Speaker 1: The Around the NFL Podcast. Huh is this thing is
Speaker 1: still going? Yeah? It is. Welcome back to another edition
Speaker 1: of the Around the NFL Podcast, presented My Head and Shoulders.
Speaker 1: My name is Dan Hansas and I am joined by
Speaker 1: Room Feld with heroes Mark Sesler, Colleen will and Greg Rosenthal.
Speaker 1: What's up people? Hey? Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey hey hey.
Speaker 1: That's safe. You're good. How dare Matt money Smith question
Speaker 1: the length of this show and whether it's still relevant
Speaker 1: when we gave him the start to his career now
Speaker 1: the Voice of the Unbelievable. But I think it's fair
Speaker 1: to say he doesn't get Voice of the Chargers if
Speaker 1: he's not opening our shows for the past four years. Say,
Speaker 1: at least it's very fair. Yeah, we have been on
Speaker 1: for a while, though five seasons a little too long
Speaker 1: at this point. It does. It's one of those things like, well,
Speaker 1: what are you still doing this for? Because are you
Speaker 1: getting better? Are you are you getting worse? Are you
Speaker 1: even invested in the product? I'll throw to you? Mark Well,
Speaker 1: I mean, these are the questions that we're getting from
Speaker 1: our employer all the time. They seem to be on
Speaker 1: the fact that you know, somehow this is still rambling
Speaker 1: on this show and it's on the radar. They're concerned
Speaker 1: that maybe it should have been canceled two or three
Speaker 1: years ago. Potentially, is this the longest running podcast in history?
Speaker 1: I feel like most podcasts are like eighteen months and
Speaker 1: then it's like see you later. They up ever in
Speaker 1: the history. So we should call Guinness, we should call yeah, Yeah,
Speaker 1: media Research l A media Research. They do a great job.
Speaker 1: We're gonna get to them a little bit later. We
Speaker 1: have a nice show today, nice show, A lot to
Speaker 1: get to as we head towards week eleven, we'll start
Speaker 1: by capping week ten, the Monday night football matchup between
Speaker 1: the Panthers and Dolphins that went sideways in a hurry.
Speaker 1: Then a little later in the show, we will preview
Speaker 1: the Thursday night football matchup between the Steelers and Titans.
Speaker 1: That's a saucy one, a little bit of a referendum
Speaker 1: on the Titoons potential thinks on TNF. So that's a
Speaker 1: good one. And then we'll have a discussion. We're talking
Speaker 1: about prime time games right there. Uh, we'll have we'll
Speaker 1: chat a little bit about some of the issues we're
Speaker 1: getting the season with uh, competitive primetime games specifically on
Speaker 1: Sunday and Monday nights. Any ideas how to spruce things up,
Speaker 1: that's what we're here for. The league comes to us
Speaker 1: for ideas like that. We we don't just complain about
Speaker 1: the problems. We come with solutions. That's why we're NFL employees.
Speaker 1: Solutions that are listened to and then change effectively. Happens
Speaker 1: very quickly after based on our ideas. Right, it's just
Speaker 1: like a giant suggestion box. Like we work for the shield.
Speaker 1: They actually give us a shield. If you ever see
Speaker 1: us in person, we have to lug around a pound
Speaker 1: shields with the logo and Connie Fox, your forearms just slipped,
Speaker 1: you can tell to put down in my car just
Speaker 1: to get it in there. It's like Mark McGuire circle,
Speaker 1: It's like it's more than a little suspicious. What's going
Speaker 1: on with Colleen's forearms. That's it for Colleen forearm talk.
Speaker 1: Let's uh, let's start with some Monday night football chatter
Speaker 1: now with McCaffrey motioning to the left, all alone in
Speaker 1: the shotgun, bounces on the balls of his feet, throws
Speaker 1: a comebackground caught left side. Ten funch just to the
Speaker 1: five funch just scores star is born, A star is born.
Speaker 1: Stars Barn's been playing well for a while, but I'll
Speaker 1: accept that. McK mix and w BT with a call.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure who said star was born, but star
Speaker 1: is born. Devin fun just nice little player though, So
Speaker 1: I get what he's saying. Are we on board with that?
Speaker 1: Had a how you thought had a kind of a
Speaker 1: breakout moment earlier in the season, So I would say
Speaker 1: his star has been it's been exploited, so it's already
Speaker 1: been birded. I don't kind of pushing for the coming
Speaker 1: out part. Didn't come out of that game thinking like
Speaker 1: that was the Devin fund was like the eight bullet point. Anyway,
Speaker 1: Cam Newton, Cam Newton, we know who that guy is.
Speaker 1: He threw her two and fifty four yards four touchdowns,
Speaker 1: Christian McCaffrey's or twice. Devin Fudge has scored a couple
Speaker 1: of times and at twenty one blowout for the Panthers
Speaker 1: over the Miami Dolphins, that is the third straight win,
Speaker 1: uh for Carolina And um, we'll start with you Mark
Speaker 1: on this one. We just finished talking about on Sunday
Speaker 1: Show the Big Four in the NFC, but the Panthers
Speaker 1: kind of lurk right, maybe beneath that group, or maybe
Speaker 1: they're not even beneath that group, because they are now
Speaker 1: seven and three and can look real good when they
Speaker 1: get warmed up. My issue with the Panthers over the
Speaker 1: last month plus was how boring they were to watch
Speaker 1: on offense, and I think that I owe them of
Speaker 1: an apology, and I just think others do too. I'll
Speaker 1: tell you why, because how wrong I was. Can we
Speaker 1: get Cam Newton on the phone for this? Yeah, not
Speaker 1: to him, I don't. Can we read your tweet to
Speaker 1: him about him last night, to him when he's on
Speaker 1: the phone, Go for it. Okay, We're there, tweet Newton.
Speaker 1: Here's the thing. I mean, honestly, I got. I got finished, Yester,
Speaker 1: watching the Saints destroy the Bills with a ground game
Speaker 1: from another century, and then last night the Panthers show
Speaker 1: that they've completely chosen and successfully chosen a new identity
Speaker 1: on offense. They are. They wore down the Dolphins and
Speaker 1: already a team that was lesser than them, but by
Speaker 1: the second half that ground game, which chalked about three
Speaker 1: hundred yards, the idea that when they traded Kelvin Benjamin,
Speaker 1: I laughed at them for saying, you know, it's going
Speaker 1: to open up our ground game, and in fact, in
Speaker 1: the last two games, that's exactly what it's done. I
Speaker 1: don't know if it's exactly because of Calvin Benjamin, but
Speaker 1: their offense and the way that they've unleashed Cam. Mike Schuel,
Speaker 1: that offensive coordinator who's now concocted about seven different types
Speaker 1: of Panthers attacks, deserves a lot of credit. Yeah, they
Speaker 1: were trying to focus more on speed and getting faster
Speaker 1: on offense, and that's exactly what we saw last night.
Speaker 1: I mean, even with Cam Newton, he's he's they're just
Speaker 1: letting him do what he does best and that's when
Speaker 1: the Panther's offense succeeds. And Christian McCaffrey he has three
Speaker 1: touchdowns in his last two games. But I think one
Speaker 1: of the other things with him, he threw some key
Speaker 1: blocks in there that really kind of broke open the
Speaker 1: game on on the Fun's touchdown. He had one on
Speaker 1: that long catch and run. So I mean they're sort
Speaker 1: of clicking now, which is scary because that defense is
Speaker 1: so good. And I know that Mark by the way,
Speaker 1: said go find the tweet because he did a rare
Speaker 1: market he deleted the tweet. He deleted the tweet, and
Speaker 1: I had there was They said basically the same thing,
Speaker 1: So they're they're the one the one with He basically
Speaker 1: was he wasn't thrilled with the celebrations, which is which
Speaker 1: is fine. It was a night for Cam. It was
Speaker 1: a night. It was a night that reminded you how
Speaker 1: exciting this team could be. And you you guys mentioned it.
Speaker 1: This isn't a one week thing. And that's why I'm
Speaker 1: not just chalking up to that they were playing the Dolphins.
Speaker 1: When they came out last week against the Falcons, they
Speaker 1: had a noticeably different approach. They said, forget this whole like,
Speaker 1: let's try to run like a quote unquote pro style offense,
Speaker 1: and let's work on the short passes for Cam and
Speaker 1: let's not expose him. Forget that he is unlike anything
Speaker 1: the NFL all has ever seen. He's a great runner.
