Speaker 1: Hey, everybody. Whether you ride up by eight or a
Speaker 1: Bronc or a skateboard, Wrangler jeans are for you, classic
Speaker 1: or modern styles, a range of fits, all price points,
Speaker 1: vintage re releases. Wrangler has something for everyone. West I
Speaker 1: could think of a young Chris Westling in the East
Speaker 1: Cut of Cincinnati rocking some Wranglings. Oh yeah, when I'm
Speaker 1: out riding fences. Visit Wrangler dot com and check out
Speaker 1: their selection of jean shirts and outer where for men
Speaker 1: and women. New styles, great fits, Wrangler Real Comfortable Jeans.
Speaker 1: The Around the NFL podcast has the vapors. I'll come
Speaker 1: back to another edition of the Around the NFL Podcast.
Speaker 1: My name is Dan Henzas, and I'm joining in the
Speaker 1: room filled with some heroes. To my left, Chris Westling
Speaker 1: to my right. Oh my goodness, it's Lindsay Rhodes. What's
Speaker 1: up people? Hi, you're testing out some new like uh
Speaker 1: communications right before the show. Lindsay's throughout hollow which people
Speaker 1: know I'm bringing the e er back. How are I?
Speaker 1: Don't that makes me feel like I'm in Kentucky and
Speaker 1: we're down in Holler right, holler at me? After school? Uh? Wow?
Speaker 1: We all right? Some housekeeping here if you watched our
Speaker 1: the premiere of our Twitter show, which Lindsay obviously did
Speaker 1: obviously A plus A minus Soliday Like, where is there
Speaker 1: anything better than an A plus? Like? Can I do
Speaker 1: a plus gold star? Yeah? Thank you? You don't what
Speaker 1: are you saying that? Huh be mine inside joke. It
Speaker 1: doesn't matter. It's a damn thing. Um, thank you for
Speaker 1: watching the Twitter show that will be every Tuesday at
Speaker 1: one Pacific four thirty eastern something something in the UK.
Speaker 1: I believe that's m in the UK. Yeah, so check
Speaker 1: that out. Greg is with his baby girl in Disneyland
Speaker 1: right now, which is okay, nice dad work. But at
Speaker 1: the same time, the helot to see ny Carlson Force,
Speaker 1: who is undoubtedly in Disneyland right now as she always is.
Speaker 1: And yes, Mark Cesler still not with us, Mr Cessler
Speaker 1: uh over the weekend was not feeling well when he
Speaker 1: woke up Sunday morning and it led to hospital visit
Speaker 1: and Mark seems to be okay now and we're really
Speaker 1: happy about that he's home, so everything is good. But
Speaker 1: we we we learned loose Cannon that The Quiet Storm
Speaker 1: has an audio message for both the podcast and the listeners.
Speaker 1: That sounds good. Guys, It's Mark. And perhaps you've noticed
Speaker 1: that I've not been on the show this week, or
Speaker 1: perhaps you've not noticed. That would make sense too. Just
Speaker 1: a quick update on Sunday, went to the emergency room
Speaker 1: with pain in my chest. I'm not sure what it
Speaker 1: was and found out that it was a reoccurrence of
Speaker 1: blood clots in my lung. So not a toe total
Speaker 1: joy ride for the most part. Will be out this week,
Speaker 1: but I'll be back soon. And I would be remiss
Speaker 1: if I did not mention a little game on the
Speaker 1: horizon come Thursday night, the Browns hosting the New York Jets.
Speaker 1: The Cleveland Browns, who have not won a game in
Speaker 1: two or three million years, planning on Thursday night to
Speaker 1: square up against the Jets. Look him in the eye
Speaker 1: and knock him down. That's why I am going to
Speaker 1: lock it up. It's a very tough situation first of all.
Speaker 1: First of all, it's very serious. And then he kind
Speaker 1: of called you to the carpet, didn't he a little bit?
Speaker 1: But you know what, I've never been playing with morehouse
Speaker 1: money going into a game, because I really do. Like
Speaker 1: Colleen was on our Twitter show and she was saying
Speaker 1: how it would be great for because she's gonna be
Speaker 1: on the set to be there when the streak ends,
Speaker 1: the windless streak. And now you got the Mark health
Speaker 1: crisis and the Browns really deserve a win. Are you
Speaker 1: rooting for the Browns? And I will never go that
Speaker 1: far to root against the Jets. But if there ever
Speaker 1: was a game where I'll take it, I'll wear it
Speaker 1: and not have an issue with it. It's Thursday. What though,
Speaker 1: you don't want to be the one team that loses.
Speaker 1: The Steelers should have done it already, The Saint should
Speaker 1: have done There's no shame in losing to the Browns.
Speaker 1: I think they're a competitive team. If the Jets win,
Speaker 1: I'll be very happy because I'll be two and one
Speaker 1: and we're flying. If they lose, Hey, it makes Marks
Speaker 1: stay better and you're a very good friend. Think I am.
Speaker 1: I think that's what we take out of this right.
Speaker 1: What what's the word PALLIATI could have a palliative effect
Speaker 1: on Are you seriously going to go make kyl I'm
Speaker 1: googling palliative find all the one effect on Mark's health?
Speaker 1: But Mark, we love you. Take as much time as
Speaker 1: you need. But yeah, come back. It's not the same
Speaker 1: without you that guy. Uh. So um get well soon.
Speaker 1: Mark will Brinson of CBS joining us a little bit later.
Speaker 1: But before that, let us do some news. All right.
Speaker 1: Let's start with Josh Gordon, Mark's favorite team, the Cleveland Browns, UH,
Speaker 1: finally decided and this this broke on Saturday night that
Speaker 1: they after Josh Gordon showed up to a practice late, UH,
Speaker 1: and they had some concerns I think about his sobriety
Speaker 1: or something. It was very kind of or something. There
Speaker 1: was something going on again, seemed out of character or
Speaker 1: off in some way, according to the plane dealer. So
Speaker 1: they finally decided time to get rid of Josh Gordon.
Speaker 1: After years of working uh to see if they can
Speaker 1: make it work between player and team. UH, they announced
Speaker 1: he's going to be waived, and then it becomes a
Speaker 1: situation where they're gonna look to trade him. And what
Speaker 1: happens on Monday. It's announced by the Browns that they
Speaker 1: trade the wide receiver and a conditional two thousand, nineteen
Speaker 1: seventh round pick to the Patriots, the Patriots of all
Speaker 1: teams for a two thousand, nineteen five rounder. So we're
Speaker 1: a little late on this. News, but we got a
Speaker 1: touch on it, lindsay, start, uh well, wait, can we
Speaker 1: start with what this means for Mark? Oh my god?
Speaker 1: I mean, I mean it's already rough enough, right, and
Speaker 1: now he's going to have to drink bleach. Just that
Speaker 1: went viral Mark Mark saying he texted Saturday night and
Speaker 1: obviously a distressed state. He texted that he would drink
Speaker 1: bleach if the Browns traded Josh Gordon to the Patriots
Speaker 1: for somebody'son through the Jets in there too, which felt
Speaker 1: like a shot at me for like a year to right, like,
Speaker 1: isn't it. I mean, I mean there's like, yeah, there's
Speaker 1: a time frame. It's not just the one time thing.
Speaker 1: And it ends up later viral to the point where
Speaker 1: like clowns like Darren Revel are quote retweeting and it
Speaker 1: just becomes a whole thing. So what it means fair
Speaker 1: like we did this to uh Mary's randall with the
Speaker 1: whole Jersey thing in Cleveland. He could just go that
Speaker 1: route and say that he was kidding, obviously not interested
Speaker 1: in dying in the interest of the ounds. Sometimes I wonder, yeah,
Speaker 1: maybe it's best just to get off Twitter all of us.
Speaker 1: I see, I don't have these complications with Twitter that
Speaker 1: you guys do. I like, I take it for what
Speaker 1: it is, but I understand why why it gets annoying
Speaker 1: if you put something out there like that that people
Speaker 1: are gonna seize on it. When Mark comes back, we'll
Speaker 1: have to have a conversation about his reaction to that,
Speaker 1: because you could always blame it on the health issues,
Speaker 1: say something was clearly off. See he's tweeting it for
Speaker 1: his followers who know him and know it's clearly a joke,
Speaker 1: and then like black Sports Online and Dan Ravelle get
Speaker 1: ahold of it and they have no idea who Mark
Speaker 1: is and they see it as cherry picking for clicks.
