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Speaker 1: that's Nautica dot com Code Football be Around the NFL
Speaker 1: podcast is getting the band back together. Welcome to another
Speaker 1: edition of the Around the NFL Podcast. My name is
Speaker 1: Dan Ansers and I've joined in a room build with
Speaker 1: heroes Mark Sessler, Chris Westling and Greg Rosenthal. What is up? Boys?
Speaker 1: And what man I mean? Man? Back together? Eightieth time
Speaker 1: in four weeks? When are we not together? For those
Speaker 1: that may be new to the show, uh, Greg? During
Speaker 1: this high school days in New England, formed a Prague
Speaker 1: Western Massachusetts alternative brought out Western mass Um acid rock emo,
Speaker 1: a hybrid of some kind. Greg played, They tickled the ivories,
Speaker 1: I believe and did box and the band was called Delaware.
Speaker 1: I don't remember the true except like we were Yeah.
Speaker 1: Some fourteen year olds and I sang in a band,
Speaker 1: I would say it was more they might be giants esque.
Speaker 1: I mean we got at yeah, they might be giants
Speaker 1: slash dead milkmen. Yeah, how long we're people hanging around?
Speaker 1: I wasn't in yeah, I wasn't trying to croon with
Speaker 1: those songs. Those It was more a chance, like talking
Speaker 1: okay and no, let's please never. I don't want to
Speaker 1: do that to this. What is the birdhouse in my soul?
Speaker 1: That that was the first ance that I ever went to.
Speaker 1: They might be giants with greg Smith College Frank Black opened.
Speaker 1: They played at the spring good Ratio. Smith College, by
Speaker 1: the way, what is that? A all women's school dotted
Speaker 1: throughout Massachusetts? These all women's Northampton Western Masses like the
Speaker 1: King of all women's schools. They might be giants played
Speaker 1: Northeastern claim Springfest in two thousand and two. I sat
Speaker 1: it out. It sounds like I should regret it. They
Speaker 1: were fun. I think I don't think they were by Yeah,
Speaker 1: by O two even that might have been passed that moment.
Speaker 1: The only song I even know from them is the
Speaker 1: Malcolm in the Middle theme, which I did not find
Speaker 1: enjoyable as a song, but I'm sure they have some bangers. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't say that's like the perfect snapshot of their catalog.
Speaker 1: All right, here we go, it's the Wednesday Show. A
Speaker 1: lot to get to. Uh, some big news. A general
Speaker 1: manager got axed, a offensive coordinator was let go. So
Speaker 1: I'm trying to use different words than fired out of respect,
Speaker 1: but then acts as kind of cruel as well, because
Speaker 1: it's basically the execution is the connection there. It could
Speaker 1: be or it could like that Jaguars punter who acts
Speaker 1: himself in the shin who was the punter someone Hanson
Speaker 1: they believe. Yeah, I think it was handsome. I think
Speaker 1: that sounds right. And we have some quarterback news before
Speaker 1: we get to that. UM. Also coming up, I should say, uh,
Speaker 1: we're going to take a closer look at the playoff
Speaker 1: picture and uh preview Thursday Night football and then uh,
Speaker 1: and perhaps most importantly, UM, we need to talk to
Speaker 1: the president of the Pro Football Writers Association, who just
Speaker 1: happens so happens to be Bob Glauber, longtime calumnist for
Speaker 1: Newsday in New York. So we'll talk to him at
Speaker 1: the end of the show and make a formal pitch.
Speaker 1: We'll just leave it at that for now. Let us
Speaker 1: get to the news. How couldn't it How does how
Speaker 1: couldn't it happen? Where they gotta keep the other random
Speaker 1: of school lives? Oh my God, Jesus Christ, you knew
Speaker 1: they were gonna do it? Me? What was that? That
Speaker 1: was a fan video of the ail Mary That was
Speaker 1: a like an eighty year old grandfather in some New England. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, den living room area reacting to the Miami miracle.
Speaker 1: That was Alec Baldwin an outside providence. Uh is that
Speaker 1: what it sounded like in your house growing up? Arga? No,
Speaker 1: not at all. No, very civilized and um, you know
Speaker 1: we don't have accents there you go. Uh. Let's start
Speaker 1: with the uh decision by the Minnesota Vikings to part
Speaker 1: ways with offensive coordinator uh John d Filippo. Uh. This
Speaker 1: happens uh thirteen games into the d Filippo's first season
Speaker 1: as the o c spent last year and want to
Speaker 1: ring with the Eagles and um mark the idea of
Speaker 1: d Flippo was great when the hiring and it seems, oh,
Speaker 1: Kirk Cousins is in town. We get this guy that's
Speaker 1: a young hot shot from the Super Bowl champ staff,
Speaker 1: and it just never worked and Mike Zimmer makes the
Speaker 1: decision to move on and and quite frankly a stunning decision. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I wonder if age had something to do with it
Speaker 1: coming off of the Sean McVeigh situation, because everyone kind
Speaker 1: of thought of Frank Reich as a second or third
Speaker 1: or fourth or fifth type of candidate, and you learned
Speaker 1: months later that Frank Wright had a lot to do, uh,
Speaker 1: and maybe was a driving force in Phillies, you know,
Speaker 1: surge down the stretch last year and their creativity and
Speaker 1: their approach to analytics will their willingness to fit that
Speaker 1: in and the Eagles are a bit of deadweight and
Speaker 1: de Filippo's out of a job. I still feel that
Speaker 1: one of the biggest issues for any offensive coordinator coming
Speaker 1: into Minnesota, I mean, beyond for de Filippo getting along
Speaker 1: with the head coach was a offensive line that was
Speaker 1: hamstrung from the start and currently ranks thirty one in
Speaker 1: past protection. And that plays out I mean, Kirk, as
Speaker 1: you guys have said, has not been the primary issue.
Speaker 1: We also has had some bad games, and whether or
Speaker 1: not you like it, a quarterback is tied to the
Speaker 1: results of a team. But good luck thriving if your
Speaker 1: Kirk Cousins behind that line. He's been punished far too
Speaker 1: often and the record probably reflects some of their major weaknesses.
Speaker 1: Before Tony Sperrano passed away, he and De Filippo worked
Speaker 1: closely together and they were excited for this season. Sperrano
Speaker 1: one of the best O line coaches and run game
Speaker 1: coordinators in the league. He was behind last year's team
Speaker 1: in which Latavius Murray and Jack McKinnon were one of
Speaker 1: the best backfield duos in the league, and the offensive
Speaker 1: line really blocked well for case Keenum and this year
Speaker 1: it's been totally different. Yeah, that's been I think their
Speaker 1: number one problem, and that's led to the running game problems.
Speaker 1: And I think Kirk Cousins overcame some of the line
Speaker 1: issues and now he's gotten into some bad habits where
Speaker 1: I don't think no matter how much you like Kirk Cousins,
Speaker 1: you can't argue that he played well on Monday Night,
Speaker 1: even taking away the offensive line issues. I can think
Speaker 1: of three or four five different plays where protection is
Speaker 1: not a problem at all, and he was late to
Speaker 1: see receivers. He made some indecisive throws, but the firings
Speaker 1: timing is shocking to me because three weeks left in
Speaker 1: the season, you're in the number six spot. You just
Speaker 1: don't see that much. Yeah, we saw it with the Ravens, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, before they won their Super Bowl, after they
Speaker 1: were blown out in a game and Jim Caldwell ended
Speaker 1: up taking over and they won the Super Bowl. So
Speaker 1: who knows. Kevin Stefanski, who's been there and is the
Speaker 1: quarterbacks coach, is a guy I think that's pretty highly
Speaker 1: thought of around the league and inside of that building,
Speaker 1: and some people thought he should have gotten that job
Speaker 1: a year ago. And it makes you wonder if d
Speaker 1: Filippo and Zimmer were ever totally on the same page,
Speaker 1: just because reading between the lines and also hearing some
Speaker 1: of the reports, Zimmer was talking publicly that he wasn't
Speaker 1: really a fan of some of the de Filippo philosophies
Speaker 1: in press conferences, and judging by the some of the
Speaker 1: reports out there and certainly even some of the play
Speaker 1: by play and color guys who meet with Zimmer, I
Speaker 1: think he was talking a little, you know, trash about
Speaker 1: just not getting on the same page with d Filippo
Speaker 1: behind the scenes too. So maybe it's just a philosophical difference,
Speaker 1: but it's a dramatic decision to fire a guy with
Speaker 1: three weeks left in the season. You are doing it
Speaker 1: consciously knowing that it is going to hurt this guy's
Speaker 1: job prospects. John d Filippo, who is going to be
Speaker 1: meeting for head coaching jobs, you would presume or we
Speaker 1: fired him in October, had hurt his head coach. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: It's just the timing of its interesting and it almost
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't. It's maybe too much to say
Speaker 1: it feels personal, but I think if you have a
Speaker 1: strong relationship with a guy, you're not going to fire
Speaker 1: him with three weeks left, right as he's about to
Speaker 1: try to get a job. I think context is so important, though.
Speaker 1: You have to understand what was going on with the
Speaker 1: Vikings entering the season, the expectations, all that money they
Speaker 1: gave Kirk Cousins to be the final piece of this offense.
Speaker 1: They bring in d Filippo to be this guy that
Speaker 1: will connect with Cousins and take their offense to an
Speaker 1: even higher level, uh than it was with Case Keenum
Speaker 1: and Mike Zimmers, Like, I gotta save this thing. This
Speaker 1: is a This is a disaster for us, that we
Speaker 1: were this dominant NFC superpower last year and now we're
Speaker 1: clawing to go five hundred or close to it to
Speaker 1: try to make a playoffs. But I saw it as
Speaker 1: an act of a desperate team. I didn't see it
Speaker 1: as a personal time with you. And they blocked Stefanski
Speaker 1: from going with Pat Shermer to the Giants. So that
Speaker 1: tells me to Greg's point, that maybe zimmer all along
Speaker 1: felt like this was the guy he knew, he was
Speaker 1: already on his staff and they wanted to elevate. But
Speaker 1: maybe the de Filippo, who was a hot name coming
Speaker 1: out of the Super Bowl, was hoisted on him. There's
Speaker 1: there's whispers of that, and then you can't make that.
