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[Assistant] Thing he does in dropping back to pass where he never takes a hitch step. He never takes that gather step we talk about. He kind of takes a five step drop. He just sits there. He plants his feet in the ground and he kind of just tries to torque his body and make throws like that.


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[Assistant] Which can be good because it can help you to get the ball out of your hand quick and all those type of things. Yes, but.


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[Assistant] With great power throws, man, that's gonna compromise your power and your accuracy if you're not using your lower body.


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[Assistant] Uh, but it is part of Shanahan's offense to get those type of guys too. He's not doing it going, oh, Jimmy can't throw the deep ball, so I need to get these type of receivers. And no, Shanahan's getting the receivers he likes and hopefully he can get better, get Jimmy Garoppolo to get better at throwing the deep ball.


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[Assistant] We're asking them to like readjust this throwing motion, right? Or this is like Tim Tebow or some other guy where we're going, man, there's a huge mechanical flaw.


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[Assistant] And I don't care how much we work on it, like to what you said, when the bullets start flying for real again, you're always going to resort back to that old motion. Yeah, more time than not, I would say that.


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[Assistant] But Garoppolo is a natural thrower of the football. He is. He's very good with just the fluidity, his arm angles, things like that. This is just about paying attention to


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[Assistant] Your feet getting that back leg underneath you to where you're in a power position to throw the ball high and far in the air to where that's a big part of the deep ball.


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[Assistant] So, uh, I would hope my buddy Kyle Shanahan works on that with Jimmy Garoppolo, this training camp, if we have one.


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[Assistant] That's worth the win or two in itself, just right there, you know, in the first year. Usually new head coaches and a guy that's proven and won Super Bowls like that.


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[Assistant] You know, I think it's gonna give them a different look, a different attitude.


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[Assistant] You know, as much as I'm hopeful for Denver and Oakland, you know, I think Pittsburgh and Indy just have a few more proven commodities about them that I trust more, uh, than Denver and Oakland at this point. Of course with Big Ben back and if he could stay healthy and that defense is a Super Bowl type defense.


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[Assistant] Yeah, I, I look at them as going watch out for them a little bit. And, you know, with the cults, again, I think the cults were, you know,


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[Assistant] You know, they lost the game there. And then when he got back healthy, he did not play well and that really hurt their chances. But I look at their team as a whole and go, man, front seven, good offensive line, best in football, you know, some receivers and tight ends that are pretty good.


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[Assistant] Yeaah, I just think the Colts are one of those teams that's going to be dependent on Philip Rivers and him taking care of the ball, but I think those are the teams that jump out to me more than others.


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[Assistant] He had some moments where he didn't do it, and it hurt their football team.


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[Assistant] I think he is with a team and a support system and in a system that he knows that hopefully he'll have enough knowledge and just realize I don't have to do everything for this team.


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[Assistant] Well that's certainly at the top of my list, I mean that's been one I've been, you know, you know that, that's been one of my themes for the last three years of my life really. You know, yeaah, the F up the play stat, the disruption stat, whatever that is.


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[Assistant] You know, it would take a little bit of a trained eye to know, okay, that guy effed the play up truly. You know, like, I don't care if there's like, hey, the run is to the right, right? Let's just say the team's running to the right.


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[Assistant] And on the left side of the, uh, on the left side, somebody bust through the line of scrimmage.


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[Assistant] And yes, he bust through the line of scrimmage, but it had no effect on the play, right? Like, hey, it was cool. He did his job, but it, you know, so you'd have to know when the guy is really ruining the design of the play or ruining and affecting exactly what's happening. Uh, but that would be my number one. I think the other one that bothers me is, um, yards per attempt too much. I don't like that.


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[Assistant] Uh, I like yards per completion. I think it tells the story about what the quarterback is throwing more times than not than yards per attempt, which you can be a lot of times finagled by run after the catch or whatever it may be. You know, you could, you could throw 50 passes at, you know, behind the line of scrimmage.


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[Assistant] Oh, that would be cool. I think fans would love that. And I mean, they would because that, you know.


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[Assistant] Yeah, that's people want to know. That's something that like you just can't, you can't always get a feel for to sitting at home on your couch. You know, maybe if you're sitting on the sidelines, you'd be able to tell the difference between a big hit or not. But I would think that


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[Assistant] No, I, I agree. There is. It's gonna go to the next level, I think, with a lot of that stuff. And you know, Pete Dibble little lightest, I know he texts, he brought like, how about yards per attempt or yards per attempt? That would make sense. That would be what I, I don't know if I did a great job of explaining it.


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[Assistant] You know, because what I was trying to say with the completion thing is you can have a quarterback who throws, you know,


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[Assistant] What do I want to say? 50, 50 yard throws and if he just completes


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[Assistant] One of them, you're going to go, oh, so it's one yard per attempt in that world. Where I want to go, that's not telling you the story of what he's being asked to do or throw or what the offense is. Does that make sense? Am I making sense there or am I just totally crazy on a Thursday afternoon and I'm losing


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[Assistant] No, you're right. You don't know. He certainly made life tough on him, definitely. I will say this, if you go back to my old podcast, at first there was a lot of people going, Oh, Kevin White should be drafted over Amari Cooper. And I was like, no.


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[Assistant] No, we're not. We should not. Amari Cooper has specialness to his game. Kevin White, again, back to stats and context, the stats were really good.


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[Assistant] A lot of wide receivers have really good stats of West Virginia. I'm sorry, I don't mean to say that. You know, one of my concerns was you didn't see a lot of yards after catch and things like that.


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[Assistant] The guy that I think of especially that could be along those lines, the one I have big time questions about is Jalen Rieger, the Philadelphia Eagles pick at number 21.


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[Assistant] You know, you know I wasn't as high on Jerry Judy as most people, but I like Jerry Judy. I think he's going to be a successful NFL football player. I'm just not, in my mind, I don't know if he was worth the 15th pick of the draft. That's all I was saying with that.


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[Assistant] Jalen Rieger, you know, I don't think he was worth the first 35 picks of the draft, let alone 21. It would concern me, you know.


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[Assistant] You know, I've not, it didn't pop to me on tape. He's a little bit stiff as an athlete. You know, the stats and production, like everybody likes to talk about, and you know me, I don't always put all of that, but it wasn't anything special there either. You know, and.


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[Assistant] Uh, then the combine numbers weren't special either. So wait, when I see on film and go, okay, the guy's fast, but not like blazing, like everybody's trying to tell me he's fast, because in the early process, it was like, oh, Jalen Rieger is going to run like a 4-2 with the combine and do all of these things.


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[Assistant] I turned on the film and I just remember going, man, I don't think this guy's gonna run a 4.2. Then he ran a 4.47.


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[Assistant] Alright, and the 510.5 I believe was slower than me. So when all those things start to match up a little bit with what I see on film, that scares me. It does. Maybe I'm wrong, and you know me, I'll be the first to say I'm wrong. But that's one that jumps out to me.


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[Assistant] The other one I'll be really interested to see is Laviska Shinaw, a second round pick by the Jaguars. You know, uhm, really strong.


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[Assistant] Built like a running back. I'm not so sure he still shouldn't be a running back. I, I, that's just one I just don't know. I'm not sure about.


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[Assistant] I'll be interested to see how they use them, but those are two that jump out to me.


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[Assistant] I mean, yeaah, I think if you gave me a choice, sure, I'd rather have that water shooting up there too than trying to, you know, chat my ass with some toilet paper, so I'm with you.


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[Assistant] Oh gosh, that's a good one. You know, I mean, first off, I'll always be disappointed with my DAC Prescott evaluation. That's one that really bothers me coming out of Mississippi State. I think I, you know, I fell in the trap of, yeah, I fell in the trap of what a lot of people do. The team results, the way the offense looked and you know,


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[Assistant] But I learned, like with Drew Locke last year, you knew how big of a fan I was from him coming out in the draft. But I learned that was a great example. Doc Prescott taught me to look at Drew Locke in a different way to where I went.


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[Assistant] Wait, SEC guy, I'm one of the worst teams in the SEC, and I see a lot of physical ability and things I like about this kid. Yeah, the game's rough around the edges, but hey, Chris, remember you did this with Dak Prescott.


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[Assistant] Don't blame the quarterback. The team is a little bit of the issue here. It's not him. I mean, it's not easy to go out there and look good when you're the lesser team on the field every week in the SEC. You're going to have games where you don't look good. So that would be one. And I'll tell you another one where I thought the opposite.


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[Assistant] Greg Robinson, you know, who now is involved in some off the field issues, but was the second pick of the draft left tackle out of Auburn, went to the Rams.


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[Assistant] I like, I remember evaluating him and going, he's going to the Hall of Fame.


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[Assistant] And I was wrong about that one. Those are two where I look at and just go, shit.


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[Assistant] Yeah, well, I think the first thing is like when the offense comes out of the huddle, I am, I'm going to, you're going to look at the formation. Okay. What are they in here? Oh, okay. You know, three receivers. Okay. The tight ends here. All right. So I'm going to look at that. And then from TV, I'm going to try to take a look at.


