 Future Hall of Famer, Joe Thomas. Yes, the legend on the show to talk about what is up with some of these offensive lines to start 2020. And I try to convince Mark Ingram to convince James Winston that eating W's is vile. It starts now, go. It's welcoming the show right now. 10,363 consecutive snaps, six time first team all pro. It's so much to say, Joe. It's so much to say. Well, we like it that way, Kay. Thanks for having me on. It was a great, enjoyable career in Cleveland, but being able to work with the great people like Kay Adams, the best in the business, that's even better than going out and smashing my head around on Sundays, 17 times a season. Yeah, I mean, so some would say that's not true and that they could use you. And you are just an absolute legend instead. And speaking of that, you are joining the exclusive bronze legends club. It's all going on this weekend. You're one of the best offensive linemen in all of history. How are you feeling about that? So well deserved, congratulations. Yeah, it's really exciting being one of the members of the Browns Legends Club, which if you're a Browns fan, you understand how many great players have worn that Browns uniform throughout the years. It's not just Jim Brown at autograph, but going all the way through the modern guys like the Bernie Kosars and the Doug Deakins, the guys that, you know, people that were my parents' age watched take the Browns on the edge of a Super Bowl several times. Hopefully maybe some Super Bowls here in the future. Ooh, I would like, I mean, listen, the Browns got to win out the gate, almost everyone counting them out. Is this the team that you can see sort of staying in the playoff race? Yeah, I think they're going to be right there. They've got one of the best defenses in the NFL. They've got the best run game in the NFL. Obviously, everybody knows Deshaun Watson's going to be out the first 11 games of the season, but Jacobi Bresset, we think he could play better. He didn't have a great week one and they still won. And what he does really well and brings to the Browns is he's not going to make a lot of mistakes. And I think as he gets more comfortable with this offense and the core of receivers that he has, he's going to start making those plays that were out there against Carolina, but he just did not connect on them. If he makes two throws that are easy, wide open throws to Amari Cooper and Karim Hunt on the sideline, that's 14 points right there. And if the Browns defense doesn't have brain fart on two deep passes from Baker Mayfield, you win by four touchdowns. Yeah, would you make a Baker up against his old team? Yeah, I thought he was kind of the Baker that Browns fans have seen for four years, right? He was tough. He was gritty at times. He was very accurate. He showed that big arm that he had and a couple big throws. But in the end, there was a lot of bad at the beginning and there was some good towards the end. He kind of hung in there really tough, but a lot of knockdown passes. And so I think one of the things that the Carolina Panthers coaching staff is gonna realize is that Baker's at his best when he's outside the pocket, when he's got an opportunity to move and where he could see down the field because he's not a tall quarterback. And so throwing quick passes from in the pocket and trying to see him deliver the football down the field like a traditional pocket passer is just not a sweet spot. You gotta find out what he does well and then try to amplify it. Joe Tom is bringing it on a Wednesday morning. The Browns, speaking of that, you'll be there of course celebrating this great honor this weekend and they are celebrating a new logo on the field. Did you see this? I need to get your thoughts, Joe. I mean, what's more intimidating than a 30 foot snarling, angry elf at midfield of your football field? I love it. I think the Browns fans love it. They all voted on it. It was the runaway winner in the poll that I think the Cleveland Browns official Twitter page put up there and you know, certainly there's gonna be people laughing at it around the league. Ah, you've got a Kebler elf at midfield but who doesn't love the Kebler elf? Nothing. Just happy thoughts. When I see the Kebler elf, I think about all those delicious cookies. So either way, it's a win-win. Fodstripes are delicious. When's the last time you had a Kebler cookie, Joe? Look at you. Every now and then you gotta have those cheap days, you know, keep the mind and the body happy at the same time. So I was like a grasshopper guy, you know. Oh yeah. The Thin Mint Girl Scout cookie, the Grasshopper Kebler elf cookie. It's all the same. It's all delicious. I don't believe that you eat anything like that. I literally don't believe you. Okay, week one, week one is now over. Biggest takeaway, go wherever you want with this one, just from week one. Yeah, so there was a lot of really interesting games, obviously, but there was a guy that I really wanted to highlight and he's playing for the Kansas City Chiefs. He's a rookie. He's the Greek freak. Not the Greek freak that the NBA fans know about, but George Karloft is actually was a member of the Greek national water polo team as a kid. And I think what he proved is that when you're rushing the passer, that's not all about being the biggest, the fastest, the guy that tests the best at the combine, but heart desire effort technique, those are the things that make the difference when you're trying to get to the quarterback because the difference between a sack and a pressure is very, very small. The difference between a pressure and not even being close to the quarterback is also very, very small. And a lot of times effort and desire make the difference. And he showed it with six pressures in his first NFL game. And no other rookie, by the way, had more than three. And you just said the number six. And let's not forget where he was taken in this draft at the end of the first round. So already proving to be maybe one of the better values. And I love that you're giving George K some love here on Up and Adams. Let's get to more offensive line talk here. I don't know how to put this Joe. Your position group is going through a bit of bad PR after week one, the Cowboys, the Bengals, the Bucks, the Rams, the Packers. What did the quarterbacks do to offensive linemen around the league this season that they are not protecting them like they should? Well, offensive line play has a lot of factors that