On this episode of Football 301, Week 5 Preview, we look at Bills Texans, the game of the week for us here at Football 301. We look at an underdog of the week, a hoss fight of the week over in London. We give an ultrasound at the Cowboys defense. Charles McDonald joins me to do all that and look at our mock draft, our first mock draft for the 2025 NFL Draft. Super fun show. See you guys in a sec.
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Hello and welcome back to Football 301. I am your host, Nate Tice. Week 5 preview. We are in October. We are past the quarter poll, kind of at the quarter poll, the de facto quarter poll. We are chugging along in the NFL season. We are going to be previewing Week 5's games. Well, really, a game of the week.
which is going to be the Bills and Texans. Then we have a Haas fight of the week, an underdog of the week where there's a bigger point spread that we want to break down. And at the end of the show, we are going to break down a mock draft that I, Nate Tice, did with my co-host today, Charles McDonald. We did this mock draft. He's helping me preview this show. Charles, how are you doing today in the studio in New York?
Doing good. It's actually finally starting to cool down a little bit outside, you know, not too much, though. It's kind of like 70 and cloudy every day in New York City, which is a little I feel like it's a little weird for like the first week of October. It just hasn't really been necessary to put on some super heavy clothes. But yeah.
I'm doing good. We're recording this on Thursday. I'm getting ready to be very brave and watch the Falcons play yet another primetime football game. Matt Ryan's getting inducted into the Ring of Honor. Got a couple buddies coming over to watch the game. We're going to try not to cry. I think it's going to be a really, really potentially nice affair. And hopefully when people are listening to this, I've had a good time and not a bad time. I don't know. Well, the Eagles game really...
was like hit differently than most falcons primetime experiences and kirk cousins primetime experiences so maybe the double negative energy you know kind of bounce off each other to work played well against kansas city too so they did i know yeah they actually put a very honorable performance as our friend derrick would say uh but no it's also i i saw the ref assignments ron torbert he's the reffing crew tonight
His crew is, yeah, the second hurricane to hit the East Coast. That is, yeah. So get ready for that one. He's usually, it's not so much him. It's his crew. It's a whole thing, man. That reflects him, though, because he's in charge of the crew. So, yeah, always, always, I always...
Keep an eye on Ron Torbert and where he's at every single weekend, just because there's always something funny that happens. Like I said, we are previewing one of the game that we think is the big game of the weekend, which is bills and Texans at Texans. Before we do that, please make sure to send in your mailbag questions to football 301 mailbag at Yahoo sports.com. We're going to hit those next week. I've determined that's going to be the, the muck that's going to be the slop fest slop watch at the end of the show. That's what we're going to hit.
hit with that so emails are great videos of voice mail voice notes are even better all right let's get to the week five preview talk bills texans when the bills are on offense against the texans defense we're really going to get deep dive into this game everybody because we think it's going to be a very fun one but when the bills are on offense against texas defense charles what are you keeping your eye on uh well i i feel like when i started looking at this game the more i dug into it
I not that like preseason takes matter all that much, but I felt like our preseason take of like the Texans defense, like the middle of the field being kind of a, a worry for them has come to fruition. And if I can't think of a quarterback that I would want to face less, if,
The middle of my defense is soft, right? Yeah. Then Josh Allen. Because using some of the stats that NFL Pro has on their website generated by next-gen stats, the Texans are 19th in intermediate passing defense. The Bills are first. The Texans are 21st in quick passing defense. The Bills are first. The Texans are 22nd in play-action passing defense. The Bills are third. Quarterback scrambles. They're 32nd. I mean, this is like...
the defense to me if I was going to drop a defense for Zach or for Josh Allen to just absolutely torch we can't defend the middle of the field we're bad for his play action and we're bad for his scrambles dude this seems like an absolute nuclear potential performance for Josh Allen in this game and there's even more to pull at that we saw this exactly the same way talk about like kind of
preseason kind of intuition like same with the Bills offense this is kind of what I was picturing how they would attack people and it's kind of been working even last week the film wasn't as bad on the Bills offense as I thought it was going to be I thought the Ravens watching it on the TV I felt like the Ravens really took it to them and they did it for some parts but like the Bills offense still had moments even if just the end game didn't look great but this is a bounce back game potential for that unit this is I think the bully of the spread bully you know offensive attack for the Bills
Uh, Bill's run a lot of jumbo personnel, second most in the league and the Texans. We talked about this one before they played the Vikings. They never tried out base personnel. They've only done once in the whole year and they gave up 45 yards on it. So I don't think they're ever going to do it again. I think that's going to be a thing that the bills poke at this whole game. They're going to dare Jalen Petrie to be in the box. They're going to bully them. And then when they throw, when they pass the ball, just like what you brought up,
It's a lot of zone. It's very funny. The Texans defense on first and second down is completely different on third and fourth downs, which tells me that they have a coach that
probably the defense coordinator i don't know if they have a passing game corner probably in charge of third down and passing downs because it's a totally different defense like on first and second down it's all zone zone zone they barely run man and then when they get the third and fourth down it's all man coverage it's cover one and they have the second highest blitz rate they're the uh the fourth highest cover one rate but the blitz is really predictable it's the same thing as
Every time it's man coverage, they blitz the running back and then they green dog, which I know, you know, as a defensive guy, but a green dog is when, oh, the running back is blocking. Whoever is a man coverage on the running back adds on as the blitzer. And it usually gets a free runner guaranteed just because rules are hard to pick that up for the offense. But if you're the offense and knows that, and you know, you're getting guaranteed man coverage with no help.
And you got Josh Allen, who's like really good scrambling against man coverage. That's like, that's really dicey. So you just brought up the scramble rates and you got Josh Allen, probably the best scrambler in the game. So.
I think first and second down, it's like a lot of don't Kincaid. Uh, I sent, uh, Josh Allen's passing chart to our producers before the show. Thank you. Next gen stats that these have been very fun to look at. And it's like the, what you just talked about the middle of the defense. It's like a perfect square that Josh Allen just hits over and over and over. This feels like a Dalton Kincaid game getting peppered. Uh,
Third, fourth down, it's Josh Allen scrambling. And I think it's fine. Whoever Derek Stingley is not guarding and throw it at that guy. So, yeah, sorry. I think the Texas pass rush is good, but they're predictable. And I think you can really pick at them. And I think the Bills have the things to pick at them. So I feel like they have some good answers for this game.
And this defense, like they're playing kind of exactly how they were structured this offseason, where you're kind of relying on, you know, like splash plays in the margin to to kind of boy some of the the other inefficiencies that you might have, like from down to down. So you mentioned the blitz rate, but I looked up. I saw something funny. I was looking at the blitz. The quarterback passes first blitzes. Josh Allen, second EPA versus per dropback versus the blitz. Yeah.
Sam Darnold is first by a country mile at .98 EPA versus Blitz. But then I looked at it. I was like, that has to be like the 97-yard touchdown that Justin Jefferson had to push. And it was. Yeah. That helps a lot. See, you actually looked into the numbers rather than just regurgitating blindly. Yes. It actually helps. I was like, that's basically – you're telling me Sam Darnold's average – A point. A point.
every time the defense blitzes? And I was like, no, okay, that's basically a 100-yard touchdown in there. That'll help there. But for Josh, you know, that tracks with how he's been throughout his whole career, right? So, you know, I...
