# The NFL Report: Rams Stunned in Melbourne + Nick Shook & Amani Toomer Join the Show

An episode of [NFL: The Insiders](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1543090622), 12 Sep 2026, 24 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/e922fbd8-b608-413a-ac83-b06d015154b4/523bf64a-8ca9-463a-a445-b4c2018ab803/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=3e412703-0644-468e-9001-ae390070e4db

On the rundown for today’s The NFL Report Podcast: -Injury Updates from Around the League -Mike Yam and Nick Shook make their Week 1 Picks -Amani Toomer reflects on the 25th Anniversary of 9/11 - Can Justin Jefferson & Kyler Murray bounce back? -Malik Nabers back for Week 1? The NFL Report is a production of the NFL in partnership with iHeart Media. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:02] Speaker 1: An absolute shocker down under the preseason favorites to win
[0:05] Speaker 1: the Super Bowl got handled by a division rival. What
[0:08] Speaker 1: it means for Los Angeles, and did the Niners just
[0:11] Speaker 1: put the league on notice? Fantasy alert time. You gotta
[0:15] Speaker 1: see the latest injury updates. A big star out for
[0:17] Speaker 1: an extended period of time. Some players we didn't expect
[0:20] Speaker 1: to play, they're trending to go, and one starting quarterback
[0:23] Speaker 1: is taking a seat. And on the 25th anniversary of 9-11,
[0:28] Speaker 1: Giants legend Imani Toomer pays tribute to one of the
[0:31] Speaker 1: most horrific times our country has ever seen. Hi, I'm
[0:35] Speaker 1: Mike Hamden. Welcome to a brand new edition of NFL Report.
[0:38] Speaker 1: There is a ton to get to over the course
[0:40] Speaker 1: of the next 30 minutes. Nick Shook's going to be
[0:41] Speaker 1: joining me. We got plenty of game picks. Yeah, we're
[0:44] Speaker 1: in the throes of it. Week one officially underway, but
[0:46] Speaker 1: I know what you're here for, and that is the
[0:48] Speaker 1: latest headlines. Some big news from a New England Patriots perspective.
[0:52] Speaker 1: Their wide receiver, A.J. Brown. We know that he suffered
[0:55] Speaker 1: that ankle injury in the opener against Seattle. The news,
[0:59] Speaker 1: not exactly good. He has been placed on IR. He's
[1:02] Speaker 1: going to be out for at least the next four games.
[1:04] Speaker 1: It is a high ankle sprain. Now, keep in mind,
[1:06] Speaker 1: before that injury, Brown caught three passes for 26 yards
[1:11] Speaker 1: on four targets. Coming off of that loss, you've got
[1:14] Speaker 1: to think, where's that offense going to go? Meanwhile, Ian
[1:17] Speaker 1: Rappaport putting this out on social media. This one kind
[1:20] Speaker 1: of coming out of left field. Tua Tungabailoa not going
[1:24] Speaker 1: to be playing on Sunday, meaning Cooper Rush will get
[1:27] Speaker 1: the start for the Atlanta Falcons. Boy, that quarterback issue
[1:31] Speaker 1: has been a real one in the ATL. Cardinals fans,
[1:36] Speaker 1: they'd love to see the third overall pick, Jeremiah Love,
[1:38] Speaker 1: on the field on Sunday. He is dealing with an
[1:40] Speaker 1: ankle injury. Mike LaFleur was asked if he was a
[1:42] Speaker 1: game-time decision. The first-year Arizona coach said, quote, Yeah, I'd
[1:47] Speaker 1: say so. Love suffered that high ankle sprain in the preseason.
[1:50] Speaker 1: Sunday would be two days shy of a full month
[1:54] Speaker 1: of recovery time. So you've got to imagine he is
[1:56] Speaker 1: very close, even if he doesn't give it a go.
[1:59] Speaker 1: over the weekend, but it does look like it's probably
[2:01] Speaker 1: trending that way. Adam Schefter putting this out on social media.
[2:05] Speaker 1: Speaking of high-profile running backs, Ashton Gentry officially off the
[2:09] Speaker 1: injury report. That is great news from a Raiders perspective
[2:13] Speaker 1: as they match up against the Miami Dolphins. The not-so-great news,
[2:17] Speaker 1: Brock Bauer's officially been ruled out. Michael Mayer, the other
[2:21] Speaker 1: tight ends out of Notre Dame. Got to imagine from
[2:24] Speaker 1: a fantasy perspective will definitely be relied on. Some good
[2:28] Speaker 1: news from a Cincinnati perspective. They open up week one
[2:30] Speaker 1: against the Bucks. Jamar Chase dealing with the knee. Tee
[2:33] Speaker 1: Higgins has got that heel injury. Both of those guys,
[2:36] Speaker 1: they're playing on Sunday. Even better news, the team hoping
[2:39] Speaker 1: their defense is much improved with some of those new additions.
[2:43] Speaker 1: Cannot wait to see what Joe Burrow's got in store
[2:46] Speaker 1: for everyone this upcoming season. Speaking of the health of
[2:49] Speaker 1: some players, Positive signs here from Giants wide receiver Malik Neighbors.
