Week 1 Whip-around (Hour 2)

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Whether you're looking to purchase a new home or refinance yours, Rocket Mortgage can help you get there for home home solutions that fit your life well. Rocket can coming up 20 minutes from now. The quarterback of the Kentucky Wildcats, Will Leviss, will be stopping by as Kentucky once again beat Florida, this time going into the swamp and getting the job done in the battle of Leviss against Anthony Richardson. So the victorious quarterback, Will Leviss, will join us.

20 minutes from now. But first up, without further ado, and I'm not talking about Freddie Idu, it's time to hit up a News Brief. I know there's some general football talk that it could be 6-7 games, so in that range of anywhere from 6-8 games, suffered the thumb injury, the Cowboys season is over anyway. Because you're without Dak, I know the NFC stinks, the offensive line is bad, the receiving core is not good this year, Aziki Elliott is not a great running back anymore in the NFL, and Cooper Rush is expected to be the starting quarterback over the next 6-7 weeks. Hey, by the way, Hickey, we threw out some names, Jimmy G, Ben Roethlisberger, Phillip Rivers, Cam, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Andrew Luck, just names that we know aren't going to happen. Let me give you one more here.

I don't know where this guy is. But are we going to get Ben DiNucci back? On the Dallas Cowboys? A little Ben DiNucci? Gucci DiNucci? Did anyone ever call him that for you?

That's a brutal nickname. I'm just giving you the bottom of the barrel names. How about Josh Rosen? I think he's somewhere. Yeah, obviously he's somewhere. Why the hell not? Oh yeah, that would be good drama for the Cowboys too.

Get a Jacuzzi, have him do a little segment. His 8th team in 3 years. Oh, Will Greer is actually on the Cowboys practice squad. I was going to say, we heard his name recently yesterday.

That's him. So you could possibly get Josh Rosen there. Well, I'll give you one.

Let's do it. Ah, he's hurt. I was going to say, what about Sam Darnold? But he's hurt. That would be a cherry move. We're going to bring in Sam.

I'm trying to think. Any former Texas quarterbacks anywhere that Jerry fell in love with? Or any former Arkansas quarterbacks that could be possibilities there for the Dallas Cowboys?

They're screwed though either way. Here's Dak Prescott, last said after the game, discussing the severity of his thumb injury. In the game, just in the midst of it, thought I jammed it. I mean, I've hit my hand on helmets or bodies a lot in my career. And never really had anything, maybe a jammed finger here.

And I actually thought that's what it was. Just the next play, you realize I couldn't grip the ball. Let the sideline know. I actually feel bad for Dak Prescott because he got the contract after the injury. We're trying to figure out if this guy can be a great quarterback. We know he's a good quarterback right in that top 10 conversation.

Maybe on just the outside looking in of top 10, as we've talked about before. But it seems like injuries are going to be a problem. And you had the bad injury a few years ago, last year. You know, he got to the playoffs, but he had a disastrous ending. This is a big year for him and now to be out for anywhere to six to eight games, it just stinks. There's no other way around it. Let's listen up to Kyle Shanahan.

Oh, yeah. Isn't this the biggest stunner of the weekend? I'm talking about in the NFL. In the NFL, the 49ers losing to the Bears.

I know it was in the in a monsoon. Tennessee losing to the Giants is bad. The Colts tying the Texans is bad.

But I don't know if anything tops this. And you want to tell me, Ryan, that the 49ers weren't going to cover the six and a half, seven points? That's one thing. But to lose the game outright to the Bears? Can you even name five people on the Bears? Justin Fields. St. Brown.

I couldn't name him St. Brown. But Ryan Pauls and Matt Eberflus deservedly so. They gutted this entire roster. And they were up, I think, ten nothing at one point.

And they lose that game brutal. Kyle Shanahan assesses the Trey Lance performance. I thought he did some good things coming out. You know, I thought everything was pretty smooth from the beginning. You know, would have loved to hit him on that one down in the red zone that we had Croft. But he came back and made a big play the next series.

Thought he did some good things, but the way it got there at the end, everything kind of fell apart there. So I saw a quote today on Twitter. And when you first sent it to me, Ryan, and told me to take a look at this on Twitter, I thought maybe that you got onioned or you got ball sack sports. But Jalen Johnson of the Bears, when talking about Trey Lance, said, What do you think he did?