Speaker 1: You can't just necessarily magic wand that relationship. It may
Speaker 1: not work, and it didn't work. But I don't have
Speaker 1: a problem with them making a change because their offense
Speaker 1: needed a change. And we've seen it in Cleveland, we've
Speaker 1: seen in other places even this season, where when you
Speaker 1: make that shift, things starting to change, and it's like,
Speaker 1: why not, it couldn't get worse. Let's move on another dismissal,
Speaker 1: this one in Oakland. The Raiders let go of Reggie
Speaker 1: McKenzie after seven years as the general manager. Uh. He
Speaker 1: had a meeting with team scouts Monday and formed the
Speaker 1: group that he was let go. According to rap Sheet
Speaker 1: and Tom Pellicero, UH and this was um west a
Speaker 1: A a shaky set up from the moment John Gruden arrived.
Speaker 1: And I think a lot of people thought the moment
Speaker 1: John Gruner arrived that Reggie mackenzie, for all intents and purposes,
Speaker 1: was already out as general manager, at least in the
Speaker 1: capacity that he was hired for. So this feel is
Speaker 1: almost inevitable, this move exactly. I think everybody saw the
Speaker 1: writing on the wall as soon as John Gruden got
Speaker 1: all the power. And then we heard reports in the
Speaker 1: last six months that basically mackenzie had already been kind
Speaker 1: of sent to a corner of the room while Gruden's
Speaker 1: scouts and Gruden's executives took over everything got Rosemond And
Speaker 1: if you look at Mackenzie's drafts, I think outside of
Speaker 1: the two thousand fourteen draft which brought Derek Carr and
Speaker 1: Kleil mac, they've been among the worst drafts in in football.
Speaker 1: He was a punching bag on this podcast with you
Speaker 1: being the Mike in the Mike Tyson Roll Chris Westling
Speaker 1: back in thirteen fourteen, you kind of couldn't believe that
Speaker 1: he was continuing to keep that job. The one defense
Speaker 1: I would have of Mackenzie is that I think he
Speaker 1: improved the situation he I think inherited, if not the worst,
Speaker 1: one of the worst situations any general manager has inherited
Speaker 1: this century. What al Davis did to that, the combination
Speaker 1: of maybe one of the worst rosters that we've seen
Speaker 1: with one of the worst salary cap situations we've ever seen,
Speaker 1: was kind of a no win quickly situation, and he
Speaker 1: flushed it all out. He got them back to the
Speaker 1: point where they were in the playoffs, uh you know,
Speaker 1: to a few years ago. It's their only winning season
Speaker 1: since two thousand two, which is amazing. It's almost under
Speaker 1: the radar how unbelievably terrible they've been for the last
Speaker 1: fifteen or sixteen years, and they're in better shape now
Speaker 1: than when he arrived. I don't know if John Gruen
Speaker 1: is ever gonna be able to say that. I mean,
Speaker 1: the only a lot of gms and other organizations would
Speaker 1: have been swept out earlier. I mean that twelve win
Speaker 1: season bought him a lot of rope because that was
Speaker 1: sandwiched in between win totals of four, four, three, seven
Speaker 1: and six seven. It was heading up. This was and
Speaker 1: he and he had that one draft that I mean,
Speaker 1: that changes teams when you have a draft like that.
Speaker 1: And if Derek Carr maybe it turned into something a
Speaker 1: little more than we feel of them today, and you
Speaker 1: kept the other pieces, You've got a franchise in place.
Speaker 1: But now it's gonna be Gruden making the draft picks.
Speaker 1: And if you look at Gruden's drafts back when he
Speaker 1: was forget the Oakland years, because that was largely the
Speaker 1: Davis family, I would imagine if not him alone, but
Speaker 1: if you look at him in Tampa, he ate up
Speaker 1: their first two drafts by being traded to Tampa for
Speaker 1: two first and a second. So that's that's not on him.
Speaker 1: They made that choice. But he drafted Michael Clayton, who
Speaker 1: essentially had one relevant season as a wide receiver. He
Speaker 1: drafted Michael Clayton ruined a lot of my fantasy team.
Speaker 1: There you go. He drafted Gains Adams, who played in
Speaker 1: a first roundho played forty second games as a pro.
Speaker 1: A second round guard who played thirty one games, a
Speaker 1: third rounder who I'm ever playing for Cleveland for a
Speaker 1: couple of games, savvy Piscatelli. And the only pick that
Speaker 1: I really think he nailed was a key to leave
Speaker 1: in two thousand and eight when they had the eighth
Speaker 1: pick in the draft and it was a home run
Speaker 1: type dude and almost didn't really come through for the Bucks.
Speaker 1: And that draft included Dexter Jackson, a second rounder who
Speaker 1: played seven games. I mean, there are a tease dot
Speaker 1: so here you're handing over all of this power to
Speaker 1: who maybe Bruce Allen. I do wonder if Bruce Allen
Speaker 1: is with the Reds, that should make you could could
Speaker 1: come over and join his old pal Johnny Let's talk
Speaker 1: some quarterbacks. One more thought on that. Actually, so they're
Speaker 1: going to replace Mackenzie, I assume even if Gruden is,
Speaker 1: but it'd be like a guy under Gruden? Is that
Speaker 1: is that a job you even want? Like? What what's
Speaker 1: the upside if you're somebody who who pines to be
Speaker 1: an NFL general manager? I think at an end of
Speaker 1: career type show. Now, I think I think it will
Speaker 1: be someone that Gruden has some sort of connection with,
Speaker 1: whether it's through his tree of coaches and is willing
Speaker 1: to be you know, a younger assistant, almost John Gruden.
Speaker 1: The only thing is if you're in in New England,
Speaker 1: they're all these hidden front officemen under Belichick who have
Speaker 1: been rooted out to other organizations. If you succeed, they
Speaker 1: figure out who are bad news for the Eagles. Let's
Speaker 1: talk some quarterbacks. Carson Wentz, who's dealing with back spasms.
Speaker 1: Rap Sheet reported on Wednesday that Wentz is not expected
Speaker 1: to play UH in week fifteen, and it's a big matchup.
Speaker 1: It's their seasons on the line, essentially against the arguably
Speaker 1: the best team in the NFC in the Rams, and
Speaker 1: it will most likely be Nick Foles behind UH center.
Speaker 1: So grega season that's just been filled with disappointment for
Speaker 1: the Eagles, this is just another tough setback. This was
Speaker 1: supposed to be the circle the Wagons game, keep our
Speaker 1: season alive, and now you're not gonna have your star quarterback. Yeah.
Speaker 1: It's it's interesting because there are one game out of
Speaker 1: the playoffs, about one half game, so they even as
Speaker 1: terrible as this season has been, I think eight wins
Speaker 1: is gonna get you into the playoffs. I don't know
Speaker 1: if eight wins for them would get them in because
Speaker 1: the Vikings, you know, have the tie and then there's tiebreakers.
Speaker 1: But if he's not playing this week after finishing off
Speaker 1: last week's game, to me, it's almost a sign that, hey,
Speaker 1: we're gonna let you play through this on some level
Speaker 1: when we have a legitimate chance and believe in our chances.
Speaker 1: But the Eagles have shown who they are. There are
Speaker 1: six and seventeen. So I mean, that was my question
Speaker 1: because it's he finished with two great drives in back spasms,
Speaker 1: and not not to downplay that at any level, that
Speaker 1: could be awful, But like it's Wednesday, we don't know
Speaker 1: where he'd be three days from now. Why why is
Speaker 1: he not a game time decision at this point? And
Speaker 1: you figure that out right in rap she's saying he
Speaker 1: might be out for the season depending on how this
Speaker 1: week goes. And I don't think you're winning a game
Speaker 1: in Los Angeles with sounds like a shutdown. Sounds like
Speaker 1: it it Maybe it helps explain some of his accuracy issues,
Speaker 1: which was which was if he had any not coming
Speaker 1: out of college, it was accuracy. I don't think you
Speaker 1: had seen it too much, maybe a little in his
Speaker 1: rookie year, but he's missed some throws this year. Overall,
Speaker 1: I think for the most part, Carson Wentz played quite
Speaker 1: well coming off at Tour n C. I don't think
Speaker 1: he's been a huge issue. The passing of the torches
Speaker 1: official in Baltimore, John Harbough announced that Lamar Jackson, their
Speaker 1: first round pick rookie quarterback who has won three of
Speaker 1: his first four starts, will indeed officially replaced Joe Flacco
Speaker 1: as the team's quarterback. Flacco, who was dealing with a
Speaker 1: hip injury, is healthy, but he's the backup r G
Speaker 1: three Rob he goes back to the inactive list. Um uh,
Speaker 1: west Mark. Jackson has had a nice schedule so far,
Speaker 1: so you have to understand the context with his start,
Speaker 1: but this feels like the right move for a team
Speaker 1: that's going in the right direction, even with Sunday's tough loss.
Speaker 1: I think you said it well. You have to factor
Speaker 1: in the schedule he's gonna face after the Bucks game
Speaker 1: this weekend. Probably the five worst run defenses in the NFL,
Speaker 1: and the Ravens have become the run dominant team along
Speaker 1: with the Seahawks in the NFL. I think what sells
Speaker 1: it for me is that they have an identity now
Speaker 1: with Lamar Jackson and Gus Edwards and Kenneth Dixon and
Speaker 1: with Joe Flacco, they had no identity, not even for
Speaker 1: this year. For the last few years they kept struggling
Speaker 1: with the run pass ratio. Under Flacco, they were very
Speaker 1: past heavy and could never establish a running attack. And
Speaker 1: now they have an identity that goes with their defense. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they leave the league intend plus play drives, so even
Speaker 1: though it's not a great offense and the schedules helped.
Speaker 1: I also think that John Harbaugh thinks this is his
Speaker 1: best chance to save his job because Lamar Jackson gives
Speaker 1: him the best chance to win. It's like he's making
Speaker 1: the most important decision possible. And the way that they've
Speaker 1: been able to rally, I think we would have been
Speaker 1: We would we could be in a totally different world
Speaker 1: if Patrick Mahomes doesn't make one of the great throws
Speaker 1: we've seen in the last few years. And in that
Speaker 1: world where he doesn't make that play, the Ravens are
Speaker 1: in first place and everyone's talking about what an unbelievable
Speaker 1: coaching job this Ravens staff is doing, and they got
Speaker 1: to see it through Uh. And as far as Joe
Speaker 1: Flacco goes, I don't think he plays again in Baltimore.