Speaker 1: His threat of running opens up so much for McCaffrey,
Speaker 1: who had his best game last week, and Stewart, who
Speaker 1: had his best game this week. We've been at our
Speaker 1: best when that's then when that is our offense. So
Speaker 1: let's not let's stop worrying about the future. Let's just
Speaker 1: let's try to win now. And they've run for four
Speaker 1: yards over the last week. And I'll make a point that, yes,
Speaker 1: Christian McCaffrey was drafted high to be, I guess, a
Speaker 1: some type of complete running back. He's not that. But
Speaker 1: I also think that some of the criticism he's gotten
Speaker 1: has been a little unfair because I really do think
Speaker 1: he's a very valuable piece of this offense and he's
Speaker 1: done a lot of things to them. Now we're starting
Speaker 1: to see it a little bit more in the box score.
Speaker 1: I think he's they're still figuring out how to use them,
Speaker 1: and with this embracing the offense that they really always
Speaker 1: should have had. I I like the idea or see
Speaker 1: the McCaffrey potentially having an even more explosive role going forward.
Speaker 1: And in that Saint Spills game and in the game
Speaker 1: last night, it's when you get to the second half
Speaker 1: that both games were relatively close at half two. In
Speaker 1: that second half, that Dolphins defense is worn down. You
Speaker 1: saw the Saints on Sunday run the ball twenty four
Speaker 1: straight times, and they did it well. It was incredible
Speaker 1: to watch. And the Panthers last night, another team from
Speaker 1: the same division, those teams are gonna play each other
Speaker 1: in week thirteen, same mold. I mean, when you can
Speaker 1: run the ball that way and beat up a defense,
Speaker 1: you're gonna go deep into the season. The Giants to
Speaker 1: use them as an example. In San Francisco, they quit,
Speaker 1: at least some players did. I didn't get the sense
Speaker 1: either with the Bills or the Dolphins that there was
Speaker 1: quitting involved. They just got worn down that offenses that
Speaker 1: where they have a great attack, they had a great
Speaker 1: game plan, and then running backs that they could use
Speaker 1: to attack them. And that's having Steward who entered the
Speaker 1: game I think with what the lowest yards for carry
Speaker 1: after like two point nine or something, and and he
Speaker 1: looked like it was two. It's the box and it's
Speaker 1: Cam and I guess McCaffrey, but mostly Cam opening it
Speaker 1: up for the other players. But none of this works.
Speaker 1: I mean, their offense is gonna be fine. They're hoping
Speaker 1: that their offense is average or a little better. It
Speaker 1: only works if you have a top five defense to
Speaker 1: go along with that. I mean, that was the recipe
Speaker 1: into thousand thirteen when they went twelve and four. That
Speaker 1: was the recipe when they went to the Super Bowl
Speaker 1: and that's the recipe. Now all they need is their
Speaker 1: offense to be okay, and they need Kwan Shot. I
Speaker 1: mean the special part of this team is Kwan Shot
Speaker 1: and Luke Kickley and Thomas. Yeah, that interception he had
Speaker 1: before the half kind of turned things around for them
Speaker 1: because it would have been ten seven offense. They're dreadful though.
Speaker 1: I mean, this ended a three week journey, one of
Speaker 1: you know, three week journey. I don't know if this
Speaker 1: has ever happened before, where a team traveled across our
Speaker 1: prime time properties. They went Thursday to Sunday to Monday.
Speaker 1: And this was an odyssey, a story that no one
Speaker 1: should ever talk about again. Well, and it started with
Speaker 1: you and I covering a forty to nothing lost to
Speaker 1: the Ravens and it ended last night in equally disasters.
Speaker 1: They were the worst four and two team in the league.
Speaker 1: Now they're the worst four and five team. At some
Speaker 1: point they'll probably be the worst six and ten team.
Speaker 1: It's like just they might come up a little bit
Speaker 1: later because we got to do some housekeeping with the
Speaker 1: four committee. Um so that was what they have. I
Speaker 1: don't know, I mean, just one a I have. We'll
Speaker 1: talk half, we'll talk about you know so, and yeah,
Speaker 1: uh not great. Uh for Monday night foutball Sunday night football.
Speaker 1: We've talked about Al, Chris and Michelle all season have
Speaker 1: been stuck with dogs. UM, and I did shoot our
Speaker 1: research team and email because it felt like we've been
Speaker 1: seeing more blowouts and these Sunday Monday night games. Um,
Speaker 1: that's not quite the case. Uh. They got back to me.
Speaker 1: The average margin of victory uh this year is twelve
Speaker 1: point five to UM last year twelve point seven three
Speaker 1: two thousand fourteen, fourteen point nine seven. It's kind of
Speaker 1: hovered in that eleven to thirteen range. UM, So maybe
Speaker 1: that's something that sometimes it gets on your radar a
Speaker 1: little bit. He's like, Oh, none of these games had
Speaker 1: a couple of really bad they had a terrible week
Speaker 1: or two weeks. I would right. I mean, if you
Speaker 1: go through the schedule this year, there are a couple
Speaker 1: of good games here and there, but a lot of
Speaker 1: these games have been handily taken care of by one side. Um.
Speaker 1: How about a quick chat Laberno quick quick Chat sponsored
Speaker 1: by quick Chat. Quick chat favorite I am client, Yeah,
Speaker 1: America's number one favorite app that you chat with your friends,
Speaker 1: and it does uh, different errands for you? How versatile
Speaker 1: chat it's such, it's such a greatly a great secret
Speaker 1: and held close to the vest by so many people.
Speaker 1: Doesn't even exist. Great chat runs errands doesn't exist. Mark
Speaker 1: will start with you if you all right, So, how
Speaker 1: do we do this? So then if you go through
Speaker 1: the years, there are a lot of lopside of games
Speaker 1: in prime time. How about we throw out a couple
Speaker 1: of suggestions in the league office will be plugged into this.
Speaker 1: How do you make these primetime games more competitive? I'll
Speaker 1: give you two quick ideas and you can respond. Number one,
Speaker 1: I would say a totally open before the season begins.
Speaker 1: You have an open slate post Halloween for all prime
Speaker 1: time slots that you give the lead two or three weeks.
Speaker 1: Notice that you start scheduling them three weeks ago for
Speaker 1: this week's games, so you can do as Greg wanted
Speaker 1: to get certain the Saints in there, and the Rams,
Speaker 1: some of the teams that we never expected to be
Speaker 1: good before the Thursdays and Mondays too. You're saying, I, well,
Speaker 1: there's a second part with Thursdays. Thursday night football is
Speaker 1: not going to officially go away. That's not how things happen.
Speaker 1: The league is gonna keep adding more and more. But
Speaker 1: my concern and the way I feel sometimes as a
Speaker 1: fan is that there's an oversaturation point where it feels
Speaker 1: like I'd like the idea of football beyond every night,
Speaker 1: if every night was a competitive game, but we're not
Speaker 1: getting that. And I remember growing up that late in
Speaker 1: the year you get those rare Saturday games and you
Speaker 1: get the occasional strange Christian Anderson was talking about this
Speaker 1: back even within the seventies, you get the weird Thursday
Speaker 1: night game and it was specially you remember those games.
Speaker 1: There was something about the NFL that the product rose up.
Speaker 1: So what I would do is I would turn Thursday
Speaker 1: football into a special event that occurs once a month,
Speaker 1: or maybe it occurs over the course of a month
Speaker 1: in the season. Where Thursday football is something that isn't
Speaker 1: suddenly in your lap quickly is the week it comes
Speaker 1: so quickly every week, the teams have issues, the players,
Speaker 1: and you treat it more like the way you treat London.
Speaker 1: It's something special, but it's in the States and it
Speaker 1: occurs at an important point of the year, and you
Speaker 1: can schedule it mid season to find out which of
Speaker 1: these teams we want to make T and F the
Speaker 1: best product we can. I love the novelty of that,
Speaker 1: because for me, I'm flying back from the East Coast
Speaker 1: on Sunday, so I always end up missing a good
Speaker 1: chunk of games live. You want to change the entire
Speaker 1: nasional schedule for me, Yes, for me, just around my
Speaker 1: flight schedule, because the only games that I've really really
Speaker 1: get to like sit and absorb and really enjoy are
Speaker 1: the prime time games. Otherwise I'm kind of just watching,
Speaker 1: right Yeah, so to have them be total stinkers is
Speaker 1: such a bummer. Well, Greg, you're kind of our logistical
Speaker 1: expert in this realm, so you are good at like
Speaker 1: telling quickly agrees why Mark, Why Mark's idea can never work? Well,
Speaker 1: my ideas weren't too similar, and I guess we'll talk
Speaker 1: about we can talk about that. My one was to
Speaker 1: reduce Thursday night football as well to start, So, I
Speaker 1: don't know if you're gonna do once a month, And
Speaker 1: granted they have they have contracts signed for a few years,
Speaker 1: so this would be the next time around. Maybe you
Speaker 1: go back to the old way where they really started it.