He didn't do bleep. We made him play quarterback. So that's him basically saying we made him throw the football or tried to make him throw the football.

And he wasn't good enough. How about that quote? It's a lot of bleep talk and no pun intended from the Bears. Easy to say in a monsoon.

I will say. Guy, you know, no one's throwing the ball. Very easy to say as a defensive back. Yeah, we made him play quarterback when you're playing in basically a league.

By the way, I just got two good suggestions. Quarterback. Why should the Cowboys? Yes. On Twitter. Chris Edder.

How about Johnny Manziel? Yeah. Oh, Jerry finally got you talking about drama in in. Now I see him on ESPN right now. Friend of show was hanging out with them at the Super Bowl. We share the same agent. Mikey B.

Not my old producer, Mikey B. But chimes in on Twitter. RG three. Texas loves him. Make the call. Dallas. And how about you bring Larry Fitz, who has an officially retired package deal.

Let's go. Should I text RG three right now? Cowboys QB question mark.

Interested in playing for the Cowboys. If they make the call. Question mark. Now I'm watching RG three right now, so he feels the phone vibrating in his pocket. He just looked down in his pocket. Or maybe he was just looking at Larry Fitzgerald.

We'll see if we get a response from RG three. Let's go to Aaron Rodgers. He says the offense shot themselves in the foot too many times up against the Minnesota Vikings. We had a lot of chances today. You know, I'm not taking anything away from their defense, but we hurt ourselves many times, myself included. I had a lot of opportunities to score more than seven. Yeah, but I don't know if your offense is going to be able to keep up with what Justin Jefferson was doing.

Aaron Rodgers says it's not surprising that the wide receiver struggled in week one. Look, we get our patients with those guys. They're young.

You know, they haven't been in the in the fire. Now that patients will be thinner as the season goes on, but the expectation will be high. So we'll keep them accountable. But it's going to happen. It's going to be drops. Hate to see it on the first play, but there's it's part of it.

It's going to be drops throughout the season. How often during that game do you think Aaron Rodgers looked at Matt Leflore, looked at Brian Gouda Coons and said, Yeah, I missed the Vonta Adams. I missed that once a drive.

Maybe I should have taken some lesser money there, like five million dollars less or something like that. Let's hear one more from Aaron. He says the Packers have to clean up their mistakes. Obviously, it'd be great to have a 75 yard touchdown to start the game, but drops are going to happen for the game. It's the mental stuff that we just can't have because we're hurting ourselves, whether we're going the wrong way on a block or or, you know, missing the protection, something they're missing a hot or not run the right route, the right depth.

There was just too many too many mental mistakes. Can he put any of that on his own shoulders right away, takes a shot at the defense and talks about the wide receivers? Did I ever hear him in that clip, Brian? Maybe I missed it. Did he ever mention I could play better, too?

I get it. He's back to back MVP, top 15 quarterback of all time. But geez, I know that's his team. Way to just take all your teammates and throw them underneath the bus. Go back to missing OTAs.

Go back to missing all season workouts. You wonder why they're rusty week one. You wonder why they don't have the right depth. Same thing happened the last year and they survived. They got blown out by the Saints.

Doors blown off. Tharen Rogers was doing his own thing. Is it going to get any better in week two like it did last year? Do you think he's Pancha Karming on the cleanse right now? If I just made that a verb?

Didn't have to because yesterday he was basically doing it, you know, the Vikings were doing it for him. On the flight back? Put four fingers deep into the cup?

Maybe. Airport security? Yeah, we can't let you on the plane, Aaron. Cliff Kingsbury, his team, they even show up at home? Up against the Chiefs?

Didn't look that way. Patrick Mahomes, five passing touchdowns. Cliff, on the biggest thing that the Cardinals have to fix? Practice habits. You know, having a sense of urgency. We got to practice better.

There's no doubt you can't say you're going to do it on game day and not do it in practice. RG3 got back to me. That was quick. What do you think RG3 said? LOL. I don't think he gives it an answer. I think he says LOL.

Nope, he gave me an answer. They need a playmaker, I would consider. RG3? To the Cowboys? How about them Cowboys? When was the last time he was in the league? Three years ago?

Ravens? Yeah, backup two years ago? Probably more recently than I thought.

