NFC East Showdown: Can the NEW Philly Duo RISE? Can Jayden Daniels LEAD Washington? | Football 301

to the East Coast time zone well one of the Chiefs in the central we are going to start with the commanders at 6 and half wins the Washington commanders Matt how you feeling about that over under total I mean I'm going under on this like and I we we kind of had should be crazy here but keep going I me six and a half is a is a lot for this team um we we had a long discussion about the commanders a little bit during our pre-pro meeting and we can get into some of that here but I I don't even like let me just put the offense aside for a second because that's a whole can of worms to there's a lot that's yeah yeah Dan Quinn's I thought I thought it did a really great like a great job in Dallas as a defensive coordinator um although it kind of petered out at the end I was he's one of those guys similar to the mcy thing where the first few weeks and months of his reign in Dallas is the DC are like oh he's not just doing the same old stuff he's really mixing it up and that was exciting to see they play a lot of man coverage um they they Rush the hell out of the quarterback and there are some guys on this defensive defensive depth chart like I'm interested to see what they do with Jeremy chin I'm interested to see what they do with Frankie louu weirdly enough two guys played for the Carolina Panthers um sers still the the Nickelback I think he's a really interesting player yeah but then you look at some of the other spots here and like we're starting Bobby Wagner in the year 2024 just no doubt about it um are Cleveland Ferrells one of our best Edge players we're doing the oh heyy well Dan Quinn's here so we gotta have the token Dante F spot just he's the one that got away from him because they drafted beas that year and Fowler went three and I think ever since then he's like I that's my guy I got F and he's he's had some good play out of Fowler before so yeah it's it's fine but there's just spots like that on the defense that I don't think this is going to be an above average unit this year and like I said the offense is it you I'll throw the offense you because that's its whole other can of Wars here oh man I I still the defense is really the biggest concern for me because yeah everything you just laid out the Wagner stuff the back end they have good D tackles but other than that it's like okay and I just watched their backups play and they're making mistakes left and right I'm like oh boy this could be this could be interesting offensively this is where all the kind of concerns lie as we look at other teams with rookie quarterbacks say one in New England there's been much made about the offensive line in New England apparently everybody knows the every starter in New England everyone says they offensive line no one can name a single name for any of those guys by the way which I I just keep thinking they suck all right who sucks all right there you okay then I go to Washington's line and we feel better why why like Andre is better than Bish to me Bish is a nice fine starting center fine everybody Andrew Ry fine everybody else is kind of a net negative average at best with and usually okay is like okay he's okay it's a bun okay to below average but no like even with the 49ers line that's more same thing they still have Trent Williams generally who's all World they have one guy that you can trust on Giants off on line at least you have Andrew Thomas out there at left side other poorish offensive lines where it's like h i look at this I look that they have a quarterback that you know at a historic rate was taking sacks in college yes he got a little better at it by the end but still was taking a lot of sacks with pressure to sacks I think yes this I I'm worried about Cliff kingsberry the offensive Corin a in the sense that he's not when he was the uh calling plays in Arizona he was very poor at adjusting if something wasn't work NFL is all about adjustments this wasn't working for us we thought it would now it doesn't throw it out this wasn't working or we didn't think it would work now it is cuz they're doing this now we got run it more he just kind of goes oh that's not working let me try it again that's not work like he wastes a lot of ball plays and he's actually talked about this how in college that he goes we have more plays that we can waste to kind of get it out there and see what they're doing you only got 55 62 plays in in in the NFL I'm terrified that he doesn't know how to mitigate that line that it's going to be a lot of quick game there's G to be some movement stuff I think the Run game's actually going to be decent but the passing game is not you know creative enough not expansive enough to I think will compensate for that where I think it's against certain teams say week one against Todd Bulls in the Bucks uh it could be a little ugly it could be a lot of blitzing it could be not great answers against blitzes because that's just what this offense is but the fact that they might show that on tape is really scary so and also I like Terry mccor I I but again he's not a tier one guy to me I think we we've talked about this several times how much diami BR uh Brown stock do you own I still got a couple shares but yeah he's barely see the feel so far in his career he's your outside receiver they have zakus zakus for me is like a meme but he's like a receiver four like he's a good receiver four now might be their too they were they were talking him up like before they traded Johan doson and look I I I know that I've I I like Johan Dawson I I liked him a lot as a prospect I thought he had a good rookie he took a little bit of a step back last season but I I think was better on film than the stats show which it's not saying much cuz the per route per per a right was like 1.1 or something like that it was it was like outrageously bad but I still