Speaker 1: Be Around the NFL Podcast. It's gonna ride till they
Speaker 1: can't no more. Welcome to another edition of the Around
Speaker 1: the NFL Podcast, presented by the United States Marine Corps.
Speaker 1: My name is Dan Hanss. I'm joined in a room
Speaker 1: filled with heroes, Mark Cessler, Chris Westling, and Greg Roshal.
Speaker 1: What is up ese, Hey Dan? If you think how
Speaker 1: many times I've said that one thousand two actually disrupt
Speaker 1: more times than I've said hey Dane so many times.
Speaker 1: And uh, I have asked multiple times how many shows
Speaker 1: have we done? Where are we? Are we close to
Speaker 1: one thousand? We should do a one thousand episode blowout
Speaker 1: live shows somewhere in Los Angeles. And every time Erica
Speaker 1: looks me in the eye and she says, no, thanks,
Speaker 1: I don't need to look there. That's not true. I
Speaker 1: look it up every day. I mean it would be
Speaker 1: very it would it would. That's not necessary either. Yes, no,
Speaker 1: it's so this is your all the all the President's
Speaker 1: Men type of investigation, just on. Well, here's how long
Speaker 1: it would take as long as it takes to count
Speaker 1: to you know, a little less than a thousand. So
Speaker 1: I bet one of our listeners that do I gotta
Speaker 1: do is go to iTunes, right and just count count
Speaker 1: them up? Yes, July two, thou thirteen, we started as
Speaker 1: a foursome. I think that's a great idea for our
Speaker 1: listen It's a challenge for our listeners. I think it's
Speaker 1: really like, we want to see how much you guys
Speaker 1: love the show. You should see how, you should see
Speaker 1: how because you're already outsourcing money, tags, how much of
Speaker 1: your duties at work, and you just outsource to our
Speaker 1: wonderful listeners. I think that's a great I think that's
Speaker 1: a really great idea. How many episodes broadcasts are we
Speaker 1: up to do? I sound like that, Yes, that's right there,
Speaker 1: very feminine. All right, here we go. This is live.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yes, it's live. It's just the re italiation
Speaker 1: come towards me because only drop I I have like
Speaker 1: readily accessible. Oh my god, feisty boys today. We are
Speaker 1: live on YouTube right now, and you could if you're
Speaker 1: checking this out an audio form, you could come back
Speaker 1: to it and you could see how feisty the boys
Speaker 1: are in the studio two days ahead of Thanksgiving. And
Speaker 1: speaking of Thanksgiving, we hear it all the time. I
Speaker 1: like to do it, lady, Yeah, It's fine. I like it. Um,
Speaker 1: I like to do it, lady. Every show every year
Speaker 1: around this time, we were told the season doesn't really
Speaker 1: start until after Thanksgiving, it doesn't even begin, which, first
Speaker 1: of all, West, I know you're a guy. You chew
Speaker 1: up that film. You're a real tape dog, as they
Speaker 1: call you tap dog. It must be offensive to you
Speaker 1: on some level. For people to think you could. Isn't
Speaker 1: a kind of reductive thinking a little bit? No, not
Speaker 1: at all. I think it's absolutely correct, and I've had
Speaker 1: to come to terms with the fact that three months
Speaker 1: of my life just are meaningless. Well, it's it's saying,
Speaker 1: you know, when it comes to winning a championship, that's
Speaker 1: not our goal. Our goal is just to entertain and
Speaker 1: uh inform the masses. So I think that matters in
Speaker 1: week two, Week three. But if your goal is just
Speaker 1: winning the Super Bowl, that's when it kind of matters.
Speaker 1: I'd say the Bengals have followed orders. They certainly have
Speaker 1: they gonna ride. Um No, that was solid perspective, Greg,
Speaker 1: And with that in mind, a little later in the show, Uh,
Speaker 1: since the season doesn't start until Friday, the day after
Speaker 1: Thanksgiving here in the States, we're gonna offer up a
Speaker 1: couple of predictions for I guess what the real season is.
Speaker 1: This has all been a big exhibition walk up until now,
Speaker 1: so we we've made I'm even throwing Thanksgiving into that
Speaker 1: because it's unfair that the Cowboys and Bills and other
Speaker 1: teams playing Thursday there, you know, their season would be
Speaker 1: less than the rest of the That brings up another
Speaker 1: point I actually asked you guys a couple of days ago.
Speaker 1: Is the saying the season begins on Thanksgiving or after
Speaker 1: but using that logic, yes, Thanksgiving should counts. It's essentially
Speaker 1: people are saying, if you really want to boil it down,
Speaker 1: week thirteen is when the season begins. It's at all
Speaker 1: Belichick parcels. I don't think anyone else fairly pedals in this,
Speaker 1: but Belichick loves it, and that's pretty good source material
Speaker 1: in terms of the info on that. So we're gonna
Speaker 1: throw out some predictions for the final five weeks of
Speaker 1: the regular season and uh, perhaps the playoffs. I don't
Speaker 1: know where you guys went with this. Also, speaking of Thanksgiving,
Speaker 1: we're gonna preview each of the three Thanksgiving Day games.
Speaker 1: We got some turkeys. I like to do it lady
Speaker 1: h to to discuss um Chicago at Detroit, Buffalo, at Dallas,
Speaker 1: New Orleans at Atlanta. Now that's another idea. Instead of
Speaker 1: us having to Mark and I are going to handle
Speaker 1: the Thanksgiving post Thanksgiving wrap up? Can you just day
Speaker 1: got enough sound clips of Mark and I just to
Speaker 1: put together an entire recap. I love that plan of Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1: By the way, I do appreciate you adding I appreciate
Speaker 1: you adding extra people to be interrupted with their own
Speaker 1: voice while they're talking. It's a little bit unnerving. I
Speaker 1: thought it was fair, especially because it's like clearly a
Speaker 1: man singing that New York City song and he just
Speaker 1: does like a falsetto, and you're like, I like to
Speaker 1: do it, lady, So like it's it was funny. It
Speaker 1: doesn't bother me as much that I thought it was
Speaker 1: a lady it is. Yeah, that's a woman. Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: a female. Are you kidding? No? No, okay, it's not.
Speaker 1: That's backing box by a female. No, it's it's a
Speaker 1: guy going falsetto. That's Mary Clayton. Would you mind researching
Speaker 1: that case or asking the listen? Yeah, I guys want
Speaker 1: to know this song came out of our library and
Speaker 1: never to be found again. I'm not sure what it's
Speaker 1: called where it's for them, but look it up. A
Speaker 1: lot of a lot of gender confusion this week between
Speaker 1: this and Conan the Dog. I mean, it's just it's
Speaker 1: the hot story all over the place. UH. So we'll
Speaker 1: preview the three Thanksgiving games. But before we do any
Speaker 1: of that, let's finish up Week twelve with the Road
Speaker 1: to Victory, uh presented by the United States Marine Corps
Speaker 1: and yes, the Ravens. They are cruising down that road.
Speaker 1: Jackson takes the snap, Let's pressure coming SLINKs at the
Speaker 1: end zone. Hollywood Brown, How's it? Touchdown number two for Hollywood.
Speaker 1: Hollywood Brown ran free right down the seam and Lamar
Speaker 1: Jackson with cornerback pressure coming, delivered the dime and the
Speaker 1: Ravens extended to a two touchdown leaves. Every time he
Speaker 1: makes a throw like this, the word that comes on
Speaker 1: my mind is sustainable, because everybody says this, all this
Speaker 1: is not sustainable because you got a quarterback the runs
Speaker 1: of all, eventual's gonna get hurt or canna lose his leg,
Speaker 1: or he's gonna get old or beat up or whatever.
Speaker 1: That right there is sustainable ball that was an absolute.
Speaker 1: Oh he is gonna get old, so that's terrible, but
Speaker 1: he will get old, Lamar Jackson. But all the other
Speaker 1: things that was spot up not yet Jerry Sandusky and
Speaker 1: a friend the Ravens radio network with the call, I
Speaker 1: don't have the man's name, maybe Dennis pit A Deepen, Deepen.
Speaker 1: He's been doing it. What a performance by the Ravens.
Speaker 1: What are performance by the m v P favorite Lamar
Speaker 1: Jackson who threw as many touchdowns on Monday at the
Speaker 1: l A. Calseum as he did interceptions five and an
Speaker 1: absolute but whipping forty five to six Ravens over Rams.
Speaker 1: Baltimore moves to nine and two and uh obviously in
Speaker 1: control their division and right on the heels of the
Speaker 1: Patriots with a huge match up against the forty niners.
Speaker 1: Uh next week the Rams in tatters and and this
Speaker 1: was my mark my initial thought, Uh, you know, soaking
Speaker 1: in this game? Afterwards? What what does it all mean?
Speaker 1: A year ago around this team time, fifty three weeks
Speaker 1: ago to be exact, there was another League Sensation, a
Speaker 1: young League Sensation quarterback Patrick Mahomes on the way to
Speaker 1: the m v P that had a monster game against
Speaker 1: the Rams in l A and Jared Goff and the
Speaker 1: Rams offense went punch for punch, and not only punch
Speaker 1: for punch, they won. The Rams won that game, that
Speaker 1: famous fifty three one win. This year, same situation, another
Speaker 1: hot shot young future m v P potentially comes into
Speaker 1: the Rams building and Goff and the offense weren't even
Speaker 1: close to being able to go punch for punch. It
Speaker 1: shows you how quickly the Super Bowl window shuts in
Speaker 1: the NFL, and also what a mess the Rams have become.
