WEBVTT - Not So Fast Episode 2 0:00:05.140 --> 0:00:09.360 Welcome to Not So Fast. I'm Andrew Perloff. He's Paul Pabst. 0:00:09.600 --> 0:00:11.180 We're here at Not So Fast. We've got a show 0:00:11.220 --> 0:00:11.660 in the books. 0:00:11.820 --> 0:00:13.640 Day two, Pearl. I promise it's going to be our 0:00:13.680 --> 0:00:17.300 best show ever. And I just heard NBC management said 0:00:17.320 --> 0:00:19.510 they are extending us for a second week. 0:00:19.610 --> 0:00:21.209 Wow. What kind of feedback did you get on our 0:00:21.230 --> 0:00:21.570 first show? 0:00:21.590 --> 0:00:25.009 A lot of feedback. My mom, ironically or oddly, my 0:00:25.050 --> 0:00:26.850 mom said, you look good, your hair look good, and 0:00:26.870 --> 0:00:28.410 she liked your sport coat. She asked me why I 0:00:28.430 --> 0:00:29.330 don't wear a sport coat. 0:00:29.850 --> 0:00:32.339 Mixed reviews on the socials about the sports coat. 0:00:32.580 --> 0:00:34.720 You look good, like a substitute teacher-ish, but it's not 0:00:34.740 --> 0:00:35.020 a brand. 0:00:35.140 --> 0:00:37.500 Yeah, everyone keeps saying substitute teacher, but I don't think 0:00:37.520 --> 0:00:38.620 they meant that as a compliment. 0:00:38.840 --> 0:00:39.280 We'll take it. 0:00:39.800 --> 0:00:42.500 Okay. One thing we love here on Not So Fast 0:00:42.740 --> 0:00:44.980 is we need a bad guy, especially in college football, 0:00:45.020 --> 0:00:47.410 such an emotional sport. I think we have one, Paul. 0:00:47.780 --> 0:00:50.010 Lane Kiffin. What's going on down there in the bayou? 0:00:50.090 --> 0:00:53.110 So the Lane Kiffin story with the SEC and letting 0:00:53.210 --> 0:00:56.010 pros go from pro rosters back to the SEC is 0:00:56.070 --> 0:00:58.530 in week three. It's a perfect August story. And if 0:00:58.550 --> 0:01:00.590 you think about it, you know, it's perfect because it's 0:01:00.630 --> 0:01:03.430 Lane Kiffin, and he's This SEC last week gave some 0:01:03.710 --> 0:01:06.810 rules about not letting him back, and Lane Kevin's like, yeah, 0:01:07.270 --> 0:01:08.690 I heard your rules, and I'm going to keep talking 0:01:08.709 --> 0:01:09.330 about it. I don't care. 0:01:09.630 --> 0:01:12.900 Yeah, I love that Lane is not backing down. He 0:01:12.959 --> 0:01:16.580 actually talked about this and explained his process about how 0:01:16.640 --> 0:01:18.200 he's going about this with the current team. 0:01:20.520 --> 0:01:24.069 There's a lot of factors into it and different things, 0:01:24.150 --> 0:01:28.069 and one that I struggled too was, okay, this late, 0:01:28.709 --> 0:01:30.820 even though that's what you do in the NFL— And 0:01:30.900 --> 0:01:33.660 there's an argument these players are paid like that. And 0:01:33.680 --> 0:01:36.060 it's what happened yesterday in the NFL. New players come 0:01:36.120 --> 0:01:39.410 in and take people's spots and added to rosters. And 0:01:39.420 --> 0:01:43.290 other guys have been there working. So I met with 0:01:43.450 --> 0:01:47.030 our leadership committee of our players. And I asked them, 0:01:47.209 --> 0:01:51.190 it's your team. What do you want to do? If 0:01:51.230 --> 0:01:55.680 these players are allowed to be added to rosters, what 0:01:55.700 --> 0:01:57.560 do you want to do? And every one of them 0:01:57.820 --> 0:02:01.590 was emphatic about– They can help us win, bring them. 0:02:03.850 --> 0:02:06.520 Man, you're jumping out of your skin there during Lane talking. 