
Loading summary
A
Foreign fantasy football show. My name is Dina Heifetz and I'm joined by Danny Kelly and Craig Korbeck and like a dozen dudes that are in this house at this bachelor party that I'm at in Michigan. And I don't know if any of them are going to walk in any moment. So if that happens, you'll know why. Uh, we're gonna go through all the games in week two, weirdly important week. We go through fantasy. We'll do the Ringer one of seven gambling stuff at the end of the show. And yeah, that's, that's what I got right now.
B
We actually, we, we recorded. We actually did this episode 40 minutes ago. We tried to do an intro and start the show, and then 12 dudes barged into a house with high fits. And so we had to stop and wait for them to leave to go golf.
A
They could come back at any moment. So I. Who knows? So anyway, yeah, we're. We'll get to the show. First, a quick break. This episode of the Ringer Fantasy Football show is presented by Hyundai. The all new Hyundai Palisade hybrid proves that an incredible SUV is so much more than the sum of its parts. It's more than a spacious interior. It's more than being able to navigate difficult terrain. And it's way more than driving farther than you ever thought possible. It's the allnew Hyundai Palisade Hybrid. So much more than just another SUV. Visit HyundaiUSA.com or call 562-314-4603 for more details.
B
This episode is supported by FX Is the Lowdown starring Ethan Hawke. Allow us to introduce you to Lee.
A
Raybon, a quirky journalist, rare bookstore owner, slash unofficial truth seeker who is always.
B
On the tail of his latest conspiracy.
A
This time, his most recent expose puts him head to head with a powerful.
B
Family that rules Tulsa. Meaning only one thing. He must be on to something big.
A
FX is the lowdown. Premiere September 23rd on FX, stream on Hulu. All right, we're gonna get to all the games for week two, and I want to start with a tired but true thing, which Is teams that start 02 in the NFL have a like 11% chance to make the playoffs. And so it's really boring analysis, but it's true. If you're 0 and 1 this week and you start owing to, you're probably fucked. So dk, I mean, my team is the Giants. Like, they're not gonna make the playoffs. Doesn't matter. But your team's 0 and 1 and it actually, it's a cliche, but it's actually a really weirdly important game for every om1 team.
C
Yeah. I mean, and it scares me because obviously the Steelers played very well in week one. My Seahawks go to Pittsburgh and play in the early frame, the early slate, if you will.
A
Their body clocks on The Pacific morning.
C
10Am According to the Pacific time zone, is what the body. The bodies of the Seahawks players are going to be feeling over there. And historically, they've not played well in those games. So I'm very nervous, Craig. You can tell me if I should be nervous or not, but I don't. I don't love the feeling right now of the Seahawks going to Pittsburgh.
B
I. I think I'm unwilling to be. I can't be a purely optimistic person. And so in my heart, I feel like this is a great spot for Seattle. And honestly, with week two in general, the answer is you should probably zag. Like, week one and week two are crapshoots. And so it's honestly, whatever happened in week one, the opposite will probably happen in week two. Were a lot of fantasy duds in week one. I think we'll get to a lot of them, but I think you can bet a lot of those guys in week two. So if week two goes how it normally does, DK the Steelers are going to look like and the Seahawks are going to win by 20.
A
Yeah.
B
Well, that'd be great.
A
Oh, look, people are back N. It's fine. It. Let's just keep pl out. We ain't waiting for them anymore. No, I agree. Like, yeah. Oh, God, no. He's the actual bachelor. So how much longer are you guys going to be here? All right, great. That's fine.
B
Screw it. They've been. They've been about to leave for 40.
A
Minutes, like any group of dudes. This is why on a bachelor party you have to lie about times. You have to gaslight people about timing. But I will say the week one thing, the rich, reborn sharp fantasy or just sharp football had a great stat that was like, fewest touchdowns for running backs in week one in, like, nine years. Fewest fantasy points for receivers in week one and nine years. How loud is that fridge show is? Just leave it in. The show's fun.
C
You're going to break out that bag of ice and start just crunching the.
A
Bag of ice right next to you. Whatever. At this point, everyone. Everyone can hear our pain.
B
They're putting away their bachelor party groceries, which always consists of one bag of Sam's bagels, bananas that nobody will eat, and Granola bars and cream cheese.
A
You think they get older, they get better, but they're all the same. They're all the same. Oh my God. Emails. We're fantasy football. G. If you feel our pain. Okay, we can talk about this at the end. But yeah, I just want to say the week one thing. No running back score touchdowns. No receivers got yards. And even quarterbacks had new week one records for rushing attempts, rushing yards, and rushing touchdowns. For quarterbacks, even that, I'm like, yeah, it's broken plays.
B
It was impressive. I believe there were 14 quarterbacks who threw for less than 200 yards this week. I mean, outside of Derrick Henry and, and Bijan and Christian McCaffrey, like, there was not a lot of running backs who had good weeks. It was gross across the board. You had guys like Ashton Genti running for two yards of carry. I mean, Bijan Robinson, if he didn't have that 50 yard touchdown, he ran for like two yards of carry. So it was really brutal.
A
Week one is an extension of the preseason. By week three and four, teams are doing it, but you know, teams are kind of back in the flow. But the reality is the physicality, the offensive line, the timing, the offensive line. I mean, two CBAs ago, they had two A days. Like they literally could practice in bats twice in the same day. Now they can't really practice in pads that many times per week. And so preseason, I mean, how many plays are offensive lines getting? They're just not. And so never mind all the complexity of blitzes and stuff and coverage rotations, they're not seeing that in the preseason. Everything's so week two is kind of in between the shittiness of week one and the actual improvements by the October.
C
There were so many moments during this last week of like analyzing all the games and everybody's going back and like pointing out the different misses that quarterbacks had. And I saw this so many times on Twitter this week, it was like, maybe this guy should have played in the preseason. You know what I mean? Like, all the quarterbacks trying to get on the same page with their receivers and everything. So it is, yeah, this is kind of the new reality in the, in the NFL is offenses are going to be really rusty to start the season. I think defense is ahead of offense.
A
With that said, we have to start with, I mean, the game of the year. Of the week.
B
This is the game.
A
The game of The Year Part 2. Eagles, Chiefs, the Super bowl rematch. So the Chiefs were favored in this game to start the week, which makes sense. The Chiefs were up 40 to nothing in the Super Bowl. Right.
C
DK, you're so upset about this.
A
I just. It's weird. It's weird. It's. I've never seen anything like this. The Eagles were up 40 to 0 in the Super Bowl. Right. I'm not making that up.
C
Do you want me to get you a meeting with a guy who set the line and so you.
A
I don't care. It's not about the line. I don't actually care about the gambling aspect of it. That's not what I'm trying to say. I'm just shocked that like let me get this straight. The Eagles were up a bajillion points in the Chiefs and then the Eagles lose defensive lineman, a bunch of players in free agency. I get that. I get that. The Eagles number two cornerback behind Quinnian Mitchell is Adore Jackson, who frankly was kind of on the decline with the Giants years ago and now it's like a meme that Adore Jackson. I get that. Like the Chiefs don't have problems. Who's going to take advantage of this? On Kansas City, Juju Smith Schuster is the oldest 27 year old alive other than Ben Solak. Like Travis Kelsey's the slow or it's 28. It's crazy.
B
I think he's. I think he's 20. He is 37.
A
28.
B
Yeah.
A
Like, I'm just saying, like Kelsey's the slowest player in the league. Like who is taking advantage of this? Adore Jackson is the juju Smith Schuster of quarterbacks. So I'm just. I don't know. I just think it's weird and I get. Maybe it's as simple as the Chiefs are at home. Patrick Mahomes is the quarterback.
C
Yeah.
A
Eagles offense looked fine. The Chiefs didn't look great week one either.
B
Well, and they lost Brazil. They don't have Xavier Worley. They have no Xavier worthy. They have no Rashee Rice. They just also their own one. Maybe that has. That's a factor high Fitch, you talking about 0 and 2 teams pretty much don't make the playoffs. Maybe they're assuming that the Chiefs at 0 and 1 here at home are not going to lose this game. And so they deserve to be favored. Even though once that happened, everybody bet the Eagles and now it's switched and the Eagles are favored by point Nav.
C
Yeah, it's a moot point.
A
It's weird.
C
Inter Chiefs are no longer actually favored, so.
A
Well, I know, but still in terms of fantasy point, I mean, I think Jalen hurts. You're obviously playing Sequin, you're obviously playing A.J. brown. If you bench A.J. brown this week, you're crazy. Don't do that.
B
No.
A
The Chiefs, though.
B
Oh, I wanted to touch on AJ Brown for just a second. There's been a lot of. Everyone's freaking out about A.J. brown. There was reports. Oh, because he was not healthy this offseason. He. He injured his hamstring last year. He. He had a nicked up hamstring and training camp this year. People thought he was a decoy. AJ Brown today, today or yesterday spoke about this and said, and I quote, I saw all of that, that I had zero separation, that I was a decoy. None of those things are true. I got zoned the entire game. I didn't get one single man rep. So obviously there won't be any separation. When I'm playing zone, I'm not hurt. I was not a decoy. It was just how the game went. Yeah.
C
It was just a matter of game script. It kind of. These are. Sometimes this things happen.
B
The.
C
I actually like AJ Brown this week for a couple of reasons. Chiefs run defense is really strong.
B
Yeah.
C
They bottled up Amari Hampton last week.
B
They bought it up Saquon in the super bowl, which people kind of forget because they got destroyed. But sacron had like 50 rushing yards on 25 carries in the Super Bowl.
C
Yeah. And so. And the Chiefs last year gave up the second fewest points per game to running backs. Only the Eagles were better. So, you know, if the, if the Eagles can't really run or they're not having a ton of success running the ball with Saquon this week, they're going to go to the passing game. They're going to go. And in their passing game, they always try to funnel it to A.J. brown. Devonte Smith. Dallas Goddard has a knee injury which kind of cropped up later this. Earlier this weekend out of nowhere, kind of. And so now he's up in the air for this week. In the games when Goddard is out, it's really good for Devontae Smith and A.J. brown. Historically, in the last couple of years they've. Both of those guys have gone off.
A
Devonte Smith is a top like 10 to 12 receiver in fantasy when Dallas Goddard's out and outside the top 40 with Dallas Goddard plays DK.
C
Yeah.
B
How many. You know how it's like if you get in a fight with your. With your. Your partner. You got to make it up to him. Like, I need. I need like make it up to you. Points from A.J. brown this week. He can't Have a normal day. He needs to have a great day.
C
I think that's. I think he will.
B
He needs to have north of 20 points.
A
I think you have to play A.J. brown. I will say, though, A.J. brown's right like the Cowboys and he.
C
Needs to bring me.
A
Yeah, they. Yeah. Yeah. I will say, though, Chiefs might just do that again.
B
Well, I. I don't really understand that because I'm like, wait, why doesn't everybody do that?
A
Because. You know what's funny? Well, I think it's one. It's. It's hard to try to contain Saquon, but also having Two guys in A.J. brown, I think the reality is what they're trying to do is make. You know how we're like, oh, Jalen hurts just throws to A.G. brown and Devonte Smith. And I think the. The Dallas game plan was make Jalen hurts go to his third read every time, which.
B
And his third was Dallas Goddard. But why can't A.J. brown and Devonte Smith just, like, sit in zones? I don't understand.
A
No, they can. It's the.
C
They're capable of doing more or less.
B
They are. Yeah. I guess it's like you have an underneath and an over the top, and there's kind of nowhere for him to go. And by the time I think he.
C
Was that, to be clear on that stat or whatever that he was talking about, where he's like, I didn't get one man rep. I think he was just bristling at the idea that he wasn't separating. That was kind of like what he.
A
Yeah, he's. It's funny, honestly, him being mad about. It's kind of funny to me.
B
This is an oldtime, like, squeaky wheel gets the grease game.
A
Exactly. He's. I. I wish I could. How much can we bet on Fidel? How much? The odds that the first target the Eagles throw was stagey Brown. It's very high. Okay, so the. The other person I want to say is Isaiah Pacheco for the Chiefs. I don't. I have a little experience. I don't know if I could play him. I don't know if I want to play.
B
I don't think you can.
A
Like Hollywood Brown. You can play. You got five carries.
B
I don't think you. I don't think you can play Isaiah Pacheco this week if he is struggling to beat out Kareem Hunt. Yeah, I don't think. I don't. He's getting like 40% of his snaps.
A
Shocked. I. If you have. You probably have better options than Pacheco I hope you do him. So I know we kind of liked him, but it's stunning. It's stunning that he could be so spare, sparsely involved.
C
This the thesis behind Pacheco coming into the season. The reason we liked him a little bit was that he was hurt for much of last year and then they kind of platooned the running back position. Kareem Hunt looked completely washed in terms of his speed and explosiveness. And so the assumption was eventually Pacheco was going to get back his close to bell cow role where he's playing most of the early downs, he's getting most of the goal line stuff, mixing in a little bit on third down and then, you know, maybe they're going to, maybe the Chiefs will mix in Prashad Smith and, and Cream Hunt and then like for the most part, Pacheco will be 60, 70% of the volume in that offense. And right now, based on week one, he's basically playing on first downs and every once in a while second down and then he's not getting any of the third down stuff. I think Cream Hunt got the goal line stuff. So Pacheco is getting like a third of the total volume in the backfield and none of the important stuff in the passing game or the goal line.
B
I think. Look, if you, if you go to our rankings, we have weekly rankings up@fantasy football.the ringer.com and you can see our week two running back rankings. We have Pacheco as our running back 34, which honestly feels right. Like we have him behind guys like Nick Chubb, Tyrone Tracy, both running backs on the Vikings. And I agree with that. We have him kind of right near like RJ Harvey and Dylan Sampson. I would honestly even consider starting both of them over Isaiah Pacheco this week. Yeah.
A
And if Pacheco gets a bunch of carries and looks better, that's a good problem. But until then, I kind of need to see it, honestly. All right. I want to look at the early. So the, it's a, it's a weird window this week. So the Eagles Chiefs, there's only three late games, I believe in the, the late window. 4:00pm Eastern.
B
Yeah.
