Speaker 1: Be Around the NFL Podcast that Don't confront Me. Welcome
Speaker 1: to another edition of the Around the NFL Podcast. My
Speaker 1: name is Dan Hansis. I come to you from a
Speaker 1: room field, a virtual filled with some heroes, Mark Sessler
Speaker 1: and the birthday boy, Greg Rosenthal. How about that Greggy
Speaker 1: a little deep friends your forties? How about that Jackie
Speaker 1: Robinson year forty two? Big one of course? Also, um,
Speaker 1: you know would have been our friend Chris Westling's birthday
Speaker 1: today would have been forty seven for him. And that
Speaker 1: that phrase we heard off the top, that don't confront me,
Speaker 1: that that is like my I have heard that in
Speaker 1: my head like many times per day, um, before west
Speaker 1: past and since um it's a great it's a great philosophy.
Speaker 1: Does that Does that really have anything to do with me? No,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna really worry. He embraced that. I also
Speaker 1: think it's pretty amazing that the two scientists were born
Speaker 1: on the same date. I mean, there's something going on there,
Speaker 1: um from like a horoscope angle you two like to
Speaker 1: to get into it, um. And there's a reason that
Speaker 1: I couldn't be farther from being a scientist based only
Speaker 1: and in honor of west like when Greg makes and
Speaker 1: this is for Mark, you and I as we go
Speaker 1: proceed forward into the great unknown, when Greg does say
Speaker 1: ridiculous things like Mason Rudolph had the best quarterback game
Speaker 1: for the Steelers in twenty like that's when West would
Speaker 1: have pushed back and told Greg that he's crazy. To
Speaker 1: honor West, We've got to make sure we pushed back
Speaker 1: on Greg so that doesn't go unchecked. Well, you're right,
Speaker 1: and I think I was just in a stunt, left
Speaker 1: in a stunned silence when I heard that Mason Rudolph business.
Speaker 1: I don't know if that's like at least what a
Speaker 1: sanuary with like a hot take or something. If you
Speaker 1: if you looked at the PFF grades even they would
Speaker 1: they would pretty much be with me that it was.
Speaker 1: It was right there. We do have a guest today
Speaker 1: that could say if that was a terrible I'll take.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying I feel like people didn't watch that
Speaker 1: Nathan Rudolph game. He played well for that one game.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying he's a great quarterback. Okay, now, yes,
Speaker 1: Greg teased it. It is Greg's birthday. It would have
Speaker 1: been West's birthday. Just still is West's birthday, and why
Speaker 1: not as a gift to both West wherever he is
Speaker 1: right now, uh and to the listeners for the first
Speaker 1: time back on our airwaves since he sadly left us,
Speaker 1: it is Dave Damashek joining the Around the NFL podcast.
Speaker 1: And you know this, West is way into this because
Speaker 1: one of UH West's favorite NFL media people of all time,
Speaker 1: absolutely the great, legendary Dave Damn Check. What's up? Check? Heroes? Rick?
Speaker 1: What a pleasure. Let's start with a little pushback, Like
Speaker 1: you just mentioned, They're like, did did I hear that? Right?
Speaker 1: Greg Rosenthal just likened himself to Jackie Robinson. I'm basically him.
Speaker 1: You think you don't you think? Don't you think of
Speaker 1: your year? You know, your birthday year in the in
Speaker 1: the in the mind of like athletic numbers, like Larry
Speaker 1: Bird that was a nice year, thirty three. You got
Speaker 1: to that. That's That's That's who I'm going to try
Speaker 1: to model myself after this year, Jackie Robinson, if nothing else,
Speaker 1: for real, the gift, the gift, the gift of following
Speaker 1: sports obsessively. One of the fringe benefits is is that
Speaker 1: it allows you to remember every phone number. I do
Speaker 1: I can't remember any phone number if you give it
Speaker 1: to me just once, because I'll just be like Clay
Speaker 1: Matthews Junior and uh in the iceman George Gerwan. Yeah
Speaker 1: that's the last word digital. Okay, Yeah, that's how I
Speaker 1: can piece together all things. Yes, happy birthday, uh to
Speaker 1: the boss and to West of course, yes, and uh
Speaker 1: you know Check of course he is now um the
Speaker 1: host of the Minus three podcast that covers Northeast sports
Speaker 1: and also the Extra Points podcast which everybody knows what
Speaker 1: cousin sal and Dave's a thunder, which is another d hiatus.
Speaker 1: I mean enough at some point, either you know, uh,
Speaker 1: do the show or don't do the show Dave, but
Speaker 1: we all love that as well. Um, well, what's new? Check?
Speaker 1: And And the reason why reached out to you is because, yes, Dave.
Speaker 1: You know, Dave's a funny guy. We all Dave's funny,
Speaker 1: He's always got the quips. But Check also sneaky, insightful fella,
Speaker 1: and I really thought that, you know, with Check, this
Speaker 1: is actually two weeks to the day now that we
Speaker 1: lost West. I would love to hear your thoughts on
Speaker 1: the man, Chris Wesley. Check. Well, Um, you know, first
Speaker 1: of all, I really do think and I understand that,
Speaker 1: you know, the tragedy, there's no work around of of
Speaker 1: how horrible this is for for Keyshan, for and for
Speaker 1: Link and for you guys and everybody who cared about
Speaker 1: West obviously, But um, I I really do choose. You know,
Speaker 1: I grew up with Mo Damnishek the nurse and uh
Speaker 1: you know who who had been around a fair amount
Speaker 1: of stuff, and my old man as well, and I
Speaker 1: really did take note early in life of like my
Speaker 1: mother sort of chose to celebrate in these tells, in
Speaker 1: these awful moments. Um And I really do you know,
Speaker 1: I'm really happy for West that he got to have
Speaker 1: the last decade or thereabouts that he had with you guys,
Speaker 1: and so I you know, I really do say, be
Speaker 1: proud Greg Rosenthal for for convincing him to do what
Speaker 1: he kind of lived by, which was to was to
Speaker 1: you know, I, I it sounds glaber, it sounds like
Speaker 1: a joke, but for real, you convinced him to leave
Speaker 1: his safe space and move out here. And you know,
Speaker 1: West was for all the lovely and accurate things that
Speaker 1: have been said about him in the last few days here.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, he was idiosyncratic enough that he
Speaker 1: really lamented when he got out here, like, I don't
Speaker 1: know if I belong out here kind of vibe and
Speaker 1: this is this is weird. I mes see island, you
Speaker 1: know the islands where it's those are real people people
Speaker 1: all both were out here, big boy and all and
Speaker 1: all of that, and and look where it landed for
Speaker 1: all of you guys. And you're to be you know,
Speaker 1: you know, I hope you can relish amidst all this. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, this obvious awfulness of of you know, what
Speaker 1: you guys did, and and how the quality of his
Speaker 1: life the last eight years. I suspect is uh is
Speaker 1: right up there for him, with all the years that
Speaker 1: he had, and as much as he loves his family
Speaker 1: and his brothers and you know, his his his red
Speaker 1: legs and his his his island down there in Georgia
Speaker 1: and everything else, I think that you know, it was
Speaker 1: apparent to anybody who interacted with him over the last
Speaker 1: few years that that he somehow, ironically after all this,
Speaker 1: you know, he didn't he didn't love Los Angeles, and
Speaker 1: he didn't love the vibe, and he felt like an outsider.
Speaker 1: And I really do feel like he was as at
Speaker 1: home and found his real home with you guys as
Speaker 1: much as anything and individually with you, like with all
Speaker 1: respect to Keisha. His first soul mate in Los Angeles
Speaker 1: was Mark sessler Um. And I really, you know, I
Speaker 1: went there just to be an onlooker after you guys
Speaker 1: won your softball crown, whichever one it was. I just
Speaker 1: went there to to bask in the reflected glory. And I,
Speaker 1: I mean, the seminal image for me is is, uh, ironically,
Speaker 1: two grown men after winning a dumb softball thing with
Speaker 1: their arms around each other. I don't think I took
Speaker 1: that photograph, but I was standing right behind those two
Speaker 1: when that photo was taken, and it was lovely and
Speaker 1: indicative of of the late night you had. And I
Speaker 1: I'm waxing obviously, and interrupt me at any point, please,
Speaker 1: but you know, I just he was he was really
Speaker 1: oddly or he stood out in the twenty one century.
Speaker 1: To me, he was anomalous, and it was like, oh,
Speaker 1: what he is is a retro kind of human being.
Speaker 1: He is like something from a black and white western
Speaker 1: movie or something like. He was like Gary Cooper in
Speaker 1: his straightforward purpose. I mean, and if his purpose was
Speaker 1: having fun at two thirty in the morning with Cessler
Speaker 1: and bend in the elbow. It meant something. And I
Speaker 1: really mean that there was no there was no sort
Speaker 1: of throwaway moment with west Everything, even fun um meant
Speaker 1: something to him. And and I know because I interacted
Speaker 1: with him, and you know, I maintained the text chain
Speaker 1: with him this last you know, handful of months and everything,
Speaker 1: and and almost without feel he would mention the sense
Speaker 1: of purpose that you guys gave him and the fund
Speaker 1: that it it meant for him amidst all this, Uh,
Speaker 1: not the god awful stuff at the hospital and everything else,
Speaker 1: the fact that he could interact with you and and
Speaker 1: and uh have a smile as a result of it.
Speaker 1: I I really do. I'm I'm it's terrible, it's it's heartbreaking.
Speaker 1: Those are the obvious things. But in the right now,
Speaker 1: I think you guys should, if it makes sense, to
Speaker 1: be proud of what you guys forged together and uh
Speaker 1: and you know, to to be happy that you directly
Speaker 1: Rick included delivered you know, some of the best moments
Speaker 1: of Westling's life. And look where it led. I mean,
Speaker 1: ultimately he was Is this a message for other people
Speaker 1: to take chances and and all that sort of thing.
Speaker 1: I mean, he moved from his safe space he loved,
Speaker 1: He lived on an island, he loved it. He moved
Speaker 1: out here to rugged, you know, weird l A and
Speaker 1: felt like a foreigner and looked where it wound up
Speaker 1: eight years later. You know, I wish he had another
Speaker 1: five decades, but you know, to to enjoy it. But
Speaker 1: but the last five or six we're you know, more
Speaker 1: living than a lot of people get to do. It
Speaker 1: would have been rewriting history to now say, oh, West
Speaker 1: loved l A once he got here. You know, he
Speaker 1: loved it. Even as late as last year he would
Speaker 1: say that l A is weird. Didn't necessarily love it,
Speaker 1: but there is that that element of it. And check.
