Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:13] Speaker B: Hello and welcome back to the Skullcast. I'm Asher Whitmer here with my brother Christopher Whitmer.
We are Vikings fans who enjoy talking football. If you're just joining us, every week we reflect on how the Vikings did. We have one episode focused on that and then we have another episode reflecting on league wide action.
And then we have a third episode that makes picks for the upcoming week. And we've done reflection, venting our sorrows and woes of how the Vikings week two went. And in our last episode we reflected on some. Highlighted just a few. We didn't cover all the games but highlighted a few of the games including the packers and Lions. And today we are going to go through our week three picks and see who we think is going to come out winners. Are you ready for this, Christopher?
[00:01:09] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:01:09] Speaker B: Any preliminary words you'd like to say?
[00:01:14] Speaker A: No.
[00:01:15] Speaker B: The question I left you guys with in our last episode is who is winning between Christopher and I as we keep track of our record, how good we do at picking winners and losers. Last year I beat Christopher. I don't remember that it was particularly close.
So I was the better one picking teams last year. This year I start out strong with a 23. 9 record. 23 have been picked correctly. 9 have been wrong. But Christopher is beating me by two whole games after two weeks. That feels like a significant solid lead amount. A solid lead. I don't know. Just.
I don't know if you caught on, but that's the Vikings gold there that I have the. The lead highlighted.
[00:02:06] Speaker A: Nice.
[00:02:08] Speaker B: So for the first game of the week, we're going to have the Bills play the Dolphins at home and. And we have the Bills winning that game. The Dolphins do not look particularly good and sort of seems like maybe they're their clubhouses in a bit of a wreckage. The Vikings are the second game of the week. Christopher is staying strong with the Vikings. We know that Carson's Wentz is going to be starting. I'm not sure how much of like is Derrisa going to be playing again? Is. Is. Have we heard if Ryan Kelly's out or not? Is he doing.
[00:02:45] Speaker A: I. We haven't but I can look it up real quick.
[00:02:48] Speaker B: I believe he left the game because of concussion. There were a couple players that left.
[00:02:52] Speaker A: Yeah, he's in the concussion.
[00:02:54] Speaker B: I'm. I don't know if you call this punishing the Vikings I'm or just trying to like not get my hopes up too high, but I think there's a good chance. Jake Browning. Is that his name? Browning. Jake Browning seems like the kind of qb, maybe a little bit Nick Mullins, like where he can fling and throw for a lot of yardage. I remember was it a couple years ago he came in for an extended period and held the Browns or the Bengals very well. But last week when he had to come in for Burrow, he did throw two, if not three picks in the game. And so I, there is optimism that the Vikings defense could step up and get several takeaways and, and that Carson Wentz is good enough at leading the o' Connell offense. Maybe the Vikings will, will win this one easily. But I'm also sort of like, ah, it's just, it's been such a downer week.
[00:03:44] Speaker A: I sort of, yeah.
[00:03:46] Speaker B: Think the Bengals might sneak one.
[00:03:48] Speaker A: I, I, yeah, I, we, we talked about this. I forget if it was in the one of the previous episodes or offline, but.
[00:03:57] Speaker B: With Carson, Wes mentioned some things. Offline.
[00:04:00] Speaker A: Yeah. Against a decimated Bengals team who already doesn't have a great defense. I think Carson Wentz is a solid enough quarterback compared to who we played against a couple years ago, Jake Browning, when he beat us, it was like Nick Mullins. I think, I think Carson Wentz is a significantly better quarterback than Mullins. And so I think, I think we could pull off a win against the Bengals, in which case, you know, my expectation was that we would beat the Falcons and lose to the Bengals. I think we can beat these Bengals and so, you know, I'll still, I still think they can go two and one, which is what my expectation was for them anyways. So.
[00:04:41] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, I, I think that's fair. I don't, I don't know what's going to happen. It'll be interesting. We're, we're going to have such strong, emotionally strong twists and turns if they, yeah, if they come out and have a fantastic game against the Bengals and Vikings fans are going to be like, oh, we're going to go to the super bowl with Carson and it'll be interesting to see. It's. We're here for the ride. Texans at Jaguars. We both think the Texans win, but the Jaguars have actually had a better looking offense so far. So why do we think the Texans are going to win?
[00:05:15] Speaker A: I don't know that I have a good answer for that.
I think the Texans will pull together at some point.
[00:05:23] Speaker B: Yeah, I think they'll, I think they'll pull it together. I think the Texans have a pretty good defense.
[00:05:28] Speaker A: Yeah, I guess I just don't believe in the Jaguars. I don't Know, probably not fair.