0:02:06.560 --> 0:02:08.660 You don't exactly buy that, Paul? 0:02:09.060 --> 0:02:10.900 That was the first time seeing that. I heard it, 0:02:10.940 --> 0:02:13.400 but that felt very heartfelt by Lane Kiffin. You know, 0:02:13.419 --> 0:02:16.980 he's very, you know, I'm struggling with this decision. I'm 0:02:17.000 --> 0:02:18.780 going to throw the BS flag on this because a 0:02:18.820 --> 0:02:21.680 couple things. If Lane Kiffin, the boss of LSU football, 0:02:21.720 --> 0:02:23.620 walks in the locker room and says, guys, are you 0:02:23.660 --> 0:02:25.940 okay with me bringing guys in from play rosters? Is 0:02:26.000 --> 0:02:28.680 some freshman four-string tight end going to go, yeah, coach, 0:02:28.740 --> 0:02:30.460 I got a problem with it? No, you've got to say, 0:02:31.270 --> 0:02:33.520 Let's go Tigers. You've got to back whatever the coach does. 0:02:33.800 --> 0:02:36.019 But someone's losing a roster spot or someone's losing their 0:02:36.060 --> 0:02:38.430 place in line for whenever he brings people back. And 0:02:38.450 --> 0:02:41.540 I think he's using his players agreeing with this to 0:02:41.600 --> 0:02:44.460 back his... I guess not his decision, but staying with 0:02:44.480 --> 0:02:45.320 this course of action. 0:02:45.340 --> 0:02:47.280 Well, that's interesting. You actually believe that he actually did 0:02:47.320 --> 0:02:48.870 talk to players? I think he might have talked to 0:02:48.910 --> 0:02:50.610 Sam Leavitt, the quarterback. Hey, do you want me to 0:02:50.630 --> 0:02:53.870 bring back this really good tight end? Sam's like, yes. Yeah, sure. 0:02:53.930 --> 0:02:55.889 I don't think he went to the four-string tight end. But, Paul, 0:02:56.130 --> 0:02:58.490 I don't think this whole issue is going to change 0:02:58.510 --> 0:03:00.330 the face of college football maybe as much as we're 0:03:00.370 --> 0:03:00.890 talking about it. 0:03:00.889 --> 0:03:01.530 It's a big story. 0:03:01.790 --> 0:03:03.510 It's a huge story. But let me give you some 0:03:03.550 --> 0:03:06.470 numbers on how many guys will actually be playing college football. 0:03:06.910 --> 0:03:09.560 The other day, the NFL cut from 90 to 53. 0:03:09.560 --> 0:03:14.760 That means 1,184 players became available, theoretically. But most of 0:03:14.800 --> 0:03:16.880 them are not eligible to go back. And a lot 0:03:16.900 --> 0:03:18.900 of them actually were picked up by practice squads or 0:03:18.940 --> 0:03:20.880 still trying to get in the NFL. I think a 0:03:20.960 --> 0:03:23.840 fair number is 20 guys at most are going to 0:03:24.020 --> 0:03:25.660 go from NFL camp to the college game. 0:03:25.680 --> 0:03:27.700 So this is more about the concept and people being 0:03:27.720 --> 0:03:30.040 bothered by the concept of a pro going back to college. 0:03:30.440 --> 0:03:32.650 But it's a perfect August story because it's Lane Kiffin. 0:03:32.730 --> 0:03:36.350 It's the SEC. It's professionalism and amateurism. But Lane Kiffin 0:03:36.370 --> 0:03:38.470 continued to talk about it. And he has a game 0:03:38.530 --> 0:03:40.420 against Clemson this weekend and he has to turn in 0:03:40.440 --> 0:03:41.800 a roster. He talked about that. 0:03:44.540 --> 0:03:47.060 I feel like my decision should always be made in 0:03:47.080 --> 0:03:49.410 the best interest of the players that sit in this 0:03:49.450 --> 0:03:54.520 team room and not. but for my reputation and how 0:03:54.800 --> 0:03:57.940 the decisions play in the national media or other fan bases. 0:03:58.190 --> 0:04:00.010 I've never been that way, and that could be wrong. 0:04:00.030 --> 0:04:02.010 It's probably part of my story why it is the 0:04:02.050 --> 0:04:04.970 way it is. But those players and the people that 0:04:05.010 --> 0:04:07.510 hire me always know he's constantly trying to do the 0:04:07.550 --> 0:04:11.780 best thing for them. So I struggled with it a lot. 0:04:13.720 --> 0:04:16.180 He struggled with it a lot. All right, so here's 0:04:16.200 --> 0:04:18.460 the thing. SEC rules say that Lane Kiffin has to 0:04:18.480 --> 0:04:20.640 turn in a roster by Friday. Like, you know, injuries, 0:04:20.700 --> 0:04:23.510 who's active, who's not active. They have a game against 0:04:23.550 --> 0:04:25.670 Clemson on Saturday. It's