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Grant & Danny analyze the top narratives around the NFL in week one.
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00:32Out of a week of football, there's always a bunch of takeaways.
00:35You don't know what was a small sample thing, what was more authentic.
00:38Week one's even more intriguing and compelling because we could have just had a lot of things wrong.
00:43Everyone thinks we know all offseason.
00:45We don't know much, and then we figure it all out as we go.
00:48So let's play a little real or fake NFL edition coming out of week one.
00:54We bring on to the show to help guide us through real or fake with some topics from week one.
00:58The man known as Cap around these parks, $65 less in his pocket, but he lives in D.C.
01:05because where else would Captain America live?
01:10The intro gets better every time.
01:12Real or fake, the Bears have the best offense in the NFL.
01:16I'll say real to that.
01:18They're coming off 552 yards and 59 points.
01:21Caleb Williams looked very good.
01:23And remember, this is year two for him with Ben Johnson.
01:24Listen, a year ago at this time, he's going through some of those early growing pains that you're going to
01:29see Daniels, Blau, have.
01:31And Blau, unlike Ben Johnson, is calling plays, obviously, for the first time.
01:34But their coordinator, their offensive play caller, Johnson, said before the game he wants to break the record for points
01:42scored in a season.
01:43That's like what they're talking about over there.
01:45Their run game is also the best design in the league right now.
01:49Swift and Manungai both went over 100 yards, well over two total for the two of them combined.
01:54They rushed for almost 300 yards as a team.
01:56See, I think this is the best offense in the league right now, bar none.
01:59I think it is, too.
02:00And it's not as if – so let me back up.
02:03If this was the 20th offense in the NFL from last year with roughly the same personnel and they had
02:10a great day, I'd go, they had a great day.
02:11But this was a top 10 group in nearly every metric.
02:14Anything that you can find, and that was with Williams' early season struggles.
02:17That's with a completion percentage lower than I think it's going to be as it gets more and more comfortable.
02:22They've got weapons.
02:23They've got protection.
02:24They've got stuff they didn't even use yet, for goodness sakes.
02:26They are really, really good, and they're complete.
02:28To that point, yeah, Colson, Loveland didn't really do anything in this game.
02:32Fantasy owners are crying in their beard over that.
02:34I mean, people are losing weeks because of it, but he'll get his because he's too talented.
02:38They've got answers.
02:39They're going to get more out of, I think, Luther Burton as the season goes on as well.
02:45So, yeah, I'm a believer in the Bears offense for sure.
02:50Real or fake?
02:51The former number one overall pick Trevor Lawrence is finally becoming the superstar everyone expected.
02:57I'm going to say fake, even though it's probably not exactly right.
03:01Just because, I mean, what he was doing as a freshman at Clemson, people were just like,
03:04get this dude to the league immediately.
03:06This is the best prospect since Andrew Luck.
03:08He'll be an MVP candidate.
03:10I think he'll be good.
03:11I think he's good.
03:11I think he finally got out of whatever that nonsense was with, well, I'm blanking on the
03:16coach's name, former Florida coach, Urban Meyer, who was there for a while.
03:19Just didn't have any great seasons.
03:21Finally got a good offensive mind, some good personnel around him.
03:23I think he is good, but MVP candidate, I don't see it.
03:26So, I don't see a superstar.
03:27I see a really good quarterback.
03:28Yeah, I'll disagree.
03:29I think this is absolutely correct.
03:33This is real, what you're seeing from him.
03:35Because this wasn't just about yesterday.
03:38If you remember back to last season, he was phenomenal down the stretch.
03:44In fact, one of the biggest storylines going into the playoffs in the AFC last year was
03:48Trevor Lawrence's finish to the year.
03:50When you go back and you look at the end of his campaign and the numbers he was putting
03:55up, a 330-yard, five-touchdown game against the Jets, 280-yard, three-touchdown game against
04:01a really good Denver team on the road, went to the Colts, 263 in a couple touchdowns,
04:06had a three-touchdown game, and a 40-point performance in Week 18.
04:10So, like, this is a carryover for me, where you have seen him get comfortable in this offense,
04:15take to the coaching of a savant in Cohen.
04:18Cohen is the most underrated offensive coach in the league.
04:21He's good.
04:22I know I don't have a Liam Cohen alert, but I could.
04:24He was great in Tampa.
04:25He's really good in Jacksonville.
