Speaker 1: Welcome to NFL Daily, where we don't need no stinking
Speaker 1: open to night. We're always open. It's in the title.
Speaker 1: I'm Greg Rosenthal here in the Chris Wesley podcast studio
Speaker 1: for the first and last time this week, for the
Speaker 1: last time in this season, and I'm sitting next to
Speaker 1: Patrick Claybond and joining us from New Orleans is Nick Shook.
Speaker 1: I will see you there tomorrow. I'm about to go
Speaker 1: get on a plane.
Speaker 2: How are you doing, Nick, I'm preparing the roll to
Speaker 2: roll off the red carpet for you. Greg. You know
Speaker 2: we're gonna get people doing. We're gonna be a jazz band.
Speaker 2: You're gonna make you feel like you might have experienced
Speaker 2: back in your college days. You know we're gonna welcome
Speaker 2: you back to New Orleans.
Speaker 3: I can't wait to be there.
Speaker 1: And right before we started, Patrick asked the question everyone's wondering,
Speaker 1: which is, how's the weight room at the hotel that
Speaker 1: we're sure.
Speaker 2: It's It's in a well. This is an older building
Speaker 2: that I'm staying in, very typical of New Orleans, and
Speaker 2: it's in a room. When I walked in, I looked
Speaker 2: around and I thought, I think they signed the declaration
Speaker 2: of independence in here. What they have fashioned it into
Speaker 2: a weight room pretty well. But you know, as Patrick
Speaker 2: mentioned before we started the show, weights only go up
Speaker 2: to fifty at hotel gyms. There's only so much you
Speaker 2: could do. I need a little more resistance. So we're
Speaker 2: getting a lot of shoulder workouts in this week.
Speaker 4: It's champagne problems.
Speaker 5: You know, when you've grinded Grek, when you've put in
Speaker 5: the work like Shook has, you know, a fifties not
Speaker 5: getting done. So he's having to do like weird hand grips.
Speaker 5: He's having to put the twenties on top of the
Speaker 5: fifties to try to do something, and he's making all.
Speaker 3: The just multiple fifties or something. I don't know.
Speaker 2: I mean, we start stacking dumb.
Speaker 1: I don't live in this world where you guys are
Speaker 1: just like, oh, the weights aren't heavy enough for us.
Speaker 3: Well, we're men.
Speaker 5: You want to prioritize, right, you would like to overload
Speaker 5: the muscle. You don't want to prioritize fatigue and do
Speaker 5: it a whole bunch of reps.
Speaker 4: It's all about mechanical tension, you know.
Speaker 3: It's just no, I don't know.
Speaker 4: I'm just looking on Google right now.
Speaker 1: I don't know, but I do hope to to get
Speaker 1: some workouts in New Orleans.
Speaker 3: That would be great.
Speaker 1: But if it doesn't happen, it would be an homage
Speaker 1: to my previous life in New Orleans, where I definitely
Speaker 1: wasn't doing any workout there.
Speaker 3: There was like there's like a couple of.
Speaker 1: Days of when I thought I was gonna maybe be
Speaker 1: on what the equivalent with the practice squad of the
Speaker 1: tennis team would be, and it's like, nope, let's uh,
Speaker 1: let's focus on what's important in New Orleans, and that's
Speaker 1: drinking and eating and football. I was going to a
Speaker 1: lot of those Saints games back in the day with
Speaker 1: Aaron Brooks Mike McCarthy as the the OC back then.
Speaker 1: M Yeah, squad, they were okay, they were like an
Speaker 1: eight and eight team, which for them, they were. They
Speaker 1: were happy about it. Shout out to uh, what was
Speaker 1: his name, Jim Haslett? Yeah, that e man. I always
Speaker 1: have so much admiration for that dude. How he handled
Speaker 1: the Kirtrina season one of the more underrated coaching performances.
Speaker 3: Of all time.
Speaker 1: And they did not win many games, and that I
Speaker 1: hate that. You always has to be tied to winning
Speaker 1: games of that man that man handled the situation like
Speaker 1: a boss, and everyone in and around that city and
Speaker 1: team appreciated it. In a tough situation. We're going to
Speaker 1: talk about more fun stuff than this, though. We're going
Speaker 1: to talk about some news. Okay, We're going to talk
Speaker 1: about what Nick Schuck has already learned at Opening night
Speaker 1: in New Orleans. He's already been to the Eagles press
Speaker 1: conferences there on Tuesday. They don't mess around. We're gonna
Speaker 1: get Patrick Claibond's Super Bowl pick. This is hot, oh early.
Speaker 4: It's very.
Speaker 1: But yeah, let's and we're gonna talk about our friend
Speaker 1: that this that this podcast is named after at the
Speaker 1: at the end on an important week, thinking about Chris Westling.
Speaker 3: But let's start with the Cooper Cup news.
Speaker 1: I'm taking the train to downtown Los Angeles because I
Speaker 1: made the mistake of driving to a Lakers game two
Speaker 1: weeks ago that Patrick rightly told me to take the
Speaker 1: train to and I regretted it, and so no, you right,
Speaker 1: I should have taken the trade. So to last night,
Speaker 1: I was going to the Great Mina Chimes benefit show
Speaker 1: and Jordan Rodrigue was there with me, and it was
Speaker 1: a lot of fun. Thank you to the listeners that
Speaker 1: came by afterwards and that were NFL Daily listeners. And
Speaker 1: we see as we're getting down there that Cooper Cup
Speaker 1: he hasn't asked for a trade like Miles Garrett Patrick.
Speaker 1: The Rams have told him in no uncertain terms they
Speaker 1: are seeking to trade him immediately. And there were some
Speaker 1: interesting lines in the Cup statement, but what stuck out
Speaker 1: to me was that he did not agree with this decision,
Speaker 1: but that he believes he has a lot of great
Speaker 1: football ahead of him and that is what he's going
Speaker 1: to seek out doing.
Speaker 5: Yeah, injuries kind of plagued the past couple of years,
Speaker 5: but it makes sense from his standpoint where he wins
Speaker 5: the Triple Crown. He has a walk off touchdown that
Speaker 5: I feel like he might have been dealing with a
Speaker 5: brain injury at the time, and when he scored that
Speaker 5: touchdown in the Super Bowl, he gets a mega deal
Speaker 5: that he deserves. And so for his standpoint, with the
Speaker 5: time remaining on this, on this deal, there's no need
Speaker 5: to be anywhere else. He could play with the football
Speaker 5: team that drafted him, in a place that he loves,
Speaker 5: that he spent the formative years of his adulthood able
Speaker 5: to celebrate a championship with the problem for the Rams
Speaker 5: is looking at this number with a base of twelve five,
Speaker 5: you know, four million dollar pro ration, seven and a
Speaker 5: half million dollar roster bonus, where they're going to have
Speaker 5: to work this thing even if they want somebody else
Speaker 5: to trade for Cooper Cup. But as far as the
Speaker 5: production in the past couple of years, it just makes
Speaker 5: sense for Los Angeles to do this.
Speaker 3: It's a bummer though.
Speaker 1: It's a bummer that it doesn't sound like he had
Speaker 1: any choice in the matter. I saw some speculation from
Speaker 1: Florida Pro Football talk like maybe they'll try to get
Speaker 1: him to take a pay cut of it if they
Speaker 1: wanted him, I think to take a pay cut. That
Speaker 1: that would have been the first route that they did,
Speaker 1: and he made it clear through his statement they did not.
Speaker 1: Do you think Cup has any trade value?
Speaker 3: Shook?
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what's crazy is you know what You often
Speaker 2: hear parents posting videos of their kids when they're just
Speaker 2: like toddlers. I saw somebody post them today and now
Speaker 2: I think actually was Andrew Hawkins and his kids like
Speaker 2: shooting at the Papa shot and he's like almost as
Speaker 2: tall as Andrew and they talk about how time flies.