A
Which is one Pacific. There's Eagles Chiefs and there's like two shitty games. There's like I think nine games at 1:00pm Eastern. The, the early window. So we could just go through those. But I think the most interesting one to me by far is Lions Bears, where Detroit's favored by a little under a touchdown. This is a crazy narrative game because on one hand you have Ben Johnson, the Bears head coach, returning against Detroit, where obviously he was the offensive coordinator for years and years, and the Lions offense sucked without Ben Johnson. Lions did. I mean, literally went 49 games straight with scoring a touchdown and then did not score a touchdown in their first game without Ben Johnson.
B
They. The Lions averaged 3.8 yards per play in Week 1, which was their fewest since 2020.
A
I mean, yeah, it's just the offense was horrific. And then the flip side, though, is that Caleb Williams is coming off the Monday football game where one of the more divisive performances I've seen from a quarterback in a long time. I think people are still trying to argue. I think we're still arguing. I want to. I actually want to revisit this for a second. Dk, Did Caleb Williams play well on Monday Night Football? Yes.
B
Oh, hell, we're doing this.
C
We're gonna.
A
We haven't agreed. The three of us kept arguing about it within 20.
B
I have agreed that he did not play well.
C
What do you guys have agreed that? I think the context.
A
I'm not revealing my thoughts.
C
The context of. Compared to some of the big hiccups that he had last year where he was taking a million sacks, holding on the football, doing that kind of thing. He was approved from what we saw last year. But, I mean, if you look at the. The. There's videos going around of, like, all his overthrows, and it was pretty atrocious. Like, sure.
B
You know, relative to dirt, tastes pretty good, I guess.
C
Kurt Warner. Kurt Warner went on the record saying, I'm gonna. I'm just gonna bring Kurt Warner into this. Who in hyphens, the one time Kurt.
B
Warner has ever said something you agree with?
C
You' one no, no, that's not true. It's not that I don't agree with him. He's never said anything nice about a young quarterback, ever, is the thing.
B
No, that's.
C
And he was like, caleb Williams played pretty well in this game. Obviously, there were some bad throws in there, but overall, played pretty well. I'm like, if Kurt Warner is defending him, that's gotta mean something.
B
Look, I'm not a player. I can't comment, but I. In, in. In my eyes, he played poorly. He missed a lot of open guys, which is bad.
A
Well, the. It's so funny because. But it's true, though, in that I think it's weird because it was just such an incredibly. It's almost like political. It was crazy extreme on both sides. It was like he. Caleb Williams, after holding the ball as much as any quarterback, like ever held the ball in the NFL last year. And that's how he ended up with all these sacks, started the game 10 for 10. Like he got the ball out 10 completions on his first 10 passes and was so much better. And again, part of it's the opening script of the game, but he was so much better about, you know what, like, I'm going to throw the ball. And it was clear, like, Ben Johnson drilled this into his head even a couple times where he missed. He probably had Roma Duzi for a touchdown on a post in the first drive of the game. Checked it down, whatever the whole thing was get the ball out of your hands. Undeniably an improvement. The athleticism, the off script throws, the running, I think was reminders of physically why Caleb Williams was the number one pick in the draft, which just wasn't present last year. Like, I think Caleb Williams demonstrated athleticism that reminded you, like, oh yeah, this guy's pretty talented. He also had some of the most erratic throws anyone had all week. I mean, he literally led the NFL and off target percentage last week, which is not a perfect stat, but match the eye test. I. So it's weird to see someone undeniably improve, but also when they were off, were more off than anybody, which is just a funny combination.
B
Not dissimilar to Anthony Richardson at times where there are moments where you think, this might be the best quarterback I've ever seen, one of the most physically gifted quarterbacks I've ever seen. And there's other times where you're like, I think I could have hit that throw.
A
We. We need a new game, which is every time Caleb does literally anything we have to do. What if Bo Knicks did that and what if B. Knicks did anything we have to do? What if Caleb Williams did that? Literally, like, what if, what if Bo Nicks did what he did on Monday night?
B
So I don't know how you guys feel, but I think this game means way more to the Lions and Dan Campbell than it does to the Bears and Ben Johnson.
A
I think, I think that's 100% correct.
B
If Dink, I mean, he is already pissed this week getting asked questions about, oh, why was your offense not as good? And he was already getting prickly and defensive about that. If they lose to the Bears at home and they lose to Ben Johnson at home and their offense sucks again, Campbell loses the narrative. Like he, he lost. It's over.
A
If, if, if one of these teams loses 40 to 6. Like, if the Lions win 40 to 6. The Bears is like, that's bad. But this season, whatever, it's still about Caleb. Yeah, the Bears come out and rock the Lions defense, and the Lions can't move the ball. That is. Yeah, I mean, they need to. I. I don't know. It's going to be a crazy, emotional game for everyone involved. And the one thing I'll say, though, I don't want to hear shit about people being like, well, Ben Johnson went to a division rival for the coaching job or whatever. I don't want to hear that. Ben Johnson turned down a head coaching job multiple years in a row to stay with Detroit, including last year, where he could have gone to Washington, could have gone to all these things. And he like, in part wanted to stay and try to win a Super bowl in Detroit because he thought so. Anyway, I don't. The bad blood or whatever sticking the division is ridiculous to me.
C
I want real quick, though, on this game. The. I think we're going to be able to see pretty early in the game whether the Lions offense is really in trouble. Like, you know, because after one week, you don't really know what to make of anything. Like, obviously the Lions were facing a very tough defense in Green Bay, and maybe Green Bay's offense, or maybe Green Bay's defense is just straight up the best defense in the NFL this year. That would not be super surprising if, as we go along. But the, the line, it's important because the Lion's identity is centered around the ability to run. John Morton even came out, I think, today, which, today's Thursday, and said something like, oh, yeah, we couldn't run, but these are easy fixes and we'll get them fixed or something like that, which is kind of, you know, that's probably classic JMO. But last week, so, so in 2024, when the Lions were one of the most fun offenses to watch, straight up, they had 51% rushing success rate and averaged 1.7 yards before contact per rush. So both of Those were top seven last week. 36% rush rate, rushing success rate, which was like 27th, almost dead last. And they averaged negative yards per contact per rush in week one. So they were getting hit in the backfield on average. So, you know, the Bears defense, I think, looked pretty good for at least three quarters last week. And, you know, we, we were talking during the, during the game, and I was like, I don't know whether I should think the Bears offense defense is really good or the Vikings just suck on offense this year. Obviously, the Vikings turned around in the fourth quarter. But I thought the Bears defense was pretty good. So this is going to be a really fascinating matchup, especially in the run game, I think, because if they. If the Lions can't run again, then I'm starting to actually get kind of worried about them.
B
I think the Lions need to win this game by two scores or more. They. They can't. Even if this game, if they win this game 21 to 17, I honestly don't think that's enough. They need to score over 30 points in this game and they need to win by two scores in order for Dan Campbell to get this Ben Johnson ghost out of his house.
C
Yeah, he was getting kind of like prickly.
B
Yeah. And the pressers, I mean, I get it. You know, you don't, you don't want people just, you know, assigning all of the success of your team to some offensive coordinator who's then left so fast.
A
Yeah. The fear is, yeah, Ted Lasso had three good seasons in the Fears. Dan Campbell also will have three good seasons. And, you know, that is what it is.
B
I do think one other fantasy thing about this game is I think we learned. We learned in on Monday Night Football who this like, what the Chicago backfield situation is. And it's just DeAndre Swift. He.
A
Yeah, I don't know if Roshan Johnson missed the game and so he would have had a larger role. But like Swift did everything did Kyle. God, how do you say his last name? He did he have one touch in the entire game.
B
Everything else, DeAndre Swift had 95% of the backfield touches, which was the highest share of any running back in week one. I don't know if DeAndre Swift is that good. He's kind of a replacement level running back. But. But in this. If his. I mean, I feel like what we saw yesterday was the worst the Chicago offense is going to be. You would think. And So I think DeAndre Swift, as long as he's on the field, is going to be a solid RB2 starter this year as long as he's healthy, I think.
A
And I think Moore's really play. Dj. DJ Moore is really playable and a Dunes is playable as well. But yeah, we'll see. Caleb with the. Caleb's with the rushing. All right, let's. Let's just get to it, though. Gloves off. No touching the hair or face. I want you two to fight it out. Seahawk, of course. Seahawks, Steelers, my two beloveds right here pitted against each other. The DK Metcalf revenge game. DK H before beauty. How are you feeling?
C
I think it's funny that because Craig and I, I think, are both a little bit cynical about this game.
B
You're like, ah, the Steelers are going to win.
C
This is not going to be a good fight because we both believe our teams are going to lose. I don't feel good about this. I think, you know, as I said earlier, Seahawks going east and playing in the early. In the early slate has generally speaking been bad. There's a DK Metcalf revenge game narrative which is going to be a lot of fun. The I, I will say the one thing that's been thrown around my buddy Jason Puckett, who does Puck sports here in Seattle, we were talking and he thinks that the Seahawks should bait DK Metcalf into retaliating, which basically do like the Dennis Rodman thing and just go out, fuck with him the entire game. See how long it takes him to like retaliate, throw a punch, do whatever, 100, get him. No, that's what the 49ers did last year and it worked every fucking time.
B
What Devin Witherspoon should When the cameras are off, spit on DK Metcalf.
A
Yeah, that's good.
C
When the cameras are off, that's a good idea.
B
Strategically spit towards DK Metcalf and then.
A
It'Ll be all over his visor.
B
Can I tell you why I'm nervous about this game?
C
Yeah.
B
Because the Seahawks played the Niners last week and they kicked the out of Brock Purdy. So much so that Brock Purdy's out for like two, three weeks.
C
Yeah.
B
Well, they're now playing Aaron Rodgers, who already said he had a tight back in Week one. And that's part of the reason why he, he was not as mobile as I guess he expected himself to be, even though I thought he looked fine for 41. But Seattle had the third highest pressure rate in week one. The jets playing the Steelers were 25th and they still sacked Aaron Rodgers four times. So I am a little nervous about this young, shitty Steelers offensive line going up against this great Seahawks defense.
C
Yep.
B
So I do feel like the, the, the shine is going to wear off a little bit. I think the offense is going to come back to life, are going to come back know homeostasis and I think the defense is going to be a lot better. And to me this is a classic like 20 to 17 game.
A
I hardcore agree. I think this is where people are going to realize the Seahawks have a crazy underrated defensive line. Leonard Williams. The Giants made such a huge mistake trading him away like for Very little. Leonard Williams and Dexter Lawrence would be the best defensive tackle group in the NFL. Byron Murphy was like I mean really good pick a couple years ago. I don't think he's quite as elite as people thought he might be. Jared Reed is a crazy overqualified defensive tackle like DeMarcus Lawrence is not.
C
I thought he looked good.
A
Pretty underrated run defender DeMarcus Lawrence is and so he just overall like I, I at the risk of making myself look silly kind of. I don't think the Steelers have any chance to run the ball on Seattle. So Rogers is going to have to throw and drop back and so there will be a lot of opportunities for weird blitzes and Rogers to get the kicked out of him. And I agree. I actually do think they're going to with DK Metcalf there's always a receiver always that gets famous and has a rep. This was Odell Beckham's problem in addition to the lack of like athleticism after the or otherworldly after he had ankle sprain was Odell just got so famous and everyone to with him and then he had this reputation for like he would taught he would talk back and after that Josh Norman Panthers game that was Odell's rap as you could get in his head. I think DK Metcalf has that rep. I really do.
C
Oh 100% yeah.
A
I think he's already know it. Yeah and and I, I, I think that's a funny thing to say but I do think they're going to get in his head really quickly.
C
So yeah to the Seahawks defense point Craig. Like I went back and actually was watching the the game the All 22 yesterday the Seahawks defense and man that that is a fun defense to watch. Really stout up front and plus they do all the fun stuff where they you know sprinkle the A gaps or whatever. They bring two guys down right on the line of scrimmage. So they have like five, six guys, seven guys on the line of scrimmage and then drop you know, a couple guys out and they rush with four. It's just really confusing you know for the offensive line and for the quarterback and the way that they can do that and the different weapons that they have on defense is really fun. So I you know I'm getting pretty excited about the Seahawks defense offensively. The Clint Kubiak game plan in week one was bizarre. I don't know if we talked about this already but The Seahawks had two play action dropbacks in this game against the 49ers.
B
It was the lowest game, lowest play action rate in week one. 4%.
C
This was a close game. It wasn't like gamescript was they were trailing and trying to catch up. So like therefore they can't run play action. It was just like they didn't do play action for some reason. Even though Sam Darnold is by far his best when he's playing play action, doing play action and throwing deep, that's what he's like. That's what he loves to do. That's what they. He did a ton in Minnesota. And you know, I don't know, like to me that's very strange. I didn't use much motion and it was like there was a presser afterwards where Mike McDonald, he appeared to be very perturbed with his offensive coordinator once again. So it's like same old was last year where I'm like, God damn it, can we just like have a smart, smart game plan on offense? I don't, I don't know where the, where did the offense that we saw in preseason go.
A
Play action rate of 4%'s tough because 4%'s basically like literally meets the definition of a statistical anomaly.
C
They did two and both of the play action plays worked well. Like what the first one I think was like a deep shot to jsn and the second one I believe he just scrambled for like a solid gain. Meanwhile, just do that more. What is wrong with you?
B
Meanwhile, The Steelers were fourth in play action rate last week. 33% which is the highest Rogers has been involved in, in years. And I do think for fantasy you're. You're playing DK Metcalf on the Steelers. Everyone after that is kind of like iffy. I think Calvin Austin is somebody that he is the number two wide receiver on the team. And I think that was up for debate who that was going to be. I think Calvin Austin's pretty good. Calvin Austin. I actually think a lot of the players in the Steelers are good fit with Arthur Smith because Arthur Smith is really good at getting guys yards after the catch. And DK Metcalf and Calvin Austin and John who Smith, the whole team is kind of a sneaky yards after the catch kind of pass catching group. And it's a big difference in how just based on this one game how they the Steelers have used DK Metcalf versus how Seattle did, where Seattle is basically throwing him deep balls and his, his yards per target was the lowest it's basically ever been already with the Steelers. And I think it's very interesting that that they are actually trying to get this big fast guy the ball actually as quickly as possible and as early as possible so that he can get moving like a runaway train. And so I am excited about that and I do think that Rogers and Arthur Smith have blended nicely in that regard to get the ball out quick and get the ball in these guys hands who can run after the catch.
