Will Brinson's reaction Monday to week one of the NFL season

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Discover the Ultimate Cloud Gaming Machine, a new kind of Chromebook. Will Brinson, PIX6 Podcast, CBSSports.com's senior NFL writer. I listened this morning to the PIX6 Podcast and I found it entertaining. We will talk about some of the games not involving the Carolina Panthers. Will, how are you?

I am well, Adam. Although I found it a little annoying to get chirped at over the semantics involving a lightning strike on a scoreboard. And whether or not a particular university's brand-new scoreboard was struck by lightning or simply malfunctioned due to weather. I can't remember what the actual phrase the university used, but lightning caused the scoreboard to get knocked out. It did.

So to whoever was chirping at me and whoever you worked for, and I don't even know who you are, please don't do that again. Yeah, it was unfortunate. Maybe they should have stayed inside anyway, judging by what happened in the first play after the resumption of play. All right, let's start with, I thought, I really thought maybe I had talked myself into it because preseason football. I thought the Steelers were going to be sneaky good. Maybe they will, but they were not. Or was that all about the San Francisco 49ers just being that good? I think it's probably more about San Francisco than it was about Pittsburgh.

Although, you know, as you mentioned, you listen to the Picsics podcast. Ryan Wilson led our recap last night. That was an attempt to keep it a tight 90 minutes versus a full two hours.

One hour, 34 minutes, according to my counter. That's right. I actually, if you watch some video, you could see like the laughter creeping across my face, stretching across the 90 minute window just to make Wilson mad. That's quite all right. Yeah, but I think like, you know, if you're a Steelers fan, you're definitely feeling a high level of concern that like, one, Matt Canada is a problem. And I think, you know, people around here will understand that, you know, maybe not the greatest offensive play caller. There's actually three coaches on that on that Steelers staff that were on the NC State staff that didn't win an 0-8 in the conference.

Which is which is just a very odd coincidence. But, you know, I think I think you look at the offense and you definitely say, all right, that preseason was fun. But now that the the real the bullets are flying, so to speak, it doesn't it sure doesn't look quite as good. And can you think it struggled? But I think you also have to say, all right, this San Francisco defense might just be one of the best in the league, if not the best in the league. And, you know, Brock Purdie and Patrick Peterson had some some words before and after the game with with Pat P. Yeah, claiming he was tipping plays and Purdie looked pretty, really sharp. I mean, he he got the ball out quick. He and Brandon Iuc had fantastic chemistry.

Christopher Caffrey, elite as always. I mean, did right. Like, like if if if all those guys are like if Brock Purdie is playing like that all season long, then the Niners are just going to be, you know, the best team in football. I mean, right. Because that defense looks the part.

And so I think it's probably more about San Francisco. But you should absolutely be tapping the panic button a little bit if you're a Steelers fan. Yeah, look, the preseason football really doesn't matter. I mean, it doesn't matter at all. Right. You can knock some rust off, but ultimately you're probably not playing against other teams ones ever. So that doesn't really matter. But I mean, the Steelers do sometimes even as we'll talk about the Panthers, it's like, you know, you could have panics about the offensive line, but it might be because other teams are being more aggressive. Like, you know, I mean, so it's it's yeah, it doesn't matter in like several ways. And with Pittsburgh in particular, it's like, great.

Can you pick it? You were, you know, that's great that you were good in the preseason. But like, you know, you got to be good in the regular season, too.

Yeah. So one weekend, it doesn't look so good for the Steelers. And it's a difficult division, as we found out, because Cleveland's defense is outstanding.

Although they might just own Joe Burrow. He's won one in five in his career against the Browns, which is a bizarre, bizarre number. Let me go to MetLife Stadium last night. When the Jets, or I should say, if the Jets score a point, well, that'll be the first time the home team did at MetLife Stadium. Forty to nothing?

And here's the thing about it. And I don't know what game Chris Collinsworth was watching last night. Dallas's offense was not impressive. Did they have to do anything?

Well, I know, but it's still, it still was not impressive. And Collinsworth was convinced, and I'm using air quotes here, convinced that they'll be fine with Mike McCarthy calling plays. I'm not saying they won't, but there was nothing last night that should have told you that Dallas will be fine with McCarthy calling plays because the Giants were so horrifically bad.

