Speaker 1: Hey, everybody. G Suite by Google Cloud is a suite
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Speaker 1: came out of the cryopod at age thirty two. Welcome
Speaker 1: back to another edition of the Around the NFL Podcast.
Speaker 1: My name is Dan Anses, and I'm joined in a
Speaker 1: room filled with heroes, Mark Sessler, Chris Westling, and Greg
Speaker 1: Rosenthal Cryo pod man himself. What is up? Boys? Hi,
Speaker 1: y'all you I'm still reeling from the pre show revealed
Speaker 1: by west that he was the president of his French
Speaker 1: club back as a schoolboy. Senior year at high school.
Speaker 1: I was in charge of getting the re give a something.
Speaker 1: What do you do at French club? One time we
Speaker 1: played basketball. I remember that. That's what happens when I'm
Speaker 1: president of the I mean, in fairness, like France definitely
Speaker 1: is a was a rising basketball power, a little underrated.
Speaker 1: This was before Tony Parker was on the radar. What
Speaker 1: was the male female ratio in this class? That might
Speaker 1: have well, it might have been a tractor being there
Speaker 1: for you male because it was an all male Catholic school.
Speaker 1: M I don't, I don't. It makes even less sense
Speaker 1: to me when you're if you're top memory of French
Speaker 1: classes basketball, where you really conflicted when Vince Carter dunked
Speaker 1: over Frederick Weiss in the Frederick Weiss was a stiff
Speaker 1: from the get go, and then Nicks should have never
Speaker 1: dracted it. All right, Welcome to the Wednesday edition of
Speaker 1: the Around the NFL podcast. This is what we do,
Speaker 1: four days of content and in five that's good. Last
Speaker 1: week it was five out of five. This week four
Speaker 1: out of five? Are we slacking? Nos? Just the way
Speaker 1: the week broke down. Comfortable with four out of five
Speaker 1: A lot to get to. This is a This is
Speaker 1: a packed show. And uh we have a game preview
Speaker 1: of course Thursday Night Football the Panthers and Steelers. I
Speaker 1: mean Thursday Night Football is in a bit of a
Speaker 1: slump and could use a good competitive game. And I
Speaker 1: think we're gonna get it, So we're gonna talk about
Speaker 1: that game. Also, West Road a banger top rookie classes. Uh.
Speaker 1: We also have a kind of a lookback segment earlier
Speaker 1: in the season. Some of the heroes had takes and
Speaker 1: not all of them payoff. Some of them kind of
Speaker 1: blow up in your face. So we're gonna do a
Speaker 1: segment that we call you bad. So we got a
Speaker 1: good show coming up. But before we get to anything else,
Speaker 1: the news, Yeah number two keeps giving me problems. I
Speaker 1: think we should just shut the whole operation down. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Erica squeezes in an Erica sound bite, a stunning development.
Speaker 1: That segment was a big hit. And else Sessler Household,
Speaker 1: that was a good video. They I don't think they
Speaker 1: understand that we're acting. That was old open for our
Speaker 1: Twitter show, which is available via uh links on our
Speaker 1: Twitter page. And if you're not watching What Around the
Speaker 1: NFL Twitter Show? Yeah, well What Around the NFL podcast
Speaker 1: Twitter show? Oh no, I've been saying it wrong and
Speaker 1: tweeting it wrong since the beginning of the season. Show
Speaker 1: what what were you saying? Just like where you find
Speaker 1: it other than a Twitter page? I don't really know.
Speaker 1: It's pinned on my profile page. Somebody tweeted at me
Speaker 1: that they went to both West and Gregg looking for
Speaker 1: the link, only to see it not pinned on either
Speaker 1: of their page. I had it pinned until last week
Speaker 1: when I pinned my mid season all protein and I
Speaker 1: make no apologies for that. There you go. That's a man,
Speaker 1: he says. I'm putting my work, my written word ahead
Speaker 1: of the Twitter show. It's like, you know, the Twitter
Speaker 1: show is playing about the snaps on my pen. I
Speaker 1: just had to mix in a and also maybe Twitter person,
Speaker 1: you know, scroll down seven or eight inch and it
Speaker 1: will be there. Thank you. Let's start with Dez Bryant,
Speaker 1: who is back in the game. Uh. The veteran wide
Speaker 1: receiver who has spent his entire career with the Cowboys
Speaker 1: now joins the New Orleans Saints. A one year contract
Speaker 1: is coming after a workout on Tuesday. Uh. The Saints
Speaker 1: had an extra roster spot when they sent tedginto I
Speaker 1: R uh, and they have not had a lot of
Speaker 1: production beyond Mike Thomas. So here comes Dez Bryant finally
Speaker 1: finally gets a job. West. It was just on Sunday
Speaker 1: where we were kind of talking about Wow, This is
Speaker 1: really not gonna happen. Desn't gonna get work, But it
Speaker 1: happened eventually. It just took till November. Yeah, this will
Speaker 1: be guaranteed to lead total access. The whole football watching
Speaker 1: community will be up in arms about Dez Bryant, who
Speaker 1: will be like the fourth or fifth option in the
Speaker 1: passing game for the Saints. They can hope that he
Speaker 1: can be maybe a in Kwon Bolden like player who
Speaker 1: boxed his like a box out specialist, can't really separate
Speaker 1: from coverage. Maybe he gives them something after the catch.
Speaker 1: In his is a red zone weapon. But I don't
Speaker 1: like this offense runs through Michael Thomas and Alvin Kamara,
Speaker 1: and that's going to continue to be the case. It's
Speaker 1: we were talking about him on Sunday because of the
Speaker 1: video that came out of him running running drills and stuff,
Speaker 1: and he looked remarkably slow, to the point where I
Speaker 1: was wondering for that ankle weights. So that was a
Speaker 1: while ago, and the reports are that the Saints still
Speaker 1: want them to lose about five pounds, so it sounded
Speaker 1: like they're not thrilled. But I think it's a good
Speaker 1: signing because they're really thin, one of maybe the thinnest
Speaker 1: teams in the NFL at wide receiver. I'm assuming it's
Speaker 1: not gonna we haven't heard the financial details, but I
Speaker 1: think it's safe to say it will be very small
Speaker 1: with some incentives built in. And if he catches two
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty to three yards the rest of the
Speaker 1: way and makes a handful of key first downs for
Speaker 1: them and is playing I don't know, getting thirty forty
Speaker 1: yards a week, playing thirty snaps, it's like they could
Speaker 1: use someone because Cam Meredith that's been a bust, is
Speaker 1: not happening. I don't know what the reason is, whether
Speaker 1: it's health or he can't pick up the offensive. He's
Speaker 1: just not playing and there are only other I is
Speaker 1: tra Quan Smith, who's a mid round rookie who has potential.
Speaker 1: But they don't have another wide receiver with more than
Speaker 1: two hundred and fifteen yards this year, which is kind
Speaker 1: of outrageous. Maybe we shouldn't have all slammed the Chicago
Speaker 1: Bears for allowing Kim Meredith to go when he was
Speaker 1: coming right in a c L injury. That was like
Speaker 1: the offseason analysis. The Bears really messed up there, big winner.
Speaker 1: I think It's Jane Slayter of NFL Network, who goes
Speaker 1: from a relatively close relationship with Dez Bryant in Dallas
Speaker 1: to now circulating between Dallas and she's being put on
Speaker 1: the New Orleans Saint Speed regularly there and can you
Speaker 1: imagine two cities that you'd rather float between more for
Speaker 1: you know you've got two or three nights out when
Speaker 1: you go to do these assignments. She's tweeting about um
Speaker 1: friendly conversation she's having in New Orleans with her Uber driver.
