Why the Texans, Chargers & Falcons Are Sneaky Contenders

Let's go to this year's Seahawks, which is a team that is kind of fully baked, that feels like it has Super Bowl written all over it, but maybe not enough people are saying, oh yeah, like this is, these are our guys.

OK, so I'm gonna start here by explaining how I talked about the Seahawks last year, right?

And, and, and I would say after my training camp trip, I remember there were 2 teams that I put in this category, and this is gonna be kind of my baseline, right?

2 teams where I put in this category where I said, Man, this team has a lot of players that I would consider good players, and a lot of those players are young.

And so if those guys can elevate from just being good players to being great players, now we really have something.

And I thought the two teams that were in that category in the summer last year were the Packers and the Seahawks, and I think the Seahawks, they hit it, right?

JSN good to great.

Witherspoon, good to great.

Byron Murphy, good to great.

Like they had all these young players that were, I mean, you could argue Kenneth Walker, good to great, right?

Like all these really good young players who took another step and became great players.

So , I think you could like categorize the Packers as maybe being that team this year, and maybe they do break through.

I'm not gonna take them though.

I'm gonna take the Chargers, and I like that.

I, I'm gonna take them on the premise that They made it last year to 11 wins.

Without, without their tackles, which to me is bananas.

And like, Uh, it's bad for any team to lose its tackles.

But this team was, I mean, seriously, dude, the identity of that team was built through its offensive line, and you stripped that team of its identity, and they still won 11 games and perhaps the second hardest division in all of football, right?

Um , they withstood all of that.

And like, I, I had people there, like when I was, before I put in my AP vote, advocating for Justin Herbert as MVP for that reason, that like there was so much going on around him.

OK, so now you consider that, you got Joe Walt and Rashaw Slater coming back at tackle, right?

Um, you hope that you've, you know, upgraded on the interior, the offensive line, you know, you drafted a rookie in Jake Slaughter.

You know, you're bringing in Cole Strange and Tyler Bioish, um, and you've got Mike McDaniel who I think is gonna make your offensive line better via scheme, right?

Yes.

Omari in Hampton, can he become what Frank Gore was for Jim Harbaugh in San Francisco, maybe, right.

One of the reasons they didn't, they were out on AJ Brown when the Eagles approached them on AJ Brown.

Yes, it's Ladd McConkie.

It's Quentin Johnston, who they picked up the option on.

Trey Harris is a name to watch.

Like Trey Harris is a guy that they think has a chance to be a real player.

If that's the case, now you've got 3 receivers, a tight end.

You bring in Charlie Collar as a blocking tight end.

Now you got David Njoku as the move guy, plus you've got Aronde Gadsden.

They've just got answers all over the offense, then flip over to defense, right?

So, like, I don't know if people realize how good Tli is, and how good Tooli's been, and like how he's becoming like a, like a reliable double-digit sack type.

You still have Coyle Mack there, you're bringing in a key Messador.

And the one question I have with them really, like I like their inside linebackers at Henley and Perry Pyramid, they've gotten big and strong on the interior of the D-line.

Um, obviously, you know, Derwin James is Derwin James.

The one question I have with them is corner.

But it just feels like a really well-rounded roster.

I have some reservations in losing because you lose Jesse Minter as your defensive coordinator.

I think Jesse's really, really good, but I mean, I think Chris O'Leary is sort of the next in that line and kind of came up the way that Minor did, where if you look at Jesse Minter's history, he worked for He worked for, for, for , for, for, for John Harbaugh, then he did the one-year apprenticeship at Vanderbilt, then he wound up at Michigan with, with, uh, with Jim as the, as the replacement, right?

Like sort of same thing with Mike McDonald where Mike McDonald went to Michigan from Baltimore, then back to Baltimore as defensive coordinator.

And Chris O'Leary, yes, it's Western Michigan, right?

Like, but he went to Western Michigan for a year to call it.

He had been with Jim Harbaugh before that, and now he's coming back, having the experience in the system and having called it somewhere else, you know, so.

I just look at the totality of the Chargers, and I'm like, You know, again, like I'll ask that sort of same sort of question with Drake.

I asked what Drake made, like, what if Justin Herbert's the MVP of the league, you know?

