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So lots to cover. As a reminder of the program, always brought to you by FanDuel. My thanks to my buddies at FanDuel. Because without them, this may not be possible.
So. Let's get at it. Telephone number is toll-free. I've got one interview today, so lots of time for you to get through. Lots of open lanes.
Telephone number is 1-800-636-8686. Don't wait on me. Again, if you know what you want to talk about, get up in here right now. Phone lines are wide open. If you're not about that and you want to hit me up on social media, lots of different ways to go with that.
Hit me up at Jim Roam on X. You can also email us at roamrom e at havetake.com. Or if you're one of those people who watches the program on our YouTube channel, Head on over there right now. You're probably already there. If you're already there, jump into chat.
If you haven't checked it out yet and you've heard us talking about it, give it a shot. Go to YouTube, Jim Rome, and once you get there, hit the sub button, ring the bell, and then find your way into chat. If you've not been in chat yet, be prepared. It's a different game altogether. It moves really fast.
You'll adjust to it. Your brain ultimately will adjust to it, but it's going to take a moment or two.
So those are the ways to participate and engage because you know I'm looking for your engagement. Mitchell Schwartz is a former NFLer and a Super Bowl champ. He joins us at 1240.
Alright, let's not waste time. Our first whip. of the season. An NFL whip. I've been thinking about the whip.
I don't know that we'll keep the whip. But we'll start with the web. Here we are. Ah! Whip whip, hooray!
Whip whip! Here. Hey, oh.
Alright, so I know, I know, it's only week one. Only one game, just week one. Week one can always be a little bit kooky. Week one can be a liar. And a thief.
But last I checked. Week one can be a coward and a liar and a thief. You're a liar, week one. You're a thief. You're a coward, week one.
The thing about, you're a fellow in week one. The thing about it is, it counts. It does count. It may be all those things. It might be a coward.
or a liar, or a thief, or a felon, but it counts.
Now I get it. It's a lot easier for some of you to process what happened yesterday by saying it's only week one. It's a coward. It's a liar. It's a felon.
It's a thief. Yeah, of course. Of course you would say that if you're a Ram fan, Packer fan, Patriot fan, Charger fan, and even you, Cowboy fan, especially you, Cowboy fan. The thing about that cowboy performance, though, is that it's not an outlier. It's not a shock.
It's not out of the ordinary at all, no matter all the hype we heard about the Cowboys in the offseason. You should not be surprised, Cowboy fan, despite all that hype all summer long, despite people saying this finally is the year for the Cowboys. Yeah, finally the year for the Cowboys, except they looked exactly the same as they ever were last night. In fact, I'd even argue they looked worse than usual, especially on defense, which is really saying something because. They had the worst defense in the NFL last year.
That defense has been an atrocity for years now. We were led to believe it was going to be much improved this year. They looked even worse last night than where we left off last year. And again, the worst scoring defense in the NFL last season. The stats say they were the worst defense in the league again yesterday.
But you really didn't need EPA per play to figure out that they were that bad. All you needed was a pair of eyeballs. Or a nose because that defense definitely did not pass the smell test. Credit to Jacks. Yeah.
That's not my Chris Forrester. That's my. Yeah. You stink. You stink.
You stink, Dallas. Your defense stinks. Credit to Jackson Dart. And the Giants for carving the Cowboys up.
However, zero credit, zero point zero credit To the Dallas defense for refusing to cover anybody at all. Hey, yo, Dallas. I mean, I don't wanna be like all Vic Fangio or anything, but maybe Maybe. They might be throwing it to the flat. Yo, Cowboys, I don't know if you noticed yet.
But it seems like they're still throwing it to the flat. Your cowboys, anytime you want to start covering the flat, that'd be great. Or, I don't know, maybe it's just me. Maybe pressure the quarterback at some point. Any of that?
Oh, you're just gonna get curb stomped instead. All right. Cool. That works too.
