Speaker 1: Welcome to another edition of the Around the League Podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm Greg Rosenthal. We are missing our friend Dan Hansas
Speaker 1: in action, but we soldier on today. Mark Sessler and
Speaker 1: Chris Westling are here with me. We had a night
Speaker 1: of preseason games. What's up, boys, It's good to be back.
Speaker 1: A we are we excited about the preseason? No, come on, no,
Speaker 1: I am. Honestly, I gotta say it was a rush
Speaker 1: for me. Like you're waiting for that on that preseason
Speaker 1: live app, You've got four screens spinning saying like the
Speaker 1: game is about to start. I got some butterflies. It's
Speaker 1: we haven't seen this in months, Wesseling. Within minutes of
Speaker 1: the Broncos and forty Niners playing, we see Peyton Manning
Speaker 1: lining up in the in the pistol formation. That does
Speaker 1: not get your NFL juices flowing at all. Well that
Speaker 1: you know, I do like that kind of thing. The
Speaker 1: scheme changes is uh, seeing how creative teams are going
Speaker 1: to be. That's that's fun. My balloon was a little
Speaker 1: little deflated when not minutes into the Bucks Ravens game,
Speaker 1: we have to wait for the ref to go under
Speaker 1: the hood for a replay. Just just seems extraneous in
Speaker 1: a preseason game. We should kill instant replay in the preseason.
Speaker 1: I think everyone would be on board with Well. West
Speaker 1: tweeted that and I almost retweeted it because I found
Speaker 1: it funny. And then I got distracted and I went
Speaker 1: back and looked later and people had they had hammered
Speaker 1: you a little bit saying, you know, the refs need
Speaker 1: a preseason two they need to, you know, get their
Speaker 1: vibe together. I mean, I guess I see that point
Speaker 1: of view. It's it's preposterous. Why the refs just jumped
Speaker 1: right into the season last year at what week four
Speaker 1: they did it? I don't remember them meeting hood practice. Well,
Speaker 1: the Broncos, you know, broke out that formation. And for
Speaker 1: football dorks like us who are all over the preseason,
Speaker 1: that was like nirvana seeing Peyton Manning back there. I
Speaker 1: think it was a surprise. You got the running back
Speaker 1: by hind him. He's only out there for one drive,
Speaker 1: but it gives us something to talk about. Are we
Speaker 1: already making too big of a deal about Peyton Manning
Speaker 1: pistol formation and in this little change. I don't think so,
Speaker 1: because I think we're gonna see more teams that don't
Speaker 1: have the running type quarterback. Give this a shot. And
Speaker 1: you know, we talked about this a little bit earlier
Speaker 1: to that. Chris Ault even came on NFL Network in
Speaker 1: January and preached that, listen, you don't need the read
Speaker 1: option angle to make pistol effective because when you're lining
Speaker 1: that backup four yards behind the quarterback, defenses can't see
Speaker 1: the that running backs first step. And he's ste talked
Speaker 1: about Nevada used it for two years without the read
Speaker 1: option and they had a lot of success with it.
Speaker 1: And he even mentioned Eli Manning, not Peyton by name,
Speaker 1: as a guy that would make sense and it would
Speaker 1: improve the running game of basically any NFL team that
Speaker 1: incorporated it. Well. On the other hand, that that's kind
Speaker 1: of why we are making a big deal out of it.
Speaker 1: It is too big of a deal because it's not
Speaker 1: about the quarterback. Then Peyton Manning is running the pistol,
Speaker 1: but this is purely about helping the running game. And
Speaker 1: it can help the passing game too though. It can
Speaker 1: simplify things. It can make it so that their play
Speaker 1: action game and you know they have a great zone
Speaker 1: running scheme. People forget the Alex give back in Denver.
Speaker 1: That could be a big story uh this year. And look,
Speaker 1: I think the entire NFL sees the flexibility that formation
Speaker 1: gives you. Doesn't mean it's gonna be their whole offense.
Speaker 1: But the Broncos, you know, they give defenses enough to
Speaker 1: worry about. And now you throw this into the mix.
Speaker 1: You got west Welker. There, you got Julius Thomas, who
Speaker 1: I know westleyn is very excited about. I am. I
Speaker 1: feel like he's that wild card. Now he's a lot
Speaker 1: more athletic than Joel Greeson. It gives them another mismatch
Speaker 1: type of guy potentially. Uh, he took first team reps
Speaker 1: all off season and now he's he's starting while Greeson
Speaker 1: is out. I guess I'm interested to see whether he
Speaker 1: keeps the starting job and had a nice game. How
Speaker 1: how great an offense would that be to be a
Speaker 1: tight end And I mean, you're you're gonna be open
Speaker 1: right single coverage, You're going to be open, you know
Speaker 1: to Mary's Thomas, Welker, Decker all taking defense attention away.
Speaker 1: And and Julius Thomas is one of these new types
Speaker 1: who was six five to fifty played four years of
Speaker 1: college basketball he's athletic as can be. Uh missed two
Speaker 1: years because he was injured, but the Broncos have liked
Speaker 1: him since they drafted him two years three years ago.