[2:54] Speaker 1: Had surgery on that knee back in October to repair
[2:57] Speaker 1: that ACL. A lot of optimism on what he can
[2:59] Speaker 1: bring to this team's offense. Neighbors practiced fully the entire week,
[3:03] Speaker 1: and he's on track to suit it up Sunday night
[3:05] Speaker 1: football against the Cowboys.
[3:08] Speaker 2: I grinded my ass off. I mean, excuse my language,
[3:10] Speaker 2: but I grinded, prayed hard, put in a consistent amount
[3:15] Speaker 2: of work. early nights, I mean, early, early mornings, you know,
[3:19] Speaker 2: late nights. So, you know, I put in the work
[3:23] Speaker 2: and I did everything that I can to, you know,
[3:25] Speaker 2: be in this position right now and be able to
[3:28] Speaker 2: make the decision to, you know, to play or to
[3:31] Speaker 2: not play. You know, and if I am out there,
[3:35] Speaker 2: you know, I put in a great amount of work
[3:38] Speaker 2: to know that, you know, I'm able to play and
[3:40] Speaker 2: I'm able to do exactly what I know I can do,
[3:43] Speaker 2: you know, and will do.
[3:45] Speaker 1: Certainly one of the great stars in this league. Imani Toomer,
[3:48] Speaker 1: by the way, we'll talk more about neighbors coming up
[3:49] Speaker 1: here on NFL Report. Meanwhile, down under we go. Australia,
[3:53] Speaker 1: first game ever to be played in Melbourne. Got nine
[3:56] Speaker 1: international games on the season. This is not what we
[3:59] Speaker 1: anticipated from the Rams. Matthew Stafford, Nardo Green with the
[4:03] Speaker 1: interception early in this game. That one happening in the
[4:06] Speaker 1: second quarter. And it was a whole lot of Brock
[4:09] Speaker 1: Purdy and the San Francisco 49ers really putting the oomph
[4:12] Speaker 1: in this game. To Marcus Robinson, that's a touchdown. Purdy, 25-34,
[4:17] Speaker 1: passing 205 yards. Dude threw three touchdowns against this Rams defense.
[4:23] Speaker 1: Mike Evans, welcome to the party. That's career touchdown, 109
[4:28] Speaker 1: for him. He had six catches on seven targets in
[4:31] Speaker 1: this game. This is not what I anticipated. Matthew Stafford,
[4:36] Speaker 1: Keeper getting stuffed on a fourth and goal at the
[4:39] Speaker 1: one yard line. At that point, I'm thinking to myself, wait,
[4:43] Speaker 1: this might actually happen. It might be Brock and the
[4:45] Speaker 1: Niners doing what many people didn't think they were going
[4:47] Speaker 1: to do, which is win that football game. Debo with
[4:49] Speaker 1: the touchdown. Niners had three wide receivers over 30, each
[4:53] Speaker 1: with a scoring touchdown. We showed you all three of them.
[4:56] Speaker 1: Here's their head coach, Kyle Shanahan.
[4:58] Speaker 3: Win or lose.
[4:58] Speaker 4: I knew everyone was going to make a big deal
[5:00] Speaker 4: about that. Um, for either team.
[5:02] Speaker 5: Um, you never know how much that factors into it. Um,
[5:05] Speaker 5: You just try to do the best to prepare for
[5:07] Speaker 5: three and a half hours. I like how we prepared.
[5:10] Speaker 5: But more importantly, I liked how we played.
[5:12] Speaker 3: I don't believe that that's why we didn't play well enough.
[5:15] Speaker 3: I really don't. Listen, I'm more than comfortable with that.
[5:20] Speaker 3: That's something that I'll always make decisions that I think
[5:23] Speaker 3: are best for the football team. It's easy in hindsight
[5:25] Speaker 3: to be able to say it was a miss, but
[5:28] Speaker 3: Those are responsibilities that I'll take. Like I said, this
[5:31] Speaker 3: will only define us if we allow it to. I'm
[5:33] Speaker 3: looking forward to leaning in, going back to work. Today
[5:37] Speaker 3: was humbling, but sometimes life can do that to you.
[5:40] Speaker 3: We've got a lot of football left, and we're not
[5:41] Speaker 3: going to allow this one game to do anything other
[5:45] Speaker 3: than help us learn and grow.
[5:47] Speaker 1: He's exactly right about that. There is a whole lot
[5:49] Speaker 1: of football to be played for the team that's got,
[5:51] Speaker 1: at least on paper, the best roster in the NFL.
[5:53] Speaker 1: Nick Shook is with me right now. There's star power
[5:56] Speaker 1: all over the field, and yet those stars didn't shine.
[5:59] Speaker 1: What happened in Australia?
