Speaker 1: Do you Around the NFL podcast has told you everything
Speaker 1: they know. Welcome back to another edition of the Around
Speaker 1: the NFL Podcast. My name is Dan Jansas, and I
Speaker 1: am joined by a room filled with heroes. Mark Sessler,
Speaker 1: Chris Westling, and Greg Rose the ball. What is up? Boys?
Speaker 1: Hey dude, what's happening? What is up? First Monday podcast
Speaker 1: in uh sometime, And it's good. It's good to be here.
Speaker 1: I like Monday podcast. You know, he's get right into
Speaker 1: the week, getting get in touch with the people. Mark
Speaker 1: actually changed my day off to be here for this today.
Speaker 1: That's how important there is to me. Yeah, nice humble brag. Well,
Speaker 1: they might not be the whole reason, but I don't
Speaker 1: even think it was there either. I don't know it was.
Speaker 1: It had some impact, wasn't the really good to have
Speaker 1: you here though? Either way? Yeah, it's great to have
Speaker 1: the four because it's after this week we're gonna start.
Speaker 1: There's gonna be some vacations and we'll be we'll be
Speaker 1: running three across. Maybe we'll have some guests in here
Speaker 1: um to sit in. I know there was some buzz.
Speaker 1: I continue to see buzz on Twitter like people love
Speaker 1: Colleen Wolf will try to get Colleen and here at
Speaker 1: some point, you know, we'll see what we can do.
Speaker 1: But for this week we've got three shows. Uh and um,
Speaker 1: you know, by the way, don't forget Thursday when West's
Speaker 1: Toaster is back, by far the worst drop that we've
Speaker 1: ever had. This technically a disaster. We gotta mate, we'll
Speaker 1: make a new one. But I love the charm. Listen
Speaker 1: to it again, the charm of it. It's like a
Speaker 1: toast when West's toes. When West's toes, that would be
Speaker 1: a weird game. Um, so we'll do that on Thursday.
Speaker 1: I think Sally has done a great job behind the
Speaker 1: scenes looking for people all tds, where's he? He's like
Speaker 1: like the King of France's wedding. Now is any mark?
Speaker 1: And I don't know who knows where TD is it is.
Speaker 1: It was a string of many weddings and like multiple
Speaker 1: full nations, and I think you're right, it's it's France
Speaker 1: based at this point in his royalty involved And Wes,
Speaker 1: you did some digging on Twitter that perhaps people have
Speaker 1: been illicitly feeding t D some of these secret code
Speaker 1: words for the podcast, and t D might not be listening.
Speaker 1: I didn't have to do much digging because people tweeted
Speaker 1: us and told us they captured screen grabs of our
Speaker 1: friend Isaiah and a couple of other people just absolutely
Speaker 1: feeding t D all this stuff to say, So, who
Speaker 1: knows if tds even listening to the podcast. Actually your
Speaker 1: gut feeling, Greg, Yeah, they probably gave him the information,
Speaker 1: although in this case, at least he's taking that and
Speaker 1: using it smartly. I give our listeners some credit for
Speaker 1: passing on. Well. The time stamp proves that he responded
Speaker 1: to the information our way immediately, so it did not
Speaker 1: come organically from listening to the show. And by the way,
Speaker 1: Sully's hoping t D stays in for every wedding in Europe.
Speaker 1: He's loving it. Behind the glass, you can tell the
Speaker 1: confidence is flowing out of it. I'm just excited to
Speaker 1: see King of Frances. It's been a while. That's why.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's a special wedding. So yeah. So TV
Speaker 1: will be back maybe a little later in the week,
Speaker 1: four of us for three shows this week, So that's exciting.
Speaker 1: And we got a nice show today and I sincerely
Speaker 1: mean that, a very nice show today. We're going to
Speaker 1: uh uh as we do, We're gonna do a little
Speaker 1: news what's happened since the last time we spoke with you,
Speaker 1: which was a few days ago now, So we'll catch
Speaker 1: up on what's going on in the NFL, and then
Speaker 1: big day for a guy. You know, he moved the
Speaker 1: schedule around. We didn't find this out until he told us.
Speaker 1: Mark said he moved some pieces around, some chess pieces
Speaker 1: of his week. He's here and there's a reason why
Speaker 1: because this the whole theme of this podcast is Cessler.
Speaker 1: Mark Anthony Cesler related the running back rankings. He ranks
Speaker 1: the NFL backfields from one to thirty two. It's a
Speaker 1: new post up on nfl dot com slash around the
Speaker 1: Around the NFL. So make sure he checked that out.
Speaker 1: I read it, really liked it, and we're gonna go
Speaker 1: through his thirty two to one countdown Big Cessla Show
Speaker 1: One takeaway. Middle name not Anthony, I thought I thought
Speaker 1: it was you were named after the Latino crooner Edward,
Speaker 1: which is my dad's name. Yeah, be insulting to my
Speaker 1: dad that he'd think I'm potentially spreading that information that
Speaker 1: I'm changing my middle name. Have I met ed Cessler?
Speaker 1: Your daddy? My dad had the same name. I like that.
Speaker 1: I don't think so that I don't think his connection
Speaker 1: that's why you guys get along so well. So yeah,
Speaker 1: that's it, Cessler a big show. We're gonna go through
Speaker 1: his countdown. Um. Like I said, though, before we do
Speaker 1: any of that, we check behind the glass with Sally
Speaker 1: and Uh, Sally, can we please if you would do
Speaker 1: some news. We start in Dallas where the Dallas Cowboys.
Speaker 1: Of course, you know, this Des Bryant deal has not
Speaker 1: been one that that has gotten done. We thought it
Speaker 1: would be got got done last summer. It never happened. Uh.
Speaker 1: And now that the Dallas Cowboys receiver has told NFL
Speaker 1: media columnist Michael Silver that he might miss regular season
Speaker 1: action because of this contract dispute. Uh, Dez is under
Speaker 1: the franchise tag right now, but he's not happy about it.
Speaker 1: He said to Silver about the idea of a holdout
Speaker 1: that could extend into the season. This is not a rumor,
Speaker 1: it's legit. Start with you, Greg, this uh on the
Speaker 1: surface in early June. This broke on Friday. You know,
Speaker 1: just an obvious contract ploy to get the job done.
Speaker 1: Is there any way we actually see this happen where
Speaker 1: Des doesn't play a game. I believe that Dez Bryant
Speaker 1: believes it's possible, if that makes any sense. But do
Speaker 1: I really think there's any legitimate chance that Dez Bryant
Speaker 1: passes up nearly a million dollars per game for playing?
Speaker 1: No way, He's made eleven point eight million dollars in
Speaker 1: his entire five year career. The franchise tag pays him
Speaker 1: this year twelve only eight million dollars. There's no way
Speaker 1: he's going to pass up these big pay days. But
Speaker 1: this is the only leverage he has. It's this week.
Speaker 1: If if you want to threaten, I'm saying I will
Speaker 1: sit out games. Not I might sit outs, you know.
Speaker 1: But he probably does believe it because it's an emotional
Speaker 1: contract issue on in June. He probably believes it, but
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't believe him. We're downstairs watching one
Speaker 1: of the Cowboys Super Bowls from ages ago. In the
Speaker 1: last Cowboys player I commembered to do this where it
Speaker 1: actually happened, was Emmitt Smith held out for the first
Speaker 1: two games of the year, if I remember, and came
Speaker 1: back and toward the league part. And Dez is that
Speaker 1: type of player, and he is that important to the Cowboys,
Speaker 1: and if he did actually fall through it. Yeah that
Speaker 1: I guess that would give him leverage, But still I
Speaker 1: don't know if this is you know, I feel like
Speaker 1: they did a bad job here. I feel like they
Speaker 1: should have taken care of him already. I guess you
Speaker 1: have to wonder if they're still not sold on whether
Speaker 1: this is a guy they want to invest in big
Speaker 1: time money with in future. That's the only reason to me.
Speaker 1: I know that there's some salary cap issues obviously, but
Speaker 1: this deal should have been done to me, and you're
Speaker 1: you're playing with fire in my opinion, on multiple levels,
Speaker 1: I can't really feel sorry for a guy who's going
Speaker 1: to make right and where it's all splitting hairs. I
Speaker 1: think your point is well taken, Dan. Maybe they're trying
Speaker 1: to structure it in a way that they're not guaranteeing
Speaker 1: so much upfront that it's a little more year a
Speaker 1: year than some of the big contracts. But I don't
Speaker 1: fault the Cowboys here without really knowing the information. For
Speaker 1: all we know, Dez Bryant is asking for more money
Speaker 1: than Calvin Johnson's ever made by far. That would not
Speaker 1: surprise me at all that he's looking to be by far,
Speaker 1: the number one wide receiver in terms of his contract
Speaker 1: and when that happens, these things just take a while
Speaker 1: and you kind of have to wait each other out
Speaker 1: for the contract numbers to go down a little. But
Speaker 1: something is going on behind the scenes that we will
Speaker 1: find out about later on, because it wasn't at the
Speaker 1: last owners meeting, but the one before where Jason Garrett
Speaker 1: was saying, absolutely no question, Dez is a priority for us,
Speaker 1: and we're gonna make this happen. I mean a full
Speaker 1: year plus has passed at this point. He's he's been
Speaker 1: one of my favorite players for a few years. Now.
Speaker 1: Where do you guys put him? Who's better than him?