I don't... The only area where I keep finding myself being like, eh, is you saw how some of the Bills receivers struggled in man coverage against the Ravens last weekend where you're like, okay, we're young. This is what an actual really good secondary can do to us. I don't think the Texans secondary is at that level, but whoever is on Derek Stingley, that guy's probably getting a race. But then the rest of those guys, they still might be able to get open. And even without it, Josh might just be a singular force that's good enough himself if they can run the ball where they might just...
I don't want to say they'll blow them out, but it doesn't really feel like the Texans have a whole lot of answers to slow this down. Yeah, it really is. They have to hope to get them in third and long. And then, you know, that's what you have to hope they win on first and second down. I was looking to stat up and I'll bring it up for the other side of the ball. But the Bills, since week one, are only averaging 60 yards to go on third down, which is the lowest in the league. So that.
it's hard to get this offense in a lot of bad situations, which, and then when you do get them, you got Josh Allen. It's yeah. They just like the Ravens got after him. But again, I actually did think that the bills had decent answers. They just got out of the game script that they wanted to be. So you brought up the play action stuff. That's another great point. They've given up 10 explosive plays on 43 play action plays, which is the seventh highest rate in the league. Yeah. So like we said, the bills do have definite answers, so it'd be fun to,
Will Anderson maybe get after him? We'll see some speed there, but it'll be interesting. Going to the other side of the ball, though. Injury-wise, Teron Johnson, they're a very good nickel player for the Bills. Practiced today in a red jersey. Terrell Bernard was also limited practice, but that's huge for them because they got...
absolutely slaughtered by the Ravens Sunday night. Yeah. And all they did like watching on film, it's like you, if you just said, Hey, the bills have injuries. You back. Oh, at linebacker. Cause the Ravens game plan was, it was attack that guy, attack those guys that shouldn't be out there right now. So, but anyways, when you're watching this side of the ball, which very interesting, what are you looking at? What are you checking out? Charles McDonald.
Uh, I mean, I, I hate to just kind of whittle this down to quarterback versus quarterback, but I mean, they're two good quarterbacks, really good quarterbacks in the game. Uh, and you know, the, the more that, uh, I started to like dig into Texans film this week and kind of go back to some of the games. It, it, it,
I don't want to say they're not a good offense, but it does feel like C.J. Stroud is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. A lot of heavy lifting in the passing game. And quite honestly, I think if they had even just an average quarterback in there, this offense would probably look...
pretty, pretty bad, which I think is concerning considering, you know, the amount of at least talent they have at wide receiver. You look at some of the talent they have running back, but the offensive line, I think maybe not living up to the expectations that they have this year. So this is also even, even though I know they just got trampled by Baltimore a few days ago, but this, this still just feels like,
a unit that could at least give this offensive line some trouble. If they're going to struggle to run the ball, they've been one of the worst teams, even like rushing in the red zone this season. I think that this is going to be another game where the onus is, again, on CJ Shroud, which is like, it can work because he is that good. It's going to be fun for us. But to me, it's like if you're going to look at
basically what these two quarterbacks are facing. CJ Stroud seems to me like he has a much higher hill to climb towards success than Josh Allen does just looking at this on paper. And I thought one of the interesting things I looked up was
the, if you look at the Bills blitz numbers on defense, it's, it's very low, right? It's yeah. No. So EPA wise, they're first, uh, they have, it's minus 1.26 EPA per drop back every time they blitz. And I actually went back and looked, it's not just like one play that's like holding everything back. Like, no, they're getting intentional groundings. They're getting sacks, they're getting interceptions, but they have by far the lowest blitz rate. I was going to say it's really low rate. It's the Rod Marinelli lull you to sleep shit.
Right. Then when they get on you, like, they are causing absolute disaster plays for the offense. So I think, you know, sometimes the... I don't think the stats with CJ Stroud, because I think he's, like, fringe top 10 or just outside the top 10 in terms of efficiency this year versus Blitz. I don't think that that actually portrays how well he plays versus Blitz. Yeah. Because...
The margins are tough for him, and he is absolutely outstanding working within them, even in tough circumstances. So he has a chance to survive this, but this Bills defense, it just seems like such a tough matchup for where the Texans are right now. I brought up that six yards to go on...
on third down for Josh Allen is because CJ Stroud since week one when they ran the ball over the Colts with Joe Mixon Joe Mixon's been hurt since then they've averaged 10.1 yards to go on third down which on 47 third down so it's not like just a oh one game thing
They are dead last in rushing success rate on first and second down. They are dead last in total success rate on first and second down. They are dead last in EPA per rush on first and second down since week one. They have faced 29 third and seven pluses since week one. The league average is 17. Yeah. So that is just tough sledding for any quarterback. And that's why we get to see some.
cool CJ Stroud throws because it's against tight zone and it's on a lot of third downs and a lot of second and longs, which is second and seven plus, just a little, why always early downs and late downs are different. Second and seven plus is considered passing downs, different than second and one through six. So it's a lot of passing downs for CJ Stroud. Yeah, but I'm glad you brought up the blitz stuff because that,
is on first and second down, it's a way to get after this Texans pass protection. It's been for the last two years. Like for whatever reason, when they get in heavier personnel and have to pass protect, they stink like the fullbacks and the tight ends and the running backs are just off. So I'm curious if they change it up. And as you were talking there, you just made me realize. So Bobby Babbage is calling plays now for the bills. His dad, Bob Babbage was a long time bears assistant. He's a lovey Smith guy. So that, and they're running a whole bunch of cover to this year.
And it just, as you were talking, it just clicked. I was like that. I didn't think about that. It's honestly probably a good idea for the cornerbacks that they have out there, you know? Yeah. Cause they still need to invest in them. And they get a lot of scrappy guys that play, you know, that are going to tackle and do all that. If you have covered too, that's a good way to do it, but it's going to be on Stroud. It's going to be on him to beat zone coverage, which he can do. But it's, yeah, it's going to just be some tough sledding if they keep giving touches to cam acres and others in the backfield. But yeah,
Any predictions? The Texans, I believe, are one point underdogs at home.
one point underdogs at home. Oh, I was, I was, if, if, if I, if, if that was something that I still did, I would smash it. It was like, yeah, whatever I have, I would absolutely. Cause I, I think Josh Allen's going to have one of those games where it's like, oh, okay. That, you know, we still, still here. We don't need to overreact to, to one game on Sunday. Uh, and I, I just feel like in general, that performance for the bills on Sunday, that, that didn't really change my mind on how,
on how I felt about them because you should have been expecting like the floor is still kind of low with this team at times just because they are in a retooling year. They are in a transition year. They're still a good team, but you know, someone like Baltimore, they might be able to get you every once in a while as you're kind of like cycling through personnel changes, but like they're, they're still a really good team. And I, I think that they prove that. When you're two,
I mean, yeah, when the really good teams go at it, it's kind of, it's more or less a coin flip in the NFL. As much as we want to make it out, it's like, oh man, this team's going to win. It's like, it's really is 55, 45 at best. So especially when you're on the road, even though you had a longer week, but it's yeah, it's, it's fine. It's just one of those games. So like, shoot, the Ravens lost to the Raiders. And like, if you watch the second half of that game, you'd be like, the Ravens are supposed to be good. Yeah. They like, yeah. So that's just the NFL. Just how it goes.
