Speaker 1: Be Around the NFL Podcast takes its shirt off for
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl halftime show. Welcome to another edition of
Speaker 1: the Around the NFL Podcast. My name is Dan Hansas.
Speaker 1: I'm joining our room, teaming with heroes Mark Sessler, Chris Westling,
Speaker 1: Greg Rosatal and back. She's back, baby, Colleen wolf Bell.
Speaker 1: What's up? Sorry? Oh my god, I stepped all over you. Well,
Speaker 1: this is I'm rusty. Hey. Welcome to the Around the
Speaker 1: NFL Podcast Wednesday edition. Connie, we talked about before the show.
Speaker 1: We haven't seen each other in a while, and you
Speaker 1: haven't been on the show in too long. Here in
Speaker 1: the studio, and we're thrilled to have you back. How
Speaker 1: are you? Thank you for having me back? This is
Speaker 1: this is a great honor. It's my favorite time in
Speaker 1: the off season. It's the moment where Colleen it realizes
Speaker 1: it's been nice not to do anything for a while,
Speaker 1: but now I really feel like I have to do something.
Speaker 1: You know, Yeah, you're on the broadcast. Is I mean
Speaker 1: you're back. I'm double potting today. I'm doing the that's
Speaker 1: the hoops that we had to jump this time around
Speaker 1: to schedule you with your camp um so gages. I
Speaker 1: don't deal with a lot of it. Dan, I know
Speaker 1: you do constant. It's it's really difficult. Uh. And if
Speaker 1: you remember, Hey Ricky Hollywood, how are you? What's up? Guys? Um?
Speaker 1: If you remember, Erica and Emma had originally conceived the
Speaker 1: broadcast as a three hander. Yeah, and Connie was a
Speaker 1: part of it, but she quick they quickly learned that
Speaker 1: Colleen's available when Colleen wants to be available, hence the
Speaker 1: long gaps between appearances. Yeah, I'm literally only in l
Speaker 1: A on Mondays and Tuesdays during the regular season. It's
Speaker 1: a lot to ask. But last summer you did put
Speaker 1: in a lot of work. I came up with basically
Speaker 1: every idea exactly kind of my brain childer more of
Speaker 1: a performer, not an idea person, who do you think
Speaker 1: writes all those bits exactly? And all right themselves. So
Speaker 1: Connie's here. We're excited to have Connie. And by the way, um,
Speaker 1: Connie does have a championship ring with the Shield our
Speaker 1: softball team back in two thousand sixteen. Despite her biggest
Speaker 1: um real um, Well, the biggest thing you did for
Speaker 1: the team was otto beer from the outfield one game.
Speaker 1: But there, but I tried, but It's good that you
Speaker 1: hear for this because I think it's time. It's time
Speaker 1: for a press conference, Ricky. Uh, thank you everybody for
Speaker 1: being here. We'd like to formally announce, effective tonight, April three,
Speaker 1: The Shield, the NFL media softball team, is back to
Speaker 1: defend our dynasty. Hashtag defend the dynasty. We took a
Speaker 1: year off, and um, we decide I did, Let's let's
Speaker 1: do it. I'm taking the cleats off the high wire.
Speaker 1: The skip is strapping him back on. He's gonna be
Speaker 1: on the first base bag and really excited to announce
Speaker 1: a couple of things. A few things. Actually one, Colleen
Speaker 1: will not be part of the team. You're excited too.
Speaker 1: We are negotiations with Mark Sessler to work in the
Speaker 1: front office in some capacity, but we we have not
Speaker 1: locked down any type of agreement at this time. There's
Speaker 1: a little update there. Um, I'm going in order of
Speaker 1: least important to most important. Uh three. Chris Westling's back
Speaker 1: after spending all of last year on the disabled list,
Speaker 1: excuse me, injured list while battling the big ce. Uh,
Speaker 1: you are back west and batting leadoff and playing third
Speaker 1: base in my lineup and finally behind the glass. Ricky
Speaker 1: Hollywood makes her debut batting eight, protecting the old Zeuser
Speaker 1: in the lineup, playing left center field. And I have
Speaker 1: one final announcement. Wow, Greg Rosenhal's retiring after one season.
Speaker 1: I like that. That got the most important What I
Speaker 1: would do without our Joe mckewing. I wouldn't say retiring.
Speaker 1: You never know if if it's back next year and
Speaker 1: it's on a different night and you know, life things change,
Speaker 1: it could be back. Are you available for a sub opportunity? Potentially, Yeah,
Speaker 1: But I'll open the floor for any questions I've learned
Speaker 1: for you because I felt last in the back. In
Speaker 1: the back, I felt last year that there was a
Speaker 1: level of exhaustion from you and also the idea of
Speaker 1: having a third Thank you West doing a third uh title? Chase,
Speaker 1: do you feel that you're sort of a Bill Parcels figure.
Speaker 1: We went away for a year, You come back, you're
Speaker 1: re energized. You know he was coming off a divorce.
Speaker 1: You're not, but you had a new new sort of
Speaker 1: pools of energy. Yes, I was exhausted. There are several
Speaker 1: people on the team that made it very difficult to
Speaker 1: be the manager, you know, complaining about those people are Yes.
Speaker 1: That's why it is a hard decision to come back,
Speaker 1: because I knew the same headaches would be there, but
Speaker 1: yet I had the itch. I had to scratch the itch.
Speaker 1: Anybody else, any questions, any questions? Yeah, I got uh
Speaker 1: in the blue Turtle egg. Are you a little worried
Speaker 1: about the commitment level of your leadoff hitter who does
Speaker 1: not have a glove, cleats and has gone more time
Speaker 1: than ever without playing the game in his adult life.
Speaker 1: You're referring, I believe to Chris westling uh as I.
Speaker 1: When I found out yesterday that West lost his baseball
Speaker 1: bag that included his glove, it made me think of
Speaker 1: Keith Hanss who once said to me many many times
Speaker 1: in fact, when I was a child, your glove should
Speaker 1: treat it like it's your hand. Always know where it is. Well.
Speaker 1: I thought West had that, and the and the West Cincinnati.
Speaker 1: I thought that's what they taught them there too, But
Speaker 1: apparently not. I had that glove for over ten years.
Speaker 1: It was broken in perfectly. I had spent like I
Speaker 1: treated it like a pet for out of years and
Speaker 1: during the move when I had Big Sea. It's just
Speaker 1: it's gone. I don't know what happened? You're putting this
Speaker 1: on the big sea. I was under a lot of
Speaker 1: heavy medication at the time, and I don't think I
Speaker 1: was quite at my normal mental um strength. Did it
Speaker 1: sting for you to bring me back my glove just
Speaker 1: a few weeks ago that I hadn't used or thought
Speaker 1: about in a really long time. It did not sting.
Speaker 1: I just it was one of those things where you
Speaker 1: instinctively know it has to go to its own. N's
Speaker 1: losing to need one more, one more for the coach.
Speaker 1: I got one more, one more? Who was it, Gret,
Speaker 1: How do you think the team's gonna react? Because it's rare,
Speaker 1: you know, sometimes a player retires or leaves for a year.
Speaker 1: It's really unprecedented in the history of sports dynasties that
Speaker 1: the team retired for a year before coming back. So
Speaker 1: how are you going to handle that? Well, I do
Speaker 1: imagine there's gonna be some rust, Greg And uh absolutely.
Speaker 1: In fact, you know, I did half heartedly try to
Speaker 1: organize a practice ahead of tonight's first pitch. Uh, nobody
Speaker 1: was interested. Is that a bad sign? Yes? But actually,
Speaker 1: but at the end of the day, I'm very excited
Speaker 1: to have the team back together. To have West healthy,
Speaker 1: Uh to have Erica on board, and uh, thank you everybody,
Speaker 1: and um, best luck you guys. It sounds play. If
Speaker 1: you strain hard enough, you can see a precedent here.
Speaker 1: Go ahead, and nineties Chicago Bulls who won three, took
Speaker 1: a year and a half off, then lost one to
Speaker 1: the Magic. Was disrespectful to Sattie Pippen and Phil Jackson
Speaker 1: and and a lot of great people that were out
Speaker 1: there working while some guys has some bozo dream about
Speaker 1: minor league baseball. I'll extend it further. What is the
Speaker 1: what is the famous famous myth slash potential reality about
Speaker 1: why Michael Jordan left was no, oh, because of the gamble?