Well, at least nobody did anything stupid like take a taunting penalty while trailing by two touchdowns that wound up costing the Cowboys a critical PAT. See what I mean? Just your typical cowboy nonsense. New season, same cowboy bullcrap. Same as they ever were, but yeah, I'm sure it's only because it's week one, and you know, week one, right?
By the way, what happened to Gotty? What happened to the Gotty, by the way? What happened to the greatest offense there is? Greatest offense there is. Which really is just the worst gloss there is.
Because it's both incredibly lame and Incredibly inaccurate. The Cowboy offense was definitely better than the Cowboy defense, but that's a pretty low bar to jump over, right? That's the lowest bar possible. I didn't see any gaudy out there last night. I think Ben Johnson.
Or Joe Brady or the Ravens might have a thing or two to say about who actually is the Godi right now. I just know who it's not. The Cowboys. It's not going to be the Cowboys, led by the highest-paid quarterback in the league, who managed to throw a horrendous INT that tilted the entire game last night. Like check this.
Hey Dak, are you any leaven year vet? Or are you playing in the first game of your NFL career? What are you doing? That right there was not very gaudy, Dak. By the way, your pick.
Feel free to catch one, bro. Drops also are not very gaudy. And also, Gaudi is self-gloss, is it not? And it's horrible self-gloss at that.
So here is a hammer for you, Big D. Greatest offense there is. Jack Prescott running around telling people refer to us as Gotti. Wait, like John Gotti? No, man, Gotti.
G O T I, greatest offense there is. You see that pic? He also said, you know, I think that might have had an impact on the game. Oh, you think? You think whack That pick right there changed the entire outlook for that game.
Wow. Anyway, enough about the losers. And how about some credit to the Giants for finally looking like the Giants once again? Credit to the Giants for finally looking like a professional football operation for the first time in I don't know how I don't even know how long. I can't even remember.
The Giants had so much more juice and energy than the Cowboys last night, and yet they kept it mostly under control. That was key. For instance, Jackson Dart did not end up in the tent. Which was a massive upset. Making plays in the pocket, making plays out of the pocket, lots of juice.
Clearly, the best quarterback on the field last night. Not you, whack. Badart. That's wow. Stuck the landing on his TD celebration backflip this time.
That was big. Look at this dude. Wait for it. And here you go. Malik Neighbors played and looked pretty good.
And the defense unsurprisingly looked much better.
Meanwhile, the Cowboys, unsurprisingly, looked exactly the same.
So Giant fan, he's got to feel great about that new direction. And I would say the same thing would apply to you, Buffalo. Because that was a great win in Houston. And a hell of a way to get your first career win is a brand new head coach. And come to find out when my guy, and you know I love him, I loved it when he showed up here in the jungle, and I loved it when he got that job, and I loved the way he showed up in game one, and I love the way he acted after game one.
Because come to find out when Joe Brady gets hyped. He likes to take his shirt off. Uh I take it off! Let's get low! Turns off.
You're watching our stream. Joe Brady. Tarp's off. According to the Buffalo Bills official X feed. Look, I'm not saying my man is exactly shredded.
I'm not saying that my man couldn't use a little bit of vitamin D. But no way in hell I get after this dude after that win. Again, I love Joe Brady. Love the energy. And personally, I don't think it's a coincidence that Josh Allen finally wrecked that Texans' defense.
I mean, no. With that defense, the Texans should never ever lose on a day when offensively they score thirty one. But that'll happen when Josh Allen starts doing Josh Allen things and causing Josh Allen problems. But as great as Josh is, he typically doesn't do those things against the Texans. Until now.
Really, the game came down. Two consecutive plays in the final two minutes. It could have gone either way. That wayward Josh Allen bomb, the Kamari Lasseter, just could not gather in and haul in, and then that surgical laser shot. That Allen threaded right through the middle of the defense, right back to back for the go-ahead score.
Check it out if you're watching on the stream. Allen on third and eleven. Big head of the rush. It's hard. Bulber, touchdown, buffalo.
