Speaker 1: Be Around the NFL Podcast. It's massages only from men.
Speaker 1: Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL Podcast.
Speaker 1: My name is Dan Hansus. I'm joining the room filled
Speaker 1: with heroes, Mark Sessler, Chris Westling and Greg Rosen thought
Speaker 1: what is up? Boys? Hey man, now he's back. Chris
Speaker 1: Westling's back in the house. Welcome back, west Welcome back
Speaker 1: from your honeymoon. And you were a little under the weather,
Speaker 1: which we were sorry to here, but you seem to
Speaker 1: be on the track back to peak condition, slowly but
Speaker 1: surely getting better. And you know, thanks to you guys,
Speaker 1: I can testify that that money drop is totally untrue.
Speaker 1: I got a couple's massage on my honeymoon. Thanks to
Speaker 1: all of you. Appreciate it. And um, it was not
Speaker 1: a guy who gave me a massage, or so you thought,
Speaker 1: Oh no, it was not a guy. It was a woman,
Speaker 1: definitely a woman. Well, how how was the experience? Wonderful?
Speaker 1: I it was my first massage I've ever had. I've
Speaker 1: never been to a spot or we figured that we
Speaker 1: we called it a coin flip eternally, I never had
Speaker 1: a massage, and afterwards I was like, why have I
Speaker 1: been denying myself this for you know, I mean, money
Speaker 1: obviously is not everybody can drop whatever it costs to
Speaker 1: get us a massage every time. Well, we're glad you
Speaker 1: enjoyed it and we're happy to have you back. And
Speaker 1: and you missed Friday show. Greg kind of went for
Speaker 1: the chair a little bit. He went for your crown
Speaker 1: and with hey, Dan unavailable, Uh, Greg came in hard
Speaker 1: with a yo yo. I don't know was that it was, well,
Speaker 1: I think it was. I think it was yo yo yo.
Speaker 1: And he said he might try to overtake you at
Speaker 1: the top of the show with his new yo yo yo. Well,
Speaker 1: I mean yo, I welcome all challenges. I don't run
Speaker 1: from my opponent. But also, I mean Greg's Greg's big
Speaker 1: thing always was hey, now that's true, which I really
Speaker 1: stole from lifted from a very successful yeah from Yeah. Um,
Speaker 1: you're having some issues with short Remember you want to
Speaker 1: tell us about your weekend a little bit. My weekend
Speaker 1: was the same as ever, a hazy weekend in Santa Monica. UM,
Speaker 1: welcome to the Around the NFL podcast. Like we said
Speaker 1: on Friday, this is our last UM week of three
Speaker 1: shows until training camp, So we're gonna have some fun
Speaker 1: um because quite frankly, not a ton of football news
Speaker 1: to talk about today. There will be more in the
Speaker 1: coming days because we have a bunch of other teams
Speaker 1: um holding their mandatory mini camps. We have some O
Speaker 1: T A s as well that are voluntary going on. Uh.
Speaker 1: And then it's after this week where the NFL goes dark,
Speaker 1: right or is it You're right? Yeah, that's it. It's
Speaker 1: the dark period of the NFL calendar, the only one
Speaker 1: really um. So until that comes, are with you three
Speaker 1: times a week on today's show. This is fun um.
Speaker 1: You know, Game of Thrones is over in age b oh,
Speaker 1: so they gotta figure out what's going to carry what
Speaker 1: a our what our tent pole programs. One of them, uh,
Speaker 1: is this nice little show starring Reese Witherspoon. Whose nicole kidman?
Speaker 1: Kidman of course, Shyleen Woodley. I believe Adam Scott. Adam
Speaker 1: Scott's in a Meryl streep this season. Zoe Kravitz, of course,
Speaker 1: is Brad Pitten not on this season? Maybe I believe
Speaker 1: that was a possibility. Listen to us yet dying it
Speaker 1: up over here, but here it is big little lies
Speaker 1: of the NFL, A little say, coming up later, that's
Speaker 1: gonna be fun. But before that, let's get into some news,
Speaker 1: some firing, some hirings. Let's get to it right, of course,
Speaker 1: are Massachusetts? Are you from Massachusetts? New Hampshire, New Hampshire.
Speaker 1: Same thing David Ortiz shot in the Dominican Republic. Amount
Speaker 1: it is I would school up there. It's all the
Speaker 1: same thing, you guys up there in your little New
Speaker 1: England hive center of your universe. They've got their they've
Speaker 1: got their own little accent and kill the charities in
Speaker 1: New Hampshire. Anyway, Dave Arti is unfortunately tragically shot yesterday's
Speaker 1: and hopefully um on the way to recovery. But the
Speaker 1: Red Sox are sending their team plane to pick them
Speaker 1: up as of right now. We hope that this legend
Speaker 1: of of sport it recovers quickly. Absolutely, um, let's get
Speaker 1: to the news. Start with I mean, what what a
Speaker 1: time it was to be a baseball fan of of
Speaker 1: the Red Sox back in in two thousand and four
Speaker 1: through Really, you know, I would just predict that there
Speaker 1: will be other aspects to this story, other layers to
Speaker 1: investigate down the road as well. Greg so upset that
Speaker 1: we keep up bringing up the salastious aspects of the story,
Speaker 1: but yes, get well soon, big poppy and hanging America. UM,
Speaker 1: let's start with a firing in the NFL. Brian Gaine
Speaker 1: stunning move. The Houston Texans, in a classic Friday evening
Speaker 1: news dump, announced that they had fired their general manager,
Speaker 1: who had only been there for about a year. UM.
Speaker 1: Here was the statement from Texans Chairman and chief executive
Speaker 1: officer Cal McNair. After a thorough evaluation of our football operations,
Speaker 1: we have decided to relieve Brian Gaine of his duties
Speaker 1: as general manager. While the timing maybe unusual, this decision
Speaker 1: was made in the best interest of our organization in
Speaker 1: our quest to build a championship team for the city
Speaker 1: of Houston. Now we're hearing Greg that game. Who was
Speaker 1: not the first or maybe even second choice to replace um,
Speaker 1: the former general Smick sex Smith did not necessarily see
Speaker 1: eye to eye with Bill O'Brien or was not Don O'Brien,
Speaker 1: guy uh, and that led to the OUSTA. But you know,
Speaker 1: we don't know the whole story. Your thoughts on the move, well,
Speaker 1: the timing, I mean, you never like it when you're
Speaker 1: releasing a press release. That said, while the timing is
Speaker 1: maybe unusual, like you just don't hear that in a
Speaker 1: in a press release very often and getting ahead of
Speaker 1: the story. Yeah you you Dan mentioned like how is
Speaker 1: this gonna be? You know, just over a text um
Speaker 1: treated kind of in relation to the Jets general manager firing,
Speaker 1: which is also at a strange time of year, And
Speaker 1: to me, the differences you can just see the the
Speaker 1: guy who essentially okayed the hiring, Bill O'Brien is also
Speaker 1: the guy that I'm putting the responsibility on for firing
Speaker 1: Brian Gaine. So it's just Bill O'Brien solidating power over
Speaker 1: the last couple of years, and I think there's at
Speaker 1: least an argument to be made that he's earned it
Speaker 1: that even though uh, they've had their ups and downs.
Speaker 1: I mean they've they've had a winning record and every
Speaker 1: one of his seasons except for one, uh, and that
Speaker 1: if he was not happy with that general manager, he
Speaker 1: did a bad job helping to hire Brian Game last
Speaker 1: time around. But I have a feeling maybe he's a
Speaker 1: little more optimistic about getting Nick Kossario Csario from the Patriots,
Speaker 1: who was their number one choice to replace Brian Gain
Speaker 1: and they've requested an interview, and as we're taping this,
Speaker 1: we don't know if that's gonna be approved by the pain.
Speaker 1: I think there's a there's a huge Pink Pony Patriots
Speaker 1: link to this, because pink Pony is what Pink Pony is,
Speaker 1: essentially our Twitter show concept that the Patriots send people
Speaker 1: out in Bill O'Brien being one of them, to other
Speaker 1: teams to cause chaos on those teams. But in this
Speaker 1: case there is a real true Patriots link because Albert
Speaker 1: b Are, former co worker who writes for the MMQ,
Speaker 1: now pointed out that the New England's culture coach, Jack Easterby,
Speaker 1: who was beloved inside the building, he was culture coach,
Speaker 1: and he reported to Bill Belichick on how elements of
Speaker 1: the entire organization were functioning. Laugh as you will, but
Speaker 1: it's that was they will. They did not want to
Speaker 1: see him go an off field guy. Religion, you know, family, everything,
Speaker 1: just kind of handling the you know, out of football
Speaker 1: aspects of Evil's eyes. He went to Houston after the
Speaker 1: Robert Craft massage incident occurred very unlike yours West, and
Speaker 1: they basically the theory is that he after after spending
Speaker 1: some time inside the organization came to the conclusion that
Speaker 1: we're going to make a change at various places, GM
Speaker 1: being one of them, and Cassarrio is very tight with
Speaker 1: Jack Easterby, and Cassario is very tight with Bill O'Brien,
Speaker 1: and some believe more so than any link between say
Speaker 1: Josh McDaniels and Cassario, where there is a if it
Speaker 1: works out for him to come to Houston, that that
Speaker 1: is the guy they want, and there are more people
Speaker 1: than one would believe inside the building with pull to
Speaker 1: bring him there. The way the league's by laws are written,
Speaker 1: if the Texans were to offer necessary of full GM power,
Speaker 1: the language specifically says high level employee is defined above,
Speaker 1: which is basically primary authority over day to day operations.
