Reaction to the 2023 NFL Schedule Release & Week 1 Matchups
And now move the sticks with Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks.
What's up everybody, welcome to move the sticks DJ Bucky back again, Buck.
How are we doing man?
Good.
Schedule lease is done.
Everyone knows exactly what we're doing.
So I'm excited about it.
I think it's always that anticipation of schedule lease, how it's going to play out.
No one is necessarily happy with this schedule.
And I mean no one.
There are other complaints about the road games.
I don't know why they have us doing this and that.
But the fun part of it is now that we know, so now we can begin to kind of map out a plan,
see which games we want to get to and pay attention to and kind of speculate who's going
to be, which teams are going to be some of the top teams in the lead to sure.
Yeah, I'm going to, I'm going to take us through week one.
I thought like everybody tries to go through the whole season.
We don't know what's going to happen during the year.
We don't know who's going to be hurt.
We don't know what these teams are going to look like.
So to talk about matchups in December, I think it's kind of a waste of time.
But I do think what we can do is, hey, we're in the off season here.
We look at week one.
So I thought we would kind of just go through the week one matchups.
They're not playing any games between now and then.
Maybe what we're looking forward to most in these individual games.
It'll allow us to hit on all these teams and kind of what we're looking forward to.
But before we do that, as a player buck, when the schedule came out, what were you looking
for right away when you're looking at that thing?
Well, first thing is when is the buy week?
When is the break in the season?
So you got to look at when that is because that maps out some of your preparation.
Okay, how long is this marathon at the beginning?
Do we have it right in the middle where it's a nice even split in the season?
Or do you have to go because I think something is taking the buy weekend week 13, which is
crazy to me.
A long time to grind before you get a break and before you can have an opportunity to
reset.
I also look for the primetime games because the primetime games typically let you know
when you have a weird week or weird set of circumstances in a two or three week period.
Three games in 12 days, maybe a Thursday night, Sunday night, Monday night, how does your
schedule have to change?
And for me, DJ, the last thing that I look forward, who do we play down the stretch?
No matter what we talk about, no matter what we'll talk about the beginning and how you
open the year, it always comes down to that last stretch run.
Who do we have the last month, month and a half of the season?
Because that's when we make the run to get hot to get into the postseason.
Those games matter.
The league is in a really good job of putting division games there, but it's not always
a handful of division games.
So how is the table set for us to finish strong to have a little momentum going into the
postseason?
Yeah, I see that's interesting how you look at it.
And I look as a scout, and I know you probably guys probably do the same thing, we always
had our winter meetings, our December meetings on the road.
So we would take all the area scouts and we would all meet up at, you know, we'd have
our meetings the three days before the game, then we'd go watch our team play.
And you were always hoping that in December, you had some warm weather city in there somewhere.
You're looking for a, you know, maybe the dolphins for the chargers, you know, these
Bay areas, something like this.
That's warm up a little bit.
So that was one of the things I looked at when I was on the player personnel side, then on
the broadcasting side doing these charger games for the last five years, when the schedule
comes out, I'm looking for, okay, we got some cold weather teams.
When do we play them?
How cold is it going to be?
Then I'm looking to dodge, you know, having to work on Christmas Thanksgiving.
So you're looking at holidays and making sure like birthdays, different things like that,
you're covered.
Fuck, I came on clean.
I've ever had a year in the last 20 years being involved in the NFL where I've had a
cleaner schedule.
Like it's, I mean, couldn't have come out any better.
I got a little cold in Green Bay, maybe.
I think that is, that's like November 19th.
And then there's December 3rd in New England, which are cold, that's going to be cold,
but it's not like, you know, in the cold.
Yeah, I mean, that's the thing.
Everyone is looking towards that because these after spending last year on the sideline.
Yeah, I pay closer attention to a Wendy Cole weather games.
Not a lot of fun, not a lot of fun, but it, look, I got tricked last year.
You come out okay?
I mean, I'm okay, but like, I don't want to get tricked like a trick last year.
Last year we played Philadelphia like the second or third week of the season.
And it was a monsoon, it rained the entire game.