Speaker 1: I know you, um obviously are not a native to
Speaker 1: southern California, although you've been out here a long time now.
Speaker 1: None of us are. I mean, Greg Mark, myself all
Speaker 1: come from the northeast, Ricky from the northeast, West Cincinnati,
Speaker 1: Tybee here, Uh, Colleen from Philadelphia, and Gonzo from Philadelphia,
Speaker 1: I mean Henry from England for Christ's sake, uh. And
Speaker 1: we all came here without family, and we built out
Speaker 1: our own Um, West Coast, Southern California family here. Um,
Speaker 1: and that's why you know it. It wasn't West, wasn't
Speaker 1: just losing a colleague or even a friend. It felt
Speaker 1: like we lost a family member because we really did,
Speaker 1: because that's that's what we did, um, in coming together. Um.
Speaker 1: And I'm just to your mother, that's a great way
Speaker 1: to look at it, that we celebrate that we had
Speaker 1: that time together. Um. She just was not I do
Speaker 1: remember her. You know, you look around it awful, you know,
Speaker 1: funerals and everything and people crying, and I'd look across
Speaker 1: and and my mother's out over there cracking wise with people,
Speaker 1: you know, like like you know that with that, you
Speaker 1: know to to try and um celebrate the person a
Speaker 1: little bit. And you know, I heard you guys the
Speaker 1: other last week. I guess your your first show back. Um,
Speaker 1: and uh yeah, I mean it just there was something
Speaker 1: too that with with West, that there a sense of
Speaker 1: authority and interacting with him, and you guys talk about
Speaker 1: the validation you get from him agreeing with your football opinions.
Speaker 1: That was a real weird thing for it was real
Speaker 1: and true for me as well. And that the other
Speaker 1: thing with him was as far as that goes. Making
Speaker 1: him laugh was what I mean, you know, for uh,
Speaker 1: someone like me when when when West laugh, that was
Speaker 1: it was one of the more delightful Making all human
Speaker 1: beings are not equal, you know, making all human beings
Speaker 1: laugh is not And getting a laugh from him, you
Speaker 1: knew was sincere. He was. He was not uh um
Speaker 1: placating you with his life. You know. It's a fascinating man,
Speaker 1: you know, and and you know his football love and
Speaker 1: but his love of books and great to talk about
Speaker 1: music with. And no matter how how how much we
Speaker 1: disagreed on it, it was always a compelling back and forth.
Speaker 1: And you know, and and and like I said, he
Speaker 1: had this Gary Cooper quality that was funny, that would
Speaker 1: give way um once under the cloak and night and
Speaker 1: a couple of drinks in did he became like a
Speaker 1: fifteen year old who had had his first beer. You know,
Speaker 1: he became giddy. And that that was also a delightful
Speaker 1: way to interact with the West and and uh, those
Speaker 1: two sides of him. But yeah, I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: listen to talking about football or otherwise with him bumping
Speaker 1: him into bumping into him in the hallway. But it
Speaker 1: was always good. But one thing that really came through
Speaker 1: was that the comfort he had with you guys. You
Speaker 1: guys were his like you said you were they you know,
Speaker 1: people say stuff like that, but you were really his
Speaker 1: brothers and uh and his family. And shout out to
Speaker 1: the first sports couple of Philadelphia for for you know,
Speaker 1: helping um garis those kids as well, for for West
Speaker 1: and for um for our pal the pie Queen Deaker
Speaker 1: and everybody else. Really it really transcended. You know, it
Speaker 1: doesn't happen all the time, but the the that was
Speaker 1: a neat little group that was put together over the
Speaker 1: last you know, five to ten years, and you know
Speaker 1: it was it was fun certainly to be a part
Speaker 1: of that. Not not the um say that that doesn't
Speaker 1: carry forward, but obviously West definitely. The point is is
Speaker 1: that West really uh embrace that as much as anybody
Speaker 1: because like hands who says, we're all from somewhere else.
Speaker 1: But for some reason it came across it. West was like,
Speaker 1: what kind of place is this? What are we doing
Speaker 1: out here? Isn't the way people do things? And I
Speaker 1: mean people are wait crazy, Let's get the get back
Speaker 1: to the real people. The kind of vibe and he
Speaker 1: transformed into There was no better home for Chris Westling
Speaker 1: anywhere on the face of the earth than sitting with
Speaker 1: you guys, chopping it up and laughing. Whether it was
Speaker 1: being recorded into a microphone or uh in the wee
Speaker 1: hours of the a M. It was always it was
Speaker 1: always compelling and fun and and nice to to be
Speaker 1: a part of or be around. I would say, also,
Speaker 1: check that you know one of you. I love the
Speaker 1: way that you noted about making him laugh. We've talked
Speaker 1: about that a little bit. And one of the first
Speaker 1: places I thought that he started to feel at home
Speaker 1: was in our newsroom, which was very communal back in
Speaker 1: the era, and you were someone just because I would
Speaker 1: I sat three or four feet away from him for
Speaker 1: a billion days, and when you would come in, and
Speaker 1: anyone that has been in our newsroom knows that with
Speaker 1: Dave Damaschek comes in, I mean things change the energy
Speaker 1: to there's there's There was one thing that I think
Speaker 1: when you I thought that you really won west Over
Speaker 1: with your daring do because we were also at times,
Speaker 1: depending on what executives were in there, it was a
Speaker 1: very it could be suddenly very serious. But you know,
Speaker 1: if you watch the NFL network, they crack into the
Speaker 1: moment where like a newsreader is, you know, telling you
Speaker 1: about breaking news, and in the background you can see
Speaker 1: all of us Jabroni's typing away on our keyboards and stuff,
Speaker 1: and Check would do this thing where he'd get about
Speaker 1: twenty thirty yards away from the newsreader, but he'd be
Speaker 1: in in the background you could see him, and he
Speaker 1: do that old trick where you pretend to be walking
Speaker 1: downstairs by bending your legs and literally on NFL network
Speaker 1: there is a grown man um walking downstairs that don't
Speaker 1: exist in West could not contain himself at that time.
Speaker 1: I remember that moment, and he also, I know you
Speaker 1: do his impression, but he loved when you would do
Speaker 1: impressions of Greg and dan Um. I'm excluding myself because
Speaker 1: I'm pure and you can't do one of them. That shows. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it was well said Check with the brotherhood
Speaker 1: almost that he was used to having all these brothers
Speaker 1: around him. That was what was like, that was his
Speaker 1: comfort zone and so he sort of created that and
Speaker 1: was part of that um with us. But yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: you're Tybee impression it it was it was a fine line.
Speaker 1: But you're lucky that he uh he loved it, like
Speaker 1: because you just cracked him up so much. Uh, it's like,
Speaker 1: I don't sound like that to be on the right
Speaker 1: side of that line. And then my impression was actually
Speaker 1: an impression of Check and doing the impression of West.
Speaker 1: So it was essentially just a watered down version of
Speaker 1: the same thing. I also like, I also like since
Speaker 1: you brought it up, Mark, Not to get too off track,
Speaker 1: but when Dave would dropped by the news room, we
Speaker 1: had a there was a deeply unpleasant shadowy league figure
Speaker 1: um that was in the newsroom for a period of time. Uh,
Speaker 1: that could not stand when Dave came by, and they
Speaker 1: were they were diametric opposites as human beings. You need
Speaker 1: to be more specific. Although I think I know there's
Speaker 1: so many this ella, you know who it is, right
Speaker 1: this SLF would come out and he would see Dave
Speaker 1: and he would just you could you could see the eye,
Speaker 1: the eye roll like almost coming out of his head
Speaker 1: when Shack was around. And that's and it felt good
Speaker 1: because well, I think also he knew that not a
Speaker 1: shred of business would be conducted when when Scheck was
Speaker 1: making the rounds. And I think even maybe sometimes Greg
Speaker 1: would be like guys, get get back to work. We
Speaker 1: have like fourteen posts to write. It's like, but check
Speaker 1: is here. Oh what what will the world do without
Speaker 1: updated pro football information? That listen, we're all cheating wife here. Friends,
Speaker 1: you know that. Why are you throwing a wet blanket?
Speaker 1: I'm the fact that everybody gathered in that space's cheating wife.
Speaker 1: By definition, we are getting paid to talk about football
Speaker 1: and on some level, and and that some ne're do
Speaker 1: well couldn't get that straight in his head. He is
Speaker 1: not my problem and I was not going to bend
Speaker 1: a need to that non sense. He still thought he
Speaker 1: was in some like newsroom in Dallas in November nineteen,
Speaker 1: because no, dude, this is football dating the Jaguars committing
Speaker 1: to Teal is their home jersey, were not and to
Speaker 1: put a button on its check before we move on,
Speaker 1: because we got to talk about a big trade evolving
Speaker 1: another star quarterback in the NFL. We got to talk
Speaker 1: about what's going on with check Steelers. We're gonna get
Speaker 1: to that as well. But West, you mentioned Gary Cooper twice,
Speaker 1: and uh, as I've asked by way of Tony soprano
Speaker 1: Mark many times, whatever happened to Gary Cooper? Turns out
Speaker 1: he was right next to us the whole time, the
Speaker 1: whole time. Um, all right, let's get to it. Let's
Speaker 1: do some football talk. We got check here. It is
Speaker 1: West's birthday. And by the way, great job by the
Speaker 1: NFL Media digital team, Patrick Crawley, Um, Sarah Parsons, John Marvel,
Speaker 1: the whole gang, Ali Bun Purry. Um. They are rolling
Speaker 1: out in honor of West's forty seventh birthday or what
Speaker 1: would have been West's forty seventh birthday. Uh, They're they're
Speaker 1: bringing up on the home page at NFL dot com
Speaker 1: all of his best work. Uh. And because West was
Speaker 1: such a gifted storyteller and podcaster. But I mean Evan Silva,
Speaker 1: who we all love and respect from Rhoda world and
Speaker 1: now would established the run um he He said on
Speaker 1: his show recently that he thought that West was maybe
Speaker 1: the best sports writer in the country. That's the type
Speaker 1: of talent West was. So if you go to NFL
Speaker 1: dot com at any point this weekend and it should
Speaker 1: be up by the time you get to this, you
Speaker 1: could read his Houston Oilers feature Love You Blue Ohio
Speaker 1: River Offense about the Cincinnati UH Bengals and Steve Walsh
Speaker 1: attack his QB Index pieces, which were incredibly insightful and
Speaker 1: many times went beyond just basic football UM pieces about
Speaker 1: his Patriots coverage during those Super Bowl years. He always
Speaker 1: had such a great eye for that, his making the
Speaker 1: lead pieces the series that we did for many years,
Speaker 1: UM talking about players on the rise. You might not
Speaker 1: be surprised to learn that West got that it a lot.
