Speaker 1: The Around the League Podcast contains no Breaking Badge spoilers.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to another edition of the Around the League Podcast.
Speaker 1: My name is Dan Hansas, and I am joined by
Speaker 1: a room full of heroes, Chris Westling, Greg Rosenthal, and
Speaker 1: Mark Sessler. What up? Boys? Wait again? You went in
Speaker 1: the other order? Well this time I did because you
Speaker 1: guys said it wouldn't be a big deal. But now
Speaker 1: I did it, and it feels weird, doesn't It feels
Speaker 1: to me? It feels weird because I got name last.
Speaker 1: But that's alwaysn't even paying attention. Hey, the intro there
Speaker 1: will be no Breaking Bad spoilers, but I will say
Speaker 1: one thing. Uh, the Around the League end around my
Speaker 1: weekly I guess you can almost call it a column
Speaker 1: on NFL dot com has Breaking Bad star Matt Jones,
Speaker 1: who plays Badger. He's delivering a guest rent that will
Speaker 1: be up today Friday. That is a shameless plug. That's
Speaker 1: pretty sweet. It's cool you did that, and I was thinking,
Speaker 1: everyone's so excited about it. But this group of individuals
Speaker 1: might be the least out of touch group with pop
Speaker 1: culture and news in the world because only one of
Speaker 1: us watches Breaking Bad. Is that? Well? I mean, let's
Speaker 1: be honest. Yes, I watched Breaking Bad. I'm the only one.
Speaker 1: I'm also the only one that knew about the Kenyan
Speaker 1: terrorist attacks. We're discussing before the podcast. No one had
Speaker 1: any idea that even happened. Don't get all dark with us,
Speaker 1: like I said, they don't. They don't break into game
Speaker 1: rewind to announce the Kenyan terrorist attacks. I don't have
Speaker 1: television that reminds me of Like when I think it
Speaker 1: was the Dolphins. Some offensive coordinator was mired in a
Speaker 1: terrible season and someone asked if he had heard of
Speaker 1: Suck for Luck. This was two years ago, and it
Speaker 1: was like late November. He's like no, It's like he's
Speaker 1: been in a cave for four months and there's no
Speaker 1: society leaking. And that's where we are, the Around the
Speaker 1: League podcast, where society never leaks in. Um, all right,
Speaker 1: big show. Today, we're gonna talk week four. We are
Speaker 1: gonna talk Thursday night football. We're gonna have a special
Speaker 1: guest from this hemisphere. That's all I can give you
Speaker 1: at this time. Uh but yeah, let's start last night
Speaker 1: Thursday night at an electric Edward Jones Dome and St.
Speaker 1: Louis my hero pick went down in flames as the
Speaker 1: forty Niners pretty much wiped out the Rams. Greg Rosenthal,
Speaker 1: what are your thoughts about that game? I think it
Speaker 1: said more about the Rams than it did about the
Speaker 1: forty Niners. I mean, we'll see how the forty Niners
Speaker 1: look once they play a good team coming up, but
Speaker 1: this is two straight weeks where the Rams offense looked
Speaker 1: like the absolute worst group in the league. And really
Speaker 1: as a team, there's not any team playing any worse
Speaker 1: than the Rams right now than the Jaguars or the Giants.
Speaker 1: And I thought back to that Thursday night game last
Speaker 1: year when the Rams went to three and two they
Speaker 1: beat the undefeated Cardinals, and I thought, oh, the Rams
Speaker 1: are relevant again under Jeff Fisher. But there hasn't been
Speaker 1: much progress from that point to this point. It was
Speaker 1: a depressing football game to watch from that like, the
Speaker 1: Niners went in as they had to do when they
Speaker 1: took care of business the Rams. And I had watched
Speaker 1: the the Rams Dallas game just before this one started
Speaker 1: and was really unimpressed with their offense and thought, listen,
Speaker 1: it was so overtly unimpressive that they were going to
Speaker 1: spend the week on primetime game coming up, they're gonna
Speaker 1: change things up. We're gonna see something different. But they
Speaker 1: put out to me what looked like almost a carbon
Speaker 1: copy game plan in terms of its inability to get
Speaker 1: the ball downfield. And it starts with Sam Bradford. To me,
Speaker 1: he's clearly regressed from last year. Greg and I were
Speaker 1: talking about this. Possibly the best game of his career
Speaker 1: was against the same forty Niners team last year, except
Speaker 1: they didn't have Alden Smith and Patrick Willis out of
Speaker 1: the lineup, and he played well in that game. Now
Speaker 1: he can't even move the ball. He isn't throwing beyond
Speaker 1: the sticks at all. At the first sign of pressure,
Speaker 1: he's he's hitting his hot read. He's just not to me,
Speaker 1: what's the difference between Sam Bradford and Josh Freeman. It's
Speaker 1: hard to find. And they said lot of throws. The
Speaker 1: throws that are there, people blame. I hate it when
Speaker 1: people blame it on the coaching and the receivers. And
Speaker 1: granted we've killed Brian Schottenheimer and he is a big
Speaker 1: factor here, but people will say it right after a
Speaker 1: play where Sam Bradford missed a wide open receiver that
Speaker 1: happened three or four times that has nothing to do
Speaker 1: with how good the players are or the coaches. Well,
Speaker 1: don't forget. Yeah, I thought a sign of doom was
Speaker 1: in the first quarter of Bradford missed a wide open
Speaker 1: I'm not sure it was it given was Pettis wide
Speaker 1: open touchdown that they settled for a field goal, and
Speaker 1: you know that was just the start of a really
Speaker 1: bad night for him. I thought, West, you put it well,
Speaker 1: and you're what we learned, which I thought was excellent
Speaker 1: where you said that you called it a bonanza of
Speaker 1: an aptitude by Bradford. And and I will say this also, Greg,
Speaker 1: you had said the you know, there were a lot
Speaker 1: of defenders of Bradford. I was shocked. I tweeted late
Speaker 1: in the game that you know, this reminds us that
Speaker 1: the Rams could have and should have drafted r G three.
Speaker 1: And I got flamed, and I was stunned by how
Speaker 1: many people came to Bradford's defense. I'm assuming a lot
Speaker 1: of Rams fans saying, you know, r G three would
Speaker 1: be the same way if he had no line and
Speaker 1: no running game and no receivers. And first of all,
Speaker 1: I don't agree with some of those assessments, but especially
Speaker 1: I don't know where Bradford got all this rope. What
Speaker 1: has he done in his career? No, no quarterback in
Speaker 1: the league has more excuses made for him than Sam Bradford. Uh.
Speaker 1: You know, the offensive line for years was the excuse,
Speaker 1: the lack of playmakers. Then they go out and get
Speaker 1: Jared Cook and Tavon Austin, Chris Gibbons is a is
Speaker 1: a good playmaker, They have weapons. The offensive line isn't
Speaker 1: that bad. And you know, it's just one mistake after another,
Speaker 1: everybody just for years. It's not Sam Bradford's fault. I
Speaker 1: think he had such a good first impression in terms
Speaker 1: of conventional wisdom in his rookie year because they really
Speaker 1: improved from the season before. But he wasn't that great
Speaker 1: his rookie year either, and it kind of got overrated
Speaker 1: and people just thought Bradford is a good quarterback. This
Speaker 1: was not on the Rams defense. The Rams defense held
Speaker 1: the forty Niners to eleven drives of twelve yard or less.
Speaker 1: There were plenty of chances for the Rams offense to
Speaker 1: get back into this game. There's one thing about Bradford,
Speaker 1: and West mentioned it. It's and I even watched Geno
Speaker 1: Smith yesterday on a couple of passes where he patiently
Speaker 1: waited for a receiver to make his completest route down field,
Speaker 1: and he got the ball to him in between three
Speaker 1: or four defenders. And with Bradford, it's yes, the ball
Speaker 1: is coming out quick, but it's coming out to the
Speaker 1: shallowest receiver, the first guy he sees open, and it's
Speaker 1: not even giving guys down field a chance to make
Speaker 1: a play. And I don't know if that's the scheme
Speaker 1: or what it is, but it's really disturbing to see.
Speaker 1: That's why we have now created, in addition to the
Speaker 1: gabber zone, we have something called a D after Dalton.
Speaker 1: Would you rank this quarterback after Dalton? That means basically,
Speaker 1: this quarterback is a problem, not a solution. And and
Speaker 1: and Bradford to you is is dam Bradford as of
Speaker 1: last night is a D after Dalton. It's fair that hurts.
