Speaker 1: Hey, everybody. Before we get to the show, a little
Speaker 1: update about what's going on in the world. People affected
Speaker 1: by severe weather and other disasters need help now. To
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Speaker 1: let's get to the show. Be Around the NFL Podcast
Speaker 1: would be my first overall pick in a fantasy dram.
Speaker 1: Oh that's nice. Welcome to another edition of the Around
Speaker 1: the NFL Podcast. My name is Dan fans is coming
Speaker 1: to you from a virtual room filled with heroes, Mark Sessler,
Speaker 1: Greg Rostal and our old buddy, the Great Steve. What's
Speaker 1: up boys? Coming up? Fantasy spectacular? A little little pop there? Not.
Speaker 1: Nothing's happened in the world or uh in sports or
Speaker 1: the NFL since that Fantasy Spectacular? Not at all. You
Speaker 1: haven't been busy at all on NFL network. Nah, No,
Speaker 1: I mean nothing nothing in pro sports whatsoever, especially the NBA,
Speaker 1: boy and quiet not at all. Yeah, that's actually if
Speaker 1: well you can't see it listeners, but we're on a
Speaker 1: video stream while we're doing this, and they've Steve is
Speaker 1: in front of what I imagine to be his bed.
Speaker 1: They just moved that to NFL Network and he just
Speaker 1: sleeps in that. They put it in the green room
Speaker 1: and then they wake Steve up and then have an
Speaker 1: anchor another seven hours of either hard hitting news analysis
Speaker 1: or major social events, and they just have Steve at
Speaker 1: the front of it at all times. I'm sure it's
Speaker 1: not at all a grind for you this summer in Springs. Hey, look,
Speaker 1: there's a difference between a job and there's a difference
Speaker 1: between work. Um, so what I am doing is is
Speaker 1: a job, and the NFL Network is definitely keeping me
Speaker 1: in a specific lane. You've been there a long time.
Speaker 1: You've been at the network since the beginning, right, No, No,
Speaker 1: I came in in Uh when did I start? No? Five?
Speaker 1: So I think I was three years after the phone
Speaker 1: the found me. Yeah, well there hasn't. I mean, there's
Speaker 1: never been a you haven't had a you've never seen
Speaker 1: a summer like this, or you've never seen programs like this.
Speaker 1: I get that that hits me watching it yesterday. And
Speaker 1: you did an awesome job. You know. Some of the
Speaker 1: interviews like with with Derrick Kendricks, were you know, emotional,
Speaker 1: They were a lot, they were impactful, and but watching it,
Speaker 1: I just thought, Man, NFL network is different than it was,
Speaker 1: you know, three or four years ago at this time,
Speaker 1: and in if nothing else, that's some that's some change.
Speaker 1: You know, if like if racial progress in this country
Speaker 1: is like an ocean liner, it's like that, that's it
Speaker 1: moving a little bit, because I would have never imagined
Speaker 1: like some of just the programming that we've had, and
Speaker 1: I know a lot of people are are proud of that.
Speaker 1: Whatever would have imagined that been possible on NFL network
Speaker 1: a few years back. No, look, let's go back just
Speaker 1: four years to this past Wednesday through all August, right,
Speaker 1: that's when Colin Kaepernick sat for the national anthem at
Speaker 1: the game. I was at the preseason game against the
Speaker 1: Packers up at Santa Clara Um, and of course that's
Speaker 1: what started the whole um protesting, you know, racial injustice
Speaker 1: or the national anthem and the crap we had to
Speaker 1: go through just to have that discussion. Everything had to
Speaker 1: be run up fifteen levels of chains, like why can't
Speaker 1: we just have a discussion, and so you talk about
Speaker 1: an evolution, So now it's just like, hey, let's have
Speaker 1: an idea let's discuss it. You guys are pretty much
Speaker 1: green lighted. I mean still as we know our network
Speaker 1: and where we work, some things do have to go
Speaker 1: through a lot of clearance. That's in any workplace. UM.
Speaker 1: But you know again that that is an evolution that
Speaker 1: you talked about an ocean line or moving racial progress
Speaker 1: at least in terms of programming. This is more like
Speaker 1: it's been a speedboat. So you know, I will I
Speaker 1: will give the network in the NFL credit for that.
Speaker 1: I think some of the genesis for that were the
Speaker 1: you know, company wide zoom calls that you you hosted
Speaker 1: along with MJ some of that, and there was just
Speaker 1: very real, raw uh life experiences on there, and it
Speaker 1: kind of blew the walls down. There was no I didn't.
Speaker 1: I just feel like that it was a turning point
Speaker 1: to somebody where it's like, we're not gonna turn around
Speaker 1: and it's not gonna be two thousand and fifteen with
Speaker 1: all this red tape to get stuff on the air.
Speaker 1: At this point, it's gonna be real or I think
Speaker 1: people want to jump ship or just wait for it
Speaker 1: to die down and then waited out and then move up.
Speaker 1: Let's get back to football. I'm totally with you on that.
Speaker 1: Hmm uh, Steve, so obviously great to talk to you
Speaker 1: about all this stuff, but also you are such a
Speaker 1: great football reporter. So as much time as you have today,
Speaker 1: we're gonna gonna spend through what's going on in the league.
Speaker 1: If you if you gotta jump off, if they if
Speaker 1: they yank you and say we need you back in
Speaker 1: the studio to anchor fourteen straight hours, we got you.
Speaker 1: If you want to hang in for half an hour,
Speaker 1: that would be awesome too. So I'm here for you, guys.
Speaker 1: Don't worry about it. You just you know you need
Speaker 1: I got, I got you. H You're the man, all right,
Speaker 1: let's get into it. So the last time, uh, we
Speaker 1: spoke to you, we did our standard Monday news show
Speaker 1: and then the Fantasy Extravaganza, which you could check out
Speaker 1: of course right now if you have a fantasy draft
Speaker 1: coming up Wednesday, so we didn't hit any news and
Speaker 1: then everything exploded, uh in this country again. There was
Speaker 1: the terrible police shooting of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin that
Speaker 1: has really upset a lot of people in this country.
Speaker 1: And the NBA had a historic moment on Wednesday when
Speaker 1: in the middle of their playoffs, in the middle of
Speaker 1: a bubble uh down in Orlando where all the teams
Speaker 1: are UH. There was essentially a walkout, and a decision
Speaker 1: was made by the teams that were scheduled on Wednesday
Speaker 1: and the league players in general that we're not playing
Speaker 1: while all this is going on uh in our world
Speaker 1: and affects obviously black players so much and all of us.
Speaker 1: And then the NFL the next day practices start to
Speaker 1: be uh canceled. In fact, nine teams had their practices
Speaker 1: uh canceled. Bears, Jets, Packers, Cults, Titans, Broncos, Cardinals, Chargers,
Speaker 1: and the Washington football team. They did not practice Thursday
Speaker 1: in response to the shooting. On Friday, the Ravens didn't
Speaker 1: practice and announced that they were going to have a
Speaker 1: hold a unifying session about social justice reform. It's all
Speaker 1: at the forefront, and uh, Steve, what have you taken
Speaker 1: out of the last seventy two hours and not just
Speaker 1: the NFL world but the sports world here. Well, look,
Speaker 1: it's there's always been this kind of stimmering discussion, right
Speaker 1: with the NFL being black and the NBA being what
Speaker 1: black and these these uh professional sports. What would happen.
