Welcome to NFL Daily, where we'll always call it Joe Robby Stadium. I am Greg Rosenthal here on a Thursday night. Yes, we're live on YouTube. Welcome to everyone else who's not watching. I'm with Bill Barnwell. In a game that was well-decided before the biggest thing to happen in this game happened. The Bills win easily in Miami, 31 to 10, Bill. Normally, I'd be screaming and yelling and getting into the football of it all, but we got to start with to a tongue Avalia Vailoa, who left this game in the third quarter with a concussion and quickly rolled out of the game. It was a scary hit on the field. It's tough to even know where to go with this, Bill, in terms of analysis, but it was one of those moments that takes your breath away, unfortunately, and felt familiar.

Yeah, I think the tough part for me is you could see what was happening. It wasn't as if this was a random play in a random moment in a game where nothing could have been anticipated, nothing could happen. Clearly, this was a game where the Dolphins were struggling. Tua was struggling. He had already thrown three interceptions, including a pick six. Clearly, he wanted to make a play. He wanted to do something for his team. He wanted to go above and beyond. It just is unfortunate and sad to see that that led to him taking an unnecessary hit on a play where he probably could have slid and got a first down. I'm not criticizing Tua here. I'm saying basically the circumstances of the game, I think, led to to do something that in a different situation he would have been smarter about. And that is unfortunate because the dolphins and Tua, his history is well known. The impact of the injury on the dolphins is significant, but the impact on the injury on Tua is significant. I mean, this is a player who there were serious questions about the future of his career a couple of years ago.

I'm very happy he was able to stay healthy last year. Very happy he got paid this offseason, but obviously, just a heartbreaking injury for Tua, for Dolphins fans, for fans of the League. Just one of those things where everyone just felt awful the moment it happened.

Right. It reminds you so much of the injury he had, really the second one, which was, I believe, on a Thursday night football game two years ago in the 2022 season. Just to recap, this is the fourth known concussion that he's had since 2022. He spoke before the 2023 season and said that earlier that offseason, especially in the wake of the concussion when he was out at the end of the 2022 season, that he considered retirement. That stayed in my mind It definitely was something that I thought about when he got this contract extension. The NFL moves so quickly that that contract feels like it was a long time ago. It was just last month. It was in August where he gets $93 million guaranteed, maybe $160, depending on how you look at it. Mike McDaniel signs a contract before this season. We're taping this after the game. We're going to be looking to see what Mike McDaniel says. At this point in the process. It's hard to I can't imagine there's much of any specifics, but you do worry about a young man who obviously had questions bigger than football, Kaylee Hartung on Amazon, who did a good job throughout the night updating the audience, pointed out that he was rolled out six minutes after.

I did say family was with him in the locker room. You could see Bill, Mike McDaniel and the look on his face. It was a very human moment, first of all, when he kissed Tua on his way out. But also, they had a shot on him. I don't know if you saw it. It was early in the fourth quarter, and the game is going on, and you could almost just read what was going on in his head, that he was already thinking ahead to what's next. There's no point in guessing how long this is going to be or anything like that. But obviously, they're going to have to come up with some solutions in the short term and maybe in the medium term, and we'll see how long term is for what they want to do at quarterback. It was Skyler Thompson tonight who won a backup battle. That backup battle, which I was following pretty closely with Mike White in training camp, now looms a little larger, just in my mind, because The word from their fans, from everyone that was tracking that, the reporters were that both backups were really struggling and had a really poor training camp, and Thompson won that job by default.

It was a short sample, but he struggled tonight, too, as did Tua when he was on the field.

Yeah. I mean, a couple of things come to mind for me. With the Tua injury, in the big picture, right? I mean, this was a situation where, like you said, the league moved so fast that I really think after 2023, After a successful season where he didn't take a lot of hits, he was very smart with the football, he gets the ball out so fast anyway. They talk about him doing jiu-jitsu, practicing, going taking hits, avoiding head injuries. I think there was this hope that, okay, he had this scary thing happen to him in the past, but things are different now. He is a smarter player. He's going to be safer. No one's going to get mad at him if he doesn't take a hit or if he's protecting the football, he protects himself. Everyone's on board with that. We're hoping this is a thing of the past and that this is a smarter, safer, Tua Tuna Violoa moving forward. And I think this injury poked a hole in that balloon. That is not the case anymore. Maybe that was naive. Maybe that was just hope as opposed to logic. But But it did feel like that feeling of Tua having to move past those injuries, unfortunately, is not the case.

He's still going to be dealing with this.

