In Coach Jerry's inaugural podcast, he breaks down the latest from Week 1 including an in-depth analysis of the current state of the AFC East. Listen as he challenges performances from coaching in Buffalo to Aaron Rodger's abrupt season end.
In Coach Jerry's inaugural podcast, he breaks down the latest from Week 1 including an in-depth analysis of the current state of the AFC East. Listen as he challenges performances from coaching in Buffalo to Aaron Rodger's abrupt season end.
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stop stop
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the first-ever podcast of throw the flag
coach
I'm sure you all enjoyed week one of the
2023 NFL season
and welcome and looking forward to
dropping weekly podcasts over the next
17 weeks of the regular season maybe
beyond that but for right now we're just
trying this out uh appreciate the
opportunity looking forward to having
some fun and I hope you enjoy it as well
hope you find it entertaining uh just a
couple things that I wanted to sort of
introduce before we get rolling into the
main topics for this week uh first of
all uh the idea of this is to have fun
and I look forward to hearing any topics
that you might want to talk about I may
hit on
other sports but the primary focus of
these podcasts are going to be on the
NFL uh week to week we'll talk about the
week that was and we'll take a look and
start looking at what the week that's
coming up looks like
so for uh these podcasts we're gonna you
know enjoy some opinion if you have some
topics around football or Sports in
general we'll give you an opportunity to
be able to shoot us an email or or kick
us some uh some posts on Instagram or
Facebook and we'll see what we can do
week to week uh depending on the topics
and the things that come in
so thanks for joining
um one other thing I wanted to mention
is a bit of a thank you I want to thank
Caleb and Priya for their willingness to
help me get this thing settled I've been
wanting to do a podcast for a couple
years now so just a chance to be able to
do the technical side and to get things
up and online and to drop these every
week appreciate that we expect that the
podcasts are going to drop every
Wednesday following the uh the week that
was in the NFL
and I also wanted to say a special
thanks to Mike Greenberg which sounds
kind of funny because I've never met him
but uh one of the things I really
appreciate about him from the ESPN is in
this day and age of lots of noise lots
of newscast
folks are Polaroids polarized even when
it comes to sports you know a lot of
yelling and screaming for nothing and
it's a lot of noise and what people have
forgotten is having fun with sports
because that's really what it's supposed
to be about It's Entertainment there's
drama there's lots of stuff to you know
we take our fandom seriously and you're
gonna find I do the same
but even in that it's still having
perspective and so I just want to throw
a shout out to Mike Greenberg who really
enjoyed over the years and Mike and Mike
and then in his various iterations at
ESPN and I hope some of my style and
some of my stuff is sort of in that same
vein I get passionate but I'm not going
to take anybody out because of a
difference of opinion or or because of a
sports topic so uh just wanted to say
that and want to say Kudos and I and I
love the work that um Mike Greenberg
does and that Greenie does with ESPN and
I wish there was more like that in the
sports world
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so with that let's dive into week one
so what did I learn
in week one of the new NFL season well a
couple things right off the bat I loved
the Sunday nighter that giant outcome
where they didn't just get beat they got
thrashed it was awesome and it couldn't
have happened to a nicer franchise see
these guys got so swelled in their head
last year that they thought hey look we
made the playoffs we're a great team
we're a contender and so they Fork out
40 million dollars for their mediocre
quarterback and then their chintzy with
their Pro Bowl running back who was who
was the star and he was on a proven year
and instead of paying them they slapped
them on the franchise tag and they
treated them like dirt couldn't have
happened to a nicer team a nicer
franchise I hope the Giants get smoked
all year hard to cheer for Dallas
Cowboys but I was cheering hard on
Sunday night and I loved what happened
in New York that was beautiful
uh another thing I learned did you see
what the Dolphins did everybody's been
talking about
tuatuatua right well when two is upright
oh my goodness that offense looks
unbelievable they look like the 2099
Rams like the the greatest show on Turf
Tyreek Hill just looks like everybody
else is in slow motion as he's running
down the field the way they shock the
Chargers in that back and forth game
probably the most entertaining game of
the weekend look out for the Dolphins
again if if two uh stays healthy
now I mentioned the Broncos and you're
going to hear me mention the Broncos
every week because they're my favorite
team I'm not going to spend a ton of
time unless it's their division we're
focused on but I have to say I was more
enthused going in and the jury's still
out saw some good things on the field
Russell looked a lot better they looked
a lot tighter
um the calls were made the play scheming
was decent but then I also saw some real
failings in the coaching and the in-game
coaching and Sean Payton had a bunch of
rust and Vance Joseph as a DC had rust
as well they had no business losing to
