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Speaker 1: He's the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson on

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Speaker 1: your twenty four to seven home of the Black and

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Speaker 1: Gold Steelers Nation Radio. Welcome back to the Drive. I'm

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Speaker 1: Dale LOLLI he is Matt Williamson and Matt, as I mentioned,

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Speaker 1: we take a look here at the league, the quarter

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Speaker 1: or the divisions in the NFL, I can speak really

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Speaker 1: and we'll break them down by quarterback play. This is

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Speaker 1: an Adam Shine article, and I don't typically agree much

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Speaker 1: with what Adam Shine rights. I think he writes like

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Speaker 1: a radio shock job a little bit. Yeah, yeah, so

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Speaker 1: I get that, but this is this is I don't

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Speaker 1: have a problem with what he wrote here breaking down

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Speaker 1: the divisions by quarterback play, So you're ranking one the

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Speaker 1: starting quarterbacks for all the teams. I don't know if

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Speaker 1: he does it here for three wee let me let

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Speaker 1: me get down here to see where the for example,

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Speaker 1: the Arizona Cardinals are at and see that'll let me

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Speaker 1: know that if he is counting the week one starters

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Speaker 1: or the well for example, he has combinations, so he's

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Speaker 1: he's looking at it basically for Week one. You want

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Speaker 1: to start at the top, or you want to start

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Speaker 1: the ball Okay, we'll go to eight. And I don't

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Speaker 1: think anybody would have a problem with this, this group,

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Speaker 1: this division being eighth. And that's the NFC South.

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Speaker 2: Four news starters from week one last year.

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Speaker 1: You got Desmond Ritter in Atlanta, Bryce Young and Carolina,

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Speaker 1: Derek Carr with the Saints in Baker Mayfield with the Buccaneers.

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Speaker 1: That is an atrociously bad quarterback group. Derek Carr is

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Speaker 1: the best of the bench, and he's about what twelfth

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Speaker 1: in the league?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, someone around there. Yeah, and he's clearly number one

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Speaker 2: on right now. And that's no disrespect to Bryce Young.

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Speaker 2: And you don't know, I don't know.

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Speaker 1: We know a lot about Desmond Ritter for that matter,

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Speaker 1: right right.

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Speaker 2: I thought he was better than Mariota, which isn't saying much,

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Speaker 2: but it was still I've been listening to I don't

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Speaker 2: listen to Chris Simms a lot, and not that I

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Speaker 2: dislike him, It's just I can only listen to so

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Speaker 2: many things at once. But he's been putting out his

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Speaker 2: top forty quarterbacks, and I do like his takes on quarterbacks.

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Speaker 2: I don't always agree with him, but he is very unique.

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Speaker 2: I think Ritter was like thirty nine for him, you

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Speaker 2: know what I mean, Like he was not even in

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Speaker 2: the top thirty two. He was in the first episode.

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Speaker 2: So and I see that. I mean, there's a lot

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Speaker 2: to worry about there.

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Speaker 1: I mean, he should be in that first episode. Baker

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Speaker 1: Mayfield should be in that first episode.

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Speaker 2: That's what I meant to say is I don't know

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Speaker 2: who I'd rather play against right now.

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Speaker 1: Quite frankly, Bryce Young should be in that grouping too.

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Speaker 1: He's never started in an NFL game before.

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Speaker 2: Right, I mean a minimum, he's an unknown. And again, yeah,

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Speaker 2: if cars your best.

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Speaker 1: I mean br Bryce Young. If if Bryce Young finishes

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Speaker 1: this season, is the twentieth best quarterback in the NFL.

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Speaker 1: That pick, That pick was a slam dunk.

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Speaker 3: That was That was a really good rookie year, right, Yeah,

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Speaker 3: because guys like you know, Peyton Manning, Troy Aikman, There's

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Speaker 3: a long, long list of rookie quarterbacks who struggled.

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Speaker 2: You mentioned Josh Allen last segment or yeah, so yeah,

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Speaker 2: they got a pretty easy number eight.

