Speaker 1: Be around the NFL podcast? Who is Greg going to
Speaker 1: piss off? Today? And that's why you're listening Park because
Speaker 1: you want to know Greg is gonna get angry neck
Speaker 1: spoiler right, it's Mark from the Chris Wesley podcast studio.
Speaker 1: It's around the NFL. I'm Dan Hansas, Gregg is here,
Speaker 1: Mark is here. Week fift is here. Nailed it, perfectly
Speaker 1: done with the sound and the music ending just as
Speaker 1: used as you spoke the most to say that you
Speaker 1: guys aren't gonna get me mad today. Yeah, it's it's
Speaker 1: hard to get you mad. I've done it, but it's
Speaker 1: not easy to do at least out tidy you. Uh, okay,
Speaker 1: this is a good one. It's different now the bye
Speaker 1: weeks it's over. No more byes. There's not three weeks.
Speaker 1: There's not three weeks left in the season, there's four.
Speaker 1: Because this is the biggest season ever. Mark Sessler, it
Speaker 1: is and I love the robust nature of it. Um.
Speaker 1: I totally support the extra week. Uh it's it's a joy.
Speaker 1: And don't forget the runner up in the slogan for
Speaker 1: the season, football was family. Um so we have four
Speaker 1: weeks left. The longest season ever was another one. They
Speaker 1: tried out. Um anyway, so yes, no more buys. So
Speaker 1: we got thirty two teams in action this week, however,
Speaker 1: different setup. We have two Saturday games. We have the
Speaker 1: Thursday night game. You'll hear the recap of that Chiefs
Speaker 1: Chargers tonight. We have a Monday night game that involves
Speaker 1: the Vikings, so everybody rejo rejoice because it's gonna be
Speaker 1: a wild game that goes down to the finish. And
Speaker 1: then we have a slate of Sunday games and that
Speaker 1: is what we will pull from for the draft. But
Speaker 1: before we get to the games and the preview previews,
Speaker 1: we got to talk about the latest coach to go down.
Speaker 1: And UM, I have to say the firing of Urban Meyer. Um,
Speaker 1: certainly in our time doing the show has to go
Speaker 1: down as the most like an unprecedented show in this realm,
Speaker 1: Like is does anything top? And I texted Steve Weich
Speaker 1: just want because I know he used to cover the Falcons,
Speaker 1: And I asked him, what if you thought maybe the
Speaker 1: Bobby Petrino uh situation worse. Um, Steve hasn't gotten back
Speaker 1: to me. Maybe he's busy, it's air. I just saw
Speaker 1: him on air. Maybe it's personal. I don't know. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna try to move past that, but I think pound
Speaker 1: for pound, when you factor in everything that Meyer was
Speaker 1: supposed to be and everything he became, which was monstrous
Speaker 1: to this franchise, Greg, this is the worst higher of
Speaker 1: all time in well, especially when yeah, you think of
Speaker 1: the money, the length of the contract. I don't know
Speaker 1: if they're gonna try shod Khan that the team owner
Speaker 1: is going to try to say that this was for
Speaker 1: cause and not pay him. We'll see. But in terms
Speaker 1: of everything that happened throughout Petrino, I remember I was
Speaker 1: working at p f T at the time, I think,
Speaker 1: and he was a really bad coach. I was getting
Speaker 1: a lot of criticism. But the thing he's just remembered
Speaker 1: for is they just like left suddenly, that he just
Speaker 1: ducked out. There wasn't this like you weren't expecting that
Speaker 1: to happen. That was part of the excitement with Patrina
Speaker 1: was he just left like a hand or a printed
Speaker 1: out letter and everyone's locker and it was like why
Speaker 1: he just he just ditched Urban Meyer. It started with,
Speaker 1: you know, the racist offensive line coach that that he hired,
Speaker 1: bit of a red flag right off the bat. That
Speaker 1: was that was bad um. And it continued with all
Speaker 1: these different stories. And the crazy part was, it really
Speaker 1: does feel like Josh Lamba, the former kicker who uh
Speaker 1: told the story to to the Athletic that Urban Meyer
Speaker 1: literally kicked him um during training camp and when when
Speaker 1: you know, Lambeau responded saying, don't touch me, using some
Speaker 1: color for words. Urban said, I'll kick whoever I want. Again,
Speaker 1: I'm taking out the color for words. He said, I'm
Speaker 1: the ball coach kick whoever the blank I wanted. Like, dude,
Speaker 1: what he denied all that or whatever? Uh, but he
Speaker 1: definitely did that stuff. And here's the other thing. There
Speaker 1: is a connection here. The Kicker Club is not just
Speaker 1: this party zone. Kicker Club has a little pop. It
Speaker 1: has a little juice outside the velvet rope. And once
Speaker 1: we heard that someone harmed or disrespected one of our own,
Speaker 1: we sent some heavy hitters to career. That's how that's
Speaker 1: how that club works. Um, well done, But you come
Speaker 1: for one of us, you come for all of us,
Speaker 1: and we're coming back at you ten times a strong. Sorry,
Speaker 1: go ahead, back to reality. I uh yeah, I think
Speaker 1: with Urban Meyer to like it seems like no one
Speaker 1: wish casted him to be what he might be more
Speaker 1: than Shot Khan, I mean, who just like called him
Speaker 1: essentially his dream higher and had clearly been fascinated with
Speaker 1: him for so long. I think there were plenty of
Speaker 1: people inside and outside the NFL that thought it was
Speaker 1: a really um high risk Kyrie Ward Higher from the start,
Speaker 1: and it turned into I just think it's it is.
Speaker 1: It's a contrast and like why a lot of these
Speaker 1: college coaches um don't work in the NFL too, and
Speaker 1: how it just doesn't it doesn't pan out because urban Meyer,
Speaker 1: wherever he went was like the sun. Every he was,
Speaker 1: he had all power. But that's not how the league
Speaker 1: works essentially, where you've got to work with uh an owner,
Speaker 1: you've got to you know, probably do all sorts of
Speaker 1: stuff you didn't have to do as a college coach.
Speaker 1: You can't lean on your recruiting recruiting class year after year,
Speaker 1: and you find out that it's a lot harder to
Speaker 1: win with a trash bag roster. And I don't think
Speaker 1: urban Meyer ever really seemed um mentally or psychologically up
Speaker 1: to the task of a rebuild. It was like where
Speaker 1: his even his words, it's like, we're here to win
Speaker 1: right now. And I know some of that's coach speak,
Speaker 1: but I think he literally got about six or seven
Speaker 1: weeks into it, and I had no more enjoyable thing
Speaker 1: on Sundays than looking at his face each week. I
Speaker 1: think he was someone that was so unhappy and out
Speaker 1: of place. Handshake and it was the final handshake of
Speaker 1: his NFL career with Mike Rabel, a former assistant after
Speaker 1: he was shut out. Uh and again the last game
Speaker 1: of his NFL career. Because he will never he will
Speaker 1: never sniff professional football in at this level. Again, said
Speaker 1: it all he had, you know, just that he was
Speaker 1: in his own world, a world of his own creation,
Speaker 1: and nobody wanted to help him, and nobody will. And
Speaker 1: he was tuned out, like when they would ask him
Speaker 1: about you know, James Robinson coming on and off the field,
Speaker 1: but also you know, his safety, like he he was
Speaker 1: not too plugged in, and he thought it was just
Speaker 1: this top down, you know style of management could work
Speaker 1: that this staff, which he had trouble putting together. He
Speaker 1: was not picking like the top of the litter here.
Speaker 1: He you know, Joe Cullens, his defensive coordinator back in
Speaker 1: the day. You know, it was with the Lions and
Speaker 1: everything during oh and sixteen, It's like they didn't respect him.
Speaker 1: No one respected him. He and I guess it's just
Speaker 1: like it was just this force of personality. And if
Speaker 1: you're shot Khan, like people are getting on urban Meyer
Speaker 1: of like you're calling all your coaches losers who hired him?
Speaker 1: Like you hired him urban Meyer? Well, who hired urban Meyer?
Speaker 1: It was it was this ownership which for the last
Speaker 1: eleven seasons, ten of which shot Con has been involved,
Speaker 1: they've won more than six games one time. I mean,
Speaker 1: can we set the line that he said when he
Speaker 1: sat at the days after Draft day, after Trevor Lawrence
Speaker 1: came in the building, Travis A. T N Was on
Speaker 1: the stage, Urban Myers on the stage, and Shod Khan says,
Speaker 1: this time I got it right. I mean he would
Speaker 1: he did not see this coming. And it is if
Speaker 1: you're a Jaguars fan right now, Hey, you relieved that
Speaker 1: Urban Myers out of the building because this guy was
Speaker 1: a nightmare from day one, obviously, But at the same time,
Speaker 1: there are a lot of concerns, Hey, do you have
Speaker 1: ownership that has the right instincts to run an organization properly?
Speaker 1: Be the damage done to Trevor Lawrence in his rookie year.
Speaker 1: Is that something that could be undone? Where is he
Speaker 1: from a mental standpoint, let alone forget about the physical
Speaker 1: side and learning the sport like that? Does he still
Speaker 1: love the game? After this year? It's been that type
Speaker 1: of bad season, a lot of big concerns and and
Speaker 1: yet like when you look back to the way urban
Speaker 1: Meyer spoke so forcefully and we had him. I don't
Speaker 1: don't know if you guys remember we had him on
Speaker 1: as a guest uh during the off season, Like you
Speaker 1: could see like how shod Khan Uh could fall for
Speaker 1: this sort of confidence. I got this. I'm not Ship Kelly,
Speaker 1: I'm not Nick Saban jumping to the n c A
Speaker 1: at the first sign of trouble. Who do these people
Speaker 1: think they're dealing with? So what if I hired a
Speaker 1: racist strength coach? What am I zip recruiter? See? And
Speaker 1: it's just like when when you're that powerful figure, um,
Speaker 1: you just you convince people get by us. I forgot
Speaker 1: about that. Yeah, that was you know, it was a
Speaker 1: spicy get greg. I will say that you. Um, he's
Speaker 1: been on your radar, urban Meyer from the minute he
Speaker 1: entered the league and now he exits the league. So
Speaker 1: and by the way, Daryl Bevil takes over as the
Speaker 1: interim coach. We'll get to their matchup a little bit later.
Speaker 1: But obviously it's really not about the rest of the
Speaker 1: season for the Jaguars. It's what they do next, and
Speaker 1: they have a lot to do to get things right.
Speaker 1: All right, let's get to week fifteen. Let's start before
Speaker 1: we get to our draft with uh the Saturday games
Speaker 1: and the primetime games on Sunday and Monday. So we'll
Speaker 1: start with Raiders at Browns and UH. Okay, So the
Speaker 1: Raiders have been pretty brutal since they're bye week. They
Speaker 1: had that win over one win over the Cowboys on Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1: That's increasingly feeling like an outlier. Look at the bigger
Speaker 1: picture of where they're at, and it feels like the
Speaker 1: same thing that's happening the last couple of years is
Speaker 1: happening again. They are dead in the water. I feel
Speaker 1: that they are. I don't think they have a pulse.
Speaker 1: So I locked up the Browns and I will stick
Speaker 1: with that lock as soon as as long as we
Speaker 1: get some semblance of the Cleveland Browns on the field Saturday.
Speaker 1: And that's where it gets interesting, Mark, and interesting in
Speaker 1: a bad way. Is that COVID nineteen has wiped out
Speaker 1: seemingly half of the Brown's roster and coaching staff once again. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean it's the cherry on top of a terrible
Speaker 1: UM COVID omni crown uh laced week for the entire
Speaker 1: league They've got you know, it's fifteen plus um ten
Speaker 1: regular contributors or starters includes Baker Mayfield, includes Wyatt Teller
Speaker 1: includes uh Jedrick Wills. That's two key components of your
Speaker 1: offensive line. Um, A cent you know, Jarvis Landry's out,
Speaker 1: a flock of skill position players. Uh. You know, it's
Speaker 1: it's the kind of thing that I you know, you
Speaker 1: if you were to back out of this lockdown, I
Speaker 1: mean you'd have every reason in the world too, because
Speaker 1: it's anyone's guests. You're their coach. Won't be on the
Speaker 1: field either. Um. What will happen on Sunday? I know
Speaker 1: Darren Waller is out for the Raiders. UM. That has
Speaker 1: been a big part of why they have looked so punchless.
Speaker 1: But they in general seem like a team that is
Speaker 1: just a lost ship at this point that they're not
Speaker 1: very good in any way even like Derek Carr still
Speaker 1: gives them a chance in this game. But I think
Speaker 1: Cleveland can still win this. I just my head is
Speaker 1: spinning trying to catch up with how they can feel
Speaker 1: the team. I think that one thing that we underrate
Speaker 1: a little bit because we're in a fantasy football coach
Speaker 1: or it's like, oh, you've got to go figure out
Speaker 1: what to do if Jarvis Landry was your fourth wide
Speaker 1: on in your fantas team. But like there are probably
Speaker 1: you know, of their playbook options that are not options
Speaker 1: now because you're gonna have practice squad guys in there
Speaker 1: in backups like they've not been used this way, and
Speaker 1: so your ability to be creative is limited. That said,
Speaker 1: you're playing a Raiders team with a limited creativity of
Speaker 1: its own. Right. The Raiders offensive line has gone from
Speaker 1: passable to just brutal the last few weeks because I
Speaker 1: keep watching car each week, like with this, I on
Speaker 1: really moving him down in the QB index and seeing
Speaker 1: how he's playing. I think he's at eight or nine
Speaker 1: or something, and but he I don't know what else
Speaker 1: he could have. First of all, you know three of
Speaker 1: his teammates fumbled last week and another one dropped the
Speaker 1: past that turned into an interception and that's just bad luck.
Speaker 1: But the offensive line has slowly gotten worse and worse.
Speaker 1: It's what we talked about in the offseason. And one
Speaker 1: part of the Browns team that actually is still healthy,
Speaker 1: we hope, is the defensive line. Now. Jedevan Clowney's you know,
Speaker 1: had a non COVID illness and is out of practice.
Speaker 1: Myles Garrett has been like trying to stay as far
Speaker 1: away from the team as possible, and because you know,
Speaker 1: he has asthma and he had his COVID last week,
Speaker 1: but he's is expected to play. The defensive line is
Speaker 1: supposed to be healthy, and that's the group I think
Speaker 1: that needs to step up. And Garrett kind of have
Speaker 1: that defensive player of the year um moment continued from
Speaker 1: a week ago when he absolutely stepped up and and
Speaker 1: had one and helped him get that victory. With all
Speaker 1: that said, the COVID stuff, it worries me because it's
Speaker 1: bunched up and Dan that that would be a gutsy lock.
Speaker 1: I think it's a pick um. Now. It was the
Speaker 1: Browns favored by five and a half at one point.