Speaker 1: His emergence really one of the more underrated storylines I
Speaker 1: think of Camp. They have a lot of numbers. I
Speaker 1: mean because that running back. They're still sorting it out.
Speaker 1: Ronnie Hellman still the starter, Monty Ball. You know, there
Speaker 1: wasn't really any separation there last night. But that's a
Speaker 1: good tight end group. People forget that they were pretty
Speaker 1: productive and you throw Thomas in the mix, who's the
Speaker 1: most athletic, uh, and they're gonna be tough to stop.
Speaker 1: You know, they were playing the forty Niners last night.
Speaker 1: Did you have any impressions watching the forty Niners? Mark Sessler? Well,
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, initially, what I what I thought
Speaker 1: was interesting was the team does lack any sort of
Speaker 1: presence downfield in the past game from what we little
Speaker 1: we saw last night. Immediately they were using Vernon Davis
Speaker 1: in in the formation where he would come across. He'd
Speaker 1: tricked completely tricked the defense where he was going to be.
Speaker 1: They're thrown to him short. Bolden looked like an immediate
Speaker 1: fit to me in the forty niner system, like Kaepernick
Speaker 1: and him already really really seem to have chemistry, but
Speaker 1: they really lack like that ability to strike down field.
Speaker 1: From what little we saw last night, I can already
Speaker 1: hear Dan hands As listening somewhere thinking we don't have
Speaker 1: enough mirth in this podcast. It's too football hardcore heavy.
Speaker 1: But I totally, I totally agree with you on the
Speaker 1: forty nine. It's not so much not just that they
Speaker 1: don't have a vertical threat, but they just don't have
Speaker 1: a real wide receiver. Give me a wide receiver on
Speaker 1: that team that's healthy. I mean outside of Bolden, No,
Speaker 1: they don't have a deep. They don't have a guy
Speaker 1: is bold and a wide receiver though, No, I think
Speaker 1: he's more like you're inside. Guy's gonna do the same
Speaker 1: thing over and over and shouldn't be playing. He's a
Speaker 1: tight end. I mean he's a slot receiver, so he's
Speaker 1: a wide receiver, but he's basically a tight end. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's not gonna get any separation. They're hoping that a J.
Speaker 1: Jenkins steps up. That hasn't happened. He's had a rough camp.
Speaker 1: He lost a fumble, I don't want to overreact to
Speaker 1: any result of the preseason. I don't really care what
Speaker 1: happens in the box score, but it's more about who's
Speaker 1: earning snaps, who's getting into the mix, and they're searching.
Speaker 1: I mean, they signed Austin Collie. I think Austin Colly's
Speaker 1: gonna make that team. Austin Collie might end up playing
Speaker 1: a lot for them, Yeah, if he's healthy. I mean
Speaker 1: I thought when he played with the Coolts, I thought
Speaker 1: he was more important to their offense than Pierre Garson was.
Speaker 1: He was that good. I am encouraged that when I
Speaker 1: got a first look at Kaepernick last night, he had
Speaker 1: grown what were the makings of a very fluffy beard.
Speaker 1: And no, I mean, you know, the guy's the guy
Speaker 1: is maturing, He's obviously growing into his role. Does he
Speaker 1: still look like the great Gazoo? I don't know. He
Speaker 1: looked like he looked like an adult to me, ready
Speaker 1: to take charge. But I mean, also, the Niners is
Speaker 1: a team like the Patriots. Talk about a team that
Speaker 1: can completely go into the lab and change what they
Speaker 1: do from week to week. I I'm not. I think
Speaker 1: you're right. The preseason is not going to give us
Speaker 1: a full picture of what they're about on any level.
Speaker 1: No learned last year in the preseason how explosive Kaepernick
Speaker 1: can be. Sometimes the preseason can tell you a little
Speaker 1: bit about something. Who's some young player that's trying to
Speaker 1: make in it back now, they're gonna hide things he's not.
Speaker 1: It's not going to be about him. I do agree
Speaker 1: with you. The beard was troubling to me. He's kind
Speaker 1: of that guy who shows up like if you just
Speaker 1: don't see him for a month, he looks like a
Speaker 1: completely different person when you see him after. They're just
Speaker 1: people like that in life. Uh. I know, And we've
Speaker 1: got Chris Law behind the glass. Your beard is you know,
Speaker 1: it's time tested. It gives you an elegant look. Elegant.
