Speaker 1: Be Around the NFL Podcast, will beat the Medium seed.
Speaker 1: We welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL Podcast.
Speaker 1: My name is Dan Hanss. It's coming to you from
Speaker 1: a city filled with heroes in bunker's in garages. In fact,
Speaker 1: we got we're up to two heroes and garages. Uh.
Speaker 1: Greg Rosenthal bokles Mark Sessler's us but also been great
Speaker 1: Patrick Clavon, what is up? Boys? Well, what's up? Guys?
Speaker 1: You know? I figured, um, if somebody's out because they're
Speaker 1: a new father, the best thing I could do is
Speaker 1: have a child and then uh, and then hop on
Speaker 1: Tom because well it's a bit of an upstaging. Would
Speaker 1: you say that's not the case? You know? Well, I
Speaker 1: mean I don't know. I'm not gonna pitch child versus
Speaker 1: child here. I am obviously biased. But Greg, Greg asked
Speaker 1: and uh, I asked Lauren, you know, because I was like, hey,
Speaker 1: you know, I want to hang out with the guys
Speaker 1: kind of podcast and uh and she was like yeah,
Speaker 1: so we we we made it happen, which is cool.
Speaker 1: Do you have any parental units over there, anybody to
Speaker 1: help out or is it just the four of you?
Speaker 1: Her mom was here initially because Malcolm couldn't come to
Speaker 1: the hospital because he would have broken it. So, um, yeah,
Speaker 1: we she was here. She left it a few days ago.
Speaker 1: So it's it's just us doing the two kid thing,
Speaker 1: which is uh so yes different. Claibon born Jugee, Age,
Speaker 1: you have to blame that on our researcher. My researcher
Speaker 1: is my five year old son Jack. Uh So you
Speaker 1: could throw him under the bus, but Sage Claibon born
Speaker 1: July twenty nine. And um, you know you also, Patrick
Speaker 1: told us before the show that you had abstained from
Speaker 1: alcohol during the entirety of um laurence pregnancy. And then
Speaker 1: we were like, oh, it blew all of our minds.
Speaker 1: And then we said, well, how much do you drink?
Speaker 1: And you said, I believe the number was what my
Speaker 1: eight ounces is what you like between an ounces per week?
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, it's it's not like I'm I'm
Speaker 1: thirty six, guys, It's not like I'm anymore just going
Speaker 1: out getting blitzed all the time. Uh the number will
Speaker 1: be a lot higher. Um, and I've spent so much
Speaker 1: time at home, Like at some point you have to
Speaker 1: be concerned about alcoholism if you're just at home with
Speaker 1: your three year old kicking back shots. Oh absolutely, you
Speaker 1: know what this has been. And I think this has
Speaker 1: been a common talking point that since this, you know,
Speaker 1: the COVID nineteen took hold in mid March, a lot
Speaker 1: of people have turned to drinking on some level to
Speaker 1: get a release, or just to relax after the kids
Speaker 1: are in bed, or just to relax and just to
Speaker 1: kind of turn your brain off for stress reasons. I
Speaker 1: certainly was doing that, and I think, um, I think
Speaker 1: it's fair to say that you also then have to
Speaker 1: keep tabs on these things because how the days all
Speaker 1: like bleed into one another. You might realize, oh wait,
Speaker 1: I've I've drank multiple days in a row. Let's shut
Speaker 1: this thing down. That's why I instituted my weekend's only
Speaker 1: policy for that reason. M I mean I would say
Speaker 1: one thing that you know, Zessler conspicuously quiet. No, not
Speaker 1: at all. I mean I think there was this period
Speaker 1: of sort of lush behavior, um when everything kind of
Speaker 1: melted and I and I forget. You can you can
Speaker 1: point to alcohol, you can point to lots of things,
Speaker 1: but it was, um, you know, I can maybe sleep
Speaker 1: in a little bit more than I need to, or
Speaker 1: not really care, um if the kids are roaming around
Speaker 1: the house or just eat take out food NonStop because hey,
Speaker 1: look at me, I'm supporting vendors. But then suddenly it's
Speaker 1: tapped on like eighteen pounds, and um, it's not coming
Speaker 1: off as easily as it did in the day's pass.
Speaker 1: So you gotta there's a reckoning um at the end
Speaker 1: of all this. So I think it's lost its luster.
Speaker 1: The the caligular facts of self rooming that was something initially.
Speaker 1: It's like, hey, we're all in this together, just completely
Speaker 1: letting go. I do have to ask Patrick one question, though,
Speaker 1: is someone who you know? I name my child Colton
Speaker 1: after Colt McCoy and I and when I see Sage,
Speaker 1: I have to ask if you've followed suit and named
Speaker 1: Sage after uh Sage Rosenfeld is one of your favorite
Speaker 1: when you go through quarterbacks, which is tough, right because
Speaker 1: you're looking for a name for a girl and it's like, man,
Speaker 1: I just have to name her after a quarterback, and
Speaker 1: Austin's quarterback ideally one of the more iconic quarterbacks in
Speaker 1: NFL history, whose list of accomplishments includes things dropped out there.
Speaker 1: But yeah, well, the new stage will have the accomplishments.
Speaker 1: I mean he he had the stage copter. You know,
Speaker 1: that's Funny's remembered for although I do you know frankly
Speaker 1: who um my Texans fans And unfortunately it was a
Speaker 1: rough It was a rough moment. Was that a way?
Speaker 1: There was a cop where he got stage, got spun
Speaker 1: around and had a costly fumble in a game where
Speaker 1: I think all they kind of had to do is
Speaker 1: hold onto the ball and they would have won. Uh,
Speaker 1: it was. It was a tough moment. But he had
Speaker 1: some great moments for with Miami that I enjoyed. There
Speaker 1: was great moment, yeah, there was. There was a stage
Speaker 1: take a while back, and so like I replied with
Speaker 1: a screenshot of me searching YouTube for Sage Rosen Phill's
Speaker 1: highlights and it said no results found. Everybody replied, like, hey,
Speaker 1: stage copter, about the stage, it's a thing. It's out there,
Speaker 1: all right, good, all right, So you know, let's be
Speaker 1: honest here, Like, so, our our show, as as it's
Speaker 1: typically comprised, is four white dudes and Ricky, our producer,
Speaker 1: and you know it's important to have other perspectives, especially
Speaker 1: right now, and we've been lucky because it's not just like, oh,
Speaker 1: we gotta go dial up and let's get Steve Weishan here,
Speaker 1: Let's get this us in that person. We have people
Speaker 1: that they're friends, friends of ours, and Steve weisch is
Speaker 1: a friend. He came on last week and and m
Speaker 1: j Acosta was on our network show on Friday, and
Speaker 1: that was you know, we really enjoyed having MJ on
Speaker 1: and uh, Patrick, we wanna We're excited to have you
Speaker 1: on for a number of reasons. But you've always been
Speaker 1: very outspoken in a positive way on Twitter and and
Speaker 1: saying things that you believe in, and you've always been uh,
Speaker 1: there's no better, there's nobody better as a Twitter troll
Speaker 1: slayer than Patrick Claiban. Uh so said to have to
Speaker 1: have the opportunity to hear from you, um and listen
Speaker 1: to you at this time when you were, you know,
Speaker 1: in paternity leave. I don't think anybody thought it was
Speaker 1: even an option. So we're really happy to have you
Speaker 1: on the show. I know what you're like. The last
Speaker 1: couple of weeks have been like, you know, all this
Speaker 1: unfolding in the world, said against the backdrop of the
Speaker 1: baby in the middle of it all, Like yeah, What's
Speaker 1: what's it been like for you, Patrick, It's I mean,
Speaker 1: that's the backdrop of everything because a lot of things
Speaker 1: have been happening, obviously, the global pandemic being one thing.
Speaker 1: We talked about not drinking going through a global pandemic
Speaker 1: where uh, you know, things have started happening and uh,
Speaker 1: you get a few and not that it's bad. Like
Speaker 1: I like talking to people, but at a certain point,
Speaker 1: the white guilt phone calls to get a little tiresome. Um,
Speaker 1: But like I understand where people are coming from, honestly,
Speaker 1: Like because these discussions, right, because of the way that
Speaker 1: our society perceives racism is that it's this thing and
Speaker 1: either somebody is a racist and they're a bad person,
Speaker 1: or they're not a racist and they're a good person.