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Speaker 1: Number seven, the AFC South, both souths.

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Speaker 2: A lot of turnover in both those. I mean we

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Speaker 2: got three of the top four picks, you know, the

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Speaker 2: top three quarterbacks draft that have already been mentioned.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, So in the AFC South you got C. J. Stroud.

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Speaker 1: He's listing Anthony Richardson as the starter for the Colts. Okay,

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Speaker 1: Jacksonville's Trevor Lawrence, Tennessee has Ryan Tannehill. I think a

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Speaker 1: lot of people might be putting the cart before the

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Speaker 1: whole with the Jacksonville Jaguars in terms of just running

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Speaker 1: away with the division or that they're well being a

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Speaker 1: contender in the AFC. I don't think they are.

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Speaker 2: I don't either.

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Speaker 1: I think they're clearly they're clearly the best team in

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Speaker 1: that division. Yes, but that's not saying a whole lot.

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Speaker 2: I put a couple of bucks on the Colts to

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Speaker 2: win the division because it pays like ten to one. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: and that was kind of more of a knock on

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Speaker 2: the other three teams than boy, I think the Colts

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Speaker 2: are great.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it wouldn't surprise me if the Jaguars take a

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Speaker 1: step back this year.

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Speaker 2: Right, because they took such a step forward. The one

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Speaker 2: thing I like about the Jags, and it's the first

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Speaker 2: time I think I could say this since like the

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Speaker 2: Brunelli era, is they have a coach and a quarterback.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, but I don't know that Trevor Lawrence is out

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Speaker 1: of the woods yet.

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Speaker 2: No. I mean he's gonna be good, I don't know

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Speaker 2: that he's gonna be great. So like on my podcast yesterday,

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Speaker 2: we did Twitter Thursday and somebody said, Burrow, Herbert, Lawrence,

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Speaker 2: start one, bench one, cut one, and I easily cut Lawrence.

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Speaker 1: Yeah you have to.

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Speaker 2: I mean, just I don't know as much as I've

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Speaker 2: really seen one year of the guy. He may be great,

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Speaker 2: I'm not. I mean the competition in that conversation was

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Speaker 2: pretty rough. And I started Burrow, I benched Herbert, and

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Speaker 2: I cut Lawrence.

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Speaker 1: So here's the thing, Matt, that playoff game against the

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Speaker 1: Chargers last year, they were down, they were down. That

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Speaker 1: that was more about the Chargers losing that game to

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Speaker 1: me than it was Jacksonville winning it.

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Speaker 2: Did he throw like four picks in the first.

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Speaker 1: Four interceptions in that game right right, completed less than

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Speaker 1: sixty percent of his passes. He was not good.

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Speaker 2: I would love to build my team around Trevor Lawrence.

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Speaker 2: I think he's going to be really good, but out

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Speaker 2: of the woods yet, you know, like the Sando Tears

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Speaker 2: will probably be a Tier two guy and ascending, and

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Speaker 2: I guess I agree with that, but you know, a

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Speaker 2: step back from the organization and the quarterback could happen.

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Speaker 2: I mean, I don't think that's crazy talk at all.

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Speaker 1: He had four games last year where he did not

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Speaker 1: throw a touchdown pass. He had one, two, three, four, five,

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Speaker 1: six others where he threw one touchdown pass. So he

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Speaker 1: had ten games last year where he had one or

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Speaker 1: fewer touchdown passes. Now, what he did a much better

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Speaker 1: job of last year was taking care of the football. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: until he got to the playoffs, and he threw five

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Speaker 1: interceptions into two playoff games.

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Speaker 2: And if you recall, because this kind of ties back

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Speaker 2: to pick it, much of the season, I want to

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Speaker 2: say about the first half, he was at the bottom

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Speaker 2: the league two in red zone stuff. You know, as

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Speaker 2: young quarterbacks are. You know, people kill Kenny for that,

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Speaker 2: but that's what people, that's what these guys do.

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Speaker 1: He was eleven for twenty three fo one hundred and

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Speaker 1: seventy four yards against the Eagles.

