26’ Week 3: Third and Wrong

When it mattered most, the Ravens picked the wrong play at the wrong time. Coach Jerry breaks down that costly call and what it says about a team that just can't seem to learn from its own mistakes. Plus, a look back at what Week 2 really taught us (hint: don't drink the Giants Kool-Aid just yet), a full NFC East breakdown, and Coach's updated Top 5 power rankings with a new team claiming the top spot. And of course, a fiery Dope of the Week goes to a backup quarterback who was anything but ready. Let's get into Week 3! 

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

SPEAKER_00 0:25

Welcome back to the coach week three of the NFL season and week three uh for this podcast. Uh just want to start off by saying I apologize that uh we couldn't get week two out. We did uh record a podcast, but we had some technical issues with the audio, so we couldn't uh publish it last week. Uh so yeah, looking forward to getting back on the right path and hope you're enjoying the NFL season. Love that football is back, these games are fantastic, a little bit sloppy. We got some early injuries, uh, but a couple things of what we learned this past week. So, first of all, the New York Giants, maybe some of us drank the Kool-Aid a little bit after their uh week one win against Dallas because they look so good, they look so physical. They are better, but they're very thin. They don't have a deep roster, and we saw what they do against the deep team, against the Super Bowl contender and the Rams. Uh, they were not physical, they didn't have talent on the field, they were into their backups, and they have very weak backups. So, this is gonna take time. So, not to overreact, uh, the Giants will be better. Um, they showed us some things, but they got a ways to go. And if they can't keep their quarterback upright, then uh they got no shot. And they got to find a way to protect him, they gotta find a way. I mean, it wasn't his fault. He was in the pocket, it was just a weird sort of hit. Uh, still waiting to see how long he's gonna be out. But without him, that uh that offense is gonna struggle. And so uh that's something that we learned from the last game in week uh number two. Same old Ravens. How do you have one of the best games of week one? You go on the road, you dismantle the Indianapolis Colts. Everyone's talking new coach, new offense, new everything. Lamar's a new guy. And what do they do? They blow a lead against the New Orleans Saints at home. They don't run the ball, they don't keep possession. Uh, and you know, kudos to the New Orleans Saints. I think they're gonna surprise some teams, uh, including myself. That defense is young and it's good. Um, but it's the offense. Tyler Chuck is is looking good, and Kellen Moore is showing that you know he can coach offense and he can coach his own team as a head coach, and that team is rolling. Uh, imagine if they had actually gotten a tie against the Lions, they would be first in the NFC South, and they'd only be a half a game out in the entire conference, but I digress. Uh, but yeah, same old Ravens. You know, you got Derrick Henry, you guys talk and talk and talk. And yes, context matters, but the fact is a third and one on the final drive to for the game, third and one, and you don't hand it off, you don't run Lamar, you throw a 40-yard D pass, uh, you know, you're asking for trouble. So I don't know. I hopefully Jesse Minter learns from that, but you think they learn over the last couple years how to run a fourth quarter drive, how to run fourth quarter offensive strategy, they were terrible. And uh yeah, they lost their home opener. And then Tampa Bay. I mean, you guys should be embarrassed. Baker Mayfield, if there's any time you talked about being disrespected with a $50 million offer uh in the off season, and then you begged and whined and whatever, and Tampa uh bent and gave you an extension that you wanted, and you come out like that at home, home opener. I don't want to hear about the weather and whatever. You're Tampa. You guys should be used to that's part of your home field advantage is hurricane season and crazy rain and weather delays. You guys should be ready for that against Deshaun Watson and the Cleveland Browns. You lay that egg. So shame on you, Tampa Bay. Um, you know, some people went crazy about Todd Munkin, about uh, you know, pushing back and fighting against Mike Tomlin. I thought, I thought, oh, what a terrible thing. And then when I actually heard the clip, it's not that bad. He just made the reference, he's standing up for his team, and hey, you got to do it when you win. And who knows? This Browns team, they could go 1-16. So you better do it when you win because you may not have another chance for the rest of the season uh to push back against the haters. So