Why Broncos Die-Hard Mark Schlereth is Happy the Raiders are 3-0

Mark Schlereth showed up with game-worn pads and a helmet from his final season behind him, and Rich immediately clocked it as the work of a man whose house is still in boxes. Schlereth confirmed it. The family packed up for New York, Fox let him go from the daily show side, and everything came home in cartons. He still calls games for Fox, and the box of footballs and pads just happens to make a good Zoom backdrop.

The three-time champ then spent the rest of the conversation doing what he does best, which is telling you what the film actually says.

Start with Cleveland, which Schlereth had just called heading into the Browns' Thursday night game. Before kickoff on Sunday, Carolina defensive coaches told him something nobody expected to hear. Deshaun Watson looks like the Deshaun Watson from Houston.

"Movement skills, his ability to run, extend plays, all that stuff," Schlereth said, calling it crazy given that Watson tore the same Achilles in back-to-back years. Schlereth said he was shocked when he studied the tape: the pocket manipulation, the scrambles, a quarterback sweep on third and three against Tampa that Cleveland ran again against Carolina, and a touchdown to Harold Fannin Jr. off a scramble that he called exceptional. Watson is 31 but has played only 20 games in five years, so he has not taken a beating.

He is still working through footwork and progressions, and he has been up and down, including a horrible quarter and a half before a strong fourth quarter. But the real reason for the 2-1 start, in Schlereth's view, is the defense. "Their defense is legit," he said. "They will line up and just play you man and say, 'Come get a taste.'" He singled out the cover corners, safeties and nickel players, plus Mason Graham, whom he called outstanding so far.

The Raiders were next. Schlereth called their opener, and Rich wanted to know if the 3-0 start is real. Schlereth gave Klint Kubiak credit for giving the team an identity and said Las Vegas rebuilt from the inside out, with Tyler Linderbaum at center and Jackson Powers-Johnson told to lose weight to get quicker.

He also shared what Kirk Cousins told him privately. "The best thing I can do for Fernando Mendoza is play great and show him what an NFL offense is supposed to look like," Schlereth recalled Cousins saying, adding that Cousins was guaranteed the job is his as long as he plays well and the team wins. Schlereth called him "an unbelievable mentor" to Mendoza.

Then came the part that makes this a strange sentence for a Bronco to say out loud. "Even though I'm a Bronco, and always hated the Raiders when I was a player, I think the league is better when they're relevant," Schlereth said. "I'm happy to see them actually playing legitimate professional football."

Rich, politely, pointed out that "improved" was not the question. Are they for real? Schlereth said yes, in the sense that they will press for a winning record and a wild card berth. Win the AFC West? "No, I don't think that."

Seattle came up because Schlereth was in the booth when the defending champs lost in Washington, with Marcus Mariota lighting them up and Sam Darnold throwing a pick-six in his return from injury. Schlereth chalked the interception up to rust, but his real concern was the back end. Through two weeks, he called Seattle "the most tied together defense I've watched on tape," with Devon Witherspoon, Nick Emmanwori and Drake Thomas all moving between multiple positions. The difference last week was safety Julian Love, "the main communicator in that back end," being out, which he tied to all the explosive plays allowed.

Asked for the best team through three weeks, Schlereth said he would have picked Seattle before that loss. Now he pointed to Kansas City, which he called "outstanding" and "incredible." He was equally effusive about San Francisco, injuries and all, saying Brock Purdy is a top five quarterback in pure processing and naming Purdy and Joe Burrow as the two fastest processors in the league. "They've got a kid right now at the quarterback position that's playing at MVP level," he said. Rich noted you could say that about the Niners every year despite the injuries, and Schlereth agreed it barely makes sense.

Denver, his old team, got a more clinical read. For three years now the Broncos have been notoriously slow starters, and Schlereth said the film shows a different bust every time: an offensive line assignment error, a quarterback predetermining where he wants to throw, or bailing from the pocket too early because he is so averse to sacks. Early in games, they miss third downs and give up big plays.

"There's an old saying that there are many fingerprints on success," he said. "Well, there's also a lot of fingerprints on failures, too." The quarterback keeps coming alive in the fourth quarter, but "it never seems like a long-term recipe for success."

Rich then walked through the 2-1 teams and asked which one Schlereth trusts most. He does not trust Detroit's defense "at all." His pick is Jacksonville, even though the Jaguars lost in Denver. He loves Liam Coen's game-planning and said the Jaguars dominate people in the front seven without many household names. "They can throw it over the top of you, but they can really line up and have that kind of fisticuffs game with you."

On the 3-0 teams, Schlereth would take Baltimore over Minnesota. He is not 100 percent sold on Kyler Murray and the Vikings offense, even after the comeback against the Packers. He noted a stat that Brian Flores is blitzing at roughly a 75 percent clip, which he called insane, but said he still does not trust that offense entirely.

That led to J.J. McCarthy, now with the 2-1 Giants. "He needed to leave and go to a different organization and start over from scratch," Schlereth said, calling it the best move for him. He pointed to Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold as reclamation projects who found redemption elsewhere, and said the jump is hard because every NFL team has great players. Getting out of Minnesota, where McCarthy was "just a disappointment" as a top-10 pick, and not having to start right away under John Harbaugh will be a great experience, Schlereth said.

Finally, the Cowboys trade for Joey Porter Jr. Schlereth called it huge. "He's a really good corner," he said, explaining that locking down one side lets a defense push coverage to the other, especially in the red zone and against trips formations. As for the Steelers' approach of not negotiating during the season, Schlereth's response was blunt: "Forget that. You figure out a way to play your best players."

Rich raised the pushback he had seen, that Porter does nothing for a Dallas run defense that has been the bigger problem. Schlereth said that critique misses the point. With one-on-one coverage outside, Dallas no longer has to live in two-high shells and can roll an extra defender into the box. "The people who told you that weren't thinking deeply enough about how this game works."

And if that extra defender is Caleb Downs? Schlereth lit up. "That dude's an absolute piss missile, man," he said. "He flies around, hits people. I love that kid."