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[Assistant] You know, probably the very next thing, the front seven, just to get some clues there. Okay, wait, where's the tackles lined up? Is there a linebacker showing blitz and doing things like that? So again, I have a, you know, I've been fortunate to be taught and trained by a lot of good people and of course was in the sport to where


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[Assistant] You know, I think anybody that watches the game sometimes with me starts to go, damn, you see a lot, or damn, you could watch things in a hurry.


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[Assistant] But, but I think those are the things I look for more than not. And then within it, you know, hey, this offense, are they lining up in the same formation, play after play?


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[Assistant] Are they motioning? Are they moving? Do the plays seem very ordinary? Or do they seem like there's a little bit of a pizzazz and, you know, uhm,


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[Assistant] Uh, what do I, illusion factor to it, right? Cause good offenses have an illusion factor, whether it was Brady in New England, he's all faking a screen over here and boom, oh, there's Gronkowski down the middle wide open or Kyle Shanahan's offensive, like faking a reverse, fake the run. And now Jimmy Garoppolo has thrown a 20 yard laser over the middle of the field.


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[Assistant] You know, those are the things I look for more than not. And then, as the game unfolds, you know...


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[Assistant] Just trying to get a big picture feel for the game without studying a film, just starting to go like, oh man, you know, their offense is having trouble picking up that blitz or


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[Assistant] Hell, they can't run at this guy. I kind of try to look at general themes that way too so I can talk about it on the show the next day on PFT when you're trying to watch a bunch of games and really know what's going on. I'm writing notes and doing all that, but.


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[Assistant] You're, well, you're right. You're exactly right. When I see a quarterback drop back to pass, to Pete's point, I don't sit there and just watch him and go,


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[Assistant] Wait, when's he gonna throw it? When's he gonna throw it? As soon as I see him drop back to pass, I'm already like looking into the secondary to see if I can get a feel for the route combination.


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[Assistant] And maybe see, is it a cover too? Is the safety rotated down? Whatever it may be.


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[Assistant] Uh, but that, my eyes go there because one, the ball eventually is gonna go there. Two, to one of those guys down in that way. But you can start to see, ooh, they played that coverage. Or, ooh, he had this guy wide open over the middle. Why didn't he throw to him? He went to somebody else. So I think, you know, Pete Dimolololololitis' uh, point there is very real too.


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[Assistant] Definitely. I, I, when I got, I, I was like that as a young kid, uh, Ahmed. You know, when I first started out going to Giants games,


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[Assistant] Then one game, I don't know what it was. I was around eight or nine years old. For some reason I sat up in the mezzanine level, the second level of the stadium. And I remember going, oh my gosh, I love this. I could see the whole field.


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[Assistant] Well, one, I'm never, I don't ever take these things personal. I don't. You know, listen, I work hard. I study hard.


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[Assistant] I think I'm right a lot. I know I'm not always right. So I know whatever I say isn't in like the holy grail of stone. I'm like there forever.


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[Assistant] Now, yeaah, it made me mad that Kurt Warner did that last year. Cause he tried to imply that I was doing it for clit.


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[Assistant] I don't know what it was. Either way, I think mine ended up being more ripe than his. But...


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[Assistant] I've never held it like, oh my gosh, I hate Kurt Warner, what a jerk he is. It pissed me off for a minute, I'm not going to lie, but I'm not like that to where I'm going to hold a grudge on a guy forever. So when Lowe's approached me about the commercial, first off, who the


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[Assistant] Kurt Warner's gonna be it? I don't care. That's awesome. I'm still gonna do it. And we had a great day together. We had a fly down to Atlanta, Georgia to film that commercial. And, uh, it was a lot of fun. I mean, Kurt, again,


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[Assistant] He's a stand-up human being. He is a really good guy. He loves football. I don't agree with every one of his takes in football, but that's okay. I mean, there's a lot of people you're going to have some disagreements with, but I think there's a lot of things we do agree on too. And you know, between him and Rodney Harrison, we, we had a lot of fun talks that day.


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[Assistant] I wasn't sure, I don't know Kurt that well, I wasn't sure how he would come in, but really we came in, I kinda made a joke about it and addressed it right off the bat, just so we could be like, hey listen, it's not a big deal, let's like just clear the air, and he didn't care and I didn't care and that was it and we moved on.


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[Assistant] No, I mean, I kind of didn't have one. I was willing to go like, hey, this is my dream. I can't wait to play in the NFL. I mean, you're just happy that you're going to get drafted or something like that. Now.


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[Assistant] You know, and here's the teams that I thought I had a chance to do. The Raiders had the last two picks of the first round. I thought I had a chance to go there.


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[Assistant] The Baltimore Ravens were picking in the 20s. They needed a quarterback. I thought I had a chance to go there. The Chicago Bears, the same way, drafting in the 20s, thought I had a chance. I think the one that I was most hurt by is the Bears. You know, and one, I'm a football traditionalist, as you know. I love their uniforms, like we've talked about. And,


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[Assistant] You know, Chicago is such a football city, and I love that. They ended up drafting Rex Grossman over me, and that's, hey listen, I understand that, but yeaah, that was one that hurt a little bit, because I liked the GM, Jerry An, uh, Jerry Angelo there at the time, the quarterback coach,


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[Assistant] Uh, you know, and of course the big city feel, me coming from the New York area, that was, that was great to me. And it's the Bears. And who doesn't want to play for the Bears and eat some deep dish pizza? You know what I'm saying? It's the Bears and Mike Dicka. So that, that might've been a little bit.


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[Assistant] I think there's a good chance I might have got in there. But hey, it worked out for them too. You know, Brex Grossman did bring them to the damn Super Bowl, so.


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[Assistant] Becker's my guy, man. Yeah, Becker. He's, he's awesome. He really is. And, uh, he always gets me tight and everything's good there.


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[Assistant] You know, he, he and his boyfriend run the salon.


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[Assistant] And they couldn't be nicer people. They do my wife's hair. They cut my little boy and little girl's hair. So it's a family affair, uh, usually.


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[Assistant] And, uh, yeaah, as you know, I got a haircut two weeks ago and I had Becker come to my house.


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[Assistant] He had, he was one of the strictest from the get go. I knew that and he was willing to come over and do that. So that was one of the first baby steps I took as far as seeing a new person. But I was willing to take that risk at that point, a calculated risk at that.


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[Assistant] Uh, you know, there's been some movies and some TV shows and things where I've seen it. I think the one that jumps to my mind is American Pie 2, right? I know you don't watch movies, but American Pie 2.


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[Assistant] Yeah, like a 64 player best players in the NFL bracket and we're going to get the fans involved to do that too. So that's something to look forward to. Uh, but everybody enjoy the Memorial Day weekend. I got one more thing.


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[Assistant] I do! Way to go Jeffrey Merritt! You're the man!


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[Assistant] You have a bigger, stiffer collar than me. But be good, dude. Have a good weekend. Peace out everybody there. Be safe. Memorial Day weekend. Have fun. We'll see you next week.


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[Assistant] And we're, uh, it's low tech, it's high tech but low tech, where I put the, uh,


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[Assistant] The little thing in there too, the, the, the microphone of the, my microphone up to the phone, see I'm already an idiot, we're like 30 seconds in.


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[Assistant] So the four quarterbacks, and I didn't know until yesterday when you sent this to me, the four quarterbacks are very intriguing. And all of them either moved up or down at least five spots from where they were last year.


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[Assistant] So some high volatility in your four quarterbacks that we'll reveal today. So we'll get to that, but first, you're right. Let's get to the homies reacting to what you did.


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[Assistant] Last time. And last time you were on, you did, uh, let's see, what have you revealed so far? It was Daniel Jones at 22, Baker Mayfield at 21, Jimmy Garoppolo at 20, and then Derek Carr at 19. A lot of respect for Derek Carr there. I like that. Uhm, so first, here's the first question. This one's kind of just general for


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[Assistant] Those who might be just jumping into this podcast for the first time, jumping into your rankings for the first time, it comes from CSantana1983.


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[Assistant] So yes, is this list for past accomplishments predicting this year's performance or predicting the remainder of their careers? So clarify once again what this list is all about for you.


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[Assistant] So it's trying to project right now for this season and also, Chris, to get clicks, right? You're trying to get as many clicks as possible to your website or whatever you have in the back.


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[Assistant] And cause you want to be right. You don't want at the end of the year to be like, wow, I generated a lot of whatever clicks are, but I, I, I got people to talk and then I was looked like an idiot by the end of the year. So ultimately you want to be right. So 22, you had Daniel Jones and Smitty's picks.


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[Assistant] Man, I have him in the 40s. So apparently Smittypix is doing his own top 40. He has him in the 40s.


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[Assistant] Uh, top 50 actually there. Uh, too many fumbles and the Giants were down by two touchdowns a lot. So the defensive coverages he was facing were a little soft. Dude, what do you take of that criticism, Chris?


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[Assistant] So Pete threw a stat in here that kind of backs you up and shows that he wasn't really that successful or didn't rack up a bunch of numbers in garbage time per Pro Football Focus in garbage time last year.


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[Assistant] Jones had a 53% completion percentage, no touchdowns, one interception, just a 57 passer rating. So he didn't, even if he was down a few touchdowns and it was garbage time, he didn't pad his stats with that. A little bit more on the fumbles here, Chris. This one comes from UncleGusNYC.


