Speaker 1: Be Around the NFL Podcast will always honor past hero
Speaker 1: from the Chris Westling podcast studio. It's the Around the
Speaker 1: NFL Podcast. Dan Hans is here with Greg ros Atal
Speaker 1: Mark Sessler. We have a little bit of a crisis
Speaker 1: at home. You know, I like your home, my personal
Speaker 1: life private on some level, but when something really bubbles
Speaker 1: out up inside the house, I'd like to get your
Speaker 1: thoughts as a fellow fathers Um Jack Hansas age seven. Um,
Speaker 1: he's in first grade. He's at the age now where
Speaker 1: he's starting to I think like my first crush was
Speaker 1: on my first grade teacher. He we get a call
Speaker 1: from uh the to unpack already. I don't know why
Speaker 1: marketized first reaction to look at Erica for her reaction.
Speaker 1: Why are you guys so weird? You know you don't
Speaker 1: know the boys get crushes on their teachers. Yeah, I'm not.
Speaker 1: Everything needs to have like look share between each other.
Speaker 1: Can we just can I tell the story? Well, Dan,
Speaker 1: you yeah, that's fine? What nothing? No, I think it's
Speaker 1: very I think it's very cute. Yea like keep going
Speaker 1: with the with the tail. No, Well, now that the
Speaker 1: story has been delayed, so now the story might get
Speaker 1: over long. Yeah, careful, you don't want to you know,
Speaker 1: upset Greg with a long story that was before the show.
Speaker 1: The story you should have heard the tension between Ricky
Speaker 1: and Greg before the show started to it's uncomfortable. Let's
Speaker 1: see her. Anyway, Jack has a after school teacher, and Um,
Speaker 1: she called my wife and said, hey, heads up. Jack
Speaker 1: kind of pulled me aside and took out a twenty
Speaker 1: dollar bill from his backpack and said here, I wanted
Speaker 1: to give this to you because you do such a
Speaker 1: great job. Um, that was my bill. That's so cute.
Speaker 1: She she didn't take the money, which you know, good
Speaker 1: test of her morals, her moral judgment, reported it back
Speaker 1: to the wife. Um, and then I mentioned it to
Speaker 1: the text thread that my family's on and Keith, my dad,
Speaker 1: who was you know, you know he's the old man.
Speaker 1: He had this to say. Bottom line is the wallet
Speaker 1: was your possession, not his to take and give away.
Speaker 1: He also secretly took the money. It was nice that
Speaker 1: he was giving it away with appreciation. How are you
Speaker 1: going to handle this? So he took he took the
Speaker 1: twenty out of your wallet. Uh, my son denied that
Speaker 1: he took it out of the wall. He took it
Speaker 1: out of my wall. He said he found it on
Speaker 1: the kitchen table. That's not what happened. That sounds like
Speaker 1: a real romantic he'll steal from his own father to
Speaker 1: press the lady. And so is that really what happened
Speaker 1: or did he take the twenty dollar bill out and
Speaker 1: say you want this twenty you gotta dance for it, teach.
Speaker 1: I don't know that. I think there was an innocence
Speaker 1: to it. But also my son has I think, Um,
Speaker 1: there's something special in him, But I have to he's
Speaker 1: either going to be a great leader of people or
Speaker 1: a leader of a an army force against like cyborgs
Speaker 1: like T two. So it's like a John Connor situation
Speaker 1: or evil. So I need to I need to make
Speaker 1: sure he's on the right path. How do we handle
Speaker 1: this without him off the hook? I think you explain
Speaker 1: that you don't take other people's possessions, that that's important,
Speaker 1: but that if you are, you know, having feelings for someone,
Speaker 1: you're you know, you have a crush on someone giving
Speaker 1: them money, that's a good move, and just give them money.
Speaker 1: It's I'm kind of really impressed. I'm impressed with his
Speaker 1: actions on some level. Um, to mind his way into
Speaker 1: your wallet and steal a twenty and and understand that
Speaker 1: that's would be a lot of money, not a one,
Speaker 1: not even a ten. And when you mentioned that, you know,
Speaker 1: one of his paths could be like the leader of
Speaker 1: some sort of um like apocalyptic thug gang. I mean,
Speaker 1: this would be a formative moment. I don't do you
Speaker 1: want to suppress that if that's maybe what he's supposed
Speaker 1: to be for his kids. I'm just saying, maybe you
Speaker 1: know he's telling you who you know, here's my skills
Speaker 1: and my gifts. All right, Well, thank you for the input,
Speaker 1: and I will address us and give you guys an
Speaker 1: update at a later date, week nine. Later tonight, you're
Speaker 1: gonna hear um for me and maybe some guests on
Speaker 1: the Jets and cults. How that went. I already told
Speaker 1: already everybody listening that's already gonna know the outcome. Just
Speaker 1: know that I knew what was coming and they couldn't
Speaker 1: hurt me. Just remember that, Um, the Jets cannot hurt
Speaker 1: me anymore in the football Gods, I'm not doing that.
Speaker 1: I am not doing that. This is Week nine, here
Speaker 1: we are. This is the midpoint of the NFL season
Speaker 1: this week once we're through the games and we have
Speaker 1: a nice slate game some another week with some big favorites.
Speaker 1: I think that might be there's something cooking here that
Speaker 1: there's a lot of. Is there more bad teams? It
Speaker 1: seems like bigger spreads than in a long time. Is
Speaker 1: this how it always is? Or does this just feel
Speaker 1: like there's a few more bad teams this year? Truly
Speaker 1: bad teams don't seem like they can compete. I think
Speaker 1: there is something to interesting anyway. We have big news
Speaker 1: obviously that came down on Wednesday with Aaron Rodgers, and
Speaker 1: that is something we'll pack a little bit later. But
Speaker 1: let us start with the prime time games. Let's get
Speaker 1: into the preview and uh, yes, Grave Diggers back by
Speaker 1: the way behind the glass and he didn't I I
Speaker 1: think maybe he didn't appreciate the assumption that he didn't
Speaker 1: come to work so he was so upset about the
Speaker 1: Derrick Henry uh injury. Because he is a professional who
Speaker 1: does his job well. So an apology to the grave Digger. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's such a professional. He'll be at the Titans game.
Speaker 1: Will we're all taping our Sunday podcast about that Titans.
Speaker 1: We're still learning about Grave Digger. Titans six and two,
Speaker 1: it Rams seven and one, Sunday Night football at Sophi Stadium,
Speaker 1: and um, we all know what's going on here the Titans.
Speaker 1: This is a team that's been surging, that has been
Speaker 1: on a real streak that puts them at the top
Speaker 1: of the a f C as we speak right now,
Speaker 1: and yet they lost Derrick Henry. And it's gonna be
Speaker 1: mark a test, isn't it? Like the old How important
Speaker 1: is a running back really in the NFL? Well, the
Speaker 1: guy that everyone knows is more important to his team
Speaker 1: than any other running back exits does to the Titans
Speaker 1: exit from the conversation as a contender. I don't think so,
Speaker 1: because as much as they have been reliant on him
Speaker 1: over the years, it's not all they are. I thought
Speaker 1: it was interesting that Todd Downing, their play caller, basically
Speaker 1: said he would be doing a disservice to the entire
Speaker 1: offense to get away from their run oriented approach. But
Speaker 1: you're gonna have to be You're gonna have to be different,
Speaker 1: and you're gonna have to rely more on on Tannehill
Speaker 1: and A J. Brown. A J. Brown is coming off
Speaker 1: two big weeks but this week specifically, suddenly you're dealing
Speaker 1: with a defense that was already a big headache. And
Speaker 1: I know it was the Texans, but there are clips
Speaker 1: out there in tape of like them wrecking Houston's front
Speaker 1: and making life hell for Davis Mills. And now you've
Speaker 1: got ten see having to deal with not only Aaron
Speaker 1: Donald and Jalen Ramsey will be on a J. Brown,
Speaker 1: but also you throw Von Miller into the mix. I
Speaker 1: think they're gonna do something spicy with him, and it
Speaker 1: just seems like for the Titans offensive line and who
Speaker 1: they want to be, you're gonna find out right away.
Speaker 1: This is an acid test, I think right having two
Speaker 1: pass rushers and Donald and Floyd is that's great, especially
Speaker 1: when one of them is the greatest of all time.
Speaker 1: You had a third and suddenly it's just like impossible
Speaker 1: to to avoid one on one matchups where either Floyd
Speaker 1: or Miller are gonna be in good situations. And the
Speaker 1: Titans haven't really pass protected well this year. There's six
Speaker 1: and two despite something's going against them, the injuries in
Speaker 1: the secondary, the offensive line, and yet they're about to
Speaker 1: finish the toughest four games stretch they could possibly have,
Speaker 1: and I feel like every week we're like, well, this
Speaker 1: will really tell us something about the Titans. They beat
Speaker 1: the Bills, this will tell us something about the Titans.
Speaker 1: They beat the Chiefs, Like this should be the letdown
Speaker 1: game against the Colts team that knows them. They get
Speaker 1: that win. So when I saw the line in this game,
Speaker 1: seven and a half feels a little disrespectful. I don't
Speaker 1: know if Adrian Peterson is ready in his first game
Speaker 1: to be the full Adrian Peterson that maybe he could
Speaker 1: be in three or four weeks, where at least he's
Speaker 1: like deep, you know, at least he saw it. Can
Speaker 1: we be honest about what Adrian Peterson is in the
Speaker 1: first place? What we saw last year was the very
Speaker 1: middle of the road guy up there in years. At
Speaker 1: this point, he's he's not special, but I think just
Speaker 1: as a pure runner, like a pure power runner, he
Speaker 1: was average too, better than average of nfls. And I think,
Speaker 1: but even understanding that, it's kind of a lot to
Speaker 1: ask to just like come off wherever whatever he was
Speaker 1: doing and just play a lot this game, you'll probably
Speaker 1: see a lot of Jeremy McNichols. So maybe maybe Vegas
Speaker 1: is asking you to to have the Titans keep it close.
Speaker 1: But I believe in Tannel. I think they will make
Speaker 1: it a fun game. You know. That's why I didn't
Speaker 1: ding the Titans and the power rankings after Henry's injury,
Speaker 1: because I think they've earned at this point the respect
Speaker 1: um with their play in recent weeks to say, Okay,
Speaker 1: let's see you are a well coach team. You still
Speaker 1: have your quarterback. We all know as long as you
Speaker 1: have your starting quarterback, you usually can keep your head
Speaker 1: above water. So I'm not ready to say the Titans
Speaker 1: are cooked, and I'm interested to see how this plays out.
Speaker 1: It's a great experiment. It does put a lot more
Speaker 1: pressure on Julio Jones to have a real role on
Speaker 1: this team and if he could stay healthy, make this
Speaker 1: a better passing team, because I think they'll have to
Speaker 1: be too. He's gonna play after missing a couple of games.
Speaker 1: Can we talk about Cooper cup And I know maybe
Speaker 1: we are talking a lot about Cooper Cupper, maybe we're
Speaker 1: not talking about it enough. I just want to go
Speaker 1: his game log, because doesn't it seem like he's always
Speaker 1: having a big game that year? It's because he is here.
Speaker 1: We go seven for one, oh eight and one. That
Speaker 1: was Week one nine for one sixty three and two
Speaker 1: nine six and two five or sixty four seven for
Speaker 1: ninety two nine for one thirty and two ten for
Speaker 1: one fifty six and two seven for one fifteen and one.
