Dan-O SNUBS Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers & MORE? 👀 Critiquing Dan’s lists 😳 | The Pat McAfee Show

Dan Orlovsky joins The Pat McAfee Show to talk all things college football, NFL preseason and more.

0:00 AP Preseason Poll released
2:20 Garrett Nussmeier talk
4:11 Dan’s top 10 lists
5:50 Lack of Aaron Rodgers
6:30 Shedeur Sanders’ start
9:10 How many steps does Dan have?
10:04 Preseason “All-Bruh” Team
10:55 Cam Ward & the Tennessee Titans
15:20 Jacksonville Jaguars 70-yard kick
16:29 Indianapolis Colts QB battle
21:02 Hyping up Jaxson Dart
23:15 Caleb Williams talk

✔️ Subscribe to ESPN+ http://espnplus.com/youtube
✔️ Get the ESPN App: http://www.espn.com/espn/apps/espn
✔️ Subscribe to ESPN on YouTube: http://es.pn/SUBSCRIBEtoYOUTUBE
✔️ Subscribe to NBA on ESPN on YouTube: http://bit.ly/SUBSCRIBEtoNBAonESPN
✔️ Watch ESPN on YouTube TV: http://es.pn/YouTubeTV

#ESPN

Dan, how much you doing in college ball these days? I know you’re big NFL guys commentating, right? Aren’t you commentating NFL games? You still do any college stuff? Cuz the first AP poll comes out and obviously Texas is a number one. Clemson rounds out the top four with two Big 10 teams sandwich in there. Georgia, people forget about the dogs down there. They still do bloody Tuesdays or whatever it is with Kirby Smart. And I believe Gunner could be a dog. I think we all believe in him. Marcus Freeman and Notre Dame going to be in the top 10 conversation every year. I think that’s just how this is going to go for the until Marcus Freeman’s no longer there. Oregon as well. Same conversation. Alabama has more five stars next year than anybody else in the country except for Oregon, right? I believe I think it’s Oregon and Alabama had the most five stars. So, feels like the Kalin Dbor era with Grub as the offensive coordinator. Now, I remember didn’t have them last year could just continue Alabama success even though nobody’s really expecting from the Crimson Tide down there. What are your thoughts, Dan, on how we kind of currently sit and no West Virginia in the top top 25 of either the AP or Greg Mroy kind of confusing? Yeah, maybe they need bigger donors. Um I Yeah, I’m still all over college football. I’m still part of it weekly for us. Um that first weekend is going to be amazing. I think about it like to your point Clemson. Um I think some of the teams that I find like super interesting is LSU one. Have we heard anything about and maybe you guys know more like I saw all over the internet last week of Nusmeer and he’s injured and I saw some reports I was like God I hope that’s not true. Is he healthy? Is he not? Um I think Illinois is a team that like we don’t need an answer. Okay. You didn’t want an actual answer. That’s on us. That was a rhetorical question. We misread it. You’re in a car. Are we answering and asking questions? Well, I don’t know. That’s what What’s the What’s the What is the Well, do you want to know or not? It sound like you didn’t want to know. So, Twitter was burning. Everyone was reporting that it was like a torn ACL, blah blah blah. And then actual reporters came out. Uh, Jacob Hester, I believe he was at practice or whatever. Former LSU great said, “No, he’s fine. Everything’s fine.” I believe he just bumped a knee with a defensive lineman. Might have be like a knee bruise type situation. I believe I saw a report that he has a sleeve on it, but he’s back at practice. So, I think Okay. I think major a major injury avoided in that situation. Okay. Okay. So, I think they’re interesting because I I Gus Nusmeer for me is the best quarterback in America. Um, you know, Sellers is crazy talented and he can play himself into that conversation. Clubnick really good year. Can he do it again? I think they’re more talented on the outside of Clemson than they’ve been in a couple years. But LSU just that game is is going to be awesome. I think Illinois is a team that like could just throw it all for a loop just the style of football that they play defensively. They’re going to be outstanding. That’s kind of become a calling part of their them. But just the the old school style of football that they play. Penn State, this the best Penn State team, you know, James Franklin’s ever had. Aller’s another guy that I think there’s a camp that sits there and I’m in this camp that goes, man, if he gets it together and just continues his development, Penn State will be in the playoff and he could become the number one pick of the NFL draft. And then there’s a camp of Aller will never put it together. He’s always just the big tall athletic dude that, you know, maybe doesn’t become the