Speaker 1: Be Around the NFL Podcast. The history is very rich here.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL Podcast.
Speaker 1: My name is Dan Jansas. I am in a room
Speaker 1: that's build with heroes, Mark Sessler, Chris Westling, Colleen Wolf herself,
Speaker 1: and Greg Rosenthal. What's up people? Hey? Ann, I don't
Speaker 1: appreciate this. Poor Colleen? What was this? What was the
Speaker 1: source information on that one? The history is very rich here.
Speaker 1: This is this is never gonna leave me ever. I
Speaker 1: can't believe this. I can't believe you figured this out.
Speaker 1: That was from your your job working for the Poconos
Speaker 1: Valley Golf Course. What was it called? Yeah, it was
Speaker 1: it was a show called Inside Golf. Did you feel
Speaker 1: that way about the setting when you were there? Were
Speaker 1: you that swept up? Um? There's multiple comments like that
Speaker 1: about where you were in the Poconos. It's I think
Speaker 1: my mental state was in question at that point. Would
Speaker 1: you define it as like a serene setting? Yeah? It
Speaker 1: was beautiful. Uh. This is the Tuesday edition in Around
Speaker 1: the NFL Podcast. Apologies for promising a show Monday, but
Speaker 1: then at the same time, it's like, well, well what
Speaker 1: did it cost? What did it cost you? You know?
Speaker 1: It did not a sense, so slow down with your
Speaker 1: criticis didn't show up. We decided because we we did
Speaker 1: a juicy supersize show on Saturday. Let that sucker breathe, um,
Speaker 1: get the tiny box back from Dallas, get Sessler back
Speaker 1: from Jerry duty, and have a real powerhouse show. Because
Speaker 1: this is uh one of my favorite shows of the
Speaker 1: off season, which is around the a f C in
Speaker 1: forty eight minutes. This is the whole reason, this is
Speaker 1: the genesis of this. UH segment was in a big spot.
Speaker 1: Well that that will be Friday or Thursday. When is
Speaker 1: it Thursday? We'll do the NFC af C goes first.
Speaker 1: It started once upon a time because when we used
Speaker 1: to be able to play music, I just wanted to
Speaker 1: have something to build around this. Uh, the deaft punk
Speaker 1: banger around the World. We can't play that anymore. We
Speaker 1: can't play this, which kind of sounds like around the
Speaker 1: World by deaf punk. This is taken me back to Dallas, yes,
Speaker 1: our rights free library. So we can't play that punk.
Speaker 1: But that's the vibe we're going for. I think when
Speaker 1: you get into like the idiom electronica world, like the
Speaker 1: knockoff to most people there's almost no discernible difference from
Speaker 1: the original. I mean to West, do you feel something
Speaker 1: completely different in that product we just listened to, that's
Speaker 1: definitely daft punk. If we did, like what do they
Speaker 1: call a B testing and play daft punk and that West,
Speaker 1: would you be able to tell? I mean no, If
Speaker 1: you would have said, who who? They're not even singing,
Speaker 1: who spends this song? Whoever thing? Who spends this song?
Speaker 1: I would have said, certainly daft punk. Um calling a
Speaker 1: lot of E d M. When you were in Dallas
Speaker 1: for the draft, Yeah, yeah, a lot of a lot
Speaker 1: of music, a lot of nights out. I actually the
Speaker 1: night before I left, I went out with Jane Slater
Speaker 1: and company and Tam Posey was there and m a
Speaker 1: VP and we stayed out late and I got back
Speaker 1: to the hotel and I had to go to the airport,
Speaker 1: so I had like about twenty minutes to lay down
Speaker 1: and take a nap. And so I get to the
Speaker 1: airport and going through security, and I have my hood
Speaker 1: up and I'm not in a very good spot, and
Speaker 1: the woman behind me is the most cheery person from
Speaker 1: Dallas I've ever heard in my life. And she goes,
Speaker 1: you know, you kind of look like that girl who
Speaker 1: hosted the Draft? What did you say? And I just
Speaker 1: smiled and at that point I had like my retainers in.
Speaker 1: It was like thanks that that's right. There was Thursday night,
Speaker 1: especially when all the world's watching the Draft. It was
Speaker 1: attack of the fifty five ft Yeah, Connie Fox on
Speaker 1: this giant screen in Dallas. Uh the whole time you
Speaker 1: were like a star of the Draft. It was almost
Speaker 1: better than being on the actual broadcast because you know
Speaker 1: that Daniel Jeremiah was tiny in comparison to the Colleen
Speaker 1: Wolf image that was right above his head on National Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well I made sure that that, you know, when they
Speaker 1: blocked all of the cameras, that my face would make
Speaker 1: it into every camera shot, no matter who was talking.
Speaker 1: Only slightly machiavellian by you. It's like you guys are
Speaker 1: very family friendly here. Uh so, Connie Fox is with
Speaker 1: us back from Dallas. Not quite a debutante. But maybe
Speaker 1: you go down there again, hang out with Jane Slater again.
Speaker 1: You know you're heading there. Jane Slater's Instagram feed is
Speaker 1: basically a NonStop party. I feel like you could end
Speaker 1: up getting sucked into that culture. Just one more trip
Speaker 1: maybe I don't know. We'll have to see maybe exciting
Speaker 1: exciting times yes, around the a f C. In forty
Speaker 1: eight minutes. This is what we like to do right
Speaker 1: after the draft. So free agency in the rearview, A
Speaker 1: draft now in the rear view. Let's get a good
Speaker 1: up close look at each of the thirty two teams
Speaker 1: in the league. We start with the American Football Conference
Speaker 1: three minutes. Lindsay, full time behind the Glass is a
Speaker 1: very important show for you because you are in charge
Speaker 1: of the timer. Three minutes and we have to stick
Speaker 1: to it. Three minutes max. For each team. I'll give you,
Speaker 1: guys some warnings as we move along. That's important. So
Speaker 1: we're gonna go through every team this year. I'm mixing
Speaker 1: it up a little bit. Keep everybody on the toast
Speaker 1: that sometimes I go by division in the past. This year,
Speaker 1: alphabetical order. Isn't this Andy Reids song? Next level crowd confusion.
Speaker 1: You're creating the alphabetical order. Alphabetical order three minutes a team. Uh,
Speaker 1: each of us will take our turn. We'll go through
Speaker 1: it three times with Mark. You you're a lucky man.
Speaker 1: You got a fourth team. So we're excited for what
Speaker 1: you have to say, uh, you're excited about it? Sounds
Speaker 1: like or by the looks of it, Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: the division of labor a little bit annoying, but a
Speaker 1: little bit uh. And each of us will responsible for
Speaker 1: starting the conversation on the team that they are assigned,
Speaker 1: so that further ado you guys ready for this much? Alright,
Speaker 1: let's go marks, get us going with the Baltimore Ravens.
Speaker 1: All right? When the Ravens win the Super Bowl two
Speaker 1: years from now, with Lamar Jackson tearing up the NFL,
Speaker 1: will the Baltimore franchise be polite and timely enough to
Speaker 1: hand Ozzie Newsome an honorary ring for what he did
Speaker 1: during this year's draft? Will they buy Aussie a fleet
Speaker 1: of luxury cars, a string of self driving motor boats,
Speaker 1: and two hundred robots servants? After it is deemed that
Speaker 1: Knewsom found the best quarterback in the draft to replace
Speaker 1: a back adult slowest maple syrup oozing out of a tree,
Speaker 1: Joe Flacco, Let me ask you another way, did any
Speaker 1: team do more this offseason to upset the apple cart
Speaker 1: in their own division? Wow? I feel like I didn't
Speaker 1: prepare for this. No, no one else did. Um, well,
Speaker 1: this is supposed to focus on the Ravens. This is
Speaker 1: all about the Ravens. But you're asking us what other
Speaker 1: teams upset the Apple car Well, all right, yes, they
Speaker 1: will give him from a Ravens angle. I feel like
Speaker 1: the Ravens maybe blew up the ap C North a
Speaker 1: little bit with what they accomplished this offseason, where they
Speaker 1: came out of last year as one of the more
Speaker 1: milk toast operations around. I think, as much as I
Speaker 1: am looking forward to seeing Lamar Jackson play and Joe
Speaker 1: Flacco is a huge injury risk, they've given Joe Flacco
Speaker 1: a better chance to succeed this year and hold off
Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson, so that Lamar Jackson is really about the future.
Speaker 1: Not only you know, do they get Jackson, but they
Speaker 1: get a first round tight end, they get a third
Speaker 1: round tight end, Mark Andrews, who a lot of people
Speaker 1: like they add We've talked about all the receivers, and
Speaker 1: they have some continuity on their defense and on their
Speaker 1: offensive line. They it's a good chance at least for
Speaker 1: Harbaugh and Flacco to save their jobs. As excited as
Speaker 1: I am about Lamar Jackson, I think Flacco and Harbor
Speaker 1: have a decent chance to get to the playoffs. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I love the Bucks and Bears have done, but I
Speaker 1: don't think anyone's had a better offseason than the Ravens.