Speaker 1: But let's start with the Ravens and how impressive they
Speaker 1: are right now and how great the NFL is and
Speaker 1: I compared to any other sports league, because it is
Speaker 1: hyper unpredictable to see even think we're will be a
Speaker 1: year from now, to think the last Night history is
Speaker 1: happening before or our eyes where anyone tracking the NFL
Speaker 1: has Lamar Jackson is hot on the radar, But there
Speaker 1: are still groups of people that don't really watch a
Speaker 1: lot of games outside of their own team, and maybe
Speaker 1: didn't even see Lamar Jackson really until last night, and
Speaker 1: he exploded onto the scene and in a performance that
Speaker 1: basically said Rams, you were the the It boys. Last year,
Speaker 1: you're not any longer and you were the untouchable from
Speaker 1: coaching on down to roster, team building everything, and can
Speaker 1: you get there again? Perhaps you again? Perhaps so. I
Speaker 1: mean things like change, as we said so much, but
Speaker 1: right now it was you know, I watched these Ravens
Speaker 1: victories week after week, these crushings where you almost want
Speaker 1: to look at the teams that are being scattered into
Speaker 1: a thousand parts and say, let's see where you are
Speaker 1: next week, because it's hard to look at you. But
Speaker 1: I don't. I also look at from the ram side
Speaker 1: and I'll let you guys hit that. A team that
Speaker 1: and this is what the Ravens do. And I want
Speaker 1: to see what happens against San Francisco. They did it
Speaker 1: against the Texans. They've done it over and over. They
Speaker 1: break you physically quickly with us, as Eric Wettle said,
Speaker 1: they couldn't even see where the balls here. We have
Speaker 1: wet All. Let's hear and this is very unusual, uh,
Speaker 1: to hear any quote like and wet All is a
Speaker 1: guy that speaks his mind, and it's great to have
Speaker 1: people like him, so that you factor that in well
Speaker 1: as well. But to hear this type of quote coming
Speaker 1: out of a losing locker room as ultra rare. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's nothing like it. Is there something you can't emulate that?
Speaker 1: How are you gonna practice it? Lamar is the fastest
Speaker 1: guy on the field, and now you got it. Obviously,
Speaker 1: I'm a little frustrated. No, don't take good. It's just uh,
Speaker 1: he's he's an m v P for a reason for
Speaker 1: what he's doing the whole team. I kid you, not
Speaker 1: like I wouldn't like to you guys. Half the time,
Speaker 1: I didn't know who had the ball until they were
Speaker 1: a getting to the line and I had to go
Speaker 1: tackle him. That that is an underrated part of their team.
Speaker 1: Lamar is so good with his ball handling and taking
Speaker 1: the ball at the mess point, and the creativity with
Speaker 1: the play calls that mark Ingram runs well and Gus
Speaker 1: Edwards and Jackson that every defense is slow trying to react.
Speaker 1: I mean the Rams, we know they're mediocre this season.
Speaker 1: I don't think I needed to see them get blown
Speaker 1: out to know that. I mean, Deshaun Watson's Texans lost
Speaker 1: by basically the same score ended his m VP campaign.
Speaker 1: Remember that they beat the Patriots by three scores and
Speaker 1: they went to Seattle and beat them thirty to sixteen.
Speaker 1: This is a historic run. They've outscored their last five
Speaker 1: opponents uh two two. I believe the sixty four and
Speaker 1: four of those teams are teams that could be going
Speaker 1: to the playoffs. The Rams probably aren't, but three of
Speaker 1: those teams are playoff teams. They are beating great teams
Speaker 1: by a lot in a way that we haven't seen
Speaker 1: since the oh seven Patriots. To me, yeah, the Rams
Speaker 1: are a disappointment. They're gonna end up with eight nine
Speaker 1: wins whatever. It is very likely missed the playoffs. But
Speaker 1: they're the Washington Generals. As you mentioned, this is this
Speaker 1: is the Baltimore Ravens Show. It's the first time in
Speaker 1: literally NFL history that a team has beating two winning
Speaker 1: teams back to back weeks by more than thirty four points.
Speaker 1: I mean, their their point differential is right there with
Speaker 1: like the greatest teams of all time, and it's just
Speaker 1: like fun to watch it. It's perfect that we got
Speaker 1: the forty Niners coming in on Sunday and this week,
Speaker 1: of all weeks, I was struck by the similarities when
Speaker 1: we see RG three warming up on the sidelines and
Speaker 1: garbage time to the two thousand twelve RG three season,
Speaker 1: where it's not every year that the league gets swept
Speaker 1: up in the fever of a physical marvel like r
Speaker 1: G three was when the Giants were saying it's like
Speaker 1: playing against Superman, when they were chasing him down the
Speaker 1: sideline for eighty years, and then he goes into Dallas
Speaker 1: on Thanksgiving Day and has a complete star turn. Tony
Speaker 1: Kornheiser is calling it the era of unbridled optimism. And
Speaker 1: when I look at this, I think that he's closest
Speaker 1: to the r G three rookie as far as skill set,
Speaker 1: but much better instincts as a runner than r G three,
Speaker 1: much more durable and strong than r G three, a
Speaker 1: better pocket passer than Michael Vick, and I think he's
Speaker 1: he's on horror. Maybe not quite at the level of
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson in terms of decision making, but Russell Wilson's
Speaker 1: instincts as a runner, his decision making is just tremendous,
Speaker 1: and Lamar Jackson's like that, but with way more speed
Speaker 1: right his I think he's one of the best runners
Speaker 1: in the NFL. I mean, you can't even compare r
Speaker 1: G three or even Russell Wilson just as a running
Speaker 1: entity to to Jackson, because he's the best running quarterback
Speaker 1: in NFL history. I mean, he's he's put at least
Speaker 1: he's having the best season any quarterback has had running
Speaker 1: the ball, and the impact that he makes, Like Weddell
Speaker 1: said on defenders who don't know where the ball is
Speaker 1: and their offensive line is playing outstanding, well, I would
Speaker 1: look at it like this. He will be he it's
Speaker 1: his m v P award to lose it right now.
Speaker 1: I think it's close, though, I really do. With five
Speaker 1: not the way, not the way everyone is swept up
Speaker 1: in the fever. And he will be the youngest m
Speaker 1: v P winner if it happens since Jim Brown in
Speaker 1: fifty seven and fifty eight, which to me makes sense
Speaker 1: because Jim Brown was the biggest physical marvel compared to
Speaker 1: his contemporaries that we've ever seen, and Lamar Jackson right
Speaker 1: now is a physical marvel. Sevens or wild for the Ravens.
Speaker 1: Right now, they have seven straight wins. They had seven
Speaker 1: possessions yesterday where they got seven points out of all
Speaker 1: seven uh or six possessions where they got seven points
Speaker 1: each time. Here they are now UH nine for fifty
Speaker 1: five touchdown, seven for sixty one touchdown, eight for seventy
Speaker 1: five touchdown, sevens for seventy five touchdown, ten for seventy
Speaker 1: five touchdown, seventeen for seventy eight touchdown. And the thing
Speaker 1: that jumps out to me and and the the ESPN
Speaker 1: telecast hit on this with bringing up the name of
Speaker 1: the analytics guy that that John R. Harbor leans on
Speaker 1: that multiple times they go for it on fourth down.
Speaker 1: They just don't care because they know if they execute,
Speaker 1: they can't be stopped. On offense, and that was not
Speaker 1: The Rams are deeply disappointing, and especially on offense, where
Speaker 1: it's it's stunning to see how far this team is addressed.
Speaker 1: And Jared Goff looks like the Jeff Fisher Jared Goff
Speaker 1: now and it's hard to believe, but that defense of
Speaker 1: the Rams still has and still has Aaron Donald and
Speaker 1: still has Jalen Ramsey and had Eric Weddle back there,
Speaker 1: and it didn't matter. I think it's okay to be
Speaker 1: swept up by the Lamar Jackson. The magnificence of what
Speaker 1: we're seeing right now, I thought it was amazing the
Speaker 1: sequence where at on fourth and four they're up thirty
Speaker 1: five to six the Ravens and talking about analytics and
Speaker 1: what John Harbaugh decided to do, and this is not
Speaker 1: the John Harbor of five or six years ago. They
Speaker 1: roll out Sam Coach for a punt right, and then
Speaker 1: they say no, no no, no, We're gonna bring in Justin
Speaker 1: Tucker and we're gonna kick it. And then they say no, no, no,
Speaker 1: no no, And suddenly you see Lamar Jackson waving every
Speaker 1: went off the field and he whips a big completion
Speaker 1: and they it's this is what they're doing every week.
Speaker 1: I was watching it with Luke, who's nine years old
Speaker 1: and is seen like six football games, and he said, Daddy,
Speaker 1: why are their wide open spaces play after play? Because
Speaker 1: that is a Rams defensive issue. I think they missed
Speaker 1: the Dominican sue. I think that there are things happening,
Speaker 1: and it's not just the Rams, it's other teams too,
Speaker 1: But they were broken by the end of that. Do
Speaker 1: you think would have made a difference. I don't know
Speaker 1: if you would have made a difference, But when you
Speaker 1: when when Ingram had one run where he clashed into
Speaker 1: three or four people and the Ram all the and
Speaker 1: they're all in bright yellow jerseys, and they were just
Speaker 1: all on the ground for an extra second or two
Speaker 1: because their wheels had been broken by the third quarter.
Speaker 1: By the way, on the field after the game, Lakeisha
Speaker 1: Jackson Westling? Who is she? Just Lkisha Westling. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: get this right. Well, her middle name is now Jackson. Okay,
Speaker 1: so I know. Um, she is a huge Rams fan.
Speaker 1: She uses her NFL connections good for her to get
Speaker 1: on the field and in person at the cal seem
Speaker 1: to watch the game. Blood Bath sucks, however, because she's
Speaker 1: a journal because she cares about her friends, because she
Speaker 1: cares about this show. She tracked down the great Mark Ingram,
Speaker 1: the outspoken star running back of the Ravens who quietly
Speaker 1: had another awesome game last night, and and got this
Speaker 1: from Ingram, my dog Mark? What is see? What's up? Man?
Speaker 1: Hey man? I'm gonna say, Mark, what does he? He He
Speaker 1: always look out for me, always showed me love. That's
Speaker 1: my dude. Have you always looked out for marking him?
Speaker 1: Is that true? I mean, I you know we were
Speaker 1: on foreign soil where we looked out for each other.
Speaker 1: USO tour that you went on together. That's what the
Speaker 1: famous Mark when the sea drop is from. But give
Speaker 1: me an instance, and when when you looked out for him,
Speaker 1: and you you as a real friend and as a protector,
Speaker 1: almost helped mark Ingram to where he is today. He
Speaker 1: is a class act. But I think I could help
Speaker 1: him by not describing the situation. But no, I know
Speaker 1: that he helped me much more because the one thing,
Speaker 1: the one note I'll say about him is that you
Speaker 1: can already see his effect on that locker room, that team.