Speaker 1: He wrote a really compelling piece about Steve Smith deserving
Speaker 1: a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Just
Speaker 1: a ton of great stuff, and they're gonna populate some
Speaker 1: podcast stuff down the line as well. But if you
Speaker 1: want to UM learn more about Chris Wesling the writer,
Speaker 1: NFL dot com has got you covered. I was telling
Speaker 1: you guys real quick too that like if you're just
Speaker 1: if you're an obsessive, go find a random West Um
Speaker 1: newser on like an arrest or suspension I would take.
Speaker 1: I would take his news items and print them out
Speaker 1: and go read them to figure out what the f
Speaker 1: I was doing on that front. Because he was such
Speaker 1: a decisive UM author when he would take on any subject.
Speaker 1: It's I love what NFL dot com has done here. Um.
Speaker 1: All right, let's get to the big story the Indianapolis Colts.
Speaker 1: I mean, we did the QB Carrousel game a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks ago, not for nothing. Old Zeuser had this
Speaker 1: one right, But it wasn't necessarily a shot in the dark.
Speaker 1: It felt like it always made sense. The Indianapolis Colts
Speaker 1: have acquired Carson Wentz from the Philadelphia Eagles in exchange
Speaker 1: for a round pick and conditional second round pick. That's
Speaker 1: important here. That conditional second rounder becomes a first rounder
Speaker 1: if Wentz plays three quarters of the Cult snaps for
Speaker 1: um and the team makes the playoffs. So there's a
Speaker 1: couple of things there. But there's a good chance, or
Speaker 1: a decent chance I should say that this does become
Speaker 1: a first rounder. But on the surface, Greg Rosenthal, the
Speaker 1: Cults just acquired a guy that not so long ago
Speaker 1: was viewed as a superstar level talent a quarterback, and
Speaker 1: they to me upgrade from an aging Phil Rivers. What
Speaker 1: do you think about this deal? I think Carson Wentz
Speaker 1: as a lot um to prove that he could even
Speaker 1: be as good as Philip Rivers in I don't I
Speaker 1: think they're taking a risk. It's not a huge price
Speaker 1: their pain, but it's something I'm shocked that the Eagles
Speaker 1: got that much at this point. I mean, Carson Wentz
Speaker 1: wasn't just bad last year. He was like one of
Speaker 1: the two or three worst quarterbacks in the league. There's
Speaker 1: not a lot of precedent for anyone playing that poorly
Speaker 1: during his prime. You can make a lot of excuses
Speaker 1: for it, um and and being like a really big
Speaker 1: difference making quarterback. Then you look at the rest of
Speaker 1: his career, I would say, maybe one of those years
Speaker 1: has he been significantly you know, better than average? Uh?
Speaker 1: And so I think, Okay, you're giving up a second
Speaker 1: you know this guy. Uh, it could upgrade to a
Speaker 1: first you're giving up a third round pick. It's worth
Speaker 1: a shot because you know him and they believe in him,
Speaker 1: and it's a great situation for him. But I don't know,
Speaker 1: like it to me to expect him to be better
Speaker 1: than average, I think is probably expecting too much. I mean,
Speaker 1: I would say this though, I feel like he is
Speaker 1: going to a roster that in a couple of ways
Speaker 1: reminds me of the Eagles Super Bowl roster, uh, when
Speaker 1: when he did play so well. And I'm with you, Greg,
Speaker 1: I mean to watch what happened to Carson Wentz last season. Um,
Speaker 1: it was you know vision really a four month car
Speaker 1: crash and and he lost all his confidence. He seemed
Speaker 1: broken to me from the neck up. And I don't
Speaker 1: think he and Doug Peterson UM, that relationship clearly was
Speaker 1: running out of time. I love him being paired back
Speaker 1: with Frank Reig again, just in terms of the fit
Speaker 1: of where he could have gone. Someone that knows him,
Speaker 1: someone that got the best out of him, probably was
Speaker 1: the better head coach. Um hidden in a at a
Speaker 1: coordinator level there. Uh. I think it's a good environment
Speaker 1: and they've got a great offensive line, so you can
Speaker 1: see I could I say the ceiling would be comeback
Speaker 1: player of the year. Um. The floor is this is
Speaker 1: an unfixable quarterback. But I I don't believe he's unfixable.
Speaker 1: I think this is this is If this works, Chris
Speaker 1: Ballard will look very very smart. Um. From the Eagles side,
Speaker 1: what are we doing here? This team to me feels
Speaker 1: like a year and a half ago. Everyone's you know,
Speaker 1: do you know, song and dance about their analytics driven
Speaker 1: front office and all this other business. I mean you
Speaker 1: look what they invest it to get Carson Wentz, what
Speaker 1: they ultimately paid him the incredible amount of dead money
Speaker 1: that they're taking on to let him go, which is
Speaker 1: the new trend in the NFL. Let's get rid of
Speaker 1: these guys and pay for it after um. I think
Speaker 1: a lot has to be pointed at Howie Roseman and
Speaker 1: the Eagles. Howie Roseman, do you still have the Carson
Speaker 1: Wentz poster in your office or have you taken that down?
Speaker 1: M Are you surprised that they got that like no
Speaker 1: one else made an offer? Like? I think both things
Speaker 1: can be true. The Eagles signing went to that contract
Speaker 1: and the Rams signing Golf to that contract were catastrophic
Speaker 1: mistakes in a very similar way that I think will
Speaker 1: affect how teams approached signing guys early. Because both of
Speaker 1: those guys would have ended their rookie contract with the
Speaker 1: option year this year. They didn't have to pay any
Speaker 1: of it, you know. With all that said he was,
Speaker 1: it was like it was a tire fire. If there
Speaker 1: wasn't Frank Wik out there, I don't think they would
Speaker 1: have gotten anyone because his contract is just as onerous
Speaker 1: as goffs. They were about to be guarantee like he
Speaker 1: had an option in his contract where they were about
Speaker 1: to be guaranteed to pay him seventy over three and
Speaker 1: fifty five over to all this stuff. So I think
Speaker 1: they're probably in this point mildly relieved that they got
Speaker 1: rid of him um at this price. But it's still
Speaker 1: kind of a catastrophe what what happened over the last
Speaker 1: few years. And they're gonna have to come up with
Speaker 1: so many solutions on a aging roster so quickly, or
Speaker 1: Howie Roseman could lose his job because he's not the
Speaker 1: only one that's gonna be gone. Alshon Jeffrey's definitely gone,
Speaker 1: Malik Jackson's definitely gone to Sean Jackson, Uh is definitely gone.
Speaker 1: There's more I'm forgetting about, Like they are gonna be
Speaker 1: spinning that wheel, and they have a lot a lot
Speaker 1: to fix um and and Ballard puts himself on the
Speaker 1: line a little bit too, you know. They maybe it's
Speaker 1: a one year thing with Wentz if it doesn't work
Speaker 1: out um, but they need to find a left tackle.
Speaker 1: They need to make it work with Winz because I
Speaker 1: think the bar of Philip Rivers is sneaky high. Like
Speaker 1: Carson Wentz in the last time we thought he was okay,
Speaker 1: he wasn't as good as up Rivers, he was pretty
Speaker 1: bad then to two year. That's a two year sample size.
Speaker 1: So let me let me just say, I think you're
Speaker 1: overvaluing as I always feel like you did Philip Rivers,
Speaker 1: and undervaluing Carson Wentz here. I think I'm saying, look
Speaker 1: at his twenty nineteen season on balanced, just the last
Speaker 1: four four games, the whole season, Maybe it's something you
Speaker 1: got to go back and take another look. I thought
Speaker 1: he was excellent in twenty nineteen, especially down the stretch,
Speaker 1: UM taking a really beat up Eagles team to the playoffs.
Speaker 1: UM twenty seven touchdown, seven picks, four thousand York passer
Speaker 1: rating over a hundred. I thought he was a franchise
Speaker 1: quarterback in twenty nineteen. Seventeen was an m v P
Speaker 1: year before he blew out his knee, and I understand
Speaker 1: you can't take out the health issues with him. By
Speaker 1: the way, Tom Brady was gonna win the m v
Speaker 1: P that year. I keep hearing everyone said Carson Wentz
Speaker 1: was the m v P. Tom Brady was winning that
Speaker 1: m v P this year. I just keep hearing that,
Speaker 1: But he was playing at that level. It was it
Speaker 1: was one too, but I keep hearing everyone say, he
Speaker 1: was on pace for forty five hundred yards forty five touchdowns,
Speaker 1: he led the league in touchdown percentage, He lead the
Speaker 1: league in QBR that season. He was an absolute m
Speaker 1: VP candidate. But the injuries are a real thing obviously
Speaker 1: here to keep in mind, and also how bad last
Speaker 1: year was. But I think it's well worth the gamble
Speaker 1: check to bring him in because the Cults are a
Speaker 1: win now team and if Frank Bright, if Frank Bright's there,
Speaker 1: I don't like the trade with Frank right there. I
Speaker 1: think it's well worth the gamble and I think you
Speaker 1: could pay off big yeah. I mean if you do
Speaker 1: the math on that. And what changed for Carson Wentz.
Speaker 1: The thing that stands out more than anything else is
Speaker 1: the departure of Frank rich and it became clear that
Speaker 1: Peterson wasn't the wasn't the magic factor in that uh
Speaker 1: on that coaching staff. It was rich Um. So I
Speaker 1: guess that makes sense. And like the outsized egos of
Speaker 1: starting NFL QBS, offensive coordinators and head coaches also have
Speaker 1: an ego that tells him I can fix this guy.