[6:00] Speaker 5: It looked to me like the Rams just weren't as
[6:03] Speaker 5: prepared as the Niners were in this game. It felt like,
[6:06] Speaker 5: you know, we can talk about the travel. I didn't
[6:08] Speaker 5: think the travel was really the issue there. I felt
[6:09] Speaker 5: like the Niners had a better game plan for limiting
[6:12] Speaker 5: Myles Garrett, chipping him with a number of different players,
[6:14] Speaker 5: getting the ball out quickly. Brock Purdy got the ball
[6:16] Speaker 5: out of 2.9 seconds on average. It's well below last
[6:19] Speaker 5: year's league-wide average of 2.84 seconds. And it just seemed
[6:23] Speaker 5: like they had a better approach to it. They played
[6:25] Speaker 5: really tough defense. They were aggressive. They did not fear
[6:28] Speaker 5: whether the Rams would beat them downfield. Raheem Morris, he
[6:31] Speaker 5: did a great job as a defensive coordinator. And Stafford
[6:33] Speaker 5: just looked off. And also Myles Garrett, we know he
[6:36] Speaker 5: was dealing with a knee injury prior. And then now
[6:38] Speaker 5: after the game, he says that he was banged up.
[6:41] Speaker 5: And you could kind of tell he did not record
[6:42] Speaker 5: a single tackle in this game, only the fourth time
[6:45] Speaker 5: in his career.
[6:45] Speaker 1: Yeah, wild. Just kind of bonkers considering what the expectation
[6:48] Speaker 1: level is for him. You and I were talking off
[6:51] Speaker 1: air about this. I don't want to sound like I'm
[6:53] Speaker 1: making too much of week one, and this is an overreaction.
[6:56] Speaker 1: But a couple days ago, if you would have told
[6:57] Speaker 1: me about this division, Seattle, Super Bowl champ, Sam Darnold
[7:00] Speaker 1: goes down. We're still waiting to find out just how
[7:02] Speaker 1: long he's going to be out. The Rams just got manhandled.
[7:05] Speaker 1: Do you look at this division very differently than you
[7:07] Speaker 1: did just a few days ago because of this Niners win?
[7:09] Speaker 5: You kind of have to guard against overreaction because it
[7:12] Speaker 5: is only week one. But there are some things in
[7:14] Speaker 5: this that are legitimate. Sam Donald missing time. I'm not
[7:17] Speaker 5: too worried about the Rams in their current state right now,
[7:19] Speaker 5: but I give more respect to the Niners because they
[7:21] Speaker 5: were the team that entered the regular season with all
[7:23] Speaker 5: of these bad vibes. So many injuries. They lost Ricky Pearsall.
[7:26] Speaker 5: Nick Bosa was dealing with a knee issue. It just
[7:28] Speaker 5: felt like even Mike Evans, who just caught that touchdown
[7:30] Speaker 5: pass there, he didn't participate for multiple portions of the preseason.
[7:34] Speaker 5: And yet they come out here and they look like
[7:36] Speaker 5: they've just been on ice and they've been preparing and
[7:38] Speaker 5: they had that whole week to prepare in Australia. And
[7:40] Speaker 5: they look like a team that really wanted to come
[7:41] Speaker 5: out and prove a point. And they proved that point.
[7:43] Speaker 1: Yeah, I lived in San Francisco for 10 years. If
[7:45] Speaker 1: you tell a Niners fan right now, your guys will
[7:46] Speaker 1: be banged up in the preseason, but healthy for the
[7:48] Speaker 1: regular season. They will sign up for that like no
[7:51] Speaker 1: one's business, considering all the injuries that they've had. There
[7:54] Speaker 1: is some other good news to get to if you're
[7:55] Speaker 1: a Niners fan. How about this? Our buddy Tom Pelissero
[7:58] Speaker 1: putting this out on social media. Niners quietly signing Kyle
[8:01] Speaker 1: Shanahan to a contract extension. Think about one of the
[8:04] Speaker 1: more creative offensive minds that we have in the NFL.
[8:08] Speaker 1: Case in point, last night, the motion, 66% of their
[8:11] Speaker 1: plays with guys... featuring motion at that snap I mean
[8:14] Speaker 1: that is just not something that we genuinely see most
[8:18] Speaker 1: since 2017 meanwhile looking forward to this one Josh Allen
[8:21] Speaker 1: we got a Houston Texans defense that might be the
[8:23] Speaker 1: best in the league Josh knows he's up against.
[8:26] Speaker 6: It yeah I mean getting a chance to go play
[8:30] Speaker 6: football against a really really good team a team that
[8:33] Speaker 6: was obviously in the playoffs last year um We understand
[8:38] Speaker 6: what their defense is and has been. They have a
[8:41] Speaker 6: fantastic coach over there. Those guys are going to be
[8:43] Speaker 6: ready to play. They got after us last year. There's
[8:46] Speaker 6: no secret about it. But just trying to have a
[8:50] Speaker 6: good week, prepare the way that we need to prepare
[8:53] Speaker 6: to go out there and execute the way that we
[8:54] Speaker 6: want to execute. They've had some really good defenses in
[8:57] Speaker 6: the past, and it's no different now. But obviously, I
[9:02] Speaker 6: want to go out there. I want to play the
[9:03] Speaker 6: best that I can play and want to help our
[9:05] Speaker 6: team win a football game and That's obviously what it
[9:08] Speaker 6: comes down to. If that's me completing, you know, 30
[9:11] Speaker 6: balls or handing it off 40 times, whatever it takes
[9:14] Speaker 6: for us to win this game is what I'm willing
[9:16] Speaker 6: to do. And, you know, they're going to make it
[9:19] Speaker 6: tough for us.