Speaker 1: But totally selfless and he is He's all about Lamar Jackson,
Speaker 1: He's all about everyone else. And when Lakisha, I know
Speaker 1: that she had competition to talk to mark Ingram, she
Speaker 1: had to fight to get him for a second in
Speaker 1: the family. I totally appreciate how she got that. But
Speaker 1: one thing that that happened there is that she I
Speaker 1: totally lost my train of thought because it was just
Speaker 1: so amazing, but I forced her way in and she
Speaker 1: did and he and you know, she also waited till
Speaker 1: this morning to put it up, and I thought it
Speaker 1: was just an awesome surprise to see. But like mark
Speaker 1: Ingram has done that over and over and people were
Speaker 1: tweeting on her tweet basically Saints fans saying this is
Speaker 1: why we miss him in our locker room, that you
Speaker 1: know that's a good locker room too, but that his
Speaker 1: absence has been felt. In the addition, in Baltimore, could
Speaker 1: not have been a better free agent in person. I
Speaker 1: feel like if I had a guess what the example was,
Speaker 1: maybe a bare knuckle streep brawl somewhere on the streets
Speaker 1: of Rome and and you know Ingram he could hold
Speaker 1: hold his own Obviously, this guy is a big man,
Speaker 1: and he and he's knocking out bad guys left and right.
Speaker 1: But then a sneak attack. A guy comes up behind
Speaker 1: him with a switchblade. Here comes Mark. He does a superkick.
Speaker 1: That guy's out and and then you put Mark Ingram
Speaker 1: over your shoulder and you raise him to safety. That
Speaker 1: I think that's what he sounds about, right. I know
Speaker 1: on our final light there he did a lot more
Speaker 1: to help me. Let's put it that when I when
Speaker 1: I was there in training camp, and they all talked
Speaker 1: about that Ingram was already one of the leaders of
Speaker 1: that team, and that offense like he made, and that
Speaker 1: was you know, that's back in August. He's creating a
Speaker 1: lot of his own yards. That thing about Lamar part
Speaker 1: of the reason his teammates love him is because he
Speaker 1: makes them all look better. I mean, they're they're leaving
Speaker 1: five guys in to pass protect almost every down, never
Speaker 1: an extra guy, so you have more receivers out in
Speaker 1: the route. That's part of the reason why you know
Speaker 1: they have open receivers all the time, the tackles in
Speaker 1: the offensive lineman, they're all going to the Pro Bowl
Speaker 1: like they're getting incentives. Like Orlando Brown and Ronnie Stanley
Speaker 1: are playing as well as anyone, they're getting more love.
Speaker 1: It's like Lamar makes mark Ingram look better. He makes
Speaker 1: everyone look better. I wrote an article last year questioning
Speaker 1: why the Ravens bypassed or when James in the first round,
Speaker 1: and now look at the two thousand and eight teen
Speaker 1: draft class of the Baltimore Ravens. It's got to be
Speaker 1: one of the best of the last decade. Despite taking
Speaker 1: Hayden Hurst first. Right, you get Lamar Jackson, you've got
Speaker 1: a Pro Bowl tight end, and Mark Andrews, you've got
Speaker 1: two offensive line starters, and then your first pick is
Speaker 1: your backup tight end, Hayden Hurst. That's uh. We should
Speaker 1: mention their Their defense just quickly has is one of
Speaker 1: the reasons why I think they're they're the favorites for
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl at this point. And John Harbor had
Speaker 1: a good quote when they asked me, you know they're
Speaker 1: the best team. He said, that doesn't exist. There is
Speaker 1: no best team. In November. They they decide that at
Speaker 1: the end of February said downstairs that your daughter said that.
Speaker 1: When I was sitting at my cubicle work, I said,
Speaker 1: I'm going to miss that to my daughter, and I
Speaker 1: thought your daughter said it. I was thinking to myself, like, wow, insightful,
Speaker 1: I said, she's Ellis's. Ellis is fixated on who's the
Speaker 1: best team in the league that week. Well, the forty
Speaker 1: Niners and the Patriots have right, Well who's better? Well,
Speaker 1: how could the Ravens be better if they were? And
Speaker 1: Harba said it, Well, he's like, there is no best
Speaker 1: team right now. That we got to determine that in February,
Speaker 1: and so they just have to keep this rolling. They
Speaker 1: have to get that one. So she was able to
Speaker 1: discern who was the better team last night, I hope,
Speaker 1: oh yeah. And also hardball is not mad enough to say,
Speaker 1: but if you want to know who the best team is,
Speaker 1: you go check out nfl dot com slash Power rankings. Oh,
Speaker 1: of course, there you go. We could disagree with whatever
Speaker 1: you cooked up there before we moved on. That was
Speaker 1: not the only exclusive that Kesha got. Less really, there
Speaker 1: is something she got just for the three of you
Speaker 1: and our loyal listeners. Do we have that? We've got it?
Speaker 1: What's NFL and courts? I'm like Keisha Westland and today
Speaker 1: my husband Chris Westland joins me on the show, his
Speaker 1: first time ever. What an honor. I know, I know. Um. So,
Speaker 1: we've got a lot of football to get to. We've
Speaker 1: got the Bengals announcing that Andy Dalton is now poof
Speaker 1: all of a sudden their starting quarterback again a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks too late. So I don't They're hot mess.
Speaker 1: And another hot mess is the Rams getting their butts kicked.
Speaker 1: That was a little embarrassing for you tonight, Ravens. Oh
Speaker 1: they're so good, Lamar Jackson, so good? Why you gotta
Speaker 1: do us like that on Monday Night football? Or seen
Speaker 1: anything like Lamar Jackson? This is what I don't need
Speaker 1: to You need some need some wine, some wine up
Speaker 1: in my life. Give me your cut baby, Let's do it.
Speaker 1: Drink it out that solid production on here out of
Speaker 1: this world. Why is the wine blue? Wine is blue?
Speaker 1: Because we're having a baby. I really do need that
Speaker 1: one because I just got that. I did not see that.
Speaker 1: Whoa Greg giving me a hug Mark Dan dam was
Speaker 1: right June June, June June wedding, first child. That's gonna
Speaker 1: be June midnight, late night. I'm do May twenty nine though,
Speaker 1: so it's kind of I could actually have could man June,
Speaker 1: who knows, But I'm gonna say June because right now
Speaker 1: Dan has my whole life like this. He protects it. Graduation.
Speaker 1: Keisha has entered the studio. For everyone listening on the podcast,
Speaker 1: tears are coming out that blue. Yeah, I didn't want
Speaker 1: to judge the wine, but while a Kisha, and by
Speaker 1: the way, thank you for the scoop. But more importantly
Speaker 1: this special moment. Keep crying, Oh my, I know, just speechless.
Speaker 1: It's just it's surreal. Just but we're happy for you.
Speaker 1: I know the day you've been looking forward to. It's amazing.
Speaker 1: It's been a long journey, especially through cancer, and there
Speaker 1: were days where I didn't think this was possible. There
Speaker 1: were chemo therapy and radiation days where they said you
Speaker 1: may not be able to have a child again. And
Speaker 1: throughout it all, Keisha always had this positive outlook that
Speaker 1: our lives were going to change for the better and
Speaker 1: this is what's going to happen in a couple of years.
Speaker 1: And you're right. And Dan had the same outlook. Obviously
Speaker 1: I knew it. I knew it the whole time. And
Speaker 1: there it's on the fast track and this is uh awesome.
Speaker 1: I've never known any non pregnant woman who's had more
Speaker 1: toys already, bought more plans, more rules other people. It's
Speaker 1: gonna be you know that was pregnant one your two boys.
Speaker 1: Watching Chris try to change a diaper with velcro because
Speaker 1: he's not used to diapers having lcrow was it We
Speaker 1: have talked about in our house too, because we're like
Speaker 1: you trying, you know, looking at other parents and comparing,
Speaker 1: you know, how you're doing compared to others. A lot
Speaker 1: of times we're thinking we're not up to snuff here.
Speaker 1: But we've always thought Western Lakisha, they have got it down.
Speaker 1: They got the marriage thing down about as good as
Speaker 1: you could. They're gonna do the same with the parenthood thing.
Speaker 1: I'm so happy for you and the a T and
Speaker 1: media insider did have some some sparrows coming to me
Speaker 1: with some rumors that this could be in the air, yes,
Speaker 1: which I didn't report on that obviously, but there were
Speaker 1: sparrows out there that came to me that this could
Speaker 1: be something that was out are but I wanted to
Speaker 1: wait it out and get some more sources. Now I
Speaker 1: got the best source you can get. And this is
Speaker 1: the reason for the cozy freak out. Yeah, there's been
Speaker 1: a big Yeah, there's been a big controversy about where
Speaker 1: we're all going to gather tomorrow night for our traditional
Speaker 1: Thanksgiving Eve NFL media friends gathering, and uh Lakisha has
Speaker 1: been very strong going to a place that has a
Speaker 1: great hamburger Hananos And listen, you're in that zone now,
Speaker 1: who told you? Who do you think? Do you think?
Speaker 1: What kind of media insider would I be if I
Speaker 1: told you my source was uh? I guess yeah, that's true. Now,
Speaker 1: you were you were asking you were stunned, nobody in
Speaker 1: this room. You were stunned when you saw this happen
Speaker 1: to be looking at yet are literally only like two
Speaker 1: or three possibilities. Yeah, the light didn't go on though.
Speaker 1: When I saw the Blue. I was just thinking I
Speaker 1: shouldn't make fun of the wine because she's serious. I
Speaker 1: called Lakisha out in London. Yeah, and Lakisha was so
Speaker 1: nervous because Katie was with Goes. I don't know, like
Speaker 1: he's not really drinking wine and stuff like that, and
Speaker 1: I and I got flustered when you asked me, you
Speaker 1: know what. Simona asked that question too, because I kept saying, like,
Speaker 1: he's just been so nice about like getting any little thing.
Speaker 1: But let's say that it's not I'm not even thinking
Speaker 1: of that way You're I have one larger question because
Speaker 1: I think the bigger issue here the shield is going
Speaker 1: to be theoretically down a member, like that's something dance.
