Speaker 1: H M. Welcome back to another edition of the Around
Speaker 1: the League podcast. My name is Dan Hansis and I
Speaker 1: am joined by the great, well built Chris Westling. That's
Speaker 1: just untrue, but thank you, very very you know, I
Speaker 1: saw on Facebook you are now in a softball league
Speaker 1: in Santa Monica thanks to Rhino Rhino King Jim rhine King,
Speaker 1: who was one of our editors at NFL dot com.
Speaker 1: You are assimilating into California culture. That is very exciting.
Speaker 1: That was the one thing I needed a softball team.
Speaker 1: That's what got me assimilated into Tybee culture in the
Speaker 1: first place. Yes, an avid softball player. Also, you're an
Speaker 1: avid chordhole player, one of the greats of all time
Speaker 1: according to yourself. So I'm looking forward to, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: getting some lessons from the Babe Ruth of cornhole lessons
Speaker 1: will be forthcoming. Um, all right, so it's west and
Speaker 1: I Today was supposed to be Mark and I, but
Speaker 1: we had a little change of plans. But we also
Speaker 1: will be calling Greg Rosenthal, our boss, who is in
Speaker 1: Canton at the Hall of Fame for all the festivities.
Speaker 1: There are a couple of bits of housekeeping. Again, we
Speaker 1: are on iTunes now Alex Wilke behind the glass got
Speaker 1: it done about a man of integrity and preparation and
Speaker 1: good cheer. Uh. So you can go there and subscribe
Speaker 1: and download and also rate us. Uh. According to wilk Tie,
Speaker 1: the higher rating we get, the more love we get
Speaker 1: on the iTunes page. And that's good. So if you
Speaker 1: could do that, and you know, while we're here, thank
Speaker 1: you very much to our listeners. Even from going back
Speaker 1: to the debate club days who you know chimed in
Speaker 1: a lot on Twitter to Mark and I saying how
Speaker 1: do we get the show? And now we have the
Speaker 1: show on a larger platform. So this is exciting. Did
Speaker 1: you know I checked my phone last night and my
Speaker 1: podcast app we were the number one podcast and then
Speaker 1: new what is new and noteworthy? Well, hello, Larry, did
Speaker 1: you hear that? Wilk Yeah, I made that happen. So
Speaker 1: the next thing we need to do is update the logo,
Speaker 1: which looks like it was made by a seventh grader
Speaker 1: in uh, you know, one of those computer workshop classes
Speaker 1: and junior high. Yeah. My favorite thing about the logo
Speaker 1: is that's it's quite clearly a college football and not
Speaker 1: an NFL football. That's quite an oversight that we've made
Speaker 1: there alright, so okay, we're working on that too. So
Speaker 1: we're working out the kings, but the big stuff is
Speaker 1: there now. We're on iTunes. So let's uh, let's keep
Speaker 1: rolling with that. Today. We have several topics to get to.
Speaker 1: We're gonna talk about QB battles. We're gonna talk about
Speaker 1: some teams that maybe are a little bit under the
Speaker 1: radar in training camp right now, and uh, but the
Speaker 1: place we need to start, I think is Riley Cooper. Again.
Speaker 1: We talked about him on Wednesday. Riley Cooper, he of
Speaker 1: the racial slur at the Kenny Chesney concert. The Eagles
Speaker 1: teammates initially seemed to get behind him and say, you know,
Speaker 1: we know who Riley is when today night, that's how
Speaker 1: it was playing out. And then on Thursday we heard
Speaker 1: from Lashawn McCoy, who maybe painted the other side of
Speaker 1: the picture, which was I, you know, I lost a
Speaker 1: friend and I don't I can't trust him or whatever
Speaker 1: exactly he said, But it was along those lines. Now
Speaker 1: Friday comes and West you are you were working this morning?
Speaker 1: What happened today? The Eagles sent Riley Cooper away from
Speaker 1: the team to get to get some counseling, and it
Speaker 1: kind of set it seemed to be setting up a
Speaker 1: situation where they might cut ties with him down the road.
Speaker 1: That's certainly when I saw it. When I saw it
Speaker 1: on Twitter, that's the first thing I thought. I know,
Speaker 1: Chip Kelly had said initially he wasn't going in anywhere,
Speaker 1: but what you got to send a guy away, it
Speaker 1: seems like the next step. Yeah, and I read, Uh,
Speaker 1: Tom Peli Sero of USA Today just came out with
Speaker 1: a column where he had interviewed a few executives around
Speaker 1: the league, and they seemed to be unanimous in the
Speaker 1: opinion that there's no way the Eagles could get anything
Speaker 1: in a trade for Cooper right now. But they also
Speaker 1: said that if Cooper was released, he would be picked up.