C
So who do you think is going to win?
A
I think the Seahawks are going to win handily.
C
You think they're going to win?
A
I do.
C
Oh, I'm worried.
A
Tremendous trench. There's a tr. I look if JJ I will never discount the chances of TJ Watt having a game ending strip sack on Sam Darnold. There's just a tremendous mismatch to me on the trenches.
B
I think this feels like 2417 Seattle to me.
C
All right, all right.
B
That's just my feeling, you know. Dk, can you play Cooper cup in fantasy?
A
I'm.
B
I'm literally asking you because I have him in my fantasy fantasy league and I'm kind of thin at receiver. Can I play Cooper Cup?
C
I don't think I should really.
A
Okay.
B
He played off of the snaps and he had an end zone target.
C
Yeah, it was a PI. He dropped his only important other target which was like a third down. He would have been a conversion. He straight up dropped it.
B
He should have standing there.
A
Jackson, Smith and Jigs had the largest share of any offensive player in the NFL last week. And if Cooper cup does nothing, aren't you going to feel stupid and hate yourself?
B
Yeah, but he had like a JSN, had like a 70% target rate. That's obviously not going to happen.
C
Going to happen again.
A
That's the kind of thing you say won't happen again and then it happens again.
B
70%, Craig, you can 70s a lot.
C
But no, I think it's risky. I think they're going to try and get.
A
No, no, go ahead, do it. No, no.
C
I think a bigger question, A bigger question, Heifetz, that a lot of people are going to have is what do you do with Kenneth Walker in this game?
B
You start both.
C
You have to figure out whether you want to start Charbonne. I actually think I, I ranked Charbonnet just slightly ahead of Kenneth Walker this week just because I'm not sure exactly how this is going to shake out. Obviously I was a big Kenneth Walker supporter before the season, but Charbonnet is. They're not only rotating drives where they're both getting early down looks and then Charbonnet is kind of like the third down, two minute and goal line guy. So he's getting more of the valuable touches. So it's, it's not looking good right now for Kenneth Walker though. That could change going forward.
B
I don't know why is he off at that?
A
I laugh because that those are just all the plays where you get points, plays you can catch passes and score touchdowns.
B
Yeah.
A
So that's just, it just was funny. Yeah, I agree. I, I think you can play Ken Walker but like if he doesn't do well this week, that's concerning. I, yeah, you play them both the next game here. Giants are playing Cowboys. Dallas is favored by four and a half. I hate the Cowboys. I hate the Giants. I hate myself.
B
Quick, quick, quick.
A
Fun fact. I want to make you guys guess. Last 16 games between Cowboys and Giants. What do you think the Cowboys record is? Last 16 games versus the Giants.
B
Oh, good question. I'm going to say 14 and 2.
C
DK 8 and 8.
A
I don't know. No, it's 15 and 1. The Cowboys the other way. This is like the most of all the. I know the Giants are futile and everything, but actually somehow the most underrated part. The Cowboys are 15 and one and they're on 16 games. I think the Eagles are like 18 and two and one of the two. They tried to lose on purpose and they failed. Like I literally the they tried dominance.
C
Is under to be clear, they didn't lose on purpose. They tried to lose on purpose but they were unsuccessful at that.
A
Yes. Which even when anyway, the point being so they, they, the Cowboys. I, I, I just hard to overstate how little confidence they have. Which is funny because you look at Dallas, everything about Dallas's defense should be a mess. Micah Parsons has been traded. They took some of the Micah Parsons money they had earmarked. Did they give it to Daron Bland, who's their cornerback? Daron Bland is already hurt again. Trevon Diggs, one of their other talented cornerbacks is already like kind of not 100%. Really weird situation. He had knee injury a couple years ago. They try to fine him for not rehabbing at the facility. Clearly doesn't look 100% Siobhan diggs. They drafted Siobhan Revel, a cornerback out of, I believe East Carolina who had a full knee reconstruction last year. Not healthy, like had a setback. Like none of the Dallas Cowboys cornerbacks are healthy. They don't have Michael Parsons. Guess what? It will be so funny when Russell Wilson is still completely unable to move the football against the Dallas defense. That is just Already withered by week two. And that's exactly what's going to happen is Russ is not going to be able to move the ball. The Giants offense is going to look inept. Malik neighbors who honestly is every week he gets angry. I like him even more. He said this week he has nbf. He says he has natural bitch face.
B
I love that.
A
I love that he looks angry on the sideline.
B
I've never heard. Yeah, usually it's right.
A
I know he said it's rbf. It's the same face. Yeah, same. Yeah but like I just, I know I'm kind of ranting now but like I hate the Giants. I've seen this game a thousand times. Like I, I just yeah hero with a thousand face. This is the game with a thousand faces. Like I don't know how the game's gonna go. I just know the Giants are gonna lose and I'm mad about it and like play the league neighbors and bench everyone else and then bench Russell Wilson fan The Giants start Owen 2 How.
C
Did the defensive line look in week one to you for the not good enough.
A
I mean look, you're counting on a rookie. Like I still it's so funny to me that the Giants literally Dave gettleman the only TR trade down Dave Gelman ever did in his entire 40 year career was trading out of Michael Parsons. That was the only trade Mike Dave Gittleman ever did down. And it's so funny that years later they get Abdul Carter who's like a Micah Parsons clone. I still think Abdul Carter is kind of going to be like Micah Parsons but you kind of can't expect them to be that like immediately but it wasn't difference making enough. And the problem is the Giants cornerbacks are ass like Cordell Flots Good but like well good. I mean it's all relative but like Deontay Banks is I continue to think even if he was a second round pick would have been benched by now but he's a first round pick for Joe Shane and Brian Daler on the hot seat. They don't want to admit that they failed a first round pick when you already have cave on Thibodeau's disappointing and then you already have Evan Neal's a failure so you kind of can't admit defeat onto Vonte Banks. But anyway, sorry, I just, I'm so mad. I just Tyler Newman's good. The secondary hopefully can gel with the safeties could be solid but Micah McFadden's her I just, I'm just. I feel like such an idiot for believing that this team could be good for any amount of time. But I want to just stress that you should play Dak Prescott, Javante Williams, George Pickens, CD Lamb. Because honestly, the Cowboys gonna fucking rock the Giants. Because the Cowboys always rock the Giants. No one gives a shit about the Giants. I will just say one last thing. We talked to this on Sunday. It's worth repeating. The Giants have not scored a touchdown in a season opener three straight seasons. Literally. That has not happened since the Detroit Lions, like, literally left to fight in World War II in the early 1940s. Like, what the fuck is Brian Dable's excuse? Like, the 40s Lions were like, we're gonna go kill some Nazis. What the fuck is Brian Dable's excuse for having nine months to score a touchdown three times in a row and failing. What the. We can.
B
That was. Was close on those teams or. No, he was a little bit later.
A
It's before Cloy. It's a pre Cl stat. It's like a decade before.
B
Yeah.
A
Oh, my God. Close. The end of the streak, man. Anyway. Okay, dude. Rams, Titans.
B
Every time I pull up Clo's Wikipedia, dude, he was a horse. Six, four two, two, zero, dude.
A
Yeah, for those. Can you explain to the people who are listening maybe since close. What we're talking about? Close. Bach.
B
He's. He's a. A man who.
A
Our favorite player ever.
B
He's a fair player ever. He played for the lions in the 1950s. His name. His real name is Cloyce Kennedy. Box. He married Fern. He married Fern Box. Fern Box.
A
His position was end.
C
His brother's name was Boyce.
B
He fought Korean War.
C
He fought in World War II. Right too.
B
He fought in World War II and the Korean War, I believe.
C
And then he, like, became a billionaire because he started some concrete company.
B
Yes. And then he basically became like. Like a construction mogul.
C
One of the great Americans.
B
He became president of the Oklahoma cement companies. What a.
A
Chairman of the board of Regents for West Texas State University and the Texas Board of Penal Corrections. Crazy guys. Oh, and the Cloister Box Ranch was In North Dallas. 40 or. Sorry. Or just Dallas. This TV show.
C
Dallas is the Dallas.
A
Anyway, shout out Cloy's box.
B
And. And he played. He played halfback as well as. End. End. He did everything.
A
Shout out. Close. Box.
B
The Ringer fantasy football show is brought to you by FanDuel. NFL Sunday is coming. You've got your crew, your couch, your snacks, your slate, and FanDuel's coming in with something extra. This isn't just another NFL Sunday. It's your chance to place that perfect parlay or hit your go to player prop. And now we're making it even better because this week FanDuel's bringing the bonus. That's right. Right now all customers get a 50% profit boost on any NFL bet. We are doing our own competition at the Ringer, making bets against other podcasts, other NFL shows. It's called Ringer 107. I'm going to give you a little sneak preview of one of our five bets this week. We're going to go with the Eagles over the Chiefs. We're taking the spread. The last time these two teams played, the Eagles were up 34 to 0 in this game. So the spread is only one and a half. Right now we feel very comfortable with that. The Chiefs don't have Xavier Worthy. They don't have Rasheed Rice. They did not look good in week one. We love the Eagles. However you play your game, FanDuel's got your back with something extra in your account because that's what Sundays should feel like. So visit fanduel.com ringer fantasy to download the app and get in on the action before kickoff. Must be 21 + and present in select states or 18 + and present in D.C. kentucky or Wyoming. Opt in required bonus issued as non withdrawable profit boost tokens. Restrictions apply including any token expiration and max wager amount. See terms@sportsbook.fanduel.com gambling problem. Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit rg-help.com call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org chat in Connecticut. This episode is brought to you by Universal Pictures. Would you sell your soul for greatness? What would you be willing to sacrifice this September Experience the football horror event of the season M the new Jordan Peele produced horror film. It stars Marlon Wayans in the role of a lifetime as Isaiah White, the greatest football player of all time, AKA the Goat. Tyreek Withers plays Cameron Cade, a rising star quarterback who Isaiah takes on as his protege. As Cam's trading accelerates, Isaiah's charisma shifts into something darker, sending Cam down a disorienting rabbit hole that may cost him more than he ever bargained for. Directed by Justin Tipping and produced by Monkey Paw Productions, Never meet your idols. M in theater September 19.
A
This episode is brought to you by Hyundai. What makes the all new Hyundai Palisade hybrid an incredible suv? Is it the spacious interior that's comfy for the whole crew or the capability to go off road. Maybe it's the up to 600 plus miles of range. What if it's all of that and more? The all new Hyundai Palisade hybrid. So much more than just another SUV. Visit Hyundai USA.com or call 562-314-4603 for more details. Rams Titans Weird Another weird game because Cam Ward statistically was just disgusting last week, but he kind of looked all right at moments. But the Titans defensive line looked awesome and the Rams offensive lines really banged up. Both their guards have an ankle sprain. Rob Havenston practice on Wednesday. I'm not sure if he practiced tape. I mean Wednesday a lot of veterans don't practice anyway. But Jeffrey Simmons looked quietly like one of the better players in the entire NFL last week at the defensive tackle for Tennessee. And I wouldn't want both my guards to be a little gimpy facing Jeff Simmons this week. So I not you're sitting here saying the Titans are going to win this game, but I don't know man. I kind of think the Titans offense could be a lot better this week than they were against Denver, right?
C
Dk, you were saying you were a little bit into the Titans this week because the offensive line for the for the Rams is so beaten up. I'm a little worried about the offensive line or basically just Cam Ward having to face off against the Rams defensive line. So I'm a little bit worried that this game is just going to be super ugly. Kind of like the Texans Rams was last week. Cam Ward after having to face Denver's defense get, you know, now he gets a Rams defense that is really, really good. He Cam Ward was pressured on 53% of snaps last week, which was tops in the NFL.
A
How's that? Is that good?
C
That's tough. It's tough to do anything.
A
It's funny though DK when because you know you're also a draft guru here at the Ringer and I feel like Kib Ward has a lot of Matt Stafford in his game. Maybe not necessarily the craziest guns one of one arm talent but the mentality of I could do anything like Matt Stafford. One of the reasons he feeds his number receiver so much is Matt Stafford isn't like he's covered. Matt Stafford's like oh I could fit it in that. Impossible.
C
He's open enough. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
A
Cam Ward has that same mentality, right?
C
Oh yeah, absolutely. He's, he's that's to his detriment at times obviously. Like that's one of the kind of reasons he was all over the place in terms of people's evaluation on him. I don't know. How are you guys leaning on this? If it's, you're a little bit in the Titans on this, Craig, where do you land? Because I, I'm, I mean, to be.
A
Clear, I think the Rams gonna win the game.
C
Yeah.
B
I, I Kim words getting a tough opening slate starting out with Denver on the road. Now he's playing the Rams. Next week he plays the Colts, who.
A
You know, Daniel Jones, Unstoppable runaway friction can't beat.
B
And then they go play the Titans on the road with the hard Texan. I mean, sorry, they play the Texans on the road, which is another difficult defense. So I think things are going to be a little rough for Cam Ward for a month.
A
But I played the Broncos and then rating defensive player of the year and then Sean McVeigh's ramps.
B
Yeah. So I, I don't know though. I, I still think he's another divisive guy who's had a lot of. There's been a lot of discussions about him this week, whether or not he played well or not. It's funny. There are, we have more data and, you know, analysis than ever and yet we still can't decide on if somebody.
A
Well, we could, we could decide. Kimworth, he played terribly. Like that subject, I don't know. It's fine he played terribly, but within the sliding scale of, well, it was his debut against the Broncos, who are considered to have probably the best defense in the NFL, have the reigning defensive player, the best secondary, the best cornerbacks. He should have played terribly. I think within the terrible performance you're saying, it's like, you know, that every happy family is the same. Every miserable family is different. Every different. Like every good performance is kind of similar. Every great, every terrible performance is kind of interesting. And I think the type of bad that Tim Moore did was to me, not bad because mentally I think he kind of stayed in the game and was not rattled by what was going on. He just was overwhelmed by a crazy better unit. But it mentally, he had a chance to win and he like honestly, if Calvin Ridley and Chica conquo catch some balls, Titans might have won that game.
