The Audible: 2026 NFL Season Kickoff Preview Show! Setting the tone in fantasy football in Week 1

0:00When I was a boy, I dreamed of playing football. I love football. Football. The ballet of bulldozers, the moments of grace and a sea of fury, the crowd, fickle, fanatical and faithful. Every kickoff is possible. The every down award and every now and then it doesn't come down to fancy strategy or speed or strength. It comes down to who has more heart. Yes, you see football is in my bones and where goes the two-point conversion, the onside kick or the TV timeout. So go on! I've seen the locker rooms, my friends. I have smelled the shoes stormed the field and sung the song. And I have heard the footsteps. Yes, and they say to me, Stanley, is football the greatest game in the world? And I say yes, footsteps.

1:04Yes, it is. Well, we made it in this time on a Wednesday, the NFL season kicks off. That's right, Stanley. We always play that intro on this very show, the season preview balloon. Before we jump into Wednesday and Thursday, games are going to preview both. And then we'll have a big show that's coming out on Thursday that gets the rest of the games for week one. Before we jump in, Bloom, we made it. We're back, 2020, six regular season is here. It's go time, audible folks. Look at us, Bloom. Look at us. We made it, buddy. Yes. And as I say to you before we went live, and I will say to everybody here, I'm looking in the camera, you know, it's important. It's so wonderful to know that we're going to spend all this time together. Isn't that what this is really about, like shared experience? I mean, when you're fantasy league, too, and look smart. But really, it's just fun to be part of this incredible reveal that just keeps going.

2:09Seize, it's like the finale rack of fireworks, but it just keeps going and going and going until February. And every week we learn, every week what we thought we knew changes, every week we anticipate what's to come. And most importantly, every week we spend it together. And we're here with you and not only February, Bloom, it goes till Valentine's day. Ooh. So we choo choo choo choo and we love you. It is the audible 21 years. Let's kick this thing off with Wednesday night. And keep me out of my grandpa Simpson mode about Wednesday night football, but it's New England at Seattle Super Bowl rematch. And New England's had a deal with plenty of distractions. Now they're out there against Seattle, a team that has their own things deal with them. We'll do it individually, Bloom. Yeah. Certain games we want because of the matchups. But you got some really good matchups. This is one of them. Now I am emotional and opinionated.

3:09And I've said, I believe the New England Patriots could miss the postseason this year. After making the Super Bowl last year, oh, controversial. Yes, very much so. It's just the fact that they didn't play anybody last year. And then they got to the Super Bowl and got waxed. And when they did play someone that wasn't Jared Stidham, it was tough. It was very tough. And they're going to have a much tougher schedule this year around. And let's talk about it with Trimion Henderson, a little bit minged up. Could be a lot of a Monterey Stevenson here. The AJ Brown connection, they're going to try to test that Seattle secondary with for sure. So New England's going to want to fight back. They're going to want to win this time around and work through all their distractions, mainly caused by Mike Raeble. But how is that going to look? How is that going to work in week one? They're viewing Wednesday against Seattle. Yeah. See, so have we ever had a season opener be the rematch of the Super Bowl? I believe so, yeah. Because they usually try that or they try to get like the what would have been the Super

4:10Bowl or whatever. Yeah, it's happened before. It feels like for this one, it stings a little bit for New England. You know, I like to say this is the great American novel. The NFL is the great American novel. Or you can think of it like a serial television show, you know, the last season in the past. You know, because they were humiliated. I mean, it was one of those late 80 Super Bowls. Sorry, it's a Denver show, Denver fans. You know, Bird, it wasn't even a game. You know, the AFC lost the Super Bowl like 14 years in a row. It was one of those type of Super Bowls. Yeah. And I think for New England, right out of the gate, like you don't necessarily want to, you know, make it all, it's a must win week when it's not really, but it's like, what capable, what have you done? Well, they got AJ Brown and Romeo Dobs, improving offensive line. And see, I think what we're going to see here is a tempo. So now you have Drake May as going into a third year, a field general, really. And we don't, we talk about alignment. Obviously, there's alignment between May and Josh McDaniels, whether it's poor competition

5:14or good competition, they built something and now they have AJ Brown, that true alpha receiver in this offense. Also Nick M. and Worry may or may not play ankle surgery. And without Traveey on Henderson, that does take a dimension away. Ramondra Stevens is going to play as much as he can. So, you know, in the week one fantasy football theme of players, you didn't necessarily draft a start, but you're starting them. You're starting Ramondra Stevens. And remember, we had five touchdowns in week 17 and 18. And then we'll see how they mix in Demario Douglas Kyle Williams, who of course was roast and fools getting behind the defense in the preseason. Do you see that maybe as an element to be a counter play? We saw K. Sean Booty, who's now with the Texans, a really good downfield threat with Drake May. Is it now Kyle Williams playing a larger role to punish defenses that know that AJ Brown is going to be important? And then you have Hunter Henry. And remember Eli Raredin. To talk about double ACL tears, Eric All, Jonathan Brooks, Eli Raredin.