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[Assistant] Jones had 18 fumbles last year, Carson Wentz had 16.


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[Assistant] Uhm, so I think maybe he is intimating that maybe, you know, hey, we like Carson Wentz and he fumbled a bunch. Daniel Jones, first year fumbled a bunch, but not necessarily, uh, a black eye to the, to the year that Daniel Jones had there.


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[Assistant] And you've mentioned it, mentioned it here, mentioned it before that not all fumbles are created equal. A lot of the RPO that we see the Eagles run to, and that causes some fumbles for Carson Wentz. And Pete notes as well that of all those fumbles,


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[Assistant] Uh, Carson Wentz actually recovered 25 the most in the NFL over the last four seasons. So he has 48 fumbles the last four years. He's recovered a lot of them himself, so they haven't actually hurt the team.


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[Assistant] So at number 21, you had Baker Mayfield.


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[Assistant] You did, I can confirm that. Yeah. Uh, so yeah, what, what, what happened, uh, with a better offense?


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[Assistant] It's a good note about the offensive line there too, because that offensive line went from number two in Pro Football Focus's 2018 rankings to number 23 in the rankings last year. And you said the discrepancies with how well they run blocked as opposed to how well they pass blocked.


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[Assistant] Maybe the offensive talent around him while better with, with Odell all around maybe wasn't better. Uhm, Baramax asks you this. So if we're gonna do the redraft of 2018,


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[Assistant] The Browns should take Josh Allen number one, correct?


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[Assistant] That like to, uh, uh, excuse away a lot of the deficiencies and other people see, uh, see the deficiencies for what they were this past year. So here's a stat fight between Kyle Sample6 and Scott Gielin. So two Twitter fight, uh, two Twitter followers going at it. So let me throw this all at you Chris and see what you think.


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[Assistant] So Kyle says, per Pro Football Focus, the highest completion rate on throws beyond 20 plus yards last season, Jimmy Garoppolo, number one, 61%. Patrick Mahomes, number two, all the way back at 51%. So that looks great for Jimmy G.


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[Assistant] No, I mean, the next part's gonna back up. Here's where we back up what you just said. Actually, Scott Gielin did it for us.


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[Assistant] So it was far and few between the amount of times that Jimmy Garoppolo threw deep, even fewer with tight coverage. Uhm, and so that goes to further illustrate your point there, Chris.


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[Assistant] So this is interesting because you talked about the way that Jimmy Garoppolo throws, flat-footed throws, needs to improve upon that. HomeQuestJack asked you, perhaps Jimmy G's flat-footed throws get fixed when he's fully recovered and trusting of his surgically repaired knee. You think part of it was coming back from that ACL injury?


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[Assistant] Uhm, Pete just sent a message to us. Producer Pete was watching us as we do this. He said, is Jimmy G's flat-footed style? Oh no, hold on. Is Jimmy G's flat-footed style? I'm having a hard time with technology today. Uh, what helps him get the ball out quickly? If he fixes his feet, could it screw up his release?


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[Assistant] A lot of people thought it was interesting that you had the two Bay Area quarterbacks so closely ranked and that Derek Carr was ahead of Jimmy Garoppolo. So you had Derek Carr at 19.


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[Assistant] We did expect maybe some pushback from Raider Nation. We didn't find any though. And trust me, Pete was looking. We always love pushback. Uh, this one came from Masta James. He said, this breakdown is perfect. That's it.


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[Assistant] Yeah, and there aren't a whole lot of quarterbacks, young quarterbacks especially, who have a whole lot of stability with offensive coordinators, head coaches, but Derek Carr certainly has not had a lot of that in Oakland, so for sure. And I think in a lot of respects, he's already overachieved.


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[Assistant] You know, I think he's already done perhaps better than some people thought he would be as an NFL quarterback. So props to Derek Carr, 19 on your list. This is a comment, just it's, uh, it's unrelated. Negustivio.


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[Assistant] I mean that's kind of like a swear, but not totally. Like it's a swear for me, but not for you. You would say that in church.


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[Assistant] Alright, so that's the reaction from the homies. It's time to reveal.


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[Assistant] Four more quarterbacks. 18, 17, 16, and then 15. I would do a drum roll on my phone right now, but I've already tried to do too much stuff here. Uhm, so.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Without further ado, number 18 on your top 40 quarterback countdown list.


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[Assistant] Yeah, sorry, we got tripped up there a second. I was just reiterating the fact, and I thought you were done there, but, uh, it said, you were, you had him 23rd last year, so he moved up five spots. I looked, Chris, at some of the numbers from last year, and, you know, the stats, as you always mentioned, don't tell the whole story. Uhm, but he made improvements. You know, he started all 16 games where his rookie year, he started 11. His completion percentage went up six points.


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[Assistant] Doubled his touchdowns from the year before. Reduced his interceptions despite playing in more games. So his interceptions went down from 12.


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[Assistant] I noted two things to look at here and I wonder what you think of it.


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[Assistant] He did throw the ball, you know, the air yards for him. He threw the ball less downfield a little bit more last year. It was like 11 air yards per attempt. His rookie year, it went down to nine, which is still fifth in the league. So he didn't throw the ball as far down the field as he did his rookie year.


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[Assistant] And he was a little less effective running the ball. His yards per attempt rushing went from 7 to 4.7. So just two things on a year that was really good on balance. Just two things that stuck out to me.


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[Assistant] You mentioned he didn't get any help from his receivers. He had the highest drop percentage of any quarterback in the league last year. Seven percent of his passes. You mentioned sometimes that is the fault of the quarterback. It is. He can throw it too hard.


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[Assistant] He was also 27th in the league in yards after the catch per completion. So it wasn't like his receivers were ripping off a ton after, after they caught it. And so all stuff that a better, better crew around them can help. And I will throw this at you because remember when we talked about Brady, uh, getting together with his teammates and you complimented.


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[Assistant] Tom Brady and you said, yeah, these young quarterbacks should learn. We got some pushback because


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[Assistant] You know, Josh Allen had done that a little bit and he was in May working out in Florida with Stefan Diggs, John Brown, Dawson Knox, and so it seems like he has figured out a way to be a team leader even in the mid of COVID-19 here.


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[Assistant] So I was gonna do that. He read my mind. So we've often talked about Josh Allen in shorts. I feel like the whole Josh Allen wearing shorts meme started with you somehow. I don't know how that happened, but maybe one time you interviewed him, he was wearing shorts. So I racked my brain. I racked my brain.


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[Assistant] And I was like, okay, who are the top five quarterbacks in shorts currently in the NFL? So here's my list, see if you agree. You ready? Yep.


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[Assistant] Three, Cam Newton, uh, I bent my rules there, not technically in the NFL, but not retired either. Uh, two, Dak Prescott, solid lower half. And number one, Josh Allen. So those are my top five, best in shorts.


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[Assistant] Russell Wilson might be an omission there, a glaring omission. But, the fact that you would have Dak Prescott won, may be part of the reason we haven't seen him so far on the Christmas Top 40.


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[Assistant] Uh, one more note I want to throw in here on Josh Allen, and this is not insignificant. In his career on fourth and one, he has converted 23 of 24 quarterback sneaks. Best in the NFL over the past two years. How crucial is that? Fourth and one, your drive's over if you don't get it. He's gotten it 23 or 24 times. That's not insignificant.


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[Assistant] Alright, so 18 is Josh Allen. We're moving closer to the top 15, but we're not there yet.


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[Assistant] Number 17, Chris, on your top 40 quarterback countdown list.


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[Assistant] Yeah, I think when I think of all my favorite skill position groupings in the NFL, I put the Colts offensive line in there. I know they're not skill position guys, but I like them that much and they have so much talent there in that Colts offensive line with Costanzo and Quentin Nelson, Braden Smith and Ryan Kelly.


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[Assistant] Yeaah, what do you think about Frank Wright? So he's got Frank Wright again with uh, Nick Sirianni who is the offensive coordinator. He's got familiarity with them, spent three years together with the Chargers. That was 2014, 2015 with Wright as the offensive coordinator and I looked up in 2015


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[Assistant] Rivers threw the ball 661 times, by far the most in his career. I doubt they replicate that this year just with the running game they have with Marlon Mack and then they drafted Jonathan Taylor as well.


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[Assistant] How much do you make of the fact that their, their familiarity with each other and how that could take rivers to a, to another level here at 38 years old?


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[Assistant] And don't underestimate that fire from Philip Rivers. I saw this quote in one of the stories when I was perusing around. He said quote, at times what may have been


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[Assistant] Uh, may have aggravated me a little bit last year was when the critics were saying I couldn't play anymore. When you heard that, it bothered me because I wanted to go shoot. Go turn on the tape and watch all the good things. And so I think there is a little bit of a rejuvenation here for Philip Rivers. I mean, leaving the Chargers and San Diego and L.A.


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[Assistant] For the first time, 17th year in the league now this, I think there's gonna be some, some fire for Philip Rivers to show, like, I'm not done. I'm 38, but I'm not, I'm not done yet.


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[Assistant] Trivia question. Philip Rivers has nine children now. How many did he have the last time that he says he made a significant move? So he's moved across the country now, west coast to Indianapolis. He has nine kids now. How many kids did he have the last time he moved?