Speaker 1: You're the real GM. He's not the real GM, but
Speaker 1: the Patriots. So if they were to give him the
Speaker 1: GM title in Houston, he could go without getting It's
Speaker 1: a little great just because the Patriots were able to
Speaker 1: reject the request to talk to him last time around
Speaker 1: with Gains, so maybe the job description was less clear
Speaker 1: than I don't really know. The thing that annoyed me
Speaker 1: in the coverage of this quickly afterwards was people and
Speaker 1: there was a lot of this on Twitter going through
Speaker 1: the moves of the last eighteen months and either saying, hey,
Speaker 1: he didn't deserve it, like look at what he's done,
Speaker 1: or hey, he did deserve it. He did a poor
Speaker 1: Brian Gaine. You can't put any of it on Brian Gaine,
Speaker 1: obviously because it's Bill O'Brien. I mean Bill O'Brien. You can't.
Speaker 1: I saw especially like, well they haven't fixed the offensive line. Well,
Speaker 1: who's the commonality over the last five or six years
Speaker 1: in Houston and ever since Rick Smith stepped away from
Speaker 1: the team when his wife got sick. I think it's
Speaker 1: pretty clear that Bill O'Brien is the one that is
Speaker 1: ultimately in charge and all the picks, all the moves
Speaker 1: ultimately have to go with him. If he has the
Speaker 1: ability to essentially fire and fire at GM, he's the
Speaker 1: one that should get the blame and gain. I don't
Speaker 1: know what he's responsible for, but he got in a
Speaker 1: bad spot, is what. Yeah, that's what I'm asking because
Speaker 1: if it is O'Brien ship and that all makes sense,
Speaker 1: what did he do wrong with the fired after only
Speaker 1: one year? I don't think he did. They the reporting
Speaker 1: right away was that it wasn't linked to one thing
Speaker 1: that he did. I think that there's the more we
Speaker 1: learn if this Jack Easterby edition is part of it,
Speaker 1: that they've come to a conclusion that Bill O'Brien, in
Speaker 1: this culture guy they hired, are see someone else else
Speaker 1: else out there that fits the Texans system better well
Speaker 1: and gain old friendships. That's what the NFL is, right,
Speaker 1: gain came from another you know, from the bills. And
Speaker 1: how much of this is just everybody wants to work
Speaker 1: with their friends, right I think, and is more comfortable
Speaker 1: with with them. I mean, I think Gaine probably entered
Speaker 1: a spot which was very difficult, and I do wonder
Speaker 1: with O'Brien. I think this should be said. Kel McNair
Speaker 1: is the acting owner, you know, so it was it
Speaker 1: was Bob McNair you know, for a long time. So
Speaker 1: there's a little bit of a vacuum Trani in this organization,
Speaker 1: a little bit of a power vacuum. And I think
Speaker 1: you know, Brian's done everything possible to try to fill it. Well,
Speaker 1: we know where else Brian game came from. Right now,
Speaker 1: this is tough on you, Dan, How are you handling it? Well?
Speaker 1: The town of friendly People Proever we lost. You know,
Speaker 1: that was a big deal because to come from pr
Speaker 1: and work your way up as a player, you know,
Speaker 1: the bottom of the roster. Guy played on some practice squads,
Speaker 1: as I've said before, while he was trying to make
Speaker 1: it with the Giants and Jets as a player. He
Speaker 1: was a substitute teacher when I was a senior in
Speaker 1: high school. Uh, and to work his way all the
Speaker 1: way up the ladder to become the general manager for
Speaker 1: it to be just cruelly ripped away from him after
Speaker 1: one year as a Pearl River resident. I'm very upset
Speaker 1: with Bill O'Brien, but I will reserve judgment. I don't
Speaker 1: know the whole story, but Prover's still proud of you.
Speaker 1: Do not go back to the coal mine. Keep it up,
Speaker 1: Ryan Gaine, You'll get another shot at this. Let me
Speaker 1: throw it out from this angle. Someone from Pearl Pearl
Speaker 1: River is not gonna, let you know, one little stroke
Speaker 1: of bad luck knock you down. You're gonna come back
Speaker 1: somewhere better. So it's not the last we've heard of him.
Speaker 1: Will it be in the NFL? Who knows? He could
Speaker 1: be working in one of a variety of strict Pearl Rivers,
Speaker 1: Moonlight Graham. You know he had his you know one
Speaker 1: at bat and the majors, and now he was meant
Speaker 1: to do something much bigger for the community. Yeah, we're
Speaker 1: with you, We support you, Brian Gaine. Uh, let's move on. Hey,
Speaker 1: speaking of general managers and um, the Jets they got
Speaker 1: their guy, Joe Douglas hired as the replacement for Mike mccagnan,
Speaker 1: the former Eagles vice president of player personnel. Uh. The
Speaker 1: move came down shortly after the game firing, which makes
Speaker 1: you think that perhaps the Jets, who were haggling with
Speaker 1: Douglas about a contract, um saw that another GM job
Speaker 1: open up and said, wait a second, let's let's lock
Speaker 1: this down. And they did. And if that's how it
Speaker 1: played out, smart by them to get it done. So. Uh.
Speaker 1: Douglas who has ties to Adam Gaze from their days
Speaker 1: in Chicago. UM, we talked about it that Gaze. It
Speaker 1: was certainly a power play when he um got mcagnet
Speaker 1: fired a month ago. Well, we'll see how this all
Speaker 1: plays out, um. Um. Now we have a situation where Douglas,
Speaker 1: the power structure is set up to Douglas answers to
Speaker 1: the owner or the acting owner Christopher Johnson SODA's gaze
Speaker 1: and from what we understand, Douglas has a great pedigree
Speaker 1: and he helped to build the Eagles into a champion.
Speaker 1: Uh So you would think he's gonna have some sway
Speaker 1: in this organization. It's fair to wonder how big a
Speaker 1: voice Gaze has right now. But I think this is
Speaker 1: a smart hire by the Jets, and I'm glad that
Speaker 1: they got it done. And uh, I have some other thoughts,
Speaker 1: but I want to throw it to you guys first.
Speaker 1: Like Daniel Jeremiah, he's a member of the Ozzie knew
Speaker 1: some front office tree and he spent a lot of
Speaker 1: time and two of the most successful, smartest organizations in
Speaker 1: the NFL, the Ravens and Eagles. To me that you
Speaker 1: have to love that as a Jets fan, that that's
Speaker 1: where he grew up. That's where he got his chops
Speaker 1: in Baltimore and Philadelphia and excelled in both of those places.
Speaker 1: I love the higher I mean everything you hear and
Speaker 1: and we love maybe not the podcast, but move the sticks.
Speaker 1: Daniel Jeremiah, who sent out some tweets this morning, and
Speaker 1: I actually I did a little chatting as the a
Speaker 1: t N Media insider with DJ about this that this
Speaker 1: guy is a stud on the way up. Now, he's untested,
Speaker 1: he's never been a GM before, and that needs to
Speaker 1: be taken into under under account. But the idea of
Speaker 1: getting a young um super um. You have a super
Speaker 1: optimistic feeling that this is a guy that you could
Speaker 1: build a young team around. I like, I like this
Speaker 1: higher a lot there is like there's a sentiment that
Speaker 1: he works really really well with coaches, that he gets
Speaker 1: that he's able to communicate well. And I think a
Speaker 1: lotsimes in this division because the front office and the
Speaker 1: coaching staff see each other as like two ecosystems and
Speaker 1: they don't get along. I think it's interesting they signed
Speaker 1: him to a six year deal. One case, four year deal.
Speaker 1: Six years is uh? It is? He kept They kept
Speaker 1: on going back and trying to get the deal done,
Speaker 1: and to Douglas credit, he knew the Jets really wanted
Speaker 1: him and said, no, give me this, give me this,
Speaker 1: give me this, and the Jets gave him whatever he wanted.