I mean, when I say the entire game from the time that we finished warmups into the time,
the final sound, I mean, it was rained, just a steady sideways rain that you couldn't
avoid.
So I'm better equipped this year, but I'm not looking forward to some intimate weather
game.
Hey, Shaq, James Shaq Harris, never let the weather be sure.
Yeah, I learned, I learned quickly, but man, whoo, yeah, different hosts.
That's fantastic.
All right, let's jump into these games here.
This is not going to be a long one today, but I thought this would just be kind of a
fun exercise.
Let's start with the kickoff game Thursday night.
I was surprised by this, man.
The Chiefs obviously going to be hosting that one, but the Lions are their opponents.
So we go Lions, Chiefs, what can we learn in that one?
What we'd be keeping an eye on in that one.
So to me, this is a measuring stick game for the Detroit Lions.
This is an opportunity for them to see how far they've come as a team as it relates to
being a legitimate contender for the postseason.
There may be more.
They can't see the Chiefs defending champs, all the speed, athleticism, all the stuff
that they bring.
They operate at a high level.
So now if you're the Lions, you get a chance to kind of see how you stack against a team
that's been, but three Super Bowls in the last four years and they've won two.
I mean, this is the ultimate thing.
If you're Dan Campbell, you excited about this because this gives you a chance to watch
your team, then you have an extended week to assess and fix the issues to get ready to
play down the stretch.
If you're the Lions, I don't know if you can ask for a better opening game matchup.
Yeah.
Oh, I think it's going to be fun.
It's one of those ones when you first hear it, you're like, wait, wait, wait.
What?
And then when you start digging in and thinking about it, like I asked this kind of intriguing.
I would say on the other side of it, Kansas City, they're going to have a new right tackle,
new left tackle.
So Joann Taylor, who you know well, Donovan Smith, he's coming over for Tampa.
Like those two guys, how do they look against a young, talented front that Detroit's going
to throw at you with Aidan Hutchinson and company?
So that's what I'm keeping on with the Chiefs.
Yeah.
I mean, look, that's going to be a problem.
And the thing for the Chiefs, they, you know, like people are going to talk about the
lines, but until you face them, man, you don't understand the level of physicality that
they bring.
They do not play like your normal Detroit lines team.
They are a team that is as physical as they come.
And when you get them to play at their best, man, they can run it out.
But what they also have to deal with, Kansas City Chiefs, they got to deal with this.
I said new and improved offense.
You drop in your gear gives in, you're going to drop Sam LaPorter in to an offense that
already was kind of cranking it out.
Now Jerry golf is going to be crazy comfortable.
Yeah, no doubt.
It's going to be a fun one.
I think that's a sneaky good game here to get the NFL season kicked off on a Thursday
night.
We've got, let's jump into these other ones and we'll roll through on Panthers, Falcons.
What are you looking forward to in that matchup?
I mean, it's bright, young, it's debut.
So I want to see what bright, young does.
We can sit in speculate.
Andy, dog, may star, maybe they'll hold him.
Man, you don't take a quarterback number one overall to pick him on the bench.
And so how does Frank Wright get his young quarterback going?
How do they change the way that they play to ensure that he is protected while also being
aggressive enough to stretch the field?
All eyes are on bright showing in this one.
Like we just want to see is the size is the height factor.
What are the issues?
Are there any issues?
Andy, we get it right when we say that he's number one player in this draft.
Yeah.
Just seeing what he looks like on an NFL field, you know, that's going to be interesting.
From that side of things with the Carolina Panthers and how they construct that offense
around his skill set.
I'm looking at the Falcons and I'm going BKD.
I'm going BKD here because I want to see what Beijon, Kyle and Drake look like.
Like this is kind of a, it's got a chance to be a fun little trio there with Atlanta.
What those guys, young, athletic, you know, explosive, rangey guys, like to me, that's
going to be a fun mix there with the young skilled that they have in Atlanta.
Yeah, young skilled.
And they can do a bunch of different things.
Quarterback is still TBD in terms of will, Desmond Ritter be the long term solution for
this team.
We'll see.
But the young weapons that they're putting around him, they will grow and continue to
grow.
