- 2 days ago
The K&C Masterpiece debated whether opening with a divisional opponent is the right move for the Cowboys, if Chicago’s "murderer’s row" season finale makes them a lock to miss the playoffs, and more in this edition of NFL Schedule Overreaction or Reality.
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00:00Overreaction to reality, you like the Cowboys opening the season with a divisional opponent.
00:09I kind of don't.
00:12Oh.
00:13Yeah, I kind of want to get your feet wet a little bit, kind of warm into the season,
00:18and then take on some divisional opponents.
00:20But I guess the positive is, we kind of saw it last year,
00:24they don't know what you're capable of and you don't know what they're capable of,
00:28and we almost beat Philly last year.
00:30Right.
00:31We almost stole a game from a division opponent by them not being prepared for what we were doing.
00:36And so that's kind of where I'm a little shaky on it,
00:39because the Giants could try and steal one from you.
00:41Whether or not they're good enough yet, that's a different story.
00:44Sure.
00:44Whether the Cowboys' defense is good enough yet is another different story.
00:47So I don't love it that much.
00:49Plus, I really always like playing uncommon opponents.
00:52I think it's fun.
00:53It feels more like a wild Super Bowl kind of game.
00:57But I understand rivalries are important, and people really love it.
01:02Alec, overreaction or reality?
01:04You like the Cowboys starting the season with a divisional opponent.
01:08Reality for two reasons.
01:10One, you set the tone early.
01:11You put the division on notice if you can get a win that, hey, we mean business this year.
01:17And I liked it, especially like last year.
01:20It just adds another layer of intrigue when you already had a new coaching staff coming in.
01:24And it was like, what's this offense going to look like?
01:26This year, it's what is this defense going to look like?
01:29If they get Jackson Dart to turn the ball over two times and you win by two scores, then you're
01:35like, oh my gosh, that was incredible.
01:38What is to come?
01:39And then there's just part of me that's conditioned from high school football, where whenever you cover these games and
01:45broadcast these games, they usually start with a run of uncommon opponents.
01:51And if they only win by three or they lose a game, the coaching staff will literally tell you they're
01:56not in our division.
01:58It doesn't matter.
01:59They're like, this game does not count.
02:01They're not in our district.
02:02It doesn't matter.
02:03We don't care.
02:04On to next week.
02:05And then that one doesn't matter either.
02:06So I'm just conditioned, thanks to high school football, to any non-division games in the NFL, just kind of
02:13being like, I want to win, but they don't mean as much to me.
02:16So I guess.
02:17I did like hearing what Dak said about the start of the schedule.
02:22And Kevin, I don't know if you have any other Cowboys start of the schedule stuff, but we kind of
02:26said it Friday.
02:27And Dak kind of reiterated the same thing.
02:29And that is, we need to get out to a hot start real quick.
02:32Agreed.
02:32And set that tone very early.
02:34And I like what Alex said in there about, you know, doing it against a division opponent.
02:38But the way this schedule is structured, you're going to be tired late in middle.
02:43And so you need to go ahead and have some padding to go forward.
02:47NFL schedule over reaction or reality.
02:50The Bears will miss the postseason.
02:53Now hear me out on this one.
02:55The Bears have the hardest schedule in the NFL based on the 2025 win-loss records.
03:01Now that doesn't always translate, but the last team to win a playoff game after going into the season with
03:08the hardest schedule by that metric was 10 years ago.
03:12In the past 10 seasons, seven of those teams didn't even make the playoffs.
03:17So overreaction or reality, the Bears will miss the postseason.
03:23All right, so I just wanted to look at, not the beginning, because they do have the Jets and the
03:27Dolphins on their schedule.
03:30Win.
03:30But, I mean, they have, obviously, their division's tough.
03:33That is a very tough division with Detroit and Green Bay and Minnesota in that division.
03:39But I didn't want to look at the beginning.
03:40I wanted to look after bye week for the Bears.
03:42Okay.
03:43Their bye week, Kevin, they got the bye week you wanted.
03:4610.
03:47And after that, New Orleans.
03:49Tough team, actually.
03:50You think you should beat New Orleans, and you probably should, but I don't think you walk away from that
03:54game feeling healthy.
03:56And the development of, who knows, the development of Tyler Shuck.
03:59Yeah.
03:59It's just the physicality they play with is kind of tough on teams.
04:03Then you got in Detroit, you're still not sure about Jacksonville.
04:06Okay, cupcake against Miami.
04:09Thanks.
04:10Maybe.
