Falcons-Eagles MNF Recap and Bryce Young Gets Benched

Published Sep 17, 2024, 6:56 AM

Gregg Rosenthal is joined by Nick Shook to react to the Falcons stealing a win from the Eagles on Monday Night Football. Gregg and Nick start the show by discussing how the Eagles lost the game (2:16) before explaining what this result means for both's teams heading into Week 3 and beyond (11:09) and chatting about Kirk Cousins' play (19:00). After the break, the guys put a bow on Week 2 with 2 minutes of final notes about Sunday's games (26:19) and then get caught up on the news from around the NFL including the Dolphins signing Tyler Huntley (39:25), and injury updates for Cooper Kupp and the Rams (41:43), Deebo Samuel and the 49ers (43:40), and Isiah Pacheco and the Chiefs (46:33). 

Note: time codes approximate. 

Hurts on the football in the gun again, tied in three receivers at Parkley in the backfield.

Atlanta gonna break forward this time, try to get their hurts hit as he pros look as Bates, Yeah what thirty two seconds left, Jesse Bates comes up with the interception head Atlanta in the thick of the night, has stolen one on'e the Philadelphia Eagles.

That was West Durham of w z g C.

I cannot believe that the Atlanta Falcons won this game, that they went up to Philadelphia.

In the middle of the night.

I'm Greg Rosenthal, this is NFL Daily. I'm with Nick Shuk. I'm so happy to be with Nick Shook, and I cannot believe how this game ended.

Nick. With the Eagles.

Running it down, the Atlanta Falcons throats all night, having the ball with one minute in forty six seconds left, third down, and they call a pass to Saquon Barkley and it's there. The game is gonna be over, but Saquon Barkley drops it. The Eagles choose not to go for it on fourth and three. The Falcons get the ball back Kirk Cousins, who didn't look good all night goes seventy yards in six plays.

He had too much time.

Darnell Mooney shakes Darius Slay for a big play down the field. Drake London shakes Darius Slay rather for the touchdown. Suddenly Jalen Hurts has the ball and the Falcons defense, who didn't get any pressure all night on Jalen Hurts, actually did send the blitz on that last play. It was a sneaky one five man protection Caden Ellis, who starts all the way over on the right tackle, loops over to the left tackle and hits Jalen Hurts. As it happens, game ending interception in Philadelphia, who was right about ninety nine point five percent chance to win that game before that third down, lose the game, and both of these teams are at one in one, and yet it feels to me shook like the Falcons saved their season at least for now, and that they ruin your NFL dot Com right up that you just finished.

Yeah, Kirk Cousins discovering his old Minnesota form at the perfect time to save the Falcons from an zero to two start and blow up everything I'd written going down the field, leading to masterful drive, after not being able to throw the ball consistently all night, after struggling in Week one to move the football and dealing with pressure, suddenly he's back to old Kirk Cousins and he's shoving a stiff arm right in the face of those old primetime Kirk. You know all the dishes they used to get online. He's four and one now in his last five Monday Night football starts, and this one the most memorable of them all. Falcons one and one, and you're right, they may have just saved their season with this win, which they got, as you heard on the call in the thick of the night.

I'm just still stunned by it. It's why we love the NFL. That a game that was a little sloppy, a little bit of a snoozer, a strange game that in the first half was driving Bill Belichick crazy on the Manning Cast. Had a chance to watch that just I was like, Wow, I get to watch a game with Bill Belichick.

This is interesting.

And he's just annoyed at the Falcons lack of tackling and both teams lack of pass rush. I can't remember two offensive lines just completely dominating in pass protection and in the running game for the most part, although there were a lot of penalties called, especially on the Eagles, and yet it wasn't really showing up on the scoreboard. The quarterbacks weren't all that comfortable, and the Eagles wind up getting in a commanding position after Chauncey Gardner Johnson blows up a Bijon Robinson run on fourth and one to get the Eagles the ball back with under five minutes to go. They run all the clock down to that moment that I started the show with third down, and I was thinking about you when they threw this pass, because you're the I'm gonna run the ball guy, and this was a night where it was it was a nice night for the run the ball guy type of night because both these teams they got inside the ten and they stopped running it, and it was just making me pull my hair out. That Eagles could have scored a touchdown I think earlier in the game when they threw it to DeVante Smith on the goal line. Jesse Bates makes a great play there. What a player Jesse Bates is. But they just weren't sticking with Saquon Barkley when he was the man and then in this spot instead of running the ball there, it would have taken the clock down to about a minute. They throw it to Saquon. Where you upset at the play call or at the execution because I don't I don't mind the play call. Saquon had four targets tonight. He caught all four passes. It was right there. It was a good throw, It was a good decision by Hurts. I'm sure he had the option to keep it and he just drops it and gives the Falcons a chance.

Yeah.

Tip of the cap to NFL Daily Zone Patrick Claybonn, who tweeted three teams did that this weekend. The Browns were one of them. The Eagles were another one. Look, I understand getting aggressive in that situation trying to put the game away, but also don't out coach yourself. And it felt like at least in two of those situations this week that coaches were out coaching themselves.

They're out smarting themselves.

The good thing on the Eagles side is at least they rolled Jalen Hurts to his passing arm side like the play was there. They just simply did not execute. But again, if you think about situationally, like you just said, it would have taken it about down to a minute. Well, the Falcons need a minute at five to get down the field with no timeouts. They have no timeouts. Run the clock down as far as you can and kick the field goal, make them go seventy plus yards and get a touchdown with no timeouts. It's really hard to do. They started that drive with a eleven yard completion to Kyle Pitts over the middle of the field. You knew they had to go quickly. And the next thing you know, they're in the red zone and they're scoring a touchdown in the blink of an eye. And it's because he gave them that extra forty seconds, guys, And that's why I'm against hmm.

