WEBVTT - Cowboys Break: Players On The Bubble 0:00:08.320 --> 0:00:10.840 The following is a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com 0:00:10.880 --> 0:00:14.040 and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club. Are you ready for 0:00:14.080 --> 0:00:17.759 a Break? Yes? Are you ready for a break? Absolutely? 0:00:17.880 --> 0:00:22.079 Ready for a break? Yeah? And so much for that. 0:00:22.320 --> 0:00:26.440 It's time for The Break on Dallas Cowboys dot Com 0:00:26.560 --> 0:00:32.600 Wall with Nick Eatman, David Hellman, and bar Garcia and 0:00:32.920 --> 0:00:37.120 Derek Eagleton. It is Friday, September first, twenty seventeen, Season thirteen, 0:00:37.159 --> 0:00:40.840 episode number thirty one. Welcome to another edition of The Break. 0:00:40.880 --> 0:00:43.199 It is a first edition in a long time. It 0:00:43.200 --> 0:00:44.960 seems like it's been forever since we've been on the 0:00:45.120 --> 0:00:47.040 on the on the air, But we got a lot 0:00:47.040 --> 0:00:48.880 to talk about today. We're gonna talk a lot about 0:00:48.920 --> 0:00:52.840 Ezekiel Elliott and his situation, his situation that's going on. 0:00:53.360 --> 0:00:56.080 We're gonna talk a little bit about the fifty three 0:00:56.080 --> 0:00:57.800 man roster. I have a few questions for you guys 0:00:57.800 --> 0:01:00.800 around the bubble. Guys, actually gonna be a pretty cool 0:01:00.800 --> 0:01:03.080 piece of content that you two will be involved in 0:01:03.200 --> 0:01:05.440 later today that we're gonna put out. Just so you 0:01:05.480 --> 0:01:07.480 guys know, it's going to be a video where we're 0:01:07.520 --> 0:01:11.279 gonna put all the riders together. Brian, Nick Dave rob 0:01:11.680 --> 0:01:14.000 and you guys are gonna basically you're going to figure 0:01:14.040 --> 0:01:16.080 out a fifty three million roster, and from what I understand, 0:01:16.080 --> 0:01:18.520 you have to come to consensus on it. Good luck 0:01:18.560 --> 0:01:20.760 will be interesting. Good luck. I don't think I've ever 0:01:20.800 --> 0:01:23.639 seen Dave and Brian come to consensus on pretty much anything. 0:01:23.840 --> 0:01:26.640 LSU football. LSU football, that is one thing. You guys 0:01:26.640 --> 0:01:28.760 come and I don't even know if you've everything with 0:01:28.920 --> 0:01:30.520 l football. And as I said that, I was like, 0:01:30.560 --> 0:01:32.800 that's not true, that's not really true. But we got 0:01:32.840 --> 0:01:35.040 a lot to get into. How's everybody doing this one? 0:01:35.240 --> 0:01:39.280 We're good, good, great, awesome, and I'm sure everybody's still 0:01:39.360 --> 0:01:41.040 kind of riding to hire. From last night, I thought 0:01:41.040 --> 0:01:44.640 that was a really cool event. Cowboys put on an 0:01:44.720 --> 0:01:48.360 event to raise some money for needy people down in Houston, 0:01:48.440 --> 0:01:53.600 South Texas for Harvey relief. Raised two point three million 0:01:53.600 --> 0:01:57.120 dollars last night. So a really cool event. Um, you 0:01:57.160 --> 0:01:59.880 guys covered it. Did you guys hear anything from the players? 0:02:00.200 --> 0:02:02.480 I was interesting. I know you talked a few players afterwards. 0:02:02.520 --> 0:02:04.720 Just anything that stood out to you about how they 0:02:04.760 --> 0:02:08.160 felt about doing the event or anything like that. Well, 0:02:08.400 --> 0:02:11.040 I think that the fact that, you know, when you 0:02:11.080 --> 0:02:13.799 look at what was going to happen on Thursday night, 0:02:13.880 --> 0:02:15.240 and it was going to be a game. It was 0:02:15.240 --> 0:02:17.399 going to be these guys on the sideline and these 0:02:17.440 --> 0:02:19.040 guys that are going to be on the field, and 0:02:19.080 --> 0:02:20.840 that's exactly the way it was. It was just a 0:02:20.919 --> 0:02:23.600 little bit different than what how it turned out. I mean, 0:02:23.639 --> 0:02:27.600 with a being a big bank of phones and they're 0:02:27.600 --> 0:02:30.440 they're all answering it. I thought that, you know, the 