Speaker 1: The Around the n F What the Around the NFL
Speaker 1: podcast is quicker than fast? Welcome to another edition of
Speaker 1: the Around the NFL Podcast. I'm Greg Rosenthal here for
Speaker 1: Dan hansis in the host chair, surrounded by a couple
Speaker 1: of heroes, Mark Sessler and Chris Wesselane rolls off the tongue.
Speaker 1: That new name, doesn't it. Oh yeah, if you didn't
Speaker 1: notice Matt money Smith in the intro, maybe you heard
Speaker 1: me say we are now the Around the NFL Podcast.
Speaker 1: What do you guys think about that? Also the Around
Speaker 1: the NFL blog, that's true. Well, we're not really a blog.
Speaker 1: I always kind of shutter a little whenever Dan says
Speaker 1: blog on the show, or whenever anyone says bocause it's
Speaker 1: not really a blog, you know what I mean. It's
Speaker 1: like a news page or something, you know, around the
Speaker 1: NFL news page, because I think of a blog is
Speaker 1: like chronologue, iCal order, and you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: It's it's different. I like being part of a gigantic
Speaker 1: corporate wheel that after you've become comfortable with a name,
Speaker 1: which is sort of like the color, you know, the
Speaker 1: paint your house would be painted in, you come home
Speaker 1: one day and bang, Yeah, it's a different color. It's
Speaker 1: a nice name, though, I can I'm one and improve
Speaker 1: I prove it. Couldn't be happy. Do you approve? Chris sure,
Speaker 1: I don't care. At first, I was like, I don't know,
Speaker 1: because you know, a little pull behind the curtain here.
Speaker 1: We're also launching a show on NFL Network called the
Speaker 1: Around the NFL Show or something I don't know, Around
Speaker 1: the NFL it used to be around the league. What
Speaker 1: part will you be playing on this show? I'm not.
Speaker 1: I'm not. I'm thinking the NFL. I'm saying we as
Speaker 1: in the NFL media news group. I'm not on this show.
Speaker 1: I wish I was. Well, the television version continues to
Speaker 1: ignore our existence. Michael Sarah Hybrid. Uh, so they're they're
Speaker 1: changing the name, and we heard from high above that
Speaker 1: for a little corporate synergy action, around the NFL was
Speaker 1: gonna be our name too. So we are in the
Speaker 1: process of changing the Twitter handle, and if you happen
Speaker 1: to have that around the NFL handle, we're coming for
Speaker 1: you legally and we're gonna be changing it does solve
Speaker 1: one sticky issue for us. I think probably at least
Speaker 1: the fourth of our Twitter followers were Georgia based individuals
Speaker 1: that thought that we were dealing with just Atlanta Sports,
Speaker 1: which was never anything but a ts a lot of
Speaker 1: native That's why I was here exactly. Well, that's how
Speaker 1: we got you as a producer. We're happy to have you.
Speaker 1: When I made my New Year's resolutions in January, you know,
Speaker 1: pretty close to the top was more corporate synergy in
Speaker 1: my life us especially. That stands out with you given
Speaker 1: the option. Though I don't really I never really loved
Speaker 1: a round in the league as a name. I inherited
Speaker 1: that when I got here, was already here. If given
Speaker 1: the choice between around the NFL and around the league
Speaker 1: from day one, I like around the NFL better. There's
Speaker 1: lots of leagues exactly, but no one call it eight
Speaker 1: T n because that's around the national That doesn't make
Speaker 1: any sense, just stupid. Don't say a T NFL either,
Speaker 1: because that just it looks weird. At NFL, there's just
Speaker 1: say the name. Is that so hard? That's it. We
Speaker 1: will do what we're told to do, all right, It's
Speaker 1: gonna be a big show today. We've got our NFC preview.
Speaker 1: We're gonna go through each and every NFC division, give
Speaker 1: you our predictions, some surprise teams making the playoffs, other
Speaker 1: you know news. We're also gonna go back into the
Speaker 1: elimination chamber and eliminate teams from the team of Around
Speaker 1: the NFL discussion. I don't know that that part doesn't
Speaker 1: sound as good. Team of a t L sounded better.
Speaker 1: Don't you think you just call it our team? Yeah? Whatever,
Speaker 1: you now, whatever our team is, We're gonna eliminate some
Speaker 1: teams in the NFC. We're also going to talk to
Speaker 1: Giants linebacker John Beeson at the end of the show,
Speaker 1: so he's gonna give him his preview of the NFC,
Speaker 1: some topics of the Giants and the pain and there's
Speaker 1: all sorts of good stuff. But first let's get to
Speaker 1: a little news we've already heard from him. T D.
Speaker 1: What's going on. Guy's doing good. I'm trying to get
Speaker 1: used to or a new studio and I'm trying to
Speaker 1: get used to around the NFL, and myself working on
Speaker 1: the graphics package because some of this podcast on video
Speaker 1: as well, So that's pretty fancy. Yeah, I wish I
Speaker 1: could show the people, but it's not approved yet. I'll
Speaker 1: take a picture of it and tweet it. It's awesome.
Speaker 1: We have a great looking graphic in the studio on
Speaker 1: a monstrous TV right behind my head, and we've got
Speaker 1: a nice new graphic. A lot of listeners noticed for
Speaker 1: the podcast. It's good. It's good, It's really it's really good.
Speaker 1: We mean business. All right, let's do a little news.
Speaker 1: Come on, what's up? What's up with that? Come on,
Speaker 1: Damna scheck that with that? Of course is Dave Damask
Speaker 1: doesn't want us to do the news, I guess, but
Speaker 1: we're gonna go forward. Josh Gordon, we finally learned Mark
Speaker 1: suspended for one year. His suspense in was upheld by
Speaker 1: an independent arbitrator who probably not getting a Christmas card
Speaker 1: from the Sessler family. Uh this year. You seemed a
Speaker 1: little frustrated by how long it took for us to
Speaker 1: find out about gordon suspension. I don't think I'm on
Speaker 1: an island with that opinion. I mean it's it's I
Speaker 1: understand number one, the league doesn't hand down any suspension
Speaker 1: without putting a lot of work into it. We I
Speaker 1: think we can assume that they're not. It's not a
Speaker 1: knee jerk thing. But this was If you're gonna walk
Speaker 1: around calling John Izick Jets general manager, the glacier. What
Speaker 1: do you call Harold Henderson, the arbitrator who just sat
Speaker 1: on this for weeks. The guy's just out on his
Speaker 1: porch sipping nice tea. At some point, maybe I'll drop
Speaker 1: a decision on one of the NFL's franchises that will
Speaker 1: alter their season to the core. When I feel like it,
Speaker 1: don't rush me, I'll pick up the phone. Maybe maybe
Speaker 1: there was a lot to consider. I'm sure it was.
Speaker 1: It sounds like a guy who hang out with Claude Humphrey,
Speaker 1: just out on the front porch, sip in his key limon. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but you know what it is with these arbitrators, they're
Speaker 1: not NFL employees. They might not know who the Cleveland
Speaker 1: Browns did. I just imagine it as he has some
Speaker 1: bungalow or something in in the Bay Area, and he
Speaker 1: has a stack of files and he has to go
Speaker 1: through each one and like that Josh Gordon when it
Speaker 1: seems really important to us. But he's got a lot
Speaker 1: of other cases to arbitrate first, and he's just going
Speaker 1: through them one by one. Maybe that's what happens. Well,
Speaker 1: that would be reasonable from his angle, but there were
Speaker 1: other angles here. I don't know. So it's been announced,
Speaker 1: so it's here at least. So do you think were
Speaker 1: you getting hopeful that there was gonna be less games?
Speaker 1: And do you think this offense can survive? The first
Speaker 1: question there was I think some hope from a lot
Speaker 1: of people that thought, if it's taking this long, there
Speaker 1: must be something complex that suggests maybe something other than
Speaker 1: a full year. But they ruled that way. I'm not
Speaker 1: entirely surprised at that either. I think that's what we
Speaker 1: initially thought would be the home run result. Here. He's
Speaker 1: gone and a stlee even with him in the lineup.
Speaker 1: There were a lot of issues with this offense, but
Speaker 1: stripping him off of any team would have been a
Speaker 1: huge loss. In Cleveland. You can't find another playmaker on
Speaker 1: that offense besides Josh Gordon. Unless Jordan Cameron were to
Speaker 1: truly repeat what he did last season, there is a
Speaker 1: lot of reason for concern that Cleveland could be a
Speaker 1: bottom five, bottom three office. Sahan has kind of Shanahan
Speaker 1: has produced numbers, fantasy yards and whatnot everywhere he's been.
Speaker 1: That's a true statement. Should he be given a little
Speaker 1: bit of credit, I mean I mean a little bit
Speaker 1: of Hey, this guy has a proven track record of
Speaker 1: producing a lot of yards wherever he's been. Give him
Speaker 1: credit those players he had in the past two some
Speaker 1: of those early Texans teams. I guess you're right. They've
Speaker 1: got a Hall of Famer and Arion Foster was the
Speaker 1: best running back in the NFL for a minute or two.
Speaker 1: And there was a stat on Gordon in terms of
Speaker 1: how many yards he's had in the first two seasons
Speaker 1: compared to everyone else in NFL history, and and he's
Speaker 1: right there at the top. So it's it's a devastating
Speaker 1: loss for the Browns. The timing was unfortunate. Um, I
Speaker 1: don't know, dud. We were going to do the Browns
Speaker 1: potentially as team of well, I think the shelf really
Speaker 1: no way. They are currently the most boring team in
Speaker 1: the NFL to me. By the way, the only two
Speaker 1: receivers with more yards than Gordon in his first first
Speaker 1: two years since the a f L NFL merger Randy
Speaker 1: Moss and Jerry Rice. That's a good list. Titans might
Speaker 1: be a little more boring if you. I would rather
Speaker 1: watch like three Titans games than one Browns. All right,
Speaker 1: we'll see. Let's move on to the other big news
Speaker 1: of the week, Logan Mankins traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Speaker 1: You know, it's a big trade. And and in exchange,
Speaker 1: the Patriots got back a worth round pick and they
Speaker 1: got back Tim Right, who was a guy who was
Speaker 1: supposedly on the roster bubble and Tampa we'll talk about
Speaker 1: him in a second. You know, it's a big trade.