Now, yeah, for argument's sake, Look, they got it done with about forty seconds to go. Now they did have the tie out. That's absolutely fair. But I fought the last drive more on just even playing good defense all night and for you to give up those sideline routes is just total, you know, mismanagement of how you are playing defense. As I mentioned, London shook Darius Slay on the touchdown. It was a great route. There was actually a great exchange caught by the cameras afterwards of Slay just being like great route, dude. But to give up the London play on the sideline that was Quinnon Mitchell. They had a deep throw to Darnell Mooney, who had an up and down night, but they had a big touchdown in this game where it was just they were playing too safe. And then they had the play before that, another deep out to Mooney where it's Reid blank and Ship pushing him out of bounds, but he's getting in between the safety and the linebacker. To me, that's where they really blew it. Now, I'll give you another spot though, where I actually do fault them for the play calling. Now, I would have liked them to run the ball on the third and three because I just think they would have picked it up.

They had been.

Running the ball so well on that drive and that night that they think they would have gotten it. But after it was fourth and three, it wouldn't have been that crazy to go for it there. First of all, you still just need three yards if you were if you were gutsy enough to go for it before you win it, you go for it again to win the game. But The reason why is when you're up three, teams naturally are way more conservative. They actually don't go for the touchdown. Bill our friend Bill Barnwell tweeted out, the worst lead in sports is up six in the NFL. I swear if they were up three. First of all, they would have ninety yards to go instead of seventy. I'll come back to that in a second, but they would have only been down three, and I don't think they would have really gone for the touchdown there like it to me, it's worth going for it in that spot. If you're going to go for the first time, that's like next level, like super analytics. Thinking that maybe the Eagles weren't quite there yet.

Well, no, that's that What first came to mind was analytics people were probably just pulling their hair out at the fact that they approached it this way. But also, I think in that instance, when you know, what do.

You mean, No, I think they wanted him to go for it. You mean in terms of passing it instead of.

Passing on third down and then taking the field goal. Yeah, in that situation, for me, if you're really trying to put the game away, you treat third down and fourth down as two downs to get a first down. So you run the ball on third down and you're taking the clock down. Let's say you get to fourth and one. You have the best play known to man on fourth and short, like you're setting yourself up up for a better situation. I know we're talking with hindsight as privilege here, but still, situationally speaking, the Eagles have become masters of fumbling situations like this. This is their fourth loss since the start of twenty twenty three in which they had a lead inside two minutes. This is a consistent problem for the Eagles. The Falcons had a zero point seven percent chance of winning this game with less than two minutes ago, according to the Next Gen Stats win probability model. So you want some analytics there, I just dropped an analytical bomb on you.

We eat that.

You have to sit with that all week.

Wait seven, that is just crazy. I can't believe that it happened. And Kirk Cousins after the game talked to Lisasalter on ESPN, and I think after the game Kirk Cousins had it just meant a little more for him to play that well down the stretch.

I still am not sharp enough. You know, I didn't feel like I was sharp enough today, accurate enough. I got to be better. But that last drive hopefully can give us a boost going into next week. We can build on that. You know, there's a lot of new and it takes time. I was pleased with the way we finished tonight, but there's still so much to be better with.

It's really interesting to me because Lisa Salter set him up to say, like, what a tough week you had everyone questioning you. For you to come out and be a different player tonight, how important is that? And he was kind of like saying what we thought probably during the game, which was I wasn't a different player tonight.

But I think he's overlooking.

You know, we know Kirk Cousins well enough from the Quarterback Series and Netflix. He's very hard on him, so I think he is overlooking that he was. Kirk Cousins on that drive was as clean as hell. He threw to the outside, he threw with confidence. Was he had one throw that was a little low, which was a problem all night, but for the most part he threw with confidence, and that was a badass drive.

You gotta give it up to yourself.

Kirk oh oh yeah, absolutely, And now that was the wonderful thing about It's funny because I actually slacked Kevin Patra also of NFL Daily, as you heard him on yesterday's show, and I said, oh, no, I think Kirk might have twenty fifteen Peyton Manning arm because like that throw, that first three he edited on the sideline was dying as it got to its intended target, and then the next week he just rips a rocket and I went, oh, no.

I spoke too soon.

Suddenly Kirk Cousins has found himself again, and I think you can kind of sense that in his response where he admits, look, it's a lot of new I haven't been my best. It's been a lot to process and adjust too. And he's coming off the Achilles injury. He knows he just hasn't been very good, but he had to feel like he had a little bit of a boost. I think he alluded to that when he said, hopefully this can carry us into the next week because now finally, in the biggest moment, he came through with what he does best, which is firing the ball down the field in a clutch moment, and that's really encouraging for the Falcons, because look, we went into this game thinking, oh no, did they make the wrong decision in free agency as Kirk Cousins washed, are they going to be?

I mean, time will tell, but I really think this is a big moment in both of these seasons. For what you said about the Eagles and how last season ended, it's going to test them because I haven't got the feeling in either of these games as someone who who definitely you know, likes picking the Eagles and whatnot that they have played particularly well. But if you can win while having a lot of issues like this is a team that to me struck me as a little fragile obviously down the stretch last year. But if you're winning as you're figuring out this a total lack of pass rush and then be passing game that just isn't in sync. Jalen Hurts got it done tonight by just running the ball when he absolutely needed to and making a few high level throws like he did a week ago, but on a down to down basis, the hitting the back of your drop, getting rid of the ball, it's just not there for him. He's having to be in create mode tonight. You was better in create mode than he was a week ago. But that's concerning. Aj Brown missed this game and is going to miss a couple of weeks reportedly, and so that's a concern for them. And I think this loss could potentially linger and just just be a little bit of a stink on Vic Fangio and this offense. But to flip it to the Falcons, they have Kansas City next week, then New Orleans, then Tampa Bay. Now all three of those games are in Atlanta. But if you were zero and two and they don't ever get the ball back here and they lose this game by double digits, Let's say let's say saquad goes in for the touchdowns, probably wasn't gonna happen. He probably gets the first down. Eagles Neil game over. You're oh and two. You come back and you have the Chiefs on Sunday Night Football, and then you have the league's hottest team, the Saints, your biggest rival coming in the next week. I mean, you're talking about like your season is on the line in the next couple of weeks. Not like those games are any easier now, but just gives you a little bit of breathing room where you look at these three games that are tough in a row, and even if they don't play well and they go one and two in these three games, you're still getting to your buy or whatever. I like, I think you're getting to the Carolina game. I call that a buy now at two and three, and like, you're still alive. And if you look at their schedule, their second half of their schedule on paper looks extremely easy. So they just need to survive early. What a moment for this team.