Speaker 1: I believe around Halloween and on or close to Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1: And on. I don't think there'll ever be a day
Speaker 1: where you can flex Thursday or Monday night games in
Speaker 1: any capacity. I just don't because of logistics, because of
Speaker 1: scheduling and fans and tea in and just everything. I
Speaker 1: just don't think those two nights are ever gonna be open.
Speaker 1: But my other idea other than reducing Thursday night down
Speaker 1: because I think when you take out six or seven
Speaker 1: Thursday night games, those are twelve games of the borderline teams.
Speaker 1: Now you're not going to predict the team's right ahead
Speaker 1: of time. But that gets rid of some of those
Speaker 1: Dolphin primetime games. It's like you're still gonna be loaded
Speaker 1: up on the Steelers and the Patriots, and hopefully you
Speaker 1: can guess right for the most part, because sometimes you're
Speaker 1: just gonna get in a tough spot where team surprised you.
Speaker 1: But those take away those bo to line teams. That's
Speaker 1: one I think with the flex. That was my second
Speaker 1: idea is make the flex more flexible. You can't you know,
Speaker 1: the weeks five to ten. People don't even know this.
Speaker 1: You can only even use the flex twice. I don't
Speaker 1: understand that. Like, I think, just start being able to
Speaker 1: flex starting week five, and to your point, maybe don't write,
Speaker 1: don't even write in the Sunday night game starting week
Speaker 1: five on, because then it becomes this weird thing where
Speaker 1: you don't want to change it. In less you know
Speaker 1: there's a better ratings game out there. Just leave week
Speaker 1: five open, and it becomes a thing every Monday morning
Speaker 1: twelve or Tuesday morning twelve days ahead that you're you're
Speaker 1: kind of looking forward to finding out what's the Sunday
Speaker 1: night start that in week five, and it tells teams
Speaker 1: earn it, you want it, you want to get on
Speaker 1: Sunday Night football, and you want to you want to
Speaker 1: have the best games. Bye week six, weeks seven, be
Speaker 1: one of those teams we want to see that. Don't
Speaker 1: be that don't be. It's not it's also not it's
Speaker 1: Miami's fault that they're not a great team. But it's
Speaker 1: not fun to be a fan of the Dolphins. I
Speaker 1: remember in two thousand seven when the Browns win had
Speaker 1: a weird ten and six in the NFL went nuts
Speaker 1: and put them on primetime I think five or six times,
Speaker 1: and then they proceeded to be a dumpster fire. And
Speaker 1: as a fan, you don't want to watch your team.
Speaker 1: Dolphins fans are not enjoying watching their team lose, forwarding
Speaker 1: to nothing and then get hammered last night, twitters on fire,
Speaker 1: everyone calling the team in his grace. It's not a
Speaker 1: good experience for the Dolphins fans either. I would say
Speaker 1: two quick things, and I like that flex more flexible.
Speaker 1: It even has a nice ring to it, maybe a
Speaker 1: new hashtag. Two things I would say sometimes it does
Speaker 1: feel like the um schedule makers put too many eggs
Speaker 1: in the NFC East basket, and then what happens if
Speaker 1: the NFC East is having a down year or certain
Speaker 1: teams that are always out there. The Broncos are another example,
Speaker 1: And I get it. It's it's it's not there's no
Speaker 1: simple answer to any of this stuff, because there's market
Speaker 1: share and and historically how ratings do and that drives thieves.
Speaker 1: Look at the top of the NFC this year are
Speaker 1: those four teams were not really expected to be a team.
Speaker 1: But when you go through a season like it feels
Speaker 1: like there's an NFC East team every week playing, it
Speaker 1: just feels that way. They get the ratings, and they
Speaker 1: get the ratings. I get that, um So I would
Speaker 1: say that the other the other thing. The other point,
Speaker 1: I would have mm hmm trying to remember it. Baseball teams.
Speaker 1: Baseball teams play against football time. I thought it was
Speaker 1: so pointed, like, wow, this is coming from the heart.
Speaker 1: It's just like when there's a really good matchup and
Speaker 1: it's in the one o'clock window, and then you have
Speaker 1: a stinker later on. It's it just and and a
Speaker 1: lot of it we know is is bad luck. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we're trying to we're spitballing for you. I will go,
Speaker 1: I will point I will point out we've had it's
Speaker 1: been a rough primetime slate in terms of just the
Speaker 1: excitement before the games of the matchups, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. This week we happened to like we're saying
Speaker 1: this conversation in a week where three of the better
Speaker 1: games I feel like that we've had in a while
Speaker 1: are all in prime time. Titan Steelers Thursday, Eagles Cowboys
Speaker 1: Sunday Night, which I wish Zeke Elliott was there, but
Speaker 1: that's still a big time exciting game. And Falcon Seahawks
Speaker 1: Monday Night, which I'm personally sight about kind of the
Speaker 1: two teams that were there last year in the NFC,
Speaker 1: Like those are three good prime time. Some of it's
Speaker 1: just like when last year. Remember earlier in the year
Speaker 1: there was so much critique over the Bears, for instance,
Speaker 1: being in prime time twice when they were a mess
Speaker 1: and it. But the the NFL, we actually talked to
Speaker 1: people and they said, you got await. By the end
Speaker 1: of the year, the schedule will round into shape and
Speaker 1: it and it does seem to do that every year.
Speaker 1: It's the beginning of the season sometimes where things are
Speaker 1: a big mess. Um the other one I thought of,
Speaker 1: it's not it's not pointing at all, but it's another
Speaker 1: one of those things. It's more a field than I
Speaker 1: don't know if it backs it up, but certain games.
Speaker 1: Last night is a perfect example. The Panther. Even before
Speaker 1: the season started, it felt like probably a tough ask
Speaker 1: for Miami to go to Carolina. Maybe sometimes the team
Speaker 1: that you kind of have an idea could be the
Speaker 1: underdog going into the game. Have them host the game,
Speaker 1: because sometimes it feels like these teams are going into
Speaker 1: a buzz saw against the perennial league. Don't ship the
Speaker 1: Jets to Foxborough five years in a row on prime
Speaker 1: timers right have have the it's probably gonna often better game.
Speaker 1: If the Jets come to or they get a better product.
Speaker 1: And I think the Dolphins are headed to Fox. I
Speaker 1: know the Patriots are headed to Miami. So that proves
Speaker 1: your point that football, Well, it also proves our point
Speaker 1: that they're on for a fourth time. So don't year.
Speaker 1: I don't mind watching the Patriots in prime time because
Speaker 1: I'm saying the Dolphins were a playoff team last year.
Speaker 1: And if you're if it's inflexible, you're gonna keep hitting
Speaker 1: this because they'll be up to playoff teams this year.
Speaker 1: That stink next year, and you're gonna get stuck with
Speaker 1: the same thing. All right, good talk, guys, And this
Speaker 1: this is being This was actually streamed live. Lindsey Fulton
Speaker 1: hooked it up straight to Rod's office and he was
Speaker 1: furiously scribbling notes. So I think we have four letters
Speaker 1: of termination furiously being scribbled right now. All right, let's
Speaker 1: move on and do some news. Actually, no, let's do
Speaker 1: an ad. Read like that sounds better. That sounds more fun,
Speaker 1: doesn't it. Oh my god, I want to tell you
Speaker 1: about a great new podcast called Outside the Box, a podcast. Lindsay,
Speaker 1: what is this again? I don't make the copy, I
Speaker 1: don't control the ad literally. I mean it's is this
Speaker 1: a Rosenthal Jess podcast. It's pretty it's pretty standard. I
Speaker 1: think it would be strange if television shows weren't allowed
Speaker 1: to advertise other television show ESPNS new Pro football podcast
Speaker 1: starting tonight Outside the Tiny Box. No. If you're a maker, innovator,
Speaker 1: or even just a consumer who wants to peek behind
Speaker 1: the curtain of some of the world's greatest organizations, you'll
Speaker 1: love it. The latest episode like, does the Tiny Outside
Speaker 1: the Box do an ad for us? Is it one
Speaker 1: of those things at home at home? I'm going to
Speaker 1: guess not at all. Maybe if you listen to more
Speaker 1: podcast Yeah, this is a regular occurrence. I listened to
Speaker 1: every Outside the Box. The latest episode, which is available
Speaker 1: right now, features former NFL commissioner Paul So you listen
Speaker 1: to the episodes of I Subscribe, talking about the massive
Speaker 1: innovations both on the on and off the field, that
Speaker 1: helped football become America's most popular sport. He also talks
Speaker 1: about how the opportunities and challenges the league is faced
Speaker 1: are similar to those faced by businesses of all types.