But man, by the time maybe you drop in, I just, I just love what they have.
So I'm excited about watching them play.
All right.
Let's go to the next one.
Texans at Ravens.
Lamar Jackson, playing in top of Monkins offense.
To me, that's just the headliner.
Todd Monkin said, yeah, Lamar will run it, but he didn't act like this is going to be
Greg Roman's version of Lamar Jackson running.
Said he didn't want to rob him of his superpowers, but they're going to push the ball down the
field.
Now I have my reservations about the Ravens adopting this style.
I don't know if it brings them closer.
I think it may make them more mainstream, which everyone would have fun with that.
But I don't know if it makes them a more dangerous team.
Yeah, I think when you look on the other side of it, I mean, I think it's pretty obvious.
We've talked so much about this draft with Houston, you know, getting a chance to see
CJ Stroud make his debut against a defense that can give you a lot of looks, not going
to be easy.
And I think there's kind of some irony, right, with CJ Stroud finishing up his college career
with the one kind of roadblock he had was who, Michigan, coached by Jim Harbaugh, couldn't
get over that hurdle.
Who does he start his NFL career with?
John Harbaugh across the field.
Like some irony there here, see if he can kind of get over that Harbaugh hump, so to
speak.
And then to see Will Anderson in the first glimpse of seeing him on NFL field, that's
a tough challenge.
You talk about it.
It's not a stationary quarterback.
You're trying to hunt down there in Lamar Jackson.
So it'll be fun to watch those two cookies.
And I'll say also Odell Beckham for the Ravens, Derek Stingley, year two with the Texans.
That's a fun little matchup as well.
Yeah, his first or match up talking about two LSU guys being able to go at it.
That should be a lot of fun.
Yeah, you mentioned Odell Beckham Jr.
He's kind of the linchman to how explosive this offense can be.
If he can just re-emerge as a guy that commands a double team, it opens up the field for everybody
else.
I'm fascinated to watch how this team gets down.
Love the personnel, love the pieces.
No doubt.
All right.
Let's keep it rolling here.
Let's go big AFC North matchup, Joe Burrow and the Bengals to Sean Watson and the Browns.
It would be easy.
I'm going to go with the Browns and I'm going to talk about the return of the Sean Watson.
Yeah, yeah.
I know he played last year, but this will be really the return to action for the Sean
Watson.
How good does he look now that he hopefully has resolved all of his issues and they can
focus on playing the game?
Last time we saw him before the pandemic, he was awesome.
He was well over in the yard.
He was talking about being the top five player.
So now we have an opportunity to see him back in that light.
I just want to see how he looks.
Yeah, no, that's a good one.
I'm going to go Orlando Brown making his debut there with the Bengals.
See if he can kind of solidify that offensive line, give him a big chunk of money, goes
from protecting Patrick Mahomes and now protecting Joe Burrow.
So I'm also curious just to be honest, like this Joe Burrow, is there even another level
this dude can get to?
He's been unbelievable.
Let's see, as he gets more comfortable and more knowledgeable in this system.
I have a sneaky feeling, but he's not there yet.
I feel like he's even got more that he can attend.
He got more levels.
He has more levels for sure.
He talked away, he talks about the way he frames it.
He hasn't even figured out that part of it.
Yeah, I'm excited about that one.
All right, your jags taking on the Colts on the road.
So when I think about the jags, I think about them having to line up against Anthony Richardson
and all that he can do in this offense.
You have a four training camp to get Anthony Richardson going.
So how does Mike Callwell come up with a plan to defend the quarterback that we can speculate
about what he can do, but we haven't necessarily seen without our own eyes.
And so with the jags needing to contain, Canada's defense slowed down Jonathan Taylor, Anthony
Richardson with his legs, or do they have to sell up to stop the run and create options
in the passing game?
Just kind of like a little measure stick.
See where these teams are at.
More importantly, see if the jags can take your business because the team that they should
be.
Can they beat them?
Yeah, I'm going to go with just pure physicality like the Colts when they were doing well in
this division, along with Tennessee were kind of the bullies.