Speaker 1: How about the company's softball team. You're talking to company's
Speaker 1: softball team, not not the NFL at large, because Roger
Speaker 1: Rock is keeping keeping these two that he was making
Speaker 1: them go to HR meetings and declare their love forever.
Speaker 1: I don't know what that was about, and a headache
Speaker 1: for you to deal. Well, the timing is a little selfish,
Speaker 1: I'll put it out. I was starting catching my starting
Speaker 1: third base and procreating and when the playoffs are happening,
Speaker 1: But We'll figure that terrific terrific timing though an offseason baby,
Speaker 1: that's the way to do it. It's tasteful. The baby
Speaker 1: is doing late in May late May, right there, right
Speaker 1: as has been predicted for years. I think we just
Speaker 1: wrapped the show, and what do we do, bears Lion,
Speaker 1: It's like, let's really break down that drisk cultur whisky matchup.
Speaker 1: Uh and guess what, guys, that's the road to victory
Speaker 1: presented by the United States. I mean, the Marines just
Speaker 1: got their money is worth for the entire season. A
Speaker 1: lot of Marines come back from service and they get
Speaker 1: right to work, you know, and there's kids that you know,
Speaker 1: pop out nine months later. That's what they do. And
Speaker 1: that's what's that's similar to what's happened here. Wows how
Speaker 1: about that pipe still operational? That's good? My boys can swim?
Speaker 1: What news? And I like you you guys dropped like
Speaker 1: an a bomb in the middle of the show because
Speaker 1: that even adds more. I mean, right, because you really
Speaker 1: you if case is still there, she built it up,
Speaker 1: she built up to it. You started talking about Jared
Speaker 1: Goff's like third down, you know, throws like that timing
Speaker 1: is not really there with Kipper Butuck Cupp speaking of timings.
Speaker 1: Awesome alright, and another boy, Wow, that's that's gonna give.
Speaker 1: We got a roster coming together here. We now have
Speaker 1: the replacement podcast lined up set to go unbelievable. All right,
Speaker 1: let's let's try to move on from that, uh and
Speaker 1: and talk about Yes, you know that, some people say
Speaker 1: Bill Belichick. Bill Belichick learned it from Bill Parcel. Found
Speaker 1: the official quote. By the way, after Thanksgiving. The football
Speaker 1: season doesn't start until after Thanks you, and that is
Speaker 1: Bill Parcel. That's part that's Belichick, and Belichick says it
Speaker 1: quite a bit. You know what, I know you love Belichick,
Speaker 1: but Belichick learned at the knee of parcelves. I don't
Speaker 1: think Parcels gets enough love anymore. I think it's all
Speaker 1: Belichick now. And I don't know. I guess I'm a
Speaker 1: big tun a guy. I'm with you. It's just that
Speaker 1: Belichick's won like five more Super Bowls at this point.
Speaker 1: So said, it was a time when they were viewed
Speaker 1: as you can say a lot about build ourselves. Not
Speaker 1: getting enough media attention. Doesn't seem like it, I said, love,
Speaker 1: I understand that, all right. Anyway, Parcels Uh said it,
Speaker 1: and you know again, we talked about him all the time,
Speaker 1: Mike and the mad dog France. Tessa would powert whatever
Speaker 1: his buddy at the racetrack, Parcels would say. So that
Speaker 1: was kind of hammered into your head growing up in
Speaker 1: the Tri State area that the playoffs begin after Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1: So let's make some Thanksgiving predictions. West's last Thanksgiving, uh
Speaker 1: where he's not a father. Oh what a year you
Speaker 1: got coming up West, both for the good and the great.
Speaker 1: And there's already been a lot of reckoning going on
Speaker 1: in my mind. It's it's changing. It's gonna change everything, Chris,
Speaker 1: I you've seen it all around you. But until you're
Speaker 1: actually in the s. As the Marines say, best advice
Speaker 1: I got and give is don't do any preparation. Don't
Speaker 1: even think about it too much. There's nothing you can do.
Speaker 1: It all be a waste of time anyways, So just
Speaker 1: enjoy support Lakisha and everything she needs, and enjoy the
Speaker 1: time until it's it's here. I take a couple of
Speaker 1: road trips. I'd get away and do that, but there's
Speaker 1: a catch there. We did the baby moon as they
Speaker 1: call it, um Emily and I just heard about It's
Speaker 1: all problematic because one of the best things about being
Speaker 1: married and being young and married and having not a
Speaker 1: ton of responsibilities before kids is your wife is like
Speaker 1: your best drinking buddy, and you go to these things.
Speaker 1: Lakisha going out of action for almost a year, it's
Speaker 1: not great, it's and it will make it less fun
Speaker 1: not being able to, you know, cut loose with her,
Speaker 1: and you'll miss that. All of this is true. But
Speaker 1: I think um, our friends, Lakisha and I our friends
Speaker 1: know that we're not two people who really went through
Speaker 1: our twenties and thirties, and you have to worry that
Speaker 1: they didn't really live it up enough. We lived it
Speaker 1: up plenty. You could also bring Greg on your baby moon.
Speaker 1: I just that's that would be effective. Um. And then
Speaker 1: my my one other thought, Greg's right, there's no way
Speaker 1: to prepare for it. You just got to be in it.
Speaker 1: But what the real ropadope, like the Tom Brady level ropadope,
Speaker 1: is the first like week two weeks, when you got
Speaker 1: family helping and the your you know, the mothers has
Speaker 1: their hands full obviously literally, UM, it seems like, oh
Speaker 1: I don't have that much This doesn't change so much.
Speaker 1: It's when the family leaves town and then it's just
Speaker 1: the three of you in the house and things get real. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the baby goes, also the baby. It begins by sleeping
Speaker 1: for like seven and a half hours. I remember reading,
Speaker 1: ripping through mystery novels and texting all my friends with
Speaker 1: kids being like, you guys are ridiculous. This is so
Speaker 1: easy a lot of me time than it all changed.
Speaker 1: So we we've been told it's over for the Westley,
Speaker 1: but it's also the best thing that will ever happen
Speaker 1: to want to make that clear as well. All right,
Speaker 1: let's get to it. The season doesn't start till Thanksgiving,
Speaker 1: So Mark, give us a prediction for the twenty nineteen season,
Speaker 1: which is just beginning on Sunday. How do I follow
Speaker 1: anything that happened with it with this? But um, I've
Speaker 1: got like fifteen predictions on this page. But this is
Speaker 1: the one that's burning into my eyes as I read it,
Speaker 1: because I I believe this is going to be a
Speaker 1: thing that's going to become something that gets thrown into
Speaker 1: Patriots lore. Tom Brady going out and winning first round
Speaker 1: playoff games is at this point a snooze fest to
Speaker 1: the viewer if you're of a certain age, because you've
Speaker 1: seen it happen, well, their first their initial games, or
Speaker 1: let's see, even if it were in this case, you
Speaker 1: know you've got all the teams in the f C.
Speaker 1: They're opening salvo in the playoffs is typically a beat
Speaker 1: down that just goes the way you'd predict, or it's close,
Speaker 1: you can pitch it as close, but it's not. This time.
Speaker 1: It's going to be very different because there's going to
Speaker 1: be a minor tick or a fly in the appointment.
Speaker 1: I should say, Okay, it's not it's not gonna be
Speaker 1: something that that would be worse takes a very dangerous uh.
Speaker 1: But if you're you're gonna lose Tom Brady for one
Speaker 1: playoff game, it's not gonna be extremely serious. Where like
Speaker 1: I'm bringing back the mark point is actually like the
Speaker 1: fourth gaming Mark Sessler injuring it. This is going to
Speaker 1: Jared stood him into the lineup with very little pre
Speaker 1: up practice time. It's gonna happen like on a Thursday
Speaker 1: or something. Okay, and you're gonna have to suddenly Patriots
Speaker 1: fans are gonna be freaking out. Scott Zola is gonna
Speaker 1: be freaking out. Everyone's gonna be thinking this is how
Speaker 1: they finally got us. But he is going to author
Speaker 1: one of the most creative, interesting, unbelievable Patriots first playoff
Speaker 1: games of their season, wins and so long. It will
Speaker 1: feel fresh and new to Patriots fans, and Brady will
Speaker 1: come back the next week. Not anything that would surprise me.
Speaker 1: In fact, he Belichick is on that um all Time
Speaker 1: you know, top one hundred team NFL Network special that's
Speaker 1: going on right now every Friday, every Friday, and he
Speaker 1: just it's with Rich Eyes and Belichick, and he just
Speaker 1: said his philosophy and he's he's the classic I read
Speaker 1: The Art of War moved by Shinzoo, what is the author?
Speaker 1: And he said that the whole thing he broke it
Speaker 1: down to is exposing and exploiting your enemies weaknesses and
Speaker 1: playing to your strengths. That's what he would do in
Speaker 1: that case, and he'd find a way to protect that quarterback.
Speaker 1: And so it wouldn't shock me at all. What would
Speaker 1: shock me as the Tom Brady got hurt because he
Speaker 1: really he doesn't miss games other than that one season.
Speaker 1: That uh, that Belichick quote, which which was telling I
Speaker 1: I thought it was he prefaced it by saying, I
Speaker 1: I always think there's a way to win, Like every
Speaker 1: game is winnable. You just have to figure out base
Speaker 1: how to attack their weaknesses and make your strengths better.
Speaker 1: I mean that's what's doing it for the Patriots right now,
Speaker 1: right because they're not that good. I think like a
Speaker 1: lot like you to a lot like the Oh three
Speaker 1: and and certainly the one team. It would cap off
Speaker 1: a regular season where you could say they're they're they're short,
Speaker 1: and a lot of positions to have a backup of
Speaker 1: all people win one playoff? Is this the elbow injury
Speaker 1: that put him on the injury reporting I'm not because
Speaker 1: if I here's the thing, if this happens, and it
Speaker 1: will happen, let's start right there, and I predict the
Speaker 1: wrong body part, it seems like you didn't really get
Speaker 1: the prediction right. So I'm just gonna say Tom Brady
Speaker 1: will not be careful not to say divisional round. It
Speaker 1: looks pretty safe, will get a bye. Say their first
Speaker 1: playoff game, Jared Stidham's in there and he pulls off,
Speaker 1: and it's not just because he hands the ball of
Speaker 1: six hundred four times. He's gonna do something find me up. Well.