Speaker 1: And this is from NFL media research. Matthew Stafford and
Speaker 1: Cooper Cup have connected on ten uh touchdown passes this season,
Speaker 1: most of the duo in the NFL, second most by
Speaker 1: QB pass catcher in the first eight games since nineteen
Speaker 1: seventy and this that Cup is the only player in
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl era since the nineteen sixty six yards
Speaker 1: and ten receiving touchdowns in his team's first eight games
Speaker 1: of a season. I'm not looking I'm not just trying
Speaker 1: to regurgitate stats at you, but I think we need
Speaker 1: to start looking at what's happening. Here is a historic
Speaker 1: season and this is just like something. I don't think
Speaker 1: anybody predicted this, and yet here we are. He's the
Speaker 1: back to back player of the month on offense. I
Speaker 1: don't I'm not surprised that some of these, like records
Speaker 1: in general, will be broken by some quarterback and wide
Speaker 1: receiver out there. In one stuff from you know, the
Speaker 1: mid two thousand's and before. But this is truly special
Speaker 1: because you know, anyone, anyone preparing for the Rams knows
Speaker 1: every game that this is what Cooper Cup is, how
Speaker 1: he's gonna be used, what's he's gonna do when he's
Speaker 1: still doing it. I think he has a chance for
Speaker 1: two thousand yards, which would be wild from a receiver.
Speaker 1: You get the seventeen game, that helps, but he's almost
Speaker 1: on pace for two thousand right now, so you have
Speaker 1: to pick it up a lot a little. That's asking.
Speaker 1: But the thing that I think people miss on Cup
Speaker 1: is how often just it's just every play that he
Speaker 1: makes the first guy miss. And I and I think
Speaker 1: it's not just about that. They scheme him open and
Speaker 1: he's a good route runner and he gets deep, he
Speaker 1: almost always makes the first guy miss. It reminds me
Speaker 1: a little bit of Lamar or Herbert in the pocket,
Speaker 1: where it's like they almost don't even worry about the
Speaker 1: first guy, like the first guy they've got, and then
Speaker 1: they got to figure out what to do after that.
Speaker 1: And and Cups at that level, Deepo Samuels at that
Speaker 1: level two of the better Yak receivers that we've seen
Speaker 1: in along. They're kind of both not getting discussed enough.
Speaker 1: But maybe I think we're getting a tipping point with
Speaker 1: cup where you just getting mentioned every show. Believe, so
Speaker 1: I think it's a field goal game. What do you
Speaker 1: guys think That's what I had three or four? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it's gonna be close. So I would definitely
Speaker 1: go Rams. I definitely. I wonder if like there's any
Speaker 1: bit with the Rams after playing these three Cupcakes in
Speaker 1: a row, Is there like and will there be any
Speaker 1: shock of like, oh, this is what playing a real
Speaker 1: teams like? They literally just played the you know, the
Speaker 1: Giants at their worst in terms of injuries, and then
Speaker 1: the lines and the Texans. Maybe it's like a shock fuel.
Speaker 1: They don't strike me under to be like suddenly stunned
Speaker 1: by you know, an actual contender coming in. Let's get
Speaker 1: I want to get a heat check on Grave Digger.
Speaker 1: I want to see if he's just chucking up threes
Speaker 1: from thirty five ft and if he thinks his team
Speaker 1: is gonna win this weekend on an honest assessment prediction
Speaker 1: of the game. Justin as someone who knows the team
Speaker 1: better than any of us, I think that there could
Speaker 1: be some element of surprise where if you are playing
Speaker 1: against the Derrick Henry Titans. You know exactly what your
Speaker 1: defensive game plan is, and this one week could provide
Speaker 1: I mean that's probably only last a half, but it
Speaker 1: couldn't give the Titans a spark early on. I think
Speaker 1: this could be a week the Titans fall short. For sure.
Speaker 1: It's an NFC game. It doesn't really matter that much
Speaker 1: for their playoff standings, but it would be nice to
Speaker 1: keep that a f C one seed. I will go
Speaker 1: Rams thirty eight, Titans thirty. They didn't even cover, so
Speaker 1: the defense won't show up in this spot. It's tough.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's the Rams, all right. They'll be okay.
Speaker 1: As he's saying, though, I mean it will matter if
Speaker 1: the Colts somehow get hot in the standings, but at
Speaker 1: six and three and NFC lost, you'll be okay heading
Speaker 1: into Week ten. Let's move to the Monday night football
Speaker 1: game between the Chicago Bears, who always seemed to get
Speaker 1: on the prime time schedule regardless of what they put
Speaker 1: out on the field, um against the Pittsburgh Steelers four
Speaker 1: and three. We know what happened uh in Cleveland last Sunday,
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh outlasting the Browns and the kind of a classic,
Speaker 1: a f C North uh slugfest, a slobber knocker. Uh.
Speaker 1: So they are now above five hundred at four and
Speaker 1: three after that one and three start, and looking very
Speaker 1: much like kind of the type of Steelers team that
Speaker 1: you know, could find its way to the playoffs potentially
Speaker 1: the Chicago Bears. On the mean. Meanwhile, Greg three and five. Uh,
Speaker 1: they lost last week, but at the same time, there
Speaker 1: were some reasons to be excited watching them for the
Speaker 1: first time in a while, and it starts behind center
Speaker 1: justin fields is a roller coaster like a lot of
Speaker 1: rookie qb especially ones that struggle, and he struggled on
Speaker 1: balance where the good games like last week, we're really good.
Speaker 1: I thought that was his best game of the season.
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's you know, I don't think
Speaker 1: it's Naggy not being there, But I do like the
Speaker 1: idea that Bill Laser is figuring out ways to get
Speaker 1: the best out of fields and if nothing else, they're
Speaker 1: telling him run the ball more because he is an
Speaker 1: incredible runner. There's only two design runs on those ten runs,
Speaker 1: so it was a lot of just scrambling. But when
Speaker 1: he had the first read open, he hit it, and
Speaker 1: I think this is a winnable game for them if
Speaker 1: they had Khalil mack and Eddie Jackson. We don't really know.
Speaker 1: Eddie Jackson, their former all Pro safeties, struggled a little
Speaker 1: bit this year, got hurt early in last week's game,
Speaker 1: and Khalil mac didn't play for the first time as
Speaker 1: a Bear, and their defense, which had been competitive, was
Speaker 1: terrible a week ago. And if you're competitive, I think
Speaker 1: you stay in the game against the Steelers. I mean,
Speaker 1: the Steelers are about two plays away from scoring, you know,
Speaker 1: six points. Against the Browns, you got a fourth a
Speaker 1: couple of fourth downs, and it's like they're working hard
Speaker 1: for their points. So if Khalil MC and Eddie Jackson's
Speaker 1: out there, I think we could have like a fun
Speaker 1: game close. I think it could be close. I I
Speaker 1: don't really trust the Bears on any level compared to
Speaker 1: the Steelers. And I think you saw Pittsburgh's offensive line
Speaker 1: start to dominate Cleveland down the stretch in that game,
Speaker 1: and like it's been a long journey for that. They're
Speaker 1: very young and they're still learning how to kind of mesh.
Speaker 1: But that right it was very helpful I thought for
Speaker 1: them in that situation, and you know, Tomlin is twenty
Speaker 1: two and four against rookie starters. But I'm with you
Speaker 1: on fields. I I you know, there have been moments
Speaker 1: obviously before the Niners game where you saw it and
Speaker 1: you can and and you just want him to get
Speaker 1: more comfortable. But I thought that he just his athleticism
Speaker 1: took over last week and on the ground he was
Speaker 1: a total factor. And I thought he saw the ball
Speaker 1: better and he was throwing the ball beyond the sticks
Speaker 1: and using you know, there was a tight one of
Speaker 1: his tight ends, cold Commet dropped the ball in the
Speaker 1: end zone. I mean, he could have they could have
Speaker 1: had that game could have been even closer. Seven times
Speaker 1: in nine drives. He had a great game. I think
Speaker 1: Khalil Herbert also has been one of there's been a
Speaker 1: number of good rookie running back, but he has been
Speaker 1: awesome for them. It kind of got wiped away because
Speaker 1: San Francisco's offense got hot um. But the touchdown run,
Speaker 1: the twenty two yard touchdown run, well, let's listen to
Speaker 1: us here, Jeff Johnny iu with the call, because I
Speaker 1: thought that was the moment where Bears fans were like, okay,
Speaker 1: all right, I know this has been a tough season,
Speaker 1: but there's something special here potentially. Let's listening football at
Speaker 1: the twenty one yard line. It's fourth down. Here we go,
Speaker 1: Sun comes out, Bears down seven two clock running. You're
Speaker 1: on the port fields with eight on the play clock,
Speaker 1: trying to get everybody set, money in motion to the
Speaker 1: right fields. Now brings him back the other way. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna take fields. Was gonna do something with it, but
Speaker 1: it was not piss. He's trying to get out of trouble,
Speaker 1: breaks out of a tackle, lift ten five Bengo touchdown, touchdown,
Speaker 1: Bears twenty two yards and lit play. How broken play
Speaker 1: turns into six for justin fields. It was a electrifying
Speaker 1: moment in that game, and the first electrifying moment around
Speaker 1: the Bears that I can remember a long time, to
Speaker 1: be quite honest with you. So um, let's see more
Speaker 1: of that. Matt Naggie, do not put this guy in shackles,
Speaker 1: Let him be loose, let him make mistakes, but also
Speaker 1: make sure you don't overload him and let him be
Speaker 1: what he is, which is a young quarterback, a young
Speaker 1: athletic quarterback. We'll see if that happens. What is more.
Speaker 1: I Mean, the one thing that's happened with Corona is
Speaker 1: that it seems like almost every time a head coach
Speaker 1: is out, uh, the team thrives. And it's like if
Speaker 1: you're naggy on top of everything else that you're dealing with,
Speaker 1: critique wise, like that's this thing out there, Like maybe
Speaker 1: they're just better without their head coach. The game they
Speaker 1: flipped to laser as the play caller was his first
Speaker 1: was his best game, first good game, and then the
Speaker 1: game he missed they had laser leap. I don't know, though,
Speaker 1: I I just I'm just not buying. Um the Steelers
Speaker 1: pass and uh any teams that that who's passing game
Speaker 1: is that bad? Like is going to keep the other
Speaker 1: team in the game. Do we think that maybe by
Speaker 1: the way um Alan Robinson can get involved in the
Speaker 1: Bears offensive season, he has crossed fifty yards like once
Speaker 1: all year twin and so she's got to be frustrated.
Speaker 1: All right, let's get to the draft now. So primetime
Speaker 1: games out of the way. The Bucks, line, Seahawks, and
Speaker 1: Washington all on a buy and this week Mark Sessler
Speaker 1: has the first overall pick. Well, this may be the
Speaker 1: last time that I did I do this depending on
Speaker 1: how this um shakes out, but I am going to
Speaker 1: pick the Browns one more time at Cincinnati because I think,
Speaker 1: first of all, it's not some you know, zero stakes
Speaker 1: game that it has been a dramatic week we can
Speaker 1: get any the way. It's maybe the best one PM
Speaker 1: games an AM game ever ever. Ever, according to this week,
Speaker 1: I'm saying it's probably the best one. That that's Romo
Speaker 1: is there your boy? Yeah, I've made it clear how
Speaker 1: I feel about that dynamic, but it would be the
Speaker 1: perfect week for Romo to be there um and not
Speaker 1: commentating what's gone down all week longed in with the
Speaker 1: Odell Beckham scenario. So someone explained this one to me
Speaker 1: because now the Backham doesn't get traded. We talked about
Speaker 1: it on Tuesday, the the Lebron tweet O'Dell Senior, the
Speaker 1: Instagram message, and then he doesn't practice and he's not
Speaker 1: practicing again on Thursday and they're excused absences, and the
Speaker 1: reporting out there is that he's not gonna play for
Speaker 1: the Browns again. What this feels like a unique situation
Speaker 1: because it's not a contract squabble, right, It's not a
Speaker 1: situation where he's unhappy with his playing time. He's the
Speaker 1: starting outside wide receiver for the Browns. He just doesn't
Speaker 1: like the quarterback and he's he's essentially to me, a
Speaker 1: rat jumping off a ship that's sinking, only the ship
Speaker 1: is not really sinking. So there's Odell has always been
Speaker 1: to me kind of a me first dude. He was
Speaker 1: that guy with the Giants, and that was part of
Speaker 1: the risk when you brought him to Cleveland. So Cleveland,
Speaker 1: I guess put left itself open for something like this
Speaker 1: to happen. But at the end of the day, I
Speaker 1: don't think this is some Brown's catastrophe. Rather O'Dell being
Speaker 1: Odell and not really being a team guy, and I
Speaker 1: think it's just like such a bad look for him.