complete quarterback. So, I’m all about college football. Arch Manning, how good is he? Um, so I’m all that first weekend’s going to be awesome. I’ve seen I’ve heard some people that I have a lot of respect for say that they think Arch Manning probably sixth or seventh best quarterback in the SEC. We’ll see. We’ll see how that goes. I don’t think that’s the case. There’s a reason he’s number one for Heisman Owens, I think. And I think we all need to remember he got concussed last year. Stood right back up. Didn’t let anybody know about it. Might have a celebrity last name, but I feel it. He’s got blue collar. Yeah. Work ethic out there. He’s an allbrrook player. Yeah, he is. All every time all time, especially whenever you have that name, people are going to buzz. Can’t wait for college football to get back. Should be a fantastic start. Now, let’s talk NFL ball. Feels like you did a lot of research and did a lot of judging. You know, we had top 10s for everything. Top 10 for mechanics, top 10 for ball placement, top 10 for arm strength, top 10 for great legs, top 10 for all this stuff. You you had top 10’s across the board for ESPN.com. Massive respect for the amount of work you put in. Also appreciate you feeling as if you could be the authority on this entirety thing. You know, like there a lot of times the top four are kind of like any mix of Josh, Lamar, Joe, and Patrick. And then, you know, there’s I’m of the group that still think that there’s 10 or 12 like other just really really good quarterbacks in the league right now. And so I put a list of 10 and then it’s a conversation of like, hey, you don’t have Justin Herbert in there. I’m like, man, Herbert should be in there. And then so it’s like, okay, well, who who could I take out? And then, man, you don’t have Jared Goff in that one. Well, who could I take out? Or, you know, there there’s no Dak in there. So, it’s like there are moments when I try to give love to a guy um that I think is probably worthy of being in that top 10, but it’s like I can’t take somebody else out. And so, there’s a there is a little bit of like puzzle piece fitting because, you know, trying to just be respectful of so many different guys and it’s like So, we’re playing politics. Jeez. Yeah. So, we put Jared Goff in one of the top 10. Yeah. And I’ll tell you what, Detroit noticed, Dan. That thing wasn’t out for more than maybe, I don’t know, 30 seconds on each one. Five, maybe three and a half minutes. And Detroit was like, “Oh, here we go again.” Dan Rowleski. Dan, I was pissed off. One of the best offenses in the league last year. Top five quarterback in the league last year. I mean, decision-m with the football, ball placement. There’s so many things that Jared Goff does great. And you didn’t even have him on there. Did Aaron did Aaron lose his mechanics? His arm got chopped off. Actually, got started working with Smith. plays with the Steelers and already so his mechanics might be bad. Yeah, I understand cuz they say like his form actually is like the teach the mechanics right there. Sorry though. Sorry. I knew it was coming. We got a lot of you want your quarterbacks. We got to put in balls. Got a lot of good players. Let’s talk about a great night especially in Cleveland. Go ahead AJ. Yeah, Dan. I’m actually around a lot of Cleveland Brown fans and uh leading up to their their first, you know, the preseason game on Friday, a bunch of the fans told me, “Hey, this is our Super Bowl tonight. Shador is going to get a lot of time. like we want to see what he is able to do. I know you guys have gone over and over this. He played very well. I was I was very impressed actually by his presence, how he had a command to the huddle, his confidence on the field, but what do you make of this and like how different is a defense in say the first or second preseason game say to the first or second regular season game? What kind of different looks will they give you as a quarterback? Great question. Yeah. So like you know going into these games you guys obviously experienced it and then hear a lot of people talk about you want to how he how he handles it how he operates you know the the pre-nap communication postnap execution does he look like he’s you know seeing everything clearly and like that is said because it matters and that was one of the things that stood out was just how comfortable he looked in and out of the huddle there’s multiple times where you know he’s sticking his hand up at the line of scrimmage talking to his receivers like, “Hey, you’re good. Don’t worry about any blitzes. Our protections are fine.” So, you know, when I watch that, it