Speaker 1: M Welcome back to another edition of the Around the
Speaker 1: League Podcast. My name is Dan Hansis. I'm joined by
Speaker 1: a room full of heroes. Here. I have on my
Speaker 1: right the great Chris Westling, Mark Sessler, Greg Rosenthal, and
Speaker 1: then a special guest, the final member of the A
Speaker 1: t L team, Kevin Patra. Great to be here, finally
Speaker 1: made it to the big leagues. Now, if you're just
Speaker 1: joining in for the first time, you you probably don't
Speaker 1: know Patrick's name, or even if you read the site,
Speaker 1: you might not. But Kevin is gonna be joining us
Speaker 1: in a full time capacity in a couple of weeks.
Speaker 1: He's actually gonna be leaving Los Angeles, moving to Chicago,
Speaker 1: and so this is probably the last time he'll ever
Speaker 1: be on the podcast, but we just wanted introduce him
Speaker 1: to everyone before before we bid him. The good thing
Speaker 1: about this is no matter how good or how bad
Speaker 1: Patrick does, he'll never be on again. So if he's
Speaker 1: really good and it was a position, oh maybe he
Speaker 1: should replace someone, it's not possible. If he was really bad,
Speaker 1: we just don't have to think about it anymore because
Speaker 1: he's gone. I'll just try to be mediocre, so it
Speaker 1: doesn't matter. That's that's what we aim for here at
Speaker 1: the Around Podcast. Okay, so we have a busy show today.
Speaker 1: Off the top, let's talk about all right, so we
Speaker 1: got we're on iTunes correct, uh so subscribe and download
Speaker 1: and also rate because the higher the rating, I guess,
Speaker 1: the more successful we are to tell your friends, tell
Speaker 1: your friends about the local podcast. Also, we have a
Speaker 1: new logo which will tie behind the glass you know.
Speaker 1: Thank you for engineering that that was. It's a beautiful
Speaker 1: new logo, much better than the seventh grade photoshop version
Speaker 1: prior to that. So that's good. But the next step
Speaker 1: up now is the theme song. Right now, Right now,
Speaker 1: we have the guitar lick. That's something similar. How would
Speaker 1: you describe the current guitar lick theme song? Embarrassing? Well,
Speaker 1: can you play the current lick? Sure? Thing here it is.
Speaker 1: It kind of sounds like Greg, you and I were
Speaker 1: downstairs working in direct TV. We were watching something on
Speaker 1: the DVR and then it when the show ended, it
Speaker 1: went to direct TV's generic guitar music. It's similar to that.
Speaker 1: So now what we need to do is find a
Speaker 1: new theme song. We have Dick Banks, Dave Damastuk's trusted
Speaker 1: music guy working on a new song, but we should
Speaker 1: probably have a different song in the interim right until
Speaker 1: Dick has his song ready. So, wil, do you want
Speaker 1: to play us a couple of options and we can
Speaker 1: maybe decide what to use before we get the Dick
Speaker 1: Bank's version. Sure thing, I've prepared a couple of options
Speaker 1: for you. I think you guys are gonna really like them. Okay,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, I think that's that's the backward Skaters only.
Speaker 1: I like that. We'm gonna be hard to top that.
Speaker 1: We might not need anything from Dick Banks. Sound. First
Speaker 1: of all, that sounds like something Dick Banks. But right
Speaker 1: I'm saying, actually that is. It sounds really sophisticated, and
Speaker 1: there's also an air of nostalgia to it. Almost. It's
Speaker 1: kind of like, you know, I'm gonna treat you right, girl,
Speaker 1: but we might get a little naughty, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. I feel like there has to be a
Speaker 1: hot tub shaped like a heart involved in this champagne flukes.