Laser. That is a knife to the chest. What do you think is going to happen if you give that guy a second chance? And was there anybody anywhere who didn't know that was going to happen after Lasseter dropped that pick that would have ended the game? Of course.
If the Texans just catched up on the play before, none of that happens. And of course, Josh wrecked them right after it did happen. But the Texans still did have plenty of time. They still have plenty of time to come back up the field. Unfortunately, C.J.
Stroud is still not giving anybody much reason to believe that he can be trusted to lead this team in big spots. In big time situations, in big time games against big time opposition.
So that's what look at the bill.
So now they've got to go out of bounds or end zone. Out of bounds or enzo. Shroud! Bubbles the ball! It's free.
And it's over. Rousseau knocks it away! Man, I hate to pile on, but that's how that game ended. CJ putting it on the ground. Right after Josh Allen got a second opportunity when Lasseter put it on the ground.
Ouch. Not exactly clutched by CJ. See, CJ played better throughout that game. But when it mattered most, unfortunately, he went back to doing the types of things that he did in the postseason last year. Not exactly clutch.
But not exactly surprising. These might be the two best teams in the AFC. We'll see. But there is still no doubt that Buffalo has a massive quarterback advantage here. Defense was supposed to be a massive advantage also for Houston, but it wasn't yesterday.
Which is why this kind of seemed like an absolute dream start for Joe Brady and the Bills, and they did so on the road. They did it in Age Town.
Meanwhile, Matt LaFloor. is living in a nightmare right about now. They've got a phrase for what Grim Bay is going through. That phrase sounds like this: Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba well ba ba well ba ba ba ba. You hear that?
You know what that sound is? That's the sound of choking and gagging. That's you, Packers. Yo, Packers, it brings me no pleasure, no pleasure to report this to my Wisco half-fam, especially since the last time I was in Wisco, I had a few moments with half their coaching staff. In Eagle River.
This brings me no pleasure. I'm not looking to pile on, but. Y'all Officially, we have a choking problem. Am I right, Bodhi?
Well, bop, bop, bop, bop. That's six straight losses. For Green Bay, he was In four of those games, Green Bay led by double digits. And after all of that soul searching, After all those blown leads last year, The last thing the Packers needed was to start this season blowing another double-digit lead and surrendering twenty-nine. Unanswered points?
But that's exactly what they did. But hey. At least it wasn't against a divisional opponent and a massive rival, right? Oh wait Yes it was But but but At least it wasn't against a Journeyman backup QB after the starter got knocked out in the first quarter. Oh wait, it was that too.
But but but but but At least you didn't get your asses beat by Carson Wentz. Oh wait, that also happened. Holy crap. I don't know who looks worse right now. Matt LaFlore or nine.
Hey nine. That's why you're QB3. I mean, when was the last time Carson Wentz even picked up a football? 2021? Hey, JJ!
Hope you were taking good notes on all that. Twenty nine straight points. To Carson Wentz? How? Who knew Mike?
Was the best coach in the LaFleur family. Not only did the Packers get smoked by Wentz, but And give up 29 straight points. Tucker Kraft. then told the media after the game, and I quote. We're the best team in the NFL.
But If we don't go out there and play like it, no one's going to believe us. End quote. My dude, You're the best team in the NFL? Or that's the worst take in the NFL. You're the best team in the NFL.
You just can't win a single game and can't stop yourselves from choking and gagging and dying right there on the field. My dude. You know why nobody believes that you're the best team in the NFL? It's because you are most definitely not the best team in the NFL. But somehow I'm even more intrigued.
By the statement that he made about preventing second half collapses, because that's what they're known for now, that's their deal. That's the narrative. Tucker, my dude. What is it with this team collapsing, imploding, and melting down late again yesterday? Yeah, I mean absolutely just You gotta be able to just go out there and drop your nuts.
Like, you look across the line of scrimmage and say that guy is not going to beat me. You know. You know, whether it's There's games and twists and picks and raps and stuff. That defense is always running those games, but that's because we got behind our rhythm and. And we were in those positions, those those second and ten, second and twelve.