[9:21] Speaker 1: No, no, no. Make sure you're passing the football. James
[9:23] Speaker 1: Cook is like, no, it's okay. You can hand it
[9:24] Speaker 1: off a bunch of times. I did power rankings with
[9:26] Speaker 1: you this week. I know you like this Bills team,
[9:28] Speaker 1: but yet you're picking the Texans.
[9:29] Speaker 5: I'm picking the Texans because the Texans seem to have
[9:31] Speaker 5: the Bills number over the last few years. Josh Allen
[9:33] Speaker 5: and his career is 1-4 against Houston. We know what happened,
[9:36] Speaker 5: and Josh just talked about it there last season. They
[9:38] Speaker 5: lost 23-19. Their offense was suffocated by D'Amico Ryan's defense.
[9:42] Speaker 5: And to start a season, Joe Brady being elevated to
[9:44] Speaker 5: head coach, yes, there's continuity and familiarity there. but I'm
[9:47] Speaker 5: going to lean on the side of the field that
[9:49] Speaker 5: I really trust more, that has more evidence that they're excellent,
[9:52] Speaker 5: which is the D'Amico-Ryan's defense. So it's one of those
[9:55] Speaker 5: close games this week where you can see it going
[9:57] Speaker 5: either way. But, I mean, Josh Allen also, 10 total
[9:59] Speaker 5: give in road week one starts, and this is a
[10:02] Speaker 5: team that's very opportunistic defensively.
[10:04] Speaker 1: Yeah, Davis Mills, by the way, starting that game a
[10:06] Speaker 1: season ago, which makes it even more of an intriguing storyline.
[10:09] Speaker 1: You said, yeah, you trust that Texans defense. You're right.
[10:12] Speaker 1: You kind of have to. They are one of the
[10:13] Speaker 1: best in the NFL, but I'm taking the bills here
[10:16] Speaker 1: because I don't know if I trust that Houston offense
[10:18] Speaker 1: right now. There's a lot of issues. Last time we
[10:20] Speaker 1: saw C.J. Stroud, we almost pulled him at halftime of
[10:23] Speaker 1: a game against the Patriots in the postseason because the
[10:25] Speaker 1: interceptions continued to mount. You mentioned the record against there.
[10:29] Speaker 1: There's no more Sean McDermott. The point was to make
[10:31] Speaker 1: that coaching change, to get over the hump in some
[10:33] Speaker 1: of the matchups where you haven't been able to. I
[10:35] Speaker 1: like Josh Allen in this matchup, even on the road.
[10:38] Speaker 1: I feel like Joe Brady and this team need to
[10:40] Speaker 1: make a statement, and there's none bigger against D'Amico Ryan's defense.
[10:45] Speaker 1: We kind of agree on a lot. I know we
[10:46] Speaker 1: disagreed on Bills and Texans here, but across the board
[10:49] Speaker 1: on the early games, we agree on everything except for
[10:52] Speaker 1: gang green and the Tennessee Titans. I actually think Tennessee's
[10:55] Speaker 1: roster a little bit better than people are giving them
[10:57] Speaker 1: credit for. And I know you like the youth movement.
[10:59] Speaker 5: Yeah, I would agree. You know, I like the idea
[11:01] Speaker 5: of Cam Ward in year two. I like the idea
[11:03] Speaker 5: of Carnell Tate on this roster. And we'll see. Two
[11:06] Speaker 5: teams that we got to learn a lot about.
[11:07] Speaker 1: All right, we've got some more game picks still to come. Meanwhile,
[11:09] Speaker 1: Sunday night football giving us a great rivalry. Dak and
[11:13] Speaker 1: the Cowboys, they get Jackson Dart and the G-Men. The Giants'
[11:16] Speaker 1: all-time leading receiver, Imani Toomer, gives us his read on
[11:20] Speaker 1: Dart's favorite target.
[11:21] Speaker 7: From the league neighbors.
[11:24] Speaker 1: Well, we've been talking about this here on the NFL
[11:25] Speaker 1: Report and throughout the month of September, all 32 NFL
[11:29] Speaker 1: teams will commemorate the 9-11 attacks. And today, on the
[11:32] Speaker 1: 25th anniversary of those terrorist attacks, the tributes from players, coaches,
[11:37] Speaker 1: and teams spreading all across social media. You can see
[11:40] Speaker 1: what the Giant's putting out there. And speaking of the Giants,
[11:42] Speaker 1: the man who is the all-time leading receiver for the franchise,
[11:46] Speaker 1: Imani Toomer is with us right now. And Imani, it
[11:48] Speaker 1: is awesome to have you on the show because I
[11:50] Speaker 1: think you can give us unique perspective on 25 years ago.