the Raiders who played a decent game but
that game that game shouldn't have gone
down that way and so I don't know what
to think as a Bronco fan it's sort of a
50 50 let's see what happens
the Packers they look like they did it
again
uh they were awful for two decades two
and a half decades and they got Brett
Favre and then look out and he put them
on a path for 18 years of amazing play
17 18 years and then they had the the
next Hall of Fame guy with Aaron Rodgers
come in and then now you know competing
at that high level for another 16 years
and so you thought okay well they
couldn't have done it again
and they got Jordan love and look at
what they did to the Bears in Chicago
with lots of Hope lots of tinkering we
know the Bears weren't that great
beforehand but they add a lot of the
pieces
and the Packers just rolled and with a
with a starting quarterback in his first
NFL game
it looks like they did it again
and I have to end off with this because
this has been the storyline for the
whole off season When I Was preparing
some of my initial notes last night
starting to watch the game this is
before the New York Jets and Bills game
started all I could think of was
apparently Rogers is an American because
he's running into the stadium waving the
flag on 911
they couldn't find anyone else who was
in New York for more than 30 seconds
that's the only guy that could bring in
the flag on 911
that was my initial thought then who
knew
that they were gonna spend nine million
dollars for each play that Aaron Rodgers
played for the season because four plays
in he's done I've been trying all day
not to smile and not to rejoice in
somebody being hurt
I'm pulling for him I hope he's able to
get healed and recovered with that
Achilles but I'm sorry I can't help but
smiling what a jerk and it's so amazing
what ended up happening it was so funny
it was so couldn't happen to a nicer guy
one of the most arrogant guys in the NFL
and we'll talk more about that later but
wow I mean I'm sorry I feel bad for the
Jets I think the Jets curse must be real
because all the Jets thought okay this
is the year they're not they haven't
made the playoffs in over a decade but
this is the year they're going to go to
the Super Bowl in one year they're going
to LEAP from no playoffs to the Super
Bowl
and then they played paid nine million
dollars for four plays and they're and
the franchise quarterbacks out for the
year so uh yeah that's what I learned
after week one uh and I can't I can't
stop smiling it's been so funny I hope
for his sake for his Health's sake you
know he recovers okay and he's able to
wander around in the darkness with a
with two solid Achilles tendons but uh
I'm telling you for for the way he acted
and the arrogance that he's shown it is
really tough to have sympathy for Aaron
Rodgers in the New York Jets
so those are the main things that I
learned from week one and I hope some of
those uh match up and align with some of
yours uh and so before we move on to the
next section one of the things I'll be
looking at every week is based on what
we saw and based on the performance
these are the top five teams that I
believe have shown themselves as being
the top five in the NFL after week one
so starting with number five I'm picking
the Miami Dolphins I mean wow that
offense was unbelievable they were going
up and down the field it didn't matter
how much time was there they were
lighting them up they were going 80
yards in two minutes Tyree kill 50 yards
70 yards waddle down the down the
sideline and up the middle it was
unbelievable they were playing video
game offense they are as advertised
but that defense was pretty brutal they
had to score 37 points to each to win
um I think Nick fangio will get that
defense going as the season goes on uh
but they got to clean that up and so
that's why I put them number five they
were
spectacular but they got some things to
clean up but they went cross-country
beat a good charger team that always
seems to have a letdown but that was Tua
against Herbert and 201 that battle so
kudos to Miami so I picked Miami as the
fifth best team in the NFL moving to
number four we're gonna go to Dallas and
people are gonna think Dallas had like
the most dominant win how come they're
only fourth and yeah because that's
America's team and everybody overblows
everything
um but the fact is they deserve to be
number four they beat the crap out of a
division rival but to be honest the
Giants never showed up they stayed at
the hotel I don't know who those
imposters were that went on the field
but they couldn't they couldn't tackle
anybody they could throw they couldn't
catch they couldn't run they couldn't do
anything so Dallas was basically just
playing a scrimmage but kudos to them
they lit them up for 40 special teams
defense and some offense that looked
okay but he didn't have to look
spectacular they just completely
destroyed New York and they deserve to
be number four on this list
number three
is the Green Bay Packers and again they
stood out against the division rival on
the road just like Dallas did
but this was the first start for Jordan
love as the starting quarterback and
they they hung up 38 points and and they
slowed down they could have hung 45-50
on the Bears if they needed to and his
first start after they kicked out a
franchise quarterback first time in like
30 years they're they're starting
somebody not named farv and Rogers and
this is what they come up with they were
they did exactly what you needed to do
and I think they're going to surprise a
lot of teams in the NFC so I put them at
number three what they did was
