Speaker 1: Be Around the NFL Podcast need a soft reboot? Hey, coming,
Speaker 1: Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL Podcast.
Speaker 1: My name is Dan Hansas, coming to you from a
Speaker 1: virtual room filled with heroes. Mark Sessler, right Rosenthal? What
Speaker 1: is up, Bully? Maybe a soft reboot would just be like,
Speaker 1: you know, we start dressing up more. Um, we start
Speaker 1: disliking each other instead of like, oh, they're a bunch
Speaker 1: of friends. No, now they're enemies. You know, it doesn't
Speaker 1: often necessarily be well, it's like instead, it's kind of
Speaker 1: like a marriage. At the end, you say, would you
Speaker 1: do this all over again? I guess the question is,
Speaker 1: would you sign up with the same you know, three
Speaker 1: other people and producer equation all over again? Or would
Speaker 1: you would you scramble it and bring it a whole
Speaker 1: new bunch of people. I would do it all over
Speaker 1: That's important. I would keep our current producer. I would
Speaker 1: That's write a rap for Mark Sussler. Yeah, during a pandemic,
Speaker 1: I'm re running I'm running this back. Who knows that
Speaker 1: other combo we might be out. We're just you know,
Speaker 1: four guys at a bar chopping it up. But what
Speaker 1: if we became four dudes at a bar slugging it
Speaker 1: out right, That's what I mean, is like less like
Speaker 1: the personnel reboot, but more just a plot twist, plot
Speaker 1: twist after seven. Well, that's what they do in professional wrestling.
Speaker 1: It's like every once in a while, there's a staleness
Speaker 1: that sets in with a fan favorite and usually what
Speaker 1: they'll do in that realm is okay, like turn them
Speaker 1: into a bad guy. See how that plays. So maybe
Speaker 1: we just maybe not, I think we could squeeze one
Speaker 1: more drop of a baby face version of the Around
Speaker 1: the NFL podcast, but maybe like a full on heel
Speaker 1: turn only one against each other, not not outward. I've
Speaker 1: been trying that the whole time. So actually I turned
Speaker 1: into the nice guy and you guys are all jerks
Speaker 1: like fun Yes, no, Chris Westling today west Uh is
Speaker 1: going to join us whenever you can. He's not making
Speaker 1: it this week but this show, but maybe coming up
Speaker 1: again soon. But it's still I got that kind of
Speaker 1: afterglow from west being back in the mix on Monday,
Speaker 1: So that was that was awesome and we hope to
Speaker 1: have him back again soon enough. UM, busy show, very
Speaker 1: busy show today. Um we have what do we have
Speaker 1: to get through? Here. Oh, Hard Knocks is back. The
Speaker 1: premiere was Tuesday night. I wrote the recap that's up
Speaker 1: on NFL dot com right now, and we're gonna talk
Speaker 1: about the premiere episode, uh featuring the Rams and Chargers.
Speaker 1: Also bringing back something from last summer that I thought
Speaker 1: was kind of a fun conversation them down players of
Speaker 1: the Year. We all know that come back players of
Speaker 1: the Year are the feel good story, and we talked
Speaker 1: about how Alex Smith is going to have that thing
Speaker 1: on hyper lock if he manages to hang around with
Speaker 1: the Redskins this year. But who are some of the
Speaker 1: players that coming off a great twenty nineteen. It doesn't
Speaker 1: mean they're gonna torpedo and find themselves out of football
Speaker 1: by next season when we're the Heel Podcast. It means
Speaker 1: maybe just aren't gonna be quite at the level of
Speaker 1: production that we saw a season ago. Come down Players
Speaker 1: of the Year turn of phrase there. I like it.
Speaker 1: I mean, the world doesn't have enough negativity in it
Speaker 1: right now. We need to just add add on some more. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, I guess I'm totally and I like the idea.
Speaker 1: We need to start getting ready for this season. It's
Speaker 1: four weeks away. It's insane. It's time players that players
Speaker 1: have helmets on now, they're they're practicing a little bit today.
Speaker 1: People are like decoding really fuzzy images of Bill Belichick
Speaker 1: walking around on on Patriots dot Com and then tweeting
Speaker 1: that out as if that's great content here. But that's
Speaker 1: where we're at right now with Rainey Camp. Alright, that
Speaker 1: is where we're at. Very excited to get into today's show.
Speaker 1: So let's kick it off as we always do, with
Speaker 1: a little bit of news. Hey, and also, don't be
Speaker 1: the guy that takes the poor potties. All right, I
Speaker 1: went in there about threw up all I have a
Speaker 1: little bit more uh social awareness that's to take a
Speaker 1: don't take it in the poor potties. I don't even
Speaker 1: want to give that context. I'm just gonna imagine there's
Speaker 1: a portion of our audience that did not see the
Speaker 1: premiere of Hard Knocks, and uh so you have no
Speaker 1: idea what that's all about. And it's just, yeah, the
Speaker 1: voice of Sean McVeigh, the coach of the Rams, just
Speaker 1: hissing about the use of the old porta John outside. Well,
Speaker 1: and it's basic good life advice. I mean, whether or
Speaker 1: not you saw the episode. It kind of just works
Speaker 1: right anywhere. Well, all right, unless you are to go
Speaker 1: number two into in a hideously stinky porta potty with
Speaker 1: no I was gonna say it, who does that act
Speaker 1: someone in an emergency situation, like a child in an
Speaker 1: emergency scenario? Man, Yeah, yeah, you don't do that unless
Speaker 1: you have to. And Aaron Donald cracked that case. And
Speaker 1: we're gonna get to hard knocks a little bit later.
Speaker 1: The NFL films personnel, and there's thirty of them. They
Speaker 1: don't have access to the buildings, so let's cut them
Speaker 1: a little break. Let's not embarrassed them. It's a human act, Greg,
Speaker 1: it's a human act. Dan clearly, you know, just used
Speaker 1: the porta potty and is feeling feeling. I seek them out.
Speaker 1: I seek them out. All right. Let's start the news
Speaker 1: with the Buffalo Bills, who are really on the right path,
Speaker 1: it seems right now, very steady h franchise with a
Speaker 1: great roster and good leadership at the top and on
Speaker 1: the sidelines. And Sean McDermott and they know it because
Speaker 1: we just learned today that he was given a five
Speaker 1: He was given a four year extension that will take
Speaker 1: him through it's a six year deal, and obviously it's
Speaker 1: one that he's earned very well. Yes, the Bills from
Speaker 1: a pure record standpoint, and twenty three across these uh
Speaker 1: three seasons, Uh, they haven't won a playoff game under McDermott.
Speaker 1: But that doesn't tell the whole story, not at all.
Speaker 1: Mark Well, I mean he's he's brought them to the
Speaker 1: playoffs twice, and I think especially the first time with
Speaker 1: the team that a lesser coach would not have been
Speaker 1: able to uh reach the postseason. I we're fans of
Speaker 1: Sean McDermott. I think is a group. Um he's been
Speaker 1: on our show. We found him to be I think
Speaker 1: surprisingly engaging, where there wasn't a huge impression that I
Speaker 1: had a McDermott before. It's interesting because he came up
Speaker 1: for so many interviews before he got that Bill's job.
Speaker 1: And there's got to be a couple of teams who
Speaker 1: have been now on their second plus coach at this
Speaker 1: point thinking we could have had Sean McDermot. Well, sure,
Speaker 1: I mean there's there's that whole mill of teams that
Speaker 1: sort of went through the same guys. Sean McDermott is
Speaker 1: perfect for Buffalo. I think he is a top ten coach.
Speaker 1: I really do. I think he does certain things really
Speaker 1: spect his special quality is coaching up the secondary defensive backs.
Speaker 1: That's translated to Buffalo. They were the only team in
Speaker 1: the league last year that didn't allow a deep passing touchdown.
Speaker 1: That's not a coincidence. That's the fingerprints of Sean McDermott.
Speaker 1: I love his match with Brandon being they had a
Speaker 1: lot of coach GM in fighting for years and there,
Speaker 1: and we knew somethings that you know, maybe wouldn't have
Speaker 1: been reported that we heard that was sort of on
Speaker 1: the border being shocking of how dysfunctional the team was.
