Speaker 1: Be Around the NFL Podcast. It's no hustlers. Welcome to
Speaker 1: another edition of the Around the NFL Podcast. My name
Speaker 1: is Dan hans As. I come to you from the
Speaker 1: room filled with some virtual heroes, well that they're real,
Speaker 1: the room virtual Mark Sessler, Greg Rosendal, What is up? Please?
Speaker 1: That time of year? That's time. It really hit me
Speaker 1: today when I looked at the you know, the week
Speaker 1: fifteen slate for the first time, you know, and this
Speaker 1: Sunday is December that something how about that game is
Speaker 1: being played on December twenty this weekend. Not the greatest
Speaker 1: week of games coming up, by the way, just because
Speaker 1: at this point, you know, we can't um you know,
Speaker 1: align ourselves with cuteness towards like little upstart teams like
Speaker 1: some of them just at this point are they smell bad?
Speaker 1: They need to be put out behind the shed to
Speaker 1: to rot to death and then they read Earth in spring.
Speaker 1: I thought we were sending them out to the corn
Speaker 1: fields and we would, you know, let them have a
Speaker 1: nice rest of their lives. But you it sounds like
Speaker 1: you want to torture and and and murder them. No,
Speaker 1: I feel like some are just rotting, where like there
Speaker 1: is like the vibrant part of those teams live yeah,
Speaker 1: market in the holiday spirit. This is Mark him taking
Speaker 1: animals behind sheds and hours after two and we are
Speaker 1: going to dig into Monday night football in full. But
Speaker 1: I just do want to say Mark, right off the bat,
Speaker 1: thank you for being here, because I know there are
Speaker 1: no promises made on Sunday's show whether if things worked
Speaker 1: against your brownies as they did unfortunately uh for you,
Speaker 1: that you would be on the show. And yet you're here,
Speaker 1: which again just speaks to your professionalism. Well a couple
Speaker 1: of things. I have nothing else to do. But secondly,
Speaker 1: what kind of scoundrel would I be to just not
Speaker 1: appear because a football team lost? Um, I think that
Speaker 1: would be something you could put on My record is
Speaker 1: as a negative. So uh, you know I intended to
Speaker 1: be here win or lose, all right, And you are
Speaker 1: here and we will get to that game. We have
Speaker 1: a lot to get to. Yes Week fifteen is upon
Speaker 1: us uh in just two days, and we will preview
Speaker 1: the Chargers Raiders Tilt, the Raiders last chance to save
Speaker 1: their season and what has been a very rough not
Speaker 1: in December to remember by Alexis and Nissan so far
Speaker 1: for the Raiders. Uh, so they have one more chance
Speaker 1: to save the day. We will also with the holiday
Speaker 1: season here offer up our own little wish lists for
Speaker 1: the balance of the NFL season. So things that we,
Speaker 1: you know, we wish to have happened between now and
Speaker 1: let's say, Super Bowl fifty. I don't know, who knows.
Speaker 1: I can never. That is one thing where my brain
Speaker 1: just doesn't work. I can't remember any Super Bowl titles.
Speaker 1: Don't like the Roman numerals. Just just tell me what
Speaker 1: teams are there? I mean, according to the NFL, we're
Speaker 1: still in the one hundred year celebration of pro football,
Speaker 1: so I my math is completely turned around. It's so
Speaker 1: weird because it's actually now the one and fiftieth year
Speaker 1: of the NFL, and you would think that you could
Speaker 1: have a new logo and everything, but we're still rocking
Speaker 1: with the century mark for whatever reason. Super Bowl two
Speaker 1: thousand twenty one is super Bowl forty five. How about that?
Speaker 1: Nice clean See you're not as like into like traditional
Speaker 1: things as I am. I love Roman numerals, I like it.
Speaker 1: I just can never like whenever people, even Patriots ones
Speaker 1: that they've won, Whenever they're like, oh yeah, back in
Speaker 1: Super Bowl forty seven. I I remember, I just my
Speaker 1: brain can't work. I can't remember which ones which I
Speaker 1: remember the years obviously specifically, but I can't do it.
Speaker 1: When they introduced the L into the room, like when
Speaker 1: they started going with the L business and like, but
Speaker 1: it was oh, Bears, Patriots super Bowl twenty xx, It's like,
Speaker 1: I can work with that. But when we're getting to
Speaker 1: weird new numbers and numerology, I'm out. Well. The beginning
Speaker 1: of the Patriots dynasty was also tricky because you had
Speaker 1: you were at that point where there will be five, six, seven,
Speaker 1: Roman numerals to conscribe what Okay, okay, alright, the trunked
Speaker 1: aren't put down the gun? Ricky. She's like, I'm from
Speaker 1: a younger generation. They never taught us things like cursive
Speaker 1: and Roman numerals. Okay, care, you're younger, what does that mean?
Speaker 1: It means nothing. I know cursive. I was taught it
Speaker 1: in third grade. When when when the NFL, by the way,
Speaker 1: went went away from the Roman numeral for fifty they
Speaker 1: told me they weren't really in on it, Like if
Speaker 1: you can't do Super Bowl X, if you're not just
Speaker 1: gonna be Roman numeral the way that's when you give
Speaker 1: up when it would have been the best one. Then
Speaker 1: you're you really weren't in it to win it, to
Speaker 1: begin to see there was You're so off on this, Greggy,
Speaker 1: because fifty is Super Bowl. You're not gonna that looks ridiculous.
Speaker 1: Fifty is a great round number. Absolutely, absolutely go with
Speaker 1: the number there. I was all for that. Now, could
Speaker 1: you've made the case that Giants, Bills and ninety should
Speaker 1: have used the numbers? They didn't. They went with Roman numerals.
Speaker 1: It really makes you wonder what happens when we get
Speaker 1: to Super Bowl one hundred and we're gonna dig into
Speaker 1: that for an hour today on the podcast Game of
Speaker 1: Week fifteen, we're doing our wish list. But yes, Mark
Speaker 1: Sessler's here and we're gonna talk about Brown's Ravens. Let's
Speaker 1: go reight huddle with Jackson back out there. Fourth and
Speaker 1: five at the Cleveland forty four. Jackson and the gun
Speaker 1: five on the wine shotgun snack. Fourth and five runs
Speaker 1: out of the pocket, pass the hash mark on the
Speaker 1: numbers down field drones. It's called of the twenty wide
Speaker 1: open is bron He goes from the ten to the
Speaker 1: five hits a touchdown. Baltimore comes right back and they
Speaker 1: get the touchdown pass of forty four yards. Un believable
Speaker 1: Kevin Harland of Westwood one with the call. All so
Speaker 1: many unbelievable things from this game, but the fact that
Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson returned from the locker room ran on the
Speaker 1: field put the Ravens ahead late in the fourth quarter
Speaker 1: with a touchdown to Hollywood brown The game still had
Speaker 1: a bunch of stuff that happened after that, but that
Speaker 1: is to me what people will remember most about Ravens
Speaker 1: forty seven, Browns forty two on Monday Night football is
Speaker 1: the disappearance of Lamar Jackson, for the mysterious cramping leading
Speaker 1: to much Internet derision, his return, and then just a
Speaker 1: wild finish between two a f C North teams that
Speaker 1: are very much equals. It appears at this stage in time,
Speaker 1: Mark Obviously it had to be a roller coaster of
Speaker 1: emotion for you. Uh it went from nice start to
Speaker 1: h two, oh we're done, to oh my goodness, we're
Speaker 1: gonna win and then the way things played out. Tell
Speaker 1: us how you felt watching this game, Well, I mean,
Speaker 1: I like it was a wild night and I chose
Speaker 1: to um, I will say this real quickly that I
Speaker 1: watched the first Cleveland drive, um the touchdown drive, which
Speaker 1: I was impressed with alone in my garage because I'm
Speaker 1: very superstitious and nancy during these games when I'm not working,
Speaker 1: and so um, I ran into the I went in
Speaker 1: in between the house and the garage like five or
Speaker 1: six times, and every time I would go into the
Speaker 1: house to watch with the rest of my family, the
Speaker 1: Ravens would score a touchdown like two seconds later. So
Speaker 1: finally I said enough of this. But then I just
Speaker 1: said enough with all of this superstition. I'm gonna go
Speaker 1: inside the house and watch it with the whole family.
Speaker 1: And it was a roller coaster ride for me. I
Speaker 1: could tell right away, as I think we all could,
Speaker 1: that this was the version of Lamar Jackson that was
Speaker 1: um m v p uh level, hyper dangerous and totally
Speaker 1: plugged in. And you know you put that against I
Speaker 1: think a Cleveland defense where Cleveland's defense has a bunch
Speaker 1: of guys on one year contracts um outside of a
Speaker 1: couple of stars, they're missing Denzel Ward. Their back seven
Speaker 1: of their defense had no idea of what to do
Speaker 1: with Lamar Jackson. And I thought they got they got tricked,
Speaker 1: they got out schemed. Um, they're not the first team
Speaker 1: to wake up on Monday morning or Sunday or Tuesday
Speaker 1: morning thinking what the heck did we do with with
Speaker 1: ourselves on defense? But Lamar Jackson fried them um from
Speaker 1: wire to wire. And when he came out of that
Speaker 1: locker room, I think we've all watched enough sports where
Speaker 1: whether or not the football gods arranged that little, um,
Speaker 1: you know, moment, a bit of television magic. I didn't
Speaker 1: know that it was over, but I knew that it
Speaker 1: was that that seemed to me, um, like a psychological
Speaker 1: shift in a game that was going back and forth.