Speaker 1: It might not be right away, but he would definitely
Speaker 1: get another shot. Yeah, I mean that makes sense. The guy,
Speaker 1: while he's not an elite player by any stretch, he
Speaker 1: has talent and he's young, and uh, you know, in
Speaker 1: this league, talent carries the day, as we've seen many
Speaker 1: times before. And you know, I was a little curious
Speaker 1: about this this assistance thing where he's going off site.
Speaker 1: I don't know what exactly he can be assisted with
Speaker 1: other than maybe learning how to build a time machine.
Speaker 1: I don't like, what what how can a man get
Speaker 1: assistance for this type of situation? I don't understand that.
Speaker 1: It reminds me a little bit this situation of the
Speaker 1: Big Ben situation where the Steelers actually put Big Ben
Speaker 1: on the trade block and nobody would touch him because
Speaker 1: it was just too volatile of the situation at the time.
Speaker 1: And I bet looking back on it, some teams probably
Speaker 1: wish they would have looked into a trade. This was
Speaker 1: if you're referring to the bar incident, during the bar
Speaker 1: bathroom incident, the bar bathroom incident. We you know, if
Speaker 1: you really want to know more, you can look up
Speaker 1: on the internet, uh, details of that wonderful incident for
Speaker 1: big and but yeah, I mean that was a situation
Speaker 1: where he became this toxic figure and he got suspended
Speaker 1: for it, which obviously Riley Cooper will not be suspended
Speaker 1: for it. But yeah, it just goes to show you,
Speaker 1: you know, who talks about that anymore? With Big Ben.
Speaker 1: He's a guy that he moved on from it. He
Speaker 1: won a Super Bowl several months later. If I'm not mistaken,
Speaker 1: um so Riley Cooper is still this is a unique situation,
Speaker 1: whereas Roethlisberger was implicated in some pretty terrible things. Cooper,
Speaker 1: it's one of those touchstone type things that everybody has
Speaker 1: an opinion on, and it's just you know, there's a
Speaker 1: video involved which made it made it easier to go
Speaker 1: viral when it first hit on Wednesday. So you know,
Speaker 1: the one thing that's interesting to me, and you know,
Speaker 1: I listen, I understand the Eagles are in a tough
Speaker 1: spot here when one of your players uses you know,
Speaker 1: the biggest racial slur in this country, and a lot
Speaker 1: of the players on that team are African American, it's
Speaker 1: a nightmare scenario pr wise, But by by having him
Speaker 1: step away from the team, and I know Cooper is
Speaker 1: the guy that came out and said he was leaving,
Speaker 1: but I'm sure it was something like Riley, alright, let's
Speaker 1: step away for a while. You know, are they extending
Speaker 1: this narrative unnecessarily because now what's going to happen is
Speaker 1: he will go away for however long, whether it's a
Speaker 1: week or three weeks or who knows how long. But
Speaker 1: once he returns, it's a new story again, and all
Speaker 1: the players get asked about it again, and Cooper has
Speaker 1: to have another press conference to talk about it again.
Speaker 1: So was this from a team standpoint? Was it wise
Speaker 1: to kind of extend this on their own? I don't
Speaker 1: think it is. To me. It just seems like they're
Speaker 1: trying to make the story go away for now. But
Speaker 1: like you said, it's gonna have to be addressed again. Uh,
Speaker 1: And the teammates are going to be asked about it again.
Speaker 1: Riley Cooper is of course going to be asked about
Speaker 1: it again. So it seems whenever they do bring him back,
Speaker 1: we're starting a new and I don't know how that
Speaker 1: solves anything. No, I don't know either. So you know,
Speaker 1: that's the big story in the NFL this week, and
Speaker 1: one of those stories that's crossed over from the NFL
Speaker 1: to your mom knows about it. One of those situations.
Speaker 1: But as far as actual NFL goes, I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: maybe let's talk about I know, Will Gun Wednesday expressed
Speaker 1: his um his anger that we had talked about the
Speaker 1: New York Jets to two episodes in the I mean,
Speaker 1: the guy's filled with fury. He's upset because Mark Sanchez
Speaker 1: is from USC and he's become a whipping boy for
Speaker 1: this league, and I'm, as a Jets fan, upset about it.