All right, we are going to take our first break and then we're going to come back with some underdog, the underdog of the week, the house fire of the week and a little bit more. See you guys in a sec.
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All right, we are back. We are going to preview what we're calling the underdog of the week. Not saying that they would win, but just more the bigger spread game. That's interesting. Last week, it was the Patriots and the 49ers, which got out of hand quickly. So thank God we put some caveats on that one. So but this week we have Saints at the Chiefs. The Chiefs are five and a half point favorites. This is Monday night football game as well at Arrowhead.
Charles, checking out this game. I should really just ask, how can the Saints make this interesting? Or do you think they can even make this interesting to cover this? They definitely can. Because they have the cornerback talent too, I think. Where Rasheed Rice being out, that's a huge deal, I think, versus this Saints defense. And if you go back and look at some of the...
Even the game that they played against the Falcons on Sunday, some of the plays that they made on defense. I know Paul Sodebo had just an absolutely terrible idiot moron play to lose the game at the end of the day. But he's developed into a pretty good corner. For the most part, those guys are playing pretty good coverage on the outside. Marshawn Lattimore was absolutely locked down last week. Elante Taylor had his moments. So when I'm looking at a Chiefs offense without Rasheed Rice,
Maybe you can just pop one open with Xavier Worthy because he's going to be the fastest guy on the field. But I kind of struggle to see where they're going to consistently get open versus man coverage. And if Dennis Allen is going to continue to be a guy that likes to mess with protections and blitz. And I think I'm not 100% certain, but I think DeMario Davis is going to be back this week for this game. So...
Dude, I just think there's no easy buttons here really for Kansas City's offense going against a defense like the Saints. Maybe they'll be able to run the ball a little bit because Tyler Algier just had a nice breakout game on Sunday. But I just feel like this could be another kind of constipated cramp passing game for Mahomes and the Chiefs going against the Saints defense. It does feel constipated, doesn't it?
Yeah. Yeah. I hate this so much because I,
I, I, I just have people, people are like, is my homes like, is he bad now? We just have to keep doing this. No, like it's not, it's not many people, but there's still people like on Twitter. Like, is he bad now? I was like, no. Oh, apparently he's a double clutching everything. I think that's the big scare. Now is that he double clutches stuff. Have you watched Patrick Mahomes ever, ever play? He double cuts his stuff all the time. Uh, he's scared people about him, but he's a Texas tech. Yeah.
Oh my God. Right. Right. He has answers. Like he always has an answer. That's what makes my home so cool is that like, it looks chaotic, but he's always, he's,
It's the Gretzky thing they would talk about. He's, you know, the good players are a step ahead. He's three steps ahead. Like that's how Mahomes feels though. But he pumps and then it's like, oh, that guy's not gonna do it. All right, throw it away. Or I'm trying this trick shot or whatever. I watched that game against the Chargers. One, Chargers defense is not bad. Jesse Minter is doing a good job. Personnel is pretty good. They just make it hard. Like they, they pretty, remember our guy, Tierra Tartt?
He's with the Chargers. He's doing okay. But then coverage wise, they just make it tight, especially if you have no dudes. You have a slower Travis Kelsey. Their best plays were play action. They hit over the middle, like just big, deep kind of cruel routes. They can run the ball, which is, I think,
people are missing their running back game is actually pretty dang good. No matter who's back there. I think the offensive line really kind of got their feelings hurt last year. And they've really kind of taken it to teams this year. The protection has been good. I've thought. And I, I think when my homes are scrambling and a lot of people think, oh, it's because their protection softens the line. It's because it's more, it's those are the, what would be covered sacks. It's him trying to go, okay, let me create a new zone here to throw into. I think the,
Having said all that, the Saints defense is varied like that. I really when I watch these games, I'm like, all right, where they run on third down where they run on first and second down. Okay. All right. They're about this half the time. Then I'll check next gen stats or true media and just kind of check my eye test and I
they run everything so we kind of i got nothing there it's the kaleidoscope scheme it's like all right here's cover two oh here's man all right here's cover three here's quarters here's a blitz like seven guys in the line scrimmage yeah yeah oh yeah and then the fronts they change up the fronts and uh why i kind of want to bring that up is against the quarterback you know we saw a couple weeks ago maybe like a jaywin hurts uh you know like he wants the clean picture okay it's single high two high i'm doing this
quarterbacks that I think can discern some things like Kirk cousins did last week. I actually thought Kirk had some cool moments. Um, who's able to discern coverages like my homes can, they have better chances against this defense. Cause he's trying to make you hold onto the ball. They're trying to push the pocket, collapse it onto you and then make the quarterback feel frantic. Their pressure rates are always going to look weird because of that, because of that defensive preference. But I think my homes has an answer, but it might be like, all right,
juju smith schuster scaring me like xavier worthy on a crossing route scaring me so it's not the quarterback it's i hate that i just said all these words to just go it's up to the pass catchers but if the run game is it is and i think the run game is going to find their way they're going to be solid on in the ground game but they're going to have to someone's going to have to win against zone someone's going to have to win against man they're going to run everything at you so i
it'll be interesting if they can uh yeah like since defense even though they're kind of wacky only they're only get up to seventh uh seventh lowest and explosive play rate so it's like they they're not letting you make get easy yards even though they do some crazy things yeah they about say cam jordan it might be about time but he's gonna he's close to being on the podcast i'm
I mean, I was just watching him versus Storm Norton because, dude, you know, my memory of Cam Jordan is basically him just getting off of Matt Ryan various points of every Falcon Saints game. And he was getting locked down by Storm Norton. So I was like, damn, bro. Oh, man. Comes for everyone. Yeah, they're already chopping the snaps down, too.
He went from 34 snaps in week two to 20 in week three to 19 in week four. So I think they're seeing the same thing that you are. Just watch the snap counts. That's all you have to check out. Peyton Turner had a sack last week and I was like, oh yeah, Peyton Turner. Like I forgot they drafted him the first round. That name, right? Oh, I know. There's so many of those that happen, especially with the Saints for some reason.
It's always like, oh yeah, that guy. It's like, oh yeah, I think I liked him. Let me check my notes from three years ago. When you look at the other side of the ball, Saints offense, Chiefs defense, anything interesting? I feel like anytime I talk about the Saints offense, it's always going to be the same because it's like they have to stay out there and long. They got to get to the play action game and kind of is the same here. But do you have anything else? I have some Chiefs defense and stuff.
