Speaker 1: M m m. Welcome back to another edition of the
Speaker 1: Around the League Podcast. My name is Dan Hansons. I'm
Speaker 1: joined by two heroes. On my right, Chris Westling and
Speaker 1: on my center area Mark Scessler. How you doing, Oh man,
Speaker 1: I'm doing great? How you West? Couldn't be better? West
Speaker 1: back in the studio. We called down to him. It
Speaker 1: was kind of depressing doing the phone call down. But
Speaker 1: now he's back in the big chair. It feels good,
Speaker 1: doesn't it. West couldn't this is It's been a long
Speaker 1: time coming. It's been three weeks now. Yes, um, a
Speaker 1: couple We have to do a couple of bits of
Speaker 1: housekeeping just to get going. Number One, Mark Sessler tell
Speaker 1: us about iTunes. iTunes. So after a long odyssey in
Speaker 1: the abyss where we've floated essentially nowhere on the internet
Speaker 1: and we had, you know, it was nice to finally
Speaker 1: real lies that there are some people out of that
Speaker 1: actually faithfully listen to the show. And we're pinning us
Speaker 1: individually on Twitter. Guys helped me out here. You're from
Speaker 1: the NFL. You should easily have a show. How do
Speaker 1: I find it? We had no answers, but we do
Speaker 1: now we have an iTunes iTunes, a page built around
Speaker 1: the show in RSS feed clicked in WILK. What's the
Speaker 1: uh do we give them the address for us? We
Speaker 1: just how do we get? How do you? I think
Speaker 1: the easiest way is NFL dot com slash podcast right
Speaker 1: on there at the bottom of that page, since we're
Speaker 1: the most recent ones to get put at the bottom. Uh.
Speaker 1: And there's a nice subscribe button on there. You can
Speaker 1: subscribe through iTunes or any number of other podcast listening devices. Excellent.
Speaker 1: That is great news. Yeah, there was a time where
Speaker 1: the previous iteration of this podcast, the A t L
Speaker 1: Debate Club, could only be found on Netscape. If you
Speaker 1: plugged in with a modem and then like you know,
Speaker 1: whished really hard, it would somehow pop up in your
Speaker 1: like a O L mailbox. But now you have many options,
Speaker 1: so that's great. Also, we on Monday we spoke about uh.
Speaker 1: The first subscriber to on iTunes to um the A
Speaker 1: t L Podcast would get a two thousand seven Tennessee
Speaker 1: Titans Media Guide with Vince Young on the cover and
Speaker 1: also a milar balloon UM for the Houston Texans. That
Speaker 1: winner is Scott PRIs Bolinsky or pres Balinski. I apologize
Speaker 1: if it's mispronounced there, but you are the winner. You're
Speaker 1: the first to subscribe. And uh, we don't have that
Speaker 1: Texans Milar balloon, but West is going to volunteer and
Speaker 1: give up one of his Cincinnati Bengals milar balloons that
Speaker 1: were giving away in a swag giveaway at the news room.
Speaker 1: Does the average person know what a milar balloon? Pronouncing
Speaker 1: it correctly? But listen, that's what's coming. So Scott, if
Speaker 1: you are listening, and this will be a good test.
Speaker 1: If you're actually a fan, hit me up on Twitter
Speaker 1: and we will get to you your prize. Um, all right,
Speaker 1: coming up today, First of all, Greg ros and Tall,
Speaker 1: our boss is in Canton at the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1: We will talk to him on Friday for the podcast.