B
I agree. I think he also shouldn't have ran.
A
Backward in field goal position. That was probably a bad idea. But you know what?
B
I think the Rams often play up and down to their competition. Like the Rams, you know, I think were the team that could have beaten the Eagles to go to the Super Bowl. Last year. And yet the Rams are also the type of team where they're like on the road in Jacksonville and it's like 13 to 10 in the fourth quarter. I think this game is going to be closer than people expect.
A
The best moment of Anthony Richardson's entire career ended up being a comeback win versus the Rams where the Rams were up like 20 to nothing.
B
And then the Rams do this a.
A
Lot went to overtime. Yeah, I agree. But yeah, you still play Puka to Kui, you play Devonte play Chiron, you play everyone.
B
Like the Rams lost to the Dolphins last year. The Rams barely beat the Raiders by five last year. The, the Rams barely beat the jets last year. There is.
A
I, I think you played. You still play Tony Pollard, you still play Calvin. Really? You play all the Rams you were going to play. I don't think it changes anything.
B
And I still, I would recommend holding on to. If you, if you're in a 12 or 14 team league, I think Alec IO men are the receiver for Tennessee. I think you should hold on to him. I like him.
A
Okay. Jaguars, Bengals.
B
I have no read on this game. No read.
A
I have a read. If The Bengals start Owen 2 again, even though Joe Burrow and everyone played in the preseason, it'd be really funny. Like it just, it would be really funny if the I'm again I'm here at this bachelor party in Michigan, went to lunch, ended up being around a bunch of Bengals fans and we actually were joking about how funny it would be if the Bengals lost to the Jaguars in week two.
B
So what you, you think that the Bengals are not going to show up again?
A
No, they better fucking show up. I'm saying the bank. Like this is a hype. The Bengals have started. How many years in a row is Joe Burrow started? 0 and 2. Like how many years can they do this? I'm like, I like the Bengals. The league is more fun when the Bengals are in contention. But like, holy shit, the Bengals should beat the shit out of the Jaguars. But that's the problem is like I don't know if they can.
B
Yeah, I, I do think fantasy wise it's like you're obviously playing Burrow, Chase and Hagen even though they all disappointed Chase Brown.
A
You play everyone. Yeah.
B
You're playing Brian Thomas. Are you playing Travis Hunter? Liam Cohen said he's going to play more on defense this week, which probably smart.
A
Honestly. Probably. Yeah. It's because it's T. Higgins and Jamar Chase. It's probably a good idea.
B
Yeah.
A
For him to play on defense.
B
Are you starting him in fantasy?
A
No, because there's Jamar Chase and T. Higgins. I really wouldn't in fantasy this week if what if he said he's going to play more on defense? I don't like that.
B
What if he caught that 50 yard pass that was one inch away from a 50 yard touchdown last week? Then would you?
C
Oh yeah.
A
Then play him? Sure.
B
Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Because then he would have had like seven catches, 100 yards and a touchdown and everybody would have freaked out.
A
But it was less cool. Yeah. Yeah, you're right. You can play. I, I, I guess you probably should play Travis Hunter. I guess I'm going back both sides of my mouth. The Bengals defense sucks. I said that the Panthers defense sucks enough that it should make up for the fact that it's week one and it didn't last week. But I guess here's what's funny about the Jaguars. I know it's week one and week two and I'm the one who said at the beginning of the show that preseason kind of extends to the first two weeks. Unfortunately for Jacksonville, the worst two defenses they're going to face all year are probably Carolina and Cincinnati in the first two weeks. And so it will just. I don't know if it's going to be hard to trust Jacksonville going forward, but if they can't do these two games, it's just so annoying. Like it's annoying to trust Jacksonville going forward if they can't get it done.
B
Can I ask a kind of annoying question? And this is a real, like, I'm bitching about something I probably shouldn't, but do it. Travis Hunt. Travis Hunter played like six defensive snaps yesterday or last week or something, right? Not many. And now Liam Cohen's like, oh, he's going to play more defense this week. And so high Fitz, naturally your, your inclination is to be like, okay, well if he's going to play more defense, maybe he plays less offense. I don't want to do that. I want to play him in weeks where he's going to play more offense. Was it the whole thing that he does both? That was a lot. Why isn't he doing both? I know it's early, it's only week two, but is it a zero sum game? Can you only play 40 snaps? You have to choose which offenses and defense he plays. I thought he's playing both. I thought that's why you picked him second and you traded a first rounder next year for him is because he's two players.
A
I don't, well, I Mean this has never happened before and we'll see what the plan is. And I think it's, it is interesting to see what they the plan is for him. I will say I you guys know that before the draft I love Travis Hunter as much as I loved any prospect ever. Even I was a little curious about a trade where you're kind of paid a price where he better play both spots, not could. Like to me, the whole point of Travis Hunter was worst case, he, he will have an NFL role as an NFL receiver even if he can't do both. But the Jaguars paid like they got two players. Like the Browns charged them two spots.
C
You're expecting like a star on both sides of the ball.
B
Yeah. So like if you're only getting 75% of the receiver and 50% of the corner, I, I, you're getting neither.
A
And that it's been, it's been one week. Maybe Travis Hunter and again he should be Austin this week because that's why this is annoying.
B
I said.
A
But to your point, I agree with what you're saying though, because to me, my thing with Travis Hunter was basically in a nutshell. We talk about the highest end ceiling outcome for every player in the draft except the guy that had the highest end outcome I've ever seen from a non quarterback. So I'm like, why are we not talking about this guy's outcome? To me there's a difference between that and what the Jaguars did, which is the Jaguars paid as if he definitely could have a great shot at doing this thing that's never been done before. I was excited that he could do something that had never been done before and I believed he could. But the Jaguars kind of paid a price with the trade and giving up future first where it's like if he does it, it's kind of fucking a huge mistake to just take trade up to take a receiver when there's like Mecha Buka went 20 picks later.
B
I don't doubt that, that physically he's capable of playing both. I think there's not enough hours in the week. Liam Cohen had an interesting quote after the Jags game after they beat the Panthers and somebody asked him why did Travis Hunter only play six defensive snaps? And Liam Combs answer was basically that there wasn't enough time. They were complicated schemes and getting Travis Hunter in there, it just didn't really work out. And kind of like we used him when we could, but it was too complicated to kind of fit him in there. And my thinking with that is like, well, you had all summer to plan for that. Now I think it's pretty hard.
A
I think realistically it will. It might be hard for him to do this until next year. Like, if this week happens, that it's, you know, if we see another few weeks and it's not happening, I think it, like, I still think it could happen, but it might just have to be a second year and beyond because it's probably, maybe it's unrealistic to expect him to do it immediately.
B
Right. And that's why I feel bad even posing this question, because I should probably, once again, just wait two months and we'll see. But right now I'm like, what the fuck? He can't play.
A
Who wants to wait?
B
Thought that was his whole thing.
A
Yeah, I, I just also, I, I. Joe Burrow again, his wit. Do you know what Joe Burrow's winning percentage in his career is the first two weeks of the season?
B
20. 25.
C
Yeah, I was gonna say like 30.
A
Pretty good. Yes. 22.
B
Nice. Yeah.
A
Well done. And his winning percentage after week two is, like, almost 70%. So he's like a little below, like Tom Brady, I kind of like. So basically after week two, he's right there with Josh Allen, but before week two, he's right there with, like, fucking Nathan Peterbin, which is funny. So I don't know. Bengals.
C
I like the Bengals in this one.
A
Let's take a quick break to talk about HubSpot. This episode is brought to you by HubSpot. Did you know that most businesses only use 20% of their data? That's like leaving most of your fantasy roster on the bench or drafting 1/5 of a team. Point is, it's going to be pretty hard to win unless you have HubSpot. Their customer platform gives you access to the data you need to grow your business. The insights trapped in emails, call logs, transcripts. Because when you know more, you grow more. Visit HubSpot.com today, Browns, Ravens. Ravens are favored by 11 and a half. I mean, this is just. The Ravens should crush them.
B
The Ravens better just kick the shit out of the Browns.
A
Yeah, you're playing Lamar. You're playing Derek Henry. Playing Zay Flowers. I think you should play Mark Andrews. I still really believe you played Mark Andrews. Browns. It's weirder.
C
I hate Joe Flacco revenge game.
A
It is the Joe Flacco revenge game. I think it's, you know, it's so.
C
Funny coming at what point?
A
I don't think I'm as much of a grudge holder as most people. I. If I have one skill. Sometimes that can be water, you know, like water off a duck. Is that the phrase water under the bridge? Water under the bridge, yeah.
C
What it's. Watering the bridge refers to, like, it's in the past.
A
How good does Lamar Jackson have to be for Joe Flacco to acknowledge that that was a great decision to fire him and hire Lamar Jackson? Like, do you think Joe Flacco actually looks and is like, that should be.
C
That's like asking, like, if you're. If you're like, girlfriend breaks up with you and gets married to, like, the richest, handsomest guy in the world. You're like, wow. Like, are you gonna admit it? You're gonna be like, no, him.
B
That's like.
A
He's like, yeah, exactly.
B
Chris Pratt was dating Anna Faris, and Anna Faris was way more famous than Chris Pratt. And then Chris Pratt became a Marvel superhero, and then he left Anna Faris and now he's married to a Schwarzenegger. Right.
A
I didn't know that story. But yeah, that's exactly what we're talking about, I guess, kind of also, you know, it doesn't get talked about enough that Arnold became the governor of California because he was in movies. It's kind of funny.
B
And he was and was reelected.
A
It was reelected. Yeah. For my time.
B
There's a good Netflix document.
A
Yeah. I feel. I think you have to play in Joku.
C
Do you.
A
I think you have to play in Joker this week.
C
I don't think you have to.
A
Well, I guess you don't.
C
I don't think you have to. I think he, to me, is the most questionable player on the Browns to play right now. Like, I'm playing Samson for sure because he's going to catch a bunch of passes. I'm like, Judy and Tillman. It just depends on who you have on your team. Those guys are more like flex options.
A
For tight end, too. Would you. Who would you play Dallas Goddard over where? I guess if he's hurt, would you play Jake Ferguson over David and Joku?
C
The question is, is. Is Harold Fannin just going to keep taking all of. In Joku's plays? Because if you took week one, but.
A
If you took David and Joku and you have him on your team.
C
Yeah.
A
How? I'm like, this isn't hypothetical. It's very clear what your options are. Like, would you take. Would you play this week Hunter Henry over David and Joku?
B
Because you got to think about the guys that you could add off of waivers after you've dragged Britain. Strange set.
A
Yeah, I Think Britain Strange is fine. Britain Strange on the Jags, the Browns or. Sorry, the Jags are playing the Bengals. I think Britain Strange is a really good option at tight end because again, Logan. Logan Wilson, Bengals linebacker got hurt. Harold Fannin had all his catches against the Bengals. I think Britain Strange is a really viable option. I think Juwan Johnson for the Saints. Things you guys said on Monday about Joanne Johnson's just Gonna Start played 99% of steps to the Saints. Johnson, you could do it if those guys are gone. I'm like, you're gonna play Zach Ertz over David and Joku DK if you guess not.
C
But that.
B
But if you could add Kyle Pitts off of the waiver wire because a lot of people did not draft Kyle Pitts. Are you drafting. Are you playing Kyle Pitts over in Joku?
C
Yes, for sure.
A
Are you playing especially.
C
Especially with Drake?
A
What are you playing Zach Ertz over David and Joku?
B
No.
C
It's a discussion, but probably not in this case.
A
Well, I guess it's Thursday Night Football.
C
So I think it's just funny because you're just like, you got to play play him. I'm like, well, you don't have to. There's a lot of guys that I would play over in joke. He's the least. I'm. I'm. I'm trying to figure out who Njoku.
A
Though example because he already played by the time people listening to this. What about. But because.
B
No, no, I know.
A
But that. But I'm saying look at our rankings. It's like really hot. Where like it's. It's we. When I say you have to play.
C
Them, I'm like to be clear, I'm wrestling because you're saying you have to play David and Joker. And I'm. I'm saying no, you do not have to.
A
No.
C
If you have shitty options. You don't. Then yes.
A
Would you play?
C
I would play Fan and over in Joku.
A
Yeah.
B
I worry that we're falling into week one overreaction territory and David and Joker will just be fine.
C
Yeah, there's definitely a chance that we get Isaiah likely for the second straight year. I think that's true. However, the evidence would point to that's not. Not what's true. Like, they utilized him. He led the team in targets and again, this is a Joe Flacco offense where he loves checking the ball down. He loves getting the ball out underneath to his guys. They have good chemistry together on the when plays break down. And add that. Add in that he was like the Number one talk of the town in pre in like training camp and everything. I'm like, it just seems like they have a real plan for this guy. He's essentially their wide receiver. 3 and Harold Shannon, there's a chance. There is a chance. We just get Isaiah like lead for the second straight year. I understand that. That's fine. Maybe it does happen. But if this feels more real to me than Isaiah likely to thing did.
A
And it can't be said enough, Harold Fanny literally led all players in college football last year in yards. Like, it can't be like that huge part of this. I will say in catches. This is I think we also needed, you know, we're saying don't overact to week one. We need to overreact to this week either for this Browns game because they're playing the Ravens. The Ravens defense is nothing like the Bengals defense. It's the polar opposite. Every one of the Ravens defense is talent. Kyle Hamilton's like the best safety. They have like Roquan Smith, like, like I, I if Harold Fanon doesn't do anything this week, that doesn't mean anything to me. Like we like one player we have.
B
Not talked about that's in this game. We did not talk about him on Sunday. Mark Andrews had one catch for 5 yards last week in a game that featured 81 points and how many points you remember last year he was Mr. Burn Book for us and was Border was basically droppable because he had two games. I think with zero points in the first month of last year he had one catch for five yards. Dk do you have to start Mark Andrews? No.
C
He was.
A
When you say have to, who are your options that you're not. Are there 10 tight ends you'd play over Mark Andrews?
B
Would you start Harold Fannin over Mark Andrews?
