AFC North Analysis and Overview | Future Bets | Predictions
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00:00Back with you here. It's pro football today. From the AFC East to the AFC North, where
00:05the East, it feels like we're trying to sell you on someone stepping up. When it comes
00:10to the North, it's trying to separate what is always a tough division. Every single team
00:16last year above 500, which of course includes the Pittsburgh Steelers. I refuse though to
00:22start with that team. And I do believe we have to start with the Baltimore Ravens individually.
00:28The number one seed who once again, you leave the playoffs being like, man, I don't know
00:35if I can trust this team. Maybe though I shouldn't really be the one to talk about this. Donnie,
00:40last year, a Ravens future backer, the whole way you watch that game play out in the conference
00:47championship against Kansas City. What did you take from that game and how do you apply
00:51it to the Ravens moving forward? A lot of a rationalist for myself, if I can use that
00:55as a word, because I was so angry watching what was taking place saying, if you just
00:59play decent football, you win that game, you're going to be Super Bowl champions. At least
01:03you're going to take on the San Francisco 49ers and rightfully so. As maybe the best
01:07team in football, you expect your MVP quarterback to step up in the biggest moments. And guys,
01:12I'm not even talking about, I need 350, four touchdowns and no interceptions trying to
01:17carry my team. How about just don't make dumb passes, right? Now, granted, I understand
01:21there were plays where young rookie wide receivers were diving for the goal line.
01:25If they scored touchdowns, the game's different. I get it. But there were throws in the double
01:28coverage that had absolutely no business being made. And I think I can probably find my Twitter
01:32profile to this day saying, I can't trust this guy. This is what you get out of him.
01:37I can't believe I trusted Lamar Jackson. And it's right. Look, until he proves he can do
01:41it on the biggest stage. I don't mean being an MVP. I don't mean dominating Monday Night
01:44Football or maybe having the best overall team in the regular season. You gotta win
01:49in the playoffs. And he hasn't done that, Joe, yet for me. Agree 100% Donnie. I mean,
01:53I've been the biggest Lamar Jackson fan coming out of Louisville. I think he was deserving
01:57of being taken in the first round. I thought he would evolve to be the player that he is.
02:02But again, you get judged in terms of playoff type of situations when the game is on the
02:06line two minutes or less and you need a touchdown or a go ahead score. Can Lamar Jackson deliver?
02:12And he didn't. He did not deliver. He in garbage time he delivered after the game was already
02:17in doubt. They brought in OBJ to help out that passing attack. They never utilized them
02:22until the game was signed, sealed and delivered for the Kansas City Chiefs. Zay Flowers is
02:27a good wide receiver. I don't think he's elite in terms of top five. He's certainly not a
02:31Justin Jefferson or Jamar Chase type of wide receiver. Maybe it changes this year, but
02:36until their identity changes, even though Derek Henry's there, they can win 13, 14 games
02:41in the regular season. But I'm not betting this team to make an AFC championship or bet
02:46them. There's so much that came out of that final game with Kansas City. I do think all
02:53in all, it did serve as a reminder that Lamar was an atrocious MVP. He's a great he's a
02:59great quarterback. I like you, Joe, been super high on Lamar. He just wasn't deserving at
03:04all of the award and was handed it handed to it. No, no, no. They should have given
03:08it to Josh Allen because I know you're thinking about the party. No, no, because nothing about
03:11me. Well, who did you just drowned like you were on a little stride? No, Stroud, 100 percent
03:16was more deserving of it than Lamar Jackson. I mean, not to go down that rabbit hole again,
03:20but it's the offseason. We got some time to stretch our legs. But if you look back at
03:27what CJ did last year and you look back at what Lamar did last year, CJ season was more
03:33surprising, impressive. I think check more boxes. But ultimately, the Ravens won more
03:38football game. The game that made Lamar Jackson the favorite for the award was the Niners
03:45game in which Purdy fell apart due to that Ravens defense. And that's why I say there's
03:51so much stuff to take out of the Kansas City game, where it serves as a reminder that Chiefs
03:56Dynasty is not singularly about Mahomes, no matter how much some people try to make it.
04:02And it's also a lot to do with Andy Reid, because you never would expect Andy Reid to
04:07go into a football game and put forward the most ridiculous game plan of all time. The
04:11problem with what the Ravens did against the Chiefs is not all Lamar had shortcomings.
04:16It's that if I would have started Donnie in the game, yes, we would have been fine because
04:20all you had to do against the Chiefs was run the rock. And somehow the Ravens got into
04:24that game against a team that couldn't stop the run and stop running the football. And
04:29then they lost their superstar defensive coordinator. I know being low on the Ravens is a dangerous
04:34thing, but I like I leave that game and everything that happened this offseason. And I have no
04:39reason relative with the rest of the division to be high on the Baltimore Ravens.
