Speaker 1: Be Around the NFL Podcast, Never Lost to Dallas. Welcome
Speaker 1: to another edition of the Around the NFL Podcast, presented
Speaker 1: by New Era. My name is Dan hansis joined in
Speaker 1: the room filled with heroes, Mark Sessler, Chris Westling, and
Speaker 1: Greg Rosenthal. What is up, boys? Hey Dan? Happy hump Day?
Speaker 1: That's what it is. You're all over the days of
Speaker 1: the week. Monday's heavily on your radar, but hump Day,
Speaker 1: I think is catching catching up some. There are some
Speaker 1: people and I I don't necessarily agree that view Wednesday
Speaker 1: as the worst day than Monday, which is a hot take.
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna say it's a hot take. In the preseason, also,
Speaker 1: the days of the week get a little blurry. I
Speaker 1: know you guys are people are working on the weekends
Speaker 1: that the preseason games are on the weekends, and it
Speaker 1: really very mercies your whole bit. That's what really needed,
Speaker 1: like more people's opinions on days. UM. Today is another
Speaker 1: busy day for the show. We have UM news What's
Speaker 1: going on around the NFL. That's how it got the
Speaker 1: name actually was the name that was given to us. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it actually got the name because it was the
Speaker 1: name of a television show that's no lot, and we
Speaker 1: had to change our name just for corporate synchronicity, and
Speaker 1: then they canceled or changed that show like a year later.
Speaker 1: These are all absolutely true facts from Greg. I never
Speaker 1: liked the name, but now it's one of those things
Speaker 1: where it just sticks around long enough no one even
Speaker 1: thinks anything of it. Well, and we cannot change it again.
Speaker 1: I mean we could. We continually take our brand and
Speaker 1: implode it from the inside out. It is. It is
Speaker 1: quite generic, though, there's something about it that's just like
Speaker 1: it's forgetable, forgettable name. It's a brutal name. And it's
Speaker 1: amazing show. By the way Succession that Dan and I
Speaker 1: are digging into the it's a it's about a family
Speaker 1: that owns a string of media companies, but one of
Speaker 1: the major companies is a t N. The major villainous
Speaker 1: company that they're trying to take down is a t N.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, I can't quite separate from what's happening
Speaker 1: here and what's happening on an HBO fictional narrative. If
Speaker 1: we ever grow in stature to be like a villainous
Speaker 1: mega corps that pretends very well for our bank accounts
Speaker 1: and I think that's the most important thing. Money is
Speaker 1: what's important, guys, That's what the money's for. What are
Speaker 1: all right? Coming up today? Yes? News. Also, it was
Speaker 1: the premier of season I believe thirteen of Hard Knocks
Speaker 1: training camp with the Cleveland Browns Mark on edge. Mark
Speaker 1: was at handsas manor because he doesn't have cable. Uh,
Speaker 1: so he watched it at my house and uh, I
Speaker 1: wrote about it on the dot com. But uh, a
Speaker 1: very nervous Mark Sessler, uh showed up at my house
Speaker 1: and and and we're going to talk about that night.
Speaker 1: I there are palpable nerves on your side, Yeah, which
Speaker 1: I get because I know you. Not many other people
Speaker 1: would be as nervous about football documentary show um as
Speaker 1: you are. But Browns fans might. Yeah, not a little
Speaker 1: exe rams, Hey look at us around up swing. I
Speaker 1: don't want to know you're nervous. I don't know if
Speaker 1: other fans would be nervous though about the heart. It's
Speaker 1: more because I don't go suddenly the next day, work
Speaker 1: in an accounting firm where everyone's just studying math all day.
Speaker 1: I'm doused in everyone's opinion about the show from from
Speaker 1: dawn till dusk and there were and there were opinions
Speaker 1: about your browns and certain figures within the Organsmare are
Speaker 1: many moments where I cringed and I thought, I'm glad
Speaker 1: I'm not next to Mark right now. Alright, so we're
Speaker 1: getting We're gonna get to all of that, and Mark,
Speaker 1: you ready, I mean, I am, I am prepared as
Speaker 1: much as I can. You know, I know, I know,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm here for your buddy. Uh. And also a
Speaker 1: little later on the show, are good buddy, um Neil Reynolds,
Speaker 1: who was a host for Sky Sports TV over in
Speaker 1: the UK. Of course, we are going to London, uh
Speaker 1: and if just a few weeks now, so we're gonna
Speaker 1: have him on. He's a reporter over there and he's
Speaker 1: been bouncing around NFL camps. So we're gonna catch up
Speaker 1: with Neil, talk a little bit about our upcoming uh
Speaker 1: trip to England and also about the league in general. Role.
Speaker 1: So that's today's show. Uh, we welcome back now behind
Speaker 1: the glass. There she is Lindsey Fulton, who was not
Speaker 1: devoured by a brown bear, so that's good. Their black
Speaker 1: bears actually I saw, excuse me, I had some close
Speaker 1: encounters with them, had four little cubs and a mom
Speaker 1: come up on their porch. It's pretty scary. See, that's
Speaker 1: what I'm talking about. We gotta calm down with this
Speaker 1: camping stuff. You don't need that just a heartbeat away
Speaker 1: from tragedy. Did you offer them anything? Were you? They
Speaker 1: were digging through the coolers and everything. But no one
Speaker 1: has died from a black bear attack in the Allegheny
Speaker 1: State Park. So are you sure? Yeah? We did the research. Alright, Well,
Speaker 1: I'm glad that you are alive, and apparently you were
Speaker 1: no danger at all because the black bears are friendly folks.
Speaker 1: Whimsy says, let's do some news. I got a long
Speaker 1: Can you believe that in the past three years, last,
Speaker 1: I think even two years, NFL Films has done three
Speaker 1: major productions that have revolved in part around Greg Williams
Speaker 1: and that a cervict wit. I would be stunned if
Speaker 1: they were if it went to four? Can I hear
Speaker 1: that again? I got ange? That's that was his closing
Speaker 1: line of Hard Knocks Episode one. He loses his voice,
Speaker 1: he explained on the third day of camp. For the
Speaker 1: past thirty years. Sure enough, it happens. Uh. Someone jokingly
Speaker 1: on the sideline says, Hey, coach, do you need a
Speaker 1: lozenge for your throat? And he says in response, I
Speaker 1: got ange. Just a real sweetheart. Were poor builder layers
Speaker 1: seemed to like him all right? The weird thing. Um, well,
Speaker 1: let's get to that in a little bit. Let's start
Speaker 1: though some news and since yes this is a hard
Speaker 1: Knocks uh day on the podcast, will start with the
Speaker 1: Browns who drafted wide receiver Antonio Callaway. They got him
Speaker 1: on deep discount because of his troubles uh in college. Uh.
Speaker 1: And also he failed a drug test at the scouting
Speaker 1: scouting combine, which is not good. But the Browns took
Speaker 1: a flyer in many way because he's so talented and
Speaker 1: hope he stay clean, stays clean. Not looking good right now.
Speaker 1: He was cited from marijuana possession and driving with a
Speaker 1: suspended license by Strongsville, Ohio police on Sunday morning. Has
Speaker 1: pulled over at three am for failing to yield for
Speaker 1: oncoming traffic. Uh. They officers discovered that the license was suspended,
Speaker 1: small amount of weed in the car driver's seed. Callaway explained,
Speaker 1: uh that it was not his, It was someone else's
Speaker 1: drugs that were in the car, and I don't know
Speaker 1: if that's gonna hold up in the court of law
Speaker 1: or in the court of the NFL, which won't uh
Speaker 1: take kindly to this, I imagine, Well, I mean he
Speaker 1: claimed that the well, the car was shipped from Florida
Speaker 1: to Ohio, and there were trace amounts of marijuana in
Speaker 1: the car, and there were friends of his, according to him,
Speaker 1: driving the car in the interim, and it is a
Speaker 1: minor misdemeanor in Ohio. It would be not that in California.