0:02:30.720 --> 0:02:33.640 obviously they were happy to do that and not practice, 0:02:34.240 --> 0:02:37.160 But as far as the cause, it was great. I mean, 0:02:37.360 --> 0:02:40.440 and the fact that the fans got the call players 0:02:40.440 --> 0:02:42.880 and talk to them. I mean, yeah, they were they 0:02:42.880 --> 0:02:45.480 were donating, but they were also getting a chance to 0:02:45.520 --> 0:02:47.519 talk with their favorite players. So I think it was 0:02:47.600 --> 0:02:50.200 kind of win win for everybody there. And I don't 0:02:50.240 --> 0:02:52.600 want to go as far as to say that they 0:02:52.639 --> 0:02:54.640 didn't want to do it. Obviously it's a good cause. 0:02:54.880 --> 0:02:57.240 It's a great cause, but I can see, you know, 0:02:57.280 --> 0:03:00.800 football players, especially you know, not Jason Witten, but guys 0:03:00.800 --> 0:03:02.519 that aren't in the spotlight so much. Maybe you're a 0:03:02.520 --> 0:03:05.880 little bit apprehensive about that, you know, taking phone calls 0:03:05.880 --> 0:03:07.760 from strangers. How am I going to work the phone, 0:03:07.840 --> 0:03:10.440 this is on TV, Like what exactly am I doing? 0:03:10.600 --> 0:03:14.359 But it seemed like whatever apprehensive this they might have had, 0:03:14.400 --> 0:03:16.960 I think it went away really quickly, and you could 0:03:16.960 --> 0:03:19.360 tell how excited all those guys were to be a 0:03:19.360 --> 0:03:21.560 part of that. And I think, you know, once they 0:03:21.639 --> 0:03:23.160 kind of got the feel for the flow of it, 0:03:23.240 --> 0:03:25.480 I thought, you know, all the feedback I heard from 0:03:25.520 --> 0:03:28.040 those guys was really really positive. Yeah, and again they 0:03:28.120 --> 0:03:30.400 raised two point three million dollars, So that's always a 0:03:30.400 --> 0:03:33.040 good thing when you're raising money to help people that 0:03:33.080 --> 0:03:36.000 are that are really in need. And some cool moments too. 0:03:36.080 --> 0:03:37.840 The last night, I know that there was the moment 0:03:37.840 --> 0:03:41.280 when Jerry and he calls in and gets days on 0:03:41.320 --> 0:03:45.000 the line and he makes his donation of a million dollars. 0:03:45.000 --> 0:03:46.840 That was a fun little moment. So there's a lot 0:03:46.880 --> 0:03:48.840 of the moments like that that made it really cool 0:03:48.880 --> 0:03:51.000 and interesting and fun as well. Yeah, and a lot 0:03:51.040 --> 0:03:53.800 of them just kind of repeated over and over. This 0:03:53.840 --> 0:03:58.400 whole situation went beyond football, so a lot of fans 0:03:58.440 --> 0:04:02.160 were wandering whether they should have canceled the game or 0:04:02.160 --> 0:04:05.200 not maybe use that as a good cost to donate 0:04:05.520 --> 0:04:09.080 money or race money. But they handled it in a 0:04:09.160 --> 0:04:11.680 really good way to turn it around, in a way 0:04:11.680 --> 0:04:14.680 that the Texans were able to get back home to 0:04:14.760 --> 0:04:18.200 their families and their community, yet they were able to 0:04:18.480 --> 0:04:22.480 keep raising money for a good cost. Yep, exactly. All right, 0:04:22.520 --> 0:04:24.760 let's talk a little bit about this Zeke Elliott case. 0:04:24.800 --> 0:04:28.039 I know it's a big flip from talking about raising 0:04:28.040 --> 0:04:30.360 money for people who need it to now talking about 0:04:30.880 --> 0:04:33.200 a court case, but that's kind of where we are. 0:04:33.240 --> 0:04:36.080 Gf some the unsay it's no, well, it's just it's 0:04:36.160 --> 0:04:40.839 the perfect description of this job and this team and 0:04:40.880 --> 0:04:43.960 this beat. Because like I left the stadium, I was 0:04:43.960 --> 0:04:45.880 walking out of the stadium. I didn't take the buses, 0:04:45.880 --> 0:04:47.480 so I drove myself, so I was a little bit 0:04:47.520 --> 0:04:50.039 behind everybody else and I'm walking out. I was kind 0:04:50.040 --> 0:04:51.800 of on like a high, like man, like we did 0:04:51.800 --> 0:04:53.800 a cool thing. This is you know, players did this, 0:04:53.920 --> 0:04:56.760 and Jerry gave that and we're helping out and this 0:04:56.839 --> 0:04:59.840 is important. And I didn't even get to my car 0:05:00.120 --> 0:05:02.680 before like the first trickles of news started to come 0:05:02.720 --> 0:05:07.840 about Kia Roberts and you know, she recommended no suspension. 