04:11I'm pretty sure about Jacksonville now.
04:12But then you're at Buffalo, and then you have Green Bay, Detroit, Minnesota to finish your season.
04:17That's a tough end to your season.
04:21You could be going into the playoffs, A, limping a little bit, but also physically limping.
04:27And so I see that.
04:28Yeah, this is going to be a tough one for them.
04:30Ben Johnson seems competitive, though, Kevin.
04:32I think Ben Johnson will have those guys' brains all wired for, let's be tougher than everybody.
04:39Gee, I have to rethink it when I tell you that Eric Armstead says that Trevor Lawrence 100% belongs
04:45in the elite quarterback conversation.
04:48So now that you know that they're facing an elite quarterback.
04:51I mean, Eric Armstead, you know what I'm saying?
04:56Alec, overreaction or reality?
04:59The Bears will miss the postseason.
05:03I felt like this was an easy overreaction until I pulled up their schedule, and then I saw exactly what
05:09Corey was talking about.
05:10That murderer's row to end the season.
05:13And that's an absurd stretch that, like you said, Majors, if you're limping, if you're beat up at all, which
05:20I do think they got better this offseason, even though they did subtract, in a sense, with DJ Moore.
05:26However, I'll go reality on this just because, I don't know, I feel like Detroit's window is closing, but they're
05:34good enough still.
05:37This is just a weird division now.
05:40It's incredibly weird because I still, I'm eh on the Packers just because I don't know if they're going to
05:46be healthy.
05:46Their frontline talent, incredible.
05:48But, Micah Parsons is probably going to start the year on Pup, and it feels like if one receiver for
05:55the Packers goes down, then they have none.
05:57So, yeah, this is just such an odd division to where I think that last four games or so could
06:03really do them in.
06:05This one I think should be fun.
06:08NFL overreaction or reality.
06:10The Cardinals will have, at most, one win by Thanksgiving.
06:16At most, consider this.
06:20The Cardinals went 3-14 last season, and they are the only team that has been installed as an underdog
06:28in every single one of their games this season per DraftKings.
06:35Factor in that they don't really know what they want to do at quarterback, and I say overreaction or reality.
06:43At best, they will have one win by Thanksgiving.
06:48Have you looked at their schedule?
06:49Yes.
06:50There's a whole lot of losses on there.
06:53Tell me when you hear a win.
06:55I don't know.
06:56At the Chargers.
06:57No.
06:59At home against Seattle.
07:00No.
07:01At San Francisco.
07:03Mm-mm.
07:03At New York.
07:04That might be the best chance so far.
07:06Home against Detroit.
07:08At Los Angeles Rams.
07:11Mm-mm.
07:12Home against Denver.
07:13That might be it right there.
07:14Yeah.
07:14Denver.
07:15Tough team.
07:16Oh, in your face, Jago.
07:17At Dallas.
07:19You guys, y'all don't believe.
07:21We're going to win that game by two touchdowns.
07:23I don't know, man.
07:24I'm just terrified.
07:25Listen, Carson backstarts.
07:26Yeah.
07:27I'm going through the schedule.
07:29I don't.
07:29The Jets.
07:31Yeah.
07:32Week 15.
07:32Week 15 off a bye.
07:34And then week 17 against the Raiders.
07:37So both those games are home games.
07:38So you said at most one.
07:40By Thanksgiving.
07:42Oh.
07:43Yeah, no.
07:44I'm taking the under.
07:45That's a reality.
07:47Alec, overreaction reality.
07:49The Cardinals will at most have one win before Thanksgiving.
07:54So that would be through the first 11 weeks.
07:56That was a tough schedule, too, for a team that wasn't good last year.
07:59I know.
08:00This is an easy reality.
08:01I'll take it a step further, Kevin.
08:03I think they might accidentally win one game this season.
08:06Not even intentionally.
08:08I think they might accidentally beat the Raiders or the Jets.
08:12And somehow it screws them out of getting the number one overall pick.
08:14Exactly.
08:15Exactly.
08:16Man.
08:17You're like, that's just their luck.
08:19Can you?
08:19I just, like, I'm not saying that it would happen.
08:23Would you be?
08:25Okay, bonus question.
08:26Rick bonus.
08:27Damn it.
08:29And their bye is before this.
08:31You would be super amped to watch the Cardinals-Jets if they had zero wins combined going into that game.
08:39Yes.
08:40I would, too.
08:42Yeah.
08:42I would be like, I cannot wait.
08:45I cannot wait to see who gets the number one overall pick.