Speaker 1: Why do you think Greg's not on the team? You're
Speaker 1: calling Greg? You're Michael Jordan's I love it this his
Speaker 1: I would say his softball skills are on par with
Speaker 1: Michael Jordan's baseball skills. All right, enough of that, So
Speaker 1: we're probably tonight we'll keep you updated on how the
Speaker 1: season is going. Wait, tonight is your first game? Maybe
Speaker 1: past Erica is going to be in our game. Wait
Speaker 1: a second, we're spinning before I'm gonna hang up the cleets.
Speaker 1: All right, come up on today's show PEP Talks. There
Speaker 1: are some players, teams, figures out there that could use
Speaker 1: um some almost uh you know, big brother, big sister
Speaker 1: type pick me up or just in general a person
Speaker 1: to person chat that we believe could be helpful. So
Speaker 1: we're gonna give PEP Talks to some people. But before that,
Speaker 1: let's get into the news, uh. Starting with a quarterback
Speaker 1: up in the Pacific Northwest, Today's rio as birthday, and
Speaker 1: so in I guess good fashion birthday fashion, we gotta
Speaker 1: sing happy Birthday, Happy Birthday, Happy happy Day, Happy Birthday,
Speaker 1: Happy happy I implore everyone to check that out on
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson's uh, Instagram or Twitter. It's Russell Wilson and
Speaker 1: Sierra right at the foot of the Christ the Redeemer
Speaker 1: statue atop the mountain and the Russellison trying just a
Speaker 1: little too hard to have a good like sexy baritone.
Speaker 1: And then right where you aready cut there he goes,
Speaker 1: come on kids. He says it to everybody and no
Speaker 1: one else starts singing. That's embarrassing. Russell Wilson wants to
Speaker 1: get paid. Russell Wilson is entering the last year of
Speaker 1: a four year contract he signed back in two thousand fifteen. UH,
Speaker 1: and he has now set a deadline. He wants a
Speaker 1: new deal with the Seahawks by April fifteenth, when Seattle
Speaker 1: begins its offseason program. This came from rap Sheet on Tuesday,
Speaker 1: Seattle New Seattle Times first had it. Uh, and we'll
Speaker 1: see how this plays out. It doesn't seem greg that, Uh.
Speaker 1: This is a situation where Russell Wilson is going to
Speaker 1: disappear for the Seahawks off season program and we're heading
Speaker 1: towards some ugly stalemate. But he's sending some type of
Speaker 1: message to Seattle Breast. What do you think it is.
Speaker 1: I think it's that he wants that guaranteed money. He
Speaker 1: wants that contract now this offseason, and it's so hard
Speaker 1: for a player to have any leverage in this situation.
Speaker 1: So he's setting a deadline. And after that he says
Speaker 1: he doesn't want to hear about it, doesn't want to
Speaker 1: talk about it for the rest of the off season.
Speaker 1: Pro Football Talk reported that they've known about this since January.
Speaker 1: So the fact that it came out in the media
Speaker 1: multiple places this week tells me, Okay, they're not making
Speaker 1: enough progress, so they're trying to turn up the heat
Speaker 1: on the team a little bit. And I don't think
Speaker 1: he just wants I don't think he wants to be
Speaker 1: on the field again until he has a Kirk Cousins
Speaker 1: like hundred million dollars guaranteed, and if they don't want
Speaker 1: to get it done by April that he says, fine,
Speaker 1: you know you'll you'll get stuck, you know, trying to
Speaker 1: negotiate with me and franchise tagging me next off season.
Speaker 1: I think it's interesting that he's not going with like
Speaker 1: the week one sort of deadline that we always see
Speaker 1: with these guys camp. This is the this is the
Speaker 1: first time I've ever heard a right, that's the that's
Speaker 1: the beginning of their off season program. And so it's
Speaker 1: kind of curious that he picks that date. Does that
Speaker 1: tell us that maybe that they're actually closer than we think,
Speaker 1: because why I said, a deadline that's essentially, you know,
Speaker 1: a fortnite from now, if there's no way it's gonna happen,
Speaker 1: and it's essentially you're still gonna play, You're not gonna
Speaker 1: hold out. It's not Levy on Bell part two. And
Speaker 1: it just seems to me like both sides wanted to happen.
Speaker 1: It just feels to me, I don't there's no sense
Speaker 1: of threat here. They no way or the Seahawks going
Speaker 1: to reimagine their entire defense and roster and not have
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson be part of that a couple of years
Speaker 1: into it with I just give us, give it, give
Speaker 1: me the guaranteed big contract I love right now, or
Speaker 1: else you risk going down the Cousins route in Washington,
Speaker 1: which is you franchise me once, you franchise me again
Speaker 1: and make me the highest paid player in the league,
Speaker 1: and then you you are totally potentially left out cold
Speaker 1: because I can walk away from you and you'll have
Speaker 1: no way to stop it. Uh. Is that the situation
Speaker 1: potential that could unfold here? Was? I just don't see
Speaker 1: the comparison there, because at some point the Seahawks are
Speaker 1: just gonna say, if it ever gets to the point
Speaker 1: where would be a Kirk Cousins franchise Texas situation where
Speaker 1: the player has the leverage, the Seahawks would say, we
Speaker 1: just give what'll just give you what you want. We'll
Speaker 1: just give you as much money as you want because
Speaker 1: we're not losing you to me. This is this story
Speaker 1: would have a lot more teeth if it was the
Speaker 1: NBA or the MLB where they don't have the franchise tag.
Speaker 1: I really wonder how hard of a push the union
Speaker 1: is gonna make to get rid of the franchise tag.
Speaker 1: They can push as much as they want, but it's
Speaker 1: not gonna as part of the next collective bargaining agreement.
Speaker 1: They've gotten some concessions and if they decided to make
Speaker 1: that a top, top priority, I think it's possible. It's not.
Speaker 1: There's no way the owners are gonna sit down and
Speaker 1: they're gonna say, Okay, I'll allow you to take Andrew
Speaker 1: Luck off my roster, or I'll allow you to take
Speaker 1: you know, in three years Baker Mayfield off my roster.
Speaker 1: I mean, you don't have to take him, you just
Speaker 1: you just signed him to the contract. I think he'll
Speaker 1: get the contract in the end. I would just say,
Speaker 1: these like these giants fans that are you know, and
Speaker 1: I get it. They're fantasizing about a year from now
Speaker 1: snatching Russell Wilson away from the Seahawks. The difference between
Speaker 1: the Redskins and Seattle's. The Seahawks want to have one
Speaker 1: of the best front offices in the NFL, the Redskins
Speaker 1: have consistently had one of the worst and they botched
Speaker 1: their quarterback situation away that thirty one other teams would
Speaker 1: never do if they held. Yeah, that's the problem. The
Speaker 1: worst case scenario for the Seax is they just tag
Speaker 1: him next year, which is fine for them, and he
Speaker 1: should get paid though when you think about the fact
Speaker 1: that he hasn't missed a start in all of the
Speaker 1: time that he's been there, plus he's plates behind some
Speaker 1: really bad offensive lines, and just his style of playing,
Speaker 1: the fact that he hasn't gotten hurt or he hasn't
Speaker 1: been hindered at always been really consistent. He deserves to
Speaker 1: be by his contract allowed them to build that team.
Speaker 1: Um and apparently I read that the Seahawks have been
Speaker 1: budgeting this for this moment for a long time. It's
Speaker 1: in all likelihood he's not going anywhere. But yeah, I
Speaker 1: think where the snatching can come into play is after
Speaker 1: if it ever got to after the second franchise the
Speaker 1: snatching And don't think I didn't miss that a Fortnite
Speaker 1: RAF there, buddy, you know the kids of today, it's
Speaker 1: all but it's just the video game. Blah blah blah, fortnite,
Speaker 1: which means two weeks. Something I didn't learn until about
Speaker 1: I'm saying about eighteen months ago. Well, I spent forty
Speaker 1: something years thinking that it meant ten days. I thought
Speaker 1: it meant ten days until I was late late thirties.
