We are pleased to welcome Matt Verteram, who joins us from Chicago.
He covers the NFL for fansited, and I'm going to take a deep breath here and I'm going to give you a wide open question, just to start to kind of get our feet wet because we're getting right back into this too, Matt. What are a few things that jump out at you about week number one, this Sunday, as we get off and rolling, and man, it was not just rolling, but it was cruising through Sunday? I think week one is the most unpredictable week every year because there's no tape for some of these teams, there's no coaches.
Some teams play a lot in the preseason, others don't play their stars in the preseason. And I think this week really lived up to that. You saw some crazy upsets, I don't think many people thought Chicago would win, then Atlanta would take New Orleans to the wire, probably should have won. Same thing with Houston against Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, in a game that took Joe Burrows for four interceptions and lose the fumble. But I think probably the lasting takeaways, other than injury-related ones, are what you saw last year, the Bills were an excellent team that fell in Kansas City, but looked like a Super Bowl favorite coming in, they looked like one. Kansas City, even without Tyler E. Kelly, a lot of people thought that this team is still a really top-tier team, still a contender, went out and scored 44 points. On the flip side, Tennessee, you looked at them, did they have enough? Did they have enough offensively?
I don't know, they couldn't get much explosiveness going against the Giants. I think the Bengals reworked the offensive line, gave up seven sacks, so there's a lot to digest from the week. Yes, there definitely is a lot to digest, but injuries certainly jump out after week one because it's so quick, and specifically Sunday Night Football, Dak Prescott, we find out is going to need surgery on his thumb, and then T.J. Watt, Najee Harris from the Steelers, even that win that you mentioned against the Bengals.
Of the injuries that we know so far, which ones are most damaging? Prescott. Without him, the Cowboys are done. They're not winning anything without him. No offense to Cooper Rush, but they're not staying in the playoffs, even in the weaker NFC, without Prescott. If Prescott's out for a month, two months, if it's on Dallas, I'm making the phone call to San Francisco and saying, look, would Jimmy waive his no-trade clause to come here, and if so, what would the draft compensation need to be? Now you're the Niners of all the Levers in the world. You can sit there and say, look, without him, you're screwed.
You're not going to win games, so how do you want to play this? The other question is, though, if you're San Francisco and that calls an eight to you, do you want to trade Jimmy Garoppolo after what you saw in week one? Now look, I'm not going to get on for Lance or his performance today. They played him on June in Chicago, but are you willing to trade Garoppolo to another NFC team that you might be fighting for a playoff spot with?
Do you feel confident enough in Lance that you would move off of Garoppolo for what would probably be a mid-round pick? But if you're the Cowboys, the next 48 to 72 hours have to be, you're doing anything you possibly can to replace Prescott with somebody who's not named Cooper Rush. Thinking about the Steelers, though, if they lose TJ Watt, seeing today's offensive display by Pittsburgh, I get it, they were on the road, hostile territory, Mitch Trubisky's first game, but they did lose Najee, who's supposed to be their bell cow, and it was on the defense. It was all on the defense, and that defense is so different without TJ.
Oh, there's no question. The Steelers were plus five in turnovers today and scored 16 offensive or special teams points. Again, they had a pick six and otherwise scored 16 points in a game that went the full length of overtime.
They have no offense. The offensive line is not good. Trubisky is not a starting quarterback in the NFL, and so you're stuck with this team. They're going to win games that's going to be a lot like it was last year, where they're going to have to hold teams under 20 points. They're going to have to win the turnover battle, probably take less penalties, and win a game 17 to 14, and they essentially did so today, got a little bit over 20, but without Watt, everything changes. Now you don't have to slide the line that way.
You don't have to devote all that time. The Highsmith had three sacks today. You know Hayward is a future Hall of Famer, but now it's not as hard. Now you can double Hayward.
You can chip on Highsmith. You don't have to worry about the other side, whether it be something like a Malik Reed stepping in as an ice player, but nowhere near the caliber of TJ Watt. So for the Steelers, you're right. They're going to have to win playing a defensive ball control type of game, and while Harris hurts, Watt is a crusher. If they don't have him, they're going to be forced to open up offensively, as they're going to give up more points, and that's going to lead to them turning the ball over more. We are processing week number one with Matt Verderam of Fansided, covering the NFL on the national scale, also has a Stacking the Box podcast.