probably the most competitive game of 0:04:25.690 --> 0:04:28.289 this college weekend. Week one, by the way. They're a 0:04:28.310 --> 0:04:32.130 10-point favorite. This sets up as an absolute disaster possibility 0:04:32.150 --> 0:04:34.300 for Lane Kiffin because if somehow they lose to Clemson, 0:04:34.580 --> 0:04:36.860 who most people think is not the Clemson of five 0:04:36.880 --> 0:04:39.830 years ago, which they're not. If somehow he, it's going 0:04:39.850 --> 0:04:41.690 to be like, ha, ha, we told you so. You've 0:04:41.710 --> 0:04:43.070 been focused on all the wrong things. 0:04:43.350 --> 0:04:46.070 That's funny. So you think that maybe the national media 0:04:46.110 --> 0:04:49.380 or just national fans are rooting against Lane? That's probably true. 0:04:49.450 --> 0:04:51.480 He is the bad guy. You know, it's funny. Brian 0:04:51.500 --> 0:04:52.880 Kelly was the same way. I think a lot of 0:04:52.920 --> 0:04:55.520 people did not want to see Brian Kelly succeed in LSU. 0:04:55.600 --> 0:04:58.020 Oh, a lot of people were bothered by Brian Kelly. 0:04:58.520 --> 0:04:59.120 He felt like Mr. 0:04:59.160 --> 0:04:59.419 Notre Dame. 0:04:59.460 --> 0:05:01.480 His last name is Kelly, for God's sakes. And he said, 0:05:01.560 --> 0:05:04.419 I left Notre Dame to compete for national championships at LSU. 0:05:05.310 --> 0:05:07.370 And look where late Brian Kelly is. He's on CBS 0:05:07.390 --> 0:05:10.170 doing second-tier games while Marcus Freeman is probably going to 0:05:10.190 --> 0:05:10.730 the playoffs again. 0:05:11.070 --> 0:05:12.630 You know, one thing Wayne said, he said, I don't 0:05:12.670 --> 0:05:15.210 care what others think about me. I actually think that 0:05:15.250 --> 0:05:18.120 might be true because... He better not. He better not. 0:05:18.160 --> 0:05:20.659 I mean, going back, remember when he was the Raiders coach? 0:05:20.980 --> 0:05:23.640 Remember when he was fired on the tarmac at USC? 0:05:23.980 --> 0:05:25.560 I mean, this guy's been through a lot already. He's 0:05:25.580 --> 0:05:28.020 not that old, but I feel like he's a little impervious. 0:05:28.040 --> 0:05:30.350 Remember after he got fired at USC, the phrase tarmac 0:05:30.390 --> 0:05:32.150 became a way to get fired, like if he got 0:05:32.190 --> 0:05:32.890 fired after the jet? 0:05:32.910 --> 0:05:33.010 Yeah. 0:05:33.170 --> 0:05:34.980 Here's Lane Kiffin, I think, in the locker room. It's 0:05:35.020 --> 0:05:38.830 not play like a champion today. When at the highest level, 0:05:38.850 --> 0:05:41.600 you have to become a villain in someone else's story. 0:05:41.710 --> 0:05:43.240 LSU football, he's embracing it. 0:05:43.480 --> 0:05:45.859 I think we should be pro Lane Kiffin here. I 0:05:45.900 --> 0:05:47.080 think we're going to embrace Lane Kiffin. 0:05:47.300 --> 0:05:50.539 I love villains in football. I mean, Steve Spurrier was 0:05:50.580 --> 0:05:52.660 a button pusher back in the day at South Carolina, 0:05:52.700 --> 0:05:53.930 back at Florida. You love guys. 0:05:53.940 --> 0:05:56.229 So if they lose to Clemson, we should say we're 0:05:56.250 --> 0:05:58.090 not going to rip Lane Kiffin. Let's just promise right 0:05:58.150 --> 0:05:59.170 now that we're going to be nice. 0:05:59.510 --> 0:06:01.570 Right, and if you love college football like we do, 0:06:01.670 --> 0:06:03.950 you want Lane Kiffin to be undefeated going back to 0:06:03.990 --> 0:06:05.860 play Ole Miss in a few weeks. That's what you want. 0:06:06.010 --> 0:06:07.240 Yeah, we get great quotes. 0:06:07.250 --> 0:06:09.219 All right, let's get to some pro football here. We 0:06:09.260 --> 0:06:12.060 have some pending situations in football, and there's a bunch 0:06:12.080 --> 0:06:14.720 of them. But, you know, the quarterback situations, there's some 0:06:14.779 --> 0:06:17.240 cuts here. There's some people being released. Your boy Joe Milton, 0:06:17.279 --> 0:06:20.060 no longer a cowboy. But let's start with the Atlanta Falcons. 