Speaker 1: Be Around the NFL Podcast. Can't wait to go to
Speaker 1: Cutter Qatar Cutter. Welcome to another edition of the Around
Speaker 1: the NFL Podcast. My name is Dan Hansus, and I
Speaker 1: am joined in a room that's filled with heroes. Mark Sessler,
Speaker 1: Chris Westling, and Greg Rosenthal. What's up boys? Happy Friday?
Speaker 1: Hey Dan. Just before we started, I said, lindsay, start
Speaker 1: the music. Play the music, because we've got to get
Speaker 1: this on Mike. We're talking about various Disney movies. Greg
Speaker 1: and I had never seen The Lion King, and we're
Speaker 1: having a conversational about the the millennial cash grab that
Speaker 1: is the Beauty and the Beast remake and now the
Speaker 1: upcoming Lion King remake. Um and then Mark mentioned that
Speaker 1: back in I'm gonna pretty good with the years of movies,
Speaker 1: I believe nineteen ninety nine Little Mermaid came out and Mark,
Speaker 1: you went on a date with a a woman to
Speaker 1: see The Little Mermaid? Well, yes, it was with a woman. Um,
Speaker 1: I was I was young, young, younger person. It was
Speaker 1: an incredible, incredible time. How old were you, INDI? It
Speaker 1: was not a woman had to have been a teenage car.
Speaker 1: I mean, I've seen what this is where the five
Speaker 1: went deep down the road to suggest that yes, it
Speaker 1: was a female. And I went on a date with
Speaker 1: her where and I just said she was a woman.
Speaker 1: And it's like a five it's a five to six
Speaker 1: year gap between you know, the right side of the
Speaker 1: table here the kissing cousins Chris Westling and Mark Sessler,
Speaker 1: and then the left, you know, this side being Dan.
Speaker 1: This is where that five years is about as big
Speaker 1: as ever because it's fifteen to ten. It's half your life.
Speaker 1: It's that crazy, I mean, but it was. It was
Speaker 1: a long distance girlfriend. Um, how could have a long
Speaker 1: distance girlfriend? You were fifteen? I operated in all sorts
Speaker 1: of circles you were, you were a coxman in those years.
Speaker 1: I met her at at a at a summer camp,
Speaker 1: and so we kept the relationship alive. You know, for
Speaker 1: first the things started. I won't go too deep into this,
Speaker 1: but you would talk on the phone for hours and
Speaker 1: this is back like you know, you're using up the
Speaker 1: only phone in the house, which was annoying to my failing.
Speaker 1: But then the phone bill arrived and it was like
Speaker 1: a hundred and eighty dollars of collect calls to like
Speaker 1: this town in northern Connecticut where she lived, and then
Speaker 1: her mom and my the moms would drive us. Do
Speaker 1: you live in Connecticut? It costs that much? Yeah, but
Speaker 1: we guess. We would talk on the phone for like
Speaker 1: three hours from like nine at night until midnight, and
Speaker 1: we were in love and then um, then it all
Speaker 1: crumbled because you know, anything that begins in ninth grade,
Speaker 1: good luck with that lasting when you're not in the
Speaker 1: same town. I think we talked about this way back
Speaker 1: in the A T. L Debate club days, that you
Speaker 1: did very well for yourself in your early teenage years,
Speaker 1: uh idding, relative to to to some guys. Yes, relative
Speaker 1: to others, I did very little. I think it's like
Speaker 1: you you're active or you're not. Wasn't exactly like the
Speaker 1: movie Kids. I'm not saying it was not. No, not
Speaker 1: at all. That's advanced. That was still throwing rocks at girls.
Speaker 1: It's another way to go about it. Never let him
Speaker 1: know you like them. You know, that's what happens when
Speaker 1: you grew up with six brothers and noses. Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: a poor strategy. So are you like? Um, we got
Speaker 1: to get to the show, but I have more questions,
Speaker 1: like were you did you make out in the theater
Speaker 1: to like Under the Sea. I'm just curious because I
Speaker 1: mean something that happened. I think. I think when when
Speaker 1: you're dating and you go to a movie in your teens,
Speaker 1: the movie is a secondary part of what you're hoping
Speaker 1: it was actually was. This was what was great. It
Speaker 1: was a weird week night and there was maybe like
Speaker 1: five other people in the theater. I think Little mermaid
Speaker 1: had been out for a while. It wasn't like I
Speaker 1: was going to the midnight showing of Little Mermaids that
Speaker 1: I had to see it. I feel like part of
Speaker 1: the world, part of your world. That's more of the
Speaker 1: makeout song. You're not going to be making out during
Speaker 1: under the Sea. Same on top of this, because the
Speaker 1: sea is hand holding tops. Greg might be right, I
Speaker 1: don't remember, all right. Welcome to the Friday edition of
Speaker 1: Around the NFL Podcast UH, presented by No One beholden
Speaker 1: to Nothing for the time being, still until it's decided
Speaker 1: that we are beholden to something or someone. Um A
Speaker 1: lot to get to today. Some big news at a
Speaker 1: Detroit involving Matt Patricia unsettling news Um also talking about
Speaker 1: Adrian Peterson still doesn't have a job and he has Uh,
Speaker 1: now putting out some feelers out there, kind of like, hey,
Speaker 1: everybody remember me, uh, situation for all day, and we
Speaker 1: have a segment coming up. Mark, you just got back
Speaker 1: and it's been proven via up paperwork from jury duty.
Speaker 1: So what are we gonna do new segment? The jury
Speaker 1: is still out on ellipses. Uh. So there you go.
Speaker 1: That's today's show. A lot to get to let's uh,
Speaker 1: you're ready to get to it. Let's do some news. Alright.
Speaker 1: So this is not a story that's fun to talk about,
Speaker 1: but it's a major situation going on involving the Detroit Lions.
Speaker 1: Matt Patricia, Uh, the head coach who uh parlayed a
Speaker 1: successful tenure is the d C of the Patriots to
Speaker 1: a head coaching gig with the Lions. UM. It came
Speaker 1: out late Thursday or Wednesday night. The Detroit News dropped
Speaker 1: a report detailing the UM, offering details on a sexual
Speaker 1: assault UM claim that led to an indictment in Texas
Speaker 1: twenty two years or when Patricia was twenty two years old. Uh.
Speaker 1: The case never actually went to court, but Patricia UH,
Speaker 1: this had not come up at any point in his
Speaker 1: football career in the NFL, not with the Patriots. The
Speaker 1: lines did not know about it, but obviously this is
Speaker 1: a big story, and Patricia the next morning was in
Speaker 1: front of the media UH explaining his side of the story.
Speaker 1: A story that he feels or that he expresses UH
Speaker 1: comes from a place of complete innocence. Here's what Patricia
Speaker 1: has to say. Thankfully, truth is on my side. I
Speaker 1: lived with the mental torture of a situation where facts
Speaker 1: can be completely ignored or misrepresentative with disregard to the
Speaker 1: consequence and pain that it would create for another person.
Speaker 1: I find it unfair and upsetting that someone would bring
Speaker 1: this claim up over two decades later for the sole
Speaker 1: purpose of hurting my family, my friends, and this organization,
Speaker 1: with the intention of trying to damage my character and credibility.
Speaker 1: I was innocent then, and I am innocent now. Let
Speaker 1: me be clear. My priorities remain the same, to move
Speaker 1: forward and strive to be the best coach, teacher, and
Speaker 1: man that I can possibly be. Greg this is a
Speaker 1: bombshell for the Detroit Lions. What struck me when it
Speaker 1: first popped up Wednesday night was how it came into
Speaker 1: the news, which was by a statement from the Lions
Speaker 1: organization from ownership, the general manager, everyone's name was on
Speaker 1: this statement. It was coordinated. It came out before anyone
Speaker 1: knew that. The Detroit Um News, I believe, you know,
Speaker 1: was working on this story or was going to release
Speaker 1: the story, and so it was very choreographing. That's so
Speaker 1: that number one is the first thing that struck me
Speaker 1: about it is how completely behind Matt Patricia the Lions
Speaker 1: organization decided to be right off the bat, and there's
Speaker 1: been a lot of speculation and questions about Patricia's you know,
Speaker 1: how what this all means moving forward, and I think
Speaker 1: the only thing you can draw on that front is
Speaker 1: how together you in the form and clear the Lions
Speaker 1: organization was about how they believed, you know, this allegation,
Speaker 1: everything about this allegation, how much they believe UH in
Speaker 1: their coach moving forward. So from just sort of a
Speaker 1: brass tax you know part of looking at this that
Speaker 1: that to me was what stuck out the most right
Speaker 1: off the bat. Yeah, I mean, it was indicted by
Speaker 1: um a grand jury, which is no small thing. At
Speaker 1: the same time, it's a case where you know, I
Speaker 1: hearing a lot of people make judgments on Twitter and
Speaker 1: all over the place. It's like, we simply don't have
Speaker 1: the facts to know, and it's it's it's a kind
Speaker 1: of thing where for him, he's he he came out
Speaker 1: very passionately about, you know, his side of it. And
Speaker 1: at the same time when the one of the reasons
Speaker 1: the case never went through was that the the female
Speaker 1: involved refused to go to court to give her side.
