Speaker 1: Be Around the NFL Podcast is baxed, waxed, and ready
Speaker 1: for raptured Gross. Welcome to another edition of the Around
Speaker 1: the NFL Podcast. My name is Dan Hansas comes to
Speaker 1: you from a virtual room filled with some heroes. Greg Rosenthal,
Speaker 1: Mark Sessler. Week one in the books, Week two, right
Speaker 1: around the Corner, And I really truly enjoyed how the
Speaker 1: first week of the season ended in that madhouse in Vegas,
Speaker 1: that new facility, it was, And I feel for all
Speaker 1: the fans in Oakland who lost their team. But if
Speaker 1: you're Mark Davis in your beautiful white and white Miami
Speaker 1: Vice suit, chilling next to Charles Woodson, you're looking around
Speaker 1: and you're like, oh, I kind of Elvis. I hope
Speaker 1: my I hope my dad is watching down and seeing
Speaker 1: this because I just set this organization up um from
Speaker 1: a value standpoint and a just a general vibe like
Speaker 1: the Raiders are a vibe now And that was a
Speaker 1: fun game Um to enjoy. Uh. You know, the monoculture
Speaker 1: is dead, Mark, But the communal experience of watching a
Speaker 1: great prime time game like last night, that's just fun
Speaker 1: and everybody gets to share it together in the moment. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'll just say what I tweeted out, because it was
Speaker 1: the it was the true feeling I felt about the
Speaker 1: game that um. I thought that the game was essentially
Speaker 1: like the Symbionese Liberation Army of the nineteen seventies. And
Speaker 1: I was the game's Patty Hurst Um, the kidnapped victim
Speaker 1: who started off a little bit suspicious about being kidnapped
Speaker 1: by the experience, but then became more wedded to it
Speaker 1: and then a supporter of it eventually. I mean, things
Speaker 1: changed a little later on, but it won me over.
Speaker 1: I mean, it was a bit of a sloppy, messy
Speaker 1: affair out of the gate, but it turned into sort
Speaker 1: of a classic. And it had a lot to do
Speaker 1: with the television experience, um, which was not the normal
Speaker 1: ESPN one for me. And we can get into that later.
Speaker 1: So you liken it too, well, let's not save that.
Speaker 1: I mean, I've never heard you so excited about broadcast
Speaker 1: as the Manning Brothers. Let's hear it well, I will. Well,
Speaker 1: you know, Danny, well, you knew it was gonna go
Speaker 1: either one of two ways with Sessler. He was either
Speaker 1: going to be as angry as anyone's ever been about
Speaker 1: anything about Peyton and Eli or he was gonna love
Speaker 1: it more than anyone else, and quite frankly, I'm a
Speaker 1: little surprised where it went. Mark was all in on
Speaker 1: the whole thing. And I do like Mark that you
Speaker 1: did equate the beginning of the game and which is
Speaker 1: kind of an assignment for us to being the victim
Speaker 1: of a felony crime, like you had to watch this
Speaker 1: football game. But apparently by the end of it it
Speaker 1: was a treat for you. It was. And I mean,
Speaker 1: just to hit on the Manning Brothers thing. I I've
Speaker 1: in trying in more things in life to not um,
Speaker 1: you know, hold up all my past pretenses and and
Speaker 1: I guess, you know, ideas about the Mannings or something
Speaker 1: like this. I just wanted to see what they had
Speaker 1: to say, and I didn't click into about twenty minutes in,
Speaker 1: and that's where everyone said that the first any minutes
Speaker 1: where clunky. From there, I have to tell you something
Speaker 1: that I think that the typical um play by play
Speaker 1: man and like a tight uh necktie around his white
Speaker 1: shirt and his little sports coat and like throwing it
Speaker 1: left and right to one athlete in the booth is over.
Speaker 1: I know it won't be because networks will run about
Speaker 1: thirty years after everyone else realizes things are over. So
Speaker 1: it's gonna go on and on. But I'm telling you
Speaker 1: right now, what I saw last night made me simply
Speaker 1: enjoy the game more and I learned five times more
Speaker 1: than I haven't watching any football being game because just
Speaker 1: the manning sitting there talking shop with First it was
Speaker 1: Charles Barkley. He's not bringing the football knowledge, but he
Speaker 1: was hilarious. But you've got Travis Kelsey, all right, you've
Speaker 1: got Ray Rice, who I've always found hyper annoying. They
Speaker 1: actually in a more relaxed setting, got a lot out
Speaker 1: of him. And then it was Russell Wilson, who was
Speaker 1: meant to be studying film, but he said, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: stick with you guys all the way through this overtime
Speaker 1: because I'm learning by listening to you, and you're learning
Speaker 1: from me. And like their opping mad bombs, they're making
Speaker 1: fun of Eli. There was a lot of humor, and
Speaker 1: it just to me feel felt like a television experience
Speaker 1: made for one where half the time people are watching
Speaker 1: you know, a girl in a swimming pool on Twitch.
Speaker 1: I don't know, there's all sorts of things that people
Speaker 1: are doing instead of watching normal broadcast television right now,
Speaker 1: and this was right up that alley. So for me,
Speaker 1: like you know what, I thought of Wes a little
Speaker 1: bit because Wes was someone who was quite annoyed with
Speaker 1: the Monday night football announcing teams of the past couple
Speaker 1: of years, and I think he would have enjoyed this
Speaker 1: experience in a very different way, although he was famously
Speaker 1: annoyed with Peyton Manning, you know in his produced commercial
Speaker 1: like ads where he's holding like a sandwich, not in
Speaker 1: that trying to be funny and right and stuff. No,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm totally intrigued by marx in you know, fascination
Speaker 1: with this and I love it. It's a great subplot. Mark,
Speaker 1: are you one of those people that watch women in
Speaker 1: swimsuits in a pool? Oh yeah, well that was not
Speaker 1: the current name. But I I have Twitch on my
Speaker 1: iPad and rarely check it out. But they're you know,
Speaker 1: little girls will do in guys, all sorts of people
Speaker 1: that will take you out to dinner in like Korea
Speaker 1: for two hours and just show you what it's like.
Speaker 1: So I learned from it. There are human experiences there.
Speaker 1: That's a great call. By the way, Dan on Mark Davis,
Speaker 1: we really, who would have thought, what an upset like?
Speaker 1: It all worked out perfect, partly because the NFL rejected
Speaker 1: his and the Chargers plan to build a stadium in
Speaker 1: l A that they were like, there was three different
Speaker 1: plans that were proposed, and the Raiders plans were always
Speaker 1: number three and they were left out in the cold,
Speaker 1: and and it worked out much and you know beautifully.
Speaker 1: I don't take that away from Mark Davis either, because
Speaker 1: all you know, my life, your lives filled with near
Speaker 1: mistakes that the fate stepped in and said, no, you're
Speaker 1: not gonna do this. This is how it's actually gonna
Speaker 1: work out. But as long as you have some type
Speaker 1: of vision, which Davis did, and if you follow the league,
Speaker 1: and we've gotta be a little bit careful here because
Speaker 1: the owners, including Mark Davis own own us essentially um.
Speaker 1: But if you really do some research on where Mark
Speaker 1: Davis was as a person in the spotlight within the
Speaker 1: organization about ten twelve years ago, maybe check out old
Speaker 1: Mike Silver Yahoo column if you want uh and to
Speaker 1: where he is now. The Raiders are on the rise
Speaker 1: in that cowboys kind of way where they are a
Speaker 1: they're kind of a brand, a global brand and now
Speaker 1: the business side of things is catching up to the
Speaker 1: branding and it's a good thing. Now. They just got
Speaker 1: to build a good team right now. It might be
Speaker 1: a fun team, don't know about a good team. We're
Speaker 1: gonna get to that game in a second. We're also
Speaker 1: going to preview Thursday Night Football with the tiny box
Speaker 1: Who's gonna join us at the end of the show,
Speaker 1: And then we're going to have our kind of post
Speaker 1: mortem of week one with a segment, uh loosely titled
Speaker 1: you know this, this is a working title how do
Speaker 1: you feel now? Or how do you like them? Apples? Now?
Speaker 1: How do you feel now? How about now? Where we
Speaker 1: just kind of cycle through some teams after week one
Speaker 1: and and have we have our arts change? Do we
Speaker 1: have a different position based on just four quarters of play?
Speaker 1: But yes, before that, and we'll have a special guest
Speaker 1: connected to that conversation. But before that, Monday Night Football recap.
Speaker 1: Now Car is running back on the field and the
Speaker 1: field goal unit is coming off. What in the world
Speaker 1: is going on? They want to get closer at second
Speaker 1: down in fourteen? What else can happen? Kevin? I don't know.
Speaker 1: Let's see, Car is gonna get the shotgun snap, they
Speaker 1: pluck from the side, it's picked up. He throws an
Speaker 1: arching passed on the side. It's called at the five
Speaker 1: touchdown St John's the winners have one on a touchdown
Speaker 1: pass thirty one yards this game, what's that done? But
Speaker 1: we'll have fun. Sparts is the last conno experience Kevin
Speaker 1: Harlan with Kurt wahn Er Westwood one great call. I
Speaker 1: wouldn't expect anything less. Derek Carr after a Benny Hill
Speaker 1: style mangling of the sport by John Gruden, strategically sending
Speaker 1: the kicker on, kicker gets on late, get a penalty.
Speaker 1: Why is the kicker even there? Why are you setting
Speaker 1: up for like a forty five yard field goal and
Speaker 1: there's four minutes playing overtime? Car runs back on the
Speaker 1: field and throws a touchdown, the decisive touchdown for Narrators
Speaker 1: who defeat the Ravens thirty seven and overtime at the
Speaker 1: new facility in Las Vegas Allegiance Stadium. Greg uh, wild
Speaker 1: back and forth game. He just it was a weird
Speaker 1: feeling in the air and uh certainly a weird game
Speaker 1: uh played out. Yeah, Derek Carr put it well in
Speaker 1: his postgame. You know, interview with the ESPN with a
Speaker 1: little bit of like wrestling flare to do it. I
Speaker 1: like that this Derek Car and also with a intelligent
Speaker 1: step back in terms of the look at his own career,
Speaker 1: that the game was like his career. It's these huge
Speaker 1: switch Like the first quarter, he couldn't you know, hit
Speaker 1: the side of a barn. He was playing terrible. Even
Speaker 1: in the overtime that throw to Willie Sneep, you know, Steve,
Speaker 1: Steve probably should make that play, but it's it's coming
Speaker 1: out too hot. You throw an interception on the goal line,
Speaker 1: and if the Ravens go down and score, you're the goat.