spectacular again in a first start for a
quarterback
number two
shouldn't be too much of a surprise
because we saw them in Super Bowl last
year number two is Philly and even
though they had a tough fight probably a
tougher fight than it should have been
yeah I think it was a little too close
then many of us thought they got out to
that 60-0 lead and he thought okay
they're gonna put it on the hoodie and
the Patriots but
um that was a close game they had to
fight through but it was terrible
weather and they got the win in Foxboro
on TV 12 day with him ringing the bell
and doing running around the field or
whatever nonsense they did at Foxboro
the fact was Philly went in there a
tough place to play that defense is
going to be tough all year and they got
the win and they hung on and they got
the win and they're stacked and so I
think they still deserve you know number
two spot on our top five list and then
number one and this shouldn't really be
a surprise because of how they came out
but the San Francisco 49ers
they just signed Nick Bosa brought him
in with no preseason no nothing and you
wonder okay can Brock Purdy do this
again they still don't seem to have a
quarterback or at least a franchise
quarterback they didn't just beat
Pittsburgh they destroyed Pittsburgh on
the road one o'clock game on the east
coast and they just knocked a snot out
of Pittsburgh and that score still
looked closer 30-7 the way that thing
was dominated Pittsburgh had like eight
minutes eight and a half minutes of
possession in the first half they got
punked so San Francisco looks like
they're already ready for the playoffs
they are McCaffrey looks amazing now
they're going to have them for the
entire season uh Kyle Shanahan they're
already in mid-season form that defense
was amazing and Pittsburgh's supposed to
be decent maybe not a contender but
there's supposed to be a decent team and
San Francisco went on the road in the
Eastern Time Zone and just beat the crap
out of them so I think San Francisco
absolutely came out as number one after
week one so those are our top five teams
I'm sure these things are going to be
changing and jockeying love to hear from
you if you think someone else should
have been in the top five uh when we
share some of that contact information
later on in the podcast
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thank you
so one of the things you're going to
notice in these weekly podcasts is we're
gonna have a special feature
where we're going to Spotlight a single
division every week and so we're going
to rotate through all eight divisions
and take a little bit more time to look
at the four teams more closely where
they're at what kind of issues what
their prospects are uh and we won't be
spotlighting certain teams because of
ratings and because of whatever which
other sports places do we're going to go
through all eight uh in an eight week
cycle so you're gonna get a chance to
hear some details
um on the on the division but as well as
on your team at that time so this week I
don't think there's really any other
place we could start but the AFC East
especially given the Marquee matchup
last night with Buffalo and New York 9
11 Monday Night Football Aaron Rodgers
come in there the place was electric so
I think this is the place we need to
start in terms of the division so just
in alphabetical order because the
records we don't have to worry too much
about just now so we're going to start
with the Buffalo Bills now the Buffalo
Bills are being overlooked and a lot of
people have given up on them they were
The Darlings for the last couple years
but they just haven't been able to put
it together and so some people have
looked past them and are looking at the
Miami Dolphins looking at the Jets with
Aaron Rodgers and they've overlooked
buffalo buffalo is still a very solid
team now saying that and looking back on
the Monday nighter
it's pretty scary how Josh Allen looked
because he's an elite quarterback but he
cannot be turning the ball over four
times in a game against a division rival
and especially given that Aaron Rodgers
went out of the game all they had to do
was play solid fundamental football and
they win that going away in the fourth
quarter and instead Josh Allen decided
he was going to keep the Jets in the by
trying to make plays but something's not
right between the ears and so somebody
has to I mean if they got to somehow
sign Brian dabble away from the New York
Giants then so be it because they need
somebody to grab him by the jersey and
sit him down and explain to them how
football works because this guy is Uber
talented he's got great leadership
qualities he's a guy you'd want to go to
war with but at times all of a sudden
something snaps is in his brain and he
turns into Jekyll and next thing you
know the ball is going everywhere to the
other team and you just scratch your
head going what are you doing
so Josh Allen's got to put it together
because if he starts showing up like
that Buffalo's not making the playoffs
initially going into the season I
thought and the pick for me was Buffalo
winning the AFC East even with all the
stuff about Miami and the Jets but after
what I saw on Monday night I'm not so
sure because this is a problem and this
is a problem that they have to fix
immediately because they have a tough
schedule and if they don't clean it up
they're in trouble and their their
window might have closed because
um these guys were supposed to be a lot
further ahead and they have a franchise
quarterback that's supposed to make him
competitive for the next decade
