David Dennis Jr. (2:25)

Okay, well, it's a tale of two halves. By saying. Because yes, we're talking about super bowl teams and two team, you know, so. Eagles. Chiefs. Yeah. To your point, if I'm the Chiefs, you just cannot. I mean, there's so much riding on this game in terms of like how your momentum is. You. You don't. There's lost three. There's be three games in a row that you've lost. If you lose this game, there's concerns about how that offense look. I mean, we are, we are at sort of this, this point with the Chiefs where it feels like the deficiencies, the, the injuries, the suspensions, the weapons are too much for even Patrick Mahomes to overcome. Like last year, what we saw was from Mahomes, a guy who was able to pull off, what was it, 10 wins with one score less last season. Like, for him to be able to do that now, it just does not seem like there's enough for him even to pull miracles as Mahomes. And you have an Eagles team that, yes, they did win, but. But they're a little angry about the way that they won, about the way they were talked about. That kind of skated by on that Cowboys win. The offense was not humming like it should have been, especially in that second half after the stoppage. And they want to go out there and say, you're talking about the packers, you're talking about the Rams, you're talking about these other teams. We're still the Eagles, we're still defending champs. Let's go blow these dudes out again.

Andrew Salchunas (3:41)

And look, I get it. Respect for Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid will always be there for me. But David, I'll take you back to February, when a lot of people were picking the Chiefs to win the Super Bowl. You probably heard it 100 times here on ESPN radio, on the ESPN network, you name it. The Eagles are the better team. But they have Andy Reid and they have Patrick Mahomes. I feel like it's the exact same conversation today that the Eagles are the better team than the Kansas City Chiefs. There might be a lot of teams that are better than the Kansas City Chiefs, but. But they have Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes. At what point does the but just go out the door? Like, at what point do I go, yeah, like, they are great and I'll always respect them and I will Always have a slight bit of fear when my team is facing them. But let's just face it, one roster is much better than the other. Like there's only a couple of comparable players. In my opinion, that fear factor has.

David Dennis Jr. (4:37)

Gone out the window, I think for the Chiefs. Teams are not scared of the Chiefs right now. Especially when, when you see a guy like Justin Herbert. Like, think about week one this year versus Week one last year. Right? Week one last year was Lamar Jackson, that Ravens team. And Lamar Jackson felt like he had to play a perfect game to be Patrick Mahomes because that's what it required to be Patrick Mahomes. Now you have Justin Herbert, who I think is an inferior quarterback to Lamar Jackson. He's not no slouch. Went out there and just walked them down and beat them. They couldn't get him off the field and he was able to out execute that offense. And I think when you have things like that happen where that mystique of we're just going to win because we're close, because we're the Chiefs, when that starts to go away, teams are starting to look at that.

Andrew Salchunas (5:17)

Yeah. And look at some point, you know, dealing with Xavier Worthy, who's hurt Rasheed Rice's suspension, as you mentioned, Travis Kelsey, another year older. The ground game is Isaiah Pacheco, the same running back he was before he had his really bad leg injury last year. Kareem Hunt is not getting any younger. Like this is at some point, Patrick Mahomes has already won as Superman. Is there another step forward from Superman? Like I don't know what, what the next superhero is that can beat being Superman.

David Dennis Jr. (5:48)

I mean, hey man, just give Miami Dolphins a call. Maybe that was more realistic a couple days ago before, you know, some of the other stuff came out. But yeah, I think it's. If you're the Chiefs, you got to have look outward. And I know the NFL does not work in that same way like the NBA where you could just go out there and make a trade for what you're missing. But the Chiefs, I think are just missing too much right now.

Andrew Salchunas (6:08)

Absolutely. Are you ready for the marquee matchup? Let's go. Let's talk Niners, Saints. All right, 49ers at Saints. So San Francisco, three and a half point favorites on ESPN BET. Despite not having Brock Purdy, who had the turf toe injury and the shoulder injury, could miss two to five weeks is the window that's being reported for Purdy. So Mac Jones, former first round pick, getting the start for San Francisco. This is why I'm so excited for a game. And I get it. It's the New Orleans Saints. Your New Orleans Saints. And I'm. I'm sorry to be disrespectful of the Saints, but they're. They're not a good football team. You know, they're. They're. They're kind of owning that, as we know. What makes me so excited about this game is seeing what Mac Jones looks like with Kyle Shanahan. Now, I'm not saying I'm a Mac Jones fan. What I believe is Kyle Shanahan can win with, like, anybody, which he did with Jimmy Garoppolo. We've now seen it with Brock Purdy. And I still believe that there was a bit of a mistake made to pay Brock Purdy all that money. Now, we would not have known it until Brock Purdy was not on the field. There's a chance that I could watch Mac Jones go out there, play okay football, and then I will be reminded of my opinion that I've had for months now that they should never pay Brock Purdy. And today's that first test to get that information.