Speaker 1: But in the end, like Car was on fire basically
Speaker 1: from about five minutes left in the fourth quarter through
Speaker 1: the end of overtime, starting with that long Henry Ruggs throw,
Speaker 1: you know, to the game winner, and especially the thirty
Speaker 1: seven second field goal drive with two nails throws to
Speaker 1: Brian Edwards. To me, those were the plays of the
Speaker 1: game to set up that game tying field goal to
Speaker 1: go to overtime. It's hard to do get a field goal,
Speaker 1: you know, without time outs or with you know, with
Speaker 1: with thirty seven seconds or left, doesn't happen very often.
Speaker 1: The last three times it's happened the Raiders have been involved.
Speaker 1: There was that win over the Jets last year. It
Speaker 1: was the lost to the Dolphins that basically ended the
Speaker 1: you know, the Raiders season a year ago with fitz Magic,
Speaker 1: and then it was this one. So I give I
Speaker 1: give him a ton of credit for playing his best
Speaker 1: when it really mattered and getting a win that you
Speaker 1: feel like they almost needed with the Ravens coming in
Speaker 1: a little banged up and the rest of the a
Speaker 1: f C West. You know, winning that game, I think
Speaker 1: it was a big win to start off the Raiders season. Well.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, I remember when I was at
Speaker 1: their last game in Oakland and they tripped up in
Speaker 1: a game they should have won against the Jaguars and
Speaker 1: collapsed down the stretch and left that Oakland fan base
Speaker 1: so beside itself. Um, you know, a quiet riot began
Speaker 1: and then it was quelled. But you had to win
Speaker 1: this game. If you're the Raiders, you're opening the stadium
Speaker 1: for your fans. Forget last season. You mentioned Mark Davis
Speaker 1: who never even went there last year because out of
Speaker 1: respect for the fans. So it really concerned me when
Speaker 1: they did. They're very Raiders esque thing and look like
Speaker 1: they kept wanting to give the game away. I mean,
Speaker 1: the tipped interception by Car in the end zone, which
Speaker 1: should never have happened, was outrageous. But when you get
Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson to fumble twice the way he did, the
Speaker 1: first one led to a Raiders touchdown, the second one,
Speaker 1: we know what happened there. I mean these were key
Speaker 1: mistakes by a Ravens quarterback who in the past has
Speaker 1: been tracked by ugly fumbles that have been costly in
Speaker 1: playoff games. So I think that's a lasting issue for
Speaker 1: the Ravens. I don't come out of the game thinking
Speaker 1: that differently about the Raiders, though I think a lot
Speaker 1: of people do. I still see them as a sort
Speaker 1: of a circus ride that's gonna have high highs and
Speaker 1: disappointing lows. Um sort of a mirror image of their quarterback.
Speaker 1: I think, you know, I we don't like to I
Speaker 1: don't like when you guys point out necessarily things that
Speaker 1: I text you during the game, um without checking with
Speaker 1: me first, which you never knew. But um, Dan and
Speaker 1: I were having a bit of a back and forth
Speaker 1: about Car, where I basically said look at if if
Speaker 1: Baker Mayfield had had Derek you. I did later because
Speaker 1: I did later because I thought, I know what's gonna happen.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna tweet this, and then he's gonna win the
Speaker 1: game Car and I'm gonna have to deal with a
Speaker 1: bunch of gabronies and I deserve it, but I took it.
Speaker 1: It's well, it's unrewarding to tweet that kind of thing
Speaker 1: if it goes south. But his first half was a
Speaker 1: mess and it left you thinking this is just the
Speaker 1: same Raiders team from a year ago. But Dan kept saying,
Speaker 1: I think Derek Carr is a bit of a quasi badass,
Speaker 1: and then a huge mistake would happen, he'd be like,
Speaker 1: not a quasi badass, but then two minutes later a
Speaker 1: quasi badass. And in the end that's what he was.
Speaker 1: And I gave it totally to Car last night. I
Speaker 1: thought his postgame interview UM showed a lot about why
Speaker 1: is a wonderful teammate too, and it was a huge
Speaker 1: night for the Raiders. I don't know if it means
Speaker 1: there's still anything but an eight or nine or nine
Speaker 1: or eight team. UM, there are signs that maybe they are,
Speaker 1: But I came out of it thinking that was one
Speaker 1: of the better Monday night football experiences I had had
Speaker 1: um as an adult. It was a great fan experience
Speaker 1: and if you're in that building that I mean, that
Speaker 1: will go down as one of the great kind of
Speaker 1: Raiders nights in a long time. Yeah, I think I
Speaker 1: think car is like a quasi stud like he's not
Speaker 1: really but in those money moments, And yes, he threw
Speaker 1: the pick there, but I don't listen, I don't know
Speaker 1: if that was even his fault. Put a little tip,
Speaker 1: put a little mustard on it. But uh, I mean,
Speaker 1: he does step up. You could tell he's a quarterback,
Speaker 1: that his skills aren't at the level of a Mahomes
Speaker 1: or maybe even not even at the level of Mayfield.
Speaker 1: But I just think he's got a lot of moxie
Speaker 1: and I think he's a good fit for that organization,
Speaker 1: even if it seems Jon Gruden's never quite satisfied. And
Speaker 1: I'm also with you, mark On. You know, I didn't
Speaker 1: come out of this game. We're gonna talk about what
Speaker 1: what changed our feelings in Week one. I feel the
Speaker 1: same about the Raiders. I think they're gonna they're kind
Speaker 1: of like a they're like a big dumb They're like
Speaker 1: a big Golden Retriever of football teams. They're they're sweet
Speaker 1: and dumb, and they run around a lot and run
Speaker 1: into walls and like they're just fun to play with. Um.
Speaker 1: But they're also like the city that they play and
Speaker 1: they're kind of a beautiful mess. And so I think
Speaker 1: there's a ceiling to a Raiders team. The Ravens. It's
Speaker 1: just a it's a it's a tough beat there. We
Speaker 1: talked about it going into that game. That just seemed
Speaker 1: like a tough spot for them, UH in primetime, first
Speaker 1: game in Vegas, that stadium going bonkers, with the injuries
Speaker 1: that they dealt with going into Week one, I still
Speaker 1: think they're gonna be Okay. We did. I did the
Speaker 1: Power rankings UH on Tuesday, and I have them still
Speaker 1: in the top ten. But they do have to clean
Speaker 1: up two things. The offensive line's got to be a
Speaker 1: lot better because the Raiders front that isn't known for
Speaker 1: terrorizing quarterbacks have no problem getting to Lamar and Greg
Speaker 1: Jackson's got to take care of the football better. He
Speaker 1: said after the game, Hey, that's football bumbles happened. It's
Speaker 1: like yeah, it does. But if you want to take
Speaker 1: the next step, if you want the Ravens to take
Speaker 1: the next step, you have to eliminate mistakes like that,
Speaker 1: because that last fumble essentially sealed their fate. I came
Speaker 1: out of this game feeling a little different about both teams,
Speaker 1: just that they look different. What the first fumble is
Speaker 1: totally on Lamar. The second one I don't think is
Speaker 1: on Lamar. I mean, Karl Nasson doesn't get blocked by
Speaker 1: you know, your new running back. First of all, the
Speaker 1: offensive line makes the wrong you know, set up for
Speaker 1: the protection, just let some run in a defensive end
Speaker 1: and then you're running back who you know just got
Speaker 1: elevated to the starting lineup, Tyson Williams. That makes no
Speaker 1: effort and he gets hit in the blindside and under
Speaker 1: two and a half seconds. You know, you would love
Speaker 1: him to hold onto the ball there, but being aware
Speaker 1: that quickly that that's on the offensive line ups of protection.
Speaker 1: But that kind of gets to what I'm talking about.
Speaker 1: They couldn't pick up short yardage. You know, the two
Speaker 1: sequences in the game that mattered the most to me
Speaker 1: were the end of the first half where they have
Speaker 1: a short yardage situation and they can't pick it up
Speaker 1: just running straight like Ravens power or read action type action,
Speaker 1: and they give time uh to the Raiders to go
Speaker 1: down the field and put some points. Then at the
Speaker 1: end of the game, same situation, you're going in for
Speaker 1: the game winning field goal. All you gotta do is
Speaker 1: pick up a short yardage situation. It's second and eight,
Speaker 1: third and four. I mean, it's not like it's too short,
Speaker 1: but they couldn't just run the ball. And that's where
Speaker 1: I think the Rayvens teams of old might be a
Speaker 1: little different, and they'll get better as the season gets on.
Speaker 1: But he doesn't have the same chemistry in terms of
Speaker 1: doing some of those readactions. They didn't run a lot
Speaker 1: of pistol. I think that was by design. It was
Speaker 1: a lot more spread offense, four or five wide receivers.
Speaker 1: And then, more than anything, Ronnie Stanley was terrible. He's
Speaker 1: an All Pro left tackle coming off in excruciatingly huge injury.
Speaker 1: So of all the things that you talked about with
Speaker 1: the Ravens coming into the season, Ronnie Stanley was probably
Speaker 1: last on your list. He got destroyed all night, I mean,
Speaker 1: and he's an All Pro and maybe it's just coming
Speaker 1: off of you know, the a c L and he'll
Speaker 1: be fine week five, six or seven. But if Ronnie
Speaker 1: Stanley and Villain waver are both getting smoked all game,
Speaker 1: then what do we have here? We have a lot
Speaker 1: of we have a lot of deficiencies that maybe the
Speaker 1: organization can't and Lamar can't totally make up for. To
Speaker 1: your two points, Greig, they were three for twelve on
Speaker 1: third down. Um, that's in. That's a typical for the Ravens.
Speaker 1: And Stanley, who has allowed sixteen pressures over the last
Speaker 1: two seasons, last night allowed nine according to PSF. What
Speaker 1: I'm talking about, that to me was the last night.
Speaker 1: Oh no, Um, and the Raiders look pretty good. Defensively,
Speaker 1: they look better, at least they look like that. That
Speaker 1: is a change you could point to because that was
Speaker 1: obviously their chaotic I'm doing a year ago. And it
Speaker 1: should be pointed out the Ravens had a fourteen nothing
Speaker 1: lead in this game. They lost the game. It was
Speaker 1: the first time John Harbaugh Ravens team has ever blown
Speaker 1: a fourteen point lead. They were about the running game
Speaker 1: and m last I feel like the Jets blew three
Speaker 1: fourteen point leads last season. UM final point for me
Speaker 1: on the Raiders side of the ball. Alex Leatherwood, their
Speaker 1: first round pick, did not look good. He struggled with
Speaker 1: penalties and UM did not play well. I didn't think
Speaker 1: Darren Waller after the game, after a game in which
Speaker 1: he was targeted nineteen times, which is a little bit excessive,
Speaker 1: but still you get it when Jon Gruden steps up
Speaker 1: at the lecter and after the game and calls him
Speaker 1: the best or I've ever coached. And go check out
Speaker 1: John Gruden's Football reference page. He's coached a lot of
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame players. And last thing, Cleveland Farrell. We
Speaker 1: talk about first round picks like Alex Weather Leatherwood, Cleland
Speaker 1: Farrell a healthy scratch in week one. Max Crosby is
Speaker 1: kind of saving that draft class by being a stud.
