NFL Awards & Week 1 Previews, Predictions, and More!

In this episode, the hosts discuss their award predictions for the upcoming NFL season and preview some of the matchups for the opening weekend of the 2024 season. They also cover topics such as the impact of a shortened training camp on elite receivers, and their thoughts on various NFL teams and upcoming games. They express skepticism about unproven quarterbacks like Jordan Love and Will Levis, and debate the potential of the Rams and Jets this season.

Transcript

Alix Harris (00:03.632)
Hello everybody. Thank you for listening. This is the Colley Shop Podcast with your hosts, Alex Harris and Drew Moore. Today's episode, football is finally here. We're filming on a Wednesday and we finally got Thursday night football happening tomorrow and then the full -fledged games happening this weekend. So in this episode, we're going to get into some of the award predictions that we have for the 2024 -2025 season, as well as preview a few of those matchups that we have for this upcoming weekend. Before that, Drew has had a couple of questions for you. You know, we had the news with Jamar Chase coming back to practice after doing the holdout with

kind of like a lot of the receivers like IUK and CD Lamb. I know it talks about a little bit ahead of time. Do you have any concern about like kind of these elite receivers that a lot of people are drafting high in their fantasy leagues and stuff like that, not having a full training camp before going into the season? have any injury concern or risk with them?

Drew (00:50.444)
mean, there's always going to be the injury concern going into the season. We saw what happened during the COVID year where there wasn't that preseason. And a lot of players ended up going in and trying to build up that tolerance to a regular game, but nothing can simulate the real thing. No matter how hard you go at practice, no matter what you do in your return to sport protocols, there's still going to be that aspect of, OK, this is actually a game that guy under the sun is trying to rip my head off.

and can't simulate that. So that being said, is there increased injury risk? Yeah, 100%. But am I concerned that these guys are gonna go out there and just like, you know, tear their ACL? I don't think it's that drastic, but I do think that it is something to keep an eye on for sure.

Alix Harris (01:41.296)
pressure. All well, we can hop right into it. So do you have an award that you feel most confident in for this season? Whether it be MVP, defensive player of the year, coach of the year, anything like that, we can get started there.

Drew (01:53.018)
I wanted to, I really wanted to start with the, with my MVP, but then I'm having, second guesses about it because I had alluded to it last, last week with it being Joe Burrow.

Alix Harris (02:10.048)
Mm -hmm. That's what it was for me last year, and then you know what happened then

Drew (02:13.322)
And well, see, that's the thing. That's the thing. It's like we saw that before the injury, know, the bangles are notorious for starting slow. So that was almost to be expected. But then, you he also was going in with an injury as well, too, with the calf and stuff. he was saying he was downplaying the injury ultimately. And I was making a joke about, you know,

Like my, would hold out too and like I probably wouldn't play too if I just got paid, made all that money. Like my caffords too. Exactly. And so, but you know, ultimately ended up being like an actual thing that lingered into the season. Even though he said that he was fine, he wasn't. And then went out and as weeks went on, it got better and better. But then he ended up having, I believe it was like a flexor tendon rupture. Wasn't able to grip the ball.

Alix Harris (02:48.26)
What's the motivation?

Drew (03:09.19)
And so we ended up seeing the end of Joe Burrow for that season. But let's not forget what he was doing prior to that. He was putting up the same numbers that he was that same year that they went to the Super Bowl. And so if he would have stayed on that pace, which I believe that he can, that would have put him in the MVP conversation. not to discount Lamar Jackson's MVP last year, but it was really survival of the fittest, honestly, because

You know, couldn't give it to Mahomes because he finally had like a down year in his context of a down year. And then you also had Josh Allen that was statistically actually playing pretty decently, but at the same time he was costing his team games because they'd be like the ball would bounce off the back of somebody's head in the end zone and then would deflect off somebody's shoe and then it'd get intercepted returned for a touchdown. So there was a lot of bad luck. There was also some bad decision as well too by Josh Allen.

And so, then with Dak and everything too, like sure, he was having an MVP caliber season and statistically on PFF, he was, you one of the top three quarterbacks, but at the same time, he wasn't at the caliber and playmaking as Lamar Jackson. And he also didn't have the wins on his side too. And his losses, they were, they were very ugly too, which

Alix Harris (04:18.327)
-huh.

Drew (04:37.646)
doesn't help with an award that is ultimately, well, angry. But with that award being, I don't wanna say it's subjective, but you're trying to also handicap the committee as well and what the perspective is on it, which is why you never see like a running back. Well, we haven't really seen a running back win it in the past, what, 10 or so years or something like that. And then you haven't really seen

Alix Harris (04:40.688)
when you lose to the Cardinals.

Drew (05:07.19)
any wide receivers, I don't think a wide receiver has ever won it. otherwise that's why we have the offensive player of the year, which pretty much goes to any other position other than quarterback. So, but that's my two cents on it. I'm still going to stick with my boy IceCode Joe Burrow. I'm doing it back to back season. So, you know, hopefully this time. Yeah.

Alix Harris (05:16.726)
skill player positions.

Alix Harris (05:24.912)
Okay, fair enough.

Alix Harris (05:29.958)
we both had Joe Burrow last year. I think. Yes, that's crazy. OK. I'm not going to lie to you. I kind of wanted to go with your boyfriend last year and in Josh Allen, because I thought that with, know, Stefan Diggs gone last year or last this year that he kind of would just kind of have like an MVP caliber season. But they kind of started to lean a lot more to the run with James Cook towards the end of the season. Plus, I really don't think they're going to a lot of.

that many games, I just don't think they're going to be a playoff team. I think they can honestly win the division. They're actually my division winner. But like you're talking about, I don't think they're going to be on the upper echelon of teams, which is why, you know, I'm going with the chalk and I'm going to go with Patrick Mahomes. I think that the defense, I think that the defense is not necessarily as good as last year. You did lose some key pieces to free agency. And then I think that this is going to be the best receiving core that Patrick Mahomes has had since his rookie and sophomore year when they had Tyra Kill and Prime Travis Kelsey.

with the additions of Xavier worthy. They just signed Ju Ju. You still have Rishi Rice there. And then Mark is Hollywood Brown, even though he's coming into the season banked up. I just think that they actually have a good play through of repons and they're going to be basically all in on trying to go for this three p and first time in Super Bowl history. So I feel like Patrick Mahomes, as long as everybody stays healthy, is going to be my MVP. And I did want to throw Josh. I did really want to go with Josh Allen, though, but I couldn't do it. I couldn't.

Drew (06:44.366)
Yeah, I was laboring on Josh too. you know, it was looking mighty tempting as well. But at the same time, I was like, okay, who does he have on his team? Sure, that I would make exactly that would make that would set him up for success pretty well in terms of if they have a winning season and they make the playoffs and stuff like that too. And the record looks good. And, you know, he's taking care of the ball. Like then it's it's like, okay, like that team is only Josh Allen.

Alix Harris (06:57.262)
I'm Kian Coleman.

Drew (07:14.178)
Versus like the Bengals, you have Jamar Chase, you have Higgins, you got, I don't wanna say Zach Moss, but Chase Brown, Zach Moss, they're there. And so there's other aspects of it that can influence the overall performance of Joe Burrow's season versus Josh Allen where it's looking like it's just gonna be him pretty much.

Alix Harris (07:14.576)
Mm -hmm.

Alix Harris (07:21.69)
Chase Brown.

Alix Harris (07:41.072)
True, which could be good or bad for MVP numbers if he wants to put it all together or not. But I just think that the high turnover rate and the volatility that we've been known for him to have, he's Superman. But like there's going to be those games where he kind of has those dead games against teams that you expect them to win against like the Jets and things like that. And he's going to have high turnovers and stuff of that nature. So I just feel like for that reason, I couldn't fully pull the trigger. defensive player of the year, we can move on to that next.

Drew (07:43.597)
Yeah.

Drew (08:01.378)
Yeah.

Drew (08:09.198)
Spence of Player of the Year, I I want talk about chalk. I don't, I, that's tough. I believe last year I went with Mike Parsons. If not, then I'm doing it again. So yeah, cause I mean, it was really his award last year, but I mean, it just kind of slipped away and he got hurt and then so he wasn't really on the field. And then so it was like, well, can you...

Alix Harris (08:15.321)
Yeah

Alix Harris (08:22.281)
Mm -hmm. I'm gonna say I'm going with Micah as well.

