#NFLVideos: Micah Parsons dealing with injury, Week 1 Predictions & MORE! | The Insiders

Micah Parsons dealing with injury, Week 1 Predictions & MORE! | The Insiders

edition of NFL Fantasy Live.
We’ll be back tomorrow.
Insiders is coming After a long, weird, and
ultimately lucrative summer,
Micah Parsons is back on the practice field with his new
team, and the Packers are
taking care of number one. But how much can they get out of
Parsons in week one? We’ll tell
you how health could impact Green Bay’s new superstar.
Parsons old team still has a
game. Pretty big one on Thursday night. The Cowboys are
not throwing in the towel as
they prepare to head to Philly. We will break down some of the
other factors that could tilt
an early NFC East showdown. Our experts also have playoff
predictions tonight. Can anyone
beat the bills in the AFC East? Who will capture the NFC South?
We will tackle those topics and
a whole lot more over the next 60 minutes. Welcome inside with
the insiders presented by
Progressive Insurance alongside Ian Rapoport, Judy Battista and
Mike Garafolo. I am Tom
Pelissero. Welcome back to all of you who spent the long
weekend on a beach at a cabin
somewhere. To those of you still living it up at happy
hour right now, the closed
captions are right here. We love you as always. Three days
away from kickoff of the 2025
season. Which means one thing, guys. For the first time, we
can say it is game week for all
32 teams. Look at this in all its glory. It all kicks off
Thursday night with the Cowboys
and the Eagles. You got the Chiefs and Chargers going at it
in Brazil. Some big time
matchups on Sunday. Fascinating ones like the Bengals up
against the Browns. The Raiders
against the Patriots. It all rolls on through the course of
the rest of Sunday and into
Monday Night Football. A prime time matchup between the Ravens
and the bills, Vikings and
Bears on Monday night, and do not overlook one that just got
a little bit more spicy. Lions
and packers in that mid-afternoon window on Sunday.
Green Bay, of course, has a
brand new toy. Matt LaFleur if he’s not smiling right there,
he is pretty excited about it.
Micah Parsons on the field with his new team for the first time.
Teammates seem pumped up about
it. Two. There’s a play speak for itself. His name speaks for
itself. I feel like the sky’s
the limit for him. The sky’s the limit for our defensive
line group and just can’t wait
to see him go. In my perspective, the officers can’t
focus on one type of blitzer.
You know, one type of pass rusher. You know, we’ve got
guys from coming from both
sides. They’ve got RG. Now we’ve got him. You know just
everybody on the defensive side
of the ball. So he’s good man for real. We’re going to be
we’re going to be rushing that
quarterback. Man I’m just thankful to God because I’m
going to just catch it when
it’s on me. That’s all you need. Nate Hobbs said it. He is good
man. He can do a lot of
different things. Ian. But will we see full speed? Micah
Parsons at a time where he is.
Let the record show. Still working his way back from at
least something of a back
injury. A real back injury is the actual news here, because
we spent most of the summer
talking about Micah Parsons dealing with back tightness,
and usually even on this show
and some other shows as well, we would say back tightness to
explain his holding, obviously.
Parsons wanted the blockbuster contract from the Dallas
Cowboys that he ended up
getting with the green Bay Packers, but it was not a fake
injury. He did pass his
physical with the Packers, but it is a real injury. Let me
explain what Micah Parsons was
dealing with this summer and what he is dealing with. My
understanding it is a facet
joint sprain in his back affecting the L4 and L5.
Basically it is a back sprain.
That is why that is why he was dealing with some tightness
over the course of the summer.
That’s why he saw Doctor Robert Watkins, one of the experts in
back for the basically for for
the NFL. It is why he is expected to be at least when he
was out there today, not a full
participant. As far as the treatment, there are several
options here taking an oral
steroid or an injectable steroid. Both of those are
options. Eventually, an
epidural could be an option as well. Here’s my understanding
Micah Parsons is expected to
play this week. That is a good thing. Had he been with the
Cowboys and had they not paid
him and show the commitment the Packers would have shown, would
he have played in week one? I
have my serious doubts. It is something we don’t have to
discuss now, but certainly it
is an issue. You would also think, Judy, that if the
Packers had any qualms about
the back issue, wouldn’t cut him a four year $186 million
contract right now, the real
question in my mind, beyond obviously working through
whatever he has to to get up to
game speed, here is how much and how good how close to real
Micah Parsons are we going to
see, given the fact that this guy really hasn’t done anything
on the field in a long period
of time? That is a good question. And we’re going to
have to wait until the game on
Sunday and maybe even successive games to see the
full Micah Parsons. Don’t
forget, even in Dallas, before it seemed apparent that he was
going to be traded and they
were preparing for him to play for the Dallas Cowboys this
season, they were talking about
him having to be on a pitch count initially. He simply
hasn’t practiced. Set aside the
back issue and whatever kind of treatment he might have to
receive for that. He just
hasn’t been practicing all offseason. So at some point
he’s going to have to have a
ramp up period. He’s in practice now, but I think the
question that the Packers are
going to have to answer is what kind of pitch count, if any, do
they want him on this week, and
how quickly can they ramp him up? And how comfortable is he
not just physically comfortable,
but how acclimated is he going to be and ready to go full
speed for the Packers? Those
are questions that can only be answered when they get to the
game, and we will not know. I
think until then, just how Micah Parsons looks physically.
