This is the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network.
I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Much love and many thanks to everybody tuned in and locked in all over North America. Thank you so much to our super producer and host, Ryan Hickey. I hope you had a tremendous Monday. I hope you had a great weekend.
I hope you watched some college ball, some NFL football. Hope you've had a tremendous Monday. We're ready to roll. We got a lot to get into over the next four hours.
This is when I get started at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 Pacific. You can always listen on the free Audacy app, A-U-D-A-C-Y. You can lock in on your local Infinity Sports Network affiliate, Sirius XM Channel 158.
And if you have a smart speaker, ask the speaker to play the Infinity Sports Network. Week two of the NFL season, it's not done. It's not over yet. The Atlanta Falcons are up in Philadelphia and trying to avoid an 0-2 fate. We had some surprises yesterday throughout the NFL. The Saints smacking up the Cowboys. We got the Ravens.
Oh my goodness. Ravens decided to go out there and lay an egg against the Raiders. We had quite a few blowouts.
We had a guy who didn't even play who got a game ball. Russell Wilson getting a petty game ball as the Steelers went ugly again as they are known to do over those Denver Broncos. So we're getting ready to wrap up week two of the NFL season. Certainly a lot of news that has come down the pipe when it comes to injuries as well as even benchings. Today we learned that Bryce Young is going to be sitting on the bench with Andy Dalton taking over for the Carolina Panthers. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Or maybe not mighty because Bryce Young, his time in the NFL has been pretty bad.
Okay. So what a way to fall off completely. We're going to get into Bryce Young in a bit. Of course, we got more to get into Sunday night football, speaking of a number one overall pick. Caleb Williams got smacked around last night by the Texans.
It'd be amazing if he can actually walk around today. Tua Tonga Velo, we got word yesterday there is no consideration by Tua to retire. He's going to be sticking around.
So put all that noise to the side. College football side of things, Michigan is making a quarterback change. Arch Manning, I've been waiting for this for a long time. Not that I was looking or asking for an injury, but we finally saw Arch Manning throw and run for a touchdown.
Might see that a little bit more. His former uncle, not his current uncle, Eli Manning, who played for the New York Giants. Giants are looking pretty bad right now.
If you know how to kick a football, they may want you. And then we had quite a few people who look bad, including some coaches in the NFL. Dan Campbell admitted to being bad. Sean Payton, not so much, but made a bad decision. And Will Levis, I don't know, he's playing, he thinks he's Brett Favre, but he's not.
Flinging and flicking the ball around. Well, his coach had some worse words than what I just said. So we got a lot to talk about. If you want to holler at me, it's real simple. The phone number here is 855-212-4227. That's 855-212-4227. You can also find me online. I am at JR Sport Brief. You will have known a lot of the things that we will discuss today because it has been tweeted out or X'd out. Ryan Hickey, how the hell are you doing?
I am good, JR. I think every guest we have on, anytime you say, hey, where can we follow you, where can we learn your work, catch up with everything, they say the same line. Oh, I'm on Twitter, X, whatever people are calling it. Yeah. Nobody knows what it is.
No one knows what it is. You just highlighted right now why X should be thrown out the window and dropped. You X'd it? I X'd it. What?
Yeah. What does that even mean? That sounds negative. It's the past tense of tweeted. It sounds terrible. It sounds awful. It's very confusing. I mean, you would think that you just nicked something or got rid of it, not put it on a social media platform.
How do you go from Twitter and tweeting and tweeted to I'm X-ing? We can blame an egotistical multi-billionaire for that one. Terrible. That is just terrible. Are you terrible? You feel good though? You all right?
Yeah. Oh, I feel very good. I mean, honestly, coming off of this weekend, I thought it was the best weekend of football so far. Unexpected storylines, interesting games. It's only been two. It's only been two weeks.
True. Let's get this out the way. How do you feel about the Colts?
Terrified. They suck. You got beat by a backup quarterback. And how many yards did they give up on the ground? Like 200, 300? A million, but I think it's like 268.