Speaker 1: But coming up today we have Pro Bowl. There was
Speaker 1: a big announcement, serious changes there. Um, we're gonna talk
Speaker 1: some Percy Harvin who obviously is under the knife for
Speaker 1: this hip surgery. He's gonna be out potentially until Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1: But I think, uh, where we want to start is
Speaker 1: the biggest news of today. Riley Cooper, the Eagles wide
Speaker 1: receiver who we just spoke about on Monday as a
Speaker 1: guy that was potentially going to have to make the
Speaker 1: leap now that Jeremy Macklin has done. He said some
Speaker 1: pretty stupid things. Wes, He did say some stupid things. Uh,
Speaker 1: I feel like if we talked about that, there's gonna
Speaker 1: be a hook coming out of the wall to kind
Speaker 1: of take me out of my chair. If we talk
Speaker 1: about race in America, it can't be done. There are
Speaker 1: there are people who make a living being offended, so
Speaker 1: we have to be careful what we say. Well, I mean, listen, Cooper,
Speaker 1: what he did was legitimately offensive. He he apparently he
Speaker 1: was at a Kenny Chesney concert, which is offensive to
Speaker 1: start with, and he made a racial slur towards after
Speaker 1: an American security guard. Of course it's caught on Cameron,
Speaker 1: and of course it surfaces quickly. Um, he was fined
Speaker 1: by the team. Every all the you know statements came out,
Speaker 1: you know, deriding him, and he came out. Now, well,
Speaker 1: it's the Eagles in general, and I agree with Gregg's
Speaker 1: assessment on Saturday. The Eagles have a deep skill position
Speaker 1: group at wide receiver. Yes they do. But nobody's mistaken
Speaker 1: Riley Cooper, for you know, the next fantastic possession receiver,
Speaker 1: a guy who's gonna burn you down the edge. He's
Speaker 1: an average receiver at best, and he's put himself in
Speaker 1: a bad position because he's certainly no one that general
Speaker 1: population is rooting for when they're watching an Eagles game
Speaker 1: at this point. Although we forget about things in what
Speaker 1: twelve days, Yeah, well, this one is gonna be a
Speaker 1: little tougher to forget about, I would think for his teammates,
Speaker 1: who you know, many of them are African American. Apparently,
Speaker 1: you know, right before we came upstairs to do the podcast,
Speaker 1: we've gotten some word that you know, some teammates are
Speaker 1: not speaking out saying that he did address the team
Speaker 1: and they're willing to move forward from it. But it's
Speaker 1: gonna be a tough spot. And I also think it's
Speaker 1: uh something to keep an eye out, is Chip Kelly here.
Speaker 1: This has been a tough few days for the new coach,
Speaker 1: who is dealing with the Macklin and destruction restruction and
Speaker 1: that goes with that after Jeremy maclam blue at the
Speaker 1: a c L and now he has to you know,
Speaker 1: he's dealing with some internal strife in the locker room.
Speaker 1: That's going to be a challenge. Yeah. I mean we
Speaker 1: talked about Macklin as being Chip Kelly's first sort of
Speaker 1: big test, and well, welcome to the NFL. Because I
Speaker 1: think every one of these coaches it's like we're so
Speaker 1: new into the season that whoever gets hit with the
Speaker 1: big injury or the big issue inside the locker room,
Speaker 1: it's like, oh, tough for Doug Moron or tough for
Speaker 1: Chip Kelly to deal with situation A or B. Kelly
Speaker 1: is gonna deal with this, you know, week to week
Speaker 1: in Philadelphia, right And it will be interesting to check
Speaker 1: out Twitter and the next day or so, because yes,
Speaker 1: I do think the story will go away pretty quickly.
Speaker 1: But right now it's what everyone wants to talk about.
Speaker 1: Marcus Vick, who I call the Frank stallone of the NFL,
Speaker 1: Mike Vick's brother. Uh, he came out and put like
Speaker 1: a really meager amount of money as a bounty, thousand dollars,
Speaker 1: which was for literally, when an NFL player sneezes, a
Speaker 1: thousand dollars comes out of his nose. So I don't
Speaker 1: think A the money's gonna tie him and be anybody
Speaker 1: would take him up on the offer anyway. So you
Speaker 1: have that type of idiocy floating around just kind of
Speaker 1: like a stupid, ugly thing that would be best that
Speaker 1: we all kind of move past. So we're gonna move
Speaker 1: past it. On the A t L Podcast transition, UH,
Speaker 1: let's talk about the Pro Bowl. Um what West you wrote?
Speaker 1: Are I did of the newspiece that gave kind of
Speaker 1: more of the straightforward stuff that's going down there are
Speaker 1: Now they're eliminating a f C versus NFC, which is
Speaker 1: kind of insane to me, um as someone who grew
Speaker 1: up watching the game, maybe not enjoying it that much,
Speaker 1: but watching it and a bunch of other rules wes.
Speaker 1: You wrote an opinion piece on it. What are your
Speaker 1: thoughts about this game? The Switches do not address the problem,
Speaker 1: which is fans are tired of watching a game where
Speaker 1: players are making quote unquote business decisions. Deciding not to
Speaker 1: play hard, not to tackle, not to block is hard.
Speaker 1: I thought our buddy Dave Damashek had a very good
Speaker 1: idea ditch the Pro Bowl altogether and go with the
Speaker 1: Losera Bowl. The two teams with the worst records square
Speaker 1: off in the week between uh, the week before the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl, and the team that wins the game gets
Speaker 1: number one overall draft pick. I mean, that's high stakes.