Speaker 1: And you're right, a bunch of stuff happened after that,
Speaker 1: But something in my heart just knew, um, this is
Speaker 1: Baltimore's night, and I kind of just chilled and watched
Speaker 1: from that point. Um, it was. It was a wild ride.
Speaker 1: I don't know how to express it in bullet points
Speaker 1: or briefly. I'm sorry, it's okay, you don't, you don't
Speaker 1: need to. This is what it's like, Mark, Now, you
Speaker 1: know when the Patriots were always kind of in the mix,
Speaker 1: It's like it was a lot of asking. My reaction,
Speaker 1: which felt like I don't know. I don't want to
Speaker 1: talk about that. Let's talk about the page now that
Speaker 1: the Browns are the next great a f C powerhouse
Speaker 1: for the next ten years, You're gonna be the focus.
Speaker 1: Kevin Stefans. That was one of my That was one
Speaker 1: of my takeaways though, though I think America got to
Speaker 1: see um why And we'll get to Lamar too. I
Speaker 1: want to talk about him. But that was such a
Speaker 1: great game for Stefansky. I never thought they were out
Speaker 1: of it. I don't think they were necessarily even out
Speaker 1: schemed on defense because it was Lamar just making up
Speaker 1: plays as he went. I mean, with two minutes left
Speaker 1: in the first half, he had been sacked more times
Speaker 1: than he had thrown passes. Like it was just him,
Speaker 1: like spit balling and running and that is the toughest
Speaker 1: and scariest thing to try to stop. So it's a
Speaker 1: blast to watch. But I love when Stefanski goes for
Speaker 1: it on fourth and eight early in the game. We're
Speaker 1: an offensive team. We're gonna need to score about forty
Speaker 1: points in this game to win. He knew it. He
Speaker 1: knows his team. They got the fourth down late, they
Speaker 1: went for the two point conversion when they were down eight,
Speaker 1: which put the Ravens in a tough spot. I liked
Speaker 1: even at the end of the first half, he was
Speaker 1: super aggressive let Baker Mayfield throw the ball. It ended
Speaker 1: up setting up Lamar for a big score at the
Speaker 1: end of the second quarter because Baker had a really
Speaker 1: poor drive right before the half. But that's what they
Speaker 1: gotta do. They gotta they gotta go for it because
Speaker 1: they are an offensive team, they are a great offensive line.
Speaker 1: They don't need to Baber Baby Baker. And when Lamar
Speaker 1: had that fourth down play, I immediately thought they probably
Speaker 1: would have been better if he had just thrown the
Speaker 1: short one and they could have ran the clock down
Speaker 1: and had Tucker kicked the game winning field goal, because
Speaker 1: the Browns are gonna go back and score right now.
Speaker 1: The only problem was the brown scored too quickly. Just crazy.
Speaker 1: I came out of the game on the Brown side
Speaker 1: of things, very impressed, obviously, um with their fight and
Speaker 1: their resolve and the fact that they just wouldn't die.
Speaker 1: But also Baker, who had been very up and down
Speaker 1: on his whole career because he's been an up and
Speaker 1: down player, but like he definitely has that if factor.
Speaker 1: I think That's one of the reasons why the Browns
Speaker 1: took him first overall into when he's seventeen and like,
Speaker 1: he's exactly the type of dude, Uh you want behind
Speaker 1: center in a game like that, when it just became
Speaker 1: like this, like uh this two gun slingers just going
Speaker 1: at it. And it wasn't just that they went down
Speaker 1: the field after that Hollywood Brown touchdown and tied it.
Speaker 1: They just went down the field with ease. I mean
Speaker 1: bringing back memories of that insane Chiefs ramshoot out from
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago, where it almost became like
Speaker 1: the rules of both teams and just the logic went
Speaker 1: out the window. Um, like, if you come out of
Speaker 1: this game, thing, oh, what is wrong with the Ravens defense?
Speaker 1: They gave up twenty two points in the fourth quarter alone. Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: the Ravens. This is not the old Ravens anymore on defense.
Speaker 1: But also that was one of those weird special nights
Speaker 1: in the NFL where just everything goes crazy and you
Speaker 1: just sit back and enjoy it because, uh, you're watching
Speaker 1: something that doesn't happen too often. And and the only
Speaker 1: thing I thought, and I TechEd Mark, I very carefully
Speaker 1: texted you later in the night after the game, just
Speaker 1: to touch base with you. The only thing I would
Speaker 1: have done differently, And I know it's crazy and it
Speaker 1: probably doesn't make a difference, but you never know, Um,
Speaker 1: Stefanski had been so brilliant and hanging onions all game,
Speaker 1: why not go for two when you uh go down
Speaker 1: the field and and have the chance to do it
Speaker 1: and maybe take the lead, and then who knows what
Speaker 1: happens when the Ravens get the ball back. That's the
Speaker 1: only thing I wanted. You've gotten all the way at
Speaker 1: that point, go over too, and just try to steal
Speaker 1: a one point when in that spot. I agreed with you.
Speaker 1: I agreed with you. I mean, I think, like you know,
Speaker 1: there's logic on both sides of that, UM, but it
Speaker 1: would have fit their daring DNA for the night. I mean,
Speaker 1: I you know, I think it came down to one
Speaker 1: of those games where who made the more critical mistakes.
Speaker 1: And for as good as Baker Mayfield has been over
Speaker 1: the past, you know, two or three games, Um, a
Speaker 1: mistake for you over the last month. I thought that
Speaker 1: interception was was a deciding a huge deciding factor. And
Speaker 1: Cody Parkey, who's been money for the Browns. You miss
Speaker 1: a gimme field goal and a pH and you look
Speaker 1: at how the game ended. Um, you know that said,
Speaker 1: I mean, I think I point to the Kareem Hunt.
Speaker 1: Scoring too quickly is something that you know, this is
Speaker 1: teams a month removed from Nick Chubb, Um, you know,
Speaker 1: being being you know, kind of ripped for it but
Speaker 1: not wanting to do that and running out of bounds
Speaker 1: and giving the chance that the Browns a chance to
Speaker 1: run out the clock. I do. I just kind of
Speaker 1: feel like if you wanted to look at deep deep strategy,
Speaker 1: the idea of maybe not scoring there and taking it
Speaker 1: down to the very end, it's too hard there. I
Speaker 1: mean they were where where would that place? You know,
Speaker 1: they scored so quickly. They couldn't have strategized on that,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Like it's just it's just
Speaker 1: one of those things like they went. They went so quickly,
Speaker 1: and that play wasn't even inside the fifteen yard line.
Speaker 1: It was a little short path. I mean, that is
Speaker 1: a play call you don't expect to score. If anything,
Speaker 1: maybe Stefanski is thinking about getting the first down and
Speaker 1: bleeding some clock. We don't know, but they scored too quickly.
Speaker 1: I thought about them going for two there, but I
Speaker 1: think you know, the analytics move would be not to
Speaker 1: and there for the reason that you saw, which is
Speaker 1: that it's not worth the juice. Isn't worth the squeeze
Speaker 1: when there's such a decent chance that Tucker is gonna
Speaker 1: kick the game winning field goal anyways, you know, like
Speaker 1: you gotta get a stop either way. Um, and is
Speaker 1: it worth that that risk of not getting the two
Speaker 1: when when you know there's such a good chance, you know,
Speaker 1: the Ravens can go score h either way. But I
Speaker 1: loved the fans. It's just I just wonder what happens
Speaker 1: if McSorley didn't get hurt. Was Lamar really coming back
Speaker 1: in that game? He said after the game that like, oh,
Speaker 1: I was coming back either way, But I don't know.
Speaker 1: He didn't have been that playing run out until McSorley
Speaker 1: got hurt and it was literally fourth down, like if
Speaker 1: McSorley had fumbled that play, which could have easily happened
Speaker 1: the game's over. Let's hear from Lamar Jackson talking about
Speaker 1: the events surrounding his absence and in general the wild
Speaker 1: nature at the end of the game. There's been a
Speaker 1: great job dropping the ball down the field and down
Speaker 1: and as as I'm saying, going now like I'm still stretching,
Speaker 1: like I'm like, I gotta I'm catching the attitude Conte.
Speaker 1: We want to and then I see him down and
Speaker 1: we gotta start. We just got start running out the
Speaker 1: kill running with me. It's fourth down, many tail off
Speaker 1: and godes me great kiches And he came out with
Speaker 1: a lot of talk on social media that you were
Speaker 1: kind of like jogging, like, yes, he used the bathroom
Speaker 1: or something was cramping. I ain't putting, Paul piercing. I
Speaker 1: didn't put I was cramping. I didn't, I didn't pull. No,
Speaker 1: Paul Pierce, I don't know Greg youary Boston Sports and
Speaker 1: I don't even know what that reference is. But really, yeah,
Speaker 1: they kind of forget what there was. There was a
Speaker 1: famous Celtic. Yeah, there was a famous playoff game. She's
Speaker 1: was it against the nets? But he got pulled, he
Speaker 1: got taken off the field, in off the chair injury. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and he pretended that he was hurt. And then he
Speaker 1: finally and there had been rumors forever that he just
Speaker 1: had to poop, and he finally admitted it on ESPN
Speaker 1: A year ago, so it kind of came back into
Speaker 1: the news. He he did. He did say like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I really was just pooping. But the thing is, I
Speaker 1: never I ever bought the poop story because of a
Speaker 1: lot of NFL players tweeting about and stuff, because like
Speaker 1: what what why would he be back there for thirty minutes.
