00:00Hey, you know, you mentioned Brady.
00:02Dude, how about Kirk Cousins?
00:04You keep that dude upright?
00:07I mean, listen, you can make the argument.
00:09If you look at Dak Prescott and you look at his numbers,
00:12but then you look at the wins.
00:14I got to tell you, man, Kirk Cousins has put together a hell of a career,
00:17over 45,000 passing yards.
00:20And, man, that Raider team, are you buying them?
00:23They're 3-0.
00:25So you want a fun stat, Dan,
00:26that you probably didn't think someone would have told you you were crazy
00:28if you told him this going into the regular season.
00:31The only quarterback to start the year with three touchdown passes
00:34in every single game is old Kirk Co-Chains, Kirk Co-Bangs, Kirk Cousins,
00:39what he's doing out in Las Vegas.
00:41I actually really liked Kirk Cousins coming onto this team and starting.
00:45I know Fernando Mendoza got drafted there to be the guy,
00:48and there was a lot of clamorings, why people thought that Kirk,
00:51why is he starting?
00:51He hasn't done anything.
00:53I actually kind of liked what he did at the end of the year last year in Atlanta.
00:56They didn't lead to wins or anything like that,
00:58but I thought he looked like he still had a lot left in the tank,
01:01and we're seeing that to start the season.
01:03But to me, this is about two things for this Raider team.
01:05I do believe that they're legit.
01:06I think they're going to be a contender to maybe make the wild card.
01:08Hell, they might even compete for the division.
01:10But two things.
01:11This defense has been playing really good football.
01:13They invested a lot of money on that side, and it has been paying off.
01:17Max Crosby is obviously a game-breaker,
01:19but N'Kobe Dean and whatever,
01:20all the stuff they've been doing in that linebacker unit has been awesome.
01:24But this is all about Clint Kubiak.
01:25I mean, Clint Kubiak came into this team as a head coach,
01:28and I looked at what we saw last week from Brock Bowers,
01:32and it's been widely documented on the tape and how that they utilized him.
01:36He's obviously one of the most talented tight ends in the NFL,
01:39calling him a tight end.
01:40He's a big wide receiver, right?
01:41Like, that's just how he is in the NFL.
01:43But if you compare Jackson Smith and Njigba's route tree
01:46to Brock Bowers' route tree, they're basically the same, Dan.
01:50So what Clint Kubiak has done is he's brought the way that they were able to make
01:54Jackson Smith and Njigba, the Offensive Player of the Year last year, in Seattle.
01:59They brought that same method and that same schematics into the situation in Las Vegas,
02:04and we haven't seen it until this week because Brock Bowers was out the first two weeks.
02:07They were putting him out wide.
02:08So if you're going to deal with him, what are you going to do?
02:10Are you going to trot a linebacker out there to guard Brock Bowers or a safety?
02:14Well, then your box is lighter,
02:16so you could run the football with Ashton Gentry a little bit better.
02:18Or are you going to put a corner on there or a nickel or somebody out there to guard him?
02:21Oh, no, the 6'5 big tight end is going to win that matchup every single time.
02:25Ten catches, over 100 yards, a touchdown for Bowers.
02:28They obviously came back from down against a good Saints team that I like as well.
02:31But I'm so impressed.
02:33And it kind of goes back to us talking about Ben Johnson earlier.
02:35I love when these guys put their guys in positions to be successful.
02:39It's not complicated.
02:40I mean, it can get complicated.
02:42The schematics is hard.
02:43But sometimes it's just about, hey, you're really good at this.
02:47Let's go do that and just do it a lot until they stop us.
02:50And most of the time, if you do it well with some of the best talent in the NFL,
02:54they're not going to stop you.
02:55So I'm so excited for this game this weekend against the Chiefs.
02:58It's going to be a really fascinating matchup in the AFC West
03:01that nobody thought going into week four.
03:03The Raiders and Chiefs is going to be the games of the weekend.
03:05How about the way that John Spitek, the general manager, and Tom Brady have decided to go along
03:12with maybe what Andy Reid did when they had Alex Smith there in Kansas City,
03:16and you bring a veteran guy in, and you put Fernando Mendoza back there.
03:21And for me, watching how to prepare to be a pro was actually more important than actually playing in ball
03:29games.
03:29Being a professional, I don't think a lot of rookies understand, hey, once you get there, you get all the
03:34money,
03:34it's also preparing for games.
03:36How important do you think that lesson is going to be for the organization and also for Mendoza?
03:42Do you remember a couple weeks ago when I brought up Sean McVay after they lost that game in Australia,
03:47and he said sometimes you win and sometimes you learn.
03:51Everything about being a professional football player, professional athlete really as a whole,
03:55but professional football player especially is all right up here.
03:58It's how you prepare.
03:59It's how you get ready.
04:00It's how you're understanding situations.
04:02All these guys are talented enough to play at the highest level.
04:05That's why they got drafted, and that's why they worked hard to be there athletically.
04:08It's all about how you put it together up top.
04:10So I think it was the perfect decision.
04:12I mean, it's great.
04:12They're 3-0, so it's working out so far.
04:14We'll see how the season continues for them.
04:16But how they invested in this team on the offensive line, the defense I mentioned earlier,
04:20it was the perfect move.
04:21And you said about Andy Reid and Alex Smith and Patrick Mahomes,
04:24they got to take on Reid this week too,
04:26and they've been cooking in Kansas City.
04:29Kenneth Walker looks no joke in that offense.
04:31Eric Bien-Ami has those guys cruising.
04:33So it's a fascinating matchup between two teams that have similar trajectories right now
04:37in the AFC West, and this is a big litmus test for this Raiders team.
04:41If the Raiders win this game and look good in this one,
04:44we got to start having a different conversation about the silver and black.
04:47And I got to say this real quick.
04:48You know Chris Berman's happy the Raiders.
04:50They're so bad, aren't they, Dan?
04:52I'll see you next time.
