Speaker 1: Be Around the NFL podcast comes up with new bits
Speaker 1: faster than Greg can kill. There from the Chris Westling
Speaker 1: podcast studio, It's around the NFL. I'm Dan Jansas. Got
Speaker 1: some heroes here, Greg roseatal Mark Sessler, Apologies, I missed
Speaker 1: Monday's show. I haven't killed a bit in a while.
Speaker 1: By the way, are we allowed to say where you were? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Well you know I missed the show. Like Tom Brady, Um,
Speaker 1: I had a personal matter and uh, I needed to
Speaker 1: step away in August tend to some issues, but I'll
Speaker 1: be back and I am back. That personal matter was
Speaker 1: taking my two children with my wife, uh to Legoland
Speaker 1: two nights, two days. It's a lot um the dense
Speaker 1: voyage I've been there. It's yeah, it's uh. There's literally
Speaker 1: a song in the Lego universe called this Song is
Speaker 1: Gonna Get Stuck Inside your Head that plays on Loop there.
Speaker 1: It's a lot Uh. Tuesday morning, we were at the
Speaker 1: breakfast buffet in Um, one of the hotels on the grounds.
Speaker 1: Emily comes up to me and says, I think there's
Speaker 1: a famous guy around the corner. And as I go, okay,
Speaker 1: and she's like, I thought at first he was a guy.
Speaker 1: He looks like a southern boy. I thought maybe I
Speaker 1: went to college with him, but now I think he
Speaker 1: might be famous. And I turned the corner and there
Speaker 1: he is, and I think this is a safe space.
Speaker 1: I don't feel like I'm blowing up his spot because
Speaker 1: by the time people listen to this, there's no way that, um,
Speaker 1: you could do more than two days and lego land,
Speaker 1: he's gone unless you were actually trapped there. Um. Drew
Speaker 1: Brees was there with his wife and what appeared to
Speaker 1: be his young son. And I have to say I
Speaker 1: respected uh Drew Brees for being in this mess hall
Speaker 1: chowing down on room temperature sausage and scrambled scrambled eggs
Speaker 1: that had been battered by the heat lamp over the
Speaker 1: over hours, just real like every guy stuff. So we
Speaker 1: made awkward eye contact at one point, uh to just
Speaker 1: two NFL giants, you know, by happenstance, thrown together. Um,
Speaker 1: And it was a special moment. I would ask, like
Speaker 1: number one, if people were, you know, noticing him and
Speaker 1: approaching him, But where they noticing you and approaching you?
Speaker 1: I didn't know. I didn't get it. There were no sightings,
Speaker 1: no spottings of a t N from a t N
Speaker 1: fans um, although um I did. It did get me
Speaker 1: ruminating on fame and true fame when I saw Breeze,
Speaker 1: because Drew Brees is Drew Brees. And one thing that
Speaker 1: jumps out to you about Breeze is he does not
Speaker 1: look like superhuman like so many pro athletes. It looks
Speaker 1: like a regular dude. But it's also yeah, he's also
Speaker 1: one of the most recognizable professional athletes in this country
Speaker 1: of the last twenty years. Saved to your wife who
Speaker 1: thought it was a college boyfriend, Yeah, well I don't
Speaker 1: think a boyfriend and I wouldn't again, like when that's where,
Speaker 1: that's where I go with it. But when you talk
Speaker 1: about my wife, you know, let's let's take it easy.
Speaker 1: So with the uh insinuation and he immediately goes there,
Speaker 1: I know that was where my my memory was. Its tasteful,
Speaker 1: it's dis tasteful. That's my wife a man she knew
Speaker 1: in college then. But that's even more vague and bizarre.
Speaker 1: But anyway, yeah, I imagine I hope he wasn't bombarded
Speaker 1: by people looking for autograph selfies coming up to him constantly,
Speaker 1: But I don't know how it doesn't happen. Did you
Speaker 1: make um while you were there, because you know they
Speaker 1: have the the little huts where you can bring the
Speaker 1: children in for a little downtime, where they can play
Speaker 1: with the legos. Did you make anything? Did you sit
Speaker 1: down with them and make anything out of legos yourself?
Speaker 1: And if so, what? I never touched a lego? No,
Speaker 1: I can't even imagine what is on those legos. And
Speaker 1: the children were sanitizing the hands at a furious level.
Speaker 1: Put it that one. That's a logical argument to have
Speaker 1: to stay away. Um, but I'm happy to be back,
Speaker 1: and UM, thank you to Patrick Claibon for sitting in
Speaker 1: today's show. We are going to listen. It's not March madness, Greggy,
Speaker 1: it's September madness. Well's it's technically August, right, but it's
Speaker 1: gonna be September madness because we have, uh, we're gonna
Speaker 1: break down all of the Week one games. They're sixteen
Speaker 1: of them, sixteen games, thirty two teams, zero teams on buy,
Speaker 1: and we're gonna do it bracket style, March madness style, uh,
Speaker 1: to figure out what is the best game of Week one?
Speaker 1: And yes, is it probably the Thursday night opener between
Speaker 1: the Rams and Bills. I can imagine that, but our
Speaker 1: job is to not be so basic about it. And
Speaker 1: that really drilled down down onto what game is gonna be? What?
Speaker 1: What does the game that gets you? What's the one
Speaker 1: we're most excited for. It's like Week one is the
Speaker 1: best week of the season to me. Now all the
Speaker 1: teams are as like unknown as possible. We've had this
Speaker 1: whole offseason to get ready. Now we've got about three
Speaker 1: four weeks to literally get ready just for these matchups.
Speaker 1: I mean, just you putting it out there that Bills Rams, like,
Speaker 1: we gotta figure out if that's not number one. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to vote for it now. I mean
Speaker 1: I'm bringing that thing down. Well, so the way this works,
Speaker 1: like if there could be a Cinderella that goes and
Speaker 1: meats Bills Rams, That's what I mean. Greg always looking
Speaker 1: to consume power, gain it. That's not flu There's three
Speaker 1: external power. So if Greg, if Greg says I want
Speaker 1: to take out the Rams and Bills out of the
Speaker 1: bracket just because I want to be different, there's still
Speaker 1: two other voters here. Absolutely rules absolutely, But you said
Speaker 1: it's gonna be the game we're most excited for, and
Speaker 1: is that the best game is that maybe the most
Speaker 1: meaningful game. It's you know, I I don't think that
Speaker 1: would be my number one game I'm most excited for,
Speaker 1: So that would be just being honest. Well here's my concern.
Speaker 1: Here's my concern that And again this exercise is not
Speaker 1: to tell everyone that Rams Bills is the best game.
Speaker 1: So I would love for some you know, I choose
Speaker 1: to be in out, But if it gets bounced out early,
Speaker 1: I'm concerned because Greg is already saying he wants to
Speaker 1: be an agent of chaos, and Mark in the Rams
Speaker 1: is well documented their relationship. Maybe the Rams aren't gonna
Speaker 1: make it to number one, so maybe hang around and
Speaker 1: see what is I mean? It's like the most most
Speaker 1: beautiful girl in school. She doesn't need to be the
Speaker 1: problem queen. We're going to that game. That's enough. Like
Speaker 1: the game is gonna be amazing. Maybe it doesn't exactly.
Speaker 1: You're filtering it through your mindset. We're trying to audience.
Speaker 1: What's the best game. That's the idea? Are you because
Speaker 1: I am? I'm not because I think it sets up
Speaker 1: the segment to be spice here than then then just
Speaker 1: go in chalk. Spice is good all right, Yeah, we
Speaker 1: don't want to go chalk um, but before that, let's
Speaker 1: do some news. Yes, Dan Tallica a k a. Dan Campbell,
Speaker 1: head coach of the Detroit lines from episode two of
Speaker 1: Hard Knocks, and if if you love Hard Knocks or
Speaker 1: if you love this show, if you love both, you
Speaker 1: gotta check out the Hard Knocks podcast with me and
Speaker 1: Colleen Wolf. Episode two dropped last night. We talked about
Speaker 1: Dan Campbell, of course, but it wasn't all Campbell an
Speaker 1: episode two, Mark. There was a lot of your boy
Speaker 1: blow hard stand up, but it was a little bitter
Speaker 1: sweet what was that, Dave? And there was a little
Speaker 1: bit of a better sweetness to it all because it
Speaker 1: didn't end in a storybook way an episode two. That
Speaker 1: is the nature of David Blow. There's a reason he's
Speaker 1: often forgotten by the public for months at a time
Speaker 1: because he's you know, nestled deep on the roster. But
Speaker 1: I think we learned more about the person and there
Speaker 1: is a sense of tragedy to his on field career potentially,
Speaker 1: but the person himself. Um, I thought did a nice
Speaker 1: job on Hard Knocks. I love this coaching staff and
Speaker 1: you know, we'll we'll just save it for your guys
Speaker 1: comments you and Colleen. I mean the show is great. Um.
Speaker 1: I I just I find this to be my favorite.
Speaker 1: I've had issues with Hard Knocks when it follows just
Speaker 1: typical beats and like you get into episode two and
Speaker 1: three and it's the same old business. Um, I feel
Speaker 1: completely different about this one. The energy of this team,
Speaker 1: and I even think with Dan Campbell, who I understand
Speaker 1: he's a bit of a sound bite machine, and people
Speaker 1: latch onto that last night because they went into areas
Speaker 1: where the team was struggling here and there. I thought
Speaker 1: Dan Campbell, the teacher, Dan Campbell, the true motivator, the
Speaker 1: leader in good times and bad came out and I
Speaker 1: think there's probably coaches around the league to think, look,
Speaker 1: that's great. He can be a raw rob. I let's
Speaker 1: see if he can hang with Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVeigh.
Speaker 1: Will find out. But I do think that he's changed
Speaker 1: the Detroit Lions tangibly from everything we thought about them
Speaker 1: the entire time we've done this show. They're the ultimate
Speaker 1: like fall in love with the Hard Knocks team and
Speaker 1: then root for him and maybe overrate them, but I
Speaker 1: don't care. I'm in I mean I'm I just hope
Speaker 1: that's not what we remember about blow. We'll always have
Speaker 1: the Thanksgiving game, but that was a big almost perfect
Speaker 1: either that wasn't perfect, but at least perfect. And I
Speaker 1: just I just hope he doesn't. I hope he makes
Speaker 1: the team. I mean, I hope, you know, both him
Speaker 1: and Tim Boyle uh make the team because when Tim Boyle,
Speaker 1: yeah yelled out Dimer with like no other teammates around
Speaker 1: him after he threw his touchdown fast and just Tim
Speaker 1: Boyle is they truly bizarre quarterback if you watched his
Speaker 1: games last year, and and I'm not saying I would
Speaker 1: want him as my quarterback, but he's he's very compelling.
Speaker 1: I was saying before the show when we were talking
Speaker 1: a little bit about Boil, like it's a great combination
Speaker 1: when you have a quarterback who's not good but also
Speaker 1: nuts but also has like that they're just and just
Speaker 1: as totally unpredictable that they're they're clearly intrigued by They've
Speaker 1: been trying to give him this job, but I don't
Speaker 1: know if he's totally unpredictable arms what you're aiming for
Speaker 1: at this level of the sport. And reminder to the
Speaker 1: UK fans listening to this show Hard Knocks drops for
Speaker 1: you guys in international territory on Friday, So watch it
Speaker 1: and then check out the podcast with Connie and I check.
Speaker 1: That's how long it takes to send the tapes across
Speaker 1: the city. It is in some levels, it's still one.
Speaker 1: Let's get into it. Let's start with the Chargers who
Speaker 1: get a deal done with Derwin James. Four years, seventy
Speaker 1: six point four million dollar extension, forty two million guaranteed.