Speaker 1: So two weeks, two weeks, remember that total recall, So
Speaker 1: thirty six fortnights is how long it took. Yes, many
Speaker 1: a fortnite. Uh, it's all. It looks like it's all
Speaker 1: over for a a F, the Alliance of American Football
Speaker 1: that just wrapped eight weeks of action. But a F
Speaker 1: chairman Tom Dundon suspended football operations on Tuesday, uh, which
Speaker 1: has led to a lot of controversy. Dundn bailed out
Speaker 1: the a a F, although a F says there they
Speaker 1: didn't need the bail out, but uh he he put
Speaker 1: out two d and fifty million dollars to boost uh
Speaker 1: the fledgling league about a month ago, a month and
Speaker 1: a half ago, and now he is shutting things down.
Speaker 1: And Bill Polian, who was a co founder league, put
Speaker 1: out a statement saying how he was extremely disappointed, essentially
Speaker 1: making a public that they believe they were misled by Dundon, who, um,
Speaker 1: we've even heard reports that, uh, he only bought the team,
Speaker 1: only bought the league, or brought into the league to
Speaker 1: strip it of its I P properties, all that type
Speaker 1: of stuff. Mark that, uh, this goes on in the
Speaker 1: business world. But I think the idea and why people
Speaker 1: are upset with this guy is they thought he was
Speaker 1: in it to help build the league and it's gonna
Speaker 1: take more than one season, and it looks like they're
Speaker 1: not even gonna get one. They were looking for buying
Speaker 1: and you know, I initially and I'll let you guys
Speaker 1: hit on the football side when I when I thought
Speaker 1: Tom Dundon, is this guy that's coming in with his
Speaker 1: millions and he's gonna do his little underhanded business. And
Speaker 1: I was imagining like an Enron executive who was like
Speaker 1: seventy three years old with a big pot belly. He's
Speaker 1: like a year older than West and I in much
Speaker 1: better shape. And like when we were floating around the
Speaker 1: country doing nothing, he was like killing people with these
Speaker 1: bizarre subprime auto loans. He got rich in a very
Speaker 1: bizarre way. And I talked to Connor Orr, who was
Speaker 1: pretty deep in on because the A A F like
Speaker 1: obviously pulled a certain group of journalists in to cover
Speaker 1: from a from another way that we ignored it largely.
Speaker 1: Others did not. And Connor talked to a coach essentially
Speaker 1: like went out, like punched his clock, went out for
Speaker 1: a lunch break yesterday and you know, went up the street,
Speaker 1: got like Chipotle and came back and it's like, not
Speaker 1: only do you not have a job, the entire company
Speaker 1: has gone. And they were struggling. They were so into
Speaker 1: the a f the coaches that they were basically begging
Speaker 1: for laptops. They've been promised for weeks. You're gonna get laptops.
Speaker 1: Field of Scout players. This is your career, you're gonna grow.
Speaker 1: They didn't even have computers to work with, so they
Speaker 1: were doing a lot with a little And it's just
Speaker 1: one of those other examples that starting one of these
Speaker 1: leagues so much harder than it appears. When this one
Speaker 1: appeared different, Robert Clemco of s I dot Com tweeted
Speaker 1: out that he had heard that the players who were
Speaker 1: preparing for a game this weekend before all this stuff
Speaker 1: went down I had to pay or have to pay
Speaker 1: their own out of their own pocket to fly home
Speaker 1: from this. So it sounds like the entire league had
Speaker 1: the rug pulled out from under it by Dundon. And
Speaker 1: not only that, there's a ton of people that haven't
Speaker 1: been paid yet either, like there's a ton of them
Speaker 1: they won't be with outstanding bills that I have no
Speaker 1: idea how they're going to get paid now. It's so
Speaker 1: it shows how hard it is. Because they did accomplish
Speaker 1: a lot on some level. They showed that there was
Speaker 1: an appetite for it in a few different markets. San
Speaker 1: Antonio is one, Orlando, uh, San Diego, they had good attendance,
Speaker 1: But how much of that is because of the newness,
Speaker 1: how much of that is because it's the novel? And
Speaker 1: then more more importantly, you know our network, and maybe
Speaker 1: that was you know, I don't know the deal, the
Speaker 1: deal that they had in terms of how much they
Speaker 1: were getting paid or what was going on in terms
Speaker 1: of you know, NFL network showing it and CBS showing it.
Speaker 1: It got like very good ratings, like very good ratings,
Speaker 1: like ratings that in the in the States, not just
Speaker 1: like tripled what's normally on NFL network, but it's very
Speaker 1: competitive with like or better than like a national basketball
Speaker 1: game or or when TBS has baseball it's like I
Speaker 1: love tennis. It was out rating like some big time
Speaker 1: semifinal or finals of like a master's surnavice, so people
Speaker 1: were into it. Can we add a little perspective to
Speaker 1: that if you look at the history of these leagues,
Speaker 1: the WFL, the USFL, the XFL, they always start out
Speaker 1: hot for a month because of the novelty and then
Speaker 1: people get bored with it. But it was what I'm
Speaker 1: saying is it it was pretty steady for the two months,
Speaker 1: and more importantly, it's like I think the NFL and
Speaker 1: I I think this is someone who loves football, there
Speaker 1: is such a need for It wasn't just these players,
Speaker 1: you know, second chance or last year. It was the coaches,
Speaker 1: it was the front office, it was you know, every
Speaker 1: all the support staff. Like it just seems like there
Speaker 1: should be room for some sort of developmental league. But
Speaker 1: I just think it's gonna have to come like officially
Speaker 1: through the NFL, and the NFL never wants or it's
Speaker 1: hard like for the NFL to figure out how to
Speaker 1: do that. It's so hard for We talked about we
Speaker 1: talked about the c b A and what happens with
Speaker 1: the next negotiations and the franchise tag is something that
Speaker 1: will come up. One of the reasons why this all
Speaker 1: got blocked and dund and pulled the plug was that
Speaker 1: this idea that they wanted to have some young NFL
Speaker 1: connected talent and it wasn't in the current c b
Speaker 1: A even possible. And I don't blame the NFL. They
Speaker 1: have the most amazing free developmental league in the world,
Speaker 1: which is the well that went against the a F
Speaker 1: Like Charlie Eversol and Bill Pollion, we're not demanding that.
Speaker 1: That was Dundon going out of his own to USA
Speaker 1: today and demanding that. Yeah, it was ugly business transit
Speaker 1: and one human, one human human angle to all of this,
Speaker 1: beyond everything else we've discussed, is that down in our
Speaker 1: newsroom they were a pack of I don't want to
Speaker 1: call them nerds, they're wonderful guys. But they had a
Speaker 1: a a F fantasy league that was, you know, scorching
Speaker 1: towards their own playoffs. Michael Fabiano and A and a
Speaker 1: group of others that just got the plug got pulled
Speaker 1: on that declared the champion ahead. I don't I don't
Speaker 1: know if this is in the Hall of Fame, though,
Speaker 1: it's that it's that Michael Jordan's cutthrow competitive desire that
Speaker 1: he has and my my last thought on all this,
Speaker 1: and it does suck. A lot of people lost their jobs.
Speaker 1: Um Number one, Fitzikman, take heed before you invest any
Speaker 1: more millions into your exits ahead. This is not easy
Speaker 1: to do and it might be boondoggle two point oh
Speaker 1: for you. And the other thing is, let's take a
Speaker 1: moment moment of silence for the Alliance of American Football
Speaker 1: podcast Around the a F podcast which never even got
Speaker 1: a chance to get off the ground. It wasn't even fledgling.
Speaker 1: We were we were ready to launch it. We're planning it.
Speaker 1: We were planning it. I was writing up bits, I
Speaker 1: was coming up with a lot of ideas Fox. I
Speaker 1: was looking forward to being a producer for the first time.
Speaker 1: West was going to produce a tiny box, was gonna
Speaker 1: host it. It was gonna be wild. It just not happened.
Speaker 1: In other news, let's let's uh um, let's talk cheese
Speaker 1: the packers. We'll start with Jordy Nelson. You remember Jordy Nelson.
