Can Stefon Diggs spoil Josh Allen’s perfect season?

Summary

Scoop City: Inside The NFL

Episode: Can Stefon Diggs spoil Josh Allen’s perfect season?

Date: October 3, 2025 | Host: The Athletic team (Dianna Russini, James Palmer, Chase Daniel)

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Episode Overview

This episode of Scoop City delivers an in-depth tour around NFL hotspots in the Northeast, unpacking the latest on pivotal teams and players. The crew navigates the Ravens' inflection point, the Giants' adaptations without Malik Nabers, the Commanders' injury woes, and—centrally—the Buffalo Bills' undefeated run and Stefon Diggs' emotional return to Buffalo as a member of the Patriots. The show also features an insightful interview with Jaguars’ Walter Payton Man of the Year Arik Armstead, exploring leadership, locker-room dynamics, and the challenge of facing Patrick Mahomes. The final segment lightens things up with fantasy advice and a discussion on the best cult classic movies of the ’90s and 2000s.

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Key Segments, Insights, and Memorable Moments

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1. Baltimore Ravens—Crisis or Opportunity?

[03:38–10:45]

Discussion with Jeff Zrebiec (Ravens beat, The Athletic)

• State of the Franchise:
  • Ravens at a critical juncture, battered by injuries but showing weaknesses even when healthy.
  • Physicality—a Harbaugh hallmark—lacking. Team seems "beaten down" and has not answered adversity.
• Harbaugh's Future:
  • Despite fan frustration, job security remains tightly bound to owner Steve Bisciotti’s sentiment, not GM Eric DaCosta. “If this keeps going bad, you wonder if the organization would use this… as kind of a reset.”
  • Quote: “There’s really no pushback. The team looks beaten down, defeated in a lot of ways and they haven’t really answered the bell.” — Jeff Zrebiec, [04:38]
• Defensive Woes:
  • Depth thin on both lines; collapse after injuries to key players like Justin Madubuike.
  • Underperformance by stars: Roquan Smith, Marlon Humphrey, even Kyle Hamilton not at their usual level.
  • “Their stars aren’t playing like stars defensively. …Is that a scheme thing? Is that a coaching thing?” — Jeff Zrebiec, [06:49]
• Offensive Adjustments:
  • Todd Monken’s scheme is structured heavily around Lamar Jackson’s dual-threat skills.
  • Potential for Tyler Huntley to feature to maintain an athletic threat at QB if Lamar is out.
• Running Game Observations:
  • Haven’t committed to Derrick Henry as needed; offense out of rhythm due to lack of possession and game scripts.
• Outlook:
  • Remaining schedule offers a window to “right the ship” before divisional crunch time.

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2. New York Giants—Managing Life Without Malik Nabers

[11:18–15:42]

With Charlotte Carroll

• On Jackson Dart:
  • Rookie QB needs to balance aggression and smart decision-making.
  • “He can’t do that move anymore, but we’re not going to see a lack of aggression.” — Diana Russini, [11:46]
• Offense without Nabers:
  • Immediate drop in dynamism; critical blow for a young quarterback.
  • Receivers Darius Slayton and Wan’Dale Robinson identified as next men up; Jalin Hyatt could stretch defenses.
  • “It feels impossible [to replace Nabers] … committee-by-committee, but someone needs to step up.” — Charlotte Carroll, [12:35]
• MetLife Turf:
  • Not currently a focal point in the locker room, despite Nabers’ ACL injury.
• Defensive Promise:
  • Defensive line delivered as advertised vs. Justin Herbert—posted 27 pressures in one game.
  • Dexter Lawrence a key disruptor.
  • “You don’t want to be the opposing offensive coordinator when you know that’s coming for you.” — Diana Russini, [15:30]

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3. Washington Commanders—Injuries and Jaden Daniels’ Return

[16:07–19:47]

With Nikki Jhabvala

• Banged-up receiving corps:
  • Terry McLaurin and Deebo Samuel limited in practice, status uncertain; overall offense physically depleted.
• Jaden Daniels:
  • Will not be limited by the staff, but a new knee brace could impact mobility.
  • “He’s never played with a brace before… will that affect his mobility… much of his game.” — Nikki Jhabvala, [17:59]
• Defense Inconsistency:
  • Home/away split: dominant at home, “trash” on the road.
  • “They claim they will clean things up. …They say they’re going to clean it up. They have confidence that they will. But… we’ll see when they get out there.” — Nikki Jhabvala, [19:03]

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4. Buffalo Bills—Are They Flying Under the Radar?

[19:49–26:55]

With Joe Buscaglia

• Team Assessment:
  • Defense inconsistent: flashes of dominance (e.g., vs. Jets), but major lapses (e.g., Saints’ 9 yards/play first quarter).
  • “They’re trying to figure themselves out… by the time they get to December, January… that part will be kind of taken care of.” — Joe Buscaglia, [21:29]
• Josh Allen’s Evolution:
  • “A little less hero ball” this season, greater pre-snap processing, reduced designed runs; using mobility sparingly.
  • “He’s taking what the defense gives… eliminated the ‘Wyoming Joshness’ out of himself.” — Joe Buscaglia, [23:21]
• James Cook Running Game:
  • Career best production; expected to continue as feature back but could see workload dialed back to keep him fresh for playoffs.
  • “Outside of Josh Allen, he is far and away their best skill player right now.” — Joe Buscaglia, [26:15]
• Stefon Diggs’ Return Framing:
  • Emotional, expected to be a narrative centerpiece for the Bills’ matchup with New England.

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5. New England Patriots—Stefon Diggs, Drake Maye, Defensive Adjustments

[26:57–34:34]

With Chad Graff

• Stefon Diggs’ Big Game Before Return:
  • First 100-yard game in two years. Still ramping up post-ACL, emotional return to Buffalo expected.
• Drake Maye’s Progression:
  • Early camp struggles (“four interceptions in one practice”) intentionally designed to test him; now showing growth with increased play-action/mobility.
  • “Parts of his game… are similar to Josh Allen, which has been a big talking point here.” — Chad Graff, [29:11]
• Patriots Defense:
  • Shifted from physical safeties to field coverage, speed-oriented players; struggles at linebacker, questions in secondary due to missed games by Christian Gonzalez.
  • Expect to play a lot of man coverage (“cat coverage” per Vrabel): “You got that cat. You got that cat. And let’s go play.” — Chad Graff, [32:04]

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6. Feature Interview: Arik Armstead (Jacksonville Jaguars DL, Walter Payton Man of the Year)

[36:21–57:38]

Topics & Quotes:

• On Vulnerability, Mentorship, and Community Work:
  • “I feel it’s my responsibility to be vulnerable… it resonates with young people because I was just a young person—just like them. I just happen to have a cool job.” — Eric Armstead, [36:58]
• On Facing Former Team (49ers):
  • Emphasized importance of not overhyping the matchup, but acknowledging strong emotions and the enduring nature of those relationships.
• On Learning to Win and Team Culture:
  • “It takes time to learn how to win and learn how to respond to losses… to close out games… everyone’s first time trying to execute down the stretch…” — Eric Armstead, [41:11]
• On Head Coach Liam Cohen and Jaguars’ Staff:
  • Described Cohen as “fiercely competitive… has an edge… this staff has that 'out to prove it' roommate energy. First-timers wanting to leave their mark.”
• On Defensive Turnovers:
  • Stressed mindset and intentionality; whether it’s sustainable depends, but “it’s a mentality we bring to the game.”
• Jaguars' Defense Meeting Room Culture:
  • Conversations not just NFL; debates, social topics, and real-life concerns all present.
  • “We talk about what everyone else is talking about… we may have a different perspective.” — Eric Armstead, [55:28]
• On Facing Patrick Mahomes:
  • “Four-quarter game, whenever you’re playing Mahomes… you can have success for a time, but just got to be relentless the whole way.”
• On Travis Hunter Playing Both Ways:
  • “It’s inspiring… playing both sides requires extra work… but what he’s doing will inspire a whole generation to unlock new possibilities.” — Eric Armstead, [49:05]

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7. Fantasy Football & Fun Lists: RB Breakdowns, Waiver Targets, and the Best Cult Movies

[58:08–68:11]

With Jake Seeley

• Fantasy RBs (Trey Benson, Michael Carter, others):
  • Carter seen as the early-down guy, DeMarcado for passing downs; slight edge to DeMarcado because of PPR floor.
• Bucky Irving & Rashad White:
  • White steps up, RB2 value; Sean Tucker may siphon some carries.
• Isaiah Bond & Malik Washington:
  • Washington preferred drastically as an upside WR3 if needing a replacement.
• Darren Waller's Upside:
  • Waller a flex candidate, “treat him as a big WR — think Mark Andrews.” – Jake Seeley, [66:41]
• Movie List Segment:
  • Debate over best non-sequel action/cult movies from the ’90s and ’00s; notable “Cage Trilogy” (Con Air, The Rock, Face/Off).
  • “If I had to rank the three, I would go Con Air, The Rock, Face/Off in order.” — Jake Seeley, [68:11]