0:06:20.500 --> 0:06:22.180 A lot of mixed reports about what the Falcons are 0:06:22.200 --> 0:06:23.960 going to do, and Tua plays a lot in the 0:06:24.000 --> 0:06:27.460 last game. Michael Penix, is he healthy? If he's healthy, 0:06:27.480 --> 0:06:29.750 will he start? If you were running the Falcons and 0:06:29.790 --> 0:06:32.270 Penix was declared ready to go, what would you do 0:06:32.510 --> 0:06:33.210 and what will they do? 0:06:33.650 --> 0:06:35.150 I mean, if two is going to play at all 0:06:35.190 --> 0:06:38.170 this year, Paul, it's as a placeholder. This has to 0:06:38.210 --> 0:06:40.920 be Michael Penix's job. Not only is he the more 0:06:40.940 --> 0:06:45.160 talented quarterback physically and probably all around physically, He's coming 0:06:45.200 --> 0:06:47.330 up on his contract. At some point, you have to 0:06:47.370 --> 0:06:49.470 make a decision on Michael Penix. Are you going to 0:06:49.510 --> 0:06:51.250 build around this guy, or are you going to draft 0:06:51.290 --> 0:06:54.830 another quarterback moving forward? That time is now, honestly, and 0:06:54.850 --> 0:06:57.800 I think most importantly, Penix gives him a better chance 0:06:57.820 --> 0:07:00.940 to win immediately. Now, the issue is he can't stay healthy. 0:07:01.020 --> 0:07:03.719 Yeah, it's never been a judgment of audibility. I'll go 0:07:03.760 --> 0:07:05.860 back with the Atlanta Falcons to the decision to take 0:07:05.940 --> 0:07:08.060 Penix out of the draft. When he got drafted, you 0:07:08.120 --> 0:07:10.090 and I were at that draft like, what are they doing? 0:07:10.490 --> 0:07:12.940 They took Penix out. And he fell to them, or 0:07:12.960 --> 0:07:14.820 whatever you want to say, but they already had Kirk 0:07:14.840 --> 0:07:17.600 Cousins under a big contract. They said, well, we'll draft Penix. 0:07:17.620 --> 0:07:19.800 He'll be the future. Let him rest with that knee 0:07:19.840 --> 0:07:22.370 injury at Washington. And now it's like, let him play 0:07:22.390 --> 0:07:24.670 a full season. See what you got. He was a 0:07:24.770 --> 0:07:27.170 very competitive, I mean, a competitor in college. 0:07:27.190 --> 0:07:29.370 No, he's got a hammer for an arm. He really 0:07:29.390 --> 0:07:33.050 throws the ball well. I like Michael Penix a lot. Honestly, 0:07:33.630 --> 0:07:35.460 if you play him 17 games, the odds of him 0:07:35.500 --> 0:07:37.300 getting to Week 18, what do you think? 0:07:37.360 --> 0:07:39.920 But let it happen. Let it play out. It's like 0:07:39.940 --> 0:07:42.320 the Deshaun Watson thing. Let it happen one time, and 0:07:42.340 --> 0:07:43.300 then if you're going to move on, you're going to 0:07:43.320 --> 0:07:45.570 move on. Let's get to the next quarterback situation. We 0:07:45.590 --> 0:07:48.530 already talked about this on Not So Fast. Mendoza will 0:07:48.570 --> 0:07:51.670 probably be not the starter, as we said with the Raiders. 0:07:51.990 --> 0:07:54.370 It's probably going to be Kirk Cousins. Any chance there's 0:07:54.410 --> 0:07:56.170 a curveball, and how do you see this playing out? 0:07:56.560 --> 0:07:58.760 I don't think there's a curveball because Mendoza did struggle 0:07:58.800 --> 0:08:00.800 in the preseason. Obviously, he doesn't really know how to 0:08:00.840 --> 0:08:03.160 read defenses yet, but I think we're going to see 0:08:03.200 --> 0:08:06.940 Fernando Mendoza sooner rather than later, in part because the Raiders' 0:08:06.960 --> 0:08:09.630 schedule is a little light on the start, and then 0:08:09.690 --> 0:08:12.330 it gets really, really hard. October's brutal. And I do 0:08:12.410 --> 0:08:16.190 generally feel that quarterbacks might learn better under fire. If 0:08:16.230 --> 0:08:19.610 we're talking about year two for Fernando Mendoza, is he 0:08:19.630 --> 0:08:21.510 going to be better off like Patrick Mahomes not playing 0:08:21.550 --> 0:08:23.430 at all? Or will he be better off getting a 0:08:23.470 --> 0:08:26.830 little bit of action? I'm of the school that you 0:08:26.850 --> 0:08:28.430 throw him in, let him learn on the job. 0:08:28.450 --> 0:08:30.530 You know, while I agree with you that he's not 0:08:30.590 --> 0:08:33.290 the flappable type, you can be unflappable. Can you be flappable? 