Speaker 1: It's the timing was just weird that he was suddenly
Speaker 1: able to come back in and then he could run
Speaker 1: on four Like every man and woman has a different
Speaker 1: journey when it comes to that world, and some people
Speaker 1: are in and out one, two, three, and some people
Speaker 1: you know, there's a candle, there's some magazine out, and
Speaker 1: there's you know, there's some time to take. I don't
Speaker 1: know that is It's one of those funny like subplots
Speaker 1: that will always remember when you look back at this
Speaker 1: stage and vnefelt football what he said it was cramps,
Speaker 1: You don't know what it was. But I was amazed,
Speaker 1: amazed that all right, you missed one series. Okay, he's
Speaker 1: gonna be back. When McSorley comes out on the field
Speaker 1: and they're losing, I'm actually a little bummed as a
Speaker 1: football fan because you wanted this game to go out,
Speaker 1: because the Browns and Ravens trading Haymakers with their best players.
Speaker 1: Then it looked like the Browns are gonna win because
Speaker 1: Trace McSorley was on the field when it mattered most.
Speaker 1: So the way it played it cinematic really with and
Speaker 1: you hope mcsorley's okay when he wrenched his knee there,
Speaker 1: but for him to come in, run on the field,
Speaker 1: and then, of all things, to throw a touchdown past
Speaker 1: that really was remarkable. I mean I was saying in in,
Speaker 1: you know, to Simone and the kids, like I don't
Speaker 1: want them to sneak away with a win. With trace
Speaker 1: McSorley closing this out. Then Lamar came back on the field,
Speaker 1: and I thought, well, maybe I do, uh, maybe I
Speaker 1: do want to take it, you know, let's take it
Speaker 1: like the crazy part. And and um Greasy kept pointing
Speaker 1: this out. You know, he had eighty one yards passing
Speaker 1: when he re entered the game on fourth and five,
Speaker 1: and he had eighty two yards more the rest of
Speaker 1: the way. It wasn't just that one throw, which I
Speaker 1: couldn't have been the only person thinking, don't throw it,
Speaker 1: like run for the first down, like oh, and then
Speaker 1: you see it's Marquise Brown has dropped everything. You're like,
Speaker 1: don't throw it to Marquis Brown, but he he actually
Speaker 1: catches that one. Uh. It's also the next drive where
Speaker 1: it was a minute left and you're thinking, oh, I
Speaker 1: think the Ravens are gonna do this, but I didn't
Speaker 1: act them to do it, throwing all these out routes
Speaker 1: which they couldn't complete once the entire game. Suddenly he
Speaker 1: goes four for fourth throwing the ball to set up
Speaker 1: the win. It really was kind of an m v P.
Speaker 1: Put the team on on my back, like I'm just
Speaker 1: more athletic than everyone else in the field. I don't
Speaker 1: know how far that takes this team. Their defense is
Speaker 1: a problem, I think, but they man the schedule sets up.
Speaker 1: I think it's this is the game that's going to
Speaker 1: get them into the playoffs. Well, their schedule is it's
Speaker 1: very workable, and I think that Dan's prediction that they
Speaker 1: would you know, run the table to get into the
Speaker 1: postseason is it will happen. And um, they suddenly look
Speaker 1: extremely dangerous now that they don't have you know, fifteen
Speaker 1: players on the Corona list. But their defense was looked
Speaker 1: bad against Dallas. They they have no pass Rush, Kalais
Speaker 1: Campbell's a shell of them formerself and they are a
Speaker 1: spin at cornerback if they can't get Peters Um and
Speaker 1: Jimmy Smith back. I guess Peters did return in that game.
Speaker 1: That wasn't mean there was so much when they had
Speaker 1: a good job by John Harbor. What's it like to
Speaker 1: have a good head coach calling that time time out?
Speaker 1: When the Ravens were about to have too many men
Speaker 1: on the field because Clays couldn't get off the field,
Speaker 1: they showed Klais like leaning over to say something to
Speaker 1: the Harbor, and Klais looked like he was like sixty
Speaker 1: five years old. I don't know if if something has
Speaker 1: happened and he's aged in dog years or something, but
Speaker 1: he looked like a beat up old man at that moment.
Speaker 1: He's come back from an injury I think too quickly,
Speaker 1: had this calf injury, and he has he has been
Speaker 1: pushed around the last two weeks and they don't have much.
Speaker 1: But I hope you enjoy market is something cool that
Speaker 1: that was the game of the year. I felt like
Speaker 1: that was the game of the year in the first
Speaker 1: half too. It's maybe it's because of you partly but
Speaker 1: it's also like the history of these two teams, the
Speaker 1: fact that it's the biggest game, and I think that
Speaker 1: the Browns franchise has had in a long time, certainly
Speaker 1: one of the biggest ever. Their chance to get Baltimore
Speaker 1: out the Lamar like being Lamar factor like that, I
Speaker 1: didn't even before the great ending. To me, that was awesome.
Speaker 1: And uh, I think it's a step in the right
Speaker 1: direction that the Browns are in the best game of
Speaker 1: the year, you know, in Week four and they were
Speaker 1: right there at the end. Well, I think it's highly
Speaker 1: surreal for most Browns fans. And you know, I heard
Speaker 1: moral victory thrown around a lot and I and I
Speaker 1: get that. Um, I think the difference would be had
Speaker 1: they done that, if that game had happened between Cleveland
Speaker 1: and say the Kansas City Chiefs. I'm all about the
Speaker 1: moral victory, but um like, I lost a few followers
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks ago when I tweeted a rather
Speaker 1: heat seeking um diet tribe against the Ravens when they
Speaker 1: lost that Wednesday game to the Steelers, and and some
Speaker 1: of them were our listeners who I who I like,
Speaker 1: But you know they're in England and they became Ravens. No,
Speaker 1: I don't even remember it was. You've you've probably you've
Speaker 1: heard anything I tweeted about them. You've heard me say
Speaker 1: before when I get irritated it's from a while ago. Um,
Speaker 1: I just you know, the Ravens are different to me,
Speaker 1: and I like I I really. One thing I like
Speaker 1: about Stefanski is that he completely shot down the idea
Speaker 1: of that specific opponent, um equally in a moral victory,
Speaker 1: that that's not the case. It's not it is. And
Speaker 1: because I keep hearing that, you know, the Ravens are
Speaker 1: and I think for someone that lived through the move,
Speaker 1: it's different than if you picked up Baltimore ten years ago,
Speaker 1: or if you picked up the Browns ten years ago.
Speaker 1: There's just different, deeper layers. And we've been through all that.
Speaker 1: But you know, they called the Ravens Cleveland's big brother,
Speaker 1: and and the Ravens were also ripped from Cleveland's bellies.
Speaker 1: So even if you looked at like Greek and Roman myths,
Speaker 1: the idea that a big brother is taken out of
Speaker 1: the stomach of a little brother is a plot that
Speaker 1: those myths didn't even attempt to cook up with. So
Speaker 1: it's a very odd, uh, you know, relationship between the
Speaker 1: two teams. I thought it was kind of cool to
Speaker 1: see um Stefanski and Harbaugh at the end of the game.
Speaker 1: They showed extreme respect to each other. And if there's
Speaker 1: even um respect going towards a Cleveland coaching staff at
Speaker 1: this point, that is a massive sea change. So it
Speaker 1: is a step forward, Um. And believe me, like in
Speaker 1: in Dan, this will be the Jets at some point.
Speaker 1: Anyone that follows a struggling team at some point, if
Speaker 1: you live long enough, you'll it will be there. It's
Speaker 1: totally surreal. I'm not catching up with it. Um. Emotionally,
Speaker 1: I just hope that they don't flounder and somehow get
Speaker 1: knocked out by the Ravens because everyone sort of booked
Speaker 1: them for the playoffs and they have worked to do
Speaker 1: for that to be true. They're not in yet. They
Speaker 1: things could go wrong. They've got to stick to who
Speaker 1: they are. I think they'll be all right, though, Mark,
Speaker 1: we've seen so much this year that they know how
Speaker 1: to take care of their business. That would be That
Speaker 1: would be a real change of personality for them at
Speaker 1: this point. And I agree with you. Moral victories don't
Speaker 1: take you very far. Especially when you have a chance
Speaker 1: to beat the ravens of all teams. But uh, yeah,
Speaker 1: like when we were texting yesterday three years ago in April,
Speaker 1: Mark and I were in the cozy here at the
Speaker 1: bar in Los Angeles by our office. Uh taken a
Speaker 1: shot because market team had taken Baker number one, and
Speaker 1: and the Jets took Donald number three, and it it
Speaker 1: felt like the a new beginning. The Jets obviously have
Speaker 1: gone the total opposite direction and or worse off than
Speaker 1: they ever were. But look at where the Browns are
Speaker 1: now from then when they were coming off their own
Speaker 1: oh and sixteen season. So there's so much to be
Speaker 1: excited about. And m two two quick points. First of all,
Speaker 1: Justin Tucker. You guys know my feelings about Justin Tucker.
Speaker 1: The fact that it felt like it was a done
Speaker 1: deal when he's on the field just tells you everything
Speaker 1: you need to know about him. Just drilling a fifty
Speaker 1: five yard or to the open air state, the end
Speaker 1: of the state with the eyes of the world on him.