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Notable Quotes

• "There’s really no pushback. The team looks beaten down, defeated in a lot of ways and they haven’t really answered the bell." — Jeff Zrebiec on the Ravens [04:38]
• "He’s taking what the defense gives. …eliminated the ‘Wyoming Joshness’ out of himself." — Joe Buscaglia on Josh Allen [23:21]
• "It takes time to learn how to win… to close out games… these things take time." — Eric Armstead [41:11]
• "If you’re shooting for upside… Darren Waller would be the answer." — Jake Seeley [67:42]
• "We play four quarters and you have to be locked in the whole game against Mahomes… his best trait is just being a gamer." — Eric Armstead [52:33]

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Useful Timestamps

• [03:38] – Ravens’ state of play and Harbaugh discussion
• [11:18] – Giants’ WR struggles, Nabers’ injury fallout
• [16:07] – Commanders injury report, Jaden Daniels update
• [19:49] – Bills’ performance, Allen’s evolution, Cook’s role
• [26:57] – Patriots outlook, Stefon Diggs’ return, defensive matchups
• [36:21] – Feature: Arik Armstead, leadership, and locker-room culture
• [52:33] – Armstead on defending Mahomes and locker-room debates
• [58:08] – Fantasy recommendations and movie debate segment

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Tone and Style

• Direct, expert analysis with light banter among the hosts
• Engaging storytelling, balanced with statistics and insider scoops
• Players speak candidly (Armstead, especially, on personal growth, leadership, and game prep)

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For NFL fans, this episode is a tour de force of expert breakdowns, insider reporting, and genuine locker room voices—particularly timely if you’re invested in the AFC East drama or are a fantasy football enthusiast seeking last-minute advice.

Transcript

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Like, come on. You guys didn't have a conversation of could Liam kick Robert Salah's butt? Like, come on. And the thing is, I don't know the answer. I can I see both sides. Like Robert's tall er and he's goes to the gym a lot. He's jacked, like, but Liam's got like a little crazy in him. He seems like he's ready to throw because he's like, he's just like you said, like, kind of wanted to prove, like, who's winning that. Why? Like, I. I don't know. I don't know. You know them better than I do.

Welcome into Scoop City on a Thursday. I'm James Palmer. Don't forget to like and subscribe. We have a packed show for you. We have reporters, boots on the ground throughout the entire Northeast. We're taking a little tour. I love the leaves in that area of the country this time of year. Also, Diana Rossini and I are going to chat with Eric Armstead of the Jacksonville Jaguars, a Walter Payton man of the year. The Jags defense is on fire.

[Diana Rossini]

Fire.

[James Palmer]

And also, what is it like to be in a meeting room with Travis Hunter? Is he in, is he out? Is he running to meetings? We'll get the most of it from Arik Armstead. Also, what's happening with Jackson Dart and what is life going to be like without Malik Neighbors and Lamar Jackson and the Ravens? What is the panic meter at? Well, we're going to make a tour through Baltimore, through New England, through New York, through Buffalo, through D.C. so pack your bags. Let's do it. Joining us now, Jeff Zribrick, the senior NFL writer, covers the Ravens for us for the Athletic. And Jeff, you wrote a really, really good piece about what's going on in Baltimore right now, that Harbaugh has a been through it before and has brought maybe raised all ships, I guess, in times of trouble. We've seen it and that's why he's an outstanding coach. But at the same time, I look at expectations, I look at where they were this year. And at the end of your piece, you talked about possible sweeping changes. Sometimes expectations draw. What's the take? I know we're only four weeks in on what's happening with the Ravens and is Harbaugh potentially in trouble after 18 years?

[Jeff Zribrick]

Yeah, you know, I think they're sort of at an inflection point a little bit on their season, and right now things aren't good. You know, you had the now the topic's the injuries, but they weren't really playing that well when there weren't the injuries. There was that discouraging fourth quarter in Buffalo, and I think the most alarming thing of all, the last couple weeks, they've just been kind of beaten up physically. And anybody who knows Harbaugh trademark teams, they don't get beat up at the line of scrimmage consistently and not have much of a pushback. And that's the concerning thing of all. Even beyond all the injuries, just there's been really no pushback. The team looks beaten down, defeated in a lot of ways and they haven't really answered the bell. And they're at the stage of the season where one or two more losses here and it could get ugly quick, you know. So look, every year we deal with this with Harbaugh, there's a sect of the fan base that would love for them to move on that think, you know, he's gone stale and they need to make changes. And over and over again, I say the only one that makes that call is owner Steve Bishotti. John does not report to GM Eric DaCosta. He reports to Bishotti. He's incredibly close with Bishotti. So what Bishotti thinks about the matter, he doesn't really talk to the whole media. He keeps things, you know, close to the vest. So we don't know. But certainly if this keeps going bad, you wonder if the organization would use this. Not that they'll blame John Harbaugh for all this, but ultimately, if you wonder if it goes bad, where they could use this as kind of a reset for the organization.

[James Palmer]

Yeah, Sometimes it's just time, Jeff.

[Jeff Zribrick]

Right.

[James Palmer]

We saw in Philadelphia with Andy Reid, it was just. It was just time. And both organizations actually benefited Philly in time and. And Kansas City. You mentioned all those injuries, and you can't talk about this defense without mentioning the injuries, whether it's the entire defensive line, your past rush, or whatever it is. But you also hinted at there were some signs that this defense was not going to be what we maybe expected it to be. Even from the start of the opener. Was there anything that we missed, you know, you know, with this unit that maybe that you saw and you can look back at camp now and go, okay, maybe I did kind of miss this.

[Jeff Zribrick]

Yeah, you know, two things, James and I. And I kind of was with everyone else. I wasn't necessarily saying they have the best roster in the football, but I certainly was saying they were in the conversation having the best roster of football. The one thing, though, that should have kind of set off some bells, I think, you know, you have the. You know, this was a team that's traditionally being built from the inside out. Right. That was always Ozzy Newsom. Strategy, load up in the trenches from the inside out. And this team was pretty thin once you get behind the starters on the offensive defensive line. And they even had a couple spots in the offensive line starting where there were guys who were question marks that they were really going to need to make a jump. But we've seen it more defensively, and Namdi Matabika's inj. You know, his neck injury that he sustained, I guess it was in the Browns game, but it doesn't sound like it was one play that caused it. That. That has kind of started all this. You know, they. They can't stop the run. They're not getting a pass rush. And he was a guy that was key in both. He was one of the best defensive, you know, interior defensive tackles in football, and they haven't been able to replace him. Other injuries have followed, and they look real thin, you know, on the offensive defensive fronts. But the other thing, James, that I couldn't have foreseen, their stars aren't playing like stars defensively. And that's what worries you is. Is that. Is that a scheme thing? Is that a coaching thing? Because there's so many guys who have sort of fallen off. Roquan Smith had a great game against the Browns, but he hasn't looked like himself. Marlon Humphrey has been attacked all year. I mean, this guy was an all pro last year. He had one of his best seasons last year. Chiefs clearly went after him. They're not the first team this year. He struggled, and now he's hurt. Kyle Hamilton, even I think he's the best safety in football. The Ravens paid him like, it has been solid. Okay. But, you know, they need more. They need to play. They need him to play like a star. And they're not. Their top defensive players are either hurt or they're just not getting the production that you expect from those guys.

[James Palmer]

Yeah, playmakers, you. You want them to make plays and you pay them to make plays. And, and you have an ultimate playmaker at, at the quarterback position. And, and just for everybody that's. That's listening or watching. Jeff, like, I know there's certain offenses built a certain way. It's scheme by the. By the play caller, and you can plug a different quarterback in sometimes. How specific, though, is Todd Munchkin scheme to Lamar Jackson?

[Jeff Zribrick]

Yeah, so much of stuff is. Is based on his skill set and his ability to hurt teams with his arm and his legs. The RPO stuff. What, what defenses. Keeping defenses guessing how they have to honor the quarterback, keeping the ball and not handing it off. And that kind of prevents them on the edge from pinning their ears back and just getting up field. And you know, so much they do in the middle of the field with Lamar with the tight ends. And, you know, I don't. I don't think they expect to have them. I don't think they're ready to rule it out yet. But we all know what kind of direction that's headed, so it's a huge adjustment. And James, it's one of the real ones. One of the things makes me wonder if we'll see Tyler Huntley a little bit this, this Sunday because he has the athleticism and he can get outside and you have to respect his legs a little bit. And, you know, how do you protect a defense that's going to be without six or seven starters and you run the ball and you control the clock and can they run the ball with Cooper Rush?