are at play here when you're talking about their performance. And primarily it comes down to the quarterback being on the same page with your offensive line and the quarterback being on the same page with his receivers, right? Which sometimes that doesn't always make sense, but understanding that how long I have to block my guy directly is related to how the chances of the quarterback are going to be getting hit. So if you look at a quarterback that's understanding what the defense is doing, he's understanding where his receivers are and he's delivering the football on time and on the money, that makes my job easy. All I got to do is lay down on the ground and be a speed bump for a second and a half to two seconds. So if you play for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and you're going to look like you're playing at all a Hall of Fame level. If your quarterback is a little bit indecisive, he's seeing the secondary. You're blaming the quarterback. That's the last thing, absolutely. It's always the quarterbacks fall, no matter what happens. If that secondary's moving at the last second, all of a sudden he's holding on to the ball. He's double clutching. He's trying to scramble. Now your guy's making the hit. And a lot of times we used to laugh because we'd be winding the film back when we were watching in meetings and we'd say, this guy, look at this. He just threw six no hitters, but nobody knows because Manning's back there throwing the ball in a second and a half. And this guy just had the worst performance of an offensive line in the entire season, but nobody knows about it. And then all of a sudden you got a quarterback that's maybe indecisive. A lot of times that's what you get with the young quarterbacks and they're holding on to the ball and you missed two blocks and all of a sudden it's two sack fumbles and now you're the goat and the guys that are watching in Japan think you're the worst offensive lineman in the NFL. It's just not fair, but it's the world we live in. That's what we call the question. It's not fair. Life is so tough for the offensive line. Do you think, do you think of, we had Jeff Schwartz on yesterday and he was saying, listen, the chiefs played all their starters and everyone, when I had four preseason games, did you find it necessary to play in the preseason? So I liked playing in the preseason when I had the chance to. Later in my career, I was too banged up to be able to do it, but I truly enjoyed it. I felt like it was important from two aspects. One, like the conditioning side of it, because when your adrenaline is up, your heart rate's up, your blood pressure's already up, you were not a gas a lot quicker. And so you go on a couple of those 10 or 12 play drives. That's just something that you don't see as much in training camp. You can't really replicate that intensity. You have to see it on game day, right? And I think the other thing is just getting the speed of the game, which is different when you're tackling guys to the ground. And I think getting your mind up to the speed of the game is really good if you have that opportunity. But with that being said, I think with the addition of the extra game, like you can't look at it on the other way, except for these games are a little bit less meaningful during the regular season. And so it makes sense if you feel like, hey, we can get guys playing better football the last half of the season, if we don't take the pre-season with the same level of seriousness, not that it's not serious, but you're not putting all your dudes out there and you're kind of easing their way into the regular season a little bit. And you find that you can get a little bit more out of them later in the season. I think that's a really good argument for saying, hey, let's take it easy on the front end because if we have to decide, do we want you at your best at the end of the season or the beginning of the season? I think most teams are gonna say, we'd rather have them at their absolute best and freshest at the end of the season. You sound like an NFL coach. Because that's the decision, right? I'm risking injury to my players. If they're out there and they're not putting 100% of themselves, that's an easy way to get injured. So it's this fine line you have to walk. And that was a really good explanation of it. Call your shot here, best offensive line group right now. Well, that was a great tee up there, Kay, because I actually think if you look at the Eagles, they're one of those teams that have taken it really easy in pre-season. And last season, you look at their injuries, they hardly had anybody injured and they played their best football at the end of the season. And so I think there is something to be said about how they manage their players in pre-season. But I think the Eagles have the best offensive line in the NFL because they have no weaknesses. It's also because they're not injured because they do things the right way during training camp. If you look at their tackles, they probably have the best duo of tackles in the NFL, Jordan Milada and Lane Johnson. Lane Johnson been doing it for a long time at right tackle, Jordan Milada. He's one of the most fun stories in the NFL. The dude did not play a snap, not one snap of American football before he was drafted in the seventh round by the Eagles. Six, eight, 365 pound Australian rugby player. First two years in the NFL, it doesn't play a snap. All of a sudden he comes in and he's made this amazing transformation. And he's one of the highest rated offensive linemen in the NFL. He picked up right where he left off last week or interior three, all really good. Of course, everybody knows Jason Kelsey, the perennial all pros. So no weaknesses, great depth. And those guys can lean on you and they can pound on you. I mean, they had four rushing touchdowns. That's, whatever you just said is too much for me. I saw four rushing touchdowns. Not only that, Joe Thomas, from four different players. To me, that says it's clicking. The offensive line is great. And one of the best, if not the best, which is what we know now it is the best and you're saying it is. So I'm just gonna listen to what you say because you're the goat. I wanna show you a play that was highly controversial on Twitter. It's Leonard Fournette up against Micah Parsons. I don't know, well, I don't know if this is not it. I don't believe, but oh, here it is. Oh, here we go. Yeah, so this is going on. So talk