Speaker 1: At the widers? Is Julio Jones better? Is A J
Speaker 1: Green better? Is Calvin Johnson better? I mean Odell Beckham?
Speaker 1: These are some guys I guess you could put ahead
Speaker 1: of him, but I would I you can make the
Speaker 1: argument that he's the best wide receiver. What he is
Speaker 1: for Dallas, He's right up there. I mean, if you
Speaker 1: want to talk pure wide receiver, I mean, Julio Jones
Speaker 1: is just as important to the Falcons potentially. But you
Speaker 1: take Dez Bryant off of the Cowboys and they are
Speaker 1: in big trouble. With what they have on offense. He's
Speaker 1: been the best red zone receiver in the NFL for
Speaker 1: three years in a row. Now I don't Calvin Johnson.
Speaker 1: I think he gets to benefit of the doubt because
Speaker 1: he's been the best receiver for a while. O'Dell Beckham
Speaker 1: can be better, but Dez Bryant's right there. Like you said,
Speaker 1: with Julio Jones and Calvin Johnson, Antonio Brown right there
Speaker 1: at the time. A J. Green I would put in
Speaker 1: that mix too. You know, you see with Dez Bryant
Speaker 1: a few more mental errors where he's not lined up
Speaker 1: in the right place, and you a little bit of
Speaker 1: that more than you do with Julio Jones or Calvin Johnson,
Speaker 1: for instance. But I think he makes up for in
Speaker 1: terms of his just his aggression and how hard he
Speaker 1: plays in the red zone. He's gonna get the contract
Speaker 1: with all these contents. This one feels a little different
Speaker 1: that there's some it's it's a complicated one to get done,
Speaker 1: but he's gonna get the money. Moving on, the Carolina Panthers,
Speaker 1: of course, made Cam Newton one of the highest paid
Speaker 1: quarterbacks in the league recently. Now they take care of
Speaker 1: business with linebacker Thomas Davis, who signed a two year
Speaker 1: extension where he'll collect eighteen million over the next three
Speaker 1: years when you factor in the previous deal. This according
Speaker 1: to rap sheet uh Davis is thirty two but still
Speaker 1: playing at a high level for three linebacker, and of
Speaker 1: course Mark came back from three a c L surgery,
Speaker 1: so you know this is a contract well earned. Well
Speaker 1: we if we say that the Cowboys or other teams
Speaker 1: haven't handled certain things, well, I mean, I think the
Speaker 1: Panthers showed incredible patients with Thomas Davis dating back a
Speaker 1: long time, and they obviously is high class guy. That
Speaker 1: means lots of the organization off the field too, but
Speaker 1: he's incredibly valuable on it. But some teams would have
Speaker 1: jumped ship a long time ago on players with so
Speaker 1: many reasons to have to keep waiting for his production.
Speaker 1: I kind of think this is a classy move by
Speaker 1: the Panthers. And I'll finish because his career there. What
Speaker 1: a year for him. He wins NFL's Man of the Year,
Speaker 1: got the key to the city of Charlotte, and now
Speaker 1: now it gets to the city actually do for you.
Speaker 1: I think it's strictly ceremonial. I think it opens any
Speaker 1: I used to shop I was as a kid. I
Speaker 1: thought it literally lets you get into any place in
Speaker 1: the world, which was the best idea ever for like
Speaker 1: an honor. No, that is what it is. Like. If
Speaker 1: Thomas Davis wants to go grab a frozen yogurt, he
Speaker 1: can just go to any of the Charlotte one in
Speaker 1: the morning, like the donut store. He's a big used
Speaker 1: book fan. Uh, just in general city, go over to
Speaker 1: the using those stores in the morning. Just take whatever
Speaker 1: kind of quitting TDS MVP of the Pod. When I
Speaker 1: was like in eighth grade, Uh, the guy at the
Speaker 1: local gym handed us the keys to the gym so
Speaker 1: we could practice basket basketball, like on weekends or after hours.
Speaker 1: I thought that was much more important than you can
Speaker 1: come to my gym anytime. You won't change in the
Speaker 1: locker room. You can actually go in after hours and
Speaker 1: play basketball. That is pretty honest. Did anything negative come
Speaker 1: about from it? No? We were good kids when you
Speaker 1: boys come to my gym. Do you think you'll ever
Speaker 1: get the key in Cincinnati? No? No, West, was there
Speaker 1: anything sinis there better? Am I any too much into it? No?
Speaker 1: There was nothing. We we we were good kids. Then.
Speaker 1: I mean, this was not a very special episode of
Speaker 1: different strokes. It was a more it was a more
Speaker 1: innocent time. It was the early seventies. America is at
Speaker 1: the top of the charts. Sister Golden Air moving on
Speaker 1: the Atlanta Falcons. Uh. Two mainstays of their offensive line
Speaker 1: in recent years. Uh uh both in the news today.
Speaker 1: Sam Baker, their left tackle, who has missed most of
Speaker 1: the last two years with knee issues, was released. Um,
Speaker 1: Baker's out of a job, so he's on the street now.
Speaker 1: He was potentially gonna compete for the left guard position,
Speaker 1: which opened up when the Falcons released Justin Blaylock in February.
Speaker 1: And Blaylock, according to rap Sheet, is planning to retire now,
Speaker 1: so Baker uh is on the is a free agent,
Speaker 1: Justin Blaylock calling it quits and Blaylock Uh is only
Speaker 1: thirty one. Baker's thirty. But I thought the Blaylock thing
Speaker 1: was interesting. Mark, you love your boy Kyle Shanahan. Uh
Speaker 1: he Uh. He is a capable guard, obviously, but he
Speaker 1: was pushed aside because Shanahan didn't seem as a fitness
Speaker 1: offense and I guess after looking around, he decided to
Speaker 1: hang it up at thirty one years old. Well, I
Speaker 1: mean the one. Atlanta's line has been a mess for
Speaker 1: a while, and now they're going through something of a
Speaker 1: scheme change too, so I that'll be interesting to see
Speaker 1: how that that works this year. I think these the
Speaker 1: retirement and and releasing Sam Baker highlights at the Falcons
Speaker 1: who's been worse than them at drafting and developing offensive
Speaker 1: lineman Over the past five years, They've spent five picks
Speaker 1: in the first four rounds on offensive lineman, and none
Speaker 1: of them has emerged as a above average start. There's
Speaker 1: still hope for Jake Matthews, but guys like uh Cons
Speaker 1: Peter Kan's the center. They drafted the second round, Lamar
Speaker 1: Holmes at right tackle. He had an okay career. But
Speaker 1: I remember when Sam Baker got taken. It was in
Speaker 1: the early twenties of the first round. People were really
Speaker 1: surprised about that pick. They drafted him with Matt Ryan,
Speaker 1: and I was even more surprised that they doubled down
Speaker 1: and gave him a big contract two years ago. So
Speaker 1: I always talk about self scouting. They did. They really
Speaker 1: tried to believe in that Baker pick, even though it
Speaker 1: never really panned out, and then when they gave him
Speaker 1: the big money again, it double backfired on him and
Speaker 1: he's just been hurt. I'm not sure what the numbers
Speaker 1: are right now, but it's a sizeable cap hit they
Speaker 1: take by getting rid of Baker or uh so, yeah,
Speaker 1: Greg is absolutely right. Reminds me of my boy Mr
Speaker 1: T Mike Tannebaum, what he did with Mark Sanchez once
Speaker 1: U by the time, Oh, I thought you were gonna
Speaker 1: say it reminds you of your boy boy. David Baker
Speaker 1: massive uh NFL personality, a massive man. Hall of fame.
Speaker 1: The head of the Hall of Fame is Sam Baker's
Speaker 1: father also used to run. He was the commissioner of
Speaker 1: the UFL. I believe Bears, this is why I see
Speaker 1: you on those top ten lists on the network all
Speaker 1: the time. You're just the fountain of information. He bears
Speaker 1: a physical resemblance to a late career Babe Ruth. He
Speaker 1: absolutely does. And you always seem with the Super Bowl,
Speaker 1: you see him in the lobby and everyone's coming up
Speaker 1: and talking to him. It's like, for your who is
Speaker 1: this guy? I thought, And finally we know he is
Speaker 1: the father that was the former Falcons. I think the
Speaker 1: only reason I know is because you were emailing or
Speaker 1: texting me from one of the like, who is this
Speaker 1: guy I see everywhere? This huge guy, and we kind
Speaker 1: of we figured it was like, he looks like it
Speaker 1: could be the brother of Andre the Giant. I was
Speaker 1: gonna say NFL player as well. Telling telling me a
Speaker 1: guy that you look like Babe Ruth in the dusk
Speaker 1: of his life is one of the big putdowns you
Speaker 1: could throw at somebody. A very nice guy by all accounts,
Speaker 1: Is that true? Yes, you could just see what people
Speaker 1: are lining up plugged in on this guy. I don't
Speaker 1: I don't know anything about him. I've never been to
Speaker 1: runs the Pro Football of Fame. Alright, alright, I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: all right. West said he's never going to the Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame if you like gets in. So you know
Speaker 1: the football like NFL, all those players, Yeah, they're they're
Speaker 1: in Canton getting inshrined every time. Beckham's Mark's going back
Speaker 1: this year. Really breaking news. Wow breaking Mark's on top
Speaker 1: right now. You got your running back, you got your
Speaker 1: running back rankings, big show you came in today, showed
Speaker 1: your commitment to the boss. Going back to Canton. What heut?
