Speaker 1: We're joined now by Shawn Merriman. You can hear him
Speaker 1: on the Lights Out podcast breaking down a lot of
Speaker 1: the NFL action that happened yesterday as we get ready
Speaker 1: for the completion of NFL Week seven tonight. But first
Speaker 1: question for you, Shawn Merriman, Are the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Speaker 1: the best team in the NFC based on what you've
Speaker 1: seen right now? Not record, we know they don't have
Speaker 1: the best record in the NFC, but with their combination
Speaker 1: of defense and now adding Antonio Brown to Godwin and Evans,
Speaker 1: with the legendary status of Tom Brady seeming to be
Speaker 1: pretty still in solid stend standing, are they the best? Well,
Speaker 1: I think they're the most dangerous right because this is
Speaker 1: a team that, if you look at them, the built
Speaker 1: for long term success. And even though they had a rocky,
Speaker 1: rocky start, you know, the all the additions with Antonio
Speaker 1: Brown and guys are getting back healthy, they look like
Speaker 1: they're going to be the most dangerous team. So, um,
Speaker 1: the best It's hard to say, but definitely them is dangerous, Okay.
Speaker 1: And the flip side of the Tom Brady's team looking
Speaker 1: great being five and two is the New England Patriots.
Speaker 1: Look done. Cam Newton was bad. They got dominated by
Speaker 1: Jimmy Garoppolo and the San Francisco forty Niners. Are the
Speaker 1: Patriots in any way a playoff team this year? Can
Speaker 1: they fix what is wrong with this team? Yes? Somehow,
Speaker 1: some way, I think they'll end up end up in
Speaker 1: the playoff. They'll squeak their way in. I think they're
Speaker 1: starting off extremely slow because they're never They're not used
Speaker 1: to what they're going through right now. They've had Tom
Speaker 1: Brady there for you know, two decades, and now they're
Speaker 1: trying to figure out a new way of life. So
Speaker 1: you know, yes, I think they always have opportunity because
Speaker 1: their division. Obviously, Buffalo is playing great, Miamis came on strong,
Speaker 1: but you got a weaker division. When you're seeing guys
Speaker 1: like the Jet, you always have a chance. So if
Speaker 1: they if they find a way to get high only
Speaker 1: towards the middle of the season, towards the end, then yeah,
Speaker 1: the Patriots. You can't count them out. How many times
Speaker 1: we come to Patriots out and they just find a
Speaker 1: way to to squeak in. Oh a ton, but at
Speaker 1: least then they had Brady. I just don't know what
Speaker 1: exactly is going on with cam uh in the biggest
Speaker 1: game of the weekend. I felt like we learned a
Speaker 1: lot about the Titans and the Steelers, and it was
Speaker 1: that both teams were for real. They basically played to
Speaker 1: an even tie. If if you get a made field
Speaker 1: goal at the end of regulation, like you should have
Speaker 1: from Stephen Gotskowski. The Steelers came out and dominated the
Speaker 1: first half. The Titans really dominated the second half. What,
Speaker 1: if anything, did you learn about these two teams? Well,
Speaker 1: they were both undefeated, But one thing I did learn
Speaker 1: is the Steelers is the better undefeated cham Right. They
Speaker 1: did a magnificent job early on stopping Derek Hamery in
Speaker 1: the first half, making them change his speed, slow down,
Speaker 1: change directions in the backfield, didn't let them get going downhill,
Speaker 1: and that was really the key for them, and they
Speaker 1: did it. They came out, they showed better emotionally, they
Speaker 1: showed up that they was more hype and ready for
Speaker 1: the game. Uh maybe they was here to talk of
Speaker 1: Derrick Hembry all week. I remember when I was playing,
Speaker 1: if you heard the running back was coming in and
Speaker 1: he had a lot of hype. I mean, we we
Speaker 1: we basically put that up on our on our Lockers
Speaker 1: was putting it up in the locker room as the
Speaker 1: guy that they gotta beat. You know, it was more like, less,
Speaker 1: we need to beat this team, but we need to
Speaker 1: stop this guy. And they came out the first half
Speaker 1: showing the venue to stop this guy. And they did that. So,
Speaker 1: you know, it was surprising to me to to let
Speaker 1: them all to hook the second half and it was.
Speaker 1: It was a different ball game. How do you assess
Speaker 1: that going forward? Do you think the Steelers are the
Speaker 1: best team in the a f C. I do? I do,
Speaker 1: because they're they're the most balanced. Alright, we we know
Speaker 1: the Typans do well. They run the ball, Uh, they
Speaker 1: blocked well, um and they played solid defense. They don't
Speaker 1: have stars, but they played solid defense. The Steels on
Speaker 1: the hand, they got guys that can put the ball
Speaker 1: in the ends on it and they're getting play. They
Speaker 1: gotta running back. James Corners catching the ball at the
Speaker 1: back kill He's doing marshall things great. Hiven don't have that.