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[Assistant] Okay, alright, alright, so that's Philip Rivers at 17, Josh Allen at 18. There was some interest for, uh, for Philip Rivers on the market out there. As Chris is getting his lighting right, that looks...


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[Assistant] Okay, stand back up. If you're listening out to the podcast right now, Chris just keeps standing up.


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[Assistant] Okay, good. Okay, pull it back together because this is where it gets real.


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[Assistant] This is where you get the notebook. Your number 16 quarterback in your top 40 countdown is...


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[Assistant] So that makes sense to me. That may be why you could see things changing for him in 2020 as they, as opposed to what they were in 2019. Cause the numbers indicate, you know, just raw numbers and stats for Drew Brees. Again, to reiterate your point, stats often can lie.


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[Assistant] And he led the league in completion percentage, 27 touchdowns, four interceptions. He had the highest quarterback rating of his career, second in the NFL.


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[Assistant] Uhm, PFF had him rated as the second best quarterback last year, just behind Russell Wilson. So they were very high on what Drew Brees did on the field.


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[Assistant] So I think a lot of times last year people grouped, you know, Tom Brady, Drew Brees together in your, your top 40 and crushed you for it. And they were both together. I think you were definitely vindicated on Tom Brady. I do feel like Drew Brees had a good enough year to where you say, all right, well, maybe he can replicate that at least for, for one more Chris.


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[Assistant] So here's the numbers to back you up on that. So air yards per attempt, the distance the ball traveled downfield past the line of scrimmage. Only three quarterbacks had fewer air yards per attempt than Drew Brees last year. Do you think you can name them?


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[Assistant] You think you know the three quarterbacks who had fewer air yards per attempt than Drew Brees. Proves your point, he was down there amongst the bottom in the NFL. We've talked about two of them already today.


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[Assistant] So what I would say to that though, so here, so he's 41 years old, he's spent, you know, 14 years in the Sean Payton system there in New Orleans.


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[Assistant] So say the premise of this is you take a quarterback to win on your team for one year in 2020. He won't have Sean Payton anymore.


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[Assistant] I would argue, Drew Brees knows the Sean Payton offense, knows what he's trying to do. He could install all the things that you say make his life so easy, himself, and have a very, very successful year.


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[Assistant] So Drew Brees 16, get the, uh, the Twitter mentions flowing towards Chris immediately after that one. Or maybe wait till you talk about your number 15 quarterback, Chris.


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[Assistant] There are going to be, Chris, some people that are going to immediately question it and say, there are 14 other quarterbacks currently in the NFL that you would take on a one-year deal over Tom Brady, and you're saying yes, that's the whole point of the exercise.


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[Assistant] Uhm, but I'll bring it back to something you said about Philip Rivers. You said there was a market for Philip Rivers. A lot of teams checked in on Rivers and


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[Assistant] I don't know. It almost appears, Chris, is there was a bigger market for Philip Rivers than Tom Brady, which would support your, your thesis here.


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[Assistant] So what do you think about this? The Patriots, like you mentioned, obviously thought it was time to move on from their veteran quarterback, the Hall of Famer. Going with Jarrett Stidham.


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[Assistant] Who is 35th on your list. And so you got Brady at 15th on your list. So it seems to reason that the Patriots went with the worst quarterback this year. At what point do you think you talked about the intersecting career trajectories? At what point is Jarrett Stidham above, uh, above Tom Brady here?


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[Assistant] Do you think the offensive line, and you mentioned it briefly there, they drafted Tristan Wirf, 13 overall. It seems like Tom Brady, as much as any quarterback out there, needs the time and needs a strong offensive line. You saw him last year at times try to get rid of it maybe a little too quickly because he didn't, uh, trust his pass protection.


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[Assistant] Do you feel like that offensive line's gonna be good enough for, for Tom to be, be successful and give those weapons time to get down the field?


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[Assistant] So real quick before I let you go, I saw this, uhm, best production from 43 year olds in the NFL ever. I wanted to look up who has done anything in the NFL at the age of 43, which George Blanda.


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[Assistant] George Bland is number one because he got some value as a kicker along with being a quarterback. So he was number one for Oakland.


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[Assistant] Uh, number two and number three were both kickers, Matt Bryant and Adam Vinatieri.


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[Assistant] So basically we've never seen anything like this before. And I will toss one more point your way. Warren Moon, a lot of people respect what he did as a 40 year old quarterback in the NFL. He just came out with some quotes talking to Colin Cowherd.


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[Assistant] Uh, the other day saying that he sees what you see, Chris, that the fact that Breeze and Brady are losing some of their arm strength, losing some of their ability, and some of it comes from their legs and not being able to use them as much at the end of the season, Chris.


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[Assistant] All right, Chris, so go watch your, your NFL films and get ready to respond to your Twitter messages because you have Breezen and Brady outside of your top 10.


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[Assistant] But uhm, we got a good one. We got a good one today. Paul's got his quarterback Jeopardy. I've been crushing that. I hope he's got a little tougher questions. So we'll see where that goes.


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[Assistant] Uhm, I talked it out more, I did a few rough drafts, I really talked it out because last year I got into this and as I started talking more, I started to go, ooh, I should have maybe put this guy here and that guy there.


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[Assistant] But I made sure to talk about it with my dad, my brother, a few other people I trust, where I just wanted to hear their two cents.


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[Assistant] Taking little groups of my top 40 and just going, okay, out of these four guys, who's better and why? And I just started peppering them with questions to hear what they said. Sometimes they said, oh, you're right. That's a good point.


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[Assistant] I'm asked about so many times during the end of a season,


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[Assistant] You know, and then I go from there, of course, and as we get closer and closer to it, it gets more and serious. But, so people understand where I'm coming for, coming from with this. It's about 2020, where you're not at an all time rank.


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[Assistant] Not like how good you've been the last four or five years. It's about what you are in 2020. And really, Paul, I approach it like I'm, I'm a head coach of a football team. My butt's on the hot seat.


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[Assistant] And here's my pecking order of the top 40 quarterbacks in football in case the first one goes down. Okay, here's the next guy I'm going to that I trust.


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[Assistant] And think he's the most talented and whatever else and plays the position the best. So that's how I kind of looked at it. This is not a career or what we think they're going to be in the future three years from now. It is all about right now, this moment, 2020.


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[Assistant] He's, he, you know, again, this is not a guy that I need to see him play in the NFL. Now listen, you know I wasn't like a huge fan of him being picked at number five, right?


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[Assistant] You know, when you pick a guy at number five, to me, you're saying at some point in the next few years, you think he's going to be one of the 10 best quarterbacks in football. I'm not so sure about that. That's why I pushed back against that. But he certainly, right away, I know he's one of the 40 best quarterbacks in the NFL.


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[Assistant] He's got a good arm, I'm not gonna sit here and say it's a great arm like you and I discussed during the draft process. He's got very good feet in the pocket. Do I think he's a little overrated as you know in the national eye? Yes, I think he's gotten a little too much credit for the machine of Alabama and people are just giving the quarterback the credit.


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[Assistant] Uh, it overcomes the fact that I think 2 is more talented than a lot of those guys that are behind him too. Let alone...


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[Assistant] You know, his experience, yes, not in the NFL, but the SEC is as close as it gets to the NFL. So he's been thrown to big time receivers. He's seen a lot of big time first round draft picks on the defensive side of the ball.


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[Assistant] And, you know, again, some of this is gonna have to be projection. People thought I was an idiot last year when I had Tyler Murray in the top 32.


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[Assistant] Oh, I study them coming out in the draft and I feel very comfortable to say that I think Tua is more talented and better than yes, a lot of backup quarterbacks in football right now from day one.


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[Assistant] That's certainly a good question, and it's definitely up for debate. There's no doubt about that. I am not of that school.


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[Assistant] I am of the school of, let's get playing, let's do it right now, let's get reps under your belt.


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[Assistant] And if he is healthy, you've invested a number five pick, he's telling you he feels good, your doctors confirm that, then I say go play because I don't think there's any better thing or experience than just getting out there and as you know, getting a feel for the live bullets of which is the NFL.


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[Assistant] Yeah, I have no doubts that he'll be able to process information. I have no doubts that


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[Assistant] He'll be able to move around the pocket and make some plays and, you know, he can deliver the ball from different platforms and it can look really good. But you know what the number one thing I'm going to be looking for is, when the pocket collapses, can Tua make throws with people around him? That's a real concern of me.


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[Assistant] Plays and throws when the pocket's not perfect and the windows of the wide receivers aren't wide open.


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[Assistant] That to me, it was the one thing that jumped out about my evaluation of Tua coming out in the draft. There was not a lot of what I would call big time NFL throws when I beat that with


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[Assistant] There wasn't a ton of that on film from him. Guys were wide open. The pocket was really clean.


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[Assistant] When he came out in the draft, I kept going, man, where's his fastball? Like, I would see it once every 30 or 40 throws on film. Where's his fastball?


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[Assistant] Well oddly enough, the reason we do this list, it started because of Blake Bortles.


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[Assistant] Oh, good one. Good one with Bobby Brister. I know I'm missing leg.


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[Assistant] Oh, K's Keenem. I don't, see, you don't think of them because of the, the K-C or the C-K combination. It didn't come to my head right away, but once you led me there, yeaah, I got it. I got you.