Speaker 1: Reported that they doubled his offer to three million dollars
Speaker 1: a year from where they started out. Joey done initially,
Speaker 1: So that's a good sign for his negotiating skills. You know,
Speaker 1: he was only with the Eagles for three years, uh,
Speaker 1: and you know he really made his bones as he
Speaker 1: mentioned with the Ravens. I think it's interesting, you know,
Speaker 1: in terms of the Eagles structure, they have a pretty
Speaker 1: clear division between the scouting side, of which Joe Douglas
Speaker 1: was the head, and then kind of the analytics side,
Speaker 1: which really Howie Roseman is the head, but Alec Hallibey's
Speaker 1: also the head, and there was I don't think there's
Speaker 1: any division there, but there are two different sides. And
Speaker 1: I think people when they think Eagles, they think analytics
Speaker 1: and kind of this you know, advanced, you know, next
Speaker 1: level thinking and just how how it's done. And from
Speaker 1: everything we've heard with Joe Douglas, he's about his traditional
Speaker 1: a scouting background, scout scout, yeah, as you can get.
Speaker 1: Michael Lombardi spoke a little bit about this that actually
Speaker 1: he might have been looking to get out at some
Speaker 1: point just because not that he there was any division
Speaker 1: or anything within the Eagles, but ultimately that was Howie
Speaker 1: Roseman's show, and he runs things a little different, whereas
Speaker 1: Joe Douglas is more of the traditional kind of Scout
Speaker 1: and also along the the DJ lines, the Daniel Jeremiah
Speaker 1: front they are now they were there was rumors that
Speaker 1: maybe they were interested in Daniel Jeremiah himself. Now the
Speaker 1: whisper surrounds ESPN is Todd McShay, So they've gone from
Speaker 1: one draft to another. It's interesting through to Guru B.
Speaker 1: It's a tough spot for Mick Shade because you're from
Speaker 1: B to A. Well, I I I'm gonna hoist up
Speaker 1: d J as my someone. Maybe the was maybe the
Speaker 1: first pick to be his right hand man, and he
Speaker 1: was very close with Douglas I think in their days
Speaker 1: in Baltimore and have remained close. But Mick Shaye I
Speaker 1: believe it was on the same college football team as
Speaker 1: Joe Douglas. So they go. They go way back as well.
Speaker 1: And uh, you know, I I hope mc shade, just
Speaker 1: for your sake, Dan doesn't get hired, because then somehow
Speaker 1: that's gonna be it's gonna be just like a running
Speaker 1: little thing. I don't care. I mean, that's for you guys,
Speaker 1: that's for like the people in the media. And let
Speaker 1: me just say something just like, hey, well you come
Speaker 1: get Jeremiah. Us guys, you are also in the media
Speaker 1: as much as we are. You know, you guys out there,
Speaker 1: you don't get to be on this, on this subject
Speaker 1: in particular, you don't get to be right twice. You
Speaker 1: don't get to have it both ways. You don't get
Speaker 1: to three or four weeks ago, go all fun. The
Speaker 1: Jets is the biggest joke in football, and how could
Speaker 1: they do this? We read the internet? Not here though,
Speaker 1: not here for that, No, read the Internet. I'm talking
Speaker 1: about the Internet. And it's like, and you can't say, oh,
Speaker 1: this team will never get it right, and how clueless
Speaker 1: to make this decision now and the timing was and
Speaker 1: all that you can say is true. But now you
Speaker 1: don't get to come back and say, wow, the Jets
Speaker 1: really nailed this one. Great higher by the Jets. The
Speaker 1: Jets are in better position now than they were a
Speaker 1: month ago. No, you dumb farts, you can't get to
Speaker 1: have it? Are you saying? Over a reaction in hyperbole
Speaker 1: on Twitter? Not just Twitter football cogniscenti. There's a lot
Speaker 1: of know it alls in this industry and a lot
Speaker 1: of the same no at alls that were absolutely slaughtering
Speaker 1: the Jet as a clues clueless organization that could not
Speaker 1: get anything right are now writing little gentle think pieces.
Speaker 1: Who Wow, the Jets actually came out of this in
Speaker 1: good shape. Good move by the Jets. You know what,
Speaker 1: eat it? Just at this is there's definitely some passive
Speaker 1: aggressive aspects to this diet tribe. Listen back to the
Speaker 1: show when this originally went down. You let me know
Speaker 1: if you're in that crowd as well. No, no, I
Speaker 1: mean basically every other piece of analysis that we do
Speaker 1: throughout the year, don't we do the same thing. I'm
Speaker 1: on a certain track right now. Greg, let's even get
Speaker 1: a fourth sound bite for this speech. I find my
Speaker 1: final point is this for social I'm sorry I did.
Speaker 1: My final point is the final point is that football,
Speaker 1: like anything else, is not always a cookie cutter operation. Yes,
Speaker 1: it would be great if the coach and the GM
Speaker 1: were hired at the same time, or or the current
Speaker 1: GM now had been a part of the free agents
Speaker 1: signing class. But it just because things don't follow the
Speaker 1: path of what you're used to seeing in this sport
Speaker 1: or in anything, it doesn't mean it's wrong. And I
Speaker 1: think the way it's actually worked out for the Jets
Speaker 1: is better. I don't know if they end up getting
Speaker 1: Joe Douglas, who was a hot name on the market
Speaker 1: if they were going against seven other teams in January
Speaker 1: for it. I think everything happens for a reason, and
Speaker 1: the Jets are in a better place now, and just
Speaker 1: reserve your judgment and your slings in your arrows. Because
Speaker 1: I didn't see wall to wak wall to wall coverage
Speaker 1: on the Texans on NFL Network or in all the
Speaker 1: tablets have more winning seasons, you know what. They don't
Speaker 1: want anything, they haven't won anything. I'm sorry, they've won
Speaker 1: a couple of titles. Whatever as also happened Friday afternoon
Speaker 1: and no one cares about it. Yeah, I just don't
Speaker 1: really care about the Texas. It was wall to wall
Speaker 1: coverage of what a joke the Jets were a lot
Speaker 1: of it was because Adam Gaze didn't like the you know,
Speaker 1: the report. I think the biggest thing that came from
Speaker 1: all that was Adam Gaze not liking or the contracts
Speaker 1: of CJ. Mosley and Levy on Bell that Ye get
Speaker 1: that number one thing separate and you have to realize,
Speaker 1: do you have to say they could have hired some
Speaker 1: of them in January to make the point, no one
Speaker 1: else hired him. He wasn't that highly want and some
Speaker 1: of the stuff coming out of the Jets organization was
Speaker 1: a little messy. And if you're going to root for
Speaker 1: exclusively New York teams, you're going to have to deal
Speaker 1: with more media coverage. And if you root for a
Speaker 1: football I have no problem with that. I'm just saying,
Speaker 1: if you are going to be a know it all
Speaker 1: and you know everything about how football works and the
Speaker 1: inside of organizations and the way things should be done,
Speaker 1: and you want to kill the team one month ago,
Speaker 1: you can't now be like, oh, well, they got it right.
Speaker 1: They were on the right path all along. Forget it.
Speaker 1: I'm done with this. Cam Newton's cleared for minicamp. We're
Speaker 1: just on Dan Show at this point. Let's just I
Speaker 1: just had to get that off my chest. Cam Newton
Speaker 1: has been cleared for minicamp. This is great news, Mark Sessler.
Speaker 1: Because Newton's shoulder surgery, there was concerns about whether it
Speaker 1: be available this season. Not only is it gonna be
Speaker 1: available for training camp barring a setback, he's gonna be
Speaker 1: able to be involved uh this month and going forward.
Speaker 1: So it's gonna be a different and we talked about
Speaker 1: this on our NFL network hit Uh today. Um, this
Speaker 1: is going to be a different year potentially for the
Speaker 1: Panthers offense. But at least you know that Cam's right
Speaker 1: shoulder seems to be in a good place, and that
Speaker 1: is a major, major addition or a good, major good
Speaker 1: news for the Panthers. If not in the right place,
Speaker 1: you're staring at just a lost season and a lot
Speaker 1: of fallout from that. And I'm glad any story that
Speaker 1: we don't have to if it's truly healthy and he
Speaker 1: comes back and just makes constant progress, we don't have
Speaker 1: to track this, you know, diligently every single show for
Speaker 1: the next three months. We hope it sticks. Though he
Speaker 1: came back very quickly from his last so and then
Speaker 1: and then everyone was very positive about it, and then
Speaker 1: you hear afterwards, well, actually it was never quite right
Speaker 1: and I was fighting through pain and it was not reported.
Speaker 1: Something very different about this one. And this story has
Speaker 1: taken on an added layer of fascination thanks to our
Speaker 1: man rap sheet Speak West Speak. He said, this is
Speaker 1: more of an unveiling that Cam Newton has really revamped
Speaker 1: and we'll have entirely new mechanics at a new way
Speaker 1: of throwing the football is what rap sheet was told,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be very different. I don't think that's all.
Speaker 1: You're talking about a quarterback who had screwy mechanics. He
Speaker 1: looked like a corkscrew throw in the ball because he
Speaker 1: doesn't move his legs, he only moves his upper body.
