Speaker 1: Da Around the NFL Podcast give zero about the News
Speaker 1: Star Wars. Welcome back to another edition of the Around
Speaker 1: the NFL Podcast. My name is Dan Hansis, and I
Speaker 1: am joined by a room filled with heroes, Mark Sessler,
Speaker 1: Chris Westling, and Greg Rosatal. What's up, boys, Hey, dam
Speaker 1: That definitely wasn't Mark's opinion. I can tell you that, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was my favorite drop yet. But Mark produced a
Speaker 1: sour face. Well, the the new Star Wars number one,
Speaker 1: it's not not the name of it, but like anyone
Speaker 1: knows the name or we don't know that, yeah, normal people,
Speaker 1: the Force awakens. But I'm not some TD like sci
Speaker 1: fi nerd. But it's the first movie that I saw
Speaker 1: with my dad, as I've stated before, and so it
Speaker 1: has a meaning to apologize. No, no, but I can
Speaker 1: see that something was absolutely missing from the childhoods of
Speaker 1: others I said downstairs, you know, I've I sometimes draw
Speaker 1: criticism in certain circles, whether it be in the newsroom
Speaker 1: where on Twitter for being a hater of the Star
Speaker 1: Wars franchise. I'm not I just can't avoid it, and
Speaker 1: that gets little annoying, but at the same time, which
Speaker 1: makes you a hater. Yeah, I guess I wouldn't call
Speaker 1: you an advocate a kind advocate of the franchise, right,
Speaker 1: But I don't judge people for it. I do. I
Speaker 1: want to make that yes, you do, not really And
Speaker 1: you know the the new Rocky movie coming out, Creed.
Speaker 1: I will be at that theatre by myself on Friday.
Speaker 1: That's kind of like my Star Wars. Uh, something I'm
Speaker 1: really excited about. So I get it. And what There's
Speaker 1: not a lot of difference we can create in the
Speaker 1: new Star Wars when you think about it, too. Dormant
Speaker 1: franchise that are trying to relaunch to a new generation
Speaker 1: and make a ton more money. I want to see
Speaker 1: create that looks good. Well, one is taking place in
Speaker 1: the world where humans exist, and the other has you know,
Speaker 1: men dressed up funny robot outfits and like animal you
Speaker 1: know skins and what. Well, Greg, I realized that you
Speaker 1: were like basically born to Earth at age thirty three,
Speaker 1: that you had no childhood that we can detect, So
Speaker 1: I'm not surprised by your commentary. Both movies came out
Speaker 1: originally forty years ago. A terrible Ones came out about
Speaker 1: um Welcome Back to Another around the NFL podcast, our
Speaker 1: second in two days. I love it. Uh, this will
Speaker 1: be our big preview show of the rest of the week.
Speaker 1: Eleven game week, twelve games excuse me, that are not
Speaker 1: being played on Thanksgiving Day, so we previewed on Tuesday's show.
Speaker 1: Make sure you check that out. You haven't yet the
Speaker 1: three games on Thanksgiving Eagles, Lions, Panthers, Cowboys, Bears, Packers.
Speaker 1: But guess what thirty two teams. No teams. I'm buying
Speaker 1: three games played on Thursday, which means thirteen games to
Speaker 1: be played on Sunday and Monday. So check out. The
Speaker 1: accident kind of went away like like, uh, what's that movie? Now,
Speaker 1: I'm blowing up your affection affectation change. That was more childlike, Okay,
Speaker 1: you really blew. You're not gonna come up with it.
Speaker 1: It's gonna hot me for the rest of the show.
Speaker 1: It's a uh, you know, it's some actors where they
Speaker 1: have the Boston accent. They'll kind of come and go
Speaker 1: during the Oh, I know you, I know where you're going. Uh,
Speaker 1: Jack Nicholson and uh came and went an Oscar Award
Speaker 1: winning actor Kevin Costner and uh playing one of the
Speaker 1: Kennedy users. There you go Costner Nicholson, Hansas. It happens
Speaker 1: to all of us. Uh. Sometimes you don't like holding
Speaker 1: against him and just keep moving on with their brilliant careers. Uh. So, yes,
Speaker 1: a lot of games to get to, uh, and we're
Speaker 1: gonna do that. We also a little later in the show. Uh,
Speaker 1: we have stopping by Michael Berger, who was a producer
Speaker 1: for NFL Network. He's a huge fan of the podcast.
Speaker 1: From what I understand, is that correct, right, former guest
Speaker 1: of the podcast. They're not not just any producer. He's
Speaker 1: the producer of our TV arm of of the show
Speaker 1: around the NFL. Right. Well, but we'll get into a
Speaker 1: little bit when Burger gets in here. How he came
Speaker 1: to be on the show for a second time, which
Speaker 1: will be today on the eve of Thanksgiving. Uh, And
Speaker 1: then we'll talk about some games with Burger is a
Speaker 1: big Cincinnati Bengals fan, So West and Burger have a
Speaker 1: little connection there. Well, I'm not a fan, We're both
Speaker 1: from Cincinnati now, he he likes the Bengals for some reason. Uh. So, yes,
Speaker 1: we'll get into all the games uh to be played
Speaker 1: on Sunday Monday. And I think we should get right
Speaker 1: into it because we got a lot to talk about,
Speaker 1: So why don't we uh start right away, gentlemen, with
Speaker 1: the one o'clock games on Sunday. Yes, the Minnesota Vikings
Speaker 1: coming off a tough loss uh to the Packers at home.
Speaker 1: They wanted it to be, yes, Greg, a statement game
Speaker 1: against Green Bay. Instead, they fell into a tie the
Speaker 1: top the NFC North, but still all good. At seven
Speaker 1: and three, they get the Atlanta Falcons, who once upon
Speaker 1: a time were they five and Oh that's correct. Wow,
Speaker 1: So now they're six and four. Uh, you know, the
Speaker 1: division is long gone, the four games behind the undefeated Panthers,
Speaker 1: and now they're just trying to hold on for a
Speaker 1: playoff spot. Um, Greg, I'll start with you on this one. Uh.
Speaker 1: Your thoughts on this matchup? The Falcons are hard team
Speaker 1: to get behind, no matter the opponent, and now they
Speaker 1: have an NFC team that's won seven of its first
Speaker 1: ten games. Well, I think this is the biggest game
Speaker 1: of the entire rest of the season for the NFC
Speaker 1: Wildcard race. It's not. It's not the game I'm most
Speaker 1: excited about, certainly for the rest of the season, or
Speaker 1: even this Sunday, even this Sunday at one o'clock but
Speaker 1: it is the biggest game there. I don't think there's
Speaker 1: really any argument because the winner of this game, especially
Speaker 1: if it's Minnesota, is in great position for that by
Speaker 1: But if Atlanta wins it there seven and four, they
Speaker 1: have a much i would say, an easier schedule than
Speaker 1: Minnesota the rest of the way, and suddenly that second
Speaker 1: spot is a lot more up for grabs. Atlanta will
Speaker 1: have a good chance for it will be a little
Speaker 1: tougher for teams like Seattle and Tampa to catch up.
Speaker 1: So even though Atlanta has been in a bit of
Speaker 1: a free father losing close games, I don't think Minnesota
Speaker 1: is a team that I trust to go on the
Speaker 1: road and blow any one out. I think this should
Speaker 1: be a close game. And Lanta's offense against the Cults
Speaker 1: last week, you know, a lot to be desired, both
Speaker 1: the passing game and the running game, especially when DeVonta
Speaker 1: Freeman went out and he's not gonna play this week. Minnesota,
Speaker 1: You're right, Greg, they had the second toughest schedule of
Speaker 1: any team in the league down the stretch after this game,
Speaker 1: they played the Seahawks and the Cardinals. So you got
Speaker 1: to take this game. And I think this is this
Speaker 1: is This is a winnable game for the second best
Speaker 1: defense in the league, and Matt Ryan has had a
Speaker 1: bad season, or what you would call mediocre season by
Speaker 1: his standards. This was the week after they blew that
Speaker 1: game against the Cults where it started to bubble up,
Speaker 1: where the criticism criticism started to really come out, and
Speaker 1: there are questions is this guy healthy? How is he?
Speaker 1: You know? Because he missed a lot of throws in
Speaker 1: that game in addition to a terrible pick six um,
Speaker 1: so that Ryan will be facing more scrutiny in this game.
Speaker 1: He cannot lay another egg at home or he's going
Speaker 1: to be primarily responsible for this team's free fall at
Speaker 1: a playoff contention? What do the Falcons do well? Get
Speaker 1: the ball? A Julio Jones? Other than that, I can't
Speaker 1: think of anything. They were running the ball well. I
Speaker 1: would have said that, you know, you could have said
Speaker 1: that's been a month. I don't know. I know what
Speaker 1: the Vikings do well. They run the ball, and they
Speaker 1: have a good defense, and Taddy Bridgewater makes a pretty
Speaker 1: throw or two every game in theory they rallied to
Speaker 1: the ball, you know they did in September. Decent team
Speaker 1: defense now I think you're right. I think this is
Speaker 1: a game that Minnesota should take care of. And you're
Speaker 1: right there. And that's the first time I can remember,
Speaker 1: even during Atlanta struggles the last couple of years, there
Speaker 1: wasn't a lot of coaches and players coming out saying
Speaker 1: we still believe in Matt Ryan. That that's a fairly
Speaker 1: new phenomenon really for the And he's a thirty year old,
Speaker 1: you know, he's right in the middle of his career
Speaker 1: just having I don't know what it is. Well, I
Speaker 1: think they're not having that bad of a year. What
Speaker 1: the heck is going on here? Well, that's what this
Speaker 1: week has been like in Atlanta, though people have been
Speaker 1: I think a lot of fans look at he had
Speaker 1: three interceptions. One of them wasn't his fault. It's the
Speaker 1: end of the game, but they brought Oswiler and Den
Speaker 1: when he can finally run the rollout offense that is
Speaker 1: Kubiak's signature moment, That is the same offense in many
Speaker 1: ways as this Atlanta offense. And suddenly Matt Ryan's having
Speaker 1: to do that himself from really the first time in
Speaker 1: his career to that degree. And I just think it's
Speaker 1: next year We're gonna get a better version of Matt Ryan.
Speaker 1: Of Kyle Shanahan's still around, he seems to be having
Speaker 1: trouble adjusting to this offense. Absolutely. Look at the top
Speaker 1: m VP candidates this year, Tom Brady, Cam Newton, Carson Palmer,
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers, Andy Dalton. They have all been in their
Speaker 1: offense is for what five years? At least it takes
Speaker 1: a while. I want to see Teddy Bridgewater bounce back
Speaker 1: from a perform I thought he played really well last week.
Speaker 1: This is a defense that he shouldn't face much of
Speaker 1: a pass thrush at all, and I think the weapons
Speaker 1: around him are kind of coming around, with Gayle Rudolphs
Speaker 1: playing pretty well. Stefon Diggs light it up. We all
Speaker 1: picked the vikings of this game, which tells you a
Speaker 1: lot about what's happened with the Falcons the last six
Speaker 1: weeks or so, so we'll see how that shakes out.