Speaker 1: Never a doubt that guy is a Hall of Famer
Speaker 1: to me. And how about a name for the game.
Speaker 1: What do you think about the Holy Game? Yeah? That works?
Speaker 1: On multiple levels. Like it? Why not? I like it.
Speaker 1: I want to speak one thing into existence. Well, then
Speaker 1: finish your finish what you were gonna say, Dan, No, no,
Speaker 1: I'm speaking this into existence because then in in the
Speaker 1: way I see it, then this will not happen. Um,
Speaker 1: there is a scenario where the Jets and Dolphins end
Speaker 1: up in total hell. The Jets and Browns end up
Speaker 1: in total hell. Where if the Browns lost to the Jets,
Speaker 1: if Sam Donald outdueld Baker Mayfield and the Jets beat
Speaker 1: the Browns, and it's somehow compelled to knock the Browns
Speaker 1: out of the postseason and the Jets out of the
Speaker 1: first overall pick, that would be very dark. Back to
Speaker 1: the cozy, I don't care if it's closed market. But um,
Speaker 1: and yes, that was a certified lock off. And uh
Speaker 1: it gave me no pleasure to feel your pain. Mark.
Speaker 1: But I gotta take the w and move forward to
Speaker 1: Dan Hans shout out. I gotta take that dub well
Speaker 1: over Erica too. She's um And just when we knew,
Speaker 1: Justin Tucker goes the smoke that field goal when Erica
Speaker 1: aligned herself and she she was hammling and hauling. Should
Speaker 1: I picked the Ravens or Browns. When she picked Cleveland,
Speaker 1: you knew it was all over. You knew it was
Speaker 1: all over, and sure enough, that's how it played out.
Speaker 1: Way to go, Erica. Thank you, Erica, you on the show.
Speaker 1: There she is. Yeah, I don't like this narrative being
Speaker 1: not a narrative. It's it's actually now just the way
Speaker 1: society is and your that's your your fate within this realm.
Speaker 1: I really thought the Browns were gonna pull it off
Speaker 1: when when they went down and scored, and I was
Speaker 1: just like, this is it? Like I was really really
Speaker 1: rooting for it, and maybe that's that's my downfall. Yeah,
Speaker 1: don't don't blow this Brown's I don't think they will either,
Speaker 1: but don't blow this. Don't blow it. Funny win, win
Speaker 1: that game in New York, beat the Jets, and then
Speaker 1: have like a dead boring game in weeks that don't
Speaker 1: even thweat it out in week seventeen. All right, there
Speaker 1: we go, Mark, we can close the book on that game.
Speaker 1: I'm sure it will never come up again. In fact,
Speaker 1: as we're taking us, it's playing on NFL Network. I
Speaker 1: know that for a fact, and uh, you you might
Speaker 1: have to deal with some replays of that for the
Speaker 1: rest of the time. But you know that is I
Speaker 1: guess the price of being involved with a classic game. Uh.
Speaker 1: When it when it goes your way, you love when
Speaker 1: it comes out all the time. When it doesn't, it's
Speaker 1: just one more thing that makes life kind of annoying.
Speaker 1: I will take it assuming that they replay a game
Speaker 1: that they win at some point. NFL Network they seem
Speaker 1: to specialize in playing Brown's Heartbreakers. I don't know if
Speaker 1: it's a personal note towards towards myself they have to
Speaker 1: choose from. Ultimately, I mean, I feel like it probably
Speaker 1: outrages anyway. Let's move forward. All right. It is the
Speaker 1: holiday season, Greg, we're smack in the middle of hanaka
Speaker 1: or Smokey Robinson calls it Chanooka, and uh, I know
Speaker 1: that's a big time celebration in your home. No, we don't.
Speaker 1: Sometimes people that like aren't really that close with me,
Speaker 1: they'll like text me like, oh happy Hanukah, and am
Speaker 1: I always torn of like do I bother to tell
Speaker 1: them we don't celebrate anika or not? You got a
Speaker 1: manure in the house. Oh wow, so you're really not?
Speaker 1: You are hands off? This is a hands off your
Speaker 1: borderline anti Hanaka, No, I'm all about it. I'm I
Speaker 1: support it, but I wasn't raised that way, so it
Speaker 1: hasn't really big. We're off to a flying start in
Speaker 1: this holiday segment. We we do have Christmas trees up
Speaker 1: all across the south Land and uh with Christmas here
Speaker 1: Hanaka Kwanza's role in big time. So let us share
Speaker 1: our wish lists. And I know, for instance, my kids
Speaker 1: Jack is just learning how to write. Um, so he
Speaker 1: sent his letter to Santa. H Harrison, just a boy
Speaker 1: of barely four years old. So I helped make his list,
Speaker 1: which I think just had slime on it. It was
Speaker 1: very limited in scope. Those were sent us to Santa,
Speaker 1: and then Santa hopefully listens and and brings the children
Speaker 1: the gifts that they they desire. So why don't why
Speaker 1: don't we put together our own holiday wish lists? Here
Speaker 1: hopes for the rest of the season. How we wanted
Speaker 1: to play out Mark, do you want to get us gone? Sure? Um?
Speaker 1: You know, I I think that I've had to take
Speaker 1: a long look in the mirror at my attitude towards
Speaker 1: the Los Angeles football teams in the December and the
Speaker 1: holiday season is the time for healing and giving. And
Speaker 1: I want to give a gift to um, not the
Speaker 1: Rams necessarily, but but the Chargers, who I think that
Speaker 1: they've been through a lot this season, and well, you
Speaker 1: want to give them a gift with I might have
Speaker 1: the segment wrong. I thought we're asking for something or
Speaker 1: are we giving something? I thought we're putting. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: a wish list. It's like we're we're like those little
Speaker 1: children writing to Santa. Well, I never I obviously didn't
Speaker 1: master the writing to Santa part. I will suggest that they.
Speaker 1: I will speak to someone inside the Charges organization. We
Speaker 1: know a few um to put this on their wish lists.
Speaker 1: Tell about that because I think they don't They don't
Speaker 1: know about this object UM, but they they will like it.
Speaker 1: UM and it is. It is bridget. It is bridget
Speaker 1: supercomputer logical minkstress um. Because you know the Chargers to
Speaker 1: an embarrassing level. We know that they can't handle end
Speaker 1: of half scenarios, end of game scenarios. It's become a
Speaker 1: national narrative and it seems to travel from era to
Speaker 1: era and coach to coach. They may have Eric b
Speaker 1: Enemy paired with Justin Herbert a couple of months from now.
Speaker 1: But even if they stick with with Anthony Lynn, who
Speaker 1: were who were fans of UM, they could use Bridget,
Speaker 1: who is a as far as we know, technologically advanced
Speaker 1: UM also a bit of a biting and she she's
Speaker 1: not gonna mince words, She's gonna tell how she does.
Speaker 1: So I think the Chargers need some tough love good
Speaker 1: and I would just say, let's give them Bridget. It
Speaker 1: gets Bridget off the hands of this show. I don't
Speaker 1: have to deal with her again, so it helps me
Speaker 1: as well. Any gift you give someone else should partially
Speaker 1: help yourself. You basically have brought her out of the dumpster.
Speaker 1: I mean I had I had forgotten about the Bridget
Speaker 1: five thousand and if if I would have had one
Speaker 1: wish that that you would have granted on my behalf
Speaker 1: was give me a little heads up on this bit.
Speaker 1: I want to have Bridget like sinked up for major
Speaker 1: laughs for the audience. Well, we I did speak to
Speaker 1: our producer about this, and it's up to her what
Speaker 1: she chooses to do with that. With that part of it, UM,
Speaker 1: what was that Bridget good? One mark? Not good? One
Speaker 1: mark not? Bridget's one of those characters on the show
Speaker 1: where I could just remember which bits brought the most
Speaker 1: anger to Mark and that was one of them, to
Speaker 1: the point where Bridget had to be thought in a
Speaker 1: dumpster because I needed to keep the show floating for
Speaker 1: another you know, decade or so, so we could, you know,
Speaker 1: pay our rent and things of that nature. Well, I
Speaker 1: I went, I sorted through some of the other clips
Speaker 1: that she has at her disposal, and it's all like
Speaker 1: Greg is back on the acid. Mark has no good thoughts,
Speaker 1: Dan is hot. Oh, Dan made a mistake, no worries, Dan,
Speaker 1: how would you have known? Uh, you know, things like that.
Speaker 1: So it it felt, you know, get it out of
Speaker 1: our out of our ecosystem, and give it to the chargers,
Speaker 1: enjoy it bolts. So the logic here is that Bridget
Speaker 1: helps with time management. Yeah, well you know, Bridget, I
Speaker 1: think if you were to reconfigure her system, a bit
Speaker 1: could become one of those They apparently don't hire anyone
Speaker 1: from the analytical community, so let's just give them a
Speaker 1: robot to handle late game situations. So she mean bridge
Speaker 1: it on the headset with Eric b Enemy or Anthony Lynne.
Speaker 1: They'd be like bridgets got a handled see In this case,
Speaker 1: you could be like Anthony, do not run the ball
Speaker 1: with twenty seconds left and no time out? See unbelievable.
Speaker 1: Greg is back on the acid. All right, there you go.