Speaker 1: I think it's more lumberjack. You're like an elegant lumberjack,
Speaker 1: though you're not. You're you are wearing a flannel, but
Speaker 1: it is a it was a recently laundered flannel. Could Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's the type. I mean, we're honored to have Chris
Speaker 1: Law subbing in here producing today. Certainly the most well
Speaker 1: known person you know in the studio right now because
Speaker 1: of the Rich Eyes and podcast ten million downloads. I mean,
Speaker 1: they're they're on fire. But you're the type not not
Speaker 1: to get on you, but you're the type that pulls
Speaker 1: off the beard. I feel like people that are in
Speaker 1: the ESPN body issue, they don't need a beard, don't
Speaker 1: need you would not be the choice for the ESPN
Speaker 1: body What does what does think of that? Because I
Speaker 1: think we have them on the line. Oh no, we're
Speaker 1: getting surprised, just like we surprised them the other day. Dan,
Speaker 1: are you there? You know it's a bunch, it's you know,
Speaker 1: my ears were twitching and I was told that there
Speaker 1: was some heat being dropped on me. So I gotta
Speaker 1: call in and I gotta, you know, defend my honor. Well,
Speaker 1: you know, you like to steer us sometimes into the
Speaker 1: lighter side of things and and into the jets, and
Speaker 1: those are two you know, topics we've avoided so far.
Speaker 1: No jets talk nothing to Zany and you know we're
Speaker 1: just you know, wondering how disappointed you'd be somewhere listening. Well,
Speaker 1: number one, I'm deeply disappointed. Um, you know, someone's gotta
Speaker 1: bring the entertainment end of the podcast. But you know,
Speaker 1: more importantly, I was I was laying on kel v
Speaker 1: J outside Austin, Texas, enjoying myself. Chris Law I get
Speaker 1: a call from him. I figured there must be something
Speaker 1: terribly wrong, like maybe I'm his emergency contact or something.
Speaker 1: Turns out, it was just Chris Law doing me a
Speaker 1: solid as a good man, telling me that there was
Speaker 1: some heat being dropped on me. And there was a
Speaker 1: lot of, you know, maybe some disrespect over the fact
Speaker 1: that I'm not at work right now and I'm drinking um,
Speaker 1: you know, alcoholic beverages while you guys are working. So
Speaker 1: I just want you to know that I hear all,
Speaker 1: and I know all, and I have sources. I'm not
Speaker 1: sure what heat was being dropped on you. I think
Speaker 1: I need to go back and listen for that. I
Speaker 1: think we're just frankly jealous. You're on lhuys on l J.
Speaker 1: Are you or are you not currently with Cedric Benson.
Speaker 1: I was et Cedric Benson. I would not be in
Speaker 1: any condition to take the song call. Yeah, Dan will say,
Speaker 1: were you guys talking about Kaepernick's beard. Yes, it's it's
Speaker 1: the greatest beard ever. I've never not seen a beard
Speaker 1: like that. It's Rocky four. When the Loan was training
Speaker 1: for the dry go fight. And the one thing I
Speaker 1: will say about that is when Drago, when Stallone grew
Speaker 1: out that beer, he actually climbed an entire mountain and
Speaker 1: then be the be the man that was not human
Speaker 1: on Christmas Night on the road. So I am all
Speaker 1: in on the Kaepernick for Kaepernick. Yeah, I have a
Speaker 1: critical question for Dan Hansen, but uh yeah, so I
Speaker 1: don't know I was called in. I just to defend
Speaker 1: my honor. But if if it really I wasn't capting
Speaker 1: a lot of peace, then I apologize for coming in
Speaker 1: with guns blazing. Dan. I got a big question for
Speaker 1: you here. Is there an umbrella in your drink? Currently?
Speaker 1: There isn't because I'm in Texas and this is beer country.
Speaker 1: Um As I see my wife right now on a
Speaker 1: tube on the lake asking for me to get her.
Speaker 1: How I kind of understand why I might deserve to
Speaker 1: get some heat Right now, I'm in a pretty good spot.
Speaker 1: Right It's August Stands on his ninth vacation of the year.
Speaker 1: He's got another one coming in Vegas. Football is being played,
Speaker 1: and he's out there drinking lone Star beers. We we
Speaker 1: should be annoyed at you. I'm impressed to be honest,
Speaker 1: count off these nine vacations. I don't know. I'm the
Speaker 1: one due in the countant. Dan, thank you very much.
Speaker 1: Go back and say hi to your wife from us.
Speaker 1: I will and uh, you know, guys, keep up the
Speaker 1: good work. I really enjoy your work. So that was
Speaker 1: Dan Hansas. Thank you, Law for throwing us under the bus.
Speaker 1: See Law, I like this. It takes an incredible amount
Speaker 1: of initiative as a producer. It's a good point, well
Speaker 1: filling gaps. I like that he's driving the show, trying,
Speaker 1: trying to make trying to bring up the boat that
Speaker 1: is the NFL podcast, well kind of like Dan is
Speaker 1: is number four on the depth chart here at around
Speaker 1: the League nam the Awesoma number four on the San
Speaker 1: Francisco forty diers depth chart last night. How about that
Speaker 1: for a segue. I don't think. I don't know why
Speaker 1: everyone is so surprised. He was a subpar guy for
Speaker 1: the last two seasons in Philly, and by name alone,
Speaker 1: are we excited about him? No? But I thought it
Speaker 1: was interesting last night that they start three guys, Tremaine
Speaker 1: Brock being one of them, Terrell Brown, Carlos Rogers and
Speaker 1: not the asswa isn't one of those guys. And they
Speaker 1: just signed Eric Right. Let's start doing the math. Eric
Speaker 1: Right makes the team. You know, does that mean I'm
Speaker 1: the Asma is not making the team. It doesn't bode
Speaker 1: well when the defensive coordinator comes out publicly and says,
Speaker 1: we still don't know what we have in no Amniosma.