You know, third and long was tough. Let me see if I have this straight. You've got to go out there and drop your nuts. Drop your nuts. What does that mean exactly?
Hate to say it, but don't you have to have nuts? in order for them to drop? And the rest of that word salad is just overcomplicating something very, very simple. And enough about rhythm, dropping your sack. You know what they need?
They need to just finish. Finish him. Against pretty much anybody at all. But I know, I know, I know. You probably just want to say, hey, relax.
You want to go Aaron Rodgers, R-E-L-A-X, relax. It's only week one, Rome. All right, fine. Just know this. It may only be week one, but it's nothing new for the Packers at this point.
Just like that nonsense last night is nothing new for the Cowboys. Just like that disaster yesterday is nothing new for the Browns. Just like that epic disappointment and that underperformance was nothing new for the Chargers. But sure. Just keep telling all of yourselves: it's only one game, it's a marathon, it's week one.
And I'm gonna keep reminding you. Week one does count. And maybe it's not just week one. Maybe it's who you actually, really are. Drop your nuts.
All these teams with all these expectations. Oh, and look who won. The Raiders? The corona's 1-800. Maybe it's not just week one.
I'll tell you who else won. And it beat down, and they were loving it afterwards. All together now, JETS, Jets, Jets, Jets. Is it me or do the Jets and Giants both win on week one? When was the last time that happened?
Not in a minute. Jets gotta win. Giants not only got a win, but they got a nice win. 1-800-636-8686. Get up in here.
You can go ahead and engage anywhere you want. In any manner that you want. I've got a lot more NFL. I've got a lot more NFL, and if you want to talk college ball, Texas and Ohio State hate Columbus. Columbus, I know you're watching.
I know you're listening. 20-point fourth quarter lead, and you let it get away. And how about Texas? Fat man had to have it, had to have it. Had to have it, and they found a way to get it done.
I don't, and man, did they ever enjoy it? I don't know what's more incredible to me. That they won that game or that Ohio State lost that game. And I want to be very clear about this. Texas won that game.
Texas won that game. But I'm not sure what's more incredible: that Texas won that game, or that Ohio State, with that talent and that 20-point fourth-quarter lead, won that game. As badly as Texas was playing. And my dude Sark, man, he was having himself a day. Spicy sark.
Normally I would not condone. The type of thing that he did. Except, for some reason, I can't stop laughing about it. It's still funny to me. It was funny when it happened and it's still funny right now.
Yo hook'em! Man, what a great win for him. What a great win for Arch. What a great win for UT. What a bad loss for Ohio State.
May do imagine Where no wonder Sark was acting like that if they lose that game. You know how much heat there is on him? And even Ryan Day. Even Ryan Day, as great as he's been, and with his natty, you know he's feeling it this morning. You can't lose that game.
Not up 20. Going into the fourth. Still attack some college ball too. Whatever you want. I've got thoughts also on Steve Ballmer.
I love Ballmer. Like looking around, looking around. A lot of NFL. Got a little college action. I quit.
I'm out.
Well played. Yeah. What took you so long, bro? You were holding the worst hand ever. Of course you folded.
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You're listening to the Jim Rome Show. All right, really quickly, I'll get to your reaction. I've got a thought about the chat that I want to share with you. First, though, I want to talk about a company for a moment that I love. I love this company, and I use this company.
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So it is true. Great company. All right, really quickly, a thought on. Chat. Right now, chat is loaded.
Chat is absolutely loaded.
So, on the one hand, that's really good news. You're in there, you can do what you do in chat. Not that I can stop you, and I would never try, but do what you do in chat. All right, do your own show, engage with one another. It is loaded.
Loaded. The thing about that is, though, just keep this in mind: if you're bent that you're not getting on air with your submissions, it's because you're loaded. It is so full that And so thick and moving so quickly, it's even hard for us to keep up with.
So, everybody, and there's some new members in there, welcome to chat. Do what you do in there, run your own show. But don't get banned if you don't see your submission on the air because there are so many of you. Welcome to the party, Pat.
