Speaker 1: Be Around the NFL podcast, What appreciated upgrade to business
Speaker 1: Class from the Crypto dot Com podcast? Did it just
Speaker 1: from that Chris Whistling podcast studio, It's around the NFL
Speaker 1: Dan Hansis, Gregg Rols with thal Mark Cesler. Did you
Speaker 1: see the dude from the l A Times, Bill Platsky. Well,
Speaker 1: we don't just talk football, we're topic all. We talk
Speaker 1: about the zeitgeist. One of my favorite UH media moments
Speaker 1: of the year on Twitter, uh was Bill Platsky from
Speaker 1: the l A. Time's just like having like a moment,
Speaker 1: like a a Twitter moment, getting emotional that the arena
Speaker 1: in downtown l A is no longer Staples Center. It's
Speaker 1: now Crypto dot Com Arena. It's not like the chickhern
Speaker 1: Arena or the Magic Johnson Forum or the Forum. It
Speaker 1: sounded good though, you know you're on the one ten
Speaker 1: or whatever and you see the top of it. Just
Speaker 1: it makes sense. But being emotionally attached to it was
Speaker 1: very surprising because it was ernest. It was like heartfelt.
Speaker 1: He was he was heartbroken. I love I love this city.
Speaker 1: I love the old stuff in this city. Because l
Speaker 1: A is a bad habit of tearing things down so
Speaker 1: when you find old stuff, it's cool. Like the old
Speaker 1: I think it's either it's in its last days or
Speaker 1: I think they might have taken the wrecking ball to it.
Speaker 1: But the old l a memorial Colisseum which is also downtown. Uh,
Speaker 1: that was dedicated. He went there because I saw Springsteen
Speaker 1: concert there about fifteen years ago. To John F. Kennedy,
Speaker 1: Now if you rename that, it was dedicated. Int you know,
Speaker 1: tragedy happened. Yes, Um, that's different. I don't know on
Speaker 1: that subject. USC still plays there and stuff. I like
Speaker 1: him owning this stadium. It was an arena Los Angeles Sports.
Speaker 1: It's smart for him to own the space. He got
Speaker 1: out there ahead of everyone. He's getting emotional. We're talking
Speaker 1: about it now on this show. Not a lot of
Speaker 1: people in like Deep Scotland knew about Bill Platsky, so
Speaker 1: now they do. So, you know, it is a weird
Speaker 1: thing though, like getting attached to brands, it's a very
Speaker 1: like one. We've lost that battle that people kind of
Speaker 1: like they get attached to brands, like says a man
Speaker 1: wearing like eighteen different brands, which I just said, we lost.
Speaker 1: We lost the battle. You lost it as a child
Speaker 1: due to due to the nature of advertising. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: guarantee you were well. And I'm not sure what was
Speaker 1: happening in your childhood. That is a mystery. Alright, on
Speaker 1: that subject, here we go and did a quiz last
Speaker 1: week for Veterans Day, and Mark, you were excellent, nailed it?
Speaker 1: Do you prove yourself? Now it's Greg's turn in the
Speaker 1: hot seat on the subject of stadium names. We got
Speaker 1: fifteen games this week. I'm gonna rapid fire. Greg, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna name the stadium. You tell me the team that
Speaker 1: plays there. Ricky, get ready for the Dings and Mark,
Speaker 1: what we said? Does he have to have twelve? And
Speaker 1: is that fair? Is that too? I think that that
Speaker 1: would put him high in my esteem? All Right, here
Speaker 1: we go go. Mercedes ben Stadium, the Falcons, high Mark Stadium,
Speaker 1: UM the Bills, Correct Bank of America Stadium, the Panthers,
Speaker 1: Soldier Field First Energy Stadium, the Browns, t A T
Speaker 1: I A A Bank Field, Jaguars, U S Bank Stadium,
Speaker 1: the Vikings MetLife Stadium, the Jets or Giants, Lincoln Financial Field,
Speaker 1: the Eagles, Nissan Stadium, the Titans Allegiant Stadium, the Raiders
Speaker 1: Arrowhead the Seahawks, Sofi Stadium, Rams and Chargers, Raymond James Stadium,
Speaker 1: Bucks did Greg. That was solid Bills one was the hardest.
Speaker 1: That was what I never in Power Rankings copy or
Speaker 1: any other NFL dot com. I never call it by
Speaker 1: New Era Stadium or this other hokum. It's always I say.
Speaker 1: I can't say Rich Stadium, but Orchard Park. I just yeah,
Speaker 1: that's perfect. I'd very rarely say Met Life Stadium either.
Speaker 1: I like to stick with the medal. You've got to
Speaker 1: stick with the rich territory of Orchard Park. I don't
Speaker 1: care what they what company they've attached to to and
Speaker 1: what they're doing today. All right, you guys are fired
Speaker 1: with the quiz game, little mid season treat that I've
Speaker 1: cooked into the show, and the listeners, no doubt, are thrilled.
Speaker 1: Sometimes you got to add stuff to keep you invested.
Speaker 1: He I, we're hearing you loud and clear, and doesn't
Speaker 1: love the Thursday show as much as the other shows.
Speaker 1: I'm here to defend the Thursday Show. It's beautiful show.
Speaker 1: I have no idea what you're talking about. I love
Speaker 1: all the shows that we do equally. They're like my
Speaker 1: little babies. All right now, it is week eleven, and um,
Speaker 1: who are we in that scenario? I mean, are we
Speaker 1: your significant other? I mean we helped Dan procreate baby
Speaker 1: and birth to baby. I'm not. I just wonder how
Speaker 1: this is a little especially after especially I have to
Speaker 1: think on that. Especially I to that weirdo sent that
Speaker 1: that image on Twitter mark of me as Leo on
Speaker 1: the Titanic and you as Winslet. Yeah, that was that
Speaker 1: that made me like uncomfortable. I know, like I know
Speaker 1: that when my own face was making me extremely uncomfortable
Speaker 1: in your face and I generally like your face in general,
Speaker 1: Like like, how is it making other people feel? I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't you guys are weird out there, but we
Speaker 1: like you. All right, let's get into it. Week eleven.
Speaker 1: The wheel goes round and round. Let's start with the
Speaker 1: primetime games. And by the way, tonight Patriots at Falcon's
Speaker 1: Thursday night football, Mark will have a YouTube star, I
Speaker 1: understand a different YouTube star. You know. So Dan Dan
Speaker 1: did this thing last week and it blew up ratings wise,
Speaker 1: we're learning more about why that happened. And um, we
Speaker 1: Greg and I have received roughly breakdown texts about how
Speaker 1: successful that episode was and there's immense pressure to now
Speaker 1: you know, just you want to just do it nice.
Speaker 1: It's great little tnfuh you know, guests, and it's like
Speaker 1: will will they deliver um to the extent that this
Speaker 1: individual I can't feeling any pressure. I'll tell you who
Speaker 1: my next time I'm it's gonna be Henry Hudson. I
Speaker 1: just want to do a pod with Henry. You know,
Speaker 1: I don't know if he's gonna bring the numbers. I
Speaker 1: think he'll bring some numbers in. But this, this show
Speaker 1: tonight will be special for a variety of reasons. I'm
Speaker 1: leaving it that vague in that um un detailed lack
Speaker 1: of detail. There you go. Let's get to the primetime
Speaker 1: games now, Sunday night football, we're gonna be there. How
Speaker 1: about that little field trip. It's like where in my
Speaker 1: town where I live now, it's just a nice little
Speaker 1: town and there's a park. We're right next to the
Speaker 1: school where the boys go and sometimes the teachers take
Speaker 1: the little boys and girls to the park and the
Speaker 1: you know parade pass right down our block and it's
Speaker 1: really cute. That's us. We're gonna be parading right down
Speaker 1: the side. I'd walk there into Sophie Stadium to watch
Speaker 1: with the teacher parading us there like that. Who will
Speaker 1: that again on a role we don't specify. It won't
Speaker 1: be me. You guys forgot about me until ten minutes.
Speaker 1: That was a tough I was like, oh you you
Speaker 1: just guys are gonna just tell me you're going to
Speaker 1: Sunday night football when must just do sit here and
Speaker 1: twiddle my thumbs for four hours? It doesn't feel just.
Speaker 1: I think I think we ultimately came down that it
Speaker 1: was Greg who dropped the ball problem. I had the
Speaker 1: big idea, and then Greg and we all appreciated it.
Speaker 1: You said, okay, and now I'm gonna make it happen
Speaker 1: by going to the powers that be. You had already
Speaker 1: asked in another avenue and that because that was the
Speaker 1: initial can you help us to a shadowy league figure?
Speaker 1: It kind of was kicked back our way and then
Speaker 1: you picked up the ball and we're all thankful for
Speaker 1: very much um and got it done. But at that
Speaker 1: point that's probably when Erica should be looped in with
Speaker 1: their credentials and things of that nature. I I'm just
Speaker 1: saying the lesson is do what I did. Let's not
Speaker 1: lift a finger is the end. Results all that matter,
Speaker 1: doesn't matter how you get to that victory. So be there.
Speaker 1: My my mom's old saying, no good deed goes unpunished.
Speaker 1: That's what's happening to you right now. Greg. Alright, Ricky,
Speaker 1: we hope to see you there as well. We'll see
Speaker 1: how the connectric goes. I'm not going to probably all right,
Speaker 1: let's get to its Steelers at Chargers Steelers coming off,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna say it was humiliating because you didn't
Speaker 1: have your quarterback and Mason Rudolph can't really play. Uh,
Speaker 1: but you tie the Windless Lions when you're trying to
Speaker 1: win a division is not a good look. But you're
Speaker 1: still in good shape because the rest of the a
Speaker 1: f C North was brutal uh in week ten, or
Speaker 1: at least the teams that we're playing, and now you
Speaker 1: go to face a Charger's team, Greg, that is very
Speaker 1: difficult to figure out. Who are the Chargers. I think
Speaker 1: I know who the Steelers are. I don't know who
Speaker 1: the Chargers are, do you? I think I know they're
Speaker 1: a below average defense. Whatever Brandon Staley's tried to do
Speaker 1: defensively hasn't worked. Probably isn't going to work because of
Speaker 1: a lack of talent. I believe up front for the
Speaker 1: most part, there's been some injury problems, but they're not
Speaker 1: a difference making defense. They're hoping to improve the average.
Speaker 1: It's one thing to give up all those yards on
Speaker 1: the ground that we always talk about their achilles. He Well,
Speaker 1: they're not good stopping the past either. Like they're bad
Speaker 1: at they're bad at both. And if bos is not
Speaker 1: in this game, uh, it sounds like he will come
Speaker 1: back from the COVID list because he was a close context.
Speaker 1: If you just do the math, he should be activated
Speaker 1: as long as he doesn't uh test positive. But Jerry
Speaker 1: Tillery is probably out. Another defensive wineman's probably out. They
Speaker 1: have COVID issues. Thankfully they get to play. Uh. The
Speaker 1: Steeler's offense. I don't put last week on Mason Rudolph necessarily.
Speaker 1: It just looked like the same Steeler's offense that we
Speaker 1: see every week. Well, I mean, the Lions put up
Speaker 1: an offense against Pittsburgh that said, hey, our quarterback is
Speaker 1: visibly injured and being uh taped with medical tape along
Speaker 1: the sideline and we're just gonna run the ball day
Speaker 1: and they ran it successfully, and there is sometimes I
Speaker 1: think when we look at the Steelers, it's like we
Speaker 1: just assume the defense is pristine and it it has
Speaker 1: its weaknesses here and there. The Chargers run defense, which
Speaker 1: we've talked about every week, has actually gotten a little
Speaker 1: bit better over the last three or four weeks. And
Speaker 1: they can't get stops, they get off the field. They
Speaker 1: were they were dead last in the league. They're now seventeen.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying that they held the Vikings to every
Speaker 1: point one yard probably last week, but they sunk and
Speaker 1: they talk against the Eagles too, But we could talk
Speaker 1: about the defense not being up to snuff, but it's
Speaker 1: the offense that's killing them as well. I know they
Speaker 1: were very good last week or the week before Sunday,
Speaker 1: but the greater picture is a l a offense that
Speaker 1: has been very inconsistent at times. They have a lot
Speaker 1: of three and outs in quick series and you look
Speaker 1: at the time of possession in these games. It's not
Speaker 1: just the defense, it's the offense underperforming as well. And
Speaker 1: I talked about this with Money, who's the voice of
Speaker 1: the Chargers, And you know that was kind of his
Speaker 1: big takeaway that Herbert has been inconsistent with his throwing.
Speaker 1: They've had trouble just sustaining drives. And uh, when you
Speaker 1: get when you keep on kicking the ball back and
Speaker 1: putting the defense back on the field, they're gonna get
Speaker 1: worn down. And that defense really, I mean, it was
Speaker 1: so frustrating if you're a Chargers fan watching the end
Speaker 1: of that game. I haven't written down here they had
Speaker 1: when they needed to get a stop. At the end
Speaker 1: of that game, they're down seven points. They're trying to
Speaker 1: get Herbert back on the field. The defense had the
Speaker 1: vikings on a second and seventeen and one series converted
Speaker 1: for a first down, a third and twenty on the
Speaker 1: next series of downs also converted, and then Davin Cook
Speaker 1: gets a first down to run out the clock. It
Speaker 1: both sides of the ball have been disappointing. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: like the Brandon Staley diagnosed it, well, what's happening to
Speaker 1: the offense, because it's not unlike what his defense does
Speaker 1: too opposing quarterbacks. They've tried to take the deep ball
Speaker 1: away from Justin Herbert. And since week six, you know,
Speaker 1: when they've been one in three, their defense has been
Speaker 1: on the field at one. They've gone from eight to
Speaker 1: explosive plays and it's working. It's like they're making and
Speaker 1: Justin Herbert. It's not on him entirely, but they've got
Speaker 1: a new offensive line as well. I think it's a
Speaker 1: new system, and they're making them drive the length of
Speaker 1: the field versus some of the stuff we saw last
Speaker 1: year when there was less tape on Herbert. I mean,
Speaker 1: they're making Justin Herbert boring. There's a lot out there
Speaker 1: which is hard to do. Justin Herbert is one of
Speaker 1: the most exciting quarterbacks I've ever seen in my whole life,
Speaker 1: and they're doing this dinking dunk off and Seth Galina
Speaker 1: wrote a good piece for PFF just comparing it to
Speaker 1: the Lombardi offense with Matthew Stafford, where for those years
Speaker 1: with Lombardi they turned Stafford into a dinking dunk quarterback,
Speaker 1: much like Drew Brees, who Lombardi uh worked with. He's
Speaker 1: thirty second out of thirty seven and average depth of target.