Speaker 1: He was joking, right, of course he was joking. I mean,
Speaker 1: the colonel of the story on this podcast is this
Speaker 1: has been Mark's n nightmare for four years. It has
Speaker 1: explained why he has said this over and over again.
Speaker 1: Anytime we've talked about Josh Gordon's in suspensions and the
Speaker 1: Browns finally giving up on him, his reservation every time
Speaker 1: is that Osh Gordon is going to get sober, join
Speaker 1: the Patriots, become an all pro, win the Super Bowl,
Speaker 1: and become the toast of the league. Have the success
Speaker 1: that his Browns will never have. And that's what happened
Speaker 1: with Chris Carter years ago. Uh when he got to
Speaker 1: the vikings from the Eagles, and we're all hoping that
Speaker 1: Josh Gordon is sober and stay sober. But you can
Speaker 1: understand why Brown's friends would be frustrated, especially when there's
Speaker 1: no like proof necessarily or it's not out there that
Speaker 1: he actually did have any type of relapse. Did they
Speaker 1: just lose patience? And I think it's a great fun
Speaker 1: that hard. I mean, I don't think a grown person
Speaker 1: can believe that the Browns, after six years of patients
Speaker 1: just said we he heard his hamstring in a weird way.
Speaker 1: We're just gonna throw in the towel. There has to
Speaker 1: be more to the story. Yeah, by the way, a
Speaker 1: hamstring that is now fully recovered and he's ready to
Speaker 1: play this week for the Patriots. But um, I kind
Speaker 1: of look at it from a different point of view.
Speaker 1: I think that some of the moves that we've seen
Speaker 1: made in Cleveland this year feel very uh different from
Speaker 1: moves that we've seen in Cleveland in years past. It
Speaker 1: feels like John Dorsey has has a firm grasp on
Speaker 1: where he wants this team to go, and that he's
Speaker 1: kind of a no nonsense type of guy, and that
Speaker 1: while he wants to give people second and third chances,
Speaker 1: as we saw on Hard Knocks, I feel like this
Speaker 1: might actually be a good sign for the future of
Speaker 1: the Cleveland Browns. And I understand why Brown's hands would
Speaker 1: be completely afraid that he would be like the Sable
Speaker 1: MVP at the end of the season. Um, but I
Speaker 1: still think that this is a good move for that
Speaker 1: particular franchise, which at some point you have to draw
Speaker 1: a line in the sand and say this does not
Speaker 1: fly here anymore, and you have to be that you
Speaker 1: have to have that rule hard and fast across the
Speaker 1: board for a ton of patients. And I thought it
Speaker 1: was telling on Hard Knocks when Josh Gordon reappeared from
Speaker 1: another mysterious absence, UH near the end of training camp,
Speaker 1: Hugh Jack's a big smile on his face, kind of
Speaker 1: saddles up next to Todd Haley, the defensive coordinator. He's like,
Speaker 1: you know something along the lines if he's back, he's back,
Speaker 1: and then Todd is like, well, you is he in
Speaker 1: shape or like it seemed like Hugh was more excited
Speaker 1: about the specter of what Josh Gordon could be, and
Speaker 1: everybody else is kind of like, well, you know, we'll see.
Speaker 1: That was totally my takeaway too, that Todd was completely nonplussed. Yeah, exactly,
Speaker 1: So we'll see what happens. It's a high upside trade,
Speaker 1: I think for the Patriots if it all connects, and
Speaker 1: we don't know if it will, Cann he grasp the playbook.
Speaker 1: Can he stay on the straight and narrow, But if
Speaker 1: it all does work out, he's exactly what that team
Speaker 1: seems to be missing on offense, right was Yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: sure Bill Belichick watched the game Sunday night, the tape
Speaker 1: and he saw how creative that Jacksonville Jaguars weren't taking
Speaker 1: out Rob Gronkowski and how Tom Brady could not make
Speaker 1: them pay because Julian Edelman's suspended, Chris Hogan's not a
Speaker 1: number one receiver. Uh, Philip door Set's not a number
Speaker 1: one receiver. These guys aren't drawing double coverage or beating
Speaker 1: extra coverage or even beating single coverage a lot of time.
Speaker 1: They needed a guy like Josh Gordon. And what's the
Speaker 1: downside the draft? I think we all know the draft
Speaker 1: there is about four rounds deep every year. It's you
Speaker 1: can get lottery tickets in the fifth, six, and seventh round,
Speaker 1: but there's not many starters coming out of those rounds.
Speaker 1: So what do you give up? We'll see how it
Speaker 1: all risk plays out. Moving on, drama around the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Speaker 1: Can you hit me up with like your California born
Speaker 1: and bred woman like almost like I don't want to
Speaker 1: say valley girl. That's almost insulting to you, but like
Speaker 1: the uptalk, give me uptalk, just give me something like drama,
Speaker 1: something like that, like the recap, up the story. Yeah,
Speaker 1: just give it to me. I don't know what they're
Speaker 1: doing in Pittsburgh, you guys. Things are out of control.
Speaker 1: Labe on boun shot bees like trade me and Ben
Speaker 1: is like no, no, no, guys, look at me, look
Speaker 1: at me. Let me say something to make you look
Speaker 1: at me. I'm hurt to my elbow hurts very Wow.
Speaker 1: That's impressive. Wow, I'm in pred That was If they
Speaker 1: ever reboot, I think SNL has to say goodbye to
Speaker 1: the Californians. But if they ever reboot it, however, just
Speaker 1: the way the way people talk about how they're getting
Speaker 1: to where they're going is. I don't know that anyone
Speaker 1: outside of l A fully understands how genius that is. Yeah, um,
Speaker 1: so it was very natural. It's lurking within. It's like
Speaker 1: when where I'm from the Northeast, certain people that are
Speaker 1: from let's say New England. Uh, they work the the
Speaker 1: that harsh New England accent out of their system through
Speaker 1: the years, but then after a couple of drinks, all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, like the ours disappear. Yeah. Anyway, let's
Speaker 1: get Lindsay drunk. Basically, just let her go all out
Speaker 1: with the old school act. On the next around the podcast,
Speaker 1: Antonio Brown, Uh, some troll former team employee uh kind
Speaker 1: of makes a comment a B needs to thank his
Speaker 1: lucky stars because he was drafted by a team that
Speaker 1: had Ben, and Ben got a B paid. You know
Speaker 1: darn well he wouldn't put up those numbers for other teams.
Speaker 1: That was a tweet from this former employee of the team.
Speaker 1: Antonio Down uh quote retweets trade me. Let's find out
Speaker 1: that leads to more drama around the oh one and
Speaker 1: one Steelers, who are already going through stuff. They couldn't
Speaker 1: beat the Browns. They don't have left left Bell and now, Uh,
Speaker 1: to compound matters, Antonio Brown is not at the next
Speaker 1: next team practice. And this is what Antonio, this is
Speaker 1: what Mike Tomlin had to say about that situation. UM.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna openly talk about a lot of things
Speaker 1: that occur in social media. You can be chasing it always.
Speaker 1: I will say this, UM, it's important, UM, that that
Speaker 1: we understand our position, uh, the light that shined on
Speaker 1: us in the responsibility that comes with it. It's been
Speaker 1: a couple of instances. Now will you've asked me about
Speaker 1: Antonio regarding some social media like things. I'll address that
Speaker 1: and address that very directly with him, but I'll leave
Speaker 1: that between he and I. He was not No, I'm
Speaker 1: looking forward to visiting with him today and discussing that
Speaker 1: and some other things. I'm not gonna get into the
Speaker 1: details of why he wasn't hear what, whether he was
Speaker 1: excused in all of those things. UM, I just assuon
Speaker 1: leave those things in the house. And of course, Mike Tomlin,
Speaker 1: you'll note there he didn't say definitively that it was
Speaker 1: even an excused practice for Antonio Brown, which further muddies
Speaker 1: the waters. I don't care what the agent says West.