Well, we had him on the first time I talked to him. I don't know if he made the team that year, but it was during COVID in 2020 in the offseason. Yeah, 2020 was his last year with the Ravens. 2020? Not that far removed.

Yeah. Let's get to Bill Belichick. He says the loss of the Dolphins was a lot closer than the score indicated. It's really a pretty even game. Two big plays, 14 points really skewed the game. Moved the ball. We couldn't get any points, enough points, and we got into their territory. We got in there six, seven times, whatever it was. Ended up with seven points, so we did a better job finishing. Defensively, gave a big play there at the end of the half and a couple field goals, but still need to play better on third down and obviously getting the ball back there at the end of the game.

That's pathetic. You know, Bill's my guy. He's my favorite coach ever. The score was a lot closer than what it read on the scoreboard. Come on.

That's brutal. Now, when Belichick says it, I guess he'll get a pass. When Robert Salas says it, he says the Jets lost to the Ravens. The Ravens didn't beat the Jets.

Go ahead. Let's hear this, Jackassery. Ninety percent of games in this league are lost.

You know, I've said it here before. Yesterday, in my opinion, we did not get beat. We lost.

And they're two totally different things. And, you know, you just look at it, just felt like we were the faster team. We played with a lot of speed and aggression, especially on defense. And a lot of these little mistakes and a lot of things that people don't see with regards to bus misalignments, whatever it might be, you just see these little things happening. And it's we have to learn how to do right longer.

Something Kyle's always said and that I've taken with me from San Francisco. You've got to do right longer. And when you get these veteran teams like Baltimore, who just they just did right. Playing and play out. They just do right.

And they just wear you out by doing right longer. They're not doing anything spectacular. They're just playing a smarter brand of football. That's where we've got to get.

And I believe that if we keep exposing our guys to that and we keep getting these reps. And obviously it all starts with us as coaches because we've got to get it going faster. All right, I'm good. I don't need to hear anymore on this.

What the heck is that from Robert Salah? The Jets didn't lose to the Ravens. The Ravens didn't beat.

What does that even mean? Says the Jets lost to the Ravens. The Ravens didn't beat the Jets. It's almost even tough to repeat.

Does that make any sense to you? You lost. Just say you lost. We got outplayed.

It wasn't even close. Well, that's what I understand. Like you drop a football on fourth down when you're wide open in the end zone.

OK, that's one thing. You got blown out. The Bengals can say they lost to the Steelers.

You make an extra point. The game's over. Jets cannot say they lost to the Ravens.

Yeah. Arthur Smith, his team choked in the fourth quarter. They're 26 to 10.

He says he's excited to prove everyone wrong. You guys wrote our obituary back in May. And you'll continue to write our obituary.

Who cares? Because we got 16 games and we don't learn from this and get better. And we got to go play L.A.

They got a three-day jump on us. So we'll watch the tape. We'll look for corrections. And then we got to get going on the Rams. So write whatever you all want.

The same guys that you guys ranked as 45th. You buried us in May. Bury us again. We don't care. We'll get back to work.

Thank you. What is up with these Falcons coaches? We played you a lot of D&Ps last year. No one congratulated Arthur Smith after his first win in the media. And now Arthur Smith, that's not the time to show that energy. Oh, everyone's doubting in us.

It'd be one thing if you won the game. Oh, yeah. Hey, give me a Falcons beat reporter. Who's the guy, DeOrlando, right?

Ledbetter. Yeah. DeOrlando, I don't know if you wrote anything negative about the team. You thought we were going to beat three wins this year. We just got one. Screw you.

That would make sense. But after a loss like that, shut up. Patrick Mahomes dealing. He says spreading the ball to nine different players is how the offense is going to operate moving forward. He had five passing touchdowns in the game.

Oh, 100%. I mean, with the amount of tight ends, running backs, and receivers that we have, it's going to be everything. I mean, it's going to be a lot of guys catching passes. It's going to be running the football. It's going to be throwing the football. It's going to be a short game. It's going to be the deep passes. And so I think that makes this a hard offense to stop. And then when the defense plays like they played today, we're going to win a lot of football games. And then finally, Baker Mayfield.

His team got off to such a slow start. Then they're moving. You're thinking, OK, they'll go score a touchdown. They settle for a field goal. And the next thing you know, the Brownies, with a rookie kicker, have a walk-off 58-yard field goal to take down the Carolina Panthers. Baker says the loss to the Browns isn't ending the Carolina Panthers' season. Everybody made this out to be the Super Bowl. But despite what everybody's going to make this, there's 16 more games. The Super Bowl is not until February.