So essentially a million. You need to go help with the other run defense for the Colts. You might have to play middle linebacker. And you might have to also throw the ball because Anthony Richardson having trouble doing that too. Three interceptions to the wrong team yesterday. I'll tackle you throw.
How about that? You'll tackle and I'll throw? Yeah, I'll play middle linebacker. Stop the, you know, the right now, the run, the rush and you can make some accurate throws. My arm sucks. I'll probably run like Anthony Richardson, but I might make better decisions throwing the ball.
If only I could throw like him, but I might be able to make better decisions. The Packers with a backup. Malik Willis going out there beating the Colts 16 to 10. Colts are now 0-2.
And the Packers, well, they pick up their first victory of the season after losing that opening game to Philadelphia down in Brazil. And Malik Willis, we'll see how much longer he can hold the fort down before people start to absolutely lose their minds. And speaking of losing their minds, not too far away from me here in the Carolinas, there's a lot of people in the Carolinas, South Carolina, North Carolina, they have lost their minds because Bryce Young looks like a disaster. And if Bryce Young is to have any type of comeback here in the NFL, it's going to be as a reclamation project because for the first time in his year, his career, I should say, after playing one season in two games, Bryce Young has been benched.
And yesterday it was pretty ugly. Panthers lost to the Chargers 26 to 3. Bryce Young contributing nothing. 84 yards and an interception. And I can't even say when you take a look at the highlights, it looks bad because these are not highlights. These are lowlights. Adam Thielen walking around like, bro, you can't find me.
I'm wide open. He's missing throws. He's thrown into double coverage. If you go search Bryce Young in videos anywhere on the internet, you're going to get lowlights in his body language and his demeanor and the expression on his face. Bryce Young looks like someone who needs to take the SATs, but hasn't taken a test in their life. He looks lost.
It looks like he has no idea what's going on. His confidence is shot, which is why it was a shock yesterday when Dave Canales, who is their first year head coach, has worked with the Baker Mayfields of the world and the Russell Wilsons of the world and a reclamation project and Gino Smith. Dave Canales was asked about Bryce Young being their quarterback. And this is what he said yesterday. Bryce is our quarterback. I'd love to see this thing just continue to take the next steps offensively right now.
Okay. And so what happened after the game? He had a chance to go home.
He had a chance to watch some film. And earlier today we learned that he's going to be benched in favor of 36 year old Andy Dalton, who only started one game last year as Bryce Young dealt with an ankle issue earlier on in the season. And Andy Dalton, 36 years old, somebody tweeted to me, I'm still surprised. I'm shocked that Andy Dalton is still here in the league.
So let's let's fast forward less than 24 hours later. Hey, Dave, why the hell did you change your mind? Why are you benching Bryce Young? Yeah, there's a lot of factors. We want to play more football. Um, a lot of factors that go into it, you know, for this decision, you know, and ultimately just kind of lands on my shoulders to be able to make the best decision for our group, um, to give us our chance, our best chance to win this week. And we focus on the weeks. We focus on the challenge at hand and we feel like Andy gives us our best chance to meet the challenge.
Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no. What he can't say is we suck. What he can't say is we're a complete disaster. What he can't say is this man is not giving us a chance or nor an opportunity to win a game. The man that they drafted first overall last year is overwhelmed.
He doesn't believe in himself and the team and whole doesn't believe in him either. Think about the hall. Well, let's think about this. A CJ Stroud was selected number two overall. This man has already taken the Texans to the playoffs.
Come on. You think about the trade for the Carolina Panthers to go ahead and even draft Bryce Young. They sent DJ Moore, two first rounders, two second rounders, a fourth rounder to the Chicago Bears to get the number one overall pick. And they selected Bryce Young. People make fun of the guy because he looks like a toddler with a gigantic backpack.
People make fun of the guy because he looks like a kid going to school. People make fun of Bryce Young because he looks like he is in kindergarten next to gigantic NFL players. Oh yeah, by the way, those Bears picks, well, they turned out to be some guy named Caleb Williams. They got themselves a punter. They got themselves a quarterback in Tyree Stevenson. They got themselves a Darnell Wright.