Speaker 1: And they have removed that dysfunction and success comes. And
Speaker 1: so I really think that this was a no brainer
Speaker 1: move for a team heading in the right direction. He's
Speaker 1: one of the most powerful coaches in the NFL because
Speaker 1: because I because I kind of think like Pete Carroll
Speaker 1: in Seattle and Belichick and read he his say I
Speaker 1: think matters most in personnel. Bean's executing it. Look, there's
Speaker 1: a lot of work that goes into being a GM,
Speaker 1: but it's McDermott's team. It's cool to see. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, I like the idea of some coaches that
Speaker 1: have some leeway. Look, if Josh Allen has a stink
Speaker 1: bomb season or whatever, and they have to find another
Speaker 1: quarterback at some point, it's like, I like the idea
Speaker 1: that they're committed to this coach because they should be.
Speaker 1: They've been a top five defense two years in a row.
Speaker 1: According to football outsiders. That's tough to do. They're actually
Speaker 1: projected to be the number one defense in the NFL,
Speaker 1: I think by football outsiders. He's made good hires, which
Speaker 1: is really important, including being frankly because you know he
Speaker 1: was involved in that higher uh, he was involved in
Speaker 1: hire Brian Dable, not a guy a lot of people wanted,
Speaker 1: who I think has done a really good job. The offensive,
Speaker 1: which was a problem it wasn't just defensive, is stable now.
Speaker 1: Um so I love it. And I think the more
Speaker 1: teams that have a little stability, the more they can
Speaker 1: have an identity. We're at a point right now. Bill
Speaker 1: O'Brien is one of the longest tenured coaches in the league,
Speaker 1: and he's like in the top five or six, I
Speaker 1: think six or seven. I mean, that's that's how much
Speaker 1: we churned through these coaches. And I really do think
Speaker 1: McDermott normally will be there at the end of this
Speaker 1: contractor it has a good chance. Normally i'd be skeptical,
Speaker 1: but this is a guy I can really see lasting
Speaker 1: that long. In other news, the New England Patriots have
Speaker 1: added a player to their backfield on offense. Lamar Miller
Speaker 1: familiar name, has signed a one year deal with the team.
Speaker 1: Miller blew out his A C L and M C
Speaker 1: L a year a year ago last year. Boy, my boy.
Speaker 1: I have always liked Lamar Miller, but I liked him
Speaker 1: more when he wasn't almost thirty with a blown out knee.
Speaker 1: I don't know what he's at at this stage of
Speaker 1: the game, but you know, it's a good little insurance
Speaker 1: signing for the Patriots who lost Brendan Bolden to the
Speaker 1: COVID nineteen opt out and Sony Michelle who had foot
Speaker 1: surgery in May. It's unclear he's on the populist right
Speaker 1: now what his availability is, and he could end up
Speaker 1: pup pupulist guy come week one, which would take him
Speaker 1: out of action for six weeks, which makes Lamar Miller
Speaker 1: a nice guy to have in your building if he
Speaker 1: could still play the guitar. You. Yeah, you famously picked
Speaker 1: him a few different times for making the leap one
Speaker 1: of the I think the only two are three times
Speaker 1: making a leap guy. Um. I think Michelle. Sony Michelle,
Speaker 1: which who we haven't talked about on this podcast, is
Speaker 1: in is in some trouble. It sounds like he might
Speaker 1: not be ready for the start of the season. There's
Speaker 1: a lot of buzz in New England about Damien Harris,
Speaker 1: a second year third round pick who people liked in
Speaker 1: the off season last year, then he got hurt right
Speaker 1: before the season as kind of the the latest Patriots
Speaker 1: running back who gets taken last in fantasy leagues but
Speaker 1: winds up kind of being the closest thing they have
Speaker 1: to the guy. But who knows, maybe it'll be Lamar
Speaker 1: Miller like that. That's crazier. Things have happened than that
Speaker 1: too in New England. Well, I mean Damian Harris. Last year,
Speaker 1: whispers were generating that maybe Sony Michelle wouldn't be the
Speaker 1: lead back because of Harris, and you know that didn't
Speaker 1: come to fruition. I just would say, if you're running
Speaker 1: back looking to revive your career, you're not gonna go
Speaker 1: there and be a lead back. Necessarily they don't really
Speaker 1: seem to operate that way of late. But what a
Speaker 1: great place to go is a running back, Bill Belichick. Uh,
Speaker 1: could we've said it before? It could turn one of
Speaker 1: us into a six yard Russier in that in that offense,
Speaker 1: maybe no more than that for the three of us
Speaker 1: be a running team. Cam Newton, I think I think
Speaker 1: they're gonna be a big time running team. Whether that
Speaker 1: works or not, we'll see or yards did him? You
Speaker 1: know that's true. Supposedly someone noticed that again they're like
Speaker 1: looking at these grainy videos and Patriots dot Com that
Speaker 1: Cam Newton was like fourth in the rotation, behind someone
Speaker 1: behind their undrafted rookie that's in so you know, hey,
Speaker 1: he's got to move up the depth. Churt Sessler speaking
Speaker 1: Damian Harris, I'm gonna share a little later in the show,
Speaker 1: what are come down? Players of the year predictions were
Speaker 1: from last summer. But you were, you were, You had
Speaker 1: your eyes on Sony Michelle a year ago as a
Speaker 1: guy that could be on the fade with Damian Harris
Speaker 1: on the rise. You might have missed that by one. Well,
Speaker 1: that's that's a move of mine, like to to usher
Speaker 1: a prediction that's utterly wrong. But then the year later
Speaker 1: it becomes wasn't wasn't wrong? I mean Sonny Michelle. Well,
Speaker 1: I guess the numbers were Damian Harris as the reason
Speaker 1: that the numbers are about the same, but no one
Speaker 1: but that's based on that one's gonna be like, hey,
Speaker 1: you know when when I grow up, I'm not I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna be like, hey, you really missed out on
Speaker 1: that two thousand nineteen Sony Michelle season. Not a lot
Speaker 1: of it. I think to Dan's point that the prediction
Speaker 1: was not a home run, but now it's like closer
Speaker 1: to a home run. And uh, up next to the
Speaker 1: news and I'm really bummed that West isn't here because
Speaker 1: I think he really would have appreciated this, perhaps been
Speaker 1: perplexed by it, maybe been angry about it. But yes,
Speaker 1: we know all about what are some of our our
Speaker 1: annual team fan clubs. Of course, last year we had
Speaker 1: the fish tank, got the Grievance Nest. We could go
Speaker 1: there less in my opinion, if we needed to the Titans.
Speaker 1: The Titans. Ever, no, we didn't know that. I believe
Speaker 1: this year and I feel free to chime in with
Speaker 1: your thoughts, but this year, let's unveil the Bengals Den.
Speaker 1: My son like this. He spends literally hours a day
Speaker 1: pretending he's a tiger and just like biting people around
Speaker 1: the house. So this is gonna be a big fan.
Speaker 1: I'd have that checked out Greg personally, but it sounds engaging. Yes,
Speaker 1: the Bengals Den where we study the Cincinnati football franchise
Speaker 1: a team on the rise. Let's go through some news items.
Speaker 1: Here's starting with cornerback Trey Waynes, who could be out
Speaker 1: up to two months after suffering a pectoral injury. This
Speaker 1: is so Bengals. I mean, it's it's tough to open
Speaker 1: up the Bengals then in this way because this team
Speaker 1: wouldn't spend money for years and years in free agency
Speaker 1: and they get hand out a three or forty two
Speaker 1: million dollar deal to Wahanes to fix up their secondary
Speaker 1: and then he immediately tears his pack. So we'll see
Speaker 1: how long he's gonna be out, but he will start
Speaker 1: the season on the sideline. There's one of the positives.
Speaker 1: Oh attack, it was one of the positives. You know,
Speaker 1: I guess of this totally news list. First two weeks
Speaker 1: of training camp there were no injuries because you know,
Speaker 1: there's only like one way to get injured while lifting weights,
Speaker 1: and that is tearing your pectoral muscle. Well, that comes
Speaker 1: from Greg. Greg is plugged in on these matters in
Speaker 1: the I mean, I'm start of joking, but it seems
Speaker 1: like that's the like only way that people people heard.