Speaker 1: He retired, um uh, And we talked about last Friday
Speaker 1: on Friday Show. I believe he said that he was
Speaker 1: in the hall, very good at an incredible h five
Speaker 1: to six year run with Aaron Rodgers fell off after
Speaker 1: that knee injury, but had a great career. Thought it
Speaker 1: was over, but he spoke to Uh. He spoke on
Speaker 1: the Dan Patrick Show about what would happen if Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers called about coming back to the Packers. He said,
Speaker 1: it would probably be hard to say no. So there
Speaker 1: you have it, and it is interesting you kinda he
Speaker 1: kind of put his buddy Aaron in a tough spot
Speaker 1: now because Aaron Rodgers famously was upset that he wasn't
Speaker 1: consulted about Rodgers being cut last year and he ended
Speaker 1: up on the Rock or Nelson being cut last year
Speaker 1: and ended up on the Raiders now Rogers. You know,
Speaker 1: he kind of put the onus on Rodgers to maybe
Speaker 1: whisper into his front office's ear and if he if
Speaker 1: he doesn't, if he doesn't hear from the Packers, well
Speaker 1: then he knows that Aaron didn't vouch for him. So
Speaker 1: but I saw that quote of what he said it
Speaker 1: would probably be hard to say no. I definitely read
Speaker 1: it is as it would probably be a hard no.
Speaker 1: So I thought this whole time the Jorty was like,
Speaker 1: absolutely not, I am done. There is no way, And
Speaker 1: I was like, this is juicy. I wonder what's going
Speaker 1: on behind the scenes. But now this makes a whole
Speaker 1: lot more sense. Well doesn't it tell? It tells me
Speaker 1: two things. One that Aaron Rodgers has no pool in
Speaker 1: the front office, and Jordy Nelson knows it. That's why
Speaker 1: he's saying this. And secondly, if he thought there was
Speaker 1: any chance of this happening, why retire from late March?
Speaker 1: Why not wait until July or something? Right his I'm
Speaker 1: sure his agent was aggressive in trying to find jobs
Speaker 1: for him. It sounded like and including with the Packers.
Speaker 1: And I don't think those jobs are available. Uh. In
Speaker 1: other Packers news, Mike McCarthy, who was fired back in
Speaker 1: December UH by the Packers after a long run, including
Speaker 1: a Super Bowl win. Uh. He spoke with ESPN dot
Speaker 1: COM's robbed Amowsky and A Q and A and he
Speaker 1: had this to say, if we missed the playoffs, I
Speaker 1: expected change might happen, but the timing surprised me. Actually,
Speaker 1: it's stunned me. It couldn't have been handled any worse.
Speaker 1: Now I want to tee up the biggest Mike McCarthy
Speaker 1: hater in the room, right, Greg Rosenthal, you must think
Speaker 1: this is a bunch of malarkey. That's not fair. Um No.
Speaker 1: I I read the interview and everything he said made sense.
Speaker 1: He didn't like the cold, impersonal way that it happened,
Speaker 1: that it was just you know, from Mark Murphy, their president,
Speaker 1: basically no thank you know nothing, just kind of stunned at,
Speaker 1: like immediately lost. And I thought he had good perspective
Speaker 1: on it. I was looking to have, like see if
Speaker 1: he had a lot of fire and brimstone or what.
Speaker 1: And I think he realized the time apart was good.
Speaker 1: And the most memorable thing from the interview was something
Speaker 1: his wife said to him right when he got home.
Speaker 1: He said the first thing when he talked to her,
Speaker 1: and it was just the two of them, was that
Speaker 1: she said she was relieved that you haven't really been
Speaker 1: here the last couple of years, not just that you
Speaker 1: you know, during the season, because that happens with every
Speaker 1: NFL coach, even in the off season, that like, when
Speaker 1: you're here, you're not really here. And I think you
Speaker 1: could almost see that in in some of these coaches,
Speaker 1: including McCarthy, when they've been in a tough spot for
Speaker 1: a long time that like, you know, he needed a break,
Speaker 1: he was just in another place mentally. I mean, I
Speaker 1: I look for the person who is happy with the
Speaker 1: way they were fired. That would be a story to me.
Speaker 1: But I secondly, I have interviewed a couple of coaches
Speaker 1: wives where they had the same thing, like I just
Speaker 1: need like this person to be more available, and then
Speaker 1: the minute that they are totally available, it's like you're
Speaker 1: around the house way too much. I need you to
Speaker 1: get back out and do other things. So what I'd
Speaker 1: like to check in with where she's at now on
Speaker 1: that you never interview another coach's wife who said this
Speaker 1: was an award winning story, a blog post and award
Speaker 1: winning blog post. What what what it ward? Did it win? Uh?
Speaker 1: National blog Post of America Award? Speaking of UM awards
Speaker 1: and almost winning and fictional stuff. We uh, not the stitchers,
Speaker 1: the webbies. We found out an email and internal email
Speaker 1: yesterday that we were honored as in which sounds sounds good.
Speaker 1: To be an honoree means that you were not nominated,
Speaker 1: but you were in the first tier or the first
Speaker 1: dish tier of losers that missed out on a nomination.
Speaker 1: So if you want to vote for that category best
Speaker 1: Sports Podcast, go ahead, that's cool, but just know that
Speaker 1: we were almost in the group. We were in the top.
Speaker 1: But so basically basically five five pods got nominated. It
Speaker 1: was like thirty for thirty. You know that, Steve McNair.
Speaker 1: So like, I guess we gotta do like some true
Speaker 1: crime stuff if you want to get nominated. And then
Speaker 1: there's another five or six that's like, you know, honor reads.
Speaker 1: So it's like the also receiving votes category in the
Speaker 1: top twenty five pole or it's like it's honorable mention. Essentially,
Speaker 1: it's like it's like being a nominee, but worse, you're
Speaker 1: the best loser, right, Hey, Ricky, it's al must just annoying.
Speaker 1: It actually gives me a thought. Can you reach out
Speaker 1: to uh the Webbies and reject the Can you let
Speaker 1: them know that I do not accept their honor redesignation
Speaker 1: and to remove us from their website. That's like taking
Speaker 1: the medal off when I yeah, getting like and I
Speaker 1: looked at some of the some of the honorees, and
Speaker 1: you know, there were some pretty well known podcasts and everything,
Speaker 1: and I started when I was like, are they just
Speaker 1: trying to get more pop of people talking about the
Speaker 1: Webbies in there? They're getting it right now with these
Speaker 1: little honoree things, more than they already have talking about it.
Speaker 1: I'm sweeping the nation. Moving on, the Detroit Lions have
Speaker 1: reached agreement on a one year deal with c. J. Anderson. Uh,
Speaker 1: the running back who was out of the league and
Speaker 1: I caught on with the Rams and did some damage
Speaker 1: with his big beefy man. Body's twenty eight years old,
Speaker 1: He's got a Pro Bowl under his belt, and now
Speaker 1: he joins a somewhat crowded Lions backfield. Tiny box, you
Speaker 1: got Carrie on Johnson, Uh, THEO Riddick, who's their past catcher? Uh?
Speaker 1: And then and Mark Radar for this one for you.
Speaker 1: But Connie zack Center v. C J. Anderson, Well, I
Speaker 1: wrote doom for Zach Center. So what do you I mean?
Speaker 1: If C. J. Anderson can't beat out Zack Center, maybe
Speaker 1: his days in the league are numbered, but it seems
Speaker 1: like he has a strong path to the Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think he has a real good shot at beating him out.
Speaker 1: But they also wanted to sorts. Did you know that
Speaker 1: Zack Center led the League in rushing in the preseason
Speaker 1: four years ago. I did not remember that that thank
Speaker 1: you for a jog in my memory show. Well, I
Speaker 1: think that they wanted to limit the carries of Carrie
Speaker 1: on Johnson, so it kind of Johnson okay, so it
Speaker 1: makes sense. Damn it, everyone's stepping all over me. I
Speaker 1: don't know. Whatever, go to somebody else, forget it. The
Speaker 1: Lions come back. Couldn't the Lions get a power back? Please?
Speaker 1: They've been trying this since all the way back to
Speaker 1: like when Job at Best and Michael Lashore we're in
Speaker 1: the backfield to get like Gary Blunt was a failure.
Speaker 1: Zenner hasn't done anything. Once in a while. You had
Speaker 1: Joke Bell doing a few things, but they've never been
Speaker 1: able to get a real power back to pair with
Speaker 1: all their little bunnies in the back. Job bunnies, little bunnies, that's,
Speaker 1: you know, kind of we love some of those bunnies,
Speaker 1: your boy. I like the bunnies. Yeah. I was a
Speaker 1: big Job at Best fan. Not maybe not as much
Speaker 1: as Jim Schwartz, who um put some things on the
Speaker 1: doorknob when he was watching Job at Best film. If
Speaker 1: you remember, Okay, put a sock on the door, knob,
Speaker 1: don't bother me while I'm watching job at best A Cowboys,
Speaker 1: they've been, uh, you know, they've supported Randy Randy Gregory
Speaker 1: who's been dealing with off the field issues. The team
Speaker 1: now putting the money where the mouth is. Stole that
Speaker 1: directly from Kevin Patrick's lead of his around the NFL post.