Speaker 1: Who knows what else she's getting up to. She seems
Speaker 1: to like the nightlife so big winner James Slater, it's
Speaker 1: getting a good point where Jane comes up enough on
Speaker 1: this podcast where we better have her on or it
Speaker 1: just starts to get weird. That's feel right. I think
Speaker 1: it's gotten, it's got. It just got weird. In other news, UH,
Speaker 1: veteran defense van Bruce Irvin, cut loose by the Raiders,
Speaker 1: recently signed a one year deal one and a half
Speaker 1: million with the Falcons, and Irvin decided, hey, I want
Speaker 1: to reunite with Dan Quinn where I had my good
Speaker 1: formative years in in Seattle. Uh. He had offers out
Speaker 1: there greg from the Patriots and the Steelers. So Irvin,
Speaker 1: despite um John Gruden deciding to move on, had a
Speaker 1: market out there. And now he joins the Falcons team
Speaker 1: where it seems like he's a good fit. He's a
Speaker 1: great fit. I mean they need. It's kind of like
Speaker 1: it's very much like the Dez Bryant signing, where at
Speaker 1: this point of the season, if you can sign anyone
Speaker 1: that even plays thirty snaps a game for you and
Speaker 1: just gives you some help instead of having to play
Speaker 1: some random rookies or or just you know, jags basically
Speaker 1: off the street. Irvin played some decent games early in
Speaker 1: the season. He lost playing time, but it's worth a
Speaker 1: shot for them. It's another reminder that it's two teams.
Speaker 1: Atlanta were absolutely refusing to give up on their season,
Speaker 1: why should they? And Bruce Irvin to me is when
Speaker 1: he was in free agency, before he went to the Raiders,
Speaker 1: we all had him pegged for the Alkins. Is a
Speaker 1: perfect fit for them because of scheme and because of
Speaker 1: his relationship with Dan Quinn. So now it happens finally
Speaker 1: a little few years too late, maybe, but we'll see.
Speaker 1: There's been a tight race over the past few weeks
Speaker 1: between the fan bases of the Raiders and Browns to
Speaker 1: see which players mounted in the most this season between
Speaker 1: Bruce Irvan and Jamie Collins. Bruce Irvans like had Raiders
Speaker 1: fans in an uproar over his effort level. It seemed
Speaker 1: like at some point he was starting to check out
Speaker 1: me and it sounded like they tried to trade him.
Speaker 1: Maybe he knew it, he wanted he wanted out of there,
Speaker 1: and it worked. He just's going. He's going. I believe
Speaker 1: he's from Atlanta. He's playing for a team that's fighting
Speaker 1: for a playoff spot. He'll probably have a decent role
Speaker 1: for them because they're not deep at that position. Is
Speaker 1: actually that that is not a position of need they
Speaker 1: I mean Vick. If Vick Beasley plays, he's supposed to
Speaker 1: be good, but they've got but he's not. He's not good.
Speaker 1: Jack Crawford's playing well, Tech McKinley's playing well. They've got
Speaker 1: Brooks read there. This is not a team that was
Speaker 1: like desperate for edge rushers. UH injury news and bad
Speaker 1: news for my New York Jets. Sam Donald coming off
Speaker 1: the worst game of his career. UH is now on
Speaker 1: the shelf. It appears the The rookie quarterback watched practice
Speaker 1: on Wednesday with a walking boot boot on his right foot.
Speaker 1: Uh and according to Miniche Meta of the New York
Speaker 1: Delhi News, sources say he has a significant foot sprain.
Speaker 1: Won't play against the Bills on Sunday. Uh and the
Speaker 1: Jets hope he'll be back after their Week eleven by
Speaker 1: to face the Patriots, but according to Meta, they are
Speaker 1: not overly optimistic that that's the case. Uh. He got
Speaker 1: beat up a little bit during that Dolphins game, but
Speaker 1: it didn't seem like he suffered any serious injury during
Speaker 1: the game. But this just is uh the cherry on
Speaker 1: top which has been on the worst stretch of the
Speaker 1: season for the Jets. Now Donald goes to the bench mark.
Speaker 1: Is there a case to be made It's not the
Speaker 1: worst thing that Donald gets a little bit of a
Speaker 1: blow here or reset button. I think it's a strong
Speaker 1: case for that, because, look, if you're a Jets fan,
Speaker 1: and you can tell me if you disagree, you don't
Speaker 1: really want this team to surge down the stretch. You
Speaker 1: want to get out of this year with Sam Donald
Speaker 1: having a few more starts and and hopefully quality ones
Speaker 1: not suffer an injury that sets his offseason back by
Speaker 1: even an inch, and the coaching staff wiped away you
Speaker 1: and so you So they they play the Bills twice,
Speaker 1: They have two games against the Patriots, the Packers, Texans,
Speaker 1: and Titans. That's a tough schedule, and I have no
Speaker 1: problem with Donald getting with the bye week, had an
Speaker 1: extra week of rest to get completely healthy. There's no
Speaker 1: reason he should be on the field with this Jets
Speaker 1: team unless he's problem as it doesn't sound like one
Speaker 1: week is gonna make him completely Then you then they're fine.
Speaker 1: They have Josh McCown. I mean, if they're I don't
Speaker 1: know what the goal is with the Jets right now,
Speaker 1: but you don't need to push Donald onto the He
Speaker 1: was limping around at the end of that game. He also,
Speaker 1: I think, owned up to his play on Monday. Didn't
Speaker 1: make any excuses. No one even really knew he was
Speaker 1: that injured, but it sounds like a significant foot sprain.
Speaker 1: He said he was playing stupid football. Everyone need and
Speaker 1: it needs to know. I need to play better. So
Speaker 1: I think some time I've could help and that they
Speaker 1: have a better chance to win with Josh McCown, which
Speaker 1: I think it hasn't been talked about a lot. But
Speaker 1: now we're at mid season and I feel like that's
Speaker 1: safe to say that the Jets would be a better
Speaker 1: team this year or have a better chance to win
Speaker 1: in a weekly basis with the maccown plane when you agree,
Speaker 1: don't you think they have a better chance to beat
Speaker 1: the Bills? Now? Uh? Yeah, you could say that, but
Speaker 1: that's more getting back to that parcels progress stopper thing.
Speaker 1: You would never want to play him. I'm not questioning
Speaker 1: that they have may another winner too. Maybe maybe maybe. Uh,
Speaker 1: a mental break isn't the worst thing, especially the way
Speaker 1: this offensive line is plane. The center with his snaps
Speaker 1: last week was a bit of a joke. Uh. He
Speaker 1: Donald got hit quite a bit in that game, and
Speaker 1: the receivers aren't playing well. The ground attack isn't consistent.
Speaker 1: Better to have a veteran in there for a few
Speaker 1: weeks while I get sorted out. And he's playing for
Speaker 1: a staff that's not going to be there all right.
Speaker 1: It's become an awkward situation. Staff that's done nothing to
Speaker 1: help him. Uh, let's move on. Talk about the Detroit
Speaker 1: lines who make a change in their backfield. A Mer
Speaker 1: Abdullah who speaking of the Jets and Todd Bowls, I
Speaker 1: remember once on a time about three or four years ago,
Speaker 1: after a preseason game, Todd Bowls made a Barry Sanders
Speaker 1: comparison to a Mir Abdullah and we waited and we waited,
Speaker 1: and the lines waited and waited. It just never happened.
Speaker 1: And he's barely been on the field this year. So
Speaker 1: the Lions finally decided to make a move that cut
Speaker 1: Ties with the uh former second round pick overall he went.
Speaker 1: They filled the slot with Bruce UH with Zack Zentner,
Speaker 1: who was uh the old a A Z Z swap
Speaker 1: by the way, Mark, I mean, whenever you can pull
Speaker 1: off a deal of that nature, you must exactly and Uh.
Speaker 1: Also in other lines news, Bruce Ellington UH signed by
Speaker 1: the team. UH, so he uh gives him a little
Speaker 1: bit more depth with Golden Tate out the door. Amir Abdulla.
Speaker 1: One other memory is that the Cardinals were going to
Speaker 1: draft him and settled for David Johnson instead when the
Speaker 1: Lions picked up Doula ahead of him. But he's developed
Speaker 1: the biggest fumbling problem in the league, I think, and
Speaker 1: that was the knock on him coming into the league
Speaker 1: that his small hands led to fumbling, and you think
Speaker 1: about the teams that need running backs, the Patriots jump out.
Speaker 1: I can't imagine Belichick going for a fumbler. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean mir Abdulah is one of those guys that has
Speaker 1: been mentioned an incredible amount of times on this podcast
Speaker 1: with a total lack of production. He has the same
Speaker 1: amount of Russian yard in category to be since he
Speaker 1: was drafted as Buck Allen, who was who was that
Speaker 1: year's draft in Terence West Like that's he just hasn't
Speaker 1: He's shown potential, but he hasn't. He hasn't played that much.