[Eric Armstead]

Yeah.

[Jeff Zribrick]

And not with the quarterback threat. And they haven't done it this year. So we should, we'll see how they do it. But it certainly seems like a game that they could get Tyler Huntley involved to try to help the run game.

[James Palmer]

Yeah. Real quick, before we go, you mentioned the run game. So is Derek Henry good? Are we, is he fine? Do we want to run him on first or second down? Like what, what do you, what, what do you kind of equate to that so far this season?

[Jeff Zribrick]

I mean, I think some of it is situationally right. They've been in the two minute offense a lot. They're not playing and I think this traces back why they've had so many defensive injuries. Their defense is on the field too much. They've played a ton of plays and not a lot of these guys played in, in summer over in preseason. So now you're asking them to go from like 0 to 100 and play over 80 plays in some of these games. So I think that's hurt and I, I think the offense just hasn't had the ball enough. I mean some of that early was good because they're making explosive plays and scoring quickly, but it's not leading them to really get into their offense. It seems like they're either playing catch up in two minute situations or they're not having really an opportunity to do what they do best. Now that's not an excuse. Todd Monken and I think we'll see it this week. This is a Derrick Henry game. You need to live and die with him getting over 20 carries. Even if you're getting stopped at some point. You just need to protect your defense a little bit and protect Cooper Rush from those Texans edge rushers. But, you know, a lot of it is circumstantial. They just haven't been in, you know, in a lot of circumstances where they could really play their game.

[James Palmer]

Yeah, it's going to be interesting to see this the way it plays out because the schedule, to me, Jeff makes a, you know, plays a part in this. When you have Houston, then you have the Rams, then you have your bye. You don't have another divisional game till week 11. Like, you know, so maybe you still can right the ship, you know, before you really get into the back end where it's just so many divisional games. And there's a lot of questions in the division as well. So we'll see what ends up happening there. Man, always love chatting with you, love sitting next to you in press boxes and I love that room that you're in. It brings back a lot of memories, may be nightmares. Good seeing you, man.

[Jeff Zribrick]

Great seeing you, James. Thanks for having me.

[James Palmer]

As we chug along here, Charlotte Carroll joins us outside a very sunny New York Giants football facility. But she's taking care of business. She knows how to report from outside a facility in sunny conditions. What kind of player are we going to see in start number two for Jackson Dart? Are we going to see him continue to swipe at defenders with his throwing hand? Have we been told anything by Brian Dabel that it may change in start two to make sure there's a start three for Jackson Dart?

[Diana Rossini]

I think Jackson Dart knows he, he can't do that move anymore. But we're not going to see a lack of aggression. You know, that's something that the coaching staff, they trust him. They want. They trust him making the ball. They trust him making the right decisions. I think it's just being smart with that and that's something that comes with playing time. And so with each consecutive start, assumingly he'll just get more and more kind of decision making and smart making in those decisions.

[James Palmer]

But you're right though, with the offense, they need to stay aggressive. Staying aggressive. Part of that is him using his legs and being a part of the run game and having that option game and all of these different things that you can utilize off of it because you don't have Malik neighbors. And so how does that change the coverages, the looks that maybe Jackson Dart's going to have to deal with and then also who steps up in his absence? Charlotte?

[Diana Rossini]

Yeah, this is immediately a less dynamic offense with Malik neighbors absence. It's really unfortunate because you really want to have that star wide receiver, especially for a rookie quarterback. So you hate to see him. It's a huge loss for Neighbors, huge loss for the Giants and just a huge loss for the league because he's such a fun player to watch and you know, when the ball's in his hand, he's capable of really making insane catches and just getting the play done. Who's going to step up? We're going to kind of find out if someone could actually fill that role, which feels impossible, or if it'll be more, more committee by. It's just such a huge loss. But Darius Slayton, Wandell, Robinson, we'll see if Jalen Hyatt can make an impact. He hasn't Had a target this season, but he's a speedy receiver, so we'll see what that looks like. And if they turn to their practice.

[James Palmer]

Squad, yeah, maybe Hyatt can at least stretch the field a little bit. We don't have defenses coming down on Jackson. Darton company Real quick, is there a conversation in the locker room that you've had with any players? Anyone? I know the turf in MetLife has been something that has been discussed quite a bit. Is it. Is it still being discussed in that locker room after Malik neighbors?

[Diana Rossini]

It hasn't really been a talking point with any of the guys that I've talked to, so not really in my conversations. You know, they replaced the turf here a couple years ago. I believe this is the first ACL injury since that replacement. So unfortunately, it's just one of those things that happened and you hate to see it.

[James Palmer]

You hate to see it. And then when it's always a bigger named player, sadly, that's only time we get to hear the conversation get louder sometimes, and that's kind of a bummer. But the defensive side of the ball, before we go, I think we saw that defensive line show its teeth a little bit. You saw Abdul Carter move around. You saw him be, I don't know, unblockable at times. Is this the group that we expected to see and are they going to try to maybe ride this front out as you don't have malik neighbors and you have a rookie quarterback, that this could be the identity that they were looking for and maybe this was a step in the right direction.

[Diana Rossini]

Yeah, this is exactly what you wanted to see out of this defensive front all summer. You know, we've heard promises of what this group could be. Defensive fronts have passed, and finally it all came together. You know, these guys have had really strong campaigns individually through the first three weeks of the season, but 27 pressures altogether, just an insane number. And they just made life miserable for Justin Herbert. And you could just. Even with the sack count only at two, he was just all over under pressure, kind of just very chaotic and causing havoc for him. So it's definitely something you want to see going forward. And I think they will, especially if they can play with a lead.

[James Palmer]

Yeah, play with a lead's huge part of that. And then what kind of bind do they put offenses in when you have interior pressure that can be as effective as they have and you always have to protect your interior and then you put peams and binds where then you can also get at it from the outside? Is there like a discussion there from the defensive side of the ball going. We have the ability to kind of play with an offense because we can go from the inside or the outside, definitely.

[Diana Rossini]

I mean, it's exactly kind of the weapons you want to work with. And just when you've got Dexter Lawrence up the middle always there too, it's just chaos and confusion. You don't want to be the opposing offensive coordinator when you know that's coming for you.

[James Palmer]

Yeah. So close to scoring, by the way. So close to scoring. I mean, we wanted it. We wanted it so bad.

[Diana Rossini]

The gasp, I mean, the gasp in the press box when he went down, it was just. It was unreal.

[James Palmer]

Yeah, right. I think we were all wondering what this celebration was going to be in the end zone. Like what? Oh, man. Hopefully we get another one. Hopefully you see an. Appreciate you joining us as always, Shar. Thank you so much.

[Diana Rossini]

Thanks so much.

[James Palmer]

All right, we're rolling right along here. Nikki Javala joins us. She covers the commanders, obviously, and she is in. I'm not sure where you are, Nikki. A park outside practice. Give me your location right now just in case somebody may need to know it shortly.

Yeah, so I got a lovely trash can next to me, some porta potties behind me and the practice fields. So, yeah, just came off the practice field, saw a little bit of Terry McLaurin out there and now I'm just hanging by the 40 bodies and trash can talking to you.

I. I love it. This is what you do for the show. Everything. Everything above your own well being. That's why you're one of the best in the game. Nikki, listen, you mentioned Terry McLaurin. We have like a Debo injury. We have a no Brown injury. Like what's happening with the pass catchers before we get to Jaden Daniels return? What will he be looking at on the field against the Chargers?

Yeah, I mean, the team as a whole is banged up, but especially on offense, especially, you know, they're pass catchers. So Terry, this is his first time back on the field since he suffered a quad injury. And he's just working with a trainer to the side. Noah Brown is out there. He's been out for a couple of games dealing with a groin and a knee injury. And Debo, who was added to the injury report yesterday with a heel issue, he was working with one of the athletic trainers. So I would imagine Deebo goes on Sunday. But they're banged up. Very much so.

Yeah, they're banged up, but they do have a bit of a superman at quarterback, Nikki. And so what could we expect from Jaden Daniels. Will he be. I know they've been cautious with this. So will he be the same Jaden Daniels we have seen in terms of mobility, in terms of carrying the football? Any limitations? Will they tell him not to run? What's the latest in terms of the player we'll see against Jesse Minter's defense?