Speaker 1: He's the highest paid safety in league history. Don't tell
Speaker 1: Jamal Adams. It's like information campaign announce Seattle, just shutting
Speaker 1: out everyverything from the outside. I think he's been taken
Speaker 1: care of financially. Sure, I mean sure, I'm sure he's
Speaker 1: fine anyway, Derwin James fantastic, Uh when healthy hasn't always
Speaker 1: been the case, but obviously the twenty six year old
Speaker 1: is someone that the Chargers mark believe in very much
Speaker 1: to be a mainstay in the back of their defense. Well,
Speaker 1: it starts with Brandon Staley, who's you know, spent the
Speaker 1: last two off seasons reconstructing this defense, and sometimes regime
Speaker 1: changes change what you feel about the player. He could
Speaker 1: not be more all in. He called him the signal
Speaker 1: caller and the heartbeat of the defense. He said he
Speaker 1: also does not look at Derwin as a safety, which
Speaker 1: I think got but as an impact player. I think
Speaker 1: that was probably great for the Derwin James Holden camp
Speaker 1: in the agent when you're like, you're not gonna just
Speaker 1: get paid as a safety, You're gonna get paid as
Speaker 1: the most expensive safety because you're way more than just
Speaker 1: one positional type of player. And I would look at
Speaker 1: this Chargers defense on top of who they added in
Speaker 1: uh in free agency, j C. Jackson, Uh, you know
Speaker 1: you've got Joey Bosa, Khalil Mack. I think that Brandon Saley.
Speaker 1: We're the healthy Derwin. James is set up to do
Speaker 1: what he wants. And if you're Tom to LESCo, these
Speaker 1: these are your first round picks over the last five years,
Speaker 1: justin Herbert, Joey Bosa, Derwin James, Rashawn Slater, and Mike Williams.
Speaker 1: Tom Telesco needs to win playoff games, but there's no
Speaker 1: question that he's found a way to build a team.
Speaker 1: Well that's for because I think Herbert's gonna get there
Speaker 1: for first team All pros right there, like Slater is
Speaker 1: going to get there. James is there, is there, and
Speaker 1: I'm not putting Mike Williams there, but that's also a
Speaker 1: good pick. That's brilliant work by your front office and Derwin.
Speaker 1: James is a perfect mac match of coach in scheme.
Speaker 1: I think when he says like he's not just a safety,
Speaker 1: it's like last year they needed him to play coverage more,
Speaker 1: they needed him to be a corner back more because
Speaker 1: of what their team looked like. He helped the seer
Speaker 1: atterly really improved as the safety next to him. They
Speaker 1: can kind of fit him in to whatever they need,
Speaker 1: not just in a given week, and they really use
Speaker 1: him in a million different ways depending on the game plan,
Speaker 1: but in a given season, and that that's like so
Speaker 1: valuable that if there's injuries here, he can cover you there. Uh,
Speaker 1: we know what he's like as a pass rusher, as
Speaker 1: a playmaker, as a coverage guy. They're just really aren't
Speaker 1: many guys like him, And it was great to see
Speaker 1: last year that he could stay healthy for the whole season.
Speaker 1: I think there's hope now, even another year removed from
Speaker 1: all those surgeries, that he'll be even more explosive. You
Speaker 1: wonder where raiders at Chargers week one where the September
Speaker 1: met a selection committee comes down on that one. We'll
Speaker 1: find out, we'll find it's getting buried a little bit.
Speaker 1: I noticed that at four. I know it's you know,
Speaker 1: it's opposite Packers, Vikings, Chiefs, cardinals, like it's not getting
Speaker 1: the too bad for twenty right for twenty bro, that
Speaker 1: was That was my favorite damnack bit that he just
Speaker 1: ran in from classic just no matter what it was
Speaker 1: during Damna sex, you know, seven years I think we
Speaker 1: were with him at the company or more if it
Speaker 1: was for twenty and he was in NFL media building,
Speaker 1: he yelled out, you could be like rooms away and
Speaker 1: you just see here from far away. For twenty bro,
Speaker 1: there were I think I think because we had so many,
Speaker 1: we had so many like executives over the years couching
Speaker 1: those newsrooms that their response to that was variable. Right.
Speaker 1: It was hilarious that he was at one boss in
Speaker 1: the corner who would crush a coffee bug in his
Speaker 1: hand when he heard voice alright, love check In other news,
Speaker 1: the Jets did not have any bad surprise is when
Speaker 1: Zack Wilson had his knee surgery. Uh, turns out it
Speaker 1: was a clean up of the meniscus and it's a
Speaker 1: bone bruise, and the two to four week time frame
Speaker 1: for the second year quarterback appears to hold. So he's
Speaker 1: very questionable for Week one. I would not anticipate seeing
Speaker 1: Zack Wilson in Week one, but you never know. Um.
Speaker 1: Obviously I wasn't on the show on Monday. My my
Speaker 1: thoughts are, UM, I think all Jets fans really need
Speaker 1: to be aware that this this might not work out.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm trying to be very I've always tried to
Speaker 1: be optimistic about Wilson, but since the day has been drafted,
Speaker 1: after I put it went all in on Sam Donald. Um,
Speaker 1: I try to keep Wilson in a little bit more
Speaker 1: of a distance. Uh. This is now a second knee
Speaker 1: injury in two years. He had some um health issues
Speaker 1: at b y U staying healthy. He's not a big guy,
Speaker 1: even though he has bulked up, and I just I'm
Speaker 1: prepared for whatever happens with Zack will and I would
Speaker 1: not be surprised if Joe Flacco plays more than many
Speaker 1: Jets fans anticipate this season. So it's kind of like
Speaker 1: the headspace I'm in I'm hopeful he's gonna get healthy,
Speaker 1: stay healthy, be better on a better team. But this
Speaker 1: to me is just another little red flag as someone
Speaker 1: who's been through this a million times um his inability
Speaker 1: to stay healthy for a guy that needs the reps,
Speaker 1: thet a guy that needs the show big improvement. I'm
Speaker 1: happy we dodge the bullet because it would have been
Speaker 1: a huge organizational setback if he blew out his knee,
Speaker 1: because they would have been a really bad situation where
Speaker 1: they would have had to get through this year and
Speaker 1: then give Wilson a chance next year, and then if
Speaker 1: he didn't do well next year, you know what happens
Speaker 1: next and you're starting over. Now. They still looks like
Speaker 1: they'll be able to evaluate him, but I think he's
Speaker 1: gonna be on a short lease with this organization. I
Speaker 1: just feel that I think that expectation setting is similar
Speaker 1: to the expectations setting that they the Jets are putting
Speaker 1: out through the media about whether her play week one
Speaker 1: or not. Because even though there was that two to
Speaker 1: four week timeframe, basically anyone who had a source inside
Speaker 1: the Jets was like, don't expect in week one, and
Speaker 1: great if he surprises and he gets ready early, but
Speaker 1: they're gonna want to be careful. I think they were
Speaker 1: careful about his injury last year during uh the season
Speaker 1: when he sat back down and made sure he was
Speaker 1: really ready, and he did come back a little fresher,
Speaker 1: a little better. He needed those reps, you know, the
Speaker 1: the six reps he had to me were as concerning
Speaker 1: as the injury that he had. But maybe he'll be
Speaker 1: back for what used to be the Big Bowl. On
Speaker 1: this podcast, Jets browns Now, I guess it's losing like
Speaker 1: a little bit of spice since the sisler jumped off
Speaker 1: a little more depressing a little bit significant amount of spice,
Speaker 1: you know. The Well, we'll see where this thing. Joe
Speaker 1: Flacco versus Jake Brisket matchup doesn't exactly scream to me,
Speaker 1: uh bracket for Week three or two or a week
Speaker 1: one bracket. We mentioned this on our last episode. I'm
Speaker 1: not for you as a Jets fan, This isn't what
Speaker 1: you wanted, but you do get Joe Flacco versus Lamar
Speaker 1: Jackson a little bit of an old wild West. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we'll talk about that in the tournament where that if
Speaker 1: that makes it a better game or a worst game.
Speaker 1: Hold that thought let's move on. In other news, Drew Lock.
Speaker 1: You know, Greg, I hope this wasn't something that led
Speaker 1: to a fist pump because that would not be a
Speaker 1: good luck, good luck for you. Drew Lock tested positive
Speaker 1: for COVID nineteen. He'll miss the Week two preseason game
Speaker 1: against the Bears for the Seahawks. So this was his
Speaker 1: big chance after Gino Smith got the start in week
Speaker 1: one for Lock to say, remember me, keep me in mind,
Speaker 1: I should be the starter. Well, now Gino slides back
Speaker 1: in as the starter. He's gonna, you would imagine, get
Speaker 1: more reps and now Gino Greggy feels like he has
Speaker 1: a big lead in this battle. Yeah, I think it's over.
Speaker 1: I think it was probably over anyways, just based on
Speaker 1: the first game that I think the mistake Lock made
Speaker 1: at the end of it. But they had had a
Speaker 1: plan that Lock is going to start the second game,
Speaker 1: and he, you know, took first team reps in practice
Speaker 1: Tuesday before they realized he had tested positive. So that
Speaker 1: was the first time all off season. But even then,
Speaker 1: in the press conference right after practice before they knew,
Speaker 1: he ad Corona Pete Carroll, who answers every question as
Speaker 1: if he's like a big Gino Smith fan and wants
Speaker 1: to tamp down Drew lock. Hype said, well, don't make
Speaker 1: no mistake, Gino is still our number one, but we're
Speaker 1: gonna give lock Uh this one chance. I don't think
Speaker 1: there was much doubt in my mind, but any doubt
Speaker 1: is gone now. I don't even think lock Lock won't
Speaker 1: wind up starting any preseason games now because I think
Speaker 1: they'll want Gino to do the third one. I'll reference
Speaker 1: the title of an absurd um book looking at the
Speaker 1: jfk assassination, a look back that basically just painted Oswald
Speaker 1: as the loan gunman without any other nuance of research.
Speaker 1: Case closed Gino's starting week one. The wait, the entire
Speaker 1: book had no nuance of research zero. If you open it,
Speaker 1: the pages are empty. But it's a very salty topic
Speaker 1: between Mark and I because clearly Oswald acted alone, and
Speaker 1: people just want more answers because they don't want to
Speaker 1: People don't want to accept the reality that one man,
Speaker 1: no matter how small he is in society, if he
Speaker 1: wanted to take down the most powerful man in the world,
Speaker 1: he could. That's scary, that's frightening. Just happened in Japan.
Speaker 1: Not the most powerful man in the world, but the
Speaker 1: former Prime minister sixty three, I understand it more conspiracy people.
Speaker 1: It's it's fertile ground. The majority, the majority of the
Speaker 1: country disagrees with you. That doesn't matter. People don't want
Speaker 1: to have the last five to ten years and in
Speaker 1: kind of no one accepting obvious answers for many things
Speaker 1: in our in our society. Do you even a particle
Speaker 1: of research and I'll discuss the topic with you. I
Speaker 1: told you it's a spicy topic between me and the
Speaker 1: Sessler and Gregg tried to wait in and he just
Speaker 1: got electro ship. Well, he didn't like who I was
Speaker 1: connecting him to their connecting. You know a lot of
Speaker 1: a lot of conspiracy theorists, it's not it's not connected,
Speaker 1: and you're you're doing an ill job with that. Those
Speaker 1: conspiracy theorists like kind of ruined it for the other
Speaker 1: conspiracy theoriest people. I feel like you're you're like a
Speaker 1: good spiracy theorist person. You don't deserve to be grouped
Speaker 1: in with that other group. Mark, I thank you, and
Speaker 1: I also don't group myself in with with that other group. Thanks.
Speaker 1: Thanks for the confirmation though, what happened to my voice
Speaker 1: there all right. Karl Nassa is back with the Bucks,
Speaker 1: twenty nine years old, the nfl is only openly gay player.
