Speaker 1: The Around the NFL Podcast doesn't do route concepts. Welcome
Speaker 1: back to another edition of the Around the NFL Podcast.
Speaker 1: My name is Dan Hansers, and I am joined by
Speaker 1: a stadium filled with heroes, Mark Sessler, Connor Or and
Speaker 1: Kevin at Patra. What's up, boys, I messed up your name? Kevin?
Speaker 1: All right? I forgive you Dan, Wow, And you don't
Speaker 1: want to start that way. The lights are on us.
Speaker 1: It's a big event. The NFL Scouting Combine is here. Mark,
Speaker 1: You've been at this event for years in a row?
Speaker 1: Is that correct? Fifth yere? Hello? Tell me how this
Speaker 1: year compares to other years or is it always the
Speaker 1: same as a groundhog Day? Here? It does have a
Speaker 1: feeling where it's sort of the same each year because
Speaker 1: you see the same exact people sitting in the same seats,
Speaker 1: all the writers and you know, you get this, the
Speaker 1: laundry list of coaches and gm is coming through them.
Speaker 1: There's always The storylines are what I think make the
Speaker 1: Combiner or breaking. Last year's had a lot of drama
Speaker 1: with like the Jim Harbor to the Browns rumor and stuff.
Speaker 1: I think this lacked like a devastating storyline, but there
Speaker 1: was a lot of good stuff on both both of
Speaker 1: that pack days. New new faces like Rex Ryan coming in.
Speaker 1: Was that was that a Thurman Thomas jersey he had?
Speaker 1: He was wearing a Thurman Thomas jersey on Friday, Yeah,
Speaker 1: which was interesting there was of course, Bill Belichick was
Speaker 1: caught on camera spooning up some type of liquid with
Speaker 1: his finger by NFL Networks. I can do whatever he wants.
Speaker 1: He's he's wearing a sweatshirt now, that says Bill Belichick
Speaker 1: on it. So he's reaching the self parody stage. But
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter. He's got six rings all told. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, for me, this is my first Combine experience,
Speaker 1: and Kevin Patrick was yours as well, and um, to me,
Speaker 1: the big takeaway and we're gonna get into some news
Speaker 1: and we're gonna hand out some Combine awards before we
Speaker 1: get out of here. But the big takeaway from me
Speaker 1: is like seeing these coaches the way this event breaks
Speaker 1: down Wednesday and Thursday, and some guys on Friday go
Speaker 1: to all speak of the podium, gms and coaches, a
Speaker 1: lot of coaches, not everybody, but many, uh if not most,
Speaker 1: And you see how these coaches are basically at this
Speaker 1: stage of their career in the rock star status and
Speaker 1: how you get why. There's a lot of reasons why
Speaker 1: you want to be an NFL head coach. But you
Speaker 1: can see, like these guys when they come to these events,
Speaker 1: they're like the swaggering big dogs. They love it. A
Speaker 1: lot of these guys like it. Today I watched Saturday
Speaker 1: on a Jeff Fisher press conference, and it's fifteen minutes
Speaker 1: only for each of these guys. But Jeff was like, no,
Speaker 1: I want to take more because some guys you can tell,
Speaker 1: just love being at that podium, podium and holding court
Speaker 1: and being you know. Then you walk out in the
Speaker 1: hallway and like you said, when when I wanted them
Speaker 1: to parts the media center and is disappearing into the
Speaker 1: darkness of the stadium. Everyone's coming up wanting to shake
Speaker 1: their hands, especially the new coaches I think too that
Speaker 1: have just ascended to this position. Everyone want to get
Speaker 1: chummy with him. I don't think there's a better like feeling,
Speaker 1: like if you're Todd Bowles, for example, like there's it
Speaker 1: doesn't get any better than this because inevitably you will
Speaker 1: get fired, you know what I mean. But right now,
Speaker 1: right here, that sweet spot you're in that sweet spot.
Speaker 1: You're the hot coordinator, you're you know, you've assembled your staff,
Speaker 1: you think you're going to the Super Bowl next year.
Speaker 1: Everybody's coming up and telling you how great you are.
Speaker 1: That's why everyone loves it, because it's like hope paternal
Speaker 1: unless you're you know, Mike Petton or Ray Farmer. Hey,
Speaker 1: that's the take big takeaway from me was the difference
Speaker 1: between the media area, which is a bunch of my
Speaker 1: scurring around asking a lot of times ridiculous questions or
Speaker 1: the same questions over and over again about the devaluation
Speaker 1: of the running back position, and then and then you
Speaker 1: come out here into the stadium when they're actually the
Speaker 1: guys are on the field, and it's eerily quiet almost,
Speaker 1: and like the two different the difference there is very
Speaker 1: striking that I never would have got. You don't here
Speaker 1: here that on TV because you got the cameras and
Speaker 1: the sound close it's a lot of popping and stuff.
Speaker 1: But this stadium was very it's all business on this
Speaker 1: field and it is interesting to see it up close.
Speaker 1: And but to me, the big star, he's not going
Speaker 1: to get a Combine Award, first annual Combined a war,
Speaker 1: But I think Connor or taking us to underground cigar
Speaker 1: saloon on Tuesday night where they were, you know, serving
Speaker 1: high octane beverages and smoking cigars and sitting on plush
Speaker 1: red couches. Wow, this guy knows the city like the
Speaker 1: back of his head. I woke up on Wednesday morning.
Speaker 1: My room sounded smelled like like a mafia hangout. Yeah, man,
Speaker 1: Nicky Blaine's that's like, it's very similar to what my
Speaker 1: own house looks like. I kind of modeled it after
Speaker 1: after like Tony Montana's guest room basically. Uh so. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So we've been checking out the the indie nightlife, even
Speaker 1: though it's been single degree um single digit weather here,
Speaker 1: which is outrage Dan has been complaining the entire time.