Speaker 1: Listen uh to listen along on Apple podcast, Stitcher, Spotify,
Speaker 1: or whatever or wherever. You get your podcasts Outside the Box,
Speaker 1: not to be confused with Outside the Tiny Box, which
Speaker 1: is Colleen's subpod. Pick a documentary on her log podcast
Speaker 1: coming outside. What's going on with the Heat and Light Podcast?
Speaker 1: It seems like it's been a little it's uh, well,
Speaker 1: Connor left, the company, were switched off. They weren't switched off.
Speaker 1: I would say it's in general more of an off
Speaker 1: the city turned off the heat and the lights. Yes, now,
Speaker 1: it's what we'd like to do is keep people on
Speaker 1: their toes and have an episode pop up when we
Speaker 1: feel like it. And at this point people probably think, oh,
Speaker 1: it's been canceled because there's not been an episode in
Speaker 1: three months. You really love them to sleep, and then
Speaker 1: an episode pops up in like mid June and they
Speaker 1: have no idea what saying. It'll be a pleasant surprise
Speaker 1: when yeah, well and Greg will continue to not listen
Speaker 1: to it. Listen. I mean, while we're here the Throwback Podcast.
Speaker 1: We have comedian Nicky Glazer on this week and we'll
Speaker 1: go through all the number one hits of two thousand
Speaker 1: one listen to. Let's do some news. This is a
Speaker 1: film about Mexico. Just a couple bros just exploring whatcom
Speaker 1: So who knows, I'm gonna have some fun, gonna see
Speaker 1: a good tiger. I'm gonna make him out to be
Speaker 1: a big gasslight. You're going to Mexico? That was we
Speaker 1: should say who that was. That was Julian Edelman and
Speaker 1: Danny A. Mendola in some sort of promotion for this
Speaker 1: Sunday's Raiders game where I guess they went to They
Speaker 1: went to Mexico and that that was basically the dream
Speaker 1: assignment of our old producer Loose Cannon, who was still
Speaker 1: helping us on the pick Him. I mean, imagine if
Speaker 1: she was on that shoot, I don't watch out, Danny. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't think she'd come back. That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: She is quite a thing for Danny A Mendola, who
Speaker 1: appears to That's two privileged right, Well, it's you know,
Speaker 1: two privileged Caucasians traveling across the border to express themselves.
Speaker 1: That's that's exciting. Dan. I know you're you're not a
Speaker 1: Patriots fan, were you? What are you feeling about what
Speaker 1: you just saw? A way to pivot there, Mark Um,
Speaker 1: I never went to I never did the cross the
Speaker 1: border trip. I wish kind of wish that I did
Speaker 1: with my buddies. But any border across some borders, you
Speaker 1: famously not into leaving the homeland. I love it here.
Speaker 1: I love this country, even with all the struggles we face.
Speaker 1: It's the best damn country in America. I would like
Speaker 1: to hear the song that you guys would say if
Speaker 1: you went to Mexico, best day of country in America.
Speaker 1: That's the only thing I know. All right, let's do
Speaker 1: some news. Let's get on track. Jesus Sean Lee. Oh
Speaker 1: my goodness, the Cowboys are dealing with some stuff right now.
Speaker 1: We saw what happened without Tyron Smith, with that Zeke
Speaker 1: Elliott on Sunday against the Falcons, and now NFL and
Speaker 1: Work insider Ian Rappaport reported uh that Lee, the team's
Speaker 1: star linebacker, unlikely to play in Week eleven due to
Speaker 1: a hamstring injury that forced them out of the loss
Speaker 1: to the Falcons. And this is where some bad luck
Speaker 1: comes in with the schedule. The Cowboys have three games
Speaker 1: over the next eleven days, so within the nature of
Speaker 1: this injury, it's possible that they lose their most important
Speaker 1: defensive player, Colleen for three games. The team's playing on
Speaker 1: Thanksgiving against the Chargers. Um, they're playing the Eagles too,
Speaker 1: so they got the Eagles. I mean, so the bad timing,
Speaker 1: no Shawn Lee, no Zeke Elliott, we don't know if
Speaker 1: Tyron Smith will be back for their next game. A
Speaker 1: lot of adversity all of a sudden. Yeah, and they're
Speaker 1: they're five and four, and we saw how it played
Speaker 1: out without Tyron Smith and there, I mean, Adrian Claymorene
Speaker 1: had a crazy day. So the fact that when this
Speaker 1: offensive line was already sort of having some issues running
Speaker 1: the ball and run blocking and now they can't really
Speaker 1: pass protect. Either it's it's not good for the Eagles
Speaker 1: or or it's great for the Eagles. It's just not
Speaker 1: good for the Cowboys right now because that defense, when
Speaker 1: Shawn Lee is in there, it plays so different. The
Speaker 1: fact that they had David Irving back and Shawn Lee back,
Speaker 1: they were really really good and this is when they
Speaker 1: need those guys, is when they need the defense without
Speaker 1: Zeke there pal Damaschek talks about Jenga pieces on teams. Yeah,
Speaker 1: about take three off the Cowboys and see how the
Speaker 1: rest of the season goes. I think it's pretty easy
Speaker 1: to argue Tyron Smith is more valuable to that team
Speaker 1: than Zeke Elliott. I mean, Tyron Smith going to the
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame, most likely as as a left tackle,
Speaker 1: and that just the drop off at that position is
Speaker 1: massive because if Smith is in, you can block well
Speaker 1: enough for whoever the running back is. And you could
Speaker 1: even argue shan Lee is just as important to the
Speaker 1: defense as Zeke is to the offense. Now it's time
Speaker 1: to manage the schedule. I mean, it's gonna be tough
Speaker 1: to beat the Eagles. This is a team that we've
Speaker 1: picked on over the years, the Cowboys for being thin,
Speaker 1: for not having for having a lot of star power
Speaker 1: up top, and not a good you know, backside of
Speaker 1: the roster. We'll find out. But you gotta win too.
Speaker 1: Out of those three. You gotta beat the Chargers and
Speaker 1: the Redskins, maybe lose to the Eagle. You get out
Speaker 1: of that seven and five and you're in okay shape.
Speaker 1: That Eagles game is tell it's the schedule, and whenever
Speaker 1: this Zeke thing hit, it would have been a rough patch.
Speaker 1: But I mean, you could see them being out of
Speaker 1: the playoff picture realistically by Thanksgiving night if they lose that.
Speaker 1: That's what I'm saying yes, if they ever to drop those.
Speaker 1: I mean, I love the janga theory from Shack And
Speaker 1: the reason I love it is because if you know
Speaker 1: the game, if you take three key pieces from your
Speaker 1: janga tower, what happens. It crumbles, falls to the ground,
Speaker 1: and any child knows. Very highly competitive NFC, the three
Speaker 1: months valuable. They can't lose the team other than Dak Prescott.
Speaker 1: They can't lose three games in a row. They I mean,
Speaker 1: it's just not They need to figure out a way
Speaker 1: to get by. They can't go one and two. There's two.
Speaker 1: The NFC is too top heavy. They can't go one
Speaker 1: and two. I think I think they're in deep trouble. Yeah,
Speaker 1: first of all, I'm hopeful. I'm sure Cowboys fans are
Speaker 1: the tyrant Smith returns. I think they are hopeful of that.
Speaker 1: I think they could beat a Redskins are in charges teams,
Speaker 1: but I think they can. All right, let's move on.
Speaker 1: Talk about the uh who are in a bad, bad
Speaker 1: place right now. Uh they got blown out at home
Speaker 1: UH two weeks ago? Who blew them out two weeks ago?
Speaker 1: Or last the Rams. Then they go on the road
Speaker 1: and they get blown out by the previously windless forty Niners. Um,
Speaker 1: and yeah, it looked like some of those players cough
Speaker 1: cough Genaris Jenkins cough cough, quit on their head coach
Speaker 1: and on their teammates. And it's just a bad look
Speaker 1: all around for the Giants. Whore one in eight uh.
Speaker 1: There was a report that floated out there from Pro
Speaker 1: Football Talk that um macadoo ben mcdoo coach, could be
Speaker 1: fired as soon as this week after the performance against
Speaker 1: the forty Niners, But less than twenty four hours after
Speaker 1: that loss, the team's owners said they'll wait until the
Speaker 1: end of the year before determining if they'll make changes.