Speaker 1: Moving on to UH the next one PM game to
Speaker 1: talk about. This game will be on Fox and will
Speaker 1: be in New Orleans Saints at four and six and
Speaker 1: now with a new defensive coordinator UH, Dennis Allen replacing
Speaker 1: UH the jettisoned Rob Bryan, who had an eventful um
Speaker 1: stop by at NFL Network this past Sunday. Believe it
Speaker 1: made a Katrina reference, made a lot of jokes, and
Speaker 1: a tucking his shirt. It was a you know, a
Speaker 1: classic Rob Bryan appearance. But now the Saints gotta move
Speaker 1: on and try to save a season that's on the
Speaker 1: brink of slipping away. Has been too many of these
Speaker 1: in recent years. For New Orleans. They get the Texans,
Speaker 1: who are playing, uh, excellent defense right now. They just
Speaker 1: beat the Jets. Uh, they are a top of the
Speaker 1: AFC South at five and five. Chris Westling, We've been
Speaker 1: talking about them this week a lot. I mean, this
Speaker 1: is a team that, uh, we can't assume they're gonna
Speaker 1: beat anybody, but they're starting to look like a real
Speaker 1: playoff team potentially. Yeah. When I look at this matchup,
Speaker 1: you know, if this was two or three weeks ago,
Speaker 1: I would have said the Saints offense is the best
Speaker 1: unit in this game. But I don't think it is.
Speaker 1: I think the Texans defense is the way they're playing.
Speaker 1: It was right around this time last year when J. J.
Speaker 1: Watt just you know exploded. He was sitting on eight
Speaker 1: at eight and a half sacks and then he had
Speaker 1: what twelve over his final six or seven games, and
Speaker 1: I think he's gonna do the same thing this year.
Speaker 1: I think Whitney merciless, who's really flown under the radar,
Speaker 1: is in the top eight this year in the NFL
Speaker 1: and tackles behind the line of scrimmage. And you know
Speaker 1: Mark mentioned the rookie cornerback Kevin Johnson playing well, Jadevin Clown,
Speaker 1: he's playing really well, and uh their second round pick.
Speaker 1: But Argic McKinney is really coming alive and inside lab
Speaker 1: backer two. They're the best thurned down defense in the NFL.
Speaker 1: And the worst unit in this game is the Saints defense. Specifically,
Speaker 1: they're passing defense. Four more touchdowns and loud and three
Speaker 1: straight games through the air. That's a disaster. This is
Speaker 1: an opportunity again for DeAndre Hopkins to blow up, because
Speaker 1: what we're not seeing with Sammy Watkins and what's getting
Speaker 1: a lot of pressing Buffalo is he's just not getting targets.
Speaker 1: But in Houston, they're, dude, doing the right thing. This
Speaker 1: is your star player and they're going to him over
Speaker 1: and over and over and he could have a big
Speaker 1: day here. I don't want to hear the Sammy Watkins
Speaker 1: stuff too. It's not all in the Bill's scheme in
Speaker 1: the quarterbacks like that. Guy's always hurt. So he's been
Speaker 1: getting to any flow in his NFL career through two years.
Speaker 1: Hopkins is on the field and he makes the most
Speaker 1: of his targets. No ma out of the quarterback. I
Speaker 1: think West and I think you you know, um, maybe
Speaker 1: a rankings list to come up, whether it's this season
Speaker 1: in the off season. I think you could make a
Speaker 1: case that he's the number one wide receiver now because
Speaker 1: and you all set the factor in his production. He
Speaker 1: is better production than anybody Hopkins and he's got no quarterbacks. Really,
Speaker 1: I think he might be the best now. I have
Speaker 1: made a wide receiver rankings. Thanks for reading it, Dan, Yeah,
Speaker 1: you're welcome. When it was about I would say four
Speaker 1: weeks ago, said okay, well, I can't read every I
Speaker 1: don't know. Maybe six weeks ago. It was before everyone
Speaker 1: realized that DeAndre Hopkins was possible. But I would have
Speaker 1: a hard time putting him over Antonio Brown and Juldio Jones.
Speaker 1: I'd consider I can. I would put Brown number one.
Speaker 1: To me, that's easy. I think he is playing at
Speaker 1: a level right now, I can't really remember seeing anyone
Speaker 1: or at least as high level. Hopkins is right there though,
Speaker 1: And well, the one thing he does have with Brian Hoyer,
Speaker 1: which Brian Horror is not a great quarterback. Brian Horge
Speaker 1: is just gonna throw the bottom him fourteen times. Well,
Speaker 1: are you sure because t J. Yates would throw t
Speaker 1: J Yates is gonna throw it to him too. Ryan
Speaker 1: Mawt's gonna throw it to him too. I mean, his
Speaker 1: his targets for this season are absolutely outrageous, and they're right.
Speaker 1: He doesn't need to happen and he usually is. Back
Speaker 1: to Antonio Brown, what happened when he took one of
Speaker 1: the best quarterbacks in the NFL. When you gave him
Speaker 1: the caliber quarterbacks that DeAndre Hopkins has been catching passes
Speaker 1: from all year, he disappeared. They didn't throw the ball.
Speaker 1: I don't care. The things that he does with the
Speaker 1: ball and on his routes are just are just exceptional.
Speaker 1: But we're picking between you know, the great as best
Speaker 1: player I hold in my hands. Get excited. Everybody in
Speaker 1: the two thousand fifteen season Week twelve research notes, it's
Speaker 1: just getting distasteful. It is Brian Hoyer's win though. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there you go, very good, Mark, Yes, Ed Koal check
Speaker 1: of Live. Don't pretend that was intentional. That nailed it. Uh,
Speaker 1: it was in my mind the whole time. Matt money
Speaker 1: Smith gave me some guff a couple of weeks ago
Speaker 1: that I had sent out a tweet last year at
Speaker 1: some point naming the top five live songs. In my defense,
Speaker 1: I was almost certainly drunk. Yeah, I'm sure that happened
Speaker 1: in a nearby tavern after about three games of pool
Speaker 1: and more beers than that. All right? From the research notes,
Speaker 1: the Texans oh their current three game winning streak to
Speaker 1: their defense. Opponents are scoring just nine point seven points
Speaker 1: a game over three three game streak, and the Texans
Speaker 1: have a plus five turnover differential and that's spin. Uh yeah,
Speaker 1: so Hopkins has been great, and uh you know, g J.
Speaker 1: Yates has done the job, But it's the defense. The
Speaker 1: defense could take them all the way to the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Where's the red flags from Damna sex show? Poor use
Speaker 1: of the research back repeating the same stuff I already said. Wait,
Speaker 1: why are you being so cantankerous with me today? Wes?
Speaker 1: I don't think I am. I think that was the
Speaker 1: first time, wasn't it? No? Was like I wrote about that, Dan,
Speaker 1: Thanks for reading my material. I feel like you've been
Speaker 1: undermining everything I've said about me. This is great. We
Speaker 1: have a lot of different types of heat on what
Speaker 1: is going on. That's why I'm so shocked these attacks.
Speaker 1: You know, I've been you know, hot and quote on
Speaker 1: your research packet usage right all year. You've been using
Speaker 1: it pretty well. But today you just repeated what already said.
Speaker 1: I would like you to keep your opinions to yourself.
Speaker 1: Whoa it comes to my research packet. If you're gonna
Speaker 1: have this attitude positive opinions only about the research packet
Speaker 1: going forward, I'm gonna I have my own research packet.
Speaker 1: It's right inside my brain and shuffled. And there's Gregg
Speaker 1: pointing to his head while he says and it tells me,
Speaker 1: uh to tell Sean Payton out there, hey, and key
Speaker 1: spots of the game. Let's maybe not give short yardage
Speaker 1: carries to Tim hi Tower. What's going on to my terrorism?
Speaker 1: Been in the league for four years? They give him
Speaker 1: big carries against the Redskins? What was that c J?
Speaker 1: Spiller to feed mark Ingram? What's so under you? We
Speaker 1: um All picked the Texans. I was just waiting for
Speaker 1: Greg to finish this point so I could get back
Speaker 1: to undermining West's career. I have a lot to get
Speaker 1: to destroy West. That's why I'm here moving on the
Speaker 1: Tampa Bay Buccaneers playing very well. UH, West stopped me
Speaker 1: if I step on any of your points for the
Speaker 1: rest of the show. With Jamis Winston playing at a
Speaker 1: Pro Bowl level five touchdowns in UH Sunday's win. Now
Speaker 1: they traveled to Indianapolis. And here's the problem for Jameis
Speaker 1: Winston and the Bucks, who are putting their season back
Speaker 1: together five and five, but now Mark Sessler Matt Hasselbeck,
Speaker 1: who literally cannot be defeated in the NFL. Coming off
Speaker 1: of watching last week's Cults game, I would say if
Speaker 1: you made a list of the teams you thought would
Speaker 1: be exciting before the year and where they are now,
Speaker 1: the Cults would be the number one team for me.
Speaker 1: That is bore boring than I thought. And the Bucks
Speaker 1: are the exact opposite where I thought they were gonna
Speaker 1: be a possible watch and they were one of the
Speaker 1: more exciting teams in league. I think Tampa Bay sounds
Speaker 1: like a column maybe so after the break, not today,
Speaker 1: but I'll tell you something. Tampa Bay, who waxed the
Speaker 1: floor last week with the Redskins, I think they're going
Speaker 1: to go and do it again. Excellent points, Mark, I
Speaker 1: would not dream of I would not dream of undermining
Speaker 1: anything done out there because less siding with a Sessler points.
Speaker 1: I thought that was well said considering what we thought
Speaker 1: of these teams earlier in the year entering the season,
Speaker 1: the Bucks are the much stronger team right now between
Speaker 1: these two teams room the old Fogies. It's it's not
Speaker 1: like the Bucks are just doing it once. I mean
Speaker 1: the first half that they had against the Redskins, there's
Speaker 1: I mean it. They explode fast. Three fifty five yards
Speaker 1: in the first half last week against Philadelphia is outrageous.
Speaker 1: And Jamis Winston he's not playing at a pro Bowl level,
Speaker 1: by the way, that that's a little much. I mean
Speaker 1: that means you're one of the top league. Okay, last
Speaker 1: couple of weeks, that's fair. I think he is doing
Speaker 1: something that quarterbacks that have been making a lot of
Speaker 1: money for a lot of time don't do. Jake Cutler
Speaker 1: never anticipates throws. Ryan Tannehill never anticipates, throws Jamis Winston
Speaker 1: throws passes two spots. DJ Daniel Jeremiah on the Move
Speaker 1: The Sticks podcast kind of pointed this out. You know,
Speaker 1: he's anticipating, he throws balls in the tight window. He's
Speaker 1: a lot of fun to watch, really good stuff. Really,
Speaker 1: I thought you did great work there. Yeah, this this
Speaker 1: is unnatural alliance, but I love it. I like it.
Speaker 1: Also feels it is a largely phony union. But I'll
Speaker 1: tell you on no good points. We all, by the way,
Speaker 1: took the Bucks in this game, except for the renegade
Speaker 1: connor Or, who is staking the Cults. His renegade way
Speaker 1: as I passed him in the pick standings. But I
Speaker 1: still feel like he could be someone to watch, just
Speaker 1: because he's fearless. He's interesting. Well, this is a rare case.
Speaker 1: He's picking the favorite, and he's the Colts are favorite. Well,
Speaker 1: fan consensus as well. They're they're in Indianapolis. Did just
Speaker 1: win a game. I know you don't want to count it.