Speaker 1: Listen endlessly, endlessly complain because Patrick is the tough guy
Speaker 1: from Detroit. I get it. I get it it's cold,
Speaker 1: but you know, I grew up in New York, I
Speaker 1: went to school in Boston. I get cold too. I've
Speaker 1: been in l A for almost five years, so it's
Speaker 1: softened me at some level, but it's legitimately cold, to
Speaker 1: the point where I've asked area bartenders who have gotten
Speaker 1: to know well and uh, you know, at st Elmos,
Speaker 1: which we'll get into later. This is cold even for
Speaker 1: Indianapolis standards, and everyone's like, yeah, it's Legitimately. I didn't
Speaker 1: see Patrick complaining when Dan hailed a cab to go
Speaker 1: three blocks in the middle of that block ride, Kevin
Speaker 1: started to realize this was a good movie. I got
Speaker 1: ridiculed for complaining about it. Actually, well, none of us
Speaker 1: agreed with you. Alright, So big takeaway so far, Kevin
Speaker 1: Patrick tougher than all of us. Uh. Looking great, by
Speaker 1: the way, Thank you for your traps especially all Right,
Speaker 1: so we've got a big show, as I said, But
Speaker 1: let's start um as we always do, even though we're
Speaker 1: on the floor of Lucas Stadium, Lucas Oil Stadium, right
Speaker 1: at the basically right at the goal line where Ahmad
Speaker 1: Bradshaw fell in backwards uh to win Super Bowl forty
Speaker 1: six for the New York Giants. Connor Or, a young
Speaker 1: beat writer at that time in his life, what was
Speaker 1: your big takeaway by the way of that event or
Speaker 1: the most memorable moment of covering the Super Bowl in
Speaker 1: this building? I would say, because I was on Patriots
Speaker 1: duty and I ran like I ran into the locker
Speaker 1: room so fast that I guess one of the security
Speaker 1: guards wasn't paying attention, and I was in the Patriots
Speaker 1: locker room before anyone else was allowed end. So it
Speaker 1: was like me fifty three sobbing men and like Robert
Speaker 1: Kraft going around and individually hugging everybody. And then I
Speaker 1: looked around like I gotta get out of here. So
Speaker 1: it was like an Oar family reunion, sobbing men. All right,
Speaker 1: let's get to some news. Let's do some headlines. Uh,
Speaker 1: t D is thousands of miles away, he was, so
Speaker 1: we don't get a t D drop, but just imagine
Speaker 1: at this point that what's happening fetters? And then he
Speaker 1: dropped in the news things like, oh that was a
Speaker 1: quirky news ros mildly witty, sound good job, TD, But
Speaker 1: imagine that just happened. And let's start with John Elway
Speaker 1: and um, so John spoke. This one's for John. John
Speaker 1: spoke on Thursday, and you know exactly what everyone wanted
Speaker 1: to know. The first question was what's up with Peyton Manning?
Speaker 1: And this, right, it gets a little weird, and this
Speaker 1: is still a weird story. We've been talking about it
Speaker 1: on the podcast. Um, how something that doesn't quite add up.
Speaker 1: Ian Rappaport and Albert Brier last Friday reported that Peyton
Speaker 1: Manning had a face to face sit down with John
Speaker 1: Elway and Denver and expressed that he wanted to return
Speaker 1: for another season. Uh NFL Media wasn't the only uh
Speaker 1: media group that reported that that l that Manning gave
Speaker 1: the go ahead that he wants to be back. But
Speaker 1: then they asked John Elway about it, and Elway says
Speaker 1: he still hasn't heard from Manning definitively whether he wants
Speaker 1: to return, So there's a disconnect there. And then the
Speaker 1: other thing that struck me. You know, I was sitting
Speaker 1: in on this. It was my first overall pick in
Speaker 1: our combined uh coverage draft in day two. I took
Speaker 1: John Elway and I was very happy with it. They
Speaker 1: someone asked, well, there's been you know, reports and whispers
Speaker 1: out there that it's the contract Manning his contract that
Speaker 1: is that is playing into this, and he essentially dodged
Speaker 1: the dodge. The question is this is a quote. I
Speaker 1: think the bottom line is that's pretty good Elway, but
Speaker 1: it's it's uh I think the bottom line is I
Speaker 1: don't like to get into anybody's contract and discuss anything
Speaker 1: about contracts, but just know that I believe he'll be back,
Speaker 1: and I believe it will be our quarterback. So dodged
Speaker 1: it completely. So there is and Connor, you as a
Speaker 1: the grizzlebeat man of the around the NFL group, although
Speaker 1: being a very young man, tell me read through this,
Speaker 1: cut through the BS and tell me what what's going
Speaker 1: on here. They don't want him to come back for
Speaker 1: the amount of money that they own. I mean, I
Speaker 1: think that it's gonna be a sensitive thing because I
Speaker 1: feel like Elway holds all the strength in this, because
Speaker 1: if Peyton Manning can't walk away because of a contract dispute,
Speaker 1: especially after all the money that he made in his career,
Speaker 1: how he's remembered and so Elway knows this. He also
Speaker 1: knows he mentioned that Peyton would like to add another
Speaker 1: Super Bowl, um almost sort of challenging him a little bit.
Speaker 1: Peyton would like to add another super Bowl to his resume.
Speaker 1: So I feel like, now it's just kind of we're
Speaker 1: in that sensitive gray area where they don't really want
Speaker 1: to address the elephant, but they are letting it play
Speaker 1: out in the media to some degree because you're challenging
Speaker 1: Manning that's what Elway did. He basically flipped the narrative.
Speaker 1: I just feel like I'm gonna be wrong about the
Speaker 1: summertime bet that he retires, but I wouldn't be shocked,
Speaker 1: and I think that I would not know you full sandwiches.
Speaker 1: By the way, if this happened, If he winds up
Speaker 1: with another team, m M, that would be crazy. The
Speaker 1: other thing that that kind of jumped out to me
Speaker 1: is one reporter, um, you know it was you know
Speaker 1: what about March nine? He was like, what is there
Speaker 1: a deadline for him to give you this final word?