David Dennis Jr. (7:27)

So are you starting to say that there may be a quarterback controversy between Mac Jones and.

Andrew Salchunas (7:31)

No, not a quarterback controversy, but a roster controversy. We all know that once you're off that rookie deal, it's hard to win. Win. It's hard to continue to win unless you have, like, a mastermind, that's Howie Roseman or you're the Kansas City Chiefs or you're Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, and you become a dynasty. But once you have to pay that quarterback. They were fortunate to find something in Brock Purdy. Mr. Irrelevant. Right. Final pick of the draft. They had a lot of money allocated to the offense. They had a lot of money allocated to the defense. And what did they have to do this past offseason? They had to shed salary. They had to restructure a lot of contracts. It was a very busy offseason for the San Francisco 49ers, all because they had to pay Brock Purdy. I don't look at Brock purdy as a $250 million quarterback. I know that's the going rate in the NFL, but just because that's the going rate in the NFL doesn't mean that you have to make that mistake. And I wonder if San Francisco. I believe San Francisco made that mistake, considering who they have as the head coach that I think could win with basically anybody.

David Dennis Jr. (8:31)

I think we're putting a little bit too much. You're Selling yourself on watch this game. I find it hard to believe you're going to watch a second of this game.

Andrew Salchunas (8:39)

By the way, I'll be watching that.

David Dennis Jr. (8:42)

As it's happening, but I think that we're putting a little bit. They're going against the Saints. Now, the Saints defense did look decent against the Cardinals, but you're still not going to say, hey, Mac Jones did well against the Saints. You know, should we have reconsidered the Brock Purdy thing? I think this is going to be a pretty ugly game, I think, you know, I mean, I'm not sure what you can glean from it. The 49ers just got to figure out a way to win and stay relevant while people are trying to get healthy. Kittle's going to be out of there. I mean, they might actually mess around and lose this game based on the injuries that they have.

Andrew Salchunas (9:14)

Could be. Could be. And then I could be proven wrong. Right. And that's part of me, like, I don't mind being wrong in life. I know everybody wants to be right, especially when it comes to sports talk. Right. Like, we always want to be the person that's right. I don't mind being wrong. It's just my belief was Kyle Shanahan is that much of an offensive genius that I think he could win with pretty much anybody. And so, yeah, should I glean much from a win against the Saints? No, probably not. But if it's two to five weeks, if it's the bare minimum, I got Saints, Cardinals. If it's somewhere in the middle, I got Saints, Cardinals, Jags. It's Saints, Cardinals, Jags, Rams. It could go as far as to the Buccaneers game. If it is five weeks where Brock Purdy misses all that time, and then we get a bit of a sample size, not for a quarterback controversy, but for a realization of, damn, maybe we shouldn't have paid this guy all that money when we had a lot of other good players that made us good over these last couple of years.

David Dennis Jr. (10:03)

Well, if you. If you. I'm with you on this. If you're in a situation where at the end of these few weeks, you say Mac Jones looks just as good as Brock Purdy, I think then, yes, that. That is a. That is a cause for concern. I just do not think we're going to be looking at a situation where Mac Jones looks anywhere near being good enough to start for a team like the San Francisco 49ers.

Andrew Salchunas (10:23)

Okay, fair enough. Now, am I selling the game on you a little bit? Like, I know it's your Saints. Like, did I sell you?

David Dennis Jr. (10:28)

I've already vowed that I'm seeing, I'm watching zero snaps of Saints football. Like, like Saints Saints number. Look, if I was, I watched, I watched some of the Cardinals game, I will admit because I was nervous that the Saints are going to win. Don't go out there and win that game. Like, what are you doing? We don't need, we don't need Tyler Shuck Miracles.

Andrew Salchunas (10:48)

You're not part of the Rat Pack.

David Dennis Jr. (10:50)

No, we don't need any of that stuff. We don't need Rattler, we don't need Chuck, we don't need none of this stuff that's going on out there. I don't, I don't want you, you know, through the past, the end zone, it got dropped. I celebrated like the Saints just won the super bowl again because you need to go as close to oh, and 17 is possible so you get a number one pick.

Andrew Salchunas (11:06)

It's time to rebuild so you can draft Arch Manning, you know, the next superstar. All right, coming up next, can Aaron Rodgers keep things rolling when they host Seattle? We talk about it next year on Matt Myron on ESPN Radio and ESPN app.

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Andrew Salchunas (12:39)

I'm Christian McCaffrey, pro running back and Abercrombie is an official fashion partner of the NFL. I'm not kidding when I say NFL by Abercrombie broke the Internet last year and I think this season's lineup is even cooler. And so does my wife, who keeps.

David Dennis Jr. (12:53)

Stealing all my hoodies.