Speaker 1: If these players of color decided to strike, so to speak,
Speaker 1: they're gonna withhold their services everything pretty much other than
Speaker 1: the NHL and the NASCAR. Opposite of a Bubba Wallace,
Speaker 1: we come to a screeching halt. So what we've seen
Speaker 1: these athletes do, and some people are like, well, what
Speaker 1: is missing a practice actually do for you know, leveling
Speaker 1: the playing field so to speak. Well, it gets people
Speaker 1: once again talking about something. So and I said this
Speaker 1: on Area yesterday, let's let's give these athletes credit all
Speaker 1: summer long. They've heard the discussion. We need sports to
Speaker 1: give America distraction. We need something to take us away
Speaker 1: from the constant discussion about you know, this this racial tempest,
Speaker 1: you know, the societal ills. So these athletes said, okay,
Speaker 1: we've given you that. We've give you know, there's been
Speaker 1: the NBA playoffs, Major League Baseball and whatnot. But yet
Speaker 1: we have another police shooting. We've got a seventeen year
Speaker 1: old white kid shooting protesters with an armed rifle that
Speaker 1: apparently his mother helped him get and drove him across
Speaker 1: state lines to execute. So we're gonna step back from
Speaker 1: sports so you don't have that distraction so we have
Speaker 1: to focus on these conversations one more time because there
Speaker 1: is an election coming up in a couple of months, UM,
Speaker 1: where maybe you can vote out some district attorneys who
Speaker 1: are not holding police officers accountable. There are things that, um,
Speaker 1: these players are trying to draw attention to because you know,
Speaker 1: you hear a lot of these athletes whore saying, what
Speaker 1: is what is what's going on? We've been We've been
Speaker 1: in the streets for months, We've been doing this and
Speaker 1: they're still shooting unarmed black people. But the law enforcement
Speaker 1: and so there's a sense of frustration there as well.
Speaker 1: But I mean that's where some of these conversations teams
Speaker 1: are having saying, Look, this isn't necessarily as much as
Speaker 1: we want to be short term, this could be a
Speaker 1: long term play too. This is why you have to educate,
Speaker 1: and this is why you have to take a step back.
Speaker 1: And as Troy Vincent, the nfl is senior vice president
Speaker 1: Football Operations, set on an ESPN radio interview yesterday, if
Speaker 1: you don't think NFL players aren't talking about missing ball
Speaker 1: games in your wildly naive um. Jim Trotter had a
Speaker 1: tweet this morning saying that he has heard from players
Speaker 1: saying this conversation is going on. So could you imagine
Speaker 1: after a whole summer of the NFL coming up with
Speaker 1: all these plans to play football during COVID and no
Speaker 1: fans in the stadium, that if all of a sudden
Speaker 1: the players pulled out the trap door and said we're
Speaker 1: not taking the field, it would be gutting. And you
Speaker 1: talk about enhancing conversation and potential action and stoking emotions, Um,
Speaker 1: that would be a tricker. And again, let's let's not
Speaker 1: think if if all of a sudden, something else happens
Speaker 1: and police officers aren't arrested or nothing is taken into account.
Speaker 1: It's it's a different day. We talked about it is
Speaker 1: a different day, and this could absolutely happen. And the
Speaker 1: players voices are so powerful together and I think part
Speaker 1: of it is, you know what people wondering, what what
Speaker 1: can you accomplish by sitting out, Well, there's a lot
Speaker 1: of people that aren't listening. They don't have any black
Speaker 1: people in their life to listen to. It's gonna be athletes,
Speaker 1: I mean they this is the conversation that wouldn't be
Speaker 1: happening in a lot of places if it wasn't for sports,
Speaker 1: and when people say like, well, what what's the actual action,
Speaker 1: Like is anyone paying attention here? Like the NBA literally
Speaker 1: just announced that they're going to agree to essentially require
Speaker 1: any NBA arenas UM which the owner of the team
Speaker 1: you know, owns UM to open up and be a
Speaker 1: voting facility. Like the work that Lebron has done their
Speaker 1: UM is happening. And all these players which which we
Speaker 1: try to highlight sometimes but we know it's not football,
Speaker 1: but they're doing a ton of things in their community.
Speaker 1: They're just trying to get people to listen. And I
Speaker 1: think that that's effective, you know, on a grassroots level,
Speaker 1: but it's also just effective like emotionally, I think if
Speaker 1: anyone's listening, you know, just list thing to these people
Speaker 1: to um. Eric Hendricks for instance, you know, talk about
Speaker 1: his pain and so how can you not be affected
Speaker 1: by that? And so that's I think reaching people that
Speaker 1: otherwise would maybe not have black voices uh in their lives.
Speaker 1: And and that's a that's a powerful thing when when
Speaker 1: they stand together, because I think you look at the
Speaker 1: ownership level and people are saying, Okay, well, what are
Speaker 1: the NFL owners gonna say? You know, because we haven't
Speaker 1: heard a ton from them. Well, you look at the Ravens.
Speaker 1: That's the team who who released the statement with some
Speaker 1: very specific, you know, requests, and that's a team you know,
Speaker 1: they asked Mitch McConnell to bring the George George Floyd
Speaker 1: Justice and Policing Act Um to the Senate floor. That's
Speaker 1: very specific. And some people might think it's political. Well,
Speaker 1: the the leadership of that team in terms of you know,
Speaker 1: ownership and coaches and stuff. To me that they're saying
Speaker 1: it's not political because they're from different sides of the aisle,
Speaker 1: if you want to look at it that way, like
Speaker 1: you're talking to their players, but they're they're not necessarily
Speaker 1: voting the same way that their players vote. But they're saying,
Speaker 1: this is just not shooting unarmed black people. This is
Speaker 1: human rights, you know what. You know, this isn't like
Speaker 1: a political statement. And for that organization to move from
Speaker 1: to that statement from three years ago, at this very time,
Speaker 1: their team president was saying in the public forum that
Speaker 1: they asked sponsors and their fans whether they should sign
Speaker 1: Kaepernick or not as an excuse sort of to to
Speaker 1: not signed Kaepernick after you know, John Harbow was pretty
Speaker 1: clear he wanted to I mean that that's changed. I
Speaker 1: mean that that's having a pretty big impact on a
Speaker 1: pretty big um organization that has has a lot of
Speaker 1: say in the city of Baltimore. I mean there is
Speaker 1: there's there are no black owners, and it took the
Speaker 1: NFL one hundred years to hire the first black team president.
Speaker 1: So I mean there's it's totally discordant with the fact
Speaker 1: and Steve, just like you said, I mean the communities
Speaker 1: where seventy five or eighty of these players, many of
Speaker 1: them come from our unrecognizable to to to what the
Speaker 1: owners grew up dealing with, and many executives, and I
Speaker 1: do see one thing that I find encouraging is I
Speaker 1: mean I think the coaches were in a real different
Speaker 1: place a couple of years ago. I had talked to
Speaker 1: one head coach, you know, and this doesn't happen often,
Speaker 1: but he basically unloaded on the Kaepernick situation and basically
Speaker 1: we he said, this is a distraction to us. We
Speaker 1: don't want to deal with that kind of stuff. I
Speaker 1: see coaches today, uh, listening and interacting with their players,
Speaker 1: and even those teams that didn't cancel practice, they took
Speaker 1: time and a lot of time and will continue to
Speaker 1: to say where are we on this. You look at
Speaker 1: the Titans, the message they put out as a team
Speaker 1: that was very powerful visually to see that, and you
Speaker 1: know their players are powerful, they have they have this
Speaker 1: has swung in their favor and I think that's so
Speaker 1: different than the NFL that I grew up watching. And
Speaker 1: you know, I can only imagine where will be a
Speaker 1: couple of months from now because I have grown more.