Speaker 1: I think also we live in a like in America
Speaker 1: where people forget anything that happened like a week ago
Speaker 1: for the most part. So this is a drama they
Speaker 1: have to deal with and move on. But for me,
Speaker 1: what it what it vibed as for me a little
Speaker 1: bit boils down to future money because I kind of
Speaker 1: think that Odell Beckham was a very clear cut candidate
Speaker 1: this offseason. This coaching staff wanted to use them. They
Speaker 1: wanted like you know, Stefanski has been adamant about wanting
Speaker 1: to get him involved. You know, Andrew Berry's played ball,
Speaker 1: but that it was John Dorsey who went and pulled
Speaker 1: the trade for Rodell Beckham, and they try to make
Speaker 1: it work. You know, we've spent a year plus asking
Speaker 1: why it's just not working on the field between Baker
Speaker 1: and Odell, and I think both of them, you know,
Speaker 1: if you look at just the raw tape, it's like
Speaker 1: both of them have been culpable for some of the
Speaker 1: stuff that's happened there. But I mean he was gonna
Speaker 1: get cut. I think his value is diminishing. There's been
Speaker 1: a narrative about the offense being better without Odell Beckham,
Speaker 1: which is an ugly narrative for Odell. And I think
Speaker 1: frustration boiled over and he probably you know, was pushing
Speaker 1: to some degree to be traded before the trade deadline.
Speaker 1: I would imagine there had been some conversation of some level,
Speaker 1: and Andrew Berry is like, I'm not just gonna move
Speaker 1: you because you want to be moved. We're not gonna
Speaker 1: get There's not enough value coming back in the offers
Speaker 1: that I would imagine were floated out there, and Odell
Speaker 1: Beckham is thinking if I continue with this season and
Speaker 1: totally flatline, what's my next contract with a new team,
Speaker 1: because there's no dead money to cut him in this offseason, right,
Speaker 1: but you're trying to win this year, Like that all
Speaker 1: makes sense for Okay, he's gonna get cut, but what
Speaker 1: about this year? But that, like, it doesn't sound like
Speaker 1: it was Odell Beckham's choice. It sounds like because of
Speaker 1: what happened on Tuesday. So you have the father. I
Speaker 1: can't believe after all they gave up for the Rodell
Speaker 1: Beckham back in the day and him being like on
Speaker 1: the walls of our building, this building and our last
Speaker 1: building that like the art department went all in the
Speaker 1: I don't know why they created Odell Beckham in the
Speaker 1: Browns jersey in this building. But that's But also like,
Speaker 1: so he's that big of a star and yet his
Speaker 1: career in Cleveland is ending with the final straw being
Speaker 1: his dad posting a video of low lights. That's what
Speaker 1: we know though, but that's what we That was the
Speaker 1: end point. So that was that was part of it,
Speaker 1: and the fact Baker's talking about that was part of it.
Speaker 1: And Lebron sending the tweet was part of it, and
Speaker 1: you're right. I suspect there is more going on behind
Speaker 1: the scenes that we don't know, but based on the reporting,
Speaker 1: it sounds like Kevin Stefanski told him to stay home.
Speaker 1: So I don't know what the last straw was in terms.
Speaker 1: Maybe they had a conversation after the trade deadline. Who knows,
Speaker 1: that didn't go well and he said stay home. But
Speaker 1: he informed the team that Odell Beckham's essentially not part
Speaker 1: of the team. Mike Silver was the first person to
Speaker 1: report this. It's funny that they keep adding like he's
Speaker 1: been excused from practice again. Yeah, he's he's never coming back,
Speaker 1: that this is over. They apparently rejected some lame trade
Speaker 1: proposals from the Saints. Maybe it was a third day pick,
Speaker 1: like a fourth round pick I've heard in I guess
Speaker 1: you would rather have a fourth round pick than nothing, um,
Speaker 1: because right now you have nothing. But like did something?
Speaker 1: They did something seems I think something changed. I don't
Speaker 1: think it's him sitting now. I have a feeling they
Speaker 1: didn't want to deal with him anymore and they thought
Speaker 1: they were better off without. I think that's exactly what
Speaker 1: they think. And I think on top of it, you know,
Speaker 1: after what happened, How do you bring him back? He's
Speaker 1: he's essentially publicly through you know, right, he's never helped.
Speaker 1: You cut bait with this. Now. I can think of
Speaker 1: two games where he truly helped the team. There's a
Speaker 1: Monday night game against the Jets and he had a
Speaker 1: big touchdown. And he had that one big game last
Speaker 1: year before the a c L where he made big
Speaker 1: time plays. Otherwise, this has been a I was I
Speaker 1: was doing a thing on Cleveland radio. It was like,
Speaker 1: quick name the top five Odell Beckham moments in Cleveland,
Speaker 1: and you cannot outside of what you just mentioned, Dan,
Speaker 1: So I think, if anything, if there's a positive, you know,
Speaker 1: the teammate. A lot of the players love Odell in
Speaker 1: this locker room. That's been made clear by comments. But
Speaker 1: if you can get to a point where this is
Speaker 1: something that you make a statement about who the Browns
Speaker 1: are under Kevin Stefanski and Andrew Berry, maybe you can
Speaker 1: rally around it too. I get I think they're also
Speaker 1: just trying to get out of the money. They owe
Speaker 1: him nine million dollars for the rest of the year.
Speaker 1: They probably don't want to cut him and have like
Speaker 1: the Patriots who they play in a couple of weeks
Speaker 1: or some team claim him. But if they could negotiate
Speaker 1: a settlement with him where he agrees to pass up
Speaker 1: some of that money because he wants to play football
Speaker 1: this year, I think we could see him on anar
Speaker 1: or he's not told him to stay home. I mean
Speaker 1: he is and he is. Let's not be naive here, Greg.
Speaker 1: It's not that the Browns of after deciding they weren't
Speaker 1: going to trade him or like, don't come here anymore
Speaker 1: he doesn't want to play for it, I right, And
Speaker 1: I think they decided, Okay, then we don't want you
Speaker 1: here if you're gonna be putting, but they're not to
Speaker 1: stay home if he's not saying I don't want to
Speaker 1: be absolutely correct, and it's like, what is up with that?
Speaker 1: Why is how is that at all acceptable? I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I think they they thought they could
Speaker 1: get away with like this weird last minute like trade
Speaker 1: me push and that was like too much for Cleveland
Speaker 1: because by most reports, he hasn't acted, you know, in
Speaker 1: any particular unprofessional way in the in the building that
Speaker 1: he's gone showed up to work, he's worked and he
Speaker 1: and he's just kept it quiet, and Baker Mayfield sort
Speaker 1: of alluded to it, which is you know they He
Speaker 1: basically said, yeah, like a conversation would be great because
Speaker 1: we haven't talked about it at all, about any it
Speaker 1: was never gonna end well and it's not anywhere. Let's um,
Speaker 1: let's move to the Bengals here before we move on,
Speaker 1: because they're a big story here too. I mean, you
Speaker 1: entered last week they were five and two, flying high
Speaker 1: on top of the a f C North, and then
Speaker 1: they just collapse late in the fourth quarter against the Jets.
Speaker 1: If they would have, you know, hung on for that game,
Speaker 1: you you would write it off as all right, they
Speaker 1: got in a tough spot on the road and an
Speaker 1: unknown quarterback got hot, but they found a way to win.
Speaker 1: But when you don't find a way to pull that
Speaker 1: game out and you the defense implodes the way it did, Greg,
Speaker 1: did that change how you felt about Cincinnati at all?
Speaker 1: Are you willing to give him a bit of a
Speaker 1: pass and see what happens this week. I don't think
Speaker 1: there's some unbeatable team. They weren't, you know, they were
Speaker 1: the number one seed in the a f C. They're
Speaker 1: one of the teams in the a f C that's
Speaker 1: frisky and competitive and it's going to be in the
Speaker 1: playoff mix. They don't put them above like this whole
Speaker 1: big group. They didn't blitz uh Mike White at all,
Speaker 1: and they're not a blitz team. They're just a like
Speaker 1: a lay back rally to the ball, a lot of
Speaker 1: energy and teams like that that aren't that talented and
Speaker 1: I don't have that good of a pass rush. It's
Speaker 1: like a smaller margin for error. I don't think they
Speaker 1: match up that well with the Browns, because that's what
Speaker 1: Baker Mayfield wants to do, you know. I think they
Speaker 1: want to run the ball, they want to throw it short,
Speaker 1: and I don't I think the Browns matchup pretty well
Speaker 1: against Cleveland. This weekend, I was good. I almost thought
Speaker 1: about locking up Cincinnati, Mark. I gotta be honest, because
Speaker 1: I don't really like the general tenor of this Cleveland
Speaker 1: season anymore. But and then the Romo Nance thing, the
Speaker 1: ghosts of Romo and dance like circling the Browns. But
Speaker 1: now I'm thinking, like in the locker room around this,
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna stay away from this game and hope
Speaker 1: your team wins. And I also would look at what
Speaker 1: happened against the Jets. Is Zach Taylor as a head coach.
Speaker 1: You know it's not all on him, but they you
Speaker 1: don't good coaches that are super experienced their teams don't
Speaker 1: fall flat in in those offensive is fine. This is
Speaker 1: a situation, I think for they were fine except Burrow
Speaker 1: through another fourth killer fourth quarter that that was an
Speaker 1: incredibly flukey tipped past that the defensive lineman made an
Speaker 1: incredible play on It. Wasn't like flukey like he made
Speaker 1: a great play, but I'm not killing like a three
Speaker 1: pound guy like lifting his arm up and catching it.
Speaker 1: That was That was crazy. Thing is I didn't see
Speaker 1: Cincinnati's flat in that game offense like their ye game.
Speaker 1: The defense was bad, but I didn't see it like
Speaker 1: they were sleepwalking. They had control of that game midway
Speaker 1: through the fourth quarter and then they just smelted down.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying it's a Jets team that had fifty
Speaker 1: plus put on him the week before. That's what I mean.
Speaker 1: That's kind of my point that it was kind of
Speaker 1: like a weird, funky Halloween Day situation. It's Halloween. I
Speaker 1: think the Browns have the better roster and the better coach.
Speaker 1: But the Bengals have the better quarterback. So it's like,
Speaker 1: which if every game is this long as the preview?
Speaker 1: That was Beckham's. That was right, that was good combo,
Speaker 1: good sportstock guys. Let's take a break in to keep moving,
Speaker 1: all right, Greg, you are up with the next pig.
Speaker 1: Maybe I'll jump you, or maybe I won't. Maybe we'll
Speaker 1: jump you. You have two more left. Once I make
Speaker 1: the pick, you can't jump. I'm taking the Packers in
Speaker 1: the Chiefs. I'm excited you didn't jump me because I
Speaker 1: really wanted to watch this one. There's only three late games,
Speaker 1: and I'm all in on the Jordan's Love experience. I
Speaker 1: don't know what's gonna happen. I feel like they're either
Speaker 1: gonna get blown out or they're gonna win this game.
Speaker 1: I picked him to win on game picks on the
Speaker 1: website because I just have seen enough with the Chiefs
Speaker 1: where I starting to think we kind of know who
Speaker 1: they are roughly, and I've seen enough with Matt Lafleur
Speaker 1: that I want to give him some credit. Jordan's Love.
Speaker 1: He's gonna get a full week as the starter. He's
Speaker 1: gonna get Davante Adams back. Alan Lazard back and possibly
Speaker 1: David Bactieri back, which is that last one is huge
Speaker 1: and it sounds like he's back. When I watched Jordan's
Speaker 1: love in the Priests reason and for those you know,
Speaker 1: ten dropbacks in week one, I'm surprised people aren't more
Speaker 1: excited about him. I mean, he has he does it all.
