Speaker 1: They Around the NFL podcast passes the y text.
Speaker 2: Yeah we do.
Speaker 3: From the Chris Westling podcast studio.
Speaker 4: It's Around the NFL. I am Dan Hanss. I am
Speaker 4: joined my heroes.
Speaker 3: Greg Rosenthal and Mark Sessler. What's up, guys? Whoa good?
Speaker 3: Who's on the camera today?
Speaker 2: There's a lot of that.
Speaker 1: There a lot of cuts.
Speaker 3: Whoa Sammy did a trip?
Speaker 4: Check out the YouTube show Sam did the triple do
Speaker 4: it again? Sam ready started on they I'm Dan Hanss
Speaker 4: and I'm joined by heroes Greg Rosenthal and Mark Sessler.
Speaker 3: Get him a round of applause.
Speaker 2: Terrence malickpack there.
Speaker 1: This is like, it's like we've got our own family sitcom.
Speaker 1: Sam's is Jazz that biggest you know, Celtics fan, I know,
Speaker 1: like in that Drew holiday trade.
Speaker 3: Oh very good.
Speaker 4: Don't get too excited, though, Sam the New England Sports Fan, because, uh,
Speaker 4: in just a minute or two, we're going to bring
Speaker 4: back a staple of Around the NFL. It is, of course,
Speaker 4: our famous segment, flashpoint Focus is back.
Speaker 3: Ooh those pipes. La said, it's back. Reggy.
Speaker 1: She's excited to be receiving that one dollar and seventy
Speaker 1: five cent check for she gets every time we play it.
Speaker 4: I think when we uh PA, when I reached out
Speaker 4: to Sid and asked to do that, I said, I
Speaker 4: actually cleared it with a shadowy league figure to get
Speaker 4: you a you know some It was a modest sum
Speaker 4: of money, and she was like, okay, she didn't ask
Speaker 4: for it. And then when I circled back a couple
Speaker 4: you know, weeks or a month later, and I was like,
Speaker 4: did you get paid on it? I was like, they
Speaker 4: sent me like fourteen pages of paperwork and I just
Speaker 4: so we got maybe start doing some under the table payments.
Speaker 2: Yeah, red tape of a mass of corporation coming to
Speaker 2: get you.
Speaker 3: Great. Good job.
Speaker 4: By the way, before we get to Tom Curran on
Speaker 4: the Patriots, you pointed out in a recent tweet eleven
Speaker 4: seasons in the Around the NFL podcast had our best
Speaker 4: month ever in September over three point six million down loads.
Speaker 3: Thank you all. That is very cool.
Speaker 1: It is exciting.
Speaker 3: I would have rounded it up to four.
Speaker 4: They wouldn't know. People don't know what they don't know.
Speaker 4: But Greg's honesty, integrity was.
Speaker 1: I did think of the FO I actually could have
Speaker 1: round it up three point seven. I was like, do
Speaker 1: I want to go to the one hundredth decimal point here,
Speaker 1: but it just felt unnecessary. It is really special, I mean,
Speaker 1: and some people responded, you know, talking about their relationship
Speaker 1: with the show, which is which is the most exciting
Speaker 1: thing about sending out information like that, and like and
Speaker 1: and people.
Speaker 4: The most exciting thing crushes our enemies when they see, well,
Speaker 4: that's it.
Speaker 1: I do like the second with the number out there
Speaker 1: just as a show of four. That's nice, yeah, because
Speaker 1: for some reason they don't do that with podcasts as
Speaker 1: much like if if a television shows up four percent,
Speaker 1: they'll point it out. It's like we're up to five
Speaker 1: hundred and thirty seven thousand, But they don't really do that.
Speaker 3: With the podcast.
Speaker 2: Let's do it pointed that out our own, not that
Speaker 2: you need to get like that, you know, and the
Speaker 2: NFL to retweet it.
Speaker 3: We're the podcast bosos, but we're doing so.
Speaker 5: We're time to check the sink on these podcast posos.
Speaker 4: And we couldn't do it without you guys. And I
Speaker 4: added a little quote retweet on that, what do they
Speaker 4: call it now? Because they already a rex a rex
Speaker 4: now they call it a repeat.
Speaker 2: Well, I call it a rex completely. Why not lean
Speaker 2: in you've rebranded. I'm not saying I agree with the rebranding,
Speaker 2: but like, why not lean into it.
Speaker 4: I added little emojis of all the different countries along
Speaker 4: with the USA that listened to the show, and then
Speaker 4: any that I missed please add in their prices, and
Speaker 4: then just.
Speaker 3: People all over the world have supported our show and
Speaker 3: we're so thankful, So thank you everybody. Now to the
Speaker 3: business of today's show.
Speaker 4: Coming up later we have the Island Games and another
Speaker 4: London game is where a week away now from our
Speaker 4: and thank you to the Shadowy League figures for sending
Speaker 4: us to London every year.
Speaker 3: We'll be heading there next week.
Speaker 4: Cannot wait, and we're going to talk about the London
Speaker 4: game and then our Thursday night, Sunday night, Monday Night affairs.
Speaker 3: But before that, it's back.
Speaker 2: People have been waiting for this, That's what I've been hearing.
Speaker 3: Journalistically.
Speaker 4: We're at the top of our game when flashpoint focus
Speaker 4: is the focus of an episode, and this week the
Speaker 4: flashpoint focuses on the New England Patriots. And who better
Speaker 4: to break down what's going on on the Patriot Way
Speaker 4: than the Pats. Insider for NBC Sports Boston and a
Speaker 4: friend of the show, the great Tom Curran, a legend
Speaker 4: in his own time.
Speaker 3: What's up Tom, Tom, tom.
Speaker 5: My, guys, thank you very much for having me. No
Speaker 5: one's calling me anymore to say, how's the matchup in
Speaker 5: the AFC Championship.
Speaker 4: What's it been like? Because really that's yeah, no, it's
Speaker 4: a good way to get into it. What has it
Speaker 4: been like? Obviously for Patriots fans it's been a come
Speaker 4: down to earth and a transition into this different era.
Speaker 4: But for people that have covered the team where it was,
Speaker 4: you know, a fifteen eighteen year run of dominance, what's
Speaker 4: it like being like the have notts once again?
Speaker 3: As someone covering the sport.
Speaker 5: It's jarring. It really is jarring because you know, you
Speaker 5: realize that when you're a training camp where you'd sit
Speaker 5: on the hill and watch Randy Moss and Wes Welker
Speaker 5: and Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski and Darrell Reeves and
Speaker 5: you know, Teddy Bruski, Mike Vrabel and on all the
Speaker 5: way through High Tower and Edelman and guys who either
Speaker 5: were on their way to the Hall of Fame or
Speaker 5: were writing their names in the War of the postseason.
Speaker 5: And now you're looking down at guys and you see
Speaker 5: a fifty four where you see a twenty four and
Speaker 5: you're like, who is twenty four now, Josh Lent So okay.
Speaker 5: So it is jarring because they are very much a
Speaker 5: have not talent wise. And I think the most disorienting
Speaker 5: thing about this team, and what's hard for folks outside
Speaker 5: the region to fathom, is when we watch a game
Speaker 5: and Greg, I'm sure you still digest plenty of them.
Speaker 5: They are so unpatriotic. They are so far from a
Speaker 5: well coached team that's disciplined and situationally smart. I contend
Speaker 5: that they were the worst coach team in football last
Speaker 5: year when you look at some of the starts to
Speaker 5: games that they've had. In nine of their last ten games,
Speaker 5: they've trailed by at least a touchdown, and obviously this
Speaker 5: year seventeen to three, sixteen to nothing, in twenty eight
Speaker 5: to three in the first portion of games. They're not
Speaker 5: ready to play the football games when they begin.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I listened to the Tom Karn's Patriots Talk podcast with
Speaker 1: it what do you call them? The Senator Phil Perry on,
Speaker 1: and I thought it at Phil Perry, I thought it
Speaker 1: was intersting. Last Sunday, I put it on when I
Speaker 1: was driving home from work, and I was like, Oh,
Speaker 1: they've lost Tom, because because you because I and I've
Speaker 1: kind of been, you know, half cribbing your point that
Speaker 1: when everyone says like, oh, well, the Patriots like they're
Speaker 1: you know, they play a certain style where they're not
Speaker 1: gonna make mistakes or they're just gonna try to limit
Speaker 1: turnovers and penalties. It's like, no, that that ended the
Speaker 1: minute Tom Brady left. Like that hasn't been the case
Speaker 1: the whole time. That is not the Patriot way. They've
Speaker 1: been rather sloppy. But You've thought this team had potential
Speaker 1: and and I'm curious to see where you think they
Speaker 1: go from here. But after that performance, between Mac Jones
Speaker 1: and the coaching staff, it very much felt like, oh,
Speaker 1: they they've lost They've lost Tom. You don't think this
Speaker 1: team is necessarily coming back to having like a fun season.
Speaker 1: And now it gets to a week where I'm sure
Speaker 1: they're just talking about what's gonna happen with this team
Speaker 1: in the future. They're like the deep Yeah.
Speaker 5: Like who lasts longer? Bill or Mack? Where do they
Speaker 5: both go at the same time. I Mean, that's kind
Speaker 5: of the conversation and it's actually a plausible when we
Speaker 5: don't have to delve into quite yet. But just in
Speaker 5: the context, why did they lose me? They lost me
Speaker 5: because I kept explaining away the penalties and the turnovers
Speaker 5: early in games, and the lining up off sides of
Speaker 5: the false starts that get him into third and fifteen,
Speaker 5: which is a place they can't live. Because Bill's done
Speaker 5: such a horrendous job staffing the roster on offense. I mean,
Speaker 5: God bless him. But Trent Brown was a seventh round pick.
Speaker 5: He's had some great years. Cole Strange was a reach
Speaker 5: as a number one over as a twenty ninth overall
Speaker 5: pick in the first round. David Andrews is undrafted, Michael
Speaker 5: When is a sixth round pick. They don't really have
Speaker 5: a right tackle. But I'm showing you these guys can
Speaker 5: play capably, but they don't invest in the offensive line.
Speaker 5: So if you don't invest in your offensive line, you
Speaker 5: better have an athlete a quarterback who can really create
Speaker 5: when the floodgates open. Well, they don't have that. Well, shoot,
Speaker 5: you better have an outside receiver or a tight end
Speaker 5: or a slot who you can throw to. Sorry, don't
Speaker 5: have those either. So you can look at all these
Speaker 5: mistakes and say, well, if they fix those, they're gonna
Speaker 5: with a magic wand start to you know, do the
Speaker 5: meat and potatoes, run the ball, getting third and three
Speaker 5: have their way with teams by being smarter, and they
Speaker 5: can't do that. They're dumber than most of the teams
Speaker 5: they play. Literally dumber they are. Since they lost forty
Speaker 5: seven to seventeen to the Bills in the twenty twenty
Speaker 5: one playoffs, they were one in three going into that game.