he’s it tells me like he’s he’s understanding what he’s looking at. That matters a big deal. I think the thing that like one of the things that I took away was he was pretty aggressive with the football. That tells me like confidence, you know, that again he’s seeing how rotation happens now. he saw a lot of, you know, backside safety drop down men coverage. So that you’re not going to see like you’ll see that in the league obviously a ton. Um he didn’t see a ton of pressures. He didn’t see a ton of blitzes. You know, some of the stuff that some other quarterbacks saw like Seattle was throwing Star Wars stuff at Gino Smith. So um you know, he didn’t see that. But I do think that you walk away going, um you walk away going, man, the operation was clean. He looked comfortable. You saw athleticism. The decision making was spot on. He had two or three drops even in the midst of the stat line. So, you know, this play is awesome to me because it shows reaction. He remains a pass through. He doesn’t bail. He stays in that really good pocket of of throwing presence and then the the throw the ball placement. Face masker higher, belt buckler lower down in the red zone. And this one’s belt buckler lower to protect that guy. So, here here’s my thing. All reports in training camp have been overwhelmingly positive with Shador. Like, hey, another good day for Shador. Then he gets in the game, he plays really well. At some point, the Browns are going to have to sit there and go, we got to get him more reps against better competition with more of our higherend talent. I’ve been in the camp, start one of the rookies. I think it’s really hard to not walk in there this week and be like, let’s get them reps versus the ones with the ones and see what it looks like. Oh, yeah. It’s time. Is it? It is. Tom, put your watch up, Dan, if you believe. Yeah, put it up. Yes. Apple Watch. Let’s Somebody send him a text. Somebody send him a text. It’ll pop up right there. Those rings are something terrible. Yeah. You got to maybe do some more steps instead driving around. Be healthy. Uh Dan, I like everything you’re saying there. And we had an old bruh team. I don’t know if you saw that because it’s bruh. Great, great work out there. But also, bruh, it’s preseason. It’s better than playing ass. I can’t say that enough. These guys have played good and people just want to mock and ridicule him for it’s play. It’s like, what are they supposed to do? Play like and then what? You know, so I think we should celebrate it, but we do got to keep it in perspective, bro. Miles Garrett was sitting on his sideline. Miles Garrett and Shador actually had a conversation after Shador’s time. Great interaction. Miles and he seem to get along well, which is good play by Shadur uh to win over Miles. And also Miles probably the same way. And Shador asked Miles if he thought his little spin could work on him that he was doing against the guys that were out there. And Miles was like, “Come on, man. Come on. Come on. Come on.” Like basically like relax. And then I think they both said that was some shitty DN play out there. It was like, “Yeah, it’s it’s preseason football.” But once again, not Shador’s fault. This is the only opportunity he’s getting to play out there. Interesting situation for the Cleveland Browns. Maybe they’re good. And let’s stick in the same draft class as Shadore. Why do you think that there has been next to no fanfare for Cam Ward still? That was kind of the talk of the draft. Like, hey, no one’s talking about this guy. He’s unbelievable. And I I guess I really haven’t seen much of him from neither training camp or, you know, from his game this week. What are you hearing? And what are you seeing from Cam Ward thus far? Yeah, I don’t know why. I mean I I I think there is a little bit of you know there was so much attention on Shadore in the draft process and it was kind of like the foregone conclusion of Cam going one. I would tell you just watching the game the other night I think that he settled in early on you could just see u sped up you know but he settled in in that second quarter and had some really good connections to Calvin Ridley. This is a great throw on the crossing route. I think the things that I liked watching week one preseason wise seemed like he had good eyes, you know, he confirms that shallow crosses getting carried by that or with that corner versus man coverage. That’s a beautiful crossing throw. There’s a ball over the middle of the field. This one that comes twitchy drop down coverage. He sees the vacancy in the zone. Ball comes out. Now, those were some of his traits coming out of college