I didn't think it was that big a deal. He didn't go on a rant, he didn't go after Mike Tomlin. He just, you know, pushed back that hey, we're not that bad, and we're still a team here, and that's what a head coach is supposed to do, even though I think the Browns stink. But this week, the Bucs are even worse. That you could lose that game at home against a sexual assaulter of Deshaun Watson, uh, make him look like a pro bowler, uh, that's embarrassing. That team should have been a lot better prepared, and they weren't. Um, so those are some of the quick highlights. Um, everyone's got a power ranking, but before I go to my power five, uh, we talked about the NFC East last week, but obviously the podcast didn't get published, so I'm gonna talk about them again. Because, like we talk about here on this podcast, we look at all eight divisions uh equally. We don't spend all the time on certain teams, especially the teams that stink just because they get the ratings or just because they're popular. We look at all of the 32 teams. And so in week one, we looked at the AFC East. This week we're gonna look at the NFC East, which is a very popular division, and we're gonna start with the Philadelphia Eagles. And the Eagles are my pick to win the division. Uh, their defense has started slow. I expected their defense to be a lot better. They propped up a really weak Washington offense, and then going into Tennessee, I know the weather was was crazy and they had to figure out a way to just survive it. But on D against that offense, they should have been much better. And uh they allowed a lot of yards, uh, they kept Tennessee in the game. And so, you know, I believe in Vic Fangio, I believe in that defense that they're too talented, they're too deep, but they've started off slow. Uh Jalen Hurts for all the criticism and all the accolades. I'm surprised this was his first comeback win in the last minute of a game. I found that a surprising stat. Uh, but kudos to them. They drove down the field, they made the plays when they had to, and they got the winning touchdown, they got out of there with a win. So, you know, contending teams, they find a way to win even when they're not at their best, when you have crazy hot weather. Um, you know, good for them for going on the road and getting the win. But uh they still they still have a lot to uh to prove and to show. But I think they will in the coming weeks. And then Dallas Cowboys, America's team, who everybody has been going crazy on on the defense. And personally, I thought that defense would be better, at least on paper, because they've added some key pieces. And then they got trucked in week one. Uh, and so you figured, okay, well, let's let's see how it goes. Uh, because that run defense will get better. They just have too much talent, uh, but they're young and they're figuring it out. Well, they go against a very uh weak Washington team, they end up playing the backup, and Washington's still hanging around. Um, that game should have been over by second quarter, and it wasn't. And uh so I think I think Dallas's defense still leaves a lot to be desired. Um, so we'll see what happens. Again, when you have young pieces, new pieces, it's gonna take time. Uh, but if Dallas doesn't show up that offense, they're not making the playoffs this year for sure. Doesn't matter if that offense scores 400 points or 500 points. Then we got the New York Giants, though the you know, the team that everybody was going crazy about after the Sunday night win. Um, they came back to earth uh this week. And uh you can see there's gonna be a culture change. You can see that John Harbaugh is gonna bring some accountability. I think their their play calling was a little weird. Uh Jameis Winston looked lost, and we'll get back to him in a second. Um, you lose your starting quarterback, you're gonna be in trouble. But some of the play calling, uh, when you don't have the the people, you gotta load up. I mean, if it means you're gonna go three tight ends, you're gonna go heavy backfield, and you just, you know, three yards in a cloud of dust away from Aaron Donald, then that's what you do. You gotta you gotta keep your defense fresh. Your defense, especially your front seven, is the strength of your team. And if you're going three and out and you're putting the defense back out there against a really high-powered offense, you're just asking for trouble. And you start you saw it, they started to crumble. Uh, the Rams could have run up the score if they wanted to. Um, the Giants were just crushed. And then you lose neighbors. Uh, even Scadaboo at certain times when you're looking at um, you know, short yardage, power packages. I don't understand why they weren't a little bit more smack mouth, drain time, you know, and try to make those plays