Speaker 1: Fail Round the League podcast features a former mail man.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to another edition of the Around the League Podcast.
Speaker 1: My name is Dan Hansus and I'm joined as always
Speaker 1: heroes Everywhere Chris Westling, Mark Sessler, Greg Rosenthal. What up boys?
Speaker 1: Hey Dan? Who you know? We've been spending a lot
Speaker 1: of time together, four of us last couple of days.
Speaker 1: Maybe maybe a little too much. Maybe I might have
Speaker 1: to take an other vacation just to split it up
Speaker 1: a little bit. Here late into the night on the
Speaker 1: fourth preseason game, which is a really a depressing night,
Speaker 1: but at least it means the preseason is over. And
Speaker 1: then we're just chained through our just cranking out cuts
Speaker 1: for the next few days. Very exciting. We have a
Speaker 1: pack show today, so we should get right to work.
Speaker 1: We have coming up today. We have a Defensive Player
Speaker 1: of the Year talk. We we rolled those out today.
Speaker 1: We're gonna do a little news what's going on, finish
Speaker 1: up our divisional previews the NFC West, and then our
Speaker 1: new game show. It's sweeping the nation, or it will
Speaker 1: be as soon as people hear it. Win West's toaster.
Speaker 1: But let's start. Oh by the way, Yeah, that's a
Speaker 1: lot of that's a big tease right there. Um. By
Speaker 1: the way, we should also say you should, um subscribe
Speaker 1: to us on iTunes, download, leave comments, caress your monitor.
Speaker 1: Is there anything else we were told we should do
Speaker 1: for these poor people? Tell your friends, Tell your friends, Um,
Speaker 1: I was saying in the newsroom, Damastruk was saying, he's
Speaker 1: uncomfortable saying these things about his own podcast. We don't
Speaker 1: feel the same way. We're shameless. We want the glory
Speaker 1: and if you come with us, you will have glory
Speaker 1: as well. So do all that and thank you for listening.
Speaker 1: Do you have any cool aid to give away? Yes?
Speaker 1: And some matching nikes. Um, all right, so let's start
Speaker 1: Defensive player of the Year? Um? Greg, do you want
Speaker 1: to get going on this? I know we we had
Speaker 1: a consensus of J. J. Watt was our consensus, uh
Speaker 1: West myself and that's the two of us. Is that
Speaker 1: count as a consensus. Well that's two out of four
Speaker 1: of the people in this room. And then let's go
Speaker 1: around the horn on this. So, Greg that you did
Speaker 1: not pick what who was your pick for defensive Player
Speaker 1: of the year? In two I try to simplify things,
Speaker 1: and you know, voters vote for sacks usually, so I
Speaker 1: tried to think, who do I think is gonna lead
Speaker 1: the league in sacks? And I went with Clay Matthews.
Speaker 1: He was a monster last year. He should have won
Speaker 1: the Defensive Player of the Year in two thousand and ten.
Speaker 1: I just like his chances of getting to about twenty
Speaker 1: sacks something like that. He's set up for a big year.
Speaker 1: I think the Packers are going to the Super Bowl,
Speaker 1: so they'll have plenty attention. Though he to me made
Speaker 1: the most sense. I can't come. I can't say that
Speaker 1: won't happen. I mean, he he's the type of guy
Speaker 1: that we talked about him actually on Wednesday, and the
Speaker 1: ability that he could bring to that defense is he
Speaker 1: is he a guy that could be the difference maker
Speaker 1: that makes that defense good enough to be a contender,
Speaker 1: super Bowl contender. I think he's one of the five
Speaker 1: biggest difference makers on defense in the entire league. When
Speaker 1: he's on the field, they're a completely different team. And
Speaker 1: I think also Kevin Patrick, who's not here, he had
Speaker 1: picked Alvin Smith that's probably under the same type of
Speaker 1: thinking that Sacks produced Defensive Player of the years. He's
Speaker 1: another guy who had nights in and a half before
Speaker 1: Justin Smith went out last year, um Mark Sessler, Who
Speaker 1: do you got? I went with that? Well. I had
Speaker 1: this feeling that everyone was going to go with J. J.
Speaker 1: Watt Um, and I was only partly right on that.
Speaker 1: You're feeling their money. You're all about you are all
Speaker 1: about the feelings. I'm not feeling You're like the opposite
Speaker 1: of pro football. Run pegged you with the Diane Chambers
Speaker 1: of our Cheers cast, it might be true I had.
Speaker 1: I had a hard time arguing with was this a
Speaker 1: metaphysical feeling? No, this is less. There wasn't so much
Speaker 1: a spiritual vibe to this. In my pick, I do have.
Speaker 1: I feel a lot of good energy around Patrick Peterson,
Speaker 1: though I think Arizona's defense is not necessarily a top
Speaker 1: ten material, but it could be because there's a lot
Speaker 1: of sneaky talent there. But Peterson, to me, is one
Speaker 1: of the more interesting young athletes in the league. I
Speaker 1: think we're gonna see him a on offense, which will
Speaker 1: be a whole different storyline. But I just think he's
Speaker 1: an ascending cornerback. I love what I've seen him. I
Speaker 1: think that they've built a defense around his skill set
Speaker 1: and listen. I honestly, I just wanted to if he
Speaker 1: just stuck out to me and I just went with it.
Speaker 1: I don't have a million metrics behind it. I just
Speaker 1: think he's that guy. How is his aura? I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't read auras some people do. I don't go
Speaker 1: down that road. It's hard for a cornerback to win it.
Speaker 1: Charles Charles Woodson won and right, and the guy that
Speaker 1: Pat Peterson was compared to recently, Dion Sanders wanted in
Speaker 1: ninety four. So yes, it is tough. I mean, Paula
Speaker 1: Mallow was a safety one it a couple of years ago.
Speaker 1: It's not it's I think Greg is very right and
Speaker 1: sack count has so much. It's what the numbers that
Speaker 1: pop out. But I'm just rolling the dice. I'm going
Speaker 1: Patrick p Jerson pat cat offense. I like that West.