Speaker 1: It seems like there's a little smoke here. There is
Speaker 1: a lot of smoke. There's fire here. And to me
Speaker 1: erase any connection to Levion Bell, this is a separate
Speaker 1: story that goes back to last year, in the year before,
Speaker 1: at the end of the two thousand sixteen season, do
Speaker 1: a Google search for Antonio Brown and pout or pouting,
Speaker 1: and you'll see multiple stories that he was pouting because
Speaker 1: he wasn't getting the ball enough. He wasn't getting the
Speaker 1: ball on the right routes enough, so he started freelancing
Speaker 1: and doing his own route running. And if you'll remember,
Speaker 1: after that season, there was talk trade talk with the
Speaker 1: Steelers put up with him, and then last year there's
Speaker 1: a disconnect between him and Big Ben. He was miffed
Speaker 1: about the way the national anthem controversy was held that
Speaker 1: Big Ben in a team meeting, did not want players
Speaker 1: Neil and Antonio Brown wanted to kneel. These two have
Speaker 1: issues going back a couple of years, and I think
Speaker 1: it's totally separate from Lavy on bill Well and Mike
Speaker 1: Garafullo reporting yesterday that he's upset about the way in
Speaker 1: which he's been targeted on the field. Like he's not
Speaker 1: being targeted on deep throws. Yeah, but he's the most
Speaker 1: targeted receiver in the NFL. And at a certain point
Speaker 1: when you under you have to understand when you're the
Speaker 1: best receiver, uh in the NFL, Like a lot of
Speaker 1: people think that he is. That You're gonna draw a
Speaker 1: lot of defenders and that's just gonna be your job.
Speaker 1: And then that works for the offense. Sometimes your numbers
Speaker 1: are gonna go down as a result, because then Juju
Speaker 1: Smith Schuster is going to be open. And uh, you know,
Speaker 1: Reggie Wayne told us yesterday on Total Access he dealt
Speaker 1: with that a lot. When he was in Indianapolis, he
Speaker 1: played both roles. He was the guy who got the
Speaker 1: ball because Marvin was drawing defenders. And then later in
Speaker 1: his career he was that guy who was the number
Speaker 1: one who drew defenders himself. So it kind of just
Speaker 1: goes with the territory. To me, all of this comes
Speaker 1: back to Mike Tomlin, though, Like why do all of
Speaker 1: these stories continue to come out of Pittsburgh? And I
Speaker 1: really like him. I mean, he's got a swag and
Speaker 1: he's got like a he comes across as somebody who
Speaker 1: doesn't put up with any guph but then his players
Speaker 1: continue to put themselves in positions where they don't seem
Speaker 1: to know where the line is, like discipline seems to
Speaker 1: be an issue. And I realized that New England is
Speaker 1: a like they're a unicorn, right, Like nobody else in
Speaker 1: the league operates this way. But you can't help but say, like,
Speaker 1: none of this would fly in New England. You just
Speaker 1: wouldn't happen, you know, So why is it that it
Speaker 1: happens in a place like Pittsburgh. We all have to
Speaker 1: kind of look at that at some point. In this
Speaker 1: specific instance, I think he's enabled and allowed to do
Speaker 1: this because he's more invested than the quarterback. And what
Speaker 1: I mean by invest is he works harder than any
Speaker 1: wide receiver in the league. He works harder, harder maybe
Speaker 1: than any wide receiver in history outside of Jerry Rice.
Speaker 1: He's invested in being great, maybe more than Big Ben
Speaker 1: is invested in being great. And I think that's where
Speaker 1: a frustration with Antonio Brown lies. Doesn't mean he should
Speaker 1: pout and run the wrong routes and be this outspoken,
Speaker 1: but I think it's a natural frustration. Maybe that's why,
Speaker 1: And I don't know, maybe big Ben on the surface,
Speaker 1: looks like he's not as invested. Maybe he's equally or
Speaker 1: more so, that's just my You wonder if that's how
Speaker 1: Antonio Brown feels. Why he's unable to keep himself from
Speaker 1: being triggered by a tweet like that when someone says
Speaker 1: big Ben is basical because he's never caught a touchdown
Speaker 1: from any Steeler's backup quarterback. When big Ben's missed time,
Speaker 1: his production his minuscule when big Ben's out, So I
Speaker 1: think it does strike a nerve with him, and you
Speaker 1: know what cures everything, though, guys winning the schedule looks
Speaker 1: like they've got Ryan Fitzpatrick and the Buccaneers this at
Speaker 1: Tampa home, Baltimore home, Atlanta at Cincinnati. That is not
Speaker 1: an easy schedule and they could be in a little
Speaker 1: bit of trouble, but they also four of those games.
Speaker 1: Let's take a hot minute to appreciate the fact that
Speaker 1: we just read off Tampa Bay as a team that
Speaker 1: they're facing and we went, oh gosh, that's nothing moving on.
Speaker 1: The defending champions have their quarterback back Carson Wentz, cleared
Speaker 1: to return, will start Week three versus the Indianapolis Colts.
Speaker 1: Doug Peterson said he's ready, ready to take the reins
Speaker 1: and move forward. Problem solve. Sunday will mark the first
Speaker 1: time went sees the field since tearing his A C
Speaker 1: L and L c L in December of last year.
Speaker 1: Nick Foles started the first two games. Lindsay Rhodes and
Speaker 1: uh kind of looked like bad Nick Foles and I
Speaker 1: wondered on this podcast last week if the Eagles did
Speaker 1: not look good, would they be pressured to get Wentz
Speaker 1: back on the field sooner than they maybe would like to.
Speaker 1: We don't know. They'll never tell you whether or not
Speaker 1: this has been something that was accelerated based on the
Speaker 1: first two weeks. But it doesn't matter anyway. Wentz is back, Yeah,
Speaker 1: and uh, I mean, who knows, who knows what to expect.
Speaker 1: If he comes out and he's Carson Wentz, the guy
Speaker 1: that we saw when he left with his injury, then great,
Speaker 1: this is a great move. As soon as he's healthy,
Speaker 1: as soon as he can walk, I'd put him out
Speaker 1: back out on the field. But you know, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I haven't seen him in practice. Wouldn't you be shocked
Speaker 1: if he's like m v P candidate Carson Wentz right
Speaker 1: off the bat. I don't know if that would shock me,
Speaker 1: but it wouldn't shock me if he wasn't. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm just I'm kind of expecting him to need to
Speaker 1: ease back in. I mean, he hasn't even been practicing fully,
Speaker 1: He hasn't been cleared for contact until this past week.
Speaker 1: So now it's like, hey, you can hit him, go
Speaker 1: start play now. Yeah, not just because of the injuries,
Speaker 1: but they there ground attack wasn't there last week? Sean
Speaker 1: Jeffreys out, Mike Wallace got injured. Is on Matthews back.
Speaker 1: So who's an entirely different receiver than the guy he's replacing.
Speaker 1: He's sort of like a bigger slot receiver, and Mike
Speaker 1: Wallace is a deep threat with speed and they need
Speaker 1: that speed because they have very little playmaking ability right now.
Speaker 1: Georgean Matthew, by the way, his hamstring, which was a
Speaker 1: problem and the reason that New England let him go
Speaker 1: in August, now fully healed miraculously. Also funny how hamstrings,
Speaker 1: you know, get fixed. Aren't they supposed to be lingering?
Speaker 1: I don't know, but Matthews is back. His career went
Speaker 1: off the rails as soon as he left Philly, where
Speaker 1: he spent his first three seasons. So I'll see if
Speaker 1: getting back in Philly helps matters. A former Philly player
Speaker 1: Deshan Jackson now making big plays in Tampa with those
Speaker 1: unstoppable Bucks fits. Magic is back. And guess what. D Jacks,
Speaker 1: who never did really connect west with Jameis Winston in
Speaker 1: his first season with the Bucks, has connected in a
Speaker 1: big way with Ryan Fitzpatrick. And he is now telling
Speaker 1: the press you can't take the hot guy out on
Speaker 1: and off the field. He's he's got, he's dressing Ryan
Speaker 1: Fitzpatrick after the games, and he's already gotten two games
Speaker 1: as many deep catches from Ryan Fitzpatrick as he had
Speaker 1: all of last year with Jamis Winston. And to me,
Speaker 1: this is a no brainer. It's like Dak Prescott playing
Speaker 1: over Tony Romo or you know, we talked about this
Speaker 1: on on the video show yesterday, Twitter Show. It's twenty
Speaker 1: year anniversary of the season which saw Randall Cunningham, Vinny
Speaker 1: test Already and Doug Flutie come in as journeyman veterans
Speaker 1: and lead all three of those teams to the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Fitzpatrick can do that because this offense is loaded. Todd
Speaker 1: Monkin is over overseeing the play calling, there's a lot
Speaker 1: more spacing. Receivers are running wide open. I think Fitzpatrick
Speaker 1: keeps his job all year. I certainly think that there's
Speaker 1: no question that he keeps it when Jamis is eligible
Speaker 1: to come back. I I mean, I think he'd have
Speaker 1: to fall off a cliff and it would take a
Speaker 1: few weeks of that in order for James literally. Well,
Speaker 1: I wasn't that Morosse with my story, but um, but yeah,
Speaker 1: I think Ryan Fitzpatrick is He's a guy who has
Speaker 1: nothing to lose those chances he's playing loose. I loved
Speaker 1: the post game, the get up thing. I just loved it.