Speaker 1: Let's start right there. But but with his past, I
Speaker 1: think that there are a couple of questions. Number One,
Speaker 1: it's like you you've lost a little bit of credibility
Speaker 1: to believe, be believed in at the outside of this. Secondly,
Speaker 1: what are you doing out at three in the morning
Speaker 1: as a rookie with a past in Cleveland who is
Speaker 1: on the doorstep to becoming a starter. I just that
Speaker 1: the the timing, and I understand that these guys have
Speaker 1: their own lives, but it's just overall, like, you know,
Speaker 1: it reminded me of the day when Dan and I
Speaker 1: were in New York and the Browns drafted Johnny Manzel,
Speaker 1: and before we knew what that would balloon into, there
Speaker 1: was this incredible feeling of that was hope, we've taken age,
Speaker 1: shutdown cornerback, and we've taken Johnny Manzel if you're a
Speaker 1: Browns fan. And then the next day Josh Gordon, the
Speaker 1: report comes down that he is out, and it was
Speaker 1: just like this entire all the air lit out of
Speaker 1: the balloon and this was going into this hype job
Speaker 1: hard knocks. This guy is your starting receiver. Yesterday morning
Speaker 1: in the news hits it was right after the Corey
Speaker 1: Coleman trade in TMZ has video where the officer UH
Speaker 1: notes that he finds bullets and a strap for a
Speaker 1: handgun in the car and that he beat that callaway.
Speaker 1: Became nervous and normally you're right, it wouldn't it. The
Speaker 1: backdrop is that he had a number of incidents during
Speaker 1: college that he's already in phase one of the UH
Speaker 1: drug testing program, which isn't supposed to become public, I
Speaker 1: should point out, but it has been reported, and so
Speaker 1: that means, Okay, is this guy getting suspended for this
Speaker 1: or not. We'll find out. This is UH. I think
Speaker 1: this is a new At some time during the calendar,
Speaker 1: people start to ask do the Browns have the sneaky
Speaker 1: best wide receiver corps in the NFL. No really do that,
Speaker 1: and then a week later people ask who's playing wide
Speaker 1: receiver for the Browns this year? Yep, it took like
Speaker 1: about a fortnite for that entire thing to melt away.
Speaker 1: Moving on third and three, we'll see pick up something
Speaker 1: on the right side, closet looking lucking drawing in the inside.
Speaker 1: The San Francisco forty Niners will use the season to
Speaker 1: honor a legend, Dwight Clark, who passed away in June.
Speaker 1: Dwight Clark most famous, of course for was the catch
Speaker 1: yeah which he just heard. Of course, his his leaping
Speaker 1: grab in the back of the end zone um at
Speaker 1: Candlestick to send the forty Niners to the Super Bowl
Speaker 1: back in one. Uh So this is something that I
Speaker 1: feel like sometimes you uh you figured what took so long? Perfect?
Speaker 1: Perfect to have a statue that has Joe Montana your
Speaker 1: most famous quarterback ever and Dwight Clark making your most
Speaker 1: fame as catch ever. Um, that is a cool statue
Speaker 1: and that will be erected outside uh Levi Stadium there
Speaker 1: big bell Bottom without that catch. I wonder if that
Speaker 1: stadium ever even gets built you wonder if that dynasty
Speaker 1: ever happens, because that catch is one of the most
Speaker 1: iconic and important places in NFL history. It ushers in
Speaker 1: the forty Niners dynasty and ushers out the Cowboys dynasty
Speaker 1: of the seventies and makes the forty Niners the team
Speaker 1: of the eighties. And Dwight Clark, to me, is an
Speaker 1: interesting character in NFL history. He got on the team.
Speaker 1: Bill Walsh went down to scout Steve Fuller, the quarterback
Speaker 1: for Clemson, and Dwight Clark just happened to answer the phone.
Speaker 1: He was Steve Fuller's roommate and was basically a walk
Speaker 1: on for the for the tryout, and Bill Walsh ended
Speaker 1: up drafting him in a tenth round. He goes on
Speaker 1: to a great career and then works in the forty
Speaker 1: Niners front office, starts the new Browns front office when
Speaker 1: their expansion team. So this guy's had an interesting career.
Speaker 1: I think it's a great idea for a statue. One thing,
Speaker 1: you know, this offseason, we've had a lot of statue talk.
Speaker 1: In One statue that we had some questions about is
Speaker 1: the one down in Carolina where the Jerry Richardson statue
Speaker 1: is still front center for for whatever reason. But this
Speaker 1: statue is kind of cool. It's like they actually spatially
Speaker 1: have Montana exactly the right distance away from Clark, and
Speaker 1: Clark is eleven feet up in the air as he
Speaker 1: was at the actual catch. So I think that's like
Speaker 1: I would love to go see that in person. And
Speaker 1: it's great for forty Niners fans, who you mentioned this
Speaker 1: stadium might never have gotten built if not for this play.
Speaker 1: I think a lot of forty Niners fans kind of
Speaker 1: wish it wasn't built because it's no longer in San Francisco. Uh,
Speaker 1: and it doesn't have the same sort of connection or
Speaker 1: feel to the forty Niners fans. A what if it
Speaker 1: was in San Francisco at all, and certainly if it
Speaker 1: was Candlestick, which obviously they couldn't rolling and you know,
Speaker 1: it's so far away and all right, maybe this will
Speaker 1: be a little more connection. Obviously they have like a
Speaker 1: forty Niners Hall of Fame and all this, but this
Speaker 1: is a little more of a connection, and they've already
Speaker 1: they're also they've already built at Jimmy Garoppolo statue too
Speaker 1: on the other side of the stadium, waiting for the
Speaker 1: right moment to roll it out. Yeah. I um let
Speaker 1: me just again, uh stump for double statue. I call
Speaker 1: him double stats Uh. I went to college at Northeastern
Speaker 1: University in Boston, and they have a statue of Cy
Speaker 1: Young because I guess the first World Series or something
Speaker 1: was played on the on the grounds and on the
Speaker 1: other side sixty feet away is a catcher. Love it.
Speaker 1: Love that statue set up. Well. We went to Minute
Speaker 1: Made Park for media night a couple of years ago
Speaker 1: for the Super Bowl. They have a Craig Bigio, uh,
Speaker 1: turning and doing like a double play throw to Jeff Bagwell.
Speaker 1: Double statue, More double statues. Brote the Steve Gleason statue.
Speaker 1: Not a double statue. But there's many different people involved
Speaker 1: in the play in the statue. So I a double statue.
Speaker 1: I don't want to hear it. It's it's also double
Speaker 1: the work for the carving community or whatever we call them.
Speaker 1: The statue, the carving carving community. It's like, we don't
Speaker 1: need one of you. We need to man with. That's
Speaker 1: more families eating, that's more food being put on the table.
Speaker 1: Wes save it for the statue. We're already here, moving
Speaker 1: on Aaron Rodgers. Big year for Aaron Rodgers and the Packers,
Speaker 1: a lot of expectations. Uh. Maybe to send a message,
Speaker 1: Rogers went off on Tuesday about the effort of some
Speaker 1: of the young receivers during a portion of the team's practice.
Speaker 1: Here's what Rogers had to say to the assembled media.
Speaker 1: It was one of the worst card of sessions we've had. Um.
Speaker 1: I don't know how you can make it any simpler.
Speaker 1: You literally have what the play would be in our
Speaker 1: terminology on the card, and the effort level is very low,
Speaker 1: especially what I'm accustomed to. I haven't run that period
Speaker 1: for a number of years, so it's not a good
Speaker 1: start for us on the card period. Um for the
Speaker 1: young guys, you know, I think, uh, the n is
Speaker 1: really progressed. Um gimo obviously sixteen. But I'm kind of
Speaker 1: piss poor, piss POORI says Mark read into it. I
Speaker 1: like a second quote too, he said, I'm older and grumpier.