me through this because here I wanna come back on camera for a second. Then if we could please re-cue that and play it. This is a, you know, Leonard Fournette chip on Micah Parsons. You kind of played both sides on this one on Twitter, I saw Joe. You didn't, I need you to tell me. Is this clean or not? It's clean. That's your answer. Now, it doesn't mean it's fair. It's not a fair fight when you're a defensive end and you're being blocked by a tackle and all of a sudden a running back smokes you right in your chest when you're not looking. However, it's part of the game. Like as a really good defensive end, which Micah Parsons is one of the best, he's gotta know that they're not gonna just allow a run of the bill tackle to block you one-on-one game. Like you're gonna have chips coming from all different directions. You're gonna have tight ends coming in motion and hitting you. You're gonna have running backs come out of the backfield. You're gonna have receivers. Like that's just part of the game. So you gotta have that awareness to see more than just the guy in front of you. And so I think it's up to you as a defensive end to understand like when that chip is coming and to be able to protect yourself. It's the same thing like it's not fair on the football field. If you're a receiver, the rules with you and a defensive back and how much holding and touching and grabbing you can get away from a defensive standpoint, it's not fair. But that's just the game of football. Just like if I have to go one-on-one against Miles Garrett and everybody's sliding the other way, like the rules are slated in his favor. What he can do to get to the quarterback gives him a much wider range of options than me as an offensive tackle. You can't hold, I can't grab, I can't tackle him, but he can do all those things to me. You gotta love, I mean, you, you gotta love seeing your running back step up to the plate like that and get it done. They're screaming in my ear, rate that chip. Go for it. Rate that chip, that's a plus. That's as good as it gets. It reminds me of Clinton Portas. He was so good at this back in the day. Chris Samuels was his left tackle. I remember watching them when I was a young player and how many times that Clint Morris would just smoke that defensive end. And as linemen, we love it, right? Because it gives that defensive end something to think about more than just me. And the more things you can give him to think about the slower he's gonna react to stuff. You're amazing. I have a couple more for you. I know you've got a busy weekend. Chiefs and chargers, I would be remiss to my friend if I didn't ask you about Bosa and Mack because from my perspective, handling one is a lot. How do you deal with two dudes like this? This is another level of tandem. How do you manage? So when you have one pass rusher, like this is sort of your ceiling. And as soon as you have two pass rushers, what that does is it raises the ceiling for both of those guys. Because if you think about it, you've got five offensive linemen, so you gotta split up five blockers in some manner. And if there's four down linemen, you're gonna usually say, okay, if this is the best dude, we're always gonna at least have three eyes or three dudes blocking those two dudes. And a lot of times what you wanna get is a two on one to make sure that that guy's not gonna be able to get some quarterback. But as soon as you have two studs on the edge, think back, Robert Mathis and Dwight Frini, like that great combo. Now your offensive line has to decide which direction they wanna slide when you're in those five men type protections. And so it almost always gives you a one-on-one. And what the defense can do is they can set up their structure, their defense to be able to get those one-on-ones in predictable situations. So now Nick Bosa knows like, or Joey Bosa knows like, hey, this situation is set up for me when the back is set away. I know that they're gonna be sliding in that direction to Khalil Mack. I know I'm gonna get a one-on-one. Now I can take that inside B gap on the pass rush because that guard's not gonna be sitting there because I know he's turning in the opposite direction. So now it opens up my book, my tool belt of pass rush moves more than just having to run up the field. So that's a big key for those guys, especially on those third down, those gotta have it situations when they're thinking, hey, sack, sack, sack, this ends the game. Now you can start pulling out those things that you didn't show during the pre-season because you're holding for those big moments during the season. I could listen to you all day. You are incredible. A hall of fame speaker and a student of the game, if I will. Now, before I let you go, your eligibility is coming up in 2023. I'm not going to dig too much into it because I know that there's a, it's still early in the process, shall we say, but how much have you thought about getting that knock on your door? Well, people ask about it a lot. Now that I'm going to be on the ballot this year, and you know, I'm not one of those people that thinks it's a superstitious or faux pas to talk about. I think I'm a good candidate. I think I did some good things in Cleveland for 11 seasons. Hope I get a chance to be there at the Super Bowl and find out with my family. And if that happens, it's going to be a very special moment for myself, for my family, and certainly all of the Cleveland Browns fans, and I look forward to hopefully some day being in the hall of fame. You are universally beloved, even by the past rushers who you may look silly out there. You're in, you're out. Such a steward of the game. Thank you for joining me. Enjoy your weekend. I hope that there's golf and family and all sorts of fun activities involved. Congratulations on the induction as a Browns legend into that club this weekend and enjoy the startling elf there on the field. Thanks for having me on. Kay, there's going to be plenty of golf and beer this weekend. I can assure you of those things. Joe Thomas, enjoy it, enjoy it. Future Hall of Famer. Joe Thomas, I should say. We have so much to get to on the show. After this, I get into it with Mark Ingram. We chopped it up a little bit earlier, had a nice discussion, talked Saints, talked Ravens, talked Lamar Jackson. After this, right here on Up and Atoms, and I think we would have, oh no, great, see ya. Back on Up and Atoms, how great is Joe Thomas? Incredible, keep your tweets