Speaker 1: He was released by the Raiders uh in a salary
Speaker 1: cap moved back in March. But here he is back
Speaker 1: with the Bucks. Um He spent two seasons there, reunited
Speaker 1: with Todd Bowles uh greg A nice addition here for
Speaker 1: Tampa Um a guy that maybe was overpaid by the Raiders,
Speaker 1: but was not ineffective. No. I think he played pretty
Speaker 1: well with the Raiders. That's like a role player, and
Speaker 1: I think it's just nice. It's good to see him
Speaker 1: back in the NFL. I think it would have been
Speaker 1: a disappointing end, and there's no guarantee makes the team,
Speaker 1: but it would have been a disappointing end that, you know,
Speaker 1: the NFL's first openly gay player and he loses his
Speaker 1: job the next season and he doesn't come back because
Speaker 1: because I just didn't think that there was anything going
Speaker 1: on beyond the scenes. And there's a lot of players
Speaker 1: out there right now that don't have jobs that I'm
Speaker 1: surprised about. Trey Flowers, this one, like J. C. Treader,
Speaker 1: is a guy who is the NFL p a head
Speaker 1: where no one's brought up the B word black ball.
Speaker 1: But it's like, ah, this guy just played seventy two
Speaker 1: straight games or whatever it is as a pretty good
Speaker 1: center in the league, and no owner is giving him
Speaker 1: a job. It seems a little um sketchy. So when
Speaker 1: there are two teams with center issues, right and so,
Speaker 1: I I was happy to see Nasa back in the
Speaker 1: and I think he's gotta be uh. I think it's
Speaker 1: gonna be valuable to them. They're buried thin. I'm just
Speaker 1: saying that the Bucks and Browns, but there might be
Speaker 1: in the pivot other teams that aren't feeling so hot
Speaker 1: about it, but they're not being public about it. That's
Speaker 1: all I was saying. At least two the Vikings, the
Speaker 1: Vikings with Garrett Bradberry, I don't think he's just this
Speaker 1: is this is like when Schrager didn't realize that Bruce
Speaker 1: Willis uh killed John Revolta in pulp fiction. I don't
Speaker 1: know if it's that on, if it's if it's to
Speaker 1: that degree, because you're being very vague. But um, I'm
Speaker 1: saying there are two teams we know of that easily.
Speaker 1: It's probably more what's saying that which I think Vikings
Speaker 1: that's another one. And spoiler, um, a lot of spoilers. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's been a while, although it kind of spoiled it
Speaker 1: because at some point I would watch pulp fiction again
Speaker 1: and by now I've forgotten that I actually didn't. I
Speaker 1: have no well, that's what happened, That's what happened to
Speaker 1: Peter Scheger, I think, But I I also don't have
Speaker 1: a lot of sympathy for the concept of that. Not
Speaker 1: it's not an anti Peters. He's wonderful that it's not.
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people. I think if you
Speaker 1: watched it in and I have not watched it since,
Speaker 1: it would be easy for things to escape, right. I
Speaker 1: think at this point though Schreeger and Marks relationship, I
Speaker 1: don't know if it's going to recover it. It's great,
Speaker 1: I tweeted out him and he tweeted right, Elevator incident
Speaker 1: is something that we don't you know, that was a
Speaker 1: positive in respect You're you're attempting to frame it a
Speaker 1: certain way, as you've been doing all show the variety
Speaker 1: of topics, but that's this is just, you know, another
Speaker 1: one of those things. But to your point, good that
Speaker 1: NASA got a job because I did. I remember, like
Speaker 1: you look at his PF grade last year, he played
Speaker 1: quite well. Yeah, back in March when he got released,
Speaker 1: I said on the show was like, keep an eye
Speaker 1: on this one because now if he doesn't get signed
Speaker 1: this it would not be good optics for the league.
Speaker 1: And I'm glad he's still and on on some level,
Speaker 1: even though you'd like to think it's not a factor,
Speaker 1: it's not a total surprise that it's Todd Bowles and
Speaker 1: this buck staff that's giving him the job, like the
Speaker 1: the most kind of open and diverse uh staff in
Speaker 1: NFL history. Essentially, they're probably lucky that cam Gill had
Speaker 1: a foot injury too. That's sort of what opened the
Speaker 1: door for this. But you're but you're right there. They're
Speaker 1: they're thin there. They do not have a third rusher.
Speaker 1: In other news to Man, we talked about the Blauhard
Speaker 1: Nation Um. Kim Dam DJ Nation is in mourning today,
Speaker 1: the former first rounder. He was cut by the forty
Speaker 1: niners um and is he gonna sing a song? No,
Speaker 1: I'm not the songs I like to sing the songs
Speaker 1: during times of hope for Kim DJ when he's joining
Speaker 1: a new team. This makes me concerned because you know
Speaker 1: now several teams have said goodbye, he's not getting younger.
Speaker 1: I hope, I hope I sing about him d J again,
Speaker 1: but we don't know. And finally in the news, speaking
Speaker 1: of players who had wild pre draft stories, I want
Speaker 1: to bring this up because I watched it last night,
Speaker 1: the Man Titeo documentary on Netflix. It's called Untold. It's
Speaker 1: part of a series The Girlfriend Who Didn't Exist. And
Speaker 1: if you were someone that works in football, or is
Speaker 1: a football fan, or just remembers the story, I cannot
Speaker 1: recommend this enough because it really does give you such
Speaker 1: a better understanding of everything behind it. Both the victim
Speaker 1: in this and make no mistake, Manteo was very much
Speaker 1: a victim UH in this catfishing scam and the man
Speaker 1: now woman identifies as a transgender woman UM who catfished
Speaker 1: um Teo during his final years at Notre Dame. And
Speaker 1: I think it's really sad. It's a really sad story.
Speaker 1: And we we were covering the NFL for NFL Media
Speaker 1: when all this went down. I remember um I was
Speaker 1: at that combine where he spoken of that. I remember
Speaker 1: being the second level at Radio City Music Hall, interviewing
Speaker 1: than Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly um about the TEO.
Speaker 1: When he got drafted finally by the Chargers, he fell
Speaker 1: out of the first round because of this scandal. He
Speaker 1: and then you learn more about him. He speaks on
Speaker 1: how it's stuck with him after as you would expect,
Speaker 1: and he said it affected him on the football field.
Speaker 1: It changed. It kind of changed the way he coached life,
Speaker 1: the way he felt about things. His instincts weren't the same.
Speaker 1: And you know, you could say, all right, but also
Speaker 1: maybe he wasn't a guy that was a good fit
Speaker 1: in the NFL. Maybe he wouldn't to last. And he
Speaker 1: did hang around with the Chargers than the Saints. He
Speaker 1: bounced around a little bit. He's currently out of the league.
Speaker 1: Eight year career. Yeah, so, which is is nice. But
Speaker 1: the falling out of the first round cost a millions
Speaker 1: and the fact that he probably didn't get to reach
Speaker 1: I believe him after um watching this, that that had
Speaker 1: a took a toll on him mentally and physically. So
Speaker 1: check it out. I I can't I can't endorse it more.
Speaker 1: If you're someone that wants to hear the human side
Speaker 1: of that story. I'm looking forward sounds strange because it's
Speaker 1: a it's a strange story, but I am looking forward
Speaker 1: to watching that. I think if you weren't around for
Speaker 1: that time, to me, it's like the definitive dead Spin
Speaker 1: era story, Like it was a different online culture at
Speaker 1: that moment and more more than anything, and maybe it
Speaker 1: was like kind of a sign of things to come.
Speaker 1: There's certainly stories that just take over the Internet now too,
Speaker 1: but that was like one of the first unique stories.
Speaker 1: I think that just to me was like Internet culture
Speaker 1: in a nutshell. And I forgot being in our newsroom
Speaker 1: when that story launched, and suddenly, you know, loud newsroom,
Speaker 1: it goes silent because everyone in there is starting to
Speaker 1: read it, and it took It's a long epic of
Speaker 1: a tale, and they were quiet for a long time,
Speaker 1: and and dead's been we we hear from and see
Speaker 1: some of the principal people behind the piece and the
Speaker 1: reporting that kind of exposed the lie. And I guess
Speaker 1: I should say maybe some people don't know that met Dtao,
Speaker 1: who was a star linebacker, had um a girlfriend online,
Speaker 1: an online girlfriend that he had not met that he
Speaker 1: um fell fell in love with and and thought he
Speaker 1: was in a real relationship. It turned out not to
Speaker 1: be um even a woman and um, and it became
Speaker 1: a huge story because this woman man at the time
Speaker 1: it attempted to get out of it by saying that
Speaker 1: his girlfriend had died. So when his grandmother died the
Speaker 1: same day that he was told that his girlfriend died,
Speaker 1: he said that to the media and it became a
Speaker 1: huge story. But it turned out to be not true,
Speaker 1: so it was it was blown up, and uh, it
Speaker 1: was just a crazy story and interesting how society has
Speaker 1: changed because he was vilified by people Teo and a
Speaker 1: lot of the conversation was, oh, he must be gay.
Speaker 1: That was what everyone was asking about Man Tai Teo
Speaker 1: after this, instead of taking his word for it or
Speaker 1: giving him the benefit of the down. Really sad in
Speaker 1: some ways, uh many ways. Actually, all right, let's take
Speaker 1: a break and when we come back, September madness, welcome back,
Speaker 1: March madness whatever, not such a big deal. The ones
Speaker 1: onning moment we care about is September, September football, September madness.
Speaker 1: Is there a word instead of madness that allows us
Speaker 1: to have that sizzle, the double M sizzle and s
Speaker 1: s September sizzle. Yeah, I mean it was right there
Speaker 1: for I like, it's September sizzle. Do you want to go?
Speaker 1: I don't know. To two writers, I thought September. What
Speaker 1: if you flip in like sensuous September? You like to
Speaker 1: have the month first? Okay, Um, all right, let's work
Speaker 1: September sex gone in the wrong direction. All right, this
Speaker 1: is what we're doing. We are excited for week one.
Speaker 1: How could you not be excited for a week one?
Speaker 1: Like Greg said, like the reason why I love the draft.
Speaker 1: For instance, it's hope season. Everyone's feeling good about their team,
Speaker 1: and everybody tell it like four o'clock Eastern. Alright, calm down,
Speaker 1: tortured Browns fan. Everyone is thrilled for the start of
Speaker 1: a new season. I can remember being a kid and
Speaker 1: getting up early, and you know, I was like, Mom,
Speaker 1: I'm going to church early. You gotta I'm going to
Speaker 1: the eleven a m mess. I need to clear the
Speaker 1: decks for the start of another season. I woke up
Speaker 1: with a bounce of my step, and I still do
Speaker 1: on some level, even after all the years of misery
Speaker 1: from my own fandom. So there's hope for everyone, Yes,
Speaker 1: even Jets fans, even Browns fans. Well, let's not talk
Speaker 1: about the Browns, but we will talk about the Browns
Speaker 1: because we're gonna go through each game in week one
Speaker 1: bracket style. And yes you can't. Don't get mad at me.
Speaker 1: I am. Don't shoot the messenger. The Selection Committee has
Speaker 1: ranked all sixteen games one through six. Committee. Again, we
Speaker 1: don't need to dive in. This is like the JFK assassination.
Speaker 1: This is not the time or place to try to
Speaker 1: figure things out. Don't investigatings happen. Yeah, there's no conspiracy here.
Speaker 1: This is what case closed. The Selection Committee has come
Speaker 1: in with a through six teen. Let's start um with
Speaker 1: the bracket and if you're watching on YouTube, you can
Speaker 1: see this beautiful bracket behind never there's a show to
Speaker 1: watch on YouTube. This is it. Soon we have Randy
Speaker 1: playing a van a White roll, but that's coming up
Speaker 1: in a little Yeah, Chevez Ravine is in studio for
Speaker 1: the first time. I'm excited about that. So let's start
Speaker 1: and again, like we said at the top, the Buffalo Bills,
Speaker 1: who are everyone's Super Bowl Darling pick this year, are
Speaker 1: traveling to Sophie Stadium to face the defending champion Rams
Speaker 1: on Thursday night. In the kickoff game on September eight.