Speaker 1: I think when this started and Steve, we had you
Speaker 1: on right after, you know, the George Floyd incident that
Speaker 1: I thought, oh, this is very hopeful. All this is happening,
Speaker 1: you kind of, you know, stepped down and said, I
Speaker 1: don't I'm not there yet. I don't think we necessarily
Speaker 1: can just say everything's gonna change for the better. And
Speaker 1: I have come to agree with that in the sense
Speaker 1: that it's not a matter of if, but when the
Speaker 1: next thing occurs that causes the entire sports world to
Speaker 1: pause again. I just it doesn't seem like we're out
Speaker 1: of out of the woods on any front. Um. Good stuff, guys.
Speaker 1: You know, I I just curious, Steve, if you had
Speaker 1: anything else to add before we move on from this topic. UM,
Speaker 1: go ahead, yeah, I mean it's everything you guys said.
Speaker 1: It was so eloquent. I mean, from the fact that
Speaker 1: the players using their their voices, and I think the
Speaker 1: NBA has really led the way on this, and the
Speaker 1: NBA has always been more outspoken because the players segressing
Speaker 1: the Lion it's on Tuesday. Not to cut you off,
Speaker 1: but it isn't is interesting the Lions on Tuesday sort
Speaker 1: of were the first ones to to react. I did
Speaker 1: find that kind of compelling, you know what I mean
Speaker 1: with a team, let Patricia was the first one to
Speaker 1: act right, and this is a team where before we
Speaker 1: heard the mad Patricia wasn't listening to his players. So
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, that's you know, to get to
Speaker 1: the point you talked about where coaches being in a
Speaker 1: different place, I mean, that's that's a great step. And
Speaker 1: we're seeing teams like the Carolina Panthers using their stadium
Speaker 1: as a polling place. And you know, one of the
Speaker 1: studies where Jerry Mandarink has been highlighted for years and
Speaker 1: where Gerry management highlighted for years. Um, it's just again,
Speaker 1: you know, to hear Devin mccordy yesterday, the pages though.
Speaker 1: Um it was gutting and um for him to say that,
Speaker 1: you know, even if we do miss games or do this,
Speaker 1: there's just so many people who still won't care about
Speaker 1: black and brown lives. Um. And he over and over
Speaker 1: he talked about the hopelessness. But this is where hopefully
Speaker 1: some of these people understand. If you've got a ten
Speaker 1: year old son or daughter who says, uh, hey, dad,
Speaker 1: how come they're not playing NBA games tonight, He's got
Speaker 1: to answer himself thing. And this is where they're either
Speaker 1: going to direct their children, um to seeing the world
Speaker 1: through a straw of white privilege or hate, or they're
Speaker 1: gonna say, well, listen there, they're not playing because you know,
Speaker 1: we've seen this summer a lot of black people and
Speaker 1: armed black people have been killed by police and blah blah,
Speaker 1: and explain some of the social dynamics were even eight
Speaker 1: years from now. And that child is that has an
Speaker 1: opportunity to vote or to do something, they can grow
Speaker 1: up with a different type of mindset. So that's why
Speaker 1: I'm looks a fifty four year old man saying, you know,
Speaker 1: we get, we just can't give up. As frustrating as
Speaker 1: it is, as many times as we say, nothing is happening.
Speaker 1: Like with Bruce Arians Um said, hey, protesting, I've been
Speaker 1: doing it since the sixties. Nothing's coming out of And
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people took his words the
Speaker 1: wrong way because Bruce Arians frankly, is about it. It's
Speaker 1: about it. I mean he's done. He's done more for
Speaker 1: you know, integrating his coaching staff with people of color
Speaker 1: and women than anybody so far by light years. And
Speaker 1: and so just because we're not seeing short term results,
Speaker 1: which we all want, doesn't mean that the steps players
Speaker 1: and coaches and teams are taking Um isn't working. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Arians pointed to nineteen sixty seven and nineteen sixty because
Speaker 1: he was on the ground back then too, and like
Speaker 1: he was a educator and a teacher before he became
Speaker 1: a coach. Though I hear you on that front too.
Speaker 1: All right, let's move on. And before we do, Mark,
Speaker 1: I talked to one head coach what it got going
Speaker 1: on up there? Mark? What's going on at Sessler manor? Well,
Speaker 1: I'm just saying because first of all, all I like
Speaker 1: this is back in the day or years ago. Me
Speaker 1: acting like I like do this all the time is
Speaker 1: what I'm trying to say is it was an unusual
Speaker 1: occurrence for me to be speaking with a head coach.
Speaker 1: But the conce you did, you left it. You left
Speaker 1: it vague enough to make it seem like maybe you
Speaker 1: picked up the phone yesterday and you're like, you know what,
Speaker 1: you know, this is a sense of the time in
Speaker 1: the country. I need to hear from one of the
Speaker 1: thirty two I know on this show that that would
Speaker 1: have that comment would be followed up on so I
Speaker 1: it wouldn't stay vague for long. I'm guessing it was
Speaker 1: after a couple of pops in in Indianapolis. Well, wrong city,
Speaker 1: But you're not wrong. On the other that was actually
Speaker 1: a verbalized feat by Mark that was very well done,
Speaker 1: so open ended. Drop right, Greg, it was. It was
Speaker 1: a right pub wrong stool. All right, let's move on,
Speaker 1: talk about all right. The Washington Post on Wednesday reported
Speaker 1: additional examples of workplace sexual harassment inside the Washington football
Speaker 1: team organization. There are allegations that Dan Snyder, the team owner,
Speaker 1: was personally involved. I'll watch out now, Watch out now.
Speaker 1: The Post reported a former cheerleader saying Snyder invited her
Speaker 1: to a hotel room with one of his friends and
Speaker 1: that longtime team executive Larry Michael. That's how about this
Speaker 1: dude made extra cheerleading videos for the owners, showing sensitive
Speaker 1: material that wasn't made public. Snyder released a statement denying
Speaker 1: those specific allegations and saying he was unaware of the
Speaker 1: incidents until now. Greg h you know, the league quit,
Speaker 1: you know, quickly came out with the statement, said we're
Speaker 1: gonna investigate all of this. The allegations are abhorrent and
Speaker 1: all that. When the Post, which obviously is a source
Speaker 1: to be trusted, continues to have this avalanche of material
Speaker 1: and now Snyder is personally implicated, it potentially changes the
Speaker 1: come of this organizational reboot. Yeah. I was really confused
Speaker 1: by a lot of the public statements and that, and
Speaker 1: that's what we can go off. I guess, you know,
Speaker 1: if we want to just stick to strict reporting. The
Speaker 1: the NFL's statement, you know, said how aggressively they condone
Speaker 1: the behavior. The behavior didn't name the team, right, and
Speaker 1: I I I also think of whom the person because
Speaker 1: the behavior that was alleged was the owner, you know,
Speaker 1: he he was at the top of the alleged behavior.