Speaker 1: It was a year ago. They lost a j green
Speaker 1: in the first i think day of training camp a
Speaker 1: year ago and that changed their entire season. And Waynes
Speaker 1: was pretty is an interesting case because he was quite
Speaker 1: annoyed at the Bengals. I thought that they really waited
Speaker 1: for him to be there in person to sign his contract,
Speaker 1: and while ninety plus percent of the league had their
Speaker 1: contract you know, free agent contracts tucked away, he not
Speaker 1: the case for him, and he called it publicly a
Speaker 1: giant headache, and he basically said this is terrible at
Speaker 1: one point in an interview, and like for all the
Speaker 1: Bengals progressive, free active free agency, this was sort of
Speaker 1: a case that made them look like the old Bengals
Speaker 1: a little bit. And then he hits the scene to
Speaker 1: fix one of the worst secondaries in the league from
Speaker 1: a year ago, and uh, he's gone, you know early on,
Speaker 1: that's that's not a positive on any did have this
Speaker 1: dude Darius Phillips in the last couple of weeks of
Speaker 1: the season. I think he played both the year teams.
Speaker 1: He had three interceptions in about two games he played unbelievable.
Speaker 1: One of those games they forget if it was against
Speaker 1: the Jets and Browns. But he's gonna step in. But
Speaker 1: it's not what you want. It's not what you want.
Speaker 1: It's not what you want. A little Joe Girardi in
Speaker 1: a big spot from Greg and other Bengals. Then news,
Speaker 1: defensive tackle Mike Daniels signs a one year deal with
Speaker 1: the Bengals. H thirty one years old. He's had injury
Speaker 1: issues his last two years. But you got Geno Atkins
Speaker 1: on the inside. If Mike Daniels could get healthy and
Speaker 1: approach his former levels of play, you know he got
Speaker 1: some cooking in there. I like Sam Harvard. Atkins wasn't
Speaker 1: the same. But your your boy from your Europe trip,
Speaker 1: Carlos Dunlap was a beast. Sounds stretch. He's always good,
Speaker 1: but he was. You would think he'd be getting a
Speaker 1: little older. Geno Atkins looks a little older. He was
Speaker 1: not Gino Atkins um that we've come to appreciate UH
Speaker 1: last year. But Carlos Dunlap was like on fire at
Speaker 1: the end of the season when not many people were
Speaker 1: too interested in the nineteen Bengals. And finally John Ross's
Speaker 1: left Bengals camp to take care of his son UH.
Speaker 1: The kid unfortunately tested positive for COVID nineteen. The child's
Speaker 1: mother also tested positive, so Ross steps away from the
Speaker 1: team UH to be there for the family. Tough situation,
Speaker 1: but hopefully he's back ahead of week one. So that
Speaker 1: is what's cooking in the Bengals. Dan Good Good premiere,
Speaker 1: Guys Good premiere episode Good Up. Not a lot of
Speaker 1: good news in the den, there is. I mean, we
Speaker 1: could be answering a den of sorrow, but with we're
Speaker 1: we're diving in and we're gonna we're just gonna hope
Speaker 1: for the best. Okay, you never see you never see
Speaker 1: news like you know, another calm day in the Bengals den.
Speaker 1: You know, everything we're in great today with the Tigers
Speaker 1: that they do more carnage to come in the Bengals
Speaker 1: that I'm sure all right. In other news, Monday night
Speaker 1: football news, you know, we love talking Monday night ball
Speaker 1: and not even the games, the game within the game,
Speaker 1: the game up in the booth. Done done done, done,
Speaker 1: La la la la la la la d d d
Speaker 1: d d d dumb dumb yagya ya ye See, people
Speaker 1: only know the instrumental version. They don't know if the
Speaker 1: one with Fox. I love. You know Andrew Marshand, he's
Speaker 1: one of our martian he's one of our favorite media
Speaker 1: guys out there covering all the happenings, uh in this
Speaker 1: league of hours, our league, and he had a nice
Speaker 1: little nugget in his mail bag. I mean, people are
Speaker 1: really stepping up with these mail bags. One thing I
Speaker 1: had not anticipated in the mail bag game was people
Speaker 1: starting to bury, you know, little nugs of like uh
Speaker 1: uh scoops putting scoopage of mailbags. Yeah, because the I
Speaker 1: think we've shifted away from Hey, I'm just offering my
Speaker 1: opinion in the mail bag too. Now you've got to
Speaker 1: be breaking news. So now damn you've got a lot
Speaker 1: of sources, and you've got media sources in house, media sources,
Speaker 1: So you just gotta start to lean on that angle,
Speaker 1: because I think that's the hook versus hey, look at me,
Speaker 1: here's my opinion on someone's backfield you've gotta be dropping
Speaker 1: some information that no one else has and I know
Speaker 1: you can inside. Thank you, Mark, I appreciate your belief
Speaker 1: in me. And yeah, I think it's kind of a
Speaker 1: if you want to call it a wake up call
Speaker 1: or just the challenge. I think it's the natural evolution
Speaker 1: of things that the mail bag. Yeah, used to be
Speaker 1: a place where you could have some fun and joke
Speaker 1: around with the listeners or the readers and crack crack
Speaker 1: wise a little bit and throw some football analysis in there.
Speaker 1: But now they're Scoopidge. They're Scoopidge. And why is the
Speaker 1: Scoopidge again? Here? They're scoopid bro Marcy. He's out there
Speaker 1: in the middle of a question. Someone asks about what's
Speaker 1: up with this new Monday night football booth, and Marshawn
Speaker 1: says that ESPN talk to RAMS coach Sean McVeigh about
Speaker 1: being a Monday Night football analyst. Sean McVeigh, the thirty
Speaker 1: four year old RAMS coach who seems to be right
Speaker 1: in the middle of a career that's gonna last, you know,
Speaker 1: another twenty to thirty seven years. But no ESPN kicking
Speaker 1: all tires, every tire in the world except for hours,
Speaker 1: apparently says Hey, Sean, do you want to come off
Speaker 1: the sidelines and be our Monday night football guy. It
Speaker 1: doesn't look like that's gonna happen. But according to Marsian,
Speaker 1: he was approached the guy who was like the most
Speaker 1: like John Gruden, and it was like him in fact,
Speaker 1: Colleen and we're gonna get to our Hot Knocks recap
Speaker 1: in a second. But Colleen texted last night that her
Speaker 1: belief that John Gruden or McVeigh might be turning into
Speaker 1: John Gruden. Their personalities are starting to merge, and ESPN
Speaker 1: A executives think that McVeigh could be a standout in
Speaker 1: the booths somewhat like John Gruden. According to Marcian, so
Speaker 1: my one thing the records under contract, and this seems
Speaker 1: like it was never something serious, but ESPN kicked the tire.
Speaker 1: It sounds like he listened, though, which I think is
Speaker 1: like that that's intriguing. I mean, for me, if you're
Speaker 1: you know they've they've got Levy and and and Riddick
Speaker 1: and and Greasy in there for this season, you can't help.
Speaker 1: I would just be thinking it's clearly had fifteen to
Speaker 1: twenty people they really wanted more like I remember being
Speaker 1: like a sophomore in high school and getting asked to
Speaker 1: like a homecoming at the eleventh hour by someone that
Speaker 1: I knew through my back channel information had asked multiple
Speaker 1: other people to go to the dance and they said no,
Speaker 1: and I said yes because I needed plans. But the
Speaker 1: entire time, I'm thinking, this person doesn't really did not
Speaker 1: really choose me for this event first. And it's a
Speaker 1: hideous way to go through an experience. So it's it's
Speaker 1: kind of tough sledding for the current m n F
Speaker 1: group to have to go in there and try to
Speaker 1: prove even their own company wrong. I think about what
Speaker 1: they want to do in the future. Chip on the
Speaker 1: shoulder and a little word of advice because I see
Speaker 1: what ESPN is doing here. Seahawks general managers Johnson Schneider.
Speaker 1: If ESPN calls you about Jamal Adams, do not even
Speaker 1: pick up the phone, because if that gets back to
Speaker 1: Jamal Adams, he will never forgive you. You You can't even
Speaker 1: pick up the phone. If there's a call, don't pick
Speaker 1: up the phone. Look at the call waiting, it says ESPN.