Speaker 5: Down that stretch, they lose forty seven to seventeen, they
Speaker 5: go eight and nine, and that's actually kind of a miracle.
Speaker 5: They won eight games and now they're one in three.
Speaker 5: The only team that they beat with regularity is the Jets.
Speaker 5: I think there's like five or six of those or
Speaker 5: wins against the Jets. So I think it's like sh
Speaker 5: I can't write, did the math the wrong of the mind?
Speaker 5: But it's thirty and thirty four? Since they were eight, no,
Speaker 5: and twenty nineteen you.
Speaker 1: With a Super Bowl title in there? Oh no, not
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen.
Speaker 4: Calm down, Greg, it's over and by the way, Tom title, Yeah,
Speaker 4: as I was thinking twenty eighteen as a Jets van Tom,
Speaker 4: you have no idea of all the frustrations I have
Speaker 4: as a Jets van the fact that we still can't
Speaker 4: beat the Patriots and they suck. Now, that's almost worse
Speaker 4: than anything else. I'll turn it over now to Mark Sessler.
Speaker 2: Well, fair point on the Jets. You mentioned in your
Speaker 2: show consequences that you know in the past if we're
Speaker 2: running back fumbled, like you don't see that guy for
Speaker 2: two weeks necessarily under Bill Belichick. But in today's role,
Speaker 2: with all the mistakes you said, there's sort of a
Speaker 2: lack of consequences, and I really question, like there's been
Speaker 2: whispers like the Robert Craft Bill Belichick relationship. It's sort
Speaker 2: of heading towards this flashpoint. That's why we're sort of
Speaker 2: talking about this. And if you're Robert Kraft, is it
Speaker 2: win loss record or is it the Bill Belichick experience
Speaker 2: and where your faith is in this coach in twenty
Speaker 2: twenty three, while you've got Mike McDaniel and other young
Speaker 2: coaches like Kyle Shanahan just turning the league over into
Speaker 2: something new, We're watching this Patriots team sort of stuck
Speaker 2: in neutral and so I'm wondering, like, what is it
Speaker 2: that Craft, what would compel Craft to move on from
Speaker 2: outside of these seasons the best coach in NFL history.
Speaker 5: The interesting thing is the evidence Mark is lying kind
Speaker 5: of in plain sight. Robert Craft in twenty twenty, right
Speaker 5: after the twenty twenty one free agency, Binge said, we
Speaker 5: can't keep drafting like we've done, and we've done a
Speaker 5: poor job of the draft. You can't live like this.
Speaker 5: So that was a saber rattle, so calling Bill out
Speaker 5: of his drafts, and then twenty twenty one, excuse me,
Speaker 5: twenty twenty two, he said, look, we haven't won a
Speaker 5: playoff game in the last three seasons, and I'm not
Speaker 5: used to that, and I expect that we're going to
Speaker 5: compete for the playoffs now. And Bill puts Matt Patricia
Speaker 5: and Joe Judge in charge of the offense of the
Speaker 5: year quarterback who showed promise and basically ran him aground
Speaker 5: while he's on his rookie contract. I mean, you got
Speaker 5: to maximize that the dollars and sense of it. And
Speaker 5: then we asked him in March, will Bill be allowed
Speaker 5: to chase Don Shule's record by FIA. You know, he said, look,
Speaker 5: we have all the respect in the world for Bill.
Speaker 5: He's done an unbelievable job. But we've never been about
Speaker 5: individual goals here, we're about wins and losses. So he's
Speaker 5: done enough saber rattling to indicate he wants results. The
Speaker 5: question you pose, what does the team look like? How
Speaker 5: many wins does it take?
Speaker 3: To me?
Speaker 5: It's about quality control, and I said that all off season.
Speaker 5: Craft even kind of started to hedge his bets by
Speaker 5: saying we are of a really tough schedule. He wants
Speaker 5: to see the team pointed in the correct direction, improving,
Speaker 5: cutting the crap with kickoff return touchdowns and pivotal games
Speaker 5: like you saw two times against the Bills last year.
Speaker 5: Stop digging twenty two to nothing deficits like they did
Speaker 5: against the Bengals last year. Stop throwing the ball backwards
Speaker 5: over your head on the final play of a game.
Speaker 5: Bless you. It's like they did against Raiders last year.
Speaker 5: But instead we've seen it exacerbated this year. And now
Speaker 5: you see the quarterback who Craft had faith in going
Speaker 5: in the tank. So it is very much Mark coming
Speaker 5: to a head.
Speaker 1: Our cop button, our cough button, struggling as much as
Speaker 1: the Patriots special teams.
Speaker 5: Apparently I needed the sneeze button.
Speaker 1: I got I hit it.
Speaker 2: I thought I hit it.
Speaker 4: I missed it, Bro, or maybe it was so loud
Speaker 4: it picked up on our mics. I think, you know,
Speaker 4: I think it's there.
Speaker 5: That's where it is.
Speaker 3: That's really where it is.
Speaker 5: Robert has if he if the team gets to one
Speaker 5: in seven and they keep getting their doors blown off,
Speaker 5: and Robert Craft says, we're making a change here this week,
Speaker 5: you guys can all say, well, it's not like this
Speaker 5: is out of the blue. I think the nationwide people
Speaker 5: think it's out of the blue because they're not playing
Speaker 5: close enough attention, which they can be blamed for. They
Speaker 5: got a lot going off here, you can tell.
Speaker 4: And I think there's a bit of a wicked irony
Speaker 4: here that you know, during that beautiful run when it
Speaker 4: was Brady and Belichick, there was chicken and egg talk
Speaker 4: like who's really responsible? And they were both responsible. But
Speaker 4: now I'm wondering where we are now. Is that the
Speaker 4: quarterback position that's the problem. Is that the head coach
Speaker 4: that's the problem, And will that be a decision at
Speaker 4: the end of the season. Does that buy Belichick another year?
Speaker 4: Does he get another quarterback? And maybe there's something more
Speaker 4: to it, Tom, and you tell me, is there an
Speaker 4: avenue here where let's say this does go to hell
Speaker 4: and they do move in a different direction to quarterback.
Speaker 4: But Craft also wants changes in terms of how the
Speaker 4: roster is constructed. Is there any scenario where Bill would
Speaker 4: loosen the reins on control of the fifty three but
Speaker 4: stay as the coach or is that really where the
Speaker 4: divorce heads if things come down to it.
Speaker 5: Bill tries to intimate that he has deferred a great
Speaker 5: deal to Macro. He tries to intimate that he allows
Speaker 5: his people around him to make the decisions. But you know,
Speaker 5: from guys who've worked in this building, who've worked in personnel,
Speaker 5: it's not the case. Bill still oh is the overlord
Speaker 5: and the people that he's hired have been reared under
Speaker 5: his guidance, So their answers are going to align with
Speaker 5: whatever Bill would generally say. So I don't know if
Speaker 5: divesting Bill of any offensive responsibility period you can't pick
Speaker 5: an offensive player you're done with, that would work. But
Speaker 5: I mean, that's what kind of needs to happen. It's
Speaker 5: the offense. It's killing them. But mac Jones, you have
Speaker 5: to allow him to finish his rookie contract. He's not
Speaker 5: beyond salvaging. It was an embarrassment. The other day he
Speaker 5: melted down. He made high school quarterback level decisions. But
Speaker 5: in the first three games, especially the first two, aside
Speaker 5: from the idiotic turnovers. Again, here I go with the caveats.
Speaker 5: He played good football against the Eagles, he played good
Speaker 5: football against the Dolphins. He just shot himself in the
Speaker 5: foot this one. I've never seen a meltdown like that
Speaker 5: from him in his thirty six games that he started
Speaker 5: for the team, But he did it. I think if
Speaker 5: Robert Craft has asked who goes or Bill says we
Speaker 5: got to get we can't keep going with this, Craft
Speaker 5: is going to go why, Well he makes bad decisions. Well,
Speaker 5: it's because he's looking at the jail break every time
Speaker 5: he drops back. How come that is, Well, we don't
Speaker 5: have any offensivelignment. Why so? Craft is very much aware
Speaker 5: of the landscape around mac Jones and why mac Jones
Speaker 5: is who he is right now, very very against and
Speaker 5: unspoken about the Matt Patricia Joe Judge thing. But he
Speaker 5: deferred to Bill, And at the end Robert Craft does
Speaker 5: have I told you so power in that instance. Yeah,
Speaker 5: he's kind of used it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think There's always been an underlying ego
Speaker 1: tension between Robert Craft and Belichick and Brady too, because
Speaker 1: of course they all have big egos. They were all
Speaker 1: part of the greatest, you know, run of success any
Speaker 1: NFL team ever had. It's totally natural and they've handled
Speaker 1: it well enough. But I think Robert Craft is like
Speaker 1: thinking about the Hall of Fame and he's thinking about
Speaker 1: his legacy. And that's why I said, coming into this
Speaker 1: he I was like, I think they got to win.
Speaker 1: I think I don't know if Belichick can survive a
Speaker 1: six and eleven type of season here, because I think
Speaker 1: Kraft will want to start thinking about his legacy. I
Speaker 1: do want to hit you on just because we had
Speaker 1: news today and it speaks to what you're talking about,
Speaker 1: which is jac Jackson coming into the Patriots, and which
Speaker 1: which looks like a nice trade for the Patriots on paper.
Speaker 1: You're basically getting him for free. It's a late round swap.
Speaker 1: You're not paying him anything. But he's repraising Christian Gonzales.
Speaker 1: And I remember something you said. It was in the
Speaker 1: middle of training camp, and you said, I think on
Speaker 1: your podcast that Christian Gonzales might be the best player
Speaker 1: on the team. Which I was like, that is a
Speaker 1: crazy statement. He hasn't even played in the preseason. But
Speaker 1: then you sort of explained it, and first of all,
Speaker 1: you watch him in the first three games. He might
Speaker 1: have been the best player on the team. But the
Speaker 1: way you explained it just highlights how talent poor this
Speaker 1: team is. Because you were looking at him, You're like, well,
Speaker 1: here's a physically dominant, really smooth athlete who's really good
Speaker 1: at his craft in position, and they don't actually have
Speaker 1: anyone else on the roster that would qualify for that.
Speaker 1: You could say Trent Brown, I mean the fact that
Speaker 1: Trent Brown might be the best player on their roster.
Speaker 1: Matthew Judon would be another candidate. But it's it's freaking crazy.
Speaker 1: A first round rookie is the best player on their
Speaker 1: roster and that they're having to replace him with Mark.
Speaker 2: He's got an emotional I am concerned about.
Speaker 5: He's inflamed, Like, look at their best players. Kyle Dugger,
Speaker 5: nice player, he's not a pro bowler. Matt Judon really
Speaker 5: good player. He's a top ten, maybe top seven.
Speaker 1: Edge rusher maybe maybe maybe.
