Pine Pony Podcast
Friends arguing about sports
Pine Pony Podcast
Week 2 in the Rearview Week 3 Straight Ahead
Welcome back to the Pine Pony Podcast with the OG and the fantasy uncle! In this episode, we break down Week 2 of the NFL season, discussing surprising 0-2 and 2-0 teams, key player performances, and some controversial finishes. From the Ravens' offensive line woes to the surprising start of the Saints under Clint Kubiak, we dive deep into what's happening around the league. We also touch on college football, with thrilling matchups and headline-grabbing moments. It's packed with analysis, hot takes, and a lot of football fun!
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Welcome, welcome, welcome to another edition of the Pine Pony Podcast. It's me, the OG. And as the fantasy uncle, what's happening Persian?
Pershin:Howdy! Good to be back for another week. Our next installment, Talking Ball. How you doing my friend?
Jason:Pretty good, pretty good. I want to open the show with admitting that I was clowning on Yoshi last week. And this week he got two Tutties and I want to say that maybe it was a smart, smart move to purchase him for 3, 000 in DFS leagues. Hopefully he will stay low key like that so that I can use him later on.
Pershin:Yeah. We just need
Jason:Higgins to stay sidelined for a second. No, no, no, not for my fantasy leagues. Anyway. Anyway, let's start the show.
The Pied Pony Podcast.
Jason:Let's get into college football. Week three, UGA beat Kentucky by one point. One point. That was a close game. I did not get to watch any of these games. I was at the banana ball, the Savannah Bananas, which was a whole different type of baseball. And then Boston College almost upset number six, Missouri. That seemed to be a fun game. And then the big controversial game, South Carolina losing to LSU in the final minutes of the game seemed like they had this game wrapped up multiple times to pick sixes brought back you know, over stupid penalties. You know, there was the controversial penalty. I will agree. That it was controversial in the sense of what they called it on the field, but it was a penalty. What the penalty should have been, what it was, was the quarterback threw a pick at interception and it was a pick six. And he got, he was running towards the ball and he got blindside blocked by a South Carolina defender. Well, they threw the flag and they called roughing the passer. And at that point he was no longer the passer. So it still should have been. At least a turnover in my mind, however, you got to make that field goal at the end of the game you still had your chances, you had your chances to put it away, a lot of penalties in that game that kind of, you know, did not work in your favor. Nonetheless, still a really good showing by a unranked team to a ranked team. So, you know, I don't think that's a bad loss in any way, shape. It was a very good loss. If you, if you believe in that stuff.
Pershin:Yeah, I thought it was kind of heartbreaking the way it all unfolded just because it was a really big upset. I just love to see upsets a lot of times. I don't care about like South Carolina teams necessarily myself as far as like rooting for them or whatever. But you know, even though they, they didn't get it done. I still think that this is pretty impressive. You know, LSU is just chock full of talent. The announcers wouldn't stop talking about how many four and five star kids they got on the squad versus what, like, you know, USC doesn't quite have that. I mean, they're not horrible with talent, but you know what I mean? So I was rooting for them. To do the upset and that one call was bullshit really was frustrating that they're like, oh So we're going to say roughing the passer even though it had nothing to do with passing anymore
Jason:Yeah, the pass was already gone in intercept.
Pershin:That was frustrating. But of course This is just part of it. A lot of bad calls by refs. It's just, that's just part of it. You got to, you got to make that feel good at the end. I agree with you.
Jason:You got to put them away. Can't just blame
Pershin:it on the refs. Although that's what a lot of people do. A ton of angry people calling it the radio stations today. That's for sure.
Jason:Absolutely. Absolutely. Moving on My squad, Coastal, got another W, they're 3 0,
Pershin:whoop whoop,
Jason:Sean's up.
Pershin:Your squad, Coastal, I guess.
Jason:Yeah, yeah, you know, I coach.
Pershin:After you move on within the game, are you going to stop following them again?
Jason:Maybe, I don't know, I don't really have any offers right now, which is surprising because I'm in the playoffs. For a second time in a row, we just, Smith and I have to play our
Pershin:game. It's been
Jason:a while. I
Pershin:think they've just grown on you. I think at this point, you're just going to be a coastal fan for life now.
Jason:Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I would love to go to that teal field. Hey, guess who else got a dub? The buffaloes, the Colorado state guy was talking on that. No, no, no, no. Shut them up. He tried to shake his hand. He's like, you
Pershin:think I'm gonna shake your hand after you all on the keyboards, bitch, get from behind me.