Well, here's the thing that we often overlook in this results based business that is the NFL. We forget about the human element of this game way too often. And the Falcons set themselves up in the offseason with the way that they went and signed Kirk Cousins and drafted Michael Pennix for a potential disaster scenario that's very emotionally driven. If they go through that three game stretch, they enter at oh to two and say they lose all three and they're zero to five, Suddenly people are calling for Michael Pennox, Suddenly they're questioning everything about what they thought about the Falcons going to this highly anticipated season, and that throws everything right off the tracks. That's why I think Kirk talk to it about it in the post game, where that little boost, like this is an example where look, you can go to that locker room now and there's video of them after this game celebrating with Raheem Morris's first win.

Crazy.

It's everything else, but like that's the jolt that you can get that because it's such a long season being in a facility like I was with the Browns week to week when you're struggling, you can feel it. You can be on the opposite side of the building and you can feel the tension and the stress and the pressure, all of that combines and just it's pervasive throughout the entire building. Getting this win eases all of that and makes the next few games that are going to be difficult games a lot easier to prepare for, not in terms of workload but mentally. So I think it's massive for them over that stretch, way more than just one game's result.

I love that because I think Raheem Morris is a guy who is going to get buy in from his players, but they needed a reason on the field to believe, and when you look at their faces, looking at Raheem Morris and celebrating like they won the Super Bowl in that locker room and everyone there, especially I'm looking at Jesse Bates and some of the veteran leaders and evens are so locked into what he is saying, and they stepped up in the biggest moments. I do think that is going to be huge and carry over because of how many different players ended up stepping up for them. The defense wasn't great in this game. I do think they're gonna have an issue in terms of their run defense and not getting enough pass rush. But they made plays in the red zone a couple times. They got a little lucky at the end, and yes, Kirk Cousins did save him. Let's listen to the go ahead touchdown throw by Kirk Cousins. This is on third down, so you know it was getting a little dicey inside the ten. The Falcons trying to take an improbable lead late at the link.

Cousins in the gun, three receivers right the shotgun, snap the center block, the line, right throw, far side cut, touchdown, hit the pylon, London caught in chess pie touchdown LATA. Thirty four seconds to go. They've tied the game a seven yard Cousins touchdown pass.

Holy smokes.

I love Kevin Harlan.

That's Eric Roberts, our great producer behind the glass looking through all the different calls. Is the ESPN, is it Local? Is it Westwood One? And Kevin Harlan that has the best one and finding it. Holy smokes, Kevin Harlan. I love that. And when you watch the highlights, you see a couple Eagle staffers, I'm not sure what their role is with the team, just getting upset in the moment. I like showing more emotion than they're supposed to in that moment on the sideline. And yeah, you mentioned that the building having bad vibes like that Eagles building had the worst vibes in the league last year. And this is going to feel a little too familiar. I do want to point out right after that touchdown, Drake London gets a celebration.

Penalties.

There was a couple of them tonight in big spots and it forced Young way Coup, one of the most accurate kickers in NFL history, to hit a forty eight yard extra point and he piped it like Young Wayku tends to do.

So.

Some props to Young Wayku some props to Bijon Robinson, who goes fourteen for ninety seven on the ground four for twenty five, very similar numbers nick to Saquon Barkley, although he did it in less carries and as much as I love Saquon and think he looks maybe better than he's ever looked, and he's gonna wear the goat horns a little bit tonight. You look at Bijon and you look at Saquon and you almost see, oh, there's a guy in the second year in the league, and there's a guy in the six or seven because Taquon is as explosive as he's been in two or three years. But my god, Bajon Robinson when he makes cuts going forward, there just haven't been that many running backs that I've ever seen like that. And he's at that young, just fresh, absolutely peaking part of his career.

Oh yeah, he's just getting started. He gave Quinnon Mitchell his Welcome to the NFL MoMA night cut the whole. Here's your jockstrap. I don't know if they still wear those, guy, I think they've advanced in terms of clothing. But here you go, hand it back to you because I just pulled it right off you with that move. It's really fun to watch him play because he came into the league with a lot of expectation. He was clearly the best running back in that class, and all the fantasy owners wanted to pop off last year, and he had a good rookie year, but he didn't have the great year. Well, that doesn't matter to me, because this guy is a stud and he's capable of carrying an offense on the ground when the passing game isn't working.

That's what made the fun.

That's what made that last drive just so fascinating to me because they get the ball back with no time and i know he's talked about already, but I'm thinking they haven't thrown the ball well all night, Like they've been pounding the run, and suddenly they just start ripping it down the field and I'm like, oh, wait, they can do this too. They don't just have to lean on him. If they can actually do that consistently, then this team could reach, you know, the potential that we all set out for them at the beginning of the year.

Yeah, they just need Kirk Cousins to be solid, and he was in the second half of this.

It starts with him. It starts that's how it was in Minnesota. Is it's out of the play action, it's out of the run game. So if he can do that consistently, then you know we're looking at a pretty good situation.

So he goes thirteen for sixteen for one hundred in sixty six yards and the two touchdowns in the second half after a pretty lackluster first half, and I would say the numbers flatter him. He wasn't as good as the numbers indicate, but they did do play action tonight. He finishes five to eight for fifty two yards, so solid enough. There were more plays from under center there. He didn't move a ton, and like you said, he didn't step into his throat. The ball did not look great coming out of his hand a lot, so there were some concerns, but I thought it got better as the game war on. I do want to point out, just to put in context, when they didn't run the ball on third down, kind of what kind of game.

This was for the Eagles.