Speaker 1: Uh he was picked in the fourth round. I believe
Speaker 1: in that same draft. But Cleveland Farrell a healthy scratch
Speaker 1: in year three. I believe the number four overall pick
Speaker 1: a few years back may feeling the heat. He sort
Speaker 1: of put it out there that I know, I know
Speaker 1: how this is and if we don't win games, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna be back with with rich eyes and it's it's
Speaker 1: more like a little presumptuous you know, maybe you know,
Speaker 1: pushing DJ to the side a little bit sounds more
Speaker 1: like Cleland Farewell if he doesn't start told it, I do,
Speaker 1: because Mike, you know DJ, you know, move the sticks.
Speaker 1: I call him the you know, smiling assassin because he's
Speaker 1: this you know, good natured preachers on and then he'll
Speaker 1: just cut you to ribbons. He'll he'll just rip you up.
Speaker 1: He'll rip your heart out, um via social media and
Speaker 1: whatever else. So what I'm telling you is he's got
Speaker 1: a little black mamba in him, even if he's got
Speaker 1: this smiling preacher's son surface, and Mayok should be aware
Speaker 1: of that. He's not going to just walk in because
Speaker 1: DJ will fight back. Just something, the track ahead of
Speaker 1: the story is ahead. If you're not ahead at all,
Speaker 1: you're right, you can win nine more games than Mayok.
Speaker 1: Won't be won't have to worry about these things. I
Speaker 1: cut that for social I honestly would like to and
Speaker 1: just to see what the fallout is on multiple fronts.
Speaker 1: I know it is. We really have gotten used to
Speaker 1: saying whatever whatever it is we want. Like imagine if
Speaker 1: this got back to Mike Mayock, he'd be like those guys.
Speaker 1: Are you kidding me? Well, he probably knows one of us,
Speaker 1: and that's you, Greg. I don't think he has any
Speaker 1: concept to Dan and I are I. I sleep well
Speaker 1: at night, uh and feel good that this podcast is
Speaker 1: a safe space for us to share unvarnished views on
Speaker 1: our league. All right, let's move on. How do you
Speaker 1: feel now? How do you feel now? When we to
Speaker 1: how about now? The second time? You know when you
Speaker 1: said that, when you go, how do you feel about now?
Speaker 1: That's what makes it. I think that's what makes the typle.
Speaker 1: Not we don't really like how you like them? Apples? No,
Speaker 1: that's tired and done. That's done. It's over. Great line,
Speaker 1: but right right, you know that's a damon special. Um.
Speaker 1: All right, let's get to it. I'm going to throw
Speaker 1: out some teams um good and bad in terms of
Speaker 1: results in week one, and I'll just see where you
Speaker 1: guys stand on them. Do you feel better or worse
Speaker 1: the same? Did a change fundamentally what you thought about
Speaker 1: this team leading up to the season? And uh, let's start.
Speaker 1: Let's start with the team that's number five five in
Speaker 1: the power rankings, up five spots, the Pittsburgh Steelers, who
Speaker 1: of course went to Buffalo and um delivered a classic
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh Steelers type performance. Uh, Mark, I'll start with you
Speaker 1: on this one. Because you are very heavily embedded in
Speaker 1: the A f C. North, I think I kind of
Speaker 1: know your answer. But do you are you completely sold
Speaker 1: now on all that high floor, low ceiling, low basement
Speaker 1: type thing, high ceiling, low floor situation with the Steelers?
Speaker 1: Is this just another Steelers team that's gonna win ten
Speaker 1: or twelve games? Do you now? Well? I'd say this
Speaker 1: if the if we find out that over the next
Speaker 1: couple of weeks that the Bill's offense um is what
Speaker 1: they were last year, then it only raises what I
Speaker 1: think about Pittsburgh, and especially as a defensive team that
Speaker 1: can hang around all year long. I think that like
Speaker 1: the concerns were never the front of the defense. I
Speaker 1: mean T J. Watt, cam Heyward unleashed total chaos against Buffalo.
Speaker 1: Buffalo was you know, they didn't use play action as
Speaker 1: much as they did it in years past, especially last year.
Speaker 1: They were a little bit out of sorts. But I
Speaker 1: think Pittsburgh put them in a very uncomfortable place, and
Speaker 1: I could see them doing that to the Ravens to
Speaker 1: the Browns, to the Bengals in their own division and
Speaker 1: beyond the division. So I feel strongly about Pittsburgh on
Speaker 1: that front. I haven't changed my mind the offense, though,
Speaker 1: I also didn't entirely change my mind. Big Ben warmed
Speaker 1: up as the game went along, but if you go
Speaker 1: look at their ground attack, it was still stuck in
Speaker 1: the mud. Nagi Harris played every single snap and came
Speaker 1: out with numbers that looked nothing like he did. I mean,
Speaker 1: we just didn't see that version of it. I know
Speaker 1: they have weapons, and they made a couple of big
Speaker 1: plays down the stretch, but I still need to see
Speaker 1: more from the offense because you can't just do it
Speaker 1: with defense. So I don't feel that differently about the
Speaker 1: Steelers because I think going into the year, I said,
Speaker 1: this is probably a wild card team inside a really
Speaker 1: tough division that will win ten games and then we'll
Speaker 1: see what happens from there. In April and May I
Speaker 1: did it, but I was riding on like a psilocybin
Speaker 1: high from a first playoff game in my team and
Speaker 1: have been insid I us in middle school. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I remember one of the early UM podcasts or mid
Speaker 1: mid off season podcast was like the early over under ones,
Speaker 1: and I thought, I thought the Steelers over eight and
Speaker 1: a half was my number one uh pick overall just
Speaker 1: because Mike Tomlins never had a losing record, And I
Speaker 1: just don't see any big reason. I don't feel any
Speaker 1: different about this team. All the questions you had going
Speaker 1: into Week one kind of came true. Not sure about
Speaker 1: the offensive line, not sure about the running game, not
Speaker 1: sure about the offense. They had two d and fifty yards. Uh.
Speaker 1: We like the I like the defense. But you know,
Speaker 1: they had a punt return touchdown right in this game,
Speaker 1: and Alan missed two wide open deep touchdowns that would
Speaker 1: have made it look different. It was a good competitive
Speaker 1: game by like a complete team that's gonna be competitive.
Speaker 1: But that that's sort of what I expected from the Steelers.
Speaker 1: They gotta show me more to think they could be
Speaker 1: more than that. I'm looking at our prediction page and
Speaker 1: I don't see them in the playoffs for you, Mark
Speaker 1: and I and I see also the Steelers getting just
Speaker 1: one vote from Avid car Derek's brother uh to win
Speaker 1: the a f C North. So like that's kind of
Speaker 1: where things were. Hold on, Wait a minute, Wait a minute,
Speaker 1: wait a minute, can say, I still think. I still
Speaker 1: think they're a wild card type team, that's all. I
Speaker 1: think they could win nine ten games and be left
Speaker 1: out of the mix too. I I that doesn't mean
Speaker 1: because I didn't put them on NFL dot COM's precious
Speaker 1: little page that I quietly a week ago thought they
Speaker 1: were five and twelve. Please, car was the only one
Speaker 1: team that you said wild card team. All right, but
Speaker 1: I mean I don't. I didn't Sunday didn't body rock
Speaker 1: my My feelings about the Steelers just pent pecking, notwithstanding
Speaker 1: when you're when you're telling the audience. I saw them
Speaker 1: as a playoff team metro in the season, and then
Speaker 1: I go to this website and it says you don't
Speaker 1: see them as a playoff team. You understand the disassociation there.
Speaker 1: I just that's all. Well. I mean I also I
Speaker 1: put predictions out on multiple formats and multiple you know.
Speaker 1: So it's you've got to check the other three or
Speaker 1: four places I predicted their faces. You're the joker in
Speaker 1: the dark knight, You're just an agent of chaos. That's equivalent.
Speaker 1: All right, let's move up. So did you share your thoughts?
Speaker 1: I think you did. Greg. Yeah, it was good and
Speaker 1: they were. They were good. They I'm going to actually listen,
Speaker 1: they were trench. How about the Bills. Well, while we're here,
Speaker 1: I mean, Josh Allen and that offense could not get
Speaker 1: anything going on, Greg, do you think that is a
Speaker 1: sign that maybe the NFL caught up to Josh Dave
Speaker 1: to Brian Dable's offense, or let it breathe a little bit.
Speaker 1: They'll be fun. Let it breathe. The week one teams
Speaker 1: that have great continuity, but maybe he didn't perform how
Speaker 1: they wanted are the ones I'm not worried about, and
Speaker 1: yet where I don't want to overreact. They Josh Allen
Speaker 1: struggled against the Steelers more than once, not just this game,
Speaker 1: not just last year before that, They've they've had a
Speaker 1: good beat on this Bill's offense. They still out gained
Speaker 1: them by one twenty. Like, I still go back to
Speaker 1: that Allen missed a couple of deep throws. You know,
Speaker 1: if that starts piling up week after week, I'd be concerned,
Speaker 1: but not not concerned whatsoever. And I thought their defense
Speaker 1: played pretty well for the most part. Yeah, I'm not
Speaker 1: concerned about the defense. I'd say on offense, I'll point
Speaker 1: again that like last year they were the fifth. They
Speaker 1: used play action at the fifth as the fifth most
Speaker 1: team in the NFL um to hide you know, the
Speaker 1: fact that they're a little run averse. They're not a
Speaker 1: run heavy team obviously. Um Zack Moss strangely like deactivated
Speaker 1: before the game. Um they were the fourth least um
Speaker 1: play action heavy team in Week one. I think they
Speaker 1: got a little out of script. You miss you mentioned
Speaker 1: the misplays by Josh Allen like they ply me at Miami.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure that's going to be an easy test either,
Speaker 1: but like Brian Dable, still there it is. But I
Speaker 1: just trust all this all the still the same, you know,
Speaker 1: parts in place. Yeah, And I think sometimes, and this
Speaker 1: goes across all sports, sometimes there's just a team that
Speaker 1: you struggle with that they for whatever reason, they're a
Speaker 1: bad matchup for you, and and they kind of have
Speaker 1: you figured out a little bit. And it doesn't mean
Speaker 1: everyone else then figures you out. But it seems like
Speaker 1: the Steelers would be a bad draw for the Bills
Speaker 1: come January, for instance. Uh just they just play them
Speaker 1: very well. How about the Arizona Cardinals. Okay, so we
Speaker 1: have the NFC West where they were just completely overlooked
Speaker 1: all summer. And then they dropped to quote a paraphrase
Speaker 1: of Sesslers m in a bomb in the desert. But
Speaker 1: it wasn't the desert. It was in the middle of
Speaker 1: Nashville on the Titans. Should we now view the Cardinals
Speaker 1: differently or is this one of those Week one games
Speaker 1: where we'll look back in a month and be like, well,
Speaker 1: that was kind of stupid. I view him different, like
Speaker 1: I didn't know what I was getting out of Chandler Jones,
Speaker 1: didn't have a great month before he was gone all
Speaker 1: last season. Now he looks like the best player that's
Speaker 1: ever been created. Bad job, Bill, Bill Belichick. You know
Speaker 1: he's he really could be a Hall of Famer if
Speaker 1: he likes stacks. Another twenty sacks season. Um, it's not
Speaker 1: a crazy No one more game to one more, I mean.
