Speaker 1: The Around the NFL podcast is wicked to be done.
Speaker 2: Done only.
Speaker 1: One of the Chris Wesling podcast studio. It's Around the NFL.
Speaker 3: I'm Dan Ansis and yes I am joined by some
Speaker 3: wikily delented people, Mark Sessler, Greg Rosenthal and yes, Colleen
Speaker 3: will back in the building.
Speaker 4: Yo, Well what's up?
Speaker 5: And that's if you don't know what the reference that's
Speaker 5: a tell on you not listening to every single episode
Speaker 5: that we.
Speaker 2: Produce exactly exactly.
Speaker 1: You don't get the explanation because you were not loyal
Speaker 1: to the brand.
Speaker 2: It's on you.
Speaker 6: I always a good different vibe here when Colleen's here,
Speaker 6: just worse right, lighter?
Speaker 2: No, oh here, darker, yes, more mathematical. Turn this up
Speaker 2: in my headphones. Oh yeah. It reminds me of driving.
Speaker 1: In high school and my buddy Jim Dreavis is big
Speaker 1: white think it was like a Ford Explorer and he
Speaker 1: had the giant sub offers and the bass was kicking
Speaker 1: so hard on those subs subs thank you. It was
Speaker 1: kicking so hard that you just couldn't even hear the song.
Speaker 1: And like I was, you know, I was young at
Speaker 1: the time, so it wasn't like these kids are out
Speaker 1: of touch. It was like, how come I kim here?
Speaker 2: All here is?
Speaker 1: But that was like the whole goal of the SUBS world,
Speaker 1: which Colleen, I know you've you know very well.
Speaker 4: Subs in am was the goal not to hear the
Speaker 4: song but only the bass exploding. The goal was for
Speaker 4: everyone else to hear you before you got there.
Speaker 5: I think you need to roll into NFL Networks, you know,
Speaker 5: immense parking garage which doubles a sofa a sofi. If
Speaker 5: you're rich, you can go park and go to Sofi too,
Speaker 5: But like just rolling with that song blasting or maybe
Speaker 5: blasted in and then.
Speaker 1: It was like smash cut to me driving my ninety
Speaker 1: six Ford Escort and I'm like turning down the base
Speaker 1: on the County Crows.
Speaker 2: I'm like a little too heavy.
Speaker 7: For met office spaced rip.
Speaker 6: Everyone that worked in the car stereo industry like it
Speaker 6: was the nineties, it's just.
Speaker 4: Not so you take the front off of the oh
Speaker 4: yeah whatever, the.
Speaker 7: Whole that's a whole issue with that.
Speaker 6: I didn't want to pay my brother club stereo system
Speaker 6: that he had installed in my grandfather's car that he
Speaker 6: was giving to me.
Speaker 7: I was like, I'm not paying for that.
Speaker 1: I would say, the only thing I was like Greg's
Speaker 1: tough Tough luck story for Heart Scrabble. For me, the
Speaker 1: big expense was the CD player with anti skip technology,
Speaker 1: with the jack that had the tape cassette wire connected
Speaker 1: to it and you'd slide it in then you could
Speaker 1: play your CDs.
Speaker 2: That was the height of my tech in my car. Wow,
Speaker 2: you had that right.
Speaker 7: Well.
Speaker 4: I had a car that was a I think it
Speaker 4: was a Volvo and it was like battleship gray. It
Speaker 4: was really old. It was a hand me down, and
Speaker 4: the windshield wipers stopped working. So my dad installed a
Speaker 4: light switch like that you would get that you would
Speaker 4: see on a wall. He installed one on the dashboard
Speaker 4: so whenever I had to use my windshield wipers, I
Speaker 4: would have to turn the switch on, and sometimes the
Speaker 4: horn would honk, just unexplicably.
Speaker 2: Why cross wiring.
Speaker 7: Yeah, it's all worked.
Speaker 5: The worst thing. Yeah, but the worst thing that ever
Speaker 5: happened to me. I had a like a used Honda
Speaker 5: Prelude as my first car, and at one point, you know,
Speaker 5: it's like just a felt fabric type seat. The seat,
Speaker 5: which you could adjust obviously like any car seat, just
Speaker 5: lost its maneuvering and just fell flat back. So I'm
Speaker 5: driving around town with no seat and you think that's
Speaker 5: fine except about four minutes and that you're like, I
Speaker 5: really need a car seat to do anything functional. You're
Speaker 5: just supporting your entire body in like, and you're going
Speaker 5: fifty sixty miles an hour.
Speaker 4: It's a good core workout.
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, Today's show.
Speaker 2: Good stuff.
Speaker 7: Dan's like, why did you tell that story?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 7: I enjoyed it, okay, good And I also enjoyed this
Speaker 7: new hair cut.
Speaker 5: You give me a certain looks I thought, maybe looks good.
Speaker 7: Raise it from the edit.
Speaker 4: I like the story and the haircut.
Speaker 1: Let's talk today's show. We are going to previewoo. We
Speaker 1: got some interesting Island games. We're going to hit him
Speaker 1: on the back end of the show. We're also going
Speaker 1: to check in with our early season predictions preseason predictions,
Speaker 1: and then decide what we choose to stand on and
Speaker 1: what we are going to change. And that could be
Speaker 1: a difficult and humbling exercise. I'm looking forward to seeing
Speaker 1: that original NFL document in NFL dot com document from
Speaker 1: I believe August thirtieth. And we're also going to have
Speaker 1: a meeting on the nominees for the team of around
Speaker 1: the NFL, which incredibly a conversation that sprang back to
Speaker 1: life in a very interesting Sunday in the NFL.
Speaker 2: But first I want to ask you guys.
Speaker 1: We are entering week ten, this is the halfway point
Speaker 1: of the season, Greg, what is the biggest single surprise
Speaker 1: to you of the season so far.
Speaker 6: This was hard to think about and I realized after
Speaker 6: going through it, and this is not a cop out,
Speaker 6: the biggest surprise is how chalk everything is. There's no
Speaker 6: there's no surprises like the NFL. I always say before
Speaker 6: the season, no matter like what scenario you could come
Speaker 6: up with, it will be more unpredictable than the most
Speaker 6: like surprising predictions. So you might as well go wild
Speaker 6: with your predictions before the season if you want. It
Speaker 6: won't be But this season like it's chock. There's basically
Speaker 6: every team that before the season was a consensus like
Speaker 6: contender more or less, they're all contenders. The standings almost
Speaker 6: in every division. If you showed them before Week one started,
Speaker 6: you would look at all of them and say, okay,
Speaker 6: that's about right like like And that's to me very
Speaker 6: surprising from the NFL. There's different ways we got there.
Speaker 6: There's maybe some little exceptions here or there. But it's
Speaker 6: kind of like the NFL is playing two according.
Speaker 1: To us, which is either either means the best is
Speaker 1: yet to come and it's gonna be a wild second
Speaker 1: half or we're experiencing the most mundane season in the
Speaker 1: history of this.
Speaker 7: Well, I would it's just like parodies.
Speaker 6: There is a lot of parody because everyone's got two
Speaker 6: losses back except for Philadelphia. It's just like the good
Speaker 6: teams have stayed good.
Speaker 5: It's been a little I don't know, like back in
Speaker 5: the this is a this doesn't even resonate when you
Speaker 5: I will. I have another story about my car when
Speaker 5: I was driving that car actually around town in the
Speaker 5: you know, eighties nineties, Like the NFL had the same
Speaker 5: you're driving in the eighties. Uh no, I was like,
Speaker 5: I was in a car. I was in that car
Speaker 5: in the eighties.
Speaker 2: I was there.
Speaker 7: That's great, thank you. It was the same eight or
Speaker 7: nine teams that were good year after year.
Speaker 5: So it's kind of like a throwback situation a little
Speaker 5: bit where it's like every But I think it just
Speaker 5: suggests that, you know, we made these predictions ourselves before
Speaker 5: the season. We kind of nailed them all in terms
Speaker 5: of standings, and it.
Speaker 7: Looks good for us.
Speaker 2: I mean, you have a biggest surprise I do.
Speaker 5: I think it's going to be a right turn from
Speaker 5: all right, well, then sit on that one, how about you.
Speaker 4: I am really surprised by all the defenses in the
Speaker 4: league and how they're kind of like showing up the offenses,
Speaker 4: and especially to Chanter City. The fact that the Chiefs
Speaker 4: are a defense first team right now is not really
Speaker 4: something that I thought would happen, especially last year, because
Speaker 4: the offense sort of made up for the loss of
Speaker 4: Tyreek Hill. So I didn't think that that was going
Speaker 4: to be a story really again, but it sort of
Speaker 4: has been. And so like Steve Spagnolo, he usually ends
Speaker 4: up heating up towards the end of the season and
Speaker 4: like just in time for the playoffs. That defense is
Speaker 4: really really good and flying around. But right now they're
Speaker 4: doing it and the offense needs them to. So that's
Speaker 4: a surprise.
Speaker 5: That's like their identity. And i'd say, like a team
Speaker 5: like a year ago that Detroit was a disaster on
Speaker 5: defense for large parts of the season, are the fifth
Speaker 5: ranked defense right now.
Speaker 6: That's that's a league wide trend that you're right that
Speaker 6: is the biggest price that like defenses have fired back
Speaker 6: to the point where no one knows what to do
Speaker 6: with Like we'll get to that because it's like no
Speaker 6: one has good numbers. The offensive numbers we're just not
Speaker 6: used to it are as bad as they've been in
Speaker 6: fifteen years, and that at some point halfway through the season,
Speaker 6: you're like, I guess this might stick.
Speaker 4: And there's so many quarterbacks that are hurt right now too,
Speaker 4: so that factors.
Speaker 5: They're like propping up offenses off Yeah, but like the
Speaker 5: quarterbacks that have been putting up huge numbers like that
Speaker 5: are still playing like their numbers are all down to
Speaker 5: Patrick Mahomes.
Speaker 1: With that said, biggest surprise for me, I have struggles
Speaker 1: of the Chiefs offense with Mahomes being mortal at times
Speaker 1: this year.
Speaker 2: C J. Stroud Superstar Club Potential got that there.
Speaker 6: That would have been my number one pick if I
Speaker 6: was forced to pick something. Stroud and the Texans.
Speaker 1: I know the Giants were not expected to win the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl, but this season turning into a nightmare. The
Speaker 1: Cowboys are favored by sixteen points this week. They are
Speaker 1: a nightmare. So that's a surprise. And then I guess
Speaker 1: The other big surprise for me is a Mark's black
Speaker 1: jacket is on a cal Ripken like streak of games played.
Speaker 2: Like that's been a big surprise to me this season.
Speaker 5: It's more Grayish, more battleship.
Speaker 1: Gray, Battleship, Gray Levi is really he's the star of
Speaker 1: the show.
Speaker 5: I think it's an apathy towards you know, dressing and
Speaker 5: new things.
Speaker 4: I think you should call your jacket Helga because that
Speaker 4: was the name of my battleship, Gray car So Helga
Speaker 4: Helga looks good.
Speaker 7: Consider that. What is your big Actually, I think it
Speaker 7: is c J.
Speaker 5: Stroud adjacent in the sense that I've always found like
Speaker 5: the draft community to be. It's it's no I know
Speaker 5: they do a lot of work, but it's a lot
Speaker 5: of guessing, and it's a lot of nonsense, and there's
Speaker 5: a lot of like factors that we mull over and
Speaker 5: have to like judge a human being that a lot
Speaker 5: of us, like if you just watch you know, the
Speaker 5: pro Game, we didn't know a lot.
Speaker 7: About c J. Stroud until like a month before that.
Speaker 5: Now I'm watch all this tape and look at me,
Speaker 5: but it's like, you're done tracking this guy's entire career, okay,
Speaker 5: and that's like, you this S two cognition test that
Speaker 5: dropped this information that he got an eighteen on it,
Speaker 5: where guys like Bryce Young got a ninety eight. So
Speaker 5: it's like, oh, obviously Bryce Young brings this other element.