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Speaker 2: Well, I remember that was a nasty game too.

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Speaker 1: He was twenty two of forty three. Now he had

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Speaker 1: three hundred and ten yards, but twenty two to forty

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Speaker 1: three with no touchdown passes and the loss to the Giants.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, but for this artical he carries a lot of

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Speaker 2: weight in a positive way.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. And in that division, he's far and away to number.

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Speaker 2: One, right or compared to the NFC South.

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Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, he's he's if you're looking at those

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Speaker 1: eight quarterbacks, he's he's number one.

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Speaker 2: He's number one, and he'd be your favorite one to

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Speaker 2: build around, you know. But he's number one already.

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Speaker 1: But he's not. I don't He's not a superstar yet.

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Speaker 2: I don't think so either. I don't think so either.

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Speaker 1: Like, there's still there's still growth there that needs to

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Speaker 1: be done. That brings us to number six. The NFC West, Oh,

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Speaker 1: they've got two situations that are completely a mess right now.

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Speaker 1: So youve got Arizona with Kyler Murray and Colt McCoy.

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Speaker 1: You got the Rams. Really it should be three, because

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Speaker 1: you got the Rams with Matthew Stafford. Now I don't

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Speaker 1: know if he's going to be ready to play football

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Speaker 1: game this year. You've got San Francisco with Brock Purty,

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Speaker 1: Trey Lance, Sam Darnold. They've three guys listed here, right,

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Speaker 1: And then you got the Seahawks with Gino Smith. Matthew

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Speaker 1: Stafford's the number one quarterback in that division, and he

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Speaker 1: might not play football again.

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Speaker 2: He wasn't very good last year right when he did.

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Speaker 2: I mean he was very good two years ago. And

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Speaker 2: I'm a Stafford guy, but we saw this with Ben.

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Speaker 2: I mean, a big time arm dude that has major

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Speaker 2: elbow issues or whatever, you know. I mean, like at

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Speaker 2: his age.

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Speaker 1: Can he transform himself like Ben did and start right,

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Speaker 1: you know, dinking? And like I see all these the

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Speaker 1: over under for win totals and power rankings and things

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Speaker 1: of that nature, listing the Rams is a decent team,

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Speaker 1: I don't see it.

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Speaker 2: They're like eight and a half or something like that.

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Speaker 2: They're horrendous.

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Speaker 1: I go under all day on that all day.

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Speaker 2: I think their offense. I can tell a story where

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Speaker 2: their offense is decent. If Stafford, you know, stays healthy,

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Speaker 2: the defense has no chance to even be close to good.

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Speaker 1: No, they're gonna have to win shoot, and they don't

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Speaker 1: have the they don't have the weapons to do it.

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Speaker 2: Side notes. I we broke down Seattle's draft today on

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Speaker 2: my podcast, and sure they're a hot team. This looks

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Speaker 2: like back to back rookie classes that are really good.

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Speaker 2: For Seattle reaping the benefits of the Russell Wilson trade.

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Speaker 2: Only if Gino's good. I mean, right right, I'm not

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Speaker 2: out of the woods that, oh wow, they got themselves

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Speaker 2: a quarterback. I mean, he's had like ten good games.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and they were on the first half of last year.

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Speaker 1: I'm just calling up Gino Smith's stats here for last year. Now,

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Speaker 1: he was off to a ridiculous, really kind of unsustainable start.

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Speaker 1: Last year.

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Speaker 2: He was he was quarterback in the league for.

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Speaker 1: He was completing well over seventy percent of his passes.

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Speaker 1: And you know, just so if you look at the

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Speaker 1: second half from let's say a week from the time

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Speaker 1: they played the Arizona Cardinals on he had in that

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Speaker 1: time time span, there's four He threw seven interceptions in

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Speaker 1: the second half of the season. He had eleven for

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Speaker 1: the year. So seven of those interceptions came in the

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Speaker 1: second half. All those three hundred yard games that he

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Speaker 1: would they didn't they didn't. They weren't there.

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Speaker 2: They weren't there.