And this is the beginning of September. So like I said, a lot of anticipation. But we're going to flush this.

We're going to learn it. And we're going to be better from it. I don't usually like to say must-win second week of the season. There's a must-win, though, already one that I can think of in the week two slate. The Panthers must win up against the Giants.

You start the year 0-2 to Jacoby Bressette and then Daniel Jones. Especially when the schedule only gets tougher for them, you won't recover from that. The Panthers have to win this upcoming Sunday or their season's over. Will Levis, the star quarterback at Kentucky, is going to be joining us next. It is the Zach Gelb Show on CBS Sports Radio's The Wildcats once again beat the Gators.

You're listening to the Zach Gelb Show. What a weekend of football, not only in the NFL but also college. And I told you the game that I was most excited for was Kentucky and Florida between the two quarterbacks in Will Levis and Anthony Richardson. And the Wildcats got the better end once again of Florida, this time going into the swamp and getting the victory 26-16. And now joining us is the quarterback at Kentucky, and that is Will Levis once again on the Zach Gelb Show. Will, first off, congratulations. Appreciate you coming back on.

Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. Well, I've got to start you off with your defense. And you know when you go into Florida and get a victory, you need to go play a team game. How about what your guys' defense did? Because that was one heck of a performance. Oh yeah, they played their hearts out and they definitely deserve all the credit in the world for getting that win and making it happen for us.

They really made those impact plays that switched the momentum in the game, I felt like. And I'm so happy for Coach White and our whole defensive staff and players for how they were able to go down there and play so well. Your head football coach, Mark Stoops, is now the all-time winningest coach at Kentucky with that win over the weekend on Saturday night.

Can you just describe to me what it's like to play for Coach Stoops? He's the best. I mean, he's someone who just makes you want to go out there and play your heart out for him. And he treats all of us like men. And he teaches us just how to handle ourselves as human beings, but also as football players, obviously.

And he preaches just a hard-mouthed kind of the right way to do it kind of football. And he has all the trust in all of his coordinators to make sure that they're teaching their guys to a level that gets them ready to go come game days on Saturdays. And I mean, for him to handle the new offensive coordinator this year, new offensive line coach, and just a couple different things we've been doing on the offense. They're kind of just putting the full trust into the units and the coaches.

We've been able to come along a lot since the spring, and we still have a lot to improve on. But I think it all kind of lies in Coach Stoops and what he's been able to do to this program for how we've been able to do recently. When you were looking to leave Penn State, what was it about him initially that made you say, okay, I could go trust my college football future with Coach Stoops?

I think it was just how straight up he was with me. For one, he believed in me, and he let me know right off the bat that from what he'd seen on film and from what he understood and learned about me as a person, he truly believed that I could be the guy to come in here and take control of his offense and to lead this team, this program, this school to some wins and some big ones at that. And I knew that I still had to come in and earn it and prove it to him, but for him to be in the position as a head coach in the SEC and to see me as that type of caliber player, it was a really cool opportunity, and I just believed everything that he said to me. Your name has been thrown into the national spotlight. Last time we had you on, we talked about Will Levis, that you were being projected by some in the top 10.

One had you, Chris Trapasso from CBS as the first quarterback off the board for this upcoming NFL draft. Just how has your game gotten even better since leaving Penn State and then going to Kentucky the last two years? I think just came with the experience I got. I mean, you could do all the practice that you can in practice settings or in offseason workouts, but I don't think you really develop that level of comfort at any level in football until you're able to get those live game reps. And throughout the season last year, I feel like towards the end of the year, I was able to kind of finally get into a rhythm and feel very confident in kind of maintaining games, or managing games, I should say, and playing within the flow and rhythm of games. And I mean, every game is different. One of the biggest things that Coach Kangrell has actually taught and preached in me this year is to just play within the flow of the game, like I said before, and to not try to make too many things happen rather than to just play within the realm of the offense and to make the right decision and make the play for what is asked for you at that time. And for a game like this past Saturday, I mean, things were going a little slower, and especially at the end of the game where it was more kind of like a clock management type of game where we weren't necessarily pushing it down the field through the air, but we were getting it done in the run game, and that was enough to get the time off the clock and to make it a two-possession game. And it's just me trusting the coaches and really understanding what it's like to be a game manager, and that just makes me a better quarterback. Yeah, it was a heck of a win, and I think you basically just kind of alluded to it. You guys could play a whole lot better offensively.