Speaker 1: I'm getting uncomfortable, so I'm gonna move on to Yeah,
Speaker 1: what else? Give me another option? WHOA did we clear
Speaker 1: this with HBO? The Game of Throne? Steam Amos Batman,
Speaker 1: Huh Okay, I guess you cut that one. You're not
Speaker 1: sure the room is manly enough to handle that. I
Speaker 1: felt like that. I mean, all I'm thinking though, is
Speaker 1: how did how did the intro that we have in
Speaker 1: there now get in over these? Because these are these
Speaker 1: are all much better. Talk to the producing team. I
Speaker 1: was not the original producer of the show. I'm not
Speaker 1: going to throw the original producer on like Dan did
Speaker 1: our graphic designer. But I did not choose the they're
Speaker 1: not listening to the padcast. It sounds like everybody in
Speaker 1: the room has to know how to make a fire
Speaker 1: or something to be able to claim that as a song.
Speaker 1: That's Steve Smith's entrance music whenever an opposing defensive back
Speaker 1: comes up? Do you have anything else anymore? All right?
Speaker 1: Give us one more? All right? Leg If you want
Speaker 1: to be the top podcast on NFL dot com, you
Speaker 1: need something like this. We had more bugles. There's announces
Speaker 1: that like something important is on the way. You know,
Speaker 1: there's an era of victory to this song and of renaissance.
Speaker 1: Best look, well, if you're listening out there, maybe let
Speaker 1: us know what you guys like. Out of the three,
Speaker 1: I think I know which one I like, Yeah, the
Speaker 1: first one, and that's what when you like? Greg? Yeah,
Speaker 1: the first one I like a lot. The second one again,
Speaker 1: you know, not enough man in the room. The third
Speaker 1: one to me, I like the regalness. I like number three.
Speaker 1: I think we need names for you so that we're
Speaker 1: not just having people tweet us number one, number two,
Speaker 1: number three. So we should go with what Barry White
Speaker 1: as the first Batman Batman renaissance renaissance. Okay, that's fair,
Speaker 1: and I'm open to having this br permanent theme song.
Speaker 1: I'm just throwing that out as long as it's the
Speaker 1: Barry White one. Yeah, I think I think Dick Dick
Speaker 1: Max is on contract, so it would be maybe wasteful,
Speaker 1: but you know, this is a ten billion dollar machine.
Speaker 1: You know care you know? Um? Okay, So from a
Speaker 1: football standpoint, so Patrick, welcome to the show, and goodbye,
Speaker 1: and um so we're gonna talk a little football. We
Speaker 1: will get to Kevin Patrick's Detroit lines a little later,
Speaker 1: but I guess let's start with what was on HBO
Speaker 1: last night. I know a lot of us in this room,
Speaker 1: I've seen it, and probably a lot of people listening
Speaker 1: Hard Knocks Season eight, Greg, I will throw it to you,
Speaker 1: what are your thoughts? Well, I just wanted to be
Speaker 1: all James Harrison. The conversation between James Harrison uh and
Speaker 1: Jay Gruden was just outstanding, and I could just if
Speaker 1: it was just a show of James Harrison, that would
Speaker 1: be outstanding. I've watched that every week, James Harrison. You
Speaker 1: had always heard things about James Harrison being an intimidating guy.
Speaker 1: You've seen him play, you've read the interviews with him,
Speaker 1: but to see him in this light was pretty amazing. Patrick,
Speaker 1: You you saw it right. Yeah, I did see that exchange.
Speaker 1: I wasn't sure if he was just gonna tackle a
Speaker 1: J Green right there on the spot just to prove
Speaker 1: a point or not. He couldn't really tell if he
Speaker 1: was gonna mess around or now. Yeah, I think his
Speaker 1: exact quote I have it here because I do I
Speaker 1: do the Hard Knock episode recap. That's a shameless plug.
Speaker 1: And the line that stuck out to me was the merchant,
Speaker 1: the merchandise come this way, Boom, it's gonna get touched.
Speaker 1: I like touching merchandise. Not sound right? Does not sound right?
Speaker 1: So yeah, that James Harrison has I think you need
Speaker 1: to read it meaner yeah, I know I can't pull
Speaker 1: off the Harrison. I think it's better to not make
Speaker 1: a James Harrison impression, especially after the Terrell Suggs one
Speaker 1: you did a few weeks back. I thought the songs
Speaker 1: on stronger than most. That was like Christopher Walking reading
Speaker 1: James Harrison just to say about his team, the Bengals
Speaker 1: in the Spotlight, Harrison, especially West, pretending he's not a
Speaker 1: Bengals fan. Well, hey, we all know the Bengals can
Speaker 1: mess up a Junkyard. They can mess up a steel Ball. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know my television policy which has been you know,
Speaker 1: which will have to change according to the boss. So
Speaker 1: I did not see the show, but I did read
Speaker 1: Dan's excellent recap, so I'm familiar with the whole show.