I mean, it's one play. That's football. All these guys, no matter how safe you are, you're one play away, and you're right. I think it was such a good point to make because I hadn't really thought about that, that the situation of the game might have led a little bit to the desperation of that play. Just to situate it, it was 31 to 10 bills. So this injury did not really have a material impact on the game. In fact, the score was the exact same as the final score. They were inside the 10-yard line. It's midway through the third quarter. Intuer is having a nightmare game. Now, the first two interceptions, you could put on his receiver. In the lack of depth, they have a wide receiver right now. The first one hits his receiver in the hands. It's maybe a little bit early, but it hit him in the hands. Good anticipation, pops up in the air. The Bills get it. The second one, Robbie Chosen, who's newly joined to the team. Both the receivers who were involved in these plays weren't on the team in mid-august. It doesn't seem like Chosen runs the route that Tua expects.

He sails it. Then the third interception was just a play that Tua was trying to throw the ball out of bounds, but he was under such pressure. His arm didn't get it there, and it was a really poor decision by him there. So it was a game where he obviously was not happy with how it was going because it was so similar to so many Bills games in the past. They put it up that they've lost 11 to 12. To me, those don't matter as much as they've now lost five of six in the McDaniel era. And that, to me, is germane to this discussion, including a September game last week when the last season, rather, when the Dolphins were undefeated and the Bills came in and waxed them. So we will get to the Bills side of it. It was a really important game for the Bills, and they did a fantastic job. So we will give their fans. And I know Eric, who's our producer, who's taking care of his four-month-old baby behind the glass and is quietly gleeful that the Bills had such an easy game. Have some class, Bills fans. Eric, let's finish, though, the two of discussion just from a practical standpoint, Al Michiels mentioned that, well, Tua has got the mini buy week to try to come back.

I'm just shaking my head here. It was not a good game for Al Michael's. I'm just not I'm not sure this is the crew for Amazon. I just don't think it's... I don't think they were up for it. They didn't provide context when Tua was coming off the field. They asked really Hartung to do a lot of that. He compares it, says it's ironic that it's Debar Hamlin in the moment and all this stuff. I'm thinking it's probably going to be more of a mini buy situation, but I couldn't help but look ahead just because you start thinking about managing the season and what's going to be next. They're at Seattle in week three. They're home for Tennessee in week four, and they're at the Patriots in week five. Then they have their buy week after that. So that's just a little bit of context of who's coming up next. Do we dare, like, speculate about whether it could be anyone but Skyler Thompson here, Ryan Tannehill, Dolphins fans were hoping might be an option when this battle was going on. Skyler Thompson hasn't really progressed, I don't think, since his rookie year when he actually was surprisingly good and played pretty well against the Bills in the playoffs.

There is a former Patriots quarterback that's out there that the Bills had to give up a draft pick because they once tried to sign during the season. I'm just saying it's not that crazy Their owner wanted them then. Is it that crazy, Bill Burnwell? Or am I getting way too ahead of myself?

I think you're getting a little ahead of yourself. I would say, Greg, really, the thing that gets lost in the shuffle here with the Dolphins is they're already feeling the impact of the two of signing. I don't want to talk about what might happen with two down the line in terms of the contract. I don't think this is the time or place for that. But in terms of the roster they constructed around what was presumably going to be a healthy two of this year, think about the interceptions in this game. Like you said, the first two picks, two players who were not on the roster in mid-august, fourth and fifth wide receiver's behind the big two in Braxton Berrios, guys who are not making a lot of money because the Dolphins can't afford to spend a lot of money on their third, fourth, fifth receiver's. The third interception comes in a play where the left side of the line gets caved in. They're on a third string guard, I believe, after injuries. And of course, they lost Robert Hunt to the Panthers this offseason in free agency. And then Taran Armstead, their very good left tackle, who has a significant track record of battling injuries himself, came out for that play to get a shoulder harness adjusted.

He ended up leaving the game later on as well. That, to me, is even if you go out and get a Tana Hill, even if you go out and get Mike White, even if Skyler Thompson does play better than he has in years past, this is a much more limited version of last year's team. And a team that is rebuilding on the offensive line, a team that has questions on defense with the pass rush. I think they were okay against Jacksonville in the second half, but inconsistent with the pass rush. The secondary is a work in progress. They have veterans there, but some changes there as well. I just have this question about even if hopefully, Tua is able to recover and come back relatively quickly, Greg, what we've seen from this team the first two weeks does not suggest they are even close to what they were a year ago, let alone competitive, to the point where you think they're taking a step forward. With a roster where you have guys like Tyree Kill and Jalen Ramsey who are exiting the prime of their careers.