Speaker 1: I know he looked bad, but I'm the one who
Speaker 1: can fix him. I guess We'll have to wait and
Speaker 1: see how that goes. I do think in the meantime
Speaker 1: that I mentioned I mentioned the swagger that just about
Speaker 1: all these guys have. I think it's very weird. In
Speaker 1: the last twenty four hours or so, I've already seen
Speaker 1: a couple of um sort of boastful, weirdly, sort of
Speaker 1: proud of themselves media members from Philadelphia. I don't get
Speaker 1: the math on what Philadelphia is a sports town. Thanks
Speaker 1: they're doing that. They're so proud of their ability to
Speaker 1: chase away some high end athletes, like hey, Philly eight
Speaker 1: for everybody. It's a tough town, toughest sports town fan
Speaker 1: baseball not let you go like well great, well, I mean,
Speaker 1: so you're gonna scare away some people who might otherwise
Speaker 1: thrive in your sports town for you, Well done, You've
Speaker 1: You've done it again, Philadelphia. Yeah. I don't get the
Speaker 1: anti Wenz thing in Philadelphia. He helped you win your
Speaker 1: freaking first Super Bowl ever. He was massive in winning
Speaker 1: your Super Bowl. And there's this weird thing that I
Speaker 1: totally agree with. Right, it's very straight. I get the
Speaker 1: last few years. But if somebody had told you, like
Speaker 1: this guy's gonna set you up to win a Super
Speaker 1: Bowl that your backup ends up finishing up, you would
Speaker 1: think you'd be grateful to him for the rest of
Speaker 1: your life. Give me a break. I just think that
Speaker 1: the obviously the Colts are as when now is as
Speaker 1: just about any roster you look at or I don't
Speaker 1: know if win now applies, but what is the best
Speaker 1: roster if you remove the quarterback from the equation the
Speaker 1: culture near or at the top of that list. So
Speaker 1: it makes sense that you want a guy who can
Speaker 1: make him go because you know, I really think they
Speaker 1: had a Super Bowl run in them and if not
Speaker 1: for a player too, um that you know, they might
Speaker 1: have at least gotten to Kansas City. Um. But in
Speaker 1: in our you know, I talked about QB saturation, this
Speaker 1: is not anymore. There are more viable starting quarterbacks out
Speaker 1: there than there are starting gigs. Is Carson Wentz definitely
Speaker 1: the best guy that they could get to fill that
Speaker 1: slot in in the real world, not not pieing the
Speaker 1: sky fantastical like did you just get the Shawn Watson?
Speaker 1: Why don't they do that? Like because because Texans are
Speaker 1: going to trade him to you in the short term,
Speaker 1: Is Carson wants the best guy they could have gotten.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure, but maybe as I look around, is
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson really gonna get dealt the way? I don't know. Otherwise, draft,
Speaker 1: I don't know to that point. Check uh and the
Speaker 1: and the Colts. They kind of put it out there
Speaker 1: that they were looking for a veteran. They're out of it,
Speaker 1: they're out of this business now. But why don't we
Speaker 1: spend the QB carousel here, um and and check in
Speaker 1: on these other quarterbacks? Now? The market is not settled,
Speaker 1: but we have some movement here. Stafford goth wentz um
Speaker 1: a report, Jimmy g there's another option. The Colts had
Speaker 1: their um a lot of smoke about the end of
Speaker 1: the Niners and Jimmy g Era he has fifty one
Speaker 1: million do over the final two years of his contract.
Speaker 1: Not guarantee though, So maybe the Patriots make a play.
Speaker 1: Sam Donald another another veteran that hypothetically the Cults could
Speaker 1: have been interested in. Report out there today UH that
Speaker 1: he could be available for a second round pick. We've
Speaker 1: been hearing that forever. Deshaun Watson. We're at a stalemate
Speaker 1: there obviously. Right now, we don't know what's going on.
Speaker 1: Keep an eye on the Raiders with Mariota and Derek Carr.
Speaker 1: One of those guys could and probably will be moved.
Speaker 1: Uh and then of course Big Ben uh da. I
Speaker 1: love the buzz that now that that this uh just
Speaker 1: this week is the first time I've started to hear like,
Speaker 1: could Roethlisberger play for another team? You know, if you
Speaker 1: drop him onto the Broncos? Would that be a crazy
Speaker 1: Is that really that crazy that he would make them go?
Speaker 1: I don't know. Um, yeah, I think that rot with Roethlisberger.
Speaker 1: I feel like I didn't get getting to doing this
Speaker 1: so that we could talk about about math. I don't
Speaker 1: I don't understand macro economics, and I don't care about
Speaker 1: math as a fun the mental um course in life.
Speaker 1: But um, as far as I understand it, and scientists,
Speaker 1: please step in here, Rosenthal and let me know where
Speaker 1: I'm wrong here. The cap is not gonna be I
Speaker 1: mean that the hit is never and it never was
Speaker 1: gonna be forty one million. As I've said all along,
Speaker 1: they'll presumably drop him all the way down the nineteen million,
Speaker 1: which is as low as they can get it. So
Speaker 1: nineteen million is the hit. Ergo the the aforementioned fantastical
Speaker 1: solutions at quarterback aren't real. Deshaun Watson's not landing in
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh it given that it's a nineteen million dollar cap hit,
Speaker 1: and they're not gonna none of the high end qbs
Speaker 1: that are gonna go near the top of the first
Speaker 1: are gonna be available in reality. Why don't you just
Speaker 1: roll with Roethlisberger anyway? This this it's time to reset
Speaker 1: in Pittsburgh. It's to what there's not? There isn't Who
Speaker 1: are you putting in there? Someone must start a quarterback?
Speaker 1: And what do you get out of Mason Rudolph that
Speaker 1: you don't get out of Ben Roethlisberger in one other
Speaker 1: than can Mason Rudolph Hackett is the long term solution
Speaker 1: spoiler alert. He can. However, Right was right. He did
Speaker 1: play really well and it was kind of eye opening
Speaker 1: for those of us who are who were who were
Speaker 1: hypothesizing that Roethlisberger round about the Washington game as they
Speaker 1: were undefeated, kind of realized, like, I can't keep taking
Speaker 1: these shots. This offensive line is junk. For the next
Speaker 1: five weeks, were safely into the playoffs. We're gonna win
Speaker 1: the division now after we beat the Ravens. I think
Speaker 1: there was a calculation. And I kind of still stand
Speaker 1: by this that he made a calculation. I'm getting the
Speaker 1: ballet on my hands no matter what, and I don't care.
Speaker 1: And then it started to slip away from them. And
Speaker 1: then he flipped the switch in the second half against
Speaker 1: the Colts and turned it on, and all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: there he was pump fake and throwing, uh, throwing forty
Speaker 1: five yard passes on a rope, and and so on.
Speaker 1: And then the Browns game and that well that the
Speaker 1: Mason Rudolph game happened, and I thought, what in hell,
Speaker 1: this is a little this is weird. That makes in
Speaker 1: Rudolph is having uh pushing it. Then then Roethlisberger was,
Speaker 1: and then the Cleveland game. Inexplicable that first that first
Speaker 1: quarter was an absolute atrocity, but it seemed explicable to me.
Speaker 1: I don't think we've had a chance to um the
Speaker 1: tables have turned. We didn't. He might ended Big Ben's
Speaker 1: Steeler's career. My my thing is just do the Steelers
Speaker 1: want him? I get what everything is. Yeah, so they're
Speaker 1: general manager Kevin Culvert said this week, you know, it's
Speaker 1: very ambivalent about it. He's on the rothber right now.
Speaker 1: The owner, Rooney said earlier in the off season, essentially
Speaker 1: he's not coming back unless he takes a pay cut.
Speaker 1: Ben says publicly, I'll pay for I'll play for whatever
Speaker 1: you want. Now, it's very possible, especially knowing Ben Roethlisberger,
Speaker 1: that he's saying that and his agent is not um
Speaker 1: just lying down and being like that behind the scenes,
Speaker 1: and they're like, if you play any hardball with us,
Speaker 1: we're just gonna cut you. Like that's the thing. They
Speaker 1: are ready to cut him. They they have already made
Speaker 1: a decision. He's gone. Uh. If he doesn't want to
Speaker 1: play ball, they might have already made a decision. He's gone. Anyways,
Speaker 1: And I think they answer your question, David, like why
Speaker 1: do that? And yeah, you could reduce the capital. Well,
Speaker 1: you'd be pushing some of that cap pay into the
Speaker 1: future years. The Patriots decided to take all their medicine
Speaker 1: in one year, that's what the Steelers do this year.
Speaker 1: Would kind of make sense because right now they're like
Speaker 1: thirty million over the cap. Uh, and their left tackle
Speaker 1: is a free agent, Marcus Founty, their center is a
Speaker 1: free agent. They might want to consider cutting their potential
Speaker 1: future Hall of Fame guard David de Castrow is coming
Speaker 1: off a terrible year. Uh, they have a lot of problems.
Speaker 1: They might cut you know, one of their starting cornerbacks. There,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of issues in Pittsburgh and they might
Speaker 1: just be like, let's just take our medicine. Now, see
Speaker 1: what happened. What does that? But my pushback on that
Speaker 1: is what does that get you any of these big
Speaker 1: free agent decision? Nothing now? Nothing now. But it's basically
Speaker 1: you're thinking that we don't believe it's saying we don't
Speaker 1: leave in Ben Roethlisberg anymore. Right, that, but you can
Speaker 1: kick it down the road. But for relative nickels and
Speaker 1: dimes to kick small portions of that contract into three
Speaker 1: that as the cap goes up, it it will be marginal,
Speaker 1: a marginal hit against them. But the again, the crazy
Speaker 1: kind of thing is like, yeah, but if they just
Speaker 1: if they just blow up, if they just stink it up.
Speaker 1: This is what people keep missing. They cannot be the Jaguars,
Speaker 1: They cannot do with the Jets or anyone else. Is
Speaker 1: done in tank because Cam Hayward and t. J. Watt
Speaker 1: and Minka Fitzpatrick are not going to allow that to happen.