Speaker 1: When I heard three or four different just exclamations throughout
Speaker 1: our newsroom every thirty seconds or minute when they learned
Speaker 1: this new just go whoa, like, hey, wow, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean? Did you hear those little eruptions as
Speaker 1: that was one of the ones you were, well, I
Speaker 1: mean I did hear someone on Twitter correctly point out
Speaker 1: that it is one of the lamest reasons the Twitter
Speaker 1: ever blew up. But it's six b Yeah, exactly it did. Though,
Speaker 1: you know, des Bryant, there was breaking news on him yesterday.
Speaker 1: There was this Seahawks find three hundred thousand dollars. There's
Speaker 1: this Josh Gordon news. You know, it's going to be
Speaker 1: the most read story out of all of those on
Speaker 1: NFL dot com. Logan Mankin's, by far would probably be
Speaker 1: something like some goofy helmet some kid boar or some
Speaker 1: player war and then everybody or some out of noe
Speaker 1: are fine for something. People eat that stuff up. People
Speaker 1: love trades. That people love trades. One of the most
Speaker 1: picture of a helmet with a bunch of stuff going
Speaker 1: on that will get clicks all over. One of the
Speaker 1: most popular stories today, seriously is Broncos trade for Giants
Speaker 1: kicker Brandon McManus. People love their trades. Do we give
Speaker 1: the Patriots too much credit that we just see them
Speaker 1: trade away a six time pro bowler who played well
Speaker 1: last year and we just say, oh, well, it's the Patriots.
Speaker 1: I guess it must be. Okay, is that too much credit?
Speaker 1: I don't know. Asking they win every year. I mean,
Speaker 1: when you gotta, you have to give him credit. Bill
Speaker 1: Belichick knows what he's doing to me. You immediately think
Speaker 1: of lawyer Malloy cut about this time, a long time ago,
Speaker 1: and that was the first sign of how cold and
Speaker 1: calculating the Patriots are on personnel matters. Do you think
Speaker 1: of Richard Seymour getting rid of him as his salary
Speaker 1: started to outpace what they expected him to do on
Speaker 1: the yield, getting rid of Rainy Moss when it shocked
Speaker 1: everyone because he wanted more money and they didn't think
Speaker 1: he was that player anymore. So there is plenty of
Speaker 1: precedent here. When the precedent goes back twenty two years
Speaker 1: when Belichick, who's always been you know, cold hearted is
Speaker 1: not a bad term if you're a talent evaluator, he
Speaker 1: cut Bernie Kozar when everyone that town absolutely melted, saying
Speaker 1: this guy won't do anything else at the NFL level,
Speaker 1: And he didn't. And he's built up so much goodwill
Speaker 1: in Boston, but not enough that the sports radio still
Speaker 1: doesn't get upset about stuff like this. They still get upset,
Speaker 1: which seems silly to me. We found out from Ian Rappaport,
Speaker 1: our NFL media insider, of course, that Logan Meggants was
Speaker 1: asked to take a pay cup before they trade him.
Speaker 1: He was not interested in doing that. They clearly just
Speaker 1: did not see him as an elite talent. I think
Speaker 1: Marcus Cannon, who was on the bench for them, is
Speaker 1: a factor in this that they think he can be
Speaker 1: a really good starter. Maybe it's not going to be
Speaker 1: a huge drop off, and I don't think they planned
Speaker 1: to have Mankins on the roster next year at that salary,
Speaker 1: so they thought, instead of cutting him after the season,
Speaker 1: let's get an interesting tight end in a in a
Speaker 1: mid round draft pick for him. Unless you're a former
Speaker 1: offensive lineman or a former coach, if you hear anyone
Speaker 1: analyzing this trade and saying the Patriots were wrong, I mean,
Speaker 1: just ignore him. How could you possibly know how good
Speaker 1: logan Mankons is right now? Well, I know that he
Speaker 1: used to be. He just used to be the rare
Speaker 1: guard that would do a lot of things you would
Speaker 1: actually notice in the running game, especially, you would just
Speaker 1: be devastating and be fun to watch. You didn't see
Speaker 1: that quite as much. And you saw him give up
Speaker 1: more sacks last year, for sure. I mean you could
Speaker 1: see him give up seven eight nine sacks. He struggled
Speaker 1: a little bit in past protection. He's known still as
Speaker 1: a good run blocker, and the Bucks are desperate. They
Speaker 1: needed some line help better than rich Incognito. Well, I
Speaker 1: don't think the Bucks fleeced. I mean, no one got
Speaker 1: fleeced here necessarily. But I would say that the Patriots
Speaker 1: are a successful organization, pointing to the deals West talked about,
Speaker 1: because they trade players right for they decline, you get
Speaker 1: some value. Bad organizations trade players after the decline is evident,
Speaker 1: and then they get fleeced and deals. How about the
Speaker 1: gamesmanship by the Bucks on this one, bringing Richie incognito
Speaker 1: just to get the Patriots to pull the trigger on
Speaker 1: the trade. I like that. I don't know if that's
Speaker 1: what happened, That's what I'm going with. Ian said that
Speaker 1: the Bucks initially called looking for one of the backup
Speaker 1: guards on New England, looking for some depth, and the
Speaker 1: Patriots were kind of like, how about that Tim Wright guy?
Speaker 1: And then in the Bucks, well how about Logan Bankings?
Speaker 1: And then it gets going. I like that's how trade
Speaker 1: should happen. Yeah, that's that's how the sausage gets made.
Speaker 1: Do we think Tim writes it much of a factor here?
Speaker 1: I think he can be. He'll obviously have to learn
Speaker 1: the offense. He has very intriguing wide receiver skills for
Speaker 1: a tight end. He's not This has nothing to do
Speaker 1: with Gronkowski and being ready for week one. Everyone keeps
Speaker 1: bringing that up. They don't play the same position. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that doesn't matter. He plays another pair of hands and
Speaker 1: they're thin at that right. He plays the move to
Speaker 1: in the air in her named is rule. He's six
Speaker 1: four two twenty. He's built like Julio Jones, not like
Speaker 1: Rob Rob Gronkowski. Yeah, he's closer and probably what they'll
Speaker 1: ask him to do to Julian Edelman, even though they're
Speaker 1: obviously completely different body types and players. But ultimately, this
Speaker 1: guy's a slot receiver. They're gonna they're gonna move him around.
Speaker 1: He was playing wide out a lot for the for
Speaker 1: the Bucks, weren't there weren't they talking about potentially using
Speaker 1: La Fell as an Aaron Hernandez type. This is a
Speaker 1: better fit, it seems. Yeah, And and he and Lo
Speaker 1: Fell aren't that different in body type. They're they're gonna
Speaker 1: have a lot of receivers that have six for ninety
Speaker 1: one game and then go off the map for two more.
Speaker 1: Because between Avendola Tompkins, now I'd throw right into that mix.
Speaker 1: Edelman is probably the only one that's going to be
Speaker 1: consistently a guy that you get targeted. Here's some fantasy
Speaker 1: advice that we didn't throw out on our last fantasy
Speaker 1: football stravaganza. On this offense, ignore everyone but Edelman, Brady
Speaker 1: and Verne Fanzyzy football Fantasy. You can take your flyers
Speaker 1: on Cambrell, Tompkins, Ridley might frustrate you a little bit,
Speaker 1: but basically, Verene Edelman Gronk TD, where why can't we
Speaker 1: get some backup singers or something with that you know
Speaker 1: in here? You old old producer kid, which that was
Speaker 1: she had? That's right, Remember she would make some songs
Speaker 1: or something that wasn't one of those tracks. I remember.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying production value. We've got videos coming in here,
Speaker 1: wouldn't it be cool? I don't want to get you excited, Greg,
Speaker 1: but I mentioned this on the last show. I still
Speaker 1: this is. I see New England as a sneaky playoff
Speaker 1: type entry, and well, I didn't want to kind of
Speaker 1: an upstart. I didn't want to compliment the Patriots in
Speaker 1: all their previous trades and stuff. Will be the first
Speaker 1: sessler that actually happens, all right, although Aaron Rodgers injury, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was you kind of made. It's like the only
Speaker 1: one that happened. You made your reputation on. All right,
Speaker 1: that's enough news because we want to get to our
Speaker 1: NFC preview and uh, without further ado, I think let's
Speaker 1: just get into it. Let's start with the NFC East
Speaker 1: and Chris, you've been waging an internal war over the
Speaker 1: last two weeks Washington Redskins Philadelphia Eagles. You had one
Speaker 1: team in front at first, Now you're leading another way.
Speaker 1: Why all the confusion? There is still an internal struggle here.
Speaker 1: There's a duality in me. I uh, you know, I've
Speaker 1: been thinking Redskins all off season because I thought r
Speaker 1: G three was returning to two thousand twelve form. There's
Speaker 1: no reason why he should not. There is a reason
Speaker 1: that he's not a pocket passer yet, and his struggles
Speaker 1: in the preseason have really concerned me, And just on
Speaker 1: a visceral level, it just disturbs the hell out of
Speaker 1: me that he doesn't know how to do a baseball slide. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I can't get over that. And if you want to
Speaker 1: avoid an injury, look, I mean, honestly, this six year
Speaker 1: olds can do baseball slides. This is just stubbornness. So
Speaker 1: that bothers me. But I guess I'm torn because I
Speaker 1: know the Eagles have been lucky. They got lucky on injuries,
Speaker 1: third downs, turnovers last year. Those things tend to even
Speaker 1: out the next year. But at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: are you taking Chip Kelly, are you taking Jake Gruden?