Right. That's a good point because look, before the injury, Tyree Kill and Jalen Waddle were both very quiet in this game, and it's been an inconsistent past. They act very different than the Dolphins, how they started last season. Actually, two seasons ago, two. Tyree Kill finishes with only three catches for 24 yards. Waddo goes 4 for 41. Eric, let's throw up a question here from our YouTube viewers. But Cody Home asked, why were the Finns running so much? That's an interesting question. I think that was the plan coming into it. So I think they were effective running the ball. At halftime, they actually had 101 yards rushing on 20 carries. Midway through the third before the Tua injury, they had 143 yards on 24 carries. I think the plan tonight, and it goes to what you were saying, Bill, was they don't have a third receiver. Odell Beckham has not been healthy. I mean, they should have probably seen that coming. Last week, actually, they had two tailbacks on the field, whether it was a fullback or two running backs because they had most of them on the field at the same time. Over 50% of the time, they are right at the center of going heavier personnel and running and throwing out of it.

They've had two tight ends on the field quite a bit. They had two running backs on the field. I think they rightly were thinking that they could run the ball well against the Bills, and they did. The situation of the game just dictated that it got away from them. When they were throwing the ball, the Bills didn't blitz. I have to recheck of the stats, but they didn't blitz once in the first half. They're just laying back. They're trying to prevent the big pass, and even without their linebackers, and they lost Terrell Bernard to a pectoral injury in this game. That is something to watch closely because they could be down there, two really good linebackers, Matt Milano and Terrell Bernard, for a while, if that's serious. They were able to make it work by trying to prevent the big play. I don't fault the Dolphins for trying to run. They also lost Jeff Wilson, actually, late in this game, who had an oblique injury. You mentioned It was officially a shoulder injury. Just a disaster for the Dolphins who also... Mike McDaniel struggled with clock management in this game. There was a lot going on, to your point, to make them a little bit more worried than just the two of the injury.

Yeah. Greg, during the broadcast, from what I saw, from what the announcers were saying, I don't have the exact numbers in front of me, but they said the Bills were playing a ton of two high shells. And that typically for teams means you're going to have an advantage in the box. You should be running the football. And so I do think from their perspective, they were going to be a run-heavy team in this game because of how the Bills were coming out and defending. You said the Bills were taking away the big play. It's something showing off defense do extremely extremely well, historically, is take away big plays. And they wanted them to run the ball, and the dolphins were going to run the ball, and the dolphins were running the ball pretty successfully. The only problem was they would end up in a third down situation and throw the ball, and it would lead to a or an interception. And so they fell behind because they gave the bills a couple of short fields. And then, like you said, once the game script changed, it was unfortunately still a mess. But even into that two-minute drill, they were running the ball a ton, a lot of short passes.

They weren't attempting stuff downfield because the bills weren't giving them anything downfield. And that felt so much to me. The comparison I made on Twitter was it felt like the Jimmy Garoppolo drives with Kyle Shanahan, where they did not trust Jimmy Garoppolo in those situations. They did not want to throw the ball downfield. They did not want to put it in tight spaces. It felt like Mike McDaniel was doing the same thing. That situation where for him, it was more important to deny the Bills another opportunity to score than it was to give the Dolphins the best possible chance of scoring a countdown. It ended up being lost in the shuffle. But like you said, this was a situation where even the broadcast was criticizing the clock management for the Dolphins in that situation. It was not an impressive piece of work. It led to a field goal, which is fine, but just a very curious series of decisions from the Dolphins who seem very concerned about throwing the ball deep against, like you said, a Bill's team that had injuries at linebacker. They're rebuilding its safety. It's not like this is a dominant Bill's defense on paper.

No. I have an advantage on you, Bill, and many of the rest of our industry now. I'm getting the next sentence that's live. Apparently, I could have had this last year, and I didn't even But yeah, split safety, two of us fine against it, 13 for 17, but only 103 yards in one of his picks. But that's a lot of throws. They had the split safeties out there a lot of the way. As I mentioned, it was Dolphins' Ball 7-7, very late in the first quarter when he threw that second interception. After that point, it just felt like the Bills' offense was too big and tough, and they started just running it down their throats. And then when they were in a tough situation, Josh Allen just started doing Josh Allen things. It's been a bummer talking about this, too, I think. I mean, it's a bummer when we lose starting quarterbacks. This is the second primetime game that we've been talking about it. So let's feel good and let's listen to a positive highlight. Eric, give me your boy Josh Allen finding James Cook on a great running throw to set up a shutdown.

Samuel goes back and forth and gets set.

Pass to the outside, wide open inside the 10.