Speaker 1: That's obviously a big favorite to win this bracket, but
Speaker 1: we'll see. We'll start with the one seed. Of course,
Speaker 1: it's Buffalo at Los Angeles against the sixteen seed. And
Speaker 1: again I am not I didn't choose these, but if
Speaker 1: you have any issues with the seatings, absolutely share that.
Speaker 1: That's a good way to get into conversation about these
Speaker 1: games as well. So it's Buffalo at Rams number one
Speaker 1: against Jacksonville at Washington sixteen seed. Uh, and again Jaguars
Speaker 1: ends commanders fans. I understand we're about to you know,
Speaker 1: take command on a new season, but um, somebody had
Speaker 1: to be and well you did what CBS is gonna do?
Speaker 1: Or Fox. I'm not really sure they're gonna get the
Speaker 1: seventh you know, broadcast team, but it does. This seeding
Speaker 1: does get to sort of what are you looking for
Speaker 1: in Week one? And as much as I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: be like two hip story and pick Jags Washington here,
Speaker 1: there is part of me that is more interested in
Speaker 1: seeing the Jaguars specifically play a game of football in
Speaker 1: the year two, especially week one. Then I am about
Speaker 1: the Rams and the Bills just because I expect the
Speaker 1: Rams and the Bills to be there at the end
Speaker 1: of the year, and if they start out slow or
Speaker 1: something crazy happens where it's a one sided game Bills Rams,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna read too much into that because I
Speaker 1: trust that these organizations are as consistent as any in
Speaker 1: the NFL and they'll get there in the end, whereas Jags,
Speaker 1: like the Jags are all new e t n s new,
Speaker 1: Trevor Lawrence in his second year, like, I am very
Speaker 1: intrigued to watch this Jaguars team, and it almost it
Speaker 1: almost makes me want to vote for them right off
Speaker 1: the bat. To be a little uh sixteen verses to St.
Speaker 1: Mary's Mount St. Mary's by the way, which is in
Speaker 1: West l A. And I just I don't know where
Speaker 1: it is, and yet I've probably driven by it every
Speaker 1: every time Mount St. Mary. And that said, the committee,
Speaker 1: I'm not sure who's on the committee nailed the sixteen
Speaker 1: seat here because it is very clearly that game. And
Speaker 1: I do find the Jaguars intriguing because they they went
Speaker 1: through it like a traumatic experience last year. So how
Speaker 1: do how does Trevor Lawrence recover? What does it look
Speaker 1: like with Doug Peterson not being piste off and you
Speaker 1: know in operating with a new team with a new
Speaker 1: chance there, Uh, Washington does not intrigue me as much.
Speaker 1: I feel like if they if Washington were to lose
Speaker 1: this game, it begins a journey that could be very
Speaker 1: troubling for a team that does not have a lot
Speaker 1: of juice and that I struggled to believe. And I
Speaker 1: I don't find their playoff birth a couple of years ago,
Speaker 1: um genuine, And I think what happened last year was
Speaker 1: much closer to reality. And you have to be an
Speaker 1: anarchist Greg for me to join you on voting. Voting,
Speaker 1: I'm not voting because of Washington, but if I was,
Speaker 1: you'd make the our game this might be as interesting
Speaker 1: as Washington is all year. Would you not say that
Speaker 1: Bill's Rams is the best kickoff game we've had in
Speaker 1: a very long time. I'm searching for one that intrigued
Speaker 1: me more. I can't think of one up to It's
Speaker 1: a great game. Good job by the schedule makers. Um,
Speaker 1: so let's move on, and a Chevez ravine is gonna
Speaker 1: update over here playing the John King roll on the
Speaker 1: already Bills the Rams um Bills move on out of
Speaker 1: that bracket. Let's now go to the two fifteen and
Speaker 1: this one. This I think of surprising people. Um, we
Speaker 1: have Raiders at Chargers. A lot of talk about the
Speaker 1: a f C West and what a fun division that is.
Speaker 1: Right off the gate, we got Raiders Chargers again here
Speaker 1: at so far that's that's an accident, not an accident.
Speaker 1: That's not that was not on purpose. That's not some
Speaker 1: l A by s. None of us are Los Angeles fans.
Speaker 1: Maybe Mark is now for the Bolts, but they are
Speaker 1: the two seed here. Interesting against the fifteen seed. Duck
Speaker 1: in the tomatoes, sensitive folks, incoming giants at the number
Speaker 1: one seed in the a f C last year the Titans.
Speaker 1: So Raiders at Chiefs versus Giants at Titans. Who's coming
Speaker 1: out of this matchup? Well? I definitely am more intrigued
Speaker 1: by the rematch of the Chargers Raiders, which was maybe
Speaker 1: the game of the year in Week eighteen. But I
Speaker 1: do find it interesting. The committee feels very different differently
Speaker 1: than the broadcast teams. Now. Week one is one of
Speaker 1: is the only week I believe all season. Maybe there's
Speaker 1: some at the very end where there's two national games
Speaker 1: in the late window, but there's only four games total,
Speaker 1: and these two games that are matching up here are
Speaker 1: the two ones that aren't National Raiders. Chargers is getting
Speaker 1: buried with like a fourth team, and so is this
Speaker 1: Giants Titans game. But I as much as I'm curious
Speaker 1: to see what's happening this Giants team specifically because there's
Speaker 1: such a mystery to me with their offense and Dable
Speaker 1: and Quan's looking good and it's like five slot receivers. Uh,
Speaker 1: this is this is not a that intriguing. Imagine. This
Speaker 1: is more in for me that that the Giants have
Speaker 1: been in a long long time. And so I I
Speaker 1: want to watch this game, and I think, I know
Speaker 1: this is a constant drumbeat. And I don't always buy
Speaker 1: Titans fans with their a NonStop irritation with everything on
Speaker 1: how they're dealt with by the press. But this is
Speaker 1: disrespect for them to be the fifteen seed. They were
Speaker 1: the number one seed in the a f C. I
Speaker 1: mean in any other year, if that were the Ravens
Speaker 1: or the Steelers, they'd be on prime time getting buried here.
Speaker 1: It's it's a tough one because all of these babies
Speaker 1: are beautiful. I I hate to I don't even want
Speaker 1: to be problematic adults. They do. But just they're coming
Speaker 1: out the womb a week one game. They're all beautiful
Speaker 1: to me. So I don't like talking negatively about anything.
Speaker 1: Why don't we Why don't we build a separate bracket
Speaker 1: of all the number one seeds that have come out
Speaker 1: of the conferences is in the last twenty years? And
Speaker 1: tell me how the Titans doing that. I hear what
Speaker 1: you're saying. It's just that it's a strange place for
Speaker 1: them to be. But I would I would rather watch.
Speaker 1: I mean Daniel's chance to see fifth round pick Kyle
Speaker 1: Phillips as their slot receiver. That doesn't get me going um.
Speaker 1: Also a little for the Giants. The camp reports have
Speaker 1: not been great in recent days about the offense. Was
Speaker 1: so just when I was getting sucked in like, oh,
Speaker 1: maybe they'll be frisky, and maybe they will be, but
Speaker 1: the defense is destroying the offensive. Late in the Daniel
Speaker 1: Jones hype articles have slowed down. Uh do we? So
Speaker 1: we feel like the Raiders charge. I think the seating
Speaker 1: was correct. It holds chalcolds on that one. Let's move
Speaker 1: back to the other side of the this. He's a
Speaker 1: Raiders fan. He loves seeing his team back in the spotlight.
Speaker 1: Maybe he's not a Raiders, he's actually a Packers. Nice job, Greg. Alright,
Speaker 1: how about a little nine eight action? This is always fun.
Speaker 1: This is the one in March that you want to
Speaker 1: check out. How about the Philadelphia Eagles at Detroit Lions
Speaker 1: squaring off against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Cincinnati Bengals. Oh,
Speaker 1: this is a toughie again, Majority rules. What do you
Speaker 1: think of Mark? Yeah, initially, I I've made my own
Speaker 1: rankings of the games, and I never would have thought
Speaker 1: this would have been the case. Um, a couple of
Speaker 1: years ago, Eagles at Lions, and I'm a victim of
Speaker 1: the moment with hard knocks. I get with the Lions.
Speaker 1: I just want to see what they are in real
Speaker 1: life come Week one. And I think the Eagles, if
Speaker 1: you look what they did on that first drive, Jalen
Speaker 1: Hurt six for six, They're announcing we're not just gonna
Speaker 1: run the ball five hundred times this year. We've got
Speaker 1: a J Brown, we've got weapons. They're gonna be different.
Speaker 1: I think they're gonna be a very intriguing team in
Speaker 1: that division, which they could flat out when the Cowboys
Speaker 1: are in distress and maybe go deeper than that. And
Speaker 1: so I am gonna go against what I would in
Speaker 1: the past. I've seen the Steelers. To me, I want
Speaker 1: to see where they are by week four. Joe Burrow,
Speaker 1: I'm assuming he'll play. But he announced this that today
Speaker 1: the day had a ruptured uh appendix. It wasn't just
Speaker 1: it was just it does not how strange about that
Speaker 1: the whole time where he was gone for weeks and
Speaker 1: they wouldn't talk about it. But he is back at practice.
Speaker 1: He is. We'll see what happens there. But by the
Speaker 1: way the Bengals last year, he'll play. But the one
Speaker 1: thing I liked about the Bengals last year, and this
Speaker 1: is remember when like a round November, when I started
Speaker 1: to get real amped up on them and they'd be
Speaker 1: up and down. It's because here's what they did to
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh against them. Yes I did on our television show,
Speaker 1: Yes I did. Here they beat the Steelers twenty four
Speaker 1: to ten and forty one to ten, and they beat
Speaker 1: the Ravens forty one to seventeen, forty one to twenty one.
Speaker 1: So they basically, I thought, announced to everyone, we can
Speaker 1: dominant early statement game here because if they don't. They don't.
Speaker 1: They don't win this one. Then suddenly you're like, Okay,
Speaker 1: they're not feel like they're being overlooked and people are
Speaker 1: not They're not being treated like the a f C
Speaker 1: title team. I'm with you, they really aren't. But I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go Eagles line. It pains me because Eagles Bengals
Speaker 1: is maybe the super Bowl, the most realistic super Bowl
Speaker 1: I want to see. So you're so my two like
Speaker 1: two teams. I'm just rooting for uh going up against
Speaker 1: the other. And Eagles Lions was a terrible game last year.
Speaker 1: Remember I like who the Lions. They're in every game? No,
Speaker 1: not against the Eagles. The Eagles wiped the floor with
Speaker 1: them a year ago, and so maybe the matchup is
Speaker 1: problematic for their defense. But there's no way I'm going
Speaker 1: against Eagles. And I want to see this Eagles team
Speaker 1: in Week one, and I want to see this Lions team.
Speaker 1: I think it's cool that the games in Detroit too,
Speaker 1: so you get all this build up to the game. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, my vote is Pittsburgh and Cincinnati because I
Speaker 1: like a f C North slobber knockers. I want to
Speaker 1: see what's going on. Um with Cincinnati if they'll have
Speaker 1: a letdown that the quarterback situation obviously in Pittsburgh is
Speaker 1: so muddled still, I don't I don't know, but I
Speaker 1: will go with that. But you guys both have Philadelphia
Speaker 1: and Detroit. So that is the choice the first upset.
Speaker 1: Moving on moderate and eight nine, No, no, it's but
Speaker 1: it is. It is technically tectically speaking absolutely on the
Speaker 1: other side, how about a ten seven show down? You're
Speaker 1: doing great, Randy Shop that is, by the way, very professional.