happen. Um, yeah, I just don't get it. I think they made the Rams look better than they were. Uh, the Rams look good. Donald looked good, good first game, but I think that was more the Giants being awful and not executing. I mean, how do you on a short yardage play when you're in the red zone and you're trying to score that touchdown off a turnover? How on earth do you put a tight end on Aaron Donald? Really? And then you're surprised that Aaron Donald blew up the run play because he blew up likely? That's just stupid. You should be putting two or three guys on him and making sure that he's not the guy to beat you. Somebody else beats you, you'll live with it. But you don't let him blow through and make it that easy. Um, you know, and that took away any option of a fourth down play as well for the touchdown. And that was pretty much all she wrote um before the first half. So the Giants, they'll be better, but uh yeah, I I think uh I think they have a ways to go because they don't have the depth. They're rebuilding, and I think it's important, and they need to make sure that uh they keep uh Dart healthy, and so take the time. Uh, we still don't know if if the MCL is gonna be a few weeks or if it's gonna be an entire season, so we'll see. And then the Washington Commanders, they're done without Jaden Daniel, and that offense just looks awful. Um, I know they lost Tuncil in in uh the preseason or in the offseason, and um they just they gotta they he's gotta become durable, he has to bulk up, he has to figure out how he plays. Um, they gotta properly repair that elbow because it didn't look like uh a major uh injury should have come from that play. He's brittle, and it doesn't matter how talented he is, doesn't matter his leadership skills, if he can't get out on the field, you're done. Uh they're awful, they're gonna be the bottom of the league. And um yeah, I I I think Quinn is done. Uh they're not going in the direction. They have kind of pieces of talent here and there. They've sort of hung around the first two weeks against teams that I think let them hang around more so than what amazing things Washington did. Um, but they're they're in a rebuilding year, and if they can't figure out what to do with their quarterback long term, I think it's gonna be another five to ten years um before you see them in the playoffs again. So that's how I see the NFC East. So it's only week two, and there's a lot of overreaction, but I think at this point we could definitely establish who our top five teams are in the NFL after week two. So going into week three, I see the Kansas City Chiefs uh as the fifth best team. Uh, people are going crazy over the Chiefs, and Kelsey's back, and Mahomes is back, and that sounds nice, but pump the brakes. They demolish the Broncos, absolutely. Uh I think they toyed with the Colts a little bit too much. Uh, but they got the win, they made the plays. So they're 2-0. They look like they have a legit running game and running back that's gonna be tough uh to beat. Mahomes put up you know big time, you know, deep, deep shots. Uh but also there were two games at home against teams that you could tell weren't ready. The Colts, we don't even know what to expect from the Colts after they look so terrible in week one. And it still took overtime for the Chiefs to finally put them away. So I think the Chiefs are good. Um, I think people need to pump the brakes that Mahomes is back and they're a Super Bowl contender right now. Uh their defense still hasn't been tested. Look how many points they gave up to the Colts. Uh, so they're their young defense, Bagnola, you figure will get them going, but they haven't proved anything yet. And then on offense, we'll see. Because people forget Kenneth Walker was a pounding back when he first came into the league. Nobody could stop him. He was physical. Uh, he could beat you for deep runs, he could beat you in the short yardage. He was just super physical, he was tough to stop, he was an elite runner. But why did he end up being platoon before they won the finally won a Super Bowl in Seattle? Because he wasn't durable. And being a physical back, uh, and then also having great speed, uh, he could potentially be the best back in the NFL, but there's a reason he hasn't been. And part of that reason is he hasn't been durable. Look back at the numbers, he's had huge periods of injury, and so that's why they platooned him. So if you can keep him fresh, then he's tough to deal with. And with Mahomes and his arm and what he can do, and some of the some of the weapons they still have outside. Um, offensive line that I'm still not convinced about. But the fact is, we'll have to see. It's week two, and Kenneth Walker's amazing. Talk to me at week six, week eight, week ten. Is he still there? So we'll see. So there's the