coming at Up and Atoms. Listen, I've talked to a lot of NFL players. Very few bring me more joy than a running back Mark Ingram. He's currently in his 12th season in the NFL. I can't even believe that. And in talking to him, I found out he's more motivated than ever. We talked about the Saints, his return there, Alvin Cabera, Michael Thomas, Dennis Allen, and of course, Lamar Jackson. Take a look. How does it feel to be back there in that building? Man, it feels great to come back home to a place where I started eight years of my career, kind of had the little mix up, but my time in Baltimore was great, and then Houston gave me the opportunity where they all brought me back here, so it comes full circle. I'm happy to be back with my guys, happy to be back in this organization, happy to be back in this city. When I think of the Saints, I think Sean Payton dancing in the locker room, bringing in all that money, all that cash that we, what is it like without him? Man, Sean is irreplaceable, you know what I mean? But the good thing about people who are great leaders, you know, and winners is they kind of leave a footprint, they kind of leave a DNA, they kind of leave a culture behind, and the best thing to do is to hire a DA. I mean, he knows what this culture is, he knows what the DNA is. You know, I think keeping it in-house, keeping things normal, keeping things similar, you know, we're all still know each other, we're all still accustomed to each other, so we're just picking it up, keeping it moving, trying to get better. We know we got a team that can do special things, so. What is the culture of the Saints in 2022? Man, we just, we some fighters, man, we believe in each other, you know, it's little I, you know, big team, and you know, everyone has to just do their job to the best of their ability, make your plays when your number's called, and we love each other, we care about each other, we don't have each other's back, and we ain't quitting, we ain't giving up, we trying to be champions, so that's our mindset day in and day out, and our preparation and our focus, and you know, we just have a great belief in each other here, man, so we're gonna have fun when we win, we was able to, you know, crank the locker room up, have the cello, yeah, we was able to crank the locker room up with the music and the lights and the smoke, and had a cello and an ATL, so, you know, we took over ATL, man, we just trying to do it one day at a time, you know what I mean? Is that a salad dancing? Hey man, we all in there, and you know, we all thrive for those moments, so you know what I mean? We all enjoy those moments, we wanna take those moments for granted, so we plan on doing those celebrations many, many, many, many more times this year. You've been in this game a long time now, and you still wanna win, you still wanna thrive, what motivates you at this point? I just wanna be the best, man, I still feel like I play this game at the highest level, I'm given the right opportunities in the right situation, so, yeah, I still, I wanna wanna Super Bowl, I wanna do a lot of those things, man, still got personal goals, so still a lot of things driving me, man, my kids, my family, my wife, my parents, my sisters, like everyone, you know, I got a lot of people who love me, care about me, believe in me. Talk to me about this wide receiver room, because it went from zero to 100, very fast. Real quick, real quick, real quick. Yeah, zero to 100, real quick, the wide receiver room is definitely one of the best in the league, man, I mean, we got those guys over there, I mean, talk about Mike Thomas, last time he played a four seasons, offensive player of the year, we got Chris Olave, man, young smooth, man, he's cold, man, he's cold, but I'm telling you, he's gonna be one of those guys to watch for a long time, then you got Juice Landry, I mean, that's just the name speaks for itself, he bring that juice, I got the J.U. Ice with me, you know what I mean, so, yeah, yeah, yeah, so. What's it like working with James Winston every day? Man, J.Boo is that guy, you know what I mean? Sorry, what is it? J.Boo. J.Boo. Yeah, J.Boo wins, you know, that's his, yeah, that's his handle on IG Instagram, yeah, all that, J.Boo wins, but he's the man, bro, and what you guys see and think, you know, it's funny, like he's dead serious, man, he's super authentic, he's super genuine, he's very smart, man, and he's one of those guys that you wanna fight for, man, he cares about his teammate, his preparation, his work and his skill set, man, he has the poor package, being a leader, both in the huddle, being an encouragement to teammates, man, he's one of those guys, man, that you wanna go to battle with for sure. We have been friends for years now, you have to get him to stop the fingers in the mouth thing. Hey, man, that's J.Boo, that's authentic. As a person, no, that's disgusting, like, you have to like- What's the fingers in the mouth? Well, first of all, it's crazy, he does this thing, whatever it is, the dubs- Put the dubs, the E and W? Stop, Mark! The E and W? But he does it like after a game, when he's touching turf and spit, and like God knows what else happens out on the field, and then he's putting his hands in his mouth. He eating that W. Is this the best group of personalities in the NFL? The best team personality? Man, I'm telling you, like we got a whole bunch of alpha dogs on our team, like everyone is their own person, they're genuine, they're true, they're authentic to who they are. When you have that, you got guys that mesh like that, especially with the personalities we have, like you said, I mean like, you just got some great dudes some special character, some one-of-ones on this team, and I think it resonates through the whole team, through the entire organization, and that's why I think our team is special, that's different than most, you know what I mean? It's just the camaraderie, the love, the belief, and that we have in each other. I know you're closer than you got to see him up close and personal. What should happen with Lamar Jackson and the Ravens? Man, what should happen with Lamar Jackson is the man needs to get paid. You need to pay my dog. You need to pay my dog, Big Trust. You feel me in the flesh, Lamar Jackson. MVP. Now I would just like to introduce you all to the man, the myth, the legend, the MVP front runner. If anybody else got to say something different about that, then come see me. I'm right here