Speaker 1: I also have a Patriots prediction. Okay, it's a little
Speaker 1: bit different the current iteration of the Patriots, a team
Speaker 1: which I find to be just a tad overrated nationally
Speaker 1: as a Thanksgiving or about to embark on a three
Speaker 1: game panic inducing losing streak, climaxing with Week fifteen climax
Speaker 1: indeed on the Cincinnati John about the resurgent Andy Dalton
Speaker 1: led Bengals about to lose their vice grip on the
Speaker 1: number one pick with a J. Green and John Ross healthy,
Speaker 1: we're moving the balls in an upset victory over the Patriots,
Speaker 1: which will be the third straight loss in a row.
Speaker 1: This would be losing at Houston. No, they wouldn't in
Speaker 1: that case home for Kansas City and then the kicker
Speaker 1: they lose too. Uh. Zach Taylor's boys, Zach Taylor took
Speaker 1: found a way to win the bold the bold prediction
Speaker 1: that is the next two weeks. I actually believe that
Speaker 1: though just trying to think. No, I really think that
Speaker 1: the Patriots are I said, a tan overrated. I think
Speaker 1: the way people are talking about them as if they're
Speaker 1: the favorites in the a f C. Still that team,
Speaker 1: that team ended in that team ended in mid October.
Speaker 1: They haven't played at that level and I just don't
Speaker 1: see them playing that way. And I do think if
Speaker 1: you get Andy Dalton, John Ross and A J. Greenback
Speaker 1: for the Bengals, that's not the same team you're playing
Speaker 1: against that you think you were playing against. West. That
Speaker 1: prediction topped your news from earlier in the show. I thought, so, um,
Speaker 1: I really don't think the Patriots or who people think
Speaker 1: they are, they're winning with Bill Belichick in defense, and
Speaker 1: they're not winning with Tom Brady and offense. From your
Speaker 1: old lips to God as my friends, right, but they
Speaker 1: isn't Bill Belichick. I mean the defense has been that's
Speaker 1: been enough, that's been good. I'm January Willie. I'm saying
Speaker 1: that the luck of winning these close games where you're
Speaker 1: just out coaching everybody, I don't think you can count
Speaker 1: on that every week. You can see it getting to
Speaker 1: Cincinnati with two losses Texans Chiefs, that's not Yeah, they're
Speaker 1: they're in Houston. And then aren't you the one who
Speaker 1: always says any NFL team can beat any other inn
Speaker 1: three three in a row from ten and one would
Speaker 1: be a would be a steep fall. I still think
Speaker 1: they're playing as a top firal all the top six
Speaker 1: or seven team in the NFL. I'm with you. I
Speaker 1: don't think there's In fact, I would say the opposite.
Speaker 1: I think the conventional wisdom is maybe they're not one
Speaker 1: of the five best teams in the NFL right now,
Speaker 1: at least like watching Good Morning Football and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: I think that's what Twitter thinks. But I think that's
Speaker 1: what a base that's based on Walker has become a
Speaker 1: huge g MFB fan. None of them think yeah that,
Speaker 1: And I don't blame them, Like in power rankings, it's like,
Speaker 1: you know, five six, that's it's about. I think people
Speaker 1: see I don't watch the Wednesday hands this hit but
Speaker 1: otherwise great program. Well that's too early, I think. How
Speaker 1: early are you on there? Oh it's about six thirty.
Speaker 1: Yeah we're not. We're not. We're not watching TV at
Speaker 1: six thirty. S um here. The thing that hurts is
Speaker 1: that the Patriots could lose three games in a row
Speaker 1: and still get a bye. They could clean it up
Speaker 1: and go twelve and four, and that might be good enough.
Speaker 1: Uh well quite possibly would would be Well the Chiefs, Yeah,
Speaker 1: the Chiefs would have a chance to pass them certainly,
Speaker 1: so one of those losses would be to Kansas City,
Speaker 1: another team. Houston teams changed constantly throughout a season, and
Speaker 1: I could see them going on a three game losing
Speaker 1: streak and then rebounding, figuring out some things about their
Speaker 1: offense and better hold like how they're looking now. That
Speaker 1: at the Patriots fan doesn't worry me too much other
Speaker 1: than they need to get things in place for like
Speaker 1: the three one game tournaments, as as Belichick would think
Speaker 1: about it, that that they hope to play. Let's go
Speaker 1: down to the Big d Uh and talk about what's
Speaker 1: going on with the Cowboys. And I thought Jerry Jones,
Speaker 1: I understand that he part of He's a Carnival barker
Speaker 1: on some level. He loves to get out there and
Speaker 1: and make headlines and be the center of attention. But
Speaker 1: this feels a little different. After another disappointing Cowboys lost
Speaker 1: their second in three weeks. Let's listen to a little
Speaker 1: bit of what Jara had to say, uh this week.
Speaker 1: You know, with a lot of criticism around Jason Garrett
Speaker 1: the coaching staff, that Cowboys are very disappointing six and five.
Speaker 1: When you're general manager of which I am, Uh those
Speaker 1: coaches are out there at my ultimate decision and so uh,
Speaker 1: just as uh I should and do expect our fans
Speaker 1: to want to ask in a situation like that, questions
Speaker 1: regarding of how we perform. It's very much within my
Speaker 1: realm of uh per view, if you will, to basically
Speaker 1: not only be standing there as an owner, but be
Speaker 1: standing there as the general manager that put the staff
Speaker 1: together to begin with. And so uh it's people seem
Speaker 1: to think that it's uh particularly harsh to have criticism uh.
Speaker 1: And they think that when you look the other side
Speaker 1: of the field and call a job well done, that
Speaker 1: that might mean that that's extraordinary criticism of the job
Speaker 1: that you've done over on the other side of the field,
Speaker 1: which is which is me alright, So can we get
Speaker 1: more of that please? By the way, By the way,
Speaker 1: it does remind at no point in your rambling reminds
Speaker 1: me of our early days. Mark on the copy desk
Speaker 1: at NFL dot com. He was the best person to
Speaker 1: transcribe because he spoke so slowly that you be able
Speaker 1: to type it out in real time and and have
Speaker 1: a really good, uh, you know, a copy in front
Speaker 1: of you without have some guys mumble or talk really quick.
Speaker 1: You gotta take the recorder and move it down to speed.
Speaker 1: Not him isn't half speed. Essentially, you never know where
Speaker 1: to put a punctuation mark there Like that seemed to
Speaker 1: just be one sentence kept I fell asleep at one point,
Speaker 1: I have to say. But the point that I'm getting
Speaker 1: to in my prediction is that I believe Jason Garrett
Speaker 1: has used up the last of his nine lives. I
Speaker 1: think there's a tonal shift going on there. Jarrah is
Speaker 1: he is not going to be tarra firma, uh infinitely.
Speaker 1: He time is running out, and you you sense that
Speaker 1: the Jones family thinks they have something special with this roster,
Speaker 1: and with some of the way the games have played
Speaker 1: out that it maybe finally Jerry Jones is coming around
Speaker 1: to what a lot of other people on the outside
Speaker 1: of thought for a long time. Greg, You've been particularly
Speaker 1: vocal on this front that Jason Garrett is a major
Speaker 1: problem for the Cowboys, and right now, if the the
Speaker 1: old season ended today, they would be in as the
Speaker 1: fourth seed um and have a division title. They have
Speaker 1: to at least do that, and I think I think
Speaker 1: it's gonna win a playoff game, and I don't think
Speaker 1: it happens. So I think Jason Garrett gets fired. Uh
Speaker 1: come black Monday, um this this year. That is my prediction,
Speaker 1: and a lot of people have been predicting that for
Speaker 1: five years now. But I just have a bit of
Speaker 1: a feeling making the playoffs. No, they might even make
Speaker 1: the playoffs. You get whacked in a while, whacked in
Speaker 1: the wild card. And I had something similar that I
Speaker 1: thought that Garrett and that rule takes over. I could
Speaker 1: see him potentially being gone before the season ends. If
Speaker 1: this continues a pace and if they collapse, if they collapse,
Speaker 1: let's start. Let's say they lost to the Bills on
Speaker 1: Thanksgiving and it totally collapsed. And because my dream would
Speaker 1: be because I think when he fired Jimmy Johnson, the
Speaker 1: back part of Jerry Johnson's brain or Jerry Jimmy Jones,
Speaker 1: Jerry Jones sprain, where is my brain? I thought I
Speaker 1: could coach this team. I would love to see Jerry
Speaker 1: Jones step in and try to coach the Cowboys for
Speaker 1: one game in Week seventeen and then turn around and
Speaker 1: either try to get Kellen Moore Christopher Shard, but if
Speaker 1: that doesn't work, make a strong run at lowering Tony
Speaker 1: Romo out of the booth to coach the Cowboys next season.
Speaker 1: I do think, uh, it's insane that there had to
Speaker 1: be sources on multiple networks saying, uh that they're not
Speaker 1: considering making a change before the thanksgive In game. I
Speaker 1: was like, Wow, that that had to be something that
Speaker 1: you wanted to that the team wanted to put out there. Well,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe if it was like we didn't have
Speaker 1: a game till Sunday, that would be a possibility. But
Speaker 1: it's a short week. Let's not make any coach changes.
Speaker 1: We talked about this exact conversation before the season, and
Speaker 1: I think we settled on at least I know I
Speaker 1: was saying it's NFC Conference championship game or bust. I
Speaker 1: don't think that's changed. I do think there's a chance
Speaker 1: Christoph Shard gets elevated in that way. You keep telling
Speaker 1: more and it's not too big of a shakeup. I
Speaker 1: think we're all trapped in Week thirteen, and if you
Speaker 1: look at this team one and look at their schedule,
Speaker 1: they're much more likely to win out. I agree with that.
Speaker 1: I I mean I agree that I think they're going
Speaker 1: to make the playoffs and be a dangerous team in
Speaker 1: that in the playoffs, but it's they've beaten one team
Speaker 1: with a winning records, tough to get to a conference championship.