Yeah, Chris O'Leary, by the way, obviously a coach who's been to a Super Bowl, so give me the Chargers on this one.

Chris O'Leary, by the way, I love, and I love when coaches go down.

Liam Cohen did this at Kentucky.

Um, where they will go down to a level where they get experience calling it, but also they get experience calling it with players that are far below the athletic curve, right?

So at Western Michigan, you're dealing with problems and you're going to come up with solutions at Western Michigan that are going to help you with the Chargers.

You're not going to be nearly as undermanned as you are in those situations.

And I love when coaches do that.

I talked to Marvin Lewis about that a long time ago.

That was one of the precursors for the way that he used to identify kind of up and coming coaches was how much shit did you have to deal with in unsavory situations, right?

Right.

Um, my team, Um, for the, the team that we should be talking about as the Seahawks, and again, I think a couple of things are gonna have to go right, but not as many as you think is the Houston Texans.

Uh , uh, you know, I, I think this team is a twelve-win team from a year ago.

Um, I think they are there, and if you're just, if you can iron out this offense and make it ball control , I think that this is a team that's gonna make a lot of games really ugly.

I think this is a team that can win ruthlessly.

And uh your running game is so much better than it was gonna be a year ago.

Your offensive line's a little bit patched up, and to be fair, I'll use the schedule point against myself, because I've been using it to pump up or knock down other teams.

Beginning of the season's brutal.

Buffalo, uh, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Dallas, before you get the Titans in week 5, then Jaguars, Giants, and you're by, then the Chargers coming off the buy.

So, that's a tough slate.

But I think there's a lot of 16 to 3, 17 to 9, uh, you know, 21, 16 wins on this schedule.

And I just, I, I can't imagine, as much as we've talked about trading CJ Stroud, maybe he's not the right guy, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

As much as we talked about that, I , I just find it a hard, I find it hard to believe that he would be underwhelming again in a second year with a coach as good as Nick Caley.

And an offensive line that's been completely redone.

I mean, this thing's gotten taken down to the studs.

I don't know.

Let's say you, Albert, and the I mean, I, I look at like their offensive line, and I think it would, I, I think it like undermined everything last year, 100%, you know, and I think it was a transition year where they felt like the room was toxic the year before.

Then they come in, it's like, OK, we need to tear it down.

There's gonna be an effect to losing a Laremy Tunsil regardless of like what kind of guy he is, what kind of player he was, like he was.

Uh, he's a great left tackle, you know, and so there's gonna be an effect to that.

So they're managing that, and then, you know, like they managed the injury situation with Joe Mixon, and I think it was just like there was a like a lot on CJ last year.

Um, and look, like he didn't handle it great at times.

There's no question about that.

But I think coming back second year in Nick Haley's offense.

You know, having a chance to learn from what he went through last year.

By all accounts, he's done everything he needs to do this offseason.

And I mean like we don't even need to touch the defense, right like the defense they're good.

I mean like legitimately a chance to be like a 2000 Ravens like whatever you wanna call it, you know, 2000 Ravens 02 bucks.

I think it could be that good, you know, 15 Broncos like it has a chance to be that sort of defense.

So Wyatt Taylor and Braden Smith, I think, helped you put out the fire on the offensive line.

Two really good people on top of being two really good players.

Now health is a question because they're older.

You draft Keyan Rutledge, you've got the nursery going into year two, at left tackle.

And I, it's just, like I, I look at the, like, where they're at, and Then you maybe get Tank Dell back.

You got Jaden Higgins and Jalen Noel in year two.

You hope Collins is in, is, is healthy, which like health was an issue with him last year.

You got David Montgomery at running back and Woody Marks going into year 2.

The offensive personnel is not bad.

I mean, Nick Casario, I, I, I don't think he gets enough credit for the job he's done.

Like, it's just, I mean, crazy.

Like the, if you look at the roster, I mean, there are players everywhere, and we're not even talking about the defense here, you know, um, but yeah, I mean, I, I, I don't know.

If CJ Stroud can be.

The 8th best quarterback in football.

Look out , you know what I mean.