Speaker 2: If you look up Cooper Cup, he's almost thirty two
Speaker 2: years old. It feels like yesterday. He was being drafted
Speaker 2: from Eastern Washington where they have that red field, and
Speaker 2: he was this player rising up and he was the
Speaker 2: stellar athlete everything else, and yet here we are. So
Speaker 2: I think that the value that you might associate with
Speaker 2: the guy who has these accolades to his name is
Speaker 2: not quite as high because of age. Now, receiver is
Speaker 2: not a position necessarily like running back where you're going
Speaker 2: to look at age and be like he's cooked, he's toast.
Speaker 2: But with the money that's associated, it makes for a
Speaker 2: significant undertaking for other teams that might be interested. Having
Speaker 2: said that, if he's healthy, he's still a damn good
Speaker 2: football player. He just has struggled to prove that over
Speaker 2: the last few years. So there are question marks.
Speaker 1: It's a red flag that Sean McVay essentially doesn't want him.
Speaker 1: You know, he didn't produce at the end of this
Speaker 1: season when it.
Speaker 2: Was like invisible in this offense down the stretch.
Speaker 1: Five for sixty one in the Divisional round loss to
Speaker 1: the Eagles, but his previous four games combined were about
Speaker 1: the same numbers, five for like seventy something, you know,
Speaker 1: almost no production. And he's someone when I've gone to
Speaker 1: watch the Rams in person the last couple of years,
Speaker 1: just doesn't move the same way. And he feels like
Speaker 1: he gave his body to that Super Bowl season in
Speaker 1: a way that it's really never come back from. He
Speaker 1: was playing through injuries. He just was one hundred and
Speaker 1: forty five catches. Was that entire offense? The amount of
Speaker 1: blocking like that he did. That opened up the whole offense,
Speaker 1: both him and Robert Woods. But Cooper Cup not a
Speaker 1: huge guy, and it was all around and he's just
Speaker 1: throwing his body around and he hasn't i think, physically responded.
Speaker 3: He doesn't move the same way.
Speaker 1: So I think to get off that number, the Rams
Speaker 1: would have to take on some of his salary. He's
Speaker 1: already owed five million dollars guaranteed. I have a hard
Speaker 1: time thinking that any team is going to trade for
Speaker 1: him unless the Rams take on some money, and it's
Speaker 1: basically like a late round pick. I don't think it's
Speaker 1: going to be a significant trade, and I think it's
Speaker 1: very possible they just wind up releasing him and he
Speaker 1: gets to be a free agent.
Speaker 5: I think the cautionary tale for the folks who may
Speaker 5: think it's all over, Cooper Cup has taken too much
Speaker 5: of a beating over this course of time.
Speaker 4: He has played hurt.
Speaker 5: We saw that this year in Austin Eckler, who was
Speaker 5: clearly hurt towards the end of his time in Los
Speaker 5: Angeles and then in limited spots, looks much better playing
Speaker 5: for the Commanders this season, where I think there's still
Speaker 5: tread on Cooper cups tires. He might not get smashed
Speaker 5: into the defensive end as much, still contribute, and he
Speaker 5: was the key part of an offense that in parts
Speaker 5: right has proliferated itself all over the NFL. Now where
Speaker 5: Cooper Cup is going to be able to come in
Speaker 5: and run successful routes at the very least for a
Speaker 5: good football team, where I think there's value there. But yeah,
Speaker 5: the Rams got to come up off some of that
Speaker 5: money to make that possible in the first place.
Speaker 3: Let's let's not forget though, that that playoff run.
Speaker 1: So just for a little context, he cut one hundred
Speaker 1: and forty five passes for nine and forty seven yards
Speaker 1: in the regular season, just preposterous numbers. Then in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: He added thirty three more catches, so we're up to
Speaker 1: one seventy eight for four hundred and seventy eight yards.
Speaker 1: We're almost at twenty five hundred yards. He added another
Speaker 1: six touchdowns. That's that's twenty two total touchdowns. That's right
Speaker 1: there with the greatest wide receivers of all time. And
Speaker 1: I regretted not saying something to him other than pleasantries
Speaker 1: when I saw him down in the old NFL network
Speaker 1: locker room a couple of weeks ago that we just said.
Speaker 1: I just said, oh, hi, nice to meet you, all
Speaker 1: that sort of thing. And I afterwards, I was like,
Speaker 1: I should have told him how how happy he made
Speaker 1: my daughter back in the day when she was at
Speaker 1: that Super Bowl and he made that that catch right
Speaker 1: into her end zone and there was like I have
Speaker 1: a picture with a tear in her eye after that.
Speaker 3: It's like that, That's what it's all about. It's the memories.
Speaker 1: Good luck to you, Cooper cup I don't I don't
Speaker 1: know where he goes from here. He will certainly be
Speaker 1: in the NFL this year. I don't know if a
Speaker 1: trade is going to happen. Let's just quickly circle back
Speaker 1: to the Miles Garrett trade because I want to get
Speaker 1: your take shook on what you think about it as
Speaker 1: a Browns fan. If you missed our show on Monday,
Speaker 1: obviously you probably know by now Miles Garrett has requested
Speaker 1: a trade in no uncertain terms out of Cleveland.
Speaker 3: What do you think?
Speaker 2: I mean, there's a few things here. One, it's been
Speaker 2: building for a long time. He's been asked, you know,
Speaker 2: about the trajectory of the franchise, and he essentially, you know,
Speaker 2: staked his position towards the end of the season, which is, look,
Speaker 2: I'm not here for a rebuild. I want to compete.
Speaker 2: Not the first time that a player said that, the
Speaker 2: first time that a player in Cleveland has said that.
Speaker 2: He is also playing for a team that as a
Speaker 2: general manager who doesn't typically honor trade requests. We could
Speaker 2: run down the list. He honored the Baker trade, but
Speaker 2: only after the Watson thing was done. He didn't honor
Speaker 2: Kareem Hunt's trade requests. They just let him, you know,
Speaker 2: walk off into the night. They honored Amari Cooper's trade
Speaker 2: request after they'd already kind of renegotiated his deal, But
Speaker 2: it was more because they were a bad team and
Speaker 2: they you know, sent him to a team that was contending,
Speaker 2: So there's there's not really a track record of just
Speaker 2: I want to be traded and they actually do it.
Speaker 2: There's also the contract associated and his age, and I
Speaker 2: think that at his age he's not quite going to
Speaker 2: command the money that he once did, but he's still
Speaker 2: an elite player. He's still a contender for Defensive Player
Speaker 2: of the Year this year. He won it last year.
Speaker 2: So it's a combination of is this a leverage play
Speaker 2: for money I don't think, or is it it's the
Speaker 2: fact that he's done with them, and the way the
Speaker 2: statement reads and the vibes are around this team suggests
Speaker 2: to me that it's more about the state of the
Speaker 2: team and the Browns kind of just being a rudderless
Speaker 2: ship at this point in twenty twenty five. Now that
Speaker 2: could change, but ultimately he probably knows. He's probably looked
Speaker 2: at Nick Chubb and been like, I've been with this
Speaker 2: guy for a long time. I've seen, you know, the
Speaker 2: ups and downs, and see the end of his career
Speaker 2: is around the corner, or you know, somewhere in the
Speaker 2: not too distant future. I don't want to find myself
Speaker 2: in the same spot. I want to actually chase things now.
Speaker 2: And I understand the frustration.
Speaker 3: I don't think it's about the money.
Speaker 1: And I've already feeled differently about this trait than when
Speaker 1: I talked about on Monday, and part of it is
Speaker 1: hearing just a little birdies that I don't think it's.
Speaker 3: About the money.
Speaker 1: I think he's just he's just made a decision that
Speaker 1: he wants, he wants better, he wants out.
Speaker 2: Here, and you can't blame him. Yeah, Like, look at
Speaker 2: this organization, look at how they just kind of wasted
Speaker 2: the last three years. Can you blame them?