Speaker 1: And we kind of elude this idea that there are
Speaker 1: racist things that good people can do that have racist
Speaker 1: outcomes and negatively impact people. And so under that specter,
Speaker 1: like discussion of things these things is hard because well
Speaker 1: meaning people kind of don't want to talk about it,
Speaker 1: and it takes kind of the country being on fire
Speaker 1: before some people feel comfortable about talking about it for
Speaker 1: for fear of you know, being a bad person um,
Speaker 1: and that that kind of out is what allows these
Speaker 1: things to to continue because we as as a people,
Speaker 1: as a country, we have a difficult time addressing the
Speaker 1: particular matters that that lead to these outcomes. Um. And
Speaker 1: so it's it's been different, uh, to see the reaction
Speaker 1: because like you guys know me, you talked about the
Speaker 1: tweets and you know, like the person that I am,
Speaker 1: I mean, this week is is last week, and last
Speaker 1: week is last month, and last month is last year,
Speaker 1: and last year is every moment since November that I've
Speaker 1: been on this planet. But it's a little different to see, um,
Speaker 1: the world, the NFL, Roger Goodell, Um, you know, some
Speaker 1: coworkers that I had never spoken up to are spoken
Speaker 1: about this, you know, kind of stepping up in and
Speaker 1: you know, using the right language, you know, saying the
Speaker 1: right things. And so it's been different. It's been very different.
Speaker 1: I was gonna say you mentioned that the NFL, you
Speaker 1: know how how it's been different internally, And I think
Speaker 1: we can you know, talk a little bit about that
Speaker 1: because it's it's out there, you know, the meeting even
Speaker 1: just that, Um, I assume you were on Patrick, the
Speaker 1: one where Roger Goodell Um spoke and UM they had
Speaker 1: some speakers involved in Steve Wish and mg Acosta hosted
Speaker 1: it and some there were some uh, definitely emotional moments
Speaker 1: with employees addressing Goodell, which was which was fascinating. I
Speaker 1: don't think anything like that's ever happened before that. You know,
Speaker 1: that's already being written about in in Football Morning in
Speaker 1: America by Peter King, and you know some some of
Speaker 1: the stuff that was going on is in the Athletic
Speaker 1: article about how you know the players video came about
Speaker 1: in But just from an NFL perspective, you know, it
Speaker 1: was really such a change. I'm curious Patrick what you
Speaker 1: were thinking watching that that first meeting, and we don't
Speaker 1: have to get into the details of it, but just
Speaker 1: seeing some of the young people at our company not
Speaker 1: only speak up and be emotional about their experiences and
Speaker 1: the word heartbroken UM sticks out to me in terms
Speaker 1: of a cowork of ours, Jerick that mentioned in terms
Speaker 1: of he was heartbroken about the reaction and the response
Speaker 1: that the NFL had had to everything, but also like
Speaker 1: the tough questions that that Roger Goodell took um from
Speaker 1: from our employees and UM and I guess later that day.
Speaker 1: You know you saw you saw a little bit of
Speaker 1: a change from from Roger. Yeah, it was. It was
Speaker 1: in hardening. Um. You know for me, these are I mean,
Speaker 1: you guys know what we talked about. This like, this
Speaker 1: is a discussion I've been preparing for my whole life.
Speaker 1: And so I'm sitting there holding, you know, a five
Speaker 1: day old and you know, I'm having to like pass
Speaker 1: her off to to her mom and kind of sneak
Speaker 1: away to listen in on this phone calls at the NFL.
Speaker 1: And I would love to be you know, listening to Yeah. No,
Speaker 1: it's it's something that's uh, you know, definitely important to
Speaker 1: this house. Um. But you know, you you wonder who's
Speaker 1: going to say it? Um, And I you don't have
Speaker 1: you pull back the curtain. You know, I'm going year
Speaker 1: by year. I don't know how long this is going
Speaker 1: to be there for me. And so as as firmly
Speaker 1: as I tread, I still always try to find a
Speaker 1: way to tread lightly. And so like openly questioning the
Speaker 1: commissioner with regards to something that that pertains to a
Speaker 1: lawsuit that the NFL uh took place in, you know
Speaker 1: I can't do that. Um. I didn't feel like I
Speaker 1: would be able to do that safely. I don't. I
Speaker 1: can't afford counsel. You know, I can't afford to to
Speaker 1: get my knee surgery that I'm putting all for nine years.
Speaker 1: I can't find legal defense. So um to to to
Speaker 1: see Jordan's straight up asked that question. Uh, Jordan Olbin
Speaker 1: just asked Roger Goodell about Colin Kaepernet. Uh. The first
Speaker 1: thing I did was, you know, flip over to Twitter
Speaker 1: and send her a heart emoji. I never use hearts,
Speaker 1: but to hear the passion in her voice, uh to
Speaker 1: to hear the way that uh she phrased it. And
Speaker 1: then A J. Curry followed up asking him right back
Speaker 1: after that, it just meant a lot. It meant a
Speaker 1: lot too to those of us who you know, like
Speaker 1: I said, you feel you get to this point you
Speaker 1: have to tread lightly because this is the country that
Speaker 1: we live here, and so you don't want to offend
Speaker 1: the wrong people. People talk about PC culture, but you
Speaker 1: know the people that that say that, they're the ones
Speaker 1: that you know operate and run the culture. So what
Speaker 1: you can't do is you can't offend them, because then
Speaker 1: you don't have a job and you're you're looking somewhere else.
Speaker 1: And so for for for the Social team and talking
Speaker 1: with people, uh, you know, former employees, the folks and
Speaker 1: social they read the replies, you know, they see how
Speaker 1: the world is reacting to everything, and so I think
Speaker 1: that makes them in tune. I think in some sense
Speaker 1: you could say it almost radicalizes them. Yeah, and I
Speaker 1: mean Steve, Steve said it to the you know, cap
Speaker 1: that media and in credit to Steve wife for you know,
Speaker 1: hosting a few of these things. And he started actually
Speaker 1: by asking Goodell about the players video, and we can
Speaker 1: we can backtrack and get into the whole story about
Speaker 1: how that happened, but he actually did start it by
Speaker 1: by asking Goodell about that. Goodell indicated that something would
Speaker 1: be coming out later that day, but he wasn't gonna
Speaker 1: basically say it in that forum. But I remember him
Speaker 1: closing the entire a couple hours um by saying it's
Speaker 1: been about as mentally draining, you know, a week as possible,
Speaker 1: but that he was and energy, and he was inspired
Speaker 1: by by the young people not just at this company
Speaker 1: but but everywhere. Extraordinary. It was extraordinary. Patrick. You alluded
Speaker 1: to Jordan Dlbin, who we've known for years and she
Speaker 1: was on the Shield softball team. And A. J. Curry
Speaker 1: who we've worked in the next room over from us. UH,
Speaker 1: Brendan mint Or. He he's been kind of the center
Speaker 1: of the story. He he works for the social team,
Speaker 1: and he connected with Michael Thomas. UH kind of behind
Speaker 1: the scenes and not with any um. You know, he
Speaker 1: didn't give his boss a heads up ahead of time.
Speaker 1: Was something he felt he wanted to do, was important
Speaker 1: to do because he wasn't happy with the direction the
Speaker 1: NFL initially take. It had taken UH in the aftermath
Speaker 1: of George George Floyd and also Colin Kaepernick UM years
Speaker 1: ago now and to see these people that we know
Speaker 1: that we work with, UH, it was it was surreal
Speaker 1: when I'm watching that and seeing Jordan's talking and asking
Speaker 1: Roger Goodell about UH column Kaepernick and UM, I just
Speaker 1: it's it really is. That's the word that keeps coming
Speaker 1: to mind is extraordinary that that we're seeing, hopefully, you know,
Speaker 1: change and and but one thing we have definitely seen,
Speaker 1: whether it's lasting change, and we're gonna find out and
Speaker 1: and you can only cross your fingers, but that this
Speaker 1: does again feel different. This isn't something. Um. George Floyd
Speaker 1: was killed in custody two weeks ago now, and it
Speaker 1: this remains not just an important, huge, dominating story in
Speaker 1: our country, but in the NFL, and you just want
Speaker 1: to you want to see that keep coming. I would
Speaker 1: say one quick thing that I what I think all
Speaker 1: of us who were on that call, who have worked
Speaker 1: for the NFL for an extensive period of time, can
Speaker 1: feel good about. And when you talk about is this
Speaker 1: change gonna last or not? Is that? Um? You know,
Speaker 1: here's what happened. The NFL put out the initial response
Speaker 1: and it felt very much like an NFL response. And
Speaker 1: to your point, Patrick, that all the all the people
Speaker 1: on the ground looking at the response to that, from players, UM,
Speaker 1: from fans, from people around the country who have a
Speaker 1: different perspective than the people that put together that initial message,
Speaker 1: don't know who they are. UM. It's just not acceptable.