Speaker 1: They went in eight dight with Duck Hodgenes you think
Speaker 1: they're gonna whether you think gonna go too and fourteen
Speaker 1: there is no world in which that happens. So this
Speaker 1: nonsense about well if they really stink in one, then
Speaker 1: they'll get a high pick. And by the way, I
Speaker 1: am big, like I said on QB saturation thanks to
Speaker 1: the pipeline that exists from football every springtime not as
Speaker 1: juicy as the last three or four QB classes have been.
Speaker 1: So this thing of like that, just blow it this
Speaker 1: year so that you get who Spencer, what are we
Speaker 1: talking about? What isn't checked? Isn't the move the most
Speaker 1: straightforward move the Steelers to make a team that was
Speaker 1: eleven or oh before the wheels came off and has
Speaker 1: has all this talent that you've referenced that should be
Speaker 1: ready to go if they can get solid Cuba QB
Speaker 1: play to go with everything else that you would bring
Speaker 1: back Big Ben and then just upgrade over Mason Rudolph
Speaker 1: as somebody that you can turn to, whether it's through
Speaker 1: the draft or one of these veterans that are you know,
Speaker 1: at a discount, and then you give yourself a better
Speaker 1: safety net and maybe it turns out You're like, you're
Speaker 1: right that maybe with the Big Bend situation last year
Speaker 1: he changed his mindset to disastrous results. So you give
Speaker 1: another give him one more chance to play the guitar,
Speaker 1: and if he doesn't, you're not turning to Mason Rudolph,
Speaker 1: just hoping and praying that he's finally the light's gonna
Speaker 1: finally go on. Well, here's what I'll say about I
Speaker 1: think that the move is. I mean that Joe Douglas
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks ago said something about wanting a
Speaker 1: first for Sam Donald. I want a lot of things
Speaker 1: to Um, but I think a second, you know, especially
Speaker 1: if you can move it paste into into future years
Speaker 1: like what what the Eagles just got away with with
Speaker 1: the Colts. If you can get you know, a second
Speaker 1: or a third in one Joe Douglas wants draft picks.
Speaker 1: It's not like the Jets are ready to roll in
Speaker 1: the and take over the a f C East. They
Speaker 1: need players, and if they're gonna go at number two
Speaker 1: with Zack Wilson or Justin Fields, they're gonna purge um
Speaker 1: Sam Donald. I would think in in in um trade
Speaker 1: for for a draft pick, that's the answer to me.
Speaker 1: Get Sam Donald but I think also Rosenthal, I think
Speaker 1: you're right. I don't think they necessarily want I don't
Speaker 1: think they have bright eyed thoughts about how great roethlis
Speaker 1: right one last time, he's gonna turn back into two
Speaker 1: thousand and eight Roethlisberg. I don't think they think that,
Speaker 1: but I think they're they we might have our best
Speaker 1: option may end up being given the nineteen million dollars
Speaker 1: that we have to pay him, and it prevents us
Speaker 1: from going after some other guys as a result. But
Speaker 1: if we bring I could see the ego if we've
Speaker 1: seen these franchise qbs, not like other guys being brought
Speaker 1: in to replace them, and all that, I could see
Speaker 1: there being some attempt to thread the needle on the
Speaker 1: Steelers part to say like, yeah, we want you back Rothinisburger.
Speaker 1: But Rothinsberger said, I'll take the cap, but you can't
Speaker 1: bring somebody in to replace me like I you're you're
Speaker 1: not gonna turn around and then trade to get so.
Speaker 1: And so I could see that being part of the
Speaker 1: equation right now. Um And and also more practically, I
Speaker 1: don't know, maybe the agent is saying like, yeah, we'll
Speaker 1: give you, we'll give you a discount we're not. We're
Speaker 1: not dropping it all the way to nineteen million. And
Speaker 1: maybe Covert's like, oh, when we when we took your
Speaker 1: guy at his word that he's gonna go all the
Speaker 1: way down, he doesn't care about it. If he's actually us,
Speaker 1: if he's actually denting our ability to resign, let's say
Speaker 1: Mike Hilton or Cam Sutton or one of these dbs
Speaker 1: that they otherwise could make a run at. I could
Speaker 1: see them bought can get down like, hey, we're playing
Speaker 1: hardball seven. You want to come back? Great, we understand
Speaker 1: the situation in one last year, but it's nineteen million.
Speaker 1: You're not getting anything more out of this is timely. Actually,
Speaker 1: I am checking out Twitter UM as we discussed this situation,
Speaker 1: and this tweet from Will Welch, who is the g
Speaker 1: Q editor in chief, UM fresh quotes from Ben Roethlisberger
Speaker 1: in a tel a'll sit down with g Q. Cleveland
Speaker 1: broke me. They reduced me to tears. Um, to the
Speaker 1: naked eye. I was no more than a toddler. I
Speaker 1: still have nightmares about what the Browns accomplished that night,
Speaker 1: added the Steelers QB. I've had this recurring dream that
Speaker 1: when Pittsburgh dumps me, they spend the next twenty five
Speaker 1: years looking for a functional signal caller. Terrible talons will
Speaker 1: be used to wipe the tear stained faces of Pittsburgh
Speaker 1: area children, children who will never learn to read because
Speaker 1: they live in Pittsburgh, said Ben. In this dream, Steelers
Speaker 1: fans would be to get one third the quality of
Speaker 1: a broken down Mark Malone circle, but they won't come
Speaker 1: close employing Ham and eggers such as Wally Jingles, Spurgeon
Speaker 1: Wind two point oh and Jessica Maxwell from Human Resources.
Speaker 1: End of tweet. So that's that's something that's funny on
Speaker 1: the GQ front. Look at just shattering the glass ceiling
Speaker 1: in the end of Wow. I mean, that's a pretty
Speaker 1: good gift by g Q there, right, It's not a
Speaker 1: total shock, Like what about Ben Roethlisberger would tell you
Speaker 1: that his divorce from the Steelers really the whole end
Speaker 1: of the rest of his career isn't gonna be incredibly ugly,
Speaker 1: you know, and with like backbiting and lying and all
Speaker 1: sorts of stuff. I frankly, I'm looking forward to Ed
Speaker 1: Bouschett is gonna have some juicy quotes. Well, I'll tell
Speaker 1: you that's for sure. And by the way, I don't
Speaker 1: know if you can see it for anyone looking right now,
Speaker 1: in honor of most of the nation dealing with snow,
Speaker 1: I've it's snowing apparently in uh in my home here.
Speaker 1: The I'm on my crummy computers making it do that.
Speaker 1: Um yeah, the the Roethlisberger the last few days here
Speaker 1: or the last one. It's also he wants to come
Speaker 1: back and be a part of a winner, and it's
Speaker 1: it's funny that they keep saying, like, you understand, we're
Speaker 1: not gonna be good if you come back, and they're
Speaker 1: really trying to will him today, like it's the guy
Speaker 1: you don't want coming over, like we're not doing anything.
Speaker 1: We're you know, we're not We're not gonna have any fun,
Speaker 1: so Base will not even come over kind of thing.
Speaker 1: So they're trying to convince him not to show because
Speaker 1: why why would they have I guess I think they're
Speaker 1: having a crisis of confidence of like why do we
Speaker 1: think we're gonna be better next year? Period that we
Speaker 1: we finished the season so poorly, and you mentioned the
Speaker 1: whole like, yeah, you can take his salary cap down,
Speaker 1: but you can also like cutting him saves twenty million
Speaker 1: against the cap. There's all this like confusion of there's
Speaker 1: like there's dead money, and that's true with Carson Wentz,
Speaker 1: but it's money when I talk about dead money. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but ultimate like trading Carson Wentz didn't cost the Eagles
Speaker 1: anything this year, and you got rid of them, and
Speaker 1: in cutting Ben Roethlisberger would save twenty million of cap
Speaker 1: space when they need it. And so bringing him back,
Speaker 1: even if you lowered it all down like it gets complicated.
Speaker 1: Your other players might have to go, and they're just like,
Speaker 1: why do we think that team is gonna be good?
Speaker 1: We kind of don't so or better, like, we we
Speaker 1: need we need someone. We need a quarterback that can
Speaker 1: be a huge difference maker, and he's probably not that guy,
Speaker 1: so we should start looking for that guy. I hear
Speaker 1: all of that. I don't, but none of those individual
Speaker 1: decisions UM with other free agents are impacted by that.
Speaker 1: Assuming he does, like I say, goes all right to
Speaker 1: zero or to to the to the um slimmest of
Speaker 1: of cap hits possible. The other thing I will say is,
Speaker 1: because you know, with Will Welsh, they're doing great work
Speaker 1: at g Q with UH with getting in the years
Speaker 1: of some of these qbs. I got in the year
Speaker 1: of one David Carr, who was the first overall draft
Speaker 1: pick in two thousand and two and happens to be
Speaker 1: related to Derek Carr. David Carr assured me one went
Speaker 1: will work out with Reich. That marriage is perfect too.
Speaker 1: He said that Derek Carr is definitely staying in Vase.
Speaker 1: That is a hundred percent that Gruden is definitely rolling
Speaker 1: with him in per David Carr, it sounds like the
Speaker 1: Cults tried to get him. I found that very interesting.
Speaker 1: A Cults reporter said they called about Car and got
Speaker 1: a pretty firm sense. So that's that's that's good, that's
Speaker 1: a good report. It's interesting. He also said that last
Speaker 1: year during the season, they took four calls asking after
Speaker 1: Derek Carr and we're turned down three of them from
Speaker 1: the same organization. And I cannot figure out who it is.
Speaker 1: David Carr would not, he said, We'll figure out who
Speaker 1: would he not take the call from? I don't know,
Speaker 1: I said Bill Belichick, And that leads me to this.
Speaker 1: I could see a calling Bill now, who wasn't then
Speaker 1: I can't figure out. In the middle of and during
Speaker 1: the season, calling dere a car and getting turned down
Speaker 1: for it, and I figure out John Gruden has bad
Speaker 1: blood with it. He wouldn't take the call from but it.
Speaker 1: I said, would Derek go to New England? And I
Speaker 1: think that you you want to have your fun with
Speaker 1: the demise of the Pittsburgh Steelers. I've had my fun
Speaker 1: and I'll continue to with your patriots. I can't believe everybody.
Speaker 1: I can't believe you've genuflected for twenty years to a fraud.