Speaker 1: What could happen next? What's next? Playing plane crash on
Speaker 1: the way to Ohio And I'm just saying it's what
Speaker 1: could happen next? You're a better week, you were Thomas Davis. Well,
Speaker 1: Thomas Davis won't need no one in that family need
Speaker 1: to have a job again for the next two years.
Speaker 1: So probably Thomas Davis. Thomas Davis play Mark's dentist Bill,
Speaker 1: like Thomas Davis is having a better week. Yes, he
Speaker 1: is all right. Moving on another retirement. Jason Campbell, who
Speaker 1: is one of West's favorites at quarterback, known for his
Speaker 1: worm burners, as West calls them, uh, the King of
Speaker 1: the checkdown. Jason Campbell has decided he's planning to retire
Speaker 1: after ten seasons. He uh. A source close to Campbell
Speaker 1: told rap Sheet that the decision is not final, but
Speaker 1: with training camps on the horizon, Uh, he's he's oh,
Speaker 1: you know, I guess he's he's down to retire if
Speaker 1: nobody calls his number. That's what it seemed like to me.
Speaker 1: But Campbell played ten years of former first round pick
Speaker 1: by the Redskins, of course, went to Oakland, had a
Speaker 1: cup of coffee with Mark and Cleveland, and then last
Speaker 1: year was Andy Dalton's uh backup in Cincinnati, so it
Speaker 1: might be it for Jason Campbell West you'll never see
Speaker 1: him again. At one point, I believe he had seven
Speaker 1: offensive coordinators in the first seven years of his career, UM,
Speaker 1: so he never really had a fair shake. But he's
Speaker 1: also another reminder that just because a first round quarterback
Speaker 1: shows a little bit of promise in the second half
Speaker 1: of his rookie season, that doesn't mean he's going to
Speaker 1: continue to develop into a stud. You see this all
Speaker 1: the time. He had me pretty excited about him at
Speaker 1: one point in his career. It's really even into his
Speaker 1: third season. I'm looking at his stats now. He led
Speaker 1: the league if this is you know, a stat in
Speaker 1: the fewest interceptions per throw thirteen touchdowns, six interceptions through
Speaker 1: for thirty yards. The team was eight and a. At
Speaker 1: that point, you thought Jason Campbell was TWI years all
Speaker 1: the time. At the very least, he's going to be
Speaker 1: a starter in the NFL For ten years. He was
Speaker 1: a promising guy and then I don't know what really
Speaker 1: did him wrong injuries. This was never really accurate and
Speaker 1: didn't have a great touch on his pass. In two
Speaker 1: thousand twelve, I remember this. They the Bears signed him
Speaker 1: to I think a three and a half million dollar contract,
Speaker 1: a one year deal, which was like the most money
Speaker 1: of any backup quarterback, and they thought that they had
Speaker 1: a guy they could trust in case Cutler got hurt.
Speaker 1: And I think Cutler got hurt, and I remember Campbell
Speaker 1: played the game played the Niners on Monday night and
Speaker 1: he got absolutely waxed. There was a Texans game too,
Speaker 1: I believe, yeah, and one of the worst games I've
Speaker 1: ever seen west it made him crazy. Was the game
Speaker 1: he played for the Browns where he through. I was
Speaker 1: convinced he had retired already at that point. But the
Speaker 1: year before he signed that contract, I drove up to
Speaker 1: Oakland on the fly to watch Cleveland play Hugh Jackson's Raiders,
Speaker 1: and that was the game early in the year where
Speaker 1: he got hurt. Campbell got hurt. He looked outstanding in
Speaker 1: the early part of that year, and that game especially,
Speaker 1: they ran over Cleveland and they looked dangerous. And that
Speaker 1: was what got Carson Palmer into Oakland because he was
Speaker 1: gone for the year. That helped him get that contract
Speaker 1: with the Bears. Had he not gotten hurt there, I
Speaker 1: think we would have thought of him differently after that season.
Speaker 1: They had a gun at the playoffs and don't forget
Speaker 1: about uh he yeah, he was seven and five. And
Speaker 1: didn't his injury lead to the panic trade by the
Speaker 1: Raiders to get Carson Ponds Good. We were reminded once again,
Speaker 1: while it's not a good idea to allow coaches to
Speaker 1: make trades because they don't think of the future. They
Speaker 1: only think, I gotta save my job right now. Well,
Speaker 1: it's no surprise that Hugh Jackson, who you know, absolutely
Speaker 1: got fleeced by the Bengals, got a job with the
Speaker 1: Bengals soon after. I think it's safe to say, what
Speaker 1: are you sting? I think I just did. I think
Speaker 1: it's safe to say that Jason Campbell is the most
Speaker 1: successful Raiders starting quarterback since Rich Gannon. And it's not
Speaker 1: even close. Eleven wins and seven losses. There's no one
Speaker 1: else that possibly been four games over five as a
Speaker 1: Raiders quarterback Andrew Walter stop. All right, So good luck
Speaker 1: to you, Jason Cambell lest someone calls him and then
Speaker 1: we'll probably see him in August, but we'll see what happens,
Speaker 1: all right. Finally, I just want to touch on this
Speaker 1: Mark you wrote about it on uh Saturday. I believe
Speaker 1: the Colts. Uh remember at the Combine. At the Combine,
Speaker 1: I noticed the same thing. There were banners hanging at
Speaker 1: Lucas Oil Stadium. Uh. It was like, you know, saying
Speaker 1: that they when they won their divisions, they got a
Speaker 1: banner when they went to the a f C title
Speaker 1: game and the early aughts, they you know, it would
Speaker 1: sayd a f C finalists, but they just hung another
Speaker 1: banner for two thousand fourteen a f C finalists. And
Speaker 1: for whatever reason, this caught the eye of social media
Speaker 1: and it took off. Basically, I'm saying I got I
Speaker 1: got screwed out of the you know, glory on this
Speaker 1: for noticing at first. Glory accompanies this very little, but
Speaker 1: the point being that these banners are hanging. It went
Speaker 1: nuts and caught fire in the blogs, and the Colts
Speaker 1: stood by their decision to hang these silly participation trophies.
Speaker 1: Did you write about it back then? I tweeted about it,
Speaker 1: which is I thought was enough. I didn't want it
Speaker 1: because I don't want to, you know, get anybody upset.
Speaker 1: I guess if you had a larger following, it probably
Speaker 1: could have gotten some wheels on that for you, NFL
Speaker 1: writer Blackway, he did it anyways. Cult CEO O ce
Speaker 1: O Pete Ward Uh says that this acision to hang
Speaker 1: the banner boils down to one factor pride. What stupid,
Speaker 1: That's what he said. Oh I love this Postmark drops
Speaker 1: a hammer on Patriots fans at the end. Oh, let's
Speaker 1: read it. We'll read it ready, Uh do not need
Speaker 1: to read it line for line. Much of the finger
Speaker 1: pointing has come from New England, where Patriots fans, no
Speaker 1: strangers to blissful seasons, can't fathom why the Colts would
Speaker 1: magnify a run that ended with hoisting the Lombardi without
Speaker 1: hoisting without hoisting the Lombardi. What a great point. And
Speaker 1: then bang a post of the Patriots banner with the
Speaker 1: sixteen and oh regular season record two thousand seven? Is
Speaker 1: that still up? That's permanent thing? Yeah? And next, and
Speaker 1: that's agree to all these Patriots fans that were and listen,
Speaker 1: you're celebrating the game where you got jobbed to seven.
Speaker 1: But suspect, but the Patriots went and somewhat did the
Speaker 1: same thing. They kind of did. This is your pr
Speaker 1: machine trying to get people that sex no banners bad finalist.
Speaker 1: I think it's the word finalist, because no one's ever
Speaker 1: called anyone a finalist. You're you're the runner up, or
Speaker 1: you're the loser of that game. I don't even let's
Speaker 1: you've appeared in the game, and not only did you
Speaker 1: appear in the game, you embarrassed yourself, you got bombed
Speaker 1: out of the building. It's not something that you want
Speaker 1: to necessarily even remember. They're they're too successful franchise over
Speaker 1: the last twenty years. Like this is going the way
Speaker 1: of the Adam Corolla. Everybody gets a trophy for participating
Speaker 1: speed Ah, that's what's happening, all right, So maybe we'll
Speaker 1: put up some banners around. You know, Mark hasn't been
Speaker 1: able to win that m v P award, but we
Speaker 1: could put up by his desk, you know, Mark Sessler,
Speaker 1: m v P Award finalist, right, or like you've at
Speaker 1: least been a finalist for the podcast or like eight
Speaker 1: rank Story of the Day two thousand forty two thousand
Speaker 1: fourteen Stitcher nomination for Best Sports Pod. And we can
Speaker 1: get that, you know, din we lose one reason something
Speaker 1: like that. Yeah, put it on the cover. Take off
Speaker 1: the Best of iTunes two thousand and six or whatever.
Speaker 1: It's maybe it's time for that contend to while we're
Speaker 1: on the topic. Alright, So Mark, you wrote the piece
Speaker 1: ranking NFL backfields from number one to number thirty two,
Speaker 1: and uh, why don't we build up? You know, first
Speaker 1: of all, everyone should read it. I read it cover
Speaker 1: to cover. I'm not convinced to that. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I read it though, and you know it was comprehensive
Speaker 1: Mark talk. Not only it wasn't just when Mark sat
Speaker 1: down and and and his mother's basement and blogged it out.