Speaker 1: He's he's a lot like he's Josh Allen maybe as
Speaker 1: a rookie, which is not great, like you're gonna have
Speaker 1: some good and some bad. He he made two or
Speaker 1: three terrible red zone plays where he showed very little awareness,
Speaker 1: and that's a problem. But his arm strength and his
Speaker 1: movement ability and some of the throws he made were
Speaker 1: like box office and I'm kind of excited what he's
Speaker 1: gonna do to see what he's gonna do with a
Speaker 1: full week of prep with a good coaching staff against
Speaker 1: the bad defense. To me, this is a close game.
Speaker 1: I thought it was very disrespectful to Matt Lafleur to
Speaker 1: make the Chiefs a seven and a half point favorite.
Speaker 1: If I could lock up the packerscovery and I would
Speaker 1: lock that up that allowed. I mean, I know the
Speaker 1: desert has its reasons, so it's not like that can
Speaker 1: I lock that up. That should be because we get
Speaker 1: to pick favor that's supposed to be fifty fifty. We
Speaker 1: pick real winners that our favorite, so it's a less
Speaker 1: of a chance than pick I know. This is first
Speaker 1: of all, this is a contest that you wanted to
Speaker 1: remove from the podcast now and in week nine you
Speaker 1: suddenly want to completely change the complex My my feeling
Speaker 1: on I think that picking the spreads in the future
Speaker 1: is something we should discuss. It wasn't really allowed until
Speaker 1: it's harder. It's my point that's harder, but it discussion,
Speaker 1: and we all discussed we should just you know. So
Speaker 1: the Aaron Rodgers story is is kind of a head scratcher.
Speaker 1: I mean, we have we on this show and a
Speaker 1: lot of other people have gotten a hard on. We've
Speaker 1: gotten upset about Aaron Rodder or Kirk Cousins and his
Speaker 1: decision not to be vaccinated, and Aaron Rodgers. It's worse
Speaker 1: because it's like, well, it all depends where you come
Speaker 1: down on this, but I think it's worse because not
Speaker 1: only you're not vaccinated, which causes a lot of issues
Speaker 1: um on a number of levels. He kind of hit
Speaker 1: it from people and you hit behind some different type
Speaker 1: of wording to try to skirt around it with the media.
Speaker 1: You weren't following the protocols that you're supposed to be
Speaker 1: following UM on some level, and uh now you're missing
Speaker 1: a big game. So Packers fans who were annoyed by this,
Speaker 1: I get it, maybe more than one game. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's it was like a total nuclear bomb landing news wise,
Speaker 1: But I am totally you know, flummixed on how you
Speaker 1: tell everyone that you're immunized and that doesn't mean what
Speaker 1: everyone would assume it means. And I guess we just
Speaker 1: let it. He thought it was he thought he was
Speaker 1: protected by his homeopathic UM solution, which he apparently reportedly
Speaker 1: you know our Cordney, our guys and wrap were uh
Speaker 1: applied to the NFL p A in NFL and said,
Speaker 1: what does this homeopathic method I did to immunize myself?
Speaker 1: It was and it was rejected UM because because all
Speaker 1: basically all homeopathic UM, you know, solutions to disease have
Speaker 1: been proven medically to be a d percent false. Wait
Speaker 1: a minute, like if you go side on that road,
Speaker 1: but that greg, that's a massive generalization about it's just
Speaker 1: the truth though, Like if you if you go like
Speaker 1: signed today, you can't. You can't, you really can't. Can't
Speaker 1: is reading like that just doesn't even apply to what
Speaker 1: we're talking about here on some level. But honestly, like
Speaker 1: you next to Mr Homeopath, no, I think that in
Speaker 1: this case, to a scientists, the doctor in this case,
Speaker 1: in this case, it certainly does not apply. And like
Speaker 1: it was rejected by the league, and it is very
Speaker 1: I mean, it is one of the weirder it's the
Speaker 1: weirdest Corona Tin story that we've had all season. I mean,
Speaker 1: people got a little crazy, getting so upset. To me,
Speaker 1: it was more like jokes. You know, it's like good
Speaker 1: for jokes here that Rogers thinks he's smart enough that
Speaker 1: in that moment he thinks he's getting one over on everyone.
Speaker 1: That's the part where it's like you're showing who you
Speaker 1: are a little bit like in that moment he is
Speaker 1: sitting there thinking I'm getting one over on anyone because
Speaker 1: I said immunized, which first of all, immunized is a
Speaker 1: synonym for vaccinated. It doesn't. He still got that part wrong,
Speaker 1: and then he says immediately I don't think we um
Speaker 1: He also said, like I don't think that we should
Speaker 1: judge the people who aren't vaccinated, which you know as
Speaker 1: misleading as what will he beach is the in the
Speaker 1: fall out. He's a bit of a strange guy. We
Speaker 1: all get that, but like, I could think of ten
Speaker 1: other players that would pull the same stunt and the
Speaker 1: reactions would be different based on who they are as people.
Speaker 1: Kind Of I'm curious what kind of fallout there is
Speaker 1: because I think about I think about Carson Wentz as
Speaker 1: an example, another guy that is not vaccinated. UM that
Speaker 1: game ends last week and they show him walking off
Speaker 1: the sideline to meet all the players at midfield and
Speaker 1: the coaches. He puts his mask on immediately Aaron Rodgers,
Speaker 1: he doesn't have to. I mean they've kind of, yeah,
Speaker 1: they've kind of pointed out that, at least on camera,
Speaker 1: Rodgers hasn't done anything that is violating rules. The fact
Speaker 1: that he wasn't wearing it in the media room is
Speaker 1: the confusing part, because like, but Kirk Cousins hasn't been
Speaker 1: doing that either. They just told everyone and they're like, hey,
Speaker 1: we want to be like a team by team. But
Speaker 1: one thing that has been proven that where he was
Speaker 1: breaking a lot of the rules is he's been going
Speaker 1: to these team parties and stuff like that, like the
Speaker 1: Halloween parties and that all of that actually is against
Speaker 1: the COVID rules that if you're unvaccinated you can't go
Speaker 1: to the indoor team functions and all that stuff, and
Speaker 1: so they do have proof of that if they want
Speaker 1: to get carried away. But I'm not carried away. No, no, no,
Speaker 1: I mean they're gonna find him. No, no, they should
Speaker 1: find I'm just saying like they're not going to suspend them.
Speaker 1: It was absolutely like I just, I'm not just. I
Speaker 1: don't want to spend four years on it. It is
Speaker 1: what it is. But it's like, we're not just. It's
Speaker 1: not just a mulligan. It was a completely confusing comment
Speaker 1: by Aaron Rodgers. And now he's missing a key game
Speaker 1: for them. Well, but he would have missed it most likely. Anyways,
Speaker 1: everyone got worked about the five day returning thing. Show
Speaker 1: me the person who's return in five days, and I
Speaker 1: think that is worth noting because he might not be
Speaker 1: back for the next team. Davante Adams, for instance, is vaccinated,
Speaker 1: did not make it back to practice and Thursday after
Speaker 1: testing positive the previous Monday. That was ten days and
Speaker 1: he is vaccinated because you know what's like, this disease
Speaker 1: is unpredictable and you might not test negative two days
Speaker 1: in a row for us solid like ten days. Even
Speaker 1: if you are vaccinated, you might have symptoms. All right,
Speaker 1: it's like where he's an intelligent dude, but there's some arrogance.
Speaker 1: I think that that got into the mix here about
Speaker 1: how he's handling this and puts the team in a
Speaker 1: bad spot. All right, let's move on um with the
Speaker 1: game talk. Is there anything else we think about the same,
Speaker 1: because you know, the Chiefs catch a huge break here, Mark,
Speaker 1: because now you have no Aaron Rodgers, and we're excited
Speaker 1: to see Jordan loves Sure, but it's a totally different
Speaker 1: ball game. The Packers are on a seven game winning
Speaker 1: streak and we're playing their best ball the year, coming
Speaker 1: off a great primetime win over Arizona. So the Chiefs,
Speaker 1: who didn't look close to having things right on Monday
Speaker 1: night and they're narrow win over the Giants. Uh, this
Speaker 1: is a real gift. Uh do they even know what
Speaker 1: to make of it? It is except I kind of,
Speaker 1: you know, with Jordan's love, and I like what Greg
Speaker 1: said about Jordan's love. It's just like there is the
Speaker 1: element of surprise, and you know, you'd like to think
Speaker 1: that a first round pick would be prepared for this moment. Yes,
Speaker 1: it's a huge Obviously, not having Aaron Rodgers is a
Speaker 1: massive advantage for a Chiefs team that is simply average.
Speaker 1: They're just an average team at this point with a
Speaker 1: lot of issues. But you don't have Jared's Alexander in
Speaker 1: there for the Packers. You know, maybe there's a chance
Speaker 1: for a bit of a bounce back here, But outside
Speaker 1: of Jordan's love, the Packers are way healthier than they
Speaker 1: have been of late. And I don't think that this
Speaker 1: is a big, huge blowout spot for Kansas City at all.
Speaker 1: Mahome's had nineteen in complation completions last week. I mean,
Speaker 1: they're not They're not fixed on offense. They're a mess.
Speaker 1: All right, let us move on. I will take the
Speaker 1: other big primetime game, Cardinals at Niners. I thought it
Speaker 1: was interesting, um how San Francisco's offense, uh showed some
Speaker 1: signs of life. I thought that Jimmy Garoppolo wasn't you know, great,
Speaker 1: but he looked healthy, he was moving well and just
Speaker 1: seemed to be a lot more r bowl. Then when
Speaker 1: We saw him in the monsoon against Pittsburgh the previous week,
Speaker 1: and I think that's the type of game to win
Speaker 1: over the Bears where they scored I believe on their
Speaker 1: final seven possessions. Um, that can really jump start your confidence.
Speaker 1: Like the Chiefs are an offense that desperately needs a
Speaker 1: jump started their confidence and make them believe that they're
Speaker 1: special again. I think the forty Niners got that last week.
Speaker 1: And they have a quarterback who now probably is breathing
Speaker 1: a little easier. He's saying, I know for this week
Speaker 1: at least, I'm not thinking about how am I gonna
Speaker 1: make it through this game without getting benched. He he
Speaker 1: knows he has the coach's faith. Um. So I believe
Speaker 1: that the Niners are in a good spot at home.
Speaker 1: They don't play very well at home, but they're a
Speaker 1: good spot at home against the Cardinals team coming off
Speaker 1: ten day break, uh first loss of the season. I'm
Speaker 1: interested to see what we see with the Cardinals here, Greg,
Speaker 1: because I don't know they to me like that was
Speaker 1: like a great game first of all, but a game
Speaker 1: that a lot of things went against them in the end,
Speaker 1: if not for the A. J. Green not knowing the
Speaker 1: play called. The offense at least stepped up and would
Speaker 1: have had touchdowns in their last three drives when they
Speaker 1: absolutely needed him. I do worry about them without J. J.
Speaker 1: Watt because you think back to the first forty Niners
Speaker 1: Cardinals game and J. J. Watt dominated in that game
Speaker 1: and he's been a great run stopper. It sounds like
Speaker 1: they'll get David Collins back, uh, But it's all about
Speaker 1: Kyler Murray just playing or not. If Kyler Murray plays,
Speaker 1: unlocking this game up and like if the if the
Speaker 1: injuries sound good, if he doesn't play, out a revisit,
Speaker 1: because right now it sounds like there's a legitimate chance
Speaker 1: he he might not play, which does get you a
Speaker 1: little worried. Like Kyler at less than a percent, is
Speaker 1: he still Kyler? But he has been winning a lot.
Speaker 1: We saw what happened last year when a different injury, obviously,
Speaker 1: but you know he's a guy that when everything is
Speaker 1: working together, he is almost impossible to stop. And the
Speaker 1: fact that it's something that it's affecting his mobility is something,
Speaker 1: UH to keep an eye on here. Yet it's like
Speaker 1: a legit game time decision. And DeAndre Hopkins has a
Speaker 1: hamstring injury. A J Green's on the COVID list right now.