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[Assistant] Wade Wilson, damn, that's a, that's a good one. I see, uh, Matt, Matt Casey, one of our producers, but Cody Carlson, Colin Kaepernick, so damn, those are some good ones.


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[Assistant] And just so you know, hey, we started this list because, you know, hey, this all started because I was on a radio show with Dan Patrick and he said, what's wrong with the Jacksonville Jaguars?


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[Assistant] You know, going, damn, who's this guy? He can throw the ball like a mile, like a foot off the ground. I mean, it was unreal. Now, he might throw seven interceptions doing that, but either way, it looks good coming out of his hand.


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[Assistant] Haskins, Washington Redskins, and you know, listen, honestly, going into this exercise,


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[Assistant] I thought I would probably have Dwayne Haskins higher than this. And this doesn't mean he can't get higher than where he is. I mean, I recognize there's potential with Dwayne Haskins. He does have a really good arm.


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[Assistant] It led me to believe that I just don't know what Dwayne Haskins is yet. And that's really why he's 39. I don't know where. You know, again, I see talent, but I also see immaturity and rawness and a guy that's really still learning to play the position.


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[Assistant] So, would I be shocked if he ended up in the top 20 by the end of the season? No, I can't say that I would, because I remember seeing things at Ohio State going, damn, that guy can throw it, make some throws. But last year,


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[Assistant] Very inconsistent in the preseason. Had some really head-scratching throws, decisions, moments, all like that.


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[Assistant] When he did start finally for the Washington Redskins later in the year, and you watched football, it wasn't pretty at first. It was really ugly at first, actually. Then we started to see a glimmer of hope and we started to see some positive things.


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[Assistant] And he got hurt, so we never really get to see him build on that. But, you know, again, I think this is a player that's raw.


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[Assistant] And, you know, I think between some of the stuff I heard during the season and you've heard Ron Rivera say that, that he's got to be a better professional and crossing the T's and dotting the I's and all those things more. Uhm, yeaah. Like I said, I see the potential, but I think realistically, if we're going by, I'm a coach and my ass is on the hot seat,


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[Assistant] Well, I look at it as like, it's an insurance policy, right? That's it? Yeah, I think so, for right now. An insurance policy slash, like,


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[Assistant] Uh, he was one of the younger guys in the draft all together to where, okay, if you know, they go through the first five or six weeks and.


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[Assistant] Uh, man, it's kind of just rough and all over the place. I think Kyle Allen is there for Ron Rivera to go, okay, I'm not going to let season one just go down the toilet and we're going to end up two and 14.


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[Assistant] Now I got Kyle Allen and hopefully we can be respectable and end up seven and nine or eight and eight. So I really think that's why Kyle Allen is there. All those factors, which screams


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[Assistant] But yeaah, when you talk about, okay, running back, there's no difference maker there.


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[Assistant] They got really Terry McLaurin as their only true, whoa, we got to watch out for this guy type weapon. So hold on. I'm just sitting here kind of quickly glossing through the teams. And honestly, I think that's a correct statement. I do.


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[Assistant] You know, I look at all these other teams, you know, towards the bottom of football, whether it's the Chargers, the Dolphins, the Bengals, the Lions, the Giants, I think they have more talent around their quarterback.


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[Assistant] Uh, then a guy, you know, then Duane Haskins does, and of course now, one of the things I liked about them was their offensive line, and they don't have Trump Williams anymore either, so.


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[Assistant] When I was in high school, he was the quarterback there, and he had a great college career. I just wasn't sure. And Tom Tupa, I played with in Tampa. And, you know, other than me, he had the second best arm on the team. He could launch that thing.


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[Assistant] Chicago Bears. I don't know. Is he the starter? Is he the backup? I don't know what the hell it will be right now, but it's Mitchell Trubisky. Yeaah.


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[Assistant] It was probably one of the more controversial ones on my top 40 last year. It was. And hey listen, you know me, I'm honest, I self-scout myself.


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[Assistant] Well, numbers-wise, statistically, he feast on the poor, especially last year.


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[Assistant] I mean, if you really go through the games, you know, when they played crappy teams, his stats are pretty good. You played the Lions and things like that. Oh, the Vikings, when they played for nothing in week 17, things went pretty good. But when he had to play some of the other quality football teams that were well rounded,


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[Assistant] Well, I think, you know, Paul, I've talked about this a lot on Pro Football Talk, and this, it still bothers me. Because that, you remember that Green Bay game against the Bears two years ago when Rodgers hurt his knee, right, and then came back out and threw the ball awesome and they won the game?


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[Assistant] So like wow, what a great ringing endorsement for me to run on the field and the coach can shit on me as I'm doing that. Basically have an excuse that things don't go well, I'm the excuse. That's basically what that was. So I don't like that and I'm not letting Matt Nagy off the hook for that. I thought that was a BS move.


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[Assistant] But I think, I think all in all too, you know, despite those things, which is more on the team to help Trebesky.


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[Assistant] Trabisky has kinda gotten that line here, Paul, of...


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[Assistant] He's a athlete who plays quarterback instead of a quarterback who's an athlete, right? You know, Aaron Rodgers.


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[Assistant] And then within that great athleticism that we talk about, he doesn't use it nearly as much as he should. He's not great dancing around the pocket and doing things like that and using the athleticism to make big throws down the field.


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[Assistant] He needs to run more. There's too many times he's sitting in the pocket looking for people and I'm going, nothing's there, run, do something. It's what you're best at. So let's take advantage of that. And I think that's ultimately where I am right now with Mitchell Trubisky. And like I told you before, if I'm the Bears, I'm starting Nick Poles to start the season. Cause I think Trubisky is in a no-win situation.


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[Assistant] You know, the lack of playing time, that can affect


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[Assistant] You know, your ability to gain confidence to throw the ball off of different platforms or, you know, experiment with different throws on different routes to, again, grow your portfolio as a thrower, as a quarterback. You know, I think those are all things that,


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[Assistant] You know, certainly, you're right, there's great similarities there. Trabisky and Dwayne Haskins came in with, oh, we see all the tools that can make these guys special and good.


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[Assistant] Okay, that was a good year. You catch your breath and all of a sudden you gotta play a whole new game in the NFL and the world changes and you know what you're asked to do.


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[Assistant] As compared to college football or North Carolina is of course a whole lot different. And then, you know, to your confidence thing too, Paul.


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[Assistant] You know, again, the Bears put him in a shitty position in year one. I've said this a lot, and I can't remember if I said it to you, but I know I've said this a lot lately because it's come up in Talking Points, but year one,


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[Assistant] So damn, like, oh yeaah, okay, great, Mr. Drabiski. Here's the launching point to your career. It's a 5'6 receiver who's never played a receiver and he's a running back. He's going to be your number one target this week. You know, that's crappy by the Bears in setting up, setting him up for success as well.


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[Assistant] And the rookie list here, Justin Herbert.


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[Assistant] Yes, the number six pick on the Los Angeles Chargers and the course out of Oregon. And again, I know. Oh, he played in college. How do you know he's better than this guy? I get it. I understand.


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[Assistant] But, Justin Herbert's played a lot of college football at a really high level.


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[Assistant] Yep. Right. Four-year starter. Lot of reps. And a non-quarterback friendly offense too, I'd like to say. Where he really got a lot done and made a lot of plays. And you know I'm into that again.


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[Assistant] Gonna be every bit as good as the decision maker Mitchell Trubisky is. I know he's a better thrower than Mitchell Trubisky right now. I don't have to see that.


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[Assistant] This guy's smart. He had the highest wonderlick out of all the quarterbacks in the draft this past year. So this is no idiot. You know, and I just look at him and you know my thoughts on him. I mean, I think he has superstar capabilities.


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[Assistant] I wouldn't be shocked if we're sitting here next year or two years from now and he's in the top 10. That's what kind of guy I think he is. Yeah. You know, between the size, the speed.


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[Assistant] But Herbert's a better thrower than Joe Burrow, if that makes sense.


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[Assistant] Because I mean that as like Herbert can just pick it up and just throw lasers. Now passing to me is more of like, you know.


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[Assistant] He can run and never, and never lose his stride and just go that way. So, you know, between, you asked between who? Justin and Herbert, and who was the other one you asked?


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[Assistant] I think that Josh probably had more


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[Assistant] I think really all, all encompassing thrower, passer, everything involved there. I think Justin Herbert actually has the advantage on Josh Allen that way. Not gonna say, you know, Josh Allen has 104 mile per hour fastball. I think Justin Herbert's is probably 102, right? It's not quite.


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[Assistant] Well, Josh Allen was on a team that was not good his last year there. They had no talent. And...


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[Assistant] Some of his play could really be backyard, like, whoa, I don't know what the hell he's doing. Whoa, that's a disaster. And then the next play you go, whoa, I don't know what the hell he's doing. Whoa, that was amazing. Well, I mean, there was a lot of that.


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[Assistant] Man, what a throw. Wow, way to stay in the pocket with people around you and make that throw. Whoa, the Red Sea parted. Look at him run and go. You know, play the position more true to what we know as a quarterback. And I think he's less raw than Josh Allen.