No doubt. Yeah, I mean, we left a lot of yards out there in the first half especially, and then went into the second half with little to no rushing yards, but we knew that we were just one kind of block away or one missed tackle away from breaking a couple big ones, and we were able to just kind of see what we had out there that was going to work and trust in our coaching and trust in our preparation and know that if guys just went out there and did their jobs, that it was going to come together and click, which it did. And I mean, we can do a better job of throwing and catching as well.

I think that we've done a pretty good job. It still strives to be taken in that area, but I feel really good about all the pieces we have around us, and we have the type of caliber players to go out and win big games like the one we just did. Everyone talks about Bryce Young and CJ Stroud being the top two quarterbacks in the country, and then you know the discussions we have.

Who's the third best quarterback in the country? Heading into this matchup with the way that Anthony Richardson plays and the way that you play, everyone's talking about you two. How is that buildup leading into the game when everyone's making the focus on you up against Anthony Richardson? I really wasn't focusing on it much at all.

I mean, Anthony's an awesome kid, awesome player, heck of a talent. But to be honest, I mean, I don't watch the offense. I watch their defense, and I was really only ready or I was really only focusing on preparing to attack their defense and what they were going to throw at me. But I just think that any kind of focus on all that outside stuff is only going to make you think too much and either make you think too highly of yourself, too lowly of yourself, and neither of those things can really do well for you and just try to kind of block all that out.

So you naturally just don't think about the future? Because I understand that you got to think about the present, but so many people are talking about your potential in the NFL. Yeah, I mean, I know that as long as I just keep working and I keep preparing the way that I have and develop as a player, then all that stuff is going to take care of itself. I mean, that is the goal, that is the main personal goal is to go play at a high level, at the next level. But to get that done, I mean, you hear the old saying, I mean, individual recognition comes after team success. And I think as long as I just keep kind of making sure that I prepare each week to go out there and put a good performance as a team out there, then individually my role will play a role in that.

And I know that my performance will lead to getting the eyes on me that's going to make that ultimate goal happen. I know you beat Florida last week, but after the win that Florida had, or you beat Florida last year, but after the win that Florida had in week one up against Utah, everyone was talking about Billy Napier and Anthony Richardson. Did you guys feel internally with your program that you were going to disrespect a little bit heading into this matchup?

No, I mean, they deserved all the credit in the world and they still do. They're a great football team, but I mean, we want it to go in there and turn heads. I mean, we don't pay too much attention to what's said about us and the media and all that, but when we can take extra motivation, we run with it. And we saw some comments and heard some comments about how people were kind of not believing in us and our ability to go down there, but there was no doubt in any of our minds that we were going to go down there, put up a fight and come out with that win because we know what we're built of and what we're made of.

And with what we saw that Florida was able to do against Utah while it was very impressive, we knew that we had the team to get it happening down there. How about that touchdown pass to Dane Key? That was really something. What a throw and what a catch.

Yeah, that was awesome. It started up front with great protection, a good play-action fake and a good seven-man protection that kind of just gave me all the time in the world back there and really a play that we were trying to hunt up a different route that high safety ended up cutting off, leaving Dane one-on-one with a corner. And to just kind of put that ball on a good trajectory to trust him to go up there and make that one-on-one catch.

We don't want to call him 50-50 balls, we want to call him 70-30 balls. And when you got trust in your guys and even though he's young, he gets it, he's got a feel for it, he's a physical dude, he has a great feel for the football. And those plays, you got to make those big types of plays if you want to win those big types of games.

Talking to Will Levis for a few more moments on the Zach Gelb show. As we talked about earlier, what Mark Stoops has done at Kentucky is incredible. How would you describe where the brand of Kentucky football is at? I mean, I think we're on the rise.

I think that compared to where we were when he first got here, it's a world of difference. And I think our brand is just hard-nosed football filled with that underdog mentality because I think that we still have a lot more people to prove wrong. But I think at least offensively, we like to think of ourselves as a very balanced offense with a lot of different ways to beat you. And one week it might be a different way than the next, but we just want to get the job done.