Some reaction. This is not off chat. This is off X and email. Mark Nato 303. Quote.
Hey, Mr. Matt LaFool. This isn't the live football league. You got to coach them up all four quarters. I mean roasted.
The fool! Who knew Mike? Was the best coach in that family? after only one NFL game. I'll tell you, it's a problem.
It's a real problem. For Matt and the Packers. It's a real problem because he acknowledged it. Not that you couldn't acknowledge it, but if you can't finish games... And you can't close anybody out.
And then the whole world knows it and you acknowledge it like, all right, we know we have a problem. We're well aware of this problem. We are going to fix this problem. Rest assured, we are aware of this, and we will fix it. And we're going to spend the offseason talking about this among many other things, but this is a priority, and we will get this fixed.
Rest assured, this is not going to keep happening. And then they come out in their very first game, and it happens again. against a divisional rival, against a journeyman back up. against a team that saw their so-called savior. Get his bell rung.
On the field. Fencing, terrifying, all in the first quarter. And they still come from ahead. And meltdown. And it was Carson Wentz that did them, and it was a full-on implosion.
I'm not here to get Matt LaFleur fired. But if Matt LaFleur doesn't fix this, he's going to get himself fired. Obviously. I'm not speaking out of school. That's not some hot take.
Everybody knows it's a problem. He himself. Said it's a problem, and I'm going to fix it. And then didn't. Pick it up right where they left off.
And all of a sudden, younger bro, who nobody gave any hope to. goes out and wins a big time first game. Against the chargers who who just charge her the hell out of everything. Yeah, I know. Only one week.
No, it's not. It's my point, but it's only one week. Not when you come in having lost five in a row and you blew a lead in the postseason. Let me tell you something. I'll get to the Chargers.
I don't want to hear it's only one week. You know why? In no week In the history of mankind, Is Jacoby Brissette? supposed to outplay Justin Herbert, and he did. And it wasn't even close.
So don't tell me it's only one week. That this whole any given Sunday anything can happen not that That can't happen, but it did. And it wasn't even close.
Steven the 602. Even close. Jim Rome. Wrecking the Cowboys. On the big screen at CASA 602 Never Gets Old.
War streaming to the jungle. Ye Steve. War to you checking it out. Oh, yeah, dude. Looking very Arizona-ish.
Is that sandstone in the background? I like it. Good look, bro. Looking very six oh two ish. He's checking it out in L G.
That's one of our platforms. Hey Lauren, if you don't mind, XCR, if you don't mind, can you throw up the eight platforms that make up the Rome TV channel? Amazon Prime, YouTube, Roku. These are monster platforms. T C L DirecTV, Plex, Samsung TV Plus, Visio, and LG.
All of those platforms carry this show.
So you can watch it on TV. Yeah. One more from Scottsdale. One LaFleur was successful yesterday and one Harbaugh was not. The thirty percent of those Survivor players in the twenty five million dollar Circa Survivor contest that played the wrong harbaug, found out the hard way, getting knocked out in week one.
Even us Arizona Cardinals season ticket holders were buying the hype about how bad we were. Dino from Scottsdale, man.
Well said. Will said. Nothing like getting knocked out of your Survivor pool in week one. All right, when we come back, Mitchell Schwartz joins us. You won a Super Bowl with the Chiefs.
Yeah, I can't lie. Chiefs, Broncos. I still have not gotten down on that one yet. That's a tough one to pick tonight. Last time I saw it, it was Chiefs minus two.
Who you got? How you playing it? Mitchell Schwartz, when we return? You're listening to the Jim Rome Show. Welcome back.
I love it. Serious energy in the chat. Serious energy everywhere. And why not? Coming off that weekend.
Are you kidding? Big game tonight, too. We're joined right now by a Super Bowl champion. He played nine years in the NFL for the Browns and the Chiefs, a four-time all-pro selection. He is Mitchell Schwartz.
Mitchell, always good to have you on the show, especially coming off week one. How are you doing, Mitchell? I'm doing good. How are you? Good, good.