Speaker 5: I want to read you something. I went to their
Speaker 5: site because who do these guys think they are? He
Speaker 5: got buried in the predraft process. They say at S
Speaker 5: two cognition, we see the game differently. Our revolutionary approach
Speaker 5: to understanding athletes in game instincts has redefined the IT factor.
Speaker 5: We have taken decades of cognition science and applied it
Speaker 5: to the world of elite performance, making the undefinable qualities
Speaker 5: of top athletes quantifiable with the S two system, No
Speaker 5: you don't. For pro and college teams looking to build
Speaker 5: their roster S two offers insight into position and scheme
Speaker 5: specific cognitive profiles. We partner with in house analytics to
Speaker 5: help predict on field performance and inform play decisions. To
Speaker 5: take full advantage of your athletes strengths, No you won't.
Speaker 5: Our thirty to forty five minute digital evaluation measures your
Speaker 5: unique cognitive skills with unprecedented precision and accuracy. This in
Speaker 5: depth report will help you understand how you process the
Speaker 5: game and stack up against your peers.
Speaker 7: No, it won't.
Speaker 5: Bryce Young scoring a ninety eight and Stroud earning in eighteen.
Speaker 5: I'll show you number eighteen. Seacrest out baby, like I
Speaker 5: take this test. I'm never listening to anything about this
Speaker 5: test ever. Again, a lot of the stuff we just
Speaker 5: got to throw it out. I want to see him
Speaker 5: play on the field.
Speaker 7: CJ.
Speaker 5: Stroud, I think, bucked the entire concept of like pre
Speaker 5: judging some of these players. And he said I'm not
Speaker 5: a good test taker, which is like not an unfair
Speaker 5: thing to say, like sign.
Speaker 7: Just or not.
Speaker 6: Now in fairness, he went number two overall, and many
Speaker 6: I would say, I wouldn't say the majority, but it
Speaker 6: was closer to fifty to fifty than most pre draft process.
Speaker 6: Many people who covered the draft thought Stroud was the
Speaker 6: better prospect.
Speaker 7: So it's not like everyone is shocked. CJ.
Speaker 6: Stroud is better sure than Bryce Young, But as two go,
Speaker 6: take a dirt nap. They're just a business trying to
Speaker 6: sell their business, and a lot of people got sold
Speaker 6: tough tough spot.
Speaker 7: Sessler does bury this aig. I'd probably feel at that too.
Speaker 2: What was the surprise The.
Speaker 7: Surprise, well, okay, the surprise to me.
Speaker 2: Is C J.
Speaker 5: Stroud in general is a surprise. And I would say
Speaker 5: of all the rookies, he came in with this like he.
Speaker 7: Came asked a key question.
Speaker 5: Nobody came in like with this soiled reputation. That's like, well,
Speaker 5: he's probably a good athlete, but he's not mentally capable
Speaker 5: like the rest of these guys.
Speaker 7: Nonsense.
Speaker 5: The surprise is take your test and throw it in
Speaker 5: the ocean with an anchor attached to it.
Speaker 1: I think it should also be said that I don't
Speaker 1: think anybody.
Speaker 2: I mean, there's pick number two.
Speaker 5: Overall as a person, Why have this draped over you publicly?
Speaker 7: It's like, oh, it's meant to be secret information.
Speaker 1: Accord, it was like whatever the last thing was, the
Speaker 1: wonder Lick, it's all gazi for gays in the wind.
Speaker 4: We're done with tests.
Speaker 7: I'm done test. It's like a surprise check you later.
Speaker 1: Actually, the wonder Lick was good. I thought, here's a
Speaker 1: hot take, because they still take it. The story around
Speaker 1: Wonderlick always used to be like, oh, his store, his
Speaker 1: score was so bad, he got as he got a
Speaker 1: seven hundred and you get six hundred points for writing
Speaker 1: your name at the top. And it's like, oh, the
Speaker 1: guy that didn't write the name at the top off
Speaker 1: my team. I'd take him right off the board. So
Speaker 1: there was something to the wonder like that.
Speaker 7: Okay, wonder lick this? How about that?
Speaker 2: Whoa it is?
Speaker 7: Still? Why is it that relevant of a test? I
Speaker 7: don't know.
Speaker 2: I don't know who you're really fighting again.
Speaker 5: I like, I like this got me, This got me
Speaker 5: hyped up because it's like you're trying to tell us
Speaker 5: who this person is before we see them do what
Speaker 5: their actual job is.
Speaker 4: Spicy, well done, Mark, I don't know.
Speaker 5: You gave this assignment about an hour before the show,
Speaker 5: and I thought I'd dug deep into something that I feel.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't call it an assignment.
Speaker 6: But okay, well it did get you fired up, and
Speaker 6: anything that does that, I'm all for.
Speaker 1: All Right, well, let's get into our predictions that we
Speaker 1: made in uh back in August again. This was an assignment.
Speaker 1: Oh on an assignment. Incredible assignment.
Speaker 7: This was an assignment.
Speaker 1: This was, yes, an assignment. On August thirtieth, twenty twenty three,
Speaker 1: we're asked to pick MVP, Defensive Player of the Year,
Speaker 1: Rookies of the Year, blah blah blah blah blah. And
Speaker 1: earlier this week there was another assignment email that went
Speaker 1: I was like, hey, this is your chance for your
Speaker 1: mid season predictions. Always stand I stand on my initial predictions.
Speaker 1: But on this show, why don't why don't we kind
Speaker 1: of revisit where we were Connie. You could just pop
Speaker 1: in and out of this combo whenever you want. So
Speaker 1: you weren't in the original I.
Speaker 4: Was very busy documentary that was still ending the summer
Speaker 4: of Connie and we weren't ready.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you were. You had been asked to take part.
Speaker 4: Well, I think they send the email out and I
Speaker 4: view it sometimes as optional.
Speaker 1: It was an opt out. It's okay, this could be
Speaker 1: your chance to pipe in. Okay, So MVP.
Speaker 2: Let's see.
Speaker 1: Me and Cess Dog both had Patrick Mahomes, Greggy, you
Speaker 1: had Justin and Herbert, and it's funny that's not happening.
Speaker 1: None of us are necessarily feeling great right now. But
Speaker 1: there really isn't a runway leader either, as you were
Speaker 1: saying earlier, Greg, So would anybody want to change their
Speaker 1: pick right now?
Speaker 5: I mean, I like fully those like seven or eight quarterbacks.
Speaker 5: You could make an argument for if it must be quarterback,
Speaker 5: Like it's I'm more like predict this off of what
Speaker 5: I think the voters will do, and it's like, could
Speaker 5: it be someone like Tyreek Hill?
Speaker 6: I think if maybe, if the season ended today, I
Speaker 6: think A. J. Brown and Tyreek Hill would be my
Speaker 6: top two picks. I don't necessarily think they would win
Speaker 6: the award, but that's like right now. But people are like, wow,
Speaker 6: there's no like great quarterbacks, there's no clear MVP. It's
Speaker 6: week nine, You've got like the MVPs almost never decided
Speaker 6: on the first half of the season anyways. It's basically
Speaker 6: like who has good numbers and who played well the
Speaker 6: last six weeks of the season.
Speaker 7: Aremy comfortable with Mahomes and we'll get there.
Speaker 6: But I would say, right now, AJ Brown and Tyreek
Speaker 6: on pace for two thousand yards, I would put them
Speaker 6: a little ahead of the top quarterbacks, which I did
Speaker 6: decide to make a list because now you can you
Speaker 6: vote top three for MVP. I believe the top five,
Speaker 6: and I was thinking who would be on my list,
Speaker 6: and I gave Lamar the slight edge over the rest
Speaker 6: of the QBS, which would be Hurts playing better. Mahomes
Speaker 6: is still there for me, and then Lower it's like
Speaker 6: Josh Allen, I actually think is playing well to a stroud.
Speaker 7: Like those guys.
Speaker 6: If they have a huge stretch run, any one of
Speaker 6: those guys, then they're probably the MVP.
Speaker 7: Right now.
Speaker 6: I guess they'd give it to Lamar out of this quarterback.
Speaker 6: I like the receivers better. It feels like they're more
Speaker 6: defining receives, not gonna win MVP. So I don't think
Speaker 6: that's true now. I don't think that's true. Last time
Speaker 6: it's been well, I think once only ever, right, Jerry
Speaker 6: Rice is the only I mean, but things things could change.
Speaker 6: You could have a season like if you forwarded and
Speaker 6: just doubled everyone's stats and we doubled it up and
Speaker 6: Lamar really ended with like eighteen touchdown passes. I don't
Speaker 6: know if he's gonna win the m v P or
Speaker 6: Mahomes on like a pretty mediocre offense, or Hurts might
Speaker 6: be the one that's kind of in.
Speaker 7: I have a weird one, like like, so we know, Joe.
Speaker 1: Are we really by the way, are gonna give the
Speaker 1: way that we just came out as the Shaan Watson
Speaker 1: mess the league's gonna bo bestow the NFL MVP honors
Speaker 1: the Tyreek Hill Like we're gonna, We're gonna, yeah.
Speaker 7: Come sound to voters.
Speaker 6: I mean at this point, when was the last time
Speaker 6: you heard anyone brought up Tyreek Hill's off field child.
Speaker 6: He literally is featured on Nickelodeon's promotion for their kids show,
Speaker 6: Tyreek Hill pops up and he's like, come, I'll slim
Speaker 6: you or whatever. It's like, that's not on anyone who
Speaker 6: decides this.
Speaker 1: By the way, who gets completely absolved and who remains
Speaker 1: tracked well.
Speaker 7: In this case, it would just be the voters technical
Speaker 7: right for m VP.
Speaker 6: I think he's getting all pro votes every year, right,
Speaker 6: I mean to me, it's the same, it's the same voters.
Speaker 7: It's it's the same people. But it's all TB.
Speaker 6: But I would get rid of my Herbert pick because
Speaker 6: I think this Chargers Off is a sinking ship. I
Speaker 6: don't think he's gonna suddenly like rebound.
Speaker 5: Is it the kind of thing where you need to
Speaker 5: be pristine from wire to wire or like I would say,
Speaker 5: a special case to be like a Joe Burrow, Right,
Speaker 5: we get it, Like the first part of the season
Speaker 5: was a disaster health related. But if you get the
Speaker 5: last two weeks of Joe Burrow and it continues on,
Speaker 5: like he starts to stand out from other quarterbacks.
Speaker 4: To me, I think it's like the last six weeks
Speaker 4: of the season, who is the hottest and that's usually
Speaker 4: a quarterback. Whoever is the hottest there. And I mean,
Speaker 4: Lamar has a great case because he's made such a
Speaker 4: jump as a passer right now, but also he's getting
Speaker 4: a lot of assistance from his defense too.
Speaker 6: Right Burrow is actually I can pull it up Burrows
Speaker 6: like the second or third most likely odds right now
Speaker 6: and to your point, Dan, even right now. And because
Speaker 6: these are people predicting what's going to happen at the
Speaker 6: end of the season, that's what you're betting on. Essentially,
Speaker 6: Tyreek and aj Brown are buried. They're still like sixth
Speaker 6: and seventh on.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's just that's how they do it.
Speaker 7: I guess I be the change, though that hurts Lamar.
Speaker 1: I'm not giving Tyreek kill my vote for MVPY, so
Speaker 1: I will not be that change for that guy.
Speaker 5: You're asking the Pro Football writer now America, Greg to
Speaker 5: beat the change.
Speaker 7: Also, no receiver has won v okay, I should have.
Speaker 2: Oh right, I thought Rice wanted like eighty eight.
Speaker 7: I'm doing a quick glance. Eighty eight a defensive player
Speaker 7: who won it year Boom, Yeah, I'm wrong, Oh Wrongles team.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there was a year when Jerry Rice had like
Speaker 1: twenty some twenty touchdowns and was out of this world
Speaker 1: if he didn't win it that year.
Speaker 7: It's it's a it's a stupid conversation.