Speaker 1: I'm taking Chip Gilly I'll take I'll take the one
Speaker 1: who is a genius in the conversation. Here's an idea
Speaker 1: about that sliding, which also got Cam Newton injured because
Speaker 1: he doesn't know how to slide either. There are at
Speaker 1: least three Vick, Newton and Griffin who cannot slide. Jake
Speaker 1: Locker takes a lot of unnecessary hits too, although he
Speaker 1: should be able to slide because he was a baseball player,
Speaker 1: but he's just kind of reckless. Make that an event
Speaker 1: at the combine quarterback quarterback slide thirty yards and then
Speaker 1: down or twenty. You know, it would be ten best
Speaker 1: idea since yesterday's get rid of the Offensive Player of
Speaker 1: the Year. The awards, Oh yeah, we'll get into that
Speaker 1: on Friday. We're gonna do our awards. Show what we
Speaker 1: can talk about the most useless of award in the
Speaker 1: history of sports. Uh, you're taking the Eagles mark, who
Speaker 1: are you taking in second place in the NF and
Speaker 1: that division? Don't think that really matters? Well, you still
Speaker 1: have to put the teams in order and some some
Speaker 1: sort of or before we put the Redskins to bed.
Speaker 1: But we're happening in bed. We can keep talking. I
Speaker 1: believe that their defense is significantly better. Jason Hatcher. We've
Speaker 1: killed that signing because he started two years old in
Speaker 1: the game, a lot of money up front. He looked great.
Speaker 1: He put a how did you phrase the clown suit thing?
Speaker 1: Mark an ornately crafted clown suit. He put it or
Speaker 1: late or night and they crafted clown suit on Pro
Speaker 1: Bowl guard Marshal Yanda last week bull rushed him right
Speaker 1: back into Flacco. He looks good. Keenan Robinson is an
Speaker 1: upgrade on on um London Fletcher, last year's version of
Speaker 1: London Fletcher. I think they're upgraded on defense altogether. The
Speaker 1: problem is they didn't upgrade their defensive coordinator. I he
Speaker 1: loved Jim hands Well, I think he's fine, But why
Speaker 1: why does he keep that job year after year? They
Speaker 1: do look pretty good on paper. He's friends with Grood
Speaker 1: and I guess so that's it. Well, it's not a meritocracy.
Speaker 1: It's not based on Oh you know what, you dialed
Speaker 1: up one of the most horrid, most offensive situations ever
Speaker 1: on defense last season, So you know what, it's a
Speaker 1: good idea to keep you around. Are you guys excited
Speaker 1: for the Keenan Robinson era. Yeah, I mean he seems
Speaker 1: like a little flashy, flashy player there that I mean,
Speaker 1: they could rush the past there. Look, London Fletcher hit
Speaker 1: a great borderline Hall of Fame career, but he was
Speaker 1: a liability list. He's Griffin could play mediocre and have
Speaker 1: okay numbers. That's the thing. I think, there's so many
Speaker 1: weapons there that he could be somewhat disappointed, disappointing, but
Speaker 1: it will be masked by Pierre Garsone taking it a
Speaker 1: ten yard dump off pass seventy yards and de Sean
Speaker 1: Jackson doing the same thing, and Jordan Reid messing up
Speaker 1: your mind. I don't know, have you come up with
Speaker 1: who your second place team was? But yeah, well no,
Speaker 1: i'd I'd come up with it last week, and it's
Speaker 1: it's Washington, just based on I thought of any team
Speaker 1: in the division, they went out and added the most
Speaker 1: on offense. And yet the preseason concerns me for the
Speaker 1: same reason it concerns West. But I look at the
Speaker 1: Giants and I see a very bland team, and then
Speaker 1: Dallas is a downright disaster on one half of the football.
Speaker 1: So Washington second place. But again I'm telling you, it
Speaker 1: doesn't matter. They these three teams will be completely adrift.
Speaker 1: The NFC East is as down as it's been in
Speaker 1: a while, and it's kind of been stuck there for
Speaker 1: a few years. Is there a chance though, that they
Speaker 1: I feel like, you know that we might be underrating
Speaker 1: the Eagles, that they have a chance to go twelve
Speaker 1: and four, thirteen and three. They get the point, they
Speaker 1: get to play the a f C South. That's nice.
Speaker 1: Everyone looks at their schedule, they see forty Niners and
Speaker 1: Seahawks because they gotta play that that division out of
Speaker 1: dion util It looks hard, and yeah, that's hard, but
Speaker 1: maybe you can beat San Francisco in Philadelphia. Why not
Speaker 1: You get the a f C South out of division
Speaker 1: and you get six games against the rest of this
Speaker 1: lousy group. Couldn't they go five and one, six and
Speaker 1: oh against the some of these NFC East teams. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's possible. I don't think we're underrating them though. I
Speaker 1: don't think they're as good of a team as last
Speaker 1: as they were in the second half of last year,
Speaker 1: and I think they'll miss to Sean Jackson. They they
Speaker 1: ranked fairly low in our power poll for a team
Speaker 1: that we all had winning the division other than Chris
Speaker 1: Westley at least a week ago. That's what he had.
Speaker 1: They are tenth, which is below teams like the Cardinals
Speaker 1: and the Chargers. Uh, you guys had the Redskins. Second,
Speaker 1: I had the Redskins. Last I actually had. Uh, but
Speaker 1: you hate the Redskins. That's been verified. Oh, I'm not
Speaker 1: a I don't think they're gonna be good. It's a
Speaker 1: rule defense. As a rule, you don't you don't like
Speaker 1: the Red Well, they had this whole long era, uh,
Speaker 1: Jim's orn a little before that, where they were always
Speaker 1: on national TV all the time, even though they were
Speaker 1: the most boring team ever. And I think I've held
Speaker 1: that against them. That's how I feel about the Giants.
Speaker 1: That's how I feel about the Cowboys. So it's how
Speaker 1: we feel about most of the NFC's What about the Giants?
Speaker 1: Though they still have a coach that's won a couple
Speaker 1: of Super Bowls, they have a defense that you could
Speaker 1: argue was one of the best seven or eight defenses
Speaker 1: in the league last year without Jameson Pierre Paul being healthy.
Speaker 1: They added some talent in the secondary. Couldn't the Giants
Speaker 1: be a little frisky? I love this argument that the
Speaker 1: Giants were one of the six or seven or eight
Speaker 1: best defense when they gave up thirty five points a
Speaker 1: game over the first six weeks of the same stunk
Speaker 1: at the beginning, and there's six of the six games
Speaker 1: still count half of those Eli Manning picks. Uh. You know,
Speaker 1: they had to deal with a lot of interceptions, a
Speaker 1: lot of bad luck. They were pretty good down the stretch.
Speaker 1: I would have no issue with New York going like
Speaker 1: eight and eight. That's what you know. That's who they
Speaker 1: are this year. I think they're they're a nice more
Speaker 1: interesting question that was you just put our host right
Speaker 1: under the bully. Now, please ask some questions how Eli
Speaker 1: Manning he's gonna enter a contract year in two thousand
Speaker 1: and fifteen. If he has another year this year like
Speaker 1: he did last year, gown, so he's gone. I think
Speaker 1: so the old loyal you said this year like last year.
Speaker 1: So that's leading the league and interceptions by a lot
Speaker 1: by and if they stuck with him again after that,
Speaker 1: that's their fault. That's like following someone on Twitter that
Speaker 1: annoys you. He's an icon. He's got to be a
Speaker 1: first ballot Hall of Famer because he won two Super
Speaker 1: Bowl v P tro If he's that were stolen from
Speaker 1: Justin Tuck and Michael Strahan. You've been you just always
Speaker 1: hold that up. This is weird. There's a lot of
Speaker 1: anger from this group around this division. Yeah, but you
Speaker 1: know what, they've got a coming. We're gonna ask John
Speaker 1: Beeson a little bit about it later. But I mean
Speaker 1: there's anger even within their own team. Ben McAdoo, the
Speaker 1: new offensive coordinator, he's watching this lousy offense in in
Speaker 1: New York and he's and p o at practice. I
Speaker 1: don't blame him. Hey, you've got a number one Pickett
Speaker 1: wide receiver that simply refuses to get on the field.
Speaker 1: You've got a quarterback that is, as they say, a
Speaker 1: first ballot Hall of Famer. According to some who seems perplexed,
Speaker 1: and they know on preseason games they've looked completely stillborn.
Speaker 1: What about week? How about we get it together? The
Speaker 1: season is like ten days away. Uh. The team we
Speaker 1: disagreed on the most, actually me versus the two of
Speaker 1: you or the Dallas Cowboys. I had him very close
Speaker 1: to the middle of my power poll. I actually had
Speaker 1: them second in the division. I had the Giants third
Speaker 1: and the Redskins fourth, and you both, I believe had
Speaker 1: the Cowboys as one of the worst teams in the NFL.
Speaker 1: I think I had them about definitely the lowest team
Speaker 1: with an actual quarterback, right, which is why I picked
Speaker 1: them in the middle of the pack. Any team with
Speaker 1: a quarterback, you know and and Dez Bryant, Tyronne Smith,
Speaker 1: I don't know, you win seven games in this division.
Speaker 1: I'd like their chances against teams like Washington and New York.
Speaker 1: I just don't buy the argument that the defense can't
Speaker 1: be any worse because they finished thirty second. Defenses get worse.