Andrew Salchunas (12:54)

Stay fit for the season and Abercrombie's newest arrivals. Shop NFL by Abercrombie in the app online and in store Matt and Myron the podcast Matt Myron on ESPN Radio and the ESPN app presented by Progressive Insurance. If you heard anything like my crazy excitement for Niner Saints, you could talk about it on the Dr. Pepper call in line 888 say ESPN. That's 887-29-3776. I'm Andrew Salchunas alongside David Dennis Jr. We're in for Matt Myron. Tune in for a football doubleheader today as the Steelers host the Seahawks, followed by the Broncos at Colts. That's today on select ESPN radio stations. We've already talked about that Broncos Colts matchup, David, but now let's focus on Seahawks and Steelers. You and I talked about the jets team earlier today and how that was a fun, exciting first week for new head coach Aaron Glenn. Justin Fields getting the opportunity to be the starting quarterback without the Russell Wilson breathing on his neck, wondering when he's going to come back from his injury like that happened in Pittsburgh last year. The other team, though, won and it was the Pittsburgh Steelers, and it's a team where there's a lot of question about whether or not they are some playoff contender. I don't buy it. I really don't. I don't think you could just grab a bunch of players and say, all right, go ahead, go out there and win it. I know Mike Tomlin is a tremendous head coach and it was good to see Aaron Rodgers play football again. And it just be football, right? It wasn't everything else that surrounds Aaron Rodgers. So maybe early on he's on his best behavior. I'm not sure. But it was a very exciting game last week between the Steelers and the Jets.

David Dennis Jr. (14:44)

It was. I mean, Aaron Rodgers, let's be fair, threw a couple of down the stretch, could have gone the other way, but he played much better than I thought. That offense looks looks much better than I thought. He's going to have a real test, though, against this Seahawks defense because it's going to look a little bit different than the jets defense. You have a defensive coordinator with Seattle who is a guy who can dial up some confusing packages for folks who could put some pressure on a guy like Aaron Rodgers and can be really tough for this team. I really want to see like the Steelers and the jets was such an interesting matchup last week because we do not know what was sustainable between the two. Right. But that high scoring game, I'm very intrigued by this matchup. See what the Steelers look like.

Andrew Salchunas (15:24)

Steelers 3 1/2 point favorites on ESPN. Bet DK Metcalf going up against his old team in Seattle and he looked okay in week one for Pittsburgh. I think the thing is you talk about sustainability between the Steelers and the jets and the way those two teams played last week, it's almost like wow, good for the jets that they came that close while also saying I can't believe the Steelers allowed it to be that close. Now part of that is my belief on who Justin Fields is. I don't think he's a quarterback that's going to win you 12 games in a football season. Whereas a lot of people look at the Steelers team as a team that will win double digit games and will make it to the playoffs. If that's the case, they can't be having to go into battles like that with New York where you're scoring 40 points to win.

David Dennis Jr. (16:10)

Yeah, I mean that's a concern. Like I expected better from that Steelers defense for sure coming into this season and now you're going to have Justin Fields towards you. You don't want to have Darnold going out there and torching you now. So you want, you want something better. I anticipate this to be a much lower scoring game than we saw last week.

Andrew Salchunas (16:29)

By the way, speaking of Sam Darnold, do you believe the clock struck midnight? It didn't look good last week.

David Dennis Jr. (16:34)

Did not look good. But again, you're going against 49ers team. The defense there is good. So I, you know, maybe, you know, things look a little bit better. But yeah, it did not look good for Sam Darnold.

Andrew Salchunas (16:45)

I mean, look, last year he had the best wide receiver in the league and Justin, Jeff said her second best wide receiver. Depending on your, your belief between him and Jamar Chase, Jordan Addison, tremendous wide receiver. Aaron Jones was great out of the backfield. When they got TJ Hawkinson back from his injury. He was a tremendous addition to that football team. He doesn't have that in Seattle. Right. Like there's still confusion about Kenneth Walker versus Zach Charbonnet. And then obviously you have Jackson Smith Njigba who I think is a quality wide receiver when he has DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett with them. Right. Like he is now the guy, and he had a nice week, but he's now the guy. Is he going to be good enough to be the number one wide receiver for a team that had a guy that surprised everybody last year with the Minnesota Vikings? And of course he got paid the way that he did during the offseason, putting that together. But I just wonder how real last year was. Not to take anything away from the success he had last year, but how real was it?

David Dennis Jr. (17:41)

Well, I mean, yeah, I mean to be fair, it's not necessarily real versus what you have around you.

Andrew Salchunas (17:46)

Right, right.

David Dennis Jr. (17:47)

I think he's a good, I mean he is a good quarterback in that great situation, as you mentioned, with a quarterback whisperer, with one of the top two wide receivers in the league with the defense that can stifle people with getting, getting the ball back to you. Now you got to do things on your own a little bit more for in Seattle and we're going to see what that looks like. We saw Justin Fields do great against the Steelers teams. Now you're going to be sort of compared to a guy like Justin Fields who has a possible similar trajectory to have Darnold, a guy who bounced around from different places and then showed up looking great in week one in a new situation.