Speaker 1: And that's not all on the coaches. It's on the protection,
Speaker 1: but I put that mostly on the coaches. I was
Speaker 1: talking with Nate Tye trying to figure this out this week,
Speaker 1: and he said, at one point last week and and
Speaker 1: he was a former quarterback, so he understands this way
Speaker 1: more than I do. At one point last week, they
Speaker 1: just a little bit more, a lot a lot more,
Speaker 1: uh that they just started doing like slide protection basically
Speaker 1: every snap. So what that says is instead of trying
Speaker 1: to identify what the steel the Vikings were doing up
Speaker 1: front to get pressure on him, and because they couldn't
Speaker 1: figure out where the pressure was gonna come from and
Speaker 1: they couldn't do it and they couldn't protect them, essentially
Speaker 1: waved the white flag and just gave this slide protection,
Speaker 1: which is like you do the same thing every play
Speaker 1: and you just get rid of the ball quickly, and
Speaker 1: just like I give up, Mike Zimmer, you win. We're
Speaker 1: just gonna keep dumping the ball off. We're not even
Speaker 1: gonna think that we could come up with the right
Speaker 1: way to protect you. Like, that's a problem. That's a problem.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be a problem against the Steelers, even if
Speaker 1: the Steelers don't have a lot of their players back,
Speaker 1: which they might not. T J watt Uh, Joe Hayden
Speaker 1: is right, Kevin Dots and they're they're a little bit
Speaker 1: of a mess right now. I do like that still
Speaker 1: he's not often some silo as a defensive coach. He
Speaker 1: seems like all in on fixing every element of the team. Well,
Speaker 1: I mean it's he inherited it to some a team
Speaker 1: that was not totally perfect. But they're less exciting on offense.
Speaker 1: It's a new it's a new offense. They're not a
Speaker 1: ton better offensively right now. Uh, speaking Thursday on the
Speaker 1: Steeler side of thing, and I do think is big
Speaker 1: Ben is a compromised quarterback, especially compared to five years ago.
Speaker 1: And we don't need to like go back and forth
Speaker 1: on that, Greg, but I do think he's still an
Speaker 1: upgrade over Mason Rudolph and certainly Dwayne Haskins. Uh. Steelers
Speaker 1: O c MC Canada told reporters that Big Ben is
Speaker 1: preparing like he's going to play. It sounds like so
Speaker 1: one of these teams is gonna be asking a lot
Speaker 1: of questions after Sunday Night Football we get to see it.
Speaker 1: We're gonna be there and hopefully Ricky too. You know,
Speaker 1: I could find out during the show if she's been
Speaker 1: green lit to a tent as a human And by
Speaker 1: the way, uh, you know, the Chargers have not been
Speaker 1: very good at so far this year, Uh, they're under
Speaker 1: five hundred. And I did reach out to the l
Speaker 1: A Research team because it does feel like home teams
Speaker 1: aren't playing very well. Home teams are under five hundred
Speaker 1: this season and one in the previous ten season. This
Speaker 1: is from again the great l A Research team. Here.
Speaker 1: In the previous ten seasons, home teams had a five
Speaker 1: sixty one winning percentage. That is the lowest home lowest
Speaker 1: win percentage by home teams in a season since the
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy merger. The only other season since the merger
Speaker 1: that home teams had a losing record. Now that made sense.
Speaker 1: There's nobody at the games and it's just a totally
Speaker 1: weird vibe. Throw it out. But isn't it strange that
Speaker 1: that is now held the following year when the stadiums
Speaker 1: are filled again. This is the third straight year though home.
Speaker 1: I think they were at fifty two or it was,
Speaker 1: so I think home field advantage maybe is just less
Speaker 1: important than it used to be. But in two thousand
Speaker 1: eighteen there was six o two. Well that's still that's
Speaker 1: still used to be. It's just we've got two and
Speaker 1: a half year sample size and it is thing. And
Speaker 1: I think you you saw this if you watched Warriors
Speaker 1: nets on Tuesday night in Brooklyn or basically any of
Speaker 1: these games. I feel like the road crowd has a
Speaker 1: bigger impact throughout the league. Now it's exacerbated here in
Speaker 1: Los Angeles, but you you were watching like the Bill's
Speaker 1: Jets game, Dan, and in a lot of these like
Speaker 1: I've seen Washington get taken over. I've seen Foxboro not
Speaker 1: get taken over. But it's like the crowd and you
Speaker 1: hear him very interesting. We'll see if this is just
Speaker 1: like kind of a bump in the road or if
Speaker 1: things are changing in some strange way. All right, let's
Speaker 1: move to the other primetime game. It is strange. I
Speaker 1: tend to think that like it's an operation on on
Speaker 1: one level. And let's check back with me too. So
Speaker 1: that's weird. That's weird. I got pretty excited there that
Speaker 1: you were gonna blame it on the millennials for a
Speaker 1: second there. I don't do that at this stage because
Speaker 1: it does not get you anywhere, and nor do I
Speaker 1: in this situation. Leeve it's the millennial's fault. It costs
Speaker 1: like two fifty dollars to go to a game. It's
Speaker 1: probably too many rich quiet people who aren't actually operating
Speaker 1: as home fields fans used to do, which was again,
Speaker 1: that's a nice theory, but there are rich people going
Speaker 1: to games three years ago too, when it was six
Speaker 1: o two. It's not like this is a new thing
Speaker 1: that corporations have taken over stadiums. I don't claim to
Speaker 1: have cracked the case. I'm just throwing that out there.
Speaker 1: Is maybe it's multiple, you know, pieces of cake that
Speaker 1: make the full cake. Why this is happening. I like,
Speaker 1: I like the way you put that. Giants at Buccaneers
Speaker 1: is the other primetime game on Monday night the Bucks,
Speaker 1: you know, super frustrating loss obviously last week against Washington.
Speaker 1: I couldn't believe it when I and I know we
Speaker 1: talked about it on Sunday night, but then getting a
Speaker 1: chance to watch it. You know, Tampa, their defense, obviously
Speaker 1: Brady in the offense was great, uh last year and
Speaker 1: during that Super Bowl run, but it was the defense
Speaker 1: that really took over and just absolutely molly wop teams
Speaker 1: and they just basically most to do the playoffs. And
Speaker 1: then you see that d surrender a nineteen play, a
Speaker 1: d R drive that chewed up most of the fourth quarter,
Speaker 1: ended with a touchdown that put that game out of reach.
Speaker 1: No wonder, Mark Bruce arians and Tom Brady were super annoyed.
Speaker 1: Now they get the Giants, who are not a team
Speaker 1: that's known for sustaining drives. But then again, neither was Washington. Well,
Speaker 1: here's the thing about the Giants, because we've talked all
Speaker 1: year like we just cannot claim to know what this
Speaker 1: offense could be. It's largely been mythological. It's been players
Speaker 1: that don't exist health wise, not on the field. We
Speaker 1: we list them every week. But Kenny Golladay, Sae Kwan, Barkley,
Speaker 1: Darius Tony, they exploded when they actually were on the
Speaker 1: field together a way back when when they nipped the Saints.
Speaker 1: And just because they've been spicy on that side of
Speaker 1: the ball, you want to just see it this season
Speaker 1: to to fairly evaluate the head coach, the coordinator, the quarterback.
Speaker 1: And I think we're kind of high on the quarterback
Speaker 1: at this point. And as for the Bucks, I just
Speaker 1: think that they they really miss Antonio Brown and they
Speaker 1: didn't have Gronkowski for part of that game. You're so right.
Speaker 1: The defense, you know, fell apart down the stretch at
Speaker 1: the end of that and I wonder if Bruce arians
Speaker 1: really feels this way about the Bucks when he says
Speaker 1: the stupidity has to go away. We are a very
Speaker 1: dumb team. I don't know if that's trying. No, it
Speaker 1: wasn't just it wasn't just player focused. But I mean,
Speaker 1: does he really think that, because there aren't a lot
Speaker 1: of excuses for them to be a dumb team, considering
Speaker 1: the incredible carry over from last season. The other thing
Speaker 1: that I'll throw out quickly is that they are one
Speaker 1: of these sports teams where their home away breakdowns are insane.
Speaker 1: They are scoring or the differential point differential is twenty
Speaker 1: six point to better at home. Must be no rich
Speaker 1: people in the stands there in Tampa. No that I
Speaker 1: they are doing other things. If you're in Tampa, they're
Speaker 1: doing other things. Or I don't know that famous Bucks
Speaker 1: home crowd. That's that's yeah, they're all you know, they
Speaker 1: got the boat. Please that that out. You're probably have
Speaker 1: a lot of Giants fans there. I thought about picking
Speaker 1: the Giants to win this game. I feel great about
Speaker 1: them covering ten points. I I think with the Bucks defense,
Speaker 1: it's fairly simple. They're down five cornerbacks and they lost
Speaker 1: two during that game, and Todd Bowles runs that Rex
Speaker 1: Ryan defense, which when it's great as great and when
Speaker 1: it's bad, like they have really bad games, like that's
Speaker 1: why they're I think they were like tenth or twelfth
Speaker 1: in dv A this year. But it's like they've been
Speaker 1: dominant hand a bunch of times and they've been terrible
Speaker 1: a bunch of times. I think when Arians was talking
Speaker 1: about the lack of passion, that was what surprised me
Speaker 1: last week, and my guests would be was talking about
Speaker 1: his defensive line. He was talking about Jason bier Paul
Speaker 1: and William Golston. Vitabe got hurt in that game. It's
Speaker 1: not gonna be long term, but that's a concern. G
Speaker 1: um Jack Barrett, that was my guest because you kind
Speaker 1: of watched that game and you felt like Washington really
Speaker 1: controlled it up front, and that's that's where there and
Speaker 1: that's where the veterans off the field there and give
Speaker 1: Brady a chance to win the game. But they never did.
Speaker 1: But they play that. They play there, those guys so much.
Speaker 1: They're so old school. I think it's a little tricky,
Speaker 1: like they play Pierre Paul and Shack Barrett like eighties.
Speaker 1: You know, seventy snaps a game like their snaps. No
Speaker 1: one does that anymore. It's like, you want those guys
Speaker 1: ready for the home stretch. I don't know. I think
Speaker 1: this Giant's team, with with Tony, Barkley and Goliday finally
Speaker 1: healthy together, might be I'm glad. I'm glad that when
Speaker 1: they finally get one of these night games they're actually
Speaker 1: on the field because it's been a chore to to
Speaker 1: watch some of you know, with this team, the first
Speaker 1: quarter could end and they could all be in a
Speaker 1: blue tent. But uh yeah, you know what else doesn't
Speaker 1: happen anymore, Like nobody wins back to back Super Bowls.
Speaker 1: It's so hard, and the carryover it just isn't as
Speaker 1: much as you would think. But all that said, I
Speaker 1: remember two weeks ago on this very show making the
Speaker 1: point and Greg nodded his head like, oh, it was
Speaker 1: a really good one. I said, what a great start
Speaker 1: to the season for the Box as a defending champion.
Speaker 1: You're six and one, you're kind of laying low, you're
Speaker 1: taking care of business. And Greg was like, oh man,
Speaker 1: it was such a very trench point. Them to win
Speaker 1: the Super might start my halfway through the season. Change
Speaker 1: pick was for them to win the Super but I
Speaker 1: still like that. Sometimes there's drama out of the gate.
Speaker 1: It's hard to get guys motivated. They kind of were
Speaker 1: able to get past that early season malaise and be
Speaker 1: in good shape, and now they've hit some tarbutes just
Speaker 1: very quickly. Our good friend Mike Burtwitz, who's who has
Speaker 1: helped us out over there. It cracks me up, and
Speaker 1: I wonder if there's other Patriots fans out there like this,
Speaker 1: Patriots fans who jumped to the Bucks and then had
Speaker 1: some very mixed feelings last week as the Patriots are
Speaker 1: ride and high destroying the Browns and the Bucks are
Speaker 1: losing the Washington and it was somehow is tearing Burke
Speaker 1: up inside that they're that they're letting Brady down. And
Speaker 1: it's just a very shame on any Patriots fan that
Speaker 1: that did that. And then we're speaking, I mean not,
Speaker 1: you know, not Burke. We love Burke, but did he
Speaker 1: do that? Did he do that he became a Bucks fan? Yeah,
Speaker 1: because he's just a Brady fan. And like that now
Speaker 1: the Bucks they're driving them crazy. I mean, Ricky, no,
Speaker 1: I think that's absolute as you don't. He doesn't have
Speaker 1: time to defend himself. He he does like the Patriots too,
Speaker 1: but he was trying to convince himself that when the
Speaker 1: Patriots when, I'm always gonna love Brady. So if I'm
Speaker 1: looking at games and it's like, oh I could watch
Speaker 1: the Bangles or I'm gonna watch the Bucks, we all
Speaker 1: would rather watch Tom Brady. So yes, am I rooting
Speaker 1: for him? Do I want him to do well? Yes,
Speaker 1: if it comes down to either a Pat's games on
Speaker 1: or the Bucks game, I'm never gonna watch Tom Brady
Speaker 1: over the Patriots. Okay, there you go. Well that's how
Speaker 1: That's how I think it should be. But you do
Speaker 1: have the choice as a fan, and I think I
Speaker 1: remember in conversations with because we didn't think this isn't
Speaker 1: an anti I do remember you and I were on
Speaker 1: opposite sides of the fence on this one, Greg, but
Speaker 1: there was you know, some people were unhappy about how
Speaker 1: that relationship ended. I think Burke and a lot of
Speaker 1: Patriots fans were mad at New England for not keeping
Speaker 1: Tom Brady they are, which led to somebody and hindsight,
Speaker 1: as as happy as I am with mac Jones, ultimately
Speaker 1: those people were proven right, you probably should have just
Speaker 1: kept God forbid, you have to come through a season
Speaker 1: in like five games for the Patriots to get awesome again.