And Jacksonville with Trent Bauci and coach Peterson have come in there and tried to build
their own style, their own bully, physicality that they've gone out and gone after.
And you've got a Colts offensive line.
Didn't play good last year.
What do they look like this year?
That's a good physical test, I think, for both those teams.
Yeah, good physical.
That's both teams.
You know, jags are certainly weaker in the middle.
So can the Colts attack them?
Go right at them, make it a very physical efficiency if they can stand up to it.
All right, let's go Bucks at Vikings.
You know, this is interesting.
So to me, my eyes would be on Brian Flores.
I want to see if he can quickly fix the Vikings defense without significant upgrades.
And they change from being a bimba don't break, but we're going to come after you.
We can be smart with our zone dogs and those things.
He has a lot of like stuff.
He has a lot of stuff, a lot of tools to be able to kind of help them get over the top.
But what can he do to kind of make sure he complements this offense?
Because Kirk doesn't know his guy's going to score point.
If he can close the gap a little bit on his division rivals, his division, his conference
mates, then they'll have an opportunity to maybe back door into the playoffs and maybe
get a good seat.
Yeah, I'm going to go Baker Mayfield with the Bucks.
I mean, when you have your former head coach and Bruce Arians come out and say that he
thought that he was better than any of the quarterbacks in this draft, I know Bruce is
still in the building.
I know he's not coaching the team, but God Lee, I mean, I don't know that Baker's had
anybody believe in him like that.
So you know, going back to when he first showed up in Cleveland and actually played pretty
well early on.
So, you know, sometimes with a quarterback, you get somebody that believes you get an
organization that believes in you and he's got good dudes to throw to even though, you
know, Mike Evans is a little bit older with him and God when they've got dudes.
So I'm curious to see what Baker Mayfield looks like if he's got a new chapter here
that he can maybe, you know, claim that position and hold on to it for a little bit.
So that's what I'm keeping an eye on there.
If we keep it rolling, let's go Titans at Saints.
Titans at Saints, Derek Carr's debut.
How comfortable is he?
Where does he stack amongst all the NFC South quarterbacks?
If it looks like it's going to be easy when form, let's get him out, let's figure out
how to swap it out.
But to me, this is Derek Carr showing to who that nation I am legit.
I'm worth what they traded for and I'm going to show up and show up.
Yeah, give him a nice little chunk of money there.
So we'll see what Derek Carr looks like.
Look over to Tennessee.
I want to see kind of what some of these offensive pieces look like coming together.
I mean, that was a little bit surprising when they gave Andre Dillard as much money as they
did.
Wasn't starting, you know, I've been a little disappointing.
Maybe plug into the left tackle spot.
They bring in Skoronski.
I haven't seen yet if they've said where they're going to line him up and our lads
hasn't lined up as the left guard at this point in time.
We'll see what that looks like.
I would imagine right tackle would be in the mix for him as well.
So we'll see how that offensive line works together.
Some new pieces.
I think that'll be interesting.
I know a lot of eyes will be on Will Levison wondering how long before he can't take that
thing over from Ryan Tannehill.
But that'll be that'll be an intriguing match up there when we look at the Titans and the
Saints.
All right, let's take a quick break.
We'll come back.
We'll just whip right through the rest of these.
So we've won matchups right after this.
All right, Buck, let's let's keep it moving here.
Let's go 49ers at the Steelers.
That's a sneaky good game, man.
Todd isn't as sneaky about that one.
That's a great game.
The Pittsburgh Steelers are going to test whoever the quarterback is.
They're going to come out.
They're going to set out a stop to run.
They're going to put the owners on the pressure to make them make plays.
And so look, it's tough because I was always a guy who thought that you could kind of ease
into the season, figure it out.
No, the way these matchups are, you got to hit the ground runner.
If not, you're going to be the one.
Well, the Pittsburgh Steelers have tried to rebuild their front.
You go out and you draft Broderick Jones, you sign Isaac Smalow.
They went out, they also brought in Nate Herbig to compete along that offensive line.
You get the best blocking tied in and the NFL drafted Darnell Washington.
They want to get back to being physical with a big physical back in Najee Harris.