Speaker 1: And then Kyler Murray And this is where I'm probably overreacting,
Speaker 1: But my god, the the big place he made in
Speaker 1: that game, you know, pff checks, the big time throws
Speaker 1: he led the league in in Week one, The accuracy
Speaker 1: that types of plays and no one else could make
Speaker 1: other than maybe Mahomes. It just got me feeling like, Okay,
Speaker 1: here comes. Here comes that leap Dan's been talking about,
Speaker 1: and I think it was a little more gradual than
Speaker 1: some people thought last year, but it was still good.
Speaker 1: It was good from year one a year two. But
Speaker 1: if he's taken another leap, then all bets are off
Speaker 1: and this division and this team is nasty because their
Speaker 1: top end town is just so good. They look so balanced.
Speaker 1: I mean, I thought that there were gonna be issues
Speaker 1: on defense in the secondary, especially the total reverse was true.
Speaker 1: I mean they held a j. Brown and Julia Julio
Speaker 1: Jones to like nine combined yards. I mean they were
Speaker 1: non factors. Uh, you know, Derrick Henry was shut down,
Speaker 1: which is the way to unplug the Titans. And I
Speaker 1: look at Murray and it's like the whole thing I think,
Speaker 1: you know, I thought the type. I thought this was
Speaker 1: the team the Cardinals in that division that was going
Speaker 1: to be just by force of nature they were dealing
Speaker 1: with with the other three teams, um suppressed, held back,
Speaker 1: and maybe the coach goes after this season. I think
Speaker 1: they basically it was sort of an exclamation point to
Speaker 1: people like me that says we are not milk toast,
Speaker 1: We are exciting in our quarterback it begins right there.
Speaker 1: Kyler Murray's ceiling is completely unknown. We're only with like
Speaker 1: three fours up the wall, and I'm very excited about
Speaker 1: his play. I thought the Titans watching that game yesterday,
Speaker 1: they looked even worse then the final score in the
Speaker 1: highlights indicated Derrick Henry, who we said nine yards on
Speaker 1: ten carries and you had a offense that didn't even
Speaker 1: have a first down until like well into the second quarter.
Speaker 1: Is that a team that we have any concerns about.
Speaker 1: It was such a bad matchup that I actually am
Speaker 1: going to give it a Chandler Jones won that game
Speaker 1: as quick as quickly as or as aggressively as like
Speaker 1: any one defensive player can just win a game. He
Speaker 1: destroyed them. And then Kyle, like Murray's plays, felt a
Speaker 1: little less about Tennessee's defense and more just like there's
Speaker 1: no defense for some of the players that he made
Speaker 1: some of the biggest plays in the game. We're just
Speaker 1: incredible throws after incredible scramble. So I'm going to give
Speaker 1: them a little bit of a pass and wait and see,
Speaker 1: here's my concern. Like I had point to when Kyle
Speaker 1: Shanahan left the Falcons um and you leave an m
Speaker 1: v P passer and Matt Ryan behind and they never
Speaker 1: reached those heights ever. Again, not the same way that
Speaker 1: you know Arthur Smith's gonna struggle conversely in Atlanta now
Speaker 1: potentially for a while. But Todd Downing was not a
Speaker 1: thriller um when he was on the Raiders, um calling
Speaker 1: plays and working with their offense to some degree, it's
Speaker 1: just an unknown what that offense will be. And I
Speaker 1: think we're in a time period now where if you
Speaker 1: have one of those play callers that's sort of a
Speaker 1: next level guy. I mean, he completely revived Ryan Tannehill's
Speaker 1: career and he knew how to use all those parts.
Speaker 1: So I want to see more because I think they,
Speaker 1: if anything, the Cardinals sort of put a roadmap out
Speaker 1: there on how to stop Tennessee. Right, have Taylor Jones, Well,
Speaker 1: it's not just that, I mean, anyone that stopped Derrick
Speaker 1: Henry in any game, it's been a very successful way
Speaker 1: to do it. But yeah, having having a guy have
Speaker 1: five sacks is also other way to do it. Greg
Speaker 1: that's a really smart I think that's a savvy way
Speaker 1: to Luan. If Luan is bad now and he's coming
Speaker 1: off an injury too. It's like, you know, these guys
Speaker 1: coming off injuries, sometimes they don't come all the way
Speaker 1: back then that that's a concern. Julio is the guy
Speaker 1: I want to see, you know, warm up a little.
Speaker 1: Didn't come practice much practice, right, I'm not But because
Speaker 1: you need to keep the faith, buddy, because you were
Speaker 1: the one when they acquired him in the trade saying
Speaker 1: everybody is saying that he's not that great anymore. Chill out,
Speaker 1: go watch the game tape. But I did you know
Speaker 1: he didn't have an impact at all. I'm giving them
Speaker 1: a little bit of a I'll give him a Mullian.
Speaker 1: I think it's like it's for Greg. It's a chill
Speaker 1: ax moment, total chill ax moment for Greg. Classic. Hey,
Speaker 1: how about the entirety of the NFC East accepting the
Speaker 1: New York Giants. I think we all feel pretty good
Speaker 1: about where the Giants are right now, even with the Giants,
Speaker 1: shouldn't feel prettyo about where the Giants are. But start
Speaker 1: with you mark any of the teams, and then it's
Speaker 1: the East change how you felt about him? Not a ton?
Speaker 1: Not a ton? I mean, I think if anything arrow
Speaker 1: up a little bit on Dallas for me because I
Speaker 1: think on offense, um, if they can produce that passing
Speaker 1: game each week the way they did, uh, and you've
Speaker 1: got a potential m v P at quarterback in the
Speaker 1: best wide receivering group in the NFC. I mean, I
Speaker 1: think they should win that division. Washington looked similar to me,
Speaker 1: but the rest of them will see. I mean, I
Speaker 1: feel a little better about the Eagles. I kind of like,
Speaker 1: you know what I forgot. I I totally forgot about
Speaker 1: the Eagles. It we'll see. I mean, I think they
Speaker 1: are a team that's gonna be feisty if you have
Speaker 1: an offensive line that good, a defensive line that good.
Speaker 1: Jalen Hurts I want to see against the non Falcons
Speaker 1: defense before I started going too crazy, but if he
Speaker 1: just limits mistakes, like he'll be solid enough, like he
Speaker 1: doesn't need to be a top twenty quarterback for them
Speaker 1: to be a little nasty with the lines that they have.
Speaker 1: I would say one thing though, Sirianni also, I would
Speaker 1: completely forgot the Eagle. Sirianni showed total aggressiveness in that game.
Speaker 1: I think that's a change for that coaching staff. I
Speaker 1: kind of like that. I know they used analytics left
Speaker 1: and right, but last year none of the was present,
Speaker 1: and I think they really fit. You found an offense
Speaker 1: that really fits hurts very very well. So far, so
Speaker 1: good with the Eagles. Yeah, I think Greg your lock
Speaker 1: of the week, notwithstanding you had a couple pre Week
Speaker 1: one takes that checked out the Eagles actually being more talented,
Speaker 1: especially on each side of the ball and the trenches.
Speaker 1: I think that was you might have been money, might
Speaker 1: have been marked, but that's but that's okay. Filter that
Speaker 1: Eagles drawing. I'm always banging that Eagle. Checked the tape.
Speaker 1: You can check it NFL dot com Game picks. I
Speaker 1: don't agree. I actually, I honestly don't agree with the assessment.
Speaker 1: And I'm not saying Greg didn't say that, but I'm
Speaker 1: telling you I did. So we'll have to take you
Speaker 1: at your word. But you wouldn't lie. I would com
Speaker 1: I wouldn't. I would not at work lie about anything.
Speaker 1: Mostly you are an honest man. All right. How about
Speaker 1: the Saints, I mean, weird game. I mean you cannot
Speaker 1: take it away from him, thirty five three against of
Speaker 1: the NFC North champion Packers. But I don't know, Greg,
Speaker 1: A little bit of a snowball type game where everything
Speaker 1: went right for one side and everything went wrong for
Speaker 1: the other, and we shouldn't take too much out of it.
Speaker 1: That was kind of like where I came down a
Speaker 1: little bit, because, yeah, when you re watched the game,
Speaker 1: some of those plays were just crazy. And they've had
Speaker 1: a rough post Week one. So they've got six coaches
Speaker 1: in the COVID protocol. That's a lot nutritionist and a player.
Speaker 1: Hopefully it doesn't spread for them, but maybe even more
Speaker 1: importantly just for their wins and losses here Marshall on Latimer,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be out for a little bit with the surgery.
Speaker 1: Marcus Davenport there, maybe their best pass rusher now is
Speaker 1: gonna be out um with an injury, and I'm I'm
Speaker 1: forgetting another injury off the top man. Oh yeah, Eric McCoy,
Speaker 1: they're starting center, maybe like a Pro Bowl caliber type
Speaker 1: center is gonna be out for half the season. So
Speaker 1: they quietly had the worst week of anyone for injuries.
Speaker 1: I have them as a wild card team, so I'm
Speaker 1: pleasantly surprised to see them blow the doors off the Packer.
Speaker 1: But I do think they do have the bones to
Speaker 1: be competitive all year. Maybe make the Bucks work a
Speaker 1: little bit. Those injuries concerned me. I think for me, um,
Speaker 1: let's just look at the game itself. Absolutely, I think
Speaker 1: Sean Payton's basically been amped up to do this. I
Speaker 1: thought that they were going to be proven to be
Speaker 1: a team mired in too much transition that had kind
Speaker 1: of like a Patriots season from a year ago to
Speaker 1: some degree due to depth in various places. But you
Speaker 1: know what, they kind of just went out there with
Speaker 1: a DJF attitude and dropped a huge, um, a huge
Speaker 1: like a giant box of knives from the sky on
Speaker 1: Green Bay. And I mean, I've never seen anything like
Speaker 1: that in Week one and Aaron Rodgers's career obviously from
Speaker 1: that angle was marvelous. And I dig the Saints for
Speaker 1: what they did after the week they went through all
Speaker 1: the nonsense like they came out as the team that
Speaker 1: wanted it so much more. That's the thing. You could
Speaker 1: just visibly see that they were, like, we want this
Speaker 1: game more than you do. Knives everywhere, stuck into the turf,
Speaker 1: into shoulder blades like a giant did they take did
Speaker 1: they take them out of the box before dropping them
Speaker 1: from the sky or is it just the box. No,
Speaker 1: it's like imagine like like out of one of those
Speaker 1: gigantic secret like aircraft carriers that are like half invisible.