04:30Oops, botched that.
04:31The Chiefs, real or fake, the Chiefs should be considered the favorites of the AFC West.
04:37I will say, do I want to change my opinion this quickly?
04:42I'll say fake.
04:43I still think Denver and L.A. are both really good, despite terrible Week 1 showings.
04:49And I don't think the Chiefs are quite as good as they look.
04:52Remember, while they ended up blowing Denver out 31 to something, their offense looked like
04:56crap for two quarters or close to it.
04:58Patrick Mahomes was like two for nine for 14 yards.
05:01In the first half at one point, before they got it going.
05:03Didn't look great throwing the ball early.
05:04No.
05:05I think they're going to run it well with Kenneth Walker.
05:07The fact that they're leaning into their run game as much as they did early tells me
05:10some things aren't quite lined up and in rhythm yet in the passing game.
05:13Or maybe Mahomes isn't quite as crisp or sharp as he'll need to be.
05:17But I am worried about Denver and L.A. performances in Week 1 as someone who thinks both are going
05:22to the playoffs.
05:23But it's just too early for me to completely reverse course on this.
05:26So I'll say fake.
05:27The Chiefs are not the best team in the West.
05:29I'll say it's real.
05:30I think Denver and the Chargers are good.
05:32I'm sure of that.
05:33In fact, I have both in the postseason.
05:34But I think Kansas City, this has been my offseason ethos throughout.
05:37And Week 1, I will say confirmed.
05:39Because to your point, it's way too early to crown anybody.
05:41But way too much dirt was kicked way too quickly on their gravestone.
05:44That is a group with a great track record that retooled a little bit here.
05:47They've kind of morphed into maybe a 3.0 version of this dynasty.
05:51It still has Reid and Mahomes at the top.
05:53Kelsey looked pretty good in the open field, I will say, in that game.
05:56He moved pretty well.
05:58When he caught the ball in space, he was way faster than he was at any point last year.
06:01I was impressed.
06:02And this is now a little bit more of a ground-and-pound, play-good defense kind of a team
06:06that they sort of rode to a really good record a couple seasons ago.
06:10And I think Mahomes will get better as he gets further removed from that ACL injury.
06:14So, to me, they are the best team with the best pedigree.
06:16Again, I don't think this is a 15-2 situation and everyone else is, you know, chicken feed.
06:20But I do think they'll win that division.
06:22I also think the Walker addition is just massive.
06:24It's massive.
06:25They had the worst run game in the league in terms of explosives last year.
06:28They had single-digit 10-yard carries.
06:31Think about that.
06:32Kenneth Walker already doubled their amount of 20-yard runs from a year ago in one game.
06:36He's explosive.
06:37He's going to be a big-time player for them.
06:38So, real or fake, the Packers have a serious defensive problem.
06:45I'm going to say fake, but my voice is going up a little.
06:49This one, again, it's not fair that I'm...
06:52When you start slamming the gavel in one direction or the other, using the same set of criteria
06:57that are inconsistent, it's not a great bit of rationale.
07:01What I mean is, I'm going, yeah, that's week one.
07:04There's no way if they play this game in three weeks and Carson Wentz comes off the bench
07:07that he tears them up for 7 million yards and everybody's open and they can't stop anybody.
07:12They're better than this, right?
07:14They're not 40 points to the backup quarterback bad, right?
07:17I don't think they're this terrible.
07:19I think they'll play better.
07:20They might not be this terrible, but that's not the question.
07:22The question is, do they have a defensive problem?
07:23And the answer is yes.
07:24This is real.
07:25They lose their defensive coordinator, who was outstanding, Jeff Halfley.
07:29He's the head coach in Miami now.
07:30And they lost some key defensive starters, some of their speed at the linebacking level.
07:34I am worried about the Packers.
07:36I thought that was a really ugly, gross performance for them against Minnesota.
07:40So I'm going to say that one's real.
07:42And this is the team that I would pick to win the division that I actually am the most nervous
07:46about after the fact.
07:47I still think Jordan Love's going to be fine.
07:49They'll run the ball okay.
07:50They got weapons.
07:51The problem is, like, they're betting huge at the receiver position in Christian Watson, who's inevitably going to get hurt.
07:58He had a massive game.
07:59If he's on the field, he's a really, really good player.
08:02He went six for 147, two touchdowns.
08:04He's going to get hurt.
08:05And then what?