Speaker 1: And James Harrison, of course carried the day. Joe Bernard
Speaker 1: driving his girlfriend's van seemed like it was pretty cool too.
Speaker 1: It was a mini van. Apparently I had put it
Speaker 1: was a Dodge Odyssey, and then a tweeter had corrected
Speaker 1: me that it's actually a Honda Odyssey. Bernard, he's interesting.
Speaker 1: The other person that kind of jumped out to me
Speaker 1: was Hugh Jackson, who clearly is trying to leverage the
Speaker 1: show into another head coaching job, right, that's all he's
Speaker 1: I feel like his whole career has been leveraging his
Speaker 1: jobs into trying to get head coaching jobs. But it
Speaker 1: doesn't matter. I still like him. I Gough Jackson a lot,
Speaker 1: and I think he's got a great offensive mind. But
Speaker 1: I don't know that he's ever gonna be forgiven for
Speaker 1: the Coos Carson Palmer trade. That's fair, right. It was
Speaker 1: that bad of a trade. They're never going to let
Speaker 1: him run an organization. But that was kind of like
Speaker 1: he saw Alda. He saw this vacuum in Oakland. It
Speaker 1: was just like, I'm gonna drive this ship into the ground, right,
Speaker 1: And just watching yesterday's episode, you can totally picture how
Speaker 1: that trade happened now, the way Hugh was such an
Speaker 1: enthusiastic guy, and he could tell him getting amped up,
Speaker 1: and he's remembering back to Carson Palmer's glory days and says, oh,
Speaker 1: that's the missing piece. And it all came together quickly.
Speaker 1: And who was going to say no, there was that vacuum.
Speaker 1: I did not see it. I'm I'm on the West
Speaker 1: train with the tell television payment restrictions thing. I actually
Speaker 1: I honestly ought I had HBO, and then I found
Speaker 1: out I do not. But I attempted to track the
Speaker 1: proceedings on Twitter, which I found to be you know, Twitter,
Speaker 1: for all its qualities, When you have forty five sports
Speaker 1: journalists and fantasy geeks and everything else watching the same
Speaker 1: sporting event, it goes down quickly. All I saw is
Speaker 1: Mike Zimmer hit my timeline and like you know, ten
Speaker 1: count at a time, everyone's saying the same exact thing,
Speaker 1: and uh, I cannot wait. I got to read Dan's recap.
Speaker 1: I want to actually watch in the flesh. It did
Speaker 1: not come across this entertel because I can afford cable. Um,
Speaker 1: I think you can too, So let's let's check the
Speaker 1: budget and you know, get get in there. HBO Alice.
Speaker 1: I coming over to dance house to watch it next week.
Speaker 1: I like it when it makes you start thinking about
Speaker 1: the team itself, like Harrison was. It was weird to
Speaker 1: see how he was integrating with everyone, how he was
Speaker 1: sitting not paying attention inside the linebackers, sitting totally separate
Speaker 1: from the rest of the team, which is insane. You're
Speaker 1: wondering how is gonna work? And I started thinking is
Speaker 1: he just gonna be incredible and angry and actually make
Speaker 1: a difference or is it going to be a total
Speaker 1: disaster and be divisive. That was one football taker. The
Speaker 1: other was Joe Bernard Man. Just watching him cut in
Speaker 1: practice was incredible. You can't fake that, and it just
Speaker 1: got me excited about what he's got to do do here.
Speaker 1: And I don't know if if it's because it's HD
Speaker 1: and hb on it just shot so beautifully, but I
Speaker 1: don't think I've ever seen a man look quicker and
Speaker 1: faster than that guy. And actually popped in my mind
Speaker 1: if if Bernard looks this way, I wish we could
Speaker 1: see Tavon Austin with this type of you know, cinematography.