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[Assistant] Not a great offense around him either. And I think that led to some people questioning what he is. And again, you know me, I argued against that all the time. Too many times we're evaluating quarterbacks for the team they're on and the talent around them and we're putting it all in the quarterback.


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[Assistant] You know, I kept going, damn, I like this kid, he's big, he's strong, he's got a good arm.


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[Assistant] You know, so I tried to learn from it that way, uh, but I think Justin Herbert has a really high ceiling. And...


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[Assistant] I also think he has a high floor. I don't think there's much bus factor here for this guy at all. And I think that's where he has maybe an advantage over Josh Allen. I saw a little bus factor with Josh Allen.


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[Assistant] I do think they wanna play a style of football where they wanna run, play defense.


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[Assistant] So like, this is a tough one. I do think Justin Herbert is, is, is clearly more talented than Tyrod Taylor. And, you know, is capable


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[Assistant] I think I'm gonna go with Tyron Taylor. It's really close, but I just have a feeling that the chargers are gonna be good. And if they go with Tyron Taylor to start the year,


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[Assistant] You know, hey, if Tyron Taylor gets off to a start like we saw Eli Manning get off to with the Giants last year, and all of a sudden the Chargers are 0-2, then I think we see Justin Herbert. But I just, I don't know, I look at that Chargers team and think there's a lot of talent. Right.


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[Assistant] That's a good question. I would be very interested to see. If I'm them, I'm just telling you, I'd rather go with Justin Herbert and just go. You can play that style of football that we just talked about with Tyron Taylor and do that with Justin Herbert. You said it. He's capable of taking care of the ball. You run the football. You play defense.


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[Assistant] Few play action passes where you just go, hey, read this guy and you throw it a one to two and make it just that. You know, I think Justin Erber is smart enough and clearly talented enough to make that happen, but he's going to have to prove them, prove that to them during training camp.


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[Assistant] You know, I, I, I do. I just think with, there are different scenarios.


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[Assistant] Another lackluster, not big-time winning type year more than Anthony Lin.


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[Assistant] You know me man, I like this kid. I think it, you know, I just think he's more talented than a Chris Miller, who I have a lot of respect for, and you're right, had a very under the radar, really good career.


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[Assistant] You know, I don't want to sit here and go damn out, uh, even though he did get drafted by the Chargers, which is kind of cool. Right.


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[Assistant] So that jumps off the screen. We saw him at the combine. It kind of jumped off the screen.


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[Assistant] We saw him at the senior ball and within two days at the senior ball, everybody was raving about Justin Herbert. Man, he can throw the ball good. Wow. He's really stood out at practice. So I think that speaks to what kind of talent this kid has. And I think he's got the right head on his shoulders too. You know, just being around him, not a rah rah guy, but


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[Assistant] Hey, yeaah. I mean, you're right. This is a fun one. Okay? And Taysom Hill, I know a lot of people out there are gonna sit there and go, he's never thrown a touchdown as an NFL quarterback. I understand. I get it. He's also been, you know, coached by Sean Pate in the last few years. I've seen a progression of


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[Assistant] Preseason and the season when he does make throws of a guy that I go, whoa. Every year I've gone, whoa. And I remember last year, you know, and I think they're one of their first preseason games was like the Chargers out in L.A. And he got a lot of rep and I just remember going, oh man, pay some hills the future for the New Orleans Saints.


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[Assistant] Because he's got big time talent. I mean, he's got a huge arm.


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[Assistant] And that you're gonna be able to do some different things with a guy like Taysom Hill that, you know, you can't do with a lot of other quarterbacks.


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[Assistant] This is, this is, I was going there. This is where the decision has to be made. You know?


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[Assistant] I think there's tremendous high-end talent with Jason Hill. Like, he has superstar ability. There's a reason you hear Sean Payton say Steve Young and things like that. I mean, it's special that way. And of course, he's been learning under debris in Sean Payton in a lot of ways. Really, the only thing we need to see


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[Assistant] Yeah, I want to see him throw more. You know, I do. I think that's the thing. You know, and again, not that you can't do all those other things, but I think we're seeing a guy that's gotten more and more comfortable throwing the football within the pocket and


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[Assistant] This year we're going to be looking for, oh, Taysom Hillson, they're going to throw a bomb, or they're going to pull two guards to the right and he's going to run behind them and try to run for a first half.


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[Assistant] You know, I'd love to see Sean Payne throw some curve balls and all of a sudden take some hill throws a 16 yard in cut.


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[Assistant] or a 10 yard out route. So you can't really peg him to, ooh, what's the offense going to be when he's like that way? So yeah, I want to see him throw. You know me, I'm like you, a damn quarterback. You know, I know he can run. I know he can catch. I want to see if he can make consistent, right decisions, the right throws, you know, play after player, at least a lot more than


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[Assistant] You know, again, I think, you know, between the Saints being really good the last two years, people studying what they do, you know, especially division opponents, they've seen what Taysom Hill does. And to your point, he usually runs the ball. If he doesn't run the ball, it's a deep pass. So you can kind of peg it to one of those two things to where, you know, I'm with you, let alone, you know, again,


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[Assistant] I think all signs are pointing in the direction of, he's the future of the Saints.


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[Assistant] There's nothing to believe, make us believe right now. Taysom Hill is on his way to being the starting quarterback for the New Orleans Saints in 2021. Unless something unforeseen happens. I mean, Drew Brees has signed a deal with NBC and he's gonna be doing Notre Dame games in 2021. So the writing's on the wall for him.


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[Assistant] He knows! And between, you know, what Sean Payton says about Taysom Hill publicly, and what we hear Sean Payton says about him behind the scenes, and what we know that way,


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[Assistant] My trust level is high. It is. I mean, just from everything I've seen, whether it's the games or preseason, whatever it may be.


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[Assistant] You know, I, I've seen enough to go, the guy knows how to manipulate the, the pocket. He knows what he's looking at down the field as far as going to the first and second read. I saw that enough. When I went back and watched him go, you know, again, he wasn't running all the Drew Brees plays like you're talking about.


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[Assistant] I saw enough to go, oh, he went from the deep post to the crosser to the end cut and realized, okay, that was my third read. That's where I should go. And he did it in a timely fashion and looked like a quarterback. So I really do. And of course, you know, Hey, we can't, the fact of the matter is he's being coached by Sean Payton and anybody who comes in.


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[Assistant] Uh, what the hell was he called back there? I'm forgetting what that's called on the punt team. The guy that sits in front of the punter.


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[Assistant] The up back. The up back. That's what I was looking for. Exactly right.


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[Assistant] Yeah, that's a good one because you're right. When I first thought about it, I was like, Oh, it's not even close. I want to be Mark Brunel, but the coaching Superbowl ring.


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[Assistant] That, that, there's something to be said. I guess I'm going to go to Doug Peterson because of that. I think I would rather do that. As much as I want to be a player and have a great career and do all those things, you know, Brunel's career wasn't great enough.


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[Assistant] Yeah, it was really good. It just wasn't great enough, I think, for me to overcome Doug Pearson's career plus


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[Assistant] But I'm not sure if they went undefeated in November. The other one I'm thinking about is Sam Darnold.


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[Assistant] Tyler, we don't have a run game, we're just gonna put you back and you gotta carry the team to throw the ball. I mean, they asked a lot of a young kid right off the bat. So that's the context of the situation and that there is something to that context. But, uh, yeah, that's impressive. He's, he's going superstar this year.


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[Assistant] It's not Baker Mayfield, it's not Sam Darnold, I don't think. Hold on, it might be Sam Darnold. Uhm, ooh, Lamar Jackson.


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[Assistant] That was a tough one. That was a tough one.


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[Assistant] Yeaah. Yeaah. He's big time arm, good athlete, just gotta like correct fumbling a little bit.


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[Assistant] You know, for my top 40 when I went back and watched things as far as, you know, players, games, cut-ups, things like that.


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[Assistant] Yeaah. Yeaah. I had no idea. I had to double check that. I, I hear you. Hey listen, you know, he's, he...


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[Assistant] And I, I put a lot on him there. He's got a great charisma. I mean, there's a lot he brings to a football team right now. So I understand Jackson don't want to ride or die with Gardnermanship.


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[Assistant] Last year to where I thought that would be it. So let's see, Baker last year 78.8 quarterback rating. Damn, that's not good.


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[Assistant] Yeah, well, there were just too many erratic moments by Baker Mayfield all together last year, but that was a really good question. I really, I like that. Like, it was hard, but good. Like, good hard. That's the right amount of heart. All those questions, I think, were the right amount of heart.


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[Assistant] You didn't give me any layups, you gave me some ones that I should have known that I got wrong, like I should have known Lamar Jackson, that was...


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[Assistant] Stupid, full Tropic Thunder moment by Chris Sims right there.


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[Assistant] Uh, but I, I really, I like this game, and I like the infusion of it during the, uh, the rest of the podcast, Bill. Well done.


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[Assistant] That's exactly right, it is. Anyway, you know, I don't know if you trust your bro- I've obviously cut my hair, I have a- Yeah, you've been doing that, huh?


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[Assistant] Wow, I mean, uh, we'll get into that. I want to ask about this process of what your life's like right now. First thing I want to get into a little bit is your wardrobe. I'm so glad you wore the hat.