Speaker 1: But he got to me a little bit. We'll go
Speaker 1: out to me. He's right, we shouldn't be talking about
Speaker 1: the Jets all the time when they're probably an also
Speaker 1: ran in the league this year. So you know, well,
Speaker 1: I don't need the peanut gallery either, though. I'm sorry
Speaker 1: I'm bowing down. You're right. I don't need you then
Speaker 1: to chime in, you know, with your crown on. I
Speaker 1: just don't appreciate being being called angry when I'm very
Speaker 1: calm on the side of the glass, very calm. All right,
Speaker 1: you're the best. But okay, so let's talk about some
Speaker 1: teams that maybe are under the radar. And uh, you know,
Speaker 1: as we spoke about downstairs, there is there seems to
Speaker 1: be what we can call a Bermuda triangle in the
Speaker 1: uh southeastern area of this country. And it's three teams,
Speaker 1: the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Tennessee Titans, and the Carolina Panthers,
Speaker 1: three NFL franchises that do not get enough love. So
Speaker 1: let's talk about him as a transplant from Tybee Island, Georgia. Myself,
Speaker 1: I'm aware that these teams do not get enough love,
Speaker 1: and I'm always happy to talk about them. Would much
Speaker 1: rather talk about the Panthers, Titans, and Jaguar than the
Speaker 1: New York Jets. I know. Actually I find myself writing
Speaker 1: more content on the Jets than any other team, only
Speaker 1: because West has made a hard line stance not to
Speaker 1: write about the Jets since coming over to NFL dot Com.
Speaker 1: So let's start with you, Dan, what is your feeling
Speaker 1: on Cam Newton this year? Well, you know what, I
Speaker 1: am a guy. I'm a Cam Newton apologist. I've always
Speaker 1: been a Cam Newton apologist. Maybe maybe that's um somehow
Speaker 1: connected to the fact that he's a fantasy football darling
Speaker 1: for me, and he's won titles for me with those
Speaker 1: epic November and December runs where he takes the Panthers
Speaker 1: from two in eight to seven and nine, which I've
Speaker 1: enjoyed over the past couple of seasons. But I do think,
Speaker 1: I really do think this he's in a good spot
Speaker 1: right now because he is the guy that's forgotten among
Speaker 1: these young quarterbacks and having another year maturity, and when
Speaker 1: you combine combine that with his physical skills, which to me,
Speaker 1: I kind of think he's peerless at his position in
Speaker 1: terms of when you combine the speed and power and um,
Speaker 1: you know, his just ability to take over a game.
Speaker 1: Maybe r G three is now in the conversation also
Speaker 1: when he's But I think Panther uh Newton is the
Speaker 1: guy that I love to watch more than anyone in
Speaker 1: the league. Uh. He came out today. He spoke to
Speaker 1: uh Sterling Sharp on inside training Camp Alive, and he
Speaker 1: had this to say, I just think it's it's time
Speaker 1: for me. Hey, you know, it's no more and no
Speaker 1: more excuses in my my part. You know, the first
Speaker 1: year was was is gone, second year is gone. You know.
Speaker 1: Now I'm because to a somewhat of a veteran to
Speaker 1: these guys, you know. So you know, taking accountability on
Speaker 1: this offense and as his team is is big for me.
Speaker 1: And that's what I wanted to come back and and
Speaker 1: be one of my staples to get better. So you know,
Speaker 1: there is that lift service. I don't know, but I
Speaker 1: do think he's potentially guy under the radar that could
Speaker 1: have a big season. The Panthers are are my pick
Speaker 1: for the team that will come out of nowhere to
Speaker 1: make the playoffs in the NFC this year, not not
Speaker 1: just because cam played so well downe the stretch last year.
Speaker 1: But if you remember earlier in the year, they lost
Speaker 1: a lot of games by a touchdown or less. Uh,
Speaker 1: their kicker got fired for blowing a game or two
Speaker 1: that the Grizzly lost Atlanta that they had no business
Speaker 1: And after they moved Luke Keikly to middle linebacker, they
Speaker 1: were a top ten NFL defense. So this is a
Speaker 1: very intriguing team to me. So do you see if
Speaker 1: you say they're a playoff team, I mean you're saying
Speaker 1: this is a team that can win nine or ten
Speaker 1: games and hanging their division. They have that type of
Speaker 1: Absolutely I would I've I've picked him only behind the
Speaker 1: Falcons in the NFC out. I think the Saints have
Speaker 1: too many questions on defense. The Panthers are a more
Speaker 1: complete team right now. What about the idea of, uh,
Speaker 1: the Panthers not doing enough to surround Newton with talent.
Speaker 1: You know, I think Newton's gotten himself in trouble last year,
Speaker 1: specifically in the early part of last year when he
Speaker 1: was trying to do too much. You know, they didn't
Speaker 1: go out and get him another wide receiver. And you
Speaker 1: have Steve Smith, who's another one of my favorite players.
