[FULL EPISODE] Decoding NFL Week 1: Reloaded WR Rooms & Secondary Clashes

James Koh (0:01)

We've got our Taycan is loaded and ready.

Matt Harmon (0:03)

Absolutely dominant on deep routes, absolutely dominant on short routes.

James Koh (0:07)

The boys are backbanging.

Matt Harmon (0:08)

Excellent separation against ManCover. This is Reception, Reception, The Show.

James Koh (0:15)

Yo, what's cracking everybody? James Koh, Matt Harmon here with you. You're listening to Reception Perception, The Show. All right, Matt, games are here.

Matt Harmon (0:23)

Let's go.

James Koh (0:25)

Yeah.

Week one is right around the corner. Actually, as when you're hearing this, the first game of week one will already be in the books. We're recording here on a Wednesday morning. But man, how are you feeling, pal? Week one is upon us.

Matt Harmon (0:38)

Dude, the fact that there is a game tonight smacked me in the face yesterday. I always talk about this, but my wife and I do our annual end of summer trip over the Labor Day weekend.

It's always like jumping in the cold shower. You know, on Tuesday, the day after Labor Day, it's like, oh my God, all right, we're not only are we back to work, we're also back to like the football season. And now it's like, there's a game on Wednesday. We got to get rocking and rolling, man. There's a lot to talk about here in week one. Was I prepared for it? Well, let the people decide.

James Koh (1:17)

Six months of football now on the docket. Let's get it going. I want to talk about some of the most intriguing week one matchups and get your takes on how you see it playing out. We'll start there in Australia, dude. How about the San Francisco 49ers? Very new look wide receiver room there with Mike Evans, Dejan Stribling.

Who knows who else is going to get looks here? But primarily those two guys, Mike Evans and Dejan Stribling taking on a Rams secondary that is, and quite frankly, their entire defense that has been completely and utterly revamped. You think about Miles Garrett screaming around the edge. Yeah, there's going to be no Aaron Donald. But I mean, Trent McDuffie, Jalen Watson, the outside corner room is totally different than it was last year. How do you see that one playing out?

Matt Harmon (2:05)

I mean, it's one of the more fascinating ones. And obviously, we're leading off with this. So if you listen to this on Friday, this game has already happened and everything we say is poorly dated.

Get ready for it. There's a lot of stuff that we're not going to see coming here in week one that is going to play out pretty crazily here. But yeah, for this first one, I mean, you're right to point out just how different both of these units look. I mean, by the end of last season, the Rams defense was getting cooked by big receivers on the boundary specifically. I mean, it kind of started with that Panthers game in the regular season against Jalen Coker and Tetero McMillan, primarily, although Jalen Coker was the guy who really had the big moments in that one.

Again, that was in the regular season. They continued to the playoffs, ultimately, is a big reason why they did not end up going to the Super Bowl last year. Man, there's so much pressure on this Rams team. Very much it's like the Super Bowl or bust thing can be a little bit silly for some teams. It really is like Super Bowl or bust for this team. So a lot of pressure on this team starting here in week one, really fascinating to see how that defense coalesces, because obviously they went hard in the paint even before the Miles Garrett trade to solve their biggest problem, which was being able to cover big receivers on the boundary. They got guys who can press receivers here now at this point, and you're going to need that in week number one against Mike Evans for sure. Evans obviously came out and kind of pooh-poohed the idea that he's struggled with injuries in training camp. He's mostly called it just like veteran rest. And I'm open to that actually being the reality for Mike Evans, that it was mostly just veteran rest throughout the course of training camp, even though he's learning a new offense, whatever, does Mike Evans really need to practice in training camp? I think he can probably hop up off the couch and get 10 targets in a game because he's just a baller. But it's obviously something to monitor. How healthy is he at this point? And the stribbling role will be really interesting for me, James, because I actually think there's a chance that at least in week number one, I could see him running fewer routes in this game than Debo Samuel. I could totally see that being the case, which by the way would send shockwaves all through fantasy Twitter. I'm actually nervous. I feel a little bit of nerves for stribbling in this game just because he's become this fantasy Twitter hype bunny and people forget that you don't draft rookies in fantasy football for week one. You actually draft them for later in the season. So I feel like there will be big over reactions one way or another on what stribbling does in this game. But let's remember he is a rookie and he's obviously had a great off season. But even Kyle Shanahan downplayed the idea of him being a massive factor right off the bus. So his role will definitely be one of the things I'm most closely watching in this one, especially because Trent McDuffie has been a guy who can kick inside and cover receivers. And you think that that's probably the role that Stribling will have early on the season is that kind of big slot.