Drew (08:38.04)
really give it to him if there's other players that are dominating every every single. Yeah, and and then it was also. almost a J. J. What TJ Watt to who was who was dominating and pretty much single handedly keeping the the Steelers alive and then so that kind of overshadowed like a Parsons as well. So. With that, I think that there's some added motivation. Coming into this season, because.

Alix Harris (08:41.54)
Miles Garrett was killing it.

Drew (09:07.49)
He really does feel, and I think there's a lot of people also that feel like it is his award to lose. Granted, Miles Garrett, you literally cannot block him. So there's that aspect of it. And even if it doesn't always show up in the stats, in terms of the influence that he has on the play, it's second to none. However, I do think that there is a little bit of...

flugaziness with the Browns defense last year, because how is it that you can be that drastically different on offense or on at home versus away? I think that their their overall defense is more so somewhere in between as opposed to where it was or where it finished last year being like exactly. And I mean, it ultimately did come back to the pack, but

Alix Harris (09:48.377)
Amen.

Alix Harris (09:58.074)
Borderline Historic.

Drew (10:05.05)
I think that we're going to see a little bit more regression there because they did lose some key pieces in the linebacking core and the secondary as well. However, they did also sure up some of those losses too. So we'll see if they can, I wouldn't necessarily say they sure enough, but they replaced them. But you can always hide a bad secondary with an elite offensive line. So I think that.

that ultimately we'll see what happens between those two. I don't really think that, well, mean, TJ was always in the running, but I don't really think that he's gonna be in the running at the end of the season. He's probably gonna get hurt just like his brother. And if Mike Parsons can stay healthy, then I think it's his award.

Alix Harris (10:42.136)
Mmm.

Alix Harris (10:53.162)
I pretty much agree with you on that situation. The Cowboys defense, don't think it's going to be necessarily as good as it was last year, I guess, in the past couple years. They lost some of the key additions as well. But I think that Michael Parsons is just elite and just causes havoc on the field. He's inconsistent at times, but I think that overall he has talked about it on his podcast and stuff like that. He is really trying to go for the Super Bowl and he is trying to go for the defensive player of the year. That's something that he really wants.

Drew (10:58.529)
No.

Alix Harris (11:18.576)
One person that I did see that was kind of like high on like the odds that was like I almost thought of it as like a dark horse, but I guess he ended up being fourth or fifth. So you have like the key people that you'd expect. So the Micah Parsons, the Miles Garrett, Nick Bosa and TJ Watt. But what do you think about what do you think about Max Crosby possibly having a chance to get about this very underrated defender? He's getting his flowers now over the past couple of years because everybody's been talking a lot more about him. But.

Drew (11:37.069)
You know?

Alix Harris (11:44.43)
When you talk about like the best defenders in the league, you don't really necessarily bring him up. But should we as a potential defensive player that you can do?

Drew (11:52.28)
I mean, think so. I mean, he's always it's a known thing that dude is dominant on the D line. Yeah. And like, whenever it comes to whenever it gets to me back, whenever it came to the Ravens, the Raiders defense, it was usually him. It wasn't exactly. And that's the thing that's that's really going to help him out. And that that could help him even when the the sack title.

Alix Harris (11:58.746)
talk about motor.

Alix Harris (12:12.25)
They got Christian Wilkins this off season.

Drew (12:22.216)
this year as well. Because before you could just double team him and he would still get to the quarterback. But now with Christian Wilkins, he's going to take up a lot of space, he's going to take up a lot of attention. And so you can't do that same kind of scheme against Max Crosby. It's going to be him on an island more often than not. And I think that that's going to bode pretty well. And again, talk about

Alix Harris (12:27.32)
every play.

Drew (12:51.352)
having a good D line to hide a bad secondary, like their secondary is trash. But, you know, with that, that's a pretty damn elite defensive line that they have going out there. So we'll see how that ends up playing out. I mean, that is a nice pick for a dark horse though, I do agree.

Alix Harris (13:10.48)
So fair enough. So we're get into moving on to offensive player of the year. I'll get a start at first. And I'm still mad because I'm a stick of the same pick that had last year that should have won. Boy, cheetah Tyree kill. Ultimately, C -Mac ended up edging him out because Tyree kill was very much on pace for the 2K receiving yards up until I think re 13. And then he kind of battling with those injuries, ended up missing week 15 and then didn't have a single game over 100 from week 14 until week 18. So I do think that him coming into.

this season, fully healthy, was kind of dealing with that hand injury in the offseason. But I think we both assume that he's going to be all right and is fully healthy going into the season. That would be my pick as long as him and to stay healthy again. I don't see why he wouldn't be in the running every single every single year. And he just got his extension to and finished as number one voted by the NFL players as the best player in the NFL, which is very surprising to me because I was the first time that I've seen like the NFL top 100 where a quarterback did not win. So that was really surprising.

Drew (14:06.126)
Yeah, mean, I will for my fantasy, for my fantasy team, I do hope that that he stays healthy. I have him in I think just about all of my leagues. yeah, and I mean, yeah, he, he talked about how he wants to get, you know, to 2000 yards, he wants to break that that marker. And, you know, he was

Alix Harris (14:13.36)
I'm saying sir

Drew (14:32.276)
on pace to do it and there was no reason why he wouldn't have done it if he didn't stay healthy. It's not like, like he just started to regress. Like he was, he was still, you know, putting up numbers. It was just a matter of not being able to get enough separation like he usually would and being not being as explosive. So I like that pic. However, I now hear me out.

Alix Harris (14:43.184)
Mm.

Drew (15:01.838)
me out. So, okay. So while Tyreek Hill is an elite wide receiver, I believe that we could see a potentially historic season from AJ Brown, okay? Yeah. So are we we forgetting that this man's was on pace for, well actually he actually did set the record.

Alix Harris (15:01.968)
boy. Rico Daddle.

Alix Harris (15:12.418)
huh. huh.

Alix Harris (15:21.028)
Hey, J Brown.

Drew (15:31.566)
for the most consecutive games over 100 receiving yards. This man was on a mission, okay? And it will. Exactly. So let me just take a look at his weekly stats here. So we go 79 yards against the Patriots. Okay, that's cute. Okay, 29. Whoa, shit, okay, that's not great. Okay, let's bounce back, 131.

Alix Harris (15:37.338)
Mm -hmm.

Alix Harris (15:41.134)
Jalen Hurts forgot how to play football and only knew how to throw it to A .J. Brown.

Drew (15:59.726)
175 127 131 135 or 137 130 66 8 yards you don't talk about that know so you shouldn't stuff happens you know 37 you know know about that you know 114 94 54 you don't talk about that 56 you know 80 53 and then you know he didn't even really play in the naming it's a giant blast game so but that being said this man's

Alix Harris (16:09.07)
Pfft

Alix Harris (16:13.85)
Mm -hmm.

Alix Harris (16:23.877)
Mm -hmm.

Drew (16:28.704)
is pretty much unguardable. He is as big as DK Metcalf might even be bigger might be or DK is a little bit bigger but same same kind of build and he can jump just as high as Justin Deverson. He can get all the contested catches just like Michael Thomas. We don't even know what to talk about that. Let's talk about that but

Alix Harris (16:30.66)
huh.

Alix Harris (16:36.218)
Nope.

Mm -hmm.

Alix Harris (16:48.186)
Alix Harris (16:53.488)
Where's Michael Thomas?

Drew (16:58.49)
that's all right. He's a hardworking man. Okay. but you know, moral of the story is I think that this is gonna be a bounce back season. Jalen Hurts was playing hurt for the majority of the season. Sure, you know, they have, they have Saquon back there now to where they can rely a little bit more on the run. But at the same time, I believe that the key to the Eagles offense going is going to be through AJ Brown. And

Alix Harris (16:58.628)
He's looking for work.

updated his LinkedIn profile.

Alix Harris (17:17.443)
huh.

Drew (17:27.374)
What we saw last year is that that man is literally unguardable. I think that if they can, well, on top of adding Saquon Barkley, if they can utilize him in a way to where you have to have the defense respect that, then that's gonna leave more opportunity for him over the top. Because I mean, last year with the running backs that they had, I'm like, come on, come on, can it gain well? For no reason, for no reason.

Alix Harris (17:31.341)
Mm -hmm. Yeah.

Alix Harris (17:44.336)
hehe

Alix Harris (17:51.79)
Hey, Deontay Swift got his bag, bruh. He got a bag from the Bears. He was cooking.

Drew (17:57.154)
He was, I don't know what say about that. But anyways, that's who my pick is.