Speaker 1: Because the COVID issues are all clustered. It's Landry and Hooper.
Speaker 1: So there's two of year past two leading the only
Speaker 1: two pass couchers they had, with two of your best
Speaker 1: three offensive lineman in teller Um and the and Wills.
Speaker 1: And then it's four of your six top defensive backs
Speaker 1: including too you know, two safeties, a couple of corners,
Speaker 1: and so it's a lot and and like they should
Speaker 1: be given. And I don't think Baker being gone hurts
Speaker 1: at all. Case Keenum might be an upgrade, and I
Speaker 1: don't think he's a downgrade for a one week situation.
Speaker 1: But the rest of it, that's a lot. It's a
Speaker 1: lot to ask. I think they could do it, but
Speaker 1: it's still a lot that now here's something and Mark
Speaker 1: and I were talking about it before we came in here.
Speaker 1: Now at a certain point, yes, if you lose enough guys,
Speaker 1: you can't even be the same team you were. But
Speaker 1: this Browns team does have a way of responding well
Speaker 1: to adversity. And as long as they don't have all
Speaker 1: these guys out the maybe they get some back. Uh.
Speaker 1: Since we found out on when on Thursday, I still
Speaker 1: I still like their chances. And then you look at
Speaker 1: the urgency factor, for the Browns because this should have
Speaker 1: been a gimme where the Raiders are and now it's
Speaker 1: up in the air, obviously because of COVID. But this
Speaker 1: is the last time the Browns have what would be
Speaker 1: a very winnable game. They They're at green Bay next
Speaker 1: week at Pittsburgh, which you know it was always going
Speaker 1: to be a fight, and then home against Cincinnati, so
Speaker 1: all those games are coin flips. At best green Bay,
Speaker 1: they'll be a heavy underdog. This is your chance to
Speaker 1: get to eight and six and really give yourself a
Speaker 1: chance to win that division because it's so wide open.
Speaker 1: Lose this game again, the Browns are allowed of trouble.
Speaker 1: I mean to Greg's cluster comment like that, when that
Speaker 1: happened to the Browns last year. Yes, you have the
Speaker 1: Steelers game that they won with no Kevin Stefanski in
Speaker 1: players out, but they lost to the Jets because they
Speaker 1: were down to like one wide receiver. I just it
Speaker 1: limits what you can do. And the Raiders, I mean,
Speaker 1: I know we're down on them. There's still a good
Speaker 1: football team. They have a good pass rush of their
Speaker 1: own against the wounded. This house for this, I heard,
Speaker 1: you know, I heard some talk in the film. There's
Speaker 1: some possibility of that. There's some possibility of then whoa
Speaker 1: can Ricky can you send like a camera crew for
Speaker 1: the Sessler Chris Rose experience. We gotta see, god see,
Speaker 1: like how big is Chris Rose's house. He's had a
Speaker 1: really good career, you know, seeing that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: I would just say this that if I were invited
Speaker 1: over to someone's house, I'm gonna only release positive reports.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna return to the show, you know, as
Speaker 1: some sort of double agent. But then we could have
Speaker 1: a private conversation. I'm just saying I would like to
Speaker 1: know what Chris Rose's house looks like. I would imagine
Speaker 1: that it's a wonderful place. Um. All right, So there's that,
Speaker 1: and I will stick with the lock for now. I'm
Speaker 1: locking up the Browns, but I reserve the right comes
Speaker 1: Saturday about, you know, noontime Pacific. I'm gonna get a
Speaker 1: lay of the land here and I'll move off if
Speaker 1: I have to. But I do like the Browns a lot.
Speaker 1: In that game, the other Saturday game, it's a primetime game.
Speaker 1: It's a gorgeous one. New England Patriots nine and four
Speaker 1: coming off thereby travel to Lucas Oil Stadium. Bad job
Speaker 1: by me. I've been in that building a hundred times.
Speaker 1: Uh to play the Cults at seven and six. Love it,
Speaker 1: Love it, Love it, Greg, Because you have the Patriots
Speaker 1: who are in first place in the a f C East.
Speaker 1: They are within striking distance of the Where are they
Speaker 1: currently the number one seeds? Still they are there, the
Speaker 1: number one seed in the FC. So it it's all
Speaker 1: in front of them. They just gotta keep winning, Alright,
Speaker 1: we got it. You like their performance in the weather.
Speaker 1: How about this game though, because I'll tell you what,
Speaker 1: maybe it's maybe in the Patriots hater, I like the
Speaker 1: Cult Saturday Night. There's literally no way the Patriots pull
Speaker 1: this off. Jonathan Taylor like he is going to be
Speaker 1: running all over them, and I just there's not one
Speaker 1: part of me that believes that the Patriots could pull
Speaker 1: this one out. So I'm locking up the Colts. Wow,
Speaker 1: well we have a lock off. Oh. I don't care
Speaker 1: about your little magic spinning where you try to get
Speaker 1: into You're not getting into the head of the New
Speaker 1: England Patriots or the Cults. Unreal backwards Jinks Street. We're
Speaker 1: gonna start are tweeting every day to like the main
Speaker 1: around the NFL handle and I'm like, guys, we're not
Speaker 1: going to see that it's five in a row. It's
Speaker 1: like more than that. Well, the Patriots have won six
Speaker 1: in or I don't know if you've been along the whole, right,
Speaker 1: I think most of it most I think it would
Speaker 1: be funny also just to get Greg mad about it
Speaker 1: if we kind of reversed it and say, all these locks,
Speaker 1: obviously she's locking uh the other team, and give her
Speaker 1: credits for wins, and let's see where she's at and
Speaker 1: the she's doing it with that intense, So I do
Speaker 1: think she should get credits. It's a conversation this week.
Speaker 1: You know, some of those they were heavy favorites, but
Speaker 1: most of them it was close. This week. They're actually
Speaker 1: an underdog, the Patriots. It started as a slight favorite
Speaker 1: for the Patriots. Oh, you know what, I think. It's
Speaker 1: I think it no finish what you're saying, because I
Speaker 1: have a thought on that. It annoys me a bit,
Speaker 1: you know, I want to know, well, because you know what,
Speaker 1: I think. It says that there is a resistance to
Speaker 1: accept what is happening. There is a resistance and and
Speaker 1: I'm and I know it's like I've talked, I think
Speaker 1: Dan has it to some degree, but like Dan's more
Speaker 1: level headed than a lot of people out there that
Speaker 1: just don't want to accept the New England is the
Speaker 1: best team in the conference that anything that you look at.
Speaker 1: I think these are sort of mirror teams to some degree.
Speaker 1: I know we say that a lot and it's not,
Speaker 1: I know, not perfectly the same. But they both want
Speaker 1: to run the ball, they both have good runs. Stopping
Speaker 1: deeps is the Colts at this point, Ryan Kelly said,
Speaker 1: we put ourselves on the map as a run team.
Speaker 1: Teams are going to load the box. Only three teams
Speaker 1: in the league load the box more than the Patriots.
Speaker 1: I mean, I just think this is gonna be like
Speaker 1: I I hate this term, like an old meat and
Speaker 1: potatoes type thing. And Jonathan Taylor has not been quite
Speaker 1: as good against stack boxes. Anything that the Colts can
Speaker 1: do that looks a little bit like New England. New
Speaker 1: England can do better I do. I think Belichick is
Speaker 1: definitely that's gonna be an angle for him. It's like,
Speaker 1: how do you beat the Colts? Put the game in
Speaker 1: Carson Wentz his hands in a big spot in prime
Speaker 1: time with the whole season seemingly on the line and
Speaker 1: see if he cracks. I don't think that's a bad strategy. No,
Speaker 1: I think there's so much about Wentz the next two
Speaker 1: weeks against the Pats and the Cardinals because one of
Speaker 1: the Colts linebackers said this week, we want to make
Speaker 1: them one dimensional and and like it almost sounds like
Speaker 1: a shot at mac Jones. But I I think the
Speaker 1: Patriots are approaching the game in the same way, and
Speaker 1: I trust Mac Jones more than Carson Wentz ultimately to
Speaker 1: not make the big mistake. These teams are similar. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's it's not just the running, it's the turnover margin.
Speaker 1: They're both incredibly careful with the ball and opportunistic. The
Speaker 1: Colts are first in the NFL and the Patriots are third,
Speaker 1: and that's after the Patriots through four or five weeks
Speaker 1: were terrible. This is usually a kind of a Belichick hallmark.
Speaker 1: So who can force like the big mistake? The difference,
Speaker 1: UH to me is if the if you make the
Speaker 1: Patriots throw like they'll throw. That's why I was annoyed
Speaker 1: by all the like they don't trust mac Jones in
Speaker 1: that game. It's like they threw the ball thirty two
Speaker 1: times the week before against Tennessee because Tennessee had the
Speaker 1: same idea, We're gonna do everything we can to stop
Speaker 1: the run, and they did a pretty good job. Mac
Speaker 1: Jones is happy to dink and dunk, and he's happy
Speaker 1: to take chances down the field. I think he is
Speaker 1: less likely to get confused by coverage, uh than then
Speaker 1: Carson Wentz in this game. And the red zone defense
Speaker 1: is a huge difference to the Patriots are first or
Speaker 1: second in the NFL and the Colts are terrible on paper.
Speaker 1: They are like doing what they want defensively, they slow
Speaker 1: teams down, but they don't finish the at the end
Speaker 1: the drive, they often don't finish. I think that's the difference.
Speaker 1: I have one weird little stat for you, and I
Speaker 1: like historical stats. On this show, we just tossed him
Speaker 1: out the window. I get it. But it's Belichick based,
Speaker 1: and he's been Belichick the whole time. He's the same
Speaker 1: human beings. All right. Well, it's his twenty one regular
Speaker 1: season game, whereas the Patriots coach, where he's facing a
Speaker 1: thousand plus yard rusher. We're clearly at that point the season.
Speaker 1: It's later in the year it's bad weather. You know
Speaker 1: that that team is probably based heavily, especially back in
Speaker 1: the early two thousands around that rusher. He is eighteen
Speaker 1: and two in those games. Yeah, it's it's it's a
Speaker 1: good stat And I don't think the line moving. First
Speaker 1: of all, it was small. It was like it was
Speaker 1: like one, you know, one for the Patriots to two
Speaker 1: for the Cults, which is, you know, pretty small move. Ultimately,
Speaker 1: I think it's just a credit to what the Colts
Speaker 1: have done and they're at home that they have legitimately
Speaker 1: since starting oh and three are seven and three with
Speaker 1: all three of those losses, two quality teams in games
Speaker 1: that they that they lost, leads and their offense is explosive.
Speaker 1: And so I think you look at these two teams
Speaker 1: and they're both top ten NFL teams to me, and
Speaker 1: I wouldn't have said this a month ago, but I
Speaker 1: think they're a better matchup then the Bills are for
Speaker 1: New England. I think they can they're a better type
Speaker 1: of team to to deal with New England. And by
Speaker 1: the way, Greg, the Colts, despite being seven and six
Speaker 1: and not in first place in their division, are along
Speaker 1: with the Patriots, in the top ten of the Power rankings.
Speaker 1: I'm with you, guys, and that's why I think because
Speaker 1: I have had reservations about the Pats. But if they do,
Speaker 1: I have the Pats at five. But if the Pats,
Speaker 1: if the Pats beat the Cults on the road in
Speaker 1: this spot, not only will I get on the same
Speaker 1: page as you, I will apologize to you. Well, I'm
Speaker 1: not seeking not only celebrate a lock win in a
Speaker 1: big spot. I will also personally apologize to you on
Speaker 1: Sunday show that just for a bigger game for the Colts,
Speaker 1: it's a big game for both. It's a bigger game
Speaker 1: for the Colts. They as good as they are, they
Speaker 1: risk missing the way offs here with the Cardinals coming
Speaker 1: up next. And this bus is Dan centric, you know
Speaker 1: what I think, because they asked Belichick about hard Knocks,
Speaker 1: and you know, of course he doesn't want to be
Speaker 1: on it, but you know he wants to author like
Speaker 1: a really ugly episode for the Cults. All right. Sunday
Speaker 1: Night Football, Saints at Buccaneers Raymond James Stadium. The Saints
Speaker 1: coming off a win over the Jets. Not overly impressive,
Speaker 1: but they did get the job done. I believe it
Speaker 1: was thirty two nine something along those lines. Uh. And
Speaker 1: now a much bigger test here against the Bucks. Uh.
Speaker 1: Coming off that big overtime win against San Francisco, this
Speaker 1: is another not San Francisco. Who did they beat last week?
Speaker 1: The Bills? The Bills, the Bills, of course. Um, this
Speaker 1: is a big test for New Orleans. Do you think Mark,
Speaker 1: that the Bucks have or the Saints have any chance
Speaker 1: to kind of hang in this battle considering their quarterback situation.
Speaker 1: Not really, not in the way that we've seen where
Speaker 1: they've you know, they've beaten Brady three consecutive regular season
Speaker 1: games when they were healthy, when they had Drew Brees
Speaker 1: a year ago. Um. I mean I would have even
Speaker 1: given them a chance they beat them earlier this year,
Speaker 1: and they seem to have Brady's number. I mean, there
Speaker 1: is something to it, just if you look at the
Speaker 1: recent history. But the way the Bucks are playing right now,
Speaker 1: and we've said it before, it's like they're so precise
Speaker 1: and so successful that they're almost an afterthought and sort
Speaker 1: of dull. I mean, there's six and oh at home.
Speaker 1: Their home and road splits are pretty incredible. They've scored
Speaker 1: thirty plus in each of those six and oh home games.
Speaker 1: The only other team that's ever done that is a
Speaker 1: two thousand and seven Patriots. I just look at like
Speaker 1: the way that certain players are heating up. Leonard four
Speaker 1: Nett is ninth in the league and scrimmage yards. He
Speaker 1: looks like a player that we've not seen in Leonard
Speaker 1: Fournette's body in a long long time. Chris Gotten has
Speaker 1: twenty five catches in the last two games. Gronkowski only
Speaker 1: played five snaps in that week that they lost to
Speaker 1: the Saints. We're getting a different Gronkowski right now. I
Speaker 1: know the defense is a little banged up and up
Speaker 1: and down, but I mean the Saints are a mash unit,
Speaker 1: so I don't I think the floor has fallen out.
Speaker 1: I I struggled with this one because you mentioned it.
