Originally Posted by KC_Connection:
I wouldn't be surprised at all if the Ravens ditch Lamar by next season, yeah. They're gonna get tired of his inability to throw the football sooner rather than later.
I’d really respect their FO if they did. Their fans are delusional about Jackson. They have tricked themselves into believing he’s something that he’s not.
Of course, they won a Super Bowl with Dilfer and Flacco. Their standard for what they need at the position isn’t particularly high. [Reply]
Originally Posted by smithandrew051:
I’d really respect their FO if they did. Their fans are delusional about Jackson. They have tricked themselves into believing he’s something that he’s not.
Of course, they won a Super Bowl with Dilfer and Flacco. Their standard for what they need at the position isn’t particularly high.
Their FO has their own jobs to worry about and they're never gonna win shit with that guy at quarterback. If they haven't already come to that realization, they will soon enough. [Reply]
Originally Posted by :
If you’ve ever asked yourself what a Peyton and Eli Manning podcast might be like, the answer to your hypothetical was delivered Monday night on ESPN2.
It just so happened to accompany a season-opening football game — a wild overtime affair the Raiders won 33-27 over the Ravens.
As part of ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” MegaCast, the now-retired pair of quarterback brothers did what most of us do while watching football: Hang out together.
With Peyton chiming in from Denver and Eli back east in New Jersey, the brothers did a running commentary on the broadcast. But if you were looking for standard-fare NFL viewing, this was not that.
This was Peyton and Eli unplugged: Revealing embarrassing childhood stories (did Eli really run a 6.2-second 40-yard dash in middle school?), talking over the referee as penalties were announced and telling an endless stream of stories. Lots and lots of stories.
The dialogue shifted from brutal honesty to absolute hilarity.
It began with a dagger. On the first play from scrimmage, Peyton said of the Raiders, “Here we go. This is gonna tell me everything I need to know.”
When quarterback Derek Carr’s pass to tight end Darren Waller fell incomplete, Eli quipped, “What does that tell you?”
Peyton’s response: “6-11. 6-11.”
Ouch.
Peyton was particularly true to form in this format. He only knows one way to do things, be it playing quarterback or writing a Hall of Fame speech. In everything he does, he goes all out. Here, that meant getting into character as Raiders coach Jon Gruden, donning a Raiders visor and a mock headset and calling in plays to his pretend quarterback, Eli.
“OK, bronco right, tight, shorty flash,” he bellowed.
Eli then pretends to call the play in the huddle. Before he can finish spitting out the word salad of a call, Peyton interjects when he sees the Baltimore defense in an unexpected coverage.
“Hey! It’s Cover 2! Run 58 freedom! 58 freedom!” he yelled.
At this point, it’s clear: “Monday Night Football” is completely off the rails — in the best way possible.
But it gets better.
Soon after, Peyton goes into full analyst mode, busting out a whiteboard to break down a Raiders play.
“Here’s that play we were talking about, E,” Peyton began. “Heavy right bunch, three guys heavy, big tight ends in a bunch. Velcro is the ‘V’ coming across, ‘H flick’ (means) you’re gonna flick the running back and get him out of the way. Eighty-two is the pass protection. The line’s got the four down (defensive linemen) and the linebacker. ‘All go’ is the route, everybody going deep. ‘Switch’ tells the U and the Y to switch releases and then we’re tagging ‘X’ on the under.’ Look at all the verbiage before the ball is even snapped.”
Luckily for the viewers, there would not be a quiz.
Some of the best stuff of the night was also the most relatable. Who among us hasn’t ripped on our siblings? The brothers did this with regularity, and it made for great content.
At one point, Peyton dons a Ravens helmet for more role-playing, pretending to be Lamar Jackson under center. Before long, he yanks it off.
“This helmet doesn’t fit,” he said.
Eli, without skipping a beat, chimed in: “Shocking that a helmet doesn’t fit you. They didn’t have a double-XL helmet for that forehead?”
In the second quarter, after Jackson threw a laser of a touchdown pass, Peyton responded, “I would not know much about the tight spiral. I invented the wobbly touchdown.”
Eli wasn’t about to let the opportunity pass.
“How many touchdowns do you think you threw on a wobbly duck? I’m saying over half,” he said.
Finally, Eli — prompted by the Raiders’ home crowd being annoyingly loud when the Vegas offense was on the field — recalled how Peyton demanded silence from Indianapolis fans when he was under center for the Colts.
“Peyton had that stadium so well-trained,” Eli said. “When he was on offense, no one was allowed to talk. I swear the fans would get fined if they, like, asked for a drink. ‘Hey, can I get a beer?’ It’s like, ‘Hey! Be quiet. Wait for the defense to order your beer!’ You were not allowed to say anything. He could whisper and the receivers could hear him.”
There also was a string of intermittent guests throughout the evening, from basketball Hall of Famer Charles Barkley to former Ravens great Ray Lewis, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson.
Barkley does what he always does: Entertain. To no surprise, a chummy, trash-talking format suits him well.
His rooting interest in the game was based on his, um, wagering.
“I took the Raiders at 3.5,” he said, referring to the point spread. “I got even last night with the Rams, so I’m playing with free money tonight … Monday night is gravy. I got it all back on the Rams. They were giving nine and they made me look good.”
Peyton asked Barkley whether he’d played any football. The answer was yes — sort of.
“I played one day of football,” Barkley said. “Because of bad coaching, they put me on the O-line and I quit after one day. I think if they’d have made me a linebacker or a tight end, somebody like that, I could play. But I don’t want to be hit every play. That offensive line, that’s like a real job.”
Lewis’ appearance allowed for a little retrospective for Eli. He had a very, well, memorable first meeting with the Ravens in December 2004.
Eli told the story of being under center, in one of his first starts.
“I get up there and I’m saying, ‘Number 52’s the mike,'” he said, referring to Lewis. “You were like, ‘I’m not the mike, he’s the mike.’ I said, ‘Wait, Ray’s right. The other guy is the mike.’ Then Ed Reed starts saying, ‘Hey, I wanna be the mike.'”
They were totally screwing with the young quarterback, who likely didn’t realize he was the butt of the joke. He likely figured it out by day’s end, when he saw the stat sheet.
“I had a 0.0 rating,” Eli said. “It’s hard to do.”
Originally Posted by Eureka:
So the Chiefs just gave up 29 points to the Browns. They are below the Raiders?
As I've been saying, CLE is far better than BAL without their 3-headed running attack. And don't kid yourself; the Raiders with Carr aren't in the same ballpark with CLE. Put a real QB behind that line, and the Raiders are a solid 10-11 win team, even with that atrocious defense. [Reply]
Lamar could be one of the best RBs in history. It's downright foolish of him to keep playing QB because he isn't very good at it. He's literally wasting what could potentially be a HOF RB career. I'm not saying that to be disrespectful, it's just a fact. Him and the Ravens are complete idiots. [Reply]
They should switch QBs. Gruden QB whisper is comedy, Carr could Flacco it for the Ravens.
The circus atmosphere of Raiders, Las Vegas, and Lamar is great for hangovers and snowbirds. [Reply]
Originally Posted by rabblerouser:
Yes. I was kinda pissed...but I laugh about it now.
The NFL wanted Lamar to be considered elite so badly.
Not sure if you watched last night or not, but they’re still swinging from his nut sack. All broadcast was about how great of a pocket passer he’s become. Watching him somehow choke worse than Carr against a bad secondary was actually pretty satisfying by the end (even if it meant a Raider win). [Reply]
