Speaker 1: Welcome back to another edition of the Around the League podcast.
Speaker 1: My name is Dan Kansas. Room full of heroes. Here
Speaker 1: Chris Wessling, Mark Sessler, and Greg Rosenthal our boss. Hey guys,
Speaker 1: how are you today? Is this the first time all
Speaker 1: four of us and only the four of us have
Speaker 1: been in for one of these podcasts? You might be right.
Speaker 1: This might we We always bring up when we have
Speaker 1: these new permutations, but this might be the last one
Speaker 1: that we had not conquered and now we have. We
Speaker 1: had patrol with us that one of the time we
Speaker 1: were in the same room. I believe that's right. So,
Speaker 1: as many of you now know, we are on iTunes,
Speaker 1: we are also on Stitcher. I don't know what stitcher is,
Speaker 1: but it is something that exists in society that people
Speaker 1: used to listen to things like this. So we're there.
Speaker 1: Um download our podcast Radar podcast on on iTunes, Give
Speaker 1: us love, uh and we will continue to provide high
Speaker 1: level content and thank you. By the way. We could
Speaker 1: mentioned this on Monday, but we're trouncing rich Eyes and
Speaker 1: and damn a check and just taking names here in
Speaker 1: these podcasts rankings in terms of the downloads, A lot
Speaker 1: of new subscribers, and we appreciate all the love I do.
Speaker 1: Like you mentioned that we're trouncing rich Eyes and two
Speaker 1: days after he was nice enough to come on our podcast.
Speaker 1: Might not be true either, but we're doing We're happy
Speaker 1: that some people are listening, so we thank you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we are. We're doing very well. West. You've been tracking
Speaker 1: the metrics very closely on our downloads. I know that
Speaker 1: many emails you've been sending out. It seems like we're
Speaker 1: doing well. We're top five, that's all. And we're big
Speaker 1: in England, which we have been big in England all along. Right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: thank you to our Canadian listeners, Germany another country that
Speaker 1: likes to think, but they are. And then of course
Speaker 1: and our great Australian listeners, including uh, the Great Tristan,
Speaker 1: the Great Tristan. Thank you, Mark. Just trying to work
Speaker 1: you in there, Mark awkward a little bit of a
Speaker 1: late jump in there, No problem. So okay, So we
Speaker 1: have a lot to get to. We should start since
Speaker 1: it is Wednesday, we're coming off another great episode of
Speaker 1: Hard Knocks on HBO. UM. This this episode is you know,
Speaker 1: we have our our recaps on around the League that
Speaker 1: I write. Um, I invited Mark Sessler to hands this
Speaker 1: manner to watch this one because Mark doesn't have cable
Speaker 1: for some reason. Thanks for the invite, Dan, Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's a little rough. Clicky. Wait a second, Mark and
Speaker 1: I discuss this. I can turn it into a big
Speaker 1: party if you guys want. But this particular night, it
Speaker 1: was just Mark and I under a blanket, big bull
Speaker 1: of popcorn, just really digging in and enjoying with the
Speaker 1: lights turned down low. My wife came upstairs and she
Speaker 1: thought excused herself and this one straight to the bedroom.
Speaker 1: But okay, Greg, what is your you watch Hard Knocks
Speaker 1: last night? You always do? I know. What are your
Speaker 1: takeaways from episode two? Well? I could go list many,
Speaker 1: but my first one has to be Hugh Jackson's humiliating
Speaker 1: dressed down of Orson Charles really stuck out to me
Speaker 1: just how brutal it was, and that at the end
Speaker 1: of basically telling the guy that he's about to get demoted,
Speaker 1: he doesn't even look at him in the face. He's
Speaker 1: just texting, never says bye either, just starts texting mid
Speaker 1: sentence until Charles like should I leave now? And yeah,
Speaker 1: I wrote in the recap that you you just had
Speaker 1: the feeling you knew or some Charles was thinking to
Speaker 1: himself as he was walking out, Please don't tell me
Speaker 1: there was a camera that just caught just caught my
Speaker 1: just complete, complete, uh humiliation in front of the nation's
Speaker 1: premium cable subscribers. I mean I also was taken with
Speaker 1: John Skelton, like you don't know these guys when you're
Speaker 1: watching um, you know, the games or anything, and sometimes
Speaker 1: little facts about how their career has gone or slowly
Speaker 1: filled in. I was talking about this life like you
Speaker 1: don't know, like which quarterbacks might be the sharpest tools
Speaker 1: in the shed, and which ones worked the hardest and stuff.