Speaker 1: What is his value if he hits the open market,
Speaker 1: like the Jaguars should run to the open market and
Speaker 1: get him. Yeah, I think he'll get a job. I mean,
Speaker 1: the Giants could be looking for a quarterback. Um, the
Speaker 1: Redskins will certainly be looking for a quarterback. You would think,
Speaker 1: so there. I would think he's gonna have a good
Speaker 1: chance to be starting next year. Ben Roethlisberger will be
Speaker 1: starting on Sunday, a huge game against the Patriots. A
Speaker 1: Steelers season might be on the line in this game.
Speaker 1: And Roethlisberger exited midway through uh Pittsburgh's lost to the
Speaker 1: Raiders with a rib injury. Uh. And then that's when
Speaker 1: things got murky because he doesn't uh come out and
Speaker 1: start the third quarter with the team. He stays out
Speaker 1: of the game until there's about five minutes left and
Speaker 1: the Steelers have fallen behind. He comes back in of course,
Speaker 1: this is what big Bun Big Ben does. He leads
Speaker 1: him to a touchdown. Uh. And then there's questions after
Speaker 1: the game, Uh, why weren't you on the field sooner?
Speaker 1: And it was a bit of a mystery. And uh
Speaker 1: it was explained as this week has gone along, that
Speaker 1: that old dump in Oakland, which also, by the way,
Speaker 1: cost him a game because Chris Boswell couldn even put
Speaker 1: his foot down. And Chris Boswell, by the way, watch
Speaker 1: out because kai for best working out in Pittsburgh as
Speaker 1: we speak. Uh that not only do there is their
Speaker 1: turf terrible. The X ray machine, at least according to
Speaker 1: the Steelers, was not good enough to give them an
Speaker 1: accurate read to let them know that he was okay
Speaker 1: to go into the game. A rib injury could be
Speaker 1: scary business. Let's hear what Ben had to say about it.
Speaker 1: Didn't have a great clarity, to be honest with you
Speaker 1: wouldn't able to read the the X ray to R
Speaker 1: satisfaction is probably a data piece of equipment. What have you?
Speaker 1: It was Mike Tomas uh so and and just if
Speaker 1: you're scoring at home, Greg h here's a tweet from
Speaker 1: Mike Shinman, who um covers the Raiders for the Mercury News. Uh,
Speaker 1: this last week there was a skunk running around the
Speaker 1: locker room in Oakland and in the hallway and uh
Speaker 1: and that Schneinman cataloged at all dead animals post game three,
Speaker 1: two mice in the soda machine, one skunk in the hallway,
Speaker 1: two Raiders wins, and a defective backs ray machine and
Speaker 1: a horrible playing surface. Get out of there. Let's ball
Speaker 1: the place up, make sure it's empty, and then blow
Speaker 1: it up. Have to play there. It doesn't matter that
Speaker 1: A is going to be more irrelevant. That's not true.
Speaker 1: Actually they have a nice in the playoffs. Yeah they
Speaker 1: have nice And I apologize, but you deserve a new
Speaker 1: stadium as well. All that it raises a point, which
Speaker 1: but a man win a batting title. Lest All the
Speaker 1: foul territory. You speak truth on this issue. You cannot
Speaker 1: win a batting title in there. I gotta say, though,
Speaker 1: I hit two feet in foul territory, next first place,
Speaker 1: and now it's a put out. I was once on
Speaker 1: my way on the road trip back through America where
Speaker 1: I tried to see as many baseball games as I could.
Speaker 1: I gotta say, yeah, it was like twenty four years old,
Speaker 1: wasting time. One twenty afternoon mid day game at Oakland
Speaker 1: Coliseum with about seven thousand people in god one of
Speaker 1: the most underrated sporting experiences I've ever had. It was
Speaker 1: what the seven let's say in the seven thousand and
Speaker 1: I'm just saying it was a great It was a great. Uh.
Speaker 1: I went to an eight game and get in for
Speaker 1: about six bucks. He went to I drove up five
Speaker 1: in the morning everyone Browns game. And I will say
Speaker 1: this like, it is not a bad fan experience for
Speaker 1: the fan in the stands. I don't know about the
Speaker 1: seven thousand people that where they were going wild and
Speaker 1: and to to bring it back to the Raiders though,
Speaker 1: it does this this thing that you're bringing up. You know,
Speaker 1: we're having fun with it, but there's like a real
Speaker 1: issue coming up. And I thought ESPN had a perfect
Speaker 1: headline for it yesterday. Paul gudieriz, where will you? Where
Speaker 1: will the he might have he's a double threat? Where
Speaker 1: will the Raiders play in two thousand and nineteen? And
Speaker 1: why isn't anyone freaking out? It's kind of it is
Speaker 1: kind of an amazing story considering the history of the
Speaker 1: Raiders in Oakland, that there may only be one game
Speaker 1: left ever in their franchise Street in Oakland, and that
Speaker 1: no one following the team or with the team knows
Speaker 1: where they're going to play football next year. They seem
Speaker 1: to want to play football in Oakland, but Oakland doesn't
Speaker 1: necessarily seem to want them. It's it's a ridiculous thing
Speaker 1: right now. Could they be the San Diego Raiders for
Speaker 1: a year. It seems like there's a lot on the table.
Speaker 1: It's like we can, let's find the only stadium that's
Speaker 1: in worse shape than our stadium, go down to old Qualcom.
Speaker 1: I do remember like that because it was I believe
Speaker 1: it was a Thursday night football game and we were
Speaker 1: here that the last Rams game ever. You weren't You
Speaker 1: didn't know if it was the last Rams game ever,
Speaker 1: And like that's what this, that's what's gonna happen in Oakland.
Speaker 1: It's like the Raiders fans deserve a lot better than
Speaker 1: they've been getting. I agree, all right, that's what's happening
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Speaker 1: of Craftsman. Alright, boys, let's take a closer look at
Speaker 1: the playoff pictures. So many things, so how many things
Speaker 1: can happen uh in the last three weeks. But as
Speaker 1: as we get into it, maybe we'll we'll kind of
Speaker 1: take turns, you know, throwing a team out there and
Speaker 1: talk about their path or where you see them going,
Speaker 1: whether people are sleeping on a team, or people are
Speaker 1: not realizing that the team's already dead. That's what the
Speaker 1: conversation is about. Let's dig into the playoff picture a
Speaker 1: little bit. Mark Sessler, Uh, you're the first person I
Speaker 1: just locked eyes on and it was a gorgeous view. Alright,
Speaker 1: so myself get us going. I mean, the fascination for me,
Speaker 1: because I feel a lot of the NFC is set
Speaker 1: and it is personal for me, is what is happening
Speaker 1: in the a f C North, A division that I think,
Speaker 1: you know, three weeks ago, I would have just said
Speaker 1: it's Pittsburgh's and they don't look like a team that's
Speaker 1: about to crumble down the stretch. And now there is
Speaker 1: very much a possibility that that division could come down
Speaker 1: to the final week because you're Pittsburgh and your seven
Speaker 1: five and one. You have a half game lead over
Speaker 1: the seven and six Ravens, but you got the Patriots
Speaker 1: and the Saints on the road the week after that,
Speaker 1: and you close with the Bengals team. So let's say
Speaker 1: you basically need to get to nine wins in this
Speaker 1: division if you're Pittsburgh to not get into a last
Speaker 1: week scenario. That could be ugly you've got to win
Speaker 1: two of those three. That's a tall order if you're Baltimore,
Speaker 1: and I think there's a lot of belief in the
Speaker 1: Ravens in this place. Your seven and six, but you
Speaker 1: could easily easily be eight and seven heading into because
Speaker 1: you go on the road to the Chargers in week sixteen,
Speaker 1: heading into a final game with the Cleveland Browns at home,
Speaker 1: and the Browns play the Broncos this Saturday night and
Speaker 1: then play the Bengals. That's two winnable games that would
Speaker 1: bring them to seven, seven and one, and then I mean,
Speaker 1: is it going to happen? It's there's a lot of
Speaker 1: bizarre improbabilities there. But the Pittsburgh schedule plays against them.
Speaker 1: If they're gonna be a team that fails to show
Speaker 1: up against the Patriots, which they do annually, and then
Speaker 1: cannot handle a high powered stay Its team the week later,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of It makes it very exciting the
Speaker 1: final three weeks? Would that be? Yeah, it's looking too
Speaker 1: far ahead, but like, is there any chance that's like
Speaker 1: playing for Mike Tomlin's job if they if they if
Speaker 1: they lost six straight games to lose the season, I
Speaker 1: don't know. I always feel so important. Sunday is so
Speaker 1: important to both teams because the Patriots are looking to
Speaker 1: get a buy but the Steelers if they lose this game,
Speaker 1: but you're the scenario you're laying out is why, And
Speaker 1: I'm all in with you, right down to the Browns
Speaker 1: playing in week seventeen and what else could you ask for? Mark?
Speaker 1: Just even talking about this is a possibility. But if
Speaker 1: the Steelers take care of business on Sunday, I think
Speaker 1: this is all well, then it's over. Then I could
Speaker 1: see then they go to and one because they nail
Speaker 1: the Bengals, who could and you go not but it's
Speaker 1: at home. But it's not that crazy for the Browns
Speaker 1: to have a playoff meaningful matchup in week seventeen. It's crazy.
Speaker 1: It's amazing even that they have a meaningful matchup this
Speaker 1: Saturday night. And you gotta win that one, obviously if
Speaker 1: you're the Browns, and then I think you can start
Speaker 1: getting a little carried away wondering what could happen. I
Speaker 1: don't think it's a gimme to go to I don't
Speaker 1: think any game for the Browns is necessarily a gimme,
Speaker 1: but certainly not a road game against the Denver team that,
Speaker 1: yeah they're banged up, but they've been pretty good at
Speaker 1: home this year, and they're not They're not a pushover
Speaker 1: by any means. I love it. I love that we're
Speaker 1: talking about the Browns, uh flying through. You can tell
Speaker 1: that Siciliano is all fired up this week. Mark's fired up.
Speaker 1: He's got a whole Yeah, he was like, he put
Speaker 1: it out there, He's putting it out on social media,
Speaker 1: the different ways the Browns can make the playoffs. He's
Speaker 1: just left, well, how about it? You know, be a professional.