Speaker 1: We still don't know if he can play. And also,
Speaker 1: I mean, this is a guy that what was it
Speaker 1: a season ago that he was chronicled as eating sandwiches
Speaker 1: alone in his car during breaks. I don't know what
Speaker 1: he brings to the locker room. I just don't know. No,
Speaker 1: I don't either, And to me, he's he's not really
Speaker 1: that interesting right now as a football player. But it
Speaker 1: is interesting that three years ago. Dan pointed this out
Speaker 1: last night actually, and he was working from Texas. We
Speaker 1: give him a lot of I believe he was working
Speaker 1: until like one in the morning, one of them. Dan's
Speaker 1: a very hard worker. Now, I'm the Aswa and Durrell
Speaker 1: reeve us we were talking three years ago whether who
Speaker 1: is the best cornerback in the league. And if Asma
Speaker 1: doesn't make this team, he might be out of league.
Speaker 1: And it's just another a reminder how quickly things go
Speaker 1: in the NFL. Yeah, it was a quick swoon, kind
Speaker 1: of stunning. One veteran that's kept his career going at
Speaker 1: a very high level longer than we'd expect is Steven Jackson,
Speaker 1: the new Atlanta Falcons running back. They broke out last
Speaker 1: night their first preseason game. He struggled a little bit,
Speaker 1: Chris Wesley, and I know you watched that game. I
Speaker 1: don't put too much stock in the game itself, because
Speaker 1: it didn't look like Steven Jackson was even trying as
Speaker 1: hard as he normally does. I mean, we're talking about
Speaker 1: one of the big effort running backs in the NFL.
Speaker 1: He's always in tip top shape. He's using the preseason
Speaker 1: just as a tune up. But my concern with him is,
Speaker 1: you know, I've been saying that he's a major upgrade
Speaker 1: on Michael Turner. The one concern, and I saw this
Speaker 1: a couple of times last night. He doesn't have lateral agility.
Speaker 1: And you see this if you watch the Rams tape
Speaker 1: and you see Darryl Richardson and Isaiah Isaiah Pete and
Speaker 1: then you watched Steven Jackson, and Jackson kind of looks
Speaker 1: like the old cartoons where it's a Tom and Jerry
Speaker 1: Chase and he's getting around the corner with one let
Speaker 1: up in the air. And that's how he turned at
Speaker 1: the corner in the NFL. Now, But that's been the
Speaker 1: case for a couple of years, right, I mean, and
Speaker 1: he's still been effective. He's a guy that kind of
Speaker 1: changed styles during his career. When was the last long
Speaker 1: run Stephen Jackson had? He didn't have any last year.
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't think no. I just he's not
Speaker 1: gonna turn the corner. And if your offensive line isn't blocking, well,
Speaker 1: they weren't last night. Now they were going against Bengals,
Speaker 1: who might have the best front flour in the NFL.
Speaker 1: So that's we can't really take much from that. Eagles
Speaker 1: Fan Week one, first play from scrimmage, forty yards up
Speaker 1: the middle for a touchdown, Stephen Jackson went on us
Speaker 1: wide open though. I'm serious, though in the open field,
Speaker 1: he's not a guy for a couple of years that
Speaker 1: is worrying anywhere he is an upgrade over Turner though,
Speaker 1: I mean, and they've already talked about that. I think
Speaker 1: you're right. Was he not? I'm not sure he wasn't trying,
Speaker 1: but they did not put him out there full blast.
Speaker 1: They've talked about using him more in the passing game.
Speaker 1: Turner brought nothing to that. If you're using him as
Speaker 1: a joker and lining him up all over the formation
Speaker 1: and he doesn't have lateral agility anymore, I don't if
Speaker 1: that's going to turn out so well, well, that's that
Speaker 1: may be the case. Steven Jackson's a guy that I
Speaker 1: don't care how veterans doing the preseason because they've been
Speaker 1: through what the regular season and for him the playoffs
Speaker 1: are like, and they're not really putting it out there.
Speaker 1: Football is such a game of effort, you know that
Speaker 1: you have to be going all the way or else.
Speaker 1: It almost doesn't make sense that I don't. It's really
Speaker 1: hard for me to take anything from the preseason, which
Speaker 1: leads us to your Browns. Well, I want to have
Speaker 1: one more note on the Falcons because I caught some
Speaker 1: heat a couple of weeks ago when I had labeled
Speaker 1: them as a boring franchise, just a boring operation. But
Speaker 1: I and and for me, it was a mystery, Like
Speaker 1: I said, why I felt that way, and it it
Speaker 1: came it hit home last night very clearly. It is
Speaker 1: the way that television broadcasts look like from that dome.