Speaker 6: But there used to be two MVP awards where it
Speaker 6: was like the AP was not the officially recognized one,
Speaker 6: and then there was writers.
Speaker 7: And I think Rice was.
Speaker 5: Even a typical frohim to win Super Bowl MVP, like
Speaker 5: just always quarterback quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: Where the NFL hasn't like taken that award as their own.
Speaker 1: That feels like something that's going to happen. Yes, in
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty seven, Jerry Rice had sixty five catches. Oh
Speaker 1: there was the strike year, Holy god, in twelve games
Speaker 1: because the first four weeks were gabs playing in twelve games.
Speaker 2: He had twenty two touchdowns that year, Oh my god.
Speaker 2: And then Moss broke his record in sixteenth. That's crazy her.
Speaker 6: Yeah, he won the Pro Football Writers in nineteen eighty seven,
Speaker 6: which back then actually like was as prestigious and was
Speaker 6: sort of they were like competing awards.
Speaker 1: My take with this particular exercise we're doing is I'm
Speaker 1: not moving.
Speaker 2: Off unless I really have to, Like it's a lost cause.
Speaker 1: So I'll stick with Mahomes and I would go to
Speaker 1: I would pivot to Burrow unless I if I felt
Speaker 1: really strongly, I.
Speaker 2: Don't, ok.
Speaker 6: I think I think Lamar if they can get a
Speaker 6: one seed here and he continues to play while he
Speaker 6: was gonna maybe be the yeah guy, all.
Speaker 1: Right, offensive Player of the Year before the season, Mark
Speaker 1: you took Jalen Hurts, Greg you it Tooks.
Speaker 7: I liked that though.
Speaker 6: That's creative, Well that was that was just what I knew,
Speaker 6: know how these things work.
Speaker 7: It was just like to put another name.
Speaker 2: I took Garrett Wilson.
Speaker 1: And the favorite in the field in August was Christian McCaffrey.
Speaker 1: I should say Mahomes was the favorite amongst NFL dot
Speaker 1: com writers in the field in August. This one, Uh yeah,
Speaker 1: this one looks like right now AJ Brown or Tyreek,
Speaker 1: but Christian McCaffrey has a as a real case as
Speaker 1: well to win it.
Speaker 2: So those seem like the Big three for me.
Speaker 5: So that's the I still think what happens so often
Speaker 5: is they still pick another quarterback.
Speaker 7: I think this is the year that would change.
Speaker 6: But jeff last year, right right, they'll do that be
Speaker 6: best receiver this year because we've seen a c change too,
Speaker 6: like receivers are getting quarterback money. I think people are
Speaker 6: starting to understand that a receiver as good as Tyreek
Speaker 6: Hill and Justin Jefferson and A J. Brown can make
Speaker 6: like they're elevating as good as Jalen Hurts is in Tua,
Speaker 6: like they are elevating them in a way that you
Speaker 6: just couldn't without a receiver.
Speaker 5: Like not a single NFL dot Com expert picked AJ Brown.
Speaker 4: No way. See if I did the exercise, you know
Speaker 4: that was your opportunity.
Speaker 7: I did kick A J.
Speaker 6: Brown in his Fantasy League twelfth overall.
Speaker 7: That was me. Yeah, I believed in you. AJ.
Speaker 4: We're so happy for it.
Speaker 7: Very nice massive bona fide Street credit.
Speaker 1: Right Defensive Player of the Year Sestog took Sauce Gardner.
Speaker 1: A good job by you, buddy. Not gonna happen. But
Speaker 1: let's see, Greg, you took MICHAEH. Parsons Micah Parsons, who
Speaker 1: is the favorite on our page. I took Miles Garrett.
Speaker 7: I think Dan is gonna win this.
Speaker 2: Feeling good about that. I stand with Miles Garrett.
Speaker 7: I would switch it if I could.
Speaker 5: I mean, obviously it's not Sauce Gardner, but it's like,
Speaker 5: I think this is the It seems like it's been
Speaker 5: elusive for Garrett, who's like always on the fringe of it.
Speaker 5: This may be he's made difference making plays week after week.
Speaker 2: We should say it.
Speaker 1: I mean, Sauce probably is not gonna win it, but
Speaker 1: it's not like he's injured anything. He's playing on a
Speaker 1: very good defense. But he hasn't had a year as
Speaker 1: as equal to year one so far.
Speaker 6: Right, the problem for Gary and I've seen this like oh,
Speaker 6: on Sunday he won the Defensive Player the Year. Where
Speaker 6: the problem is, unlike MVP, there's incredible candidates. And again,
Speaker 6: it probably doesn't matter what you've done to this point
Speaker 6: because Parsons is close enough, you know, and and Max
Speaker 6: Crosby is close enough, and TJ. Watt close enough. They're
Speaker 6: all having monster seasons that whoever has the best second
Speaker 6: half of the season. Actually Parsons is barely behind in
Speaker 6: the odds in Vegas, like Garrett's the slight favorite, but
Speaker 6: Parsons is barely behind.
Speaker 7: In TJ Wat's not far behind.
Speaker 4: Which Miles Garrett is like the bridesmaid for this award.
Speaker 7: I think so too. I think it hel he feels
Speaker 7: different this year though doesn't Yeah.
Speaker 4: He does for sure, But I want Max Crosby to
Speaker 4: get it because he is like the main guy on
Speaker 4: that defense and Miles Garrett has some good playmakers around
Speaker 4: him in Cleveland, but I feel like Max is a
Speaker 4: little bit more on an island with the Raiders.
Speaker 6: Roquan Smith, I think would get some votes because you
Speaker 6: can vote for three guys, uh, best linebacker in the
Speaker 6: league and part of the best offense, and then Josh
Speaker 6: Allen's this his numbers in Jacksonville have to be looked at,
Speaker 6: Dexter Lawrence, Aaron Donald. Those guys wouldn't get it this year,
Speaker 6: but in a normal year, I feel like they'd be
Speaker 6: on some lists.
Speaker 2: All right, this one's crazy offensive Rookie of the Year.
Speaker 1: So you everyone remembers the incredible amount of hype around
Speaker 1: Bejhon Robinson. He got twenty six of the let's say
Speaker 1: through like twenty six of the thirty three votes, including
Speaker 1: cestog including Rosenthal, I picked Anthony Richardson. He had the
Speaker 1: second most votes, but only three votes. Bryce Young had
Speaker 1: three votes. Zay Flowers got a vote from Burgo get
Speaker 1: well soon, Burgo and Jami or Gibbs got one vote. Nobody,
Speaker 1: nobody gave a single vote to c J. Stroud, who
Speaker 1: at this point I'm not uncomfortable.
Speaker 7: That goes back to my argument, let's be real, it's
Speaker 7: the test.
Speaker 5: There was some sort of like perception that he might
Speaker 5: struggle in a way that we didn't expect, yea.
Speaker 6: Because no one thought the Texans offense was going to
Speaker 6: be good, Like I'm just or the Texans would be
Speaker 6: You're right, though, you're right?
Speaker 5: Yeah everyone she doing Steve mariochim yeah, so you had
Speaker 5: uh yeah.
Speaker 2: C J. Stroud does not show up here.
Speaker 1: I think he did, barring some type of injury, clinch
Speaker 1: Offensive Player of the Year on Sunday with what.
Speaker 5: He did while losing your guy, Anthony Richardson like cleared
Speaker 5: that field out quite a bit and Bryce Young not
Speaker 5: looking ready for primetime at this point, I.
Speaker 7: Think you're right.
Speaker 6: He's he's a heavy, heavy favorite, which is too bad
Speaker 6: for pukakul. You put Pooka in last year's class. He's
Speaker 6: got a great chance, I think to win it over
Speaker 6: Garrett Wilson or Chris o'lavey. Like he has a very
Speaker 6: reasonable chance if Matthew Stafford is healthy, to have the
Speaker 6: greatest or one of the greatest rookie season statistically that
Speaker 6: any wide receivers ever had.
Speaker 4: The only thing is he doesn't have the touchdowns like
Speaker 4: he has the yards and the catches.
Speaker 2: That's true.
Speaker 1: By the way, John Robinson, whatever are the Smith's doing
Speaker 1: over there? I think he's average. He's leveraging two point
Speaker 1: nine yards per carrying over the last month or so. Yikes,
Speaker 1: they've turned him into a sub three yards of carry runner.
Speaker 2: They're not helping.
Speaker 7: Really, Yeah, is that five for the season?
Speaker 4: That is?
Speaker 7: That is sad?
Speaker 2: All right?
Speaker 1: Uh, let's see bay bay blah bah bah flah fla.
Speaker 2: Fla fla flah.
Speaker 1: Moving on the defensive Rookie of the Year. Uh, Jalen
Speaker 1: Carter was the favorite. I picked Jalen Carter.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 2: Sorry, Rosenthal picked Brian Branch.
Speaker 7: He's got a chance. I think he's got a decent Mark.
Speaker 1: Picked Joey Porter Jr. Because his dad played for the Steelers.
Speaker 7: Well, you're not wrong.
Speaker 1: I feel good about Jalen Carter. I'm gonna stand on
Speaker 1: that one.
Speaker 6: He is the favorite right now. He would be my
Speaker 6: choice as well. I think until the last week or
Speaker 6: two he would have a pretty decent All Pro case,
Speaker 6: as like a you know, first team All Pro defensive tackle.
Speaker 6: But Witherspoon's having a good year. Branch is still third
Speaker 6: or fourth in the odds right now because he's had
Speaker 6: a nice season. Will Anderson's having a solid rookie season
Speaker 6: where if he picked it up, I think Carter.
Speaker 4: Has to be Jill and Carter, Jalen Carter this point.
Speaker 6: At this point, you guys, at right now now, I'm
Speaker 6: sticking with Branch because that's looking like a fun little friend.
Speaker 7: I feel that we're.
Speaker 2: Safe moving off.
Speaker 5: Joey Porter a good player, but like you know that
Speaker 5: he would need to do something insane down the stretch.
Speaker 7: That can happen.
Speaker 6: It's he's now like starting he didn't start the first
Speaker 6: five weeks or that didn't help come back play.
Speaker 2: I don't want to do that. One's just strange.
Speaker 1: Coach of the Year, let's see, the favorite was Robert Salad.
Speaker 2: How things have changed? Uh, the I voted.
Speaker 7: By that much at you'd be surprised he's one of
Speaker 7: the favorites.
Speaker 1: Still interesting, it's because he's very good with the media.
Speaker 1: He's photogenic.
Speaker 2: I have so doubt on he definitely does look the part.
Speaker 1: Uh No, it's not one line I said, been talking
Speaker 1: about him for a few weeks. I had Mike Tomlin
Speaker 1: with my pick. Look at that, and that's looking pretty
Speaker 1: decent right now. Uh, sess dog.
Speaker 7: This is why I was figgling before. I mean, you
Speaker 7: know what, it was all set up.
Speaker 5: It was set up to be he was a kind
Speaker 5: of a candidate that fits that whole thing, and then
Speaker 5: he suddenly.
Speaker 6: Well he's currently plus sixty six hundred to win it,
Speaker 6: which is a lot better chance than Brian Daviles and
Speaker 6: Belichick's plus twenty five thousand.
Speaker 2: Greg, you had Ron Rivera that nailed it.
Speaker 6: That's not looking good. You know who is the favorite?
Speaker 2: Now? Was it? Who you let me get?
Speaker 7: Christ's my favorite?
Speaker 6: Toko would be my pick, and I think I was
Speaker 6: thinking Koc's maybe got a chance to sneak up. But no,
Speaker 6: the favorite, a decent sized favorite, is Dan Campbell.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I was gonna say, you.
Speaker 5: Know what's going to help Mike McDaniel. Maybe is the
Speaker 5: in season hard knocks.
Speaker 7: He's a human beings honing like there's amen. The Dolphins
Speaker 7: win the division.
Speaker 6: He has John Harbaugh ever won Coach of the Year,
Speaker 6: because I feel like if they're the number one seed,
Speaker 6: that feels that feels.