And James Cook takes it in. A lot of eye candy there, a lot of motion, and finds the open man and the wide open man, as it turns out. So That is fourth and three. That's actually early in the first quarter. And the reason I wanted to point that out is that they went for it. It's first quarter, it's scoreless. And I noticed this last week, and I clocked it. In two situations last week where Sean McDermott traditionally was pretty conservative, they went for it. A first half situation that was rather similar to that one, and they didn't get it. Then a second half situation where they did get it. I'm like, Hey, if they're going to lean into this offense, I love that Sean McDermott is finding religion when it comes to going for it on fourth down because ultimately, as good as their defense is, schématically and stuff, this is an offensive team, and they've been great on offense these first two weeks.

Wasn't he in Carolina when Ron Rivera underwent the greatest transformation in NFL history from a coach who actually caused his team games to very briefly a marginally aggressive coach and got about eight years of jobs out of it. I mean, we You have Josh Allen. You have that guy who is going to be a difference maker who's going to terrify opposing teams in short yardage. And in that play, Josh Allen didn't do much, but they called Mesh. They just do some really cool motion to get some pics, natural pics for the swing route. Or sorry, the rail route, I should say. And it's a perfect catch and throw. James Cook is a absolutely great player for that situation. So as long as they have plays, they feel good about. They should absolutely be a team that's aggressive on fourth down. This is not the same caliber of Bill's team that I believe they've had in the years past. This is a team that is in transition.

I might disagree with you there, buddy. I might disagree with you. I picked him to win the Super Bowl. I'm feeling good about it right now.

Wow. I picked them to win the AFC. I felt like that was a pretty aggressive choice. But there's definitely positives here, right? The running game looks good. The Von Miller looked spry tonight for a guy who was pretty much anonymous last year. The secondary looks okay so far. I thought Arizona gave them a little more trouble than I would have liked, but I just feel like this is a team where the losing Stefan Diggs was their biggest story this offseason, and that was not going to be as impactful of a loss as maybe people made it have to be. I think some of the players they lost this offseason were out of their prime years. They were dealing with injuries a lot. I think moves that had to be made. I do think the Spills team is better than Dolphins on paper. I do think the Spills team is good enough to win the division. But of course, so much of that's going to come down to how healthy Josh Allen is for 17 games.

Right. You could say that about any great quarterback. Look, Josh Allen didn't have to do much tonight, 13 for 19 for 139 in the air with a because the running game got going in because they just turned the ball over on defense. But the reason I went with him was, well, more just that it just seemed so hard to 3P, and I just felt the team out of it. I'm going to pick an AFC team. There's too many good teams. Josh Allen, he's due like an MVP here. I mean, this is all ridiculous things to talk about. It's a real big picture. They reminded me of the 2022 Chiefs where it's like, you have the offensive line. I think this is the best offensive line of of the Bills era with Josh Allen. I think this is the best coordinator and the best fit just right now for where they're at, that this can be a really good year. They have enough options. Khalil Shaqir tonight, their leading receiver again, five for 54. He only had to run 16 routes. This was a strange game. But what I was talking about in the first half when they needed to, they just leaned on the Dolphins defense, which seemed to start getting tired, and Cooke ends up going 11 for 78 and two touch downs.

Let's listen to one more play. It was actually a near-touchdown, but it was Josh Allen being Josh Allen and setting up what ended up being a Cooke touch down. Low snap. Dancing. Looking downfield, firing downfield. Caught at the two-yard line.

They'll mark it at the one-yard line. So Allen extends the play.

Ty Johnson is the third down back. Normally, he stays in the block.

Send him out in the pattern.

Find him at the one-yard line. And yeah, if you're watching that play over again, you can see it's Jalen Ramsey on the play. He's been on the wrong side of a lot of negative plays through two weeks. Now, he missed camp, some injury concerns there right before he signed the contract. He wasn't even practicing, whether that was injury or contract-related. Some people have different thoughts.

He has a track record of maybe having mysterious back injuries.

Right. Some people Have noticed, though, he has struggled these two weeks, but that was just a great rollout by Josh Allen on what was a third and twelve when the game was still up for grabs to Ty Johnson. Yeah, they've been resourceful on offense. I'm glad you mentioned Von Miller because I don't think we mentioned him on our show last week that he had five or six pressures in that game last week. He had a couple of nice moves. He didn't look like prime Von Miller, but he looked like a plus pass rusher, which he was so far away from being. Man, they could use another one with Greg Ruso. And tonight, not that I was watching Von Miller every single snap, but he looked fast as hell on that sack. So that is good for a team that has some negatives with injuries. I mentioned Bernard, and obviously, Milano's gone, and you didn't have Taran Johnson. They've had some positives here from their veterans. Deion Dawkins also, their left tackle, has played very well through two weeks. So a lot to feel good about if you're a Bills fan.