Speaker 1: Just say, you look at their team, you look at
Speaker 1: the roster, you look at the fact that every game
Speaker 1: has been close, even I mean the losses have all
Speaker 1: been closed. This this team is much more likely to
Speaker 1: beat the Bills, Bears, Rams, Eagles, and Redskins then for
Speaker 1: it to But that's not gonna be enough for a bye.
Speaker 1: So they will have to win not just a tough
Speaker 1: home playoff game, but they're gonna have to win on
Speaker 1: the road, likely against you know, either a forty nine
Speaker 1: Ers or a Saints type of team to get to
Speaker 1: that kind uns. You've been pounding the table for the
Speaker 1: Cowboys all season, and I get it, and a lot
Speaker 1: of like the analytics back it all up. Uh, but yeah,
Speaker 1: I haven't seen enough consistency. I can't even put this
Speaker 1: Buffalo game in the win colform and imagine what happens
Speaker 1: if they lose on Thursday, the the drama that would
Speaker 1: ensue following. Totally understand that sentiment, and that makes more
Speaker 1: logical sense. I just have an intuition that this team
Speaker 1: is better than that, all right, We're gonna get to
Speaker 1: find out. And one last note. Jane Slater friend of
Speaker 1: the pod of NFL Network, and she covers the Cowboys
Speaker 1: uh in an excellent fashion for us. She was on
Speaker 1: our airways on NFL Now earlier today and had some
Speaker 1: really strong comments. She said that there was quote blood
Speaker 1: in the water at Cowboys headquarters. She's covered the team
Speaker 1: for a while now, that Jerry Jones was uncomfortable to
Speaker 1: listen to for people, that it's their job to listen
Speaker 1: to them. And also a source told Slater, Uh, regarding
Speaker 1: the Cowboys, it's too early to sink the ship and
Speaker 1: too late to fix it. The Marines don't like that situation, Greg,
Speaker 1: and they they need uh, they need a general manager
Speaker 1: that doesn't act like a fan. That's what I would say,
Speaker 1: that doesn't get so emotionally, you know, wrapped up in things.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go with another team that I think is
Speaker 1: better than their record, like the Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs,
Speaker 1: and my predictions just that they're not gonna lose another game,
Speaker 1: uh for the regular season. And heck uh, I didn't
Speaker 1: know we were stretching this in the playoff let's just
Speaker 1: make it through the playoffs, you know, let's let's say
Speaker 1: go and win a ship. I think they can. I
Speaker 1: really like this team. I think their regular season run
Speaker 1: is not crazy to pull that off. Winning in Foxboro
Speaker 1: is certainly the toughest UH game that they're gonna have.
Speaker 1: Winning the rest of their regular season games will not
Speaker 1: get them a bye. Most likely, they would need the
Speaker 1: Patriots to lose UH three times. Or that's happening, right,
Speaker 1: that's that is happening. I want you to lock them up.
Speaker 1: They had lock up the Texans, so you're so your
Speaker 1: belief this week? Um, and they or they would need
Speaker 1: the Ravens to lose twice. That doesn't seem like that's
Speaker 1: gonna happen either. So it's gonna be a tough road
Speaker 1: for Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid. But I do think
Speaker 1: they are right there to me with the Ravens and
Speaker 1: the forty niners. And I guess you'd throw the Saints
Speaker 1: and the Patriots maybe just a little bit below them
Speaker 1: as like one of the Super Bowl favorite. Had they
Speaker 1: have they haven't totally shown if I think now they will.
Speaker 1: So Ravens do play the Browns and Jets, so Greg
Speaker 1: your dream is alive with their run defense, can't you.
Speaker 1: Edil Lamar Jackson just absolutely and mark Ingram absolutely destroying
Speaker 1: this team. I mean they dominated. They dominated the Ravens
Speaker 1: first of all, like that that was a game that
Speaker 1: they won convincingly. That Lamar Jackson probably played one of
Speaker 1: his worst game. You know, we they I hear you,
Speaker 1: but I hear you. But I'm just saying like that
Speaker 1: is something that happened. I also think run defense, it
Speaker 1: would be a big time problem for them, but it's
Speaker 1: a problem for a lot of these good teams, like
Speaker 1: the Patriots don't have the best run defense. The Ravens
Speaker 1: don't have the best run defense, don't have the best
Speaker 1: run defense. Maybe they match up well against all of them.
Speaker 1: Ravens offense is a problem for any defense that've ever
Speaker 1: played football, right exactly. My point is, I think the
Speaker 1: Chiefs are gonna play to their talent level and it's
Speaker 1: a much better defense, uh this year than it was
Speaker 1: a year ago, and the offense should be ready to
Speaker 1: soar and that they're gonna come into the playoffs as
Speaker 1: that proverbial team. No one wants to things, especially the
Speaker 1: Ravens are Patriots in the divisional route will be really
Speaker 1: interesting if those two teams get to buy like kind
Speaker 1: of how that all shakes. That Kansas City schedule. If
Speaker 1: they can knock off New England is very manageable. And
Speaker 1: the two games that the Baltimore Ravens lost, they were
Speaker 1: two into at one point, which is crazy, and I
Speaker 1: get that it's like in the Mesozoic era at this point.
Speaker 1: But what happened was they got down early in those games,
Speaker 1: and that that that's the one thing every any team
Speaker 1: in the league. When you're up, everything is maximized. But
Speaker 1: if you could, if you're the Chiefs and you could
Speaker 1: somehow build an early lead, which they're explosed, or the
Speaker 1: forty Niners more to the point, this week, two teams
Speaker 1: that are really good playing from a head. And it's
Speaker 1: not just because of the running game. It's partly because
Speaker 1: they're both of their defenses. The Ravens and the forty
Speaker 1: are so good with blitzes and just winning against the
Speaker 1: past versus the run. That's one of the reasons the
Speaker 1: Ravens defense has been so much better. Have the Chiefs
Speaker 1: and the Cowboys kind of in a similar club for
Speaker 1: me where I believe in both of those teams at
Speaker 1: a certain point, they need to really get hot and
Speaker 1: win four or five games in a row to show
Speaker 1: everyone that they are indeed a badass team. So let's
Speaker 1: see if one or both of those teams can pull
Speaker 1: it off. I have the exact same prediction as Greg,
Speaker 1: except I did not have the stones to put them
Speaker 1: in the Super Bowl. I have them winning out the
Speaker 1: regular season, advancing to the a f C Title Game
Speaker 1: against the Ravens and the most anticipated a f C
Speaker 1: Title Game matchup. I didn't really even either. I didn't
Speaker 1: know what I thought. This was a regular Sea Sason thing.
Speaker 1: And then Bartlett asked me, does that mean they don't
Speaker 1: lose for the whole rest of the season. Bag for
Speaker 1: the Chiefs. So he's like, all right, that's a great segment. Mark,
Speaker 1: give us one more, quick one. Let's see here, he's
Speaker 1: got a highlighter all over that page. Quick one, Mark,
Speaker 1: here we go. The Seahawks win the NFC West and
Speaker 1: the forty Niners lose in the first round of the playoffs. Okay,
Speaker 1: I have a Seahawks as well that they will be
Speaker 1: the first team since the Tennessee Titoons. There were the
Speaker 1: Titans back then when men were men. Whatever happened to
Speaker 1: Gary Cooper? The first team since the nine and nine
Speaker 1: Titans the A thirteen and three and be a wild
Speaker 1: card team because I think the Niners and the Saints
Speaker 1: we'll hold onto those uh first two spots and get
Speaker 1: its been that long. I could be wrong, but I
Speaker 1: did some quick googling. The Chargers had a chance last year,
Speaker 1: but then they they they lost at the end. Um,
Speaker 1: All right, good stuff. Let's get to the Thanksgiving game previews.
Speaker 1: Let's go and order, starting with the early game. A
Speaker 1: bit of a snoozer. What was a trip defen Hey,
Speaker 1: you know you know that turkey and you have taken nap. Well,
Speaker 1: this is before the turkey. It's am on the West coast.
Speaker 1: Sweet social media content. Trip to fan jokes. Trip to
Speaker 1: fan jokes are hot this time of year. The Bears
Speaker 1: travel to Detroit to face the Lions, and uh uh,
Speaker 1: you know this is this is a dangerous spot here
Speaker 1: for Matt Patricia in a nationally televised game. The team
Speaker 1: that's lost I believe, six of their last seven h
Speaker 1: and they're surrendering twenty nine points nearly per game. So
Speaker 1: the defense stinks. He's the defensive minded coach, and now
Speaker 1: with Matt Stafford on the shelf and potentially you know,
Speaker 1: there's rumblings that he'll be heading to i R at
Speaker 1: some point. He's done for the year. Jeff Driscoll comes
Speaker 1: down to Earth uh this week against the Redskins, So
Speaker 1: things are really bad for the Lions and you and
Speaker 1: you get the feeling if they can't beat the Bears,
Speaker 1: who are coming off a win, UH, that Patricia's fate
Speaker 1: will be close to seal. That's just kind of how
Speaker 1: I think there are big stakes in this game organizationally
Speaker 1: for the lines rough rough idea. If you don't you
Speaker 1: don't have Jeff drisco playing in this game. He's fighting
Speaker 1: a hamstring injury, and at that point, you know you've got,
Speaker 1: you know, a big problem handing off to both Scarborough
Speaker 1: and hoping that they can survive against this Bears defense.
Speaker 1: I think Driscoll's played fine as as backup quarterbacks go.
Speaker 1: He totally collapsed at the end of last week's game
Speaker 1: against Washington, but he has been the problem. The defense
Speaker 1: has been the problem, and Mitchell Drabinsky hasn't been quite
Speaker 1: as bad the last couple of weeks. Still pretty bad,
Speaker 1: Still long stretches where they're punting against bad defenses. And
Speaker 1: he's even in his good games, he'll throw, you know,
Speaker 1: one or two picks or one or two that should
Speaker 1: be picked. But he hasn't been quite as bad, and
Speaker 1: the Bears defense would seemingly be enough to just go
Speaker 1: win the game by themselves anyways. Well, yeah, any Trabinsky
Speaker 1: progress is loaded with caveats. But we've seen in a
Speaker 1: couple of games in a row now stretches a couple
Speaker 1: of hot streaks. Yeah, hot streaks where the ball placement
Speaker 1: is pretty good and the accuracy is all right, you know,
Speaker 1: then it goes back. It's like, then it goes bad.