Speaker 5: Hunter Henry Okay, he's top dozen tight ends. Romandre Stevens
Speaker 5: and he's a top ten.
Speaker 1: Back, maybe not even well, he's had a.
Speaker 5: Tough start, but that's that's what we're looking at. Hey,
Speaker 5: where's the talent. Well, these are the guys everybody has.
Speaker 5: Everybody's second best guy, at least among good teams, is
Speaker 5: as good as their best guys. It's really tough. But
Speaker 5: you know the Mac Jones and the wrestling match that
Speaker 5: I wanted to lob to you guys is with Craft's legacy.
Speaker 5: What will be damaging to his legacy or could be
Speaker 5: painful to his legacy is Robert Kraft, whose Patriots team
Speaker 5: suffered a severe decline after Tom Brady left and he
Speaker 5: fired Bill Belichick in twenty twenty three, and the team
Speaker 5: went into a funk and was a three and fourteen
Speaker 5: team for several years. And he has that on his head.
Speaker 5: He not only allowed and Brady was the one who
Speaker 5: believed this Bill was just being Bill, when Bill was
Speaker 5: just being Bill and moving on from Brady, Brady expected
Speaker 5: Robert Craft to intervene. Robert Craft said, it's Bill's decision.
Speaker 5: That's why in general, and I think it's all passed out.
Speaker 5: But Brady was more pissed a Craft than he was
Speaker 5: a Bill but Robert's matt at that still taking the
Speaker 5: heat for that. And now if he takes Bill out
Speaker 5: behind the woodshed yellers, then he's good. Now he's fired.
Speaker 5: He let the best.
Speaker 3: Where did that go?
Speaker 5: And then he fired the greatest coach?
Speaker 1: No easy answers.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you are one of the you know, less than
Speaker 2: one percent of humans on earth that have spent like
Speaker 2: hundreds of hours with Belichick in these press conferences. We
Speaker 2: all nationally think we know who he is left and right,
Speaker 2: and like he's always grumpy. But do you sense with
Speaker 2: all this happening over the last couple of years and
Speaker 2: they you know, whether he hears it or not, this
Speaker 2: Brady verse Belichick thing, which gets a little tired, but
Speaker 2: still it's Belichick thinking about his pride and his own legacy,
Speaker 2: like in these pressers, I thought you were an interesting
Speaker 2: comment that he's gotten to a place now where maybe
Speaker 2: he was always doing this like he doesn't like answering
Speaker 2: the question obviously, Like Mike Greasa thought the other day
Speaker 2: had an excellent follow up to the mac Jones why
Speaker 2: he sat then, why aren't you sitting? In Jude on right,
Speaker 2: And it was just like it wasn't even a pregnant
Speaker 2: or a dramatic pause by Belichick was like a ten
Speaker 2: second silence where it's like what happened to Bill in
Speaker 2: that period? But then he kind of starts spinning things
Speaker 2: in his own way, Like, is Belichick getting testier, more grunt?
Speaker 2: Is he getting grumpier less community? Can you feel the heat?
Speaker 2: Or is that is he just Bill?
Speaker 3: Is Bill?
Speaker 5: Nope, he's less communicative. I think he feels under siege.
Speaker 5: I don't blame him. There's probably aside from aside from us,
Speaker 5: aside from the fan base. I bet he's more tortured
Speaker 5: that he can't figure it out, that he can't get
Speaker 5: the team to play the way he wants to. I
Speaker 5: don't think he's quite as look, he drafts generally players
Speaker 5: from the same programs frequently, his free agent signings are unimaginative,
Speaker 5: and often are guys that played good against his team.
Speaker 5: He's just not the same worker that he was previously,
Speaker 5: nor does he have the same network of young coaches
Speaker 5: around him that he did in the two thousands. All
Speaker 5: these guys rising up at once, He's got guys who
Speaker 5: came up in the same sphere as him. It's a
Speaker 5: hard place to work, so guys have short money, long hours,
Speaker 5: and kind of a humorless atmosphere to work in, so
Speaker 5: it's not a fun place to be. So he doesn't
Speaker 5: have a great, experienced, huge coaching staff. How is Bilo
Speaker 5: was the question? He's under siege and there was an
Speaker 5: interesting comment Remember this, Greg Gill, Remember this. A woman
Speaker 5: asked something about after the twenty nineteen playoff loss where
Speaker 5: they lost to Tennessee. A woman asked a benine question,
Speaker 5: not a great question for Bill, but after the loss,
Speaker 5: what do you have to say to the fans? I mean,
Speaker 5: they've been with you through thick and thin. And Bill
Speaker 5: looks at her, cuts her off and says, I mean,
Speaker 5: I'll due respect. I don't think there's been a lot
Speaker 5: of thin around here, and I that is very much.
Speaker 5: I think his mindset, whether it's me who used to
Speaker 5: have a great eye Bill, we're having a good time
Speaker 5: and now I'm kind of a dank as far as
Speaker 5: he's concerned. Probably he probably looks at me and goes,
Speaker 5: you know what, I got a nice life right now
Speaker 5: because you covered the Patriots while I was here, and
Speaker 5: look at you, you know, look at you now. You
Speaker 5: had a pretty good I made it pretty good for you,
Speaker 5: didn't I And look at you.
Speaker 3: You weasel now.
Speaker 5: So I think that there's a lot of that out
Speaker 5: where he's bitter that he delivered so much to this region.
Speaker 5: And now we're all saying, I mean on the hot seat.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think that's fair too, Like multiple things
Speaker 1: can be true. You are a dink, Multiple things can
Speaker 1: be true.
Speaker 5: You're gott to try and get rid of me. But
Speaker 5: here's the interesting thing. And I have felt bad about
Speaker 5: talking about Bill's hot seat, but whether it's Logan Mankins
Speaker 5: or Richard Seymour or Tom Brady or you name it,
Speaker 5: Bill had no problem when those players had outlived what
Speaker 5: he considered to be their expiration date. Sam, sorry, we
Speaker 5: got we can't keep go on with this, right, And
Speaker 5: so it's weird that I feel badly and he walking about.
Speaker 3: It with Bill and Tom.
Speaker 4: He was famous for getting a guy getting rid of
Speaker 4: a guy a year or two too soon before it
Speaker 4: was way past the expiration date. And maybe now Craft
Speaker 4: is going to do the same to him before we
Speaker 4: say goodbye.
Speaker 3: And by the way, check out the Patriots Stock podcast.
Speaker 4: Check out Tom on NBC where he's got hot takes
Speaker 4: and he uses mccorkel, and it's all fun. It's circling
Speaker 4: back to what you said. You lobbed it to us.
Speaker 4: The legacy of it all from my perspective, and I'm
Speaker 4: curious what you guys think that. I think Craft's legacy
Speaker 4: is secured. Six rings, nine conference titles. Yes, it got
Speaker 4: a little sloppy in the back end. Even Belichick, you
Speaker 4: could say his legacy is a little bit tarnished at
Speaker 4: this point. But Washington, what I'm saying is, I think
Speaker 4: he's okay too. I think the person who really came
Speaker 4: out on top here tom is Brady. I think Brady
Speaker 4: is the ultimate winner of the way this all played out.
Speaker 4: I think everyone else is going to go to the
Speaker 4: Hall of Fame, but it was Brady who left, and
Speaker 4: then the Patriots dynasty crumbled with him not there.
Speaker 3: That's where I come to.
Speaker 5: And he's such a nice guy legitimately, and I know
Speaker 5: that after twenty three years of watching him, we see
Speaker 5: his eccentricities and wonder if he's genuine. I do believe
Speaker 5: he's a genuine guy. He's such a nice guy that
Speaker 5: I bet he feels so friggin bad for Belichick. I
Speaker 5: bet he does. He does not take any pleasure in
Speaker 5: it because he's a he is a card carrying good
Speaker 5: fella and he gets it out of a system that
Speaker 5: he was pissed, I think. And he doesn't want to
Speaker 5: see Belichick go down in flames. I mean I don't
Speaker 5: really either.
Speaker 3: Who does?
Speaker 1: I mean some people do, Dan does? This guy does.
Speaker 1: That's fine, I get it.
Speaker 3: You care.
Speaker 1: It's smart.
Speaker 4: He's gotten his come up in, but he's had a
Speaker 4: great run. Tom, Thank you, sir. You are if you well,
Speaker 4: it's Bill that called you a dink. I don't think
Speaker 4: you're a dank.
Speaker 1: Didn't he didn't call him a dnk.
Speaker 3: Well you think he might find it to be a dink.
Speaker 4: We are dinks, So maybe if you are a dink
Speaker 4: and Bill is right, that's why we get on so well,
Speaker 4: just for dinks, chopping it up, chopping up the Hey,
Speaker 4: maybe we'll do a spin off pod fo dinks. All right,
Speaker 4: Thanks Bob.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Thank you guys.
Speaker 5: Great talking to you, all right.
Speaker 3: Love Tom Kurrn. He is the man.
Speaker 4: And again that's why in a lot of ways, Mark,
Speaker 4: this is the crown jewel segment around the NFL. Yeah, oow,
Speaker 4: the flashpoint focus because it's not just it's not just
Speaker 4: about talking about the NFL and what's happening now. It's
Speaker 4: letting people know what's ahead.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean our inaugural episode came out of a
Speaker 2: combine thing tank where there was a lot of whispers
Speaker 2: around at that time. Baker Mayfield and Cleveland's like, how
Speaker 2: would you even suggest they move on from him? Back then?
Speaker 2: Then like a week later it was a national storyline.
Speaker 2: We dug in on the cults. About a week later,
Speaker 2: national storyline going into bizarre areas. People are talking about this.
Speaker 2: There's some surmising, except I think he went deeper with us.
Speaker 2: In a week from now, everyone will be talking about it.
Speaker 4: It happened so many times over the past ten or
Speaker 4: so years. Greg didn't see it, and I'm like, Greg,
Speaker 4: you gotta come, come on this journey with us. Come
Speaker 4: And He's like, no, pushing back, pushing back, and now.
Speaker 1: What you're trying to bring this old canard back.
Speaker 2: This was when we brought the showman scenario and that
Speaker 2: you just have to.
Speaker 1: Have it does all connect because as he was talking
Speaker 1: about Tom Brady being such a good fella, I was
Speaker 1: thinking he's getting tested with that because a certain Baker
Speaker 1: Mayfield the first flashpoint focus subject is out playing what
Speaker 1: Tom Brady was doing in twenty twenty two. It's kind
Speaker 1: interested for four games.
Speaker 2: Doesn't feel like a nash for four games.
Speaker 1: That's not a national story line, but for for four games,
Speaker 1: and it's great. It's crazy that Patriots are so underground
Speaker 1: that like trading for J. C. Jackson, who was got
Speaker 1: the most you know, guaranteed money of any free agent
Speaker 1: just a year and a half ago. It just feels
Speaker 1: like that's a nothing burg.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but that's to his point that he Bill's just
Speaker 2: bringing back one of his guys, right right. Where's the imagination,
Speaker 2: where's the creativity? It doesn't exist?