It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio. I've been saying over the course of the offseason, because quarterbacks we know, most impactful player on the field at any point, but the amount of movement among wide receivers you knew was going to impact the league in a major way. And even in week number one, we see guys in new places who are all ready, racking up yards and connecting with their new QBs. What impressed you the most in week one in terms of wide receivers? I've been happy AJ Brown came in, was dynamite right away, had over 100 yards in the first half, finished with over $1.50. Philadelphia scored 38 points against a Detroit team that may not be very good yet, but certainly is game. It's a frisky team, it's a team that really actually gave the eagle all they could handle by the end of it.
I love his fit there, he's a big bodied guy, you've heard that big target. Of course Devontae Adams was in a loss, but he couldn't have played much better. He was phenomenal against the Chargers. The Chargers ultimately got away with the game. But Corrin Adams showed that hookup that they had in Fresno State so many years ago.
He looked great. Tyreke Hill had over 90 yards with Tua and a win for Miami. The offense only scored 13 points that game for the Dolphins.
You'd like to see a little bit more than that, but their connection was really good. It was interesting, the teams that lost those players, Tennessee had no juice offensively. They only must have 20 points against the Giants. The Packers were abysmal in Minnesota.
They had no ability to get down the field. The only team that was able to overcome it was Kansas City, who scored 44 points and didn't even really try in the fourth quarter, they were pulling starters. It was very interesting to see how it all started. I know that he's not in a new place, but man, it was good to see Mike Thomas back on the field making a difference for the Saints again, wasn't it?
Sure was. The Saints are a team I thought coming into the year could be really interesting to watch. I didn't feel that way at 26-10 in Atlanta, but Mike Thomas comes back, has a couple of touchdowns.
He is a guy that you can run on those shorter and intermediate routes, and he's just about impossible to guard. If Winston puts the ball on him, he's going to make the catch and he's going to make some yards after it. They have a nice triplets group there at the receiver position between Landry and the rookie Olave, of course out of Ohio State, and now you factor in Michael Thomas is back, you have Kamara in the backfield. The Saints have a lot of firepower, and early on today, really, for the first two quarters of the game, they could not get anything going.
They finally found themselves, but yet Michael Thomas, who was out all of last year, of course with the ankle injury and the surgery, was really good and is someone I am very interested to see next week when the Saints host the Buccaneers over in the Superdome. Matt Verderam is with us from Chicago, covers the NFL for Fansided. It's after hours on CBS Sports Radio. You know how it is with fans, and I daresay those of us in broadcasting too, we tend to overreact when it comes to the season opener. So Matt, playing devil's advocate, where are a few places where you can just hear it now? Fans and media overreacting to what we saw in one week.
Oh, there's going to be plenty of that. If you had to point to a few different cities, I mean, Pittsburgh, I think there's going to be this thought all of a sudden that now they can compete in the division. Now, maybe the injuries mute that some. I don't think Pittsburgh can do that, even without the injuries. They can't score.
They have no offense. I think the flip side of that is going to be the places that will really go nuts if teams don't want to. The Dallas, they can react as harshly as they want to because with everything that happened today, or tonight rather, that's an issue. Green Bay, that will probably be an overreaction. The Packers played horrible football today in Minnesota. They also did that last year in week one against the Saints. They got blown out and they were the number one team. They will figure it out.
They're too talented not to. They were missing some key guys on the offensive line. And then the other one, I wonder how the reaction is going to be in Los Angeles now that you see the whole week play out. The Rams are in a position where everybody in the division lost, except for Shadow, who of course plays on Monday night.
And you walk away from the center. That's one of the hardest things you're going to play all year in Buffalo. But the offensive line looks like a wreck and you have this injury to Brian Allen's center. Is the reaction there like, hey, it's going to be all right? Or is it, hey, this is already trending in a bad way, except for this division that might keep us alive?
I'm curious to see there. And then, of course, Vegas, where expectations are high. Raiders went to the playoffs last year. They lose a game to the Chargers where the offense gives up six sacks.
That's a problem. And that, I think, is actually a proper reaction because they cannot block. And if you can't block in that division with all the pass rushers, you have a problem. What's your reaction to what we saw from the Patriots offense in Miami, considering all the questions surrounding Bill Belichick setting up his offensive coaching staff? Amy, I think it was predictable.
I mean, at least from my vantage point, I think it was just a predictable outcome. They have spent more money on receivers and tight ends than any other team in football this year, which is crazy when you really think about it. Who is the star? Who is the guy on third and eighth you're clearing out to throw to? Is it Hunter Henry? I like Hunter Henry, but he's not that guy.
John Smith, he's not that guy. Devante Parker? So, I'm not shocked that what we saw today was an offense that just couldn't get in the rhythm.