Speaker 1: So we just simply don't have the facts. What are
Speaker 1: you supposed to do with this information? Twenty two years
Speaker 1: later when we don't know what happened and Matt Patricia
Speaker 1: has emotionally, aggressively, categorically and unequivocally denied all accusations or charges.
Speaker 1: So what more do you go on when there's no
Speaker 1: one to say otherwise, Well, it's it's okay to not
Speaker 1: have an opinion on everything and and still a be
Speaker 1: interested in the story because it is a story. One
Speaker 1: of There's been a lot of opinions quickly out there,
Speaker 1: but but one of the ones that I think is
Speaker 1: easiest for me to push back is some of just
Speaker 1: like the reaction to it that this is not a story. Well, no,
Speaker 1: it is a story. It's a fact that a journalistic
Speaker 1: you know, enterprise found out about. It's absolutely, Uh, Newsworthy
Speaker 1: that you put it out. Uh. He you know they
Speaker 1: did that in all the correct way. He's responding to it,
Speaker 1: in the way that he chooses. It was you know,
Speaker 1: fascinating and uncomfortable to watch him because you're watching it knowing, hey,
Speaker 1: this is one of the tougher moments of you know,
Speaker 1: his professional life and you're watching it in real time.
Speaker 1: But but there's also no you know, if if you
Speaker 1: find out that this is something that happened, of course,
Speaker 1: that's a story. I mean, it's a story when you're
Speaker 1: looking at any of the draft prospects in any of
Speaker 1: their background. It's just he's in the public eye and
Speaker 1: it's something to put be put out there. And for
Speaker 1: the most part, I think people have been pretty you know,
Speaker 1: responsible and in their reactions. I mean, do you think
Speaker 1: the Lions like they came out so quickly with their
Speaker 1: support in their statement backing him. But behind the scenes,
Speaker 1: is there are another wave to this where they do
Speaker 1: investigate further to get utter clarity or is that is
Speaker 1: it over in it from they're very public right off
Speaker 1: the bat comments it seems like they're behind him. The
Speaker 1: one thing I'm thinking though, is like that doesn't necessarily
Speaker 1: mean the story is over. This is a huge story
Speaker 1: because it's it involves sexual assault accusation, which is very serious.
Speaker 1: You have to understand the framing of when this is
Speaker 1: happening during the Me too movement and everything around that,
Speaker 1: and then also it's an NFL head coach. And then
Speaker 1: you don't know. Because it's such a big story, media
Speaker 1: members are gonna try to dig on this. Who knows
Speaker 1: maybe does the accuser come into the frame? Now you
Speaker 1: don't ever know that, And then what happens if this
Speaker 1: accuser then comes into the frame and and gives more
Speaker 1: shading to the story which we don't have, then what
Speaker 1: do the Lions do? So I don't think the story
Speaker 1: is over yet necessarily, And it's just a terrible situation.
Speaker 1: And if Patricia is innocent, um, can you imagine a
Speaker 1: worse scenario that it is an innocent man that you
Speaker 1: you get pulled into this and you have to address
Speaker 1: this and you have a family and you have kids.
Speaker 1: We saw him at the owner's meetings with his family
Speaker 1: all smiles. Um. And if the if it actually was
Speaker 1: something that happened, then he does deserve to to to
Speaker 1: have a come up and at some point and we're
Speaker 1: gonna see what happens. I think the Lions have said
Speaker 1: what they're gonna say about it. Now he goes back
Speaker 1: to the business of coaching his team. They have a
Speaker 1: rookie mini camp on Friday, and I think it's it's
Speaker 1: almost silly because you're right, there's no way to to
Speaker 1: know anything on it. But what to your point, Dan,
Speaker 1: if there's anything else that does come out, or anything
Speaker 1: moving forward, then the lines are gonna know. Then it's
Speaker 1: gonna be on them to to respond. And if nothing
Speaker 1: else comes out, I think it's just gonna be something
Speaker 1: that hangs over this offseason. It's a fluid situation. I think, um,
Speaker 1: let's move on. Adrian Peterson. We did a live hit
Speaker 1: for NFL Network earlier this week about free agents. So
Speaker 1: many viewers we were not even trillions. We don't even
Speaker 1: know if actually happened at the free tape wasn't even live.
Speaker 1: I don't like to lie to the audience. I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: um little camera magic there. Uh you know, Adrian Peterson
Speaker 1: doesn't have a job. The segment we did was free
Speaker 1: agents that are notable guys that could probably help a
Speaker 1: team that's don't don't have a gig. Uh. So all Day,
Speaker 1: one of the great running backs of this generation, still
Speaker 1: looking for work. He's posting workout videos uh and showing
Speaker 1: that he still can get it done. Tom Palicero had
Speaker 1: a conversation with a p He had this to say,
Speaker 1: I'm healthy and I'm ready to roll. If you want
Speaker 1: someone to help you win a championship and be productive,
Speaker 1: be very productive, you know how to contact me. Wes.
Speaker 1: I know you believe all Day deserves another year in
Speaker 1: this league. Do you think it happens? Yeah? I thought.
Speaker 1: Steve Kim, the Cardinals general manager, summed it up well
Speaker 1: at the combine when he said, it's obvious you can
Speaker 1: see he has this running talent still. Anyone who has
Speaker 1: an eye for football can see this guy can still run.
Speaker 1: But he's a net loss in the passing game, and
Speaker 1: that's a hard position to fill in two thousand eighteen,
Speaker 1: a guy who's not good in the passing game as
Speaker 1: you're running back. There are franchises that go years without
Speaker 1: a hundred yard rusher, and I bet fewer than half
Speaker 1: of the thirty two teams last year had a single
Speaker 1: player rush for a hundred and thirty yard runs and
Speaker 1: yards in a game. He did it twice in a
Speaker 1: month behind one of the worst offensive lines in the league.
Speaker 1: This guy can still play the what I think it's
Speaker 1: it's about fit. And it's like you when you try
Speaker 1: to boil down the teams that could or should have
Speaker 1: an interest in Adrian Peterson, it's not a long list
Speaker 1: for the reasons you mentioned, because he's not a that
Speaker 1: you can disguise and have him do all these different things.
Speaker 1: He's out there. You know why he's out there. But
Speaker 1: at the same time, like the NFL, over and over
Speaker 1: is a people business, and there are coaches out there
Speaker 1: that that know what Adrian Peterson can bring and they
Speaker 1: they have had their defenses destroyed by him in the past,
Speaker 1: and he'll always have allies. I just think you with him,
Speaker 1: you don't need to sign him right now. You sign
Speaker 1: him probably really close to the summer to training camp,
Speaker 1: because the guy doesn't even play in the preseason for
Speaker 1: the most part, and then you try to find out
Speaker 1: can you make this guy a part of your offense.
Speaker 1: He's maybe an injury replacement, you know, for some some
Speaker 1: guy that goes down, because to West's point, he's not
Speaker 1: a backup. That's his problem. He's not a backup. He
Speaker 1: kind of needs to be a sort of the same
Speaker 1: problem as Yeah, and this is this is a problem
Speaker 1: with a lot of aging running backs that aren't helpful
Speaker 1: in the passing game. They're not gonna help on special teams.
Speaker 1: You know, that's what you want out of your third
Speaker 1: or fourth running back. So if if you're not really
Speaker 1: a backup because you're not good on third downs, your
Speaker 1: special teams, he needs an injury to happen. But it
Speaker 1: wouldn't surprise me if that is exactly what happened. Someone
Speaker 1: gets hurt and they signed Adrian Peterson. Let's take a
Speaker 1: peek behind the curtain of the Miami Dolphins. The Dolphins
Speaker 1: selected uh make it, Fitzpatrick in the first round when
Speaker 1: they were on the clock. The Dolphins speak very highly
Speaker 1: of Fitzpatrick as a defensive player that's kind of a
Speaker 1: jack of all trades that can do a lot of
Speaker 1: things for their team. But one individual was not necessarily
Speaker 1: sold on the move, and it was the owner. The
Speaker 1: Boston Globe reported over the weekend this via the Miami
Speaker 1: Herald that Ross quote stepped in and implored his team
Speaker 1: to trade back well to acquire more picks and save
Speaker 1: money on the first rounder. They obviously did not do that. Uh.
Speaker 1: And then later on in this piece in the Miami Herald,
Speaker 1: UH a quote from Stephen Ross about the draft class.
Speaker 1: This is Miami's entire draft class. Draft class, We'll see.
Speaker 1: Nobody knows for sure with this stuffs what's going on
Speaker 1: behind the scenes of my I thought this was interesting
Speaker 1: because me particularly, I've taken a lot of cheap shots
Speaker 1: at the Dolphins just because I have no idea what
Speaker 1: they're doing or what their plan is. In their plan
Speaker 1: for the last half decade has been to spend their
Speaker 1: wheels for a while. But this is an interesting conversation,
Speaker 1: especially after we talked to Adam Gaze at the owners
Speaker 1: meetings and we got a sense of frustration that this
Speaker 1: has to be a hard front office to work with.