[00:05:33] Speaker B: Yeah, it probably isn't fair, but they did lose last week. So they're one and one. Texans are zero and two. They need. This is a must win game in many ways for them as the Colts are. They're in the same division as the Colts, right?
Colts are 2 and oh, and looking strong.
Speaking of the Colts at Titans, we pick the Colts over Titans. Cam Ward is another one of those young rookie QBs figuring things out. So. So I totally forgot to say this in our reflection on the Vikings game, but something that hit me this morning is that when you look at all the QBs who are either a rookie today, which obviously there's just Cam Ward, Shadur Sanders is not playing, or any of the other QBs that rookies this year or the rookies last year, none of them are doing well. Like, none of them are looking that great even. Yeah, even C. C.J. stroud, who was a rookie two years ago, he's kind of struggling. And so that way. Obviously I wouldn't. I wouldn't say McCarthy's like one of the better ones yet. I. I thought he looked really strong. He obviously outplayed Williams in week one, but it kind of helped me kind of re. Level expectations a little bit. It was like, sure, when you compare to what some of the other Rook or Young QBs are doing, it doesn't look as bad as maybe what we were expecting out of this. Shoot.
[00:06:54] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:06:55] Speaker B: Raiders at Commanders. Geno Smith threw three picks. I don't think he got a single touchdown.
In their last game, they lost 20 to 9 against the Chargers. Speaking of the Commanders, they lost to the packers and they won, but didn't look very strong in week one. We're going with the Commanders to beat the Raiders here in week three. Any.
Anything you want to add with that game?
[00:07:22] Speaker A: Um, yeah, I think Commanders. I think Commanders are better than they've been playing. Um, I don't know that they're as good as they were last year.
[00:07:30] Speaker B: Eckler. Echler's out for the season.
[00:07:32] Speaker A: Yeah, Eckler's out. Yeah. Yeah, you're right.
[00:07:35] Speaker B: I'm a little frustrated that Ashton Genty's not being used more. I have him in fantasy football.
[00:07:41] Speaker A: I have him in one of my fantasy leagues.
It's Chip Kelly, who, you know, famously traded Lee Shawn McCoy when he was a head coach of the Eagles. So, like, I mean, his reputation is just that. I don't think he knows how to use running backs. But Tiff Kelly is the OC.
[00:08:03] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Rams at Eagles Rams have started two and oh yeah, yeah last week they definitely looked a lot stronger but they're going to be in the Eagles house and we think this is probably fairly safe guess to say it's going to go the Eagles way considering as the Eagles beat them in the Rams house last year. Do you think, do you think the Rams are and I guess this game will tell because you know it's, it's we're two weeks in, here's the third one and but yeah. Do you think the Rams are the team that played the Eagles in the, what was it, the divisional round last year?
[00:08:43] Speaker A: No, I don't think that they are but I also don't think the Eagles are the same team.
I think it to me, what I hear going on with Matthew Stafford's back, I can't imagine trying to play through that pain and so it's hard for me to imagine that he, that they can make a deep run.
[00:09:06] Speaker B: But yeah, yeah. Falcons at Panthers Panthers do not look good. They had a good second half or second portion of their season last year when Bryce Young came back after being benched. But the Falcons, especially after what we saw on Sunday, they, they, they definitely have a lot stronger pass rush than I was expecting and I don't think the Panthers are going to be able to hold up to that very well. Steelers at Patriots we are both abandoning Steelership and we're diving in on Patriotship.
I think Patriots have looked decent. Drake maybe playing of the younger QBs, is he the best looking one so far in this year this season?
[00:09:47] Speaker A: Drake may yeah, probably.
[00:09:50] Speaker B: The Steelers have not held anybody through two games under 30 points, including the jets which I don't think have a very good offense. Bills held them to 10 points so yeah, I, I think it's safe. I mean that's, that's who I picked is the Patriots to beat the Steelers. Packers at Browns we are riding with Packers. It's probably a first guess although I as I was filling out my take this week I'm like watch this be like the one the packers beat everybody. Everybody good. And then this one game against the Browns like somehow sneaks them and, and, and they get a loss and go 16 and one or something that I don't expect that to happen. We are going with the Buccaneers. Jets at Buccaneers.
[00:10:38] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:10:39] Speaker B: How is so some of the talk has been Baker Mayfield a sleeper or maybe not even sleeper anymore but an MVP candidate.
[00:10:47] Speaker A: Mvp.
[00:10:47] Speaker B: People are putting, people are putting the Buccaneers in as a Super bowl contending team. What are your thoughts?
[00:10:54] Speaker A: I, I, I Mean, Buck, the Bucks look great.