08:06Then this is an offense that I worry about with a defense that's worse.
08:10What are you hanging your hat on?
08:11They've also now lost six straight games under Matt LaFleur going back to last year overall.
08:15That's crazy.
08:16That's wild.
08:17And of those six games, three of them they've led by 10 in the fourth quarter.
08:21That's malpractice.
08:22That's nightmare stuff.
08:23So, yeah, I'm worried about Green Bay.
08:25Real or fake, the New York football giants will be in the playoff mix at season's end.
08:31Okay, so playoff mix is interesting.
08:33I need some workshopping done on defining that.
08:36I could see them in the in the hunt graphic.
08:38So I will say in that way, yes.
08:41But are we saying, like, over 500?
08:43I think that should be the, you know, are they 9-10 win wildcard type team?
08:46I'm not there yet.
08:47I'll say fake.
08:48They're better.
08:49They're going to be competitive.
08:50Jackson Dart is a good quarterback who I think will prove himself to be their answer
08:54at the position moving forward.
08:57And I think that defensively, they're going to be physical enough and do some of the things
09:03in terms of coaching that kind of keeps you in those games.
09:06But they're a little bit light still to me on, it's not even offensive personnel.
09:10Likely looked great at tight end.
09:12Malik Nabors is back at wide receiver.
09:14They've got two running backs that are semi-effective in the backfield led by Scadaboo.
09:18I'm not a big fan of his.
09:20I just, I like their front.
09:22They're a good team.
09:22They're good talent.
09:23Kind of talking myself into liking them more here.
09:26I'm going to say it's a year too early.
09:27I think they go 7-10.
09:29It's hard fought.
09:29But they're not in the over 500 mix.
09:32Yeah, so I don't think they're over 500.
09:33But I do think they're in the quote-unquote mix.
09:35They're in the hunt until maybe with a game or two left.
09:38But this is Dennis Green stuff right here.
09:39They are who we thought they were.
09:41This is a frisky, pain-of-the-butt team with a coach that's already doing his
09:44I've-been-here-seven-years act and John Harbaugh getting bristling with the
09:49assembled media about I'm not answering questions about this.
09:51And you want to ask me about that?
09:53I'm not answering it.
09:53No, let's have a great day and have a hell of a press conference.
09:56He's already doing that thing that got so tired in Baltimore.
09:58But it's planned for this group.
10:00They are going to be a pain in the ass to play.
10:02They are not pushovers.
10:03This is going to be who they are.
10:04I don't think they win 12 games or something like that.
10:08They're not good enough yet.
10:09But I do think they'll be in the hunt in the mix.
10:11I got the early 2024 Commanders vibes watching them, though.
10:16So Harbaugh was at the end of the game on the sideline and all the players
10:19were coming up and hugging him like a dad and a son hug.
10:22You know what I mean?
10:22Not like, oh, you're my DB's coach.
10:24Let me dap you up.
10:25Like, I made you proud today, Dad.
10:28And we saw that with Bobby Wagner and Frankie Louvoo and those guys with Dan
10:32Quinn in year one in 2024.
10:34I got some of those vibes watching the game.
10:36My last little nugget I'll offer.
10:37Rams this week.
10:38That's, you know, tough Rams coming off an 0-1.
10:40You would think they'd play with some urgency this week.
10:42They had to go on the road there.
10:43But then it's Titans, Cardinals, Washington Saints.
10:46Chance there to get off to a decent start and maybe kind of hang around.
10:49It gets tougher for them in the second half.
10:50They'll be 3-2 through 5, maybe.
10:51But they could easily be 3-2 through 5, maybe even 4-1.
10:55Real or fake?
10:57The Cardinals actually aren't that bad?
11:00Fake.
11:00Fake, fake, fake, fake.
11:01To quote Elaine Bennis from Seinfeld.
11:03Fake.
11:04Everything about that's fake.
11:05Fake, that was fake, fraudulent, fake.
11:07It's a lie.
11:08They did this last year.
11:09I won't be fooled again.
11:10Shout out to the Who.
11:12I'm going to say fake as well.
11:14This will be the first time we agree.
11:16Their win total's been bumped up from 3-1⁄2 to 5-1⁄2.
11:18I think this is the ultimate Week 1 lie.
11:22You know, you have to find the lie, basically, from Week 1.
11:25We're like, last year it was the Raiders over the Patriots.
11:27There's always one.