Speaker 1: Since I trust you in these matters, I want you
Speaker 1: to speak for both of us and making the case
Speaker 1: for j. J. Watt Because Dan, by the way, just
Speaker 1: copied West's end. I rearranged the words now that I'm authorized, Well,
Speaker 1: I feel like J. J. Watt just is coming off
Speaker 1: the best defensive season I've ever seen. Uh In addition
Speaker 1: to the twenty and a half sacks, which everyone knows,
Speaker 1: thirty nine tackles for no gain or a loss. Most
Speaker 1: three four ends in the NFL don't even have thirty
Speaker 1: nine tackles period um. The three or four ends job.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you guys out there know this
Speaker 1: is to occupy blockers so linebackers can make plays. J J.
Speaker 1: Watt throws all that out the window. He makes all
Speaker 1: the plays. Uh, you're throwing the sixteen bad it passes.
Speaker 1: It's just we've never seen a season like that. Uh. Mayok.
Speaker 1: Our guy, Mike Mayock said before the draft that J. J.
Speaker 1: Watt would be the best five technique defensive end and
Speaker 1: in the history of the NFL, and it looks like
Speaker 1: he's well on his way to that. I just don't
Speaker 1: see his play falling off in any way. And I'll
Speaker 1: just add also that he's twenty four years old like this,
Speaker 1: it's insane what this guy has done in two years.
Speaker 1: So there is no ceiling here. Well, that's one of
Speaker 1: the reasons I didn't choose what is I would no
Speaker 1: no know if I was ready to put him among
Speaker 1: the all time great already and if he won two
Speaker 1: defensive player that Players of the Year. At this age,
Speaker 1: he would be among the all time great The only
Speaker 1: player that's ever defended this title is Lawrence Taylor in
Speaker 1: his first in his second year, Way Phillips will be
Speaker 1: disappointing that you're disappointed that you're not listening to him.
Speaker 1: He called him a Hall of Famer before last season,
Speaker 1: and he's on his way, and just history tells us
Speaker 1: guys come back to the pack just a little bit
Speaker 1: after seasons like that. Because if he does what you say,
Speaker 1: we're gonna start talking about J. J. Watt in the
Speaker 1: same way that we talked about Tom Brady and Peyton
Speaker 1: Manny on offense. That would be the level he would
Speaker 1: be there. There was a two month stretch last year
Speaker 1: where I thought he was the best player in the
Speaker 1: NFL quarterback or not, he was just that dominant. I
Speaker 1: think he's that dude. He's the LT type talent. I agree.
Speaker 1: I wrote that I thought about picking him for m
Speaker 1: v P, but because I'm not huge on the Texans
Speaker 1: this year, that would have been weirds. But I think
Speaker 1: he who's better than him physically in this league right now,
Speaker 1: especially at that position. I don't know's I find it
Speaker 1: interesting that you have the defensive Player of the Year
Speaker 1: on a team that you have going eight and eight. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I do, because I don't trust their offense even a
Speaker 1: little bit. It's just a strange soup you've created here.
Speaker 1: We'll taste it. Do you want Mark and I to
Speaker 1: tell you why you believe the Texans will finishing well?
Speaker 1: I went on Houston radio yesterday and it got really awkward.
Speaker 1: They gave out my Twitter handle and they brilled me
Speaker 1: pretty hard. But I thought I stood up well to it. Um, Greg,
Speaker 1: we are we are rolling through these what do we
Speaker 1: have coming out right through the weekend. We're doing these
Speaker 1: breakdowns of awards right We are doing Coach of the
Speaker 1: Year on Sunday, and we'll have our Rookies of the
Speaker 1: Year offense and defense on Saturday. So check it out.
Speaker 1: No Offensive Player of the Year breakdown. Let's never talk.
Speaker 1: Let's never say those words again, Offfensive Player of the Year.
Speaker 1: The abolishment of that award is pretty much my life
Speaker 1: skull as a member of the media. It's never made
Speaker 1: any sense A cute Greg up for I know he
Speaker 1: hates that, just like it's very easy to cue Damna
Speaker 1: check up on his hatred of labor day he sees
Speaker 1: is the man holding us down by giving us a
Speaker 1: day off. Um. Alright, Crystal, Rich, how are you behind
Speaker 1: the glass? I'm great? How are you? Guys? We're doing great?
Speaker 1: Are we? I don't know if I was convinced by
Speaker 1: that great to scream and shout behind this glass. Okay, Rich,
Speaker 1: All right, here we go, Crystal. Let's do a little
Speaker 1: news before we move into our division breakdowns. Alright, guys,
Speaker 1: starting out with news from the concrete Jungle New York
Speaker 1: Giants veteran running back Andre Brown breaks his leg. I'm
Speaker 1: whispering hashtag David Wilson. First of all, if you play
Speaker 1: off Route three in northern New Jersey, is it really
Speaker 1: the concrete jungle? When it's really a marshland? North Jersey?
Speaker 1: South Jersey. There's a Mason Dixon Line. North Jersey's all
Speaker 1: in New York. It's a big parking lot though, which
Speaker 1: is made of concrete. That's pretty much where they play
Speaker 1: in his two gigantic parking lots back to back. Yes, well,
Speaker 1: this kind of is. This is who Andre Brown is.
Speaker 1: He's been released or waived double digit times in the NFL. Now,
Speaker 1: uh blew out as Achilles as a rookie, fractured his
Speaker 1: leg last year and now has another leg fracture. He
Speaker 1: can't stay healthy. The Giants weren't going to be able
Speaker 1: to rely on him all year no matter what. I think.
