

Rayshawn Buchanan: We do two picks, so what's fine about that? I

David Clarke: I just like, I, like just the way that the game unfolded, I was like, I don't think that I would write him off completely, but I also didn't see anything that was like insane.

David Clarke: I did, I saw like a decent amount of athleticism from him and I saw, you know, I saw good decent moments, but I mean it's not as if that Broncos team's good, right? Like it's not like we're coming, he's coming into a great situation.

Rayshawn Buchanan: he would have been a Patriot had Bill still been here. Bill would have dropped the Bodex. I'm not

Mike Marcangelo: wouldn't have liked that.

Rayshawn Buchanan: Yeah, at all. Me either. So, I'm not going to ruin him.

Mike Marcangelo: so we're all taking, uh, now, caveat. What if Russell Wilson starts?

David Clarke: I don't think it really matters who the

Rayshawn Buchanan: matter. Bill's just better than whoever's done it better. So, he's good.

Mike Marcangelo: Uh, Cincy at Kansas City.

David Clarke: yeah, bloodbath.

Rayshawn Buchanan: City. Kansas City.

Mike Marcangelo: I'm gonna take Cincinnati.

Rayshawn Buchanan: Yeah, I mean, they're, I mean, listen. His claim to fame is what they've done against Kansas City. So, you know,

David Clarke: Not, not really. Not in the most recent of history though,

Rayshawn Buchanan: saying? Yeah, for sure. For sure.

David Clarke: true anymore, and like Burrow didn't look himself, and Jamar Chase, the whole thing, I mean, maybe they pull it together,

Mike Marcangelo: but they do look themselves always against them. Like, you just said,

David Clarke: the, but the Chiefs, the Chiefs look a lot better. They look like a lot better.

David Clarke: So, they look kind of back to, like, the first iteration of the Pat Mahomes, Andy Reid Chiefs, uh, I think everybody's fucked, but, like, that's a conversation for another day.

Mike Marcangelo: Okay, well, you might be right, but I, I, I just, there's something about borough Yeah, there's something about Borough going into, uh, into Kansas City, uh, for a big matchup with Jim Nantz and Romo, calling it, I think, like, I just think it's gonna be Cincinnati gonna win that game. And I hope it's a great game, uh, cause this slate of games, uh, this coming week is, is not great.

Mike Marcangelo: Uh, but the primetime ones are, uh, the Chicago Bears at the Houston Texans.

Rayshawn Buchanan: Ooh, like it. Give me the Bears, baby. Let's go.

David Clarke: I didn't think, I didn't think the Texans looked that great.

Mike Marcangelo: Here we go. Okay. Tell me more.

David Clarke: Uh, it would be a pretty big statement. I think if our defense plays, And Special Teams plays the way that it did. I think we have a good chance. I think the scoreline's gonna be like 19 17. And I'm not sure who's gonna have the 19 and who's gonna have the 17.

Rayshawn Buchanan: I need, I need, I need to definite.

David Clarke: I'll take the

Rayshawn Buchanan: baby. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.

David Clarke: Caleb Williams, show up game. Like, breakout game. The offense will click. Let's

Rayshawn Buchanan: Yeah. Remember what I said? I'm like saying, I thought he was going to have the breakout game. So this, he didn't, he didn't do it Sunday, but they won. But I say this, this is the game where

David Clarke: It'd be sick if Caleb Williams was better when he was on TV, you know? Like, shit, it was like, Caleb Williams prime time was fuck. I would love to see that. That would be like a cool

Mike Marcangelo: opposite of Kirk Cousins.

David Clarke: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. When we get to him, by the way, Jesus Christ, he's aged 50 years? What happened to Kirk Cousins?

David Clarke: Holy shit, he looks like a mummy out there.

Mike Marcangelo: before we get there, that is a Monday Night game next week. Uh, Ray, you're taking the Bears?

David Clarke: I'm assuming you're taking the Texans.