Speaker 1: I've been at this for a long time. I'm tired too.
Speaker 1: We're all a little tired. When you get a little tired,
Speaker 1: the fuse gets a little shorter. Amen, everybody else. He
Speaker 1: That quote was passed along to one of those young receivers.
Speaker 1: Like later in the media session and supposedly he was
Speaker 1: like despondent and you know, and apologetic. And what he
Speaker 1: was talking about in terms of the carded session was,
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers is running the scout team and so they're
Speaker 1: trying to give the defense a certain look. He's clearly
Speaker 1: not playing in this game. So Aaron Rodgers was was
Speaker 1: with all the third teamers and they're trying to run
Speaker 1: these scout plays to give your team another look, and
Speaker 1: you're not. You're not really doing anything. And he's making
Speaker 1: the point obviously here you have to treat every moment
Speaker 1: and everything you're doing in that building like it's the
Speaker 1: most important thing because you're trying to help make the
Speaker 1: team better. Everything matters. And you know that's that's why
Speaker 1: he's Aaron Rodgers. That's why you got a quarterback. I
Speaker 1: read into another way. This guy still pissed that Jordy
Speaker 1: Nelson isn't his teammate, and he's sending messages, no, don't
Speaker 1: know me. You think that's why I think he is Illinois,
Speaker 1: that he was not part of that decision. And too,
Speaker 1: he looks at these young guys and obviously these are
Speaker 1: like fourth and fifth teamers. Yeah, maybe it's motivating and
Speaker 1: all that, but also maybe a subtle message like I'm
Speaker 1: I'm stuck training these guys while you're asking me to
Speaker 1: win a Super Bowl this year. Let's go. Where's Jordy
Speaker 1: who was twenty eight years old and camp? That's all
Speaker 1: the flower conversation coming out of Oakland. Yeah, he doesn't
Speaker 1: like hearing that. He's happy for his friend Jordy, but
Speaker 1: he's like, I want moves like twenty eight Jordy Nelson
Speaker 1: in this building right now. The most canny part of
Speaker 1: that entire thing he decided to well because those aren't
Speaker 1: the starters he's coming. But I like that he went
Speaker 1: out of his way to mention the young guys because
Speaker 1: he knows they're all going to hear this quote. So
Speaker 1: he mentioned the young guys that are in his good graces, De'angelo,
Speaker 1: Yancey Kumro and Jno Allison. And so if you weren't
Speaker 1: one of those guys, you know, you know you know. Uh.
Speaker 1: Moving on, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are looking to outs
Speaker 1: back from a pretty miserable seventeen season. There's a second
Speaker 1: year wide out named Chris Godwin, who uh is really
Speaker 1: having a nice camp. His speed is the type of
Speaker 1: stuff that can create plays and lead to points. That's
Speaker 1: how football works. And he's um uh, this could be
Speaker 1: Chris Westling potential bad news for Deshaun Jackson, who's supposed
Speaker 1: to be at least last season positioned as a uh,
Speaker 1: take the top off the defense guy who would be
Speaker 1: a game breaker. He's another year older, and now here's
Speaker 1: a kid who might be on his corner. This is
Speaker 1: flying really under the radar because it's the Buccaneers. If
Speaker 1: this was an NFC East team, everybody be talking about it.
Speaker 1: But they signed to Sean Jackson to this big deal
Speaker 1: to be sort of the missing piece to the offensive puzzle.
Speaker 1: And a year later they can't take Chris Godwin off
Speaker 1: the field because he's so much more physical, which means
Speaker 1: last year they were afraid to run the ball to
Speaker 1: de Sean Jackson's side because he's such a bad blocker,
Speaker 1: And now it opens up so much for the running game.
Speaker 1: He's making contested catches, which is not Sehn Jackson's specialty.
Speaker 1: And they're already saying Rick Stroud, who has covered this
Speaker 1: team for what thirty years, make no mistake Chris Godwin
Speaker 1: will be starting opposite Michael Evans or uh Mike Evans,
Speaker 1: and then Deshan Jackson's playing more in the slot. But
Speaker 1: they also have had Adam Humphreys in the slot. So
Speaker 1: how this shakes out is pretty interesting. But Chris Godwin's
Speaker 1: gonna play well. It's great for the Bucks. Godwin, we
Speaker 1: talked about him on this show last December, really stuck
Speaker 1: out to me as a number one type of receiver
Speaker 1: when he played because other guys were injured. There was
Speaker 1: a week seventeen game against the Saints, there was another game.
Speaker 1: He can he can do it all. And if Daniel,
Speaker 1: if de Sean Jackson has the right attitude, this is
Speaker 1: great for the Bucks because ultimately Jackson, Godwin, Humphreys, they'll
Speaker 1: all play plenty, They'll all get plenty of snaps and
Speaker 1: instead of Jackson needing to be the centerpiece, like he's
Speaker 1: more of that Taylor Gabriel or Travis Benjamin, like the
Speaker 1: best version of that sort of extrage as deep threat,
Speaker 1: and that's a tough team to defend. That said, though,
Speaker 1: he's making twenty one million dollars over this season and
Speaker 1: next to last year. That's what I say. It's like,
Speaker 1: I think that Dirk coutters. Here, we have four starting
Speaker 1: wide receivers. We couldn't be happier. But you're not gonna
Speaker 1: have four next year, all right, I'll throw this out there.
Speaker 1: Who says no? D Jackson the Cowboys for a fourth
Speaker 1: round pick, maybe a conditional third Who says no? The
Speaker 1: issue I think would be cap space, right, because in
Speaker 1: order to trade for Jashan Jackson, who seems to be
Speaker 1: a guy leading up in October, we're gonna hear a
Speaker 1: lot about him, You're gonna have to have a few
Speaker 1: million under under available to take this the hit. That's
Speaker 1: a good question. I don't know. No, it's gonna go.
Speaker 1: I mean, any of the signing bonus money that you've
Speaker 1: already paid is gonna go on the Buck side. But
Speaker 1: whatever salary, there are other teamster seven and a half
Speaker 1: this year, and he makes eleven. I think that would
Speaker 1: make sense. But I would say no. If I was
Speaker 1: the Bucks, I would hold out for a good pick,
Speaker 1: just because they're trying to win this year, and I
Speaker 1: think de Sean Jackson is still a good player, and
Speaker 1: unless he's becoming a huge pain, you're trying to win,
Speaker 1: You're trying to save your jobs. Unless it's like a
Speaker 1: second second round pick me. Uh. Finally, in the news,
Speaker 1: we have a big tag team sandwich proposition on the
Speaker 1: line involving New York Jets rookie quarterback Sam Donald. Greg
Speaker 1: and I are on the side that Donald will not
Speaker 1: be the week one starters. West and I, who are
Speaker 1: unstoppable partners in cornhole, also in sandwich wagers, So it
Speaker 1: would be considered a major upset if we lose we
Speaker 1: have Sam Donald starting after week one. You gentlemen, Mark
Speaker 1: and Greg have Donald as the week one starter. Miniche
Speaker 1: Metah for the New York Delhi News who does a
Speaker 1: nice job over there. He says that the Jet according
Speaker 1: to sources, the Jets believe Sam Donald will earn the
Speaker 1: week one starting job. However, there's another report. Where was
Speaker 1: it from? Somebody help me out that uh, Josh McCown
Speaker 1: has been far and away the best quarterback in camp
Speaker 1: thus far. I came from my space. That's actually West.