Well, hello, here come the 49ers and they've just added Jevon Hargrave and thrown him into
the middle of their group there along that defensive front.
So a test, that's a great test for Pittsburgh for this new look offensive line, trying to
protect Kenny Pickett, get something going on the ground.
You know Mike Tomlin, he's going to embrace the physicality this whole thing and have
a Nat opponent week one.
That's going to be a great test for the Steelers.
So they'll be at home against the Niners.
That should be a fun one.
All right, but Cardinals at commanders.
Sam, how was debut with the commanders?
Ron Rivera is really going all in on the young quarterback.
And as part of a trend, we were seeing more young quarterbacks get opportunities because
if you pay them still at 25, so remember, get an opportunity to continue to build your
team.
So Sam, how gives the Carolina Panthers an opportunity to hold on to his thing, set them
up for the future with them being able to allocate a certain small number to him and
continue to add pieces to a defense that looks like he's ready to go.
They just need even more guys.
Stir it up.
Yeah, you got manual Forbes there, Ron Rivera trying to make this commander's defense into
what he had during the good years in Carolina.
So to be able to see this front come together, hopefully you get a healthy group up front,
which they have not had.
So if they can be healthy, Chase Young, get rolling back to what he was is a rookie.
We'll see what that group looks like.
And then the Cardinals buckets.
It's a team that's not very talented.
I know they brought in a lot of rookies in this class.
They're all armed with picks in the future going into next year.
You know, there's been talk, oh, this is going to be race to the bottom.
This team could have the first overall pick.
I'm curious to see the expectations couldn't be any lower for this group, especially with
when you consider Kyle or Murray coming back off injury, who knows when he's going to
be up and running ready to go.
In some ways, it's probably good to be the Cardinals because I don't know there's a team
with any lower expectations around the entire league.
Yeah, you know, it's funny because you saw by the Cardinals not getting enough respect,
they say I have NFL players in the jersey.
And so if it takes them getting on the right page, they certainly can pull it off.
But what is the right page?
Is it a little bit of what they've done previously?
But Kyle or Murray is some of what they've done with the other quarterbacks that have
been on the roster.
Like, what is it that they do?
That's the part that I want to know because when you talk to guys around the league about
these team and this team, it's like, you know, not as much talent.
So it's going to be effort and all that other stuff.
So can they get it done that way?
All right, Buck, next one here.
We've got the Packers at the Bears.
Obviously, the quarterbacks are interesting here with Jordan Love on to take on Justin Fields,
two organizations that have put their faith in young guys here.
Yeah.
So when you think about this, one, having been on the Packers side of the rivalry, this is
a better rivalry.
This is one that is always personal.
And if you think about the Bears, they've gotten their nemesis out of the division in
Aaron Rodgers.
And now Jordan Love has to come up and maybe pay for the sins of the father.
So he has to pay for the sins of Aaron Rodgers.
And with Jordan Love, what I want to see is Candace, offense morph into more of a ball
control unit that makes the game easy for him.
More run game, more play action, more big personnel to allow him to work the middle of
the field.
Jordan loves, who is credit has said all the right things, impressive.
Been very, very quiet, very deprecating and all those things.
And now I want to see if he can turn up, if he has to say something, does he have an
end to say something and get this team going?
Or will he just kind of figured out and play more as the game manager, who allows all the
other players to do all the heavy left and when it comes to the workbook?
Yeah.
And I look at this Chicago Bears offense.
It's been completely remade.
DJ Moore is going to be a big piece for them.
A legit number one receiver.
You got a new tackle on Darnell Wright, New Guard and Nate Davis.
They've added some pieces in here.
You look at their backfield, bring over Deontay Foreman.
They draft Rocha on Johnson to go along with Khalil Herbert.
There's just a lot of new pieces.
Tyler Scott, they drafted in the fourth round, young player who can really run.
This offense has to be better.
They have to be much better passing the football.
A lot of that's going to be on Justin, but I do like the fact they've got new pieces
in front of him, a big time weapon on the outside.
Let's see.
Let's see what Justin Fields, this new look offense with the Bears looks like against
a Packers defense.
It's got some really nice pieces.