Speaker 1: Just in the case that Jamal adams name comes up,
Speaker 1: don't pick up the phone because you would not want
Speaker 1: to anger him because he was as a Monday Night
Speaker 1: football contributor. You're saying that they made after Okay, I
Speaker 1: mean that's good advice. I didn't see how you can
Speaker 1: make this about the Jets, but you didn't. Uh. And finally,
Speaker 1: one more bit of media news. Happy trails to Dion Sanders,
Speaker 1: who leaves our company after many a year to join barstool.
Speaker 1: This is all over the sports media beat today and
Speaker 1: I just gotta say, guys, and I'm curious if you're
Speaker 1: in the same boat. I am a little bit sad.
Speaker 1: I I'm hitting the ten year mark of my time
Speaker 1: at NFL Media next week and I worked at Dion
Speaker 1: Sanders the entire time he was a colleague, and yet
Speaker 1: we never spoke. I'm not even sure I ever saw
Speaker 1: hims best to ploy Well, yeah, I think it would
Speaker 1: be news to him that well. No, And in fact,
Speaker 1: on our network show, do you remember that I pitched
Speaker 1: him as the ideal candidate for a last dance scenario
Speaker 1: if we were to do that about an NFL figure.
Speaker 1: I thought I would, and I tweeted about it and
Speaker 1: with some video I thought for sure that would stage.
Speaker 1: Um the beginnings of a friendship and uh, total dead air,
Speaker 1: no no response at all those and we got sorry.
Speaker 1: The closest we got I think was when we um
Speaker 1: left a mess of like used peanuts in the special
Speaker 1: Deon Sanders Studio like the Yeah it's a big it's
Speaker 1: a big place that I've on network. But it's pretty
Speaker 1: impressive that Dion had his own studio essentially for his
Speaker 1: own show. But we broke in there one time. Um,
Speaker 1: we cleaned the mess, I believe, but we were also
Speaker 1: told never to use it again. Right. Well, I think
Speaker 1: we called the cleaning crew to do it. I don't
Speaker 1: think we even had enough integrity to clean it on
Speaker 1: our own, to be honest, But well, we cleaned up.
Speaker 1: We tried after ourselves, but it was messy, as I
Speaker 1: are called. And I didn't even know if that was
Speaker 1: Deon studio at that point. I think it was just
Speaker 1: his own private green room during Sundays. It was his room. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was just his room. They eventually repurposed it. But
Speaker 1: the other thing is we were able to access Dion's
Speaker 1: private green room with our key cards. And then shortly
Speaker 1: thereafter after that viral internet stunt gone awry. Uh you
Speaker 1: no longer had keycard access to the room, so they
Speaker 1: went into the system and took care of the heroes
Speaker 1: in a big spot. So anyway, by Dan, good luck.
Speaker 1: That's what's happening in the news. Hard Knocks time Yes season,
Speaker 1: the acclaimed HBO docuseries premiered on Tuesday night. Hard Knocks
Speaker 1: Los Angeles. It's not a criminal procedural. Let your grandparents
Speaker 1: watch them Monday nights. It's a study of the Ramps
Speaker 1: and Chargers as they prepare for the strangest NFL season
Speaker 1: in our league's history. Um, we talked about in Friday Show.
Speaker 1: I had that conversation with Ken Rogers, the VP and
Speaker 1: NFL Films and the guy who's been running the show
Speaker 1: for years that the premier episode was gonna be a
Speaker 1: lot different. You weren't gonna see a lot of football,
Speaker 1: And that made sense. That wasn't some narrative choice on
Speaker 1: Tuesday Nights episode. There was no football really to cover
Speaker 1: for the most part, because, um, the first week of
Speaker 1: August for the Rams and Chargers and every other team
Speaker 1: was getting back on the uh, just getting back to
Speaker 1: the building and doing uh, you know, obviously the testing
Speaker 1: UH for COVID nineteen to make sure everything was clean
Speaker 1: and figuring out the logistics you know, you know you
Speaker 1: want you you think about what a head coach is
Speaker 1: asked to do for a team. I thought it was
Speaker 1: interesting you're actually watching both Anthony Lenna the Chargers, but
Speaker 1: a scene with Sean McVeigh where he is hands on
Speaker 1: and trying to figure out how to build out this
Speaker 1: big overhang canopy tent where he's going to hold meetings
Speaker 1: and various walk through practices with the offense and the defense.
Speaker 1: How much thought and work and cleaning and disinfecting is
Speaker 1: going on in a constant cycle to just try to
Speaker 1: keep your team from the absolute tragedy that would be
Speaker 1: an outbreak that would ruin their season and potentially blow
Speaker 1: up the NFL. So for me, Greg in the first episode,
Speaker 1: that was what was interesting to see. How were teams
Speaker 1: trying to keep the players and the coaches healthy and
Speaker 1: then how do you balance that with actually trying to
Speaker 1: start preparing for a season with which is five weeks away.
Speaker 1: When they take this right, you didn't have a lot
Speaker 1: of the same beats it. It's not going to be
Speaker 1: as high octane, especially the first week or two in
Speaker 1: terms of the football you're also not going to have
Speaker 1: as much time inside the players houses for obvious reason,
Speaker 1: and in going home and sort of having that features
Speaker 1: and so on some level it was like more informational
Speaker 1: and like less just total entertaining. But I still I
Speaker 1: found it fascinating because I'm just I'm interested in this world.
Speaker 1: I love football, and like this is this is what
Speaker 1: football is right now, and I don't love this part
Speaker 1: of football, but I am sort of fascinated to see
Speaker 1: how the NFL is dealing with this as we as
Speaker 1: we all are in different ways now we're not we're
Speaker 1: not going to work in the same way, um, but
Speaker 1: in many ways it makes the players and the coaches
Speaker 1: relatable in in a different way because they're going through
Speaker 1: some of the the same things and and you get
Speaker 1: to see kind of what people are made of behind
Speaker 1: the scenes to I mean, just what they're like. And
Speaker 1: and as much as we've always heard about Anthony Lynn
Speaker 1: as like a guy that just everyone will run through
Speaker 1: a wall for like you kind of get it now
Speaker 1: like watching him and McVeigh for that matter, to handle
Speaker 1: this situation as grown ups as leaders and how they
Speaker 1: are going to navigate, you know, trying to lead eighty
Speaker 1: nine people and even more you know when when it
Speaker 1: comes to their staff. Yeah, I think that I agree
Speaker 1: with Greg. And I watched it twice, and I really,
Speaker 1: to be honest, I just I didn't enjoy it the
Speaker 1: first time. UM. I didn't find it to be unlike
Speaker 1: other a lot of hard knocks vehicles. I just found
Speaker 1: it in essential. Uh that's me. At the second time
Speaker 1: I watched it, I had a bit of a different
Speaker 1: take UM, and the positives For me, I it centers
Speaker 1: almost entirely around Anthony Lynn, who I had been curious about. UM.
Speaker 1: I think he along with Sean McVeigh. And I love
Speaker 1: your note Dan about Sean McVeigh organizing how that huge
Speaker 1: tent would be organized, because that's what you hear about
Speaker 1: Sean McVeigh is that he's in everything, and he has
Speaker 1: ideas about everything. He's ingenious and it's gonna be his
Speaker 1: program from top to bottom. Were they Anthony Lynn too?
Speaker 1: I think it's just that these coaches today, UM, they're
Speaker 1: not gonna work if they don't relate to players. And
Speaker 1: in the opening scene with Anthony Lynn jumping on a
Speaker 1: zoom call a little bit late where you had UM,
Speaker 1: I think was Mike Pouncey about to tell a story
Speaker 1: that maybe you could have been a little off color,
Speaker 1: who knows, But Anthony Lynn jumped on and said, I'm here,
Speaker 1: I'm here, and you just saw them. Their eyes changed,
Speaker 1: their energy changed, their head coaches there, and I just
Speaker 1: think that there's a chunk of head coaches around the
Speaker 1: league that, um, when things go bad, especially, just don't
Speaker 1: have that grip over their players. Anthony Lynn is a
Speaker 1: man's man. I loved Um. I'm not a big barbecue guy, obviously,
Speaker 1: but I loved watching him barbecue with like a wedding
Speaker 1: china spoon that his wife was a little annoyed he
Speaker 1: was using wrapped in a napkin to base various meat products.