Alix Harris (18:01.584)
I don't hate it and finishes the wide receiver five in fantasy last year. Yeah, I just think that he's going to be another great receiver. He's going to have another great season. Eli kind of transition from like one of those like 70 reception guys that ends up kind of being like a deep threat on the Titans to this situation with the Philadelphia Eagles where he is the number one guy. But I just think that you have just too many mouths to feed for him to be like the upper echelon receivers with Devante Goddard still there. And they traded for Johan Dotson, which I still don't know.

commanders did that I was upset about that and then with Saekwon but I think that he is still going to be elite you know I mean I don't mind that pick at all so moving on we can go you said what moving on we can go to offensive rookie of the year do you have anything other than Caleb Williams my gosh I wanted to change it up but I could not so I'm glad that one of us did I ain't Homer

Drew (18:39.662)
I not.

Drew (18:53.312)
Yes.

Drew (18:58.22)
You are a homer. That's what you are.

Alix Harris (19:01.121)
I wanted to choose Jane Daniels, I couldn't do it.

Drew (19:03.65)
That's fair. Not a take.

Alix Harris (19:07.056)
Don't tell don't you

Drew (19:08.714)
What? You don't even know what say. What am I gonna say? What am gonna say? I mean, I mean, come on. Like, talk about you your daddy's son. that man's is the, one of the highest touted prospects that we've seen in quite some time at the receiver position. And I believe that he is going to live up to the hype.

Alix Harris (19:10.128)
No, you don't. I mean, there's only three picks. Are you going say Marvin Harrison, Jr.?

Alix Harris (19:19.084)
Okay.

Mm -hmm.

Alix Harris (19:34.787)
huh.

Drew (19:38.518)
We've seen that Kyler, when he's in an offense where he's healthy, he can carry a wide receiver one and then some. Each wide receiver that's played with Kyler, each time that he's been healthy, I should say, he's been able to carry them over a thousand yards receiving. And I believe that Marvin Harrison can get to that mark. think his projection...

in Vegas odds or around 1 ,000 yards or something like that. I think that he can get over 1 ,000 yards, especially because they're going to have an absolutely terrible defense. It's going to be one of the worst in the league. I don't think it's going to be quite historically bad, but I do think that they're going to struggle a lot to stop a nosebleed with that being. Well, Yeah, Buddha against the world. Exactly. No hand in hand.

Alix Harris (20:11.587)
Mm

Alix Harris (20:29.85)
God Buddha, that's all he need. Buddha in prayer.

Drew (20:36.428)
But I do think that with that aspect in mind, they're going to need to throw the ball because they're going to be likely to be down a lot. And they are projected to be one of the higher scoring teams in the league. And when Kyler came back last year, he was kind of cooking. He was able to carry that offense and turn them from a bottom tier, mid tier offense into, I wouldn't say a top tier, like an upper.

Alix Harris (20:54.431)
yeah.

Drew (21:05.782)
upper middle, upper middle class kind of offense. I mean, with Trey McBride out there too, that's going to draw some attention. outside of Trey McBride, guess James Connor, but like, you know, okay, like there's not really anybody that's out there that's going to get that attention or that's going to take away his targets. And he's not going to have

Alix Harris (21:07.096)
Mhm. Pub average.

Alix Harris (21:21.368)
Yeah, yeah.

Drew (21:35.766)
as much attention on him. So he's gonna be able to dominate the dojo like none other. And I believe that we're gonna see another historic season from a rookie wide receiver.

Alix Harris (21:49.04)
Yeah. So recent rookie wide receivers, know, we've had the Garrett Wilson, we've had Jamar Chase. I just think that if he said that he thinks he's going to go over a thousand yards, I think if he gets like 1100 yards and like seven touchdowns and, but you know, Caleb Williams has like 25 touchdowns and 3 ,500 yards, I think that they're just going to give the nod to the quarterback, especially with how, even though that, you know, Marvin Harrison Jr. has been like an elite prospect from a wide receiver position, but like Caleb Williams was.

one of those generational talents that people are saying high prospects since like, I don't know, Trevor Lawrence or whatever. So I think that if the Bears actually do have a good season, which a lot of them, even us are kind of expecting them to have a borderline playoff team. Some people have them as a Dark Horse Super Bowl candidate, which I think is kind of ridiculous, but they did give him a, a, the perfect situation. You want to talk about what Justin Fields had, like he had the polar opposite. You know, we got Kenan Allen, got DJ Moore still there. I got Roman Dunze, you got Cole Komet and you know, they added

running backs and stuff like that. So I think that, you know, Caleb Williams just has just a perfect situation going into this season. So that would be my pick. I did want to like I said, I did want to say Jane Daniels, but I don't think that he has any weapons outside of Terry McClure. And especially, like I said, the commander's traded away John Dotson, who was a very solid number two receiver for them to the Philadelphia Eagles and in division trade, which doesn't make any sense to me. But if I had to choose a number two, it'd probably be him with Marvin Harrison as a close second or third. So that's

Pretty solid right there.

Drew (23:14.83)
Yeah, mean, I'm like my main thing too is like, I there's just so much hype around Caleb Williams and like, obviously he was he was great and everything. But I just I just think that whenever you get this much hype around an athlete, it's very hard to live up to that. And how often are we 100 percent correct on these top overall picks? Right. You know, we Josh Rosen.

Alix Harris (23:42.873)
every year for me.

Drew (23:44.334)
Yeah, Josh Rosen. Never forget. I'm not saying he's gonna be Josh Rosen, but I'm just saying, like, you know, there's more often than not, we're wrong about these, you know, highly touted prospects coming out of college. And we're just jumping the gun, saying like, this guy, this guy is basically Peyton Manning 2 .0 mixed with Tom Brady. And I'm like, okay, like, let the guy play an NFL game first. And then we can

Alix Harris (23:46.224)
You think the K -Way Williams is gonna be Josh Rosen?

Alix Harris (23:59.248)
Mm -hmm.

Alix Harris (24:11.994)
Mm -hmm.

Drew (24:12.958)
against NFL competition and then we can actually judge him. Sure he's making throws against second string corners and backups and stuff. I don't hate him. I just think we need to have some more realistic expectations for my guy.

Alix Harris (24:21.392)
Drew Hayes, Caleb Williams. Fair enough. Fair enough. So I'll get us started here with coach of the year. I did have a couple options last year. I ended up going with Dan Campbell, who I think would have won it if it wasn't for the fact that the Browns like somehow were able to like play like four or five different quarterbacks and like into the season with Joe Flacco and still go like 11 and six. So they ended up having to give it to Kevin Stefanski.

Drew (24:38.273)
Yes.

Alix Harris (24:49.476)
So in this situation, I'm going to go with Rikim Morris of the Falcons. I think that the Falcons are going to be a much improved team, especially with Kirk Cousins and all the additions that they've had there over the past couple of years. I think that now that you have a competent quarterback that can throw them the ball to Drake London and Kyle Pitts and B. John Robinson and everything like that, and even Darnell Mooney, who I think is going to get a.

Drew (24:56.715)
I know.

Alix Harris (25:12.272)
good third or fourth option. I just think that they're gonna be a playoff team. I think they're gonna win the division and I think they're gonna probably win 10 games and if that happens, think three more has to be the coach of the year, former Rams offensive coordinator and I think he's gonna, you know, open up that offensive lap. So that will be my pick. So who you got?

Drew (25:29.644)
Wow, interesting. mean, you know, it's low hanging fruit for being honest. It's easy pick. I mean, you know, no, I mean, because they at least have to be have potential to be good. I don't think that Matt Everford is good. But all the Bear's fans right now are just like sending me hate mail, but that's okay. But no, like

Alix Harris (25:36.845)
okay. Okay, of course. Could have said the could have said Chicago's head coach.

Alix Harris (25:46.445)
What is - I think -

Alix Harris (25:52.932)
Right, I'm gonna clip all of these through.

Drew (25:58.348)
I think that, know, Raheem Morris, he is a very good coordinator. And now that doesn't always translate to being a great head coach, as we saw with Arthur Smith. Because Arthur Smith was one of the best coordinators that's out there. And we saw what happened when he was on the Falcons. Now, Raheem Morris is coming from the McMay tree, which is good. We like that.

Alix Harris (26:06.148)
-huh.

Drew (26:26.994)
And so does Kirk Cousins. He likes that. But at the same time, you know, he said that he's going to be running a lot of schemes that they were doing in LA. And they're going to have, I think they said that they're going to use Drake London more in the Cooper Cup role and everything too, which is why I've been pretty high on him. Not only that, because he also doesn't have Desmond Redder throwing in the ball, which helps.

Alix Harris (26:29.988)
-huh.

Alix Harris (26:56.366)
Most definitely.