0:08:34.250 --> 0:08:36.460 Fernando Mendoza seems like a cool customer who would take 0:08:36.600 --> 0:08:39.220 a rough week in stride. and just crush the press conference. 0:08:39.440 --> 0:08:41.339 But by the way, it's funny because right now it 0:08:41.380 --> 0:08:43.280 seems like it's Kirk Cousins. Didn't we say the same 0:08:43.300 --> 0:08:45.420 thing about Kurt Warner with the Giants? Didn't we say 0:08:45.440 --> 0:08:47.920 the same thing about Kirk Cousins with Michael Pettis behind 0:08:47.950 --> 0:08:50.610 him in Atlanta? Again and again and again, the veteran 0:08:50.790 --> 0:08:52.050 always loses the job. 0:08:52.170 --> 0:08:54.770 Could you see them putting Mendoza for week one as 0:08:54.830 --> 0:08:55.770 the third string? 0:08:56.050 --> 0:08:56.209 Yep. 0:08:56.450 --> 0:08:58.790 Because Aiden O'Connell out of Purdue, he's had some nice 0:08:58.830 --> 0:09:01.910 days there. You put Aiden O'Connell second string. Then if 0:09:01.990 --> 0:09:04.390 somehow Kirk Cousins gets hurt in the first quarter of 0:09:04.429 --> 0:09:07.060 week one, like an Aaron Rodgers situation, You don't have 0:09:07.080 --> 0:09:09.110 to bring in Mendoza and blow your whole plan up. 0:09:09.370 --> 0:09:11.590 No, that makes perfect sense. Aiden O'Connell's played a lot 0:09:11.630 --> 0:09:14.790 of football. That's actually against the Dolphins, I believe. That's 0:09:14.830 --> 0:09:16.730 a game. If I'm Mendoza, I want to play against 0:09:16.770 --> 0:09:18.380 my hometown team because you can win that one. 0:09:18.450 --> 0:09:21.660 All right, let's get to a couple more situations. Now, C.J. Stroud, 0:09:21.700 --> 0:09:24.059 he's not in danger of losing his job. That playoff 0:09:24.080 --> 0:09:26.400 game last year, it looked like he had gloves on 0:09:26.420 --> 0:09:29.319 his hands. But C.J. Stroud, this is a decision year 0:09:29.360 --> 0:09:31.000 for him. It's a contract year for him. They did 0:09:31.040 --> 0:09:34.370 not give him the big deal after year three. When 0:09:34.410 --> 0:09:36.110 you look at C.J. Stroud and how they're going to 0:09:36.130 --> 0:09:38.260 handle him this season, do you think it's like full 0:09:38.300 --> 0:09:41.140 speed ahead, great defense, last year was an anomaly, or 0:09:41.679 --> 0:09:43.300 they may look at C.J. Stroud and say, we have 0:09:43.340 --> 0:09:46.360 a winning team here on defense. If you don't step up, 0:09:46.420 --> 0:09:48.340 we may have to make a decision now. 0:09:48.860 --> 0:09:50.400 Yeah, I mean, I don't think they're going to pull 0:09:50.440 --> 0:09:51.160 him for backups. 0:09:51.179 --> 0:09:51.730 No chance. 0:09:52.170 --> 0:09:54.209 No, in my mind, no chance. Now, I think it 0:09:54.250 --> 0:09:56.550 was him who cost the team in the playoffs. He 0:09:56.610 --> 0:09:58.490 used to be able to say, oh, the O-line's terrible, 0:09:58.790 --> 0:10:01.580 but now C.J. Stroud, it's all on him. You're right, 0:10:01.620 --> 0:10:03.780 he doesn't have to be great. A lot of people 0:10:03.800 --> 0:10:06.160 are picking them for the Super Bowl. I do not 0:10:06.200 --> 0:10:08.920 trust C.J. Stroud. I really don't. I thought he panicked 0:10:08.950 --> 0:10:11.569 in a big moment last year in the divisional playoffs. 