potential, but that's why I got Kansas City as my number fit, number five overall team. Number four, Cincinnati Bengals. That first win was against Tampa, and we see Tampa loses to the Browns. So, you know, we don't really know how good that was, but they got some turnovers, they had some defense influence. But this was a legitimate game going on the road to against Houston, and that offense looked amazing. And that defense, not that Houston's offense is so unbelievable, but that defense, they played hard and physical, they won the battle at the line of scrimmage. And, you know, you start to look at and go, wait, maybe these Bengals could be for real. Now, again, injury is everything, durability is everything. Let's see what they do. But for right now, I think the Bengals have done enough to be the number four team in the NFL. Number three, I got the San Francisco 49ers. Now, how about the NFL? They made the 49ers go to Australia. The Niners went, spent a week there, acclimatized, and they beat the crap out of uh everyone's odds-on pick, the Los Angeles Rams. But then people said, Well, that's that's not where it's gonna cost you. It's gonna cost you when you come back trying to get on schedule. Well, kudos to the NFL because they basically gave the 49ers a bye. They gave them Miami at home, uh, which was no contest. San Fran could have been a half asleep, it didn't matter. And they ran it up on Miami, and that was an easy game. And now they're back in the Pacific time zone. So uh I think as the weeks go on, San Francisco is gonna be the big winner when it comes to how they did travel and how they did the rest and how they managed uh Australia. So they're fine, they're strong. And number three, again, we'll see how healthy they stay uh because they've already had a couple injuries at wide receiver, but right now they got their key guys there. Number two is the defending champs, the Seattle Seahawks. Um they're 2-0. Uh they went down to Arizona and punked them with their backup quarterback. Uh you know, it now it's Arizona. I mean, Arizona won their first game against the Chargers, so a little bit of surprise there. They went on, you know, division opponent, uh, but they had the extra extra mini buy because of the Wednesday night game, and they took it to him. And kudos to Drew Locke. He showed up as a backup quarterback, got it to JSN. JSN lit him up, and uh, you know, the defense played as the defense played. So uh Seattle is solid, they're incredibly strong out of the gate. Uh, they barely won against the the Patriots, uh, but they lost their uh quarterback. And even reports are Sam Darnold is going to be returning to practice this week. So they could be getting him back sooner than later. But Seattle has done a great job, and you know, for all the other talk about everybody else, they're right there and they haven't missed a beat since the end of last season. And my number one team, probably no surprise uh to everybody because they're getting a lot of hype, is Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills. Uh they, you know, I mean, all these teams are 2-0. Um, but Buffalo went into Houston and lit up that defense for 36 points. Um, yes, they played it tight, they almost lost, but the fact is they went on the road in a place that's been a struggle for them, and they got the win. Uh, so that was a big win. And then they had to flip it around on a four-day turnaround, and they punked the Detroit Lions. And the Lions defense is pretty bad, but the offense lit them up, and then the Buffalo defense hung in there. Even as Detroit started to get up off the mat, Buffalo got the key plays, and that's really what's gonna make the difference between this Bills team and the last few years. What is that defense gonna do? And so they still gave up some points near the end, but the fact is they made big plays early against the Detroit offense, and I think it's fair to say they're clearly number one. Give them the hype. Everything's close because it's only two weeks into the season, but that's my top five: Buffalo at number one, the Seahawks at number two, the 49ers at number three, the Bengals at number four, and the Chiefs at number five. Now, I know there were a couple things, a couple teams that might be missing from that that people are like, hey, what about the Raiders? Pump the brakes. The Raiders, you know, beat a really sad Miami team at home in the first win. Now, this next win against the Chargers on the road, sort of, because they had a ton of, they had, you know, again, ex-California team. It was a home game for the Raiders uh in LA. And so uh they beat a reeling Chargers team. Kudos to them. It's a you know legitimate team. Um, but it was just one impressive win up until this point. Minnesota. Uh Minnesota's 2-0, but they're with a backup