Good to see you. Thanks for doing this. Hey, so let me start with the Bills and Texans, which lived up to all the hype Buffalo wins that game in a shootout thirty six thirty one. Did that game tell you more about the Bills or the Texans? I think it told me a little more about Buffalo, their ability to continue to score points, to pour it on.
Josh Allen looked incredible.
Now we're one interception away from calling him the guy who ruined the game and threw the game losing pick. But I just think it was impressive to protect him the way they did, to run the offense the way they did to score the points. I mean, I think we all have a lot of confidence in Houston's defense to be, you know, top three at worst in the NFL.
So for Buffalo to come out to kind of take on all the backage from the past season and new coach, all those things, and just kind of put it down on him and use DJ Moore in a way that I don't know that we expected him to have that big of an impact right out of the gate. I think that was incredibly impressive. Yeah, I think that point is really key. The one you made at the very end, DJ Moore actually did play really, really well. Mitchell Schwartz joining us defensively also, they made big plays when they had to make them.
Talk about running it up on somebody. How about the Bears hanging 59 on the Panthers yesterday? I mean, we know that Ben Johnson's been held bent on saying things like, it is our goal to be the highest scoring offense ever. But he didn't stop there. Like, he wants to have the highest scoring offense ever, but he also wants to stack championships.
Let me ask you this: we know they're going to score, but are they going to win a Lombardi with that defense? That's a tough one, right? You almost wonder if, you know, maybe there's a Max Crosby trade brewing at the deadline, some way to kind of bolster that defense. If they are going to score the way they are and they're going to have 10, 14, 17 point leads third and fourth quarter, you're going to have to get up to the quarterback at some point. You're going to have to make a couple stops.
You know, a guy like that brings versatility, running, and pass. But. If the offense scores 50-plus points a game, I mean, it doesn't really matter what your defense is going to do unless you go, you know, full-on Big 12 action. It's going to look pretty good. It just, it feels like they're that one move away potentially middle of the year from shorting up the defense.
But, I mean, I like what he's doing with the offense. You know, I don't even feel like it's running up the score. I feel like he's setting the tone early that we're going to play 60 minutes. We're going to keep our foot down. You know, it's really easy as an offense when you got 35 points at the half or whatever it was.
You come out, score another touchdown or two to kind of ease off and feel like you got this. But he knows they're going to be in huge games throughout the course of the season going into the playoffs as well. And he wants to condition his team that we're going to score every single time we take the field. And so far, they're pretty much doing that. Hey, guys, all gas, no breaks.
Mitchell, to your point, do you think that ultimately Max Crosby is still in play? I don't mean today, but do you think that he's still in play? Could he still move this year in season? I would think he has to be because that's the kind of guy that's an instant impact for a defense to get.
Now I know he said that kind of post trade, he feels like the Raiders are his home again and doesn't want to leave all those things, but I don't know. I mean, if they're willing to trade him a few months ago and he was willing to go to a contender, you know, we'll see what happens when they're not playing Miami and we'll see how it looks the next month or two. I know they got a really rough stretch of the season at some point here early on. But if it's two and six again, not feeling so great, you got the chance to go to the Bears, you got the chance to, you know, go to the Cowboys or one of these other teams that has an opportunity to make the playoffs and do some damage. I can't imagine him not wanting to be part of a winning program.
Mitchell Schwartz is a Super Bowl champ, joins us on the program. And Mitchell, since this show is based in Southern California and has roots in San Diego, I've seen all too many instances of chargering.
So was that Bolts loss at home as a nearly 10-point favorite to a three-win Cardinals team, just the Chargers being the Chargers? Or should we be talking more about the immediate impact that Michael Fleur has had on the Cardinals as a first-time head coach? I think it was a great showing for Michael Fleur. I mean, that was really cool to see. You know, he was, I think, an assistant coach when I was in Cleveland for a year.