Speaker 1: I loved what it meant for the locker room. I
Speaker 1: loved the message that it sent from a leadership standpoint.
Speaker 1: I loved that it's a quarterback who's not so aloof
Speaker 1: and separating himself from the group. I mean, it just
Speaker 1: sent so many subtle messages to me about what's going
Speaker 1: on there in Tampa Bay. Right now, I would ride
Speaker 1: that horse. You know what. People like Ryan Fitzpatrick because
Speaker 1: he's fun and during fits, magic fits magic in two
Speaker 1: thousand fifteen with the Jets, same thing. He gets hot.
Speaker 1: He he's very good at the media with his teammates,
Speaker 1: and he always is kind of a step back and
Speaker 1: kind of laughs at it all a little bit. He
Speaker 1: doesn't take things too seriously. He views it's almost like
Speaker 1: he's used his entire career. He's just kind of like
Speaker 1: this funny thing that's happened to him that he never expected.
Speaker 1: So you kind of attach yourself to that because it
Speaker 1: is such a different vibe than you see in professional sports,
Speaker 1: not just football, the way he views things like that
Speaker 1: guy and Dirk Cutter, but ahead and and and let's
Speaker 1: not forget it's not like Jamis Winston was on sure
Speaker 1: footing before Ryan Fitzpatrick started playing well. I mean, Jamis,
Speaker 1: we talked a lot in the off season about whether
Speaker 1: or not they should definitely draft a quarterback this April,
Speaker 1: no matter what happens with this season, because he just
Speaker 1: doesn't look like, uh, he's making smart choices off the
Speaker 1: field or on the field as a you know, from
Speaker 1: a quarterback standpoint. So it's not like we're replacing you know,
Speaker 1: it's not Drew Bledsoe and all of a sudden Tom
Speaker 1: Brady is playing well. I mean, you have a you
Speaker 1: have a shaky quarterback situation as it is. It's a
Speaker 1: long season, and slumps happened, but I don't think he's
Speaker 1: gonna be benched until an extended slump happens. Yeah. Finally,
Speaker 1: the kicker apocalypse of Week two has cost people their jobs.
Speaker 1: As we imagined that would happen, The Vikings decided to
Speaker 1: move on from Daniel Carlson, their fifth round pick. Uh.
Speaker 1: Carlson took ownership of what was a miserable day against
Speaker 1: the Packers. He said, I let my team down. Uh.
Speaker 1: And this is this one surprised me a little bit.
Speaker 1: Here was Mike Zimmer when he was asked about the
Speaker 1: decision to cut ties with Carlson. Here's how he played it.
Speaker 1: What's the thing you know or what went into the
Speaker 1: decision today? I'll have Daniel Carlson to go. Did you
Speaker 1: see the game? Was? It was an easy decision, cold
Speaker 1: cold blood, so cold blooded and it actually got on
Speaker 1: my radar and I like Mike Zimmer a lot, but uh,
Speaker 1: you would never say that about anybody else on the team,
Speaker 1: And it just it just shows that disconnect and you know,
Speaker 1: to be perfectly honest, like disrespect for a guy. It's
Speaker 1: a professional that's going through something that probably is really crappy.
Speaker 1: I didn't. I didn't like that at all. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: agree with that, um. But on the other hand, Dan
Speaker 1: Bailey strikes a blow for kickers. I've never seen this before.
Speaker 1: A kicker holds out for more money. He's not going
Speaker 1: to just sign with anyone. He's out there on the
Speaker 1: kicker circuit, and he demanded to get paid. He got
Speaker 1: two million dollars. They didn't give him like the league minimum.
Speaker 1: He held out for money. Good for him, Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: that was that's good. You don't. You don't see kickers
Speaker 1: ever with leverage, so he used it. Absolutely the second
Speaker 1: most accurate kicker in history. And he's on the streets,
Speaker 1: which is why you hold out for that million dollars,
Speaker 1: because man, a kicker with leverage that I am the
Speaker 1: kind of person so this, uh, I root for the
Speaker 1: kicker if it comes down to the I mean, I
Speaker 1: don't have a I don't have if if it's my team,
Speaker 1: like if it's USC, then I'm not rooting for the
Speaker 1: kicker to beat them at the end of the game.
Speaker 1: But every other game, I'm rooting for the kicker, And
Speaker 1: doesn't matter what storyline I've been rooting for. If it
Speaker 1: comes down to it. I hate the idea that one
Speaker 1: guy is going to walk off the field after uh
Speaker 1: sixty minute game in which so many things could have
Speaker 1: happened and so many people could have made plays to
Speaker 1: win it, and everyone's gonna say this person lost the
Speaker 1: game for us. I hate that that's the narrative that
Speaker 1: takes over. It just bugs me. We hear all the
Speaker 1: time that it's unfair that a kicker who's not involved,
Speaker 1: who's on the field for about sixty seconds of real
Speaker 1: time during a game, gets to decide the fates of
Speaker 1: the other fifty two players and in the coaching staff.
Speaker 1: But it's also unfair how the position has involved evolved.
Speaker 1: Kicker was never meant to have like within him one
Speaker 1: point three seconds of a swing of his leg have
Speaker 1: the entire game resting on his shoulders. In Mark Moseley
Speaker 1: one m v P. Because nobody expected kickers to reliably
Speaker 1: come through in the clutch. He was a toe banger
Speaker 1: at the time. Now they're all soccer styre kickers making
Speaker 1: toe banger, he says. I like that it's just evolved
Speaker 1: in a way where you're expected to nail every kick,
Speaker 1: and that was never the purpose of the kicker in football.
Speaker 1: In other news, the Browns has expected cut ties with
Speaker 1: Zane Gonzalez uh and signed a new kicker, Greg Joseph,
Speaker 1: who was on the uh in camp with the Dobbins
Speaker 1: didn't make the team, so maybe things will go better
Speaker 1: for Greg than it did for for poor Zane. Uh And.
Speaker 1: The Rams also had to sign a kicker because their guy,
Speaker 1: Greg the Leg has an injury. Sam faking ficking cking
Speaker 1: uh he is. He is back in the league, so
Speaker 1: he he will take the place of Greg the Leg
Speaker 1: temporarily um as he recovers a groin Injurywick kicker, new
Speaker 1: ficking kicker. And by the way, uh uh, Hugh Jackson
Speaker 1: and that kicker, Yeah, Hugh Jackson didn't know of a
Speaker 1: groin injury. That'st Gonzals might have had. I don't know
Speaker 1: if that's the Brown's fault or or you hid the injury,
Speaker 1: but just too many of these stories around the Browns.
Speaker 1: I don't know why Josh Gordon actually started the game
Speaker 1: when he wasn't supposed to start. I didn't know the
Speaker 1: kicker was this, I didn't know this. I didn't know
Speaker 1: that Hugh come on at a certain point and and
Speaker 1: finally in kicking that's how they do things around there. Yeah,
Speaker 1: finally kicker news. Uh, I did I do have a
Speaker 1: prop a sandwich prop a Lindsay with Greg Rosenthal that
Speaker 1: my boy Kai for Bath would get a job out
Speaker 1: of all this madness. Kay still on the couch, So
Speaker 1: Daddy's gonna have to pay out a sandwich and I
Speaker 1: ain't happy about it. Hey, there's still a few days.
Speaker 1: Someone can pull a hamstring. That's all I got. Now.
Speaker 1: I have a few days for someone to get hurt,
Speaker 1: and I'm not I'm not gonna do that. That guy.
Speaker 1: I don't root for that. So I'll just pay up
Speaker 1: and that will be it. That's what's happening in the news.