but you need a franchise quarterback
who's competent and who knows how to fit
a system and who knows how to lead his
team to wins not just blowouts but even
these tough games that you have to grind
out and they really blew it on Monday
night that was a huge huge mistake and
missed opportunity on Monday night I
think their defense is good their
offense is good they have the pieces
they're going to win a bunch of games
but if they don't if they don't clean up
this quarterback stuff and the turnovers
they're not going anywhere
now heading down south from Western New
York down to the South South Beach South
Coast of Florida to Miami
wow do they look good I mean I think
even the most optimistic person
I don't think could have imagined that
they were going to start that fresh out
of the gate and wow do they look amazing
but it still comes back to the same
thing if two is healthy
Miami wins the Division and that was my
call even before what happened to Aaron
Rodgers happened on Monday night if two
of us healthy Miami wins the Division
because they are just so explosive on
offense it's it's amazing but if Tua
goes down they have nothing behind him
and I think they go they're not they
don't make the Wild Card they're not
even in the playoffs if two is not
healthy now again like I mentioned
before in the week one wrap-up their
defense was was not great and they gave
up a ton of points and if there was a
few more minutes on the clock
La would have scored again right so I
mean that defense can't play like that
uh you can't expect 37 points or 40
points from your offense just to barely
win uh the defense has to show up now
with again like I said dick vanity uh
Nick fangio
great defensive mind he's gonna get
those guys together he's going to get
some pressure uh on opposing
quarterbacks uh they need Jalen Ramsey
back but they'll probably get him back
they're saying in December so I think
come December January if two is healthy
they're winning the division look out
for Miami they're going to make some
noise in the AFC
now we're going to Trek all the way up
to Boston where they had tb12 day
yesterday uh sorry Sunday uh for you
know Tom Brady and whatever so uh good
on the Patriots you know uh but this is
one of those times where the Patriots
are in a tough Division and they're not
the clear favorite after 20 years of
winning the division easily they're in
for a fight now kudos to the hoodie for
actually hiring a real offensive
coordinator this year congratulations
he's the greatest coach uh ever and yet
he couldn't figure out that you needed
an offensive coach to coordinate the
offense last year and so their offense
was horrific and Mac Jones really took a
step back in his development as a
quarterback and I think Belichick needs
to find a way to apologize to Mac Jones
because it's not about Mac Jones being a
franchise quarterback it's that if he's
a legit quarterback then Belichick has
to show up like a like a legit head
coach and he didn't do that last year by
putting together Matt Patricia and Joe
judge and the other scraps and made them
running the offense it was terrible and
the irony is Bill Belichick is by far
and away the greatest defensive mind the
NFL has ever seen and you saw that last
year where he turned them into a top
five defense but they could they
couldn't even get to 500 because their
defense was Elite but their offense was
so bad so congratulations to the hoodie
and for bringing in uh Bill O'Brien an
actual offensive coach to uh to coach
their offense and their quarterback and
their schemes and so you know kudos to
Belichick
um Philly should have steamrolled New
England last week but just like in New
England fashion they kind of lost a bit
it was down 16 nothing and then they
started to fight and the defense started
turning and and you know just like you
expect the Patriot team to do they
fought and they fought right down to the
end they were driving for a potential
go-ahead score at the end of the game uh
so I don't think you can count the
Patriots out because their defense is so
good but they still don't have the
weapons on offense and Mac Jones is
still developing I think he'll have a
much better season than he did last year
but they don't have the offense they
don't have the uh the skill guys they
don't have the ability to compete
against the Miami and against Buffalo
and then last but not least let's go
down I-95 into the the the big apple and
the New York Jets wow wow I started my
notes before that game
and while do those notes change so going
in I have to say I wanted to throw up
listening to these pre-game interviews
with Rogers talking about speaking
things into existence and and talking to
John Mcenroe who's a legend in tennis
and correcting this guy like oh we gotta
you know the power of manifestation and
we're gonna do he's so full of crap
Aaron Rodgers is 38-39 he's talking up a
storm against Mcenroe who's been a Jet
fan for over five decades he's in his
60s he's a Hall of Fame tennis player
and Aaron Rodgers is talking down to
Johnny Mac about sports psychology what
a so imagine my surprise that four
plays in boom he's gone so
the Jets you put all your eggs in that
basket high risk
um and you know it's kind of funny
actually you know the Packers couldn't
get him to OTAs in the last few years
they couldn't get him to
um play in the preseason they couldn't
get him really into camp and doing
everything but this year because he's
such a new he's such a new player now
and he's so excited about this new
opportunity he practiced in OTAs and he
showed up at preseason and
and then four plays in he's done for the