Speaker 1: And there's not really things can change fast in the NFL,
Speaker 1: but they got to fix the quarterback situation, and it's
Speaker 1: just hard to maybe see that happening this year.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 5: I think back in history, Reggie White was thirty two
Speaker 5: when he went in free agency in nineteen ninety three.
Speaker 4: He became a Green.
Speaker 6: Wow, that's crazy, Like Miles has already hit these career milestones,
Speaker 6: over one hundred sacks, like twenty nine years old he
Speaker 6: was in I think back to the twenty seventeen draft
Speaker 6: where it's like this is a down year for quarterbacks.
Speaker 4: One of the best.
Speaker 5: Quarterback we've ever seen himund up being in that draft
Speaker 5: in Patrick Mahomes, I mean, Deshaun's in there. I guess
Speaker 5: he could go back change history, but ultimately, right, Miles
Speaker 5: is the number one pick. It was clear and obvious
Speaker 5: that Miles should have been the number one pick based
Speaker 5: on the information we had at the time. You go back,
Speaker 5: he's probably going number two. Maybe he's a Chicago Bear,
Speaker 5: who knows, but ultimately he does in terms of what
Speaker 5: he's done on the field. Yeah, he deserves a chance
Speaker 5: to play for a winner. Because you look back at
Speaker 5: another guy we know, like Joe Thomas had a great
Speaker 5: career in Cleveland. The Browns ultimately failed Joe Thomas, and
Speaker 5: Miles has seen this. He's seen the whole arch as
Speaker 5: you mentioned for Nick Chubb, go do it somewhere else.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: For a second, I'm like, how dare you say he's
Speaker 1: now going number two? Someone was better than Miles Garrett
Speaker 1: And I was like, what draft was that?
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, fifteen, it's probably go number one.
Speaker 3: Overall that guy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that guy was in his fifth Super Bowl in
Speaker 1: six years what and won an MVP before that. That
Speaker 1: dude's ridiculous. Miles Garrett's ridiculous. What a number one overall pick.
Speaker 1: Sometimes you hear a take that's so right that you
Speaker 1: realize you just have to accept, Oh, yeah, that's actually
Speaker 1: that's actually correct. And I'm gonna unfortunately give credit for
Speaker 1: this take to Daniel Jeremiah. I got it so again,
Speaker 1: I'm walking. I'm walking to this to the show Monday night,
Speaker 1: really great downtown Los Angeles, and I'm listening. I decided
Speaker 1: he's already got a podcast up. Jeremiah moved the sticks
Speaker 1: about Miles Garrett, and he said that Garrett's doing them
Speaker 1: a favor, and he also thinks that the Browns. He
Speaker 1: didn't put words in their mouth, but he thinks the
Speaker 1: Browns will view it as him doing them a favor too,
Speaker 1: that they can say whatever they want publicly about that
Speaker 1: they have no interest in trading him.
Speaker 3: I believe that to be true.
Speaker 1: I also believe that maybe they knew that this could
Speaker 1: have been coming, and in a way it saves them
Speaker 1: from doing something that makes a lot of sense from
Speaker 1: their vantage point anyways, but that they almost couldn't do
Speaker 1: because of how unpopular it would be with the fan
Speaker 1: base and how difficult it was, and Miles Garrett's almost
Speaker 1: removing a level of that difficulty because the more I
Speaker 1: thought about it, I think he's right. And then I
Speaker 1: texted around a couple of people that were not Dane Jeremiah,
Speaker 1: and they agree that it makes a.
Speaker 3: Ton of sense.
Speaker 1: For the Browns, I think they're gonna get a lot
Speaker 1: fro him, Chuck, I really do. I think all it
Speaker 1: takes is really two teams to I have up a price,
Speaker 1: and whether that's two first plus or whether it's a
Speaker 1: first plus, or it's a first in a pick swap,
Speaker 1: or it's a first in a player it's or it's
Speaker 1: a couple. I don't know what exactly what it's gonna be,
Speaker 1: but I think it's gonna be a lot, and I
Speaker 1: think it should be a lot. And I think it's
Speaker 1: gonna be a lot because there's so many teams that
Speaker 1: have a ton of cap space, and obviously there's so
Speaker 1: many teams that could use Miles Garrett. I keep coming
Speaker 1: back to the good teams with cap space. That are
Speaker 1: the Lions, the Chargers, the Commanders, maybe the Packers. If
Speaker 1: they want to go against type. The Bills don't have
Speaker 1: a lot of space, maybe they they create it. But
Speaker 1: I just think this is how a market is created.
Speaker 1: And I think more than anything shook it actually does
Speaker 1: make sense for the Browns because they could get a lot.
Speaker 1: They're also at the two pick. Maybe they will want
Speaker 1: that quarterback, maybe they won't. They could be trading back,
Speaker 1: you could. You can get a lot of picks, and
Speaker 1: maybe this isn't even their quarterback year. And by the
Speaker 1: time they're good like Garrett, he's not gonna have that value.
Speaker 3: He won't be quite as good.
Speaker 1: It's not a good thing to trade Miles Garrett, but
Speaker 1: it might be something where it's a win for Garrett
Speaker 1: and it's not it's not as big a loss as
Speaker 1: you would expect for the Browns and their fans. Yeah,
Speaker 1: their position to win for them either, but it's it.
Speaker 1: At least they can make the best out of it,
Speaker 1: and they can help out the guy who's given them
Speaker 1: a lot. This is what he wants, so that's not
Speaker 1: nothing that they can help him out in this spot.
Speaker 2: Right right, Their position to play a key part, despite
Speaker 2: being one of the worst teams in football last season,
Speaker 2: to play a key part in this offseason multiple layers,
Speaker 2: because that's the number two pick. You know, they could
Speaker 2: take Penn States Abdul Carter. I think that's too high
Speaker 2: for Carter personally, but they're in position to potentially do
Speaker 2: that and find an immediate replacement. They're also in position
Speaker 2: where they need a quarterback, where they could move a
Speaker 2: massive lever by maybe making a trade for Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 2: Maybe Miles Garrett is involved in that trade. Maybe all
Speaker 2: these moving parts all start an end in Cleveland, home
Speaker 2: of a team that went three and fourteen.
Speaker 1: Oh man, Okay, let's talk about Cousins. He was on
Speaker 1: Good Morning Football on Tuesday morning. Let's listen to a
Speaker 1: little bit.
Speaker 7: We were six and three, was playing well, doing a
Speaker 7: lot of good things, even if the right ankle wasn't perfect.
Speaker 7: You know, nobody's perfect in this league. We're never feeling
Speaker 7: one hundred percent. So it didn't really affect me too much.
Speaker 7: But then against the Saints, got hit pretty good in
Speaker 7: my right shoulder and elbow, and from there kind of
Speaker 7: dealing with that, you know, with something I was working
Speaker 7: through and.
Speaker 3: Just never really could get it to where I wanted it.
Speaker 7: And so now kind of now the season's over, the
Speaker 7: other time and the energy to say, okay, let's get
Speaker 7: the right ankle back, let's get the shoulder back, let's
Speaker 7: get the elbow back, and if we can do that,
Speaker 7: you know, feel like I got a new life ahead
Speaker 7: of me here in pro football.
Speaker 1: Those injuries weren't completely disclosed. He hadn't maintained he was
Speaker 1: healthy at the time.
Speaker 2: Healthy enough.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we were watching Kirk.
Speaker 3: It had some context.
Speaker 1: He was limited on the injury report for one day
Speaker 1: after those injuries was week eleven, and I think they
Speaker 1: continued adds a little bit of context. Now you have
Speaker 1: to start worrying about his body breaking down. In general,
Speaker 1: he takes more big hits than most quarterbacks that are
Speaker 1: bigger than him. And he's not like he's saying a
Speaker 1: lot of hits over yours. I mean, it's it's one
Speaker 1: of the things that's made him win make a lot
Speaker 1: of money, is that he's able to stand in there
Speaker 1: and just get beaten. But some of those sometimes those
Speaker 1: guys don't age well. But you mentioned the Browns, Chuck,
Speaker 1: and this is kind of going around now, Kevin Stefanski.