Speaker 1: All right. Okay, before we get to our boy Will Brinson,
Speaker 1: uh from CBS, we need we have Lindsay here. So uh,
Speaker 1: if you remember the last time Lindsay was here in
Speaker 1: the spring, Uh, we took advantage of her expert abilities
Speaker 1: to read Total Access, which is the flagship program of
Speaker 1: NFL Network or six times a week at seven pm
Speaker 1: Eastern's right, you're like like question Mark. He hosts that
Speaker 1: program with Scott Hansen. So uh. Part of your gig, Lindsay,
Speaker 1: of course, is that you do the promos or as
Speaker 1: you have taught me, topical. Okay, yes, that's what we
Speaker 1: call him. So while we're using jargon before we kiss
Speaker 1: you off, we need to that's that's jargon. H you're
Speaker 1: like a professional TV person. Now let's do some topics
Speaker 1: t A Topicals from the future with Lindsay Rhodes. And
Speaker 1: if you don't know what the hell I'm talking about,
Speaker 1: this is what a topical sounds like. Just two days
Speaker 1: away from the first game of week three, will it
Speaker 1: be win number one for Cleveland, We've got your Thursday
Speaker 1: night look ahead, straight ahead on NFL Total Access. All right,
Speaker 1: so here are some topicals from the future, some promos
Speaker 1: from the future. I have in my hand. This is
Speaker 1: what you read off sometimes the prompter know that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: number one. Here we go, wait for the music. Okay, Okay.
Speaker 1: On NFL Total Access, the Cardinals and Bills decide to
Speaker 1: combine teams to feel the competitive single entity for a
Speaker 1: balance of the season. For the balance of the season,
Speaker 1: I'm a professional reader. Sean McDermott and Steve Wilkes will
Speaker 1: fight to the debt for the right to be head
Speaker 1: coach live on the Kyle Brand Football experience. Matt Grader
Speaker 1: is in studio to explain my place. Kickers are the
Speaker 1: only real men left in this world. Tonight, seventiestern alright,
Speaker 1: very good, a little beefy. Maybe I should have an edit.
Speaker 1: It's the music loops. Okay, we'll keep playing from the
Speaker 1: beginning again. All right, let's try this one. This is
Speaker 1: a little bit shorter and a decent read, but poor
Speaker 1: writing mostly. Go ahead. Tonight on NFL Total Accent, the
Speaker 1: Browns make it official. The last twenty years have been
Speaker 1: an extended Truman Show style social experiment targeted at Los
Speaker 1: Angeles based sports writer Mark Sessler, Got You Bud? Plus
Speaker 1: Matt Prater is in studio to discuss why he prefers
Speaker 1: his jewels Sue feed to any other cooking product on
Speaker 1: the market. Right now tonight, seventies a lot. We're just
Speaker 1: like you know, the Kickers are in the news. Let's
Speaker 1: just go with that. I mean, you gotta gets in
Speaker 1: this one too. Tonight on NFL Total Access. Dogs can
Speaker 1: walk now they're talking a little bit too. How will
Speaker 1: this news affect the Browns? On Thursday Night Football against
Speaker 1: the Jets. Plus Matt Prader in studio for a discussion
Speaker 1: on how the Dog News changes the dynamic of the
Speaker 1: master of the Master pet relationship. Tonight seventies stern. Dogs
Speaker 1: not already walking like right? Dogs walking up right? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Look at him? Look at like looking at this critically,
Speaker 1: do not walk fine? West, then focus on the talking part. Right, Well,
Speaker 1: we'll edit the copy. West walking their hind legs. Dogs
Speaker 1: are now bipedal Um the Live Twitter show, by the way,
Speaker 1: b minus, I was lying, Um, Lindsay Rhodes, you've done
Speaker 1: it again. You came in here and you you changed everything.
Speaker 1: Are you sweating a little bit? He's like wiping his forehead.
Speaker 1: Is it? Am I making you nervous? You make me noivous? Um?
Speaker 1: She is the host of Total Access. She is a
Speaker 1: stalwart around here. You Friday, seven Eastern tonight on NFL
Speaker 1: Total Access seven Eastern at Lindsay Rhodes on Twitter And
Speaker 1: is that right? Think it's Lindsay underscore Roads and the
Speaker 1: best damn Valley girl accent in the game right now?
Speaker 1: Thanks Dan, It's too real. You posted that photo on
Speaker 1: Instagram recently from your cheerleading game, and now I have
Speaker 1: the image of what you looked like. And I did
Speaker 1: not sound like that. We didn't talk like that in
Speaker 1: Orange County. Um, I think everybody to a degree was yeah.
Speaker 1: I like where else are you going to go hang out?
Speaker 1: All right, lindsay thank you, bye, guys. Let's take a
Speaker 1: moment to hear from our sponsor. You may or may
Speaker 1: not have heard, but Lows is the new home of craftsmen,
Speaker 1: which means that at low As you'll find an ever
Speaker 1: growing selection of mechanics, tools, tool storage and more in
Speaker 1: store and online, ready to help tackle projects throughout your home.
Speaker 1: If one of those projects happens to be in a
Speaker 1: really tight space to get to, then you definitely need
Speaker 1: to check out the one twenty to thratchet. It has
Speaker 1: a three degree arcs arc swing. You guys, don't you
Speaker 1: know what that does? You gotta know by now as
Speaker 1: it's uh it really helps the escapability and maneuverability of
Speaker 1: the object. That's actually absolutely correct. A three degree arks
Speaker 1: sling means you can tighten or loosen UH bolts with
Speaker 1: less movement in those hard to reach spots. That should
Speaker 1: make it easy to tackle any auto or d I
Speaker 1: Y project on your list. Plus they come in gun
Speaker 1: metal chrome that's not only sharp looking, it makes them
Speaker 1: corrosion resistant Cool right shop the new home of Craftsman
Speaker 1: Today at lows dot com slash around. That's Lows dot
Speaker 1: com slash round. All right, so we have kissed off
Speaker 1: Lindsay professionally, and now we'll welcome and another wonderful human being.
Speaker 1: Uh you know him, uh from his noted Twitter feed.
Speaker 1: Uh you know him from his writings on CBS Sports
Speaker 1: and his daily podcast which is called the Pick six
Speaker 1: Pots Pick six Podcast. I should have known it. I'm
Speaker 1: a bad host. It's Will Brinson. Well that's up, bddy,
Speaker 1: welcome to me Around the NFL podcast. Well, I thought
Speaker 1: you were actually setting me up to to dive in
Speaker 1: on it. Dan. It sounded like a good hosting job
Speaker 1: you told on yourself. There I've had, I've got I
Speaker 1: think I've got like three quarters of the heroes on
Speaker 1: so far West. We'll have to get you onto to
Speaker 1: chat football and and what is it? Check calls it
Speaker 1: the game of life at some point. Oh yeah, anytime.
Speaker 1: Check is one of my favorite checks. MS. You're not
Speaker 1: just surviving the gool is to live l I v
Speaker 1: I N baby, very true. Will is a longtime friend
Speaker 1: of the show, and we thought, you know, it was
Speaker 1: time to have will on. It's just West and I.
Speaker 1: So it's just gonna be a three man we've here
Speaker 1: and and why not dig into as we look ahead
Speaker 1: to Week three a segment we like to call things
Speaker 1: about two thousand eighteen that are way different than two
Speaker 1: thousand seventeen. Pithy, catchy, it is what it is. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's a Wednesday sigh and we're doing our best. Will Uh,
Speaker 1: you are the guests, so you will kick it off
Speaker 1: for us. What is way different? I'll tell you what.
Speaker 1: The thing that struck me going back and watching some
Speaker 1: NFL game pass that that is, Hey, you know NFL
Speaker 1: dot com Slash game Pass free seven day trial right now. Actually,
Speaker 1: if you go to NFL dot com, this is some
Speaker 1: good stuff. This is some sad stuff, but I'm enjoining it.
Speaker 1: Uh No. I was watching the Colton Redskins game this
Speaker 1: morning because I was trying to figure out how in
Speaker 1: hades the Redskins just got their doors blown off from
Speaker 1: a you know, yeah, basically got out manned by the
Speaker 1: culture supposed to be this week soft team. And I'll
Speaker 1: tell you what's different. The cults aren't weak. The cults
Speaker 1: are tough. The cults are nasty. And the Colts have
Speaker 1: talent on or at least hustle and energy on both
Speaker 1: sides of the line and in the trenches. Quinn Nelson
Speaker 1: is a bad, bad man, guys, and I know Uh West.
Speaker 1: I think we either tweeted or wrote about maybe uh
Speaker 1: Marcus Hunt. They've been getting the Matt Eber flows. The
Speaker 1: defensive coordinator is getting maximum effort out of Marcus Hunt.
Speaker 1: And Jabal shared I think the Redskins have one of
Speaker 1: the best offensive lines in the league when they're healthy.