Speaker 1: They did just win a game in Atlanta. They've they've
Speaker 1: they're five and five. They've had the same record as
Speaker 1: a Bucks bad team. All right, let's quickly get through
Speaker 1: this next game because it's the San Diego Chargers, who
Speaker 1: are very a tough watch. It's like watching like a
Speaker 1: Greek tragedy unfolding before your very eyes for four quarters.
Speaker 1: They head to Jacksonville to face the Jaguars. The four
Speaker 1: and six Jaguars, you know, barely beat the Tennessee Titans,
Speaker 1: uh in prime time. They did get a win, though,
Speaker 1: and that's enough to keep you in the mix in
Speaker 1: the a f C South. Ironically, the only team our
Speaker 1: fork exercise, the only team that we didn't fork besides
Speaker 1: the Colts, was the Titans, and they are done there
Speaker 1: two and eight most likely, but Houston and Jackson will
Speaker 1: still in good shape here. Um, Jackson's gotta win this game. West.
Speaker 1: Let's put our differences behind us now and move forward
Speaker 1: together as a unit. Jacksonvill's got to win this game, absolutely,
Speaker 1: And they picked the right opponent because San Diego is
Speaker 1: terrible and it seems like, I don't know, Greg referenced
Speaker 1: the Cleveland scenario. This team is running on fumes, doesn't
Speaker 1: seem particularly interested in playing football right now, and yet
Speaker 1: I would be surprised if the Jaguars won a game convincingly.
Speaker 1: They are four and six, and yeah, they've lost a
Speaker 1: couple of close games too, but they could easily be
Speaker 1: one and nine. I think in terms of what they've
Speaker 1: done on the field. I I root for this team.
Speaker 1: I love Bordles, I love the receivers. But I think
Speaker 1: if you're just watching the team on a week to
Speaker 1: week basis, they're one of the worst teams in the NFL,
Speaker 1: and they're they're lucky to have four wins, and some
Speaker 1: of these are crazy endings and very flukey ending and
Speaker 1: one of them shouldn't they shouldn't have won. So you're right.
Speaker 1: But I go back to the game against the Bills
Speaker 1: in London where there was a quarter and I guess
Speaker 1: I realized they were playing a Jay Ma annual. But
Speaker 1: I thought that the story of that game was going
Speaker 1: to be that the vision of what this team was
Speaker 1: going to be. That was the turning point where they
Speaker 1: suddenly got hot and we're hard to beat, and that
Speaker 1: didn't happen. You're right, they're still struggling. But I would say,
Speaker 1: right now, let me ask you a question. If you
Speaker 1: could take the Charger your coach, you can start a
Speaker 1: team with the Chargers roster or the Jaguars, And I
Speaker 1: think this answer would have been easy a year ago,
Speaker 1: two years ago. Who's would you take? It's a good question.
Speaker 1: I know what I do. I would go Jaguars without
Speaker 1: even thinking about it. It's a tough one because Philip
Speaker 1: Rivers is a franchise quarterback. I think Bordles will be too.
Speaker 1: I love Boardles. There's also what ten years younger than Rivers. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think I would take the Chargers. I don't think
Speaker 1: the roster isn't that bad. I don't think there's put
Speaker 1: it this way, there's definitely not much difference in terms
Speaker 1: of talent between these two teams right now. I think
Speaker 1: the Charges are probably a little more talented. They've lost
Speaker 1: a lot of close games. It's close though, I mean
Speaker 1: the the Jaguars on offense with the receivers are certainly
Speaker 1: more exciting. Um, we took the Jaguars across the board
Speaker 1: in that game. So how often is Xonville It's probably
Speaker 1: you can count to one hand in the history of
Speaker 1: this podcast. So don't let us down, guys. By the way,
Speaker 1: the the a lot of good feedback on Twitter. Our
Speaker 1: Spotify playlist, which I believe is now up to songs.
Speaker 1: A lot of people excited about it. I think originally
Speaker 1: had eighteen, but the listeners came through, you know, pinging
Speaker 1: us with different songs that we've overlooked. Uh so it's
Speaker 1: up to it's a hit machine, so the next thriller.
Speaker 1: That's how I look at it. We can't make any
Speaker 1: money off it. I was gonna say, could it be
Speaker 1: the next thriller? For the minor fact that it's not.
Speaker 1: It's not us producing the songs or singing, right, I guess,
Speaker 1: just in terms of how it can grab the culture. Okay, God,
Speaker 1: just not let go for a period as a phenomenon. Yeah,
Speaker 1: not just months but years. Well, it feels a good
Speaker 1: modern day thriller where really we did nothing artistically other
Speaker 1: than pick songs. That's kind of how things blow up
Speaker 1: versus back then. It was handcrafted Alban album Wire to
Speaker 1: Wire hit by Michael Jacks. It's taken. It's really catching on.
Speaker 1: I was doing it. I was over at NFL Now
Speaker 1: and the researcher over there, Colleen. They were listening to Corona,
Speaker 1: which is really the song of the around the NFL
Speaker 1: podcast every Man. Does the researcher have a name mark?
Speaker 1: Just testing testing every man status? Okay, I don't know
Speaker 1: if you had a no eye contact policy with the
Speaker 1: research Well, I didn't know if our listeners would really have,
Speaker 1: you know, know who Mark was. Plus it's confusing. I
Speaker 1: don't think it's that confusing. But there's Mark, the research
Speaker 1: guy that you were talking to, Sessler, the common man.
Speaker 1: He has a last name Mark, It's Mulari. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: thought it was dulgar. There you go. And he is
Speaker 1: the one who suffered through about a thousand now hits
Speaker 1: last year when we were in the studio one on
Speaker 1: one with host. He had to sit in the corner
Speaker 1: and listen to all that nonsense. So he's done a
Speaker 1: lot of hard work. Alright. I like Dan trying to
Speaker 1: come at me with the common man rankings. Give me
Speaker 1: a break, Get back in your stright and you put
Speaker 1: on your fancy back in the truck, go drive up
Speaker 1: and down the Eastern Sea. We are less than twenty
Speaker 1: four hours from Thanksgiving, and all there isn't here is
Speaker 1: heat and controversy. Yeah, that's like a lot of families,
Speaker 1: four guys, four different cars after they should have seen
Speaker 1: some of the Thanksgivings with my family. Grow moving on
Speaker 1: in a big a f C game here between the
Speaker 1: Buffalo Bills at five and five and the Kansas City
Speaker 1: Chiefs at five and five. Uh, you know, two different situations.
Speaker 1: Though the Bills continue to be an up and down team.
Speaker 1: They you know, listen, in my opinion, kicked away a
Speaker 1: chance to knock off the Patriots on Monday night. Um,
Speaker 1: and they now face the Chiefs team that is now
Speaker 1: five and five after winning four straight games, and they've
Speaker 1: looked damn good doing it. They're kicking butt in these
Speaker 1: games as well, so it's hard to win Mark in Arrowhead.
Speaker 1: It's even harder to win when that team, the home team,
Speaker 1: is playing as well as the Chiefs right now. This
Speaker 1: may be one of the better matchups because you've got
Speaker 1: Kansas City's defense, which is creating turnovers, stopping the run,
Speaker 1: shutting teams down, hurting quarterbacks. And you've got the Bills, which,
Speaker 1: despite what we just talked about with Sammy Watkins, lead
Speaker 1: the league and big play touchdowns which are plays of
Speaker 1: over yards with sixteen and six of them on the ground.
Speaker 1: They they remain one of the more electric offenses in
Speaker 1: the league when they are healthy, and they are healthy
Speaker 1: right now for the most part, so this should be fun.
Speaker 1: But they haven't been that offense for what three weeks
Speaker 1: and they've been healthy. I mean, since Tyrod Taylor is back,
Speaker 1: the last two weeks has been as his worst two
Speaker 1: games of the entire season. And it feels a little
Speaker 1: bit like Ryan Fitzpatrick maybe even you know, worse that
Speaker 1: that the early excitement in the bloom is kind of
Speaker 1: coming off the roads. And you see this with a
Speaker 1: lot of quarterbacks. You have five or six good games
Speaker 1: and then teams figure out what to do. I think
Speaker 1: the Jets put sent a lot of pressure towards Tyrod
Speaker 1: Taylor and the Bills offensive line, and they didn't know
Speaker 1: what to do with it. They kept Taylor in the pocket.
Speaker 1: That's exactly what the Patriots did. They blitz a lot
Speaker 1: more than they usually do, and Taylor really struggled. Have
Speaker 1: we found a way to put the bloom back on
Speaker 1: the Rose yet, No, because it's off. It's off. We
Speaker 1: rode off Alex Smith earlier in the year and he's
Speaker 1: been playing pretty well. But this defense, they have an
Speaker 1: average margin of victory of twenty three points over the
Speaker 1: last four games. They haven't allowed more than eighteen points
Speaker 1: since October four in a game. The Chiefs are the
Speaker 1: better team in this game. They're one of the best
Speaker 1: teams in the NFL over the last month. Well, one
Speaker 1: thing that helps, they have not turned the ball over
Speaker 1: four weeks. I don't know how they did it, but
Speaker 1: the Chiefs managed with their one in five start to
Speaker 1: kind of make themselves interesting. Well, they would have been
Speaker 1: ranked about thirty one two on my least interesting, you know,
Speaker 1: on the most interesting teams. But just because they started
Speaker 1: one in five and they lose Charles and then they
Speaker 1: just start blowing teams out, I'm in. I'm intrigued by them. Well,
Speaker 1: they'll be the first team since the playoffs if they're
Speaker 1: one in five, but they feel like they have a
Speaker 1: good chance because of how crappy the a f C
Speaker 1: is in general. This is the a f C equivalent
Speaker 1: of the Falcons Vikings. I don't think it's quite that
Speaker 1: big game, but whoever was really? You think so bigger
Speaker 1: because these two teams are actually pretty good and the
Speaker 1: Falcon stink about a loser goes home match. Right here,
Speaker 1: it's got the tiebreaker involved. Now with this game, well,
Speaker 1: Buffalo will go home to Buffalo, oh like in jent
Speaker 1: like physically, yeah, we'll get on. They'll probably packed after
Speaker 1: the game, get on a plane. Flights. That's not like
Speaker 1: exactly what I was getting at. But you're not wrong. Well,
Speaker 1: you're probably not wrong either. This is how we have
Speaker 1: an alliance. This is the two the two teams that
Speaker 1: are most likely to make us donate to a local
Speaker 1: charity by the way, the Chiefs and the Bills. There
Speaker 1: there are many teams out there, but I would put
Speaker 1: these two at the top of the list. Also, two
Speaker 1: teams that have been letting down their fan base consistently
Speaker 1: for thirty years almost So yeah, I'm not quite ready
Speaker 1: to see one of them surge into the spotlight. Uh
Speaker 1: we Uh where we go with that game? Uh? That
Speaker 1: was the buff Low Bills contest against the Chiefs. We
Speaker 1: were just talking about. Wow, we all took the Chiefs.
Speaker 1: We're in lockstep this week. Yeah, moving on. The Miami
Speaker 1: Dolphins are four and six. That's the bottom of the
Speaker 1: AFC East, but again in the muddled wild card picture,
Speaker 1: they're still in the mix. But they gotta win on
Speaker 1: Sunday and guess what they got a matchup that could
Speaker 1: be to their advantage. The New York Jets playing awful
Speaker 1: football for a month now. Uh, not a great home team,
Speaker 1: never really have been, so this is not a game
Speaker 1: where you should look at the Dolphins as heavy underdogs
Speaker 1: by any stretch. Uh, this is a coin flip game. Again.