Yeah, if Albert, if he could be the 11th best quarterback in football , look, you know, uh, I mean, and again, I hate to make this analogy because Stroud is better than Brad Johnson or Trent Dilfer, but if, if CJ Stroud can be Sam Darnold, you know, if CJ Stroud can be.

I don't know, uh, Geno Smith of 2 years ago, you know, I mean, and like, We saw the talent when he was a rookie, right?

His ability, his accuracy, and his ability to see it is special, right?

Now he's gotten knocked around a little bit.

So like now we get to see how he's gonna react to that part of it.

Yeah.

Uh, quickly before we go, uh, this year's Bears, which is new hot coach comes in, doesn't have to be hot in terms of good looking.

That's up to you, Albert, your discretion.

Well, I think I might check that box with this one.

So, oh, all right, um, new coach comes in, changes everything, um, and this team ends up letting it rip.

Uh, who you got?

Falcons.

Albert's a Kevin Stefansky.

That's why I was saying like, yeah, like there's a George Clooney comparison that we don't need to go over there.

He's got a good chin, like a prominent, he's got the right chin.

I don't have a, uh, I don't have the kind of chin.

I mean, he's got a good chin .

I mean, um, I, I, I, I think like I think quietly as highly pursued as John Harbaugh was .

The league let us know what they thought of Kevin Stefansky coming out of Cleveland, right?

I agree.

I mean, everyone wanted to interview him, but he had multiple, huh?

I also think that that Falcons thing, I'm not saying that nobody went through the due diligence and the due process.

The second that Kevin Safansky came on the market.

And, you know, you can look back and this is the one thing that I'll hang my hat on.

I, we did 3 different projections where we paired teams with prospective head coaches.

I had the Falcons and Stefansky from day one.

That was, and, and, and there were people, the minute that he came on the market that were like, he's going to Atlanta, he's gonna love Matt Ryan, they're gonna work together and everything's gonna be great.

Um, so, yes, I, I, I, I agree with you.

Yeah, I, I, I just think like, OK, so they have a, a high first-round quarterback.

And, um, and Michael Pennox, they have given themselves a safety net with that, with him coming off the ACL with Tua there, who I think can give him a decent level of play still at the position.

They have one of the best players in all of football, Bejon Robinson.

They've got a veteran offensive line.

They have, uh, I mean, I, I, I don't know if he's a true number one, but a really good receiver in Drake London.

They figured out Kyle Pitts.

The defense is the question, but now you've got Jeff Ulbricht like coming back for another year, and like I.

I mean, look, like Obviously, obviously, you know, things didn't go as expected with the two first-round picks, with one of them at least, and you're not counting on him at all.

But I think Walker can be a really good player, you know, I, I just, I think that they, I think in that division, like, I, I think there was like, they, they, the, the weird thing is, is like, and the one reason why I hesitated on this.

It's because I think they just had two really good head coaches, you know what I mean?

Like, I think Arthur Smith and, and, and, and, and, and Raheem Raheem Morris are two really good coaches, you know.

So I, I don't think this is like, I don't think you're taking over for somebody who is incompetent, like, I, I think in it, but I think that the, the flip side of it is, like, you've got some players who are probably pretty prepared too, you know, and who have been well coached over the last couple of years, and some things just haven't broken their way.

And so, again, like I look at it like, If we're taking the.

If we're taking the James Pierce thing out of it, which is like, I mean, you know, a mess of pretty epic proportions, um, you know, I, I, I, I see a team that can, can get that's gonna be able to score on offense, and I think one, that'll be able to patch it together defensively.

And I think Jeff Ulbricht's really, really, really, really good as DC, you know, it's gonna be a good mattress Stansky.

Mine, uh, is, I guess, cheating just a little bit, but I think that, and this is gonna feel like a slight on John Harbaugh, but it's not, but I think it's Jesse Minner and the Ravens, because the Ravens didn't miss the playoffs last year.

And I think what they lacked, and this is, again, not John Harbaugh specific, But the step down from Mike McDonald to anyone else, and you kind of missed two years in a row at the defensive coordinator position, if you're John Harbaugh, and you missed out on weaponizing that unit.

The way that Mike McDonald did, and it's not like that team is that much different than it is now.