6:18That's way in the rear view mirror for him. Noted aimed tied in. He's had a great summer. Two tight end to looks. Does that mix in more? And that's the other thing we see in week one for all these game seats, whether it's new coaches or old coaches. Sometimes more interesting with old coaches. What have you learned? What's new? What new looks do you have? And unlike divisional game seats, I don't think this is a moment like you're holding it back for the second matchup. Or if they meet in the Super Bowl again, I don't think New England is afraid of showing Seattle what they got. Right. Right. Could it be Super Bowl rematch and then Super Bowl preview all at the same time? Yeah, it's always possibility, Bloom. And we're six minutes into the show. It's first time I've said it. Week one is a liar. Get ready. We can there's some liar out there. And I don't think it's with New England. New England is a team that'll be there all day with the assets that we normally know for the most part. Stay healthy, yadda yadda, et cetera. But week one is a liar. What's going to lie to you about Seattle? The Seattle side is interesting because you look at this and you go, okay, Sam Arnold,

7:19Encore, Ken, Arnold, Go Toad or Toad versus Drake, May. Really a lot of people are just going to be watching. What's the backfield look like? You know, no, Kenneth Walker. That's going to be a big one. How's the thing looks? Does it continue with JSN? So a couple of things with Seattle. We know we feel comfortable about Bloom. Very comfortable. We don't feel comfortable about the ground game because we haven't seen it yet without Kenneth Walker. Yeah, this is one. There isn't as much urgency. You know, it's not as drenched with meaning of what Seattle does against New England. You know, it wasn't really the key to how they won. Like you said, Kenneth Walker played a big role in that game. However, I think that there's a question that we start to answer with Seattle. How much of it was Clint Kubiak? In court, we'll see him debut as head coach for the Raiders against the Dolphins. And you've got Brian Flurry coming from the 49ers. Kind of incestuous, right? The way these teams, these rivals also have all these connections.

8:20And, you know, hey, Brian Flurry is bringing in the San Francisco more, I think, of the run game. And you still have Jake Peats, the passing game coordinator. And the question is also JSN 36% target share. That's really about as high as we see for any wide receiver. And I don't think you can be predictable. I think that Seattle goes into the season knowing that, and of course, it was the unpredictability of the usage of Smith and Jigba, but it's going to be studied. And there has to be different patterns. There has to be different tendencies. And of course, Christian Gonzalez just signed a contract. That's going to help. Now, New England's hair landries on PUP list, they don't have much in the way of edge pressure. It was that something that Seattle and Sam Darnold can take advantage of with Rashid Shaheed. So that's in the passing game. That's the counter punch, right? Oh, you're going to make sure that JSN can't run wild through defenses.

9:21Now Rashid Shaheed has had a whole off season. Remember, he came on mid season. He's on board. He's a number two receiver of vertical threat. Speak of Clint Kubiak. We saw Kubiak use him very well with the Saints. So I think that you could see Rashid Shaheed absolutely play a big role in this game. And for fantasy matters, and then there's the idea of two tight ends. Jeremy Fallow was just on ESPN this weekend saying, what should we look for? Two tight ends on the field a lot. Major parts of the offense, AJ Barnard and Elijah Aroyo, who had a couple plays this summer, there was like, maybe they aren't crazy that he's an X or a complete X as far as his flexibility, his footwork, very rare for a guy with his size and his speed. So is that an unveiling? And you have a Gdarian price who I think Fallow said he's not going to be a 20 carry game guy, but he is, you know, the lead the running game. I think he has to be in line up. See about George Launey. It could be a Zack Sharbinay light. And of course, the work of running back, you never know, especially once over backups

10:23in college. You never know how they're going to respond. And New England can be tough to run on. They have really athletic defensive tackles. And then of course, with Sam Tarnold, you won the Super Bowl, you wrecked Minnesota's franchise. You put Minnesota on tilt. What do you do for an encore? Yeah, yeah. What's next for Sam Tarnold? What's that career chapter look like? We are fixing to find out. And we'll see what they get you, by the way, which Darian price I get what you're saying about backups and rookies. He's also the type of guy with 10 touches he could have your fantasy week with one. He could make your fantasy week on one play with that speed. So we'll continue to watch that. See what fantasy GMs get out of the rookie this week. It is the audible. It's our season 2026 preview kickoff show setting the tone in fantasy football week one. We appreciate you for dropping a comment down below. Let us know what you think about the Wednesday opener and the kickoff and your fantasy team.