Speaker 1: It's like he has one or two bad throws and
Speaker 1: then he just is no longer confidence. Well, we're comparing
Speaker 1: him to how he looked a month or a month
Speaker 1: and a half ago, and I think it counts as
Speaker 1: some progress. I think it's a You say for the
Speaker 1: Lions that it's a game in a season that could
Speaker 1: lead to organizations. I think the same when you look
Speaker 1: at Ryan Pace, Because I I look at Bob Quinn
Speaker 1: GM of the Lions, Ryan Pace, GIM of the Bears,
Speaker 1: I'm not sure who has a better case to stay
Speaker 1: at this point after this season based on some major
Speaker 1: decisions that have been made over the course of the
Speaker 1: couple of years in Detroit. Lack of progress, but the
Speaker 1: Detroit to me as zero real home field advantage in
Speaker 1: these Thanksgiving games that they just don't but they have
Speaker 1: stopped the run and that's kind of been the recipe
Speaker 1: to cause some chaos for Chicago. The Ken not run
Speaker 1: the ball and maybe if you can get a player
Speaker 1: two off a Trabinsky a little bit of Detroit magic.
Speaker 1: It's crazy that this will be one of the most
Speaker 1: watched games of the year. The Chase Daniel when a
Speaker 1: year ago was the second most watched you know, football
Speaker 1: game all last season, and the and the most is
Speaker 1: the is the Cowboys game following it usually the Thanksgiving
Speaker 1: games like these. This is it and it's crazy that
Speaker 1: it could be not a great marketing tool to dance point,
Speaker 1: but it could be better. But I would never flex
Speaker 1: it out as I said, not anymore people of Detroit
Speaker 1: need this. People weren't they on a pretty They've been
Speaker 1: on a pretty nice winning streak in these Thanksgiving until
Speaker 1: not they lost last year. But in general, the Stafford
Speaker 1: Lions have been nice on Thanksgiving. I haven't been tirelessly
Speaker 1: tracking that stet. I tracked it. I tracked this very
Speaker 1: closely every year, and I talked about it every year.
Speaker 1: I love the halftime show in Detroit on Thanksgiving. You know,
Speaker 1: Mark rolled his eyes. But this is important because it's
Speaker 1: of course in third eye Blind played the halftime show
Speaker 1: about six or seven years ago. Speaking of our early
Speaker 1: NFL dot com days, Mark, remember there was some pushback
Speaker 1: about an early around the League post that was publicizing
Speaker 1: a petition that the people of Detroit were signing to
Speaker 1: get Nickelback kicked off the halftime show. Uh. For the
Speaker 1: Lions Thanksgiving game, well, this year, the brothers Osborne will
Speaker 1: be playing. I am not familiar with their material. One
Speaker 1: of them is chown, I would imagine, but they look
Speaker 1: like a couple of chill whites. One of them has
Speaker 1: got a cowboy hat. I'm gonna say country music. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go they sound like rivals of the family Von
Speaker 1: Trap singers. By the way, the the starting quarterback for
Speaker 1: the Lions could be a man named David blow Uh.
Speaker 1: He's the only healthy guy on the roster. He was
Speaker 1: produced backup quarterback on David Fails. He was the backup,
Speaker 1: uh and led them to a big time winning give
Speaker 1: called copping a good job already he wasn't briefly on
Speaker 1: the Browns this off season and b l O U
Speaker 1: g H. Yeah, I don't know. The thing I found
Speaker 1: most interesting they tried to get Josh Johnson from the
Speaker 1: XFL this week to you know, potentially step in, which
Speaker 1: shows you maybe driscoll is not playing this game. Uh,
Speaker 1: the XFL didn't allow him out of his contract. L
Speaker 1: FL blocked it. There you go, flex those those steroid
Speaker 1: adult muscles. David Blow if I'm not mistaken, okay, sorry,
Speaker 1: he played okay in the preseason for Cleveland. I mean
Speaker 1: it was against you know, people that are now working
Speaker 1: at right eight. Please yeah, please don't tell me we're
Speaker 1: watching Dave Blow. That feels like emergency flex by the league.
Speaker 1: But fair enough, that's a jobs we're watching Dave Blow.
Speaker 1: That's a job. That's our jobs. Right. The last time
Speaker 1: we saw him was like in the deep reaches of
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter of preseason games. Total job watching good player.
Speaker 1: Good player started. He did become a starter at purduven.
Speaker 1: You know, he bounced back and forth, nice six and
Speaker 1: five season. All right, the second game in by far
Speaker 1: the best game on the Thanksgiving slate, the Buffalo Bills
Speaker 1: eight and three, coming off a couple of decisive wins,
Speaker 1: which we had wanted to see from this Bills team
Speaker 1: to actually go beat up on some teams, and they
Speaker 1: beat up on a couple of bad teams. And now
Speaker 1: they get the Cowboys in Dallas, and uh, this counts
Speaker 1: as a challenge for bold teams. US. This is a
Speaker 1: good game right here because the Bills with their defense
Speaker 1: which was incredible. I understand it was against the Broncos,
Speaker 1: but there was an incredible stat connected to the game
Speaker 1: that on the last five possessions for Denver, uh, they
Speaker 1: averaged I believe something like five inches per possession. UH
Speaker 1: So a total shutdown effort. Uh. And now the Cowboys,
Speaker 1: who got shut down by the Patriots and crappy conditions
Speaker 1: in New England. UH, if their offense as good as
Speaker 1: they uh as we believe them to be at home,
Speaker 1: this should be prime for a bounce back performance. But
Speaker 1: we'll find out. It will be inch sting to see
Speaker 1: how that matchup works out, because I was down on
Speaker 1: the Bills defense three weeks ago. Then they played the
Speaker 1: Woebegone Dolphins who had just lost like three of their
Speaker 1: best players on offense, and then they played the Broncos
Speaker 1: of Brandon Allen. So what do you do against the
Speaker 1: Cowboys who have been one or two in d v
Speaker 1: o A all year and now you're facing real talent.
Speaker 1: This is a test for the Bills defense, and really
Speaker 1: it's a test for the Cowboys to get off the
Speaker 1: snide as far as maybe not starting their offense until
Speaker 1: the second quarter of a game. You're waiting fifteen minutes
Speaker 1: to get into a game. You need to start from
Speaker 1: from past one and get out there and get an
Speaker 1: early league. What I'd like to see is because if
Speaker 1: you go up and down the schedule of the Dallas Cowboys,
Speaker 1: they haven't really faced a quarterback that provides like a
Speaker 1: mobile threat. They haven't dealt with that. And the Bills
Speaker 1: at least are leaning into as you pointed out after
Speaker 1: that Denver game, they're leaning into Josh Allen's powers on
Speaker 1: the ground. Why not do that all day long? And him,
Speaker 1: you know him with Devin Singletary and Frank or gives
Speaker 1: you something. And that's what I would do, is just
Speaker 1: lean into Josh Allen. He's such a dynamic athlete, but
Speaker 1: like you watch Lamar Jackson who knows how to avoid
Speaker 1: a hit and it's elusive. And you watch Josh Allen
Speaker 1: and he's fast, but he's a bunky, bucking bronco and
Speaker 1: he's just running into people and over people and through people.
Speaker 1: I'm not I wouldn't be comparing him to Lamar Jackson
Speaker 1: at this point, but you is fun to watch. You
Speaker 1: could lean into it. Part of the reason I think
Speaker 1: he stopped running or they stopped calling the places because
Speaker 1: he had a string of insanely poor fumbles wall scrambling
Speaker 1: and running, and I think they in key situations right,
Speaker 1: even insanely poor fumbles, like where it's like the he
Speaker 1: had a couple of times this year where all they
Speaker 1: had to do was not fumble and they win, and
Speaker 1: then Josh Allen fumbled and it raised some question whether
Speaker 1: you're gonna win or not. I like how Greg Paynton
Speaker 1: they literally only needed That's the thing. He's had his
Speaker 1: two best games of the year. He's running more. I
Speaker 1: think there's a lot to be excited. Their defense has
Speaker 1: been way more aggressive. You blitz as much, you know
Speaker 1: against this Cowboys offensive line, I don't know, but even
Speaker 1: in those good games that Allan's had. He still had
Speaker 1: a couple of throws. Uh that that he gives it
Speaker 1: opponent a chance to make a big interception. This Cowboys
Speaker 1: run defense, so I think it's very vulnerable if you
Speaker 1: watch them really last five or six weeks, but especially
Speaker 1: the last two weeks and now late and Vanderess being out.
Speaker 1: I think it is a big part of that. This
Speaker 1: is a This is a great game. I'm looking forward
Speaker 1: to this game because for two reasons. The Cowboys and
Speaker 1: we talked about it in a few minutes back. Uh,
Speaker 1: they're always great soapy theater. That's just it's fun. While
Speaker 1: you know they are a TV show, they really are,
Speaker 1: so to see it. What's gonna happen next, the next
Speaker 1: chapter for them? And then back to Josh Allen, who's
Speaker 1: got their ringer on? Not me, but I would imagine
Speaker 1: someone who's announced major life news in the middle of
Speaker 1: the live show their phone maybe ringing. Uh. This is
Speaker 1: a huge State States for Josh Allen, who I feel like,
Speaker 1: uh kind of is ever been in a relegated to
Speaker 1: the early games on Sunday. I feel like the Bills
Speaker 1: have played roughly seven thousand and one PM games. Uh,
Speaker 1: in the NFL since Jim Kelly retired, they don't get
Speaker 1: a lot of primetime games. So here we are Thanksgiving
Speaker 1: right in the middle. It's gonna be one of the
Speaker 1: highest rated games of the whole season. Josh Allen, are
Speaker 1: you good? Are you a guy that the Bills have
Speaker 1: a franchise quarterback? Uh? Well, A lot of people are
Speaker 1: gonna form opinions based on this game, whether that's fair enough.