And at the end of the day, the only really stat that matters is that W in the win column. And we just got to keep trusting in our coaches and our preparation. And we know that when we're on the top of our game, we can beat anybody. We've seen the consistency from this program and also some of the big-time players that they put in the NFL. What do you say to people that still doubt Kentucky football? I'd say keep doubting us. Give us motivation.

I mean, I think that people can say whatever they want to say, but the only people's opinions that really matters are the people in this building. We're the only people that know how hard we work, what the thought process is in our preparation, and how we approach our game planning. And no one else has that kind of insight and understanding of our strategy, so there's really no reason to pay attention to what anyone else has to say about us. Is the sky the limit for the program this year? What do you feel like you guys could accomplish this season, Will?

Yeah, we can do anything we set our minds to. I mean, our goal this whole offseason was to go to the SEC Championship and win that thing, and I think that's just the next step for this program. Making it to the Citrus Bowl two times in the last handful of years.

Want to go to that New Year's Six Bowl game, but then also obviously want to win the SEC National Championship. That's our highest goal. And we know that if we can play our best brand of football week in and week out, the sky's the limit for us. Like I said, we got the guys to make it happen. We got to the coaching minds on the staff level to make it happen.

And we just got to make sure that we just have the right mindset as we go forward, week in and week out. After the win up against Florida, Will Levis, did you celebrate with some mayo in the coffee? I did not.

No, I did not. We celebrated in the locker room afterwards. It was cool to hear Coach Stoops talk to us because Coach Marrow came up and reminded all of us that that made Coach Stoops the winningest coach in school history. And for us to do it in that environment down there in SEC's big time match up meant a lot. So we celebrated in the locker room. Had a good time on the flight home.

Didn't get back until like 3 a.m. and just crashed after that. So definitely no mayo in the coffee. Yeah, what's the origins behind that? Last time you joined us, you talked about the way that you've devoured a banana before and not unpeeling it. How did the mayo in the coffee start? Because so many people around our office, once you said that with the mayo in the coffee, were trying it here and some people were throwing up, other people said that it was okay.

It's definitely not too bad but it really just started, it was funny actually, it was the day before the Florida game last year. I was at a local diner here in Lexington having breakfast with my girlfriend and we had sat down and we each got our coffees and the only thing on our table, no cream, no sugar, was just a bottle of mayo. And my girlfriend was like, oh, like jokingly, like, oh, you should put that in your coffee, that's probably what it's for. And I was like, don't tempt me.

And I had to try it and I just thought it was pretty funny but honestly it does not taste too bad as someone who does like mayo and who does like coffee, it really was pretty bearable. Last thing I'll ask you, just for people that are not familiar with you, how do you describe your game and who Will Levises is as a quarterback? I'd say I'm a gamer. I'm someone who's going to go out there, I'm going to do anything that I can in my ability to win while staying within the realm of the offense and what's asked of me in that specific play.

I think I'm a cerebral player, I have an understanding of the game and the pieces that are working around me but I'm also someone who can just make plays happen when things break down with my athleticism, with my arm and I think I got all the tools to make it happen as a quarterback. Well it's been fun watching you the last two years and we can't wait to see what continues to happen here at your number two at Kentucky. Great win over the weekend up against Florida, I'm sure we'll be talking down the road. Thanks for coming on.

Thanks for having me. There's Will Levises, the star quarterback at Kentucky as he makes it clear the Wildcats under Mark Stoops are on the rise. We'll take a break, when we come on back we've got a bunch of quick hitters around the NFL concerned with the Packers, Vikings thriving, Pats disaster, Tua gets a victory once again up against the Patriots and we'll sprinkle in a little Baker Bowl and some Minka Fitzpatrick up against the Bengals. You're listening to the Zach Gelb Show.

And you can think of O'Reilly Auto Parts for your car care needs, get guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts. We're getting set for the Geno Smith led Seahawks going up against Russell Wilson's Denver Broncos in Seattle. Now this is courtesy of Greg Bell who does a great job covering the Seahawks.

When the quarterbacks ran it onto the field for Denver a few moments ago in Seattle, this is how, this is not a full stadium yet. Fans, they go in late and you know it's only pregame warm ups right now, but this is the reaction in Seattle when Russell Wilson took the field. So some boos there hot take Hickey, to say the least. To say the least, yes some boos.