Speaker 1: And and the one thing I felt, um, where I
Speaker 1: felt energy on that call and you could feel it building,
Speaker 1: was that the answers were not acceptable. UM. And it's
Speaker 1: not to point fingers at the league office or any
Speaker 1: of that stuff, but Jordan answered the question. And then
Speaker 1: when when a j um I thought it came in
Speaker 1: with a second question about Kaepernick that was very clear
Speaker 1: and very direct. Uh. It's saying we're not going to
Speaker 1: accept the same answers, and we need to ask the
Speaker 1: questions differently, or we need to ask them a second
Speaker 1: and third time. Had that not happened on that call,
Speaker 1: Um and and everything that that Brendan did too, I
Speaker 1: I mean Goodell's response, I don't know if it would
Speaker 1: have existed, but I mean at some point, um, you know,
Speaker 1: and Goodell has been troubling, you know, he's had he's
Speaker 1: had his issues through this. But UH, I do see
Speaker 1: someone who's trying. I see someone who is trying to
Speaker 1: some degree with where he's at in life to formulate
Speaker 1: a response. And he did. Now And there's a lot
Speaker 1: of people learning slower than we want to, but I
Speaker 1: learned a lot in the last few weeks myself. I
Speaker 1: think with with in terms of the League and Roger,
Speaker 1: they're they're very insulated, uh, in terms of the things
Speaker 1: that they have access to, the people that have access
Speaker 1: to them. One example would be when the commissioner speaks
Speaker 1: at the league meeting, UH, us in the NFL Network
Speaker 1: newsroom have no idea when he's going to speak. There's
Speaker 1: no communication. We just have to watch a monitor. And
Speaker 1: when the commissioner runs up there and everyone thinks we
Speaker 1: have like some sort of inside it's like now it's like,
Speaker 1: you know, I'll spread to the desk and it's like
Speaker 1: the Commissioner, rogerial Hill is at the bodium set to speak,
Speaker 1: and so like I think when they hear things like
Speaker 1: when they talked about the meetings with the players coalition, um,
Speaker 1: they honestly might be hearing a lot of these things
Speaker 1: for the very first time. UM. And so you could
Speaker 1: see it through their reaction to And this was the
Speaker 1: thing in a subsequent call that I brought up because
Speaker 1: I definitely know like all the all of the stories
Speaker 1: and the personal uh notes, I've got them, everybody has them. Um.
Speaker 1: But what I want to to try to do is
Speaker 1: is to kind of look back at what we did wrong, uh,
Speaker 1: and why we did those things. UM. I feel like,
Speaker 1: I mean, it was obvious that a certain reaction from
Speaker 1: a certain segment of the population was prioritized, and that
Speaker 1: was the concern, um, past doing what was right or
Speaker 1: honestly evaluating the issue. Um. And while those folks are
Speaker 1: being you know, relatively quiet now uh, they're gonna be back.
Speaker 1: It's an election year. They're going to be very loud.
Speaker 1: They're still going to have a lot of money, They're
Speaker 1: gonna have a lot of influence. How is the NFL
Speaker 1: going to react, um, when that starts happening? And and
Speaker 1: that's my question for them now. And and you know,
Speaker 1: I guess we're just gonna have to wait and see.
Speaker 1: Do you think it was answered a little bit later
Speaker 1: that afternoon because I just know the timing of you know,
Speaker 1: you asking that question on on a a second work
Speaker 1: call that was kind of falling up the first first one,
Speaker 1: but it was more like localized uh too. You know,
Speaker 1: later that afternoon, that is when Roger Goodell releases you know,
Speaker 1: the video in response to the players video basically you know,
Speaker 1: saying black Lives matter, um, talking about you know, police
Speaker 1: brutality and basically repeating what they wanted him to repeat,
Speaker 1: with the exception of Colin you know, talking anything about
Speaker 1: Colin Kaepernick. Um, did you think that was sort of
Speaker 1: you know, a see change because he definitely there's definitely
Speaker 1: nothing like that, um a few years ago. Well, my
Speaker 1: thing is like going from from zero to fifty is
Speaker 1: is incredible progress? Uh, it's not a hundred. You know,
Speaker 1: I think that you know, we should be happy with fifty.
Speaker 1: But the reason we wanted fifty is because we want
Speaker 1: things to be better. Uh So there's no need to
Speaker 1: be complacent with fifty. Uh we we can try to
Speaker 1: work our way, uh, you know towards one. I just
Speaker 1: I know that a lot of the people who made
Speaker 1: those decisions, uh you know that that put up the slides.
Speaker 1: We were all that media summing where they put up
Speaker 1: the slides talking about the decline and viewership, um, and
Speaker 1: how it tied to the protests, and how that was
Speaker 1: the concern. Those people are still are still here. And
Speaker 1: I'm not I'm not clamoring for anybody's job, but I
Speaker 1: would just like to know, um, if it was a
Speaker 1: consultant who selected those consultants, Um are are they and
Speaker 1: UM you know what's what's changed for them and what
Speaker 1: priorities have changed for them? Because you know these things,
Speaker 1: these things aren't gonna go away. It's it's not a
Speaker 1: quick fix. Part of one. One quick thing was just
Speaker 1: that I saw how Jason Reid wrote on The Undefeated
Speaker 1: today how Patrick Mahomes being part of that video really
Speaker 1: made a difference which is was interesting that that that
Speaker 1: carried some some weight. Uh in the league office. Super
Speaker 1: Bowls mean a lot. You know, he's the face of
Speaker 1: the league, uh in a lot of ways. And you know,
Speaker 1: spinning forward into September and the hope that there's a
Speaker 1: there's a season. Uh, you just wonder what's gonna happen
Speaker 1: to fall out with Drew Brees his comments. Of course,
Speaker 1: he he made the comments about the flag. Um a
Speaker 1: huge backlash. He apologized multiple times in multiple formats. UH.
Speaker 1: But then really where the story took a huge turn
Speaker 1: then was when Donald Trump tweets Drew Brees, who they
Speaker 1: they've had a connection together in the past. Drew Brees,
Speaker 1: you should never have apologized for uh saying what you said,
Speaker 1: which is, don't kneel um during the national anthem in protest.
Speaker 1: And then Drew Brees, Uh, in an important moment for him,
Speaker 1: replied to the President and essentially lee Um rebutted what
Speaker 1: Trump's criticism was. I'll just read what he wrote back
Speaker 1: to Trump, we must stop stop talking about the flag
Speaker 1: and shift our attention to the real issues of systemic
Speaker 1: racial injustice, economic oppression, police brutality, and judicial and prison reform.
Speaker 1: We are at a critical juncture in our nation's history.
Speaker 1: If not now, then when we as a white community
Speaker 1: need to listen and learn from the pain and suffering
Speaker 1: of our black communities. Now spin forward to September. This
Speaker 1: is an election year. Uh, It's gonna be obviously a
Speaker 1: high hotly contested, and it's gonna go in a lot
Speaker 1: of directions as Trump tries to get four more years.
Speaker 1: And you can imagine almost guarantee two things that players
Speaker 1: are gonna kneel, and that Trump is gonna use that
Speaker 1: to try to inflame his base. And how does the
Speaker 1: NFL Roger Goodell, the owners who might politically align more
Speaker 1: with Trump than not, how do they react and put
Speaker 1: pressure potentially on Roger This that will have huge um
Speaker 1: ramifications in a few months if there is football played.
Speaker 1: M Well, it's already happening. I mean, Trump's come after
Speaker 1: Goodell specifically, you know since um I'm sure they're not
Speaker 1: looking to have that fight out publicly, but it was.
Speaker 1: It was interesting with Breeze because that was his third
Speaker 1: apology essentially, and you know you did it once. He
Speaker 1: got criticized a lot for a vague apology where he
Speaker 1: uses like the clip art of the the white hand
Speaker 1: in the black hand, and if you google white hand
Speaker 1: black hand together, it's the image that comes up. He didn't,
Speaker 1: and then he apologized the second time that day, and
Speaker 1: that one was still pretty vague too, but it was,
Speaker 1: you know, it was a little more in depth, and
Speaker 1: his wife had apologized, and it was interesting it took
Speaker 1: till that fourth the fourth time when he went to
Speaker 1: Trump where he actually started, where he addressed specifically some
Speaker 1: of I think the issues which I think, you know,
Speaker 1: people were waiting for his His his teammates were accepting
Speaker 1: his apology, and they did a lot in house, and
Speaker 1: Sean Payton reportedly told everyone, you know, don't talk about
Speaker 1: it outside, so so we're not gonna hear too much
Speaker 1: about it. But it was interesting that that that response
Speaker 1: to Trump was the first time Freeze actually started going
Speaker 1: through and kind of addressing the specific issues of the day,
Speaker 1: rather than just sort of saying I'm sorry that I
Speaker 1: offended people. And and that's really how things should work,
Speaker 1: right you. You you say something, people call you out
Speaker 1: on it, you evaluate um, and then you go about
Speaker 1: things and to have an opportunity to kind of confront
Speaker 1: really the the face of of these problems the president.
Speaker 1: It's um and not that these problems are exclusive to president.
