Overreaction Tuesday: Rich Talks Chiefs, Broncos, Cowboys, Rams, Ravens, Chargers & Texans

Overreaction Monday ran on a Tuesday this week, presented by Marriott Bonvoy, and it arrived with a stat worth mentioning. The podcast version cleared 350,000 views in 24 hours, a record for the show.

Chris still had plenty in the chamber, including a couple left over from Monday night.

He opened big. Signing Kenneth Walker III will go down as the best decision of the 2026 offseason.

Rich wanted the comparison set first. Best against what? Against every free agent move and every trade, which means Myles Garrett, A.J. Brown and the rest of it.

What stopped him from dismissing it immediately is that the field is thinning on its own. Brown is out for a month and probably closer to six weeks. Garrett is out a month, maybe more. Aaron Donald's availability is an open question.

Rich also noted that TJ had already floated back to back Super Bowl MVPs out of this, and that Walker is technically on pace for 3,000 rushing yards, which is the kind of number that only exists in September.

"I'll call this an overreaction for the moment," Rich said, while admitting he had to think about it longer than he normally would.

Next, Denver, and a take built on four words. Laura Rutledge asked Sean Payton at halftime how it has been not calling plays, which Rich and Chris agreed was a superb question. Payton's answer was to ask her again in a half.

Chris's take: Payton takes the play calling back before the end of the month.

Rich split it. Before the end of September is an overreaction. Sometime this season is not, and might even be conservative. He also allowed for the opposite possibility, that Payton woke up Tuesday thinking Davis Webb did a good job, called it roughly how he would have called it himself, and that he feels better than he normally would after a loss.

"We have no idea," Rich said. Overreaction, for now.

TJ went next, and it was a confession more than a take. We are all idiots for hopping on the Cowboys bandwagon this summer.

Rich answered it before TJ finished. Overreaction.

He was willing to retrace the logic, though, because it looks thin in hindsight. Jerry Jones was not talking much, which everyone read as a locked in operation. A move here, a move there. The George Pickens franchise tag. Dak Prescott looking great.

It is still Week 1. The question is how quickly the young players on that defense get coached up. TJ pointed to one who jumped offsides early and then went into the backfield and got those five yards right back, which is the kind of thing that suggests a dog. Chris conceded the bounces went the Giants way on the fumbles.

Then Houston, and a take Rich rejected with some heat. The way Week 1 ended showed the Texans were right to wait on C.J. Stroud's future.

"Why? Because he fumbled at the end?"

Rich thought Stroud played a terrific football game and went toe to toe with Josh Allen. As for the ending, a Texans defender had a gift opportunity in his hands and could not corral it, which is not the quarterback's ledger.

"It's what Josh Allen does. He gives them to you."

Give the guy some grace, Rich argued, even knowing how it ended and knowing Houston is waiting until the end of the year on the contract.

The Derrick Henry take was the only one that got upgraded rather than knocked down. Chris proposed that Henry will finish his career on the Mount Rushmore of running backs.

The immediate response from the desk was that he is already there.

Gaming out the four produced the argument you would expect. Jim Brown stays, and nobody is arguing. Walter Payton stays. Then it becomes Emmitt Smith or Barry Sanders, and Rich pointed out that far more people would leave Smith off in favor of Sanders than the reverse. He thinks they are wrong. He also concedes the whole exercise is subjective.

The case for Henry is that the record is coming. He is going to pass LaDainian Tomlinson very soon and take Smith's all-time rushing touchdown mark, possibly this season, though Rich called that a tall order. Staying healthy puts him sixth on the all-time rushing list, and a 2,000 yard season would make it fifth.

Given how Rich feels about him, this one was never going to be an overreaction.

The last one was the boldest. If either the Rams or Chargers lose this week, they are out, no playoffs.

"That's so silly."

Chris had support ready. In NFL history only three teams that started 0-2 have won a Super Bowl, so a loss this week means kissing the Super Bowl goodbye.

Rich is not buying it in a 17 game regular season. He will grant one concession. If the Chargers fall to 0-2 by losing at home to Arizona and then to Vegas, he will sit here and say they are in massive trouble and that it is finally time for the panic button.

But the math is the math. Out of the remaining 15 games you win 10 and you are 10-7 with a shot. Win 11 and the conversation is completely different.

As for the Rams, Rich was never going to move.

"They're too damn talented. I'm never going to jump off them."

Everyone at the desk confirmed they already knew that.

He closed with a reminder about how thin these margins are anyway. The Bears made the playoffs last season and made some hay once they got there, and they did it through a pile of one score games. They had to pull a lot of rabbits out of hats.

They had the hats and the rabbits, and they pulled it off.