Speaker 1: Mark made some phone calls. They actually listened in on
Speaker 1: one inadvertently when he was talking to the Vikings running
Speaker 1: backs coach and speaking in a broadcasting voice on the phone. Uh,
Speaker 1: I had go ahead. Yeah, anyway, So what I'm I'm
Speaker 1: trying to give a compliment, pay a compliment. Mark really
Speaker 1: dug in to figure this list out. So why don't
Speaker 1: we count down from the back end. It'll be a
Speaker 1: little fun. Uh yeah, you know, throw it, throw a
Speaker 1: little curveball right off the bat, and uh, I'll give
Speaker 1: you thirty two through five? Why not? And uh, we're
Speaker 1: through twenty six Because Mark broke into tears the Buccaneers. Wow,
Speaker 1: Doug Martin has fallen quite a long way from when
Speaker 1: he was thought of as one of the best young
Speaker 1: backs in the league. H Thirty one the Titans, uh
Speaker 1: with Bishop Sanky leading the way, thirty Raiders twenty nine,
Speaker 1: the Patriots, which is interesting, jag Jaguars with t J. Yelden,
Speaker 1: the Cardinals at seven, and the Cowboys, who of course
Speaker 1: led the NFL and rushing last year, got rid of
Speaker 1: de Marco Murray and now have Darren McFadden and Joseph
Speaker 1: Randall leading away. They come into twenty six. So that's
Speaker 1: the bottom tier of Mark's list. Thoughts, West, you've got
Speaker 1: his going. I went back and watched Charles Sims and
Speaker 1: Doug Martin because I've done posts on both of those
Speaker 1: guys recently. Dirk Cutter, Buccaneers offensive coordinator, basically saved Doug
Speaker 1: Martin's roster spot, saying that he went back and watched
Speaker 1: film and Doug Martin looked like a lot better than
Speaker 1: he expected. And book there are in the last three
Speaker 1: games he clears ninety yards, and two of them one
Speaker 1: he has a sixty three yard line through a gaping
Speaker 1: chasm in the middle the field, and another one is
Speaker 1: mistackling on a forty five yard run. I know we
Speaker 1: don't like to do this, but if you take away
Speaker 1: those two runs, he ever's two point eight yards per
Speaker 1: carry over those three games. It's not like he was
Speaker 1: sustaining an offense or moving chains. He just didn't look
Speaker 1: that good to me, and Charles Sims looked like a
Speaker 1: slow C. J. Spiller with no power. So I have
Speaker 1: no problem ranking them as the worst running back crew
Speaker 1: in the league. Maybe he looked at Doug Martin's rookie
Speaker 1: tape seriously. Maybe he just thought this guy was this
Speaker 1: dynamic in the NFL. At one point, I can save him,
Speaker 1: but I have no problems putting them thirty second. I
Speaker 1: do argue a little bit with the Cowboys. To me,
Speaker 1: they're in contention for that worst spot. I would probably
Speaker 1: have them right there at thirty two one, where I
Speaker 1: like Joseph Randall, I have been, you know, vocal about that.
Speaker 1: But if that's your best option, in my mind, by far,
Speaker 1: that's a pretty bad part of me. Was the cow
Speaker 1: and I have you have to factor in, like what
Speaker 1: were the results gonna be. They've got arguably the best
Speaker 1: line in the in all of football running are you
Speaker 1: judge in the running backs or the line? Well, I
Speaker 1: mean with in this case, I look at Dallas and
Speaker 1: I don't believe that Darren McFadden situation like some do.
Speaker 1: So you've got a loud mouth and Joseph Randall, who
Speaker 1: is good, I think, but the guy cannot stop talking,
Speaker 1: and then the rest of the roster, I just I
Speaker 1: don't look comparing them to the teams above them. It's
Speaker 1: Dallas let the offensive player of the year walk out
Speaker 1: the door, and they didn't exactly replace him the way
Speaker 1: that teams like the Eagles and the Saints went out
Speaker 1: in restocked. You uh, not buying in on Latavius Murray
Speaker 1: having a breakout season as a Raiders coach recently said
Speaker 1: he could be in for a huge year. I found
Speaker 1: that interesting. Uh. And also at the Patriots, you have
Speaker 1: yours on the in the piece you list all the
Speaker 1: guys in the backfield where they have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight,
Speaker 1: So they're they're really kind of the thrown the sink,
Speaker 1: catching sink and doing that whole thing and hoping one
Speaker 1: of these guys steps up. Um, maybe it'll be Jonas Gray,
Speaker 1: but uh, hopefully he got I mean if blood's a
Speaker 1: nice change of pace. Guy Jonas Gray showed something like
Speaker 1: there's something here potentially with the Patriots can move the
Speaker 1: well one thing with them because I on paper they
Speaker 1: probably belonged down here in terms of the names, but
Speaker 1: they're they're such a good team in terms of coaching.
Speaker 1: No namers up that really, honestly, someone's gonna blow up
Speaker 1: for a two hundred yard game at some pits. Someone
Speaker 1: you suggesting the piece could be Lindsay lowin. I mean
Speaker 1: they could pull anyone off the straight to do that.
Speaker 1: But I talked to someone actress, she's getting bigger. She
Speaker 1: could get two yard game out of Lindsay low And
Speaker 1: if need that happened, feels real for week eight, talked
Speaker 1: to one coach who doing the roster well and he
Speaker 1: was like, they are to thirty squad because they don't
Speaker 1: have a standout right Well, it was someone that didn't
Speaker 1: want to name give the name. Position going, I I
Speaker 1: think they totally belonged this load. They would be in
Speaker 1: contention for the worst backfield I think in the entire league,
Speaker 1: right with the Cowboy if you put T. J. Yellin,
Speaker 1: Not that I've seen T. G. Yell than yet but
Speaker 1: just eat a good second round pick if he turns out,
Speaker 1: or Lettavius Murray or even Bishop Sankey and your boy
Speaker 1: David Cobb. Daniel Deremia said, watch out for David Cobb
Speaker 1: as a potential rookie that you can. If you put
Speaker 1: those guys on the Patriots, I think they'd be in bed.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, my boy. Bernard Pierce is the fifth
Speaker 1: guy in this list of the jack that's terrible Patriots backfield,
Speaker 1: Um White is going to be there passing down back
Speaker 1: at this point, who knows? I mean Bolden Blount, that
Speaker 1: guy could not have looked more underwhelming and preseasonly. Agree.
Speaker 1: And for those of you scoring at home. The Chris
Speaker 1: Westling word of the day is chasm, which is a
Speaker 1: deep fissure in the earth, rock or another surface. I
Speaker 1: think that's pretty much I mean common. It's not like
Speaker 1: a word that nobody uses. I'm saying I said it
Speaker 1: was the word of the day. It doesn't say whether
Speaker 1: it should have been used or or anything else. To use.
Speaker 1: My last translator, he just called you a dumbask well.
Speaker 1: I mean, is that a word that people Chasm is
Speaker 1: pretty widely. I mean, it's only five letters, it's pretty
Speaker 1: widely something. You're literally the first person I've ever heard
Speaker 1: say the word that's not that's it, And it does
Speaker 1: not reflect anyway on my intelligence that no one's ever
Speaker 1: said that word before. Just you know, maybe I'm not
Speaker 1: around high fluting people like you guys. It's out there,
Speaker 1: it's in the elect whatever. It's over. I've I've had
Speaker 1: I've canceled West's word of the Day because of an angry,
Speaker 1: unnecessary response. Moving on number twenty five to twenty one,
Speaker 1: the Falcons at the law, the Lions at twenty four,
Speaker 1: the Cleveland Browns at twenty three, the New York Giants two,
Speaker 1: and the Miami Dolphins at one. Uh Mark Lamar Miller
Speaker 1: was pretty I think total yards last year, but you're
Speaker 1: not in necessarily on them having a huge ceiling now
Speaker 1: I moved them up and down. It's also with the
Speaker 1: kind of offense they run some of these I'm gonna
Speaker 1: be dead wrong on in Miami's one of the ones
Speaker 1: that are sort of suspect. But part of it is
Speaker 1: I didn't want to rank rookies very and they have
Speaker 1: a rookie j Gies. How you say his name like
Speaker 1: that's he basically can't count on a fifth round pick
Speaker 1: to make that big of an impact even though everyone
Speaker 1: likes him. Well, that's talking to Daniel Jeremiah. He talked
Speaker 1: him up and felt like he could be the steel
Speaker 1: the draft in terms of where he was picked because
Speaker 1: they were worried about his injuries and stuff. So if
Speaker 1: he and Millard together and he and he performs that
Speaker 1: they're gonna be much better than twenty one. But part
Speaker 1: of it is then you start to say, who do
Speaker 1: you move these guys above? And that's where I got
Speaker 1: into trouble. I look, I like the teams above them
Speaker 1: better than Miami right now. Well, to me, this exercise
Speaker 1: is not the most productive backfield because then of course
Speaker 1: the Cowboys and the Patriots are gonna be way high.
Speaker 1: You're just looking at pure talent. And to me, the
Speaker 1: Dolphins out of this group, if I had to just
Speaker 1: choose the group of players, might be last. Well, the
Speaker 1: Falcons too, I mean, I think the Giants it's not dynamic.