Speaker 1: Here is the statement from the Giants. Ben McAdoo is
Speaker 1: our head coach and has our support. We are in
Speaker 1: the midst of an extremely disappointing season. This is coming
Speaker 1: from John mara and Steve Tish. Of course, our performance
Speaker 1: this year, particularly the past two weeks, is inexcusable and frustrating.
Speaker 1: While we appreciate that our fans are unhappy with what
Speaker 1: has occurred, nobody is more upset than we are. He
Speaker 1: went on to add that the plan is to do
Speaker 1: what they always do, and they don't. The Giants don't
Speaker 1: do things like fire coach in the middle of the season,
Speaker 1: there's usually not a lot of like fireworks around them
Speaker 1: like that. But it's very clear after you read the statement,
Speaker 1: Ben's gone, He's gone. Yeah, they're not a reactionary bunch.
Speaker 1: They won five straight games, so we should be insane. No,
Speaker 1: But it's just like they're saying, it's not gonna happen.
Speaker 1: You can anybody this Giants are not winning five straight games.
Speaker 1: It's amazing like that. This was a team that was
Speaker 1: so touted in the off season and now this is
Speaker 1: where they are. And you you see all these reports
Speaker 1: that like, you know, the players that they've clearly given
Speaker 1: up on on Macadoo and the team. But I mean
Speaker 1: Macadoo still saying like things like there are players were
Speaker 1: capable of making and the desire to finish just wasn't consistent.
Speaker 1: They quit. Someone made the point last night, I think
Speaker 1: it was our your producer fine Man, Jason Hartilius, that
Speaker 1: the difference between Adam Gaze and Macadoo is like Adam
Speaker 1: Gaze when he he recognizes there's a problem, Macadoo pretends
Speaker 1: that nothing wrong is happening, that just like everything everything's
Speaker 1: fine here, when when it's the worst season in thirty
Speaker 1: years for the franchise. Yeah, there's a huge disconnect between
Speaker 1: Macadoo and the press, and in New York especially, that's
Speaker 1: when the chips start to crumble. And that's yeah, that's
Speaker 1: why I thought he was in danger even before these
Speaker 1: two weeks. Sometimes you were dead, you were ahead of
Speaker 1: this on the head of some people in the state.
Speaker 1: Sometimes the fan base and the newspapers, the tabloids specifically
Speaker 1: start to smell blood in the water, and then these
Speaker 1: these things snowball. So he was already I thought, in
Speaker 1: a lot of trouble, and then these last two weeks
Speaker 1: basically did him in because now there's a mutiny of
Speaker 1: foot at least that's how it's viewed from the outside,
Speaker 1: and that he's suspended two of their best players for
Speaker 1: different teams, and those are the players that are getting questions.
Speaker 1: And the fact that the own ownership felt the need
Speaker 1: to make this statement that's not even very giant like,
Speaker 1: but it just tells you how bad things have gotten.
Speaker 1: This is, like we talked about a little bit on Sunday.
Speaker 1: This is you have to go back maybe forty years
Speaker 1: to find the last time the Giants were this in
Speaker 1: this much danger. Ahead. I was gonna say, Bob Glauber,
Speaker 1: who does a great job at Newsday, you know. The uh.
Speaker 1: The lead to his column after this statement is it
Speaker 1: is impossible to overstate the significance of where the Giants
Speaker 1: are right now, saying it's really a crossroads in the
Speaker 1: club's history that he goes back thirty nine years in
Speaker 1: terms of when they when they last bottomed, that when
Speaker 1: they last truly clean house. Because if you look at it,
Speaker 1: even Reese was the last higher of of George Young,
Speaker 1: their old general manager, so it's been a succession plane
Speaker 1: where Young chosen the occurred. Of course he had hired Reese,
Speaker 1: who had chosen reason. It's like this goes back decades
Speaker 1: and decades where they've had continuity and now might be
Speaker 1: the time where that all kind of their top three
Speaker 1: in terms of continuity, if not if not one or two.
Speaker 1: But I I am sensing a little bit this week
Speaker 1: and it is annoying me this. Oh, you know, the
Speaker 1: Giants fans have really had to endure a tough season.
Speaker 1: I am a little annoyed because to state what you
Speaker 1: just said, they have to go back to the seventies
Speaker 1: for the last time that there was disorganization and upheaval.
Speaker 1: That's four decades ago. You've been to five Super Bowls,
Speaker 1: you have won four of them. Settled down, Giants fans,
Speaker 1: You're allowed to enjoy one season of discontent, Please please
Speaker 1: settle down. At one two am, Mark what's going on?
Speaker 1: Mark tweeted out the outpouring of concern and attention for
Speaker 1: Giants fans living through a down season after four super
Speaker 1: Bowl win since is precious. It's just sutting just enough.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's a that's you grew up on the
Speaker 1: East Coast, you get it. Um. Greg will point out,
Speaker 1: and that's true too. They had an eleven and five
Speaker 1: season last season, but this will be there. I believe
Speaker 1: they're either third or fourth double digit loss season in
Speaker 1: five years. Um. So they've kind of been scuffling a
Speaker 1: little bit since that second Super Bowl's Patriots lost, and
Speaker 1: now they could be heading into a dark dark I
Speaker 1: think if you win a Super Bowl, you need to
Speaker 1: be quiet for five years. And one more thing, And
Speaker 1: I wrote about this um in my gift piece on
Speaker 1: Monday that, um, you know with all this turnover that's
Speaker 1: gonna happen, and the the the idea that they might
Speaker 1: be starting over at quarterback. Uh and all that. Like,
Speaker 1: let's see how these Odell Beckham Junior extension talks playoffs.
Speaker 1: That's a good point, they players, that's the thing they have.
Speaker 1: Landing I love the combination of Shepard Beckham and Evan Ingram,
Speaker 1: who I think is incredible, Like there's there's something to
Speaker 1: work with you. I don't think this just like the
Speaker 1: Patriots and in a couple of years, I hope fingers cost.
Speaker 1: Now the Giants are facing the same issue that the
Speaker 1: Jets and the Browns and so many other bad teams face.
Speaker 1: Got identify a quarterback and if you don't hit on that,
Speaker 1: and you're in the darkness forever. What was the in
Speaker 1: your in your gift chiff piece? There was a third
Speaker 1: pronunciation that you offered the reader, Geoff. Well, since society
Speaker 1: for some reason has decided not to like come down
Speaker 1: hard on whether it's gift or jiff, why can't I
Speaker 1: throw something else in the ring? What is again that?
Speaker 1: It's it's it's catchy. Uh, it's thank you interesting news.
Speaker 1: Countie Fox out of Minnesota coach Mike Zimmer. Uh is
Speaker 1: it possible? Is it really possible that Mike Zimmer could
Speaker 1: bench a quarterback coming off a four touchdown performance. Uh,
Speaker 1: he said that. Uh, he knows who's going to be
Speaker 1: under center against the Rams in Week eleven and a
Speaker 1: huge game, but he won't announce whether it's Case Keenum
Speaker 1: or Teddy Bridgewater who just came made his big comeback
Speaker 1: from that terrible knee injury. He won't make the announcement
Speaker 1: until tomorrow, Wednesday. Here's the quote from Zimmer. I haven't
Speaker 1: sat down to talk to anybody yet, so I'm gonna
Speaker 1: wait until Wednesday. Connie, is it really possible case Keenu
Speaker 1: gets benched? Because as much as we all love the
Speaker 1: Teddy Bridgewater story and we'd love to see further chapters
Speaker 1: added to that fairytale story, Case Keenum doesn't starve to
Speaker 1: be benched, right I. I guess there's a chance, but
Speaker 1: I don't think it's going to happen. I would be
Speaker 1: kind of shocked if they did that, just considering Case
Speaker 1: Keenum right now is playing great like he is. He's
Speaker 1: not a great quarterback, but he's on fire right now,
Speaker 1: and he has the whole team kind of rallying around him.
Speaker 1: It just works. So why would you bench him if
Speaker 1: they're winning these games? You've got to just wait until
Speaker 1: something happens. I mean, you don't know what you're gonna
Speaker 1: get from Teddy Bridgewater right now with this whole layoff.
Speaker 1: Even if he is getting high speed reps, you're you're
Speaker 1: seeing him in practice, and I don't know if it's
Speaker 1: the right decision. When this first came up, usually that
Speaker 1: means that the coach is going to make a change,
Speaker 1: Like because they don't say anything, why do you need
Speaker 1: to talk to the team of keeping Case Keenum sin
Speaker 1: that's happened. I it sounds like that my radar was
Speaker 1: definitely wrong on that that they are going to stay
Speaker 1: with Case Keenum. I expect that to be the announcement.