Speaker 1: And one thing I wanted to say that by the
Speaker 1: way to break Bradford a nice time. Um. One thing
Speaker 1: I wanted to say. I remember listening to Less Sneed
Speaker 1: the GM of the Rams. He was on the eis
Speaker 1: And podcast. This was probably in July or August. I
Speaker 1: was listening to it for a post, and I remember
Speaker 1: thinking to myself that less Needs seemed very pleased with himself.
Speaker 1: He seemed almost a little too proud about what he
Speaker 1: had been able to pull off with all these draft picks.
Speaker 1: And you know, the r G three trade was a
Speaker 1: home run for the team. And they stocked themselves up,
Speaker 1: and they have these talented running backs and they got
Speaker 1: Jake Long. And I'm not so sure less Sneed is
Speaker 1: as big a genius as he seemed to believe himself
Speaker 1: to be in that interview that I remember, Uh, this
Speaker 1: team seems to have some real holes. That running game
Speaker 1: is atrocious. They need a real running back. Uh. And
Speaker 1: I I just think, you know, this could be I
Speaker 1: think you said it, Greg, one of the worst teams
Speaker 1: in the league this year. If I was that handsome,
Speaker 1: I would be pretty's very handsome. They showed him, they
Speaker 1: showed him in his box and he was all fired up.
Speaker 1: I was like, well, you still got your looks, buddy. Well,
Speaker 1: my wife asked who it was. That's before the game.
Speaker 1: You know. Ian Rappaport and Mike Silver had some great
Speaker 1: quotes from the Rams, their team president, who said, if
Speaker 1: Sam Bradford want to do a contract extension right now,
Speaker 1: we'd sign up for it. He is our guy, there's
Speaker 1: no question, and that's great. It's good information to have from,
Speaker 1: you know, our network. But my thought to that was
Speaker 1: that's easy for them to say because they know it's
Speaker 1: not really something they have to deal with now. And
Speaker 1: if Sam Bradford hasn't improved by let's say the end
Speaker 1: of next season, that's a that's a lifetime in the NFL.
Speaker 1: There's no way they're giving him a big contract extending.
Speaker 1: You have to play better at some point. And one
Speaker 1: more point I wanted to make before we should maybe
Speaker 1: talk about the Niners a little bit before moving on.
Speaker 1: But you talked about it Mark on Wednesday, Tavon Austin,
Speaker 1: When is this guy gonna be able to make an impact?
Speaker 1: And we saw it yesterday. They don't know how to
Speaker 1: use him and it was funny and he seems to
Speaker 1: be maybe a little inside his head to Mike. Mike
Speaker 1: Mayock referred to it when he kind of let a
Speaker 1: punt bounce. The just that doesn't seem to be something
Speaker 1: that's working right now now, whether that's a long term
Speaker 1: issue or just something that needs to be worked out
Speaker 1: in the short term. I don't know, but he is
Speaker 1: not a difference on that offense right now. I think
Speaker 1: it's it's no different than the game before. They they
Speaker 1: have not found a way. And maybe it's part Austin,
Speaker 1: part Bradford, but Schotenheimer, Schottenheimer, whatever. The scheme is not
Speaker 1: getting him open downfield. He's not a guy that's gonna
Speaker 1: break tackles when he's got two or three guys on him.
Speaker 1: They've got to get him in a position to outrun,
Speaker 1: out choot guys. And in the in the routes he's
Speaker 1: running into like quick sideline routes. That's on the coaching
Speaker 1: staff to put him in space because he's not gonna
Speaker 1: do anything in traffic. Um. One last point on the rams,
Speaker 1: because I don't really have anything to talk about. A
Speaker 1: forty nine is nothing changed from last week to this week.
Speaker 1: I guess we're gonna be labor this point a little bit.
Speaker 1: The r G three passing him up this this is
Speaker 1: a franchise changing move. If you get this wrong, it's
Speaker 1: going to end up costing you your job. How could you,
Speaker 1: I mean to me at the time, this isn't even hindsight.
Speaker 1: At the time, I thought Why is this not more
Speaker 1: of a controversy that you just said, Sam Bradford has
Speaker 1: the potential to be the best quarterback in the NFL.
Speaker 1: That was their rationale, and he had shown no evidence
Speaker 1: that he could do that, and they passed up a
Speaker 1: guy like r G three, who has a chance not
Speaker 1: only to be a great quarterback, but you saw what
Speaker 1: he did with the Redskins. He revitalized the whole Tony
Speaker 1: Cornheuser called it the era of unbridled optimism. That's what
Speaker 1: he could have brought to the Rams, who haven't had
Speaker 1: that since the Greatest Show on Turf Days. Wouldn't it
Speaker 1: be funny if the Redskins and the Rams both have
Speaker 1: top five picks this year because their records are so bad,
Speaker 1: and the Rams take a quarterback two years later. Yeah,
Speaker 1: well maybe that could save their job. Dude. Okay, So
Speaker 1: that was Thursday night. Let's now move forward Sunday, Week four.
Speaker 1: Week four, So what we'll do is we've been doing
Speaker 1: every week. We'll start by picking out the four games
Speaker 1: that intrigue us most, and we'll start with Mark Sessler,
Speaker 1: who chose the Dallas Cowboys heading to San Diego to
Speaker 1: play the Chargers. Well, I'm not sure it's the headline
Speaker 1: game of the week. In fact, I'm sure that it's not,
Speaker 1: and I actually I struggle to I'm not I'm not
Speaker 1: a guy that loves to watch the Cowboys. Not. I
Speaker 1: think Dan, you seem to gravitate towards the Dallas a
Speaker 1: little bit more than their entertaining television. Yeah. I don't
Speaker 1: find that to be the case often, but um, I
Speaker 1: watched them closely this week, and I really feel that
Speaker 1: last week they did a great job. Their offensive line
Speaker 1: finally seems to have jailed to some degree, and there's
Speaker 1: still we don't even know Brian Waters would be. He'd
Speaker 1: just be icing on the cake. If he can still play,
Speaker 1: We'll see. It's an interesting magic of San Dieagle's defense
Speaker 1: has not been extremely impressive from what I've seen, and
Speaker 1: on offense for San Diego, it looks like King Dunlap
Speaker 1: is not gonna play DeMarcus where is looking fantastic out
Speaker 1: of the gate. He looks completely revived in this defense, which, frankly,
Speaker 1: Dallas is defense. I'm not trying to shower praise on them,
Speaker 1: but their defense is better than advertised. I don't love
Speaker 1: this matchup for the Chargers. I think the Dallas um
Speaker 1: I have a feeling they might wind up eight and
Speaker 1: eight and win the NFC East with that record. But
Speaker 1: they have a chance right here to separate themselves from
Speaker 1: what is the rest of a very bad division if
Speaker 1: they can take care of business. And if you're if
Speaker 1: you're a Philip Rivers bandwagon guy now and I know
Speaker 1: Mark greg Is because he has a number two is
Speaker 1: his quarterbacks in the NFL right now, number three, you
Speaker 1: gotta win this game to really cement yourself as a
Speaker 1: guy that's truly back. You're at home against the Dallas
Speaker 1: team that's good but not great. Play another good game,
Speaker 1: Finish the game, get back to two and two, and
Speaker 1: then maybe these people can start getting in on the Chargers.
Speaker 1: In my opinion, I think the Cowboys. We need to
Speaker 1: give them a little respect and not put them in
Speaker 1: with the other three in the NFC East. I think
Speaker 1: they're clearly the best the best team in that group,
Speaker 1: and I think they've played well in every game so far.
Speaker 1: You know, I hope it's not the case, but it
Speaker 1: might be a historical precedent thing that made me take
Speaker 1: the Chargers. And this is actually a hero pick for me.