Speaker 1: I apologize about the Raiders is embarrassed speaking of the
Speaker 1: af C North, Speaking of Marks uh former favorite team,
Speaker 1: the Cleveland Browns are a ten seed against the Carolina Panthers,
Speaker 1: So Baker Mayfield against his old team that is spicy
Speaker 1: at ten uh and are up against the Patriots at Dolphins.
Speaker 1: I like this one. This is a tough one because
Speaker 1: the Patriots, obviously there's there's intrigue around them every year.
Speaker 1: This year you're wondering what version of the Patriots are
Speaker 1: we gonna get. How's the offense gonna look with Josh
Speaker 1: McDaniels gone and everything, a new offense being installed there?
Speaker 1: Mac Jones, what does he do in year two? And
Speaker 1: of course, Miami expectations are through the roof from the
Speaker 1: Dolphins after um, they're big acquisitions in the off season.
Speaker 1: So I think the Dolphins need to win this game.
Speaker 1: I think they need to make a statement in the
Speaker 1: AFC East out of the bat, right off the bat.
Speaker 1: But Baker v. Cleveland's pretty nice, it is. But I'd
Speaker 1: be fine watching kind of that out of the on
Speaker 1: the side, just to see moment with Baker and see
Speaker 1: what's happening because they're so Mark on a Sunday thing
Speaker 1: is gonna be strange here with the Browns not going
Speaker 1: to be assigned Browns games, you know. Yeah, well, we'll see.
Speaker 1: Let's see where there are things that Mark can control
Speaker 1: in terms of the message, and there are things that
Speaker 1: will be able to see just by working with him
Speaker 1: on Sundays, or you could go to the source. I
Speaker 1: have no interest. I'm not saying. I'm saying, and this
Speaker 1: isn't too impune upon your integrity, Mark, I'm saying, once
Speaker 1: the season starts and the Browns are playing, will you
Speaker 1: not be involved. We'll see it has been in a
Speaker 1: transition in many ways, and in the Browns have been
Speaker 1: have been the baby thrown out with the Bathwater on
Speaker 1: on many on many fronts, So I'm not interested. Well,
Speaker 1: I'm not interested in the Cleveland here's the thing. They're
Speaker 1: dead team. They're the least interesting team in the NFL
Speaker 1: to me. And it's not just because like I'm rooting
Speaker 1: against them because of what the Deshaun Watson trade and
Speaker 1: I am uh, they're boring. They're starting Jacobe set. At
Speaker 1: some point this week, most likely we'll learn how long
Speaker 1: Watson's gone for, and it's gonna be long enough. I
Speaker 1: anticipate too crippled their season. They're not interesting. And even
Speaker 1: though the Baker versus Browns thing is spicy, I can
Speaker 1: see the Browns and I'm projecting a lot here, but
Speaker 1: to be the Browns are defensive team. It might not
Speaker 1: be an incredibly watchable game. Even though Bake I would
Speaker 1: expect a kind of a low scoring, slug it out
Speaker 1: type of game with Jacoby Brissette throwing a lot of
Speaker 1: four yard passes. This thing isn't close. I want to
Speaker 1: see MCD and what whatever is going on in New England,
Speaker 1: because that's a mess. I do think from the from
Speaker 1: the Patriots game, they saw this, they saw the set
Speaker 1: up here, and they're like seven ten. See, we got
Speaker 1: a good d We're in this world. We're in this
Speaker 1: trying to give Western Kentucky a tensee because they won
Speaker 1: their kind. Everyone saying the Patriots are in chaos, right,
Speaker 1: the Patriots are lost. Bill Belichick has finally been passed
Speaker 1: by He's a defensive coach that has no concept of
Speaker 1: how on offense, saying he's handed his offense over to
Speaker 1: Joe Judge and Matt Patricia Jones his career. Well, all
Speaker 1: this stuff is what's happening right now, and he's going
Speaker 1: up against a totally different version of coach Mike McDaniel,
Speaker 1: offensive boy genius. I kind of love the idea of
Speaker 1: New England coming in here and being like, not so fast.
Speaker 1: So this game is more intrigued in this game, by
Speaker 1: the way, back to back years. Uh, and they you
Speaker 1: know they're they're close, not not, they have historically not performed.
Speaker 1: Well there, you're right in South Beach and it's gonna
Speaker 1: be hot and humid. Anyway, if if Baker was going
Speaker 1: to Cleveland, that's different. That would have gotten my vote.
Speaker 1: But because it's not that way, the game will be
Speaker 1: in Charlotte. Yes, I'm with you, A nice a f
Speaker 1: C East showdown between two teams that are looking to
Speaker 1: take out the Bills. So it will be New England
Speaker 1: and Miami that moves on. Greg, I'm sure you're pumped
Speaker 1: about that. Okay, So we're halfway through the first round.
Speaker 1: That's usually where um, you have a day off in
Speaker 1: the n C E turn It's take a day off,
Speaker 1: we'll see you tomorrow. It's like yeah, cut, yeah, cut
Speaker 1: to the postgame show and Charles bar is just like um,
Speaker 1: having strong opinions about a team he didn't watch. Let's
Speaker 1: take a break and we'll keep going. All right, we're back.
Speaker 1: Here's uh number four seed Denver at Seattle, number thirteen
Speaker 1: Saints at Atlanta. And I know Greg's gonna be upset
Speaker 1: with the committee because where the committee does what the
Speaker 1: committee does. Here he's trying the committee is trying to
Speaker 1: set up. Committee is to create the best possible tournament.
Speaker 1: Now what you tried to do, because you are the
Speaker 1: committee was given the Saints, uh Falcons the worst possible
Speaker 1: match up here, and it doesn't matter. I'm still gonna
Speaker 1: vote Saints Falcons. I don't care. That is the game
Speaker 1: I want to see. But but obviously Bronco would you
Speaker 1: mind telling me why that is the game you want
Speaker 1: to see. Although it is Geno versus Greg, You've got
Speaker 1: at some point you've got to check in with, you know,
Speaker 1: your internals. So you have Russell Wilson going to Seattle
Speaker 1: and then the time but off Geno Smith will be
Speaker 1: the quarterback going against Russell Wilson football. It's probably moving
Speaker 1: on in this bracket. You're right. The reason I wouldn't
Speaker 1: just is just football wise. Saints and Falcons are two
Speaker 1: of the team's why I love Week one so much
Speaker 1: because I just like, to me, they're total to use,
Speaker 1: like something market like a beautiful mystery. I actually I
Speaker 1: want to see what this Falcons team looks like. I
Speaker 1: want to see what this jamis Winston Saints team looks
Speaker 1: like with all these new weapons, like and this will
Speaker 1: be the first time for both of them, and it's
Speaker 1: a great rivalry that you know. So it's I think
Speaker 1: they got job by the committee, but I I changed.
Speaker 1: I know. I'm sorry, Mark, I'm hollow on the Saints
Speaker 1: as well. I just the Falcons are, like you guys
Speaker 1: are saying about um the Browns. They just to me
Speaker 1: Lex Sizzle, So it makes it to me so there
Speaker 1: seems so much more watch they might. But here's the
Speaker 1: one thing I think that Arthur Smith, we're gonna learn.
Speaker 1: They won seven games a year ago with nothing, with
Speaker 1: a nothing roster. I think he's a better coach and
Speaker 1: way more creative than he's getting credit for. I looked
Speaker 1: at what he did with Cordarrell Patterson and even in
Speaker 1: their first preseason game, the way that they used Marcus
Speaker 1: Mariota and then Desmond Ritter, and I could see both
Speaker 1: of them in game, in the game and various ways
Speaker 1: as ground quarterbacks. Like I just find I think they're
Speaker 1: gonna be a weird watch and so I'm intrigued to
Speaker 1: watch them, but I'm not going to vote for them
Speaker 1: over this Monday Night clash. It's just like it's like
Speaker 1: they all like, hey, they can play in a parking lot,
Speaker 1: and these teams would go at it disrespect there. Just
Speaker 1: for the tweets from Falcons and Saints fans, this is
Speaker 1: a great right. On the other side of the bracket,
Speaker 1: we have the three seed Tampa at Dallas. Interesting, so,
Speaker 1: um tom Brady going to uh North Texas to face
Speaker 1: the Cowboys always we hope most likely Tom Brady and
Speaker 1: then against the four teen seed Colts at Texans, So listen.
Speaker 1: I will say I'm interested to watch the Colts with
Speaker 1: Matt Ryan, just like everyone else, to see if the
Speaker 1: offense takes that step and it can be just better
Speaker 1: and more functional and professional than it was certainly down
Speaker 1: the stretch with Carson Wentz. I'm not buying into the
Speaker 1: some of the Texans heat that's popped up a little
Speaker 1: bit around these parts. Yet maybe they will be over here. Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: I'm not. I'm not. You know, I'm not dumping on
Speaker 1: the Texans. I'm just saying, okay, let's see it before
Speaker 1: I'm actually in. But I have two bucks against Bucks.
Speaker 1: Tom Brady at Dallas. To me as a football fan,
Speaker 1: it scratches the itches that I like. That's that's a
Speaker 1: big game, that's a big vibe, and I think it
Speaker 1: will be fun just to watch Tom Brady every time
Speaker 1: he plays for however long. This last. The one thing
Speaker 1: I like about cults Texans, and I do think the
Speaker 1: Texans are gonna be a tougher out than people expect.
Speaker 1: Um Damian Pierce the running back looks awesome, Davis Mills
Speaker 1: is competent, Brandon Cook's Nico Collins, They have, They're not
Speaker 1: the offense from a year ago. If you're the Colts,
Speaker 1: you crumbled and had to reorganize the entire offense, starting
Speaker 1: with your quarterback because you could not beat the Jags
Speaker 1: in Week seventeen in the must win game. If they
Speaker 1: come out of here and used to the Texans that
Speaker 1: you're back in another disaster. So there's a lot of
Speaker 1: pressure on the Cults. I I think the Cowboys who
Speaker 1: had I think seventeen penalties in the first preseason game
Speaker 1: after leading the league and penalties a year ago and
Speaker 1: having a disastrous penalty situation and their playoff loss to
Speaker 1: the Niners that at Mike McCarthy order already having to
Speaker 1: back off and answer questions about yes, we're disciplined, yes,
Speaker 1: or discipline. That feels like a tire fire in the
Speaker 1: making to me. But I just want to see the
Speaker 1: Bucks and what the what what they can be. So
Speaker 1: I'm obviously gonna go Dallas Tampa Bay. Yeah, we don't
Speaker 1: and they need to go too long. But technically, this
Speaker 1: is the fifth CBS Morning game and it's ranked five.
Speaker 1: They put them in order, so you're and they did,
Speaker 1: and they have one more game than Fox, and technically
Speaker 1: the lowest ranked broadcast team by at least in the
Speaker 1: eyes of the broadcast. There's CBS will be on this,
Speaker 1: Colts texts and if you're if you're one of those
Speaker 1: broadcasters listening to what they think, please excuse Greg's inability
Speaker 1: to build. I mean, I don't know who it's gonna be.
Speaker 1: There's some great deep deep cuts there, there's some not
Speaker 1: not as in two uh and I believe you said,
Speaker 1: um week seventeen, mark that game. I understand. We just
Speaker 1: want to get things right on this show. You know
Speaker 1: what I meant, game and our season. Well, I cannot
Speaker 1: argue this is a water Gate level disaster. Alight, All right,
Speaker 1: here we go. Here's the twelve seed Ravens um at
Speaker 1: the New York Jets, a little Flacco versus Ravens most
Speaker 1: likely up against the number five seed Chiefs at Cardinals.
Speaker 1: I like putting the Chiefs on the road in week one.