Speaker 1: They're not gonna have a lot of money to spend here.
Speaker 1: There's not a lot of good options out there. Cousins
Speaker 1: and a rookie or cousins and someone. Are you buying Patrick? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm buying I mean Cleveland specifically.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm definitely buying Kirk Cousins in Cleveland. They have
Speaker 5: to find a quarterback. Kirk needs to find a spot.
Speaker 5: He needs to be a starting quarterback.
Speaker 3: Either that does.
Speaker 5: Either that was facial smoothing on his FaceTime or zoom.
Speaker 5: He looks incredible. I didn't even see any crows feet skincare.
Speaker 1: It's that little button that you press now on the
Speaker 1: on those computer let me, I got one now.
Speaker 3: I think it's with the new camera or maybe it's
Speaker 3: a stream yard.
Speaker 1: You can press a button and I pressed it one
Speaker 1: time and I was I was too pretty, So I
Speaker 1: actually un clicked it, and I was like, the camera
Speaker 1: is already such high quality. That improves how you're looking
Speaker 1: to begin with that, I did not need to Like,
Speaker 1: I pressed it and I was like, I'm too handsome.
Speaker 3: I could go join the boy band.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's even better looking than Ally Connolly right now.
Speaker 1: They have a striking resemblance Kirk. But yeah, with the
Speaker 1: with the facial smoothing that's going on here, and yes,
Speaker 1: this is why you've got to sign up for the YouTube.
Speaker 3: You know you gotta subscribe.
Speaker 1: You got to hit like just just to see this
Speaker 1: this still shot here.
Speaker 3: I mean he's looking great.
Speaker 5: No, that's that's incredible. So yeah, if this, if Cousins
Speaker 5: able to do internally what he has done to his
Speaker 5: face with a bring it back around with the work,
Speaker 5: because yeah, clearly he was limited. The people compare right
Speaker 5: the achilles injuries for the aging quarterbacks, Rogers had a
Speaker 5: significant head start.
Speaker 4: Yep, Kirk in recovery from that achilles stare.
Speaker 5: It was clear, like mid to late in the season
Speaker 5: like that was not even Kirk Cousins at a certain point.
Speaker 5: I don't think he forgot how to play football. You
Speaker 5: mentioned taking all those shots. Yeah, because we saw Kirk
Speaker 5: Cousins take getting hit as he throws. He's hitting guys
Speaker 5: and shrid but all it takes is knocking you off
Speaker 5: that peg just a little bit, and he was clearly
Speaker 5: off of it. Why not have Kirk he wants to
Speaker 5: be a starting quarterback, he's willing.
Speaker 3: To play for His highs were higher than Rogers this year.
Speaker 2: For what were they were? I mean there was the
Speaker 2: two games against the Buccaneers in which he threw for
Speaker 2: like almost a thousand yards and we were all like,
Speaker 2: oh my god, he's back, but there was also the
Speaker 2: fact that he couldn't move in the pocket because he
Speaker 2: was coming off the Achilles. He says he has had
Speaker 2: an ankle issue as well, so that explains a lot.
Speaker 2: But let's keep building the connection to the Browns theory here.
Speaker 2: Let me just build my entire conspiracy. Kevin Sefancy was
Speaker 2: his offensive coordinator in Minnesota. Kevin savanciazen on a quarterback
Speaker 2: that quite fits his play calling style since Baker Mayfield
Speaker 2: and Baker played his last yeat in Cleveland hurt and
Speaker 2: we all know what happened from there. The fit is there, naturally,
Speaker 2: The familiarity is there naturally, The history together naturally there.
Speaker 2: Let's also go beyond that into the draft. If this
Speaker 2: is a short term option, there's a quarterback out there
Speaker 2: that's already generated some attraction in Cleveland, and he rolls
Speaker 2: up the ranks at the Senior Bowl. He played football
Speaker 2: all mess. His name's Jackson Dart. The Browns acquire Kirk
Speaker 2: Cousins in a trade that involves Miles Garrett, and somehow
Speaker 2: they draft Jackson Dart even if he rises into the
Speaker 2: first round, which would make it impossible unless they get
Speaker 2: a first round pick from a team in this year's draft,
Speaker 2: and their whole future is set in people in Cleveland
Speaker 2: are able to sleep at night.
Speaker 4: Let's wash it over, Greg right now.
Speaker 2: He's completely out.
Speaker 1: Now you convinced me that it this all could happen.
Speaker 1: I think that Jackson Dart thing is just everyone just
Speaker 1: keeps telling me that he should be he should be
Speaker 1: great for a trimp pick. I need to do my
Speaker 1: own research, you know. I and Aaron Rodgers quote.
Speaker 5: Once you've done that research significantly better than any research
Speaker 5: Aaron Rodgers has ever done on anything.
Speaker 4: I don't know that you're going to be moved off
Speaker 4: of how you feel.
Speaker 1: But if he's a second round pick or whatever, Cousins
Speaker 1: and a second round pick, it's fine. It's kind of
Speaker 1: a get you by type of situation. I don't mind that.
Speaker 3: I don't know. If I don't know if what the
Speaker 3: year to invest early.
Speaker 5: Would, would Stefanski be in trouble in the event if
Speaker 5: there's a Kirk Cousins and Jackson Dart season that they
Speaker 5: trade Miles Garrett.
Speaker 4: It's kind of down.
Speaker 1: Yes, here's here's the thing about like planning your future
Speaker 1: for Arch Manning or some other quarterback that's coming down
Speaker 1: the pipe, like Kevin's fancy is a good coach. There
Speaker 1: are talented players on that roster, like with with cousins
Speaker 1: in a rookie like it wouldn't shock me if they
Speaker 1: scraped their way to eight nine wins, and then you're
Speaker 1: you're not in the business for those quarterbacks anyways. But wow,
Speaker 1: you guys have convinced me this is happening. A couple
Speaker 1: other very quick items. I thought it was interesting the
Speaker 1: Commander's team owner Josh Harris did in about face on
Speaker 1: at on the team name, and it makes sense. He's
Speaker 1: had more information. The Commanders are here to stay. We're
Speaker 1: not changing the team name. When he first took over,
Speaker 1: the idea was he was going to change the team name,
Speaker 1: but they kind of kicked the can. He said, I
Speaker 1: will wait a year, see what at you know, and
Speaker 1: then we'll kind of And I think because they've had
Speaker 1: such good vibes and that Jade Daniels has been wearing
Speaker 1: a Commander's jersey, that okay, that's it.
Speaker 2: They're gonna wear no uniforms. There's precedent for this. And look,
Speaker 2: don't get mad at me, Seahawks fans, but if your
Speaker 2: team had not found a ton of success in the
Speaker 2: Pete Carroll era, you would have changed uniforms by now,
Speaker 2: because so with no association with history or success, performance
Speaker 2: any of that, those are not good uniforms. But because
Speaker 2: you can associate them with making the Super Bowl twice
Speaker 2: and being good over time, Wow, they're now great uniforms.
Speaker 4: Wow.
Speaker 2: The same thing happens with the Commanders. They'll change their uniform,
Speaker 2: but they won't change their name because it's it's just
Speaker 2: drilled into the jade. Daniels air already.
Speaker 5: Hops out of the ring, runs across the street to
Speaker 5: another arena, jumps in a spot to take a shot
Speaker 5: to see them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, put that on. That was fiery. You're absolutely right.
Speaker 1: It's the same deal with the Patriots, and they will
Speaker 1: change their uniforms, and they've already started to tweak it.
Speaker 1: But those Patriots flying ELVI was a mistake the first
Speaker 1: day it happened. Never liked them, still don't like them.
Speaker 1: And at some point.
Speaker 2: Though five years later plus, they're still here.
Speaker 1: Well I get it, they won a lot with them
Speaker 1: almost immediately, but I think they'll have to change it
Speaker 1: because it doesn't look I.