Remember when he lied down on
that training table during the game? And I asked about that
and said I was only a brief
period, but somebody did mention to me he’s got a back
injury. Like, I know you guys
think it’s fake, but it’s a real thing. So we told you
while that was going on like it
is a real injury, but it was a convenient reason to be like,
well, I’m not practicing
because of the back, but really because of the contract. So
that moment that he lied down
was actually he was feeling something in his back there.
And I do want to highlight the
fact that Jerry Jones, the other day, when he was starting
to answer the question, he said,
you don’t make. And then Stephen Jones jumps in and says,
you don’t make decisions. No,
no, he just blew right past it. You don’t act that way. Jerry
Jones not happy with Micah
Parsons lying down there and pointed out CeeDee lamb getting
run over by the officials. So I
think that that was a big thing for Jerry as it came down the
stretch here and making his
decision with regard to Micah Parsons. But yeah, the Packers
are going to ramp him up. You
don’t pay all that money to have him be a situational guy
for too long. I expect him to
be a full time guy in short order. Does anybody think the
Cowboys are allergic suddenly
to paying their top players? They did get a deal done with
one of their top corners,
Darren Bland, agreeing to terms on a four year, $92 million
contract extension. 2024 was
basically a wash for bland. He had an injury in training camp,
had surgery, missed a lot of
the season. But you go back to 2023, it seemed like a bucket
of balls were being dumped in
his lap, and he took a bunch of them back to the house, a
strong contract for him at a
time that it seems like Trayvon Diggs is trending in the right
direction. Full participant in
practice today, which is good to have both those guys there
because Eagles wide receiver
A.J. Brown, who missed a large chunk of training camp with a
hamstring issue, not even
listed on the initial injury report, that confirms what A.J.
Brown has said himself, which
is that he is on track to face the Cowboys on Thursday night.
That is the kickoff game. It is
a little over 72 hours away from right now. Dak Prescott
Jalen hurts going at it in
Philadelphia in a game that to be clear both teams are going
to be affected by the guy that
a lot of people thought was going to be out there Micah
Parsons. It’s kind of crazy.
You know you you build up for the last 4 or 5 years we’ve
played him, played the Dallas
Cowboys. We’ve come up with a game plan because, you know,
Mike is a game wrecker. So it
it is a sigh of relief that you don’t have to plan like that
anymore. However, that is a
talented D-line and talented defense. And so you got to
treat them with the same
respect with or without, you know, Micah Parsons. I’m not
going to say we’re better.
We’ve got to go out there and prove it. We have to prove it.
Even if he was on this team. So
so I’m not going to say that by any means, but but I know
adding a guy like Kenny Clark,
adding a true leader, a real man that’s going to only
elevate this team who’s been a
Pro Bowl player and is excited about being here. I know our
focus right now is Philly. I
think that’s everybody’s focus in that locker room. I don’t
think anybody’s hung up on that.
As I said, there was enough news and enough media about it.
I think as much as anything,
it’s it’s good that a solution happened. And obviously Micah
got paid, got paid very well
and great for him and his family and and we’ll see him
see him here in about a month.
It’s always a fascinating dichotomy when the past seven
months for the Super Bowl
champion are the celebrations, and it’s the ring ceremony and
it’s the world tour and all
those things. Judy, they celebrate it one last time
right before kickoff, and you
got fireworks, the whole thing. And then it’s like, okay, now
here we go. The title defense
starts like three minutes later. How different is this thing
going to look for the Eagles in
2025? Well the offense is almost entirely intact so set
that aside. But the defense has
lost some very familiar faces. Josh sweat Milton Williams,
Brandon Graham retiring, C.J.
Gardner-johnson Darius Slay. So they do have some parts that
they have to replace now. They
have been extremely adept at replacing players that they’ve
lost over the last few years.
That is why they have become such a very good team. But
there are still some unanswered
questions. You know, three days out, who is the number two
quarterback? A cornerback, to
be clear, who’s starting at safety, all of these things.