[11:54] Speaker 1: You were a part of that Giants team that helped
[11:57] Speaker 1: New York City and the Tri-State area kind of get
[11:59] Speaker 1: through one of the heaviest times our country has ever faced.
[12:02] Speaker 1: Take me back to that time. What do you remember
[12:04] Speaker 1: the most?
[12:06] Speaker 4: Well, the one I.
[12:06] Speaker 7: Remember the most is we had just had a Monday
[12:09] Speaker 7: night game in Denver and we were, we, so we
[12:12] Speaker 7: flew back the whole night as we were deep planing
[12:16] Speaker 7: on the tarmac in Newark, the flight right next to
[12:19] Speaker 7: us was flight 93. So it was a little closer
[12:23] Speaker 7: than a lot of people. Then it was closer for
[12:25] Speaker 7: us than a lot of other teams, the jets included.
[12:28] Speaker 7: But we also went down to ground zero right afterwards and,
[12:34] Speaker 7: And it was, you know, passing out water, doing all
[12:37] Speaker 7: kinds of, you know, philanthropic stuff. We couldn't really do much,
[12:40] Speaker 7: but what we could do was offer a little bit
[12:43] Speaker 7: of respite for some of the hard workers that were,
[12:47] Speaker 7: I mean, they looked like they were beat up. So
[12:49] Speaker 7: when we walked in, they kind of, kind of broke,
[12:51] Speaker 7: lifted their spirits a little bit, which was our whole goal.
[12:55] Speaker 1: You know, Amani, it's interesting because you said you didn't
[12:57] Speaker 1: know like what you could do. I remember I was
[13:00] Speaker 1: in college at the time from our campus at Fordham.
[13:02] Speaker 1: I could see the smoke I lost. a cousin in
[13:04] Speaker 1: one of the towers as well. I mean, this was,
[13:07] Speaker 1: you felt helpless when you were out there. And I
[13:09] Speaker 1: think back, because this is 25 years. Amani, you realize
[13:12] Speaker 1: that there are people watching this show right now who
[13:14] Speaker 1: weren't even alive when those attacks happened. They're reading about
[13:18] Speaker 1: it in a textbook. They're watching an interview like this.
[13:20] Speaker 1: What do you want them to know about that time?
[13:22] Speaker 7: Just the fear, like we thought it was World War III.
[13:25] Speaker 7: We had no idea what was coming next. And I
[13:29] Speaker 7: just remember sitting in my house and watching the F-16s
[13:32] Speaker 7: patrol up and down the Manhattan and the Hudson River.
[13:40] Speaker 7: We thought we were at war. And so the football
[13:42] Speaker 7: season took a complete backdrop. There was a guy on
[13:44] Speaker 7: our team, Howard Cross, who lived in Port Liberté, which
[13:47] Speaker 7: is right across the street, right across the river from
[13:51] Speaker 7: from South Manhattan, from the Wall Street area.
[13:54] Speaker 4: He took his family. He left.
[13:55] Speaker 7: He went down to he went down to the Jersey
[13:58] Speaker 7: Shore because he just did not know what was coming next.
[14:00] Speaker 7: So the uncertainty really was what. Right now, you look
[14:04] Speaker 7: back on it, nothing other than that and then the
[14:08] Speaker 7: flight in D.C., those are the only two things that happened.
[14:11] Speaker 7: But we thought it was, you know, next thing was
[14:14] Speaker 7: bombs were going to be coming from anywhere.
[14:16] Speaker 4: We didn't know what was next.
[14:18] Speaker 1: Yeah, I remember seeing those fighter jets. I mean, you're
[14:20] Speaker 1: kind of frozen there because you couldn't really leave. You
[14:23] Speaker 1: didn't know what to do. What was it like to
[14:25] Speaker 1: decide inside that locker room? I used to work with
[14:27] Speaker 1: Herm Edwards. He told me what it was like from
[14:29] Speaker 1: a Jets perspective. From a Giants perspective, what was it
[14:32] Speaker 1: like to go with your teammates and say, you know what,
[14:35] Speaker 1: we need to play some ball here and give people
[14:37] Speaker 1: a distraction?
[14:38] Speaker 7: Well, that was our whole purpose, to give people a distraction.
[14:41] Speaker 7: But I remember going into Kansas City. That was the
[14:43] Speaker 7: first time I actually played at Arrowhead Stadium. And, you know,
[14:49] Speaker 7: everybody talks about how tough Arrowhead Stadium was to play in.
[14:51] Speaker 7: We came out to a standing ovation for the Kansas
[14:54] Speaker 7: City fans. And that was something I'll never forget about
[14:57] Speaker 7: that time. And just the emotion, the raw emotion that
[15:01] Speaker 7: was going on during that game, it was– Football definitely
[15:05] Speaker 7: took a back burner. We played the game, not because
[15:09] Speaker 7: of any other reason, but we felt like we would
[15:10] Speaker 7: give the rest of the community, fans, the football fans,
[15:14] Speaker 7: a little bit of a break from the harsh realities
[15:16] Speaker 7: of what had transpired.