Speaker 1: But you know he's entering his age thirty four season. Uh,
Speaker 1: is that going to be a situation? I think if
Speaker 1: you believe Steve Smith is still a number one receiver,
Speaker 1: and we both do, and if you have Greg Olsen
Speaker 1: at tight end, you don't need to have the best
Speaker 1: second wide receiver in the league. I think Brandon lefel
Speaker 1: is good enough. It would be nice if one of
Speaker 1: either Ted gin or Dominic Hickson or are Monty Edwards.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't hold my breath on that one. If one
Speaker 1: of those guys stepped up as a third receiver would
Speaker 1: be nice. But I think they have the weapons. Uh,
Speaker 1: they do need Jonathan Stewart healthy. He's a better back
Speaker 1: than d Angela Williams when he's healthy, so they need that.
Speaker 1: But if they're all healthy, that is that's a good
Speaker 1: enough offense to get to the playoffs. And who knows,
Speaker 1: maybe if they didn't give D'Angel Williams such a terrible
Speaker 1: contract a few years back, they would have had some
Speaker 1: money to go get a wide receiver this year. That's
Speaker 1: a good point. Um. Okay, so moving forward the Titans, Okay,
Speaker 1: we got another team that you know, you look at
Speaker 1: them on paper and you think maybe they can contend
Speaker 1: for a playoff spot, right right. They have the talent
Speaker 1: at running back and wide receiver, uh, Delaney Walker is
Speaker 1: a bit of a question mark at tight end because
Speaker 1: he's never started before. But what I found interesting was
Speaker 1: Sean Jefferson, the wide receiver's coach, kind of went off
Speaker 1: on Justin Hunter this week, the rookie. And I've seen
Speaker 1: other sites kind of blowing that out of proportion. That's
Speaker 1: just Sean Jefferson's m O. He likes the lie of
Speaker 1: finder fire under young guys. Uh. He did it with
Speaker 1: Tightish Young in Detroit. That didn't work out quite as well,
Speaker 1: But yeah, I don't know if that was on him though.
Speaker 1: I think Kendall Wrights lost fifteen pounds, which he definitely
Speaker 1: needed to lose because he couldn't make plays after catch
Speaker 1: last year. They have some interesting, some interesting scale position
Speaker 1: players on offense. And it's easy to forget Kenny Britt's
Speaker 1: season last year. He's wiped out, but you go back
Speaker 1: to Kenny Britt before the a c L injury in
Speaker 1: September two thousand and eleven, he was turning into a
Speaker 1: monster and now having another year full health as long
Speaker 1: as he keeps his head on straight, which is obviously
Speaker 1: a big question mark with him. He could be a
Speaker 1: dynamic dude. But you know, it all goes back also
Speaker 1: to the quarterback, and you know, is Jake Locker the
Speaker 1: guy because you could? You know? I agree. I think
Speaker 1: this is a team that could be a potential five
Speaker 1: or six seed. But at the same time, it only
Speaker 1: they only go as far as Locker progresses. And he
Speaker 1: has weapons around him. He's got Chris Johnson, who's you know,
Speaker 1: talking about two thousand yards again, all right, Chris. But
Speaker 1: he has these receivers, uh. And he has a new
Speaker 1: offensive line, uh, interior offensive line that's very impressive. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's all there. If this guy can progress, do you
Speaker 1: see it happening? Though he's in his third year and
Speaker 1: he's still fundamentally flawed uh as a with his mechanics
Speaker 1: and his footwork. I think it's very telling that the
Speaker 1: Titans are moving to a run first offense. That tells
Speaker 1: you what they think of Jake Locker right now. He
Speaker 1: has all the talent in the world, but he's not
Speaker 1: ready to lead a team, to lead a passing attack
Speaker 1: that can take a team to the playoffs, okay, and
Speaker 1: then there's the Jaguars, and uh, I don't know, you know,
Speaker 1: you want blame Gabbert. He deserves one more shot at this,
Speaker 1: but it doesn't seem like it's gonna happen for this dude.
Speaker 1: And you know, to me, Blame Gabbert is going to
Speaker 1: lose this competition to Chad Henny, isn't he? I think so?
Speaker 1: And I think uh I found it interesting when they
Speaker 1: asked Mark Mike mclarkey earlier in the off season, who
Speaker 1: coached the Jaguars last year, his prediction, and he said,
Speaker 1: Chad Henn he's a better quarterback than Blame Gabbert. I
Speaker 1: thought that was pretty telling, since he was part of
Speaker 1: the regime the drafted Blame Gabbert. And you know, they're
Speaker 1: the new coaching staff, the new front office has been
Speaker 1: so pro Blaine all offseason, and then they get to
Speaker 1: training camp and see that he's just not as good
Speaker 1: as maybe they hoped he would be. I think Chad
Speaker 1: Henny can move the offense. He'll take too many sacks,
Speaker 1: he'll throw too many interceptions, he won't be that accurate,
Speaker 1: but he can get that offense up and down the field,
Speaker 1: which I don't think Gabri can do. It's hard to imagine, uh,
Speaker 1: them not targeting a quarterback next May, right, Yeah, so
Speaker 1: you know, we can't count out Gathered until we actually
Speaker 1: see him at least in preseason games. But it's not
Speaker 1: looking too well. So that is our update on the
Speaker 1: Bermuda triangle. We can check in at some point. I
Speaker 1: don't know if podcast ratings just dropped through the floor
Speaker 1: talking about those teams. Well, what is your supercomputer? Side
Speaker 1: supercomputer has suddenly broken for some reason? Uh So speaking,
Speaker 1: you know, we're just talking on the QB battle and Jacksonville.