Speaker 1: It's like eight the size of eight refrigerator boxes filled
Speaker 1: with um knives just gets dropped in the middle of
Speaker 1: like the Saints huddle. Is it like up there? He's like,
Speaker 1: I know, he claims space drop. Wouldn't it be smart
Speaker 1: for him to have an alibi? He's in the stadiums.
Speaker 1: I had nothing to do with it. It was a
Speaker 1: military mistake. So it's like a Mickey Mouse type thing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's like a drone attack where like you know, it's like,
Speaker 1: oh good, we're just sending a drone. Everything to be fine,
Speaker 1: but the accuracy isn't always the way you needed to be.
Speaker 1: Just knives raining down and we spent three weeks talking
Speaker 1: about in the wake of Sunday's drone attack, Like, I mean,
Speaker 1: if they have depth ishes, they will be tested. But
Speaker 1: they're some of their some of their skill players, Deonte
Speaker 1: Harris and Juwan Johnson making the places like they gotta
Speaker 1: do it, they gotta stack weeks. But those guys look
Speaker 1: like real guys right now. If I had to and
Speaker 1: we didn't know that if I had to make a
Speaker 1: prediction on Fool's gold in week when I'm not on
Speaker 1: the Jamis Winston train. Yet it was a fourteen completions,
Speaker 1: a forty eight yards, five touchdowns against the Green Bay
Speaker 1: defense that was just couldn't get out of its own way. Um,
Speaker 1: you give credit to Winston, But the whole thing with
Speaker 1: Winston especially is like when things are going well, he
Speaker 1: can roll. But when they're when his team's trailing, if
Speaker 1: he makes a mistake and he starts pressing, that's when
Speaker 1: things snowball in his own way. And and when he
Speaker 1: gets tested historically in his career, Um, that's when the
Speaker 1: turnovers start piling up. So I need to see more
Speaker 1: from Winston before saying that. I think their quarterback situation
Speaker 1: is settled, But they everything else about the organization and
Speaker 1: the team and the coaching was so spot on that
Speaker 1: you just you have to give him a ton of respect.
Speaker 1: So maybe I don't trust them, but I do enjoy
Speaker 1: the Jamis Winston experience on balance. Here's my favorite postgame
Speaker 1: interview bite from week one. You know one thing, my
Speaker 1: trainer he told me, He said, what did you say?
Speaker 1: He just told us to be prepared. You kind of
Speaker 1: need the video the video visual as well, which is
Speaker 1: he looks to the sky trying to think what that
Speaker 1: trainer said to him. That's stuck with him so much,
Speaker 1: and it just didn't come. He covered it up. That
Speaker 1: was something like on there, you know, skills being shown
Speaker 1: by Jamie. He clearly didn't think of it. He was like, oh,
Speaker 1: he told us be prepared. That's let's keep moving and
Speaker 1: he's got vision. But not everything is fully loaded at
Speaker 1: this right, forget the lace Like first of all, the
Speaker 1: laser guy whoever gave Jamis Winston is laceing should be
Speaker 1: advertising that heavily. You know, I'm absolutely I'm the one
Speaker 1: who did it. But he may be waiting like Dan
Speaker 1: to see where this goes. I mean, you know, he
Speaker 1: rolls out the campaign hardcore this week, and then he
Speaker 1: pulls it on Sunday and waits things out, and then
Speaker 1: based on the results, he could roll it back out
Speaker 1: again and even invest more and billboards and all that
Speaker 1: other stuff. But the trainer should even and go harder,
Speaker 1: I mean, maybe come up with a better slogan than
Speaker 1: be prepared. But Jamis Winston's body looks totally different, and
Speaker 1: his running ability in that game was as good as
Speaker 1: I've ever seen him, and was was a pretty key
Speaker 1: factor in that game. If if you've got a jamis
Speaker 1: who can scoot a little bit, that is that is
Speaker 1: something different that we did not see early on when
Speaker 1: he was, you know, pounding those crabs. I mean, he
Speaker 1: wasn't exactly fat Albert before he was he was able,
Speaker 1: he wasn't. He couldn't if you look at his rushing yards,
Speaker 1: especially his first three years three, he couldn't do it.
Speaker 1: His legs picked him up some pretty good first down.
Speaker 1: What percentage of listeners have never encountered any fat Albert content?
Speaker 1: Kind of a like a sneaky, underrated eighties cartoon Fat Albert?
Speaker 1: All right? Now, finally, what's the name is? Say again?
Speaker 1: About now? Green Bay Packers? How about now? And how
Speaker 1: about to talk about the Packers? We welcome on the
Speaker 1: beat Reporter, the beat man for the Athletic Match, Nineman,
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Around the NFL Podcast. Matt, how are
Speaker 1: you guys doing? Really appreciate you having me, Thanks for
Speaker 1: coming on. It's nice to meet you. It's pretty rare that, like,
Speaker 1: I've never even seen your face. Any sort of man
Speaker 1: could have come on to our screen and here he is.
Speaker 1: We have no we have actually no way to know
Speaker 1: whether this is the real match nine. You don't know,
Speaker 1: but that would be weird if there was a fake match,
Speaker 1: Nineman that came on the show today. Um, what we're
Speaker 1: talking about here, Matt, welcome to the show. It's dumb. Um.
Speaker 1: What we're talking about here is teams after week one?
Speaker 1: Does it change how we feel about them? And I
Speaker 1: feel like a guy like you who was boots on
Speaker 1: the ground, was there all through the spring and summer
Speaker 1: of Aaron Rodgers nonsense and then a training camp or
Speaker 1: things seemed to be back under control and then what
Speaker 1: we saw Sunday, which was just a catastrophe organizational? Did
Speaker 1: it change how you feel about the team? Not drastically.
Speaker 1: I mean all preseason I heard them talk about their
Speaker 1: laser focus, their understanding of the magnitude of this season. Um,
Speaker 1: given everything that went on with Rogers this summer and
Speaker 1: everything that is likely to happen after this season, they
Speaker 1: know this could be his last season. And they all
Speaker 1: spoke about their potential and their expectations after two straight
Speaker 1: NFC Championship Game losses, and Aaron Rodgers said it himself
Speaker 1: at that first introductory not introductory, but his first press
Speaker 1: conference of training camp. One of the main reasons he
Speaker 1: came back is because he knows they have a super
Speaker 1: Bowl caliber roster. That team that I watched in Jacksonville
Speaker 1: on Sunday looks like it does not belong in this league. Now.
Speaker 1: In nineteen, they had a similar performance against the Chargers
Speaker 1: in l A, a losing Chargers team and they lost
Speaker 1: to eleven. They got blown out in Tampa last regular season,
Speaker 1: so you have these kind of flute games. I'll be
Speaker 1: more concerned if I'm the Packers if it happens on
Speaker 1: Monday night against Detroit, then they have a trip to
Speaker 1: the forty Niners and then the Steelers at home after that.
Speaker 1: So anomaly for now if it happens again, a concern.
Speaker 1: If it happens a third time, a trend doesn't really
Speaker 1: change the way I view them as a whole. Maybe
Speaker 1: just gives me a couple more reservations about what they're
Speaker 1: really made of this year. You know, one one question
Speaker 1: I have for you though, because um, I saw this
Speaker 1: from you on Twitter and you noted this quote from
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers after the game that we he said we
Speaker 1: probably felt like we were gonna go up and down
Speaker 1: the field on whoever they had out there, So there
Speaker 1: was a sense of overconfidence. And your your line above
Speaker 1: that um pitching your article was on Sunday, they the
Speaker 1: Packers seem full full of themselves, in fact, according to
Speaker 1: the QB. And you also mentioned on your pod No,
Speaker 1: it was that that caught my eye because I thought
Speaker 1: that that was a deserving um slight to a Packers
Speaker 1: team that came out a little bit too um excited
Speaker 1: about themselves. You also mentioned on your pod that they
Speaker 1: had twenty seven guys according to Matt Lafleur, who were
Speaker 1: potential team leader type you know, elements in the locker room.
Speaker 1: So that tells you it is a veteran heavy leadership
Speaker 1: heavy room. When I look at what happened on Sunday,
Speaker 1: how does that happen to a Packers team with a
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers with consistency at the head coach level, and
Speaker 1: that meant that much leadership on the roster. That's a
Speaker 1: fantastic question, and it's something I've been trying to figure out.
Speaker 1: You know, the reason I wrote that is because just
Speaker 1: last week Davante Adams was out of podium inside lambeau
Speaker 1: Field and said, this is one of the not one
Speaker 1: of He said, this is the hungriest team I've been
Speaker 1: around in my eight years with the Packers. So I
Speaker 1: kind of played I thought it might have been a
Speaker 1: little too corny, but I kind of played off it
Speaker 1: because Aaron Rodgers was straight up asked, were you guys
Speaker 1: too fully yourselves? And he said, yeah, I think that's
Speaker 1: definitely a possibility. Now, what I don't get is how
Speaker 1: is that possible? Aaron Rodgers, you have you know, Aaron Jones,
Speaker 1: Robert Tonyan, Davante Adams, all eleven starters on defense. We're
Speaker 1: here last year. The only new starters on the team
Speaker 1: per se are rookie center Josh Myers and rookie right
Speaker 1: guard Royce Newman. Like the guys you have know that
Speaker 1: a game like that is possible at any minute. How
Speaker 1: do you let everyone on the team, including yourselves, let
Speaker 1: your guard down? And as you mentioned, Matt la Floor
Speaker 1: essentially boasted to us last week when we were talking
Speaker 1: about captains that he had twenty seven players received the
Speaker 1: captain's vote, and ten of those guys received double digit votes.
Speaker 1: In his two years here, he's only named one captain
Speaker 1: for each unit. So it's been Aaron Rodgers, Zadarius Smith,
Speaker 1: who was not named to captain this year, and Mason
Speaker 1: Crosby for special teams. This year, they had so many
Speaker 1: guys get captains votes that they named three for offense,
Speaker 1: uh Aaron Rodgers, Davante Adams, Mercedes Lewis, three for defense,
Speaker 1: Adrian Amos Jr. Alexander Kenny arc and then Crosby for
Speaker 1: special teams. Aside from Elton Jenkins, their twenty five year
Speaker 1: old left tackle who had two tackles on Sunday because
Speaker 1: he uh tackled the guy who intercepted Aaron Rodgers both times.