Speaker 1: So the wish is that the Chargers have bridget the
Speaker 1: robot to help with clock management. All right, Uh up
Speaker 1: next Greg? Alright, Um, they do have this like mailbox
Speaker 1: in in my neighborhood where the kids drop off. They're
Speaker 1: wishless for Santa, which is cute. We did it. We
Speaker 1: have a we have a tree. I do wonder like,
Speaker 1: is this another like way they're collecting personal information? Who knows?
Speaker 1: Who knows? Just a beam of holiday sunshine. It was great.
Speaker 1: I love we got the tree. We got it all.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm asking for something just a little bit after Christmas.
Speaker 1: I'm asking the football gods for a week seventeen that
Speaker 1: matters because I'm looking ahead and I am seeing a
Speaker 1: scenario year where the final week of the season has
Speaker 1: what they call in in tennis or cricket, sometimes a
Speaker 1: lot of dead rubbers, a lot of games that don't
Speaker 1: really have an impact on what's moving forward. To imagine this,
Speaker 1: and this is the all of these are about are
Speaker 1: more than fifty fifty to happen. So it's very possible
Speaker 1: a scenario where the Chiefs have already clinched home field.
Speaker 1: Probably the Steelers have already clinched a f C North
Speaker 1: but have no chance for home field. The Packers have
Speaker 1: already clinched home field, very possible considering the Saints matchup
Speaker 1: this week and the tiebreak advantage Green Bay. As the
Speaker 1: Rams have already clinched the NFC West, all they gotta
Speaker 1: do is beat the Seahawks, Uh, the Seahawks, the Browns,
Speaker 1: all these other teams are in and we just have
Speaker 1: a whole bunch of Week seventeen games that don't really matter.
Speaker 1: Maybe we have like a Cardinals team playing arresting Rams
Speaker 1: team to make it into the playoffs, and that, in
Speaker 1: some NFC East nonsense, is all we get in weeks.
Speaker 1: I'll give you another example because this I was looking
Speaker 1: at the schedule this morning. Let's say, by the grace
Speaker 1: of God, the Raiders beat the Dolphins next week, and
Speaker 1: that becomes an stone cold race for the seventh spot,
Speaker 1: and then the Dolphins need to win against the Bills
Speaker 1: and a great division showdown. But the Bills locked up
Speaker 1: the East and can go nowhere. So they don't another way,
Speaker 1: don't play their starters, and then the Dolphins end up
Speaker 1: getting the seventh seed, potentially by default against a bunch
Speaker 1: of backups. It's it's it's for real. It's a concern here.
Speaker 1: I think part of the thought of making just one
Speaker 1: team get to buy you know, you know, you're you're
Speaker 1: trying to get an extra playoff game basically, But I
Speaker 1: think one of the side effects is taking away that
Speaker 1: second by. Yes, you're adding a seventh team, but you're
Speaker 1: also taking away that second by. And especially this year
Speaker 1: where there's no home field advantage, why would why would teams?
Speaker 1: I wonder, even if the Colts and Titans would play
Speaker 1: out all out to win the division like you would,
Speaker 1: you would assume they would, But I don't know. If
Speaker 1: they're both in the playoffs, do they really care that much?
Speaker 1: Would a week off in the middle of this pandemic
Speaker 1: be a little more valuable Philip Rivers and Derrick Henry
Speaker 1: than trying to get the four seed instead of the
Speaker 1: sixth seeds? Like I don't know. I would play for
Speaker 1: the matchup you want in January, if there's any way
Speaker 1: to do that, you know, versus the seating like the
Speaker 1: Browns fans are great that that that was the first
Speaker 1: time the entire season I felt like there was any
Speaker 1: level of home field advantage. Not that it was huge,
Speaker 1: but you sense that that game was being played in
Speaker 1: front of humans and humans that were fired up and
Speaker 1: you know, maybe a little close to each other and
Speaker 1: not practicing masked diligence. But at the same time, it
Speaker 1: felt like a real crowd there. If you look at
Speaker 1: the numbers, I haven't checked in a while, but the
Speaker 1: last time I did, the road teams have a better
Speaker 1: record than the home teams this year. So yeah, that
Speaker 1: is a big part of this too. I think if
Speaker 1: you're playing at home and you have no fans, it's
Speaker 1: almost weirder because you have like muscle memory of remembering
Speaker 1: there being seventy thousand people. But to your point, Baker
Speaker 1: had to quiet that crowd last night. There is one
Speaker 1: thing I like about weeks seventeen, whether or not the
Speaker 1: matchups are good or not. And I'm with you, Greg,
Speaker 1: I'd like to see four or five that that really matter.
Speaker 1: But um, you are sort of waving farewell, and I
Speaker 1: don't mean this is the way I normally would mean,
Speaker 1: where it's like all you know, get rid of these teams.
Speaker 1: Like you're seeing teams for the final minutes until next September.
Speaker 1: And there is something really weird about weeks seventeen where bang,
Speaker 1: they're gone, They're out of your life. They're just they vanish.
Speaker 1: See you, Zach Taylor and Brandon Allen. It's like, we'll
Speaker 1: miss you, but not really some of them. We do
Speaker 1: need to say goodbye to um. All right, I will
Speaker 1: I will go next. Alright, So I wish that J. J.
Speaker 1: Watt is playing his final games as a member of
Speaker 1: the text. You know, so many great memories for what
Speaker 1: he's been in the league since I believe two thousand
Speaker 1: and eleven or twelve, and uh, you know, the Defensive
Speaker 1: Player of the Year awards. Um that cut he used
Speaker 1: to reopen above his head, right above his uh, his
Speaker 1: brow line, and then he would bleed out like the
Speaker 1: iron cheek and a cage match every week. The infamous
Speaker 1: Varsity letter jackets before the Patriots blowouts, know those, the
Speaker 1: grueling injury rehab efforts which are commendable. That Hard Knocks
Speaker 1: season where he set up his own private workout under
Speaker 1: the lights, which was awesome and fun. The noble and
Speaker 1: wildly successful Hurricane Harvey relief fund, which raised this is
Speaker 1: real forty one point six million dollars, making it the
Speaker 1: largest crowdsourced fundraiser in Houston and history. Uh. He's a
Speaker 1: Houston deity. But it's time to let him go. He's
Speaker 1: thirty one years old, he has one year left on
Speaker 1: his contract. He's owed seventeen point five million. It's not guaranteed.
Speaker 1: The Texans could simply UH cut him and move forward.
Speaker 1: They could trade him, which feels like a better route
Speaker 1: potentially for them, as long as you play ball at
Speaker 1: j J. And send him somewhere where he wants to play.
Speaker 1: But I don't know how many years Watt has left.
Speaker 1: I know he's not the same guy he used to be.
Speaker 1: T J has probably even eclipsed him within the family
Speaker 1: rankings of defenders in the NFL. But wouldn't it be
Speaker 1: nice to see J J. Watt playing for a contender
Speaker 1: uh in the twilight of his career. It would. It
Speaker 1: also would be a tough first move for whoever is
Speaker 1: coming in there. There aren't many players I think that
Speaker 1: are more beloved. He needs to kind of put that
Speaker 1: out there that he's part of this decision. He doesn't Yeah,
Speaker 1: he doesn't strike you know, he he he always talks
Speaker 1: about how much he loves the Texans. You're right, maybe
Speaker 1: maybe things could change. It depends on who gets there,
Speaker 1: but that that would be a tough one for whoever
Speaker 1: is coming in and being the general manager, because by
Speaker 1: the way, I think he's still a good player, Like
Speaker 1: I think you could get something for J. J. Watt
Speaker 1: because his contracts fine. He's still really good. He's he's
Speaker 1: he's not quite a pro bowler, but he's not far
Speaker 1: off of that. I would just say, because you have
Speaker 1: Deshaun Watson and it seems like some of the stuff
Speaker 1: there is fixable if he were super fired up about
Speaker 1: who they hired as coach. Um. It's just I'm with you,
Speaker 1: Dan that if he's if he gets um sunk into
Speaker 1: a more depressing version of the Texans going forward, he's
Speaker 1: earned the right to go somewhere else, and uh, we've
Speaker 1: earned the right to see him win with a team
Speaker 1: that knows how to organize. It'd be nice, it'd be nice.
Speaker 1: I agree. This popped in my head because after they
Speaker 1: got their ass beat thirty six seven by Mitch Drabinsky
Speaker 1: on Sunday, he was quoted he said, we gave up
Speaker 1: thirty six points today, we're not competitive. We gave up
Speaker 1: thirty six points, And it just seemed like he knows
Speaker 1: what's going on here. The Texans are in such a
Speaker 1: weird spot because you have the Deshaun Watson, who can
Speaker 1: speed up any rebuild obviously, but they're in such a
Speaker 1: hole because of the Bill O'Brien GM experience that they're
Speaker 1: not gonna be able to get better quickly, especially on
Speaker 1: defense without any draft resources and j J. It could
Speaker 1: work for both sides. JJ gets a fresh start at
Speaker 1: the end of his career with a contender, and they
Speaker 1: could bring back a draft resource that they desperately need
Speaker 1: after those deals at the end of the Bob tenure. Uh,
Speaker 1: let him go, but only if he wants it, and
Speaker 1: he and Greg you're right, he needs If they're going
Speaker 1: to do this, whoever takes on this job, and I
Speaker 1: don't think it will be Greg Easterby, JJ has to
Speaker 1: be out in front and saying he's part of the
Speaker 1: decision that they've mutually decided this is the way to go.