Speaker 1: I think totally different about this team now. The defense
Speaker 1: and special teams were among the best in the NFL
Speaker 1: for of last season until Jimmy Smith got injured. It's
Speaker 1: the offense that needed work, and the offense got work
Speaker 1: a ton of work. I love what they've done on offense. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I feel like tight end has been such an issue
Speaker 1: for them for so to finally have a nice first
Speaker 1: round pick there, and also with Lamar Jackson. Look at
Speaker 1: their offensive coordinator Marty morning Wegg when he was in Philadelphia.
Speaker 1: He was there with Michael Vick and he put together
Speaker 1: a ton of stuff for him to really showcase him.
Speaker 1: And I think when you're looking at Lamar Jackson and
Speaker 1: the skill set, he'll do the same with him. Is
Speaker 1: John Harbaugh, who a lot of people, you heard it
Speaker 1: a lot, came very close to getting fired after the season.
Speaker 1: Is he potentially if this team turns it around. Is
Speaker 1: he like the head coach version of Less Sneed, who
Speaker 1: was a guy on the rope l A and then
Speaker 1: all of a sudden things got on track very quickly,
Speaker 1: and now Less has never been in a better position.
Speaker 1: Maybe John Hardball and the Ravens are in still going
Speaker 1: to be in a long term marriage. He has a
Speaker 1: better chance. But it's tricky. You have Jackson there. You're
Speaker 1: gonna have to balance trying to win this year with
Speaker 1: Flacco and Flacco you know, not just hurt laughter year
Speaker 1: he wasn't good with the defense. Last year was so
Speaker 1: good they led the league in takeaways some people, some
Speaker 1: people say that pick was really Dacosta's pick for da
Speaker 1: Costa's future. How about that series Wes the Buffalo Bills.
Speaker 1: Prior to the draft, General manager Brandon Being admitted to
Speaker 1: our adit King Kawala that the Bills are indeed rebuilding
Speaker 1: and they have not yet arrived despite their playoff appearance.
Speaker 1: They had a pretty nice draft. They pick up Josh Allen,
Speaker 1: Jermaine Edwards, Harrison Phillips. How long until they can you know,
Speaker 1: let's tell the Buffalo Bills fins, because they probably think
Speaker 1: they're ready to compete right now. How long, in your
Speaker 1: sober minded you, as a non Bills fan, Colleen's close,
Speaker 1: do they have to wait before they can make a
Speaker 1: legitimate run at the Patriots for the division title. Mmm.
Speaker 1: I feel like that is as much to do with
Speaker 1: the Patriots as it does the Bills and what happens
Speaker 1: with Tom Brady in New England over the next couple
Speaker 1: of seasons. That said, when you see a team successfully
Speaker 1: turning around under a coach GM Paering, a lot of
Speaker 1: people say it needs to really show its earmarks by
Speaker 1: year two and absolutely by year three. If they aren't
Speaker 1: a playoff team by next season one that we can
Speaker 1: count on. I will say this that they don't look
Speaker 1: back on last year and over credit the roster and
Speaker 1: the team for what they have says a lot about
Speaker 1: that organization. I think they were not We didn't view
Speaker 1: them as a real playoff team. They kind of backed
Speaker 1: in and they have a lot of work to do,
Speaker 1: as many needs as any team out there. What do
Speaker 1: you think their quarterback situation is going to be? Because
Speaker 1: they do have this raw, unpolished talent at quarterback and
Speaker 1: A J. McCarron is the guy they signed, But who
Speaker 1: loves a J. Mccaren Is he gonna be their starter
Speaker 1: for most of the season. I think it's a downgrade
Speaker 1: from Tyrod Taylor and a pretty significant downgrade. I never
Speaker 1: thought Tyrod Alan and mccaron. You're saying to both of them,
Speaker 1: and you're one of Alan. Yes, I do think that,
Speaker 1: But I think that mccaren. I mean, we know that
Speaker 1: the Bengals never came close to thinking about replacing Andy
Speaker 1: Dalton with a DT tells me everything I need to
Speaker 1: know about A. J. McCarron. It's a brand new offense
Speaker 1: in Buffalo, too, which has gotten a little overshadowed. They
Speaker 1: fired their coordinator, they bring in Brian Dable from Alabama.
Speaker 1: You gotta think mccaren had a good draft because if
Speaker 1: you're going to get paired with one of these rookie quarterbacks,
Speaker 1: I think it's fair to argue that Alan is the
Speaker 1: most raw, and he's going to give McCarron a chance
Speaker 1: to actually start a bunch of make me really nervous there.
Speaker 1: But I love what they've done on defense in the
Speaker 1: off season, bringing you in Vonte Davis, starlatol A, Trent Murphy.
Speaker 1: I think like that's going to be really good with
Speaker 1: Sean McDermott. But I mean, if you have Josh Allen
Speaker 1: in there, who's who's surrounding him to help him. I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: you have Lashaw McCoy, but otherwise, who are you throwing
Speaker 1: the ball to a bad offensive line to It's gonna
Speaker 1: be one of the worst offenses in the NFL this year.
Speaker 1: It depends what you mean by contending. I don't see
Speaker 1: why they can't be a nine to and win team
Speaker 1: if everything fell right for them this year, because mcdermot's
Speaker 1: a good defensive coach. If everything fell right, congratulations, you're upside.
Speaker 1: But that if you have a young franchise quarterback in
Speaker 1: the building and you go eight and eight, you're going
Speaker 1: to that's fine, that's a I feel like that's a victory.
Speaker 1: If they have a five hundred season, even though they
Speaker 1: made the playoffs last year, I think we're gonna see
Speaker 1: Josh Allen for at least six games. Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: we're gonna seem for a few games to not giving
Speaker 1: up a bannerman. No, it's more about what a j
Speaker 1: McCarron is than what Nate Peinerman is. County. All right,
Speaker 1: So the Bengals last year they had one of the
Speaker 1: worst offensive lines. I mean, it was such a tragedy
Speaker 1: to watch, and now this year they brought in they
Speaker 1: traded for Corty Glen. I like that they drafted Billy Penn,
Speaker 1: but Billy Billy Penn, Billy Price. Uh, but that whole
Speaker 1: right side of the line still has issues. They don't
Speaker 1: know who their right tackle is going to be. That's
Speaker 1: the second year, so I just don't know with Will
Speaker 1: the offensive line there in Cincinnati be the biggest problem
Speaker 1: again for this team. Did they do enough to sort
Speaker 1: of help the Bengals in that department? That's a fair question.
Speaker 1: I think they're gonna be light years ahead of where
Speaker 1: they were last year, but he still have more room
Speaker 1: to grow. I mean, last year's line was just atrocious,
Speaker 1: and it's hard to believe that they agreed to enter
Speaker 1: a season knowing that their line was that atrocious. But
Speaker 1: this year they've at least attempted to fix it. I
Speaker 1: think they'll be quite a bit better there. They're similar,
Speaker 1: not every year because obviously there's changes, but they're always
Speaker 1: counting on their players on their own team to just
Speaker 1: get better. And that's kind of there m O. And
Speaker 1: they've been in a little bit of a down cycle.
Speaker 1: And if you're Marvin Lewis, I think maybe you convinced
Speaker 1: Mike Brown that this team Joe Mixon, for instance, and
Speaker 1: some other players that they're ready to take a step
Speaker 1: up the guys that are there because they don't play
Speaker 1: their rookies that much. Usually usually they sit there rookies
Speaker 1: for a year. What is Marvin Lewis? What is his
Speaker 1: status with the Cincinnati Bengals after what was really a
Speaker 1: crazy turn of events are entirely unchanged. He will continue
Speaker 1: to exist on one and two year contract until like
Speaker 1: the post revolution on the seat like yeah, or is
Speaker 1: he now given two more years where you don't wor
Speaker 1: if he bombs, if he has another six and tenny
Speaker 1: he gone come on? I would think you rarely see
Speaker 1: coaches on the hot seat when in the NFL who
Speaker 1: have as much say in personnel moves as Marvin Lewis does.
Speaker 1: It's weird that he would be on a hot seat,
Speaker 1: and yet his coaching staff is the one making the
Speaker 1: draft picks in concert with Duke Tobin. But his coaching
Speaker 1: staff does as much homework on the draft picks as
Speaker 1: any in the league. I mean, Mike Brown almost admitted
Speaker 1: that the way that season ended Lewis those last weeks
Speaker 1: made a big difference for him. There have been at
Speaker 1: least five off seasons where they could have decisively moved
Speaker 1: on from Marvin Lewis in the entire experience, and I don't.
Speaker 1: I just don't see it happening, unless you know, Brown
Speaker 1: thinks I'm gonna go basically get John Harbaugh. If they
Speaker 1: want to want to fire John Harbon, Baltimore will take
Speaker 1: someone else. But it's like he's gon have to be
Speaker 1: so convinced of a of a candidate better than Marvin Lewis.
Speaker 1: Because the Bengals, to me, as much as you wanna,
Speaker 1: they had a nice draft and there's and you can
Speaker 1: feel like it's going to be the Joe Mixon show.
