Every season, FBC Founder Matt Drufke takes time out of being a movie enthusiast, father, husband, and amateur cartographer to ask FBC Co-Founder Brandon Andreasen questions about the NFL season. Let’s look at the upcoming first week of the NFL season.
Matt: Football is back! Much like politics, all sports are local so let’s start this whole thing by talking about the Bears. The Monsters of potentially NW Indiana had a breakout season last year filled with some pretty impressive highs and a star-turning run from their quarterback. Expectations are high from Chicago fans. How good are the Bears? And do they have any chance of playing for a ring?
Brandon: There is a saying in sports called “having the year from hell.” As good/lucky/opportunistic as the Bears were last season, things have regressed towards the mean pretty heavily this year, especially on defense. Their big free agent acquisition, Coby Bryant, is out for most of the year due to injury. Their most consistent interior defensive line presence over the past couple seasons, German Dexter, was traded to Atlanta a couple weeks ago.
I dont even want to bother with the Kyler Gordon situation other than taking a quick victory lap after getting crap from several people when I said Gordon and Jaquan Brisker were busts. 10 months later, one isn’t on the team, and the other has decided to leave the team to rehab himself. Injuries can make you a bust.
The offense is going to have to do a ton of heavy lifting this year, and be ready to score 35 points per game to get wins. Caleb Williams will need to continue to evolve into a top 5 QB in this league. If the running backs stay healthy, then D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monongai are one of the best tandem in the NFL. Rome Odunze cant stay healthy, which means second year receiver Luther Burden and late season hero Jahdae Walker are going to need to step up. The team is going to miss DJ Moore more than they have led on.
Colston Loveland is a guy im so happy to be wrong about. I wrote last year several times about it being a wasted pick, but as the season progressed, he evolved into the most dependable player that Caleb could throw to.
I believe in Ben Johnson, but I dont believe in this defense right now. Ive got the Bears going 9-8 this year, and definitely have trouble seeing them get past Detroit, Philadelphia, or Seattle right now in the NFC.
Matt: Last night, the Seahawks looked like their season could be in trouble going into the 4th quarter. But a solid effort from their backup quarterback and a stellar performance from the secondary locked up a win for them. Two questions here: Is Seattle the frontrunner in the NFC? And is New England in trouble in the AFC? (editors note: the questions were sent to Brandon on Thursday, but he was too lazy to answer them until Friday).
Brandon: Yes, and I hope so. Seattle first. They won the Super Bowl convincingly last season and maintained most of their roster. They are one of the smartest drafting teams in the NFL and are incredibly well coached. If this team existed in New York or Los Angeles, then they would have been the heavy betting favorites to repeat as champions. As far as I’m concerned, the NFC still goes through Seattle.
The Patriots have one of the most insufferable fan bases in all of professional sports. They are the type of people who always say “we” when referring to a team, as if they play on the team and actively contributed.
They had one of the NFL’s most charmed existences last year. Their opponents won 10 fewer overall games than the team with the next easiest schedule. They never got exposed because they didn’t play anyone, and made it to the Super Bowl because Denver didnt have a capable backup quarterback.
They still have an incredibly easy schedule this year because they get to play the Jets and Dolphins four times. But, they do have to play real teams as well. There is also the part about the Super Bowl hangover, where the loser of the Super Bowl tends to regress the next season.
Oh, and their coach was cheating on his wife with a national NFL reporter.
Matt: While we are talking about backups, I want to spend a minute discussing the role of the backup quarterback. Drew Lock was fine last night, but no one thinks Seattle has a real chance without Darnold. But it did lead to one question I wanted to ask: Which NFL team currently has the best backup arm?
Brandon: I LOVE this question because there are so many directions you can take. Do you want a crafty veteran with a Super Bowl ring like Joe Flacco? A wild armed gunslinger like Jameis Winston? A limited exposure upside guy like Tyson Bagent?