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's the color on the carpet,
Speaker 1: the way the whole thing looks. It's like a massive
Speaker 1: sleeping pill. I cannot watch Falcons games without becoming they're
Speaker 1: just not as fun. Though. It's not not as fun
Speaker 1: to watch the game. It doesn't show up on television
Speaker 1: as well. I agree, Saints, though, are a fun deemon
Speaker 1: to watch in general. You're not Falcons always have been
Speaker 1: that team for me too. That when they're on national team,
Speaker 1: you're like, really four or five games for for the
Speaker 1: Falcons now. But now that they got rid of Malarkey,
Speaker 1: brought in Dirk Cutter, they got Julio Jones. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think that's the point. It's not the team, it's
Speaker 1: the environment. Put him outside in a gritty situation. I'm
Speaker 1: more onto it. But yes, on to the Browns. I mean,
Speaker 1: Mark loves his teams to be running for three yards
Speaker 1: up the middle, in the middle and grass like Peyton hillis,
Speaker 1: you know, and offense built around Peyton Hillis is really
Speaker 1: like the Elements. And we might have a hard nosed
Speaker 1: team in Cleveland this year. I know all the writers
Speaker 1: in Cleveland they see him score a couple of touchdowns,
Speaker 1: you know, in the preseason, and they get very excited
Speaker 1: about Brandon Weedon and they had a nice first night.
Speaker 1: Mark Sessler is feeling feeling the love. Well, you know,
Speaker 1: not all of us can simultaneously route for the Patriots
Speaker 1: and the Saints, Greg, So you know, these guys in
Speaker 1: Cleveland have covered that team for two decades. Tony Grossi
Speaker 1: wrote a column last night that I thought it was appropriate.
Speaker 1: He basically thought it. You know, he couldn't even explain
Speaker 1: what he saw because for the first time in a
Speaker 1: preseason game in a while, they actually put a few
Speaker 1: drives together. But we shouldn't overstate it because you know,
Speaker 1: they're playing against a very vanilla defense. But they I
Speaker 1: thought we didn't. He looked accurate. He made good decisions.
Speaker 1: Last year. What you saw him was drop back, pat
Speaker 1: the ball repeatedly and then often have the ball tipped
Speaker 1: to just throw it nowhere. That made sense. He seemed
Speaker 1: decisive last night. To me. That was that was the
Speaker 1: difference I saw in Weeden's play. You seem conflicted there.
Speaker 1: You in in your logic, in your head you know
Speaker 1: that it doesn't mean anything, but in your heart like
Speaker 1: Brown's fans out there, you couldn't help get a little excited. Sure,
Speaker 1: as a Browns fan, it's like you. I do think that. Honestly,
Speaker 1: if that team were to turn it on, it would
Speaker 1: be one of the better stories in the NFL. And
Speaker 1: you see a lot of people come around and say,
Speaker 1: you know, you're right what the team has been through. Uh,
Speaker 1: to see you them flip it around and start to
Speaker 1: win would be exciting. But it's far too early. The
Speaker 1: cynical side of any Browns fan is, let's emerge unscathed
Speaker 1: from something other than a four and twelve season before
Speaker 1: we even start to, you know, conjure our imagination. See
Speaker 1: even the mild excited the preseason to me for and
Speaker 1: I hate to be a buzz kill for Browns fans
Speaker 1: or anyone else out there. It means nothing. I mean
Speaker 1: nothing that happens results wise is gonna tell me something.
Speaker 1: Maybe some players emerged, like Dion Lewis of the Browns.
Speaker 1: He's a nice story, he's playing well. Now we're learning
Speaker 1: that he's probably going to be a part of their offense.
Speaker 1: Looks like he might. You think he's going to be
Speaker 1: the backup to Richards. I think He's a complimentary back,
Speaker 1: which frankly, they just didn't really have last season. They
Speaker 1: see him as like they're poor man's there and sprowls
Speaker 1: just to use in the passing game, right and and
Speaker 1: he made a nice touchdown catch. Weeden was protected very
Speaker 1: well in that game. I'd like to see what Weeden
Speaker 1: does when he's not protected. That's a fair point. Had
Speaker 1: the NFL and batted passes last year at which is
Speaker 1: inexcusable considering his atcher. That's right. I thought Mingo was
Speaker 1: the other guy I look at and say, you know, listen,
Speaker 1: they've drafted a ton of guys who just you know,
Speaker 1: week after week, they make no impact on tape. He's athletic,
Speaker 1: he made he he got you know, past his blocker
Speaker 1: a couple of times. First came out there. I was
Speaker 1: encouraged by that. He looked very good. Actually reminded me
Speaker 1: a little of Chandler Jones in the preseason last year.
Speaker 1: I do think you can learn something from the rookies. Uh,
Speaker 1: they played the Ram. Tavon Austin wasn't really a factor here.