Speaker 5: Mean, we're all Pavlov's dog in this instance, like Yeah,
Speaker 5: the Commanders were the Commanders.
Speaker 4: They had the most.
Speaker 5: Magical season that we could have possibly hoped for. So yeah,
Speaker 5: they're going to keep the name. I think they should
Speaker 5: still be the Washington football team, but I like it.
Speaker 3: I thought it was going to go back to that.
Speaker 1: And yeah, it once you say any name long enough,
Speaker 1: this is true for baby name, it's true for band
Speaker 1: names's true for podcast names.
Speaker 3: You just get used to it and it's fine.
Speaker 1: So yes, we will be going ahead and taking command
Speaker 1: for indefinitely.
Speaker 3: Shout out to Carson Wentz.
Speaker 1: Trying to get out to his second Super Bowl title.
Speaker 1: Carson Wentz, I mean starts to take command? What a
Speaker 1: guy like to first do it? You know, I know
Speaker 1: he wasn't playing, but take out Tom Brady and then
Speaker 1: on the other side with Patrick Mahomes against his old team,
Speaker 1: he has a chance to be a two time champ.
Speaker 1: Found out on Tuesday. I just wanted to note this
Speaker 1: for the record. Micah Hyde is retiring. Great career underrated
Speaker 1: safety joined the Bills late this season almost as a
Speaker 1: player coach on the practice squad and always really appreciated him.
Speaker 3: That was a.
Speaker 1: Really big part of the Bills rise to prominence over
Speaker 1: the last seven years. Really, I might be the biggest
Speaker 1: defensive piece other than Sean McDermott as a play caller
Speaker 1: over that time. So shout out to Michael Hyde for
Speaker 1: a really good career. Let's hear from you, Shook about
Speaker 1: what's been going on in New Orleans, but let's hear
Speaker 1: about it after the book.
Speaker 3: Back on NFL Daily. Shout out to Kobe Turner.
Speaker 1: By the way, part of that mina show, which which
Speaker 1: is up on her podcast feed, he just belted out
Speaker 1: a rendition of House of the Rising Sun, just on
Speaker 1: stage out of nowhere.
Speaker 3: And I know his voice is good.
Speaker 1: He was on the mask singer and all that, but
Speaker 1: he like hearing that in person, like that place was floored,
Speaker 1: like everyone at chills, like he's a talent. Shout out
Speaker 1: to people that are talented musically. I'm jealous. And it's
Speaker 1: just like they always seem like the cool people. Shook
Speaker 1: also one of the coolest people, so cool that he
Speaker 1: was telling us between the during the break here that
Speaker 1: he once helped steer Paris Campbell to his his high
Speaker 1: school football team. And now here's yeah Paris and Nick
Speaker 1: just two dudes who made it to.
Speaker 3: The Super Bowl.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know he started. He came in as a
Speaker 2: freshm and right after I graduated from Saint Vince to
Speaker 2: Saint Mary, which everybody on the planet knows that as
Speaker 2: Lebron's school. It's also where I went to. And happened
Speaker 2: to be roaming about the final two minutes of Opening
Speaker 2: Night last night and turned a corner and there's Paris.
Speaker 2: And I haven't seen him since he was fourteen, well
Speaker 2: maybe eight seventeen, when he was, you know, at All
Speaker 2: State Starret Saint v before he went on to Ohio State.
Speaker 2: And it was a great little reunion, a nice little moment.
Speaker 3: Were you highly recruited coming into high school?
Speaker 2: Absolutely not.
Speaker 3: No, they didn't know. I just the bottom.
Speaker 2: I was like cyo kid, No, because I was a
Speaker 2: late bluer Greg when I started high school. I was
Speaker 2: five to seven, one hundred and forty pounds.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 4: You put them at work.
Speaker 3: Wow, Well I'm still there. You know it is there,
Speaker 3: it is. What have you taken from your Opening Night.
Speaker 1: And Eagles media availability experience so far?
Speaker 3: What's the ViBe's been like?
Speaker 2: First of all, so if you want to compare it
Speaker 2: to the last time these two teams in the Super Bowl,
Speaker 2: just two years ago, it was all about the Kelsey
Speaker 2: brothers and the Eagles involvement. There was a lot of
Speaker 2: pomp and circumstance, but kind of a lot of distraction.
Speaker 2: Even from my perspective back then, this is not the
Speaker 2: case this time. All due respect to Mama Kelsey, but
Speaker 2: she's not coming out and giving cookies. Right This is
Speaker 2: not that story anymore. The Eagles showed up and they
Speaker 2: looked like they were all about business to opening night
Speaker 2: last night. They walk upon the stage, they're there, they
Speaker 2: do their little interview, they go out and disperse to
Speaker 2: their podiums, and it's all business. They know what they're
Speaker 2: going to be asked about. They're not just taking it in.
Speaker 2: Darius Lay said that I'm not taking it in and
Speaker 2: having fun and trying to enjoy the moment. This is
Speaker 2: a business trip for me and I'm locked in. I'm
Speaker 2: dialed in. My family is not coming to the hotel
Speaker 2: to hang out. I'm here to get a job done.
Speaker 2: And a lot of them were like that. And I
Speaker 2: think it's been what they've experienced over the last year
Speaker 2: and a half that has really positioned them to have
Speaker 2: success now and get here is they know what it
Speaker 2: feels like to be at the super Bowl and lose it,
Speaker 2: to be a team that falls well short of expectations
Speaker 2: in dramatic fashion to the point you almost lose your
Speaker 2: coach by you know, via firing, and then to get
Speaker 2: back here with after kind of correcting those things and
Speaker 2: going through that journey with so many of the same guys,
Speaker 2: and they're very much I think, mentally prepared for this week.
Speaker 2: They know how to handle it. So it's going to
Speaker 2: be a very intriguing matchup for sure.
Speaker 5: Yeah, just looking forward to seeing just how this because
Speaker 5: I know with history we tend to think, oh, it's
Speaker 5: the same team, right, but nope, but there's a lot
Speaker 5: of guys that even younger team other than were last
Speaker 5: last time around.
Speaker 3: We think literally the youngest defense in the league.
Speaker 5: And instant results from all of those guys. So it's
Speaker 5: interesting where they have that dichotomy of a guy like
Speaker 5: Darius Slay there versus Quinnyon and Cooper dejan right, who
Speaker 5: are really experiencing all of this for the first time,
Speaker 5: and it's so different, it's so new unique. I don't
Speaker 5: even know if they have time to really consider it,
Speaker 5: because the game is going to be here before Sunday,
Speaker 5: but they have a bunch of people like are you
Speaker 5: ready for this? And those guys shoo, I'm sure, Like
Speaker 5: I don't know that, Like I've never seen this before,
Speaker 5: but I've never seen a lot before.
Speaker 2: This is this is their first NFL season for you know,
Speaker 2: Dejina and Mitchell, like they're just I don't know, like
Speaker 2: I've been working at football NonStop since my last college
Speaker 2: season ended. They always talk about the rookie wall. They
Speaker 2: are so far beyond the rookie wall at this point
Speaker 2: in the calendar that it's not even a thought, and
Speaker 2: I think that they're just kind of going with it,
Speaker 2: like they're not taking it in. They're just like, all right,
Speaker 2: it's another game to play. I thought. I think it
Speaker 2: was Slay who said it. It was interesting to me too,
Speaker 2: is the way he described it as, Look, this is
Speaker 2: the last game of the season. Like we know it's
Speaker 2: the last game of the season. This is where we're
Speaker 2: going to try to go out on you know, a
Speaker 2: strong note and lock in and play you know, good football.
Speaker 2: And the other thing too, is like they have such
Speaker 2: an interesting blend of vets. Like you talk about Brandon Grant,
Speaker 2: you talk about Lane Johnson, you know, these guys are
Speaker 2: in their third Super Bowl. Jalen Hurts is in his
Speaker 2: second Super Bowl. Saquan's in his first, but he's seen
Speaker 2: a lot in his career. They appreciate it, and they're
Speaker 2: not overwhelmed by it. I think it's just it was
Speaker 2: very striking to me in all these years of covering
Speaker 2: different Super Bowls where this team just feels very much
Speaker 2: like they belong here.