Speaker 1: It was. It was pretty amazing to watch the guy move.
Speaker 1: And we'd written all these posts about how Bernard and
Speaker 1: it come was coming from Hugh Jackson that listen, what
Speaker 1: you know, don't be surprised when we line up Bernard
Speaker 1: outside and we use him as a wide receiver and
Speaker 1: all over the field, and then it seems as if
Speaker 1: he's lived up to the billing so far. You can't
Speaker 1: fake that. I mean that movement they showed guys every
Speaker 1: year and you don't see that movement. The only other
Speaker 1: person that kind of reminded me of a little bit
Speaker 1: totally different was saying Tonio Homes just being incredible in
Speaker 1: that Jet season and just everyone just saying he's the
Speaker 1: best player on the team, and it pretty much played
Speaker 1: out that he had an outstanding season. Wow, you guys
Speaker 1: have sold me on Giovanni Bernard. You're wearing a buyer. No, well,
Speaker 1: he intrigued me how they were going to use him.
Speaker 1: I didn't know he was quite It sounds like you
Speaker 1: guys are calling him a first round talent, like Drives
Speaker 1: on Odyssey. Well, the thing I like watching this is
Speaker 1: the coaches don't fake their enthusiasm. They're not faking it,
Speaker 1: and they are so excited about Tyler, Eiffert and Bernard
Speaker 1: and it gets you. You know, maybe you're just buying
Speaker 1: the pipe, but you start getting excited. So that makes
Speaker 1: the Bengals the NFC North favorites. If if Ifer and
Speaker 1: Bernard are the real deal, well, when you have a
Speaker 1: quarterback wearing a rubber wedding ring, you can't can't lose,
Speaker 1: right exactly. I don't think they're the favorites, but they
Speaker 1: have more talent than any other team in that division,
Speaker 1: especially on defense. All right, we should we should keep
Speaker 1: moving forward because there there are four more episodes. Are
Speaker 1: not cut off? Well listen, well behind the US, we
Speaker 1: gotta keep moving club is over, guys, there's no debate.
Speaker 1: It started to edge into debate, so I had to
Speaker 1: bounce out real quick. No, I don't want to cut
Speaker 1: you guys up. But we have a lot to talk
Speaker 1: about and a lot of the a lot of people.
Speaker 1: You get a lot of buzz on Twitter, A lot
Speaker 1: of people are excited that our show is generally about
Speaker 1: a half hour, not the ninety minute you know journeys
Speaker 1: of the year that some of these other football podcasts are. Yeah, yeah, no,
Speaker 1: I'm bloviating. But okay, let's let's move on. Mark, you
Speaker 1: were the first one in the office today. What is
Speaker 1: the big news going on regarding the New Orleans Saints? Wait,
Speaker 1: Patrick nodding his head as when I come in at
Speaker 1: four in the morning, I'll walk over and patra And
Speaker 1: people haven't seen Patri late in the dance because his
Speaker 1: posts arrive roughly what two a m. Usually I get
Speaker 1: get one out by three a three pacifics. He gets
Speaker 1: us Frank and appreciate and we won to why he's
Speaker 1: moving away. You know, people always at one am. I've
Speaker 1: always people always asked me how I do it. I
Speaker 1: just say, I pretend like I have an East Coast
Speaker 1: job that starts at five am. I just happen to
Speaker 1: live on the West coast. But that that's terrible Jedi
Speaker 1: mind tricked yourself. Yeah, you gotta just keep saying it
Speaker 1: and eventually, so I'll open this up then to both
Speaker 1: Kevin and Mark. The biggest news of Wednesday morning, Mark,
Speaker 1: go ahead in New Orleans Saints, Well, I think that
Speaker 1: they've they've lost Kenyan Coleman for what the season, which
Speaker 1: after what the Saints have already been through. Uh, they
Speaker 1: lost Victor Butler earlier in the year, and you have
Speaker 1: to look at what Rob Ryan wanted to do with
Speaker 1: his three four. He wanted to bring in certain guys
Speaker 1: a that a Coleman guy is not an all star player,
Speaker 1: but he knows the system and he always everywhere he's gone.