Speaker 1: Incredible work Patrick does. He's a grinder. Tom Pellicero of
Speaker 1: NFL Network reported that the Cowboys quietly extended Gregory's contract
Speaker 1: through with three g s of existing to that through
Speaker 1: thousand nineteen salary converted into as signing bonus. The deal
Speaker 1: adds one year worth seven K with a chance to
Speaker 1: earn more Escalators. Former second round pick was set to
Speaker 1: be on the final year of his contract. So we're
Speaker 1: not talking big money. So it's not some big deal, Colleen.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna interrupt you here, But the Cowboys said
Speaker 1: that they stood by him, and this is a little
Speaker 1: bit of a nod, like, hey, we're hanging in there
Speaker 1: with you for the time he's suspended indefinitely, So I mean,
Speaker 1: I guess they must sort of know something that he
Speaker 1: will kind of maybe be back at some point soon.
Speaker 1: What's interesting to me about this is the test anymore tests.
Speaker 1: They've adopted a very progressive attitude towards addiction. They have said,
Speaker 1: we believe that addicts will fall off the wagon. It's
Speaker 1: it's in, it's in them, it's going to happen. We
Speaker 1: know that, we understand that we like his character, we
Speaker 1: like him as a person, and we like what he
Speaker 1: did for us last year. We want to continue the relationship,
Speaker 1: right and we like it so much we're gonna take
Speaker 1: this opportunity if you want to look at it, and
Speaker 1: I think I think it works for both sides. He's
Speaker 1: getting some upfront money that you know that helps him.
Speaker 1: But hey, like, if if we're in a world where
Speaker 1: we're thinking you're gonna be on our team for why
Speaker 1: don't we lock you in in a at a rate
Speaker 1: that's like way way below market right now? When you're
Speaker 1: gonna take it and hold on? What does it mean?
Speaker 1: They quietly did it because it made news we're talking
Speaker 1: about now. I think all the normal channel I thought
Speaker 1: about that. I think actually it happened a while ago
Speaker 1: and it was just sitting there. It's kind of one
Speaker 1: of those that they don't want to announce too much.
Speaker 1: It's like, hey, we just give this guy who's suspended
Speaker 1: for a year a big sign and I can show
Speaker 1: you quiet that was not that's that was not the
Speaker 1: quietest thing that's happened in our country. I was gonna say,
Speaker 1: like it could have been this week, and they just like,
Speaker 1: hen convert some of you want to you want to
Speaker 1: really annoy you in let's have you break this. That's
Speaker 1: my question answered. Thank you keep saying go convert some
Speaker 1: of it. It's like, what's what's without that vineyards? That's
Speaker 1: without that vineyard buying? Just another thirty minutes of this
Speaker 1: show and then we'll be left. That's some escalators too,
Speaker 1: all right. Finally in the news, a new segment I
Speaker 1: call England Stuff. The new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London
Speaker 1: open Wednesday. It is the first purpose built NFL stadium
Speaker 1: outside of the US, and it will host two regular
Speaker 1: season NFL games later this year. Uh, the NFL, I
Speaker 1: like this little rankle and this is like sneaky, kind
Speaker 1: of a big deal. The NFL field is stationed underneath
Speaker 1: a retractable soccer. I was gonna say field, that's not
Speaker 1: what you say. What do you say football? Field? And
Speaker 1: you were in France for the World Cup. Nil nil.
Speaker 1: That's about it. Nailed it. Anyway. This is a big
Speaker 1: deal because it's just another indication to have a a
Speaker 1: football American football specific field um at the ready. It
Speaker 1: just shows how invested uh England in the U k
Speaker 1: is and the and the product over there and and
Speaker 1: the ability to grow and maybe one day, Greg, one
Speaker 1: day a team can call London home. Long way off,
Speaker 1: but they have the facility to get it done. At
Speaker 1: the very least. We'll have two games this year, you know,
Speaker 1: two NFL games, and who knows, maybe we'll be attending
Speaker 1: one of them. I would like that. Uh. There's also
Speaker 1: some talk that going the week before the season like
Speaker 1: we did last year, if we were gonna go once
Speaker 1: this year, that might be more advantageous to us. But
Speaker 1: one thing I've learned at the NFL doesn't really matter
Speaker 1: what we want to do. They're gonna they're gonna send
Speaker 1: this either way. And I would love I would love
Speaker 1: it to go see a game at Tottenham. That would
Speaker 1: be great. Hey for this new segment England stuff, can
Speaker 1: you put Ricky? We can't actually use the sex pistols,
Speaker 1: but finding the library some approximation of a driving uh
Speaker 1: punk sound for England stuff. Okay, I'll do it and
Speaker 1: that is England stuff. Got all right, that's what's happening
Speaker 1: in the news. All right, boys and girl, it is
Speaker 1: time before I get into it. It's been a while.
Speaker 1: A word from our sponsor. Lisa knows how important rest
Speaker 1: is to a better life. Lisa's the foundation of a healthier,
Speaker 1: happier you. Lisa's most popular multi layer foam mattress is
Speaker 1: made with premium phones foones for cooling, contouring, and pressure
Speaker 1: leaving support. Lisa believes all people should have access to
Speaker 1: deep rest and relaxation. Lisa donates one mattress for every
Speaker 1: ten they sell through organizations that work and causes like
Speaker 1: foster care prevention. To date, they've donated more than thirty
Speaker 1: two tho mattresses through more than one thousand nonprofits. In
Speaker 1: home delivery and set up is available as well as financing.
Speaker 1: Don't miss out. Live healthier, live happier by resting deeper.
Speaker 1: Mark how's you're sleeping? Going a little bit better of
Speaker 1: of late? You know would make it even greater. Lisa, Lisa,
Speaker 1: she would help you or the mattress company order today
Speaker 1: and get off any mattress for a limited time at Lisa.
Speaker 1: That's l e e s a dot com slash around
Speaker 1: and use the promo code around That's l e e
Speaker 1: s a dot com slash around Lisa. And keep in
Speaker 1: mind that you also get a one night risk free
Speaker 1: trial plus free shipping and returns. Mark. If you continue
Speaker 1: to have sleeping issues and you say you're doing better, Lisa,
Speaker 1: I will keep it in mind. All right, now, let's
Speaker 1: get to it. Pep talk time. Uh, you know this
Speaker 1: is the time of year where there's some some people
Speaker 1: are feeling great. For instance, Mark, you're Cleveland Ground Browns.
Speaker 1: Everyone's feeling great. Nobody needs a Colleen just went up
Speaker 1: on the chair about three ft continue, what's wrongeter? Up?
Speaker 1: Is this part of the show? I like it. I
Speaker 1: was just getting more comfortable. The Browns. They don't need
Speaker 1: a pep talk. They just they just need to be
Speaker 1: excited about what's to come. But not everyone's like that, Mark,
Speaker 1: So why don't you pick out, uh, somebody that could
Speaker 1: use one and then deliver it. I will pick the
Speaker 1: team that is the closest to the Cleveland Browns geographically,
Speaker 1: the Buffalo Bills. You know what, you know what bothers.
Speaker 1: Me is I feel like a lot of people like,
Speaker 1: look at the Buffalo Bills and say, you don't really
Speaker 1: belong in this league. You're a vestige of an old time.
Speaker 1: You're not shiny like the Dallas Cowboys, you don't glisten
Speaker 1: like the little rams of lost angels. Look at you.
Speaker 1: We're gonna just shove you into a super Bowl. I say,
Speaker 1: Buffalo Bills, ignore everyone, and I know, I know you
Speaker 1: know what this in this room. I think that we
Speaker 1: have the same thing going on. A lot of people
Speaker 1: have told us in the past, not in the last
Speaker 1: couple of months maybe, but an earlier time in life,
Speaker 1: you don't belong here. When Colleen was well, we get
Speaker 1: it in this at this level, but always, what are
Speaker 1: you thinking you're gonna go do with your life? You're
Speaker 1: talking about a golf course out in the middle of
Speaker 1: the the upstate New York or wherever you were, Colleen,
Speaker 1: Like people saying, you think you're gonna get to NFL network.