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[Assistant] You know, tell me how you developed, uh, this, this famous look now that it's backordered. The Shanahan trucker hat is backordered.


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[Assistant] It's just that no NFL coaches have that look. That's why it's cool. That's why you gotta dab. And you can't.


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[Assistant] Alright, I got one more bone to pick with you here. I mean, we hit style, I'm good with that, alright? I mean...


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[Assistant] Because I don't even know the answers to this, but I've always been intrigued. You've been around, I mean,


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[Assistant] Really, I want to know what age did you know you wanted to be a head coach in the NFL or college football?


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[Assistant] You know, then you're back with your dad and you're in Atlanta and Cleveland and all these other places. Uh, I would just love to hear about when you knew you wanted to be in the NFL and then you know what you've taken from all these different people that you've learned from to become one of the best offensive play callers in football.


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[Assistant] I tell the story all the time, Kyle, and you sitting on the floor in the back of the room listening to Mike Tomlin and Joe Barry.


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[Assistant] It's a great answer. Don't worry. You're good. You are. It's spot on. I mean, that's what I wanted to hear. I don't think I've ever really had that conversation with you or your friend really. So I was interested to hear it.


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[Assistant] Alright, so just to play off that, because it sounds like you took some of the craziness and the creativity you grew in, and then the sound coaching and maybe being a little bit more simpler, Kubiak combining that.


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[Assistant] Uhm, that's how, for all the people listening, that's how Shanahan cracks the code. Letting, and then him knowing what defensive rules are.


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[Assistant] Uh, I mean, I think that's what I find fascinating. Is that fair to say though? I mean, okay, so when we recruited, we had like 190 plays going into a game, maybe over 200.


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[Assistant] Yeah, I mean, that's, that's well said. And, you know, just something I want to ask off of that, like, how do you deal with the conflict then, uh,


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[Assistant] But you brought up like the Tampa Bay how, you know, the defense was simple, right? And they played cover two and cover three, but they were sound and they always knew what they were doing. Now,


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[Assistant] You know, you have the Seattle scheme, right? Robert Sala does the Seattle scheme.


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[Assistant] Sometimes he complains about the Seattle scheme going, you know, I wish there was just a little more versatility from time to time and a little more of a change of a look to keep some of the better cornerbacks on edge. What do you say to some talking head like me who says that?


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[Assistant] Yep, uh, and we were there for that, you and I. We watched that game in person down in Tampa, our freshman year in college. That was awesome. And way to explain that, I mean, really, I think the two things that jumped off to me is that because the scheme is so sound and that's what they run, they know


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[Assistant] What offenses want to do to beat them? I think that really jumped out to me. And then the other thing I learned is that Kyle Shanahan, aka The Codecracker, his least favorite defense to go against is the Seattle Scheme. So I think that'll be fun for people to hear that.


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[Assistant] Yeah, I hear that. Alright, I want to just revisit last year a little bit, okay? Uhm, I know it was a great year. I know it didn't end the way you wanted to, but...


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[Assistant] You break training camp, right? Jimmy Garoppolo's coming off a knee injury and, oh, he threw five interceptions in a practice against the Broncos and there's all those questions and things like that. But like realistically, when you left training camp,


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[Assistant] Yeah, I, I, I understand it. I mean, you have one of the most talented teams in the game right now. Alright, so I just wanna, like, so you, you, you really think, like, Jimmy G, his last time, or his last little phase of, okay, he settled in, you can almost tie that together, it just sounded like, from your answer, when Emmanuel Sanders got there, did you feel like that?


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[Assistant] You know, I got like, because you made these comments to your fans I think a few weeks ago about, I want to get back there right now and do it again. And, you know, my buddy Florio, he takes that like,


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[Assistant] I gotta just hit this a little because first off, this is the number one thing I've always been impressed with you or by you as a coach.


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[Assistant] And even John Lynch, who, you know, I played with, you know, we were there in Tampa and, uh, great guy.


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[Assistant] But your honesty. I think your honesty is the thing that jumps out to me more than anything. And specifically when it comes to, hey, the tough conversation.


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[Assistant] That you probably had to have with Jimmy Garoppolo this offseason when all the rumors were flying of the Tom Brady to San Francisco talk and all of that stuff.


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[Assistant] What is it about you? Is it something in your past? How do you go about making a phone call to Jimmy like that? I mean, so that's to me is where players always glow about you is your honesty and it's probably the number one thing.


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[Assistant] People say to me about you, about, in the media, about why you're refreshing at times because you're not afraid to kind of say it how it is a little bit.


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[Assistant] Yeah, it seems that way. And it, you know, when I talk to guys that play for you, they all kind of echo some of those sentences, Kyle. So, it speaks a lot to how you handle situations and, you know, there's...


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[Assistant] People out there, you know, of course they think, oh, you know, Kyle's crazy, the 49ers are crazy, they said no to Tom Brady or whatever, blah, blah, blah. You know, and I try to say to people, it's not about no to Tom Brady or anything like that.


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[Assistant] You know, first off, I know you've told me a lot of positive things about Jimmy Garoppolo. He's unflappable. You know, he has the right demeanor to win, but it also seems like the team really loves Jimmy G. Like, tell us just what it is about him that seems to make the guys kind of gravitate towards him.


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[Assistant] When, alright, two more, two more things and I'll let you go. Cause I know this has already been too long and you got better things to do than talk to me. You're just so lucky, Dad.


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[Assistant] I know, I know. Well, we're going to get into that in a second. Alright, I just want to ask this just as a fanboy, right?


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[Assistant] What point of the Super Bowl, I just, to get like,


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[Assistant] Did you go, uh-oh, we might be in trouble here? Like, was it as soon as he completes the third and 15? Was it when it became, you know, when they scored the touchdown, did it go 2017? Or at what point were you like, oh no, you know, momentum might've switched to them and watched it?


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[Assistant] What, what's your thought process right now? I mean, what's the off season been like for you dealing with all this? I mean, are you just like the rest of us sitting back and just kind of waiting to see what goes on and what happens and what you can and can't do?


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[Assistant] Yeah, I know that's going to drive you crazy because you're a psycho like most coaches in the NFL and like just for a look or a peepee on the curtain like.


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[Assistant] And correct me if I'm wrong, but this is the time of the year where


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[Assistant] Yeah, yeah, she's sick of you. And that's understandable. I get it. I get it, Mandy. You're sick of them. All right. Last thing. Last question. I just throw on it because I've had a few friends around like I have other friends that are coaches.


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[Assistant] I was gonna ask, well, I have some like friends on some other teams where, you know, their facilities are inadequate, right? They're smaller in their team facility. They're like, man, I don't know how this is gonna work or whatever.


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[Assistant] We did it. Okay. Thanks for being an awesome friend. You the man. Alright. Get out of here and go do what you gotta do. Just press leave on the bottom of the thing and you're all done.


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[Assistant] See it did. That's it for Chris Sims unbuttoned. We gotta tell the 49ers maybe to buy him a stand for his cell phone or maybe just buy him an iPad. Do something like that. But I hope everybody enjoyed that.


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[Assistant] Uhm, as you know, that's one of my best friends in the whole world. He's a great coach and anybody who listens to this interview, I think is going to realize, wow, he loves football. He's smart. He's very detailed. He lives it. And, uh, you know, he's, he's a good guy to listen to talk football or just.


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[Assistant] In general, as a friend and a guide, I hope that came up, uh, in this interview, but that's it. Peace out. We'll be back next Monday for Kristen's Unbuttoned. I think we got Ahmed Fareed gonna be leading the charge with me. We're gonna hit a bunch of different topics around the NFL and probably do something fun that


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[Assistant] You know, social media can shit on me, once again, because that seems to be a fun weekly thing right now. Alright everybody, have a good weekend. Peace out. Chris Sims on button. Peace.


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[Assistant] And I won the best bets, and I'm 5-0-1 on the best bets, which means I'm destined to be 0-3 this week. Alright, we're gonna go through all the games with the spreads. Wait, I thought the loser got the unflattering photo. Which one's the unflattering photo? Oh, he's still the overall winner. Well then,


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[Assistant] Alright, let's get to it. Thursday Night Football. Miami Dolphins, Jacksonville Jaguars. Jaguars three-point favorites. Jaguars surprisingly stout so far this year. Offensively defensive. Eh, probably needs a little work, but they beat the Colts. Lost to the Titans. Now they have the Dolphins coming to town. Christopher, who do you like?


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[Assistant] What I'm concerned about as it relates to the Dolphins is they, they played well against two great teams, the Patriots.


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[Assistant] And the Bills, they didn't get embarrassed. They didn't get blown off the field. So now they're facing a team at the other end of the spectrum, maybe. We don't know. With the Jaguars, we don't know. They beat the Colts and the Colts humiliated the Vikings. And the Jaguars held their own with the Titans. We're still early in this figuring out where everything fits.


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[Assistant] As to FitzMagic slash FitzTragic and GardnerMinshew, I've got more faith in Minshew.


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[Assistant] It's Tua time. The clock says Tua time. Put Tua in. Let's see what he can do. The hip is healed. You don't use the fifth overall pick in the draft on a quarterback that you're gonna put on ice behind Ryan Fitzpatrick. All due respect. Let's get Tua in there. Let's see what he can do. Joe Burrow has looked good.