year so I don't know maybe there's a
correlation there you know maybe you'll
need to get give some thought to maybe
he was right maybe he should have blown
all that stuff off and blown off his
whole team because uh this is the first
time he he blew his whole season in the
first game so
um I do feel bad for him as an
individual it's a long rehab and at 39
many are saying this could be it for him
I hope so because I've had enough of
Aaron Rodgers but whatever I hope just
in terms of health he'll be okay uh he
gets on track and all that kind of stuff
but talking about the Jets
there was again a lot of arrogance he
got hard knocks and they're doing this
and that and and you know Rogers is the
greatest teammate he's now mentoring
he's now like taking guys out for stuff
and he's being out on the town with his
friends he's like the greatest teammate
in the world where was that guy in the
last six years nobody could find him you
think he could find him because Green
Bay is the smallest city in the NFL you
think it shouldn't be hard to find the
guy couldn't find him but in the
Metropolis of New York he's everywhere
he's with all the fans he's signing
autographs and he's meeting celebrities
and he's mentoring he's such a great guy
he cares about everybody
yeah interesting how that all ended up
so
um now with all that nonsense it'll be
interesting to see what happens with the
Jets uh because they're in some serious
trouble and Zach Wilson he couldn't even
get off the bench last year and
everyone's talking about how he's such a
different quarterback because he got to
be in the shadow of Rogers Well now he's
not the backup anymore he's a starter
and the Jets are in trouble they have an
elite defense but they will not be able
to move the ball again Buffalo is going
to be kicking themselves for the rest of
the season losing that game on Monday
night because that could cost him the
division but the Jets are terrible and
it was going to be an interesting mix
with Aaron Rodgers but without him
look out you're gonna have eight
nine-man boxes to try to stop the run
you're gonna yes you've got Garrett
Wilson on the outside and you've got
other you know what are they gonna do
all these Green Bay pieces are they
still going to be okay with Zach Wilson
because I know they were all there for
their Buddy Aaron Rodgers what are they
gonna do now maybe Green Bay will take
them back I don't know or maybe somebody
else because why would they play without
their Buddy Aaron Rodgers and Nathaniel
Hackett coaching there well that should
be fun after Aaron Rodgers was defending
the brutal job he did in Denver last
year it'll be interesting to see what
Nathaniel Hackett does with that offense
without his buddy Aaron Rodgers
correcting all his play calls when he
calls him in so the jets are in trouble
they do have enough of a defense to to
cause some issues and to cause some
people problems but without an offense
they're done people were talking about
them as Super Bowl contenders I don't
even think they make the playoffs in the
AFC in the in the tough AFC Conference
this year I don't even think they make
it and it was funny because prior to
Monday night I thought the Patriots are
going to be in the basement I think it's
going to be a fight between the Jets and
the Patriots for who gets to be in the
basement of the AFC East so we'll see
how it goes but that's how I see the AFC
East after week one
and so now as we come to the end of week
one's podcast for throw the flag coach
uh really excited again to have you join
uh this should be a lot of fun and for
all you know two of you or 12 of you or
1200 of you or whoever gets a chance to
listen to this I hope you have fun with
it
um looking forward to hearing anything
you have to share in terms of possible
topics or things uh you know that we
could talk about that we could debate
about that you want to hear about uh
going into week two we've got week two
starting off on Thursday night uh with a
good matchup between the Vikings and the
Eagles uh but one of the things that
we're really excited about is some of
the topics we're going to take on week
to week and I have to say as much as I
love Mike Greenberg with ESPN he said
something ridiculous earlier this week
about Aaron Rodgers being a top five
quarterback of all time now I'm sure it
was because he was drinking the green
Kool-Aid he was just cheering for his
guy with the Jets and he couldn't have
really meant that but I'm definitely
going to address it because enough is
enough with this Aaron Rodgers nonsense
top five all time I mean even if it's
legalized in your journey jurisdiction
you shouldn't be hitting that much stuff
if that's what you really think
obviously you're hitting the substance a
little too hard but we're going to
address that as the main topic last week
and to see where Mr Rogers fits and
where his neighborhood really is at when
it comes to all-time quarterbacks ever
in the NFL and so with that have a great
time watching week two it'll be
interesting to see how some of these
teams start to form we're already
hearing about some of the injuries the
NFL is awesome so make sure to enjoy get
yourself a drink get yourself with some
friends and have fun watching week two
as we transition into week two uh do
keep in mind that we are looking to hear
from you to hear any any topics or
comments you have to share you can get
us on email at
ttfcoach gmail.com you can also find us
on Instagram and on Facebook look
forward to hearing from you have a
wonderful week too
foreign
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