Speaker 1: So that's part of it. Then you look at Washington
Speaker 1: football team's statements, and and part of it was stronger
Speaker 1: than it was a few weeks ago that the team
Speaker 1: said the behavior had no place in our society. Snyder
Speaker 1: said at one point he takes full responsibility because he's
Speaker 1: in charge of the organization, but then the rest of
Speaker 1: the statement went on to aggressively attack the victim, condoning
Speaker 1: the behavior. It also went on to say how much
Speaker 1: better that they need to be as an organization, while
Speaker 1: saying they denied all the allegations, So why do you
Speaker 1: need to be better if if you're denying the allegations.
Speaker 1: It's very confusing. And then on top of all of
Speaker 1: those statements, you have a confusing investigation that's going on
Speaker 1: that the NFL use the word independent, but ultimately the
Speaker 1: investigation is hired out by the team. And you add
Speaker 1: that all up, and and Jason Wright had their new
Speaker 1: team president, had a great statement on that. But it's
Speaker 1: a lot, it's a lot to deal with, and it
Speaker 1: makes it's discouraging, and it's discouraging for right. Like I
Speaker 1: thought about this when they announced him, and everyone was
Speaker 1: excited about the progress, and they should be, but I
Speaker 1: also thought, well, you know what, you know what, you know,
Speaker 1: it'd be great, Um if the first black team president
Speaker 1: isn't um having to defend the indefensible on some level
Speaker 1: within a week of of getting the job, that that
Speaker 1: he got a job that that wouldn't require that. Well,
Speaker 1: I mean if if he came to the organization didn't
Speaker 1: think he was gonna be he knew what he was
Speaker 1: walking into. Yeah, I mean, Jason, Jason knew we was
Speaker 1: coming into. I mean, this is this is an organization
Speaker 1: that's had misstep after misstep. But this is awful, um
Speaker 1: in terms of you know, additional allegations. But you're right,
Speaker 1: who's going to be investigating this? Okay? If this is
Speaker 1: I mean, just think about how much he the league took,
Speaker 1: you know, when when it hired the independent investigator to
Speaker 1: investigate bounty Gate, and just like how much of the
Speaker 1: supposed evidence. I mean, it seems so skewed in some cases,
Speaker 1: Like Okay, so the NFL ended up lacking credibility because
Speaker 1: it hired its own and how investigators and we saw
Speaker 1: the punishment was like Sean Payton getting suspended for a
Speaker 1: year and somebody the punishment handed down significantly team to
Speaker 1: outweigh the evidence that this independent investigation was able to
Speaker 1: get its hands on. And so what what's gonna happen here?
Speaker 1: I mean, suppose this independent investigation finds out all these
Speaker 1: insidiary things that Dan Snyder was accused of. Okay, what's
Speaker 1: the recommendation, What's what's the result. Are we gonna should
Speaker 1: he sell the team? He's getting sued by his minority
Speaker 1: owners essentially right now. That was a big part of
Speaker 1: the report, I mean, and that's part of what they want,
Speaker 1: is for him to sell the team. Another two, there's
Speaker 1: two more interesting turn down this and our former employer,
Speaker 1: the Washington Post. Um, you know, Daniel Snyder accused him
Speaker 1: of this being a hit job, right who owns the
Speaker 1: Washington Post, Guys, Jeff correct Well, who's the number one
Speaker 1: name you here? As as as someone that the league
Speaker 1: would love to have owning an NFL team. So it's
Speaker 1: almost like, uh, Snyder was accusing, Okay, this is an
Speaker 1: intentional hit job to undermine me so Basios can get
Speaker 1: his hands on my ball club. Okay. And so there
Speaker 1: there's so many layers. I don't think that's the case
Speaker 1: at all. Again, working for the Washington Post, they're gonna
Speaker 1: they are aggressive when they see improprieties, and they get
Speaker 1: this is what we've done. I've done investigative story for
Speaker 1: the Washington Post. This is the water the Washington Post.
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter who you are, if you're if you're
Speaker 1: up to something ballets, they're gonna report it and they're
Speaker 1: not gonna deny. And they've done a lot of reporting
Speaker 1: on Snyder over the years. Right. And in the secondary
Speaker 1: part of that, my dear friend the columnists Sally Jenkins,
Speaker 1: who if she decides to sharpening knives to come after
Speaker 1: you your toast. The column that she wrote about that
Speaker 1: first off, the lead was probably the most incredible lead
Speaker 1: I've ever read that had something to do with the
Speaker 1: NFL is basically getting its just due for not scraping
Speaker 1: Daniel Snyder off the bottom of its shoe. And I
Speaker 1: was like, all right, this is not going to go
Speaker 1: well the rest of the way for Daniel Snyder. But
Speaker 1: she's saying she she's putting so much blame on the
Speaker 1: other owners in the NFL for not holding him to
Speaker 1: a higher standard before, because of course they had to
Speaker 1: know some of these things. We don't know how much
Speaker 1: they knew, but this could have far reaching implications if
Speaker 1: more and more of this continues to shine and how
Speaker 1: that organization on the field this year has to function
Speaker 1: with all this going on. If you're a player there,
Speaker 1: you have to be like, what, like, what is going
Speaker 1: on Ron Rivera? The job Ron Rivera has to do
Speaker 1: while he's also battling an illness um is just going
Speaker 1: to be absolutely I mean, this is you're you're climbing
Speaker 1: to him alayas with toothpicks right here, right now, alright,
Speaker 1: stay tuned to what comes next with the Washington football team.
Speaker 1: I don't get the vibe that the Washington Post has
Speaker 1: done yet. I don't think uh. In other news, let's
Speaker 1: move on to some football news. Will spin through an
Speaker 1: update around our league. Bad news for the Eagles, who
Speaker 1: continue to take hits on their offensive line. They placed
Speaker 1: second year left tackle Andre Dillard on injured reserve with
Speaker 1: torn biceps. Unbelievable setback to the team that had already
Speaker 1: lost right guard Brandon Brooks to an achilles earlier this summer.
Speaker 1: Dillard the number two overall pick in last year's draft.
Speaker 1: He was a little up and down mark, but he
Speaker 1: was the guy they were counting on a lot to
Speaker 1: protect Carson Wentz's blindside and now they're talking about maybe
Speaker 1: moving Jason Peters back to left tackle, the guy that
Speaker 1: they obviously weren't in a rush to bring back in
Speaker 1: the first place, and they were gonna play him at guard.
Speaker 1: This is not a good situation in Philly. Well, they're
Speaker 1: very lucky they brought him back for the guard role
Speaker 1: initially because they would be in serious hot water otherwise.
Speaker 1: I mean, if I want to look in a weird
Speaker 1: are like this a team so that I could start
Speaker 1: to rule out I'm not talking about the Eagles at
Speaker 1: this point, but it is banged up or totally insufficient
Speaker 1: offensive lines, and they they went from solid too extremely
Speaker 1: questionable in the course of a couple of months, and
Speaker 1: like it just you know, I think teams would get
Speaker 1: out to a slow start and then you see what
Speaker 1: the chaos that could unfold this season. I don't like
Speaker 1: the chances for in a run heavy early part of
Speaker 1: the year, if you can't protect your quarterback and blow
Speaker 1: holes open four runners, I just don't like it at all.
Speaker 1: For the I mean, they they have the worst injury
Speaker 1: lucky year after year. I mean, I was we were
Speaker 1: just talking about it last week. It's like their season
Speaker 1: doesn't get going until they lose a few keep starters.
Speaker 1: So they they lose an all Pro in Brandon Brooks,
Speaker 1: and now they lose their left tackle. First round pick.