Speaker 1: But Rashad Jennings, Andre Williams, Jane Green, you got a
Speaker 1: little bit of everything. I think that's a dark you're
Speaker 1: cooking with gas there. The Browns, I like, I'm buying
Speaker 1: some of this Duke Johnson hype. That was interesting you
Speaker 1: Thomas in the third round of the tray, Yeah, that
Speaker 1: was that was suspect. You had a coach, a brown
Speaker 1: source rather tell you that the running back room could
Speaker 1: be up into the top one of the ten best
Speaker 1: groups in league. And they talked up Duke Johnson a
Speaker 1: little bit, and I mean he said basically he would
Speaker 1: be shocked the source was a male, it was not
Speaker 1: a female. He would be shocked if they weren't top
Speaker 1: five in the NFL and rushing attempts and that seems
Speaker 1: obvious with what they have through the air, but they
Speaker 1: have three different types of running back, so possible top
Speaker 1: ten seemed a little rich your sources. Did you have
Speaker 1: any female sources? No, they were comprehensively male. Well, there's
Speaker 1: no there's there's not a lot of team personnel or
Speaker 1: coach coaches that are female. That's accurate. The one guy
Speaker 1: in this tear that I'm most intrigued by is a
Speaker 1: mirror yea Lions rookie who a lot of people I
Speaker 1: first think he can be a star mhm and j
Speaker 1: one of them. Yeah, he went off on him, and
Speaker 1: I think he's in a great spot because joyke Bell
Speaker 1: went from essentially a journeyman or a guy who had
Speaker 1: a great story that he even made the NFL to
Speaker 1: a guy fantasy leaguers, for whatever reason, are just in
Speaker 1: love with all this is gonna be the guy. He
Speaker 1: wasn't that physically talented. He was a try hard guy,
Speaker 1: and he's coming off serious surgeries. Yeah, they don't think
Speaker 1: he'll So there's no If I'm betting on a running back,
Speaker 1: it's definitely Abdullah and that joy Bell is never the
Speaker 1: guy you draft in the first three rounds. You can
Speaker 1: pick up guys like him off the waiver And there's
Speaker 1: already some bad buzz around him about whether they're running
Speaker 1: back coaches were that he's whether he'll be in shape
Speaker 1: when he finally gets a training camp. He's coming off
Speaker 1: surgeries to his knee and achilles. Uh. The Falcons, by
Speaker 1: the way, I wrote a post on Sunday, they haven't
Speaker 1: had a running back average four point oh yards per
Speaker 1: Carrie since two thousand eleven. So I mean that is like, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, at least the primary back offensive line. Remember
Speaker 1: the playoff games where they couldn't get fourth and short. Ever,
Speaker 1: I mean that that offensive line is come out to
Speaker 1: Freeman didn't do much last year. Tevin Culman will see
Speaker 1: what happens. I do though, with with Shanahan there, it
Speaker 1: might take more than one season to turn the line around.
Speaker 1: Plus but they he's always had productive running backs. I
Speaker 1: think they'll be productive. I don't think that's necessarily that talented.
Speaker 1: I'm shocked. I'm shocked by that. That's that. That's why
Speaker 1: someone's gotta give ja Quiz Rogers a chance. I know
Speaker 1: he does have a job now, but I always thought
Speaker 1: he was a little better than people thought. He's part
Speaker 1: of the problem. Well, you just said the line was
Speaker 1: so bad that no one could run. But Stephen Jackson's
Speaker 1: putting up a higher average than Quiz. Name me. Here's
Speaker 1: a win wests Toaster, the Atlanta Falcons running back in
Speaker 1: the last ten years or six years that led the
Speaker 1: league in yards per carry. There's a couple actually, now
Speaker 1: that I think of it the time, Michael Turner, Jarius Norwood,
Speaker 1: remember old Jarius? How many care that? Just that just
Speaker 1: brought this part of chasm you've created for the show?
Speaker 1: Greg Moving on number twenty, the New York Jets number nineteen,
Speaker 1: the Rams number eighteen, The Panthers remember seventeen forty Niners
Speaker 1: number sixteen. The ravens uh Forts seemed high to me. Mark,
Speaker 1: it feels like the Reggie Bush hype train rolled into
Speaker 1: Sessler corner. I think it's much more about Hide. I
Speaker 1: think that Hide with gore out the door, and he's
Speaker 1: gonna be given a big chance to do his thing.
Speaker 1: And I went back and watched him, and you know,
Speaker 1: he'd He didn't have not all of his games were
Speaker 1: shining last season, but he had some moments that made
Speaker 1: me think that they could use him quite a bit.
Speaker 1: And I Reggie Bush is not the reason I would
Speaker 1: put them up at seventeen. But he's not a bad ascid.
Speaker 1: He had a couple of games last year when he
Speaker 1: was healthy were I thought he looked good. That's a
Speaker 1: solid group. If Kendall Hunter gives him anything to that's
Speaker 1: a good number three. Bush is a good number two.
Speaker 1: If he's really the number two, we'll see about Hide.
Speaker 1: I I like that you you know, weren't too biased.
Speaker 1: You have the Jets. I would Motley Crew ahead of
Speaker 1: your Browns. That poop that Jets poop poop latter, I'd
Speaker 1: have down in the next year under under a few
Speaker 1: teams well, as Mark remarks that they ranked third in
Speaker 1: rushing last year. They got rid of Chris Johnson wisely
Speaker 1: bringing Ridley. If Ridley comes back and he's healthy and
Speaker 1: he's the Ridley that he was before the knee injury,
Speaker 1: that's a really good back film the micrad I think
Speaker 1: Chris Aubrey, they're all ifs in this backfield. I don't know.
Speaker 1: Chris Ivrey for two years now has been a guy
Speaker 1: that ever had carries in the season. He fumbles a
Speaker 1: lot and he gets injured a lot. Well part of
Speaker 1: it you got to get the jets up high just
Speaker 1: to get Dan on board and putting him a number twenty.
Speaker 1: It's a good place too. Well, it's all I think
Speaker 1: they should be hiring in fairness to pay. He is
Speaker 1: not an IF. He is one of the most steady
Speaker 1: law pals in the league. He's not very exciting, but
Speaker 1: you know what, you're going to give him like a
Speaker 1: new contract every five years for the next forty years.
Speaker 1: They love him so much. I hate to be you know,
Speaker 1: naturally we're picking this apart, but you did a great
Speaker 1: job with the list. One team that really intrigues me
Speaker 1: that I probably put a little higher just on potential,
Speaker 1: and I know you didn't want to overrate the rookies
Speaker 1: Girly and Tray Macee. Yeah. If I'm just ranking watchable
Speaker 1: backfield or the backfields I want to watch this year
Speaker 1: that that is in the top five for me. I
Speaker 1: love Trey Mason and Todd Gurley. I'm just intrigued to
Speaker 1: see what he's all about. I think it was. I
Speaker 1: really tried to not overdo it with any rookie and
Speaker 1: he's not healthy yet. But that said, they could be
Speaker 1: ten spots higher by the time this season ends. What
Speaker 1: did your male sources say about Panthers running back Cameron
Speaker 1: artist Pain. I didn't get a lot of feel I
Speaker 1: found out that if your name is not Adam Schefter,
Speaker 1: that when you email thirty two NFL teams, they aren't
Speaker 1: breaking down the doors to talk to someone they've never
Speaker 1: heard of. You got some good you got some good stuff, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I was. I didn't hear anything about Cameron artists Pain kid. Yeah. Actually,
Speaker 1: you know what DJ I believe I remember on move
Speaker 1: This either him or Bucky liked Cameron artists Pain for
Speaker 1: what cap did? I feel like the answers ranking you
Speaker 1: would have had them higher, but Jonathan Stewart's injury history
Speaker 1: was a factor. If he if he plays all sixteen games,
Speaker 1: and you factor into some degree what Cam Newton does
Speaker 1: on the ground that cost it didn't hurt them, It's
Speaker 1: not gonna it's it's to me, really, the issue was
Speaker 1: that Stewart. I feel like I've written seven thousand posts
Speaker 1: on NFL dot com about foot and lower leggage issues.
Speaker 1: When he was healthy last season, he was a fireball.
Speaker 1: He was great. But can He's missed twenty games in
Speaker 1: three years. Ravens is the one that sticks out to me.
Speaker 1: I if I was a GM, I'm not excited about
Speaker 1: for set Talia Faro Alan, I think they could be
Speaker 1: productive again. But I love I love him as a player.
Speaker 1: But if you're just talking from scratch, is he a
Speaker 1: better than average NFL starting running back? Just scheme independent?
Speaker 1: You know they before last year, not before last I mean,
Speaker 1: he was a guy who's a good guy to have,
Speaker 1: and then you go after him. Talia Faro, Fitzgerald Toussant
Speaker 1: makes your little list here of running backs. I don't
Speaker 1: even know if it's Gerald. I couldn't spell half of
Speaker 1: those great name. Fitz Gerald's not very literary next tier
Speaker 1: number fifteen, the Washington Redskins fourteen, the Bears, that Bears,
Speaker 1: number thirteen, the Denver Broncos, uh twelve, the Chargers and
Speaker 1: eleven the Cults. The cults. Now we're starting to get
Speaker 1: to the groups. Let's getting juicy. Look at Mark. When
Speaker 1: Mark puts the team whoever he puts out eleven, they
Speaker 1: should see that as a shot, because Mark said they're
Speaker 1: not top ten material. To me, the inconvenient truth, I
Speaker 1: feel like that's a back full backfield full question marks
Speaker 1: um Frank Gore, I don't think, at his age is
Speaker 1: one of the best backs in the league anymore. This
Speaker 1: tier especially, I struggled because it was I've heard from
Speaker 1: from Chicago that we're not excited about the Bears being there.