Speaker 1: The last mountain for Brady to climb in Tampa is
Speaker 1: beating the Saints in the regular season and even having
Speaker 1: a clean game against the Saints period, because if you
Speaker 1: remember that playoff game against the Saints, they didn't do
Speaker 1: anything in the second half. They were totally stymied and
Speaker 1: it was their defense. The Bucks defense that was were
Speaker 1: just marauders and would not let Drew Brees get back
Speaker 1: into that game. But but the but the Saints defense
Speaker 1: for how many games the eight quarters has been like,
Speaker 1: you know, more than that sixteen quarters has been like
Speaker 1: incredibly competitive against this team. And they are a little
Speaker 1: healthier than they were. They're healthy on the back end,
Speaker 1: um defensively, you had Marcus Davenport back last week. You
Speaker 1: hope you have Cam Jordan's back from COVID. So it's
Speaker 1: definitely uh, wish wishful think thinking potentially, but I I
Speaker 1: think they will make this a fun Sunday night game.
Speaker 1: And there is something about this Saints team I haven't
Speaker 1: totally given up on that. They're just that they're more
Speaker 1: than the sum of their parts. Camara being back is
Speaker 1: so huge. I think Taysom Hill actually does give them
Speaker 1: something at quarterback that you definitely weren't getting with Simeon.
Speaker 1: And if you look at the Bucks run defense, which
Speaker 1: arians had that things like nobody runs on us people
Speaker 1: have the last month. So that's just the facts that
Speaker 1: the facts are, like their numbers, everything about the rush
Speaker 1: defense hasn't been great. That's who the Saints are. I
Speaker 1: would love it if they're tacked. You know, if Ramcheck
Speaker 1: was back for this game, I don't think he will,
Speaker 1: so they're they're they're not healthy on offense. I know
Speaker 1: Deante Harris got suspended. We never mentioned that he's like
Speaker 1: their one explicit player. It's like, it's ridiculous. But I
Speaker 1: think their defense can make this fun. I gotta keep up.
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't like what I've seen from Taysom
Speaker 1: Hill in these two weeks, especially since the finger injury. Um.
Speaker 1: I thought he was pretty bad for most of that
Speaker 1: Jets game, and a lot of his numbers came um
Speaker 1: on a late touchdown run that didn't matter, and I
Speaker 1: don't even know if the Jets were playing at that point, Um,
Speaker 1: but really the way the ball was coming out of
Speaker 1: his hand, UM was troubling. Now, that was up in
Speaker 1: Northern New Jersey in December, so maybe playing down in Tampa,
Speaker 1: the finger will react differently. But I just haven't seen
Speaker 1: enough from him, and plus the fact that he doesn't
Speaker 1: have a lot of real high octane weapons to throw to.
Speaker 1: You're not a big Nick Vanette fan. I mean their
Speaker 1: number one receiver is Nick Vanette. What is happening? Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: I like little Jordan Humphrey. Obviously he's out to another
Speaker 1: in Geez, So we don't have a little Jordan either.
Speaker 1: I think there's only Camara makes them a team to
Speaker 1: reckon with. But if there, if the Bolsa Sons is
Speaker 1: able to negate or neutralize Camara, this is gonna be
Speaker 1: a very one sided game. I kind of see this
Speaker 1: one getting away from the Saints as much as I'm
Speaker 1: I'd like to see it great because I think the
Speaker 1: Saints are always fun to be in the mix. I
Speaker 1: wish this game is at the super don't put it
Speaker 1: that will be yeah, we'll be in the film thing.
Speaker 1: Maybe it is wishful thinking, but they were ten and
Speaker 1: a half point favorites, and I was with you guys
Speaker 1: initially thinking that this is their time to like show
Speaker 1: that they're just gonna wipe the floor. But it's not
Speaker 1: like they weren't trying in the other Saints game. Dennis
Speaker 1: Allen in this defense is just good. Well. One of
Speaker 1: the Saints games was the first Tom Brady in a
Speaker 1: Bucks uniform. I'm not saying I throw that out, but
Speaker 1: I kind of throw it out, and I just I
Speaker 1: think this is a different situation. I mean, Brady talked
Speaker 1: about in his press conference on Thursday that he still
Speaker 1: burns with annoyance about the interceptions he threw against the
Speaker 1: Saints this season, so it's like he doesn't he that
Speaker 1: doesn't wash away from him. I think he's determined to
Speaker 1: white board the way of the narrative we're talking about
Speaker 1: that he can't beat this team. And by the way,
Speaker 1: there is a path to the playoffs for the Saints
Speaker 1: even if they don't win this week. I mean, it'd
Speaker 1: be nice to win this week obviously be a huge
Speaker 1: lim for them, but they really have to find a
Speaker 1: way to split one of the next two weeks at
Speaker 1: Tampa home Dolphins. Okay, win one of those games, then
Speaker 1: beat Carolina and Atlanta and to end the season. Bang,
Speaker 1: you're nine and eight and that could probably gets you
Speaker 1: in in the NFC. So find a way to win
Speaker 1: either this week or next week, and then take care
Speaker 1: of your business. So the Saints still have a path,
Speaker 1: but this week is gonna be very tough. Finally, Monday
Speaker 1: Night Football, before we get to the draft, we have
Speaker 1: the Minnesota Vice games and intense preamble to get to
Speaker 1: the draft to oh yeah, it's a nice build. The
Speaker 1: Minnesota Vikings, the team of zoos til coming off another
Speaker 1: insane game, they really did hit peak Vikings. I think,
Speaker 1: but you never know. There's been a lot of peaks
Speaker 1: this season for the Vikings in terms of ridiculousness. Um
Speaker 1: going up twenty nine nothing at home in the third
Speaker 1: quarter against the Steelers and still needing to make a
Speaker 1: stop on the last play of the game. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's pretty impressive, even by their standards. That was pretty awesome. Like,
Speaker 1: they almost lost that game straight up, Um, but they didn't.
Speaker 1: They won. They stopped the two games slide, and now
Speaker 1: they get the Bears, who are four and nine, who
Speaker 1: have one win since October t Um, Greg, this makes
Speaker 1: sense as a game that Minnesota is gonna take care
Speaker 1: of business, but they're not really a take care of
Speaker 1: business team. They're not especially on the you know, this
Speaker 1: game is on the road, it's in the division, familiar opponents.
Speaker 1: The the Bears will be without a lot of their coaches,
Speaker 1: their coordinators all got put on the COVID list. Matt
Speaker 1: Naggie is still there though, so I don't know though
Speaker 1: it's like a good thing a bad thing. But the
Speaker 1: defense for chicagomm has really fallen off a cliff, Like
Speaker 1: if Justin Fields was out there playing with like or
Speaker 1: even the twenty nineteen Bears defense, Like this team could
Speaker 1: be competitive, but it's a really bad defense right now.
Speaker 1: And that's why. Also, because you know, I'm not feeling
Speaker 1: like totally alive, and I just need to feel something
Speaker 1: in life. And nothing makes you feel something a little
Speaker 1: more than locking up the Vikings in a small spot
Speaker 1: like that, I'm safe. That's where I was going if
Speaker 1: I if I move off the Browns, I will be
Speaker 1: going Vikings. You come join me that maybe I should
Speaker 1: just do it. Get out of that COVID? Do you want?
Speaker 1: Do you want? Your football weekend? And it's a long
Speaker 1: one to begin with the law with a lock that
Speaker 1: goes south now, I mean in an Island game and
Speaker 1: you're dying watching like why did I Because it's not
Speaker 1: gonna be here's the thing with locking up the Vikings,
Speaker 1: like you just are accepting that with four minutes to go,
Speaker 1: You're nervous, You're it's not gonna be easy. You're just
Speaker 1: and you know what, I've been riding this all season
Speaker 1: long with him. Why don't we just turn up the
Speaker 1: stakes a little bit. I'm gonna move my lock over
Speaker 1: to Minnesota. It just feels right. I like the matchup
Speaker 1: for him. I think they're a far superior team to
Speaker 1: the Bears. I think Dalvin Cook going from carted off
Speaker 1: the field to two yards rushing again speaks to what
Speaker 1: a special player he is. Adam Feeling maybe back and
Speaker 1: that's a big thing for them because he I think
Speaker 1: Kirk Cousins struggles against Pittsburgh and he was not good
Speaker 1: at all against the Steelers. A lot of that connected
Speaker 1: to Adam Feeland being missing. I think it really makes
Speaker 1: him more uncomfortable as a quarterback. And as much as
Speaker 1: I I want don't want to say like Cousins, but
Speaker 1: as much as I think Cousins gets a bad rap,
Speaker 1: sometimes when you look at what he's able to do,
Speaker 1: he is kind of a guy that needs things to
Speaker 1: be in order around him to do his bidding and
Speaker 1: take Feeling his dude his safety blanket out, and that's
Speaker 1: been an issue. I think it's just the vikings, to
Speaker 1: your point, are such a conundrum to analyze because we
Speaker 1: did the third the TNF recap, and I had all
Speaker 1: these ideas when at halftime they had played such a
Speaker 1: complete game against Pittsburgh and out yardage them three forty nine. Uh,
Speaker 1: they held Pittsburgh to twenty passing yards but then the
Speaker 1: second half was such a collapse. And you look at
Speaker 1: a team that since Week night and Week nine in
Speaker 1: Minnesota is bottom five and points per game, allowed, yards
Speaker 1: per play, total yards, and opposer passing Rading's like the
Speaker 1: defense that I'm picking, that I'm really locking them up
Speaker 1: for is that I kind of have faith they are
Speaker 1: healthier on defense now than they were generally healthy and
Speaker 1: Zimmer cooking up like a rookie quarters Pittsburgh. It was
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh's best half of football and offense in the second
Speaker 1: half there, which is not a small fear. Here's my fear.
Speaker 1: And cut to Monday night and I'll get tweets about it, like, oh,
Speaker 1: you were right, Dan Will. This will be one of
Speaker 1: those games where you're waiting for their offense to wake up,
Speaker 1: and it's like, oh, they had two first downs in
Speaker 1: the first quarter and then all of a sudden, wait,
Speaker 1: wait a second, why are they up seven six at halftime?
Speaker 1: Wake up? Wake up, wake up? And then they have
Speaker 1: some type of horrible, hideous field has a six dyrd
Speaker 1: touching rushing touchdown exactly like I do. I we take
Speaker 1: this on and Greg is still in the distance in
Speaker 1: the race, but as someone who's tied with I understand this.
Speaker 1: I'm inviting a level of anxiety in my life that
Speaker 1: maybe doesn't need to be there. Holiday season. I got
Speaker 1: the in laws coming in for a week's already. We're
Speaker 1: just gonna we're gonna fire it up and see if
Speaker 1: the old ticker can take it. All right, let's take
Speaker 1: a break and then hit the draft. All right, welcome back.
Speaker 1: We have some news developing newsrom Tom brol Hall. We
Speaker 1: have a trade. We have a trade in the draft
Speaker 1: to an ounce, and it involves the old loser, Dan Zee.
Speaker 1: That's me, damn a quiet storm. Mark. You were slated
Speaker 1: to pick first overall, but you have agreed to terms
Speaker 1: on the following trade. Mark surrenders his first overall pick
Speaker 1: and the seventh overall pick in exchange for the third
Speaker 1: overall pick and the fourth overall pick in today's draft.
Speaker 1: So Mark unprecedented will be drafting three and six. Dan
Speaker 1: will now be drafting one, seven and nine. I'm a
Speaker 1: little worried about Mark here, just like the competitive spirit
Speaker 1: or just like what's going You're a little like urban
Speaker 1: Meyer not knowing his safety. It didn't seem like you
Speaker 1: were that involved in this trade. You were allowing any
Speaker 1: terms that Dan would dictate. I was. I was trying
Speaker 1: to explain it to him, but he didn't seem to care.
Speaker 1: He was just like, take whatever you want. It was
Speaker 1: it was it was can I tell you why, like
Speaker 1: real quick, like when you there's not a lot of
Speaker 1: great games outside of the ones we just discussed. The
Speaker 1: eye in games and I can look at one or
Speaker 1: two and say I want that, but like everyone in
Speaker 1: the office is going to be watching that game. So
Speaker 1: it's like it's not a singular experience. I enjoy the
Speaker 1: community aspect of it too, but it's more just like
Speaker 1: Dan what Dan was like, Wow, I want to like
Speaker 1: I have an eye, my eye on something. It's like
Speaker 1: take it. I don't want my You're right. You're right
Speaker 1: though that in terms of how the draft of the
Speaker 1: trade works, I have no idea where I'm picking and
Speaker 1: don't remember any of it's it's it sets you up well.
Speaker 1: Um in terms of no one's ever had three picks
Speaker 1: in the first six overall. So if you have a
Speaker 1: game plan here, it's really gonna come. It's what Sashi
Speaker 1: Brown would do. That was the developing news out of
Speaker 1: the Chris Westling podcast. Studio. It was like it was
Speaker 1: like Belichick when he traded the second round pick Verson
Speaker 1: new or whatever. Just take whatever you want, think whatever
Speaker 1: you want. How happy I am on Sunday is determines
Speaker 1: how well the trade was. Okay, we will see alright.
Speaker 1: So with the first overall pick in the week around
Speaker 1: the NFL Podcast Draft, I will take the Pittsburgh Steelers
Speaker 1: at home against the Tennessee Titans. Um listen, the Steelers
Speaker 1: are interesting. We were just talking about the Vikings, but
Speaker 1: I don't know if Steelers are interesting. But as I
Speaker 1: said it on the Thursday Pod, they're kind of like
Speaker 1: a zombie that doesn't know it's dead. It's staggering around.
Speaker 1: No one's no one's pulled off the kill shot yet.
Speaker 1: You know everyone knows classic zombie, you gotta do a
Speaker 1: shot to the head or it's gonna keep coming. No
Speaker 1: one's put the shot in the head yet. And the
Speaker 1: Titans could they be that team? Titans fans all fired up.
Speaker 1: We're nine and four, we swept the Colts. Why are
Speaker 1: the Colts eight in the power rankings and we're twelve?
Speaker 1: Because you haven't been a good team for weeks? Because
Speaker 1: you're one for the first time in a month last
Speaker 1: week against the And that's not your fault. You're playing
Speaker 1: your schedule. But I don't have to be impressed with
Speaker 1: nine and four when you see how limited this team
Speaker 1: continues to be on the off pensive side of the ball. Now,
Speaker 1: is that selling them short in terms of what they
Speaker 1: bring as a whole. Yes, but this is also an
Speaker 1: offensive league right now, and the fact that they struggle
Speaker 1: to score points week after week after after week matters
Speaker 1: to me. I know it was a positive UM Sunday
Speaker 1: because you've got the positive Derrick Henry news, you got
Speaker 1: Julio Jones back, you got the win. Um. But at
Speaker 1: the same time, do I think they're gonna win in
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh with Pittsburgh in a desperate situation. I don't. You don't.
Speaker 1: I think I think the Steelers win this game. It's
Speaker 1: a tough one because it's a real test of like
Speaker 1: the Mike Rabel magic kind of what he does well.