Speaker 1: I think he turns this year. That first round pick.
Speaker 1: He's not you know, young either. I think they've gone
Speaker 1: from excellent on paper, maybe the best most talented offensive
Speaker 1: line in the league. Certainly one of them. Um too
Speaker 1: solid at least that's what they're hoping that think if
Speaker 1: Peters can stay healthy. It was okay last year, he
Speaker 1: just was banged up and they wanted to move to
Speaker 1: the young guy that they could be solid. But it's
Speaker 1: got to be disappointing. The eagles injury luck is now
Speaker 1: like four years running. The numbers backing up that the
Speaker 1: starts that they've missed from good players, well they're missing
Speaker 1: those Chip Kelly shakes, and you know that's that's that's
Speaker 1: I've seen this happen in other sports. The Yankees did
Speaker 1: it last year, fired their entire training staff because everybody
Speaker 1: got hurt, and then the new staff is on retainer
Speaker 1: now and everyone got hurt again. I imagine the Eagles
Speaker 1: have tried everything they could to try to reverse this trend,
Speaker 1: but maybe it is simply simply bad luck. Um who knows.
Speaker 1: In other news, the New York Jets, it's been another
Speaker 1: nice week for football fans in our Jets fans to
Speaker 1: point and laugh at my team because it's been a
Speaker 1: rough week. Greg, especially enjoying himself. And what did I say?
Speaker 1: I didn't say anything. What did I say? I know?
Speaker 1: I know you're enjoying the Jets first, enjoying Frank are
Speaker 1: rising up that depth chart. You better believe that. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: it's Frank Gore season because it's August and people are
Speaker 1: gonna say nice things about Frank Gore, who has looked
Speaker 1: very good according to all Beat reporters. Levy On Bell
Speaker 1: didn't play much in the wipeout scrimmage, where the Jets
Speaker 1: beat team beat the Jets eight team soundly shut them out,
Speaker 1: according to the Beat writers. After the practice, Adam Gaze
Speaker 1: reported or told the reporters that, yeah, we kind of
Speaker 1: took it easy with Bell, didn't use him too much
Speaker 1: because he had some hamstring tightness. And then levy On
Speaker 1: Bell heads over to Twitter says, there's nothing wrong with
Speaker 1: my hamstrings. I can't stay loose if I'm not on
Speaker 1: the field, and the circus car goes round and round
Speaker 1: and round. Steve Wish Yeah. I mean when left l
Speaker 1: came out, was like, Hey, Adam Gaze, I'm good to go.
Speaker 1: I want to play. Um. You know, this is a
Speaker 1: weird one though, because coaches. He knows he's probably gonna
Speaker 1: have to give left Bell the ball four seven thousand
Speaker 1: times this year, so he's trying to preserve him. But
Speaker 1: I mean, where where's the communication here? And once again
Speaker 1: you you immediately say, here's Adam Gauge and a star player,
Speaker 1: not t and I I we saw in Miami. We
Speaker 1: saw it with the Jets. This is an easy conversation. Hey, Love,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna I'm not gonna work you that much
Speaker 1: during practice. When I say I'm not working that much,
Speaker 1: here's your specifics I'm going to give you. So just
Speaker 1: roll with it instead of kind of going like this.
Speaker 1: And maybe Loves is feeling the footsteps of a Frank Gore.
Speaker 1: There's got to be a text thread out there with
Speaker 1: like Kenyan Drake and Lev Bell and others that are
Speaker 1: you know, like that had gone through the gays experience.
Speaker 1: And my my concern Dan like from the positive angle
Speaker 1: that I see the Jetts, tell me you're concerned with
Speaker 1: the Jets because well, no, I hear you, I hear you.
Speaker 1: I don't root for US Stalwart dynasty either. But you know,
Speaker 1: Joe Douglas is the thing I think you have going
Speaker 1: into the future, and is our Gays and Joe Douglas
Speaker 1: on the same page with this or this? Does this
Speaker 1: turn into great question? Another deal? Right? Like more distant?
Speaker 1: Like and you don't he just traded for Adam Gays
Speaker 1: is running back so that you blae. So that makes
Speaker 1: you think like either Gays is making personnel moves or
Speaker 1: at least that's my question. Joe Douglass ever been like,
Speaker 1: let's go trade for Calin. But I mean really like,
Speaker 1: I think Joe Douglass is making different types of moves
Speaker 1: in that in general. But well, I would hope that
Speaker 1: any GM coach set up has some level of communication.
Speaker 1: And if if Gays like spillage and is one point
Speaker 1: eight yards per carry last year, bring him into the building.
Speaker 1: Why not surrender a draft pick if you must get
Speaker 1: him in the building. I now that Mark brought up
Speaker 1: the head coach thing. I gotta, you know, get into
Speaker 1: the game. And I talked to some people after the
Speaker 1: Joe Douglas hiring and it was a little overblown in
Speaker 1: the media. How close Joe Douglas and Adam Gays are.
Speaker 1: They worked together for a brief period of time, I
Speaker 1: believe in Chicago, and they are not married to each other,
Speaker 1: and I would think, listen, I gotta be honest with you,
Speaker 1: Like Levy on Bell, he's in great shape, they're saying,
Speaker 1: and maybe he's gonna have a great year. But I
Speaker 1: am just exhausted by this mini era that includes Adam
Speaker 1: Gaze and Levan Bell, and I don't know if either
Speaker 1: of these guys are the future of the franchise, to
Speaker 1: be quite honest with you, beyond so to see them
Speaker 1: squabbling again in the press, it's just all kinds of
Speaker 1: exhausting for me, because there are other aspects of the
Speaker 1: organization that I am excited about, uh, the quarterback UM,
Speaker 1: the defensive line, uh, the idea of their defense, trying
Speaker 1: to figure it out without C. J. Moseley and Jamal Adams.
Speaker 1: But this is not what I'm excited about. And it's
Speaker 1: just it's such a grind. It's such a grind. Just
Speaker 1: talk to him, n talk to your players. I think
Speaker 1: he was trying to do him a favor of like
Speaker 1: embarrassing him that he's not getting all the steps. But
Speaker 1: it's just like Gage doesn't get it. That's it's not
Speaker 1: who he is. He doesn't he doesn't understand that an
Speaker 1: important part of the job is communication and being on
Speaker 1: the same page of the players. Before you go to
Speaker 1: a press conference and tell reporters about the Hams drinking,
Speaker 1: have that talk with Bell so he doesn't run to
Speaker 1: Twitter and get upset. Because Bell will go to Twitter.
Speaker 1: We know that as not It's not like left Bells,
Speaker 1: you know, and you know somebody who could get obnoxious
Speaker 1: of times on social media. I can't wait for his
Speaker 1: Adam disk track on his next album coming, Yeah, coming.
Speaker 1: Is there any way woozy banger that he gets moved? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I think that money after this year, So it's like
Speaker 1: it's very tradeable. If a team got into hot Water,
Speaker 1: you know, in at the running back position, you're paying
Speaker 1: him this year and then you can do what you
Speaker 1: want after. If someone wants to give up a sixth
Speaker 1: for love Bell, I bet they could just go get
Speaker 1: it before a camp or I I'm with you, it
Speaker 1: wouldn't shock me if love Bell is on a different team.