Speaker 1: There are other QB battles going on right now. Uh
Speaker 1: so let's go through them. Uh In Buffalo, Wes, I
Speaker 1: know you had mentioned downstairs. Uh ej Manuel, what are
Speaker 1: your thoughts on that situation? Who I wrote about this
Speaker 1: this morning? Kevin Cobb. His accuracy has been off. He
Speaker 1: he has never dealt with the blitzwell, and that's been
Speaker 1: an issue already in training camp. Uh. Cobb has the
Speaker 1: second highest sack rate among all active quarterbacks, behind David Carr,
Speaker 1: who was sacked an ungodly amount of times when when
Speaker 1: the Houston Texans franchise just started you still can't sleep
Speaker 1: through the night, and I don't see that changing for Cobb.
Speaker 1: E J. Manuel on the other hand, the GM came
Speaker 1: out this week says he has the it factor, He's
Speaker 1: going to be the face face of the franchise. He's
Speaker 1: outplagued Cobb the last three or four days of practices.
Speaker 1: I don't see how that momentum really changes. As Greg
Speaker 1: likes to say, the tie goes to the rookie now
Speaker 1: in the in today's NFL. It wasn't always like that,
Speaker 1: but it is now, and I just I would be
Speaker 1: shocked if Cobb is under center in Week one, you
Speaker 1: know what. The thing to me, I do think these
Speaker 1: teams have to be careful with the tie going to
Speaker 1: the rookie. And I think last year was one of
Speaker 1: those things where can instill a false sense of confidence
Speaker 1: in these coaches and gms, where you had this a
Speaker 1: special crop of guys r G three, Andrew Luck, Russell Wilson,
Speaker 1: the type of guys that could take a team and
Speaker 1: lead them, you know, into the playoffs, and even a
Speaker 1: guy like Ryan Tannehill where it was clear that he
Speaker 1: had the stuff to hang in the league, even if
Speaker 1: he wasn't fully developed yet. Um, But you know, does
Speaker 1: that mean that every guy should get thrown into the
Speaker 1: fire now if the if the incumbent isn't a overwhelming
Speaker 1: favorite for the job, it just seems to be a
Speaker 1: risky move. And you know that kind of leads us
Speaker 1: into the Jets, who have we have to talk with
Speaker 1: the Jets a little bit, wilk. We won't hang on
Speaker 1: it though, m oh Man. All right, he's shooting down
Speaker 1: and I'm just gonna I'm just gonna fade you down here,
Speaker 1: all right, bring back, thank you very much. Uh No,
Speaker 1: With the Jets, we have Geno Smith, who you know,
Speaker 1: from all reports, seems to be heading into the driver's
Speaker 1: seat on this job. I mean again, it's there's only
Speaker 1: so much you can see without training camp, without preseason games.
Speaker 1: But Mark Sanchez is not having a great uh training
Speaker 1: camp from from what we're hearing, and Smith is starting
Speaker 1: to inspire confidence in his teammates and the coaches are
Speaker 1: speaking highly of him. So it seems like it's all
Speaker 1: all it's all pointing to the Jets going for that
Speaker 1: fresh start. But I don't know if Gino smiths in
Speaker 1: a good spot there because he doesn't have an offense
Speaker 1: around him. You know, the Jets situation is fascinating because
Speaker 1: what's good for John is Zac isn't necessarily good for
Speaker 1: Rex Ryan. Zick drafted Gino Smith. Yeah, and Rex Ryan
Speaker 1: Sanchez is his guy. I don't know that. Uh. What's
Speaker 1: interesting there also is that Sanchez has the same problem
Speaker 1: as Cobb. If you blitz him, he he just folds.
Speaker 1: He's terrible under pressure. And I don't know how you're
Speaker 1: gonna reverse that. I get your point about the rookies.