Speaker 1: I like Kyler Murray on his redemption tour after what's been, yes,
Speaker 1: a very well paid offseason, but also one where the
Speaker 1: doubters have come out. See where the Cardinals are, no
Speaker 1: DeAndre Hopkins, see where the Chiefs are um obviously with
Speaker 1: no Tyreek Hill. This is even though the Jets fan
Speaker 1: and I'll obviously be watching Jets Ravens, this was like
Speaker 1: an easy, easy one to pick. Yeah, there's four quarterbacks
Speaker 1: between these two games. Yeah, Lamar Jackson, Patrick mahomes Kyler Murray,
Speaker 1: and Joe Flacco. It's like, whichever game has the Joe Flacco,
Speaker 1: You're gone. Well, I mean, just because how about we
Speaker 1: count Super Bowl rings and Super Bowl MVPs and red
Speaker 1: corvettes on the field after the game? I'm talking about,
Speaker 1: what do I want to watch? Three the three best
Speaker 1: examples of like generation of quarterbacks? And you know, can
Speaker 1: I can I share my other It's not great for
Speaker 1: the Jets because this is not the way they were
Speaker 1: supposed to develop, and it's not good news for Joe Douglas.
Speaker 1: But not only do I think that Joe Flacco is
Speaker 1: gonna have to play in a lot this season, I
Speaker 1: think he's gonna have a potentially good year. Well, all
Speaker 1: the camp reports are glowing fourteen for seventeen like last year,
Speaker 1: and there's a lot of reason to think he and
Speaker 1: even Mike White, might you know there's a chance they're
Speaker 1: they're they're better. Yeah, two games and one of them
Speaker 1: was better than basically Zach Wilson's best. That mag White
Speaker 1: game never happened. I've decided the game against the Bengals,
Speaker 1: go back and try to find it in the archives.
Speaker 1: It didn't, it didn't exist. I'm with you, Flacco might
Speaker 1: get off to a good start and then begin to
Speaker 1: look out. No, because let's say he gets off to
Speaker 1: a good start. When Wilson's healthy, he's the number two pick.
Speaker 1: He's gonna go back in. But if he's Zack Wilson's
Speaker 1: it like you did in year one and the Jets
Speaker 1: are you know, here's the box. It's it's two and
Speaker 1: we're talking about Joe Flacco for like the fourth time
Speaker 1: on this show. That that's the problem. I absolutely am
Speaker 1: going Kyler Murray after everything that has happened this offseason. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I can't think of It's like this is this isn't
Speaker 1: a totally writing it in Randy's that's Randy of saying,
Speaker 1: move on, guys, really steering the show properly. All right. Finally,
Speaker 1: the opposite bracket, we have the number eleven seed forty
Speaker 1: Niners at the Chicago Bears up against the number six
Speaker 1: seed Green Bay Packers at Minnesota Viking Mark Vikings. Mark,
Speaker 1: you raised your hand almost in discussed an issue with
Speaker 1: the selection committee on this one. No, no, no, I
Speaker 1: I don't. It's just that it's so clear to me.
Speaker 1: It's so clear to me. It's like, I get it.
Speaker 1: I want to see the Vikings come out and say
Speaker 1: this is a different version under Kevin O'Connell, of of Kirk,
Speaker 1: of Kirk Cousins and this team maybe you are. You
Speaker 1: have to win this game to prove that to me.
Speaker 1: Trey Lance, after what we just saw in that preseason game.
Speaker 1: I I think Kyler Murray is the most interesting watch
Speaker 1: for me as a quarterback just out of weirdness. But
Speaker 1: the most interesting debut around the league is Trey Lance
Speaker 1: and how it translates because if he is what we
Speaker 1: saw in that game, and it was only five attempts,
Speaker 1: so I don't want to overreact to it. There's more
Speaker 1: to go. It's a bad Bears team, it certainly looks
Speaker 1: like it. This Niners team suddenly looks completely different to me,
Speaker 1: complexion wise and are and they become a team. I'm
Speaker 1: fascinated with love both this game, both these games, tough
Speaker 1: draw for both teams. You know that tough came out
Speaker 1: and they're just like they're disappointing. But week went to
Speaker 1: me is about new stuff. And to me, even the Bears,
Speaker 1: that's new. This this offense with Justin Fields, Trey Lance,
Speaker 1: that's new. We've seen a lot of cousins Verus Rogers.
Speaker 1: It is a different coaching staff. The Packers defense is intriguing.
Speaker 1: I think this they might be catching the Packers. So
Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to that. Both these games a lot,
Speaker 1: But to me, it's an easy This is a big upset.
Speaker 1: This is an eleven o verse six. Okay, forty Niners
Speaker 1: are the eleven. Yeah, I'm going I'm going Bears, forty Niners. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm going. I'm going Packers Vikings. I think it's gonna
Speaker 1: be a much better game. That's a good point. It
Speaker 1: could be I did the committee possibly. I don't think
Speaker 1: they want a close game. I think I think they're
Speaker 1: needed an upset. I think there's certain teams that this
Speaker 1: side of the table aligns on. And you guys have
Speaker 1: a torrid love affair for the forty Niners, so they
Speaker 1: were gonna advance this committing table. Is the committee being
Speaker 1: one human? Now the Bears the Bears, what does that mean?
Speaker 1: Your your side of the table. No, you're you're you
Speaker 1: said this side of the table, meaning you we've agreed
Speaker 1: too much, and then it's to nothing. And then his
Speaker 1: one doesn't help. Well, he says, a host, do you
Speaker 1: want it's the best program. There's a little I'm not
Speaker 1: just a host. Um, there's a little um group think
Speaker 1: going on with He's just like providing analysis there. I
Speaker 1: need to say there are a few teams, um that
Speaker 1: it's on my radar a little bit that you guys
Speaker 1: are completely locked in step on and I'm just gonna
Speaker 1: be tracking this very closely and things change, we jump
Speaker 1: off boards. But if the Niners, the Texans, the Saints,
Speaker 1: I mean the Texans, I don't want to the Texans
Speaker 1: are not one of my teams. I just love that
Speaker 1: there couldn't be a critical thing said about any of
Speaker 1: those teams on this side of the table the news.
Speaker 1: So it's pushing against the concept that the people just
Speaker 1: calling the Texans like just like four and a half.
Speaker 1: I'm a businessman. I think they'll get seven maybe six. Anyways, Listen,
Speaker 1: I like it. That's that's an underdog. Let's see if
Speaker 1: the forty Niners can be beaten into That's a good
Speaker 1: point though, Dan, you want the best game possible. Uh,
Speaker 1: And that's a good point to make that I think
Speaker 1: I think that Packers Vikings might be the game of
Speaker 1: the week or something in terms of coming down to
Speaker 1: the end. So even though I'm sticking with my pick,
Speaker 1: I feel like times and there's there. I don't think
Speaker 1: Green Bay at Minnesota had any chance with Mark either,
Speaker 1: because he despises both those teams. UM So that was weird.
Speaker 1: That is a bad draw. I think it was a
Speaker 1: bad draw. It was a bad draw for their. Packers
Speaker 1: and Vikings were on the right. Here we go, now,
Speaker 1: let's get into it. You're watching on YouTube. You can
Speaker 1: see Randy jez are ving maybe maybe it's just the
Speaker 1: name of um we were ready for this. Chevez has
Speaker 1: a great head of hair in the in the lighting excellent,
Speaker 1: totally showing it all right. So if you can move
Speaker 1: out of the way, Randy, so the audience, and you
Speaker 1: can stand right in the middle, actually the end in
Speaker 1: the middle and then point with two hands, no move
Speaker 1: over a little bit, a little bit over and like
Speaker 1: audio listeners who are like, hey, either hand, you're forgetting
Speaker 1: about us. This is like one time in one thousand
Speaker 1: and fifty episodes. Here we go, Rams Bills against Eagles Lions.
Speaker 1: I love it. So you have the number one seed
Speaker 1: against the number nine seed. Here, let's throw the seeds
Speaker 1: on there, Randy, just to help me out as well, Um,
Speaker 1: what do you think? I want to hear what you think.
Speaker 1: I feel like we've been going first too often, I think. Um,
Speaker 1: I'm with you, guys. I don't want it to because
Speaker 1: you guys are pretty unlocked in on the Lions as well,
Speaker 1: it seems. In general. I'm intrigued by the Lions. I
Speaker 1: think they're further away potentially than people want to talk
Speaker 1: about because they're just such a fun story. But seeing
Speaker 1: them in Ford Field open the season after this, this
Speaker 1: all this optimism, that's fun. The Eagles, you know again,
Speaker 1: I'm not as in love with Eagles as Greg Rosenthal is.
Speaker 1: I'm intrigued by them. It's a good matchup, but Rams
Speaker 1: Bills is just to me, that could be very well
Speaker 1: be the super Bowl, So I don't want to overthink it.
Speaker 1: I'm with you. I I think the Eagles Lions uh
Speaker 1: got as far as they need to go if they
Speaker 1: were the real Tournament's been a nice season. Um, but
Speaker 1: I'm going Ram Spills, because it's like they're like I
Speaker 1: try to like imagine who what is the motivation here?
Speaker 1: The game had a nice season, you're saying, I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm treating them like a team like it's it's essentially
Speaker 1: they're a SI job thing. It's like Peterson, Yeah, you know, no,
Speaker 1: not that Peter said. I mean Dan Campbell and Syrianni
Speaker 1: are both like they're cooking up ways for this to
Speaker 1: be and keep it close, guys, really proud of you.
Speaker 1: Inanimate object matchup. I gotta say that the matchup last
Speaker 1: year where the Eagles dog walked them and then the
Speaker 1: Lions defense is my concern. On paper, up front, they're good,
Speaker 1: but they were bad. They were struggled last year and
Speaker 1: this matchup was not good for them. Uh and so
Speaker 1: I do worry that the Eagles could walk away with it.
Speaker 1: I'm with you, Ram Spills. All right. Let's move on
Speaker 1: then to the opposite bracket. We have that a f
Speaker 1: C West showdown. West is so fun this year. As
Speaker 1: we know, you can make a case really for any
Speaker 1: of the teams in the division, and two of those
Speaker 1: teams the charts in the Raiders face off in Week one,
Speaker 1: so the number two seed game up against now at
Speaker 1: a f C East showdown. Uh, Pats Dolphins. Greggy, you
Speaker 1: are a Patriots fan. I know you're intrigued by these
Speaker 1: Dolphins like we all are. Do they have enough to
Speaker 1: take out the a f C West, the best division
Speaker 1: in the league. Oh, people didn't see this coming. And
Speaker 1: you know what, I'm a little like Mark is trying
Speaker 1: to be here. I like turned down the fan volume.
Speaker 1: I skip watching Patriots live for about half the games
Speaker 1: this season because I like to spread around, like what
Speaker 1: I'm watching live to do throughout the season, you know, disconnect,
Speaker 1: not get as emotional. But I just think pure football wise,
Speaker 1: this Patriots team could be anything. This Dolphins team could
Speaker 1: be anything. The Dolphins are as intriguing as almost any
Speaker 1: team in the league to me, and as as much
Speaker 1: as this was a great matchup Chargers Raiders, those teams
Speaker 1: could be anything. Also. That's the whole hook of Week one.
Speaker 1: How can you say those teams can't be anything? That's
Speaker 1: fair that they're kind of like similar roster. I guess
Speaker 1: they don't have a Yeah, that's not Uh, Chargers are
Speaker 1: a team I'm familiar with. This matchup is a matchup
Speaker 1: I'm familiar with. I guess for some reason, I'm just
Speaker 1: I feel like the Dolphins are totally this fresh egg
Speaker 1: and the Patriots craziness in the preseason where everyone's talking
Speaker 1: about how bad they look actually makes me more intrigued
Speaker 1: about them, because I just want to see what well.