Speaker 1: And I think what what this article shows is all
Speaker 1: owners are different, but I think we underestimate how involved
Speaker 1: they are with the football program, and that's got to
Speaker 1: be hard to work with if you're Adam Gates there.
Speaker 1: When we UH on our our one of our recent shows,
Speaker 1: had a big question when we around the f C
Speaker 1: for each team, and my and my question raised the
Speaker 1: ire I learned soon after on Twitter from many Dolphins
Speaker 1: bloggers and followers who did not like that, I simply
Speaker 1: suggested that they are a bit of a shapeless organization
Speaker 1: in the sense that they could win nine games, they
Speaker 1: could win three, but I'm not quite sure who they
Speaker 1: are when I think about them compared to some other teams.
Speaker 1: I think that's that's just how I feel. But the
Speaker 1: accusation that I that I heard was national reporters are
Speaker 1: never attuned with what the Dolphins are doing. But one
Speaker 1: thing that exactly with your with the Gaze meeting and
Speaker 1: this is it just feels like if some organizations are
Speaker 1: completely fluid and working from coach, owner, front office together
Speaker 1: on some very clear plan. It the owner here is
Speaker 1: saying I'm not thrilled with what with what I saw
Speaker 1: or how he wanted them to be more strategic to
Speaker 1: a compile picks. You don't hear owners say that that much.
Speaker 1: And I think that, you know, for all these Dolphins
Speaker 1: fans that are upset, maybe we're wrong. Maybe they are
Speaker 1: a team that goes out and wins ten games, but
Speaker 1: it's the roadmap to get there from right here is
Speaker 1: it's not as easy to see as it is with
Speaker 1: some other teams. I don't. I'm not sure what what
Speaker 1: there is the gain to tell a columnist in Miami,
Speaker 1: uh your feelings of indecision or or whoever leaked it
Speaker 1: to think or whoever leaked the too Globe. I'm not
Speaker 1: sure what what is gained from by Steven Ross other
Speaker 1: than uh, publicly undermining the leadership in your own organization ship.
Speaker 1: I find it interesting he really wanted to trade back,
Speaker 1: not just in the first round, but maybe in the
Speaker 1: in the in the second perhaps they didn't quite get
Speaker 1: the guys that they wanted, like guys they wanted were
Speaker 1: taking ahead of them. And that's a very uh, analytical
Speaker 1: way of looking at things. I know Ross is sort
Speaker 1: of you know, I think interested in that. That's not
Speaker 1: really the way um that front office is necessarily set up,
Speaker 1: although it does have a non football guy quote unquote
Speaker 1: at the top in terms of Mike Tannebump. But what
Speaker 1: struck me in in this article was just going through
Speaker 1: the list of how many different people have worked for Ross.
Speaker 1: It's been a the last decade. Five different coaches, three
Speaker 1: g ms, two different executive vice presidents who have all
Speaker 1: sort of told them all right, things are heading in
Speaker 1: the right direction, and he never quite sees the results
Speaker 1: consistently in the right direction. And then there's a lot
Speaker 1: of change, and you have to wonder if there's gonna
Speaker 1: be more. In sports, it always starts at the top
Speaker 1: at the very time I learned, and I feel like
Speaker 1: the older I've gotten as a sports fan, you become
Speaker 1: more and more plugged in on how vital the owner
Speaker 1: is the single most important person in any franchise said
Speaker 1: in any sport. I mean, I'm a Knicks fan. They
Speaker 1: have a horrible owner situation and they've been underwater for
Speaker 1: twenty years. The teams like Robert Craft and the Patriots
Speaker 1: a good ownership situation, you know, and and Crafts the
Speaker 1: first to to go out there and say that being
Speaker 1: an NFL owner is not an easy job. It took
Speaker 1: him a while to figure out how to do it.
Speaker 1: And if you're an owner that can't figure out how
Speaker 1: how to do it after a couple of years, your
Speaker 1: team is is afloat and driftless. And before I get
Speaker 1: Dolphins fans men, I said undermine. I don't mean undermine,
Speaker 1: but he Stephen Ross, it's second guessing your own organization.
Speaker 1: I love the I love the honest uh com. I
Speaker 1: thought it was one of the more intriguing things you
Speaker 1: hear an owners say. But you're right, it's not something
Speaker 1: you're as an organization, you'd expect him to say. While
Speaker 1: we're on the dolin, I do it to say. I
Speaker 1: kind of like their roster more than I expected when
Speaker 1: I did this projected starter series. If you look at
Speaker 1: their roster, it's not they don't have the stars, and
Speaker 1: that's why I don't expect them to be that great,
Speaker 1: like who is their best player, Like, they don't have
Speaker 1: the top shelf talent. But if you look at their
Speaker 1: too deep roster, really throughout, they don't have huge weaknesses.
Speaker 1: They're deep in the secondary, deep at receiver, deep at defensive,
Speaker 1: and I like Kenyan Drake's explosiveness. I don't think this
Speaker 1: is a bad looking team. They just need star power.
Speaker 1: But I think they're better than the other two a
Speaker 1: FC East teams in the Patriots, I totally agree, And
Speaker 1: there were games last year where you saw it, But
Speaker 1: I think I agree with what we said a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks ago. They could win nine games, no one
Speaker 1: in here is going to be shocked by that. Or
Speaker 1: they could win five and no one would be shocked.
Speaker 1: They got four games against the Jets and the Bills
Speaker 1: and that will those are games they have to win. Uh.
Speaker 1: In other news, Stephen Jones, they do. You have to
Speaker 1: clean up in the division. Jets and Bills also have
Speaker 1: games against the Dolphins, which I'm sure they're looking forward to. Well,
Speaker 1: the Dolphins get that automatic win over the Patriots in
Speaker 1: Miami every year, so you're splitting at least with the Patriots,
Speaker 1: and then you gotta clean up against the division mates
Speaker 1: that aren't as good, and then you're in good shape
Speaker 1: to maybe get to ten wins. That's how football works.
Speaker 1: Let's move on. Steve and Jones is the executive vice
Speaker 1: president of the Cowboys and uh he is a mouthpiece
Speaker 1: for the team these days. And uh. In a post
Speaker 1: draft conference call um, he had this to say about
Speaker 1: Tavon Austin, who's acquired for a late round draft pick
Speaker 1: from the Los Angeles Rams. During the draft, Uh that
Speaker 1: Dallas plans to get quote a dozen or two dozen
Speaker 1: touches per game, um for the wide receiver slash running
Speaker 1: back less. You're shaking your head. First of all, we
Speaker 1: see this about tavan Austin with every new coaching staff.
Speaker 1: He has or every old coaching stafford every offseason is
Speaker 1: how do we get the ball to Tavon Austin. Also,
Speaker 1: I shake in my head. I'm shaking my head because
Speaker 1: so many coaches in exist exects throughout these numbers all
Speaker 1: the time for workloads. Do they just not understand the math?
Speaker 1: Which is problematic to me, Like how are you in
Speaker 1: that position and don't understand the math? Or are they
Speaker 1: just us hard publicly trying to boost the guy's confidence.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I think they're fans. I think watching
Speaker 1: the All or Nothing Show one of the things that
Speaker 1: stuck out for good and bad. The Jones family are
Speaker 1: fans of the Cowboys. You know, they go, and I'm
Speaker 1: sure all owners are fans of their team, but I
Speaker 1: think it's it's sort of different because they're running the organization.
Speaker 1: So that's Stephen Jones is like as a fan, he's
Speaker 1: thinking like, oh, this is great. We're gonna have to
Speaker 1: run the franchise and actually find a way to put
Speaker 1: that's problematic. I don't believe for a second Tavon Austin
Speaker 1: is getting a dozen to two dozen, two dozen touch
Speaker 1: I don't believe dozen per month if you're a Cowboys fans,
Speaker 1: how are you projecting to watch games next season for
Speaker 1: Tavon Austin Because I heard this and I just this
Speaker 1: is how about the Ryan Switzer angle where they trade
Speaker 1: him to the Raiders and he comes out saying this
Speaker 1: week that they were trying to fit him in as
Speaker 1: a running back that we thought all along, Oh, they've
Speaker 1: got to applicative slot receiver scenarios. Here he's the air
Speaker 1: apparent and instead they're trying to make him a running back.
Speaker 1: It's like, now you're doing it with Tamon Austin. We're
Speaker 1: not buying that either. You could start the jury segment
Speaker 1: thing right now. He's the top of the list. Greg,
Speaker 1: you're telling me that the executive vice president of an
Speaker 1: NFL football team runs his team as if he's a fan,
Speaker 1: not an executive. I think a fan. But I think
Speaker 1: they get excited about the good things in the off
Speaker 1: season and the positives. And we've seen that when they
Speaker 1: give Ken Hamlin and Roy Williams and all these guys contracts.