Speaker 1: Lad the major accuracy issues for his entire career, consistency issues,
Speaker 1: and if he's changed his mechanics different. If I put um,
Speaker 1: that's too violence to put a gun to your head.
Speaker 1: But if I put you on the spot right now
Speaker 1: and said, in week five, you're watching a Panther's game, Uh,
Speaker 1: with Cam Newton the quarterback, do you think that he'll
Speaker 1: be throwing differently? I think most like the same old
Speaker 1: camp with that like slingshot, the very rigid upright boom
Speaker 1: dart throw. The most quarterbacks revert to what's comfortable. I don't.
Speaker 1: I think in this situation, maybe he can't physically throw
Speaker 1: like that anymore. Maybe he's had to. Maybe there's an
Speaker 1: impingement or something in his shoulder that makes him throw
Speaker 1: it differently. Now, that would be a beautiful thing, because
Speaker 1: I'm excited about year two of North Turner I think
Speaker 1: their offense made sense and was more consistent than than
Speaker 1: it really was for the five years previous. But I'm
Speaker 1: not too excited about a wide receiver crew led by
Speaker 1: d J. Moore Curtis Samuel. Maybe maybe those to both
Speaker 1: take a big step up. I like both of those
Speaker 1: two young guys after the catch, for for for a number,
Speaker 1: for them to be their number one and number two receiver,
Speaker 1: that's pretty big question left somebody out though. An answer
Speaker 1: to the questions Christmas always open. I don't know about this,
Speaker 1: a third year old changing mechanics from the ground up
Speaker 1: while recovering from shoulder surgery. But I remain an optimist
Speaker 1: on this front. Well, one source described, um, wait until
Speaker 1: you see this and they rap. She said, downright giddy.
Speaker 1: That's exciting. You know what. I've really come over the
Speaker 1: years to appreciate Newton. I like him as a player
Speaker 1: a lot, and I think he gets slept on a
Speaker 1: little bit. And you got what's the smart mark, No,
Speaker 1: it's for you. I find that to be a nugget
Speaker 1: of personal growth because in the past you've been dinged
Speaker 1: by various uh media types, which you disdain in Charlotte
Speaker 1: for some of your cam Newton Online. It's kind of
Speaker 1: like the Jets bashers who have now come around. It's
Speaker 1: very much into that. I won't admit that I was wrong,
Speaker 1: though I can't because I down that road. I won't
Speaker 1: do it because Cam definitely did annoy me early in
Speaker 1: his career. I mean, it's right that he annoyed you.
Speaker 1: And Super Bowl fifty remains could argue that superbo fifty remains,
Speaker 1: you know, a touchy topic for anybody, any of the
Speaker 1: Cam defender. Maybe all this humanized him a little bit,
Speaker 1: and you kind of like the way he's come out
Speaker 1: of it. Who knows, Wait, why is it? Oh, it
Speaker 1: was a tough game, you're saying both you know, the
Speaker 1: play behavior in Prescott afterwards. Fumble, Oh yeah, that was
Speaker 1: not a good look. It was not a great It
Speaker 1: was not even a great night. But it wasn't It
Speaker 1: was worse than a bad look. But that Broncos defense
Speaker 1: made every quarterback look look bad. But that's not what
Speaker 1: I'm talking about that you're talking about the interview. I
Speaker 1: don't care about the phone talking. The phone thing is
Speaker 1: ridiculous to get on him for it in the moment,
Speaker 1: not ridiculous. West the fumble, Oh it was ridiculous. I mean,
Speaker 1: I mean, come on, he looked. I'll that's for another day.
Speaker 1: Save it for that. Why didn't Cam jump on the
Speaker 1: fumble podcast? Well, I didn't Cam try to win the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl podcast? I mean, it was all happened very quickly.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying that it's micro man. I don't know
Speaker 1: who knows well that sports man finally in the news.
Speaker 1: Uh the Meanwhile, on the throne of sleeves, the New
Speaker 1: England Patriots canceled the final two days of the offseason
Speaker 1: organized team activities that were scheduled for Monday Tuesday. Mike
Speaker 1: Girardi reports and Greg I just thought this was terating
Speaker 1: to note Jardi um because once upon a time the
Speaker 1: head coach, maybe in a more motivated time in his life,
Speaker 1: had this to say. And now with the team completely
Speaker 1: you know, trying to reconstruct the offense and figure out
Speaker 1: what the what direction the Patriots going in two thousand
Speaker 1: nineteen with their forty two year old quarterback and no
Speaker 1: grounk so no days off about we're taking a week off.
Speaker 1: I just wonder what that's about. I think he hasn't
Speaker 1: appreciated for the guys, his veterans is there is the
Speaker 1: fire still in the belly. He also did the exacting
Speaker 1: it's up in the air. He did the exact same
Speaker 1: thing last year, and I feel like there's at least
Speaker 1: a chance that we did this And how did that
Speaker 1: turn out the same sort of thing? All right, that's
Speaker 1: what's happening in the news. Did that the Ortiz thing
Speaker 1: that hits you harder? I mean, he's just like response
Speaker 1: because kind of grew up with him. Yeah, he was
Speaker 1: four four, Um, I think I was in middle school
Speaker 1: when we broke the curse. Yeah, that was a tough
Speaker 1: upbringing for you to wait through. Yeah, it was. I'm
Speaker 1: saying he timed it beautifully. It was great. I mean,
Speaker 1: the Ortiz is responsible for a lot of heartache as
Speaker 1: a Yankee fan, but he's like one of the one
Speaker 1: red Sox that I have respect for. Um got away
Speaker 1: with some stuff during his playing days, Greg, but he's
Speaker 1: such an easy guy to like. The whole Boston Marathon
Speaker 1: bombing thing that was when he gave that speech at Fenway.
Speaker 1: Also for all the people who say there's no such
Speaker 1: thing as clutch stick that in your pipe, smoke it up,
Speaker 1: all right? Oh, I gotta add treat Oh this is
Speaker 1: perfect this Father's Day. Father's Day is coming up on Sunday.
Speaker 1: By the way, heads up, everybody. Go to Omaha Steaks
Speaker 1: dot com. Enter the code around in the search bar
Speaker 1: for seventy off the Father's Day Steak Fix Gift Package
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Speaker 1: how you do. We do these mid roll ads with
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Speaker 1: We've tried the product. And what is Omaha? Do they
Speaker 1: do a nice job? They sent They sent us the
Speaker 1: Father's Day Steaks uh fixed gift package. It's a mouthful.
Speaker 1: Maybe rework the title, but everything else, everything within the
Speaker 1: box was tremendous. Last night, it was my last night.
Speaker 1: I was watching the Boys on my own. I had
Speaker 1: some chicken fried steaks in the free kidding. I had
Speaker 1: some spicy of meat ball and I made I made
Speaker 1: some spaghetti, and I made a whole meal. Uh and
Speaker 1: it was excellent. And Greg, how did it go with
Speaker 1: you and your dad? Your father? He he grilled up
Speaker 1: those filet mignons, which were delicious, the top sirloins, and
Speaker 1: then I think the underrated part of the whole meal
Speaker 1: was the gourmet jumbo Francs. You know, people sleep on
Speaker 1: some massive jumbo francs. But they were totally right. They
Speaker 1: were tasty. They've they've made a lot of up your
Speaker 1: brother Frank's, I mean, I mean, we would also love
Speaker 1: to be able to tell you about the steak burgers
Speaker 1: and uh, you know some of the other we had.
Speaker 1: I had the second breast, didn't see him there, the
Speaker 1: signature seasoning. Those those were Pilfred off the top. There's
Speaker 1: a little bit of tacks that happens when it goes
Speaker 1: through uh our podcast department before getting to us. But
Speaker 1: from what we had, it was like in the in
Speaker 1: the Mob movies where you start out stealing the boxes
Speaker 1: of the sig rats off the top of the truck.
Speaker 1: You grab two cartons for yourself before you well, I
Speaker 1: think it was the gentleman that carried over like a
Speaker 1: fifty pound refrigerated box to your desk. Is maybe who
Speaker 1: took I would have got it. I would have gotta
Speaker 1: picked it up to keep the chicken well. And it
Speaker 1: is quite a value valued at two thirty five dollars said,
Speaker 1: that's a lot of food. It's a lot, so I'm
Speaker 1: getting you gotta type in the code though you gotta
Speaker 1: go to Omaha Steaks dot com and type the code around.
Speaker 1: I'm doing it tonight, going to around. That's Omaha Steaks
Speaker 1: dot com and type around in the search bar to
Speaker 1: get that fixed package. West, Maybe hold off, Maybe we
Speaker 1: can get another free box for you, though, I want
Speaker 1: a post ability. The way you describe this company sounds
Speaker 1: tasty enough. I'm gonna give him my money. We're on fire.