Speaker 1: All Right, we're gonna get to the Patriots, everybody. Uh,
Speaker 1: we'll get to the Patriots tonight. Let's take a break
Speaker 1: and then get to the draft. All right, boys, here
Speaker 1: we go. Let's pick up the pace. All right. I
Speaker 1: mean that's what we do every show. It starts slow.
Speaker 1: It's fine, We're just excited. We love talking ball. These
Speaker 1: got hey, you know why that show works. They enjoy
Speaker 1: what they do. They're like guys in the ball. They
Speaker 1: really take the piss out of each other. Can you
Speaker 1: actually imagine the last twenty minutes unfolding at a bar?
Speaker 1: Like there's no that that is not how bar football conversations? Alright,
Speaker 1: I get what they're saying. We've got right. Mark would
Speaker 1: have been into minute two of his Bucks preview and
Speaker 1: we just would have walked and gotten to the air.
Speaker 1: All right, let's start the draft. I will I think
Speaker 1: the best game on the schedules, Cowboys achieves, but there's
Speaker 1: some strategy involved here. I'm watching that game either way.
Speaker 1: In fact, all the late games are really good. This
Speaker 1: week or at least interesting. But I want to put
Speaker 1: my focus on an early game that has juice. So
Speaker 1: I will go Packers at Vikings. Uh from US Bank Stadium,
Speaker 1: which Gregg could easily tell you is the home of
Speaker 1: the Vikings. But it doesn't matter where the game is played,
Speaker 1: because it's relevance anymore. It is more likely in the NFL.
Speaker 1: Here we are a week before Thanksgiving, it is more
Speaker 1: likely that the road team wins than the home team. Okay,
Speaker 1: adjusting with that knowledge in mind, all the rich people
Speaker 1: have ruined it again, just a theory. Let's dig in.
Speaker 1: So the Packers, Uh, they got it done last week
Speaker 1: seventeen zip over the Seahawks. Aaron Jones gets hurt, but
Speaker 1: A J. Dillon looks like a stud. He'll be the starter,
Speaker 1: He'll be there. Bell cow um And I was looking
Speaker 1: at the numbers as this. I think this Vikings game
Speaker 1: is awesome because I think it's it's gonna be a
Speaker 1: rugged NFC North battle Minnesota. You cannot tell they are
Speaker 1: the NFL. You don't know what you're gonna get week
Speaker 1: to week from them. Um, they could beat anybody, they
Speaker 1: could lose to anybody. But I really think and this
Speaker 1: could be the kiss of death. I really think they
Speaker 1: are going to win this game. I don't know, I
Speaker 1: don't know, and I know this game. I'm a bit
Speaker 1: of a Vikings homer um even though I've I've never
Speaker 1: held a home in Minneapolis, but I just get a
Speaker 1: feeling they're really gonna come out and play a good game.
Speaker 1: And the Packers I'm gonna need some see some more
Speaker 1: greg from um Aaron Rodgers and this attack, because I
Speaker 1: think the Vikings are gonna move the ball against them,
Speaker 1: and I know greenbody has been playing great defensively. I'm
Speaker 1: just saying it's a week to week league and this
Speaker 1: just feels like a game that's gonna there's gonna be
Speaker 1: some points. Well. Rogers has struggled against the Vikings relatively
Speaker 1: over the course of his career. Regular around the NFL,
Speaker 1: guest arief Hacan has a good piece in The Athletic
Speaker 1: Today how Mike Zimmer has been so effective against Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 1: I think there's six, seven and one, but that's pretty
Speaker 1: good against the Packers. But his numbers go from being
Speaker 1: the top three quarterback to being a pretty average quarterback.
Speaker 1: And the answer is he changes every year, like Zimmer
Speaker 1: is one of the best defensive play callers. He comes
Speaker 1: up with different strategies each year based on who he's
Speaker 1: got and considering the injuries that they have. I'm really
Speaker 1: impressed how they've held up defensively, cam buying him. This
Speaker 1: safety who two weeks ago was the best player on
Speaker 1: the field against the Ravens, I was like, well, that's random.
Speaker 1: Is he worth talking about? Yet last week he was
Speaker 1: the best player on the field again, comes out of
Speaker 1: absolutely nowhere. If Mike Zimmer has a secret sauce, it's
Speaker 1: that he turns safeties into some of the best safeties
Speaker 1: in the league. Har Arrison Smith is gonna be a
Speaker 1: Hall of Famer, but everyone who played next to Harrison
Speaker 1: Smith is always great too. And this guy can buying
Speaker 1: him has been a factor. Uh, And I think, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm with you. Make it tough on Rogers on Sunday.
Speaker 1: I I don't. I mean, I know Daniel are not
Speaker 1: discounting the Packers defense at all, the opposite, but I
Speaker 1: I love this Packers team for the first time in
Speaker 1: the run of our show because I've always been a
Speaker 1: little bit um a typical of not being as fascinated
Speaker 1: by the Aaron Rodgers experiences some other people, but I
Speaker 1: like this style. Like thirty four points allowed to Russell Wilson,
Speaker 1: Patrick Mahomes and Kyler Murray over the last three weeks.
Speaker 1: Like that. You know, sometimes these teams going these trends
Speaker 1: and you look at the quarterbacks, you look they played,
Speaker 1: and it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Like
Speaker 1: Joe Barry, who was getting picked apart by critics early
Speaker 1: in the year, has got this crew flying right now.
Speaker 1: It does sound like from Minnesota, Patrick Peterson will play
Speaker 1: potentially he's trending in that direction. That's good for them.
Speaker 1: Harrison Smith, I don't like what's happening with David back
Speaker 1: tr Uh. They asked Matt Laflora about what's going on
Speaker 1: there and he said, I sure, he hope he's able
Speaker 1: to get back at some point, but it's not anytime soon.
Speaker 1: Sounds like he had a setback because it, yeah, it
Speaker 1: looked like he might return last week and now he's
Speaker 1: just straight missing. Prat Now you're convinced me. I I
Speaker 1: picked the Packers because to me, they've got something you
Speaker 1: can't quantify that and the numbers believe regression is coming.
Speaker 1: Vegas is very anti not anti Packers, but has been
Speaker 1: getting drilled by the Packers this year. Their nine they've
Speaker 1: won nine in a row against the spread, and even
Speaker 1: in this game, the Vikings are barely underdogs. You know,
Speaker 1: it's a two and a half point spread, but that's
Speaker 1: because some of the underlying analytics say this is not
Speaker 1: necessarily that good of a Packers team. But I think
Speaker 1: you know what when you see it when a team
Speaker 1: has something special and different parts of the team step
Speaker 1: up depending on the week, and to me, these Packers
Speaker 1: are like winners, and they took to Mark was saying,
Speaker 1: like there's something they've got. I think the regression will
Speaker 1: go the other way that that they'll the numbers will
Speaker 1: get better and they'll keep winning. His not I mean his.
Speaker 1: There was gonna be a regression with Roger statistically this year.
Speaker 1: Like last season, he had a nine point one touchdown
Speaker 1: percentage of his passes, which is like unheard of and
Speaker 1: led the league. Now it's down to five point eight.
Speaker 1: I think he's on paced to throw twenty seven touchdowns
Speaker 1: this year. So it's not like this like they could
Speaker 1: do anything they want offense this year. And one thing
Speaker 1: with the Minnesota offense, which really I think stood out
Speaker 1: in that win. Uh. Like we said earlier, they closed
Speaker 1: out that game against l A. But justin Jefferson and
Speaker 1: getting him back in the mix and being a downfield threat. Uh.
Speaker 1: Kirk Cousins completed five passes longer than ten yards down
Speaker 1: the field to Jefferson. I think he had one to
Speaker 1: any other player on the team, And that was a
Speaker 1: part of their offense that had kind of they've got
Speaker 1: they got away from a little bit. And Jefferson is
Speaker 1: so good. He's such a game changer. He won that
Speaker 1: game with a big catch down the right sideline against
Speaker 1: l A. Keep him involved, keep attacking downfield against the
Speaker 1: banged up secondary. Let's go Vikings. Make me look good.
Speaker 1: They used to have the the Randy ratio they should have,
Speaker 1: like the Jefferson junk Jefferson the first try. All right,
Speaker 1: I'm worried. I'm worried for your Dan getting. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm open minded knowing how they are. See. This is
Speaker 1: why it's fun to like other teams, though, Mark, because
Speaker 1: when you do and they lose, like it doesn't really hurt. Well.
Speaker 1: I do like that. I do like other teams. That's
Speaker 1: why you know, Dan, You remember that man in Pennsylvania
Speaker 1: way back when who would say things like I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna do what everyone thinks I'm gonna do. I'm not
Speaker 1: just saying that was a clip in our history. Um,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to pick the game everyone thinks I'm
Speaker 1: gonna pick Okay with the second overall pick, because Greg
Speaker 1: is exactly right, I'm not gonna pick. Yeah, you have
Speaker 1: to you have to go where your heart is. And
Speaker 1: my heart was one over on Monday night in my
Speaker 1: living room watching Kyle Shanahan and the San Francisco forty
Speaker 1: Niners do what they did to the Rams. And I'm
Speaker 1: going San Francisco at Jacksonville because I think against Shanahan
Speaker 1: last week, by the way, and I'm lucky is the
Speaker 1: Niners this time because it's in. It is in play, baby,
Speaker 1: it's in play. According to where this was active tree
Speaker 1: it you're you're locking up Niners, Okay, I gotta get
Speaker 1: out of a bad corner. It is in according to
Speaker 1: our standards. It is. And I don't want to hear
Speaker 1: any morality. But there is a mirror as well that's here,
Speaker 1: and I don't like what I see half the time.
Speaker 1: I don't need to suddenly start liking it now, So
Speaker 1: the standards of the mirror are two different things. You've
Speaker 1: got a lot going on here because you, yeah, you
Speaker 1: locked against the forty niners last week. You've also said
Speaker 1: you're intrigued by the Jaguards as a berserker team. I
Speaker 1: think they're both said that. You know, they beat the
Speaker 1: Bills and they almost beat the Colts, right, because I do.
Speaker 1: I I am interested in Jacksonville because there's always the
Speaker 1: urban Meyer thing. But I wonder if this defense actually
Speaker 1: has taken a turn, because if they have, they can
Speaker 1: stay in games like they did against a solid Cults team.
Speaker 1: For me, though, I just want to see if if
Speaker 1: San Francisco, if that was a one week fantasy that
Speaker 1: does exactly what it's doing getting me excited again, or
Speaker 1: if that's who they can be on a week to
Speaker 1: week basis. I mean, Trent Williams, PFF's second overall best
Speaker 1: player from last week, Maullen people left and right, George
Speaker 1: Kittle back on the field, taking von Miller and throwing
Speaker 1: them around like a raggedy ann and Andy doll one
Speaker 1: of them, or maybe you tied them together and you
Speaker 1: throw it and it's an old school doll. Does anyone
Speaker 1: know a long time around the NFL listeners. Noah, because
Speaker 1: Mark brings old Raggedy Ann out. But I know of it,
Speaker 1: like I'm not sitting around playing with it at my
Speaker 1: house right now. But I understand your Salt reference from
Speaker 1: last week. Now, what the girl with the umbrella in
Speaker 1: the purple dress. Oh yeah, I got you on that one.
Speaker 1: When it ran speaking of you actually brought up one
Speaker 1: little nugget. Um. This is a little off the game topic,
Speaker 1: but one of my favorite things from that Monday night.
Speaker 1: We'll get back to Raggedy Ann and Salt. Well, this
Speaker 1: isn't that far off Ricky Um. Deebo Samuel's had a
Speaker 1: lot of these celebrations. It's like, alright, cool, But Deebo
Speaker 1: Samuel has one where he lies down and puts his
Speaker 1: hands under his chin and kicks his legs back like
Speaker 1: a little girl on her on her bed. I think
Speaker 1: it's it's more adorable than the Salt girl with the umbrella. Yes,
Speaker 1: it's a step up from that. So I believe in
Speaker 1: Deebo Samuel. I believe in Jimmy Ward, I believe in
Speaker 1: Trent Williams. I believe in Kyle Shanahan. You'll lock it
Speaker 1: up San Francisco Jacksonville with the second overall pick. That
Speaker 1: is one of the big surprise. That's Denver beating up
Speaker 1: on the Cowboy because they it would have been there
Speaker 1: coming around. There's no channel. Then he'll go. One thing
Speaker 1: is like I don't I mean, I'm that will t
Speaker 1: be down that I don't want to grab Dallas Kansas
Speaker 1: City because everyone's gonna be squawking and shouting about it anyways.
Speaker 1: So it's like I like to be in my own
Speaker 1: world where I can form, but you also can just
Speaker 1: like not you know, look at engage with Twitter. Just
Speaker 1: send them out, but don't read it on Sundays. That's
Speaker 1: a fine way to yeah, oh wait, we didn't even
Speaker 1: talk to quickly that that Jack's defense though, like they
Speaker 1: have really forced the alan and went and back to
Speaker 1: back weeks to go underneath, underneath overall and that this
Speaker 1: is a tough team to do that against because you
Speaker 1: gotta tackle that forty Niners team. So if you if
Speaker 1: you just force underneath passes all day, don't know, good
Speaker 1: luck against all. Right, now, the draft fell so differently
Speaker 1: that I'm gonna put off the decision I haven't made
Speaker 1: yet and just take that Cowboys keeps Chiefs. I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna think you think too hard about it. What a
Speaker 1: good test of like does the course of the season
Speaker 1: matter more, or does just like last week matter more
Speaker 1: in terms of like picking games, or or what you
Speaker 1: think is predictive, because over the course of this season,
Speaker 1: nothing predictive about the Chiefs would say they're better than
Speaker 1: the Cowboys. Even if you believe they turned the corner
Speaker 1: last week that met Pat Mahomes somehow turned back into
Speaker 1: Pat Mahomes on that rollout to finish their victory over
Speaker 1: the Packers, the final play to Tyreek Hill the week before,
Speaker 1: and he carried it through to Vegas and now he's
Speaker 1: got his mojo back. Even if you believe that, I
Speaker 1: don't see the argument where you say their offense could
Speaker 1: be better than the Cowboys. It's just not like the
Speaker 1: offensive line is better for the Cowboys. There's more weapons
Speaker 1: for the Cowboys, the running game is better for the Cowboys.