The Eagles were trailing as the fourth quarter was starting, and they were at the time in the midst of a seventeen play nine minute thirty four second drive that finished with the tush push, and it was a lot of Saquon. Saquon was fantastic until that drop. Twenty two for ninety five on the ground, also had four catches and had about fifty yards called back from penalties for holding calls which always seemed to be away from the play. And yes, I might have been a little locked into his yardage because I needed one hundred yards out of him to win my fantasy tonight, and he got it in the end, So thank you for that, at least sa Quin. But he was running fantastic, and they've got the toush push going a couple times, and yet when they went inside the ten yard line like they tended to pass in the passing game was erratic, and so I think that's why at the end it hurts you kind of went away from what you were doing really well in this game.

Yeah, and that's a frustration that I experienced a lot of coaches around the NFL is when they get in the red zone, suddenly they get cued and they try to throw the football. You've seen the goal line fades, you know that type of thing. It feels like a wasted down to me. Unless you have like a Mike Evans going up there for it. But it is what it is in the NFL's copycat league. Everybody does that now. But when you know, you have to figure out what your bread and butter is. And I think the Eagles are still trying to figure out what their offense necessarily is. You know, you have Kellen Moore come in and he introduces all this priest neet motion and that's the talk of the town because it's an easy talking point going into the week. But like, eventually they should settle in as long as they can get out of their own way because like nine penalties committed, three legal man downfields, Like we gotta work on if you're gonna run our po and you're gonna run tempo and everything else, you gotta be able to stay a little more disciplined in that game in order to preserve those positive gains.

Now, I will say one more thing.

The statistically doesn't show up no aj Brown as you mentioned before, and we get an early catch out of Jahan Dotson right and on the broadcast are like he's gonna be an important receiver number two tonight.

That was his only catch for six yards.

I want to tip a cap tire to Brittin Covey, who was drafted as a returner. Six catches for twenty three yards is not a lot, but some of them came in some kind of clutch spots at least kept the offense going forward. That's not a guy I thought was gonna factor into this game statistically didn't show up, Like I said, really that significantly, but sometimes you need all hands on deck, and it was kind of impressive to see them figure it out even though they lost.

Yeah, I'm gonna take the negative route that, yes, he could be.

A role players, not going to be a consistent guy.

But this is no I think he can be even consistent in the role that he was, But the fact that Dallas Goddter has a quiet night three for thirty eight dots and doesn't look ready to do much of anything. The whole offense is DeVonta Smith, who goes seven for seventy six, has catches a nice touchdown on a really nice throw by Hurts, Like I said, like Hurts had a couple of really high level throws, but it just was a little erratic. It's just all on DeVonta Smith, Saquon and Hurts right now, and Hurts put them on his back. He went thirteen for eighty five and a touchdown on the ground, And like there was chunks of this game where it felt like the only thing they could do is have him go back, have all the time in the world, not find any receivers and then just run for or make a play. But that's a tough way to live, especially against good defenses, and I don't think the Falcons are going to be a good defense. Fourth down decisions, I'll just wrap with this. We're also huge in this game. The Eagles go for one inside the ten yard line early in the game. They don't get it, but they do go for two other fourth downs they do get it, And I just want to point this out. Fourth down on the Falcons. I think it was like the forty eight or so yard line in the third quarter, trailing by one. So they're in their own territory and the Falcons are trailing and they go for it, and that is a play.

If they didn't get it.

I believe it was a fourth and four for the Falcons that if they didn't get it, everyone would be killing Raheem Morris and the analytics and why are you throwing the ball on fourth down when you know you haven't been playing that well, Like, just punt the ball and play defense, and you know what, Kerko backs up, gets good protection like he has all night, hits an easy pass over the middle for the first down, and they score a touchdown along one to Mooney like three plays later. And that's one where the Atlanta Falcons showed a lot of faith in Kirk. They stayed aggressive on offense, and that was a big moment I thought in this scheme. I thought that was a good sense of the game by the Falcons because I think if they had kept giving it up, they were going to keep giving up seventeen play drives. Raheem Morris kind of knew the score there they needed to score. And again that's one where the anti you know, fourth down folks would be honking about it if they didn't get it, and they did get.

It, Yeah, they can stay quiet because look, this is also a team with the new offensive coordinator. I just talked about Kellen Moore with the Eagles, but the same situation with the Falcons. They're still adjusting to who they have with a new quarterback as well, So that's a key moment where you build a little bit of confidence and trust between play caller and quarterback and he delivers and that's going to go a long way over the course of the season.

It was a fourth and four on the forty seven. All right, I think we've hit this Eagles Falcons game enough. It was a lot of fun. It was not a lot of fun for Nick Sirianni. As we go to break, why don't we listen to a little of what Nick Sirianni said after.

The again, in that scenario, I was thinking they might not have any timeouts there, but the obviously they did with with the uh with the incomplete pass, you know, that would have that would have came down to maybe a minute, and so we wanted to go up six points, you know, and it didn't work. So, you know, my the decision to pass it there again, like I said, you know what, they were junking it up inside with it being fourth and three to go for it. I thought, you know, with them not having any timeouts, I wanted to be down a touchdown and and see if they could drive the field. And they did. That's off to them.

Mm hmmm mmm.

So I guess someone did ask about not going for it on fourth down.

He was down. Saquon Barkley was was wearing it too.

Said he he let the team down, and so the Eagles, uh will have to bounce back in week three. We'll bounce back after the break. We're gonna break down what we wish we said on Sunday Night's free gap, but though we said a lot, we're gonna have a lot of news. Man, it was a Newsy injury filled we too. And then we'll wrap up with our players of the week right after this back on NFL Daily and yeah, Nick, we got a lot of news to get to. But before we do that, every Monday Night, we spend exactly two minutes saying all the little nuggets that we wish we had said during the Sunday Night recap. Hit the music, Eric, I think we've kind of forgot to mention that Kingsley Suamtea, the franchise left tackle of the Chiefs, got benched in that game. Trey Hendrickson has been just abusing left tackle, so that is a little something to be concerned about. The Chief sixteenth in DVOA through two weeks, just saying just saying hasn't been great.