Jason:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, man. That was some petty shit. These guys are gonna, these guys are gonna, I hope these guys go to the NFL cause they're going to get flattened.
Pershin:And what's crazy is that like coach prime is obviously a fucking wild man and he let, he has his players in and off the field, do all kinds of crazy shit. And he had the audacity to be like, yeah, Man, that was just so disrespectful that he was, that, that he was doing that, making, talking that trash. And then the coach just let them talk trash online. I'm just like, what he was saying? Literally, if those were my players, I wouldn't allow it. I'm just like, what are you talking about?
Jason:Yeah, man. Prime is out of his mind. Yeah. That's crazy. Prime is past his prime. He's wow. Oh, and, and then the final game, cause you know, I can't go without hitting this. I hope this is a weekly thing. Florida State loses again to Memphis. All right. So this is the only thing I'm going to say. I have one stat. One stat. In the first quarter of the first drive of the first game, right? First game, first drive, 53 yards rushing. Since that game, they've had two games. Combined total 71 yards rough dude. What is going on with their O line? Are they not running the ball? What there is no leadership. That whole team is hitting the portal after this season, dog. I would, I would be surprised if they win another game this season. I, cause it's not easy. They have California next week in California, I believe. Let me, let me double check that.
Pershin:Think this is just a symptom of putting all your eggs in the ukulele basket.
Jason:No, it's at it's so it's at Florida state. Then they play at SMU, which SMU could, could, could win that game. Then Clemson comes to town and then at Duke at Miami, they're going to get smoked up. I mean,
Pershin:basically SMU is of the same tier as Memphis, right? I mean, if Memphis can beat them, why can't half these teams have beat them?
Jason:Listen, then they got North Carolina, Notre Dame, their easiest game is going to be Charleston Southern. Oh man, the buccaneers. Get it. Yeah. Yeah. I, I hope that would be an awesome upset. Anyway, anyway. Moving. There's no way Let's get to, Hey, we can hope. Hey, hey, hey. We can hope they might have completely forgiven up by then. Well, let's get to what we're all here for week two, wild week two of the NFL. Let's hit it.
Main topic.
Jason:Starting off with injuries. So many injuries. So, so many injuries. I mean, fantasy teams are scourging the internet for who to pick up next. It's tough out there. Hopefully some Maji P Ryan gets a lot of run. Now that Pacheco is out, Pacheco will be out for six to eight weeks. That's tough. That's tough. Tua is hitting the IR for four weeks. Debo might be, might not play next week. AJ Brown might not play next to me. Joe Mixon might not play next week. Puka Nakua is on the IR. Justin Jefferson's injury is up in the air. Jordan Addison. I mean, as a Packer fan. I hope Justin Jefferson is out and Jordan Addison is out in two weeks
Pershin:and Christian Darryl. So while you're at it, all the good players die
Jason:and I hope Jordan love is back. But yes, so many injuries and then a really surprising move. The Panthers bench, Bryce Young. Is this, do you see this as a saving him because this team is so bad or is this like, he's done, he's done, I think
Pershin:he's done. I think he's done. I think, man, you had high hopes for him this season. I did. I did. I, I think this is my best guess is that somewhere along the line, whether it was last season or whatever may have happened in the off season or somewhere along the line, I think he lost confidence in himself. He plays. Like he's afraid to throw the ball now. It's weird. And when he does make decisions, it's like they're late. Like he's hesitant to just make a decision and do a thing. And the first week I, I was like, okay, really bad performance, but maybe it'll get better. He didn't really play in the preseason, which. I don't agree with with a guy that struggled so much his first season, but at any rate yeah But but at any rate I was just like, you know what? He's probably knocking a little rust off. And also they were really getting after him He was you know, they they were basically getting confused by the blitz packages getting a lot of free rushers well flash forward to week two and He actually had like the league's best pressure rate meaning like they were He only got pressured on four of his 29 drop box. That's actually way above average. There was no excuse. He had time to make plays. He actually had dudes open downfield that he was, he was, he wasn't making that pass for whatever reason, just holding onto the ball, just really, really bad when he was throwing it. Sometimes it was just very inaccurate. It was just almost every way you can imagine he was performing poorly. So I get it if I'm Dave Canales. I'm not going to just sit there and just, you know, Oh, you don't think
Jason:that's temper?