So that'll be a fun one there.
Let's go to the debut here of Sean Payton.
You've got new coach and Sean Payton teaming up with Russell Wilson at home against new
quarterback for the Raiders and Jimmy Garoppolo who's back with Josh McDaniel.
So that seems to be the headliner storyline in this one.
Yeah, it is a headliner, but I think you bring out something that maybe most people
haven't talked about.
Sean Payton's experience could be a huge impact in terms of his ability to get this team off
to Matt.
When you've been there, he's taken a franchise from nothing and made them something.
Weren't us a ball, lost it.
Talked about what he learned along the way.
But this is an opportunity for him to do it with maybe even better squad than he inherited.
Let's see, we think about all of the things that they want to do.
Obviously, Jerry Judy coming back, you have Sutton, you have Jermante Williams who has
to come back, but now you have the play call of play designer who really knows how to attack
while also being aware of score situation and all those other things.
This team is going to improve because they've improved on the sideline with Sean Payton.
Yeah, and I look on the other side with the Raiders and they're going to have to win
up front defensively.
They draft Tyree Wilson, throw him in there with Max Crosby who's been unbelievable.
He'd Chandler Jones to have a little bit of a bounce back year.
But the corner group, that scares me, especially in that division.
I think you could see in this game, like this, we could be talking after this game like you
just said about Russell Wilson being like, hey, wait, we a little premature putting dirt
on his grave.
Like I could see Russell Wilson coming out there with Sean Payton, his debut and lighting
up this Vegas secondary.
So that'll be interesting to keep an eye on.
And I think on the other side of it with Jimmy, like you'll see them be efficient.
It's going to look, it's going to look a lot like the New England offense used to look.
And I think Jimmy's a better fit with Josh McDaniel's.
Now, so I'm okay with the offense.
Even Waller's gone.
I think that they'll figure it out.
They'll be efficient.
Maybe not dynamic, but efficient offensively.
But I'd be scared to death looking at that Raiders secondary against those Broncos receivers
if they couldn't get torched in that one.
Man, yeah, like you want to back up, keep the ball in front because this could be, you
talk about the, the, an oppressive coming out party.
Sean Payton's going to be in his bag.
And we've seen when he's in his bag, man, he can bust a clock on anybody.
This is an interesting pairing in terms of Russell Wilton joining up with this guy, his,
his, his idols guy, Drew Brees, his guy and Sean Payton.
All right, dolphins, Chargers all lead up on this one here on the Chargers side of things.
I want to say this defense, especially against the run, you know, are they better?
They had a bunch of detacles got hurt last year.
They get those guys back healthy.
Offensively, they're going to be fine.
They get Rishaun Slater back.
They're going to be dynamic with Herbert.
You throw in Quentin Johnson.
Hopefully you keep your wide outs healthy.
But to me, in this one, watching this game against the Miami Dolphins and their track
team that they're going to roll out there, I want to see this defensive front.
How do they do?
Can they get after the quarterback?
Can they win?
Can they dominate with their front?
Because there's a lot of money in Khalil Mack and Joey Bose and Helen.
And that's what it looks like.
Yeah, now we're going to see what it looked like.
So you talking about that, I'm talking about the other side.
The Miami Dolphins have speed to burn.
They have a world class four by one hundred relay team.
They can give it to anybody.
They can blitz around the track.
And so how do you take that and get success on the field?
But one of the ways you can do it is put the ball in the hands of your best playmakers.
So Tyree Keres, heavy workload, Jalen Waddle.
You think about what they're able to do and running back.
They're going to continue to give these guys the ball over and over and over again.
And at some point, they're going to crack.
Yeah.
No, yeah.
They're a big play weight that happened.
So and we'll see obviously what Toa looks like.
Hopefully he's out there ready to go.
And we see Herbert and Toa and have some fun with that battle.
Eagles at the Patriots.
This is Mack Jones getting a chance with a new whole voice in Bill O'Brien in his ear.
It did not work last year.
The collection of defensive coaches and special teams.
Trying to run the offense for the Patriots with no bueno.
So Mack Jones, we'll see a little more stability around him.
He was incredibly frustrated.