Speaker 1: The history is very rich here West working in a
Speaker 1: post office, Gregg picking strawberries, Dan doing patch somewhere. Please,
Speaker 1: how are you going to get to the NFL? Erica
Speaker 1: doing all that she did? We've we've been, we had,
Speaker 1: we know that feeling too of people telling us we
Speaker 1: don't belong. And I would say this, ignore it, bills,
Speaker 1: you do fit. I see it this way. You are
Speaker 1: set apart from the rest of the league in a
Speaker 1: special way. Drown out the haters, the get glers, those
Speaker 1: who say the NFL never would have given you a
Speaker 1: franchise if we started today in you didn't get Antonio
Speaker 1: Brown because you're just not a big enough city. You're
Speaker 1: not glitzy enough. You can't have any sticks hand out
Speaker 1: of hand. I don't like it. You're a team pitted
Speaker 1: against the deep state elite. You got a bunch of little,
Speaker 1: amazing Western New York towns around you, towns like Batavia,
Speaker 1: New York, on On, Daga, Corning, Doune, Kirk, Geneva, James Town,
Speaker 1: I'm not done, Lackawanna, Lockport, Niagara Falls, Tonawanda, north Tonawanda.
Speaker 1: I've been. I lived in I lived in these I
Speaker 1: drove through these areas. My relatives lived in these areas. Olean,
Speaker 1: Orchard Park, Salamanca, Hornell, montor Falls, Watkins, Glenn do it
Speaker 1: for Rochester, New York. I was born there in Strong
Speaker 1: Hospital in the middle of the night, and then I returned.
Speaker 1: Twenty three years later, on a bus from Los Angeles
Speaker 1: on the final leg heading to Danbury, Connecticut, got out
Speaker 1: to get a snack at a vending machine and was
Speaker 1: nearly mugged, but the bus driver stepped in between said
Speaker 1: crime and stopped it from happening. So do it for
Speaker 1: the guy who tried to mug me, Do it for
Speaker 1: the bus driver, Do it for Buffalo bills. Ignore all
Speaker 1: the haters. Get to the playoffs. Change the a f C. East.
Speaker 1: You have the coach. We met him a week ago.
Speaker 1: We love him. I love the GM standing up for
Speaker 1: the home team. Forget the other thirty one teams. Who
Speaker 1: cares about image be you love it. I really like it.
Speaker 1: City needs it, the region needs it, and you delivered it.
Speaker 1: I feel like the players, if they were listening to
Speaker 1: that Pep Talc, you know, once he started getting into
Speaker 1: your history, maybe they would have. I lost my way
Speaker 1: right then. You brought it, but you brought it back.
Speaker 1: You brought it back, start worked it veered. But yeah,
Speaker 1: the most I would say, the most pleasant surprise. I
Speaker 1: don't know why I would I would be surprised, but
Speaker 1: I was. Was the Sean McDermott. Uh fun personality. The
Speaker 1: only guy that went through the crucible our speed round
Speaker 1: during the owners meetings and wanted more when it was over.
Speaker 1: He just seemed to be a dude that, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: it is easy to root for it too, and I
Speaker 1: and I said that to Sean. I said, listen, somebody's
Speaker 1: got to get the Patriots out. I don't like the Dolphins.
Speaker 1: I have never liked the Dolphins. But if it was
Speaker 1: the Bills, I'd be okay with that. We could root
Speaker 1: for that. Ye be okay with the Bills. I'm just glad.
Speaker 1: The bus driver intervened. He was this gigantic he just
Speaker 1: walked down the steps, you know, the big, gigantic great
Speaker 1: house bus, and like some guy was sort of in
Speaker 1: my face. He's like, you know, I don't even remember
Speaker 1: what it was was like early in the morning. He's like,
Speaker 1: you don't bother the passenger, and he just moved this.
Speaker 1: He sort of brushed this guy away, and I was like,
Speaker 1: thank you, because I was just like a little how
Speaker 1: much money did you have on you? No? I also
Speaker 1: I think I was trying to tell him I have
Speaker 1: like my house key and like my driver's license, like
Speaker 1: you can have them, but my house is like seven
Speaker 1: hours from here. Forget play like a bill this year
Speaker 1: they should just put up the sign like do it
Speaker 1: for that guy on the podcast bus Driver, do it
Speaker 1: for bussy ums. I would like to sit Mike Tomlin
Speaker 1: down and have a little heart to heart talk. He's
Speaker 1: right here, well, Mr tom with the quote the great
Speaker 1: wrestler the American Dream, Dusty Rhodes. Hard times are on
Speaker 1: the Pittsburgh Steelers. Hard times. You're under the microscope, a
Speaker 1: subject of derision. Your back is against the wall. But
Speaker 1: let's take a step back and re examine this situation
Speaker 1: with a fresh eye. You came to the Steelers in
Speaker 1: your interview as an unknown and afterthought, and you won
Speaker 1: the room. You got the job. It didn't take long
Speaker 1: for you to be viewed as the ultimate leader of men.
Speaker 1: In fact, one of the very first money drops on
Speaker 1: this podcast was what Mike Well, Mike Tomlin's a genius
Speaker 1: around the NFL. Podcast would follow Mike Tomlin anywhere, and look,
Speaker 1: Mike Tomlin, we humans, We're not always at our best.
Speaker 1: We don't realize our pidential. Every year there's a duality
Speaker 1: that merges into us. There's no light without darkness. There's
Speaker 1: no Yoda without Darth Vader. We gain awareness of ourselves
Speaker 1: and others from setbacks and difficulties. Growth happens by taking
Speaker 1: a long, hard look in the mirror and making adjustments.
Speaker 1: You know, going back to the Bible, Paul said to
Speaker 1: the Romans, we also rejoice in our sufferings because we
Speaker 1: know that suffering produces per perseverance, perseverance, character and character, hope,
Speaker 1: and hope does not disappoint us. Look at your division.
Speaker 1: The Ravens are in transition. The Browns haven't proven anything.
Speaker 1: The Bengals are the Bengals. They don't win playoff games.
Speaker 1: Your d led the NFL and sex. Your old line
Speaker 1: is rock solid. You have one of the best young
Speaker 1: running backs in the league, one of the best young
Speaker 1: wide receivers in the league, and a legit franchise quarterback.
Speaker 1: Most of the coaches in the NFL would change places
Speaker 1: with you in a heartbeat. This is your division. Go
Speaker 1: reclaim the Iron Zone. Mike Tomlin, Wow, I mean was
Speaker 1: excellent and even a modern pop culture reference. The close
Speaker 1: it and Bible went into your your Bible aside and
Speaker 1: most pop culture. And he motioned over to Mark and
Speaker 1: that was so natural. It's almost like an Obama speech.
Speaker 1: It was just beautiful, thank you to hear it. And
Speaker 1: I think he'll writers. I think he'll learn from that. Alright, alright,
Speaker 1: I got the Steelers at thirteen wins after that, Connie, Okay,
Speaker 1: here we go. Hey, Giants fans, how you doing still terrible?
Speaker 1: It's crazy how your season ended in December, but somehow
Speaker 1: you're still losing. I mean, it's it's it's insane. Odell
Speaker 1: Beckham gone, no franchise tag for Landon Collins and future
Speaker 1: a RP pitchman. Eli Manning has delayed his long overdue
Speaker 1: retirement to return for yet another season because of course
Speaker 1: he has so many elves for Big Blue. But unlike
Speaker 1: Big Sean, tonight, you're not bouncing back. But April that's
Speaker 1: when everything will totally make sense. I swear from the
Speaker 1: man who brought you. We didn't sign him to trade him,
Speaker 1: and we do have a plan and this is part
Speaker 1: of it. You're fearless leader. Dave Gettleman will absolutely piece
Speaker 1: together this horror show jigsaw puzzle at the draft. Maybe
Speaker 1: that means selecting Dwayne Haskins at six, or maybe they're
Speaker 1: pulling Seahawks by rebuilding, retooling to then go ten and six, which, hey,
Speaker 1: in the NFC East is good enough to win the division.