Speaker 1: Let's put something on the line here, and a lot
Speaker 1: of Damascheck's ideas are actually secret, like sneaky brilliant. And
Speaker 1: then when he if he hears this, he'll come down
Speaker 1: to the newsroom a couple of days and I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: why has it got to be sneaky brilliant? It can't
Speaker 1: be brilliant, but it really is, because that's a game
Speaker 1: that would have real steaks, whereas the built in issue
Speaker 1: with this Pro Bowl you could do whatever you want,
Speaker 1: and Goodell is trying this. You can almost call it
Speaker 1: a hail mary to try to fix this game and
Speaker 1: and make it relevant. Um, but ultimately it's kind of
Speaker 1: putting lipstick on a pig. And it's hard to fix
Speaker 1: a game where the stakes aren't high, guys aren't gonna
Speaker 1: go all out, and on top of it, it's after
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl, so it's like nobody cares. Well, that's
Speaker 1: some big mistake right there. I think they're trying to
Speaker 1: speed the game up. I I don't think that the
Speaker 1: agents or the league's best kick returners are gonna be
Speaker 1: excited about the fact that they've been removed from the equation.
Speaker 1: But the issue I have that I think was a
Speaker 1: Pete Prisco that brought up initially. What happens when you've
Speaker 1: got Chandler Jones making his first Pro Bowl this season,
Speaker 1: Dan's making the leap candidate squaring off on the team
Speaker 1: across from Tom Brady about to light up his quarterback.
Speaker 1: Is he gonna go full force? Is he gonna even
Speaker 1: go for that hit? That sounds there at conflicts not
Speaker 1: gonna happen because Tom will be an antina with Giselle
Speaker 1: fair Well, You've solved the entire drink, so you know,
Speaker 1: I'll let person. But let's say, yeah, like you're saying, like,
Speaker 1: how how does a hard charging defender go after his
Speaker 1: own player, whether it's a running back or a quarterback
Speaker 1: or a wide receiver. It just it smacks of farce.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, I'm not going to kill
Speaker 1: the nth on. I know a lot of people on
Speaker 1: Twitter the first instinct was to rip it. Let's face it,
Speaker 1: like people weren't happy with how the game was, so
Speaker 1: what you know, why not just shake it up and
Speaker 1: see if you can do something, even it's a short
Speaker 1: term solution, at least you're trying something. Yeah, I give
Speaker 1: them points for creativity, but I haven't watched the Pro
Speaker 1: bowling years and I doubt i'll watch it again unless
Speaker 1: I'm covering it. Well, and it's exactly we're we're the
Speaker 1: gist of it is, we're not excited about this game,
Speaker 1: and they've tried to refashion it. I don't think that
Speaker 1: if it's a complete dud again with these minor tweaks,
Speaker 1: that this is gonna be the way it is for
Speaker 1: fifteen years. This is a one time look see, and
Speaker 1: if they need to make more drastic changes, I mean,
Speaker 1: Goodell has talked openly about just canceling the thing. Well,
Speaker 1: I don't think that's out of the equation. If it
Speaker 1: fails again, well give the NFL credit where it's due.
Speaker 1: Out of all the leagues professional sports league, the NFL
Speaker 1: is not afraid to make changes to make the game better.
Speaker 1: So if it doesn't work, something else will be tried.
Speaker 1: Someone is passing us on our head right now as
Speaker 1: we praise our employers. A large shadowy league figure seven
Speaker 1: ft seven. Um. You know, and you know, if you
Speaker 1: look at other leagues, Major League Baseball, I think it
Speaker 1: was about ten years ago now they started to get
Speaker 1: some heat about their All Star Game and what they did.
Speaker 1: They reacted by um deciding whoever wins the game American
Speaker 1: League versus National League gets home field advantage in the
Speaker 1: World Series. And that was also, uh, you know, laughed
Speaker 1: at and ridiculed by a lot of baseball fans. So
Speaker 1: it's almost like you're damned if you do, damned if
Speaker 1: you don't. I don't know. I can't get on the
Speaker 1: league about this, but at the same time, UM, I'm
Speaker 1: not sure it's gonna ultimately be good. All right. The
Speaker 1: other big news from yesterday, and this is probably the
Speaker 1: biggest news of the week. Percy Harvin went to New York.