Speaker 1: I'm I I picked the Jets every week. I just
Speaker 1: can't help myself. I always do um. But doesn't mean
Speaker 1: I started think they're gonna win. The only thing I
Speaker 1: have going for me is Ryan fitz Patrick keeping his
Speaker 1: job over Gino, which was absolutely the right move, and
Speaker 1: trimming his beard a little mojo shift. Yeah, I gotta
Speaker 1: do something. You also have the fact that Coples too,
Speaker 1: you know, shake things up a little bit. Yeah, that
Speaker 1: was the That was the juice needed to change in
Speaker 1: New York. And this is the Quentin Copal's Bowls. Did
Speaker 1: you see the report that Rex tried to claim him
Speaker 1: on waivers too. I am the least surprised person ever.
Speaker 1: But he wasn't awful in his first three years with Rex.
Speaker 1: He I mean, he had sixteen and a half sacks.
Speaker 1: He had between five and six sacks every season, so
Speaker 1: he wasn't, you know, a total bust. But he just
Speaker 1: wasn't a fit with Bowls And I really, yeah, I
Speaker 1: think he sent the message by dumping a former first
Speaker 1: round pick. This was the hardest game for me to
Speaker 1: pick this week just because of how bad the Jets
Speaker 1: have been lately and I don't trust the Dolphins offense.
Speaker 1: I do think the Dolphins defense is playing pretty well.
Speaker 1: Rashad Jones, I think it's been the best safety in
Speaker 1: the NFL this season. Tim used to play well. I
Speaker 1: end up picking the Dolphins in this game. Um, I
Speaker 1: just don't know what the Jets are right now? What
Speaker 1: are they? Dan? I used to think I knew what
Speaker 1: they are, but now all that stuff is out the
Speaker 1: window because they're running the ball consistently and there defense
Speaker 1: isn't creating turnovers anymore. In the secondary isn't shutting down
Speaker 1: passing games. And we don't even know if the Jets
Speaker 1: led to roll revs. Uh. He's not practicing as of
Speaker 1: this taping. He has a concussion, and Todd Bowles seemed
Speaker 1: to indicate there's a real chance he's gonna miss this
Speaker 1: game on Monday when he said that he hadn't made
Speaker 1: any progress at all from Sunday to Monday. So that
Speaker 1: is something to watch. Fryan Tannehill can take advantage of anything,
Speaker 1: which I'm not certain he might have a chance to
Speaker 1: go against a secondary without revs especially against a team
Speaker 1: that has one receiver. Jarvis Landry isn't a top five
Speaker 1: NFL receiver, but he's having a great season. And the
Speaker 1: fall off from Landry to the next guy, who, I
Speaker 1: guess is what Kenny Stills, Kenny Shard Matthews has not
Speaker 1: been in the mix lately, Kenny Steals is sneakily having
Speaker 1: a horrible season. Yes, uh, they're frustrating lye boring all around.
Speaker 1: Sue is playing well, Vernon's playing well or he played
Speaker 1: well last week. Jones is playing well. Grimes is a
Speaker 1: good player, but other than that, not much. Might be
Speaker 1: surprised Greg to know that Richard Matthews has more yardage
Speaker 1: than Landry and and he's averaging fifteen point four, so
Speaker 1: he's basically better across the board, has twenty less catches,
Speaker 1: but every other statistic he's who do you think is
Speaker 1: a better player and is having a better better But
Speaker 1: you are overstating how good he is. You said not
Speaker 1: even top five, He's not even a top probably fifteen
Speaker 1: or twenty receivers. I think he's their clear number two.
Speaker 1: And as we know, with the Jet secondary, if you
Speaker 1: can get beyond Revas, even rivas wasn't a guarantee against Houston,
Speaker 1: but I look at that as an anomaly. Uh, you
Speaker 1: can have some fun against Antonio Crimardi and company. I mean,
Speaker 1: the best quarterbacks do their best work in inside the division.
Speaker 1: And Tannehill hasn't been an an f C East team
Speaker 1: all year. And it's not just him, it's what's around him.
Speaker 1: I guess on offense, but for me, the key You
Speaker 1: look at New York's you said it, Dan like you
Speaker 1: look at New York's run totals from game to game.
Speaker 1: They were dominant, dominant early in the season, putting a
Speaker 1: huge totals, which was a great formula for their quarterback situation.
Speaker 1: Now they're it's completely dried up. One thing to keep
Speaker 1: an eye on. The last It was actually Joe Philman's
Speaker 1: last game as an NFL head coach. It was the
Speaker 1: last time these two teams met, and Chris Ivory went
Speaker 1: nuts in London, just ran all over this team. They
Speaker 1: need Ivory to get back to being that guy, or
Speaker 1: they have shots like he's not healthy and he's almost
Speaker 1: never been healthy. Shouldn't be a surprise. He can't count
Speaker 1: on him to be healthy. That's on the Jets. He
Speaker 1: has not been healthy since. Uh, that first carry against
Speaker 1: the Patriots since high school has never been the same.
Speaker 1: If the Dolphins though in this game, I mean, this
Speaker 1: is Dan. I don't not that we think Dan Campbell's
Speaker 1: gonna keep but Dan Campbell has to win a division
Speaker 1: game or else there's absolutely no chance he keeps the
Speaker 1: job next year. There are only other division game left
Speaker 1: on the schedule is against the Patriots. Do you really
Speaker 1: think there's a chance he's keeping his job anyway? If
Speaker 1: he won nine games, so he'd have to go on
Speaker 1: a run. Yeah, I think if he got if he
Speaker 1: went four games over five as a coach, he came in,
Speaker 1: he's gonna go get a Shanny new Well, he's that does.
Speaker 1: Fergie is one of the owners. I know that's uh,
Speaker 1: Serena Williams, Fergie, Serena, Mark Anthony. This is an organism.
Speaker 1: Remember they thought that was gonna bring them like a
Speaker 1: lot of buzz and attention. That'll get the South Florida
Speaker 1: crowd to go to the games. This is an organization
Speaker 1: that firmly believes in entertainment over football skill. Fabio Ricky Martin, Well,
Speaker 1: you know what, they got a new guy right on
Speaker 1: the show. His name is mikey t Mike Tannenbaum fan
Speaker 1: of the program, and he bring in Quentin Copel. So
Speaker 1: we drafted that's gonna turn the whole friend he's been
Speaker 1: on the program? Was that sane Hill contract? Looking right now,
Speaker 1: I would say friend of the program. Maybe I don't
Speaker 1: think he's listening regularly. Well, friend not in his current
Speaker 1: role he was on, not anymore now we like Mike
Speaker 1: te tweets though nice guy, he was good. Yeah to
Speaker 1: lte grad No. I meant to mention that that's why
Speaker 1: Greg get into that ulture of yours. Two lane Underworld
Speaker 1: is so concerning. Uh. Next up the Oakland Raiders, who uh,
Speaker 1: you know society was once excited about. Now society no
Speaker 1: longer believes them to be exciting on some level. Uh
Speaker 1: now four and six Uh fading from contention. Now they
Speaker 1: get a gift from the football gods. You would think
Speaker 1: the scheduling gods the Tennessee Titans on the road, but
Speaker 1: who knows? Who knows what the Raiders anymore? You never
Speaker 1: know who's gonna show up. And on the other side
Speaker 1: of the bout Marcus Mariotta. He's a guy that you know,
Speaker 1: he could take any team for a ride. He's proven
Speaker 1: that this season, so you can't assume that they're just
Speaker 1: gonna be terrible every week. West this seems to be
Speaker 1: a game that I'm gonna call coin flip. Yeah, they've
Speaker 1: sort of switched places here. Last year, Derek Carr had
Speaker 1: the worst weapons in the NFL, to the point where
Speaker 1: we couldn't even accurately judge him as a quarterback because
Speaker 1: his receivers were so slow. He didn't have a running game,
Speaker 1: and now Marcus Mariotta has. In last week's game, y'all
Speaker 1: was doing the next Gen stets article and the Titans
Speaker 1: didn't have a single receiver who ran a faster speed
Speaker 1: than Anthony Fasano. Wow, they're slow moving tight end ran
Speaker 1: faster than all of their wide receivers here. So Anthony
Speaker 1: Fasano you could describe as sneaky athletic. You could, although
Speaker 1: I don't think anybody would consider him one of the
Speaker 1: league's fastest tight end. I think it's a statement on
Speaker 1: their offense more than it is. And the running back
Speaker 1: is one of the slowest running backs in the NFL.
Speaker 1: There's no speed in this offense beyond their fast tight end,
Speaker 1: Delaney Walker. This is one of those games where like
Speaker 1: the world's gonna swallow itself up because the Titans, one
Speaker 1: of the worst running teams bottom ten easily against the
Speaker 1: Raiders defense that has given up five hundred and sixty
Speaker 1: seven yards over the last three games on the ground
Speaker 1: almost I'd run Mariota, get that guy going. They do
Speaker 1: need to run him. Well, that's that's the thing with Mariota.
Speaker 1: He doesn't go deep and he doesn't really use his
Speaker 1: legs that much. So you're saying he's Alex Smith. No.
Speaker 1: I I think he's doing the things that can help
Speaker 1: them win the best and right now, being crazy he
Speaker 1: and being aggressive, he doesn't have the receivers for it,
Speaker 1: and so he's just a solid C plus B minus
Speaker 1: every week he is. He's about as consistent a rookie
Speaker 1: as as you'll ever see. He's pretty much the same guy.
Speaker 1: But he gets in a matchup like against the Jaguars
Speaker 1: on Thursday night, and he makes a few plays and
Speaker 1: he doesn't make any mistakes, but he's not gonna do
Speaker 1: enough with that that talent surrounding him to win the game.
Speaker 1: I had the dumbest By the way, this your your
Speaker 1: whole argument about the Titans skill position talent. The dumbest
Speaker 1: argument on the couch at NFL now on on a
Speaker 1: Sunday all year was they were trying to but they
Speaker 1: were trying. There's more people than not. We're saying that
Speaker 1: Mariota had better weapons than Jamis Winston. No, it was
Speaker 1: the most insane thing I ever heard, based on what
Speaker 1: player were they even pointing to? And don't I don't
Speaker 1: know who was this I was on, I don't even remember.
Speaker 1: That's a good answer. Uh uh not enough for the
Speaker 1: Kevin Patrick and uh the old Zeuser took the Raiders
Speaker 1: in this game. The rest took the Titans, and I
Speaker 1: didn't mention it, but West had said that he took
Speaker 1: the Dolphins, so did Patrick. The rest took the Jets.
Speaker 1: Moving forward, gentleman, the New York Giants are five and
Speaker 1: five and in the NFC East. That means you are
Speaker 1: on your way to a division title. They have one
Speaker 1: game lead over both the Redskins and Eagles, and a
Speaker 1: two game lead over the three and seven Cowboys. Oh
Speaker 1: my god, what a bad division. Now they travel to Washington, UH,
Speaker 1: looking to bury the Redskins a big game. Obviously, with
Speaker 1: a big playoff ramifications, there will be no wild card
Speaker 1: team coming out of this division, So you gotta win
Speaker 1: these division games. Uh, mark your thoughts on this grid
Speaker 1: on old school NFC East battle between two It's it's
Speaker 1: the most confusing game of the week for me because
Speaker 1: both of them have flip flopped wins and losses. The
Speaker 1: Giants for the last six, the Redskins for the last five,
Speaker 1: and that's what they are are both eight and eight
Speaker 1: type teams. New York's the best I think maybe the
Speaker 1: best unit is New York's offense in this and they
Speaker 1: probably have a chance, a better chance than Washington because Washington,
Speaker 1: to me, when they're good. We've had fun watching them.