Speaker 4: Uh, pretty wild, Pretty wild? And Mark was co executive
Speaker 4: producer of that segment. Yeah, let's go get a drink AUP.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's another victory.
Speaker 1: I mean I don't get a producer credit for tech exteen.
Speaker 1: Tom My longtime relationship with Tom. I used to work
Speaker 1: with him back in the day.
Speaker 3: You I like that.
Speaker 2: If you didn't mention that publicly, but you just kind
Speaker 2: of did it quietly and humbly behind the scenes, we
Speaker 2: would want.
Speaker 1: To know you you not so humbly just gave yourself Well,
Speaker 1: this is what I read executive series.
Speaker 4: You've joined us now and if you want, if you
Speaker 4: want a credit production credit, Mark and I would be
Speaker 4: happy that more than station.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you can't verbally spar with us, but then also
Speaker 2: want the title. So and while taking credit for securing
Speaker 2: the guests, there's a lot happening.
Speaker 1: Well, that's where the producer credit comes from. Securing the game.
Speaker 3: Oh, it's the idea of the original idea conceived by market.
Speaker 1: What's I created by what's the idea? Talk about a topic?
Speaker 3: See, this is what I know.
Speaker 2: Well, it's ault.
Speaker 4: It's vision over visibility. And that's it was never just
Speaker 4: the topic. It's about what people aren't talking about.
Speaker 2: Yet we're going to take massive strays for the rest
Speaker 2: of the show. After what you've just tried to do
Speaker 2: to Greg.
Speaker 1: I know I couldn't do that to Mark on haircut day.
Speaker 3: He looking good? Oh yeah, I like it.
Speaker 4: Pivot So this is this is London haircut Sessler give
Speaker 4: him is a guitar. This is Sessler two point zero.
Speaker 4: I love it because you got the Vicious v Black tea, right,
Speaker 4: you got Harley Levi Yeah, and now you got the cut,
Speaker 4: so Frash, you're ready for London.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I needed a haircut for London. My hair was
Speaker 2: turning into a disaster. But it was more like looking good.
Speaker 2: There's a little birthday boy haircut. Now you either come
Speaker 2: in like two art because I've like, literally my entire
Speaker 2: wardrobe is in that locker room downstairs. Either I go
Speaker 2: through the Shenanigans of changing into another shirt and I
Speaker 2: was like, no, not doing that today.
Speaker 3: This is this is your look now.
Speaker 2: I was in two point oh, Like I was like,
Speaker 2: there's many, you know, changes throughout life. I would say
Speaker 2: I didn't go from a child's clothing into this.
Speaker 4: But startorally there's a lot of everybody gets self conscious
Speaker 4: in the studio about it. Okay, I'm saying if you
Speaker 4: look at and we've all evolved in different ways, if
Speaker 4: you look at what Mark was wearing twenty sixteen on the.
Speaker 3: Show, yeah, flash point. This could be a flashpoint focus.
Speaker 1: Yeah, if we wanted to and the off season Marks
Speaker 1: look great.
Speaker 2: I I, uh, you know, wear this almost every day.
Speaker 2: So it's like an action figure type scenario. But thank
Speaker 2: you if you mean what I'm going back to. I
Speaker 2: think Greg has been a Greg the bigger fashion change.
Speaker 1: Point five though, I believe this is the oldest T
Speaker 1: shirt I own. It's a Dice game mat shirt from
Speaker 1: about two thousand and Dice G eight.
Speaker 4: I don't know when did he pop over. I think
Speaker 4: he got there around O six and was there maybe
Speaker 4: untill ten or so in that zone. Nobody care. All right,
Speaker 4: let's take a break and when we get back we
Speaker 4: will hit the previews of the Island games ahead of
Speaker 4: week five. Stay right there, all right, welcome back, and yes,
Speaker 4: a week from tomorrow, speaking of London and our connection
Speaker 4: with the great fans of the England, the United king
Speaker 4: Them and surrounding territories, will be at the Shaw Theater
Speaker 4: in London next Thursday for our latest live show, and
Speaker 4: that will be a great old time, a gay old time.
Speaker 4: All right, let's get to it, starting with Thursday Night football.
Speaker 4: Is we dig into week five? Here we go, man,
Speaker 4: we're at the quarter pole.
Speaker 3: Guys.
Speaker 1: It is nice before all the bye weeks start messing
Speaker 1: up with like, you know, the stats, like now, oh,
Speaker 1: the leader in passing yards. Yeah, but this guy only
Speaker 1: played four games, you know, so I like the quarter pole.
Speaker 4: A good time to check in. It's the beginning of
Speaker 4: the bye week. Brown's Chargers, Seahawks and Bucks are off.
Speaker 4: Let's start with Thursday night, though, where the Chicago Bears
Speaker 4: still looking for that first win after.
Speaker 3: A just oh brutal, brutal.
Speaker 4: Loss to the Broncos, a game they were up twenty
Speaker 4: eight to seven in they're building and hope it finally
Speaker 4: infiltrated Soldier Field, only to be snuffed out by poor
Speaker 4: play down the stretch and some real suspect.
Speaker 3: Coaching decisions and execution blurg.
Speaker 4: Now they head to Landover to face the Commanders and
Speaker 4: Mark Sessler. Let's start with the Commanders here, because I
Speaker 4: checked that game out this morning before he came in,
Speaker 4: and there are a lot of things I liked about
Speaker 4: the Commanders, even though they fell short in Philly in overtime.
Speaker 4: I love how you had the young quarterback Sam Howe
Speaker 4: throwing four interceptions in a blowout the previous week. And
Speaker 4: what do they do? What does Riverboat Ron and company do?
Speaker 4: They come out that first drive and he's throwing right
Speaker 4: off the bat, two passes connecting with Terry. They score
Speaker 4: a touchdown on the first possession, then the second possession,
Speaker 4: and then they go kind of punch for punch with
Speaker 4: the defending conference champions. So you're feeling good about this
Speaker 4: team and their progress moving forward. This seems like with
Speaker 4: new ownership in primetime against a franchise in the wilderness,
Speaker 4: Bears in the Wilderness, a great setup for a celebration
Speaker 4: for the Commanders.
Speaker 2: It's so interesting because one of my notes right here
Speaker 2: was this is one of those Island TNF games that
Speaker 2: will turn into a celebration of a Midlean home team.
Speaker 2: I'm not calling them Midley, but they're just part of
Speaker 2: the mix that looks like a world beater because you
Speaker 2: come out of these TNF games, it's a separate environment
Speaker 2: than Sunday where it be lost in a fog, and
Speaker 2: I think Washington has all the pieces to absolutely take
Speaker 2: care of business in this game. I watched that Eagles
Speaker 2: showdown too, and they open with that fourteen play seventy
Speaker 2: five yard drive, and I think it kind of showed
Speaker 2: different pieces of their offense who they are, and that
Speaker 2: with Sam Howell, you're gonna live with the sacks, You're
Speaker 2: gonna live with the mistakes for now because of the upside,
Speaker 2: and this Commander's defensive line on the flip side is
Speaker 2: going against Chicago's worst ranked run blocking U That sounds
Speaker 2: like chaos for a team that has not dealt with
Speaker 2: duress at well at all, and Howell is facing Chicago's
Speaker 2: PFF ranked them as the worst ranked pass rush and
Speaker 2: it shows they don't have the horses there on that part,
Speaker 2: on that side of the field. So if you can
Speaker 2: get a safe howl, and I think you can run
Speaker 2: on this team and keep it kind of exactly what
Speaker 2: you want. These thirst games. It's like you go do
Speaker 2: what you would do well as a core and then
Speaker 2: you look ato like Washington's defensive line Toron Payne Montes sweat,
Speaker 2: Jonathan Allen, Chase Young. I kind of just loved this
Speaker 2: whole Formula four, as you said, a celebration for Washington
Speaker 2: after twenty plus years as.
Speaker 1: A mess I was surprised early on. I peaked at
Speaker 1: the line in this game. It's Washington now by five
Speaker 1: and a half. It was over the lock zwone even
Speaker 1: seven right, which.
Speaker 3: I'm seeing at six, which is too much.
Speaker 1: Respect, I think to me, Chicago last week at least
Speaker 1: had a really encouraging offensive performance, and Washington's got to
Speaker 1: look at this. And you mentioned the roster they have
Speaker 1: on defense. They've built up this defense as the core
Speaker 1: of their team and have to look at last week
Speaker 1: as a missed opportunity because they got an a game
Speaker 1: out of how I mean, that was as good as
Speaker 1: you could hope for against Philadelphia. They're moving the ball
Speaker 1: up and down the field. He's playing clutch. You put
Speaker 1: up over thirty points against the Eagles defense. You want
Speaker 1: to get out of it with no turnover? Do you
Speaker 1: want to get out of there with a win? But
Speaker 1: the defense let them down. I don't think Sam Howell
Speaker 1: lets him down though this week. Like look right now,
Speaker 1: he's probably the best quarterback from his draft class. I
Speaker 1: guess forty nine Ers fans would would push back pretty
Speaker 1: hard on that with brock perty, but it's one of
Speaker 1: those two guys I would push either the last guy
Speaker 1: in the draft or a fifth round pick.
Speaker 4: In terms of you think that Howl has been better
Speaker 4: than Party so far, I know he's in a much
Speaker 4: better situation.
Speaker 1: No, he needs to play more to know. But he
Speaker 1: did things in that game certainly that you haven't seen
Speaker 1: Pretty do. It's tough to take Pretty out of that.
Speaker 2: You're that disrespect No, I totally, I totally disagree, but
Speaker 2: like I do not disagree that Sam Howel's been a
Speaker 2: nice surprise.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think we've seen enough to know that, like
Speaker 1: he's not a fluke. Now, his ups and downs might
Speaker 1: be a little crazy. His numbers kind of speak for
Speaker 1: in QBR, they have rushing value. Quietly, Sam Howell is
Speaker 1: the fourth ranked quarterback in terms of rushing value. He's
Speaker 1: brought a lot in terms of his scrambling. He needs
Speaker 1: to get down somewhere. I mean he'll take some big hits.
Speaker 1: He's dead last in sacks in terms of sack value,
Speaker 1: like taking negative plays so that kills him. And then
Speaker 1: he's in the middle of the pack in terms of
Speaker 1: his passing, which makes sense because there's a lot of
Speaker 1: great passes and there's some every like seventh throw is
Speaker 1: like four feet over the guy's head. But he, to me,
Speaker 1: is what you thought Baker Mayfield could be when when
Speaker 1: he was a young player, except he's a little more
Speaker 1: physically talented. That's why it's so crazy. I was talking
Speaker 1: about with this with someone in the league this week. Actually,
Speaker 1: it's like, it's really crazy that the same howl was a
Speaker 1: fifth round pick, because he's very talented.