Speaker 1: Flew to New York to get the second opinion on
Speaker 1: his hip. Turns out he's gonna need surgery, and the
Speaker 1: surgery will take place on Thursday. They're saying three to
Speaker 1: four months. Uh, we're hearing maybe Thanksgiving is the time
Speaker 1: he comes back. Seattle Seahawks obviously he was potentially the
Speaker 1: final piece and then being uh an NFC favorite to
Speaker 1: go to the Super Bowl West, what do you think
Speaker 1: this means for the Seahawks? So they in big trouble now.
Speaker 1: I think you put it well when you said final peace.
Speaker 1: We're talking about a team that was very good last year,
Speaker 1: especially down a stretch where they averaged thirty two points
Speaker 1: a game over the last ten games. They don't need
Speaker 1: him to go to the playoffs. But my sense when
Speaker 1: they made the trade was Percy Harvin is good enough,
Speaker 1: was an m VP candidate before he tore his ankle
Speaker 1: up last year. He's good enough that he changes him
Speaker 1: from an also ran to a legitimate super Bowl contender.
Speaker 1: So if he's healthy by Christmas, ideally by Thanksgiving, which
Speaker 1: I'm very skeptical of that happening, but if he's healthy
Speaker 1: by Christmas and gives them a shot in the arm,
Speaker 1: maybe they're still super Bowl contenders. But it's sky isn't following,
Speaker 1: but it's a significant blow. I thought you made a
Speaker 1: good point to west Uh on Twitter when you said
Speaker 1: that ten games, the last ten games of the season,
Speaker 1: ten or eleven games, they were averaging over thirty two
Speaker 1: points a game last season. This is without Harvan. They're
Speaker 1: bringing back a lot of the same team. It's almost
Speaker 1: the same as essentially, you know, as long as Sydney
Speaker 1: Rice doesn't come back from his jount to Switzerland with
Speaker 1: you know, no legs or something. I mean, everything should
Speaker 1: be fine. I think they're going to be still a
Speaker 1: good offense. Harvin was maybe the guy that was going
Speaker 1: to make them almost an unstoppable type offense if everybody
Speaker 1: else stayed healthy and well, I would I I would
Speaker 1: caution the idea of oh because they I know, West
Speaker 1: wasn't pointing this initially. They they went on a tour
Speaker 1: pace down the stretch. They're just gonna open that way.
Speaker 1: Teams have spent the off season studying Seattle. I think
Speaker 1: that Seattle put a ton of time reshaping their playbook
Speaker 1: to include Harvin. What I do like, though, when the
Speaker 1: timing is kind of cool, is like for Seattle, if
Speaker 1: Harvin comes back around December, when you spent the whole
Speaker 1: season looking at a certain type of Seattle team, then
Speaker 1: they can use those plays which they did spend the
Speaker 1: offseason practicing. You drop Harvard any equation in December, and
Speaker 1: you know, first of all, it's a hip injury. He
Speaker 1: may not come back all year, we don't know. But
Speaker 1: if he does, suddenly Seattle's got this like weapon that
Speaker 1: no one's seen all season, that no one knows how
Speaker 1: to prepare for. Right when it matters most, it might
Speaker 1: work out well for them if he's healthy. It shouldn't
Speaker 1: be forgotten. Also that not only were they the NFL's
Speaker 1: best defense last year, but they were far and away
Speaker 1: the most the run heaviest team in the league. They're
Speaker 1: still identified with Marshawn Lynch on offense, you know, and
Speaker 1: so we talked about he They have a buy over
Speaker 1: that Thanksgiving week. But if he comes back December one,
Speaker 1: they play, in order, the Saints, the forty Niners, the
Speaker 1: New York Giants, the Cardinals, and the Rams. That's three
Speaker 1: division games, and that's five within the conference. That right
Speaker 1: there is listen. If Harvin has put into that soup,
Speaker 1: that could be right when see I don't think the
Speaker 1: the the forty Niners in Seattle are gonna do this
Speaker 1: eleven and two, twelve and one trip. I think that
Speaker 1: division is gonna beat itself up hard. The records aren't
Speaker 1: gonna be as impressive. Harvin is a difference maker. I
Speaker 1: don't want to go down the road saying it doesn't
Speaker 1: matter if he's on the team because they were so
Speaker 1: good last year. They got him for a reason. If
Speaker 1: you guys were uh in general manager John Schneider's shoes,
Speaker 1: um would you given the chance reverse the trade if
Speaker 1: you could right now. I said this on Twitter last
Speaker 1: night that I would still make the trade because Harvin
Speaker 1: has already locked up for another five years. I mean,
Speaker 1: hip hip injuries aren't anything to sneeze at. But to me, actually,
Speaker 1: I don't think you can sneeze properly with the bad.