Speaker 1: I was just excited that they had the conviction at
Speaker 1: that moment to make what was an unpopular choice because
Speaker 1: of something they believed in, which is, you know, the
Speaker 1: easy thing is to keep Case Keenum playing. He threw
Speaker 1: two of the worst interceptions that you've ever seen that
Speaker 1: brought the Redskins back in that game. There, He's has
Speaker 1: a great offensive line plane for him right now, He's
Speaker 1: got two great wide receivers. I don't think it's crazy
Speaker 1: to think that maybe they see Teddy Bridgewater as a
Speaker 1: higher ceiling, and that's going for it. I think Teddy
Speaker 1: Bridgewater is going to play, So I was just excited
Speaker 1: and it probably is the right move to keep Case
Speaker 1: going for now. But I think he's gonna play. Here's
Speaker 1: the thing, He's gonna play this season. There's no way
Speaker 1: they get they're gonna give him a chance. At some point,
Speaker 1: I will really assume they want to see him, not
Speaker 1: just because of the contract, but because they ultimately believe
Speaker 1: he's a better player than than case Keenum. I think
Speaker 1: you know that there's future questions around Teddy Bridgewater. You
Speaker 1: don't want to let him escape if without taking bowl.
Speaker 1: But here's the thing, I think the case Keenu he's been.
Speaker 1: That's that's why they would do it. Yeah, he's been
Speaker 1: all you could ask. I think, just as there's naturally
Speaker 1: gonna be a time Teddy Bridgewater lost his job by injury,
Speaker 1: which is, you know, bad code for a quarterback, Case
Speaker 1: Keena now shouldn't lose it after taking them as far
Speaker 1: as he had either. They're in a tough position. But
Speaker 1: it kind of reminds me in a totally different way
Speaker 1: of when the Patriots won their first Super Bowl and
Speaker 1: it was all. The whole narrative was, oh, poor Drew Bledsoe.
Speaker 1: It's not fair how he's been benched. But yet we
Speaker 1: were excited about this young guy Tom Brady. And then
Speaker 1: in the a f C Championship, Bledsoe had to come
Speaker 1: in and he delivered this heroic, amazing win to get
Speaker 1: the Patriots into the Super Bowl. Everyone kind of got
Speaker 1: their cred And I think that we're gonna see Bridgewater
Speaker 1: in a natural way. I do. I don't think you
Speaker 1: just about this week with Brock and Peyton. I mean
Speaker 1: that was obviously a little bit, but yeah, like I
Speaker 1: can see it playing out that Teddy will at some
Speaker 1: point come in and in relief for Case if Case
Speaker 1: is kind of struggling a little bit, and then at
Speaker 1: that point the next week he would be the starter.
Speaker 1: But I think they gotta wait until that happens. I
Speaker 1: guess my point is, I can totally see Case Keenum
Speaker 1: regressing a little bit at some point. He's playing maybe
Speaker 1: above his head a little bit right now, and if
Speaker 1: that happens, then you have a neat window. But I'm
Speaker 1: saying if he keeps playing well, I don't think you
Speaker 1: bench Case Keenum just because you you want to get
Speaker 1: a look at Teddy Bridgewater for a big picture perspective
Speaker 1: about what you want to do with him. You do
Speaker 1: it because I think you're you're in this to make
Speaker 1: the super Bowl, and that if they made the decision,
Speaker 1: that alone would kind of make me give it some
Speaker 1: credit and give him some conviction. You're not to me,
Speaker 1: like keeping Case keenum in in is kind of running
Speaker 1: the ball on third and eight late in the game.
Speaker 1: It's like the safe thing to do. This has been
Speaker 1: is maybe the best coaching job of the year. Like
Speaker 1: like we're saying that that we have better information than
Speaker 1: I think Pat Shermer has done a better job with
Speaker 1: that offense than maybe any offensive coordinator in league other
Speaker 1: than Sean McVeigh. So if they really he's doing great,
Speaker 1: it's very creative. They're getting guys open. The players around
Speaker 1: Case have been really good too, And if they believed
Speaker 1: in Teddy that much, I don't know that that seems exciting.
Speaker 1: He's also just worth noting he had a type of
Speaker 1: knee injury that effects players. Dante Culpepper had a similar injury,
Speaker 1: was never the same. He also hasn't thrown a football
Speaker 1: in a real game. But like almost two years, so
Speaker 1: you are there's some risks that come with totally unusually
Speaker 1: you're taking risk. But I wonder if it was like
Speaker 1: running through their head last week on one of those
Speaker 1: case Keenum flyball deep shots, which Adam Feeling came down with.
Speaker 1: But while that's in the airs, Pat Shermer thinking, Hm,
Speaker 1: I got one of the better deep ball throwers that uh,
Speaker 1: you know, we're drafted that year. He's looking good in practice.
Speaker 1: I just wonder if that's gonna happen in ultimately. Uh, finally,
Speaker 1: Martelle's Bennett. We didn't really touch on this on Sunday,
Speaker 1: so we should just hit on it real quickly. Now
Speaker 1: the Shenanigans, I'm calling Shenanigans on everything involving uh. And
Speaker 1: you you would think, oh, Dan's gonna start ripping on
Speaker 1: the pages. I'm not gonna rip on the page riots.
Speaker 1: I don't think they did anything other than just claim Bennett.
Speaker 1: But something is weird about this story that Bennett gets
Speaker 1: released with the Packers and they're trying to reclaim money
Speaker 1: about a shoulder injury. Uh that I don't know the specifics,
Speaker 1: but he was calling out the team. Doctors decided he
Speaker 1: needed surgery. Gets claimed by the Patriots, even though he
Speaker 1: said he didn't want anybody to claim him, and I
Speaker 1: guess he was making that clear. And then his playing
Speaker 1: three days later and making some plays in the win
Speaker 1: over the Broncos on Sunday night. The whole thing is
Speaker 1: strange to me, and I'm wondering if there's any protocol
Speaker 1: broken by anyone along the line, because something doesn't didn't.
Speaker 1: He also contacted every team and said, don't pick me
Speaker 1: up off waivers or pick me up at all. I'm done.
Speaker 1: He told his agent to say that I don't know
Speaker 1: how that all played out, is that would really happen,
Speaker 1: but the Patriots it makes it even weird. It's essentially
Speaker 1: called that bluff and said to the agent, hey, we're
Speaker 1: gonna we're gonna claim him. What if there was all right,
Speaker 1: what if the Jets claim What if Martel's Bennett's agent
Speaker 1: you know, had a and call it the pass and said, hey,
Speaker 1: we're going to get out of this contract, Come get
Speaker 1: us when we're when we hit the open. Mark well
Speaker 1: I played. It was the Packers choice to cut him,
Speaker 1: and it sounds like maybe they were going to go
Speaker 1: after his money that they weren't. It's hard to say that.
Speaker 1: The I kind of get the idea that if you're
Speaker 1: going to play through a torn rate rotator cuff, that
Speaker 1: that's up to the player. I don't have a huge
Speaker 1: problem with him deciding, okay, I would play for the
Speaker 1: Patriots through a torn road tatter cuff maybe in the final,
Speaker 1: and not for the Packers. The problem was all the
Speaker 1: social media messages where he's going after the Packers and
Speaker 1: those two stories don't add up, like because you're mad,
Speaker 1: he just can't do it any other way, that why
Speaker 1: can't you just go silent? Exactly? And what happened in
Speaker 1: a different way, Yeah, I mean he said that the
Speaker 1: Packers doctor was trying to pressure him into into playing
Speaker 1: with the injury, and then he played so and he
Speaker 1: said that he couldn't say no to Belichick, and I
Speaker 1: think it was telling. It's worth noting that a ton
Speaker 1: of Packers players came out in support of the doctor
Speaker 1: and against Martella's Bennett, current players, but you just don't
Speaker 1: see it too often. Um, And here's a quote from
Speaker 1: Marty Bennett after trying to get the shoulder fixed and
Speaker 1: getting waived. You've got that vengeance in your heart, Like
Speaker 1: all right, that's how you're gonna do it, Blanket, Let's go, Paul. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you don't get to declare vengeance on this one, Marty Bennett.