Yeah. I mean, first of all, you know, apologies to all Cowboys fans, including my, my good friend Heidi B, you know, for, for me picking the Giants to win. And so did I get me to cover that game for CBS Sports.com. That was, that was, I've made a huge mistake moment, right?

The, like the, the arrested development gift. And it was, then it was dead out of, out of the gate. Although like the Giants did a pretty good job moving the ball down the field. On the first drive, on the first drive and Collinsworth said, it's, I, I, I comment, I was making pizza at home. So I, as I'm handmade homemade pizza, absolutely. As I was making, as I was spreading the toppings.

No, I had already needed the dough. The dough was needed before the game started. As I was making the actual pie, Collinsworth said out loud, boy, this game is going very much the way the Giants wanted it. It was the first drive of the game. And the very next thing that happened was Andrew Thomas, false start, and then the snap went on the ground past Daniel Jones. Then there was the missed field goal and the block field goal for a touchdown.

And that was it. That was the last time the Giants were even part of the equation. And he also remarked and said something on that first drive about how he's like, he's like, he's like, he's like, Mike, you know, this is, this is the Giants are really taking away the Cowboys ability to get downhill with their rushers.

And it's like, and then all of a sudden it was like, Daniel Jones was just under siege. Yeah, I do think that like that game is, I mean, I'm not, I'm not saying that the, it was about, I'm not trying to make any claim that it was like, it wasn't, it wasn't a 40 nothing beat down. But the Giants, I mean, the Giants have, like, if you go score there first, it changes everything because all of a sudden, you know, you don't, you know, the Cowboys had two defensive touchdowns. I mean, like quit or two spread divisional special teams, touchdowns, like quickly, I had your defense in fantasy. Sorry, we'll average, but they dropped a 41 on your face, buddy.

And like, it's, it's one of those where we're not question. I don't want, I don't want to come out and question the Cowboys offense or question the Cowboys. Cause if that defense plays like that, you know, if they play as well as they did, like, they're going to be a really good team, but we just didn't see anything from their offense. I actually saw average from their offense. I thought Dak was average to bad. I didn't think Dak was good.

Yeah. I mean, it's just, it's just, it's just hard to, it's, it's just hard to get a firm grasp of Dak was 13 to 24 for 143 yards. No touchdowns, no picks. I mean, Tony Pollard ran. I thought Tony Pollard looked pretty good.

Um, and, and CD lamb. Look, I mean, like, look, like the way we, he should, he's awesome. See, there's incredible. Um, but again, it's just, it's just, it's not, and it's not like their fault. They just had, you know, they had a, um, they had the, uh, block field goal and then the return and the, you know, but into the first quarter at 16, nothing. And they've got a field goal, um, where, you know, they had a decent March and then like a pick six. And you know, like after that, it was also kind of like Dallas, wasn't going to be hyper aggressive on offense, trying to swing it all around. I mean, you know, you've got this big lead, your defense is locking down the giants.

So it's like, I don't want to, I think it's just, I think it's just hard to get a, no, I agree. I'm not saying their offense is bad. I'm just saying that there was nothing that we saw. And, and Collinsworth was gushing about McCarthy and deck, like the jury is way out on whether or not that's going to be a successful tandem. Well, to compare the two, like San Francisco, you felt very clearly as if they played very well. They played really well on both sides of the ball. I think Dallas, it was like, all right, that defense on court on these guys and they got, you know, and they scored twice, but it's, it was sort of hard to tell. Whether or not the offense, like you didn't get a firm grasp on nothing. What the opposite identity will be. And that's fine.

That is fine. I, I, we did get a firm grasp on the, the giants might be in a ton of trouble. Although the caveat Dallas's defense could end up being one of the two or three trips all over themselves. I mean, they were, they were, they were giving it away or give the ball away left and right. They were, they, they were bad. Daniel Jones was awful. And man, Daniel Jones, it's like criticizing Beyonce on Twitter. If you criticize Daniel Jones on Twitter, I mean, the people go bananas. Like you realize it's just Daniel Jones. He's not that good. Like I questioned whether the giants gave him a $40 million contract in the off season.

I didn't get it. And you know, I've said this out loud so many times. It's ridiculous at this point. But when you pay a good player and I'll just say Daniel Jones is an average NFL quarterback. You play an average quarterback, top player money, then you lose. You lose. I just put you behind the eight ball for sure. I mean, it just eats up too much in a salary cap game.