Pershin:Oh, it could be, it could be. But the thing is that Dave can now, this didn't really say like, Oh, we still love him. We still have a lot of hope for him. You know, I think that he'll be back later, whatever, like that. Dave can now has literally said what I said to, to Bryce is between me and Bryce. And you guys just need to know that, that Andy Dalton is our starter going forward. And that sounds to me, that sounds to me like, that sounds to me like, look, we're, we're giving up like this. You ain't it. You're not going to be that dude. And you know, we've seen enough and, and I, I can see why not tank them. Why not just let them play and tank. I just don't think Tepper ever takes that tactic. Although he should, he definitely should.
Jason:I mean, you QB DJ. Ukulele will be available. You can make it to another terrible draft.
Pershin:Oh, speaking of terrible trades. I mean, now that we're like a season and a half, like away from the trade up for Bryce young, whoo, man, looking back on it right now, they're still paying For bryce young they're not even done because there's still a second rounder for 2025 That's part of that same deal that they haven't even finished paying the the bears yet The bears out of this deal so far got dj more right off the rip, right? and then last year they got Darnell I forgot his name the Mooney, no the darnell. Right darnell, right the offensive tackle They got him in the first round and then they got in the second round. They got Tyree. Ah, I forgot his name. Well, they got a good defender, right? So they got two. The, the music guy, Ty Tyrese, the music, no, the, yeah, you know the hip hop stuff? Tyrese man. He is in Fast and Furious. No, no, no. He's dreamy though. But that's not him. I don't think he plays football that well.
Jason:I'm kidding. I'm kidding.
Pershin:But anyway, so they got two good draft picks from the first and second round last year. Plus they got DJ Moore right off the rip. Then of course, then they got Caleb with their first. Overall pick this year, and they're still not even done. I mean, jury's still out on Caleb. Sure. But even if Caleb sucks butt, it's pretty obvious. They, they lost the fuck out of that trade. You know what I'm saying? Like, it's just, it's just ridiculous. And so it's, it's, it's just, it's rough. It's tough. It's rough scenes. You know, I, I love the Panthers. They're like my secondary. No, you do. I do. They're like, you don't have to claim them. And it sucks that both, both of my teams are just, I'm not going to the worst. Both of my teams are just like the worst in the NFL right now. And so that's kind of, that's kind of where we're at.
Jason:I will say my secondary team is the Steelers.
Pershin:Really, I didn't know that. Love me
Jason:some Mike Tomlin. I just love me some. Mike Tomlin. Yeah,
Pershin:he, he does pull shit outta his ass. He is, he finds a way to win, bro. You, you gotta love the magic being, you gotta love people that just find a way to win when they have no business winning
Jason:Exactly. Exactly, exactly. All right, so with week two. You know, you had overreaction week one, week two, you know, kind of looking at it like some two and O teams and some O and two teams. So we're going to look at which teams are surprising and which are not surprising and what they could look like when it's all said and done, if they're going to make the playoffs or not. So let's look at some, some O and two teams, two and O teams. So we'll start off with the whole ass AFC North. The Steelers are 2 0. Not surprising to me because I called Tomlin getting above 500. So with that being said, Fields looks, looks decent enough to get wins. He looked okay. He threw a really good touchdown pass this past game. So, you know, I mean as long as he plays within the offense, You know, and doesn't turn the ball over the guy's going to start. And I think he should, what do you, what'd you think about this game? And, and the Steelers being two and a half,
Pershin:I think that through his first two weeks, he hasn't been amazing or anything, but just minimizing the sacks and minimizing the interceptions is just so huge for a team like this, that with Arthur Smith and with Tomlin, obviously they want to run the ball and play solid defense. They don't mind winning. 16, 13 games they just don't care about, you know, hi him making a ton of plays for them and a Steeler football. And I don't think he's played amazingly, and I would not be shocked if Russ got a chance and Russ was actually a bit better than this. But I will say. I will say though, if they keep winning games, he's not going to get benched. That's just not how Tomlin, he's
Jason:already, he's already named week three starter.
Pershin:Yeah, no, it's because they're two and Oh, the team is happy there. They have faith in him and. You know, I think as long as he doesn't just completely take a dump and cause them to lose, then he can keep that job for as long as they're competitive. And, you know, I like it. I like the idea that he could have a bounce back that he could, you know, get it together and figure out all the sacks and the. The misreads, if you will, the defense and all that sort of stuff. I, I liked the idea that he would be a great quarterback in the league because he, you know, he's exciting to watch when he's on his shit,
Jason:right? You don't, you know, I'm looking at this schedule for the Steelers and. You know, it was, they needed to be winning it early, early in the season before, because it gets super, super tough. But then you look at some of these teams right now and you're like, damn, they're looking kind of beatable, you know? And so
Pershin:you're kind of like some of the hardest schedules or that you and I would have thought would have been the hardest schedules before just a couple of weeks ago. Now we look at and they're like, You know what? They can fuck with those teams, you know? Yeah,
Jason:right. Yeah. So yeah. I'm calling. I'm riding with Mike Tomlin and the Magic Beans. This is a playoff team. I'm calling it now. 2 0. They're making the playoffs. They might even win this division. They might even fuck around and win this division.