Speaker 1: They defenses break new records every year because that's the
Speaker 1: era we're in, and they could definitely be worse. They
Speaker 1: have less talent than they did last year. If offenses
Speaker 1: are going to continue to break records, the ineptitude of
Speaker 1: defenses will have to do the same. That's just how
Speaker 1: it works. But I had them atty, which might be
Speaker 1: unfair because you are right, Greg, If Romo Brian and
Speaker 1: DeMarco Murray are healthy, they well it's it's an if,
Speaker 1: but it's but Murray and Romo don't have the best
Speaker 1: track records the last couple of years. For staying out
Speaker 1: of the trailer. They don't know they don't, but I
Speaker 1: mean they're they don't. I think you have to be
Speaker 1: completely inept on offense and be in a division that's
Speaker 1: housing you, and they're in a bad division where they're
Speaker 1: gonna sneak some wins. So I might have been wrong
Speaker 1: on thirtieth, but I I wouldn't have. I have no
Speaker 1: issue saying that there will be a bottom seven or
Speaker 1: eight team. All right, we've gone through the NFC East.
Speaker 1: We gotta go right now into the around the league,
Speaker 1: around the NFL. It's gonna take us a while to
Speaker 1: get used this elimination chamber. Ah, that's what that's what
Speaker 1: we do when you get eliminated. And for new listeners,
Speaker 1: we are trying to pick a team that we can
Speaker 1: support as a podcast all together. Last year it was
Speaker 1: the Panthers that was our team of two thousand thirteen.
Speaker 1: We're slowly going through the teams and trying to pick
Speaker 1: who's going to be our team of two thousand fourteen.
Speaker 1: We hope to have a team before Week one, but
Speaker 1: it has to be unanimous, and I have a feeling
Speaker 1: it's not gonna happen before a week one, but let's
Speaker 1: at least throw some teams out, alright, NFC East, the
Speaker 1: whole division. They're gone. They're just gone, the whole division.
Speaker 1: Is there any case sounds ass make you angry? The
Speaker 1: Giants make me angry. The Cowboys make Mark angry. And
Speaker 1: I don't want the Eagles of the team of eight.
Speaker 1: I would not vote against the Eagles. I'd vote for
Speaker 1: the But I don't know how if this needs, if
Speaker 1: all three of us needs to need to clear them through.
Speaker 1: The Eagles are out. Well, there is a factor here.
Speaker 1: There is a man that's not in the room right now.
Speaker 1: And I can just hear Dan hands is laughing hysterically
Speaker 1: at the idea that he would somehow allow a Chip
Speaker 1: Kelly lead team to be the team of the Around
Speaker 1: the NFL podcast. And let's save ourselves a couple of
Speaker 1: weeks from now when we debate this and eliminate the
Speaker 1: entire division. No love for the Redskins. They're out. They're out.
Speaker 1: No their quarterbacks terrible. I feel, Plus they feel lighter. Well,
Speaker 1: first of all, you've gone. The Redskins employed Joe thisman,
Speaker 1: So that's all I need to say. Moving on, before
Speaker 1: a shadowy league figure walks in here, Let's talk a
Speaker 1: little bit about the NFC North then I'm first, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go through our power Poll rankings of the the
Speaker 1: Green Bay Packers number one in the NFC North, number
Speaker 1: two overall, and UH will be should prominently in my
Speaker 1: predictions throughout, So we really like the Packers to win
Speaker 1: the division. We have the Bears UH in second, the
Speaker 1: Lions after that, and the Vikings fourth, but overall not
Speaker 1: ranked two low twenty three overall, which is pretty good
Speaker 1: for a last place team. Do you think there's any
Speaker 1: chance any of these three teams actually make a run
Speaker 1: and challenge the Packers? I have you know, we did
Speaker 1: these predictions a bit ago, and I know Greg and
Speaker 1: I both are warming up to the concept of the
Speaker 1: Vikings being a sneaky team. All four of the this
Speaker 1: is the opposite of the NFC East. All four of
Speaker 1: these teams can make the playoffs, and it wouldn't surprise me.
Speaker 1: I mean, any any combination of the four can make
Speaker 1: the playoffs, and I would be fine with that. Vikings
Speaker 1: would be a fun playoff team. Good story. Ever since
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers did his William takomps a Sherman impression and
Speaker 1: blazed through Georgia in two thousand and ten on the
Speaker 1: way of the Super Bowl. He's won his games. That
Speaker 1: means the Packers are going twelve and four even if
Speaker 1: the defense is okay. I think the defense is much better.
Speaker 1: I think the Packers are the class of this division
Speaker 1: and no one else comes close. The best group of
Speaker 1: weapons Aaron Rodgers have has ever had. I think maybe
Speaker 1: maybe you could make an argument his second year. I
Speaker 1: don't think it is. I keep hearing that, and here
Speaker 1: here's why. Because weapons aren't just wide receivers. The wide
Speaker 1: receivers are great, but you have three different running backs
Speaker 1: which right now look pretty good. And I think the
Speaker 1: offensive line, if you want to count that as a weapon,
Speaker 1: I think it's It's not perfect, but it's probably in
Speaker 1: better shape right now than it's been since Rogers took over.
Speaker 1: If they still had jam Michael Finley, I would agree
Speaker 1: with you, But I just I don't think they're the
Speaker 1: receiving weapons are is good? Boy Can is unproven. I
Speaker 1: have no reason to believe he's He looks good though
Speaker 1: when he plays, I have no reason to believe he's
Speaker 1: as good as James Jones. He hasn't really stood out
Speaker 1: in the preseason yet. I don't think Davante Adams is
Speaker 1: ready to cont that's a problem. So I don't think
Speaker 1: they're as good as they were in two. They got
Speaker 1: the running game, that's a big fact. Eddie Lacey's a
Speaker 1: monster factor. Well. I wrote a piece today on Packers
Speaker 1: coaches saying they believe Lacey could lead the NFL and
Speaker 1: rushing this year, and I don't think that's a stretch
Speaker 1: at all. Well, that suggests also that they're willing to
Speaker 1: take some of the heat off of Rogers having to
Speaker 1: do everything. Rogers is one of the handful of quarterbacks
Speaker 1: that if you have a receiver that might not flourish
Speaker 1: in another team, they will in Green Bay system. And
Speaker 1: you talked about the continuity that the Saints have over
Speaker 1: the years with all the same players. I mean, you
Speaker 1: have Rogers and McCarthy and enough offensive DNA that's been
Speaker 1: around with them together that they can just do things
Speaker 1: in a more advanced way than other teams. I love
Speaker 1: them this year. I think they're winning the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: There my pick. I guess we blew it. We gotta
Speaker 1: do our Super Bowl picks another show. But that's basically
Speaker 1: I like a lot of these teams. I have the
Speaker 1: Bears in the playoffs, uh, I'm I believe I'm the
Speaker 1: only one that has the Bears in the playoffs. But
Speaker 1: Chris Wesley and you have a surprising team out of
Speaker 1: this division in the playoffs. I have the Lions as
Speaker 1: the sixth team in the NFC playoffs. I feel like
Speaker 1: there are five obvious picks really in the NFC, Your
Speaker 1: NFC East winner and then Seahawks, Packers, Saints, and forty Niners.
Speaker 1: So to me, it comes down to who's the best
Speaker 1: team out of the field. And I feel like the
Speaker 1: Lions have too much firepower for everyone else. I I
Speaker 1: I struggle to trust them. Ay they play inside, which
Speaker 1: is hard on the Minnesota's outside. You know, the other
Speaker 1: night I was forced to watch the Lions play and
Speaker 1: then they switched the TV over to the Seattle Seahawks
Speaker 1: in Seattle, and it's like suddenly human life entered being waterboarded.
Speaker 1: At the time, Detroit Stadium silent, like the middle of
Speaker 1: the night in someone's house, other than maybe you can
Speaker 1: hear some electricity and some piping. Go to Seattle and
Speaker 1: it's an explosion. I cannot root for a team that
Speaker 1: plays inside of a dome. And I'm not just kidding around.
Speaker 1: I mean it and if they do, will veto that
Speaker 1: till the end. Well, it's a problem, Mark that we
Speaker 1: had to pay all this money to bring along another
Speaker 1: around the NFL writer this year just because you refused
Speaker 1: to cover games inside a dome and that left such
Speaker 1: a big hole in our schedule. Well I didn't. I
Speaker 1: didn't have a problem going to the super Bowl, which
Speaker 1: was in the dome. Yeah. Well yeah, William, you get
Speaker 1: sound like domes are quiet. Domes are often the noisiest places.
Speaker 1: I mean the super Bowl. Well, not in Atlanta and
Speaker 1: not in Detroit, not on television. This shows how much
Speaker 1: down a wormhole here, but shows how much stock you
Speaker 1: have around here that they did hire someone just to
Speaker 1: replace your production and don't aware that was the dynamic.
Speaker 1: I don't think Detroit's gonna make the playoffs for other reasons.
Speaker 1: They're gonna find a way to crumble like they always do.
Speaker 1: Sometimes it just comes down to human nature. Matthew Stafford
Speaker 1: is not the guy they say, Oh, this guy is
Speaker 1: completely reborn this and that we'll find out, Yeah, find out.
Speaker 1: I'm not buying it. Stafford's at the point of his career.
Speaker 1: He's kind of like getting to where Jake Cutler has
Speaker 1: now been for a year or two. He's kind of
Speaker 1: at the point you gotta show that you're different to
Speaker 1: believe it anymore. That he's a very good starting quarterback,
Speaker 1: maybe you know, slightly better than average, which is worth
Speaker 1: a lot. You know, if you line up all thirty
Speaker 1: two quarterbacks, Stafford is probably he's ranked above the median point.
Speaker 1: But is he ever gonna take that next step? Have
Speaker 1: you seen any reason to believe that the median point
Speaker 1: is the A D skill? Right? Well? I kind of
Speaker 1: was thinking the media is like sixteen, because that's probably
Speaker 1: where Stafford is fourteen, fifteen, something like that. I don't
Speaker 1: trust this defense. Can you name their defensive coordinator right now?
Speaker 1: Tarrell Austin? Tarrell Austin never really been coordinator at the
Speaker 1: pro level. I don't know. I'm not I'm not too
Speaker 1: excited about just how Party's grandson is in the league.