Speaker 1: And March nine is an important day because that's when
Speaker 1: Manning is nineteen million dollar salary becomes guarantee. And Elway
Speaker 1: just he repeated himself and said he's got all the
Speaker 1: time he wants. So it's like, clearly somethings that play
Speaker 1: here and they got to work this out. And I
Speaker 1: don't know if it's been handled extremely well because it's
Speaker 1: the longer it hangs out in the media, the more
Speaker 1: awkward it gets between Elway and Kubiak. The day before,
Speaker 1: it seems like the organizational stances we want to make it,
Speaker 1: put it on him, make everyone else believe that we're
Speaker 1: doing everything we can to bring him, even if they're not,
Speaker 1: even if they are squabbling over money. Alright, moving on,
Speaker 1: So let's check in with Adrian Peterson, who, um, you know,
Speaker 1: he is not here obviously, but uh. He spoke to
Speaker 1: ESPN on Thursday an interview said that he was quote
Speaker 1: still uneasy about rejoining the Vikings after the team helped
Speaker 1: expedite his placement on the exemptalist in September. He had
Speaker 1: this to say. There were people in the organization, I
Speaker 1: should say him like, L wait too, there are people
Speaker 1: on it now. There are people in the organization that
Speaker 1: I trusted who knew exactly what was said that weren't
Speaker 1: heard from. They weren't able to do anything about it.
Speaker 1: So and I kind of see where Peterson Obviously, you know,
Speaker 1: what he did was not good and he was certainly
Speaker 1: punished for it. Uh, but the Vikings didn't exactly race
Speaker 1: to his aid. They never like stood up publicly for him.
Speaker 1: And this guy has been the face of the franchise
Speaker 1: for years and it's clear that this is a guy
Speaker 1: he's stinging from this that they didn't have his back
Speaker 1: in this the most dramatic moment of his life. I
Speaker 1: think behind the scenes, though, who probably did reach out
Speaker 1: to Adrian Peterson were the coaches. I think the coaches
Speaker 1: from the start wanted him on the field, but the
Speaker 1: pr angle was not handled well. And you know everyone
Speaker 1: when everyone doubted Peterson after the after he tore up
Speaker 1: his knee, he came back with a big chip on
Speaker 1: his shoulder and basically proved everyone wrong. I think this
Speaker 1: time around he's he's probably angry again, and I wouldn't
Speaker 1: be surprised to see him on a different team too.
Speaker 1: How about you pair him in Peyton. Maybe brought up
Speaker 1: Texas in talking to them, he brought up kind of
Speaker 1: like how they supported him in Texas throughout this. It
Speaker 1: just points all signs point to Dallas, and I think
Speaker 1: the coaching staff and those who talked to him kind
Speaker 1: of knew already that this is how Peterson felt, because
Speaker 1: they're all along. They said, we want him back if
Speaker 1: he wants to be here. There's always been that caveat
Speaker 1: that if he wants to be here. So I think
Speaker 1: they know that he feels kind of betrayed by the people,
Speaker 1: whether right or wrong, whatever, it doesn't matter. That's how
Speaker 1: he feels by the people of Minnesota and let's go.
Speaker 1: But my eighth grade social studies teacher, Miss Mizell had
Speaker 1: the famous line tied into many things we learned about
Speaker 1: money makes the world go around. So we just talked
Speaker 1: about it with Peyton Manning and I'm sure that plays
Speaker 1: in with Adrian Peterson two. And the vikings is that
Speaker 1: maybe we don't know that it's public yet, but maybe
Speaker 1: they're they've already approached him, or there's been whispers back
Speaker 1: channels about you need to restructure your deal if you
Speaker 1: want to stay with us. He's making a lot of
Speaker 1: money for a running back, so that kind of you
Speaker 1: think that could be playing into this as well. I
Speaker 1: think so. Um, I just think that all around, Like
Speaker 1: I think that there was an awkward situation to begin with,
Speaker 1: because if if Peterson wanted somebody to come out and
Speaker 1: defend him, you have a general manager that's, you know,
Speaker 1: for better for worse, under fire that some people thought
Speaker 1: wasn't going to survive this season. You had a brand
Speaker 1: new rookie head coach at the same time who doesn't
Speaker 1: want to make waves and and ruin his first opportunity
Speaker 1: that he's gotten after years and years as an assistant.
Speaker 1: So you know, you can do as much as you
Speaker 1: can behind closed doors. But if he wanted a public
Speaker 1: strong defense, I don't think that anyone in that organization
Speaker 1: was in a good spot to provide it for him.
Speaker 1: And I think that that might be where the frustration is.
Speaker 1: But you're right, I mean, you did need to follow
Speaker 1: the one money because I think that they might be
Speaker 1: looking to move on and and sort of dress up
Speaker 1: the roster in a different way. I talked to someone
Speaker 1: here at the combine. I was talking about de Marco
Speaker 1: Murray and how it seemed weird to me that they
Speaker 1: were they seemed so willing to let Murray go, and
Speaker 1: he said that, you know, people within the Cowboys, they
Speaker 1: thought it was funny when people like, oh they're gonna
Speaker 1: they're over working to Marco Murray. It was like this
Speaker 1: has always been in their plan, that they never planned
Speaker 1: to bring Murray Murray back. They're just gonna work him hard,
Speaker 1: get the best, you know, production you could get at him.
Speaker 1: Hopefully he stays healthy, and then they were gonna bring
Speaker 1: someone else in, so that could be Adrian. People will
Speaker 1: be Adrian Peterson. Should that could be a sandwich proposition
Speaker 1: because one thing I know about free agency and this
Speaker 1: time of season when everyone thinks it's definitely gonna be
Speaker 1: one way, all of a sudden he's playing for the Raiders.
Speaker 1: You know, we'll see moving on. So Sam Bradford talked
Speaker 1: about Adrian Peterson tearing up his knee. Poor Sam Bradford
Speaker 1: has torn his knee up twice in a row over
Speaker 1: the last two seasons. Uh. And yet the Rams are
Speaker 1: staying by their quarterback, the former number one overall pick.