Speaker 1: This is another lesson for the fantasy football guys. Don't
Speaker 1: pay attention to the experts. If David Wilson was one
Speaker 1: of your guys that you had to get, don't worry
Speaker 1: about reaching for him. Get him in whatever whatever around
Speaker 1: you wanted to. And I think for the fence, that's
Speaker 1: funny you should say that because Mark, who did we
Speaker 1: select with our fifth round pick in our NFL dot
Speaker 1: Com Desk League draft? After putting our heads together, we
Speaker 1: selected David Wilson are running back for the Giants. Very
Speaker 1: nice pick maneuver, Very nice, Allison Bree, what else is
Speaker 1: in the news? Alright? I'm thinking about the ups and
Speaker 1: downs of Terrell Prior on this run. Raiders head coach
Speaker 1: Dennis Allen won't name a starting QB. Can I say
Speaker 1: one thing about the Raiders? I think it's possible. We
Speaker 1: we talked about the n f C West awhile ago
Speaker 1: all of us gave bad predictions, essentially for Oakland I
Speaker 1: would that's the I would downgrade from just a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks ago where I where I thought they were
Speaker 1: that think, didn't you have them at three wins? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I I honestly, I don't see where that comes from.
Speaker 1: I'm really concerned about, uh, whatever quarterback they put back there.
Speaker 1: I understand Prior can run the ball. He did not
Speaker 1: look like a professional quarterback Throne. I spoke too soon
Speaker 1: on Cam Newton having the worst footwork in the NFL.
Speaker 1: Carel Fry was jumping and passing the ball and it
Speaker 1: worked for him the week before. And I don't know
Speaker 1: who they're gonna I think they're still gonna start Prior.
Speaker 1: I don't. I think it's a no brainer. They're gonna
Speaker 1: start him. They're gonna go with the read option. It
Speaker 1: defines his reads, it takes away the gray area, it
Speaker 1: makes it easier to see the field, and that's where
Speaker 1: they can go. They're gonna go with how much confidence
Speaker 1: do we have the Greg Nap can drive that train.
Speaker 1: I gotta say, I am rooting for the Raiders now
Speaker 1: to cut off to a hot start, just to shut
Speaker 1: everyone up. It would be a great story that they
Speaker 1: if they could just somehow be halfway decent in September.
Speaker 1: It would be fun to s and if they got
Speaker 1: to six wins wins, it might be time for Chris.
Speaker 1: I'm still feeling pretty good, all right, Cristal? What else?
Speaker 1: All right? Next up, the Patriots part ways with tight
Speaker 1: ends Jake Ballard and Daniel Fells. Do you guys want
Speaker 1: to hear another rant? Yeah? Alright, let it go us.
Speaker 1: Chris's face just lit up. This is great. People think
Speaker 1: it's really easy to play in the NFL if you
Speaker 1: are an established player, who Jake Ballard was. He was established,
Speaker 1: but he didn't move will before he had micro fracture
Speaker 1: and a c L surgery on his knee. And the
Speaker 1: Patriots claim Jake Ballard off waivers from the Giants. So
Speaker 1: we see from both sides, Giants beat writers are all
Speaker 1: bent out of shape. How could we lose Jake Ballard
Speaker 1: as if he's gonna be the same guy coming off
Speaker 1: of blowing out his knee as he was before. And
Speaker 1: the Patriots, you know, from their side, it was look
Speaker 1: how much of a genius Bill Belichick is stealing this
Speaker 1: great tight end and hurting the Giants. I think they
Speaker 1: erected like a bud Kilmer esque Belichick statue after he
Speaker 1: picked up Jake Well, and then you know, all along,
Speaker 1: I'm thinking, why would you assume a guy who doesn't
Speaker 1: move well is going to be the same player he
Speaker 1: was after surgery? And we find out all off season
Speaker 1: in the summer that Jake Ballard isn't moving well because
Speaker 1: his leg isn't what it once was. Yeah, but I
Speaker 1: would give the Patriots a little bit of credit in
Speaker 1: the sense that I personally follow a team that seems
Speaker 1: completely allergic to bringing in veterans or from or other
Speaker 1: parts of the league, guys that were proving at some point.
Speaker 1: And I like how New England takes a shot on
Speaker 1: these guys, but they don't take a shot for two
Speaker 1: or three years. They aren't afraid to cut bait with
Speaker 1: Albert Haynesworth, Sinko and this guy when they realize he's
Speaker 1: not gonna work. My rant had nothing to do with
Speaker 1: what the Patriots did or who Jake Ballard is. It
Speaker 1: had to do with the coverage of it and the
Speaker 1: perception that it was such a great move. And wes
Speaker 1: you you wish Jake Ballard well, right? Yeah? Absolutely, I
Speaker 1: hope he catches on with another team. And I hope,
Speaker 1: I hope it flies under the radar when he catches
Speaker 1: on with another team and he can go back about
Speaker 1: recently in his career. So the New York media has
Speaker 1: overreacted to something. It's it is a bizarre thing, but
Speaker 1: yes they did classic concrete jungle, anything else, crystal? All right?
Speaker 1: Last thing for today, The Bills placed Kevin Cobb on
Speaker 1: injured reserve, ending his season. And this is a sad story.
Speaker 1: I don't think it's surprises anyone, but it just, you know,
Speaker 1: hits home. He was starting a football game a week ago,
Speaker 1: less than a week ago, and he was gonna start
Speaker 1: Week one potentially, and he gets a concussion and now
Speaker 1: we think probably his career is over. What do we think?
Speaker 1: I mean, this is a guy that signed a what
Speaker 1: a thirty million dollar deal a couple of years ago.