Speaker 1: They have a great running game. They have guys that's
Speaker 1: front to the blocking for him. Don't get me wrong, Brown,
Speaker 1: I love him. I think he's uh provide us some
Speaker 1: explosive plays for them, but he's not as consistent as
Speaker 1: this Steeler offenses. What is that? What's gonna happen going
Speaker 1: forward with the Cowboys? Is Mike McCarthy gonna last more
Speaker 1: than a year? I mean, this team, it seems like
Speaker 1: the wheels have completely come off. And I know the
Speaker 1: NFC East is so bad that anybody could still find
Speaker 1: a way to win it, but the Cowboys team looks
Speaker 1: completely done. Yeah, normally you would look up to move
Speaker 1: coaches and fire coachings halfway during the season with McCarthy,
Speaker 1: But the fact of the matter is that the position
Speaker 1: is so bad that you always have a chance now opportunity,
Speaker 1: so you don't fire coaches that way. Also, you've got
Speaker 1: a bunch of injuries offensive line, uh you know, Zeke
Speaker 1: fumble three times last game. You've got a bunch of
Speaker 1: un characteristic things going on, So you don't fire coaches
Speaker 1: when the type of things are happening. But let me
Speaker 1: tell you this, if they don't want a division and
Speaker 1: they don't go to the playoffs, he will be fired.
Speaker 1: He will not make it through a whole year. It
Speaker 1: is kind of wild to think about because Cowboy fans
Speaker 1: kind of had this idea. Jason Garrett is the reason
Speaker 1: we can't take the next step. If they end up
Speaker 1: bringing Mike McCarthy in and the Wheels continue to stay
Speaker 1: off of this team and they flounder like they're floundering, Now,
Speaker 1: what do you do. Do you go back to the
Speaker 1: drawing board and say, well, we don't really want to
Speaker 1: commit long term to Dock. Do you go back into
Speaker 1: the rebuild mode? Or do you think the Cowboys believe
Speaker 1: this is just a series of injuries. Maybe we need
Speaker 1: to clean out the entire coaching staff, but we're not
Speaker 1: that far away. How do they assess the talent on
Speaker 1: this roster? Yeah, first of foremost, in my personal opinion,
Speaker 1: I think they kept Jason Garrett two years too long. Um,
Speaker 1: you've got guys who are retiring with Smith offensive lineman,
Speaker 1: You've got guys who, um, we're valuable assets and now
Speaker 1: they're older or injured and they don't have the same team.
Speaker 1: I almost feel bad Mandy Dalton because you know he's
Speaker 1: coming into a situation where you know, you look at
Speaker 1: the Dallas Cowblays and they're wanted the best offensive line
Speaker 1: groups in there. You've got a good wife, Stephen Cory
Speaker 1: and Mary Cooper. You've got a good tight end is
Speaker 1: playing well. You got uh, DeMarcus Lawrence, a hundred million
Speaker 1: dollars defensive enders going to plans. It looks like on paper,
Speaker 1: when his first sign is the team to go to,
Speaker 1: you can back up and look good. Now he's faced
Speaker 1: with a team that's riddle with injuries. Executively, it's not
Speaker 1: playing the same way he's playing, and the coaches are
Speaker 1: not coaching a good game. So he's almost in the
Speaker 1: situation when he's he's set up to fail. And I
Speaker 1: feel very bad for him because he spent so many
Speaker 1: years in a bad organization with Cincinnati and now he
Speaker 1: has to deal with a bad situation with Dallas. We
Speaker 1: got we're talking to Sean Maryman. Encourage you to go
Speaker 1: listen to the Lights Out podcast that he has. One
Speaker 1: of the things that I think is is interesting Sean,
Speaker 1: as you kind of look up look ahead, is a
Speaker 1: lot of teams are bad and maybe Trevor Lawrence is,
Speaker 1: you know, sort of the light on the horizon for them.