Speaker 1: We've you know, they've been open about the fact they
Speaker 1: still want him to be their guy this year. Jeff
Speaker 1: Fisher Friday morning, he was the first one up at
Speaker 1: the podium at Lucas Oil Stadium. UM. He again got
Speaker 1: behind Bradford and said he was betting on Sam Bradford
Speaker 1: in two thousand fifteen. Uh. When reporters asked, you know,
Speaker 1: do you have like a plan B Like, well, you
Speaker 1: know you need a plan. Video with Sam Bradford at
Speaker 1: the stage of the game says, I don't know what
Speaker 1: that looks like right now. We'll let you know. It
Speaker 1: could be a veteran, it could be a draft choice,
Speaker 1: it could be a combination of that. It could be
Speaker 1: Austin Davis, it could be Sean Hill. So you know
Speaker 1: he's they're in. They're in on this guy. Does this
Speaker 1: makes sense that they're The problem is Sam Bradford for
Speaker 1: more than just a couple of seasons, has been planned
Speaker 1: b This is not a quarterback that a from a
Speaker 1: health perspective, you can rely on. And and Fisher today,
Speaker 1: which I found very annoying, is he's still touting Bradford's
Speaker 1: record against the NFC West five two and one. But
Speaker 1: by the way, five two and one is not amazing. No,
Speaker 1: you want to drop me, well, he's an eight. No,
Speaker 1: since I was here with him, he's like five two
Speaker 1: and one. And then I saw someone tweeted that, you
Speaker 1: know most of those ones are against the Cardinals, when
Speaker 1: that weren't always good Cardinals teams. Uh So that's a
Speaker 1: weird step to throw out there that obviously your organization
Speaker 1: helps you out. And for the amount of money he makes,
Speaker 1: this is an outrage. This is just one of those
Speaker 1: things that I think they know that there's no better
Speaker 1: option and to give it a role again, so they
Speaker 1: got to boost him up as how as ridiculous as
Speaker 1: it sounds. I just think this is another case where
Speaker 1: Jeff Fisher, in twenty years of coaching has had six
Speaker 1: seasons where he's had more than eight wins, six out
Speaker 1: of twenty, and part a lot of it is because
Speaker 1: he doesn't he can't find a quarterback or he can't
Speaker 1: melt uh you know, get it good, good enough play
Speaker 1: out of a quarterback. And this is just another example
Speaker 1: of that playing out here. Here's the thing though that
Speaker 1: they got. I kind of get the Bradford thing, keeping
Speaker 1: him because there's not a lot out there, But yeah,
Speaker 1: you better have a good plan. You better have a
Speaker 1: better backup than Seawan Hill because there you gotta look
Speaker 1: at it as a fifty fifty proposition that Bradford goes
Speaker 1: down again. You don't know how that leg is going
Speaker 1: to react. But it is the worst year in a
Speaker 1: while to try to find a quarterback in the combination
Speaker 1: of free agency or the draft. At this rate, Josh
Speaker 1: McCown is going to get like a seven hundred million
Speaker 1: dollar contract, but he's sitting by week six. As a
Speaker 1: brief aside, they're also ian had a part that Russell
Speaker 1: Wilson could be heading towards a guaranteed contract, you know,
Speaker 1: in the eighty million range. If that happens, the whole
Speaker 1: the whole financial spectrum of the NFL changes, So that's
Speaker 1: no one will talk to John Schneider again. Inside the
Speaker 1: NFL community, it will be a huge thing to watch
Speaker 1: how that plays out with Russell Wilson. Uh. Speaking of
Speaker 1: contract talk, UH, Mike McCarthy professed his love for Reggie
Speaker 1: Randall Cobb on Thursday, and Ted Thompson spoke for the media.
Speaker 1: Ted Thompson keeps it close to the vest. Uh. They
Speaker 1: asked about will you do you want to sign Randall
Speaker 1: cop was obviously their number one free agent target, and
Speaker 1: he said, oh, we want to start sign all our
Speaker 1: free agents. So he's not saying much but Randall Cobb,
Speaker 1: I would think if they let him hit the open market.
Speaker 1: There are a lot of teams and there's a lot
Speaker 1: of money floating around. The salary cap is gonna be
Speaker 1: like one three million. There are a lot of teams
Speaker 1: that can make a hard play for a receiver like Cobb.
Speaker 1: He's got to be careful. And I'll just add to
Speaker 1: that this conversation piece to Marrius to miss uh. John
Speaker 1: Elway told local reporters this is weird thing. Um at
Speaker 1: the combine with the coverage outworks where everyone gets the
Speaker 1: podium time the fifteen minutes, there's chairs set up. But
Speaker 1: for some guys or most gms and coaches, they'll then
Speaker 1: go to the hallway and the beat guys, the local
Speaker 1: beat guys will scurry and find him and he'll do
Speaker 1: another five, ten minutes or whatever. But sometimes, and in
Speaker 1: the case of this story, does have a payoff, it
Speaker 1: does in this In this case, sometimes you can only
Speaker 1: the reporters. Beat reporters have access to the coach. In
Speaker 1: this case, we didn't have access. So we learned second
Speaker 1: hand that the franchise tag will be used on too
Speaker 1: Marius Thomas if they can't do a long term deal.
Speaker 1: So if you were a team that had your eyd
Speaker 1: to Marrius Thomas, it's not gonna happen. He's not hitting
Speaker 1: the open market. I mean, I think we knew that
Speaker 1: they were gonna do with whether it was with Julius
Speaker 1: or Da Marius. One of those guys was not going
Speaker 1: to go to to free agency on any level. I
Speaker 1: think they went with the more reliable play right, this
Speaker 1: is the one the player that they deemed irreplaceable, where
Speaker 1: I think Julius Thomas they feel like, especially if Peyton
Speaker 1: Man who comes back, Peyton Man has made Jacob Tammy
Speaker 1: worthwhile for the last how many years, So I think
Speaker 1: that they know that Damarius Thomas opens up their offense
Speaker 1: in ways that other players don't, so they have to
Speaker 1: keep him. It's kind of like the Dez Bryant to
Speaker 1: Marco Murray's situation in Dallas. My only concerned there though,
Speaker 1: is if you end up having to go with brock
Speaker 1: Osweiler or something like that, you're gonna need as many
Speaker 1: skill position players as you possibly can. And I think
Speaker 1: dismissing it or not trying to find a way to
Speaker 1: get creative enough to bring both of those guys back,
Speaker 1: I mean, as impossible as it might seem. I mean
Speaker 1: that ten million dollar cushion that you're getting into salary
Speaker 1: cap should be able to help you push you in
Speaker 1: the right direction to get that done. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: brock Oswalder is not gonna make Jacob Tammy into a
Speaker 1: into a Pro Bowl tight end, right. And speaking of
Speaker 1: the Packers and Hallway discussions that are not pretty to
Speaker 1: the riff raff like us. Mike McCarthy, the Packers coach,
Speaker 1: told Packers beat reporters on Thursday that quote, I thought
Speaker 1: we were the best team in football when our season ended,
Speaker 1: you have to prove it on the field, obviously, And
Speaker 1: to me, that was just like an obvious The comment
Speaker 1: means Aaron Rodgers doesn't get hurt. We were the best
Speaker 1: team in the week, and they were the best coach.