Speaker 3: He's saying he's doing the thing. The team that you cover,
Speaker 3: you just you just fall off. I did that thing too.
Speaker 3: That's why it hurt so bad.
Speaker 1: Why it hurt so bad when Santonio Holmes caught that
Speaker 1: pass and broke the hearts of Darnell Dockett and Carlos
Speaker 1: dans Bea and that.
Speaker 3: Great Cardinals team.
Speaker 1: I've never been so disappointed, And it was largely because
Speaker 1: I covered that team that week for NBC Sports dot
Speaker 1: Com and I just just fell in love with him.
Speaker 1: And now Shook Shuk's doing the same thing. Can we
Speaker 1: bring up the Darius Slay picture that Shook took on
Speaker 1: Opening Night because he seemed like he was had I
Speaker 1: don't know what this look was. It's maybe a little mischievous,
Speaker 1: a little bit like, what are you doing, bro? How
Speaker 1: would you describe it?
Speaker 3: Shook?
Speaker 2: That's who he is. Somebody called him out they didn't
Speaker 2: he didn't hear Sligh properly. And he goes, it's Slay,
Speaker 2: It's Slay. And then in the crowds like I said
Speaker 2: Slay and he goes, oh, I thought you said something else,
Speaker 2: like he's cracking jokes. I asked him, how long did
Speaker 2: it take you to get over that Super Bowl loss
Speaker 2: to the Chiefs last time? He said five seconds. I
Speaker 2: was like, okay, okay, yeah I have I'm a dad,
Speaker 2: I'm a husband. I had to, you know, take care
Speaker 2: of daddy duties, is what he said. So yeah, he's
Speaker 2: a unique character for sure. But it's definitely interesting to
Speaker 2: see the different blend of personalities here and some of
Speaker 2: the guys who've been there before, and you know what
Speaker 2: it might mean for them.
Speaker 4: I'll tell you exactly what that look is from Darius Slayer.
Speaker 5: Is damn that that dude with the phone taking this
Speaker 5: picture as big as hell, guaranteed, I promise you, I am.
Speaker 4: We'll talk about my picture of game. I am sure
Speaker 4: of nothing else more than that.
Speaker 3: Wow, that's awesome.
Speaker 1: Darius Slay been on record thinking this is going to
Speaker 1: be his last day a game. As an angle, We'll
Speaker 1: see he's speaking realistically. He's probably right, just because of
Speaker 1: finances and everything. Although the Eagles they always offer their
Speaker 1: guys pretty solid deals. I remember James Bradbury eventually came
Speaker 1: back to them because he couldn't get a better deal elsewhere.
Speaker 1: And my guess would be they will attempt to keep
Speaker 1: Darius Slay, but maybe they won't max out just because
Speaker 1: it's tough to do for everyone. You talk to some
Speaker 1: players on Tuesdays, Shook Jordan Mylotta, Lane Johnson, Zach Bond,
Speaker 1: not in a revenge game against the Chiefs, but a
Speaker 1: revenge game against what was done to him in this
Speaker 1: city by Dennis Allen who couldn't take advantage of him.
Speaker 1: I know it's hurting Saints fans. It's really the underrated
Speaker 1: Saquon Barkley storyline that like Saints fans are watching this
Speaker 1: and be like, defensive player of the Year came in
Speaker 1: Zach Bond, like we had this guy here any position? Yeah,
Speaker 1: any thoughts, But before we move on, just about your
Speaker 1: your conversations in person with the Eagles here on Tuesday.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's the old Hassan Raddick line. It wasn't playing
Speaker 2: the reposition Arizona until his last year. I think that,
Speaker 2: you know, I spending a lot of time with the
Speaker 2: offensive lineman just because it's kind of where my content
Speaker 2: was directed. But I think that, you know, the main
Speaker 2: narratives have been, you know, hey, getting over what happened
Speaker 2: last year, not the Super Bowl loss, but what happened
Speaker 2: last year and how that has made them a stronger
Speaker 2: team has been very interesting to me. And also the
Speaker 2: transformation of their offensive line after you know, losing Jason Kelcey,
Speaker 2: sliding Cam Jurgens over to the center and creating a
Speaker 2: hole at guard, and then Makhai Beckton coming in. Sirianni
Speaker 2: had some nice things to say about Beckton as well
Speaker 2: as as well as Lane. Johnson asked him, you know,
Speaker 2: how long did it take you to get acclimated with
Speaker 2: playing next to him? Because he's a large human and
Speaker 2: he actually noted that, like the average guard is not
Speaker 2: his size, and so when it comes to picking up stunts,
Speaker 2: it makes life easier because there's less space to move
Speaker 2: through because he's so massive. My lot is hilarious, is
Speaker 2: always you know, he's just got a nice charm about him,
Speaker 2: but it's interesting to see him in where you know,
Speaker 2: where he was in their last Super Bowl appearance versus
Speaker 2: now again more business like, so nothing like overly revelut toy.
Speaker 2: They're very much about their business. But it is an
Speaker 2: interesting and a lot to talk about Vic Fangio too,
Speaker 2: that these guys love Vic Fangio and what they've done
Speaker 2: for this defense as well.
Speaker 1: He's a true ball guy. And yet no one has
Speaker 1: made more money this season, I think than a pair
Speaker 1: of Eagles. In terms of upcoming free agents. Makai Beckton
Speaker 1: is going to get paid and it'd be a great
Speaker 1: story for him considering everything that went on the Jets,
Speaker 1: whether it's what the Eagles or not.
Speaker 3: We'll see.
Speaker 1: Milton Williams, I think, is going to be a tough,
Speaker 1: tough player for them to keep as well, because and
Speaker 1: you put on that film from the NFC Championship game,
Speaker 1: he might have been their best defensive player. And he's
Speaker 1: in a good spot because Jalen Carter soaks up those
Speaker 1: double teams. But man, to your point, Patrick, this is
Speaker 1: not the same team. I just think of how much
Speaker 1: better Nolan Smith was than he was a year ago.
Speaker 1: Jalen Carter is a better player than he was a
Speaker 1: year ago. So it's also development the Chiefs, you know,
Speaker 1: they they've improved as well. Well, we'll talk plenty about
Speaker 1: the Chiefs. We have a big preview with some special guests.
Speaker 1: We have Greg Olsen plan to come on to our
Speaker 1: preview show to help Jordan and I and you Shook
Speaker 1: look ahead to the game. No better ball noer than him,
Speaker 1: to give us some insight you.
Speaker 4: Should be calling the game.
Speaker 3: I know, can we bring that up?
Speaker 1: He has talked about it a little, so that's kind
Speaker 1: of what I want to talk about.
Speaker 3: But I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't think we'll focus on that before we go,
Speaker 1: because this is gonna be last time the trio is here.
Speaker 1: We did the Sunday nights together, and last time during
Speaker 1: the regular season that Patrick and I'll be in the
Speaker 1: studio here together. Although like, I don't know what you're
Speaker 1: doing next week, Patrick, but this show continues on. It's
Speaker 1: not really ending. I want your pick. I want your
Speaker 1: pick before we get out of here.
Speaker 4: And I know you know, it was in the heat
Speaker 4: of the moment.
Speaker 5: It was after the AFC and NFC championship games, and
Speaker 5: I was like, ah, the Eagles are going to win
Speaker 5: the Super Bowl.
Speaker 4: Well, I've I've thought about this game.
Speaker 5: I've done a lot of looking at next gen SATs
Speaker 5: in NFL NFL Pro. I think the Eagles are going
Speaker 5: to win the Super Bowl. Greg all Right, I think
Speaker 5: top to bottom, this is a better roster. I know
Speaker 5: they have the best football player we've seen in a
Speaker 5: very long time in Kansas City.