Speaker 1: He's brought teachers to teach the younger players. The three four.
Speaker 1: They're shifting away from a very different screen scheme from
Speaker 1: last season. So Butler's gone, Coleman's gone, and It's like,
Speaker 1: this is what plagued Ryan last year with the Cowboys
Speaker 1: so many injuries. We never got to see what that
Speaker 1: team could do. Personally. They weren't a very good defense
Speaker 1: last year. I'm concerned and they have to. They don't
Speaker 1: have a lot of depth uh their defensive line. Now
Speaker 1: they're gonna have to have a Keem Hicks start. Joseph Morrigan.
Speaker 1: They lost their third receiver. They were hoping he would
Speaker 1: step up. Now probably next in line is a fifth
Speaker 1: round pick, Kenny Stills. I Mean, these aren't big sexy names,
Speaker 1: but to me, it just makes a very a team
Speaker 1: that could go in two different directions. We don't really
Speaker 1: know what they're gonna do. It just makes you doubt
Speaker 1: them a little more. What do we think about this
Speaker 1: Saints team? Is Sean Payton coming back just being they're
Speaker 1: back to being one of the super Bowl contenders or
Speaker 1: could they just be mediocre. I'm one of the people
Speaker 1: that fully gave the Saints of Mulligan off last year.
Speaker 1: That was such a unusual circumstances and you take the
Speaker 1: coach out of the mix. There's just no way to
Speaker 1: replace uh that that situation and come out on top.
Speaker 1: What I'm thinking now, is you know you're gonna have
Speaker 1: Breeze back in there, You're gonna have the coach there.
Speaker 1: I see them to be a playoff team. Do I
Speaker 1: think that they're going to be better than the Falcons? No,
Speaker 1: But I still think even with these injuries, we're talking
Speaker 1: about a five or six seed. The subtext here being
Speaker 1: the Dan is completely fine with the bounty program. I
Speaker 1: picked the Saint to finish last in that division. I
Speaker 1: just don't see the talent on defense. Uh, it looks
Speaker 1: like Junior Gallet maybe the most important player on that defense.
Speaker 1: Speaking of bloviating, Rob Ryan had one of the best
Speaker 1: quintessential Ryan quotes. And let me let me give you
Speaker 1: what he said on Junior Glette. I know one thing
Speaker 1: I'm betting on Junior Glett. I think he's going to
Speaker 1: be special. I do. People can say whatever they want.
Speaker 1: He ain't sneaking up on anybody, but they're not going
Speaker 1: to be able to block him either. Junior Colette, ladies,
Speaker 1: and Junior Glett also called himself a diamond in a
Speaker 1: rough today. Well, you know, we like to encourage that
Speaker 1: kind of thing. I love when people call themselves diamonds
Speaker 1: in the rough. Ryan also called Kenyan Coleman the best
Speaker 1: three four run stopping defensive end in the league. So
Speaker 1: now that I just flat out don't believe you. See,
Speaker 1: I watched him in Cleveland for two seasons and I
Speaker 1: and I'm I am struggled to understand how Coleman still
Speaker 1: has work. To be honest, he doesn't this season. I
Speaker 1: like Keenan Lewis at cornerback. I think that he needed
Speaker 1: that Ryan needed those strong corners last season. And I
Speaker 1: think Keenan Lewis isn't under the radar free agency. Speaking
Speaker 1: of Keenan Lewis and Rob Ryan is ums he said
Speaker 1: that Keenan Lewis was the best ra agent signing in
Speaker 1: the NFL. So we should stop listening to Rob Ryan.