Pershin:I feel like there's a lot of sort of chinks in the armor and question marks going on in this division right now. More so than I would have expected. And
Jason:I can't wait for a hard knocks whenever that, whenever that starts. So what are you, what are you too early to tell for you or you think they're playoffs or you, you wanting to hop on that hot take with me or. I do think they're playoffs.
Pershin:I think before the season, I had them as like a playoff bubble team friend. Yeah. And I had them, I think third in the division or maybe even last place in division. But I did say like, I just can't bring myself to, to bet against Tomlin because he always just finds a way with the beans in the pocket, just. He'll figure something out somewhere or another. I do think that they make the playoffs. I, I, I really do. The defense is as good as ever, and the offensive line's actually better than I thought it might be. So they're, they are going to be able to play good defense and run the ball, and that's already two steps the way they're, you know what I mean? For them, that is a big deal for how they want to play the ball anyway. So I do like their chances. I think that the way that Deshaun's looking. A very hit and miss. I thought he had a better week two than the week one, but I still think that that's a very iffy situation, especially with the allegations and whatnot off the field. And then when you look at what's going on with burrow is something up with his wrist, I'm not sure, but he's got disgruntled players left and right. The bangles don't want to negotiate with all this stuff, sort of off the field stuff seems to be clouding, whatever's going on with them. And then with the Ravens, they just have a really shaky offensive line. And you got to wonder when is that going to bite them in the ass a little bit too hard? I mean, actually you could say it already has the Ravens. Oh, and two, you know, and they lost a game that where they were favored by eight and a half points, you know, so
Jason:well, it's funny you bring up the Ravens because yeah, they are owed to and I would consider that pretty surprising because as you recall, I think, as you remember, I had, I think I had them winning 11 games this season. And I also have the Bengals winning 13 and that's not looking so hot right now because they're 0 2 as well. Both teams, I think, are surprising. And the Ravens, you know, they don't get any easier right now. They're playing at Cowboys next week versus the Bills at the Bengals. So, I mean, There's a real potential that they could start out, you know, Oh, and five or one and four or some combination of, of just bad record. We, and, and of all teams, they got beat by Garner Minshew in the Raiders. Like I love Antonio Pierce. But Garner Minshew took you.
Pershin:Yeah. And it's because that defensive front, I mean the Raiders, you know, for the lack of talent that they have in the secondary, they do have a pretty good defensive front with Max Cosby and company. And again, the Ravens offensive line is just shaky. The dudes they brought in to fill the holes of the guys that left are just. They're not nearly as good. And they, they were having struggle. They were struggling with dealing with Chris Jones week one, struggled even more week two against the Raiders. And it's just, it's going to be hard for that offense to be consistent when the offensive line is that bad. I know that. They've got Derrick Henry and they would love to run the ball with Derrick Henry, but it's hard to get him going. Yeah. When the lines is old. Yeah. And he's fucking old and he's not good at catching passes. So he's in a limited role. Anyway, they got to keep bringing justice Hill out there. Who's frankly just a lesser talent, you know? And it's just, you know, it's, I think that they are going to have wins and they're going to be competitive. But I also don't think that that's, I also don't think that this is necessarily a fluke because I said it, a lot of, it's going to boil down to, is the offensive line going to be okay, or is it going to be a problem? And it looks like it's a problem.
Jason:It seems like the NFL kind of figured Lamar Jackson out a little bit. In the last couple of games, it seems like they just, yeah, we know you can take off and run. Like we'd rather, you know, try to limit those. Cause you, you know, you're not as accurate as you could be. You know, when we get you frazzled. So,
Pershin:yeah. And also that, that's a another thing that a, an announcer was explaining like on week one when I was watching the chiefs game, one of the guys was explaining that like, if you have a spy, which most teams will try to use a spy against Lamar, right? If you have a spy. Right?
Jason:Right.