Yeah, I think he's going to be able to do everything he can. There will be no limitations from the coaching staff or any restrictions put on him in any way. The thing that I'm looking for though is I think he will be wearing that brace on his knee. He's been practicing with it. He's never played with a brace before. You do have to wonder if he does have to wear it, will that affect his mobility, which is, you know, much of his game. His, his quickness to get out of pocket and evade pressure. So we'll see. But that, that's the one thing that I'm really looking for. But there are no restrictions on him as far as, you know, pitch count or do this, but don't do that or anything like that.

Okay, perfect. I think the port a potty is messing with the reception. So I have one more question for you. This defense, they couldn't get after Michael Penix. Justin Herbert's been hit a ton. Will we see a different performance up front from this commander's defense?

You hope so. They claim they will. They claim, you know, they'll clean things up. They're two home games, they've been dominant. They're two road games, they've been trash. The explosive plays, the pass rush hasn't been there on the road. So they, they say they're going to clean it up. They have confidence that they will. But you know, we'll. We'll see when they get out there.

I love it. Nikki Javal, the queen of the puns. They played like trash. They'll clean it up. Several just little nuggets to tell you where she's reporting from. Get back to the practice field and maybe get yourself a nose plug next time. I don't know. Good tatting with you, friend.

Thanks for having me.

All right. Joining us now on Scoop City, Joe Biscalia covers the Bills for us here at the Athletic. And Joe, maybe I don't want to call them clunkers, but the last two weeks for the Bills, maybe not up to Bill's standards. Is this like, I'm curious what the issue in your mind might be a little bit. Or is this they're make. They're getting everybody's best game, right? Like they're kind of a Super bowl in a lot of team schedules.

[Joe Biscalia]

Yeah, there is a lot to that and I think from the Dolphins game a couple of weeks ago, like that was kind of the Dolphins super bowl too, because they're about to, they need to show something for Mike McDaniel. But yeah, you know, I think it's really funny how the conversation in Buffalo has kind of changed for years. It was like, how are they ever going to fix this offense? So like, hey, you left meat on the bone and you're still scoring 31 points the last two weeks. So there is that element to it. But the, the one area that I think everyone kind of keeps coming back to is the defense. Like they have some moments of, of really good play and they've, they've shown that at times this this season, like Week 2 against the jets, they didn't allow a single third down conversion. The Dolphins game, they were really good on first and second down, third down Miami, third and fourth down. Miami converted 11 of 16. So it was like two steps forward, three steps back in that perspective. Then against the Saints, like the lowly Saints, what everybody thought them who play really hard and play really fast. Oh yeah, they, they in the first quarter average almost nine yards per play. Against the Bills defense, not at all. But to the Bill's credit, they fixed it. And by the time through the second through fourth quarter, the Bills were only allowing 3.4 yards per play. So it's like they're, they're trying to figure themselves out. They've got a lot of new pieces that they're trying to get, get assimilated into their entire structure and they're hoping by the time that they get to December, January and what they hope February, that it'll be. That part will be kind of taken.

[James Palmer]

Care of and hopefully a couple of pieces come back health wise. You get your first round pick hopefully in a couple of weeks we'll see when he can come off of IR with. With that said, and I hope you take this the right way, I feel like we're seeing a little less Josh Allen hero ball. I know he still makes incredible plays, but could there be a proof in the pudding of maybe a little bit more boring? Josh Allen is a more successful Josh Allen. Is there a part to that coming, you know, throughout the season and into the postseason? Hopefully, yeah, for sure.

[Joe Biscalia]

And that is the one thing that has helped his game progress to the next level over these last couple of years, like his processing ahead of the snap is so just light years ahead of where it was when it was. He was even in his second year of starting when they started winning. He's manipulating defenses pre and post snap. He understands what they're trying to, trying to do to him at all times. You know, he kind of keeps that mobility aspect in the holster just, just whenever he needs to go to it. But they don't really do a lot of Josh Allen design runs anymore. But when he needs a play, like against the Saints late, he rips off a 27 yard scramble and kind of, kind of breaks their hearts of a comeback a little bit. And then from a passing perspective, he did try to force one down the field against the Saints and the safety kind of read the play and that was his first interception of the year. And I guarantee you, knowing what I know about Josh Allen and how he operates, he beat himself up over it for the good part of the week leading into this week's practices. So I think it is. He's taking what the defense gives. They have one of the best offensive lines in the league. They're, they're certainly leading into that. The running game with James Cook is as good as it's ever been. He is playing the best year of his career right now. So the Bills are basically at a point where they don't need Josh to take over games anymore. So it's kind of eliminated the hero ball element out of it. And he too, kind of organically over the years have. Has kind of eliminated that Wyoming Joshness out of him, out of himself. Over the last, I want to say like two, three seasons, it's been a, a very stark evolution. And like, if you put on the film from his rookie year to what he does now, you're like, is that the same player? Other than the name and the number and the fact that he runs people.

[James Palmer]

Over, it's been so impressive to watch. The growth and the, the, the work ethic actually is obviously a huge part of that. And the attention to detail. We'll just leave the cape in the closet until we need it. And he's always so fun when he throws it on. You mentioned real quick before we go, James Cook, you look at the carries he has already this season, I know he put on a little weight. He wants to be viewed a little bit differently as a back, even though he's very versatile. Is this the usage we can see for him throughout the course of the season? Is this what we're going to see for 17 games?

[Joe Biscalia]

Yeah, I think that's what he and his fantasy football owners would hope. I think I see you. I think they, they want to scale it back just a little bit in the regular season because they kind of have to. They're looking at it big picture because this is not they're four and oh odds are they're going to be in the postseason. I mean something would have to really go wrong for them to not be in the postseason or to win the division and get at least one home game. And so they're not like taking that for granted just yet. But they still want to be smart. It's the reason why if guys are close with injuries, they usually wind up sitting them with within a week and that's just because they want them as healthy and as fresh as possible by the time, by the time they get to the late months and certainly into the playoffs. So for Cook, you know, they have gotten away from what they did last year quite a bit. Like last year was a massive three man rotation between him, Ty Johnson coming in on third downs and some red zone stuff and Ray Davis getting a drive here or there. Ray Davis has basically been put on ice this, this entire season and Joe Brady even said something to the, to the likes on Monday of hey, we need to get Ray a little bit more incorporated. But you know, it's so tempting that when Cook is playing as well as he is you just kind of go and run with it. But, but yeah, I think that is going to be something. They kind of scale back a little bit but not to a grand degree. Like if they are in a tight game, Cook's going to be on the field because outside of Josh Allen he is far and away their, their best skill player right now and it's not even particularly close.

[James Palmer]

Yeah, it's been fun to watch him and as you mentioned, I am a fantasy owner so I'm curious about the carries. It's been, it's, it's been outstanding the way he's been able to, to run the football joke. Enjoy the return of Stefan Diggs. I'm not sure if you're going to write that story, but I know there's probably plenty of people talking about it. We'll see if you end up doing it after the Patriots come to town for a big Sunday nighter. I think the Bills are maybe the least talked about undefeated team in football right now with everything that's going on with the Ravens and the Chiefs and Phillies 40 as well. Yet everybody wants to talk about him. And with James Cook and by the way, the way this offense is running. Make sure you go read an article that Joe wrote about the formation in the way the tight ends are being used. Read that at the Athletic. It's been a really, really good read for me just this morning. So appreciate it, Joe. Thank you.

[Joe Biscalia]

Thanks for having me, James.

[James Palmer]

All right, moving on. We got Chad Graf joining us now. He covers the Patriots for the Athletic. A big reunion game for a certain wide receiver. I believe you wrote about it on the site. Stefan Diggs. How important was it, I think to have the game that he had last week before he makes this, this return to Buffalo?

[Chad Graf]

Massively important. I mean it was his first 100 yard game in two years since he played for the Bills. And so I think it's fascinating to look at his season in terms of he's still just 11 months post that ACL tear. And so when he signed with the Patriots, I kind of thought this Bills game might be his first game with the Pats. Like he might start on the pop list and it might take him a while to kind of ramp up and get things going. And then from kind of day one, he was out there. He was out there in minicamp, he was out there in training camp. He would take some reps off and things off here and there, but it was clear he was ahead of schedule the whole time to the point where he's out there playing more than 50% of snaps in the first week. And yet while acknowledging that all of that is super impressive, I also think it's fair to acknowledge like, yeah, a four week ramp up to get to that 11 month mark post ACL tear. It makes sense that the Patriots eased him in and that he was the number three wide receiver for a while. As crazy as it sounds for Stefon Diggs to be a number three wide receiver, let alone for a team like the Patriots who have not had very good wide receivers in recent years. All of that leads to his breakout in week four. And now I think he's got to be feeling pretty good going back to what he admitted will be a pretty emotional game going to Buffalo.