Drew (26:56.526)
I do think that he does have a very good clear shot, I should say, to winning that award. New team, and you have all these all -star players. But I think realistically, for him to get the Coach of the Year, he's going to have to win the division and probably win at least 10, 11 games.

Alix Harris (27:21.946)
Check. Check.

Drew (27:25.132)
So we'll see if he can do that. And if he can, then I think it's right there for him. But again, we said the same thing about Dan Campbell last year too. And so, I mean, ultimately, there was a bunch of candidates that probably should have had their name in the hat. their name in the hat. Yeah, that's what I meant. Name in the hat. And then they just kind of got.

Alix Harris (27:35.31)
Yes, BS.

Drew (27:54.966)
Trying to the short end of the stick.

Alix Harris (27:55.204)
mean,

Drew (28:00.908)
Yeah, but I mean, mean, Ryan's like should have won too, though. Like he had offensive, offensive rookie of the year, defensive rookie of the year. Like you.

Alix Harris (28:09.876)
Mm -hmm. And probably a lower projected wind total than the Browns did coming into that season, especially with Deshaun Watson talk.

Drew (28:14.774)
Yeah, they had, I think they had, it was like a five, I think it was five, five and a half or so win total. And like, end up making the playoffs and winning a game in the playoffs. Like, come on. Like, even though it's a regular season war, but you know, that's the other hero there. Anyways, all that to be said, not a bad pick, but it's low hanging fruit. My pick is going to be your boy, Mike McDonald.

And you know, this is all based on, like I said before, there's a few different criteria that need to go into play. They need to... I am not, I am not.

Alix Harris (28:53.37)
Are you becoming a Seahawks fan in front of our iStream? Like slowly but surely you pick them over the 49ers to win the division and now you have their coaches the coach of the year?

Drew (29:01.378)
I mean, it's got to correlate, right? You know, you can't just be like, I think they're gonna win the division and then not having win coach of the year, right? Because if you win that division, like you were saying yourself, that's a top tier division. That's gonna be.

Alix Harris (29:03.274)
Okay.

Alix Harris (29:10.597)
Mm -hmm.

Alix Harris (29:16.716)
If Kyler is healthy and the Cardinals are competent, I think it's the best division of football.

Drew (29:22.264)
Potentially potentially and so with that that being said, you know the the trophies right there for him new head coach new offensive scheme and Yeah

Alix Harris (29:31.952)
Yes. Coming into a good team, though, like you gonna have to win, like you said, like at least like three or four additional. That's like an 1112 win team. I'm loving it. If you're saying that you think we're going win 12 games.

Drew (29:39.47)
Yeah. And I think, I think all he needs to do is win the division. And I think that that that is 100 % in play. I don't think that the I don't think that the award is going to go to like, for example, Andy Reid. So like, it doesn't always go to the best head coach, it always goes to the coach that's in

Alix Harris (30:05.242)
Right.

Drew (30:08.034)
the best situation to show improvement. And, you know, with the Falcons, there is that aspect of it. Granted, it's like, you know, anybody, I feel like anybody could have done a better job than what Arthur Smith is doing out there. You can get some kids playing Madden and do a better job.

Alix Harris (30:11.364)
huh.

Alix Harris (30:24.336)
I mean, the Falcons only won one less game I think than the Seahawks did last year, with Desmond Ritter.

Drew (30:29.398)
Yeah, and so with I mean, but they also should have won a lot more games than that and and you know the I won't go down that ever hole anyways moral of the story is Mike McDonald now we saw what he was able to do with the with the defense for the Ravens last year making them a top one or two or three team on the defensive end

Alix Harris (30:34.682)
I'm

Alix Harris (30:55.3)
Yeah, I mean, yeah.

Drew (30:57.394)
And he really turned around Kyle, not Kyle Williams, why am I missing him? Kyle Hamilton, Kyle Hamilton's career and made him kind of like a, like a utility player in the secondary to where he was, he was kind of mixed around all throughout exactly. And so then the Seahawks have a lot of talent back there and a lot of, okay, and a lot of

Alix Harris (31:16.196)
to do it all.

Alix Harris (31:23.789)
Yeah

Yeah, and we young He's only like 29 30 it's he's a D tackle it's okay

Drew (31:27.214)
a lot of raw talent too. It's not just like much old foot. Well, we got Leonard, they got Leonard Williams. He's like, he's like 50. Anyways, yeah. So they do have a lot of young talent in the secondary and that can mimic that, that Kyle Hamilton role as well. And I mean, they also bring in Grubb who, who was able to have Michael Pennex be, you know,

a sneaky top 10 pick that nobody really predicted was going to go to the Falcons, but he was able to be a top 10 pick. And then he also had Romeo Adunze, who was also a top draft pick as well too. I think that if you're able to have a heavy pass offense with a offense that has DK Metcalfe,

Geno Smith is Geno Smith. But, you know, he, he can also apparently be a quarterback whisperer. Okay, relax. know, blind squirrel will eventually find that.

Alix Harris (32:26.116)
Hey man, he was an MVP candidate two years ago. He was! The season that Dak had last year is borderline almost what Gino had two years ago. Not as many passing yards, but it's okay.

Drew (32:37.954)
Gross. But I think that, you know, that he can also turn the offense around and he wants to use Kenneth Walker as well. And I think that's a better option than using Zach Charbonneau, even though Zach Charbonneau is okay. like, would you, why would you minimize like your, your highly touted running back that you, that you are kind of building your team around, like the future around.

Alix Harris (32:55.236)
Good number two.

Drew (33:08.67)
and then use Zach's harper names that make some sense to me. So I believe that he will be smarter than Pete Carroll and not be as hard -headed either. We love Pete Carroll. He's great. But sometimes you gotta cut the cord.

Alix Harris (33:12.644)
huh.

Alix Harris (33:22.661)
OG.

So let me try to get you on record here. So you have the Seahawks beating the 49ers in the division. You have the Seahawks winning the division in one of the better divisions in the NFL. Do you have them as a potential number one seed in the NFC? Maybe a little playoff buy or something? Okay. Not that far.

Drew (33:43.372)
No, I'm not delusional. No, I still think that it's going to be the Eagles that gets the one seed in the NFC. But I do like the Seahawks quite a bit this year, for sure.

Alix Harris (33:54.488)
Fair.

Alix Harris (34:00.592)
Seahawks fan. It's kind of ironic because the Seahawks are starting to come back up and the Saints are continuing to go back down to their depths of mediocrity.

Drew (34:04.915)
I mean, nah, I'm just pointing out the stats. Alright.

Alix Harris (34:10.97)
So am I. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I'm just pointing out your stats. okay, fine. Moving on. So that is our award predictions for this upcoming season. We can start to get into previewing some of these games that we have coming up, specifically going with Thursday Night Football as we have the Chiefs taking on the Ravens in the AFC Championship rematch. Got some new faces. Hollywood, as we mentioned, is not going to be playing. He's already been ruled out. But we do have Derek Henry as the new

big addition for the Ravens in this upcoming season. So Drew, who do you have winning this game and what are your expectations, I guess, for both teams going into the seasons? Both of them have very high expectations within the AFC and kind of Super Bowl aspirations. So Chief's going for the first three -peat Super Bowl history, NFL history, and the Ravens are just trying to, you know, break through.

Drew (35:00.019)
I mean, we have a couple things here. The biggest thing with Lamar Jackson going into the season is, you know, can he win the big one? And that's going to be kind of labeled all over him for the rest of his career if you can't, because, know, you can win all the MVP's and all the awards that you want. But at the end of the day, it comes down to rings. And. No, yeah, exactly. And so that's that's the thing.

Alix Harris (35:23.716)
Gotta face Michael Jordan in the playoffs though.

You

Drew (35:29.014)
It's like, I think that the Chiefs were very fortunate as well too, to, in some of the situations that they've been put in to, A, get to the Super Bowl and a couple different scenarios where, you know, against the Bengals a few years back, you know, their linebacker hit the dude out of bounds and then that moved the ball forward. Exactly. And then they ended up winning the game like that.

Alix Harris (35:51.68)
Don't push me when I'm five steps out of bounds. Patrick Mahomes, don't touch me.

Drew (35:58.542)
And then against the Bills, you know, so like, it's, I feel, I feel bad for some of these teams. Cause you know, one small, like literally 13 seconds difference or one instance difference. Like you don't hit the guy out of bounds. You actually tackle somebody and you don't just let them just run up the sideline. And you know, those franchises teams are completely different.

Alix Harris (35:58.8)
Mm -hmm.