and be more outside the bank. If you got an issue with that, come see me. I'm about that. Big Trust. Woo, woo. Lamar Jackson in the flesh. Yes, sir. Big Trust. No, it's over. The man needs to get paid. He just went out there week one and just dialed it up, throwing the ball, running the ball, typical Lamar Jack fashion. But yeah, man, he deserves whatever he's asking for. He deserves the world, man. He's a hard work. He's a great leader. And he's just a different type of guy, man, playing quarterback, man. He can throw the ball. He won the game against the Jets. He won the game against the Jets and then he went to an elementary school and was talking to kids about what they want to be when they grew up. He's, I don't, you know, I don't know. I love this guy. If you don't like Lamar Jackson, you're truly a hater. You know what I mean? Like, so I'll be hearing all this Lamar Jackson slander. I just don't understand it. Like, I just don't understand it. You know what I mean? I think it's because he's one of one. He gets to, you know, we see what quarterbacks are and then Lamar is sort of his own category. But I like that, but I also don't think that at all because I, you know, my take on him is that every year I've seen him grow as a deep ball passer. I've seen him grow in reading defenses. It's everything you want out of a quarterback. And so he should be treated and paid like the Josh Allen's in the homes of the world. He just should. 1,000% I wish you paid. That's why you do, that's why you're real. Yeah, it's insane. But I mean, are you worried about him? Like what he's doing? Do you think like, you know, he's doing, I don't like that he's doing it by himself, right? And I know he's got his mom and like, I just want to protect him. I don't want a deck, you know, deck press got injury that's going to derail what he should be paid. Like, listen, listen, like, he has a number. And if they would have gave him a contract or a number he was happy with, he would have signed it. If you don't have a contract that doesn't give you the value or the comfort that you're looking for, you don't sign it, you bet on yourself. And so that's what happened and that's what he's doing. And now we all pray and that he goes through this season healthy, getting wins, except versus Saints. And you know what I mean? And he's passing it, he's willing, he's dealing it and he just breaks the bank. We're going to do everything. Like we'll even let him get to the Super Bowl but versus Saints in Super Bowl, he can lose. I'm a baller first, man. I'm out here towing this rock. We trying to get ready for Sunday against the Bucks big game coming up. And, you know, but you gotta stay, you gotta stay versatile. You gotta stay tuned up. And when they told me Kay had a little show that she was doing, I mean, it's only right that I jumped on with my girl. You're the best. You're honestly the best. I need the sweatshirt, big trust, Saints, alpha dogs. I learned a lot. I don't, I don't, I'm not. Don't eat the W's. That's all I ask. Hey, trust level cookies. Hey, wherever y'all get y'all pack cash. You know what I mean? Trust level, me and my boy, Cam Jordan. You're the best. He's the best. No, I mean, literally the entire studio crew. It's early here on the West Coast. Everyone's smiling because that's what Mark Ingram brings to a locker room. And as you can tell, really motivated to keep going, to keep playing really well. They pulled out a win in week one and we'll see what they could do. I love that he's wearing the, you know, he's sitting there at the Saints logo behind him, but he's still repping big trust. He's still talking openly as a veteran in the National Football League about a quarterback that he grew close to and he loves, who looked good, by the way. Lamar Jackson, three touchdowns. They were beautiful. Two to DuVernay. One of them was a no look. Yet Kaleis Campbell on the sidelines saying, DuVernay's on my fantasy team. Why are we throwing on the Rock with Shad Bateman? This is the hope. This was the hope for the Ravens. They'd find something in the passing game and they're finding it in the young guys they brought in. So I'm also wishing Lamar all the best and Mark Ingram, you are amazing and thank you for doing that. All right, we're gonna have more on the show. We've got Fantasy Panic Remedy with Christian McCaffrey, Cam Akers, oh, Alan Robinson, yuck. But first I wanna get into some under reactions. Why? Because everybody loves overreaction Monday, especially after week one, but here at Up in Adams, we're decided we are all about underreacting to storylines. So let's get it started. I've got a few of these here. A lot of overreacting to the Packers offense. There's woes, shock, horror, the sky is falling. You know what though? I think we're underreacting to just how stifling this Vikings defense is and might be. So the story all week has been about the Packers offense missing Devonta Adams. None of the receivers stepping up but I think we've underreacted to how good this defense is. Let's take a look here. I mean, even the numbers, five sacks, they beat upon Rodgers. They also came up with an interception. Rodgers only threw four interceptions last year. It doesn't happen. The Vikings picked him off last 2019. He had 181 pass attempts without an interception before that one. So Darius Smith, those images were amazing. I was loving it. He was stifling his friend Aaron Rodgers. Daniel Hunter was all over the place. They are legit. So the Packers offense might have to work some things out but this Vikings defense looked incredible and deserves their credit. Okay, let's move on to another one. Davis Mills is underreacted to. I don't know why. Maybe because it's the Texans. Maybe because they're in a rebuilding year but they gave the Colts all sorts of problems. Let's get it going here. The Colts were the trendy pick to win the AFC South this year. The Texans gave them everything they could handle Sunday in that tie. Davis Mills looking like he really could be the Texans quarterback of the future. Another strong showing, 240 yards, two touchdowns after being the highest rated rookie passer last season. Did you hear me? The highest rated rookie passer last season. Houston now two and two and one in his last five starts. Brandon Cook's another perennially underrated, underreacted two wide receiver. He had seven grabs for 82 yards. O.J. Howard is there. He caught both of Mills touchdown passes and veteran pass