Pershin:And then. You have to take off earlier in the play that actually makes it easier for the spy to make the play and harder for the quarterback to Get to the outside if you will or or juke him out or whatever. He's going to have to make a play you know quickly sort of in the backfield without a ton of Acceleration, you know and stuff like that. And so I think that that's the sort of thing that's compounding the situation is that You If the offensive line is getting blown up, he wants to take off running really quickly. He's actually not getting as much yards as a rusher as you would expect because the, the spies all over it, you know?
Jason:Yeah. Yeah. This, this team is they turned it into a playoff fringe team for me right now, based on what I've seen. Last team in the division that I want to talk about we talked about the Bengals real quick, slim shady. We're not sure about his wrist. Also the Jamar chase T Higgins, like those guys are in and out of the lineup, which is, you know, part of the reason why Yoshi caught two touchdowns last week, because he was the de facto number two guy. I think the Jamar chase ended up playing.
Pershin:Yeah. He played.
Jason:Yeah. So Yoshi was, was the guy which, Hey man, if that's going to be the case, then, you know, he's going to keep getting those, those touches, I think. I like to think this team gets it. I mean, you got too much talent at wide receiver and if, you know, Joe Burrow is probably going to get a little healthier as the season comes along, I think there'll be fringe. They could, they could, they could bounce themselves out, but I think they'll make the playoffs.
Pershin:Yeah. The thing that I think might be. A bigger issue for them is something that you and I can't, we can't watch and we can't necessarily measure. But apparently the vibes around the team, the locker room, the sort of the players are pretty upset about the way that the organization is handling all of the player contracts. You know, obviously Burrow got his contract. He got, he got paid, but then basically everyone else they play hardball with, this is not a new thing for them. Players have been frustrated with how cheap they are for years and years now. But, you know, You got T Higgins that has to play on his franchise tag. He was really upset about that. He said that he doesn't necessarily have a ton of motivation to come back from injuries when they pop up and wink, wink, that's a bad thing for her to have someone to say out loud. And then you got Jamar chase saying, I thought that they were going to negotiate with me and the off season. They never intended to do that. I feel like they. Misled me this off season and then he shows up at the very last second so that he doesn't Get fined into oblivion and then he's out of shape. He can't even play a full thing of snaps, you know week one He says oh i'm dealing with the flu or something like that But then again week two he's on a snap count because he's basically out of shape. He He was working out on his own. Apparently he has been saying to his friends and his family, like, I don't necessarily have a ton of motivation to come out and like, make sure that I'm available for them a hundred percent. I really, yeah. He's basically like, I don't know that I even want to be on the team, but if they don't want to give me an extension and then while I, maybe I should go somewhere else that, you know what I mean? And. So who knows what's what and what's real, but basically a lot of the reporters and the people around the team, they're just like, dude, things are not good in the locker room. There's a lot of frustrations. And so,
Jason:well, you know, winning takes care of all of that. And they have the commanders next, then the Panthers. Then the Ravens, Giants, so
Pershin:if they start winning a lot of, a lot of those Browns are going to turn into smiles. That's true.
Jason:Right. So we'll see, we'll see, but I still think fringe possible, favorable to play off team for me. All right. Still kind of into the vision only because they played this Oh, and two teams Jaguars are Oh, and two, and that is surprising to me. Because I thought we had a good thing going with Doug Pedersen and everything. Everyone seems to be hanging their hat on Trevor Lawrence. It's all his fault. But when I watch the highlights, I see a lot of dropped balls. I see a lot, I saw a fumble out of ETN in the end zone, like just compounding plays, like looks like a team that's just not ready to play ball. But also at the same time, they vet, they need to upgrades at wide receivers. They, they, they just, I don't have any faith in Gabe Davis. And in company, in my opinion, but what do you think about this? This Owen to Jaguars? I, I, I don't think they'll make the playoffs, not, not in the division. They're in if they,
Pershin:yeah. Well, so there's a couple of guys I really respect, whether it's like Kurt Warner and the QB confidential, or it's a TJ O'Sullivan school and talking about what's going on with Trevor Lawrence. Is he actually playing? Well, is he playing like, but what, why aren't, why aren't they making it happen? And I think part of the issue that a lot of these X's and O's guys keep bringing up is that Peterson's offense seems pretty stale. It seems like a sort of 2010 to 2012 style offense. And maybe this is like a sort of Belichick sort of situation where the NFL is sort of passing him by and he's not adapting well enough. And. You know, I think that there could be a scheme issue there and that Peterson no longer has the same sort of mojo that he once had. And so he's, I don't think he's doing Trevor Lawrence any favors. And also I think Trevor Lawrence is also just probably closer to a league average quarterback that he is that elite, right? He's John orational guy. He was supposed to be B's right. He was supposed to be, Oh, the next. Whatever, best prospect ever. And then, you know, everyone gave him a pass for the urban Meyer situation. But then since then, it's been a
Jason:pass. Everyone gave him a, they said like, Oh, any quarterback in this situation should get a pass. I don't care who you are. The guys out there kicking kickers.