Me, personally, im taking Mac Jones of San Francisco. He was a part of the now infamously overrated 2021 NFL Draft, where he saw Zach Wilson, Trey Lance, and Justin Fields get drafted ahead of him, all the while landing in a bad spot in the late era Belichik Patriots offense.
Now that he is in San Francisco, he is able to be coached by Kyle Shanahan, one of the great offensive minds in the NFL today. Jones is a smart decision maker who can play in rhythm. The offense doesn’t have to be pared down with him under center. There is a reason the 49ers prioritized keeping him.
Matt: Here is my entire memory of the NFL draft: The Buffalo Wild Wings I was watching the Knicks-Hawks playoff game with my oldest son told me they had to turn the game off the big screen because seventy people came in to watch the draft. So, two questions. First, which rookie is most likely to have the biggest impact in the league this year? Second, when someone calls dibs on the big screen at their Buffalo Wild Wings, shouldn’t they be able to finish watching their game while they enjoy some wings? Is nothing sacred?
Brandon: The obvious answer would be that Fernando Mendoza, the Indiana quarterback who went first overall, will be the biggest impact player from the draft. He has two things going against him, though. First, he is starting the season as the backup to Kirk Cousins. Second? He was drafted by the Las Vegas Raiders, a franchise so moribound that Tom Brady won’t even quit announcing football games or opening up sports card shops to focus on his partial ownership of them.
Instead, i’m going with a slightly offbeat answer: Sonny Styles, the 7th overall pick of the Washington Commanders. He is getting rave reviews coming out of training camp as a linebacker that is willing to play all over the field. Washington is sporting an aging core roster and their gambit last season of signing older players to try to keep their surprising 2024 contention window open fell flat on it’s face. Styles is the type of guy who is going to flash across your tv screen all fall. He is my pick to win Defensive Rookie of the Year, and has a chance to make a massive impact in year one.
As for the second part of your question: I don’t go to BWW much anymore because every inch of every surface in that place is sticky. It’s impossible for it not to be. And in this case, you were never going to get to keep a game involving the Atlanta Hawks on the big screen of anything. If I had three TV’s and my sporting options were dodgeball, senior semi-professional golf, and the Atlanta Hawks, i’d watch dodgeball on two screens and golf on the other.
Matt: Not a football question, but what music are you listening to? I’m on a treadmill right now listening to the new Charli XCX and digging this shit hard. She’s a talented lady.
Brandon: I promise, Matt sent me this on Thursday morning, and this wasn’t planned, but the music I was listening to in between writing answers was Garth Brooks. Specifically, the Garth Brooks concert at Allstate Arena on Thursday night. Let me tell you something, I wished I loved anything as much as that guy loves performing in front of fans. I grew up listening to Garth Brooks because my mom loved him so much. In fact, at my wedding, the mother/son dance was “The River” by Garth. Over the years, i’d fallen off of listening to him. Not because I didn’t enjoy, but new things come up and you start to gravitate towards them. I was stunned by how many songs I hadn’t listened to in 25-30 years, but still knew the words to.
His presence on stage and showmanship is such a lost art. The genuine joy he brings to the stage trumps everything else that most other large acts bring now. Other big shows feel so much more choreographed. His feels more like you are having a great party with good friends. He has such an underrated backlog of absolutely banger singalongs that you could feel the entire crowd when they sang the music with him, and he did it all with a smile on his face, taking time to take selfies with fans in the crowd, taking advantage of his full 360 degree stage, and giving genuine attention to his bandmates.
Top five concert, for sure. If you enjoy his music, make it a point to go. I promise you won’t be disappointed.
As for current music i’ve been listening to, I’m really loving a band called Styrofoam Winos. I’ve been listening to a ton of Yacht house, which is exactly what it sounds like, techno yacht rock. And, ever since my buddy Nick joined the band, i’ve been listening to Corrosion of Conformity a bunch again, which I hadn’t really listened to since High School.