Speaker 1: Do we think that that Brian Schottenheimer and the Rams
Speaker 1: are just kind of keeping tavan Austin under wraps for August.
Speaker 1: I think from what we've seen in Brian Schottenheimer's history,
Speaker 1: we have to question whether he's really in the lab uh,
Speaker 1: whether anything's under the wraps, right, I mean what we
Speaker 1: saw from the Redskins last year, to your point about
Speaker 1: the preseason meaning nothing, there was so much kind of
Speaker 1: handwringing about r G three's boring preseason. He hadn't done much.
Speaker 1: And then they take the raps all off in Week
Speaker 1: one against the Saints, and by halftime you realize that
Speaker 1: Shanahan's are brilliant, that they've masterminded this whole offense and
Speaker 1: shown nothing in the preseason. Yeah. I mean, I think
Speaker 1: that the Schottenheimer angle is starting to pick up some steam.
Speaker 1: We've mentioned it a few times on our site, where
Speaker 1: it's what is it that Schottenheimer is going to produce
Speaker 1: if he's gonna pull a Shanahan type transformation week one?
Speaker 1: Because he is who he is. You look where he
Speaker 1: came from, not only in his roots with his father,
Speaker 1: but through his career he's been a guy that is
Speaker 1: not a pushed the envelope type of offensive coordinator. But
Speaker 1: I think also with Austin, they weren't going into game
Speaker 1: plan to try to turn him loose last night, and
Speaker 1: that's a fair you know, that's that's fair on their angle.
Speaker 1: I think if anything, they'd want to do that at home,
Speaker 1: or they'll wait a couple of weeks to see how
Speaker 1: he reacts to defense. Yeah, I don't think they'll show
Speaker 1: anything with Davon Austin in the in the preseason. And
Speaker 1: this is an offense that needs a creative offensive coordinator
Speaker 1: because as much as I like Chris Gibbins, and you
Speaker 1: have Jared Cook who's always been and talented but not
Speaker 1: always productive. You have an okay quarterback trying to get better.
Speaker 1: You have a mix you know of running backs. Looks
Speaker 1: like Darryl Richardson is going to be the starter. Isaipp
Speaker 1: had a fumble last night? You know, these aren't guys
Speaker 1: that have been around and you know their roles. You
Speaker 1: have to figure out all of these guys roles. I
Speaker 1: think Kris Gives gonna be the number one receiver on
Speaker 1: this team. I mean, San Bradford, you know, you can
Speaker 1: knock him a little bit, but he had one of
Speaker 1: the prettiest you know passes you will ever see to
Speaker 1: Chris Givons last night and if he's protected, he can
Speaker 1: throw a big time vertical pass. They're gonna need Schottenheimer
Speaker 1: to be creative because their personnel on offense, these are
Speaker 1: all space players, Givens Austin, both the running backs. Uh, Cook,
Speaker 1: you're gonna have to scheme to get these get these
Speaker 1: guys the ball in space. They're not gonna power through people.
Speaker 1: This isn't like gonna be a base offense. So Schottenheimer's
Speaker 1: gonna be very important this year. But the other thing
Speaker 1: is on the Rams, the very young. I think it
Speaker 1: was Football Outsiders that noted that they're running back slash
Speaker 1: wide receiver groupings have less experience than any of the
Speaker 1: last four expansion teams that came into the NFL. So yeah,
Speaker 1: it's like coaching is extremely important with that team. And Bradford,
Speaker 1: who's cycled through one coordinator after the next, does he
Speaker 1: have his best one right now? I think we're all
Speaker 1: concerned with that. And the Rams have a lot of potential,
Speaker 1: especially on defense, and you see this on the offense,
Speaker 1: and if they can't flip the switch, it's a shame.
Speaker 1: And I think they're a team on offense. It would
Speaker 1: not surprise me if they're one of the worst five
Speaker 1: offenses in the league, and it wouldn't surprise me if
Speaker 1: they take a huge jump. I just think they're one
Speaker 1: of those teams you don't know what you're gonna get.
Speaker 1: I think the defense is going to be very good
Speaker 1: either way. Another defense you know that we watched last
Speaker 1: night that's had so much turnover is the Baltimore Ravens. Uh, Chris,
Speaker 1: you watch that game a little more closely. What did
Speaker 1: you see from that defense? I think three takeaways? One.
Speaker 1: Darryll Smith was a great free agent signing. A lot
Speaker 1: of teams missed the boat on him because he's coming
Speaker 1: off in injury prone year at age thirty. This guy
Speaker 1: can play and he could be their leading tackler. Uh.