Speaker 1: There was nobody's example worth following. There was nobody who
Speaker 1: looked like a leader out there, and football wise, there
Speaker 1: was a lot that went wrong, but the intangibles of
Speaker 1: that energy, that leadership, Matt Lafloor said, the Saints wanted
Speaker 1: it more. How does that happen to the Green Bay Packers.
Speaker 1: It's a great question. Did did you point out that
Speaker 1: Mark's question was fantastic and great? You know you did
Speaker 1: it twice because he said he listened to your podcast.
Speaker 1: That might that might have been a little bit of it.
Speaker 1: He went, he went were allies were now allies. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's how this business works. You mentioned Zaius Smith that
Speaker 1: that was my take, like Rogers timing seemed off. You know,
Speaker 1: I don't think that's gonna be a long term problem.
Speaker 1: I think they were playing a team that it was
Speaker 1: like a playoff game to them. They knew what that
Speaker 1: game was gonna mean, not just in week one um
Speaker 1: to the city in New Orleans, but forever, like fans
Speaker 1: fans of New Orleans will remember that game forever. And
Speaker 1: I think that they were playing for a higher purpose,
Speaker 1: and so that helps explain it. I'm more curious because
Speaker 1: you've been there and we haven't had a lot of
Speaker 1: Joe Barry talk this offseason. And Zadarius Smith, you know,
Speaker 1: isn't a pent and it's probably the key player. And
Speaker 1: you mentioned he's not a captain right now, there's been
Speaker 1: some behind the scenes stuff with him. Give me a
Speaker 1: little feel of like stuff we don't know about their defense,
Speaker 1: because the defense to me was a bigger concern, you know,
Speaker 1: just watching that game, because I just assumed my Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers in the offense will get it together eventually. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'll mention one thing about Zadarius Smith first, he only
Speaker 1: practiced I believe it was four times all preseason because
Speaker 1: he had a back injury that landed him on the
Speaker 1: n f I list when camp started. So we still
Speaker 1: don't know how it happened. Um before he came to camp,
Speaker 1: and then he practiced the week they had the jets
Speaker 1: here for joint practices. Uh, practice very limited, and then
Speaker 1: it flared back up again. And I don't know how
Speaker 1: much that had to do with him not being named
Speaker 1: a captain. But immediately after the team tweeted out the captains,
Speaker 1: Zadarius Smith tweeted wow with the emoji of him the
Speaker 1: thinking there was like some contracts stuff too. So that's
Speaker 1: interesting because he is their best you know him and
Speaker 1: Alex Writer absolutely yeah, Zadarius Smith was a second team
Speaker 1: All Pro last year and he has told me that
Speaker 1: he wants to be a packer for the rest of
Speaker 1: his career. Um. There, it's no secret he wants an extension.
Speaker 1: And I want to show you this. I'm grabbing my
Speaker 1: phone because he deleted this off his Instagram story, but
Speaker 1: this was tweeted. This was tweeted out. I don't know
Speaker 1: if you can see this. This is real beat reporter stuff, right, here.
Speaker 1: He tweeted that he's getting a tattoo. That's his Instagram
Speaker 1: story that has since been deleted. So new piece on
Speaker 1: the way. He's getting a tattoo of a captain's chain. Oh,
Speaker 1: he's annoyed. So it's not happy about that. You know,
Speaker 1: it's since the leader. I have no reason to believe
Speaker 1: that that's fake, but it would go along with his frustration.
Speaker 1: That would seem to be what that tweet was about.
Speaker 1: The defense as a whole. It's tricky because I watched
Speaker 1: the game back and there were so many communication issues.
Speaker 1: Twice I saw Channon Sullivan nickel corner when they were
Speaker 1: in zone point and I'm pointing to my left um
Speaker 1: for someone else to take a guy that was cutting
Speaker 1: across the field Marquez Callaway on the second play from
Speaker 1: scrimmage of the game. Nobody took him, resulted in a
Speaker 1: fourteen yard game. And then Chris Hogan on a touchdown
Speaker 1: that I believe made it thirty one to three. Darniell
Speaker 1: Savage Jr. And Devandre Campbell, their new veteran inside linebacker,
Speaker 1: kind of just caught no man's land, and Sullivan is
Speaker 1: left chasing after a guy who played in a Premier
Speaker 1: Lacrosse League game three months ago. Now, I know he's
Speaker 1: he's a proven NFL wide receiver. But as I said,
Speaker 1: all these guys were the exception of Campbell since he's new,
Speaker 1: but he's been in this league. Those communication issues should
Speaker 1: not be happening against guys that have been on this
Speaker 1: defense together for the last three years. I don't care
Speaker 1: who the coordinator is. You know, it's tough to really
Speaker 1: tell how much of Joe Berry's influence is uh part
Speaker 1: of that thirty eight three defeat, But all we hear
Speaker 1: from players every single time they talked about Joe Berry is, oh,
Speaker 1: he has energy. He's a great guy. I don't care
Speaker 1: how much energy he has. If you're given up thirty
Speaker 1: eight points forty nine minutes into your debut as defensive coordinator,
Speaker 1: that's not good. And his defenses in Detroit and Washington,
Speaker 1: he was defensive coordinator in Detroit oh seven O eight
Speaker 1: in Washington in fifteen sixteen, with the exception of Washington's
Speaker 1: fifteen defense, they were, you know, the middle of the pack.
Speaker 1: His other three defenses were the worst or second worst
Speaker 1: in the league. This is the guy who was the
Speaker 1: d C when the lines went oh, in sixteen. But
Speaker 1: but Matt Lafleur just loves Sneidman takes down Barry in
Speaker 1: a big spot. Berry hope he hope he doesn't listen
Speaker 1: to this podcast. Well, I apologize for rambling, but you know,
Speaker 1: Matt Lafleur was in love with the fact that Joe
Speaker 1: Barry has been on Sean mcveigh's staff the past couple
Speaker 1: of years and was under Brandon Staley on that defensive
Speaker 1: staff last year in l A when Barry was the
Speaker 1: linebackers coach. He wants to bring that, you know, to shell,
Speaker 1: keep everything in front of you, don't allow the explosive
Speaker 1: play style that frustrated Lafleur so much when they were
Speaker 1: preparing for the Rams in the playoffs last year that
Speaker 1: he said, you know what, I want some of that
Speaker 1: on my team. You know they should do. By the way, Matt,
Speaker 1: if they really want to um get back at overreactionary
Speaker 1: Packers fans, just bring back down Capers. Don Keaper's defense.
Speaker 1: Don Caper's defense didn't give up thirty eight points to
Speaker 1: his seventh game as defensive court. Look at that, Paul.
Speaker 1: He did win a Super Bowl. You know we remember that.
Speaker 1: I remember McCarthy. You know, Matt before we let you go.
Speaker 1: And I know there's a national fascination with Aaron Rodgers,
Speaker 1: you know, pop psychology, and it's probably super annoying, but
Speaker 1: you know, he's an interesting guy. And I'm just curious
Speaker 1: somebody that's there, um, because I'm watching this guy ever
Speaker 1: since he's emerged from Hawaii or wherever he was I
Speaker 1: think it was Hawaii, um. And he's got the weird hair,
Speaker 1: and he's dressing different, he's playing a guitar, like is
Speaker 1: he an entering like the eccentric, intellectual millionaire portion of
Speaker 1: his life? And if that's so, can you also marry
Speaker 1: that with being a professional quarterback of great skill? I
Speaker 1: certainly think so. Now this is only my third year
Speaker 1: covering him, but in the past couple of years he's
Speaker 1: seemed to take more of an outside football approach, and
Speaker 1: whether it's with us or when he goes on Pat
Speaker 1: McAfee's show every Tuesday talking about things that he's doing
Speaker 1: to better himself outside football. And there's absolutely nothing wrong
Speaker 1: with that. His mental health, all that stuff, UM, totally
Speaker 1: for that. I don't think that has anything to do
Speaker 1: with football. If anything, it is better because he talks
Speaker 1: so much about headspace and being in a good headspace
Speaker 1: after everything that's gone on in the past couple of years,
Speaker 1: drafting Jordan's love this offseason, it's important to have good
Speaker 1: mental health and being a good headspace. A normal person
Speaker 1: like myself would probably get my underwear and a bunch
Speaker 1: about all that stuff. But while he has certainly at times,
Speaker 1: I don't think it's affected his play on the field.
Speaker 1: Now I see these wild conspiracy theorists out there saying
Speaker 1: he only came back because he wants to sabotage the
Speaker 1: team from the inside. I would love that because that
Speaker 1: would be fantastic theater to cover as a reporter. But
Speaker 1: that was Greg's theory, by the way. But I don't
Speaker 1: think there's really any correlation. He certainly does seem to
Speaker 1: be entering that phase of his life. Maybe it's because uh,
Speaker 1: he's engaged now and and shleeen Woodley is having an
Speaker 1: effect on him. Again, I'm not saying that's bad, but
Speaker 1: maybe this is a little bit of a different Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers and people are loosing are used to um that
Speaker 1: may not sit well with them, But whatever floats his boat,
Speaker 1: and as long as he keeps playing not like he
Speaker 1: did on Sunday. I think all will be well in
Speaker 1: Green Bay and that starts with Detroit on Monday night.
Speaker 1: And you're a Syracuse man, so you know journalism. You
Speaker 1: were trained in the best place to get that education.
Speaker 1: And you know you do not root for teams. You
Speaker 1: don't for players. You root for stories. And what would
Speaker 1: be a better story than Aaron Rodgers trying to implode
Speaker 1: the Packers from the inside. I don't know that would
Speaker 1: that would get pretty dark. Yeah, we we won't cut
Speaker 1: that little portion um and send it out to all
Speaker 1: the Packers. Listen you saying that's like I love for
Speaker 1: this team too, I said, I said on Sunday. The
Speaker 1: way Sunday happened, it was better for my job than
Speaker 1: if had one. I mean people, I know people hate
Speaker 1: hearing that and say, how can you listen? A team
Speaker 1: that wins a lot and goes to the NFC Championship
Speaker 1: Game is great. You always want your team to be relevant.
Speaker 1: I covered the Raiders for two years before this, and
Speaker 1: that was relevant for all the wrong reasons. Sunday was
Speaker 1: relevant for the wrong reason, and the story to cover
Speaker 1: I mean, you were here because they took a dirt
Speaker 1: nap so that Yeah, you're blowing up then, and he's
Speaker 1: our Tuesday guests. We don't want Rogers McAfee, the punter
Speaker 1: could have that guy. We watched Sneidman, so follow him
Speaker 1: on the Athletic check out his podcast Head of the
Speaker 1: Pack and um yes, follow him on Twitter at match Sneidman.