08:48Over-under would be, like, 11 and a half.
08:50Yeah.
08:51You know what, though?
08:51The Jets would end up screwing up.
08:53They would lose that game.
08:55Yeah.
08:55And then they would end up winning a game at the very end of the season.
08:58You'd be like, what?
08:59What happened, dude?
09:01Yeah.
09:01And they'd be like, well, the other team obviously took out all their best players.
09:05That's like, what happened to the Mavs with the Bulls?
09:08Schedule overreaction or reality.
09:10The NFL really screwed the Cowboys with the scheduling of their international game and in the aftermath.
09:17Now, I'm going to ignore the teams, but the Brazil, quote, home game is in week three.
09:22Then you get a road game in week four, even if it is just a Houston, and then it's followed
09:27by a Thursday game.
09:29So their reward for Brazil and an international game was a road game followed by a short week.
09:38Like, um, yeah, yes, yes.
09:45And that's why, again, New York and Washington are as important as Alec was saying, right?
09:51Because those two games right there, you give yourself that kind of comfort.
09:56They've experienced these short weeks, you know, with the Super Bowl.
10:00So there are a few guys that know how to handle this.
10:02It is early, so a Caleb Downs is really going to need to tap into those dudes very early and
10:06be like, hey, how do I manage my body and things like that?
10:10Like, those dudes are going to have to learn very quickly.
10:13And a lot of these, this defense has never experienced this, you know, the way the Cowboys have experienced it.
10:18So, um, yeah, that's a disservice.
10:20That's a bit of a disservice, I would say, for sure.
10:23Um, that early in the season, especially with some of the opponents you're going up against in that area.
10:27You said, I'm not going to name the opponents, but the schedule itself.
10:30Yeah.
10:31Having to do that twice in a year isn't your favorite thing.
10:33Exactly.
10:33Especially when you're bi-week so far away.
10:35Exactly.
10:36Alec, overreaction to reality.
10:38The NFL really screwed the Cowboys with the scheduling of their international game and in the aftermath.
10:44Reality, because even on schedule release day, when we were kind of trying to piece it together,
10:50everybody locally and nationally was kind of trying to put two and two together.
10:54Like, okay, so you got to have a home game or maybe they get a super early buy or something
10:58right after the Brazil game.
11:00And you didn't get any of that.
11:02You're just on the road.
11:03It feels like a billion times to start the year.
11:05Kind of like we were talking about on Friday with the Buffalo Bills, how they just can't get consecutive home
11:11games for whatever reason.
11:13Yeah, I feel like in that early part of the season, they were really trying to milk the national attention
11:20from the Cowboys.
11:22And that kind of screwed the team over in that sense with the international game on top of the fact
11:27of,
11:27hey, you're playing some pretty decent teams as well with some primetime slots.
11:31So they did get screwed over.
11:33And I really, I'm not a fan of the beginning of the schedule whatsoever.
11:37Overreaction or reality, playing inside will get the Lions back to the playoffs.
11:42Keep this in mind.
11:43From weeks five through 16, the Lions play just twice outdoors.
11:49One of them is in Miami.
11:50Oh, nice.
11:51The other one is in Germany.
11:53Cool.
11:55So overreaction reality, playing inside will get the Lions back to the playoffs.
12:00Yeah, that's a positive thing for them late in the season to make something like that happen.
12:06I have concerns about the Lions this year.
12:10Like, when you've been that close that many times, look at the Stars.
12:14Yeah.
12:14And then you kind of dip off a little bit.
12:16Maybe don't make the playoffs.
12:17I was like, what's the motivating factor?
12:21And now, also losing Montgomery, Jameer Gibbs, he will have more workload.
12:26That's going to be a real thing for him.
12:29Is he going to continue to be that same explosive player?
12:31St. Brown, love the player.
12:33I think they did grow a little bit as an offense last year, but they were unable to replicate some
12:39of the things Ben Johnson had done previously.
12:42But really, the true thing for them is, can their defense be something that is helpful to their offense?
12:49Just a side question for that, would that departure of Montgomery make you more or less likely to think that
13:00Gibbs could be Offensive Player of the Year?
13:03A little more, but because it's a 17-game season.
13:09Yeah.
13:09It's still like, that's a huge factor in that.
13:13I don't think Isaiah Pacheco is the same.
13:16He is a tough runner.
13:17Maybe he's more similar to Gibbs than he is to Montgomery.
13:21But if they can replicate that and say, hey, we're doing exactly what we did with those guys.
13:26You get a series, you get a series.