Speaker 1: I mean, who wouldn't want to advertise with this podcast
Speaker 1: on the big green egg? There? There you go. All right,
Speaker 1: let's get to it, big little lies of the NFL. Now, West,
Speaker 1: do you want to explain? And not everyone has premium cable?
Speaker 1: Sorry there or their parents password for HBO go? So,
Speaker 1: uh you care to explain the big little lies? The
Speaker 1: segment of the show. Just take us, take us for
Speaker 1: a walk. Well, it's a show on HBO. It was
Speaker 1: originally supposed to be a mini series, just one season,
Speaker 1: and it was so successful, won so many awards. People
Speaker 1: are so invested that they brought it back for a
Speaker 1: second season, which started Sunday night last night. Um, they're
Speaker 1: off the book. It was just one book that was
Speaker 1: based off one book, and Keisha got me into this
Speaker 1: show and I thought immediately, well, for Game of Thrones,
Speaker 1: why not try it here? I watched the first episode
Speaker 1: and said, how am I gonna watch less ambitious television
Speaker 1: If they're seeing this masterpiece and it's visually stunning, it's
Speaker 1: well written, it's extremely well execute It puts off sometimes
Speaker 1: some of the best actors we have ever seen, perfect
Speaker 1: music score, Everything about it to me is delightful, but
Speaker 1: so big little lies the title little All of our
Speaker 1: lives are built around these little lies we tell ourselves
Speaker 1: and our loved ones in order to keep up appearances,
Speaker 1: maintain relationships, just to fire behavior, and generally keep ins
Speaker 1: insanity at bay for another day. If you read the
Speaker 1: book Sapiens, which I've promoted on this show a few times,
Speaker 1: you have promoted it was, well, the difference between us
Speaker 1: and the great Apes, the difference between civilizations and tribes,
Speaker 1: is the ability to gossip, the ability to form relationships,
Speaker 1: maintain these complex dynamics, this interwoven nature between humans and
Speaker 1: this show. That's what it's about. It's that we do.
Speaker 1: We do all tell these little lies, but then you
Speaker 1: start with the big lies, the big part of it.
Speaker 1: Political theorists um John Locke and Thomas Hobbes said, where
Speaker 1: atoms of self interest? So we're like these rings around
Speaker 1: trees our lives are. We accumulate all these layers of
Speaker 1: richness and depth and complexity, and we double down on
Speaker 1: this character that we play, this mass that we wear
Speaker 1: throughout life based on these lies we have to keep
Speaker 1: telling each other and ourselves. But it gets big and
Speaker 1: then it crumbles under the weight of that facilit hod
Speaker 1: you have every day. And the big lies are the
Speaker 1: pots and the politics. Wow, but the big lives don't
Speaker 1: put that on social till the little lives pile up, right,
Speaker 1: it just still the little lives pile up, and you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, you get write that down. Every
Speaker 1: one of us lives these novel existences, right, we all
Speaker 1: have these rich, concentric, interwoven, complex, dynamic relationships with each other.
Speaker 1: And the most brilliant writers and artists are able to
Speaker 1: play goud by conjuring up new novel existences and characters
Speaker 1: that are that woven, that complex. This show does that
Speaker 1: through how great the actors aren't, and it really it
Speaker 1: really takes you to say, hey, we gotta tape a step.
Speaker 1: I could say, look at look at the art that
Speaker 1: these people are putting out and now we're gonna talk
Speaker 1: about the Packers wide receiver. So I mean, if that's out,
Speaker 1: I'm watching this show now, I've never seen it. And anyway,
Speaker 1: which little lies are told in the NFL that could
Speaker 1: snowball into big lies? What an intro? By the way
Speaker 1: I told Brad Pitt is not on this show. That
Speaker 1: was a lie that could balloon and snowball larger. I
Speaker 1: think that one's gonna stay little, all right, So there
Speaker 1: you go. That's the setup, and Greg, I will now
Speaker 1: throw it to you. Now, let's start with someone else. Please,
Speaker 1: Why I don't after that intro, I don't want to
Speaker 1: go next. I don't know if I under I want
Speaker 1: to hear it. Hear you guys, Let let someone else
Speaker 1: get buried West. Since you did the set up there,
Speaker 1: why don't you explain a big little lie in the NFL? Okay,
Speaker 1: so the little lie is so, and so quarterback can
Speaker 1: still make all the throws? Could be Eli Manning, Drew Brees,
Speaker 1: Tom Brady, cam Newton, Lamar Jackson, Case Keenum Hell, Josh
Speaker 1: Allen can't make all the throws. He might have the
Speaker 1: strongest arm in the NFL, but he ain't making all
Speaker 1: the touch throws. The it's a little lie. Because our
Speaker 1: lives are filled with these little lives. Dave Gettleman has
Speaker 1: to go to a podium and say that Eli Manning
Speaker 1: can can make all these throws, still make all these strows.
Speaker 1: It's not nefarious. Very few quarterbacks can make all the throws.
Speaker 1: But Gettleman has to justify his decisions, maintain order in
Speaker 1: hierarchy and in the organization. Protect Eli Manning's pride bolster
Speaker 1: is confidence, given the best chance possible to exceed expectations
Speaker 1: this year, make sure that his legacy and statue were
Speaker 1: intact with the Giants. But it becomes a big little
Speaker 1: lie through the butterfly effect. What if it sets the
Speaker 1: Giants organization back for a decade or more. We won't
Speaker 1: know until a few years in the future how big
Speaker 1: this little lie is. But anytime you hear the words
Speaker 1: still in front of Kim make all the throws, it's
Speaker 1: a lie. It's just this. Well, it's interesting because this
Speaker 1: is one that the Giants aren't the only one saying.
Speaker 1: I watched on our air last week, Mike Gara, Folo
Speaker 1: and Shaan O'Hara make the case that they watch in
Speaker 1: practice and that Eli Manning can still spin it as
Speaker 1: well or better than he ever can't. That's what they
Speaker 1: say though, and I and I saw that, and it
Speaker 1: was just a moment of dissonance for me, and I'm like, Okay,
Speaker 1: maybe I should trust them. They're watching him in practice.
Speaker 1: Maybe his arm is that strong this June, or at
Speaker 1: least at this point in the videos from practice, he
Speaker 1: can't make the sideline. And then and then you saw
Speaker 1: and then I saw some other reporters who said the
Speaker 1: total opposite. They were talking about Eli as a drop down.
Speaker 1: He was continuing to drop down was set on our air.
Speaker 1: So it almost it kind of proves your point that
Speaker 1: these these little eyes, uh just you know, people that
Speaker 1: have something invested or they're attached or whatever. They just
Speaker 1: just how many NFL quarterbacks you think can make all
Speaker 1: the throws? Well, that's an interesting question, all the throws.
Speaker 1: And it's sort of a logical fallacy because only only
Speaker 1: like one or two people in theory could make all
Speaker 1: the throws, you know what I mean, Because at some
Speaker 1: point there's people that can make even more throws. It's
Speaker 1: like Rogers Stafford. Uh, it's more like what he could
Speaker 1: do before. Honestly, the amount of handwringing still about the
Speaker 1: Giants quarterback puisition, I would understand that we'd be talking
Speaker 1: about the still if they passed on a quarterback in
Speaker 1: the first round and all the handring about. I can't
Speaker 1: believe they're still going to Eli and they're paying Eli
Speaker 1: and he's still the guy in the future. They took
Speaker 1: a quarterback with the sixth overall pick, he's gonna be
Speaker 1: this This kid is probably gonna be playing by week six.
Speaker 1: What does that have to do with their little lie?
Speaker 1: I'm just saying, like, what, who cares? Like? He lies
Speaker 1: the past of this organization and there's nothing that I'm seeing.
Speaker 1: I think they they're always going to say the right things.
Speaker 1: They're gonna say the right things and try to prop
Speaker 1: you all up because yes he is. That was my
Speaker 1: whole point. I know he's an important member of the
Speaker 1: organization and the legacy and the franchise history. But the
Speaker 1: end of the what does it all mean, because he's
Speaker 1: really the book is kind of closed on him, like
Speaker 1: it closed the second they announced he has an opportunity,
Speaker 1: But then why is he still being propped up as
Speaker 1: the Week one start? He has an opportunity to make
Speaker 1: the playoffs. If we're having this conversation next year, I'm
Speaker 1: with you. But the book it's not closed. He's still starting.
Speaker 1: They're not even opening it to competition. I think it's
Speaker 1: because the giants from top down have messaged this as
Speaker 1: poorly as you can. And he's still the starting quarterback
Speaker 1: on the field right now. But that's okay, okay here.
Speaker 1: But by week one, everyone was killing Cleveland for putting
Speaker 1: Tyrod Taylor in there because it wasn't really a comb competition,
Speaker 1: and they were right this if this is not really
Speaker 1: a competition, And what did I have a problem with it?
Speaker 1: Johnny Man's excuse me? Baker Madfield was in by week three?