Speaker 1: That was from the Boston Herald. By the way, No, Marty,
Speaker 1: we don't know declaring vengeance. Don't spin this into something
Speaker 1: that it is. I love you, Marty, all right, that's
Speaker 1: what's happening in the news. It is time now. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: Shoulders of Greatness presented by Head and Shoulders. Listen. How
Speaker 1: does shoulders in Greatness? How does that advertising campaign tie
Speaker 1: into Thursday night football? Mark, take it away? I will
Speaker 1: uh am. I supposed to just sampo. Okay, I was
Speaker 1: gonna say I didn't have a lot of shampoo hot
Speaker 1: takes there do have it in my bathroom? Anyway. Here
Speaker 1: is the matchup. It is the Pittsburgh Steelers Mark against
Speaker 1: the Tennessee Tight Tunes A very good a f c
Speaker 1: uh hell could be a playoff preview. Uh. I know you, Mark,
Speaker 1: I know what you've been saying on this podcast. You
Speaker 1: have been less than excited by Tennessee the football being
Speaker 1: played there, despite their good record. So this feels like
Speaker 1: a major put up or shut up game for them.
Speaker 1: They're on a four game win streak, and those wins
Speaker 1: are against the Cults, Brown's, Ravens, and Bengals, four teams.
Speaker 1: I do not respect this season for the most part,
Speaker 1: and I think the four game win streak is a
Speaker 1: tad fraudulent. That said you took care of business. It
Speaker 1: is a good matchup. I think if you're the Tennessee Titans,
Speaker 1: it's the same thing we seem to say every game
Speaker 1: about them. Go prove it. You've done it over the
Speaker 1: last it has to do more. But if they're the
Speaker 1: Titans six and three, not say if they If they
Speaker 1: I want to see them a played Pittsburgh close. I'm
Speaker 1: trying to do this while Dana's issue that you believe
Speaker 1: in us, you'll believe well. Prov tell me. One thing
Speaker 1: about the Titans is that you're special, sting of your
Speaker 1: inner id like this, this is the worst bro that's
Speaker 1: Damna and you're doing damnash X impression of you to
Speaker 1: throw in some pizza references for sure, so that this
Speaker 1: is their proved game you're saying. I mean, if you
Speaker 1: want to be talked about as a playoff team and
Speaker 1: it's a playoff preview, then a playoff team would go
Speaker 1: into Pittsburgh, and they would, they would make this a
Speaker 1: game that goes all the way to the end. And
Speaker 1: it's fascinating because Pittsburgh is not unbeatable. If this is
Speaker 1: some Pittsburgh romp. The Titans to me are just another
Speaker 1: team cascading on a river to nowhere. It's amazing how
Speaker 1: much and it's somewhat to their credit, how high the expectation,
Speaker 1: like processing a river to nowhere in the brain. Well,
Speaker 1: there's always two or three playoff teams like that. They're
Speaker 1: just it's yeah, we get it, you're gonna playoff, playoff game,
Speaker 1: and none of us believe in you don't be that
Speaker 1: team Tennessee. Well, we like them a lot last year.
Speaker 1: I like it. I'm just it's so big. It's such
Speaker 1: a big image that I'm struggling to be well done.
Speaker 1: You well, you were getting over your I tried to
Speaker 1: prove it to you that I could come up with
Speaker 1: something for you to feeds into. What an ocean, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, if it's water, you some major water. Go
Speaker 1: on go on about what I know, whatever you're gonna say. Uh,
Speaker 1: they have The Titans defense is the thing I'm watching
Speaker 1: in this game, because they faced a terrible stretch of offenses.
Speaker 1: When you said those four names, like what really stuck
Speaker 1: out is like none of those teams can move the
Speaker 1: ball at all. And so this is the Titans defense.
Speaker 1: We had a lot of questions about. They look a
Speaker 1: little better statistically now if they're facing that. Now you
Speaker 1: gotta face the Steelers team, which on paper should have
Speaker 1: a good offense, and yet when you watch them, that
Speaker 1: Colts game was a microcosm of their season where there
Speaker 1: were so many open plays that they had that either
Speaker 1: Roethlisberger missed or Antonio Brown dropped one, or the timing
Speaker 1: was off with one of the young receivers. Like these
Speaker 1: plays are there for the team and they're and they're
Speaker 1: not making them. And Joe Haden he's gonna be out
Speaker 1: for this game, I don't know for a while, out
Speaker 1: for possible it could be as little three. Well it's
Speaker 1: non surgery, so right, Mike Mitchell, I mean he's banged up,
Speaker 1: So you're looking at some key guys really for that defense,
Speaker 1: it's been really improving. Mariotta was running last week, and
Speaker 1: I think that totally changes the Titans, almost as much
Speaker 1: as Sam Newton running changes the Carolina Panthers. Derrick Henry
Speaker 1: was getting into the mix a little bit more. They
Speaker 1: held the ball for a while. I think you could
Speaker 1: feel good about that. There's a little bit of a
Speaker 1: revenge game factor here with Dick Lebo going up to
Speaker 1: pick to get worked up. And we've we've been hard
Speaker 1: on this Titans team. If I was a Titans fan
Speaker 1: out there, I kind of my response would be, hey,
Speaker 1: we Hey guys, we won five games combined between two
Speaker 1: thousand and fourteen and two thousand and fifteen. We were
Speaker 1: worse than the Cleveland Browns. We were the worst team
Speaker 1: in the league. Give us a little bit of something.
Speaker 1: You know, they have come a long way, and if
Speaker 1: they can get to ten wins or something, it's like
Speaker 1: they have made some serious You say, we've been hard
Speaker 1: on the We were, we praised them, we overprayed some
Speaker 1: last season, and they didn't fulfill it. They disappointed us
Speaker 1: and they but they had an identity, and especially when
Speaker 1: Mariota's running. The line has not been the same as
Speaker 1: year and I watched that offense, I say, what are
Speaker 1: you about. The line's gonna be a problem on on Thursday.
Speaker 1: The line has not been good and they don't make
Speaker 1: sense if they don't have it if you if what
Speaker 1: you're saying is that we should be giving that this
Speaker 1: franchise credit for not being one of the worst teams
Speaker 1: in the league anymore. Okay, here's a lollipop. Take it.
Speaker 1: But we're being told that the Titans should be viewed
Speaker 1: as like a real a FC defender by you, specifically,
Speaker 1: you've been pumping up the Titans for two years if
Speaker 1: you want to, if you want to direct people involved,
Speaker 1: you did year. Anyway, Do you think the Titans are
Speaker 1: gonna or not? I think they're okay. I think they
Speaker 1: can get better, like I have. I don't think they've
Speaker 1: been good this year. My I guess my point is
Speaker 1: like they have climbed out of that darkness and they've
Speaker 1: done it in a pretty steady win loss fashion. They
Speaker 1: went from two to three to seven or eight too.
Speaker 1: Now they're fighting for the playoffs. It's like they if
Speaker 1: if I was a fan of their team, I'm still
Speaker 1: pretty happy about where they. Yeah, they have a good GM.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of reasons for hope. I think what
Speaker 1: we're saying is we're not saying, oh, we don't think
Speaker 1: you're a good team. It's more like we don't we
Speaker 1: don't sit around for years. In this year halfway there,
Speaker 1: you're a wild card team that gets axed by a
Speaker 1: better team. You've you've done two years of good progress,
Speaker 1: Take the next step. This is a great game on
Speaker 1: national television to change. We change our thoughts about these
Speaker 1: teams on recency bias every week, especially based on national
Speaker 1: TV games. Change our opinion on you by Sunday night.
Speaker 1: And I'm not that angry guys like watch pretty kind,
Speaker 1: you know what. I want them to become better, Like
Speaker 1: they're a fun team if they could be. I watched
Speaker 1: them yesterday again not blown away by the performance. And
Speaker 1: again nice job by Mariotta leading them on that last drive.
Speaker 1: DeMarco Murray made a play to get in the end
Speaker 1: zone there um and congratulations. I'm being pretty good, okay,
Speaker 1: but are you actually worth? Are you? Are you? Because
Speaker 1: the type I have that titoon come at me. It's
Speaker 1: always about respect us as like a really good team,
Speaker 1: all right, So yeah it is. It's a prove it
Speaker 1: game right now, and but I'm not ready to do it.
Speaker 1: And you know where I come down on this. I'm
Speaker 1: so not ready to love Titoons as a team that
Speaker 1: can go into Pittsburgh in a big spot on the
Speaker 1: road with the lights on and get out of here, titoons,
Speaker 1: I'm locking it off with the Black and Gold. I
Speaker 1: love it and you on that note. By the way,
Speaker 1: if we want to talk about Pittsburgh, you're the number
Speaker 1: one in the a f C right now. You want
Speaker 1: to be talked about as a true Super Bowl contender,
Speaker 1: you need to take this Titans team and beat them
Speaker 1: by twenty points at home. It's the second straight game
Speaker 1: they haven't been able to run the ball. They're averaging
Speaker 1: two point nine yards per carry like that. That was awful.