Speaker 1: And part of me is this, like with Forte, it's
Speaker 1: not a shot on Matt Forte. Part of it is depth,
Speaker 1: and I look at the rest of that group. Carrie
Speaker 1: was very unimpressive last season. I thought Langford's from what
Speaker 1: I've read, I haven't watched a lot of tape of
Speaker 1: the guy, but he's just a he's a jag. And
Speaker 1: so you got Jakey's Roger, So what happens if Forte
Speaker 1: can't go wire to wire. I mean they they've used
Speaker 1: him so much. If he plays the whole way, fine,
Speaker 1: they were twenty seven and rushing last season with him
Speaker 1: going the full way. Those are all excellent points. You're
Speaker 1: right that they've struggled running. Forte is a backfield though
Speaker 1: unto himself. Yeah he is. I mean again, and he's
Speaker 1: a He caught out a hundred passes. He broke the
Speaker 1: NFL records. So it's not a shot at Forte. But
Speaker 1: there's no way I was. I didn't see them as
Speaker 1: top ten. A lot of people going to disagree. Also,
Speaker 1: uh went to to Lane University. You guys heard about that?
Speaker 1: Who went there? Great guy? Redskins. Redskins gonna be good.
Speaker 1: People are talking about Matt Jones and so that's a
Speaker 1: nice one to combination Alfred Morris. I would have them
Speaker 1: a little higher. I have a question about that when
Speaker 1: you say that Alfred Morris is a strong fit for
Speaker 1: Bill Callahan's manpower scheme. Is that something um that one
Speaker 1: of your sources said or no, Uh, that was done
Speaker 1: through some research, and but what I also found was
Speaker 1: that they're not married to just using that blocking scheme
Speaker 1: that they're going to also continue with the zone, and
Speaker 1: I do think he was good in zone too. He's
Speaker 1: one cut runner, that's yeah. That's why I questioned it,
Speaker 1: because he was drafted for the zone and that's all
Speaker 1: he's ever played in. I know he's a power back,
Speaker 1: but that doesn't always mean you do well in a
Speaker 1: power scheme. Mark Well, that's fair. I love Callahan and
Speaker 1: and I like hearing that they're not gonna just go
Speaker 1: down one road with that. So he's also I think
Speaker 1: he's not the only guy. I do think that it
Speaker 1: sounds like uh Jones is gonna definitely threaten for some plane.
Speaker 1: Charges did a good job the Melvin Gordon move because
Speaker 1: it solidifies it makes it look a lot better because
Speaker 1: it went from a bunch of like guys you you're
Speaker 1: not sure about too. Now it's a nice backfield. You
Speaker 1: got Gordon, Brandon, Oliver, Danny Woodhead, Damn McDonald. Is there.
Speaker 1: There's some guys that can run the football there. Maybe
Speaker 1: they'll do a better job with it this year. I
Speaker 1: really like Oliver and they absolutely needed to fill the
Speaker 1: Matthews void, and you know, Gordon. We don't know, but
Speaker 1: the early reports are very good on him and Woodheads
Speaker 1: a mismatch in the passing game place, all right? Moved
Speaker 1: into the top ten. This is Harold ground. There's a
Speaker 1: chasm between eleven and ten. Here we go the Texans
Speaker 1: number ten, the Packers number nine, the Chiefs eight, the
Speaker 1: Bills seven, and number six. Another shot missing the top
Speaker 1: five the Bungles. Why do you got to pick on
Speaker 1: the Bengals. Yeah, they should have been in the top
Speaker 1: five here. I don't know. I couldn't. I couldn't get
Speaker 1: him in there, but I thought they and I and
Speaker 1: Wesley was a big influence on me moving them up
Speaker 1: to six from where I Hadn't you read West's love
Speaker 1: letter to Jeremy Hill last week? Well did you read
Speaker 1: marks piece because he calls West's piece brilliant? Well it was.
Speaker 1: It was a good read. But I know what Jero.
Speaker 1: Part of it is Bernard Matt, you know, matched with Hill.
Speaker 1: I think that they can do a lot and they
Speaker 1: they're going to run the ball, probably even more than
Speaker 1: they did last year. And I'm I'm just joking around here.
Speaker 1: I actually I think I would have him even a
Speaker 1: little bit higher, not much, I mean top five. You
Speaker 1: have Hill, which, as West mentioned, in his Chasm piece
Speaker 1: that this guy is ready to break out. Nobody was
Speaker 1: better than the second half in terms of yards per
Speaker 1: carrying it. I think yards overall, right, And then Bernard
Speaker 1: is maybe the best receiver there is out there. And
Speaker 1: and to that point, by the way, West, when you read,
Speaker 1: when you read that piece that you wrote, the brilliant
Speaker 1: piece again, it starts to feel like you might be
Speaker 1: coming back. He's coming back to coming around again. Paid
Speaker 1: are we where are we right now? With Where are
Speaker 1: we right now? Well? I think because West just for
Speaker 1: Anny new listeners, just to set it up. West left
Speaker 1: the team. He was so disgusted in the nineties. He
Speaker 1: no longer follows the bangals. But it seems like, as
Speaker 1: Carly Simon once said, you might be coming around again. Well, look,
Speaker 1: this is like an ex wife, and it's been twenty
Speaker 1: years almost. It's not a good idea to hop back
Speaker 1: in bed with your ex wife. But you know, feelings
Speaker 1: you had buried in our in our latent. Sometimes research
Speaker 1: don't if you allow them to resurface. And I think
Speaker 1: the Ohio River offense piece allowed me to get back
Speaker 1: in touch with some feelings I still had about their
Speaker 1: nineteen eighties teams in nineteen se How about the the
Speaker 1: idea that the Bengals when you quit them, it was,
Speaker 1: you know, a partner that let herself go a little bit.
Speaker 1: Now she's looking tight and looking really good and all
Speaker 1: of a sudden like, whoa, that's the woman I fell
Speaker 1: in love with. I think that's that's that's valid. So
Speaker 1: you're what you're saying, you could wake up, you know,
Speaker 1: after a long night out hazy kind of come into
Speaker 1: and metaphorically, Andy Dalton's right in bed next or at
Speaker 1: least one text away, one late text and Andy Dalton
Speaker 1: has a bit of a two bagger something. Wow. Some
Speaker 1: of the great dramas end with that couple that's been
Speaker 1: apart for so long. Kids are all upset, Well, my
Speaker 1: dad get back together at the end. I think this
Speaker 1: works on. I mean in my life, I've seen girlfriends
Speaker 1: who have really made themselves more attractive and the feelings happen.
Speaker 1: You know, the Bengals, Yeah, you're right. I mean, Jeremy Hill,
Speaker 1: that's a fun guy to rud On, Geo, Bernard A. J. Green,
Speaker 1: Marvin Jones, he loved her for a reason. You know,
Speaker 1: those those feelings can resurface. I'm not saying they're there,
Speaker 1: but it's more about the seventies and eighties Bengals. You
Speaker 1: almost wish they kept Carson Palmer. No, no, that's not
Speaker 1: sweetening the deal. I yeah, I have a theory that
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton's the only thing now standing in the way
Speaker 1: if they ever were to swap him out and get
Speaker 1: something somebody exciting coming around. I know that, by the way,
Speaker 1: there's only great teams ahead of these teams on the rankings.
Speaker 1: But but Jamal Charles just continues to be the most
Speaker 1: overlooked guy and if one of the best players in
Speaker 1: the NFL the last five years, and he's got a
Speaker 1: great backup in Nile Davis and Old Cessler just dropping him.
Speaker 1: I think he's very consistent. Fourteen hundred total yards last year.
Speaker 1: I think he had thirteen touchdowns in fourteen games or
Speaker 1: fourteen and fifteen games. Something got he wasn't as good
Speaker 1: he I think at two thousand total years, he'd be
Speaker 1: higher on on a ranking of running backs. But Nil Davis,
Speaker 1: I think I just the rest of the list and
Speaker 1: the way they use well. I just like the rest
Speaker 1: of the list, and it's part of it is you
Speaker 1: know you're gonna swing and missing some of these. Jamal
Speaker 1: Charles five point five yards per carrying his career, Jim
Speaker 1: Brown five point two j Jamal Charles one of those
Speaker 1: sneaky guys. If he had a good run here the
Speaker 1: rest of the way, He's someone that will get some
Speaker 1: conversation Hall of Fame that no one would think of
Speaker 1: Jamal what seems to be hanging in the air here.
Speaker 1: Mark is like, this was a missed opportunity to give
Speaker 1: Jamal Charles a respect he deserves. I do respect him,
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, I'm not a barbecue person, and
Speaker 1: it's a good thing because I'm not gonna be going
Speaker 1: to Kansas City anytime soon. Based on the feedback I've
Speaker 1: gotten where I placed him, So I like that you
Speaker 1: have the Bengals over the Bills. This was something that
Speaker 1: I'm sure you've gotten some feedback on this. On Twitter.