Speaker 1: If they win again. I had a hero pick with
Speaker 1: the Charges last week, didn't work out too well. Went
Speaker 1: back to the well. And the reason is because a
Speaker 1: lot of times after the Cowboys win a big game
Speaker 1: like that, in the minute you're kind of excited about them,
Speaker 1: that's when that's when they lose. And I think this
Speaker 1: is an even matchup. I think the Chargers offense has
Speaker 1: been really good this year. I think the Cowboys defense
Speaker 1: has been really good. George Selvey and DeMarcus Ware have
Speaker 1: more pressures combined than any combination in the league. Selvey
Speaker 1: has really been good for them. And Jason Hatcher's playing
Speaker 1: well too. Jason Hatcher's playing like a pro bowler. I
Speaker 1: mean he he should be recognized. Uh, But I think
Speaker 1: the Charges have played well three straight weeks. I think,
Speaker 1: Actually it sounds weird, but these are two of the
Speaker 1: most consistent teams in the NFL in terms of They've
Speaker 1: been about the same team each and every week. The
Speaker 1: Chargers have been very in balance where the offense is
Speaker 1: playing well, defense not so much. West The game lighting
Speaker 1: up your Christmas tree this week is Philadelphia heading to
Speaker 1: Denver to play the Broncos. Yeah, this looks like a shootout.
Speaker 1: I don't know how. We talked about this on the
Speaker 1: way up to Studio sixty six. The Broncos are just
Speaker 1: They're rolling over teams like a juggernaut, and they haven't
Speaker 1: had a complete game yet. I don't know how the
Speaker 1: Eagles secondary, which is just the bottom of the barrel,
Speaker 1: is going to stop Peyton Manning's attack. I see this
Speaker 1: whether it's in a parking lot or a football field,
Speaker 1: I see it as a Broncos blowout. I do as well,
Speaker 1: and it's just because it's hard to envision the Broncos
Speaker 1: being held to below thirty points, if not forty. A
Speaker 1: question for you, though, Let's say Philly goes in and
Speaker 1: gets waxed. Is the honeymoon completely over in Philadelphia for
Speaker 1: Chip Kelly if that happens. I don't think so. I
Speaker 1: don't think when you get waxed by the Broncos you
Speaker 1: can take anything out of it. I think the Broncos
Speaker 1: are that good. And one point I forgot to mention
Speaker 1: Philadelphia strength right now is Lashawn McCoy. The Broncos run
Speaker 1: defense is giving up less than two yards per carry,
Speaker 1: so that's gonna be a good matchup to watch. And
Speaker 1: there's there's something special going on in Denver right now,
Speaker 1: watching that game with West on Monday night, Manning is
Speaker 1: completely unconscious as a quarterback right now. I mean, I
Speaker 1: know you talk about the best quarterback season you ever,
Speaker 1: so I think Tom Brady in two thousand seven to
Speaker 1: me is the standard bearer. So you can't forget that,
Speaker 1: even though it's a little bit in the rearview mirror.
Speaker 1: But Manning has a chance to blow away everyone if
Speaker 1: he keeps this pace up, and I don't see why
Speaker 1: he wouldn't, to be honest with you, And the schedule
Speaker 1: is very favorable, including this game. I could see this
Speaker 1: game setting an NFL record for plays in the game.
Speaker 1: The Eagles are second in the league in in pace
Speaker 1: and that's plays you know, per type of possession. That
Speaker 1: Broncos are six. The Broncos haven't put together a complete game,
Speaker 1: so I could see the Eagles putting up thirty five
Speaker 1: points in the second half frantically trying to come back
Speaker 1: in this game being fifty. When I when I did
Speaker 1: Fantasy with Chris over at at Rhodo World, I used
Speaker 1: to call it everybody in the pool game, and that
Speaker 1: means if if you have anyone on either of these
Speaker 1: two teams. Everybody in the pool, I think this is
Speaker 1: one of those games. Even Riley Cooper put them in.
Speaker 1: I don't know if we to hang out with Riley Cooper.
Speaker 1: Um anybody? Did anybody pick the Eagles by the way, No, okay,
Speaker 1: I didn't think so. Lamb to the slaughter, Yeah, exactly. Alright,
Speaker 1: we move along to Greg who chose the Saints and
Speaker 1: Dolphins on Monday night. That is a good game. It is.
Speaker 1: And one thing I'm gonna be looking at is that
Speaker 1: Jordan's versus Jordan's matchup. Dion Jordan's last week very quietly
Speaker 1: came in partly because of injuries to Cameron Wake or
Speaker 1: just maybe they wanted to get him more work they're
Speaker 1: trailing in the game, was very effective as a pass rusher.
Speaker 1: Cameron Jordan's, as west Ling wrote about this week, thought
Speaker 1: it was a great piece about how well Cameron Jordan
Speaker 1: is playing has been a huge difference maker. And both
Speaker 1: of these offensive lines are struggling. Miami. It's kind of gotten,
Speaker 1: you know, swept under the rug because they're undefeated. They
Speaker 1: are not protecting Ryan Tannehill well at all. And Drew Brees,
Speaker 1: I would say, is probably having the worst pass protection
Speaker 1: he's had that I can remember in New Orleans, so
Speaker 1: I think this could be a big game for the
Speaker 1: pass rushers. I have a hard time seeing Miami going
Speaker 1: into New Orleans and winning that game because they're so
Speaker 1: tough to beat there. But this is a fun Monday
Speaker 1: night game. We have not had many good primetime games
Speaker 1: this year, and I don't see any reason why this
Speaker 1: wouldn't be a close one. The Dolphins are much stronger
Speaker 1: team than last year, but they're not three and oh good.
Speaker 1: They've they've stolen the Colt luck from last year. They've
Speaker 1: just had so many things fall their way. I don't
Speaker 1: know how they go into New Orleans and win. Are
Speaker 1: the Saints three no good? Though? I mean they had
Speaker 1: to last second. I am done doubting the Saints. How
Speaker 1: about if Ryan Tannehill, whether or not they are a
Speaker 1: three and oh team, in the course of three weeks,
Speaker 1: has a chance to take care of Andrew Luck in
Speaker 1: a game that after watching the Cults do what they
Speaker 1: did to the forty niners, that becomes more impressive and now,
Speaker 1: and I'm not sure it's gonna happen, but a chance
Speaker 1: to knock off Drew Brees is that when Tannehill, who
Speaker 1: I still think it's on the fringe of not really
Speaker 1: being paid attention to, becomes one of those guys that
Speaker 1: you know, my mom knows who he is. This is it,
Speaker 1: This is his chance. You know, in his nationally televised
Speaker 1: games last year, he already knows who he is. Boom, gotcha.
Speaker 1: And your wife likes les? Need I listen. I speak
Speaker 1: honestly with my wife about anything. She just she finds him,
Speaker 1: and she found him very attractive. You know, Tanna Hill
Speaker 1: struggled last year. Remember on the Thursday night game, he
Speaker 1: struggled against the Patriots. If he plays great on national TV,
Speaker 1: you're right, and most people don't know, this is a
Speaker 1: big moment for this entire team. If Tannahill plays well
Speaker 1: against Rob Bryan's defense and they win that game, the
Speaker 1: Dolphins are the story in the NFL on Tuesday. And
Speaker 1: what about Let's let's go into the mind of Reggie
Speaker 1: Bush the two teams he disappointed in the NFL swearing off.
Speaker 1: He must be in a weird spot right now emotionally. Um, okay,
Speaker 1: the game I chose Seattle Seahawks going to Houston to
Speaker 1: play the Texans. Um. The things that jumped out to
Speaker 1: me on this. First of all, Houston, which is two
Speaker 1: and one but could easily be owned three. They need
Speaker 1: a statement game to show that they're an a f
Speaker 1: C player. Um, and if you knock off the Seahawks,
Speaker 1: that's really good. And on the Seahawks side of it,
Speaker 1: if they go into Houston and wipe out the Texans,
Speaker 1: I am all in an excited that we have to
Speaker 1: monster NFL teams. And there's no way the Seahawks and
Speaker 1: Broncos don't clash in February. I'm getting excited if they
Speaker 1: take care of the Texans on them and that feels
Speaker 1: like an old a f C West Week eight matchup,
Speaker 1: but it's obviously very different because we're almost twenty years
Speaker 1: after that. But Seahawks Broncos, I mean, please into the mind.
Speaker 1: I like that you're already penciling in the super Bowl. No,
Speaker 1: no way, that doesn't. I just want that. I want
Speaker 1: to monster teams and and yes I'm getting away ahead
Speaker 1: of myself, but my point stands, which is, we know
Speaker 1: the Seahawks aren't gonna lose at home. If they take
Speaker 1: care of good teams on the road, you're dealing you're
Speaker 1: dealing with a team that's, you know, a next level
Speaker 1: stud NFL team that we haven't seen in a while.