We had our own little mini Shanahan staff that doesn't quite rival what Washington did with all those coaches. But you go back and look at, I think it was the 2014 roster, we had a ton of assistant coaches who have done big things. And he was a guy that I loved back then. And, you know, obviously brother of another coach and had a ton of experience under this program. But to come out, and no one's given Arizona any real chance to win this game.
I know a lot of the survivor pools were busted. You know, I think they're supposed to be three and a half wins on the year, something like that.
So running back gets injured in the preseason. We criticize him for giving him so many touches. But love looked fantastic. Offense ran well. Obviously, the defense did a great job against the Chargers.
That was, I mean, I was on the Justin Herbert MVP bandwagon to start the year. The respect I have for Mike McDaniel's offense and what I thought that Herbert could do, having, you know, a legit coordinator and pushing the ball down the field, the running game.
So I love what Michael Flores. I'm also a little bummed out to see what the Chargers did because it just. We got so excited this whole offseason. We saw the clips, we saw the bombs in practice, and it just didn't come to fruition in the first game for him. On top of that, Mitchell, we heard Jim Harbaugh say right before the opening week that he, Justin Herbert, would go down as the greatest quarterback in the history of the NFL.
Hard for me to make that argument when Jacoby Brissette just outplayed him. Like, what happened exactly? It is tough. And it sucks to say for the Chargers because they've had O-line issues for forever. And you feel like maybe this is the year.
You get a guy in from Washington. He gets injured in camp, goes out for the year. You've got all this cap space, and you sign Cole Strange, who was a failed first-round pick in New England. And now you're rotating guys at left guard. That's never good if you're rotating offensive linemen.
That means someone isn't winning the job.
Someone's not taking it by the horns. You've got two offensive tackles coming off major injuries.
So, this was supposed to be, you know, if not a strength of the team, at least a building block to get back on track. Because we love the running back. I feel like McConkie's a great receiver. They got some weapons. We love the idea of Herbert and what he can be.
It's just frustrating to see more O-line injuries, more O-line issues. You know, there's one clip floating around that people are getting on the Chargers O-line for. It's not necessarily the O-line's fault, not necessarily Herbert's fault either. It might be a schematic issue, but just frustrating they couldn't go out and put a better display on because I expected a great rushing attack. I expected protection for the quarterback.
And I expected a couple deep shots down the field. Translation: they were in your survivor pool.
Okay. No, no, I'm not. I know myself, and I'm not smart enough to pick games with these gurus, so I steer clear of those. Mitchell Schwartz joining us. You know, Mitch, since we're talking about injuries on the offensive line, let me jump ahead to tonight's game.
The Broncos and Chiefs, great way to match or wrap up week number one for MNF. But how concerned are you about Patrick Mahomes, who's made a remarkable comeback? We have to see it. But the fact that he's even available, given the injury that he suffered when he suffered it, how concerned are you, though, that he's not going to have a starting tackle? Josh Simmons, who's going to miss that game of the back issue, to watch his blind side?
It's hard not to be concerned. I mean, putting it straight, like it's hard not to. You know, you've got an undrafted rookie-free agent who is also primarily a right-side player. You know, to start training camp, he was battling for the number one right-tackle job. Looked like he might have grabbed it at one point.
Trey Smith, the great right guard, gets injured. He slides into right guard for a few weeks. And then all of a sudden, Josh Emmons gets hurt at left tackle.
Now he's playing left tackle, which he didn't play in college. He didn't play it at the beginning of the preseason.
So this is still relatively new to him. Only got six snaps in the third preseason game, left tackle. And now he's going up against this fearsome, you know, Denver pass rush. And the thing that I saw about Khalil Benson's game is that he's a little bit slow off the ball, wasn't timing up the snap count, which is a huge thing for offensive linemen.
Well, what does Denver do best? Nick Benito, especially. He jumps that snap count, he times it up, he gets up the edge, he gets the corner, he gets to the quarterback.
So when you're thinking about you know, Mahomes' blind side being protected, possible strip sacks, turnovers, it's it's a tricky proposition, and you know, as much. When I'm talking about Kansas City's weapons and kind of been talking about it for four years since Tyreek left, still not the greatest cooper receivers, and Denver secondary can lock them down with the best of them.