Speaker 1: So what did it mean? Ultimately, because because it to
Speaker 1: the point of what West is saying, it's a lie.
Speaker 1: Ultimately the talent's going to win out. And why is
Speaker 1: why are they putting Eli Manning in a situation unless
Speaker 1: it's a competition. He should at least be in a
Speaker 1: fair competition and he should have the opportunity to lose
Speaker 1: the job if he's not the better quarterback. I regret
Speaker 1: that I chose Eli as my example, right, you had
Speaker 1: other example? Really it was saying that I cannot still
Speaker 1: make all the throw That's fine. I mean Tom Brady
Speaker 1: doesn't make every all the throw is Drew Brees can
Speaker 1: make all the throws. The big lie is Drew Brees
Speaker 1: kept the Saints from reaching the Super Bowl last year.
Speaker 1: Oh you said something, Saucy West on NFL Network today
Speaker 1: he was one of the worst quarter you know they
Speaker 1: had film wise he was. They called it the breakfast Table,
Speaker 1: the good Morning Football Folk, and they had Cam Jordan's
Speaker 1: in their studio in New York, and Jordan was saying
Speaker 1: that Breeze is the top quarterback in the league and
Speaker 1: that Tom Brady, you know, people take him away from
Speaker 1: Bill Belichick. Would you still be saying that Breeze, who
Speaker 1: doesn't have a bad coach himself, by the way, he's
Speaker 1: the guy year after he puts up the numbers and
Speaker 1: he's a Hall of Famer. And then West dropped the
Speaker 1: bomb in the network that you found him to be
Speaker 1: one of the worst quarterbacks in football. And I know,
Speaker 1: and I know why you say that, because he had
Speaker 1: two awful games right after Thanksgiving. But he played quite
Speaker 1: well against the Steelers. He played fine in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: He wasn't great, but he certainly wasn't. Look at his
Speaker 1: look at his rate stats from Thanksgiving to you went down, yeah,
Speaker 1: and that they were some of the worst in the NFL.
Speaker 1: And then look at the film of him not being
Speaker 1: able to throw a beyond thirty yards. Argue with that, Um,
Speaker 1: I have something that should not be argued with. It's
Speaker 1: a big little lie. The big little eye is that
Speaker 1: anyone in the NFC should be as a viewed as
Speaker 1: a favorite besides the Eagles right now. So the Eagles
Speaker 1: are the favorite. Eagles should be the clear cut favorite
Speaker 1: in the NFC based on where they are as an organization.
Speaker 1: And again, smart organizations. And I was defending the Jets
Speaker 1: earlier because the Jets fan but that's not traditionally a
Speaker 1: well run organization. The Eagles have shown a time and
Speaker 1: time again since Chip Kelly got out of the building
Speaker 1: that they know exactly what they're doing. And they paid
Speaker 1: Carson Wentz. He's paid, he's happy, and he's healthy most importantly,
Speaker 1: and you just look at what they what they've been
Speaker 1: been able to build. Now. Last year was a tricky year.
Speaker 1: From they win the Super Bowl, they come back, the
Speaker 1: win situation was just cloudy all year with the injury
Speaker 1: is they still went nine and seven, They still still
Speaker 1: want a playoff game. But now this is the year
Speaker 1: where I think they are going to be really difficult
Speaker 1: to deal with because not only have a fully healthy wins.
Speaker 1: Hopefully they go and they get to Sean Jackson. So
Speaker 1: you add a major burner, one of the top deep
Speaker 1: threats of the generation to pair with Wentz. You go
Speaker 1: and you got you. We talked about Brian Gaine getting fired.
Speaker 1: Did Howie Roseman get Brian gain fired? I'm sure Bill
Speaker 1: O'Brien was furious that the Eagles traded up three spots.
Speaker 1: They get in front of the Texans and take Andre Dillard,
Speaker 1: so they start to fill up that pipeline because smart
Speaker 1: organizations do that. They get the best offensive lineman in
Speaker 1: the draft. And then there's a tweet from Field Yates
Speaker 1: right around the time of the Wentz extension. Eagles veteran
Speaker 1: players now signed for at least three more seasons. Wentz
Speaker 1: Earth's Fletcher zach Er, It's Fletcher Cox, Jason Kelsey, Lane Johnson,
Speaker 1: Brandon Graham, Alshon, Jeffrey Malik Jackson to Sean Jackson, Nigel Bradham,
Speaker 1: uh Isaac Samula, these guys are all uh, impact players.
Speaker 1: They have the core signed. It's a young, dynamic team
Speaker 1: that's one not so far in the distant past, and
Speaker 1: there I think are going to kick some ass this
Speaker 1: year in the NFC. And I feel like we're not
Speaker 1: hearing that right now. A lot we're hearing about the
Speaker 1: same old culprits, uh like the Saints and the Rams.
Speaker 1: A lot of people who's who's the you know favorite?
Speaker 1: I think the Eagles should be the clear favorite in
Speaker 1: the NFC. I think one reason we're not hearing that,
Speaker 1: you know through trumpets, is because as recently as a
Speaker 1: week ago, people were still asking fresh questions to Carson
Speaker 1: Wentz about how he feels. And it's not just been
Speaker 1: one injury two years ago. It's been a second injury,
Speaker 1: and they have no one behind him at quarterback at
Speaker 1: this point if anything happens. But I would also just say,
Speaker 1: looking up and down the other fifteen teams in that conference,
Speaker 1: it is as stacked as the NFC has ever been
Speaker 1: in the time we've done this show. And I struggle
Speaker 1: to take any one of them and just say heads
Speaker 1: and tails. On June tenth or whatever, it is that
Speaker 1: the Eagles are the team that's clearly above everyone. Are
Speaker 1: they really well run? Everything you said rings true, but
Speaker 1: that's true aspects of that are true of three or
Speaker 1: four other teams. You feel that way about the Rams,
Speaker 1: who have become one of the best run teams in
Speaker 1: the league with one of the best coaches and a
Speaker 1: ton of young talent. Saints. I mean, I don't love
Speaker 1: the Bears as much as those two teams, but they're
Speaker 1: a team on the rise. And the Eagles in the
Speaker 1: NFC East have to get out of their own division.
Speaker 1: I don't think that's gonna be a lot to ask.
Speaker 1: But the Cowboys are not a bad team either. The
Speaker 1: Saints are the team that usually fill the spot of
Speaker 1: the preseason favor and I think they probably will be,
Speaker 1: you know, like number one in power rankings and stuff
Speaker 1: like that, because they're the team that was the best
Speaker 1: the year ago, that returned the exact, that returned almost
Speaker 1: all the same team, like they didn't lose anyone the Saints. There,
Speaker 1: there's no reason to believe that the Saints will be
Speaker 1: worth Logically, now, that's not usually how it pans out,
Speaker 1: but I do I I agree with you Mark that
Speaker 1: if you look at the Rams, the Vikings and the
Speaker 1: Saints roster, I mean, those are really good rosters. Well
Speaker 1: they're they're really strong top to bottom, and they should
Speaker 1: be playoff teams. And I'm with I mean, no one
Speaker 1: I love the Eagles, so I don't really I just
Speaker 1: feel like they're in a really good spot this year,
Speaker 1: and I'm even in a very difficult year last year,
Speaker 1: they still ended up being in the final eight teams.
Speaker 1: They had a chance in that game. I mean, they
Speaker 1: had their chances against the Saints to win that game
Speaker 1: and then they would have been headed to Los Angeles.
Speaker 1: But by the way, where the Eagles are right now
Speaker 1: in terms of Super Bowl, I don't know. Can I
Speaker 1: just point out that there's a team that knocked the
Speaker 1: Saints off their pedestal and won the division that the
Speaker 1: Eagles are in, and this team got better in the
Speaker 1: off season, the Dallas Cowboys. You think Cowboys a better
Speaker 1: team than Eagles, and then that's a that's a coin flip.
Speaker 1: I have fewer questions about the Eagles because of their
Speaker 1: quarterback is clearly to me better than Dak Prescott. Right
Speaker 1: to answer your question, Dan, the Rams and the Saints
Speaker 1: are co favorites. Bears a little bit behind, and then
Speaker 1: the Eagles uh in a solid fourth. Those four are
Speaker 1: are fairly far ahead of the pack. Um. You feel
Speaker 1: like the desert people are lying, but the Rams and
Speaker 1: Saints are as a pretty little lie in the desert.
Speaker 1: If you like that, then it's time to get in.
Speaker 1: But I wouldn't do that. That's not something I would
Speaker 1: ever do. Yeah, we can't do that. We're not allowed,
Speaker 1: all right, Mark, give us a big little lie. I
Speaker 1: think we tell lies because the truth is uncomfortable, that
Speaker 1: the lies prevent us from having to deal with something
Speaker 1: that might not fit even the narrative that makes us
Speaker 1: feel good. And one of the people that's made me
Speaker 1: feel really good about football the last couple of years
Speaker 1: is Nick Foles, and there's no reason not to love
Speaker 1: what he did in that very well run, perfectly executed
Speaker 1: Eagles organization with an offense perfectly suited to his strengths.