Speaker 1: You can't just rushed him in there. And point till
Speaker 1: last year, which was the exception. Those those three guys,
Speaker 1: and if you include Tanny Hill four guys, there might
Speaker 1: not be a single quarterback in this year's draft class
Speaker 1: that can hang with those guys. So I understand that,
Speaker 1: but I don't know that there's any sent in running
Speaker 1: out a veteran quarterback in Week one if he can't
Speaker 1: deal with with pressure in the pocket. Okay, and then
Speaker 1: over in Philadelphia when they're not dealing with Riley Cooper madness,
Speaker 1: you have the Michael Vick versus Nick Foles. What do
Speaker 1: you see going on there? I think that's Vick's job
Speaker 1: to lose, and it looks like he is pulling away
Speaker 1: quite a bit from Fools, who last year to me
Speaker 1: with disturbing. Disturbing thing about Fools was he was a
Speaker 1: checkdown machine and he was brutal in the red zone.
Speaker 1: I don't see how after they drafted Matt Barkley kind
Speaker 1: of told me that Foles wasn't there guy. So I
Speaker 1: don't see why Fools would why they would pick Foles
Speaker 1: over Vick in this competition. And one thing I think
Speaker 1: to keep in mind and to take out of the
Speaker 1: whole Cooper situation is that, you know, the team called
Speaker 1: on Vick to be their leader in that situation, and
Speaker 1: he spoke for the team and he had the private
Speaker 1: conversation with Cooper before Cooper ever spoke to the rest
Speaker 1: of the teammates. In the locker room. The guy. You know,
Speaker 1: there's plenty of reasons not to like Michael Vick, but
Speaker 1: from everything we or, the guy is known as like
Speaker 1: a respected dude in the locker room. And you know,
Speaker 1: when you see what's happening with that team and seeing
Speaker 1: the team turning to him, it's hard to imagine him
Speaker 1: then being the backup quarterback, right. I agree, he that
Speaker 1: speaks volumes that they're turning to him as a spokesperson,
Speaker 1: and then one more, one more quarter. It's not a
Speaker 1: quarterback competition because, um, we know Jason Campbell is not
Speaker 1: gonna beat out Brandon Weeden. But uh, you had some
Speaker 1: thoughts about Peter King, who is you know, traveling around
Speaker 1: with his new website, Monday Morning Quarterback dot com. Uh,
Speaker 1: and you know he usually the part of the King
Speaker 1: appeal is it's usually a sunnyside up type view on things.
Speaker 1: So when he has a negative take on something, you know,
Speaker 1: it gets people to look. And he didn't have great
Speaker 1: things to say about Brandon Weeden. He said flat out
Speaker 1: that Weeden is not the answer for the Browns at quarterback.
Speaker 1: And I'm kind of torn on this because I believe
Speaker 1: the same thing. Weeden is not the answer. On the
Speaker 1: other hand, Peter King, as much as he we respect
Speaker 1: him for his sources and his sort. He's very good
Speaker 1: at what he does when he's when he's reporting, but
Speaker 1: his history is a talent evaluator is brutal. This is
Speaker 1: a guy who has advised fantasy fantasy owners to draft
Speaker 1: Eddie Royal and Jabbar Gaffney and Donald Jones. I mean Peter,
Speaker 1: Peter's Forte is not talent evaluation. If he's getting this
Speaker 1: information from Rob Chazinski or Michael Lombardi, which he may
Speaker 1: very well be. If he's coming out this strongly, then
Speaker 1: it's pretty telling. And you know, I don't know that
Speaker 1: the Browns really have that much to look forward to
Speaker 1: on offense this year. Yeah, I mean, Weeden's gonna get
Speaker 1: his shot, and that's almost the most he could ask
Speaker 1: for because with the regime change, it looked for a
Speaker 1: second there if it was a better quarterback class, he
Speaker 1: would have already been supplanted. But he's gonna get a shot.
Speaker 1: It just doesn't see me he might not have a
Speaker 1: lot of support in the building. Okay, So, as we
Speaker 1: said earlier, Greg Rosenthal, our boss is in Canton for
Speaker 1: the Hall of Fame. We need to check in with him.
Speaker 1: There's a couple of things. Actually, I want to talk
Speaker 1: to him about something that happened last night, uh while
Speaker 1: I was handling the late news shift. We'll start with that.
Speaker 1: So will Tie can you give gregor call? Let's do it. Hello,
Speaker 1: Greg Rosenthal, this is Dan ANSAs with Chris Westling be
Speaker 1: Around the League podcast. So we're on. We are on.
Speaker 1: Tell us what's going on in Canton right now. Uh.
Speaker 1: I just had a pretty long media session with all
Speaker 1: the uh in Chinese. It was pretty cool. Bill Parcels
Speaker 1: the people. Someone asked me, like, who's the coolest person
Speaker 1: to see? Because you're walking by thirty or forty Hall
Speaker 1: of famers and and you know, it's kind of overwhelming.