Speaker 1: Think that was rich Tomini? Alright, Smini, who to me
Speaker 1: is that the man with the Jets. Nobody knows that
Speaker 1: team better than him. He's been covering them forever. So
Speaker 1: I guess pick your reporter to decide who's in the
Speaker 1: lead on this particular prop. Well, hold on, I think
Speaker 1: number one, you've set this up well for yourself, Dan,
Speaker 1: because you can lose either you lose a sandwich. Oh
Speaker 1: you gotta go spend nine dollars on a sandwich. Or
Speaker 1: if that happens, it's because Sam Donald has surged enough
Speaker 1: in training camp in the preseason to earn that Week
Speaker 1: one start. And you I don't care about who looks
Speaker 1: I think they're in. I'm not surprised Josh McCown looks better.
Speaker 1: I'm more worried about what do the Jets want. And
Speaker 1: what's been clear based on the reporting from mini camps
Speaker 1: to now, is they want Sam Donald to start. And
Speaker 1: so usually when you want a guy to start, he's
Speaker 1: gonna start, and he sounds okay. And now they're getting
Speaker 1: into the mode where Josh McCown's kind of barely taking
Speaker 1: any snaps. You know, they're getting ready for the preseason's
Speaker 1: mostly Donald and Bridge. Why it's like they, oh, they
Speaker 1: have him accown and and they're only going to break
Speaker 1: him out if Donald blows winners and losers in this
Speaker 1: In this column, about a month and a half ago,
Speaker 1: I wrote a piece predicting when these quarterbacks would start
Speaker 1: put Donald at week one. Hey, I'll leave bom Party downstairs.
Speaker 1: Maybe a few more columns from Mark Sessler. I haven't
Speaker 1: random t into his name. I haven't. Maybe that's why
Speaker 1: you don't get more Son Party. I called him, that's
Speaker 1: his nickname. That's where I was. It was Ralph Facciano
Speaker 1: who reported Josh McCown has been Now this is over
Speaker 1: twenty three hours ago, so it's already been blown out
Speaker 1: of the water by his opinion, but has been the
Speaker 1: best quarterback in Jets camp and quote shows no signs
Speaker 1: of losing the grip on his job. Ralphie Vax has
Speaker 1: been on the beat forever to the Giants and now
Speaker 1: the Jets, so you know, pick your beat writer. I
Speaker 1: I don't trust anyone might take away from going to
Speaker 1: a few of these training camp practices now, never trust
Speaker 1: any reporter's opinion about who's doing well or poorly in
Speaker 1: training unless if they're getting no he's getting in form
Speaker 1: from the Jets. If you're getting people from the team, hey,
Speaker 1: this is who he's saying. Ralph Aco wasn't plugged into
Speaker 1: the Jets. He's just using his eyes. He's how do
Speaker 1: you know what goes into that statement. I don't know, Greg,
Speaker 1: you have to feel good about siding with me on
Speaker 1: a site. It's just afraid of losing the bed. You
Speaker 1: guys are acting scared right now. You're the one afraid
Speaker 1: to acknowledge that Ralph Marciano does reporting behind the scenes.
Speaker 1: Ralphie box. That's what's happening. Any of them are listening
Speaker 1: to this. I apologize for all in the news. All right,
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Speaker 1: All right, it's time for our favorite NFL documentary series
Speaker 1: of all time, Hard Knocks. I wish I could talk
Speaker 1: like um any of the narrators. The narrative, well, it's
Speaker 1: only one. Well, Paul Rudd did it one season, the
Speaker 1: chief seasons leave Shriver has done it every other season.
Speaker 1: What gravitas? Nice gig? Right, Yeah, Saul leaves Shriver in
Speaker 1: a bookstore in New York City once perusing the magazine
Speaker 1: section good actor, you know, very good at scream um.
Speaker 1: All right, Yes, the Cleveland Browns are the focus this
Speaker 1: season of hard knocks and uh and so much to
Speaker 1: unpack because yes, the hard knocks even when the team
Speaker 1: isn't that compelling. A pick NFL Films, though, such a
Speaker 1: nice job picking um different things to dig into, and
Speaker 1: they make it good with the Browns, Greg there's no
Speaker 1: shortage of topics to dig into, and we saw that
Speaker 1: right off the bat in the premiere. It's crazy that
Speaker 1: they're the Browns are a national team right now in
Speaker 1: a way that they weren't, you know, five or six
Speaker 1: years ago, when they were almost as bad but somehow
Speaker 1: just more forgettable. I guess it's the one and thirty
Speaker 1: one thing and that people want to see turn around,
Speaker 1: but it's also the personalities and just like the Sashi
Speaker 1: and the approach that they really it's like they feel
Speaker 1: like they're one of the most popular teams in terms
Speaker 1: of just conversation, which really makes no sense since they're
Speaker 1: so terrible. I feel like Manzel probably got them there
Speaker 1: to some degree because it wasn't just the name, but
Speaker 1: it was all the chaos and the constant drama, and
Speaker 1: then on top of it you get this record setting
Speaker 1: law it number one with Hard Knocks. For me, I
Speaker 1: I it's I don't think they're all equal, they're all
Speaker 1: they all have their special moments. But the set up
Speaker 1: for this one, and I'm not saying this is someone
Speaker 1: that follows the Browns, is unique for Hard Knocks because
Speaker 1: we've never seen a team come out of a season
Speaker 1: like this and the season before and the two decades before.
Speaker 1: You want to see transformation. And they're trying to say,
Speaker 1: we're this team that's changed our character and we're changing
Speaker 1: our culture, and now we're gonna find out it that's true.
Speaker 1: And I think there's evidence to suggest that a little
Speaker 1: bit of it's true. But there's people inside the building
Speaker 1: that don't believe it's true too, which makes for compelling TV.
Speaker 1: Let me start just like laying a little groundwork of
Speaker 1: the scene, and um so I I. For the last
Speaker 1: seven years now, I've been writing the recaps on NFL
Speaker 1: dot com. So I have a whole process when I
Speaker 1: sit in front of my couch and and you know,
Speaker 1: take notes on the show. I'm shazamming songs that are playing.
Speaker 1: I got a whole thing going on. But Mark asked
Speaker 1: me to come over. Of course Mark was welcome. He
Speaker 1: wanted to watch Hard Knocks is hbos streaming decisions are questionable,
Speaker 1: like you wouldn't be able to watch the show until
Speaker 1: the next day. Mark needed to see it in real time.
Speaker 1: He had to tweet to his followers and of those things.
Speaker 1: And when Mark came, when Mark just like, I can't
Speaker 1: go to sleep yet. Mark. Yeah, I don't know if
Speaker 1: that is out there, but yeah, when Mark, when I
Speaker 1: opened the door and saw Mark like walking towards me,
Speaker 1: I could see that you how nervous you were for this.
Speaker 1: So I want the first question I want to ask,
Speaker 1: And anybody that listens to the spot knows why Mark
Speaker 1: was nervous. Because Mark is a little sensitive about how
Speaker 1: the Browns are portrayed and is afraid of people getting
Speaker 1: new and the media and fans getting new ammunition watching
Speaker 1: the first episode, I want to know you coming out
Speaker 1: of it, Mark, how did you feel where you were
Speaker 1: your nerves justified? I think so because I mean, look,
Speaker 1: I think there were things about it where there I
Speaker 1: think the overall could in the in the one to
Speaker 1: ten category, it was a solid seven. Where for me
Speaker 1: something's uh made me feel like the Browns were the
Speaker 1: right team for this, and there's things about the Browns
Speaker 1: to like. And there were things that I left very
Speaker 1: concerned about two which we can dig into. Let's get
Speaker 1: do it. I mean, for me, the turning point in
Speaker 1: the episode. The backdrop is that Hugh Jackson has lost
Speaker 1: in the course of a couple of weeks, his brother
Speaker 1: and his mom and and anyone else in any most
Speaker 1: professions would vanish from work for multiple weeks and go
Speaker 1: deal with that family situation. And I think what we
Speaker 1: what Hard Knocks does a good job of as you
Speaker 1: look behind the scenes, is head coaches and coaches in
Speaker 1: general are not afforded that opportunity in the middle of
Speaker 1: a training camp, and so Hugh Jackson, I mean before
Speaker 1: about three quarters of the way through the episode, when
Speaker 1: he finally addresses this grief, when a couple of people
Speaker 1: from the team, John Dorsey, the PR guy, come in
Speaker 1: and say come on, man, you got it. Let's let's
Speaker 1: have a hug and let's deal with this human side
Speaker 1: of things. He breaks down before that, he's trying to
Speaker 1: navigate these meetings and navigate practice. And I don't know
Speaker 1: if we're getting the full Hugh Jackson, but I think
Speaker 1: he got ensnared in a couple of meetings and one
Speaker 1: it's Hugh Jackson is the contrast. And I'll I'm sorry
Speaker 1: to be so long within long winded. The contrast in
Speaker 1: the meeting between Hugh Jackson's plan for resting players and
Speaker 1: then you have this is this whole culture. We're gonna
Speaker 1: be a hard you know, we're gonna be a hard team.