So, if you've got that combination of guys not getting open and a fearsome pass rush, that puts even more pressure on the quarterback.
So, it's hard not to be a little worried, hard not to, you know, have a little anxiety about that. But obviously, he's going to be ready for the challenge. Whether everyone else steps up and does their best to help him out, I think that's to be seen. Mitchell Schwartz, joining us for a few more moments. You want to talk about worry and anxiety.
You mentioned Mike's brother, who's a coach. How about Matt LaFleur? Like, this is. This is not something we don't know about. We know they can't finish games.
We know they had a terrible end of last season. We know they were upfront about this, talking about how they were going to address this this offseason, fix this, make sure it didn't happen again. And then it happens in week one against a journeyman in Carson Wentz, and they allow 29 unanswered points. What in the world? Like, how.
Obviously it's a concern. How much trouble could Matt LaFleur be in? I think, I mean, he could be in a lot of trouble. To your point, it was very worrisome to hear them talking about finishing because that's just like one of those buzzwords: like, yeah, we're gonna finish and we're gonna talk about like, how do you practice that, right? I think it's just you do it on the field if you're talking about it, if you're worried about it in the training camp preseason time of the year.
I think it's something that, you know, definitely could rear its ugly head. We saw that week one.
Now, to LaFleur's. You know, good side, he doesn't have one single owner who's going to get frustrated and say enough's enough.
So, you probably feel good that he's not going to get fired mid-season, but he's definitely got to be on the hot seat. I mean, he's had so much success there, you know, regular season, had some playoff success to a smaller degree. It just feels like it hasn't been fully put together. And I don't know that it's fair to evaluate them without Micah Parsons. Once he comes back, if he's, you know, even 85, 90% of himself, he is the catalyst that drives that entire defense.
So, if you're talking about playing from the front, playing with a lead, well, having an elite pass rusher to go hunt down the quarterback is something you want on your side.
So, obviously, give him a few more weeks, wait till Micah gets back, but he's got to be feeling some heat. And this team just has to find a way to continue scoring. Much like we talked about early, Ben Johnson, that attack mentality, putting on the team 60 minutes every single drive just doesn't seem like the Packers roll that way. Hey, Mitchell, really quickly, I got about 90 seconds. Todd Munkin's got that attack mentality.
Problem is, his quarterback is Deshaun Watson. He's already. Saying, I've seen some really good things on film. I think we're probably going to run him back next week. What is your reaction to that?
Honestly, I feel bad for Cleveland fans. You know, this is not a good product that they're putting on the field. Obviously, Deshaun comes with a lot of off-the-field issues, so you've got that layer as well. But this is not good football. There's no upside to Deshaun.
There's no, it's going to get better. You know, he's young. He's going to grow into the role.
However, you feel about Shadur, like at least there's a young guy who hasn't seen the field that much that could grow into the role that could be a starter for you long term. And I would want to see him. I would roll with him, see what happens. Unless they come out and say, hey, we're tanking for the 2027 NFL draft for all these QBs coming out. I just don't understand it for Cleveland, and I feel bad for the fan base.
Same. Nine years in the NFL and a Super Bowl champ, Mitchell Schwartz, my guest. Mitchell, appreciate you so much. Great to have you on the show. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Good to see you. I like both the Schwartz guys. Mitchell and Jeff. All right, your thoughts on that?
Covered a lot of ground. Really good information right there. Your reaction to any of it when we come back. I've got a lot more thoughts on the NFL and college ball and the NBA. But you know what I want?
I want your thoughts. I know I've got my thoughts. I want your thoughts. Have a take, don't suck, get up in here. Maybe you're just now finding us for the first time in a long time.
Maybe you're just now finding us for the first time ever. I've actually been getting some of that. Never heard of this Rome guy. It's pretty funny. Whatever it is, find a way to engage and get up in here, and we'll come right back.
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