Andrew Salchunas (18:17)

By the way, I got to be honest, I didn't know Jalen Ramsey had that in his bag that he had in Garrett Wilson at the end there. Nobody thinks of Jalen Ramsey as the physical corner. That was a hell of a play to end it for the Pittsburgh Steelers in week one. We have a battle between the Panthers and Cardinals. We'll discuss now. Panthers at Cardinals. Cardinals six and a half point favorites today. David, after their one and oh start last week, you mentioned it, you were rooting for the Saints to not win that football game. It did get close, but Arizona ultimately gets the win. The Panthers start their season after that weird delay in Jacksonville with the weather right away. But, but they're oh and one. I did not buy in that four week stretch that Bryce Young had last year. I didn't, I didn't think that he was going to all of a sudden be the number one overall pick that they thought that they were getting and it didn't look good last week at all. 18 of 34 for 154 yards, a touchdown, two picks. Now in fairness, I said it earlier, I thought the Eagles and Cowboys were 100% impacted by that one hour lightning delay. Theirs was even longer. But I just have a belief in Bryce Young, a lack of a belief. I should Say in Bryce Young that I feel like that's more of the norm. And It's a shame.

David Dennis Jr. (19:34)

154 yards, two picks. I mean, that Cardinals defense now, I think is going to hound him just as much as he got hounded last year. He's going to be under more pressure. I think it's going to be another ugly, ugly, you know, game for Bryce Young. This I told you earlier I went Ravens for my eliminator pick. Was tempted to go Cardinals here because of what I believe in that defense, which I think defense held up well against the Saints. I think they can play a lot better than they did last week and I think we're going to see that. This against the Panthers.

Andrew Salchunas (20:07)

Yeah. And Jonathan Gatton, obviously defensive minded head coach with the Arizona Cardinals. So we'll see how he gets his defense going. It's just a shame because, you know, you're excited for the Panthers. You draft Xavier Leggett high two drafts ago. You get Ted McMillan in the first round this past draft. So there are weapons. Chuba Hubb, quality running back at some point, Dave Canales, the head coach who's supposed to be an offensive mind. At some point you start looking at the quarterback because you see all the players around them like Chuba Hubbard's is quality running back. You have, you have good wide receivers. If you're putting out games like that, it's, it's going to become quick where people are looking at you where you were already benched at one point last season.

David Dennis Jr. (20:51)

Is Bryce Young looking like the quarterback's going to be bench first?

Andrew Salchunas (20:57)

I would say tua, but I don't know, like, what are the Dolphins playing for?

David Dennis Jr. (21:01)

Yeah, I don't. Yeah, yeah.

Andrew Salchunas (21:02)

I mean, I guess you could already say that Anthony Richardson was before he couldn't even win his job in Indianapolis.

David Dennis Jr. (21:09)

Yeah, it's Bryce Young or Russell Wilson. Right. Possibly in terms of guys who are going to get benched, but Bryce Young got it. He's got to show me something. I saw nothing to feel any, any amount of confidence in, but the shame.

Andrew Salchunas (21:19)

Of it in those two situations that you just gave. At least if you're a New York Giants fan, you might be rooting for that potential benching of Russell Wilson because you want to see what's next and that what's next is a rookie quarterback. The what's next for the Carolina Panthers is who are you drafting next? Because Your backup is 15 year vet Andy Dalton. Right. Like, it's not like they're going to somebody that's all of a sudden going to be the future of the Carolina Panthers. Instead, you're just going to a guy that's going to be there for probably another year or two before you draft your next quarterback. And that's the tough situation that you're seeing in Carolina right now.

David Dennis Jr. (21:55)

Yeah, that's just what it is. I mean, it's dreary for that team.

Andrew Salchunas (21:59)

All right, coming up next, J.J. mcCarthy makes his home debut tonight. We'll talk about it next year on Matt Myron on ESPN Radio and the ESPN app. When did making plans get this complicated? It's time to streamline with WhatsApp, the secure messaging app that brings the whole group together. Use polls to settle dinner plans, send event invites and pin messages so no.

Michelle Smallman (22:30)

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Andrew Salchunas (23:05)

There Matt and Myron the Podcast it's going to be an exciting game tonight between the Falcons and Vikings in Minnesota. This is Matt Myron on ESPN Radio and the ESPN app. I'm Andrew South Junas alongside David Dennis Jr. We're in for Matt and Myron today. Matt Myron presented by Progressive Insurance with insurance for cars, home, boat, motorcycle, RVs and commercial vehicles at 1-800-progressive and progressive.com the Vikings three and a half point favorites tonight hosting the Falcons. Of course that on ESPN Bet both games really exciting for their week one matchups. The Falcons taking it down to the wire with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Obviously a rough moment for a young Wei Ku With a couple of missed kicks, the Minnesota Vikings come from behind. J.J. mcCarthy kind of puts the team on his back in order to get Minnesota to win over the Chicago Bears. David it's, it's interesting because both games were very similar. Both quarterbacks were very similar. It's just unfortunate. One was handed a loss, one was handed a win. But I think both these guys, even though it wasn't perfect, they were both gamers and I think that's a good start for these teams. Penix with very Little opportunities last season. And McCarthy of course we know didn't play a snap last year.