Speaker 1: I'm interested to see if they bring that same type
Speaker 1: of skill that they bring it home. I'm I'm a
Speaker 1: little surprised that Mark and Chris, you guys both took
Speaker 1: the Texans in this game. What what was your thinking there, Chris? Uh?
Speaker 1: The Seahawks going back to last year are a five
Speaker 1: team on the road. It remains to be seen if
Speaker 1: they will still be that team this year. They didn't
Speaker 1: look that great in the opener at Carolina, so I think,
Speaker 1: but they won. They won a game against a decent team.
Speaker 1: They did, but they didn't play well. And to me,
Speaker 1: I think they are I've said it before. They're unbeatable
Speaker 1: at home, but they're a different team on the road.
Speaker 1: And I'm with Dan, I want to see the Texans
Speaker 1: have a statement game. Um, who are they? This is
Speaker 1: one team in the NFL. I don't know who they
Speaker 1: are through three games. I can't figure out why they
Speaker 1: only scored nine points at Baltimore. Um, their offense should
Speaker 1: be much better than that, and their defense played really
Speaker 1: well at Baltimore, but they had the punt return and
Speaker 1: an interception return that made the score look a little
Speaker 1: bit different. Houston can be one of the best teams.
Speaker 1: I haven't seen it yet. I just if they don't
Speaker 1: win this game, I'll probably write them off as a
Speaker 1: team that I'll keep picking. My rationale was less complex.
Speaker 1: I thought I'd get a hero pick by going to Houston.
Speaker 1: Here I came close. I still do agree though, that Seattle.
Speaker 1: You know, I feel like we've watched Seattle dominate and
Speaker 1: yet I'm waiting for Russell Wilson to have that game
Speaker 1: where it's like, oh, he completely carried them, you know,
Speaker 1: on the road to a game they needed, and Uh,
Speaker 1: I haven't seen that yet yet. It's such a complete team.
Speaker 1: Houston is a weird one. I have a feeling that
Speaker 1: if if they can take care of business, they can
Speaker 1: steal it. That's my hope. I love the Seahawks pick
Speaker 1: because these are two similar teams to me. But Seattle
Speaker 1: is better at it and Russell Wilson UH isn't throwing
Speaker 1: the ball very much. They've been very conservative, I would
Speaker 1: say on offense, uh, but it doesn't matter. And the Texans,
Speaker 1: on the other hand, are an imbalanced team, whereas the Seahawks,
Speaker 1: I think are pretty good on offense and defense. The
Speaker 1: Technans are in balanced. They're not a good offensive team
Speaker 1: right now. They haven't been this year. Watch Houston eight
Speaker 1: and eight. Where are we with Andre Johnson real quick
Speaker 1: in the game time decision? That that is a big concern.
Speaker 1: I think if he's on the field, that the pairing
Speaker 1: of him and Hopkins could do a little bit of damage.
Speaker 1: But if he's not, Hopkins is in a bad situation.
Speaker 1: I don't like Shop at all. Shop tends to ignore
Speaker 1: Hopkins when Johnson's on the field. Shop stinks. I mean,
Speaker 1: Shop doesn't stink. But he's not playing well right now.
Speaker 1: Right now, he is right in that Dalton zone I
Speaker 1: would put him. He's not a D yet, but he's
Speaker 1: he's hitting close. He's on the brink of a D.
Speaker 1: K Rich, how you doing, Yeah, Hey, hit the music
Speaker 1: Defend your hero? Boom there it is. That's our new
Speaker 1: defend the defend your hero theme. Um, thank you too,
Speaker 1: handsome Hank with that uh spoiler alert or tease something
Speaker 1: like that. This is where we defend our hero picks.
Speaker 1: Do people know what the hero pick are? Well, we
Speaker 1: should clarify they should know. If they're listeners to the
Speaker 1: pod but if there are new listeners walking the board.
Speaker 1: And also, a hero pick is when we the five
Speaker 1: of us, including Kevin Patra our Chicago correspondent, um, when
Speaker 1: we all pick our games. If there's a game where
Speaker 1: one of us pick a team that no one else picked,
Speaker 1: that is a hero pick, and uh, every get it
Speaker 1: if you get it right. And every week we usually
Speaker 1: one of us usually has a hero pick, and this
Speaker 1: week is no different. We have multiple hero picks, So
Speaker 1: let's get right to it. Chris Westling, you have the
Speaker 1: Tennessee Titans taking care of the Jets. This seems so
Speaker 1: bizarre to me that I'm the one defending this. I
Speaker 1: picked the home team, the Tennessee Titans against the Jets.
Speaker 1: I believe the Titans are favored, the heavily favorite. They're
Speaker 1: heavily favorite. And yet you guys like the rookie quarterback
Speaker 1: going on the road to face a Titans team that
Speaker 1: has out physical and every team they've played so far,
Speaker 1: and it shows you the fickleness of the hero pick.
Speaker 1: It's it's really not what you would ever think you can.
Speaker 1: It's almost impossible to try to pick Cairol picks unless
Speaker 1: you want to be insane and pick the Jaguars to
Speaker 1: beat the Seahawks or something. A lot of times it's
Speaker 1: just the luck of the draw, and in this case, West,
Speaker 1: you got the luck of the draws. This is a ridiculous,
Speaker 1: particularly ridiculous one. I'm ashamed as a representative of the rest.
Speaker 1: If I was allowed to switch my pick, I would,
Speaker 1: But I don't want to defend this pick because I
Speaker 1: shouldn't have to. So I'll just point out one thing
Speaker 1: that we should watch in this game. Two young defensive
Speaker 1: tackles that are playing absolutely great. Darrell Casey for the Titans,
Speaker 1: their best defensive player this year, and Snacks Big Snacks,
Speaker 1: the best run run defensive, the best defensive tackle against
Speaker 1: the run this year. He and Sheldon Richardson are shutting
Speaker 1: it down. And I would take the Jets as a
Speaker 1: run defense over any other team in the league right now.
Speaker 1: And I have to apologize for ripping them in August
Speaker 1: on one of these premature I remember it seemed premature
Speaker 1: and it was speaking of Fickle. I mean, it makes sense.
Speaker 1: I took the Jets because I had him at seven
Speaker 1: wins before the season, and you guys laughed at me
Speaker 1: like I was some sort of here your memory on
Speaker 1: this is faulty, but Greg, sit down, it's not getting
Speaker 1: to work out. Barely tell the difference between me to
Speaker 1: Greg's maniacal point. The Jets, the New York Jets, the
Speaker 1: laughing stock of the NFL in many people's eyes. Definitely,
Speaker 1: I'm still laughing at four quarters away from exiting September
Speaker 1: at three and one, so exactly so is Tennessee. And
Speaker 1: the stock of the league that every like ESPN picked
Speaker 1: the Jets is the number their head coach. All I'm
Speaker 1: saying is a lot of people have to eat some
Speaker 1: crow of the Jets end up approaching New York schedule
Speaker 1: also gets it gets rough from hearing out. So this
Speaker 1: is a game almost that if they want to be
Speaker 1: taken seriously record wise down the road, they need to
Speaker 1: win this game. You and I went through the Jets schedule.
Speaker 1: I think it was yesterday of the day before, and yes,
Speaker 1: if you don't win this game to get to the
Speaker 1: week tend by, they almost have no chance of making
Speaker 1: any type of noise if they don't win Sunday. This
Speaker 1: is a very important game and uh, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I think they have a real shot at it. I
Speaker 1: really do. The Titans to me, maybe they have a
Speaker 1: chance for some stain power, But most likely, the winner
Speaker 1: of this game is the likely recipient of the two
Speaker 1: thousand and twelve Arizona Cardinals Memorial Team for a team
Speaker 1: that looked okay in September and really doesn't matter. That's
Speaker 1: a fair point unless it's the Dolphins, the three and
Speaker 1: oh team. The Cardinals are three and all last year too,
Speaker 1: and then they just went in the tank. That could happen. Still, yeah,
Speaker 1: but you weren't. You are suspicious of the Dolphins the
Speaker 1: way you were the Cardinals. Here, this is a bit
Speaker 1: this Jets Titans thing little suspicious, all right, Mark, it
Speaker 1: was a tough guy. You took the Chicago Bears to
Speaker 1: beat the Detroit Lions. That's your hero. Defend your hero.
Speaker 1: That's another one where I I think I'm surprised no
Speaker 1: one else took the undefeated Bears, who frankly look legitimate
Speaker 1: to me. They look improved in a lot of areas
Speaker 1: that kept them from being taken seriously in years past.