Speaker 1: Are like they get over little overly excited about the
Speaker 1: moves they make, like a fan, and then when things
Speaker 1: go wrong, I think they get overly like angry, like
Speaker 1: a fan. I feel like there was a distinctive shift
Speaker 1: from from Jerry Jones to Stephen Jones, and in the
Speaker 1: much more Stephen Jones run era, they're drafting better and
Speaker 1: they're not making those Jerry Jones type head scratching move,
Speaker 1: you know, giving those contracts out. Why don't we just
Speaker 1: run the Cowboys to Mexico? Just get him out of
Speaker 1: the country. Wait what, you guys are really angry, so
Speaker 1: just get I think there's probably some RESI dual Tavon
Speaker 1: Austin annoyance in this room. In general, it's not just
Speaker 1: I'm just tired of coaches in exacts not even understanding
Speaker 1: the math of their own team. How could you possibly
Speaker 1: project those numbers for Tavon Austin when you're also projecting
Speaker 1: two dozen touches for Zeke every game? Also, who says
Speaker 1: says a dozen or two dozen? In general? What kind
Speaker 1: of ways right? That's good? I think one of the
Speaker 1: if you're a coach of the Dallas Cowboy, especially the
Speaker 1: head coach, but even Scott line hand, it's part of
Speaker 1: your job is kind of rolling your eyes every once
Speaker 1: in a while at what the bosses say. Can you
Speaker 1: imagine do it all the time? Right, Yeah, why are
Speaker 1: we so angry about this? Can you imagine being a
Speaker 1: patient and your doctor says, well, you can live for
Speaker 1: a dozen or two dozen more. You have have a
Speaker 1: hell of specific stop saying. Doesn't everybody calmed down with
Speaker 1: Bakers doesn't too. It's an absurd Bakers does. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: I go to the you know, I go to the
Speaker 1: bagel store nearby. They give you that free extra bagel
Speaker 1: if you get twelve. The Bakers doesn't. Whe Dan's been
Speaker 1: sharply overruled on Baker's does just keep it in the bakery.
Speaker 1: It was what I'm saying. Wow, I can't say each year, Oh,
Speaker 1: I mean, you guys have your hot takes about Tavon Austin.
Speaker 1: I can have a Baker's dozen takes. I believe Steven
Speaker 1: Jones is the one with the hot take on Tavon
Speaker 1: Austin each year. Oh is a legendary Japanese born baseball player,
Speaker 1: and he is rapping a career that has spanned both
Speaker 1: in Greg's native Japan through America. Defensive how is that offense?
Speaker 1: I don't know. It's well, it's just untrue. It's untrue,
Speaker 1: wildly untrue. Your wife is from Japan. Yeah, she born
Speaker 1: in Japan. Correct, She's born there, then grew up here
Speaker 1: until she was nine, then moved back there untill high school.
Speaker 1: So a little bit of both. What a road, and
Speaker 1: I do think you'll end up there as well. Just
Speaker 1: my sessler on your situation. Someday, someday. Football does not
Speaker 1: translate anyway. Eatro Etro one of the greats both in
Speaker 1: Japan and America, and he has a feature long feature
Speaker 1: of the Athletic, which is coming strong. They have not
Speaker 1: reached out to us about a poach scenario yet, and
Speaker 1: I would not say they. You know, there may be
Speaker 1: something to poke around it. Just poke around if you want.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying come get us. I will never say
Speaker 1: that NFL dot com pod. I just said the Athletic
Speaker 1: is going all over America throwing a hundred dollar bills
Speaker 1: of people some due diligence. You're asking for very big
Speaker 1: right now. You would be happy to have some hundred
Speaker 1: dollar bills landing you. I'm not even gonna say that
Speaker 1: you don't have to snatch them up, but if they
Speaker 1: land doing you, I'm just saying, did you read we
Speaker 1: were mentioned in the Sports Business Journal? Did a deep
Speaker 1: dive on the podcast industry. Um, that to me, rang
Speaker 1: is you know where players in the industry. The Athletic
Speaker 1: is doing very well and poaching a lot of journalistic
Speaker 1: talent and covering beats and such, but they're really on
Speaker 1: the podcast side of things. There's a logical connection here
Speaker 1: that you brought up anyway. Uh. Peter Gavin's the great
Speaker 1: former Boston Globe writer ESPN baseball guy. He now writes
Speaker 1: for the Athletic, and he shared a great little nug
Speaker 1: that he got from my boyhood hero Donnie Baseball on
Speaker 1: each er O and I'm gonna read it because it's
Speaker 1: just really funny nugget. One morning in spring training, Etro
Speaker 1: is in the coaches room looking at his cell phone
Speaker 1: text messages. I Ro told the coaches about one message
Speaker 1: he had just received from a number he didn't recognize.
Speaker 1: The guy said he gotten each Erro's number from Alex
Speaker 1: Rodriguez and that he wanted to come meet him and
Speaker 1: study his stretching system. What's the guy's name, asked one
Speaker 1: of the coaches. Iro. Scroll to the end of the text.
Speaker 1: Some guy named Tom Brady. Who is Tom Brady? I
Speaker 1: love it? Number one? Do we believe that he really
Speaker 1: doesn't know who Tom Brady is. I've been really enjoying
Speaker 1: this story, but there's a very nagging present in the
Speaker 1: back of my head that says it's all fake because
Speaker 1: of course he knows who? Why? Why? Because he's forty
Speaker 1: four years old, spends much of his time in America.
Speaker 1: How do you how do you not know who Tom
Speaker 1: Brady is if you've been in if you're forty four center, No,
Speaker 1: because he probably not. I don't even plug in the
Speaker 1: sports center. He I don't either. The native Japanese speaker
Speaker 1: pretty much has his own, you know corner. He came
Speaker 1: here as a fully formed superstar, bigger I think you
Speaker 1: know in Japan that Tom Brady has ever been. That's
Speaker 1: on an argument for him being no, I'm saying, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it kind of is, because I think you're
Speaker 1: why you're insulated and you're in you're part, Like, what
Speaker 1: is do you think he pays any attention that like
Speaker 1: in the NFL? I would just say this, like, here's
Speaker 1: the thing. People that pay no attention to football at all.
Speaker 1: But they were forty four years old and even good
Speaker 1: good luck even walking for a week in this country
Speaker 1: going into any sort of establishment in the fall anytime,
Speaker 1: and not seeing tom Brady's in retail center. It's just
Speaker 1: it just seems it just seems like it's not even
Speaker 1: to me. I I You're I think he's kind of
Speaker 1: on your wavelength where it's like you can be like
Speaker 1: you could you sometimes like there are certain things that
Speaker 1: have happened in American life, and you're like, I've never
Speaker 1: even has his life. He's a crazy level of superstar
Speaker 1: that you know, he doesn't care about football and he
Speaker 1: just probably has nobody close to him has ever brought
Speaker 1: up football to here's one point, like like for instance,
Speaker 1: and this is a bad example on some level, but
Speaker 1: like Kanasa, Corey is as big a star in Japan
Speaker 1: as Tom Brady is here. Now he doesn't people are
Speaker 1: he's a top ten or he was a top ten
Speaker 1: tennis player, you know for much of the last five years.
Speaker 1: He's he's that big level star. Now he works in
Speaker 1: the US and lives in the US for much of
Speaker 1: the year. Most people have no idea who this person is.
Speaker 1: I just he he's let's you know what I'm saying
Speaker 1: on like, let's turn it on it on it's ear
Speaker 1: if you were living in Japan, and we're not a
Speaker 1: tennis fan, you would still here's name and know where
Speaker 1: he was. And I will say, having being a huge
Speaker 1: baseball fan and following each year's career for many years,
Speaker 1: that he is extremely popular with teammates, and he speaks
Speaker 1: English to teammates, and he um is a guy that's
Speaker 1: well known for his sets of humor and just in general,
Speaker 1: he's not some hermit in the clubhouse. I would think
Speaker 1: even though baseball season only slightly overlaps with football season,
Speaker 1: that he definitely probably knows there are conversations in the
Speaker 1: locker room. You think, do you think it's like when
Speaker 1: West really does know who Sia is, but just kind
Speaker 1: of like who would see you? I've never heard of?
Speaker 1: How do you spell? By the way, like that's the
Speaker 1: first time. Also acting like because you you spend some
Speaker 1: of your time in Japan, that it's impossible to know
Speaker 1: who Tom Brady is because he's all the way over
Speaker 1: here in America. Tom Brady has Japanese commercial like they're
Speaker 1: your Your NFL and Tom Brady are on television's all
Speaker 1: over the world. It is not exclusive to the fifties
Speaker 1: States where we live and Bill Murray over there, they
Speaker 1: see him in the whiskey commercials. He has that good
Speaker 1: loss in translation. Uh, he has a creepy mattress commercial.
Speaker 1: He has uggs. He has a supermodel wife that puts
Speaker 1: them all over the world. He traveled to China to
Speaker 1: do goodwill, which is not the same as Japan, but hell,
Speaker 1: it's an Asia. I think it's uh. I think it's
Speaker 1: fair to say he probably knows who Tom Brady is. Greg.
Speaker 1: He might. What I'm getting though, is he might just
Speaker 1: speak kind of a strange guy who doesn't know a
Speaker 1: lot of like things that you would like a culture.