Speaker 1: You got Gallop back, you get Tyrann Smith back. I
Speaker 1: trust that Cowboys offense more. You want to go back
Speaker 1: to previous year's fine, Like then it's a conversation the
Speaker 1: Chiefs versus this year's Cowboys and then when you look
Speaker 1: at the two defenses, I'm so impressed with dan Quinn
Speaker 1: getting production out of guys like Dorian's Armstrong and Jordan
Speaker 1: Lewis that there's no question their defense is better. So
Speaker 1: to me, I like the Cowboys a lot in this game,
Speaker 1: but I am I'm fascinated to see because it chiefs
Speaker 1: to me are so fascinating to watch each week, like
Speaker 1: which team's gonna show well? I I let last week
Speaker 1: was trying to push this, you know, not a total
Speaker 1: argument I would have died for, but that maybe the
Speaker 1: Broncos game told us something about the Cowboys we didn't
Speaker 1: want to like, but they came back. Um, that Falcons
Speaker 1: beat down was so demonstrative and so powerful, and it's
Speaker 1: like Seedee Lamb coming out of the slot is totally
Speaker 1: unstoppable on every level. Mike McCarthy seemed about as happy
Speaker 1: as I've seen him in years, and I love both coordinators.
Speaker 1: There's not anything to not like about Dallas, and I
Speaker 1: do think of Greg. It's not so much that does
Speaker 1: Kansas City of the better offense. It's like, can we
Speaker 1: argue for them to be as chilled out and cool
Speaker 1: as they were against the Raiders? And just deliver a
Speaker 1: shootout in this game. Yeah, I think Uh, like I
Speaker 1: said last week, I thought the Cowboys maybe not the
Speaker 1: worst thing to get spank there, and it's an out
Speaker 1: of conference game, and maybe they're getting there falling in
Speaker 1: love with the smell of their own farts, as they say,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe to some people, and then maybe they
Speaker 1: needed a little wake up call people. Well, I don't know,
Speaker 1: some people do some people fall in love and then
Speaker 1: you get you learned that that's probably not a good
Speaker 1: way to go through life. Uh So what they did
Speaker 1: to Atlanta, Atlanta, the Falcons were in the wrong place
Speaker 1: at the wrong time in that game. The Cowboys can
Speaker 1: kill anybody, now, the Chiefs, I've I think I was
Speaker 1: on record on on a Sunday show like I'm all
Speaker 1: in on this now. Yes, it's let's go Patrick, let's
Speaker 1: go Tyreeke, let's go Travis, Let's go fly and tear
Speaker 1: the league apart, because it's more fun when you are
Speaker 1: that way. Um. But I can't base it on anything
Speaker 1: because they have teased us a couple of times this year.
Speaker 1: But I don't think that the Cowboys are a defense
Speaker 1: that's necessarily going to put up a huge fight. And
Speaker 1: I will say this the key to this game. Treyvon
Speaker 1: Diggs put up a lot of fights. Treybon Digs keep
Speaker 1: an eye and Treyvon Digs he could win or lose
Speaker 1: this game because he could have a huge interception or
Speaker 1: a huge play and he's been doing that all year.
Speaker 1: But he's also been giving up a lot of chunk plays.
Speaker 1: Uh so Homes is either going to feast on him
Speaker 1: or get killed by It reminds me of that Patriots
Speaker 1: game where the variants on Trayvon Diggs was all over
Speaker 1: the place, like he's making huge game changing maneuvers and
Speaker 1: then getting totally burned to play later. I mean's happened
Speaker 1: every week, which is why I don't like him for
Speaker 1: Defensive Player of the Year. But that's that's a different conversation.
Speaker 1: I also trust the Cowboys more because I trust them
Speaker 1: more to stay on the field on fourth down than
Speaker 1: the Chiefs. And I like what Kellen Moore said during
Speaker 1: last week. I think it was when he talked about
Speaker 1: fourth down and he said, it's not really a shock,
Speaker 1: you know, when it happens, it's not this big dramatic
Speaker 1: mom It's part of our philosophy. We understand, we can
Speaker 1: play third down like it's second down, so you can
Speaker 1: play it out for four downs. So they're calling plays
Speaker 1: when it's third and seven. Take what you can get,
Speaker 1: Dak and because we're gonna go for it on fourth down.
Speaker 1: And to me, that was like the difference in that
Speaker 1: Atlanta game somewhat is a couple of those situations early
Speaker 1: that they got. I get it. But if but if
Speaker 1: they did, if they were playing like the Mike McCarthy Packers,
Speaker 1: they would have very possibly been losing that game midway
Speaker 1: through the second quarter because going for it on fourth
Speaker 1: and playing it that way really made a huge difference.
Speaker 1: All Right, let's pick it with a score mark. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go Cowboys thirty one, Chiefs twenties. Yeah I have
Speaker 1: I have the Cowboys thirty seven. That tells you something's
Speaker 1: gonna go way wrong here. Yeah, I'll have to go
Speaker 1: the other way. I'll go Chiefs thirty six, Cowboys thirty four.
Speaker 1: Game of the Year. Like justin we call everyone thinks
Speaker 1: it's gonna be this close shootout, it's gonna be like
Speaker 1: four or like seventeen three exactly. All Right, I know
Speaker 1: one person who might not think it's hello, heroes. This
Speaker 1: is Matthew Westling. I wanted to thank you for giving
Speaker 1: me the chance to call in since my dad isn't
Speaker 1: very good at this. He asked me to make the hall.
Speaker 1: I'm going to go with my uncle Tim and pick
Speaker 1: the Cowboys over the Chiefs. I know the Cowboys have
Speaker 1: Trey Von Diggs, who has the most picks in the NFL.
Speaker 1: They also have DeMarcus Lawrence, who I think is one
Speaker 1: of the best defensive ends in the league, and of
Speaker 1: course Dak Prescott and os u Zeke Elliott. I also
Speaker 1: wanted to say thanks Greg for all the help and fantasy.
Speaker 1: I won't forget that my uncle Hurst was the one
Speaker 1: that helped me come up with my fantasy. Read name
Speaker 1: which is returned to Mac says Uncle christ would say,
Speaker 1: lock it up. Yeah, I was wonderful. I like anaky Wesselyn.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, Mackie for all the terrible lineup advice I've
Speaker 1: given you this year. Every time. You know, every time
Speaker 1: it's the wrong chase. But I did say pick up
Speaker 1: mark Ingram last week. That worked out nicely, very smart move.
Speaker 1: Return of the Mac by Mark Morrison was one of
Speaker 1: West's favorite gems. Uh and I didn't really. I wasn't
Speaker 1: familiar with that song really, somehow it missed me, and
Speaker 1: but we used to play it every game, like every
Speaker 1: softball game. It would play in the studio lot before
Speaker 1: podcast Return of the Max, So Return of Mackie. I
Speaker 1: like it all. Okay, great to hear all the West links. Greg,
Speaker 1: why is this so? Why? I all week I had
Speaker 1: a play in what my number one pick is and
Speaker 1: I'm changing it on game day, I want to watch
Speaker 1: Cam Newton live. I realized, now that's where my heart is.
Speaker 1: I'm going to watch the Washington football team and the
Speaker 1: Carolina Panthers. You can't make this up that Cam Newton's
Speaker 1: first if you had said before the start of this
Speaker 1: even Cam Newton's gonna return to the Panthers and in
Speaker 1: his first starred he goes against Ron Rivera. I'm in
Speaker 1: on narrative street. Yeah, like, because he's not the guy.
Speaker 1: You know a lot of people's like, oh, you know
Speaker 1: Matt Rule and David Tepper. You know they did Cam wrong.
Speaker 1: He he was in a weird spot when that came.
Speaker 1: If there's a person that should have a revenge game
Speaker 1: scenario here, it's Ron Rivera. Because David Tepper came in
Speaker 1: there and he fired, you know, the best coach in
Speaker 1: their franchise history in like week four or five of
Speaker 1: that twenty nineteen season. He was done wrong. He wants
Speaker 1: to go get it, go get Cam Newton. And when
Speaker 1: they asked Ron Rivera going in, you know after last week,
Speaker 1: do you have some you know, some idea on how
Speaker 1: to stop Cam Newton any defensive places? Like yeah, I've
Speaker 1: got him. And I love that there is something going
Speaker 1: on here like last week, this incredibly tired narrative that
Speaker 1: like Matt Ryan knew Dan Quinn's defense, like excuse me,
Speaker 1: it goes the other way around. And Ron Rivera has
Speaker 1: about as much knowledge on Cam Newton as anyone out there.
Speaker 1: I'm not convinced the Cam Newton hype will be met
Speaker 1: with Cam Newton's performance. I I like, am I the
Speaker 1: only one that found him quite boring to watch in
Speaker 1: New England. I I get I get what everyone's saying.
Speaker 1: I think he's got something more intriguing parts from and
Speaker 1: than he did last year with the Patriots. But wait
Speaker 1: and see on that. I am honestly more intrigued by
Speaker 1: Taylor Heineke right now. I I don't know what it
Speaker 1: is I did watching him? Did He's got a revenge game?
Speaker 1: I mean, these two teams have so much carry over
Speaker 1: Curtis Samuel, who's not healthy, Joey slides on this Washington.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of at this point on this team.
Speaker 1: It's uh, it's great. I don't know, and I might
Speaker 1: be wrong because as a Cam fan, I'm a little
Speaker 1: worried that, yes, we'd see Cam, especially when he hasn't
Speaker 1: been practicing. But I think it's worth noting the Patriots
Speaker 1: reporters all thought he looked better throughout this offseason, and
Speaker 1: that was backed up in the preseason, and that was
Speaker 1: backed up by Bill Belichick's words. I know they cut him,
Speaker 1: but I think he looked better this offseason. Maybe a
Speaker 1: little right, just not Bill Belichick's actions, but his words.
Speaker 1: I think, Yeah, I think, listen, you have Cam. Cam
Speaker 1: is not two thousand fifteen camps. So all the Panthers
Speaker 1: fans that took the number one jerseys out of their
Speaker 1: closets triumphantly and pulled them out, as long as they
Speaker 1: understand that that guy is probably not walking through the door,
Speaker 1: you're gonna be okay, because I think what he's gonna
Speaker 1: be is a being upgrade over Donald who was just
Speaker 1: killing the offense let's face it, for about five, five
Speaker 1: or six weeks. B I think he's a leadership guy.
Speaker 1: I think the team. I think he could like goose
Speaker 1: a locker room, and I think that locker room needed it.
Speaker 1: It was getting pretty grim in there. And then I
Speaker 1: think the biggest thing with the Panthers and why the
Speaker 1: leader of the lock battle right now the old zeuser
Speaker 1: is locking up Carolina is Christian McCaffrey. He's living in
Speaker 1: the second level of defenses again. Looks awesome. And when
Speaker 1: you have you put those things together, I think they're
Speaker 1: gonna I think they're gonna roll in this game. And
Speaker 1: I think they are a player in this uh NFC
Speaker 1: playoff race. And I think that one other thing with
Speaker 1: Cam where's my lock? By the way Ricky hit me
Speaker 1: with it, I wasn't sure if you actually locked them.
Speaker 1: You're just like they're a lock to your locks. Panthers
Speaker 1: and the my last point defense maybe and now it's gone,
Speaker 1: someone else jump in. I think they have like a
Speaker 1: defense that keeps evolving and growing and becoming more dangerous.
Speaker 1: Shack Thompson is playing like in an all pro level
Speaker 1: like every time I watched the Panthers, Dante Jackson does something.
Speaker 1: Hassan Reddick, I mean they are eat a bad QBS. Well,
Speaker 1: I mean, we'll see what happens this week. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think the Cam's a whole different deal and there's
Speaker 1: a lot of unknown there, but they're heart of their team.
Speaker 1: Their offense up until now, until last week, is like
Speaker 1: been a huge question mark. Their defense has been really
Speaker 1: spicy in a field level. But some of that, some
Speaker 1: of that the offense was McCaffrey out and Donald sper
Speaker 1: sent Hunter. But now you have McCaffrey healthy and Cam
Speaker 1: who's just a more dynamic player. And the point I
Speaker 1: was making was you have Joe Brady and Matt Rule
Speaker 1: and the whole cell on these guys is that they
Speaker 1: were offensive minded dudes that knew how to um make
Speaker 1: offenses work. So I think Cam that could that could
Speaker 1: help him as well. Now I know McDaniels is a
Speaker 1: great offensive coach in New England too, but he's gonna
Speaker 1: help the running game too. They want to run the ball.
Speaker 1: They've talked about it forty five times a game, like
Speaker 1: that's what they want to do. And Cam Newton is
Speaker 1: such an advantage in the running game. I think will
Speaker 1: be a big part of the running game. I thought
Speaker 1: when the Patriots played them it was very telling. Even
Speaker 1: with Mac Jones, who's been playing pretty well, they didn't
Speaker 1: even try drop back passing. Everything was short stuff because
Speaker 1: they were afraid. Not afraid, but they were trying to
Speaker 1: work around that great pass rush that Carolina has. I'm
Speaker 1: with you, Dan, I think Washington is in trouble. I
Speaker 1: do know, I'm not um. I do want to point out, though,
Speaker 1: just a moment that I enjoyed in last week's game
Speaker 1: from Washington quickly, which was the Terry McLaurin third down
Speaker 1: catches he got rocked to sent at least sought that
Speaker 1: game away was one of like the third down over
Speaker 1: the middle catches of the year, and it also inspired
Speaker 1: one of my favorite broadcasting moments of the year from
Speaker 1: Mark Slayre. I'm changing his name to love it because
Speaker 1: I'm loving it. Who said that you haven't heard of
Speaker 1: mclovin reath in a while. Let's hear it when we're saying,
Speaker 1: I don't know, just the build up because I'm loving it.