Speaker 1: They were pervasive for you know, four all the way
Speaker 1: down to one before one, uh, fifty years before the
Speaker 1: first um. So it's it's it's great for Breeze that
Speaker 1: he's able to do that and they will be able
Speaker 1: to move on. UM. In terms of, you know, how
Speaker 1: the league reacts to that, I think it really sets
Speaker 1: a foundation for how teams and owners and coaches can
Speaker 1: react to the Trump problem because, honestly, you know, it's
Speaker 1: it's been a long four years and UM, a lot
Speaker 1: of people in America I have kind of done the
Speaker 1: reading because of the president. UM, and they know more
Speaker 1: than they did in sixteen. And I think some owners
Speaker 1: will as well. And honestly, not to get too deep
Speaker 1: into punditure here, but um, a few of these owners
Speaker 1: probably want to preserve their political ideology and hitching their
Speaker 1: wagon to Donald Trump again. Uh, they probably don't see
Speaker 1: that as the best route to do that. Um So,
Speaker 1: so I could see them having a different response. Well,
Speaker 1: I mean, you're seeing that with poll numbers across the
Speaker 1: country for the first time in a while, so that
Speaker 1: something is is changing. There is a shift. But you know,
Speaker 1: Drew Brees also, and a lot of people ask right away,
Speaker 1: with this just simply destroy the New Orleans locker room?
Speaker 1: Um would this be repaired on any level for the Saints?
Speaker 1: And one thing about that one of the better locker
Speaker 1: rooms in the league is that you've got your your
Speaker 1: cam Jordan's and and others who went and spoke with Breeze.
Speaker 1: And I do you know for the initial response by
Speaker 1: Breeze and probably how his heart was at that time.
Speaker 1: I do believe that people can learn if they're willing to,
Speaker 1: especially from people friends, family members, Saints. His Saints teammates
Speaker 1: are family members to him, Um that they're clearly there
Speaker 1: was a listening process that probably informed that Trump response
Speaker 1: where he wasn't there a few days ago. So I
Speaker 1: don't know. It's like if you're with with people that are, um,
Speaker 1: you know, down on Breeze overall. I mean the initial
Speaker 1: response absolutely, but are we also willing to see with everyone?
Speaker 1: Not just growth? I mean the whole point is where
Speaker 1: will we be five years from now, um, five months
Speaker 1: from now, five weeks from now, where we'll where will
Speaker 1: all kids be? Will they see things differently that we do?
Speaker 1: And it's like it's gonna be a creekier process with
Speaker 1: people with embedded thought processes that have been in their
Speaker 1: minds for decades, and it's it's gonna be easier with
Speaker 1: young people that are sponges for justice. We and we've
Speaker 1: talked about it on this show for years before any
Speaker 1: of this happened. Drew Brees like, what is Yeah, we
Speaker 1: don't need to even get into it, but yeah, there
Speaker 1: you can read about it. There's there's legal stuff. There's
Speaker 1: all sorts of stuff, not shocking, not shocking that it
Speaker 1: came from him versus fill in the blank other quarterback,
Speaker 1: but beyond like the legal proceedings and the situation with
Speaker 1: his mom and all that stuff, I mean, just like,
Speaker 1: is he a genuine person? And then my first reaction
Speaker 1: when the apology first apology came was well, was this
Speaker 1: actually from some sense of a level of enlightenment or
Speaker 1: did he sit down with a PR crisis team and
Speaker 1: and pound out a statement. But then you hear more
Speaker 1: and more about the story, and like we said, it
Speaker 1: was very behind closed doors. Actually nobody had access to
Speaker 1: the Saints team meeting except for shock Attack Quille O'Neills.
Speaker 1: There that was a wild subplot in NFL history that
Speaker 1: Shack who just happened to be scheduled. Um for this,
Speaker 1: Shack is also Shock is also a cop, by the way,
Speaker 1: just for the same they keep Jack on the zoom call.
Speaker 1: He then apparently it's very emotional. I think Peter King
Speaker 1: wrote that he couldn't report that Breeze cried in his
Speaker 1: conversation with teammates, but he may have. And then Shock
Speaker 1: spoke to the team about the importance of unity and
Speaker 1: not letting the media and social media, Oh you divide.
Speaker 1: Here's the thing, um, the New Orleans Saints are a
Speaker 1: team of professional football players and they have been through
Speaker 1: a lot. And I guess the thing that I wanted
Speaker 1: to try to tell people is they were going to
Speaker 1: be professionals no matter what. And we all work with
Speaker 1: people that say some things and do some things where
Speaker 1: we're just like, you know what the like, what are
Speaker 1: you talking about? And especially especially black men in America,
Speaker 1: if we were unable to work with everybody who said
Speaker 1: some flawed race stuff, then we would never be able
Speaker 1: to work. And so, like I understand, like the team
Speaker 1: huddled the Kumbaya like when again again, when I think
Speaker 1: that it may have been a little awkward, But like
Speaker 1: Michael Thomas album, Camara Marcus Davenport, like Cam Jordan's, they
Speaker 1: they'd still be pretty good football players, right, regardless of
Speaker 1: how they felt about Trooper. Right, I thought that part
Speaker 1: of it, how it relates to football. I wasn't really
Speaker 1: even thinking or worried about that, like this is gonna
Speaker 1: be their biggest pro because I just think back to
Speaker 1: all the teams that have had Like think about the
Speaker 1: two thousand, what year is it that the year of
Speaker 1: the Steelers first one with Ben Roethlisberger. Talk talk to
Speaker 1: how all of his offensive teammates felt about him that
Speaker 1: year as a steamrolled to a super Bowl, Like you know,
Speaker 1: it's just you know, they're out there playing and they're
Speaker 1: gonna find a way. It's also the middle of the
Speaker 1: middle of the summer and out um, but it's how
Speaker 1: do you know Shaq wasn't in a team meeting and
Speaker 1: oh four you right, he's like the Forrest Gump of unity. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we're gonna It's like, hey, we need somebody to kind
Speaker 1: of bring a team drama into perspective. Let's go get
Speaker 1: Shaquille O'Neil, who famously got along with all of the
Speaker 1: two came out of the Peter King article. Shaq is
Speaker 1: telling these Saints players listen, then if if the media
Speaker 1: didn't break up me and Kobe, we would have won
Speaker 1: five more titles. Now, bro, how about you take a
Speaker 1: little accountability yourself. We get off track. That's um, all right,
Speaker 1: good talk, guys, that's what's happening. But there's so much
Speaker 1: happening in the NFL right now that we could have
Speaker 1: talked another hour on that. But let's let's talk a
Speaker 1: little bit of football. I wanna talk a little football,
Speaker 1: Patrick claibn. Football. Yeah, football is good like football, speaking
Speaker 1: of the unifying agent to professional football. And you know
Speaker 1: we have uh season that continues and who knows, cessslor,
Speaker 1: I know you've been tracking this very closely. Um, who
Speaker 1: knows what can happen with COVID nineteen and a second outbreak.
Speaker 1: Let's hope, let's hope not, let's hope this is You've
Speaker 1: been really on top of this more than anyone I know.
Speaker 1: I expect you for it, um, But well, just the
Speaker 1: hubris that somehow, because we want to go to the
Speaker 1: Westfield Mall, that this virus doesn't exist. Number numbers aren't
Speaker 1: numbers aren't great right now and like California in Texas,
Speaker 1: but I have to get my drink on and driving
Speaker 1: around town and sit under an umbrella with my girlfriends.
Speaker 1: No not me, someone else saying that, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: that person doesn't need the coronavirus is in their way
Speaker 1: at this point, so it doesn't exist. Get on a
Speaker 1: plane of Vegas, whether you want to criticize or understand
Speaker 1: where they're coming from. There. They seem to be going
Speaker 1: full steam ahead. They said, this season is going to
Speaker 1: happen unless so let us for the moment. Mark if
Speaker 1: you can imagine a week one in September, and with
Speaker 1: that in mind, um, with everything that's going on on
Speaker 1: the football side of things, what is like maybe an
Speaker 1: unpopular opinion that you hold something that not many people
Speaker 1: or any people would agree with. But it's not and
Speaker 1: it's not you know, some people say, oh, man, you're
Speaker 1: really gonna die on that hill. Man, you can really
Speaker 1: die on that hill. No, no, no, no, we're looking
Speaker 1: to live hills that were ready to live on. Do
Speaker 1: you guys get it? That can see? Okay? Because we
Speaker 1: like the hill, right you know, this is this is
Speaker 1: my hill, intending to I might die on it, but
Speaker 1: I know I will conquer and live upon the hill.
Speaker 1: You're gonna slaughter everyone who tries to make you die
Speaker 1: on the hill, and you're gonna bend them to your will.
Speaker 1: It will be the hill will be your own person
Speaker 1: a little Valhalla. Look at it that one, Greg? What
Speaker 1: ill are you? I want to have here? Someone else?