Speaker 1: And if you're Jason Garrett, what happens when Jerry Jones
Speaker 1: watches you? Potentially out coached by Sean McDermott. McDermott's doing
Speaker 1: a great job, although he does make me nervous every
Speaker 1: once in a while. It's like he won't let Josh
Speaker 1: Allen throw a Hail Mary at the end of the
Speaker 1: first half. It's like, you got Josh Allen, let him
Speaker 1: throw the ball. They just decided to kneel on the
Speaker 1: ball with ten seconds left at the forty five year
Speaker 1: and it's like, I don't know, that's the point. I
Speaker 1: just like, why why that bothered? He at his heart,
Speaker 1: he's very conservative. I Uh. These are the two teams
Speaker 1: that all season their fans have been annoyed that they
Speaker 1: haven't beaten a good team, both of these teams, because
Speaker 1: neither one has beaten UH a winning team at the time.
Speaker 1: Now the Titans have a winning record, so that's the
Speaker 1: best win. Either one of those these teams is sad?
Speaker 1: Is that Buffalo one? Uh in Tennessee fourteen to seven?
Speaker 1: I mean, the Cowboys need it, they need it bad
Speaker 1: and Uh, I've got a question for the mirror committee
Speaker 1: as chiefs chiefs Raiders? Is that a is that not
Speaker 1: mirror worthy even though technically it's for first place? Because
Speaker 1: if that was, that's not No. I know, but I'm
Speaker 1: gonna lock up the Cowboys if if if you're saying
Speaker 1: what the desert say about Raiders, it would be it
Speaker 1: wouldn't pass the desert. You guys, ever understand the mirror.
Speaker 1: It's not our mirror, it's your. Yeah, it is yours,
Speaker 1: and you you believe in the desert, So I don't
Speaker 1: think you could you but have a mirror. Yeah, we've
Speaker 1: got a couple around the house. You ever look at
Speaker 1: it doesn't look like it now. It's like I never
Speaker 1: I think you've answered your own question. Yeah. If well,
Speaker 1: if one of you jumped on that, I could always jump.
Speaker 1: I have no problem with you taking Yeah, I'll go
Speaker 1: with the Cowboys then and lock that up in the
Speaker 1: cool Beasley Bowl. That's right. I think that's a fine lock.
Speaker 1: His second studio albums coming out pretty soon, so he's
Speaker 1: been working hard. I'm going with you. I'll look, I'll
Speaker 1: lock up the boys to Let's go. Let's fly, be fun,
Speaker 1: fun thing on Thanksgiving. I'd like to do a triple lock.
Speaker 1: Then we've never had that. All right, I'm jumping out,
Speaker 1: what's the point. Then we've done it. We've done that
Speaker 1: very well, Chiefs and writers. Can you look in the mirror?
Speaker 1: N you if the desert does? I believe that was
Speaker 1: a usurping. It's just like, I don't know, what's the point. Then.
Speaker 1: I used to think we had a rule even against
Speaker 1: because you're trying to like no, I mean no, there's
Speaker 1: no You're the one that says there's no rules. I
Speaker 1: bring something up. By the way, can we hear just
Speaker 1: the lock sound effect again? No, I'll stick with the
Speaker 1: Cowboys for now. We gotta show tomorrow we're taping. Listener
Speaker 1: pointed out that that is a very meek lock sound.
Speaker 1: We used to have a great locks out. It sounds
Speaker 1: like a vault being slammed. Yes, that's a lock sound drop.
Speaker 1: Can we address that? Is that Bartlett? That's something. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a graphics team because it's married to you know,
Speaker 1: if you're watching the show, you got a really cool
Speaker 1: lock graphic. Um, but I can hit it, we can
Speaker 1: hear if you want to, bunch of. It's just it's
Speaker 1: so mediocre. It's like a little like a bike locks.
Speaker 1: So you think it could. I mean, that's all your
Speaker 1: dumb locks. Easily pick lock. When you lock it, you're
Speaker 1: putting in the vault. We're not easily picked over the
Speaker 1: last month as a group. But Greg, I feel like
Speaker 1: you're a little annoyed that we jumped on your party line. There,
Speaker 1: see it in your face. No, not annoying, Like if
Speaker 1: I hadn't have locked it, so you wouldn't have locked it.
Speaker 1: I just don't get that. Maybe they didn't put much thought.
Speaker 1: I hadn't thought about it. I didn't. I didn't right
Speaker 1: before the show starting. Might jump out of the lock
Speaker 1: when we take a quick life. That's right, everyone listening.
Speaker 1: We've got a Wednesday previous show. We might be on
Speaker 1: the air still by the time the next day comes.
Speaker 1: So I finally the Saints are at the Falcons. This
Speaker 1: could have been a fun game Back in September, you know,
Speaker 1: right before the season began. This looked like potentially a
Speaker 1: game in the NFC South with huge playoff ramifications. Well
Speaker 1: it is for one team, the Saints nine and two, um,
Speaker 1: who are looking at stack ws and and get a
Speaker 1: buy in the first round. And the Falcons. You know,
Speaker 1: speaking of the Locks, they killed Greg and I on Sunday.
Speaker 1: They laid a total egg against the Falcons against the
Speaker 1: Bucks at home, turned Jamis Winston into Brett Farve and um,
Speaker 1: that's just who the Falcons are. A team that shouldn't
Speaker 1: be trusted, that have it in them to occasionally show
Speaker 1: up and ball out. And they've done it, you know,
Speaker 1: three times this year twice, uh two weeks in a
Speaker 1: row before what we saw Sunday. But they are who
Speaker 1: they are, which is an inconsistent too bad team and
Speaker 1: the Saints I feel again the stakes are higher now.
Speaker 1: I think what Parcels was getting out in part was
Speaker 1: the real teams when they sensed the moment. Once you
Speaker 1: start to get to December, they are not They are
Speaker 1: much less likely you know, to trip over themselves. The
Speaker 1: real teams button down and separate themselves. And that's why
Speaker 1: I don't see a flat performance by New Orleans, although
Speaker 1: we've seen that a couple of times. I believe they
Speaker 1: go into Atlanta and lay a beat down on I
Speaker 1: wouldn't be able to look in a mirror on this,
Speaker 1: but I feel that they're less about that. Well, you could,
Speaker 1: you could do it. They're less of a favorite. For instance,
Speaker 1: the Saints than the Cowboys are big the cow The
Speaker 1: Saints are bigger or less favorites than the Cowboys. For
Speaker 1: what it's worth, I think you could look in the
Speaker 1: mirror for that. I'd be shocked if no one's like,
Speaker 1: this is a huge weekend for the Saints. They're nine
Speaker 1: and two. The Seahawks, if they win, would be tendant
Speaker 1: to Let's say the Saints won this game, they'd be
Speaker 1: tenant too. And if they the New Orleans Saints beat Seattle,
Speaker 1: they'd have the tiebreaker over the Seahawks. And at the
Speaker 1: San Francisco San Francisco forty Niners lost to the Ravens.
Speaker 1: Very possible the Saints would suddenly be a bye team
Speaker 1: and then you just got to ride it out. There's
Speaker 1: something going on with the Saints. Often Steed up been
Speaker 1: begging for all year and it's finally happened. They finally
Speaker 1: have a third weapon because Jared Cook is that guy.
Speaker 1: He's playing really well over the past month. I think
Speaker 1: he's found a rapport with Drew Brees and I like
Speaker 1: this offense the rest of the way. Even with Drew
Speaker 1: Brees having a limited arm strength, you know, he can
Speaker 1: still play good football with a limited arm. They do
Speaker 1: have the left side of their offensive line out in
Speaker 1: this game, and I don't know where we're at on
Speaker 1: the Falcons pass rush. I don't trust him, but I
Speaker 1: don't trust them. But they had a good game against
Speaker 1: the Saints. I think that was one of the keys
Speaker 1: was they disrupted the timing of breeze. But I'm with you.
Speaker 1: I think it was a good sign for the Saints
Speaker 1: that they could win an old school Saints shootout. They
Speaker 1: had a ton of big place. I mean, yeah, he
Speaker 1: doesn't there's a couple of throws or the arm doesn't
Speaker 1: look great. He also put it on Ted Gain about
Speaker 1: forty five yards down the field and getting dropped it.
Speaker 1: They had a number of explosive plus twenty passing plays
Speaker 1: in that game, which they have not had all season long.
Speaker 1: So I think that's a good sign as Breeze has
Speaker 1: gotten back into the rhythm of of being their starter again. Uh,
Speaker 1: that that they can win high scoring games. I kind
Speaker 1: of expect this to be high scoring game, especially if
Speaker 1: Julio Jones is healthy that that is a problem for
Speaker 1: the Falcons when he is on the sideline. Saint Secondary
Speaker 1: got fried last week. I'm sure you know where to
Speaker 1: go to on the internet, Greg, but the site I'm
Speaker 1: looking at as the Saints getting an extra half point
Speaker 1: of wood over the Boys. Now that I had a
Speaker 1: Cowboys right now they're about six and a half point
Speaker 1: favorites and uh Saints are five and half. Do you
Speaker 1: just imagine that's that's vernacular that gamblers use. Uh yeah,
Speaker 1: you gotta lay some wood. All right, here we go,
Speaker 1: good stuff. We will be back Wednesday tomorrow with our
Speaker 1: full preview of week thirteen. So yes, it's a little
Speaker 1: different with Thanksgiving on Thursday. We're right back at you
Speaker 1: tomorrow to preview the rest of the games, and then Friday.
Speaker 1: First thing Friday, Mr Cesler and I uh from the
Speaker 1: garage in Culver City, UH at Hansas Manor will read
Speaker 1: cap all of the Thanksgiving Day games and the Thanksgiving
Speaker 1: Night games. So you'll get a podcast Wednesday, you'll get
Speaker 1: a mini pod Friday, and then the week thirteen recap
Speaker 1: on Sunday. That's a lot of content, feels like Thanksgiving weekend.
Speaker 1: But what you know, I'm excited to cover these three
Speaker 1: games essentially a second time. Okay, let's do it. That
Speaker 1: That is the excitement that we're looking for. More will
Speaker 1: be all right. This is Dan Hanson signing off for
Speaker 1: Mark Sessler, Chris Wesley. Excuse me, oh and congratulations, Thank
Speaker 1: you geez. That's what. That's all the matters. Chris Wesley
Speaker 1: and Kisa having a baby. So Wednesday