Speaker 1: Rosenthal pil Fellow check. It's all about the QB this
Speaker 1: whole time, all the all this insane uh dark ages
Speaker 1: kind of witchcraft, and this is how we do things.
Speaker 1: The only way you can win is to is to
Speaker 1: abide by my work. Do your the soul is, do
Speaker 1: your job. I'm a grown man. Let alone, I'm I'm
Speaker 1: a high end supreme athlete, and and you're reducing to me.
Speaker 1: Do your job. Just do exactly, would be two dimensional,
Speaker 1: and do that and in exchange you'll get a Lombardy.
Speaker 1: Now that it doesn't come along with the Lombardi, who
Speaker 1: has any value is willing to go up into that mess.
Speaker 1: I think Matthew Stafford has set the tone and I
Speaker 1: think it's gonna I really do think this year, this
Speaker 1: season for the Patriots, it's huge for Bill Belichick. He
Speaker 1: knows it. He cares about his place in history, and
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, if he doesn't win in somebody,
Speaker 1: he better figure out how to get I don't know, Mac,
Speaker 1: I mean, how often do you hear, like anyone talk
Speaker 1: about Vince Lombardi basically pissing down his leg for four
Speaker 1: years in Washington? No one cares. That's different apples Greg
Speaker 1: because and we brought this up with Chris Russo when
Speaker 1: he was on our show right for the super Bowl.
Speaker 1: Now that Brady has won that title with the Bucks, unassailable,
Speaker 1: the legacy, there's no there's no question this guy if
Speaker 1: there ever was. I mean, the fact that he changed
Speaker 1: teams in one another title, unbelievable, the goat. Belichick still
Speaker 1: an all time brilliant mind, arguably the best head coach ever.
Speaker 1: But when you're talking about you can find proof of
Speaker 1: that videotape. Look around, these two guys, these two two players,
Speaker 1: the player and coach tied forever together. Belichick almost he
Speaker 1: has to build another big time team before he goes,
Speaker 1: or that will be attached to the discussion of Bill Belichick,
Speaker 1: and I know you don't want to hear that, Greg,
Speaker 1: because you've had so much. I don't think he kee
Speaker 1: pissed down his leg and all this stuff like the
Speaker 1: Vince Lombardi didn't know Brady makes it different because it
Speaker 1: wasn't like bart starwin somewhere else and did something or
Speaker 1: however played out with Lombardi. It's just different. You literally
Speaker 1: don't even know how it played out. Like he embarrassed
Speaker 1: himself and they were terrible, and literally it's never been
Speaker 1: brought up just about ever. It doesn't matter. I just
Speaker 1: don't think that bothers saying. If you understand the difference
Speaker 1: between Defembarty situation and the Bill Belichick situation, and with
Speaker 1: Tom Brady involved here, why because Bill Belichick was tied
Speaker 1: at the hit with Brady, Brady goes somewhere new wins
Speaker 1: another title. Vincilbardi got old went to Washington was at
Speaker 1: the end of the line, it was. It was just
Speaker 1: a different setup, that's all, but also a totally different era.
Speaker 1: But Greg, to your point, you said the Patriots took
Speaker 1: their medicine in one year, So I agree with check
Speaker 1: that next year if Belichick goes, you know, a soft
Speaker 1: five and eleven and refuses to get a real quarterback
Speaker 1: this offseason, thinking he's gonna punk us twice. Well, I mean,
Speaker 1: I do think that in terms of the talking heads
Speaker 1: he's reading takes a huge hit. Do I think that
Speaker 1: he's actually Joe Philbin in disguise? Utter nonsense? He's a
Speaker 1: great coach, He's he that's a half measures is he?
Speaker 1: Is it a talking head situation or do you actually
Speaker 1: think that it would hurt his legacy if he went out?
Speaker 1: If Belichick's next, let's say he has four more years
Speaker 1: and they're all losing seasons, it is an unavoidable point
Speaker 1: of discussion, and it does affect everything that we would
Speaker 1: think about Bill Belichick. But what are I'm stopping the malarkey?
Speaker 1: Is the idea that oh, actually this is a C
Speaker 1: minus coach who's behind a great quarter that I will,
Speaker 1: I will. I'm not on board with that at all.
Speaker 1: I guess he actually is right, and it is just
Speaker 1: a talking point. I guess I'm just saying, like, Okay,
Speaker 1: what does what does that mean? Like? Do I think
Speaker 1: way differently of Tom Landry or Jimmy Johnson or Bill
Speaker 1: waltsh like struggling at, you know, doing his thing. It's like,
Speaker 1: you don't. I don't know who thinks about these things that.
Speaker 1: I don't think Bill Belichick does either. I don't think
Speaker 1: I think he does. He does. You don't think he
Speaker 1: thinks about it. Probably forty minutes out of every hour.
Speaker 1: It's still processing that. I think. I think ami list
Speaker 1: of best though when he did it for the hundred
Speaker 1: some of those names. He definitely cares about pro football
Speaker 1: history and his place in it. And I have talked
Speaker 1: with people who are relatively close, people who were in
Speaker 1: his circle over the last twenty years on his team.
Speaker 1: You can just say, no, I don't know many people.
Speaker 1: You know. It's like Willie, It's David Carr. That's it.
Speaker 1: So it's got to be one of those Yeah, I
Speaker 1: gotta try and take shots and that the name drives here. Man,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna plow on anyway, um the uh yeah, listen.
Speaker 1: I've been assured that he definitely cares about this. I
Speaker 1: love the idea. One of the great missed opportunities. I
Speaker 1: don't know what what amount of money it would have cost.
Speaker 1: Obviously he's willing to do things that humiliate himself witness
Speaker 1: those subway ads. So I wonder why he wouldn't um
Speaker 1: put a camera on himself for the four hours of
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl because that would have been deleted. Would
Speaker 1: what would have been more fun than watching Belichick? Let
Speaker 1: it be said, listeners that are gonna now get on me.
Speaker 1: I can't believe Dan, he's bringing up Belichick again and
Speaker 1: ripping bell. I didn't do this. Check brought this up.
Speaker 1: This one more thing and then I'll be done about this.
Speaker 1: But I sincerely, I mean, they've obviously dominated the twenty
Speaker 1: one century, the Patriots UM and as we now try
Speaker 1: to make sense of it, one other thing that's gonna
Speaker 1: go against Belichick going forward is it's not the same
Speaker 1: a f C East. The Bills are a mighty force.
Speaker 1: I think the Jets have a chance to put things
Speaker 1: together pretty quickly, and the Dolphins are are fascinating. Assuming
Speaker 1: to Uh turns the corner here a little bit, I mean,
Speaker 1: it is very realistic that they could get into a
Speaker 1: little mini run of a fourth place finishes for in
Speaker 1: the next couple of season. And to bring it back
Speaker 1: around Check. Things have changed for the Pittsburgh Steelers too,
Speaker 1: because they had a nice long run there where it
Speaker 1: was them and the Patriots, and it just felt like
Speaker 1: one of those teams was gonna come out. Another team
Speaker 1: would jump in every once in a while. Everything's changing,
Speaker 1: and they haven't made a super Bowl in like a decade.
Speaker 1: It always it is funny to think about them as
Speaker 1: as they were that team that was like kind of
Speaker 1: there but not really Like the Bronzos were there, the
Speaker 1: Colts were there, like Peyton Manning was there but whatever
Speaker 1: team he was on. But the Steelers weren't really ever there.
Speaker 1: They were a team to admire if you're a fan
Speaker 1: of a team that's struggling or an f C North team,
Speaker 1: but they were never that like you went too far,
Speaker 1: say you were drying, so you went too far and
Speaker 1: it became cartoon and and I just want to say,
Speaker 1: with Cessler and Damaschek together on the show today, it
Speaker 1: just shows you, you know, in this in this country
Speaker 1: where um everything is so turned up and it's always
Speaker 1: one side against the other and a lot of bad blood.
Speaker 1: And the fact that you two gentlemen have been on
Speaker 1: the show today and it had you could we haven't,
Speaker 1: Greg and I haven't since any hatred or tension despite
Speaker 1: the fact that I could tell you, Dave that a
Speaker 1: lot of your tweeting during the season really got under
Speaker 1: Mark skin. Uh. And then Mark had his great, great
Speaker 1: come up and it's come January, and that that felt
Speaker 1: like a measure of revenge against you Scheck for some
Speaker 1: of your pithy comments about his beloved Clevelan Browns. The
Speaker 1: fact that you guys can be on the show together
Speaker 1: and there's no ill will just kudos to both you met.
Speaker 1: That's who we are. Yeah, that's right. Were we defined
Speaker 1: class together and individually. But I really do think, um,
Speaker 1: I trying to go down another rabbit hole. You're talking
Speaker 1: about Jared Goff and Jimmy g and Carr and Wentz
Speaker 1: and all these guys. I am not convinced that Baker
Speaker 1: Mayfield is definitely the guy who is worth a big
Speaker 1: second contract. I'm not convinced to that, and I get
Speaker 1: that I'd take it with a grain of salt. I really,
Speaker 1: I sincerely. I felt pleasure for I felt happiness for
Speaker 1: because I'm classy, Like I say, for Mark Sessler. In
Speaker 1: the long suffering Browns fans, most of them, some of them.
Speaker 1: There's always a percentage of creeps out there with any
Speaker 1: fan base. But I was happy to see that. Also though,
Speaker 1: the celebration that came off of that, and as though
Speaker 1: they had as though Tom Brady thought that Browns fans
Speaker 1: got a little out of hand for winning a wild
Speaker 1: card game on that one like that was like drunk
Speaker 1: Tom Brady off the boat was like, all right, settled
Speaker 1: down Browns fans, you only want to playoff game. I
Speaker 1: agree with all that. I mean, I think they didn't
Speaker 1: in twenty years and it was big moment in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1: It was a whipping No, you should celebrate all that.
Speaker 1: It might be another twenty years. Who you never know,
Speaker 1: you might have. No. No, I'm not I'm not suggesting
Speaker 1: that you shouldn't have enjoyed that. I I am, though,
Speaker 1: saying I really do. Don't get over your skis about
Speaker 1: the Cleveland Grounds, because they did that. You know, they
Speaker 1: really they really were a Mason Rudolf two point conversion
Speaker 1: and then who knows a field goal and overtime away
Speaker 1: from not even getting there in a game that they
Speaker 1: had to have at home. They almost lost the Mason Rudolph.