Speaker 1: They weren't the best coach team. Well, I mean maybe,
Speaker 1: but I get where he's coming from. That's obviously. This
Speaker 1: is a loss that stings because he even brought he
Speaker 1: brought up he started to dig in on and he said,
Speaker 1: the team uses the sixteen principles of championship offense and defense,
Speaker 1: and he said, we hit thirteen of the sixteen on offense,
Speaker 1: and the three that we didn't get I think we
Speaker 1: were like one or two plays off. Like I mean,
Speaker 1: here's a guy that's been staring at the tape and
Speaker 1: staring at the numbers and trying to scratch his head
Speaker 1: and trying to figure out how this didn't work out.
Speaker 1: I just imagine this like board of like championship principles,
Speaker 1: and like he just runs in after the game, like
Speaker 1: you hit them all. It's like minority report. He's like
Speaker 1: sliding it around. I mean, in a way, it's a sneaky,
Speaker 1: more crushing season. Then when they went fifteen and one.
Speaker 1: This in us with the playoffs, I think so too.
Speaker 1: I mean it's like, but you know, to say that
Speaker 1: that's fine, but McCarthy and his play calling is a
Speaker 1: big reason they aren't and they wouldn't get to the
Speaker 1: super Bowl for sure. For sure, I think it will
Speaker 1: Rogers if he's healthy. I think they win that game.
Speaker 1: But McCarthy didn't do a great job in that game
Speaker 1: finishing it off. Uh yeah, so, but but I get
Speaker 1: I mean, people, and also you think about the Super Bowl,
Speaker 1: how that ended for the Seahawks, and now that's how
Speaker 1: people remember when they think crushing losses. But that Packers
Speaker 1: loss to me is still one of the worst losses
Speaker 1: I've ever seen a team suffer on a big stage. Uh. Ever,
Speaker 1: so well, in the skapegoat basically got deep sixed. It's
Speaker 1: an that wasn't the PA, it was required within the division.
Speaker 1: So there's plenty of the vikings. The quote just tells
Speaker 1: me almost that he blames Bostick for not for losing
Speaker 1: a championship essentially. Really, that's how I read it. Yeah, Patrick,
Speaker 1: connecting the dots. Uh, speaking of the Super Bowl, I
Speaker 1: this one I wanted to hit on quickly. We're hanging
Speaker 1: out in Shula's, which is kind of like the Weston
Speaker 1: is where we're all staying. All our fans are now
Speaker 1: going to flock to the west and pants pounding on
Speaker 1: the glass. Three. But he's the best. I think we
Speaker 1: have three. I don't know, alright, So the west and
Speaker 1: the Shool is is a great hangout. And we saw
Speaker 1: Jeremy Lane on the ticker on the TV that he
Speaker 1: you know, has had knee surgery, who was an a
Speaker 1: C L tear and that occurred on the interception in
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl where he actually also suffered the you know,
Speaker 1: action movie type arm break like a Seagal arm break. Uh.
Speaker 1: It was the most damaging interception return of all time. Yes,
Speaker 1: oh please? And it it suddenly put Seattle, who lost
Speaker 1: their defensive coordinator to start and Dan Quinn potentially if
Speaker 1: Byron Maxwell goes to another team, he's probably gone. Right,
Speaker 1: it looks like he's gonna make we wants ten million
Speaker 1: a year. Some teams probably gonna pay him. That's the
Speaker 1: Seattle secondary that suddenly needs two starting cornerbacks to go
Speaker 1: along with Richard Sherman. When you listen to Don John
Speaker 1: Schneider this week, He sound resigned to the fact that
Speaker 1: Brandon Byron Maxwell played out plays contract and he's gonna
Speaker 1: get something we can't afford, and so he's gone already.
Speaker 1: It just sounded that way from Schnyder. So, yeah, this
Speaker 1: is a they you have so much money tied up
Speaker 1: and just a few players, they're gonna need younger guys
Speaker 1: to step up. And we didn't see that in the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl, that's for sure. No, but that no team
Speaker 1: has developed cornerbacks better over the last half a decade. Alright, Well,
Speaker 1: I mean I thought I was a good way to
Speaker 1: wrap that little segment up and get you to the
Speaker 1: next part. You put a nice bow on it, but
Speaker 1: then I dropped in. That's all right, that's what's happening.
Speaker 1: That's the news. UH. And now it is time and
Speaker 1: this has never happened before. This is the first for
Speaker 1: around the NFL, the Combine Coaches and GMS Presser Awards,
Speaker 1: first annual. We're gonna hand out some awards to the
Speaker 1: coaches and gems that delivered good and bad performances over
Speaker 1: the last two days. That not really so far. It's
Speaker 1: gonna shift a little bit now and as the Combine
Speaker 1: UH takes off. But when they flew us out out here,
Speaker 1: A big part of our assignment was to be all
Speaker 1: over those press conferences, which we were a good job. Guys,
Speaker 1: think Kevin, you're beard by the way, I called him
Speaker 1: a mid period John Ritter. I still don't understand what
Speaker 1: that after. It's after uh, like problem child, Kevin has
Speaker 1: some sneaky salt and pepper going on. I didn't realize
Speaker 1: that it's Greg just whipping me. It's just it's so
Speaker 1: it's post three is company priest stay tuned, So it's
Speaker 1: that like eight four sweet spot where he was like
Speaker 1: kind of I don't think Patrick was even born during
Speaker 1: this sweet spot of Ritter's career. Um, he's very comfortable
Speaker 1: talking about it, as you can tell Kevin Patrick. So anyway,
Speaker 1: we're gonna hand out some awards and uh, you know, listen.
Speaker 1: All I can say is the Academy, uh is behind this.