David Dennis Jr. (24:29)

Yeah, this is going to be a good matchup. I mean if you're in Atlanta, in Atlanta, it was all heartbreak for that team after that loss. Young way is they benched him after missing, you know, those kicks last week. But if I'm looking at Pinnocks and what he did, I feel good as a Falcons fan. He put that he had some incredible. I mean the run, the touchdown run. Don't know how he scored a touchdown that one. He took control of that game and went, you know, toe to toe with Baker Mayfield and that Tampa Bay squad from the Falcons. I mean there's hard to be have moral victories and a heartbreaking loss like that. But you got to feel like you got some. A quarterback of the future just like the Vikings who got a guy who pulled through in the fourth quarter who looked like a winner. I'm excited for this matchup.

Andrew Salchunas (25:16)

Yeah. And look, those were both divisional games for them. Falcons obviously lose. But you mentioned the moral victory. All the talk in the world, deservedly so for the Buccaneers offense this year with. With Baker Mayfield at the helmet. Quarterback Mike Evans once they get Chris Godwin back. We saw how good a Mecca Igbuka was in his debut game. We'll talk more about him. Come up in a little bit. But they still only held BAKER Mayfield to 167 yards. And that's good for a Falcons defense where you used early picks, you drafted a player in the first round, you traded back in for another pick in the first round. The Falcons are trying to build a defense that was a pretty good start for that young Falcons team. The only thing that I question is the ground game. Like Bijan Robinson we know is a stud and him catching the ball out of the backfield. He was spectacular. They just couldn't get anything on the ground last week.

David Dennis Jr. (26:08)

Yeah, and I'm gonna chalk some of that up to Tampa Bay and their defense. They really had a concerted effort to try to shut down Robinson in the run game. He broke off the one long touchdown catch. But they, I mean they focus on the best player, right? The best, the best weapon you have. Especially once Drake London goes down in that game. You could focus on him. But yeah, the Falcons need to get this thing going on all aspects of that team offensive. But I was impressed by their defense. I thought the way that they played defensively. We talked about a weakness of them is getting the pass rush, is being able to stop the pass. They held Baker Mayfield in check for most of that game until that fourth quarter. But yeah, you're the Falcons. I know it's, it's gloomy, but if you come out with a win against this Vikings team, you may be looking at your at the beginning of your season. Totally different.

Andrew Salchunas (26:55)

Speaking of Baker Mayfield, let's talk Bucs, Texans, Buccaneers and Texans. So the aforementioned Bucks, they're one and oh, they're going up against the Houston. Houston Texans, who are oh and one. As the first of the Monday night double header. Seven o' clock on ABC and espn. The Texans open up their two and a half point favorites on espn. Bet this is a really exciting game. Much more so than my weird obsession with The San Francisco 49ers New Orleans Saints game today. This one is actually like a marquee matchup that you're really excited to watch. The offense of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with all those players that we just mentioned, including the ground game and Bucky Irving and Rashad White. And then on the other side, it's the Texans defense. Now I know the Texans offensive line. It's almost criminal what they're doing to C.J. stroud. I don't think we're actually going to get the real information on who C.J. stroud is, and that's unfortunate. Your offensive line already sucked last year.

David Dennis Jr. (27:58)

Yeah.

Andrew Salchunas (27:58)

And then you decided to go ahead and trade Laramie Tonsil. That's a good idea. So the Texans offensive line is not going to help CJ Stroud at all. But that defense is dominant and they were a lot of fun to watch last season. They were a lot of fun watched last week. I love games like this where it's the high powered offense versus the high powered defense. And then the people that say offense wins championships or the people that say defense wins championships. We get our answer somewhat tomorrow night.

David Dennis Jr. (28:23)

Yeah, man. The Texas offensive line to me is the story of the AFC south right now because they, I mean, if you have two straight weeks of this where you have C.J. stroud, who I still think is a top tier quarterback in this league, if you have him struggling, scrambling, running around, fighting for his life with that offensive line, that is an institutional failure by this Texans team. Because if you trade a guy like Tunsville and you're saying, hey, like we feel like we got this thing covered, at least is what you feel like you're saying, right? And you come with two straight weeks of your quarterback getting hounded and a potential Colts going 20 and you going 0 2. This will be an off season from hell from this Texas team.