I mean, really, the only thing that I because because I feel we've been a broken record on the Saints offense. Like this is it. Like if they can block, they will probably score a lot of points. But I just want to shout out Alvin Kamara because, man, he is playing great.
out of his damn mind right now. And it's not just a situation where you go back to week one and week two, when their offensive line was healthy, you're like, oh, he's just feasting off of having great blockers in front of him. Then you go back to the Atlanta game this week, where some of the pocket, or not some pocket, some of the rushing lanes you're working with were a lot muddier. He's still making guys miss and figuring out how to get downfield and be like a primary source of his own playmaking. I thought that was really cool because it looked like things were trending down for him defensively.
where the injuries were probably enough, didn't look as explosive. But this year, he's like back to being a focal point for the offense, which I think is important because I don't want Chris Jones coming after Derek Carr on third and long, you know? Because Derek might get a little scared. I know. There's no McCoy. I know that Ruiz is hurt. Yeah. Trevor Penning. Trevor Penning. Trevor's hurt. And he got a rookie left tackle. It's probably fine. The...
Chris Jones thing is like, they truly just move him to whoever they think the weak spot is. It's not a D-tack or a D-end. He's just a rover. He's just a weak spot, a velociraptor, the weak spot in the chain link fence. Yeah, that's, I said, Chiefs have done a good job limiting big plays on defense. They're going against a backup center, a rookie left tackle, and Trevor Penning going against Spags. Derek Carr's good at discerning blitzes, and that's like a double-edged sword.
Uh, because sometimes he's like, uh, and, uh, so it makes me a little antsy. They have to drop back a lot. So I think this game, that side of the ball is all third down. Like just check third down any third down. I think check out Leo Chanel for the chiefs. Cause it might be a big Leo Chanel game. If the saints get kind of getting big bodies, uh,
But yeah, I think the only way the way you get after him is play action. But it's if you get into second launch or you get into a negative game script, then you might have to get away from that. So it's like I always feel like, yeah, like you said, broken record, all this stuff. I did look up like I was curious.
how Derek Carr has done against Spags in the past. And I was like hoping I could find something. And it's like, he's right in the middle. It's like, of course he is. I looked up all the quarterbacks, a hundred more pass attempts. And he's like eighth or seventh or eighth in success rate. I was like, can you give me anything? But the best ones are like Burrow, Brees, Brady, Bradford, and your boy, Matt Ryan. If I was Spags, every third down, I'm putting Chris Jones on Trevor Penny. Like literally. Yeah. Dude, just welcome back MT.
Yeah, I mean, that's exactly what he's going to do. But they also can go like, oh, maybe the left guard. Maybe the backup center. Yeah. So I think every down they're going to have one. All right. Moving on to London. We sent some beef to London. We're looking at the house fight of the week. We have the Jets. It's not at the Vikings, but the Jets and the Vikings in this international game. It's London, right? Yes, London. And the Vikings are two and a half point favorites on the neutral field.
What are you checking out in this Haas fight? What are you focusing on? Because I think that Vikings offensive line and Jets defensive front seven, I'll say it's pretty fun. It's actually, it's, it's a pretty, pretty good matchup that we got. It's a good, it's a really good matchup, but I'm going like straight. I'm sorry. Madden brain here. Like Justin Jefferson, sauce Gardner. I need all of it. All of it. Every single play like that. That's, that's what I'm here for. And I, I,
I don't think that this is going to be a, I don't think that this is like a matchup that necessarily defines the game. I just think it's just a spectacle of two elite, truly elite players going at it. But even if like, if Sauce, you know, by chance is able to like kind of, you know, just get Justin Jefferson to slow down and not take over this game, I still think the, I still think the Vikings have answers where they've, they've proven at least they can, they can scheme other guys open and just find chances down the field. And,
Dude, I know that I think that Robert Saleh over the years as the head coach of the Jets has done a good job, like just teaching kind of like the fundamentals of the game, which I do think get get lost where, you know, the Jets look at a quick look at how some of the guys they've developed over the years. Quincy Williams, John Franklin Myers, you know, other guys on the back end like DJ Reed has had a good start.
But he's not actually a great schemer. They run the same thing every day. Right, they run the same thing all the time. And they've gotten good at that, and they've gotten good at finishing plays and getting guys to the ground, which is ultimately the ethos of defense. But when you get to a team like Kevin O'Connell, and I think they have the offensive line talent to match up against defensive line talent, which hasn't really been true for the Jets in years past, that works to me where this can get a little bit scary. Yeah.
So I don't really think that, like I said before, I don't think that this Justin Jefferson, Sauce Gardner thing will decide the game because Kevin O'Connell has been so good. But I do feel like we should just kind of get like just a cam whenever they're lined up on like a third and long. Like, let's just see what those guys are doing because that's going to be a really exciting matchup to watch. It's like when you got a good base runner on first base and they do the little side cam in baseball. Yeah, that's what they should do with these guys. No, I like that. I agree.
Yeah, that sauce is always going to be on one side. The offense is right. Kevin O'Connell knows that if me sitting in my sweatshirt in Las Vegas knows that, you know, I think Kevin O'Connell will know that he is really good at using what
the opposite defense is going to kind of major in. I'm curious how much the Jets do single it up. This is going to be the same thing. We just talked about the Saints offense. Same thing for the Vikings offense every week. How do they play Justin Jefferson? All right. Who blinks first? How's O'Connell open it up for him? And then the run game is good for the Vikings now, so they can kind of
lull you to sleep there and kind of go like, all right, we'll rip off another 12 yard game with Aaron Jones. All right, we'll just do this. We'll trot out a fullback and you guys can't use any of your speed or Blitz looks. I do have an update for the Vikings 15 mile an hour runs. They're at 28. They lead the NFL.
for running back runs last year. Again, they had 30. 30 in 17 games. They have 28 through four games. Aaron Jones is fast. Ty Chandler is fast. But it's going to be the same formula for them. I thought there was a great point that you brought up with O'Connell and kind of like being just a good designer. I brought this up on a Tuesday show. The Addison touchdown, it was just knowing that Jefferson's going to get played one way in the red zone. So it was Addison's first touchdown on the double move thing. And that was just...
When you get in the red zone, you usually know you're getting two or three things. And so I was right. That was like a perfect time. Perfect call. I'm curious. All right. How they move Jefferson around. Is he going to be on the left side? Is going to be in the slot? Is he going to take the challenge to sauce and open up other things for Addison and all those guys you brought up read? They have good DBs. Like it's a good defense and they got hostas everywhere.
Vikings are a lot of fun. They got a Haas at quarterback. Maybe we'll see some Sam Darnold running in this game. It's a Sam Darnold revenge game. Do you think about that? Well, it's the second time because when he was the Panthers, Panthers, right? One, they played him. I'm pretty sure the
Panthers won that game. I don't remember. I think it was the first game. Zach, Zach Wilson's the first game. Oh, wow. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. That's a fun one. Uh, but no, I, I think this is gonna be a Vikings offense. Just defense can be really fun. Really? This whole game is gonna be cool. Even just Aaron Rogers against Brian Flores is a good mental matchup. Um,
I don't say Hackett here. How does Aaron Rodgers decide to be Brian Flores? It's funny because now when people talk about the Jets, everyone knows Aaron's from the show. Same offense as 2019. Right. It's what Aaron wants to do. And to be honest, I don't think Brian Flores should be all that threatened by the things that Aaron wants to do.