Speaker 1: Oh no, what does that even mean? Changes like McDonald's
Speaker 1: reference in there too, alright, always having fun and that's good.
Speaker 1: He's enjoyed himself. UM, all right, do we have developing
Speaker 1: news Rickie? All right, we'll come back. No, we got it.
Speaker 1: This song, I love it, alright, one of the great anthems.
Speaker 1: We got an email about credentials. I'll ask credential deadline
Speaker 1: pass so they no what we'll see. Don't worry about
Speaker 1: the in between. Let's just see how this results. And
Speaker 1: it's problematic, that's not not ideal, not a rapport builder.
Speaker 1: But do we want to call for it right now?
Speaker 1: Get him on the Horn movie if you want copedite that.
Speaker 1: What is a terms of just chain of command? I
Speaker 1: think would make sense that you stayed out front on this, Greig,
Speaker 1: I don't. I'm not taking this at all, Dan, because
Speaker 1: you brought up this idea of multiple times. I never
Speaker 1: once did I hear h You mentioned Erica last week
Speaker 1: Sunday you asked. I always said we that and Eric
Speaker 1: is part of the show. She wasn't even on those
Speaker 1: texts that you were sending about I was. I knew
Speaker 1: where Erica would be on it, but I wanted to
Speaker 1: see how you guys know I we all are sharing.
Speaker 1: Um this agreed just over I said that, Mark. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I've been saying this. I share the blame. But if
Speaker 1: you have, if someone has to take the fall, someone
Speaker 1: has to be like Tom and succession, somebody has Do
Speaker 1: you just spoil I just started season one? Well you've
Speaker 1: got a way, You've got a way to go. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think the best thing that I've done literally, you
Speaker 1: can't be oh wow, yeah, that's crazy. How like people
Speaker 1: sometimes don't watch the show exactly as it comes out.
Speaker 1: That's a new I don't know. We might have to
Speaker 1: believe that out and I'm sorry but it's not. But
Speaker 1: that's not even something right. That's even worse because no,
Speaker 1: it's not happening until day to wipe it from your mind,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't. I don't think you can claime
Speaker 1: Greg here entirely. But I know that the best thing
Speaker 1: I've ever done is just simply I did like a
Speaker 1: thumbs up icon on one of the posts about hey
Speaker 1: do you want to go to the game. Ever never
Speaker 1: weighed in a yeah. Not a man of action. I
Speaker 1: know it's gotta be one or the other. What if
Speaker 1: I said like, hey, guys, I want to do this,
Speaker 1: there would be zero response, So I don't even even said, Hey,
Speaker 1: I don't forget to bring up Erica. Then like, oh yeah,
Speaker 1: I assumed based off the we comment that we would
Speaker 1: always include Erica in the comment. There's there's certainly a dynamic. It's,
Speaker 1: you know, I'll come up with an idea, or Greg
Speaker 1: will come up with an idea, and then Mark will
Speaker 1: be on the chain as well. And Mark will almost
Speaker 1: always answer first and say sounds good or thumbs up.
Speaker 1: That's typically how it goes. But I have because like
Speaker 1: I am practiced in the introducing ideas that are so
Speaker 1: what's the point. And then I see Dave Shot, I
Speaker 1: see Ford, and I was like, oh, these are the
Speaker 1: people to ask what is the point of introducing an
Speaker 1: idea to Greg and Dan? Wait a second? Introduced an idea?
Speaker 1: We're in when I feel like when I feel like
Speaker 1: we're like an hour and forty eight minutes into the show,
Speaker 1: All right, let's move Mark, you are up, I am
Speaker 1: holy smokes, all right, Oh I know what I want.
Speaker 1: I got to get that late time slot. I'm going
Speaker 1: Cardinals at Seattle. I am hoping that that includes as
Speaker 1: much as I you know, adore a concept to call
Speaker 1: McCoy that experience burnt out, kind of crashed and burned
Speaker 1: last week in a way where we don't need to
Speaker 1: visually experience that again. Kyler Murray has practiced three straight days,
Speaker 1: um to what. Fashion not totally sure DeAndre Hopkins has not,
Speaker 1: but I think we're getting Kyler Murray back. And I
Speaker 1: want to remind people here right now that if you
Speaker 1: are our lover of good writing, UM connor or our
Speaker 1: friend wrote the s I cover story on how the
Speaker 1: NFL learned to create love creative qbs with Kyler Murray
Speaker 1: on the cover. Kind of cool that he did that.
Speaker 1: We all grew up reading that magazine. We still read it. Um,
Speaker 1: I basically just throw out everything that happened to the
Speaker 1: Cardinals last week. If we're gonna hand out Mulligan's left
Speaker 1: and right, this is a legitimate reason. You've got a
Speaker 1: backup quarterback in there. You're missing a bunch of guys
Speaker 1: they got they were down twenty and twenty nothing due
Speaker 1: to bad QB play and killer mistakes out of the gate.
Speaker 1: Just wipe it away this game. If you get back
Speaker 1: on track, two things happen. One you Basically, if you
Speaker 1: continue on this path and you're the Cardinals, you convince
Speaker 1: us your base siically the best team in the NFC,
Speaker 1: potentially in my opinion. I know that they're it's people
Speaker 1: are waiting for them to fade, But secondly, you bury Seattle.
Speaker 1: Seattle takes one more loss at this point, and they
Speaker 1: look bad doing it the way they did last week.
Speaker 1: My belief in them, I don't need to believe in them.
Speaker 1: I don't need to spend a lot of words or
Speaker 1: time looking like they would even with a seventeen game season.
Speaker 1: Now that three and seven is gonna be very hard.
Speaker 1: There's no margin for error for a team that's been
Speaker 1: making errors all season. However, I do feel like this
Speaker 1: is a very tricky spot. Definitely not gonna switch because
Speaker 1: I don't feel confident, but I do think there is
Speaker 1: something too. And I I said this already, but like
Speaker 1: Arizona smart to the way they play this with Kyler,
Speaker 1: they didn't rush them back, or let's hope they didn't
Speaker 1: rush them back Hopkins, it seems like it's stranding towards
Speaker 1: They're gonna give his hamstring another week. That's all cool, too, Okay,
Speaker 1: you gotta you're playing the long game here. Now you
Speaker 1: also you start seven or oh, now you lose two
Speaker 1: or three, so you the way the ebbs and flows
Speaker 1: of a season are, you might not be playing with
Speaker 1: the same level of confidence you are even when Kyler
Speaker 1: comes back and you go to Seattle to face a
Speaker 1: team that, yes, I know home field advantage doesn't matter anymore,
Speaker 1: but that's always been a place where the Seahawks play
Speaker 1: very well. Russell Wilson, how's another full week to kind
Speaker 1: of get back into the groove. Hopefully, if you're Seahawks fan,
Speaker 1: knockoff some rust. Hopefully the fingers maybe even stronger, and
Speaker 1: they need the win. I never like to be a
Speaker 1: team that's going to play somewhere against a proven team
Speaker 1: that's struggling, that needs a win, and that's where Seattle
Speaker 1: is right now. I like the Seahawks this week. They're
Speaker 1: more interesting to talk about, though, than they are to watch.
Speaker 1: That's fair. I mean Russell Wilson's coming off. I think
Speaker 1: it's the worst game of his career. You could do
Speaker 1: it by any statistical measurements. They didn't score any points.
Speaker 1: That the first time that ever happened. Right that that,
Speaker 1: I'll tell you, And then the DK Metcalf quotes. I
Speaker 1: think it's the thing. I think there's something going on here.
Speaker 1: When he gave Gino, I'm not trying to make it
Speaker 1: about this extra praise of that he he had never
Speaker 1: had a ball put in his place in this certain
Speaker 1: place where you're just trusting the playmakers. And then after
Speaker 1: last week's game, after he really loses his mind on
Speaker 1: the field, and he said afterwards, we have to get
Speaker 1: the ball to our playmakers and let them make plays.
Speaker 1: And I pair that comment with a quarterback who when
Speaker 1: he's at his worst, and it's not that often, he's
Speaker 1: a Hall of Famer, but like last week, his biggest
Speaker 1: problem is holding the ball and not making a decision
Speaker 1: and not getting giving his playmakers a chance. There's something
Speaker 1: going on here in this Cardinals team who's outscored opponents
Speaker 1: by night points, great opponents too on the road this year.
Speaker 1: It's like, I just believe in them. I'm with Mark,
Speaker 1: I believe in them all the way. Well, yeah, Dan,
Speaker 1: do you like with the Cardinals? They've been high in
Speaker 1: your power rankings, but there there seems to be a
Speaker 1: bit of hesitancy to a little bit. I will. I
Speaker 1: think you're right. I I have them high in the
Speaker 1: power ganks because they deserve it. They started the season defeated.
Speaker 1: Now that you can't dang them too hard. Smack the
Speaker 1: Brown smack the Rams, the Titans smack, and you can't
Speaker 1: tag them too hard because their struggles in the last
Speaker 1: three weeks are completely connected to the quarterback being hurt
Speaker 1: and the second best player on the team or wide
Speaker 1: receiver being out. But like I said, it's not so
Speaker 1: much an anti Cardinals take, it's more a Seahawks last
Speaker 1: stand type take take. And it's as tough as a
Speaker 1: Seattle has been to watch, is as mediocre as they've been,
Speaker 1: as bad as they were on Sunday, this is still
Speaker 1: an organization with a coach and a quarterback that have
Speaker 1: been to the playoffs nine in the past ten years.
Speaker 1: And if they have any fight in them at all,
Speaker 1: and maybe they don't, maybe things are really messed up
Speaker 1: behind the scenes, and they stink on Sunday and they're cooked,
Speaker 1: And like you called three weeks ago, Mark, you could
Speaker 1: stick a fork in them. I'm just not ready to
Speaker 1: go there. I think they're gonna play well in this game.
Speaker 1: That's it. It's not anti Cardinals. It's more like bigger
Speaker 1: viewpoint of the Seattle organization over the past time and
Speaker 1: we know we're not sure what's happening with Chris Carson.
Speaker 1: I would like Seattle a lot better. If we sound good,
Speaker 1: all right, I'll go next and I will take another
Speaker 1: there some good afternoon games. Uh, there's only one less
Speaker 1: left in the late afternoon, so I'll take Bangles at Raiders,
Speaker 1: and I love that game. Love it. Cincinnati coming off
Speaker 1: of By, Uh, I don't know, coming off coming off By,
Speaker 1: it's like it's halfway to Berman. It's like at the
Speaker 1: Big Balloba. I was gonna say, it's kind of like
Speaker 1: a Molly Shannon SNL character. Um. Cincinnati hit Thereby in
Speaker 1: a bad way, uh, terrible loss to the Browns, collapsed
Speaker 1: against the Jets. By came at a really good time.
Speaker 1: And it's a good test um for that coaching staff,
Speaker 1: who we've given them props for the rise up in
Speaker 1: the first half of the season. But now here's here's
Speaker 1: a real challenge. Here is your first, um, you know,
Speaker 1: real struggles that you've hit. How do you adapt to that?
Speaker 1: Are you gonna go down the tubes like so many
Speaker 1: years before in Cincinnati, or are you gonna kind of
Speaker 1: come out and beat the Raiders. A Raiders team that
Speaker 1: also is five and four, and it's also on a
Speaker 1: two game losing streak and has looked like a team
Speaker 1: that looks I can go either way right now. I
Speaker 1: feel like this is like the Bone Thugs and Harmony
Speaker 1: Crossroads game of the Week. It's teams. It's like it's
Speaker 1: the Stop the Bleeding Bowl, right It's like the you
Speaker 1: could you could call it the Overrated Bowl if you wanted,
Speaker 1: if you look at like kind of the analytics that
Speaker 1: these are two teams that are maybe below average but
Speaker 1: do have a winning record. I call it the Uncle
Speaker 1: Charles Bowled Uncle Charles Bengals Raiders the team that loses
Speaker 1: this game. I think they're in a lot of trouble.
Speaker 1: And uh, I think it's a coin flip game, because
Speaker 1: how do we how can we possibly know? You guys,
Speaker 1: tell me you follow ball? You tell me? How can
Speaker 1: we tell which version of Cincinnati or Vegas shows up
Speaker 1: on se So it's it was a pick up to start.
Speaker 1: The Bettors must like the Bengals because they are now
Speaker 1: favored by a point. I lean Vegas just because the
Speaker 1: Bengals defense has me so spooked in their last two games.
Speaker 1: Like Mike White, sanity or whatever. We're calling. It was
Speaker 1: totally because of the Bengals. Hey, Baker's like did it?
Speaker 1: You know he slayed the Dragons without oh b j.
Speaker 1: Even though he had like one throw to a wide receiver.
Speaker 1: That was because of the Bengals. So so part of
Speaker 1: me thinks Derek Carr is playing so well that he'll
Speaker 1: do something similar. Yeah. It's like if anything, you went
Speaker 1: into the season not trusting their defense. Uh, A lot
Speaker 1: of trust was gained and then it's been lost. I mean,
Speaker 1: what happened to them the Cincinnati was totally destructive. And
Speaker 1: I also look at a Raiders team that was down
Speaker 1: to fourteen last week. I know it's the Chiefs, but
Speaker 1: they're all on offense, had ten first downs like late
Speaker 1: late in the game, like you got to the final
Speaker 1: score so you get stayed down yea. They just like
Speaker 1: that scared me for the Raiders as much as some
Speaker 1: of the stuff going on with since you. So, I
Speaker 1: think that you know, we've nailed at the three of
Speaker 1: us as we always typically seem to do. Um. The
Speaker 1: loser of this is in a serious hot water. UM alright,
Speaker 1: but good job by UM. I think it was Phil
Speaker 1: Wesley pointing out that Joe Burrow's lower half. It's like
Speaker 1: you put it out there, the picture. I'm not proud
Speaker 1: of it. Yes, there was a photo of Joe Burrow
Speaker 1: at a press conference and his lower half. It was
Speaker 1: a little bit alarming, and I sent it over to
Speaker 1: the Cincinnati Boys and you fellas, and I just want
Speaker 1: to be out there listen. Wasn't maybe it wasn't to share.