think he I think he'll be a fun I think he'll be like a functional NFL player like a good like a good receiver I you're just not in a position to be like trading that guy inside the division I don't care what you've seen in practice or maybe unless he's like a complete nightmare behind the scenes I thought that trade was crazy and again I understand I'm like a big fan of the player and you know more than he's shown so far but still like yeah you're mclen I I think was at times like a top 10 receiver in the league and knocking on that door of maybe being a tier one player but I think he took a step back last season and that is concerning Ian look I'm I love Terry mclen I I hope he has that Dynamic season that he should at some point but he is a sneaky older player and the rest of this depth chart is like they took Luke mcaffrey with the with the third round pick I thought that was crazy high you know some I was tweeting back forth or somebody today like could Luke mcaffry be the next like Julian like a converted to wide receiver and you know like well number one that'd be a hell of why did they compare those two and not I mean to be generous you know position convert developmental guy Rand I don't know good question can't quite put my finger on it but I mean with with mcaffrey like yeah maybe he was but Julian edman was like a seventh round pick right mcaffry was in of the third round and and he might not even be one of their top three guys to start the season and you needed immediate impact and I I just am so worried about this the the just onp paper roster for Jaden Daniels and then you bring up the Kingsbury thing uh this is from Josh Norris Jaden Daniels has had has time to throw on 15 preseason dropbacks 1.91 seconds quickest in the NFL last year 2.36 seconds Daniel's air yards per attempt 5.5 shortest in the NFL last season 5.7 is that it's preseason I get it but if we get something like that in Arizona horiz it's the horizontal raid we're back again here in Washington so I'm yeah six and a half I'm clearly under six and a half I'm clearly under I too it it what disappointed me the most I know it's preseason I know Washington fans I've seen you guys kind of going like well it's preseason they're not showing anything this is the exact same offense Cliff Kingsbury ran Arizona same Concepts it's all three by one it's I if you saw those stop routes and hitch routes to Terry and damy brown when Jane D was in there it's because that's how this offense works it's a three-man concept on one side and then ISO ball on the other side it it's impossible it really is I I I'm firm saying this impossible to win consistently unless you have an alltime receiver on the outside to win ISO ball all the time DeAndre Hopkins worked decent amount very good receiver potentially Hall of Famer but then they have if I have Randy msia Terry good I'm not you know I'm not gonna say he's gonna win 90% of the time he can win probably 60% of the time 70% okay all right diam Brown probably more 50/50 if if best and they're also doing that it's not just Terry going to be doing it because they're doing the left right thing where Terry is the receiver 100% of the time on the left side Dam's uh the 100% of the time on the right side that to me is just again it's Cliff not learning if you're going to make this is what happened at the end in Arizona he became so predictable that defenses were able to just tee off on everything so so much quick game ice ball on the outside I do think Daniels is going to run it well it's just that that type of offense that type of flow is not my favorite too much horizontal stuff like you mentioned to and they're also running a ton of 10 Personnel meaning four wide receivers and they're getting rid of receivers and they have Dirty Work guys where I'm like yeah the Run game's going to be cool but I don't know if you can build a receiver room out zakus and and dami brown and all these guys and they trade for Zack Brown yeah and so Zack Brown Noah Brown we're we're halfway through so forgive me for messing up brown first names all right but I think we are both on the under six and a half wins for the commanders just I just just feels a little empty still uh next up we have the Giants also at 6 and a half wins we haven't really talked much New York Giants probably because offensively there's not much to talk about but what we got here what we got with the Giants Matt how you feeling about them yeah I think this defensive line is good enough to be the identity of this team you know uh and to really make them a potential surprise unit you know throwing Brian Burns on there is just so cool you're singing to me right now Matt just keep going I just think I just think Brian Burns like next to Dexter Lawrence is is pretty freaking sweet man um Dexter Lawrence is he's a treat to watch like when you're when I'm again not watching receivers I'm just watching like film I think he's one of the most enjoyable defensive players like a unique guy that's built like a nose but can truly disrupt the pock I mean he's he's going to ruin your Sam darnold stocks before they even can invest like in week one it's like watching a seven I don't want to say wemy but it's like watching a 7 fo2 guy shoot threes like where just like what the hell like and that's Dexter Lawrence it's like you're a 340 pound nose tackle what pass rush move did you just use like what was that like you're just not expecting that type play style out of that type of bodybuild but continue with your Giants defensive love and and I think that that again him and burns working together is is really cool because like Kon Tibido is a good player I think he gotten a little overhyped because he big personality plays in New York but he's a good he's a good player so getting all these guys working in tandom I really do think can be it can be just a identity bringer to not just the the defense but really