Not too shabby. Also, by the way, they have a second round pick in the 2025 NFL draft. All of this for a guy who looks overwhelmed, people are comparing him to Jamarcus Russell. At least Jamarcus Russell was big enough to play in the NFL. Maybe he was too big to play in the NFL. Maybe putting down a Krispy Kreme donut every now and then would still have him in the league.
That and studying. But Bryce Young is in a category that nobody wants to be in. And this is full spin right now. Adam Thielen, after the game yesterday, he spoke to the media and he's a good teammate because as frustrated as he was on that football field, he toned it down when he spoke to the media. Adam Thielen, such a nice guy, veteran wide receiver, he said, it's not just Bryce Young who stinks.
It's all of us. I love Bryce to death, man. He works his butt off. He's a great player. This is not a Bryce Young issue. This is a offensive team issue.
We are all in this together. I know football is, that's why I love this game with everything I have because it is the greatest team game because it's not about an individual. It's not basketball where you can have one or two good players and have success in this league and this game. You have to have 11 guys on the same page to have individual success. So there is no individual on this offense that is to blame. It's a collective thing. And I'm excited about where we can go, but we need to, we need to figure out a way to have urgency to get that done.
Spin, spin, spin, spin, spin. That was before, obviously he was benched as of today. That's what a good player does. That's what a veteran does. Take the pressure off of your second year quarterback. But I think we all know this in the modern NFL, you either have it or you don't. And Bryce Young certainly had got the short end of the stick last year going from Frank Reich, then interim head coach, and then the play calls and who's calling the plays and back and forth. And now you bring in a new head coach and Dave Canales, who's already decided to pull the plug on Bryce Young after two weeks. This doesn't bode well for him. I would say the odds are probably maybe 75, 80% that he's not going to work out in Carolina.
Let's be real. This entire year for the Carolina Panthers is nothing but a big old reset. It's an evaluation period.
It was supposed to be an evaluation period and hopefully growth for Bryce Young. That's not going to happen if he's sitting behind Andy Dalton. The Panthers next game is going to be against the Raiders on Sunday. And I know the Raiders are feeling sky high after knocking off the Ravens. I wouldn't feel sky high about anything, but Brock Bowers and, you know, Devante Adams.
But the fact is, let's be real, the Panthers are going to be the underdogs in every game that they play. Andy Dalton is average at best. Go out there and give you a decent game, maybe throw two touchdowns. He can go out there and throw two interceptions. He could go two interceptions and two touchdowns.
He is average as average can be. And I will assume there's going to come a point in time. It may be over the next several weeks. It might be after a loss. It might be after a terrible first half. Andy Dalton is going to get yanked again or he will be yanked. And Bryce Young will be given a chance and an opportunity to shine.
You don't invest this much after a guy in one year and just automatically give him the boot. This season is going to continue to be an evaluation for the Carolina Panthers because if we take a look at the NFC South, a little surprising so far here, right? You have the New Orleans Saints. Thanks to a beat down that they handed to the Dallas Cowboys, the Saints are 2-0. The Bucks, we expected them to be good competitive here. The Bucks are 2-0. The Falcons, by the time tonight is over and they take on the Philadelphia Eagles, we will know exactly where they stand. Might be 0-2 taking on those Eagles. And you got the Panthers. Who cares how many games you win or lose?
You have to see what Bryce Young is. And so after only two games, I'm not pulling the plug. I doubt that the Panthers pull the plug.
This is a reset. They're going to throw that man back out there in the hope that for the next 15 games, eventually they see something where this is just not a complete loss. Otherwise, their owner, David Tepper, he's going to be throwing more than drinks at fans. He's going to be throwing and hurling obscenities, drinks. He might be throwing asses out of the building, firing people.
I don't know. What I do know from today is what Dave Canales continued to say. Is this just a one week thing or are we done with Bryce Young for the year?