No, because they have answers for it now. They have answers for it. And I don't know. I just can't figure out what I actually think about this offense. But the more that goes on, it's probably just not that good. They're just okay. Feels middling, which is a little disappointing, maybe. I mean, Garrett Wilson's calling it out.
That's just not what you want. Brees Hall is like, think about getting benched. We've had discussions about it. I don't think the Jets are taking it seriously, but it's been a discussion on Twitter. Braylon Allen's looking a little bit more explosive than Brees Hall. What's going on there? Offensive line hasn't been great. Tyron Smith looks like he's kind of... Oh, he got beat by Nick Bonito. Yeah, it looks like he's starting to hit the wall a little bit. And now with the Jets, it's like, okay, we've seen a month
And some of like the margins that we were talking about this summer where it's like, Hey, if all these guys are at the peak of their powers and like, yeah, this is good. But I don't, I don't know if anyone is aware right now. So. And there's so like Rogers is still doing the, you know, the tight end to the flat stuff, the Broncos, like the, and then he tried to do the change. He's doing the same signals, literally the same signals he was doing in green Bay. And all you guys, I know this because I advanced scout one time. I got them like, this is when you do the little,
Tied into the flat. That's the signal. And he, I won't say why it is. Just look up what the term's called, if anybody really wants to know. But do you know what it is? I'll tell you offline. I'll tell you offline. Broncos defense, by the way, very good. Might be, I think, top five at this point in time. But first play of the game. Remember, Nathaniel Hackett got fired by the Broncos.
you can tell that they wanted to shove it up the Broncos ass on the first play. So they ran a full-blown triple-double move. All three guys, because triples are best, all three guys running double moves.
just locked locked double moves doesn't matter what the coverage was and the broncos blitzed it like full-blown blitzed it and it was a sack on the first play of the game but it was just so funny it was like you guys thought you had it there like they thought they were gonna get a little pump and go touchdown in the rain didn't matter sack on the first play i just had a little laugh at that because i understand sometimes how coaches do it but yeah it was pretty it blew up in their face
You won in Denver last year, Nate. I know. Get over it. Get over it. And a great game, too. Right. Because last year, no one expected you to win a Super Bowl, right? This year, no. No. Three double moves in the first play. It was great. I never tweeted. I haven't tweeted yet. Let's take this a smidge more seriously. I know. It feels like a vanity project. I just...
I don't really see and hope. I mean, maybe not hopefully, but I just don't really see how the Jets score. Like, seriously, how do they score? It's I think it's a lot of Allen and Hall. That's that's the way to do it. Because like even like
Garrett wasn't so talented. Mike Williams has talent. How he is right now and how this offense is is not clicking right now. It's a little too much Lazard and others. I watch Riley Moss just smother, who I'm blanking even on the receiver's name right now for the Jets because it wasn't the guy I thought it was going to be. Oh, Xavier Gibson.
And it was Riley Moss. Yeah. On a go ball. And Riley Moss does look good, but it was just like, this is what you're doing. You're taking singled up one-on-ones with Xavier Gibson. This isn't Jordy Nelson. This isn't Devante Adams. This isn't those guys. So like Garrett Wilson's talented. Mike Williams has talent. It's just, it's not a hundred percent. So yeah.
It feels rough. If I was Brian Flores, you're getting a bomb in the pocket just about every single play. Dude, you can't move. I've seen how some of these offensive lines, how they're working on the offensive line. Tyra Smith isn't who he used to be. Prove that you can be an athlete against us. You think it's going to be like a layup line.
Yeah, dude, I would just blow up the pocket as often as I could against him. I'm curious if he does do that. Quarterbacks like Rodgers get some respect early in games, so I'm curious as far as like, well, I'm going to try this and see. Rodgers' arm is still alive. It is. Holy crap, it's alive. He just can't.
do the it's yeah 70 movement of rogers right now so all right we have time for this we're gonna do we couldn't figure out a term so we're just gonna use ultrasound we're doing an ultrasound on the cowboys defense who need an ultrasound as you look at their injury report it's a marcus lawrence going on ir mike mike parsons having high ankle sprain or sean neal and step on up but what's your thoughts we just want to do some quick hitters kind of we we both took a peek
What's going on here? We might do this for some units or some players as the season goes along. But I do want to look at this Cowboys defense and just kind of see maybe what's going on here. See, this is how I feel about this Steelers-Cowboys game if we're going to use the doctor analogy. So you go to the doctor for a checkup.
And the doctor's like, you know, your blood pressure is a little high, blah, blah, blah. You know, maybe here are some lifestyle changes that you can make just to get moving back in the right direction.
And then you leave the doctor's office and you're like, cool, like I know that I need to be better moving forward. I don't know like how feasible that is because I'm still into bad habits. And then the next day, like I'm smoking cigs and drinking alcohol. And that's what the Pittsburgh Steelers running offense feels like for the Cowboys right now. Like, yeah, we got some problems up front. You know, we got Michael
Parsons out. We have been able to stop the run. Here comes Arthur. I'm going to run the goddamn piss out of the ball 14 times going down the half with Justin Fields and Najee Harris and Jalen Warren. This seems like the ultimate gut check at a time that you can't really afford to have a gut check. And I'm scared for the Cowboys because this is like
this is the time of game that they can lose, which I don't really feel like they should be losing at this point in the Mike McCarthy, Dak Prescott era, but they just don't have the bodies up front as they still try to like get back moving in the right direction from where, where the Dan Quinn era ended. Like you're trading for Jordan Phillips and signing Linval Joseph, who is like a million years old. You, you might get steamrolled and that's not what you need when you're not feeling well. I'll never get over them. Let Jonathan Hankins go. Never, ever. I,
I don't care. I know he's just like some like 30, you know, 20 play a game guy. People who have watched those, man. He made such a difference for this defense. They needed that guy and they just didn't, like, refused to try to actually find that guy. Yeah, it kind of feels, God, you're, so is the, is Arthur Smith the nicotine patch here? Like, is he like, or is he, he's the intervention? Arthur Smith is like the first beer on
on your Saturday night. And then like when Najee Harris is ending up like making your linebackers look silly, that's like when you've pulled the new parts out the pack. Right, you pull the new parts out the pack, you're starting to mix beer and liquor, and then all of a sudden you don't feel so good. Why? Because you let Najee Harris break your ankles and run you over. That's something that shouldn't be happening anymore. But you're sick. You're very sick, Dallas. And then here comes the tequila shots of Scottie Miller. Right, right.
Oh, I love that. Yeah. Shoot. I was like, I really just like my note on all this is like, it just feels kind of predictable. Like I, I can tell you the coverage is Zimmer, Zimmer and Zimmer is in Zimmer. The defense, whatever is our, whatever English major was not me, but it's quarter shelves rotate to cover three. And usually I sometimes say that's a good thing. Like, Ooh, man, they can really figure out the rules. They just have no teeth.