Speaker 1: But I still think he knows who Tom Brady is. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I don't get down with the I can't get behind
Speaker 1: the level of unawareness that this guy would have to
Speaker 1: have to not know who Tom. He's also funny. I
Speaker 1: feel like it could have been just a throwaway joke
Speaker 1: line that he said and then some reporter wrote it
Speaker 1: down as if it was actually true. Well, we'll never know.
Speaker 1: That's what you got. Connections, Yeah, you connects. It is
Speaker 1: orient It is just about yeah, his favorite player ever,
Speaker 1: you know, So what is it just about her favorite
Speaker 1: player ever? Okay, he is I've seen I'm looking at
Speaker 1: photos and I don't. I don't know if I totally agree,
Speaker 1: but well, let's let's racist, that's what that is. Not.
Speaker 1: I just don't find him super hot. I find him
Speaker 1: to be handsome. I don't find him a new segment.
Speaker 1: The jury is still out on Ellipses and it's like
Speaker 1: a zombie court. All right, So this what is the
Speaker 1: seg about? This seg is about uh taking. It could
Speaker 1: be anything. It could be a player, it could be
Speaker 1: a coach, it could be uh something up in the booth,
Speaker 1: it could be anything in the football world that you
Speaker 1: know you're just not sure about. The jury's out. That's
Speaker 1: what the jury's out means. It's just like there's no verdict. Greg.
Speaker 1: So Mark, let's go. I am annoyed already by the narrative.
Speaker 1: And I'm starting to see articles Cleveland Brown's sneaky wild
Speaker 1: card team, and it's just like, you have to slow
Speaker 1: down with this. It was the cp on ESPN dot
Speaker 1: com story. You have to slow down with this from
Speaker 1: a dinner from our dinner guest Mike Clay from the NFL. Well,
Speaker 1: here's the thing is, if you read what he wrote.
Speaker 1: I read the article, and if everybody wrote it's like
Speaker 1: it all of it makes sense. It's the headline they
Speaker 1: put on it that he probably had nothing to do with,
Speaker 1: but then it gets sent around and all this stuff happens.
Speaker 1: But there is this sense I'm saying his article was
Speaker 1: molded like Clay he. I would imagine he might have
Speaker 1: been slightly annoyed with the headline too. That would be
Speaker 1: my guests. But there is something going on with the
Speaker 1: Browns thing where we're acting like that We did this
Speaker 1: last year too to some degree where oh, they're this
Speaker 1: sneaky team that they're gonna jump up and win seven
Speaker 1: or eight games out of nowhere, and I what what
Speaker 1: the jury is out on for me or a couple
Speaker 1: of elements. There are a lot of things the jury
Speaker 1: are out on with the Cleveland Browns in general. But
Speaker 1: number one, you have a guy in Joe Thomas that
Speaker 1: spent his entire career and retired months before the team
Speaker 1: put together what is arguably their best roster, and that
Speaker 1: left tackle spot I think is is to me sticks
Speaker 1: out as one major issue. You've got potentially Sean Coleman
Speaker 1: in there at left tackle, who was a disaster last season.
Speaker 1: You have drafted Austin Corbett, who who who is a
Speaker 1: potentially good lineman, but he fits much more as a
Speaker 1: guard people feel like then a left tackle. And so
Speaker 1: you suddenly have this idea that you're gonna go with
Speaker 1: with Tyrod Taylor, who is not a guy that gets
Speaker 1: through seasons easily sixteen games that are interruption with a
Speaker 1: major issue on your offensive line. And if that, if
Speaker 1: he goes down, you have to try to grow your
Speaker 1: rookie quarterback in an offensive line with the same weakness.
Speaker 1: Beyond that, I don't I look at a coaching staff
Speaker 1: that is so super high on the radar right now
Speaker 1: because they should have gotten more than four or five
Speaker 1: wins out of that team last year, and they haven't
Speaker 1: shown no ability to maximize talent. And I wonder if
Speaker 1: we're looking at a team that is really actually entering
Speaker 1: into a season of ultra chaos organizationally, because you have
Speaker 1: a strong minded GM was going to bring in his
Speaker 1: own guy, and the firings could start happening in mid
Speaker 1: season if they don't get off to a fast start
Speaker 1: snuffing out all this nonsense. You gotta crawl before you
Speaker 1: can walk, you gotta walk before you can run, And
Speaker 1: this happens a lot. The people jump to conclusions about
Speaker 1: the Browns, like you're saying, so, just let the Browns
Speaker 1: get respectable. We don't need to put those expectations on
Speaker 1: the team just hanging games, win five or six and
Speaker 1: it's a huge game. This idea that's like, oh they
Speaker 1: could be a while, Well you're talking nine ten wins
Speaker 1: and that there's no need to go down that road.
Speaker 1: It's just it's it's unnecessary. I think coaching matters. Todd
Speaker 1: Haley is a one of the reasons why I have
Speaker 1: more faith in them that that that Hugh is letting
Speaker 1: Todd Haley do the offense. I was never I always
Speaker 1: thought they were one of the worst team in the
Speaker 1: league going into last year. The optimism didn't make a
Speaker 1: lot of sense. And I think they they there's enough
Speaker 1: to believe in, especially with Haley, that they'll just be solid.
Speaker 1: You're right, not a wild card, but just five six whatever. Wes.
Speaker 1: The jury is still out on Ellipses. This is a
Speaker 1: guy who Greg Rosenthal wrote a banger on, and if
Speaker 1: you haven't read it yet, check it out. Greg's article
Speaker 1: on Patrick mahomes. So many people just because of his
Speaker 1: physical gifts and what he showed in that season finale
Speaker 1: in a throwaway game, have him like the Chiefs are
Speaker 1: gonna be even better than they were last year when
Speaker 1: Alex Smith was an m v P canad Well, the
Speaker 1: jerry still out on Patrick Mahomes. I remember a few
Speaker 1: years ago, I mean, one game is nothing. I remember
Speaker 1: after three or four games when Brett Farvet said that
Speaker 1: Austin Davis was the next Kurt Warner. Where's Austin Davis? Now?
Speaker 1: I mean, one game is just nothing, especially at the
Speaker 1: end of the season. We have no idea who Patrick
Speaker 1: Mahomes is or what he's gonna be. Also check out
Speaker 1: Jenny Brentiss article in the MMQB where Patrick Mahomes goes
Speaker 1: into detail about how reliant he was on Alex Smith
Speaker 1: for pre and post snap reeds in that season finale.
Speaker 1: I think one of the reasons I'm excited and people
Speaker 1: are excited is the preseason and then more you know
Speaker 1: for other people is that he was someone that people
Speaker 1: if you loved him in college, you really loved him.
Speaker 1: And I think so that's what's informing them. Seeing what
Speaker 1: he did in college, people believe in their evaluations. Now
Speaker 1: they've gotten like this one start, which helped to confirm
Speaker 1: what they thought. You know, the Chiefs were among the team.
Speaker 1: I mean the Chiefs gave up more to draft Patrick Mahomes.
Speaker 1: You know. Then then the Jets I think gave up
Speaker 1: to draft Sam. Don't know they they believed in him.
Speaker 1: He also went like what twelve to three, but he
Speaker 1: went twelve. He was maybe gonna go thirteen. People people
Speaker 1: were into him as this you know, raw prospect, and
Speaker 1: that's I think what part of it is if you
Speaker 1: just see the gifts. Yeah, I agree with the argument
Speaker 1: I'd have for him is he made me excited watching
Speaker 1: him last preseason, and I'm not putting all in one
Speaker 1: game against a broken Denver Broncos team late in the
Speaker 1: years an exciting player. And also, I trust when Andy
Speaker 1: Reid makes a series of moves this offseason where you're
Speaker 1: willing to part with an m VP candidate from last
Speaker 1: season and Alex Smith, and you just hear what they've
Speaker 1: said verbally from the GM to the coach about Mahomes,
Speaker 1: that's the hope. I don't think you hear them gush
Speaker 1: over quarterbacks that way very often. So that's the hope.
Speaker 1: But you're right though, in terms of processing, in terms
Speaker 1: of growing as a quarterback. Even the best guys have
Speaker 1: to go to take a ton of lumps and you
Speaker 1: you can't. You can't suddenly make it seem more. Oh now,
Speaker 1: if Mahomes isn't an All Star two months in the
Speaker 1: same way to Shaun Watson was last year, that you know,
Speaker 1: the whole thing is what it is, it's gonna take
Speaker 1: time to show, to reveal itself exactly. And to be clear,
Speaker 1: the jury is not out on how exciting he's going
Speaker 1: to be. I firmly believe he's gonna be one of
Speaker 1: the most exciting quarterbacks to watch. I just the jury
Speaker 1: is out on whether they're a better team with him,
Speaker 1: no doubt. Right. I wrote a mail bag today and
Speaker 1: one of the questions was what is the team most
Speaker 1: likely to go first to last? And I don't think
Speaker 1: the Chiefs are a team that's in danger of anything
Speaker 1: like that. But if you have to make the ranking
Speaker 1: when you factor in that their defense is suspect that
Speaker 1: the division could be better, and then you are turning
Speaker 1: the keys over to a guy that has no experience.