He was unable to hide it last year.
I think he can't help but be better with what he's got around him and who's in his
ear.
We'll see how this this offense comes together.
They can run the football with Ramon Drey Stevenson.
That's been the way to kind of attack this Eagles group.
You're not going to try and drop back and throw it a million times against that front.
So what do they look like offensively with Bill O'Brien I think is what I'm looking
for on the Patriots side of things.
You know, when I look at it, I'm thinking about the Patriots.
I'm thinking about Billio.
I'm thinking about how he can organize this offense to have more success.
The problem that you have is when you look at the Eagles, they also are undergoing some
transition.
So you may see some stuff that you didn't see on tape last year when you were breaking
them down.
So how quickly can you adapt and adjust to the new version of the Eagles?
And look, this version is already really, really good at the point of attack.
They can get after you last year to head 76 during the regular season.
They will hunt.
They will.
Man, you got to get your people who are ready because it'll be a line of scrimmage
game.
100% there.
That's the Eagles to Patriots.
Sorry, we got three games left.
This one with a Rams team that is, again, I don't know that I can remember a year where
there was lower expectations on them.
I think they've only got two prime time games.
They're going to open up on the road against Seattle Seahawks, a divisional game there,
Rams Seahawks.
I mean, this is one where it's everything like the rivalry, just you think about those
teams and how they played each other the success that they've had.
And so what I want to see from the Seahawks, I want to see them take care of business.
I want to see them hit the Niners in the mouth and see if they stand up.
And if you stand up, then you want to go right back and go back to work because it is one
of these situations where Pete Carroll has an opportunity to really win forever to really
put a vice grip on this division.
If he does it the right way and just looking at it is just getting everyone on the same
page, getting everyone work and everyone to put their personal agenda aside.
They do that, man.
This team, this team can be lights up.
Yeah, I think that the Rams are kind of situated where they could find themselves and shoot
outs this year.
I don't have a ton of confidence defensively.
There's a lot of guys that have very limited resumes that they're lying on to play key
roles.
So defensively, I think they'll get better as the year goes along.
But I think early in the season, they're going to be dependent on their offense.
The good news is when you go through and look at their roster, they still have a blue
player.
Cooper Cup is a blue player.
Oh, for sure.
Matthew Stafford, when healthy is a blue player.
Sam Akers, when he's right, is a very talented player.
Van Jefferson is a solid NFL receiver.
They've got, it Higby is a solid tight end who can give you some run after catch.
They still have guys offensively.
And you've got an elite play call or play designer.
So, you know, offensive is okay.
Good not great.
But I think they're going to score points.
My thing is I think you're looking at track meets with your hands.
That's what I'm looking for.
Yeah, you are.
And I think the thing about the Rams, they're going to track me, said, and make sure that
their defense can hold up in those games.
Meaning they have a plan for a you can get as much you want in between the 20s here.
Feel shrinks makes it tighter.
More bodies, more people around.
So it's one of these things where you're looking at the Rams and you understand where
they need to get to.
You understand how they may get there.
But I still think, man, it's just hard to ignore all the different stuff that the dogs
are going to bring to the table in this one.
All right.
Cowboys giants, I'll start off on this one from the Giants standpoint, they paid Daniel
Jones.
We'll see if they can get say, quan Barkley done.
They've added a lot of speed offensively with something they were really missing last
year.
You've got a left tackle who's really turned into a really good player.
You've got a right tackle and Evan Neal coming off a little bit of a rough year.
How's this group come together?
Can this offense hold their own here?
Because defensively, they got some really good pieces.
I like where they are on that side of the ball.
Offensively, can they be more explosive?
I think they've added the pieces.
I actually think you're going to see a better group here offensively for the Giants.
Oh, absolutely.
They're much faster team, more explosive team.
When you have a fast explosive team, you should get more points.
I mean, look, this is a league that is really predicated on the past.
The problem that I have is, now that we paid Daniel Jones, do we have to validate him to
everybody else?
Do we have to say, no, just as a guy, he did do all this.
Or does he just come in and start playing?
I think that's probably the best one.