Speaker 1: The Bears defense any better, It's terrible. The difference is
Speaker 1: that I really trust Mark Trustman, Cutler, Marshall. I do
Speaker 1: trust cut How do you trust Cutler? I trust Cutler
Speaker 1: under Trustman because Trustman made him a better quarterback last year.
Speaker 1: He helped make Josh McCown better. He's turning Jimmy Clawson around.
Speaker 1: He got played by his backup last year. Who yeah,
Speaker 1: by a little. What I trust is Mike Simmer's ability
Speaker 1: to get the most out of his defense. And I
Speaker 1: like Norv Turner at the coordinator level. We've already seen
Speaker 1: his effects on Matt Castle. They've got Cordarrel Patterson, They've
Speaker 1: got Kyle Rudolph. There's a lot of things. Yeah, they're frisky.
Speaker 1: You know. I like this team. They're playing outdoors in
Speaker 1: Minnesota through the thick of winter. This is a team
Speaker 1: I can get behind. I know, I like this team.
Speaker 1: I picked the Bears to the playoffs. It's been a
Speaker 1: week almost a Marika. You know, I would think about
Speaker 1: the Vikings. I think they're gonna be frisky, but I'm
Speaker 1: sticking with my Bears pick. We've gone through the division.
Speaker 1: Now let's talk about which teams should at least survive
Speaker 1: this round of a Limon Nation for the Team of
Speaker 1: the NFL podcast. Uh. I know the Packers are a
Speaker 1: good a great team. Are they too good to consider?
Speaker 1: I mean, we we are picking them pretty far. I'll
Speaker 1: keep them well, okay, that's fine, but I mean we're
Speaker 1: gonna pick these is the team of NFL. I think
Speaker 1: they're a big part of the team of a tale
Speaker 1: is who's fun to watch? Alright, the pack they're in
Speaker 1: the top three for me, I'm fun to watch the
Speaker 1: Packers can make it through. I guess they're never gonna
Speaker 1: be the team. No, why bother, Let's kill him? You
Speaker 1: want to kill him? I'm I want to save all right,
Speaker 1: he wants to push him forward. We'll push him forward.
Speaker 1: I want to save every team is division except for
Speaker 1: the Bears. But I know you guys like the Bears.
Speaker 1: I think we should save the Bears. I'd like I
Speaker 1: would be willing to vetell the Bears. Let's get rid
Speaker 1: of the Lions. Though there's no way we're choosing the
Speaker 1: Lions as the team of of the NFL. I would
Speaker 1: agree with you. All right, Okay, they're never gonna make it.
Speaker 1: The deciding factor the Packers are either. Probably the deciding
Speaker 1: factor is people laugh about this. Marks absolutely right about
Speaker 1: Dome teams. Sorry, all right, Lions, you're out. The Vikings
Speaker 1: are interesting and uh. Twitter follower Tim Gomez told me today,
Speaker 1: and the Vikings become the team of around the NFL,
Speaker 1: he will help me eat my softball pants. I don't
Speaker 1: know if that's allowed. Is that allowed? We don't want
Speaker 1: to There could be legal reasons. Yeah, I'm not sure.
Speaker 1: We suddenly started bridging the rules around that penalty that
Speaker 1: you've drawling upon yourself. That's interesting that we can try, Chris, Okay, um,
Speaker 1: just two weeks away, right, what is it? Two and
Speaker 1: a half weeks now? We need to get the season
Speaker 1: get here already, just get here. We need to get
Speaker 1: someone to contact the Food Network to make sure all
Speaker 1: this is done safely. Wait, now, it's a week from
Speaker 1: tomorrow this season starts. Got Okay, that's great. I'm glad.
Speaker 1: It doesn't even feel better this week's But this has
Speaker 1: been a tough month. Let's get through August. Come to
Speaker 1: the NFC South. Yeah, we all take the Saints to
Speaker 1: win the division. You guys have the Saints number one. Really,
Speaker 1: this is the team you guys think is gonna win
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl. Chris, you you made a big wrote
Speaker 1: a big poem to them the other week on the podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna throw it to Mark. Why why are you
Speaker 1: just so convinced that the Saints are the team for
Speaker 1: this year? Well, I feel like we talked about them recently,
Speaker 1: and it's for me. I think they've you know, again,
Speaker 1: it's a team where you've got Sean Payton, Drew Brees.
Speaker 1: That team doesn't do anything but win twelve games unless
Speaker 1: there's an injury to Breeze. It's the only way they
Speaker 1: don't have a winning record. They're gonna win the division.
Speaker 1: I don't see a big problem with that. In the
Speaker 1: NFC South, they've gone out and they've added weapons. You
Speaker 1: got Jared's Bird on defense at safety along with Kenny Vicaro.
Speaker 1: I think people at the end of this year will
Speaker 1: they'll be in the discussion is the best safety duel
Speaker 1: along with Seattle and there's there's there's a good reason
Speaker 1: for that. On offense, we love Brandon Cooks obviously, and
Speaker 1: you know Wesley has been hot on the revival of
Speaker 1: mark Ingram and they've got an interesting backfield. They found
Speaker 1: a way to redo their wide receiver group and their
Speaker 1: backfield and get faster and younger, and what's not to like.
Speaker 1: I don't think just handing them that. You can't just
Speaker 1: hand them the division on paper. You're right, they're good,
Speaker 1: but you know, they didn't win the division last year.
Speaker 1: They didn't win a division before. They didn't think they
Speaker 1: were good last year. We correctly identified their weaknesses last year.
Speaker 1: They have addressed them and they will win this division.
Speaker 1: But they were pretty good last year. They ended up
Speaker 1: being about a top eight team. That was about where
Speaker 1: they deserved to be. And we realized all along they
Speaker 1: were flawed when we predicted the Panthers to beat them
Speaker 1: for the division title. They had too many weaknesses last year.
Speaker 1: They have no weaknesses this year. On a down year
Speaker 1: with Peyton and Breeze, you you you still win ten
Speaker 1: eleven games. Yeah, they Their defense has never been this
Speaker 1: good or it never been this promising. I know it
Speaker 1: was good last year, but to add Bird in the
Speaker 1: second year of Rob Bryan, now we actually no junior
Speaker 1: lat and keep Hicks is looking better and Cameron Jordan's
Speaker 1: I mean it should that Dome should be rocking. The
Speaker 1: only thing I could think is maybe some cornerback depth
Speaker 1: teams could throw on them a little bit. But that's
Speaker 1: it's tough. We were talking about it coming back from
Speaker 1: lunch today. We couldn't come up with what's a good
Speaker 1: weakness for this team. Maybe offensive tackles. The tackles well,
Speaker 1: they love their left tackle even though he's untested. They
Speaker 1: that Breeze said, you know, in a couple of weeks ago,
Speaker 1: he's been outstanding. So we all love the Saints. Second
Speaker 1: place in this division? Who you got I've got? I
Speaker 1: think I have the falcon. Yeah, but it's not like
Speaker 1: they're way better than the Bucks of the Panthers. To me,
Speaker 1: it's it's kind of coin flip territory or paper rock.
Speaker 1: Sers is on all three of those teams. I just
Speaker 1: to me, I have total confidence in their offense. I
Speaker 1: do believe their offensive line is much improved. Julio Jones
Speaker 1: and Roddy White are awesome. They're both healthy, and I
Speaker 1: don't think their defense is quite as as ad as
Speaker 1: everyone thinks. What do you see as their biggest weakness?
Speaker 1: I would say the defense, even though it's not as
Speaker 1: bad as everyone thinks, it's still mediocre. They don't have
Speaker 1: any pass rushing to speak, they don't have anyone exciting.
Speaker 1: Who are you getting excited about on their defense? That's bad.
Speaker 1: That's what I look for in defenses. Where where are
Speaker 1: the players that are gonna win one on one matchups
Speaker 1: consistently make big plays. I don't see it, and and
Speaker 1: you you better hope those young quarterbacks Alfred and Trufan
Speaker 1: are as good as you know some people think, because
Speaker 1: if they're not, they could be a disaster on defense,
Speaker 1: and they haven't looked that good in the preseason. For
Speaker 1: what it's worth, I had Caroline is my number two team.
Speaker 1: I think that we you know, we saw it was
Speaker 1: happening back in February and March and it felt like
Speaker 1: the roof was caving in and here comes the wind.
Speaker 1: But they've done a fine job, I think with the
Speaker 1: you know, Gettleman is so determined to get this team
Speaker 1: out of their situation cap wise. But Kelvin Benjamin, they
Speaker 1: had to hit on this guy in the early returns
Speaker 1: suggests that they have and that was had that not worked,
Speaker 1: had they gone and got Odell Beckham and he's gone
Speaker 1: for a month, sitting around that team is a disaster house.
Speaker 1: But I I think that they've got a deep backfield
Speaker 1: and if Cam Newton is less hobbled than he looks
Speaker 1: right now, I'm all right with them. He's the thing.
Speaker 1: They weren't that great enough an offense last year, and
Speaker 1: they have the number two seed in the NFC, so
Speaker 1: all they need to do really is to minimize how
Speaker 1: much worse they get, and hope the defense is still
Speaker 1: this good. And on paper, we've seen the secondary flying
Speaker 1: around in the preseason, and on paper, the front sevens
Speaker 1: as good as any team in the NFL. They could
Speaker 1: have the number one defense. I don't think we'd be stunned.
Speaker 1: We're missing their big weakness here. Yes, everybody talked about
Speaker 1: the wide receiver's all offseason. The offensive line is more
Speaker 1: of a problem. Yeah, Byron Bell got worked over by
Speaker 1: Chandler Jones. He's not a good left tackle. Nate Chandler
Speaker 1: at right tackle is a converted defensive end who's unproven.