Speaker 1: They've been greater than the some of their parts. Defensively,
Speaker 1: I think they come up. They're a good game plan team.
Speaker 1: They're very different every week. That's how they can have
Speaker 1: a game like the one they had against the Rams,
Speaker 1: and you would think that they'd be able to expose
Speaker 1: some of the Pittsburgh offensive problems like Mike Zimmer did
Speaker 1: a week ago. But man, are they slow on offensive.
Speaker 1: Julio doesn't have that juice the running. You know, the
Speaker 1: running game was back a little last week. But they're
Speaker 1: They're just so slow. It's just like two really slow teams.
Speaker 1: I have no idea who's gonna win this game, but man,
Speaker 1: I love that under like. I just don't think. I
Speaker 1: just don't think either of these teams is getting over
Speaker 1: sixteen points. I just don't. I think if it happens,
Speaker 1: it's it would have to look a little bit like
Speaker 1: last week, where you get a lot of contributions from
Speaker 1: the defense. I mean that game was twenty to nothing,
Speaker 1: it felt like sixty to nothing, and they got just
Speaker 1: enough from their offense, guys like donte Foreman and it's
Speaker 1: it's it's a preseason roster trying to copple By and
Speaker 1: Julio Jones is not saving them for so. Grave Digger
Speaker 1: Um obviously Grave Digger Titans Film Room. Check check out
Speaker 1: his podcast. This guy knows his stuff with Tennessee, certainly
Speaker 1: knows more about the team than I do, so tell
Speaker 1: me what I'm missing when I kind of disregard your
Speaker 1: team on some level. Well, I don't know what you're
Speaker 1: necessarily missing. I'd like to just say to all Titans
Speaker 1: fans on Twitter, there's no need to come after Dan
Speaker 1: for his Oh they could bring it for our rankings.
Speaker 1: What about the BTS fans they also have been coming
Speaker 1: to Dan's a little worried about that. That's a little
Speaker 1: that's actually an army. I don't know if I have
Speaker 1: any sway over over what they think, but very in
Speaker 1: a nice way, because Grave Digger is a really nice guy.
Speaker 1: Um replied to something Titans related on Twitter that I
Speaker 1: posted yesterday, and then some other Titans fan rolled in
Speaker 1: right behind Grave Digger and was just like you Dan,
Speaker 1: all right, nice knowing you anyway, Grave Digger, But do
Speaker 1: you like like the Julio Jones coming back? That's fine,
Speaker 1: but you kind of need a J. Brown? What else
Speaker 1: does this team need? Do you think to get back
Speaker 1: to where a team that really could go against anybody
Speaker 1: in the a f C. Yeah, I think getting Derrick
Speaker 1: Henry and a J. Brown back will be huge. I
Speaker 1: don't know if it's necessarily that simple, because I I'm
Speaker 1: still concerned watching the Titans about the past protection. It
Speaker 1: feels like line is stunt all year. Tannehill is taking
Speaker 1: and this happened last year, but it would be when
Speaker 1: he'd connect on like a forty five yard bomb. He's
Speaker 1: just getting Harris spect. That's where they love him. They
Speaker 1: love him in that locker room because then but the
Speaker 1: offensive line, the disparity between run blocking and pass blocking
Speaker 1: is really just astounding to me because they run blocked
Speaker 1: very well, but then they can't pass protect. It's like
Speaker 1: one person loses a one on one matchup where they
Speaker 1: leave a tight end with the opponent's best pass rusher
Speaker 1: for some reason and he gets beat one on one
Speaker 1: and like Julio Jones was wide open down the field
Speaker 1: on I think it was a like a post corner
Speaker 1: kind of fake out route and Tannehill could have hit him,
Speaker 1: but he was immediately under pressure and sacked on the play,
Speaker 1: and so that explosive has gone. So the offense is
Speaker 1: not producing explosive plays at all. But that matches up
Speaker 1: well with the Steelers defense because they have struggled against
Speaker 1: the run for a while. We saw the Vikings light
Speaker 1: them up. And there is something about this Titans team
Speaker 1: and I think it's it's some sort of similar d
Speaker 1: n A that Frabel is a good coach. You can't
Speaker 1: exactly see exactly why, but they are greater. Uh. Then
Speaker 1: there's some of their parts. And they've been motivated all
Speaker 1: year ever since Urban Meyer, you know, came on to
Speaker 1: our show early in the season and just totally dismissed
Speaker 1: the Titans before the year. The Titans are three offensive
Speaker 1: players and Mike Brabel's haircut, I mean he did not
Speaker 1: do his homework. I guess that's why I Brabel didn't
Speaker 1: shake his hand after the game. That makes sense. How
Speaker 1: unlikable we should I mean Urban Meyer totally unlikable, dude,
Speaker 1: One last thing before we move on or have any
Speaker 1: other Steelers conversation, got any plans this weekend? Justin let's go,
Speaker 1: I'm moving to the park. I'm moving apartments tomorrow, so
Speaker 1: that's a huge plan. And get any help on that move,
Speaker 1: um or to whose apartment are you christening the new
Speaker 1: I probably will have have a friend over tomorrow. Yes,
Speaker 1: but here, can I say something about this. I've been
Speaker 1: thinking a lot about this. I feel like she would
Speaker 1: not like it if I continued to talk about this
Speaker 1: show and I think just like being being. I want
Speaker 1: to be a good person and I want to like
Speaker 1: feel good about myself. And I apologize to the reddit
Speaker 1: audience who's very invested in this story. I will give you, guys,
Speaker 1: and I mean they're not more invested than the host
Speaker 1: of our show, who just clapped like a six year
Speaker 1: old so excited when he heard the news. We just
Speaker 1: we're just hanging out. We're just friends, and if that changes,
Speaker 1: I will update you know what. I you know what,
Speaker 1: I respect you as a man. I'm disappointed as a
Speaker 1: podcast host because I wanted to have every step of
Speaker 1: this relationship documented and now I have regrets. Did I
Speaker 1: come on too strong in terms of getting information out
Speaker 1: of just you have the regrets? Yeah, I mean I
Speaker 1: think there's more what I do. Hope you provide an
Speaker 1: update in time if you are allowed, because it still
Speaker 1: feels very mysterious to me um and a Lorian. I
Speaker 1: will I will provide and I'll tell you guys more
Speaker 1: details off air. How about that. I also did tell you,
Speaker 1: by the way, on our TNF recap that the Steelers
Speaker 1: were impregnated by the baby with a baby of Satan's.
Speaker 1: So good luck to you when joint. Seeing how that
Speaker 1: goes from that. Okay, don't you recall that I I
Speaker 1: do vaguely recall, but I do want to just say
Speaker 1: now that it's officially hit his music by the way, Um,
Speaker 1: he said, we can't talk anymore about it, at least
Speaker 1: until he brings it up again. But you did catch that.
Speaker 1: Let us a little nug She's coming over this weekend, well,
Speaker 1: he said, a friend. But and do you see the
Speaker 1: way I set it up? Was anybody you know? Are
Speaker 1: you're christening the apartment? Well, she is coming over. Just
Speaker 1: leave it at that. Yeah, I mean, I feel like
Speaker 1: we're talking about it again. But no, no, but that
Speaker 1: was his information. So I was just we're going out
Speaker 1: with a bang, you know. So they all right, let's um, oh,
Speaker 1: Steelers have got that. Let's move on. We gotta keep
Speaker 1: moving this too. Many games all right up next in
Speaker 1: the draft. Now again, this is a little funky now
Speaker 1: because that a huge trade that went down, Greg, you
Speaker 1: remain locked into that second overall spot. Very strange. Um,
Speaker 1: you you did take the game. I was gonna take you.
Speaker 1: You took the Romo game, So I will give you
Speaker 1: kudos to that. I'm gonna take the Rams Seahawks in
Speaker 1: the afternoon. Oh see, I guess I took Mark's pick here.
Speaker 1: You did have the number one overall pick and you
Speaker 1: provided no resistance. You do have three, four and six.
Speaker 1: I I'm redoing the draft board as we speak, so
Speaker 1: I mean you had an opportunity to uh, to hold
Speaker 1: onto that pick. It's a huge game because it knocks
Speaker 1: the Seahawks out in my mind and in reality if
Speaker 1: they lose this game, it's a lot for the Rams
Speaker 1: to overcome in terms of their covid um situation. We
Speaker 1: don't know if players like Jalen Ramsey will be back
Speaker 1: that missed Monday nights game, but we do know a
Speaker 1: lot more Rams players went on the covid list throughout
Speaker 1: the week, two of their safeties, including Jordan Fuller who's
Speaker 1: their defensive captain, and Odell Beckham. So that's a lot
Speaker 1: to overcome. But we found out on Thursday that Tyler
Speaker 1: lockets out for this game and Alex Collins, who's not
Speaker 1: a big factors is also out, and I was thinking
Speaker 1: of this kind of as his division battle. It's it's
Speaker 1: a last stand for Seattle. It's the Rams trying to
Speaker 1: solidify and show that they're going to the finish line,
Speaker 1: kind of like the Bucks were a year ago and
Speaker 1: it was really all about Russ Locket in d K
Speaker 1: because the rest of the Seahawks team is just not special.
Speaker 1: It's not special, but they got enough coaching and enough
Speaker 1: like okay, enough rotational play that if those three dudes
Speaker 1: just come out and ball out against the Rams defense,
Speaker 1: I'm not convinced it's amazing, especially not with the people
Speaker 1: they're missing, Like you can go win that game and
Speaker 1: now without lock It once again covid uh hurting our Sundays,
Speaker 1: it really is much more. It's like we just found
Speaker 1: that out before. I'm just saying, like, no, it's not that.
Speaker 1: I also, I'm confused to because I thought they were
Speaker 1: only testing UM vaccinated guys on Monday. So that's why
Speaker 1: there's this like day luge of you know, positive results
Speaker 1: money and Tuesday. But when we know lock It is Anyway,
Speaker 1: I'm trying to think of a team that UM has
Speaker 1: come off a win this year that did more for
Speaker 1: their image and I don't. I'm not saying that that
Speaker 1: that it's hollow. It's totally tangible and real, but but people,
Speaker 1: I mean listening just to other people talking radio in general,
Speaker 1: like the n L here in l A, like the
Speaker 1: the vibe around the RAMS is suddenly so incredibly positive that, um,
Speaker 1: this COVID thing really is the only thing that could
Speaker 1: that could downgrade it to some degree. I mean, what
Speaker 1: they did to the Cardinals, we talked about it. But
Speaker 1: if you're gonna get games like that down the stretch,
Speaker 1: where Matthew Stafford is as comfortable as he as he's
Speaker 1: been in a RAMS outfit, and you've got your stars
Speaker 1: playing the way they played against an excellent team in Arizona,
Speaker 1: they appear relatively unstoppable. And I never I was gonna
Speaker 1: lock this thing up for the Rams. I moved off
Speaker 1: it just because of the shaky cook COVID thing. But
Speaker 1: I can't think of too many more teams I have
Speaker 1: faith in handling their business down the stretch. I just
Speaker 1: have comment pretty quick turn. It is a quick turn
Speaker 1: because because Kara Henderson tweeted at you that she didn't
Speaker 1: like all the negative she's annoyed with me. Um. But
Speaker 1: but even don't let that change your viewpoints. No, it isn't.
Speaker 1: Because even even um, that came after I said something
Speaker 1: positive about Aaron Donald, like she said Henderson, by the way,
Speaker 1: is the wife of Rams general manager Less Snead, and
Speaker 1: she's also a former colleague of ours in A very
Speaker 1: nice woman, a wonderful person, and just I'm wondering if
Speaker 1: your comments right now are directly tied to that. No,
Speaker 1: I think like I was gonna lock up the Rams
Speaker 1: because I I have no faith in the Seahawks. I
Speaker 1: think that we're cooking up this narrative that they're still alive. Well,
Speaker 1: because they're This is a tough place to go win.
Speaker 1: But if they seriously, if they win this game with
Speaker 1: sixteen players on the Rams, but if they win this game,
Speaker 1: their scheduled the next two weeks, two very winnable games
Speaker 1: before they play the Cardinals in week eighteen. I think
Speaker 1: if they win this game, they get to week eighteen
Speaker 1: with a chance to make that Does it not mean?
Speaker 1: But I guess where I just I'm ready just to say,
Speaker 1: like I do for some of these teams, like then
Speaker 1: go do it. But it's like I'm not caught up
Speaker 1: on the mathematical procedures. You gotta do it, you know,
Speaker 1: you gotta do it. But they beat the forty nine ers.
Speaker 1: This has been a terrible matchup for Pete Carroll versus
Speaker 1: Sean McVeigh. Sean mcveigh's owned him in general, so it
Speaker 1: would say a lot if they could go this is.
Speaker 1: This is their season for Seattle because and not having Locket,
Speaker 1: he's so important to what they do, and there's it's
Speaker 1: been a very uh up and down season, to say
Speaker 1: the least for DK Metcalf. He's banged up, I believe
Speaker 1: as well on top of it, but him and Russell
Speaker 1: Wilson have not been able to get on the same page. Wilson,
Speaker 1: I don't know if you guys noticed and you're watching
Speaker 1: that game UM on Sunday repeatedly feeding Metcalf, and you
Speaker 1: know there's there's a human element to this, Like he
Speaker 1: knows it's been a frustrating season for his most talented
Speaker 1: wide receiver, you could argue. So he's trying to get
Speaker 1: him that touchdown force and throws and he just still
Speaker 1: couldn't make it happen. I think he had twelve targets
Speaker 1: UM in the game. Um. But uh, if Seattle loses
Speaker 1: a game, good goodbye, you're five and nine. But yeah,
Speaker 1: if they find a way to win this is there's
Speaker 1: a very decent chance they are playing for a playoff
Speaker 1: spot in week a team which no one would have predicted.
Speaker 1: Ram just gotta take care of business. And Aaron Donald
Speaker 1: we talked about it, how the way he took over
Speaker 1: that Monday night game in a game they desperately needed
Speaker 1: to change the vibe of their season. I got a
Speaker 1: feeling he could kind of just snowball right into just
Speaker 1: kicking the crap out of the Seattle offensive line and
Speaker 1: making life hell for Russell Wilson. Can't you see Wilson
Speaker 1: running for his life and and getn't taken down a
Speaker 1: couple of times by the Rams have dominated the Russell
Speaker 1: Wilson Seahawks. A Donald, Yeah, and even before Sean McVeigh
Speaker 1: was there. So there's something to that, all right. Up
Speaker 1: next in the draft, there he is with his first
Speaker 1: pick as a result of that block, blockbuster trade mark Seessler. Well,
Speaker 1: I love what I've gotten here. I'm going Atlanta at
Speaker 1: San Francisco in that late game spot. I know Greg
Speaker 1: wrinkled his nose. He doesn't like that game, but you
Speaker 1: know what I like the two games prior to so
Speaker 1: I'm gay. I'm taking what i can buy it because
Speaker 1: you've been pushed in the Atlanta matters narrative and in
Speaker 1: San Francisco and the Atlanta matters narrative like this to me,
Speaker 1: trying to find a way to better describe these two teams.