Speaker 1: And sometimes I'll just say with Skelton, you know, it
Speaker 1: didn't seem like a MENSA member there. Yeah, they lifted
Speaker 1: the veil on skeleton a little bit. Fordham is a
Speaker 1: pretty good school in the Bronx it intended. But I
Speaker 1: felt like, okay, that's now we understand the what is
Speaker 1: John Skelton? Yeah, my I think my favorite guy and
Speaker 1: you know Dan and I Dan has Dan's writing an
Speaker 1: article on this each week, so we had to keep rewinding,
Speaker 1: uh you know, transcribing quotes. But I actually enjoyed by
Speaker 1: the way listen it was that or you know, sit
Speaker 1: in my car. But I enjoyed watching the Marcus Hunt. Okay,
Speaker 1: you had a couple of great scenes. If if Hard
Speaker 1: Knocks had a star of each episode, he would be
Speaker 1: on the marquee. I would agree. I mean the guy
Speaker 1: at number one. I don't know should we do? We
Speaker 1: have something we want to do, Crystal behind the glass?
Speaker 1: Can you queue up Marcus Hunt in the middle of
Speaker 1: a practice drill with Gino Atkins? Why talking was the
Speaker 1: one with the Russian? I don't know what Rooky four
Speaker 1: is that one? Because everyone keeps talking about that. I
Speaker 1: must break you. That's awesome. The thing that's funny to
Speaker 1: me too, is so he gets the the are you Russian?
Speaker 1: Ivan Darrago treatment, but then several of his teammates seem
Speaker 1: to think he's English as well. At one point, someone asks,
Speaker 1: why do you say across the pond? It's like as Estonian?
Speaker 1: And I don't have a lot of experience with Estonian
Speaker 1: culture either, but I wouldn't think he looks very English
Speaker 1: when he has an American accent for the most part.
Speaker 1: Two it's sort of a puzzling character. And they also
Speaker 1: asked him if other women in Estonia look like him,
Speaker 1: which is kind of I imagine. I mean, his girlfriend,
Speaker 1: you know, was good looking at everything, but they were
Speaker 1: walking off the field and I noticed she's almost his height.
Speaker 1: He's like six eight. So are all the women in
Speaker 1: Estonia just just like gigantic people that throw the discus? Yeah?
Speaker 1: His girlfriends America? Yeah, well yeah, I think. And you
Speaker 1: have to give him credit. He has like this combination
Speaker 1: of confidence and aloofness that allows him to deal with
Speaker 1: because he does get ribbed a lot in this episode,
Speaker 1: and it's clear that the players target him a little
Speaker 1: bit the fact that he's a rookie A and then
Speaker 1: different than them B, which is probably pretty normal in
Speaker 1: the locker room. But he handles He handles it all
Speaker 1: very well. He could tell, you know. Mike Brown says
Speaker 1: at one point he's a little worried that he won't
Speaker 1: be able to make friends because he's so different. But
Speaker 1: he doesn't seem like the type of guy that's going
Speaker 1: to become some type of recluse in the locker room
Speaker 1: because he gets picked on. No, and like even at
Speaker 1: one point, uh it was a defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer
Speaker 1: comes up and is quizzing him about again, where is
Speaker 1: he from and what kind of language does he speak?
Speaker 1: And he's describing to Mike Zimmer that like most people
Speaker 1: in Estonia speak either for like a form of finish
Speaker 1: or some form of Estonian blah blah blah. You find
Speaker 1: out later the Zimmer is just trying to buy time
Speaker 1: because the girlfriend arriving was a surprise. But Hunt gets
Speaker 1: into this whole side dialogue about how you can download
Speaker 1: this finish Estonian app and Zimmer's trying to play along
Speaker 1: with it. But I actually looked it up and you can,
Speaker 1: and I downloaded it last night on my phone. Did
Speaker 1: you Yeah? Was it helpful to you at all? It's
Speaker 1: not been helpful. You have like an Estonian babysitter or something. No,
Speaker 1: it's not been helpful yet. But that's pretty funny. The
Speaker 1: other the quote of the night to me came from
Speaker 1: Marvin Lewis, the Bengals coach, UH, and I put it
Speaker 1: in the recap. I didn't give any explanation because I
Speaker 1: thought it worked better that way. But in this in
Speaker 1: this situation, will say it was about the preseason trip Uh.