Speaker 1: My philosophy on on the NFL and really any sport
Speaker 1: as you win with difference makers, and I think Percy
Speaker 1: Harvin is one. I don't think that a late first
Speaker 1: round pick is that much to give up for that much. No,
Speaker 1: it is, and I would agree with that. I think
Speaker 1: that it's a long season and they're looking long term
Speaker 1: with Harvin. They're not They're not a one year deal here.
Speaker 1: I think also that Harvin and Greg put it really
Speaker 1: well at the end of a post he road this
Speaker 1: morning that like Percy Harvin, problems are never simple, like
Speaker 1: he's always been a complex dude to deal with. He
Speaker 1: tweeted about his injury. It didn't come from the team.
Speaker 1: That's that speaks to some sort of discord. I think
Speaker 1: between the two sides, Harvin wanted to protect his body
Speaker 1: here a little bit. That's my sense. I don't know
Speaker 1: that for a fact, But yeah, I would do it
Speaker 1: again because he's one of the five or six guys
Speaker 1: that when he's healthy, he puts them at a different
Speaker 1: level and what they can do with the football. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't think teams like the player breaking injury news
Speaker 1: like that. In another sport in baseball, a Rod who's
Speaker 1: facing his own issues when he gave his own medical
Speaker 1: update about a month ago, as general manager Brian Cashman
Speaker 1: told him to shut the app that didn't go well. So,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't think the Seahawk Seahawks, no, because
Speaker 1: they saw what happened in Minnesota that they have to
Speaker 1: treat harvn with kid gloves on some level. And you know,
Speaker 1: I was reading a Peter King story yesterday where they
Speaker 1: said they were more than happy for him to head
Speaker 1: over to New York to get the second opinion because
Speaker 1: they want Harvan to feel like he can trust his
Speaker 1: new team. UM. So you know, bottom line is he's
Speaker 1: he's out of the line up for a while and
Speaker 1: they'll they'll probably survive. UM. One other player that's in
Speaker 1: the news, another high paid player with an injury issue,
Speaker 1: Mario Williams uh Mark, You want to talk a little
Speaker 1: bit about Mario Williams because it seems to be with
Speaker 1: this guy, he signs a six year, ninety six million
Speaker 1: dollar deal and I'm not I'm not so sure this
Speaker 1: is gonna end. Well, well, I think it's all he's
Speaker 1: an enigmatical guy, and I think that he's been enough
Speaker 1: of the distraction versus the production he's put forth where
Speaker 1: you do have to question the amount of money. What
Speaker 1: we talk about, what did GM do it? Again? The
Speaker 1: GM that did it isn't with the team anymore. So
Speaker 1: I don't think that that's something Buffalo is. And yeah,
Speaker 1: I think that Maron is also another guy learning the
Speaker 1: way of the NFL, where you're gonna get asked the
Speaker 1: questions that you either can't answer or don't have a
Speaker 1: complete answer to. That's not going to stop fifteen guys
Speaker 1: from saying the same thing over. He got really annoyed yesterday. Well,
Speaker 1: it's it's funny you say that because Alex Wilk behind
Speaker 1: the glass, a man of integrity and preparation, has that
Speaker 1: sound bite. Doug Maron speaking with a Buffalo Press yesterday frustrated. Um, Honestly,
Speaker 1: when it gets to a point where I feel like
Speaker 1: I've tried to explain myself and how I handle the injuries. Okay,
Speaker 1: And I've answered the questions, and you keep coming at me,
Speaker 1: all right, put yourself in my position. I don't know
Speaker 1: if I asked you what play call our play in
Speaker 1: our system on third down? Okay, what play would you call?
Speaker 1: Right now? That's not my job. Do you know the play? Right? Okay?
Speaker 1: I haven't talked to the doctor. I haven't talked to
Speaker 1: the doctor. I have seen the playbook. I'm done. I'm
Speaker 1: not answering any more questions about Mario Williams until the
Speaker 1: doctor gives me this. Obviously, if we send him to
Speaker 1: get evaluations, he's excused from the team. That's not a
Speaker 1: legitimate question. I don't think that's gonna go down to
Speaker 1: you know, Dennis Greed and uh, you know we we
Speaker 1: we were the best Dan team. What was the Dennis
Speaker 1: Green quote? Famously, you are who they are, who we got.