Vic Fangio did not want to
answer. He said Sirianni would answer those questions, but of
course, he hasn’t answered
those questions yet either. So there are still a few questions
about the defense. That’s what
I am looking at. I listen, this is the most complete team maybe
in the entire NFL, certainly in
the NFC right now. But if I’m looking at anything in week one
and maybe week two and three,
and until we get a better picture, I’m looking at the
defense and seeing how some of
these new pieces fit in and how that defense looks. When last
we saw the Eagles playing the
Cowboys at Lincoln Financial Field, they ran for 179 yards a
week after running for 211. By
the way, that was with Kellen Moore calling the plays. Kellen
Moore now the head coach of the
Saints. So Kevin Patullo now takes over. And Patullo has
been there and been part of the
operation for the last couple of offensive coordinators. Now
is his time to make the play
calls for Nick Sirianni. So I’m looking at this offense. I’m
looking at the identity. And
when you talk to people all training camp, here’s some
shots from training camp,
talking all training camp all offseason. It’s like, well,
Kellen Moore came here and we
sort of took some of the things that he wanted to do and
blended it with, with our
personality. What we’ve done under the Nick Sirianni era. So
he leaves and the thought is
the identity is going to be very similar. Now, obviously it
will have those touches. And
throughout the season, as teams have looked at what the Eagles
did successfully last year and
try to attack that, there will be tweaks, there will be minor
changes to the offense, but
this is still a team that is built behind that running game,
behind Saquon Barkley and AJ
Dillon, who’s one of the more fascinating figures around the
NFL having missed the year now
comes back to add a little bit more punch to this running game
when Saquon Barkley can take a
breather. I think this is still going to be a team that is
going to run the football down
teams throats. Dallas Cowboys with Kenny Clarke in the middle
of the first team to try to
stop them from doing it. Oh running the ball you say. Well
it is a good thing that that is
something that the Dallas Cowboys value. Just listen to
Jerry Jones and Stephen Jones
at that goodbye. Micah Parsons press conference as part of the
explanation for why they did
the deal. Two first rounders was nice. Not paying Micah
Parsons money is nice. Stopping
the run is now the most important thing for the Cowboys,
not just internally, not just
as far as the resources, although that certainly has
been the case as well. But as
far as the public face of their defense and really public face
of their team, it is all about
stopping the run. I can’t imagine a game where stopping
the run will be more of a
national emphasis than the Dallas Cowboys. This game with
new Cowboy Kenny Clark likely
starting facing Saquon Barkley and this really, really good
Eagles rushing attack,
especially considering the Cowboys were sort of at the
bottom last year as far as
stopping the run. If this is so important to the Dallas Cowboys
and I know it is interior
offensive line, interior defensive line is absolute
paramount importance for the
Cowboys. They know everyone’s eyeballs are going to be on it.
They know we’re all going to be
talking about it. They have to show it. And that is an
unbelievably monumental task
for this Cowboys defense. And if Saquon Barkley runs wild on
Thursday night, you can bet
that all those soundbites of Jerry saying we got to stop the
run are going to be played
about a million times come Friday morning. All right. This
is, of course, of news and
information show we don’t do hot takes. We do have one of
the 29 members of the panel at
NFL.com predictions predicting all the division winners, among
a variety of other things with
us right now. And so as we will throughout the show, Judy, I’m
going to start with you on this
one. We want your prediction officially for who wins the NFC
East. I thought this one was a
pretty easy one. It’s the Philadelphia Eagles. They are
the most complete most
accomplished team. They have the offensive player of the
year in Saquon. They have the
Super Bowl MVP and Jalen Hurts and the other teams in the
division have issues. Now
obviously we saw the Washington Commanders come on very strong
last season. Make it all the
way to the NFC Championship game. But you still have
questions about if that defense
is substantially improved. The Giants we know have a
quarterback issue. We don’t
know what the quarterback situation is going to look like.
They think it’s improved. We’ll
see. And they also have a very difficult schedule. And then of
course the Dallas Cowboys or
the Dallas Cowboys. And who knows how the departure of
Micah Parsons is going to
affect them. It is the Eagles in the NFC East. There has not
been a repeat champion in the
NFC East in more than 20 years. Our front office analyst Mark
Ross also part of that panel.
He will join us predictions throughout the show tonight.
But first Ian, we got a little
bit more news. One of the biggest storylines of the
summer. Now Micah Parsons again
we did that already. This is not Micah Parsons. This is
Matthew Stafford and his
aggravated disc in his back, something that really kept him
off the field for probably
three quarters of training camp, felt touch and go for a while.
Whether or not he would be
actually back at training camp at all and then ready for the
season. Sean McVay announcing
today that he believes Matthew Stafford will be out there for
week one, backing all the means.
He is physically ready, that means he is mentally ready. And
Mike, that is excellent news
for the Los Angeles Rams. Jalen Warren, the Steelers running
back who was entering the final
year of his deal, gets a two year contract extension now
under contract through 2027.
$12 million guaranteed on that deal takes him over 7 million
for this upcoming season, which
was more than some of these free agent running backs got.
So this deal over three years,
just under $17.5 million, according to his agents, Nest
Mugrabi and David Cantor of Ara
sports. I know a lot of folks are saying Caleb Johnson,
that’s the running back to
watch in Pittsburgh. The Steelers are saying Jalen
Warren, who has never started a
game. Now our starter. And we’re going to pay him like it.
So look for Jalen Warren to try
to back that up this upcoming season. It’s been a bumpy ride
with injuries for the Dolphins
through training camp. But some good news today. Start out with
running back Devon Chan back on
the practice field for the first time since he injured his
calf a few weeks ago in a joint
practice against the Lions. Barring a setback, according to
coach Mike McDaniel, a Chan is
on track to play in Sunday’s opener against the Colts, also
looking good for wide receiver
Tyreek Hill. Been dealing with an oblique injury, Darren
Waller coming back from a soft
tissue issue that had him on the shelf for the first month
or so of camp. They to,
according to McDaniel, are looking good for Sunday. We
know that Cam Wolfe will be
looking good as always for us on game day morning come Sunday.