Speaker 3: A lot of people said that on drafting, right, not
Speaker 3: that he.
Speaker 1: Wasn't like a first round pick, but that he kept
Speaker 1: falling between two and four. Yeah, because he gives his
Speaker 1: wide receivers a chance. That's one thing you can't measure
Speaker 1: in college. Like these wide receivers are good, and he's
Speaker 1: given Terry and Johan Dottson and Samuel a chance to
Speaker 1: make plays. He's not afraid.
Speaker 4: It's a game of inches, and he throws a beautiful
Speaker 4: ball in overtime.
Speaker 3: I think was McLaurin.
Speaker 4: Was it who got one foot down and then a
Speaker 4: second foot comes down I believe on the hand of
Speaker 4: the dB, and then maybe he's out of bounds. It
Speaker 4: seems like he might have even been in and gotten
Speaker 4: the second foot, and even though he stepped on the
Speaker 4: hand of the opponent, they rule it at of bounds,
Speaker 4: which leads to the punt, which leads to the game
Speaker 4: winning field goal for Philly. So it was that close
Speaker 4: to how making a money throw to potentially win that game.
Speaker 4: He was called sneaky athletic about four times in that telecast.
Speaker 4: He's athletic, he moves.
Speaker 2: Is any NFL player sneaky athletic?
Speaker 1: Josh Dobbs If Josh Dobbs.
Speaker 2: Well, no, but I mean, like to get to the NFL,
Speaker 2: you're the requisite for athleticism is already higher than ninety
Speaker 2: eight percent of the earth.
Speaker 1: Yes, Josh doabs stuck up on me where it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: if he was white, he would be called, you know,
Speaker 1: feisty and sneaky athletic, and it was like, wow, he
Speaker 1: really is a moxy.
Speaker 4: Yeah, like howl is built like Ryan Fitzpatrick, and he'll
Speaker 4: surprise you, I guess. But I think he's gonna he's
Speaker 4: never gonna be boring, and I think that's a thing.
Speaker 3: I liked the way, not just the game plan early on.
Speaker 4: Last week. I also liked the way Howe looked early on.
Speaker 4: He didn't look gun shy. He's not one of those
Speaker 4: rookie quarterbacks who get jarred the week before and then
Speaker 4: comes back in his gun shy and he's gonna do
Speaker 4: it every week. On their second drive, he threw up
Speaker 4: for grabs on first and goal, which you just cannot do.
Speaker 4: He's gonna make mistakes, but he's gonna be fun to watch.
Speaker 4: So that that's good. And they're gonna and we'll see
Speaker 4: what they do. They should take care of business in
Speaker 4: this game. The Bears side, Yeah, where do you go?
Speaker 4: After last week? The positives are obvious that Justin Field's
Speaker 4: look way more comfortable. They move the ball at will
Speaker 4: in the first half of that game before getting bogged
Speaker 4: down and ibra flus with a dreadful we don't need
Speaker 4: to talk about that again, but dreadful decision not to
Speaker 4: kick the field goal when that team really needed a
Speaker 4: chance to close out a win there and they didn't
Speaker 4: even get that chance. So now I want to see
Speaker 4: how Fields if he could string together another good game.
Speaker 4: The game ended poorly. He took a grounding penalty in
Speaker 4: the last minute, then the I NT on third down
Speaker 4: to close out that game. Let's see if good Justin
Speaker 4: Fields is back for another week.
Speaker 2: I mean, I think it's like the important that they
Speaker 2: got DJ more involved. Last week. He had nine targets,
Speaker 2: eight receptions one hundred and thirty one yards. Before that,
Speaker 2: he had been targeted on about seventeen percent of routes
Speaker 2: in these terrible earlier three weeks, which was the lowest
Speaker 2: of his career. It's like the guy that you were
Speaker 2: kind of linking to Fields all offseason is what wouldold
Speaker 2: unlock Justin Fields through the air. It's not happened. I
Speaker 2: don't get what Luke Getsy's doing on some level too.
Speaker 2: It's like we've got justin Fields. What makes him special?
Speaker 2: What made him special last year? It's like no one's
Speaker 2: saying is passing like he can do it to some degrees,
Speaker 2: got to grow, but it was him on the ground.
Speaker 2: He has forty three fewer rushing yards per game than
Speaker 2: last year. They have only had eight design runs for
Speaker 2: him this entire season. Luke Getsy has him doing boot
Speaker 2: action left and right all over the place, and it's
Speaker 2: not working, and he's well, he's not better protect than
Speaker 2: he was a year ago.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 1: I think part of it is they can't run back,
Speaker 1: and that's why I'm worried. Like Fields can play well
Speaker 1: like last week, and I know he made some mistakes
Speaker 1: at the end of the game, but he played well,
Speaker 1: more than well enough to win, and everything else will
Speaker 1: fall apart, whether it's his offensive line that's a tough matchup.
Speaker 1: I think cath Young is shown up well so far
Speaker 1: this season. It's been a kind of a quiet story
Speaker 1: that since he's come back, he's looked a little more
Speaker 1: like the rookie Chase Young, which is which is nice.
Speaker 1: But when you have this bad of an offensive line
Speaker 1: in this bat of a defense, even if Justin Fields
Speaker 1: was playing at a much higher level, what are you
Speaker 1: gonna do? I have a stat here. I couldn't believe
Speaker 1: this stat. Matt Eberfluss, defensive coach, Chicago Bears. I know
Speaker 1: they're short in the secondary, and they're still short. Jalen
Speaker 1: Johnson's out. I think Eddie Jackson's not going to play
Speaker 1: in this game. They have given up at least twenty
Speaker 1: five points in fourteen straight games. Stop, that's never happened.
Speaker 1: I was like, that can't have ever happened.
Speaker 4: How many wins in that window? Well, I think they've
Speaker 4: lost thirteen or fourteen straight two.
Speaker 2: Wins maybe tops.
Speaker 1: I think they ended last season with about a ten
Speaker 1: game loose. Yeah, I think they to be fair.
Speaker 2: To be fair. The one thing that to be fair
Speaker 2: to elus like it's like, can you check that out?
Speaker 3: Now?
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna be fair, but mid mid seed.
Speaker 2: One thing is like, are you a defense a coach
Speaker 2: that came in with the guys to you can do
Speaker 2: your system with. It's like they they but.
Speaker 1: That's where they've put all their draft picks and all
Speaker 1: their free agency capital too.
Speaker 2: They've spent all this They did not add for a
Speaker 2: super key free agent on the defensive line until the
Speaker 2: very end of the offseason. It's like, but they they
Speaker 2: spend so much money right away rope On Smith, I'm
Speaker 2: not looking. I think Eberlus has probably gone in less
Speaker 2: than a month and done.
Speaker 1: They're spending more at linebacker than almost any team in
Speaker 1: the league. Tremaine Edmunds and t J. Edwards. They they
Speaker 1: dropped second round picks on these defensive tackles. This year.
Speaker 1: They spent all their first three picks on guys in
Speaker 1: the secondary. Last year, they've actually spent more on their defense.
Speaker 1: I know it hasn't been on the defensive line, but
Speaker 1: they ended up doing it withinway just about any team.
Speaker 2: And no pass rush and cant affect the quarterback. They're
Speaker 2: like in the bottom of the league of that, and
Speaker 2: like league, Ibra flu has no he's not been able
Speaker 2: to show what he's special up but he may not
Speaker 2: be special anything.
Speaker 3: He loved the show and you guys don't agree.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I I just mean, though, I think
Speaker 1: their whole point, like I think Ibra Flus and Ryan Poles,
Speaker 1: their whole point has been like, let's make Eberflus look better.
Speaker 1: Let's spend so much on your defense and you're the
Speaker 1: worst defense.
Speaker 3: In the league. Yeah.
Speaker 4: I almost thought about the locking this, but I stay
Speaker 4: away from Thursdays and it's yeah, kind of a mirror
Speaker 4: game as well.
Speaker 1: It was interesting. It was over seven for a minute.
Speaker 4: All right, let's head to London with a second of
Speaker 4: three games in the annual London Series again.
Speaker 3: We'll be there next week for Titans.
Speaker 1: And come on, that's a great game. We're going to
Speaker 1: see Lamar live.
Speaker 3: What do you mean with that? Excited me? I saw
Speaker 3: it to you to build the excitement. I knew it, clearly.
Speaker 3: I knew it. Jaguars v. Bills now this.
Speaker 4: And I know the Jags have been underwhelming so far
Speaker 4: this year, but this is one of the better London
Speaker 4: matchups I can remember. This is a Jacksonville team that
Speaker 4: made it to the second round of the playoff last year.
Speaker 4: The Bills also made it to the second round. So
Speaker 4: these are two teams that have big aspirations. Three and
Speaker 4: one Bills, GREGI here, who are playing better then pretty
Speaker 4: much everyone in the AFC and maybe outside of San Francisco,
Speaker 4: the best team in football. One uh sets up well
Speaker 4: for them. But this is a Jacksonville even though it's
Speaker 4: a Bills home game. Technically it's a Jacksonville it's on
Speaker 4: their turf. Does that matter at all?
Speaker 1: This I think the fact that they've played so many
Speaker 1: games there and that they've been there for the extra
Speaker 1: week can't hurt, right, right, I adapt and they they
Speaker 1: will have.
Speaker 2: We know how we feel three days after getting there.
Speaker 2: You're lost in space, right.
Speaker 1: The Jags really do have a nice fan base there,
Speaker 1: so they'll have more support than the Bills. But the Bills,
Speaker 1: I'm sure will have plenty because they do everywhere, and
Speaker 1: those games kind of feel like a super Bowl anyways.
Speaker 1: Just everyone's just loving football. Everyone's loving that Josh Allen's
Speaker 1: in this game. I mean, we'll talk with Nick Shook
Speaker 1: later this week. Hell yeah, a little bonus up every
Speaker 1: Josh Allen. I mean, he might be my QB one
Speaker 1: right now through four games. I know the first game
Speaker 1: was rough, but part of that is because he's got
Speaker 1: a good offensive line now, and to me, that's right there.
Speaker 1: I mentioned Stroud to me is one of the big
Speaker 1: stories this season. I think one of the big stories
Speaker 1: of this season is that Sean McDermott has the best
Speaker 1: offensive line probably he's ever had in Buffalo. And that
Speaker 1: the best O line D line combo the Bills maybe
Speaker 1: have ever had. They've had some good D lines over
Speaker 1: the year, that this one's playing really well, and they're
Speaker 1: gonna potentially add von Miller in this game mark And
Speaker 1: even if they don't, I think they have big advantages
Speaker 1: against the Jags up front on both sides. So now
Speaker 1: you're looking at, Wow, a Bills team that can steamroll
Speaker 1: you a little bit, that can protect Allen and get
Speaker 1: after the quarterback. That's dangerous.