Speaker 1: You're you're a broadcaster. You're not supposed to have a
Speaker 1: rooting allegiance. Wait aren't, so you're saying you don't. Don't.
Speaker 1: This is not about me or anyone in this room.
Speaker 1: It's about other people that, yes, you can't, can't have
Speaker 1: it both ways. If you don't take us seriously, then
Speaker 1: we get to be fans of teams, all right, Wes,
Speaker 1: you're up. I look at the Packers, a team which
Speaker 1: Football Outsiders gives I believe less than a seven percent
Speaker 1: chance to make the playoffs. However, if the following things
Speaker 1: happened this weekend, the following reasonable things happened. The Packers
Speaker 1: win in Chicago that's the least reasonable part of this.
Speaker 1: I agree. That's that's the big that's the big thing.
Speaker 1: If the Vikings lose to the Dolphins, possible possible, two
Speaker 1: pretty equal teams right now. The Rams beat the Eagles
Speaker 1: very possible. The Saints beat the Panthers smelled from Chris West.
Speaker 1: The Jaguars beat the Redskins very possible if all of
Speaker 1: those things happened. Can I make a point here? The
Speaker 1: Packers will chance to win if they win out according
Speaker 1: to five Okay, they go from I don't know seven
Speaker 1: percent to having a possibility, and the rest of their
Speaker 1: schedule makes it very possible. I read elsewhere West that was,
Speaker 1: but you're right, and I was looking at their sched
Speaker 1: two and you don't want to get too excited because
Speaker 1: the Packers have been underwhelming all season. That's that could
Speaker 1: not be more true. But if they beat the Bears,
Speaker 1: everything else, the Vikings need to lose twice, the Panthers
Speaker 1: lose once, the Redskins lose once, the Eagles lose once,
Speaker 1: and the Packers went out they are in. It's it's
Speaker 1: not gonna happen. I don't I don't foresee a sixth
Speaker 1: seed being that dangerous, although you never know if they
Speaker 1: a team can turn their season around in the final
Speaker 1: three weeks, like the two thousand twelve Ravens for instance,
Speaker 1: which if we had a podcast back then, we would
Speaker 1: have beyond buried when the Dolphins dropped them like forty
Speaker 1: five to seven in in Week fourteen. You never know
Speaker 1: what could happen. But the Packers have kind of like
Speaker 1: shown no ability to win three straight games, so that
Speaker 1: that's the that's the trick. I think you guys are
Speaker 1: right that if they managed to win three straight games
Speaker 1: eight wins with the tie, because you know, you only
Speaker 1: have seven losses, there's a solid chance the Vikings don't
Speaker 1: get there. Part of their problem though, is the Vikings
Speaker 1: have like a seventy percent chance according to all these
Speaker 1: analytics site because they're in first place. Uh they're in
Speaker 1: the sixth spot right now, because they have that tie,
Speaker 1: and because their schedules pretty soft. So if they get
Speaker 1: to eight wins like they're almost they if they win
Speaker 1: two out of three, the Vikings they have a great chance.
Speaker 1: Because all these teams have been headed in the wrong.
Speaker 1: It is interesting that the two teams we brought up
Speaker 1: made high profile firings that were essentially because of the
Speaker 1: offensive side of the ball, and the Vikings are the
Speaker 1: third team in that mix. Greg, what do you got.
Speaker 1: I'm keeping an eye on our Thursday night football game,
Speaker 1: which we'll talk about in a little bit, so we
Speaker 1: don't need to break it down, but the impact that
Speaker 1: that game could have in terms of the a f
Speaker 1: C and the chance that the Chargers still have with
Speaker 1: three weeks left of the season to go ahead and
Speaker 1: be the number one seed, to go ahead and be
Speaker 1: great to have some home games here at the stub Hub.
Speaker 1: You want to hear a home crowd, maybe get the
Speaker 1: one seed, or maybe it wouldn't happen in uh, some
Speaker 1: Ravens or whoever is coming in here with just rage
Speaker 1: and whatever. Just be weird. Let's get weird. NFL. I
Speaker 1: don't think it's crazy for the Chargers to go to
Speaker 1: Arrowhead and win that game. I think the Chiefs are
Speaker 1: the better team, but the Charges are certainly capable of
Speaker 1: beating anyone. They're not going to have the tiebreaker over
Speaker 1: the Chiefs, so they need the Chiefs to lose two games.
Speaker 1: But the Chiefs are going to Seattle the following week.
Speaker 1: So if if you could beat Kansas City on Thursday night.
Speaker 1: Kansas City has to go to Seattle win that game
Speaker 1: to keep the number one seed. It is not a
Speaker 1: crazy scenario for the Chargers to take care of business
Speaker 1: and their schedules not cake either. They have to icult,
Speaker 1: They have a very difficult schedule. They have to beat
Speaker 1: the Ravens on a on a fun little Sunday night
Speaker 1: or Saturday night game on NFL network, I believe. And
Speaker 1: then I think they finished with the Broncos. So it's
Speaker 1: not in Denver it's tough. But here we are three
Speaker 1: weeks left of the season. I don't think that's a
Speaker 1: crazy scenario. The playoffs go through the stub? Are we
Speaker 1: calling it the stub? I mean, we just have the
Speaker 1: Patriots are gonna get the first seed? Is what everything
Speaker 1: you're hearing? Everyone has their two games back. You're right
Speaker 1: the Patriots In theory, yeah, that the Atriots route is
Speaker 1: the Chiefs losing those two games I mentioned. But then
Speaker 1: the Chargers also uh stub against Baltimore that win over Pittsburgh,
Speaker 1: and I Dan, I believe you're in this in this
Speaker 1: crowd as well, that that's the game they would have
Speaker 1: dropped and we could have started to wave goodbye to them.
Speaker 1: They're gonna go to the They've had one playoff game
Speaker 1: in eight years. This is this team is not a
Speaker 1: flawed team the same way as the previous ones. They
Speaker 1: have one loss in Sweet three, and I trust them
Speaker 1: to I think they can beat the Chiefs. The interesting,
Speaker 1: the interesting thing about them is I think you should
Speaker 1: lock it up. They have Melville Warren. I don't even
Speaker 1: trust them, even though even though I'm I'm a fan
Speaker 1: and I'm looking, I'm hoping it happen, just because of
Speaker 1: recent history. Here's the thing that Chargers are dangerous. Five seat.
Speaker 1: If the Chargers are going to Houston or Pittsburgh or Baltimore,
Speaker 1: wherever it is, in the first round of the places.
Speaker 1: They actually have a better road record this year than
Speaker 1: they do home record, and they and they've don't come
Speaker 1: into this. They don't have much of a home field
Speaker 1: advantage the Chargers either, So either way, I think they
Speaker 1: got a up. But give him the one seed. That'd
Speaker 1: be fun. You're buying it. I am set, and she's
Speaker 1: Gregg is back on the acid. Well she she's a
Speaker 1: computer and her math. I haven't heard from Bridget a
Speaker 1: lot lately. This feels less drug induced than some scenarios
Speaker 1: we've come up with. She's been busy, she's in the
Speaker 1: garage under lock and key. She's yeah, they've been The
Speaker 1: people behind the Bridget two thousand have been trying to
Speaker 1: mass produce it with all this demand around the holiday season.
Speaker 1: Are fans trying to buy up bridgets? Are are lonely
Speaker 1: fans all across the country for their own bridget? Google
Speaker 1: searches for the Bridget two thousand are definitely going through
Speaker 1: the roof this time of year. Mark, do you have
Speaker 1: another one? Um? I could cook one up and I
Speaker 1: thought mine was pretty complex. It was fine, and I
Speaker 1: liked it was good West, did you have one? I
Speaker 1: have one. If you guys, don't go ahead, go ahead.
Speaker 1: You haven't gone yet. This one is you guys. You
Speaker 1: know you're not gonna want to hear this, but I
Speaker 1: already when you talk about paths that aren't impossible, this
Speaker 1: show is too predictable. But like if you talk about
Speaker 1: if you want to talk about the Packers exactly, if
Speaker 1: you want to call what's what's overly predictable? Okay, maybe
Speaker 1: me bringing back into the playoff conversation, but just listen
Speaker 1: to it. Hear me out because if you're gonna hear
Speaker 1: out the Packers, you should hear out the call for
Speaker 1: Dan Hansens. You just got hired by Newsday. You here,
Speaker 1: here we go, You're ready. They gotta win out just
Speaker 1: like the Packers. That might be the biggest basketball because
Speaker 1: it's a flawed team. But who they playing home against
Speaker 1: the Titans? Please? Maybe? Please? They're not better than the Titans,
Speaker 1: please alright? Lock it up at it on the road
Speaker 1: against the Colts. Okay, that's a tough matchup. Am I
Speaker 1: gonna say that they have no chance? No, I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna say that. And then home against the Cowboys, home
Speaker 1: game against the best team NFC East. Not an easy road,
Speaker 1: but not impossible. Okay. Then the Vikings need to lose
Speaker 1: three out of their last four. Okay, and they've already
Speaker 1: lost one, So they need to lose two of their
Speaker 1: last three. Excuse me? So they have to lose Dolphins
Speaker 1: at home, Lions on the road, Bears at home. That
Speaker 1: can happen. When's the last time the Giants played a
Speaker 1: team that wasn't incredibly shorthanded? I think it goes back
Speaker 1: to their boy. They're playing very well right now, Chris, No,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm talking about the opponent that the teams that
Speaker 1: they've beaten. You can only Sanchez Redskins that Chase Daniel,
Speaker 1: Bears and Eagles defense missing six of eleven starters, the
Speaker 1: Buccaneers without Lavonte David and Gerald McCoy, and the forty Niners.
Speaker 1: We're gonna bring up the Giants without Odell Beckham. If
Speaker 1: we're gonna go down this road against the Sanchez Redskins,
Speaker 1: they can only play their opponent. Christ I agree. I'm
Speaker 1: just saying, let's be realistic about who they are, unlike
Speaker 1: the New York media who is not realistic about who
Speaker 1: this team is. The Packers just need to lose one
Speaker 1: more game, okay, Bears on the road, Jets on the road,
Speaker 1: Lines at home. The Pathers need to lose two of
Speaker 1: three Saints at home, Falcon's home Saints away. The Eagles
Speaker 1: need to lose two of three Rams away. Texans teams
Speaker 1: are terrible. The biggest problem is a bad team like
Speaker 1: the Giants has to win three games against teams that
Speaker 1: will not be at their undermanned worst. This is the
Speaker 1: problem with you dismissing them, though, West None of those
Speaker 1: teams are dominant teams. A road, a Titans team on
Speaker 1: the road home and the Cowboys team on the road.