Speaker 1: You just tell them, Gregg easter Be, that was a
Speaker 1: slight on me, really. I mean, if Jackie uster Be
Speaker 1: just at this point, just let them go. I mean
Speaker 1: there will be you know, torches and pitched I think.
Speaker 1: I think after that Sports Illustrated profile of easterby something
Speaker 1: tells me Easter, these days are are numbered. We'll see
Speaker 1: all right. Uh, Ricky, you said you had one? Yes, yes, okay,
Speaker 1: so hear me out if there's anything not necessarily positive
Speaker 1: that has come out of COVID. But my wish for
Speaker 1: this Christmas and you know, goes into the next season,
Speaker 1: is that I hope some teams and reporters kind of
Speaker 1: take a different, similar approach to training camp. You know.
Speaker 1: I want them to have the normal training camp time
Speaker 1: and a lot of time and practice. However, I don't
Speaker 1: need to hear that Randall cobb as was taking more
Speaker 1: you know reps than normal and he's gonna be the
Speaker 1: you know, wide receiver one. I don't need that in
Speaker 1: my life, and I don't think we all. I think
Speaker 1: we all do. And Mark's pumping his fists. You must
Speaker 1: agree with me. Just let them have their training camp,
Speaker 1: give us our limited access. Let's leave you know, the
Speaker 1: narratives and the bs alone, and let's we'll see in September.
Speaker 1: So you don't want you just want to skip training camp. Well, no,
Speaker 1: I just don't want me to media to have this
Speaker 1: access that creates these narratives that we talk about for
Speaker 1: months on end. That means we ves this is an
Speaker 1: annual Yeah, this is an annual market mark bit. I
Speaker 1: like it. I mean, now you've said that the weekend.
Speaker 1: Can we just fast forward to the season, is what
Speaker 1: she's saying. But a rare member of the media saying
Speaker 1: less access, please please keep us out billionaires. I like it.
Speaker 1: I think there's a difference between, for instance, billionaire Stunner
Speaker 1: from the woman that grew up with that Healy pad.
Speaker 1: There's a difference between like what Mike Garafolo said the
Speaker 1: other week, where he you know, you got to give
Speaker 1: reporters access to give us information and to develop stories
Speaker 1: that should be told. My thing is more not about
Speaker 1: the season so much is that August training camp preseason thing.
Speaker 1: I personally thought that the NFL this year, with no
Speaker 1: chance to play the Pro Bowl, that should have been
Speaker 1: gone as a game ages ago in the preseason. It
Speaker 1: got fixed for you by Corona. Okay, we don't need
Speaker 1: the preseason one game. I could do one game, like
Speaker 1: maybe the idea of even one game or two games
Speaker 1: where one is just simply no veterans or whatever it is.
Speaker 1: But the idea of that team is still playing five
Speaker 1: preseason already worried about I'm not. At least you can
Speaker 1: be grateful. This was your dream year, Erica, with virtually
Speaker 1: no access in training camp, it was wait, wait do
Speaker 1: you of that? What is that? Oh? Silence, it's nice,
Speaker 1: it's quiet. I don't care who's showing up late and
Speaker 1: doesn't seem like the hearts in it? This training camp.
Speaker 1: I adore it. It. I I will stand up for
Speaker 1: the everyman. And when you make people that love your
Speaker 1: football team and want to be season ticket holders pay
Speaker 1: full price for those two preseason games, that is hoke
Speaker 1: um to borrow a damnage? Because so yes, I'm all
Speaker 1: for uh defunding the preseason. It feels like a long
Speaker 1: way off. It feels like another world. Uh, Mark, you
Speaker 1: got another one? Well, I do in in Colleen fashion,
Speaker 1: I honestly misunderstood the exercise and I gave a gift
Speaker 1: to someone, so I don't care. Go ahead, I'll do
Speaker 1: it real quick. It's actually a gift for Erica. It's
Speaker 1: not based on a recent comments. But um, you know
Speaker 1: a little bit off the NFL sector to some degree.
Speaker 1: But if we don't have a podcast, we don't have
Speaker 1: the NFL. Enost Mark, it was it was a tough
Speaker 1: night at the Sessler house. I want to learn more
Speaker 1: about the garage house dynamic, because the way Mark told
Speaker 1: the story was that he started the night watching the
Speaker 1: game in the garage and the Browns did well. He
Speaker 1: goes to the house, the Ravens strike back each time,
Speaker 1: and then at some point Mark just threw his hands
Speaker 1: up and said, I'm gonna be with the family. I
Speaker 1: believe what's left out there is a bit of a
Speaker 1: dust stop between Simone, your lovely wife saying Mark, grow up,
Speaker 1: don't blame us for the Browns get in this house,
Speaker 1: and and Mark went, okay, well no, Like she knows
Speaker 1: me well enough. She's like, if you're gonna be super
Speaker 1: stressed out, She's like, I totally get I totally get it.
Speaker 1: But that's fine if you want to watch in the garage.
Speaker 1: I just started to realize the idea that, like when
Speaker 1: I was twelve, I used to stand on one little
Speaker 1: tiny patch of carpet during Brown's games for three straight hours. Um,
Speaker 1: because if I moved off and I thought they lose.
Speaker 1: It's like I don't have powers over maybe adn't move
Speaker 1: it off that spot. Well, you're you're not wrong, alright,
Speaker 1: So my gift for Erica. Shall we get to it?
Speaker 1: All right? So, Erica, UM, Because I think it's in
Speaker 1: our best interest that you stay safe and sound, I
Speaker 1: am going to clone um Eddie spaghetti uh and have
Speaker 1: him stand watch outside your apartment against any additional creepy
Speaker 1: men asking you to open their frozen pizza boxes and
Speaker 1: cook their pizzas and borrow your knives to cut the
Speaker 1: pizzas and maybe do other things with knives. Um. But
Speaker 1: there is one catch in our technology. UM. The cloning
Speaker 1: technology is a C plus C plus at best right now,
Speaker 1: So cloned Eddie UM would he'd be standing there very
Speaker 1: guardlike and consistent, but with like two percent of the
Speaker 1: Eddie's real personality. UM. He also has like a ravenous appetite,
Speaker 1: so you ject if he essentially yes, you and Jet
Speaker 1: would have to make um bowls of fresh, piping hot
Speaker 1: spaghetti because according to his name, that's the only thing
Speaker 1: he'll eat. UM. On the ready, he eats a lot.
Speaker 1: He has access to your restroom. Merry Christmas, but I
Speaker 1: do think that the upshot will be that cramp you
Speaker 1: would stay safe from Hooligan's unless he's in the bathroom.
Speaker 1: Well that's part of the price, but thank you. My
Speaker 1: wish is that the next time a mentally unhinged stranger
Speaker 1: comes to the door and asks Erica for a machete,
Speaker 1: a pair of gloves, and to turn off the security cameras,
Speaker 1: Erica doesn't go, okay, okay, because sign me up? Do
Speaker 1: you want my credit card? All right? So they go
Speaker 1: Eddie Spaghetti Frankenstein Monster to protect Erica. Mark, you are
Speaker 1: on fire today. I love it. Um. My second one
Speaker 1: connected to Monday Night Football. I believe that the Monday
Speaker 1: Night Football crew earned their button last night. And I
Speaker 1: know Greg's gonna push back on this, but I think
Speaker 1: they've been very good this season. Steve Leavy play by
Speaker 1: play Greasy Lewis Riddick. Um, I think ESPN should take
Speaker 1: last night's game, which I thought was really handled well
Speaker 1: in a huge spotlight with tons of twists and turns
Speaker 1: back and forth. Um, they they found the moment, they
Speaker 1: rode the moment, and it felt like we're all watching
Speaker 1: the game together. Steve Levy goes down in Monday Night
Speaker 1: Football has his iconic line of his own now and
Speaker 1: here comes Lamar Jackson. They'll be playing that for years.
Speaker 1: When he came back from the locker room, and my
Speaker 1: thought is, ESPN should put a ring on the finger,
Speaker 1: make this relationship legit. Um, we know that tested to
Speaker 1: our booger arrow was an obvious mistake. Uh, and this
Speaker 1: current set up wasn't their first choice. But give me
Speaker 1: this team with solid chemistry over shoehorning. You know, Drew
Speaker 1: Brees or Drew Carey or Drew Barrymore or whatever. Uh,
Speaker 1: just let these people grow together because I think it's
Speaker 1: been a really promising rookie season for that trio. Well,
Speaker 1: Drew Brees is signed with NBC, you know, unless they
Speaker 1: had a clause in their contract. Um. You know what
Speaker 1: about Drew Barrymore saying that he couldn't get into any
Speaker 1: hot water with some some hot takes. Remember that. Remember
Speaker 1: when Drew Brees broke up the Saints locker room forevermore
Speaker 1: over the summer? That was fun. Uh yeah, really I
Speaker 1: really haunted them this season like that was like we
Speaker 1: needed something. I mean, it was rough. Um. I do
Speaker 1: like the the theory behind what you're talking about because
Speaker 1: moving to another booth next year is basically admitting you're
Speaker 1: like the early has Lamara Browns that like, we can't
Speaker 1: like no one can last with us for more than
Speaker 1: a year or two. And you're making this crew into
Speaker 1: being Rob Chadzinski, which isn't isn't fair to them. It's
Speaker 1: basically a bad It's showing what poor management ESPN has
Speaker 1: to go for some consistency. I think they've gotten better,
Speaker 1: and I think that's a good sign. I mean, week one,
Speaker 1: I thought that Kirk herb Street and friend were, UM,
Speaker 1: Chris Fowler were had just have flat out more mystery,
Speaker 1: and it concerned me that like a couple of weeks
Speaker 1: in a row and these other games got put into
Speaker 1: prime time because of Corona, that they were outshining. I
Speaker 1: thought the Monday Night Crew over and over, and yeah,
Speaker 1: I was waiting for the version of Louis Riddick that
Speaker 1: we get I think in UM talk segments and on Twitter,
Speaker 1: and I think we're getting more of that. UM. I
Speaker 1: heard him this morning on on Dan Patrick and he
Speaker 1: did an excellent job with his observations of the game.