Speaker 1: So do you got a third rounder for Leonard Williams
Speaker 1: last year. Oh please, all right, let's move on. Buddha
Speaker 1: by Acre got paid. The Cardinals safety signed a four year,
Speaker 1: fifty million dollars fifty nine million dollar extension. Don't want
Speaker 1: to short him that nine mill. The twenty four year
Speaker 1: old is now the highest paid safety and league history.
Speaker 1: Good job by Buddha Baker, who is a second round
Speaker 1: pick in teen Let all safeties and tackles. Uh. Last season. Uh,
Speaker 1: he could cover, he could tackle. He's a guy you
Speaker 1: want in your building, Steve Weich. And now the Arizona
Speaker 1: Cardinals have locked him up. Yeah, he's he's a really,
Speaker 1: really good player. And for what they asked their safeties
Speaker 1: to do, especially this year because remember they drafted Isaiah Simmons.
Speaker 1: He's gonna play that mo inside linebacker, kind of the
Speaker 1: strong side inside linebacker that they could stack over tight
Speaker 1: end if they need be. Buddha Baker is gonna be
Speaker 1: responsible for an awful lot on the back end, whether
Speaker 1: you're play him free, whether they bring him down. And
Speaker 1: we know in this division, when you've got all kinds
Speaker 1: of running backs, you can catch the ball out of
Speaker 1: the backfield. That's an important position. But but this also
Speaker 1: goes to show you. I mean the Arizona Cardinals. First off,
Speaker 1: they're not really paying a ton of people doing have
Speaker 1: to pay Kyler murrayette. Um, you know, DeAndre Hopkins contract
Speaker 1: is coming. But to secure a young player on your
Speaker 1: defensive nucleus, which they really haven't done since Patrick Peterson.
Speaker 1: We know Chandler Jones is there as well. That's a
Speaker 1: really good start because that secondary has the potential to
Speaker 1: be pretty good this year. You know, Robert Alfred the
Speaker 1: corner got hurt again, but they've got some pieces, you know,
Speaker 1: and I talked Advanced Joseph from time to time. They're
Speaker 1: they're they're pretty here we go. But they you know,
Speaker 1: they really feel pretty good about their defense. And the
Speaker 1: problem last year when they were so terrible is that secondary.
Speaker 1: It was never together at peace. You know, Peterson suspended
Speaker 1: six games, Alfred got hurt again last year. They think
Speaker 1: they've got a pretty good nucleus right there, and if
Speaker 1: they can get the ball over to Kyler Murray from
Speaker 1: time to time, they really think they could be a
Speaker 1: pretty good team. I think he just represents the kind
Speaker 1: of player that we're starting to see where the position
Speaker 1: list player I guess on defense where Baker played you know, safety,
Speaker 1: but he played outside linebacker, inside linebacker, ed defender, right cornerback,
Speaker 1: left cornerback. And you go look at his next gen
Speaker 1: stats breakdown. I mean he's did everything essentially, and that's
Speaker 1: you know, we used to say Bill Belichick loves those players. Well,
Speaker 1: by the way, Soda thirty one other coaches, so you
Speaker 1: know they well, oh no, no, there's one. We were
Speaker 1: just talking about it. Who doesn't Okay, he doesn't want
Speaker 1: that he likes him. From Kellen Balage is it is
Speaker 1: everybody in Baker got that money. Pat Pete didn't. Pat Pete, uh,
Speaker 1: probably a future Hall of Famer is in a contract
Speaker 1: yere to me, he could be kind of the the
Speaker 1: X factor with that team. If you get old Pat
Speaker 1: Pete in a in a contract sort of pushed as
Speaker 1: an all Pro type player, then watch out. If you
Speaker 1: get last year's Pat Pete after the after the injury,
Speaker 1: where he's just kind of he was out there, he
Speaker 1: was a guy. Um, then they're a different team. So
Speaker 1: that's kind of something to watch. Are you gonna get
Speaker 1: Are you gonna get old Pat Pete? You're gonna get
Speaker 1: old right? Anyway? Issues for the Browns on defense, Mark,
Speaker 1: they already lost the linebacker Mack Wilson uh to that
Speaker 1: knee injury. It's gonna cost him a lot of time.
Speaker 1: And now they've moved Grant Delpit, the safety to injured
Speaker 1: reserve after he ruptured as achilles and Monday's practice. So
Speaker 1: you're losing some pieces of that defense. Mr. Sessler, Well,
Speaker 1: this pairs well with the previous News item because Joe
Speaker 1: Woods when they lost del but they invested highly in
Speaker 1: the draft, they had big plans for him. He basically said, look,
Speaker 1: we it was honest comment. We don't have anyone else
Speaker 1: on the roster that can do what we had him
Speaker 1: to do. And the Browns linebacking corps in front of
Speaker 1: the secondary is so questionable that they were talked about
Speaker 1: as a team that was going to run a lot
Speaker 1: of like four to five as their base, like five
Speaker 1: in six defensive backs and using Delpit all over the field.
Speaker 1: He's gone, Uh, they they've got Anderson Dajo, you got
Speaker 1: Carl Joseph, a different type of player, Sheldrick RedWine who
Speaker 1: they draft to. Basically, it's sort of saying I think
Speaker 1: they keep trying to find someone who's not Shelter gred Wine.
Speaker 1: So they have issues. They're one of the more banged
Speaker 1: up teams in the league right now. Um, it's it's
Speaker 1: been a long couple of weeks for them, and I
Speaker 1: had I think that, you know, they've got the Ravens
Speaker 1: in about sixteen days or whatever it is. I don't
Speaker 1: like that matchup a whole lot. In other news, the league,
Speaker 1: our league is considering fake crowd noise range in the
Speaker 1: range of seventy to eighty five decibles. All right, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna give you here seven. I'll tell you right now.
Speaker 1: This is seventy five decis La la la la la
Speaker 1: la la la la la. Here's eighty five decibles. La
Speaker 1: la la la la la la la la. Okay, so
Speaker 1: they're ye, did you test that out beforehand? How do
Speaker 1: you do this? That's that's science, greg. As the source
Speaker 1: explained to p f T, the sound level likely would
Speaker 1: be constant throughout the game, regardless of whether the home
Speaker 1: team or the visiting team has the ball. Uh Florio
Speaker 1: reached out to the league, and a spokesman replied, we
Speaker 1: are finalizing plans. Why it's ready to come down on
Speaker 1: La la la la la la la la I've actually
Speaker 1: had experience with that, having gone to the Rams scrimmage
Speaker 1: at the new Sofi Stadium last Saturday, and it's weird because,
Speaker 1: as we know, the new stadium is near the airport.
Speaker 1: So I kept on saying to my photographer at the game,
Speaker 1: are there that many jets landing? Because it seemed it's
Speaker 1: it's it's it's like white noise. I think of Poultergeist
Speaker 1: and for those nine young enough to know, go back
Speaker 1: and google it. It's like the static sound that you're
Speaker 1: constantly hearing. Right, you can speak to the person next
Speaker 1: to you without yelling, but you just noticed there's someone there.
Speaker 1: So Sean McVeigh after the game was like, that is
Speaker 1: the worst thing possible, right because you do have to
Speaker 1: scream a little bit. It's where the quarterback has to,
Speaker 1: you know, give give some noise about his play. Calls
Speaker 1: um Cooper cut the wide receiver says he never really
Speaker 1: thought about it, but then once he recognized it, it
Speaker 1: was it was just something you thought about. I mean
Speaker 1: that they'll have to get used to it, but it's
Speaker 1: a very peculiar sound. Now, the Ram stadium had like
Speaker 1: why are they doing it? Do it? How about I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't think they're locked into it. I
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't know. I don't know. Maybe it's
Speaker 1: something to give cover to miked up, you know, because
Speaker 1: some of the language. I don't know, it's gonna happen whatever.