11:28This was the big, fat lie.
11:30I think the Chargers are better than they played.
11:32The Cardinals are worse than they played.
11:35The running back situation's weird to me.
11:37Algier is very effective, but it wasn't enough Jeremiah Love.
11:40Maybe that's because he's coming back from an injury, but he only got 11 of their 34 rushing
11:44attempts or whatever.
11:45I'd love their offensive weaponry in the passing game.
11:49Trey McBride, Michael Wilson, Marvin Harrison Jr.
11:52But they're not good on defense.
11:54They're not going to be good on defense.
11:55I don't know how they did what they did against the Chargers, holding them down over 51 plays.
12:00But they're not going to be able to possess the ball like they did either all season.
12:03So, shtick aside, offensively, I think they'll be able to score with some teams.
12:06They have pieces, to your point.
12:07They got a good coach.
12:08Wilson, Harrison, Love, McBride.
12:11These are players I would love to have.
12:12Any coach would love to have these dudes.
12:14But defensively, they cannot do what they did, where they looked like the 85 Bears shoving
12:18it on the Chargers.
12:19No way.
12:20Real or fake, the Chargers will be a major disappointment.
12:26I'll say fake to this.
12:28I said earlier, you know, with Denver and the Chargers, I'm giving them another week.
12:32They've got the Raiders this week.
12:34Now, if you lose to Kirko and Vegas, and you're 0-2, now you're bad.
12:39Or now I had you wrong.
12:41The growing pains of the Mike McDaniel offense with Justin Herbert or the storyline.
12:45Now you're in a tough division with Denver and Kansas City giving me some pause.
12:50But I am always willing to give everybody a mulligan after week one.
12:54And I think that's kind of what happened.
12:56I don't really know how we got here with the Chargers.
13:00Again, there's no good reason to have been so ineffective and listless.
13:04It just, it looked like a week 11 game where you don't need the game and you're up big in
13:08your division and you come out kind of flat.
13:10That's how they played their season opener at home.
13:12So that gives me trepidation.
13:15But Jim Harbaugh is a guy that can get it right.
13:17Again, they only had 51 offensive plays.
13:19They just never really got into a rhythm.
13:21If you look at it, it was, you know, three to five play drives from their fifth drive to
13:28like their 10th drive of the game.
13:29They could never really move the chains at all.
13:31They had one drive.
13:32It was their opening drive of the season.
13:33Eight plays, 77 yards and a touchdown.
13:36After that, their average drive was around 15 yards.
13:40It was just brutal.
13:41So this is fake, but it doesn't set up great for them.
13:44So was that when I'm looking at their season, thinking about playoff teams and we did that
13:47segment, uh, I guess last week before the NFL really got going, I had them in the post
13:52season thinking they'd be able to get off to a decent enough start to hold serve.
13:56And then when it would get really tough, kind of the middle teeth of their schedule, they'd
13:59be able to make some hay later, but they missed that little tip in putt.
14:02You don't beat Arizona week one, hopefully beat the Raiders in week two, but then it's
14:05bills, Seahawks, Broncos, chiefs, Rams, Texans, Ravens.
14:09Good luck for anybody in that stretch of games, right?
14:12That's, that is not easy for the best team in the NFL, the second best, the fifth best,
14:15the 20th best, whatever.
14:16So, you know, hopefully you're 500 through there.
14:18If you're a Chargers fan, I'm still buying them though.
14:21I think that McDaniel marriage for this offense is perfect.
14:24Um, but you know, injuries rear the regular ugly head.
14:27Next thing you know, this is a, this is a group of underachieved, but I'm, I'm still buying
14:31them as a playoff team.
14:32Even after week one.
14:34Real or fake Bryce young is going to have a monster career year, fake, probably not
14:40fair to the kid.
14:40Honestly, there's too much bad sample for me too much.
14:44Okay.
14:44That was a big 12 game.
14:45But then when we settle into the flow of the regular season, that's not happening every
14:49week, right?
14:49He's not going to end up, um, you know, monster passing totals on a weekly basis.
14:54I just don't see it there.
14:55Now it's going to get off to a good start.
14:56The Falcons are terrible.
14:57The Browns are barely building a team.
14:59And I don't think Detroit's defense is, is a buzzsaw through the first four weeks.
15:03It just, it's going to equalize.
15:04He's going to be limited as he's kind of been.