Speaker 1: How many teams do you think legitimately are going to
Speaker 1: end up in the mix? Maybe not taking for Tevor Trevor,
Speaker 1: but at least thinking about trying to put together a
Speaker 1: package deal to get him right. I mean, because I
Speaker 1: think there's gonna be a lot of teams that, let's say,
Speaker 1: finish in the four and twelve range, and they may
Speaker 1: not be as bad as the Jets. But what are
Speaker 1: the Jets gonna do? They want multiple picks for that
Speaker 1: number one overall? Are they gonna take Trevor Lawrence? How
Speaker 1: much attention do you think starts to pivot as we
Speaker 1: come up on the halfway point and so many teams
Speaker 1: already have been eliminated looking toward that brass ring, that
Speaker 1: difference maker that Trevor Lawrence could potentially represent. You know,
Speaker 1: back when Eli Manning elected not to come to the
Speaker 1: same the ego charged at time, I look at him
Speaker 1: as a guy that, uh, you know, not confident, someone
Speaker 1: who is weaker and uh, you know, not a trustworthy person.
Speaker 1: Now that I look at the business of the NFL,
Speaker 1: if I was Trevor Lawrence, uh in the draft and
Speaker 1: the Jets tried to draft me, I would opt out.
Speaker 1: I would do everything I cannot to go And for
Speaker 1: the simple fact of they're not trying to do anything
Speaker 1: in that organization to win. They're doing They're making all
Speaker 1: the wrong moves, they're having the wrong people. Adam Gates
Speaker 1: needs to go, the GM needs to go. Multiple things
Speaker 1: need to happen the organization. And as someone like Trevor
Speaker 1: Lawrence who's coming in, don't waste your career on the
Speaker 1: organization that don't want to win and don't want to
Speaker 1: put you in the best situation to win, so you
Speaker 1: opt out not to go to them. So if he
Speaker 1: if the Jets elect to draft him, I would hold
Speaker 1: out and not go. Now Barrow, Joe Barrow is a
Speaker 1: is the case we're seeing prime example, right, I mean,
Speaker 1: they're throwing sixty plus times a game. They're putting a
Speaker 1: rookie in a bad situation. A good organization don't do
Speaker 1: things like that. A good organization don't put your rookie,
Speaker 1: a guy that you look to be there five plus years,
Speaker 1: in a bast situation to throw sixty plus times a game.
Speaker 1: That's a horrible thing to do. So if I was
Speaker 1: Trevor Lawrence, I would absolutely elect not to be there
Speaker 1: to the chet that they were a drafting. And then
Speaker 1: that creates and that's an interesting perspective that you have
Speaker 1: now as an NFL veteran, that would then create a
Speaker 1: lot of trade drama, right, because there are a lot
Speaker 1: of teams if the Jets end up with the number
Speaker 1: one overall pick, if Trevor Lawrence is saying, hey, I'll
Speaker 1: sit out for a year, I can sign endorsement deals,
Speaker 1: I can make a lot of money. I can go
Speaker 1: back maybe even play it Clemson another year. If he
Speaker 1: did that, there would be a lot of teams, much
Speaker 1: like what happened with Eli Manning and the Chargers, that
Speaker 1: would try to do whatever they could to get that pick,
Speaker 1: to be able to acquire him as a talent. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and if you really look at it, um Eli did
Speaker 1: it for a situation. He didn't want to be in
Speaker 1: in a market that was smaller. It wasn't necessarily organization,
Speaker 1: it was they're smaller market. The Jets are a bad organization.
Speaker 1: They don't treat players well. They don't put guys in
Speaker 1: uh in in in great possessitions to win. And for
Speaker 1: that reason, you don't want to go to n B
Speaker 1: O waste And I know you don't want to be
Speaker 1: looked at as a problem child or a guy that's
Speaker 1: coming in and think he's uh the best linked things
Speaker 1: in slice bread. But at the same time, when you're
Speaker 1: the number one's draft pick. You want to be in
Speaker 1: a situation to win. You want to be able to
Speaker 1: look at the ownership and say, you know what, these
Speaker 1: guys are trying to put me in the best situation
Speaker 1: to win. Look at what's happening in Cincinnati period. If
Speaker 1: you look at Joe Barrow, he elected to go there.
Speaker 1: He didn't make a big deal about it. People wondered
Speaker 1: if he was gonna go there, and not to complain
Speaker 1: or anything. He went there. But they're not doing the
Speaker 1: right things with Joe Barrow. They're treating him as if
Speaker 1: he's a guy who's going to be there for a
Speaker 1: year or two, a couple of years, and not there
Speaker 1: guy that's gonna be there five attempt pluge years. So
Speaker 1: if if the Jets, if I'm Trevor Lawrence and the
Speaker 1: Jets elect to draft me, I wouldn't I go Outstanding
Speaker 1: stuff is always a man at Shawn Merriman. You can
Speaker 1: hear him at the Lights Out Podcast. We'll talk to
Speaker 1: you next week. Thanks guys, Thanks thanks for having me
Speaker 1: on