Speaker 1: He was going to go there were in Atlanta and
Speaker 1: the message he had for his players was We're not
Speaker 1: here for the you know the girl Scout Jamboree. It
Speaker 1: was at that moment my wife, who really likes the show, uh,
Speaker 1: looked at me and said, he's too old to be
Speaker 1: dealing with these players. Think they don't know what he's
Speaker 1: talking about. What I agree? So yeah, that was That
Speaker 1: was episode two. The one other thing that I should
Speaker 1: point out his tailor maze. He's really jumping off the
Speaker 1: page for me right now is the guy on Hard
Speaker 1: Knocks that's trying too hard for the cameras. He had
Speaker 1: this long story about this how he had fallen in
Speaker 1: love with this girl. Almost seemed like he was being
Speaker 1: catfished when he hold the photo up of her and
Speaker 1: you know this, he just and then he was involved
Speaker 1: with that singing skit with the boys to men, it
Speaker 1: was like, dude, you know yourself, it was a little
Speaker 1: to you let the camera come to you. I love
Speaker 1: the random singing though. I do think about that, like,
Speaker 1: if we were it doesn't matter how many people you
Speaker 1: got together from NFL media, there would never be a
Speaker 1: moment where we just start breaking out singing and everyone
Speaker 1: starts going crazy. And I love I love that about
Speaker 1: that happens every year. I love that about I think,
Speaker 1: just dance and sing all the time and go crazy.
Speaker 1: Harrison's reaction to the singing was great. I mean he
Speaker 1: was like getting choked up. It was beautiful. Not nearly
Speaker 1: enough James Harrison in episode two, but that makes sense
Speaker 1: when you remember the story that came out yesterday about
Speaker 1: how he despises the cameras. They don't deserve to be there.
Speaker 1: Everyone's probably afraid to go near him on the Hard
Speaker 1: Knocks crew. So another good episode, Greg, just out of curiosity.
Speaker 1: If you had to give it a letter grade, what
Speaker 1: would you give Episode two? Oh, that's an A minus.
Speaker 1: I love that episode. What about the premiere? Somewhere lower?
Speaker 1: It wasn't as excited about the premiere, although I liked
Speaker 1: Harrison yet last night I was cracking up a ton.
Speaker 1: There was tons of good stories. Yeah, I'm I'm on
Speaker 1: the same page through two episodes. I think the Dolphins
Speaker 1: season might be a little bit better. But uh, I
Speaker 1: think that you know, HBO has done it again. It's
Speaker 1: such a great series. Um, okay, so let's move forward
Speaker 1: a new segment. I guess we're gonna go around the
Speaker 1: link is gonna go around the league with the headlines
Speaker 1: that are going on right now. We will go to
Speaker 1: the boss man on this, Greg, can you take us
Speaker 1: around one of the big headlines on Wednesday. Well, we're
Speaker 1: gonna go through some of the stories and just pound
Speaker 1: right through him, starting with von Miller. Today we find
Speaker 1: out that he was arrested. This raised the question. Uh,
Speaker 1: it was just for traffic citations failing to appear in corp.
Speaker 1: But it raised a question whether he could be punished further. Uh,
Speaker 1: the big time Caleb Sturgist and Carpenter battle is over.
Speaker 1: I've been excited about this all camp. Caleb stir just
Speaker 1: is the band in Miami. We know Morris Jones drew
Speaker 1: those kicks a little inside football there star just the
Speaker 1: most impressive rookie and Dolphins camp. Yeah, that's right. There
Speaker 1: was a tweet about that that's a bad, bad sign
Speaker 1: for the Dolphins class. Uh. We know Marias Jones Drew
Speaker 1: is gonna be playing this week in the preseason, so
Speaker 1: that's a great sign for him. First action since October.
Speaker 1: And then the big news of the day other than
Speaker 1: the Tom Brady injury, which you're gonna hit in just
Speaker 1: a second, is Jared vel Deer. Uh torst triceps. He's
Speaker 1: gonna miss a big chunk of the season. He's the
Speaker 1: starting left tackle for the Oakland Raiders, and I would
Speaker 1: argue he's probably the best player on the Oakland Raiders.
Speaker 1: I would argue it depends on whether McFadden's healthy and
Speaker 1: playing well. But yeah, you could definitely say Veldier is
Speaker 1: the best player on the Raiders. He was one of
Speaker 1: the top five or six left tackles in the NFL
Speaker 1: last year, and basically he and Wis new Ski are
Speaker 1: your only really reliable offensive lineman. But I have to
Speaker 1: say I'm taking my softball pants out of the marinade
Speaker 1: failing awfully cavalier about this bet with Mark Seiler. The
Speaker 1: Raiders will not win six games, because if they do,
Speaker 1: West has promised, if you've listened to the show before
Speaker 1: too dying on his softball pants, he's gonna eat from
Speaker 1: you know, from waist to toe, the entire rugged. A
Speaker 1: third of it can be in a soup. They're just
Speaker 1: gonna have to take it off the board with the
Speaker 1: left tackle, now, gun right. Let me just say one
Speaker 1: thing though, and I'm curious what you guys think. Let's say,
Speaker 1: Darren McFadden goes down with his inevitable footspraing uh in
Speaker 1: the next couple of weeks. There's no chance we're dealing
Speaker 1: with a goose egg team here are we in Oakland.