If there's no salary cap and you can pay anything you want for anybody, go, go ahead and do it. But I think the Giants are in trouble. I'm sorry, this goes into the you hate to see it category. Sean Payton losing at home to the Raiders on opening day. Gosh, I hate that. I don't hate a fan. So I do hate it. But I understand that many people enjoy a little Sean and Freud with Sean and Freud, if you will. Yeah, with Sean Payton. So like I get it now.

It's not a great look, especially. It's like you open the game, like you open your career as Denver Broncos head coach. Yeah, that's right. We're going on sides to start the season. It's like, all right, we get it. You went on sides of the second half of the Super Bowl.

You got it. And it's like, you know, it's just it's like, ah, check this out. Look at the big brain on Brad. Well, you know, you gave the Raiders a short field and you know, you have this offense. It's not exactly like you're not in the Super Bowl, Sean.

I get I get I get the idea of like, let's just flip. Let's just put these guys in their head, you know, get the onsides. And then it's like, but, you know, just just let you just kick off and put your defense play and force Josh McGainals and Jimmy Garoppolo to beat you over the full length of the field. You know, and as John Breese pointed out in the podcast, Sean Payton. So that's one where you give a short field with an onsides kick.

It's pretty unusual and pretty unnecessary. Like onsides kicks are hard to get, even surprise ones at the beginning of games. And then two will Lutz miss an extra point? And I think like a field goal that was like within decent range and lost by one point.

And this is after he, you know, kicked, he fired Brandon McManus, the longtime Broncos kicker, and brought in lots from New Orleans because that was his guy. Right. And, you know, you know, oops, I mean, whoops. Yeah.

Well, whoops. Like some some some special teams gassed there by Mr. Payton. I said this a month ago when Payton came out and said that Nathaniel, he didn't mention Nathaniel Hackett, but when he said it was the worst coaching job in the history of the NFL, we know who he was talking about.

And then went on to criticize the Jets after it. And he could be right on both counts. I'm not even arguing. And I said it at the time. He's probably right.

But it's really it's really awful to say that out loud. My feeling was you better win now, sir, because it would suck to have the second worst coaching job in NFL history in Denver. And those people want to win and they don't have any history with Sean Payton. So he should probably win.

Dolphins and Chargers was Game of the Week, super entertaining. To a tongue of eye, though, if he stays healthy might be just great. Of course, staying healthy is the the biggest question with him because he is fragile.

And he was fragile before the concussion problem happened because he had hip problems as a young person and hip problems is just no good. But I'm not sure that this game isn't about the Chargers just not being able to get away from the fact that they're the Chargers. Yeah, I'd be fine with that. I think, you know, I think both teams had I mean, I don't know, like I sort of I don't read to for me.

The takeaway is one that, like, if Tua is healthy, the Dolphins upside is huge. Yeah. They also had to play from behind.

Right. They were coming from behind. They had to throw a bunch instead of running against the Chargers, which is usually how you win. The Chargers, you know, ran the ball incredibly effectively against the Dolphins. Two hundred and some yards rushing and then decided to stop running the ball when they when they had the when they were down to like two minutes ago, which is just insane. Like they should have absolutely have have used Austin Eckler there instead of dropping back and letting the Dolphins pass rusher and cork on him and take Justin Herbert out.

And also they had like a third and 35 or something like that. So that's sort of questionable by Kellen Moore in that spot, even though they I mean, but I don't I think it's just going to be if Tua is healthy and if, you know, like Justin Herbert's got all his weapons. It's going to be tough to stop either of those offenses. It's just a matter of, you know, can't like will will we ever see the Chargers properly close out a football game? And I don't know that the answer is yes.

No, the answer is yes. When when they get up when they get a maybe when they get a proper head coach, I don't know. I've never been Brandon Staley, Stanley, whatever his name is. Yeah, he's very good in front of a podium.

I don't think he is nearly as good with a headset on. The defense just hasn't been good with the Chargers. He's a defensive guy. The defense just hasn't been good. Golf clap all around if your offense is good with Justin Herbert, Keenan Allen, like an all pro left tackle that got rookie of the year votes two years ago. And, you know, Mike Williams, and now Quentin Johnson, like, congratulations, you didn't screw it up. Like, you know, it's like, like, do you think you don't get nobody should get an award for having a good offense with all that, right? It's like, it's like, it's like one of the Yeah, it's it's Oh, congratulations. Here's your award. Thanks for meeting the bare minimum expectations.