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Speaker 1: He threw one hundred and eighty three yards against the

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Speaker 1: Jets one ninety.

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Speaker 2: It just it wasn't great, No, I mean, not that

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Speaker 2: he was horrible in the second half of the year.

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Speaker 2: But the first half of the year was easily the

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Speaker 2: anomaly of his career.

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Speaker 1: And oh, by the way, from that Arizona game on

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Speaker 1: at midseason, they went three and five down the stretch

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Speaker 1: right when he wasn't Superman.

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Speaker 2: No I Hunderson here. So pulling this up real quick, too,

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Speaker 2: is he was thirteenth in EPA or in the second

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Speaker 2: half of the season. Like to me, that's kind of

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Speaker 2: a ceiling. Like if he's the thirteenth best quarterback this year,

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Speaker 2: that's as good as it gets.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, And the problem for them was in the first half,

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Speaker 1: in the first first half of the season, he was

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Speaker 1: top ten.

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Speaker 2: Right right, right, he was like six for the first

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Speaker 2: half of the sea.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, so that tends to balance out, Like that's like

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Speaker 1: a three hundred guy hitting three hundred in baseball over

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Speaker 1: the first half of a season. But he's a two

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Speaker 1: sixty hitter for his career. Chances are when the season's

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Speaker 1: over he's gonna be at two sixty again, which means

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Speaker 1: that second half he hit about two twenty right right right.

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Speaker 2: And some of them you know this better than I do.

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Speaker 2: I mean, some of them are what do they say

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Speaker 2: in Bulldoorum, you know that's need a flare they wanted

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Speaker 2: to drop. You know, sometimes it's the ball lands where

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Speaker 2: they're not hit them where they ain't you know, but

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Speaker 2: you're really the same player.

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Speaker 1: But sometimes that's how you got to the three hundred.

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Speaker 2: That's right, That's what I mean.

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Speaker 1: Things were going really well for Gino Smith in the

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Speaker 1: beginning of the year, and it goes well in the

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Speaker 1: second half.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you're a two to eighty hitter. That half the

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Speaker 2: year you hit three hundred and the other half you

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Speaker 2: hit two sixty. But you're really swinging the bat to say, yeah.

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Speaker 3: Uh.

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Speaker 1: Moving on to the number five division, the NFC East.

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Speaker 2: East.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Dallas with Dak Prescott, the Giants with Daniel Jones,

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Speaker 1: the Eagles with Jalen Hurts, the Commanders with Sam Howell. Well,

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Speaker 1: Sam Howe brings that, you know, drags that down a

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Speaker 1: little bit. Yeah, but you got Dak Prescott and Jalen

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Speaker 1: Hurts and really Daniel Jones. They're all making money.

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Speaker 2: They're all making money. They al I mean, Hurts had

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Speaker 2: a huge year. I I cheated and went up to

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Speaker 2: the next division. I would have the East over the

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Speaker 2: next division, Okay, without a doubt. To be honest with you.

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Speaker 2: I mean, I don't think Jones is great, but I

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Speaker 2: wouldn't say he's a weak link.

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Speaker 1: I mean, oh yeah, I agree with you. I think

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Speaker 1: I think the next division get way overrated.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, because they lost their best guy too, by the way, Yeah,

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Speaker 2: that would.

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Speaker 1: Be the NFC North with Justin Fields, Jared Goff, Jordan Love,

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Speaker 1: Kirk Cousins. Right, Kirk Cousins is like quarterback fifteen. So

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Speaker 1: Jordan Love I have no idea what he is. Jared

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Speaker 1: Goff is maybe quarterback thirteen or fourteen.

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Speaker 2: On his good days, right, even after a really rough

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Speaker 2: statistical year. I'm taking Dak over all four of those guys.

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Speaker 1: I'm taking Jalen Hurts overall four of those easily taking

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Speaker 1: Hurts overall, though, And Daniel Jones is every bit the

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Speaker 1: equal to Cousins or Goff. Maybe not quite equal, but

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Speaker 1: it's close.