Speaker 1: It doesn't go to It's not in that category. But
Speaker 1: it was interesting to see him, especially this early in
Speaker 1: the game his first year is an NFL coach, to
Speaker 1: kind of get a little tense with the media. I
Speaker 1: thought he was being honest, though it's every a couple
Speaker 1: of people initially go he's melted, just lost control. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I think the Maron number one, he's a
Speaker 1: brass tacks guy. He's an upstate New York dude. The
Speaker 1: guy is just like, stop stop throwing this nonsense at me.
Speaker 1: I've given you what I can give you. Let's move on.
Speaker 1: Don't you think in a lot of ways, we've been conditioned,
Speaker 1: as the media and as any league observer to expect
Speaker 1: all coaches to be dead pan like Bill Belichick. Yes,
Speaker 1: we were conditioned that that's how a coach is supposed
Speaker 1: to act. Now, and if we get someone colorful, if
Speaker 1: we get someone interesting, we think they're melting down. And
Speaker 1: that's why it stoodup. We I don't think anyone was
Speaker 1: expecting it from Doug Marone of all people, because he
Speaker 1: has been rather exactly but my radar. Yeah, my two takeaways.
Speaker 1: Number one of the part that we didn't that we
Speaker 1: didn't play as he goes, you know, I'm a straight shooter.
Speaker 1: Ask anybody that knowing me since I'm a kid, I'm
Speaker 1: a straight shooter. Actually reminded me something that my dad
Speaker 1: would say. I mean, he was, you know, he was
Speaker 1: just keeping it real. I think what maybe jumps out
Speaker 1: at you. It was a little Parcelsa in a little bit,
Speaker 1: uh kind of taking on a media member like that.
Speaker 1: And if you're Bill Parcels, you need to do it.
Speaker 1: It's like, it's great, it's awesome, that's classic Parcels. But
Speaker 1: when Doug Moron doesn't, nobody really knows who this guy is.
Speaker 1: People are conditioned to be like, who's this who's this guy?
Speaker 1: You know? C R right, is he about to you know,
Speaker 1: break down? But uh, you know. But back to Williams,
Speaker 1: I mean, it seems like behind the scenes there seems
Speaker 1: to be a bit of a disconnect between Mario Williams
Speaker 1: and the Bills. You know, there were the reports that
Speaker 1: he got that wrisk surgery last year without the team's knowledge.
Speaker 1: He has this crazy engagement rings story that doesn't paint
Speaker 1: him or the team in a good light. Now he
Speaker 1: has a foot injury where the coach is getting testy
Speaker 1: about it. Is this a relationship built to last? I mean,
Speaker 1: I think whenever you have a coach, I always have
Speaker 1: a I feel for the coaches that come in out
Speaker 1: of nowhere and adopt these big contract guys or headcases
Speaker 1: or a combination of the both, which I don't think
Speaker 1: Williams was necessarily earlier in his career, but in Buffalo
Speaker 1: something's gone on. He's definitely not been who they wanted
Speaker 1: him to be. I think if Maron could reshape the team,
Speaker 1: Williams would have nothing to do with this. Neither would
Speaker 1: his contract. Of course, how many NFL relationships are built
Speaker 1: to last unless they involve a quarterback. That's really true
Speaker 1: because most quarterback coach could. Most quarterbacks get their coaches fired,
Speaker 1: to be honest. And Williams, you know, he's He's another
Speaker 1: guy that went out and sort of went went rogue
Speaker 1: on his medical stuff, which again, it's their bodies. I
Speaker 1: don't know that. Who knows exactly how that happened, but
Speaker 1: it seemed like the Bills didn't like losing control of
Speaker 1: that situation. And uh, you know the final topic today.
Speaker 1: I was almost a little sheepish about bringing this up because,
Speaker 1: you know, my New York Jets. It took a beating
Speaker 1: on Monday's podcast. But people are very excited in this room.
Speaker 1: Mark and West is actually foaming at the mouth right
Speaker 1: now to talk about Rex Ryan, who during his press
Speaker 1: conference today said that the Wildcat is not dead. The
Speaker 1: Jets are going to use more Wildcat in two thousand thirteen. Yes,
Speaker 1: I did not say two thousand eight. I said two uh. West,
Speaker 1: who has just had such strong opinionated thoughts on the
Speaker 1: matter that he ended up landing on dead Spin with
Speaker 1: a tweet that I will read right now Wildcat. The
Speaker 1: rest of the league is playing chess and Rex is
Speaker 1: over in the corner with his Lincoln logs. I just devastated, West.