Speaker 1: You're gonna get You're gonna get John Ross back. That helps.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, I look at the Bengals
Speaker 1: and it's like, have a nice eight and eight season. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's sort of how I feel about them too. I mean,
Speaker 1: they really struggled to run the ball. Joe Mixon, he
Speaker 1: was only at like three point five yards per carry
Speaker 1: last year and and all that stems from the offensive
Speaker 1: line to what about the John Ross wipe out season
Speaker 1: last year? Tyler Tyler healthy, but is there roster I
Speaker 1: don't mind Tyler Croft for that matter, but Cleveland Browns.
Speaker 1: One year ago, in this very exercise, Mark Sessler said
Speaker 1: this about his Cleveland Browns. I get it. You do
Speaker 1: all sort of charity work, stand up, be braggy, they responded.
Speaker 1: They responded to the quiet storms fighting words by pooping
Speaker 1: out and in sixteen, But what this is? A new
Speaker 1: day trades, free agent spendings, free, a new GM, he's
Speaker 1: a cowboy, a sexy draft class, uh and the number
Speaker 1: one overall pick Baker Mayfield with Tyrod Taylor presumably presumably
Speaker 1: behind center of the season. That's what we're being told.
Speaker 1: Is this the year that the Browns, the Browns finally
Speaker 1: get their respect back? Or do they have a head
Speaker 1: coach in place that will make it a situation where
Speaker 1: they have to wait to get him out of the
Speaker 1: building until that can happen. The big problem with you
Speaker 1: right now, they're so talented that I don't think that
Speaker 1: Q or Halo Greg Williams can blow it. Because here's why.
Speaker 1: If they win five games, everyone's gonna be cool with that.
Speaker 1: I really believe that, and I and I feel like
Speaker 1: that should be the floor for this team for four
Speaker 1: in a terrible worst key scenario, or five, because that
Speaker 1: should mostly be a worst snore and a terrible worst
Speaker 1: case scenario for the Browns for for most teams. But
Speaker 1: this is a talented, normal team, and I just think
Speaker 1: it's gonna be hard not to win five games, and
Speaker 1: I think people be kind of happy with five games,
Speaker 1: and there is upside to do better. Think it depends
Speaker 1: what type of five wins those would be. And now
Speaker 1: I'm like, I did listen to what what we listened
Speaker 1: to last year's around the a f C, just to
Speaker 1: see how insanely off we were on some things. Overall
Speaker 1: as a group, not too bad. Some things were remarkably dumb.
Speaker 1: But when I said about the Browns was embarrassing, because
Speaker 1: it's the same thing I say every off season in
Speaker 1: in early May, and it's you're imbued with this optimism
Speaker 1: coming off of eight players that you know, not as
Speaker 1: a major college football watcher. They all seem great to me,
Speaker 1: and everything they've done seems great, but they the one
Speaker 1: thing that I that I think sticks two years, three
Speaker 1: years in a row. They should have won more games
Speaker 1: two seasons ago. They could have won more games last year,
Speaker 1: I think with a better coaching staff. And so if
Speaker 1: you start they're gonna have to overhaul everything from the
Speaker 1: coaching side. It is also there's no there's so much
Speaker 1: pressure on this coaching staff. They have talent. Last year
Speaker 1: in the same exercise, my question was without the quarterback
Speaker 1: in place, why should we think they'll be better than
Speaker 1: one in fifteen? But they actually haven't. They have two
Speaker 1: quarterbacks and they have to We don't know anything about
Speaker 1: Baker Mayfield, but plenty of possibility with him, but they haven't.
Speaker 1: Tyrod Taylor West a guy that can get in there
Speaker 1: and win some games. This is not crazy to think
Speaker 1: six and ten, seven and nine, right, Yeah, this is
Speaker 1: the other half of my Tyrod Taylor opinion. It's much
Speaker 1: better than at Jay McCarn but he's just good enough
Speaker 1: to get benched every single year. He's gonna get benched
Speaker 1: because it happens every year. He leaves a lot of
Speaker 1: things on the field that drives coaches crazy. And one
Speaker 1: thing we've seen in the fall out of this draft
Speaker 1: is that most of the NFL had a very high
Speaker 1: opinion of Baker may time. I was really surprised with
Speaker 1: the Denzel Award pick, by the way. I thought for
Speaker 1: sure they were gonna go Bradley Chubb. But I guess
Speaker 1: they just shows how much uh they really like Emmanuel
Speaker 1: hog By there Crag the Denver Broncos. You know, John
Speaker 1: Elway get get songs written about him, and he's very
Speaker 1: confident that he gets his man well. He hasn't had
Speaker 1: a good draft in about seven years, since about two
Speaker 1: thousand eleven, one of the worst drafters in the NFL.
Speaker 1: But looking at this draft, getting lucky that Bradley Chubb
Speaker 1: fell to him at five. Everything we hear about Courtland
Speaker 1: Sutton the second round pick, did Johnny boy finally get
Speaker 1: a double, let's say, in the draft and do enough
Speaker 1: to get the Broncos right back in the mix. I
Speaker 1: think he did. I really like the Broncos draft. Um.
Speaker 1: The biggest question mark on the team is is the
Speaker 1: quarterback and a lot of that as we've seen the
Speaker 1: past couple of years since Peyton Manner retires. Do you
Speaker 1: have the running game and offensive line to support a
Speaker 1: borderline NFL starting quarterback? The last two years the answer
Speaker 1: has been a definitive no, and I'm not sure what's
Speaker 1: changed now, but I like what he did in the draft.
Speaker 1: It just might take a year or two before that
Speaker 1: offensive line and ground attack are good enough to support.
Speaker 1: They didn't really add anyone on the line, so they're basically,
Speaker 1: you know, they added Jared vel Deer, who was a
Speaker 1: problem for the Cardinals last year, and otherwise they're kind
Speaker 1: of hoping that the guys that were there are better.
Speaker 1: One question about case Keen, because in this room, by
Speaker 1: the end of the season, we were saying case game
Speaker 1: is not a fluke. This guy all year has played
Speaker 1: like a true you know, top fifteen quarterback. Are we
Speaker 1: now downgrading because there's some weapons in Denver as well
Speaker 1: that he can do some damage with. I think it's
Speaker 1: because he's thirty years old, and it's not old, no,
Speaker 1: but it's but outside of last year's stunning season on
Speaker 1: a Vikings offense that really did not have a major
Speaker 1: weakness even when they suffered injury, that he thrived in
Speaker 1: that offense, But it's fair to look at the other
Speaker 1: body of work that he's produced and say, Willie go
Speaker 1: do it again in a completely new system with a
Speaker 1: new team with the issues that Greg just mentioned. I
Speaker 1: think one of the things we've learned over the years,
Speaker 1: and we all ought to know it by now, is
Speaker 1: the outside of ten or twelve quarterbacks in the NFL
Speaker 1: every single quarterback must be surrounded by a strong running
Speaker 1: game offensive line. That so much depends on that. And
Speaker 1: when I look at the Broncos, that the weakness they
Speaker 1: don't have that that support system that the Vikings had.
Speaker 1: That's a problem. On defense, though, this is the team
Speaker 1: that got Bradley Chubb, and when you have him and
Speaker 1: von Miller in there, that is like that reminds me
Speaker 1: of how the Broncos used to be and how they
Speaker 1: really used to get after. It's also a defense that
Speaker 1: needed a shot in the arm because they haven't been
Speaker 1: as good, uh since their Super Bowl year, which was
Speaker 1: very high. The turnovers killed that defense last year that
Speaker 1: they were like suddenly defending an offense that picked the
Speaker 1: ball off and they have fifteen yards to go for
Speaker 1: a touchdown every week. He hasn't hit on picks, so
Speaker 1: they're they've gotten thinner. But Derek Wolf, Von Miller, Shack Barrett,
Speaker 1: You've got Shane Ray is maybe your fourth, you know,
Speaker 1: pass rusher. If you can have one of the better
Speaker 1: pass rushes in the league, then you've got a chance.
Speaker 1: The other thoughts, let's move on next up, back to
Speaker 1: Mark the Houston Texas I deduced that was coming to
Speaker 1: me because there's no team in the a f C
Speaker 1: whose city name begins with E. So I knew that
Speaker 1: h was coming around the mountain there. Anyways, I realized
Speaker 1: that the Texans they didn't alf that knowledge there we go.
Speaker 1: They didn't. They didn't pick until the third round, and
Speaker 1: so I feel like they kind of just got forgotten
Speaker 1: this weekend and they really did. It's like, but at
Speaker 1: the same time, I like to pack and why that
Speaker 1: didn't happen because they got to Shaun Watson last year
Speaker 1: and I still look at a team that their biggest
Speaker 1: issue was that offensive line, and they did a lot
Speaker 1: in free agency to shore up that line with versatile
Speaker 1: guys they can move around. They got someone in the
Speaker 1: third round as well, Martinez ranking a Dan Hansas prospect
Speaker 1: along the line. So you're now given to Shaun Watson,
Speaker 1: who had this insane five weeks stretch where they they
Speaker 1: averaged thirty five points a game under him, and then
Speaker 1: the whole thing went away. Why can the Texans not
Speaker 1: be an a f C title game team because I
Speaker 1: think last year they were one of the weird teams
Speaker 1: that could have beat New England in the playoffs. They
Speaker 1: haven't changed that much except for improving the line. Why
Speaker 1: is what on earth is happening things? Well? Is the
Speaker 1: offensive line actually improved because the guys they brought in
Speaker 1: it couldn't be worse rejects from other teams. There guys
Speaker 1: nobody else wanted, and they're not that impressive to me.