Speaker 1: They're blocking better. Uh, they're protecting Cutler. I think Cutler
Speaker 1: has completely bought into Tressman. He looks to me like,
Speaker 1: you know, listen, everyone's saying this, and it's it's true.
Speaker 1: You can watch the games and it looks Cutler is
Speaker 1: a different quarterback Detroit. This is tough because Detroit, obviously
Speaker 1: that defense has hassled J before. It's a lot going
Speaker 1: on there on the defensive line. I don't like, uh,
Speaker 1: the idea of Nodami con sued chasing J Cutler down,
Speaker 1: you know, game long. But the Bears also have a
Speaker 1: defense that can take care of Matthew Stafford, who I
Speaker 1: believe is still one in twenty two against teams that
Speaker 1: finished with a winning record. This show is, by the way,
Speaker 1: a t L. And I'm not really a member of
Speaker 1: this club, but at the same time I picked the line,
Speaker 1: so I guess on some level, I am a t L.
Speaker 1: Loves the Detroit Lions this season, and I feel like
Speaker 1: we're we continued to send them and they better win
Speaker 1: this game where it's gonna be a lot a lot
Speaker 1: of questions. Why we feel so strongly about this team?
Speaker 1: What's not to like so far? I mean, they lost
Speaker 1: in Arizona, but they were playing pretty well. There was
Speaker 1: a weird weird so far. You're right, My feelings on
Speaker 1: the lines go as Reggie Bush goes they lost the
Speaker 1: Cardinals game because Bush got injured and didn't play the
Speaker 1: second half, and we talked about this in the newsroom.
Speaker 1: I would not have picked the Lines to win this
Speaker 1: week if I thought Bush was not gonna play. I
Speaker 1: think he's that important to their offense as a second
Speaker 1: playmaker to Calvin Johnson, and they play off each other now.
Speaker 1: They help each other by creating space and if bushes
Speaker 1: out of lineup, they don't have that. Cutler getting a
Speaker 1: lot of deserved love for improving with Mark Trustman because
Speaker 1: that's a good storyline. But Matthew Stafford so far this
Speaker 1: season looks better and this is a big test firm.
Speaker 1: I think he's played better this year than he did
Speaker 1: last year. One last thing, let's not act like the
Speaker 1: Bears of the best defense in the NFL. They've gotten
Speaker 1: a lot of points off the turnovers, but they lost
Speaker 1: Henry Milton and they gave up what five yards to
Speaker 1: the Steelers, to the Steelers who haven't moved the ball
Speaker 1: against anyone. However, that's it's not a fluke that there
Speaker 1: are an opportunistic defense. They did that last year and
Speaker 1: some of it in the first half of the season
Speaker 1: last year. But you can't rely on turnovers for sixteen games. Okay,
Speaker 1: if you guys want a real hero pick, those are
Speaker 1: kind of the flukey ones that you get lucky every
Speaker 1: once in all. With I'll give you a real hero pick.
Speaker 1: I took the Buffalo Bills to defend their home turf
Speaker 1: against the Baltimore Ravens. That's a hero pick. That's why
Speaker 1: they call me the champion of the underdog. That's why
Speaker 1: you call yourself underdog. I mean, like the dun king
Speaker 1: of yourself. Yeah, well something you gotta do it right?
Speaker 1: Uh No, I I really think Listen, e j Manuel
Speaker 1: did not look good against the Jets, but as Mark
Speaker 1: you said, the Jets have a great defensive line. They
Speaker 1: had him look at. He was confused, He was never comfortable.
Speaker 1: At this stage, I'm much more comfortable getting behind the
Speaker 1: Bills team when they're at home with the rookie quarterback.
Speaker 1: The Ravens. You know, I don't know quite what to
Speaker 1: make of the Ravens yet. I know they had a
Speaker 1: nice performance against the Texans, at least defensive um, So
Speaker 1: I'm not ready to buy in on this Ravens team
Speaker 1: going into a tough road atmosphere and taking care of business.
Speaker 1: I should I shouldn't be that way. But again, this
Speaker 1: is also not the same Ravens team that won road
Speaker 1: games in January, so I'm okay with saying I'm not
Speaker 1: ready to trust them on the road. This Ravens defense
Speaker 1: is so much better than they were last year. They
Speaker 1: look really good last year in the week before and
Speaker 1: the Matt Elam putting him in the starting lineup paid
Speaker 1: off in a big way. It allowed a head about
Speaker 1: to go play at the line of scrimmage and ahead
Speaker 1: about maybe four or five tackles behind the line of
Speaker 1: scrimmage last year and Elam or last last week, Elam
Speaker 1: played great in the secondary. I really like what the
Speaker 1: Ravens defense has done. I got some good news and
Speaker 1: badness for your DN. Last last podcast, you picked EJ. Manual,
Speaker 1: Geno Smith, and Terrell Prior and asked us which quarterback
Speaker 1: we would take right now. I think we all took Manual?
Speaker 1: Is that right? I would change after what rewatching the
Speaker 1: Jets Bills game. I would honestly switch my pick to
Speaker 1: Gino Smith, not by a lot, and I don't let
Speaker 1: any of them. But here's the bad news for you,
Speaker 1: because your hero pick is in trouble. I think because
Speaker 1: e J. Manuel. I think he had maybe six or
Speaker 1: seven really ugly overthrows where he seems to be like
Speaker 1: he's trying to be almost safe and prevent a turnover,
Speaker 1: but he's not actually getting the ball anywhere near where
Speaker 1: a receiver can catch it if he doesn't correct it
Speaker 1: against what I think is a really west is right
Speaker 1: in an underrated defense, this could be ugly. I I
Speaker 1: say Ravens. I think the case for Dan is that
Speaker 1: it's a defensive game. That the Bill's defense is pretty
Speaker 1: good this year. They look better overall. I think they've
Speaker 1: done more things. I think they have some talent upfront,
Speaker 1: and that it's a defensive gaming. The Ravens offense did
Speaker 1: not look good against Houston, they haven't really looked good
Speaker 1: all season, and that it's a thirteen you know, ten
Speaker 1: type of game, all right? And uh, speaking of Greg,
Speaker 1: you took the Patriots of New England to take down
Speaker 1: the Atlanta Falcons on the road. That's pretty gutsy because
Speaker 1: the Pats aren't looking too hot, at least offensively still,
Speaker 1: and the Atlanta needs this game. Well, it's like a
Speaker 1: carried away. It's a three and o team against the
Speaker 1: one and two team, and there's a lot that goes
Speaker 1: into those records, but it's not that. Come on, the
Speaker 1: Patriots have the best cake record you could cake schedule
Speaker 1: you could ever ask for to start a season. That
Speaker 1: that's totally fair. But to me, it's a it's a
Speaker 1: coin flip game. And I do have a theory with
Speaker 1: these picks, and that's when you're making picks, the worst
Speaker 1: possible result that you can have is to pick against
Speaker 1: your team and then they win. Anyways, you just feel
Speaker 1: so stupid that for me, the emotional pain that comes
Speaker 1: with that makes it so that I pretty much picked
Speaker 1: the Patriots every week unless they unless they were in
Speaker 1: Denver Seattle at this point, which is really risky by
Speaker 1: the way. Yeah, picking the Patriots, That's what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: But I guaranteed seven winning percentage most seasons. I mean,
Speaker 1: what is it about the Falcons that makes the Patriots
Speaker 1: some big underdogs there? What is it? I'll make that
Speaker 1: Matt Ryan, Mike Smith era there is close to unbeatable
Speaker 1: at home? Is any team including the Seahawks over that span? Uh? There?
Speaker 1: They haven't lost at home this year. They are too
Speaker 1: plays from being undefeated right now. They're not playing as
Speaker 1: bad as conventional wisdom says. Roddy White's getting healthier. If
Speaker 1: they get a little bit of more improved play on
Speaker 1: the offensive line, maybe Tony Gonzalez runs a few more routes.
Speaker 1: I think this Falcons team is ready to go on
Speaker 1: a rule and you're I'm sure you're referencing the Falcons
Speaker 1: being unbeatable at home during the regular season. Yes, this
Speaker 1: is an interesting test of the Patriots defense because we
Speaker 1: think they're better. But it's the first real offense they've played,
Speaker 1: so as a Patriots fan, I'm really curious to see
Speaker 1: how their secondary holds up, because it seems like Kyle Arrington,
Speaker 1: you know, Fonso Dinard are playing really well. But I
Speaker 1: don't know if I really trust that. How do we
Speaker 1: know we're gonna get to the rest of the games.