Right now he is with us right
here on The Insiders presented by Progressive Insurance. We
haven’t seen the Dolphins
offense a whole lot during the course of camp because it has
been this ongoing thing. Jaylen
Waddle has missed time as well. What is the impact of that lost
time on task and these injuries
as we work our way to week one? Yeah, it’s an unknown about
this Dolphins team and
everything about this Dolphins offseason has been unknown.
They hear all the doom and
gloom outside of the building, talking about how bad it went
last year and what could happen
this year. They’re preaching a culture reset, and I think the
biggest news we got out today
was the fact that Tyreek Hill, who has been a captain every
year for Miami, was not a
captain this year. He had a tumultuous into his season last
year. Tua has been vocal this
offseason about the work they need to do to rebuild that
relationship. And it’s prove it
season for Tyreek. He is still one of the best receivers in
football. He says he’s
motivated to prove his teammates that he can be the
guy. He’s been on the field and
reliable off the field. Now is the time to show it. The
Dolphins showed in their vote
they want to see that on the field before they trust him
again, and he is going to be a
huge part of their on field production. Look, that oblique
injury shouldn’t limit him into
the season. And he said he’s faster and well conditioned for
this year. And you mentioned
Devon a chain. I know a lot of fancy football words for him.
First time back on the practice
field in three weeks. The hope is that he will be able to go
look. He won’t be 100%. He’s
still going to be working through that calf injury. But
he in that run game can help
unlock Tyreek and Waddle on the other side. And look they’ve
got to start strong. They start
with this Colts team week one. And this is a Dolphins team
that knows playoff win is the
expectation. And they’re playing a Colts team with their
eighth different starting
quarterback in nine years in Daniel Jones. And talking to
people with the Colts. They
thought that Daniel Jones steadiness in the operation and
his professionalism is a big
reason why he’s the starter there. There’s going to be a
lot of eyeballs on him early,
because the Colts are another team where a lot of question
marks are on them. Daniel Jones
didn’t have a lot of success with the Giants, but they want
him to be a game manager, Shane
Steichen said today. The offense will always lean on
Jonathan Taylor and for the
Dolphins side, they want to get Daniel Jones uncomfortable. So
the matchup I want to watch
Sunday can the Daniels can the Dolphins trio of pass rushers
Bradley Chubb, Jaelan Phillips
and Chop Robinson frustrate the game manager Daniel Jones? Or
can he make enough plays to
keep them off balance? That’s going to decide that game on
Sunday. Cam stick around bills.
Ravens talk later on. One of those great matchups coming up
in week one on Sunday. So much
more to come on this Game week edition of The Insiders. Yes,
that’s Micah Parsons. He is now
a Packer, but does his presence make green Bay the favorite in
the NFC North? We got more
predictions as this show rolls on, including on the AFC West,
where we might get a preview of
the top two teams Friday night in Brazil. Chiefs and Chargers
stick around. Much more to come
on the insiders presented by Progressive Insurance. The
insiders is presented by
progressive. Get coverage you can count on with home and auto
at progressive.com. Dinner time
is taken care of. We got wings, today. New today into the
insiders presented by
Progressive Insurance. Najee Harris cleared for contact. The
Chargers running back who
suffered what his agent termed superficial eye injuries during
a 4th of July fireworks
accident, cleared for contact a back fully working his way into
potentially playing on Friday
against the Chiefs. Here’s Najee speaking to the media
today for the first time. I’m
ramping up to it. Yeah, you know, I’m every day I practice.
I think it’s like my Friday.
It’s like my fifth day at practice, you know, just trying
to get back in that football
shape. But you know, I’m feeling good though. And we’ll
just see where it leads. It’s a
humbling experience obviously. But you know it still hasn’t
really shaken I’m still you
know going through it in a way, you know. So you know, just to
just that whole situation just
show you, you know, how things can change and just snap a
finger, you know, and just,
just, you know, it’s a blessing every day that we wake up. And
I’m just happy that, you know,
everybody’s safe and we’re alive. Harris was asked about
wearing those glasses, said,
it’s a sunny day today, and he doesn’t care if people think
he’s hiding something there by
wearing those glasses. On Friday, September 5th, Patrick
Mahomes and the Kansas City
Chiefs take on Justin Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers in
Sao Paulo, Brazil. Don’t miss
the unbelievable plays, unforgettable moments and a
halftime performance by Karol G.
Streaming for free. My mom’s name is Karol G, not her,
though. Live only on YouTube.
Head to NFL’s YouTube channel to learn more. Here is Jim
Harbaugh and a few others on
this game in Brazil. The excitement of of being the only
game NFL game Friday night and
will be viewed worldwide. Staff has made it so good. You know?
I mean just really broken it
down Barney style. For us, that gives you the feeling of of
excitement and and travel and
go play the opener and on a on a huge stage. I’m super excited.