04:43No, I'm not big picture again. Can they be a playoff team? Absolutely. But, you know,
04:48in terms of the division, I'm still betting Joe Burrow on the Cincinnati Bengals. Why?
04:52Because when healthy, I think he's the most proven quarterback in the division right now.
04:55And he's taken his team to back to back AFC championships. He's taken his team to a Super
05:00Bowl, went toe to toe with Matt Stafford. And again, with Jamar Chase now in that lineup
05:05and all the playmakers that he has, as long as Joe Burrow is 95 percent healthy, I'm betting
05:10on the Cincinnati Bengals to be not just division champions, but potentially at 7 to 1 to win
05:16the AFC. So that's where I'm looking. Again, it's a crowded division. I can't believe the
05:20lack of respect, though, Donnie Cleveland's getting. I know it hinges on the success of
05:24Deshaun Watson, but 20 to 1 to win the AFC is absolutely ridiculous.
05:29Yeah, no, you're right about that. And this, for me, is probably the best overall division
05:33in football with a lot of ebbs and flows where you can make cases for each one of these teams
05:36possibly to win the division. Maybe you question the Steelers a little bit, but they're still
05:40a formidable opponent now that they have a veteran quarterback. We'll see what they do.
05:43But let's get back to here where we're starting to, you know, start to talk about the Cincinnati
05:47Bengals. Am I the only one that's low on them, I guess? I really think so, because from a
05:51psychology standpoint, I'm just trying to understand what I'm getting out of the Bengals.
05:56Their defense is OK. I love the defensive coordinator. Don't get me wrong. You know,
05:59big games is going to come up with concepts and schemes. But now I take a look at a quarterback
06:03that seems like he's more injured than not, who can't get through off seasons at this
06:07point and be healthy. I don't know if he's thrown a pass yet in OTAs. And here we are
06:10about to head into training camp. Then you have a wide receiver in Jamar Chase who says
06:14he's not showing up to camp. So I don't know when that's going to end. You have a wide
06:18receiver, which stunned the heck out of me in T. Higgins that signed his say, oh, I'll
06:22play for 20 million when everybody else has 80 million in their account. I don't know
06:26where the headspace of this team is, which is why I can't battle in the wind division.
06:30Just can't do it. I laugh because it's very rare that the shoe is on the other foot. Look,
06:35I know I kind of latch on to things insanely like Lamar winning the MVP. And then you kind
06:40of get to, you know, drag it out on me. I know that a lot of you hating this Bengals
06:45team is because you still can't believe what T. Higgins. Well, that's the concept in the
06:50locker room. Like, I mean, it's almost like everybody's sabotaging everybody altogether.
06:53Like the goal usually is don't talk about another man's money. Everybody get paid. And
06:57you know, Joe Burrow gets paid. I don't care if anybody gets paid. Matter of fact, I won't
07:01even say anybody should get paid, but me in this locker. That's why I'm just I'm trying
07:05to see like in week one when they read adversity and I'm able to tweet out like I told you
07:08that's why you got to pay your wide receivers at this point. That's just the way I'm looking
07:11at right now. Defense is OK. Yeah. If in a perfect world, that offense should absolutely
07:15cook. But I just wonder who's going to be there week one and what that's going to mean.
07:19Yeah, it's a great point. I think because T. Higgins did sign for the one year deal
07:22shows that he's bought into the team aspect team mentality. Right. It's like one last
07:27go around Joe Jamar and T. Higgins. Let's see if we can get back to a Super Bowl.
07:32It just doesn't line up, though, with what anybody else does. Like you, you might win
07:37that argument because he did it. But there's a part of me and I'm sure part of you. That's
07:44I still don't know if I fully trust him being out there week one. Like if all is on a plate,
07:49the meetings like I'm not here next year anyway. I got my guaranteed check and you don't want
07:52to pay me, so I'll do the minimum. Listen, I don't know. Stomachache. We are not available.
07:57I just it is. And to Donny's point, though, Jamar still has to be paid. So that's a whole
08:05thing that has to be figured out. It's just and this again, it allows us to skip over
08:10the borrow end of it. The again, to use the NBA comparison, because that's what I have
08:15at my disposal. It's a little Giannis ask where we know Giannis is incredible. And then
08:20you hey, why the Bucks get eliminated by the Pacers? Well, Giannis wasn't there. Hey,
08:24why the Cincinnati season fall apart? Well, Joe Burrow wasn't there. Except that excuse
08:29doesn't feel as good when it's kind of a thing we expect. Like, oh, look, Cincinnati's one
08:34in three again because Burrow doesn't know how to play football for the Joe Burrow was
08:38the worst quarterback in the league for the first month of the season. Yes, that was a
08:42real thing that was really going on. Yeah, the calf injuries. But that's every year.