Speaker 1: They need to and the Titans are good against the run,
Speaker 1: so that's gonna be tough. Uh. I feel like this
Speaker 1: Dan Lock last week really shook him up that he
Speaker 1: locked the what was maybe the most one sided game
Speaker 1: of the year up the wrong way. Now he's showing
Speaker 1: kind of zero human courage. If if you're gonna give me, uh,
Speaker 1: if you're gonna give me zero human courage on the type,
Speaker 1: I mean, they're like a they're like a touchdown plus underdog. Here.
Speaker 1: Who's thinking the Titans can win this game? A lot
Speaker 1: of people probably they're just saying there, you've got to
Speaker 1: get back on that wind Street. I've been saying they're
Speaker 1: a bigger They're a much bigger time underdog than the game.
Speaker 1: You said I was showing zero human courage. So I'm
Speaker 1: just pointing that out. The Steelers were down three to
Speaker 1: the week, right, but they're they're at home. They're one
Speaker 1: of the best teams in the league. You know, take
Speaker 1: your precious Titoons pick them this week. I would never
Speaker 1: pick them in this I wouldn't say you put yourself
Speaker 1: in a Joan of Arcs scenario there, but it's you
Speaker 1: know you're gonna get back. I'm just saying, you can't
Speaker 1: dish it out. If you can't you said zero human
Speaker 1: courage last week with Titans Bengals, It's like that's a
Speaker 1: much closer matchup. It's too kind of just my favorite
Speaker 1: subplot of the podcast. Well in because your opinion, Greg,
Speaker 1: you're spread is not factual. But there there's a way
Speaker 1: we actually did it. Last year, we would measure it.
Speaker 1: It had to be under a certain point. This game
Speaker 1: would not be under that point. I don't even know
Speaker 1: what a point. Yeah, what is that? I don't know
Speaker 1: what that is. I'm just saying what you think. So
Speaker 1: you think I shouldn't be able to talk up. I'm saying,
Speaker 1: then don't throw out the you know, let's get into zero.
Speaker 1: I thought you about this because I kind of feel
Speaker 1: like you care about it a lot. I feel like
Speaker 1: I feel like everybody kind of cares. Yeah. I just
Speaker 1: wanted to help this off and watch it from my
Speaker 1: house all weekend. Is the best stand not like anyone
Speaker 1: ever coming at of the same way that he comes
Speaker 1: at people. It's like, okay, this like like, of course
Speaker 1: the Steelers. I guess I just respect people more that
Speaker 1: aren't in last place in this competition. If it came
Speaker 1: from somebody else, maybe I would hear it. Playing for
Speaker 1: next year, we're going to get that draft pick. It's
Speaker 1: going to change everything. I really feel almost tested to
Speaker 1: do another lock off, but I think that that's I
Speaker 1: gotta keep my win stream. Are you gonna lock one
Speaker 1: game or two games this week and then pick the
Speaker 1: team that won? Great? One other note fired up, I
Speaker 1: know this is why are you taking well take wild eyes?
Speaker 1: Where's where I mean, where's the you know, the shadow?
Speaker 1: I learned it early in knowing Dan. Don't ever don't
Speaker 1: come at him. It's not really worth it. It's not
Speaker 1: really a well that sounds like a coward as well. Yeah,
Speaker 1: well it's just that, are you done? Let's go? Here
Speaker 1: we go? Finally do you have to go? By the way,
Speaker 1: it's that time of the week where I just leave
Speaker 1: in the middle of the pod. Well, I have to
Speaker 1: unplug her computer. All right. Look at that team Shoulders
Speaker 1: of greatness. By the way, there's an football preview. I
Speaker 1: think Head and Shoulders got a meaty sponsored segment, right,
Speaker 1: very meat very meaty. Um. We are saying good bye
Speaker 1: to Connie Fox. Good bye, guys. You have a production
Speaker 1: meeting to get to do You're actually gonna be late
Speaker 1: for you, but I know, I know, very serious about
Speaker 1: schedule that meeting. Um. Finally, before we go, we wanted
Speaker 1: to bring something back the Yeah, our listeners such a
Speaker 1: nice job they do, Uh leave reviews for us to
Speaker 1: leave the stars. And what we're gonna do starting today
Speaker 1: is highlight one listener who leaves a review and they
Speaker 1: are our iTunes review of the month winner. What do
Speaker 1: you win? You know what you just mentioned on the show,
Speaker 1: You know how we do this all the time, and
Speaker 1: it got we got a little we got a little
Speaker 1: bit too much for us. You just use my TNF
Speaker 1: theory here where you strip it down to what happens
Speaker 1: every once in a while and it becomes special again. Okay,
Speaker 1: I like that it's special now it's very good. Here
Speaker 1: we go. This is I went through them and there
Speaker 1: were a lot of good entries, a lot of nice
Speaker 1: things said, some not so nice things said. But this
Speaker 1: one particular review from Angelino um really got to me.
Speaker 1: Four stars out of five, and I want everyone to
Speaker 1: listen to it um before um, before make judgments. Don't
Speaker 1: be sensitive about it. Like Greg just got very sensitive
Speaker 1: in our last segment. Don't don't I was the one
Speaker 1: that got sensitive in that last the listeners to note
Speaker 1: that I was the one that got sensitive. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: you know, Greg keep it together and took it all
Speaker 1: in great, great humor. Greg again, keep it together here. Um.
Speaker 1: What what we're gonna hear is constructive criticism. M hm, Okay,
Speaker 1: here we go. Like West probably wrote this, but here
Speaker 1: we go, Angeline, good con good podcast, but but capitalized. Okay,
Speaker 1: four stars out of five so far the best NFL
Speaker 1: podcast I've heard, but it's still somewhat frustrating. Some criticism
Speaker 1: intended to be constructive one a little too much cutesie banter,
Speaker 1: even though it's less than on other ships. This show
Speaker 1: won't help. That's fair. Please just talk more about the game.
Speaker 1: There's more than enough content there. Bullet points up front
Speaker 1: are preferred than a conversation. Are you bullet point? I
Speaker 1: have no idea to oral bullet points. Use the team
Speaker 1: names more. Please use fewer pronouns. Mark pay attentions like
Speaker 1: them and they personally, I don't remember every player's name
Speaker 1: in the league. This should be easy to do without
Speaker 1: dumbing the analysis down for the geeks out there, and
Speaker 1: we'll bring in more listeners. Example, they should have played
Speaker 1: so and so more often. Who are they? This point
Speaker 1: actually maybe higher on my list than number one above.
Speaker 1: Could easily edit his copy here. But yeah, I think
Speaker 1: pronouns are always used. After you mentioned the name. We've
Speaker 1: set the table, I would say listen a little closer.
Speaker 1: Use of pronouns actually makes it hard to follow the conversation.
Speaker 1: All Caps now use team names. Three. Some up the
Speaker 1: analysis at the end of the seing this guy by
Speaker 1: making him the special Guy of the month about a
Speaker 1: particular matchup. I had to listen to one matchup three times,
Speaker 1: and I still don't know ultimately who the speakers think
Speaker 1: is going to win. Yes, someone will quote lock it
Speaker 1: up sometimes, but sometimes just the opposite will happen. That
Speaker 1: was the start and finish of the of the review.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's the review of the week. I I'll
Speaker 1: like what Greg said. It's here decade. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: we the pronoun comes after we've set the table, typically
Speaker 1: with the team name. I would we would never say
Speaker 1: like they are winning a lot without having mentioned that
Speaker 1: the Panthers are the team that we're talking. I may
Speaker 1: go pronoun heavy just to agitate Angelo at this point,
Speaker 1: he is a problem. All right, that's it. Let's do
Speaker 1: one more read here. Hey, Husky tools. They say in
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Speaker 1: created in nine right out of the gate with three
Speaker 1: straight winning season. So you know again again, even if
Speaker 1: you're a hundred year old giant fan, settle down. That
Speaker 1: was fired up. You were fired up there. I see
Speaker 1: that could have been a Dan scream moment. Sheet. Well
Speaker 1: they don't want Okay, Well you just wouldn't, did it.
Speaker 1: It's yeah, Actually, don't use the word we. That's a pronoun.
Speaker 1: I'd a lot of a lot of material to go
Speaker 1: back and reassess them the show. We will be back
Speaker 1: on Thursday night. We will recap that TNF matchup, uh,
Speaker 1: and then preview all of the week eleven games. Do
Speaker 1: you know how we do it around here? Thanks to
Speaker 1: everyone for listening. Uh, So let's go. They had signing
Speaker 1: off for Quiet Storm Connie Fox and Absentio, the Old
Speaker 1: Boss and Lindsay full time behind the Glass. Christian Anderson
Speaker 1: is there too, Hi, buddy, he's stilt. Thursday