[15:18] Speaker 1: Yeah, I remember watching that game, and you're right, the
[15:21] Speaker 1: reaction from the Kansas City fans. And I know you
[15:23] Speaker 1: know this, like Piazza's home run, like I'm also a
[15:26] Speaker 1: Mets fan. So there's that aspect, still like the greatest
[15:28] Speaker 1: home run I've ever seen in my entire life because
[15:30] Speaker 1: of some of the emotion around it. I know from
[15:32] Speaker 1: an organizational standpoint, I made reference to it, all 32
[15:35] Speaker 1: teams are going to be paying tribute to this 25th anniversary.
[15:38] Speaker 1: And it's going to be big, obviously, on Sunday. Sunday
[15:41] Speaker 1: night football, we got the Giants, we got the Dallas Cowboys.
[15:44] Speaker 1: It's a divisional rival in week number one. What's it
[15:48] Speaker 1: been like watching this team with Harbaugh now and sort
[15:51] Speaker 1: of a difference in culture? You're around this organization for years.
[15:54] Speaker 1: I know there's been some struggles. What's tangibly different?
[15:58] Speaker 7: I just feel like some of the moves that they
[16:00] Speaker 7: made in the season, this off season kind of point
[16:03] Speaker 7: towards a real identity.
[16:05] Speaker 4: You know, we got the big fullback. We got the,
[16:08] Speaker 4: we got lively.
[16:09] Speaker 7: We got, you know, and like some of the players
[16:12] Speaker 7: that weren't as productive as their paychecks are actually leaving
[16:16] Speaker 7: the situation where in the past times, you know, they
[16:19] Speaker 7: would wait on a guy, try to figure out if he's,
[16:21] Speaker 7: you know, if he's going to live up to his
[16:23] Speaker 7: draft status. Now it's just kind of like, look, The
[16:26] Speaker 7: only real way to stay in the Giants is if
[16:30] Speaker 7: your resume on the field.
[16:33] Speaker 4: Is right where it needs to be.
[16:36] Speaker 7: There's no other reason why you're going to stay around
[16:38] Speaker 7: this team. And that's when the Giants win. Whenever they're
[16:41] Speaker 7: not playing favorites and they're letting the ball and then
[16:43] Speaker 7: the performance on the field take over, that's when usually
[16:46] Speaker 7: the Giants do start playing better.
[16:49] Speaker 1: Amani, you know, on this roster, I mean, you got
[16:51] Speaker 1: a young quarterback, but I also think about a playmaker
[16:53] Speaker 1: in the position you used to play Malik neighbors. Maybe
[16:55] Speaker 1: he's going to be flirting by the end of his
[16:57] Speaker 1: career with some of your records inside this Giants organization.
[17:00] Speaker 1: He's coming off the ACL. We heard from him earlier
[17:02] Speaker 1: here on the NFL report. What have you seen as
[17:05] Speaker 1: he gears up? Like how healthy and how dominant can
[17:08] Speaker 1: he be this upcoming season?
[17:10] Speaker 4: Well, I think he's going to be healthy. His knee
[17:13] Speaker 4: is right.
[17:13] Speaker 7: He had his surgery at the hospital for stuff surgery.
[17:17] Speaker 4: Which is one of the best hospitals in the country.
[17:19] Speaker 7: So I think that in terms of his care for
[17:23] Speaker 7: coming back is going to be done right.
[17:24] Speaker 4: Now it's a mental part of it. Is that knee
[17:27] Speaker 4: going to hold up?
[17:28] Speaker 7: Are you going to be worried about having a relapse
[17:32] Speaker 7: or are you just going to throw fire to the
[17:34] Speaker 7: wind and just play like you ordinarily played? Because as
[17:37] Speaker 7: a receiver, there's a lot of cutting that takes place.
[17:39] Speaker 7: and a lot of explosion. And explosion usually is the
[17:41] Speaker 7: last thing that comes back. So I'm going to be
[17:44] Speaker 7: very curious to whether when he plays, if he plays
[17:46] Speaker 7: the first week or second week, and then I want
[17:48] Speaker 7: to see the explosion in and out of cuts because
[17:50] Speaker 7: that's the thing that comes the last.
[17:53] Speaker 1: There's another level to this team. If Neighbors is out
[17:56] Speaker 1: there with some of these younger pieces, it's going to
[17:57] Speaker 1: be awesome if you're a Giants fan, not only to
[17:59] Speaker 1: watch this opener, but to see how this era with
[18:01] Speaker 1: Coach Harbaugh unfolds over the next few years. Amani, man,
[18:04] Speaker 1: it is just an absolute pleasure having you here on
[18:07] Speaker 1: the NFL Report. I hope we get to do this again.
[18:09] Speaker 1: I hope, you know, we're talking about a successful campaign
[18:11] Speaker 1: for the G-Men.
[18:13] Speaker 7: That would be a first for a lot of years,
[18:15] Speaker 7: and I'm waiting for it.
[18:16] Speaker 4: I'm all for it.