I'm not gonna lie when I watch him the combine. I wasn't a big fan of him, so I'm not that surprised. He's just he's got heavy feet as a raw players need time. But speaking of offensive line, Greg, the Saints offensive line is awesome. Their zone scheme is working so well. And for all the concerns we had about Trevor Penning, he's doing a pretty good job in the run game. The way they scheme it up, the way they get tight ends involved, they get Taysom Hill involved, they get a bunch of other people involved. They are creating creases for Alvin Kamara to just run free. There was a couple of touchdowns he scored against Dallas he didn't get touched. I wish I would have talked about that more.

Yes, the Marvin Harrison touchdown where he toe tapped at the back of the end zone was the least probable touchdown of the season, which is amazing because the other Kyler Murray touchdown where he does the figure eights, felt about as least probable as ever.

And Kylie Murray.

Kyler Murray, we found out today actually wasn't watching by the time that second touchdown was caught, but yes, the least probable touchdown of the season. Harrison had point seven yards of separation and was point seven yards from the sideline.

Go Nick, speaking of the least probable catches, the smooth criminal catch. That just tells me everything you need to know about Devonte Adams. He's smiling on the sideline. He is so oh back and I love it for the Raiders.

I should have followed the Petting point up with this. Taysom Hill got hurt on Sunday, and I think that could be a big factor for the Saints.

He's key to a lot of what they are doing.

Matt Lafleur put together a phenomenal offensive game plan in that game against the Colts. He ran that like a college offense that doesn't trust its quarterback, and they didn't need to all the pre snap motions everything else. Super creative, worked to perfection, and that went over the Colts.

People always wonder who's the one in Green Bay in terms of the receiver. Romeo Dobbs is the one. When they need to play, they go to Romeo Dobbs. He gets the most snaps, He's the guy you go to on third down. He is their one. They also love Tucker Kraft getting a lot more snaps than Luke Musgrave.

And finally, as the whistle blows.

We had the Josh Allen experience for a long time, it is now the Anthony Richardson experience.

After watching the game back.

Yeah, I can see that there's a lot of similarities between young A rich and young Josh Allen. All Right, let's get to the news because there are some big old items.

All Right.

The Bryce Young era is over, at least for now in Carolin. Yeah, maybe on hold, maybe over. Yeah, that's more of a take than.

A statement of fact.

But Dave Cadawis, the Carolina Panthers head coach, announced onto on Monday rather that, uh, yeah, he's going to Andy Dalton for Week three against the Raiders and Nick, you know, one of the reasons why I think it might be for good if Andy Dalton stays healthy is that there was no talk of trying to get Bryce Young a little bit of a break and then bring him back or refreshing his mind.

He just benched him, and I.

Think it was partly because of energy and partly because he wants to give this team a better chance to win.

Let's listen to Dave Canals.

I owe it to all the guys, the coaches, the staff, the players, everybody involved to be really critical about what we put on film, about what I'm seeing, and to make sure that I'm constantly making the best decision for the team every week. And it happens to be the quarterback position, and so it's loaded that way, but it's every position, and it's all the guys. And I was able to stand in front of the team and challenge all the guys that we all have to step up our passion for what we're doing, to play with the play style that we're looking for.

The word passion there, I thought was interesting. This is the Pete Carroll, you know, god son.

I don't even know what he.

Is, but he's like his spiritual son, Like Pete Carroll is his guy. And yeah, maybe he wants other members of the team to play with more passion. But you did get a sense maybe Bryce Young he was a little beaten down. His body language and everything was just rough the last couple of weeks, and that.

Was part of the decision making process.

Yeah, I heard a clip of Daniel Jeremia even talking about this or he doesn't look like the guy he was in Alabama, the body language being one of the things. Just can't even complete short passes any more. And also, Greg, we have to think about this contextually. This is a franchise that fired Frank Reich after eleven games last year. This is a franchise that has demonstrated that they lack patience when it comes to, you know, watching things develop and grow. And Dave Canalis is not about to wait to find out whether he's going to be next in the chopping block. He's going to go to the guy that he knows can win them games. The last time eighty Dalton played in a game for the Panthers last year was their best offensive showing of the year, the only game in which they looked really competent. He went for three sixty one and two touchdowns in a ten point loss to the Seahawks on the road last year. So look, I'm not saying he's coaching for his job, but he has a reason to think he might have to coach for his job even after two weeks and anddie Dalton is clearly the better option, even if it means that you're essentially giving up on Bryce Young.

Right, So I think it was a mercy benching. It was absolutely the right decision. I shouldn't have been as surprised about it as it was, because we even talked about it on Sunday that it was that we thought it was getting to that point. I just didn't think that they would do it now. Canalis was also asked whether ownership was involved in this decision, so his answer was not direct. He said he was going to keep that private, but that he spoke to all the important parties in the organization, so you can read into that what you will. Now, I would believe that the conversation would start with Canals, but there's no way to guess, and it doesn't really matter. He did confirm, you know, he talked with the front office heads about the decision, including Dan Morgan, But it came after watching the tape, and I get it like.

It's as tough.

I wanted to watch it before we talked about him, so I did go back and watch that, and I'd watched the first game on Coaches Film, and it was as tough a quarterback tape as I've seen. It was so much worse than it was a year ago. Like we said on the show, yesterday, like he wasn't even attempting throws over ten yards. His last throw, potentially as a Carolina Panther, was a jump pass on fourth down that get batted down by the chart or just full back Medlock or whatever who's also a defensive lineman. And it was one of a couple passes where he had to jump to get over the top of the offensive lineman or the defender, and a couple of times they got batted down. A couple they were incomplete, a couple they were complete, and almost every drive ended with him just throwing short of the sticks on third and long and he just looked shattered. And it sucks, man. It's unprecedented. I went through because I've been covering the NFL since so three, and I was like, I don't think this has ever happened, like a number one overall pick getting benched this early and playing this port. I don't think it's ever happened, And so I did go through it. Josh Rosen is probably the closest, but he wasn't a number one overall pick. For number one overall picks, JaMarcus Russell got bench twenty five starts in that was pretty deep. Into his third season. He had the Mahomes rookie year where he didn't start until the very last game of the season. So that's the only thing that's close. Even that was ten games into his third season, and his second season actually had a lot more positive moments than than Bryce Young's ever had. Alex Smith got bench, but that was like four years in for Troy Smith. I remember them chanting, we want Carr, like deep into that season two for David Carr, who is now our colleague, And I just remember that being a tough moment because Alex Smith was in the game and the fans are chanting. Jamis got bench for Ryan Fitzpatrick. Again, that was four years in, so that's pretty different. And that was actually coming off of suspension and then he got bench later, So like if he doesn't ever make it happen with the Panthers, it's it's pretty unique how poorly this has gone.