quarterback. Hey, Kyler Murray, you're supposed to be a pro baseball player. If anybody should know how to slide, it's you. Uh the concussion and the injury you got, yeah, it wasn't a great hit, but that slide was a joke. You have to protect yourself. And you, over your career, you have talent, but durability has been one of your issues. This is your best shot with this offense and this coaching staff to resurrect your career. Your job is to protect yourself and to make sure you're in there the entire game. So Kyler Murray is supposed to be getting better and working through concussion protocol. Let's see what happens. Um, but look at this team with Carson Wentz. Carson Wentz, that's what a backup quarterback does. You come in and you hold the line. You don't have to be amazing, you don't have to be a superstar. Your job is to make plays and to keep things on schedule and to allow your team to compete. And Wentz did that. Even though they went into a crazy weather game against the Bears, which was such a strange uh weather game, such a strange scoring game. Uh, the Bears scored 59 points week one, and they only scored three. I don't care what the weather's like. This was at home, and they had Caleb Williams into the fourth quarter, so you can't even use that as an excuse. Uh, the Vikings defense, uh, again, playing amazing, they're well coached, and uh the offense has pieces. Uh get the ball to Jefferson and he'll make plays. So um, but because they haven't looked impressive, they've barely gotten the wins against the backups uh with their backup against these terrible teams like the Packers and the Bears, but they are division foes. Uh, that's why I left the Vikings off the list just yet. And Philly, like I said before, Philly's 2-0, great, but having having to score a touchdown with nine seconds to go against Tennessee doesn't scream championship caliber just yet. And so that's why I left those teams off the list. So now as we turn our attention to week three, there are a couple of great matchups that uh I think are worth uh watching and carving out the time. A lot of it actually falls on the AFC, uh, the way the schedule is this week. Uh, so I would definitely look at the Patriots and Jaguars. I know traditionally that might not be an amazing game, but if you think about it, these are two uh legit contenders, uh AFC playoff teams from last year. Uh, I think the Jacksonville Jaguars were close to being 2-0. Uh going into Denver, they demolished uh Cleveland in week one. And so I think you know they're they're there. Trevor Lawrence is playing well, their defense is good, and then you have a Patriot team that kind of got right, uh, beat up the Steelers at home. They were physical, their defense was physical. So I think this is a good clash. It should be a good game, close game, and uh it'll be it'll be physical, and uh it'll be interesting to see who comes out of this one uh because I think that will give them a leg up when we start talking about tie break uh late in the season. So that's the first one you might want to consider watching. The second one is the Sunday nighter, and that's the Rams and Broncos. And again, I'm a Broncos fan, I'm not ashamed about it. They uh they pulled off a huge comeback against Jacksonville because I didn't I wasn't feeling very good about that game, but they came back and they won. The defense had their best half so far uh in the season and getting things right. The Rams looked explosive on Monday night. They look like the the the back to the same Rams. Um now they beat up on the Giants, but now what are they gonna do when they have to go to Mahai? And that offense, without Puka at this point, has to play Denver's defense. Uh Devontae Adams went off. I feel pretty comfortable saying he's not gonna go off the same way with Pat Sertan and the Orange Crush defense in Denver. Um But they've got two the two headed running backs, they've got Stafford, um, decent offensive line. So that's going to be a great uh great competitive uh part of the game. But the other part of it too is what is Denver's offense gonna do against the Rams defense? The Rams defense looked a lot better, obviously, again, but it was against the Giants with no Jackson Dart, uh, you know, with no real passing game. They lost neighbors part way through. So the Rams defense looked good, but how good? Aaron Donald looked amazing. Uh, what's what's Sean Payton and Davis Webb and their strategy going to be to contain him on the line in that front seven? Because the Rams' front seven is very good. Trent McDuffie uh and Jalen Watson were the former Chiefs corners, so the Broncos offense won't surprise them because they played them before and they're very good in the secondary. So this should be an interesting match. I wouldn't say Super Bowl preview potentially, but