C
I lean look at. That's not what it is in our rankings. So no, probably not. But am I confident in Mark Andrews? Not even remotely. And I'm excited about fandom, let me put it that way.
B
Because I think a lot of people probably pissed at Mark Andrews for doing the same thing again this year.
C
What is it Heifet says the fiduciary duty to say you should probably start Mark Andrews because he has a long history of doing this, you know, being good and being a big part of their offense and being good in the red zone. However, I mean, you guys, I think remember when we did Bill's pod, Mark Andrews was like, I'm just like not doing market, like not drafting not he's he's off my list. I'm not drafting him in any situation and I'm really glad that. That I did that right now.
B
Anyway, I think most people only give players two weeks and I think if Mark Andrews lays another egg against the Browns, it's going to be over. Not saying it should be, but I.
A
Think that's how that's definitely true that most people give players two weeks, three at most. Okay, next game here. Bill's Jets. Kind of wonder if the jets are going to be able to run in the Bills. I think I'm as curious to see this as anything out of like week one. The jets running looks so good.
B
They're like the mini Ravens and the Ravens ran all over the Bills. I wouldn't be shocked if the jets had similar levels of success. Wouldn't. Wouldn't you?
A
Who do you think is more shocked to hear that the jets fans being called many Ravens or Ravens fans hearing the jets called mini Ravens.
B
I don't mean mini Ravens in any way other than the yards per carry. That's the only.
A
But it's interesting that Justin Fields and Breeze hall creating honestly, it's funny cause Lamar and Derek Carney's like thunder, lightning. But like Fields is almost the thunder. I guess he's faster but like it pre solves the lightning. But the idea that that read option behind a talented offensive line is opening up the offense. And I'm curious, the Bill's defensive line is very banged up. They don't have a ton of healthy like, you know, who's their massive rookie defensive tackle DK that they're kind of relying on really early.
C
Dion Walker. Dioni Walker.
A
Yeah, I'm blank. Yeah, the Giant guy. The guy like even among NFL standards, we saw this Dion Walker at the combine and we were like, holy, that's a big person.
C
Yeah, he's like, you know, hold on, let me pull this up. He's 6, 8 or 6, 7, 3, 1.
A
Yeah, that's just preposterous. But yeah, I mean, you know, Ed Oliver's great. And after that it's like, you know, Joey Bose is. Joey Bose is a run defender at this point in his career. So anyway, it's just, you know, we'll see. But I'm.
C
I think this is interesting because Craig, going into last week, I would have thought the Steelers have a really good defense. Right. Or at least it's pretty good and they have a lot of very experienced veterans.
B
Yeah.
C
What's that?
B
I said easy, easy.
C
I don't like where you're going with this. And then the jets absolutely fucking shredded them. And Justin Fields had his best game of his career by far. He was, I think I saw this. He was number. The number two quarterback by passing grade according to pff. Like basically no off target throws in that game. And I was very impressed with not only just the offense and how smooth it was and the big throws that he made, but I thought he was managing the pocket really well. Well, there's one play in my mind where he dropped back, the pressure came, he stepped up through the pocket. In 99 out of a hundred times in the past, he would have just took off and ran, but he, he pulled up and he kept his eyes downfield. And then he like completed a big.
B
Pass and then he threw it to Garrett Wilson and Jalen Ramsey said not.
C
Oh yeah, that was that play too. But yeah, so, but I, I was very impressed with their run game, but I was also just very impressed in general with Justin Fields. And so like, obviously to me the big question in this game is was that a total fluke or does he. Because he kind of just turned back into a pumpkin. And the guy that we've seen for the last couple of years where he's like way too slow, way too methodical, trying to get the ball out, he's late on everything. He gets sacked about seven times or, you know, is this the kind of new look offense in the new look, Justin Fields, that, that I think like we were hoping this could be. By the way, we were talking about the Lions earlier. Tanner Angstring. Angstrand.
B
Angstrand.
C
Angstrand. Sorry. That's a tough one. Tough one. He looks like the real deal after one game coming from the Lions.
B
Why I'm nervous about the Lions. All these people have left the line. Seem like the real deal.
C
Yeah. So I was very, very impressed with the lot with the jets offense in week one against what I thought was a good defense. And now against the Bills, who, you know, they, they've got some good players, but I don't think this is like an elite defense by any means. So this is gonna be fun.
B
In Sunday Night Football, the Bills allowed A league high 4.6 yards before contact per attempt. Yeah, think about that. Let that, let that marinate again.
A
We need to do it in feet. Was 4.6 yards in feet.
B
Yeah. 15ft.
A
You say it like that. You're like, holy, that is wild actually to think about.
B
It's such a good point, Hypitz. We should just only 15ft before contact. Dude, I even crazy sometimes with golf. I Get confused. Sometimes I'll even be like, oh, it's 100 yards away. I'm like, oh, that's a. That's 300ft away.
A
Yeah, I golf. Whenever you play golf, you start. It's weird because when you stand, oh.
B
I drove it 250 yards. I drove it 750ft. That's long way.
A
Yeah, it's crazy. And also it's funny because like you're like, oh, what is this? Like an approach wedge. And you're like, that's how far a football field is. But then you're at a football field, you're like, I could never get a golf ball over there. You know, I don't know. I. Yeah.
B
52 degree. I can hit a football field. Okay.
A
It's bizarre. Anyway, I don't understand how yardages work or numbers. Okay. Patriots, Dolphins, Dolphins are favored in this game. I find that very funny.
B
Hilarious.
A
How many. What's the worst performance that's ever happened in week one that led to being favored in week one because this or week two because this Dolphins team is up here of most embarrassing teams ever that were still favored the next week.
C
The. The. The highest panic meter or whatever among fans is gotta be in Miami, right?
B
Has to be. I mean, we can speak. Our producer Carlos is going on rants on Twitter about how horrific his team is. He's miserable, dude.
A
A Tyree Kill. It's it. This week is the one year anniversary of Tyree Kill's last 30 yard catch. Which Tyree Kill this year.
B
True, if Mike McDaniel challenged the catch that Tyree Kill made in week one that was over 30 yards. But I digress. I. I would like to make an announcement to you, to you both. Heading into this game, I will be giving it a go once more with Jalen Waddle and Tyree Kill.
C
Oh my God.
B
I will be. I don't care. I can talk myself into this. Can I give you my ridiculous reasoning behind this decision?
C
Please do.
B
Okay.
A
You drafted them in your fucking shit out of luck. What is. What is there to it?
B
That's true. Yes.
A
You've got better options.
B
Basically. Two was terrible. Tyrique and Waddle are not. I don't think Tyreek is washed. I think John Smith being gone matters. And even, even in the horrible limited sample size, the problem with the game in week one one was, was not just that Tua was bad, but he was so bad that they never had the ball. So Tyreek Hill actually had a 27% target share in this game, which was way higher than it was last year. Jalen Waddle, 23% target share last game, which was way higher than the year before. Like we saw that John who Smith being gone is. Is mattering. And Tyreek hill was averaging 2.3 yards per route run, which that means nothing. But that is a very good number for a wide receiver. Meaning that when he was on the field running routes, he was producing. They just were never on the field running routes because they got boat raced. So they're playing New England.
A
Funny word.
C
I love that.
B
Yeah, I know. Boat race. They're playing. They're playing New England. Who just let up 360 yards. Geno Smith. They're at home. I don't know.
A
Like Geno Smith's bad. Well, he's better than Tua.
B
He is better than Tua for sure. But I'm just saying they let up 360 yards passing to not, you know, Josh Allen to a North. To an average quarterback.
C
I would say this is the weirdest anti. Rivalry. It's not a rivalry because the Patriots have dominated or you know, like going back 20 years, have dominated the division, everything. But the Patriots have lost eight out of their last nine games.
B
They don't play well down.
C
So weird.
A
No New England. The worst regular season losses in the Brady Belichick era, half of them were at Miami. Weird random games.
B
And I shudder to even say this, but last year Jalen Waddle had 144 yards and a touchdown versus the Patriots.
A
God damn it, Craig. I could hear you on Sunday screaming at this version.
B
You're going to do the.
A
We need. We need the inception. Not inception. God damn it. I always do the interstellar meme of the week of Matthew McConaughey. The books be like, no, no, go back. Don't leave that. We. I can tell you right now on Sunday, you're banging on the bookcase being like, don't start.
B
Jalen, what are you doing? Let me hit you with a couple more.
A
They have 45 yards in the first half. Last week.
B
43. New England last week surrendered a league high nine completions of 20 yards or more. Nine last year. Two will play New England. They put up 34 points. He threw four touchdowns in the one game that two have played the Pets. I just. Look, I'm gonna give it a go one more time. Like I said, week two and then you give up. But I'm.
A
Here's the thing. All right, you know what? Since you keep saying this though, I'm gonna give it a go. Who's your. Who's your other option. Who's the other receiver you have? I don't know that you have to play. Yeah. I want you to fucking pull it up because you keep saying it.
B
Pull it up. Okay.
A
I do.
B
Okay, here's my choice. Keenan Allen. I'm gonna play over Keenan Allen.
A
Okay. Cool.
B
What?
A
Thanks. What a good Roman.
B
I don't have Justin Jefferson sitting on my bench. Sorry.
A
What if you had Roma Dinzet?
B
I would start. I would start Waddle over Roma, dudes.
A
Dk, Would you do that?
C
I would probably. I'm kind of excited about Keenan Allen. I. I would think about starting Keenan Allen.
A
No, I think, Craig, you're right that you, you should do Jan Waddle thing because you drafted him high and you give him the two weeks, and then if not, you give him two weeks notice.
B
Yeah.
A
Would you play, I mean, would you play Hollywood Browns, Hollywood Brown or Jalen Waddle this week? Hollywood Brown had 16 targets for 99 years.
B
I would start Hollywood Brown.
A
I. It's a compelling argument. Here's my question. Serious question. If everything you just said.
B
Yeah.
A
About Jalen Waddle.
B
Yeah.
A
And then he sucks this week, how do you play in the rest of the year? That's the question.
B
You don't.
A
Yeah.
C
Last chance.
B
You don't. I Venmo him $5, hope he pays me, and then we move on. I'm gonna, I'm gonna start Venmoing all these athletes, however much I spent on them in my draft, I think they disappoint.
A
I think they get plenty of Venmo requests. Request for all the gambling losses that people have. Don't Venmo. Well, yeah. Don't DM players. I mean, Craig can do it, but it's fine. Okay. Don't contact players. Pat's Dolphins. Dolphins, yeah. That game sucks real quick. The only one Drake May was Drake May. So I, I, I just. Can I just put something on the kind of like, Craig with the Travis Hunter thing? It's too early to make a decision. Can I put something on the radar? Like, can I make a reservation for a take? I want to get out later. That's too early to do now.
B
Yeah, sure.
A
If Drake May doesn't play well this week, when the. Is Drake May gonna look good?
B
Drake May has won one game.
A
I'm just saying, like, look, at some point, at some point, I would like to see Drake May win football games because he. It's so funny because Bill Simmons kept making fun of Justin Herbert for years of, like, everyone says he's good. And, like, when's he gonna win And I swear to God Drake May is the new Justin Herbert. He's gonna start fucking winning because there's no excuses. It's like Greg Vrabel is like the best coach on the market. All this stuff. This is a serious game. The Patriots should win.
B
Justin Herbert's fucking awesome and has been awesome the second he stepped onto a field.
A
I agree because Drake Bay is halfway between Herbert and Carson Wentz. He's exactly halfway. And like he's got the improv. He's how he's pre injury Carson Wentz who has now had a weird things up and down Carson Wentz pre injury what in my opinion what happened Carson Wentz was there was personal dynamic where he didn't Dr. Teammates but also wasn't the same athlete after the acl. I think Drake May is really good. I'm just saying this should be a very winnable game for New England because frankly this is like Mike, there's a playbook on how to beat the Dolphins because they can't run the ball. You kind of make Tua push the ball beyond the numbers. You kind of can't do it like to like we joke about it but the reality is to a and again I don't think it's to his fault. I think pre the hip injury he had in college which no one talks about anymore because of the concussions but two I had the Bo Jackson hip injury and hasn't been the same deep ball thrower ever since. Tua had a deep ball rope to win the College Football Playoff. Where's that been for his entire NFL career? I don't think it's there because of the hip injury. So I mean I can't prove that I'm not a fucking doctor. But I'm just saying we keep joking with Tyreek Hill fielding deep balls when he's wide open like punts. Defenses have adjusted.
C
Coming back to the ball.
B
Back to the end zone.
A
Yeah, back. And it's like defenses have adjusted. They field punts. They got gunners. No, but I'm kidding. But like the real line on two is make him throw the red line. Make him throw outside the hash marks. And Tyree Kill hasn't thrown a fucking hasn't had a 30 yard catch in a year because that's what the Bills did and everyone kind of copied it. I think Vrabel's going to do that. There's. I don't think the Patriot, I don't think the Dolphins are going to run on a mic verbal defense. I don't think so anyway. I think that New England should win this game. And if they don't, I'm just saying kind of think it's going to be because Drake May could do what fucking Daniel Jones did.
B
Can I make a suggestion for Drake? Maybe.
C
Are you.
A
Oh, that's such. She's got a Duncan commercial too. Sabrina, that's a great. Wait, so the same way that Travis Kelsey connected with Taylor Swift because they're pod. Could we get this video in front of Sabrina Carpenter? Be like, you should date Drake. The Dunkin Donuts thing that's already basically bought.
B
Like come on, we saw what it did for Herbert. Herbert is a new man.
A
Good. Matt Beers and Herbert.
B
He's drinking the beer.
C
I believe that Drake May is engaged.
A
Ah. Oh. He is engaged. 8th grade girlfriend. You know what dating's entire life still time.
C
God damn it.
A
Great.
B
Just because look at Russell Wilson. Yeah.
A
Did I tell you guys that when I went to this is a flex. But when I went to I. When we were in your. I was in Europe and I went to the Monaco Grand Prix and I wanted to go to the Monte Carlo because I figured the Saturday night Monte Carlo was like a pretty once in a lifetime experience of the weekend.
C
And you talked your way into it.
A
Without you walk in, you pay money. It's just a. Oh, I talked. I walked into the race for free. Yes, I did get to see the race for free.