Speaker 1: The second sticking at linebacker, Uh. Doomerville was a big
Speaker 1: free agent signing, got a lot of publicity. Courtney Upshaw
Speaker 1: looks like the starter. They're playing on early downs and
Speaker 1: they'll split that position. Doomerville will come in on on
Speaker 1: passing downs. And then the third thing, Maddy Elam isn't
Speaker 1: starting yet. The first round draft pick James ahead of
Speaker 1: bow is the starter. And this is something where every
Speaker 1: time Hardball mentions the position, he does talk about ahead
Speaker 1: of Bill. He can't be written off yet. We don't
Speaker 1: know that Ellen will take that starting job. That surprised
Speaker 1: me too when we we had a list yesterday of
Speaker 1: rookies to watch, and I really, from everything I had
Speaker 1: read and everything you heard about Maddie Elam was like,
Speaker 1: the guy's gonna he is your week one starter. It
Speaker 1: may not happen tonight, but it's gonna happen. And he
Speaker 1: really was in there at the end of the game.
Speaker 1: If anything, he let he closed the game with like
Speaker 1: the the lowest guys on the roster. I'm not sure why,
Speaker 1: but I'm from everything you hear, they like him. So
Speaker 1: I'll be in to see what happens in week two
Speaker 1: for them in the Peason's a big, big disappointment for
Speaker 1: them if ahead of Oo is starting in week one.
Speaker 1: But your point on Doomerville is really interesting because it
Speaker 1: gets me thinking about what that team is gonna look
Speaker 1: like on third down. You got Doomerville on one side,
Speaker 1: you got Sugs on another. You can move Alodi Nada around.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's a pretty dangerous group. I think Doomerville's
Speaker 1: lost in Denver was the biggest, you know, mistake by
Speaker 1: any front office in the entire offseason. I think you'll
Speaker 1: have a big impact, you know, and don't forget they
Speaker 1: picked up Chris Canty, who looked great last night. Marcus spears,
Speaker 1: I don't think there's any question that defense is gonna
Speaker 1: better than it was last year. They were only what
Speaker 1: eighteenth or nineteenth in defense last year. Well, it's it's
Speaker 1: it comes back to Ozzy knew from that guy goes
Speaker 1: he goes out and he finds his type of players
Speaker 1: and they don't have to all be twenty two. They
Speaker 1: don't have to all be hard and veterans. He gets
Speaker 1: a good mix. And it's funny that in March everyone
Speaker 1: who knows a lot about football was raising the red
Speaker 1: flag and freaking out about the Ravens, and here they are.
Speaker 1: They look a lot better than they did last season
Speaker 1: on defense. In my opinion, I totally agree. Uh. One
Speaker 1: other item we're gonna hit from last night that we
Speaker 1: that we found out was an injury to Plexico Burris.
Speaker 1: Looks like he's gonna miss the season with a torn
Speaker 1: rotator cuff. Obviously not a big impact this year. There's
Speaker 1: no guarantee he was even gonna make that team. But
Speaker 1: it just got me thinking about Plexico Buris a little
Speaker 1: bit and just what a interesting career that he had,
Speaker 1: kind of as heinz Wards, you know, partner and crime.
Speaker 1: They let him go. I think he was one of
Speaker 1: the best free agent signings of the last decade. His
Speaker 1: first three years in New York, he was such a
Speaker 1: difference maker, averaging over a thousand yards, averaging about ten touchdowns,
Speaker 1: and his performance in the NFC Championship game against the Packards,
Speaker 1: to me, is one of the best. Can you think
Speaker 1: of a better performance by a wide receiver in a
Speaker 1: playoff game than Plexico Burris dragging Al Harris all over
Speaker 1: the field in five degree weather in lambeau Field. I
Speaker 1: get your point. It was a dominating performance against a
Speaker 1: cornerback who was thought to be among the best among
Speaker 1: the best in the league. But yes, Larry Fitzgerald's whole
Speaker 1: playoff run to get the Cardinals to the super Bowl
Speaker 1: that was more dominant. To give you that. I think
Speaker 1: with plaques he could have he could have made a
Speaker 1: lot of teams better this season. He could have produced
Speaker 1: this year. I understand them on the Steelers like he
Speaker 1: wasn't looking more than a fourth or fifth guy. I
Speaker 1: would argue heavily again to that, I don't think he
Speaker 1: wasn't even on a roster until December last year because
Speaker 1: nobody wanted him. I don't think he would have I
Speaker 1: don't think he would have made the Steeler's roster, and
Speaker 1: I think he would have been sitting on the couch
Speaker 1: all year. I still like him as a red zone target.
Speaker 1: I'm not talking necessarily a thousand yard guy. But if
Speaker 1: he don't play special teams at wide receiver and you're
Speaker 1: only in the red zone, you're you're a roster ornament.
Speaker 1: I'll be sad to see him go. Let me do.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's more like plas a Steeler, he burned the
Speaker 1: Browns a hundred times. But it's like I liked him
Speaker 1: as a player. To me, he was the most one
Speaker 1: of the more misunderstood guys. Smart guy. He's gonna be remembered, um,
Speaker 1: you know, for shooting himself in the leg while wearing
Speaker 1: a swap you know, Paris swept hands at a New
Speaker 1: York City nightclub. I just wish people would remember more
Speaker 1: than that. So let's pour one out here for Plexico
Speaker 1: burruss career. Not an alcoholic beverage, because we're at work
Speaker 1: for you all right before we go, We've got our
Speaker 1: our only weekly segment right now, although we're we need
Speaker 1: some help, Chris Laws alright after the show, you know,
Speaker 1: we're we need to come up with more weekly segments,
Speaker 1: but we need some sort of sound effect here to
Speaker 1: go along with our weekly segment called the Metrics Mind Vendor.