Speaker 1: We're gonna be a different team. And I always talked
Speaker 1: about it last year, the sit you know, enough with
Speaker 1: the nice, calm brown stand up and be braggy, right,
Speaker 1: Remember I talked about that as a joke. It's like,
Speaker 1: enough with all the charity work, and I charity work
Speaker 1: is nice, but stand up and start punching some teams around.
Speaker 1: Now you have guys like Todd Haley that with the
Speaker 1: Steelers blew the Browns up for half a decade, comes
Speaker 1: in and basically calls out Hugh Jackson and the Browns
Speaker 1: are saying, we are resting players. We have so far
Speaker 1: to go right. We have to show these guys the
Speaker 1: rigors of the league. Put them in there now and
Speaker 1: make this happen. And right away you saw this philosophical
Speaker 1: budding of heads. That is what left me the most concerned,
Speaker 1: and I think many others too. Let's go right before
Speaker 1: that scene, uh and West, I want to know your
Speaker 1: thoughts on this. Right before that scene, you get what
Speaker 1: is probably the biggest scene for a lot of people,
Speaker 1: was Jarvis Landry who came over in the trade from
Speaker 1: Miami and he's picking up on the same thing that
Speaker 1: running backs coach was. I love the running backs coach's
Speaker 1: name is Freddie Kitchen. Freddie Kitchens and Haley both broach
Speaker 1: something that Jarvis Landry brings up in a wide receiver's meeting.
Speaker 1: He sees guys not practicing and he thinks it's an
Speaker 1: epidemic that has helped hurt the Browns for has hurt
Speaker 1: the Browns for years. Let's hear what Jervis Landry had
Speaker 1: to say. You're gone. You're a mag game bro. Gone,
Speaker 1: You're a mag game bro. I don't know like you
Speaker 1: should practice straight up like that this weakness and that
Speaker 1: it's contagious. And in this room, bro, that be in
Speaker 1: the passing. That's why the pass is over. We're here, bro.
Speaker 1: If you practice practice, you can't get no better. Ain't
Speaker 1: nobody gonna get better. But on SI if you west,
Speaker 1: when uh Landry brings us up with teammates, when the
Speaker 1: running backs coach and Haley broach it with Hugh Jackson,
Speaker 1: what were your thoughts on how Jackson handled it? He
Speaker 1: immediately went Game of Thrones in in the meeting with
Speaker 1: the coaches. When you sit in this chair, that's what matters.
Speaker 1: And he made he said that statement three or four
Speaker 1: times from this chair, and this is the chair that matters.
Speaker 1: And to me, it seems like awfully early in the
Speaker 1: season to be going power play on your coaches. And
Speaker 1: to me, so the Browns aren't just your normal team
Speaker 1: trying for a turnaround. There are ghosts in that building
Speaker 1: and you have to eradicate the ghost before you can
Speaker 1: turn it around. And this episode is teaming with ghosts.
Speaker 1: Jarvis Landry should not be the guy standing up in
Speaker 1: the wide receiver's room if this was, but he's the veteran,
Speaker 1: so it sort of has to. Okay, let's let me finish.
Speaker 1: If this is a contending team, you've got somebody with
Speaker 1: a much greater resume than Jarvis Landry who is coming
Speaker 1: from another team. And let me check my notes here.
Speaker 1: The Miami Dolphins are not a playoff contender. They are
Speaker 1: not a model organization. Jarvis Landry took the money and
Speaker 1: came to Cleveland. To me, he lacks gravitas. And I
Speaker 1: know a lot of people love that speech. I've learned
Speaker 1: on playing on teams to tune out the swearers and
Speaker 1: the shouters and the screamers. I didn't buy into that speech,
Speaker 1: and I didn't buy into much of what the Cleveland
Speaker 1: Browns are doing in this episode. I do buy into
Speaker 1: Baker Mayfield, though. The fact that he was making this
Speaker 1: speech to me just kind of speaks to their roster
Speaker 1: because they literally don't have another receiver on the roster
Speaker 1: who's ever done anything at the NFL level. Josh Gordon's
Speaker 1: not there, He's I don't So it's a bunch of
Speaker 1: young guys. If Jarvis Landry knows how to work, he
Speaker 1: knows how to compete, he knows how to be a professional,
Speaker 1: and so and those guys don't even know him because
Speaker 1: he's a free agent. But so like, if a guy
Speaker 1: came onto my team and I'm in that room, that
Speaker 1: speech is not going overwhelm. Who are you to come
Speaker 1: in here and you want guys like that? The my takeaway,
Speaker 1: and this is before and Hugh Jackson losing his mind.
Speaker 1: It was. It was so sad and I did wonder,
Speaker 1: like I do think some coaches would would have left
Speaker 1: in fact, and some have in the past. So that
Speaker 1: was a decision. He also has hard knocks cameras. It's
Speaker 1: a decision he made. It was also, but that was
Speaker 1: before camp. That was that was I believe during the
Speaker 1: O t S. But even before that happened, because that
Speaker 1: to me was different his emotions. I was thinking, like,
Speaker 1: Hugh Jackson's a good guy. He's obviously a good guy.
Speaker 1: Maybe that's why he's in the job still because the
Speaker 1: hasms believe he's a good guy and they don't want
Speaker 1: to send him on his way losing, you know, after
Speaker 1: Owen sixteen. But I was watching and I'm thinking, why
Speaker 1: why is he still the coach? Because he seems beaten down.
Speaker 1: He just seems a little beaten down that he's almost
Speaker 1: trying to, you know, convince, convince everyone that it's okay.
Speaker 1: He's almost trying to convince how can he not be
Speaker 1: beaten down after the last couple of years. It's how
Speaker 1: do you work out that right? And and when there's
Speaker 1: especially when there's a new general manager there that that
Speaker 1: it just sticks out to me more that like it
Speaker 1: to strange. It's a strange fit that you have this
Speaker 1: new GM and sort of a new regime, but then
Speaker 1: you still have Hugh there that that has the effects
Speaker 1: of last thing and Todd Haley. I couldn't as that
Speaker 1: was going on. At first of all, I thought it
Speaker 1: was calculated and kind of fascinating that how Haley challenged
Speaker 1: Hugh Jackson knowing the cameras on the MIC's run and
Speaker 1: then watching Haley's face while Jackson was doing that this
Speaker 1: is my bus routine and thinking to myself, like, what
Speaker 1: is Todd Haley thinking. I know, Todd Haley was a
Speaker 1: head coach and it didn't really work out, but he's
Speaker 1: had a lot of success in his career at different stops,
Speaker 1: and he's like, and I'm wondering if this is something
Speaker 1: a lot of these coaches are thinking and maybe not saying,
Speaker 1: is I'm gonna I'm supposed to follow you. You're the
Speaker 1: one and thirty one guy, You're the you're the own
Speaker 1: sixteen guy, You're the jumping in the lake guy, like
Speaker 1: you're supposed to be the guy that I I'm gonna
Speaker 1: take you at your word. And I thought that was
Speaker 1: kind of like the big overarching like aspect of that premiere,
Speaker 1: which is here's the Browns, Here's the hard Land, here
Speaker 1: is the we are starting over. We spent a ton
Speaker 1: of money, we brought in the new quarterback, we got
Speaker 1: the new GM. We are turning things around here. But
Speaker 1: do you have the wrong guy in driving the bus?