Yeah, and not to mention the capitol they gave up to move up. I mean we've already seen the ramifications of the Bear scene, the number one pick and spending it on Caleb Williams this past draft, and it's something that could leave, you know, make waves for multiple years. But again, you live in the now in the NFL, you have to go win this upcoming game, So you totally understand why Dave Canalis went in this direction. It is funny though, you made that point about them not even talking about giving him like a chance to get a breather or grow. Even when Zach Wilson got benched, when Robert Sala put him on the bench, he talked about he needs time to reset and grow, and you know, we believe in him. Even though that didn't pan out. You're not getting any of that from the Panthers, So it doesn't bode well.

No, it makes me wonder if he's a trade candidate now.

I who wants him?

Well, just just because it's uncomfortable, you know, could you get a fifth round pick or whatever.

And the franchise that that once drafted Jimmy class and then followed that up by drafting Cam Newton.

So right, I mean, his struggles now that it's going into a second season are rare for a quarterback taking that high. You know, as rookies like Alex Smith, Eli Manning had struggles like that. But there's always a team that's willing to give up, like a mid round pick to take another swing. I mean, we just saw it happen with Trey Lance. It's a little crazy for it to happen now. But the only reason I even thought of it was because of what you said, Nick, that this has been an organization that is not afraid to turn the page quickly, and even that this decision was made made me think, like, where is the decision coming from exactly? The GM that drafted him technically is not there. The coach that was there when they drafted him is not there, and so maybe the loyalties not there. The odds are that Andy Dalton won't make it through the season healthy based on just how Dalton's gotten hurt pretty quickly when he's played in the last couple of years, including in this preseason. So I don't know if they would bench him, you know, for a third stringer, that would seem that would seem absolutely crazy. They would take a huge cap hit this year at nine million dollars if they traded him during this season. Let's say to like, you know, Mike McDaniel, I don't know, that's not going to happen. Now, It's not going to happen. I don't think and they don't have much cap room either. I'm just spinning wheels because this is just an unprecedented.

Crazy situation.

Yeah, I mean, we'll see how it plays out.

It is really unfortunate because this is a guy who just was super talented at Alabama. And you know, even in that draft, I know we're going a little long and at this point, but even in that draft, I remember it was Bryce Young and CJ. Stroud and it seemed like the consensus was Bryce Young was the runaway QB one and I sat back at the time and I'm not trying to like take a victory lap or anything, but I was like, are.

Are we sure?

Like he is small, he doesn't necessarily he's not going to be going to a situation with the best traits to find success, whereas Stroud's you know, greatest trade was accuracy. Obviously he's in a much better situation. But just hindsight, you know, with the privilege of it, Oh man, what a tough pick.

Right.

It's one of the things that frustrates me about the draft process is.

The total crew things.

Too much group thing from draft analysts, where it just becomes like, well, of course he's has to be one, and like it was really bold for people to get out on a limon say Stroud they like strive better and there were people that liked that. But even though most people it's like they wouldn't have had any Bryce any lower than.

Three or five overall or two.

And yeah, you looked at his size in the NFL, it's a setback for us short guys.

Yeah, I was gonna say, a tough day for short kings.

You know, the short representation. Seriously, I think his size has been a problem. And you can point to Kyler Murray, who is not much taller, but then you can point out, yeah, but Kyler Murray has insane physical gifts, so that's probably what you need to make up for it. Now, Drew Brees didn't have that, and it took him a while to get going. But again, I even think the difference in height between Bryce Young and Drew Brees and the difference in frame actually was pretty significant once you're getting to this point like it's it's maybe I don't know what the word is, where once you get over a certain threshold, like it an extra two or three inches down means a lot, Like, Yeah, Drew Brees was probably not really six feet, but like Brayce Young being five nine, that's a big difference.

Yeah, and the frame usually makes up for it when it comes to sustaining hits too. I mean, oftentimes you got to roll guys out and get him out of the pocket. That's what part of what makes Kyler, you know, special is his scrambling ability, which we talked about at length on yesterday's show.

So this is all depressing me. So I mentioned the Dolphins.

As I'm talking about it, I'm realizing, like, yeah, they're probably not going to do that. But they did sign Tyler Huntley on Monday, and I think that's a really good signing for them. I think he's an NFL quarterback. He was on the Ravens practice squad. He is not going to challenge Skyler Thompson for the starting job, assuming Skyler Thompson is the starter in Week three.

That has not officially.

Been announced, but Mike McDaniel did talk on Monday and made it clear this has nothing to do with Skyler Thompson. We wanted another quarterback, you know, in the room who's a professional, but we believe in Skyler, who's been with them for a couple of years. Now and won the backup and so, you know, listening to that, it would sound like Skyler Thompson will start this week and presumably the next few weeks, but we still don't know how long to a Tongue of Iloa will be out. McDaniel said the next couple of days would be important about making a decision on him. Injured reserve is a possibility, but we just we don't know on that situation. But we're getting Skyler Thompson trying to keep the Dolphin season afloat in the meantime. And one thing I did want to talk about here just quickly is Ian Rappaport reported Sunday, we didn't mention this yet on NFL Game Day morning that to a Tongue of Ioloa has no plans to retire and that the intent is for him to return to football, and so we'll just have to find out how long it'll be till that's possible and whether that does happen.