It’ll be it’ll be a great
experience, a great chance to showcase who we are as the
Kansas City Chiefs worldwide.
And I know the fan base in Brazil is extremely excited as
well. So it’ll be a cool, a
cool experience and being able to play our first game out
there against a great opponent,
it’ll be a lot of fun just going down there and playing
football, and I think more than
anything was just explaining to some guys how far the trip was.
Some guys didn’t understand how
far the travel was. Travis, even though he just was down
there like last year. So I was
explaining to him how the globe works. Yeah, Travis, you’re
going to have to understand how
global travel works if you’re planning on following through
with that marriage proposal. My
friend Ian and Judy back with us to talk about this matchup.
Judy, starting with you, what
do you want to see in a familiar matchup in unfamiliar
territory? Well, I want to see
what the Chiefs offense looks like, what identity it has,
because certainly all offseason
we have heard that they want to get the explosion back into the
offense, right. They want that
downfield attack that they used to be known for back in the
game. Of course, they didn’t
have it last year. We know why. Lots of injuries to the
receivers. The offensive line
was muddled. They couldn’t protect Mahomes long enough to
let those deeper plays develop.
So it really shortened everything. They want to have
more explosion, Mahomes has
said all offseason it opens up their entire playbook. If they
can push the ball down the
field. Rashee rice is suspended for six games. He is going to
miss this game, of course. Can
they do it without him on the field? We will see. But that is
what I am looking for. Forward
to to watching the Chiefs in this game. Yeah, I’ll kind of
flip it around there and go to
the Chargers offense specifically that Chargers
offensive line. You know as a
as like an NFL group. We didn’t have a ton of big time major
major injuries this preseason
actually pretty fortunate that way. One of the big time ones
was Rashawn Slater, the stellar
stellar left tackle for the Los Angeles Chargers. With that
significant season ending knee
injury that really thrust jolt into the spotlight. Not like he
wasn’t in the spotlight anyway.
He was the right tackle. He’s very, very good. He’s a top,
top first round type player,
but now he is the left tackle. Now Trey Pickens. Pickens comes
in, plays right tackle Mekhi
Becton, who has barely been on the field at all this training
camp. He comes in at guard
despite not having practiced. There’s going to be a lot a lot
of focus on this Chargers
offensive line. There’s already a lot of focus on the Chargers
run game. I mean, we led this
segment with Najee Harris talking about his superficial
eye injury and how much he
plays in a first round running back, a lot of eyeballs on all
of this. The offensive line
will be what makes it all go or what doesn’t make it go. And
that’s going to be fascinating
to see. Divisional matchups on Thursday and Friday hit the
prediction music. Because Judy
is part of our panel we have prediction music. We should
have prediction music, kind of
like the Who Wants to Be a millionaire? Judy, part of our
panel of experts who made their
predictions on NFL.com. Time for the AFC West winner,
according to Judy. Yeah, it’s
going to be the Chiefs. This would be their 10th in a row if
they win it 10th AFC West in a
row. It’s not going to be as easy as it used to be maybe a
few years back. Certainly the
division has gotten much, much tougher including the Raiders
now with Pete Carroll they and
Geno Smith. They’re all of the teams are good. And they sent
two other teams to the playoffs
other than the Chiefs last year. But the Chiefs went to the
Super Bowl. And I feel like
people, because of the way they lost the Super Bowl, people
thought they were a disaster.
The dynasty is over. I wouldn’t be so fast with writing off the
Chiefs. They still won 15 games
last year with an injury wrecked receiving corps and a
jumble of an offensive line.
They won 15 games and they went to the Super Bowl pretty good.
As long as Mahomes and Andy
Reid are in place, I sort of feel like it’s when Belichick
and Brady were there. It’s hard
to pick against them to win that division. Yeah, there’s
some good coaches in that
division now, but Andy Reid and the Chiefs certainly want to
prove that that was not the way.
I mean Travis Kelce saying that’s not the way he wants to
go out. He’s motivated. You got
to imagine that that is team wide for the Kansas City Chiefs.
Going to be an interesting
campaign. Although Judy is giving us all the answers right
now. We’ll have more from her
and our other experts as the show goes on. Meanwhile, that
guy Micah Parsons getting some
on field work and getting us some new footage in a new
uniform, we thank him for that.
We’re going to be talking more Packers coming up after the
break. Rapper beefs one upping
I love old rapper. I love how NFL in reach. New. Today, Micah
Parsons is practicing football
again out there on the field for the first time, wearing
that number one jersey with his
new team in the Packers just six days out from Green Bay’s
opener against the Detroit
Lions. Welcome back to The Insiders, presented by
Progressive Insurance Tom
Pelissero, now joined by our front office analyst Mark Ross.
Mark, you do a trade like this,
giving up two first round picks you’re starting nose tackle and
$186 million contract for a
reason. You think this guy can be a difference maker from the
front office perspective what
are you looking for both out of the gate and over the course of
this season from Micah Parsons
in a green Bay uniform? Well, first and foremost Tom with the
back injury, how severe it is.