Speaker 1: His season's over and I just don't know if any
Speaker 1: other team is going to even want to sign him,
Speaker 1: even if he wanted to continue his career. And was
Speaker 1: he even anything to write home about as a player
Speaker 1: without the head injuries? Well yeah, I think what's gonna
Speaker 1: happen is he's never going to get another chance to
Speaker 1: start again, because why would a team invest not even
Speaker 1: just the money, but the roster spot. So you're gonna
Speaker 1: carry how many veterans into training camp and divide their snaps,
Speaker 1: and you can't count on him to be the backup
Speaker 1: because he takes one more hit to the head, his
Speaker 1: career is over. It's as like you have to have
Speaker 1: a starter, one A and one book. So what's the
Speaker 1: incentive for him to keep risking his future for a
Speaker 1: backup job or maybe a chance at a backup job. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And it's a low moment for Matt Weiner too, because
Speaker 1: he is getting cut by the Bills, even though that
Speaker 1: they're even though that they don't have Cobb for the
Speaker 1: start of the season, so they're just rolling with E. J. Manuel,
Speaker 1: Jeff Toole and maybe Mark's favorite player in the NFL,
Speaker 1: fad Lewis who are we more likely to see in
Speaker 1: the NFL again? Line at a cop I would say Liner,
Speaker 1: you got that he's healthy, even though his play wasn't healthy.
Speaker 1: Least day interview yesterday, local Tampa radio guy interviewing Great
Speaker 1: Costell and he wanted to know all about Matt Leiner
Speaker 1: and co Sell's answer was, that's easy. He can't throw.
Speaker 1: Let's move on to the next question. Is a nice
Speaker 1: guy too? Alright, Okay, so that is it for the news.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Crystal, excellent work there as always. Um, moving
Speaker 1: on to our final divisional preview. Let's a little bit
Speaker 1: because this has been a nice little run his last
Speaker 1: two and a half weeks. You didn't like it when
Speaker 1: we did the training camp preview is a couple of
Speaker 1: weeks ago. But Dan's gotten into the segment, he's gotten
Speaker 1: into being a host, and now he like it, just
Speaker 1: like I'm gonna get you in on Whin West's toaster,
Speaker 1: the greatest trivia game in the history of mankind. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I was slightly outvoted on whether trivia in general is
Speaker 1: an exciting part of thing. But it's it's okay. We'll
Speaker 1: let the kids play, Okay, and that's fine. That's fine. Okay,
Speaker 1: So but let's let's do some business first. Let's talk
Speaker 1: a little NFC west Uh. This is a lot of
Speaker 1: people think is the best division of football. Um, we'll
Speaker 1: do one question for each and we'll start with Chris Westling,
Speaker 1: who was going to ask a question about the San
Speaker 1: Francisco forty Niners defending champions of the division. So one
Speaker 1: of the stories I did today. Uh was Jim Harball
Speaker 1: responding to a pretty generic question after last night's game.
Speaker 1: Cam Johnson is one of their outside linebackers, kind of
Speaker 1: fringe roster guy, and the question came to Harball. It
Speaker 1: was posed, are you gonna keep five outside linebackers? And
Speaker 1: he's thought about for a second. Guess, yeah, you know
Speaker 1: we could do that. Heck yeah, why why wasn't We
Speaker 1: were the San Francisco forty Niners. We could do whatever
Speaker 1: we want? Classic hardball, right, It's just a great look
Speaker 1: like and to me that perfectly captures the state of
Speaker 1: the forty Niners coaching step in front off is they
Speaker 1: are the most confident, most innovative there in that. I'm
Speaker 1: Keith her Nandez moment like, we can we can do
Speaker 1: whatever we want, it doesn't matter. Uh So my question,
Speaker 1: do you guys, is this the most innovative, confident coaching
Speaker 1: staff in the NFL? Well, by reading your post, I
Speaker 1: certainly believe so. I think you called Greg Roman brilliant. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't know, Mark, what do you think? Well, you know,
Speaker 1: last year at the Super Bowl, we had a chance
Speaker 1: to roam around on media day and talked all these players.
Speaker 1: But I had a chance to talk to up in
Speaker 1: the stands a Greg Roman and then Fangio the next day,
Speaker 1: and it was hard to break away from those guys
Speaker 1: because it was just a bunch of guys asking Roman
Speaker 1: about the approach the offense had taken from week one
Speaker 1: through the shift and quarterbacks and where they were heading
Speaker 1: to the super Bowl. It was fascinating to listen to him,
Speaker 1: to be honest, and I think that he's very underrated
Speaker 1: as an offensive coach. And uh, I don't know if
Speaker 1: football coaches should be called brilliant in general. I think
Speaker 1: that's thrown around pretty loosely. But to watch the forty
Speaker 1: nine ers from week to week was to learn a
Speaker 1: lot about offensive football. They had number of formations and
Speaker 1: the way that they changed things up from play to
Speaker 1: play and how the players honestly must have been taught
Speaker 1: well enough to respond to that. Not only also what
Speaker 1: they did with Alex Smith, the first coaching staff that
Speaker 1: really showed they could turn them into a functional quarterback
Speaker 1: and a successful one. I'd have to say that your
Speaker 1: theory is correct. They are the strongest coaching staff in
Speaker 1: football right now. I think they came into the NFL
Speaker 1: with very defined ideas of what they wanted to do,
Speaker 1: and they've got out and they've executed it, So it's
Speaker 1: hard to really argue with you. I think you could
Speaker 1: look at another team in this division as another group
Speaker 1: that came into a tougher situation thinks pretty outside the
Speaker 1: box with their draft picks. UH creates very interesting roles,
Speaker 1: especially on defense of course, I'm talking about the Seattle Seahawks,
Speaker 1: and make a case for them as perhaps the most confident,
Speaker 1: innovative coaching staff and an organization in the league because
Speaker 1: they see things very differently compared to most teams. That's
Speaker 1: why that's this is the best rivalry in the NFL
Speaker 1: right now. And to what I love it about it
Speaker 1: is you can just tell that they are not concerned
Speaker 1: about what the rest of the league's doing or or
Speaker 1: thinking about their own moves. And to me, that's when
Speaker 1: you see UH, that's when you see who the best
Speaker 1: is in their chosen field. They're the vanguard. They're not
Speaker 1: worried about anyone else. I mean in extends like with
Speaker 1: the Seahawks to the front off, it's it's not just
Speaker 1: the way the coaches operate, but their decisions and how
Speaker 1: they know build You're right, it's not just renegade. They
Speaker 1: just they're ahead of everyone else. So why keep an
Speaker 1: eye on who's behind you? And I'll draw one comparison,
Speaker 1: just to take a little air out of the balloon,
Speaker 1: you know. Jim Harbaugh, Jim Harbaugh saying we could do
Speaker 1: whatever we want. Their parallels here to me, uh in
Speaker 1: terms of the level of hubrists that we're working with,
Speaker 1: parallels to you, it reminds me of what you're saying.