Speaker 1: It's it's so hard to go oh in sixteen. I mean,
Speaker 1: they would be the team to do it. And I
Speaker 1: can just hear a Raider nation sending angry tweets as
Speaker 1: I say this, especially to Westling, who's reveling in an
Speaker 1: injury to a young promising player. Well, I did, I
Speaker 1: did the moon walk outside my swimming pool today. But yeah,
Speaker 1: it's like the best player on their team at potentially
Speaker 1: the most important position, and he could be back late
Speaker 1: in the season. I think they're probably gonna wait until
Speaker 1: week one, then put him on injured reserve designate him
Speaker 1: to return, so he could maybe be back the second victory.
Speaker 1: That's possible. I think Dennis Allen is a good head coach.
Speaker 1: So just you fall into three or four withits, it's
Speaker 1: hard to lose less than two or three games. I
Speaker 1: can't believe we're still talking about the Raiders. When a
Speaker 1: man crashed into Tom Brady's knee a couple of hours ago,
Speaker 1: sent him to the ground and turned Twitter into a
Speaker 1: war zone of speculation. Uh, Tom Brady, Greg you were
Speaker 1: you have you stand the most to lose in this room.
Speaker 1: I saw the look in your face as the story
Speaker 1: was folding and people were speculating. Uh, you want to
Speaker 1: tell us a little bit about this, Greg. Well, luckily
Speaker 1: right before we taped this podcast are Ian Rappaport and
Speaker 1: Albert Brier report that it's serious. It's a knee sprain.
Speaker 1: Tom Brady was hitting practice today. Um. Basically, Nate Solder,
Speaker 1: the left tackle, got pushed into him by the bucks. Uh,
Speaker 1: Adrian Clayborne. You know, initially a lot of times we
Speaker 1: hear things aren't serious, but this is coming from multiple reporters. Basically,
Speaker 1: it's a question now whether he's gonna be day to
Speaker 1: day or whether it's gonna be a couple of weeks.
Speaker 1: But it's not the worst case scenario. Would Nate Solder
Speaker 1: have to go into witness protection if this turned out
Speaker 1: to be two thousand eight all over again, that's question.
Speaker 1: I'm just surprised Bernard Paul was not involved, was a
Speaker 1: fair question. He probably was in Tennessee with some sort
Speaker 1: of voodoo dollar or whatever right right when it happened.
Speaker 1: I can picture picture Bernard Poler as the m R
Speaker 1: I technician and the regular guy like passed out in
Speaker 1: a storage closet somewhere. We knew things had gotten out
Speaker 1: of control when the helicopter landed at Patriots practice and
Speaker 1: apparently was just to pick up Robert Kraft, the team's owner,
Speaker 1: for whatever reason, and people started speculating what does this
Speaker 1: mean about Tom Brady? And to me, that was a
Speaker 1: moment that told us kind of how everything is different
Speaker 1: in this Twitter age and it's gonna give Ryan Mallett
Speaker 1: I guess a couple of weeks to UH or we'll
Speaker 1: see a couple of days some extra snaps UH to
Speaker 1: be their quarterback. But was it over reaction because I mean, really,
Speaker 1: is there a bigger injury you could imagine at this
Speaker 1: point in the preseason. I don't think so. I think
Speaker 1: he's like one A with Peyton Manning, and well, the
Speaker 1: difference between the Patriots they have so many new faces.
Speaker 1: Manning's throwing to the same receivers as last year outside
Speaker 1: of Welker, right. I mean that Brady has to be
Speaker 1: there to break in all these new guys, but it
Speaker 1: will hurt them if he misses some time. But I
Speaker 1: think the overreaction was a lot of people leave practice
Speaker 1: every day around the NFL. You have no idea when
Speaker 1: he left practice, whether it was, you know, a minor thing,
Speaker 1: or whether it was serious. Okay, so that is a
Speaker 1: good way to get into our next UH segment in
Speaker 1: our new feature we have, We're gonna go through each
Speaker 1: of the divisions over the next two and a half weeks,
Speaker 1: right king down each team as we get closer the season, whatever,
Speaker 1: less than two weeks away, now just about three weeks,
Speaker 1: three weeks away. Yeah. Um, So we'll start with the
Speaker 1: a f C. East. We'll we'll wait on the paths
Speaker 1: a little bit. Let's start with West. What we'll do here,
Speaker 1: We'll go each of us will take a team and
Speaker 1: ask one big question West because he was on his
Speaker 1: off day and was surrounded at a swimming pool doing
Speaker 1: like a congo with a bunch of seventy four year
Speaker 1: old Gienta's he suffle board day to day. Yeah, he
Speaker 1: got the final choice, so he gets to ask the
Speaker 1: big question about the Buffalo Bills. When I think of
Speaker 1: the Bills, the most interesting part of their team to
Speaker 1: me is that we see all of this hype for
Speaker 1: Chip Kelly and his uptipo offense, and it seems like
Speaker 1: the Bills are trying to do the exact same thing.