Yeah, and really on both sides tonight, it felt like the game plan was attacking the linebackers. For the Bills, there was a lot of the throws out into the flat, some boots for Josh Allen, trying to get stuff on the edge. And then for the Dolphins, more of the tap passes, the reverses, the jet sweeps, trying to use their receivers in those roles or using some HN in the flat quite a bit on some escort motion with those swing passes. But it felt like both teams identified that as It's a weakness for the other team. I think it was right for both teams. I think the Bills, obviously, without Milano and then losing Bernardo early in the game made sense to attack the linebackers if he could. For the Dolphins, they attacked David Long in coverage. Seemed like they... I know Ramsey was in coverage on that big play, but it felt like they wanted to attack the linebackers where they could. And so that feels like if there's a weakness for the Bills right now, if Bernard does miss time with a pectoral injury, you feel like that would be But they looked fine without Milano the first two weeks.

So hopefully, Sean McDermott has done a great job of coaching linebackers in the past, can have them get by without Milano and Bernard for a stretch.

Yeah. I mean, they're down to it, though.

They lost. Yes, and we, too.

They lost the linebacker to Seattle in the offseason. They do have Dorian Williams from Tulane University stepping in. He's at least not stood out in a bad way.

Aj Klein is inevitably on this team at one point or another every single season.

I don't think AJ Klein is retired at this point. They do have a man, Baylen Specter. Is AJ Klein retired? I don't know. Come back, AJ Klein.We would love to have you.I.

Suspect he'll come back. Greeno, the other thing I wanted to say about the quarterback It's a good situation. I just wanted to bring this up. The haves and the have nots in the NFL for backup quarterback feel really distinct, right? Where you have the Dolphins, where obviously you hope two doesn't get hurt. You don't know it's going to happen. But Skyler Gary Thompson was a guy who, like you said, not playing well in camp, won the job just because Mike White lost it. Look at the Green Bay injury. They had to trade from Lake Willis, a guy who's not been good as a pro-quarterback and who looked absolutely abysmal in the two snaps he had filling in for Jordan Love at the end of the game in Brazil. It's one of those things where that is a position we don't think about very much. But man, even if you have a nick Folls caliber backup, that is a big difference between guys who are replacement-level players.

It's why I overrate these quarterbacks, at least for what the money they make. Every year on my top 101 free agents, I always put Jameis Winston way higher. Jameis Winston gets a one-year 3.5 million dollar contract or whatever it is. He gets the equivalent of a rotational defensive tackle. And yet the team that has just a somewhat capable backup, which I think he's even above that. Sure. It's such an advantage. To me, it's always been, especially lately, it's been a problem. All right, let's look at one more comment from the audience here. Chris Green says, They already have Mac Jones. Or, Come get zappy, Miami, says Yumi. I mean, no. Where is Bayly Zappie? I think it's in the practice squad.

I don't know what the purpose of getting Bayly Zappie would be. No, there's no point. You might as well say to get Jay Cutler back in a Dolphins uniform.

Man, it is a depressing night because I'm trying to look for comments maybe from Mike McDaniel as we're taping it, it hasn't happened yet. The reality is the Amazon postgame crew, they're already talking about retirement. People are writing about retirement. I think this is a very personal decision for Tua Tunga Viola. No question. It's just the night of the Injury. To me, it's very premature. But the reality is everything is going to be on the table, and we will just have to see. It's an awkward night. Just from a brass tax perspective, we'll remember the Tua injury, but it's also a very important night for the Bills who go to 2-0 and could really be in charge of this division once again. They've owned the Dolphins the last few years. They beat them decisively twice last year, and that's how they won the division. Through tie break, and now they will have the early tie break over the Dolphins, too. Okay, that's it for the game talk. But we're not done, Bill Barnwell. We are going to just talk a little bit about some predictions because there's nothing I love more than the naval gazing, Bill.

And I thought it would be fun just as we wrap up the normal part of the week here on NFL Daily. We will be dropping our Picks Against the Spread show on Friday afternoon. And so that's going to be a separate show. So for anyone that was looking for Cynthia Freeland and I's Picks, we're picking three games against the spread every week. It's very quick. And that's going to come up in a separate show a little later. Although I did pick the bills tonight, so I got that one right, but that wasn't part of that. We're going to go back and actually just quickly go through a few predictions that we made before the season even started. You might say, We've just started week two. We've only played one game each and one game in week two. And yet I want to already see what's changed your mind. So what we're going to talk about, Bill, is a prediction we feel really good about after one week. A prediction we've already started to regret, which is really my inspiration for this segment because there are a couple, but there's one that really stand out that I'm like, Why did I do that?