This is what Dave Canales told us earlier today. Right now, we're focused on this week. We're focused on getting Andy ready to play the Raiders and then we'll just take it like that. We'll attack the Raiders. We'll attack this week. There's a hope that maybe Bryce sits back, watches and learns and then it pays off down the road.
I certainly hope he just shows up every day, works hard, focuses on his job and continues to push himself. Is this a weekly decision you're going to have to make or is Andy the starter just moving? I don't want to get into timelines. I just know Andy gives us our best chance to win right now.
Uh huh. No timeline. Bottom line is when Andy Dalton sucks, Bryce Young will get his chance. He better grab the bull by the horns. He'll get an elongated chance until he sucks again. And the locker room says, why are we playing this guy? And Bryce Young, you know what?
We haven't heard from him. Yesterday, when asked how he's going to move forward before the benching, he was asked, you know, where he's getting his confidence from. And this is what he said. Drop my confidence from the Lord. So, um, um, I'm very blessed. Uh, and, uh, you know, I'm grateful for the challenge. Um, you know, not ideal start, but, uh, God is everything for a reason. So I have faith in that.
Okay. And does it mean that the Lord wants him to be the starting quarterback for the Carolina Panthers, but we'll find out sooner than later, right now, it's not looking good right now. It looks like he's just going to be a backup quarterback for how long we'll find out soon enough. Not looking good for Bryce Young. Biggest story out of the NFL today is that the number one overall pick from last year has already been told to have a seat. Not a way that anybody wants to start off a Monday. Not a way that anybody wants to start off a week. I think Bryce Young will get another chance, another opportunity. And I think he should, because you don't pull the plug this soon on a guy. We'll see Bryce Young again, sooner than later before the season is up.
And you know what, speaking of starting a week off the Monday off, that's what the hell we just did. We have so much more to get into. A matter of fact, as it relates to these Carolina Panthers, Travis Hancock is going to join us.
A co-host of the morning show. Mac and bone is going to come through in an hour from now, a co-host on WFNZ up in Charlotte. He's going to join us to, we'll get his firsthand thoughts on Bryce Young and what takes place. We're going to talk about some of these injuries in the NFL. We got a lot guys like Pacheco, Justin Jefferson had a little bit of a hammy issue yesterday. We see that the Rams, their wide receivers are just all kind of busted up. We mentioned the Saints smacking the Cowboys. We're going to get into that. How about the Bengals as well?
They almost had it against the chiefs and then they did it. We have so much to get into. Can't wait to talk about Arch Manning. We'll get into the Georgia Bulldogs. People are messaging me saying, Hey, JR, what's going on with them? We got a lot to do. You want to participate in the show? Easy. 855-212-4227.
That's 855-212-4227. We're going to take a break. When we come back on the other side, let's talk about the guy who was selected and drafted number one overall this year.
His name is Caleb Williams. I don't think people are quitting on him. I think people might be quitting on the Bears offensive line.
We'll get into that in a moment. It's the JR sport re-show just getting started here on the infinity sports network. Sports fans, listen up. One in eight men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer and bladder leaks can be a side effect. That's why depend is teaming up with the prostate cancer foundation to encourage screening because health, it's a long game and it's yours to win. Now here's the cool part through November depend is contributing up to $300,000 to prostate cancer research by donating 40 cents for every purchase of shields guards and real fit products void in Mississippi.
Learn more at depend.com. You're listening to the JR sport brief. It's the JR sport brief show here with you on the infinity sports network. Well, I know this song. This song is, it's called on fire.
Yeah. Panthers are not on fire. You know, we'll talk about a team on fire in about 30 minutes. We'll get into the saints at the top of the hour. Got the Atlanta Falcons trying to avoid O and two. Man, we got the saints right now.
They're two and O. Didn't expect this. Thought everybody would continue to hate on Derek Carr, but there's still time. Let's just put it that way.
There's still time. We'll talk about the saints. When smacking the Cowboys at the top of the hour right now, we got to talk about someone who got smacked around a whole hell of a lot last night, making his Sunday night football debut. Things did not go well for Caleb Williams.