You’re as a front office and working with your doctors and
your trainers. You want to be
extra cautious. So first things first is okay, how bad is this
injury and how soon do we
really need to rush Micah Parsons onto the field? We want
to make sure he’s ready for the
Super Bowl run, the playoff run, and not just for game one. So
of course they’re monitoring
monitoring that as much as possible. But even so let’s
just say there’s 65 plays in a
game for the defensive side of the ball Micah Parsons plays 15
of those plays. That’s like 25%
there roughly. He can make such a huge difference in 15 plays.
He can wreck a game just in 15
plays. So that’s what you’re really looking at is how
comfortable is Micah Parsons
with his with his conditioning? How comfortable is he with his
injury and how how soon do we
want to get him? How often do we want to get him on the field?
And but even so, with those
limited amount of snaps, you know that this guy can can
completely change the game.
Week two, week three, League four. We’ll keep building him
up until we’re ready to have
him on the field completely in full time. Micah Parsons Also
such a huge chess piece in
terms of how the opponent needs to game plan for him. This
doesn’t happen very often in
week one, when what, ten days out from the opener, all of a
sudden you go, okay, whatever
we were planning to do, we’ve got to change that. That’s the
type of impact Micah Parsons
can make in green Bay, and one that I guess Lions coach Dan
Campbell is ready for. We’ll
get more into that in the next couple of days. But, you know,
certainly we’ll have our eyes
on that. We know what kind of player he is. You know, he’s
he’s a really good player. So
but we’ll we’ll have a plan. And whatever we had planned for
Kenny Clarke, we’ll just have
plan for Micah. So we’ll just we’ll do that whether it’s
outside or inside. So you know
look you got to be prepared and they’re going to find plays
that they can use him where he
can excel. And like I said, we’ll we’ll have a plan. The
Lions have had answers for
pretty much everything else the Packers have thrown at them
over the past three seasons.
Look at that. Five and one. Detroit’s record against one of
their top rivals since the 2022
season. Packers defense actually has done okay relative
to what the Lions numbers often
are offensively. But that green Bay offense has also struggled
to get going. All right, Mark,
you were also part of our 29 person panel NFL.com
predictions. Making your picks
across the NFL for who’s going to win all these divisions.
Let’s go right there NFC North.
Who you got Mark I got to go with the Packers and look
visited green Bay during
training camp. And even Matt LaFleur he said look Detroit’s
had our number. Like we they’ve
handled us and we’re but I fully expect them to step up
and looking at the schedule,
going back and forth with both of the teams scheduled, green
Bay and the Lions. Like I just
gave the Packers one more game, I think they will finally step
up to it. And this was before
they traded for Micah Parsons. So now they got Micah Parsons
definitely picking green Bay.
But I think this division is the toughest in all of football
town. And somewhere the Vikings
are listening to that analysis right there and going, hey
remember we won 14 games last
year. You’ll see him on national TV week one against
the bears. Mark you’re back
with an AFC East pick in just a little bit. But first Judy. I
am loving all of these division
matchups in week one and we got another one. The bucks are
going to play the Falcons only
six more days. As the bucks reminded us today. Let’s listen
to Todd Bowles talking about
their first opponent of the season. He’s a strong arm very
strong arm, very accurate. He
throws a great deep ball. He can check it down. He looks off
very well and goes to the other
way. He can really put the ball in there. He can really thread
the needle. So if you’re not
fundamentally a technically sound, he’s going to beat you.
Let’s welcome in our Sarah
Walsh, who knows these two teams very well. All right
Sarah, let’s start with the
Falcons. And Michael Penix’s importance to that team. Give
us the summation of that. Well
you just heard Todd Bowles there. And one game doesn’t
make a season right. But it can
certainly set the tone. And it can certainly send a message.
And the Falcons right now have
a massive opportunity on their home turf in this new Michael
Penix era. Now obviously he
started three games at the end of last season while they just
went one and two. Over those
three starts, he showed poise, he showed growth, he showed
promise. All the things that
Raheem Morris wanted to see out of him. Today, the Falcons
announced that he was named one
of the team captains. When you talk about maturity and this
guy being a leader on the team,
his final game last year, he threw for 312 yards and the
Falcons went up in points per
game when he was the starting quarterback from Atlanta, just
under 21 points per game when
Kirk Cousins was the quarterback and it went up to
32. Now we understand that was
a small sample size. Penix is going to get a lot of attention.
John Drake, London Those are
all the guys on offense you hear a lot about, but you know
who you’re hearing a lot about
right now when it comes to the Atlanta Falcons, at least for
their fans, a guy by the name
Elijah Wilkinson, because he is going to have to step in,
likely at right tackle. That is
because their starting right tackle Caleb McGary down lost
for the season two weeks ago,
so they have not had a lot of time to prepare. And oh, by the
way, their backup Storm Norton
was already out having having undergone ankle surgery. So
this is an adjustment period.