Speaker 1: Then I shouldn't have done that. Just yeah, he was
Speaker 1: a little smart, big upper half, smaller flags. His arm
Speaker 1: is much stronger though here this year, so maybe he
Speaker 1: just worked a lot on his arm because he is
Speaker 1: a different quarterback to me. It's the league and interceptions.
Speaker 1: But I also would say that that um that visually
Speaker 1: I noticed this little They're not They're not all on
Speaker 1: him that first of all with Cincinnati, like you need
Speaker 1: to be um creating a podium situation that does reveal
Speaker 1: the player's lower half, like it looks that was an
Speaker 1: issue for them earlier in the season. They needed a
Speaker 1: new it's not Westport High School, let's get our back together.
Speaker 1: Unless you have a super prominent lower half, then you
Speaker 1: say put him in front of that one that Fugais
Speaker 1: set up. And then if if you've got you know,
Speaker 1: some chicken legs and burrows taking bullets. Now, because of
Speaker 1: the equipment set up, you're like, yeah, like you don't
Speaker 1: even know Maurice Jones drew in his second year. Don't
Speaker 1: even need a podium. Those those like tree trunks, very
Speaker 1: take one bargley, you know, put quadzillo, have them standing
Speaker 1: up and let the media just stare at those things.
Speaker 1: Should be a player by player case. All right, let's
Speaker 1: pause right here and take a break. We'll be right back.
Speaker 1: All right, I snakes to me, and I will just
Speaker 1: because obviously I shouldn't take this, but I will. Dolphins
Speaker 1: and Jets. Uh So I I'll fall on the sword
Speaker 1: and this one um and not a lot needs to
Speaker 1: be said other than two is playing. Uh. The Dolphins
Speaker 1: had half of bye after their upset went over the Ravens.
Speaker 1: So the idea, now, uh, as we've been talking about,
Speaker 1: is too has an opportunity here to string together some
Speaker 1: quality games. Uh either as let's let's just be totally
Speaker 1: honest about this audition tape for another team in two
Speaker 1: or with the Dolphins. So that's that's kind of where
Speaker 1: I see it now. You could also, I guess, make
Speaker 1: the case and Greg, you had said you would share
Speaker 1: the nugget that there's only five teams that aren't aren't
Speaker 1: within a one game of a playoff spot entering week eleven,
Speaker 1: or the Dolphins outside that window. Yeah, they're outside the window.
Speaker 1: But listen, it's the parody in the league is so
Speaker 1: out of control that even at three and seven, you
Speaker 1: beat the Jets. Here four and seven, Okay, let's see,
Speaker 1: maybe you got hot. Yeah. I mean it's they have
Speaker 1: the Jets, they have the Panthers, the Giants, and then
Speaker 1: the Jets. Again. I get the Panthers. Everyone believes that
Speaker 1: they're morphing into something that I called them before the season,
Speaker 1: which is a playoff team. But I do look at
Speaker 1: the what it's like. I'm gonna get on people Dan
Speaker 1: for getting into a team, and then I'm also going
Speaker 1: to throw out that I was in on the team earlier. Well,
Speaker 1: if you have, you have to get it in there
Speaker 1: anyway you can. But I I think Dan, your attitude
Speaker 1: towards um. I saw some of your tweets about the Jets,
Speaker 1: and you are dead right. We don't need to. I
Speaker 1: think people get where you're at. I want to see
Speaker 1: with Miami though, like the Baltimore game. Wow, it's like, okay,
Speaker 1: maybe just another one of these total adoration scenarios. But
Speaker 1: they last year I thought one over a lot of
Speaker 1: believers by how they made life so difficult for opposing
Speaker 1: quarterbacks and it wasn't the same thing every week. They
Speaker 1: were able to be versatile and adjust. They did it
Speaker 1: to Lamar Jackson. I mean, I'm not saying doing that
Speaker 1: to Joe Flacco's stone age pony guy is going to
Speaker 1: continue our belief on that front. But if the if,
Speaker 1: the if the defense like shows up and starts to
Speaker 1: form into some shape like I can believe in them.
Speaker 1: Sneaking back into the game didn't come out of nowhere,
Speaker 1: though the defense has played well for three weeks season.
Speaker 1: Over the guy, there's something to if you're a Dolphins
Speaker 1: fan to hang on too. I think the offensive line
Speaker 1: is going to be so bad that's going to prevent
Speaker 1: a playoff push the game before the defend against the Texans,
Speaker 1: so I s, but they gave Taylor the worst game
Speaker 1: of his career, they gave Josh Allen a lot of problems,
Speaker 1: and they gave an m V pekin at Lamar Jackson.
Speaker 1: So that you feel good about you're gonna be against Flacco,
Speaker 1: who they say they want because he's a veteran who's
Speaker 1: like seeing these types of defenses. Faca also got shut
Speaker 1: out against his defense last year as a member of
Speaker 1: the Jets. Don't get it. I really liked what Robert
Speaker 1: Salas said about how Jets fans flipped so quick or
Speaker 1: Jets media from like maybe this guy is the next Romo,
Speaker 1: that too, we never want to see him again. It's
Speaker 1: somewhere in between. I would have liked to see he
Speaker 1: said that on Monday exactly. That was on Monday. He
Speaker 1: wasn't calling out the fit, but he said, you know
Speaker 1: that he deserved better, And I thought so too Mike
Speaker 1: White because like you know, how many quarterbacks even this year,
Speaker 1: Sean McDermott has made look tara and Mike White looked
Speaker 1: terrible in that game. But I would have liked to
Speaker 1: see another game from him instead of Joe Flacco. At
Speaker 1: least find out if, like Mike White's a long term
Speaker 1: backup or a long term guy, you could use that part.
Speaker 1: I think the dark truth of it is, and this
Speaker 1: is you can put it all on the Jets or
Speaker 1: this is sometimes the way the business works is they
Speaker 1: traded for Joe Flacco. They gave up some assets to
Speaker 1: get Joe Flacco, so we're gonna use them. They probably
Speaker 1: told him he's gonna play. He said that, so that
Speaker 1: I think that maybe play a role, and you know,
Speaker 1: and people and people have their fun in the mentions
Speaker 1: with the old zeuser when the Jets are, you know,
Speaker 1: going up in flames, and they certainly are right now.
Speaker 1: But it's like, if you're coming at me, like trying
Speaker 1: to dunk on me on Twitter yesterday, I can't believe
Speaker 1: you're starting Joe Flacco. It doesn't matter, It doesn't matter.
Speaker 1: Why should it matter to me or any other Jet
Speaker 1: fan which one of these guys starts. The only thing
Speaker 1: that would concern me because I couldn't agree more. I mean,
Speaker 1: Jets fans like watching New Jersey Devil's hockey at this point.
Speaker 1: But um, if the Devils, I don't know, it's depressing organization,
Speaker 1: I think, But um, like if if the championship organization Now,
Speaker 1: although they go coaches, the coaches were basically told by
Speaker 1: the front office, like you have to start Flacco. I
Speaker 1: don't know. I doubt it. Seem that was just like
Speaker 1: developing some of these young players. That's the been the
Speaker 1: biggest disappointment of the Jet season. It's so many of
Speaker 1: their core pieces either got hurt or are underperforming, like
Speaker 1: Quentin Williams. At least Elijah More, who you asked to
Speaker 1: start showing up past, started showing up and that he's
Speaker 1: gonna he's gonna be good. Elijah More, he really is.
Speaker 1: And I think they're young running back. Uh. They have
Speaker 1: multiple guys with the same name. Um blanking on the
Speaker 1: name right now, Michael Michael Carter. He is Uh. I
Speaker 1: think he is a player, But get back to me
Speaker 1: when Zack Wilson is the quarterback. Let's see if the
Speaker 1: Dolphins can stack wins. There's a good chance that Dolphins
Speaker 1: could get two weeks sixteen at six and eight, which
Speaker 1: still puts them, you know, in a bad spot, but
Speaker 1: they should win three or four unless they really truly stink,
Speaker 1: and maybe they do. All right, Up next is Mark
Speaker 1: all Right, I'm gonna go Baltimore at Chicago one p m. Eastern. Start.
Speaker 1: I just want to see what both these teams do
Speaker 1: after the last time we saw them. We just mentioned
Speaker 1: what happened to Baltimore. That has to be one of
Speaker 1: the most surprising results of the year and the Bears. Yes,
Speaker 1: they haven't won a game and over a month. And
Speaker 1: let's not even talk about the whole matten Age thing,
Speaker 1: which we've hit a thousand times. It's all about Justin Fields.
Speaker 1: He was so watchable against the Steelers and it's almost
Speaker 1: maybe even like despite the coaching or despite some of
Speaker 1: the things around him, but I really want to just
Speaker 1: watch his trajectory over the rest of the season. And
Speaker 1: this Baltimore defense, like, I think maybe this is me,
Speaker 1: but just because they've been good since I was like
Speaker 1: a youth, I always just assume their defense is good.
Speaker 1: There twenty five and d v o A their bottom
Speaker 1: seven in sacks. They have been plagued by miss tackles
Speaker 1: throughout the year. They are one of the bigger play
Speaker 1: allowing defenses around and I think there's an opportunity for
Speaker 1: Justin Fields to continue to have success here. They've got
Speaker 1: a good ground game as well. We'll see. I think
Speaker 1: the Ravens have a lot to answer for after being
Speaker 1: totally embarrassed. Talk about a coaching staff that has to
Speaker 1: have to go away and figure out what went wrong. Yeah, offensively,
Speaker 1: that was crazy that they couldn't come up with something
Speaker 1: during that game. I'm not that worried about them long term,
Speaker 1: but the defensive points you make are really smart because
Speaker 1: they usually improve as the season goes along. This Ravens
Speaker 1: defense like they'll figure out where their flaws are. But
Speaker 1: they've kind of gotten worse over the course of this season,
Speaker 1: at least so far. So you wonder if Winks gonna
Speaker 1: Wink Martindale is gonna come up with stuff. He's facing
Speaker 1: a lot of heat in Baltimore where people like want
Speaker 1: to get rid of him. I'm really surprised about that.
Speaker 1: This normally would be a spot where you think, Wink
Speaker 1: Martindale against a rookie quarterback, he's gonna send a lot
Speaker 1: of blitz is he's gonna be aggressive in Justin Fields
Speaker 1: could be in for a long day. But when you
Speaker 1: look at how good Fields is throwing the ball down
Speaker 1: the field, that's it's a risky strategy against Justin annoying
Speaker 1: that even like I got stuck. I'm sure we're writing
Speaker 1: a sentence about Justin Fields this week where you have
Speaker 1: to come up with new words for field, like the
Speaker 1: actual field he's playing on the pitch you could throw
Speaker 1: out there now that is I mean it's gonna the yard.
Speaker 1: That's evenly, it's even sort of more si iron I
Speaker 1: just to raise the sentence and so that one before
Speaker 1: and after made no sense when clicked together. That's like
Speaker 1: it's like when you call the quarterback the signal, callum, Well,
Speaker 1: you know that's even how they're not they're not really
Speaker 1: calling uh the signals. I guess with this game, Chicago
Speaker 1: does not ignite my imagination. Uh. Alan Robinson came out
Speaker 1: of the bye week and got hurt, which is always
Speaker 1: a great thing. So he's he's a questionable for this game.
Speaker 1: I think it's a hamstring. Cleo Mack and Eddie Jackson
Speaker 1: are both back there, so that's good. I get. If
Speaker 1: I'm looking at like what matters in this game, it's
Speaker 1: does Chicago try to follow that Miami blueprint blitz in
Speaker 1: the house and daring um the Baltimore offensive line to
Speaker 1: pick it up and for Lamar Jackson to make the throws.
Speaker 1: Philip Rivers got a little zinger in at uh I
Speaker 1: thought Lamar and maybe some other people from his past
Speaker 1: on the Manning cast when he pointed out what Eli
Speaker 1: did to win a Super Bowl. You just gotta run
Speaker 1: the slugo you could beat this, You could beat that
Speaker 1: type of defense. You just have a quarter I have
Speaker 1: to have a quarterback that can do it. Uh So,
Speaker 1: if Lamar is a stud, and I think he is,
Speaker 1: they should be able to adjust. I think Baltimore rolls here.
Speaker 1: I do think it's important to note lamartin practice Wednesday
Speaker 1: or Thursday with an illness, a non COVID illness. It's
Speaker 1: the third time this year he's missed significant practice time
Speaker 1: with illnesses, and his two top receivers, Marquis Brown and
Speaker 1: Rasad Bateman, are also out of practice one it's unclear
Speaker 1: why Bateman with an injury. So that you know just
Speaker 1: I think I would expect Lamar to play. I would
Speaker 1: expect Lamar to play, but if he doesn't have those receivers,
Speaker 1: slat out released Levy on Bell, I mean that guy's
Speaker 1: career see you later. Oh no, we have all right.
Speaker 1: I have some breaking news here. It's not sad that
Speaker 1: just like one of the most entertaining running backs in
Speaker 1: NFL hist Oh, what a unique runner um. This from
Speaker 1: the Tampa Bay Times, Bucks receiver an Tonio Brown obtained
Speaker 1: a fake COVID nineteen vaccination card to avoid NFL protocols.
Speaker 1: According to his former livin chef, I mean it's you
Speaker 1: guys used to get on me for this developing newsworthy.
Speaker 1: First of all, the living chef is the pretty good
Speaker 1: and we don't even know if doing anything about Tampa
Speaker 1: Bay Times is a reputable Wait a second, this is newsworthy.