Alix Harris (36:05.04)
I don't.

Alix Harris (36:12.922)
Mm -hmm.

Alix Harris (36:20.281)
Mm -hmm.

Alix Harris (36:26.464)
-huh.

Drew (36:27.564)
you know, maybe we're not even talking about Patrick Mahomes going and sticking together with Travis Kelce. Travis Kelce is already retired and stuff. But all that to be said, I think that the biggest thing for Lamar Jackson is, you know, if he can at least make it to the Super Bowl, I think that that is going to be a bigger step because then it's like, okay, we know that we can at least

Alix Harris (36:35.824)
Mm

Drew (36:55.572)
get past the Chiefs, because we know the Chiefs are going to be there, let's be honest. So we at least know that we can get past the Chiefs. And that's the biggest bugaboo that everybody has in the AFC is, okay, we have no hope. Exactly. They at least have that in their mind. It's like, okay, if we get there, we have a chance versus other teams. They're like, okay, we got there now. Like, well, damn, they have our number. Exactly. So

Alix Harris (37:06.948)
Yeah, the Bengals, the only team that can beat them that have beat them.

Alix Harris (37:18.842)
Hope somebody else knocks him off.

Drew (37:23.247)
And then with the Chiefs, you like you've been saying, this is one of the best teams that Patrick Mahomes has had and as if he needed more help, you know, he has the guy to take off the top and Xavier Worthy, he has Travis Kelsey underneath as always. And he's got Isaiah Pacheco running like a cocaine addict out there. so yeah, Raishi Rice too.

Alix Harris (37:42.288)
We got your boy Rishi, you know, and we got Jutu back on the team too. Look at that. Hey, leading receiver.

Drew (37:50.442)
And, you know, we only got to talk about Juju, but, yeah, he's, he is, he is on the team, if need be. yeah.

Alix Harris (37:57.04)
I think he is listed as like the fifth string behind Rishi Xavier Hollywood. Hollywood's not even playing he's still behind Hollywood. Anyway, we love you Juju.

Drew (38:07.09)
It makes sense. But yeah, and so I think that, you know, it's going to be, obviously it's going to be a close game, you know, it's only a three point spread. So basically it's even. And with it being in Kansas City, I...

Alix Harris (38:26.736)
Say it with me. Cheese by four.

Drew (38:28.76)
It's.

It's tough because the Ravens did lose some key pieces on the defensive end, but everywhere that you look, it's still pretty solid. They still got Hamilton out there. They still have, well, that was the main thing that they lost. I can't think of the linebacker's name. yeah, no, it's not coming to me. But they still have Roquan Smith that they got from.

they got from the Bears. got Kyle Van Oy, they still got Humphries at DB. But their interior, their front, Patrick Queen, yeah, so they lost him and he was their guy that would call out all the plays, that would call out all the offensive schemes and everything. And they don't have that guy, so it'll be interesting to see how they adjust and also they don't have Mike McDonald either.

Alix Harris (39:01.828)
huh.

Alix Harris (39:09.57)
you're talking about Patrick Queen. Yeah.

Drew (39:29.922)
the future coach of the year. So it'll be interesting again to see how they handle that going forward.

Alix Harris (39:36.912)
How big of a impact do you think having an elite running back because like the Ravens kind of I guess you could say similarly to the Eagles have always been known for having a great offensive line and having a great one run game. They were able to be like top three in Russia in the past three years with J .K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards and Mark Ingram. And now you add Derek Henry, who is, you know, probably past his prime, but still the Yeti and still 6 '3 240.

How much of an impact do you think that he's going to make for the Ravens and like, you know, I guess help Lamar out who I guess he said going into the strain camp Lamar try to lose weight a couple years ago, he wanted to gain weight. So I don't know exactly what they're trying to do with that situation. But yeah, how much of an impact do you think that Derek Henry is going to make for the team? And do you think he is a major upgrade compared to, you know, the J .K. Dobbins, Edwards of the world's or is it just, you know, already just a good running scheme? You put it pretty much anybody in

Drew (40:06.584)
Okay.

Drew (40:31.714)
I mean, it's a hardball offense, so they're going to want to run the ball regardless of what's going on in the game. But where I have a problem with this year's Ravens team is on the offensive line. They don't have the same guys there as they did before. And I think it's really going to show in their overall

Drew (41:01.542)
offensive game plan because one Sure, you know, you have Andrews back and he's healthy you got Zay Flowers, but Zay Flowers is about our height and he weighs about a buck fifty and Exactly and so Exactly Unlike Aglor, but yeah anyways, so, you know per pro football focus

Alix Harris (41:13.006)
Yeah, that's it. Rashad Bayman has not broke through Nelson Aguilar can't catch.

Alix Harris (41:24.784)
I'm like Agalore.

Drew (41:29.23)
You know, they're going from being a top five offensive line to number 15 offensive line, which may not seem like a big leap. But when you're going from top five and you led the league in Russian yards and an EPA per play with Russian games, that is going to be a massive difference, especially which this also makes no sense to me. But somehow their offensive

running run blocking is 21st in the league going into this year's projected. So I think that's going to be a massive difference. Sure, know, Derrick Henry is used to running against stacked boxes and everything. And then you also have the the illusion of Lamar Jackson, which helps.

But at the same time, I just, if you only really have to play for the run, and is Derrick Henry aging as well? Like, he out.

Alix Harris (42:25.136)
Mm.

Alix Harris (42:30.032)
Yeah. People think some people are saying that he's gonna have like 20 touchdowns. Yeah.

Drew (42:36.337)
That's they were saying. They it's in play. I was like, mean, technically everything is in play until the season starts. but I think overall the main thing I'm going to be looking at is as always the offensive and defensive line matchups as well as the bet splits and everything too. Bet splits basically evens like 55, 45 or so. But looking at the offensive and defensive line.

Alix Harris (42:42.128)
Hmm.

Drew (43:04.878)
breakdowns here. The offensive line for the Ravens have a negative 7 % disadvantage when it comes to the pass and a 10 % advantage when it comes to the run. However, I am not all that sold on that aspect of it because of the adjustments that the

that the Kansas City Chiefs have made in their secondary and also in the linebacking core as well. They have a healthy Chris Jones who can stuff the run. I believe that they brought somebody else in there too. I don't remember who it was. But I believe that that's ultimately going to be one of the differences in the game is going to be in on the offensive and defensive line matchup there. So.

Alix Harris (43:36.761)
Mm.

Alix Harris (43:54.436)
And it's weird, though, too. I don't know if teams are if they get nervous or the coaching staff like just wants to try to beat the chiefs at their own game or like you like we talked about, like the Bengals seem to be the only team that have had playoff success in them. And they have the firepower to basically throw against them with Jamar Chase, as we talked about with T Higgins and even when you had Joe Mixon. But in these teams, like we just saw it in the playoffs last year, the Bills and James Cook and Josh Allen, they're average like six, seven yards of carry. And then they veered away from the run and they start throwing the ball. And then that's when things started to fall apart.

Drew (44:02.092)
Exactly.

Drew (44:19.299)
Mm

Alix Harris (44:22.606)
Same thing with the Ravens. are like, okay, you know, they're perfectly built to beat the Chiefs. They run the ball down your throat. The Chiefs can't stop the run. And then they completely stop running the ball. like, I mean, I feel like if you have, and Derek Henry talked about it too in some of the podcasts recently, he was like, I wish I was on that team in the playoffs last year, because like I would have, you we would have ran the ball. So are they actually going to run the ball? they just going to have actually a good scheme against them? I guess it'll find out tomorrow, but are they going to stick to their guns? Are they going to try to beat the Chiefs at their own game? And you can't.

Drew (44:23.041)
Exactly.

Drew (44:31.491)
Mm -hmm.

Drew (44:51.618)
Exactly. And that's like the Michael Jordan effect too. Like you, start doing some crazy shit because you know that you aren't as good as them. And so you try and do anything and everything that you can to make up for that. And then you play outside of your game instead of focusing on just sticking to your game. Because last year we saw like they could not stop the run. They could not stop it no matter what they did. Yeah. And so that's why that's the main reason why the the

Alix Harris (45:14.456)
Mm -hmm, it was their Achilles heel.