hey, who knows? These are two contenders in each conference. So uh it should be a good game. It's in Denver, so I'm hoping that helps uh the Broncos, but that should be a really good competitive game, and that could tell us a little bit about uh what's coming uh in terms of you know down the line for not just playoffs, but potential uh AFC, NFC championship games, and also the potential of um a Super Bowl, a Super Bowl matchup. And then the last game that I would kind of point your attention to, and we wouldn't necessarily think of this as a huge game, but I think it'll be an interesting game. It's the Cincinnati Bengals uh at Pittsburgh. Uh Pittsburgh looked terrible last week. And in the first week, they looked okay, but again, against an Atlanta Falcon team, that's awful. So who are the real Steelers? And now they're getting a home game against a division rival that's riding high with a potential defense that could really make things tough on Aaron Rodgers. Boy, did Rogers have a tough game in Foxboro. So now he's going up against sexy uh Dexie uh and that uh that Bengals revamp defense and it's a division rivalry. Let's see what happens. Can the Bengals put it on their division rivals on the road? Um, these games are usually close no matter what. This one will be interesting because this could be the passing of the torch where the Bengals are back and the Steelers start to head straight to the bottom. Uh, so that'll be a tough divisional game, lots of interest. So those are the three games that I would recommend watching uh this week. But there's a lot of cool, interesting stories. Saints and Raiders. Um, you know, Eagles, Bears would have been nice if uh Caleb Williams was playing, but with him out, uh I don't expect much. Uh you got two big names, two big, big markets, but uh with backup quarterback, we'll see. And we'll see what Philly does because Philly needs to clean up the rack. Uh, and I think Ben Johnson, with a full week uh of practice, will be able to get that offense ready without Caleb Williams. So let's see what the Monday nighter looks like. But it's not nearly as nice as it would have looked on the schedule if everybody was healthy. So the one thing I want to mention before we wrap uh week three up is we talked about this year that we're gonna be doing a feature called Dope of the Week, you know, to try to get the you know negativity out, to point a finger and to kind of you know get some venting happening because there's a lot to be negative about in our world. And I don't want to sit there, I want these to be fun uh to listen to and to talk about. But dope of the week this week, Jameis Winston. Uh, I'm so disgusted with this guy. First overall pick, bounced around. Now he's a perennial backup. And the reason he's a perennial backup is because he started a lot of games. So the idea is at least he can he won't be overwhelmed by the situation. But I was so disgusted by how unprepared he was Monday night. And it's not even about being effective, it's not about driving down the field and scoring points, although that's what you hope. But your job is to be the leader and to stabilize and to not be the weak link. And he looked like deer in the headlights. The way he was running the huddles, the way he was coming out is like, do you even know what the plays are? Did you even spend any time in the offensive uh strategy meetings throughout the week? Like, what do you do? You're collecting millions of dollars as a backup. Your job is to be more than the prankster and the jokester and to you know crack jokes and to you know make fun quips for the media and for NFL films. Your job is to jump in there and to be ready and to take the reins and to run the offense with confidence so that when everyone's looking at you, you're going ahead, functioning as you're supposed to. And instead, you were having a vacation, you were enjoying SoCal. I'm sure you had a few golf games during the weekend because you're the backup. What role do you have? And then when dark goes down, you come in like that. That is, I am so disgusted by it. You have a job, you're paid millions of dollars, and your job is to be ready to go in, and you weren't. And so you are by far and away the dope of the week of week two. Get your act together. You've got some skills, you've got some tools, your career's not over yet. Look at Gito Smith. You can recover and you can get back to being a starting quarterback. But oh my goodness, get your head out of here, you know what, and get out there. Your job is to prepare. So there's your dope of the week for week two. And uh, so as you're looking into week three and watching some of the games, when something bothers you, when the ref does something, when the coach does something, remember point to the coach and say, throw the flag, coach!