Pershin:I know I was one of the people who said that we should give him a pass for this season. Like I'm not saying it's a bad thing. I'm just saying it is what it is. He, he had a built an excuse there. Right. And so people still felt like he was going through an excuse. He did. It was a good excuse. I'm not knocking it. I mean, it's not an excuse though. Well, but the thing is that he didn't play well. Right. And so we said, It's coming though. That's a lot of people was like, it's getting turned around it. Don't worry. It's coming. He is going to be that. And then it came from one season toward the end of one season, right? For a stretch. And that's the thing is that last season he had a decent stretch too. And it's like, it comes and goes, but it's not consistent play from him. I think the truth is he probably is more like an average starting quarterback than he is. You know, what are these top talents? And I think that that's something we all need to just kind of accept.
Jason:Absolutely. Well, staying in that division, of course, we got to talk about the Packers and the Colts, the Colts going 0 2. That's surprising to me, especially because of. Them playing Malik Willis. But I mean, the Packers came out and I, and I didn't get the chance to watch the game live. So I watched it the next day in the morning and they did exactly what I wanted them to do. They fucking dominated the rush game. They look at this, listen to this. This is crazy. In the first quarter, they were averaging 10 yards a carry. In the first half, they were averaging eight yards a carry.
Pershin:It was ridiculous. I was shocked. And what's the word? I was, and they were stacking the box too. I was shocked. And I was very critical that to start the game, it seemed like they weren't, excuse me. It seemed like the Colts weren't expecting. The game plan to be run the ball right down the middle. I mean, right down the middle. Like that's if I'm the Packers and I don't have love, I've got a guy. We just signed a couple of weeks ago, like three days,
Jason:three,
Pershin:three days ago. And we're having to start this guy. Like, I want to run the ball if I can. So if I'm the Colts, I'm like, we're going to make Malik Willis throw it. We're going to make him prove that he could do it. Well, but the thing is they, they did, but they did after they got gashed on like two drives, the first couple of drives felt like they weren't expecting straight up the middle runs, which is like, bro, what do you think the game plan is going to be? It's literally what I expected. And. So I think that that's bad. Also, I agree with you once they did sort of adapt to it. It was still pretty bad. They was still, they were still having big bros kudos.
Jason:And then, I mean, well, let's also talk about Malik Willis real quick here, 12 of 14 and the touchdown he threw to Wicks was, was sensational. I mean, because if he throws that a half a yard late or short, that's pick six.
Pershin:Yeah,
Jason:I mean he threw that. I thought
Pershin:he did fine. It wasn't anything crazy, but they didn't ask him to do much
Jason:That's what we we did. I didn't want he didn't have to
Pershin:luckily the running game was working fine. And Literally on the defensive side of the ball. They they look like they were confusing anthony richardson He didn't quite understand what the defenses were doing, which is Hey, kudos to the, to the DCs or,
Jason:and he didn't have the long ball either. We had the long ball locked
Pershin:up. Yeah. Which is like the scariest part of his thing is that he can throw it 85 yards or whatever. But yeah, it's It was just a, a well done sort of strategy. It worked out. I was surprised at how well it worked out, but Hey, kudos to the offensive line. Kudos.
Jason:What do you think about the Colts? Are we, are they in trouble here? It's just seems like Michael Pittman is not a big part of the game. That they have Alec Pierce's. So he's going to be a hot pickup this week. And I think that
Pershin:they are in trouble here. I, I have come around to Anthony Richardson to the degree that I do think that he is a pretty good long term bet. If he could improve in the way that he's able to understand what the defenses are doing, and he, if he could get more consistent with his accuracy, then I think that he will. Be like a game breaking quarterback. He is so good and so strong as a runner and he could throw the ball with such zip into tight windows that most people can't throw into, and he could throw it over the defense in a way that's just, it can, it can be very, really, really like game breaking if he does improve in those, in those areas. But I think for this season, yeah, I do think they're in trouble because the thing is that even when they do play well defensively, is it going to be enough? Yeah. Knowing that you're your quarterbacks Vegas over under for touchdown for interceptions is like 1. 5 every game. You know what I mean? It's like the expectation is that he's going to ruin the game. He's going to give it He's gonna give the game away at some point because he makes too many mistakes like that. And so Yeah, if he can get it together, like, yeah, they still have a chance. I think that they do have a decent amount of talent on that team. And I think that they've got the right sort of receivers that play into what he does. Alec Pierce obviously is really good at just getting behind the defense. You've got to love guys like that. But yeah, I think that we should definitely temper expectations for them for 2024. See, he's not where people would want him to be yet.