Speaker 1: And what I feel borders on potentially a burgeoning lie
Speaker 1: is when a team desperate to erase the mistakes and
Speaker 1: the lies they told previously about their former quarterback Blake Bortles,
Speaker 1: you have to get involved into maybe even a more
Speaker 1: dangerous lie, a lie tied to fifty million dollars in
Speaker 1: guaranteed money and hoping that you get the same version
Speaker 1: of Nick Foles that he produced inside of a very
Speaker 1: beautifully run two seasons with the Eagles, but two seasons
Speaker 1: in which he fumbled the ball more than any other
Speaker 1: quarterback than Lamar Jackson in terms of percentage for quarterbacks,
Speaker 1: with over three hundred touches, and a quarterback that before
Speaker 1: his two playoff year runs in Philadelphia never started more
Speaker 1: than eleven games in a season, and the one year
Speaker 1: that he did was in St. Louis when he was
Speaker 1: benched for case keenum, and a lot of that had
Speaker 1: to do with durability. He's also in the past had
Speaker 1: spotty play, and again it hurts to to view this
Speaker 1: as a lie, the idea that he can't go be
Speaker 1: a four or five year successful startup for them, because
Speaker 1: what's not a lie is he's an awesome teammate, He's
Speaker 1: an awesome leader. He's someone that walked away from football,
Speaker 1: gained perspective, came back, grew as a person, grew as
Speaker 1: a player, and fit into the perfect moment to become
Speaker 1: one of the biggest sports stories of our life in football.
Speaker 1: But the second little lie tied around him for this season.
Speaker 1: That has me concerned is the fact that we're not
Speaker 1: really looking close enough at what's around him, and that
Speaker 1: is a bunch of wide receivers who look good when
Speaker 1: you look at the whole roster because they're young and
Speaker 1: maybe they'll pan out. But you can't point to really
Speaker 1: any one of them in my book and say you
Speaker 1: have got one or two dudes that are gonna help
Speaker 1: this offense fly. And it's gonna have to be completely
Speaker 1: opposite from the Tom Coughlin Doug Marone approach of the
Speaker 1: past few years, where you get lineman, you get players
Speaker 1: around them to run a run heavy Leonard four net
Speaker 1: based attack. Now everything needs to shift to become a
Speaker 1: pass happy attack, and it's run by an offensive coordinator
Speaker 1: against Coughlin and Doug Maron sort of nature in terms
Speaker 1: of someone who's running the offense, John Philippo, who at
Speaker 1: the is a skilled play car, but who got fired
Speaker 1: a year ago for clashing by running a different scheme
Speaker 1: than what the building wanted to run. And so you've
Speaker 1: got all these little promises and lies and have truth
Speaker 1: mixed together, and everyone wants to just put the Jacksonville
Speaker 1: Jaguars back into contention when I look at two other
Speaker 1: teams in that division that have much more orchestrated, powerful
Speaker 1: offenses to begin with, So did Jaguars have a lot
Speaker 1: of work to do, And I'm not convinced that I
Speaker 1: can believe in Nick Foles as a six team game starter,
Speaker 1: much less doing that over the course of five years.
Speaker 1: As much as it pains me that the Colts and
Speaker 1: who is the second one, I think the Texans are
Speaker 1: a better run offense with a quarterback that I know
Speaker 1: I can trust more than Nick Foles. You you spoke
Speaker 1: about Nick Foles in what he's done in the past,
Speaker 1: and I have a sort of a theory about that.
Speaker 1: He is more conscientious, introspective, and in touch with his
Speaker 1: feelings than just about any football player I've heard, and
Speaker 1: I think that affects his confidence level more than at
Speaker 1: a normal quarterback that play that plays into insecurities more
Speaker 1: and when he's not surrounded by the coaching and the
Speaker 1: surrounding talent, he probably tends to slump a little bit
Speaker 1: more than another quarterback would. But when he's playing well
Speaker 1: and feeling himself, his confidence is sky hill. Yes, it's
Speaker 1: a great it's a great point to of the of
Speaker 1: the lie, maybe that de Filippo is a natural fit
Speaker 1: with Maron and Coughlin and you haven't haven't really heard that,
Speaker 1: you know, this offseason. But it's a really interesting point
Speaker 1: because there are a lot of parallels to to the
Speaker 1: Viking situation. I saw a report last week. I don't
Speaker 1: know who said it, it it was someone on the Jaguars
Speaker 1: made a comment like it's going to be all about
Speaker 1: Nick Foles this year in the last Campbell Campbell It's
Speaker 1: like that that doesn't ring. That rings to me is
Speaker 1: a liable because it's not all on Nick Foles either.
Speaker 1: You can kind of look at the Jaguars a couple
Speaker 1: of different angles and wonder if there's a big little lie,
Speaker 1: a big lie around this whole team, because Folds could
Speaker 1: be essentially what you expect him to be, not a superstar,
Speaker 1: but like a good just on the right side of
Speaker 1: the Dalton scale type guy. Even and that doesn't mean
Speaker 1: that they're gonna be back in the NFC Championship game.
Speaker 1: This defense has to be a lot better than it
Speaker 1: was last year. They talked about it last Friday that
Speaker 1: they they half as many turnovers, They didn't make the
Speaker 1: big plays, the whole team. The coaching has to be better.
Speaker 1: The defense has to be better, the offense has to
Speaker 1: be better. The running game has to be better. The quarterback, yes,
Speaker 1: and it's hard not to be better than Blake Bortles.
Speaker 1: The front office has to be better. A lot has
Speaker 1: to go right for this team to get back on track.
Speaker 1: It's not just we plug in Nick Foles and we'll
Speaker 1: see you in January, right, And I'm hopefully that's not
Speaker 1: all what they thought, but they have not addressed enough.
Speaker 1: I also look at a team in the Eagles that
Speaker 1: had Zach Ertz and Dallas Goddard at tight end, and
Speaker 1: now you are going to a team with Jeff Swam
Speaker 1: and Ben Koyak, who I liked a couple of years ago.
Speaker 1: But it's like, you don't have that either so well
Speaker 1: that during their whole like playoff, we're using like five
Speaker 1: different height ends at the same time going up the leg.
Speaker 1: There's the offense of guy that he can look to
Speaker 1: week after week and say he's gonna bail Nick Foles
Speaker 1: in the playoffs. K was cool in the playoffs. Josh
Speaker 1: Oliver they drafted in third round. That guy is gonna
Speaker 1: be their pass catching two close us out with a
Speaker 1: big little eye. All right, the the big lie, big
Speaker 1: little eye, the big little eyes in Kansas City are
Speaker 1: all the analysis from people like us and really around
Speaker 1: the country talking about the Chiefs as if Tyreek Hill
Speaker 1: is not there, because because to me it he is there.
Speaker 1: He's on the roster. And until we hear more. The
Speaker 1: longer this goes, I start thinking that he's going to
Speaker 1: continue to be part of their organization. And so the
Speaker 1: big lie is sort of like looking at this a
Speaker 1: f C field and marking that down with the Chiefs
Speaker 1: that they don't have him. And this is it's a
Speaker 1: very tricky topic to talk about, but just in terms
Speaker 1: of his status, it's totally unknown right now. And I
Speaker 1: think there's been a lot of assumptions, including you know,
Speaker 1: from me and and anyone talking about that initially, that
Speaker 1: he's just gonna be suspended and definitely, or that they're
Speaker 1: gonna cut him or something like that. I just feel
Speaker 1: like if they could have cut him, they have not
Speaker 1: cut him. He's part of the organization. Uh. The NFL
Speaker 1: said last week as an update to the news that
Speaker 1: the district fraternity at this point is no longer investigating
Speaker 1: Tyreek Hill, that it will have no effect on their investigation.
Speaker 1: So the NFL is still investigating uh and there's still
Speaker 1: very strong possibility for a suspension, but we don't really
Speaker 1: know it. This is a different case than than ones
Speaker 1: that we've seen before, and we don't know what the
Speaker 1: NFL is gonna do. We don't know how long that
Speaker 1: suspension is gonna be, and it's kind of silly to
Speaker 1: even speculate. But but the big lie to me is
Speaker 1: that that he's that Tyreek Hills just kind of put
Speaker 1: to the side. We've put it to the side because
Speaker 1: it's not fun to talk about and it's and it's
Speaker 1: a horrible situation that he's put himself UH in, but
Speaker 1: he it's very much hanging over this season and hanging
Speaker 1: over the Chiefs and the NFL in general, and I,
Speaker 1: you know, I think there's a lot more to come.
Speaker 1: The NFL is in a tough spot because I know
Speaker 1: how I feel I've seen enough of Tyreek Hill. I
Speaker 1: need to see him play football ever again. And I
Speaker 1: think a lot of football fans feel the same way.