the entire team um but they're gonna need to be because I'm not really that optimistic about my on this team I want to start off positive here because yeah I mean the rest of the defense I think I we'll see I I kind of like Shane is an underrated defensive coordinator I thought that was an interesting hire and he's going to flip things almost completely from what um wink marale is doing so that'll be interesting as we're transitioning there like overall I do think the defense can be a pretty solid unit I mean I know Malik neighbors is Twitter's favorite receiver at this point but God Almighty man this is not a good offensive depth chart and and you know we know what Daniel Jones is I just think they got away with so much smokeing mirrors in that 20 22 season not a lot of like true real dropback stuff a lot of schemy things uh from a from a receiver perspective and look you can put Malik neighbors into what I said about Neighbors when he was drafted by the Giants is that he was uniquely skilled among the top three guys to not thrive in this landing spot but survive this landing spot I still think that I still think that is true we're if we're if we're doing all this stuff with Malik neighbors to get him free to get Daniel Jones layups we're just doing like Daniel's Darius Slayton again and and Jaylen Hyatt is outside receivers like W Robinson is a gadget receiver so um I started positive talking about that defensive line because I really get stuck on where to go with the rest of the roster yeah ah man that's you took my flow of argument here uh because that's where I'm at with it I really do like this defense and the preseason hasn't slowed down my optimism about it uh because yeah everything you said I think the defensive front is one of the better ones in football they're going to be impossible to run against like that's a misconception with Burns he's not just a pass prusher he actually is pretty good against the run like he'll set the edge he'll get some tfls in there Lawrence Lawrence but then the other guys that they have nunus Roz is just a big beefy SP space eater um even the linebackers of Kake and stuff he's pretty good against the run properly rated some people are trying to make him out that he's underrated he's properly rated he's like a nice tier two linebacker but then the the the DBS are are young and that is scary whatever you say oh yeah they might have two rookie starting DBS yeah that's a little scary uh Deontay Banks I do think is a star down the road like and they're doing some cool stuff yeah he's a good good player Drew Phillips they having the slot he's really Dynamic I uh land perfect landing spot here uh I like Tyler nubin he's showed up a lot in the preseason as well glad you brought up bone as a defense coordinator because I he's doing cool stuff like as far as scheme wise doing a lot of cool stuff with DBS so that's where my optimism with the Giants lie but we did when we did our top 10 offens thing we did a thing for social media about our 32nd ranked offense and I had the Giants I I it just it's I can't get over the top where I'm like well this will do this for this where they're not going to be terrible and I I hate to sound like that day one but it's yeah I knew who the quarterbacks are and if you go yeah we can go to Drew lock Dre Drew lock in the preseason so that guy's gotten worse he's gotten worse since he was we just remember that Eagles game that he you know he filled in for last year and him and Gino are doing the thing to oh my yeah have you watched Drew lock any other time in his NFL career not not fun they had the first preseason game so they like three of the first five plays you could tell they were trying to get neighbors like a a bomb to like hype up the crowd in New York and lock messed up a reed on the first play where he checked into a pass when he should have checked into Iran second place he doesn't even look in the right direction third one he looks at him and then just goes eh and then takes a sack or like he scrambles out and like something happens and I could tell I'm probably stable's like I tried like I'm trying guys like I'm trying to shoot some fireworks here but it keeps I got locked pouring water on all my fuses right now so I I saw you I saw you tweet out that neighbors threw his hand up like on his first NFL snap you know hey hey I'm open so that play is hilarious and this is Drew lock in the nutshell I I've always said that when I was watching the Broncos when lock was started there I could tell he didn't know the play call because he would be looking at the isolated receiver every time meaning to me that they called the term the play call you know I'll just make up a term but like sword and then they said like X dagger and he would just go oh I heard my call X dagger so he drop back and look over at The X because he was like I know what route that guy's running because I just said I don't know what the other concept I just ran and that first play against the giant or with the Giants they run a it's like a run pass check it's a safe play that's why they ran it if it's a two high soft look you just Pound The Rock if it's single high we got go balls to both of our outside guys or stop routes whever you want to tag it Twan route so you better be right with the play play call like but the play check should be nice and easy they give it to rookie quarterbacks I could run it right now without studying anything and get it right and Drew lock messes up on the first play preseason there it is there we go Miss Miss watching you buddy uh yeah Neighbors after the game I saw this from uh which I remember like right as I was about to get on the plane to go to the fantasy football Expo I saw that uh you know that was the day after that game so in the morning at the airport I see headline from pro football talk Malik neighbors I got open but everything has to go my way to get the ball which