Speaker 1: I mean this is a These two met not long
Speaker 1: ago and the score was seventeen to ten, and they
Speaker 1: were one of the few teams that were able to
Speaker 1: put the clamps on Arizona's offense when they were healthy,
Speaker 1: And I think that's notable. They know the Cardinals really well,
Speaker 1: and you know, I think with Jimmy g like the
Speaker 1: design runs they used with him inside the ten yard
Speaker 1: lines show that they are going to stick with him.
Speaker 1: I think at this point, why are we put why
Speaker 1: would they be pushing to put trade Lands into the lineup?
Speaker 1: Starting at that game against the Cardinals too, was an
Speaker 1: interesting game where they failed on four different times on
Speaker 1: fourth and short and they kind of looked like maybe
Speaker 1: the better team the forty nine is that day with
Speaker 1: trade Land. So you do wonder if maybe they'll use
Speaker 1: them at least a little bit more. They didn't use
Speaker 1: them last Yeah, maybe there's a way because there seems
Speaker 1: to be, you know, behind the scenes, Shanahan maybe not
Speaker 1: totally ready for the tray Lands experience. He is not
Speaker 1: ready to hand the team over. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: Garoppolo can't stay healthy, so you you might see lands,
Speaker 1: even though it might up be Shanahan's decision. I kind
Speaker 1: of like the Niners here. I just got a bit
Speaker 1: of a not a not a lock. But I think
Speaker 1: this is a close game. I think this is a
Speaker 1: field goal game, and I could see San Francisco getting
Speaker 1: a little, a little bit high. I think the forty
Speaker 1: Niners are favored. Vegas is so spooked about the smurry
Speaker 1: or it's a pick him right now? Um, all right,
Speaker 1: I have the next selection as well, and I will
Speaker 1: go with let's check in. I gotta I got a
Speaker 1: message for you. We got a message, hopefully not from
Speaker 1: his son stealing more money from the wallet. There. Hey, guys,
Speaker 1: Larry Wesley. As the NFL heads into Week nine, the
Speaker 1: real question on everyone's mind is what's up with Tim Wesley?
Speaker 1: I mean, he made the pick last week? But is
Speaker 1: he too good to get on the podcast and say
Speaker 1: it himself. I know you guys have been clamoring for him,
Speaker 1: and the listeners have been screaming out, Timber, why have
Speaker 1: you forsaken us? Is he somehow locked in his one
Speaker 1: bedroom Ivory tower and the sky with no cell phone reception?
Speaker 1: Is he drowned in a bottle of something about football,
Speaker 1: his tears after the Bengals off the Dan's loudy jet.
Speaker 1: I guess it'll remain a mystery anyway. We're taking the
Speaker 1: Cardinals deep into the interpersonal spider web that is the
Speaker 1: Westling fit and Greg deeper and deeper well, and Greg
Speaker 1: greg like has been complaining for weeks and weeks that
Speaker 1: whoever he locks someone else like pulls him down. If
Speaker 1: I'm gonna know, and not pulling me down, I'm pulling
Speaker 1: everyone else down at this point. But it's just nice
Speaker 1: going in if you have your own game. I like that.
Speaker 1: All Right, there you go. So the Westlings are in
Speaker 1: on the Cardinals. The better hope Colin Murray starts as well.
Speaker 1: I don't know if they considered that part, but in
Speaker 1: the place, sometimes I feel like the actual picking of
Speaker 1: the games a secondary at this point for the Westling brothers.
Speaker 1: It's a settling of scores on a weekly basis. My
Speaker 1: second pick I have the Snakes will be Vikings at
Speaker 1: Ravens in the early games. Um Vikings bitterly disappointing Halloween
Speaker 1: Night game against the Cowboys and the offense could not
Speaker 1: get it go and the clamps were put on Kirk Cousins,
Speaker 1: who was all sorts of fired up. You could you
Speaker 1: could argue with perhaps Kirk Cousins a little on tilt
Speaker 1: on Sunday night, Justin Jefferson was negated. Davin Cook didn't
Speaker 1: have the huge game that I thought was in play
Speaker 1: potentially coming off the bye. So they're three and four
Speaker 1: and in desperate need of a W. And now they
Speaker 1: go to Baltimore team coming off there by, a team
Speaker 1: that is obviously been banged up and ripped up by injuries.
Speaker 1: You talked about it, Greg that you thought Baltimore needed
Speaker 1: to make some reinforcements at the deadline. That didn't really happen, didn't.
Speaker 1: I don't know if did they do anything. I don't
Speaker 1: think they made a move anything. It was a little
Speaker 1: bit of a quiet deadline. So the Ravens say, this
Speaker 1: is who we are. We're gonna coach these guys up.
Speaker 1: We're gonna lean on our depth and uh, coming off
Speaker 1: of by I kind of like the Ravens at home here,
Speaker 1: um not breaking news there, no, and there they do
Speaker 1: have some good injury used Nick Boyle, who smarter people
Speaker 1: than I always, Hey, that's the best block tight end
Speaker 1: in the league that that guy makes their running game go.
Speaker 1: But even even like the Belichicks of the world love
Speaker 1: shouty out how this guy might be the best blocking
Speaker 1: tight end. It might be back. Sammy Watkins might be back.
Speaker 1: Defensive line is still injured, and I thought it was
Speaker 1: notable when they lost their right tackle McCary last week
Speaker 1: because the line really fell apart against the Bengals, And
Speaker 1: that might still be a situation. But when these two
Speaker 1: teams play, there's such opposites in terms of how they
Speaker 1: try to throw the ball. As much as I like
Speaker 1: Kirk Cousins, you gotta look at the how he's done
Speaker 1: this year. You gotta look at the stats of I
Speaker 1: know you like a dot dan so I love average
Speaker 1: depth of target. No one throws deeper in the NFL
Speaker 1: by far than Lamar Jackson. I think two yards on
Speaker 1: average per throw more than anyone else, which is outrageous.
Speaker 1: I mean, they are a bombs away offense. He was evolved.
Speaker 1: Cousins is the total opposite. He is throwing the ball
Speaker 1: um as short as he ever has in his career,
Speaker 1: and I think the shortest of any starter right now
Speaker 1: in the NFL, which when you got Justin Jefferson and
Speaker 1: Osborne who can run a little. You'd like to see
Speaker 1: them stretch it out. I don't know if that's going
Speaker 1: to be enough for them. I I hate this for
Speaker 1: the Vikings to lose to Neil Hunter because they were
Speaker 1: they led the league in sacks or they were second
Speaker 1: in the league. And you know Jackson has been susceptible
Speaker 1: to that. The Bengals punished him last time we we
Speaker 1: watched them play. And the Vikings have scored under twenty
Speaker 1: points in three of their last four games. Seven against
Speaker 1: the Browns, nineteen against the Lions. That's ridiculous, and sixteen
Speaker 1: against the Cowboys. Like do they they've We've talked about it.
Speaker 1: When they've been good, they've been watchable, they've been in
Speaker 1: a flow, and they've been dangerous. And there are other
Speaker 1: numbers to look at with Kirk Cousins where he's got
Speaker 1: like a at this point a fourteen a two touchdown
Speaker 1: interception ratio and leads the league with the sixty nine
Speaker 1: completion percent. I mean, it's like there are things that
Speaker 1: Kirk Cousins is doing that are that check out, But
Speaker 1: then they go to sleep for long drives at a
Speaker 1: time identity is shifting, and I don't know if it's
Speaker 1: necessarily a good idea. I mean they since Cook really
Speaker 1: took hold as a star, they were a run first
Speaker 1: team and then you know Cousins would uh do his
Speaker 1: thing when necessary and he would have good numbers and
Speaker 1: Cook would have great numbers in the offense would be good.
Speaker 1: But look at last week for example, for example, cook
Speaker 1: Um had eighteen carries for seventy eight yards against Dallas.
Speaker 1: I don't know he's got They gotta run the ball
Speaker 1: more with Dalvin Cook and that's in that game. He
Speaker 1: is the best player on your team. And eight weeks
Speaker 1: into the season this per ESPN, the Vikings ranked nineteenth
Speaker 1: and the number of runs called per game down there.
Speaker 1: They're terrible at it there twenty nine in in e
Speaker 1: p A and running like they haven't been effective well.
Speaker 1: But do you think that's that's something that is going
Speaker 1: to go through the whole season. I mean, you have
Speaker 1: a special talent, great games at it too. It's weird,
Speaker 1: but they've been bad at it for whatever reason. I
Speaker 1: just don't think that's the reason to go away from
Speaker 1: it and become a past first offense because I don't
Speaker 1: think that's the best version of who they are. Can
Speaker 1: I can I read you a quote that I saw
Speaker 1: about Cousins from Zimmer this week. The quote actually wasn't
Speaker 1: from this week, but it is the first time. I
Speaker 1: says from a couple of weeks ago. Because they asked
Speaker 1: Mike Zimmer the Athletic, if he if they thought that
Speaker 1: Kirk Cousins wanted more say in the offense, you know,
Speaker 1: anything you say right now, I'll believe um, he said.
Speaker 1: I think he does. I think he's got opinions on
Speaker 1: a lot of things these two talk about. Like that's
Speaker 1: a real Ricky Greg dynamic. He's got opinions about a
Speaker 1: lot of things. Imagine being Kirk Cousins. To hear you
Speaker 1: that that's maybe equal to what Odell Beckham's senior did
Speaker 1: to Baker Mayfield. Could be you know a little more subtle.
Speaker 1: That's like very close. It's a it's a kissing cousin
Speaker 1: if you will to opinions are like asked, everyone has one,
Speaker 1: Like that's basically what he's saying, Like your opinion doesn't
Speaker 1: his opinion. Yes, he's gonna talk, but I don't listen
Speaker 1: because I don't like the guy and he's behind a
Speaker 1: PLEXI class. You know, Wall, one of these guys got
Speaker 1: to write a book, I would read it. All right,
Speaker 1: let's move on. I am a and I'm taking an
Speaker 1: early game, and I am excited to take the Falcons
Speaker 1: in the Saints first game without Jamis Winston. I'm just
Speaker 1: curious what this team is gonna be. Like I always
Speaker 1: think this rivalry, Uh, it is fantastic, long said, the
Speaker 1: best rivalry I thought in the NFL. The teams aren't
Speaker 1: quite where they should be. But you guys used to
Speaker 1: give me grief. West would give you grief. I remember,
Speaker 1: like the fan in terms of the fan base, is
Speaker 1: truly hating each other, and they actually play memorable games
Speaker 1: almost every year. Uh, it's a fun rivalry. And you know,
Speaker 1: Saints fans are gonna be juice s up. They don't
Speaker 1: seem like they're that worried about Jamis Winston being gone,
Speaker 1: but I am. I think it's I think it's a
Speaker 1: pretty big downgrade. And I think the news that Michael
Speaker 1: Thomas is not returning this year is a huge letdown.
Speaker 1: It started with some sort of mismanagement and lack of
Speaker 1: trust between the Saints and Michael Thomas. Uh. During last
Speaker 1: year when he played through this injury and it continued
Speaker 1: into this offseason, and you've basically now wasted a couple
Speaker 1: of years of Michael Thomas's prime. Whoever's fault that is,
Speaker 1: I don't know, I don't care, but it puts a
Speaker 1: ceiling on this offense. I'm really surprised that there's whispers
Speaker 1: this could be Trevor Simeon's job, which it's like you're
Speaker 1: paying taste something all this money. He was the one
Speaker 1: with the competition. Something has changed in that building. We'll see,
Speaker 1: though it could just be a head fake. Sean Payton
Speaker 1: has been pretty good at those over the years, So
Speaker 1: I'm waiting until Sunday to find out. I've said how
Speaker 1: I kind of enjoy this this Falcon's experience somewhat. So
Speaker 1: I'm just curious what this game is gonna be like.
Speaker 1: I think it's if anything, I mean, we're gonna see
Speaker 1: the way it Tastom Hill has been used before to
Speaker 1: be used again, which is a big dose of him
Speaker 1: along with Trevor Simeon, like a platoon of both of them.