[James Palmer]

Yeah, and you got to feel good as a receiver when your quarterback is starting to kind of stack some games a little bit. I know all eyes were on Drake May and I kept talking to a lot of people I know in New England going, how's camp going? Josh McNan's can put a lot on your plate. There's a lot on the quarterback, specifically at the line. Like how has this, this kind of marriage between play caller and quarterback in your opinion? Chad kind of evolved maybe since camp to what they're doing now on the field now that Josh has kind of figured out Drake.

[Chad Graf]

Yeah, well to go back to camp there was kind of some tepid reaction of boy this, this didn't look great from day one. There was a practice where he threw four inter in one practice. And a lot of people, myself included, kind of looking around like this is, this is the plan, this is, this is what they're doing. And yet like I think it was a little bit similar to what Ben Johnson was doing in Chicago of we're going to throw so much stuff at this guy early and yeah, he's probably going to sink more than he's going to swim during the early parts of training camp. A minicap. And yet I think it has led to this point where the Patriots are doing a little bit of what Drake does well, which is getting him on the move using his mobility. Parts of his game frankly are similar to Josh Allen, which has been a big talking point here of, you know, now Drake may seems to have be the quarterback from that second year taking that next step. As we all looked around all offseason like which one of these guys is really going to take the jump. So far it's been drake may number one in completion percentage, number six in passing yards and that's while throwing 17 passing attempts last game in the blowout. And so you've seen everything that you've wanted from Drake maybe and yet the only reason for pause is the passing defenses that they've played have just frankly been not very good. The Carolina Panthers have the best in terms of EPA per pass and we saw, you know what the Carolina Panthers look like. So not exactly a murderous road that he's gone against. And that's why this bill's game is going to be so important. I think it's prime time, it's against Josh Allen but crucially this is the first like legit passing defense he's faced and so I'm really interested to see how he looks against it.

[James Palmer]

Yeah, I've enjoyed watching you seeing an increase in the play action game. It seems like there's all sorts of different things that we're kind of seeing and I was always so curious because like the pilgrimage that Josh McDaniel like what he was going to bring back and it actually does kind of look like a Josh offense in all honesty to flip it over to the other side, how is this defense played when I look at, you know, the way they play, man, more than they have and to Me that matches up actually kind of well with Buffalo, with how much Buffalo puts attention in their offense between the hashes and you can let your guys play outside on in terms of man, how do you think they match up defensively? Because obviously Josh Allen and that group is rolling with James Cook and Shakir and everybody that you know in both tight ends that play in the middle of the field.

[Chad Graf]

Yeah, I'm not sure that anybody matches up particularly great with them. I'm trying to find positive here.

[James Palmer]

Chad. I thought, you know, play a man on the outside can help you maybe against this I'm going to go a.

[Chad Graf]

Different direction of like the Bills love to play that big personnel and the Patriots have kind of shifted. Like they for a long time could handle that because they, they liked their big safeties. Remember they had Kyle Dugger and Jabril Peppers back there, a couple of like stout, hard hitting guys. They've transformed. Dugger's on the bench. Peppers is gone now in Pittsburgh and they're kind of going for the more field coverage guys, the speedy, smaller guys. Craig Woodson, who's a rookie, Jalen hockey back there as well. So that is, you know, a little bit of an interesting spot to me. I would put the Patriots defense into kind of three buckets, the first being, hey, what did you absolutely nail? They nailed the defensive line plan, the game records in the middle, Milton Williams, Christian Barmore, they are legit. What did they kind of whiff on? Or at least the plan hasn't gone according to plan. It's the linebackers. They signed Robert Spain thinking he was going to just eat up tackles. He was going to be a difference maker. He hasn't been very good. Next to him hasn't been very good. So that's a spot that's got to improve. And then the total question mark of like, what is this going to look like? Has been the secondary. Christian Gonzalez, all pro cornerback last year. He missed the first three games. He dealt with a hamstring injury that just lingered and lingered and lingered. He's the reason that they think they can play a lot of man is you put him on one side, Carlton Davis on the other. At Mike Vrabel's press conference after signing Carlton Davis, he said, we want to play cat. Cat coverage. As in, you got that cat, you got that cat and let's go play. They have not shied from what they want to do defensively. They just haven't quite been able to do it because their best player has been on the bench.

[James Palmer]

Yeah. How different is this defense with Christian Gonzalez, does it change all of that?

[Chad Graf]

I don't know that the scheme changes all that much, but all of a sudden you got a guy who can just erase your top target. And so, you know, I think against Buffalo, we'll see how that shakes out. Against a team like, you know, Miami, they would just stick him against Tyreek pre injury and let him go. It'll be curious to see. Interesting to see what they do against Buffalo. And also Christian Gonzalez is kind of just working his way back into this. He did not just follow Ted McMillan around last week against Carolina. He was, I would say, fine. Good. Not great. Not what we usually see out of Christian Gonzalez, but that's to be expected. I mean, the guy didn't practice once in all of August and so he's slowly ramping up back from this hamstring injury.

[James Palmer]

Awesome, awesome stuff. Chad, I love that you're in a. I don't know what kind of room this is. We don't like books, apparently. But I think this is during the move, right, that's happening here in.

[Chad Graf]

Yes, the Patriots are in the middle of a move to a new facility right next to Gillette Stadium. One of, I think a lot of teams that are building new practice facilities. So things are a little bit empty as this transition happens.

[James Palmer]

I get it. I get it. Everybody who covers the Denver Broncos right now parks in a courtroom parking lot next to the practice facility there in Dub Valley. Enjoy the trip to Buffalo. This is the time to go to Buffalo. Buffalo. This is the time of year I've done it.

[Chad Graf]

20 in December. I've never seen it in the fall, so I'm excited for this one.

[James Palmer]

Enjoy it, man. How can you grow your business from idea to industry leader?

[Jake Seeley]

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Go to amazonbusiness.com for support. Dude, did you order the new iPhone 17 Pro? Got it from Verizon, the best 5G network in America. I never looked so good.

[James Palmer]

You look the same.

[Jake Seeley]

But with this camera, everything looks better.

[Joe Biscalia]

Especially me.

[James Palmer]

You haven't changed your hair in 15 years. Selfies check please.

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[Diana Rossini]

Best 5G source Root Metrics data United.

[James Palmer]

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Bucknell's graduates aren't just working, they're thriving. That's why LinkedIn ranked Bucknell University its number one liberal arts college for career outcomes. Discover the personalized career coaching, real world research and powerful professional network that prepare Bucknellians for a lifetime of success at Bucknell. Edu. Welcome. Welcome back to Scoop City. James Palmer, Diana Rossini with you. And we have a very special guest, not just an NFL player, Diana, a Walter Payton man of the year. By the way, we have to say that there we were both, we were talking before we joined this Eric Armstead, that we were in the crowd for you to win the award at NFL honors last year. We were there standing, clapping. I thought it was outstanding. Congratulations on that first. And thank you for joining us.

[Eric Armstead]

Thank you guys for having me.

[James Palmer]

Yeah. I want to say this before we really get into things, your vulnerability with the Armstead Academic Project, I respect that so much because my sister is a reading specialist for elementary school. And it's kind of, to me, I'm curious what your vulnerability has shown you in your interaction with all these kids that don't want to tell anybody. Reading's not coming easy to me. I'm kind of curious if there's something that stood out to you that you've been open with that and that's allowed to kind of, you know, maybe something special to hit you on why you're doing such great work.

[Eric Armstead]

Well, I really appreciate that because I feel that teachers and educators play the most important role in our society, which is educating our youth. But for me, I feel that it's my responsibility to be vulnerable as a person that people look up to, feel inspired by. It's my responsibility to be authentic and share with people about my struggles and different times throughout my life that have got to me, where I've gotten now and some of those ups and downs in the adversity which make the process in life special, truly. And I know that it resonates, resonates with young people because I was just a young person just like them. And I see myself just like them. I just happen to have a cool job. Even though people like to put professional athletes on the pedestal at times, I'm really just a regular guy that happened to have a cool job. And a big reason, the most important reason of how I've gotten to where I'm at is a whole host of people pouring into me and my environment and being Extremely blessed. So I think that ability, you know, really believing in humanity and that we're all extremely alike, just a little bit different, allows me to connect with people and gives me that inspiration and that drive and that motivation to want to see other people be successful and help in that effort.

[James Palmer]

Cool. It's awesome.

All right, so we're gonna go from really good to really bad. Do you think Robert Sala could have beaten up Liam Cohen? No.