Speaker 1: This is a segment, you know, we talked about a
Speaker 1: few times before. Basically some story that we wrote that
Speaker 1: seems like it should be a stupid story, and yet America,
Speaker 1: you know, seems to just fall in love with it.
Speaker 1: We can't really understand why that is. One of our
Speaker 1: loyal listeners suggested that we should send this out every
Speaker 1: week and have the guy's guess what story it was.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna give you guys, Chris, actually we'll give
Speaker 1: you glock and jump in here, Mark Sessler three options here.
Speaker 1: Which story here did the best and was was the
Speaker 1: most popular this week? All right, I'm gonna start with
Speaker 1: early do set cut by the Seattle Seahawks after only
Speaker 1: four days. That's that's option number one. Brandon Boykin says
Speaker 1: that the Patriots bullied the Eagles at their practices. That's
Speaker 1: option number two. And then Brandon Moore decides not to
Speaker 1: join the Dallas Cowboys and stay in retirement. I am
Speaker 1: guessing that America is embracing the fact that the Patriots
Speaker 1: were bullying the Eagles. All right, that's Wesleyan's answer. Law,
Speaker 1: I think I'm gonna go anything America's team rates, well,
Speaker 1: I gotta go with the Cowboys story on this one,
Speaker 1: I think good strategy. I wrote the bullying post, so
Speaker 1: I would put that as number one, just based on
Speaker 1: the way it was presented. The structure the stories this week,
Speaker 1: because I had no idea, just kidding, these are these
Speaker 1: can't be higher stories. Not only were they stories, but
Speaker 1: they were all extremely popular. They weren't the three highest
Speaker 1: stories of the week, but they were all up there
Speaker 1: in the top ten. People were all about Early do
Speaker 1: sett although he is not the answer man, they track
Speaker 1: very well. Also, their their fans are crazy. So if
Speaker 1: you write something about we need to start treating the
Speaker 1: Seahawks like we do the Jets, yea, Chris. Chris had
Speaker 1: a ten minute long rant about NFL media's over coverage
Speaker 1: of the Jets. That may have been my first tantrum
Speaker 1: in the NFL. Yeah, so we decided no Jets talking
Speaker 1: in this show. Uh the answer and uh the winner
Speaker 1: here Chris Law, Brandon More and the Cowboys. You're right,
Speaker 1: all cowboys stories tend to do well. They do tend
Speaker 1: to do well. See I kind of used inside knowledge
Speaker 1: there to to but but they all they all did
Speaker 1: really well. That's why I chose them. And the brandon
Speaker 1: More story. It was like it was Anthony Muno's almost
Speaker 1: coming out of retirement. People were hammering that thing. It
Speaker 1: stayed as our top story for a long time. That
Speaker 1: about wraps it up here for the show. We missed Dan,
Speaker 1: But I'm glad Allah you sat in. Thank you. I
Speaker 1: think we're gonna get rich in here. Actually one day
Speaker 1: next week for you guys, that would be great with you.
Speaker 1: That would definitely add some class, credibility and talent to
Speaker 1: the qualities sometimes missing from this production. I'm just being honest.
Speaker 1: You guys are good. I'm looking at your numbers. They're
Speaker 1: all coming up. I mean, you guys are new, right,
Speaker 1: this is week two or three. This is like week
Speaker 1: two and a half second full week. Yes, it's great
Speaker 1: the way it started to starting on the back end
Speaker 1: of Damna Checks, kind of getting established and people to
Speaker 1: know you and then flowing it in. So we are
Speaker 1: the Love Choco podcast. There you go. We're kind of
Speaker 1: like Beavis. I have a Beavis and butt Head spinning
Speaker 1: off from you know what, sin Am? I right? No,
Speaker 1: you know what's a great spinoff that's gonna happen. I
Speaker 1: just flew that, uh season five of Breaking Badness. Coming
Speaker 1: out the final season, they're gonna spin off Saul and
Speaker 1: do a series on the Lawyer's Saul. See, that's a
Speaker 1: smart spinoff. There's been a lot of dunder headed spinoffs
Speaker 1: in time, but that one, there's some got squashed by
Speaker 1: NBC that was We'll never know that would have been.
Speaker 1: I wanted some behind the scenes of that. So we
Speaker 1: hope that we're more like the Sauce spinoff, less like
Speaker 1: the Joey from Friends spin off. And for the Ropers,
Speaker 1: the Ropers, uh, and I think we got a close
Speaker 1: on the Ropers for Mark Sessler, Chris laws stepping in,
Speaker 1: and Chris Wesseling. I'm Greg rosent sall. That's it.