Speaker 1: And the Colts were getting consistent pressure on Alex Smith
Speaker 1: and getting a lot of push on the defensive side
Speaker 1: of the ball, and I was really really surprised by
Speaker 1: the effort from the Colts on both sides. And I
Speaker 1: think that one of the things that we sort of
Speaker 1: sleep on when we cover the NFL is the upgrade
Speaker 1: downgrade factor and coaching, Like I think it's happening right
Speaker 1: now in Arizona. Steve Wilkes, really good human being. Think
Speaker 1: you're probably a fine coach at some point, but a
Speaker 1: big down grade right now from Bruce Area and the
Speaker 1: Colts coaching staff as a whole is a huge upgrade
Speaker 1: over what they had before. Yeah, you're talking about a
Speaker 1: Redskins team that bullied Arizona in Week one and then
Speaker 1: the Colts took it to him. Marcus Hunt is throwing
Speaker 1: people around, other human beings. He's just picking them up
Speaker 1: and moving them. Darius Leonard had eighteen tackles in that game.
Speaker 1: He's a beast. The Colts aren't what people think they are.
Speaker 1: That and marguts Hunt. He joins Chris Hogan as maybe
Speaker 1: the and I let me know if I'm missing anybody,
Speaker 1: but guys that were set up on hard knocks is
Speaker 1: to be kind of lovable underdogs or just kind of
Speaker 1: side characters that after kind of going underground for a
Speaker 1: couple of years, have now emerged as actual players in
Speaker 1: the league. Like Hunt is a difference maker. Yeah, I mean, look,
Speaker 1: he's a what's he used the is he Latvian or Estonian?
Speaker 1: I can't remember. He's he's Estonian Eastern Block all the
Speaker 1: all those Eastern Europeans looked the same to me. Uh,
Speaker 1: the mean he was he was like this, like, oh,
Speaker 1: this big guy who's making a transition from you know,
Speaker 1: some like discus throwing or something like that into actually
Speaker 1: being a football player. I don't think he actually was
Speaker 1: a disc thrower, but something shot putter. Yeah, exactly right,
Speaker 1: right like it or like an extra Game of Thrones
Speaker 1: or something. Um, and he comes in and now he's
Speaker 1: developed into this guy who has gotten technique to go
Speaker 1: along with the raw strength he's throwing dudes around. Like
Speaker 1: you pointed out, I think I think one of the
Speaker 1: guys too on the defense who's not his physical per
Speaker 1: se West that we could end up seeing make a
Speaker 1: major impact this year if he stays healthy. Is Malik
Speaker 1: Hooker even when you see like, um it was j
Speaker 1: MS Crowder on an end around had a fumble and
Speaker 1: Hooker just like he just he has he like is
Speaker 1: it just attracted to the ball, Like he's just a
Speaker 1: ball talking guy who knows how to go get it
Speaker 1: and he he immediately picks it up he's running. It got overturned,
Speaker 1: but you could just see the instincts of him being
Speaker 1: able to make a difference. I think that this Colts
Speaker 1: team could I mean I don't know if they can.
Speaker 1: If they can, I want to hear this go out
Speaker 1: on a limb. I mean, I mean they could win
Speaker 1: the division. Why not? They could win I don't think
Speaker 1: they will, they could finish, they could they could definitely
Speaker 1: finish second in the division at this point, and it
Speaker 1: would not surprise me at all. Um if Jacksonville were
Speaker 1: to suffer some injuries on defense, why not the Colts.
Speaker 1: Speaking of Frank right, give him credit for this. The
Speaker 1: Colts are number one in the NFL by a wide
Speaker 1: margin on third down offense. They've converted six more third
Speaker 1: downs in any other team and are easily the highest
Speaker 1: percentage of third downs. Andrew lux getting the ball out quickly,
Speaker 1: making he's not being like is vulnerable under pressure because
Speaker 1: he's not doing those deep dropbacks and they are moving
Speaker 1: the chains all right, West, What do you got? What about?
Speaker 1: Two thousand and eight has been way different than two
Speaker 1: thousand Just breeze past. Yeah, forget it. But two thousand
Speaker 1: eight that was an interesting year. You've got you've got
Speaker 1: ma rooon five in your minro slightly less interesting because
Speaker 1: of Bernard Pollard that year as a year he took
Speaker 1: out Tom Brady. But last year defense has gained a
Speaker 1: slight toe hold. On offenses, the passer rating, for the
Speaker 1: first time in years, dropped This year. Quarterbacks have an
Speaker 1: average passer rating over a hundred. Over a hundred. John Elway,
Speaker 1: one of the greatest quarterbacks in history, retired with a
Speaker 1: career passer rating of seventy nine point nine. This is
Speaker 1: how easy it is to throw the ball in the
Speaker 1: NFL this year. And it's not just the sackral uh,
Speaker 1: the putting your weight on a guy and pile driving
Speaker 1: him into the ground that you're not allowed to do it.
Speaker 1: It's not just the helmet roll. Quarterbacks are healthy. You
Speaker 1: have Aaron Rodgers, Deshaun Watson, Andrew luck who you didn't
Speaker 1: have last year, and you've got guys like Patrick Mahomes.
Speaker 1: It feels like last year with Romo retiring, Kaepernick being
Speaker 1: I guess cast out of the league or whatever, a
Speaker 1: few other guys, the best quarterbacks in the world weren't
Speaker 1: running NFL teams, and this year they are. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think the opposite of what we saw from last year.
Speaker 1: Like it's Week three and Carson Wentz is coming back.
Speaker 1: You know, it's like week three last year, We're losing
Speaker 1: quarterbacks left, guys are guys are getting injured, guys are
Speaker 1: dropping down. Um. I know that Chase Stewart ha tweeted
Speaker 1: out something about the pass rating and I think to like,
Speaker 1: the other thing that's interesting about that West is we've
Speaker 1: now seen a proliferation of Andy Reid disciples sort of
Speaker 1: floating across the NFL. Right, I mean, I know Frank
Speaker 1: Reich isn't one per se, but he came. You know,
Speaker 1: he's the O C under Doug Peterson who was the
Speaker 1: O C under read and then he had Matt Nagy.
Speaker 1: Even defensive guys like Sean McDermott and Ron Rivera and
Speaker 1: and Andy Reid has you know, always operated the West
Speaker 1: Coast system. He's sort he sort of seemous to be
Speaker 1: moving away from it this year a little bit. But
Speaker 1: I think that you have it's hard into something else, right,
Speaker 1: Like it's the West Coast plus college concepts, Yeah, exactly,
Speaker 1: and it's and I think that these college concepts that
Speaker 1: you talk about are designed to improve completion percentage. And
Speaker 1: that's why we're sort of seeing this spike. Like it's
Speaker 1: a combination of the talent coming in with the quarterbacks
Speaker 1: and the schemes that these guys are running. Well. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that's another new thing about two eighteen, how much
Speaker 1: running backs are being used in the passing game more
Speaker 1: than ever. Like there's guys like say Kwan Barkley getting
Speaker 1: fifteen targets. That's so unusual to see a running back
Speaker 1: used that much. Is it making the offenses better? And
Speaker 1: the like with the Giants as an example, he's getting
Speaker 1: fifteen targets but averaging less than five yards of reception.
Speaker 1: I guess it's still have to use them in a
Speaker 1: way that makes the offense better, right, I think you
Speaker 1: have to take it on a case by case basis.
Speaker 1: In the Giants right now, just have a check down offense. Yikes,
Speaker 1: speaking of offenses that don't get you excited, uh, West,
Speaker 1: you and I and I think a lot of people,
Speaker 1: um saw the changing of the guard in the NFC
Speaker 1: occur on December seventeen. That's when the Rams went to
Speaker 1: the clink and destroyed the Seahawks. So I think we've
Speaker 1: known for a while that maybe the Seahawks uh window
Speaker 1: closed as and it was open for a long time,
Speaker 1: and almost incredibly, they only got one ring out of it.
Speaker 1: And if you're a Seahawks fan, you you're excited and
Speaker 1: and you look back fondly and wistfully on that run,
Speaker 1: but also a little bit of what if that you
Speaker 1: never can get back. That sucks. However, what's different about
Speaker 1: two thousand eighteen, the two thousand seventeen this time last year,
Speaker 1: and that's kind of how I looked at this uh
Speaker 1: segment was early in seventeen, the Seahawks were still had
Speaker 1: their core together. They got off to a one in
Speaker 1: one start, and you weren't sure what team they would be,
Speaker 1: but you kind of thought they were gonna figure it
Speaker 1: out and again be a team in the NFC. UH
Speaker 1: to be reckoned with at the start of two thousand eighteen.