that you liked. I think that the thing that I did see that’s probably happened like three or four times in the game that you walk away with tape is we got to get him to like play a little slower and have a little bit more structure with his in his within his feet. I think that he’s one of those quarterbacks that, you know, has the ability to make a lot of different throws when his feet aren’t set. His body could be in unique positions because the arm is so talented, but he’s he relied on that too much. you know, there’s a ball he almost throws for an interception that almost gets picked off and it’s you like his his mechanics, his feet are all over the place and he’s parallel to the line of scrimmage. So, that’s why these snaps are meaningful these for these guys. So, I think that you walk away encouraged by some of the things that he did post snap while also sitting there and just harping on, hey, let’s let’s mechanically get more consistent. We don’t have to fall back on throws. We don’t even like this out route. It’s completed, but it’s not a perfect throw. And if you look at his the throw, his feet are like slipping all over the place. So, I just think like the more reps he’ll get to be more comfortable uh is going to be better. Like look at his feet here. Like I he’s falling away from that, you can see his upper body be like moving away. I want that ball to be just pulling that guy to the sideline. I I think he’s a baller. Like that’s right. I think he is a gamer. I think he’s a baller. I think he’s a dog. But I think with that there comes a lot of things like attention to detail on the footwork for a lot of time for Cam probably hasn’t been a must for him. Let’s do other things. And also I see that elbow moving a lot. It feels like that is a little bit of I assume all this will develop as he continues in the league or most quarterbacks from year one to year four. I know the Josh Allen story is a very real one. Cam’s only going to get better, right? all the things cuz his moxy he walks into the University of Miami, everybody there says this is the guy. He walks into Nashville down there, Music City, and you hear Ridley like he walks in the room and it’s just like we got a guy, you know? Everything else he can work on, right? That’s how we feel. Oh, totally. Yeah. I mean, that the the character is off the charts. The person and the mindset is off the charts. And there’s also a ton of physical talent there. So, you know, you need to remember this guy, you know, let’s I don’t know exactly what you know, the offensive style that he played in at Caret Ward, but or incarnate W, but at Washington State, it was Chuck and Duck, man. So, like th those offenses aren’t necessarily teaching a ton about footwork and whatnot. And so, then he goes to Miami and it’s a little bit of the same stuff. And so, go back to when Caleb was coming out of school two years ago. There’s a little bit of that there, you know, where it’s like there he probably hasn’t had to be hyperfocused on footwork and, you know, hitches and the the balance of it all. And so that that’s going to come because everyone raves about this young man’s footwork. But even that ball, that ball should be out a hitch and a half to two inches sooner. You know, Calvin’s running across over the middle of the field. The protection’s flawless. So get it. But that’ll call him. He just that that that’s all going to come with reps. Yeah. And I people are going to hear what we’re saying and saying his, you know, his footwork and this is going to have to get better. And they’re thinking to themselves, well, he’s had a lot of success already. He’s number one overall pick. It’s like every position once you get to the NFL, it’s all about the details. It’s all about the tiny little like for me punting it was in my drop like learning how to drop. I had to stand at my bed at night and just drop this thing like a thousand times so that it would drop flat. It’s like all the little tiny things they can continue to improve on. And everything said about Cam Ward is that he will. And uh I don’t love that for the AFC South. Okay, I want to let that be. We know Houston’s got what they got. Y Jacksonville’s got a kicker that’s hitting 70 yard field goal, snap, hold, kick live. Absurd, bro. It’s preseason, bro. That is so far. That is so far. Legit. That makes sense to me. so far. That is unbelievable that it like I saw that and I’m like my tweet was this is legendary just strictly because it is like everybody dreams of an opportunity to get a 70 yard like a kick but to make it like I had a 66 y I think in preeason pulled it left so bummed never going