Speaker 1: So I think just letting them be more of who
Speaker 1: they are UM I'm with you, Dan, I'd stick with it.
Speaker 1: I don't want another crew starting from scratch. Um, I
Speaker 1: don't think it's the I think they keep trying to
Speaker 1: recreate magic from the eighties when it was really special
Speaker 1: to watch Monday night football and have a three person
Speaker 1: crew when usually a two person crew just simply as
Speaker 1: the way to go these days. But if you're gonna
Speaker 1: do this, um, I think they've earned it. In my
Speaker 1: own concerned to be that Louis Riddeck could be pulled
Speaker 1: away to a front office sooner than later. I mean,
Speaker 1: I keep hearing that, and there must be a reason
Speaker 1: you keep hearing it. I mean, if if Riddick were
Speaker 1: to go, I think it would survive with no disrespect
Speaker 1: toward him. But I think I really liked Greasy all
Speaker 1: I think he's done a good job, and I think
Speaker 1: leave he's a pro. Um. Those are the two guys
Speaker 1: that jump out to me more than perhaps Rick does.
Speaker 1: But like, as long as Greasy is an acting like
Speaker 1: no one else in the country has watched Carson Wentz play,
Speaker 1: it's just like like sometimes where it's like be up
Speaker 1: to speed with where the rest of us are in
Speaker 1: terms of our cynicism sort towards certain players. Sometimes it's
Speaker 1: like this over celebration of both teams where one of
Speaker 1: the teams has major issues going on. Be real about it,
Speaker 1: because we're not. We're too savvy as viewers. It's a
Speaker 1: tough spot. Leave he has never done NFL games. To me,
Speaker 1: that's the hardest job in sports play by play. And
Speaker 1: and I think you can just see out there there's
Speaker 1: a there's a big cast of characters with a ton
Speaker 1: more experience being on NFL play by play. So if
Speaker 1: they're gonna do this, you gotta be patient with him.
Speaker 1: All right, Greg, you got one more. I'll throw in
Speaker 1: just some speed round ones number one. Let's let's get
Speaker 1: Brian floor as the coach of the year. I'm so
Speaker 1: impressed with Brian Flores when one of you know, beat
Speaker 1: the Patriots, beat the Raider and uh, you win coach
Speaker 1: of the year. Love love him. I want to see
Speaker 1: Alex Smith back in the lineup. This better not be
Speaker 1: the end of the Alex Smith story. Give me Week
Speaker 1: seventeen and Alex Smith being carried off the field for
Speaker 1: the Division winning football team. If this calf injury is it,
Speaker 1: that would be a big time bummer. And then this
Speaker 1: is for all the writers around the NFL. We don't
Speaker 1: do it as much anymore, but the Cowboys just give
Speaker 1: Dark Prescott his contract like January five. Surprise everyone that
Speaker 1: there's no drama to it, that the story is over
Speaker 1: right there, like just on a on a quiet Tuesday,
Speaker 1: way way before the playoff games. Here it is. We
Speaker 1: don't have to worry about it. When I heard like
Speaker 1: greecey or something, it was some or maybe it was Think,
Speaker 1: it was like, there's gonna be one heck of a
Speaker 1: negotiation coming up, was like, give me a freaking break
Speaker 1: every year, Erica pay the man. Yes, my wish is
Speaker 1: that hopefully with the vaccine being rolled out and everything
Speaker 1: for Christmas, I would really love to go to Tampa
Speaker 1: for the super Bowl with my best boys and get
Speaker 1: to be in the stadium and watch the Super Bowl
Speaker 1: and then do our tradition after the game together. I
Speaker 1: would love that too. And we can't even tell you
Speaker 1: what the tradition after the game is, but it gets wild. Um.
Speaker 1: I would love that. But that ain't happened. We have not.
Speaker 1: Let's be realistic here. We've been very blessed to go
Speaker 1: to every Super Bowl since this podcast started, uh, and
Speaker 1: even a couple of years before for Mark and I.
Speaker 1: But obviously this is a very different year, and uh,
Speaker 1: I got a good feeling. This will be the first
Speaker 1: a t N podcast we do from back in l
Speaker 1: A covering a super Bowl, which will probably be a
Speaker 1: lot easier of a lift, but you trade the lift
Speaker 1: for the experience of being at the super Bowl, because
Speaker 1: there's really nothing like being at a super Bowl any uh.
Speaker 1: For that game. It's Week one that feels more realistic.
Speaker 1: We're not going to be you know, cutting the line
Speaker 1: for I don't think they're gonna have us cut the
Speaker 1: line for vaccines. Mark and I already got vaccinated. Let's
Speaker 1: do We're good, Let's do kickoff weekend, you know, give
Speaker 1: us send us to the week one Thursday game, do
Speaker 1: a special podcast there and to celebrate. I mean, it
Speaker 1: will be weird, but a lot at like the Super
Speaker 1: Bowl week festivities where you're trying, you know, you're one
Speaker 1: of like thirty um rotund uh, you know, pasty journals
Speaker 1: attempting to get uh, you know, Russell Wilson to say
Speaker 1: three words. UM. I will miss that, but I will
Speaker 1: miss it in the sense because like, will that ever
Speaker 1: happen again. I don't know, but there's a lot of
Speaker 1: you know, we will not be we will not be
Speaker 1: apprehended by the FBI on a boat out on Florida waters.
Speaker 1: And you know, Tampa is probably gonna be on fire.
Speaker 1: They don't even know that coronavirus exists, so we are
Speaker 1: probably missing out on what would be gonna escape from
Speaker 1: l a society. I thought you were gonna say we're
Speaker 1: missing out on a great case of coronavirus that we
Speaker 1: would catch in Tampa. Well, we definitely would. And I would,
Speaker 1: you know, get my phone stolen at a bar stool
Speaker 1: party and then get locked under a tree in a
Speaker 1: hurricane with an uber an hour away. That can't that
Speaker 1: won't happen this year, and that's upsetting. I'll quote Don Draper.
Speaker 1: And by the way, that's what you get for going
Speaker 1: to a bar stool party. I'll quote Don Draper, Mark
Speaker 1: Sessler uh and and because what you're saying is basically,
Speaker 1: what is more of a super spread than than media
Speaker 1: night at the Super Bowl? And totally true. Just like
Speaker 1: the scouting combine as well, and a lot of body
Speaker 1: odors and sweat and it's just not pleasant in a
Speaker 1: lot of ways, but Don Draper and Madmen speaking to
Speaker 1: Peggy after she had her secret child and she had
Speaker 1: the Child of Shame and spoiler alert, and Don Draper,
Speaker 1: who of course was Dick Whitman in an earlier life
Speaker 1: spoiler alert and started over and hid his past and
Speaker 1: moved on, says to Peggy, it will shock you how
Speaker 1: much it never happened. Move forward that what's going to
Speaker 1: happen here. As much as we're in this moment in
Speaker 1: life with with COVID right now, I just get the
Speaker 1: feeling that in a couple of years after hopefully everyone's
Speaker 1: vaccinated and it goes away, if all these things that
Speaker 1: you think are never coming back actually do come back,
Speaker 1: because it will shock you how quickly people can move
Speaker 1: on and just move forward. I think there's gonna be
Speaker 1: a rever but people going absolutely crazy. Um or Or
Speaker 1: that will be one of the greatest pull quotes we've
Speaker 1: ever had on this show. Um If society continues to
Speaker 1: go down the two I mean people, people who moved
Speaker 1: on in July in this country, that's the pretty much
Speaker 1: we're like, yeah, we'll take it, we'll take it. So
Speaker 1: if nobody's getting sick from that, particular bug anymore, it
Speaker 1: will shock you how much it never happened. Maybe we'll
Speaker 1: we will have not learned our lesson. But that's a
Speaker 1: conversation for another time, all right, before we uh move on.
Speaker 1: So there you go. There's our wishes. It was nice,
Speaker 1: good seg enjoyed it. Here is the first game of Thursday.