I'm just kidding.

No, I appreciate that. That's awesome to hear. But I do want to talk about the fact that you just faced your former team, you know, and then I know you talked about it already, and just. Just the way the game even ended, you know, and you helped your team get. Get the win. What is that like when. When you're going up against people that. That you at one point really cared about and love, what was that? What was going through your mind there?

[Eric Armstead]

I think, you know, those things don't leave, you know, you don't take, you know, nine years of an experience, you know, wasn't all great, but a lot of great memories and experiences and going through a lot with people, and that just doesn't go out the window.

[James Palmer]

Yeah.

[Eric Armstead]

You know, when. When you leave. So it was a experience in a moment in my career that, you know, I'll cherish for sure, especially, you know, making a play to. To change that game in. In our favor and everything that came with that. But it was a great experience. It was great to see a lot of people that, you know, I shared a lot of experiences with, and. And it was a great day for sure. So I was happy to go through that experience, and my main goal that day was just to live in the moment, not try to put too much on it and, like, oh, I got to do this. I got to do this. At the end of the day, just go out there and play and see what the day brought us. And it brought us a pretty legendary day.

[James Palmer]

You're downplaying a strip sack to win the game, essentially, Right, Diana, Just on your former team. And to me, what stands out is you mentioned your time in San Francisco, and you guys won a lot of games, and to win games in the NFL, you got to be able to close out games, and that's what you did in this game as a defense. That's something that, in a lot of people's minds, has maybe evaded Jacksonville over the last couple of years. They've had good teams and then getting over that hump and finishing games. What can you tell people in the locker room or what is. What is the secret sauce to being able to close out games, which is so important those last couple of minutes in the NFL?

[Eric Armstead]

Yeah. Well, the fact of the matter is that every NFL game, you know, is not everyone, but majority of NFL games are extremely close.

[James Palmer]

Yeah.

[Eric Armstead]

And they're one score games. And they come down to. You never know what play it's going to be. There might be four, four or five defining moment plays in a game that are going to be in your favor, not in your favor, but you never know what play that's going to be. So that's why you have to give it your all on each and every play. But I. I truly believe that it takes time to learn how to win and learn how to win, learn how to respond to losses as well, learn how to respond to wins. Like, learn how to respond to adversity, learn how to close out games. Like, all these things take time. You have to learn these things as a team each and every year, to be honest. You know, some teams can take what they've done in the past and use that for confidence and, oh, yeah, we know how to do this. Like, let's get it done. But when you're trying to get things turned around, the culture, then, you know, it's everyone's first time trying to figure out how to. How to execute down the stretch and win games. And what are those four or five defining moment plays and having them be on your side. So I think it's always learning, and I think for our team, getting off to a great start has been very refreshing. And. And it's always better to learn and get better with wins rather than losses.

[James Palmer]

Yeah. And this is an organization that isn't used to winning. Whereas you come from a place that you got. You tasted it a bunch of times, you know what it's like to be on a really good team. And you. You played for a former head coach who. We know what Kyle Shanahan is, you know, and so now we don't know much about Liam.

Oh, I want to know. Yeah.

Well, look, we have that, of course, viral moment, which I feel bad for him because we know there's so much more there than just that Duvall moment. So you tell us, like, what. What is he like? Explain your head coach. If you were gonna, you know, tell people in your family.

[Eric Armstead]

He'S a fierce competitor, someone who has an edge to him, someone who truly cares about, you know, not only our team, but football, you know, it's. It's everything to him. And you can, you can see that in him, the way he speaks and the way he communicates and, you know, he has, he has a fire. I feel like when you look at our staff, first time head coach, first time defensive coordinator, first time offense coordinator, first time gm, it's like, you know, like those, those roommates coming together, you're fresh out of college and like, everyone has an idea and trying to dominate and, and take over the world, like, together, like, as first timers and man, like, so it's. I feel like it's that type of energy where, like, they want to be extremely successful and they want to be extremely successful together, and this is their first time and they're all, you know, out here trying to leave their mark and have an impact in this league. So that's a, that's the energy that permeates through our team as well.

[James Palmer]

Well, that energy has somehow created at least three turnovers for you guys as a defense in every game. Like, this has been unbelievable. What you guys have been able to do is this, is this sustainable? And what, what do you attribute all of this turnover success, success to, Eric?

[Eric Armstead]

Is it sustainable? I think it's always the goal to turn the ball over. You know, we make goals each and every game, win the turnover margin, get the ball out. It's always on our mind, you know, and. But is it sustainable? You know, you can do a great job of attacking the football, but, you know, it might not pop out at times. So. But for us, it's. It's more of a mindset. It's a mentality that we want to bring to the game as a defense. And I feel if we continue to work, keep that same mentality week in and week out, we're only going to get better because at some point there's only so much things offenses can do. And once you, once you see every offense, it's like, okay, now we've seen everything and now we can continue to get better and better and focus on our details and what we need to do to be successful.

[James Palmer]

What about for you personally? Right? Like, you've been doing this a long time. You. You know how this all works. What's the one thing would you say during your week of preparation for a game is just like an absolute must for you that you have to do in order for you to be like, okay, I'm ready to go for game day?

[Eric Armstead]

That's a great question. No one's ever asked me that. And for me, Diana, Yeah, I was. I would say it's definitely film study. You Know, I have a process of film study that I make you feel.

[James Palmer]

Like, like confident, like prepared.

[Eric Armstead]

Yeah. I don't, some guys don't watch film. I don't know how they play without watching film, but for me, stop watching film. I surprisingly don't.

[James Palmer]

Name him.

Name him.

[Eric Armstead]

It's more, it's more than you would think. But, but, but also that works for some guys. Their brains work differently where it's like if they, if it's too much, then they're, they're brain, they're playing slow and cloudy.

[James Palmer]

Got it?

Yeah.

[Eric Armstead]

But for me, I gotta watch the run cut up. I gotta know like what run, what the run game is going to be. Like, how they're trying to block us. And then the, the past rush cutups as well too. Like, how are the offensive linemen, how are they getting beat? What are their sets and my game plan of how I'm going to attack them.

[James Palmer]

Oh, that's awesome. That's awesome. You mentioned some guys we won't name names about not watching film. I'm just looking from a sheer number of hours in a day, Eric, like, can Travis Hunter watch a lot of film? I want to know what's happening in the building. This is so rare. I'm so stoked about it. Just because we've never seen this before from any player. Can you kind of take us in the facility? How, like, does he just jump from meeting room to meeting room? Do you look and he's in the defensive meeting room with the guys and all sudden he's gone? Or like what, what, how does this work in the building? And you've been in the league for a long time, so I'm assure, I'm sure you're curious kind of about how it works.

[Eric Armstead]

He puts, he's a hard worker. He puts in a lot of extra time and a lot of extra work. You know, it could, he could have an offensive emphasis day and then he has to put in extra time with the defense, post practice or with his coach. I see a lot of, I see often he's, he's working with his receiver coaches on certain things after practice or he might be with the DB coaches, like going through route concepts and breaking down coverages. So playing both sides of the ball requires a lot of extra work and he's been doing a great job for us.

[James Palmer]

Could you do that? Like, could you do it?

[Eric Armstead]

Could I do it?

[James Palmer]

We can play, line up some tight end or what are we going to do? What are we going to do on the offensive side of the ball?

[Eric Armstead]

I think I. I don't know. Some of these offensive play calls be so long.

[James Palmer]

I get so confused.

[Eric Armstead]

I don't know. I don't know. Not having. Well, I guess I played offense in high school. I played offensive line and defensive line both ways.

[James Palmer]

Yeah.

[Eric Armstead]

It would be tough for sure. Just not having that, like, offensive thought process at all. Like, all I really want to hear is, like, do I go left or right? And just let him play?

[James Palmer]

Just let me go.

Do you ever look over at him, though, and just be like. Like, it just seems like so much work, you know, like, it's hard enough.

[Eric Armstead]

Not really. I've never had that thought seeing him. I think what he's doing is inspiring, really. Someone who is confident enough to. To not only attempt to do what he's doing, but actually doing it.

[James Palmer]

What's he better at, though? I can't figure it out. I feel like sometimes I like him on defense. Sometimes, like, I'm on offense. Like, what do you like him? Where do you like him?

Well, he's on defense. He's gonna want him on defense.

I know. That's what I was just thinking. Shoot. That was a layup.

Well, all the players on defense.