to get that shot again but I make that kick I feel very good about my life forever Cam Little hits a 70 yard field goal who cares if it’s preseason or not I don’t like the vibes down there yeah no extra steps too like Tucker 66 against the Lions in the game technically. So maybe that was the difference. He had that extra step. Little was just two steps in a swing. What a kick. And he’s not a gigantic human. Yeah. I don’t know how he did it. I I honestly ever and I think he was perfect on extra points whenever he was at Arkansas cuz normally if you have a big leg every once in a while get a little bit out of control. Seems to be I don’t want to say undersized, but he doesn’t look like he is a gigantic cub. Anyways, around the AFC South everybody’s really doing it. Mhm. Here in Indie, I don’t know if you’ve heard, Dan, we got good competition going. Mhm. Boys are battling. What are your thoughts? Was disappointed that Anthony had that play. Um, what play? You know whose fault was happening? This is This is on the quarterback freaking right. No, I read I read from Connor and I read from a lot of people on the internet that this was not on this entire this. Can I speak from outsider who doesn’t have the highest football IQ on earth but been very lucky to be in a lot of rooms where it happened you know so I think by osmosis I’ve picked it up this is something that if you were to play a lot of football you would know hey this is the guy and then this is potentially 30 40 yard gain as opposed to dislocated pinky that’s certainly close he’s still on you but that thing he’s still taking a hit probably falling down if I had to guess but that is going to the running back and going right and that’s just something that like just naturally comes whenever ever that type of starts taking place. Am I reading it accurately? Yeah. So, let’s nerd out a little bit here. So, let’s do it. This is this is it’s second and 10. Okay. This is a relatively basic pass protection concept. It’s only five people blocking. So, the running back has no responsibility. The guard, the the left tackle, left guard, and the center are responsible for the left defensive tackle, the left defensive end, the mic linebacker. So the guy that is standing on in between the hashes, not him. Boom. Him. They’re responsible for him. And then the nickel defender. Okay. The nickel. Okay. Go to the Y. So there there’s four guys there, right? You got the nickel, the defensive end, the defensive tackle, and the mic linebacker. The center, left guard, and left tackle are responsible for three of those four. Whatever three. It doesn’t matter what of the three. If any three of that four come, they’re protected. If four on that side, that’s on the quarterback. Okay. And that’s why when Anthony catches it, if you guys play it, Anthony catches it. Anthony just stares left cuz he’s thinking the nickel might be a pressure guy cuz look at over your right shoulder, Pat. That safety’s right there. Yep. That’s called being capped off. So that a lot of times when that nickel is pressed and the safety right on the logo is over the top, you’re like, “Okay, that nickel can be a pressure guy.” So, I can understand Anthony looking at that nickel guy and saying if if he pressures that could be a problem. The problem starts backside. Rewind it. Okay. So, now right guard, right tackle, they’re responsible for right defensive end, right defensive tackle, and that backside linebacker. Any two of those three, any two. So, if any two come, we’re protected. If all three pressure, that’s a problem. Now, what happens is you teach your offensive tackle. If that linebacker triggers, he’s closer to the quarterback than the defensive end. Mhm. Jeez. MDM. Most dangerous man he’s probably said. Yeah. Which is normally the inside guy. Yeah. Closest easiest path for the QB. Yes. Yes. Got it. Yes. Most most dangerous guy. That’s called a squeeze. So like that tackle is doing the right thing and quarterback has to know then defensive end is unblocked. So the simple part of that is yes that’s that’s on the quarterback. I do think it’s just hard the quarterback has to see both sides here right. So the the coaching point is really Anthony I don’t want you to look left and I don’t want you to look right. I need you to see down the field and feel the color on either side. Feel that. So, while I understand Anony’s telling me, I know my left is a problem, he’s also telling me I don’t think my right is. And that’s the that’s where like as a coach, you would have to sit there and go, I got to trust you to be able to handle this. And my person has been this. Yeah. Yeah. Just and know