watcher Jerry Hughes came up with two sacks and an interception. Listen, I know it was a tie but I think this performance should be enough to get Texans fans excited about this team. We're going to look back. Here's what I think. They got the Broncos this week. Do they make Russell, Ofer? They might, they might do that. This is a team like the Lions that's going to keep other teams out of the playoffs. This is a team we're going to look back and we're not just going to be pissed that we have to do the math on a TI and then calculator about how to deal with the tie when it comes to the playoff picture. We're going to think, man, they played spoiler and they brought it every week. All right, the last one I want to get to is the Dolphins defense because we've got to get into this. Listen, there was a lot of focus on two one Tyreek and a lot of game ball Mike McDaniel action when the Dolphins took down the path but the Dolphins defense is why and so we have to get into it. Xavier and Howard continues to make his case for being the best corner in the NFL and the corner no one ever talks about or considers. Javon Holland had an interception. Miami has Baltimore this week. This is a huge, huge test for Lamar Jackson who I just told you had a lot of success. Of course that was against the Jets, but yeah. I'm just saying the Dolphins defense could be legit. I'm not going to completely say that in violin. I do those players that I mentioned are obviously amazing pieces, huge tests. And that's the game I'm most looking forward to seeing this week. Okay, we will be back because we've got fantasy decisions. Listen, Trey Lance, if you drafted him as your starter, I don't know what to tell you. If you want to play him in daily fantasy over at FanDuel, I got words for you. Does Aaron Rodgers have you in shambles after week one? It's panic room next. Mark Ingram, Joe Thomas on the show. I mean, come on, this is amazing and fantasy seasons are underway. It's my favorite thing. It's my passion. And so I'm here to tell you that it's only natural. It is okay to feel itchy and nervous after suboptimal week one fantasy performances. Let's figure out whether or not you should be in panic mode on some players. That's right. We are playing the panic room with some of these guys. Whoa! First up. Okay, this is a panic room? This is like a club in Vegas. Look at this. Unbelievable. Ken Makers, he's the first guy. The bill's defense completely shut down Ken Makers. This was brutal. It really was. He had three total touches, totaling zero yards. Fantasy owners, I'm gonna hit the panic button. Welcome to the panic room. Darrell Henderson played 55 snaps to Acres 12. McVay talked about wanting to see more of a sense of urgency out of Cam after the game. There's clips of him whiffing in Prass Pro. That was making the rounds last week. It's not gonna help get him more opportunities. And there are questions about whether or not he even returned completely healthy from that Achilles injury last season. Listen, the O-line, not particularly inspiring. So the injury to the rookie, Kyren Williams, doesn't really play, it does play in his favor. You know, they don't have a ton of depth, so hopefully that works out. But Cam has a lot of work to do in my opinion if he wants to take over Darrell Henderson. All right, we don't have to stay. We can, yeah, we can come hang out with me here. Perfect. Who else is up? Traylance? People are panicking. He went to Chicago. There's a monsoon. I'm not gonna worry about it. He didn't put up great numbers. I say I'm not gonna panic. He's not going into this Vegas club here. I need to see Lance in clean conditions before that. I am actually encouraged by the fact that he ran the ball 13 times for 55 yards because that kind of rushing upset on your fantasy and out of your fantasy quarterback is incredible. This was only his third start and he averaged over 12 carries per game in that span over those three games. You want that. So let's roll him out there again against the Seahawks. Don't definitely don't drop him. If you want to play somebody else if you don't want to take the risk on him in your fantasy lineups, then don't. But definitely let him see if he can do his thing up against Seattle. Okay, Pittsburgh Steelers offense. Poof. Not only did Najee Harris only have 26 total yards. He left the game with an injury. This is a panic button I hit before this season. I couldn't hit it hard enough full panic mode on him. He just casually dropped the existence of this Liz Franck injury in the preseason. Nobody was saying it's a big deal. Clearly it was big. It's clearly limiting him and he had to leave the game early. This is an injury and I'm no doctor but just my fantasy football acumen. It lingers. It lingers. He's a running back. Do the math yourself. So, and it's honestly, it's cost guys their entire seasons in the past. I hope that's not the case with Najee but you got to get some help there. You got to draft Jalen the rookie Patriots this weekend. He's saying he's playing. I'm nervous. All right, last but not least Christian McCaffrey. You drafted him number one or number two overall and he gave you 57 total yards. He did get a touchdown. So you might not, you know, he's probably mad he's even on this list but let's stay strong people. He did find the end zone and he looked good. Really good. When he scooped up that fumble he took it off for a 32 yard gain that by the way, nobody got credit for. What kind of rules were those? What is that? He looked awesome. He looked good out in space. He looked like McCaffrey again. Panthers offense as a whole a mess early on. They weren't on the field a ton. If Baker gets more comfortable and I think he will, I think CMC is going to thrive. All right, let's move on to a former bear, former Jaguar. Guy always puts up points in Alan Robinson. Let's do it. Let's go to Alan Robinson. Can we see? Up, up, up, let's keep going. Do we have Alan Robinson? I mean, this is the guy who everyone thinks is going to be a comeback darling this year, right? Cooper Cup got all the love and Matthew Stabbert completely ignored him. People had takes about that. He had two targets. I'm going to run to the panic room and I'm locking the door. I'm locking the door because listen, he put up 410 yards and one touchdown last year. You have to be concerned. Two targets on 65 snaps. And the film of his route running when he didn't get the ball, this is what I'm hearing from my friends