[Eric Armstead]

Yeah, no, I. I like. I like him a playmaker, wherever that is on the field. You know, the best players are on the field to help us win games, and he's shown to have huge impact for us on both sides of the ball, so. But the thing I really love the most about it is, you know, when you're the first to do something, how inspiring it can be for people coming up later on. And, like, imagine someone seeing someone's in high school right now or elementary school or middle school, and they're seeing Travis Hunter and what he's doing, and they. They're like, man, I'm gonna do that, but I' ma do even more. Like, imagine, like the. The next. How. How he's breaking down barriers for athletes and, like, what possible in their minds, like, these. These next generation of athletes are gonna be like, I can do anything. Like, we're not even going to be talking about weird. We're not even gonna be talking like, this is weird. I feel like in the future, like, there's going to be kids brains unlocked, like, oh, no, that's nothing. I can go ahead and I'm going to show you what I can do.

[James Palmer]

Yeah, well, I mean, his head coach in college played in the World Series and played in the Super Bowl. I think that's a pretty rare thing to do. That got me thinking. We Were talking about you playing both sides of the ball. You played basketball at Oregon a little bit. Right. Like NFL players are obsessed with the NBA. I feel like. Do you feel like if we went that path we could have have found our way to the league? If we, if we picked one or.

[Eric Armstead]

The other possibly I could have had, you know, maybe a stint. But being realistic, the NBA game has changed a lot. Yeah, I don't see like my playstyle back then. I don't see a lot of now.

[James Palmer]

Like were you down on the block? What were we doing?

[Eric Armstead]

Yeah, I was like a skill big, you know, scoring the post, you know, stretch the floor a little bit. Could shoot like, you know, Boris DL or Juan Blair or.

[James Palmer]

Yeah.

[Eric Armstead]

You know, a type like that. And I don't really see that in the game anymore. So I don't know how long my career would have been. Especially knowing like how the NBA has shifted.

[James Palmer]

Yeah. Oh, wow. Hey, still would have been a career.

[Eric Armstead]

Yeah.

[James Palmer]

League man. Come on. You got a big one on Monday. A real big one on Monday. Monday Night Football. Everybody's been seeing what the Jacksonville Jaguars are doing and you're facing off against Kansas City. You've played against Patrick Mahomes. What I saw and I know you guys have watched the film. I know you've watched the film. He looked really comfortable against Baltimore. And when he's comfortable, he's dangerous. You gone against him. Like I said. How do you make Patrick Mahomes from your experience uncomfortable on, on Monday night.

[Eric Armstead]

Four quarter game, whenever you're playing against Mahomes, which I know all too well. Yes.

[James Palmer]

And sometimes past four quarters.

[Eric Armstead]

Yeah, you gotta be locked, you gotta be locked in for four quarters and you know, you, you. I feel like you can have success. You know, some of the defensive I've been on had success for a time. But that's why I said you got to be locked in all game and you know, be willing to. Because he's a gamer, you know, he's, he's going to. He does a great job of finding ways to win games. Like that's, that's just calling card. He's talented. He's an extreme athlete in arm and quarterback and all that. But at the end of the day I feel like his best trait is just, just being a gamer, just figuring out ways to, to win games. And so, you know, all you can do is. Is play for four quarters. Try your best to make them uncomfortable. Try your best to make them one dimensional and, and you know, obviously don't let the run game get going. And, you know, keep them in the pocket and. And try to frustrate them and corral them and play as hard as you can for four quarters and. And I think that's, you know, the only recipe that has been successful is getting after him. You know, constant pressure and, you know, being relentless non stop.

[James Palmer]

One more question before you go, because I was just thinking about this. I was thinking about your group. Like, just what your meeting room is. Like. Obviously you talk about football because that's what you do for a living, but what's like, the. What are, like, one or two topics that you guys are always talking about when you guys are hanging out, Meeting. Is there anything specific that your group is, like, always either debating, arguing about maybe, or even just like, weighing in outside of just, you know, the typical football stuff.

[Eric Armstead]

Yeah, football players. We talk about, you know, the. We talk about the things that everyone.

[James Palmer]

Else talks about, you know, anything right now. Like, come on, you guys didn't have a conversation of, could Liam kick Robert Sala's butt? Like, come on. Someone had to have that. And the thing is, is I don't know the answer. I can. I see both sides. Like, Robert's tall or. And he's goes to the gym a lot. He's jacked. Like, But Liam's got, like, a little crazy in him. He seems like he's ready to throw because he's like, he's just like you said, like, kind of wanted to prove, like, who's winning that one. Like, I. I don't know. I don't know. You know them better than I do.

[Eric Armstead]

I mean, we. We discussed that a little bit. I. I thought it was funny. I didn't see it live on the field, but obviously I saw the video and.

[James Palmer]

And did you guys play that in a team meeting? They had to.

Put that on.

[Eric Armstead]

No, we didn't play that in the team meeting. But I know that he is. He does have a fiery side.

[James Palmer]

Yeah.

[Eric Armstead]

And, you know, that gets us going as well, too. Gets us going as a team. Someone who, you know, has an edge to him and. For sure. But in terms of what we talk about, we talk about all the same stuff that everyone else is talking about. Like, if it's. If we. We may have, you know, a different perspective. Yeah, we may have a different perspective. Like, today I saw the TV was on the day at the facility, and it was like, did. Did Micah Parsons return? This is on espn.

[James Palmer]

Yeah.

[Eric Armstead]

Yeah. They're like, did Micah Parsons return? Live up to the hype. I'm like, the hype that you created.

[James Palmer]

It.

[Eric Armstead]

Did it live up to your own hype? Like, what are we talking about here? Like, yeah, you guys are the ones hyping it up.

[James Palmer]

I know.

It's so funny to, like, see how that's so the top. And the thing is, you could weigh in on our, on our show. If you ever, like, come across on YouTube or listen to us, like, you'll probably feel the same way. Like, are you guys seriously having this conversation? Because I. Look, we've been doing. All of us have been around it for long enough to know, like sometimes there just is a true disconnect from what the reality of what's up and what we think think is interesting and what the fans think. You know, it's probably the biggest battle we all have.

[Eric Armstead]

Right? Nice. It's not interesting, but, you know, topics around the league, you know, we discuss. But we, we have a lot of real conversations too, because we're all going through similar situations. Guys are in different stages of their lives, you know, relationships, kids, those things that are, you know, more important and serious. We have those, those kind of, kind of conversations in the locker room as well.

[James Palmer]

Yeah.

That's awesome. Well, Eric, it's a small locker room in Kansas City. You know, it. I. Maybe Liam will go crazy and throw a thing or two pre game. I don't know. There's not a lot of space in there, so we make sure we keep everybody safe. But good luck Monday night. It's been super fun to watch your defense fly all over the field. It's been outstanding and again, all the work you do off the field has been unbelievable and well deserved and well correct with your Walter Payton man of the year. So appreciate you guys, you joining us here on on Scoop City. Eric, thank you so much.

[Eric Armstead]

Thank you. Appreciate you guys having me.

[James Palmer]

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Home and auto policies. Try [e-mail] Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states. All right. Welcome back to Scoop City on a Thursday. I'm James Palmer. You know what that means. We're talking fantasy football. We're talking lists as well with my man, Jake Seeley. Jake, you sent one list to me and then I got another list, a revamped list. I really understand why all the shuffling is going on. But the rules are the movies can't have a sequel, correct?

[Jake Seeley]

Right, right.

[Eric Armstead]

That was the rule.

[James Palmer]

But then you make a very specific rule about that. But then on your list you have three movies as number one. So this is a list with rules but no rules at the same time.

[Eric Armstead]

Time.

[Jake Seeley]

You should understand that by now. When it comes to me, there are no rules. It basically are the rules.

[James Palmer]

Well, okay.

[Jake Seeley]

So yeah, it was.

[James Palmer]

There's. Okay, well look, so it's beautiful because.

[Jake Seeley]

So the originally the list was no sequels. Obviously somebody in the comments were like, well, some of these are adaptations. Like, well, actually, dude, first of all, read the preface where it says it's just a fun list. I haven't seen every movie in existence. This is just my personal list. And it's from the 90s and the lots with I think here's another rule. There's like one or two movies from 2000 teens mixed in there. But basically the movies I could think of and I forgot some because you're talking about the revamped list. I originally did my top 15. We're almost up to 25 because there's ones I forgot like usual suspects. Great movie, Tommy Boy. Great comedy. So there's other. But yes, I put a trilogy at the top and it's my like we all call. It's the Cage trilogy. There is no trilogy that I think. I mean this is 90s and 2000s, so it's not Star wars and all that nonsense. But like no Indiana Jones. But the Rock Con Air Face off trilogy is easily a top five trilogy of all time. We just, we make it a trilogy.