Speaker 4: But this team is very good. They could absolutely lose.
Speaker 5: They could absolutely lose, but I think that they will
Speaker 5: win the game because I think they're a better team.
Speaker 1: Wow, you just simplified it by the way you mentioned
Speaker 1: Cam Jurgens. He said he's playing in this game. That's
Speaker 1: a big item there. And I really think, just vibes
Speaker 1: wise that Brandon Graham has a great chance to play.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's the sense I get to. Well, he talked
Speaker 2: about it. The tone was as if he's going to
Speaker 2: try to play.
Speaker 3: So to my point before, it's not the same team. Yeah,
Speaker 3: they can.
Speaker 1: They can add their best pure pass rusher, I would say,
Speaker 1: and Brandon Graham will see what he does. But Patrick's
Speaker 1: definitive and concise with his pick on game de view.
Speaker 1: I mean, you gave them an eight point win a
Speaker 1: bit off, Mike. You said they might be up a
Speaker 1: couple scores here and the Chiefs get one late to
Speaker 1: make it even look closer and make them sweat a little.
Speaker 1: But that you you really like them. You don't think
Speaker 1: it's going to be back and forth them when he
Speaker 1: at the end, you think they might win it so
Speaker 1: U comfortably.
Speaker 5: No, I think it works out better for them, And
Speaker 5: in fact, you know, it may lead to some conservative
Speaker 5: hurts throws, maybe he takes the sack, maybe he holds
Speaker 5: onto the ball a little too long because things. I
Speaker 5: think they'll be able to run the ball against the Chiefs.
Speaker 5: I think the Chiefs throw behind the line of scrimmage
Speaker 5: a lot, and the Eagles are very gifted and making
Speaker 5: those tackles in space where it's going to have to
Speaker 5: be fifteen magic all the way up and down the field.
Speaker 5: And it happened last time, a ball bounced directly to
Speaker 5: Nick Bolton and they end up winning the game. I
Speaker 5: think this time this Eagles team is significantly better than
Speaker 5: that last Eagles team.
Speaker 2: Yeh yeah, but yeah, I agree. I think that the
Speaker 2: Eagles defense and they're the blueprint that they produced in
Speaker 2: the NFC title game. Well not as drastic is going
Speaker 2: to play a factor. I think you're going to see
Speaker 2: a turnover or too that swings it in a direction
Speaker 2: where they take a two touchdown lead to the fourth
Speaker 2: quarter and like you know, Patrick kind of put out there,
Speaker 2: it ends up being like I have thirty one to
Speaker 2: twenty six. It was like my first thought, I haven't
Speaker 2: really settled on that, but that's probably where we're headed.
Speaker 5: And Vic Fangio as the defensive coordinator is much better
Speaker 5: than Vic Fangio as the consultant, like twenty minutes after
Speaker 5: he finishes a year with the Dolphins.
Speaker 1: Or as the head coach of the Denver Broncos back
Speaker 1: in the day. Although those defenses they were tough to
Speaker 1: play against for Mahomes, and yet Mahomes always found a
Speaker 1: way to win literally every time. I'm growing increasingly uncomfortable
Speaker 1: with all the Eagles support because you know, that's how
Speaker 1: that's how I'm leaning. I mean, it just seems I'm
Speaker 1: just saying, it seems very widespread in the media, and
Speaker 1: you know, it makes us all feel good before the game.
Speaker 1: And Eric behind the glass is certainly rooting for that
Speaker 1: because he's a he's a vengeful person who did hater.
Speaker 5: Fortunately, I don't think any of us can do anything
Speaker 5: to make the Chiefs try harder. Now, I think the
Speaker 5: Chiefs will attempt to win the Super Bowl, regardless of
Speaker 5: how many people doubt them, no, disrespect them, or believe
Speaker 5: in them.
Speaker 3: They will before we go.
Speaker 1: While we're here in the rest Whistling Podcast studio for
Speaker 1: the last time this season, I was thinking about Chris
Speaker 1: this morning, and it's a time of year those who
Speaker 1: are close to him, I know Lakeisha of course thinks
Speaker 1: about him a lot. He died four years ago on
Speaker 1: February fifth, actually, so that that's tomorrow when we get
Speaker 1: down to New Orleans and.
Speaker 3: His birthday, my birthday we share.
Speaker 1: It is in a couple of weeks too, so it's
Speaker 1: a time where you reflect and it it's kind of
Speaker 1: a mind fuck because this week is when he died,
Speaker 1: so it's always it was super Bowl week, and I
Speaker 1: think about like how that week was often when when
Speaker 1: we get to this time of year and and that
Speaker 1: was tough, that was like that was the worst.
Speaker 3: That was a nightmare.
Speaker 1: It's the worst week of my life. And you also
Speaker 1: think about the times like during during that week I
Speaker 1: had a chance to sit with him a couple of
Speaker 1: days before before he passed and and just spoke. It's
Speaker 1: a one sided conversation at that point, and we talked
Speaker 1: about football, you know, as we always always did, and
Speaker 1: we talked about family and Lincoln and keish and his
Speaker 1: brothers and in life.
Speaker 3: And that was really special.
Speaker 1: And there's like no words to sort of describe all
Speaker 1: the feelings that that you're having in that moment. But
Speaker 1: I feel very grateful to to have had that with
Speaker 1: with him and to have had all the conversations that
Speaker 1: we had thinking about it just from a football perspective
Speaker 1: about football, because one of the things I take away
Speaker 1: from thinking about it now four years if in some
Speaker 1: ways I was just talking about about it with keish
Speaker 1: Uh last week and some ways it feels so long,
Speaker 1: so much has changed. That was, you know, the tail
Speaker 1: end of the pandemic, and our lives have changed, and
Speaker 1: it feels so long. But on the other hand, you
Speaker 1: can just feel what that feeling was like and really
Speaker 1: for the next next year. It's been it's been tough,
Speaker 1: but especially right right in that aftermath. But it gets
Speaker 1: me thinking, you know, about what we are grateful for too,
Speaker 1: which is having friends to talk football with and Chris
Speaker 1: was a special guy to talk football with.
Speaker 3: For me, is.
Speaker 1: Almost like a football a football soulmate, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, Just like someone that was the perfect person
Speaker 1: to talk football with. And just thinking about the Thursday
Speaker 1: nights that we always spent at the Culver Building or
Speaker 1: at his house in Westchester and watching those games, and
Speaker 1: as we're approaching this game, which a lot of people do,
Speaker 1: enjoying it with their family or their friends or whatever,
Speaker 1: just just appreciating those moments because it was obviously more
Speaker 1: than those moments. It was about our life lives together
Speaker 1: and friends and family, but it was also about those moments.
Speaker 1: Just just chilling what the moments that weren't special, the
Speaker 1: moments that wasn't that last week, because because I think
Speaker 1: there's a tendency and you guys can tell me if
Speaker 1: you disagree that when you lose someone important to you,
Speaker 1: that last period really sticks sticks with you and it
Speaker 1: and that makes sense and it's natural, but it's almost
Speaker 1: a shame because everything that came before it is what
Speaker 1: what built up your your relationship. And one thing I
Speaker 1: think was really unique about Chris was he kind of
Speaker 1: had a near death experience the first time he had cancer,
Speaker 1: he went through chemo and he came out the other
Speaker 1: side and and yeah, Keisha and I talk about this
Speaker 1: a lot that the years after that where they had
Speaker 1: a you know, great year after that, and they get
Speaker 1: engaged and they eventually get married. And of course linking
Speaker 1: comes that he had this awareness of how much to
Speaker 1: enjoy those Thursday nights watching with me, but also obviously
Speaker 1: going out with Dan and Mark, and obviously all the
Speaker 1: times he had with brothers and all the times. There
Speaker 1: were no times that he was not trying to enjoy.