Speaker 1: The guards did the two starting guards did not play
Speaker 1: for the Pants last year. One is coming off in
Speaker 1: a c L. It's it's a patchwork offensive line. Well,
Speaker 1: it's four or five linemen are new from last season,
Speaker 1: and that often just no matter what's going to take
Speaker 1: part of the year for them to even learn how
Speaker 1: to play together, and then by then Carolina will figure
Speaker 1: out that at least two of them don't belong on
Speaker 1: that line. And it's exacerbated by the fact that cam
Speaker 1: Cam Newton isn't moving well right now and now he
Speaker 1: has a fractured rib on top of the ankle, so
Speaker 1: they're gonna win games like nine to eight. Our power poll,
Speaker 1: that's when we aggregate all our rankings, including Kevin Patrare
Speaker 1: Chicago Correspondent actually had the Panthers as the number two
Speaker 1: team in this division, the Falcon and the number nine
Speaker 1: team in the NFC, the Falcons number eleven, and the
Speaker 1: Buccaneers bringing up the rear at thirteen. I think all
Speaker 1: these teams are ranked a little too low in our rankings.
Speaker 1: I think at the end of the year we could
Speaker 1: be talking about this is the best division in football
Speaker 1: because the Buccaneers they could be pretty spunky. I mean
Speaker 1: them and the Vikings are kind of the two NFC
Speaker 1: teams I like that aren't getting picked to go to
Speaker 1: the playoffs too much, but it wouldn't surprise me at
Speaker 1: all if they have that sort of ten and six
Speaker 1: type of year. I like that the Bucks have some
Speaker 1: difference makers. Lavonte David and Darryl McCoy are, you know,
Speaker 1: arguably the best at their positions. Vincent Jackson's great, Doug
Speaker 1: Martin's good. I believe in Josh McCown. I think it's
Speaker 1: a very shallow roster overall, though, there's no depth on
Speaker 1: either side of the ball. If a starter gets hurt.
Speaker 1: Did we maybe uh get freaked by what we saw
Speaker 1: in the first preseason game or two where Josh McCown
Speaker 1: was just getting swarmed by the I mean, their line
Speaker 1: is an issue. We didn't just get freak. The Bucks
Speaker 1: got freak. They they've had Richie Incognito coming in there
Speaker 1: just account isn't necessarily a quick release quarterback either. So
Speaker 1: it's you know, you do wonder that offense has been
Speaker 1: shrouded in mystery all offseason, but we just don't know
Speaker 1: what we're gonna get. I love the love E Smith
Speaker 1: higher and I think they could be a top five
Speaker 1: defense right now. So if you haven't inherited that potentially
Speaker 1: right But he's a good defensive coach on top of that,
Speaker 1: So he's a good defensive coach. Inheriting a lot of talent,
Speaker 1: you have a top five defense, you can maybe get
Speaker 1: a little lucky with some you know, maccown magic at
Speaker 1: the end of games or something, and you know, win
Speaker 1: nine games, all right. So we have the Buccaneers in
Speaker 1: last place. We love the Saints. Obviously. Let's go through
Speaker 1: each team and decide if they're a candidate for the
Speaker 1: Team of the NFL podcast is that even what are
Speaker 1: we called? It sounds so strange. We'll come up with something, alright.
Speaker 1: The Saints, do we want to consider them? You guys
Speaker 1: do have as the top team in the league, and
Speaker 1: they are a super Bowl favorite. But I'm I'm sending
Speaker 1: them right on through to the next round there. I'll
Speaker 1: send them through. You guys had number one, and uh yeah,
Speaker 1: I lived in New Orleans. I've enjoyed that best place
Speaker 1: in America. Send them through New Orleans, all right? The Bucks,
Speaker 1: I'd like to send the Bucks through. I could send
Speaker 1: them through, all right. And then we have the Falcons, who,
Speaker 1: despite being on hard knocks, not not really getting me excited.
Speaker 1: They play in a dome and it might be Mark's
Speaker 1: least favorite stadium in the NFL. It is. But I
Speaker 1: don't dislike the team necessarily. I wouldn't. It's just not
Speaker 1: an automatic veto for me. But you're not gonna win
Speaker 1: out against the other teams that we've already put through.
Speaker 1: Extremely confusing. Since you guys trying to figure out this
Speaker 1: whole team of a t L A very forget about that, thanks,
Speaker 1: and let's talk about the Panthers so quickly. Uh, they
Speaker 1: were our team last year. We have to consider the
Speaker 1: fact that we might not actually pick our team until
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks in the season. So do we
Speaker 1: want to eliminate them right now just because Cam Newton's injured?
Speaker 1: I would say that an ongoing rule that the previous
Speaker 1: year's team automatically gets through this round. They get grandfathered in.
Speaker 1: All right, Uh, we're just killing the Falcons right now.
Speaker 1: Seven teams through out of the last two divisions, right
Speaker 1: or No? We got rid of the Lions, so six
Speaker 1: teams so so far? Six in the NFC. It's all right,
Speaker 1: Let's move on to the final division, the NFC West.
Speaker 1: Everyone seems to think it's the best division in football.
Speaker 1: I guess I would agree with that, although the other
Speaker 1: two teams in the NFC, the North and the South,
Speaker 1: are pretty good too. Did you think at all about
Speaker 1: not making the Seahawks the division winner? Not for one second?
Speaker 1: Neither for I for one second, not even one Yeah me, neither?
Speaker 1: Could they be a fifteen and one type of team? Again?
Speaker 1: Why why are we so convinced there's not going to
Speaker 1: be the Super Bowl drop off that seemingly every Champion
Speaker 1: has had lately. They don't operate that way in my opinion,
Speaker 1: I remember teams from my youth, like when the Giants
Speaker 1: won eight six and then just something caught up to
Speaker 1: them and the and it was whether it was hubris
Speaker 1: or just disorganization, the whole thing collapsed. There was a
Speaker 1: strike that year. Every year something seems to happen with
Speaker 1: the Champions where they chemically change a little bit. Seattle.
Speaker 1: To me, nothing's changed, and watching their preseason and the
Speaker 1: way they operate, they are a fifteen and one type
Speaker 1: operation that they get is awesome, and yet you think
Speaker 1: the Saints are better, Well, there is a dilemma because
Speaker 1: we are probably suggesting that New Orleans has to go
Speaker 1: into Seattle. No, I'm not suggesting that. I think Saints
Speaker 1: finished with a better regular season record. That's the only
Speaker 1: reason I have them in the Super Bowl because I
Speaker 1: think whichever these two teams gets home field advantage will win.
Speaker 1: The Seahawks. I don't think we'll go fifteen and one.
Speaker 1: As we pointed out innumerable times on this podcast, they
Speaker 1: are an unbelievably historically great team at home, and they're
Speaker 1: not unbelievably historically great on the road. They can be beaten, right,
Speaker 1: and they're still fallible. It's a football team. It's not
Speaker 1: we've built them up at this point. It wasn't that
Speaker 1: almost at home. They did lose that home late in
Speaker 1: the season to Carson Palmer, with threw four interceptions at home,
Speaker 1: so things happened. One thing, though, I think what we're discounting, though,
Speaker 1: is that this isn't a team at the peak heading
Speaker 1: towards declined phase. There's a lot of young players getting
Speaker 1: better in Seattle. I think Russell Wilson's gonna host a
Speaker 1: new spanded offense. I think get better. I really do
Speaker 1: think that Seattle is not We've not seen the best
Speaker 1: from them. I think the Cardinals won that game because
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson was in a month long slump, and I
Speaker 1: don't think we'll see that this year. I think you're
Speaker 1: right about the expanded offense. Bucky Brooks has written about this.
Speaker 1: They're gonna open the playbook. Percy Harvan will be used creatively,
Speaker 1: more creatively than he ever was in Minnesota, even though
Speaker 1: it's the same offensive coordinator. I believe they have bigger
Speaker 1: plans for him. I just think the offense is way
Speaker 1: better than it was last year the defense, they lost
Speaker 1: some veteran bodies. It doesn't matter because they are it
Speaker 1: doesn't matter. They're so deep, they're just gonna bring in
Speaker 1: guys who are even better. They've got guys like O'Brien Scofield,
Speaker 1: a Cardinals reject, just terrorizing quarterbacks right now. We had
Speaker 1: the forty Niners as a group number four in the NFC.
Speaker 1: YouTube had them in the playoffs. So did Kevin Patrick.
Speaker 1: I have them out of the playoffs. I think just
Speaker 1: too many things They're gonna go wrong for them, maybe
Speaker 1: have some drama, and they'll just get squeezed out in
Speaker 1: a very very good division in conference. You know, they
Speaker 1: might end up with a nine and seven record and
Speaker 1: just miss out that. We have the forty nine fourth
Speaker 1: in our power ball though as a group Cardinals five.
Speaker 1: I have the Cardinals in the playoffs. Mark Sessler has
Speaker 1: the Cardinals in the playoffs. I like it. We're in step.
Speaker 1: Join me and my Cardinals fever. I just I'm a
Speaker 1: big believer in Bruce Arians and I get that the
Speaker 1: defense um has issues, but we've seen so many players,
Speaker 1: so many teams make the playoffs with trouble defenses. Offense
Speaker 1: leads the day, and I really think that Arizona has
Speaker 1: gone out and improved. They've gotten faster, They've got one
Speaker 1: of the deeper wide receiver groups in the entire conference.
Speaker 1: Arians knows how to coach up his quarterbacks and he
Speaker 1: knows how to call a great scheme. I I I
Speaker 1: think that Arizona is going to equal it's win total
Speaker 1: from last season. I think that the only case you've
Speaker 1: got to make for the I've been making for them
Speaker 1: is their offensive gains will make up for what they
Speaker 1: lost on defense. It's an issue to me, there's not
Speaker 1: much difference between the Cowboys and the Cardinals right now.
Speaker 1: The Cardinals have a slightly better defense. They've lost way
Speaker 1: too much talent on that defense. Uh and Carson Palmer
Speaker 1: can't be trusted as much as Tony Romo. Both of
Speaker 1: them will be in shootouts, I think. But you are
Speaker 1: right that they've lost a lot of talent on their defense.