Speaker 1: And and does he do the players believe in him?
Speaker 1: Do the coaches respect him? And I think that's a
Speaker 1: major subplot. Todd Hailey said, if we live in our
Speaker 1: fears that which is a Mike Tomlin line, which but
Speaker 1: it was, but it's a good line. It was a
Speaker 1: good line just because maybe I'm so psychoanalyzing too much.
Speaker 1: But you see Hugh Jackson as a guy that you
Speaker 1: know might be living, you know, living in his fear,
Speaker 1: he's living in last. He still has the effective last.
Speaker 1: And I think that's the mentality of of the fan
Speaker 1: base two and and the beat reporters some degree, and
Speaker 1: the coaching staff and the players. Is what's gonna go
Speaker 1: wrong next? And it's Haley that came out on that
Speaker 1: practice field and he sees Corey Coleman, who has been
Speaker 1: coddled over two seasons, not performing well. And he's not
Speaker 1: used to that. He's used to seeing Antonio Brown, Juju Smith,
Speaker 1: Schuster and the rest of the Pittsburgh Steelers roster go
Speaker 1: out and do their jobs. And he called Coleman out.
Speaker 1: I thought it was a great moment. It's this one
Speaker 1: guy that from somewhere else that is his culture of winning,
Speaker 1: looking at what's happening around him, saying, listen, it's not
Speaker 1: that it can't be done, but we have to do it,
Speaker 1: he said drastically differently. Can we also, my I name
Speaker 1: a Hard Knocks m VP every season? What episode in?
Speaker 1: It's our friend Carl Nasson, who who is a character
Speaker 1: I'll put it that way, defensive end who we meet
Speaker 1: him giving a probably unsolicited uh financial tutorial to his
Speaker 1: fellow defensive lineman that's met with muted response. Let's get
Speaker 1: a a quick glimpse into uh nassive as a financial
Speaker 1: guy who here knows what compound interest is. This is
Speaker 1: really financial advisors are everywhere. Okay, don't take your money
Speaker 1: and they'll take one percent of everything you've got. It's
Speaker 1: one percent of matter because if you learn it yourself,
Speaker 1: you can make billion hours. We got a lot of
Speaker 1: money right now, right, this is the easiest equation to
Speaker 1: nicky rich. You have a million dollars and after seven
Speaker 1: years of getting ten percent all that money every single year, okay,
Speaker 1: you're making money off of it, You're gonna double it
Speaker 1: after seven years. So you double your money every seven
Speaker 1: years for forty two years, you get sixty four times
Speaker 1: your original money. So you've got a million dollars. You
Speaker 1: can end up with sixty four million dollars by the
Speaker 1: time you retire if you don't turn listen, Miles has
Speaker 1: got thirty billion dollars. Okay, so let's say let's say
Speaker 1: a billionaire by the time he was actually is the game?
Speaker 1: So you telling me, bro, it's crazy, I swear to
Speaker 1: God noon Garrett Stracks fans. Yeah, I learned before the concert,
Speaker 1: was like, how do you buy a rolling? So she
Speaker 1: knows that God and that Karl Nas said, oh, that's
Speaker 1: that's enough. Carl. By the way, our title card knocked
Speaker 1: this out. If you're watching the video show, but they
Speaker 1: pan back at one point and I think it's Chris
Speaker 1: Smith the defensive end is just sitting there quietly a
Speaker 1: giant plate of muscles. I've never seen anyone do anything
Speaker 1: close to that before. Uh So Karl Nassa giving advice
Speaker 1: and said that he when he went to meet Taylor
Speaker 1: Swift at a concert, I was gonna wear a role
Speaker 1: by a Rolex to impressor, but said that doesn't fit
Speaker 1: into my compound interest model. Before I got married, we
Speaker 1: took a guaranteed. By the way that that Carl doesn't
Speaker 1: really spell that out, just like, yeah, that's a sound.
Speaker 1: Look they get they they have the money off the
Speaker 1: bat number one, but it's like number here's before I
Speaker 1: got married, we took a financial class where like someone
Speaker 1: sat you down for like over the course of three weekends.
Speaker 1: Well it's we obviously not listened very well. Let's put
Speaker 1: starright there. But they had the exact same lesson. So
Speaker 1: to Greg's point, these this, Carl Nassa did not cook
Speaker 1: this up out of thin air. But he's passing her on.
Speaker 1: Get you in freshman year of high school. I don't
Speaker 1: remember that in freshman year of high school at all.
Speaker 1: I mean I was awful with money. Um okay, So
Speaker 1: there's the first episode recap. We'll be tracking the show,
Speaker 1: of course, as it goes on every Tuesday through September four.
Speaker 1: Uh and yes, you could read my Hard Knocks recaps
Speaker 1: at NFL dot com slash handsas Okay. Before we end
Speaker 1: our Browns conversation, though, it's time for the preseason Spotlight
Speaker 1: presented by New Era. The Browns and Giants kick off
Speaker 1: their respective preseason schedules with the matchup this week. Greg rosenhought,
Speaker 1: what are you looking forward to out of that game?
Speaker 1: Two quarters of Baker Mayfield? I mean, Baker Mayfield made
Speaker 1: a great impression on the show. You certainly saw some
Speaker 1: of great throws. It also reminded me of why Tyrod
Speaker 1: Taylor's there that I do think it was like worth
Speaker 1: sending that draft pick just to have another professional in
Speaker 1: the building, like almost as an example, like that's incalculable
Speaker 1: for Baker Mayfield. But getting to see how he plays,
Speaker 1: I mean, like I'm I'm that's the only thing I
Speaker 1: care about in the pre season. His rookie quarterbacks. I
Speaker 1: think it's the that's really that, it's that position, but
Speaker 1: it's also I think you can gauge running backs in
Speaker 1: the preseason too. We've seen that with veterans I think
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago. West mark Ingram got on
Speaker 1: your spotlight early on. It's it's always one or two guys.
Speaker 1: But how about Sequon Barkley. I just wonder what how
Speaker 1: much we'll see of him? And he's been talked about,
Speaker 1: is this evolutionary guy that's going to change the position.
Speaker 1: And that's a lot of pressure, don't I don't really
Speaker 1: care about what happens in in in this game, necessarily
Speaker 1: for him alone. But you want to see something. You
Speaker 1: want to see some flash of that, some highlight that
Speaker 1: comes out that makes us say, yes, the Giants are interesting. Finally,
Speaker 1: first two picks in the draft, a chance to see
Speaker 1: both of There you go. Uh. That was preseason Spotlight
Speaker 1: presented by New Era. All right, let's move on. It's
Speaker 1: time to welcome a guest to the show. Uh. He
Speaker 1: is a NFL reporter based in the UK, host for
Speaker 1: sky Sports TV, Inside the Huddle podcast, NFL Live UK events.
Speaker 1: This man is everywhere. He is the NFL and the UK.