Speaker 1: It will be interesting to see what happens with the
Speaker 1: Chiefs this year. We I think we talked about this
Speaker 1: last week that they have a really high ceiling and
Speaker 1: maybe a bit of a floor that's lower than people think.
Speaker 1: I'll go next, Here we go, the jury is still out.
Speaker 1: You know, great, you know I'm gonna go down this
Speaker 1: the Patriots offense. No, well, welcome to me, baby. Uh.
Speaker 1: Here we go. The Patriots offense is coming off a
Speaker 1: super Bowl where they shredded the Eagles defense. But yeah,
Speaker 1: no Dion, no Danny, no Nate Solder. They just released
Speaker 1: Antonio Garcia, who is a draft pick that had health problems,
Speaker 1: two thousand seventeen third round pick that was a potential
Speaker 1: uh fill in for Solder. Uh. And then you know
Speaker 1: we talked that this no idea if Julian Edelman will
Speaker 1: be Julian Edelman anymore. He's postage thirty coming off in
Speaker 1: a c L. Now you get excited about Sony Michelle
Speaker 1: and you say that guy could be the X factor,
Speaker 1: But Jerry's out. That's all. Jerry's not in. Do you
Speaker 1: think the jury is in? You think they came back
Speaker 1: with a vert verdict, but they didn't. You got an
Speaker 1: old man quarterback in an offense that's been weakened. Can
Speaker 1: I ask you one question? Yeah? I mean not that
Speaker 1: we should just assume the Patriots are going to always
Speaker 1: continue to roll the way they do. And I think
Speaker 1: this is a bit of a different offseason for them.
Speaker 1: But have they not built up enough cashide store trust
Speaker 1: that they go the return of verdict that they're good. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a surprise that the jury's not back. I agree.
Speaker 1: I I'm surprised the jury is stuck on this one
Speaker 1: just a little bit. Is there like one person in
Speaker 1: the jury room holding the rest of the jury hostage?
Speaker 1: And maybe maybe there's somebody that doesn't really wanna just
Speaker 1: look back in the past. Some some people look and
Speaker 1: say they're no reverse. To me, it's it's levels of
Speaker 1: like how great are they because they have been at
Speaker 1: a different level the last couple of years even than
Speaker 1: they Maybe we're at some different points during the last decade.
Speaker 1: So even if they fall, their defense has enough questions
Speaker 1: that their offense has to be near the very top.
Speaker 1: They can't get back up to like the eighth best offense.
Speaker 1: So on that level, there are changes. I give them
Speaker 1: some faith because look, they drafted Matt Light to be
Speaker 1: their left tackle. He was their left tackle. They drafted
Speaker 1: Nates Solder to be their left tackle. He was their
Speaker 1: left tackle. They drafted Isaiah win to be their left tackle,
Speaker 1: and now he's he's the guy they're putting in. He's
Speaker 1: a first round pick that a lot of people really like.
Speaker 1: So I'm going to see how that goes. That that
Speaker 1: is less of a one thing for Dan. They have
Speaker 1: a little bit of a trojan horse scenario. They still
Speaker 1: have Kenny Britt on that roster, and he is a
Speaker 1: He is someone that bleeds the organization from the inside out.
Speaker 1: And I think we're all overlooking that locker room. You
Speaker 1: might you might not make the team, might not make
Speaker 1: that if he does. You know what we're overlook bad
Speaker 1: door set. What we're overlooking is the next banger from
Speaker 1: Mark Sessler's top ten Trojan Horses in the end, like
Speaker 1: that one, I think it's time. I don't know if
Speaker 1: I had the energy to write that right now. All right,
Speaker 1: you're up. I'm gonna go with two guys that that
Speaker 1: Chris absolutely hates being grouped together because but let's just
Speaker 1: face it, they were drafted one pick apart. Jerry's out
Speaker 1: on Marcus Mariota and Jamis Winston. Not that not whether
Speaker 1: they can be a starting quarterback in the NFL. But
Speaker 1: how high, how great can they be and how soon?
Speaker 1: Now they're only twenty four years old. They're one year
Speaker 1: older than Baker Mayfield right now, and and so I
Speaker 1: don't think necessarily they've been disappointing in their careers, but
Speaker 1: it is disappointed. Mariota had an entire season where he
Speaker 1: threw more interceptions than than touchdowns. There's a lot of
Speaker 1: factors into that, but that's disappointing. But Jamis Winston has
Speaker 1: not gotten over trying to give the ball away, uh,
Speaker 1: every third possession. Really, that's just kind of been in
Speaker 1: his DNA. And he's done a lot of good things too.
Speaker 1: So they're starting quarterbacks and they're good their franchise quarterback.
Speaker 1: That's fine, But I think the jury is out on
Speaker 1: how good they can be and and especially how good
Speaker 1: they can be this early on their on their rookie country.
Speaker 1: Is it out enough where if neither of these quarterbacks
Speaker 1: improved over the next two seasons that both teams look
Speaker 1: for a different quarterback down the right now? I don't
Speaker 1: think so. I think Greg's right that like the jury
Speaker 1: is in that their franchise quarterbacks and their teams will
Speaker 1: sign them two extensions. But the jury is out as
Speaker 1: far as can they lift their team, and Mariota did
Speaker 1: in the playoffs a little, but they little. They both
Speaker 1: had moments uh and and Mariota certainly did at the
Speaker 1: end of last season, and he did in like a
Speaker 1: six game stretch the year before when they were one
Speaker 1: of the best offenses in the league right and went
Speaker 1: like Winston's numbers last year were misleading, but they were
Speaker 1: pretty great. That team had a stink on it all year.
Speaker 1: But it's not people stopped paying attention to him by
Speaker 1: the end of the season when they were moving the ball. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it is. If you line up the thirty two quarterbacks
Speaker 1: last year, that no one's arguing that they were in
Speaker 1: the top twelve or so, and so that's now they're
Speaker 1: getting the point of their rookie conduct. Fourth year. I
Speaker 1: think the jury's out, you know, whether whether they're going
Speaker 1: to do that, I agree Mark, alright, the jury is out.
Speaker 1: I understand number one. When Aaron Rodgers with him back
Speaker 1: at the Helm, it's you want to just ticket the
Speaker 1: Packers for eleven and five, twelve and four, and wouldn't
Speaker 1: be shocking to see what happened because I think he's
Speaker 1: he's the kind of guy that literally the team could
Speaker 1: roll that way with him. But the jury is out
Speaker 1: for me on the rest of the Green Bay roster
Speaker 1: surrounding him. Despite you know, their draft, they added a
Speaker 1: couple of cornerbacks. Like it's not that it's it's it's
Speaker 1: a disastrous roster. But I think the way that they
Speaker 1: crumbled in the absence of Aaron Rodgers last season put
Speaker 1: them on my radar big time that this is not
Speaker 1: a super Bowl roster. I'm not even sure. I mean,
Speaker 1: there's certainly not a better overall roster than the Vikings,
Speaker 1: and so you need you need how Aaron Rodgers come
Speaker 1: in and create that difference, and we know we can
Speaker 1: do it. But I'm done just ticketing them for the
Speaker 1: NFC Championship year after year. I don't love the roster
Speaker 1: on the whole. I like the roster, and a good
Speaker 1: reason why is because Aaron Rodgers is just that great.
Speaker 1: And I thought watching them early last year they were
Speaker 1: my Super Bowl pick because with Aaron Rodgers there, they
Speaker 1: had a lot going right for them, and they pull
Speaker 1: out a lot of games just because Aaron Rodgers is
Speaker 1: so good. I would not be surprised at all if
Speaker 1: they finished the head of the Vikings. I guess my
Speaker 1: point though, is without Roger. With Rogers, yes they can
Speaker 1: do all these things, but but I don't love the
Speaker 1: way they're constructing a great quarterback. Oh they're done if
Speaker 1: he gets hurt. But you can say for basically every
Speaker 1: team of the league, I don't feel that way about like,
Speaker 1: for instance, the Vikings lost multiple quarterbacks last year. In
Speaker 1: the strength of that overall roster look at it's fair
Speaker 1: to say the jury is out on you know, the
Speaker 1: receiver depth. You know who's gonna step up. Is Jimmy
Speaker 1: Graham going to be a good signing? Are Are they
Speaker 1: good enough at running back? Like some of the defensive
Speaker 1: sign How much better is Petton going to make them?
Speaker 1: I think have a lot of potential, and I think
Speaker 1: I'm probably gonna, you know, kind of like them in
Speaker 1: the in the picking you know them to go far
Speaker 1: in the presenm But I think it's fair to say
Speaker 1: there's been a lot of change and there's a lot
Speaker 1: of question marks with I like them every year too
Speaker 1: because of Aaron Rodgers. He's one of my favorite players ever.