Speaker 1: The seven and six Niners are eight in team d
Speaker 1: v O A. The six and seven Falcons, who keep
Speaker 1: hanging around are dead last and negative. Different. They just
Speaker 1: look like it a lot, and then sometimes they don't
Speaker 1: because it's like they're also a team that's five and
Speaker 1: two on the road and have they were winless at home.
Speaker 1: Their running game has improved over the last couple of weeks,
Speaker 1: three straight a hundred plus games on the ground. We
Speaker 1: saw them, you know, affect that Tampa game, Tampa Bay
Speaker 1: game that way. Uh, they're getting a little bit, They're
Speaker 1: getting a few more plays on defense in terms of
Speaker 1: some pick sixes and stuff. So they're just a strange team.
Speaker 1: And Arthur Smith did have this warning for the rest
Speaker 1: of the league, the Dean past a warning. Dean pas
Speaker 1: hasn't even scratched the surface, he said, of what he's
Speaker 1: going to install here. I'm not sure when we're installing,
Speaker 1: uh said stuff. Maybe that's in the off season, but
Speaker 1: I don't know how you slow down the Niners if
Speaker 1: you get the version of George Kittle, Brandon Aiyuk and
Speaker 1: Deebo Samuel. I would like to see Breed Samuel used
Speaker 1: a little bit more in the in the passing game,
Speaker 1: they've kind of gone away from that. But there's your
Speaker 1: three dudes. And if you get the mistake free version
Speaker 1: of Jimmy, or at least keep it too low, they
Speaker 1: can take care of business here. Defensive coach, he I
Speaker 1: think they've been a really well coached team. I guess
Speaker 1: that's why we've enjoyed them. I think they've maximized what
Speaker 1: they can getting to six and Russell Gauge is suddenly
Speaker 1: a really good you know, fantasy players know this, but
Speaker 1: like a really good slot receiver. I don't think it's
Speaker 1: that flukey. But they've built an offense out of Matt Ryan,
Speaker 1: who's I gotta admit. Even though I enjoy what he's
Speaker 1: doing every week and I appreciate like his moxie, he
Speaker 1: is getting close to that Chad Pennington Peyton Manning line
Speaker 1: where the lack of arms strength is almost too much
Speaker 1: to overcome. There's six and four in their last ten games.
Speaker 1: They they bounce back after that, oh and three start
Speaker 1: butts have been rather consistent now for five weeks. It's
Speaker 1: it's a hard match of to imagine that the often
Speaker 1: to line, especially for San Francisco, just doesn't mow them over.
Speaker 1: And I'm with you, Mark, and I say this also
Speaker 1: is a Deebo Samuel fantasy owner. A little weird that
Speaker 1: there he was like breaking every receiving mark. He was
Speaker 1: ahead of Jerry Rice Pace for the first like nine
Speaker 1: weeks of the year as a wide receiver and it's
Speaker 1: almost like now he's been he had one catch last
Speaker 1: week and he's been moved into the game and may
Speaker 1: I don't know. I guess it's a little surprising that
Speaker 1: he's not more of a hybrid and now he's being
Speaker 1: used primarily as a running back. I think maybe health
Speaker 1: issues in the backfield play a role in that for sure,
Speaker 1: But um yeah, I just want to see what Kittle does.
Speaker 1: George Kittle, and he's banged up again, and that's just
Speaker 1: part of the thing with Kittle. As long as you
Speaker 1: can keep them healthy and upright, he's gonna change game
Speaker 1: plans because he became the first tight endeaver to have
Speaker 1: back to back fifty yard games touchdown and that and
Speaker 1: the best play I think in those two games, was
Speaker 1: that maybe not the best because man, he had a
Speaker 1: lot of it, but that third five play to keep
Speaker 1: the drive going and overtime, I think it was the
Speaker 1: play right before aus touchdown where jim E. G hit
Speaker 1: it into a tiny window. Jimmy G, who had a
Speaker 1: sub you know, a below average game even for Jimmy
Speaker 1: G until over time, had one of the best drives
Speaker 1: of his career doing things he doesn't normally do. Hitting
Speaker 1: the throw outside the numbers to the outside, hitting that
Speaker 1: third and five to Kittle unto the smallest window possible,
Speaker 1: and then they get the game winner with that. That
Speaker 1: was an awesome moment. I think for the forty nine,
Speaker 1: I think they keep rolling and are quite dangerous. I mean,
Speaker 1: Jimmy G also had a near picking over time that
Speaker 1: would have changed everything we're saying about Jimmy G. Was
Speaker 1: this week regulation. I think that that sports all right,
Speaker 1: let's take a break and then we'll be back. All right,
Speaker 1: here we go, Mark Slither, I got another game I want.
Speaker 1: I'm beyond critique. I am going Cardinals at I don't
Speaker 1: need to spin anything and in the first round you
Speaker 1: gotta do it. I am getting the Cardinals in the
Speaker 1: first round, because you know, what I want to see
Speaker 1: is like the other thing is like, oh are the
Speaker 1: Cardinals able to when the about the Cardinals this week? Well,
Speaker 1: when the no, but when the lights are too bright,
Speaker 1: like you know, Kyler Murray and the Cardinals can't hang around.
Speaker 1: Well you know what, like they did not get blown
Speaker 1: out on Monday night. By the way, just an information
Speaker 1: factoid for you there. If that's what you think. You
Speaker 1: had them locked up and they didn't show up in
Speaker 1: a big spot. That's all. Nobody thinks they stink, you know,
Speaker 1: I don't know I locked them up on a big
Speaker 1: two games. We each locked them up and they lost ball.
Speaker 1: I don't know what people think. T J Hockenson out
Speaker 1: like the Lions. You know they've been they've I don't
Speaker 1: say this like they've been cute in a way where
Speaker 1: I respect them, like they've they hang around in these games.
Speaker 1: But uh, I'm a one concern for Arizona. DeAndre Hopkins.
Speaker 1: We learned in between shows it's gonna have knee surgery.
Speaker 1: Is gonna miss it like at least the regular season,
Speaker 1: and we'll see James Conner is a little banged up.
Speaker 1: But this team, to me, has bounced back as as
Speaker 1: well as anyone off of the few losses they've had,
Speaker 1: and I just I think it's a week for Kyler
Speaker 1: Murray to say, put me back in that M v
Speaker 1: P race. I had one bag game, just like every
Speaker 1: other quarterback out there. I like the Cardinals, not as
Speaker 1: much as you, Mark, I liked them, but I think
Speaker 1: the Hopkins thing is big. And I know he came back,
Speaker 1: he missed a bunch of weeks, and when he came back,
Speaker 1: he wasn't really the same guy. But now that we
Speaker 1: know that he's not even gonna be there at all,
Speaker 1: I think it moves It moves everybody up in the
Speaker 1: pecking order. And I think, for instance, a guy like
Speaker 1: a j Green or a guy like Ron Delmore, like
Speaker 1: these are all guys like in their spots, they were thriving,
Speaker 1: but if you asked them to be something they're not
Speaker 1: at this stage of their career, it could lead to
Speaker 1: more issues for the offense. So I was hyper impressed
Speaker 1: by James Conner. I can't believe how good that guy
Speaker 1: has been this year. So he's going to continue to
Speaker 1: be an important thing and helping Kyler Murray, but removing
Speaker 1: his number one wide receiver from the mix. I think
Speaker 1: it's gonna cost them games and cost them the number one.
Speaker 1: I do think that zach Ertz though, you know when
Speaker 1: he was there mostly through injury. That was another nice
Speaker 1: Steve Kind edition who's quietly the last. Just like layup.
Speaker 1: They have the Colts that at Dallas and then the
Speaker 1: Seahawks just because it's a division game and everything that
Speaker 1: that's difficult. I think they've got some big problems in
Speaker 1: terms of their interior offensive line in general. This is
Speaker 1: not the week for it. Shout out though, to Craig
Speaker 1: Reynolds last week, coming coming off the practice squad and
Speaker 1: running pretty well. It's like a depressing Monday transaction. When
Speaker 1: I saw they put him back on the trap practice squad,
Speaker 1: I was like, it was your best player on Monday.
Speaker 1: That's not nice. Yeah, bring back Craig DeAndre Swift. He's
Speaker 1: been a breakout guy for them. What do you get
Speaker 1: from playing him? At this point? Let's stay in. I
Speaker 1: know we should move, and we we will quickly. But
Speaker 1: did the Lions have forty eight million dollars of their
Speaker 1: salary cap on injured reserve and sixty five million dollars
Speaker 1: in dead cat money? They are like trotting out a
Speaker 1: team that is essentially free. Like that's like it's the
Speaker 1: hundred billion dollars. Al right, Greg, the draft moves to
Speaker 1: you and guess what Mark Sessler's on deck. That's how
Speaker 1: this works. I think this. You know, history will smile
Speaker 1: on what's how here? We will find out Sunday night. Okay,
Speaker 1: I will not be thrilled about these early games here.
Speaker 1: I still need my number one pick Shooks in the mix.
Speaker 1: This is annoying. It's not Shook's fault the way that
Speaker 1: you phrase that, big What do you think about where
Speaker 1: Greg is right now as he really struggles to pick. Well,
Speaker 1: I'm trying not to take Shooks games so that there's
Speaker 1: not too much carry over. I'll take the Cowboys Giants
Speaker 1: just to watch the Cowboys again. This NFC East round
Speaker 1: robin is ugly. It's the division that is playing each
Speaker 1: other the most down the stretch. Why did I take
Speaker 1: this game? Um, it's fine because or I could trade
Speaker 1: you for it. Don't do it. I could just pick
Speaker 1: the same game as Shook. Would be fine, because someone's
Speaker 1: gonna have to anyways. Now I realized, but this Giants
Speaker 1: team is dead on arrival. And that really like if
Speaker 1: you think about the way this season set up for
Speaker 1: whatever reason, all the divisions are backloaded, but the NFC
Speaker 1: East is by far the most all of their like
Speaker 1: the Eagles and Washington, basically all four of these teams
Speaker 1: is almost all in the division down the stretch. And
Speaker 1: that's perfect for Dallas because this Giants and Washington teams
Speaker 1: are hurting right now, and the Dallas defensive line can
Speaker 1: win games by themselves. I think their defense with Gregory
Speaker 1: and Gallamore and Lawrence all back to complement Parsons, is
Speaker 1: just like next level. And the whole next month for
Speaker 1: the Cowboys is about finding what is right again about
Speaker 1: their offense, because it's just not right. The Giants are
Speaker 1: the perfect opponent in the first half last week here
Speaker 1: in Los Angeles, where the Giants got waxed by the
Speaker 1: Chargers Justin Herbert and their offense rolled up two eighty
Speaker 1: nine yards, eighteen first downs, and twenty four points in
Speaker 1: the first two quarters. Um, if the Cowboys don't do
Speaker 1: the same thing, you really have to maybe go up
Speaker 1: a level in terms of your panic level about what's
Speaker 1: going on with the quarterback and the offense. Zeke Elliott
Speaker 1: says he feels much better, and we'll see if that
Speaker 1: translates to him being an actual high end running back again.
Speaker 1: But I really do. It's gotten to the point now
Speaker 1: where it's like, I feel confident that Cowboys will get
Speaker 1: the ten wins and win that division. But for me
Speaker 1: to see them as a real Super Bowl contender again,
Speaker 1: the offense has to come to life. Yeah, because as
Speaker 1: much as the dan Quinn defense um has evolved into
Speaker 1: something kind of terrifying, which I think is an incredible
Speaker 1: development for Dallas, Like, it's the offense that we believe
Speaker 1: taking them deep into wherever they go. I mean, I
Speaker 1: don't love that. Like Tyron Smith is dealing with an
Speaker 1: ankle right now, he's out, Tony Pollard is banged up.
Speaker 1: I mean, so you're gonna have to just get through
Speaker 1: some of that stuff. But they've not been If you
Speaker 1: look at Dax splits with and without Tyron Smith, um,
Speaker 1: they're alarming. So we've been Like the funny the thing
Speaker 1: is like they've been fairly healthy. I know he missed,
Speaker 1: he missed. Why Like he didn't have a mark Well
Speaker 1: point out you missed two or three games here? Two
Speaker 1: games here. I'm just saying compared to the average team
Speaker 1: out there. There's been so many injuries. So many good
Speaker 1: offensive teams like Arizona, for instance, have withstood bigger injuries,
Speaker 1: are bigger swass of the line gone, and they've looked better.
Speaker 1: Doc has definitely not been the same. I do wonder if,
Speaker 1: like we, oh, we we overrate the first month of
Speaker 1: the season, because it's the first impression when really got
Speaker 1: you know, smart guys like Steve Weiss pointed out to us,
Speaker 1: like defenses are just catching up, Like the league is
Speaker 1: totally different in that first month, and we're still kind
Speaker 1: of stuck on this idea that it's that the that
Speaker 1: the Chief's defense, for instance, feels flukier because they were
Speaker 1: so bad for that first month. But it's like, no,
Speaker 1: this is the time that matters, and they've been great
Speaker 1: for two months when it matters. The reality is the
Speaker 1: Cowboys have been mediocre for two months offensively, and that
Speaker 1: the the names, they're big names, but they just haven't
Speaker 1: been great for such a long time. Well, it's like
Speaker 1: three or four seasons packed into one, and this is
Speaker 1: a different team than we were dealing with in September.
Speaker 1: All right, let us move on. We are back to
Speaker 1: Mark Sessler. Well, I allo, so don't want to. I
Speaker 1: like Shook to have his own games so that he
Speaker 1: can come on and do his Shook things. So I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go with a game that, um, along with maybe
Speaker 1: twelve other Americans I'll be watching. It will be Houston
Speaker 1: and Jacksonville. Thirteen of us will be Now this is
Speaker 1: how because I just there's not much. There's not much
Speaker 1: out there, and I'm not doing the double late game.
Speaker 1: I like to have my days start to get less
Speaker 1: convoluted at that point, Thank you very much. Um. I
Speaker 1: I mean it is a fascinating game in the sense
Speaker 1: that for the first time all season, um, the Houston Texans,
Speaker 1: which have been a as low a que rating operation
Speaker 1: as you can find can stick, can look across the
Speaker 1: field and say, look at us, we're functional, um, because
Speaker 1: that's how you feel compared to the Jaguars. And I
Speaker 1: just want to see how the Jaguars players respond, because
Speaker 1: I know, Greg, you're big on this too, Like when
Speaker 1: you go from coach gets canned, and in this case,
Speaker 1: it's not like we were really fighting for this guy, um,
Speaker 1: but now, uh, you know, we're dropped off into abyss.