Baker Mayfield looks really good.
[00:11:02] Speaker B: I.
[00:11:02] Speaker A: If the Vikings are not going to do well this year, I could get behind. Bucks are a little bit of a boring team because they were just in the super bowl with Brady, but I would love to see Baker Mayfield get his.
Get his.
Get some recognition.
[00:11:17] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:11:17] Speaker A: Yeah, I think. I think they could be a really fun team going forward.
[00:11:21] Speaker B: I agree. Yeah, it's. It's fun to see them.
It's.
They. They have a really good offensive core, and the Bucks have been known, especially with Todd Bowles, they've been known for good defense. But when you think about.
I forget the rookie guy's name, but you have Chris Godwin, Mike Evans, Michael Irving. Is. Is that his name? Bucky Irving.
Michael Irving. Bucky Irving. And then who's. Who's the rookie wide receiver that they drafted this year?
[00:11:54] Speaker A: I don't remember his name.
[00:11:55] Speaker B: Probably the best. Well, Godwin's not active yet. He's still coming back from injury, but on paper, we. We might be sleeping on them having the best wide receiver core in the NFL.
[00:12:09] Speaker A: Mika, you get Egbuka.
[00:12:11] Speaker B: Yeah. I don't know how to pronounce it, but that's the guy that I was thinking of. Broncos at Chargers. We're going Chargers all the way. I did not watch much of the Bronco.
Actually, I didn't watch any. I just watched replay of the Broncos Colts game. But people who did watch it are saying Knicks played a lot better in the last game as opposed to their first game, even though they lost it. This is a divisional game. Divisional games are always close. But as the Chargers proved in week one, they can play those divisional games strong even when they're out of the country. I don't think the Broncos we talked about a little bit in our last episode. There were a couple of national analysts who had the Chiefs being dethroned in the AFC west this year, but nobody had them being dethroned by the Chargers. They had them being dethroned by the Broncos. And now the Chargers are two and oh, and the Broncos are one and one and looking kind of haggard.
[00:13:05] Speaker A: And they're. They're two and oh. Against the division, like they've played.
[00:13:09] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:13:09] Speaker A: Chiefs, Raiders. Now. Now the Broncos.
[00:13:13] Speaker B: This would send a strong message as it pertains to divisional standings and divisional rivalries. If they can pull a win off the Broncos. I think. I think if the Vikings end up not doing well, I could see myself kind of tracking with the Chargers, seeing what all happens with them.
[00:13:31] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:13:32] Speaker B: Saints at Seahawks. Seahawks.
[00:13:34] Speaker A: Not Good.
[00:13:35] Speaker B: Take it easily. Saints aren't good.
[00:13:37] Speaker A: Cowboys at Bears Bears going oh and.
[00:13:41] Speaker B: Three go oh and three after.
What's his name? Ashton Kushner came on the Rich Eisen show and said they were going to go five and. Oh, I'm sorry, Bears fans. Sort of. Sort of Cardinals at 49ers Are we sleeping on the Cardinals? The 49ers have not necessarily been dominant, but I, I mean we are picking them to win. Are the Cardinals.
[00:14:02] Speaker A: I don't really know anything about the Cardinals. Nothing stands out about their team. I don't hear anyone talking about them.
So if we're sleeping, I'm, I'm like dead asleep on the Cardinals.
[00:14:13] Speaker B: It's like a brew on the first things first. I'm not. How is that on Geno Smith? He has a classic take. You should go watch it on YouTube for any of those. He's not sleeping on Geno Smith. He's comatose on Geno Smith.
Like he's totally out.
[00:14:31] Speaker A: I think I'm saying it too. I'm not sleeping. I'm comfortable.
[00:14:35] Speaker B: Coma dose. Yeah, obviously hollers data out. That's kind of how I feel a little bit with the Cardinals as well as the. I mean, I wasn't sleeping with the Raiders. I just didn't think they'd be good. Chief said. Giants this could be a get right game for the Chiefs even though they have a lot of injuries with their wide receiver or. Well, I guess Rasheed Rice is not an injury, but they have holes at wide receiver.
Do you think the Giants could get them? I mean, they played the Cowboys pretty good.
[00:15:03] Speaker A: Russell Wilson, but they're 02 right now. Both of these teams are 0 and 2.
[00:15:08] Speaker B: Yeah, but the last game, I mean the, the Giants looked bad in Week 1. It looked like last year's Week 1 Giants, but the last game, Russ moved that offense incredibly well.
[00:15:19] Speaker A: I don't know. I would, I would be here for it. I'm. I'm here for some upset fruit baskets.