Speaker 1: So the offensive line is the first question I have.
Speaker 1: In a second one, can J. J. Watt stay healthy?
Speaker 1: That's a real question now, Well, they were flaming teams
Speaker 1: without J. J. Watt last year. That's why I'd say
Speaker 1: on offense, like if you're scoring, they scored fifty seven
Speaker 1: points against the Titans, easy to forget that kind of
Speaker 1: a game that was. It was eye opening what Watson
Speaker 1: did and and it's very exciting to think what he
Speaker 1: could do, uh in sixteen games. But the what thing?
Speaker 1: And you don't want it to turn into one of
Speaker 1: these what ifs, because there's nothing worse than when there's
Speaker 1: a real, like all time type star that you get
Speaker 1: to see it for five years and then it just
Speaker 1: disappears due to injuries. And now it's fair to ask,
Speaker 1: last year you can still stay positive and back all right,
Speaker 1: he's finally over it. But now is whatever you're gonna
Speaker 1: be wat again and I thought you. David Clowney took
Speaker 1: another step next year, but he still isn't maybe the
Speaker 1: superstar that they thought he was gonna be. They there
Speaker 1: is room for growth on that defense. I love what
Speaker 1: they've done with the secondary though, when you bring in
Speaker 1: Tyron Matthew and Aaron Colvin and then you draft justin
Speaker 1: read that I mean their secondary. When they had a j.
Speaker 1: Bouier there it was great, and then when he was gone,
Speaker 1: they that was a major weakness for them last year.
Speaker 1: So I think that that's really improved over the off season.
Speaker 1: I can't tell if I think they're gonna they're a
Speaker 1: candidate to be four and twelve or twelve four like
Speaker 1: they could be either way because they their problems are pronounced.
Speaker 1: They kind of look like a top heavy roster with
Speaker 1: some stars but then some big issues. Uh and maybe
Speaker 1: not great depth. But O'Brien's always been able to figure
Speaker 1: it out. And if Deshaun Watson is half as good
Speaker 1: as he looked, and would that include teams, Like with
Speaker 1: the sample size that you got from Deshaun Watson, the
Speaker 1: teams have used time to and to what he I
Speaker 1: think it's fair to not expect DeShawn Watson, you know,
Speaker 1: to not light up the league quite as much as
Speaker 1: because it'd be insane if he did. Four and twelve
Speaker 1: would be maybe a Vince Young, ask Downturn Chris wessling
Speaker 1: the Indianapolis Cults after their drafting free agency and how
Speaker 1: Calm West comes in very under control. Go ahead was
Speaker 1: start playing that music under and see what happens. Mr
Speaker 1: Rogers sweater on and he's in complete control. Given the
Speaker 1: three minutes, Given three more minutes, go ahead, West, well
Speaker 1: with Andrew talk for three stray minutes. Andrew Luck returning
Speaker 1: to health, starting guards in each of the first two rounds, UH,
Speaker 1: some interesting running backs and wide receivers late in the draft.
Speaker 1: It's easy for mid me to believe the Colts will
Speaker 1: have one of the most improved offenses in the league.
Speaker 1: But the other side of the ball, is there any
Speaker 1: defense in the NFL worst than Indianapolis Colts. You cannot
Speaker 1: expect rookies to come in and all of them to beat.
Speaker 1: Most rookies are competitive liabilities in their first year, and
Speaker 1: they're gonna be playing a lot of rookies the secondary.
Speaker 1: I can't even make a depth chart out of their
Speaker 1: secondary and they need guys that they took part of
Speaker 1: it is last year's you know draft class, Mili Cooker,
Speaker 1: Quincy Wilson, that those guys need to be their their ballards,
Speaker 1: guys that they need to step up and matter. What's
Speaker 1: your favorite type of frog? Yeah, I mean you look
Speaker 1: at their almost every position group and it's who are
Speaker 1: your blue chip like five star players that you're anchoring
Speaker 1: the last four or five teams to talk about J J. Watt,
Speaker 1: Von Miller, rookies that are coming in that our game
Speaker 1: changers and with the with the Colts, he had so
Speaker 1: much to do. They've got your balls here. Know what
Speaker 1: they need? They need like a Saints like draft because
Speaker 1: they took this Darius Leonard, the outside lambbacker around two,
Speaker 1: they took Kimoco Terrey had a Rutgers and then another
Speaker 1: defensive end, uh, twelve picks later. So they are obviously
Speaker 1: they see what you see and they just need to
Speaker 1: hope that they're saying four second round picks. That's unheard of.
Speaker 1: Four second round picks back to back guards. I've never
Speaker 1: heard of it though for them, like that's a perfect
Speaker 1: it's that's the best guy that they could have gotten
Speaker 1: in the first round for that offensive line. Dan, Are
Speaker 1: you jealous that Chris Ballard this week invited reporters down
Speaker 1: into their lab to watch film with him so that
Speaker 1: they could understand and why they drafted who they drafted.
Speaker 1: I like that little pullback in the curs Ballard out
Speaker 1: a departure from most scared NFL personnel around the league,
Speaker 1: who think that everyone's trying to get their secrets. Wait,
Speaker 1: but why would I have an issue with that? Just
Speaker 1: because you're a big Ballard fan. You just want that
Speaker 1: quality time I don't know other people are getting quite
Speaker 1: makes sense. Yeah, but it's good that I didn't know
Speaker 1: that nug. That's a good nug. Little b a qt
Speaker 1: qt big time in a big spot. I just hope
Speaker 1: Andrew Ux playing for the Cults come on, buddy and
Speaker 1: they stretch it out right. That's their blue chip talent,
Speaker 1: and they drafted like guards high and so in theory
Speaker 1: that helps out their running game. But the running game
Speaker 1: is either Marlon Mack or two third day guys that
Speaker 1: they drafted this year finds and welcome or it works
Speaker 1: the awakening. Kristen Michael, who resigned with the don't pull
Speaker 1: us back into this alright, next tiny box signing box
Speaker 1: is on the clock here, all right. So I like
Speaker 1: what they did, uh in the draft. They when I
Speaker 1: looked at these wide receivers before the draft, I mean
Speaker 1: letting go of Allen Robinson and Alan Hearns, it was
Speaker 1: a mess and it still is a little questionable. They
Speaker 1: drafted d J. Chark, who's a really explosive wide receiver um,
Speaker 1: but beyond that they have Dante Moncrief, Marquiseley, Rashad Green.
Speaker 1: It's not a great group of pass catchers. I do
Speaker 1: really like what they did at defensive tackle Tavin Bryan,
Speaker 1: so they kind of are doing what the Eagles did
Speaker 1: last year. They have a ton of depth there and
Speaker 1: they can rotate guys in. But really, how much do
Speaker 1: you guys trust the Jags can continue to climb in
Speaker 1: the a f C with Blake Bortles and this group
Speaker 1: of pass catchers outside of the most important position in
Speaker 1: professional sports, their roster is better than anyone else in
Speaker 1: the NFL. Right. Here's the thing, though, is their offense
Speaker 1: that is is it great at all? For net? I
Speaker 1: still think the book is out on how much of
Speaker 1: a difference maker he's gonna be And then the rest
Speaker 1: of the offense. He already was a difference maker. I
Speaker 1: guess I literally was a difference I want to see.
Speaker 1: First of all, they had their best games of the
Speaker 1: year without him. I think that was a coincidence. But
Speaker 1: it's just a fact that I think he has to
Speaker 1: prove to me that he's in that sort of upper
Speaker 1: echelon of like running backs like the Todd Gurley that time.
Speaker 1: I don't know if he's there, like I I watching
Speaker 1: him game after me, I don't know if he's there
Speaker 1: and the rest of the offense, not just Bordles. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Colleen mentioned it well. I like that they went out
Speaker 1: and got Andrew Norwell at left guard, where we just
Speaker 1: saw the Titans last year. Who would have thought, Oh,
Speaker 1: the Titans are going to completely lose this identity that
Speaker 1: under John Robinson we thought was such a nice change
Speaker 1: in Tennessee. For once there's something to latch onto. It
Speaker 1: vanished entirely. I don't think the Jaguars do because their
Speaker 1: defense is up and down. A completely badass team that
Speaker 1: can's not I don't see a regression on defense. Now
Speaker 1: listen to this year from now. I'm probably laughing for myself,
Speaker 1: but I still think that it can run the ball.