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Speaker 2: And I mean, I guess I'd rather have loved than

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Speaker 2: how but they're both unknowns.

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Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, they essentially got the same number of career starts.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, right, and we've seen about the same from both

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Speaker 2: of them and pro you know regulation games, you know,

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Speaker 2: regular season games.

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Speaker 1: That takes us to number three, which is the AFC

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Speaker 1: imagine that a division with Patrick Mahomes, Russell Wilson and

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Speaker 1: Justin Herbert as third easily was one a year ago.

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Speaker 1: Oh with that, I mean it was talked about as

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Speaker 1: being the best division ever.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, boy, Carr is the week link in this division.

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Speaker 2: It was the narrative one year ago.

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Speaker 1: Well, no, they got Jimmy Garoppolo manning that. And I

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Speaker 1: don't know. I don't know on what planet. And I

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Speaker 1: like Jimmy g as much as anybody, but I don't

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Speaker 1: know on what planet he is better than Carr.

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Speaker 2: I wunna say the same thing because, oh, by the way,

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Speaker 2: Carr plays most games at least, I mean, yeah, he's

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Speaker 2: a gamer, or I mean, Jimmy's never out there, and

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Speaker 2: when he is, I don't think he's as good. Like

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Speaker 2: I could easily paint a picture where the Raiders win

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Speaker 2: four or five games and Jimmy plays eight of them,

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Speaker 2: you know, or something like that. Yeah, am I not

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Speaker 2: for this. I think Russell Wilson might be good this year.

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Speaker 2: He was so bad last year.

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Speaker 1: I don't think he'll be as bad as he was

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Speaker 1: last year, right, But I don't know that he's that

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Speaker 1: guy anymore.

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Speaker 2: I don't either, But It's funny because I thought he

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Speaker 2: played much better after the coaching change. He went from

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Speaker 2: like the worst quarterback in the league to just being

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Speaker 2: below average. So it wasn't like that was the Russ

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Speaker 2: of old. But I was listening to like Nate Tice,

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Speaker 2: who's Mike Tyson's or Mike Tyson's son, and he was

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Speaker 2: Russell Wilson's backup quarterback at Wisconsin, and he said, ever

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Speaker 2: since I've known Russell Wilson, he does not want to

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Speaker 2: be the run by the seat of the pants guy.

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Speaker 2: He wants to be Drew Brees. He wants to be

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Speaker 2: the small compact pocket quarterback. And now he's Drew Brees's coach.

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Speaker 1: You know, here's the problem is he's not Drew Brees.

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Speaker 1: He's not that accurate.

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Speaker 2: He's not as right right right.

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Speaker 1: He doesn't have the talent of Drew Brees. And I

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Speaker 1: like Russell Wilson as much as anybody does. But the

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Speaker 1: last two or three years of Russell Wilson has not

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Speaker 1: been good.

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Speaker 2: Agreed, And I'm not saying he's be a top ten quarterback.

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Speaker 2: But I always look at these guys like their stocks,

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Speaker 2: and his stock price would be lower. I would buy

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Speaker 2: his stock right now with intentions of flipping it in

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Speaker 2: week ten.

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Speaker 1: That takes us to number two the.

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Speaker 2: Stand alone, although Mahomes and Herbert have a lot of weight,

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Speaker 2: But the other.

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Speaker 1: A FC East with Josh Allen, Tua Tagovailoa, Mac Jones,

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Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers with Josh Allen, Aaron Rodgers like that carries

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Speaker 1: some types, but.

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Speaker 2: I guess so were Mahomes and Herbert. I mean, yeah,

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Speaker 2: number one is now, I mean one is the AFC.

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Speaker 1: North exactly with with that group, and I'll think he pick.

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Speaker 2: It up for Jones. Oh yeah, do you want Tua

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Speaker 2: or Watson? Yeah, it's almost a wash. Yeah, yeah, I

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Speaker 2: don't know.

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Speaker 1: I don't know that Tua ever play full seventeen games

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Speaker 1: in his career. I just think that's who he is. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: you know, Aaron Rodgers to me is one of the

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Speaker 1: best to ever do it. Josh Allen.