0:05:08.440 --> 0:05:10.719 So I'm reading that and I'm like, oh god, what 0:05:10.760 --> 0:05:13.080 does this mean? Where are we going from here? And 0:05:13.680 --> 0:05:15.880 I went and got dinner and by the time I 0:05:15.920 --> 0:05:19.080 got home, that's when you know, that's when you're seeing 0:05:19.120 --> 0:05:22.840 about you know, Zeke's lawyers filing in East Texas court 0:05:22.920 --> 0:05:25.880 for a restraining oar. I'm just like, my good feeling 0:05:26.000 --> 0:05:29.479 from the telethon lasted for about fifteen minutes before it's like, 0:05:29.640 --> 0:05:32.320 all right, shift gears here and get back into the 0:05:32.400 --> 0:05:34.839 nitty griddy and whatever this whole thing is. So that's 0:05:34.880 --> 0:05:36.560 exactly right. I know, Nick and I were on the 0:05:36.600 --> 0:05:39.200 bus together and Hammer was on there as well, and 0:05:39.240 --> 0:05:42.280 I remember I gave Nick my phonus it read this 0:05:42.600 --> 0:05:45.080 and it was the article where they were talking about 0:05:45.120 --> 0:05:48.239 some of the allegations that we'll get into a little 0:05:48.240 --> 0:05:50.839 bit here, just to kind of lay it out. Yesterday 0:05:50.920 --> 0:05:55.000 they completed the appeal process. They had the Zeke and 0:05:55.040 --> 0:05:58.560 his representatives appealed the suspension, the six game suspension that 0:05:58.640 --> 0:06:02.680 completed yesterday, and then after that last night, the nfl 0:06:02.760 --> 0:06:06.279 PA filed a petition in federal court in Plano, Texas, 0:06:06.839 --> 0:06:10.440 um to prevent the suspension and or expected to file 0:06:10.480 --> 0:06:13.880 a temporary restraining order. And they did it based upon 0:06:14.279 --> 0:06:16.279 some language that they use where they said that he 0:06:16.360 --> 0:06:21.680 was deprived of fundamental fairness. Um. Basically, I guess the 0:06:21.800 --> 0:06:24.440 question for you guys is what was the What was 0:06:24.480 --> 0:06:28.000 the NFL really alleging here was was fundamentally unfair? Because 0:06:28.279 --> 0:06:31.880 obviously the NFL went through its process, it took thirteen months, 0:06:32.200 --> 0:06:35.320 they handed down a six six game suspension. What did 0:06:35.360 --> 0:06:41.080 they say was fundamentally unfair? Well, I honestly, like I'm 0:06:41.160 --> 0:06:43.960 always hesitant on these things to talk about when because 0:06:44.000 --> 0:06:46.320 when we haven't really been digging deep and looking at 0:06:46.400 --> 0:06:48.560 both sides of it. But I think what what they 0:06:48.560 --> 0:06:51.279 were saying is is that if you're going to allow 0:06:51.760 --> 0:06:54.720 Zeke to and you're going to basically put him there 0:06:54.760 --> 0:06:58.000 to testify, but then not not say that the witness 0:06:58.040 --> 0:07:02.240 could testify, not put Roger Dell on there um as 0:07:02.279 --> 0:07:05.240 well as Basically what they're saying is is we we're 0:07:05.240 --> 0:07:07.839 okay with hearing one side, but we don't want to 0:07:07.839 --> 0:07:12.040 put that argument up against any others because that's a 0:07:12.080 --> 0:07:16.000 good way to compare you know, you know, black white 0:07:16.120 --> 0:07:17.760 right wrong. I mean you you can look at these 0:07:17.760 --> 0:07:20.680 two things and go, you know what, Uh, that doesn't 0:07:20.680 --> 0:07:22.640 really hold up next to what Zeke is saying, but 0:07:22.680 --> 0:07:25.040 if you don't put her over there, then it's hard 0:07:25.160 --> 0:07:28.440 it's harder to do that. And on top of that, 0:07:28.480 --> 0:07:30.960 and you know, that's it's two separate stories. One is 0:07:31.000 --> 0:07:33.240 that they're