Speaker 1: I'm with Dan, I think that they've probably come to
Speaker 1: the conclusion, like do you hand the offensive over to
Speaker 1: Taystom Hill alone for the rest of the season. The
Speaker 1: weird thing is I think at this point because I mean,
Speaker 1: Trevor Simeon is not some er options, I like SIMI
Speaker 1: human in Denver, but it's been a while and he
Speaker 1: didn't look great. I didn't. I know. They won that game,
Speaker 1: but it was a tough situation. And like this matchup,
Speaker 1: for instance, great offensive line for the Saints, great defensive line.
Speaker 1: You should just be able to destroy the Falcons upfront,
Speaker 1: kind of like Carolina did a week ago. Like play
Speaker 1: to your strength. Yeah, like our excitement, and I think
Speaker 1: Greg we shared that to some degree that with what
Speaker 1: we had seen three weeks prior with Atlanta fizzled up
Speaker 1: entirely against Carolina, who had come completely outmuscled him and
Speaker 1: ran the ball NonStop. And you could see the Saints
Speaker 1: almost saying, we'll do the same thing. And you know,
Speaker 1: just to put a little timeline on the Michael Thomas thing,
Speaker 1: because it's easy to forget now that in two thousand nineteen, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, pre COVID, so everything feels like it's really
Speaker 1: long ago, but it wasn't long ago. He set the
Speaker 1: NFL record with a hundred forty nine catches and then
Speaker 1: I remember the week one podcast of the season. I
Speaker 1: remember talking about it, uh not here in the old
Speaker 1: studio or actually was in our homes um and saying
Speaker 1: that Michael Thomas heard his ankle in Week one. We
Speaker 1: don't know the severity. He was being chased around the
Speaker 1: locker room by the athletic trainer who wanted to look
Speaker 1: at his ankle, but he wasn't uh you know, he
Speaker 1: didn't want to get it looked at yet, and that
Speaker 1: was the injury that bothered him for the rest of
Speaker 1: that year. That led to the late surgery in June
Speaker 1: that now has completely wiped out his one So it's essentially,
Speaker 1: as Greg said, wiped out two years of his prime.
Speaker 1: He's gonna be twenty nine next year with a potentially
Speaker 1: chronic ankle issue. So this might be kind of the
Speaker 1: end of Michael Thomas as a star player. And that's
Speaker 1: pretty crazy him in New Orleans. But they have like
Speaker 1: so if you go look at his contract, I mean,
Speaker 1: there's legit dead money attached to him for like the
Speaker 1: next three years. So it's it's it's a sticky situation
Speaker 1: and the relationship between the player and team that I
Speaker 1: mean even even though they said it was smoothed over.
Speaker 1: Has always been a little bit dicey there too. No,
Speaker 1: he was sending out tweets like calling people snakes, and
Speaker 1: it sounds like he played through the injury for the
Speaker 1: right reasons. He wanted to try to help Drew Brees
Speaker 1: his final year. And then it got real sideways once
Speaker 1: we got to this offseason. He was not taking phone calls.
Speaker 1: It's a lot, all right, Mark, you are up. Well,
Speaker 1: I'm doing this strategically because I've got a game I'm
Speaker 1: gonna be hyper focused on. I will be hyper focused
Speaker 1: on this because I'm professional as well. But it's gonna
Speaker 1: be Buffalo at Jacksonville then of that, No, I mean't
Speaker 1: think it's just like we've all said that. Greg talks
Speaker 1: about like this, you gotta knock it out. If you
Speaker 1: gotta knock out every game, then make your secondary game.
Speaker 1: You know, this is a little spicy to me because
Speaker 1: I find the Jaguars just to hold Jaguars experience. Um.
Speaker 1: Every week there's some new, some new explosion that happens
Speaker 1: to some team. It feels like it could always be Jacksonville,
Speaker 1: and I kind of enjoy watching the visage of Urban
Speaker 1: Meyer on. No matter what's happening in any game. At
Speaker 1: this point this season, there is no reason for Buffalo
Speaker 1: not to go in and completely control this game, take
Speaker 1: it out on Jacksonville, and run away with it. Their
Speaker 1: defense is that, you know, there's nothing that Jacksonville is
Speaker 1: doing on offense that suggests they can give the Buffalo
Speaker 1: any sort of a problem here. I think Trevor Lawrence
Speaker 1: is stuck in a tough situation, uh, in an offense
Speaker 1: that to me feels to be lacking an identity like
Speaker 1: Laviska Chenault, like a great receiver. Where is this guy? Like?
Speaker 1: I like to use them more and I'm losing James
Speaker 1: Robinson last week killed them. This is a Buffalo game
Speaker 1: top to bottom. But there's one reason that I really
Speaker 1: really like this. I am not locking I don't think
Speaker 1: I'm permitted to lock it. And you were. You were
Speaker 1: killing me for this coming out of the Cooper and
Speaker 1: Cooper scenario in Dallas in Minnesota. But this is the
Speaker 1: first time. Well, let's put it this way. Josh Allen
Speaker 1: versus Josh Allen. Okay, if Josh Allen the Jaguars defender
Speaker 1: sacks Josh Allen, the Buffalo Bills quarterback. Since since Sachs
Speaker 1: were even recorded back, there has never been an NFL
Speaker 1: player to sack a quarterback with the same exact name.
Speaker 1: So monitor this heavily, I will be Why is that
Speaker 1: not intriguing to you? On any Allen are involved in
Speaker 1: a big play in this game and it's a score
Speaker 1: a gummy Well, I will, I'll give you your problems
Speaker 1: has to be both that the probability of that does
Speaker 1: not exist. Um, I don't know. And by the way,
Speaker 1: you see that, you guys on Sundays, you guys try
Speaker 1: to watch too many games. That's where you gets I don't.
Speaker 1: I only watched too have too many screens. I don't.
Speaker 1: So you're the mind is unable to process that much.
Speaker 1: You have one game that's your main game. You have
Speaker 1: a second game that you could clock in on and
Speaker 1: change the volumes and commercial breaks. And that's how you wait, wait,
Speaker 1: wait a minute, hold hold on. Mark has like the
Speaker 1: Minority reports set up with Tom Cruise. I'm not able
Speaker 1: to I'm not tracking every one of them. And you're
Speaker 1: an intelligent man, but there's only a certain point you
Speaker 1: won't be able to track anything. If you're trying to
Speaker 1: track too much. My body my rights. I'll do what
Speaker 1: I want to do. How about that? It works from
Speaker 1: it method. Don't get me started. On Sundays you mentioned
Speaker 1: that it all is h a lot of it, yes, scific,
Speaker 1: I was. I was that was there was there was
Speaker 1: this tweet going around yesterday. It was from wikiped or whatever,
Speaker 1: and it was just it was like scientifically discrediting any
Speaker 1: homeopathic or alternative medicines or else they just would be
Speaker 1: called medicines. You know, you even it's like but it's
Speaker 1: like everything everything you say, Greg is like, this is
Speaker 1: the best team in the NFL, or this is the
Speaker 1: best get like you're so you know, with conviction, that's
Speaker 1: a hundred percent. I was, I was thinking it from
Speaker 1: from a funny tweet, I say, yes, I can't. I
Speaker 1: can't find it. You mentioned the big point spreads earlier
Speaker 1: teams with double digit point spreads. The favorites are nine
Speaker 1: and five this year. So for the most part, when
Speaker 1: you get these two touchdown, Pa, it's they're covering and
Speaker 1: this one seems too low to me. I mean, to me,
Speaker 1: the Bills are maybe the best team in the NFL
Speaker 1: and the Jaguars might be the worst team in the NFL.
Speaker 1: I think they're right there with Houston because the defense
Speaker 1: is so bad. As much as I love Gino, I
Speaker 1: mean they made Gino look like you know, Joe Montana
Speaker 1: out there last week. Tyrod let him up in week one.
Speaker 1: You know, Teddy lit like a lot of lower level
Speaker 1: quarterbacks have lit this Jaguars team up. So Josh Allen
Speaker 1: comes in and forget it and listen. Nobody cares about
Speaker 1: your fantasy team. But you know a lot of people
Speaker 1: have Stefon Diggs. So I'm just gonna say to Stefan Diggs, Hey, Steph,
Speaker 1: how about a ten for one, forty and two. How
Speaker 1: about you throw one of those to us? Well, you
Speaker 1: got it from Cole Beasley a week ago, so it's
Speaker 1: you know, I don't get I could get something from
Speaker 1: cold Beasley. Yes you could if I get too close,
Speaker 1: Yes you could. But he's not on my fantasy team.
Speaker 1: Is let us move on? Mark Snakes? Well, you know
Speaker 1: I'm I have to take the late game, uh, the
Speaker 1: last one remaining here, the Chargers at the Eagles. No,
Speaker 1: I like it. It's good. I want to see how
Speaker 1: the Chargers respond to what they've been through of late.
Speaker 1: I thought that they were out coached by Bill Belichick's
Speaker 1: defense last week. You know, two years in a row
Speaker 1: has made life tough on Justin Herbert um the Eagles.
Speaker 1: It's interesting because with all the uh, what did you
Speaker 1: what was that, Herbie? It feels like a slightly disrespectful Okay,
Speaker 1: Jonathan Gannon, the Eagles defensive coordinator, this may be kind
Speaker 1: of like where this defense in theory would work, because
Speaker 1: it's what we saw before where Justin Herbert has struggled
Speaker 1: in the last couple of games facing you know, seven
Speaker 1: plus defenders and coverage. That's what they've been doing to him.
Speaker 1: And you know his his interceptions almost five of his
Speaker 1: of his six have come against non blitz Is. It's
Speaker 1: it's just that they're putting people way out there in
Speaker 1: the secondary and and taking away options. And I I
Speaker 1: if this Eagles defense is going to work at all
Speaker 1: in theory that this strategy would work for them on
Speaker 1: that front, I don't trust that to occur. I think
Speaker 1: this is where the Chargers need to have their comeback
Speaker 1: game because I still see this as a playoff team
Speaker 1: that is working through some kinks. Yeah, the Eagles keep
Speaker 1: getting this opportunity to get back to somewhat some relevance,
Speaker 1: and then they've usually fallen on their faces. You know,
Speaker 1: the Raiders game a couple of weeks ago, a couple
Speaker 1: times where they've had a chance that at least get
Speaker 1: back to within one game of five hundred. I don't,
Speaker 1: I don't trust them. I don't. You know, when you
Speaker 1: have that big of an edge at quarterback, I start
Speaker 1: having to look for other reasons why the Chargers can't lose. Now.
Speaker 1: Their offensive line has struggled with things. Uh the last
Speaker 1: couple of weeks. Really the right side collapsed pretty repeatedly
Speaker 1: against New England. And you know, Philly's got the front
Speaker 1: to make some things happen. Dallas Goddard's certainly playing well.
Speaker 1: Last week. It was like a sports radio dream. Everything
Speaker 1: Eagles fans have been asking for us more creativity from
Speaker 1: their defense, the run game. Jalen Hurts running work man.
Speaker 1: He he's like Fields, He's not as good a runner
Speaker 1: as Fields, But man, when Hurts is in the open field,
Speaker 1: like you just want him to do that more because
Speaker 1: he's so good at it. So I'm with I. I
Speaker 1: leaned Chargers in this game. That game for Philly was
Speaker 1: like a narrative killer because you're right, it was like
Speaker 1: two thirty six yards rushing and all everything else that
Speaker 1: people were had their hair on fire. The antidote came,
Speaker 1: but that I think that was fool's gold. Yeah, I'd like,
Speaker 1: you know, you want to see Justin Herbert shake out
Speaker 1: of this little mini slide and just show us that
Speaker 1: it's a slump and have a big game here. They
Speaker 1: just did nothing on offense against Patriots. And I know,
Speaker 1: you know, when when Belichick cooks up a good game plan,
Speaker 1: he could shut down any anyone. But you know, he
Speaker 1: had a hundred and forty three yards passing before that
Speaker 1: garbage time drive. And if you look at their week
Speaker 1: to week scoring on offense, they've been very hit or miss,
Speaker 1: which I don't think anybody was expecting. But I think
Speaker 1: they're okay. I think they'll take business here. And Greggy,
Speaker 1: you were up next after this break. All right, welcome back.