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Speaker 2: I thought Burrow was better than Alan.

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Speaker 1: Burrow was better than Allen last year.

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Speaker 2: Rod is like total apples oranges. But I don't know

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Speaker 2: who I'd rather have.

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Speaker 1: I mean, if I had to, if I'm lining up

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Speaker 1: to win one game, I'll take I'll take Aaron Rodgers

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Speaker 1: over Lamar.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, probably, Yeah, but they're on the same tier nowadays

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Speaker 2: they are they are best in the league, but they're

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Speaker 2: not far off. They're both top ten guys.

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Speaker 1: So you know, when we talk about the Steelers, the

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Speaker 1: toughest quarterbacks that they play are in their own divisions

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Speaker 1: a n percent true. In fact, if you look at

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Speaker 1: the divisions the Steelers crossover against this year, they're all

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Speaker 1: at the bottom of this. Like, the next best quarterback

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Speaker 1: that the Steelers face is Trevor Lawrence in Jacksonville, and

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Speaker 1: that's the seventh best they play that division. They play

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Speaker 1: the AFC South.

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Speaker 2: And we didn't say great things about Lawrence, but I

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Speaker 2: think we both realized he could be great. They could

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Speaker 2: be during at that point of his career, middle of

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Speaker 2: the season. He might be great, but he's not out

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Speaker 2: of the woods yet right. Oh, by the way, the

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Speaker 2: top three divisions are all in the AFC.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, the Steelers also play the NFC West this year.

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Speaker 1: That's the number six quarterback divisions. They play the sixth

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Speaker 1: and the seven And when they have a game against

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Speaker 1: UH Detroit with Jared.

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Speaker 2: Goff, Yeah, and that means a lot of respect for

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Speaker 2: golf in the last year, but he's still in the

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Speaker 2: car or Cousins level.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, without a doubt. And I go back to and

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Speaker 1: they play the Raiders with Jimmy Garoppolo, the worst quarterback

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Speaker 1: in that division.

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Speaker 2: So if you listen to last segment, we said a

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Speaker 2: lot of good things about Picket, and it's not just

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Speaker 2: because we're on steel Nation Radio, and we cited some

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Speaker 2: people from outside the you know, that are impartial, and

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Speaker 2: we think he's trending the right direction. Now, the opposite

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Speaker 2: could be true of what I'm about to say, But

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Speaker 2: the Steelers might have a quarterback advantage in ten or

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Speaker 2: eleven games next year.

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Speaker 1: They very well could.

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Speaker 2: I mean when it comes to that point of the season,

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Speaker 2: we might go there Sunday morning going, well, see, yours

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Speaker 2: are the better quarterback.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. I just could certainly see that. I could certainly

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Speaker 1: see that in at least eight of their games.

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Speaker 2: I mean some of them, if they played right now, they.

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Speaker 1: Would be no, no doubt like would you rather have

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Speaker 1: and again, would you rather have Picket right now? Or

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Speaker 1: Jimmy Garoppolo leaders Hannah Hill to or you know, Tannehill.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, are what they are and getting worse because when

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Speaker 2: you play those guys too, it might be like, oh,

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Speaker 2: Jimmy looks done. Tannehill looks done. You know, like one

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Speaker 2: year ago you'd be like, Matt Ryan might be pretty

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Speaker 2: good for the Coles. Yeah right, all right, they'll all come.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. When they hit it, they hit it hard.

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Speaker 2: And if he's ascending, you know, hey.

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Speaker 1: You can subscribe now to The Drive. Every episode we

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Speaker 1: do is available for you to download. Subscribe today through

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Speaker 1: the Steelers Mobile app, the iHeartRadio app, and wherever you

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Speaker 1: find your podcast. He is Matt Williamson. I am Dale, Lollie.

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Speaker 1: You're listening to the Drive here on Steelers Nation Radio.

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Speaker 1: We'll be back to finish up the show right after

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Speaker 1: this