And then just for fun, a prediction I wish I made. So why don't we start with you? We'll go a prediction that you feel good about so far.

Prediction I feel good about? I predicted that the Giants were going to take a further step backwards and that they were going to be, if not the worst team in football, one of the worst teams in football. From what I saw in week one, things were not pretty. I mean, the offense was hopeless. They couldn't block. That's not sure. They couldn't block in some place. They were probably like a C minus blocking. They were a D minus for quarterback play. Milyk Nabors is already, unfortunately, battling a knee injury. He was limited in practice today. The defense totally made Sam Darnold looked like the guy Sam Darnold believers had hoped he was going to be for about half a decade now. I mean, everything looked wrong for them at home. And I'm not like the Vikings are a great football team in my eyes. That's one where I feel like I feel pretty good about being skeptical of the Giants making a step in the right direction.

Well, I hope that you regret picking this as the prediction you feel good about on Sunday afternoon, about 4:20 Eastern, because there was no game I had a harder time picking this weekend than Commander's Giants, but I actually went Giants in the end because I just feel like they're... I honestly think they're two of the three worst teams in the NFL right now, so I'm with you that I agree. If I just had to guess, I think the Panthers, Commanders, and Giants are the worst three teams. But the Giants are in year three of their program, and they just have better players. I know Dana Jones was a mess, but that Commander's defense, they could have given up 60 points to the Bucker. There were so many receivers just flying open, and they don't have a lot of talent on offense either. Maybe the vibes are enough for the commanders to get a win.That.

Is the only thing I can think is the vibes.Yes..

Both teams are bad. Don't get me I said it was the toughest game for me to pick all weekend. I wrest back and forth, but I went with the Giants in the end because they do have a bunch of good players. They're like, year three. I think they can maybe go get a road win and at least get to one-on-one. But ultimately, I think that will be a prediction you feel good about.I'm not I'm not arguing with you about that. The prediction I feel good about was Fading the Falcons. Also, the Bills winning the Super Bowl. It's a little early for that. I had Josh Allen, MVP. Bills winning the Super Bowl as a three or four seed. Just felt like that's how they'll finally do it. Okay, that feels good so far. But Fading the Falcons was one of my strongest things all offseason. A lot of it was that Kirk Cousins was coming off a torn Achilles, and we just did just not assume that that's nothing. And so far, we'll see, but that really looks like something. And the rest of the team wasn't so great that he's coming into a good situation, that they were more like about a 4-5 win roster that had a terrible schedule last year.

I know they added talent on defense, but just there were questions all over the place that even if it was normal, Kirk Cousins. Normal, Kirk Cousins is pretty up and down, and I am very concerned about him after that week one performance that he's going to take a while maybe to get going and that the injury could really be an issue here early in the season or maybe throughout the season. I'm feeling good about that prediction.

You should. I mean, that was a absolute mess. I know ESPN Sites & Info had the numbers on them throwing 100% out of the time in the shotgun or 100% of the time out of the shotgun. Pistol, yeah. No, no. 100% throw out of the shotgun. Oh, I got it. 82% run rate out of the pistol. So very distinct play calling based on where Kirk Cousins was standing. Zero play action snaps in the game. Kirk Cousins is, I believe, ahead of my column, his slowest max speed of any game as a pro. I think Ben Solak had in his column. Traveled the least distance by far he's ever traveled in a game in the next-gen era. I mean, Everything just tells you Kirk Cousins cannot walk at a high speed, let alone run.

I hope that's wrong because he's on Monday Night Football this week. I'm picking the eagles. I want them to win and everything, but I just don't want it to be this weird, sad thing with Kirk Cousins. All right, let's do the prediction that you already regret. This is the centerpiece of this segment here. What is something that you said that you actually are already legitimately moving off? If there's nothing, you could say nothing. But if you're just trying to find one, tell me that.

There's a couple that come to mind for me thinking I will go with Blake Coram being the lead back with the Rams. I think at some point he's going to have a role. I think it's going to be injury dependent on Kyren Williams. But this offseason, I look back at late round pics who haven't had big rookie seasons who got significant snaps in the year two and what happened. And so often, they got benched quicker than anybody expected. They were one and done in lead roles at running back. And then Kyren Williams gets hurt during the offseason. He's dealing with a foot injury that he's had in the past. He gets put on punt return duty. I'm just like, Man, Blake Coram might get 75% of the snaps week one. He might just be the lead back to begin the season. And then, Blake Coram got zero offensive snaps in week one.