0:10:12.190 --> 0:10:14.030 I loved him as a rookie. I loved him at 0:10:14.090 --> 0:10:16.010 Ohio State. He has a lot to prove to me. 0:10:16.070 --> 0:10:18.570 Sometimes it's like a body-switching movie from year one to 0:10:18.630 --> 0:10:20.750 year three. That guy, his first year in the league, 0:10:21.030 --> 0:10:22.470 remember Jayden Daniels' rookie year? 0:10:22.790 --> 0:10:23.110 C.J. 0:10:23.130 --> 0:10:25.010 Stroud did that a year before, and there was a 0:10:25.050 --> 0:10:27.030 time where, who are you going to start your team with? 0:10:27.130 --> 0:10:27.510 C.J. 0:10:27.530 --> 0:10:30.610 Stroud after his rookie year, but it's like Davis Mills, 0:10:30.770 --> 0:10:33.720 not a household name, but a high-end backup for the Texans, 0:10:34.440 --> 0:10:37.980 if they are somehow one and three, and C.J. Stroud 0:10:38.000 --> 0:10:40.990 is underwhelming, I could see that Let's throw Davis Mills 0:10:41.030 --> 0:10:42.620 in there and see if we can right the ship 0:10:42.860 --> 0:10:45.839 in October and bring back the starter or let it 0:10:45.920 --> 0:10:48.400 play out. Hey, I know it was an injury situation, 0:10:48.420 --> 0:10:49.520 but Nick Foles pulled it off. 0:10:49.820 --> 0:10:52.829 That 3-0 was a thin 3-0. That was the defense 0:10:52.890 --> 0:10:54.590 work right there. I watched those games. 0:10:54.670 --> 0:10:56.090 Only you could poo-poo a 3-0. 0:10:56.690 --> 0:10:58.730 I mean, it's Davis Mills. We've seen them for a 0:10:58.790 --> 0:11:01.220 long time now. They need Stroud. I mean, what's the 0:11:01.240 --> 0:11:03.969 goal here if you're Houston? It's not about making the playoffs. 0:11:03.990 --> 0:11:05.500 They've proven they can do that. They have to win 0:11:05.510 --> 0:11:07.559 the Super Bowl, and that means great quarterback play. They've 0:11:07.580 --> 0:11:10.859 got to ride with Stroud, but it makes me nervous 0:11:10.900 --> 0:11:13.040 because that defense is so good, Paul. 0:11:13.059 --> 0:11:14.360 All right, we got up against a break, but I 0:11:14.380 --> 0:11:15.880 want to ask you about the Steelers. Let's say the 0:11:15.920 --> 0:11:19.280 Steelers somehow, and they never do, start out 1-4, and 0:11:19.370 --> 0:11:21.929 Rodgers is playing C-level football. What happens there? 0:11:22.690 --> 0:11:25.620 See, with Aaron Rodgers, there's no way the backup's coming in. A, 0:11:25.929 --> 0:11:27.699 I don't think Mike McCarthy could do that to him, 0:11:27.760 --> 0:11:28.300 the new coach. 0:11:28.320 --> 0:11:29.100 Not in the first two months. 0:11:29.580 --> 0:11:32.140 And Rodgers, even when he's bad, his numbers are pretty good. 0:11:32.220 --> 0:11:34.520 He was really bad with the Jets, and he ended 0:11:34.580 --> 0:11:36.360 up having one of the best passer ratings in the league. 0:11:36.559 --> 0:11:38.380 So I think the ceiling is pretty high with Rodgers. 0:11:38.700 --> 0:11:39.520 He's not going anywhere. 0:11:39.559 --> 0:11:39.800 Got it. 0:11:39.960 --> 0:11:43.670 Got it. All right, coming up, we have a warm 0:11:43.730 --> 0:11:46.730 take segment on Jackson Dart and the Giants. Has Jackson 0:11:46.890 --> 0:11:49.270 finally learned how to take care of himself? Paul is skeptical. 0:11:49.470 --> 0:11:53.179 We'll do that next. Not so fast. All right. 0:11:53.300 --> 0:11:53.939 Crush that throw. 0:11:54.720 --> 0:11:58.679 Yeah. Jackson Dart. I don't know if that's going to work, Paul. 0:11:58.700 --> 0:12:02.030 How many quarterbacks have X in their first name? 0:12:02.090 --> 0:12:02.790 Max Brosberg. 0:12:08.510 --> 0:12:12.630 Pick me up. This is your boy. Orioles center fielder 0:12:13.130 --> 0:12:17.579 Colton Couser. He does this for a living. Robbing a 0:12:17.600 --> 0:12:22.050 possible walk-off home run. against the padding, against your Rockies. 