Welcome to the NFL, man. Had two interceptions in the second half of the game. The Texans beat the bears 19 to 13. The Texans defense, uh, came through at the end and, well, they didn't just come through. They went through, beat up, stomped, knocked around Caleb Williams. This man was sacked seven times to go along with his two interceptions. The offensive line looked terrible.
Caleb Williams was running for his life. He showed an ability to get out and scramble and throw the ball around something that we saw at USC. But this is the NFL. Caleb Williams, after barely beating of the Tennessee Titans last week, 24 to 17 for this season, Caleb Williams has 267 yards passing to go along with two interceptions. The same two that I told you he threw in the second half of yesterday. This is not USC.
It's not going to be no five touchdown, you know, 400 yard passing game against some bum ass team in the mountain West. No, this is the NFL and Caleb Williams. I know he is, he got the Ben Gay, the icy hot, cold tub, Thera tech. This guy's been in bed all day long, nursing all of the pain that was probably radiating through his body. Now he's a tough dude. He can take the hit, but the bears are now one in one and no shock that the Texans beat them. And Caleb Williams is getting used to the NFL.
He's getting used to the abuse and the punishment. But his head coach, Matt Eberfluse, he says, yeah, he got sacked seven times. It's up to everybody on offense to keep them upright. I believe that protection is everybody. You know, protection is the tight ends. It's the runners. It's the offensive line. It's the quarterback. It's, it's everybody involved.
So we got to do a really good job with that and taking a look at that. Okay. Well, Caleb, you got knocked around. You were sacked officially seven times. You hit more than that.
You lost the game. Are you hurting? Are you bad?
Or what are you upset about? Not coming out with a win. Um, not executing.
Um, you know, we needed to, um, as a team, um, um, you know, myself throwing two interceptions. Um, it's not something that I've done. Um, something that I do, um, is, is turn the ball over.
It's not really my, you know, my thing. Not really his thing as he, uh, tapped. I don't want to say nervously, just, just tapping on the podium.
He's an NFL player. He can tap on a podium. Hickey, could you imagine if, I don't know, let's say not this president, but could you imagine any president delivering a press conference and just kind of tapping on the table while they spoke? That would not be a good sign for the state of the union. No, the state of the union. That's also one thing we'll never hear a president who comes out for the state of the union. Have you ever heard one go?
The state of our union is poor. Never heard that one. Don't, don't think I ever will. Oh, there's something about press conferences, man. Athletes. Do they tell the truth at press conferences?
I don't know. And politicians who tells Hickey, does anybody tell the truth at a press conference? Now that I think about it, nobody does. Nobody does. No, no.
Because the truth is worse than reality. Well, damn, damn. Ouch. Well, what do you think about this truth and the reality for the bears or Caleb Williams? He got time to get it together, right? He does. The offensive line doesn't.
And that's the problem. I mean, that's what you, I mean, you get worried about when he gets hit so much, you're going to get him injured or have him develop bad habits because now instead of looking down the field, he's looking right in front of him to see how the protection is holding up, which that's how you just ruined the whole offense because doesn't trust the guys blocking for him. And I don't know why he would so far.
They've been a disaster. And that right now is the biggest reason why the bears offense has just been very poor. If he gets smacked around more like this, he's going to be looking like Bryce young, which is, uh, not something that, that anybody wants.
There's something else that nobody wants. Nobody wants Tyson Bajan, you know, out there on the football field. When you have Caleb Williams, you just drafted him a number one overall. And I think the bears will, he's going to be running for his life all year long. And maybe you can build some type of continuity with the offensive line.
That's typically what happens. But sometimes if the guy's on the line of bad, they're just going to be bad up next for the bears, the Indianapolis Colts. I'm going, Hey, I'm gonna take the bears over, over the Colts. Okay. All right. Is that, is that fine?