Speaker 7: Like a year. I remember when we talked about in.
Speaker 1: August that Mike Tomlin has never won Coach of the Year.
Speaker 1: So it's the that's what we're talking about. The Scorsese
Speaker 1: getting the finally getting statue for the departed.
Speaker 7: Yeah, this awards like absurd.
Speaker 1: All right, let's take a break and then we will
Speaker 1: have a conversation.
Speaker 7: Okay, team.
Speaker 4: The team.
Speaker 2: Fit only one seed.
Speaker 8: Thousand times the team team.
Speaker 7: This is important.
Speaker 9: This is a special in Dick Banks, the one man
Speaker 9: house band with the iconic team of atl slash at
Speaker 9: and theme song.
Speaker 4: Just reminded me, by the way, real quick, when we
Speaker 4: used to do or Are you kidding Me? Live in
Speaker 4: studio with someone that we brought up from the newsroom,
Speaker 4: I believe with the guitar.
Speaker 2: He wasn't from the newsroom.
Speaker 1: His name was Patrick Kangajew and he was a I
Speaker 1: put out on the company wide messaging client, Hey, does
Speaker 1: anybody know how to play guitar? And this guy Patrick,
Speaker 1: who worked on the second floor and maybe marketing or
Speaker 1: social media somewhere, he replies, I play guitar. It's like,
Speaker 1: can you bring your guitar in an amp to the
Speaker 1: studio to play?
Speaker 2: Just lay down some.
Speaker 7: Tasty licks electric guitar?
Speaker 2: Yeah, electric guitar.
Speaker 1: And he brought a strap bro and he just find
Speaker 1: that if people people that like the archives of the
Speaker 1: show when Kangajeu was in studio and I don't know
Speaker 1: where he is these days, it was Michael Kangadju. Actually
Speaker 1: I don't know where he is now, but thank you buddy.
Speaker 4: That was one of the most memorable shows for some reason.
Speaker 4: It still stands out in my head.
Speaker 7: It's got three or four of those appearances. Yeah, I
Speaker 7: think he's live at Red Rocks on Thursday night.
Speaker 2: All right, so where are we? Okay?
Speaker 1: Last year team of around the NFL Detroit Lions, and
Speaker 1: it was a perfect pick, perfect synergy.
Speaker 2: It started Connie with you and I.
Speaker 1: And Hard Knocks, and then that's a season that started
Speaker 1: slow but gain momentum and we kind of all fell
Speaker 1: for that Lions team.
Speaker 2: And now it's like sending off.
Speaker 1: A beautiful like your child went away to college and
Speaker 1: you're just setting them free, and it's just like, go
Speaker 1: go win a trophy. Lions, we love you. It's a
Speaker 1: new year. We need a new team. We don't need
Speaker 1: a new team. We'd like a new team, but you
Speaker 1: can't force the team around the NFL. And a week ago,
Speaker 1: at this time, it felt like the market felt like
Speaker 1: there was no chance. A week ago, there's just nobody
Speaker 1: that had truly captured our imagination.
Speaker 5: Nothing stood out like it typically does, like you kind
Speaker 5: of all get the similar feeling, or most of us do.
Speaker 7: And like a week ago that was true.
Speaker 6: We often did do it early in the season, but
Speaker 6: the original team of ATO, which was the Carolina Panthers,
Speaker 6: was actually.
Speaker 7: Probably around this time old. It was a slow build.
Speaker 2: Yes.
Speaker 1: So with that said, Colleen, yes, and we because we
Speaker 1: view you as a member of the team, thank you.
Speaker 1: We We need a unanimous vote, okay, and that's going
Speaker 1: to be four like the old days with Chris Westling.
Speaker 2: So the only way a team of atn can exist.
Speaker 1: And if we want to push back the vote to
Speaker 1: Sunday and see how the games play out, I'm not
Speaker 1: against that, but let's talk about it first, and with
Speaker 1: that said, I'll let's begin the nomination process.
Speaker 2: Eric. Like a phoenix rising.
Speaker 1: From the ashes, the Houston Texans are a franchise reborn.
Speaker 1: The vision of new head coach Tomiko, Ryans and Wonderkins.
Speaker 2: Signal caller C. J.
Speaker 1: Stroud has changed the landscape of the AFC South Division
Speaker 1: and created questions that seemed unthinkable before the season. Are
Speaker 1: the Texans playoff bound? Will Stroud finish with the greatest
Speaker 1: statistical rookie season by a quarterback ever?
Speaker 2: Out of the darkness, light has broken through. The Texans
Speaker 2: have arrived.
Speaker 1: In the words of every nine year old boy on
Speaker 1: playgrounds across America, let's.
Speaker 4: Go beautifully sad the Texans.
Speaker 5: To me, it's the only candidate that really fits for me. Ellswith,
Speaker 5: It's this great story of a team that we came
Speaker 5: into the year saying like, well, they're the opposite of
Speaker 5: weapons Rich. Like I mentioned, we're wondering what the quarterback
Speaker 5: journey will be. It's a new coach, the general manager
Speaker 5: has been attached to a lot of nonsense. Suddenly no
Speaker 5: one's talking about him because everything's working out. They've been
Speaker 5: a team in the ABYSS in abstentia for a long
Speaker 5: time now, and they had no personality, and it was
Speaker 5: like you keep firing your coach two years in a
Speaker 5: row after one year stints and now suddenly everything quickly
Speaker 5: seems put together. And yet the reason I think that
Speaker 5: they fit for Team of ATN is that the lines
Speaker 5: a year ago were two and six, now they're six
Speaker 5: and two. It's a bit of a flash point again
Speaker 5: where you're like kind of projecting where this team could go.
Speaker 7: They're imperfect in certain ways.
Speaker 5: There's a lot of young talent, but they're four and four,
Speaker 5: so we're not picking like an overt front runner.
Speaker 7: I kind of like that the most I want them
Speaker 7: to be.
Speaker 5: Maybe they make the playoffs, maybe they don't, but they're
Speaker 5: gonna be fun and there's a lot of future focus
Speaker 5: to them. So that's that I would they would get
Speaker 5: my vote.
Speaker 6: Well, what you're talking about gets to what are we
Speaker 6: looking for in the team of ATL and maybe we're
Speaker 6: all looking for different things. Are we looking for a
Speaker 6: team that's going to win because and we'll get to
Speaker 6: the next nominee? Like, I think that's not that important
Speaker 6: to me. I actually would be fine with a team
Speaker 6: of ATL that like won seven games. If I just
Speaker 6: felt an emotional attachment that I want to see this
Speaker 6: team g I felt that with the Lions even last
Speaker 6: year when they were losing and had some hope that
Speaker 6: they would turn it around, and they didn't, and I
Speaker 6: think that worked out great.
Speaker 7: You know, they didn't make the playoffs. The Texans are
Speaker 7: a fun watch.
Speaker 6: I don't know if I feel like a crazy emotional
Speaker 6: attachment to them, but I do like the idea of
Speaker 6: a team of atl versus not because why not. I
Speaker 6: like hearing that song and I do find them very
Speaker 6: early on my game pass rankings of like I like
Speaker 6: watching dink Del, I like watching Nico Collins, I like
Speaker 6: watching CJ.
Speaker 2: Stroud.
Speaker 6: It's a passing league like that. That's what I like
Speaker 6: turning on. So I'm all for them and.
Speaker 1: A lot of ways, the Detroit Lions last year were
Speaker 1: the platonic ideal of the team of ATM for me
Speaker 1: because of that, Like there were peaks and valleys and
Speaker 1: they weren't they weren't bullies, but they always put up
Speaker 1: a fight and they kind of peeked down the stretch
Speaker 1: and even though they didn't make it, Yeah, there was
Speaker 1: just like a lot of hope around the franchise, like
Speaker 1: it was really exciting, and I think you could definitely
Speaker 1: make that case for the Texans. I think a couple
Speaker 1: of things like lessons I'm learning from this Texan teams
Speaker 1: are kind of reminders a like, even if you don't
Speaker 1: have a great front office setup, even if you have dysfunction,
Speaker 1: it's crazy how much a quarterback and paper over things.
Speaker 2: And that's what caj Stroud.
Speaker 1: Nobody's talking about the bad around the Texans anymore because
Speaker 1: he's been so good. And then the other thing is, yeah,
Speaker 1: we spent a lot of time this summer talking about, yeah,
Speaker 1: well who's this guy thrown to? Well, you don't know
Speaker 1: how good he's gonna be, and then you don't know
Speaker 1: how what he could bring out of these receivers like
Speaker 1: Collins and Tank Dell.
Speaker 2: So it's a and Dalton Schultz.
Speaker 1: Like you you see what he's been able to do
Speaker 1: even without a running game. So the idea of getting
Speaker 1: on board with a young quarterback now being a number
Speaker 1: two overall pick Connie and I like kind of sometimes
Speaker 1: the underdog slantip team of Aten.
Speaker 2: Does that bother you at all?
Speaker 7: No?
Speaker 4: Because for me, it's like the Texans essentially had to
Speaker 4: settle quote unquote for c. J. Stroud because of what
Speaker 4: happened at the end of the season with them and
Speaker 4: not getting that number one overall pick. So it was like, Okay,
Speaker 4: they're gonna get like essentially the sloppy second who looks
Speaker 4: really really good right now. So for me, the team
Speaker 4: should be easy to root for. It should have a
Speaker 4: this like sort of a dusting of hope around them
Speaker 4: and a team that is typically downtrodden, Like I like
Speaker 4: that aspect of it. Maybe it's on the up and up.
Speaker 4: It's it's a team that people have historically kind of
Speaker 4: beat down a little bit, not believed in, and I
Speaker 4: feel like the Texans have this confidence about them now
Speaker 4: that is very attractive. And Demico Ryans is so likable.
Speaker 6: He changes everything, he changes the front office because it's
Speaker 6: his organization totally.
Speaker 4: And they're look good too. They're just kind of this
Speaker 4: fun team and I wonder if they're in line to
Speaker 4: be the Lions slash Jags team that has this renaissance
Speaker 4: that has staying power.
Speaker 6: He's their fifth coach, Tamiko Ryans in the last four years,
Speaker 6: because you remember in twenty twenty they fired Bill O'Brien
Speaker 6: after only four games, and then it was Romeo crnell
Speaker 6: for twelve games. They were eleven and thirty eight in
Speaker 6: those three seasons. They did not win more than four
Speaker 6: games in any of those seasons. They're at four and
Speaker 6: four now, so they have they are an underdog story
Speaker 6: even with with number two pick.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the last I think Watson's last full year there,
Speaker 1: if you look at his numbers, they were outstanding and
Speaker 1: they went four and twelve. I believe it was like
Speaker 1: there was just so many things wrong with that team
Speaker 1: and they were like the exception to the rule where
Speaker 1: it was like, oh, yeah, you could have a studley
Speaker 1: quarterback and still be terrible. But now things seem different.
Speaker 1: They have some balance and yeah, coaching matters obviously interesting.
Speaker 4: Okay, like that one.
Speaker 2: So let's head to the next.
Speaker 1: Left to perish after an zero to three start, the
Speaker 1: Minnesota Vikings have proven it's never wise to write off
Speaker 1: a proper Norseman. Winners of five of their last six contests,
Speaker 1: Kevin O'Connell's resilient Gridiron Warriors refused to be put out
Speaker 1: to sea, despite the absence of the great Justin Jefferson
Speaker 1: and a season ending injury suffered by their leader, Kirk
Speaker 1: the Benevolent. The sudden arrival of Joshua Dobbs, a fearless
Speaker 1: warrior appearing like a specter out from the mist, has
Speaker 1: made these irrepressible Vikings a dangerous foe thinking big about
Speaker 1: what's to come.
Speaker 7: That's what she said, Okay, trying a place where that
Speaker 7: where that accent is coming from. It's just like a
Speaker 7: taste of irish in And now.
Speaker 4: I think the other one was kind of going in
Speaker 4: and out of several different.