[00:15:24] Speaker B: I'm. I'm. Yeah, yeah. It would be fun to watch it happen.
This reminds me, talking about Russell Wilson reminds me of another thing I forgot to talk about in our Vikings review.
You know that third and one pass where McCarthy sailed over Jalen Naylor, who's wide open and could have walked in for a touchdown. I was watching some analysts on it and they were talking about. I forget even who it was. It was a coach or former coach talking about how on those deep balls you have to like, it's a common thing for young QBS to rush it too quickly and then gun it as though you're like throwing more of a fastball. And they said you have to get the ball high and when you're throwing downfield, you get it high and get a nice arc to it.
[00:16:10] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:16:10] Speaker B: Which is what Russell Wilson has always been known for. Like, he, he has a beautiful Aaron Rodgers too. Like, has the ability to, throughout their history, to throw a, a deep ball. That's high I had never known before. It makes sense too. Yeah. Sam's pretty good at it. I, I, I don't know if that's what they mean by layering the throw. If it's like get. So you're going deep, so you need to get height on your throw. And then in comparison to JJ's first touchdown pass to, to Jefferson, which was right on the goal line. And they say when you're throwing to the goal line, it should be low, low to the ground on the goal line. You don't want it.
[00:16:49] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:16:50] Speaker B: Shoulder height or above. Which JJ did great in that one, but he did not, he way overthrew Naylor and it was because it wasn't high enough. Didn't have.
[00:16:59] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:17:00] Speaker B: The hates to layering Lions at Ravens so gonna infuriate all our Lions fans who watch us at all. Why do we think the Ravens and maybe we should guess the score is this like a 47 to 44 score?
[00:17:19] Speaker A: I mean, it's either.
[00:17:20] Speaker B: I think that's a beautiful Monday night game, though, just just to think of it.
[00:17:25] Speaker A: Yeah, that is, that is a really great Monday night game, I think. Yeah. I mean, I could, I could just be undervaluing the lines. Let me see what I have them. What? I had them going here.
Yeah, I had them losing.
In my original summation of, of the schedule of the preseason ending, like, I, Yeah, I went through and like, just like did a preseason thing on all the NFC north teams.
I mean, I could be undervaluing the Lions. I just think it's either going to be a tight game in which the Lions could win, or it's going to be a Ravens blowout in which I'm going to conclude that the Lions just aren't, aren't who they were last year.
I don't see a situation where the Lions beat the Ravens just because I think the Ravens are that good of a team.
[00:18:17] Speaker B: But it could be, it could be.
[00:18:19] Speaker A: That I'm undervaluing the Lions and overvaluing the Raven Ravens, but I just think, I think the Ravens are probably, they're probably a Final Four team.
[00:18:28] Speaker B: Like, I think, I think there's a very, like when we're, when we're looking at kind of how the seasons have started so far, I think there's a good chance that it could be a Ravens, Bills, NFC or AFC championship.
[00:18:40] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:18:40] Speaker B: Like their offense has started off good and Patrick Mahomes is Patrick Mahomes. He deserves the respect. But even Patrick Mahomes can't practice and get reps and good ground with guys who are either injured or out on suspension. Yeah, I mean, obviously he can practice with guys on suspension, but they're going to be giving the majority of the reps to guys who are actually playing games.
[00:19:01] Speaker A: I don't, I don't know that he can practice with suspension.
[00:19:04] Speaker B: Really.
[00:19:05] Speaker A: I don't think, I don't think Jordan can. I don't know if it's different with six weeks.
[00:19:10] Speaker B: Oh, I was thinking I had heard that Jordan could. That that's why I said that. But may. Maybe you're probably right.
[00:19:17] Speaker A: Yeah, maybe I'm misremembering.
[00:19:19] Speaker B: So I just think like the Bills and Ravens offenses have started strong and clicking well and I just think the Chiefs are themselves going to be behind the curve on that, especially since they didn't start very strong and maybe I should say more importantly, their defense hasn't started as strong as what we're used to seeing out of the defense. So yeah, there you have it. We will see how accurate we are and we'd love to hear what your picks are, what your favorite team is. If you're watching this, we slowly, increasingly get one or two or three more subscribers each week. So if you're new, if you, if you started following, I usually publish these and then like kind of forget about them. And I went back last night and realized, oh, our last several episodes have gotten basically 50 views. So somebody's listening to us talk for 30, 40 minutes and yeah, I'd be curious to know what your favorite team is, what teams you're watching, whether or not they're favorite. You think they have a chance to go deep this year and we'll see how things go. You can drop it in the comment below until next week. We'll talk to you guys later.
[00:20:32] Speaker A: Good luck.