Speaker 2: Just to remember back to what they were when they
Speaker 2: had von Miller, the way they wrecked the Super Bowl
Speaker 2: champion Rams and the opener, and then to lose them,
Speaker 2: I think the whole Bills team journey in general last
Speaker 2: year started to go a little south. Von Miller coming
Speaker 2: back to this would be incredible, But like without them,
Speaker 2: this defense and what they did to Miami and rewatching
Speaker 2: that game, it's just that schematically. I think McDermott took
Speaker 2: okany handle being head coach and called the defense no issues,
Speaker 2: the one little part of their defense that would concern
Speaker 2: me a little bit, And where Trevor Lawrence they had not.
Speaker 2: They've been like twenty six in explosive plays and it
Speaker 2: kind of looked like it. It's not really Trevor Lawrence's
Speaker 2: fault have been a lot of drops. There have been
Speaker 2: some weird stuff in the red zone. I think Lawrence
Speaker 2: has looked really good. But the Bills were down to
Speaker 2: the last two outside corners last week. They've lost tore
Speaker 2: Davius White, so there's an opportunity to make plays, I
Speaker 2: think for Jacksonville. But that said, like you've got to
Speaker 2: find a way to unsteamroll a stream steamroll in offense
Speaker 2: that can run the ball there more balanced than ever.
Speaker 2: You're getting the best version of Josh Allen after that
Speaker 2: week one where I think the talking point was like
Speaker 2: who is this guy at this point the post Brian Dable,
Speaker 2: who is he? And we're like, he's him now, so unsteamroll,
Speaker 2: stop the steamroll. Yeah, you'd have to like find a
Speaker 2: way to unsteam it. Uh, yes, that you mentioned it, Greg.
Speaker 2: The offensive line they added, they redid the interior of
Speaker 2: the line with two new guards. They drafted the tight
Speaker 2: end and they're playing a lot of two tight end sets.
Speaker 2: They got two running backs that are really playing well
Speaker 2: right now, and and and they also have Tavius Murray,
Speaker 2: Damian Harris, They're kind of they kind of break your
Speaker 2: back a little bit. They're they're kind of a mean
Speaker 2: team to face on offense.
Speaker 4: And when you played Josh Allen playing at this level,
Speaker 4: Stephan Diggs playing at this level, I just feel like
Speaker 4: this is a team right now where the steamroller is
Speaker 4: not going to be stopped. And I would not be
Speaker 4: surprised if this is a winning streak that continues, because
Speaker 4: you just get the feeling there. They've reached a level
Speaker 4: of comfort and and they've found a place here on
Speaker 4: both sides of the ball where I think they're.
Speaker 3: Going to eat and start to even run away from
Speaker 3: with this.
Speaker 2: Isn't it interesting that like in the off season where
Speaker 2: we were kind of looking at the way they're draft
Speaker 2: and their free agency, it's like, oh, they're lack a
Speaker 2: key weapon or they're lacking weapons in general. And then it's
Speaker 2: like they're the team that might be the window closing
Speaker 2: a little bit. Now four weeks it's like day the AFC.
Speaker 3: It was not silly.
Speaker 1: It was because their best players are young. That's why
Speaker 1: it was silly.
Speaker 4: But changes occur greg and there was frustration around the organization,
Speaker 4: and it's not everything's fixed by the way it's weak
Speaker 4: four part and the reason why there's tension and this
Speaker 4: idea is like, all this is great and they can
Speaker 4: win thirteen fourteen games, but this core needs to get
Speaker 4: over the hump in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Sure, but in terms of window closing, I'm with Joe
Speaker 1: Burrow saying the windows while I'm here, and especially because
Speaker 1: the front office is good.
Speaker 4: But I'm not talking about right, I'm not talking about
Speaker 4: the quarterbacks window. I'm talking about the group as the
Speaker 4: greater group that's been the nucleus that's been contended.
Speaker 2: Like there was a period and it's you know, this
Speaker 2: stuff maybe is overhyped in this age, but like we're
Speaker 2: Stephan Diggs. People were like, what's going on with Stephan Diggs?
Speaker 2: Like there's something going on with him and Josh Allen.
Speaker 2: It feels like there's a lot of pressure. The butts
Speaker 2: are tight and like that can lead to something like it,
Speaker 2: right and here they are. They kind of brush that
Speaker 2: all away.
Speaker 1: That's a great matchup in this game. Diggs has been
Speaker 1: playing out of his mind. I mean that was as
Speaker 1: dominant performance. But part of it is coaches in front office.
Speaker 1: And that's why I think the windows wide open because
Speaker 1: the players will all change quite a bit. I know
Speaker 1: mikeah Hyde's been there and he's he's a guy that
Speaker 1: they build a defense around. Poyer won't be there forever.
Speaker 1: But like when guys leave, like a Tremaine Edmund who
Speaker 1: got huge money from the Bears, they replace him with
Speaker 1: Trel Bernard and like you fit them in and it's like,
Speaker 1: is better then than Tremaine Edmonds because he's been falling out.
Speaker 1: And that's why I'm with you. I think the steamroll
Speaker 1: keeps steaming. I have not been big on this Jack
Speaker 1: steam I think they're worse than their two and two
Speaker 1: records shown. That's why I'm locking up the bills.
Speaker 3: You son of a gun, you sandbag in son of them.
Speaker 2: You can lock the bills.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, you sure can, because I'm doing it to.
Speaker 2: Well yes, well it feels unoriginal, like I've been squeezed out,
Speaker 2: but I don't really give an f I'm locking them to.
Speaker 2: I've gotta win. I'm down, I gotta start at zero
Speaker 2: and too, I don't. I'm taking no prisoners the rest
Speaker 2: of the season.
Speaker 3: I might, for.
Speaker 4: Show's sake, I might bounce out of this one tomorrow.
Speaker 4: And I would love if you.
Speaker 1: Did tune in for the previous Yeah, I might look
Speaker 1: at other games.
Speaker 2: That is a delicious result if both of you move on.
Speaker 4: If we what if we bounce out and then the
Speaker 4: Jags upside the Bills.
Speaker 3: How how would that go.
Speaker 2: For I'd be agitated because you know, like I love
Speaker 2: the London game when I'm America, but that's you're starting
Speaker 2: to morning. So if I've already lost my lock by
Speaker 2: you know, nine am, and it'd be long Sunday.
Speaker 4: The Bills scored on eight of eleven drives against Miami,
Speaker 4: including two kneel downs that ended drives or ended half
Speaker 4: for me, and then their defense shut down essentially Miami
Speaker 4: in the last three quarters of that game.
Speaker 3: So I'm feeling very good.
Speaker 1: About Jackson was capable of playing better, but through four
Speaker 1: games they've been quite mediocre, like like like the twenty
Speaker 1: best team.
Speaker 3: In the league.
Speaker 4: They need some serious jet lag on their side, and
Speaker 4: they could get it that I am not looking. That's
Speaker 4: the one thing that I dread. Flying from LA to
Speaker 4: London is rough thirteen hours or so. We're gonna we're
Speaker 4: gonna sold your throat and we're doing a live show
Speaker 4: less than twenty four hours after we Land.
Speaker 3: We'll see.
Speaker 1: It'll be fun.
Speaker 3: See how it goes.
Speaker 4: Sunday night football. Oh, it could be a potential game
Speaker 4: of the year situation. The Dallas Cowboys three and one,
Speaker 4: the San Francisco four undefeated, and they have been a
Speaker 4: steamroller as well as have the Cowboys other than a
Speaker 4: Week three hiccup against Arizona. So this is a wonderful matchup.
Speaker 4: We gotta we got the Niners at home, which you
Speaker 4: gotta you gotta keep that in mind. They're laying four
Speaker 4: points here against Dallas. That sounds about right to me.
Speaker 3: Mark.
Speaker 4: We know your stance on the Cowboys personal hell is
Speaker 4: them advancing to the Super Bowl.
Speaker 2: Well all right, but I I've done some thinking on that.
Speaker 4: But okay, let's go. I'm gonna throw it to you.
Speaker 4: Do you see this as a one sided game? Do
Speaker 4: you think doubts up?
Speaker 2: Absolutely?
Speaker 3: I do.
Speaker 2: I think they absolutely show up. I guess what I'm
Speaker 2: looking at when I look at their schedule is like
Speaker 2: a period of utter domination. You take you take the
Speaker 2: two disappointing New York teams, you win by a combined
Speaker 2: score of seventy to ten. You beat the Patriots thirty
Speaker 2: eight to three. These teams had no chance against the
Speaker 2: Dallas Cowboys on either side of the ball. That's seventy
Speaker 2: five percent of this season. So I don't disvalue that.
Speaker 2: I do wonder, like in general, when I think about
Speaker 2: what the Niners can do well with Christian McCaffrey, who's
Speaker 2: on pace right now to break the NFL record for
Speaker 2: scrimmage yards and has looked fantastic and unstoppable, why did
Speaker 2: you allow How did you allow two hundred and twenty
Speaker 2: two yards to the Arizona Cardinals. I can call it
Speaker 2: an aberration, but I wonder if someone like Kyle Shanahan
Speaker 2: can look at that tape and other little chinks in
Speaker 2: the armor over the course of four games and attack it.
Speaker 2: I certainly think he can. I think it's what I
Speaker 2: think about the Niners right now we talk about a steamroll,
Speaker 2: is like they don't, like you said on Sunday Show,
Speaker 2: they're not putting their foot on the gas to win
Speaker 2: these games. The way they're winning them their offense almost
Speaker 2: and it's not effortless. That's ridiculous to say that, but
Speaker 2: it's like if one guy like Deebo had six yards
Speaker 2: last game, takes a bit of a nap or he's
Speaker 2: not in full health. Suddenly Brandon Aiyuk blooms into like
Speaker 2: an unstoppable power. Christian McCaffrey's an unstoppable power. I just
Speaker 2: wonder with the Cowboys defense because it's like, can you
Speaker 2: stop all this? No one else has been able to
Speaker 2: brock Perdy. We just talked about him, who went twenty
Speaker 2: for twenty one last year. Brock Perdy has the highest
Speaker 2: quarterback passer rating in the league since he start. Since
Speaker 2: Week fourteen last when he took over, and the Niners
Speaker 2: lead the league in scoring. There hasn't been a hiccup
Speaker 2: on the Niners side. That's that's not a massive hiccup
Speaker 2: in little quarter drive to drive shirt. We can nitpick,
Speaker 2: but brock Purty has been almost perfect.
Speaker 1: Some of that scheduling too, though, I mean, this is
Speaker 1: the first.
Speaker 2: Well some is scheduling for the Cowboys too, to play
Speaker 2: the Giants.
Speaker 1: That's what I mean. This is the first real deal
Speaker 1: test for both teams. And that's fine. That's what makes
Speaker 1: it such good and it's interesting.