Man, That was a small level prediction because I have a feeling, Bill, actually, that's going to work out fine in the end. I think you were on the right track. I don't know if he's going to be the lead back now, but it took a month for Kyron Williams to get the job last time. In fact, I believe there was some thought that when they had the injuries during the game on the offensive line, that they just prioritized pass protection in terms of their backs above all, even. Roni Rivers might not blow up in a big hole, but they can trust him in pass You see with that with running backs. Maybe that will be an issue for a couple of weeks, but I think it might have been situational. I have a much bigger regret than that. Please. I have a much bigger regret. I don't know why I did this. I really leaned in at the very end. I got convinced that the Cowboys were just going to be a total disaster. I bought into the whole everything was feeling negative. Maybe it will turn negative in the end, but it really only took one game of Oh, yeah, Dak Prescott is freaking awesome.

I know it wasn't his best game ever, but he's still freaking awesome. Michael Parsons is a total beast. They really seem like they have some answers defensively that I think will make up for a few of the lack of depth issues that they have on the offensive side. I think the rookies on the offensive line will figure things out, and they've already started off pretty well. That was when I think I went a little too hard on was the Cowboys going.

I just think the Browns might not be that I mean, I had the Browns as a team likely to decline before the year. I thought about them. The three things I thought about when you asked me the first question were Giants decline, I felt strongest about, Browns decline, I feel good about, and Chargers improving, which they had the most Jim Harbaugh victory I can imagine in week one against the Raiders. But I think the Browns, their defense looked good but not great in week one, and their offense looked just horrifically bad. And I think the Cowboys played a role in that, but I do think the Cowboys may not look quite as good against different competition in the weeks to come.

Okay, let us know. You guys can let us know that are passing along in the comments. What mistakes you've made in terms of your prediction, Chris Green says, Biggest regret is paying Daniel Jones. Yeah, well, that was two years ago. Although I do think the Giants doubling down this offseason, Joe Shane didn't want to. I mean, he wanted to trade up for Drake May, but he didn't want to enough. I think if they had really just sold the farm for him. I think the Patriots could have listened. They had a good offer, but it didn't happen. I don't know if there's a chance Joe Shane doesn't make it to year four, and then he has regrets about that.

Can I give you my unifying theory of the New York Giants and Joe Shane, the quarterback situation?

Please, yes.

I believe Brian Dable and Joe Shane did not want Daniel Jones. I think when they got there, they were like, We'll give this guy a shot, but we're probably drafting a quarterback next year. They They had the same thing that happened with the Bills, where they had the unexpected year one playoff run with your incumbent quarterback who you don't love. Daniel Jones played well at the end of the year. His best football was the end of that season. It was his first healthy year as a pro. My guess is that ownership who had bought Daniel Jones for several years, waited for him to be good, were the driving forces in that Daniel Jones contract. Maybe Joshane didn't want to sign Saquon Barkley.

I could understand the reasons for it. I'm with you, but what's going to happen now? They're going to lose their job, right? Because they should have listened to them. See, about Saquon, they should have actually listened to that and just paid Saquon instead of paying... Who was that guard from the packers? Oh, John Runian. Instead of playing John Runian, 10 and a half, go an extra million for Saquon. If you can't coach up your guards to be better than that, then that's probably on you.

You know, Greg, when you look at the draft and how nobody's good at drafting, you look at free agency and how good teams make bad decisions in free agency, good teams make bad trades. Why are these guys getting paid so much? Well, one of the reasons GMs and coaches get paid so much is that sometimes they get fired because the owner strongly encouraged them to make bad decisions, and the owner is not the one who has to pay for it with their jobs. If you look at about the last 20 years of the Las Vegas/Oakland Raiders, that describes a lot of what's happened with the Raiders franchise. But we'll see. I mean, Daniel Jones, it can't be much worse than it week one. The commanders, like you said, a lot of guys running free last week. If anyone's going to make Daniel Jones look good, it is the Washington commanders in week two.

Yeah, it's a trend with these giants. There's a sneaky amount of reports of meddling. I mean, you had the whole Gino Smith, Eli Manning thing. You had really the last year or two of Eli Manning's career in different forms or fashion, which I think was definitely owner-related. All right, finally, we wrap with the prediction you wish you made.

That's a tough one. The prediction I wish I had made.

You want me to go first?

Yeah, I'm trying to think about what I wanted to do here. I got a couple.

Go for it. Well, first, we did the over-under draft on this show, and I didn't want to take pats over 4.5 because it just felt like homer. I believed it could be after one week, I'm like, Well, they're already 20% there. The schedule's tough, but that That was one of the tough parts of the schedule, a tough road game in Cincinnati. There's one I think they can get to five. I didn't want to be a homer. They were on my longer list when I listed the over-unders last week that I liked. That was one. No one, literally no one, I don't believe on nfl. Com, they asked 36 writers who makes the playoffs. I thought that 6-7 spot in the AFC was pretty up for grabs. I didn't have the Dolphins or Jets there. To me, I thought the AFC East was going to be worse people thought, and we'll see. But I was like, Who makes it? And I ended up going Colts, Chargers, 6 and 7. But literally no one, and I think it was because of the preseason, out of 36 people, picked the Steelers. And it's like, Now already, I'm like, Maybe Maybe I should have taken the Steelers.