Speaker 1: If if it was if they were going to Dallas,
Speaker 1: I'd say, oh, yeah, that is too much task a
Speaker 1: middling Giants team, I'll give Let's just say, I'm not
Speaker 1: even saying it's gonna happen. I mean, yeah, to your argument,
Speaker 1: Football Outsiders, who is devo A is rather high on
Speaker 1: the Giants in general higher. They have the highest d
Speaker 1: v o A of any team in that division, which
Speaker 1: should tell you something about d v A. Then I
Speaker 1: think they've been a better team than their record throughout
Speaker 1: the season. I think they're an average type of team.
Speaker 1: They have a higher chance to make the playoffs Danny
Speaker 1: than the Browns do, at least one point four. They're
Speaker 1: giving him one point four. They have one point the
Speaker 1: other the other two, the other two sites they check out,
Speaker 1: which you're saying there's a chance ESPN, FBI, and then uh,
Speaker 1: five thirty eight they give them almost like no chance
Speaker 1: at all. It's not it's not I'm not saying it's
Speaker 1: gonna happen. I'm just saying so. And also it doesn't
Speaker 1: matter what any of these polsters think. Anyways, that's great,
Speaker 1: that there's all these percentages flying around. The Giants could
Speaker 1: just go win all their games, take care of business,
Speaker 1: and let the rest. If you trusted the pollsters, Hillary
Speaker 1: would be in the one right now. They're unmasked over,
Speaker 1: you know, stopping on the Trump's grave, and then they
Speaker 1: got there the total. First of all, they gave Trump
Speaker 1: a much better chance than almost any other site, and like, hey,
Speaker 1: that's how percentages. First of all, that's true. I mean,
Speaker 1: of course you didn't get it right, but when you
Speaker 1: give someone a chance, that means that they have a
Speaker 1: get You have a very adorable analytic mind. But there's
Speaker 1: also something called the human experience where the Giants could
Speaker 1: just spin magic. And you're the one that says, anything
Speaker 1: can happen to all these teams, the Giants would be
Speaker 1: I would be one of the most magical things to
Speaker 1: happen in a long time that an eight and eight
Speaker 1: Giants team sneaks into the playoffs and any line manning
Speaker 1: goes on one final run. In this podcast, studio explodes
Speaker 1: into a thousand sharks because it was a year ago
Speaker 1: we were burying Nick Foles and the Eagles is having
Speaker 1: no shot. We don't know anything. Ultimately, all right, Do
Speaker 1: anybody want to throw out one more? Do we want
Speaker 1: to move on? We're just going like crazy, Let's move on.
Speaker 1: This is a good conversation. Do you have one les
Speaker 1: no that that's a good note to end up? Anything
Speaker 1: is possible in the NFL. Add that to a possible
Speaker 1: catch phrases dan is hot and masculine. Remember the last
Speaker 1: time she said? All right? Um that a Bridget no
Speaker 1: longer seems to infuriate Mark as much. I mean, I
Speaker 1: couldn't be more. It's it's coming from a car, was
Speaker 1: so obvious. Good one, Mark. Not that one doesn't bother
Speaker 1: me because I find her. It's just so we know
Speaker 1: what it is. It's just man acted joke, and it's
Speaker 1: four weeks later hopping it up. It's hilarious. He's start
Speaker 1: to get angry. I literally could care less. I think
Speaker 1: I think one of the reasons we haven't heard from
Speaker 1: her and why I think Bridget three thousand needs to
Speaker 1: work on the comedic timing, just like timing that not.
Speaker 1: You know, she's updated, she's not. She's not my design
Speaker 1: to comedy bot, but she's working on it. She's got
Speaker 1: bit all right, Let's she's no Scarlett Johansson in her
Speaker 1: you know she doesn't have that type of or software. Uh.
Speaker 1: Here we go Thursday night football. Let's talk that game
Speaker 1: that the Chargers have their chance. Greg, You're excited. Uh,
Speaker 1: this special time for a franchise that's been looking to
Speaker 1: get over the hump for years and years. Bury some ghosts,
Speaker 1: um and or eradicate some ghosts. And here's a big opportunity.
Speaker 1: But the challenge is even bigger because you've got to
Speaker 1: go to Arrowhead uh to face the Chiefs. Uh. And
Speaker 1: Patrick Mahomes who's now going next level. Now he's doing
Speaker 1: a notebook passes. Uh. He's completely revolutionizing the position. And
Speaker 1: is that the absolute height of his powers? This is
Speaker 1: like Michael Jordan in just realizing his great potential. It's like, what,
Speaker 1: how are you gonna win in this situation? I mean
Speaker 1: the rate the Ravens had the recipe to do it.
Speaker 1: They were they were a player two way. But the
Speaker 1: Chargers have, at least under Anthony Lynn, showed no ability
Speaker 1: to be competitive with the Chiefs, which is a concern.
Speaker 1: I think that these two coaching staffs have matched up
Speaker 1: three times. It hasn't been competitive any one of those times,
Speaker 1: including a very similar situation in Week fifteen last year,
Speaker 1: when the Chargers could have put themselves into playoff position
Speaker 1: and they got freaking dropped. I'm a little worried about
Speaker 1: a few things with the Chargers up front. We haven't
Speaker 1: seen the offensive line protect rivers well lately. Sam Tevy
Speaker 1: is the right tackle and is among the worst right
Speaker 1: tackles in the league according to profoball Focus. Their center
Speaker 1: Mike Pouncey has been struggling, not sure if he's injured,
Speaker 1: which he often is lately, giving up a lot of pressure.
Speaker 1: And you got Dfour, You've got Justin Houston. You've got
Speaker 1: Chris Jones who has a sack every game for ten weeks.
Speaker 1: That's problematic on the road on a short week. And
Speaker 1: you haven't seen the Melvin Ingram Joey Boasts show together yet.
Speaker 1: Ingram has been very quiet over the last month. I
Speaker 1: think he has one QB hit plus sack in his
Speaker 1: last four games. And this is a great player. And
Speaker 1: so you want to see those two guys getting after
Speaker 1: Patrick Mahomes because I think that's what the Ravens did
Speaker 1: really well. I think between Mahomes having right there with
Speaker 1: Rogers is the best armed talent in the NFL, and
Speaker 1: frankly expands more possibilities on a given play than Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers and then Tyreek Hills speed. The Chiefs can do
Speaker 1: so much more on a given play than any other
Speaker 1: team in the NFL. The possibilities are almost endless, and
Speaker 1: I think you'll see that's the difference between the Chiefs
Speaker 1: and the Charge. Let me ask you a question. I
Speaker 1: trust your reasoning in these in this realm of professional football.
Speaker 1: And have you seen so far the Kareem huntless Chiefs.
Speaker 1: Has there been a drop off? Yes? Yes, I think
Speaker 1: Spencer where is a guy who, by the way, is
Speaker 1: injured this week and not yet practicing. He's a guy
Speaker 1: who runs short, choppy steps, and they don't like him
Speaker 1: getting to the perimeter. They only like to use him
Speaker 1: in the middle of the field, so they use Damian
Speaker 1: Williams for all the outside stuff. So they're trying to
Speaker 1: use two backs to do what Kareem Hunt could do,
Speaker 1: and neither of those guys is nearly the playmaker that
Speaker 1: Kareem Hunt is. I know that they have more rushing
Speaker 1: yards that this always happens when a star running back
Speaker 1: goes out that can do so much, they'll use a committee,
Speaker 1: and they'll get more rushing yards and that will show
Speaker 1: up in our statistical package week after week. But rem
Speaker 1: hunt the way that they used him in the air
Speaker 1: game as well, like he's irreplaceable. I just think that
Speaker 1: he's last week, I thought I heard him. Yeah, absolutely, Anecdotally,
Speaker 1: their drive success rate has probably plummeted. They're still scoring points,
Speaker 1: but they're getting three announce in punts more often. I wonder,
Speaker 1: I like Tyreek Hill described his injury is bad coming
Speaker 1: out of last week, and he has that hell, he
Speaker 1: was limited in Tuesday along with he said where we
Speaker 1: might get Eric Barry back. But then on the flip side,
Speaker 1: like if Melvin Gordon, who sounds like he's gonna play
Speaker 1: in this game, if he weren't in because Austin Ekeler
Speaker 1: is also not out, he's out as well. Like that
Speaker 1: for me would be a chief swin because I don't
Speaker 1: know how what you do here. The chargest thing is
Speaker 1: they don't turn the ball over. But getting Gordon back
Speaker 1: evens the playing fields. These are these are the top
Speaker 1: two teams in the league according to the Botsiders in
Speaker 1: terms of efficiency. I mean, this is an amazing way
Speaker 1: to wrap up the Thursday schedule, and it is an
Speaker 1: opportunity as much as logically the Chiefs are better. Hey,
Speaker 1: Philip Rivers, I've been talking about him as you know,
Speaker 1: one of the most underrated quarterbacks ever. He's got a
Speaker 1: shot to win an m v P. I'm not counting
Speaker 1: it out. If you go to Kansas City, you got
Speaker 1: to Kansas City and you just drop a handed guy
Speaker 1: who says there's too many guys in the n I do.
Speaker 1: But I'm just saying, if Rivers went to Kansas City
Speaker 1: and outshine Mahomes, if then he beat the best, the
Speaker 1: beat then he beat the best defense in football at home.
Speaker 1: It's really hard to do the Ravens. The Ravens are
Speaker 1: one of the best statistically, you know, all right, one
Speaker 1: of the best. You're right, uh in l A and
Speaker 1: then you finished it off and then you got the
Speaker 1: one seed I at least could see a ground swell.
Speaker 1: So he needs to do something special. Mike Williams has
Speaker 1: been making. I'm amazed Mike Williams only has five thirty
Speaker 1: yards because every time he makes a catch it just
Speaker 1: seems enormous. He's gotta make special places you kind of need.
Speaker 1: You need Derwin James to go say, hey, I'm the
Speaker 1: defensive rookie of there. You need their stars on the Chargers.