Speaker 1: Now they turned around and they shame. I can't wait
Speaker 1: till you get I just said, I I just said
Speaker 1: they shamed the Steelers in a fashion that that that
Speaker 1: was hard the stomach. I I there are more painful
Speaker 1: losses that I would attribute to Tom Brady and the
Speaker 1: Patriots um in a couple of title games in the
Speaker 1: twenty one century, But the most embarrassing loss was that one.
Speaker 1: I mean Marky's penalty over the head Roethlisberger throwing the
Speaker 1: word interception literally, I know that sounds hyperbolic. The worst
Speaker 1: interception of his career was which one was that from
Speaker 1: where he sailed at seventeen feet over James Connor's head
Speaker 1: um for the pick and then and then you guys
Speaker 1: were off and running. I do though the the the
Speaker 1: the low expectation and the result that you got. I
Speaker 1: could see the Browns winning the division. I think it
Speaker 1: now has that vibe of a destination kind of place,
Speaker 1: like if J. J. Watt lands there and you put
Speaker 1: him alongside on the other side of Miles Garrett, fascinating stuff.
Speaker 1: It'll be a feel good um summertime for Browns fans.
Speaker 1: I just I'm not positive that that banks the guy
Speaker 1: how s well. I would say this so that the
Speaker 1: whole thing that these teams have to deal with where
Speaker 1: you aren't sure who your quarterback is, but this ticking
Speaker 1: clock sits out there and having to give them a
Speaker 1: massive contract just because all quarterback contracts are giant at
Speaker 1: this point, I think it's a huge talking point in
Speaker 1: cleaved and but compared to where he was a year ago,
Speaker 1: I mean, Baker, I think did everything you could have asked.
Speaker 1: But I'm with you that like do I think I
Speaker 1: would rather these contracts be like two years long and
Speaker 1: then we can let's check back in and see where
Speaker 1: we are at that point. But what I find delightful
Speaker 1: is that one of your primary concerns, Um, and whether
Speaker 1: you're not to feel this way about yourself, I feel
Speaker 1: this way about you. You're concerned about Browns fans getting
Speaker 1: over their skis. UM. That hasn't been an issue for
Speaker 1: decades plus. And what I enj what I noticed on Twitter, UM,
Speaker 1: was palpable panic from Steelers fans after they lost that
Speaker 1: playoff game. And you know, Steelers fans, they're not that
Speaker 1: much different than New England fans in the sense that
Speaker 1: if you're of a certain age, the bad times, you know,
Speaker 1: the truly bad times are deep in the rear view mirror.
Speaker 1: If you think that what just happened was tough to handle.
Speaker 1: Try two and a half decades of that, and let's
Speaker 1: check in on the mental um state of Pittsburgh's fan base.
Speaker 1: Then it will be interesting, it will be freaky. I
Speaker 1: cannot wait to hear your comments in or whatever. That's
Speaker 1: so we won't be able to see the Steelers van
Speaker 1: skis because they'll be buried under an avalanche the snow
Speaker 1: on the screen. And I thought that's what you were
Speaker 1: about that. I thought this was all leading to you,
Speaker 1: like if you thought that one hurt. I wanted it together. Greg,
Speaker 1: you kind of you were mentioning it earlier. And it's
Speaker 1: funny check brings it up, because yes, the golf contract
Speaker 1: went sideways, the went steel went sideways. Baker did come
Speaker 1: up in my mind as well. That is as great
Speaker 1: as he was at points last season and his rookie
Speaker 1: season as well. Maybe just waited out to see how
Speaker 1: this goes. Season goes, Let's let's see, like, Okay, you're
Speaker 1: a little grumbly Baker, just wait another year. What's the
Speaker 1: big what's the big hurry? I'm with you, well on
Speaker 1: all these guys, it's like you, it's if you have
Speaker 1: Deshaun Watson. That's one thing, like just sign him early,
Speaker 1: although you know even the Texans might have some regrets
Speaker 1: about that. But just if it's not the Shaun Watson,
Speaker 1: don't sign him, right, they're gonna blow that one. They're
Speaker 1: gonna they're they're heading down a path that they're gonna
Speaker 1: they're gonna wreck themselves by holding on to the Shan, right,
Speaker 1: that's what they're They're not gonna deal him. I bet
Speaker 1: you they hold on to him. They would be wise
Speaker 1: to deal him now or before the draft at least,
Speaker 1: but they're not gonna. I think they're gonna hold on
Speaker 1: to him, and they're gonna be like, hey, third week,
Speaker 1: dog is when you're showing up the Sean and he's
Speaker 1: gonna be like never, still should trade me? And they're
Speaker 1: just gonna sit on him because of the philosophy of like,
Speaker 1: you you can't negotiate with free agents who are sitting
Speaker 1: out because that sets a bad tone. And all of
Speaker 1: that mean it's it's a pristine organization with crystal clear
Speaker 1: thinking at this time. So I don't know where the
Speaker 1: doubts come from. I think maybe it's been playing playing
Speaker 1: the game for too long. But as Jack is setting
Speaker 1: up that hypothetical which could play out certainly. I'm thinking
Speaker 1: about my fantasy draft and what would I do in
Speaker 1: that situation. Interesting where he should go. I'd love it.
Speaker 1: I'd love it. I don't know if it's gonna happen,
Speaker 1: but it would be great. Mark. We talked about the
Speaker 1: Browns before we say goodbye UM for the weekend. UH.
Speaker 1: This is something that we didn't get a chance to
Speaker 1: talk about earlier, but the man deserves a moment of discussion.
Speaker 1: And one of your favorite NFL figures of all time
Speaker 1: who passed away last week. Let's listen to a little
Speaker 1: bit of this figure. Clean. Then there's a dream, let's
Speaker 1: get the glee. Marty Schottenheimer, one of the great head
Speaker 1: coaches of the late twentieth century UH top ten in
Speaker 1: all time wins, passed away at age seventies seven. Marty
Speaker 1: Ball it was, and he had an unbelievable run with
Speaker 1: the Cleveland Browns, also with the Chiefs, some huge seasons,
Speaker 1: even though it never got over that. They never got
Speaker 1: over of the Hunt Hump Washington football team and the Chargers.
Speaker 1: He went two hundred and one in twenty one seasons. UH.
Speaker 1: A big time winner. Mark, and I know when you
Speaker 1: came of age as a football fan, he was the
Speaker 1: man in Cleveland. Yeah, I mean I think that, you know,
Speaker 1: we could all for us, Like as Dave said, we're
Speaker 1: cheating life to be doing this as our work. Um,
Speaker 1: but we don't get here also without UM football at
Speaker 1: some point, UM capturing our hearts, our imaginations. UM for
Speaker 1: all of us is when we were young, young boys
Speaker 1: and when I became obsessed with the Cleveland Browns six
Speaker 1: when a friend moved to my town, my East coast
Speaker 1: town where everyone was watching the Giants and Jets. You know,
Speaker 1: it was like, I'll find out what whether or not
Speaker 1: this Browns team is for me, um as a favor.
Speaker 1: I watched a Monday night game my friends saying this
Speaker 1: will be your team, don't I think it was like
Speaker 1: a low level Cowboys Fani's like, forget the Cowboys. And
Speaker 1: it was Bernie Coozar, it was Ernest Biner, it was
Speaker 1: Frank Middifield. But for me, I've always been coach centry
Speaker 1: because I played football at that age and my coaches
Speaker 1: made a huge impact on me. And Marty Schottenheimer. Um,
Speaker 1: right away, I just felt like this is what a
Speaker 1: football coaches and For me, it was his verbalization and
Speaker 1: what he would say, and whenever he spoke, I just thought,
Speaker 1: this guy is different than the you know, big beer
Speaker 1: belly dude that is you know, you know, just punching
Speaker 1: the clock. This guy is a motivating force and a
Speaker 1: wonder on that front. And he really really got those
Speaker 1: Browns teams to believe. And I'll never forget that. It
Speaker 1: was guys like Ernest Biner who said he was like
Speaker 1: a father to me. So many Browns players said that.
Speaker 1: And you know, on a personal note, my mom um
Speaker 1: worked for this law office and the head lawyer guy
Speaker 1: was friends with Schottenheimer and on a whim in like
Speaker 1: she's like reached, she had this guy reach out to
Speaker 1: Marty Schottenheimer and just say there's this like obsessed nerd
Speaker 1: on the East coast who loves the Browns, and shot
Speaker 1: point blank, Schottenheimer sent me like this sign poster of
Speaker 1: the entire team, you know, which is not a big
Speaker 1: deal except when you're that age. I was literally freaking out.
Speaker 1: And I went to my first ever Brown scheme at
Speaker 1: Cleveland Municipal Stadium in November of It was a surprise
Speaker 1: gift from my dad, and they went and whipped up
Speaker 1: on a bad Steelers team, you know that eight eight
Speaker 1: team back then, and uh it was in a pouring
Speaker 1: rain and in the third quarter Schottenheimer had organized for
Speaker 1: at old Cleveland Municipal Stadium for my name to be
Speaker 1: put up on the big, gigantic end zone dog Pound
Speaker 1: teleprompter thing with an announcement along with a bunch of
Speaker 1: other announcements, girl scouts and all this other business. But
Speaker 1: then one of them was happy birthday to this guy
Speaker 1: from the East Coast, and I he it's little things
Speaker 1: like that, but I think Marty Schottenheimer the person if
Speaker 1: you ever go watch a football life on him, it's
Speaker 1: the person up until the end. And I'm it was
Speaker 1: really sad to see how he went out because he
Speaker 1: wasn't able to be that engaged fire starter. And it's
Speaker 1: a pleasure to have Dave on the show because I
Speaker 1: know that West was one, well, the one person I
Speaker 1: could talk about those old A s C. Central days with.
Speaker 1: He knew it. He was a Bengals fan during the
Speaker 1: Schottenheimer Brown's days and check you were right in that
Speaker 1: mix too. It was a special time in the NFL.
Speaker 1: It really was. I love that that a f C.