Speaker 1: And the Lions, who all we talked about all offseason,
Speaker 1: are they gonna have a running game or not? It's
Speaker 1: like their running game is fine. They made a great
Speaker 1: draft pick, hasn't made their team much better that they're
Speaker 1: not really winning games, but they're running games. Good. Carry on,
Speaker 1: Johnson's a man. Uh. In other news, the UM Washington
Speaker 1: Redskins have been destroyed by injuries guards Uh Brandon Schurf
Speaker 1: and Sean Lavaw both done for the year, torn pictorial
Speaker 1: for suref and Lavao torn a c L. Paul Richardson
Speaker 1: also out for the year. The wide receiver as an
Speaker 1: A C joint injuries. Uh was, how do you survive
Speaker 1: this if you're the Redskins. On top of that, left
Speaker 1: tackle Trent Williams, by far their best offensive lineman and
Speaker 1: one of the best left tackles in the league, is
Speaker 1: out a couple more weeks with thumb surgery. Their right tackle,
Speaker 1: Morgan Moses, is going to try to play through an
Speaker 1: MCL sprain. Every November we see attrition take out a
Speaker 1: contender or two. This reminds me of the Patriots three
Speaker 1: years ago when they lost in a span of two weeks.
Speaker 1: Uh Julian Edelman, Dion Lewis, Danny m and Dola Gronk
Speaker 1: part of their offensive line, Like you, you can't survive
Speaker 1: like that. And the Eagles are the big winner this
Speaker 1: week even though they didn't even play last week. Jamison
Speaker 1: Crowder has been out maybe is returning this week. He
Speaker 1: mentioned Moses he played through that injury last week, but
Speaker 1: he was he was getting crushed in the second half
Speaker 1: of that game when he was playing. I feel for
Speaker 1: the Redskins because they're a team without a lot of margins,
Speaker 1: like they had a very good chance I think to
Speaker 1: make the playoffs and They're built with that schedule, with
Speaker 1: their offensive line right to win ten games. They were
Speaker 1: dead last last season in adjusted games lost according to
Speaker 1: Football Outsiders, So they had terrible injury luck last year
Speaker 1: and now they're having it again, And like that can
Speaker 1: sink a coaching career if you're J Gruden, and they'll
Speaker 1: just start teams with offensive line depth anymore. And you
Speaker 1: look at who's behind these guys, Chase, You're like this
Speaker 1: guy Dan Chase Roulier said, how you say his less
Speaker 1: starting center? I believe he. I thought he was moved
Speaker 1: over the guard. Yeah. I think they put Tony Bergstrom
Speaker 1: at center. And then they start, I mean signed former
Speaker 1: number one picked Jonathan Cooper, They signed Luke Bawonko, They
Speaker 1: signed Austin Howard who got cut by that about more
Speaker 1: regular names. Austin Howard perfect now mean that is appreciated.
Speaker 1: I don't see how they survived this the way, the
Speaker 1: way they're built to have Adrian Peterson is the show.
Speaker 1: Their their schedules easy enough that you could see them
Speaker 1: maybe cooking up four winds still somehow and getting to
Speaker 1: nine and seven. But I just think boring January ceiling.
Speaker 1: I think the Eagles at this Point Eagles, You've been
Speaker 1: a disappointment. I know they've had a lot of injuries,
Speaker 1: but ultimately that you've been a disappointment as a defending
Speaker 1: Super Bowl champion. And if you don't win this division,
Speaker 1: now you're a major Alex Smith post like, I will
Speaker 1: only be on boarding playoff teams that get axed early
Speaker 1: in January. What I do speaking of disappointing NFC East teams,
Speaker 1: The Dallas Cowboys licking their wounds after their Monday night
Speaker 1: football loss against the Titans. Troy Aikman franchise legend. He's
Speaker 1: got some rings three I believe, which gives him the
Speaker 1: right to occasionally pop off to the media and people
Speaker 1: pay attention. Well, he does a weekly appearance on thirteen
Speaker 1: ten the ticket Uh, and he called Dallas an organization
Speaker 1: that's in a dysfunctional place. Oh, he's not happy. Here's
Speaker 1: what else Troy had to say, go through the list
Speaker 1: and and this team, over a long period of time
Speaker 1: has been what it's been, and it hasn't always mattered
Speaker 1: who the head coach has been. And so to me
Speaker 1: you're asking me, I'd say there has to be a
Speaker 1: complete overhaul of the entire organization. You just can't simply
Speaker 1: replace head coaches and say now it's going to be better. No,
Speaker 1: it's it's been shown that it's not better, and you
Speaker 1: have to address how everything is being done. Oh, you know, Mark,
Speaker 1: he's boys Troy with Jason Garrett's old buddy in the
Speaker 1: quarterback room. But when you say complete overhaul, you know
Speaker 1: what you're saying. I give him credit because he's close
Speaker 1: with everyone in that organization, has been their favorite son
Speaker 1: for decades. I'm worth the point where people listening to
Speaker 1: this show, some of the younger ones didn't watch Troy
Speaker 1: I can play. Is one of my favorite players of
Speaker 1: all time. But to come out and speak honestly about
Speaker 1: this Cowboys team, which is an absolute raving mess from
Speaker 1: the inside out there poisoned from the inside out at
Speaker 1: the highest level right now, that this is exactly what
Speaker 1: needs to be said. They are poison from the inside
Speaker 1: out there are they are? They are a wreck, like
Speaker 1: a rave like but it's like a messy one like mess.
Speaker 1: It's kind of fun, people throwing up. They got the
Speaker 1: bad stuff. It is the end of the rave. It's
Speaker 1: like four thirty one am. The sun is ready to
Speaker 1: peak up over New York City, you're gonna have one.
Speaker 1: It's gonna have some moments, but ultimately it's pretty sloppy.
Speaker 1: That quote. It made more sense to me hearing him
Speaker 1: say those words, because yeah, he is friends with Jason Garrett,
Speaker 1: and that was clear from that choice that he's saying
Speaker 1: it's not Jason Garrett's fault. He's saying it's Jerry Jones's
Speaker 1: fault period. That he didn't try to hide it there.
Speaker 1: He said the way that Jerry Jones runs his organization
Speaker 1: is it needs to change that the Jones He was saying,
Speaker 1: the Jones family needs to fire themselves, which is pretty strong,
Speaker 1: pretty strong, the same that's not going to happen. I
Speaker 1: don't know about a complete overall. Well, you think the
Speaker 1: Jones family might fire itself, I don't even know what
Speaker 1: that means. I think to try and saying that you should.
Speaker 1: He was saying, it's not on Jason Garrett, it's that
Speaker 1: the Jones family should not be involved in football operations.
Speaker 1: Essentially that that the structure of how they do it
Speaker 1: is at fault, which is the same thing many people
Speaker 1: in the media have said for years and years. It's
Speaker 1: been it or over the last few years because they
Speaker 1: drafted well and had some good seasons. I think it's
Speaker 1: possible at some point Jerry Jones would fire his son
Speaker 1: to hire of personnel director if it really bottomed out.
Speaker 1: Maybe not this year. I think Jerry Jones is gonna
Speaker 1: direct never Troy Aikman's complaints to a brick wall and
Speaker 1: probably and I don't think they need a complete overhaul.
Speaker 1: This is the best defensive personnel they've had in a
Speaker 1: long time. Their offensive line has potential, the running back
Speaker 1: is obviously excellent. They need a new offensive coaching staff
Speaker 1: and a new head coach. But I think what he's
Speaker 1: he's saying that it's like, yeah, that's all true, but
Speaker 1: as long as you don't, if you don't change the
Speaker 1: way that the ownership weren't the world. I'm just saying
Speaker 1: the way that they're emotionally invested in the way that
Speaker 1: they go up and down like fans. You can't have
Speaker 1: your GM acting like that all the time. As this is,
Speaker 1: this is what happened. Like sometimes Jerry Jones said after
Speaker 1: the games, like we didn't see this coming. You didn't
Speaker 1: losing to the Titans. You didn't see losing your three
Speaker 1: and four team who's completely mediocre sub mediocre on offense.