Speaker 1: Of course we always knew it was in Greg, but
Speaker 1: now I've been waiting, We've been talking about this for
Speaker 1: five years. This all kind of checks out to me.
Speaker 1: You're basically a Chargers fan, though, yeah, no I'm not.
Speaker 1: But you can appreciate other in other teams. It doesn't
Speaker 1: pain me the same way like when they lose as
Speaker 1: or if they lose in the playoffs. Let's say, as
Speaker 1: the Patriot, do you think George Kittle or anybody's better
Speaker 1: than travel with Skelsey is right now, with this quarterback
Speaker 1: and in this offense, I think Kittle is a better
Speaker 1: all around. If if you could just take one guy
Speaker 1: who had the best season, I think it's Kittle. I
Speaker 1: think Kelsey is amazing. Kittle is a better blocker, and
Speaker 1: it shocks me to say this. He's better after the
Speaker 1: catch than Kelsey. But Kelsey's better at using his body.
Speaker 1: I think in traffic. Let's pick this game. Let's see now.
Speaker 1: I mean, I I think that I think the Chargers
Speaker 1: can hang. They really can. I think they're going until
Speaker 1: the end. But I think this is a twenty seven
Speaker 1: like twenty five type feel Kansas City. This is a
Speaker 1: this is one of the legit home field advantages they're
Speaker 1: gonna it's a short week, like that's a huge factor.
Speaker 1: It would be a victory if you could hold the
Speaker 1: cheese under thirty in that building. And probably I don't
Speaker 1: think it's a victory if they don't. I think any
Speaker 1: losses is a big issue. That would be if your
Speaker 1: defense of them keep them under thirty points and you lose,
Speaker 1: that's a that's a big bummer. Uh, Chiefs. And I'm
Speaker 1: locking it up. Oh oh oh, And guess what And
Speaker 1: I now that I am will get to this on
Speaker 1: the preview show. I have fallen out of the race
Speaker 1: and I'm just gonna enjoy what's shaping up to be
Speaker 1: a great super Bowl. What are you talking about? Well,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be very hard, put it that way. So
Speaker 1: from my perspective, I think I'm too far out. So
Speaker 1: I'm enjoying this battle between the kissing cousins. Um Uh.
Speaker 1: That feels like psychological wear warfare. If my team, if
Speaker 1: I my team was two games out through like with
Speaker 1: six or seven weeks to go, and my coach was like,
Speaker 1: we're just gonna sit back and enjoy like Patriots and
Speaker 1: Dolphins go for the ape. You put in the lock
Speaker 1: trophy on my desk in October in a bit of
Speaker 1: psychological warfare, but I I labeled it as such on
Speaker 1: Twitter two seconds later. I don't know how this would
Speaker 1: qualify psychological. Well, you're like, oh, I'm just gonna sit
Speaker 1: back and not care any more. Nonsense. We have seven
Speaker 1: weeks left of the season, right, seven minutes left. You're
Speaker 1: down by two game. Thing about four games I've been
Speaker 1: struggling three al right, who cares? But my point is
Speaker 1: I'm picking the Chargers. I'm not gonna lock it up.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna lock it up. Wow, we gotta lock off.
Speaker 1: I'm not locking it up. I'm not locking What was
Speaker 1: that whole thing about. I was just more. I was
Speaker 1: kind of into this race game, really into the locker race.
Speaker 1: But I um So and West locked up. It's the
Speaker 1: only reason they're playing the NFL season right now, exactly.
Speaker 1: But I I this is more. I'm rooting for this.
Speaker 1: I'm rooting for a fun Thursday night. Daddy's gonna have
Speaker 1: a couple of Tito's and watch and watch the game,
Speaker 1: and it's gonna be fun. And what would be better
Speaker 1: than Philip Rivers going down the field and winning a
Speaker 1: ball game in the fourth quarter at Arrowhood? Yeah, Patrick
Speaker 1: Mahomes doing his n need Jordan's thing. My my head,
Speaker 1: in my cold heart, my my my head agrees with West.
Speaker 1: I almost thought about locking up for the Chiefs. I
Speaker 1: don't like the Andy Gus Bradley matchic. But there's no
Speaker 1: way I'm gonna do that. And since there's no repercussions,
Speaker 1: why wouldn't I pick the ch That's who I'm rooting for.
Speaker 1: That's what I want to happen. No, I hope happens.
Speaker 1: You've already given up on the Locks. Why don't you
Speaker 1: just make it interesting? Hey, you never know, you never
Speaker 1: know you will gonna You're not gonna try to lose.
Speaker 1: I mean, you never know. This could go this my
Speaker 1: my lock situation. I think I was three under five.
Speaker 1: It could be like the famous Marshall falk Uh come
Speaker 1: back in the picks on NFL game day morning in
Speaker 1: two thousand eleven, or like or or the rob or
Speaker 1: the rob Riggle come back. No, I'm making this up,
Speaker 1: or the rob Riggle come back because you're in last
Speaker 1: place that no one cares about. I'm serious, I'm different.
Speaker 1: I really are defest in the pics. And there was
Speaker 1: one time Terry Bradshaw was down nine games, would tend
Speaker 1: to play. He didn't give it up. He kept You
Speaker 1: don't even watch that show. This isn't that I'm gonna
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go Bradshaw ninety nine. You don't watch that show.
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Speaker 1: did Tiki Barber give up in two thousand seven when
Speaker 1: he was four back with six to play? No, he didn't.
Speaker 1: He kept picking those Sunday night games. Rights, we all
Speaker 1: see what you're trying to be little They're they're great
Speaker 1: pick battle because for another year, it's it's not over.
Speaker 1: I'm saying it's not over for you for like a
Speaker 1: month now. We're not playing into a second of this,
Speaker 1: all right, coming up now and then and this is
Speaker 1: this is the only reason I'm here today because by
Speaker 1: way of introduction, we um last week we decided we
Speaker 1: we deserved that VP vote, you know, and uh and
Speaker 1: then we did a little research and we found out
Speaker 1: that the man that runs the UH Pro Football Writers
Speaker 1: Association by runs, I mean he's the president, is Bob Glauber.
Speaker 1: And uh, it's time for a discussion with Bob. Quite frankly, Bobby,
Speaker 1: you there, Yes, I'm here. That sounds a little bit, uh,
Speaker 1: a little bit terrif like, Uh, Bob is like the
Speaker 1: Bob is like the uncle that I didn't even know
Speaker 1: until I was like thirty four years old when I
Speaker 1: started beating him an NFL events. Uh. He's been at Newsday,
Speaker 1: a big time New York paper, as an NFL columns
Speaker 1: since ninety two. But Bob also grew up on the
Speaker 1: other side of the tapan Zee Bridge uh in Westchester
Speaker 1: and actually lived in Rockland County, where I'm from, and
Speaker 1: I didn't. Yeah, he grew up in the cold right
Speaker 1: next to the cold town Pearl Riverend, New York. Uh
Speaker 1: so so suburb Bob. Bob grew up in Nanuette, or
Speaker 1: didn't grow up in Nanuette. He lived in Nanuette for
Speaker 1: over a decade, which was the the arch rival of
Speaker 1: Pearl River, and we played the Little Brown Jug game
Speaker 1: every year. This is the this is real small time life.
Speaker 1: That's town life that Bruce wrote about. But here's Bob Glauber.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the show. Bum Well, thank you very much, gentleman,
Speaker 1: and it's just a pleasure. I've known you guys a
Speaker 1: long time. I've admired your ascent to them the upper
Speaker 1: reaches of NFL communications. No, seriously, you got I really
Speaker 1: I go back to our time, but not the press room. No,
Speaker 1: I go back to the time in the press room
Speaker 1: at Lucas Oil Stadium, when you guys are you know,
Speaker 1: four Ham and Eggers, just trying to make your way
Speaker 1: and now you know your big time and kind of
Speaker 1: all around the world. Yeah, Bobby, Bob is one of
Speaker 1: those guys, like he's just been around. Who Bob started
Speaker 1: the journal news or made his bones also the paper
Speaker 1: I started writing at, but since nine two has been
Speaker 1: at Newsday. Who stays at one newspaper since nineteen ninety two?
Speaker 1: Clauder is doing something right. It's a it's amazing. I
Speaker 1: am so grateful for Newsday. It's it truly is amazing
Speaker 1: because the business has changed so much. It's incredible. I
Speaker 1: feel like we're, like I called Newsday an oasis substability
Speaker 1: and just a mad business, crazy business. And you know,
Speaker 1: it's not like just locked into one job doing the
Speaker 1: same thing over and over. It there's so much variety
Speaker 1: in this and you guys know it's it's it's the
Speaker 1: greatest thing going and to be able to do it
Speaker 1: for a long time, I I'm eternally grateful, very cool.
Speaker 1: So Bob Bob is a good dude. And and first
Speaker 1: of all, you're at the owners meetings in uh In,
Speaker 1: Texas right right now? How's your hair today? Hands this,
Speaker 1: by the way, it's still all right. I think it's
Speaker 1: I'm about two weeks two to three weeks out removed
Speaker 1: from my most recent haircut. It's called the Gentleman's Contours,
Speaker 1: the name of the haircut, and uh so it's kind
Speaker 1: of still in the back end of its prime before
Speaker 1: I need to get another tune up. All right, Is
Speaker 1: there a lot of product in use or no? I yes,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of product, a lot of conversation, a
Speaker 1: lot of dan Lass. Will come into the office with
Speaker 1: his hair untouched, and then he'll stand up and kind
Speaker 1: of shift his body around so the entire news from
Speaker 1: can see him take his gel that was sent to
Speaker 1: him by the company and sons to put it through
Speaker 1: his hair, and it's like an in office thing, and
Speaker 1: then he sort of sits down at his keyboard like
Speaker 1: that's a normal thing for a man to do in
Speaker 1: a newsroom. No, he really does have incredible hair. And
Speaker 1: I say that to him every time I see him.
Speaker 1: All you guys have your most you know, just stinctive features,
Speaker 1: and I I love the fact that I've have nicknames. Sure,
Speaker 1: I think all of you, right, what are they? Rosenthal
Speaker 1: who gets younger every time I see him as Benjamin
Speaker 1: Button all right, Westling Westling, who is a very well
Speaker 1: read young man who loves to write and his y'all
Speaker 1: are good writers, very good writers, great writers. But I
Speaker 1: call him um uh Bartleby the scrivener Edgar Allan Poe
Speaker 1: ref School. Yeah, I would prefer not to. I can't
Speaker 1: think we went over this and uh Sessler, of course,
Speaker 1: the agreed Brown's fan and uh Handas I just call hands.