And this is a Falcons team that does a heavy dose of running to
the right, which is where
Wilkinson is going to be. Also has to protect the blind side
Raheem today Wilkinson awesome
Judy and said that they feel like he’s comfortable fitting
in at a high level. He’s got
six more days to get comfortable. Well, the Bucs, of
course, are the defending
champion a few times over actually of the NFC South. But
they go into this season right
now with some big name injuries. Is that a cause for concern
this early? Well, it definitely
is. And you say a few times over they’re going for their
fifth straight division title.
And that isn’t enough. And it shouldn’t be enough. When you
consider the roster that Jason
White has assembled. Here’s the problem, though. That roster on
paper is not going to be ready
to go when this season starts. We were just talking about the
right tackle. On the Falcons
being out well. The Bucs left tackle Tristan Wirfs is out now.
They knew this. This is the
only advantage they have to. That problem is that they’ve
known for a while now all of
training camp that he was not going to be available. But I
don’t think you can make any
case or say this guy is going to step up for a player that is
arguably the best player on
this Buccaneers team. Worse is going to be out for a while,
and now you’ve got two of their
top three receivers out. Chris Godwin is still not back from
an injury he sustained last
year, and then their number three receiver Jalen McMillan
was lost. Now for probably a
long time because of a neck injury in a preseason game,
which means they’ve got Mike
Evans the stalwart there. And then they’ve got a first
rounder, Emeka Egbuka. And now
a grace period is down to literally nothing. He is going
to have to come in and
basically make an impact from opening kick. The other area of
concern, and it feels like I’m
going through this laundry list here. Kate Orton, they’re
starting tight end, has been
battling leg injuries throughout camp, a positive for
the Buccaneers. He was on the
practice field today, which leads many to believe that he
will be able to go on Sunday.
But this is certainly not the way that the Buccaneers wanted
to start out. And by the way,
Judy, I heard you mentioned earlier on the show when it
comes to the NFC East, they
haven’t had a repeat winner in the division. If the Bucs win
the division again this year,
that would make it five straight. Nobody in the NFC has
won five straight since the
Cowboys. And you have to go all the way back to the 90s since
last time that happened, well,
I am supposedly in the business of making predictions, so I’ll
make one for the NFC South. Two.
I predicted that the Bucs would repeat as champion despite the
injuries. I think they have had
enough time, as you pointed out, Sarah, to prepare themselves
for dealing with those absences.
I’ve got them winning the NFC South yet again. Sarah Walsh,
thank you very much. I am sure
we’re going to be talking more about the Bucs in the coming
days. But first, when we return
another huge week one matchup, bills, Ravens, two teams that
almost certainly will be in
contention for the AFC title. We will talk about that game
when we return on the insiders
presented by Progressive Insurance. NFL Red zone is
where the action oh my goodness
is inevitable. Here we go. This was a fun one. Let’s go
NFL game day all day Sunday on
NFL network. Welcome back to insiders, presented by
Progressive Insurance. Big one
Sunday night AFC divisional round rematch. Big one Ravens
bills I cannot wait. I cannot
believe this. We’re going to have actual football games this
week. Really does not get any
better than this. Let’s welcome in our good friends Kim Wolf
and Mark Ross with us on the
insiders. Mark, I will start with you. Both these teams got
so close last year. So close.
Talk to me about the Ravens and what they need to do to get
over the hump. Well, the Ravens
just have to make the plays when they have to make the
plays. Remember last season
they got behind and they they came back. And then of course
the drop by Mark Andrews the
year before against against the Chiefs. They got behind. They
were out of their game. They’re
throwing it instead of running it. Zay flowers going in to
score and got stripped. So they
just have not been able to make the big plays when they’ve
needed to make the big plays.
And they fallen behind early. So really for the Ravens they
just got to play like they’re
the best team in football, which I think they are. I think
they’re the most talented team.
I think they’ve got the most dynamic player right there.
Lamar Jackson and then position
by position, they just have so many playmakers and all pro
players that they just have to
impose their will and their dominance and say, yeah, we’re
the best. We’re not still
trying to come up and win playoff games. We’re the best
team and we’re going to play
like it can. But I know the bills are thinking the same
thing because they got the
reigning MVP there behind center for them. Mark, I can’t
wait to watch this game because
they both have similar struggles. They’re the best
team in their conference except
Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs look, and they’ll have to get
over that hurdle later in the
season. But I talked to their general manager, Brandon Beane.
I said, hey, what was the one
thing that maybe gets you guys over the hump? There’s been
talks about receiver or this
and that. He said, look, the offense has nothing to do with
the reason we haven’t got over
the hump. We haven’t been able to make that sack on third down.
We haven’t made that defensive
play. And that’s what I want to see on Sunday. Where is this
Buffalo Bills defense? Can they
have enough to take down this Baltimore Ravens team? I
watched them when they beat
them in the playoffs last year. And it was the opportunistic
plays you’re talking about that
the Ravens didn’t make that the bills did. They were first in
the NFL in turnover
differential. But this year is going to be different. They
have a lot of question marks on
this defense. Whether it’s the defensive line. You got a
couple of guys. And Michael
Hoyt and Larry Ogunjobi suspended to start the year.