Speaker 1: It makes me more intrigued about the Raiders because the
Speaker 1: Raiders are thematically the reason that the Patriots are a mess,
Speaker 1: because that Josh McDaniels left New England, leaving them in
Speaker 1: a hot mess and goes to the Raiders, and the
Speaker 1: reports are that the offense is looking intriguing, and you've
Speaker 1: got Davonte Adams with Derek Carr. Derek Carr always playing
Speaker 1: the card of like no one's paying attention to us,
Speaker 1: like even the pent of sports writers thinks they'll they'll
Speaker 1: probably make the postseason. I'm going justin Herbert and the
Speaker 1: Chargers first, the Raiders, all right, so I get to
Speaker 1: break the tie on this one. I I think Chargers
Speaker 1: Raiders is the game that end. This is no shade
Speaker 1: to the a f C East match up here, because
Speaker 1: when I start to watch the games on Monday for
Speaker 1: power rankings, if the Dolphins Patriots is a good game.
Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to watching that game. But there's a
Speaker 1: lot of juice in the Chargers, and they are a
Speaker 1: Super Bowl potential contender, and was Dafante Adams and that
Speaker 1: Raiders offense look like at home? The black Hole is
Speaker 1: such a fun vibe even the beginning. I don't know
Speaker 1: this is supposed to be what we believe in. I
Speaker 1: have a hard time believing Dan hands this Monday morning,
Speaker 1: September has these two games they both end. He'd already
Speaker 1: knows both of them were good. Let's say they both
Speaker 1: went down to the end that he's choosing Chargers Raiders.
Speaker 1: I think the a f C East in him. He's
Speaker 1: Dan's later lose the game. Let's say they lost. Let's
Speaker 1: say they lost like the Dolphins either though, No, I
Speaker 1: I'm Justin Herbert, and my son Harrison loves Justin Herbert.
Speaker 1: I'm going with that game. So uh No, okay, chock
Speaker 1: so far in two see into the semis. All right,
Speaker 1: Let's move on to the four four fifteen matchup. No.
Speaker 1: Four or five matchup Denver Seattle again, and then you
Speaker 1: have Casey in Arizona. So again you have uh to
Speaker 1: not to reiterate too much but you have the Russell
Speaker 1: Wilson revenge game with Gino Smith promptly involved, and let's
Speaker 1: be honest, Mark, let's leave Greg out of the second.
Speaker 1: That's a detriment to the game that Geno Smith's involved.
Speaker 1: So you've got a factor that in. Um. Meanwhile, you
Speaker 1: have Kyler Murray against Patrick Mahomes. Uh two highlight real quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: Uh that's my pick. I think Ksey Arizona a slight
Speaker 1: upset moves. It's it's mine too, because I I want
Speaker 1: to see what I want to see what the Chiefs offense.
Speaker 1: You can speak on. Maybe I feel like we've touched
Speaker 1: on Geno Smith, like forty eight episodes in a row,
Speaker 1: but uh, let's see what the Chiefs look like. And also,
Speaker 1: again I'm just gonna say what I said before about
Speaker 1: Kyler Murray. It's like it's I can't wait to see
Speaker 1: what what happens to this is. This is the this
Speaker 1: is not talking about inspiracy. This is the anti Gino cabal.
Speaker 1: Give me a break. They had I don't remember if
Speaker 1: it was a w NBA game or a soccer game,
Speaker 1: but they had some I think it was Sue Bird's
Speaker 1: last game in Seattle, A tribute video of Seattle grates
Speaker 1: all saying thank you, Sue Bird. What a legend your
Speaker 1: last home game in Seattle. Everyone's watching it. On on
Speaker 1: comes Russell Wilson to say congratulations to Sue Bird. You
Speaker 1: know what happens a stadium full of booze for Russell
Speaker 1: Wilson in Seattle for a tribute for Sue Bird. It's
Speaker 1: gonna be nasty there. I mean, Russell Wilson go into
Speaker 1: Seattle and possibly there people say revenge game. This is
Speaker 1: a legit revenge game. Him and Pete Carroll ultimately didn't
Speaker 1: like each other and they had We're gonna have a divorce.
Speaker 1: And I can just see this game being I don't
Speaker 1: care what you think about Gino Smith. Maybe it's not
Speaker 1: gonna be stylistically beautiful. It's gonna be close in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter. That's what Pete Carroll st do. And to me,
Speaker 1: there's just gonna be a lot at stake. I was
Speaker 1: gonna take this to the to the championship. This was
Speaker 1: my number one pick. It was gonna be the game
Speaker 1: that like it survived a tight first round game and
Speaker 1: then it goes all the way to the title. And
Speaker 1: you guys, you've you've been ousted, you're out, case closed.
Speaker 1: And by the way, Seattle Seahawks fans come back to us,
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna read some Seahawks quarterbacks before Russell Wilson
Speaker 1: was around. You remember Charlie Whitehurst, Seneca Wallace, Tavars, Jackson,
Speaker 1: Rick Meyer, John Kittner, Matt Hasselbeck, Trent. Matt Hasselbeck did
Speaker 1: take him to a Super Bowl very well, like one
Speaker 1: of the worst super bowls ring on. I'm just saying,
Speaker 1: he well, it totally cooked. Super well, you're right back
Speaker 1: in that world, old Warren Moon. I mean, let me
Speaker 1: just say something here. If you really you see Russell
Speaker 1: Wilson on the JumboTron and you boo, And by the way,
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson is paying tribute to one of the great
Speaker 1: sports heroes of the city's recent history, shame on you.
Speaker 1: And may you be cursed with a million Geno Smiths
Speaker 1: from here on forward. But doesn't it And I'm not
Speaker 1: looking to pick a fight with Seattle fans, but you
Speaker 1: gotta understand, like I would love to have Russell Wilson.
Speaker 1: You know how many teams would die to have ten
Speaker 1: years of Russell Wilson. And you blew him because he
Speaker 1: couldn't get away. It couldn't get along with the coach anymore.
Speaker 1: Who by the way, he might be losing his fastball
Speaker 1: throwing eighty six miles per hour at this point, but
Speaker 1: management sided with the coach throwing eighty six with a
Speaker 1: flat slider. Greg, why are you celebrating that I'm enjoying
Speaker 1: his Dan's mad dog like random? Uh? Really more friends
Speaker 1: A bad job by you with Seattle fans. It was
Speaker 1: really more friend cessa now that I think of it,
Speaker 1: but it did end off beautifully. H I love that
Speaker 1: the NFL put this week one. At first I was
Speaker 1: like why, But now I like because I think the
Speaker 1: emotions are as raw as they're gonna be and just
Speaker 1: get it do it first. This thing is beautiful. I think.
Speaker 1: I'm as I think that's my number one pick, and
Speaker 1: not to not to mention. If you're Gino Smith fan,
Speaker 1: you know you make sure you get to see him
Speaker 1: before he gets benched, so you get week one there you.
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, there's no downside here, but of
Speaker 1: course there's downside. He could play terribly, but there is
Speaker 1: a glorious upside chance which I am hopeful for, which
Speaker 1: is that the Gino Smith Seahawks win this freaking game.
Speaker 1: All right, Well, guess what They're out of this tournament.
Speaker 1: Let's move on to the final game to to for
Speaker 1: our final four. The Cowboys and the Bucks the number
Speaker 1: three seed against almost impossibly the San Francisco forty Niners
Speaker 1: and Chicago Bears the eleventh seed. Make the case, boys,
Speaker 1: mm hmm, I don't even know. I kind of want
Speaker 1: you guys to make the case to me. I'm I'm
Speaker 1: feelings I try to vote out the Chicago Bears game.
Speaker 1: All right, So Mark, we can actually there's no rules
Speaker 1: and actually we can speak and here, uh we can
Speaker 1: decide whether we want to, you know, join as a
Speaker 1: tannement and give this some spice getting eleven seed to
Speaker 1: the Semis or not. No, I'm gonna go Dallas Tampa Bay. Nice.
Speaker 1: I love you also, all right, yeah, I mean I
Speaker 1: have no problem with that. I can't wait. I the
Speaker 1: Bucks are one of those teams that are totally familiar,
Speaker 1: you know. I am I'm kind of buying the Julio heype.
Speaker 1: By the way, Well that's your opinion. I'm kind of
Speaker 1: buying him, like beating Xavian Howard and the joint practice
Speaker 1: and being like he's the one help, but you know,
Speaker 1: his his feet and his lower half. I guess to
Speaker 1: go through he's probably gonna be on the I don't
Speaker 1: practice during the season planned, but he's still gonna make
Speaker 1: it through games. It's gonna be a great game. The
Speaker 1: other one has too much blowout potential. UH and don't
Speaker 1: forget this was a fantastic Week one opener last year
Speaker 1: at UH at wesley manor. Well, we'll miss going to
Speaker 1: to Wesleyan Manor we watched that game with Lakisha last
Speaker 1: year to to start the season. Lakisha is doing great
Speaker 1: um in St. Louis. Let's UH now moved to the
Speaker 1: final four Rams Buffalo Bills the one seed again, Chiefs
Speaker 1: Cardinals the five seed. I gotta, I gotta go, I
Speaker 1: gotta go, Chalk gotta do it, and I don't. I
Speaker 1: don't want this to end in a deflating manner the segment,
Speaker 1: But again, I don't want to overthink this. I think
Speaker 1: the Chiefs Cardinals game is fun and potentially a shootout,
Speaker 1: but also DeAndre Hopkins isn't there. That kind of deflates
Speaker 1: the Cardinals balloon a little bit for me. So I
Speaker 1: will go with the one seed making it to the finals.
Speaker 1: I I didn't approach this exercide with like multiple crusades
Speaker 1: that must occur. I mean, I think the Chiefs and
Speaker 1: Cardinals got to where they deserve to go. And the
Speaker 1: best game of the week is Rams Bills. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: a it's a I'm with you, it's a it's strange
Speaker 1: exercise because ultimately, when I look at these games, I
Speaker 1: have more affection for some of the role players out
Speaker 1: there rather than the superstars. Like the superstar in this
Speaker 1: case is Rams Bills. And yet Jack's Commanders. I think
Speaker 1: they're coming off the bench and hitting like three threes
Speaker 1: in four minutes, and you're like, oh, Jack's Commanders, how
Speaker 1: about But they're not gonna win the game for you.
Speaker 1: You need your superstars. I like that. That's a good take, um.
Speaker 1: And moving to the other bracket, Chargers Raiders all the
Speaker 1: way to the final finals, proud of you game against
Speaker 1: Cowboys Bucks. So the NFC East Champion against the NFC
Speaker 1: South champion. But that was last year. Who do you
Speaker 1: have in this one? Greg? Now do announcers play a role?
Speaker 1: It's the experience of watching the game, for sure. That's
Speaker 1: why I'm not factoring him that we're gonna be at
Speaker 1: Ram's Buffalo. In fact, I could dig it for that
Speaker 1: because I kind of like sitting and watching it with
Speaker 1: with the announcing team there who's calling that Thursday night opener,
Speaker 1: is that it's gonna be Al Michael's. And now it's
Speaker 1: gonna be Sunday Night Crew, it's gonna be the Sunday
Speaker 1: Night Crow. It's gonna be Tarko. And but the great
Speaker 1: thing about week one is you get him twice, you
Speaker 1: get him on Bucks Cowboys Sunday Night too. They're doing
Speaker 1: their own doubleheader. And tell Collinsworth he doesn't know yet.
Speaker 1: That's That's one reason, hey man, that guy loves ball
Speaker 1: every day the week. That's one reason I'm gonna go
Speaker 1: with them. It's also another reason you should should have
Speaker 1: convinced you guys into the Geno Bowl, because that's gonna
Speaker 1: be Foxes. I mean, ESPN's buckets insane. But it's gonna
Speaker 1: be Russell Wilson fucking Aikman on Monday Night football's debut.