Speaker 1: But you know, hair, it's just the hair, so you've
Speaker 1: called the hair. Yeah, many a winter we need to
Speaker 1: have Bob on every week. It just feels good. So
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just I hope you don't mind that
Speaker 1: we go in this direction a little bit bit. But
Speaker 1: it's just there's just so much pent up man here,
Speaker 1: because I've never been on your No, it's it's great.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm I'm thrilled. We'll see if you say that
Speaker 1: at the by the end of this segment. Alright, alright,
Speaker 1: I've been forewarned ahead. All right, So here's the situation, Bob.
Speaker 1: So we have, as you alluded to yourself, we've been
Speaker 1: on the rise in the industry. Um our podcast is
Speaker 1: a global brand, to be quite frank with you. Uh
Speaker 1: and uh we're influential in that in that sense within
Speaker 1: the sphere, the podcast sphere, which no big deal, but
Speaker 1: like podcasts are kind of a big deal in our
Speaker 1: industry now. So put it all together, and uh, I
Speaker 1: feel like we have a voice in the in the
Speaker 1: football cognoscenti if you will, okay, yes, I'll agree with that.
Speaker 1: You have voices, yes, yeah, collectively and individual yes. So
Speaker 1: we're talking and we love talking about the m v
Speaker 1: P rays and it's it's so fun to to really
Speaker 1: figure it out because there's especially this year, who's gonna
Speaker 1: win MVP? Who fell behind this we who's who's catching up,
Speaker 1: who's a dark horse. We're just talking about Phil Rivers.
Speaker 1: What if he goes off on Thursday night and Arrowhead?
Speaker 1: Is that by him? Uh? Some stock in the MVP race,
Speaker 1: all that good stuff. But the one thing we don't have, Bob,
Speaker 1: uh is an MVP vote. And it got us thinking
Speaker 1: we don't need four m v P votes, we just
Speaker 1: need one and it would be one that we all
Speaker 1: collectively come together and and before UM I throw it
Speaker 1: back to you, Bob, we did UH prepare a statement
Speaker 1: a formal pitch that you're gonna hear over the phone here,
Speaker 1: but a letter will follow, a certified letter UH to
Speaker 1: your long island of state later. Okay, So here it
Speaker 1: is with without without further ado, Mark Sessler. It will
Speaker 1: be notorized, of course. Mark Sessler reads a prepared uh
Speaker 1: statement to you, Bob Glauber, President of the Pro Football
Speaker 1: Writers Association. Dear Lord Glauber, we humbly kneel before you
Speaker 1: with a request to make things right. We understand the
Speaker 1: guidelines of the hard working noble pf w A. Yes,
Speaker 1: it makes sense for most of the NFL's in house
Speaker 1: media limb to be kept outside the doors of your organization.
Speaker 1: Someone like Daniel Jeremiah should not be allowed to vote
Speaker 1: on the m v P. Totally on board with that.
Speaker 1: But there is a foursome inside our building who have
Speaker 1: given their day by day lives to covering this game.
Speaker 1: Not just tracking one team and maybe catching a few
Speaker 1: prime time tilts when you can, but every single contest
Speaker 1: all season long. This four pack of football nerds even
Speaker 1: includes a duo name the scientists Chris Wesley and Greg Rosenthal.
Speaker 1: West studies every play of every game and overcame cancer.
Speaker 1: Greg studies every play of every game and does a
Speaker 1: good job with that. Balancing out these zeolots are Dan
Speaker 1: Hans is a Jets fan and yours truly a Browns fan.
Speaker 1: We've never jumped ship, which should tell you something about
Speaker 1: our loyalty to the sport we cover. Are we NFL
Speaker 1: writers HM NFL research notes. The four of us have
Speaker 1: combined to write more than four articles for NFL dot Com,
Speaker 1: Humble Brag, and we live in America box checked. Our
Speaker 1: commitment to observing every player from every team in every game,
Speaker 1: every week for years and years on end makes this
Speaker 1: forsom the Around the NFL Podcast uniquely qualified to cast
Speaker 1: one unified m v P vote. We will make you proud,
Speaker 1: my Lord. A true leader does not hide behind the rules.
Speaker 1: He or she creates new boundaries to match the changing
Speaker 1: times and, in this case, the evolving world of NFL coverage.
Speaker 1: You have the chance to spark a revolution and change
Speaker 1: football forever. The pig skin is in your court. Can
Speaker 1: I get an amen? Amen? Bob? The floor is now yours.
Speaker 1: I mean that was brilliant. I I humbly accept or entreaty.
Speaker 1: I find it incredibly thoughtful and passionate and um impressive,
Speaker 1: and begging is off the charts. I love it, fantastic.
Speaker 1: You can never go wrong begging and I and I
Speaker 1: hereby bequeath you an m v P vote for however
Speaker 1: you want to name it. You know, the fearsomeforcom or
Speaker 1: whatever your there. The heroes just keep going great, So
Speaker 1: the heroes, the heroes shall have a vote for the
Speaker 1: m v P in the context of it shall be
Speaker 1: another important voice in caffany of voice and v people.
Speaker 1: Now that's untoward, Bob, what you got the other shoe drop?
Speaker 1: That was untoward. But here's the thing. Here's the thing.
Speaker 1: What which m v P are you talking about? How
Speaker 1: about the Associated Press? Okay, you're talking about the Associated Press.
Speaker 1: That is the that is the recognized MVP award. I
Speaker 1: know you guys have your own and that's that's great. Uh,
Speaker 1: And Sporting News they do a nice job whatever, But
Speaker 1: we we want the big Tamali. You want to go
Speaker 1: for the Gusto hands is correct? You want a P.
Speaker 1: You want the a P m v P vote to
Speaker 1: go to the heroes, have one from now, from now
Speaker 1: and forever, right correct, or at least until you're no
Speaker 1: longer in office or we are no longer around. Well now,
Speaker 1: I don't know how the this is gonna be tough.
Speaker 1: Letting you down easy on this, but I'm not the
Speaker 1: gatekeeper on this one. Oh, you're passing the bucklet what about?
Speaker 1: But here? Is it not true that, uh, we're not
Speaker 1: even allowed into the Pro Football Writers Association because we
Speaker 1: work for the NFL. There are guidelines for the for
Speaker 1: the Pro Football Rayers of America, by the ways Profitable
Speaker 1: Prayers of America, that if you work for a team
Speaker 1: or the league, that there is not a membership. Um spot,
Speaker 1: don't don't I mean? I Bob, I have my rejection
Speaker 1: letter from Jim Trotter framed on my wall, so I
Speaker 1: do understand. Yeah, and now he's here. We haven't been
Speaker 1: able to think about this, Bob was the I've done
Speaker 1: my research. Bob, you were the vice president of the association,
Speaker 1: that Dick Cheney of the whole operation, and one can
Speaker 1: only call a man, right you? And what what could yeah?
Speaker 1: I mean what could only be described as a power
Speaker 1: grab by Bob? He probably pushed Trotter out the door
Speaker 1: the NFL media, knowing full well that he would be
Speaker 1: rescinded and stripped of his power. So that's a good example.
Speaker 1: Jim Trotter is a former president of your association. Now
Speaker 1: in a bloodless coup, you took over and he's not
Speaker 1: even is he even allowed to be in the organization now,
Speaker 1: he asked, he's cast out. Here's the thing that, Bob,
Speaker 1: you have influence in the in the industry, and you
Speaker 1: know these AP votes are jokes. Sometimes fifty people have them.
Speaker 1: It's also the Associated Press votes. And I'm not going
Speaker 1: to name any names, but there are certain television organizations
Speaker 1: that have votes and they give it to on air
Speaker 1: personalities that have their assistance do the votes they have.
Speaker 1: You have certain beat writers that may have just joined
Speaker 1: the b and they have to send it out to
Speaker 1: other people and say, hey, can you help me with
Speaker 1: with this? And that's the people voting, and we can't
Speaker 1: get a vote. All right now, I can't listen. I
Speaker 1: can't answer for them. I truly can't really. And do
Speaker 1: you have an AP vote? So you have some influence,
Speaker 1: You've probably when you couldn't, you could certainly I'm one
Speaker 1: of fifty. I know the ap right. Barry Wilmer kind
Speaker 1: of uh you know, organizes the voting process. He sends
Speaker 1: out the correspondence. Berry Wilmer's a long time national writer
Speaker 1: and him is for Associated p W I L N
Speaker 1: E R W I. I know Barry are Romans, all right,
Speaker 1: he's a rockman man. So you can find his spouse.
Speaker 1: I will I will find use. I will knock on that.
Speaker 1: Very very Wilmer handles it. And he asked me about oh, man,
Speaker 1: I don't know, fifteen years ago, just you know, when
Speaker 1: I started doing maybe twenty, I don't know. It's it's
Speaker 1: the years algo together and man that you better believe
Speaker 1: that's a that's a high honor, right, yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: imagine how it felt to Bob Costs, his assistant. It
Speaker 1: was one of the best days of his life. See
Speaker 1: you came out with it. Well that that Dal, did
Speaker 1: you realize what you just did? You made news? Oh man,
Speaker 1: go back, go go, You're gonna erase this or you're
Speaker 1: gonna let this go. I'm I'm you know, unlike uncover
Speaker 1: the hypocrisy. I think the media, especially at this time
Speaker 1: in the world, to be worried about truth. And that's
Speaker 1: all I'm about is the truth. John, Let it give
Speaker 1: me some truth. What we're dealing with here is do
Speaker 1: you put more weight on integrity or the appearance of integrity?
Speaker 1: Of course I put more weight on integrity. And I
Speaker 1: hope that no one, no seriously and and I'm I'm
Speaker 1: gonna just take all the joking aside. Seriously. I absolutely
Speaker 1: take this and the a p All Pro vote extremely seriously.
Speaker 1: I have a lot of discussions about it, and I
Speaker 1: try to do the best possible job every every year
Speaker 1: because you know what, this is important stuff. Can I
Speaker 1: give you a compliment? Sure? The All Pro voting the
Speaker 1: last couple of years has been better than ever. Better
Speaker 1: than ever, I think so. I think five six years
Speaker 1: ago it was almost a joke some of the some
Speaker 1: of the guys getting elected for the All Pro team.