Andrew Salchunas (29:05)

Yeah, because the Texans, this is their division to lose. Right. Like, their defense is that good. It's one. It's going to be one of the top five defenses in the NFL this season, in my opinion. It's their division to lose. I'm not a believer in Trevor Lawrence and the Jacksonville Jaguars. I'm not going to sit here and start believing in Daniel Jones because of his week one beat down to the Miami Dolphins. But face it, if the Texans can only win nine games because their offensive line is that bad, could there be a team that sneaks in a 10th win? Especially considering this division's up for grabs. There's going to be a lot of winnable games for all these teams inside the AFC South. I just, I don't understand it. Like, you have weapons, you have wide receivers. Joe Mixon, when he comes back from his injury, if he comes back from his injuries, a good back. C.J. stroud's a good quarterback. You have this defense and you got nothing to protect them with.

David Dennis Jr. (29:57)

That's the problem you have. I mean, it's so. Because the thing is, it's such an easy fix. It was such an easy fix. You knew what your biggest problem was and somehow you made it worse right in the offseason where you should have been going the other way. Because I think this Texans team with that defense, with your quarterback and your weapons, should be making much more noise than we expect. And a lot of the reason they don't is because they did not do what they needed to do in the offseason with that line.

Andrew Salchunas (30:20)

And look, that was the same problem with the Bears. What do the Bears do? The Bears went out, they traded for one guy, signed another guy, and we'll see if it works out. You can't just necessarily throw the ball out there and say, go, go, block Caleb Williams. Right. Like they're going to have to pick up over the course of the weeks of this regular season the way they communicate with one another. You have to get comfortable. But that's a growing process with a second year quarterback. You're going into year three with C.J. stroud that you think could be a top quarterback in the NFL. And you're giving them no protection. That doesn't work for anybody. All right, one more game in the Monday night doubleheader, it's Chargers, Raiders, Chargers at Raiders. So both teams one and oh, the Raiders. That was a fun win for them against the New England Patriots, but let's face it, the Chargers win over the Kansas City Chiefs much more Impressive. Going to Sao Paulo, taking down the Kansas City Chiefs. They're three and a half point favorites on ESPN Bet on the road in Vegas against the Raiders. My question, David, we've been wondering for years now, is this the end of the Kansas City Chiefs? I will never say it's the end, but could there be a chance where they make the playoffs and go on their run? But as a wild card team, the Denver Broncos are a team that a lot of people pick to potentially win this division. And now what you saw to the Chargers in week one, and that's even with Rashawn Slater being out with his injury, that was a really impressive Week one performance for the Chargers.

David Dennis Jr. (31:44)

This is Justin Herbert. This, this is a guy who looked like he was ready to make the leap. I have been talking about him as one of the quarterbacks who has the most pressure on him this season because we've been crowning him as the next guy the playoffs against that Texans team. Those picks did not look like that guy. If he can, you know, step up and elevate. He looked like a dude who had total control of a game against the Chiefs, right Against Mahomes. If he can continue that, we're talking about a whole different outlook for this Chargers.

Andrew Salchunas (32:13)

I think this is my favorite show I've ever done. We got to talk about the entire nf.

David Dennis Jr. (32:16)

There we go. We did it, Joe.

Andrew Salchunas (32:18)

It's been so much fun. And you know what? Coming up next, we'll give our picks on it and we will have a special guest picker as well. That's next on Matt Myron here on ESPN Radio and the ESPN app.

David Dennis Jr. (32:34)

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Andrew Salchunas (33:38)

Matt and Myron, the podcast, 15 minutes till kickoff, the one o' clock slate. This is Matt and Myron here on ESPN radio and the ESPN app. Matt and Myron both off today. I'm Andrew Sal Trunas Alongside David Dennis Jr. Tune into baseball action tonight as the Red Sox host the Yankees. We're getting close to playoff baseball. Coverage of Sunday Night baseball begins at 6:00pm on ESPN, the ESPN app, and at 7:00pm on ESPN. Now, speaking of baseball, I promise, Michelle Smallman, who's joining us, of course, the tremendous host from Unsportsmanlike. I have been forced to bring this up, I'm telling you right now, Michelle, because it's the first time you and I are ever speaking. So I don't want you thinking that I'm coming here and attacking about your first pitch the other night. Can you please talk about it for us? Good afternoon.

Michelle Smallman (34:29)

Well, thank you for having me. It's great to chat with you and it's fine. You can come at me because I was a huge failure. I was a huge disappointment. I take responsibility for the L, for my unsportsmanlike team. So for those who are unaware, I had the great honor of throwing out the first pitch on Friday at the Brewers Cardinals game in Milwaukee. Our show, Unsportsmanlike was in Wisconsin to go to Green Bay Commanders for Thursday Night Football. And since I'm from St. Louis and the Cardinals were in town, the brewers were like, hey, why don't you come on up and throw the first pitch? Which is, like I said, an incredible honor. But I was really nervous because not only am I representing myself, but I'm representing my teammates on Unsportsmanlike. Right? So we had Adam Wainwright, World Series champion Cardinals pitcher, join the show to give me some advice. And his only rule was don't bounce it. He said, you'll be fine. Have fun. Just don't bounce it. I'm in the line getting ready to go up for the first pitch. There's a couple people that do first pitches and the three guys before me all went from the mound and they fired it in there. Now, when I was training for this, and by training I mean I went out and threw the ball once. Prior to this, I was practicing the distance in front of the mound because per all my research, that's what people normally do is they stand in front of the mound. So then I was like, oh, my God. Well, I can't be the only one that doesn't go from the mound. Huge mistake. As we know, you never mess up your routine on game day. So I went up on the mound, I threw the pitch, and it was short. I bounced it. So I humiliated us.