Speaker 1: I love what they thought they could be early in
Speaker 1: the season, and they're just too inconsistent. But at the
Speaker 1: flip side, I don't know, I'm gonna be all of
Speaker 1: the map because the flip side this defense and Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's a good Kirk Cousins game. I I don't know.
Speaker 1: I can't even I'm not even gonna watch it. They
Speaker 1: made like two plays all of last week, Andre Johnson
Speaker 1: or Andre Roberts kickoff return into Shawan Jackson's long touchdown pass.
Speaker 1: But that's against Carolina's defense. Now you get to play
Speaker 1: against the Giants defense, which is a whole different story either.
Speaker 1: I'm picking the Redskins to win this game. It's kind
Speaker 1: of a coin flip game. But I think the Redskins
Speaker 1: are better than people think, so I'm going with it.
Speaker 1: Mark's mood, uh goes up wildly up and down with
Speaker 1: based on what the Browns they're doing. But I've noticed
Speaker 1: that would just have me it goes That's true. It's
Speaker 1: pretty much just down. I've noticed the Redskins off, Like,
Speaker 1: if they're coming off a loss, then you'll be really
Speaker 1: down on them. If they're coming off a win, then
Speaker 1: oh it's back. It's back to the Cousins corner over here, Kirk,
Speaker 1: because Kirk Cousins for m v P. These teams aren't
Speaker 1: that equal. I think the Jobs might build on their
Speaker 1: loss to the Patriots, they are get a little better.
Speaker 1: I thought Cousins corner is okay, kissing Cousins. Yeah, well
Speaker 1: all right. The Giants have outscored opponents by twenty points
Speaker 1: this year. The Redskins have been outscored by thirty two.
Speaker 1: That's a fifty point difference the Redskins, Right, the Redskins
Speaker 1: offense has been injured all you're now they're healthy. They
Speaker 1: have had in their winds. There is a lot of
Speaker 1: reason to get excited about the Redskins, but their losses
Speaker 1: have been terrible in some cases. So you're right if
Speaker 1: you're going to follow that team. You were all over
Speaker 1: the map this season. The Redskins de Sean Jackson said
Speaker 1: this week this game is for all the marbles, which
Speaker 1: I like that. I was like, no, you don't know,
Speaker 1: it's you don't know what that phrase Giants. The Giants
Speaker 1: have had the Redskins number. They apparently there's some beef
Speaker 1: between him and Mukamara. I can't remember some of there's
Speaker 1: always beat between the times they asked Hi about him.
Speaker 1: He's like, he's just another guy in the field I
Speaker 1: wanted to play. You know who's having a great season
Speaker 1: is Dominique Rodgers Crmarties. He's having a Pro Bowl one
Speaker 1: of the best, what six or seven cornerbacks in the
Speaker 1: league type of season. He he is something that defense
Speaker 1: can get by. He's another one of those guys who
Speaker 1: does it like every other year. Yeah, him and Antonio Carmarti,
Speaker 1: it's a uh Patra and myself again on the same
Speaker 1: island with the Giants, the rest with the Redskins. West,
Speaker 1: I think you'll like this one better. This is what
Speaker 1: the week twelve research notes. And I know, and I
Speaker 1: think one thing I know will always uh tickle West,
Speaker 1: little Teddy Bear giggle as I tickle him. Is a
Speaker 1: little trivia where you can prove yourself to be a
Speaker 1: maven on NFL history and knowledge. So I'm gonna give
Speaker 1: you a quiz, wes A. Actually, I'm gonna open this
Speaker 1: up to both kissing cousins. Both guys on that side
Speaker 1: of the table can chime in. I might not respond
Speaker 1: to that title. And Sydney, can you help me out
Speaker 1: with maybe a clock, because we're gonna give you twenty seconds.
Speaker 1: Here we go, I'll tell you when to start, Sydney.
Speaker 1: Eli Manning has started a hundred and seventy seven straight
Speaker 1: games at quarterback, the longest actor streak in the NFL.
Speaker 1: The Redskins have started ten different quarterbacks over that span.
Speaker 1: Name seven out of the ten. Give me a twenty seconds, Sydney,
Speaker 1: Kirk Cousins, Robert Griffin, We've got Rex Grossman, Jason Campbell,
Speaker 1: John Beck, John Beck, McCoy, Patrick Ramsey. That's seven. Keep going,
Speaker 1: how many do we need to name? Just damn them
Speaker 1: name more? Sony seconds five seven out of ten. Very good.
Speaker 1: You did it with plenty of time to spare. Here's
Speaker 1: who you missed, Greg? Do you know any No? I
Speaker 1: wasn't thinking. Why did you shake your head when I
Speaker 1: said Patrick Ramsey? I didn't. I misheard what the question
Speaker 1: mark Brunel Todd Collins playoffs? St I gotta wait, did
Speaker 1: you say beck Collins started a playoff game? And this one, guys,
Speaker 1: Donovan McNabb, get that terrible era. That was a depressing time,
Speaker 1: still faded Donovan McNabb era in Washington. We're like error
Speaker 1: nailed it. Moving forward to the NFC West. Uh, we
Speaker 1: were tasking NFL now where we do multiple hits per week? Uh,
Speaker 1: if you're interested, you check out How do you find
Speaker 1: NFL now, Greg, NFL dot com, slash now, sure, why not? Now?
Speaker 1: NFL It's on Apple, TVs, It's everywhere, al right. Good.
Speaker 1: So we do these game previews and I was tasked
Speaker 1: with trying to set the boys up with a way
Speaker 1: to get into this game, the Arizona Cardinals at San
Speaker 1: Francisco forty Niners, And I said, West, after two big
Speaker 1: showdowns for the Cardinals against the Bengals and Seahawks. Could
Speaker 1: the forty niners uh serve as a potential letdown game?
Speaker 1: And West how did you respond? Extended laughter? Skeletor laughter?
Speaker 1: The same guy who said Blaine Gabbert was looking pretty good.
Speaker 1: It could very well be a letdown game and the
Speaker 1: Cardinals might only win by thirty. Oh stop, all right,
Speaker 1: maybe twenty. Can you hear that? By the way, listen closely.
Speaker 1: It's the Blame Gabbert resurrection campaign. Because you're hearing some
Speaker 1: positive buzz around Blame Gabbert. Honey Badger said, Uh, this week,
Speaker 1: I think he's underrated. Blame Gabbert on the comeback, Tram
Speaker 1: called him much better than Kaepernick. Right, he did, and
Speaker 1: I agree with him. I I think Blaine Gabbert is
Speaker 1: playing well. And in that Honey Badger story, Bruce Arians
Speaker 1: also had a quote saying how much how well he
Speaker 1: thinks playing Gabbert is playing that he thinks he's a
Speaker 1: good quarterback. I thought when you were listening for that sound,
Speaker 1: that you had picked up the sound of Hubris coming
Speaker 1: from Chris Westling and perhaps the rest of the Bird
Speaker 1: gang out there. That's what we call us big Cardinals fans.
Speaker 1: I think it's scorn and derision than coming off to
Speaker 1: All I'm saying is, if there ever was a letdown game,
Speaker 1: if that is a real phenomenon, maybe it's not. It's
Speaker 1: probably gonna come in a dead stadium on the road
Speaker 1: in the division, after two monster games on national television
Speaker 1: where you proved yourself totally agree, and against the team
Speaker 1: who has been frisky enough at home. They've been okay
Speaker 1: at home even last week. They were a little more
Speaker 1: competitive than we really expected. Once the last I mean,
Speaker 1: but it's twenty to nothing, you figure it's gotta add thirties,
Speaker 1: and they come back sort of make it a game
Speaker 1: that makes total sense. It's except for the fact that
Speaker 1: the Cardinals have the most talented roster in the NFL
Speaker 1: and the Forts have the least talented roster in the NFL.
Speaker 1: They're running preseason lineups out there on offense. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: I also look at teams that have these letdown games
Speaker 1: are often not the Patriots. It's not the best teams
Speaker 1: in the league. It's those halfway their teams that do
Speaker 1: something surprising and then they cave in there there. This
Speaker 1: is not built that this way that this team with
Speaker 1: under arians the way he's gotten them up game after
Speaker 1: the team, I don't see them as letdown fodder. And
Speaker 1: uh we all took the Cardinals not surprisingly. Moving on
Speaker 1: late game, the Pittsburgh Steelers with Ben Roethlisberger doing Big
Speaker 1: Ben things with his boy Antonio Brown, head to Century
Speaker 1: Link Field to take on the Seahawks. Uh. Seahawks, we
Speaker 1: know do not have Marshawn Lynch. He could be out
Speaker 1: until the end of the regular season after undergoing sports
Speaker 1: hernia surgery. So that is a big loss. But at
Speaker 1: the same at the same time, was Thomas Rawls is
Speaker 1: coming off the type of game that Marshaw Lynch has
Speaker 1: never had in his NFL career? Is he a guy
Speaker 1: that's gonna cause this offense not to miss a beat?
Speaker 1: Or will Beast mode be missed? If you think that
Speaker 1: the Seahawks are gonna miss Marshawn Lynch, you haven't been
Speaker 1: watching him play. This year. Thomas Rawls has outplayed him.
Speaker 1: I mentioned this Sunday night. Marshawn Lynch has rushed for
Speaker 1: seventy five yards one time all year. Thomas Rawls has
Speaker 1: done it three times, over a hundred and has their
Speaker 1: two best games by a running back all year, and
Speaker 1: frankly looks like he fits his offense better than Marshawn Lynch.
Speaker 1: There are a few things sadder than thinking about fantasy
Speaker 1: owners out there that spent like a seventh overall pick
Speaker 1: on Marshaw Lynch and that didn't handcuff it up with
Speaker 1: Thomas Rawls. There's people out there that that got stuck
Speaker 1: like that, because you're right, Lynch has done nothing all year.
Speaker 1: He's never been close to the old Lynch. This year,
Speaker 1: he's been banged up, in ineffective, and now Rawls is
Speaker 1: maybe a better option. At this stage. It's crazy that
Speaker 1: Thomas Rawls and rafted rookie is absolutely more valuable to
Speaker 1: their team than Jimmy Graham, the guy who gave up
Speaker 1: you know, first round pick, has been an All Pro player.
Speaker 1: At this point, we're just kind of expecting Graham to
Speaker 1: get three for thirty nine every week. It's no longer
Speaker 1: even a big story here. Here are some people. He
Speaker 1: has five thirty yards on the season, which isn't the
Speaker 1: worst thing ever. But here's who else is right around
Speaker 1: him in the yardage race. Benjamin Watson, couple ahead of him,
Speaker 1: replaced team in New Orleans, Doug Baldwin in Seattle, Danny
Speaker 1: Woodhead in San Diego. These are the players that are
Speaker 1: right around Danny Amondla Marvin Jones. I mean, these are
Speaker 1: the types of company, the types of company that Jimmy
Speaker 1: Graham is keeping right now. The bigger numbers two touchdowns.