Speaker 1: I just came away thinking highly of both coaches. Um,
Speaker 1: some of the stuff in there. Uh it was twenty
Speaker 1: five minutes in and it was all Corona, from which
Speaker 1: I get it. I totally get it. I just am
Speaker 1: excited to see where we go in the next couple
Speaker 1: of weeks. I don't think Hard Knocks can be judged
Speaker 1: off of the first episode almost ever. Um, there I
Speaker 1: do see predictable beats heading I know we're gonna get
Speaker 1: an Austin nekel Or episode. You know we're gonna get
Speaker 1: a huge thing on basically Aaron Donald and golf and
Speaker 1: all of it. It's all coming. But they did. I
Speaker 1: think they had to tackle this a certain way, and
Speaker 1: they did it. I'm glad you had that second rewatch,
Speaker 1: Mark because you were sending off some very angry texts
Speaker 1: last night about the premiere. Can I can I can
Speaker 1: I re real quie what's going on? Like? Um I
Speaker 1: I find one thing I'm not not gonna do again
Speaker 1: is watch the show with Twitter open. It's it's it's
Speaker 1: a hideous um tugging down of the experience that should
Speaker 1: just be watched on its own for well. But it's
Speaker 1: but even like the pressure of having to lie, I
Speaker 1: don't know the whole thing. I just want to enjoy
Speaker 1: it the way I wo a normal television show. It's
Speaker 1: not a top ten show in my world. Um, it
Speaker 1: is an NFL based show. It's pretty good. Always got
Speaker 1: mixed feelings about I have mixed feelings. But when it's good,
Speaker 1: it's really really good. And with Anthony Lynn and it
Speaker 1: taught me about him, that's when it's really good. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Lynn came off really well in this episode. Um, I
Speaker 1: look forward to learning more about him. Just some quick
Speaker 1: notes that I had in kind of my uh recap.
Speaker 1: I want to go through here, Aaron Donald with a
Speaker 1: shirt off. I want to talk shirtless dudes for a second. Here.
Speaker 1: We'll start with Aaron Donald. Um, your boy Mark Mark
Speaker 1: Miles Garrett to me, I thought I always thought had
Speaker 1: the most impressive Hard Knocks body, But I don't know.
Speaker 1: I mean Aaron Donald six and literally muscles on muscles
Speaker 1: on muscles. He looks like somebody from like Conan the Barbarian,
Speaker 1: if you remember that old Schwarzenegger movie. And he's the
Speaker 1: greatest player in the arguably and his best player, and
Speaker 1: like the corner could be squawking, and Aaron Donald was
Speaker 1: just like ignoring it. He's like this huge thing that's
Speaker 1: just in Dion's like this little fly, so why and
Speaker 1: He's just like, get get away from me. I couldn't
Speaker 1: I couldn't tell if he was like a lovable team
Speaker 1: jester or just that guy that you hate to be
Speaker 1: around because he won't he won't shut up. And he
Speaker 1: felt he felt like that Hard Knocks guy, Like it
Speaker 1: just seemed like the every Hard Knocks cast, someone to
Speaker 1: play that role, but maybe on being too cynical. I
Speaker 1: just it seemed like we're gonna be dealing with this
Speaker 1: guy for five weeks now, hanging there Mark, let's want
Speaker 1: a guy like that though. I mean, it's not like
Speaker 1: they have to cast. It's real. Yeah, those people exist.
Speaker 1: Speaking of shirtless dudes, um, does somebody want to tell me? First?
Speaker 1: Sean McVeigh the pool scene where he says he's been
Speaker 1: teaching his dog new tricks and all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: his shirt is off and McVeigh is like, hey, make
Speaker 1: sure you get me on camera in my pool, and
Speaker 1: then he's saying, check out the dog trick I I
Speaker 1: have going on. And he's throwing a football at the
Speaker 1: dog with a basketball hoop next to him, and the
Speaker 1: ball is just clanging off the dog's face and there's
Speaker 1: no alley slam from the dog, there's no tipping, there's
Speaker 1: nothing like that. And then it's you just start to wonder.
Speaker 1: It was like, was this all just a ruse to
Speaker 1: get McVeigh with a shirt off to show off the
Speaker 1: work he's putting in the home gym across my mind?
Speaker 1: Agree or disagree? I think it was a pleasant I
Speaker 1: disagree with that but I'm a little worried about this.
Speaker 1: You know, CT with this dog here, it's kind of
Speaker 1: like air Bud. You're watching that. You know, he took
Speaker 1: a lot of footballs off the head. I don't know
Speaker 1: that it doesn't like douldn't seem like the best thing
Speaker 1: for the dog. I think if you're Sean McVeigh, he's
Speaker 1: obviously been putting in the work because we had a
Speaker 1: chance to meet him in person that that one summer,
Speaker 1: and he has jacked up from that time. He wasn't
Speaker 1: a dainty individual back then, but I think you've got
Speaker 1: to jump in the pool with no shirt to show
Speaker 1: it off. He lives about ten minutes from us, uh,
Speaker 1: and he has living life in a different way than
Speaker 1: we are living. Um. That is my takeaway on Sean McVeigh.
Speaker 1: Ten minutes in distance, but in every other way it
Speaker 1: is a much different life. Tyrod tyrod Taylor's new look
Speaker 1: with the big hair and the beard. That's good. I
Speaker 1: like that a lot. Yeah, I like him a lot.
Speaker 1: Now he just feels I don't know, there's something about
Speaker 1: him though. He's got a little bit more to him. Imagine, dude,
Speaker 1: he felt he can be um frustrating as a conservative passer,
Speaker 1: but he always seemed like a a cool guy. Well,
Speaker 1: we're gonna by the way, Melvin Ingram, Yeah, I don't
Speaker 1: know if that's on your list, but he has to
Speaker 1: be the first player ever to be in the song
Speaker 1: credits at the end that was his own song. He's wrapping.
Speaker 1: Melvin Ingram is a wild man. He is one of
Speaker 1: the most intense players I've ever um, you know, like
Speaker 1: seen in an interview situation. Feel like if if I
Speaker 1: was going to pick a guy who's gonna be a
Speaker 1: rising star out of hard knocks, he would be it.
Speaker 1: And uh Marcus Grant of our great fantasy team here
Speaker 1: at NFL Media. Uh like in Tyrod Taylor's new look
Speaker 1: to Donald Glover Childish Gambino and that This is America
Speaker 1: video which definitely did uh sync up with me as well.
Speaker 1: And uh, let's see any of the thought I have.
Speaker 1: That's about it. I'm I'm looking forward to episode two
Speaker 1: and and more football. But I did really like the
Speaker 1: the peek behind the curtain of how this actually works,
Speaker 1: and I was I would be interested to think other teams,
Speaker 1: the other thirty teams, what their protocols are and if
Speaker 1: it's any different than the Rams and Chargers. Did they
Speaker 1: learn anything from watching this? Because you know, every every
Speaker 1: team watches Hard Knocks, every front office does. So that's
Speaker 1: interesting to me. Is well to think about the career
Speaker 1: where when they when you get fired and you walk
Speaker 1: into your bosses, you say like you gotta be kidding me,
Speaker 1: and then the bosses are then talking about like, hey,
Speaker 1: I like that fire from that guy. Bring him back
Speaker 1: to the taxi squad. Yeah, tight end. Andrew Vollert didn't
Speaker 1: like being cut immediately. I thought that was kind of
Speaker 1: a pretty ballsy move. And yes he did. Anthony Lynn
Speaker 1: did say to the GM Tom to LESCo that he
Speaker 1: did admire him showing emotion. But then he also threw
Speaker 1: in a singer at the end, hold up man you
Speaker 1: a and Antonio Gates now does it bother? Well? Sorry,
Speaker 1: doesn't bother? And it honestly disturbed me too because I
Speaker 1: should know this, but that Justin Herbert was born like
Speaker 1: it just um to me. It was a defining low
Speaker 1: blow to the viewer. If you're my age, yeah that
Speaker 1: was rough. He gives me vibes from Friday Nay Light
Speaker 1: a little bit Justin hurt m And remember Peter shre
Speaker 1: Tiger as the official Hard Knocks Podcast. If you want
Speaker 1: a real deep dive on every episode, check that out.