Speaker 1: But Mark, You're right in the sense that you we
Speaker 1: should question them. It's been a long time, and I
Speaker 1: think we kind of forget this. It's been a long
Speaker 1: time now in Super Bowl forty five, and this is
Speaker 1: one of the top arguably five greatest quarterbacks ever. He's
Speaker 1: gonna turn thirty five in December. And one of the
Speaker 1: greatest sins the Packers could ever commit is if they
Speaker 1: waste the rest of this guy's prime and never get
Speaker 1: to a Super Bowl because it's not Aaron Rodgers. I
Speaker 1: know he's had some injury issues over the years now,
Speaker 1: but mostly it's been the team building has not been
Speaker 1: up to snuff, and you could argue the coaching as well.
Speaker 1: Uh and and it's time. I feel like this is
Speaker 1: an important year for the Packers. I agree. And they've
Speaker 1: had some tough losses. I mean, they've been in the
Speaker 1: final eight teams five times since that Super Bowl, so
Speaker 1: they've they've put themselves in that position, and yet they
Speaker 1: it's like they alternate seasons between Rogers getting hurt and
Speaker 1: having a crushing playoff loss. They go fifteen and one
Speaker 1: in that one season and then they suddenly they're wiped
Speaker 1: away by the Giants in the playoff. Means like, you've
Speaker 1: got to find a way to be one of these
Speaker 1: teams that gets plays your best in January and enough
Speaker 1: with the hiccup. The only two seasons I believe that
Speaker 1: they have not at least made the divisional round is
Speaker 1: when Rogers got hurt. There was the year they lost
Speaker 1: in the wild card as an eight and seven team,
Speaker 1: and other than that, they're in that divisional round and
Speaker 1: they haven't because of their defense and because of other
Speaker 1: things they haven't been able to finish. What well, one
Speaker 1: last thing on this A couple of things did get
Speaker 1: exposed last year when Rogers went down. Brett Hunley not
Speaker 1: a good quarterback even though Mike McCarthy had raving about
Speaker 1: him for a couple of years, and they lacked depth
Speaker 1: all over in the secondary. That was my issue watching
Speaker 1: them pass where they were last year, Like if if
Speaker 1: Nick Perry goes down or Clay Matthews says a bad
Speaker 1: couple of weeks, there's no pass rushing whatsoever. So I
Speaker 1: think depth was an issue last year. I think they're
Speaker 1: lead with Mike pett Oh. Yeah, the jury is still
Speaker 1: out on the Houston Texans offense decision. Sorry, I know.
Speaker 1: Deshaun Watson led them to the highest point in the
Speaker 1: league for a five week span five weeks spans happened
Speaker 1: all the time. We just talked about Mariota in two
Speaker 1: thousand sixteen with the Titans five or six weeks span.
Speaker 1: They have possibly the worst offensive line in the NFL. Uh,
Speaker 1: they are overhauling their entire offense. Bill O'Brien says, So
Speaker 1: even what they ran last year that surprise teams, they
Speaker 1: know they're not gonna surprise teams again this year. Um.
Speaker 1: I like, I like their receivers, I like Deshaun Watson.
Speaker 1: I don't trust their offensive line or their running game.
Speaker 1: M I mean it reminds me a little bit of
Speaker 1: the Green bas situation that the minute they went to
Speaker 1: Tom Savage. I mean, they went from being this you
Speaker 1: could not you couldn't take your eyes off them. They
Speaker 1: were electrifying, and he created and he erased the problems
Speaker 1: of the offensive line because of his skill set. The
Speaker 1: minute you put in Tom Savage, they became a bottom
Speaker 1: seven attack. And that the difference, Like the Packers have
Speaker 1: a great offensive line and the Texans do not. And
Speaker 1: they didn't really address their tackle position too much this offseason.
Speaker 1: I think they have a third round pick, but you
Speaker 1: look at their tackles, it's among the worst. They signed
Speaker 1: Zack Fulton, I think at guard who was a Chief Sky.
Speaker 1: But they signed a Chiefs guy to a huge contract
Speaker 1: last year, Jeff Allen, and he was a disaster. Like
Speaker 1: they're they're lying on paper in their running game, and
Speaker 1: really their depth behind Hopkins is not great. They're asking
Speaker 1: Hopkins and Watson to do too much. Like I I
Speaker 1: I'm with you West that I think. I think even
Speaker 1: if Watson plays great, he's he's an uphill battle. When
Speaker 1: Will Fuller and Bruce Ellington were healthy along with Hopkins,
Speaker 1: they were an incredible wide receiver corps. They were Bruce Ellington,
Speaker 1: Bruce Ellington was great for a while in the slot,
Speaker 1: and then he got hurt again because he always gets hurt,
Speaker 1: and Will Fuller, as far as I've seen, always gets
Speaker 1: hurt too. So we'll see. But when those guys are healthy,
Speaker 1: they're dyning, they're dynamic. Go to West, I like that one.
Speaker 1: They even remember even during Deshaun Watson's great run before
Speaker 1: the a c L went out of nowhere, there was
Speaker 1: one garbage time game where they got killed and then
Speaker 1: he filed up a ton of stats. Uh yeah, we
Speaker 1: shouldn't assume that he a Watson is going to be
Speaker 1: a stud and be it's also any good. It's also
Speaker 1: coming off a major reconstructive surgery and probably will not
Speaker 1: be as mobile as he will. That's true. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: say the jury is still out. It's always been out.
Speaker 1: I just want to offer it's kind of like a
Speaker 1: p s A on on jerseys. The jury has been
Speaker 1: out on jerseys, packs, all journeys, the jerseys across the
Speaker 1: entire league, jerseys. If you're a fan football fan coming
Speaker 1: out of this draft and it's more draft related, if
Speaker 1: you're coming out of this draft, and I don't want
Speaker 1: this to devolve into what happens on this podcast sometimes
Speaker 1: where we start just killing people for wearing jerseys. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the verdicts backed. Let's just jersey alright, you guys here
Speaker 1: an adult. You guys are cool. I'm saying there's a huge,
Speaker 1: huge faction of football fans that like wearing jerseys and
Speaker 1: wrapping their team's colors. I'm not talking about that. I'm
Speaker 1: talking about the idea prematurely buying in on a player.
Speaker 1: Uh and you get killed because I know, you know
Speaker 1: Vinny a New Brunswick, He's gonna want to get his
Speaker 1: uh se Kwon Barkley jersey. But you know you got
Speaker 1: the Bills mafia. You know this guy wants to sue
Speaker 1: plex his friend through a fire table while while wearing
Speaker 1: a Josh Allen jersey this fall. And I understand the
Speaker 1: rush to be that to go that route, but you
Speaker 1: don't want to end up the guy that has the
Speaker 1: Johnny Manziel number three jersey in his closet or the
Speaker 1: Jamacus Russell number one jersey in Oakland and his closet.
Speaker 1: I want to pound the table again, implore people the
Speaker 1: Jerry's back. Wait a hear, wait a hear. These jerseys
Speaker 1: are not cheap. I think that makes even the ones
Speaker 1: that aren't the official ones, they're over fifty dollars, I
Speaker 1: believe if you check the NFL and if you're one
Speaker 1: of those guys. And again this is a subculture of fandom,
Speaker 1: So no judgment everybody. Even though I'm not in this group.
Speaker 1: Some people like to buy the official jerseys, and now
Speaker 1: we're talking hundreds of dollars in terms of an ament.
Speaker 1: Uh So I'm just saying, be careful. You don't want
Speaker 1: you don't want to end up with a Paxton Lynch
Speaker 1: number twelve jersey in your closet three years after the draft.
Speaker 1: Let especially the quarterbacks wait a year see how they developed.
Speaker 1: I think you it's perfect to come out of the
Speaker 1: gate and call that a p s A. Because you're
Speaker 1: looking out for people's wallets. Absolutely, you're on their side.
Speaker 1: You're not a I know that you you're saving up
Speaker 1: money to buy your NFL merch. I just don't want
Speaker 1: you to make a mistake that's both embarrassed. So there
Speaker 1: will be no I mean, let's say when we come
Speaker 1: over to have you know, at your house at Thanksgiving,
Speaker 1: have a nice drink with the hands his family and
Speaker 1: the Jets are like ten and three, there will no
Speaker 1: there was no chill my friends. There will be no
Speaker 1: Sam Donald paraphernalia around the house. You're gonna You're gonna
Speaker 1: distinctively wait until about this time next year to purchase
Speaker 1: those products. I've already thought about that, getting Jack and
Speaker 1: Harry matching Donald gear. But I'm gonna hold off for
Speaker 1: this very reason, Like this very reason. They're gonna be
Speaker 1: Rams fans, So that's part of it. No, hey, I'll
Speaker 1: be at extremely on the first plane out of here.