Speaker 1: But let's compare that defense to the team you talked about,
Speaker 1: like the Cowboys or the Falcons. We couldn't come up
Speaker 1: with a player that's a difference maker on their defense.
Speaker 1: They have Calais Campbell was one of the very best
Speaker 1: at his position in the league. You have John Abraham
Speaker 1: getting older, but at least was a factor last year,
Speaker 1: suspended probably for a short time, thirty six years old.
Speaker 1: I would not downt on John Abraham, He's probably not.
Speaker 1: They have no pass rusher behind John Abraham, right. They
Speaker 1: have Claias Campbell, who's good. I'm just saying they have
Speaker 1: Patrick Peterson. Plais Campbell. You have Patrick Peterson, you hopefully
Speaker 1: get Honey Badger back. I'm not counting on him being
Speaker 1: Honey Badger, but there is more talent they like. They
Speaker 1: like their first round pick bu Canon. I'm just saying
Speaker 1: there is some town out of all of these two teams.
Speaker 1: According to you, the Cowboys have the best defensive player
Speaker 1: in Henry Milton. The big problem for Arizona, and the
Speaker 1: reason that my prediction could look obscene three months from now,
Speaker 1: is that, well, let's let's be humble. It could be
Speaker 1: a complete disaster the car. The Cowboys play in the
Speaker 1: NFC East, where they're gonna just pick up wins off
Speaker 1: of other bad teams. You can't do that in the West.
Speaker 1: And on top of it, they're playing the Broncos, and
Speaker 1: they're playing the rest of the a f C West,
Speaker 1: which has the Chargers, if if schedule, if the forty
Speaker 1: Niners go down the rabbit hole, like Greg suggests, this
Speaker 1: is not nearly the best division in football. The Rams.
Speaker 1: I don't understand why people thought they were good in
Speaker 1: the first place. Now they have, they lost their starting quarterback.
Speaker 1: They have question marks at almost every position on offense
Speaker 1: outside even outside of quarterback. I would think they're in
Speaker 1: the mix as the worst team in the con And
Speaker 1: if I didn't sort of see this as such, isn't
Speaker 1: such a Jeff Fisher season, Like when things were totally
Speaker 1: wrong for him in Tennessee, that was when he would
Speaker 1: do his best and they would just have they would
Speaker 1: just have an eight and eight type of year. I'm
Speaker 1: just saying his teams don't tend to collapse. They tend
Speaker 1: to fight through back. Jeff Fisher's best teams being when
Speaker 1: Steve McNair and Eddie George were unbelievable and Chris Johnson
Speaker 1: was rushing for two thousand yards. I'm thinking some of
Speaker 1: the I'm thinking not his best teams, but I think
Speaker 1: some of his best coaching performances were rising some of
Speaker 1: those Late Titans teams in the late you know, um
Speaker 1: two thousands with Vince Young and Carrie Collins. I mean,
Speaker 1: they had a number two seed right with Carrie Collins
Speaker 1: as their quarterback. That's pretty amazing. That's not a coach
Speaker 1: the Panics. I mean, he's, he's, he's he's been here before.
Speaker 1: I think the Rams, to me, are a team that
Speaker 1: if they win seven games six seven in games, a
Speaker 1: couple are gonna come inside the division and and they're
Speaker 1: gonna pick off one or two division teams. I don't
Speaker 1: think this is in any way not still the best
Speaker 1: division in football there is. We We can talk about
Speaker 1: the forty Niners falling off a clip, but that doesn't
Speaker 1: happen yet. Right I'm the only one talking about it.
Speaker 1: You guys have them in the playoffs, as do most people,
Speaker 1: and I don't think they're gonna fall off a cliff.
Speaker 1: I do think their offensive line, it's weird how bad
Speaker 1: they struggled in the preseason. We'll see if that really
Speaker 1: carries over. The defense is the bigger problem. Losing a
Speaker 1: lot of talent. I mean, Alden Smith. You can't just
Speaker 1: replace Aldon Smith. We're waiting to hear his suspension. You
Speaker 1: can't just replace Navarro Bowman. Those are two of the
Speaker 1: best twenty ten defensive players in the league, no doubt
Speaker 1: that's but those guys will be back in time. See
Speaker 1: that's they'll have time to do what the offense. Bowman
Speaker 1: might not be the same guy though, I mean, he's
Speaker 1: coming off a pretty bad pretty bad. But didn't we
Speaker 1: see this last year with von Miller and other players
Speaker 1: where it's like, oh, you know, we here in August
Speaker 1: when someone's out for six weeks, our vantage point is
Speaker 1: of a freak out. There's not how do they succeed?
Speaker 1: But then it's suddenly it's November. The guy has been
Speaker 1: back for four weeks, and you forget about it until
Speaker 1: people in last dog is not to worry one bit
Speaker 1: about von Miller because the Broncos were that much better
Speaker 1: than everybody in the general. We can't say that about
Speaker 1: that's fair, but in general, when when we look at
Speaker 1: these suspensions, we can overreact to them. It's a long,
Speaker 1: long season. That's true. They're gonna get Alden Smith back.
Speaker 1: You know their schedule early in the season, uh, is
Speaker 1: pretty difficult. They open, actually it's pretty generous. They open
Speaker 1: in Dallas in their home for Chicago at Arizona, you
Speaker 1: got the Eagles and the Chiefs. It's manageable. It's manageable.
Speaker 1: Then they're at the Rams. That's a managable to go
Speaker 1: four and too early, something like that, and then you
Speaker 1: know who we don't know in Smith people are concerned
Speaker 1: about this offense. If after three weeks we still are
Speaker 1: against those defenses, then we know there's issues. All right, Well,
Speaker 1: let's go through this division and decide which teams are
Speaker 1: still alive. As the team of the NFL podcast, anyway,
Speaker 1: we throw the defending chain Amps into the mix. I
Speaker 1: would throw the whole division out, throw the whole division out.
Speaker 1: What Well, now that I think about it, the Cardinals,
Speaker 1: I would really push hard to push forward. I would.
Speaker 1: I want to push the Cardinals for Give the Cardinals
Speaker 1: a chance. West. You love, you love Bruce Arians, you
Speaker 1: love John Brown, you love Larry fifth Gerald, you love
Speaker 1: Michael Floyd. This is a down you love downtronned fan bases.
Speaker 1: Don't they deserve something? All right? That's an impassioned speech,
Speaker 1: and I'm behind you on that. All right. So we're
Speaker 1: gonna keep the Cardinals and eliminate the rest of the division.
Speaker 1: You're gone, all right? Also gone? Uh from the show me.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna leave and let you guys talk. He gotta
Speaker 1: let you guys talk to John Beason. I know we're
Speaker 1: running a little long, so I gotta get out of
Speaker 1: here and go to some high, high auctane meetings corporate things.
Speaker 1: And uh, I'll let you guys handle that. And well,
Speaker 1: we did get a note that Beeson was uncomfortable speaking
Speaker 1: with That's really what's going on here. So why would
Speaker 1: that be. I don't know. I just made that. All right,
Speaker 1: I'll see you guys later, have fun with John. All right,
Speaker 1: all right, we're very excited about this, Chris. I'm sitting
Speaker 1: here with Chris Wesley and we have a chance today
Speaker 1: to interview one of the league's premier linebackers for a
Speaker 1: period of time. Now, John Beeson, the former first round
Speaker 1: pick of the Carolina Panthers out of Miami, now currently
Speaker 1: with the New York Giants. John, thanks so much for
Speaker 1: joining us today. How are things going? They're going great, man,
Speaker 1: Just uh, you know, hanging out here, you know, doing
Speaker 1: the store appearance with with the Giants and met Life
Speaker 1: Stadium is going well. Now where are you at Met
Speaker 1: Life Stadium at the moment? At the moment, yea very nice.
Speaker 1: You guys are getting close to the regular season starting.
Speaker 1: I think one of the you know, for us covering
Speaker 1: all thirty two teams, it seems like with New York,
Speaker 1: one of the issues and one of the narratives that's
Speaker 1: bubbled up is with the new offense. Eli Manning has
Speaker 1: been in the same offense forever. You practice against this
Speaker 1: new Ben McAdoo outfit, you know, all summer long, every day.
Speaker 1: What what is your take? It seems like things to
Speaker 1: the outside have not gone incredibly smoothly. Well, I think
Speaker 1: everybody needs to kind of, you know, pump the brakes
Speaker 1: a little bit. You know, if you put too much
Speaker 1: stock into the preseason, you'll get fulled every time. You know,
Speaker 1: you look at a team that you could win every
Speaker 1: preseason game and have an awful year, a team lose
Speaker 1: every game and then turn around and win the Super Bowl. So, um,
Speaker 1: you know, you want to go out and you want
Speaker 1: to see some execution, and you want to see guys
Speaker 1: you know, you know, just go out and tackle and block,
Speaker 1: you know, the basic fundamentals of football. And um, you know,
Speaker 1: I think we've done that for the most part. Um,
Speaker 1: And once the season starts, you'll see, uh, an offense
Speaker 1: that's gonna open up when you when you started scheming
Speaker 1: and game planning UM against opposing defenses. UM, you know,
Speaker 1: having um seeing the offense and what they've been able
Speaker 1: to do instead of being innovative and moving guys around
Speaker 1: and getting guys involved and creating mismatches. It's it's been
Speaker 1: extremely impressive. UM. I think it's gonna be a very
Speaker 1: very difficult offense to to uh the play against. And
Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to that part of it, the actual
Speaker 1: game planning that goes into uh, you know, the regular season.