who break it on film, not inspiring, okay? And neither was Stafford. There's concerns about his elbow. I'm going to hold out hope because I know how good he can be, but I'm terrified of what his fantasy future might hold after that debut. Last but not least, Aaron Rodgers. I'm not going to sugarcoat it, not the best start to the fantasy season or the real season for you Packers fans who I love out there. We've seen this before. I'm going to do the whole Aaron Rodgers relax thing. He doesn't get to go in the panic room. He's frolicking among dandelions in a field somewhere. Let's not forget he had a horrific debut. Week one, we all know that. Two interceptions, not good. Through a pick in this one. Like I said earlier, Vikings defense is just really good. And we're talking about one of the greatest to ever do it. He's been a top 10 fantasy quarterback every season. Win healthy, be patient. By the way, you took him as like your backup quarterback who's going outside the top 12 in drafts, which was absurd. So he will figure it out. All right. I don't know what the cheese is for the rest of the show. I know we're doing pony up on some of the biggest match ups. Conrad, what else? Oh, we have a stupid segment that we came up with. Let's turn it over to this. So good work. Fandu Locassino has a new daily free to play game. It's called reward machine. And it is a free game that gives players the chance to win up to $2,000 of casino bonus every day, log in daily and spend for a free chance at rewards, only on a Fanduocassino. Lot of fun on today's show. A future Hall of Famer, Mark Ingram, who is the best was also here. Joe Thomas was amazing. And producer Conrad make me look cool because I'm on Instagram and Twitter. And I keep seeing these X-rays all over the internet. Yeah, just some guys that got that dog at them. You know what? Let's show them some of these tweets. You know, for example, Josh Allen got that dog in him. And on social media, everybody knows that if you got that dog in him, literally you got them dogs in you. So what is this? So they're putting, this is like viral. K, it's self-explanatory. Josh Allen, four touchdowns last Thursday, stiff arm and people going to the end zone. He just got that dog in him. You know what I mean, K? You know what I mean when I say it. He got that dog in him. Oh yeah. So this has got it. So people keep tweeting this. All right, can I play? Yeah, absolutely. Let's play along. You got any dogs for week one? How you feel about Deandre Swift? You got that dog in him, K? I think Deandre Swift got that dog in him. Thank you. I mean, no, we gotta talk about this. This is my favorite game of the weekend that nobody's talking about. And here it is. Career high 144 rush yards and a touchdown. He was insane the whole first quarter. It was my first taste of NFL Sunday action was Washington do his thing out there. Rushing touchdown. He had his fourth career game with 100 or more. And you know what Conrad, the Lions play the commanders this weekend. Let me tell you this. I did the math. I could not believe this. They gave up 113 rushing yards, my friend. Uh-oh, yep. On 13, you know, sorry, on 15 carries. It was like seven point something yards per pop. Unbelievable. So I'm a little worried. And I think we might see Swift go off again because he got that dog in him. You know what? Let's check. Let's check the X-ray. Oh, it's confirmed. It is confirmed, K. Yeah. Who got that dog in him? Brian Barton's dying. What do you got? Who you got? Oh, I mean, my mind. Who got that dog in him? This guy definitely got that dog in him. He's a Georgia Bulldog first and foremost. Tate Crowder, let's roll the tape. Tate Crowder, how many people do you know can do this to Derrick Henry? Tate Crowder definitely got that dog in him. Not many guys could move the human Mack truck like that, but he did. We have all these different angles. Look at this, K. Off his feet. Who takes Derrick Henry off his feet? No way you can do that unless you have that dog in you, right? Yeah, he's got that dog in him. In fact, this is so, I'm so weird. What? Can we do, there it is. Oh, there it is. Look at that dog you got in him, K. Can we do one more? Yeah, let's see. Look how cool and internety we are. Let's do it. Let's do one more. We're so happening. You know who I think? Who got that dog in him, K? Tell me. Justin Jefferson. Oh, Justin Jefferson got that dog. He might all year. He was the highest scoring fantasy receiver. This was a career high game, 184 against the Packers. Sorry Packers fans watching these highlights. And you just couldn't cover him. And I'm yelling about Alexander and how he should be blanketing him and all that. And then Darius Butler's yelling at me Conrad as you bring you back on screen here. He was amazing. And I have the feeling that he's going to be, as I, let's look at Conrad back up, player please. I think that he is full Cooper cup in this offense. Meaning it's, you know, all every game is going to be annoying and the same. We're all going to put our hands on our hat. You know how that happens at the bar when you're doing this. And you just are saying, why is he open? How is he that open? And we're going to say that literally every week, including, and you know, I love the Eagles. You know, I love the Eagles this week because they gave up, it's Monday night football, 144 yards and two touchdowns to those Lions receivers in that really fun game week one. So I don't know if there's a defense that could stop him this year, but this is going to be Justin Jefferson got that dog in him. Oh, he got that dog in him. Kay, he's like Waffle House. He's going to be open 24 seven with Kevin O'Connell as his offensive coach. I mean, I'm telling you, Justin Jefferson, he's wide receiver number one. And you know why Kay? It's because he got that dog in him. Our little Southern bell. Do we got to get out of here? We got to get out of here. He's like, get out of here. We'll be back. We have Andrew Piliponi joining us. We'll talk a little Steelers, maybe some TJ Watt implications previewing the season. And we are going to pony up on this week's best picks. It's all after this right here on up and Adams tweet the show. Can you believe it's already week two? It starts tomorrow night. Chiefs hosting the chargers. You can earn a share of 15 grand and cash prizes courtesy of Fandle and Amazon Prime Video. Enter the Prime Video pick them by answering 10 questions about the game. Fans who answer