Like they, Duran bland, not being there. Really? You feel it? Like they're playing such off. Malik neighbors got peppered so much because they're playing so far off. They're like terrified of anything. They're yeah. I want to see some more blitzes. They're just, it's more single high, including man on third and fourth down. But yeah, it just doesn't feel like they have a lot of teeth right now. I've only seen like a couple cool third down things from Zimmer, which has kind of been like, Oh, kind of want to see that. No Parsons.
Or maybe no Parsons, high-uncle sprints. How many high-uncle sprints are there in the league right now? Oh, my God. So many. And those are six-week injuries. I just always say that. I mean, you could play at like two weeks, but it's really like a six-week injury until you're near 100%. But yeah, going against the Steelers who are a battering ram. They got a gyrocopter at QB. This is better every week. Every week.
It's a little scary right now. It hasn't been as loud, or I don't think Mike Tomlin has talked about it the past couple of weeks, but like the first two weeks of the season when he just...
wouldn't say that Justin Fields was the starter. Right. You know, we're still like evaluator or whatever. I was like, man, just, you know, you want Justin to start the whole season. So you know what to do with him after the season. He's changed the phrasing every week too. And it's like, you know, uh, you know, this is, you gotta ride the hot hand now that, so it went from, well, you know, Russ isn't ready to now we got to ride the hot hand. He's a, he's a pro man. He knows what he's doing. But anyway, Steelers are minus two and a half. This is Sunday night football. Are you, uh,
Would you say Steelers cover? I like Steelers. I do like Steelers win, Steelers cover. I think that the defense is solid. Or not solid. The defense is damn good. And this is a terrible matchup for Dallas' defense. So I think they get the win. It will probably be very ugly, but is that any different than what they've been for the past 10 years? Yeah. It's going to be a lot of Dak Hero ball because it's not like they can run the ball either. All right. We are going to take our last break, and then we're going to get to Charles.
and mine first mock draft of the 2025 NFL draft. See you guys in a sec.
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Learn more at klaviyo.com slash BFCM. Okay, we are back. We are going to run through our top 10 of our first mock draft. My first big board will be up at the end of the month of October. This one is already up. This mock draft is already up.
right now on Yahoo. So make sure you go check it out. Feed our families. But the first 10 picks, number one. Dude, people were angry. There were some angry people, man. Oh, were they? I muted it right away. So it never happened. I made a... Smoke bomb. Bye.
Our buddy David Hellman, he responded to the mock draft. We'll get to that in a second. But when I saw his response, it made me click on it and then bump through it. I was like, damn, y'all mad about a week, like a week for October mock draft. They are. They know all these players are. Someone was upset that the Giants were picking 10th on the mock draft for him. Like they're literally 10th right now.
What are you mad about? This is mad. This is mad. It's like, it's, it's whatever. It's oh, no, I, oh, oh, I, no, I trust we had a couple this week that I'm just like, really? All right. Nevermind. Well, a lot of tweets are in drafts right now, but number one, the Jaguars again with the number one pick, we went with will Campbell office tackle from LSU. Number two for the dolphins who we totally expected to have the number two pick Travis Hunter.
cornerback slash receiver from Colorado. Number three, Calvin Banks from Texas, offensive tackle going to the Patriots, which is just like, that was like the easiest option
Yeah. One that we had probably not even fun to talk about. It was just like, yeah, who's the best line number? Okay. Yeah. I'm going to the Patriots. Number four, Cincinnati is kind of the same. Mason Graham, defensive tackle. It was a lot of fun going to Michigan. Number five, just because we can help ourselves. I'll say we here, I'll say you. I could not help myself. The Browns.
Browns going Shadur Sanders quarterback. Well, you said it first and as soon as you said it, my brain was latched onto that. I know it was. I know I put that thought in your mind and you just go. All right. Number six. They do need a quarterback badly though. Number six Titans going to Will Johnson corner for Michigan. Very good player. He's
one or two on my big board. I could already tell you that next month, but number seven, Carolina, the Panthers, Abdul Carter edge from Penn state. Very fun player. Number eight, the Rams cam ward quarterback, Miami, big riser. Thought that'd be a little fun. We'll, we'll break some of these down, but I can't help myself. Number nine, we have the Cardinals going with Dion Walker, defensive lineman from Kentucky. Can't wait to talk about him. And number 10,
The New York Giants, New York football Giants going with Garrett Nussmeier, who I'm a fan of quarterback LSU fun player. All right, Charles, we were a couple that you were just want to talk about some exciting matches. There's some pretty fun ones here.
I think Travis Hunter to Miami is pretty fun just because we know that. I mean, I don't even really mean this as an insult because it's been it's been productive for them for the most part. I saw this recent stretch, but we know that Mike McDaniel is kind of like a Madden player at Miami.
as a play caller and head coach. - Sort by speed. - Yeah, he's a sort by speed guy. And I just don't think that he'd be able to help himself from getting the guy that could play on both sides of the ball. And quite honestly, when I started thinking about this, I was like, all right, well, you put Travis Hunter
and on this team, he would primarily be a cornerback, which I think is the best way for him to be an NFL player. But like you're across from Jalen Ramsey as a cornerback. And we know that Travis himself has the skills to be like an absolute stud, number one corner in the NFL, in the league. And then on the flip side, like sparingly, you can be a wide receiver three to Tyreek Hill and Jalen Waddle for a year. Like to me,
To me, that seems like how the dolphins kind of get back moving. If they want to get the explosives back on offense, you add some like Travis Hunter, who just will make the passing game so restricted on the outside. And then maybe like 10, 15 times a game, he's in there on offense playing next to Tyreek and while that seems like a lot of fun to me. I'd love that. Yeah. It was one that's easier to write about too. The, uh,
No, but it's exactly how you picture him too, which is Travis Hunter. Cause he, like I just said, Will Johnson's going to be one or two. I think Travis Hunter is going to be the other one or two. So it's a two quarters looking like they're going to top my big board. We'll see. But it's, he's just so special. Like that's the best way to describe him. Just a defense. I do think that defense is his, like he truly is a,
I hate the term, but generational talent, but he truly is like he, he has a feel for the position. That's so rare. Like just his game awareness and ball awareness and spatial skills, twitchy, uh, well, a gamer. I mean,
I mean, the end of the Baylor game, forcing the fumble, um, you know, just on offense. And so I pictured him on offense. Yeah. He's a, to me, that's ideal. The 10 to 15 snaps, not a full package. Hey, these are what you're going to do. I think that's great for him. So I love that one too. Uh, the number one pick will Campbell. I thought that was just good for also like a narrative sense. Everybody chill out. Let's get a pro in here. Will Campbell looks like a pro. He's a really good player. Um, I watched the South Carolina game on tape and, uh,
offensive tackle he's that left tackle he's got really funky stance he stands straight upright but he really does play like andrew whitworth which is so funny because whitworth played lsu too um just a technician good and run good in the past i also like i said he's a pro he wears the number seven jersey in practice which is a big deal at lsu because he's the best freaking player although i do like the quarterback another you got any other ones out here in the top five that you like or top 10
I do. Are we going to do Shador to Cleveland? Yeah, you talk about it. Yeah, you take this one. Take the lead on it. Well, it's funny. Come on. It's funny. It's obviously funny. Right. Modrics are fun. We should talk about how even last year, we started almost doing thought experiments with ours. It was like, what if this happened? They're just scenarios. What would the trickle down happen? It was fun. Right. It prepped me. Especially this far out. To me, once you get to...