Speaker 1: Dare to dream, New York and don't let the offseason
Speaker 1: get you down. Come on, guys, that's what the regular
Speaker 1: season is for. I think I nailed it, you know what.
Speaker 1: I think that it's like this exercise and I love
Speaker 1: it because so far they've been it's been on the
Speaker 1: nose in a good way. You're trying to help the Bills,
Speaker 1: and and Mike Tomlin Colleen is an Eagles fan, is
Speaker 1: season on the opportunity to just throw more gasoline on
Speaker 1: the fire. And I like it. It was dirty, yeah,
Speaker 1: and it was took me about three minutes to write.
Speaker 1: It was all from the heart. So that's what matters, right, Um,
Speaker 1: what if what if he does have a good draft,
Speaker 1: It's possible. It's coursie, I mean he did we learned
Speaker 1: nothing from not I'm not saying that that Ruden now
Speaker 1: is out of the woods in Oakland, But did we
Speaker 1: learn nothing from last year? Can we at least see
Speaker 1: these things out before we completely burry a franchise people? Well,
Speaker 1: he weren't they one of the worst teams in the
Speaker 1: NFL last year, Yes, because he was tearing it down
Speaker 1: and trading a way parts to rebuild with his and
Speaker 1: his own image. You just gotta see how it plays out.
Speaker 1: But I understand people having fun with with Eli and
Speaker 1: getting in and the Giants. It's fun. Gentleman's definitely taken
Speaker 1: the place of John Gruten for me this year, That's
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. We'll see and there will be someone
Speaker 1: to take Gett in his place, most likely because Gettleman
Speaker 1: maybe in New York too. Yeah, he'll be fired if
Speaker 1: he does not nail this draft. Um, I want to Uh,
Speaker 1: I gotta talk to you, Josh Rosen, sit down, young man.
Speaker 1: It's it's not your fault. It's not your fault. It
Speaker 1: probably feels like it because nobody believes in you anymore.
Speaker 1: That's how it must feel to you that you don't
Speaker 1: you don't have a champion, You have no one in
Speaker 1: your corner at this point. That you're yesterday's news. Even
Speaker 1: Charlie Castley, who we love, he cited sources that you
Speaker 1: didn't work hard enough. Uh, that you were You made
Speaker 1: bad decisions. And I trust Charlie, but I also trust
Speaker 1: that you, Josh. You're not done maturing and growing as
Speaker 1: a human and as a as a football player, but
Speaker 1: as a human. Uh West, let me ask you a question.
Speaker 1: Was Brett Farve? Was he ready at twenty two? He was?
Speaker 1: It was said of him that he tried to drink
Speaker 1: up the entire city of Atlanta, and he was banished
Speaker 1: to Green Bay. Sounds like puer Bowl week. That is no. Uh?
Speaker 1: Two years old? Was was the blonde bomber ready? Terry Bradshaw?
Speaker 1: Terry Bradshaw was not ready. He was benched three or
Speaker 1: four times. Jim Plunkett, one of the most famous quarterbacks
Speaker 1: of the seventies champion, failed out with the Patriots and
Speaker 1: had to go to a new team, the Raiders. Twenty
Speaker 1: two years old. You learn a lot when you're twenty
Speaker 1: two and uh, here's here's why, Josh, don't feel bad.
Speaker 1: You're caught in the gears of a machine that is
Speaker 1: bigger than all of us. It is the draft industrial complex.
Speaker 1: He's been sucked in to the gears. He's getting spit out,
Speaker 1: and you'll get another chance. Maybe it's in Arizona. Maybe
Speaker 1: it's with Dave Gettleman in New York. Whoever succeeds Gettleman,
Speaker 1: or maybe it's in Washington or your boys, Greg, the Patriots. Uh,
Speaker 1: maybe he's the heir apparent or someplace else we don't
Speaker 1: know about. But just just be ready when that time comes,
Speaker 1: because it is coming. And also know this, it's not
Speaker 1: your fault. It's not your fault. It's not your fault.
Speaker 1: You're like a guidance count. Give me a huge that's
Speaker 1: really nice, um, And I honestly believe that this this
Speaker 1: kid is he having is he did he do everything
Speaker 1: the right way after being drafted? Did he have a
Speaker 1: good year in Arizona everything we're hearing, maybe not, But
Speaker 1: this idea, and I get it, it's a business, and
Speaker 1: Arizona is taking this opportunity to maybe sees on a
Speaker 1: generational dual threat passer with this new hotshot head coach
Speaker 1: that they that they believe in so much. But this idea,
Speaker 1: now that is this guy should not be thought of
Speaker 1: as a franchise level player. He got no chance. He
Speaker 1: got ten starts on a terrible team, and we'll get
Speaker 1: a fresh start somewhere else. I'm just wondering where it
Speaker 1: will be. Rap Sheet reported today for what it's worth,
Speaker 1: that something that makes sense logically that the Cardinals might
Speaker 1: not be in a rush to trade him, because what's
Speaker 1: the what's wrong with having both of these players Kyler
Speaker 1: Murray the presumed number one pick and Josh Rosen on
Speaker 1: the roster and see how it all plays out. And
Speaker 1: we've said that because I think the thing is, it's
Speaker 1: not that you're gonna go into the season with both
Speaker 1: on your roster. But wait till utter apocalyptic calamity strikes
Speaker 1: another team and then Josh Rosen's asking price gets you
Speaker 1: a bounty that it could work out that way, and
Speaker 1: even if that doesn't happen, Josh Rosen, the way the
Speaker 1: rookie pay scale is, it's not an outrageous cost having
Speaker 1: him on the roster at this point and you have
Speaker 1: two guys you could potentially count on. I just think
Speaker 1: it's tough though, for them because they have so many needs,
Speaker 1: like so many pressing needs, and the draft because it's
Speaker 1: so defensive heavy with like really good guys. I just
Speaker 1: I don't know if they'll have the patience to to
Speaker 1: kind of have Kyler Murray and Josh Rosen. You made
Speaker 1: the picks, now, yeah, that's fair. All Greg, close us out.
Speaker 1: I want to give a pep talk. Two guy hope
Speaker 1: is not listening and stopped listening to our podcast because
Speaker 1: he you know, when he's mentioned on this podcast, he's
Speaker 1: often an object of derision. And his name is Andy Dalton.
Speaker 1: Doesn't go on somewhere else, but go ahead. I mean,
Speaker 1: I want to know who you thought it was. Well,
Speaker 1: bleep this out. Okay, that's exactly what I thought. I
Speaker 1: thought that worked. Okay, Okay, cut that out. I'm afraid.
Speaker 1: I'm afraid of that man. Um. Andy Dalton is a
Speaker 1: guy who, at this point in his career we because
Speaker 1: of us. Partly, he is synonymous with mediocrit. He is
Speaker 1: synonymous with the prime meridian, with the very most average
Speaker 1: starting quarterback that you can possibly be. But I say,
Speaker 1: put your back up, put your put your bows out.
Speaker 1: I don't know what you do when you're when you're well,
Speaker 1: blow up and look around first of all, this room
Speaker 1: and everyone that talks a little bit about Andy Dalton,
Speaker 1: what did they ever accomplished in their life? How about
Speaker 1: go about on the athletic field. Please, This is a
Speaker 1: starting quarterback in the NFL who has made money for
Speaker 1: generations of Dalton to come. How about go back and
Speaker 1: look at the two thousand and eleven draft and what
Speaker 1: everyone said about Andy Dalton back then and who had
Speaker 1: the higher ceiling like superstars like Jake Locker and uh
Speaker 1: Christian Ponder and blame Gabbert. How are they doing. You've
Speaker 1: had an incredible career for a second round draft pick.
Speaker 1: You've started about as many games as as any starting
Speaker 1: quarterback over this decade, and your solid, and you can
Speaker 1: be better. And this is the pep Doc. You're thirty
Speaker 1: one years old. This is the age where a lot
Speaker 1: of quarterbacks start getting smarter, they start getting better, and
Speaker 1: maybe they just catch a little lightning and bottle and
Speaker 1: get lucky with some support around them, and then they
Speaker 1: start winning. And you've got some support. You've got a
Speaker 1: j Green, a future Hall of Famer, is still in
Speaker 1: the middle of his prime. You've got Joe Mixon, who
Speaker 1: I think is gonna be an outstanding starting running back.