13:28You get two series, you get two series.
13:30And that's how we're going to keep your legs fresh.
13:32Then I think he still continues to be a successful running back.
13:36But showing that you're the dude that can take on 75% of the reps and also keep putting up
13:44those numbers and averages and touchdowns, that's the thing that changes people's perspective on you.
13:50Alec, it goes to you.
13:52Overreaction or reality?
13:53Playing inside will get the Lions back to the playoffs.
13:59Overreaction, I don't think that's going to be the factor if it happens.
14:03I think it does help whenever you have a quarterback like Jared Goff, who he's good.
14:09There's no doubt about that.
14:11But he is very off and on.
14:12So if you keep all things equal for him in terms of the controllables like that, then I think that
14:19you're better off for sure.
14:21I just don't know how I feel about that team in general because you do kind of blow up the
14:27one thing that you're really known for, which is that Sonic and Knuckles one-two punch in the run game.
14:32And outside of that, the Lions haven't really in the past couple years done anything that makes me say like,
14:39whoa, they got better.
14:40They add stuff, they draft and whatnot, but they don't do anything that I'm just like, oh my gosh, they
14:47did something that made them better overnight.
14:50Their offensive line is kind of up and down as well.
14:53Their defense, ever since Aaron Glenn left, I'm just like, it's a bunch of dudes.
14:58They're okay.
14:59Right.
14:59You know, like they're not bad.
15:00They're just okay.
15:01I think it's just an okay team right now.
15:04Sorry, somebody brought up a question on the fan text that I never considered.
15:09Isn't jet lag not as bad going north and south as opposed to east and west?
15:13Because you're changing time zones, but when you're just going down, is it not as bad?
15:18And I went and looked it up and it was like, yeah, if you're north to south traveling straight
15:21down the same line, then it is, you will only get jet lag heading south if your route crosses
15:29east or west.
15:30I've never thought anything about that before and I have no clue if they do, but I think
15:34sometimes when they talk about travel, it's also like you're not able to immediately get
15:40to a place where you can start recovering like in resting like you would if you were at
15:43home, you get done, you go home or you go into your tub or whatever that's at your home
15:48facility.
15:49But jet lag I didn't consider.
15:51Do you guys want one more?
15:53Yes.
15:55Brutal travel will keep the 49ers out of the playoffs.
15:59So they're traveling the most single miles north and south or well, one of them is it's still
16:07kind of east to westy.
16:08So I know dog.
16:10They're traveling 38,000 miles this year.
16:13They have two international games, one in Australia, one in Mexico City.
16:18And then they also drew the NFC East, which means more travel cross country to the Giants
16:25and then to the Cowboys.
16:26So NFL schedule overreaction to reality.
16:29Brutal travel will keep the 49ers out of the playoffs.
16:33All right.
16:33I'll tell you this.
16:34This is where it starts.
16:36Our boss, Tim Collins, suggested to me to watch a movie called Apex.
16:40One of the people in the movie travels to Australia and things go awry.
16:46Will the 49ers have a similar path?
16:49I hope not.
16:50It is terrifying, dude.
16:51Okay.
16:52It is terrifying.
16:53But that being said, I don't know how things go in Australia.
16:56That just might be a typical Tuesday.
16:59So good luck to the Niners with all that travel.
17:03You don't necessarily have to speak specifically to Australia, though you can.
17:08But the focus, brutal travel will keep the 49ers out of the playoffs.
17:13I will let you decide.
17:14I consider that brutal travel.
17:15I was going to say.
17:17He can decide if he wants to expand on Australia or not.
17:20Reality, I think it will.
17:22Because, again, they did not get much better over the offseason on top of the fact that
17:27I don't know what that intense amount of travel on top of the effects of an electrical substation.
17:33I don't know what the combination of those things do.
17:37Like high altitude plus chemical imbalances within the body.
17:41There's got to be some sort of chemical reaction.
17:45Maybe the lactic acid in the muscles.
17:48It doesn't really go away.
17:49It firms up a little bit.
17:51And everybody's just a little bit sore.
17:52You know, a little bit more than usual.
17:54And then you've got to stay in the cold tub a little bit too long.
17:57So, yeah.
17:58I do think that this is in, obviously, Australia is going to have a huge part in it because
18:02of the longest fight.
18:03Yeah, that too.
18:04That and then, honestly, I just, none of this matters as long as I get a picture of George
18:08Kittle with a kangaroo at some point.
18:10Because I feel like that would be the best picture of the NFL season.
18:12That feels like a very achievable dream.
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