Speaker 1: It's like that locker room is probably on fire and
Speaker 1: thrilled with what's happened, and maybe you get a spicy
Speaker 1: version of the Jaguars, because all I would say is
Speaker 1: their defense, especially has been good in a couple of
Speaker 1: games they've shown things. I have nothing else to say
Speaker 1: about this game other than that, and I may say
Speaker 1: nothing about it on Sunday night, depending on what happens. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's a game between two two and eleven teams.
Speaker 1: It does have obviously draft ramifications, but most importantly, I
Speaker 1: want to say that weather can be an issue in
Speaker 1: this game, and you might want to get out your
Speaker 1: umbrellas because Greg has already called it. The Rainmaker said
Speaker 1: get your money, get your money out and get behind
Speaker 1: the Houston Texans. Do you still feel that way? Does
Speaker 1: the Rainmaker Greg still feel like the Texans are the team?
Speaker 1: I mean, I would not have been as excited about
Speaker 1: if I knew that they were getting rid of Urban
Speaker 1: Meyer because Urban Monster behind the misery. This is ridiculous.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is if you haven't watched our YouTube show,
Speaker 1: and I'm sure Ricky will make this a social component.
Speaker 1: The graphic that we have celebrating the Rainmakers return to
Speaker 1: the show is just and I look like a jackass
Speaker 1: because I'm texting while this thing starts. But it's only
Speaker 1: because my computers not working right now and I was
Speaker 1: sending a message to Ricky. It was part of the job.
Speaker 1: This picture is terrible. Everything's terrible. I thought it was
Speaker 1: one of my favorite picks possible. Um when it was
Speaker 1: Texans plus three and a half and Urban Meyer was coaching.
Speaker 1: They've scored. You know, Trevor Lawrence is thrown for one
Speaker 1: touchdown since the bye week that was seven weeks ago.
Speaker 1: But I really do kind of believe in the dead
Speaker 1: coach bounce, uh like it's it's spice Rack's favorite thing.
Speaker 1: If you look back last year, Darryl Bevil, it's your
Speaker 1: Twitter avatar. By the way, Darryl Bevil, remember when he
Speaker 1: took over last last year for Matt Patricia. You know,
Speaker 1: you know what happened in his first game. He won.
Speaker 1: They didn't win for the rest of the season, but
Speaker 1: he won. Do you remember who the Houston Texans is
Speaker 1: in Raham head coach was last year? Mark not at
Speaker 1: all because I don't I don't remember any text, but
Speaker 1: they fired Bill O'Brien. Oh, it was Romeo Cornell that's right. Um,
Speaker 1: you know you know who his first game last year
Speaker 1: and Romeo did and then they didn't win a game
Speaker 1: the rest of the season. It is kind of wild.
Speaker 1: So the rainmakers moving off it. I'm gonna just stick
Speaker 1: with it at this point because, uh, it's too late,
Speaker 1: but I don't feel I wouldn't have got you know.
Speaker 1: It's funny though, there's so many people that believe in
Speaker 1: the dead coach bounds, so the rainmakers going against it
Speaker 1: that the line actually moved up. The Jaguars were three
Speaker 1: and a half point favorites now they're five point favorites.
Speaker 1: So people think that Urban Meyer is worth negative one
Speaker 1: and a half. I think that's in this specific case.
Speaker 1: I feel super legit. It's kind of amazing. So hopefully
Speaker 1: you you didn't do it right away and you can
Speaker 1: get all five of those points. You know. Favorite bounced
Speaker 1: is the Spice Rack Social Disharmony bounce. That one I
Speaker 1: really like. It just feels that, you know, the point.
Speaker 1: The point is I locked it in last Sunday, so
Speaker 1: it's too late. You already put your money down. What
Speaker 1: are you gonna do? This is like the sixth iteration
Speaker 1: of this graphic that was made and a text text
Speaker 1: from Dan. Then yesterday was you see what I'm going for?
Speaker 1: A question? Mark? Just a monster and then another text
Speaker 1: something that wants to die but cannot look like that.
Speaker 1: Look how the money like he vomits all the cash
Speaker 1: Like he's like killed me. I don't know where this
Speaker 1: picture came from, So it came from you sitting on
Speaker 1: the NFL now set. I understand who who took it?
Speaker 1: And why am I frowning in the I think it
Speaker 1: was a screen? Is that? Yeah? Erica believes it's the
Speaker 1: worst picture I've ever taken and that that's why it's
Speaker 1: not the best time since. And our guy behind the scenes, Drake,
Speaker 1: who kills it on the video side, he it in
Speaker 1: a lot of work on that. Yeah. Something not that
Speaker 1: you're a monster, Greg, but I wanted the thing that
Speaker 1: was created here to be a monster that wants to
Speaker 1: die but cannot do is make money, you know, the
Speaker 1: rainmaker or at least the game picks column twelve and
Speaker 1: two last week twenty over against the spread for the year.
Speaker 1: So that's solid, especially this year. Well done, Greg. Alright,
Speaker 1: let's move on, Mark. You just did your pick? Is
Speaker 1: it back to the Zeus? It's back to you, back
Speaker 1: to the Zoosa, all right, I will grab a late
Speaker 1: game here. Um, wait, Packers at Ravens is available. That's
Speaker 1: essentially like the Tom Brady and the Straps sort of
Speaker 1: just sitting there. I don't know what was doing. Well.
Speaker 1: I had a late game that I preferred. How is
Speaker 1: that still there? Because Mark Straine? No, because because I
Speaker 1: and I took the late game already, and then you
Speaker 1: leave that, you're not gonna take the two best late games.
Speaker 1: So it's all on Mark. But you don't prefer. You're
Speaker 1: the only one that wants it. So I guess you
Speaker 1: Houston Jacksonville over Lamar Jackson. Hopefully there is there is
Speaker 1: personal taste involved. That is the greatest steel in the
Speaker 1: history per you. Steel would be like had I wanted
Speaker 1: it and you stole it from me, now I'm I'm
Speaker 1: the tiebreaker, Dan's right. But then then you stole it
Speaker 1: from Greg though, because Greg just simply didn't see that.
Speaker 1: It was sitting out there. I had a late game,
Speaker 1: so I had the other best late but hey, just
Speaker 1: just give me. It was a great steal. I didn't
Speaker 1: try for it whipped. I'm just saying this draft otherwise
Speaker 1: has gone exactly as I hope whipped it right. You're
Speaker 1: like the Seattle Seahawks being like, hey, we wanted to
Speaker 1: take that guy you've never heard of with the pick,
Speaker 1: like that's what we want. It's exactly great, and then
Speaker 1: that player does not is inactive in his second Sea.
Speaker 1: I mean, I am going to be sitting away from
Speaker 1: Dan listening to him shout about this game the entire
Speaker 1: time anyways, so I will be watching it. What is
Speaker 1: the difference had the three, four and six, he still
Speaker 1: come out of it with the game of the week.
Speaker 1: So Packers at Ravens, whoa, here we are now I'm surprised, Um,
Speaker 1: the green Bay Packers playing awesome football right now? So
Speaker 1: fun Greg, you you kind of you nailed the initial
Speaker 1: analysis last week that hey, you had your chance, you
Speaker 1: had your chance to get the Packers when they were
Speaker 1: a team that was going to win most of their games.
Speaker 1: But you know, you would basically be within a score
Speaker 1: at any point and you make a play, make a
Speaker 1: play there, make play here, you could steal win against
Speaker 1: Green Bay. But now it's different. Now you have a
Speaker 1: top ten defense, uh for green Bay with the best
Speaker 1: quarterback in the world back at his on his m
Speaker 1: v P game, So you could put those two things together.
Speaker 1: That's why the number one of the power rankings, that's
Speaker 1: why they're ten and three, and that's why I think
Speaker 1: Baltimore is in a lot of trouble. Even if they
Speaker 1: have Lamar Jackson and he was supposed to pray on
Speaker 1: Thursday and did not, Like they were hopeful that he
Speaker 1: was going to practice today Thursday, he did not, So
Speaker 1: now you have to wonder about Jackson's availability on that angle.
Speaker 1: They said it's not a high ankle sprain, but they lie.
Speaker 1: They always lie. Greg Roman said it was going to
Speaker 1: go down to the wire. I kind of liked Tyler
Speaker 1: Huntley last week. For as little as he's had a
Speaker 1: chance to play, he was I mean, it is a
Speaker 1: massive downgrade. It's just that he was great. He's he's
Speaker 1: he is like you don't want to the rest of
Speaker 1: the year drive than Baker did in that game. They
Speaker 1: were moving. That's a separate argument. I'm comparing them to Lamar,
Speaker 1: not Baker Mayfield. Give me a break, but like the
Speaker 1: my concern for either quarterback is the tackle play for
Speaker 1: Baltimore right now, it's been bad. I mean, it's caused
Speaker 1: issues for Lamar and it caused issues for Tyler Huntley
Speaker 1: a week ago, and you've got a good pass rush
Speaker 1: coming in. I read something this morning, great piece in
Speaker 1: The Ringer by Stephen Louise Uh about why why can't
Speaker 1: the Ravens shake out of this offensive slide? And the
Speaker 1: basic conceit of it was maybe it's Greg Roman's fault.
Speaker 1: Maybe this this run heavy scheme where they load up
Speaker 1: with a fullback and they only have two wide receivers
Speaker 1: on the field. It puts Lamar into really bad situations
Speaker 1: where defense can Defenses load up the boxes at the
Speaker 1: box and they don't ever get burned on it because
Speaker 1: they don't have a scheme that allows them to attack
Speaker 1: Uh in the passing game because of the way they
Speaker 1: run their offense. Now, the one thing, and again I
Speaker 1: thought it was really good piece. The one thing that
Speaker 1: I noticed was curiously missing was any any talk about well,
Speaker 1: is the reason why they have not moved away from
Speaker 1: the scheme is that they don't think that Lamar can
Speaker 1: run a traditional, closer to a pro style passing offenses.
Speaker 1: That's something that the reason Baltimore has been slow to
Speaker 1: move off that isn't because of being stubborn but because
Speaker 1: they don't think that's the best use of Lamar. My
Speaker 1: my point on this, though, ultimately, is they should. They
Speaker 1: need to try to mix things up with their structure.
Speaker 1: Maybe they can't, but they have the they have the weapons.
Speaker 1: They have Hollywood Brown, they have Sammy Watkins, they have
Speaker 1: a Shot Bateman, they have Mark Andrews. When are they
Speaker 1: going to open this thing up? Is it not that
Speaker 1: easy in the middle of the season. But if it
Speaker 1: is something where it's an adjustment that can be made,
Speaker 1: it's now time to do it, because we've seen enough
Speaker 1: for this offense where it ain't working all right. But
Speaker 1: I would just say their past protection has been a
Speaker 1: massive issue. Like I mean, I don't know what you're suggesting.
Speaker 1: They do throw the ball another fifteen times a game,
Speaker 1: but like that's people have been styming. It's it's the
Speaker 1: formations that they're throwing the ball. And there they still
Speaker 1: kind of look like a power running team, which is
Speaker 1: ultimately reliant on Lamar's athleticism. Yeah, they often allow the
Speaker 1: unblocked rusher to get through and you, hey, Lamar, go
Speaker 1: beat him. And we've got advantages in terms of the
Speaker 1: numbers that that is that would be tough to reshape
Speaker 1: in the middle of the season, especially they lost the
Speaker 1: right tackle Patrick McCarry, who had been playing really well.
Speaker 1: I kind of look came into the week thinking, like, man,
Speaker 1: if ever there was like a spot, it's a nonconference game,
Speaker 1: the Packers are on the road, it's like they're flying high,
Speaker 1: Like if ever there was a spot for like an
Speaker 1: organizational surprise, like the Ravens stand up and like get
Speaker 1: an upset, Like it just felt like that sort of moment.
Speaker 1: And Lamar has this great game, but his injury has
Speaker 1: me worried. And Mark, you mentioned the Packers pass rush.
Speaker 1: It's been so good without like without Zadarius Smith, it's
Speaker 1: so good right now. So that matchup, and then you
Speaker 1: think of the matchups on the outside when Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: has the ball, the starting cornerbacks for Baltimore or Anthony
Speaker 1: Averett and Chris Westrey, and I think, like, we're so
Speaker 1: used to the Ravens losing players that Humphrey was just
Speaker 1: like another one to lose. But that's where we talk
Speaker 1: about clusters again. Humphrey and Peters. Now you have these
Speaker 1: two great cornerbacks. Now you have zero great cornerbacks. Uh,
Speaker 1: and a team that's like relying on Blitze and it's
Speaker 1: just a lot going wrong. It would be and like
Speaker 1: one of the best wins of John Arba's career. If
Speaker 1: they could win this game. That part of it, I
Speaker 1: think fries Baltimore. I mean, they're the thirty first ranked
Speaker 1: past defense, and a lot of it has to do
Speaker 1: with just lack of availability of who they went into
Speaker 1: the season with. Stealing a game wouldn't matter. I mean
Speaker 1: the rest of Baltimore schedule. I know that they're sitting
Speaker 1: at the top of the division, but at Cincinnati, verse
Speaker 1: the Rams and then verse Pittsburgh, the sky's falling there.
Speaker 1: Baltimore fans and radio that if like they're not convinced
Speaker 1: that this Ravens team is gonna necessarily make the playoffs.
Speaker 1: I also think with the Greg Roman thing a little bit,
Speaker 1: that's who Greg Roman has been, Like, they went through
Speaker 1: this whole metamorphosis to shape it around Lamar and I
Speaker 1: think with the players that they have out like to
Speaker 1: go shift to something completely different, I'm not sure they
Speaker 1: have the right. That's another one there to do that.
Speaker 1: It's another thing when you look back, did we over
Speaker 1: You know at this point I've been holding on maybe
Speaker 1: too long to those first five weeks because they were different.
Speaker 1: They were a vertical passing game and you you mentioned
Speaker 1: more of a pro style, a little more conventional Dan.
Speaker 1: I see that, but he is a pocket quarterback, like
Speaker 1: they could do that. I don't know if you can
Speaker 1: do that in the middle of the season. Like most
Speaker 1: of his success as a quarterback has been from the
Speaker 1: pocket like that when he he played in college at
Speaker 1: Louisville and passing offense. So you know, we keep on
Speaker 1: hearing about this cover too. Shell Um that's shutting down
Speaker 1: Kansas City and Buffalo. Um. The cover to invert is
Speaker 1: what you gotta keep an eye on. That's killing the Ravens. Uh.