Speaker 1: Go first? Come on? You always do. I don't always
Speaker 1: do that well because I'm still you know, that's a
Speaker 1: Greg trope. I wanna it's your it's your tone, I
Speaker 1: think because I'm confused whether you know what the tone
Speaker 1: of the hill is, whether you're you're you think you
Speaker 1: might die, or is it just like a prediction that
Speaker 1: you know. I want to I want to see what
Speaker 1: you're you're setting the tone here, then that's on me
Speaker 1: because I do want to make it clear. But I
Speaker 1: also don't want to go first, because I need to
Speaker 1: gather some thoughts. I'm saying, I see where this is
Speaker 1: going actually about, and you're willing to defend that hill
Speaker 1: when the addressors try to take it, Yeah, they're gonna storm.
Speaker 1: They're gonna storm. Like, fine, you want me to go first,
Speaker 1: I'll go first. Simply, Greg simply came up with an
Speaker 1: answer during the Philip Broadcaster. I really was curious on
Speaker 1: the tone here because to me, it's hills, aren't you know,
Speaker 1: they're not created overnight. This has to be something that
Speaker 1: to me, it's not like, hey, I've got a bold prediction,
Speaker 1: you know the books are gonna win twelve games. No,
Speaker 1: it's got to be something that to me that I
Speaker 1: felt like for a long time, if I'm willing to die,
Speaker 1: I'm recognizing that predictions and seen into the future that
Speaker 1: could be right or that could be wrong. But I
Speaker 1: need to feel the righteousness of this belief to be
Speaker 1: willing to die. Can I just jump in one second?
Speaker 1: Mindset purposes, Greg, You're not even willing to entertain the
Speaker 1: possibility that you would die. Well, this is where we're
Speaker 1: We're where we're different. You're here to feel it's like
Speaker 1: to connect with this too, But um, I will I'm
Speaker 1: willing to die on this particular I mean because you know,
Speaker 1: I know, I know I've died a lot. I've died
Speaker 1: in some hills over the years, but this is one
Speaker 1: that I've been tending to. I've been building and if
Speaker 1: people want to come at me, they can. They can
Speaker 1: come at me in terms of my belief in Philip
Speaker 1: Rivers because I want to so I was gonna street
Speaker 1: because Corps is rotting on that hill. So to the hill,
Speaker 1: the hill isn't just about his career. That's that's we
Speaker 1: we know about that a lot of people on that hill.
Speaker 1: Like a lot of arguments, you can have a both
Speaker 1: sides argument of like Eli Manning and Philip Rivers, like
Speaker 1: one side is wrong, but like you, you can make
Speaker 1: that argument that that that Philip Rivers has been part
Speaker 1: of the problem. I I look at his career and
Speaker 1: I see a guy if he was in a million
Speaker 1: other situations, um that he would be a no question
Speaker 1: Hall of Famer. Um that his skill set and his
Speaker 1: aggressiveness and his ability um to put it on the
Speaker 1: money and not worry about it would have succeeded in
Speaker 1: so many places, so much better than a Chargers organization
Speaker 1: that never gave him the support with the offensive line
Speaker 1: and running game for about ten straight years of his prime.
Speaker 1: And then, as someone who's starting to lose, hope to
Speaker 1: see him go to Indianapolis and go to a team
Speaker 1: that I think has a great head coach in a
Speaker 1: lot of ways, great at calling plays, great at managing
Speaker 1: his team, a great GM who I think is put
Speaker 1: a smart team around him and most importantly, a great
Speaker 1: offensive line in front of him. Like I am willing
Speaker 1: to die on the hill, that Philip Rivers is not
Speaker 1: only going to be an asset and and carry the
Speaker 1: Colts further than they've been in a long time, but
Speaker 1: that he's gonna be a much better signing than Tom
Speaker 1: Brady Ever. Was that that Philip Rivers was the guy
Speaker 1: that with this situation with this Colts team, was the
Speaker 1: guy who was brought in this offseason that's gonna make
Speaker 1: the biggest difference. And we're gonna be talking about the
Speaker 1: Philip river sance all all season long. So much better
Speaker 1: than Brady Um statistically or in terms of I mean,
Speaker 1: it's all We're not allowed to care about quarterback victories,
Speaker 1: so don't matter. It's all connected. He's just gonna play better.
Speaker 1: And he was a better signing, uh, in a more
Speaker 1: valuable signing to me than Tom Brady was in Tampa.
Speaker 1: Not that I'm like just trash and whatever Brady is
Speaker 1: gonna do, but I think Philip Rivers has more left
Speaker 1: in the tank and is in a great situation. Uh
Speaker 1: maybe a better situation. Than Brady and that he's gonna
Speaker 1: outplay him this year. All right, here's my issue with
Speaker 1: because this is supposed to be a hill that you're
Speaker 1: living on, and you're just on this hill alone. I've
Speaker 1: been here and I see I see blankets everywhere, picnic baskets,
Speaker 1: It's crowded. A lot of people think what you think
Speaker 1: this this this could have well this is maybe it
Speaker 1: would have been a benefit of me not going first.
Speaker 1: Then you know you've got a problem the addition of
Speaker 1: Tom Brady. Uh, people from the hill. Yeah, the Brady
Speaker 1: park got Brady was really what I was what I
Speaker 1: was leading to. But to me, you know, if you're
Speaker 1: gonna die on that hill, it's got to be something
Speaker 1: that's been it's been inside of you. Uh. And and
Speaker 1: that's how it pushes forward into this season. Is that
Speaker 1: is the he's better than Brady Philippers pushing forward inside
Speaker 1: of Gregg. I mean, well there's that too. Who knows, Yeah,
Speaker 1: could have another another Rivers Patrick Hill. You're willing to
Speaker 1: live on the hill that I'm willing to live on.
Speaker 1: It should have been pretty obvious to anybody, um that
Speaker 1: you're watching a game and a team scores a couple
Speaker 1: of touchdowns, and it's early on. Somebody on the broadcast
Speaker 1: team says, well, folks, they've forgot all the momentum. And then,
Speaker 1: of course what happens, whether it's the Kansas City Chiefs
Speaker 1: or the Buffalo Bills or anyone, uh, the other team
Speaker 1: comes back and leaves you wondering what the hell was
Speaker 1: the point of this quote unquote momentum, This all seeing,
Speaker 1: all knowing force that surrounds us and penetrates us and
Speaker 1: binds football together. Um momentum does not exist. It is
Speaker 1: a figment of our imagination. If you want to call
Speaker 1: it good vibes, call it good vibes. But there is
Speaker 1: no force that gives you a boost. It just doesn't happen.
Speaker 1: You want points, You would like to put points on
Speaker 1: the scoreboard. This metaphysical will to win, blah blah blah, platitude, shmatitude.
Speaker 1: It just it's fake. It's fake. We're human beings. Uh
Speaker 1: we we we live to see patterns um as my
Speaker 1: child storms in the garage. But it's it's a survival thing.
Speaker 1: We want to try to make everything makes sense. Everything
Speaker 1: isn't always gonna make sense. It's just it's not real.
Speaker 1: It's it's made up. Stop it. Patrick. One question when
Speaker 1: when this score was twenty three, Hey, and I was
Speaker 1: writing my article about the Falcon the Patriots defense letting
Speaker 1: the team down and with every passing moment sitting in
Speaker 1: that stadium. Now, I'm not for against your theory necessarily,
Speaker 1: but you could feel, because we were sitting on the
Speaker 1: Falcon side of the field with their fans, that contingent
Speaker 1: starting to slowly grow more silent by the minute. Um.
Speaker 1: But on the field, the Patriots, their body language, their
Speaker 1: energy was shifting and changing and suddenly coming into full bloom.
Speaker 1: Was the most apocalyptic loss by any team in the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl ever. Uh. And I don't know if it
Speaker 1: just happened, because you know, the xs and os matched up,
Speaker 1: and I mean, it did feel to me that at
Speaker 1: some point teams are broken. And when they went into overtime,
Speaker 1: I would have bet um all my possessions, which are
Speaker 1: not much, that the Falcons were not winning that game.