Drew (45:21.454)
Ravens have an advantage on the the ground is because Last year what we saw is that they literally couldn't do anything about it, but I believe that this year You know with a newly vamped Secondary and in linebacking core. I think that the Chiefs will be able to take this game home I'm going with the money line because you know I hate those those short those short spreads so That's where I'm headed with that

Alix Harris (45:46.064)
True probably the safe maybe we shouldn't mess around with that this here so far, but yeah, I got the cheese went into I said You know say I'm by four cheese by four so I'm taking with the spread alright cool So moving on we could touch on the Packers Eagles game that we have on Friday in like a real game So the NFL is moving over to Brazil for their first game

Drew (45:50.902)
No, unless you want to.

Drew (45:56.718)
you.

Drew (46:07.405)
Blossom.

Alix Harris (46:08.898)
an international game of this season. So it looks like instead of doing the two Monday night football games that they do during week one, they're doing this Friday night game to see how that works on peacock. So we got the Packers taking on the Eagles. I don't know about you, but I'm not sold on the Packers this year. I think we talked about it a little bit last week. I think that like, you know, it was kind of like a borderline best case scenario for them last year. And I don't know. I think Jordan Love is good. He got his bag, he got his paper, and they did try to make some additions.

Drew (46:24.942)
I don't know.

Drew (46:32.696)
Mm

Alix Harris (46:37.904)
They really take too many additions from the wide receivers, but they brought in Josh Jacobs to spell Aaron Jones who is now with the Vikings and then you still have AJ Dillon So I know that you hate Josh Jacob as it is, but people are saying it's an upgrade That's absolutely disgusting. Okay, I don't want to hear but but yeah, the receivers haven't been able to stay healthy So are they gonna have a full season with Christian Walken's how? Everybody else is gonna play so I think we're both pretty high on the Eagles, but I would have the Eagles win in this game

Drew (46:49.164)
I drafted him last night in the fantasy league. I had no choice.

Alix Harris (47:06.714)
It's a neutral territory, supposedly. So the Eagles are currently two and a half point favorites. I would take them, I guess, money line, but I would take them against spread too, honestly. So what are your thoughts on the Eagles and Packers going into the season and who you got winning this game?

Drew (47:19.042)
Yeah, Eagles by a million. like, we know that I'm high. I know.

Alix Harris (47:22.744)
Okay, that's a close spread. I know the Packers finished very strong last year, but two and a half is kind of crazy.

Drew (47:29.654)
Yeah, and that's the thing that scares me too is like, why is it only two? Like, why? That's what scares me most. But at the same time, like I live and breathe. There's no way that that as currently constructed that Eagles team is even with that that Packers team.

Alix Harris (47:33.604)
He's like...

Alix Harris (47:50.082)
AJ Alexander about to shut down AJ Brown Drew. All all those things that you're talking about, gon'

Drew (47:52.462)
Yeah, The main thing too is the absolute mismatch on the offensive and defensive line for the Packers and for the Eagles as well. Per Pro Football Focus as always, the disadvantage that the Packers have is negative 23 % on pass blocking.

Alix Harris (48:07.088)
You

Drew (48:21.006)
Sure, you know, they have a nice 10 % advantage there But if we do recall last year with the Eagles being one of the worst Secondaries in the league, how is it that you're going to have a negative 23 disadvantage? going up against the pass so I Think that that's exactly I think that that's going to to show coming up in this game because whenever

Whenever Jordan Love is under pressure, his stats nose dive. And as we know, with my boy, Galen Hertz, pressure ain't a thing. Pressure builds diamonds, all right? And pressure builds Super Bowl ring. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, whoa, whoa, You was hurt, you was hurt, man. Don't bring up those stats, bro. Those old stats.

Alix Harris (49:03.128)
one in six towards the of the season and lost to the Mayfield and the Bucks. He's been hurt the past, he's been hurt past two years when he made the Super Bowl two years ago, he was hurt in the Super Bowl on his shoulder. That's why he couldn't throw. Jalen Hurts pissed me off.

Drew (49:17.472)
Mm yes.

why? You didn't do anything.

Alix Harris (49:20.848)
I don't know.

Drew (49:25.262)
Anyways, but so for example, Jordan loves passer rating with a clean pocket 102. That's great. That's solid. Jordan loves passer rating under pressure 83. Not good. Not good, Bob. Not good. And so I believe that again, like I said before, the the differences that they have on the offensive line versus the defensive line, as well as the the matchups in the secondary.

Alix Harris (49:39.109)
Not bad.

Drew (49:54.4)
It's one of those things where, yeah, they have all of these highly talented players on the offensive end. So we have so many options. Okay, but also one, are they ever healthy? No, they're never healthy. Two, exactly, exactly. And then, for now. But then it's also a matter of like, they're un...

Alix Harris (50:08.218)
healthy right now. Well, Romo adopts this question of all, but don't worry about that. Jaylen Reed's healthy. Christian Watson's healthy. New hamstrings.

Drew (50:24.002)
Not unchallenged, what's the term I'm looking for? Unproven. Because we've seen flashes, Watson getting out there going like four or five touchdowns and stuff like that. then Dobbs, he was Aaron Rodgers, a little play toy for a little bit there too. Pause. But then, know, after that, we saw them here and there, but there's not really any consistency.

Alix Harris (50:26.575)
unproven.

Alix Harris (50:50.564)
Mm

Drew (50:54.066)
and I, I'm still not a believer in Jordan Love. I, I, I gotta, I gotta see it again. Sure. You know, he did it for a few games and, but if you look at the, well, if you look at the talent that he was playing against, wasn't all that much competition to be honest. So I think that if he can, if he can show me it again, I'll believe it. And then, you know, we know how I feel about Josh Jacobs. So.

Alix Harris (50:59.258)
would, mean, okay.

Alix Harris (51:14.735)
Mm -hmm.

Okay.

Alix Harris (51:21.622)
So are you safe to say you're taking the Eagles? Okay, fair enough. Any other games in this upcoming weekend that you are interested in?

Drew (51:25.026)
by a million.

Drew (51:33.574)
hmm. The, not from like a betting standpoint, but I think that the the Eagles or the Eagles, the Falcons and the Steelers game will be interesting to see those two offenses and how that ends up playing out. If if Mike Tomlin can can finally, you know,

Alix Harris (51:42.88)
-huh.

Alix Harris (51:52.048)
Ugh.

Alix Harris (51:58.393)
Russell to the moon.

Drew (51:58.694)
lose, okay, if you can lose a Have a losing season for the first time in his career or if he's gonna somehow miraculously make it make it back there again We'll see what happens with that. And then we also have my Saints They're favored in this game and It'll probably be the last game that they're But they're planning to get the Panthers come on

Alix Harris (52:22.104)
I don't think that it should be favored to be honest with you.

Hey man, Deontay Johnson, you know, hey.

Drew (52:28.246)
Okay. Yep, exactly. But one last thing too. I think that I am kind of interested in taking the Titans against the Bears, not gonna lie. It is three and a half and we have all of this hype around Caleb Williams and Romeo Dunze as well.

Alix Harris (52:54.274)
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.

Drew (52:58.52)
You know, it's curious to me that the lion is moving away from the bears even though they're getting the majority of the vets. Now, I'm no mathematician or statistician, but that's it was kind of fishy to me. So in that sense, I kind of like the titans there, might pull the trigger, might not, I'm not sure on that. Other than that.

Alix Harris (53:04.557)
huh.

Alix Harris (53:09.136)
Don't worry about it. It's fine.

Mm -hmm.

Alix Harris (53:22.052)
Titans have made some you know, slow key additions over you know, they signed Tony Pollard, they brought in Calvin Ridley to be along with Deandre Hopkins, and they picked up the cornerback from the Chiefs basically took him away. So I mean, they had a kind of a revamp defense and some offensive weapons. So I mean, they could if Will's Levis wants to I think this is his Prove It year. So we'll see.

Drew (53:29.495)
Hmm.

Drew (53:47.736)
Yeah, no, so I, in Will Levis We Trust, he is basically Brett Favre minus the talent. But, know, he, yeah, exactly. That's all that matters out there. So.

Alix Harris (53:58.83)
He got the arm. One thing that I did want to get on with you though was I think we kind of talked about it. You weren't too high on the Rams this year. What do you think about that Rams -Lyons? That was a great playoff game. I think it was the Divisional. So like the winner ended up facing the 49ers, ended up being the Lions, but the Rams kind of had like a very surprising season.

last year, very low expectations. And then we ended up having the emergence of Puka and Kyron. And then now you have all of them healthy with Cooper Cup going into the season. So a lot of people have them as probably one of the top five offenses in the league. how do you feel about the Rams this year? And do feel like they could kind of upset the Lions going into week one?