Speaker 1: You're capable of losing any game to any team, but
Speaker 1: you buy your own hype, and a lot of the
Speaker 1: reporters around that team by their hype. I would also
Speaker 1: say that this this wasn't just Troy Akman's opinion. It's
Speaker 1: came from talking with people inside the organization. We don't
Speaker 1: know who they are, but he obviously has access to
Speaker 1: anyone he wants, and it's them telling him that they
Speaker 1: sense complete dysfunctions, so that carries more weight than just
Speaker 1: the ex quarterback spouting off. By the way, two of
Speaker 1: the greatest things I have seen on the show that
Speaker 1: captained during this segment. While Greg was talking, Erica almost
Speaker 1: fell asleep out of boredom behind the glass. And then
Speaker 1: Dan is taking his phone after applying hair jail to
Speaker 1: his hair product to his hair, pointing the camera at
Speaker 1: himself just to make sure that it's pointed perfectly while
Speaker 1: we're attempting to dissect out that was like going on
Speaker 1: your Instagram story or something. I was listening the whole time,
Speaker 1: but I thought, because I had applied it um that
Speaker 1: maybe it was pointing up sticking up a little bit,
Speaker 1: so I the phone that it looks instincts were right fine,
Speaker 1: growing like some justin bieber talk to keep tam posey awake.
Speaker 1: I'd prefer justin Timberlake. But just uh, finally something I
Speaker 1: don't like a M squeels something I was very upset
Speaker 1: to hear about um New England Patriots, the throne a sleeves,
Speaker 1: everything going great over there these days and now because
Speaker 1: because they decided, um that you know, winning is not enough,
Speaker 1: constantly winning in her quarterback, never getting hurt, never being
Speaker 1: in a walking bood and practice uh, never missing ultimple
Speaker 1: weeks foot injury. Uh, they gotta start stealing nicknames down
Speaker 1: and what are they doing Trey Flowers. It's not enough
Speaker 1: that he's the number one ranked PF pass rudger on
Speaker 1: the on the edge. It's not enough that he won
Speaker 1: the Around the NFL Podcast Award for PF Unsung Hero.
Speaker 1: Now they gotta go stealing nicknames. Listen to this. To
Speaker 1: fensive coordinator Brian Flores says, those around the Pats organization
Speaker 1: refer to Trey Flowers by a different name, the Quiet Storm,
Speaker 1: which in their opinion, perfectly encapsulates flowers personality and playing style.
Speaker 1: You don't hear much from him. But he's been a
Speaker 1: warrior for us. He's played lights out for us since
Speaker 1: he's gotten here. You're not allowed to do that. I mean,
Speaker 1: if you really want to dig into it. One could
Speaker 1: argue that the quiet Storm was initially applied to Courtney Brown,
Speaker 1: the first overall pick of the two thousand draft. But
Speaker 1: he came gone, He came and gone, he's gone. You
Speaker 1: can't have you can't now have. Here's the problem. I'm
Speaker 1: the one in trouble here. If you want to say that,
Speaker 1: that's my nickname, because this is someone who's much more
Speaker 1: well known. It's probably much ten times better at his
Speaker 1: day to day job, and featured on national television multiple
Speaker 1: times during the autumn into the Winner. Uh, we're not
Speaker 1: even on television at this point, so I don't know
Speaker 1: what this is not trending well for this production. You
Speaker 1: earned that nickname. I coined that sitting across from you
Speaker 1: on Sundays because there was always a rage below the surface,
Speaker 1: even though you're quiet throughout games. And I don't think
Speaker 1: Trey Flowers fits. In fact, how many nicknames does this
Speaker 1: guy need? What other nicknames? He's been called technique by
Speaker 1: his defensive teammates for the past few years. I believe
Speaker 1: Tony Romo had a different nickname from him after talking
Speaker 1: to their teams and coaches in a game, and people
Speaker 1: just invite nicknames. You know, Mark, You're on the internet though,
Speaker 1: So what are your thoughts though? My Mark? On the internet.
Speaker 1: You've been Courtney Brown retired. But in between Courtney Brown's
Speaker 1: retirement and your emergence as The Quiet Storm, the movie
Speaker 1: The Quiet Storm was released in it if for our
Speaker 1: listeners who aren't familiar with it, it was a politically
Speaker 1: charged full length action thriller revolve being around a gang
Speaker 1: of four at a Pan African meeting. It's decided for
Speaker 1: the for there to be positive change. I don't know why.
Speaker 1: It's really correct out in the social and economic situations
Speaker 1: of Africans at home. Some of the leadership problems will
Speaker 1: need to be rectified. Why was that so funny? To wait?
Speaker 1: We also put out it was not what I was expecting.
Speaker 1: It was like a UK corrupt puppet African leader. Did
Speaker 1: you see that? You said? For the listeners who have
Speaker 1: I've never heard of that movie. I haven't either. But
Speaker 1: we also put out a movie, or at least the
Speaker 1: trailer for The Quiet Storm. They took his tea viciously
Speaker 1: below average. They stole his innocence childlike, but not to
Speaker 1: suggest innocence or purity. They made a football life about
Speaker 1: his misery, control all to lead and opened the factory
Speaker 1: upsetness that never closed. Now the climate is right for
Speaker 1: revenge this winter. There's a and came coming for anyone
Speaker 1: who looks in this direction on a Sunday, it'll be
Speaker 1: an apocalyptic sunset. Mark Sessler is quiet store. This show
Speaker 1: cannot end fast enough, and I have a sharply worded
Speaker 1: letter to hand to you, my friend. Um So, anyway, Mark,
Speaker 1: I'm disturbed. We but that that show. We had the
Speaker 1: quiet storm. It's locked in, and I feel like litigation
Speaker 1: is not the worst avenue here. I would love to
Speaker 1: pursue it. Um, I'd like to have the league, you know,
Speaker 1: my employer get behind it. Let's put some of their
Speaker 1: money into it. It's very expensive to try to take
Speaker 1: on the Patriots financially. It's also time consuming. Don't have
Speaker 1: a lot of time more money? All right, Well, that's
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Speaker 1: four six, three eight seven nine five. Once again that
Speaker 1: number four, six, three eight seven. Now it's time. I
Speaker 1: love animals, So that's what I enjoyed that. Now it's
Speaker 1: time to own up. Oh no, we don't get everything right,
Speaker 1: but the difference between our show and other shows is
Speaker 1: that we're not afraid to admit it. West there's something
Speaker 1: honorable and that isn't there. Of course, you own up
Speaker 1: to your mistakes absolutely, and then like and when you
Speaker 1: and when you do own up to him, I think
Speaker 1: it's important just to let everyone know what good people
Speaker 1: you are by owning up to them, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, you have to like tack that on give
Speaker 1: ourselves glory for that, right, But at least, I mean,
Speaker 1: it's better than not doing it at all. I feel
Speaker 1: like I feel like maybe you could look at it
Speaker 1: in that type of way, and that's a little bit cynical.
Speaker 1: I think this is I don't think that's I think
Speaker 1: this is really showing that we are very special people. Ultimately,
Speaker 1: to Greg's point, it was like it was like our
Speaker 1: president today was asked his takeaway from from the election
Speaker 1: that light and he his one big takeaway was people
Speaker 1: like me, and that's what my takeaway is from this podcast.
Speaker 1: All right, so this is a segment we call you.
Speaker 1: All right, Mark, You're gonna get us going, uh with
Speaker 1: a prediction that you made uh get it started, Quiet Storm. Yeah.
Speaker 1: This came um in our week three recap when I
Speaker 1: was very agitated with a with one team from the
Speaker 1: a f C West, the Chargers. I am sorry, I
Speaker 1: cannot at this point sit through many more weeks of this.
Speaker 1: I have Chargers exhaustion, they need Joey Bosa back, and
Speaker 1: they just got to clean it up on special team.
Speaker 1: So yeah, right, I guess I'm not holding my breath.
Speaker 1: So at that point you were just done, Mark, you
Speaker 1: were you. You felt another Charger season was coming that
Speaker 1: was going to be just like the rest of them,
Speaker 1: but it hasn't quite worked out that way. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: just could not tolerate a Charger's team that lost to
Speaker 1: the Chiefs and Rams. How could I put up with
Speaker 1: that kind of a squad? Little did I know they
Speaker 1: would not lose since they look like the most balanced
Speaker 1: team in the entire conference, and the team ready to
Speaker 1: play spoiler and say you want to just give the
Speaker 1: Chiefs and the Patriots the bye. Well, they've got an
Speaker 1: absolute cupcake schedule coming up. They've got teams like the
Speaker 1: Broncos and the Cardinals and the Raiders, and they have
Speaker 1: a very good shot to get to Pittsburgh in week
Speaker 1: thirteen at nine and two. And at that point they're
Speaker 1: very much in the conversation to steal one of those
Speaker 1: buys from the Patriots or the Chiefs and say, you
Speaker 1: know what, Cecil, you don't know censored, you don't know anything.