Speaker 1: Thank you buddy, Thanks guys, really appreciate it. There he
Speaker 1: goes good guests. Put him in the dossier. Ricky Absolutely,
Speaker 1: if anyone comes on and says literally anything nice about
Speaker 1: anything that I say at all, they will be an
Speaker 1: eternal guest to the show. Because I knew as soon
Speaker 1: as you said that was a brilliant question. I said
Speaker 1: something like that, very complimentary. I said, all right, two things, Um,
Speaker 1: we set up our guest well here and to Mark's
Speaker 1: going to have a good day like that. That's gonna
Speaker 1: stick with Mark for the rest of the day as
Speaker 1: he goes on post podcast and well, my job here
Speaker 1: is done. I mean I I I'll stay on screen
Speaker 1: and you know, do all that stuff. But I don't
Speaker 1: need to say anything else. All right, you don't you
Speaker 1: know why because we're gonna do a Thursday night football
Speaker 1: preview and We're gonna start a new tradition here. Whoa beauty?
Speaker 1: What's love? Everybody? I don't Connie, this is uh. You
Speaker 1: were a little too done up for our taste. You know,
Speaker 1: we get the dressed down. Connie, this is the bombshell.
Speaker 1: What's going on right now? Let me explain, because this
Speaker 1: all happens when I have to do it. Um, but
Speaker 1: I had to do like I basically lined up my
Speaker 1: day for all of my interviews, and anything I had
Speaker 1: to do on camera is today, so then that all
Speaker 1: the other days I can just be lazy and not
Speaker 1: do it. So, hey, did my hair, put on? Makeup?
Speaker 1: Was up? This is the right medium for it, right, Colleen?
Speaker 1: Are you prepared to offer the analysis at least the
Speaker 1: match of the analysis that you offered to last week's
Speaker 1: Thursday Night game, which I found, um, you know, startling.
Speaker 1: I don't know if I can live up to all
Speaker 1: of the greatness from last week, but I'm gonna really try.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna really try. Okay, the recap. You don't have
Speaker 1: the look of terror in your eyes that we might
Speaker 1: call on you. Please no, don't go to the I
Speaker 1: wasn't gonna go to you. Please, please no, don't. Don't. Yeah,
Speaker 1: sometimes that happens. But the anxiety was well because I
Speaker 1: wasn't like totally locked into the game listen. But the
Speaker 1: least I think it's it was clear for for for
Speaker 1: all of us. You weren't you, weren't me. I'm ready
Speaker 1: to go. I was like really milking my off season
Speaker 1: every second that I could. Um. But now the summer
Speaker 1: of Connie is officially closed. So yeah, you must be
Speaker 1: getting on a plane. Yeah, you're getting a plane, right,
Speaker 1: You're going to this game. Connie Fox gets on a plane.
Speaker 1: She heads to d C, where the Washington football team
Speaker 1: will welcome the New York Giants. Both teams coming off
Speaker 1: losses in Week one, and Washington lost more than the game.
Speaker 1: They lost their quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, which, let's face it,
Speaker 1: we just had Matt Schneidermann on. And if you're a
Speaker 1: broadcaster or a journal you're rooting for the story, and
Speaker 1: Connie obviously rooting for fitz Magic to be up on
Speaker 1: the dais at the end of the game because he's
Speaker 1: always so much fun. You won't have Ryan Fitzpatrick. And
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what, Connie. We'll start here as the
Speaker 1: Tyler Heineke era begins, we might not see Ryan fitz
Speaker 1: Fitzpatrick at all. I watched uh NFL Network yesterday and
Speaker 1: Ian Rapports said, it's on the table. It's not off
Speaker 1: the table. He said that Fitzpatrick has done for the season.
Speaker 1: So this is Heinekes show for now against a Giants
Speaker 1: team that desperately needs a w here coming off a
Speaker 1: very sappointing Week one performance themselves. I really hate this
Speaker 1: for Ryan Fitzpatrick, but I hate it even more for
Speaker 1: me because I really love doing Thursday night football when
Speaker 1: Ryan quarterback. It truly is and that is something that
Speaker 1: I was really looking forward to. It's obviously not going
Speaker 1: to happen. But Taylor Heineke actually was not bad in
Speaker 1: relief of Fitzy. He came in, he only missed on
Speaker 1: four passes, and when you think back to last year
Speaker 1: when the Washington team played the Bucks in the wild
Speaker 1: card game, Heineke was pretty good in that game against
Speaker 1: the box. So he definitely can make plays. He's athletic,
Speaker 1: he has some mobility too, so there's there's some similarities
Speaker 1: with Fitzy because he did scramble on a couple of
Speaker 1: plays as well. Um and I think it's kind of Uh.
Speaker 1: I think it's kind of remarkable that he's a former
Speaker 1: undrafted free agent and this is his fifth team and
Speaker 1: now based on what you just said and what Ian
Speaker 1: Rappaport had said, like he might be starting the whole
Speaker 1: season if that is the case, if Ryan Fitzpatrick isn't
Speaker 1: coming back. But I think that this team has some
Speaker 1: good chances. With Logan Thomas at tight end, you should
Speaker 1: get some more opportunities because you saw what Broncos were
Speaker 1: able to do against this Giant's defense. Noah Fan albert Oh.
Speaker 1: They both put up some nice numbers, had some nice plays.
Speaker 1: But if Antonio Gibson didn't fumble the ball last week,
Speaker 1: I think Washington had a really good chance of winning.
Speaker 1: So I like this team a lot. The Giants they
Speaker 1: have a lot more issues. Yeah. By the way, I
Speaker 1: heard the heard the name, I was scene if Mark
Speaker 1: wanted to jump in. Uh. I heard all last week
Speaker 1: during that game, the announcer saying albert O's last name
Speaker 1: in a certain sort of way, which is the opposite
Speaker 1: of what you know, which is totally different. On the
Speaker 1: Broncos website, it says, oh cooey boon him. So that's
Speaker 1: what I've been going with it that crazy to say,
Speaker 1: oh cooey Bonham, but they went with a totally different
Speaker 1: way to say it. And now I don't know what
Speaker 1: they said, like okay Bowie nom or something like that,
Speaker 1: and I think I think he mangled it. But um
Speaker 1: they that is part of the Giants defense. I mean,
Speaker 1: rather the uh yeah, the Giants defense that I'm concerned with,
Speaker 1: Like almost everything from that Giants game concerned me. I
Speaker 1: thought they had one of the worst week ones of
Speaker 1: of any team and they they gotta win it. I
Speaker 1: mean this, these two teams both came out a Week
Speaker 1: one I feel like looking a little worse than their
Speaker 1: ceiling we're hoping for going into the season, because I
Speaker 1: thought this was gonna be one of the more fun
Speaker 1: Washington teams to watch in a while. But now we
Speaker 1: don't have Fits. I know, Heinik is kind of like
Speaker 1: Junior Fits, you know, with that you know track record,
Speaker 1: being undrafted. Fits was the seventh round pick, you know,
Speaker 1: bouncing around a bunch of teams, kind of being a
Speaker 1: freewheeling guy. Like that's great, but you don't have him.
Speaker 1: You still don't have Curtis Samuel Adam Humphries wasn't exactly
Speaker 1: an exciting pickup, but you thought like the connection with
Speaker 1: Fits was gonna be something. So maybe you don't get
Speaker 1: the total Humphries experience. And their tackles were horrible last week.
Speaker 1: The Chargers were eating all game. They're starting a rookie
Speaker 1: at right tackle, Sam Cosmi, who is just who is
Speaker 1: a little lost, and then a veteran Charles Leno. And
Speaker 1: so you think of the Giants as the team with
Speaker 1: a bad offensive line, and they probably are, but the
Speaker 1: Washington football team could be too, and we could be
Speaker 1: looking at a whole lot of defense. Here's the spin,
Speaker 1: Connie for you lose Ryan Fitzpatrick, but se Kwon Barkley
Speaker 1: now a week removed um from the idea that he's
Speaker 1: gonna see limited snaps now short week doesn't help things.
Speaker 1: I don't think Kuan is gonna be the bell cow either.
Speaker 1: But the Giants are in an interesting, interesting position here
Speaker 1: is because you want to bring back your best offensive
Speaker 1: player in a safe, smart way, but you also gotta
Speaker 1: win some ball games here. And you know Daniel Jones,
Speaker 1: the more you put in his hands, the greater the
Speaker 1: chance that he lets it get away. So you need
Speaker 1: Sa Kwan to have a role and make a difference.
Speaker 1: And you need that defense, which is the reason they
Speaker 1: stayed in the division race last year to make the
Speaker 1: type of impact plays that they made last year because
Speaker 1: they weren't happening against Denver. Well, this is like not
Speaker 1: exactly a gauntlet of a division either. So at this point,
Speaker 1: it's not you know, you wouldn't be panicking to start,
Speaker 1: oh and two, it's not great. Nobody wants to do
Speaker 1: it. It It seems like the Giants do it every single year.
Speaker 1: But this is the problem. Isn't that kind of crazy?
Speaker 1: But I also think too for Daniel Jones, like he's
Speaker 1: in a tough position because most of their top like
Speaker 1: what three of their top skill position players are not
Speaker 1: really one like us yet and they're trying to ease
Speaker 1: him back. But he only rushed for twenty six yards
Speaker 1: in that game. Kenny Golladay, he's coming off the hamstring injury.
Speaker 1: He doesn't look either. And then Evan Ingram he was
Speaker 1: out for the opener and they're hoping that they can
Speaker 1: get him in for this. But Joe Judge said today
Speaker 1: that he's been doing more work. He's making a lot
Speaker 1: of jumps. They're hoping that he can start on Thursday,
Speaker 1: but otherwise you have Kyle Rudolph getting most of the
Speaker 1: work out there. So really it's just Sterling Shepherd who
Speaker 1: stood out in that game. And then Daniel Jones. He
Speaker 1: has the fumble that doesn't help anything. It's his thirtieth
Speaker 1: career fumble. It's forty career turnover. The only thing I
Speaker 1: will say that I liked about the Giants is the
Speaker 1: fact that their offensive line played a little bit better
Speaker 1: than I thought they would. I feel like that was
Speaker 1: a major sticking point for them last year. They didn't
Speaker 1: really address it in the offseason or in the draft,
Speaker 1: but they looked okay. And their left tackle Andrew Thomas
Speaker 1: is one player that really gets a lot of heat.