you know, filing for a restraining order, and 0:07:33.240 --> 0:07:34.720 then the other one is the one that came out 0:07:35.480 --> 0:07:39.240 ESPN and to be four star Telegram our friend Clarence Hill, 0:07:39.800 --> 0:07:45.080 Kia Roberts, who's yeah, go Q cool um, Kia Roberts, 0:07:45.120 --> 0:07:49.400 who's a a big just going we're going here, a 0:07:49.440 --> 0:07:53.400 big part of this whole investigation. Uh, the only person 0:07:53.720 --> 0:07:59.200 who spoke to Tiffany Thompson in person and examine you know, directly, 0:07:59.440 --> 0:08:01.720 you know, cross examined her and checked her story out. 0:08:02.320 --> 0:08:04.560 She came back from all of that with a recommendation 0:08:04.600 --> 0:08:08.720 of no suspension. And then when you know, if you 0:08:08.760 --> 0:08:10.920 remember back to August eleventh, when we were on that 0:08:11.120 --> 0:08:16.000 conference call with the NFL's panel, which she was a 0:08:16.640 --> 0:08:20.640 part of, but she was not allowed or not invited 0:08:21.240 --> 0:08:24.840 to the meeting with Roger Goodell where discipline was settled on. 0:08:25.520 --> 0:08:28.600 And so more so than anything, the way I interpreted 0:08:28.680 --> 0:08:32.480 is that that specifically that big red flag, you know, 0:08:32.520 --> 0:08:34.640 on top of the fact that you know, Tiffany Thompson 0:08:34.720 --> 0:08:38.200 wasn't allowed at the appeal, which that standard operating procedure, 0:08:38.280 --> 0:08:41.840 but still in a case where personal testimony is basically 0:08:41.840 --> 0:08:45.480 the main evidence, Zeke's camp was obviously peeved that she 0:08:45.480 --> 0:08:47.600 couldn't be part of that, and then to later find 0:08:47.640 --> 0:08:50.160 out that the only person that has directly spoken with 0:08:50.200 --> 0:08:53.240 her wasn't a part of deciding on this, they're basically 0:08:53.280 --> 0:08:56.679 saying this is bull and not only that her recommendation 0:08:56.880 --> 0:09:01.800 of no suspension was obviously completely disregarded when they came 0:09:01.880 --> 0:09:05.439 up with a six games right exactly, and so we 0:09:05.440 --> 0:09:07.920 were talking about that right before we came on. Is 0:09:08.200 --> 0:09:11.640 you could argue that it is. And so much of 0:09:11.640 --> 0:09:14.880 this is about strategy and posturing. You know, obviously stuff 0:09:14.920 --> 0:09:16.679 like this gets leaked to the press for a reason 0:09:16.720 --> 0:09:19.680 because you're trying to put pressure on to get the 0:09:19.720 --> 0:09:21.680 result that you want. You want the public to know 0:09:21.720 --> 0:09:24.439 about these things so that you can hear this conversation 0:09:24.480 --> 0:09:27.720 and generate this buzz. That's certainly part of it. On 0:09:27.840 --> 0:09:30.679 top of that, you're sitting here, so you're trying to 0:09:30.720 --> 0:09:32.480 put pressure on them to get the decision you want. 0:09:32.559 --> 0:09:35.400 But also, as I said, I mean when you see 0:09:36.320 --> 0:09:41.360 when you see this stack of and their own language 0:09:41.360 --> 0:09:44.960 says that unfair factors working against you. They're gonna do 0:09:45.000 --> 0:09:47.880 what they can to challenge any ruling that they get 0:09:48.240 --> 0:09:51.000 that isn't a vacation of the suspension in my opinion, 0:09:51.040 --> 0:09:54.520 I mean, maybe I'll be wrong, but the way that 0:09:54.559 --> 0:09:56.520 I perceive this whole thing is they're throwing the gauntlet 0:09:56.600 --> 0:09:59.679 down and saying, we're fighting this as long and as 0:09:59.720 --> 0:10:01.360 hard we have to fight it. We're not going to 0:10:01.440 --> 0:10:03.559 take anything less than zero games. See, I don't I 0:10:03.600 --> 0:10:06.040 don't know if I agree completely with that. I kind 0:10:06.040 --> 0:10:07.920 of think I agree with you from the standpoint. I 0:10:07.960 --> 0:10:12.760 do believe that that filing this petition was a preemptive 0:10:12.800 --> 0:10:15.640 strike number one, because they wanted to already get it 0:10:15.679 --> 0:10:18.040 out there before. Because if you remember, in the Brady case, 0:10:18.280 --> 0:10:21.000 the NFL sued Brady back, that Brady suited the NFL, 0:10:21.040 --> 0:10:23.040 the NFL suit him back. So I think this was 0:10:23.120 --> 0:10:25.240 kind of a preemptive strike in the same kind of way. 0:10:25.240 --> 0:10:27.240 But I also think it was as you said, it's 0:10:27.280 --> 0:10:31.720 trying to put some public pressure on the NFL to say, hey, 0:10:31.760 --> 0:10:34.440 we want the public to know all these things. That 0:10:34.520 --> 0:10:36.800 kind of stack up that suggest that this was an 0:10:36.880 --> 0:10:41.560 unfair situation and an unfair ruling, So that hopefully as 0:10:41.800 --> 0:10:45.679 knowing that the NFL has a responsibility to its constituents, 0:10:45.720 --> 0:10:49.160 which are as fans, knowing that those people understand all 0:10:49.200 --> 0:10:53.040 these other factors, that now when you make your appeal ruling, 0:10:53.520 --> 0:10:56.480 it should factor that in because the people know now, right, 0:10:56.720 --> 0:10:58.360 And so I think that's more of what it is. 0:10:58.400 --> 0:11:00.280 And I would suspect and I'm interested hear what you 0:11:00.280 --> 0:11:02.040 guys think. It sounds like, Dave, you've already kind of 0:11:02.040 --> 0:11:04.840 said what you think on that. But I think that 0:11:04.880 --> 0:11:07.000 if you get if it came back to a game 0:11:07.080 --> 0:11:09.920 or two games, I wonder at least if Zeke is 0:11:09.920 --> 0:11:12.000 willing to say, Okay, I'll step back, I'll take that 0:11:12.080 --> 0:11:14.960 game or two games, get this thing over with, even 0:11:15.000 --> 0:11:17.440 though he may still maintain he did nothing wrong. Okay. 0:11:17.480 --> 0:11:19.680 And see now we've flipped from where we were a 0:11:19.720 --> 0:11:21.960 month ago, right. I was the one that was saying that, 0:11:22.040 --> 0:11:24.840 and you were saying, if you're accused of something as 0:11:24.880 --> 0:11:26.840 heinous as this and you know you didn't do it, 0:11:27.080 --> 0:11:28.800 fight it, fight it, fight it. I was saying. I 0:11:28.880 --> 0:11:31.520 was saying. We were also talking about should versus would. 0:11:31.720 --> 0:11:34.600 I'm saying, well, I think he would. Personally, if it 0:11:34.600 --> 0:11:36.880 were me, I would fight it just because I would 0:11:36.880 --> 0:11:38.600 want to regain my name. But I get what I'm 0:11:38.640 --> 0:11:42.000 thinking now is and sure, I mean, strategy is definitely 0:11:42.040 --> 0:11:44.000 part of it. But if you feel strongly enough about 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:48.640 it to preemptively put stuff in court that and we 0:11:48.720 --> 0:11:51.120 have this on paper, I mean, I'm taking them at 0:11:51.120 --> 0:11:53.840 their word. Let's just assume this is true that the 0:11:53.880 --> 0:11:57.440 only person that inventor, that spoke to the accuser in 0:11:57.520 --> 0:12:00.880 person recommended no discipline if you have that as your 0:12:00.920 --> 0:12:04.800 trump card, and I assume. And Clarence wrote that was 0:12:04.840 --> 0:12:06.880 a big part of Jerry's confidence in this whole thing 0:12:06.880 --> 0:12:08.880 in the first place, was that this high ranking NFL 0:12:08.960 --> 0:12:12.640 official he felt confident, was going to recommend no discipline. 0:12:12.840 --> 0:12:15.800 If you've got that in your back pocket, maybe you 0:12:15.840 --> 0:12:18.080 fight it anyway because you're like, you got nothing to 0:12:18.160 --> 0:12:21.560 stand on other than what the CBA allows you to do, 0:12:21.640 --> 0:12:25.440 which obviously that is problematic, Right, that is problematic. But 0:12:26.320 --> 0:12:28.240 I guess it just depends on how strongly you feel 0:12:28.280 --> 0:12:30.839 that this whole thing isn't worth it. Yeah, I just 0:12:31.080 --> 0:12:34.640 can't imagine the NFL handling this any worse than they 0:12:34.679 --> 0:12:38.080 have because when you think about how long they drew 0:12:38.120 --> 