08:47I'm not even telling you, I hate Cincinnati. I just arms. It is weird that it every year
08:53they have to get a month runway to figure out how to play football again. By the way,
08:58real quick. Do you remember sitting in this studio when they showed the still coming out
09:01of commercial with Joe Burrow throwing a pass and crumbling to the ground? Yes. And our
09:05hopes and dreams ended that. Yeah. So maybe that's a little bit on the Bengals, too. For
09:08me, I'm still angry. I think that was a Jacksonville. We had a lot of tough experiences. Ultimately,
09:14I think on those night shows, we'll talk some Steelers and Browns. It's pro football
09:19today on Sportsbook. Back with you here. Pro football today. Sticking with the AFC North.
09:25And I do think it is appropriate. We now talk some Pittsburgh Steelers football here because
09:32this is a team that I think we would have a lot of excitement to discuss if the expectation
09:39was their quarterback was Justin Fields. Instead, the betting market has Russell Wilson
09:45as the week one starter at minus a thousand. I'll let you start on this, Donnie. How do
09:50you feel about Pittsburgh at the moment? Here's let's go back to how it all evolved where
09:55they got their two quarterbacks. Right. And I think that can tell the story on this team.
09:58Again, it felt like one of those teams that we just talked about, the New York Jets, where
10:01it's like, OK, guys, we've got to get average quarterback play. We'll have a pretty good
10:04football team. They really didn't get average quarterback play. Now you upgrade the position
10:08and get Russell Wilson, who, again, caught a lot of flack at Denver. Did he play great,
10:12guys? No, he didn't. But he wasn't terrible. If you look at the numbers and that should
10:15be a statistical upgrade, then they make the move like for Justin Fields. So you put both
10:19of those guys into that call. You know what's going to happen now? Both of these guys are
10:23going to get a chance to start. May the best man win. Healthy competition drives this football
10:27team. And the minute they got fields, they go, no, no, no, no, no, no. We're not going
10:31to extend the guy either. He's not going to start. You know what? We might even put him
10:34on kick returns at this point. So I have no idea what the Pittsburgh Steelers are looking
10:37at. The one thing I do know, the defense is going to be great. But again, we're sitting
10:41back here going, what am I getting out of the quarterback and the leadership of that
10:44room? And you know what else doesn't hurt? If you put the Steelers in a lot of other
10:47divisions, I would put them and say, you know what? That's a playoff team right here. Day
10:50number one. I don't know if they are because how tough, Joe, that division is. Yeah, top
10:54to bottom, black and blue type of division. But what they have is a great head coach in
10:58Mike Tomlin. Wish he was the head coach of the Miami Dolphins. Did a fantastic job last
11:02year in terms of leading that team to a playoff appearance. What Mason Rudolph and the revolving
11:07door in terms of the quarterback position. The way I see this playing out, Kev, is yeah,
11:12obviously Russell Wilson will be the week one starter potentially, but I don't think
11:16he makes it out of the month of September. I think Justin Fields will be the quarterback
11:20for much of the regular season. Again, I don't think Russell Wilson brings anything in terms
11:25of the passing attack, anything different than what you had with Mason Rudolph or the
11:30quarterbacks that they used last year. He's not, he plays well within the scheme when
11:34you can run the football effectively with Warren and Najee Harris, but that was inconsistent
11:39for much of the regular season. Only towards the end, Justin Fields is a dynamic playmaker.
11:45You couple them with those wide receivers, George Pickens, Friar Mute, the tight end.
11:50Now you have something that can open up the rushing attack. I think the only way Pittsburgh
11:54challenges for a division title of his, if Justin Fields is the starter come October.
