Overreaction Tuesday: Rich Talks Ravens, Heisman Hopefuls, Bills/Texans, Dabo, Ohtani & More

The Labor Day season preview edition of Overreaction Monday had already cleared a quarter of a million views, so Rich and Chris brought it back for football season's first week. Overreaction Monday, on a Tuesday.

Chris opened by trying to predict which week one game would be the most overreacted to, and landed on Bills at Texans. Then he front-loaded the overreaction himself. "The loser of Bills-Texans won't win their division."

Rich called that crazy talk. "It's still week one." He walked through how silly the reactions will sound either way. If Houston's defense is all over Josh Allen, suddenly Buffalo is finished. If the Bills punk the Texans, suddenly C.J. Stroud will never reach Allen's level. Rich also pointed out that Houston started poorly last year, and the reason it cost them the division was that Jacksonville showed up and started playing some real stout football.

Chris's second overreaction was about the game in Australia. Whichever team wins will set the new overseas travel strategy. If the 49ers win, every team will want to go early and get acclimated. If the Rams win, everyone will fly in the day before and stay on their home clock.

Rich has called a ton of international games and has heard that exact conversation every time. "I feel like I'm the Jerry Lewis of announcers," he said. Coaches say they wanted to do one thing, but the trainers and sleep people told them to do another, and then they lose and wish they had gone with their gut. His favorite counterexample came from last year, when he called Rams and Jaguars at Wembley. The Jaguars were there all week. The Rams came in at the last second and crushed them. "At the end of the day, none of it matters in the long run."

Next, Chris cited Derrick Henry saying he is sick of watching the Super Bowl. His overreaction: if the Ravens don't make the Super Bowl this year, both Henry and Lamar Jackson will be elsewhere in 2027.

"I think that's ridiculous," Rich said. What if they make the AFC Championship game? He is fascinated by this Ravens team, largely because of Jesse Minter and what Jackson looks like with a new set of eyes on everything. Roquan Smith is talking about the defense crushing people, and Rich loves it. He also shared that Derwin James loves Minter and told the Chargers broadcast crew as much, and Rich believes Kyle Hamilton in Minter's hands is going to be dominant.

He still picked the Bengals to win the division, putting his money where his mouth is, while admitting the Ravens could absolutely go make the Super Bowl.

Rich informed Chris he was now zero for three, and they moved to college football. The Lane Kiffin locker room speech was everywhere, and Josh Pate seemed to suggest it was a planned leak. But Chris's real target was the other side of that game. "This is going to be Dabo's last year at Clemson."

That one didn't strike Rich as an overreaction. "Getting curb stomped in LSU 51 to 10," he said. "That is a bitter pill to swallow." He did note people have been saying this about Dabo Swinney ever since Trevor Lawrence left town. Swinney says what he says about the portal and NIL, but Rich can't argue with how he still runs down that hill. "I'd go ass over tea kettle if I did that." The only thing that could save him, Rich figures, is a hefty buyout nobody wants to pay.

Chris's next one: a non-quarterback is going to win the Heisman Trophy. TJ immediately floated Jeremiah Smith, then the Miami wide receiver who put up something like 230 yards. Rich bought it. "Wouldn't it be amazing in, like, the greatest quarterback draft that's coming up, that a non-quarterback wins the Heisman Trophy this year? Entirely possible."

The quarterback draft talk drifted to the Raiders and the first overall pick, and the consensus was simple. They trade it. Any team that already has its quarterback of the future and lands first overall in this draft is sitting on a gold mine. Rich called that a bonanza, with the small catch of living through four months of dreadful losing first.

Chris closed where he always seems to, returning to the well that keeps producing oil. Shohei Ohtani should never pitch again for the Dodgers.

He was not hiding his satisfaction. He has said from the beginning that Ohtani should be done pitching, and now, in his telling, the pitching got him hurt and the injury has hurt his hitting too. "It's just a bummer. But I like being right."

Rich wasn't conceding. "But he's so damn good at it," came the reply, with the point that if Ohtani were a borderline pitcher, fine, but he is exceptional. There was also a question of whether anyone is actually sure he hurt himself pitching.

The Yankees got the last word. Aaron Judge plays baseball tonight, and while he was out, the Yankees were number one in Major League Baseball in ERA.