Speaker 2: Characters to that purposeful. Maybe it's like it's it doesn't
Speaker 2: want to be pinned down to one die.
Speaker 4: It's like an eminem song with like a beat is
Speaker 4: about to drop.
Speaker 6: And yes, just never drops. You're just like, why won't
Speaker 6: you drop me? I like, I like this one. And
Speaker 6: when it first popped in at least I thought about
Speaker 6: it for the first time.
Speaker 7: I don't know if you guys had before.
Speaker 6: It was last week, and it was partly like josh
Speaker 6: Dobbs just feels like the player of atl So it's
Speaker 6: almost like it's just following the Josh Dopps story, which
Speaker 6: has been you know, strangely centered on this podcast all
Speaker 6: season and now he's in Minnesota, so that he's like
Speaker 6: the person of atl and he's just on the Vikings.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think like if you took Josh Dobbs in
Speaker 5: the whole bizarre NFL journey really a typical out of it,
Speaker 5: they wouldn't be on my radar on any level. So
Speaker 5: it's really in this case, I know that's kind of
Speaker 5: true with c J. Stratt a little bit, but there's
Speaker 5: a lot more I like about the Texans. Like my
Speaker 5: one thing with the Vikings is like if if Dobbs
Speaker 5: were to go down or get like a five week
Speaker 5: hamstring injury, like I have no reason for this to
Speaker 5: be my team personally, I don't.
Speaker 2: Feel I say the same thing about CJ. Stratt.
Speaker 5: Yes, I mean it's yes, but it's to a different
Speaker 5: The two ecosystems are different to me, and like I
Speaker 5: like I feel for Vikings fans, they've been through hell.
Speaker 5: And I also like, like, got the Vikings nominated a
Speaker 5: number of years ago and it went totally south, And
Speaker 5: so I think that I'm like my thinking, my thinking
Speaker 5: is a little soiled on like this, this is this
Speaker 5: is a team where I'm like, no matter what's happening,
Speaker 5: I could go totally south and we're gonna have to
Speaker 5: just deal with the deal with.
Speaker 6: When we think about like all the good old days
Speaker 6: with around the NFL. No, there was like entire seasons
Speaker 6: where our entire podcast mental state was rising and falling.
Speaker 7: With Mark going insane about this. Well, no, I never
Speaker 7: we can't even talked about everyone crazy. Everyone was like
Speaker 7: voted on eggshells, voted as we voted as a group.
Speaker 5: But then it was like Mark made a bad choices,
Speaker 5: Like we all voted, so it's like we all we're
Speaker 5: all going to be compelled to vote.
Speaker 1: It's amazing that this is part of the process that
Speaker 1: you're having right now.
Speaker 4: Please cut clip of that.
Speaker 5: Season, and I kind of remember you vote for in life,
Speaker 5: it's going to impact.
Speaker 1: They were your nominee and I think you pushed it
Speaker 1: through legislation.
Speaker 2: And then they lost five games in a row, like five.
Speaker 7: Or six in a rowers one of those seasons, and
Speaker 7: they went off a clip.
Speaker 1: So here's what's different about this team, Mark, Like, please
Speaker 1: try to flush that.
Speaker 5: I love John's been on Josh Dobbs all season as
Speaker 5: Hays Greg.
Speaker 7: So it's like you don't just sell me on that part.
Speaker 1: I mean, I felt I was being sold on the
Speaker 1: Arizona Cardinals earlier this season, which I have no time
Speaker 1: for the Cardinals.
Speaker 2: That whole organization is floating in the desert.
Speaker 1: My issue was after the Kirk Cousins injury, I was like,
Speaker 1: oh God, that this felt like a team that was
Speaker 1: putting it together and and a conference that's why open,
Speaker 1: you know, justin Jefferson coming back.
Speaker 2: What a shame.
Speaker 1: So when they make the move to get Dobbs and
Speaker 1: then what he did, the storyline of what happened on Sunday,
Speaker 1: it's it gets you kind of excited about is there
Speaker 1: something kind of fun and special happening here? And when
Speaker 1: you kind of factor in also, yeah, the team and
Speaker 1: the history and the kind of the tortured history of
Speaker 1: the Vikings, they are this isn't going to be a
Speaker 1: team this year Mark where like they're expected to do
Speaker 1: things and then they fall in their face because that's
Speaker 1: what they do and they always crush their fan base.
Speaker 1: This is a team that was essentially left for dead,
Speaker 1: that gave up a seventh round pick or a sixth
Speaker 1: round pick to get Josh Dobbs on the team when
Speaker 1: he was already being benched by the Cardinals. And now
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, he's leading a team that believes.
Speaker 1: I think there's just a lot of excitement around this
Speaker 1: team and this idea of what this season could be
Speaker 1: based on from where it started.
Speaker 5: Like so like just to be real, like, I mean,
Speaker 5: I everything you just said I agree with and I'm
Speaker 5: more of a swing voter in this. I think back
Speaker 5: in the days of when team of west Dale, it's
Speaker 5: like he would never allow anything he didn't fully one
Speaker 5: percent by anyone. Like I think even with the Lion
Speaker 5: Slasher was like all right, guys, if you're so into it,
Speaker 5: like a parent wanting their children to have like not
Speaker 5: that I'm your parent, but like but their way, like have.
Speaker 7: A nice time.
Speaker 5: If this is what we want to do, I do it.
Speaker 5: But it's not the lead like horse in the race.
Speaker 4: For me, what we don't want is a bunch of
Speaker 4: hanging chads.
Speaker 7: We don't want that. We don't we never want that
Speaker 7: the last time.
Speaker 4: But this the Vikings, We're gonna rewire the trauma that
Speaker 4: you experienced with the Vikings. We're gonna make it into
Speaker 4: a positive experience if we do end up going with
Speaker 4: this team, because for me, they've kind of gone from
Speaker 4: just a team that's there, like a team that's kind
Speaker 4: of languishing. And yes, they were putting it together, but
Speaker 4: it seemed like they were never really going to fully
Speaker 4: put it together because it was like the fumbling issues,
Speaker 4: and then Justin Jefferson got hurt and then obviously Kirk Cousins,
Speaker 4: and I think about Kevin O'Connell after that game that
Speaker 4: Kirk Cousins was heard in and they had won that game,
Speaker 4: how his locker rooms beach kind of had a pall
Speaker 4: over it because he knew what this meant. And then
Speaker 4: for Josh Dobbs to come in and do what he did,
Speaker 4: imagine being Kevin O'Connell. Because it feels like there's some
Speaker 4: renewed hope as well, and they have like a little
Speaker 4: bit of an extra boost, like maybe they can be
Speaker 4: the team that they wanted to be and wanted to
Speaker 4: put together. And now that they're getting Justin Jefferson back
Speaker 4: and Brian Flores has turned around that defense from last year,
Speaker 4: I'm kind of all in on this team. I really
Speaker 4: like that.
Speaker 2: I know what I liked about this team. When Kirk
Speaker 2: Cousins gets hurt.
Speaker 1: This is a locker room that's tight that before the
Speaker 1: game on Sunday, like many I don't want to say everybody,
Speaker 1: but it could have been. We're wearing Kirk Cousins T
Speaker 1: shirts and it was just like, there's like definitely a
Speaker 1: vibe on this team that I like as well, good energy.
Speaker 6: I am with you on that, and I was starting
Speaker 6: to like it even before Cousins got hurt. I really
Speaker 6: love Jordan Addison. I love how crazy Flores is. There
Speaker 6: was something from Ben Solac on Twitter yesterday where it
Speaker 6: showed like the amount of six man pressure, so it's
Speaker 6: like an all out blitz essentially around the league, and
Speaker 6: the Vikings do it on literally thirty percent of their snaps.
Speaker 6: No one else in the NFL is even over ten.
Speaker 6: Like they are playing a completely different kamakazi style of
Speaker 6: defense that is also fun to watch, and I love
Speaker 6: the vibes, but it's kind of getting to what I
Speaker 6: was talking about before, which what are we looking for
Speaker 6: out of this team of atl Because I'm along for
Speaker 6: the rides, I think I'm a little more emotionally connected
Speaker 6: Vikings versus Texans, and but I like them both, but
Speaker 6: I don't necessarily think like I kind of think they
Speaker 6: might lose this week to the Saints, Like, I don't
Speaker 6: necessarily think they're gonna be great. They're gonna have their ups,
Speaker 6: they're gonna have their downs. They're gonna have a chance
Speaker 6: at that seven seed. It'll be a fun ride. I
Speaker 6: don't think they're gonna like fly off to the moon
Speaker 6: or anything. It's not a bet that they're gonna be great.
Speaker 6: It's just they're fun.
Speaker 5: Like, aren't we We're kind of you're weighing against a
Speaker 5: number two pick a quarterback.
Speaker 7: That's the reason we're picking the Texans.
Speaker 5: That is fulfilling, like the potential, the prophecy and the
Speaker 5: promise versus one of the more unlikely quarterbacks Storre that
Speaker 5: you're kind of and I love it like I love them.
Speaker 5: I love that about the NFL. It's just a game
Speaker 5: changing sport because of that. But like you're hoping, you're
Speaker 5: more hoping that that story doesn't turn dark and probably
Speaker 5: more likely how it would be from a football angle,
Speaker 5: which is like he wins some games, but he's still
Speaker 5: joshed ups.
Speaker 6: They've got something going though. I definitely think that the
Speaker 6: roster and general, You're right, it's too bad, Kirk, we're
Speaker 6: going to keep there because they would have a high ceiling.
Speaker 6: I do like the it was like Sam Bradford team,
Speaker 6: by the way. They started out like live and oh
Speaker 6: with Sam Bradford, and I think we jumped on at
Speaker 6: like five and oh. It's good to know that because
Speaker 6: they didn't make the playoffs. It was twenty twenty fifteen.
Speaker 1: I can imagine Chris pushing back against the Sam Bradford team.
Speaker 7: I think that was all part of it.
Speaker 6: I think when voted, I was doing some research trying
Speaker 6: to figure out what we've done.
Speaker 7: I think we did the Panthers twice.
Speaker 6: We did the twenty fifteen Cardinals who made the conference championship. No,
Speaker 6: well but yeah, yeah, that was the Bruce Arians. We
Speaker 6: did the Chargers one years. We actually circled back to
Speaker 6: the Panthers, and then we skipped it a few years.
Speaker 6: We had them Naggy Bears that were actually good. That
Speaker 6: year we did.
Speaker 2: Whatever you get got on board of Matt Nague.
Speaker 6: But no one cared that year. I remember, like, no
Speaker 6: one actually cared. Let's see, yes, the he did the
Speaker 6: mcveigh's first year with the Rams.
Speaker 1: The twenty sixteen Vikings did start out five and oh.
Speaker 1: Then they went into their by which is when I
Speaker 1: assumed they were picked as the team of around the NFL.
Speaker 1: Then lost loss loss loss win lost loss win lost, loss, win.
Speaker 2: Eight and eighth.
Speaker 5: If I'm not mistaken, because I remember when I got
Speaker 5: really hot, was it was like Halloween night and I
Speaker 5: think they were on like Monday Night football on Halloween Night.
Speaker 7: If I'm not mistaken and lost, yeah, I'm not sure.
Speaker 7: I'd have to go check.
Speaker 5: It was something something happened to the Vikings on Halloween
Speaker 5: Night that year where everyone's just like terrible choice, Like
Speaker 5: I didn't.
Speaker 7: Want anything to do with it, Like it wasn't my vote.
Speaker 5: It's like I'm walking around like trick or treating with
Speaker 5: my kids and like getting destroyed on text over like
Speaker 5: something that we unanimously voted for.
Speaker 2: So it is Monday, October thirty.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'll never forget that memories like the worst halloweenire life.
Speaker 7: I pulled that.
Speaker 2: Show Every Funny, a twenty to ten loss to the Bears.
Speaker 6: Yes, that's what it was. It wasn't really the shows.