Is that fine by you? I mean, neither team has given you a reason to believe right now, but that's fair. I mean, you think about the, the Colts and whatever their rush defense looks like Caleb, Caleb Williams, not expected to be a, uh, you know, a world beetle on the ground, but he might rush for, for 70 against you guys, man, him, Deandre Swift, who I think carried the ball 14 times for 17 yards. He'll probably go for one 50 in the first half. The backup running back will go for probably like another 80 yards. Maybe that Eber flus has a few carries and he'll go for like 40 yards on three carries.
Well, damn. So tell me how you really feel about the Colts. You're not high on them right now, are you? They stink. They, every, every aspect, they just stink. Well, Caleb Williams says it doesn't matter who we play next week or the week after that. Caleb Williams says every week of the season is going to be a challenge. Every week is going to be a challenge every week. You know, it's tough to go out there and win games. Um, um, and, uh, you know, it's, it's, it's, like I said, their job to go out there and make it tough for us. So, uh, we gotta find the, you know, the right, you know, right calls.
I gotta find the right calls. There's always a silver lining. Remember that, right? Unless you're Bryce. Well, even Bryce Young is, he's found the silver lining. I think.
Here's, here's the point. The Chicago Bears are still going to be competitive enough, I think, to win approximately, I don't know, eight, eight-ish, nine-ish games. The Vikings can't continue on what the hell they've been, right? Currently 2-0. Eventually Jordan Love will come back. Now, will the Packers have lost a few more games?
Yeah, probably as a result. Lions will still be competitive despite the disappointing loss yesterday. The Bears still have an opportunity to make noise this season. And so if we want to find an additional silver lining, head coach Matt Eberfluse, he is impressed with how Caleb Williams has handled, handled this disastrous offensive line.
Listen to this. I think he did a really good job of riding up in the pocket and making some good throws. So there's some really good positives there that we can look at. Um, and then also he, he was able to evade the rush a couple times and get on the perimeter. Um, you know, then he has to be careful with the football after he gets out there, um, when he throws the ball, you know, in a scramble drill.
Um, so there's some great learning moments there for him. The Bears, I'm expecting them to go 2-1 against the Indianapolis Colts. Maybe Caleb Williams will throw his first career touchdown.
It has to come eventually, right? The guy can't go a whole season before a college football player used to throw in three and four and five touchdowns in the game. Welcome to the NFL. Caleb Williams, God bless him. He has a whole lot more rope than Bryce Young.
Good for him. And the Texans, we know where they're going right to the postseason. 855-212-4227.
That's 855-212-4227. We're going to take a break when we come back on the other side. Unfortunately, we have been able to tick off some major injuries here from week two. And the Rams are not looking good. If you play wide receiver, if you've ever played wide out in high school or college or peewee, uh, you might want to give the Rams a holler.
Shout out to everybody listening in Los Angeles and in California. It's the JR sport re-show here with you on the infinity sports network. We'll get into some of these NFL injuries on the other side of the break. You're listening to the JR sport brief. It's the JR sport brief show here with you on the infinity sports network. 855-212-4227.
That's 855-212-4227. Man, this sucks. Getting ready to tell you about some of these injuries in the NFL. And literally minutes ago, we found out more. Hickey, what the hell is going on with Deebo Samuel? Kyle Shanahan just announced he suffered a calf strain yesterday. Will be out a few weeks. Oh no.
Oh my goodness. We're already dealing with the injury to Christian McCaffrey. He has a calf issue. He has an Achilles issue. Deebo Samuel now expected to miss a few weeks with a calf strain.
Oh man. You thought it was bad yesterday for the 49ers as the Vikings beat them 23 to 17. And, uh, you thought the biggest injury out of that game might have just been Justin Jefferson with a quadriceps bruise.
Not even the case, not even the case at all. Now we got Deebo Samuel. You think about the 49ers, that dynamic offense that has all of that depth. It ain't all that dynamic.
It ain't all that awesome anymore. If you're now missing Deebo Samuel, who's kind of a Swiss army knife in and of himself, and Christian McCaffrey, who's one of the best dual threats that the NFL has ever seen, not just today, I'm talking about of all time. And so the San Francisco 49ers, they, they got a couple of weeks to kind of, you know, figure things out as they go through the rest of the season. If you want to find the silver lining, and I said this last week, when it came down to Christian McCaffrey, you're trying to win a Super Bowl. You want this dude available at the end of the year.