[James Palmer]

You make it a trilogy. I think the graphic outstanding. By the way. Jeremy, on what's happening there, there are some things I like here. Yeah, I was going to tell you. Put the bunny back in the box. You can't have Heat on here for much longer because there's going to be a sequel to Heat. So eventually that I just found that out, too.

[Jake Seeley]

And supposedly Edge of Tomorrow's got one that they want to make.

[James Palmer]

Okay. I dig it. I made a list, by the way. Did you? I made my own list.

[Jake Seeley]

Okay.

[James Palmer]

And.

[Jake Seeley]

Oh, Groundhog Day.

[James Palmer]

I think Groundhog Day is perfect. Perfect in every way. It's the best movie in terms of manipulation of time travel or time of any film ever. And maybe number two is Back to the Future. But I do. I try to hit on movies, Jake. This is like. I try to be you. I try to put myself in your skin in, like, a Cookie Monster T shirt and say, listen, that's a scary place. Like, what do I want to do with this? And I did. I picked movies that, when I walked out of the theater, I was never the same again. They just changed everything for me. And these all did that in one fast or another. I. Most of them. I never saw a movie like them before or since. That's kind of how I did. Did.

[Jake Seeley]

Well, okay, do you hear me typing? Because I'm making the list now. 25, because I'm adding Groundhog Day and 7 to the list or 2 that should have been included.

[James Palmer]

Oh, wow. We helped each other out. People helping people. It's powerful stuff.

[Jake Seeley]

There you go.

[James Palmer]

I love it. That's from a Vince Vaughn movie fantasy. And you have one on there. And you have one on there in Wedding Crashers. Okay, listen, let's get to a little fantasy talk. Even though that's included in our movie section, let's talk about Trey Benson. And what are we going to do? If this was like, okay, now I got the replacement. Now we read need to replace the replacement.

[Jake Seeley]

Yeah, well, unfortunately, the replacement replacement isn't an easy answer because this isn't Trey Benson, where it's like, hey, I have a top 15 running back for the rest of the season. This is now, hey, I have a timeshare. And what are we going to do here? I know Michael Carter claimed himself the lead of that backfield, and I've seen some talk saying that he could be the early down option. But we've done the Michael Carter dance. I mean, we've actually done the Michael Carter dance with the Cardinals. We've also done the demarcato dance, to be honest. And I'm going to lean slightly demarcato over Carter for this reason. If they really are going to use Carter as the early down option, that means they're keeping DeMarcado in the pass catching option which is what we want in fantasy, especially if he's going to be out there in the two minute drill as we saw even with Benson last week. But the other part of it is I don't think there's a not or I should say there is a non zero chance that DaMarcado does have more of a lead than they're letting on because he, you know this, he's a big dude. He's 59 pushing 2 20. It's not like he's a guy who can't handle early down work. It's just, just he's Dame Mercado. He's not a top 25 running back in the NFL probably. So I do think it's going to be a split which most weeks we would say just avoid the split, don't start either one of them. But we are already into the buys and there's Josh Jacobs and B John Robinson and even Tyler Algier all on a buy right now. So I think you kind of have to start both. But I would give DMRCado the slight edge just because of the passing game work.

[James Palmer]

What are people doing with Bucky Irving by the way? I talked to some people in Philadelphia after that game and they were like this dude is such the real deal. Like this guy is no joke in terms of running against our defense. What's the take on Bucky Irving right now?

[Jake Seeley]

So it sounds like he's out for at least this week. The answer is just turn back to Rashad White who had the job before Bucky Irving snatched it from him last year. But of course look at last year too. Before late in the season. Despite how good Irving was, Liam Cohen basically took into the last few weeks of the season to really bell cow put that in quotes. Bucky Irving where Rashad White was still sprinkled in and I know Rashad White's been volume reliant, still good after contact. He's still a good running back back. So I say Rashad White is in the RB2 mix. I do think Sean Tucker will sprinkle in a little bit to the level of Rashad White sprinkling in with Bucky Irving, but maybe even a little bit more. But that means until Irving comes back, Rashad White will give you an RB2 value. I would start Rashad White over both Cardinals running backs to give you an idea by by a decent margin.

[James Palmer]

Okay, okay, I see that this is something that you and I were talking before we started taping this Malik Washington, Isaiah Bond. I might need an extra receiver. I got injuries, I got buys. Isaiah Bond right now if you want to pick him up on your, on your team, on ESPN maybe or somewhere. He doesn't even have a picture on his thumbnail. He's just, he's just Isaiah Bond, Cleveland Browns. What are we doing here with these two?

[Jake Seeley]

So definitely Malik Washington over Isaiah Bond. That being said, I thought Isaiah Bond was a top five wide out talent in the NFL draft. I would have taken him over Matthew golden coming out of Texas. And I mean you look back at that season last year, I mean look at Isaiah Bond was better than golden before he got hurt, let's be honest about it. So like, I think that the talent is there. Where. See, it's debatable. But I, I'm, I believed in Bond over Golden and I think that the question here is if it was Joe Flacco, I'd have a little bit more faith in Isaiah Bond. Gabriel will throw the ball down more, more downfield than Joe Flacco was. It can't get much worse. But of course, Gabriel being a quarterback raises a big question. So stash Bond, Malik Washington could be your answer. Could be a lot of people's answer for injuries and a lot of wide receivers on BO this week. Because you remember like coming out of college that final year, Virginia went ballistic. I mean this is somebody that just because he was at Virginia and some his size limited his ceiling of what people thought he could do in the NFL. But the good thing here is that if you're saying replace Tyreek Hill and not Jalen Waddle. So like if this is replaced Jalen Waddle, I think Westbrook Aquina would be more of a threat to Malik Washington because Malik Washington actually replicates Hill more than he does Waddle. And I'm not calling him Tyreek Hill, I'm maybe even 80% Tyree kill. But if he's 80% Tyreek Hill, you're going to have a wide receiver. 3. Yeah, that is pretty dang good. And you could have the upside for the touchdown. But I think the biggest question which should be, should we just include it, like just jump to the next question. If Darren Waller is truly back, I mean, I'm jumping ahead. I'm not even going to let you ask the question.

[James Palmer]

I'm just going to do it.

[Jake Seeley]

Darren Waller is back for the Dolphins. Another player that's calling his own. Just like Michael Carter. I'm getting more involved this week. Darren Waller. Well, you just had two touchdowns. How Much more do you want to be involved? And I know he's talking about the snap count and everything like that, but. But even with Malik Washington does step in for Tariq Hill. I think that if you're shooting for upside and this goes specifically for you, James, and then anybody in your situation, if you're thinking Darren Waller at the flex while I'm starting two tight ends this week over Malik Washington, the easy comparison. I keep making this for everybody. Think of Darren Waller. Just strip the name off his jersey and say Mark Andrews. You're going to have weeks where he's not involved because he's a tight end. But the upside, any given week is to score a touchdown, 50 plus yards, maybe even two, and give you a top five performance even as you consider him as a wide receiver. Because the answer that he is their red zone option. You six, six that athletic and you're going to turn to Malik Washington or Jalen Waddle. No, Darren Waller is the answer there. So you're hoping for two touchdowns. That's your Hail Mary play. Darren Waller would be the answer.

[James Palmer]

I'm doing it. I got him in my lineup right now and I actually did it even before the show. So it makes me feel kind of smart that I did this and then you said that and now I feel like I'm onto something. I don't know. I'm 2 and 2. I'm not doing too, too great. Make sure you go and watch maybe just one one of Jake's movies this weekend. If you're not watching football, just watch one of them. And Jake would probably say one of his top three number ones. Just pick one. If I am, I'm going. Con Air is better than the other two by far.

[Jake Seeley]

I think I will agree with you. If I had to rank the three, I would go Con Air the Rock Face off in order.

[James Palmer]

Yeah, the guy that is with John Cusack. The other guy is such a loser. Oh, that guy's the worst. The other DEA agent or whatever he is.

[Jake Seeley]

I know, I try. Like the other other guy. Yeah, the other guy's good movie, by the way, on the list.

[James Palmer]

You put that in your top movies from 1990 to. Oh, gosh, we got to say goodbye. Jake, stay here. I'm going to say goodbye to this whole show while you're still here. Eric Armstead was with us. He was outstanding. For all the writers that were on this show, this is going to be a thing. We had a wonderful insight from Joe, Je, Chad, Nikki, Jake was with us. Charlotte, all of you, thank you so much. I'm James Palmer. Enjoy your football weekend. Cross your fingers for Darren Waller. Two touchdowns. Let's go.

Thanks for watching Scoop City. Don't forget to like, subscribe and feel free to leave a comment. New episodes of Scoop City drop every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.

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