Speaker 1: And he actually had a little saying and in typical
Speaker 1: West fashion, a little Excel spreadsheet which was called Enjoy
Speaker 1: every Sandwich, And he was trying to keep track of
Speaker 1: every sandwich that he had during that period and to
Speaker 1: find the perfect sandwich. He wanted to make the perfect sandwich.
Speaker 1: He wanted to eat all the perfect sandwiches. He wanted
Speaker 1: to categorize them by different types of sandwiches because he
Speaker 1: was just a Rankings type of dude. He wanted to
Speaker 1: put them in different cuisines, different regions. Him and Keish
Speaker 1: drove from Cincinnati to Nashville and just hit up as
Speaker 1: many great sandwich spots along the way so he could
Speaker 1: document to all and and that for him was enjoy
Speaker 1: every sandwich he kept. He had that at the top
Speaker 1: of the spreadsheet. I gotta I gotta dig this up.
Speaker 1: I got to go find some of those those sandwiches.
Speaker 1: And uh, that's what I want to think about too.
Speaker 1: During these weeks, You're going to think about the tough
Speaker 1: the tough times. But like that to me, as I'm
Speaker 1: heading down to New Orleans, one of my favorite places
Speaker 1: in the world, and going to see a lot of
Speaker 1: my favorite people in the world that I'm really grateful
Speaker 1: to be around, and you two of the are obviously
Speaker 1: included in that is that I'm going to enjoy the
Speaker 1: hell out of every sandwich. I'm not going to waste
Speaker 1: the meal down there in New Orleans. I'm not going
Speaker 1: to waste a great football conversation that I could have
Speaker 1: with the people that are close to me. And I'm
Speaker 1: going to think about Chris and and I'm gonna we're
Speaker 1: going to do the best to honor him.
Speaker 5: Yeah, people will always say that nobody tells you that
Speaker 5: you're in the good old days. Yeah, but but during
Speaker 5: that that post, first bout all, Chris was well aware
Speaker 5: that he was in he was in the good old
Speaker 5: days and to be to be out of the you know,
Speaker 5: at the house at that point once they had moved
Speaker 5: and having the barbecues like and seeing that, you know,
Speaker 5: because people talk about cooking with love like it's it's
Speaker 5: going in there. He's got love for the people in
Speaker 5: his life, and love for the food, and just love
Speaker 5: for the fact that we all get to do this together.
Speaker 5: And too, because I'm so glad you pointed out, like
Speaker 5: you see the snapshots right towards the end, but it's
Speaker 5: it's the build up, it's the totality of all that
Speaker 5: and and kind of soaking in those moments while they
Speaker 5: happen that that makes you appreciate them more.
Speaker 4: And since then, right like Lincoln Sage were born.
Speaker 5: Within a couple of weeks of each other, and seeing
Speaker 5: them both grow up to this point, since then, you know,
Speaker 5: having seen cancer take more folks out of our lives
Speaker 5: that we experienced football with, like Larry Campbell, you know,
Speaker 5: you you realize that this is not this is not
Speaker 5: like a workplace situation. These are the people that you
Speaker 5: get to experience life with and it brings a.
Speaker 4: Joy to football itself.
Speaker 5: Because we got to have the opportunity to be around
Speaker 5: these people in this time, and so four years.
Speaker 4: And feels like it feels like ours.
Speaker 5: It also feels like four years, and I'm just glad
Speaker 5: that I had those years of Chris.
Speaker 2: You're right great that it feels like it was a
Speaker 2: long time ago because of what was going on. It's
Speaker 2: also somewhat coincidental. I walked into a deli today next
Speaker 2: to the hotel, and that's immediately what I thought of
Speaker 2: as I looked at the menu was enjoy every sandwich.
Speaker 2: I've never been here, but I thought about Wes, and
Speaker 2: I thought about that saying, and about trying to maximize
Speaker 2: every experience, whether it's just out of random deli, or
Speaker 2: whether it's the years that I spent out with you guys,
Speaker 2: the times that we had, the gatherings at his old
Speaker 2: apartment along the beach in Marina del Rey, watching him
Speaker 2: with the big green egg smoking up, or I still
Speaker 2: look aw.
Speaker 1: It'll say too much about those those got a little
Speaker 1: uh squarely at certain points.
Speaker 2: I still look back at the video I had to
Speaker 2: him dressing them up, or the time that we were
Speaker 2: together and somebody was in one of those dinosaur costumes
Speaker 2: and he's got his arm around and hugging it. You know,
Speaker 2: we're having a good time. And you know, every time
Speaker 2: we do a Super Bowl it's for me, you know,
Speaker 2: working remotely, it's the time to get together with everybody,
Speaker 2: the people that we form these bonds with through work,
Speaker 2: who are more than just colleagues, their family. And every
Speaker 2: time there's there's always that feeling that someone's missing that
Speaker 2: person as west and yet at the same time that
Speaker 2: that is a constant reminder because this can become routine
Speaker 2: from year to year, even as things change and everything else.
Speaker 2: But you could stand at a press conference and it's
Speaker 2: a reminder to enjoy all this, savor all of this.
Speaker 2: As you said, Yeah, and the difficult part about losing
Speaker 2: somebody is that they're no longer there and that your
Speaker 2: time with them has run out. But all the lessons
Speaker 2: that you've gained from that person and the value that
Speaker 2: you had that you have in the time that you
Speaker 2: shared together, I think still informs you as you move forward.
Speaker 2: And I wish he was here. I miss him all
Speaker 2: the time, just like you guys too. And he was
Speaker 2: a special person and deserving of much more than just
Speaker 2: having a podcast studio named after h I'll tell you.
Speaker 3: That, you know what, and he he got much more.
Speaker 1: That's what he would tell you, and that he we
Speaker 1: you go back and forth from anger of that he
Speaker 1: was all the things that he was robbed of, but
Speaker 1: he would have said, the loves of his life, you know,
Speaker 1: Lakeisha and Lincoln, What a gift.
Speaker 3: That they were.
Speaker 1: And yeah, just I wanted to talk about him today
Speaker 1: obviously with the anniversary of his death tomorrow and everything,
Speaker 1: and we're here in the studio because there is something too.
Speaker 1: There is something too these anniversaries, I realize, and part
Speaker 1: of it is he's not going to be forgotten from us.
Speaker 1: But it feels good to talk about him, Like I
Speaker 1: think that's the you you want to honor him the
Speaker 1: best way.
Speaker 3: I think that's one of them.
Speaker 1: It is to talk about him, to remember him, to
Speaker 1: not just let the day go by, to honor him
Speaker 1: with with everything you're doing. And he's obviously inside of
Speaker 1: all of us, and and that's part of it. And
Speaker 1: on these days to remember him and yeah, yeah, remember
Speaker 1: fucking badass times and you remember the pain as well,
Speaker 1: and that's all it's all wrapped up. And and football
Speaker 1: is a big part of it. Was a big part
Speaker 1: of my life with him, my relationship. It's about me
Speaker 1: going back to uh, going back to Rhade World, back
Speaker 1: back in like six oh seven. So appreciate everyone that
Speaker 1: that is with us here listening to to NFL Daily
Speaker 1: and listen to us talk about Chris here on this
Speaker 1: February day. The next time you'll hear us, we'll be
Speaker 1: on February fifth. It'll be down there in New Orleans.
Speaker 1: I'll see a Nick uh in just a little bit.
Speaker 1: And thank you Patrick for yeoman's work all season long
Speaker 1: and that and that Eagles pick that it's not even
Speaker 1: going to be close.
Speaker 5: We're not stopping that after the confetti falls and we
Speaker 5: all just pretend like we're we're back.
Speaker 4: We're podcasting maybe all the way through.
Speaker 3: We really, we really are.
Speaker 1: We gotta we gotta talk about what exactly the schedule is,
Speaker 1: but it's not going away for long, and it's it's
Speaker 1: gotta be daily. And yeah, look when we're when we're
Speaker 1: already talking about a new Kirk Cousins landing spot and
Speaker 1: the week before the Super Bowl, you know football is
Speaker 1: back