Speaker 1: Go ahead, you have the floor destroy my team. Look,
Speaker 1: I would never question Rex Ryan's knowledge about defense. He
Speaker 1: might be the best defensive mind in the NFL, But
Speaker 1: to me, he kind of this is reminiscent of love E.
Speaker 1: Smith's stent with the Bears, where the offense continues to
Speaker 1: kill the team over and over again because the brass,
Speaker 1: the coaching staff, the front office doesn't know anything about
Speaker 1: offensive football and they're stuck in the past. And Rex
Speaker 1: Ryan is talking about the wildcat. It cracks me up.
Speaker 1: What's he gonna do with the wildcat? The rest of
Speaker 1: the league is running the read option in the pistol,
Speaker 1: and he's stuck on this Fluke play from six years ago.
Speaker 1: I agree. I mean when I read is of course
Speaker 1: full comments well, because he's West is correct by the way, um,
Speaker 1: it looks like what he's talking about is the league
Speaker 1: shifting towards option type play because he talks about mobile players,
Speaker 1: mobile passers getting out of the pocket and doing X,
Speaker 1: Y and Z. But that didn't happen with the Wildcat
Speaker 1: at all in New York last year, and not many
Speaker 1: other teams you know, outside of Jacksonville right now or
Speaker 1: even talking about the Wildcat on any level. So it's
Speaker 1: like he's pointing towards this bigger trend. But I don't
Speaker 1: want to assume he doesn't know the difference. He must.
Speaker 1: He's a smart guy. He's a very smart guy. So
Speaker 1: I'm just bas by no, but he I mean, you
Speaker 1: don't get to this level without being smart. But he's smart.
Speaker 1: On the other side of the ball, I don't think
Speaker 1: he should speak on this topic. Well, I would just
Speaker 1: say this, Uh, did the skinny tie come back? Yes
Speaker 1: or no? You don't even know the answer to that.
Speaker 1: That speaks to a lot. Skinny skinny type came back.
Speaker 1: It's huge right now. The Wildcat will come back as well.
Speaker 1: Back in Vogue Wildcat New York Jets. Didn't they say
Speaker 1: that last year? I don't listen. We gotta move past.
Speaker 1: Last year, the best example of a wildcat in a
Speaker 1: Jets game was when the Niners rolled in with Kaepernick
Speaker 1: did a couple of wildcat plays that the skinny tie
Speaker 1: was back. I didn't realize that didn't left. Well, is
Speaker 1: that crazy that Cessler doesn't know that skinny ties are
Speaker 1: popular again? I don't think it's that crazy. Really? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, am I that fashion forward? I didn't think so.
Speaker 1: Ding By wear like the same shirt. I think you
Speaker 1: read one article about the skinny tie coming back, and
Speaker 1: now you're pretending to. I judge everything on what Adam
Speaker 1: Rank wears in the newsroom, and Rank has really he's
Speaker 1: gone all in on the skinny tie. I stand by this,
Speaker 1: and I would love Twitter users to back me on this.
Speaker 1: At the skinny ties back, I mean, I I like
Speaker 1: as a nice skinny tie. I'm just saying might include
Speaker 1: a dark and strange. In the last five minutes, I'm
Speaker 1: just on an island, whether it's about Rex or the
Speaker 1: skinny tie. I mean, why am I? Why have I
Speaker 1: been cast out of this podcast? Look at the topics
Speaker 1: you've chosen to defend the Jets and skinny time. You
Speaker 1: guys are monsters. Well, I will say this and in
Speaker 1: all serious and it's the only the Wildcat maybe could
Speaker 1: have worked if if they used Tim Tebow a little better.
Speaker 1: Tony Sperrano was the worst period, just the worst on
Speaker 1: seventeen levels, and every time Tebow won in the game,
Speaker 1: they ran it between the tackles. Uh. And you know,
Speaker 1: how's it ever going to succeed if you don't balance
Speaker 1: out the passing with the running. If everyone knows you're
Speaker 1: gonna do a run up the middle every time, but
Speaker 1: of course it's not going to be successful. So we'll
Speaker 1: take Geno Smith, who never ran the option, never ran
Speaker 1: anything close to the Wildcat, and suddenly tell everyone he's
Speaker 1: gonna do it. I don't want to talk about this
Speaker 1: any more. Let me have two more things. When you
Speaker 1: look at the Wildcat, jog your memory from the past
Speaker 1: half decade, and it all boils down to the one
Speaker 1: game where Ronnie Brown killed and nothing else. What else
Speaker 1: does the Cat done except take up newspaper space? Well,
Speaker 1: and it needs to be heavily running back based. And
Speaker 1: who do the Jets have that you can count on
Speaker 1: it running back? Right now? You know it's getting ugly.