Speaker 1: And I don't know if it's momentum or if it's
Speaker 1: just I'm feeling something. What say you example? Before Patrick
Speaker 1: responds to follow up example, it's been to this past
Speaker 1: playoff season where the Tennessee Titans and nine and seven
Speaker 1: outfit that nobody despite you know, mega games made in
Speaker 1: the post Hannehill world. All right, maybe they can go
Speaker 1: up to New England and win, and in fact they
Speaker 1: did and that was nice. But guess what that momentum
Speaker 1: momentum maybe is the wrong word, and yeah, when we're
Speaker 1: gonna welcome to the hill, dn uh. Confidence. Confidence is
Speaker 1: a thing teams, players, teams, anything in your life. Confidence
Speaker 1: can help drive you forward and for the instant, For
Speaker 1: the example of the Titans, the confidence gained beating the
Speaker 1: Patriots New England, that confidence slash, momentum, whatever you wanna
Speaker 1: call it, I believe absolutely played in a role in
Speaker 1: them going to Baltimore the next week and doing what
Speaker 1: they did to the Ravens. What say you? I think
Speaker 1: the Titans were a good football team and they made
Speaker 1: place and they won the game based on the plays
Speaker 1: that they made. Uh. I think that's what happened there
Speaker 1: and market with the Super Bowl. Um, if momentum was real,
Speaker 1: then why didn't the Falcons win the Super Bowl? Well,
Speaker 1: I because here's one thing I do, come back, Here's
Speaker 1: one one thing I totally agree with you on. When
Speaker 1: I see a team and like end the first quarter,
Speaker 1: it's seventeen nothing, You're like, whoa, there's way to the
Speaker 1: Momentum doesn't mean once you've captured it earlier in the
Speaker 1: game that you roll with it. I think it shifts
Speaker 1: like an ocean and the Patriots caught a wave that
Speaker 1: took him to shore. That's what I'd say. What momentum
Speaker 1: is depends on what the result is, and we can
Speaker 1: apply it after the fact. So so it always exists
Speaker 1: and it explains every win and every single loss. So
Speaker 1: claib claibon. This is the second podcast he's he's really
Speaker 1: been going on about this lately. He was ready, Yeah,
Speaker 1: he was, he was. He was on the Saints Twitter podcast.
Speaker 1: People should check it out. That boy Wolf. It was
Speaker 1: a great It was a really great episode. Um My
Speaker 1: buddy Adam and and they talked about this and the
Speaker 1: one only retorts the momentum I had two is well,
Speaker 1: there is something that like feeling more and more confident
Speaker 1: um maybe as things are going well for you, and
Speaker 1: and that can be helpful. But to answer let's say
Speaker 1: the Falcons thing, I guess I do still just believe
Speaker 1: and I know it's not the world that happened, but
Speaker 1: when you go watch that game in the final seven
Speaker 1: or eight minutes, that all of those that there were seven, eight,
Speaker 1: ten plays where if it had been a split second different,
Speaker 1: or if a Falcons player had done things something a
Speaker 1: little bit better than the game was right. That those right,
Speaker 1: that those things just could have they could have happened.
Speaker 1: They didn't happen, but that was up to the player
Speaker 1: on the field, and it didn't happen. And then if
Speaker 1: just one of those happens, then we're never talking about
Speaker 1: momentum or anything like that. Right dance that on this hill?
Speaker 1: Oh no, I'm actually I was. That's kind of a
Speaker 1: little devil's advocating, But um, I was more taken back
Speaker 1: by that. Patrick spun it too. Momentum, which is interesting
Speaker 1: and it's a good it's a good way to make sag,
Speaker 1: you know. Well, like because the place that jumps out
Speaker 1: to me the most is in college football, where they're
Speaker 1: they're always talking about it and we're always doing this
Speaker 1: booth psychoanalysis of nineteen year olds and it's like, well,
Speaker 1: here's what these nineteen year olds were thinking. Nineteen year
Speaker 1: olds have no idea what they're thinking because they're nineteen.
Speaker 1: It just that they don't know, and you don't know
Speaker 1: whether you would you hate, you would hate the you
Speaker 1: would hate to be a huge pro tennis fan as
Speaker 1: I am, and listened to half that the trash analysis,
Speaker 1: which is all about momentum and mental and never like mentioning,
Speaker 1: and it's it's trash, all right. So let me go next,
Speaker 1: and I'll the conceit in my mind. In my mind
Speaker 1: of this segment was you have to be alone on
Speaker 1: the hill. Greg has a whole whole like subdivision of
Speaker 1: people with him on the Philip Rivers. Is gonna be
Speaker 1: good Hill Clay By the momentum thing, I don't know,
Speaker 1: I don't even know what to make sense of it,
Speaker 1: but there's probably people that definitely agree with you and
Speaker 1: are on that hill with you. But how about this
Speaker 1: for a hill that I'm alone on and I'm not
Speaker 1: afraid to live? Is that Derek Carr is gonna be
Speaker 1: getting m v P buzz by November, if uh, if
Speaker 1: we indeed play football. Because first of all, we you
Speaker 1: know you down we use this as the Baker Mayfield
Speaker 1: explanation why he's gonna be fine. I've seen it before, Okay,
Speaker 1: we we said that with Mayfield. Well, then why can't
Speaker 1: we say the same thing with Car that I know
Speaker 1: it's it's been a few years in the review mirror,
Speaker 1: but he's still you know, I think he's nine years old,
Speaker 1: and I think what they've been building in Oakland and
Speaker 1: now Las Vegas is an offense that ultimately can really
Speaker 1: take a step up here in year two with Gruden.
Speaker 1: And I speak not just the Henry Ruggs, um the
Speaker 1: Alabama star wide receiver who was the first wide out
Speaker 1: off the board in the draft, but you kind of
Speaker 1: look at the roster um Josh Jacobs who probably should
Speaker 1: have won Offensive Rookie of the Year last year, Tyrelle Williams,
Speaker 1: who is a very solid receiver, Hunter, Renfro, Greg you know,
Speaker 1: I know Greg has had his issues, but he he
Speaker 1: really made strides as a first year player. Darren Waller
Speaker 1: broke out as the most productive wide receiver in the
Speaker 1: league just about last season. I think that with Gruden
Speaker 1: year to Car, year to Mike Lennon, is he still
Speaker 1: the guy installed as the principal back up there. I
Speaker 1: think that was good for the head of the headset
Speaker 1: space of Derek Carr, who seems like a guy who
Speaker 1: could be a little bit emotional and maybe would be
Speaker 1: negatively impacted by Cam Newton on him, Mariota there who,
Speaker 1: Mike Mayocky, Mike lenn thank you very much. Milen still
Speaker 1: recovering from the fire he took from a Keen Hicks
Speaker 1: over the week that that the concept that the backup
Speaker 1: can be too good and it makes your start or sad.
Speaker 1: It could have been another hill that I would have died. Well.
Speaker 1: I believe that though I think some guys are mentally
Speaker 1: tougher than others, and um Car, I'm not gonna call
Speaker 1: him not mentally tough, but he's somebody who reads everything
Speaker 1: and sees everything. Um So, anyway, put it together. I
Speaker 1: always thought the Car had a quality skill set and
Speaker 1: I just like him in year two in this offense
Speaker 1: with better playmakers around him, I think the Raiders are
Speaker 1: gonna be better this year. I really think they have
Speaker 1: a chance to contend. And I'm not saying he's anything
Speaker 1: close to Patrick Mahomes or um Lamar Jackson or insert
Speaker 1: QB here. I just think he's gonna put up numbers
Speaker 1: that it's gonna be like remember when like Jared Goff
Speaker 1: was getting a little m v P buzz a couple
Speaker 1: of years ago, and it wasn't really serious, but it
Speaker 1: was like, well, you can't deny the fact that this
Speaker 1: team is in first place and he's putting up huge numbers.
Speaker 1: That's kind of what I mean by m v P buzz. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's already happened for Derek Carr. I love when people
Speaker 1: bring back that thes in. I think it was when
Speaker 1: it's like, hey, it's like Derek Carr was in the
Speaker 1: m v periods. Yeah, like, if you weren't watching the games,
Speaker 1: he wasn't one of the five best quarterbacks in the
Speaker 1: league of that year. Either. That's important. That's a distinction
Speaker 1: that I'm making here that I don't want you to
Speaker 1: think that I think he's going to be actually worthy
Speaker 1: of an m VP selection, but he's gonna be putting
Speaker 1: up numbers that are at a Pro Bowl level that uh,
Speaker 1: he's gonna be helping this team at people are talking
Speaker 1: about get Marcus Mariota in there. I think there are
Speaker 1: cars gonna be not good but very good this year, uh,
Speaker 1: for the Las Vegas Raiders, and I'm ready to live
Speaker 1: on that. Wow, I think you're not. I think it's
Speaker 1: fair to say that there aren't a lot of people, Um,
Speaker 1: you know, crowding your body while you lie out on
Speaker 1: your you know, Matt's sunning yourself on that hill. You're
Speaker 1: there's not a lot of people there with you. They're
Speaker 1: all in the you know, they're all in the casino.
Speaker 1: That's fine, But I mean we're I don't think we're
Speaker 1: looking at Raiders fans. Is the acid test of whether
Speaker 1: this theory from Raiders fans are wearing masks? Greg Right,
Speaker 1: I would like to know what Derek Carr does that
Speaker 1: is special. Um, But but do I think he can
Speaker 1: have a good season based on what's around him? Yes,
Speaker 1: And I think it's probably a contingent on what's around him.