Speaker 4: The one game where Party didn't look so hot was
Speaker 4: the Thursday night against the Giants, and the Giants pass
Speaker 4: rush kind of was in his face a lot, and
Speaker 4: he threw some balls up for grabs. I think, Greg,
Speaker 4: this this matchup in a lot of ways, and I
Speaker 4: hope and it would be good to get an update
Speaker 4: if we can on Michael Parsons.
Speaker 3: Is he practicing? Is he okay?
Speaker 1: He was in and out of the lineup last week.
Speaker 1: Mcarthy indicated he didn't think it was too serious.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so Michaeh Parsons and that Dallas pass rush making
Speaker 4: pretty uncomfortable and part of the reason why I think,
Speaker 4: and sometimes I think Mark, it gets on your radar
Speaker 4: a little bit, and I see where you're at that
Speaker 4: people don't get pretty enough credit because it seems he's
Speaker 4: in such a great position and the offense is drawn
Speaker 4: up so well and he has so many weapons around
Speaker 4: him that he's doing a great job distributing rather than
Speaker 4: being a playmaker or an actual like big talented quarterback,
Speaker 4: which doesn't really matter because scoring is scoring and moving
Speaker 4: the balls, moving the ball. But it's gonna be great
Speaker 4: and interesting, Greg to see Purty specifically against a top
Speaker 4: flight defense. And I know without Trayvon Diggs there, the
Speaker 4: Dallas is a little less but Bland has stepped in
Speaker 4: well in the back end, seeing Purty against this Dallas
Speaker 4: defense and specifically Micah Parsons is gonna be really interesting.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it'll be awesome. And seeing like the right tackle
Speaker 1: Calton mckivitz has not been great, you know, we'll see
Speaker 1: like maybe he does give up a lot of pressure
Speaker 1: to this Dallas I think you have to because to
Speaker 1: your point about looking at the Cowboys Cardinals tape, I
Speaker 1: think what the Cardinals did really well is put a
Speaker 1: balls on Layton Vander Vander esh and Damon Clark, who
Speaker 1: are their linebackers, Like that's the weakness of that team.
Speaker 1: And when you think about what Kyle Shanahan has done
Speaker 1: better than anyone in the NFL over the last few years,
Speaker 1: it's putting a circle on those linebackers on either running
Speaker 1: downs where you surprisingly pass or it's a play action
Speaker 1: pass or whatever it is. It's like, hey, you actually
Speaker 1: need to have six defensive backs out there or we're
Speaker 1: going to roast those guys. And he can create those mismatches,
Speaker 1: whether it's against Kittle or against Debo. And I think
Speaker 1: it's a great coaching matchup because I think this is
Speaker 1: why Mike McCarthy wanted to get rid of Kellen Moore.
Speaker 2: Is this game and the way the last two seasons
Speaker 2: end against.
Speaker 1: That's what I mean, literally this game that their running
Speaker 1: game wasn't ready for it, and the passing game certainly
Speaker 1: wasn't ready to make up for it. And I think
Speaker 1: I think if you look at the Cowboys this year,
Speaker 1: and schedule is such a big part of it, but
Speaker 1: I think they've been able to block their in their
Speaker 1: run game pretty well, and they've had some injuries on
Speaker 1: the offensive line, but they're mostly healthy there now, and
Speaker 1: I think they're going to try to run. They have run,
Speaker 1: They've run well, it's been a little different, Like McCarthy's
Speaker 1: definitely put his scheme into it, and I think they're
Speaker 1: gonna want to try to control the game that way too,
Speaker 1: and I think that's a good way to attack the
Speaker 1: forty nine ers defense if you can. So it's a
Speaker 1: big It's a big McCarthy game.
Speaker 2: One thing that I find so annoying is like every
Speaker 2: time you go out to a restaurant, a tavern like
Speaker 2: and they've got four sports stations on, it's like the
Speaker 2: crawl line is always like Dak Prescott this or that,
Speaker 2: something about Dak Prescott the right, and it's like, I
Speaker 2: love that we got this far without making him the
Speaker 2: focal point, and I don't I really find it tedious,
Speaker 2: but there are there is a fit.
Speaker 1: In the background this year. He's just kind of been
Speaker 1: there and not.
Speaker 2: But isn't this But he was not in the background
Speaker 2: in the two San Francisco playoff losses, obviously, and they
Speaker 2: ended in disastrous fashion. Built times that it's like, we
Speaker 2: don't need that this game to end that way. But
Speaker 2: there's gonna be a moment or two in this where
Speaker 2: it's like, Dak Prescott, don't throw the end zone interception
Speaker 2: or the the red zone gap. You've got to make
Speaker 2: the play in this game, and it's like that's who
Speaker 2: that defines This is one of these games I think
Speaker 2: is like, you will not forget how Dak Prescott performs
Speaker 2: in this you will not forget how the Dallas Cowboys
Speaker 2: perform in general. This is a big kind of inflection
Speaker 2: point for who they are and who they who they
Speaker 2: think they are.
Speaker 1: And I don't think I almost locked up the forty
Speaker 1: nine ers here, but then I thought this game is
Speaker 1: more important than the Cowboys. Man, It's so important to.
Speaker 4: Them, that's underlog And I don't think Trey Lance is
Speaker 4: gonna be knocking on the door at Dak.
Speaker 3: Prescott craps the bet in this game. But no, I
Speaker 3: think there is a fair open question about what is
Speaker 3: Dak at this stage of his career.
Speaker 4: Is he going to be the guy that rises to
Speaker 4: the occasion in the biggest spots? And we might have
Speaker 4: to wait till January to really get that answer again,
Speaker 4: but this is a big spot as far as regular
Speaker 4: season goes, this is about as good as it gets.
Speaker 2: So I was singing, this is the biggest Cowboys regular
Speaker 2: season game that I can remember, oh in five plus years.
Speaker 1: This is a test of the National Wireless Emergency Alert Him.
Speaker 3: Wait, are we okay?
Speaker 1: The purpose is to maintain and improve a warning capabilities
Speaker 1: at the federal state.
Speaker 2: I didn't get territory.
Speaker 3: Are you yeah? Are you on the uh like the
Speaker 3: dark web of I don't know that. I didn't know.
Speaker 3: I'm not.
Speaker 1: This is why you had to get that new computer.
Speaker 1: He's just he's just doing all sorts of.
Speaker 4: Crazy stuff and a work computer. I don't think so
Speaker 4: all right, think so all right? So Sunday Night football
Speaker 4: cannot wait. Let's get that Sunday Night Flagship program started
Speaker 4: a little early, yes, yeah, that seweet. Let's see what
Speaker 4: we can do.
Speaker 1: I don't know, people understand what happened. Maybe moving well,
Speaker 1: we'll try to move at a faster pace. We do
Speaker 1: have the bye week, so that helps.
Speaker 2: I don't they get it though. We start recording the
Speaker 2: show right after, soon after.
Speaker 1: His kickoff is yeah. Yeah, And it's been a nice
Speaker 1: couple of weeks here for Tarico. You get a nice,
Speaker 1: nice Jets game.
Speaker 3: Now we're talking about the sausage gets made.
Speaker 1: With Taylor Swift, and now you get the game of
Speaker 1: the year.
Speaker 2: I didn't mind missing the first happen It was like
Speaker 2: Cowboys thirty and zero or whatever it was at the break,
Speaker 2: But this game, I want to see the whole thing.
Speaker 2: You gonna have to be a little quicker on Sunday night.
Speaker 3: Can we do that?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 3: Yes? All right.
Speaker 4: Finally, Tremaine Johnson was also held on that Pat Mamas scramble.
Speaker 2: We're going back there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, that one was unquestionable. The other one, you know,
Speaker 1: I've seen worse calls, not mate. Ye that the dramane
Speaker 1: one was tough.
Speaker 4: You know, maybe maybe maybe we got a job there,
Speaker 4: but I won't say anything else. Taylor went home happy
Speaker 4: all right last game. It is Monday Night football. It
Speaker 4: is I mean, I feel like we just saw these
Speaker 4: teams in primetime, and yet here we are again, the
Speaker 4: Las Vegas Raiders, once again at home against the Green
Speaker 4: Bay Packers, this time on the road, and it was
Speaker 4: I'm not crazy, right. The Packers were on Thursday Night
Speaker 4: Football last week, yep, And the Raiders were.
Speaker 1: On Sunday Night Football two weeks yep.
Speaker 4: Okay, it feels like maybe we let's get some other
Speaker 4: all right, we'll talk to three forty five Park about
Speaker 4: that immediately.
Speaker 3: They will not listen for yes, So here we go. Mark,
Speaker 3: the Raiders.
Speaker 4: Nearly nearly came away with a win last week with
Speaker 4: their backup quarterback, but they're one and three and just
Speaker 4: there's not a lot of juice around this team right now,
Speaker 4: and Josh McDaniel seems to be potentially heading towards the crossair.
Speaker 4: So this feels like a fairly important game for at
Speaker 4: least a head coach who doesn't want to drop to
Speaker 4: one and four after a bad year, one in prime
Speaker 4: time on an island game with the owner and the
Speaker 4: suite upstairs, you know what I'm saying. And the Packers,
Speaker 4: who really let's start there. The Packers, who kind of
Speaker 4: know showed for the most part last week on Thursday
Speaker 4: Night football, and it's hard to right for me anyway
Speaker 4: get too excited about the Packers being anything else other
Speaker 4: than a loge level team.
Speaker 2: M Yeah, I think that game was a pretty decisive
Speaker 2: turning point for of them because shifted from mezzanine to
Speaker 2: loge but the same meaning. Yeah, I'm speaking of the
Speaker 2: loge in the streets, like Mark Davis like got into
Speaker 2: a verbal tiff with a fan who was demanding that
Speaker 2: the team fired Josh McDaniel. So it's already getting a
Speaker 2: little hot. Really, Yeah, You've got Devonte Adams who's probably wondering, like, wait,
Speaker 2: do I really want to be on this Raiders team
Speaker 2: versus this like young Packers. Mark Davis is the only
Speaker 2: owner in this league that would go into a verbal spot.
Speaker 2: I don't think he sparked it. I think it was
Speaker 2: the fan probably coming coming at him. I mean, yes,
Speaker 2: I mean I met Mark Davis, A nice, nice person.
Speaker 2: We saw him at a Mark a Lot year, nice
Speaker 2: nice person.
Speaker 4: Always out and about, sometimes wearing Zubas always white track suit.
Speaker 1: I feel like he took over for his dad. He
Speaker 1: wears less zu bas but I definitely he has and.
Speaker 3: I love it.
Speaker 4: And I don't think this is telling tales out of school.
Speaker 4: This is part of the experience of covering the sport. Yeah,
Speaker 4: especially the ten pole events Mark and maybe a little
Speaker 4: less now, but maybe like a decade ago, was literally
Speaker 4: every ten pole event if you were at the league
Speaker 4: hotel or that happened to house, like the owners and stuff.