Speaker 1: I asked Evan Silva Rhoda World last week, would you
Speaker 1: rather have Lashawn McCoy right now or Jeremy Hill for
Speaker 1: the same salary, And a lot of people responded to
Speaker 1: that and said, why would anyone take Lashawn McCoy. You know,
Speaker 1: he's only two years removed from leading the NFL and rushing.
Speaker 1: But I think Jeremy Hill is a better runner than McCoy,
Speaker 1: and I think McCoy wasn't quite last year what we're
Speaker 1: used to him being bold. I agree, I like I
Speaker 1: like Bengals, that high bills, Fred Jackson. I mean, I'd
Speaker 1: love me some Fred Jackson. But one of these years
Speaker 1: it's got to end. Yeah. Part of with the Bengals
Speaker 1: is Hugh Jackson. Yeah. And I'll say number number ten
Speaker 1: the the Texans Aaron Foster. You know again, he didn't
Speaker 1: play the whole season last year. That's gonna be a
Speaker 1: bad quarter back group. There's gonna be that box is
Speaker 1: gonna be stacked. I think against it. That's gonna be tough.
Speaker 1: And if he goes down. Are you getting excited about
Speaker 1: Offord Blue? Yeah? I mean how excited are you gonna
Speaker 1: get about that? I don't know. So I would think
Speaker 1: maybe they would have been out of the top ten,
Speaker 1: but so far, I love your list. Also, well, not
Speaker 1: everyone does. Everyone I talked to you thinks they should
Speaker 1: be top five, whether they're Tampa Bay or Tennessee or well,
Speaker 1: I just you know the fans. Oh, you don't like
Speaker 1: the feedback you're getting? Care less breaking out that black
Speaker 1: you know they have to come nice pool on the
Speaker 1: Carly Simon drop. He wasn't quite the fixing. In the seventh,
Speaker 1: I've never heard that song popular song that well, it
Speaker 1: was like a mid eighties hit. My my mother is
Speaker 1: a huge Carly Simon fan and I grew up with
Speaker 1: that her greatest hit CD on loop, so I know
Speaker 1: every single notable Simon is the Nora from movie that.
Speaker 1: That wasn't that song like the theme song of that
Speaker 1: movie with Jack Nicholson And uh, oh as good as
Speaker 1: it gets something heat, body heat, the body heat is
Speaker 1: not yet. Uh. No cool car person ever has started
Speaker 1: with the phrase what was that Nora fron that it
Speaker 1: was called heartburn? I think it was because it came
Speaker 1: out and uh, Carly Simon's coming around again came out. Ye,
Speaker 1: that was the movie Jack Nicholson, Nail the stupid for
Speaker 1: I've never heard of that song Director's cut, Working Girl
Speaker 1: and that and that concludes pop culture memories from Chris Wesley.
Speaker 1: All Right, the top five here we go. This is
Speaker 1: where Mark makes his money, his incredible salary, starting with
Speaker 1: number five, the Pittsburgh Steelers Number five, with of course
Speaker 1: the dynamic Leby on bell D'Angelo Williams behind him Andrey
Speaker 1: Archer in the mix. Number four Nolan Saints with Mark Ingram, C. J. Spiller,
Speaker 1: Kelly Robinson the number three the Minnesota Vikings with Adrian Peterson,
Speaker 1: Jerick McKinnon, Matt right. Let me, let me just say
Speaker 1: something about the the Vikes. Peterson's back and we you know,
Speaker 1: and you just West you brought it up, so it's
Speaker 1: a good way to get into it. Evan Silva, who's
Speaker 1: a guy that we respect over at Rodal World, knows
Speaker 1: his stuff. However, you know, everyone seems to think that
Speaker 1: Leshawn McCoy is in declined because he wasn't as good
Speaker 1: last year. He dropped the yard to carry uh in
Speaker 1: his average, but ap dropped the yard and a half
Speaker 1: two years ago. He's four years older, he has h
Speaker 1: But I just don't understand why everyone thinks McCoy is
Speaker 1: going downhill when yes he is, but he's also I
Speaker 1: don't ever compared Leshawn McCoy to him. I think they're
Speaker 1: held to different standards. I'm just saying Peterson when you
Speaker 1: get down to and he's thirty, he's been out of
Speaker 1: football for a year since. It's also a freak. The
Speaker 1: last yes, the last year he did play, he was
Speaker 1: a significantly lesser version than the guy that went nuts
Speaker 1: in two thousand twelve. So to assume that he's still
Speaker 1: that guy, I am I don't know, assume it despite
Speaker 1: your protest protestations. I don't think he was significantly worse
Speaker 1: last time around. Either the factors around him were worse
Speaker 1: and he was a little worse. But I think he
Speaker 1: he was still the best running back in the end.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's not coming off an injury. He's coming
Speaker 1: off not being around, but he's kept in shape. Everyone
Speaker 1: that's been around him said he looks like the same guy.
Speaker 1: So part of me is like, I'll be I'm fine
Speaker 1: being late on the Adrian Peterson trained on on announcing
Speaker 1: his decline until it happens, because he is seems hell
Speaker 1: bent unproving everyone well. I think he's the best player.
Speaker 1: He's arguably the best player in the NFL over the
Speaker 1: last ten years in terms of being at just the
Speaker 1: best that his position. Since I've been working just covering football.
Speaker 1: He's right there with the guys that you think have
Speaker 1: a chance in twenty years that we'll be talking about
Speaker 1: as one of you know, when they make those lists
Speaker 1: the top ten players everywhere, like he might be on
Speaker 1: it if he has a good art. Perhaps point is,
Speaker 1: you just feel like he can do anything. And I'm
Speaker 1: not necessarily doubting Peterson. I'm more saying that I feel
Speaker 1: like people have been a little quick to jump to
Speaker 1: saying that Lashawn McCoy is decline that's fair, and I
Speaker 1: was Peterson's own dropping stats. But I yeah, I think
Speaker 1: he proved that. Peterson when he went nuts in two
Speaker 1: thousand twelve, proved a lot of people wrong. Um, and
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be surprised if he's great again, But I
Speaker 1: don't know. I don't have a problem with putting them third.
Speaker 1: You've got Derrick McKennon behind him, You've got two good backfields.
Speaker 1: We won't spoil him coming up. I was really surprised,
Speaker 1: and I know I could have voiced my opinion to
Speaker 1: you earlier. You gave me the option over the weekend,
Speaker 1: but I just thought this should be Mark's list. You
Speaker 1: don't need my input. The Saints number four, uh just
Speaker 1: uh talk about that. Well, this is this reminds me
Speaker 1: a little bit with some of the other teams where
Speaker 1: it's if Ingram stays healthy all season and he plays
Speaker 1: the way he did last year, and you pair him
Speaker 1: with what Sean Payton is going to do with c J. Spiller,
Speaker 1: with what he's proven he can do with c J.
Speaker 1: Spiller type guys. But Spiller is better than all those guys.
Speaker 1: I think if he's if he also stays healthy, this
Speaker 1: is a dynamic backfield and I I can't wait to
Speaker 1: see what New Orleans, Uh, their whole scheme is gonna change.
Speaker 1: We talked about that. I think they should be in
Speaker 1: the conversation for number one back I thought having them
Speaker 1: number four was really bold. That's what boom bust. That's
Speaker 1: why I didn't honestly want to give you what I thought,
Speaker 1: because then I would have just watered it down and say, well,
Speaker 1: you know, that seems bold. It's good to be It's
Speaker 1: good to be bold. You believe in the Saints backfield.
Speaker 1: Believing in the Saints that that has never gone wrong
Speaker 1: for you or West Spillers never. Spiller has the guy
Speaker 1: calling place for him, and Scheming, who was the perfect
Speaker 1: compliment for his his skill set and also the perfect
Speaker 1: like guy compliment in their tandem, mark Ingram and c J.
Speaker 1: Spiller are two different styles of backs, and they work
Speaker 1: really well together. I think they decide. How many other
Speaker 1: backfields here have a former making a leap candidate as
Speaker 1: the number three back Kyrie Robinson, who I really like.
Speaker 1: It's a little of it's a little of bold. But
Speaker 1: I got another one coming up that we haven't talked
Speaker 1: about yet. Uh any other thoughts on the five through three?
Speaker 1: I was, yeah, I mean that's just all Levian Bill.
Speaker 1: That's how high you regard that is. And I and
Speaker 1: I like levy On better, better than Jamal Charles or
Speaker 1: Lashawn McCoy or Jeremy Hill. I have no problem with
Speaker 1: It's one guy that like. When I went back to
Speaker 1: watch collection of his of his games, I don't even
Speaker 1: think last season quite caught me how specially is. And
Speaker 1: when I talked to his former coach as well, he
Speaker 1: just said, this guy will be that player that we're
Speaker 1: talking about for another ten years. So I buy into
Speaker 1: him big time. And I think what he did last
Speaker 1: season was outstanding and they'll only get better. Actually, we
Speaker 1: should give you some credit here. Talking of Vikings running
Speaker 1: back to coach Kirby Wilson, broke a little news in
Speaker 1: terms of Wilson backing off Peterson in terms of his workload.
Speaker 1: Name checked Mark Sessler on NFL Total Access for this.