They were very disjointed to achieve some communication issues. This is a team that you just have a ton of questions on offensively, from execution to the play calling to the talent of it. You know, I think for the pass, you know, they play the Steelers in week two. That's a game where if you lose that game and you're sitting there at 0-2 in a division where Miami's better, and the Bills are great, you're already in a hole that you're looking up. It's going to be a little bit of a difficult climb out, but I just don't think the talent is there for doing on offensively to be more than, you know, a 20 point a game type offense. We saw the Browns go into Charlotte and win, Matt, and I would say the Panthers offense found some stability, some rhythm late in the game, even though, of course, they didn't come away with the W, but first reaction to Baker Mayfield in Charlotte.
Kind of like you said, the first three quarters, he was really anywhere from terrible to average. In the fourth quarter, he led two big drives, and if not for an unbelievable kick at the end, a 58 yard field goal by York, the rookie in Cleveland. Carolina wins and Baker gets his revenge, but, you know, the problem is going to be for Carolina all year that they're going to have to contend with is their offensive line.
Now they drafted, H.D. Kwonu, top ten pick, I think he will be a very good player for them over time, but he went against miles. Garrett today, Garrett has a couple sacks, Cleveland had four in total, Mayfield's not the most mobile guy, and so Carolina's going to have to do a better job protecting. If the Panthers can do that, then I think, you know what, they've got some weapons.
D.J. Moore can play, Robbie Anderson's a good player, Christian McCaffrey, if he's healthy, is great. The talent is there for the Panthers to win some games, especially in a division where, I don't think it's overwhelming, it's not terrible, but it's not a great division. So, overall, if you're the Panthers, it's a bitter loss.
You're disappointed. The defense, I think you've got to sit there and say, you know, we've got to do a better job. Jacoby Percept did nothing in that game. And yet, you're getting just gassed by the run, which of course is how Cleveland has to play and is going to continue to play. But yeah, I thought, if you're Baker, you can build off some positives in the fourth quarter, but yeah, the protection's got to be better, and they've got to give a much more complete effort.
At least initially, the Baker that we saw in Carolina was a lot like the Baker that we saw in Cleveland. Yeah, it was a weird game. I mean, you kind of expected, at least I didn't. He was going to come out and just be gangbusters right off the bat, you know, with all the motivation. I figured he'd be so laser-focused, you know, look up, and through the first 11 to 10, he had 15 yards and a pick. It was a weird start of the game.
Then they settled down and said, all right, maybe they're going to sneak out of here with this, but it wasn't to be. And now they go to play the Giants, who all of a sudden are 1-0 and feel great about themselves and are coming home to a crowd that I'm sure is starving for any kind of a team to root for. So, that's actually an interesting game. That's a really fascinating matchup in East Rutherford next summer. Before I let you go, Matt, we found out prior to the games kicking off on Sunday that the Ravens had offered guaranteed $133 million to Lamar Jackson as part of a $250 million contract offer, which he declined. If you're the Ravens, how far are you willing to go? You know, I'm willing to play out this season, and then I'm tagging him, and I think they're probably going to have to give him an exclusive tag, which is going to be over $40 million. Unless they're willing to risk that a team offers him a deal they can't match, and then they get two first round picks, but he's worth more than that. So, I think they're going to have to give him an exclusive tag, and if I'm the GM there at that point, I shoot down Lamar Jackson and say, look, we are making your best offer, whatever that is, it is, and if he's unwilling to take that, I'd shop him. Because at some point, you can't play on these huge tag numbers with no long-term security, and you never know. You at that point have to figure, if he's not willing to sign whatever your best offer is, where do you go from there?
I mean, he's only going to get more expensive as time goes on, as the cap continues to rise, and if he continues to have good years. So, I make my absolute best offer after the season, I do place him on the tag, because I don't want to lose him in free agency, but at some point, you either have to be able to come to an agreement, or say, look, we've done the absolute best we can, we will get a fortune's worth of draft picks for him. And the class coming up, a lot of people in the leagues that I've spoken to think you're going to have six or seven kids that are quarterbacks still in the first round. So, I think if you're the Ravens, you give them one more shot this next offseason, but if not, then I think you start looking around and seeing what's out there.
Time will tell, but it's only week one, so we have plenty of time to see how this plays out. You can find Matt Verderam on Twitter at V-E-R-D-E-R-A-M-E, covers the NFL, has the Stacking the Box podcast. Matt, thank you so much for a couple of minutes after what was a wild and wacky start to the season. No problem, Amy. Thanks for having me.
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