Speaker 1: I guess my question to you guys is, is E. J.
Speaker 1: Manuel or Kevin Cobb the man that can carry this offense?
Speaker 1: How will this offense look with one of those quarterbacks
Speaker 1: running it? I think for me, it's it's so much
Speaker 1: more important that Manuel is plugged in quick lee and
Speaker 1: meshes and at least grows this season. Kevin Cobb is
Speaker 1: a patch who, even if they started him out of
Speaker 1: the gate, has never shown he can last more than,
Speaker 1: you know, a quarter of a campaign. You want to
Speaker 1: get manual in there, and you know, I think there
Speaker 1: was some overreaction to his preseason debut. He showed some flashes,
Speaker 1: but we really didn't see what that offense is. What
Speaker 1: what we did see though, was right out of the gate.
Speaker 1: C J. Spiller was used relentlessly on that first drive.
Speaker 1: I think he is going to be the heart and
Speaker 1: souls of this offense, which is very good news for
Speaker 1: him because he was arguably under used last season, not chronically,
Speaker 1: I mean, it was a real issue for them. I
Speaker 1: think it's gonna be a team that is not gonna
Speaker 1: win a lot of games, but it's it's part one
Speaker 1: of a longer rebuilding project. And I also I think
Speaker 1: that they at least they have if they do go
Speaker 1: with E. J. Manuel, and I think they will. They
Speaker 1: have a great backfield with Spiller, And I know Fred
Speaker 1: Jackson doesn't look so great right now, but if you
Speaker 1: have two of those guys, you could feed them the rock,
Speaker 1: feed the offense through them, similar to how the Jets
Speaker 1: handled Marks Stanches and two thousand nine, and try not
Speaker 1: to let the rookie. Everything must funnel back to the
Speaker 1: Jets of two thousand and nine game, so take it.
Speaker 1: I think some of these up tempo offenses simplify things
Speaker 1: for young quarterbacks. Now in some way you have to,
Speaker 1: you know, make plays, and you don't know what the
Speaker 1: play is even gonna be. Sometimes when you step up
Speaker 1: to the line, you make a choice. But also it
Speaker 1: kind of simplifies your reads and maybe that's good for
Speaker 1: a young quarterback. I think Ian reported it today that look,
Speaker 1: the Bills are just hoping that Manual takes charge. And
Speaker 1: I think it's gonna be Manual week one. And I
Speaker 1: think the Bill's offense is much more interesting than it's
Speaker 1: been in a while. Marky's good one. Looks like a player.
Speaker 1: I mean, he looks like someone that's gonna be a factor.
Speaker 1: He's he's fast. Spiller Graham Stevie Johnson is not really fast,
Speaker 1: but he's certainly an established receiver. Robert Wills looks okay.
Speaker 1: So far, Suddenly you throw all those guys out there,
Speaker 1: they could at least be a little fun to watch,
Speaker 1: even if they're out winning. I think there'll be much
Speaker 1: more fun to watch this year. Okay, so that's the bill.
Speaker 1: So well, I'll take the Jets because obviously you know
Speaker 1: I have to talk about the Jets. My question that
Speaker 1: will oppose to you guys is this, Uh, in my mind,
Speaker 1: August fourteen is the day that the quarterback competition ended.
Speaker 1: You have Geno Smith with a just a brutal practice
Speaker 1: and he's injured. I really think at this point Rex
Speaker 1: Ryan is turning the pages. He even came out and
Speaker 1: said that, you know how brutal Gino was today. I
Speaker 1: just think that they're now may be gonna change gears,
Speaker 1: at least initially. My bigger question is this, if Sanchez
Speaker 1: starts the season, how long before we see Geno Smith?
Speaker 1: Because we're gonna see him eventually. And two piggyback on
Speaker 1: a point that West made uh in a prior podcast.
Speaker 1: You know, are we going to get to a situation
Speaker 1: potentially where this two different agendas between John Eds the
Speaker 1: GM and Rex Ryan the coach clashes and we have
Speaker 1: something like a immovable object against a stoppable force and
Speaker 1: it could lead to Rex being out of work. Can
Speaker 1: you see if a situation like that get to that point.