Speaker 1: This is the rhythm of the well. And if I
Speaker 1: had cable television, I would have seen that trepid Reporter
Speaker 1: three is your week your secret. It's obviously going to
Speaker 1: be countered with a destructive, terrible week next week. It's
Speaker 1: got a balance. We have the m v P award
Speaker 1: up here for the podcast, but there is another type
Speaker 1: of MVP award at the company. How mad would you
Speaker 1: guys be if Cessler got his second one, I'd be
Speaker 1: out of here. I would lose. I would West would
Speaker 1: handle it fine. I would lose Dan as a friend.
Speaker 1: They have an MVP award. Mark's already won it once.
Speaker 1: I don't think that any of us are getting He's
Speaker 1: got a coin. I would have to give it to
Speaker 1: Dan immediately just to save you. But I'm friends with
Speaker 1: his whole family. What win with his toaster? You can
Speaker 1: just make up rolls and passing map. Oh yeah, hey,
Speaker 1: here's the toaster. West, you want it? But wait, your
Speaker 1: last thing was a lot but ducking and we wouldn't
Speaker 1: have to do it that way. Oh I like that drama.
Speaker 1: One day disturbing Don King will get them together number
Speaker 1: two on this list. The twelves aren't gonna be happy
Speaker 1: because they thought had this locked up. The Seattle Seahawks
Speaker 1: always the brides maide number two, just like the bridesmaid
Speaker 1: in Arizona at the Super Bowl when they blew it
Speaker 1: because they didn't give it to Marshawn Lynch. And yet
Speaker 1: Mark says they're not number one. Their number two on
Speaker 1: this list nothing to be ashamed of. Robert Turbin also
Speaker 1: on that team, former making the leap candidate Christine Michael
Speaker 1: still not over that name Rod Smith, who was a
Speaker 1: great wide receiver for the Broncos before Y two. K
Speaker 1: I mean, this is a nice little group. If the
Speaker 1: Seahawks don't trust Kristin Michael enough to put him on
Speaker 1: the field, why should you trust him enough to rank
Speaker 1: them number one on your list. Part of it is, well, listen,
Speaker 1: they are Marshawn Lynch is unstoppable. But Michael I went
Speaker 1: and wrote a gigantic piece on him last summer and
Speaker 1: he did me wrong. So I'm not gonna believe a
Speaker 1: word of it until I see it. You're right, What
Speaker 1: if the Seahawks taking a page out of the Colts
Speaker 1: book puts up uh finalist Mark Sessler is running Backgrankings
Speaker 1: this year. They it's been a long time since Seattle's
Speaker 1: had anything nice said about them, so they're gonna need
Speaker 1: to go down that road. I could see Richard Sherman
Speaker 1: going after you about this. That ever you know, got
Speaker 1: on his radar. Seems like the twelve Sherman the Twelves
Speaker 1: will hand take this one in stride and they, by
Speaker 1: the way, they should be happy. There's a much stronger
Speaker 1: case for moving them down below the Vikings, who have
Speaker 1: Adrian Peterson on the list. I think the Steelers. If
Speaker 1: you just want to make a case for Levy on Bell, yeah,
Speaker 1: I means Marton Lynch is a brilliant running back, but
Speaker 1: also spent like twelve percent of last season on an
Speaker 1: exercise bike for some reason. You got it. Also of
Speaker 1: the season never ready for the beginning. Who knows what's
Speaker 1: going to happen. I did factor in Russell Wilson too.
Speaker 1: I mean, only fifteen running backs had more yards than him.
Speaker 1: He's part of that doesn't count. I didn't know that counted.
Speaker 1: To redo the entire lest I started thirty two factoring
Speaker 1: quarterbacks here we go, all right, and now number one backfield.
Speaker 1: If you haven't figured it out, I'm sorry, you're stupid.
Speaker 1: The Eagles with DeMarco Murray, Ryan Matthews, Darren Sprawls, Jim Barner,
Speaker 1: Matthew Tucker Man Award. How about that. Congratulations to the Eagles, Mark,
Speaker 1: Why are they the number one backfield in all of
Speaker 1: the National Football League? Well, it starts with Matthew Tucker. No,
Speaker 1: I just I look at number one, Chip Kelly. Everyone
Speaker 1: was ridiculing Chip Kelly when the whole free agency thing happened.
Speaker 1: Gore walked out of the building. Chip Kelly's losing it.
Speaker 1: He's probably be back at Oregon two years from now.
Speaker 1: But instead you wind up with the best running back
Speaker 1: from last season in the Offensive Player of the Year,
Speaker 1: and Ryan Matthews, who is easily the best number two
Speaker 1: back of anyone on this list. And we'll see a
Speaker 1: ton of work I think this season. And then you
Speaker 1: got Darren Sprawls, which is sort of like the best
Speaker 1: number back on this Yeah. I don't know. This wasn't
Speaker 1: really that hard for me. Uh, it's a great back field.
Speaker 1: Is there a little concern in terms of like it's
Speaker 1: kind of a chemistry experiment to like, how do you
Speaker 1: use these guys? How do you put them together? Do
Speaker 1: you you know, give Ryan Matthews a quarter? Like how
Speaker 1: does this? How is this gonna work? You know? It
Speaker 1: is interesting is when I talked to Daniel Jeremiah, one
Speaker 1: thing he said that why this would work for Philly
Speaker 1: versus another team is that they're high. Their offense is
Speaker 1: so fast paced. That isn't just Ryan Matthews coming out
Speaker 1: for the occasional carry. It's you could do a full
Speaker 1: series with Ryan Matthews and a full series with Murray
Speaker 1: which running backs. If they're not gonna be willing to
Speaker 1: team that way, that could become a problem. But it's
Speaker 1: not just Ryan Matthews getting the occasional attempt. It's gonna
Speaker 1: get let them get in the flow. That makes a
Speaker 1: lot of sense because you know when they're playing hurry up,
Speaker 1: when they're at their best, they're not making substitutions. I
Speaker 1: do wonder if Matthews can be a quality guy on
Speaker 1: passing downs that necessarily hasn't been his strength throughout his career.
Speaker 1: But that makes a lot of sense. And and this
Speaker 1: is a team that has more plays and runs to
Speaker 1: play with are they going to well, if he's he's
Speaker 1: if he's on the hole for the whole series, he's
Speaker 1: on the field for passing down is what I'm thinking.
Speaker 1: They're gonna run the ball a lot. Yes, they are.
Speaker 1: Everyone said that about Chip Kelly when he came to
Speaker 1: the NFL. He's not really all about the past, and
Speaker 1: he's he's showing it. And I think if you're worried
Speaker 1: about their chemistry, I thought Ryan Matthews had some good
Speaker 1: comments last week and he was talking up to Marcomergy saying,
Speaker 1: guy led the league in rushing. He deserves those hill
Speaker 1: of the coopters. He deserves the praise the helicopters for
Speaker 1: you know, swirling overhead when he was you know, when
Speaker 1: the Eagles were recruiting him and he came in to sign,
Speaker 1: and Matthews said, he deserves all that. You know, we
Speaker 1: all buy into this system and and we'll be fine together.
Speaker 1: All right. That's it. That is Mark's top thirty two
Speaker 1: backfields in order. Congratulations Eagles. You don't have any Super Bowls,
Speaker 1: but you got this. Congratulations to Mark, what a performance,
Speaker 1: great work, what was fun to do. Thank you for
Speaker 1: chatting about it. Right, that's it. Before before we get
Speaker 1: out of here. Uh. If you are an l A
Speaker 1: listener and you're looking for something to do on Tuesday night,
Speaker 1: please check out the premiere of a movie. It's called
Speaker 1: Flock of Dudes. It's playing at the l A Film
Speaker 1: Fest right now. Directed by a good friend of the
Speaker 1: show and a long long time friend of mine, Bob Castrone.
Speaker 1: Uh tickets dot l A Filmfest dot com and search
Speaker 1: Flock of Dudes. That's the world premiere of the movie.
Speaker 1: It's very funny, great comedy. Mark You and I checked
Speaker 1: out one of the screenings earlier this year, didn't we
Speaker 1: It was great? I mean I it was. I didn't
Speaker 1: know what would happen or what will happen with it.
Speaker 1: I think big things. But it's the kind of thing
Speaker 1: that has kind of a it's people were gonna be
Speaker 1: watching it like a cult type of comedy for a
Speaker 1: long time. It's well acted. Jason zelmald Or other friend
Speaker 1: the listener of the show was a writer. There is
Speaker 1: a character loosely based on Dan Hansis is that right?
Speaker 1: A little bit? I was involved with this project way
Speaker 1: back when a little bit, so I do have a
Speaker 1: connection to it as well. But please go see the movie,
Speaker 1: Your Lovely Wife, Emily, my lovely sweet wife, was the
Speaker 1: casting director. So yes, it is a bit of a
Speaker 1: passion project for my circle of friends. So check it out.
Speaker 1: Tickets dot l a film Fest dot com, search flock
Speaker 1: up dudes. Tuesday, ten pm. Right, that's it. Dan Hans
Speaker 1: is signing off for the great I mean Studley Mark Sessler.
Speaker 1: They call him quiet Storm and Big Delivery. Didn't leave
Speaker 1: a lot of meat on that bone today with that article.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, Joseph Randall's words, not such a quiet storm
Speaker 1: today's show. And of course the Mailman, the Boss. More
Speaker 1: great work by Sully behind the Glass, and of course
Speaker 1: the Irishman Random Against. Thank you for listening to Wednesday