Speaker 1: We're we've gone down a dark road on Dan's team here. No,
Speaker 1: it's okay. I mean, you're right about that, and I
Speaker 1: was I'm a little curious Mark, you brought it up
Speaker 1: downstairs when Rex is talking about the Wildcat. Did he
Speaker 1: think he was talking about the read option? That's what
Speaker 1: we were suggesting. It's like, I don't want to say that,
Speaker 1: because I'm sure that's he would never even feel that
Speaker 1: was the case. But he was talking to a larger
Speaker 1: trend that isn't happening in the Jets, and it's not
Speaker 1: happening in the Wildcats specifically. I get that. I think
Speaker 1: you might be onto something there. Maybe he's talking more
Speaker 1: about option plays generically and and lumping the Wildcat in
Speaker 1: with that. But just the fact that he's using that
Speaker 1: word and no one else in the league is that's
Speaker 1: the issue Read a football magazine. To me, he's like
Speaker 1: the Don coore yell was kept out of the Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame and never won a Super Bowl because he
Speaker 1: didn't bother to get to know the defensive side of
Speaker 1: the ball. And he's the He's the new Don Corrie,
Speaker 1: except on the defensive side of the ball. That's interesting.
Speaker 1: Not unlike his father, Wilke has glazed over behind the
Speaker 1: glass so much. Jets. There's nothing that will cates more
Speaker 1: than talking about the Jets. We have talked about them
Speaker 1: Monday and now Wednesday, so we will will move on. Wilk.
Speaker 1: You literally look um desponded. You almost look the Jets
Speaker 1: just make me, make me so crazy because I don't
Speaker 1: they're like the Cowboys. He had the same teams like
Speaker 1: seven and nine at the best every year. Why are
Speaker 1: we talking about them like they're one of the premier teams?
Speaker 1: To the choir, and you have the same look on
Speaker 1: your face as you did after the Vegemite incident, I do, Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know what's similar? Taste of him off too. And
Speaker 1: you know Wilk is wearing a Chicago Bears polo. That's
Speaker 1: a team that's flying under the radar. Wilk, do you
Speaker 1: have any thoughts about the Bears? I don't. Nobody's talking
Speaker 1: about the Bears. Mark Trestman keeps bringing up doing read
Speaker 1: option and things like that with Jay Cutler, and I
Speaker 1: will defend Jay Cutler's mobility to an extent. But that's
Speaker 1: still scared as me, especially how many defensive players are
Speaker 1: just ready to light up. We've seen, we've seen how
Speaker 1: poorly the Bears do when Jay Cutler is not in
Speaker 1: that lineup. Yeah, but Trustman is not about to engage
Speaker 1: the team on something idiotic for sixteen straight games. It's
Speaker 1: a good coach. I hope that you're right. I hope
Speaker 1: that you're right. I'm cautiously optimistic. Trustman kind of gives
Speaker 1: me the creeps a little bit. Guys, I gotta go.
Speaker 1: I gotta go home. You gotta go. Why it's time
Speaker 1: for me to go home? He doesn't like talking about
Speaker 1: the Bears? Is the issue? Oh? I see that's all right. Well,
Speaker 1: Mark's gotta go. He's got to get home to his
Speaker 1: young family who love him. Uh. We will be back Friday.
Speaker 1: I think it will be Mark and I solo. Will
Speaker 1: be like a a throwback to the old Debate Club days.
Speaker 1: We will talk with Greg Rosenthal from Canton to get
Speaker 1: excited about that. Mark's gonna ask some hard hitting questions
Speaker 1: for our boss. I hear well. I was there last year.
Speaker 1: I know the territory, and I want to make sure
Speaker 1: that Reg is covering all the basis. I'm sure he
Speaker 1: isn't good and we hopefully we're going to try to
Speaker 1: have another guest too, but we won't know for another
Speaker 1: day or so so uh, check back in Friday, subscribe
Speaker 1: on iTunes, and thank you for listening until then.