Speaker 1: It's very interesting like the way, but the basic thing
Speaker 1: is like where you dropped the two cornerbacks back and
Speaker 1: then you have the safeties and everybody's just like crowding
Speaker 1: up and there's just no space to operate for Baltimore.
Speaker 1: And it's interesting because they're running with the full back there,
Speaker 1: with the running back there, and it's all set up
Speaker 1: for the running game. But because they've revealed like kind
Speaker 1: of who they are, it's always crowded down there. And
Speaker 1: that's why we're not seeing any of that. Like LaMarche,
Speaker 1: they are a great coaching staff, but great coaching staffs
Speaker 1: need to adjust, and maybe it's just too hard with
Speaker 1: all these injuries and it just wasn't gonna happen. That
Speaker 1: they are a good example. I believe that. Hey, it's
Speaker 1: like running backs do matter um to the point that
Speaker 1: you that you need to have, like in an offense
Speaker 1: like this, there's a reason why they kept draft why
Speaker 1: they drafted j K. Mark Ingram a couple of years
Speaker 1: ago was perfect. I really do think that the drop
Speaker 1: off at running back has really been significant for them,
Speaker 1: that it's really hurt them. Mark cover two. Invert that
Speaker 1: down a little more. Dan, Well, usually you have the
Speaker 1: two safeties deed in this defense, you have the corners
Speaker 1: deep so they take care of anybody on the jets,
Speaker 1: and you send the safeties into the flat or either
Speaker 1: send them into the flat and they're more short handled tacklers,
Speaker 1: they can handle things in that realm. And then you
Speaker 1: have the box obviously stuffed up as well, so you
Speaker 1: just that's the cover to invert in a nutshell. By
Speaker 1: the way, speaking in a nut you couldn't fit that
Speaker 1: in a nutshell. That was a lot of information. We
Speaker 1: have a lot to talk about for this game before
Speaker 1: we move on. Hello heroes, still here again this week.
Speaker 1: I guess nobody else wanted to do the recording, so
Speaker 1: I'm doing it again week with the Green Bay Packers
Speaker 1: that were the Baltimore Ravens on fire and we don't
Speaker 1: even know if the mar is gonna play. Nick says
Speaker 1: it doesn't pass the mirror test, but I don't care enough.
Speaker 1: I like it shortened to the point there by Phil
Speaker 1: and Nick it does. It does pass. Calm down with
Speaker 1: the mirror test. Um, it's like a four four and
Speaker 1: a half points. Yeah, that definitely pasts like it is
Speaker 1: the Ravens. The Ravens like they deserve organizational love. Their
Speaker 1: five and one at home this year. They're one of
Speaker 1: the few teams that have had a home field advantage
Speaker 1: yet I like that lock. By the way, if anyone's
Speaker 1: curious where we're at. The Westley Brothers are seven and
Speaker 1: seven this year, so it's been a kind of a
Speaker 1: middling year for them and their first they're in fighting
Speaker 1: in the way that they operate, right, that's but it's not.
Speaker 1: They're only three games out. Mark and I are ten
Speaker 1: and four and the listeners are eight, eight and six,
Speaker 1: and Ricky it says two and eleven. But like I'm saying,
Speaker 1: I think maybe you've got to take that and maybe
Speaker 1: flip it. Maybe she's closer to like, I don't know,
Speaker 1: seven and six. I'm like that. I think I think
Speaker 1: that's fair, even if it's not official. Like, we know
Speaker 1: you've done the Patriots great service. All right, let's pause
Speaker 1: right here and take a break. We'll be right back,
Speaker 1: all right, let us move on. Wow, I can't believe
Speaker 1: that game went that late. It goes now to Greg
Speaker 1: with the penultimate pick in our draft. Oh wow, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna take a late game. I know Mark doesn't want
Speaker 1: to late games. We want a happy Mark on Sunday, Cincinnati, Denver.
Speaker 1: Love these games. I love that the whole season is
Speaker 1: like a story, you know, and now we get to see,
Speaker 1: like what's the ending of the story. And I know,
Speaker 1: you know, you're like in Mark's world, these two teams
Speaker 1: aren't gonna win the Super Bowl? So does their story
Speaker 1: really matter? Who was more excited about the Bengals a
Speaker 1: week ago than weeks ago? You were? You were so
Speaker 1: angry that they were losing to the Chargers, only because
Speaker 1: you had a strong take about them, which I found
Speaker 1: that I like that. I would like that. Well, it
Speaker 1: was like nailing the coffin for me to realize, I
Speaker 1: have no idea what's happening at all? That's what did it?
Speaker 1: I no? I like that. Um like if if if
Speaker 1: I was living and dying on our takes, like you
Speaker 1: just would be dying every week, Like how many times
Speaker 1: would would I be dying? I think these two teams
Speaker 1: are interesting. I think there's a good chance, you know,
Speaker 1: one of these teams makes the playoff is here. I
Speaker 1: know you guys don't want to hear about it, but
Speaker 1: it's like Teddy Bridgewater has a pretty legitimate chance to
Speaker 1: be like starting starting that first Saturday, because the Broncos
Speaker 1: are going to be in that Saturday afternoon worst time
Speaker 1: slot playoff game if they're in it most likely, I
Speaker 1: feel like Teddy could be in this game, like we're
Speaker 1: gonna find the end to this story. And when I
Speaker 1: look at the Broncos, I think there's at least a
Speaker 1: case to be made that this time of year is
Speaker 1: their chance to be their best they've been all year,
Speaker 1: because I think the defense for the last five or
Speaker 1: six weeks has gotten out of their funk, and the
Speaker 1: offense is at least healthier then it's been in And
Speaker 1: this Bengals team, on the other hand, there's something not
Speaker 1: adding up to me, like there twenty one and offensive
Speaker 1: dv o A. This is great talent. I think Joe
Speaker 1: Burrows playing like a top seven or eight quarterback. To me,
Speaker 1: it comes to coaching where it's not they're not maximizing
Speaker 1: their guys. And Fngio and Zach Taylor are two third
Speaker 1: year coaches who have been around a little while they're
Speaker 1: getting to the end here. I kind of trust Fongio
Speaker 1: a little more in this spot than I do the Bengals.
Speaker 1: Zach Taylor is um being put into a rough place
Speaker 1: this week. I think a lot of people feel like
Speaker 1: the way that you do that that some of the
Speaker 1: gamesmanship and decisions a week ago in that loss, um
Speaker 1: we're fell on coaching and it's just like, let Joe
Speaker 1: Burrow go be Joe Burrow, And I would say they
Speaker 1: have these two teams that the Bengals, when you get
Speaker 1: the good version, could go into the seventh seed or
Speaker 1: or into a playoff situation and tangle with any more interesting.
Speaker 1: They definitely are and like I mean, they're they're penchant
Speaker 1: for big plays. Um just makes him watchable and extremely dangerous.
Speaker 1: And this is their season, I think because they've got
Speaker 1: a rough slate too. They've got Baltimore, Kansas City, and Cleveland.
Speaker 1: After this game, give me a wild card Saturday that
Speaker 1: has Cincinnati in Minnesota both playing on the same day.
Speaker 1: Go wrong, give me, give me. That we talked about
Speaker 1: and to the point of some of the Zach Taylor
Speaker 1: criticism we mentioned on Tuesday's show, The Run, Run past
Speaker 1: decision and overtime when they were first intended to twenty
Speaker 1: six and overtime. Jamar Chase was asked about that after
Speaker 1: the game, and Jamar Chase showed up and had a
Speaker 1: huge game um in that loss. And when he was asked,
Speaker 1: why do you think you guys decided to run and
Speaker 1: get run heavy in that spot when you're moving the
Speaker 1: ball passing so well, And his response was, shoot, good question, man,
Speaker 1: good question. Well, that's typically just like leaving the coach out,
Speaker 1: you know, hanging him out to dry. You know, there's
Speaker 1: a guy follow on Twitter, Ali Connolly who's over in
Speaker 1: the u K. He's been on Mena Kimes pod. He
Speaker 1: described he he's much smarter acts as than Oz and
Speaker 1: I did. But he described the Zach Taylor offense is
Speaker 1: like not really enough like and this kind of to
Speaker 1: me speaks to Zach Taylor the coach. He doesn't really
Speaker 1: have like the Zach Taylor offense. He just sort of
Speaker 1: like grabs like the greatest hits from all the other offenses.
Speaker 1: And to me that that makes sense. There's something formless
Speaker 1: to me, uh about this group, about this offense. And
Speaker 1: maybe I'm just biased and wanting to buy into this
Speaker 1: uh Broncos team one more time, but there's there's like
Speaker 1: there's something there that I actually think the Broncos have
Speaker 1: have forged some toughness throughout the course of this season,
Speaker 1: and their defense especially, I think it's finally showing up
Speaker 1: like like we thought it might early in the year.
Speaker 1: All right, up next, I think the final pick in
Speaker 1: the draft goes to the old Zeuser and I will
Speaker 1: grab Jets at Dolphins story. This week, Ringer doing some
Speaker 1: good NFL writing. Ben Solac wrote the first piece that
Speaker 1: I've seen, the first national piece, Zack Wilson has been bad?
Speaker 1: What does that mean for his NFL future? And I
Speaker 1: thought the time was interesting because Sunday was the first
Speaker 1: day when I was thinking the same exact thing to myself.
Speaker 1: It was like, this is gonna be okay. So that's
Speaker 1: where like this Jet season, the rest of this week,
Speaker 1: the rest of this year. Now three and ten eleven
Speaker 1: straight years with without the playoffs. That's the longest streak
Speaker 1: in the NFL. It's like, is Zach Wilson going to
Speaker 1: show us something between now and a week eighteen or
Speaker 1: are we gonna go into this offseason and a full on,
Speaker 1: Oh this he's gonna be on on basically trial in
Speaker 1: his second year because that's kind of how things work now.
Speaker 1: You don't get four years to figure it out. Typically
Speaker 1: it's two and then it's decision time for these teams.
Speaker 1: So it happens quick. Zach Wilson, can you make progress here? Now?
Speaker 1: The Dolphins are a tough opponent to do it against
Speaker 1: on the road. Is not gonna make it easier for
Speaker 1: Zach Wilson. But the Miami team is another team that, all, right,
Speaker 1: Zach Wilson, show me something. Miami. It's not like there's
Speaker 1: they have done nothing wrong. In fact, all they've done
Speaker 1: is win for like a month and a half now.
Speaker 1: But I don't have to be excited about the Dolphins
Speaker 1: yet I don't. I don't have to feel like they're
Speaker 1: a team I need to see as a contender in
Speaker 1: the a f C. Even if I know they're in
Speaker 1: playoff positioning, they still do not do it for me.
Speaker 1: Am I am I wrong to feel this way if
Speaker 1: they're not excited. So it's like you can only play
Speaker 1: your schedule. But this has been the softest schedule I
Speaker 1: ever remember a team getting for this amount of time.
Speaker 1: I think it's fine to feel that way because we
Speaker 1: we can't, you know, either genuinely be excited or manufacture
Speaker 1: excitement over thirty two different teams at the same time.
Speaker 1: It's a little too much. But I I'm I'm a
Speaker 1: little different with thin you on the Dolphins that I
Speaker 1: just think that they went back to what I liked
Speaker 1: about them a year ago on defense and refound that identity.
Speaker 1: And you know, if you look about Zach Wilson like
Speaker 1: he could look across the way at tah who coming
Speaker 1: into year two is draped with questions throughout a season,
Speaker 1: but has actually played I think quite well inside their
Speaker 1: system and does not help that they won't have to
Speaker 1: in a in a in a way that almost unlike
Speaker 1: any quarterback. You know, they brought in his college coach.
Speaker 1: They're so r P O heavy. I think he's like
Speaker 1: leads the NFL and yards you know on run pass
Speaker 1: option by like double any other quarterback. Despite him, you know,
Speaker 1: missing those games, he's really good at the short game
Speaker 1: stuff and that's basically all they run. It's not esthetically pleasing,
Speaker 1: So I totally get Dan why. Like defensively, yeah, they've
Speaker 1: turned it on. I think they were. They were trying
Speaker 1: to do what they were doing a year ago just
Speaker 1: wasn't working for the first six or seven games. They
Speaker 1: are incredibly aggressive defense, and now it's working. They're a
Speaker 1: tough defense to play against, and their offense is not
Speaker 1: fun to watch. But you know, to A and Zach Wilson,
Speaker 1: there's a big dichotomy there. To A to A look
Speaker 1: like an NFL quarterback from day one. Zack Wilson has
Speaker 1: struggled to a degree that I thought thinking, you know
Speaker 1: that during that game, like, of course you got to
Speaker 1: play him, but should should if he played two more
Speaker 1: starts like that? Should should he be playing football? Because
Speaker 1: it's not serving anyone? Yeah, his the way he you
Speaker 1: could tell the game is not slowing down for him.
Speaker 1: You see it week after week. He doesn't process the
Speaker 1: game fast enough. And the only hope is that with
Speaker 1: reps and time and just going through the motions of
Speaker 1: being a young quarterback, that improves. But history is littered
Speaker 1: with guys, guys that were top five picks that you
Speaker 1: saw it immediately that the game wasn't really going to
Speaker 1: translate for them. And that's the only thing I'm nervous about.
Speaker 1: And I'm not saying that um that he's doomed in
Speaker 1: my eyes, but like, I didn't even feel this way
Speaker 1: about Donald Donald. I thought he was showing enough in
Speaker 1: his rookie year, especially near the end of that year,
Speaker 1: was like, Okay, there's something to build on here. With Wilson,
Speaker 1: there hasn't been much of a base here to get
Speaker 1: excited about with You could have a couple of a
Speaker 1: couple of quarters here and there where he got hot,
Speaker 1: but otherwise, any other quarterback that's on this roster has
Speaker 1: been better than him. It's I think he's looked really concerning.
Speaker 1: But one difference between him and Donald is like everyone
Speaker 1: protected Donald's play to such a degree because they had
Speaker 1: Adam Gates to blame everything on. I hear almost no
Speaker 1: blame for the Jets coaching staff, and I understand that
Speaker 1: like Robert Sale is uh someone that personality wise we enjoy.
Speaker 1: But I mean there's a lot to be said for
Speaker 1: how a couple other teams around the league have you know,
Speaker 1: developed rookie quarterbacks. Look at Mac Jones, I mean it's
Speaker 1: I understand that the numbers like they were literally top
Speaker 1: ten and e p A without Zach Wilson, like Josh
Speaker 1: Johnson looked pretty darn good. Right. They played Flacco against
Speaker 1: the Dolphins last time because they didn't want to expose
Speaker 1: Wilson in the game. Now he has to play that game. Um,
Speaker 1: Mike White had his moments, like you know, like the
Speaker 1: other three quarterbacks all looked Yeah, the Mike White game
Speaker 1: that everyone like went nuts over, were like it wasn't
Speaker 1: he throwing like three and four yard passes the whole time.