could certainly be the the slogan for a certain website I know but also I feel like what I also feel like Malik neighbor is gonna be saying that a lot this year so it's good that he's getting his practice into the preseason also leads to my a great example of my argument about offensive line over receivers for premium position but anyway the getting oh did we say over under I I I I don't know I'm GNA go under I don't know either I'm gonna I'm GNA go under as well just because giant fans I do like the defense I will say that same yeah we we started off we eased into it you know we we let him down easy some of the most optimistic takes I've had on the show I've been on teams I'm under I'm picking unders on because yeah Vegas is just making me do it all right next one up getting to the usual top two of the NFC East we have the Cowboys at 9 and a half wins oh yeah Matt what do you got about Big D right now can you get it in five minutes everything that's happened in Dallas the last six seven months and make but succinct Wade make you feel about the 2024 season I mean I could be succinct here and say that I really really really really want to go under because I'm not buying a lot of what's going on in Dallas right now you know none of us picked them as a top 10 offense in in our top 10 offenses show and I was shocked that Dallas fans were so pissed about it cuz I Furious did we not just spend like four months talking about how his team didn't get better at all and then we been a top 10 offense for the last like three years scor in 2022 yeah yeah some some of the players that were playing for that that team this year this year we're just like oh no Jaylen tolbert's going to break out and I I by the way I have I talk about some stocks I have sneaky sneaky hit under the couch cushions like really from the south Alabama days you're yeah I thought that I thought that film was pretty interesting but it was South Alabama you know you gota you gota always it was like the same thing it was like slot vertical routes and he was like just dunking on guys right like down the field that's what I remember anyways watching that that South Alabama film yeah I I thought he was like an interesting fourth rounder and they took him in the third round and then he you know hasn't done anything really to the n in his NFL career at this point obviously was a big flop as a rookie a team that needed some receiver help so um I don't know we'll see but like that's the stuff they're selling you what that oh the 2018 backfield of dvin cook and Zeke and with Rico D and Duce Von is still on like that that's going to carry the day so I really really want to go under here but I think nine and a half is a little like I think they can win 10 games and be mildly disappointing but yeah I I don't know I I can't I can't read this one here to go over under because I don't feel good about this team I feel like they are going to to take a step back but I also struggled getting them like as long as Dak and CD Lam are healthy I struggled to get them to you know nine or eight wins or something like that the Tyler gon not looking like a total project at left tackle is doing a lot for me because I was a little lower on him in the draft like I I totally understand why someone take a swing on him in the first round because he had traits and everything but he was the true like oh that's more of a project as opposed to a guy it's like oh he has traits we can work with I think there's just small differences maybe it's just my brain here but I was never played left side but had lower body kind of stuff where he was you know his anchor wasn't good so I was like all right this guy down the road could be some stuff because he's long and athletic he can move like a lot like very few guys can and then they're popping him day one left side yeah not making a top 10 offense with Tyler garton starting at left tackle and whoever starting at center preseason happens gon looks so much further along the center Cooper BBE that is playing in there looks really good like and just mentally too I've heard he's smart guy but he was handling it really well Dak is going to do a lot to help him that's what helps when you have a quarterback like Dak that operate that handles so much pre- stamp can ruin the flow of the offense sometimes but that's how they're going to run it that's going to help him out at least mentally I think so I didn't it wasn't as big of a blemish as it was for me a month ago maybe when we did the top 10 offenses I'm still like not all the way there because like you said the running back room that sure that's all I just keep saying I just keep looking at the running back just like sure sure oh yeah sure I Jake Ferguson good player CD lamb Love CD lamb Brandon Cooks is just another year older though and then it's just so it's just all these in between guys that that gets me antsy with this team on defense still have Michel Parsons they still have cool players on the back end I know bla got hurt and everything they have Mike freaking Zimmer and that's doing a lot for me that I had him as a top five defense because Zimmer is a lot more sound as a coach than Dan Quinn Dan Quinn's you know energy energy energy know speed speed speed if you make a mistake do it fast we'll cover it up with speed that's how that that Cowboys defense kind of felt maybe some of the better offenses would get him sometimes because they would just be a little bit more sound Zimmer is the opposite it's you better be freaking here you you better be here you're not playing and then I I like that I kind of like it they have a cool group of DBS Zimmer's really good with DBS and using these guys remember Harrison Smith Stu all the things they would do on the back end I'm really digging the defense even if I stare at the linebackers and oh shoot again just because I think Zimmer will be better equipped to mitigate that than maybe