Speaker 1: I think to be in the m v P conversation,
Speaker 1: i'd have to go look. Maybe I could pull up
Speaker 1: the d v o A from nineteen The Raiders were
Speaker 1: a second to last in terms of defensive d v
Speaker 1: o A. Uh, they're gonna need to be better if
Speaker 1: we're gonna be talking about the Raiders, which would mean
Speaker 1: we were talking about Derek Carr on the defensive side.
Speaker 1: I thought he had an okay year last year. They
Speaker 1: couldn't stop anybody. Uh, they weren't a very super watchable
Speaker 1: football team other than that, But I could I mean,
Speaker 1: like you said, Uh, Mark, there's there's a few people
Speaker 1: there like if if what Dan is saying is that
Speaker 1: there's this Andy Dalton possibility, Uh yeah, I could see
Speaker 1: that kind of season for for Derek. On it this way,
Speaker 1: I would not be stunned. If we're talking about um
Speaker 1: come New Year's Day, Derek Carr, you know, four thousand
Speaker 1: yards passing, thirty two thirty four touchdowns. Interceptions are low
Speaker 1: because he's always been good at protecting the ball. So
Speaker 1: let's say about you know, twelve interceptions, passer rating around
Speaker 1: one hundred. That type of year that maybe on paper
Speaker 1: looks better than what a football head actually believes about
Speaker 1: him as a player. But when you're talking about the
Speaker 1: m v p um, as Mark points out often almost
Speaker 1: as often as he talks about COVID nineteen and tracking
Speaker 1: that disease, is that it's narrative driven. And this idea
Speaker 1: that the Raiders are head into the playoffs and cars
Speaker 1: had come off as best season ever. I just see that.
Speaker 1: I see that all is possible. That's it. That's my hill.
Speaker 1: I didn't know you were so conssionate about Derek. You know,
Speaker 1: I see does it come off as passionate or just
Speaker 1: that's kind of just you're if you're you guys, I
Speaker 1: always you have to find a hill where two other
Speaker 1: people aren't right, Well, you have to be willing to die.
Speaker 1: It's it's tough to like, he gets m v P love,
Speaker 1: but he's actually not that good and he you know,
Speaker 1: he's he's great, but he's not mentally strong enough to
Speaker 1: deal with like a decent quarterback. It's a little needle
Speaker 1: here you're trying to thread. You put in a position
Speaker 1: to die on the hill with like the strays you
Speaker 1: it's gonna have an MVP season. You know Greg ever
Speaker 1: resurrected his QB Index, it would be Greg would have
Speaker 1: him as number ten at the end of the season. Okay,
Speaker 1: you know what I thought, Well, you know West might
Speaker 1: be taking over QB index this year. There that might
Speaker 1: be some breaking news where you we'll see the some
Speaker 1: some sources saying that this year I sat down West
Speaker 1: lest year. That should be something you're doing. You know,
Speaker 1: I feel like I should take some credit for that. Well,
Speaker 1: that's that turned quickly, mark your turn. Well, I also
Speaker 1: believe that that the narrative driven um aspect of football
Speaker 1: is stronger than ever, and especially with these awards they
Speaker 1: hand out. Um, but there are times when it makes
Speaker 1: sense to give someone an award when they've done something remarkable. Um,
Speaker 1: and I'm talking about I am telling you right now,
Speaker 1: you are willing to throw sandwiches this way in reverse
Speaker 1: of me that the coach of the year. Give me
Speaker 1: a break with Bruce arians and all. It's everyone's already
Speaker 1: got all these awards just handed out. Is going to
Speaker 1: be Zach Taylor of the Cincinnati Bengals. I'm living on
Speaker 1: that hill because I'm will tell you something else that's
Speaker 1: going on here is that the corpses over sweet Well,
Speaker 1: you know you you want me to pick something that's
Speaker 1: that half the half of America agrees with? Or do
Speaker 1: you want something the exercise? Well, I'm starting to believe
Speaker 1: it more and more, and there is the paranoia. Can
Speaker 1: I speak for one minute without Greg and Dan interjecting
Speaker 1: fourteen times with the own I won't you offer your opinion? Now?
Speaker 1: Dan and Gregg get it out of the way, Okay, Um,
Speaker 1: well out of the way. It's just I have no comment.
Speaker 1: I love this hill because previously you've kind of been
Speaker 1: on the can anyone in America name Zach Taylor? Can
Speaker 1: anyone tell me anything that he did? For my exploration?
Speaker 1: The narrative is perfect because as of instead of everyone
Speaker 1: just saying, we know that Bruce Arians is, He's won
Speaker 1: it twice, He's gonna go twelve and four with the
Speaker 1: with the Bucks. It's a nice story, and just give
Speaker 1: it to Bruce Arians or give it to fill in
Speaker 1: the blank. I'll give it to John Harbaugh. Just here
Speaker 1: comes someone that if I had to ask any of
Speaker 1: you to write down to the defining traits about Zach
Speaker 1: Taylor right now, you'd be lying. If you wrote anything.
Speaker 1: You have no idea who he is? Now what the
Speaker 1: number one thing that helps a team that doesn't have
Speaker 1: the best coach win coach of the year is a
Speaker 1: worst to first or a worst to playoff scenario. They
Speaker 1: are two and fourteen. A season ago, the team was,
Speaker 1: I mean, they made vanilla look like the most exciting
Speaker 1: flavor at the ice cream stand if that's where they're
Speaker 1: selling the ice cream. So now you go to and fourteen,
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow is going to come in part of these
Speaker 1: are there's some contingencies here? Oh this coach you had
Speaker 1: to deal with U, you know, getting a rookie quarterback
Speaker 1: ready during a Corona time. And now I know everyone
Speaker 1: says we're gonna roll back into these complexes four days
Speaker 1: from now and everyone's gonna be sweating on top of
Speaker 1: each other. But we'll see how that plays out there.
Speaker 1: May it may not be quite that easy. There is
Speaker 1: a roster in the Bengals roster both sides of the
Speaker 1: ball is serviceable to quality. Um there is if you
Speaker 1: look at their offense and I have some issues with
Speaker 1: the offensive line, you could look at a team that
Speaker 1: with seven playoff teams, Yes, the Bengals could hop scotch
Speaker 1: a team like Cleveland that is just as a shaky
Speaker 1: deal as we and and part of me real fear
Speaker 1: is I think that the whole juror Joe Burrow Bengals
Speaker 1: thing might just simply replace all the Browns hype, and
Speaker 1: then the Browns could be a big, big mess From
Speaker 1: a year and a year from now, the Bengals could
Speaker 1: sneak into the playoffs. They go ten and six, eleven
Speaker 1: and five. Zach Taylor along the way, we'll have all
Speaker 1: these fluffy thing pieces written about him. Uh, probably by
Speaker 1: some people we know, maybe by me who knows, and
Speaker 1: then by the by season's end, he is the perfect
Speaker 1: candidate to take a two and fourteen team with the
Speaker 1: most exciting rookie quarterback that we've seen in a long time.
Speaker 1: They go ten and six, they sneak into the playoffs,
Speaker 1: maybe they pull one of these Rex Ryan deals where
Speaker 1: that Jets team in two thousand and nine played the
Speaker 1: Bengals in weeks seventeen and the Bengals team going into
Speaker 1: the playoffs that slept. That Jet team had one of
Speaker 1: the best defenses of the decade. Though they had a tear,
Speaker 1: they had they had a good running game. I'm just saying,
Speaker 1: but a lot, a lot a lot of people were
Speaker 1: saying the Jets were a playoff team. Then I'm not
Speaker 1: really comparing them to that Jets team either. It's a
Speaker 1: different deal. But I'm on a hill. You asked me
Speaker 1: to go on a hill. I'm on a hill with
Speaker 1: Zach Taylor and a playoff Bengals team. I don't see
Speaker 1: any of you hanging around next to me. I'm concerned
Speaker 1: that that you're gonna die on the hill, like of starvation.
Speaker 1: There's not a lot of infrastructure on this hill, and
Speaker 1: I don't know that there's gonna be a lot of
Speaker 1: people that are like, come to fight you and then
Speaker 1: you could kill them and steal their rations. Um. Well,
Speaker 1: this has been a this has been a This has
Speaker 1: been a year of movements, um, of a polar shift
Speaker 1: of change. And the Bengals have been the most boring
Speaker 1: thing in professional football outside of the Detroit Lions for
Speaker 1: a long time. And it's all gonna change. And the narratives,
Speaker 1: so you're not going to even be able to handle
Speaker 1: the narratives by late September. You're not gonna even be
Speaker 1: able to handle them. I hope you're right, um, because
Speaker 1: that would be cool for Cincinnati, would be good at football. Again,
Speaker 1: my my biggest concern, and Mark, you and I both
Speaker 1: fans of franchises that have been historically inept, especially in
Speaker 1: the last couple of decades. Cincinnati is right in that group.