Speaker 1: What Wait a second, when you leave knock Water, well,
Speaker 1: I have to give Bridget is correct this time. So
Speaker 1: you owned up to a good job by you. This
Speaker 1: happens all the time, teams that everyone likes year after year.
Speaker 1: The moment that you were very common, I would say,
Speaker 1: in in your opinion of being tired of the Chargers,
Speaker 1: even people like me and Mark West who have been
Speaker 1: loving this team for years, we started getting pretty quiet,
Speaker 1: and we started getting a little bore, you know, just
Speaker 1: wondering if this thing's ever gonna happen. The moment that
Speaker 1: that happens, then suddenly Melvin Gordon is looking as good
Speaker 1: as any running back in the league. Desmond King is
Speaker 1: winning multiple games for them, and Rivers is having this season.
Speaker 1: We've been waiting for Din. Will Brentson jump off this band?
Speaker 1: He did? He did, giving him grief. Well, he and
Speaker 1: I picked the Chargers to go to the super Bowl
Speaker 1: last year, and I think we were bit by that.
Speaker 1: In fact, when we when we get to mind, it
Speaker 1: is from the show that Will was on with us
Speaker 1: where I believe he did h oh yeah, that was
Speaker 1: the episode where he went nuts and just said he
Speaker 1: was out. Yeah, bad timing, Mark. What is the charges
Speaker 1: find record going to be at the end of a
Speaker 1: think I think they're gonna be a thirteen and three team. Wow.
Speaker 1: But again, everything that I've said about the Chargers is
Speaker 1: completely wrong. So the twelve and four feels very real
Speaker 1: to me. Juggernauts stuff. Thirteen and three is you might
Speaker 1: you might have to win in Kansas City to get there,
Speaker 1: and you might win the division if you go. I
Speaker 1: think they are going to split with the Chiefs, which
Speaker 1: would be amazing. Wes, what do you got? I doubted
Speaker 1: one of my favorite players in the league and one
Speaker 1: of the best quarterbacks in the league, and it was
Speaker 1: because of a sequence at the end of a Week
Speaker 1: three game and the sequence everybody knows because he couldn't.
Speaker 1: He was replaced on a hail mary attempt. And then
Speaker 1: I actually used the name Chad Pennington in the same
Speaker 1: sentence as Andrew Luck out now and Jacoby precent for
Speaker 1: the hail Mary, and everyone's wondering what's wrong with Andrew
Speaker 1: lux arm. To me, that's a sure sign that Rich
Speaker 1: is admitting Andrew Luck's arm isn't where it needs to be.
Speaker 1: Maybe maybe he's not Chad Pennington. Maybe he's still working
Speaker 1: back to get that arm strength. But no other no
Speaker 1: other quarterback in the league gets pulled in this situation
Speaker 1: as much as that how Mary. What bothered me was
Speaker 1: the place before that, there are forty three seconds left.
Speaker 1: He could have worked down for he could have worked
Speaker 1: down to get the ball down the field, and instead
Speaker 1: he was just taking easy checkdowns for four or five yards.
Speaker 1: No desire, what's whatsoever to test the eagles down the field?
Speaker 1: Island is the dirties one. Oh, you gotta help bridget,
Speaker 1: you gotta hell and you die. I didn't even know
Speaker 1: she got out of the garage. Was unfair, not right,
Speaker 1: not right. But here's Andrew Luck now, and he is
Speaker 1: Andrew Luck again. More or less right was He's still
Speaker 1: in pace to tide rubrees for the fifth most touchdowns
Speaker 1: in a season. He's on pace for forty six touchdowns.
Speaker 1: And ever since you know, my ridiculous comments about his
Speaker 1: arm strength, he's been on fire, throwing two guys like
Speaker 1: Zach Pascal and mo Ali Cox an offense, averaging that
Speaker 1: that was the game. Everyone was worried, though. I think
Speaker 1: people even like the Eagles, you could hear after the game,
Speaker 1: we're kind of they weren't impressed with what they saw
Speaker 1: out of Andrew Luck. He wasn't. His arm didn't look great.
Speaker 1: And he is a different quarterback. He's not the same
Speaker 1: old and and that's fine. A lot, a lot, a
Speaker 1: lot of it's better. Like he's a he's a smarter quarterback.
Speaker 1: You forget how young he is. He's playing so intelligently.
Speaker 1: He's not nearly the same runner as he used to
Speaker 1: because he doesn't want to be, because he's trying to
Speaker 1: stay away from getting any hits, which was an old
Speaker 1: problem that he had. His arm I don't think is
Speaker 1: quite where it was, But it doesn't matter. Here's plenty
Speaker 1: of arm, and he's better in so many and how
Speaker 1: much of a difference. Has the offensive line improvement made?
Speaker 1: I mean, I feel like that helps you be a
Speaker 1: smarter quarter I think and Luck has made are the key.
Speaker 1: Rich has been the key to making the offensive line better.
Speaker 1: He's getting the ball out of his hands quicker than
Speaker 1: almost any quarterback in the league, and you run an
Speaker 1: offense that that makes them look better. When your name
Speaker 1: is Mo Ali hyphen Cox, the assumption is that one
Speaker 1: parent uh had the last name of Ali and one
Speaker 1: had the last name of Cox, or is it multiple
Speaker 1: parental situations or maybe the family split it some Most
Speaker 1: most hyphenms are are a divorce or you just want
Speaker 1: to have both names. But we're assuming that it isn't
Speaker 1: a hyphen aated last name. That is the actual confidence there. Well,
Speaker 1: don't you guys know, don't you know a lot of
Speaker 1: people with hyphens and how many of them aren't exactly
Speaker 1: that situation but could be just well, I'm gonna do
Speaker 1: some some curs. The Alley and Fletcher Cox, if they
Speaker 1: got married, they wanted to hook it up and at
Speaker 1: that couple together. Let the record show there was one
Speaker 1: person who did not question Andrew Luck's arm strength after
Speaker 1: that game, and that was Andrew Luck. Who insisted that
Speaker 1: his arm was just fine. Yes, believe his quote right
Speaker 1: after the game was shut when someone asked him, which
Speaker 1: is not like Andrew Luck, but he must have felt
Speaker 1: very competent. Eric is like yet another edit to this show.
Speaker 1: All right, Greg, why don't you go next? I got
Speaker 1: carried away talking about a team who's basically the same
Speaker 1: team every year after year, and I kind of like
Speaker 1: a lot of bad predictions. That was just wish casting.
Speaker 1: This is what I was hoping would happen. It was stupid.
Speaker 1: The Pittsburgh Steelers, it's not is a ship going downhill.
Speaker 1: Something smells Ben Ben Roethlisberger said he's not on the
Speaker 1: same page with anybody. And Ben Roethlisberger loves to put
Speaker 1: little passive aggressive quotes into the media. It actually do
Speaker 1: mean something. Antonio Brown's not getting the ball as much.
Speaker 1: The Steelers defense is a shell of its former self.
Speaker 1: No pass rush. James Conner has been under twenty yards
Speaker 1: two of the last three weeks, the lowest rushing total
Speaker 1: the Steelers vet since nineteen seventy And by the way,
Speaker 1: they're in the best division in football. They're not getting
Speaker 1: past the Ravens and the Bengals because those teams are legit,
Speaker 1: and even the Browns are gonna be tough. They could
Speaker 1: be at the past place at the end of I
Speaker 1: really wanted you to go golf. But I like that
Speaker 1: you forgot about Greg. This is an intervention, help us,
Speaker 1: help you. She does seem to have a lot of
Speaker 1: empathy for you, Greg. I appreciate that. You know I
Speaker 1: have a special connection with women. Okay, unconfirmed, other unconfirmed?