Speaker 6: It was the tech that was the worst. It wasn't
Speaker 6: the show life, it was the words. It was the
Speaker 6: endless text that we were getting and making us worried
Speaker 6: for all of our safety and for market.
Speaker 5: Well, they were coming in both directions. It wasn't me
Speaker 5: and it was like being you know, well, it's a
Speaker 5: good thing. I wasn't behind this. It's like, what are
Speaker 5: we doing here? We all voted for this team. So
Speaker 5: it's like I'm saying, like we're back in that same world.
Speaker 7: Let's know, no one's going to do that. No one's
Speaker 7: taking it. I'm trying anymore.
Speaker 1: I like, I don't remember anything about the twenty sixteen season.
Speaker 4: Oh I for some reason, twenty sixteen is like very
Speaker 4: clear for me, twenty sixteen to twenty eighteen. I mean,
Speaker 4: I don't do odd years.
Speaker 7: I remember that.
Speaker 6: Twenty eight to three comeback Danny ooh ouch, hold on
Speaker 6: to the memories.
Speaker 7: Greg, that's all like, yeah, yeah, they were great, it
Speaker 7: was fun, enjoyed it.
Speaker 2: I hope you have the time of your life. All right,
Speaker 2: So do we want to vote now or what do
Speaker 2: we do?
Speaker 4: We want to I think both teams we're gonna lose
Speaker 4: this week, unfortunately, because the Texans are playing the Bengals,
Speaker 4: So I don't.
Speaker 6: Know if.
Speaker 7: That's not what it's about.
Speaker 6: The Vikings are in a coin for I thought they
Speaker 6: would win last week against the Falcons because of what
Speaker 6: we were talking about, and I thought, and I think
Speaker 6: they would have won with Jaron Hall.
Speaker 7: That's the thing.
Speaker 6: Jared Hall look pretty good in that that drive. I
Speaker 6: was like, I think there's something going on with them
Speaker 6: that they're actually a good organization, a good team right now.
Speaker 4: So okay, I mean, I'm ready to vote if you
Speaker 4: want to vote.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I don't know what we're waiting.
Speaker 1: For, all in favor of one the Minnesota Vikings team
Speaker 1: of around the NFL say.
Speaker 6: I I I I oh wait, so hold on kind
Speaker 6: of the question.
Speaker 5: So we're just like that maybe the Texans could get
Speaker 5: four eyes, but we're just like we.
Speaker 2: Could do text do come to vote?
Speaker 5: I know if they if we if we can see
Speaker 5: it that way, yeah, I would say I to the
Speaker 5: Vikings in terms of.
Speaker 1: Do you want to do shouldn't you want to do
Speaker 1: a silent ballot? Is that what you want?
Speaker 7: Well, we just gave it away.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 7: I'm already with the Vikings. I'm not against it.
Speaker 5: I just have some you know, past issues with the
Speaker 5: concept this is more likable.
Speaker 1: That's part of the hero's journey though, of the Vikings
Speaker 1: in mind, and.
Speaker 2: That horrific Halloweens.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's tough too, because when they play the Lions,
Speaker 6: I still I still have been rooting for the Lions
Speaker 6: and enjoying the Lions.
Speaker 7: I wanted to just run it back at the beginning.
Speaker 2: Okay, okay, to root for the line. They're kind of
Speaker 2: our babies.
Speaker 6: I'm just saying, well, they're gonna have two big games
Speaker 6: against the Vikings.
Speaker 2: I believe that.
Speaker 7: That's that's all I'm saying.
Speaker 5: Well, you can, you can go in and out. Great,
Speaker 5: I would say, I'm not. I'm not going to block
Speaker 5: the Vikings. There's no reason I would like. I just
Speaker 5: they're not my They may not be my first choice.
Speaker 4: Well, I think it should be your first choice, right, like,
Speaker 4: don't know, tell us.
Speaker 7: Your first choice. I think I would go Texans first, all.
Speaker 1: Right, all in favor of the Houston Texans is team
Speaker 1: of around the NFL.
Speaker 6: Say I I'll say, I as well, can we vote twice?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 7: Are we allowing to vote twice?
Speaker 2: Sure?
Speaker 6: I'm dead I would vote twice, but if I was
Speaker 6: ranking it, I would say yes to both, just because
Speaker 6: it's fun. I like them, but I would vote Vikings first.
Speaker 2: All right?
Speaker 5: Well, then, so Texans is not a great move here,
Speaker 5: like for the group, so like there's too I get
Speaker 5: I think that like we picked them both because we
Speaker 5: see reasons for both there, like if they're if we're
Speaker 5: we nominated both, I can go Sering Minnesota, like I
Speaker 5: can get on board.
Speaker 7: We are on air right now. I'd say yes to
Speaker 7: the Vikings. That's your swee.
Speaker 6: What was your thing again? You could vote twice, I
Speaker 6: say you could. I would support both candidacies.
Speaker 7: I would. Why is that crazy?
Speaker 4: We have two teams?
Speaker 7: No, No, you can't have two teams. Well, we have
Speaker 7: a two separate votes. We have the winner. Anyways, two
Speaker 7: people didn't.
Speaker 6: If everyone had been on board with the Texans, I
Speaker 6: would have been like, great, I only had.
Speaker 2: One vote because that's the only thing that makes remotely and.
Speaker 7: Then the result is clear.
Speaker 2: The result is clear, the roade for one or the other.
Speaker 4: And I think it'll be good for you, Sessa, Like
Speaker 4: let's go on this bikes journey.
Speaker 7: I like this.
Speaker 5: I'm getting tugged on this. It's not going to be
Speaker 5: I'm not on the crosshairs of whatever it was.
Speaker 1: Also, I know that there's some tugging with the Lions
Speaker 1: last year. We don't want you told that that's happening.
Speaker 5: This is different than that, like again the Josh Stopps thing,
Speaker 5: like it was.
Speaker 7: A different time.
Speaker 6: I think there was maybe a factor in that hole.
Speaker 6: You're not just we have different stresses coming from above.
Speaker 7: I'm like, I got a bunch of Vikings sex. It's
Speaker 7: like we'll talk tomorrow, like.
Speaker 6: We're you know, Lion's fans won't be happy. I know,
Speaker 6: Packers fans we got. We got some tweets saying it
Speaker 6: would hurt, you know, going Lions Vikings back to back
Speaker 6: while they were just I still.
Speaker 4: Love the Lions though. This is nothing nothing to do
Speaker 4: with the Lions.
Speaker 1: You know, the bread farm to Aaron Rodgers, team, take
Speaker 1: a seat, do something, all right, all right, let's get
Speaker 1: to good, good job.
Speaker 2: So we got a team around.
Speaker 1: The music's no, you know we need we need the
Speaker 1: Vikings horn thing, the yaller horn.
Speaker 2: Yeah, give me hit a hit a yawler.
Speaker 4: What is it called yaller horn?
Speaker 2: Yaller horn hit it?
Speaker 7: Wait, does this mean we have to do like the
Speaker 7: skull thing out of Is that something I should know
Speaker 7: I have?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yowl horn, y'awl aer horn.
Speaker 4: I know you mean I only know that because I've
Speaker 4: had to say it multiple times on the air and
Speaker 4: it's spelled.
Speaker 7: Yeah.
Speaker 1: All right, So Viking, if you get hit us up
Speaker 1: with a Yaller horn, that would be excellent. Eric on
Speaker 1: uh right, Like put him on the nose here, put
Speaker 1: him on the spot, just have it sitting there. You
Speaker 1: never know when someone might have a yaller horn. We're skullheads.
Speaker 1: I like this.
Speaker 7: I still say Folds Marcus.
Speaker 4: Special, best stadium, Yeah, best in game presentation, and we're.
Speaker 1: Putting all those demons to bad Halloween sixteen goodbye.
Speaker 7: I like Viking culture, the concept.
Speaker 2: Of it, the pillaging and the other stuff.
Speaker 7: No, just like the you know, we know who we are.
Speaker 4: We're not having around the resourceful.
Speaker 7: Yeah maybe they were in America?
Speaker 4: Not sure?
Speaker 2: Is that the holler? Hell yeah?
Speaker 1: Oh shoot, we got Randy behind the best big funk
Speaker 1: is the Packers fans.
Speaker 2: Dude, it ain't personal.
Speaker 7: I'm sorry.
Speaker 4: So we're getting double thumbs down.
Speaker 2: All right, this is exciting. Let's move. Let's hit the
Speaker 2: previous before we say goodbye.
Speaker 7: Wow.
Speaker 1: All right, So the Vikings did it? What a wild
Speaker 1: season can't predict the NFL. See, there is the biggest
Speaker 1: surprise Vikings nowhere around the NFL question. Josh Dobbs, all right,
Speaker 1: let's uh, the primetime games this week are pretty rough.
Speaker 1: Let's start with the Carolina Panthers on Thursday night traveling
Speaker 1: to Chicago to face the Bears. So I don't know
Speaker 1: was this was this something that could be flexed. No,
Speaker 1: so it's a one in seven Panthers team with Bryce
Speaker 1: Young coming off another rough outing in which he threw
Speaker 1: two pick sixes, lost the fumble facing the Chicago Bears.
Speaker 1: And no, we don't get Justin Fields either. It looks
Speaker 1: like because he is not quite ready to return after
Speaker 1: suffering a thumb injury a couple of weeks back. So
Speaker 1: you will get at least one more start of Tyson
Speaker 1: Beige and Colleen.
Speaker 2: You are the.
Speaker 1: Anchor of NFL Networks Thursday night football coverage.
Speaker 2: Your thoughts on this one?
Speaker 4: Well, I'm just like, so, sell a baby. I feel
Speaker 4: so honored that I am doing our Thursday night coverage
Speaker 4: this week with Panthers Bears. I'm doing the Germany game
Speaker 4: with Colts Pats, and the Monday night game with Mooch,
Speaker 4: which is Bronco's Bills. So it's really those are my
Speaker 4: three shows this week, and I could not be happier.
Speaker 7: What is the.
Speaker 2: Alarm clock set to be the Germany For the Germany.
Speaker 4: Game, my call time is two am and wake up
Speaker 4: or show. I'm in this building at two am and
Speaker 4: it's like a forty five minute drive and I do
Speaker 4: my hair and makeup before I come in.
Speaker 7: But you around seven then.
Speaker 4: I think last week I went to sleep around seven,
Speaker 4: but I wanted to be asleep at five, And then
Speaker 4: last week I had some work to do on the
Speaker 4: show to finish up, so I woke up at eleven.
Speaker 7: Thirty at nightly.
Speaker 2: God.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and John was still up like from that day,
Speaker 4: so that was mere. But yeah, the TNF game, let's
Speaker 4: start there. Bryce Young and Tyson Bagent combined for seven turnovers.
Speaker 4: Last week, we were having some issues trying to figure
Speaker 4: out just graphically in the studio who the third star
Speaker 4: of the game was going to be on our mural studio,
Speaker 4: so we went with a head coaching situation. But you know,
Speaker 4: little more, DJ Moore is already on there and Brian
Speaker 4: Burns is not playing. Uh it's just it's not great.
Speaker 4: But I do like the fact that the Bears. If
Speaker 4: I had to find one silver line put Smith there.
Speaker 4: I know exactly. Yeah, you have like a couple of
Speaker 4: revenge game angles here with DJ Moore playing the Panthers
Speaker 4: and obviously Bryce Young playing the Bears. I don't know
Speaker 4: how much revenge that they will get, but that is
Speaker 4: something that you can talk about. But I do think
Speaker 4: that the Bears running game could get going here because
Speaker 4: the Panthers have been so tragically bad against the run,
Speaker 4: so down to foreman like has a nice opportunity here.
Speaker 4: But it's tough. This is gonna be rough. I'm not
Speaker 4: gonna lie.