Speaker 1: Ryan should have like they should have like a coffee
Speaker 1: table book with just all ryanisms. I'm so fascinated to see, though,
Speaker 1: what this team does, because it's such a great test
Speaker 1: of is Sean Payton and this whole, you know, organization
Speaker 1: he's built up with Mickey Louis over the last seven years. Now,
Speaker 1: is it an organization like the Patriots that they're just
Speaker 1: a contender each in every year that they're gonna be
Speaker 1: in the mix as long as Drew Brees is there
Speaker 1: or is it is it on shaky or footage, And
Speaker 1: now that everything's goin to happened, that they're just gonna
Speaker 1: be just another one of those teams, because before this happened,
Speaker 1: they were one of the teams that you could count
Speaker 1: on and there's really only a couple to win eleven
Speaker 1: or twelve games every season. That's a good point because
Speaker 1: the Saints had a horrible defense last year and if
Speaker 1: we question their defensive talent, team like the Patriots, has
Speaker 1: had one of the worst secondaries in the league and
Speaker 1: one of the worst pass rushes in the league and
Speaker 1: still manages to go deep in the playoffs and reach
Speaker 1: a Super Bowl. Let's see if the Saints can do
Speaker 1: that too. And I look at Peyton and for me,
Speaker 1: just from a football sense, I'll say two to three
Speaker 1: more wins, just because he's back in the building running
Speaker 1: the show, and yeah, you still have one of the
Speaker 1: game's best quarterbacks, and Breeze, he's not. He didn't regress
Speaker 1: in my opinion at all in in Peyton's absence. But
Speaker 1: for me, that that division is nasty and I have
Speaker 1: to go with Dan and putting the Falcons at the
Speaker 1: top top slot there. See, I think the Saints are
Speaker 1: gonna bounce right back. I can't. I believe. I guess
Speaker 1: I believe that they have built it up and if
Speaker 1: Rob Ryan just makes them the twenties second defense in
Speaker 1: the league, that they're going to go back to being,
Speaker 1: you know, one of the top teams in the NFC.
Speaker 1: Did the Falcons not get better this offseason? I don't
Speaker 1: think so, because they were a lucky team last year.
Speaker 1: I don't think they were as good as people think
Speaker 1: they were. They were nine, they were a ten win
Speaker 1: team that won a ton of close games against bad teams.
Speaker 1: They were the Super Bowl. That's I mean, that's how
Speaker 1: it goes. But to me is replaced by Steven Jackson
Speaker 1: in that game. They run the ball in the second half,
Speaker 1: take the air out of the ball, and keep that
Speaker 1: lead there. And they're using Jackson as as much more
Speaker 1: of a a receiving runner this year than they ever
Speaker 1: could have with Turner. Obviously, I just think they're gonna
Speaker 1: have a hard time getting all the breaks that they
Speaker 1: got last year. People forget going into the playoffs that
Speaker 1: they were considered. I mean, no one really took them
Speaker 1: that seriously as a one seat and I think there
Speaker 1: was reason for that because they won every game by
Speaker 1: seven or less points. You're not gonna go seven and
Speaker 1: in one score games, didn't. They beat the Giants forty
Speaker 1: one to nothing and in the most dominant game of
Speaker 1: the year, Wesley, Just because the same team has not
Speaker 1: won the South two years running, and what is it
Speaker 1: eight or nine years or something? Yeah, And and it's
Speaker 1: so deep that you could see any one of those
Speaker 1: four teams winning the division. All right, So I was
Speaker 1: sorry to cut you off, but we we should get going.
Speaker 1: You know it's time to go. You can't. You just
Speaker 1: can't go on forever. As I was saying earlier, you know,
Speaker 1: keep on getting on me. But we gotta do this.
Speaker 1: Kevin Patra, thank you very much for coming in. I'm
Speaker 1: glad to be here. Glad I could add add to
Speaker 1: the fun that is this full fielded room. He sound excited.
Speaker 1: Everyone can read Kevin. Starting in a couple of weeks,
Speaker 1: he'll be cranking out post just like the rest of us,
Speaker 1: just from a different location. We're excited excited to have you.
Speaker 1: Did you get ahead shot yet? I did just last week.
Speaker 1: I just haven't published it yet. I think they're going
Speaker 1: to photoshop most of it. I did not go tie
Speaker 1: tie unless I'm mandated. I did not wear a tie. Alright, good,
Speaker 1: we're getting there. The A t L Debate Club, now
Speaker 1: the A t L Podcast. We keep moving forward. We'll
Speaker 1: be back on Friday, and we'll catch you that