Speaker 1: I do like that was that was from our Twitter
Speaker 1: show and I had given the Steelers the award of
Speaker 1: a team you should freak out about. Mark thought I
Speaker 1: should have or something you should freak out about. Mark
Speaker 1: thought I should have given it to another nominee, which
Speaker 1: was the entire sport of golf. It would have been
Speaker 1: much a much better choice because golf's going downhill. It's
Speaker 1: a total going it's a total bore. And you know what,
Speaker 1: the Steelers have one of the best offensive lines, one
Speaker 1: of the best receiver groups, one of the best running games,
Speaker 1: one of the best red zone offenses, and they still
Speaker 1: have Ben Roethlisberger, who's fine even when he's not playing
Speaker 1: that one. Could hear it in your voice too, Do
Speaker 1: you have you said wish casting and you could hear
Speaker 1: the excitement because you even though the Patriots always take
Speaker 1: care of the Steelers when it matters, you just don't
Speaker 1: want them in the picture. You don't want him around anymore.
Speaker 1: It just would have been you don't want the same
Speaker 1: thing year after a year. It's fun to see bad
Speaker 1: good teams get bad and bad teams get good. Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that's the team that should never get every year.
Speaker 1: And there's like a player two. I have a complete
Speaker 1: disconnect with UM and Pro Football Focus. Ben Roethlisberger is
Speaker 1: the guy this year. They have him behind guys like
Speaker 1: Alex Smith, Dak Prescott, Blake Bortle's case, Keenum. I think
Speaker 1: it looks like Ben Roethlisberger. He missed a few throws
Speaker 1: in September, but he's moving better than he did last
Speaker 1: year in the pocket. The offense is on fire there.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's not making breaking turnovers. How do you
Speaker 1: grade those guys ahead of him? I think if you
Speaker 1: looked at his grades over the last and I'm doing
Speaker 1: it now, over the last four weeks have been good.
Speaker 1: So he just buried himself with a lot of he
Speaker 1: got away with a lot of himself. I mean he's
Speaker 1: he's alive and living and the first in the way
Speaker 1: that they grade the first four or five weeks of
Speaker 1: the season, we're so bad, just with a lot of
Speaker 1: lucky plays that didn't get intercepted and not a lot
Speaker 1: of the conventional Ben's gonna do something on his own place.
Speaker 1: But I think you've seen those over the last three
Speaker 1: or four weeks and he's been fine. Uh. Close it
Speaker 1: out with my thoughts which were back in the Wednesday
Speaker 1: show ahead of week three, Uh, the Seahawks were owing
Speaker 1: two and beyond being oh and two, they just seemed
Speaker 1: to be a direction list oh and two or a
Speaker 1: team in search of an identity which we had not
Speaker 1: been used to u up there in Seattle. Here's what
Speaker 1: I said early in seen 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: rebuild and you see it on both sides of the ball.
Speaker 1: I was borderline depressed, like the Seahawks don't matter right now,
Speaker 1: and that's that's a big change from what we've gotten
Speaker 1: used to over the last five or six years. No worries, honey,
Speaker 1: how could you have known? I mean, we all knew,
Speaker 1: we all knew that was not going to wind up
Speaker 1: as any sort of critique of you, despite your analysis
Speaker 1: being as far off course as possible. All Right, it
Speaker 1: was worth it. Um. Okay, So the Seahawks do have
Speaker 1: an identity. They are not also end They're also not
Speaker 1: a superpower. It's not like, um, they've been blown the
Speaker 1: doors off the off this industry of football, Greg Rosenthal's
Speaker 1: fourth favorite team count as an identity. And maybe maybe,
Speaker 1: but they were owing two. Uh they then won four
Speaker 1: or five and they their defense really did develop. They
Speaker 1: quickly found a new niche um with big playmakers. Frank
Speaker 1: Clark seven and a half sacks halfway through the season.
Speaker 1: He could be on All Pro. This is a team
Speaker 1: that has found itself defensively. Offense has been better, the
Speaker 1: running game has been better. Russell Wilson has had some
Speaker 1: really nice moments this season. Uh, they did stumble a
Speaker 1: little bit at home against the Chargers, which takes a
Speaker 1: little bit winned out of the sales of the team,
Speaker 1: But overall, when you look at them, UM, I think
Speaker 1: they are an NFC team that is going to be
Speaker 1: in the mix for the wild card spot. They have
Speaker 1: three laws, their four losses all of them UH one
Speaker 1: score games, and the combined record of the teams that
Speaker 1: beat them nineteen and six. So what that kind of
Speaker 1: tells me is they're not quite at the level of
Speaker 1: these top teams in the league, but they can hang
Speaker 1: with any team, and they can beat all the bad teams,
Speaker 1: and most of the teams are in the middle of
Speaker 1: the road, they can hang with them and beat them too.
Speaker 1: So we'll see what happens. We're gonna learn a lot
Speaker 1: about them coming uh over the next three weeks because
Speaker 1: they go to Los Angeles against the Rams, tough, tough matchup,
Speaker 1: especially with the Rams coming off that loss, and then
Speaker 1: home with Packers and then at Panthers. So they need
Speaker 1: to win probably two of those three games, UH to
Speaker 1: to stay above water at least one obviously, UH, And
Speaker 1: we'll see, we'll learn a lot about them. But I
Speaker 1: was wrong at that moment. Thinking that this team was
Speaker 1: gonna be six and ten type outfit with no juice.
Speaker 1: I would say if they ever found a way to
Speaker 1: sneak in to the final wild card spot, it's improbable
Speaker 1: with their schedule. But almost regardless, I would like to
Speaker 1: see Pete Carroll in the conversation for Coach of the Year.
Speaker 1: I have no idea what coach of the year means
Speaker 1: in this league because Bill Belichick never gets it, and
Speaker 1: he probably should get it every year. But wait, what
Speaker 1: Pete Carroll dealt with in the offseason, having to displace
Speaker 1: a bunch of veterans who had maybe lost the lost
Speaker 1: the message of Pete Carroll, and and and and we're
Speaker 1: taking over the team in a bad way to move
Speaker 1: on from them, engage in a rebuilding project, have everyone
Speaker 1: write you off, and then show what he's done with
Speaker 1: all these new faces and these younger players and their
Speaker 1: secondary looks great all over again. I mean, he's doing
Speaker 1: everything he did the first time, he's beginning to do
Speaker 1: it a second. What is the coach of the year
Speaker 1: you alluded to? Kind of the the veteran issue. Earl
Speaker 1: Thomas a big issue with him, the hold out he
Speaker 1: does play. He's an impact player and then he gets
Speaker 1: hurt and he's out for the year. So they've been
Speaker 1: able to fight through that as well. At the time
Speaker 1: of your statement, Dan, we all thought this was a
Speaker 1: six and ten team. Yeah, I thought eight nine win
Speaker 1: team going into the sea, except that's probably where they're
Speaker 1: gonna be at not at that time. I mean, we
Speaker 1: could go back and I would say at least half
Speaker 1: of my predictions would all be wrong. It wouldn't be
Speaker 1: hard to find incorrect predict I'd say nine out of
Speaker 1: ten of mine, or probably definitively about half. I would say,
Speaker 1: I'm just throwing darts at a non dartboard. That we
Speaker 1: provide a lot of value in different ways, predictions is
Speaker 1: not one of them, and it's not one that any
Speaker 1: football analyst provides any value, right, And it's not just
Speaker 1: football industry. It's like it's studies have been done that
Speaker 1: the best experts in basically any medical, scientific fields whatever
Speaker 1: have no predictive powers whatsoever on what like. You can
Speaker 1: you can analyze this, but you can You're not gonna
Speaker 1: know what's gonna happen in the future. That's why it's
Speaker 1: sensor damn future. Find Find me one other football show.
Speaker 1: In existence where they set around telling each other we
Speaker 1: provide value in other ways, like what time do you
Speaker 1: stop down and tell the listener that we are providing value.
Speaker 1: It is unbelievable what happens on this show. All right,
Speaker 1: there you go. We blew it, but we owned up
Speaker 1: to it, so we're the best. All right, now let's
Speaker 1: move on. Uh, let's hit this. Uh pretty quick, but
Speaker 1: we should hit because West, you got a banger that's coming.
Speaker 1: Is it up on the site yet or yeah, it
Speaker 1: should be up by the time this podcast is released. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that makes this breaking news. Top ten rookie classes Uh
Speaker 1: in the NFL and Uh, you put a lot of
Speaker 1: thought into this, West, Um, do you want to tell us?