Speaker 1: He's supposed to be one of the best red zone
Speaker 1: threats in the league, historically prolific in terms of production
Speaker 1: in New Orleans. I guess we figured it was gonna
Speaker 1: go down, but I don't think anybody predicted he would
Speaker 1: be this this unproductive, you know, bevel though, when they
Speaker 1: do what they do when you have a healthy running back,
Speaker 1: they're fine. The two times they've tried to plug star
Speaker 1: guys that they've added to kind of take that offense
Speaker 1: and make it more dynamic Percy Harvin and Jimmy Graham,
Speaker 1: it's not been a very successful experiment. The first was
Speaker 1: an absolute disaster. Havan thing I can't really put on
Speaker 1: the o c at although he's actually though, but the
Speaker 1: players that's fair. But the players talked about the way
Speaker 1: he was used in the lack of explosive players from
Speaker 1: Harvan and that offense nearly toward that locker room apart
Speaker 1: before they went back to what they do. The crazy
Speaker 1: thing is that the Seahawks are having this season where
Speaker 1: they're struggling in their five and five, and when you
Speaker 1: think of their defense, the strength is upfront, like everyone
Speaker 1: has always thought the secondary. That's how you know, that's
Speaker 1: how this band defensive. Cliff Avrow and Michael Bennett might
Speaker 1: be the best duo in the league right now with
Speaker 1: where being hurt they are there. Cliff Avrow has been amazing,
Speaker 1: Bennett's been really consistent in great all year. That that is,
Speaker 1: they're playing better than they've ever played in this whole run.
Speaker 1: And yet the second there, I know they were fine
Speaker 1: last week against San Francisco. They basically give up the
Speaker 1: same plays every week. I mean they gave up. They
Speaker 1: give up the big plays down the middle of the defense.
Speaker 1: Earl Thomas is very often involved in giving up the
Speaker 1: play as Cam Chancellor has not been a great player
Speaker 1: for them in coverage at all, not that that was
Speaker 1: ever his strong suit, and again and again people are
Speaker 1: hitting him with those same plays. I'm a little surprised
Speaker 1: that only one of us took the Steelers, and it
Speaker 1: was kind of or the right renegade. Um, are we
Speaker 1: kinda overlooking what the Steelers can do against the Seahawks
Speaker 1: defense that hasn't been nearly as good this season? No,
Speaker 1: I think it was a coin flip game. I respect
Speaker 1: the Steelers and and I think they have the best
Speaker 1: wide receiver duo in the NFL right now, and I
Speaker 1: don't think it's even close. Mart Tavis Bryant is an animal.
Speaker 1: That guy is incredible. Who else is better than those
Speaker 1: two guys? But you're playing in Seattle, this game was
Speaker 1: in Pittsburgh, I think it'd be I'd probably lean the
Speaker 1: other way. I mean, this is the game that you know,
Speaker 1: we're making our picks on Wednesday, and there's a lot
Speaker 1: more information to be learned before the games. This was
Speaker 1: this one I might switch because I really look at
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh and I understand the Chiefs and the Bills and
Speaker 1: all that stuff. They forget it wild card. They're gonna
Speaker 1: not gonna win the division. But if they get in
Speaker 1: as a wild card, I look at this team is
Speaker 1: one that could upset the Apple Cart entirely and go
Speaker 1: right to the super Bowl even without Levy on Bell,
Speaker 1: I agree, and I think if they can win this
Speaker 1: game and this is the best game of the week.
Speaker 1: It's one of the more interesting games of the season,
Speaker 1: just because because Seattle right now, to me is fascinating
Speaker 1: because they've been the best team in the NFL now
Speaker 1: for this is the fourth year where they're one of
Speaker 1: the time they should be one of the teams. And
Speaker 1: if they lose this game, it's like they're they are
Speaker 1: running out of time. And I think Pittsburgh could go
Speaker 1: pick them up. And if Pittsburgh could win this game,
Speaker 1: Michael Berger, who's waiting to come on the show, doesn't
Speaker 1: want to hear it, but Pittsburgh could still win that division.
Speaker 1: Yeah that's possible. Still have Cincinnati left on the schedule.
Speaker 1: Mm hmmm. That is a good game, CBS. I might
Speaker 1: be the philling GM game. Get excited about that all
Speaker 1: right now? He talks to listen. I care about who's
Speaker 1: calling the games, filling jeem And by the way, Mike
Speaker 1: Tariko and Jay Gruden or John Gruden, we talked about it.
Speaker 1: What a team. Oh yeah, Tariko going off on the
Speaker 1: officials at the end of the telecast was you know, classic,
Speaker 1: what a pair. Now we move on to a man,
Speaker 1: uh that needs an introduction, all right? He is a
Speaker 1: producer for NFL Network, uh specifically the Around the NFL program.
Speaker 1: We are the Around the NFL podcast. He's a man
Speaker 1: with interesting insight on the NFL world. So he said,
Speaker 1: why don't we get the old Burger in here and
Speaker 1: you know, toss it around a little bit. I've got
Speaker 1: a prop to give Burger when he give us in
Speaker 1: a little credit to give him. Okay, good, let's bring
Speaker 1: him in. Michael Burger sitting to my left to West
Speaker 1: is right. We need someone between me and West today. Um,
Speaker 1: here is Michael Burger. Welcome back. Thank you. Then, I
Speaker 1: am truly honored. As I said, I looked it up.
Speaker 1: I think it was almost two years ago to the
Speaker 1: day that I was in here. And things you've got,
Speaker 1: you've come along in two years. Yeah, yes, we are
Speaker 1: incredibly popular. The paparazzi's way, I had to get through
Speaker 1: them just to get in the door. We've been we've
Speaker 1: been on your program. So that's that helps, That help, right.
Speaker 1: I think it's a sort of a symbiotic relationship you
Speaker 1: guys have. You know, we're all one media group here,
Speaker 1: so we're getting all the insights, all the content, guys,
Speaker 1: all the content where you get were you responsible for
Speaker 1: the name around the NFL? That could be a better
Speaker 1: name for both the show in the podcast. Well, what
Speaker 1: what would you write? What else? What else? What would
Speaker 1: you write? If you had your druthers? What would you
Speaker 1: call these programs? Stick to Football? Okay, I'll take that
Speaker 1: into the next in the next meeting, and just stick
Speaker 1: to Football podcast STF dot com. That's probably already take
Speaker 1: you crazy idea here. I think we should probably stop
Speaker 1: renaming our shows. That that makes sense. I was not
Speaker 1: here the first time Burger was on the show. That's right,
Speaker 1: that's right. So this is the first time I'm sharing
Speaker 1: a studio with Burger. I have goose bumps absolution. But Mark,
Speaker 1: you remember the last time Burger was here? Us does
Speaker 1: West We We got into a hot debate about the
Speaker 1: longevity and the success in the career of Colin Kaepernick
Speaker 1: verse Alex Smith, and Burger went out on a limb
Speaker 1: to say that, without any question, he believed that Alex
Speaker 1: Smith would be the better quarterback long term. And now
Speaker 1: this is two seasons ago, and I don't remember how
Speaker 1: the rest of us made it, but I know that
Speaker 1: I was on the other side of the fence. I
Speaker 1: hammered him pretty hard for it, and and he was
Speaker 1: absolutely correct. How do you guys remember this earlier in
Speaker 1: the show, you pointed to your head and talked about
Speaker 1: my brain. Well, that's where it's coming from. This and
Speaker 1: this is why burgers back on the show that one
Speaker 1: in two years ago. Right. We we waited, I mean
Speaker 1: we waited as long as we could until Kaepernick was
Speaker 1: finally just bissilely over and they were like, all right,
Speaker 1: this guy doesn't know what he not. Only that you
Speaker 1: sold out your girlfriend and made her wait for the
Speaker 1: direct TV man just to come here to their their
Speaker 1: their wires being it's I'm glad I'm here. Let's put
Speaker 1: it like that. All right, So we want to talk
Speaker 1: to some football. Let's do it. Let's tack to football. Yes,
Speaker 1: and why not? Since yes, since you are a Cincinnati
Speaker 1: Bengals fan, I am. Let's talk about since a big
Speaker 1: what was that dessert? I called him a deserter your thoughts.
Speaker 1: I was born with the mind of my own. I'm
Speaker 1: not a sheep. Uh, this this would be this will
Speaker 1: be a good podcast in the off season, West and
Speaker 1: Burger talk about being a Cincinnati sports fan. I like that,
Speaker 1: But for now, let's talk about their game on Sunday.
Speaker 1: They're coming off back to back losses. They played pretty
Speaker 1: well on Monday night. Uh, on Sunday night, but we're
Speaker 1: defeated by a great Cardinals team. Now they get the
Speaker 1: Rams in their building. Burger, a Rams team that listen,
Speaker 1: you know, we can't make much sense of, uh, what's
Speaker 1: going on at their quarterback situation. Todd Gurley hasn't even
Speaker 1: been dominant a couple of weeks. This seems well set up,
Speaker 1: yes or no Burger for Cincinnati to get back on track.
Speaker 1: You'd have to think. So. I mean, the brand ms
Speaker 1: are what thirty feet in total offense? Everything first in scoring? Defense?
Speaker 1: Uh yeah, watch ability, Todd Gurley hasn't been Todd Gurley
Speaker 1: like in the last few games. Earlier in the year,
Speaker 1: the Bengals were having trouble stopping the run. And if
Speaker 1: this game had been played Week six, I would have said,
Speaker 1: that's a really bad matchup for the Bengals. They think
Speaker 1: they're thirteen now and run defense they were in the
Speaker 1: bottom five or last month. They've got to be top five.
Speaker 1: Um yeah, he's back. That helps, so uh, I mean,
Speaker 1: I you'd have to think this is this feels like
Speaker 1: a Bengals win. I red zone is gonna be interesting.
Speaker 1: I think both those teams are second in the league
Speaker 1: in red zone offense and defense, respectively, So I think
Speaker 1: what happens down near the goal line will obviously play
Speaker 1: a big part. But you, I mean, we saw case
Speaker 1: Keenum didn't really help things last week, ignite the Rams offense,
Speaker 1: So you'd have to think this sets up for Bengals win.
Speaker 1: I will say that obviously, the the tragic Steadman Bailey incident,
Speaker 1: uh last night, you'd have to think, Um, I mean,
Speaker 1: let's hope that doesn't factor into any You know, Bailey
Speaker 1: was involved in a note in his car. He underwent
Speaker 1: surgery today, is I believe is in critical condition, table condition,
Speaker 1: there's but there's so there's not a lot of information
Speaker 1: about what his situation is. But that is obviously terrible news. Uh.
Speaker 1: Back to football end of it. Greg, you you said
Speaker 1: on our last last week you talked about Andy Dalton,
Speaker 1: how you hadn't seen the Andy Dalton of the earlier
Speaker 1: in the season the last few weeks. Did you see
Speaker 1: enough on Sunday night to be back in and not
Speaker 1: be worried all about Andy? He made some big throws
Speaker 1: in that game. Yeah, he went down the field, which
Speaker 1: I think I had been missing for a month, although
Speaker 1: on the play of the game he missed. Really, if
Speaker 1: he puts that ball out there, they might win that game.