The stealers will just find a way. And then finally, I had heard some buzz from people in Philadelphia about Quinian Mitchell in training camp. I'm like, man, they really think they found someone. So a little Quinian Mitchell defensive rookie of the year, having a great season. Even after one week, I'm feeling like that feels a little… That could have been a spicy pick that looks good.

A sprinkle, I think it's fair to say. I had the Patriots over four and a half. I had them as one of the most likely teams to improve in my column this year. Did not go boldly all the way to the playoffs. That was not going to go quite that far. But crazy, but stranger things. I mean, it would have been crazy to say the 313 and 1 Texans were going to win the AFC South last year, especially after they got blown out in week one by the Ravens. And yet that is exactly, Greg, what happens. Football is a very strange sport. I think they're going to be a lot better than people give them credit for. They're not going to be a playoff team, but I think a seven-win team this year in New England, and had that before the season. Prediction I wish I had made. I wish I'd had the Rams out of the playoffs. That was the one where for the longest time when I was doing my playoff article, I had them out and I kept the teams I was putting in. I didn't feel good about I didn't feel good about the Falcons.

I didn't feel good about Tampa. I didn't feel good about the Vikings. I had the Eagles out, so I couldn't pick them. And I felt like if I had to pick a big team out, I was going to go with the Eagles. And that doesn't feel great right now, but we'll see. But the injuries were already bad before the season began. And now, Pukina Koua is on the public or on IR for four weeks. Joseph Noboom is on IR for four weeks. Stephen Veal is on IR for four weeks. They were already banged up on the offensive line before this. I mean, they are just absolutely battling injuries so far. I feel like I would have had Rams out and maybe been a chicken and kept eagles in, but maybe I should have just stuck with it. Maybe it just would be because the Rams did. They were in position to beat the lions in Detroit. If they get a stop at the end of that game, maybe I'm being a little too harsh.

Yeah, that was one of those games they played so well. If you're you would have loved to come away with the win, but it almost made me feel better about them. Then again, they feel like a month at least away from being anywhere close to hole on the offensive line, which is a pretty big deal. They're built around their offensive line. As we wrap up, and thank you, Bill Barnwell. Of course. One of the best in the entire business, the best writer in the game right now. Check them out at espn. Com, as I tell them often. My ESPN Plus subscription, largely for Bill. A little bit for Zack Lo, too. I got to admit, I do love Bill.

A lot of people tell me Zack is very good. I always throw that in.

I like Zack.

If I can be the 10% of your ESPN Plus behind.

No, you're number one. You're number one by far. Number two is actually the US Open women's Tennis Tournament, Court 13. You can get that on ESPN Plus, not to give them an ad, but it's just like, Oh, yeah. There's the Marta Kostiak match that I want to watch. I can't actually find that anywhere else.

Individual high level, but modest court tennis feeds is what you're looking for.

Yeah, love that. What an athlete she is. But yeah, he gets it done. Also, the Bill Barnwell Show, of course, is great podcast, and he's on Around the Horn, and you see him on NFL Live. He is everywhere, and he's been great forever. Before we say goodbye, guy, though. I will read you just something that Mike McDaniel said after the game on Tua Tunga Bayloa's injury. Just said he's just worried about his guy, not something you ever want to be part of. He'll get a proper evaluation, and then the Dolphins will make a decision on how to proceed with the injury. And look, he said, Every concussion is different, and you'll see, but there was good news that Tua was in good spirits in the locker room after the That alone makes it a different situation, at least, than the last time that he had it. He was talking to the team, to his teammates in the locker room, and that made everyone feel better. We'll just have to see what the evaluation is. Obviously, we're wishing the best for him. He also says, Look, a loss like this early in the season is a gut check, and they have to see how they respond.

It's going to either be a good thing or a bad thing to lose a game like this. Obviously, losing their quarterback makes it all the more painful. That's it for our Thursday Night Recap Show. Hopefully, the next one doesn't have any injuries to speak. We will be back on Friday. Thanks again, Bill. Like I said, with a really quick pick show, we're going to try it separated from the rest of the show. I know not everyone's into the picks against the spread, so we'll do that separate on Friday. Then we'll be back for the Sunday Week 2 recap. Until then. So happy that football is back.