Speaker 1: First of all, why don't you just throw out the
Speaker 1: number one? Who has the best rookie class? As of
Speaker 1: halfway through the sason to me, there are two that
Speaker 1: stand above the crowd. It's the Browns and the Colts.
Speaker 1: And I gave the edge to the Browns for the
Speaker 1: quarterback factor. They nailed the right one, and a lot
Speaker 1: of people thought they should have taken Sam Donald. Josh
Speaker 1: Allen's name was in the mix. A lot of people
Speaker 1: thought Josh Rosen was maybe the best NFL ready quarter
Speaker 1: but I think they, after all of their due diligence,
Speaker 1: settled on Baker Mayfield, the right guy who's been the
Speaker 1: most productive and the most promising of the rookie quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: That's a big that's a big call. Denzel Award is
Speaker 1: on my mid season All Pro team, and Nick Chubb
Speaker 1: has rushed for yards on forty fewer attempts than Carlos.
Speaker 1: Hodge looks really good. He looks like, I don't know,
Speaker 1: like Eddie. There's not many running backs around like him
Speaker 1: right now. He's more explosive than Eddie. Yeah, but like
Speaker 1: a young Eddie Eddie. George was explosive when he was young.
Speaker 1: But he has a very good sense of like what
Speaker 1: holes to hit and how to set up runs. Like
Speaker 1: he's just kind of an old school He seems like
Speaker 1: he has great vision. I think it's the third or
Speaker 1: fourth week where Mayfield and Chubb are up for Rookie
Speaker 1: of the Week that this combination of these players has
Speaker 1: happened three or four times this season, so it is promising.
Speaker 1: And I guess all this like, you know, moping around
Speaker 1: after they fired the coach. It's like there is this
Speaker 1: is different this time because a that had to happen,
Speaker 1: Like there was no way that anyone thought that you're
Speaker 1: traveling into the deep future with Hugh Jackson. It happened
Speaker 1: too late. That's fine, but there is hope this time
Speaker 1: because when you look at this roster and how it's built,
Speaker 1: the right coaching staff has a lot to work the
Speaker 1: way the Browns are number one. What it makes sense
Speaker 1: to me because eight like even if you look at
Speaker 1: the late round picks Genard Avery and Damien Rally, I
Speaker 1: like how Ratley looks and I think Avery's Avery. These
Speaker 1: are third round picks, third day picks, so that Avery
Speaker 1: is gonna be a starter for them. He already is
Speaker 1: filling in and I think he's going to be a
Speaker 1: starter for the next you know, half deck. Why why
Speaker 1: the Colts over the Broncos? Where are the Broncos? I
Speaker 1: I was thinking that bronc have off. They have They're
Speaker 1: the only team with a defensive Rookie of the Month
Speaker 1: and an offensive rookie of the month. Darius Leonard to me,
Speaker 1: has had a bigger impact than any rookie in football.
Speaker 1: He leads the NFL and tackling. He has four sacks,
Speaker 1: seven tackles for lost a few force fumbles. This guy
Speaker 1: is a playmaker. Quentin Nelson and Braden Smith on their
Speaker 1: offensive line are both starting um and to me, they're
Speaker 1: both like assets, whereas the Broncos have Bradley Chubb and
Speaker 1: Philip Lindsay who are assets. But who else is really?
Speaker 1: Courtland suss he's very the potential is through the roof,
Speaker 1: but he's got less than a fifty percent catch rate
Speaker 1: to Philip Lindsay, Right, yeah, Philip Lindsay, like he's getting
Speaker 1: it done. What would you say about the Broncos. I
Speaker 1: know Bradley Chubb has come on, he's obviously they made
Speaker 1: a good pick there. But let's say they had taken
Speaker 1: Josh Rosen instead of Chubb where with this class and
Speaker 1: we would be getting a different version of Josh Rosen
Speaker 1: because he wouldn't be encamped on one of the worst
Speaker 1: offenses we've ever seen. They didn't address the quarterback situation,
Speaker 1: and that's the one reason I think. I mean, l
Speaker 1: Wade needed this draft, and he really needed badly, But
Speaker 1: I still get stuck on these teams like the Giants
Speaker 1: and Broncos that ignored the most important position. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think I would have to save that for a few
Speaker 1: years to find out who Josh Rosen is gonna be.
Speaker 1: To this, I want an answer right now to this point,
Speaker 1: Met West Cardinals are not on this list because the
Speaker 1: rookies haven't really played that well. Even though they addressed positions.
Speaker 1: Josh Rosen hasn't been an asset for the Cardinals this year.
Speaker 1: All right, quickly West. The team on this list that
Speaker 1: kind of intrigued you the most their rookie class. Uh
Speaker 1: and the since you I assume when you did this
Speaker 1: you kind of went through all the teams right who
Speaker 1: had the worst rookie class so far? I like that too.
Speaker 1: The Jacksonville Jaguars aren't getting much at all out of
Speaker 1: the rookie class. That's one team really. Some of the
Speaker 1: better teams, the Rams, of course didn't have as many
Speaker 1: draft picks, so they're not getting as much. The Chiefs
Speaker 1: aren't getting a ton from their rookie class. So I
Speaker 1: think those are like the ones where it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: there isn't much there. Um. The one intriguing team that
Speaker 1: is on this list, I think the Panthers, who are
Speaker 1: now like you're seeing them hit their stride as they
Speaker 1: work in d J Moore um Dante Jackson is Brian
Speaker 1: Baldinger's picked for defensive Rookie of the Year. So far,
Speaker 1: he tied for the leading interceptions. So I think the
Speaker 1: Panthers like they're being fueled by their young players. We
Speaker 1: kind of, you know, mocked, maybe not mocked, but we
Speaker 1: were critical of Mark then bringing back Marty Hernie. We
Speaker 1: were like built statues to Dave Gettleman. Well, Dave Getleman's
Speaker 1: had a terrible year personnel wise with the Giants, and
Speaker 1: the Panthers have had a nice year since he's left. Uh,
Speaker 1: it's funny when you talk about these draft classes and
Speaker 1: we have killed the Giants and rightfully so this has
Speaker 1: not worked out at all. If we just wait, though,
Speaker 1: if you just wait, the Giants, and I don't know
Speaker 1: enough about the college football, seem to know if there's
Speaker 1: a star quarterback that they can get, they're gonna pick
Speaker 1: the best quarterback probably on the board or close to it.
Speaker 1: So maybe this time next year they will have everything.
Speaker 1: But they don't get any credit for lucking into that
Speaker 1: quarterback because they're so bad at their job. My point,
Speaker 1: I'm not saying they deserve credit. I'm just saying that
Speaker 1: was and has worked played out for them. It might
Speaker 1: ultimately all work out. They have Barkley and a quarterback
Speaker 1: they could build. They thought they were a nine win team.
Speaker 1: The fact that they were so wrong about their own
Speaker 1: team could end up saving them. The only problem for them, too,
Speaker 1: is you're gonna be compared whatever quarterback it is. You've
Speaker 1: got Sam Donald playing in the same stadium for the Jets.
Speaker 1: That is an unpleasant concoction for Giants. If Donald hits,
Speaker 1: that will always stick with them, especially if Barkley does
Speaker 1: not become a generational talent. Well, the range of possibilities
Speaker 1: is they might find that quarterback next year in the draft,
Speaker 1: or it could be twenty years like the Browns and
Speaker 1: the Bills before they find a quarterback. Right, all right,
Speaker 1: there you go check it out NFL dot Com slash whistling.
Speaker 1: Maybe about an r L if the beltime powers that
Speaker 1: be deem it you know worthy. It feels like Vanity
Speaker 1: or Els might have jumped the shark. I think like
Speaker 1: written content on the internet is ye, I think dot com.
Speaker 1: But it seems like that's a problem. Are all right?
Speaker 1: Fair point? Uh, we'll save that for the Future of
Speaker 1: the Industry podcast coming up in the offseason. But let's
Speaker 1: close out the show by taking a look at the
Speaker 1: first game on the week ten sk droll the Carolina
Speaker 1: Panthers six and two and rolling, absolutely rolling. They've won
Speaker 1: five of six and three in a row, and now
Speaker 1: they head to Pittsburgh to face the Steelers. Thank God,
Speaker 1: a good game on Thursday night, because the Steelers are
Speaker 1: as hot as any team in the a f C,
Speaker 1: with five wins out of six and four straight. Quiet Storm,
Speaker 1: and you are the one and true Quiet Storm. This
Speaker 1: is a game that you're gonna watch and not hate.