Speaker 1: They still have a good offensive line, And I don't
Speaker 1: doubt for not the way that you do in terms
Speaker 1: of like being a true difference, I don't. I don't
Speaker 1: doubt him. I just think he hasn't shown that like
Speaker 1: next level of like this is a guy you're build
Speaker 1: an offense round. He's shown he's a solid starting running
Speaker 1: back and he does some things here here's what their moves,
Speaker 1: including the way they played in the playoffs, show me
Speaker 1: that Blake Bortles psyche is so fragile he can't possibly
Speaker 1: face competition or even a high quality backup from that roster.
Speaker 1: And that's how you end up with Cody Kessler. Now,
Speaker 1: if times can, if times get tough in that organization,
Speaker 1: and they are, you know, four and six or four
Speaker 1: and five, and the quarterback is what's killing him, Cody Kessler,
Speaker 1: that's the guy that's the problem. To answer your question,
Speaker 1: I'm not I'm not confident that they can take the
Speaker 1: next step because I think it's one of the hardest
Speaker 1: things in the NFL to do, to be a top
Speaker 1: five team more than one year in a row. And
Speaker 1: it's easier if you're good on offense. I always thinking,
Speaker 1: all right, it's halftime, yeah already, And now another edition
Speaker 1: of keeping up. You remember Maurice bow Ranger, You remember Mobo?
Speaker 1: This is game into the draft in two thousand sixteen
Speaker 1: with the Vikings didn't make it with the team a
Speaker 1: roster limit casualty before season kicked off. You thought Mobo
Speaker 1: was gone. You're wrong, baby, because the former sixth round
Speaker 1: pick other Vikings signed with the Cincinnati Bengals. He was
Speaker 1: added to their roster via the league's International Player Pathway program.
Speaker 1: The team announced as part of the program, four teams Cincinnati, Cleveland, Baltimore,
Speaker 1: and Pittsburgh that's the a C North interesting will each
Speaker 1: carry a player from the program until the end of
Speaker 1: training camp. And that was another edition, not beyond we're
Speaker 1: just assuming that the people don't make the team. I
Speaker 1: mean that Murray's Bowe Ringer, who we never heard a
Speaker 1: peep out in Minnesota, will not make the Bengals. You
Speaker 1: know how, sometimes you have to kind of like explain,
Speaker 1: like try to you know, tell you to explain a
Speaker 1: reference for the listener. That's the first one I needed
Speaker 1: to explain to me. It's been so long since was
Speaker 1: that you two that was playing kind of uh, Kansas
Speaker 1: City Chiefs. It's German music, the Kansas City Chiefs. Uh.
Speaker 1: The splashy focus of this offseason for Casey is centered
Speaker 1: around the trade of Alex Smith and the rise of
Speaker 1: Patrick Mahomes, But the real question facing this team is
Speaker 1: whether their defense is worth a damn certainly didn't look
Speaker 1: that way in the playoff loss of the Titans, where
Speaker 1: they couldn't got a stop in the second half. My god,
Speaker 1: what a disgrace. Casey invested their first five draft picks
Speaker 1: on the defensive side of the ball last week, But
Speaker 1: will this unit actually be any better? Trading Marcus Peters
Speaker 1: away probably won't help. I don't trust their secondary at all. No,
Speaker 1: I don't think their defense is going to be better
Speaker 1: on paper. There's not much reason to think it's much
Speaker 1: better other than they just got rid of some old, aging,
Speaker 1: slower guys who are maybe being held on a little
Speaker 1: too long because of their names, which is it's a
Speaker 1: smart thing, the smart thing to do. I don't think
Speaker 1: bringing in David Amerson as a starter is gonna make
Speaker 1: your secondary better. They played, they played Anthony. They paid
Speaker 1: Anthony Hitchens a ton of money. One of the most
Speaker 1: surprising contracts in the league. I thought this offseason because
Speaker 1: they think he's going to be a pretty big difference.
Speaker 1: They believe in Reggie Raglan is a guy that can
Speaker 1: be difference. Kendall Fuller is a good pickup and people,
Speaker 1: you know, he's one of the better slot cornerbacks in
Speaker 1: the league. They should be better because I don't think
Speaker 1: it's gonna be hard for them to be much worse
Speaker 1: than they were. But that's I mean, they need to
Speaker 1: be better than a little better. Yeah, I don't think
Speaker 1: adding a slot corner is the solution to to replacing
Speaker 1: Marcus Peters. The team could still be a lot of fun.
Speaker 1: I think they could still. They also get Eric Barry.
Speaker 1: You know, I want to get Berry back a year
Speaker 1: or older and coming off a series injury. But you
Speaker 1: you don't doubt a guy like that. But their offense
Speaker 1: is gonna be exciting. They're gonna score points if Mahomes
Speaker 1: is good. There is there I don't you know, Cheese
Speaker 1: fans out there, I'm not wishing this upon you, but
Speaker 1: there is a dark scenario where all the assumptions that
Speaker 1: Mahomes can step in immediately a quarterback if there's growing
Speaker 1: pains or God forbid, he's not actually that good, then
Speaker 1: they might actually be a bad team. They could really
Speaker 1: take a big step back this year. I like it.
Speaker 1: I like pairing a rookie quarterback with Kareem Hunt better
Speaker 1: than some of the other rookie cornerbacks out there. And
Speaker 1: you know you went out, You've got Sammy Watkins, you
Speaker 1: still have a lot of speed, you have Tyreek Hill.
Speaker 1: I feel like they they prioritized putting stuff around Patrick
Speaker 1: Mahomes to help him succeed. But unquestionably it's a variable.
Speaker 1: We've seen one game and was a promising game, and
Speaker 1: they love him. But it's like you gotta see it.
Speaker 1: It's seen in twenty years of Andy Reid, and that's
Speaker 1: the kind and and what he's done, especially in Kansas City.
Speaker 1: That's kind of why I don't doubt it. I'm just
Speaker 1: saying we shouldn't assume it. Yeah, No, it's quite possible
Speaker 1: that they'll be much more exciting to watch and much
Speaker 1: less effective in the one lost column. Yeah, it could
Speaker 1: be a really explosive offense. Like it's really interesting to
Speaker 1: think about Sammy Watkins as that downfield threat, but also
Speaker 1: like I mean, it's not just the second area as
Speaker 1: you mentioned uh in terms of the defense. That run
Speaker 1: defense was a major problem last year. That's what got
Speaker 1: them killed in the playoffs. Get a STOPGA Tennessee offense
Speaker 1: that was not blowing people's doors off last year. How
Speaker 1: about my guy Brett mackenzie. Now he's your guy, Greg,
Speaker 1: your boys, the Los Angeles Superchargers. Yeah, well, after you know,
Speaker 1: Tom Talasco had another excellent draft, Derwin James falling to him.
Speaker 1: A lot of people who you know, look, I don't know,
Speaker 1: but people who know better love Uchenna Nus their second
Speaker 1: round pick. And it got me thinking this was a
Speaker 1: defense heavy draft. Uchenna Na that's correct. At which is
Speaker 1: better because they're both They're pretty stacked on both sides,
Speaker 1: which is better. The Charger's offensive, the defense, that defense,
Speaker 1: and you're feeling good about it. And that's the question.
Speaker 1: This might be a defense first team. Now what is
Speaker 1: more amazing? The first of all, great question, great question.
Speaker 1: This team is absolutely loaded. They remind me of the
Speaker 1: Jaguars where everyone said, hey, I'm not gonna believe in
Speaker 1: the Jaguars, even though that December before they showed that
Speaker 1: they were one of the best teams in the league.
Speaker 1: The Charges showed us they're one of the best teams
Speaker 1: in the league down the stretch, and I think they're
Speaker 1: ready to take that. The personnel is is it's almost unmatched.
Speaker 1: I mean I would want to know. I would take
Speaker 1: the defense because the strength of this team is the
Speaker 1: best pass rush in the NFL with Bosa and ingram
Speaker 1: as the two pass rushers. Now you add Noosu and
Speaker 1: the offensive line to me still has some question marks
Speaker 1: that the running game never found itself last year. The
Speaker 1: offensive line. A lot of that sack total, which is
Speaker 1: one of the best in the league, is because Philip
Speaker 1: Rivers is a genius before the snap and he gets
Speaker 1: rid of the ball quickly. I think the defense is
Speaker 1: legitimately what was like a top three Rivers that you
Speaker 1: had passed into another quarterback. Oh, Paxton Lynch got sacked.
Speaker 1: He's been sacked eighteen times in his career on one
Speaker 1: eight attempts. Philip Rivers got sacked eighteen times last year
Speaker 1: and nearly six hundred attempts. Oh my god, I mean,
Speaker 1: you've got Caleb Sturgis in there at this point. Listen,
Speaker 1: here's the thing You're not going to start the year
Speaker 1: oh and four and the one thing that kind of
Speaker 1: gets forgotten is that there was a kind of a
Speaker 1: mid season game against the Patriots where they Chargers gave
Speaker 1: the Patriots a run for the money. And you're gonna
Speaker 1: you're gonna go four and no more likely than nine
Speaker 1: and seven, eight and eight, seven and nine, nine and seven.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying you could say the same thing about
Speaker 1: the Jaguars before last year. That's shocking. That's the three
Speaker 1: minutes we could go on and on about the Charge
Speaker 1: around the Chargers podcast coming up Saturday night. The Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 1: Mark Sesler, Alright, someone solved this Nancy Drew level mystery
Speaker 1: for me. Who are the Miami Dolphins? What is the
Speaker 1: plan here? What is the identity? When will this become
Speaker 1: evident to anyone living on earth? Too bad, Lindsay, nice
Speaker 1: try with the question he got you, what's their identity?