Not so much right now. This ain't been a cakewalk here for the San Francisco 49ers. The next game, if this is a good thing at all, the 49ers are going to take on the Rams, which are dealing with their own injury issues. You just heard from Rich Ackerman with the news break.
Puka Nakua is done for a couple of weeks. He's on injured reserve with that knee injury. And then we also learned that Cooper Cupp, who's been dealing with, with leg injuries, it feels like since they won the Super Bowl, he's now going to be out. He could potentially go on injured reserve with an ankle injury. And since winning the Super Bowl, Cooper Cupp got that big old contract. He's had hamstring issues. He had to deal with a high ankle sprain.
He's now 31 years old. Let's be real. Cooper Cupp's his best days are behind him. You keep having, it's his route running.
That's what everybody raves about. I don't know how great you're going to run a route if your ankles and your thighs and your legs are now cooked. If they're cooked, Matthew Stafford might be cooked sooner than later. Deebo Samuel out with a calf strain. Puka Nakua already out with a knee.
Cooper Cupp now dealing with another ankle injury. And then we got the 49ers and the Rams. I don't want to call this the injury bowl, but this is certainly not the game that people would have signed up for without some of the major offensive weapons out there.
Obviously, Ayuk is still available for the 49ers. Brock Purdy is still expected to, I don't know, put up some type of excitement, but some of the juice is out of this game now that we have some of these injuries. Hickey, this kind of leads, especially being so early in the season. It makes you go, hmm, I know that we don't have preseason games or the players don't play in them in the same type of way. I'm not a doctor.
And I know the doctors wouldn't even have this answer. But for the amount of injuries that we've seen, doesn't it lead you to think that maybe if we had a couple more plays to get the guys warmed up that we might, might see a different result? Absolutely, because most injuries, right, are soft tissue. For the most part, where you're looking at Christian McCaffrey.
What was that? You know, everybody's everybody's calves are Russell Wilson's calf is hurting McCaffrey's calf is hurt. Deebo Samuel's calf is hurting. Cooper Cupp's ankle is hurting.
Yeah. T Higgins has a hamstring injury. Like a lot of these injuries to big name players are muscles for the most part, which I'm like, if you work out more, if you're running, you know, if training camp is more difficult, like it used to be, I think you can cut down on these injuries because I don't think these players even in joint practices are going anywhere near as hard as they're going now. So what you're going, you're sprinting at a hundred percent for the first time for this long of a period in nine months, your body's going to react differently.
And it's going to take, you know, you're going to be sore. And unfortunately muscles will be, you know, a bill more prone to getting pulled and strained, which I don't, I'm with you. I don't think it's a coincidence whatsoever that now you're seeing less intensive training camps and less pre-season training camps. So, you know, more intensive training camps and less pre-season time and more soft tissue injuries. Can't wait until we get 18 games in a regular season, right? And two pre-season games so we can have the first six weeks basically be a de facto pre-season.
Yeah. I mean, that's what, hey, if the money is there, the NFL and the union, they're gonna, they're gonna sign up for it. You talk about soft tissue injuries. You know, we saw a little bit of a surprise yesterday talking about the 49ers where Deebo Samuel is now hurt, dealing with his own calf issue. Justin Jefferson, probably the best wide receiver in the entire NFL.
He's making $35 million a year. He finished the day against the 49ers with 133 yards in the air receiving to go along with a touchdown. But unfortunately he also left with a thigh bruise. And so people were concerned about how he would be moving forward. Well, today, Kevin O'Connell spoke to the media and he says, he's, he's moving around just fine, which is good. Justin Jefferson said yesterday after the game, I mean, all of that worried about it.
Listen. No, not overly concerned, just a little thigh bruise, contusion, whatever you want to call it. Something that happens a lot during football. Just, just like I said, you got to treat it up, get it feeling well and you're ready to go next week. Be ready to go next week. Well, apparently today he feels good and he will be ready to go next week as these Minnesota Vikings continue on against the Texans.
