Is This Real?...with Bill Barnwell
The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL
The Athletic
4.6 • 3.3K Ratings
🗓️ 18 September 2025
⏱️ 78 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Through two weeks of the 2024 season, the Saints looked like a breakout offense while the Broncos ranked in the top five in defensive success rate. One of those held steady through the entire season. The other...did not. This year, we have some of those same types of early season surprises, including the Colts offense, the Falcons pass rush, and some real Chiefs panic. What of these are real and what are simply small sample size flukes? Robert Mays is joined by Bill Barnwell from ESPN to wade through all that on this episode of The Athletic Football Show.
Rundown (timestamps are approximate)
4:55 The Colts offense
20:02 The Packers as the best team in the NFL
32:18 The Bears as a lost cause
45:19 Chiefs panic
56:32 The Falcons pass rush
1:03:13 The Vikings picked the wrong QB
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Host: Robert Mays
With: Bill Barnwell
Executive Producer: Michael Beller
Producer: Michael Beller
Follow Robert on Bluesky: @robertmays.bsky.social
Follow Bill on Bluesky: @billbarnwell.com
Follow Robert on X: @robertmays
Follow Dan on X: @billbarnwell
Theme song: Haunted
Written by Dylan Slocum, Trevor Dietrich, Ruben Duarte, Kyle McAulay, and Meredith VanWoert / Performed by Spanish Love Songs
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Transcript
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