And I think that Jesse Minner, you know, I was thinking about this as I was doing some of my football preview content that I'm working on now.

Jesse Minner with Kyle Hamilton.

If you look at what Jesse Minner did with Derwin James, and Kyle Hamilton's a little bit more of an outlier size prospect, you know, and I think that And just that alone, I think that potential, like, I think the Ravens could be nasty and, and, and I love offensive coordinator hire too.

I mean, I think Declan Doyle is great.

So there's a simplicity to it.

So I, I remember, um, you know, I was talking to somebody before the Super Bowl about this, um, I really trust on this stuff, and, um, He said to me, it was like, just at the end of the game, look how many snaps the Seahawks had, 3 safeties on the field, and you'll know how that went.

It's like if they have 3 safeties on the field for most of the game, they're probably gonna win and maybe by a lot.

And the point he was making was Nicky Minorri, who is the Derwin James, who is the Kyle Hamilton, right.

The point he was making was, if they can stay on the field with those two, with, with, with Eamon Warri, um, Kobe Bryant and Julian Love.

Then they'll effectively have been playing like a nickel and base at the same time, and that'll mean that the Patriots with Eamon Warri out of the on the field were not able to run them out of that, you know, yeah, and it's like I, I, I think it was, it was such a cool thing to kind of dig into.

And then at the end of the game, do you know what the snap count was?

What was it?

70 out of 71 snaps, those three guys were on the field together.

And the Seahawks blew him out.

And so, like, I think like, there's, I, I, one thing I always appreciated about John Harbaugh's Ravens that I think carries over with Jesse Minor and Mike McDonald is like, like, and this is like the point I made, the larger point, this is how I'm gonna land this plane here for you to use that cliche.

The beauty of what they do is there's complexity to it, but it's very simple to explain, and I remember saying this to Eric DeCosta, like so much of what you guys do can be explained to an eight year old, and I think with Jesse Minter, you're gonna see that in Baltimore where there's a complexity of what he's doing defensively, and I, I, I think he'll be able to get the most out of those guys.

It's not like you don't have questions.

I mean, I think with the Ravens, like still.

Yeah, there's a reason why they went out and tried to get Max Crosby, right?

And so is Trey Hendrickson good enough at this stage, um, to be the Max Crosby for them because they've had a real issue trying to fill that spot.

Um, is Namdi Matabuke, is, is he back and healthy again?

That's a huge question, you know, um.

But I do think like, you know, you're, you're gonna have a team that's gonna be able to, at least as I see it, I, I think they're gonna be able to get the most out of the players on hand because of how Jesse's gonna be able to coach that defense and then And then, and then getting to see Declan Doyle, now call it after the year in Chicago with Caleb, you know what I mean, and what he's gonna be able to do with Lamar is pretty exciting too.

And, and having Lamar in-house early, I think is a, a, a big deal for them as well.

Declan Doyle's been on my future head coaches list since he's been a young pup.

At the age of 27, I think was 27 when he first made it there?

Yeah, so I'm, uh, you know, it's like when you see the little, when you finally the, the little geese, they fly out of the nest.

It's very exciting.

And now he gets to do it with freaking Lamar.

I remember what my GM list, there were a couple like the one I was proud of that I had super early.

It was, well, there are a couple.

But I have Brian Gudekost very, very early, and like everyone thinks like my GM list is just a source list.

I've worked really hard to make it not that, and I, I mean, not to be a jerk about it, but I kind of feel like I know enough people now where I, if it was a source list, it would look like a phone book.

Um, you know, like, but, but, but Gude Koontz was like, and I've, I've said this to him since, but like he first came on my radar because everybody was like, oh, there's this guy in Green Bay who everyone on the road really respects, and you'll never hear from him beca because he's not a self-promoter at all, but his name is Brian Gudekosz.

And like, so I got him on that list early.

And then you know who the next guy was like who was just like him was John Eric Sullivan.

So I got John Eric Sullivan on the list early and now he's the Dolphins GM.

So it's always good to hit on those for sure.

You know, just stick with the MMQB podcast.

I promise, despite the multitudes of tweets that ask, do I even watch the game?

Do I even talk to people, uh, you know, we do.