Speaker 1: Right now, we're just not trying to show anything. And
Speaker 1: that's my take on it. Honestly, Hey, John, the Giants
Speaker 1: defense gave up about thirty five points a game through
Speaker 1: six weeks last season, and then they traded for you
Speaker 1: and got Will Hild back from suspension. It had to
Speaker 1: be a little bit more complex than that, right, Like,
Speaker 1: what was what was it that turned that defense around
Speaker 1: last year? Well, you know when I when I showed up,
Speaker 1: I looked around the room and I was saying to myself,
Speaker 1: I was like, wow, I was talented every every position. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, why not? And it didn't make sense. But
Speaker 1: you know, we just kind of you know, took a
Speaker 1: step back everybody collectively and instead of you know, trying
Speaker 1: to figure out why not just look at yourself, you know,
Speaker 1: start with yourself. What's what's the scheme, What's what's the call?
Speaker 1: Are you doing your job at a consistent level? You know,
Speaker 1: how often are you making plays? You know within the
Speaker 1: within the confinement of the scheme, And that was really
Speaker 1: the difference has brought into too. You know the call
Speaker 1: you know, and um, you guys on the same page
Speaker 1: as It's scary because now it's a that's where you
Speaker 1: know your true talent ability can can be displayed. You know,
Speaker 1: it must have been a tad bitter sweet for you
Speaker 1: to leave Carolina and that happens to be the season
Speaker 1: that bang. You know, they with Cam Newton, they end
Speaker 1: up in the playoffs. They had a very nice season
Speaker 1: last year. That front seven is nasty looking at their
Speaker 1: games this year, we've kind of noticed that Cam Newton
Speaker 1: coming off that that ankle surgery, obviously not as mobile
Speaker 1: in the past. Do you feel, with what you know
Speaker 1: about his game him as a pocket passer, can he
Speaker 1: be as effective a quarterback if he isn't able to
Speaker 1: use that rushing ability that he has in the past
Speaker 1: to the same extent. Well, I think, um, you know,
Speaker 1: he obviously he he has has a talent um to
Speaker 1: stand in the pocket and make all the throws. And
Speaker 1: I think mentally he's he's come along, um extremely fast
Speaker 1: in terms of um you know, what he's done, um
Speaker 1: since his rookie year and and you know, going from
Speaker 1: one coordinator to the next. But um, you know, I
Speaker 1: still think a big part of his game is his
Speaker 1: ability to run and scramble, and um that's always an
Speaker 1: outlet for him. It's a safe haven and um, you know,
Speaker 1: it's something that I think he's gonna need to do
Speaker 1: to be um as effective as as Cam Newton can be.
Speaker 1: But um, you know, in terms of what they did
Speaker 1: last year, man, like you said, it was, it was
Speaker 1: extremely bittersweet. Although I was happy to be, um, you know,
Speaker 1: a giant and then the situation that I was in,
Speaker 1: I was more pleased um with you know the guys
Speaker 1: and how you know what you know, we said we're
Speaker 1: gonna do this. We put the work in the off season,
Speaker 1: guys sacrificed, um, you know, tremendously and to see it
Speaker 1: all kind of you know, come to fu wition and
Speaker 1: it was. It was a good sight to see and
Speaker 1: you know, keep up when I can and talk to
Speaker 1: those guys, and I can't because they're still uh you know,
Speaker 1: still my brothers. Um from Afar. Hey, John, we know
Speaker 1: in the past you've been really high on Luke Keikley.
Speaker 1: Uh you were saying, even like last season, you knew
Speaker 1: he was going to be the defensive leader looking around
Speaker 1: the rest of the league and I, you know, please
Speaker 1: do not hesitate to praise another one of your ex
Speaker 1: teammates Thomas Davis here, but who else are the linebackers
Speaker 1: you see that are just difference makers in the NFL
Speaker 1: right now? Well, you know what that's the thing man,
Speaker 1: you know you uh, you laid that question for me. Um,
Speaker 1: I really feel like, you know, Thomas doesn't get the
Speaker 1: notoriety that he should. I mean, he's you know, he's
Speaker 1: a true freak man. I I you know, I played
Speaker 1: with alongside him. You know, we were that you know,
Speaker 1: dynamic duo for a long time. And Um, to see
Speaker 1: what he's been able to do after three a p
Speaker 1: l s and you know how he is. He is
Speaker 1: the matchup killer. I mean, you know, you you take
Speaker 1: a guy like Jimmy Graham. You put them on one
Speaker 1: side of the field and you put you know, Sprosy
Speaker 1: on the other, and it's like, you know, what are
Speaker 1: you gonna do? Or you can bring a safe down
Speaker 1: and and cover you know, Jimmy Grammers or or Sprows,
Speaker 1: but you know one of the two. You you kind
Speaker 1: of got to pick your poison. But Thomas, you can
Speaker 1: put on the guy and he has the ability to
Speaker 1: just completely neutralize a guy. He's he's, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: a weapon that doesn't get praise enough. And he's he's
Speaker 1: a guy that you know, if I were talking about, Hey,
Speaker 1: who's the first outside guy, I would take, you know,
Speaker 1: the stand up next to me. Um, you know, he's
Speaker 1: that guy. He's a he's that special and he doesn't
Speaker 1: get enough notoriety. Real quick, what do you see from
Speaker 1: Lavonte David? Is he a guy that you're high on
Speaker 1: as well? Oh? Absolutely? Extremely active. I think his football
Speaker 1: i Q is through the roof based on the type
Speaker 1: of interceptions he gets. You can tell it's based on
Speaker 1: film study and knowing route combinations. And then um, you know,
Speaker 1: ability wise, Uh, you can run match up with anybody
Speaker 1: great in space, A consistent tackler, um, you know, a
Speaker 1: huge fan of his, obviously playing the NFC South for
Speaker 1: a while, and you know he's just burst on the scene.
Speaker 1: A guy who should have made the Pro Bowl last year,
Speaker 1: but but then with first team All Pro. So it's
Speaker 1: funny how that works out. You know, another underrated guy.
Speaker 1: But um, he is a truly, truly, truly special talent.
Speaker 1: Now that you've been in New York for enough time
Speaker 1: to get to know the locker room, you're a fellow
Speaker 1: Giants teammates. If you had to spend let's say, six
Speaker 1: months alone on a desert island with one giant, who
Speaker 1: would it be? Who could you stand being with for
Speaker 1: that amount of time with one giant? Well, you know
Speaker 1: what I've I've become, um, you know, really close with
Speaker 1: Stevie Brown and uh, though I have some some really
Speaker 1: good friends. Obviously Intro were extremely close. But in Tro
Speaker 1: doesn't cook as well as Stevie. Stevie's It's important is
Speaker 1: a chef. This guy is gonna be, you know, like
Speaker 1: Emerald Live real soon when he's done playing ball. He
Speaker 1: might you know, get up to about two sixty five
Speaker 1: or so. But but he is, Uh, he's a special,
Speaker 1: special dude, making really cook and his instagram is uh,
Speaker 1: it'll get you hungry man. So you got through the
Speaker 1: chance to check out Stevie Brown's instagram. That's very smart
Speaker 1: of you to pick someone that can prepare food in
Speaker 1: that scenario. I like to exactly. And uh, now you know,
Speaker 1: I know you're you're tied into this durrist Cell thing.
Speaker 1: You know. Durst Cell also sponsors our weekly Pis column,
Speaker 1: which is gonna launch here in a couple of weeks,
Speaker 1: where we are a little writing team. Week by week
Speaker 1: we go through all the games and we try to
Speaker 1: get those right. I want to ask you a prediction.
Speaker 1: It's about your Giants. Now. I want you to I
Speaker 1: want you to be honest with me. Let's pretend you
Speaker 1: were on the outside looking in. Where do the Giants
Speaker 1: finish in the NFC East and how do you see
Speaker 1: this team faring overall? Where they going this season? Well,
Speaker 1: you know what, we realized that we are at the
Speaker 1: hunters and sometimes it's good, you know, not to have
Speaker 1: that target on your back. You know, I'm sure Philly
Speaker 1: is like, you know what, we got a good, good
Speaker 1: thing going. We have a good team, we got we
Speaker 1: got good pieces and you know, we want to build
Speaker 1: on what we did last year. Um, but everyone keeps
Speaker 1: talking about it. Everyone keeps talking about it. And you
Speaker 1: know what, Dallas has taking note, and so is Washington,
Speaker 1: and and and so are we and and if you,
Speaker 1: if you you get in a situation where you know
Speaker 1: everyone gutting for you're gonna get their best every week,
Speaker 1: it makes it, it makes it more difficult. So we're
Speaker 1: right where we need to be to take care of
Speaker 1: our business. I I it would be hard pressed for
Speaker 1: me to say that I don't think we're gonna win
Speaker 1: a division, but I know that we have a shot
Speaker 1: to win it. And you know what, now, it's about
Speaker 1: the preparation, It's about the sacrifice. It's about, um, the
Speaker 1: day to day grind of just trying to be consistent.
Speaker 1: And um, if we do that, I think we're gonna
Speaker 1: gonna be good enough to win a division. Well, you know,
Speaker 1: after missing out last year in Carolina, we'd love to
Speaker 1: us so you get that chance to get back to
Speaker 1: the playoffs. And thank you so much for your time
Speaker 1: today joining with us, and was a pleasure to talk
Speaker 1: with you. And just good luck getting out of the
Speaker 1: MetLife traffic there. Thanks man. You guys have a good
Speaker 1: with thank you. All right, Well, Chris, that was enjoyable,
Speaker 1: wasn't it. Yeah, John Beason really nice guy, a very
Speaker 1: nice fellow. Listen, we're out of time. You gotta get
Speaker 1: you gotta get back down to the news room and
Speaker 1: crank out some more high octane posts. I've got to
Speaker 1: go home apologize for that. So everyone's gone, I guess
Speaker 1: for Mark Sessler here and the mailman, and not a
Speaker 1: shred of another individual will say farewell well I'm here.
Speaker 1: Well that's right, TD, behind the glass. I'm only looking
Speaker 1: in the immediate room. In this in the room next
Speaker 1: to us, t your host again. You know this was
Speaker 1: a smooth exit until you jumped in there. Goodbye. M