Speaker 1: But before that, we had promised our special guest. He
Speaker 1: is on the other side of the pond. He is
Speaker 1: a great man, great valor, great broad shoulders, handsome Hank
Speaker 1: Henry Hodson. Heck, hey, guys, how are you our supplemental
Speaker 1: draft correspondent, an expert now our international correspondent in London
Speaker 1: for the big showdown between the windless Pittsburgh Steelers and
Speaker 1: Minnesota Vikings people getting pumped over them. They certainly, I
Speaker 1: will maybe sweep that under the table their records at
Speaker 1: the moment and just focus on the history of what
Speaker 1: time is it there are and are we messing with
Speaker 1: your your whole schedule here? You you aren't yet at
Speaker 1: seven pm? I have I have plans that I managed
Speaker 1: to sit you in amongst my busy schedule. I know
Speaker 1: he has plans, do you know. I'll tell you what
Speaker 1: Henry and I are are our friends, we hang out socially,
Speaker 1: and I will tell you this. I know Henry is
Speaker 1: happily married, he's got kids. But that guy is a
Speaker 1: legend in England. And I always tell Henry, I say,
Speaker 1: when whenever he goes back to London, especially when he's
Speaker 1: on his own, it must be a lot of fun
Speaker 1: because he goes back to the London office where he's
Speaker 1: a legend because he worked there for how many years?
Speaker 1: Hack Um I worked there for seven years? Seven years?
Speaker 1: And then and then and then he leaves London after
Speaker 1: seven years to go to as they say, the States,
Speaker 1: and he takes a big job in America, the land
Speaker 1: of opportunity. You can only imagine what was going on
Speaker 1: in that office, the way they must look up to him.
Speaker 1: I can almost imagine, like Sean Payton, remember that do
Speaker 1: your job banner that hangs hung over the practice facility
Speaker 1: last year, Big Hank, do your job. And I also
Speaker 1: imagine remember the receptionist in the office she pines for
Speaker 1: Hanky comes back and she's like wow, and she's like
Speaker 1: a mixture of Patsy Kensitt and uh pam from the office.
Speaker 1: Is any of this accurate, Hank, only in your favorite imagination?
Speaker 1: So were you at Steelers practice today? Greg? I didn't
Speaker 1: thank you, Greg. I didn't go to their practice. I
Speaker 1: went to there. They had no media availability at practice. Um,
Speaker 1: so I went to their press conference, which happened first
Speaker 1: thing this morning, literally immediately after they got off and
Speaker 1: atlantic flights, so you can imagine there is the mixture
Speaker 1: of that if any of you have traveled on those
Speaker 1: those long flights, there's either the mixture of sheer exhaustion
Speaker 1: or deliriousness, if that's the word. Um and uh. And
Speaker 1: so the press conference with interesting. I have a real question, Hank,
Speaker 1: do do people care? Are people excited for real in
Speaker 1: England about this game? Yeah? I mean, I think if
Speaker 1: you you know, when this game was announced, what maybe
Speaker 1: ten months ago now, um, people were really excited. These
Speaker 1: were two teams. Obviously that last year the Vikings made
Speaker 1: the playoffs, although um, some of us will may be
Speaker 1: surprised that they've got there with with Christian Ponder at quarterback.
Speaker 1: The fact that they're both going three I think is
Speaker 1: disappointing now. And that's really been the story of a
Speaker 1: lot of these international games that the teams have come
Speaker 1: in with a lot of promise and then there's always
Speaker 1: been at least one which has flopped miserably. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: going back to the very first year when when my
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins arrived in London without a win and end
Speaker 1: of the season with only one of them. Um. But
Speaker 1: as I think people are only even excited. Look, part
Speaker 1: of it is if you only get to see one
Speaker 1: or two games a year, now, um, you're excited about
Speaker 1: seeing stars. And the truth is, with Adrian Peterson and
Speaker 1: Ben Roethlisberger and a number of the other players on
Speaker 1: both teams, I think the fans here are excited about
Speaker 1: seeing some of the top players and and look what
Speaker 1: was happened in other years. There's there's been mismatches. There's
Speaker 1: been one very bad team, as I said, and then
Speaker 1: one which has been pretty good. You know, the Patriots
Speaker 1: are coming in some the Buccaneers and Rams over the
Speaker 1: last three years. So at least I think you know
Speaker 1: that that in fact, you're trying to put a positive
Speaker 1: spin on it. There's there's two games for two teams
Speaker 1: rather who are pretty evenly matched. Henry, it sounds like
Speaker 1: what the league needs And tell me if you agree
Speaker 1: is to flex schedule teams to suddenly find out that
Speaker 1: they're being thrown into a London game. Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: that would be ideal. I'm sure that will go down
Speaker 1: just terrifically with coaches and players. So, by the way, guys,
Speaker 1: next week you're playing in London. So Henry, I know,
Speaker 1: you know there's probably less excitement because they're winless. But
Speaker 1: then again, Matt Castle announced as the Vikings starter. Suddenly
Speaker 1: there's the Matt Castle factor. Does that get them on
Speaker 1: the front of the papers? That angle is huge? Castle
Speaker 1: is a is a subculture hero in the UK. Do
Speaker 1: you do you do we think this those? Do we
Speaker 1: think it matters that Castle starting over? Patter? Seriously? Does
Speaker 1: that change how you guys see this game at all,
Speaker 1: not one iota, not not a bit. No. I mean, look,
Speaker 1: I think the game is I think the game. I
Speaker 1: do think the game will be interesting. I favored the
Speaker 1: Vikings in a situation, but but I think it's an
Speaker 1: interesting game. And I genuinely don't you know, I don't
Speaker 1: think you should be too fixated on the fact that
Speaker 1: fans here are feeling disappointed, as they say, they have
Speaker 1: two games a year, and the second one is Jacksonville
Speaker 1: against San Francisco. So to make about what you will,
Speaker 1: I think people are this game sold out within twenty
Speaker 1: four hours. I think people are excited about what they're
Speaker 1: going to see on the field, and ultimately someone's going
Speaker 1: to leave with the win. So that's good news. Hank
Speaker 1: Was I always get excited. I tweeted about this. Hank
Speaker 1: Was a a t L correspondent, wrote a nice little
Speaker 1: preview piece about what's going on in London right now. Hey,
Speaker 1: one other culture question, Hank, are there you know how
Speaker 1: in I guess l a Here in New York, I
Speaker 1: know there are tons of you know, soccer bars, Are
Speaker 1: there NFL bars in London? There were? But it's funny actually,
Speaker 1: add Kinker boiler is over here for NFL Network, and
Speaker 1: she asked me if I could put send her to
Speaker 1: a Steelers bar, and I said she'd be lucky to
Speaker 1: find an NFL barles known as Steelers bar. There are
Speaker 1: a couple of places where fans, you know win in London.
Speaker 1: You know, I know of that fans gathered to watch
Speaker 1: games on Sunday nights. Um, you know when they take
Speaker 1: place here, the game's kickoff at six pm and nine pm.
Speaker 1: There's there's two what we in l A called the
Speaker 1: early games. Um. So there are a couple of bars
Speaker 1: that that fans go to. But there's certainly have places
Speaker 1: where you can mix with other Steelers fans alone and
Speaker 1: and no one else. I went to some bar I
Speaker 1: think I was there in ninety nine or two thousand.
Speaker 1: It was the Saints ever first playoff game with Jim
Speaker 1: Haslet in that place. It was rocking for some action,
Speaker 1: I would. I'd wager it was called the Sports Cafe,
Speaker 1: which is sort of a big, a big London sports venue.
Speaker 1: Way to go out on a limb with the name
Speaker 1: sports Cafe. Yeah, well that's what it says on the tune. Um, HENK,
Speaker 1: We'll let you go because like I said, you're you're
Speaker 1: a hero back there are conquering hero returning exactly. Patty
Speaker 1: Kensas waiting for what is what are your plans now?
Speaker 1: You're like hanging out with Lily Allen or what's happening exactly? Yeah,
Speaker 1: first of all, Lily Allen and then you know, I
Speaker 1: haven't seen seeing some of those other UK s clerbetucs names.