Speaker 1: Helped me out. I came out of the draft even
Speaker 1: ultra frustrated with the Dolphins. I got nothing important. I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't know what their identity is. I don't know
Speaker 1: what the plan is. I feel like he couldn't have
Speaker 1: he couldn't have broadcast that to us more strongly, and
Speaker 1: he didn't want I mean, I guess what was the
Speaker 1: draft gonna do to change it unless they took a quarterback,
Speaker 1: Because they took me Patrick, who is kind of what
Speaker 1: they could use as a versatile guy that they can
Speaker 1: move around in their secondary. They drafted Mike Kaski, which
Speaker 1: is about as exciting athletically at tight end, a huge
Speaker 1: position of need. So they did add guys that you
Speaker 1: that's their biggest problem on defense. They didn't even they
Speaker 1: never replaced in Dominican sue. That's the one thing that
Speaker 1: they really needed to do. You let the other two,
Speaker 1: you know, low level wanting teams in your division, go
Speaker 1: out and at least try on quarterbacks while you did nothing.
Speaker 1: And and I get the belief in Ryan Tannehill, but
Speaker 1: I mean, we're we've seen Ryan Tannehill. Well, I don't,
Speaker 1: I can't. I can't kill him for that. Like they
Speaker 1: think they like Ryan Tannehill, but they have so many
Speaker 1: other issues to worry about. If they believe in Tannehill
Speaker 1: for now, if they stink like everybody seems to think
Speaker 1: they're gonna stinkin', I don't know about stink. That's the
Speaker 1: thing they're trying to keep their jobs from from gaze
Speaker 1: to their defensive coordinator as a new guy, you know,
Speaker 1: Matt Burke to the front office. Like all of them
Speaker 1: are just trying to make it to nineteen. On some level.
Speaker 1: I'm just struggling. Flavorless team that did live very little
Speaker 1: to give us any indication of what their flavor is.
Speaker 1: They Yeah, I mean they lose Jervis Landry. Obviously they
Speaker 1: got Danny m and Dola. I don't know if that exciting.
Speaker 1: There was a little. I like Kennan Drake a lot.
Speaker 1: Maybe he's the focal into that offense. And Tannehill comes
Speaker 1: back and he's efficient and accurate and the best version
Speaker 1: of Bryan Tannhill. I love how hard you're trying. They're
Speaker 1: just trying to balance it. I know you. I don't
Speaker 1: like the Dolphins. No, you're doing a great job. I
Speaker 1: admire that. But even when we said, when you threw
Speaker 1: out like about them possibly thinking, everyone was quickly like, no,
Speaker 1: we don't think they're on the road. They replaced the
Speaker 1: interior of their offensive line. They're on the hamster wheel.
Speaker 1: They are, but it's not. Yeah, it's weird because it's
Speaker 1: not like the NBA where you have to bottom out. No,
Speaker 1: you don't. There is an old Parcels is um and
Speaker 1: maybe Tannehill fits this mold that certain guys are labeled
Speaker 1: progress stoppers. They're not You're not building towards something. They're
Speaker 1: not guys that you actually can count on. They're just
Speaker 1: there and that doesn't allow your organization and grow. Maybe
Speaker 1: that's Tannahill. Dolphins have to hope that's not the case.
Speaker 1: Nobody has more parcellsisms than parcels. True, Bill parcels as parcellsism. No,
Speaker 1: I just meant like he does have a lot of
Speaker 1: these bond modes. People throw room. That's one of multiple
Speaker 1: of his Sessler's favorite sandwiches. No one's ever eating one
Speaker 1: those again, if I can control it. Do we have
Speaker 1: any sanwiches coming this week? I mean, you know, we
Speaker 1: used to all hang out together, like in the office
Speaker 1: during the work week. Now no one's ever together on
Speaker 1: the same page, so it's harder to have group meals.
Speaker 1: Next time we're together, I'll get sandwiches. I got a
Speaker 1: new place that cars caps the sandwiches in the city.
Speaker 1: The defending a f C Conference champions, the New England
Speaker 1: Patriots Chris Westley. The FC sometimes looks like west ramping
Speaker 1: it up again. An FC sometimes looks like the NBA's
Speaker 1: Eastern Conference. Has any a f C team done enough
Speaker 1: to stop our annual tradition of penciling the Patriots right
Speaker 1: into the Super Bowl? Well, you know, I'd always take
Speaker 1: the field, especially in the NFL. I I on paper,
Speaker 1: the Steelers still look great to meet. They haven't done
Speaker 1: anything to get better, right, but team in fact, they've
Speaker 1: gotten worse because all the time without like obvious offseason
Speaker 1: with Tennessee Titans, I really like, maybe maybe I'm getting
Speaker 1: too excited, but I like overall what they did in
Speaker 1: the draft and in general, I think the field's done enough. Yes,
Speaker 1: the Steelers are they Maybe they haven't done anything. We
Speaker 1: just talked about Ryan Chase here the loss of him.
Speaker 1: Did they adequately address that defense? Ryan Chase he er
Speaker 1: who there are weeks when he played like the defensive
Speaker 1: player of the year. Like, that's not a small loss.
Speaker 1: He was by far the most important defensive player. Maybe
Speaker 1: the number one thing that other a FC teams have
Speaker 1: going for them um is organizational decay from within This
Speaker 1: from an interview Jim Gray and Tom Brady, do you
Speaker 1: feel appreciated by them and do they have the appropriate
Speaker 1: gratitude for what you have achieved. I plead the fifth.
Speaker 1: I mean, think of where we are now and where
Speaker 1: we were in December that he's actually now. Tom Brady
Speaker 1: is saying, I plead the fifth when I asked if
Speaker 1: he's appreciated about his own organization, knowing that that response
Speaker 1: is gonna blow up all over there, and he quickly,
Speaker 1: he quickly added three paragraphs of how much he loves
Speaker 1: Bill Belichick, how much he values him, and that that
Speaker 1: he knows that Belichick thinks essentially not giving it up
Speaker 1: for Brady is the best thing to get it out
Speaker 1: of Brady. Right. It's called backpedaling. Why did you say?
Speaker 1: Why did you open your statement with that stuff? How
Speaker 1: could you completely Tom Brady knows exactly what he's saying.
Speaker 1: He went out of his way to put that out
Speaker 1: there in the public. It's just that question feels like
Speaker 1: a plant to begin with. It was a planted question,
Speaker 1: of course, it's absolutely something. But I think ultimately the
Speaker 1: answer that he gave he was having it both ways,
Speaker 1: was in the end, I know that I'm gonna be there.
Speaker 1: He said he's gonna be there for two more seasons,
Speaker 1: and he knows that in the end, he had to
Speaker 1: sort of like add that other part of it because
Speaker 1: he knows he's going to be aim there. When I
Speaker 1: look at the Patriots, I'm not really concerned about any
Speaker 1: of this off field stuff. I'm more concerned that they've
Speaker 1: had an incredible amount of turnover this offseason. Their roster
Speaker 1: is as different as almost any a f C team
Speaker 1: in the league. Maybe that'll work out, maybe it won't,
Speaker 1: but they have a ton of new starters on both
Speaker 1: sides of them. I just think from that seth Wickersham
Speaker 1: article till now between with Gronk and with Brady are
Speaker 1: now saying out in public. It just shows you it's
Speaker 1: characteristic that continues coach Brady as hard as he wants.
Speaker 1: He doesn't need to have sources growing Brady under the bus.
Speaker 1: With Brady's response, Connie Fox, the New York Football Jets,
Speaker 1: how about those Jets excited about them? That's my question. So, yeah,
Speaker 1: they finally they get Sam Donald. Your whole thing worked
Speaker 1: out scamming for Sam. But my whole thing is, even
Speaker 1: if Sam Donald doesn't start right away because they have
Speaker 1: Josh McCollen there, because they have like seventy quarterbacks on
Speaker 1: the roster, even if he doesn't start right away. Do
Speaker 1: they have enough there to surround him to succeed? I mean,
Speaker 1: you talk about that offensive line was a problem last year.
Speaker 1: I know they brought in a couple of guys, but
Speaker 1: is that enough. They the past catchers, they're the tight ends.
Speaker 1: Austin Sefari and Jenkins is gone. I mean the tight
Speaker 1: ends they have on the roster right now have barely
Speaker 1: caught any passes in a game, let alone played NFL snaps.