12:00So I agree with that, but that's, I just don't share the confidence that they're going
12:04to go to Fields because of what I think, I think, and I think you both have kind of nailed
12:09this perfectly. Their unwillingness to allow Fields to compete for the job suggests to
12:14me it will take a lot for them to take the job away from Russell Wilson. Frankly, Joe,
12:20I would be stunned if Fields was that quarterback by October. I really would. You know, if you
12:25look at their first eight games, it's a, it's a workable schedule, right? I think based
12:31on usual Mike Tomlin three and five, four and four, five and three, he'll land somewhere
12:35within those outcomes. Anything else would be super surprising. Is any of that enough
12:38to get Russ benched? Even if Russ is playing poorly, I don't necessarily think so. I mean,
12:44we're hearing people talk about Justin Fields returning kicks. Now some of that's the new
12:47kickoff rules. I don't understand him. You love him. Sure. We'll figure it out when it
12:51kind of all becomes a thing, but I still cannot wrap my head around their unwillingness
12:57to allow this to be a competition. And the only explanation would be they promised Russell
13:03Wilson. It wouldn't be one to which then I don't understand why they made that promise.
13:08And it suggests Joe that they don't believe in Fields or they have way too much belief
13:14in Ross or they're not telling the truth. I mean, they could say it to the media and
13:18then let it play out in training camp and preseason and, and maybe Justin Fields, you
13:22know, strikes. So I'm just saying Mike Tomlin is not afraid to pull the trigger. No, he's
13:28not. He did it with Mason Rudolph in regards to at the end of the regular season, playing
13:32bad quarterbacks for a long time. And he went to Mason Rudolph over Trubisky at the end
13:38of the year, right? When the playoff season, when the, when the, you hear the names you're
13:41saying. Oh my God. But is Russell Wilson any better? In his, in his squad? No, I know.
13:48Come on. Mike Tomlin, 9888. See you later. Here's the thing. Here's the, I'll just say
13:53this. Russell Wilson didn't win the locker room over in Seattle. His play, his teammates
13:58hated him. He certainly didn't win them over in Denver and he's not going to win them over
14:02in Pittsburgh. Justin Fields is a guy that had bought into the Chicago bears. It's a
14:06shame that Iberflues and the offensive staff or gets, he did not build a game plan around
14:12his strengths. But again, what Mike Tomlin, he fell in love with Justin Fields and Justin
14:16Fields wants to play for him. I think he's going to be the starter again. I, I know it
14:21sounds crazy, but I don't believe in Russell Wilson. I got to tell you though, if they
14:25had meetings in the back of my town was like, look, here's how we're going to do this season.
14:28I'm going to do him in every day talking about Justin Fields. Tell him he ain't the starter
14:32and he better win this starting job. Like that's the tough because everything Kevin
14:36and I go back to the days where we're starting to look at like backup court or starting quarterbacks
14:39here. It was for the 49ers. It was, um, Trey Lance, where we heard for like years, like
14:44nobody ever said a good word about the guy that, well, maybe he just isn't that good.
14:48So I take a look at the Justin Fields. Did they like get him and like say, you know what?
14:51I was on the phone, but like this guy's not a starter. There's no reason to say like he
14:54shouldn't be a starter. Like the minute you got him, you didn't even say like, you know
14:57what? We're going to have a good training camp here. Like nine out of 10 coaches lie.
15:00This deal was told you day one. Yeah. We got fields. Don't expect him to see on the field.
15:04We're not going to extend his fifth year. And matter of fact, we hope he doesn't even
15:07play because that means Russell's good. And away he goes in the free agency. They made
15:11sure that nobody got excited about per sources. They signed a backup Justin Fields. At least
15:17he's like, I didn't see it that way. But I, which again, I respect it. Let me just make
15:21sure we get the Browns in here a little bit. Watson Flacco. The whole thing was bizarre.
15:27Watson's best game was basically his last game before the injury. I think the big question is
15:33what defense shows up the first half of the defense that looked like an all-time great
15:37unit or the back end of the year, which ended up being Swiss cheese by the time they got to
15:41the playoffs. I still think they're a playoff caliber team. And that's if Deshaun Watson,
15:45let's just say plays 80% of what he was in Houston. Again, he doesn't have a 300 yard
15:49performance under his belt in a year and a half. Joe Flacco had what for he elevated that offense
15:55to another level. Again, as long as he's not turnover prone and Deshaun Watson takes and
16:00elevates his game from last year, I think they're going to be there in an 11-win football team
16:05with an eight and a half win total and 20 to one behind the Jets and the Dolphins is absolutely
16:10pathetic and ridiculous. Again, I know the defense tailed off, but they're going to be there,
16:15Kevin. They're much better than that eight and a half total. Yeah, quickly, a couple of things
16:18to worry about there too, is Amari Cooper. He wants to get paid as a wide receiver and probably
16:22should at this point, but I do like the move where by low, maybe you get a high point there
16:26on Jerry Judy. There's a lot of talent there. He just has to fit in. I like that offense.
16:30Concept wise here under their coach, but we'll see how it turns out. They're a wild card team for me.
16:34They are fair enough.