Speaker 1: And we're talking about what a performance that easily could
Speaker 1: have been an interception on the play that aj Green
Speaker 1: wind up catching out of bounds. And I think we've
Speaker 1: seen enough from him that it would be surprising if
Speaker 1: they had another big letdown game. But this is one
Speaker 1: of the best defenses in the NFL, so I wouldn't
Speaker 1: never count it out. Why do we keep saying they're
Speaker 1: one of the best defense in the NFL. Was one
Speaker 1: game and they were missing Quinn and Long in that game.
Speaker 1: Case Keenum, it looks like it's gonna start despite that concussion.
Speaker 1: By the way, he is limited in practice, if you
Speaker 1: gotta double down on that one. We talked about the
Speaker 1: fact that the Steelers are still coming up on their schedule.
Speaker 1: I mean Cincinnati, what they've done all years, what the
Speaker 1: reverses in the past where they have that epic melt
Speaker 1: where suddenly they're not the Bengals we respect anymore, and
Speaker 1: you're just looking at a January defeat. This is not
Speaker 1: that team, but they have to go in and stamp St.
Speaker 1: Louis to make that true. I don't think the Rams
Speaker 1: are gonna score enough points to hang in this game,
Speaker 1: not at all. I'm taking a look. I know this
Speaker 1: is the offense and that runs through Girly, but you
Speaker 1: look at their receiving sets. These are the receiving arts
Speaker 1: for their top four receivers, britt Cook, Austin, and Cunningham three, three, ten,
Speaker 1: and one eighty nine. This is where ten games into
Speaker 1: the season, and these guys are on pace for all
Speaker 1: about five hundred outside of Austin. This is the fifth
Speaker 1: year in a row this has been the case with
Speaker 1: this dead on arrival. She shouldn't be able to keep
Speaker 1: pace with The receivers are like what third or fourth
Speaker 1: on the list of problems though. The quarterback the offensive line,
Speaker 1: Greg Robinson his fifteen He's been flagged fifteen times for
Speaker 1: holding since he entered the league. Orlando Pace was flagged
Speaker 1: eleven times in his entire career. Wow, well you know
Speaker 1: he's not Orlando Pace. The fact that the Rams can't
Speaker 1: throw the ball sets up well for the Bengals, who
Speaker 1: their secondary is a mess right now after losing dark
Speaker 1: West Denard for the year last year. Pac Man still hurt. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a big loss. Um you know there Leon Hall
Speaker 1: has played in the slot this year and hasn't played
Speaker 1: all that well. Frankly, Um Drake Kirkpatrick I think was
Speaker 1: in the bottom five of all corners in the league
Speaker 1: a Pro Football Focus as of two weeks ago. So
Speaker 1: they got some issues in the back end and it's
Speaker 1: gonna come up in games against one more against Steelers,
Speaker 1: Like you mentioned, they still play the Broncos their schedule
Speaker 1: long term, just looking at you know, obviously the Steelers
Speaker 1: only two games back and and you'd like to think that, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, they'll be able to hold on. But their
Speaker 1: sc the Bengal schedule does set up well. They only
Speaker 1: have really the Steelers and the Broncos left. Their other
Speaker 1: four games are Rams, Browns, Ravens and Niners. Look out
Speaker 1: for the Browns. That's perfect. You get a couple of tests,
Speaker 1: but you get some couples, should be right. Just a
Speaker 1: question for the room, who who is there any person
Speaker 1: that's more overly emotional on a football Sunday than Michael Berger.
Speaker 1: I mean he really gets a little too storms uncomfortable yeah,
Speaker 1: but he cut this year is internal. That's more burning intensity.
Speaker 1: For It's mostly it's mostly my trash can that gets
Speaker 1: the brunt of the of the you know, but I
Speaker 1: try to keep it confined to my cubicle, not a
Speaker 1: yelling off of like a third down. Miss Gott. Editor
Speaker 1: Mark Ortega could give you a run out of your money.
Speaker 1: It's just general zan nous and wildness. I've been vocal
Speaker 1: in my distaste for our our move across the news. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's right. We used to be neighbors. Yeah, we've been
Speaker 1: banished to a corner like the guy with the red
Speaker 1: stapler and office space. And one thing I do miss
Speaker 1: is seeing the intensity, whether it's Red's baseball, right or
Speaker 1: Bengals football. Uh so I missed you. Yeah, go all
Speaker 1: I mean, go all in or go home. You're gonna
Speaker 1: panic if they lose this game. One absolutely. Mark and
Speaker 1: I haven't said two words to each other since we
Speaker 1: made that move like four months ago. Well, outside of
Speaker 1: that dynamic to each other, there's a wall. You never
Speaker 1: liked each other anyway, It's fine. We took the Bengals
Speaker 1: toross the board to get back in the wind. Common
Speaker 1: move to nine and two let's talk about Sunday Night football.
Speaker 1: This was supposed to be an Alan Chris. You know
Speaker 1: I love talking about announcers Greg as we spoke about earlier. Uh,
Speaker 1: they were supposed to get you know, Brady Manning Ball
Speaker 1: Its Ossweiler, Brady one by Brock, there's the cell Brady v. Brock.
Speaker 1: Are they gonna put those graphics? You know they do
Speaker 1: the whole like Manny, Are they gonna be man at
Speaker 1: Brady Wilder one in big Roman numeral at the bottom
Speaker 1: of a new sense of humor that NBC. Yes, they're
Speaker 1: no just subtle sense of humor anyway. So the New
Speaker 1: England Patriots tenant. Oh so you get excited, oh wow
Speaker 1: six you know, but they're not playing that great. Uh
Speaker 1: on Monday Night didn't play like great. This is a
Speaker 1: short week for them. They're beat up. As we've talked
Speaker 1: about Burger, I'll set you up again for this. Yeah. Uh.
Speaker 1: There is a case to be made on the road
Speaker 1: in prime time against the great defense and a young
Speaker 1: broncoswall look promising reigning player of the Week that the
Speaker 1: Pats are ready to go down. You buy them? I'm not.
Speaker 1: This is this is a tough one. I think you know,
Speaker 1: at some point the war of attrition has to you know,
Speaker 1: they don't. They simply don't have anyone to throw the
Speaker 1: ball to anymore. I think you lose Dion Lewis, fine,
Speaker 1: you'll lose Edelman, Fine, you'll lose Am And I mean
Speaker 1: I literally, I you know bluefell and you know James
Speaker 1: White's catching two touchdowns. I guess every year this is
Speaker 1: the lesson we say this. I feel like every year
Speaker 1: about the Patriots is who is he throwing the ball to?
Speaker 1: And they still do it every year and win fourteen games. Um,
Speaker 1: So I think on some level you have to start
Speaker 1: to really push the panic button. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: I'm taking Bill Belichick against a guy making a second
Speaker 1: career start all day, every day, and I think, listen
Speaker 1: to the Broncos defense we all know is probably the
Speaker 1: best in the league top to bottom um. But I
Speaker 1: just until until I see Brock ost Wailer, have I
Speaker 1: need a larger sample size to think that he's gonna
Speaker 1: go beat Bill Belichick on Sunday Night, whether it's even
Speaker 1: in Denver or not. I've taken the Patriots on the
Speaker 1: vibrant broadcast vehicle known as NFL Now. Yes, earlier today,
Speaker 1: I predicted that James White four touchdowns it's gonna happens,
Speaker 1: and if not, Chris Wesleyan in the off season will
Speaker 1: canoe from the Los Angeles port to Nicaragua. That possibly,
Speaker 1: I don't know. It's just something like what if what
Speaker 1: if James White does get four a touchdown, then Chris
Speaker 1: Westling will not canoe from Los Angeles either way, I'm
Speaker 1: not can know what's gonna happen. In classic Bill Belichick fashion,
Speaker 1: it will be Brandon Bolden catching four touchdown and not Yeah,
Speaker 1: and then you're not going anywhere either way. West So
Speaker 1: you're fine. I U on the same NFL Now story, Mibrant.
Speaker 1: I had brock Wise brock ost Wier winning this game,
Speaker 1: and in our UH sponsor mandated hot take of the
Speaker 1: week that we have to write every week, also have
Speaker 1: Brocoss Willer winning. But I could never pick Brocoss Waller
Speaker 1: over Tom Brady. Of course, I'm gonna pick the Patriots
Speaker 1: in this game. What do you mean, why would you
Speaker 1: do it then? For bold because we have to come
Speaker 1: up with a hot wi to do go through the
Speaker 1: games that you picked this week. I am certain I
Speaker 1: have seventeen other things on my docket, and and it's
Speaker 1: like the death throws this. You have to come up
Speaker 1: with a hot take this week in order for a
Speaker 1: bold prediction. I'm like, all right, let me chalk out
Speaker 1: seventy words on Brockos. I will say that everybody who
Speaker 1: watched brock Oswhilder playing, we all watched I think a
Speaker 1: portion or some of that game. I watched most of it.
Speaker 1: I mean, he that's what the Gary Kubiak offense is
Speaker 1: supposed to look like. And you know, he played better
Speaker 1: than I think most people expected. Is he gonna you know,
Speaker 1: can he do that against the Patriots on Sunday? We'll
Speaker 1: see he makes really so much good or bad And
Speaker 1: that's great for a first start. But this is the
Speaker 1: best Patriots defense I think in the last decade, and
Speaker 1: they can present problem for you. Just Jamie Collins coming
Speaker 1: back to ye big Syrod Taylor another young quarterback last week,
Speaker 1: so this could be a game in the teens. They
Speaker 1: gave him a f C Player of the Week. Brock Austin.
Speaker 1: I know because I don't know if it's because of
Speaker 1: just the situation he was in, but it was a
Speaker 1: perfect passerrading. But their job, right if you watched the
Speaker 1: If you watch the game and listen, he managed the
Speaker 1: game well, that I agree with, but perfect passer rading
Speaker 1: means literally zero when you watch what he did to
Speaker 1: forge that one good pass the whole game, he didn't
Speaker 1: make it. He had Vernon Davis plant and uh had
Speaker 1: another good pass that Owen Daniels dropped. He also didn't
Speaker 1: turn the ball over, which has been the problem for Denver.
Speaker 1: So I just, I just, I mean, just from from
Speaker 1: a schematic standpoint, there was a lot of play action.
Speaker 1: The tight ends were more involved. It's what we've seen
Speaker 1: from the Ravens and Texan. Yeah, it just it looked
Speaker 1: like running game came to absolutely so I like that
Speaker 1: Vernon Davis got in the mix. That might look good too.
Speaker 1: It was a huge positive and a huge sign of
Speaker 1: how my Osweiler helped. But watch out, you got you got?
Speaker 1: You know, Damarius Thomas going on Butler Island. We should mention.
Speaker 1: But we should mention because this new This news came
Speaker 1: after we recorded yesterday's podcast. Peyton Manning team announced out
Speaker 1: at least the next two weeks at least he's gonna
Speaker 1: be in a walking boot. And I think it's natural
Speaker 1: to wonder if he ever plays for the Broncos. I
Speaker 1: think if brock Ey Swidler plays at the level he
Speaker 1: played last week, there's little chance that Manning again, he
Speaker 1: really struggles. And Manning does prove hees healthy again in
Speaker 1: three weeks, then this offense so much better. I took
Speaker 1: the Broncos in this game. I am alone. It was
Speaker 1: a hero pick where it was until Greg. You don't
Speaker 1: pretend you think I ruined this thing. You love it.