Speaker 1: It's just like I didn't necessarily mind it again, because
Speaker 1: I could have a conversation three ft away or six
Speaker 1: ft away, I should say from my photographer, Gosh, you're
Speaker 1: probably more than that without screaming. But you you knew
Speaker 1: it was there, And like I said, I'm thinking it's
Speaker 1: planes landing overhead. But as you know, there's not that
Speaker 1: much air traffic these days, so it was just a
Speaker 1: really weird sound. Again, just go back and read some
Speaker 1: of the transcription. Sean mcvette. He was like, this is
Speaker 1: the worst everything, lucition. No one've ever done it before either.
Speaker 1: It's kind of like the fake noise that they're doing
Speaker 1: for the broadcast for the NBA games, which is bad.
Speaker 1: It's if you were better at it, maybe I would
Speaker 1: be into it. But it's like, why is this weird,
Speaker 1: bad fake crowd noise? It doesn't sound like a real crowd,
Speaker 1: and it ends up distracting the viewer. Now the players
Speaker 1: aren't hearing that in the actual NBA stames. But it
Speaker 1: just goes to show like no one's ever done any
Speaker 1: of this stuff before. Of course, that they're bad at it.
Speaker 1: They don't know if they're doing. I wouldn't mind if
Speaker 1: they added like a laugh track, if like something like
Speaker 1: a bad play or you know, let's let's just maximize
Speaker 1: Sared got like fumbles the balls ha ha. But here's
Speaker 1: here's the other part. What what happens when you go
Speaker 1: to those stadiums that have twenty people in it? I mean,
Speaker 1: is it all? Is it? Is it? Are you still
Speaker 1: using it? I mean, what's the deal? What about home
Speaker 1: stadiums compared to open stadiums? I mean, how is that
Speaker 1: gonna work? So I love your theory about they're super
Speaker 1: quietly nervous about the parabolic mic situation because it's gonna
Speaker 1: be wild. You know, the language is saucy, uh in
Speaker 1: all the professional sports, but in a football game, especially
Speaker 1: on the sidelines on a tackle, you know there's some
Speaker 1: stuff being shared. Yeah, but Dan, those don't always work. Um,
Speaker 1: Brown Steelers, you know there's a female I just wanted
Speaker 1: to say, parabolic that all other injury and I enjoyed it.
Speaker 1: Craft Sheet reports that running back David Montgomery is expected
Speaker 1: to miss two to four weeks with that groin injury.
Speaker 1: People thought it could have been season ending when he
Speaker 1: was taken off the practice field. So it's better news
Speaker 1: than initially feared, but still not a great situation. Puts
Speaker 1: them right up against Week one Bears Lions. Al Right,
Speaker 1: Matt Naggy, they gave you the coach of the Year award.
Speaker 1: Let's let's see this offense be watchable and m or
Speaker 1: else they might have to take that award away. You know,
Speaker 1: it's like we might have been a little premature here.
Speaker 1: If if this offense is as boring as I'm fearing
Speaker 1: it's going to be. Uh, I don't know. We were
Speaker 1: a little too quick on Maggie. Well before, before the
Speaker 1: pandemic shut us down the studio. Kyle Long, the now
Speaker 1: retired Bears guard, it was very open about what the
Speaker 1: Bears have to do in this offense. It doesn't function
Speaker 1: well unless you run the ball. So last year the
Speaker 1: offensive line wasn't good. Dave Montgomery did not have that explosiveness.
Speaker 1: You know, everyone's talking about his open field speed. He
Speaker 1: didn't have to get off the ball type speed, and
Speaker 1: then treet Cohen they were playing him more at wide receiver.
Speaker 1: When I when I saw mcgomery go down, my big
Speaker 1: question was, what is going on with Davonte Freeman? Is
Speaker 1: to where nobody is giving him a call? I mean
Speaker 1: he's still out there. This was some guys out there
Speaker 1: and this is he would fit the scheme well, So
Speaker 1: I don't know what's going on. You know what, left belt,
Speaker 1: left belt? There, you go there, let's do it. I'm fine,
Speaker 1: that's fine. Just give me a first round pick. You
Speaker 1: will pay maximum maximum amounts. He doesn't exactly win trades,
Speaker 1: I don't think. I just want to say. I want
Speaker 1: to say, because there was some there was some shots
Speaker 1: here taking their greg at Matt Naggie. I would have
Speaker 1: loved to see how people were talking about Naggi entering
Speaker 1: if Patrick Mahomes was his quarterback instead of mrs and
Speaker 1: I thought Naggie did an incredible job. That was always
Speaker 1: my argument against Rabinsky Um during his better year in
Speaker 1: two thousand and eighteen, was this is all scheme. These
Speaker 1: guys are wide open, and that is why Naggi won
Speaker 1: won the award. Um So so to be fair, maybe
Speaker 1: it'll look a little better if if Nick Foles is
Speaker 1: behind quickly quickly. On that go back and watching Bears too,
Speaker 1: you will see Allen Robinson running right right all the time.
Speaker 1: They just didn't get him the ball, which sucks because
Speaker 1: that guy is an elebut player real quick. The Giants defense,
Speaker 1: which already looks on paper to be bad, lost, uh
Speaker 1: two starters, Xavier McKinney and David Mayo. Both McKinney, the
Speaker 1: rookie safety, fractured left foot. Mayo torn meniscus in his
Speaker 1: left knee. He started thirteen games for the team last season.
Speaker 1: Both believed to be non contact injuries. Greg, Uh, you've
Speaker 1: been banging the drum a little bit on the pod
Speaker 1: that the Giants have major deficiencies on the other side
Speaker 1: of the ball, where Daniel Jones and let's say Kwon
Speaker 1: Barkley are not playing. This is not getting better. Right
Speaker 1: on paper, I think that's the worst defense in the
Speaker 1: league just in terms of talent. Uh, And they were
Speaker 1: the worst. They were one of the worst defense in
Speaker 1: the league last year. You know, in reality, they have
Speaker 1: a new coordinator, Patrick Graham. Um. You know White White
Speaker 1: is gonna be doing total access a little labor. I
Speaker 1: mean you're not getting into David Mayo and McKinney on
Speaker 1: Total Access, we bring you the real stuff. We we
Speaker 1: talked about the Cowboys and Patriots. Um well, I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, it's fun when I look at the Giants
Speaker 1: and it was real cool because you know, uh, NFL
Speaker 1: Films did this film session where he's watching film with
Speaker 1: Barry Sanders. You know, they're eating the popcorn and then
Speaker 1: the film breakdown studio. And that's what I think his
Speaker 1: career is gonna be. Liking to one of the best
Speaker 1: running backs, most talented players in the NFL right now,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be doing it on a team that's never
Speaker 1: going to get anywhere. Um, and it's just look it happens.
Speaker 1: It happened to Walter Payton until the end of his career.
Speaker 1: He played on some god awful teams with the Bears,
Speaker 1: and you just hope, like someone is remarkable s Kwon
Speaker 1: Barkley gets something around him. But I look at the
Speaker 1: Giants and I'm thinking they are the leaders of the pack.