B
But see but the Monte Carlo.
C
There you go.
B
I don't even. That's a hotel, right?
A
It's the casino. It's the. It's the. It's like if gambling had a Vatican City. It's the one in James Bond in the.
B
Right, right in Casino Royale. Is it not a hotel? Is it just a casino?
A
It's a hotel too, but the casino, I think it's hotel but the casino, it's just like. It really is like the Vatican. Anyway, lot a 70 year old then with like 18 year old women. Women that were young enough that I don't know what to talk to them about. I have no idea what they talk about these couples. Anyway, all that's to say these couples. Couples like okay, sure, bro. Anyway, this funny guy, we're sitting there, we can't believe the craps table isn't open. We're talking and he's like where's your fiance? Like oh yeah, you know, we talked. It's like she. He doesn't give a about cars or the races. So she didn't come today. And he was like oh, so you're Engaged, not married. I was like, yeah. He's like, oh well, you know, still time for you then, you know, you can just find another one. And there's like this pause and I look at him and I look at her and we all just start laughing.
B
He's like, anyway, let, let's go Peppermint. We're headed out.
A
Caramel with a K. Anyway. Jesus. Anyway, next game, Niners, Saints.
C
Hell yeah.
A
This is bizarre.
B
Mac versus Rattler.
A
The history of so Purdy's out with a. The toe injuries. What's keeping him out? Or is it the non throwing shoulder injury?
B
He has what I read as a turf toe variant which I don't know what that means. Is there a vaccine for that? I don't know what a turf toe variant is.
A
Just calling it a variant makes it sound like an X Men or some shit. That's variant variant of. That's funny. The. So let's get this straight. George Kittle's already on injured reserve, which again just a reminder, doesn't mean you're out for the season anymore. It means you're out for four weeks. But George Kittle's out for a month or. Or more. Juwan Jennings had a pseudo fake calf injury, but now as a real shoulder injury. Right. So we don't know if Juwan Jennings is going to play. We can't confirm that right now. It's Thursday, so you'll have more information listening to this now than we do. Purdy's hurt. But the context, which maybe I'm being repetitive but I can't get over this. Kyle Shanahan wanted Mac Jones in the 2021 draft and they wanted to sit there and pick him when they, when they were going to get it. And Shanahan seems to have been convinced I think by John lynch to trade up and take trade Lance, which turns out to be one of the worst trades ever because they gave up a bunch of picks to get Trey Lance who'd never played for them basically. And then the 90s lost two fucking they lost another super bowl and they lost this whole window of competitive. They made all these innocent championship games and man, one more first round player made a difference. Anyway, it is so crazy now that Mac Jones is at we're actually gonna see it and I know he's a punchline, but in a world where Sam Darnold just interned for the Niners for a year and then went and won 14 games in Minnesota, I am not rolling out a Mac Jones looks actually kind of competent game this week. I think it's totally on the table. In a world where Shannon turned Brock Purdy into a guy making a quarter of a billion dollars, that M. Jones looks fine this week. I think that's totally possible. Dk, you're, you're, I, I, I can't tell if you're smiling at me for like the pure naivety. You see it.
C
No, no, no. I'm, I'm smiling because you make some good points. And I'm laughing to myself because I'm like, we're going to bet on Mac Jones, aren't we, this week? Like, what could go wrong by doing that?
A
Nick Mullins to have more yards in his first 16 games than like, Andrew Luck.
C
I know.
B
Then Patrick Mahomes.
A
Yeah, Patrick was 50 touchdowns in his first season. It didn't have as many yards in his first 16 games.
C
I, I contend that one of the biggest parts of the lack of belief in Brock Purdy is not that he was the last pick in the draft or that he looks like a little shrimp out there. It's that we just think Kyle can turn anybody into a really good quarterback. I think that's like maybe 55% of it. That's like the lack of belief.
B
That's such a Bill Simmons percentage.
A
Yeah. Congrats. You finished Bill Simmons grad school. I was also thinking about, I was actually also thinking about building that because I remember Bill had some column where he was like, Sometimes I would just stare at the fact that Steve Nash won MVP trophies and that's me for. I just stare at the fact that Kyle Shannon came like three feet of Jimmy Garoppolo winning a Super Bowl. Jimmy Garoppolo sucks.
B
One yard.
A
One yard.
C
So, yeah, now, now I'm kind of like intrigued by this whole Mac Jones thing. I think Mac Jones is funny because just the guy, he's just such a loose cannon type of guy.
B
McCorkle.
C
McCorkle. Remember when he, when he was with the Patriots, he's quickly developed a reputation for being like a, like he would just kick guys. He'd like, he would like cleat guys all the time.
A
And like he had Grayson Allen vibes. You're right.
C
Everyone fucking hated him. So it's funny that. I don't know why. It's just funny that like now we would have any faith in him. But, you know, I have faith in Kyle Shanahan to run this offense.
A
You're also. Don't forget Elliot Wolf, who is at the time was the GM of the Patriots without the title. But now Elliot Wolf has been neutered I guess by Mike Vrabel. Elliot Wolf like still works with the Patriots, which is not really the GM anymore. It's funny but Elliot Wolf went to the press conference and oh truly threw Mac Jones under the bus and basically was like here's what we don't want in a quarterback. And just described Mac Jones without his name but was like body language, shrugging, looking at teammates being like what are you, Alabama? Yeah. Looks weird. Shirtless with a cigar in his mouth. Like you know all this stuff but looks weird.
B
I mean looks weird.
A
Sorry. Fat.
B
Okay.
A
Relative tentful players. He did you remember the picture?
B
Most of all the best quarterbacks are not ripped.
C
But yeah, no, he's just got like an Elon Musk torso.
A
Mahomes has a beer gut. That crazy torso strength.
C
He's all torso.
A
But the Niners, it's funny, they signed Kendrick Bourne this week and I'm gonna have weird declaration. I think that's actually a very sneaky important signing because Kendrick Bourne before he had his sojourn in New England, that was worthless. Well, he made a lot of money. No one else did. But Kendrick Bourne was the Juwan Jennings before Juwan Jennings. Kendrick Bourne was the third down guy for those Niners teams that should have won the Super Bowls. And it's not nothing to just kind of pick up a receiver that just instantly knows Kyle's offense. I'm not saying that that's going to be a fantasy thing, but for real life it's kind of like Keenan Allen, the Chargers. I don't really give a shit if a 31 year old receiver signs at someone on August 26, but Keenan Allen signs with the team he played for and suddenly Keenan Allen has a great week one and he's useful. And I do think Kendrick Bourne has a chance to like this is a weird but in the third quarter if the Niners win this game, I kind of think, well maybe not this week, but I think Kendrick Bourne will actually be a sneaky important player on the Niners going forward.
C
Well, while you guys were.
A
Craig was like I don't give a about anything you're saying.
B
I've been hearing the Kendrick board thing for a long time. He's 30 years old. He's. He's a torn knee. Yeah, he doesn't move me. I do think Ricky Parisall's gonna be sick though.
C
Yeah, Mac is going to feed Ricky.
A
And no one, no one add. I saw one of my friends added Jake Tongs, the guy who had no catches Tonjas. I don't know And I was like, don't do that. He had George Kittles. He was like, I'll add Jake Tonjas.
B
I recently had my tanjis removed, actually. I don't think I can start him. Hey. Oh. You know, when Mac Jones was quarterback in Jacksonville last year, he quietly started eight games. Brian Thomas, wide receiver, three with Mac Jones was better with Mac Jones and Trevor Lawrence.
C
Mac Jones has a little bit of James to him. Like, I don't give a fuck. I'm going to throw it up there. You're down there somewhere kind of vibe.
A
Yeah.
C
So, yeah, I'm into this. While you guys were initially Talking about the 49ers, I was googling, did the 49ers build their stadium on a Native American burial ground? And the answer is technically no.
B
But it's all Native American burial grounds.
C
Kind of. That's. Yeah. Because, man, they are just freaking cursed. They're freaking cursed.
B
Yeah.
C
It took one game for Kittle and Purdy to get hurt.
B
I know, it's brutal.
C
CMC is the most healthy on the team.
A
They did something worse, which is they had back to back games at MetLife four years ago and the whole team never really got over it.
B
No. The worst thing they did was they decided to play in Santa Clara. That's the problem. That's what's cursed is they went to Santa Clara to be The San Francisco 49ers. Yeah. Which we will know. We're going to the super bowl this year. Which is in San Francisco. Santa Clara. Not that close.
A
Dude. That was like one of my favorite memes. We should do that at the end of the year. Not that close. One of my favorite memes was they announced the World Cup Final and they were like, it's in New York. And then people had the meme of David Beckham going to Victoria Bay. Where is it really? Like, it's in New Jersey.
C
This. That reminds me when I studied abroad in Costa Rica way back in the day in college, and I would tell people where I was from and everybody like literally every single time was like, oh, circa day New York. I'm like, no, it's not close to New York. It's like several thousand miles away from Santa Clara.
B
The state Levi's stadium is 42 miles from San Francisco.
A
That's. I will say everyone. I just say with the. Everyone gives the Meadowlands thing shit. Like, oh, it's not New York, it's Jersey. It's like, okay. It's like it's very close to New York. And they're like, Buffalo's New York. I'm like, buffalo is hours from New York City. I understand Buffalo's in New York State. Buffalo is fucking closer to, like, Indiana than New York City. Toronto, probably.
B
Yeah.
A
Yeah. Well, definitely. Okay. The other. So those are all the early games. The late games are. I'm going to give them as much attention as they deserve because there's three games. One's Eagles, Chiefs. The others are Broncos, Colts and Panthers. Cardinals. I mean, come on. Panthers, Cardinals. We don't have to give much time unless you guys have thoughts. It's like the Panthers look like ass. You can play Ted McMillan and Ch Al Hubbard again. Kyler Murray, play Marvin, play T.R. mcBride. That's it. The. Honestly kind of want to see the Cardinals stomp them. Kind of want to see the Panthers look out. Good. But the Panthers defense is going to be ass. And I. Yeah. You guys have anything to add?
B
I mean, you're playing James Connor. I don't know if you said him, but.
A
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. James Con. Sorry. Thank you. James Connor, you have to play because the Panthers run defense, I mean, terrible.
B
Travis etn. Just like 140 yards.
C
Oh, right.
A
Yeah. Yes. I. You have to play James Connor. James Connor could be a weak winner this week. That's like the Mario Kart rainbow strip. It's just the Panthers defense, Broncos, Colts, I think is more interesting. The Peyton Manning Bowl. I. I mean, I personally, I think Daniel Jones is going to get his ass beat. I think Daniel Jones is going to.
B
Just.
A
Maybe he'll have.
B
They're gonna beat him up.
A
Stay with the rushing. No, they're gonna kick the. Out of him like this dude's. I'm just. I really think the Broncos defense is gonna kick his teeth and. Am I inappropriate? Am I wrong?
B
No. Look, we. We can't get 20, 24 New Orleans Saints by this Colts performance last week.
A
Yeah, no, he's gonna get his ass beat. I'm telling you, man.
B
With that said, though, so, I mean, you're definitely. You're starting Jonathan Taylor, obviously. You're starting Tyler Warren. I would say, obviously, yes.
A
Oh, yeah. Tyler Warren at this point is just the top five tight end.
B
With how good Denver's cornerbacks are, are you playing any Colts wide receivers?
A
You can.
C
I think I would start Pittman.
A
Yeah, you can play Pittman. Like, you don't have to. It's Patrick's change the defensive player of the year.
C
Yeah, but Pittman. The thing about Pittman. And I will say this, and we talked about this a little bit in the Preseason where Pittman was a Glansburg, we weren't talking about him at all. But there was a thought for a long time for most of the preseason that Anthony Richardson was going to be the starter. And so therefore, you know, just the accuracy and the lack of cohesiveness was going to ruin Pittman. But with Daniel Jones playing this type of offense where it's a lot of RPOs, a lot of stuff over the middle, you know, crossing routes, where I don't know, it's going to be like, I think he's going to get open a lot. Even if it is a tough cornerback matchup. Just based on the way that some teams play defense, I think he's going to have a lot of opportunities in this offense. And it's like similar to a couple years ago. I can't remember what exactly his production was, but he had 85, 70, like 90 catches or whatever it was where it was just a lot of that stuff. It's the high, you know, high rely or what, whatever. It's like it's the easy variance, easy button stuff, high variant, like the low variance stuff. It's like not like deep down the sideline stuff.
B
Yeah.
C
So I'm kind of interested in Pittman for the rest of the year because of this offense, because of the quarterback and just because of the style of stuff that they're going to ask him.
A
To do, I think you can play. I don't want to like be watching the Colts and being like, oh my God, I need Daniel Jones to do something against this Denver offense, Denver defense right now. I will say though, also the flip side though is Bo Nicks also kind of played like last week. If Caleb Williams did what Bo Nicks did last week, we'd be like, oh my God, even harder on Caleb Williams.
C
Than we were he. So yeah, I was going to say Caleb took the heat. You know that meme where it's like the guy standing over someone and the all the knives are coming. Like Caleb Williams for Bo Nicks's week one performance. Obviously Bo Nicks has a whole season of playing pretty good, so that that helps. But Bo Nicks was 24, 25 of 40 for 176 yards, touchdown, two picks, 4.9 air yards for attempts.
B
It was not a good day.
C
He had 39% success rate which was 27th, literally dead last in PFF's passing grade. He had four turnover worthy plays which was tied for most of the NFL with TUA and Baker. It was a tough, tough game for both.
A
You know how Cam Ward had two fantasy points and was awful and got in a field goal range and ran backward. The Titans should have won that game because Bonix played so poorly. Like the Titans should have beaten Denver.
B
Which is hilarious on what felt like the 50 yard line seven different times. Titans and they just kept getting field goals.
A
So yeah, it's one of those week one. I don't think it's worth like lingering on it but it's. You would like to see the Broncos market improvement. I just would ignore that for now and then we'll see if it sticks. Sunday football is falcons Vikings. So JJ McCarthy first two starts are Monday night football and Sunday football and then yeah, we get to see McCarthy vs. Penix 2024 draft class. The less heralded guys I think are Pennix and McCarthy along with Bo Nixon. It's funny to see them match up Falcons. I think Vikings defense is viable just because Pennix I don't know. I feel like there's a lot of pick six potential here but I don't know. Craig, what do you make of the Vikings running back situation?