what your every snap there’s a problem. Every snap there is a problem and you have to know the answer to that problem. Every single snap. And my comp has been this guys. AFC Championship game last year, the the last play of the game when Josh Allen’s running for his life and golf letters in the air and whatnot. That’s a Star Wars problem like that. If you get that, you’re Drew Brees. You’re like, that’s all world stuff. This one, if you’re going to start in the NFL and it’s second and 10, you you got to you got to be able to know what that problem is and what the answer is. You know, something you never do is go back and kind of take a victory lap for your take. So, I just want to say, you know, Jackson Dart was one of your guys and he came out spinning the pill the other day. What’ you see out of him? And do you think that Russell is going to get a lot of time? Do you think it’s going to be, you know, first sign of any doubts that Jackson Dart might get put in because of how well he’s playing or what should our expectations be for the Giants with their quarterback situation? Yeah, I would I wouldn’t rush Jackson Dart on the field. I think Russell Wilson’s the starter and hopefully has some success. I think the best thing for the team and for Jackson Dart is that Brian Dable’s his coach for the foreseeable future and that happens if they’re capable of like winning and being competitive this year. I thought Dart looked really good as well. Um I think the things that you liked were, you know, he he made some I guess different kinds of throws that weren’t demanded of him at LSU. Some timing routes on the outside to the perimeter, balls across the middle of the field weren’t just necessarily crossers. Um I love that. I thought he was really strong in the pocket. That’s one of his calling cards. I thought out of all the kids in the class this year, I thought he was best in the pocket. Just the strength and the climbing of the pocket while remaining a passer. You saw the athleticism. Um the the touchdown pass to Little Jordan Humphrey is actually an audible at the line of scrimmage. So again, just verification, recognition, aggression. I think the two things that stood out to me as far as like what you want to see him grow at, and this is why I wouldn’t rush him on the field or part of the reason why he has a third down where he throws the ball to Dosich, the backside tight end, and he misses it. And everyone might sit there and go, “Oh, inaccurate throw.” And I look at it as he’s just playing too fast. He’s got a corner route at the bottom and it’s like third and three I think of his first or second drive and he’s ready to throw the corner route and the receivers’s like four or five yards down the field versus man coverage. And so it’s just like the the repetition and the growth and the experience of slow yourself down feetwise cuz your feet tell you when to throw the football more often than not. again, a shotgun quarterback, an RPO centered quarterback that maybe wasn’t worked on the timing element of the pass game. So, that’s going to take time. And then the second time was he runs for a one-yd gain. Not that big long run, but he scrambles for a one-yd gain. It’s a play action pass. He’s got the chance to throw the crosser and the underneath defender kind of tries to bait him and he decides not to throw it. And I’m like, good decision. but then throw it to the running back and the flat instead of becoming a runner. And so just hey, why did you not throw the ball to the back? Uh, you know, so I just think, you know, more experience having that, but I would be as encouraged I was with Shadore, I would be equally as encouraged as as I would be for Jackson Dart. And Caleb Williams didn’t play. Um, I was disappointed that he didn’t play. Um, I understand not playing him without the starting offensive line. I would love somebody to ask Ben Johnson, why did the starting offensive line not play and then subsequently Caleb get reps? I think he needs reps in this offense. Um, so I I don’t I’m okay with him not playing without the starting offensive line. But why isn’t the offensive line playing then? Well, they paid a bunch of guys. Don’t want to get them hurt early. Okay. And also a lot of vets. Yeah. Yeah. Sure. I mean, I again, I I would understand that if you tell me I would understand that those three guys internally are vets, but um I I don’t know the answer to the why they didn’t play. You’re the man. Enjoy yourself. Thank you for talking to us uh during your travels. Thank you for taking it on the shins from the rest of the world and putting out these lists that we can react to.