Honestly, two weeks out from the draft, to me, it's like maybe when you start taking predictions a little bit more seriously. But up until then, we're just building out scenarios, right? And one scenario that we can all see very clearly and plainly with our eyes is the Cleveland Browns absolutely need a new quarterback. And we've all talked the contract ad nauseum. Here's the deal. If they decide to get rid of Deshaun Watson,
which is certainly on the table with how well he's playing and how goddamn annoying he's being. You have to, you're going to have to draft a rookie. You know, like you can sign, you won't be able to afford to sign anyone with all the dead cap that's going to be sitting there. Whether you're able to somehow trade him away and probably like Brock
Brock Osweiler fashion where you're sending picks with Deshaun Watson for a team to eat that contract, that dead cap number is going to be so bad that the only way you can kind of get back into the quarterback game is going to be by drafting a rookie.
which in this case is Shador Sanders, who's... All things considered... He's playing well. He's playing well, but all things considered, this would not be a bad landing spot for a rookie quarterback because I think Stavansky has proven...
with like the performances of Flacco and Jacoby Brissett and this offense is offense that he's not totally the problem here. I do. Their quarterback is so bad. Sean, like he's unplayable, he's unplayable, but he costs so much money that you have to put him out there when obviously like even putting James Winston out there would make the Browns a more credible football team on offense. So, uh, I,
I honestly think they're at the point where it's worth just ripping the bandaid off and just moving on and moving forward. And Shador gets to move in, gets to go in his footsteps and say, hey, I am the new face of the Cleveland Browns. I think he's been a lot better this year than he was last year. He looks more
uh, pro ready because I thought we were getting a little bit ahead of ourselves last year by saying, Hey, you know, first overall pick in the draft. I'm still not quite there yet, but we know that quarterbacks get pushed up the board. We just saw 12. We just got six go in the top 12 last year. So I'm sure there's going to be another run this year and she doors going to kick that off for us. Yeah. But the quarterback class for me, there's going to be a lot of movement. Uh, but they, most of these guys, uh, all of these guys, there's nobody, um,
Like the highest, I'm probably gonna have them on the big boards in the twenties, you know, maybe one guy sneaks into the late teens, but that's the late first, early second grade. But like you said, guys get inflated. So, oh yeah, he's 25th of my big board, but this is Jane Daniels was like the perfect example or, or JJ McCarthy too. This year it was like, yeah, I know he'll go in the first round. I'm not okay, but it gets inflated to, oh yeah, he's 18th of my big board. Okay. He goes number two.
I'm not going to fight it because it's just like, that's how it goes. It's a quarterbacks. It's just how it goes. But it was sure. It's like, yeah, it's the contract stuff. But the thing is, it's like, you can, are you going to cut them? Eat the dead cap? How are you going to navigate it? It's just, they need somebody else in there. And also somebody that maybe can weather a storm. But that is also what sugar has proven. And I will say he is tough as hell. That is one of the coolest things watching him. He has gotten a little better with the pocket stuff. He doesn't bail all the time.
But man, he takes some hits. I would say he's got a good at navigating some of this stuff because he's caused so many problems for himself. He does. But hey, if you're going to be that guy, at least he can eat it, you know? Right. It's worse if you do it and then you're not trying to complete anything. He pushes the ball downfield. Yeah. Oh no, I meant like being a troll like off the field sometimes. Oh man, with that too, yeah. It applies to both. I mean, I'm fine with talking s***.
Like, it's fine with me. I'll be backing up. I'm fine with it. Yeah. Going to rest. We got in the top 10. We said Mason Graham. He's a really fun player. Yeah. With this mock draft. So let's try to get ahead of some of the Cam Ward stuff, right? Because. Yeah.
Here's the deal with Miami. They are going to win a ton of games. ACC, they very easily, feasibly could get to the end of the regular season undefeated going into the playoffs in January. That would also mean that Cam Ward has most likely had an absolutely monster season from a stats perspective, which means that he will have a lot of people clamoring for him to be the first overall pick in the draft. Here, he is 8th.
What are some of your reservations like when you watch him so far this season that would maybe prevent you from being like the savior for every Miami Hurricanes fan out there that wants to see him number one overall in this mock draft? Yeah, Ward has just been kind of the same player every year. And I mean that in a good and bad way. He can navigate the pocket. He can make some nice trick shots. The thing is sometimes he gets a little too cute and will go, oh, I'm going to do a little...
It's kind of like Richardson right now too, where it's like, all right, I'm going to hitch up here and then like throw it sidearm. And it's like, oh, you're trying to like a no look pass into double coverage. Like I like that a lot better. Maybe if they get through a blitz or anything, that's how he's been. And he still is like that. And he's played a lot of games or a good amount of games now. And that where I'm like, okay, is this what you are? Or are we going to improve upon it? I,
He might end up being quarterback one of my updated big board, but I think at the very least he's two. But still, it's that late kind of first, early second grade, not that true first round grade. And I think I do have some reservations. He's a, I would say a solid to good athlete, but not a great one as well. And he's got good size. He's got that. He plays. His demeanor is infectious. I mean, even watching him on TV, it's like,
I'm jealous. Like how calm he is, how like just cool he is. And that's palpable. Like, and that tells me a little bit like I never like the mental stuff. I think he processes pretty well and all that. I just think sometimes he galaxy brains it. And so that's like, I can't talk about both sides of my mouth. He knows the answers. It's just sometimes he's like, I'm going to try this off and can't really fully get away with it. He's got good arm. He checks a lot of boxes. It's just that there are some, um,
you know, some decisions that I still get a little antsy about. And again, when you're talking top 10, that's I'm picking apart every little flaw that you have. If he were a redshirt sophomore, I'd be like, Ooh, yeah. Yeah. First overall, let's go. Yeah. And that's age does matter with these guys, especially quarterback. So that's, that's why I kind of talk out both sides of my mouth when I do like him though. Like he's done nothing to dissuade me from like, just keep rising. I had a
like a late third grade on him going into the season and but he's just can't knock him because he's pretty well he's got size i'm trying to compare him to like an athlete in the nfl like it's like like he's not like not an excellent one but it's like like caleb's maybe a little faster than him but he's kind of like that where it's more of an effective runner as opposed to like a wow game breaker uh but yeah that there's a lot to like he's done nothing to dissuade him uh do you want to talk dion walker
Yeah. Kentucky. I mean, the Cardinals need bodies, but especially up front. And this is a monster of a body. He was dominant this year. Dominant. So I... He's like 350 people. He's like 6'7", 350. 6'7", 6'3", 40. Somewhere around there. It's funny because I haven't looked at any...
you know, like alignment splits or snap counts for college guys yet. But to me, just from like what I saw last year and what I've seen this year, it feels like he's playing inside a little bit more. And dog, I was watching that Georgia-Kentucky game on the edge of my seat. And it was because of mostly, I feel like it was mostly because of Deion Walker. He beat the crap out of Georgia's offensive line in that game. And I thought, I think that one thing that's interesting is,
for his development is like that that's becoming more of a thing because when you're talking about, you know, like you said, six, six, six, seven, 350 pound guy that was playing like defensive end last year. Yeah. I'm like, okay, like that's cool. But like in the NFL, let's, let's, let's be real about this. Kind of makes you a little worried because you're like, wait, do they not trust you on the inside? Like that. Yeah. A little worrisome because how could you be that big and strong and not be playing on the inside? Yeah, exactly.