Speaker 1: But finally Monday Night Football and what after we have
Speaker 1: to what a bummer? Yeah, what a bummer. Listen, everyone
Speaker 1: wants to he wants to see match shop against against
Speaker 1: the Josh McCown. Come on, that's what they're tuning in
Speaker 1: for on months. It's a funeral. ESPN was so desperate
Speaker 1: to find a way to play this game, an angle
Speaker 1: to take on it that all throughout Monday Night Football
Speaker 1: this week, it was just a really kind of odd,
Speaker 1: like uh staccato type massive cutaways and all the different
Speaker 1: all this Johnny Man's, Oh Johnny Johnny Man football, it
Speaker 1: was different like John Gruden. It was like, oh Johnny football, Jack,
Speaker 1: you gotta love him, Johnny Football. I men, it's like him,
Speaker 1: like running around and it was just like Johnny Football
Speaker 1: Monday Night. And then in like fine print says Ravens
Speaker 1: Brown exactly, and it's like, how are we now supposed
Speaker 1: to take this game seriously as a piece of entertainment
Speaker 1: to watch Manzel back on the bench, as we said
Speaker 1: on yesterday's podcast because of his hard partying lifestyle or
Speaker 1: just being out and taking off the team enough where
Speaker 1: they said you're you're now our third string quarterback. So
Speaker 1: it's Josh McCown back in the lineup against yes, Matt
Speaker 1: schob who replaces Joe Flacco, who tours a c L
Speaker 1: and mc L last Sunday. So, yeah, this is a game.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be hard to get excited about, especially when
Speaker 1: you're talking about two teams that are combined five and
Speaker 1: fifteen this year. I say, don't tell a buys it
Speaker 1: put on you remember like the ESPN Strongman copy, put
Speaker 1: that on, Magnus fair, magnuson. Yeah, let's make this the
Speaker 1: Heidi game too. Around midway through the third quarter, just
Speaker 1: put Heidi on, or you know, like NBC and now
Speaker 1: Fox is getting into like doing the musicals, like just
Speaker 1: throw something together in the next four days, get a
Speaker 1: musical out there of Middler on the roof, Storry and
Speaker 1: match hup and some of the players they'll throw an interception.
Speaker 1: What would you call that? Yeah, I don't pick six.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, so this game, Yeah, well we can't talk
Speaker 1: without so yeah, that's why we can't. That's so here
Speaker 1: we go. This, this is the game that's happening. Uh,
Speaker 1: anybody have anything to say? But we all took Cleveland,
Speaker 1: but I think initially was before Manzell. What do you
Speaker 1: gotta say? Was anybody want to trade ships on Monday?
Speaker 1: That's all you got? Come on, Mark, I've covered every
Speaker 1: Monday night game, which I enjoy. But this game come
Speaker 1: and I give it up in a heartbeat? Mark, what
Speaker 1: you have to root for them to win on national TV?
Speaker 1: Even though you're saying, oh, I'd like to have the
Speaker 1: number one overall pick when push comes, you don't want
Speaker 1: the number one pick? Well, I won't. I would like
Speaker 1: to see them win and not here. Here's one thing
Speaker 1: I have a I have a quick comment and I
Speaker 1: have a question for Burger to start off with. But
Speaker 1: I think Mike Petton this was the most defining decision
Speaker 1: He's gonna makes the Browns coach for a long long time,
Speaker 1: and I think he made the right one. If you
Speaker 1: listen to players in that locker room, to a man,
Speaker 1: they feel like he did what was right for the
Speaker 1: team and he stood by it. And I respect Patton
Speaker 1: and John Harball said the same thing. It's not easy
Speaker 1: to have done this. It goes against everything that makes
Speaker 1: Cleveland even marginally marketable. But question you had you got
Speaker 1: Kaepernick and Alex Smith right two years ago, Johnny Manziel
Speaker 1: first playing Gabbert career going forward? Do they have careers
Speaker 1: going forward? And the other two years before burgers back
Speaker 1: on and then we'll have the December. Um, God, I
Speaker 1: don't know. I mean, in all seriousness, I you know,
Speaker 1: I listen, Blaine Gabbert is a is a career backup
Speaker 1: and will be. I don't I don't think he's I
Speaker 1: mean to have him to someone say we're giving you
Speaker 1: the keys to the kingdom. I don't see that happening
Speaker 1: anytime soon. Johnny Manzel Listen, I mean, do we think
Speaker 1: someone's taking a shot on this guy. He's not playing
Speaker 1: for the Browns anymore after this year? We think so?
Speaker 1: I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. We
Speaker 1: haven't done a podcast since they officially announced, the expect
Speaker 1: that McCown was going to be the starter, but they
Speaker 1: officially announce m accounts the starter, but he didn't even
Speaker 1: say for the rest memory fails him once again. We did.
Speaker 1: But you can't do the show come out right, But
Speaker 1: you can't. I mean to your most thinking about today's
Speaker 1: press conference, which is really when he talked about it
Speaker 1: and said it's not for the rest of the season necessarily,
Speaker 1: And for him to say that shows they're not closed off.
Speaker 1: And I think if they get to the last couple
Speaker 1: of weeks of this season, they might just left take it.
Speaker 1: But but to Sessler's point, if you say, as you
Speaker 1: said the defining moment of his if you say we're
Speaker 1: we're benching you and it's fully supported by everybody in
Speaker 1: the locker room, and then you go back to Manziel
Speaker 1: two or three weeks later, where does that leave you
Speaker 1: in the standing? Yeah? Yeah, it's he's in a messy
Speaker 1: situation and can't go back to him at this point.
Speaker 1: That's why. And this isn't piling on the Browns mark.
Speaker 1: It's if you if that job opens up in the offseason,
Speaker 1: like I would seriously, even though there's only a finite
Speaker 1: number of jobs to take in the NFL. It seems
Speaker 1: like you're always gonna end up in a total s
Speaker 1: storm no matter what, one way or the other. He's
Speaker 1: just the latest guy to get caught up in the web.
Speaker 1: That is why would keep Mike Patton for next season,
Speaker 1: Because it can't get worse, and you've got to give
Speaker 1: first coach in a long time a chance to do
Speaker 1: more than two years. That's honestly, I look at Ron Rivera,
Speaker 1: who was gone a couple of seasons ago, and I
Speaker 1: look at they don't have Carolina's roster by any extent.
Speaker 1: But you give this guy a chance because you're not
Speaker 1: gonna get anyone to sign up for this job. And
Speaker 1: if he can sweep the rat Birds, at least he
Speaker 1: got something like that, you go, you go, got John,
Speaker 1: It's make him the new GM. No, you do not
Speaker 1: do that. It would take you four years to hire him. Actually,
Speaker 1: that's not a bad idea. Maybe get Dick and Marone,
Speaker 1: who are working together down there in Jackson him. That
Speaker 1: is an awful idea of by Greg. We all took
Speaker 1: the Browns. Uh really sorry, I'm gonna take the Ravens.
Speaker 1: Why not taking the raven Well, it's hard to pick
Speaker 1: a match job team into that. That's true. I would
Speaker 1: never pick I'm taking the Ravens. He could draw up
Speaker 1: any team in the NFL and I would pick him
Speaker 1: to beat match up. One sneaky thing that could turn
Speaker 1: this into an absolute disaster. Cleveland cut Terence West, so
Speaker 1: they trade him to the Titans for a bag of spoons.
Speaker 1: He's now on the Ravens and he's from Baltimore. The
Speaker 1: Ravens love Terence West a running back, and they said
Speaker 1: he's gonna play. It is the most Browns thing ever
Speaker 1: that Terence West runs for a hundred and fifty yards
Speaker 1: and two touchdowns on this defense. I still think the
Speaker 1: most Browns thing ever this season was injuring the crappy
Speaker 1: rookie quarterback to get to Ben Roethlisberger. Wait, wasn't Yes,
Speaker 1: wasn't the release of Terence West. It was a trade.
Speaker 1: The trade of Terence West part of what enraged Mark
Speaker 1: so much that he gave up on the team. It
Speaker 1: was not signing Chris Carter's son or Kristen working on McDonald.
Speaker 1: I wanted to get Dion Carter, Kristen Michael and run
Speaker 1: a complete offense Ron Carter and with a complete spread
Speaker 1: offense with Manzell texas A and M style, and just
Speaker 1: after twenty years, thirty years that both both of those
Speaker 1: players currently on practice squads. Um, alright, I'm not in
Speaker 1: a solid place, Michael Burger. You've said it all and
Speaker 1: more something after two years, assess was not in a
Speaker 1: good place. Something's never changed. And maybe when you come
Speaker 1: back again. And I would say, although for like, for
Speaker 1: bit purposes, it would be funny to have you on
Speaker 1: in two years, but we we enjoyed happer than that.
Speaker 1: Maybe sooner than that two years this time. I look
Speaker 1: forward to it. Thanks West, you have the final decision.
Speaker 1: Sooner than two years, two years, three options. I'll go sooner,
Speaker 1: all right, I love it. It would have been off
Speaker 1: awkward if you would have said never. Hey, look he
Speaker 1: earned it by besting me in the debate. Right there
Speaker 1: we go. Burn. Next time you're on the show, we
Speaker 1: will talk about your appearance on Wheel of Fortune. I
Speaker 1: can't wait. By the way, do you want to tell
Speaker 1: everybody when the television version of this show? Absolutely take
Speaker 1: it out here without a Here we go. The around
Speaker 1: the NFL television show Thank You is on five days
Speaker 1: a week, and this is when it's on. You're ready, Yeah,
Speaker 1: six pm Eastern Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. A special
Speaker 1: three hour show on Thursday that begins at two pm Easter.
Speaker 1: You've got that right. And that's where that's where on
Speaker 1: a normal Thursday you can find our Thursday night previews.
Speaker 1: Well it hasn't been that normal, but it's Thursday. You
Speaker 1: had a little hiatus. You're back. It's why we we
Speaker 1: we juiced it up a little bit. You're fine everything.
Speaker 1: Do you see a ratings spike when every are minute
Speaker 1: by minute ratings? If you look at it, it is,
Speaker 1: they're so high they're almost unreadable. It's like you can't
Speaker 1: even the Super Bowl bath exactly. Synergy, and we have
Speaker 1: Greg On sometimes yelling at Mike Silver, which is always
Speaker 1: a fun segment, and vice versa. It's okay, yeah, silver dessert.
Speaker 1: All right, that's it, Thanks guys. I just want to
Speaker 1: wish both Burger happy Thanksgiving every bed the same to
Speaker 1: you guys as well, all the colleagues, all the heroes,
Speaker 1: Happy Thanksgiving, and all the listeners in America Happy Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1: I know it's not celebrated a lot of our listenership
Speaker 1: is Canadas Thanksgiving, but it's like a month before. Well,
Speaker 1: you know, we're I'm gonna say that Happy Thanksgiving two
Speaker 1: thousand sixteen to Canada and seventeen to me when I'm
Speaker 1: back on the show next. Absolutely everything covered. Thank you
Speaker 1: to Sydney and everyone behind the glass. This is Dan
Speaker 1: Hansas signing off for Quiet Store, the Mailman, Boga the Boss,
Speaker 1: and Sydney behind the Glass tell Sunday