Speaker 1: It reminds me of little band from Britain called the Wassis.
Speaker 1: Thought they were the kings of the world. Everything goes
Speaker 1: back to and they released be here now, and you know,
Speaker 1: then quickly they found out they weren't as good as
Speaker 1: they thought they Well, at least you didn't go back
Speaker 1: as far as like nine Germany or everything. With this,
Speaker 1: everything goes back to Oasis. Seriously, my hair looks like Oasis.
Speaker 1: Either Oasis. They're counting crows Oasis. I mean they've they essentially,
Speaker 1: you know, a couple of players away from the mountain top.
Speaker 1: They went they have achieved things. Think about their first picks,
Speaker 1: not their first picks. I guess it was their second
Speaker 1: time around. But Alden Smith and Kaepernick. Those were two
Speaker 1: pretty interesting picks just to start off, and that right
Speaker 1: there changed everything. And the way they've coached Kaepernick compared
Speaker 1: to Alex Smith, I mean, that's coaching that is maximizing
Speaker 1: your players strengths, coming up with a new plan. I
Speaker 1: mean it's it's reminiscent of the Patriots to who do
Speaker 1: a good job at this, and they aren't worried what
Speaker 1: the rest of the league thinks. That that's what coaching
Speaker 1: is all about. And they are I think probably the
Speaker 1: toughest team to prepare for for opposing teams on a
Speaker 1: week to week basis. All right, let's move forward, Mark,
Speaker 1: give us one big question on the St. Louis Rams.
Speaker 1: All right, with the Rams, And I read something interesting
Speaker 1: in the the Annual Football Outsiders Almanac that basically the
Speaker 1: Rams teams, Hey Dan, you know, I'd like, I like
Speaker 1: to suddenly put Dan's head into an explosion space. But
Speaker 1: um why he doesn't read it? Well because I didn't.
Speaker 1: I didn't come up with this on my own, Like
Speaker 1: I couldn't cite this. Okay, So anyways, so you've got
Speaker 1: a lot of talent potentially on offense, young players, but
Speaker 1: they come in with less experience at the wide receiver
Speaker 1: and running back positions in terms of touches and starts,
Speaker 1: then all of the last four expansion teams did in
Speaker 1: their first year, and that's pretty rugged if you look
Speaker 1: at where some of those teams were. But you have
Speaker 1: to look at the Rams and say, part of the
Speaker 1: reason is they've got extremely young players that if things click,
Speaker 1: this offense could be something St. Louis hasn't done since
Speaker 1: the days of Kurt Warner. My big question is we've got,
Speaker 1: and we've brought this up once or twice before, we
Speaker 1: have Brian Schottenheimer, historically conservative guy that you wouldn't exactly
Speaker 1: call inventive running the show. Oh are we going to
Speaker 1: look back on this Ram's offense and looking at it
Speaker 1: actually end of this season as an opportunity missed. I
Speaker 1: read the entire almanac by the time you asked that question.
Speaker 1: I like to phrase that completely. So there we go.
Speaker 1: That just took the wind out of Sessler. Well, I think, uh,
Speaker 1: I know you don't trust Schottenheimer. I love his father,
Speaker 1: I don't trust the son as much. I feel like
Speaker 1: this is going to have to be a spread offense,
Speaker 1: and I think they are one of the teams slow
Speaker 1: playing the rest of the NFL in the preseason. We
Speaker 1: haven't seen anything of what they're gonna do. They're gonna
Speaker 1: put Jared Cook in the left slot, Tavon Austin in
Speaker 1: the right slot, go for wide a lot. Uh. That's
Speaker 1: the way the personnel is set up. They have too
Speaker 1: many space players. They can't do a traditional base offense
Speaker 1: and succeed. Uh. I don't know that we'll look on
Speaker 1: a miss missed opportunity because I think I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: tell you where I have them finishing yet. But I
Speaker 1: don't see them competing for the tie, don't competing for
Speaker 1: the division title because I think they're another year away.
Speaker 1: But I think they are building something, and I just
Speaker 1: think people are getting a little caught up with him
Speaker 1: this year. I hope you're they're slow pitching us because
Speaker 1: you know, Tavon Austin, we were told by who was it,
Speaker 1: Mike Mayock that he had the type of skills where
Speaker 1: he could not be covered covered and could be a
Speaker 1: revolutionary type player. Very quiet preseason for him. A couple
Speaker 1: of big a lot of big pun returns. Give the
Speaker 1: guy a little ya, that's true, But I guess in
Speaker 1: terms of as an offensive weapon moving around the field
Speaker 1: making plays. We didn't see much. They just didn't They
Speaker 1: didn't show anything. Yeah, I think it won't be a
Speaker 1: missed opportunity because there if there is a missed opportunity,
Speaker 1: it said they don't take advantage of a very good
Speaker 1: defense that I think is only going to get better.
Speaker 1: But let's not overrate this offensive talent. I think they'd
Speaker 1: be doing well to be average. Let's their wide receiver
Speaker 1: group given to who I Love Tavon Austin and some
Speaker 1: question marks Brian Quicks in the mix, Austin Pett. I
Speaker 1: mean that's I would say a below average wide receiver group,
Speaker 1: Jared because the starting tight end that's maybe an average
Speaker 1: tight end group. The offensive line hasn't been good in
Speaker 1: recent years. The Adjac Long that's average at best. Sam
Speaker 1: Bradford has not been average. He's about an average quarterback,
Speaker 1: and the running backs aren't very good. So top to bottom,
Speaker 1: I don't know if there's that talented. If they don't
Speaker 1: do that well, I think it's just because they don't
Speaker 1: have the players. Okay, uh, you know, the Ram The
Speaker 1: Rams are a team. We're we're not sure what to
Speaker 1: make of another one is the Arizona Cardinals in this division.