Speaker 1: And I know it. Oh I'm I'm excited for this game.
Speaker 1: I only all I want is intriguing matchups. I especially
Speaker 1: love when you get two teams that don't see each
Speaker 1: other often like this, and they're both surging right now.
Speaker 1: The Panthers have zero turnovers in the last three games.
Speaker 1: They're not making mistakes. Cam Newton is the best red
Speaker 1: zone quarterback in the league at this point. I think
Speaker 1: we're gonna see a lot of d J. Moore in
Speaker 1: this game. They're gonna try to get him unleashed. And
Speaker 1: the Steelers, as much as I disdain the concept of
Speaker 1: them always making the playoffs, are very fun to watch
Speaker 1: right now, and it starts for me with James Conner.
Speaker 1: That that's all I have to say. Two of the
Speaker 1: best tackling defenses in football. I think they don't make
Speaker 1: These teams don't make a ton of mistakes. You're right,
Speaker 1: Cam Newton might be the best red zone quarterback. The Steelers,
Speaker 1: I know, are second in the league in red zone efficiency.
Speaker 1: I think the Bengals are randomly first. So these are
Speaker 1: two teams who you can kind of compare because they
Speaker 1: both just finished up walking the Ravens defense up and
Speaker 1: down the field. They did it in different ways, but ultimately,
Speaker 1: especially in the Carolina game, the offense of the Panthers
Speaker 1: dominated that game. They're both really good on third downs,
Speaker 1: and I think it's because they have so many options.
Speaker 1: I mean, DJ Moore is really fun to watch, and
Speaker 1: the Panthers coaching staff is under the radar. Not North
Speaker 1: Turner necessarily this year, but just the way that they
Speaker 1: do things. They had. They've had as many injuries as
Speaker 1: anyone on the offensive line. Their offensive lines playing well,
Speaker 1: so that to me is coaching. Dante Jackson and James
Speaker 1: Bradberry are I'm not gonna say they're the best cornerback duo,
Speaker 1: and but they're very good, and those are guys that
Speaker 1: weren't drafted very high that people don't talk about that much.
Speaker 1: And that's coaching, that's kind of having a system where
Speaker 1: you're making your players look better maybe than they would elsewhere.
Speaker 1: Thomas Davis said this week that the Panthers now are
Speaker 1: more talented than the two thousand fifteen team that went
Speaker 1: to the Super Bowl. And I think that cornerback duo
Speaker 1: is a good reason. And the weapons with Curtis Samuel D. J. Moore,
Speaker 1: Christian McCaffrey on offense is another. Their offense is definitely
Speaker 1: better than that team. And it's crazy, though it's true.
Speaker 1: Though you're right, since we're here, we should mention the
Speaker 1: Levy on Bell situation. He's still not with the team.
Speaker 1: He has until Tuesday next Tuesday at four pm Eastern.
Speaker 1: If he doesn't report by that deadline, he's ineligible to
Speaker 1: play for the remainder of the season. I'm still confused
Speaker 1: whether he has to report and remain uh tethered? Will
Speaker 1: you remain tethered to the franchise to the Steelers. I
Speaker 1: see it reported in all different ways, and it's annoying me.
Speaker 1: Because I wanted to know for sure, Gregg, do you
Speaker 1: know definitively yes? What is it? I I am keeping
Speaker 1: that to myself. I'm not only in the industry that knows.
Speaker 1: But it's Smart's great to know. It sounds awesome. But
Speaker 1: James Connor, mark who it's starts. Your excitement for the
Speaker 1: starts with James Connery. You said it on face or
Speaker 1: two thousand yards. So they're gonna be fine with or
Speaker 1: without love, they'll be fine. Pick this game fun. Is
Speaker 1: this in Pittsburgh or Carolina? Pittsburgh? All right? The Steelers
Speaker 1: win this four in a thriller West. I think the
Speaker 1: Panthers might be a slightly better team, but the home
Speaker 1: field advantage, I'm gonna stick with the Steelers. Remember the
Speaker 1: old Desert credo back in the day, uh, Greg, which
Speaker 1: was always bet on Peyton Manning in primetime. Sure, I
Speaker 1: mean they have that on billboards up and down. You know, hey,
Speaker 1: for your college I always bet against Cam Newton and
Speaker 1: the Panthers on the road in pam time, in prime time.
Speaker 1: The numbers back it up. He has struggled career wise,
Speaker 1: uh under the lights. He struggled on the Super Bowl too,
Speaker 1: but that was remember like the game against the Eagles
Speaker 1: on either Monday night or Thursday Night football. Remember that
Speaker 1: awful seaside bar mark where we watched the Giant Panther
Speaker 1: game where Newton laid an egg. He doesn't always play
Speaker 1: the best in these settings, and I don't like him
Speaker 1: on the road in this game. As much as I
Speaker 1: love Cam and the Panthers this year, I feel like
Speaker 1: this they're gonna take an l here laid an egg
Speaker 1: and then enraged us in a with a late game
Speaker 1: uh touchdown with the Panthers down by multiple tons of points.
Speaker 1: Any rips this jersey open like you Superman. Well, if
Speaker 1: you're Superman, you wouldn't be in this position to begin with,
Speaker 1: same that Andre Brown ran all over. Yes, that's the game.
Speaker 1: Let me give a score. It's gonna be thirty one
Speaker 1: to seventeen. Steelers. I think the Steelers are a slightly
Speaker 1: better team. I think they're they're high. Their ceiling is
Speaker 1: even higher that they almost I think Roethlisberg can play
Speaker 1: even better. And the way that the defense has just
Speaker 1: flipped a switch and suddenly turned into an average to
Speaker 1: a probably an above average even I think they have
Speaker 1: a better defense in the panthers. So I think they
Speaker 1: went at home. Let's say by six points thirty the
Speaker 1: twenties four, they're going to go six nothing there that
Speaker 1: would have been next level. Al Right, great, this is
Speaker 1: an intervention. Help us, help you. I appreciate you saw
Speaker 1: what I was doing their bridget just making sure everyone knew.
Speaker 1: Don't pretend like you didn't know the old Peyton Manning
Speaker 1: in prime time credo. Don't pretend you are definitely banging
Speaker 1: You were banging it every time. That's something that that
Speaker 1: sounds like something I don't like. I don't like little
Speaker 1: rules like that. Is the intervention based on the last
Speaker 1: bridget uh entry that you were on acid? Or is
Speaker 1: it because you have a serious gambling issue. I mean,
Speaker 1: we're both all of the above just covered. You say
Speaker 1: you don't like little things like that, but I don't like.
Speaker 1: But he always covered at home, are always covered in
Speaker 1: prime time during his heyday. I think stuff like that
Speaker 1: and the fact that cam Newton has struggled on the
Speaker 1: road in prime time is totally meaningless. And I think
Speaker 1: I think most I think most people that look at
Speaker 1: the numb birds would would say that while we're talking
Speaker 1: to intervention, can I give a TV recommendation. Sure always
Speaker 1: sunny episode where Frank gets an intervention and thinks it's
Speaker 1: a roasts. The actual show Intervention is also a good show.
Speaker 1: It's intense, very intense, but I enjoyed watching it, something
Speaker 1: very nice. And before we go, last chance, Greg, if
Speaker 1: you want to reveal whether or not Levy on Bell
Speaker 1: needs to report in order to waive the franchise tag entering,
Speaker 1: which would then enter him directly into free agency, or
Speaker 1: does he get hit with a transition tag? Cleared up, Greg,
Speaker 1: I'm changing the game right now. I'm actually gonna sell
Speaker 1: this information to the highest bides. So just come at
Speaker 1: me like whether it's Schefter, Rappaport, Glazer hit me up
Speaker 1: like this. You have multiple issues and that will not
Speaker 1: change Alright. We'll be back tomorrow night with a recap
Speaker 1: of that Panther Steelers game, and then we will preview
Speaker 1: all the week ten matchups to come. This is Dan
Speaker 1: Hands a signing off for Quiet Storm, The Mailman, The
Speaker 1: Old Boss, Ricky Hollywood behind the Glass. How you feeling, Ricky?
Speaker 1: Feeling great? Looking better? Like it? I like it? Till
Speaker 1: Thursday night. M