Mike Marcangelo: Yeah, yeah, but I think it's going to be actually like a 31 28 type of game. I think they're both going to ball out. So, I don't think it's going to be an indictment on any, on Caleb. But yeah, I'm taking Houston, but I'm picking the Bears

David Clarke: spread? What's the spread? What's the spread?

Mike Marcangelo: Six and a half, I'm taking the Bears in the

David Clarke: Aw, they gave Houston a lot of points. I guess that makes sense. I'm fuckin delusional. Go on.

Mike Marcangelo: Alright, and week two wraps up with the Dirty Birds going against Philadelphia Eagles. Uh. Kirk Hudson's could not move. Couldn't move. I mean, it was, it was bad. And I, I think, I

David Clarke: Now who's dumb for drafting Panix?

Mike Marcangelo: gonna get Better. can't get worse. Yeah. Yeah.

David Clarke: out there. He was like really not utilizing at all. It was, uh, it was a lot, I gotta say.

Mike Marcangelo: But the game plan though, like you, you could see how much better Bijan Robinson is going to be this year as opposed to last year, because he was everywhere.

Mike Marcangelo: He was all about being part of the game.

David Clarke: I think the Steelers defense is good. Like, I think it's top three. So, you know, I think you could give them a week if you wanted to because when you play the Steelers game like that. They're going to beat you by

Mike Marcangelo: You're going to lose. You're

David Clarke: You know what I mean? Like, that's just like how it's going to go. It's going to be nine to six for like most of the game.

David Clarke: And then all of a sudden they have like, they've just racked up a couple more. They know how to win games. Like not every NFL team, like even the, some talented ones, like knows how to win games, like the Titans absolutely coughed that game up to the bears because they just couldn't finish, you know, like Ray was saying about the Pats earlier.

David Clarke: So like that, the fact that Tomlin and the Steelers can get out there and finish games when they play their way and they don't just get like destroyed by someone sick. You know, that's why they're always over 500. So I would, I would give the Falcons like another week to be honest with you, but also I thought Philadelphia looked really good.

David Clarke: Like better than maybe a lot of people thought they were going to look with,

Mike Marcangelo: So he's taken.

David Clarke: absences. I don't think I'm, I don't think with Saquon playing that way, I don't think I'm taking anyone against Philadelphia until they come up against like maybe two teams that I could think of. But right now I'm, I'm going to go, I'm going to go with Philadelphia.

David Clarke: And I, but I still think like the Falcons run over the next like three, over their first four games, it's, it's, it's Pretty brutal, you know, it's pretty brutal, and it's gonna be pretty brutal for, for Kirk Cousins if he keeps playing like that, but I don't know, I would still give them a chance to salvage their season after they get absolutely buttfucked over the next three weeks, uh, but in that case, I am taking the Eagles, yeah.

Mike Marcangelo: Right.

Rayshawn Buchanan: I'm not going to follow that. I'm going to turn it off for

Mike Marcangelo: I'll take, I'm taking, I'm taking the, uh, I'm taking Atlanta. I think it's gonna be, uh, a bounce back, uh, again, a bounce back week for them. I also would

David Clarke: do some stem cell therapy for Kirk Cousins or something? Or a deer antler spray?

Mike Marcangelo: also, I'm, I'm also, I'm also taking them up with the spread too spread six and a half. Like that's, it's, that's a, that's a big

David Clarke: Well, that moved because of what it looked like, what they looked like against the Steelers, so you're right to take that, because you never know, it might have just been the Steelers imposing their will.

Mike Marcangelo: We got through another, another football show. It's just so hard to give content when the NFL's back. We're glad football's back. Stay tuned for the Power Ranking Show, the first Power Ranking Show of 2024. Is that right? That is right. That feels right. With BK, DK, and Hollywood Ray. And for all of them, my name is Michael Marcangelo.

Mike Marcangelo: Thank you so much for listening to Missing the Point. We'll talk to you soon