0:12:41.560 this out and then they made the decision when they did, 0:12:41.920 --> 0:12:44.079 kind of and then now trying to put some pressure 0:12:44.120 --> 0:12:46.200 that he's got to hurry up and make this decision 0:12:46.200 --> 0:12:48.839 on this appeal. I mean, you knew that Zeke was 0:12:48.880 --> 0:12:51.800 going to appeal this. They knew that for them to 0:12:52.600 --> 0:12:55.280 now kind of put pressure because the season's about to start, 0:12:55.440 --> 0:12:58.839 and this whole time that they investigated, they when they 0:12:58.880 --> 0:13:02.520 finally gave that letter to say why we suspended him, 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:06.520 and then let left out key parts of the investigation, 0:13:07.040 --> 0:13:10.880 of the investigation that of their own investigator, They left 0:13:10.880 --> 0:13:14.160 her out, they left her recommendations out, and then now 0:13:14.240 --> 0:13:16.079 kind of want to want to force the issue because 0:13:16.120 --> 0:13:17.760 the season's about to start. We got to get this 0:13:17.800 --> 0:13:21.440 appeal process done. I mean, I give credit to Zeke's 0:13:21.480 --> 0:13:26.439 lawyers for moving quickly on this and getting a lot 0:13:26.480 --> 0:13:28.800 of information, but I mean, I just think the NFL 0:13:28.880 --> 0:13:30.680 drugged this out and then tried to kind of hope 0:13:30.679 --> 0:13:33.040 for a quick resolution. And now it's going to be 0:13:33.080 --> 0:13:35.319 a real mess because the seasons starting and he's now 0:13:35.360 --> 0:13:37.480 he's gonna have to He's probably gonna get to play 0:13:37.559 --> 0:13:40.400 this first game, because then I don't think they're anywhere 0:13:40.440 --> 0:13:43.920 close to having a decision being made that unless unless, 0:13:44.160 --> 0:13:46.480 I mean unless what you just described happens and they 0:13:46.520 --> 0:13:48.920 give him two and he decides to just take it 0:13:48.960 --> 0:13:52.480 and call it a draw, then I'm yeah, I mean 0:13:52.520 --> 0:13:54.840 he's gonna play. Yeah, I play the whole season, and 0:13:54.920 --> 0:13:57.960 we'll be talking about this in February. That's honestly where 0:13:58.000 --> 0:13:59.880 I think this is going. Yeah, because I honestly I 0:14:00.080 --> 0:14:02.679 don't think the NFL. I don't. It's hard for the 0:14:02.800 --> 0:14:06.480 NFL to make a to now make a ruling that 0:14:06.679 --> 0:14:10.520 decreases it significantly. They knew all They've said, they knew 0:14:10.520 --> 0:14:13.120 all this information. Like that's what came out this morning. 0:14:13.200 --> 0:14:15.840 There was a report that said and the NFL said 0:14:16.120 --> 0:14:18.640 in response to all this that they knew this information. 0:14:18.679 --> 0:14:21.680 It was in a situation where the recommendations of the 0:14:21.720 --> 0:14:25.000 investigator were held from the commissioner. The commissioner was well 0:14:25.040 --> 0:14:29.320 aware of what the investigator recommended, So without any new 0:14:29.360 --> 0:14:32.840 information to go from six to two games or six 0:14:32.880 --> 0:14:35.560 to one games, like, how does that make sense? I 0:14:35.560 --> 0:14:37.240 think the NFL, in the same way they did with 0:14:37.240 --> 0:14:39.520 the Brady case. I think they look at it probably 0:14:39.800 --> 0:14:42.000 and say, hey, if we got to go to court, 0:14:42.040 --> 0:14:44.000 we gotta go to court. And what they're still going 0:14:44.040 --> 0:14:47.200 to use as their trump card is we collectively bargain this, guys. 0:14:47.400 --> 0:14:50.440 And because we collectively bargain it, the Commissioner has full 0:14:50.520 --> 0:14:52.720 right and authority to be able to come to whatever 0:14:52.760 --> 0:14:55.080 conclusion he wants to come to and dole out whatever 0:14:55.120 --> 0:14:58.600 punishment he suits he seems he deems is necessary. And 0:14:59.080 --> 0:15:01.560 I don't know that the court it is necessarily going 0:15:01.600 --> 0:15:04.600 to go against that. I'm not super confident in