B
I think you honestly play both and I think what we we're learning is that Aaron Jones is starting to turn into more of the third down passing down kind of running back and that Jordan Mason is kind of the hammer who gets the first and second down carries. They last week Jordan Mason 16 touches. Aaron Jones had 11. But half of Aaron Jones's snaps were on passing plays and Jordan Mason looked like the better rusher. He had like 75 yards rushing. Looked pretty good. But I do Aaron Jones caught that touchdown though. That kind of saved his day. I probably lean Jordan Mason season long I think But I do think both these guys are like classic flexes. They're kind of in the Charbonnet Walker range where they're pretty close to a 5050 split. But I do think both of them are startable.
A
Classic flex is a good way to put it. I think Jordan Mason looked better but.
B
Aaron as a runner for sure catch.
A
More touchdowns or catch more passes. I mean I agree classic flex is a good way to put it.
B
This is kind of a weird Sunday night game. I was in the Eagles Chiefs.
A
Yeah, I think so. I think the really answer to that is that the NFL schedules those things the way they do it on purpose. So I think that they look at it as Sunday football.
B
Well now they're gonna gobble up the late games, right? Like they have shitty late games around Eagles Chiefs so that the can basically have a second Sunday night football.
A
I think they look at it like a, like, like a funnel, you know, it's like a marketing funnel. It's like, it's like you have this giant Eagles Chiefs game and they're like, we want to put. Everyone basically watches their teams at the early window. Everyone watches. Eagles Chiefs is going to be everywhere outside of these. You know, I mean, these are relatively small markets that, well, the Broncos is a huge one, but otherwise it's like Arizona, Carolina, like these are smaller markets. And then everyone. There's not Denver is going to have Eagles Chiefs. It basically it's like a second primetime window. And then they're like, oh, you're on your couch. Here's Sunday football. And they're kind of trying to see if it's almost like a second prime time. Speaking of second prime. Don't know. Prime time, though. Monday Night Football. There's two games.
B
Hate it.
C
This is the worst. They're not doing this anymore after this year, right?
B
No, they're not.
A
I don't think so. I, I Bucks Texans is they kick off.
B
Yeah. An hour and 20 minutes apart. These two games, which is like so stupid. I hate it.
A
No, it's not. It used to be that way, Craig. It's not. They're three hours apart. Bucks Texans is at 4 Pacific, 7 Eastern. Chargers Raiders is at 7 Pacific. It starts at 10 Eastern, 10 Eastern.
B
Charge.
A
So they used to do that.
C
Oh my God. It's gonna get over at 1 in the morning.
A
Do we. They used to start these games like an hour and a half apart and I think if the Monday night game was bad, they like didn't want you to turn it off. This I, I, I got to tell you, we haven't talked about this. I guys, I'm not doing this show after charging. I'm not doing we have, that's a real conversation. Like we have not talked about this. We should just starting. I'm not starting this podcast at 1:30 in the morning. Can you like just on Monday just.
B
What you should do is fly to California and then we'll record in person.
C
Yeah.
A
At a normal save time. Chargers rate. I think that's going to be the lowest rated game in eons for the NFL, dude. Which is too bad because it's really interesting. And also what if. Sorry, I know I'm cursing a lot. What a waste of Jim Harbaugh versus Pete Carroll, which is the NFL's most underrated hatred. It goes back like 40 years. Jim Harbaugh beat Pete Carroll when he was a quarterback. They Jim Hart tried recruiting Pete Carroll's son in college. They hated each other. In college. They had the NFC west battles. These guys hate each other. And what a waste to put it at 10 o' clock at night in East Coast.
C
In Pete Carroll's defense, Jim Harbaugh is.
A
A fucking huge weirdo, psychopath, absolute crazy person. Like, I think nuts.
C
I understand the rivalry and everything. Like, Jim Carroll's just object or. Sorry. Jim Harbaugh is just objectively like a.
B
Weird guy, but awesome.
A
Yeah, he's the best kind.
C
Carol. Carol was asked about him today and he goes, I remember Jim. I think he was just asked about, like, the memories and, and the fondness or whatever of going way back. He's like, no, not the.
B
Yeah.
C
He goes, I remember Jim. I have no fond memories. Yeah, I have no fond memories.
A
Get out.
C
They, like, actually hate each other.
A
Dude. I actually.
C
This goes back to the famous thing was back in the day when Pete Carroll was at usc, they were playing Stanford, and I could. I don't remember the exact details, but Stanford, like ran the. Ran the score up late in the game and like, I. I don't. I can't remember exactly what happened.
A
It was Andrew Locker. I think they went like 55 to 20.
C
Yeah. And they like went for it on fourth down late in the game or something like that to get more points. And Pete Carroll, like, at the, at midfield just goes, what's your deal? When they shook.
A
What's your deal?
C
Which I think is a fair question. Just overall, big picture, it was 48 to 2.
A
I'm looking. Pull it up right now.
B
What is your.
A
At 21. And Harbaugh went for 221.
C
What's your deal?
A
And he said, what's your deal? And the answer was. He's like, I wanted 50. Harbaugh actually did.
C
He didn't answer. He didn't say anything back.
A
I don't think it's. This is not proved, but the rumor is. Harbaugh said, they're like, why'd you go for two? And he said, because I couldn't go for three.
C
Yeah.
A
Which is.
C
Which is a bar. I like that. And I don't have anyone wrote a.
A
Reddit post that was like, in incredible. That recapped all this. That was better than any articles I could find. That actually was an incredible.
C
To be clear, I. I do not have. I do not have anything against people running up the score. I just think it's a funny question to ask someone. What's your deal?
A
What's your deal?
C
What's your deal? What's your Deal.
A
They hate each other anyway.
C
What's up with you?
A
It's a Travis dk. How old is your son?
C
Six.
A
What time is his bedtime?
C
Like eight.
A
Okay, this game for if you were in eastern essential time, which is not to rehash this, but that's 80% of America. I'm just saying it's very silly to have. I just think this is a bad idea of the NFL. You have the Raiders are potentially like a new team. You have Ashton Genties on the Raiders. You have Brock Bowers, you've Geno Smith, you have Pete Carroll. The charges with Herbert. You're trying to make a star. Literally 80% of the country of the population of America children will be in bed before this be game begins, which is stupid. That's a dumb use of charges. Raiders. That should. That's a total waste of a game in my opinion.
C
You're not going to find anyone that's going to disagree with you on that.
A
No one. So wait, this is also a funny cap to our whole time thing is on Monday I want to know how you guys feel about a football game at 7 o'. Clock. Was the last time you got that?
B
Terrible.
A
It's like Pac 12 after dark.
C
Yeah, it's weird. No, I don't record during this game.
B
I don't want it. I don't need two of them. It's just nobody wants it. The other game is Bucks Texans, which I gotta say I think the Texans are like the, the best team that literally no one cares about or talks about in the NFL. Yeah, the Texans have like a good roster, a good quarterback. They make the playoffs every year. Nobody gives a shit about the Texans. And I actually think this game, everyone's going to be on the Bucks in this game. And I think because the Bucks are very likable. They won last week. They had Baker Mayfield and Mecca Buca. Whole thing. I think this is quietly a get right spot for Houston.
C
Interesting.
B
Maybe I'm dumb but I think look, the Bucks were going to lose to the Falcons last week. I mean they probably should have. Young way Ku missed a really easy kick. Baker Mayfield had 167 yards pass passing on the day. He had 140 before that last second touchdown to to Abuka. And I'm like they were not going to beat the Falcons who are not a good defensive team. And now they're going up against Houston in Houston. The Bucks had 17 points against the Falcons for 99% of this game. And I think part of the reason why the Texans probably struggled to beat the Rams last week is because their offensive coordinator, Nick Kaley, was on the Rams the year before that. And so I just think that even though the offensive line for Houston is terrible, I don't know. I think Houston has a lot of talent and I'm not ready to just like, call them a shitty offense.
C
The Buccaneers.
A
Okay, go for TK Well, I was.
C
Just going to say the Buccaneers were one of the lowest pressure rates of any team last week.
B
The Bucs did not put up any yards last week. Again, big Mayfield had 167 yards.
A
I. I think the Texans offensive line is so bad that the Bucks pressure rate will be fixed very quickly. My counterpoint is basically everything you said is right, Craig. And also I think we'll learn this week. We're not learn. It's still week two. It's hard to be definitive, but I think we will get evidence whether the Texans offensive line is possible enough that the rest of their team's good enough to win. Where it's like, can the Texans win? Basically being like a. They're not going to be able to run. Nick Chubb on that line's a mess. Stroud's gonna have to throw him out of all these bad situations while the defense is really good and can clean it up. Or if the Texans offensive lines like a total Achilles heel that's going to ruin an otherwise incredibly talented team. The Texans. Look, there's three or four teams to me in the entire league that have an above average defensive line and an above average secondary. The Texans are one of them. And if it's wasted because their offensive lines trash, I think we'll learn that this week. I kind of think the Bucks are going to win. The Texans are going to start oh and two. And funnily enough, the Texans will be in last place in the AFC south at the end of the week. Like if the Titans beat the Rams or whatever. I think that would be really funny. If the Texans are actually 0 and 2 and just at the like, behind the Colts, behind the Jags, behind everyone.
B
It's just tough. Cause I feel, I think the smart zag is to take Houston in this game. However the Bucks are.
A
It's smart. No, it's a good case.
B
Buck Baker late game is like so exciting and clutch and fun, the whole thing. But I'm kind of like, man, Texans are favored by 2 1/2 points in this game. I don't know if people would have assumed that.
A
It's weird. I know. You're right. It's funny. It's funny. The Texans are it's frankly, among other things, they'll probably be a really good experiment in how far can you go in the modern NFL if you can't really run. We'll see.
C
Like, they're going to say that the offense is up there with the most sad offenses to watch for some reason. Like I and I love CJ Stroud, but it's just like this is a gross offense.
A
Everything looks hard going back to last.
C
Year and obviously week one was no different. He was Stroud was pressured on 41 of his drop back, sacked three times, hit seven times. The offensive line is a massive issue. And then they lost their center in this in the first game, Jake Andrews. And so now they're going to have a backup there. Ah, I don't know. It's tough. I I like where you're I like where your head's at though. Craig. I think like if I think it's interesting from the point of view that the Bucks were not nearly as good as it seemed like they were in Week one and I'm guessing the Texans weren't near are nearly as bad as it seemed like they were in Week.
B
One against I honestly when I saw that they were favored by two and a half, I'm like, wow, they're favored by two and a half points against the Bucks. Bucks are good. And then I tried to figure out why that was the case.
A
Today's Ringer 107 is brought to you by FanDuel. So Ringer 107 ring 107 is competition we're doing against other pods here at the Ringer. Compete against Bill Keeping against House, Sal to Bundo, Raheem, JJ compete against all these other shield these all these other ringer people. They all said that we would come in last place, so fuck them and we're going to try to kick their ass. We have we're going to pick five games right now. Craig, do you have any games you want to just earmark of everything we talked about that you want to bet on for rear what is that?
B
I like Seattle plus three points against the Steelers. I like the Philly minus a point and a half versus the Chiefs and I like Dallas minus four and a half versus the Giants.
A
Yeah, yeah, I can't really argue any of those.
C
I think the Dallas one makes sense. I'm willing to do the Seahawks one even though like in my heart I'm scared of that game. I think just having them cover the three points, I'm down to do that.
A
I I like other ones I. I think those three work for me.
C
I had the Broncos minus two and.
A
A half against the 100% the Broncos. I think. I kind of think they're going to rock the Colts.
B
We got.
C
We got like absolutely embarrassed by the Colts last week when we picked the Dolphins. So let's go.
B
And we took the Broncos to beat the Titans by more than eight and a half, and they didn't.
A
Should we pick the Patriots?
C
Stay away from them then.
A
Should we pick the Patriots? Getting a point in half over the Dolphins. Give the Dolphins the chance to beat us twice in two weeks. Dolphins just look totally fine. Beat New England. We look stupid. I kind of just want to bet on Mike Vrabel. Over Mike. Over Mike McDaniel. I'm like, Mike McDaniel is going to be the first coach fired. Mike McDaniel if he loses his game is so fucked. And I just. You don't really get that chance very much for. And I know it's early in Mike V's tenure, maybe the coaching isn't necessarily going to make a huge difference, but I'm like, man, this is, I think right now like one of the best coaches in the NFL versus one of the worst. And I kind of just want to trust that New England to win the game.
C
And you're talking about New England in Miami.
A
Yeah.
C
But Brady was like, brady couldn't fucking do it.
A
But can I tell you something?
B
Yeah.
A
None of the Patriots who played with Tom Brady are left. Literally. There's not one. Mike Frank's the only one left.
C
Theseus Ship or Thesis? Ship. You know, that's.
A
There's no planks left from the ship. There's zero planks left from the ship.
C
Ship of Thesis or is it Theseus?
B
Theseus?
A
No, Theseus.
C
Theseus.
B
I don't like that. But if you. If you want it, that's fine.
A
No, I don't. No, I don't want to. I'm not. I'm not talking anyone into a Drake May having won one game.
C
Which ones? Okay, real quick, which ones are we together on?
A
So we're locking in Seattle plus three over Pittsburgh. So. And again, this is Seattle to win by three points or more versus Pittsburgh. No, no, no.
B
Seattle. No, no. Seattle can lose by two.
A
Yeah, you're right.
B
Or less.
A
Yeah, sorry. So the Eagles are favored by one and a half points versus Kansas City. We're taking that. Dallas favored by four and a half points for the Giants. I like that. Against Dallas is 15 and one. Last 16 games, Broncos favor by two and a half. I think we lock those in. And I also want Seattle getting three points. I think those are great.
C
Do you want to get the 49ers?
B
They're laying. They're. They're three point favorites against the Saints.
A
Yeah. Yeah.
B
Should we just.
C
It sure felt like we were going in that direction earlier.
B
Should we just bet the Lions to beat the Bears by a touchdown or no.