Speaker 1: In the last couple of years, I think people have
Speaker 1: been doing a lot more homework. You know, I can't
Speaker 1: speak to anybody, although I do consult with other All
Speaker 1: Pro voters and we just we have discussions, you know.
Speaker 1: You know, one of the people I trust a lot
Speaker 1: is Jenny Princess from Sports Illustrated. I think she's one
Speaker 1: of the best football minds in America, and I give
Speaker 1: her opinions a lot of weak. Um. I talked to coaches, um,
Speaker 1: former coaches, quite a few former coaches, and you know,
Speaker 1: people who who know what they're seeing. So yeah, it's important.
Speaker 1: And you listen, you guys are as smart as anybody
Speaker 1: in the business. There's there's no doubt. And I'm not
Speaker 1: sucking up. It's just it's true. There's there are a
Speaker 1: lot of smart people who are watching this game and
Speaker 1: who are studying it very closely, just because just because
Speaker 1: they're not, you know, one of fifty you know, voters
Speaker 1: in this somewhat it's not arbitrary, but you know, it's
Speaker 1: just it's just because you're not selected doesn't mean the heroes,
Speaker 1: it doesn't mean the hero's voice isn't hurt. All right,
Speaker 1: thank you, Thank you for having this conversation and an
Speaker 1: honest process. And we're gonna go after Barry will in
Speaker 1: there next because we're not gonna stops the basel where
Speaker 1: where this this our conversation ends, but the journey continues.
Speaker 1: And I do think that these pfw A rules are
Speaker 1: out of out of date. I mean they were written
Speaker 1: before a lot of the I mean, think of all
Speaker 1: the conflicts of interest, A lot of a lot. There's
Speaker 1: a lot of conflicts of interest. You don't have to
Speaker 1: work for a league or team to have them. And
Speaker 1: I think, I think in an organization like that could
Speaker 1: have the intelligence to kind of pick out who who
Speaker 1: could be part of such a thing. Well, I will
Speaker 1: say that we have had a lot of discussions about this.
Speaker 1: Sometimes there's a slippery slope that you go down because
Speaker 1: not everyone kind of falls into the same group. You
Speaker 1: have some you know, team hired writers are you know,
Speaker 1: have have access to every single thing going on, whereas
Speaker 1: writers for I guess for lack of a better term,
Speaker 1: mainstream media do not have that. So how do you
Speaker 1: how do you you know, kind of walk that line. So, Rosie,
Speaker 1: it's it's very it's deep, and it's and it's complete.
Speaker 1: It's basically like the JFK assassination parts what's that it
Speaker 1: feels like the JFK assassination sort of part two. It's
Speaker 1: that much of a it's a wormhole or spit, you know. Um.
Speaker 1: Bob Glabber is a good sport. He's a good man,
Speaker 1: and he has a new book out by the Way,
Speaker 1: Guts and Genius, the story of three unlikely coaches who
Speaker 1: came to dominant dominate the NFL in the eighties. It's
Speaker 1: a book about and this is you know, I talked
Speaker 1: about it all the time growing up in Pearl River,
Speaker 1: you know, after church and there's Poppy sitting on the
Speaker 1: couch watching those classic NFC East games on his brown
Speaker 1: couch uh couch seat and drinking his routier and eating
Speaker 1: his pretzels. This book is about Parcels, it's about Gibbs,
Speaker 1: and it's about Bill Walsh and what else? Bob, why
Speaker 1: did you write the book? Well, I wrote it because
Speaker 1: I'm I like NFL history. I actually lived that era.
Speaker 1: I started covering football in those great days. It's a
Speaker 1: different time in football, and it's kind heart to relate
Speaker 1: to now because you know, free agency has has really
Speaker 1: evened out the talent pool and you don't have these
Speaker 1: great long standing rivalries from year to year. You have
Speaker 1: great games, and you have a great league and you
Speaker 1: have a great product, but you knew every year who
Speaker 1: your team was, who your quarterback was, who your coach was.
Speaker 1: And those three coaches, in particular, Parcels, Gibbs and Walsh,
Speaker 1: We're very, very unlikely. When they started in the nineteen
Speaker 1: seventy nine, if someone had told you, okay, over the
Speaker 1: next decade, over the next twelve years, I'm gonna give
Speaker 1: you three names. These guys are gonna be Hall of
Speaker 1: Fame coaches who are going to preside over potentially the
Speaker 1: best decade of pro football. And that's Bill Walsh, Bill Parcels,
Speaker 1: and Joe Gibbs. If you had heard that in seventy nine,
Speaker 1: you would have said, what are you talking about. I've
Speaker 1: never heard of these people, because that's how obscure they
Speaker 1: were when they came into, you know, into their jobs,
Speaker 1: and they kind of gutted it out early. They all
Speaker 1: thought they were gonna get fired within two years of
Speaker 1: of getting hired. They didn't think they were gonna make it,
Speaker 1: and they persevered and they really it changed the sport.
Speaker 1: And I find it amazing incredible that all thirty two
Speaker 1: of today's NFL coaches, even the interim coaches, they are
Speaker 1: all part of either the Parcels or Walsh coaching tree.
Speaker 1: And seven, yeah, thirty, of thirty seven Super Bowls since
Speaker 1: Walsh one his first one, have been won by either
Speaker 1: wolfsh Gives or Parcels or someone on their coaching trees.
Speaker 1: And that includes seventeen of the last eighteen and it
Speaker 1: will and it will soon be eighteen in the last
Speaker 1: nineteen because they're all on either of those trees. Remarkable,
Speaker 1: who is who is the one another one? What do
Speaker 1: you mean? Oh? Bill Cower was the one who was
Speaker 1: not on either tree, the only one. He's on the
Speaker 1: Schottenheimer tree. So it's not you know, it's not from
Speaker 1: the Parcels or wolfsh trees or give street now gives
Speaker 1: tree was kind of kind of non existent. He just
Speaker 1: kind of came and went. He was this brilliant flash
Speaker 1: of a coach who won three Super Bowls with three
Speaker 1: from quarterbacks. And you could make a case is the
Speaker 1: greatest coach of all time based on those restrictions that
Speaker 1: he had a quarterback and or limitations. Um, those other
Speaker 1: two guys were you know, they were all incredible coaches.
Speaker 1: But I think the legacy left behind, especially by Parcels
Speaker 1: and Walsh, it continues to reverberate in today's game. What's
Speaker 1: the most what's the predominant offense in today's NFL. It's
Speaker 1: the West Coast offense forged by Bill by Bill Walsh
Speaker 1: in Cincinnati, oddly and on the banks of the Ohio River,
Speaker 1: on the bank of the Ohio with Burt, the infamous Burt,
Speaker 1: the famous Virgil Carter, who couldn't throw a ball thirty
Speaker 1: yards without it being intercepted. But Walsh came up with
Speaker 1: this system, perfected it, grew it, and other coaches have
Speaker 1: kind of taken that and run with it. And what
Speaker 1: I found amazing is that, you know, both Parcels and
Speaker 1: Walsh had this real desire to help others. And Parcels
Speaker 1: got it from his basketball coach, Mickey Corkrane, his high
Speaker 1: school basketball coach in Oradell, New Jersey, and he says,
Speaker 1: Mickey always told me, you gotta help others, you gotta
Speaker 1: do it. It's it's your responsibility. And Walsh got it
Speaker 1: from being passed over by Paul Brown in ninety six
Speaker 1: when he could have been the Bengals head coach. And
Speaker 1: you know, Bengals fans have heard this, but you know,
Speaker 1: he would have been completely happy to spend the rest
Speaker 1: of his career in Cincinnati. So Paul Brown passes him over,
Speaker 1: and then at that moment, it was it was a mistake,
Speaker 1: but it was. And then Wals handed it to the Bengals,
Speaker 1: and they're only two Super Bowl appearances. There you go,
Speaker 1: And he just ended to his book, ended his two
Speaker 1: Super bowls over the over the Bengals, and Paul Brown
Speaker 1: was on the field for both times. And it was
Speaker 1: it was tough for Paul Brown. But you know, Walsh
Speaker 1: promised himself and promised the people around him that if
Speaker 1: he ever did get a chance after getting passed over,
Speaker 1: that he would help every coach who worked with him.
Speaker 1: And out of that despondency after he got passed over
Speaker 1: came the most impressive coaching tree in the history of sports,
Speaker 1: not just the NFL. Bob. It's a great subject matter
Speaker 1: and it's obviously a great Christmas gift, and you could
Speaker 1: find guts and genius, uh, the story of three unlikely
Speaker 1: coaches who came to dominate the NFL in the eighties
Speaker 1: anywhere books are sold, including Amazon. Let's be honest. I
Speaker 1: mean Amazon's going nuts right now. I'm currently reading it,
Speaker 1: and it's I would say it's not a given that
Speaker 1: all these football books are gonna be well written. This
Speaker 1: one is well written. It spends a good yarn and
Speaker 1: it'd be a bit like if there are three Belichicks
Speaker 1: in the a f C for the last decade and
Speaker 1: a half. Bob, you're a good sport, You're a good
Speaker 1: man and a great uncle. Bob Glauber. Alright, it, alright,
Speaker 1: take care. Alright, there goes Bob Glauber. Uh we don't
Speaker 1: have our vote yet. Obviously the goal there was to
Speaker 1: end that conversation with a vote. But we were gonna
Speaker 1: fight on Barry Wilner's next I mean, I'm not surprised.
Speaker 1: It wasn't just a one step process. These are big
Speaker 1: organizations were going up against I am after hearing that
Speaker 1: statement you read that though we did our part, but
Speaker 1: we'll keep doing our part. We're gonna keep fighting. We're
Speaker 1: just starting the battle. Okay. We'll be back Thursday night
Speaker 1: with a recap of that great uh charges Chiefs battle,
Speaker 1: and then a preview of all the week fifteen games
Speaker 1: on Sunday and Monday and Saturday as well. Uh So,
Speaker 1: let us get out of here. This is Dan Hanson's
Speaker 1: signing off four Quiet Storm, the Mailman, the old Boss
Speaker 1: Ricky Hollywood behind the glass. We will persevere. We will
Speaker 1: get that boat because we deserve it. Damn it. Tell
Speaker 1: Thursday night