Speaking of bare minimum. I want to close on this game. I really thought that that the Chicago Bears has nothing to do with the preseason. I thought that the Chicago Bears were going to be the surprise team in the NFC North. And they were, they were not good. But the real takeaway from that was that the Green Bay Packers are the cut Packers were good on on on both sides of the ball.

They were good on defense. And Jordan love and I Jordan love was very good. And I know you guys talked about it, but I have not heard anybody else mentioned the fact that there has to be some positive for Jordan love watching for three full seasons. Not that everybody should watch for three full seasons, but he looked so much more comfortable doing what he was supposed to be doing. And the fact that he was on the bench for three years didn't hurt him. I wish more teams would take this route when it comes to rookie quarterbacks.

They all start because well, you we have you have to start them and accelerate the growing process. Patrick Mahomes did it? Yes, we have to. Carson Palmer, Phillip Rivers, I mean all good. Incredible examples, incredible examples of quarterbacks who waited a year. Aaron Rodgers? Unbelievable. And because we think that the salary cap dictates what you do, it doesn't have to.

It simply doesn't have to. And I wonder how many quarterbacks are ruined because they start too soon and develop bad habits and you can't break them. Well, I think like maybe if you want to throw another good example out there and tell them about the Bears, but it's tough to say because it's it's it's not a simple cinnamon. They turn out great, but like no. When Chicago brought in our buddy Mike Glennon and paid him in free agency and then went to Mitchell Trubisky like like way too quickly. Right away.

Like like like it. Mr Trubisky only started like 12 games in college and probably would have behooved him to sit. I mean, like we've seen some action he didn't. He couldn't beat out.

Can you pick it or whatever? But it's like, you know, he he sat for a year in Buffalo and seemed to have like a better grasp on how to on how to play quarterback. So I think it's a it's a it's a fine line to walk. But if your team isn't ready, if your quarterback isn't ready, your team isn't ready and you have an established veteran there, like I don't see the need to like just yank the ripcord when everything's going poorly and go to the rookie. Because it's like, yeah, play the kid. But if the kids not ready, don't, you know, like, let him sit and Jordan Love clearly benefited from having some time to sit and learn and grow, develop and sort of like, you know, get some action in NFL games and preseason games and sort of learn how to be a quarterback to watch Aaron Rodgers to see what he does. And you see some of Aaron Rodgers in his game too, I think, right? Like you saw that with Zach Wilson a little bit the preseason where it's like, you can see just picking up on the tendencies and the in the in the way that Rodgers operates.

I mean, definitely wears off of these kids. So yeah, I think I think in this case, especially when they drafted him in the Rodgers wins two MVPs, you know, like they didn't they didn't win a title, but I mean, like, it's not like they were stinking. Well, no love is on the bench, right?

There was no pressure to play love because Rogers was playing well, and I understand all of that. But I think it matters that these guys have a chance to develop, especially considering the college game and the pro game might as well be chess and checkers. There's just no correlation to playing quarterback in college football and the NFL.

They are different beasts and nobody seems to want to acknowledge that. And I think it's like what what what type of quarterback is like Bryce Young, for instance, I think is better off not sitting, right? Because I think I think he's just he's just sort of like his floor is raised enough where you don't he doesn't need to sit and learn like he can play now. And maybe Anthony Richardson can too. And certainly he had some moments for the Colts, but like at the same time, it just sort of like somebody like a Jordan Love who was a little more raw, like, you know, like a little less refined.

That's the type of guy you want to say. I will say I will say this, I think that it wouldn't hurt any of these rookies to watch for a year. Sure, but none of the teams are equipped to do that. Right. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy, too, because typically speaking, if you were drafting a highly coveted quarterback, you know, you are you are you're high, you know, top 10 pick. Right.

Steve DeBerg is too old to to be your quarterback like he was in front of Joe with Joe Montana and John Elway wasn't. Yeah. Yeah. DeBerg DeBerg was there's a great story about the voice box on the back of the birds. You hear that when Randy Cross told it? No, I'll find it.

But it's like he had a he had like had to attach a voice box to the back of his like a speaker to the back of his shoulder pads because he he lost his voice the night before. That's awesome. All right, man.

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