Speaker 1: And but Bill Parcelves for me, the kid at someone
Speaker 1: that grew up in the Northeast is kind of the
Speaker 1: coolest guide of me. Yeah, that that actually kind of
Speaker 1: checks out for me too, when I having grown up
Speaker 1: in New York. At the Super Bowl in February, we were,
Speaker 1: I guess I think it was before the game. We
Speaker 1: were in a tunnel by the field level at the
Speaker 1: super Dome and Parcels came strolling by with a big
Speaker 1: pair of aviators and he just had that kind of
Speaker 1: godlike appeal to a football fan like me. I just
Speaker 1: seemed I just got a little star struck when I
Speaker 1: saw him. Yeah, I got that and and just everything.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's now the kinder, gentler, reflective Parcelves. So,
Speaker 1: I mean, he was great. You could have just sat
Speaker 1: there and listened to him the whole time. Chris Cartner
Speaker 1: broke down crying within two or three minutes of talking
Speaker 1: talking about um, you know, overcoming up his alcohol problems
Speaker 1: and really had to stop the press conference for for
Speaker 1: a couple of minutes. I mean, it was more of
Speaker 1: a casual setting, but he couldn't get it back together.
Speaker 1: So it's cool seeing these guys, you know, miss setting
Speaker 1: because you realized how much it means to him. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, Chris Carter is was definitely one of my
Speaker 1: personal favorite players of the nineties when once he got
Speaker 1: his head on straight and went to the vikings. Was
Speaker 1: there ever a guy that was better at getting his
Speaker 1: feet and bounds in the back or corner of an
Speaker 1: end zone than Chris Carter Yeah, And I kind of
Speaker 1: asked him what, you know, I asked him a few
Speaker 1: different questions, but one was, you know, what sort of
Speaker 1: what's his style as a player, what to find him?
Speaker 1: And and he kind of joked, but he's just like
Speaker 1: you throw it, I catch it, Like He's like, if
Speaker 1: someone's on me, I catch it, if someone is over there,
Speaker 1: if two people over the top of me, I catch it.
Speaker 1: If it's away from my body, I catch it. If
Speaker 1: I'm on the end, you know, and might not catch it,
Speaker 1: and that was pretty good. I felt like that was
Speaker 1: a pretty good summary of what made him special. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think he probably had the best hands of anyone
Speaker 1: in his generation. UM So, you know, it's great that
Speaker 1: you're out there, Greg, but also we were not completely
Speaker 1: sure that you're gonna be able to give us any
Speaker 1: production because you had you had what what would be
Speaker 1: documented as a pretty awful technical issue yesterday. You gotta
Speaker 1: bring that up. I lost the letter t um. I
Speaker 1: think it might have been a little connnsation for water
Speaker 1: or something. But know that the letter T was no
Speaker 1: longer working, and the letter T is important. Um uh
Speaker 1: has the letter T. Rosenthal has the letter T. So
Speaker 1: you can't walk into your computer if if that's your
Speaker 1: last name. So it was a problem. It slowed me
Speaker 1: down a little bit. I'm I'm bouncing back. I've decided
Speaker 1: that you have turf toe. You are the LaDainian Tomlinson
Speaker 1: of the Around the League crew. You you have been
Speaker 1: felled by the letter T. I have a lot of
Speaker 1: computer problems. I feel like in general that sort of
Speaker 1: follows follows me around, like like the black I like,
Speaker 1: I have a friend that always gets injured, So this
Speaker 1: is like my equivalent of that. Yeah, and like turf
Speaker 1: toe is also the injury where it's a legitimate injury,
Speaker 1: but you know nobody, you know, when you hear it
Speaker 1: explained as the injury, it's not very impressive. But when
Speaker 1: you say you lose the letter T on your keyboard,
Speaker 1: that's pretty devastating. But people probably don't take it seriously.
Speaker 1: That's you know, that's no. It's hard enough to get
Speaker 1: taken seriously as as someone that looks like he's fourteen
Speaker 1: years old kind of interview these guys, so that moving
Speaker 1: the letter T is just another another thing on top
Speaker 1: of that. All right, So what else is going on
Speaker 1: out there? What? What? How is the rest of the
Speaker 1: weekend to play out? Uh? They have the enshining dinner tonight,
Speaker 1: which I'm gonna go to. They have the lunch in
Speaker 1: uh this afternoon, which they do not allow any media,
Speaker 1: even even our photographer. I did this photo essay kind
Speaker 1: of going through the hall and picking out some crazy
Speaker 1: stuff that's gonna go up. I'm excited about that. We got,
Speaker 1: you know, we got the big ceremony tomorrow night with
Speaker 1: a game on Sunday. I might try to hit up
Speaker 1: friendly restaurant while I'm here. Chris might know a little
Speaker 1: bit about Friendly that I spend some time and Friendly
Speaker 1: is the chain restaurant. Right. Oh yeah, Friendlies was great.