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[Assistant] Justin Herbert has looked good. This is a national audience. Primetime game. I love Ryan Fitzpatrick.


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[Assistant] But I'm not interested in seeing him play anymore. I wanna see Tua, and maybe we'll see Tua at some point tonight. I don't know, maybe there'll be a Dr. Needle incident with Ryan Fitzpatrick before the game, I shouldn't joke about that, but that's what gave us Justin Herbert, maybe it'll give us...


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[Assistant] I like the Jaguars 27 to 20. I love James Robinson. I love what Gardner Minshew can do.


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[Assistant] He is, I don't wanna say a poor man's Baker Mayfield, but I keep going back to that question from a couple of weeks ago. You flip-flop Minshew and Mayfield, or the Browns better off. I mean, Minshew does all the things that Mayfield can't consistently do. He can do them sometimes, but not consistently. Minshew does them consistently. I think the Jaguars win this one by 7, 27 to 20.


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[Assistant] So I ask you if you have anything more to say. You say no and then you say something more about it. I think I have figured it out. Chicago and Atlanta, 1pm Eastern on Sunday. The Bears, 2 and 0. The Falcons, 0 and 2. The Falcons, favored by 3. Who do you like?


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[Assistant] Wow, uh, it's amazing that the 2-0 team would be regarded as the team that is in line for the upset. I think it's correction weekend. I think the Falcons feeling the heat after what happened last week. It's time to regather. It's time to regroup.


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[Assistant] It's time to refocus and I think they can move the ball against the Bears defense. I think the Bears will score their points and they will get their yards.


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[Assistant] This feels like the week that the Bears get a little dose of reality. They're not a team that should be among the best in the NFL right now. And the Falcons shouldn't be 0-2. They played the Seahawks tougher than the final score indicated. They should have beaten the Cowboys easily. I like the Falcons in this one.


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[Assistant] Come back to Buffalo. I don't know how I feel about that, Chris. How do you feel about this game?


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[Assistant] So you've got the bills covering with the four point win. Look, I'm a believer in staying on the east coast instead of traveling back and forth. And you got Kyle Shanahan convinced me of that. Yes, you'd like to sleep in your own bed, but there is a mental and physical toll.


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[Assistant] To being on a plane across the entire country, back and forth and back and forth. And you know after the game that's what you have to look forward to.


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[Assistant] After you've just come back from the west coast, when you've already ping-ponged twice, and I think it takes a toll. So that doesn't make me inclined to take the Rams. And also, I think back to what the Bills were able to do. They slowed down the Rams better than the Eagles did. I mean, the Cowboys, excuse me, slowed down the Rams better than the Eagles did.


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[Assistant] I think the Bills are the better team right now, and the Bills are at home, and I think the Buffalo Bills will emerge from this one victorious. It's another opportunity for Josh Allen to get everyone's attention that he is one of the ascending young talents in the NFL, even though he's being overlooked 30 to 1 odds.


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[Assistant] Goes to Cleveland. Cleveland gets a few extra days of rest after beating the Cincinnati Bengals. Washington got humbled by Arizona with Kyler Murray and company. Both teams one and one. Cleveland a surprising seven point favorite in this game. Chris, who do you like?


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[Assistant] You've got the Browns covering, which surprises me. I think the seven is too much, and I seriously considered picking Washington to win straight up.


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[Assistant] I'd like to think though that Kevin Stefanski has learned, week one versus week two.


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[Assistant] Run the ball, run the ball, run the ball. Now they came out and threw the ball early. I think just to work out some kinks and maybe play Kate Odo Beckham Jr. before they switched to the run last week against the Bengals. I think this week it's going to be run right out of the gates. You don't want to get overwhelmed early by that front four. You don't want to pass to set up the run. You want to run to set up the run against this team and take the sting out of that.


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[Assistant] Covering the seven point spread. I think seven points is way too much here. I like Cleveland by three.


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[Assistant] And I really was tempted to pick Washington to win, but I think Stefanski will save the day.


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[Assistant] Alright, next up, the Tennessee Titans go on the road to Minnesota. The Vikings are one of the worst teams in the NFL right now. The Titans only favored by two and a half points, which surprises me, Chris. Are you going to surprise me with your pick? Are you going to go with the Vikings? Or are we going to be blowing the horn on Sunday afternoon?


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[Assistant] Yeah, I got 24-10 Tennessee Titans and the first two games have gone perfectly for Coach Mike Vrabel because they won.


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[Assistant] And he's got enough ammunition where he can go kick their asses and say, you guys are leaving points on the field. You're leaving plays on the field. You're not nearly performing at the level that you should be. And this is the weekend to get the opportunity to do it. The Vikings just are flat. They're done. It's scholarship year. They're mailing it in. Go ahead and tank for Trevor.


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[Assistant] Uh, I, I just, look, I, I, I foolishly believed in the Vikings week one and week two. I can tell you right now.


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[Assistant] Until the Vikings play dramatically better than what I've seen the first two weeks, I'm not picking them to win again. Even if they win this week, I'm not gonna pick them to either. They've gotta win and they've gotta make me think, wow, something clicked for this team.


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[Assistant] And, uh, I don't think it's gonna happen this week. 24-10. Titans win. Two and a half points. What the hell? I- I mean, I-


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[Assistant] Two and a half, even if the Vikings had fans there, I think two and a half points would be, uh, too small of a margin for the Tennessee Titans. So yeah, I have a feeling that's gonna be one of my best bets as well. Next up, the Las Vegas Raiders go on the road to take on the New England Patriots. Last week, the Patriots


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[Assistant] Lost a close one in Seattle. How salty will they be? Bill Belichick rolling out of bed to do press conferences, putting in extra time to get ready for John Gruden and company. Can the Raiders make it two in a row? And this would be one that would get everyone's attention. They are six point underdogs against the Patriots. Chris, who do you got?


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[Assistant] It's a six point spread. I'm gonna agree with you on the pick, but I'm gonna disagree with you on the spread. This just to me feels like one of those games where


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[Assistant] Some frustrations are gonna be taken out on whoever the next opponent is. The Patriots feel like they should have won that game.


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[Assistant] In Seattle, they want to establish that they're better than that outcome would suggest. And here come the Raiders, and you may have some guys who are feeling pretty good about themselves after beating the Saints.


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[Assistant] And once they walk out into that stadium, even with no fans there, there's a mystique that's gonna be hard for them.


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[Assistant] I hope Darren Waller is able to play. He wouldn't have practiced on Wednesday if they had had practice, so he's injured. We'll see what the injury report says later in the week, but I like the Patriots in this one.


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[Assistant] I think they win by the score of, what was my final score? I had it here somewhere, 30 to 20.


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[Assistant] Then I'll start taking them very, very seriously. Alright, next up on the docket, your San Francisco 49ers taking on your New York Giants. You'll be wearing the San Francisco 49ers jersey, not the old Phil Simms jersey for this one because of your loyalty to Kyle Shanahan. Four point favorites, even though they have been decimated by injuries, do they win and do they cover?


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[Assistant] It seems a little bit small and I think this is one driven by perception because of all the 49ers injuries. I like the 49ers.


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[Assistant] You've got Raheem Mostert and Tevin Coleman both with knee injuries. It's going to be an extra workload on Jarek McKinnon. George Kittle, who practiced on a limited basis on Wednesday. If he's back, that gives them some juice. That gives them some spark. He's that guy that gets the ripcord on the lawnmower pulled. So I think 24 to 13, 49ers, I don't feel as good about it as maybe I should.


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[Assistant] But I, I think that, that just the Giants, you know, without Saquon Barkley,


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[Assistant] This is the test of the Patriot way. Can Joe Judge convince these Giants players to not just think, well, we're just done this year because we don't have Saquon Barkley. This is the first big test with Devontae Freeman in for Saquon Barkley. Alright, next up.


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[Assistant] The Cincinnati Bengals with a little extra time going to Philadelphia to take on the Eagles. Eagles five and a half point favorites even though they have looked like crap so far this year. Who do you got Chris?


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[Assistant] And losing has driven him crazy and they've had extra time to get ready for this one. And the Eagles, I don't know how you recover from the ass kicking that you took last week in a one week stretch. And I think Doug Peterson is starting to feel the heat. He had that weird exchange with the reporter yesterday when he was asked about


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[Assistant] Layup throws and there are no layup throws. You know, have you ever played in the NFL? I mean, anytime a coach starts playing the, have you ever played in the NFL card at a press conference? It tells me he's feeling the heat. It tells me he's starting to crack under the pressure a little bit. And I think this Bengals team is going to come in with a quiet confidence.


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[Assistant] Unleash Joe Mixon. Let Joe Burrow do his thing. I've just got a feeling. This is a gut feeling game for me. This is a meatballs and spaghetti.


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[Assistant] I've got the Steelers in this one, 23 to 17. I agree with you. It will be ugly. It will be like the first two Steelers games. The defense will make a play when it needs to. It easily could be a needle threader with the Texans covering or maybe even the Texans winning. But I think that defense knows when to step up and the offense is getting better and I think the offense is going to feast.


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[Assistant] Relative to what it's done the first couple of weeks against the Houston Texans. Alright, we need to take a break.