15:07It's, it's a guy that I'm, you know, I'm rooting for.
15:09Seems like a really good dude, but I just don't see the upside anymore that I saw when
15:13he was in college.
15:13He's going to have a career year.
15:15I I'm very confident in that because he gets better every single season.
15:18His touchdown totals have gone from 11 to 15 to 23.
15:21Uh, his interception rate over his career as you know, now kind of plateaued and is right
15:27around 2.3 or so percent.
15:28I think that's about where it's going to be.
15:31So I'm looking at like 27, 28 touchdowns, somewhere around eight to 10 interceptions
15:35from him this season, perhaps in a close to 4,000 yard year.
15:40Do I think he is an elite quarterback?
15:42No.
15:43Would I give him the contract that eventually they're staring down the barrel of like 55,
15:47$60 million a year?
15:49Absolutely not.
15:49I think it's too all over again in a sense, but Canales is really good.
15:54Their offense, by the way, is legit.
15:55People sleep on this dude, Jalen Coker.
15:57He had a huge game.
15:59Massive.
15:59Uh, and if you go back to the playoff game last year, he bowled out in that game.
16:04He's always kind of been, I have Panthers fan buddies that talk about this where it's
16:08like, we got this beast.
16:09Nobody knows about yet.
16:10And it just never happens.
16:11It's happening.
16:12And they also have Technic Millen.
16:14So I think they have two viably legitimate Pro Bowl type wide receivers.
16:19I really think they do.
16:19So there's no reason in Canales' offense why he can't cook a little bit.
16:23Real or fake, the Ravens are the team to beat in the AFC.
16:28The entire AFC.
16:30So, um, right now I'll say yes.
16:34The way that they looked, I picked them to win that division.
16:37I thought they were going to be really good.
16:38The Jesse Minter hire was my favorite of the offseason.
16:42And Declan Doyle's about to be a household name.
16:44And if he's not, we're going to make him one on this show.
16:46Just, just so y'all know.
16:48Um, but he is a, I think he's sharp.
16:51Lamar threw for 320 and ran for a tutty in 40 yards.
16:56And it was relaxed.
16:57So relaxed.
16:58Derrick Henry, 144.
17:00Their new offensive lineman they drafted might have had the most impressive rookie debut
17:04of anybody in the league.
17:05Zay Flowers went for 150 and a touchdown in a half of football.
17:08They were just running wide open.
17:10Is Indy that bad?
17:11I guess that's possible.
17:13I think Baltimore, to me, looks like a 12-13 win team.
17:18I think it's fake.
17:19Not because I don't think Baltimore's good.
17:20They really showed me something in week number one.
17:22But I think there's too many other good teams.
17:24I think the Bills are too good.
17:25I still think the Texans are, will have something to say about it.
17:28Cincinnati showed well in week number one.
17:30I know the point total ended up not being that wonderful on defense, but their defense
17:34was much improved, forcing some turnovers and some negative plays.
17:37If they're just decent on that side of the ball, they're formidable.
17:40The Ravens, I think, are good.
17:41They're better than I thought they were going to be, at least through a week.
17:43But I think there are too many.
17:44I think the field is good enough where you can't say they're the team to beat.
17:48Last one.
17:49Real or fake?
17:50The 49ers are back as serious NFC contenders.
17:54Real as long as they're healthy.
17:55I think this is pretty simple.
17:56If they have enough of their key contributors available to them, Kyle Shanahan can coach
18:01them up.
18:01And that defense looked awesome in week one.
18:03Yeah.
18:03I don't think they ever went away, really.
18:05I mean, to that point, it's just a matter of, do they have enough guys to field a roster
18:09on a Sunday?
18:11Because the roster's pretty damn good.
18:13Purdy threw for three touchdowns against the Rams.
18:15That was, it's far enough away that everyone's forgotten, because it was a week ago Thursday
18:19night, I think.
18:20But that's still maybe the most impressive win of week one.
18:23A 20-point blowout over the best team in the league on paper that everyone thought was
18:27the Super Bowl favorite.
18:28Nobody had a better week one than the Niners did.
18:31That defense, the way that Raheem Morris coordinated it, now back as a DC, that was a huge performance
18:38for them.
18:39Nice job, Cap.
18:40Grant and Danny on the fan.
18:42Our double play coming your way in just a few at 345.
18:45But next, an audio vault, some of the best from around the sports landscape.
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