An NFL 2026 Season Preview: Key Players and Matchups

The NFL is here folks. Patrick Mahomes has been cleared to be a full participant as training camps are getting set to open up. We know the Raiders just went ahead and locked down. It looks like their number one pick, right? Mendoza, he is now locked in. Still don't know if he's going to be the starting quarterback there, Tom, but Kirk Cousins might still, at least all indications are Kirk Cousins could very well be under center by the time we get to week one. And some of these week one games and match-ups, I got to give it to the NFL. I mean, the schedule is phenomenal. We talked about Giants at home against Dallas in week one. Dallas is a two or three point favorite there with a total of 48. That's going to be your first Sunday night football game. And then you have the complete opposite side of that with Tennessee taking on the Jets in Tennessee. It's the Robert Sala, right? Revenge game. That total is 38 and I'm laughing and going, well, how are we getting the 38 points with the Jets in Tennessee? Two defensive minded head coaches with no real offense to speak of. It feels like a first one to 10 wins. Tom, what do you think of some of these? It certainly feels that way. And frankly, with the Titans, I kind of like them against, you know, Sala head coach going up against his former team. I think the script kind of writes itself for them to be on track, at least from week one. And I will say, as I've been joking, kind of throughout the off season, I think the Jets have a pick in week one. They went the entire season last year without a pick and they'll have a pick in week one. That's kind of one of the funnier things to be looking to just because, you know, I do have some hope but he's still just a second year quarterback. I will say looking at some of these lines, the one that I think is going to stand out to a lot of people would be the 49ers versus the Rams, Shanahan versus McDay. It's three and a half points. It's a division game, but this game is happening in Australia. It is happening on Friday night. The season opened up on Thursday with the Seahawks raising the banner against the Pats in a rematch of the Superbowl. And then we get a game on Friday night in Australia. Now it's going to be looking to plus three and a half. I will say, I'm not saying that's a bad bet by any means. It's just, we have to take into account all the other circumstances where this game is in a completely different country, very far away with a dramatic time difference. I, yes, that's, and that's going to be the Friday game, which is going to be a crazy there. I think we have a Wednesday night game too, right? It's new England at Seattle on September 9th and that's going to be the kicker right there. And that is what, four, four and a half there with Seattle being the favorite in Seattle. And then you follow that up, like you said, with the game in Australia and Melbourne with the Rams and the 49ers. But I still have questions with a couple of quarterbacks here. A, are the Raiders starting Mendoza do you think? And B, who is playing quarterback from Minnesota where they are a favorite at home against green Bay in week one? That's a great question for the ladder with the Vikings. We see a lot of reports saying that the QB competition, QB competition between Kyler Murray and JJ McCarthy is going to come right down to the wire or right leading up to week one or whatever these quotes that I've seen over the past week. I think they're going to start Murray. That's just what I think as of now. I'm not sure if that's the right decision for the Raiders. I think they should be starting Mendoza. That's I think they should be doing new head coach. He's the number one overall pick. You want to bring the fan base, some positive momentum heading into the season. Like this is the future. And I think Kirk cousins is going to be a great teacher for Mendoza, but going into the season, knowing that you have your franchise quarterback starting, it's not going to be pretty. It's not going to be smooth. There's going to be ups and downs. There's going to be bumps along the way, but this is what you need. You need him to learn by fire, going through a week to week basis, knowing that he's not preparing to be the starter, I think is something that he needs to. And this is something that we see players that are recently retired constantly say is like, Oh, you have to learn how to be a pro. And the week to week preparation of doing that is important. Not running the scout team, taking all the snaps with the ones I think is important. And that's what Mendoza needs to learn. So new quarterback, new, uh, new head coach. The future is Bowers, Mendoza and Gente. Let's get that, that ball rolling immediately.