A
Yeah, they're probably going to destroy them, I think. What if the lines just atomize Chicago?
B
I don't know. They're going to blitz the out of Caleb Williams.
C
Well, here's what we could do.
A
Last week was horrific, horrible.
C
We did this last week, Craig, where we did moneyline parlay and so we could take Detroit, which we hit last. We hit that. Yeah, we could take Detroit on the money line and you could pair it with the Cardinals money line.
A
Probably.
C
Let's see.
A
Hold on.
B
Actually, no, you probably should.
A
We just. Is it.
B
The Ravens are not losing. The Ravens are not going 02 at home against the Browns. Right. Right.
C
Yeah, but that doesn't. That's too.
A
Just weird qualifications here and what we're.
B
Too much juice. Yeah. Right.
A
Part of me is like, should we just double down on our own bets and just. No, that's dumb.
B
I, I Do you guys feel strongly that like the Rams -5 and a half against Tennessee.
A
Yeah, let's just do that. Sean MC Favorites, a rookie quarterback. If they lose, it's fun for content.
B
Should we do that?
A
Yeah, I. I think the I. It'd be interesting to me if the Titans won that game, but man, the Rams should win by a touchdown like they should. All right, well, this is.
B
It's settled.
A
All right.
C
It so recap real quick. Sorry.
B
We're doing Seahawks plus three against a Steelers. Eagles minus one and a half against the Chiefs. Cowboys minus four and a half against the Giants. Broncos minus two and a half against the Colts. And the Rams minus five and a half against the Titans.
A
Yeah, it. Let's ride.
B
All right, that'll do it.
A
Today's Ringer 107 was brought to you by FanDuel Odds. Subject to change. I think that's all we got. It's all she. I wanted to thank everyone. I'll just say, yeah, thank you everyone else for riding with the show. Even though I'm at this bachelor party in Michigan and I wanted what we were talking in the beginning, I wanted to just say, like emails for your fantasy football. Gmail.com. like, I don't want classic bachelor party stories. But just like you said at the beginning, how like Every bachelor party fridge looks the same. You know what I mean? Like every. I don't know. They're all the same.
B
So you just want ridiculous stories?
A
I kind of. Yeah, I guess that is what I want. Yeah.
B
What do I want to know? What's the most inventive way you guys had a crazy night? Like what? Yeah.
A
Yeah. I want creative things. You would suggest other bachelor parties. Bachelor party advice, both basics. Like, here's some pro moves. The guy who brings a box of liquid IVs is a fucking legend. But also like, creative ideas. My friend. We had a bachelor party in Denver for a friend. My friend, Shout Out Kyle. And we, the Airbnb had a shuffleboard table. And this is beautiful. Perfect weather in Denver. It was like 75, sunny every day. And we are in this like windowless basement with concrete walls playing shuffleboard for four hours.
B
Boy, dudes are the best.
A
And Jackie texts me and is like, what are you doing? And I'm like, well, we're at a strip club. I literally was like, she was.
C
You wanted to sound cool.
A
We're playing shuffleboard. It's three in the afternoon. We haven't left. Anyway, yeah, it's.
B
We're six hours into a game of shuffleboard in a dungeon. Intense.
C
We've been playing that little game where you. You flick the. The triangle through the.
B
Oh, paper football. That's the best.
A
Oh, yeah, yeah. All right. Yeah. Emil's are in fantasy football. Other. Yeah, 100. Bachelor 101. And then also fun. Yeah. That it. Not fun. You know what I'm saying? Creative.
B
No, inventive.
A
We were gonna, we were gonna have a friend. What we were gonna do for a friend, Kyle, the only day it rained was we were gonna have everyone bring suits. And we like, we thought it was gonna take to a really nice restaurant. And then we were gonna show up and have him skydive in the suit. And then we were gonna go to Olive Garden. We were actually. That was the idea.
B
It's good you don't do Olive Garden before.
A
That's kind of what we thought.
C
You don't want like bottomless breadsticks or.
A
Yeah.
B
Is he. Is he like chill enough where he'd be like, oh, haha, I guess we're skydiving. Okay. Or is he. Would he freak out once he got there with somebody's down to skydive? Like, you can't really drop that on someone.
A
We thought, no, I wanted to do it, but it rained though. It rained. It was like lightning and it was like a 90 minute drive and we were like, it seems like we're going to get there and they're going to cancel it, which would imagine.
B
I'm sure you obviously can't do this, but imagine how crazy it be is if you could skydive where you fly above the clouds like it's raining and you. And you fly above the cloud. Oh, and then you're in the rain, you jump out of the plane and it's sunny and then you go through the cloud and then it's raining. That'd be nice.
A
It's like Zelda. They just do that, you know, just play Zelda.
B
That doesn't. Doesn't click for me.
A
Craig has no idea what that means. It's all right. Anyone?
B
I know, I know. Zelda. I know. I remember that game. I never played it.
A
Tears of the Kingdom, baby. Good stuff. All right, let's get the fuck out of here. Thank you, dk. Thank you, Craig. Thank you, Ronick. Thank you, Carlos. Thank you, Kai. Thank you, Austin. Thank you everyone for listening our rankings fantasy football.the ringer.com for rankings week two. We'll update those on Sunday morning as well, with injuries and stuff. And. Yeah, Instagram, Ringer, Fantasy Football, tick tock, everything. Thank you, Lord.
B
Lord.
C
Thank you.
B
Hunt tricks. Oh, hunt tricks.
C
This is a K Pop Demon Hunter.
B
Oh, yeah. Demon Hunter. Yeah.
A
Let me tell you something. K Pop Demon Hunters. Watch it. Don't learn anything about it. Don't turn it off when you do learn what it is and then watch it. I gotta tell you had a great time.
C
It's a banger.
B
It's the most watched film in the history of Netflix.
A
K Pop Demon Hunters is. Is. It's a vibe.
C
The music is actually pretty catchy.
B
It's funny because this band is famous now and they're not a real. They're a fake band.
A
All these memes are like, of guys. I don't want to watch K Pop Demon Artists. And it's like 90 minutes later and it's like, oh, my God. It's the. Yeah, it's. It's honestly the soundtrack to my head now.
B
Very popular, very popular.
A
Who's your favorite of the three?
B
I didn't watch it.
A
Dk.
C
I haven't seen it.
A
I'm the only one who's seen it. Yeah. Shout out Hunters. It's great. Everyone should watch Demon Hunters.
B
I don't plan on.
A
Turn it off when you see what it is.
B
I mean, I. I know what it is. I know what it is.
A
Yeah.
C
But it reminds me of Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter.
A
It's kind of like that. Yeah, it's kind of like, what if Taylor Swift was like the. The difference between demon hunter, human hunting demon.
C
Yeah.
A
What if Taylor Swift kept the world safe from another realm of zombies? It's kind of like, what?
C
I mean, how do we know she doesn't at this point?
A
I don't know.
B
She does. With her lyrics.
C
You can't prove she doesn't.
A
It's true.
B
Dk, honestly, maybe your son would like it. Watch it with him.
C
I know I'm going to have to. Calvin is not into movies yet. He just wants to watch shows. Every time we try to put on.
B
A movie, he's just like, throw on our pod on YouTube. See if he kind of locks.
C
Locks in. Yeah. He knows you guys, though. Whenever he sees you guys on the screen, he's like, oh, yeah.
A
We never told Craig. So we were in la and Calvin was there, but I saw way more Calvin because we were at the hotel. Craig lives in la.
C
I forgot to.
A
Calvin called me Craig the entire time.
B
I literally.
C
It's. This is so classic Calvin because we, like. He gets it into his head what someone's name is, and then he will not get off of it. It's like, it happens in many other instances where I'm like, that's not your friend's name. You need to, like, focus. Her name is such and such. Like, stop calling her that. Like, you know, he does this all the time. He just, like, locks into a name. But he called Heifetz. We went to the Natural History Museum. We were there. We were together for, like, four hours. And he called if it's Craig, like, a hundred times, which didn't bother me.
A
But it was funny to realize that we didn't tell Craig that. But, yeah, like, Craig, Craig.
C
Come on, Craig.
B
Craig leaned in and then. I can be Heifettes now forever.
A
I did. I just was like, yeah, well, you got. You and you. You guys were trying to fix it. And it was like.
C
Skippy and I were like, his name is. His name is Danny. It's. You got to get it. You got to think. You got to focus. It's. His name is Danny.
A
It was very fun, but I kept feeding him what lines and be like, Craig told me that. That. That was kind of.
C
You know, what you should do is.
B
You should have act. Acted like a complete. And then. Then Calvin would forever know that Craig was an.
C
Yeah.
A
I mean, what else is new?
C
Yeah, people named Craig generally are.
B
Is that right? Is that right, Craig Robinson? No.
C
I don't know. I just Made that up.
B
Who else? Craig. Who else is named Craig?
A
Craig Sager. Rip Sager.
B
Oh, yeah.
A
All right.
B
Craig Kilborn. Craig Robinson.
A
I'm out. Actually, this is a great question. How many Craigs does Craig need to dethrone to be on the Mount Rushmore of American Craigs? Way closer than DK and I. How many Craigs?
B
Oh, my God. Yeah.
C
Who's the guy that made Craigslist? Craig. Craig Newmark.
B
Craig T. Nelson. The actor.
C
I know him.
A
Yeah.
B
Yeah, he's Mr. Incredible. Oh, we're not counting.
A
You could pass him.
C
Craig Ferguson is kind of a legend.
A
The Scottish Daniel Craig doesn't count.
B
No, no, it's gotta be first name. Craig Ferguson was a famous talk show host for a while.
C
That's who I was trying to think of.
A
Yeah, you could surpass Craig Ferguson. That's realistic.
B
Craig Ferguson was big.
C
Oh, he's famous.
A
He's also Scottish. So we could just say American Craigs.
B
That's true. You know, there's actually not a lot. It's like Craig T. Nelson, Craig Robinson and Craig. Oh, my God.
A
End of our show's run. We could make you a top five, Craig. I think that's real. That's a pot. That's, like, within our range of outcomes.
B
That's what my parents wanted when they. When they named me. They're like, we hope he'll be a top five Craig one day.
A
That's what.
B
That's why they picked it. They were like, he has a shot. We can't name him John. He's got no shot.
A
No. No shot.
B
No fucking shot. John is stacked. Which name is the most stacked? John.
A
Definitely John.
C
John Smith.
B
John's big.
A
John's big in America. I think it's got to be John.
B
Yeah. Bob. Bill. Bob. Bill is pretty tough.
A
Bill is. There's a lot of Bills. Bill Crosky, Merritt. I mean, trying to beat that.
B
That's. I mean, that's hard enough. Then Bill Gates, Bill Simmons, Bill Withers. List goes on and on. Keep naming Bills. How many famous we go before we have to stop?
C
Bill Skarsgard.
B
Yep.
A
Bill, that sentence. Score. No one's ever said Bill Crosby, mayor at Bill Gates, Bill Simmons, Bill Skarsgard in a row. No one's ever done that.
B
Keep going. How many Bills can we get to? I said Bill Crosby, Bill James, Bill Nye.
A
Bill Nye.
C
Science guy.
A
Bill Nyes. Bill Nye's on the list. Bill James invented sports analytics.
B
Billy Bob, so he kind of ruined sports.
A
Billy Bob Thornton. Bill, who was the guy in the Redneck Comedy Tour.
C
Bill Cartwright.
B
Oh, yeah. Is it was his name you're talking about like the Larry the Cable Guy?
A
Larry the Cable Guy. Ron White and Bill. Oh, was it Bill something?
B
Bill I can.
A
Bill.
B
Oh, damn it.
A
Bill something. I don't want to Google it. It.
B
Oh, have we run out of bills?
C
No, no, there's.
A
Was there. President.
B
Well, there's William Taft. Does he count?
A
Oh, Bill Clinton. We should.
B
Oh, Bill Clinton.
C
We forgot Bill Clinton.
A
Christ. Got that earlier. Jeez. Bill.
B
Bill. Bill Brasky from sa. I'm Bill hater. All right. Bill Hader. Oh, Bill Hader.
A
Not the first Bill from snl. Oh, my God. Bill Crosky merits number one, though.
B
Yeah.
A
Okay. Are we getting out of here? Are we doing more bills?
B
No, no, that's good.
A
Did I say thank you already?
B
Yeah.
A
Oh, you thank Hunt tricks, right? Yeah, we got it. Okay, so I just end the show now?
B
Yeah. Say goodbye.
A
Okay. Goodbye, everyone. Oh, my God. Okay, now. Goodbye, everyone. Must be 21 plus and present in select states or 18 plus and present in DC, Kentucky or Wyoming. Opt in must apply profit boost token on select market Prize pool to be split equally among all eligible participants who made the correct first or last TD pick bonus issued as non withdrawable bonus bets which expired 21 days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms@sportsbook.fanduel.com gambling problem. Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit rg-help.com call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org@/chat in Connecticut. Trip planner by Expedia. You were made to outdo your holiday, your hammocking and your pooling. We were made to help organize the competition. Expedia made to travel.
Date: September 12, 2025
Hosts: Danny Heifetz, Danny Kelly, Craig Horlbeck
This episode offers a deep-dive Week 2 preview for the 2025 NFL season, focusing on key matchups, fantasy implications, and start-sit advice. The guys tackle everything from coaching narratives (the Ben Johnson revenge game) to “must-win” 0-1 team panic and under-the-radar fantasy decisions. Their lively banter, complete with tangents and memorable quotes, gives listeners practical advice, big-picture takes, and plenty of laughs.
“I saw all of that, that I had zero separation, that I was a decoy. None of those things are true… I’m not hurt. I was not a decoy. It was just how the game went.”
The hosts maintain their signature irreverence, sharp football insight, and a conversational tone that veers into playful tangents (e.g., ranking famous “Craigs” and “Bills,” K-Pop Demon Hunters, bachelor party fridge analysis). Hot takes and contrarian views abound, but the actionable advice remains clear and accessible.
For full positional rankings, visit: fantasyfootball.theringer.com
For emails/advice: ringerfantasyfootball@gmail.com
Hosts’ closing advice: Ride the zig-zag for week 2, trust “boring” proven talents, and embrace some chaos!