Speaker 1: Neil Reynolds, friend of the show, Welcome to the Around
Speaker 1: the NFL podcast. Thank you for having me. And yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm just enjoying my last few weeks of you know,
Speaker 1: kind of being the guy here in the UK, because
Speaker 1: I hear you guys are on on your way over
Speaker 1: and that's it'll be all over by then. This has
Speaker 1: been it's been a concerted effort that's really gone on
Speaker 1: for several years. How do we take over? And yeah,
Speaker 1: now we're about to hit like the ground troops are
Speaker 1: hitting the mainland in England. I know, I thought you
Speaker 1: guys were you know, I had you kind of a
Speaker 1: safe distance, sort of six thousand miles away from London
Speaker 1: and I felt comfortable. I thought, I felt okay, you know,
Speaker 1: every now and then I come to the US and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, we invite you onto the stuff we do
Speaker 1: a Super Bowls but wow, you're coming to my neck
Speaker 1: of the wod it's going to be There'll be a
Speaker 1: lot of fun. I feel like it's it's hard to
Speaker 1: get much more intimate than right now people listening to
Speaker 1: this on the audio podcast, but we have you up
Speaker 1: on video and we're in your kitchen. You have a
Speaker 1: very nice sink, good mug collection. We've we've seen like
Speaker 1: I feel like I know a ceramic apparently made by
Speaker 1: Henry Hodgson according their reports for you, this was this
Speaker 1: was made by my son, but I think it was.
Speaker 1: It's a good it's a good sort of seven or
Speaker 1: eight years old. I have my morning coffee and that
Speaker 1: I didn't realize you could see all of the think
Speaker 1: I should have tied it up beforehand. Mrs Renalds an
Speaker 1: notopy piece. Um so yeah, as as many of your listeners. No,
Speaker 1: we will be in London for the lead up to
Speaker 1: week one and uh and through week one, so we're
Speaker 1: really excited. We're gonna be joining Neil doing stuff with
Speaker 1: Sky Sports TV while we're there, including a live show
Speaker 1: and all sorts of fun stuff. Is this is this?
Speaker 1: Are you comfortable with this? Neil? I'll sign off on it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, I mean it's gonna be great with you. Obviously,
Speaker 1: we want to make a big deal about the whole
Speaker 1: week of kick off and big event in London, and
Speaker 1: to have you guys be a part of it is
Speaker 1: going to be really really special and for us on
Speaker 1: on Sky to have you kind of involved all through
Speaker 1: that that Sunday show will have Rob Brian and Solomon
Speaker 1: Wilcox in the studio, to have you guys in the
Speaker 1: studio as well. It's going to be is going to
Speaker 1: be so much fun. The only problem will be for
Speaker 1: the following twenty weeks after that, when I've got you
Speaker 1: just on Skype, it's gonna would have been a bit
Speaker 1: spoiled a bit early. Well, you would say that now
Speaker 1: when you guys do your production meetings, you're getting this
Speaker 1: whole thing together and you're kind of here's the four
Speaker 1: people coming over, which one of us is talked about,
Speaker 1: um as you know, someone that might create a bit
Speaker 1: of a disturbance in the streets, someone that might not
Speaker 1: fit well into British society. I've I mean, just looking
Speaker 1: at you guys, I think I think Greg goes in
Speaker 1: kind of low and hard in his street fights. That's
Speaker 1: the right answer. I think that's the right an. That's fair.
Speaker 1: So Neil, Yeah, so that's all coming up. We're so excited.
Speaker 1: But you are also somebody that because you're one of
Speaker 1: the key guys over at sky when it comes to
Speaker 1: NFL coverage, arguably v Man, Rich Rich Eyes and like
Speaker 1: in your presence over there. You have been. You were
Speaker 1: dispatched to America to cover multiple camps. Uh, and we've
Speaker 1: talked about it before that you visited the Tennessee camp,
Speaker 1: the Chargers camp, the Raiders, and the Seahawks. Do you
Speaker 1: want to share anything from any of those trips that
Speaker 1: kind of jumped out to you. I know, you got
Speaker 1: to talk to quarterbacks, head coaches, they set you up noice. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean there's a few things in each of those, so,
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, I started off on the in New York.
Speaker 1: I did some interviews at the XFL offices with Oliver Luck,
Speaker 1: and then I flew that night to Nashville. I did
Speaker 1: the Titans on the Friday, the Charges on the Saturday,
Speaker 1: Raiders on the Sunday, and the Seahawks on the Monday.
Speaker 1: So it was from New York to Seattle in in
Speaker 1: five days. But you know, it's just going order. In Nashville,
Speaker 1: I was very impressed with Mike Vrabel, really hands on.
Speaker 1: He kind of puts on the blocking pads and plays
Speaker 1: the part of the blitzing linebacker. I was very impressed
Speaker 1: with him. Great to sit with Philip Rivers in Los Angeles,
Speaker 1: and you know, he talked about how he still plays
Speaker 1: the game and loves the game like he's a ten
Speaker 1: year old. When I sat with Gruden, I thought Gruden
Speaker 1: was just box office. There's certain levels of interviews you
Speaker 1: do in the NFL. I've sat an interview Tom Brady,
Speaker 1: um that felt like that. When I sat down with
Speaker 1: John Gruden, and you know, he was very, very honest,
Speaker 1: I said, why have you got I looked down the
Speaker 1: roster while I'm watching practice. I said, You've got ten
Speaker 1: guys on your roster with ten years or more experience.
Speaker 1: And I said, why is that? Is there a reason
Speaker 1: outside of the fact that they're just good football players?
Speaker 1: And he said, we don't have any players. He said,
Speaker 1: we missed on too many drafts. We don't have any players,
Speaker 1: and we kind of can't wait for rookies, which was
Speaker 1: I thought, quite refreshing and quite honest. And then I
Speaker 1: went to Seattle and obviously they're talking all about the
Speaker 1: fresh start, what's new, and Pete Carroll said, it kind
Speaker 1: of goes in cycles, and it feels fresh. It feels
Speaker 1: like it was four or five years ago. And I
Speaker 1: talked about leaders. I asked about leaders, and he said,
Speaker 1: when you've got Russell Wilson and Doug Baldwin on offense?
Speaker 1: What more do you need? And he said on defense?
Speaker 1: When you've got Bobby Wagner and kJ Right on defense,
Speaker 1: what or do you need? And I was dying to
Speaker 1: sgo maybe Earl Thomas, but it was it was an indication.
Speaker 1: It was almost like a sort of very subtle shot
Speaker 1: fired at L Thomas. Do you get the sense though,
Speaker 1: in Seattle, especially because yes it's a new wave and
Speaker 1: a new start, that Pete Carroll is in it for
Speaker 1: the long haul? Because there were whispers over the last
Speaker 1: couple of the years that Pete Carroll might be deciding
Speaker 1: to walk away at some point. Is he there for
Speaker 1: another five six years to see this thing through? To me,
Speaker 1: it felt like when you when you look at what
Speaker 1: they talk about Pete Carroll's message and if his message
Speaker 1: gets old and we heard the stories of Michael Bennett
Speaker 1: reading books and team meetings and Sherman said they kind
Speaker 1: of lost their way, it felt It felt felt to
Speaker 1: me like you know, they're bringing in all these young
Speaker 1: guys that I mean, Russell Wilson was throwing two players
Speaker 1: on practice field and I'm looking at the roster trying
Speaker 1: to work out who they are, you know it was
Speaker 1: it was a bunch of no names. But Pete was
Speaker 1: very excited to deliver that same message. So either way
Speaker 1: I see that is they're very much committed to Pete
Speaker 1: Carroll and Russell Wilson and they're going to deliver the
Speaker 1: same message to a new bunch of players. You. By
Speaker 1: the way, you mentioned John Gruden, you called him box office.
Speaker 1: Now we're again, we're going to England. I want to
Speaker 1: be up in the know about all like the British
Speaker 1: terms that are popping right now. Is box office me
Speaker 1: and kind of like star power. Yeah, okay, if you okay, listen,
Speaker 1: if you want to get all the hip and trendy terms.