But so the fact that he, he was, he was in there and causing a lot of problems for Georgia up front and the Ole Miss game too, causing a lot of problems for Ole Miss up front. I,
I personally think he's going to end up getting drafted a lot higher than nine when this is all said and done, because you're going to be checking off, whoa, okay, outside in 2023, dominate inside player in 2024, 6'6", 340. He's going to nuke the combine. Like, this is starting to check off a lot of boxes of a potential, like, top four, three, five pick.
No, I'm with you. Yeah, they had him at three tech a lot, but then they had him at nose a little bit. Yeah. So if you look at a defense like the Cardinals, like even in our little fan fiction here, like with the Cardinals, that makes a ton of sense because they move their guys everywhere. And now you get this giant explosive defense.
productive player that plays hard too. Like he, there's pass rush downs where he gets blocked initially and he's still looping around. A lot of big guys will watch Jordan Davis. A lot of big guys will just go, Oh, you got me. And I try to keep working because they want to save the rest for the rundown. So he's, yeah, he's a great, great player. It stands out like in a literal sense when you watch him. So yeah, if you're watching Kentucky, make sure to check out that defense line. He's wearing number zero.
Yeah, you can't miss him. You can't miss him. You can't miss him. He's a lot of fun to watch. There's a lot of fun players here. Yeah, we talked to Will Johnson. Abdul Carter's a lot of fun. Kelvin Banks, yeah. But number 10, Garrett Nussmeyer.
Who's also going to be battling for that QB one or QB two spot. My updated big board really like this guy giants need a quarterback. I think Nussmeyer is going to have a lot of fans in the NFL. His dad's a coach, but him and himself, just how he plays plays from the pocket. He's taken one sack this entire year and the offensive line is really good. Don't get me wrong, but a lot of it's him and a lot of it's him discerning it and figuring it out. So that's my arm. I'm trying to write about him soon. You kind of,
put the fear of God in me a little bit when you're like, huh, LSU playing Ole Miss next week. This is when you want to talk about it, huh? Primetime game, huh? You know? Yeah, that was like, oh yeah, this is kind of backfired in the past. If he plays poorly in a primetime game, that means he's just
just bad. He's bad. The night games matter more as everybody knows they're weighed more. It matters 10 times more than the game that happens. This Texans bills game that happens at 10 AM West coast time on Sunday does not matter as much as the bills game that happened the week before on Sunday night. It doesn't, it's just Sunday night games matter more, but
No, Nussmeier. I shouldn't call him Nuss. I don't know. But Nussmeier, I'm on the bus with him. He's an efficient thrower. He's got great pocket movement. I know as a Georgia fan, you don't want to hear any of this. But he's got plenty of zip on the arm. I would even say it's a firm good. He can push the ball. He can throw trick shots. Again, you're only taking one sack.
on a decent pressure rate, like that's notable and how he plays is notable. So I, I was jokingly said this, I think to end the group chat, I said, he's almost like he's Mac Jones with talent. And like,
So mean. So mean. But that's how he... It's so accurate every time, but he has a lot more juice to him. Yeah. I haven't seen too much of Nussmeier because the only LSU game I've seen so far this season was the season or... South Carolina game. The South Carolina game, right? So I was just like, this guy seems pretty good to me. He seems like a pretty quality player. I didn't really know who he was, but, you know...
Especially when you look at the draft landscape and where we came into the season where Connor Wagman, the Texas A&M quarterback, he was seen as a top 25 pick on a lot of people's boards. And then come then and it seems like Nussmeier is the SEC quarterback that replaced him. And Wagman, I don't know what the hell to say.
do with that. Worst type of offense for him. And it's just like, he can't stay healthy. So it's like, I, Riley Leonard stacking some performances. So I'm not totally dropping him out of the race either. Just, I mean, I had a scout text me and said, he, he reminded him a lot. Speaking of A&M reminded him a lot of, uh, Ryan Tannehill when he was in college, which was like a compliment and a diss at the same time. And I was like that, I'll take that with Riley Leonard. Um,
But he has a, I think he has a pretty, no, no, he just had one of the Louisville game. But yeah, anyways, it's an interesting draft there. There's been much made about how there's not a lot of top. It's not a top heavy draft at this point in time or prospect list at this point in time. We're still in October. We still got time. But I do think there's a lot of fun players that are kind of more that there's going to be, it's one of these classes. Someone's going to get someone in the twenties or thirties. That's like, wow, that guy go in the twenties or thirties. Cause there's a lot of good players.
I think this is going to put a lot of teams to scout it right. It can't always be the, what class was that? 2021. And it was just like, you know, Jamar Chase, Penny Sewell, Parsons, Lawrence. Yeah. Just, yeah. Just the easiest class possible. Yeah. It's like, Oh, that was Sertan. Yeah. Yeah. Just a great class. Oh, that was fun. Week five preview mock draft. Did it all here today.
Everybody enjoy their weekend, but we'll be here again on Tuesday. I'll be here with Matt Harmon. Then we'll be back next week with Chuck. I'm Nate Tice. You can find me at Nate underscore Tice on Twitter. Where can they find you, Chuck? You can find me on Twitter at 4Verts.
What'd you work on this week? Way too much. Way too much. Got the mock-in. Yeah, got the mock-in, four-verse column, a couple other columns. Helped our buddy Sam Schwarzenstein and Keegan Abdu prepare for Thursday Night Football with the Falcons game. Busy week. I am so ready to just sit home and be emotional about Matt Ryan later.
I can't wait to text you. I'm excited. Yeah, text me when Kirk's going three picks and I'm about to throw up. Yeah. Kirk is fine. There's some other operation things that are a little iffy there, but
I can't wait to watch that. Can't wait to watch all of the games this weekend, college and pro, but subscribe to us here at football three one. Please also follow us and rate us. Keep churning those in. I really appreciate it. We really appreciate it. You can also watch us on YouTube at the Yahoo sports YouTube channel or follow Yahoo sports on Snapchat. And I should say not or, and follow us. Thanks to Brett.
Emi, Stone, and Adi behind the scenes. Thanks to you, Mr. Vertz, for joining me for another preview. Thanks to everybody for listening. See you guys next time.