Speaker 1: Wait real quick, real quick. A wish from all of
Speaker 1: us before we move into this Chargers preview, is that
Speaker 1: what you're previewing on? UM. We wish that Chris gets
Speaker 1: feeling better and is with us for every show next
Speaker 1: year and maybe even after Christmas all together, all of
Speaker 1: us wish the listeners wish we all wish for that. Absolutely, Ricky,
Speaker 1: it's been a really hard year for this podcast and
Speaker 1: for West. It's been an unbelievable battle and the times
Speaker 1: of struggle, uh almost all time, perpetually a struggle. It's
Speaker 1: a It's amazing how brave and tough that dude is,
Speaker 1: especially with a newborn in the house. And Lakeisha also,
Speaker 1: she's the new Lenny Distra. She's nails. Shout out to Rhoda,
Speaker 1: her her mom, Keisha's mom coming into town and whooping
Speaker 1: and hollering for her favorite player, Lamar Jackson. Last night
Speaker 1: she was unfortunately for you, Mark, they were she was
Speaker 1: on the right side of that lock off. I am,
Speaker 1: and I love her enjoyment of football. Um it got
Speaker 1: in my way last night to some degree, but I
Speaker 1: totally honor her enthusiasm. And And when I called Lakeisha
Speaker 1: uh Jackson Westling a version of Lenny Distra, I don't
Speaker 1: mean the version of Lenny Distra whose teeth fell out
Speaker 1: and was getting gel over fraud, consumer fraud. I mean
Speaker 1: just the hard nose grinding uh, you know, to take
Speaker 1: one for the team vibe. And that's what she's all about.
Speaker 1: All right, Let's get to everyone's like, who the is
Speaker 1: Lenny des Let's get to the game to be played
Speaker 1: on Week fifteen, Chargers Raiders. I'm into the game, not
Speaker 1: as much as I a month ago. This felt like
Speaker 1: it would have been a great game because the Chargers,
Speaker 1: yes they're they're Even a month ago, the record wasn't it,
Speaker 1: But we all loved the excitement around this team with
Speaker 1: a young quarterback. But there's been more of a depressing
Speaker 1: um and true and fitting l a fashioned kind of
Speaker 1: a smog that's now settled over the Chargers with Anthony
Speaker 1: Lynne being in over his head and Herbert coming down
Speaker 1: to earth a little bit, and the Raiders. You know, obviously,
Speaker 1: this is a team taken on major water, the USS crowden.
Speaker 1: So they have one last chance here at seven and
Speaker 1: six at home to keep their season alive. And then
Speaker 1: if you win this game, and like I said, you
Speaker 1: got the Dolphins after that, who you're chasing for a
Speaker 1: playoff spot? Who knows? You ever know, but you gotta
Speaker 1: win this one first. Greg, do you think this is
Speaker 1: not gonna happen? You think the Raiders are just gonna
Speaker 1: completely implode and continue to go down in flames. I'm
Speaker 1: torn because the Chargers have looked worse even though I
Speaker 1: know they won on Sunday overall, you know, over the
Speaker 1: last few weeks than they have all season. But I
Speaker 1: think I'm gonna take the Chargers just because I want
Speaker 1: it to happen. It'd be kind of fun for me
Speaker 1: to see the Raiders go down in flames. It's too
Speaker 1: bad Podcast is not a fan of the I've I've
Speaker 1: wanted to be, I really, I mean, ultimately, Nelson Aguilars
Speaker 1: like their number one receiver and they're an offense first team,
Speaker 1: so how far are you going? Because since Gruden has
Speaker 1: taken over, they are dead last thirty two or thirty
Speaker 1: two in UH expected points added on defense are allowed
Speaker 1: on defense, and so that hasn't changed each and every week.
Speaker 1: And and if the Chargers win this game, I think
Speaker 1: it'll be because Herbert plays well. He did the first
Speaker 1: time against the Raiders. That was a really fun game,
Speaker 1: a high scoring game. UM that the Raiders won at
Speaker 1: the very last second with Isaiah Johnson, you know, bashing
Speaker 1: that a couple of plays out on the goal line
Speaker 1: or else they would have lost that game. Um, Joey
Speaker 1: Bosa is playing great. Austin Ekeler's back playing great. How
Speaker 1: about the Stars show up for the Chargers and bury
Speaker 1: their arrivals that Raiders well, And the Chargers didn't have
Speaker 1: Joey Bosa in that tight contest earlier in the season,
Speaker 1: now they do. I look at a Raiders team that's
Speaker 1: given up a hundred and fifty points over the past
Speaker 1: four games. We all know that the defense is a disaster. Um,
Speaker 1: Jonathan Abram has a concussion. Nicholas Moreau, their linebacker is
Speaker 1: a concussion. Clellen Farrell has a shoulder injury. They have
Speaker 1: fourteen guys on the injury report right now. They're really
Speaker 1: banged up. And Gruden talked about the fact that like
Speaker 1: I think, you know, there were there was residual Corona
Speaker 1: effects with this team too, that they I mean, they
Speaker 1: just were battered on defense, on that, on that, on
Speaker 1: that sense and have never really recovered. And uh, you know,
Speaker 1: to me, like the last two games for Justin Herbert,
Speaker 1: I don't know if teams have figured him out. I
Speaker 1: mean one was the Patriots game, but his two of
Speaker 1: his lowest three yardage outputs have been the last two games,
Speaker 1: and so um that's coincided with Austin Ekeler coming back.
Speaker 1: I don't know if that threw them out of their
Speaker 1: normal offense a little bit because he's been really productive.
Speaker 1: But they've they've looked a little different to me, I
Speaker 1: mean the Raiders. Um, I'm not anti Raiders, but I
Speaker 1: just be like any of these teams that get into
Speaker 1: the playoffs, earn it. And they've looked like a team
Speaker 1: going in the opposite direction the last few weeks, which
Speaker 1: I think, you know, Dan, why you're appropriately lower on them, Um,
Speaker 1: earn it. I don't have a lot of faith in them.
Speaker 1: They seem to be coming a part at the seams,
Speaker 1: and you know Gruden is firing a friend and a
Speaker 1: defensive coordinator as sort of a scapegoat. But some of
Speaker 1: this falls on Gruden too. They can't run the ball.
Speaker 1: They have ten turnovers over the last last three games.
Speaker 1: Derek Carr, you're gonna be the bizarro version of Derek
Speaker 1: carr Um. You need the best version of these guys.
Speaker 1: Can they do it on Thursday night? Josh Jacobs has
Speaker 1: not been a I know he was back in action
Speaker 1: this past week. They need to get back to what
Speaker 1: they were doing when the season was going well, which
Speaker 1: is running the ball, being a tough, physical team, hitting
Speaker 1: hard on defense, being smart, keeping the penalties to a minimum,
Speaker 1: which always seems to be a problem with the Raiders.
Speaker 1: And then Derek Carr just has to, you know, avoid
Speaker 1: killer mistakes. I can't, Like I said, I don't have
Speaker 1: the confidence in them anymore, but I just it just
Speaker 1: would seem strange to me that a team that was
Speaker 1: playing as well as they were um including those two
Speaker 1: great games against the Chiefs, without any major injuries or
Speaker 1: COVID disasters, would just completely go in the tank again.
Speaker 1: So it's still the it doesn't quite add up to me,
Speaker 1: which makes me think, who knows, maybe they come out
Speaker 1: of a funk here with a big performance against the
Speaker 1: bad Chargers team. But at the same time, if you
Speaker 1: pick the Chargers, Greg, I don't think that's crazy because
Speaker 1: the Raiders have done nothing to earn our confidence over
Speaker 1: the past month. Almost. Yeah, the Raiders are a better team.
Speaker 1: I'm just picking for for what would be fun, and
Speaker 1: they've missed the people just like to watch the world.
Speaker 1: I like to. I want to see Justin Herbert lighted
Speaker 1: up that, because to me, that's probably the best The
Speaker 1: best chance for a really fun game here is to
Speaker 1: two pretty flawed teams in the thirties going back and forth.
Speaker 1: I can envision that sort of game. But I don't
Speaker 1: like that. Gruden's doing the thing at his press conference
Speaker 1: this week where he says, hey, I never make excuses,
Speaker 1: and then he like lists fifteen injuries and he lists
Speaker 1: fifteen excuses, like, you don't see that. I know. It's
Speaker 1: only like their converse. It was like, you haven't heard
Speaker 1: that out of Kyle Sannah, Hey, you haven't heard that
Speaker 1: out of a lot of people. It's like, uh, I've
Speaker 1: heard it out of Grooden you, I'm with you that
Speaker 1: the Chargers will take this thing because you can't rush
Speaker 1: the passer. Justin Herbert's not going to be, you know,
Speaker 1: terribly taxed mentally by what the Raiders do on defense.
Speaker 1: I'm predicting. Uh And I see the Raiders as a
Speaker 1: team to your point, Dan, like, why were they playing
Speaker 1: the Chiefs so well that, you know, there's been whispers
Speaker 1: that they've had bad practice weeks, you know, here and there.
Speaker 1: They get up for games. They get up for the Chiefs,
Speaker 1: but then they totally don't get up for the Jets.
Speaker 1: They don't they totally fall flat against Atlanta. Where are
Speaker 1: they mentally? Like, do they feel like a team that
Speaker 1: is prepared to do whatever it takes to get into
Speaker 1: the playoffs? They play the Dolphins next week, But if
Speaker 1: it's a motivation issue, then they should play well in
Speaker 1: this game because this is a playoff game for the Raiders.
Speaker 1: Lose their seven and seven and totally cooked. So there
Speaker 1: you go. I believe Mark and myself will handle the
Speaker 1: recap of this on Thursday night, uh uh, in addition
Speaker 1: to our week fifteen preview that will come on Thursday,
Speaker 1: So be on the lookout for that, and good luck
Speaker 1: to everyone sorting out their own Christmas wish lists in
Speaker 1: their home, trying to deliver the goods for santam All right,
Speaker 1: that's it, Dan hands As signing off for a quiet storm.
Speaker 1: The old Boss, Ricky Hollywood behind the glass still Thursday,