[18:18] Speaker 1: I would actually co-sign on that as a guy that
[18:20] Speaker 1: grew up in that area. Meanwhile, taking a look at
[18:22] Speaker 1: the Sunday Slate, the early games here, there's a lot
[18:26] Speaker 1: of juicy matchups. Nick and I were talking about Bills
[18:28] Speaker 1: and Texans get an opportunity since we were talking about Harbaugh,
[18:31] Speaker 1: his old squad, the Ravens and Colts, Indianapolis, a sneaky
[18:35] Speaker 1: good football team. We know how much talent the Ravens
[18:37] Speaker 1: will bring to the table. And in the afternoon, I
[18:40] Speaker 1: know the Packers and Vikings certainly has our attention. Kevin
[18:43] Speaker 1: O'Connell now has got maybe the most athletic quarterback he's
[18:47] Speaker 1: ever been around. And Kyler Murray, who we haven't seen
[18:49] Speaker 1: on the football field since October of last year.
[18:52] Speaker 7: Excited.
[18:53] Speaker 8: Honestly, just taking it one day at a time, though.
[18:56] Speaker 8: Out of my, I don't know how many years I've
[18:58] Speaker 8: played football, this has got to be right up there for.
[19:00] Speaker 1: The most anticipated.
[19:05] Speaker 8: I can't tell you how excited and ready I am
[19:07] Speaker 8: to just be on the field again. Like I said,
[19:08] Speaker 8: I haven't played since October, so it's been a long
[19:10] Speaker 8: time for me. But at the same time, being even-keeled
[19:12] Speaker 8: like I always am and just keeping the main thing
[19:14] Speaker 8: the main thing, taking it one day at a time
[19:15] Speaker 8: until we get to Sunday, and trying to put the
[19:18] Speaker 8: best product out there on the field for the team.
[19:21] Speaker 1: Do you think you'll have nerves?
[19:22] Speaker 2: Nerves?
[19:24] Speaker 8: Honestly, I've been playing football my whole life. If I
[19:27] Speaker 8: didn't have those anxious butterflies, those nerves, I feel like
[19:31] Speaker 8: maybe I shouldn't be doing it anymore. But I do
[19:35] Speaker 8: believe I'm excited. I'm excited, and I can't wait.
[19:39] Speaker 1: He should be excited because he starts out his Vikings
[19:42] Speaker 1: career against one of the better teams in the NFL,
[19:45] Speaker 1: and the Packers, who you like in this game.
[19:46] Speaker 5: I do like them because I know a little bit
[19:48] Speaker 5: more about them than I do the Minnesota Packers. Vikings
[19:50] Speaker 5: at this point. I'm going to sound like a broken
[19:51] Speaker 5: record for a lot of this, but we are in
[19:53] Speaker 5: week one. There's a lot of unknown with a lot
[19:55] Speaker 5: of these teams and especially with Kyler Murray and how
[19:57] Speaker 5: he runs this offense under Kevin O'Connell. I also love
[20:01] Speaker 5: Jordan Love, who had the fifth highest passer rating versus
[20:03] Speaker 5: the Blitz last year. And what does Brian Flores like
[20:06] Speaker 5: to do? He likes to dial up Blitz's had the
[20:07] Speaker 5: highest rate last year as well. So I like this
[20:09] Speaker 5: matchup in favor.
[20:10] Speaker 4: Of the Packers.
[20:10] Speaker 1: All right, I'll take the other side of this because
[20:12] Speaker 1: I know people keep saying Kevin O'Connell hasn't had a
[20:14] Speaker 1: better quarterback than Kyla Murray. And while that is all true,
[20:17] Speaker 1: I'd say the exact opposite from a Kyla Murray perspective.
[20:21] Speaker 1: This is the best team he's ever played on with
[20:24] Speaker 1: the best weapons around him. You mentioned Flores. Yeah, defensively,
[20:27] Speaker 1: they're going to be bringing that heat, but the athletic
[20:29] Speaker 1: ability of Kyler Murray is going to be on display.
[20:31] Speaker 1: One of four quarterbacks with at least 20,000 passing yards
[20:35] Speaker 1: and 30 rushing touchdowns before turning 29. You're like, Mike, well,
[20:39] Speaker 1: how significant is that? Here's the list. Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen,
[20:42] Speaker 1: and Cam Newton. I want to be on that list.
[20:45] Speaker 1: So we'll find out. By the way, we've got a
[20:46] Speaker 1: little bit more on that Vikings squad coming up in
[20:48] Speaker 1: just a bit. The Late games and some Monday night football.
[20:51] Speaker 1: Broncos and Chiefs definitely has our attention for a lot
[20:55] Speaker 1: of reasons. Look, we're both rolling KC in this game.
[20:58] Speaker 5: We need some variety.
[20:59] Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah. We think alike. I haven't even worked with
[21:03] Speaker 1: you that much this season. Already we're on the same page.
[21:06] Speaker 1: I don't know if that's necessarily a good thing for you, Nick.
[21:09] Speaker 5: Synergy.