0:12:22.110 --> 0:12:24.320 That's my favorite play in baseball, robbing a home run, 0:12:24.390 --> 0:12:27.339 and this was such a critical situation. I thought he 0:12:27.380 --> 0:12:28.940 had given up on it, and all of a sudden, boom, 0:12:28.960 --> 0:12:30.640 he's there. What a play. 0:12:30.760 --> 0:12:34.240 Now, we have the term walk-off, home run, walk-off hit. 0:12:34.360 --> 0:12:35.340 Should that be a rob-off? 0:12:36.260 --> 0:12:38.220 I don't know. That doesn't sound right. A rob-off? 0:12:38.240 --> 0:12:39.579 I don't think a rob-off works, but it was a 0:12:39.610 --> 0:12:42.110 rob-off for Colton Couser last night. All right, welcome back 0:12:42.130 --> 0:12:44.840 to day two of the Up after Pearl. Here we are. 0:12:44.860 --> 0:12:47.280 Not so fast. Let's get to it. Warm takes. That's 0:12:47.300 --> 0:12:49.720 what we do here on the show. Sweeping the country. 0:12:49.860 --> 0:12:52.080 My daughter said it's already taken over her high school. 0:12:52.400 --> 0:12:54.540 All the kids are warm taking each other. Let's get 0:12:54.580 --> 0:12:56.000 to it, Pearl. I'm going to go first. 0:12:56.140 --> 0:12:56.540 Here we go. 0:12:57.179 --> 0:12:58.750 The New York Giants this year have a little bit 0:12:58.770 --> 0:13:00.970 of new hope. If they could get Malik Nabors back 0:13:01.230 --> 0:13:04.270 from injury, he's fantastic. John Harbaugh's there. It feels like 0:13:04.309 --> 0:13:06.550 a new version of them. Jackson Dart had a very 0:13:06.590 --> 0:13:08.949 good season, their quarterback, last year. Now, he was in 0:13:08.970 --> 0:13:10.580 the blue tent a lot last year, but you kind 0:13:10.620 --> 0:13:12.490 of like... You look at that rookie year and say, okay, 0:13:12.570 --> 0:13:14.830 hopefully I'll learn from that. But even in the preseason 0:13:14.850 --> 0:13:16.069 this year, you got hurt and ended up in the 0:13:16.110 --> 0:13:18.410 blue tent in the preseason game. You can't have that. 0:13:19.130 --> 0:13:21.880 So my thing for Jackson Dart is stop being a 0:13:21.890 --> 0:13:24.020 tough guy. I think you are a tough guy. I 0:13:24.059 --> 0:13:26.500 think you're a very tough quarterback. But there's only one 0:13:26.559 --> 0:13:29.140 guy in the league who'd run without thinking about his health, 0:13:29.179 --> 0:13:31.339 and I think it's Josh Allen. It didn't really work 0:13:31.380 --> 0:13:34.020 for Cam Newton after a certain point. But Jackson Dart, 0:13:34.300 --> 0:13:37.610 you're too good at what you do to not protect yourself. 0:13:37.870 --> 0:13:39.130 You have to think of yourself like the President of 0:13:39.150 --> 0:13:42.010 the United States. You can't risk yourself. Don't take shots 0:13:42.030 --> 0:13:44.589 you don't need. Go back to like prime Russell Wilson 0:13:44.610 --> 0:13:46.660 when he would run. He would run and then he'd slide. 0:13:47.020 --> 0:13:49.079 He'd run, then he'd get out of bounds. You never 0:13:49.120 --> 0:13:51.700 remember any Russell Wilson runs, but I remember him playing 0:13:51.700 --> 0:13:55.260 16 games every year. So if you're Jackson Dart, slide. 0:13:55.360 --> 0:13:58.320 Here's the thing. His dad played for Utah Ute football 0:13:58.380 --> 0:13:59.840 back in the day in the 90s. His dad was 0:13:59.880 --> 0:14:03.079 a defensive back. He has DB mentality in a quarterback's body. 0:14:03.460 --> 0:14:05.040 You've got to get rid of it, man. We know 0:14:05.059 --> 0:14:06.870 you're tough. You want to be tough, be tough in 0:14:06.920 --> 0:14:09.030 January during a playoff game. But if they're going to 0:14:09.090 --> 0:14:11.530 live to see a good season, a great season, if 0:14:11.550 --> 0:14:13.350 Jackson Dart's going to live to see a second contract, 0:14:13.970 --> 0:14:15.450 slide a little bit, run out of bounds a little bit. 0:14:15.530 --> 0:14:16.990 No one's going to call you soft. They'll call you smart. 