Speaker 1: I think we've already We're already at a point where
Speaker 1: there's a Fisher in the Jets, where you've got the
Speaker 1: GM building and thinking about taking a team in one direction,
Speaker 1: You've got Rex Ryan clinging to a whole different game plan.
Speaker 1: That's my take. I don't see it ending well. I
Speaker 1: don't think. I don't don't matter which quarterbacks starts the season.
Speaker 1: We sort of get a sense of who Sanchez is
Speaker 1: at this point. And same thing with Manual. If Gino
Speaker 1: Smith is your future, I don't think there's a lot
Speaker 1: of talent there. It's a tough situation. I wouldn't wait
Speaker 1: months and months to get him plugged in. Here's what's
Speaker 1: fascinating about this situation to me, it's the latest reminding
Speaker 1: you don't want to. It's fascinating on an overarching NFL level,
Speaker 1: as our latest reminder of just how quickly things change.
Speaker 1: After that pick six, does Iggy Anza. Gino Smith had
Speaker 1: been you know, most reported him out playing Sanchez and
Speaker 1: camp sanchezter has a pick six. It looks like, how
Speaker 1: can the Jets possibly into the season with the butt
Speaker 1: fumble pick sixer. He's just it's a calamity. It's a
Speaker 1: calamity waiting to happen. And then by the time Gino
Speaker 1: Smith sprained his ankle, everyone is saying, oh, I guess
Speaker 1: they have to go with Sanchez now. It's just so
Speaker 1: quickly things change. And the New York Daily News broke
Speaker 1: out the camp stats for Gino Smith, who had a
Speaker 1: brutal day at practice on Wednesday, according to Rex Ryan
Speaker 1: and Mark Sanchez, and it was uncanny how their stats
Speaker 1: over the course of camp, which officially broke today, we're
Speaker 1: the same, almost the same amount of attempts, almost the
Speaker 1: exact same completion percentage, almost the exact same touchdown interception Rachel.
Speaker 1: So they've been really close. That tells me if Gino
Speaker 1: can steady the ship and just be okay. The next
Speaker 1: couple of weeks and and he's healthy, I think he'll
Speaker 1: start Week one, And to answer your question, if he doesn't,
Speaker 1: I would say the second that their two games under
Speaker 1: five hundred, Gino comes in. If not even before that,
Speaker 1: I'd be stunned. A sanch as it was the quarterback
Speaker 1: by Halloween. Looking at their schedule, Tampa to start at
Speaker 1: New England, then it's not a little bad stretch. But
Speaker 1: then you have Atlanta, Pittsburgh, New England, Cincinnati, New Orleans
Speaker 1: that's week you know, we get to week nine and
Speaker 1: there's no way Santis that I would say that would
Speaker 1: be the quickest trigger in the league. If Sanchez wins
Speaker 1: the quarterback competition. It isn't it fair to say that
Speaker 1: with Rex Ryan, if he gets out of this situation
Speaker 1: with an eight and eight record, which is so unlikely,
Speaker 1: he's equal to what Belichick did with Matt Castle in
Speaker 1: two thousand and eight. I mean he's going in. He's
Speaker 1: going in with literally one of the least talented rosters
Speaker 1: in football being asked to do the impossible. No one
Speaker 1: thinks he can do it. I still want to make
Speaker 1: the case a little bit for the Jets. Their offense
Speaker 1: can't get any worse and you can be excited Dan
Speaker 1: about Mohammed Wilkerson, about Sheldon Richardson, Quentin Coples, Damario Davis,
Speaker 1: David Harris. I mean that's a fun front seven that
Speaker 1: could cause some damage. A top twelve defense, that's right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think so, and possibly a top five why not.
Speaker 1: Rex's showing seconds a little bit shaky, but you're right, Rex, Rex, Ryan,
Speaker 1: there's every benefited out as a defensive I don't go
Speaker 1: top five though, when you have an offense that might
Speaker 1: have your defense out on the field minutes a game.
Speaker 1: All right, we you know we're gonna talk about the
Speaker 1: Jets the next podcast, in the podcast after that and
Speaker 1: right that, so let's let's move on to the Miami Dolphins,
Speaker 1: a completely retooled team or somewhat retooled Mark Sessler, what
Speaker 1: is the big question? Well, the big question, unlike the
Speaker 1: last two, is not quarterback base because I do think
Speaker 1: that Ryan Tannehill finally gives them an answer at that position.
Speaker 1: But the question is that offensive line. They went out
Speaker 1: and they decorated all these other position groups, but that
Speaker 1: left tackle position with Jonathan Martin and really you've got
Speaker 1: issues at right guard. Where there's is it Jerry is
Speaker 1: not starting at the moment. The guy behind him is hurt.