Speaker 1: I believe you had Anthony Lynn on the debut episode,
Speaker 1: so make sure you check that out wherever you get
Speaker 1: your podcast. The Hard Knocks Podcast with Peter Schreeger. All right,
Speaker 1: let's move on come down players of the Year in
Speaker 1: and yeah, Greg, I see you. I know you were joking,
Speaker 1: but yes, you can look at this as a negative segment,
Speaker 1: or it could just be more a segment rooted in
Speaker 1: keeping it real that you don't necessarily have to fall
Speaker 1: off a cliff and be terrible. You just might not
Speaker 1: be the same guy you were a year ago, because
Speaker 1: sometimes it's hard to kind of stack up seasons like
Speaker 1: that over and over again, so they just come down.
Speaker 1: Well maybe you guys have people that just fall off
Speaker 1: a cliff, but mine are more come down, just down,
Speaker 1: gradual decline, gradual decline. There you go. It's good to
Speaker 1: bring that back up. It's already been used. Now it
Speaker 1: finally came through for me. He took a long time
Speaker 1: because it did. Uh, So let's let's throw out some
Speaker 1: players who we see potentially un a graduate of decline.
Speaker 1: But Before we do that, I want to um share
Speaker 1: with you what our predictions were last year. That's fun
Speaker 1: and also it's good too. That's accountability, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean? I like it. Please, here we go. All right,
Speaker 1: let's start with the zoo, Sir. I had Patrick Mahomes
Speaker 1: and I said that it was I kind of likened
Speaker 1: it to the Dan Marino situation, where you are sometimes
Speaker 1: you just have a season that's so beautiful and so
Speaker 1: perfect that you'll never match it again. And to me,
Speaker 1: I was right. Mahomes wasn't the same player. Uh, from
Speaker 1: a regular season standpoint, he got hurt. Of course, his
Speaker 1: numbers didn't sniff what he did in twenty eighteen. In
Speaker 1: the playoffs, though, he got hot and won a Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: So me, my prediction was that he just wouldn't be
Speaker 1: as statistically incredible as he was. So I'm taking the
Speaker 1: w there. I mean, if someone someone told you that
Speaker 1: he was gonna operate, he won the Super Bowl a
Speaker 1: dislocated decap for most of the season. We're not counting
Speaker 1: the playoffs. What is this like stats or something? Why
Speaker 1: would why wouldn't we count the playoffs? He was a
Speaker 1: top three quarterback. If I don't think he even in
Speaker 1: the regular season, I'd say in any argument, he'd be
Speaker 1: a top three. Do you think he was just as
Speaker 1: good as Noything? He was just as good. He wasn't
Speaker 1: just as good the offense. The Chiefs offense wasn't just
Speaker 1: as good. But aside from the injury, maybe he came
Speaker 1: Maybe he just came down a little bit little maybe,
Speaker 1: but I'm saying top three, and then he won the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl. I'm not giving it. I won't give you
Speaker 1: a night that other players would not play through. I'll
Speaker 1: give you a tie. I'll take the tie. I also
Speaker 1: had a push come on. I also had Drew Brees.
Speaker 1: I'll take the low and I'll take the lost on
Speaker 1: that one. I don't think he really came down. I
Speaker 1: believe he still Drew Brees. Uh. Claibron was on this
Speaker 1: episode a year ago. He had Aaron Donald, which I
Speaker 1: guess he came down, but not really still Laron Donald,
Speaker 1: Mark Sessler, Eric Ebron, and you predicted mo Ali Cox
Speaker 1: turning into a major factor. We don't need to mention
Speaker 1: that part of it. This is also before Andrew Luck retired.
Speaker 1: Should be noted. I had Adrian Peterson, Greg you had
Speaker 1: Dante Fowler and Jared goth one for two there Fowler played,
Speaker 1: well that was a hit. You know that was a hit. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was a good one. Matt Naggy. Nice job by
Speaker 1: Claibonn's that was well done. Uh Cecil you chimed in
Speaker 1: with the Bears turnover aggression on defense, which I'm sure happened.
Speaker 1: Nice job, ay you Mark really swinging for the fences
Speaker 1: here with well, you know what it's like, let's actually
Speaker 1: give the listeners something that's going to be correct. And
Speaker 1: that's what I did. I was correct twice that you
Speaker 1: know what else can they can rely on me to
Speaker 1: get it correct and right. And then finally Sessler Damien
Speaker 1: Harris is going to be a bigger role chewing away
Speaker 1: at Sonny Michelle's job. So that was last year. Now
Speaker 1: this year, get us going, Greg Rosa, all right, I'm
Speaker 1: going to start with with Richard Sherman and the forty
Speaker 1: niners second in general, but Sherman started the leader. I mean, look,
Speaker 1: he was the second team All Pro last year. It
Speaker 1: was kind of amazing, and I think he will be
Speaker 1: a Hall of Fame type guy, and I think a
Speaker 1: Hall of Famer. I do think this little. This second
Speaker 1: act in San Francisco was going to help him get there,
Speaker 1: and no one thought he would be that good. I think,
Speaker 1: and I think that their secondary with him as the
Speaker 1: leader in general, really overperformed. Uh. And I look at
Speaker 1: it and I think, if the forty Niners are going
Speaker 1: to come back to earth a little bit, that's an
Speaker 1: area where they can be a tacked, a tough division.
Speaker 1: Um and uh, I think asking him to be that
Speaker 1: good again, and asking that secondary where I'm not really
Speaker 1: sure that talent is totally there, to be that good
Speaker 1: again is a natural come down. I think he was
Speaker 1: PFF's number one cornerbacks, so if we're to finish number two,
Speaker 1: you would be correct. Technically, I would give you the
Speaker 1: w on that. I mean, if he's still an All Pro,
Speaker 1: I'm not taking it. But uh yeah, I think at
Speaker 1: this forty Niners team that you know, the the analytics
Speaker 1: like football outsiders for they think they're there's a big
Speaker 1: reason to believe that they'll regress this year. Now, on paper,
Speaker 1: it doesn't seem like that. There's a lot of forty
Speaker 1: Niners fans that think that they're going to be better,
Speaker 1: but it is true. When you improve that much in
Speaker 1: one year. Usually you come back to the pack a
Speaker 1: little bit, you come down, Mark Sessler, how about a
Speaker 1: come down Player of the Year candidate? Well, I don't
Speaker 1: like having to pitch this because I think his story
Speaker 1: is awesome. But um, Darren Waller from the Las Vegas
Speaker 1: Raiders A. He had ninety catches, a thousand plus yards
Speaker 1: and three touchdowns last year, and I think the offense
Speaker 1: is just changing. They they're just simply they've added more weapons.
Speaker 1: You've got rugs in there your first round pick. Uh.
Speaker 1: They added Brian Edwards another rookie hunter, Renfrover would maybe
Speaker 1: have a larger role there. I think they're just gonna
Speaker 1: diversify and spread the ball a little around a little
Speaker 1: bit more. And I could see him. I don't just mean, like,
Speaker 1: you know, eight less catches. I just think he had
Speaker 1: a bit of a breakout season that will be tough
Speaker 1: to duplicate for him. I wouldn't be surprised, you know,
Speaker 1: not by necessarily a fault of his own that the
Speaker 1: production comes down by a third. Perhaps not really a
Speaker 1: fan of human interest stories, are you? Mark Well. I
Speaker 1: opened by saying I wasn't happy to pitch it, but
Speaker 1: nor am I a pr agency here, just like you know,
Speaker 1: throwing out feel good stories for everyone. I don't see it.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's a young player who looked at dynamic
Speaker 1: last year and he's still the best receiver on that
Speaker 1: team until until I see someone else step up. They
Speaker 1: just had no one else really step up last year.