Yeah, hopefully Skyler plays, you know, well enough better than he did in Thursday nights game. The limited sample size we have on him is not very encouraging at this point, So hopefully for the Dolphin's sake that, you know, a week of preparation gets him in a better situation to perform this week.

Hopefully for our sake. I mean, I'm selfish. I want to see good quarterback play. We're struggling right now.

Like it.

The league hurts when you lose a quarterback like Jordan Now. Malik Willis made it fun for a week. Look, Skyler Thompson made it pretty fun in that playoff game against the Bills, But at this point that's kind of been the highlight of what we've seen out of Skaler Thompson, and there were some struggles. I think that's going to be a challenging matchup for Miami in Seattle this week. Then they have Tennessee and then the Patriots after that coming up as they try to manage their season. There's a lot of teams. I think Atlanta did a nice job managing their season tonight. The Rams are suddenly in a real big manage the season mode. Cooper Cup is expected to miss multiple weeks, What a blow for this team. Potentially could go on injured reserve with the ankle injury that he suffered on Sunday, So they are without Cooper Cup and Pooka Nakua. Can this Rams offense survive shook I mean, if you look at their depth chart, it's not super encouraging. The fact that, you know, we had a player who wasn't really getting any reps with the Buccaneers, Tyler Johnson, you know, making plays for them.

That's not encouraging.

You have a veteran DeMarcus Robinson who's made some plays in spots. You got to to atwell, who's good to take the top off the defense or at least be a decoy. And Jordan Winnington the preseason Darling, that's not what you thought you were going to go into the season with. They're super banged up and it's early and it's never going to be banged up early. But hopefully they get good news on Cup because I don't think we're gonna see Pooka for a while.

I yeah, it sounds like Puga could miss up to two months according to Ian rapport, but injured reserve is still a possibility for Cooper Cup. And when they even throw that out as a possibility, then you think it's more likely. They also got bad news on the injury front losing John Johnson. Their safety is going to be out for an extended time. And then Jonah Jackson, another one of their starting guards, and their big offensive line acquisition, so the offensive line is just absolutely beleaguered. It sounds like all three of those guys could go on injured reserve.

So I actually think they.

Could win with this receiver group if they had a fully intact offensive line and running game in Matthew Stafford, like, I've seen these guys like their NFL players, and we've seen offenses without great receivers survive with a great offensive line, great quarterback, great running game. But the offensive line is totally in shambles. The defense really struggled on Sunday, so that's not helping matters either. And yeah, they have the forty nine ers this week who are dealing with.

Their own injury news.

Deebo Samuel is going to miss an extended period of time multiple weeks. It sounds like for Deebo Samuel just I feel like the fantasy football community has been hit hard. But the forty nine has got to be happy they got Brandon Ayuk in the building. I know he hasn't looked great so far this season, but now with Samuel out, Ayu plays an even bigger role.

H And like you said, he's gotten up to a slow start. He's been a bit of a non factor. And I think some of that is situational, like just scheme Deebo's open Aukes not Maybe he's getting more attention, but after we spent so much time talking about his contract, did not see the payoff early. It stings a little bit. But now we're gonna see. It's gonna be a real test. He's getting thrown into the fire. You know you're gonna earn that money now. So they're a team that's built to withstand this. They are not in a situation like the Rams. They'll be in a better spot.

But still, okay, I hear you. You know they didn't withstand it on Sunday. Now, that was a tough matchup against a Vikings team and gave them trouble last year when they were also banged up. But they're not just without Deebo Samuel, who's vital to everything they do. Just he's involved in so much of what they do. They're missing Deebo Samuel and Christian McCaffrey and Ricky pearsall who is their first round draft pick. Now, we don't know what kind of player Pearsall is going to be at the pro level, but they drafted him in the first round just for a situation like this. So yeah, you have Juwan Jennings and Brandon Ayuk. Look that that's still a better receiver duo than most than many teams have it. And you have George Kiddo is also kind of coming in and out of that game. But the NFC West, we're going to talk about it on Wednesday show with Jordan Rodrigue and Connie Fox. Judge Connie is returning, Oh yeah to the courtroom, and I think we're going to talk a little NFC West there. But it's interesting, you forty nine Ers and Rams were the teams that were that were the on top last year and they're vulnerable right now. The Rams are just trying to survive right now or else. Who knows. They could be oh to four, oh and five, one and five something like that when you look at their schedule.

I have a bit of a comp that might serve the forty nine Ers well during this time in which they're missing so many receiving options, including Christian McCaffrey. Go be the Pittsburgh Steelers, go be a team that lost your penciled in number two in Roman Wilson early in the year in the preseason, and just go win with defense and ugly offense. Just go figure it out. You got Jordan Mason pound in the rock, he got an offensive line that blocks it up. Well, go win that way for a few weeks.

Why not?

Absolutely true?

Good teams find different ways to when we saw it with the Packers and the forty nine Ers are more than capable. Oh and they still have Kyle Shanahan and Nick Bosa, yes, and.

Brock Purdy and Fred Warner who's playing his tailoff.

And Trent Williams, And you're right, they have no excuses, especially with the Rams on the schedule this week. Isaiah Pacheco has a broken fibula. He will miss six to eight weeks. You know, they've also been without Clyde Edwards Hilaire on the NFI list, so he's out for at least two more weeks. They are bringing in Kareem Hunt for a visit, not signed as of yet. That would make sense to me on paper. How big of a loss do you think?

Pachecko is pretty big?

He runs hard, he paces his offense on the ground and they're gonna they're thin in the backfield. But Greg, I do have a fun little insider tidbit. I went to the Cleveland Guardians game on Friday night and guess who I saw at the game. And I was with my friend thing I was like, hey, there's Kareem and they go, why is he here? And I well, he lives here and he doesn't have a job right now. Look who might have a job.