Speaker 1: There are issues, and as Gregg pointed out at the
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame game, you couldn't even get a fair
Speaker 1: read on Tannehill's play because the guy is running for
Speaker 1: his life. Back there. Does that go on into the seasoned?
Speaker 1: If they don't mesh are the Dolphins just another seven
Speaker 1: and nine team like they were last year despite all
Speaker 1: the additions. Well, okay, here's what's fascinating to me about
Speaker 1: the Dolphins since we already pointed out what's fascinating about
Speaker 1: the Jeff, So, Jeff Ireland has this big shopping list.
Speaker 1: He went and filled up his basket, bought more groceries
Speaker 1: than any GM in the NFL. And it's the one
Speaker 1: move he couldn't pull off that's gonna bite him. He
Speaker 1: couldn't make the trade for Brandon Albert, who is a
Speaker 1: well above average left tackle, and that's an important position
Speaker 1: for a quarterback who's developing like Tannehill. So here he
Speaker 1: is making all these moves and the one he couldn't
Speaker 1: pull off is the one that could really hurt the
Speaker 1: Dolphins this year. And it's always over stupid small stuff.
Speaker 1: I'll give up the late second but I won't give
Speaker 1: up the early second round pick to try to save
Speaker 1: my job, to try to get a quality franchise left tackle,
Speaker 1: because maybe we believe in Jonathan Martin. To answer your question, Mark,
Speaker 1: I think it's gotta be a huge problem. In their
Speaker 1: first preseason game, you know, Joe Philibin even pointed out
Speaker 1: Mike us had single coverage every snap he was in
Speaker 1: the game, didn't get one target because Tannehill wasn't protected.
Speaker 1: That's coming from the head coach. I feel like Ireland
Speaker 1: is the GM in your fantasy league that you have
Speaker 1: a totally fair trade lined up. All you have to
Speaker 1: do is throw in Raoul Labanyas or something, and the
Speaker 1: guy won't do it and the whole trade goes under.
Speaker 1: This is the situation that Dolphins have. They have the
Speaker 1: GM that doesn't really have the guts to pull the
Speaker 1: trigger on the trade that they need to make and
Speaker 1: it might end up costing them, which I worry about
Speaker 1: them by the way that the pressure from being that
Speaker 1: team becomes something. And I usually don't get into all
Speaker 1: the stuff off the field, but if they struggle a
Speaker 1: little bit early and they have a pretty tough schedule,
Speaker 1: there's gonna be so much talk about them as a
Speaker 1: disappointing team when really I think the fair expectations for
Speaker 1: them should be low. They're not in Miami, They're really high,
Speaker 1: but they should be low. Okay, So that brings us
Speaker 1: full circle. We're gonna head back to the Patriots now, Greg,
Speaker 1: we were just talking about Brady. What let's we're assuming
Speaker 1: he's gonna be fine and he'll either be ready for
Speaker 1: the season or even before that. What is your big question?
Speaker 1: My big question is can their defense be a difference maker?
Speaker 1: For the first time since two thousand and four. They
Speaker 1: have more continuity than they've had in a long time.
Speaker 1: They're bringing back more young talent than they have in
Speaker 1: a long time. You line up that group and there's
Speaker 1: a lot of ways that the defense could actually be
Speaker 1: a weapon. Or Am I just thinking that because I'm
Speaker 1: a Homer, Well, certainly possible. I think so much depends
Speaker 1: on Dan's making. The lead candidate Chandler Jones, who looked
Speaker 1: like he was going to take the league by storm
Speaker 1: last year, and really players can't succeed with a high
Speaker 1: ankle spring. That really just savaged his season right there.
Speaker 1: He's a difference maker. For them as a pass rutger
Speaker 1: with they were lacking last year, and then they have
Speaker 1: a really good, talented linebacker corps. I don't see why
Speaker 1: this can't be a much improved defense. When I agree,
Speaker 1: I think that they having the last couple of seasons,
Speaker 1: really committed to building that defense up. I mean, talk
Speaker 1: about Bill Belichick's overall reputation as a defensive geniuses has
Speaker 1: been on the Rocks for half a decade or more.
Speaker 1: But I think that they have finally short up that
Speaker 1: linebacking group is West said is really really strong. But
Speaker 1: to flip the script a bit, I just I think
Speaker 1: that the defense is not gonna have to carry that
Speaker 1: team at all. I don't see the offense declining as
Speaker 1: much as some people predict. I'd see a slight decline.