Do you have a problem with that? If I was a Seattle Seahawks fan, I'd be cheering Russell Wilson tonight. Thank you for what you did for a decade, you won us a Super Bowl, you got the two, yeah you threw the bowl to the other team at the goal line on the second one, but that dude was a great quarterback for them. I know he wanted out, I know he wanted to be there anymore, I would not have booed Russell Wilson tonight, that's just me. And we'll see when it gets a little bit more formal before the game, I'm sure they'll do some tribute video. That's when everyone's in attendance, if they don't give him a standing ovation that's a little bit rough.

What did you think of that? I thought it was pathetic, I'm with that, would have gave Russell Wilson a cheer and I think their boos are misguided. Russell Wilson is not the man you should be booing, the guy you should be booing is on your own sideline, Pete Carroll. He drove Russ out of town, he gave no choice but for Russ to want to want out.

I don't think he wanted out because he doesn't like Seattle as a team, he wanted out because one guy, the head coach. Well let me just throw this to you, now I don't think this happened, but let's just say if Jody Allen went to Russ and had a hush hush meeting. Just Jody Allen and Russell Wilson and said Russ, do you want to stay here if I get rid of Pete Carroll? And then let's just say Russ said no, would that change the way that Seahawks fans should approach it? Yeah a little bit.

Right? Now, we don't know if that happened, I have no indication that that did happen. And all indications suggest there was never even a thought that they would move on from Pete Carroll and if it came down to Pete Carroll, Russell Wilson. Because I remember asking this all throughout last year, if it comes down to Pete Carroll, Russell Wilson, why wouldn't it just get rid of Pete Carroll at this point?

And the Seattle Seahawks either did not even consider that or Russell Wilson just wanted no part of the organization anymore. But even though it was a messy divorce, I would not be booing him because the guy still won you a Super Bowl. I get it, you don't have to like how it did go down. I'm not saying you have to be thrilled about it, but I would have given him a standing ovation, that's just me. So I'll be curious, when you get the tribute video, don't you have to think there's going to be more cheers than boos? And you would think. Especially when you're showing good moments.

Right. Like I don't think they're going to be showing the Malcolm Butler interception, hey welcome back Russell Wilson. They're going to be showing him taking down the Denver Broncos, all the big plays, all the big touchdown passes throughout the years.

If you had to put a percentage on it. Now, I know it may not have been the best sound when you watch it on Twitter. It sounded like there was a good amount of boos on that video that we just did play for you. I would still think when they give the video tonight, if they do have a tribute video, it's going to be at least 75-80% cheers.

That would be my thought. That's a fair number, I'd say probably 70%, maybe a little closer there just because we did hear a lot. There was a good amount of fans there when they were booing. And there was a lot of Broncos fans, you can't see the video, but there's a lot of Broncos fans right by the tunnel where the Broncos came running out. And if it was a whole team I would get you just booing, but it was just the two quarterbacks there. So, maybe it's going to be more than what I expect tonight. But that's tough for me to think that the boos are going to happen, but I guess we'll have to wait and see. Okay, on a scale of 1 to 10, how concerned are you with the Green Bay Packers, Ryan? 1 being no concern, 10 being... And let me remind everyone how to take a key as a Green Bay Packers hater.

Well, that's the tough part. I didn't expect a lot coming in. So, what we saw on Sunday is not that big of a surprise. You thought they'd win the division, though?

6.5. You did think they'd win the division? Yes, 6.5 out of 10 in terms of... 7.5 out of 10 in terms of winning the division.

What, concerned? That did not look good yesterday. So, you don't think they're going to win the division?

No, I do. I'm worried, but I think they'll get it together, but I was a lot more worried about them. 1 was no concern, 10 was alert, alert, alert. Look what we saw yesterday. I'm concerned about this offense, absolutely.

So, you think there's a 7.5 level of concern? So, you think there's a chance they don't win the division, is what you're saying? I think there's a chance. I think they still will.

So, I think there's... I feel way more concerned about the division today than I did last week. So, then let me ask you about another team that you've been trashing all offseason long that I told you was going to make the playoffs this year. The Minnesota Vikings. Are you starting to believe a little bit more in the Minnesota Vikings?

Now, let me put this on a reverse scale. 1, no belief in the Vikings. 10, all the belief in the world in the Minnesota Vikings.