Speaker 1: I had nothing to do with picking who the winners were.
Speaker 1: I can only say that I will be announcing the awards.
Speaker 1: You're just the vessel that this is coming through, right,
Speaker 1: and then there will be some applause. I imagine that
Speaker 1: our producer will pipe in, but not really. There's a
Speaker 1: big crowd in the stadium here, that's going to be
Speaker 1: cheering when we announce you. So let's start. Let's get
Speaker 1: right go, let's get into it. It's a good thing
Speaker 1: we're not the Falcon Stadium, by the way, Hio. The
Speaker 1: first award best joke, Mark Sesla, all right, that was
Speaker 1: that was actually a funker. I would like to have
Speaker 1: a TD Best Second Impression, So this is you could
Speaker 1: read into this however you want, but best second Impression
Speaker 1: by a coach or GM the winner Jim tom Seuwa
Speaker 1: who after he he admitted or it's been. It was
Speaker 1: widely known that his introductory press conference as Niners coach
Speaker 1: did not go well. He had that really awesome awkward
Speaker 1: interaction as well, uh with with the local between two
Speaker 1: ferns operation. But now he steps to the podium and
Speaker 1: I don't know, Mark, maybe you remember o Connor what
Speaker 1: his exact words will I stepped to the podium, He's like,
Speaker 1: let's try this again. Yeah? I think he well he did.
Speaker 1: He admitted that he had been heavily coached up by
Speaker 1: their media and PR cadre to not be a complete
Speaker 1: disaster this time. And I thought number one, he poked
Speaker 1: fun of himself multiple times right out of the gate,
Speaker 1: and the first three or four questions from reporters were
Speaker 1: about that, basically just what happened in that press comments,
Speaker 1: which was a mystifying forty five minutes of absolute mumbling,
Speaker 1: fumbling disaster from his mouth. I was, what is this
Speaker 1: guy talking about? He this time around? No, it was
Speaker 1: a mess, and it was like that. It's the one
Speaker 1: thing that probably put the whole fan base in a
Speaker 1: shaky spot, like is this our guy? You go from
Speaker 1: Jim Harbought number one to this? But he came around
Speaker 1: and I thought he was real strong. He did he
Speaker 1: did a good job. I will say that first time though,
Speaker 1: he the interviewer did not set him up in a
Speaker 1: way like it was your it's your first interview as
Speaker 1: a head coach and someone's asking you if you're a
Speaker 1: leak to some like damaging anonymous report that led to
Speaker 1: the ancester of this guy. The reporter was like, just
Speaker 1: between us, I hate that television. But he did, he
Speaker 1: did better. He was he was himself. Uh and from
Speaker 1: everything we've heard in people that know him, uh, he's
Speaker 1: a really good guy. And I think it's just gonna
Speaker 1: be a process for him. Because we were saying at
Speaker 1: the top of the show, how you go from just
Speaker 1: a regular guy, a regular coach? What's your the head coach?
Speaker 1: All eyes are on you and everything is different, and
Speaker 1: I think for a guy like him, it's a little tougher.
Speaker 1: I do wonder if behind the scenes there's a little
Speaker 1: slapping on the wrist, because after Trent Balki came out
Speaker 1: and said nothing basically the day before Tom Seulla when
Speaker 1: he was asked about Frank Gore and Michael Crabtree, like
Speaker 1: are you negotiating? The common reply at the combine is
Speaker 1: we just don't talk about that, and you know we don't.
Speaker 1: You can ask the question. He goes, oh yeah, listen,
Speaker 1: with those talks are underway, it's like there's a lot
Speaker 1: of information coming out and I think probably Trent Palki's
Speaker 1: face was melting somewhere alright. Next category, most random opening
Speaker 1: preamble to a pressor Rex Ryan, Buffalo Bill's head coach, Um, Rex,
Speaker 1: who I do miss? You know, the Jets fan doesn't
Speaker 1: miss Rex, and and things are a lot different now
Speaker 1: for the Jets beat writers. But uh, he started his
Speaker 1: press conference and everybody was waiting for Rex because it's
Speaker 1: alway is fun. When Rex is about and he steps
Speaker 1: up to the podium, he mentions that he was up
Speaker 1: at four am for something I think nfl am I
Speaker 1: would presume, and then starts talking about the Buffalo Bisons,
Speaker 1: which is an independent UH League team minor league baseball
Speaker 1: team up obviously in Western New York, a Blue Jay's affiliate,
Speaker 1: and just a bunch of nonsense about baseball, and just
Speaker 1: everyone kind of left everyone scratch. Everybody chuckled a little bit,
Speaker 1: but everybody also was like, wait, what are we? What's
Speaker 1: going on here? Most random preamble. I'm a little tired
Speaker 1: of the act. I just think he's so much more
Speaker 1: entertaining than all of the other coaches. So that's why
Speaker 1: the media always like revolves around him, because at least
Speaker 1: he's gonna give you something a little more different, more
Speaker 1: energetic than just the time is yours? Andy Reids? Wait,
Speaker 1: you didn't watch general manager from the Titans Rust and Webster.
Speaker 1: You didn't see the Hickster Dennis Hickey roof off the
Speaker 1: joint weight Mark Ye, I want to get back to that.
Speaker 1: You are out on Rex Ryan, Well, I think number one,
Speaker 1: having done the combine five times here, it's every time
Speaker 1: Rex Ryan shows up, it's a swarm of media just
Speaker 1: to sit and watch him crack like mid level jokes
Speaker 1: and and I just don't find him to be it's
Speaker 1: just sort of like a stick a little bit fair. No,
Speaker 1: it's I think what it is is it's and and
Speaker 1: he's become incredible at this over the years. It's a filibuster.
Speaker 1: He knows that there are questions that he doesn't want
Speaker 1: to answer, so he's gonna come out there and be like,
Speaker 1: I'm this old folks he guy, and I want to
Speaker 1: talk about there was a great impression, by the way,
Speaker 1: next impressions right now, next category, most white thing in
Speaker 1: the winner, Rex Ryan's teeth, the old choppers, the whitest thing.
Speaker 1: And I just want to I usually don't say a
Speaker 1: thing is the proper term. Wh who got beat out
Speaker 1: on this? Uh, the Indianapolis snowfall and Connor or out.