Speaker 1: I just think that with Rugs in there and others,
Speaker 1: that you would want that to happen if you were
Speaker 1: Grood and wouldn't you would you wanted to be based
Speaker 1: the entire passing game based around your running backs in
Speaker 1: your tight end. I don't know. I'll go with I
Speaker 1: don't know if I want to make how broad I
Speaker 1: want to make it. Let's start here, Ryan Tannehill, I
Speaker 1: just got out of trouble with Titans Nation. I thought
Speaker 1: we had a clean break. So don't take this as
Speaker 1: an attack on your organization. You obviously made the right
Speaker 1: decision giving up on Marcus Mariotta. I don't think you
Speaker 1: made the right decision turning around and giving Ryan Tannehill
Speaker 1: off twelve or thirteen games a four year, hundred and
Speaker 1: eighteen million dollar deal um and when you look at
Speaker 1: the money, it's almost thirty million per season. Sixty two
Speaker 1: million and guarantees he's he's gonna be on the books
Speaker 1: no matter what, probably for years with this team. And
Speaker 1: you know that's he's a top ten guy now in
Speaker 1: terms of being paid as a quarterback, and that will
Speaker 1: be all. That would be great if if he's still
Speaker 1: the guy he was in twenty nineteen. And I'm not
Speaker 1: even gonna say, I'm not even point to Greg and
Speaker 1: feel free to tag team this one with me. I'm
Speaker 1: not even gonna point to the playoffs and back look,
Speaker 1: he was already regressing in January, because I understand the
Speaker 1: playoffs are a different beast and and Derrick Henry was
Speaker 1: running like crazy over everybody. So they played a different
Speaker 1: type of um game plan on some level. But I
Speaker 1: just don't think it was sustainable. He's thirty two years old,
Speaker 1: and if you look at the history of our league,
Speaker 1: guys that don't break out within the first three years
Speaker 1: or so, if they do have a big season, they
Speaker 1: usually do come back to the to their old former
Speaker 1: self more times than not. Uh maybe Towne Hills an outlier,
Speaker 1: but last year he was fifth in passing v v o,
Speaker 1: a first in yards per attempt UM playing in an
Speaker 1: Arthur Smith offense that was perfectly suited and everything kind
Speaker 1: of came together where Henry was a monster, the offensive
Speaker 1: line was great. Tannehill was playing with confidence, and I
Speaker 1: just don't know if we can expect that again. And
Speaker 1: the worst case scenario is that he really kind of
Speaker 1: becomes that Miami guy again, and then what does Tennessee
Speaker 1: do They have a boondoggle on their hands at QB
Speaker 1: good use a boon doggar No. I totally agree with
Speaker 1: everything you said, and I think two things can be true,
Speaker 1: that Dan, you'd be right about this, and that Tannehill'll
Speaker 1: be fine, that he'll be like a top I think
Speaker 1: that's what the Titans should hope for. He There's no
Speaker 1: way he's gonna produce like that again. I mean he was.
Speaker 1: He was one of the three years I would put
Speaker 1: him in the top five quarterbacks in the NFL last
Speaker 1: year for for when he played, and I would include
Speaker 1: in that because he was efficient and he did his
Speaker 1: job what what they asked him to do in the playoffs. Um,
Speaker 1: but I agree. He kind of reminds me a little
Speaker 1: bit of Alex Smith, who who had his struggles, kind
Speaker 1: of had his breakout with hard Bough and then he
Speaker 1: settled into a nice solid starter career, and I think
Speaker 1: that's what you wanted to tighten. But I do think
Speaker 1: that's a pretty big step, a big, pretty big come
Speaker 1: down of where he was a year ago. I'll just uh,
Speaker 1: I wasn't gonna do it, but I'll throw it Derrick
Speaker 1: Henry with this too. Okay, that's what I was thinking,
Speaker 1: Arthur Smith and Derrick Henry and just go with it.
Speaker 1: I think it's a lot to ask that that offense
Speaker 1: to repeat at that level again. And even if you
Speaker 1: look at Henry how kind of he was a lot
Speaker 1: um slower in terms of his production in the first
Speaker 1: half of last season versus the second. I just think
Speaker 1: it's hard to build an offense we're that efficient. I mean,
Speaker 1: their play action numbers were like among the best in
Speaker 1: NFL history. Uh and uh. I think it's tough to win,
Speaker 1: to win that way, and so I expect them both
Speaker 1: to come down a little bit. Yeah. I mean, Titans Nation,
Speaker 1: don't come after us. It's just it's just football analysis.
Speaker 1: It's not personal. I would imagine some of those guys
Speaker 1: would agree though, right. I mean, they were at peak
Speaker 1: levels down the stretch. And if you think you're gonna
Speaker 1: get the playoff version of the Titans out of the gate,
Speaker 1: I mean off and just doesn't typically do that from
Speaker 1: year to year. You're gonna need to get better in
Speaker 1: other ways. Their defense, you know, primary among them. Alright, Greg,
Speaker 1: let's do another round. Oh. I thought that was like
Speaker 1: you just want this is how one last year? Um,
Speaker 1: I you know who I pick. I would look at.
Speaker 1: I look at Zadarius Smith and Preston Smith who were
Speaker 1: awesome for the Packers last year and produced twenty five
Speaker 1: and a half sacks. Um, I see that coming down,
Speaker 1: and I'll throw another guy in there. And this is
Speaker 1: not trying to be on brand here, but the idea
Speaker 1: that Shack Barrett's gonna go out and have nineteen and
Speaker 1: a half sacks. We again again, Like I if my
Speaker 1: predictions are like a year too early. I was telling
Speaker 1: you that all last year and he proved me wrong.
Speaker 1: But I just think he's a he's a good player.
Speaker 1: But I mean it's gonna mark if you're gonna come
Speaker 1: after Shack Barrett for another season and now we're gonna
Speaker 1: have to track it for another season. Let's put more
Speaker 1: numbers to this because it would be a come down
Speaker 1: season if he doesn't have twenty sacks this year, potentially,
Speaker 1: what do you think, I'm not doing this at eighteen, Like,
Speaker 1: that's not really why are we doing this? What do
Speaker 1: you what do you predict? What is going to s
Speaker 1: Yeah down, you can say that's not a come down,
Speaker 1: but that's like that's like his production from here again
Speaker 1: that even on the big tag. Again, I'm not saying
Speaker 1: that he's it's a safe not saying this is a
Speaker 1: wash that the players shouldn't have been resigned a big problem.
Speaker 1: It just twelve from nineteen and a half is a
Speaker 1: pretty clear regression. No, it's kind of like Mahomes. Lat
Speaker 1: picking Mahomes last year. I think it's fair. It's it's
Speaker 1: a natural pick because he had like eighteen quarterbacks, he
Speaker 1: had over fifty hurries. He was probably the most consistent
Speaker 1: pass rush for the entire NFL. So that is a
Speaker 1: come down. I would disagree on Zadarius smith Man. I
Speaker 1: love that guy, and Preston Smith's fine. I said the
Speaker 1: combination of the two, well, I just think you're not
Speaker 1: going to get that out of Preston Smith didn't have
Speaker 1: I think he was about what you would expect last year.
Speaker 1: He wasn't A sensations and Darius Smith I think was
Speaker 1: just unreal, and you're right, maybe he can't keep up
Speaker 1: that production. To me, is that Arias Smith. You know,
Speaker 1: I think our our buddy Bob mcginney had on the
Speaker 1: show that he's, you know, arguably the best free agent,
Speaker 1: you know, one of the best free agent signings in
Speaker 1: NFL history, and I and it went, you know, for
Speaker 1: one year, and you went through the list, and I
Speaker 1: would say that's true. Shack Barrett is too. I mean,
Speaker 1: the the productions that Arias Smith, that was unreal. I'll
Speaker 1: stay away from an obvious candidate here because I did
Speaker 1: the same thing with Patrick Mahomes last year. So I
Speaker 1: don't feel the need to go into why I don't
Speaker 1: think Lamar Jackson will do what he did last year,
Speaker 1: because he probably won't, because again, it's the Merino eight
Speaker 1: four Coral area where sometimes you just have such a special,
Speaker 1: magical season that you just never match it again on
Speaker 1: some level, even if you stay a great player, which
Speaker 1: is kind of what I expect with Lamar Jackson. So
Speaker 1: I'll instead go with Michael Thomas of Saints. I will
Speaker 1: say that Michael Thomas, there's no reason why you would
Speaker 1: think he is going from a from a physical standpoint
Speaker 1: fall off and not be the same guy he was
Speaker 1: a monster. But I think the Saints are are gonna
Speaker 1: continue to transition on offense and a year after they
Speaker 1: targeted UH Thomas thirty three percent of the time. Last
Speaker 1: year when they dropped back the path, one third of
Speaker 1: the time, the throw was going to Michael Thomas. And
Speaker 1: it was okay because Michael Thomas a d eight five targets.