Quinn was uh so I'm really maybe the the top five was a little hot on them a little spicy but I really do think this defense is still going to be really good even losing Quinn because I think Zimmer's that good I think the blitz packages are going to be insane with michah Parson so I'm very excited about the D I've come around on the offense I end up being over 9 a half wins if you ask me that like them and the Rams kind of switched my brain for me a little bit where I became a little bit more optimistic I just trust Dak I trust CD Mike McCarthy did a good job last year of adjusting their offense him and shimer one of the most shocking developments in of the entire season I if you ask me that McCarthy and shimer were Innovative offensive play callers yeah that yeah not on my bingo card so end up as the over for me which is just yeah I it's did not think I'd be there a month ago so with Ezekiel allot playing running back all right someone that improved at running back in a different way the other the last team of the NFC East the favorites of the NFC East that is the Philadelphia Eagles who are at 10 and a half wins according to B MGM all right Cowboys rival Cowboys Rivals are everyone but the Eagles how you feeling about them Matt yeah I'm gonna go with pretty much similar analysis to why I had them as a top 10 offense which is I just think this team is too big too talented to fail um I will go I I will go over on 10 and a half for them I look I know what you're going to say about the about the coordinator and stuff like that I'm I'm excited to to talk through that I think it's I actually talked about the Kell Moore Jaylen Herz marriage a lot this offseason um but overall like my my analysis is just is just that I do think this team is too good too talented to fail even even defensively you know I don't know that just dropping Devon white in here is goingon to fix your linebacker problems go the right direction at least yeah right just hey buddy this way um but I do think that the defensive uh like the secondary Evolution I think is is going in the right direction that will at least be a pretty big difference from what we saw last year so that and just again Talent on offense I'll go over here I I actually am going over because everything you said I don't I don't view it's weird I think this team can win 11 games maybe even 12 I also think that they can maybe win a playoff game but I don't view him as a true Contender and it's just kind of this weird I just can't get all the way there because I think they're again like it's going to be better feelings than last year I think that's easy to say even though they're already having a source off in Philadelphia yeah see that that's another thing it's hard for me to get over is that like before the games even start we're already starting to you know put our excuses fault getting the the blame we're playing the blame game I also Frank Schwab said on my pod that this is a team that could either win the Super bowl or fire its head coach by Thanksgiving and you wouldn't be surprised either way and I think that's a that's like why it's hard to say they're a true true Contender but again I I'm just generally Optimist because of the players that's it it it I I wanted to be like oh yeah they're they're gonna blow up this year I just don't think they can just what you said they I even if the the Jason Kelce losing him especially the mental side I'm fascinated by they still have Jeff Stalin the offensive line coach they still have Jordan Milada still have Landon Dickerson they still have freaking Landon uh uh almost call him Landon Jones that was his quarterback uh Lane Johnson uh but uh Landry Jones if you remember that Landry Jones what a what a pull oh my God I don't know why Lane Johnson became Landry Jones Oklahoma I guess maybe yeah yeah but my brain just did that uh but it's that offense is going to score points doesn't matter who's calling place it's just they have too much talent they add saquan who's a little boom busty but the thing is it's saquin he's an improvement of who they had kind of weird that they're bringing up him receiving the ball a lot Jaylen Herz never throws to his running backs uh so offseason thing off SE right Devon hen's gonna line up at wide receiver for the Miami Dolphins hey did you hear Kyle Pitts is lining up at receiver this year he's never done in his career he's lining up a receiver this year Tony Pard lining up in the slot for the 2023 Dallas Cowboys that was oh God it's the best yeah everybody's a slash now the real slash is the hayward's little brother in Pittsburgh he plays running back fullback tailback plays Arthur Smith writing that down right now like how can I get this guy four touchdowns to drive like people Washington Arthur trotted out Naji Harris and three tight ends weighing over 26 pounds and George Pickins and I was like I'm back baby Paul let's do this uh but everything you said it's just that this offense is too good they actually have Bryce off as opposed to Hassan reck who's just hanging out with the Jets right now ask Charles what this fine money's at because Charles is keeping like day-to-day hourly tabs on it I just think they improved it can't be worse than it they last time I still have issues with their the spine a little bit but they I had issues with it last year and I thought it was worse last year and they still won double digit games and almost won their division so yeah I think it's an over I like the rookies they drafted Dee quinan Mitchell also want to give Milton Williams a shout out haven't given him a shout out Milt Williams defensive lineman 93 think it'll break out a little bit for them this year so I'm with you on the Eagles it feels a little bit like a shrug but it it's I want to see how this offense works with more cam Jurgens Jaylen Herz I have some concerns but maybe they answer those concerns early and it feels a lot better