Speaker 1: I don't think we're gonna have a problem with the
Speaker 1: Patriots on offense. And just to go back to West's
Speaker 1: point with Chandler Jones, you know, I watched a lot
Speaker 1: of his snaps for that piece for the Making the
Speaker 1: Leap series and what he was doing those in that
Speaker 1: first month of the season. He was scary. He was
Speaker 1: like a video game good. And then once his ankle
Speaker 1: went out. I think it was during that blowout loss
Speaker 1: of the blow went over the Colts. He was never
Speaker 1: the same guy. So if his body is right, he
Speaker 1: could be a guy. He could be a fifteen sack
Speaker 1: guy that can completely change how they're able to play defense.
Speaker 1: To keep to lead. Talked about it this week that
Speaker 1: the Patriots are really hard team to play for. In Tampa,
Speaker 1: we knew what the defense was gonna be. It was
Speaker 1: the same week after week with New England. You never
Speaker 1: know what's gonna come. You have to be ready for everything.
Speaker 1: It changes every week, and I think the turnover on
Speaker 1: their team has really hurt them because of that, and
Speaker 1: that's why now you have guys. Mayo has been there
Speaker 1: for a while, Spikes as a difference maker, high Tower
Speaker 1: and Jones are entering their second year. Nankovich has been
Speaker 1: there forever. Will Ferk's good. The front seven is pretty promising,
Speaker 1: and now that these players know the scheme a little better,
Speaker 1: I think Belichick can kind of do what he wants
Speaker 1: to do. They've been a little more vanilla. The secondaries questionable,
Speaker 1: but otherwise up front, I think he'll be able to
Speaker 1: attack more than than he has before. So those are
Speaker 1: the four teams in the NFC East, and I think
Speaker 1: we decided a good way to wrap it up now
Speaker 1: is to go through each of the teams and say
Speaker 1: what we think their records will be. So we'll start
Speaker 1: with West. What are your thoughts about the division and
Speaker 1: regular season record. I think the Patriots remain easily the favorites.
Speaker 1: I have them at eleven and five. Okay, second place.
Speaker 1: I have the Dolphins just because of the talent advantage
Speaker 1: over the Bills and Jets eight and eight. Third place,
Speaker 1: Buffalo Bills six and ten in a rebuilding year, Dan
Speaker 1: is now going under the desk in fourth place. I
Speaker 1: have the Jets at five and eleven. I just see
Speaker 1: too many things possibly going wrong for them in snowballing,
Speaker 1: all right, uh right here on paper, my picks are
Speaker 1: similar to West as to some degree. I have the
Speaker 1: Patriots winning the division, but at ten and six, I
Speaker 1: have the Dolphins in second place with a five eight
Speaker 1: and eight record, one better than one game better than
Speaker 1: last year. And then I have the Jets in Bills
Speaker 1: both at five and eleven. But I think the Jets
Speaker 1: will end up as the third place team in the division.
Speaker 1: So you're even going as far to choose the tiebreakers
Speaker 1: in the division. The Jets get it. Why not be
Speaker 1: a precise? Why leave that vague? All right, I'll go
Speaker 1: with mine. I say that Pats are gonna go twelve
Speaker 1: and four and again everyone's gonna be so prize, but
Speaker 1: I won't be easy division win for another year. Dolphins
Speaker 1: will disappoint at eight, eight and eight. I think the
Speaker 1: Jets and Bills will both finish six and ten. I
Speaker 1: don't know how the tiebreaker will shake out. I like
Speaker 1: the Patriots to win the division easily at twelve and four.
Speaker 1: I'm with you, Dan, so underrated. How bad this division
Speaker 1: has been overall during the Patriots tenure, It's really helped
Speaker 1: them out. I think that will be especially true this
Speaker 1: year because I don't think anyone else in the division
Speaker 1: goes over. I think the Jets are somewhat, you know,
Speaker 1: surprising as a second place team at seven and nine.
Speaker 1: I'll put the Dolphins in at seven and nine as well,
Speaker 1: and then the Bills. Look, they have so many problems
Speaker 1: I think on defense and just a young team at
Speaker 1: four and twelve in last place. Wow, So not a
Speaker 1: lot of shockers from the A t L crew and
Speaker 1: Patrick Crawley are resident Bills fan downstairs is gonna be
Speaker 1: very unhappy when he listens to this. Sorry, Patrick Crystal
Speaker 1: behind the glasses telling us that we're out of time,
Speaker 1: so we need to shut it down for another episode.
Speaker 1: I believe we're going to have a special guest on
Speaker 1: Friday that you know that Will waitch I even said that,
Speaker 1: not to give it away, but it's an a f
Speaker 1: C North Division preview, so it's someone that kind of
Speaker 1: fits with the a f C North and it's not
Speaker 1: Ben Roethlisberger. Yes, hopefully he doesn't hi hat us and
Speaker 1: we'll have him until then. Thank you for listening to
Speaker 1: the A t O Podcast