Speaker 6: I mean, I'd like to see a bounce back game
Speaker 6: from Bryce Young. He is the biggest story in this
Speaker 6: game because he is the number one overall pick and
Speaker 6: the Bears have been playing in theory better on defense,
Speaker 6: but then it sort of fell apart.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 6: Their offense actually has been sneaky combatant this entire season
Speaker 6: without people noticing except for the turnovers they just and
Speaker 6: that's beigent Like Beijing is okay. I think Beijen's gonna
Speaker 6: be a backup in the league for a while. They're
Speaker 6: thirteenth in the NFL and so these are a lot
Speaker 6: of field starts too. In points and yards per drive thirteenth,
Speaker 6: that actually that's like literally better than average, which is
Speaker 6: kind of shocking. They they moved the ball, but then
Speaker 6: you know Fields was doing it. The whole team was fumbling.
Speaker 6: Beijent like makes mistakes. It's all bad. The only interest
Speaker 6: The most interesting thing about this game or the picks
Speaker 6: and the team building, which is hard to talk about,
Speaker 6: Like how does this trade look all these months later?
Speaker 6: I think the Bears have to be, you know, very
Speaker 6: happy about it obviously. That Like, it's tough to just
Speaker 6: pick a player and say he's going to be so
Speaker 6: much better that he's worth these two first round draft picks.
Speaker 6: It's a bad process. And now it's coming back to
Speaker 6: hun Hum. But I don't know necessarily, I've heard some
Speaker 6: whispers that Ryan Polls the GM is necessarily going to
Speaker 6: make those picks. So there is a chance this whole
Speaker 6: thing gets blown up anyways, and that even though you
Speaker 6: made that trade.
Speaker 7: Which looks good, that they won't be patient.
Speaker 5: I mean, it is a chance to literally take away
Speaker 5: a win from the team that chooses the destiny of
Speaker 5: that number one pick for Chicago next offseason.
Speaker 7: That matters, it does.
Speaker 5: I don't like it for Carolina, to be honest, any
Speaker 5: any road team on Thursday night. I think I'm just
Speaker 5: gonna lean on like two even teams to some degree.
Speaker 5: With the home situation, Brian Burns you mentioned is out.
Speaker 7: CJ.
Speaker 5: Henderson not been having a great year, but that you're
Speaker 5: losing him to DJ Shark is doubtful. Leviscus Channault is unlikely.
Speaker 5: It's like you don't have much on that offense beyond
Speaker 5: Adam Dealing to begin with. So and they are the
Speaker 5: number four run defense and they have not allowed one
Speaker 5: hundred yard rusher of the Bears going back to Week three,
Speaker 5: and I think they've been up and down on defense,
Speaker 5: but you add sweat to that situation. I think it's
Speaker 5: kind of like if you can shut down what is
Speaker 5: not a good ground game to begin with, one of
Speaker 5: the bottom five Panthers ground game, they're uneven on offense.
Speaker 5: You put Bryce Young into a tough situation on the road,
Speaker 5: and I think that the Bears defense has been improved.
Speaker 5: In fact, the whole Bear's gonna do it. No, I'm
Speaker 5: not gonna do because I don't that feels extra. But
Speaker 5: I think Tyson Bagen to your point, Greg, like, yes,
Speaker 5: I saw the turnovers, but when you go watch like
Speaker 5: every throw he made.
Speaker 7: It's like, this guy can move the offense.
Speaker 5: There's something about him that's like projects out as like
Speaker 5: he's gonna be around for a while. And it's like,
Speaker 5: I don't know, I guess you put Justin Fields back
Speaker 5: in there when he's healthy. Why not you want to,
Speaker 5: like maybe promote him as a potential trade candidate.
Speaker 7: But Justin Fields is not their future. I don't think.
Speaker 4: I think it's interest.
Speaker 5: I'm not saying that Beagen is either, but I'd say
Speaker 5: like Beagent could stick around as a backup longer than
Speaker 5: Fields as a starter potentially.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and Luke Getzi, their offensive coordinator, I think did
Speaker 4: a nice job putting him in okay situations because he
Speaker 4: turned the ball over four times and they only lost
Speaker 4: by one score, like it should have been a blowout.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Justin Fields has to get back on the field
Speaker 1: and show something here obviously in the last few weeks.
Speaker 1: And yeah, the uncertainty around the organization that's gonna play
Speaker 1: a part in this. And yeah, it's kind of cool that, Yeah,
Speaker 1: the Bears can win this game and also improve their
Speaker 1: draft standing because they own the Panthers' pick. That's a
Speaker 1: cool thing. And I also think about Yeah, the Panthers
Speaker 1: are thinking about you know, shoot, should we have taken Stroud?
Speaker 1: Was the Bears who had the number one pick, and
Speaker 1: they could have potentially taken Stroud as well. I wonder
Speaker 1: if they've had any restless nights thinking they had the
Speaker 1: they were in the cat Birds.
Speaker 6: Seat, same team who chose Mitchell Kubisky over Patrick Mahomes,
Speaker 6: different regime, but absolutely, you know that's just happens to
Speaker 6: the Bears fans.
Speaker 7: It's all one continuum.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 1: Let's move next to Sunday Night football.
Speaker 2: And the Sunday night football matchup.
Speaker 1: Come on, bro, your team, I know, the New York
Speaker 1: Jets traveling to Vegas to face the Raiders.
Speaker 2: The Raiders coming off.
Speaker 1: Obviously a blowout of the Giants with Antonio Pierce as
Speaker 1: the head coach. So you know, we're not gonna mistake
Speaker 1: the Raiders now some type of fierce unit. But we'll
Speaker 1: see if they could continue the Basacia bump here another week.
Speaker 1: And the Jets are coming off obviously hideous Sunday or
Speaker 1: Monday night performance in which Zach Wilson and the offense
Speaker 1: completely floundered. This was let me throw it to some
Speaker 1: sound that happened So Robert Sala was on the Michael
Speaker 1: k Show on ESPN Radio yesterday Tuesday.
Speaker 2: But things have.
Speaker 10: Changed over three years, Robert. You've had different offensive coordinators
Speaker 10: before the change to hack it this year, and you've
Speaker 10: had different weapons around him. And the one constant is
Speaker 10: Zach and the one constant is last year he couldn't
Speaker 10: start over over Mike White. So first of all, this
Speaker 10: this shouldn't be litigated.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 10: I never understood with a thirty nine year old quarterback,
Speaker 10: why a guy who couldn't start last year was the
Speaker 10: first line of defense if he went down. You've got
Speaker 10: Trevor simeon Uh in your building, Why why not give
Speaker 10: him a try?
Speaker 2: No, I gotsh not again the fair question. And you
Speaker 2: know it's like I.
Speaker 4: Said, he.
Speaker 2: I don't know, I'm gonna on all this one.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's a that's a tough, tough, tough, tough
Speaker 1: look for Salad, and it makes you wonder if he
Speaker 1: has any decision making when it comes to his own quarterback,
Speaker 1: which is a very bad look.
Speaker 2: And the one thing I'll say, Greg I listened.
Speaker 6: To that whole thing though, And that was the second
Speaker 6: time he asked the question, and the first time he
Speaker 6: answered the question, and then the second time he was like,
Speaker 6: what more am I going to say? So I just
Speaker 6: think that what he just said it was not just
Speaker 6: all the same stuff. It's it's it's not all Zach,
Speaker 6: you know, it's it's offensive line. We're looking at things.
Speaker 6: It's coaching, like we need to do a better job.
Speaker 6: He needs to do a better job. But does he
Speaker 6: went through the whole Rigamar role and in the second
Speaker 6: I just mean then the second time he was just
Speaker 6: kind of like, that's the thing.
Speaker 7: I played the fit. That's fair. I think any interview
Speaker 7: deserves that. Listen.
Speaker 5: I like that, But does he strike you as kind
Speaker 5: of like empowered or a little bit flummings and stuck
Speaker 5: in a corner.
Speaker 4: I think his hands are tied, and I think that
Speaker 4: he can't move away from Zach Wilson. And I think
Speaker 4: that either Joe Douglass or Woody Johnson is forcing him
Speaker 4: to play Zack Wilson.
Speaker 1: Well, I think there's I don't necessarily think that's the case,
Speaker 1: only because they did bench Wilson last year. I wonder
Speaker 1: if he's saying that and he feels boxed in because
Speaker 1: they did such a bad job with the setup and
Speaker 1: that Trevor Simeon is the backup, and it's like, Trevor Simeon,
Speaker 1: it's the last time that guy did anything in the league,
Speaker 1: and they're seeing him every day in practice, and he
Speaker 1: might think, man, everybody's telling me to put in Trevor Simeon.
Speaker 2: That guy's worse than the starter.
Speaker 1: And that goes back to the team's failure to bring
Speaker 1: in a true competent backup behind Rogers and then once
Speaker 1: again behind Wilson. So I I feel badly for Sala
Speaker 1: when I listen to that, because I understand that it's
Speaker 1: a very stressful gig and he's definitely in a very
Speaker 1: tough spot. At the same time, I just I can't
Speaker 1: believe this is where the season is.
Speaker 2: Now We'll see. I have a very bad feeling about
Speaker 2: this game, Colleen.
Speaker 1: I think if as a Jets fan, I think the
Speaker 1: Raiders with their pass rush with Max Crosby playing at
Speaker 1: home still, you know, feeling a lot better with McDaniels
Speaker 1: out the door, I would not be surprised if they
Speaker 1: get after Wilson and cause a lot of trouble and
Speaker 1: turnovers and the Raiders keep rolling.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's that kind of feels like the vibe going
Speaker 4: into the game, especially with Antonio Pierce, who the Raiders
Speaker 4: if they if they can continue winning this way, like
Speaker 4: they could have been a candidate for a team of
Speaker 4: at like that. So agree with you because they have
Speaker 4: that same type of vibe and Antonio five.
Speaker 2: And five if they win by the way, which is
Speaker 2: crazy exactly.
Speaker 4: So I don't know. I think the thing that I
Speaker 4: worry about what the game is the Jets front four.
Speaker 4: I think have a nice opportunity going up against Aidan
Speaker 4: O'Connell like they were in justin Herbert's face non stop
Speaker 4: in that game. They sacked him five times. Bryce Huff
Speaker 4: was awesome, but like O'Connell has been pretty good at
Speaker 4: decision making and not making mistakes. So I wonder if
Speaker 4: that changes with the Jets in his face all night.
Speaker 5: I think that the Raiders are this like interesting study
Speaker 5: in like the human aspect of all this that we
Speaker 5: can't measure. There's no way to measure this, uh and
Speaker 5: like in the course of a week, and I think,
Speaker 5: you know, I was down on the Josh McDaniels experiment
Speaker 5: going back a year ago. We all were that it
Speaker 5: was overt It was a visually a negative feast, but
Speaker 5: in the course of a week, like I think this matters.
Speaker 5: I think it matters because Antonio Pierce comes in and
Speaker 5: it's like, I know it was the Giants, but the
Speaker 5: Giants defense was productive the last couple of weeks. It
Speaker 5: wasn't like they were a total disaster. You got a
Speaker 5: better game from Aid and O'Connell. Antonio Pierce went on
Speaker 5: the record saying he spent the entire week with the
Speaker 5: offensive line, which is a group that they didn't really
Speaker 5: add pieces to and was hot and cold and mostly cold.
Speaker 7: Better Josh Jacobs looked like the old Josh Jacobs.
Speaker 5: And then I'm sorry, this matters to me that after
Speaker 5: the game and we all saw the visuals You've got
Speaker 5: Raider like the old school Raiders vibe of them smoking cigars,
Speaker 5: celebrating with each other, that he brought the practice squad
Speaker 5: to the game, It's like, somehow this feels like a
Speaker 5: team again, and they escaped a disaster situation with the
Speaker 5: record they have, and I kind of think, like, you know,
Speaker 5: a couple of weeks I said the Jets of this
Speaker 5: magical team. Now they're in a rough place. It's like,
Speaker 5: I'm not saying that game I know, but I'm not
Speaker 5: saying the Raiders so that, but like the feeling feeling
Speaker 5: around the Raiders went from like total darkness to who
Speaker 5: knows what these players can do?
Speaker 7: You have good players on this team.