Speaker 1: You've got Tyler Boyd, a terrific slot receiver. Your offensive
Speaker 1: line is better than it's been for a while. And
Speaker 1: most importantly, you've got Zach Taylor. You've got a breath
Speaker 1: of fresh air on offense that can give you a chance.
Speaker 1: And that's all we're looking for. His career Andy Dalton,
Speaker 1: your career is yet to be written. I don't think
Speaker 1: you have to be a mediocre quarterback forever. I don't
Speaker 1: think you have to listen to Chris Wesley say that
Speaker 1: Cincinnati Bengals never win playoff games. All streaks on the internet,
Speaker 1: all streaks must end at some point. And Andy Dalton,
Speaker 1: you're good enough to have a good second half of
Speaker 1: your career. You can do it. I like that you
Speaker 1: lost your way a little bit there when you wanted
Speaker 1: to settle some grudges, take some shots at the people
Speaker 1: in this room and the quarterbacks in his draft classes.
Speaker 1: But eventually you got back to speaking to Andy Dalton.
Speaker 1: I I think he should. He should be confident, and
Speaker 1: he should realize he's had a credible career as starting
Speaker 1: quarterbacks go. He's in the top twenty percent of all
Speaker 1: quarterbacks drafted after you know, pretty much period. He's had
Speaker 1: a good career. He's had a good career. He's really
Speaker 1: into this. Let me ask you this. Let's say that
Speaker 1: Tom Brady retired today and the Patriots had Andy Dalton
Speaker 1: as their quarterback. Would you, the Patriots fan be as
Speaker 1: excited as you are? Greg the commentator replacing the all
Speaker 1: time greatest quarter I'm just saying this, if he's had,
Speaker 1: if he's been would you would you what would happen?
Speaker 1: I would? I think that they would have a chance
Speaker 1: to win some playoff games. All right, how about this?
Speaker 1: How about this? I'll give you the choice right now,
Speaker 1: the last two players we talked about, would you rather
Speaker 1: have Josh Rosen or Andy Dalton for the next five years?
Speaker 1: I would take Rosen, but I liked Rosen better than
Speaker 1: any quarterback in that draft. That's not looking too good
Speaker 1: right now. But I'm not going to give up on
Speaker 1: that after one year. So you're gonna you liked potential
Speaker 1: over what I would. Who just had has had an
Speaker 1: incredible career. I'm saying as a use that word as
Speaker 1: a as a professional. Yes, I think any NFL player
Speaker 1: that last ten years essentially has had an incredible career
Speaker 1: because the odds are one of these PEP talks. No,
Speaker 1: I mean it. Everybody who plays professional sports is a
Speaker 1: great We know we're all beautiful. That's not what I mean.
Speaker 1: I mean as someone that stays as a starter. If
Speaker 1: you if someone had a career at a different position,
Speaker 1: let's say running back, cornerback, linebacker, and it was similar
Speaker 1: to Andy Dalton. He would be beloved because he's a
Speaker 1: solid above average starter for that sort of time and
Speaker 1: that sort of durability, and he has done better than
Speaker 1: people expected. I mean, look at all those look at
Speaker 1: those guys that that were drafted in front of him,
Speaker 1: and he just needs a few little breaks along the way,
Speaker 1: a little more support. All right. I like it, Greg,
Speaker 1: I've always liked Dalton. Here, Um, we can he can
Speaker 1: start speaking about Dandy Dalton in a more positive way
Speaker 1: going forward if you'd like, you know, we could stick
Speaker 1: a pin in it, because it was right around the
Speaker 1: corner one of our favorite shows every year, the Dalton Scale.
Speaker 1: We figured out who is the primer Ridian and Andy.
Speaker 1: I believe Andy last year found his way right back
Speaker 1: into the center of the football world in terms of
Speaker 1: the fringe line between mediocre talent and franchise starter. Will
Speaker 1: he stay there? We shall see, Um, Connie, I mean,
Speaker 1: what can I say? The tiny box she comes in,
Speaker 1: she's professional, she nails it. She does a windmill reverse
Speaker 1: three sixty dunk on the New York Giants and their fans.
Speaker 1: On behalf, we got Bryce Harper doing giant bat bat
Speaker 1: flips on their arrival. It's good to be Philadelphia's own
Speaker 1: Colleen Wolf. It ain't bad. When do we get you
Speaker 1: back on the show, because we gotta squeeze you in
Speaker 1: between your globe trotting whenever? Are you here? Next? Not
Speaker 1: available available until July about. I was gonna say Wednesdays
Speaker 1: with Connie, but I think next week and it would
Speaker 1: be a Thursday show. Really, will you join us next Thursday? Alright?
Speaker 1: It was wait, hold on, you guys got to talk
Speaker 1: to my people. Yeah, well my camp, Ricky, Hollywood. But
Speaker 1: is it on your radar that we might have Colleen
Speaker 1: back to back weeks? Which is something the broad the
Speaker 1: broadcast has never had in its entire nearly year long run.
Speaker 1: What do you want to do right now? I'm there
Speaker 1: in spirit every week, all right. I mean there's something
Speaker 1: to be said for varying your little more uncomfortable than
Speaker 1: I thought it would, Ricky, need you your bat naith.
Speaker 1: You're protecting me in the lineup. You're playing left center field.
Speaker 1: You got a new glove. I'm excited. I can't wait
Speaker 1: to see on the field. West actually West and I
Speaker 1: it's so great to have my consigliary West back. The
Speaker 1: Don Zimmer to my Joe Tor and West said that
Speaker 1: what is the number one thing you're looking forward to seeing? Uh?
Speaker 1: Tonight on the field, West, can you catch a fly ball?
Speaker 1: We'll say, oh, I went have to come and heckle
Speaker 1: you guys. That's great, I say you can. You're a
Speaker 1: college athlete. Of course you course you can catch a flyball.
Speaker 1: But it's not always a given. It depends if it's way.
Speaker 1: I'm a little short, so if I don't time it right,
Speaker 1: it could be uh first step always back, not forward exactly.
Speaker 1: But I'm quick, so I think we'll be all right.
Speaker 1: And don't worry. It's gonna take all of us probably
Speaker 1: a few weeks to get going, so not too much pressure. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I actually Eric would be like, can West catch a groundball? Please?
Speaker 1: Not a pressure on everyone? As the shield hashtag defend
Speaker 1: the dynasty. Let's go boys, and and and Mark. We're
Speaker 1: in talks. Got to get you back in the front office,
Speaker 1: even in a like you know how castily they get
Speaker 1: in an unpaid way. The way my last role was yes,
Speaker 1: well when you spend it, David Eally the first year,
Speaker 1: it really set the tone for the whole year. Thank
Speaker 1: you for remembering. Yes, It was it really brought the
Speaker 1: team together. It's it's the only thing I did the
Speaker 1: entire season and vaguely effective. I would I would say
Speaker 1: maybe wait to three weeks than suspend David Elega. Doesn't
Speaker 1: really matter what happens, just everyone can get behind it.
Speaker 1: And I mean you guys, I wouldn't mind you. I
Speaker 1: think the other thing that GM is like when you
Speaker 1: had a rowdy, you know, group of mixtresses that went
Speaker 1: out and got hammered on whatever it was starting. You
Speaker 1: don't need that stuff to happen. That's where you need
Speaker 1: someone in the front office who's desensitized all that. And
Speaker 1: you're also not the defending champions. Did you say desensitized
Speaker 1: to all this? Like to like, oh, we're the champions.
Speaker 1: Were so awesome. It's like, no, you're not. You're not
Speaker 1: even the champions. Someone else out there, one of these
Speaker 1: other mom and pop operations are the champions. That's the title.
Speaker 1: When well, we're gonna need a couple of scouting reports
Speaker 1: from Mark two on everybody. Well, but we knew well
Speaker 1: that that's questioning some of these comments. He's mad about
Speaker 1: the dynasty. We're in the pep Talk episode. I'm telling
Speaker 1: you you're not the champion. Go become the champion again.
Speaker 1: I believe and I believe you can. We are recognized
Speaker 1: as the champions, even if it's only in our own
Speaker 1: minds and in this studio that alright, alright, let's go then,
Speaker 1: hands is signing off. Four quiet storm, the mailman Connie
Speaker 1: Fox return right, the old boss of Ricky Hollywood behind
Speaker 1: the glass. Let's go, Hm,