most 0:15:04.600 --> 0:15:07.120 of what I'm saying because I'm not a lawyer. It's 0:15:07.160 --> 0:15:10.400 a lot of writing and legal jargon, and I'm a 0:15:10.480 --> 0:15:13.160 dumb sportswriter. But if there's one thing I'm really confident 0:15:13.200 --> 0:15:16.880 in is that you can't underestimate the league's desire to 0:15:17.960 --> 0:15:23.040 protect itself, protect its image to an unalarmingly stubborn degree 0:15:23.120 --> 0:15:26.320 in my opinion to where yeah, I think they'll they'll 0:15:26.320 --> 0:15:29.560 fight this as long as they have to avoid the 0:15:29.840 --> 0:15:33.920 inference that they're wrong, incompetent, whatever other charge you want 0:15:33.920 --> 0:15:35.600 to lay at their feet. They're not going to let 0:15:35.600 --> 0:15:38.760 that slide. And they're not going to be intimidated by 0:15:39.080 --> 0:15:44.120 Jerry Jones or Zeke or Tom Brady or whoever. We 0:15:44.160 --> 0:15:46.200 saw that with tom Brady. Yeah, Like, there's not a 0:15:46.200 --> 0:15:48.600 bigger name in the NFL than Tom Brady. And for 0:15:48.640 --> 0:15:50.560 them to drag that out as far as they did 0:15:50.720 --> 0:15:53.080 and to go the full length of it with it 0:15:53.120 --> 0:15:55.680 suggests to me that they're not going to be They're 0:15:55.720 --> 0:15:57.840 not going to be less prone to do that with 0:15:57.840 --> 0:16:01.440 Ezekiel Elliott and my personal opinion, and they care more 0:16:01.480 --> 0:16:05.680 about what they look like and how they're seen than 0:16:05.760 --> 0:16:08.480 really any of the actual mechanics of this or the 0:16:08.520 --> 0:16:11.560 morality of it. That's what I think, and they so 0:16:11.760 --> 0:16:13.640 I expect them to fight it as hard and as 0:16:13.640 --> 0:16:17.120 long as they have to avoid looking stupid. Basically, this 0:16:17.200 --> 0:16:21.560 looks like the Mayweather fight to me, Mayweather and McGregor, 0:16:22.000 --> 0:16:25.680 because at first Mayweather's just kind of sitting there, he 0:16:25.720 --> 0:16:28.400 was taking the shots and he were kind of like, Hm, Wow, 0:16:28.520 --> 0:16:30.240 how's this going to go? Just kind of and then 0:16:30.280 --> 0:16:32.320 he kind of started coming back. And then about the 0:16:32.400 --> 0:16:34.280 ninth or tenth round and you kind of started to 0:16:34.280 --> 0:16:37.360 see But if it would have gone longer, you never know, 0:16:37.440 --> 0:16:39.000 maybe maybe it would have gone the other way, So 0:16:39.120 --> 0:16:42.520 right now, Zeke's coming back here, Zeke's now got some 0:16:42.520 --> 0:16:45.640 some shots. He looks like he's in sort of control 0:16:45.760 --> 0:16:48.920 of this a little bit. But the end of like 0:16:49.040 --> 0:16:51.360 you just said, the NFL's not done. No one's waving 0:16:51.400 --> 0:16:54.720 the towel quickly on this one and saying, you know, 0:16:54.880 --> 0:16:57.520 was what would have happened later? So I think that that, yeah, 0:16:57.560 --> 0:17:00.040 they he's got leverage right now and he's got a 0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:03.440 little bit of momentum, but this is back and forth 0:17:03.480 --> 0:17:05.760 in the NFL's got something in their backpack. And then 0:17:05.800 --> 0:17:09.280 you go back to the whole case about Josh Brown 0:17:09.640 --> 0:17:13.480 and what happened to him and with him admitting what 0:17:13.520 --> 0:17:16.200 he did and he only gets a one game suspension, 0:17:16.680 --> 0:17:19.320 and you compare it to a sequel this whole deal, 0:17:20.000 --> 0:17:24.000 Like you guys have been saying, they can't not fight 0:17:24.119 --> 0:17:27.600 this because then again they look like they really messed 0:17:27.680 --> 0:17:30.440 up and all that. But regardless of everything is whether 0:17:31.119 --> 0:17:33.600 can play the first week or not, it's still going 0:17:33.640 --> 0:17:37.360 to affect the team somehow because they're having to make 0:17:37.400 --> 0:17:41.879 cuts this Saturday tomorrow, so their cuts are gonna be 