David Dennis Jr. (36:01)

It wasn't, you know, I think it was a little. A little bit dip on the chip, what you were trying to throw. You're trying to throw a heater. I think what I saw was a little bit of a heater, but also Wiggy Smalls, which is we've established as your DJ name. I don't know how that's right, but we've established that.

Michelle Smallman (36:15)

Wiggy Smalls. That's right.

David Dennis Jr. (36:16)

I hope it's. It's. It's going well. But one thing, I'm. I'm here. You're St. Louis, right? You're throwing a pitch for the brewers. And while St. Louis is this sort of like a make your makes the, you know, somebody jealous type of thing, hanging out with an ex or something, like, is that what was going on? Were you trying to make St. Louis? What's. What's happening there?

Michelle Smallman (36:34)

Okay, I'm glad you brought that up, because I was obviously in a glass case of emotion, because the brewers, from top to bottom, first class organization, they could not have taken better care of me. And they were the ones that gave me the honor of throwing out the first pitch. But it's against my squad, it's against my hometown team. So obviously, I chatted up the Cardinals prior Ali Marma Mall, the manager of the Cardinals, came over to give me some pointers. So they were very supportive of me doing this with the Brewers. But maybe that's what happened. Maybe I got in my head because my emotions were all over the place representing the brewers when deep down, I'm a St. Louis girl. So that's a great point. And maybe that was influential in the overall result.

Andrew Salchunas (37:13)

Well, listen, we are excited to have you here as our guest picker. And next time when you go out and throw the first pitch, we know it's going to be a seed right down the middle of the plate. We believe in you, Michelle. We believe in you. All right, it's time now to take your pick.

David Dennis Jr. (37:26)

Take your pick.

Andrew Salchunas (37:27)

You take your pick. It's time to take your pick with Matt and Myron. All right, so here's the deal. We're going to have David go first. Michelle's going to go second. I will go third. And we will also tell you, even though they're off today, Matt and Myron always working, we have their picks as well. So we go through the entire slate, and you will have five people giving a pick in the Next six minutes. So this is going to be rapid fire. So, David, start with you 49ers at your New Orleans 49ers at Saints.

David Dennis Jr. (38:04)

Going 49 is here because I need the 49ers win. Saints do not win this game. Do not tempt me. Do not, do not be tempted to win, lose all the games. Go ahead and get a good pick.

Michelle Smallman (38:15)

Michelle, I'm going 49ers as well. Even though they're banged up, I think a lesser version of the 49ers is still better than the Saints.

Andrew Salchunas (38:22)

I'm going to go 49ers as well. And as I said to you earlier, David, I'm the one person in this world that's excited for this game because I need my point that Brock Purdy shouldn't have gotten paid $250 million to be accurate today. By the way, Matt and Myron also taking the Niners. What's next? Rams at Titans?

David Dennis Jr. (38:45)

I'm going Rams here. I think that defense is too good. I think Stafford is too good. And you know, the Titans are just still trying to see what they got at quarterback and get, get some, you know, get some reps with him.

Michelle Smallman (38:56)

Michelle, I'm rolling Rams too. As much as I like Cam Ward and the Titans to surprise this season, I think this Rams squad is just too tough for him.

Andrew Salchunas (39:04)

I'll keep it simple. Rams, Matt. Rams. Myron. Rams. What's next? Jaguars at Bengals.

David Dennis Jr. (39:15)

I'm going Jaguars here. This is the first time we may go a little bit divergent here. I'm going Jaguars. I did not like what I saw from the Bengals last week against the Browns. I think the slow start continues for them.

Andrew Salchunas (39:25)

Michelle.

Michelle Smallman (39:26)

I'm also going Jacksonville here. In the Zach Kaylor era, The Bengals are 1 in 11 in the first two weeks. They won last week. That was the outlier. I don't think they can do it two weeks in a row.

Andrew Salchunas (39:36)

All right, I'm team Matt and Myron apparently because they're both taking the Bengals. As am I. Jamar Chase will have like 10 times his production from week one in the first quarter of this upcoming game against Jacksonville. What's next? Next rounds at Ravens.

David Dennis Jr. (39:55)

As I was mentioned earlier, this is my last. This was my last minute eliminator pick. Going Ravens here.

Michelle Smallman (40:00)

Michelle, Ravens as well. Coming off of that tough loss to Buffalo, they're going to bounce back in a big way.