Speaker 1: And Mark, you and I have been joking about this
Speaker 1: with the Lions because you're on there there, You're on
Speaker 1: the train, and I definitely am not. I mean The
Speaker 1: Giants to me, are already on the clock. They don't
Speaker 1: need Trevor Lawrence. But they're gonna hold. They're gonna hold.
Speaker 1: They get hold the piece, you know, for somebody to
Speaker 1: come up to get him, because I look at their
Speaker 1: talent and I'm just kind of like, man, I feel
Speaker 1: horrible for for Sa Kwon, Barkley, Daniel Jones. Yeah, like
Speaker 1: I we have to cover all these teams obviously, NonStop
Speaker 1: all year long. And if you if you weren't doing that,
Speaker 1: you jump, you jump out quick on a few and
Speaker 1: I just I get annoyed with with the team, like
Speaker 1: the Giants. It's like, hey, here's a great idea. Let's
Speaker 1: not have an identity on defense for nine straight years. Okay,
Speaker 1: that's one way you can attack the NFL season. Come on, guys.
Speaker 1: In other news, finally, in fact good news, the father
Speaker 1: of Bengal's cornerback Mackenzie Alexander has been found alive in Florida.
Speaker 1: According to officials, Gene Oddney Alexander was found Thursday morning
Speaker 1: after he walked up to a ranger station and kissing
Speaker 1: me Prairie Preserve State Park. Uh, this is a paragraph
Speaker 1: I want to read you guys, because it's pretty wild story. Okay,
Speaker 1: so I'm just gonna read this whole paragraph. Uh, this
Speaker 1: is from an ESPN staff writer, Alexander, and he has
Speaker 1: a different spelling than his son's name. So there's the
Speaker 1: first thing that's like, Oh okay. Um was reported missing
Speaker 1: on Monday. According to police records, Alexander was picking palmetto
Speaker 1: berries with a friend he had known for more than
Speaker 1: ten years when he disappeared in the woods around two
Speaker 1: pm Monday. Authorities were not able to ping Alexander's exact
Speaker 1: location because he did not have a cell phone. That's
Speaker 1: interesting too, it's no cell phone. Alexander the player left
Speaker 1: Bengals camp and Aid to search for his father. On Tuesday,
Speaker 1: Alexander and another man were arrested on misdemeanor batter charge
Speaker 1: after allegedly hitting the man who went berry picking with
Speaker 1: his father. So Alexander the son dealing with legal issues,
Speaker 1: the father safe and sound. That is a weird story.
Speaker 1: I don't even know what to say to it. It
Speaker 1: just it felt like it should be in the show.
Speaker 1: It was just like I read that story, I was
Speaker 1: following it all week, and so you know, you're happy
Speaker 1: for him that he that he found his dad. He's
Speaker 1: going to be a key part of that secondary Mackenzie
Speaker 1: Alexander by the way. But there's nice to have a
Speaker 1: happy ending. But it was just like, Wow, you don't
Speaker 1: see a story like that too often. I don't know,
Speaker 1: it was it was pretty wild. I will tell you
Speaker 1: one time that I this came to mind when I
Speaker 1: read this because Daniel right, the story struck me. Nobody
Speaker 1: has anything to say about it, but you wanted to
Speaker 1: do that about it. I just put it. I just
Speaker 1: very very very true. It was just like it was
Speaker 1: just like, hey, our listeners, they might not be aware
Speaker 1: of this one. I just thought they should be. There
Speaker 1: was this one time though, that I went hiking alone,
Speaker 1: like off the pc H you know, up and it's
Speaker 1: like the Santa Monica Mountains or whatever, and parked the car,
Speaker 1: brought a fully charged cell phone with me, got like
Speaker 1: an hour into the hike, and it was one It's
Speaker 1: like when you get to the end of a cell
Speaker 1: phone and it's about to die. The thing died on me,
Speaker 1: and I thought, no problem, I'll just had to get
Speaker 1: back to the car. Then I realized, holy I am
Speaker 1: totally lost. I took like five or six left and
Speaker 1: right turns. Had no idea where I was. It was
Speaker 1: now like six or seven o'clock and I told someone,
Speaker 1: you know, I'll be home at four, and so there's
Speaker 1: there's that and like, you know, it's no follow up call.
Speaker 1: I can't be reached that you can't ping that phone,
Speaker 1: I guess, and I've I've managed. I've stumbled upon some
Speaker 1: weird campsite. Uh. It was next to the pc H.
Speaker 1: I got out to the p c H and realized
Speaker 1: that I was about nine miles or so far up
Speaker 1: the pc H. I had no idea was it was
Speaker 1: dark out, the pc H was under heavy construction, and
Speaker 1: I walked for like three more hours until I got
Speaker 1: to this sort of fish and chips place along the
Speaker 1: pc H and had to convince the manager at closing time.
Speaker 1: I just sit in the parking lot for two hours.
Speaker 1: I had no money on me, uh to go drive
Speaker 1: me back to my car, which was up you know,
Speaker 1: three miles away up a hill. And then I drove
Speaker 1: home and got home at like like twelve forty five
Speaker 1: in the morning, and some I was just like, what
Speaker 1: is going on here? And so, you know, don't wouldn't
Speaker 1: have gotten that. Don't do that and that, and that.
Speaker 1: You know, whenever I can tax seven unnecessary minutes onto
Speaker 1: the show, will do it. So yeah, somebody tells me
Speaker 1: there was a little bit more to this story, then
Speaker 1: you're then you're a great adventure, which actually sounds quite harrowing. Uh.
Speaker 1: One note is that market used that excuse six times
Speaker 1: previously to Simoni. I legit walked like fifteen miles that
Speaker 1: I took the next Alright, well, I'm not gonna win
Speaker 1: this money. I'm lost unsolved mysteries. All right, Oh, we're
Speaker 1: glad you made it out. Mark. You took the next
Speaker 1: day off. You're working at the NFL, right right. It
Speaker 1: was like about a month in the job, and I
Speaker 1: had like both my legs were like, you know, if
Speaker 1: you haven't really exercised in like six months and suddenly
Speaker 1: you walked fifteen miles the next day is unpleasant. We
Speaker 1: know that. That is incredible. He's like, get me back
Speaker 1: to t I want to put that. Oh my god,
Speaker 1: I just can't wait till this wife uses that excuse
Speaker 1: on him. All right, Steve, Steve, you've said it all.
Speaker 1: You've done it again. You're one of our very favorite people.
Speaker 1: You know, a lot of people say that about Steve
Speaker 1: because Steve is one of those guys that everybody loves.
Speaker 1: But we love Steve a little bit more. I'm just
Speaker 1: gonna say yes. Well, and you know, I love you guys.
Speaker 1: You guys are the absolute best man. I totally appreciate
Speaker 1: you having me on. All right, great, check out Steve
Speaker 1: everywhere on NFL network, UM, NFL dot com. He's the man.
Speaker 1: All right. That's it. Everybody, remember the UH broadcast around
Speaker 1: the NFL Broadcast's coming up UH Friday, the streaming version
Speaker 1: on NFL dot com Saturday morning. It's on the network,
Speaker 1: so make sure you check it out. Support the show.
Speaker 1: We love you, everybody, have a nice weekend. They eat
Speaker 1: your palmetto berries, but be careful. Bring a compass with
Speaker 1: you or at least the cell phone. They had the
Speaker 1: signing offer Steve watch The Quiet Storm, The Old Boss,
Speaker 1: and Ricky Hollywood Wild until Monday.