Speaker 1: This is an important player on the defending champion Bucks.
Speaker 1: And we saw the hulla bloo with Aaron Rodgers. Well
Speaker 1: here's a fake COVID nineteen. I think this happened in
Speaker 1: the uh NHL storry to bring up the NHL again,
Speaker 1: mark your new Jersey Devils. That cut pretty deep, like
Speaker 1: hated that trap defense they had back in the night.
Speaker 1: Two times two times is the absolute maximum limit. Do
Speaker 1: not again the fake COVID card. So that that's just interesting.
Speaker 1: That just came across the old could lead to something. Howood?
Speaker 1: Watch now he could get suspended. He's been hurt, but
Speaker 1: that that could that could be a problem for him.
Speaker 1: All right, let's see that was that? That was that game?
Speaker 1: Now Greg closed out the draft police, sir, Wow my,
Speaker 1: what was gonna be my first overall draft pick all
Speaker 1: weeks still available? I guess I gotta take it. It's
Speaker 1: Saint Eagles. It's good game. Just expected more the action
Speaker 1: from you guys. I mean maybe, but I gotta you know,
Speaker 1: I have teams that I enjoy watching. Let's put it
Speaker 1: this way. They're the only teams I listened to team
Speaker 1: specific podcast for other than the Patriots, because I am
Speaker 1: fascinated by these two teams in general. I always kind
Speaker 1: of lean for these teams, and these versions of these
Speaker 1: teams are very interesting to me. That Jalen Hurts has
Speaker 1: really turned into one of the best running quarterbacks that
Speaker 1: we've seen. Certainly him and Lamar are the best too
Speaker 1: right now. Uh, And they've built the offense finally around him.
Speaker 1: It's kind of taken a minute, but it it's worked
Speaker 1: against defenses like the Chargers, the Broncos, and the Lions,
Speaker 1: who are three of the very worst that's stopping the run.
Speaker 1: And now you've got to play the Saints. And I
Speaker 1: just was amazed that the Eagles are favored in this
Speaker 1: game with all the Saints have accomplished and shown this year,
Speaker 1: the toughness that they've shown, Like show me the really
Speaker 1: bad Saints performance even when you're losing to the Falcons,
Speaker 1: Like you watch that game and I guess I believe
Speaker 1: in this Saints team, and I definitely believe in the
Speaker 1: run defense. Marcus Davenport, who I've always enjoyed watching, who
Speaker 1: just throws guys around, is having his best season. And
Speaker 1: Cameron Jordans are probably the two best edge setters, run
Speaker 1: stopping defensive ends. You're healthy up front. I think it's
Speaker 1: gonna be hard to run against this team, and I
Speaker 1: think that's gonna make it tough for the Eagles to
Speaker 1: win this game. They have five guys ranked in the
Speaker 1: top ten at the position on defense, and it's it's
Speaker 1: who you mentioned, It's Damario Davis, p J. Williams, It's
Speaker 1: I Love, I Love is there or Marcus Williams. I'm
Speaker 1: wondering who's there. It's You've got Damario Davis, Marcus Williams,
Speaker 1: p J Williams, Marcus Davenport, and I believe it's a
Speaker 1: Lottimore and they'll they're watching that game last week though.
Speaker 1: The one thing, and this is why I think Sean
Speaker 1: Payton and He's not gonna win it because the record
Speaker 1: won't be good enough. It's not how it works, like
Speaker 1: is my coach of the year in a lot of
Speaker 1: different ways because he is coaching a team that, like
Speaker 1: You've got Trevor Simmon at quarterback, who I think does
Speaker 1: has done some good things like mark Ingram stepped in
Speaker 1: at the right time, but they have such a small
Speaker 1: margin for air, like last week that fumbled kick off,
Speaker 1: like Adam Troutman having the false start on the two
Speaker 1: point conversion being wide open on a shot. I know
Speaker 1: that Saints fans are super annoyed with him missing two
Speaker 1: p e T s. You would have won that game.
Speaker 1: You forget about the bogus passing call as well, but
Speaker 1: I'm even talking about what the players are actually doing.
Speaker 1: It's like these little mistakes. The margin for error is
Speaker 1: so small and there he's coaching the hell out of
Speaker 1: They hit though. Man, they are physical physic they really
Speaker 1: I think, you know, I think seven times out of
Speaker 1: ten they probably win that game last week against the Titans.
Speaker 1: I think the Saints are gonna be okay. But if
Speaker 1: Sean Payton Princeton's is gonna get serious coach of the consideration,
Speaker 1: they're gonna have to find a way to the playoff.
Speaker 1: He's not. I just think that he's another coach. I'm
Speaker 1: with the other coaching staff. They'd have two wins. I'm
Speaker 1: with you the fact that Trevor Simeon has not been
Speaker 1: a downgrade. And I can hear less like making fun
Speaker 1: of me now because he always was annoyed how I
Speaker 1: believed in Trevor Simeon and it the wheels fell off
Speaker 1: after a nice start with the Broncos when he was
Speaker 1: a starter. But in these two starts, Trevor Simeon has
Speaker 1: not been a downgrade from Jamis Winston. I think the
Speaker 1: offense has looked pretty good. If anything, I think he's
Speaker 1: looked a little more on time than Jamis, a little
Speaker 1: better than like Teddy a couple of years ago, and
Speaker 1: Taysom they might have something or it's a two game
Speaker 1: thing of the league figures him out this week and
Speaker 1: I look stupid, man, They don't. Antonio Brown, like I
Speaker 1: has a knucklehead. Who would have thought he is not
Speaker 1: he has got it all together, He's a fool. Well,
Speaker 1: I think there's more. There's a lot to be there's
Speaker 1: other things going on that we don't know about with him.
Speaker 1: So I don't I don't know. I don't do you
Speaker 1: care for a defense of Antonio Brown at this time.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying I think that there have been like
Speaker 1: there he seems to face some demons, so I'm not
Speaker 1: sure what what that is like for him. Um, I
Speaker 1: mean not. I mean, it's not the most entertaining part
Speaker 1: of the conversation we've had during the show, but we
Speaker 1: I just wanted to Greg. Greg's just a thousand miles
Speaker 1: away when we get to that topic. I just candle out.
Speaker 1: I was hoping Dan was on the same page as me,
Speaker 1: which is just stay totally silent and let Mark keep
Speaker 1: I know. But I like, I just I'm saying I'm
Speaker 1: not trying to sound flip or anything. That's all. I
Speaker 1: don't know. He's starting to go down a hashtag free
Speaker 1: Antonio Brown. I was like, I'm just gonna get out
Speaker 1: of the way. I'm gonna open up the run way.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm not doing any of those things. Like,
Speaker 1: first of all, how hard you know to get caught,
Speaker 1: you know, getting a fakes VAX card. It just doesn't
Speaker 1: look like that hard of a card to to fake.
Speaker 1: I guess what you have to be is a jerk
Speaker 1: who annoys someone in your life to the point that
Speaker 1: they reveal you for being who you are. And that's
Speaker 1: happened a lot with Antonio. This from Adam Beasley. Beasley,
Speaker 1: I know he is at the Miami Herald. No, now
Speaker 1: he's at the Pro Football Network. Um. The word in
Speaker 1: Florida football circles is Antonio Brown offered his vax card
Speaker 1: hook up to others in the NFL community. That's how
Speaker 1: I first heard about this. Well, that whole part of
Speaker 1: it is utterly absurd. I don't. I mean, what's who's
Speaker 1: his vax card hook up? Like a sixteen year old
Speaker 1: out a fake idea? Did you guys get a fake idea?
Speaker 1: You could just get one of those pieces of paper
Speaker 1: from CBS if you wanted, and you create fake ones.
Speaker 1: Or you can just get the vaccine. Just that's another option.
Speaker 1: It absolutely is that I got my booster and I
Speaker 1: got that. Fights are flowing through my blood today. I
Speaker 1: feel strong. Do you feel good? Oh yeah, I'm I'm
Speaker 1: gonna destroy people. How about you? Mark? Did you get
Speaker 1: your booster yet? It's in It's in the mail. I
Speaker 1: got my flu shot yesterday and I'm feeling a little
Speaker 1: bit now, meaning like the action is in the mail.
Speaker 1: I have a schedule. I was going to do it
Speaker 1: the other day. I was going to do it the
Speaker 1: other day. And this very show interrupted my schedule, So
Speaker 1: don't come at me. I'm sorry. I mean we tape
Speaker 1: at the same time as every week. We didn't last time. Alright,
Speaker 1: one more break and then we'll finish up the show.
Speaker 1: All right, let's get Uh. That's another coin flip game.
Speaker 1: This is a great week. This is a great week
Speaker 1: of games. I feel very confident we're gonna be talking
Speaker 1: about some bangers come Sunday night. There's the Kiss of Death. Alright,
Speaker 1: the rest of the games. Can't believe this wasn't drafted.
Speaker 1: It's kind of my fault because I took that Dolphins
Speaker 1: Jets game. Otherwise, Colts Bills, Yeah, this is how is
Speaker 1: This should have been drafted. Um, because it's an important game,
Speaker 1: has big ratifications in the a f C. The Colts
Speaker 1: now five and five. Anybody check out the Hard Knocks
Speaker 1: in season No, I mean I've seen our friend Zach
Speaker 1: Kieffer was tweeting about it. Um, so it's been watched
Speaker 1: by at least one person. I watched first fifteen minutes.
Speaker 1: It's uh. I was enjoying it. Uh, then got sidetracked. Anyway,
Speaker 1: Colts at Bills from high Mark Stadium, Oh not at
Speaker 1: all or I remember back in the day we we
Speaker 1: came up with names suggestions, and I suggested the MARV,
Speaker 1: after Marv Leavy. But there's no money attached to that.
Speaker 1: From the mar well, don't tell Bill play we can
Speaker 1: get him emotional again. Um, from the Marv. The Bills
Speaker 1: six and three, And this is a good one. I
Speaker 1: like this one because here's the thing. Uh, when the
Speaker 1: Bills light up the Jets defense that has been historically
Speaker 1: terrible for about a month and a half. Now, Um,
Speaker 1: I say, good, that's a nice, get right game for Buffalo.
Speaker 1: But it does it totally alleviate any concerns about Buffalo's
Speaker 1: offense going forward. No, I still to see them put
Speaker 1: together a couple of games where they look like the
Speaker 1: Bills of last year. So here's an opportunity. It doesn't
Speaker 1: matter that's at home, I guess, but it is at home.
Speaker 1: It's against the Colts, who this is a big turning
Speaker 1: point for their season from some places matter. What about
Speaker 1: when you're a dome team visiting like Western New York
Speaker 1: and a week before Thanksgiving? There you go. This is
Speaker 1: an important game for the Colts, who finally reset their
Speaker 1: season at five and five, And if they ever found
Speaker 1: a way to be Buffalo, the supposed best team in
Speaker 1: the ANFC. We're talking a totally different situation here with
Speaker 1: this conference. Such a big game for Wentz, who has
Speaker 1: avoided turnovers this year for the most part, despite making
Speaker 1: some of the worst decisions ever, including last week a
Speaker 1: left handed pass, a flip pass where he's like running
Speaker 1: to his left. These two teams lead the NFL and
Speaker 1: turnover differential. The Bills are number one, the Colts are two.
Speaker 1: So to me, it's a big test for both quarterbacks
Speaker 1: to kind of avoid the big mistake. Uh. This is
Speaker 1: a game that Josh Allen played very well in in
Speaker 1: the playoff win by the Bills last year. It took
Speaker 1: more or less the best of Josh Allen. I thought
Speaker 1: in that game to beat a game Philip Rivers. You
Speaker 1: didn't think I was gonna bring up the Rivers Wentz
Speaker 1: comparison again this year, Dan, But this is the ultimate test.
Speaker 1: This was the playoff matchup, This is the is win.
Speaker 1: Do you want to know what the cult would be
Speaker 1: if Philip Rivers was playing No. Six and four Philip Rivers,
Speaker 1: he wouldn't have blown that lead. You wouldn't have blown
Speaker 1: one of those leads. Hey, I thought Wentz was terrible
Speaker 1: against the Jaguars. Do not if you are a Cults fan.
Speaker 1: You look at it and he's like, oh, he's got
Speaker 1: eighteen touchdowns, three picks. And this is coming from a
Speaker 1: guy that's Wentz apologist on this show. But I look
Speaker 1: at him and I watched his games, and I know
Speaker 1: he's been better, and on balance, I think it's been successful. Uh,
Speaker 1: this move to Wentz this season, but I don't trust them,
Speaker 1: and this is going to be very difficult. And Mike
Speaker 1: White is not the NFL version of Jeremy Lynn there.
Speaker 1: This is not a guy that's a good quarterback necessarily.
Speaker 1: But they made Mike White so looks so bad in
Speaker 1: that game, and I think Wentz a who similarly can
Speaker 1: be flummixed and uh start doing stupid things when under
Speaker 1: a lot of darrests, And um, yeah, I like the Bill.
Speaker 1: They need a signature win. And they have beaten the Dolphins,
Speaker 1: the Texans, the Niners in that hideous monsoon, the Jets
Speaker 1: that you just mentioned. In the Jaguars, it's like they're
Speaker 1: also scoring thirty points a game since week Week four. Like,
Speaker 1: we totally love Jonathan Taylor. This is the week you changed,
Speaker 1: kind of like they are so something that none of
Speaker 1: us picked its seven and a half point underdogs. Kind
Speaker 1: of like the Colts there to keep this close, they
Speaker 1: don't get blown out. All right, let's move on. This
Speaker 1: is I don't know if this has ever happened, Lions
Speaker 1: at Brown's, Brown's undrafted? Uh, Mark, what is this? What's
Speaker 1: this all about? Well, I'm like I I I need
Speaker 1: a rest, I need a break. That's just what it
Speaker 1: boils down to it. This is the This has been
Speaker 1: one of the worst weeks under a very steady UM
Speaker 1: regime with Kevin Stefanskin Andrew Berry. I don't well, it
Speaker 1: might be time for a long one. I mean, I
Speaker 1: just don't know if I need to deal with this
Speaker 1: on Sunday. It's is maybe part of it or I
Speaker 1: ain't that that because shook often as the Browns games
Speaker 1: are you now? Yeah, but that's never that's never been.