11:25And who are you starting in as doing going to miss the Super Bowl and all those sorts of things that you want to talk about in our comment section down below helps out the algorithm to give us a thumbs up there as well. And we talk about Thursday night football bloom in Australia Friday morning football. Please trip on the Bobby A.C. This is like over back to our bad accents. The Mark Fletti got out of us. There you go. Yeah, we could do some of those there as well. San Francisco and the LA Rams. The teams approaching the travel differently. I'll save my rant about international games, but like yes, the travel has been done differently now in Australia for a regular season game. Okay, NFL. Let's start on the San Francisco side of things there as well. San Francisco with plenty of question marks bloom. They always seem to have that. It's at the beginning of the season though you hear stuff even like Mike Evans. So that had to be encouraging right to your Mike Evans say like, no, I'm been fine.

12:28If it was the regular season, I'd be playing. I'm an older player. I just know what I'm doing now. Okay. Well, what are the 49ers doing in Australia on Thursday night? Yeah. I can't remember who it was that said this. I mean, how much of a hole does the NFL have on us? We're debating sleep schedules or Katie and rhythms. This game now has this subplot of two teams that are very information analysis driven. Kind of like football guys, right? Like, hey, if I'm going to make a decision, there's going to be some thought. It's going to be an educated guess, not just a guess, right? And you have two different educated guesses of how to handle this. And it does seem like no matter what happens in this game, people are going to point to this as one of the reasons why. And the way I understand it, C.S. is San Francisco's playing it straight up, like trying to get their circadian rhythms in tune with Australia and preparing for the game that way. And I think the Rams, and I mean, you know, this is me just spitballing, are like, well,

13:31that's going to wreck us more than just coming in, playing the game, and getting back home. And then, and resuming the rhythm that we know we're going to have all season. I don't know. It's going to be interesting. What's going to be really interesting is it will air in Donald play. He's there, hopefully traveling again with the Rams, I believe, not even having traveled at this moment that we're recording this. But C.S. we have to say with Miles Garrett and Aaron Donald, the only comparable duo would be Jerome Brown and Reggie Smith, you know? I mean, Reggie White, I want to say Brown and White, Smith, I'm thinking of a Randy White and two tall Jones. You know, I mean, this is monumental. And what is that going to do to San Francisco? This is a great rivalry. And last year, Mac Jones kept this game competitive. I think one, the first matchup and was productive in the second matchup.

14:33Now, getting there, Aaron Donald or Miles Garrett, in those games, Kendrick Bourne, John Jennings had good games towards Kiddell, who's like, is going to play Jake Tonge's had good games. And then we'll see about Mike Evans, will his health hold up Christian McCaffrey, who was just a rest practice, missed practice first practice for rest. But still with Christian McCaffrey, there's always a sort of an unveil of, is he going to be healthy this year at this point in his career. So all of those players, we're going to watch. And the boss annuals back, remember, this team already lost Ricky Persol and Christian Kirk, who's on IR before the season even got underway. I haven't mentioned the substation yet. I don't know if, like, we'll see so many injury questions. But we know that when these two teams get together, that there's a familiarity that does create unpredictability. And it could create scoring. It could create a lot of scoring. I think we had like 26, 23 and 42, 26.

15:36So we may have a bar and burner, or we may have, again, a yonder, because one of these teams might still be hitting this news button. Yeah, there's still might be jet lag is a thing. By the way, it's just a power substation bloom. It's not harp. So like, if they were, if they were next to harp, then things that would be a little bit different. But they're fine. And Australia is probably feeling better. And Australia would be feeling better with shrimp on the barbie and such, and such, uh, ram side of things. Rams offense. Rams defense is where my curiosity lies. Rams offense is where my admiration lies, bloom. Yeah. And by the way, the Rams also got tremicked, offy in a trade off season. Jalen Watson got the chief corners. So San Francisco, probably getting back in Iqbosa. They're getting back Fred Warner, who they didn't have in the second matchup.