Drew (54:38.082)
I think they can upset them. No, I do. I think they're gonna be terrible. No, I think they'll be a middle of the pack team. I don't think Yeah on offense for sure. I mean, there's only he's only well I mean you guys you still can technically go up from there, but I think that there's only downside from their last year's performance seeming as how they were not even projected to come anywhere near the playoffs on top of that

Alix Harris (54:46.628)
You think they're going to regress?

Alix Harris (54:55.631)
Mm -hmm.

Drew (55:07.436)
Nobody knew about Puka. Nobody knew that that was gonna happen. okay. And so that's gonna regress as well. I'm sure you have Cooper Cup coming back, which is great for them. But at the same time, you still have, you got your boy out there, Matthew Padford. then I refuse to believe that Kyron Williams is good at football. His stats.

Alix Harris (55:15.119)
Mm -hmm.

Alix Harris (55:30.96)
Hall of Famer.

Alix Harris (55:35.248)
Bro, you're just mad because you were a year early on him.

Drew (55:36.842)
His stats are out there. Well, you know, whatever. I don't like it. I forgot this. But yeah, I don't. Their offense is going to be is going to be great, honestly, like if we're being all drugs side, they're obviously going to pretty good. My main thing is the loss of Aaron Donald and the impact that he had. Not only did he did he lift other players floors.

He also just impacted those teams and their schemes that they had to run. They pretty much had to throw it out whenever they would go against the Rams because they knew that that that scheme is not going to work against Aaron Donald, but and only against Aaron Donald's not going to work. And so you literally had to have offensive coordinators like they're staying up at night trying to game plan for somebody that's that's unblockable and one of the most dominant deline men we've seen in our time. So

Alix Harris (56:34.714)
Mm

Drew (56:35.214)
I think that there is not really a replacement for that. They tried to replace him by drafting just a bunch of different D linemen and defensive players. Exactly. so, and what some folks were saying too with Kobe Turner, how he had like a pretty great season last year. He had a PFF grade of 83, but they were saying that that was mainly because he's playing opposite of

Alix Harris (56:47.172)
It'll work.

Drew (57:05.19)
of almost called him Joku of Aaron Donald because you know have all that attention going to Aaron Donald and you can just basically run free on the other side and that's gonna like I was saying uplift everybody over there. Now going back to the the Lions their offensive line is supposed to be one of the best in the league if not the best in the league and with that being said the

Alix Harris (57:29.359)
delete.

Drew (57:34.99)
This is almost hysterical how much of an advantage that they have in this game. When it comes to the running game, they have a 30 % advantage. And then when it comes to, or sorry, when it comes to the passing game, they have a 30 % advantage on the offensive line versus defensive line. And then they have a 54 % advantage when it comes to offensive line versus defensive line when it comes to running the ball. So is that good? I think that's kind of good. Versus the Rams, who have a negative.

Alix Harris (58:00.666)
tight. tight.

Drew (58:04.75)
9 and negative 4 respectively so I I mean it is a short spread for sure but at the same time it is I I'd probably rather go with like a team total over for for the Lions as opposed to like money line or anything like that because it is that scary and I don't like week one favorites

Alix Harris (58:30.352)
Fair enough. There we have a similar thinking. I think I'm a little higher on the Rams than you are, but I think the Lions are going to be elite this year. Again, the only thing is, they did lose a couple of receivers. So basically it's just like, obviously we know Omarad is great. know St. Laporte is great, but is Jameson Williams finally going to step up and be that number two and that elite, basically, burner that they drive to him to be? Had the injuries, had the, know, the coaching suspension. Okay. All right.

Drew (58:53.652)
I bet that he is.

Alix Harris (58:58.912)
Anyway, now we want to talk any more about them moving on. The last one that I did want to get into was the Monday night football game that we're going to have to finish week one, which is going to be the New York Jets and San Francisco 49ers 49ers, you know, can't talk about teams breaking through. They've been there and then the Super Bowl the past five years, they've been there, I three times. They've always been the NFC championship pretty much, and they just can't seem to beat the Chiefs when it comes down to it. And then the Jets having Aaron Rodgers returning.

basically kind of like a similar situation with the Falcons. You know, they've had terrible quarterback play over the past few years. Then you had Aaron Rodgers get hurt last season and now you have your weapon still with Garrett Wilson, with Breeze Hall. They got Mike Williams and everything like that. So what are your thoughts on that game? And do you feel like the Jets are going to actually be a playoff team this year?

Drew (59:48.344)
You know, I hate that everybody is saying, you know, the Jets are gonna win the Super Bowl this year. Like, this is gonna be amazing. This is the time. they said the same thing last year and it took four plays. So I think that, you know, they are going to have a pretty...

Alix Harris (01:00:03.192)
Are they? Okay.

Alix Harris (01:00:11.83)
with anybody though, anybody loses their elite quarterback, you know?

Drew (01:00:14.892)
Well, what with the Browns? What happened with the Browns? Browns made the...

Alix Harris (01:00:17.476)
Huh? Well, they didn't have an elite quarterback to begin with. I don't think that Deshaun Watson is elite.

Drew (01:00:22.766)
Well, he used to be. Anyways, but yeah, so I think that, that's so disrespectful. Sorry, I was looking at the pro football focus matchup here and, they, have a 39 .4 grade for Aaron Rodgers. He played foreplay. It's like, that's funny, I was messed up. Anyways, his passer rating under pressure 39 .6. Anyways. Okay. So exactly.

Alix Harris (01:00:25.208)
Yeah.

Alix Harris (01:00:35.077)
Hmm.

Alix Harris (01:00:42.458)
That was rude.

Alix Harris (01:00:48.987)
He must have talked shit about them.

Drew (01:00:51.89)
but yeah, I think that obviously the Super Bowl is within the realm of possibilities because you have an elite defense and you have, yeah, for the Jets, you have an elite defense and you're able to, like you're able to be a serviceable offense, with, with the quarterback play that you had last year. So, and Aaron Rodgers doesn't have to be Hall of Fame Aaron Rodgers. He just has to be.

Alix Harris (01:01:01.072)
for the Jets. Okay.

Drew (01:01:21.618)
Luke Warm, Aaron Rodgers. Exactly. Maybe slightly above average. But I think that even just decent quarterback play makes them a playoff contender for sure. And then above average quarterback play makes them a Super Bowl contender. So I think that their offense is going to run through Breece Holliday. You kind of talked about that. We're going to see how Aaron Rodgers likes that because you he likes all the attention on him.

Alix Harris (01:01:22.882)
average.

Drew (01:01:49.94)
and he likes the offense to be driven by him too. So it'll be interesting to see if they're gonna give him the reins to audible out or to change the play or if they're just going to just kind of, yeah. and then as far as this game goes.

Alix Harris (01:02:03.78)
make it the Brie show.

Drew (01:02:13.35)
I do kind of like, it's so gross. it's, well, it's two popular teams, like two very public teams that, like, I don't want to take the Jets because they're very overhyped. Also, the 49ers are the 49ers and everybody likes the 49ers because they know that they're good. They made it the Super Bowl last year. They could have a Super Bowl hangover. So, like, I'm probably going get going with the Jets.

Alix Harris (01:02:17.498)
four and a half.

Alix Harris (01:02:35.311)
Ugh.

Drew (01:02:41.72)
But at the same time, know, the one thing that backs that up is that the 49ers have all these players that are kind of holding out. You have Trent Williams who's holding out and just signed his contract. And well, just in time. And we'll see again, like we talked about before, how their play declines. No concerns about injury. Concerned about performance for sure, because they don't have that chemistry built up with the team. Sure, they've been playing there for a minute.

Alix Harris (01:02:53.304)
Hey, everybody's back. Everybody's back.

Exactly. You said there was no concern.

Mm

Drew (01:03:10.2)
But at the same time, you still gotta get things clicking for the new season. So I think that'll be interesting. And I do kind of the Jets. And I don't wanna be a conspiracy theorist. But this will be, I think I'm gonna have a conspiracy, one conspiracy bet each week. This will be my conspiracy bet. Is that the NFL wants to see the Jets succeed because it's been so long and it's a big market.

Alix Harris (01:03:32.24)
Let's hear it.

Drew (01:03:38.68)
and that's gonna bring more attention to the NFL, as well as it being Aaron Rodgers, big media personality. I don't wanna do that. But if they do win, also helps my case for the Seahawks though too this year. Because then when Aaron started off from the bad foot, Seahawks win, looking pretty good.

Alix Harris (01:03:39.34)
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.

then say that the Jets win.

Alix Harris (01:03:49.577)
okay.

Alix Harris (01:03:56.975)
Mm.