Jason:Yep. Well, we'll see. Hopefully he turns it around. Fantasy. Okay, moving on. Vikings 2 0 with Sam Darnold. Sam fucking Darnold and beating the 49ers at that in the last game. That was, that was probably the most surprising one that we've talked about. Brock
Pershin:Purdy got confused by that Brian Florez defense and after the game he actually went up to Brian Florez and said, Dude, that's the craziest defensive scheme I've ever seen. Kudos to you. I was like, wow, look at that. The Brian Flores, I think
Jason:is. Wow, what a loser admitting shit like
Pershin:Yeah, right. What a bitch That's your enemy you fight him. You don't you don't give him compliments motherfucker no, but I I do think that brian flores sometimes it's kind of forgotten about how how smart he is as a defensive mind and you know, they brought in several different pieces they they They lose didn't Daniel Hunter, but they brought in sort of like three or four different dudes to bolster other positions. And I think it's working out for them. They are able to get a lot of pass rush, a lot of pressure on quarterbacks, the first couple of weeks. You know, week one was one thing because it was Daniel Jones, but then to do it against a 49ers team that's got the shit together is pretty impressive. And I think that the, the Sam Donald situation is a pleasant surprise. I, I thought that he would probably be okay. I wasn't expecting him to look literally good. Some of the passes, some of the passes he's made is just, you gotta, you gotta admit they're pretty good balls. So. This is how good
Jason:he's played is I've picked him up in fantasy.
Pershin:You're a believer.
Jason:I got no choice. He's the best one available. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know, kudos to the Vikings. I think Sam Darnold's just playing above his level. You know, we'll see what happens. They've got the Packers. Coming up, they've got the Texans, Packers, jets, lions. Yeah. That's a gauntlet. My, my issue, you know, that's gonna be a defense, that's gonna be a defensive gauntlet as well. My
Pershin:issue is that he has had good sort of two, three game stretches in his career already, and it hasn't met much. Ultimately, I think there's a chance that he's basically doing that just to start the season. So it's, it's sort of. Looking better than it's going to be at the end of the season. I think he, he, he's probably not going to be this consistent the whole time. I mean, we'll see, but so far, so good for the Vikings. Pretty impressive. I think that they're, they're probably going to need Addison and Jefferson healthy. So we got to kind of watch, watch out for that. But if they do remain healthy and the offensive line holds, holds it together as well as they have the first couple of weeks, then yeah, I think that they're legit. I think that, I think that they're legit.
Jason:Well, and the only other tape we really have on Sam Darnold is the Panthers. So they just binged their first round draft pick. So, no, we got a lot of, got a lot
Pershin:of bad play in New York too, remember?
Jason:Yeah, yeah, yeah. But, you know, that's, that's the Jets. That's, that's, anyway, so let's, let's do some quick hit games. Sure. To round out the episode here Saints two and oh, that could be kind of surprising, but blowing out Dallas to get to two and oh, that was crazy. Four touchdowns for Alvin Kamara. I mean, if you had him in fantasy, kudos to you. Yeah. The Saints have been the biggest.
Pershin:Pleasant surprise this this season. Yes, they were one of the last teams. I would have expected to be this explosive on offense you got to give it up to clint kubiak. He comes in brand new oc leading the league through the first two years And play action and pre snap motion, completely changing that offense from how it looked last year. It's a completely different scheme and it's a completely different scheme that he's managed everyone to get on board with at the very beginning of the season.
Jason:Car, they got rid of all the lasting Of Sean Payton coaches really than that. And so, yeah, you see it, you see the
Pershin:biggest sort of question mark that they had coming into the season was the offensive line. And they have been way better than I expected. They, they took Thelise Puaga in the first round. He was supposed to be a guard. They got him starting left tackle and he's holding his own. He's actually doing well. And then Trevor Penning, the guy who's been disappointing his first couple of seasons, all of a sudden looks pretty good at right guard. And now all of a sudden it's like, Oh, cool. The offensive line actually is all right. They're not necessarily. Elite, but they're fine. You know what I'm saying? And it's like, it's like the, the, the offensive scheme is great. You're getting Olave and Shahid butt naked in the secondary over and over again. They're open up huge holes for Favara and I think that this is something that's going to stick because it's not just coming with a few good performances from the players, this is a scheme based change here.