Speaker 1: So you know, maybe Terrell Prior hits, maybe Isaiah Crowell does,
Speaker 1: and that would be great for him, but I just
Speaker 1: don't know. That's that's the ends of West. I didn't
Speaker 1: Dare bring up the Jets when he said who's ready
Speaker 1: to challenge the Patriots? They're not ready yet, but they
Speaker 1: have some pieces in place, and now they have a
Speaker 1: potential franchise quarterback. So now the rebuild is in place,
Speaker 1: and I'm hoping as a Jet fan, what I'm hoping
Speaker 1: for this year is Donald starts twelve games, ten twelve games,
Speaker 1: and he shows something and they, you know, they start
Speaker 1: to look like a team that's building towards something and
Speaker 1: doing a rebuild the right way, which they very rarely
Speaker 1: have in their you just go are they just wasting
Speaker 1: a year? Is this Mitch Drabinski with John Fox? Is
Speaker 1: this Jared Goff with Jeff Fisher? Because I don't really
Speaker 1: get into I don't buy any sort of rebuild if
Speaker 1: you're gonna have a new general manager or certainly a
Speaker 1: new coach a year from now, do they have the
Speaker 1: patients to go four and twelve, five and eleven, because
Speaker 1: I kind of doubt Todd Bowles feels that way. He
Speaker 1: probably feels like, I gotta win eight nine games, this
Speaker 1: is my year. And if not, I'm looking at it like,
Speaker 1: are we just you know, wasting the defense of the
Speaker 1: defense of the Jets? They have been if if nothing else,
Speaker 1: they've been stable. I mean they've showed a lot of
Speaker 1: patients with this regime, and we'll find out now. I
Speaker 1: feel like, now we're really going to find out if
Speaker 1: this is I thought this is mcagnet's plan. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think that. On balance, I think he's doing a nice
Speaker 1: job with this team. It hasn't been easy. They haven't
Speaker 1: had a lot of results, but I think I'm really
Speaker 1: excited to see where this team goes this year because
Speaker 1: I think they can compete in the A f C.
Speaker 1: I don't think you put pressure on this group of quarterbacks,
Speaker 1: and especially Donald in year one, said have to get
Speaker 1: ten wins or you blow up the organist station because
Speaker 1: now you can build around your quarterback with The Jets
Speaker 1: have not been able to do outside of a couple
Speaker 1: of seasons since Dan was born. Essentially Peyton Manning went
Speaker 1: three at thirteen is a rookie. Things turned around quick,
Speaker 1: but it's not You can't ask the Jets to do
Speaker 1: it all this season. This collection of talent overachieved in
Speaker 1: the games Josh McCown played last year. I think when
Speaker 1: the Jets are good again, they're gonna have a whole different,
Speaker 1: new group of nucleus players. I don't see nucleus players
Speaker 1: on this offense. There's no defense. The defense isn't bad.
Speaker 1: By the way, defense, defense isn't bad. And if Donald
Speaker 1: comes there and make some plays and they have some
Speaker 1: wide receivers and playmakers, I'm excited. I'm glad it's not
Speaker 1: time next up the Oakland Raiders. Oh that's me. I
Speaker 1: get so excited about talking about the Jets. John Gruden
Speaker 1: has been a busy man since returning to the Raiders. Uh.
Speaker 1: They've made seven trades, nine draft picks, host the free
Speaker 1: agent pickups. Uh, it's a fairly radical overhaul for a
Speaker 1: team that was one of the NFL's biggest disappointments last year.
Speaker 1: Was such an overhaul truly necessary? Do we think the
Speaker 1: Raiders will actually be any better than last year's disappointing finish?
Speaker 1: All I'd say is that a lot of people came
Speaker 1: out of last year sounding like players and others unhappy
Speaker 1: with that coaching staff, and a lot of fingers being
Speaker 1: pointed at how the coaching staff handled that season. So
Speaker 1: I guess, in theory, you've just put ten dollars in
Speaker 1: a multibillion dollar bet down on the fact that John
Speaker 1: Cruden is the best possible coach you could have gotten.
Speaker 1: If that's the case, how could you be worse? You
Speaker 1: better be better? Even though I don't like what they've
Speaker 1: done this offseason particularly much at all, well, not just
Speaker 1: offensively in terms of Gruden, that's to me an X factor,
Speaker 1: like how much better he like? Is he going to
Speaker 1: be a difference maker as a coach? That Paul Gunter,
Speaker 1: one of the more respected defensive guys in the league,
Speaker 1: is taking over for what was one of the worst
Speaker 1: defensive staffs in the league. So the coaches should be better.
Speaker 1: They should have the same players, and they have many
Speaker 1: different players, but they should be better. I'm not crazy
Speaker 1: about what they did in terms of free agency an
Speaker 1: offense signing Jordy Nelson, Doug Martin. I mean that that
Speaker 1: to me really really isn't great, especially for a quarterback
Speaker 1: who's coming off a down season where he was hurt.
Speaker 1: Is this even the third best team in their own
Speaker 1: division or they clearly the fourth best. Fourth best is
Speaker 1: not the way to say it the worst. To me,
Speaker 1: it's about like their offensive line was so good two
Speaker 1: years ago and it was pretty good past protecting last
Speaker 1: year Penn assembly Hudson, Gabe Jackson, like that was maybe
Speaker 1: the best offensive line in the league. If they are
Speaker 1: near that level, then they can do a lot rephrase
Speaker 1: question for us. Do the Raiders of any a f
Speaker 1: C team have the highest ceiling to lowest floor ratio?
Speaker 1: Is it the biggest difference. I think that's a fair
Speaker 1: assessment because I could see the offense going back to
Speaker 1: the heights of two thousand sixteen, and Greg's point is
Speaker 1: good about Paul Gunther. I don't see the defensive personnel
Speaker 1: that's gonna make them like go from towards bottom of
Speaker 1: the league two middle of the pack. They might be
Speaker 1: able to cobble a front seven together. I don't trust
Speaker 1: that secondary at all. It could be the worst group
Speaker 1: of cornerbacks in football and they didn't take anyone. But
Speaker 1: it's in that it's in that conversation. That's a bad
Speaker 1: conversation to be. You don't want to be in the
Speaker 1: modern NFL when you need like four quartery Niners are
Speaker 1: in that mix, maybe like there there are some. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they don't. And it's not like their safeties are great either.
Speaker 1: I mean we're saying Houston go four and twelve or
Speaker 1: compete for the ANFC title game, depending on who you
Speaker 1: talk to. So that's another high high is my high
Speaker 1: ceiling when I think it could blow up. But I
Speaker 1: think the Bengals are like that too, ir relic of
Speaker 1: the odds. Like the Raiders season, we ran out of
Speaker 1: things to show the fans on that segment. With a
Speaker 1: solid ten seconds to go, the Pittsburgh Steelers defending h
Speaker 1: a f C North champions I'm gonna pivot based on
Speaker 1: something our editor David Ealy sent me during this size.
Speaker 1: Ben Roethlisberger quoted Thursday saying the Mason Rudolph era, it's
Speaker 1: not gonna be for a while. And my question is, like,
Speaker 1: is there any quarterback you would rather be drafted behind
Speaker 1: less than Ben Roethlisberger right now? Um, that is not
Speaker 1: the guy I want in the room with me. If
Speaker 1: you're Mason Rudolph, his generosity to help a young quarterback,
Speaker 1: He's not in a Sam Doarnold situation. I mean, are
Speaker 1: we facting in everything associated with Big Ben because his
Speaker 1: injury history would make me say as a quarterback, yeah,
Speaker 1: I kind of like that. That's interesting. Yeah, I'm with
Speaker 1: West on this, but you're taking sort of a Brett
Speaker 1: Farve Aaron Rodgers type angle here. I don't think we're
Speaker 1: working under the assumption that Ben Roethlisberger, which I'm not
Speaker 1: even prepared to do, actually is a total monster to
Speaker 1: his teammates. Uh, and won't be helpful when we'll try
Speaker 1: to aggressively stunt his understudies development. Uh. Big Ben's not
Speaker 1: worried about job security. One minute, he wants to retire
Speaker 1: the next. It's like this is never gonna happen. I'm
Speaker 1: playing forever. I don't know if he thinks about anything
Speaker 1: been going on side of the same issue. I'm looking
Speaker 1: at every starting quarterback here and Greig is You're not
Speaker 1: wrong that he's got to be high on that list.
Speaker 1: Big Ben. I don't know if Aaron Rodgers is school
Speaker 1: with his understudies. I mean Brady got Garoppolo traded. How
Speaker 1: about I was gonna say Tom Brady almost got him killed.
Speaker 1: It's a little bit of pride with some of these guys,
Speaker 1: but I think I think Big Ben has got to
Speaker 1: be top two, top three. It cuts a good spot
Speaker 1: for Rudolph if they do play, because I know you
Speaker 1: you you mentioned as has the Steelers gotten better this
Speaker 1: hop scene? Yeah, maybe not, but I think it's It's
Speaker 1: still the best roster in the NFL overall. Don't we
Speaker 1: think quarterbacks is a sneaky jersey. I don't know who
Speaker 1: is better his head. No, I don't think their defense
Speaker 1: is good at all without Ryan Shay's ear. Yeah, they
Speaker 1: just they gave up five yards twice in five games
Speaker 1: without him. Cameron Hayward stepone to it. They should be
Speaker 1: better than than they are. T J Watt decent secondary.