Alix Harris (01:04:01.806)
Yeah, I hope we can beat Bo Nix and the Broncos. And your boy Sean Payton.

Drew (01:04:04.45)
You guys should have no problem with that. I will, I'll go, I'll take the, I'll take the plus one.

Alix Harris (01:04:08.919)
I would agree with you.

Alix Harris (01:04:17.722)
I'll take the minus one. I'll take the 49ers. I think that even if the Jeffs are a good team this year, I still think I still think that the 49ers are the team to be within the NFC. I think that. Yeah, I think the Eagles are great. I think they're probably the number two and number three seed. But I mean, I. The 49ers are basically running it back with the same team.

And I think that as the season progresses, as long as they stay healthy, which somehow miraculously they did last year, even though Dibo did get banked up midway through the season, but they were still, where did they end up at the end of season in the Superbowl? And unfortunately, you know, we were saying prayers up to Ricky Pearsall, who, know, over the last weekend did end up getting like robbed and ended up getting shot and rushed to the hospital. They said he was fully released and stuff and now he's recovering. I think he's going to start the season pretty much on the like the NFI.

Drew (01:04:41.454)
Okay.

Drew (01:04:52.428)
gonna regress. Yeah.

Drew (01:05:01.303)
and

Alix Harris (01:05:06.914)
Lists are like a non football injuries. I think technically like the IR But I said that he should be making a full recovery But I think that you know, yeah, I you sign his deal at the strike of midnight We had the extension with Trent Williams. So your key pieces you already had Debo locked up You already had Christian locked up and purdy still making like nine hundred thousand dollars a year as a quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers for at least one more season So, mean, I mean this is basically their window because starting next year they have to pay

Drew (01:05:29.39)
Thank you.

Alix Harris (01:05:34.82)
Brokperty, they would have to either pay or trade Debo and they are, I refuse that you can't print them any more money. It's over. It's like the Golden State Warriors at the end of that run, but they haven't won a championship yet. So it's make it Super Bowler best for the 49ers. So.

Drew (01:05:42.87)
Yeah.

Drew (01:05:51.982)
That's pretty much facts. I think that also in this game, I'm liking the under as well, with it being a prime time game. We saw how well prime time games did last year. And then also on top of that too, 77 % of the handle and 51 % of the bets are on the under. And also the lioness drops three points already in favor of the under. I like it. I love it.

taking that one as well. I mean you know with two solid defenses teams that like to run the ball like it it screams under. Well yeah that like to run the ball. Gonna run the clock more potentially but probably not against this secondary or D line I should say. So okay anyways

Alix Harris (01:06:22.362)
You said 1960s, six to three.

Alix Harris (01:06:30.544)
to lead offenses, supposedly.

Alix Harris (01:06:36.304)
Christian McCaffrey, To The Moon.

Alix Harris (01:06:43.6)
100 yards rushing, two touchdowns.

Drew (01:06:48.78)
Yeah, do you got anything else there, sir?

Alix Harris (01:06:52.174)
No, that's pretty much everything that I was looking for. Obviously, the Cowboys and Browns would probably be the only like close matchup. I still take the Cowboys in that situation. Cleveland is favored it, but I think Cleveland is at home. So I think it's pretty much just a pick up at that point. So I would still choose the Cowboys in that situation.

Drew (01:07:08.664)
Mm

Yeah, I have no opinion on that. It is gross. I know, I'd probably take the Browns in that game. Looking at the Bet splits, yeah. I mean, why are the Browns favored against the Cowboys?

Alix Harris (01:07:14.498)
Okay. The browns are just gross.

Alix Harris (01:07:22.156)
Okay, I bet you that'll be our bet. Boom.

Alix Harris (01:07:28.484)
I'll take my, I don't know, but I'll take my two and a half gladly.

Drew (01:07:32.022)
Okay, I'll take the money line.

Alix Harris (01:07:34.434)
Nah, I'll take one two and a half.

Drew (01:07:35.598)
Money line. That would be good. Yeah, like, my gosh. yeah, absolutely. Browns, 32 % of the money, whereas the Cowboys are getting 68 % of the money. And the line is moving more towards the Browns. Bro.

Alix Harris (01:07:50.99)
That's cause, that's cause they don't know about Rico Dado yet. They, but they gonna find out. They gonna see the juice. All right. CD with Sam's, you know, you know, Rico Dado. I'm just like, pretty much. All right. Anything.

Drew (01:08:01.024)
Okay. That has been the call your shot podcast. sure to follow it. Yeah. Yeah. We'll see that, but yeah, you want to call your shot on that. That'll be.

Alix Harris (01:08:12.952)
I think Rico Daddell is going to finish the year as the Cowboys' running back one. That's it. They signed Dalvin Cook and so they have two prehistoric dinosaurs on their team, Ezekiel, Elliot, and Dalvin Cook, who the Jets had on their team and they cut him and then he went to the Ravens and he couldn't beat out Gus Edwards and J .K. Dobbins. So I think that Rico Daddell is going to finish with the most rushing yards on the Cowboys.

Drew (01:08:39.874)
The most

Alix Harris (01:08:43.888)
I think Zeke might go in like a Ligarite blunt mode and have like 15 touchdowns just because like he just might be the goal line back. But yeah, I think Rico Daddle.

Drew (01:08:50.638)
So you're saying you also said RB1.

Alix Harris (01:08:56.816)
RB1 on that team. Not like, no, no, no, not a top 12. I think he will finish the season with the most Russian yards. He'll have the most Russian yards than any Dallas Cowboy. How that does for fantasy, I don't know, but.

Drew (01:09:07.54)
Okay, okay, we'll see you

Okay, and we gonna be doing a round of golf on that?

Alix Harris (01:09:16.752)
What did we bet the round of golf on last week? Because I just got to hedge my bets here. Okay. Well, get back to me next week on that because I don't want to make too many crazy bets we haven't even played.

Drew (01:09:31.257)
I think, no, was, was the, I'm pretty sure it was the, the Seahawks thing. that, yeah, that I, said that the Seahawks would finish as the, as one scene.

Alix Harris (01:09:37.252)
Death of 49ers would have more wins. okay, that's a dub. Yeah, that's a dub. No, okay, I'll just stick with that one. That one's great. That one's perfect. All right, cool. Nope.

Drew (01:09:46.99)
So you don't wanna do this one that you just said? Or you're just gonna have it as your shots that call?

Alix Harris (01:09:52.248)
I'm just gonna have all my shots that I called and I'm just gonna tell you I told you so and I won't take anything from you when it happens because I'm gonna feel bad. So there we go. So unless you got anything else.

Drew (01:10:00.45)
Nothing on the and then nothing on that browns cowboys game we were just talking about.

Alix Harris (01:10:06.128)
I think that the Cowboys are pretty much running it back. They didn't really make any additions, which is kind of weird because they literally made no additions in this offseason. yeah, I'll take the Cowboys. I'll take the Cowboys plus two and half.

Drew (01:10:13.356)
I'm saying between us, because you seem very happy about being a cowboy.

All right, let me write this one down too. Cowboys and take the browns here. I tried to tell you bro, like, okay, okay. right. I'm say that out loud, bro. Yeah, we gotta shut this thing down. We're done. We're done here. Great show. That is it. We're over. I do not support Sean Watson.

Alix Harris (01:10:27.236)
Drew loves Deshaun Watson.

Alix Harris (01:10:36.336)
Okay, well that'll wrap it up. Thank you everybody for listening. This has been the Callie Shot podcast with your hosts, with your hosts, Alex, Harris and Drew Moore. We will see you next week to review over all of these great games that happened over the weekend and excited for football. So got anything else,

Drew (01:10:55.404)
That is all I have for y 'all today. Yeah, that's pretty much it. The Special Olympics, is, or the Paralympics, I just said, it is, the last week is coming up here, so be sure to stay tuned on that. And yeah, that is it.

Alix Harris (01:11:15.522)
I was gonna make sure it happened in on the social medias. We're gonna have all those up and running on their Instagram, our sports picks and on our YouTube as well. And we can hear us wherever you find your podcast at Spotify. Podcasts, I don't even know all the other podcast stations are, but I just use Spotify and podcasts.

Drew (01:11:30.299)
Yeah, we got Google, we got Amazon, got podcast hosts. We got everything. If they host a podcast, we got it. I heart radio, we got it. YouTube, we got it. All right, we got it. We got it. All right, peace.

Alix Harris (01:11:40.292)
Got it. Okay, all right. All right, y 'all, we'll see you next week.

There we go. Hour. Perfect. Look at that.

Drew (01:11:50.861)
No. See?