Jason:Absolutely. Absolutely. Another team chargers two and Oh, two and Oh, Harbaugh looking good,
Pershin:looking good. And I'm shocked that they're actually getting use out of Quentin Johnston. He was so bad last year that I left him for dead. And I think he might actually be okay. Maybe not amazing, but I, I mean, he's like leading the team in routes and targets and catches over the first couple of weeks. I was not expecting that at all. Yeah. I thought DJ shark was going to play over him at. He might actually be this just their number one option.
Jason:Well, Joshua Palmer has a lot has about 80 this, usage, but No fucking catches man. No fucking cat.
Pershin:He doesn't look that good to be honest with you It looks almost like he's kind of slow. He's not getting open
Jason:He's on a lot of fucking stamps, but he just can't get
Pershin:McConkie definitely looks better. And I think as the season goes on, he'll probably get more and more usage and work his way into the offense more and more. So I think eventually McConkie will be the dude, but for now it's kind of like the J. K. Dobbins show, which is crazy. I will say this though, they're doing exactly what Harbaugh wanted, which is really good offensive line. They're opening up huge holes and the defense is much better than they were last year. So there you go.
Jason:There you go. Hard ball ball. All right. Rams. Oh, and two not really that surprising. I mean, this team is kind of getting old. It's just, it's like the same team, but it's like the same team every year. So it just kind of seems like after a while, like everyone's going to be injured. Stafford's fucking old Cooper cup is, you know, he's getting up there. You know, everybody's just kind of old on this team to me. That's how I feel about it. I don't think they're going to make the playoffs. They're done.
Pershin:Yeah, I think it's unfortunate. I don't actually think they're necessarily a bad team. They were pretty competitive week one before they all got injured. But between the first week and the second week, I mean, they're missing for starting offensive line. And now both of their superstar wide receivers, a handful of dudes on the defense. I mean, no team has been hit as hard as them. And I understand all like it. This is the league, you know, all teams in NFL have to deal with it, but they've gotten hit so hard that I just don't think they even have a chance, dude. I think they're dead in the water before they even started.
Jason:Absolutely. Absolutely. Last game, I just wanted to touch on just, just because. Jets versus Titans. Man, Rogers did not look that good. And it seemed like the Titans more so lost this game because we'll love us is that bad. So that to me is a little concerning for the jets. They did get the win. I mean, they're one in one, so, you know, whatever, but I just thought that was interesting because Rogers only had like a hundred something yards and one touchdown. You'd expect more out of them. And then the giants are looking real dumb right now. It's like a real stupid, like, like I watched that hard knocks and dude, this DM needs to be fired. Like, Dave is probably like, bro, you just let go of our best running back. The running back sucks. Their offensive line is trash. Like, I mean, Malik Neighbors and Daniel Jones are hooking up. I mean, that's a, that's a bright.
Pershin:Malik Neighbors does legitimately look good. I think he's going to have a great career, but he's like the only part of the offense that looks good. Daniel Jones does not look good. The offensive line, they brought in a bunch of dudes to replace the shitters on offensive line, but the dudes they brought in are not. Superstars, you know, they got them on cheap contracts and they've kind of gotten what they paid for It's not quite the shit show. It was last year, but it's clearly below average. There's just not a lot of talent It's the malik neighbor show and it's not a great show to be the star of the show. So it's just Yeah, and they should have paid Saquon and booted Daniel Jones. A wild fucking stat since two off seasons ago when they extended Daniel Jones Even with the touchdown he threw this past Sunday He's thrown exactly the same amount of touchdowns to opponents that he is to Giants Isn't that fucking wild? He's thrown the same amount of pick sixes as he has touchdowns That's fucking wild. Like it's just, yeah, it's a, it's a rough show and I don't know if it's Dayball's fault. I kind of think that he's good coach, but I, I bet he's on the hot seat.
Jason:Yeah, that's unfortunate for him. Well, that's all we got for this week, week two review. As always, you can hit us up at pine pony podcast, 22 at gmail. com or on Instagram and threads at pine pony podcasts. And until next, next episode of the Minnesota, we'll catch you later.
Pershin:Adios.