Matt: Here is a fun one I want to be able to come back to as the season keeps going: Who will be the last team to lose their first game this season? And who will be the last team to win their first game?
BA: We will start with the worst first. The Dolphins might be the first team genuinely attempting to win zero games in a season. The Falcons are potentially going to be gawd awful with the worst quarterback situation in the NFL. The Titans might be a massive, raging pile of ass. The Jets are the Jets. But the Dolphins look like they are trying to take an MLB/NBA model to tanking by saying they are trying to win games while simultaneously putting an absolute dumpster fire of a team on the field.
Last team to lose? The Seahawks have too tough of an early schedule. The Cowboys have some games early that could trip them. Same with the Lions. The Broncos have one of the biggest nightmare early season schedules I’ve ever seen. The Browns have the weakest strength of schedule this season, but they are pissed that the Falcons have created a worse quarterbacking situation than them. I’d say the Bengals, but I don’t think they survive the Texans defense in week 2.
I’m going to go a bit offbeat with this one. I’ll say the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. If they can get through the Bengals in week 1, then they have a very real possibility of being undefeated going into November.
Matt: Perhaps no offseason move was bigger this year than Myles Garrett moving to the Rams, solidifying that the Rams are trying to win it all this year. Make your early Super Bowl predictions here.
As noted earlier, Seattle is still the team to beat in the NFC. I’m picking them to repeat in the NFC. Two teams who I think could sneak up on people in the AFC this year are the Chargers and Jaguars. And by sneak up, I of course mean that they will both lose in the first round of the playoffs, just like every other year. I’m going to be boring and say Houston. The Texans have the best defense in the NFL (better than the Rams, even with Garrett and Aaron Donald) and they really only need competent quarterback play out of CJ Stroud to make a deep run. If David Montgomery and Woody Marks can stay healthy and effective running the ball, then it should take enough pressure off Stroud that they can make a deep run.
Of course, i’ve seen Stroud in big moments, so even though i’m picking them to make the Super Bowl, i’ll instantly bet him to throw four interceptions in the Super Bowl and Seattle cruising to an easy victory to be back to back champions.
Matt: By the time this comes out, two games will have been played. So, let’s look at the Sunday week 1 schedule and make some predictions. Who do you like in the following games: Packers-Vikings, Ravens-Colts, Cowboys-Giants, and. Broncos-Chiefs?
Brandon: I do not love the Packers offensive line at all, and they are up against Brian Flores, a defensive coordinator that would blitz 12 people if he was allowed to put that many people on the field. Can the Packers come back from that humiliating playoff collapse last year? Can Kyler Murray bounce back? I’m buying the Vikings this week, but still think the Packers finish with the better record on the season because they are built to play a full year, and there are too many questions about what happens to the Vikings offense if anyone of note gets injured to think they have a good year.
The Ravens are going to be interesting because I think they go as far as Derrick Henry’s legs allow. He looked done towards the end of last year, but he is still fresh right and now and an incredibly bruising player. The Ravens will cruise to a double digit victory in week one. I need Daniel Jones to prove last year wasn’t a fluke before he got hurt.
I’m not a believer in the Giants, and don’t personally know anyone that is. Jaxson Dart is…okay? Maybe? He probably isn’t even the best quarterback from that draft class, because Tyler Shough is in a much better spot in New Orleans. Cam Skattebo looks and talks like he eats drywall as a hobby. They invested a ton into their defense just to watch none of the pieces work together. The Cowboys also don’t have a defense, at least not yet. They had to replace nearly 70 percent of their defensive players in the offseason, but I believe in the offense. Dak Prescott is a darkhorse MVP candidate, and I think CeeDee Lamb could end up with 1700 receiving yards ont the season, so i’m taking Cowboys in a blowout.
Broncos/Chiefs is going to be so good. At the end of the day, it’s a matter of which quarterback coming off a major injury you believe in more. I’m taking Patrick Mahomes. Chiefs by a field goal.
Fancy Boys Club 