Speaker 5: I just I wonder what the results that if that
Speaker 5: carries over beyond one week, we'll see.
Speaker 7: That's the study.
Speaker 6: I mean, these two teams are very much in the
Speaker 6: soft middle of the NFL. They're both a little lucky
Speaker 6: to have the records that they have. I think the
Speaker 6: Jets are, I think the Raiders are, but I'm probably
Speaker 6: gonna pick the Jets in this game. The fired coach principal,
Speaker 6: maybe that lasts more than one week.
Speaker 7: Maybe it doesn't.
Speaker 6: I like the Raiders last week and getting that bump,
Speaker 6: but the Jets defense is still by far the best
Speaker 6: thing in this game, Like by far, if they had
Speaker 6: applied that pressure to most any other quarterback other than
Speaker 6: Justin Herbert the other night, like they might have won
Speaker 6: that game, like Haff Franklin, Myers, Jermaine. Like they're getting
Speaker 6: everything that they want. Even O'Connell's time to throw last
Speaker 6: week was crazy. It was two point one three was
Speaker 6: like he's just getting the ball out. So that was promising.
Speaker 6: They have a new offensive coordinator by the name of
Speaker 6: Bo Hart Agree. I just wanted to say that name
Speaker 6: was not familiar with. Bo heart agrees.
Speaker 2: Post like Jackson or bow like Bridges Jackson.
Speaker 7: I believe that's good.
Speaker 6: And the Jets can't run the ball like the Raiders defense.
Speaker 6: They're playing hard. The Jets can't run the ball like like.
Speaker 6: They're among the worst teams in the NFL in terms
Speaker 6: of success rate running, so like that's not helping Zach
Speaker 6: Wilson either. But their defense is better than anything that
Speaker 6: the Raiders got going. And I'm hoping they win, not
Speaker 6: only because I'm going to pick them up, because it's
Speaker 6: a Sunday night game. So it's like, I want to
Speaker 6: end this recap show on a high. We've to We've
Speaker 6: had some high Jets moments, some low Jets moments, Like
Speaker 6: it's another one where they're just like right back in
Speaker 6: the spot.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you mentioned the defense.
Speaker 1: The only way the Jets can win right now is
Speaker 1: if the defense creates turnovers that set up short fields.
Speaker 1: They have something like five touchdowns in the last six weeks,
Speaker 1: and three of them were one yard or one play drives,
Speaker 1: oh off turnovers and that nature, so it's authetic.
Speaker 2: What's happened with the offense is as bad as it's
Speaker 2: ever been.
Speaker 1: All Right, Monday Night Football, Denver Broncos traveling to Orchard
Speaker 1: Park to face the Bills. Bills lay in seven and
Speaker 1: a half points of wood. I want to say Mark
Speaker 1: that the Bills are set up well here to get
Speaker 1: a W and get back on track again. But I've
Speaker 1: reached the point where with Buffalo where I just don't
Speaker 1: know what to expect week to week. And Denver has
Speaker 1: certainly been better since their very ugly start and when
Speaker 1: they bottomed out against Miami. So it would not stun
Speaker 1: me if this game is actually a competitive.
Speaker 7: I'm with you.
Speaker 5: I think the Broncos have transformed a little bit. I
Speaker 5: need to see more to be super convinced of that,
Speaker 5: but losing uh knocks at tight end I think has
Speaker 5: changed this offense a little bit, where yes, we're seeing
Speaker 5: an uptick in like Dalton Kincaid's production, but like, if
Speaker 5: you look at what they're doing, they're kind of running
Speaker 5: like a ton of like two wide receiver two wide
Speaker 5: receiver sets NonStop at like a high rate. And I
Speaker 5: think that this is a Bills team that is like
Speaker 5: kind of like last week, it's like why in the
Speaker 5: in the past, what I loved about the Bills in general,
Speaker 5: and I'm not saying it as well as I wanted.
Speaker 5: It was like, let Josh Allen just go do what
Speaker 5: he wants, and he's gonna make mistakes, but you're also
Speaker 5: gonna get like these high ceiling high versions and moments
Speaker 5: and drives where it's like he's gonna do something that
Speaker 5: no one else in the league can do in his
Speaker 5: own way. And I feel it's all just like the
Speaker 5: rains have been pulled back a little bit right now,
Speaker 5: and it's like they you know, they're not like to
Speaker 5: go out and do it against all odds kind of offense.
Speaker 7: They've been pulled back a little bit.
Speaker 5: I think with what they're doing schematically, I think they've
Speaker 5: they're a little safer. That's maybe trying to make Josh
Speaker 5: Allen a little bit of a safer player, which is
Speaker 5: like exactly what I I'm just saying. I see that.
Speaker 5: That's my feeling around them. I wouldn't do that with
Speaker 5: Josh Allen, and like the running game is not helping
Speaker 5: them out. I don't know, Like to me, I'm with you,
Speaker 5: Dan like they're a mystery team to me, and like
Speaker 5: their floor concerns me. Like I kind of think that
Speaker 5: it was Nick Wesley who said it weeks ago before
Speaker 5: most people were that, like, I don't know if they
Speaker 5: make the playoffs.
Speaker 7: They don't look like.
Speaker 5: They I know, like you can go look at their
Speaker 5: EPA and their metrics and they're still sitting at like
Speaker 5: one and two and everything. It's like that's someone my
Speaker 5: eyes are telling me right now. I know they had
Speaker 5: that month of dominance, but it's like I see a
Speaker 5: team that is like an if he bet right now,
Speaker 5: a total if you bet.
Speaker 7: I hate that.
Speaker 6: The head coach, John mcdermot's just been it. He does
Speaker 6: these little passive aggressive grumblings about the offense, and he
Speaker 6: did it back in the past. It's just it's just
Speaker 6: little things like we got to look into that, like
Speaker 6: we gotta And for the first time, maybe The Athletic
Speaker 6: wrote about this. Josh Allen was asked about like why
Speaker 6: wasn't Gabe Davis involved And they had done such a
Speaker 6: nice job playing fast with a hurry up against Tampa.
Speaker 6: Houckeme that they didn't do that against Atinnetti, and he
Speaker 6: sort of gave the like, well, you got to ask
Speaker 6: the coaches that that sort of thing, which Ken Dorsey
Speaker 6: was his guy. So there's this grumbling and I'm just thinking,
Speaker 6: like McDermott, when was the last time your defense, And
Speaker 6: I know there's been injuries, had a freaking turnover or
Speaker 6: a big play, and some of that's luck, but they've
Speaker 6: had like one turnover in five weeks and von Miller's
Speaker 6: kind of killing them.
Speaker 4: He's got the injuries too, like that, sure, but they
Speaker 4: had no depth.
Speaker 6: They had this whole thing like von Miller's gonna come
Speaker 6: back and that's gonna juice our pass rush. Von Miller
Speaker 6: right now is one hundred and twelve out of one
Speaker 6: hundred and twenty three PFF qualifiers. He has one QB
Speaker 6: hit and one hundred and three snaps since he's returned
Speaker 6: in four pressure. So you're getting not just like not
Speaker 6: von Miller, but you're getting hugely negative play by von
Speaker 6: Miller and the defense is just kind of there. I
Speaker 6: think this is a dangerous game. The Broncos have been
Speaker 6: a little better in general. I think then people realize
Speaker 6: on offense they're pretty good running team. They don't turn
Speaker 6: the ball over. There like a solid enough offensive.
Speaker 4: Time, and they're coming off of bye too, two weeks
Speaker 4: to prepare for this game. Yet two straight wins the
Speaker 4: Packers and then the huge game for them against the Chiefs.
Speaker 4: But the Bills offense is the thing that I just
Speaker 4: can't I can't figure out. They have no rhythm. And
Speaker 4: they finally started fast because it was the slow starts
Speaker 4: that were really getting to them. They weren't scoring in
Speaker 4: the first quarter, especially not on the first drive. They
Speaker 4: did that and then it was like then they then
Speaker 4: they cut everything. The wheels fell off again and it
Speaker 4: was like they were mia. So it's that and then
Speaker 4: Josh Allen I thought the last Thursday Night that they played,
Speaker 4: so I guess that was two weeks ago.
Speaker 7: Yeah, we're living in prime time right now.
Speaker 4: Moments exactly. There were moments in that game where Josh
Speaker 4: Allen looked like the old vintage Josh Allen that Cessler
Speaker 4: was talking about, where he was kind of just like
Speaker 4: freelancing and run around and do making these plays that
Speaker 4: we were used to seeing before. But we just haven't
Speaker 4: seen that because of whatever constraints they're under. There's just
Speaker 4: no rhythm. And the only thing that I really like
Speaker 4: about this game is that it's a Shawn showcase.
Speaker 7: Which we get a lot of a lot of Sewan
Speaker 7: head coaches. Yeah, McVeigh it is.
Speaker 6: You know, it's a big spot for Peyton two weeks
Speaker 6: to go beat McDermott, show us something Sean's.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of bad blood because there could only
Speaker 1: be one.
Speaker 5: It's a name that's largely vanished from the like the landscape,
Speaker 5: you know, among younger people, there're a lot of Shawn's
Speaker 5: out there.
Speaker 1: So like two old dinosaurs, these old t rex is
Speaker 1: just fighting it out on the great planes, only one
Speaker 1: could remain.
Speaker 7: Just like that. I mean, we've got Sean Kelly behind
Speaker 7: you know the glass. That is true. The young man youngish,
Speaker 7: but he's the.
Speaker 4: Last of them, and he knows that he's got How
Speaker 4: old is Big Sean.
Speaker 2: Big Shawn.
Speaker 1: He's probably in his late thirties at this point. You
Speaker 1: had a former w WF champion, Shawn Michaels.
Speaker 7: But how old is he?
Speaker 1: He was a Shawn so oh, whole different breed.
Speaker 2: Yikes, different breed. All right, there you go, Primetime football
Speaker 2: and Colleen, you've said it all.
Speaker 4: I have. I have no more words to give anyone.
Speaker 2: Does anyone else have more words? To give.
Speaker 4: Oh you know what, I do want to say shout
Speaker 4: out to the listener, the ATN listener who sent me
Speaker 4: a message on It was either Twitter or Instagram, and
Speaker 4: it was during the our show that started last week
Speaker 4: at four am West Coast time, and they just said, hey,
Speaker 4: loosen up. We like the Connie on ATN. And I
Speaker 4: was like, that's that's great, that's good. But it was
Speaker 4: a good reminder, different show, different assignments. Difficult to be
Speaker 4: this loose on that show. But you know what, I'm
Speaker 4: gonna try listen to compliment.
Speaker 6: And I like the Colleen on ATN too. I like
Speaker 6: the Colleen on NVIL Network.
Speaker 7: I don't.
Speaker 4: I don't like that Colleen. I like Connie better. I
Speaker 4: like to live in a Connie Land.
Speaker 5: So yeah, well, it's it's a tell on the you know,
Speaker 5: the the product, the channel that you're operating.
Speaker 1: Keep Connie in the tiny box. That's that's the push
Speaker 1: that we go for. And congratulations to the Minnesota Vikings,
Speaker 1: the team of around the NFL go wrong, Mary, how
Speaker 1: you feel?
Speaker 5: I feel great because I didn't tug everyone into this one.
Speaker 5: It's not you know, it's like I came. I was
Speaker 5: in the back seat on the right side, looking out
Speaker 5: the window and the highway going by.
Speaker 6: Well, but on some level, if it did go wrong
Speaker 6: your original choice of the vikings, I feel like set
Speaker 6: a bad juju.
Speaker 7: On the whole enterprise.
Speaker 1: I think that's been unsaid, and that's absolutely true.
Speaker 7: You'll find a way to spin it. But this time
Speaker 7: my apathy is towering. So fine.
Speaker 1: So all right, that's it till Thursday, where we have
Speaker 1: our full preview of week ten and also our latest
Speaker 1: NFL Plus Trip to the Dreamatorium pre preview.
Speaker 2: This week, what are you waiting for? Heed?
Speaker 6: The call?
Speaker 4: H