Speaker 1: I remember going there with my dad after we saw
Speaker 1: Aliens three in the theater, we went to Friendlies. It
Speaker 1: was one of those moments that sticks with you. So
Speaker 1: they have that in Canton good Times. I can't give
Speaker 1: a preview, you know, I have heard, um, you know,
Speaker 1: some inside scoop on who's going to have the long speech.
Speaker 1: There was one speech there was only two minutes long
Speaker 1: and they had to tell him to beep beep it
Speaker 1: up a little. I know Chris Carter. Uh, this isn't
Speaker 1: a secret, but Chris Carter is going to close out
Speaker 1: uh the day. And that's a big spot. You know.
Speaker 1: They kind of they kind of give it away who
Speaker 1: they think is going to have the best speech by
Speaker 1: by who's last. They went Warren Sap second to last,
Speaker 1: and he was a big star here today, Like he
Speaker 1: had the most attention. He pretty much had people laughing
Speaker 1: for about forty five minutes. But he's going to be
Speaker 1: second to laugh and Chris Carter is gonna gonna close
Speaker 1: it up. Is Warren's Is he going to be able
Speaker 1: to keep it together because I was watching NFL Network
Speaker 1: had some type of special on yesterday, you know, walk
Speaker 1: up to the to the ceremony, and SAP just lost it. Um,
Speaker 1: sitting in a studio, I can't imagine what's going to
Speaker 1: be happening in front of all those people and family members. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I thought the same thing when I when I, you know,
Speaker 1: with Chris Carter earlier two is that he literally was
Speaker 1: two or three minutes into just a pretty casual session
Speaker 1: with reporters and he had to stop for a couple
Speaker 1: of minutes. He got so emotional. SAP, I think, is
Speaker 1: you know, he'll cry. It would be interesting to see
Speaker 1: Bill Parcel's cry. He's kind of the one guy you're
Speaker 1: not really sure Larry Allen. I can't really imagine Larry
Speaker 1: Alan crying like Larry I'm cracked me up. Like I
Speaker 1: went and talked to him for a bit. Every every
Speaker 1: answer was funny and to the point, but it was
Speaker 1: like four four words long. I feel like his speech
Speaker 1: is not going to involve any crimes. And uh is
Speaker 1: Curtis Martin introducing Parcels? He is not. Uh, it is
Speaker 1: George Martin actually, Um who Parcels always kind of talked
Speaker 1: about as the ultimate Parcels guy, the ultimate giant. But
Speaker 1: but Martin is here like a lot of the former players. Um,
Speaker 1: he talked you know, I talked to him a little
Speaker 1: bit about ourselves, um today, and you know, he's just
Speaker 1: I don't know you. I know you're as a as
Speaker 1: a big Jeths fan, like you couldn't have a better
Speaker 1: ambassador than Curtis Martin. He was just very, very impressive. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I'm so the best part of it is that
Speaker 1: we took him from your patriots at the prime of
Speaker 1: his career and it will never You'll never give up,
Speaker 1: You'll never forget about it. And that's what feels good.
Speaker 1: And uh yeah, I mean, Parcels and Martin kind of
Speaker 1: together really kind of kick started the whole, the whole
Speaker 1: Patriot Jet thing. I hope someone tomorrow has a speech
Speaker 1: close to as effecting as Curtis Martin, because to me,
Speaker 1: that goes I love these I love Hall of Fame
Speaker 1: week and I've never been here, but I always liked
Speaker 1: to watching an MTV. You're hearing your voice one of
Speaker 1: the best sound You sound giddy right now. Positively. I'll
Speaker 1: see you guys Monday. Okay, thank you and have fun.
Speaker 1: Enjoy it, kindler, gentler Bill Parcels. No big cars or
Speaker 1: big cigars and motor cars quote tour. If he does
Speaker 1: doesn't bite as a puppy, he won't bite. Yeah, well
Speaker 1: he he was one of the great quote men of
Speaker 1: all time. I'm sure we'll have a few good ones.
Speaker 1: And I'm actually a little surprised he's not closing it
Speaker 1: out because I feel like Parcels could deliver a killer
Speaker 1: speech and I'm sure he's charismatic. Um. Okay, So that
Speaker 1: is it for this week of the A t L Podcast.
Speaker 1: Our first full week. So that was pretty good. So again, yeah, download, uh,
Speaker 1: download and subscribe hbe on the iTunes page or however
Speaker 1: you get content, and we will be back next week
Speaker 1: with three more shows.