Speaker 1: I'm jumping your baby. Oh, I'm jumping your baby. It's
Speaker 1: a jump baby. We're grabbing pats panthers y, so we're
Speaker 1: grabbing them. I jumped jump baby. That's too all right.
Speaker 1: I'm not watching Texans at Dolphins. I would I don't
Speaker 1: wanna disappoint you. Because you won't believe me. But I
Speaker 1: was not drafting the Patriots because I don't want I
Speaker 1: don't want their press. I don't want to distress. That's
Speaker 1: why I would have taken them from There's one fun
Speaker 1: game left. I personally, as a Patriots fan, kind of
Speaker 1: go every other week. I like to watch him on
Speaker 1: game pass. It's not a new and there's one very
Speaker 1: good game left though, you know, Greg, I don't know
Speaker 1: if you've noticed this season, I've been on the I've
Speaker 1: been on the Patriots. I like the Patriots. I know
Speaker 1: it's like, although you did lock against them, locked against them,
Speaker 1: But you know what, I learned a lesson there um
Speaker 1: against them. I was like, I thought they were a team.
Speaker 1: I think I thought they were frisky entering last week,
Speaker 1: but I thought I guess I learned that maybe I
Speaker 1: shouldn't be so high on the Chargers because I kind
Speaker 1: of got behind this idea that l A was going
Speaker 1: to shake off a bad game and kick a mass
Speaker 1: at home. But the Chargers let down there. So I'm
Speaker 1: moving off the Chargers and I'll tell you what, how
Speaker 1: about this for a make good I gotta lock up
Speaker 1: the Pats on the road in Carolina because I think
Speaker 1: and I don't know. I don't know if Sam Donald's starting,
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's he's got the shoulder injury,
Speaker 1: he's got a concussion, he's coming off. He J Walker
Speaker 1: was J Walker. And I can tell you this. I'll
Speaker 1: tell you some advanced scouting the old Zeusler did over
Speaker 1: the past thirty years. Bill Belichick knows how to UH
Speaker 1: coach against Sam Donald. So Sam Donald's a quarterback. I'm
Speaker 1: feeling real good about Belichick going down there and scheming
Speaker 1: up something to confuse a slumping Sam Donald. And if
Speaker 1: the if the kid from Temple's playing, oh my goodness,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a blood bath. So I am feeling
Speaker 1: good about the paths I think. I thought it was
Speaker 1: interesting that mac Jones struggled as much as he did
Speaker 1: last week and they still found a way to beat
Speaker 1: a quality opponent on the road. That shows you that
Speaker 1: the Patriots are kind of putting something together here. And
Speaker 1: when you look at a muddled a f C wild
Speaker 1: card picture, I think the Patriots are gonna end up
Speaker 1: in one of those spots. Gregg, and you're gonna get
Speaker 1: to watch a January playoff game. Um, get ahead of
Speaker 1: myself obviously, But I think the reason I think they
Speaker 1: will do that is these are the type of games
Speaker 1: they will take advantage of and take care of. A
Speaker 1: win in Carolina, well, they're certainly improving on offense and
Speaker 1: possibly on defense. That was one of their best defensive
Speaker 1: performances a year ago. I think Matt Rule has watched
Speaker 1: so much Bill Belichick over the years. He's such a
Speaker 1: fan boy. It's it's it's not weird, it makes total sense.
Speaker 1: He grew up as a Giants fan. He grew up
Speaker 1: as a kid. He's forty six years old now, so
Speaker 1: that puts him at the age that he was watching
Speaker 1: the height of Bill Belichick as a defensive coordinator and
Speaker 1: when he's talking about like I just want to run
Speaker 1: the ball and play defense, like I believe him that
Speaker 1: with the team that he has now, he thinks that's
Speaker 1: the best way to win. I'm sure Belichick enjoyed that
Speaker 1: tape last week, like watching the Panthers run forty seven
Speaker 1: times and just impose their will on Atlanta, you know,
Speaker 1: up until the moment that that Stephon Gilmore made that interception,
Speaker 1: and then he's like, oh, yeah, that would be good,
Speaker 1: Like I, um, that was a final note. Yeah, it'd
Speaker 1: be like, oh yeah, wait oh the guy that said
Speaker 1: let me take on Kyle Pitts and then shuts Kyle
Speaker 1: Pitts down. I went, I'm you know, I missed Stephon
Speaker 1: Gilmore enough. I went back and watched those snaps from Gilmore.
Speaker 1: We got this nice little feature I gotta show you guys,
Speaker 1: And he's physical. He did a good job. He's only
Speaker 1: playing like twenty snaps and they said that might be
Speaker 1: the case again this week, which is a little weird.
Speaker 1: So he'll be like a tight end, third down type
Speaker 1: of stopper. But the way you beat Carolina in this
Speaker 1: pass rushes to run the ball at them. So I
Speaker 1: could just see a lot of running from both teams,
Speaker 1: and that tends to lead to like close games, long drives.
Speaker 1: I'm with you. I think the Patriots will win, but
Speaker 1: I could see you sweating out in a defensive type
Speaker 1: of game in the fourth quarter. Yeah, I mean, I
Speaker 1: think it's like I put a note like overrun are
Speaker 1: rushing attempts in this game? Nine D. I mean they
Speaker 1: both kind of want to do the same thing. Christian
Speaker 1: McCaffrey could be he will wait and see, but play Thursday,
Speaker 1: And uh, I just the thing with McCaffrey. If he
Speaker 1: plays this week, I would be stunned if he has
Speaker 1: like a big workload. But again, they've botched Christian caffrey
Speaker 1: for two years in terms of how to handle his health.
Speaker 1: Um so who knows how they're gonna play this. It
Speaker 1: would it would have totally surprised me if they gave
Speaker 1: him the ball thirty times. Also, that one's stunned me either.
Speaker 1: Although it's pretty apparent that Chuba Hubbard's a pretty good
Speaker 1: backup that you should have some type of a b
Speaker 1: attack if he returns. But we're not even sure he's returned.
Speaker 1: I think he's not going to because Matt Rule said
Speaker 1: at the beginning of this week he was very open
Speaker 1: ended with it. He says, yeah, probably practice this week.
Speaker 1: He could return week nine or week ten, So it's
Speaker 1: very open ended at this time whether he's even I
Speaker 1: mean with or without him. Like this is a team
Speaker 1: going through a complete metamorphosis on offense, Carolina, are you
Speaker 1: guys hearing that sorry to cut you off? Are you
Speaker 1: hearing the lock off we're about to have? Oh, I'm
Speaker 1: putting the tampose curse on the Panthers, which means the
Speaker 1: Pats will win. Wait no, yes, yes, baby, that's not
Speaker 1: a lock a lock off. Why I'm locking the Panthers
Speaker 1: taking Carolina because real life, in real life, the Patriots. Right, Oh,
Speaker 1: you dastardly woman. Yes, Jack, bring me a twenty dollar bill.
Speaker 1: Let's go. Let's go according to your like every team,
Speaker 1: every team I pick. Yeah, I can't. I'm so far back,
Speaker 1: there's no chance. I don't love that mentality for America,
Speaker 1: but it makes some sense. Interesting, Is this put me
Speaker 1: in a good spot or a bad spot? Because only
Speaker 1: against Erica? But I'm not really going against her because
Speaker 1: she's actually locking the Patriots. No, no, no, no no.
Speaker 1: Everything every team I lock loses, so I lose. So
Speaker 1: I'm locking the Panthers. So the Panthers will see what
Speaker 1: you're saying. You'll wait your lock, you'll win your lock.
Speaker 1: We're up at the door number three. Be totally unconcerned
Speaker 1: with the entire thing and just do your business. Okay, Greg,
Speaker 1: there you go, Mark, What what are you saying? All?
Speaker 1: I have no idea? Forget about it? All right, Greg,
Speaker 1: you have the final pick of the draft. You could
Speaker 1: choose between the Texans and Dolphins. Battle, uh wanted sevens
Speaker 1: or the Broncos Cowboys. I think I know where you're going. Wait,
Speaker 1: did I miss the Raiders Giants being picked? That was
Speaker 1: like your Raiders were available. That's a good backup game.
Speaker 1: That was my plan all along. That was my weird
Speaker 1: times were watching the Raiders I don't know, and the Giants.
Speaker 1: I just watched them in prime time. I could use
Speaker 1: a little bit of a break for an extra day.
Speaker 1: I mean, Henry Rugs has since been released by the
Speaker 1: team since we last recorded. You know, it's it's a
Speaker 1: brutal story. I thought Rich Bisacchi and Derek Carr talking
Speaker 1: about everything, as you know, they were about as well
Speaker 1: spoken as you could be on it. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: bigger than football. He's not on the team. I don't know,
Speaker 1: there's not much more like to talk about with that.
Speaker 1: It's not like I mean, the guy like he was
Speaker 1: going to hundred fifty six miles an hour. That happens,
Speaker 1: Like there's nothing more you can say saying like that's horrible.
Speaker 1: Of course, it's horrible, Like we it's just traged believable
Speaker 1: when you kind of just factor everything the sadness of it,
Speaker 1: I mean, the fact that this woman. This woman dies
Speaker 1: just driving home to her parents house, Um, just minding
Speaker 1: her own business. It's just a terrible thing. And then
Speaker 1: for this guy to have so much potential in his
Speaker 1: life and and be so set up, um both from
Speaker 1: a professional standpoint and being able to help his family
Speaker 1: with the money he was going to make, and and
Speaker 1: he ruins his life. He takes a life, and it's
Speaker 1: all just I mean, it's one of the saddest stories
Speaker 1: in a long time. Yeah, it's like I think we're
Speaker 1: all completely on the same page and unlocked stuff that
Speaker 1: it's it is an immense the immense tragedy. He was
Speaker 1: the first wide receiver picked in last year's drill. And
Speaker 1: also you look at that, you know from a football
Speaker 1: angle that their draft is an absolute mess at this point.
Speaker 1: But that has nothing to do with with with what
Speaker 1: happened with Henry Ruggs. It's a total tragedy in the
Speaker 1: in the Raiders have been through so much this season,
Speaker 1: so much tumult. They do seem like a team that
Speaker 1: sticks together no matter what. I am locking up the
Speaker 1: Raiders in this game, Um, I'm not sure how I
Speaker 1: feel about that. That could change at this point between
Speaker 1: now and Sunday. But I something about the Giants. It's
Speaker 1: like there's always gonna be four or five people not
Speaker 1: in the lineup. They're getting a little bit healthier, they're
Speaker 1: they're they're a little spicy and dangerous too, and they're
Speaker 1: showing you things. And Daniel Jones feels like the real Doo.
Speaker 1: I think Patrick ram has did some nice stuff against
Speaker 1: the Chiefs as its defensive coordinator as well. But I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go Raiders here. I mean that is it's a
Speaker 1: safe lock. But at the same time, there's so much
Speaker 1: going on with the Raiders right now before you factor
Speaker 1: in is it safe before you well, just on a
Speaker 1: five and two going against the two and six, but
Speaker 1: then the fact that they're traveling across country the Raiders
Speaker 1: typically aren't very good at that, and all the things
Speaker 1: going on behind the scenes has has has to have
Speaker 1: been a really difficult week in that building. Uh, the
Speaker 1: way things have unfolded, it's it's really uh man, It's right,
Speaker 1: there's nothing You can just look at what Henry Ruggs
Speaker 1: if if you want too, meant to the offense, which
Speaker 1: I think is is worth mentioning how well he was playing.
Speaker 1: He he was easily their most you know, dynamic outside receiver.
Speaker 1: He's on pace for a thousand yards. He had been
Speaker 1: living up to kind of the promise that they expected
Speaker 1: in him, and so I don't he's not going to
Speaker 1: be an easy person to replace on the field either.