16:37Drey Green laws back. He's an important spirit player for this defensive. He can stay healthy. They do have some injured players, some draft picks. Typical story like Alfred Collins isn't the guy yet. Michael Williams first round draft pick. Still on P. P. So the Rams, you know, they are going to be playing a better 49ers defense than the one that they ran up the score on last year. However, one without Robert Salah, uh, Raheem Morris. I think they said that he missed his 50th birthday because of the time chain, you know, the day line thing. He didn't get to have a 50th birthday. By the time he got off the plane, his 50th birthday had already happened. I don't know. So hopefully, you know, this is like his, but Raheem Morris, you know, we know what he can do. I think we'll see more blitzing. And Pukinakua, kind of like Christian McCaffrey, and we haven't seen him much this summer. I barely at all. Core muscle injury. But you have Devonte Adams. And then there's been a lot of talk this summer about Terrence Ferguson cross training at different positions.

17:37He's not just the number three receiver or the top receiving tight end. He's playing all over this offense, which we know can be a great advantage for fantasy football when it's a tight end. And then there's a running game. Could Blake Korum have a larger role? But this really be closer to that 50-50 committee than Kion Williams who had some big games. By the way, big, Matthew Stafford games, big Kion Williams games, but they were dinkin' dunk kind of games. They weren't air shows. Now again, without Robert Sala, is there more to exploit? We know that he does one of the best jobs making do with what he has. And by the way, Darkweiss Hunter, you know, traded to Miami in the off season. And now I believe, you know, it's not a practice squad. Johnny Rivers, that number three running back. So there are some questions to be answered on the reveal with some players maybe with larger roles. And again, we look at this matchup. It's always a matchup that is exciting. And one that is now with Tomlin and Mike Harbaugh. This is the, I think the best head coach rivalry in the NFL sees McVeigh against Shanahan.

18:42Well, it's good on the Ram side. I love Kyle. I love Kyle, but you got to, you got to finish it, man. Like Kyle Shanahan will get you there, but you finish. That's the story, right? That's kind of like that put it on his tombstone. Well, maybe not. Remember, Shanahan also said, none of us knows if we'll be alive on Sunday. So I can't guarantee anything. Yeah, it's been, uh, how can we say, wild and woolly off season for those San Francisco 49ers for the Rams. They're just a machine. I think the Rams are like the terminator. I think that of the two games that we've talked about bloom. The NFC representative is probably one of the teams we just talked about in the Super Bowl. It's Rams are Seattle again. Sorry to Dallas or Philadelphia, whoever. Spoiler alert. It's Rams are Seattle. But give Dallas a puncher's chance because because that team is frisky and their defense

19:46is frisky, but I will say this cease to the Rams because you can look at this stuff like again, they trade for Tremac Duffy. They trade for Miles Garrett Aaron. Oh, that's not fair, but I love it, cease because it's setting the pace for the rest of the league. You know, do you want to win? How badly do you want to win? How far will you go to win? And like you said, because of that terminator like, gee, I wonder why we're thinking about the terminator a lot these days. Great film, by the way. Great. The... The counter was thrown in and saying asylum for going after a data center. I mean, it's... Just writes itself, everybody. It... Well, and like I always say, every story is just based on this thing here that we're part of. I mean, we're just driving it from what we're living and speaking of these epic showdowns, yeah, I think the Rams are... They didn't... This is what happens when they don't win a Super Bowl now, you know? Ha! Right. They just get all charged up and go after it again.

20:46It is the audible Cecil Amin, Seagum Bloom, our season kickoff preview show is here for you again. Thursday monster show, massive show coming up on Thursday, 14 game preview show, and then Sunday, Sunday, Sunday after the early games. Bloom, you and I will be recapping the Sunday games live right here on this show. As you want to jump into the chat room live, you want to hang out with us right here on the audible. We appreciate each and every one of you for that. But we're here. We made it, and we love you for it. It's 21 years of the audible. He is Cigman Bloom. You follow him on all the socials at Cigman Bloom. I'm at Cecil Amin, the show is at the audible. We thank you all very much for watching. Make sure to like, comment, share, subscribe, and hit the notification bell so that you never miss a vid. And we appreciate you very much for that. Let's get it on. Week one is here. And LFG. It is the audible. He's Bloom. I'm Lamy.

21:46Blamy. Bye-bye. We're the audible. Stay tuned. Stay frosty.