Speaker 1: He isn't and this was new since our last podcast.
Speaker 1: They came out and said he isn't the subject of
Speaker 1: an active criminal investigation local law enforcement where this incident
Speaker 1: involving his girlfriend and the son occurred. But the personal
Speaker 1: conduct policy, that's that's different, and you don't have to
Speaker 1: have even you don't need proof of a violence. And
Speaker 1: and there was a report in Pro Football Talk that
Speaker 1: noted Ravens quarterback Jimmy Smith he got a four game
Speaker 1: band for threats and emotional abuse of the mother of
Speaker 1: his three year old child. So I'm just looking at
Speaker 1: this where the black and white of how this all
Speaker 1: ends up if the Chiefs decided to keep him on
Speaker 1: the roster, and it seems that's where we're heading right now.
Speaker 1: The NFL at some point is going to come in
Speaker 1: and deliver a penalty. You would think there will be
Speaker 1: some type of band, whether it's four games like Smith
Speaker 1: gott or eight games, which is what Kareem Hunt is
Speaker 1: uh facing the seas someone they got rid of very quickly,
Speaker 1: unlike Tyreek Hill, perhaps perhaps more than eight games. So
Speaker 1: it seems to me that unless something changes, that the
Speaker 1: chief are gonna have Tyreek Hill on the field, barring
Speaker 1: some new developments later at the midpoint or later in
Speaker 1: this season. And that is surprising and frankly a little disappointing, yeah,
Speaker 1: and or not, Like I don't even even by bringing
Speaker 1: this up. I don't know. Maybe it will be a
Speaker 1: year that he's gone. I mean, I think this whole
Speaker 1: thing is uncertain. But Tom Belisara was on our air.
Speaker 1: He came out a little stronger than I would have expected,
Speaker 1: saying that there's every reason to believe he'll be in
Speaker 1: training camp Tyreek Hill. At this point. I think what
Speaker 1: Tom is is trying to say is that there's been
Speaker 1: no actual official action taken, and that that no, no
Speaker 1: one knows what action like people would lose a lot
Speaker 1: of money trying to guess what the NFL would do
Speaker 1: with a lot of these cases over the years, and
Speaker 1: we really don't know. But the Chiefs don't seem in
Speaker 1: a hurry to get rid of And the biggest action
Speaker 1: not taken is that the Chiefs have clung on to
Speaker 1: him this entire time, where if he were roster fringe
Speaker 1: player that would not be the case. I would imagine
Speaker 1: Chiefs need to do some thinking about who the Chiefs are. Alright,
Speaker 1: big little lies in the NFL and twenty nineteen two
Speaker 1: more shows coming up this week. As I said, we'll
Speaker 1: be back on Wednesday. One more bonus news item, Wow
Speaker 1: Bieber versus Cruise Justin Bieber on Twitter over the weekend
Speaker 1: challenge Tom Cruise the famous actor to a fight in
Speaker 1: the octagon. Uh, cruises fifty six. He's older now than
Speaker 1: Wilford Brimley was when he made Cocoon. Yes, yeah, but
Speaker 1: he looks he looks years. He's younger than is extremely fit,
Speaker 1: age defying fifty six. I take Cruise over Brimley especially now. Hey,
Speaker 1: you don't want to mess with brim suspicious age defying
Speaker 1: Tom Cruise at fifty six. Bib Ty body in a
Speaker 1: little bit better shape than maybe you would think. He's
Speaker 1: not the same scrowning kid that he was when he
Speaker 1: came out of Canada, as Ricky will test um, So
Speaker 1: he has some mass to him. I believe he trains. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he trains with a guy, you know, physical trainer that
Speaker 1: does a lot of boxing things of that nature. I
Speaker 1: don't know what was behind it, and I didn't do
Speaker 1: enough research to find out why he challenged Hollywood superstar
Speaker 1: Tom Cruise to a octagon battle. But I'm just curious
Speaker 1: who you think wins, and Ricky, I want to hear
Speaker 1: your thoughts as well. We'll start with you. You want
Speaker 1: to start with me. Yeah. I don't know why he
Speaker 1: challenged him either. I was like trying to look at
Speaker 1: that at the articles today and stuff. But let's not
Speaker 1: worry about um why and just let's just put ourselves
Speaker 1: in the octagon Saturday. You know, in October, Biber is
Speaker 1: gonna damage Cruise and his legacy. Mark I'll counter that
Speaker 1: because I think that people just will quickly, um dismiss
Speaker 1: Tom Cruise because of his uh you know, scientology, and
Speaker 1: he's a little bit of an odd guy. But he
Speaker 1: also to me seems like hardcore driven and I think
Speaker 1: he's got like a will of steel and I and
Speaker 1: I just simply don't know that about Bieber. Biber's talented
Speaker 1: in his own ways. But who's gonna break first and
Speaker 1: after brutal physical punishments insane, That's what I mean. I
Speaker 1: think I think he I Tom Cruise will die out.
Speaker 1: And again sometimes you know there's an official there and
Speaker 1: if you've got like a finishing move and you know
Speaker 1: Bieber can just get him to go lights out, There's
Speaker 1: only so much a will to win is going to
Speaker 1: help you in that. But lots on the line for
Speaker 1: for Tom Cruise. If Tom Cruise lights go out there out,
Speaker 1: If ru'se loses to Justin Bieber, that's all that a
Speaker 1: certain age group of people are ever going to know
Speaker 1: about him for the rest of time. He can't let
Speaker 1: it happen. You cite selling scientology in his weirdness. I'd
Speaker 1: just saying that's packed into the public perception. Well, here
Speaker 1: are some bigger factors. Again, older than Brimley in Cocoon,
Speaker 1: that's a big factor. Don't care about also legit like
Speaker 1: what five ft four not a big guy six? Yeah,
Speaker 1: Bruise is gonna get pummeled by by Justin bie Bieber
Speaker 1: is not much taller. I gotta be honest, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: but he's it's not an issue in the ag. That's
Speaker 1: one sport where the short guys in a nice little
Speaker 1: set from third base to first base. And I'm forty
Speaker 1: five years you you think Tom Cruise doesn't have built
Speaker 1: in injuries from all his life? That could also mean
Speaker 1: five eight and a half. We don't know. No, it's
Speaker 1: exactly right, five five seven, five nine, that's I'm not
Speaker 1: But also Cruise, when you when you I I think
Speaker 1: it's hilarious that you compare him to Wilford Brimley, but
Speaker 1: they are not physically on any anything close was physically
Speaker 1: remains undefeated. Well, it's a YouTube video that says Justin
Speaker 1: Bieber's real height is five six proof. Oh well, I'm
Speaker 1: with you. I think this is this is kind of
Speaker 1: like like the maybe like the heavyweight fight the other night.
Speaker 1: You know, Uh, Bieber needs a quick knockout because if
Speaker 1: as the rounds go on and this just becomes more
Speaker 1: about the will to win in the in the grappling,
Speaker 1: then I like Cruises chances because I think this man,
Speaker 1: he's not going to be denied. He has the heart
Speaker 1: of a champion. Why from his movies absolutely, he just
Speaker 1: just seems like think Bieber twenty four year old. I
Speaker 1: think mentally, kid, first I think I'm going neck up
Speaker 1: because neither going to be that table to physic right. Meant,
Speaker 1: first of all, he's gonna train like crazy, He's gonna
Speaker 1: get some a ton of p DS. He'll be Cruise
Speaker 1: will be ready. And then mentally I think he would
Speaker 1: embrace the pain. Is like he's gonna want to be punished.
Speaker 1: He's gonna want to outlast that. Cruise will look at
Speaker 1: it some sort of like life challenge where Bieber will
Speaker 1: suddenly be there and just be like, what am I doing?
Speaker 1: You've just painted Tom Cruise is some like unbeatable Yoda
Speaker 1: slash Darth Vader is correctly, he is adequately. He does
Speaker 1: all his own stunts. He's an absolutely like jumped off
Speaker 1: a building for the least for analysis, we just had
Speaker 1: to jump in and say it. I mean the cruise
Speaker 1: and a walk and to get in some some pummeling.
Speaker 1: But crew, like I said, would rather die than come
Speaker 1: out of that octagon. A loser like he is, that
Speaker 1: intensive person. I could not agree more. West you are.
Speaker 1: You have shown ageless aspects to yourself. Same with Tom Cruise.
Speaker 1: Bieber would pummel me right now. So a cruise I
Speaker 1: don't know about the um let's go, that's it. Stan
Speaker 1: Hands is signing off. Four quiet storm, the mailman, the
Speaker 1: old boss Ricky Hollywood behind the glass. I would pay
Speaker 1: in a second till Wednesday. M okay podcast, huh still
Speaker 1: doing this? Let's make it nice? Tighten right? Okay? Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's only three newsisum item so you guys should be
Speaker 1: done in about four hours