Speaker 1: And you gave it, and you just gave Chiefs. But
Speaker 1: it doesn't mean I won't watch it. I just I'm
Speaker 1: going to I'm going to literally contractually obligated to watch
Speaker 1: the game. I'll be watching it and I'll be enjoying it.
Speaker 1: But it ain't the Geno Bowl Bus Cowboys. What a
Speaker 1: way to cap that first Sunday? Your void doesn't matter, No,
Speaker 1: it doesn't, and it's it's I actually would have gone
Speaker 1: the other way, but that, you know, all right, takes
Speaker 1: us to the finals. How about a little drum roll
Speaker 1: here Rams Bills against Cowboys Bucks one point working out.
Speaker 1: If you're watching this on YouTube, this looks insane. I
Speaker 1: think Chevez Ravine did a really nice with the brackets.
Speaker 1: Usually here it looks great, but it's just on that
Speaker 1: screen there, it's it looks like madness. Right, it doesn't
Speaker 1: like Oswald. Maybe it didn't act alone. It was Chavez.
Speaker 1: He's doing great. It's time. Where are you going stuff?
Speaker 1: I know you don't want the one seed to don't
Speaker 1: want the one seed to win, but I also understand
Speaker 1: that it is the best matchup in week one, and
Speaker 1: it's a it's a to me. It's a shout out
Speaker 1: to the schedulemakers who are smart enough to give us
Speaker 1: a banger in week one. I don't like, Oh, I
Speaker 1: don't like when you have a huge division game on
Speaker 1: the Thursday night. Open with you because you need those
Speaker 1: games to marinate a little bit. But give me one
Speaker 1: of these, an intra conference, a f C favorite, Verse
Speaker 1: NFC favorite. See where they're at, see it, you know,
Speaker 1: really get the season off to a good start. It's
Speaker 1: the best game. It's my pick. What about you, guys? Well,
Speaker 1: so here's the thing, Dallas Tampa Bay. You mentioned it.
Speaker 1: We all got together and watched it a year ago
Speaker 1: in Week one. It's amazing, it was. But I don't
Speaker 1: I'm not going to double down with the same matchup
Speaker 1: two years in a row when I already and not
Speaker 1: that intrigued by the Cowboys. I pulled for that this
Speaker 1: matchup over and over because of Tampa Bay. But Rams Bills,
Speaker 1: it's I guess the exercise. Um, I wouldn't call it,
Speaker 1: you know, mute. It's like it is. We did what
Speaker 1: we did. But it is the best game. And I
Speaker 1: think it had a tough journey to get here, but
Speaker 1: not really, it's just simply the best contest. It's my pick.
Speaker 1: It's one of those things. It's not about the destination,
Speaker 1: it's the journey. The journey was enjoyable, it's this journey. Uh. Well,
Speaker 1: the Rams, you know, they're always they're always complaining they
Speaker 1: don't get enough pop from your power rankings. Like you were.
Speaker 1: You actually weirdly ranked them, you know, number four something
Speaker 1: after they won the Super Bowl. You just like, I'm
Speaker 1: just joking there, but at some you know, you can't
Speaker 1: got some members of the RAMS kept burying the unhappy
Speaker 1: about round power ranking. Right, so here we're giving them
Speaker 1: their shine. And I do think the Bills weird training
Speaker 1: camp where I don't think Tevious White is playing in
Speaker 1: this game. Will have plenty of time to talk about
Speaker 1: this game, but I don't think he's playing in it.
Speaker 1: And their cornerbacks like little shaky. And you know, the Rams,
Speaker 1: as much as you tried to campaign against them, Mark,
Speaker 1: you know what they did last year in all four games.
Speaker 1: They delivered entertainment all four of those playoff games. Well, uh,
Speaker 1: here's the thing. I just voted for them every time
Speaker 1: in a row. Well, it shows what a pro you are,
Speaker 1: But I'm not the The anti thing was probably closer
Speaker 1: to like the Jeff Fisher era of this whole business, right,
Speaker 1: and that was the playoff. You know, part of all
Speaker 1: this is about the stadium and that we were going
Speaker 1: to be next to them, and you had this image
Speaker 1: that like every day when we showed up to work
Speaker 1: standing Cronki is punching our time car. Yeah, but you
Speaker 1: know what, you know what changed, Matthew Stafford changed the
Speaker 1: field of that team. For me, It really did in
Speaker 1: the way that they went and got him, and that
Speaker 1: that was a that was a different moment. So it's like,
Speaker 1: I'd like to take this and throw it out the winter.
Speaker 1: This is not AM's house. This is this is a
Speaker 1: podcast that uh covers the teams that are the most
Speaker 1: interesting and just so happens to the team that plays.
Speaker 1: The two teams that play across the street are very
Speaker 1: interesting teams right now. When they suck, oh you'll see,
Speaker 1: they won't be talked about nearly as much the only team.
Speaker 1: Yeah there are a few will see. Yeah, we'll see.
Speaker 1: But I feel confident that the Rams Chargers get talked
Speaker 1: about the Chargers like the Chargers or the Rams have
Speaker 1: like Geno Smith is their quarterback, and we talked about
Speaker 1: as much. I mean, the Charges were not talked about
Speaker 1: that much relatively on this podcast a couple of years ago.
Speaker 1: And the crazy thing is it's hard to imagine these
Speaker 1: teams really struggling just because it's hadn't happened under Sean McVeigh.
Speaker 1: And then the other one is Justin Herbert. All right,
Speaker 1: a lot of pop by the way, Mark people are like,
Speaker 1: you know Justin Herbert, Michael Jordan's who is that? Who
Speaker 1: is who is Justin Herbert? Who is the NBA comp
Speaker 1: for where Justin Herbert is? Right now? I saw somewhere,
Speaker 1: I believe on the sub reddit someone said, Luca dot,
Speaker 1: that's pretty good. That's a good one that fits. That
Speaker 1: sounds about right. You gotta win. We also, I think
Speaker 1: we've compared maybe nine NFL players to Michael Jordan on
Speaker 1: this podcast over the years. But you're expecting him to
Speaker 1: be an all time great do um? No? I know,
Speaker 1: but he's still haven't. You still have to do it
Speaker 1: through a couple of wars. We gotta see what he looks.
Speaker 1: What am I? What is happening if he becomes that?
Speaker 1: And then I tell you he's that? What are we
Speaker 1: doing there? Oh? You're telling Michael Jordan? Then I tell
Speaker 1: you he's believe he will be Michael, what's the point
Speaker 1: of me telling you will win six Super Bowl championships.
Speaker 1: The nflved the NFL is a little bit different than
Speaker 1: than the NBA. Michael Jordan's. If you say Michael Jordan's,
Speaker 1: it means best player to ever play the sport and
Speaker 1: six for six never lost the championship. That's what Michael Jordan's.
Speaker 1: Some people are Tom Brady withs hated West hated when
Speaker 1: people compared Lebron to m j And although I was
Speaker 1: a bigger fan of Lebron than West, I understood what
Speaker 1: he meant because people almost forget And I'm glad that
Speaker 1: documentary came out last year. Like what Jordan was, which
Speaker 1: was one of one never will be another guy like that, Well,
Speaker 1: I would never I ient with West on the Lebron first.
Speaker 1: Jordan's argument is absurd to me. And I don't know
Speaker 1: why we always need to make other NBA players Michael Jordan,
Speaker 1: whether it was Kobe or anyone else. I mean, I watched,
Speaker 1: and I'm sure you did too. You just you just
Speaker 1: made Justin Herbert. But I'm saying in the same sport,
Speaker 1: like there is only one Michael Jordan. But a lot
Speaker 1: of people who are comparing player X to Michael Jordan.
Speaker 1: The NBA right now did not watch Michael tom Brady,
Speaker 1: though tom Brady has lost more Super Bowl than any
Speaker 1: quarterback ever. Yeah, but I mean like football is completely
Speaker 1: different than basketball. I mean you don't. It's like I
Speaker 1: I that's I mean that because he made more championships,
Speaker 1: he didn't you know, you know, lose as many in
Speaker 1: the conference. Uh, no one will ever do what tom
Speaker 1: Brady did. That's and that is I think Herbert why
Speaker 1: people sometimes pushed back because I'm not just think you're
Speaker 1: going just for title title count and I hear what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, but ever most championship or perfect championship record
Speaker 1: in the equivalent of the NBA five. I think here's
Speaker 1: the thing that Justin Herbert has the kind of body,
Speaker 1: like the with sports science in two that would allow
Speaker 1: him to play until he's forty something. I think we're
Speaker 1: going to be in that world. I do. I don't
Speaker 1: think there's been a bigger like I couldn't be a
Speaker 1: bigger Justin Herbert fan and believer and and that's the
Speaker 1: for the whole last two years. So I'm with you.
Speaker 1: But to be Michael Jordan's he would have to be
Speaker 1: stand apart not only from like he'd have to be
Speaker 1: considerably better than Patrick mahome in Lamar Jackson, and then
Speaker 1: you'd have to be considered better than Brett far other
Speaker 1: things that I threw it out there, all right. It
Speaker 1: wasn't like we were, you know, down at like Cook's
Speaker 1: tavern talking about it and then it gets it gets
Speaker 1: lost in the wash. He gets it gets I don't know,
Speaker 1: it gets commented on. It's like I just said it.
Speaker 1: I do think he will be one's throw out. Jordan's
Speaker 1: you and you're talking about his build and sports science.
Speaker 1: You're talking Tom Brady and Tom Brady because Jordan wasn't
Speaker 1: known for his incredible longevity. Brady of course, the stats
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl this time it made sense you're saying
Speaker 1: he's the next Tom Brady when you say Justin Herbert
Speaker 1: is the next inserts superstar all time, he'd be the person.
Speaker 1: He'd be the person I would pick. But that but
Speaker 1: a lot of that because it's not the NBA where
Speaker 1: you just get two or three your friends and you
Speaker 1: win three titles. It's like you have to be in
Speaker 1: the right environment, on the right team, and that's that's
Speaker 1: not entirely justin Herbert's control. All right, great little Capper
Speaker 1: there thank everybody for listening. We'll be back on Thursday
Speaker 1: with another episode of Around NFL. We appreciate your support.
Speaker 1: Until then, he the call, This is the first time
Speaker 1: I've gotten excited about football since probably last December. Really,
Speaker 1: what about the Patriots Chiefs Championship that was a great game.
Speaker 1: Saying he's keeping it real, No, you at some point
Speaker 1: have a super Bowl didn't really excite me. But but
Speaker 1: some of the playoff games. How about every game the
Speaker 1: Saints played basically sat one of the best. It was
Speaker 1: maybe the best game of the year. The Saints Eagles
Speaker 1: was a terrific game, and then the NFC Championship game
Speaker 1: was not the best game, but it was exciting. Both
Speaker 1: Saints Rams games were good. Yeah, come on, good stuff.
Speaker 1: West is excited again. I guess let's start with West.
Speaker 1: Then that that we he has a week one game.
Speaker 1: What's getting you started? Well, so many different ways I
Speaker 1: could go, but let me start with Rams at Panthers.
Speaker 1: I like these matchups that kind of make a statement
Speaker 1: at the beginning of the year, how good is this team?
Speaker 1: And I think the Panthers I'm looking at them to
Speaker 1: be the Panthers that they were in the first half
Speaker 1: of last season when they looked like a legitimate playoff contender,
Speaker 1: and their defensive line is better now, some of their
Speaker 1: skill position players are better. So can a guy like
Speaker 1: Curtis Samuel Uh? Can he make a kind of leap
Speaker 1: like Christian McCaffrey did last year. So to me, that's
Speaker 1: a good LISTMAS litmus test. Going against the NFC representative
Speaker 1: from the Super Bowl, the Rams. I would not consider
Speaker 1: the Rams a heavy favorite in that game. I think
Speaker 1: it's a statement game.