0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:45.359 based on you know, they still don't know what the 0:17:45.600 --> 0:17:48.000 outcome is gonna be and they still have to be 0:17:48.040 --> 0:17:51.879 able to cover that whole and depth. It's a totally 0:17:52.000 --> 0:17:56.240 valid point. This is just my opinion, and there's I 0:17:56.280 --> 0:17:59.600 think you're right, and this isn't over by a long shot. 0:17:59.680 --> 0:18:03.159 But I'm more confident than I ever have been that 0:18:03.920 --> 0:18:06.800 he's he's playing. I agree with and so I don't 0:18:06.840 --> 0:18:10.680 even think there's this gray area where you got it like, well, 0:18:10.720 --> 0:18:12.000 how long is it going to be on the team, 0:18:12.040 --> 0:18:13.639 how long do we have to suspend him? Who do 0:18:13.640 --> 0:18:16.720 we keep? Who we cut? That's I don't even consider 0:18:16.720 --> 0:18:20.399 that an issue because I don't think the league is 0:18:20.440 --> 0:18:22.600 going to give them a satisfactory answer to the point 0:18:22.600 --> 0:18:25.479 where they won't push this thing through to court. And 0:18:25.520 --> 0:18:28.040 therefore I expect him to be on the fifty three 0:18:28.160 --> 0:18:31.119 at this point in time, and so whoever you're getting 0:18:31.200 --> 0:18:34.080 rid of to make that work do it. But I 0:18:34.119 --> 0:18:36.439 don't even think of it as being that ambiggest because 0:18:36.720 --> 0:18:40.719 that's how strongly that I view that restraint, that everything 0:18:40.800 --> 0:18:42.520 Zeke's camp has done in the last twenty four hours, 0:18:42.600 --> 0:18:45.440 I view it as a very strong statement that they're 0:18:45.760 --> 0:18:48.919 intent on him playing. This is a huge story in 0:18:49.000 --> 0:18:52.240 all of sports, and you think about what drives the 0:18:52.359 --> 0:18:55.200 NFL the most when it comes to money, Like, what's 0:18:55.240 --> 0:18:59.920 the biggest thing they've got financially that puts money in 0:19:00.040 --> 0:19:04.439 their pockets? TV? Okay, why do people watch? Why do 0:19:04.520 --> 0:19:07.840 you think people watched the games as much as they do? 0:19:08.760 --> 0:19:12.800 I mean there's interest in the league, fantasy football, fantasy football? 0:19:13.440 --> 0:19:16.040 Who's the number one player that that could be? Seventy 0:19:16.080 --> 0:19:19.280 five percent of the interactions that I get on a 0:19:19.359 --> 0:19:22.359 daily basis about Zeke are more so from fantasy is 0:19:22.400 --> 0:19:24.919 easily a top three pick. Yeah, without the suspension, he 0:19:25.000 --> 0:19:27.840 is easily top three pick. And you're one and two 0:19:27.920 --> 0:19:32.120 picks are not doing anything? Right? Are not your top three? 0:19:32.160 --> 0:19:33.760 Two of the top because it can vary, I think 0:19:33.760 --> 0:19:35.840 those three y but yeah, two of your top three 0:19:35.880 --> 0:19:39.240 guys depending on your league, are there's a big clouds 0:19:39.280 --> 0:19:41.560 a big cloud, right? Yeah? So is there a cloud 0:19:41.560 --> 0:19:44.480 around Bell? Didn't he He hasn't reported yet? Hasn't he 0:19:44.600 --> 0:19:48.040 apos report today? He reported reports? So he's supposed to 0:19:48.119 --> 0:19:50.199 have if he has reported. Your theory on that, if 0:19:50.240 --> 0:19:51.960 you missed all the camps. I don't mess with guys 0:19:51.960 --> 0:19:54.480 that missed all the camp just my thing because I've 0:19:54.480 --> 0:19:57.080 seen too many of them end up with hamstring or whatever. 0:19:57.119 --> 0:19:59.080 Don't make me talk about fantasy football, all right. I'm 0:19:59.119 --> 0:20:01.400 just saying I sa away from those guys. But you're right, 0:20:01.440 --> 0:20:04.360 there's a big cloud. So yeah, just saying that this 0:20:04.440 --> 0:20:06.679 isn't a Dallas thing and the Giants. It's not just 0:20:06.840 --> 0:20:09.600 Giants and Cowboys looking at this. There's there's a guy 0:20:09.800 --> 0:20:13.200 in Sacramento, California, right now who's got a fantasy league 0:20:13.200 --> 0:20:15.600