Speaker 1: He caught almost of the balls thrown his way. I mean,
Speaker 1: the guy was marvelous and he had a hundred forty
Speaker 1: nine records and he you know, he took fate and
Speaker 1: UH into his own hands and got risky by breaking
Speaker 1: that record that we're not going to talk about. But
Speaker 1: I just think and I didn't. I'm not gonna bring
Speaker 1: up Drew Brees either, because I think his gradual decline
Speaker 1: has been overstated. UH. In general, I think Breeze was
Speaker 1: still excellent last year for the most part at forty
Speaker 1: years old, but with Taysom Hill in the mix there,
Speaker 1: I do I agree that McVeigh are that Peyton is
Speaker 1: going to continue to be cute and try to have
Speaker 1: the offense operating in that way um with breeze off
Speaker 1: the field occasionally. I also think that they're gonna be
Speaker 1: a very run heavy team. And Emmanuel Sanders, which I
Speaker 1: thought was the maybe the low key the best signing
Speaker 1: team had in the offseason, He's gonna be so great
Speaker 1: for them. He's gonna be a perfect fit. And I
Speaker 1: think he could even end up flirting with a thousand
Speaker 1: yards and like seven to ten touchdowns if he's healthy,
Speaker 1: and that will just take some targets away from Michael Thomas.
Speaker 1: So I don't think he's gonna have if you if
Speaker 1: if if Sanders says that type of season. The Saints
Speaker 1: are in great shape, but fantasy owners and Michael Thomas
Speaker 1: might feel the sting a little bit. So this was
Speaker 1: almost a little bit of a fantasy preview. Uh, come
Speaker 1: down and you know it all. It was laid out
Speaker 1: beautifully and and um with good context. But this is
Speaker 1: the type of fighterade. You know that Michael Thomas feels
Speaker 1: himself on. You know, no one is more aware the slightest,
Speaker 1: slightest bit of doubt. He can you believe that though
Speaker 1: of their passes. That's why I agree with you. I
Speaker 1: think that do you want to know what the record
Speaker 1: is by the factor there the record mark. I'll ask
Speaker 1: you this one. I'll give you. I'll give you a hint.
Speaker 1: The record is two hundred and eight targets in one
Speaker 1: season and it was set by an NFC westwide receiver
Speaker 1: in NT seven. Mm hmm. I was gonna Rice, right,
Speaker 1: I was gonna go Jerry Rice until until you give
Speaker 1: you another hint. Seven. You know, I'd like to bring
Speaker 1: it back a former New York Jet Isaac Bruce, Rob Moore,
Speaker 1: great tech mobile player two by the way back in
Speaker 1: the day. Um, let's do a couple more. All right,
Speaker 1: I'll do it quick. I know we got this all
Speaker 1: hands meeting, you know, all NFL meeting on zoom. We
Speaker 1: gotta get to Uh you didn't go Lamar, but I
Speaker 1: am gonna go, mark ingram As as kind of a
Speaker 1: representative of the entire red the Ravens rushing attack, because
Speaker 1: I just I think what they did was so historic. Um.
Speaker 1: They ran to the ball at a higher rate than
Speaker 1: any team, you know since the Tim Tebow Broncos. They
Speaker 1: they you know, they got more yards than any team
Speaker 1: on the ground than any team in NFL history. They
Speaker 1: had the highest fourth down rate in NFL history. It's
Speaker 1: just like they're such a unique offense, and they add
Speaker 1: Gus Edwards there, who can take away some Ingram's shine.
Speaker 1: But I also think as as a group, Lamar is
Speaker 1: like the most unique weapon there is in the NFL.
Speaker 1: But I don't think the rushing attack can be as
Speaker 1: dynamic as a whole. How could it be. It's just
Speaker 1: it's asking too much. And I know they're gonna, you know,
Speaker 1: develop things, but I think that will be maybe leaning
Speaker 1: on the passing game a little more, changing things up
Speaker 1: a little bit because there's only so many different kinds
Speaker 1: of runs Greg Roman can come with. And I think
Speaker 1: defenses will be a little more ready than they were
Speaker 1: a year ago. And I and I hope that mark
Speaker 1: Ingram has three thousand yards. But I mean I I
Speaker 1: could see J K. Dobbins starting by mid season, if
Speaker 1: not earlier two. I mean they went out and invested
Speaker 1: a lot in that position. I'll give you a quick
Speaker 1: one at wide receiver. I we all love DeAndre Hopkins,
Speaker 1: but I could see his production a hundred and four
Speaker 1: catches a year ago, thousand plus yards, seven touchdowns. I
Speaker 1: think he's a perfect fit for them. But they run
Speaker 1: a lot of four wide receiver. They'll use Kenyan Kenyan
Speaker 1: Drake to catch a ton of passes. I could see
Speaker 1: him being perfect for the team. But the numbers where
Speaker 1: you talk about Michael Thomas. They were so reliant on
Speaker 1: Hopkins in Houston year after year that and maybe in
Speaker 1: a good way for him, it will be a little
Speaker 1: bit different in Arizona out of the gate, especially and
Speaker 1: after a weird offseason where he's barely worked with the attack.
Speaker 1: His numbers that's not going that's games and four catches eleven.
Speaker 1: You know, his numbers weren't eye popping last year. And
Speaker 1: I think I'll disagree with you on that one, Mark.
Speaker 1: I think he's gonna have a ton of targets still
Speaker 1: even with their offensive set up, and I bet he
Speaker 1: eclipses those numbers if he stays healthy. How it goes,
Speaker 1: let's track that all right. That's good. Come down players. See,
Speaker 1: we didn't bury anybody. We didn't say well, Tannehill kind
Speaker 1: of took some heat there, but not really. We're saying cold,
Speaker 1: be a top you know, an above average starter. What
Speaker 1: more do you want? Can I be honest with you,
Speaker 1: I think he might be one of the busts. Well,
Speaker 1: now you've dropped a bit of a bottom on him.
Speaker 1: But that's I kind of I guess I should have
Speaker 1: been more clear in that. I just I don't know.
Speaker 1: I've seen it. You've seen guys that come out of
Speaker 1: nowhere in a perfect setup and have that nice year
Speaker 1: and then revert. We'll see. I wish the best of
Speaker 1: luck Ball Lauren, town of Hill, his wonderful wife, the
Speaker 1: whole town of Hill clan has my support. I just
Speaker 1: you know, let's that's what we do here, chop it up.
Speaker 1: Football talk, all right, One more show this week, actually
Speaker 1: two more shows this week. This is fun. We will
Speaker 1: be back on Friday with a newser show where we
Speaker 1: just get you caught up to date with what's happening
Speaker 1: in the league, and then also will be uh back
Speaker 1: on NFL Network on Saturday and on the digital side
Speaker 1: of things Friday. It's the same show. So we're taping
Speaker 1: a show on Friday, the return of the Around the
Speaker 1: NFL broadcast that will air on NFL dot Com and
Speaker 1: on YouTube on Friday and then will re air on
Speaker 1: Saturday morning on the network. So we got a lot
Speaker 1: of content coming your way that the trademark has left
Speaker 1: the station. I know we're in very uncertain times and
Speaker 1: you don't know what's coming next. But as far as
Speaker 1: our workflow is concerned, the train has left the station.
Speaker 1: No going back to the station. UM, don't even remember
Speaker 1: what it looked like at this point. Don't feel like
Speaker 1: we spent a lot of time there. We're not. We're
Speaker 1: moving all right. Let's let's head out of here. Happy
Speaker 1: birthday to the beautiful Jack Carson Hands as he turned
Speaker 1: six today. And uh, this is Dan hands Is signing
Speaker 1: off four the old Boss White Storm a mailman. I
Speaker 1: don't know, Vicky Hollywood Still Friday,