Speaker 1: So typically these organizations don't have these like Eureka moments
Speaker 1: where all of a sudden they go from zero to hero.
Speaker 1: And for that reason, I have concerns that Cincinnati will
Speaker 1: be the feel good story just because a lot of
Speaker 1: these bad teams that aren't run well tend to stay
Speaker 1: that way for a reason. But you are right, and
Speaker 1: what you're saying about there is talent on the roster,
Speaker 1: and the quarterback could be special. Zach Taylor, of course,
Speaker 1: is we've talked on the show is a complete unknown.
Speaker 1: Zach Taylor is that when a given a horrible team
Speaker 1: and no chance to win, his team won't win. That's
Speaker 1: what else. Yeah, and he's a very tall man. He's
Speaker 1: about six three. He stands out I would I thought
Speaker 1: he was like five eleven or something. He I like him,
Speaker 1: I like I've talked about it, but when we did
Speaker 1: that coaches on Breakfast, I like the kind of you know.
Speaker 1: I like the way he handles himself. I think he
Speaker 1: I could see why how he could walk into an
Speaker 1: interview room and impress everyone. He does. He's not ostentatious,
Speaker 1: but I think he's confident in what he does. And
Speaker 1: I think we've talked about the talent around Joe Bury
Speaker 1: is awesome. But they remind me a little bit of
Speaker 1: the Browns in that a terrible offensive line without really
Speaker 1: a plan to fix it could ruin one of the
Speaker 1: best skill position groups in the league. And I think
Speaker 1: the Bengals could be that. I mean, if you look
Speaker 1: at their top six seven skill guys and the receivers.
Speaker 1: It's awesome. And Joe Mixon is playing awesome too, and
Speaker 1: Jioe Bernard and like, but they have a pretty bad
Speaker 1: offensive line that that they're just hoping they get, you know,
Speaker 1: a top ten pick in Joa Williams back and everything, uh,
Speaker 1: everything I see, like way, it's nighttime on my hill
Speaker 1: and in the you know, about three miles away, there's
Speaker 1: a little campfire burning and Greg is a little sleepy
Speaker 1: bag and he's taking his way up to the hill.
Speaker 1: He's camping out the narrative. Here's where Zach Taylor fits.
Speaker 1: You're right, It's like there was no room on my hill.
Speaker 1: It was overpopulated. Voters. Voters love the the team that
Speaker 1: is not really that good but wins nine or ten
Speaker 1: games and giving that coach of the year over just
Speaker 1: like an awesome coach. Like this is how Dick Giron
Speaker 1: one UH coach of the year. This is how Jim
Speaker 1: has Lit one coach of the year. This is how
Speaker 1: Matt Naggy one coach of the year, Mike Smith, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. Like that, there's a lot of
Speaker 1: those types of things and then they fall right back
Speaker 1: and like you could see that if they are able
Speaker 1: to somehow scratch out ten wins, they're gonna need the
Speaker 1: defense to do a lot. And you know, it's a
Speaker 1: good thing about these hills right now, when it is quiet,
Speaker 1: when the sun goes down and you're alone with your
Speaker 1: thoughts because of the COVID, you want to try to
Speaker 1: look at optimists viewpoints sometimes. You know, in a decrease
Speaker 1: in pollution, we could see those stars in the sky. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we we are the virus. Alright. Good conversation, nice talk everybody,
Speaker 1: really good stuff. Um hey, Ricky, where are you at?
Speaker 1: There's how are you? How's life? It's good? How are
Speaker 1: you guys? Great talk today? That was nice combo. What's
Speaker 1: going on right? Oh? You are Hollywood? Yeah, it's cool.
Speaker 1: Did you see how many people showed up to Hollywood yesterday?
Speaker 1: It's it's so awesome. It's we gotta keep doing it.
Speaker 1: Stuff's happening and it's it's so great. Um yea Erica.
Speaker 1: It's time to spin the wheel, the wheel of team,
Speaker 1: as we've done every week, uh for about a month now,
Speaker 1: we are picking one team to talk about on the
Speaker 1: Wednesday episode of the Around the NFL podcast. Last week
Speaker 1: we did a deep dive on the Tennessee Titans. We've
Speaker 1: also talked about the Giants and the Cardinals and now Claibon,
Speaker 1: we're gonna spin the wheel once more. Where does this
Speaker 1: rank in terms of like greatest moments of your broadcasting career?
Speaker 1: Up there? Um? Probably like, uh, there are a few
Speaker 1: like Jerry Jones statements that I had to read in
Speaker 1: their entirety uh and uh I died a little on
Speaker 1: the inside. Those those are all in the top five.
Speaker 1: This is number six. The best thing I think we
Speaker 1: talked about in this podcast. But Cesler and I when
Speaker 1: we were working on the edit news desk when he
Speaker 1: had to transcribe, nobody better than transcribe than from Jaral
Speaker 1: because he talks so slow and deliberately. No problem getting
Speaker 1: every word of a statement from well. But to be
Speaker 1: fair Dan, he also um, if you and I wonder
Speaker 1: if this is if Patrick has noticed this when you
Speaker 1: read Jerry Jones begins a thought and then he'll branch
Speaker 1: off into another thought mid sentence, and then a third
Speaker 1: thought and a fourth thought. Um, and never really circle
Speaker 1: back around to close to put a pin on any
Speaker 1: of them. So transcribing it feels not unlike um, a
Speaker 1: dangerously uh potent acid trip there in the middle of
Speaker 1: the news room. It's a word salad vortex. All right,
Speaker 1: let us in the wheel, Ricky, let her rip. Whoa,
Speaker 1: there are the Las Vegas Raiders. How about that's interesting?
Speaker 1: So the Raiders are the next choice? Um on, are
Speaker 1: are the next election in our ongoing series? How about that?
Speaker 1: We gotta think about who do we want to talk
Speaker 1: to connected to the Raiders? That will be I'm sure
Speaker 1: our old friend Mike Mayok would want to jump right
Speaker 1: on and spend minutes with us. You're Mike, He'll come on.
Speaker 1: I mean if Claibon can do uh over an hour,
Speaker 1: you know, right after the birth of his daughter here,
Speaker 1: I know where it can't be popular in your house
Speaker 1: right now as we continue to to honk on here,
Speaker 1: Mayok can come on? Please? Yeah, if I can shirk
Speaker 1: my responsibilities as a father and a husband, been working
Speaker 1: at Mike Mayock jump on a podcast alright. That is
Speaker 1: our official ask out to you as our producers, to
Speaker 1: reach out the Raiders organization, to get Mayak and if
Speaker 1: we don't get them, we'll figure out somebody else. Patrick. Yes,
Speaker 1: we can't keep you any longer because you came, you
Speaker 1: spoke as always a man, a bastion of both insight
Speaker 1: and integrity, and we thank you. Hey, I just thank
Speaker 1: you guys. I know like there's a lot of people
Speaker 1: that you know I have reached out to me on Twitter,
Speaker 1: and I know that there's a lot of people that
Speaker 1: wouldn't have reached out to me or even known I
Speaker 1: existed if not for you guys bringing me on this
Speaker 1: podcast too to ramble occasionally. And so I appreciate you
Speaker 1: all as well. I think you are probably you're definitely
Speaker 1: gotta be sixth all time and appearances on this show.
Speaker 1: There's the four of us, there's Colleen. I would imagine
Speaker 1: has to be fifth, and I think you gotta be six.
Speaker 1: Let's do it, well, you gotta be the six. Put
Speaker 1: him second because second, yeah, isn't done. Rex Ryan have
Speaker 1: that Mark Sanchez tattoo like of his wife and with
Speaker 1: the number six, I'm like, I could get that exact tattoo,
Speaker 1: and I think it would be kind of thematic about relationships.
Speaker 1: Do that today. You can pass Colleen too. I think
Speaker 1: you're gunning for He's literally trying to stand up, stop
Speaker 1: talking to them, and he's like, is trying to get up.
Speaker 1: When when Mark was was on his hill, the Lauren
Speaker 1: and Malcolm came in here and they opened the cat
Speaker 1: door and the cat came in the garage when the
Speaker 1: gross doors open and I don't want the cats you
Speaker 1: have they have one one two cats are two cats,
Speaker 1: and take it off. He's got to get out of here.
Speaker 1: But but yeah, like we're having a stair off right now.
Speaker 1: He's like, I'm gonna I'm gonna leave. I'm gonna get
Speaker 1: out of here. So we don't want too, so we're
Speaker 1: gonna let you go right now. Thank you again. Great
Speaker 1: great to hear from you. This is Dan hands As
Speaker 1: signing off for Quiet Storm, the mail Man, Patch and
Speaker 1: Clavon and the Great Ricky Hollywood from West Hollywood until wend.
Speaker 1: They