Speaker 1: I'll ask this question Jonathan Cooper. We found out today
Speaker 1: Bruce Arians said that that ten to twelve week timetable
Speaker 1: was premature. They put him on I R his rookie
Speaker 1: season has done the number seven or overall pick A
Speaker 1: guy who could have done things is out for the year.
Speaker 1: That hurts UM. I don't see a lot of running
Speaker 1: lanes opening up in Arizona. The protection issues, Um, is
Speaker 1: everyone in a rush to lump the Cardinals in to
Speaker 1: the NFC West hype. You know, everybody says all these
Speaker 1: teams will be good. Should I really buy that that
Speaker 1: the Cardinals? Cardinals will also be a team that's gonna
Speaker 1: be h excellent the season. Believe in Bruce Arians. I'm
Speaker 1: sold on on b a not just as an entertaining
Speaker 1: press conference because he's one of the best. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's just fun to listen to. But I think he's
Speaker 1: a really good coach and I think he's got plenty
Speaker 1: of town to work with. On offense. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: I think they're running back group is potentially a little
Speaker 1: bit better than last year. I'm not in love with it.
Speaker 1: The Cooper injury is a wind out of the sales
Speaker 1: type of loss, because the whole thing here was they're
Speaker 1: gonna fix the big weakness from last year. And Carson
Speaker 1: Palmer isn't exactly fleet of foot, so you know, if
Speaker 1: he's not protected, well, I don't love his chances. But again,
Speaker 1: Arians like with what he did last season in Indian,
Speaker 1: what he's done essentially his whole career in Pittsburgh, frankly,
Speaker 1: what he did with Cleveland, and that his season or
Speaker 1: two there. They haven't done since. So yeah, I trust
Speaker 1: Arians and I think they'll be maybe I don't know
Speaker 1: about record wise, but a better football team on offense
Speaker 1: than last season. The Cooper injury really took a win,
Speaker 1: a lot of wind out of my sales for this team.
Speaker 1: I liked them all off season. I love UM, I
Speaker 1: like Honey Badger Peterson. They their defense is a lot
Speaker 1: of talent on all offense, the passing game looks like
Speaker 1: it can do some interesting things. Running back, there's very
Speaker 1: little depth there. The offensive line, there's no depth. I
Speaker 1: just feel like this team is like one or two
Speaker 1: injuries away from cratering Um. But I do agree with
Speaker 1: Greg that I trust Bruce Arians. I just don't know
Speaker 1: that the roster is set up yet to to go
Speaker 1: more than seven and nine or eight and eight in
Speaker 1: the best case scenario, A lot of potential Pro bowlers,
Speaker 1: including you know, Mark's choice for defensive Player of the
Speaker 1: Year on defense, I mean there's a lot to work
Speaker 1: with their honey Badger. A lot of people are talking
Speaker 1: about him. I think he'll be good. I think Calais
Speaker 1: Campbell and Darnell Dockett. I mean, they're tough to deal
Speaker 1: with it. It should be a tough defensive deal with Alright, Greg,
Speaker 1: why don't you wrap it up with a Seahawks question.
Speaker 1: Let's go with the Seattle Seahawks and their roster. When
Speaker 1: you look at it top to bottom, is this the
Speaker 1: deepest team in the NFL? Yes? Yes? Where are the
Speaker 1: weaknesses on the Seattle Seahawks roster? How about it? Two questions? Well,
Speaker 1: we only do one. I don't even know where to
Speaker 1: go when you ask a second. I think you could
Speaker 1: say offensive line, there are some spots where they're not
Speaker 1: quite as deep. Uh, linebacker, they're not real deep. And
Speaker 1: then wide receiver with Harvin out, do we really trust
Speaker 1: your main curse and Stephen Williams to play against the
Speaker 1: forty Niners. I don't know that we can say that,
Speaker 1: so I would say those would be their three shallowest spot.
Speaker 1: I just do not like, uh, their long snapper, he
Speaker 1: has been It's hard to trust in characters. Um No,
Speaker 1: I you know, it's hard to just see we could
Speaker 1: pick something that's less strong than the rest of the group.
Speaker 1: I think they have some injuries at their past rush
Speaker 1: situation right now that when we get these guys back,
Speaker 1: we haven't even seen Cliff Avil. We haven't seen some
Speaker 1: of the additions. If these guys can play Michael Bennett,
Speaker 1: then there then there's not a weakness that's of strength.
Speaker 1: But um, this is what team we called the deepest
Speaker 1: roster in football, and I don't think that's changed one
Speaker 1: iotas since we posted that article. Clinton Esham, if you're
Speaker 1: out there listening, Seattle Seahawks long snapper, we apologize, he's
Speaker 1: probably very solid. Okay, So let's go, let's go around,
Speaker 1: let's do the records for the division. Will start with
Speaker 1: the great Chris west Elling. I have Seahawks and forty
Speaker 1: Niners both in the playoffs at ten and six. Seahawks
Speaker 1: get the tiebreaker for the division title. Cardinals at seven
Speaker 1: and nine Rams at six and ten, and I know,
Speaker 1: you know, we're trying to be quick here and I've
Speaker 1: got to get to a haircut appointment. Meals my guy
Speaker 1: in Yes, I looked around the NFL newsroom, looked for
Speaker 1: the best hair and asked that man, where do you
Speaker 1: get your hair cut? That's where I should be going.
Speaker 1: That was Dan, So thank you. Uh My question though
Speaker 1: for you is you just talked about how great the
Speaker 1: offense is and then the deepest Seahawks roster in the league.