Nothing better, maybe nothing better, But it doesn't matter what you're doing in life. Going to a baseball game just a joy, just a great time. My kids don't even like love baseball that much. They they love going to a baseball game, so it's great time. Kareem Hunt was not the same Kareem Hunt that you remember, but you never know. With some time off, maybe that will help or maybe not. Like Dalvin Cook had time off and it's come back and it never really was. Has been the same same thing with Le'Veon Bell. So we'll see. They could be starting and I'm sure people will be picking up on the old fantasy waiver wire like Carson Steele might be there starting, which is crazy.

It's crazy because he was like largely their fullback or their short yardage situation back.

I don't see him getting a full work.

I know Ryan is there, who was also available for absolutely anyone to sign just a few weeks ago. And yeah, their offense has gotten pretty banged up pretty quickly. Question at left tackle, markis Brown out for maybe most of the season.

Yeah, there, I think there are.

It's fair to ask questions even though they win through all their questions, unlike most teams in the league. All right, let's just roll through a bunch of quick hitters. Injury wise, Justin Herbert X rays were negative after he had an ankle injury, although there's still being a little cagey he might get an mry this week. Harbaugh wouldn't answer that directly. Justin Jefferson as a indicated sounds like it's not going.

To be a major issue.

Kevin O'Connell didn't promise anything, but said Jefferson felt good on Monday, so that's good. Jermaine Johnson, the Jets edge player, did confirm he has a torn achilles. Juwan Bentley, the Patriots linebacker, has a torn pectoral muscle, according to our NFL Network insider, so he might miss the season. He's a valuable player for them, Mike McGlinchey the Broncos their tackle could miss a month more bad news for that offense. And Joe Mixon was getting an MRI on his ankle. If any or all of those stand out to you, feel free to comment on them, Chuck, I would be impressed if you remembered each and everyone and then had one comment fro him. But I think that would not be a pleasant listening experience.

Oh well, no, it wouldn't be. But luckily I have a list in front of me, so I will pop through a couple of them. The Jermaine Johnson injury immediately makes me think about Hassan Radick again, because they are struggling to generate a pass rush and that's a key part of their defense.

Wait, hold it right there, because it is very funny to me how much Eagles fans hate Bryce Huff right now, like everyone.

He was getting the push in the broadcast tonight. There's number zero Bryce Huff. Let's see if he can generate a pass rush. Stonewall by the right, he was.

On the ground, and because they were pointing out in part, but because also you know, he's been a story and he was on the ground so many times, so that's not a good sign when edge player is on the ground. Josh Sweat hasn't really go yeah and done. It's one thing we didn't mention, Like, Yeah, I'm not surprised that Falcons didn't have much of a pass rush. I know they have Matthew Judah and he'll pop for like one, one or two good rushes every once in a while. But I'm a little surprised and disappointed how bad that Eagles pass rush is in the.

Rushes through the interior. Right, Eagles and.

Jets fans are both so mad about this swap. It wasn't actually a trade. The son Reddick was a trade for a third rod pick. Bryce Huff just came in free agency. But like everyone has lost here except for sports talk radio hosts that are just you know, rage, you know, complaining about these moves.

In the words of Kevin Harlan Calamity. Also on this list, the Jill Mixon ankle injury. I didn't see today. I don't know if he came through, but it looked like it might have been our first example of a pretty clear hip drop tackle. Would like to see what happens with that.

Yes, he would too.

He sent out something on social stay in the NFL needs to respond with their actions, and by that he means give and they should have called it on the field. And I suspect he's right. I suspect there will be a fine and they just missed the call on the field.

All right, That is it for news.

We wrap up every show with a little segment I like to call Captain's Corner. I mean, I didn't make it up, but it is time for Captain's Corner, presented by Captain Morgan Nick. Both you and I can present our players that struck our fancy this week.

Why don't you get us going?

Well, you know, if you don't know me, you do know now that I'm an Ohio State fan, born and bred, didn't go there, but raised to be an Ohio State fan. And I've watched Marvin Harrison Junior dominate collegiate defenses for years. So it was a joy to see him pop off for not one, but two relatively long touchdown passes, one very long in his second professional game, especially after he was essentially ignored in his debut. It was a beautiful thing. He is my Captain of the Week because not all did he have a couple of touchdown receptions. Not only did he finally make his mark in his second NFL game, but he became the first rookie to have four plus receptions two or more receiving touchdowns in the first quarter of a game since his dad did it in Week sixteen of nineteen ninety six. Hat tipped NFL Research for unearthing that that is how you make your first mark in the NFL.

I love that pick.

I wanted to get kind of hipster and was like, oh yeah, let's go like Tucker Kraft or something. You know, oh deep dive, you know, great tap dog or you know. Chris o'lobby is doing the small things. He's blocking now, he's making contested catches. But when I saw the screenshot that Nit Nate Tice, our friend sent out of Kyler Murray doing the lebron after that insane touchdown that he had and turning away and looking at the sideline before making what I now believe to be is the throw of a week. He got robbed in our Throw of the Year nomination. Maybe I'll bring that back up once I saw that. That's being a captain right there. So that's just unreal for him to make one of the plays of the year and then turn around and not even watch the touchdown being completed because he knew what was happening. Kyler Murray is he's got a chance to potentially get into the MVP talk. I know it's only two weeks, but he would be a lot of fun. That was the Captain's Corner presented by Captain Morgan. It's delicious and crisp, perfect for game day with friends.

Spice it up.

Visit Captain Morgan dot com to find a captain near you. Please drink responsibly. Yeah, I give that recommendation to you. Nick, You've had a long day and night. It is now one am in Cleveland. Thank you for staying up with me on NFL Daily after cranking out. Everyone should check out Shook's work on the old website bet a great recap for a great game.

Oh yeah, and Thursday you'll get a fresh QB index and I promise there will be some movers and shakers. You can always find that at NFL dot com slash QB index. And that's after, of course, you listen to NFL Daily. You should wow daily listening.

Too many plugs at the end of the show, but I love it. We will be back on NFL Daily. As I mentioned on Wednesday, Jordan rod Reeg and Colleen wolf our Wednesday Crew in the Chris Wesleyan podcast Studio. Yes for the long awaited return of Judge Connie. The Falcon season is alive. False hope that that's how we know football is back.

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