Speaker 1: I know I know that, I know that UM in
Speaker 1: the past. I know that shook covering and will be
Speaker 1: will give us great Browns reporting and great lines reporting.
Speaker 1: So it's being left in excellent hands. I just if
Speaker 1: I've hitting a point where I am fed up and
Speaker 1: the opponent is not bringing me back into the mix
Speaker 1: like you got good scenario, it's not. It's kind of
Speaker 1: a no win scenario. It's not there. You win by thirty,
Speaker 1: that feels good. But if the Detroit running game gets
Speaker 1: those interior runs going like they did against Pittsburgh that
Speaker 1: was where New England attacked. They that their whole game
Speaker 1: plan was like Malik Jackson, Malike McDowell, everyone says that
Speaker 1: you've got a good defensive line, how about we destroy
Speaker 1: you and run straight at you? And those guys were
Speaker 1: washed out in the running game. That the ends weren't
Speaker 1: great either, but especially in the middle. If Detroit could
Speaker 1: do anything well with Tim Boyle, season started interesting, it's
Speaker 1: a no win scenario. This was a lovable game. It's
Speaker 1: eleven and a half point. I would run to this
Speaker 1: game because this is all set up for Cleveland to
Speaker 1: get back on track. You couldn't ask for a better
Speaker 1: situation for the Browns after a humbling loss last week.
Speaker 1: And I know Baker's all sorts of banged up. He
Speaker 1: said it this week that it's his most banged up
Speaker 1: he's ever been. But you're gonna get Nick Chubb back
Speaker 1: and in general, like I know the brown has been disappointing,
Speaker 1: but they're gonna destroy the lines this week. No person
Speaker 1: on the planet that I know understands needing a respite
Speaker 1: from your team once in a while when they're bingo.
Speaker 1: We still are. We're just starting the break. They're five
Speaker 1: and five, though, I this is not an ongoing break
Speaker 1: in the past, I would have like full on divorce
Speaker 1: from the team. I'm not saying that they go into
Speaker 1: their bye after this then they have the Ravens, or
Speaker 1: they have the Ravens after this, then a by than
Speaker 1: the Ravens again, like there are things could get real dark.
Speaker 1: Let me ask you a question, because we've been doing
Speaker 1: this podcast since two thousand thirteen, and um, we've both
Speaker 1: been through very dark times with teams. Now the Browns
Speaker 1: have gotten to a place of respectability. Is it a
Speaker 1: more frustrating season in one then say some of those
Speaker 1: lost seasons in the mid uh two thousand tens. So
Speaker 1: the five and five is actually a worse fan experience
Speaker 1: than a one and nine. No, I could never say that.
Speaker 1: I mean, like, because when you put fans through that,
Speaker 1: for all these bad teams that we talk about, it's
Speaker 1: meant to be fun on some level, and they are
Speaker 1: fun half the time. I just I there's hope, and
Speaker 1: I honestly think that like this might just be a
Speaker 1: rough year where a lot of stuff's gone wrong. And
Speaker 1: on another note, like it's like every week this COVID
Speaker 1: season is as bad as last year, and every week
Speaker 1: alterations to games are happening because certain players aren't in there.
Speaker 1: And I'm a little over that, Like, you know, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna I'll live through it. I'm not gonna, you know,
Speaker 1: it's not gonna be the end of my fandom. But
Speaker 1: it's a bit tiresome two years. It's not as it's
Speaker 1: not as scary in the sense that most of the
Speaker 1: players are vaccinated, so when they do go on the
Speaker 1: COVID list, it's not concerns of a long term illness,
Speaker 1: just not on the field. But it does for from
Speaker 1: a football standpoint, it is taking them off the field.
Speaker 1: Having Nick Chubb last week, by the way, would not
Speaker 1: have made any difference. I don't think after maybe the
Speaker 1: first quarter. One one quick thing one that was when
Speaker 1: I went back to watch the game. One interesting the
Speaker 1: Paths defense did after that first drive which didn't work,
Speaker 1: was they just kept their heavy personnel on the whole
Speaker 1: game like they did, like when it was passing situations,
Speaker 1: the Patriots still kept those big, lumbering linebackers out there
Speaker 1: and they're big guys up front, and and they didn't
Speaker 1: go like you know, dime defense and didn't go because
Speaker 1: they were just like, we're still more afraid of Dearness
Speaker 1: Johnson than Baker. That you're gonna have to beat us
Speaker 1: throwing to the outside, which is very unconventional, and it
Speaker 1: worked well. I don't think the Lions are the team
Speaker 1: to execute that some game plan, but I would think
Speaker 1: other teams will adopt similar attitudes. And the last little thing,
Speaker 1: like every team that the Patriots have faced of late,
Speaker 1: it leaves that opponent in chaos. And that's what I
Speaker 1: was meant to say up top, was that all the
Speaker 1: narrative now is that you have Myles Garrett saying we
Speaker 1: didn't adjust on defense, we didn't do this, so that
Speaker 1: it's like these were things that were never said last year,
Speaker 1: and it's just just you know, the journey of a
Speaker 1: coaching staff is rough when these things get when things
Speaker 1: get ugly. Um, all right, And finally on the schedule,
Speaker 1: Hey the Titans, Hey guys, you're in this a much
Speaker 1: needed lay up after game after game this season of
Speaker 1: the Titans and successfully going up against playoff teams. They
Speaker 1: tied an NFL record last week with their fifth consecutive
Speaker 1: win over a playoff team from the year before. Um,
Speaker 1: I think they have seven games overall against teams that
Speaker 1: are playoff teams a year ago, and now you get
Speaker 1: the Texans at Nissan Stadium. We always like the ultimate.
Speaker 1: I thought that was a steady mid tier. I owned
Speaker 1: a CenTra, drove it down to New Orleans throughout college,
Speaker 1: drove it to Los Angeles a stolen vehicle. But that's
Speaker 1: It's still a nice story overall. Graver's got a Nissan.
Speaker 1: He's such a Titans guy that owns. He put the
Speaker 1: headset on Graver because I don't want to, because this is,
Speaker 1: like I said, a well earned lay up this week
Speaker 1: for the Titans, who were gonna move to nine and
Speaker 1: two when they beat the Titan Texans by three touchdowns.
Speaker 1: But um, let me say this, Jeffrey Simmons unbelievable player
Speaker 1: on that deep. It's this season. He had two sacks
Speaker 1: last week. He's up to five in the last two weeks.
Speaker 1: Your podcast on the Titans Titans film room. What's up grammer?
Speaker 1: By the way, Hi, how's it going? Hey? Your I
Speaker 1: drive a CenTra proudly. But because the stadium is named
Speaker 1: after Okay, I'm just confessed that that was not a
Speaker 1: trigger point for you to go by the Wold if
Speaker 1: that was the case. But uh so your podcast on
Speaker 1: the Titans has some pull within the Tennessee Titans fan
Speaker 1: community and uh as a result, A reporter asked asked
Speaker 1: Jeffrey Simmons about the nickname that your podcast. I believe
Speaker 1: and correct me if I'm wrong on any of this.
Speaker 1: You're trying to to make the defensive line's nickname you
Speaker 1: the Tennessee tickle Monsters. Is that correct? Alright? So somebody
Speaker 1: and this is really is a good pop for you,
Speaker 1: and it has been a lot of good pop for
Speaker 1: Grave Diggers behind the scenes. Really a searching, um, they asked.
Speaker 1: They asked Jeffrey Simmons what he thought about a tickle
Speaker 1: monster's nickname. Here's what he said. Yeah, I saw that.
Speaker 1: I kind of ignored. That's that's not who we are.
Speaker 1: They need to come up with some more aggressive take
Speaker 1: a month and south two of that, you know, I
Speaker 1: guess nice, No, we we only feel would I could
Speaker 1: be mean to be aggressive, So I don't like that one.
Speaker 1: I don't know. They got to come out better than that.
Speaker 1: I think he's halfway there. I think he's halfway. You've
Speaker 1: you've hardly convinced that we let's not yeah, let's not
Speaker 1: sugarcoat this. You got just basically thrown out of the
Speaker 1: building metaphorically on that. I think this is a miscommunication
Speaker 1: because he's saying all the same things that we're saying.
Speaker 1: They're aggressive, they're mean, Like when you're weird uncle is
Speaker 1: tickling you as a child, Like that's aggressive and mean, right,
Speaker 1: that's a something when when you're getting tickled like we
Speaker 1: called aunt. I don't know, just yeah, sure, any any
Speaker 1: weird family member of yours that likes to just tickle
Speaker 1: you when you're a child. I mean, he all but
Speaker 1: requested that you guys never get credentials. That was it
Speaker 1: was a tough situation there, but you have to You
Speaker 1: could try to spin it, and I understand that that's
Speaker 1: what you're gonna try to do. They're a great digger,
Speaker 1: I will say, but he really was not happy with it,
Speaker 1: I will say. Bud Dupree liked the video of the
Speaker 1: Tickle Monsters on Instagram. So Bud Dupree is behind it,
Speaker 1: and Olah Daney, who's like a third outside linebacker guy.
Speaker 1: He said, it's amusing to him. Great, so you've split
Speaker 1: the locker room. But you gotta Simmons as a big
Speaker 1: dog there, and you have I think you have to
Speaker 1: have something that they're all on the same page. What
Speaker 1: about like Big Jeff and the Tickle Monsters or something.
Speaker 1: He might be warm up to the individual attention there
Speaker 1: that's smart. Yeah, like a Bruce in the Eastreet band type. Alright,
Speaker 1: I'm not sure they wouldn't buy three touchdowns. By the way,
Speaker 1: I don't know. I know their offense has worked very good,
Speaker 1: but come on, the defensive score division aime special Tyrod
Speaker 1: isn't quite as bad as he looked at game against
Speaker 1: the Dolphins. Now, the two they're so resilient. I think
Speaker 1: they're going to handle their business. I think, yeah, they'll
Speaker 1: be fine. But I wouldn't surprise that Titans don't feel
Speaker 1: like they're ready to blow teams out right now. But
Speaker 1: that is ultimately for um grave digger. Bad news good
Speaker 1: news thing more good than bad because bad news. Simmons
Speaker 1: did a three sixty one mill dunk on you and
Speaker 1: your nickname good news like Grave Digger and the Titans
Speaker 1: phone room. They're part of the conversation. You're in, you're in,
Speaker 1: You're a horse in the race. I don't know what
Speaker 1: we're part of the Titan zeitgeist right is furious right now?
Speaker 1: Oh man, Yeah, don't let Arsky here about this. When
Speaker 1: when he we had him on the show, he was
Speaker 1: so angry about the Titoons thing. I think he wrote
Speaker 1: about it, he tweeted about it, and then we had
Speaker 1: him out at his guests and I revealed that I
Speaker 1: was the one that had the nicknames like, oh, that
Speaker 1: was you. He is not gonna like the Tickle monsters
Speaker 1: if he didn't like Titoons, be careful there. He's a
Speaker 1: salty guy that I liked him. I thought he was
Speaker 1: a you know, he's kind of an uncle type guy.
Speaker 1: Gruff uncle, not the uncle, not that uncle that we
Speaker 1: were chronicling before. Gruff uncles. It's good to have a
Speaker 1: couple of gruff uncles in the mix. They teach you
Speaker 1: some things, all right, we hope, but we taught you
Speaker 1: some things, you know. The Uncle Charles Bowl is this weekend.
Speaker 1: Graver as part of the zeitgeist with the Titans. Mark
Speaker 1: is on a break and you're gonna know blow hards.
Speaker 1: They couldn't even go down that road yet you should
Speaker 1: have closed that circle. Tim Boyle coming off, I are
Speaker 1: looks like he'll start for those and probably started if
Speaker 1: he looks okay, probably starting on Thanksgiving. So get ready
Speaker 1: for some Tim Boyle. He had some moments in the
Speaker 1: preseason with the Packers. I'm just saying, all right, go
Speaker 1: holiday poorly named Thanks to the Lions again. Thursday Night
Speaker 1: Football Patriots Falcon's recap with Marx Shstler and a special
Speaker 1: guest guests multiple Did someone say viral? Can we go
Speaker 1: to and rupt? I'm not. I don't make these types
Speaker 1: of promises that get dropped out of the sky. You know,
Speaker 1: we'll see how it does, um and then Sunday Night
Speaker 1: will recap every game we just previewed. And like we said,
Speaker 1: we'll be at uh the Sunday night football game Steelers Chargers,
Speaker 1: So that's gonna be fun. We'll talk a little bit
Speaker 1: about that experience. Let's see developing news Erica. Yep, we're
Speaker 1: back here. Okay, alright, no no other updates. Sorry, Still
Speaker 1: the one you had, Fird wrote, I'll ask period credential
Speaker 1: deadline past, so they may say no, Okay, Yeah, I
Speaker 1: feel like we've been pretty good to the chargers on
Speaker 1: this show. And if there's any charges people listening, we
Speaker 1: have some charge just friends in the building. I mean,
Speaker 1: they're they're announcers for Starters, right, you do a show
Speaker 1: with their employee, Matt money Smith. I mean you could
Speaker 1: argue this podcast built so Fi Stadium if you want
Speaker 1: to look at it from a certain point of view. It's, uh,
Speaker 1: that feels a little strong. Alright, So hopefully Ricky will
Speaker 1: be with us as well. If not, you'll just you know,
Speaker 1: be sitting around, you know, the boo Tube. Alright, go
Speaker 1: hang out in the film room. All right, let's go.
Speaker 1: Dan Hanson signing off for Quiet Storm, the Old Boss
Speaker 1: Grave Digger, Quiet Storm guy's got juice, Digger, He's got juice.
Speaker 1: Week after a week, I can't doubt it until Sunday.
Speaker 1: Heed the call.