Speaker 1: Why why only ten wins were both them? It's a
Speaker 1: tough division, just a tough conference, some cannibalism conferences, and
Speaker 1: there best offensive weapon arguably is on the shelf for
Speaker 1: most of the seasons. UM, I disagree with West in
Speaker 1: the sense that I've in each of our division previews,
Speaker 1: I've been conservative with the record of the best team.
Speaker 1: Not with Seattle. I have them a thirteen and three.
Speaker 1: That's better than anyone else in the league that I've predicted.
Speaker 1: I think they will be NFL's Kings on that front.
Speaker 1: Forty Niners A ten and six, the Rams will be
Speaker 1: the third team in that division to make the playoffs.
Speaker 1: As my nine and seven wild card entry and I
Speaker 1: have the Cardinals talented but stumbling at four and twelve
Speaker 1: based on what West said, I think one or two
Speaker 1: injuries floors. Um. I have the Seahawks winning the division
Speaker 1: at eleven and five, the Niners also going in eleven
Speaker 1: and five and they're getting one of the wild cards
Speaker 1: the fifth seed, and then Rams at eight and eight,
Speaker 1: and Cardinals I'm not sold. Six and ten. I have
Speaker 1: a similar look Seahawks at twelve and four. I have
Speaker 1: the forty Niners falling back a bit to ten and six. Mean,
Speaker 1: this is a team that's only lost seven games over
Speaker 1: the last two years. I have the Rams and the
Speaker 1: Cardinals tying uh for last place at seven and nine.
Speaker 1: So I do think this is going to be a
Speaker 1: very strong division. So who who are the surprising playoff
Speaker 1: teams we had from the NFC? You had the Rams,
Speaker 1: that's pretty good. I didn't have one. I know I'm
Speaker 1: gonna be wrong, but I have, um, the Skins, Falcons, Packers, Seahawks, Niners,
Speaker 1: and Bears. Maybe the Bears a little bit, but not really.
Speaker 1: I have the Bears and not the Packers of Chalk. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Bears and Cowboys would be my biggest surprises, but neither
Speaker 1: of them is really a huge surprise. I had the
Speaker 1: Eagles and Panthers, so at least, you know, we stepped
Speaker 1: out and made some picks. Unlike Dan, I have three
Speaker 1: new playoff teams Browns. I picked the Browns, Counts for
Speaker 1: double or triple. I think it's trivia time. I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't know. I'm just I'm feeling a lot of buzzing.
Speaker 1: Everything we just did the last half hour was all
Speaker 1: probably just to get to this moment um. Chris Westling
Speaker 1: downstairs on his desk has a has a toaster. It's
Speaker 1: NFL sanctioned. Uh it's it's such a cool toaster because
Speaker 1: you're able to like put team names imprint them on
Speaker 1: the toast somehow. I don't know the science behind it,
Speaker 1: but you can do it. They do that with like, um,
Speaker 1: what do you call it, Miss Kitty, and all they
Speaker 1: think about all these kind of toasters that can do
Speaker 1: I don't think so anyway anyway, So don't worry about it.
Speaker 1: West wants it. Yeah, you're not getting my toaster. And
Speaker 1: but at the same time we agreed, yes, this is
Speaker 1: West's toaster, only if you can hold onto it. So
Speaker 1: I figured against Greg's wishes. I wanted to bring some
Speaker 1: type of trivia element into the room. Uh. So what
Speaker 1: we did We contacted uh some listeners with the help
Speaker 1: of the great k Rich behind the glass, and we
Speaker 1: got a couple contestants in a game I like to
Speaker 1: call this is all a thinly disguised ruse for Dan
Speaker 1: to live out his fantasies as a game show host.
Speaker 1: I feel like he would be great. Okay, So here
Speaker 1: are the rules of the game. Uh, we will get
Speaker 1: a caller on the line. There on hold right now.
Speaker 1: Both West and the caller will get the same six questions.
Speaker 1: They get thirty seconds to answer. John, are you are
Speaker 1: you there? I am here? Hey? John? Hey? How's it going? Hey?
Speaker 1: Where are you from? John? Northwest, Indiana, Colts Gary. It's
Speaker 1: actually a Bears country. I grew up a Packers sam though.
Speaker 1: And how many years have to the Around the League podcast?
Speaker 1: Were you neighbors? I've actually been to the Michael Jackson house,
Speaker 1: but I've been listening to the A t L since
Speaker 1: it's a debuted behind Gamma Shuck. And it should be
Speaker 1: known that in the screener call that k Ridge did,
Speaker 1: John got every answer right. So, John, how far is
Speaker 1: your neighborhood from Jake Cutler's hometown of Christmas, Indiana. Claus
Speaker 1: leave Santa Claus, Indiana. Alright, so John, that one? Yes? West?
Speaker 1: Are you done asking geography questions? I love geography? Okay,
Speaker 1: Mark Cussler, you are on clock duty. You will be
Speaker 1: timing this, so John, And just to make sure you're
Speaker 1: you're clear, just when you're done, say stop clock. Okay,
Speaker 1: that way we could do it, all right? Here we go.
Speaker 1: What number did Jim Brown wear with the Browns? What
Speaker 1: is the name of the cowboys is home stadium? Uh?
Speaker 1: What running back finished second in rushing yards last season?
Speaker 1: Who was the Baltimore Colts is starting quarterback in Super
Speaker 1: Bowl three? Earl? Name the quarterback with the highest yards
Speaker 1: per attempt average last season? Um? Which Hall of Fame
Speaker 1: running back rush for a hundred and ninety yards? And
Speaker 1: Super Bowl eighteen? Do you want to go back? All right?
Speaker 1: Stop the clock. By my calculation, you got one question, right.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to get to a haircut here, man, you know,
Speaker 1: so let me out all right? West, West is now
Speaker 1: back in the studio. Should we tell him what he needs? None? Anything?
Speaker 1: All right? What number did Jim Brown wear with the Browns.
Speaker 1: What is the name of the Cowboys home stadium Reliance Stadium.