Speaker 1: I'm penciling them in again for twelve wins, whether or
Speaker 1: not that's good enough to get a home game against
Speaker 1: the Patriots, because that will probably decide whether they get
Speaker 1: by the Patriots. My feeling on that whole rivalry has
Speaker 1: not changed, no matter the defections in New England and
Speaker 1: the loss of Ryan Shazier and whether or not we
Speaker 1: thought they adequately replaced him. I feel like these two
Speaker 1: teams are still it's like the old Yankee Red Sox
Speaker 1: rivalry and the odds. You just feel like they're on
Speaker 1: a collision course again. I wonder if anything will change
Speaker 1: with Todd Haley not there anymore, that offensive coordinator they
Speaker 1: I mean him and Roethlisberger. Yeah, so so maybe it's
Speaker 1: a good thing, Maybe it improves. Yeah, but for all
Speaker 1: of that, you know, you can make fun of Todd Haley.
Speaker 1: They were a good offense. He just likes to have
Speaker 1: a good time at the bar. His balance, I'm not
Speaker 1: literally a little tipsy. I've never seen you take a spill.
Speaker 1: Oh that's about a fifty chance every time I walk
Speaker 1: out the door. Close it out. The Tennessee Titans were
Speaker 1: actually nice. You took a real belly wop rounding second
Speaker 1: running to third ones. I remember on the shield. Yeah,
Speaker 1: probably when the sniper got my hamstring, he got sniped.
Speaker 1: Lee Harvey got your all right. The Tennessee Titoons, excuse me,
Speaker 1: the Titans turning over a new leaf in Marxas. I
Speaker 1: am just looking at what they did with four picks
Speaker 1: in the draft, and I came out and loving general manager.
Speaker 1: I don't know what's happening, just played long with it.
Speaker 1: But what team did more with their four picks than
Speaker 1: the Titans. I feel like Greggy wrote a good piece
Speaker 1: where you felt like they jumped up knowing the Patriots
Speaker 1: and snagged Patriots types players ahead of New England and
Speaker 1: they came in with very little. But I think even
Speaker 1: on the top of Rashaan Evans and Harold Landry, there
Speaker 1: is no chance of them resigning mac Castle this summer
Speaker 1: because they also took a back west. Also, Matt Castle
Speaker 1: signed with the Lions. That also help. I mean, what's
Speaker 1: going on in this with this production? Just such a
Speaker 1: such a tired bit, but you will keep at it
Speaker 1: and I and I actually questioned Dan about it in
Speaker 1: the middle of the show. So I know that Dan
Speaker 1: is the ringleader because to look at the on his
Speaker 1: face right now, how could you put it together? All right?
Speaker 1: Just having some phone I have this jet shirt that
Speaker 1: I bought for Dan. It's actually it's it looks like
Speaker 1: more of a woman's shirt for maybe it's for Dan's wife.
Speaker 1: Going right back in the bag. Spot it on the
Speaker 1: weekend with my own money, and you could thank Lindsey
Speaker 1: for that. How the word is turned with his own money,
Speaker 1: on his own bit, with my family's money as a
Speaker 1: gift for your family. Why does this? Why did these
Speaker 1: conversations always happen when we get to the Titans? Is
Speaker 1: it too late to apologize work? Let's see, I'm tire
Speaker 1: to you at the end of the show. If I'm
Speaker 1: feeling nice the history Titans deserve a little bit of
Speaker 1: bonus time, I think on rewarding. All right, let's give
Speaker 1: them two minutes. Wow, I love this. I feeling like
Speaker 1: this is it's a Titans type of time. Titans year like,
Speaker 1: I am feeling the mic rabel. Yeah, it's a little familiar,
Speaker 1: but I'm feeling the mic rabel of it all. I
Speaker 1: like we've wanted their defense to have a little more difference, makers,
Speaker 1: a little more fire. I think they have added that
Speaker 1: to some degree in the draft and with Malcolm Butler
Speaker 1: and a Dory Jackson certainly last year. I like that
Speaker 1: they kept taking I just I think they have a
Speaker 1: nice balance, a kind of continuity and youth and just
Speaker 1: a lot of forms a little better, a lot of
Speaker 1: different things that you're looking for in a young team.
Speaker 1: The secondary is going to be probably one of the best.
Speaker 1: On paper, it looks awesome. It's a big year for
Speaker 1: Marks Mariota, isn't it. It's a huge here, And I
Speaker 1: think when I watched the Titans, the one thing they've
Speaker 1: been missing to me is playmakers. Guys who command and
Speaker 1: draw double teams or beat double teams on defense, and
Speaker 1: I'm not sure if they have that or not. Dion
Speaker 1: Lewis could be one. Corey Davis, a guy they drafted
Speaker 1: last year and was injured most of his rookie year,
Speaker 1: could be one. Delaney Walker is one on defense. Maybe
Speaker 1: Harold Landry and Rashaun Evans, the guys you drafted can
Speaker 1: be those guys right now. To me, when I look
Speaker 1: at their defense, Drill Casey is the only guy who
Speaker 1: fits that description. And maybe Malcolm Butler comes in and
Speaker 1: sets the world on fire. But I do think they're
Speaker 1: much improved. I just wonder if those difference makers are
Speaker 1: on the roster a little on the nose. The Patriots poach, Oh,
Speaker 1: this is like New England South. Yeah. Sometimes when that happens,
Speaker 1: you just feel like it's it's a little bit too cute.
Speaker 1: It doesn't work, it doesn't work out right. Maybe this does.
Speaker 1: I mean the moves make sense, the Patriots that they imported.
Speaker 1: But when I went back and looked at all the drafts,
Speaker 1: I realized, like, no one's happy with their general managers
Speaker 1: drafts like history, like there's so many more misses than hits.
Speaker 1: But John Robinson had two great drafts. He has two
Speaker 1: for two and having great drafts, and when you start
Speaker 1: stacking those up, then you start seeing results. But it
Speaker 1: doesn't matter general managers. All draft is saying Greg, he's
Speaker 1: on at We don't have time to go down to
Speaker 1: the lab. All right, I'm giving you this Jet shirt
Speaker 1: back because I really don't even want it so but
Speaker 1: I want you to have it soft. It's very soft.
Speaker 1: I think it is a my wrong, it's not a
Speaker 1: it's not a shirt now it's gonna it's it's a
Speaker 1: scoop lack top. It's for Emily. I have no evidence
Speaker 1: that she cares about the Jets at all. And it
Speaker 1: is odd that clothing for your wife. This is beautiful, Mark.
Speaker 1: See it long motor Uh Avenue here in Los Angeles,
Speaker 1: there was a bin of of shirts like that, and
Speaker 1: I thought Dan's and at a coming off a high
Speaker 1: point draft and is this on your way back home
Speaker 1: on Saturday? Now that was no, this was on a Sunday.
Speaker 1: Just walk up. How do you feel about the way
Speaker 1: that Dan trees your friendship? It's largely positive outside of
Speaker 1: outside of some of these networks like like arrangements. Please, Mark,
Speaker 1: thank you very much. You're very welcome. And Emily on
Speaker 1: her behalf, she thanks you as well. I'm not convinced
Speaker 1: she's gonna wear she I've never heard her talk about
Speaker 1: the Jets. No, she's not a sports fan, but she'll
Speaker 1: she'll wear it. I really stay on Sunday outfit. I
Speaker 1: like it. I really to work. Enjoyed the look on
Speaker 1: Mark's face as he was looking at the T shirt
Speaker 1: mid sentence and realized it's a woman No, no, no,
Speaker 1: actually I know. I had other people tell me very
Speaker 1: quickly that's not a man's shirt, and I was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: you're probably right. Um, we will be back on Thursday.
Speaker 1: The old Juicer is gonna be out of town. But
Speaker 1: Connie Fox, you're going to be in the hosting chair.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna hold it down, and uh, I know you're capable,
Speaker 1: just don't be don't be too good, because then I'm
Speaker 1: gonna get all the text like, oh, Connie's coming for
Speaker 1: Dan's job. I calmed down, take your time coming back, Yeah,
Speaker 1: take your time. Look out, Damnen's on the prowl. It's like,
Speaker 1: all right, calm down, I am that's true. So yes,
Speaker 1: this was around the a f C and forty eight
Speaker 1: minutes on Thursday, around the n f C in forty
Speaker 1: eight minutes. I hate to miss it. I love this,
Speaker 1: but I will listen and it won't be the same
Speaker 1: without you. I'll do some pod grading and i'll share
Speaker 1: them on Monday's show. The follow I'm sure will be
Speaker 1: graded highly. Try extra hard. Until then. This is Dan
Speaker 1: Hanson signing off for wyat Storm. This is Distracted the Mailman,
Speaker 1: Connie Fox, the old boss, Lindsay full time behind the
Speaker 1: glass on the ones and twos until Thursday. Now