Speaker 1: He did not look good his rookie season, he did
Speaker 1: not look good in the preseason, and he actually played
Speaker 1: okay last week. Yeah, he actually got his highest pass
Speaker 1: blocking grade of his career, which I you know, I'm
Speaker 1: not saying that's a feat beyond feats, because there weren't
Speaker 1: a lot of high grades to begin with. But the
Speaker 1: other thing the positive I would point out for the
Speaker 1: Giants too is I think, um, they're a team built
Speaker 1: to stop the run. That's a very Dave Gettlman esque
Speaker 1: UM scenario, but dexter Lawrence Leonard William Austin Jackson. I
Speaker 1: mean these guys, you know, they're like dudes that are
Speaker 1: eating like giant plates of like fish and ox meat
Speaker 1: every day. They're beefy. It's a big line. And like
Speaker 1: maybe if you're Antonio, I think Antenna Atenio Gibson looked
Speaker 1: great to me last week. Like if you can shut
Speaker 1: him down, um, if you can cause a turnover in
Speaker 1: the run game, I think this game will be close. Um.
Speaker 1: As for Heinik, I I kind of super enjoy watching
Speaker 1: him so I I hear you on fit seat and
Speaker 1: especially from having him come sit up with you and
Speaker 1: then he just comes to the game. Now that's like
Speaker 1: I think it's podcast over and over and I don't
Speaker 1: know if I've heard that. I call him, I have
Speaker 1: to call him Fitzpatrick. I have to say the wholes magic, Ryan, Well,
Speaker 1: the magic is not happening when you're on you know,
Speaker 1: and you're undergoing the knife. So yeah, he's got a
Speaker 1: lot of fat. Then I know you're excited about that.
Speaker 1: The Fangs are coming out in New York. For Jason Garrett,
Speaker 1: I think it's like everyone the media like held off
Speaker 1: one game and now now them and the fans are
Speaker 1: kind of like, who, Like, this is not what we need, Jason.
Speaker 1: You know the Garrett haters, they're strong. I've never been
Speaker 1: as anti Garrett as you are and others. But listen
Speaker 1: from Daniel Jones is your quarterback and see Juan blows
Speaker 1: out his knee like three weeks into your first year
Speaker 1: on the job. I don't know who's gonna fix that offense,
Speaker 1: but yeah, they probably could go with more fresh thinking.
Speaker 1: If this doesn't work out, let's pick the game and
Speaker 1: then we have a big announcement to make who. Okay,
Speaker 1: I think Washington is the better team. They're at home,
Speaker 1: it's on a short week, so are we doing scores too?
Speaker 1: Sure Washington? Oh wow, Washington's favored by three and a
Speaker 1: half in this game, So I'm gonna try to thread
Speaker 1: the needle here. Washington gets to win. But it's just
Speaker 1: like a one point seventeen sixteen events of slug Fest.
Speaker 1: And I'm also going to predict Chase Young is the
Speaker 1: man on the podium after the game with Conny on
Speaker 1: the sati A set. Rather as you promise you one
Speaker 1: thing honey. Yes, if the Reds, the Washington football team
Speaker 1: rolls and mantes sweat and Chase Young and you get
Speaker 1: him up on the dais, will you introduce them as
Speaker 1: young and sweaty? Promise me that because that's what we need,
Speaker 1: or introduce it as a through and if they're if
Speaker 1: they're on the show post game, I will get in
Speaker 1: a young and sweaty reference. What if I just hold
Speaker 1: on of them? Do you get out of it? Or
Speaker 1: can you introduce the Yeah, if it's only half of them,
Speaker 1: if it's young Because Colin today, I actually mentioned young
Speaker 1: and sweaty, but right after it said that it was
Speaker 1: a catchphrase. Um that is in process cooked up by
Speaker 1: Dan hansis are you going to drop young and sweaty Colleen?
Speaker 1: But not also mentioned it? Creator? That would be blasphemous.
Speaker 1: Don't need it, That's okay, No, don't worry. Dan will
Speaker 1: be mentioned. If I'm mentioning young and sweaty, I'm not
Speaker 1: not mentioning Dan Hansen. Well twist my arm. Good idea,
Speaker 1: Mark you're picking. I picked it for the site and
Speaker 1: I don't remember what I picked, but I'm gonna go
Speaker 1: with um. Well, I picked Washington. I went with the
Speaker 1: score to seventeen, and I think Chase Young has three
Speaker 1: and a half sacks in this game. All right, And
Speaker 1: I'll pick the Giants here just because the NFC East
Speaker 1: is weird and I just kind of have a feeling
Speaker 1: that Giants defense that we were just talking about didn't
Speaker 1: really show up last week, shows up and confuses the
Speaker 1: young heine key, let's call it to ten. Ju wept
Speaker 1: them last year. The Giants won both those games last year.
Speaker 1: Judge has dan number. All right, Connie, stick around here.
Speaker 1: Big announcement um. The Around the NFL podcast is proud
Speaker 1: to announced that for the third time we will We're
Speaker 1: going to London. How about that the podcast is off
Speaker 1: to London next month, less than a month from now.
Speaker 1: And just a little cherry on top for the old
Speaker 1: user it will be for the Week five matchup between
Speaker 1: the Atlanta Falcons and the New York Jets. The boy
Speaker 1: who will leave them in the Land of the Queen.
Speaker 1: I'm so jealous. I know, I didn't know if Connie
Speaker 1: was hoping to hear like a second part and it's
Speaker 1: like second part where it's like and you're coming with us. Wait, Connie,
Speaker 1: you do have like eight trillion frequent flyer miles because
Speaker 1: of your job, right, can you join us because we
Speaker 1: does have a job though, Yeah, I know, but come on,
Speaker 1: the fans out there who have always been so incredibly
Speaker 1: kind to us in the UK. It's it's been a
Speaker 1: lifeblood of this podcast, and we love you and we
Speaker 1: can't wait to be out there with you. We're gonna
Speaker 1: try to cook up some stuff to interface with the
Speaker 1: fan base. But if but if we went like get
Speaker 1: with other humanoids, what are we doing? Like I Reddit
Speaker 1: ask me anything, But I'm at the tiny boxes with us.
Speaker 1: I mean, I would love, love, love, love love to go.
Speaker 1: London is one of my favorite places. I did an
Speaker 1: a t N meet up there one time without you guys.
Speaker 1: It was so much fun. But I have to do
Speaker 1: the pregame show that day for that game, so also
Speaker 1: a great place to do it at the game, I know,
Speaker 1: first of all. But like you, um, you like you
Speaker 1: know that we cook you into about fourteen hours of
Speaker 1: extra work and planning that you weren't preparing for. I
Speaker 1: will know one thing, um, for the second time in
Speaker 1: a row. It will and this doesn't matter to anyone,
Speaker 1: but like it will actually be my birthday while there,
Speaker 1: so I continue to build on life experiences that are
Speaker 1: not shared with my actual nuclear family. Um, but yet
Speaker 1: with you guys. Hey, football is family Mark. That's what
Speaker 1: they're telling me. It's not always um. I mean, I
Speaker 1: like that you're positioning this as if it's something you're
Speaker 1: you're so you know, strongly upset about. I'm not upset.
Speaker 1: I'm it's just it's a fat Well no, I'm shifting
Speaker 1: into the mode where like a single woman in her
Speaker 1: late thirties, you celebrate your birthday for like a full
Speaker 1: month with like eighteen and nineteen events. So, well you
Speaker 1: heard that England. If we if you guys have the time,
Speaker 1: it's only less than four weeks, but start those celebration
Speaker 1: plans for Mark Sessler because he is coming to town.
Speaker 1: All right, that's great. How fun is that? Well? How well, yeah,
Speaker 1: and all this stuff. Hopefully we'll have a nice show. Well,
Speaker 1: we'll do lots of things and special preemptive thank you
Speaker 1: to Henry Hodson, the vice president of International, all the
Speaker 1: people over at the NFL UK office, Nick Pike in
Speaker 1: the whole gang and also Sky Sports. So we've had
Speaker 1: a great relationship with for years. We are not going
Speaker 1: back over there. Um if not for all of those people,
Speaker 1: uh and those um departments, So thank you to everybody. Uh.
Speaker 1: We will interface with you as well when the time
Speaker 1: comes and we and we didn't say it, but we're
Speaker 1: we're back on sky Sports. You can watch that in
Speaker 1: the UK, but you can watch that all over the
Speaker 1: world if you get your sky Sports NFL package. We'll
Speaker 1: be doing hits throughout every Sunday. Little you know, it's
Speaker 1: just endless self promotion, endless. It's endless. Look at me content.
Speaker 1: They just made it to our fifteen, you know, one
Speaker 1: fifteen of this show. They might want, they might be curious,
Speaker 1: they might uh, they might or they might have had
Speaker 1: more than enough. I mean, I'm just saying that there
Speaker 1: are different types of people out there, so well we
Speaker 1: do that often. Yeah, maybe as you get Bob out
Speaker 1: there in England will do a remote throwback podcast. I
Speaker 1: thought Bob was anti a t N podcast at the moment.
Speaker 1: Is he shifted off that? I don't know. It's he's
Speaker 1: a little salty about my promotion promotional efforts. I'm not
Speaker 1: like Greg who's like jr VP every Yeah, that's right,
Speaker 1: eating up, eating up precious into the show, talking about
Speaker 1: his other show. I like it, Greg, I'm glad you did.
Speaker 1: How precious is how precious? I don't know really as Yeah,
Speaker 1: all right, and Ricky, you're excited for London too, I imagine.
Speaker 1: I'm so excited. We've been going back and forth with
Speaker 1: the UK Office and there's a lot of planning to do,
Speaker 1: which I'm so excited about. But I can't believe we're
Speaker 1: getting back over. It's just gonna be there. Yes, Ricky,
Speaker 1: we can hang out when I when I'm there, I'm sure, sure, absolutely.
Speaker 1: How's your podcast going? Is that off the ground yet?
Speaker 1: The old split Ends pod with Split Ends Split Ends,
Speaker 1: that's coming out in a couple of weeks. I think
Speaker 1: our launching is October four? Is it October? Fat? I get?
Speaker 1: I bet our podcast gets the China before that podcast begins. Well,
Speaker 1: we've got I Heart Radio behind it, so we'll see
Speaker 1: what happens. But what could go wrong? Good stuff, good stuff,
Speaker 1: Thank you, Annie. Check out Thursday Night Football of course
Speaker 1: NFL Network and Connie's anchoring that coverage, UM pre halftime
Speaker 1: post Jesus stud Alright, we'll be back on Thursday with
Speaker 1: our week to preview podcasts, and of course Friday NFL Network,
Speaker 1: The True Around the NFL Show where we dig in
Speaker 1: on all thirty two teams and yes, we're on to
Speaker 1: London in less than four weeks to watch the Jets life.
Speaker 1: Life is filled with ups and downs. I'm balanced. It's good. Look,
Speaker 1: that's a winnable game, Danny, that's a winnable game. I'm
Speaker 1: making the Jets the favorite right now here. A good call.