Speaker 1: What running back finished second in rushing yards last season?
Speaker 1: Marshawn Lynch, who was the Baltimore Colts starting quarterback in
Speaker 1: Super Bowl three? Johnny United named the quarterback with the
Speaker 1: highest yards per attempt average last season? Uh Colin Kaepernick,
Speaker 1: which Hall of Fame running back rushed for a hundred
Speaker 1: and ninety yards? And Super Bowl eighteen Marcus Allen Boom
Speaker 1: that was a mere point four seconds. Well, well, West,
Speaker 1: you've got two answers, right, that was enough to beat
Speaker 1: John who that one? West keeps his toaster. The excitement
Speaker 1: level in this room is just people are not excited.
Speaker 1: John Um, thank you for playing for I'm podcast. I'm
Speaker 1: helping you guys out with Yes. John, thank you for trying,
Speaker 1: and thank you for listening. I thought trivia was more
Speaker 1: like what happened in the past, not what happened like
Speaker 1: last year. Listen, you just get you know, you gotta
Speaker 1: do better than two. That's not Trivia's just like arcane status,
Speaker 1: you know, not the starting quarterback of Super Bowl three? Right,
Speaker 1: that's pretty old, oh earl moral. Yeah, the answers, by
Speaker 1: the way, was uh, Cowboys home stadium is now a
Speaker 1: T and T stadium. Alfred Morris had the second and
Speaker 1: never ever asked a corporate sponsored stadium name again. Started
Speaker 1: Super Bowl three. I liked the Earl Moral. That's a
Speaker 1: great trip quarterback with the highest average protempt r G three.
Speaker 1: And you've got Marcus Allen. Right, all right, one more game.
Speaker 1: Let's go with our second contestant, Ned. Are you there? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm right here, Ned. How are you feeling right now?
Speaker 1: I'm feeling great? All right? We got West is one
Speaker 1: for one, he already defeated had one challenger um. But
Speaker 1: at the same time, we weren't blown away by his performance.
Speaker 1: So I would think that if you have nice knowledge,
Speaker 1: you have a shot to beat him. Okay, and by
Speaker 1: the way, congratulations on being named Ned, because that's a
Speaker 1: great nime. Thank you, thank you. Alright, So we we
Speaker 1: while we are off there, we we explained to Ned
Speaker 1: the rules of the game. So here we go round
Speaker 1: two of when West's toaster? How many teams did Randy
Speaker 1: Moss play for? He's played for the Vikings, the Raiders,
Speaker 1: the Patriots and Niners and the titan So five the
Speaker 1: defensive end. This defensive end says he wants to establish club.
Speaker 1: In two thousand thirteen, who was selected third overall in
Speaker 1: the two thousand twelve NFL draft marl In The Packers
Speaker 1: dealta first round pick to acquire Brehett far from what team? Atlanta?
Speaker 1: What quarterback had the league's lowest passer rating minimum ten
Speaker 1: starts last year? Uh? Yeah? The Giants beat the Bills
Speaker 1: in Super Bowl twenty five? Who is the game's m
Speaker 1: v p um? Do you want to go back to
Speaker 1: anything the Super Bowl? Yeah? Who was the game's m
Speaker 1: v p um? Giants in the Bills? Right? Times up?
Speaker 1: Times up? Times up? Okay, all right, so you got
Speaker 1: you got Moss, you got what and you got the Falcons.
Speaker 1: So you got three out of six? All right? Now, Wes,
Speaker 1: who was sequestered, is coming back in the studio. West.
Speaker 1: We're not gonna tell you what. We're not gonna tell
Speaker 1: you what ned got. You know, I just realized what
Speaker 1: I put the West in sequester. That's pretty good. That's
Speaker 1: pretty good. He's working on material as his winning his toaster.
Speaker 1: All right, here we go, same rules. We're gonna just
Speaker 1: thirty seconds. Stopped it mark. When it hits thirty, it's
Speaker 1: over all right, Okay, here we go. How many teams
Speaker 1: did Randy Moss play for? Four? This defense event says
Speaker 1: he wants to establish the club. In two thousand thirteen,
Speaker 1: J J. Watt, who was selected third overall in the
Speaker 1: two thousand twelve NFL draft, Trent Richards in the Packers
Speaker 1: Delta first round pick to acquire Brett far from what team? Falcons?
Speaker 1: What quarterback of the league's lowest passer rating last season
Speaker 1: a minimum ten? Ten starts blame game? The Giants beat
Speaker 1: the Bills in Super Bowl twenty five. Who's the game's
Speaker 1: m v P? Phil Sims? Stop the clock? Point eight?
Speaker 1: You got what? Richardson? Falcons? That's three, just like Ned,
Speaker 1: but West got it in twenty six seconds. Ned needed
Speaker 1: the full thirty. West keeps his toaster on a tie breaker.
Speaker 1: Moss played for page five teams tightened Vikings and missing
Speaker 1: one team. You can figure that off the air. Hey, Ned,
Speaker 1: thank you very much for trying. Oh the Raiders, thank
Speaker 1: you for listening. Oh, oh that's it. That's that's uh.
Speaker 1: When West's toster, West, you defended your title. That was
Speaker 1: a little tight, though it is tight. These are these
Speaker 1: are not easy questions against the buzzer all right, So
Speaker 1: that is the end of the a tel Pocats West
Speaker 1: West is little guest. You could tell it's it took
Speaker 1: a lot auta them, so we're gonna have to get
Speaker 1: out noble effort um. Thank you for listening. We'll see
Speaker 1: uh next week. We are going to uh that is
Speaker 1: the beginning of the regular season next week. That'll be exciting.
Speaker 1: Thank you to kay Rich the mailman, the sizzler, the
Speaker 1: boss who left to get a haircut with Camille. You
Speaker 1: can do that when you're the boss. Yeah, and uh
Speaker 1: Lyle the intern. Thank you Lyle. We will see you
Speaker 1: on Monday.