Speaker 1: Is worth mentioning? That said, when when the Raiders play
Speaker 1: against the team, I kind of look at the oppositions
Speaker 1: line play, like can they get after Derek Carr because
Speaker 1: that's kind of their weakness and then the Giants can't
Speaker 1: really and can they hold up against this really good
Speaker 1: Raiders pass rush. I don't know if the Giants can
Speaker 1: do that. I think the Raiders are are a much
Speaker 1: better team, and I'm kind of with you. He might
Speaker 1: be returning this week. It sounds like Tony is probably
Speaker 1: a go. We don't, We're not. Goladay sounds less likely. Shepherds, Shepherds,
Speaker 1: They've got all this like that. It sounds like se
Speaker 1: Kwan could have been a false positive along with some
Speaker 1: other Giants players to their doctor Sills actually waiting on that.
Speaker 1: So there's a TVD right, There's a lot going on
Speaker 1: with them. But it's funny because we go through this
Speaker 1: every Thursday. It was like, which giants are playing, but
Speaker 1: you can't account for the giants who are all going
Speaker 1: to get hurt in the fourth in the first quarter,
Speaker 1: Like you can't. You can't like put that on the
Speaker 1: on the list, and that happens every week. It's really crazy.
Speaker 1: Uh let's see, yeah soon tested negative for COVID on Wednesday. Um,
Speaker 1: and then let's see, well they kind of they closed
Speaker 1: down the whole complex, can't practice. I don't know, Joe
Speaker 1: Judge doing press conferences in the parking lot. A lot
Speaker 1: of mess that year has been for them. Um, all right,
Speaker 1: let's go through the rest of the games. Yes, we'll
Speaker 1: start with the Broncos at the Cowboy is Broncos just
Speaker 1: straight away the face of the franchise, Von Miller. Now
Speaker 1: they go to Dallas to face a cowboy team that
Speaker 1: should have Dak Prescott back on the field. I don't
Speaker 1: like how this is gonna go for the Broncos. No,
Speaker 1: it should it should be terrible. And you know they
Speaker 1: got this one week break against Washington defensively, Um, the
Speaker 1: Broncos defense that is uh. And then you gotta go
Speaker 1: to Dallas. Now they're gonna be without Tyrone Smith. It
Speaker 1: sounds like, but Dak Prescott is gonna play and you
Speaker 1: just think that any team with a good running game
Speaker 1: can run through this Broncos squad. They just they're so
Speaker 1: soft upfront that you just figured Dallas is gonna be
Speaker 1: able to run for about And just when you think
Speaker 1: the offense for Denver maybe at least was getting healthier,
Speaker 1: you know, they got Judy back, they got Oakway, but
Speaker 1: I'm back. Uh, their left tackle Garrett Bowls is on
Speaker 1: I R now and no offense they're tight end got COVID,
Speaker 1: so even they're good kind of injury news on offense
Speaker 1: has been taken away. I don't I don't look up.
Speaker 1: The win over Washington is you know, just an invisible
Speaker 1: feather that no one needs to care about. I mean
Speaker 1: it was I think it was what the Broncos under
Speaker 1: Fongio kind of wanted to be, you know, smothering defense
Speaker 1: and just enough from Teddy Bridgewater. But it almost wasn't enough.
Speaker 1: There was enough hijinks at the end of that game
Speaker 1: where it was nearly just a loss. So it's like,
Speaker 1: I don't really trust Denver to do much of anything
Speaker 1: in Dallas is simply too overpowering. One last thing about
Speaker 1: Dallas just before we move on. Last week's game really
Speaker 1: showed me you want to you always. They're looking to
Speaker 1: give Mike McCarthy credit, and I think we should. Here's
Speaker 1: where the credit is. I love the philosophy in that
Speaker 1: game that they threw more than double the amount of
Speaker 1: twenty yard throws of Minnesota. They had more than double
Speaker 1: the amount of passing first downs, They had more of
Speaker 1: the double of explosive blazes with Cooper Rush. They were
Speaker 1: down in that game and they were letting Cooper Rush
Speaker 1: throw on traditional running downs like aggressive. Place that that's aggressive.
Speaker 1: That's like, hey, we believe in our backup and we
Speaker 1: know where our talent is. It's on it. I think
Speaker 1: that's also Kellen Moore. Sure, but you gotta give McCarthy.
Speaker 1: McCarthy has coordinator's cord, right. I'm saying he's he wants
Speaker 1: to be aggressive, I think offensively, or else they wouldn't be.
Speaker 1: It annoys everybody that hates Mike McCarthy, which is two
Speaker 1: guys in this room. But like, he's a great job.
Speaker 1: He's put together a good coaching staff. He's great, he
Speaker 1: knows how to do this, he knows how to be
Speaker 1: a head coach at this level. And they're thriving as
Speaker 1: a group. A collective group questions him, you thought he
Speaker 1: was hot from a certain anger for some reason. Questioning
Speaker 1: the Mike McCarthy experience coming into this season was not
Speaker 1: not just it's just a thing. It's a thing in
Speaker 1: the in football culture. It's like certain guys stink and
Speaker 1: are bad, and then when they have really good seasons,
Speaker 1: it's never them, it's the guys that are underneath the
Speaker 1: him and it's like, you know what it is, It's
Speaker 1: because he's because his biggest weakness is game management, and
Speaker 1: that's definitely like the easiest thing to pick on. He
Speaker 1: flamed out hard in Green Bay and then had this
Speaker 1: so called you know awakening during his year away. Uh,
Speaker 1: and he's coaching arguably the best team in football with
Speaker 1: I think two with with two coordinators who could win
Speaker 1: cost Coach of the Year. I mean, dan quinn has
Speaker 1: been a big difference. He did where they handed him.
Speaker 1: He is doing what you should do. He allocating well
Speaker 1: and do you think he ever has conversations with either
Speaker 1: of his cordination tower from where every tower and um,
Speaker 1: you could at least make the argument though that like
Speaker 1: go ahead, did he hire them because Jerry Jones kind
Speaker 1: of makes all the he hired Kellen Moore, it's not
Speaker 1: like McCarthy did. And then you know Jerry Jones, I
Speaker 1: would say, and he is giving Kellen Moore a ton
Speaker 1: of autonomy. We don't think sign of good. I would
Speaker 1: say this because we know exactly what's going on in
Speaker 1: the in the building. Obviously you guys do at least um.
Speaker 1: I will say this, maybe when we have our hot
Speaker 1: hot butt conversation next week's show for the coaches, we
Speaker 1: should have a conversation McCarthy because obviously he's not someone
Speaker 1: that's worthy of EVA being a head coach potentially right now.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think he has more This is a
Speaker 1: stroll man. I know it's not because I think he
Speaker 1: has more of a chance of losing his job after
Speaker 1: this year than um than you do. I think there
Speaker 1: is a chance. How many sandwiches I would be surprised
Speaker 1: at this point they've I mean, my, my. The only
Speaker 1: way that scenario works is if Kelln Moore is getting
Speaker 1: offers and Jerry just decides to make a change. It's
Speaker 1: like they lose in the divisional round and Kellen Moore
Speaker 1: gets offers and Jerry's like sorry, Mike. All right, let's
Speaker 1: take a break and then finish out. All right, here
Speaker 1: we go, Texans at Dolphins to one and seven's going
Speaker 1: we should put a clock on this. Let's do let's
Speaker 1: do one minute on this game? You start mark what
Speaker 1: game is it? I was texting Tyrod's back. That makes
Speaker 1: a difference, It really does. I was a little surprised
Speaker 1: that only made like a couple of point or two
Speaker 1: difference in the point spread. I was like, Tyrod's gotta
Speaker 1: be worth at least three or four over Davis Mills.
Speaker 1: He gives him a chance. Two most depressing teams in
Speaker 1: the NFC potentially, Yeah, the Dolphins are. I agree, the
Speaker 1: Dolphins have been hit by third down. I think if
Speaker 1: you're into analytic no, that like third down performance is
Speaker 1: not predictive year to year. The Dolphins are are a
Speaker 1: great example. They were first or second two straight years
Speaker 1: under floors and now they're twenty nine thirty on defense,
Speaker 1: but their stuff has not worked on third downs to
Speaker 1: You've had a rough ride this year, You've been dealt
Speaker 1: a bad home with all the Deshaun Watson stuff. The
Speaker 1: good news is he is not going to be in
Speaker 1: your building at least not for the next six months
Speaker 1: or so. So now is your opportunity to give yourself
Speaker 1: a shot to make a statement. And you don't get
Speaker 1: a better stage than home against the Texans, the worst
Speaker 1: team in football, kick some as they just they were
Speaker 1: not the worst team in football when Tyrod was on
Speaker 1: the field, when he was hurt against Cleveland in the
Speaker 1: early season work they were completely six great quarters. Whether
Speaker 1: that translates not, this team somehow seems worse, but we'll see.
Speaker 1: I just wonder if the Dolphins are also maybe like
Speaker 1: the perfect person to go deal with on that front too,
Speaker 1: if you're Houston, like Tonto is not their Ingram's not
Speaker 1: that you know they've lost some people too, all right,
Speaker 1: I think we got everybody. We got all the games,
Speaker 1: good stuff. Can check out the TNF recap uh that
Speaker 1: will be in your podcast service of note, we will
Speaker 1: recap all the games that we just previewed on Sunday night.
Speaker 1: The Flagship podcast and the Around the NFL broadcast on
Speaker 1: NFL Network, a two hour program in which we go
Speaker 1: around the NFL, hitting all thirty two teams two minutes
Speaker 1: per team. We have fun. You should check that show
Speaker 1: out in air Saturday mornings with a re air, I believe.
Speaker 1: So find it, watch it, consume it, and call your
Speaker 1: local cable operator to let them know how much you
Speaker 1: enjoy it. You don't. Usually they're like operator and say, yeah,
Speaker 1: like get me NFL network. It would be funny if
Speaker 1: we just a lot of people are just like, hey,
Speaker 1: I really like that around the NFL. I don't know
Speaker 1: what that would do. Everyone call your local cable operator
Speaker 1: and demand NFL network, like I want NFL network. You
Speaker 1: have it. It's in your package. It's under the sports tier.
Speaker 1: It's channel one. Oh okay, you're nice conversation, all right,
Speaker 1: good good stuff, Ricky. I didn't get your inside. I
Speaker 1: know you're not a parent, but you are. You're a
Speaker 1: smart person. What how do you How do I handle Jack?
Speaker 1: I really think the sentiments really nice. But you gotta
Speaker 1: you gotta nip that in the body. Can't be going
Speaker 1: in your wallet. You gotta really you gotta what I mean?
Speaker 1: What are you saying? I do take the belt off
Speaker 1: and and teach them teaching Adrian Peterson run out of
Speaker 1: the league. Yeah that's true, but he's back Erica, ready
Speaker 1: to be ready, ready to do some hardcore. No, no no, no,
Speaker 1: but I think I mean you can be scary. I
Speaker 1: like Erica as like a Catholic school nun in her
Speaker 1: former life, just wailing away on kids. You gotta just
Speaker 1: like going off. Is that was that your past? No? No,
Speaker 1: I was never hit. I did get hot pepper in
Speaker 1: my mouth if I war, though, well really versus soap,
Speaker 1: which I don't remember actually, but hot pepper was brutal
Speaker 1: that that, Like my mom would chase us around and
Speaker 1: then she'd grabbed her cheeks and she push him together
Speaker 1: and she'd literally dump hot pepper flakes in your mouth
Speaker 1: and it burned like hell. They did that stuff in
Speaker 1: like medieval times to like punish people who stole fruit. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Now I'm not gonna be able to get my mom
Speaker 1: on the phone because like child Services is gonna be
Speaker 1: coming after her after this. Clearly her methods worked with you, America.
Speaker 1: All right, hey, all right, here we go. That's it.
Speaker 1: Dan Hands is signing off for Quiet Storm, the old Boss, Ricky,
Speaker 1: Sister Mary, Catherine, Dan Posey, everybody behind the glass. The
Speaker 1: grave Digger feeling confident, but thinks his team is gonna
Speaker 1: get a forty burger put on it nearly, So how
Speaker 1: confident can he really be I don't know, I'll sick,
Speaker 1: not at all, but it really disappoints greg Is that
Speaker 1: you don't have the Titans covering. Yeah, all right, still Sunday.
Speaker 1: He that call,