What's your number on Minnesota after you left? It'd be all offseason long when I told you, and I may have been underselling it. 9 and 8 for the Minnesota Vikings.

I said they'd be a wildcard team. I still think Green Bay's going to win the division. But Kevin O'Connell, with Kirk Cousins, Justin Jefferson, Adam Thielen didn't even really do much yesterday. Dalvin Cook now wearing a new number. How about that Vikings offense?

Give me the number. I will say 5.5. More belief than what I felt last week. But the thing with Kirk, this is his thing. He plays well early in the season.

He played really well yesterday, credit to him. I want to see it in a bigger spot. I want to see it come post-Thanksgiving. I was impressed with Kevin O'Connell, like the way the offense looked. I want to see it in a bigger spot other than week number 1.

What did you make it to at Tunga Vailoa yesterday? Because here was my analysis. Didn't turn over the football. I didn't think Tua played all that great. The Patriots offense was abysmal. The big takeaway to me, or for me yesterday with the Dolphins, was that the Dolphins defense.

If there was any doubt without Brian Flores, they maybe take a step back. That Dolphins defense is really damn good. Now I know there's a lot of concern with the Patriots offense as there should be. But the way that Dolphins defense made plays with Jones, Ingram yesterday, and a bunch of others. That's a damn good defense. That's where the surprise came from.

Like Tua just played, I would say, to a self with better weapons. You know, Jalen Waddle in year number 2, obviously Tyreek Hill. He's never going to be the one to be like Patrick Mahomes and just rip it down the field and wow ya. We thought he was once going to be that guy.

Right. And now he's a guy who just completes the ball. Get the ball out to your play, he's like a point guard. Get the ball out to your play makers, let him do the work. And on offense you see the difference between the Patriots and the Dolphins, even outside of the quarterback play.

Just look at the speed. With Tyreek Hill, Jalen Waddle right before the end of the half. And then Kendrick Bourne, who was the Patriots best wide receiver, I don't know what the heck he did.

But now he's in the doghouse with the Patriots, which doesn't make any sense to me. And the one big play they got yesterday was late from Kendrick Bourne. I did not like what the Patriots showed yesterday. And I told you I was down on my team before the start of the season. I thought they'd be 9-8, 8-9 and miss the postseason. I believe in the quarterback.

But man, that approach offensively by Belichick, Patricia and Judge is abysmal. And they gotta win this week up against the Steelers. Steelers coming off a big win. Mitch Trubisky, the quarterback. Najee Harris will see if he will play. TJ Watt may be done for the year. You gotta go into Pittsburgh and win and that's a 50-50 game. But you gotta win.

You can't set the year off 0-2. Flipside, what is your concern level going into that game? With the Patriots? Yes, going into just week 2 specifically. It's a coin flip for me going into that game. It's a coin flip.

So your nerves are like at a 5 out of 10? If you tell me they win the game, I wouldn't be surprised. If you tell me they lose, I wouldn't be surprised whatsoever. But you can't really celebrate in my misery right now. Because your football team just tied up against the Texans. Which is basically a loss. Which is abysmal.

Pathetic. By the way, Minka Fitzpatrick yesterday was unbelievable. We had him on eye on football afterwards. And he basically said on the block PAT where you thought the Bengals were gonna win the game.

Yeah, they just didn't even block me. It was pretty easy guys. And he showed a lot of mental toughness. The big pick 6 earlier, then had an unnecessary rough this late. And then found a way to bounce back a player 2 later to go block that PAT. And I thought that game was gonna end in a tie. Evan McPherson was money Mac last year.

He couldn't make anything yesterday. Which is crazy. But that's kicking in the NFL. And the Steelers pull a rabbit out of the hat after looking like they were gonna win the entire way. And then boom.

Hit you right in the face, looks like you're gonna lose and then you find a way to still win. And I was disappointed with Baker and the Panthers. I really was. That is not a good Browns team because you have Jacoby Brissette. We know the roster is really good. But you look at Baker and that team. The first half was just bad. Bad offensive football.

In the second half they got things going but it was just a little too late. And it just shows ya. Like Texas and Alabama. Carolina. And then also the Browns. Not saying the Browns or Alabama. That would be a jackass statement. But you have to find a way to put the ball in the end zone when you settle for field goals. The other team will come right back and they'll burn you when it counts.