Andrew Salchunas (40:06)

We're going Ravens across the board including Matt and Myon. What's next? Bills at Jets.

David Dennis Jr. (40:14)

I'm going Bills here. I think this will be High scoring game. I think Josh Allen put up a bunch of numbers Interested to see what Justin Field looks like if he could repeat what he did last week.

Michelle Smallman (40:23)

Michelle this is my big upset week or upset pick of the week. Excuse me. The jets looked really tough in week one and a loss to the Steelers. The Bills just hung on versus the Ravens. I don't know, there's something about this Aaron Glenn led jet squad that leads me to believe they can pull off the upset.

Andrew Salchunas (40:41)

Well at least they barely hung on against the Ravens. I don't think they can barely hang on against the Jets. If they do, there's a lot of questions. I will go with the Bills as are Matt and Myon. What's next Patriots at Dolphins.

David Dennis Jr. (40:56)

This is a tough a toss up. I'm going Patriots though Dolphins vibes vibes are just bad there in Miami.

Michelle Smallman (41:03)

Michelle I'm going Pats too. I think it's going to be closer than people expect but as my co host Chris Cany says when you have a players only meeting the season is over so the Dolphins are going to.

Andrew Salchunas (41:14)

Lose especially after week one. I too will go Patriots. Matt taking the Patriots here it's Myron taking the Dolphins. What's next Giants at Cowboys.

David Dennis Jr. (41:25)

Cowboys I like what their offense looked like against the Eagles. Despite the disappointing loss they cannot go oh and two it's got to be Cowboys.

Michelle Smallman (41:32)

Michelle Cowboys as well. They played the Eagles tougher than people expected. I think they win today.

Andrew Salchunas (41:37)

Clean sweep Cowboys, Cowboys, Cowboys. What's next Bears at Lions.

David Dennis Jr. (41:45)

Taking the Lions here. I think the packers be being so great made the Lions look a little bit worse than they are. I think they'll take over take on.

Michelle Smallman (41:51)

The Bears Michelle same thing Detroit there's no way they start the season Owen.

Andrew Salchunas (41:56)

2 Look I love that lines roster but you know what to make it different you gave a big upset. I will go with the Chicago Bears in week two because the Lions coordinators until they prove me wrong I am concerned about what's going on Detroit. By the way I'm the only guy going with the Bears. The other two Matt Myron going lines what's next Seahawks and Steelers.

David Dennis Jr. (42:21)

I think I'm going Steelers here I think it'll be much low scoring game. I think Aaron Rodgers going to come back down to earth but I do think they still have enough to win.

Michelle Smallman (42:29)

Michelle I'm going Seattle they're another kind of upset take over the Steelers all.

Andrew Salchunas (42:35)

Right I'm going to go Pittsburgh. Michelle you're not alone though Matt and Myron both going with Seattle what's next? Next Broncos at Colts.

David Dennis Jr. (42:46)

Taking the Colts here. I love that Broncos defense. Bo Nicks just did not look good enough for me. I don't have any confidence in him and in a battle with him and Daniel Jones. I think Daniel Jones is going to be better.

Michelle Smallman (42:55)

Michelle I'm going Denver here. Daniel Jones looked great in Week one, but I don't know if that's an outlier.

Andrew Salchunas (43:02)

I agree. I'm going Denver. Daniel Jones will not look good against that defense. Matt and Myron believe the same. They're going Denver. What's next? Panthers at Cardinals.

David Dennis Jr. (43:14)

Cardinals Panther season's over.

Michelle Smallman (43:18)

Michelle cosign Cardinals Yep.

Andrew Salchunas (43:22)

Clean sweep. Everybody's saying Cardinals. What's next? Eagles at Chiefs.

David Dennis Jr. (43:29)

Eagles. Chiefs look too beat up. Eagles I think gonna look much like the Super Bowl.

Andrew Salchunas (43:33)

Michelle.

Michelle Smallman (43:35)

I think it's going to be a BTA repeat. I think the Eagles win and they win big.

Andrew Salchunas (43:38)

I agree. I felt that way all week. Matt agrees with us. Myron going with Casey. What's next? Falcons and Vikings going Falcons here.

David Dennis Jr. (43:49)

I like what I saw from Michael Pennix. In spite of those missed field goals. I think Falcons are going to upset Michelle.

Michelle Smallman (43:56)

Vikings. I think JJ McCarthy and his Vikings team stealing themselves a little bit. They take it.

Andrew Salchunas (44:01)

I'm going to go with the Falcons. Just like David. I think that defense did some good things against that Buccaneers offense. By the way, Matt and Myron both going with Minnesota.

David Dennis Jr. (44:09)

All right.

Andrew Salchunas (44:09)

Thank you so much, Michelle, everybody. Have a great rest of your day. Football starts your way. Next. It's game day with Kevin Clark and Mike Tannenbaum next right here on ESPN Radio. Matt and Myron, the pod.

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