the most questions correctly win a share of 15,000 in cash prizes. This looks fun and it looks kind of easy. Fandle.com to enter. We're going to start with Trubisky. And this offensive line is in tatters, Kay. You watch the Bengals give up 50 sacks and get Joe Burrow killed. Mr. Misky better, you know, tighten his cleats in this game and get ready to run because the Steelers have nothing up front. Their quarterbacks got killed all preseason. Andrew Piliponi. Welcome back to the show. You can hear him on 93.7, the fan in Pittsburgh. And of course, right here all over FandleTV. What did you make of that? I want that one back. I want a Mulligan on that one. That's not a great first impression for me to make with UK. No, it was Joe Burrow's running. Seven sacks hit 11 times. Four interceptions. It was an incredible performance by the Steelers' defense. It certainly was, and I like the Bengals. They should have lost the game by 30 and then I would worry, but they almost, I mean, the Steelers almost blew that game with five turnovers. Give me a break. All right, we're doing a segment called Pony Up. I'm going to give you some futures bets and you're going to tell me if you would pony up for it or not Steelers to win the AFC North. That is a big pony down. I'm doubling down on the hometown team here. TJ Watts going to miss at least six weeks with this torn peck. It's not torn off the bone, so that means it's not a season ending surgery, but they're a team that is so reliant on defense. Their offense had 230 total yards. Najiaris is bothered by not just a Liz Frank, but a high ankle sprain and he averaged under two and a half yards per carry in this game. Right now on FanDuel, they are currently six to one to win the division the longest odds and I agree, I still think right now they're a team that finishes probably eight and nine. So ponying down on that one. The Steelers have finished at least second in the North in nine straight seasons for division titles over that span. Jax to make playoffs. Yes, pony up. This is one of my favorite bets on FanDuel. Get on board with me, Kay, plus 430 for Jacksonville. I get it. They lost to Carson Wentz and Washington on the road. They haven't won a road game in more than two years, but Trayvon Walker came in and had a sack and an interception of Wentz in his debut as the number one overall pick. The Colts tied and the Titans lost at home to the Giants. Jacksonville is a four and a half point underdog at home against Indianapolis, Kay. If they win that game, their odds to make the playoffs and when the division are gonna be much improved and I think they can and will. I like Jacksonville as a sleeper. I don't know. I heard what you said about Lamar Jackson being tired last week and then he lit up those jets, my friend. I'm listening to you though and I'm learning, honestly learning so much. What should we do now? Let's do Justin Jefferson. Offensive player of the year, are you ponying up? I am and the odds of skyrocketed up on him too. He's now the favorite to win it at six to one. What he did in the first half, 156 yards, 184 overall in the game in that Kevin O'Connell offense where they're gonna open things up with Kirk Cousins. You got Aaron Rodgers after the game saying, you are the best player on the field. These are narrative driven awards a lot of times, Kay. What we say in the media, what players say counts a lot in the minds of the voters. Another prime time game for Minnesota on Monday. If Jefferson balls out against Philadelphia, those odds are only gonna get worse. So I block it in now at six to one. Jefferson leads the NFL in receiving yards. He's tied already in total touchdowns. We'll see how it goes. But like I said, no defense is gonna be able to stop him this year. He's gonna operate like Cooper Cup and we're all gonna be saying, why is he so open every week this season? Jalen Hertz, you know, I love the Eagles and Joe Thomas, future Hall of Famer, said the Eagles have the best offensive line in the game. He said that on our show today, out of all 32, what do you make of them? And Jalen Hertz is an MVP. Well, I like the Eagles against the Lions that a backdoor cover special by Philadelphia late. Three points they lose by the spread was three and a half in a lot of places on FanDuel especially. So that did not help. I like Hertz as a dual threat. We've seen those guys like Lamar Jackson win the award. However, my value play, I am ponying up on Matt Stafford here at 20 to one. Why? Because look at what happened last year, Kay. Aaron Rodgers had a lousy first game. There was big value on him after that. And he was great. Gamebusters after that week one struggle against the Saints. I think the same thing happens with Stafford. The Rams will have a huge game against the Falcons. You're not worried about this thing? A little bit, a tiny bit, but not enough to pass up 20 to one value on Sean McFay, Matt Stafford and Cooper Cup. Russell Wilson, NFL passing yards, leader were running up against the clock, as you know what he got. I love it because we saw it with Nate Hackett. They're gonna air the ball out. Passing yards leaders are not always players on great teams. In fact, three of the past four years, Kay, the passing yards leader has come from a team that missed the playoffs. I think Denver's gonna open it up with Wilson. Maybe 5,000 passing yards for him this year. His career high in passing yards was 4,219. That was back in the year 2016. So that would be Mahomes career low over a course of a healthy season. I thought that was super, super interesting. We'll see what happens. Hey, are you wearing a wire bro? What's happening? Are you like attached? Can you move your head at all? Are you about to like ruin an entire situation? I have, I'm wearing an earpiece from like 1977 for this segment. Plan A went out the window about 20 minutes ago. So I'm stuck in like 1960s TV right now, Kay. I kind of love it. I hope you're wearing shorts. Like, you know, I hope you're not fully suited, right? I have beautiful khakis on and stand up, but I'm afraid with the wire that everything would break. It's a bad idea. Andrew Filiponi, you are awesome. We appreciate you. We've got big guests tomorrow. How do you follow up today with Sean Merriman, Dante Hall in studio and Eric Weddle, Chiefs Chargers, Thursday Night Football. We'll be here in the morning. Tweet the show. We will be tweeting out the whole show on YouTube after this. So check out. Bye, guys.