Dwayne Carter just had a season
ending injury in the secondary. Maxwell Harrison and
Tre’davious White are dealing
with injuries. So a lot of question marks there. They’re
going to lean on their young
players early. They know it might be struggles early in the
season, but they’re hopeful
that those turnovers, those opportunistic plays, help them
as they get this defense up to
speed. And and Lamar Jackson certainly isn’t going to be
making it easy for those young
players to get into the action. Mark can’t believe we have to
wait five days or six days or
whatever it is for this one and for all these. Mark, before we
say goodbye, you are on our
esteemed illustrious prediction panel. Take me through some of
your key predictions, starting
with the AFC East. Well, AFC East is easy. It’s the bills.
Look that’s their division.
They’re going to keep winning as long as Josh Allen is under
there. You know the Jets have
made changes. The Dolphins. Sorry cam I know that’s your
team down there. You check out
I think the Patriots are a lot better though. They’re going to
I think the Patriots will fight
for the playoffs. But still the bills and the AFC North. It’s
the Ravens we just talked about.
Cincinnati is going to be fun to watch. But they’ve got
absolutely no defense. The
Steelers with old Aaron Rodgers. You know they’re they’re not
ready for that. They can’t
sustain it. The Browns of course are doing what the
Browns do. So Ravens bills AFC
championship game Chiefs out of it maybe I don’t know. We’ll
see. NFL.com predictions. Great
stuff guys Campbell say goodbye Mark you’re not done yet. Stay
right there. We got a fun one
tonight a little later on tonight much later after the
show tonight Bill Belichick is
making history. Actually right now he’s standing on the
sideline Michael Jordan is
there too for North Carolina. We’re going to get into this
just a little bit more. Coming
up on the insiders. With NFL that no matter what happens,
you will be okay. You. Hear?
Time now for good coverage presented by Progressive
Insurance Tom Pelissero joined
once again by Mark Ross. Three nights from right now. Mark
kickoff between the Cowboys and
the Eagles starting the 2025 NFL season. My question for you
is how can the Eagles provide
good coverage Thursday night against CeeDee lamb, George
Pickens and company? Well,
someone is going to have to progress into the starting role
at the second quarterback spot
there. Tom you like how I did that there. Quinyon Mitchell
has it locked down Cooper
Dejean is the nickel guy. But who’s going to be the number
two corner between Kelee Ringo
this the second year second round pick Adoree Jackson. The
journeyman former first round
pick. And there’s a Korean Bennett who they traded for
from the Raiders just a couple
of weeks ago. So somebody is going to have to emerge and
step out of the shadows there.
Because you know Quinyon Mitchell probably is going to
shadow CeeDee lamb after
hearing all the talk here in Philadelphia the last few weeks.
And then who’s going to be able
to handle Pickens and whatnot. So who’s going to emerge and
progress into the number two
role there Tom. It’s big for the Eagles defense. And if
nobody does you might say the
Eagles might need to find some insurance. Progressive
insurance. Mark thank you very
much. This is an anniversary right now. Tonight 34 years ago,
Bill Belichick made his debut
as the Browns head coach. September 1st, 1991. Tonight in
just minutes, Bill Belichick
makes his debut as a college football head coach. North
Carolina versus TCU don’t
change that channel just yet, though, because coming up after
this show, the top ten will be
revealed in the NFL. Top 100 players for 2025. We know who’s
in that top ten, but who’s our
picks for number one? We’ll tell you right after this. On
the Insiders presented by
Progressive Insurance. Hey, my down to the final ten. In the
countdown of the top 100
players of 2025, as voted by the players themselves, here’s
the list. These are the ten
players that will be revealed. They’re alphabetical here. Who
is going to be number one?
You’re going to find out for sure at the top of the hour.
But first Ian Rapoport I pose
it to you. There’s the ten names who should be number one.
Fantasy football rules the
world I just went through my son Jude’s fantasy draft with
his friends. I didn’t help at
all. I just kind of guided and made sure the computer was
working. Jamaar Chase was
number one fantasy overall rankings by the list they had.
That is good enough for me.
Fantasy trumps all Jamaar Chase number one player in the NFL.
Take it to the bank, dude.
Lamar Jackson 41 touchdowns, four interceptions, 900
something yards rushing last
season. I think another four rushing touchdowns. Lamar
Jackson is the best player in
the league. Number one. Now MVP is always going to skew in
favor of the quarterback. Most
valuable. The quarterback is always the most valuable. But
this to me is how do you rank
the players as it pertains to how they perform versus
everybody else at their
position? Off of last year I got to go. Saquon Barkley with
everything he was able to do.
I’ll go Saquon Barkley as the number one player in the NFL.
Okay I’ll go chalk here. Josh
Allen reigning NFL MVP hard to argue with production in terms
of touchdowns produced is off
the charts relative to basically everybody else in the
NFL. I would also note last
year’s number one player was Tyreek Hill. Did not entirely
work out for him. I’m not
saying this is the new Madden curse. I’m just saying be
slightly wary. If your guy ends
up at number one. That show starts right now. We’re back at
7 p.m. eastern
Mr. Barkley. Oh! Touchdown,

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