[21:09] Speaker 1: Yeah, you can make an argument. Justin Jefferson, the best
[21:12] Speaker 1: wide receiver in the game. His numbers last year... Don't
[21:16] Speaker 1: really say that, though. While we could be talking about
[21:18] Speaker 1: a career year for Minnesota's wide receiver one with that
[21:22] Speaker 1: new QB one. If you haven't signed up, what are
[21:26] Speaker 1: you waiting for? You can get 20% off an NFL
[21:28] Speaker 1: Plus annual plan. With NFL Plus, stream live local and
[21:31] Speaker 1: primetime games on mobile. And with NFL Plus Premium, you
[21:35] Speaker 1: can get NFL Red Zone, catch game replays, and access
[21:38] Speaker 1: to NFL Pro. Limited time offered ends September 21st. Sign
[21:42] Speaker 1: up today at plus.nfl.com. Terms and conditions apply. All right,
[21:48] Speaker 1: top of the show, I told you about some notable
[21:49] Speaker 1: injuries and some guys that you need to be aware of.
[21:52] Speaker 1: Maybe the headliner, starting quarterback in Tua, not going to
[21:55] Speaker 1: be playing. So Cooper Rush will get the start if
[21:57] Speaker 1: you're paying attention from a fantasy perspective. Jeremiah Love right
[22:00] Speaker 1: now technically listed as questionable. Michael Foer saying he's a
[22:04] Speaker 1: game-time decision. And you heard what Malik Nabors said. Sounds
[22:08] Speaker 1: like that dude wants to be out there in the
[22:09] Speaker 1: worst way possible. All right, taking a closer look here
[22:12] Speaker 1: at the Commanders. They participated in one of the nation's
[22:15] Speaker 1: largest 9-11 day service events this afternoon in downtown D.C.,
[22:20] Speaker 1: joining thousands of local volunteers in a powerful day of
[22:24] Speaker 1: remembrance and action. The team, including legends Josh Morgan, Rocky McIntosh,
[22:28] Speaker 1: helped pack more than 700,000 meals for local families in need.
[22:33] Speaker 1: We love seeing stuff like that. Meanwhile, Adam Schefter putting
[22:36] Speaker 1: this out on social media. DeAndre Swift and the Bears
[22:39] Speaker 1: getting a three-year agreement. That extension is So we're $ 33. 75 million.
[22:45] Speaker 1: This is a dude who went over 1,000 yards on
[22:47] Speaker 1: the ground and nine touchdowns rushing. He is now signed
[22:50] Speaker 1: through 2029. All right, time for some bold predictions. This
[22:56] Speaker 1: is your time, Nick, to shine. You go into the
[22:58] Speaker 1: crystal ball. You tell me what's going to happen that
[23:00] Speaker 1: I don't expect.
[23:00] Speaker 5: Well, it's week one, so we don't really know what's
[23:02] Speaker 5: going to happen in pretty much every game except for
[23:04] Speaker 5: the ones that have already been played. But I'm going
[23:05] Speaker 5: to choose... I'm going to go a bit of a homer.
[23:07] Speaker 5: As somebody who grew up in Ohio, grew up an
[23:09] Speaker 5: Ohio State fan, I'm going with Carnell Tate, two receiving
[23:13] Speaker 5: touchdowns in his debut. I advise against drafting rookies with
[23:17] Speaker 5: high fantasy selections. I don't advise taking them in bold predictions.
[23:20] Speaker 1: So I'm going to disagree with you, not on your
[23:21] Speaker 1: Tate assessment, but the fact that we don't know much
[23:24] Speaker 1: in week number one. We made picks, and I'm pretty
[23:27] Speaker 1: sure all of my picks are right.
[23:28] Speaker 5: Yeah, as of now.
[23:29] Speaker 4: Yeah.
[23:30] Speaker 1: We'll talk next week here and find out how I did.
[23:33] Speaker 1: So you like Tate. I'll tell you what, I'm actually
[23:35] Speaker 1: going to go and double down on Justin Jefferson. I
[23:37] Speaker 1: know some people are like, well, JJ is maybe the
[23:39] Speaker 1: best wide receiver in the NFL. You're right about that.
[23:42] Speaker 1: But last year, the guy had two total touchdowns on
[23:45] Speaker 1: the year receiving. He's going to get two in this
[23:48] Speaker 1: game alone. The guy only had three games over 100 yards. Boy,
[23:52] Speaker 1: Kyla Murray, man. Maybe no one happier that Kyla Murray
[23:55] Speaker 1: is their quarterback than Justin Jefferson. I think he explodes
[23:57] Speaker 1: against the Packers. Appreciate you watching. We get to do
[24:00] Speaker 1: NFL Report Monday through Friday right here on the NFL
[24:03] Speaker 1: channel at 7 Eastern time. And by the way, there's
[24:04] Speaker 1: some Sunday games. Game day preview. We got you covered.
[24:07] Speaker 1: 1130 a.m. Eastern time before the games. You don't want
[24:10] Speaker 1: to miss it. We're going to have some fun. Let's
[24:11] Speaker 1: go to the games.

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