Speaker 1: Two weeks and I don't think there's any question that
Speaker 1: the Seahawks are and also ran that the Seahawks are
Speaker 1: and rebuild and you see it on both sides of
Speaker 1: the ball. I was borderline depressed watching Monday Night Football
Speaker 1: because it it gave me like an acid flashback of
Speaker 1: watching Brian Schottenheimer's offenses with the Jets in the turn
Speaker 1: of this decade, when uh this was you know, UH,
Speaker 1: two thousand twelve Jets Mark Sanchez three and ounce that
Speaker 1: happened in thirty five seconds. You you go to get
Speaker 1: a beer, you get back from to the living room
Speaker 1: and they're already punting the ball. There's just seems there's no, uh,
Speaker 1: there's no imagination to that offense. And I know that
Speaker 1: it's not just about that. I know that they might
Speaker 1: not have the skill players the offensive line, and the
Speaker 1: defense is clearly in transition at this at this stage,
Speaker 1: but you put the whole thing together, it's like the
Speaker 1: Seahawks don't matter right now. And that's that's a big
Speaker 1: change from what we've gotten used to over the last
Speaker 1: five or six years. I think you put it well
Speaker 1: that they don't matter. They're no longer a glamour franchise.
Speaker 1: And when you look at that game Monday Night, without
Speaker 1: Bobby Wagner, without kJ Wright, without Doug Baldwin, this is
Speaker 1: a bottom three NFL roster with the Bills and the Cardinals,
Speaker 1: I think that the Seahawks are that bad without that trio. Hm.
Speaker 1: I would I would say. I did a piece on
Speaker 1: Owen two teams for CBS Sports dot Com this past week,
Speaker 1: and I was just digging into yeah, I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: of course, America. But you know, I thought it was
Speaker 1: really interesting because you know, we had this stretch um
Speaker 1: in like mid two thousand's where there were a bunch
Speaker 1: of these teams that that came back from Own two
Speaker 1: made the playoffs, and then there was a three or
Speaker 1: four year stretch where it didn't happen, and we've had
Speaker 1: one team every single year since two thousand and thirteen
Speaker 1: do it. The Panthers did it in two thousand and thirteen. Um.
Speaker 1: I didn't obviously don't remember the piece well enough to
Speaker 1: to name every team says did it last year, But
Speaker 1: looking at it, the common concepts of these teams were
Speaker 1: that they had a good quarterback most of the time.
Speaker 1: I think Ryan Tannell was the only exception with that
Speaker 1: Dolphins team, and Dolphins are gonna be up in your mentions. Well,
Speaker 1: I mean, but like mostly it's like Cam Newton, Andrew Luck.
Speaker 1: Uh there, Russell Wilson, Oh, no, I know. Sorry, the
Speaker 1: only exception was Brian Horry. The Texans did it as
Speaker 1: well within that in that mallet when they benched Mallett
Speaker 1: after it's alarm clock incident. Uh but the uh. But
Speaker 1: they also had veteran coaches, and if you looked at
Speaker 1: their first two games, they ended up playing teams that
Speaker 1: were better than we thought they were, or at least
Speaker 1: ended up being pretty good and sort of maybe maybe
Speaker 1: the team. So I guess my point here is at
Speaker 1: the Seahawks, I wonder if it's possible that the Broncos
Speaker 1: and Bears, both of whom the Seahawks had to play
Speaker 1: on the road, might end up having top ten or
Speaker 1: top five defenses. And we look back on this team,
Speaker 1: the Seahawks team, and say, all right, they did end
Speaker 1: up making run. I'm not saying they're good. I just
Speaker 1: feel like Russell Wilson and Pete Carroll, if I were
Speaker 1: picking out of the out of the teams that are
Speaker 1: currently oh and two, I think you would either have
Speaker 1: to pick the Seahawks or the Texans as a team
Speaker 1: to make a playoff run. That's fair. That's yeah. That
Speaker 1: that those defense both kind of being the stories of
Speaker 1: the season or big storylines in the season. All right,
Speaker 1: let's go one more time? Will then West Brent Sun
Speaker 1: hit us with, well, so the biggest revelation of TEA
Speaker 1: for me versus seen is that I'm off this Charger's bandwagon.
Speaker 1: And man, does it feel so freaking I mean, I
Speaker 1: was this No, yeah, I said that, I was. I
Speaker 1: was like I said, I was renouncing my Chargers pick
Speaker 1: after the I think it was the Jason Varrette a
Speaker 1: C L tear. It's just it's not worth anymore. Like
Speaker 1: I'm maybe it's maybe it's my bad juju, or like
Speaker 1: maybe it's me and Philip Rivers. You know both were
Speaker 1: NC State at the same time, so it's probably it
Speaker 1: probably is the bad juju coming from Innsy State. Like
Speaker 1: it's it's totally possible. Um, And so I decided to
Speaker 1: renounce my Chargers pick. I ended up. UM. I guess
Speaker 1: you can't say this because it's an NFL dot com podcast,
Speaker 1: But like, I have a friend. I had a friend
Speaker 1: who went and and wagered on the Chiefs to win
Speaker 1: the division out in Las Vegas. Uh, and on the
Speaker 1: Chiefs over and so I'm rooting for my friend to
Speaker 1: win and so so therefore I'm I'm inherently rooting for
Speaker 1: the Chiefs. And I picked the Chiefs to go to
Speaker 1: the super Bowl. And it feels so much better. Like
Speaker 1: it's it's like if I teach my four year old
Speaker 1: son to be um to like like to be a
Speaker 1: Carolina basketball fan and save an NCY State basketball fan,
Speaker 1: like he just just doesn't know anything but winning, Like
Speaker 1: that's just mean and it's and it's just the Chiefs
Speaker 1: are just better coached. I don't have to worry about
Speaker 1: these stupid Chargers losses every September. I know they beat
Speaker 1: the I know they beat the Bills this past week,
Speaker 1: but they're gonna, you know, get run over by the
Speaker 1: Rams and and I gotta yeah, I'm on board of
Speaker 1: this chief's idea and it's it's fun to be ahead
Speaker 1: of the curve on the Patrick Mahomes bandwagon easily, um,
Speaker 1: one of the two or three best stories in the
Speaker 1: first two weeks. Chris Cortiani and Rodney Monroe called you're
Speaker 1: out of the club, your person and on God, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think this smart move because I don't think there's this.
Speaker 1: I don't think there's a reality where the Chargers stick
Speaker 1: it to you and win a Super Bowl. The charge
Speaker 1: is always gonna Charger and you just don't want to
Speaker 1: be involved with that. Why should you be, right exactly, Like, look,
Speaker 1: I'm here from Philip Rivers winning Super Bowl. It would
Speaker 1: be awesome. Um yeah, it would, it would. It would
Speaker 1: be highlighted and like he's one of my five favorite
Speaker 1: athletes to ever watch up there with um, you know,
Speaker 1: other notable like like like Phil Mickelson and John Schmaltz
Speaker 1: and Greg Maddox. I mean, but like Rivers, right, yeah,
Speaker 1: but the white dudes, Yeah right, exactly and it would
Speaker 1: be awesome to get to that. Yeah, can we unpack that? Um?
Speaker 1: All right, so that's all you need to do. Well,
Speaker 1: now you're good, grous Nixon Bix States driving that bandwagon
Speaker 1: and I'm like just in the passenger seat deciding whether
Speaker 1: to open the door and roll out. But so far,
Speaker 1: I'm all, I'm along for the ride. We'll see what happens.
Speaker 1: But I think they are playoff teams too well. I
Speaker 1: do too. I think they need to get Joey Bosa
Speaker 1: back in a big way. I agree with you on
Speaker 1: the Derwin James hype there West. This guy is he's
Speaker 1: so special. Watching him as a as a freshman at
Speaker 1: Florida State, he can play like eight out of eleven
Speaker 1: positions the ball and he's a and he's a freaking safety.
Speaker 1: So I'm excited for that. Uh take us home, West.
Speaker 1: The catch rules fixed, that's different? Uh? Or have we
Speaker 1: just not had the controversial play yet that exposes it?
Speaker 1: It makes sense. It's just that all of the confusion
Speaker 1: that went into that labyrinthine rule that nobody can figure
Speaker 1: out and there was no clarity. That's now the you
Speaker 1: can't sack a quarterback role. That's what's changed to me
Speaker 1: about two eighteen And I'm a little miffed about it
Speaker 1: that you have rules and nobody The catch roy always
Speaker 1: bothered me because it's not just the fans who don't understand.