Speaker 1: I can't remember the Gallagher so the Gallagher's and I
Speaker 1: will be will definitely be be hanging out. And the guy,
Speaker 1: the annoying comedian guy, the tall, gangly one with long hair, well,
Speaker 1: the comedian Gallagher that bust watermelons. No, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: the guy you know, I can't remember his name, Mr Bean,
Speaker 1: Mr Bean? All right, okay, yeah, enjoy yourself. You are
Speaker 1: an icon on your native soil and that has to
Speaker 1: be exciting. It's like how Mark feels in America. That yeah,
Speaker 1: all right, Henry, thank you for being our correspondent and
Speaker 1: come back soon. I will do great speech you guys.
Speaker 1: Enjoy the games this week, al right, say hi to
Speaker 1: the receptionist. Alright later, handsome heck clearly at a British pub,
Speaker 1: trying to mask that he seemed a little distracted. I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna get it. I just don't know. You know,
Speaker 1: he did a great job, but it's sounds like a
Speaker 1: guy who was ready for a big night. You just
Speaker 1: need to knock this out because I believe it's like
Speaker 1: eight pm where he is right now. I think they
Speaker 1: teach you that in host school. Right after the guest leaves,
Speaker 1: do not, you know, make fun of him. I didn't
Speaker 1: make fun of us distracted, But now, thank you very much,
Speaker 1: handsome mac. Okay, so we covered We covered that game
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh Minnesota Wheelers. By the way, just so Hank would
Speaker 1: have had a hero pick if he counted. And by
Speaker 1: the way, our picks you could find on the Around
Speaker 1: the League blog. In our weekly post, Kevin patra Uh
Speaker 1: had the worst record this week, so he wrote the
Speaker 1: intro intro. So check that out. All right, let's get
Speaker 1: into the rest of the games and then get out
Speaker 1: of here. Mark Sessler Uh tell us a little bit
Speaker 1: about Cincinnati and Cleveland. Well, I think it's two good
Speaker 1: defenses going up against each other, and yeah, it's it's
Speaker 1: gonna be a tough one for Cleveland to win. I
Speaker 1: think that Brian Hoyer after last week, there may be
Speaker 1: some heightened expectations where he's bound to come back down
Speaker 1: to earth against Aid really a much better defense, So
Speaker 1: we'll see. I I honestly I picked Cleveland, but that
Speaker 1: was that was a feeling that I'm not feeling so
Speaker 1: good about at this point. Yeah, that Chud redemption angle
Speaker 1: was nice last week, um after everyone basically thought the
Speaker 1: Browns would go on the tank. But nothing in Cleveland
Speaker 1: that is nice last for long? You are a factory
Speaker 1: upset if how about that defensive line though Desmond Bryants
Speaker 1: they do have a that's that's the hope that if
Speaker 1: they play the way that they kind of have in
Speaker 1: each game to be on that could be tough for
Speaker 1: Cincinnati because I I do still feel with the Bengals,
Speaker 1: if they don't get that A. J. Green connection going,
Speaker 1: they have to go somewhere else. And if it isn't
Speaker 1: one of their young players Eifford or Bernard, it's it's
Speaker 1: going to be a problem for them. I don't know
Speaker 1: where John Hughes came from exactly, but he's been playing.
Speaker 1: He came from the mighty homegrin front office. He is
Speaker 1: uh and he's kind of come out of nowhere. He's
Speaker 1: playing great. Krueger's playing great. I like the Browns in
Speaker 1: this game. Okay, I'll talk a little bit about the
Speaker 1: Colts and Jacksonville. You know, Jacksonville. We're all on the
Speaker 1: old sixteen watch at this point, right, this is possible,
Speaker 1: This could happen. Blaine Gabbert is back in the lineup.
Speaker 1: Get excited, Jacksonville. I don't think it's gonna make any
Speaker 1: difference the culture. I could see a little bit of
Speaker 1: a letdown for the Colts after such a great win
Speaker 1: in San Francisco last week, but I cannot imagine any
Speaker 1: scenario whereby the Jaguars beat them. My Bradshaw neck injury
Speaker 1: has not expected to play. He's been rolled out. He's
Speaker 1: officially out for this game. So we're gonna see. We're
Speaker 1: gonna see how good Trent Richardson is because he's gonna
Speaker 1: get You would think he will get at least twenty
Speaker 1: carries in this game. How about four yards to carry
Speaker 1: from Trent Today on Sunday against listen, Jacksonville, Jaguars defense improved,
Speaker 1: but not necessarily NFL level. I wouldn't be that shock though,
Speaker 1: if they played Donald Brown a lot and still split
Speaker 1: it up somewhat just because Richardson's new there. And the
Speaker 1: case for the Jaguars here is the Colts kind of
Speaker 1: keep it close to the vest, so maybe it could
Speaker 1: be a defensive game. But I still don't see it. Hey, West,
Speaker 1: is there any chance of Giants get things together winless
Speaker 1: going into Kansas City to play the undefeated Chiefs against
Speaker 1: everything I've seen on film this year, I have picked
Speaker 1: the Giants in this game. Why did you guys do that?
Speaker 1: A few people picked the Giant It's just hard to
Speaker 1: believe that the Eli Coughlin Giants are going to be
Speaker 1: truly three and thirteen dreadful and at some point they
Speaker 1: need to win. And you know, the Chiefs very good
Speaker 1: defense suspect offense. Maybe they this is their win just
Speaker 1: to get on the board. That's why I picked them,
Speaker 1: you know, I it's the bunker mentality. Basically, I think
Speaker 1: the Giants will this week? Is I mean, are you
Speaker 1: going to pack it in and quit on the season
Speaker 1: or are you gonna come up and play and play
Speaker 1: well against a quarterback who I think, frankly just isn't
Speaker 1: playing well. Um, there are a lot of media members
Speaker 1: pumping up Alex Smith, and I hate what I see
Speaker 1: from him right now, So I don't I don't have
Speaker 1: any problem picking against Alex Smith. I'm with West. I
Speaker 1: picked the Giants, and it's one of those ones that
Speaker 1: I'm looking back on. I'm saying, why did I do this? Because, frankly,
Speaker 1: the idea that New York finally might get that running
Speaker 1: game going, it couldn't come at a worst time. Kansas City.
Speaker 1: You know DeMarco Murray, we solbod did against the Rams.
Speaker 1: He couldn't get to the outside against the Chiefs. And
Speaker 1: you can't get anything up the middle with Don Terry Poe,
Speaker 1: and it's like David Wilson. It could be four straight
Speaker 1: weeks of a really underwhelming performance. I hear you on
Speaker 1: the seasons on the line theory, but wasn't that last week?
Speaker 1: That was why I picked them. Last week and I
Speaker 1: and I saw one of the worst performances any team's
Speaker 1: had in years. It just seems like you gotta trust
Speaker 1: what you see. At some point in the Chiefs have
Speaker 1: been pretty good. I have no problem saying the Chiefs
Speaker 1: are a much better team than the Giants. I've got
Speaker 1: a sessler. That's our new word for feeling the news room.
Speaker 1: I thought that I know what you're saying, Greg, and
Speaker 1: I agree. I mean that was a awful showing by
Speaker 1: the Johnson Carl Carolina, but that was also one of
Speaker 1: those Murphy Law type games. Anything that could go wrong
Speaker 1: did go wrong there. And I'm willing to kind of
Speaker 1: maybe throw that out and give them another shot. But
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what if they because I picked them
Speaker 1: three weeks in a row. Now, if if they four
Speaker 1: weeks in a row, actually, Jesus, if they burned me again,
Speaker 1: I'm out on the Giants. And by wrong, you mean
Speaker 1: their offensive line is wrong, their entire second other players are.
Speaker 1: Everything's wrong. Well, one of us picked them to go
Speaker 1: six and ten. So this sizzler, all right? Mark, Mike
Speaker 1: Lennon makes his NFL debut. He's taking on the Arizona Cardinals.
Speaker 1: Bucks need to win. What do you see there? I
Speaker 1: picked the Cardinals in this. I think it's the more
Speaker 1: town on the football team. Overall. I like Tampa's defense,
Speaker 1: but uh, I don't know. Anytime you have to throw
Speaker 1: a rookie call, I think Glennon. Obviously, the guy's got
Speaker 1: a cannon of an arm. But a lot of the
Speaker 1: issues with Glennan from what we've heard from the draft
Speaker 1: guys before he was taken by by Tampa is that
Speaker 1: he he has a lot of the same issues that
Speaker 1: that Freeman and a lot of other troubled quarterbacks have.