Speaker 1: Central Air. There is Sam Retigliano gave and bum Phillips
Speaker 1: gave way to Jerry Glandville and Marty Schottenheimer and Sam
Speaker 1: Whish and Chaz Know the emperor of the division reprimanding
Speaker 1: some of those guys. If he didn't like something Jerry
Speaker 1: Glandville did, he would let him know on the field
Speaker 1: right after the game, in the handshake kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: Before Pete Carroll and Jim Harbaugh college football fields were
Speaker 1: arguing with each other, No would pull him in and say,
Speaker 1: you better tell your guys to cut that crap out.
Speaker 1: He would reprimand them, like, this is our division, this
Speaker 1: is how it is. And Schottenheimer, a Pittsburgh guy, was
Speaker 1: was easy to root for, not just because he was
Speaker 1: from Pittsburgh, but the there's a gleam man and all
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff that you see in movies and
Speaker 1: in the muck. In my or of January, I did
Speaker 1: find myself rooting impossibly for the Browns to win those games.
Speaker 1: And Rich Carlos missed the field goal in overtime, it
Speaker 1: would have hit the post. Football would be different. We
Speaker 1: could have had Cessler Bowl. I never realized that it
Speaker 1: really would have happened very quickly because it would have
Speaker 1: been the Browns and the Giants in uh Phil Sims
Speaker 1: versus book Bernie Kosar. What a super Bowl for that
Speaker 1: would have been if young Mark Suz are gonna watch
Speaker 1: that to steal his steal his heart for all of time,
Speaker 1: if that matchup would have happened. But yeah, Schottenheimer, he
Speaker 1: gonna you know, I don't know, I don't know where
Speaker 1: the middle is there. I guess it's somewhere in between
Speaker 1: of like Belichick's way and Bob Knight's way and iron
Speaker 1: fist and all that kind of stuff. And Marty Schottenheimer
Speaker 1: beloved by all who encountered him, father figure and all that.
Speaker 1: I know, Browns fans wish and Chargers fans would have
Speaker 1: liked to have seen him bring a Lombardi home. But
Speaker 1: in the meantime, you know, listen, we can soccer in
Speaker 1: this it. Maybe you know, those things are nice to man.
Speaker 1: I would have liked for the Browns to get one.
Speaker 1: I guess so that Schottenheimer had that and therefore would
Speaker 1: have had a gold jacket. Certainly she don elway his
Speaker 1: whole career. I mean Kansas City too, Chiefs fans too,
Speaker 1: and Chargers fans I saw this. I saw this, you know,
Speaker 1: he was eighty games over five hundred. I saw this,
Speaker 1: like advanced metric evaluation of the best dynasties never to
Speaker 1: reach a super Bowl, which is like they defined as
Speaker 1: a four year run by football side that the Saints
Speaker 1: just entered that discussion the last four years basically, and
Speaker 1: I think they were, you know, in their statistical view,
Speaker 1: was actually going to be number one. Number two and
Speaker 1: three were Shottenheimer teams. And it wasn't the Browns, it
Speaker 1: was it was the Chiefs. And he contributed to most
Speaker 1: of the Chargers round which Nord Nord Turner finished off.
Speaker 1: And so like he he coached great teams basically everywhere
Speaker 1: he went. It was. It wasn't even just those Browns
Speaker 1: teams so many. I hope you and Antonio Kramardi are
Speaker 1: happy with yourselves. Hand, So she really ruined what could
Speaker 1: have been special season for the Sandy. You know what,
Speaker 1: that doesn't happen? Um, you guys? Wait, am I getting
Speaker 1: it right? That? Wait? What how did that go down?
Speaker 1: That was a part of And it was the fourteen
Speaker 1: and two Chargers team number one, see the Jets or
Speaker 1: nine and seven? That game? They Yeah, there was it
Speaker 1: was a close game. But yeah, the Chargers just seemed
Speaker 1: and those Marty teams always seemed to come up short
Speaker 1: in the playoffs but also in just crushing ways. And
Speaker 1: I was thinking about, of course, everybody knows the drive
Speaker 1: in the fumble with Cleveland, but with the Chiefs, they
Speaker 1: had some excellent teams, uh, in addition to the Chargers
Speaker 1: teams that are excellent. And like I was looking back
Speaker 1: back at my old Pain rankings, and I would have
Speaker 1: a category the patron saying to pain for organizations. I
Speaker 1: had Marty in that because he was he was the
Speaker 1: face of the you know, building up those massive Chiefs
Speaker 1: teams in the nineties that would always stumble and fall
Speaker 1: when they they should have played. Really, um, they would
Speaker 1: have played the All Boys in Super Bowl thirty and
Speaker 1: it would have been a grand one if if their
Speaker 1: kicker hadn't missed three kicks in that game. Um yeah,
Speaker 1: that was that. That's um, yet another one, And I
Speaker 1: get just because I have to hear the answer. Rosenthal
Speaker 1: air corre Els h and Dan Foux's Chargers have to
Speaker 1: be I think the numbers didn't go back. I think
Speaker 1: Devodvo it doesn't go back that far. So it goes
Speaker 1: back like thirty some thirty five, thirty six years or something. Um, okay,
Speaker 1: there you go. And I did get a chance to
Speaker 1: meet Marty Schottenheimer when we wrote the blog for Around
Speaker 1: the NFL Around the League and people would come through
Speaker 1: the studio and do the car wash. Got to sit
Speaker 1: down with Marty and his wife, just a really kind man.
Speaker 1: I went into that Shadow League Figures office and I said,
Speaker 1: Mark doesn't want it. Mark would rather just sit and
Speaker 1: file copy on the Sean Jackson's hamstring injury. So I
Speaker 1: just handled been talking to un serious guy. I've been
Speaker 1: talking to damn shik again. I've been keep us all
Speaker 1: on the ball. All right, there you go, rest in peace,
Speaker 1: Marty Schottenheimer. Uh check you've come and you've said it all,
Speaker 1: and uh we really we miss we miss everybody because
Speaker 1: we haven't seen anybody from the office uh in a year.
Speaker 1: But the fact that you are no longer with the
Speaker 1: company and that's a bummer too. So it's just great
Speaker 1: to have you on the show. Well, a pleasure of course,
Speaker 1: and I look forward to once this uh, this insanity
Speaker 1: uh is lifted being able to you know Rosenthal, your
Speaker 1: wife West and I two of the great dinners of
Speaker 1: my life. And I remember, by the way, Handsu Sessler,
Speaker 1: West and me went to a great steak place in
Speaker 1: New York City. Rosenthal, the misses Westing and I had
Speaker 1: a three and a half hour dinner in a restaurant,
Speaker 1: and you and Rosenthal, handsome and I had one of
Speaker 1: the five best dinners of my life in New Orleans.
Speaker 1: So I look forward to getting back on that train,
Speaker 1: and I lament that. You know, I'm happy. I texted
Speaker 1: they hand zeus last night. Little things stand out to
Speaker 1: me now. I saw that Barry Larkin has signed on
Speaker 1: to do color analysis for the Reds this year. And
Speaker 1: the first thing I b West is gonna love. Uh West,
Speaker 1: I loved that. He really that would have. Yeah, he
Speaker 1: loved to watch the Red Legs just purely for pleasure,
Speaker 1: and he would have enjoyed that. And I joked with Cessila,
Speaker 1: I look forward to the rise of Joe Burrow and
Speaker 1: watching West struggle to fight off the urge to start
Speaker 1: rooting for them once again. But I appreciate you guys
Speaker 1: having me on to talk about a great fellow. Check
Speaker 1: and yes, again Chris Westling is being celebrated on what
Speaker 1: would have been his forty seven birthday over on NFL
Speaker 1: dot com. It's up now. I just checked it out.
Speaker 1: So if you go to the homepage scroll down, you'll
Speaker 1: see a lot of his best stuff, including uh, one
Speaker 1: of his great pieces Ten football books you must read,
Speaker 1: and he put a ton of work and effort into
Speaker 1: it in fact and or of Wes and and and
Speaker 1: thanks to Mark as well for um putting it on
Speaker 1: my radar. Um. Number one on his list is a
Speaker 1: Fans Notes by Frederick Exuley Uh, And I scooped that
Speaker 1: up on Amazon last week and I just started it
Speaker 1: and I'm really enjoying it. Like as I'm reading, I
Speaker 1: was like, oh, I get why West is in love
Speaker 1: with this book and this writer. But check out as
Speaker 1: well if you're if you're somebody who absolutely loves football
Speaker 1: and just want craves the best writing about football. Nobody
Speaker 1: had more knowledge of that than Chris, and Chris sets
Speaker 1: sets the table so beautifully in that article, one of
Speaker 1: the many great reads over there on dot com. As
Speaker 1: we remember the great Chris westling um, alright, anybody else have?
Speaker 1: I would just say that Fans Notes that Um. One
Speaker 1: of my earliest memories of West was before I met him,
Speaker 1: but you know how, you know, you'd start to engage
Speaker 1: with people on Twitter and go back and forth and
Speaker 1: we um, I don't know how it started, but we
Speaker 1: got on this riff about a year and a half
Speaker 1: before he started at NFL dot com about a fan's notes,
Speaker 1: and I immediately just remember thinking like this is a
Speaker 1: different type of sports fan and sportswriter on Twitter. Like
Speaker 1: he wasn't had nothing to do with numbers and analytics
Speaker 1: and all this other business. He was in love with
Speaker 1: what that story had to tell us. So I really
Speaker 1: think that anyone out there who has not read that book,
Speaker 1: you will get a sense and a slice of the
Speaker 1: West mystique um inside those pages. Well said, well said.
Speaker 1: All right, we'll be back full slate of shows next
Speaker 1: week as we start to edge, of course, toward free
Speaker 1: agency and the draft. And thank you again to the
Speaker 1: great Dave Damn Shack. Check him out Minus three pod
Speaker 1: and the Extra Points podcast and hopefully Dave's the thunder
Speaker 1: they just you know comes we'll be back. But happy
Speaker 1: birthday in the meantime to the Boss and the West
Speaker 1: and keep up with the mirth fellas. Thank you jack
Speaker 1: Uh and happy birthday to Greg ros In for two years,
Speaker 1: Young Jack the Jackie Robinson of the Around the NFL
Speaker 1: podum had shack the old Boss and the new Birthday
Speaker 1: joy and by behind the virtual of glass. Have a
Speaker 1: great weekend until Monday.