Speaker 4: Mark is always at the bar and he's always having
Speaker 4: a good time, and he's always always wearing white jeans
Speaker 4: and a white long sleeve Raiders T shirt. Yep, it's
Speaker 4: amazing and I think white sneakers.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's got a you know, one of those wardrobes
Speaker 2: where you it's just like eighty of the same thing.
Speaker 4: It's kind of one of those school things working for
Speaker 4: the league. And then oh there's Al Davis's son at
Speaker 4: the bar doing it up.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so he's you know, he's he was getting into
Speaker 2: a verbal argument with a fan. Not a great situation.
Speaker 2: So there is I think there is this. You're right
Speaker 2: about this Raiders team, it's like at some point in
Speaker 2: their space for it, like in this matchup, I think
Speaker 2: you got to show up the one area like that
Speaker 2: you kind of thought last year for me, when I
Speaker 2: thought the Raiders under McDaniel were starting to develop an
Speaker 2: identity on offense, which they've been kind of identity free,
Speaker 2: was like when they were just running the ball Patriots
Speaker 2: esque down people's throats. There were a couple of games
Speaker 2: like that, then they went away from it. But the
Speaker 2: one area with Joe Barry running the Packers defense and
Speaker 2: again put to two hundred and eleven rushing yards to
Speaker 2: a good rushing Detroit tream a week ago while running
Speaker 2: for like twenty seven on themselves. With Aaron Jones back
Speaker 2: in the lineup, I think he'll be healthier this week
Speaker 2: if Josh Jacobs could have one of these kind of
Speaker 2: island game at home, like this is the spot, like
Speaker 2: you can run on this defense, And I really wonder
Speaker 2: outside of that, like how the Raiders like through the air,
Speaker 2: like can actually get this done. I think DeVante Adams
Speaker 2: is going to be a big part of that, for
Speaker 2: obvious reasons against the team he's playing, but I really
Speaker 2: like the idea of trying to control the ball, take
Speaker 2: it out of Jordan Lum's hands, and have Josh Jacobs
Speaker 2: have that game.
Speaker 1: We've been waiting for We don't even know as we're
Speaker 1: taping this, you know who's going to be the quarterback
Speaker 1: for the Raiders. It might be something that goes throughout
Speaker 1: the week. Jimmy g When last you know heard from
Speaker 1: Josh mcgaanne was still in concussion protocol. But that's not
Speaker 1: surprising considering missed the game. He could get out of
Speaker 1: it by the end of the week. He did confirm
Speaker 1: he will start. It's not like they're going to stick
Speaker 1: with O'Connell, who had you know, more bad than good
Speaker 1: for a rookie, but it wasn't a total disaster like
Speaker 1: could have been worse. They need him. They need Devonte
Speaker 1: Adams who went out of that game hurt and then
Speaker 1: played through it. And it's definitely banged up. Both these
Speaker 1: teams have had a lot of injuries. The Packers get
Speaker 1: back Elton Jenkins at practice early this week, which would
Speaker 1: be big. We know David Baktiari is now expected to
Speaker 1: miss the entire season. But you had Aaron Jones back
Speaker 1: in the mix last week, you had Christian Watson back
Speaker 1: in the mix. Their snaps were a little limited in
Speaker 1: that Thursday night game, and now hopefully you get a
Speaker 1: full compliment. I feel like we still haven't quite seen
Speaker 1: this Packers team exactly offensively as we want. They were
Speaker 1: quite dominated by Detroit and now they get to play
Speaker 1: a Raiders defense. It was not going to dominate anyone.
Speaker 1: I mean, they're getting some good play here and there
Speaker 1: from some players, but it's crazy to look at their
Speaker 1: pass rush, which is last and close to it in
Speaker 1: a lot of categories pass rush, win way and pressures
Speaker 1: and all this stuff, and think like they've got Max
Speaker 1: Crosby playing as well as he's ever played. He was
Speaker 1: a demon last week. He's been a demon all season.
Speaker 1: But as Browns fans, no, you can have a pretty
Speaker 1: bad defense with a Defensive Player of the Year candidate
Speaker 1: on your defensive line and they are getting no pressure
Speaker 1: outside of him. Number two on their team and pressures
Speaker 1: is actually their inside linebacker Robert Splaine, who they have
Speaker 1: like blitzing every now and then. They're just getting absolutely
Speaker 1: nothing from anyone else on that.
Speaker 4: It was probably doubly painful to see former Raider Khalil
Speaker 4: Mack bring up six sacks against them last week. Yes,
Speaker 4: Josh Jacobs, it feels like he's been kind of getting
Speaker 4: into football shape in the front of the season, but
Speaker 4: last week he had about one hundred and forty total
Speaker 4: yards and a touchdown. I'm with you, I kind of
Speaker 4: like the I don't know if I'm gonna pick the
Speaker 4: Raiders here, but I think that Jacobs is gonna have
Speaker 4: a big game here, and I think this is gonna
Speaker 4: be his first.
Speaker 3: Like, hey, I'm Josh Jacobs, the guy you remember from
Speaker 3: last year. Now will the Packers be able to match that?
Speaker 3: We shall see. But yeah, I guess I'm a little
Speaker 3: book by the Packers I've seen.
Speaker 4: I know there was a really nice comeback mixed in there,
Speaker 4: but there's been a lot of quarters of not so
Speaker 4: hot football.
Speaker 3: They've been very banged up, and that's part of it too.
Speaker 3: You shall see.
Speaker 1: For the most part, they've had a close game, easy
Speaker 1: matchups in terms of the defense as they face, except
Speaker 1: for Detroit and this is another one. And uh, I
Speaker 1: want to see some Love flour specials.
Speaker 2: I mean, he's been having some nice Jordan loves you,
Speaker 2: protect Love and you should be able to move the
Speaker 2: ball on the Raider. Jordan loves QB rating has dropped
Speaker 2: fifty points in week three and four from where the
Speaker 2: last one hot. Yeah, I think that's part of it,
Speaker 2: is like, I mean, I have a lot of forgiveness
Speaker 2: for their offense in terms of like all these new pieces.
Speaker 2: I think they've got like ten players aged twenty five
Speaker 2: or younger with a reception on that offense. Yeah, it
Speaker 2: shows you how raw and young they are.
Speaker 3: And they you know, look at their last eight quarters.
Speaker 3: Take out that eighteen point fourth last week. It's been
Speaker 3: a lot of.
Speaker 4: It's been rough. It's been rough at times this year
Speaker 4: for the Packers. It's a transition for them that they're
Speaker 4: two and two but one two all right, there we go.
Speaker 4: By the way, the Raiders they're five and eleven in
Speaker 4: one score games last year, right, so that's that's a
Speaker 4: lot of one score games just there at sixteen in
Speaker 4: what twenty two games or whatever?
Speaker 1: I was like, why is this game in primetime? And
Speaker 1: then I thought it's the DeVante Adams revenge game. Actually
Speaker 1: think that is part of it. I saw, we mean,
Speaker 1: we bought in new stadium. I mean, Packers fans care,
Speaker 1: but you're right at the I mean, he's a national
Speaker 1: revenge you know what I mean. It's Davante Adams Yaya,
Speaker 1: a future Hall of Famer. I believe it's hard.
Speaker 3: For me going against and I love storylines and narratives
Speaker 3: around football, but like to get into revenge games unless
Speaker 3: there's a QB involved. Like QBS, it feels a lot.
Speaker 2: Well, I think just over sold in general.
Speaker 1: But it wasn't revenge either. They say they gave them
Speaker 1: what do you wanted?
Speaker 2: Davante Adams like leaves the Raiders like before the trade
Speaker 2: deadline and gets with another team that faces the Raiders.
Speaker 2: That feels like a revenge game because I think DeVante
Speaker 2: Adam is behind the scenes, who was you know, kind
Speaker 2: of annoyed with if you want out of a Green
Speaker 2: Bay so you can go to the Raiders', I don't
Speaker 2: think this one is.
Speaker 1: And he got paid.
Speaker 2: The Raiders thing feels like it's getting a little uglier
Speaker 2: by the week. That could play out on national.
Speaker 1: The whole thing like there's no like, you know, the
Speaker 1: Chandler Jones thing was you know, unfortunate for for everyone,
Speaker 1: primarily Chandler Jones. It's not like Josh McDaniel's is saying
Speaker 1: anything that's driving any one crazy, but just there's there's
Speaker 1: not a lot of life there. You feel like there's
Speaker 1: gonna be a lot of packers fans at this game.
Speaker 1: I saw our old uh oh yeah, our old Frian
Speaker 1: Will Blackman saying there's not a hotel room to be
Speaker 1: found in in Vegas for this game this weekend. He
Speaker 1: was asking if you could yeah someone so, yeah, that's
Speaker 1: that's the thing. I guess that's why they put him
Speaker 1: on Sunday night and early in the season. It's like this,
Speaker 1: It is a scene there.
Speaker 3: I wonder to that point, sneaky, big time pressure on
Speaker 3: McDaniel's for this not to go sideways. Could uh yeah,
Speaker 3: I think I'll just yeah Tuesday morning.
Speaker 4: Could there be a bombshell if the Raiders get stomped
Speaker 4: in this game based on their lack of success so
Speaker 4: far and maybe behind the scenes issues around the team.
Speaker 2: I mean, not if the owners arguing with fans in
Speaker 2: the in the in the in the opposite direction.
Speaker 3: But that's that.
Speaker 2: There is also this weird thing.
Speaker 3: Maybe this has no I.
Speaker 1: Don't know about the back of he's been telling her,
Speaker 1: do you have Tom Brady?
Speaker 2: Tom Brady is a minority owner right.
Speaker 3: For the Raiders. I don't know if they have signed
Speaker 3: the paperwork all right, well.
Speaker 2: But that was heading in that direction. It's like it's
Speaker 2: like super tight with Josh McDaniels. Does that keep him around?
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 1: He is officially uh an owner of the Las Vegas
Speaker 1: Aces in that w n B finals.
Speaker 3: I feel like you've brought that up too now, that
Speaker 3: is multiple.
Speaker 1: Liberty trying to bring New York a title. I'm just
Speaker 1: saying Brady and Mark that might I'm I'm making your
Speaker 1: point that Mark Davis owns that team. Their their business part.
Speaker 3: You know what, Rebecca Lobo is taking it home for
Speaker 3: the Liberty.
Speaker 2: I think she's far removed from the lineup.
Speaker 3: H They actually have the m v P they traded for.
Speaker 1: You are on top of it.
Speaker 2: I'm not tracking this.
Speaker 4: Listen, a New York sports fan will take any success
Speaker 4: we can find.
Speaker 3: Sure, let's go lib all right, anything else, that's it.
Speaker 4: Thank you to Tom Curran, Thank you to you the
Speaker 4: listeners again, and we'll be back on Thursday with a
Speaker 4: full preview of Week five and the NFL Plus show
Speaker 4: is back as well.
Speaker 3: Till then, he the call