Let's come in, let's hit the ground runner, let's see what it is.
Let's see if we can get Daniel Jones up and going.
Brian Debo, let's expand the playbook, Mike Kafka.
Let's find a way to see if we can give it to him a little more.
Because even with Seiko on Barkley, likely to turn on the tag, this offense has to be
a Daniel Jones offense, not a Seiko on Barkley offense.
No doubt.
With the Dallas Cowboys with Dak, hopefully having a bounce back year for them, that'll
be something you keep in your eye on here.
Some new pieces on that side of the ball.
It looks weird offensively when you look in the backfield and see where they are right
now.
Not seeing Zeke Elliott in that backfield for the first time in a long time.
That's going to be a little different.
Tony Pollard will see if he gets his touches, see what kind of role they can get for Deuce
Fawn, which is a fun story.
Offensively, Admazi Smith's going to help their defense against the run and they're
going to be able to get after the passer when you have DeMarcus Lawrence, when you have a
big time dude, Mike Parsons, they're going to be able to rush the passer.
To me, it's just about Dak and whether or not he can have a bounce back, it'd be a nice
way to reintroduce his level of play to where it was on a national stage on a Sunday night
game against the Giants on the road.
Last one, the Monday night, or it's the Aaron Rodgers debut.
It's not an easy one for the Jets.
They welcome the Buffalo Bills.
It's not an easy one in either regard.
If they win, everyone is going to anoint them as their best team in the AFC.
Liquid Ann Rodgers was able to do.
If they lose, it's a typical loss in New York.
This would be important for Ann Rodgers throughout training camp to make everybody keep everything
in perspective.
Now, how are we starting?
How are we finished?
And so, just kind of have to work on that stuff.
We have to work on all those things to get them ready, but New York just looked terrific
on paper.
They looked terrific on film.
But that third, I mean, we'll see, man, we'll see if the Jets can live up to the height.
I like the personnel.
It's just a matter of how quickly can this team jail with Aaron Rodgers being the leader.
He's done everything that you can ask the quarterback to do.
I'm sure the Packers would have liked him to do that the last few seasons, but he's been
there.
And when we talked to Conor McGovern the other day on TA, he just talked about, man, he's
been a perfect leader.
So, we'll see what kind of impact that has on the bottom line.
Well, I'm going to go to the other side of it and save on Miller, Buffalo.
Get him back.
What does he look like?
That's a key piece for them.
He's a closer for them on that defensive side of the ball.
And I'm also anxious to see Dalton Kincaid and how he functions in this offense.
We'll see more 12 personnel.
They have not been a 12 personnel team.
I've not been a two tight end team.
I think they will be.
We have knocks out there.
Now you get Kincaid in the mix.
That takes some of the pressure off to fun digs.
That'll be something to keep an eye on there with Buffalo.
I feel like they're kind of under the radar right now.
The Chiefs riding high, coming off the Super Bowl.
We have all the Rogers buzz.
The Jags are coming with Trevor Lawrence.
You still have people talking about, obviously, with Herbert.
Burrow is right there.
The Bengals and the Chiefs has been kind of viewed as that's the matchup going to get
out of the AFC.
And all of a sudden now it's like, hey, what about the Bills?
We forgot about the Bills.
It's still a good group.
So interesting game there on the Monday night are Bills Jets.
All right, Buck, this was fun.
We went through the week one games.
Anything you want to add before we get out of here?
We want to remind everybody, by the way, we're going to take next week off.
We'll be back the following week with two episodes, but hang tight.
We're not going away for long.
We're just going to take one week off.
But anything else you want to get into before we get out of here?
No, just a little breaky break.
Just a little break to reset.
Make sure we get there.
No, but the schedule being released, everyone getting ready for those games.
Can't wait to see how it plays out.
Yeah, no, it should be fun.
All right, hope you guys have enjoyed this one.
A quick trip through week one, the slate of games, what we're looking forward to the most.
We will catch you next time again a week from now.
Get yourself a little break.
We're going to take a little break.
We'll get you back here a week from now, two episodes, two new episodes coming your way.
On move the six.
We'll see you then.
Bye.
Bye.
you
.