Speaker 1: It's a lot to ask him to come in and
Speaker 1: fix it and have a game when they said they're
Speaker 1: gonna unleash them, not just have him manage the thing.
Speaker 1: Arizona is a well coached team. I I believe they're
Speaker 1: gonna win this game. After pointing out for four years
Speaker 1: that Josh Freeman is overrated, I can't believe that I
Speaker 1: have become the media Josh Freeman defender this week. He
Speaker 1: didn't play badly last week. Their receivers uh dropped five
Speaker 1: or six balls by the end of the game. He
Speaker 1: was throwing too. Eric Page, Kevin Oagletree, and some character
Speaker 1: named Tim Wright who I've never even heard of. These
Speaker 1: are the people Glennon is going to be thrown through
Speaker 1: this week. Jackson and and Williams were limited in practiced
Speaker 1: today finally after not showing up the last two days.
Speaker 1: We don't know, both questionable. Third question, well, we don't
Speaker 1: know if they're gonna play, what capacity they'll be at
Speaker 1: if they do play. I don't see how the Bucks
Speaker 1: offense is going to pull themselves out of this tailspin.
Speaker 1: There are two ways to look at Mike Lennon. That
Speaker 1: he was the third quarterback picked in the entire draft,
Speaker 1: or that he's the third round pick. And you know, listen,
Speaker 1: it worked with Russell Wilson last year. But typically a
Speaker 1: quarterback that goes in the third round doesn't get thrown
Speaker 1: into the fire immediately and become an effective player. So
Speaker 1: you know, it's kind of a hail Mary by the Bucks.
Speaker 1: And I agree West, I mean, Freeman obviously got railroaded
Speaker 1: out of town on this, and uh, I don't know.
Speaker 1: It seems a little shortsighted to me to now turn
Speaker 1: it all turn it all over to Free, turn it
Speaker 1: all over to glenn And I guess they they have
Speaker 1: to make a move here. They got their desperate but
Speaker 1: it could backfire, certainly. There is one other way to
Speaker 1: look at Glennon, as one of my Twitter followers pointed out,
Speaker 1: he's a bit of a cartoon giraffe. That's one way
Speaker 1: of looking at it. That is a good thing. Or
Speaker 1: I took the Bucks because I thought their defense is
Speaker 1: the best group in this entire game. So I don't
Speaker 1: it's the only thing I really like about these two
Speaker 1: teams right now. And that takes us to our last game,
Speaker 1: Greg Washington, Redskins, oh and three. They go to Oakland
Speaker 1: to take on the Raiders, and I have a hero
Speaker 1: pick in this game, but as an asterisk next year,
Speaker 1: I took the Raiders. But we're allowed to change our
Speaker 1: picks if the quarterback changes, and we want to. And
Speaker 1: and it's crazy to think that I have so much
Speaker 1: faith in Terrell Prior that if he doesn't play, I
Speaker 1: don't think the Raiders are gonna win this game. But
Speaker 1: if he does play, I give him a good chance,
Speaker 1: and they're my pick. So as we're taping this, we
Speaker 1: don't know for sure whether he's playing or not. But
Speaker 1: he was out there on Friday after some reports suggesting
Speaker 1: he won't play, and he was out there taking some
Speaker 1: first team snaps. And I think their defense is better
Speaker 1: than the Redskins defense, and I think Terrell Prior is
Speaker 1: a guy that could make some plays against the Redskins.
Speaker 1: If it's Matt Flynn, I've just I've just kind of
Speaker 1: lost any faith I ever had in Matt Flynn. Wait,
Speaker 1: so we all signed off on you can just change
Speaker 1: your pick is that how we had that as a
Speaker 1: rule last year, and that to me seems fair because otherwise,
Speaker 1: because how could you know a quarterback is you know,
Speaker 1: we make our picks on Wednesday? Before we do, I
Speaker 1: thought Prior is probably gonna play in this game, and
Speaker 1: that that was a big thing. And Matt doesn't Matt
Speaker 1: Flynn scare you all? Perhaps it's time for a change.
Speaker 1: Scared Pete Carroll and Dennis Allen. I would argue that
Speaker 1: Dan didn't know that Bradford wasn't going to play last night.
Speaker 1: He didn't play. It didn't Um, should we do a
Speaker 1: rule change going forward? Listen, you know what you you're
Speaker 1: dealing with going in to Wednesday when you have to
Speaker 1: have those picks and not not retroactive going forward? Perhaps No,
Speaker 1: I like this rule. What's wrong with it? Because I
Speaker 1: don't know just the hero pix are. It's a but
Speaker 1: I'm changing. I'm changing out of one anyways, just a
Speaker 1: little John Carrish West gets pottle. So you guys think
Speaker 1: that the Redskins are just gonna steam roll in this game, Well,
Speaker 1: I picked. I'm not gonna let you just say that
Speaker 1: the Raiders him a better defense than the Redskins. After
Speaker 1: seeing the Redskins played against the Packers, the Eagles, and
Speaker 1: who else did the Redskins play against the Lions three
Speaker 1: of the better offenses. So I don't think that you
Speaker 1: get to say that the Raiders just have a better defense. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, after hearing all of our plans, that maybe
Speaker 1: we can get Greg's wife. Greg's wife is a chef
Speaker 1: of some renown. If we can get her involved and
Speaker 1: make all these dishes with like the softball pants as
Speaker 1: a topping, I don't even care if the Raiders win
Speaker 1: eight games, and as far as we know, Greg's wife
Speaker 1: has no feelings for less sneed, which is good. The
Speaker 1: Raiders are and if they're gonna win, uh softball pants.
Speaker 1: This is one of those games you gotta win. You're
Speaker 1: at home against a winless team. It's a big one.
Speaker 1: I think r G three, though he's has looked better
Speaker 1: each week, and he's not the guy from I think
Speaker 1: last time most people Solergy three was that Monday night opener,
Speaker 1: and he looked it was depressing. He has and you're
Speaker 1: you're right, the Redskins, you know, have a This is
Speaker 1: a must win for them. I agree with Greg, though
Speaker 1: I almost went hero, it would have not been a hero.
Speaker 1: I like what I've seen from Oakland. I really do
Speaker 1: either an incomplete team, but it's hard to pick against
Speaker 1: them in a game like this because they've been really scrappy.
Speaker 1: I go back to that cult scheme. All right, we
Speaker 1: gotta get out of here. That's it. We're out of time.
Speaker 1: We could just keep going. We could go on in perpetuity,
Speaker 1: but we won't. Um. Okay, So just a couple of
Speaker 1: little housekeeping. I just want to call attention to some
Speaker 1: things we have on the site right now. Uh, Greg
Speaker 1: and Mark, you wrote the what to Watch for in
Speaker 1: week four. That was good stuff. I enjoyed that. West
Speaker 1: you'd have that takedown the mark ingram uh false reports
Speaker 1: of a trade request where you went after a certain
Speaker 1: national writer. I enjoyed that. And you didn't even read. Oh,
Speaker 1: I enjoyed your piece. It was a pet peeve about
Speaker 1: people who do not understand what a report is. I try, Yes,
Speaker 1: that's true, us. I really I read your piece very closely.
Speaker 1: Why are you getting on me? I'm trying to plug
Speaker 1: your piece, Mark, and you won't and you won't let
Speaker 1: me do it for you. I just want to stay
Speaker 1: real with the listener. You did. You obviously did not
Speaker 1: even read what we wrote. Whatever. Alright, the a T
Speaker 1: l end around with Badger from Breaking Bad Matt Jones. Also,
Speaker 1: that will be up Friday. Thank you for listening. Subscribe
Speaker 1: to me Around the League podcast on iTunes or wherever
Speaker 1: you can do such things. Uh leave comments, rate us properly.
Speaker 1: Uh you know, just do all the things to support
Speaker 1: the podcast, because UM, we really like doing this and
Speaker 1: if you don't, they'll take this away from us. I'm
Speaker 1: just laying it out there, but we do got to
Speaker 1: get out of here. Uh. Dan Hanson signing off for
Speaker 1: the Mailman, the Sizzler, the Boss k Rich behind the
Speaker 1: glass head. While I'll be in turn. We will see
Speaker 1: you on Sunday