Speaker 1: I'm not taking that away from It's just like I'm
Speaker 1: not like Zach Wilson needs more time, but like it's
Speaker 1: not just Za wilson isolated issue. He needs an offseason
Speaker 1: reset and maybe he comes back a different player. I've
Speaker 1: seen it happen with Eli Manning and Alex Smith. Those
Speaker 1: are two guys drafted just you know thing though those
Speaker 1: guys were drafted like even at a time where and
Speaker 1: I know it's a Manning brother, but like quarterbacks that
Speaker 1: are drafted top five, seven, eight, these these years should
Speaker 1: come in ready to go. College is different now, right, Zack.
Speaker 1: I think to mark to dance point, he's at a
Speaker 1: level where it's among the worst of the worst. Like
Speaker 1: rookie seasons from quarterbacks. Doesn't mean there hasn't been cases
Speaker 1: where you don't you don't bounce back. Those are two
Speaker 1: of them, Eli and Alex Smith, But more often than not,
Speaker 1: it's a pretty big red flag. Yeah, I don't wanna. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to ring the alarm bell too loud here,
Speaker 1: but I think their offensive line is not good. But
Speaker 1: it's okay. It's been good last he had That's what
Speaker 1: worried me last week. Their offensive line played great. The
Speaker 1: Saints don't have much of a Pastors. There was no
Speaker 1: pressure in that game. There was no pass rush in
Speaker 1: that game. Saints jents. You want to know how many
Speaker 1: sacks George Fant has given up at left tackle this year? One,
Speaker 1: Like the line has been okay, they're playmakers. They're not terrible.
Speaker 1: They have tight end issues, but they have some playmakers.
Speaker 1: They have health issues, and the offensive play calling has
Speaker 1: not been bad. It was shaky early on, but I
Speaker 1: don't know how much of that is connected to them
Speaker 1: realizing how deep they were into it with the rookie
Speaker 1: quarterback being in over You about this week anyway could
Speaker 1: be well, it's it's not something that I want to
Speaker 1: talk about, but I feel like it's something that should
Speaker 1: be stated at this point. Um, all right, let's see
Speaker 1: that closes the draft. What do you have lest what
Speaker 1: left Washington and Philadelphia and Caroline at Buffalo, Washington at Philly,
Speaker 1: uh Mark, you want to get us go in there? Well,
Speaker 1: I mean it's it's along with the Browns Raiders game.
Speaker 1: I mean, what's happening to Washington is the centerpiece they
Speaker 1: have right now? Um, a flood of players on the
Speaker 1: COVID list. They have a total of thirty players on
Speaker 1: COVID and I are I think we've got something like
Speaker 1: thirty something active players to even put on the field.
Speaker 1: So this team that a couple of weeks ago, uh
Speaker 1: was a fun little factor in the playoff race is
Speaker 1: probably a sitting duck for Philadelphia that you know. I mean,
Speaker 1: these guys play each other in a couple of weeks.
Speaker 1: That could look a lot different than at that point.
Speaker 1: I guess we want to We don't know if Jalen
Speaker 1: Hurts is definitely gonna play. It's you don't think it
Speaker 1: had a high ankle sprain, which they successfully shielded from
Speaker 1: the media for a while. That's always the first question
Speaker 1: the media asked when whenever anybody has an um and
Speaker 1: so this injury, which we didn't think was that serious,
Speaker 1: now it's coming on three weeks. It sounds like Minshew
Speaker 1: has a decent chance to to play in this game.
Speaker 1: I don't think it matters. Like I would have loved
Speaker 1: to throw a little rainmaker fun on this earlier in
Speaker 1: the week, even before the COVID stuff. It was at
Speaker 1: five and a half the football team. It's now up
Speaker 1: to nine and a half. And I still love the
Speaker 1: Eagles in this to to go over that because the
Speaker 1: Eagles defensive line is healthy. This Washington offensive line is
Speaker 1: not at all in the level of COVID players, and
Speaker 1: injuries to Washington is unlike I think anything that's happened
Speaker 1: to any team in the last two years. And I
Speaker 1: think people are getting wise to that. That's why a
Speaker 1: team like the Eagles are favored by nine and a half.
Speaker 1: And even then, I don't think it's enough. Like I
Speaker 1: I think the Eagles could win this game by twenty
Speaker 1: or thirty. The defensive line for Washington tins down like
Speaker 1: five of their topics people players, but then just regular
Speaker 1: old the injuries. Curtis, Samuel h is Her, Terry McLaurin
Speaker 1: is coming off a concussion might not play in this
Speaker 1: game like they They're so banged up. It just doesn't
Speaker 1: feel fair. And I don't think this will. This stuff
Speaker 1: gets stupid at this point. Sorry, I mean, and you know,
Speaker 1: if you're Gardner Minshew, you're thinking yourself, Okay, if I
Speaker 1: can just get a second start, especially in this matchup
Speaker 1: right now, I destroy Washington after I lit up the Jets,
Speaker 1: that's going to put the head coach in a tough
Speaker 1: position to take me out of the lineup. He he
Speaker 1: had cover to defend his QB one after one game.
Speaker 1: But if I do two games in a row, it
Speaker 1: doesn't matter who I beat. But if I light up Washington,
Speaker 1: they might I mean yeah, if they factor into the
Speaker 1: fact that like Greg and I are starting along Washington's
Speaker 1: defensive line by Sunday. But right, I know it does
Speaker 1: feel like a little google ish um sometimes you know,
Speaker 1: to make analysis like based off all this COVID stuff.
Speaker 1: But yeah, the the checks deposit either way. I think
Speaker 1: it's gonna be raining here. Uh. I just want to
Speaker 1: see that graphic again. Let's see it. Let's bring it up, Eagles,
Speaker 1: Let's do this. I gotta give our production team a
Speaker 1: little heads up on that Greggy there it is. Everyone
Speaker 1: is agony, there it is. There's the money just pouring
Speaker 1: out of his mouth like one year old on his birthday.
Speaker 1: I can't wait to go into here and then put
Speaker 1: it back in. Uh. Finally, the Carolina Panthers at Buffalo Bills.
Speaker 1: All right, so skid City perfect spot for the Bills.
Speaker 1: I mean, you cannot add. The only better opponents really
Speaker 1: would maybe be the two teams playing each other, Jacksonville
Speaker 1: and Houston. Maybe the Jets, But the Panthers are in
Speaker 1: that group as well. Where it's like this is when
Speaker 1: you want to catch the Panthers. They are a sinking ship.
Speaker 1: They don't know what's going on. Uh. Their quarterback play
Speaker 1: has been off the charts. Bad for weeks. Christian McCaffrey
Speaker 1: is not only Christian McCaffrey is like, I'm already out
Speaker 1: for the year, but let me just I got COVID too,
Speaker 1: Do not dare put me back in the lineup. I'll
Speaker 1: see in two. So he is long gone out of
Speaker 1: the picture. And the Bills, who need to win in
Speaker 1: the worst way. If we if we were like those
Speaker 1: people that do their Sunday kickoff shows. This drives me
Speaker 1: crazy when it's like, um, oh yeah, I have to
Speaker 1: lock a game. Oh yeah, Bills over Panthers. That's my
Speaker 1: lockanutless locks. Yeah, that would be my gutless lock. Is
Speaker 1: Bills getting the win they need because they opt to
Speaker 1: play the old Greg game that works. What's what makes
Speaker 1: more sense the Bills coming out of the seven and
Speaker 1: seven and the Panthers six and eight, or the Bills
Speaker 1: getting the eight and six the Panthers continuing their fade
Speaker 1: to five. And this is another one like favorites late.
Speaker 1: I think finally we keep saying like we don't know anything,
Speaker 1: but the last couple of weeks, actually favorites have just
Speaker 1: keep winning, and I think the truly bad teams have
Speaker 1: shown themselves and that's what you're doing like the line
Speaker 1: here is ten and a half and that doesn't seem
Speaker 1: nearly enough. And it's I know, I know, you're getting
Speaker 1: on the quarterback play and that's what's getting attention. That
Speaker 1: can played pretty well for most of that game, except
Speaker 1: for the the pick six, I guess say, But how
Speaker 1: about the Dolphins game? Not not well? The defense? Well,
Speaker 1: what about that terrible fumble of midfield that ended the
Speaker 1: game essentially that ability that that was a weird handoff play.
Speaker 1: You're right, I was a weird snap. I'm just saying
Speaker 1: I was expecting like a terrible game, and he was
Speaker 1: like sixth right for eight seven. It was really just
Speaker 1: if you took away the pick six, he had a
Speaker 1: fine game. My point is the defense is not special
Speaker 1: at all. Like they can't get off the field. I
Speaker 1: thought they were going to be special. They're not at all.
Speaker 1: There's no reason they should so. And the interior offensive
Speaker 1: line for Carolina is unplayable. Rule has all this stuff
Speaker 1: about he wants to be a running team, well, draft
Speaker 1: or develop a good offensive line, or or hire a
Speaker 1: good offensive line coach. They are one of their interior
Speaker 1: offense line from the real tape heads like Baldy think
Speaker 1: are right there with Miami as like the worst in
Speaker 1: the entire NFL. I don't know, it's just one of
Speaker 1: the most concerned by forty, one of the most concerning
Speaker 1: develop I like it. Three Picks from the rain Yeah,
Speaker 1: let's do it, all right, there, you got, you got
Speaker 1: three picks. You want to pay for Christmas? You want
Speaker 1: to do you want to be taking care of that. Actually,
Speaker 1: this is like follow the Rainmaker to the Desert. It's
Speaker 1: like a guest star coming back to a TV show
Speaker 1: but then they like over use him way too much
Speaker 1: and everyone's sick of it. It's a reboot and let's
Speaker 1: hope you're not big at the end of that episode,
Speaker 1: you know, clutching your chest, laying in a shower stall.
Speaker 1: All right, there you go. Spoiler spoiler apologies if anybody
Speaker 1: hadn't seen episode one of the Sex and I will
Speaker 1: definitely again. I've heard I've heard this spoiler many times,
Speaker 1: big and oh, and then then it was there, and
Speaker 1: then there was it was that was a catastrophic decision
Speaker 1: to make it that because every single negative headline about
Speaker 1: this show is just and then it was a piece
Speaker 1: of or whatever. It's like, I've seen that sort of headline.
Speaker 1: All right, So there you go. That is the week
Speaker 1: fifteen preview tonight, Greg Rosenthal, special guests, Lakshasi, big Get
Speaker 1: in a big spot it from that's right from westling
Speaker 1: manor that's pretty good. That's a good get. So Greg
Speaker 1: and Keish will be handling the TNF recap of Chargers Chiefs.
Speaker 1: Check that out, and then Sunday night we'll be back
Speaker 1: as a group to recap every game we just preview.
Speaker 1: That's how it works. Make sure you check out be
Speaker 1: around the NFL broadcast on NFL Network. You catch it
Speaker 1: streaming live on NFL dot Com Friday's at one pm
Speaker 1: Eastern and am Cific. We've never plugged that before, but
Speaker 1: you can you can live that. We've literally never said
Speaker 1: it before. You can watch it live on NFL dot Com.
Speaker 1: We're on on a game day this week, I think,
Speaker 1: or I hope it's a Saturday, and we should be
Speaker 1: checking that and then Saturday maybe we'll be on TV
Speaker 1: because the time Sloite usually doesn't clash with football games.
Speaker 1: Because we're on at four am here in California on
Speaker 1: Saturday's four am Pacific seven A. I'm Eastern around the
Speaker 1: NFL broadcast two hours. We go around the NFL and
Speaker 1: hit every team in the league. So check that program out.
Speaker 1: We're proud of it. You like the podcast, you like
Speaker 1: the TV show, that's a promise. And if you watch
Speaker 1: the TV show like a year ago or two years
Speaker 1: ago and you're like, oh, it's not the same as
Speaker 1: the podcast, well first, all up your nose with a
Speaker 1: rubber hose. Number two. Check it out. Now, tell us
Speaker 1: what you think. Tell us is it still feel that way?
Speaker 1: It's been rebranded, and shame on you if you've taken
Speaker 1: that much time in between two. Can you listen to
Speaker 1: the podcast? We love you. I'll judge them just a
Speaker 1: little bit. All right, I don't judge you. Mark judges you.
Speaker 1: But come back to the TV show. Give it a chance.
Speaker 1: You'll love it. You can watch it on YouTube to
Speaker 1: UK people that don't get NFL networker can't see it's
Speaker 1: on Sky, you can watch it on The numbers on
Speaker 1: YouTube are just there, insane, they are. They really big
Speaker 1: numbers and really big numbers across the board, every team covered.
Speaker 1: So if you're just like a huge Falcons fan and
Speaker 1: you just if even if you don't want to hear
Speaker 1: the rest of the teams. You just just go right
Speaker 1: to the Falcons toutes if you're sick of your team
Speaker 1: and don't want to hear about the two tested positive
Speaker 1: for COVID. No, he didn't. Yeah, that would have Mullins
Speaker 1: into the That would have been worth the breaking news
Speaker 1: screamed it out. So I was like, oh, my god,
Speaker 1: just you guys. You guys were members of the Nick
Speaker 1: Mullins fan club. Especially, Maybe they have a chance. Though
Speaker 1: I like Nick Mullins, but I don't like the way
Speaker 1: that we've got them back in our life here. That's brutal.
Speaker 1: That is brutal. Well, how do we know Nick Mullins
Speaker 1: doesn't have it if the other two quarterbacks do? This
Speaker 1: is the worst this COVID nineteen. My god? Can we
Speaker 1: can we please? Can we can we chill out with this? Well,
Speaker 1: they said they would not they will not consider removing
Speaker 1: a moving the game, but just where to move it?
Speaker 1: First of all, Sunday, even a day, would it help
Speaker 1: you change but that? But you're right, why not Sunday,
Speaker 1: Because I'll tell you why. It's green and it's it's
Speaker 1: a it's shape, plain, it's the shooting out of the monster.
Speaker 1: Greg's mouth in the rainmakers. All Right, I'm sorry Mark.
Speaker 1: Well well, I mean, life goes on. What can what can?
Speaker 1: It is a little it is tough, tough for those brownies,
Speaker 1: all right, but good for you people who love a
Speaker 1: long podcast. All right, let's go. Dan Hands is signing
Speaker 1: off for Guide Storm. The old Boss, Ricky Hollywood, the
Speaker 1: grave digger, closed the door on his private life tonight today.
Speaker 1: That was I thought that was a class act. That
Speaker 1: he's opening the door to a new bedroom this weekend
Speaker 1: and then he's closed. Yeah, I'm not sure we've sealed
Speaker 1: that up entirely. Heed the call.