Speaker 1: I am not the man to come. We could he
Speaker 1: will tell you, we could. Go ahead. Let me tell
Speaker 1: you John Gruden's story. So my producer Alex Mason, who
Speaker 1: you know from Sky Sport that yeah, he won't appreciate
Speaker 1: me telling you this, but we were, we were chatting,
Speaker 1: chatting with John Gruden. We finished the interview and John
Speaker 1: Gruden asks for some phrases that he can use when
Speaker 1: he's over in England. So I say, let's all go
Speaker 1: for a cup of tea and Alex Mason says, no,
Speaker 1: you need to say, let's go down the pub for
Speaker 1: a point. So Gruden loved that. At the end he
Speaker 1: goes to fist so he fist bumps me and then
Speaker 1: he goes to fist bump Alex Mason as well. He
Speaker 1: got completely flustered, so he shook the hand. Honestly, couldn't
Speaker 1: have been more englishmen aboard. That's brutal. That's you're never
Speaker 1: going to get that moment back, like that was it?
Speaker 1: You know, he and he kind of, you know, we
Speaker 1: sort of practiced afterwards, but it was ever is that
Speaker 1: you practice. It's not that he messed it up. It's
Speaker 1: that you practiced it after the factors among the I
Speaker 1: found and it's not the same. But like if you
Speaker 1: are it worked for the NFL if you're hanging out
Speaker 1: with maybe you're with a couple of different people on
Speaker 1: the NFL network side and a player, and then the
Speaker 1: player gives maybe a colleague colleague who's a former player,
Speaker 1: like the three step bro handshake hug, and then you
Speaker 1: roll in like the nerdy white journalist guy and you
Speaker 1: you you're caught in between. And I just going hard
Speaker 1: and stiff with that because I don't want to get
Speaker 1: it get into the waters of the triple step shake
Speaker 1: because I know I won't be able to pull it off. Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: it is. And I know there's the first bit of
Speaker 1: the handshake and then you kind of go to that
Speaker 1: bit and then I never know the third bit, so
Speaker 1: I just do that bit and then kind of meander
Speaker 1: off to the side. But you know, the fifth bump
Speaker 1: was a new one for box Office. Wow, Like Neil
Speaker 1: is box Office by the way, no doubt, that's the
Speaker 1: way we look at it. There was a lot of
Speaker 1: football talk as well, but you know, we just will
Speaker 1: focus in on the handshakes. And I have a question
Speaker 1: about London. You know we've heard over the last few
Speaker 1: years that this Saturday fan fest before the game's over,
Speaker 1: there get like five hundred thousand people. Is that true.
Speaker 1: It's like you get nervous. I'm impressed, like five thousand
Speaker 1: people in one space. Well for our listeners, but before
Speaker 1: we're asking you, like just to give some background. You've
Speaker 1: been working at growing the sport of American football in
Speaker 1: in the UK for how long, Like you've been helping
Speaker 1: to run the NFL UK. You also, you know, used
Speaker 1: to work for Henry Hudson way back in the day
Speaker 1: you you also published a magazine Like, however, how long
Speaker 1: has that process been, like, how has it changed in
Speaker 1: that entire span? Yes, so, I mean I started covering
Speaker 1: the the NFL full time in and I worked for
Speaker 1: NFL Europe from two thousand to two thousand and six.
Speaker 1: That there were some dark days around the time when
Speaker 1: NFL Europe was being played in London in the late nineties.
Speaker 1: We would be five minutes from kickoff a game in
Speaker 1: Crystal Palace and they'll be like a thousand people in
Speaker 1: there and you've got Kurt Warner on the field warming up.
Speaker 1: So as it's grown ridiculously, I mean back then, I
Speaker 1: would never have believed we could have what we've got
Speaker 1: now three games a year this year, four games per
Speaker 1: year in previous seasons. There are a generation of fans
Speaker 1: over the last decade who only know regular season games
Speaker 1: being played in London. I saw the other side of it,
Speaker 1: the darker side of it. Um So every time i'm
Speaker 1: I'm always so appreciative of that opportunity to be in
Speaker 1: front of all of those fans when they take over
Speaker 1: Regent Street or Piccadilli. This time when they're out of
Speaker 1: the tailgate parties. We have come a long way and
Speaker 1: you know, no shameless plug. I'm glad you mentioned the magazine. Alright,
Speaker 1: great Gridiron magazine, Neil. Back in the day, during these
Speaker 1: dark days when Kurt Warner was playing in front of
Speaker 1: eight n people. Were you living in this posh house
Speaker 1: in this next are you? Were you more like living
Speaker 1: like youth hostel? Youth? It looks beautiful? I mean, were
Speaker 1: you just were you? Were you camped out in like
Speaker 1: youth hostels and low rent sort of motel rooms, trying
Speaker 1: to just get by as a British football journalist, kind
Speaker 1: of a rugged lifestart, like to read a novello about
Speaker 1: that phone novel like maybe, yeah, we're already got silly
Speaker 1: with it. I actually lived just around the corner, but
Speaker 1: about fifty yards around the corner, but I kind of
Speaker 1: I can reveal it was a much smaller house. You
Speaker 1: should be aware that it's Mark's ultimate dream to live
Speaker 1: in a youth hostile full time, so that that informs
Speaker 1: that question a little bit. All right, Neil, Neil, thank
Speaker 1: you for joining us. We're so excited, uh to bring
Speaker 1: our show to your shore as it's really something We've
Speaker 1: been trying to do for years and I know you
Speaker 1: and everybody over there who has helped us. We're really excited,
Speaker 1: so thank you so much. And you could follow Neil
Speaker 1: on Twitter at Neil Reynolds NFL and UM and of
Speaker 1: course sky Sports TV is gonna have if you're on
Speaker 1: that side of the pond, you know that's where you
Speaker 1: go for NFL coverage. So thank you, Neil, Thanks Neal,
Speaker 1: you guys, I'll see you in build up to Week one.
Speaker 1: There he goes Neil Reynolds of Sky Sports and all
Speaker 1: other endeavors football related in the UK. We will be
Speaker 1: back on Friday with another episode of the Around the
Speaker 1: NFL podcast. So much more to get to Mark, because
Speaker 1: we are grinding now. It is what I do. One
Speaker 1: little shout out, one little shout out. I believe I
Speaker 1: found a family member that I not did not know
Speaker 1: about out in the middle of Illinois. Founder on Twitter
Speaker 1: Kalas Sessler, and she is a star on Teen Mom
Speaker 1: Too on MTV. I'm a very young teen woman that
Speaker 1: has a child named Isaiah, So a young teen woman.
Speaker 1: She's on MTV Teen Mom Too. So this isn't the
Speaker 1: daughter that you occasionally see at a random bar in
Speaker 1: Los Angele. No, it's not, that's not it's not my
Speaker 1: lost daughter. It's actually it's a separate individual. No, this
Speaker 1: is I actually cross checked this with Rika tam Posey,
Speaker 1: who has seen the show and uh is unsure, but
Speaker 1: potentially has seen this individual as well. Maybe we could
Speaker 1: effort Lindsay, We could effort to get Lindsay Cessler on
Speaker 1: the show. Uh Kaylessesler. I'm sorry to disrespect it, Emily,
Speaker 1: remember just saying it's out there and it's you know,
Speaker 1: maybe she could use help teen moms they can, That's
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. There might be unnecessary financial help. Maybe
Speaker 1: you give up that back shed. If she's on TV,
Speaker 1: then it's gonna be the other way around. Okay, maybe
Speaker 1: maybe not talking to Bitcoin princess over here, so you
Speaker 1: might be right, you do. That's as a good producer should.
Speaker 1: All right, let's go. This is Dan hands As signing
Speaker 1: off for the Quiet Storm, the Mailman, the Old Boss,
Speaker 1: and the Bitcoin Princess. Maybe behind the glass. Not bad
Speaker 1: at all. Until Friday t