Speaker 1: The players and coaches don't understand what the rule is.
Speaker 1: And now this rule, the Clay Matthews hit. I didn't
Speaker 1: watch it when we talked about it Sunday during the
Speaker 1: after the game. I'm really miffed about this. I have
Speaker 1: no idea what a defender is supposed to do. So
Speaker 1: you either have to change the rule and make quarterbacks
Speaker 1: off limits like kickers and punters after they throw the ball,
Speaker 1: you just can't hit them, or you have to allow
Speaker 1: them to hit them in the mid section. And I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't know what's going on. So to me, all
Speaker 1: of the confusion was on the catch rule. This rule
Speaker 1: is now equally as confusing. It's just a different rule
Speaker 1: that that's different. Isn't that annoying though? It's it's just
Speaker 1: like you closed one door, or like the what's the
Speaker 1: thing where the one of those stupid things in the
Speaker 1: ground and the animals the whackable the whackable situation. Why
Speaker 1: do we have to have a whackable scenario. You know
Speaker 1: what really gets its role? Yeah, exactly, you know what
Speaker 1: really whacker roll? I like that was what really annoys
Speaker 1: me is not only did the Clay Matthews penalty? Should
Speaker 1: that have never happened? Instead of the NFL owning it
Speaker 1: and being like, listen, we're trying to teach these guys
Speaker 1: not to go for the head, do not go for
Speaker 1: the quarterbacks knees uh on their legs, and then you
Speaker 1: flag a guy for taking a guy down in the
Speaker 1: mid section area, and then you stand behind it and
Speaker 1: double down and say this is what we're gonna use
Speaker 1: as a teaching tool display uh, you know for future seasons.
Speaker 1: That to me just makes it all the more frustrating, like,
Speaker 1: how do you not see that that is not a
Speaker 1: way to enforce rules. There's there's an extra layer of
Speaker 1: frustration for me because following sports for the last thirty years,
Speaker 1: the NFL was always at the vanguard of positive change
Speaker 1: to make the game more entertaining, to make to advance
Speaker 1: the game. And just over the last five years, the
Speaker 1: rule changes have made the game worse. I think, and
Speaker 1: it's and I get the safety rules you're always gonna
Speaker 1: have to do that, but either make him off limits
Speaker 1: or don't. But there has to be clarity and rules.
Speaker 1: Your thoughts, well, well I got two thoughts on it. One.
Speaker 1: Why did you wait until a week three two or
Speaker 1: like week to to to issue this teaching tape? This
Speaker 1: is something you have seven frigging months of the off
Speaker 1: season to to let these guys know, you all these
Speaker 1: we have go to these owners meetings like seven times
Speaker 1: a year. The owners have to fly in private jets
Speaker 1: to go to meet together talk about the rules and
Speaker 1: debate the rules and debate you know, national anthem policies.
Speaker 1: And we can't sit down and have the competition committee
Speaker 1: hammer out what is going to be roughing the past
Speaker 1: room and what isn't. So that way, you know, at
Speaker 1: practice and at you know, training camp, they can train
Speaker 1: and practice these techniques and get them instituted amongst the teams.
Speaker 1: And to to slide this Aaron Rodgers thing in the
Speaker 1: last second without really talking about it, after they slid
Speaker 1: the helmet rule in under under the vail of darkness,
Speaker 1: and then to drop this this bomb on on everybody
Speaker 1: and saying no, this is this perfectly form tackle is
Speaker 1: going to be illegal on you know, in between week
Speaker 1: two and three is very discouraging, I will say. Um,
Speaker 1: Ad Von Miller on my podcast on Wednesday, the Pixix Podcast,
Speaker 1: heard about that that's a good game. Will well, yeah,
Speaker 1: he was promoting old spice. Um, that's fine. Uh wait,
Speaker 1: did you get the old spice plug in at the
Speaker 1: top or did you wait till the bottom until he
Speaker 1: got really aunty whether or not it was gonna come. Oh. Always,
Speaker 1: I always wait to the end. Always, Like it's toying
Speaker 1: with the pr people, you know. Well, the worst is
Speaker 1: when they jump in there like excuse me, we need
Speaker 1: to get to It's like, hey, pal let me run
Speaker 1: the show, get back in the cabin. But but yeah,
Speaker 1: but Von pointed out, I thought this is fascinating. He
Speaker 1: said that he has taught himself or his his goal
Speaker 1: when he gets into the pocket to go to the
Speaker 1: quarterback is to focus on the ball. So like in
Speaker 1: the situation with Cousins, he wouldn't have gone low at Cousin.
Speaker 1: He would have gone high after the ball trying to
Speaker 1: knock it down. And I think that you can even though,
Speaker 1: like if Clay Matthews said, like launch his helmet at
Speaker 1: at high and it hit Kirk Cousins or something that
Speaker 1: would have gone south and he would gotten flag for it.
Speaker 1: But if he'd thrown his arms up and Dovid Kirk
Speaker 1: Cousin's arm while the ball was still there, I bet
Speaker 1: he doesn't get flag. So I I disagree with the rule,
Speaker 1: but I thought that Von made an interesting point that
Speaker 1: if you were constantly seeking out the ball as a defender,
Speaker 1: you're probably not likely to get a flag. Well, kudos
Speaker 1: to the Pick six podcast on this one, because that
Speaker 1: is an interesting point. And maybe we will see because
Speaker 1: you put this out there with von Miller, maybe other
Speaker 1: defenders will hear this and start altering their sex style.
Speaker 1: Chris Westling, will you write an NFL dot com post
Speaker 1: about the Pick six podcast interview with von Miller? I
Speaker 1: was signing work. I've already got seventeen jobs. I don't
Speaker 1: need an eighteen. Well, you're delightful. We love you, and
Speaker 1: it's not just because you can hang with us when
Speaker 1: we belly up to the bar at these various League
Speaker 1: of UH. In fact, Will is a leader when at
Speaker 1: these events. He's like, he's like the pie piper you
Speaker 1: could count on Will. This is the thing I love
Speaker 1: about Will Uh. Despite his excellent football knowledge. He's one
Speaker 1: of those studs that at these league events that it
Speaker 1: does involve, there's a social aspect to it, and people
Speaker 1: go out and they'll tie one on and have a
Speaker 1: good time. Will is that guy when you get to
Speaker 1: radio row the next morning and you're feeling not too well.
Speaker 1: Will he's clearly he's wearing his Oxford shirt and and
Speaker 1: he looks his hair is fine, and he's doing a
Speaker 1: live hit for CBS, and and Will's the guy that like,
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter how hard he goes the night before.
Speaker 1: That guy's locked in the next morning. And I always
Speaker 1: respected that about you. Will. Thanks. I wait huge last night.
Speaker 1: If I've seen Will doubled over in laughter at some
Speaker 1: Absessler's bits when he gets bound up so well. The
Speaker 1: last the last time we hung out we were it
Speaker 1: was it was in Orlando with the owners. We've talked
Speaker 1: about this incident, but it was Dan. It was me,
Speaker 1: Dan and Mark like hanging late at the bar. I mean,
Speaker 1: you guys are flying up the next morning. It's when
Speaker 1: Mark slid into that little the group with it's like
Speaker 1: Doug Baron and Sean Payne and I don't know, I
Speaker 1: was just watching for distance like, Mark, what are you doing?
Speaker 1: He just had his hands up with a big smile. Um,
Speaker 1: all right. Will Brinson fall on on Twitter at Will
Speaker 1: Brinson a great follow. He's a senior NFL writer for
Speaker 1: CBS Sports and yes, the Pick six Pod, which is
Speaker 1: a daily NFL podcast, So subscribe to that iTunes or
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcast. Thank you, Will, You're the man.
Speaker 1: Thanks Will. Here guys and there he goes Will Brinson.
Speaker 1: Love that guy. Uh we are. We have come to
Speaker 1: the end of another edition of the Around the NFL Podcast.
Speaker 1: We will be back tomorrow late tomorrow night with a
Speaker 1: recap of Browns and Jets and then a pre a
Speaker 1: pre view of all of the week three games as
Speaker 1: we are wanting to do. So that's it. They get
Speaker 1: well soon to Mark Sessler. Uh and uh, let us go.
Speaker 1: This is Dan Hands signing up. Four The Mailman, Lindsay Rhodes,
Speaker 1: Kardashian accent, the Brin Bomb, and the loose cannon behind
Speaker 1: the Glass Still Thursday,