Speaker 1: Connor's white, very white. So it doesn't help that I
Speaker 1: have a tucked in shirt right now. I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: lie it's not working. By the way, Greg just texted
Speaker 1: me just watching this back in the office. The boss is,
Speaker 1: you know, undoing me because he says he can see
Speaker 1: my ankles, and it's like number one, these chairs are
Speaker 1: a little strange, and I'm not comfortable with the boss
Speaker 1: looking at uncovered skin in my body. So let me
Speaker 1: start wearing a suit mark and you know, grow up
Speaker 1: in the room, all right. Next category, best caught on
Speaker 1: cabra moment. We referred to it earlier. This is runaway
Speaker 1: Bill Belichick. Uh, you know, with his finger looking the plate,
Speaker 1: trying to get the last drop of whatever his breakfast was,
Speaker 1: which led to a lot of discussion about what it was.
Speaker 1: Was it salad dressing? Couldn't have been it was nine
Speaker 1: am to stick. I think, yeah, he licked it too
Speaker 1: quick for it to be make a bull syrup. He
Speaker 1: would have had to peck at him more. Here's my
Speaker 1: alternate chaos theory. Some sort of a home fry and
Speaker 1: there's like the crumbs and he's using using his fingers.
Speaker 1: It's kind of a vacuum to clean the plate. I
Speaker 1: like that. That's a pretty from the wilderness concept there.
Speaker 1: That was good. The biggest fall from grace this is, uh,
Speaker 1: this goes to the coach or GM or someone in
Speaker 1: the in the process. Here. I don't you know, this
Speaker 1: isn't picking on him Doug Morone when we were talking
Speaker 1: about it being the you know you're the g when
Speaker 1: you're the head coach and everyone wants to be your
Speaker 1: h friend. He was running the drills with the offensive
Speaker 1: lineman today on the field at Lucas Oil Stadium. Well,
Speaker 1: he was also walking by the media center when a
Speaker 1: lot of press conferences were going on. He kind of
Speaker 1: did a long, dragged walk through radio row. And it
Speaker 1: was kind of sad because he he gambled on the
Speaker 1: fact that he was going to be one of these
Speaker 1: thirty two coaches talking and now all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: I mean, he's an offensive line coach. Nobody's like staring
Speaker 1: through the window like a tear falling from his left eye.
Speaker 1: And yet I don't you know, I guess you can't
Speaker 1: feel too bad for him. What did you get four million?
Speaker 1: He's he's well, he's well, common said, he's still in
Speaker 1: the game. But that was one of the biggest gambles,
Speaker 1: backfired gambles in a long time in this business. It's
Speaker 1: not a good sign when you're when you're Gus Bradley
Speaker 1: and David Calbro from the Jaguars and like three of
Speaker 1: the first five questions are like wait, we heard this
Speaker 1: guy's like a total jerk. Why do you like him?
Speaker 1: Their problem though, was you respond by saying, I think
Speaker 1: it was Gus first and at the Senior Bowl mobile
Speaker 1: and he's like, well, humility first of all, that was
Speaker 1: that was our main that's the shining characteristic that we'd
Speaker 1: cleaned from Doug Maron. We should probably also mention here
Speaker 1: that we did see Doug one night at a hotel
Speaker 1: bar and we had to stop Mark from approaching Dug
Speaker 1: to ask him about what went wrong with the Jets
Speaker 1: interview intrepid reporter he was, so that was super intrepid
Speaker 1: that that might have put you like under the earth.
Speaker 1: He's a large individual, by the way, like a front
Speaker 1: door type size. Uh. Next category, Best Miya Colpa, Best
Speaker 1: Miya Kulpa, Mark Sessler, Ray Farmer browns GM owned up
Speaker 1: he was texting boy, came right out of the gate, apologized,
Speaker 1: said it was me. It's not gonna happen again, you know,
Speaker 1: But did you find out that there there was It
Speaker 1: was Patton's reaction to what I thought was even more
Speaker 1: interesting where he had to say they asked him about
Speaker 1: in Pettens and honest guy, we've learned that he was like,
Speaker 1: listen it. It pissed me off. I mean it's like,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna lie. It's like, I'm not gonna even
Speaker 1: tell you what my real response was in the heat
Speaker 1: of the moment. So that the whole crew, the front
Speaker 1: office in pett And and Haslem went to Florida like
Speaker 1: last week for this retreat, which I told on the
Speaker 1: last podcast. You know, Greg, how about we going to retreat?
Speaker 1: You know we we could all it's a good idea.
Speaker 1: I mean, this isn't a retreat. This is work. Let's
Speaker 1: go somewhere and not work. But anyways, so there, I
Speaker 1: think Farmer had a lot of bridge building behind the scenes.
Speaker 1: But they seem to be in a good place at
Speaker 1: this point. I don't I don't buy this that there's
Speaker 1: an epic disaster unfurling. There. They both praise each other Connor.
Speaker 1: Connor is like, I'm trying to be optimistic and Connors
Speaker 1: another Browns fan who's every time I talked to him,
Speaker 1: it's just total darkness. I think that they have a
Speaker 1: very good uh. They've made a recent change in the
Speaker 1: public relations department, and I think that they have someone
Speaker 1: that's very good at diffusing situations like this. But I mean,
Speaker 1: I mean, you're starting quarter but you don't have a
Speaker 1: starting quarterback. Uh, you're the guy that you drafted last
Speaker 1: year is in a rehab facility. Um. I mean, and
Speaker 1: you're admitting you're basically leaving yourself open to some sort
Speaker 1: of fine or susceptible to some sort of suspension, admitting
Speaker 1: that you're breaking league rules. Yeah, but didn't he have
Speaker 1: to admit? I mean they where was he gonna go
Speaker 1: in that press conference if he didn't admit right up?
Speaker 1: So the other thing is if they find out, hey,
Speaker 1: by the way, we're taking away a second round pick
Speaker 1: or something, then there's going to be more anger attached
Speaker 1: to this. This will be this connects to that award.
Speaker 1: This is the most outrageous man crush award because the
Speaker 1: Mark Sessler, Mike Petton, your boy. Listen. I have a
Speaker 1: photographic evidence, ridiculous of Mark in the front row of
Speaker 1: the press conference looking up at Mike Petton like he's
Speaker 1: Santa Claus and you are six years old. He's listen.