Speaker 1: Question for a room, what is the last jersey if
Speaker 1: you ever bought one that you bought. I got one
Speaker 1: as a gift that Troy Brown. One Troy Brown, that
Speaker 1: would be good for you. I got a sign from
Speaker 1: some close friends assigned Webster Slaughter jersey at my wedding um,
Speaker 1: which is is it's it's an official one. It looks great,
Speaker 1: It's beautiful. The last one I bought was probably Bernie
Speaker 1: Kozar back in like I had. The first one I
Speaker 1: ever got was Boomers Yasin number seven. Uh. Then I
Speaker 1: got a key Shaan uh Wayne Kurbet. And then the
Speaker 1: last one I actually got was probably when I was
Speaker 1: in my early twenties, I got a Pennington and then
Speaker 1: I got that made sense. I think gooding Pennington. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was good. How many people went down the Brett
Speaker 1: Farve jets Road a lot? Right? In fact, if you
Speaker 1: go to Jetsons or you look at the tailgates, you
Speaker 1: see him, and that's increasingly a fever dream that had
Speaker 1: ever happened, and that those are people that dropped hundreds
Speaker 1: of dollars. This is showing my age and what the
Speaker 1: difference between this player in college and in the pros.
Speaker 1: The last jersey I the only jersey I ever bought
Speaker 1: was a Ronald Curry North Carolina Jersey when he was
Speaker 1: the quarterback for North Carolina, and then he would ended
Speaker 1: up being a like twice Torn Achilles Raiders receiver that
Speaker 1: he was he was a quarterback for North Carolina. That's
Speaker 1: a fun, like different conversation because I almost impossibly he
Speaker 1: was a great basketball player too. He was just like
Speaker 1: Jimmy Graham, almost impossibly. I had the home and away
Speaker 1: jerseys of Phoenix Son's small forward Dan Marley thunder Thunder.
Speaker 1: I have no idea what I was not a Son's fan,
Speaker 1: but everyone had jerseys and I wanted to get something different,
Speaker 1: and thunder Dan was this uh sharpshooter for a popular
Speaker 1: Sun's team, and I said, well. He also was was
Speaker 1: annually viewed as one of the best defensive wings in
Speaker 1: the NBA until Michael Jordan absolutely destroyed his career and
Speaker 1: defensive reputation in the had a weird long vein that
Speaker 1: went down one of his arms, so he was caught up.
Speaker 1: I was overrated Ron Curry on Rodeal World, just thinking
Speaker 1: he was going to be a star little career. He's
Speaker 1: like a poor man's Allen Iverson. Let's save it for
Speaker 1: the Ron Curry podcast that Yeah, that's it. I'm glad
Speaker 1: we finally got to it. Um, you know, we only
Speaker 1: have so much time, just no Cowboys and Chargers coaching
Speaker 1: staff that I'm watching you, you know. But I'm gonna
Speaker 1: I'm gonna put a different jury out. Jury is out
Speaker 1: on the Norv Turner, Cam Newton Panthers offense experience. I'm excited.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm a Cam fan. I I don't think he's
Speaker 1: fully hit his peak yet. He did for one season,
Speaker 1: but in terms of the stabilizing and having a good
Speaker 1: rest of the career, I think north it was a
Speaker 1: good higher But I want to see how this all works.
Speaker 1: It's kind of a strange mix. Dj Moore, Devin Funchis
Speaker 1: McCaffrey's the running back, NORV Turner the line Cam. I
Speaker 1: have high hopes for Cam. I like Samuel's injury was
Speaker 1: more it was more serious than they led on, and
Speaker 1: he might not even ready for jury. The jury's out.
Speaker 1: This is a kind of an exciting interesting I think.
Speaker 1: I think to watch this season that hasn't gotten a
Speaker 1: ton of pop up, I definitely want and by the way,
Speaker 1: like just be just to save anyone listening the time
Speaker 1: of tweeting something that we will not respond to. Jury out.
Speaker 1: Jury's out does not mean we're automatically critiquing scenario. I
Speaker 1: think I picked two things I really like. Just jury's
Speaker 1: out means they're deliberating. Yeah, okay, there's mark you know
Speaker 1: better than anyone. Although you never went to the jury
Speaker 1: decision uh section of your case? Correct? How do you mean?
Speaker 1: What is? What do you oh? You went to deliberations
Speaker 1: guilty or not? Said the other day that the case
Speaker 1: ended abruptly without any type of know they we thought
Speaker 1: they were gonna be multiple more witnesses, and then they
Speaker 1: then they said they both rested, and then you go
Speaker 1: in and we we spend two and a half hours deliberating.
Speaker 1: But there were like five counts and they were not
Speaker 1: all guilty. They were not all not guilty, but there
Speaker 1: was a mix and you come away feeling. I did
Speaker 1: not like the feeling I had coming out of it. No,
Speaker 1: it's just that you you're affecting someone's life, multiple people's life,
Speaker 1: so big, big responsibility. Well you should try it sometime, Dan,
Speaker 1: You might be good, or you could get on a
Speaker 1: dog biting trial like I did, and you know, it
Speaker 1: just feels like a waste of time. It was a
Speaker 1: dog biting counter suit. That is a waste of time. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was and money. And the jury is out literally
Speaker 1: by the way, that is that is something. Are you
Speaker 1: saying the jury is in? I know how I'm voting
Speaker 1: on that. I I am voting guilty on your part.
Speaker 1: You are I send you back to the chambers to
Speaker 1: further deliberate yourself. Alright, was waiting for the jury? I
Speaker 1: thought the jury was out at something Mark you said
Speaker 1: was coming. I think the jury it would be fair
Speaker 1: to say that. I mean a lot this podcast is
Speaker 1: by nature somewhat weird, and a lot of um strange
Speaker 1: intriguing moments happen on this show. And I thot Greg's
Speaker 1: announcement on the last show, where he was essentially I
Speaker 1: would say, commanded by his lovely wife to come on
Speaker 1: the show to tell listen, oh well just today to
Speaker 1: publicly start telling people, excuse me, I wear the pants
Speaker 1: in our relationship. I think I think that one thing
Speaker 1: with every time you talked to Greg about his home situation,
Speaker 1: he's positive and things are very good, and I think
Speaker 1: the jury is not out on that. But the jury
Speaker 1: is a little bit out on the concept again not
Speaker 1: going negative here, Greg. They're deliberating on the concept of
Speaker 1: Greg officially wearing the pants. Now, that's fair because I
Speaker 1: we gotta I gotta text immediately after from my you know,
Speaker 1: my best friend Dave Bennett, who who introduced me now
Speaker 1: because he knows us to better better as a group
Speaker 1: than anyone, and he said, like, you guys are my
Speaker 1: best friends in the world. And I don't even know
Speaker 1: who wears the he is just out. That may take
Speaker 1: more than a couple of hours for you know, the deliberations.
Speaker 1: That sneaky, one of the more fascinating moments in the
Speaker 1: show's history. I'm still trying to situation together. Uh so
Speaker 1: that's definitely in deliberations. Still, it feels like the idea
Speaker 1: would be that neither wears the pants. I think you
Speaker 1: respect each other so much that sometimes that's a different
Speaker 1: conversation as well. But it's more the command to tell
Speaker 1: people hear you well. And also I think some women
Speaker 1: want the men the man to wear the pants. Some
Speaker 1: do not, some men do. We they're not the same
Speaker 1: trying to get out of that situation without any critique
Speaker 1: where well, no, I think some people don't want this
Speaker 1: thing split fifty, Am I wrong. It's like, Oh, we're
Speaker 1: gonna have a long conversation about everything. It's like, tell
Speaker 1: me where we're going to dinner. I go in my
Speaker 1: in my relationship. My wife does want me to take
Speaker 1: the reins. Yeah, that's all I'm saying. Well, of course, yeah,
Speaker 1: not of course, but that's different. I think she's saying,
Speaker 1: like when push comes to shove on major things, who's
Speaker 1: wearing the speaking of wh that's where she was coming.
Speaker 1: Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out nice, safe,
Speaker 1: because we literally would not be here that the two
Speaker 1: debs and the kissing cousins. Mother's names Kate, Barbara, Kayton, Babs, happy, mother,
Speaker 1: happy and to our own. There are three wives in
Speaker 1: here that are mothers as well, and to all mothers,
Speaker 1: and and Lindsay's mother as well, the paramore who's who's
Speaker 1: not a mother but her mother because she's sitting in
Speaker 1: the back, I know. See. So I've met the paramour's
Speaker 1: mom and she did a great job helping to mother
Speaker 1: Chris Westling through Uh. Actually she and I had to
Speaker 1: cut on my finger that she said, get back into
Speaker 1: the hospital and have them restitch that. And honestly had
Speaker 1: I not I probably would have lost the fingers. So
Speaker 1: Lakisha's mom is an important figure. If you notice, West
Speaker 1: has gotten quiet because they're talking about mothers and Lakisha's
Speaker 1: in the room and there's a lot of you know,
Speaker 1: a lot of stuff, a lot of stuff to unpack
Speaker 1: there as well. I didn't even know she was here.
Speaker 1: There's look at her. Oh we have a little some
Speaker 1: kind of cutout figure that my nephew sent that we're
Speaker 1: supposed to pose with. Okay, we're gonna do a flat
Speaker 1: Stanley after the show. This is exciting, all right, there,
Speaker 1: you guy. We were still on on We'll be back
Speaker 1: on Monday with another episode. Another three episodes. You're kidding me?
Speaker 1: Stand hands is signing off four Quiet Storm, The Mailman,
Speaker 1: the Old Boss, Lindsey Fulton, and the Paramore behind the
Speaker 1: Glass Still Day. Yeah,