0:14:17.330 --> 0:14:19.620 You know, I remember that time where the NFL tried 0:14:19.630 --> 0:14:22.400 to tell a mobile quarterback not to run. Every time? 0:14:22.480 --> 0:14:25.140 And guess how many times it's worked? None times? You 0:14:25.180 --> 0:14:28.240 can't change a quarterback's mentality about running the football ball. 0:14:28.260 --> 0:14:30.440 How about the last two yards? How about eight yards 0:14:30.500 --> 0:14:31.020 instead of ten? 0:14:31.840 --> 0:14:33.940 I know what you're saying. And by the way, it's funny, 0:14:34.040 --> 0:14:36.660 he gets hit in the pocket as well. You never 0:14:36.700 --> 0:14:39.520 know about the Giants' offensive line. I just think he's 0:14:39.570 --> 0:14:41.690 wired that way. When a guy's wired that way, it's 0:14:41.770 --> 0:14:45.590 not that simple. All right. My first warm take also 0:14:45.630 --> 0:14:48.930 involves Jackson Dart. Let's talk about quarterbacks on rookie deals. 0:14:49.310 --> 0:14:52.730 Since 2018... Seven of eight Super Bowls have featured a 0:14:52.770 --> 0:14:55.350 quarterback who's on a rookie deal. People forget it's the 0:14:55.570 --> 0:14:58.080 ultimate NFL cheat code because you can build a roster 0:14:58.120 --> 0:15:00.700 around them. And I think we're taking some teams with 0:15:00.760 --> 0:15:03.920 rookie deal quarterbacks a little lightly this year. No one 0:15:03.960 --> 0:15:06.200 saw New England coming last year, so you have to wonder, Paul, 0:15:06.660 --> 0:15:09.040 who is this year's New England? Here are some of 0:15:09.060 --> 0:15:12.430 the quarterbacks on rookie deals. Bo Nix, to me, is 0:15:12.450 --> 0:15:15.229 the most obvious rookie deal quarterback to go to the 0:15:15.270 --> 0:15:17.290 Super Bowl. Frankly, they should have been in the Super 0:15:17.310 --> 0:15:19.050 Bowl last year. I think if Bo Nix was healthy 0:15:19.070 --> 0:15:21.900 for the AFC title game, they're there. They beat New England. 0:15:22.220 --> 0:15:24.960 But they have a lot of talent around him. They 0:15:25.100 --> 0:15:27.340 added Jalen Waddell in Denver. But let me throw a 0:15:27.380 --> 0:15:29.960 couple of dark horses at you. Guys on rookie deals, 0:15:30.820 --> 0:15:34.390 possible out of nowheres. Jackson Dart, who you mentioned in 0:15:34.430 --> 0:15:36.540 New York, they do have a Super Bowl winning coach 0:15:36.600 --> 0:15:39.120 in John Harbaugh, and they have some talent and some 0:15:39.140 --> 0:15:44.330 veterans around him. And one more, Tyler Shuck. The Saints 0:15:44.370 --> 0:15:47.510 have the second easiest schedule in the NFL and in 0:15:47.530 --> 0:15:50.270 their NFC South. They could win that division. Now, Super 0:15:50.310 --> 0:15:52.830 Bowl seems way, way too rich. But then again, we 0:15:52.870 --> 0:15:54.910 would never have even dreamt of Super Bowl last year 0:15:54.930 --> 0:15:56.890 for New England. I think an easy schedule and a 0:15:56.910 --> 0:15:58.870 quarterback on a rookie deal is a great combination. 0:15:59.010 --> 0:16:00.210 You know, I'm going to give you your credit here 0:16:00.250 --> 0:16:02.030 because you've been saying this for over a decade. You've 0:16:02.050 --> 0:16:04.550 written stories like on the Sports Illustrated back in the day. 0:16:04.610 --> 0:16:06.310 You talked about this on the Dan Patrick show against 0:16:06.350 --> 0:16:09.690 the great. You always draft the next quarterback because it's 0:16:09.710 --> 0:16:12.260 a luxury item. If it doesn't work out, you still 0:16:12.280 --> 0:16:14.160 had that rookie contract that sets up the rest of 0:16:14.180 --> 0:16:15.780 your team. So you've been beating this drum for years 0:16:15.800 --> 0:16:18.650 that you must have a high-end rookie quarterback. And if 0:16:18.690 --> 0:16:19.710 you don't get them, get another one. 0:16:19.990 --> 0:16:22.229 Yeah, I mean, it also puts pressure. A team like 0:16:22.290 --> 0:16:24.730 your team, the Bears, Caleb Williams is still in his 0:16:24.750 --> 0:16:25.410