Speaker 1: I I'm just doing my job. I'm covering the sport,
Speaker 1: I'm covering different angles. I'm writing it for the website,
Speaker 1: talking about it right here, speaking different angles. He's so
Speaker 1: Mark is so proud of the picture he has on
Speaker 1: his phone of the back of his head. The bald,
Speaker 1: baldness of the head it is. And speaking of head,
Speaker 1: the less need presents best hair war We would give
Speaker 1: it to Lesson, he was there and his hair was
Speaker 1: awesome as always, but we can't give it to less anymore,
Speaker 1: so we name it after him. This one's a bit
Speaker 1: of an upset John Elway, he's got that. He's an
Speaker 1: older man, he's in he's late fifties, full wavy, still
Speaker 1: mostly sandy, not likely died. And a lot of people say,
Speaker 1: what about Gary Kubiak, it's got the hair, twenty year old.
Speaker 1: It's getting a little suspicious, that's all. You didn't give
Speaker 1: it to yourself, Frankly, well, I'm not a coach or
Speaker 1: general men. As soon as he walked out, I said
Speaker 1: that to everybody there. I just said, handsome man, I
Speaker 1: mean Elway, handsome man. It's about there. You're talking about me. Now.
Speaker 1: We think the hair is completely real. It's not a
Speaker 1: there's no extension scenario going on. We are we're running
Speaker 1: out of time. So let's most overused buzzword. This is
Speaker 1: like in the Oscars, they give out the awards that
Speaker 1: are before the show and they don't even get The
Speaker 1: people that win don't even get to go on stage.
Speaker 1: Most overused buzzword process. Everybody loves talking about the process
Speaker 1: and free agency and the draft. We're going through the process. Overused.
Speaker 1: The st Elmo awards are Steakhouse, best cut of steak
Speaker 1: at Elmo's, the Flame and yawn, the best waiter at
Speaker 1: saying most andy fantastic, so good. It looked like a
Speaker 1: low level Tony Roma. The best combine deep sleeper, which
Speaker 1: uh the three of us, Patra Connor and myself. Mark
Speaker 1: was upstairs cranking away within the stadium spows. Uh you
Speaker 1: you announced this one kind of because we watched him
Speaker 1: for a good four and a half minutes. It's all
Speaker 1: about Jerry Lovelock from here. I mean you can write
Speaker 1: it down. I mean, prayer of guy's got a cannon.
Speaker 1: It's like this would be like us in two thousands,
Speaker 1: saying Tom Brady, keep an eye at it. I mean,
Speaker 1: this is gonna be. This is gonna be the next
Speaker 1: Eric Hippell, that kind of thing. I mean, he I
Speaker 1: think he's just an extra arm though he's not actually
Speaker 1: in this right should we say that we should probably
Speaker 1: make that clear. That takes a little wind out of
Speaker 1: the sales, but that arms is beautiful, it is a
Speaker 1: great And finally we'll do the most grim realization award.
Speaker 1: That would be the Jets beat guys. He went from
Speaker 1: Rex Ryan. I know Mark or over Rex, but he
Speaker 1: was still somebody they were able to get headlines out of.
Speaker 1: And now they went to Mike mccagnen GM who I like,
Speaker 1: but yeah, right, and the new head coach he is
Speaker 1: not somebody that's gonna give you a lot of heat either. Uh.
Speaker 1: Todd Bowls so uh you could tell. And sitting behind
Speaker 1: the beat guys, which is a good way to watch
Speaker 1: this stuff when you're at the press conference, you can
Speaker 1: tell that they were a little like, wow, things have changed.
Speaker 1: It's finally set in that the salad days are over.
Speaker 1: I just remember like when when Rex Ryan was there,
Speaker 1: like you would have your main story and then you
Speaker 1: would have a notebook where you'd have like a couple
Speaker 1: of items, like there was a time when he guaranteed
Speaker 1: they would win the Super Bowl and it was not
Speaker 1: the headline on either of those things. It was like
Speaker 1: the third item in a notebook, and it's just like
Speaker 1: that is so far gone. I mean, won't that beat
Speaker 1: still find a way to eat each other up over something?
Speaker 1: I'm sure? Yeah, I mean it's New York Journals. I
Speaker 1: skipped over but one last one before we get out
Speaker 1: of here, because Mark's gonna be mad at me. Best
Speaker 1: vegetarian option at a claim to Midwest Steakhouse, I asked Mark.
Speaker 1: He went with bread. Well, listen, the baskets of bread
Speaker 1: were excellent. It was was there a runner up? A
Speaker 1: close run around? That would be the the vegetable drink,
Speaker 1: you know with a heavy vodka laced like tomato type juice,
Speaker 1: or that sandwich I wasn't allowed to bring into the combine. Alright, alright,
Speaker 1: well that's it. Those are the Combine Awards. Will never
Speaker 1: do them again. But I just want everyone to know that,
Speaker 1: Uh you you listen to history the first and only
Speaker 1: Combine Awards. Maybe not? Will you tell us on Twitter
Speaker 1: if you liked it or not. We will be here.
Speaker 1: I'll be here until Monday. You guys will be trickling
Speaker 1: out of here one by one. Patch will be driving
Speaker 1: because he's grizzled. They said, hey, we're gonna put you
Speaker 1: on a plane. He said, no, I'm gonna rule my
Speaker 1: windows down and drive to Chicago. UH So yeah, we'll
Speaker 1: be here covering the rest of the event as it
Speaker 1: takes up. But thank you for listening to UH Around
Speaker 1: the NFL Podcast special Live from Lucas Oil Stadium. We
Speaker 1: will all be back in the studio next week. I
Speaker 1: think we'll do two shows next week and then after
Speaker 1: that we'll go back to three shows a week. With
Speaker 1: the draft UH looming, that's the next big event. It
Speaker 1: never ends, never ends. It's almost like there's no downtime.
Speaker 1: It speaks voluce. That's it. This is Dan Hansens signing
Speaker 1: off for quiet storm Space goes, damn that batcher coming
Speaker 1: at you. Until next time.