That's going to be a good one. Texans are 2-0, the Vikings are now 2-0 and nobody expected this from the Minnesota Vikings, not with Sam Donald getting the chance and the opportunity to go ahead. Speaking of injuries, this one is not a soft tissue injury.
This man is dealing with a broken leg. The Chiefs came back to beat the Bengals yesterday. Shout outs to Harrison Butger for kicking the ball through the uprights to win the game 26 to 25. Isaiah Pacheco.
This man rushed for 90 yards on the final drive of the game. He's getting tackled. He's getting bent backwards. And not only did he get bent backwards, but he broke as in his leg.
Take a listen to this. Ian Rapoport came through on the NFL network, giving us the update earlier today. Isaiah Pacheco sources say fractured his fibula in yesterday's Chiefs win over the Cincinnati Bengals.
This was kind of the fear leaving the stadium. He was in a walking boot. He was in crutches. Anytime they're going to take a look at the bone, usually that's not good.
This is why. Initial test showed a fractured fibula. Now my understanding is he's going to have more tests today to determine if there is associated damage. In other words, if there is damage to the ligaments, what needs to happen next and how long he is going to be out.
But it is a fracture. Generally, those are four, six weeks, maybe eight weeks. Don't be surprised if Isaiah Pacheco is placed on injury reserve. Yeah, we ain't going to see this guy for about two months. And the Kansas City Chiefs, I mean, they haven't started off the season on fire, but they still, they got a record right now with 2-0. And if they're not even, haven't even peaked, then who's peaking after two weeks? But if they haven't played up to the expectations, the championship expectations, what the hell are they going to look like when they get it together? I mean, the Chargers right now look like they might be a fringe playoff team if they continue to run the ball like this. How many yards is Dobbins going to rush for before he breaks down?
I have no idea. But we know the Chiefs are going to be there at the end. And Pacheco, you don't have time to come back on the stretch run. I guess if you want these injuries for anybody, you want these injuries early as opposed to late.
And speaking of injuries, opposed to late, it doesn't matter when this one comes in. Last week, last Friday, we talked about Tua Tongaveloa. And we pretty much said that Tua Tongaveloa, nobody wants to see him getting smacked and hit around.
Three, four concussions, head injuries, whatever you want to call them that we've seen since he joined the NFL. And we got a report yesterday that Tua Tongaveloa, he's not going to retire. He's not considering retirement. The man is going to go out there and try to clock every single dollar and cent from his new contract that's paying him more than 50 plus million dollars every year.
Mike McDaniel spoke to the media today and he said that Tua is day today. He's, you know, is downstairs today, you know, smiling with his teammates. You know, he's working with trainers and medical staff diligently. And, you know, as far as I'm concerned, you know, you're in the protocol and I think he's doing well today and we take it day by day. So, he was feeling good, but what does that mean in terms of a medical diagnosis? I don't base my judgments on my interactions with him necessarily as much as it is hearing the end result of the medical examination and where he's at. So, it was good to see him. And I know his teammates were pumped to see him. Good for him.
They got Seattle up next, by the way, this upcoming Sunday. Tua Tonga Veloa, it's almost a matter of when and not if. He's not going to retire. So, eventually we'll see him back on the football field. I assume at some point this season, a few weeks from now, I'd gather.
And it's just when? When is the next time he takes a massive hit? And that hit may not lead to a concussion or a head injury, but it's going to happen.
This is football. You want to tell me that Tua Tonga Veloa playing quarterback is not going to be concussed again? It's going to happen. And I just hope like everybody else, he can do this as in being healthy for the long term. That's my hope.
But this is his life, his choice, and everybody knows the risks, specifically him. So, the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. We're going to take a break. When we come back on the other side, I mentioned to you the Bengals, and talk about them stinking, and the Ravens stinking, and the Saints surprising, plus Travis Hancock to talk Bryce Young, don't move, the JR Sport Brief Show.
