Speaker 1: Be Around the NFL Podcast, making their mama's proud at
Speaker 1: the Pink Pony Club's Welcome to another edition to the
Speaker 1: Around the NFL Podcast. My name is Dan Hans is
Speaker 1: coming to you from a virtual room filled with heroes,
Speaker 1: Greg Rosenthal, Mark Sessler. Oh, and he's back, the great
Speaker 1: Patrick clay bannuzz that boys, very I don't know if
Speaker 1: I've earned the qualifiered ring, but it's it's great to
Speaker 1: be with you guys. I can confirm that that was
Speaker 1: a great money intro right there. Did he say mommy's
Speaker 1: or either way mommy's or mama's coming out of his mouth?
Speaker 1: Just it was funny. Uh, Patrick, Good to see you
Speaker 1: as I expected. The quarantine is treating you well. The
Speaker 1: pandemic you're you look like you're beach ready right now,
Speaker 1: sitting on the floor with your arms crossed over your knees,
Speaker 1: all calm, cool and collected and absolutely beautiful as always.
Speaker 1: So congratulations on being Patrick clay On once again. Well,
Speaker 1: I am just basking in the glow of all of
Speaker 1: you gentlemen today. You know, I'm I'm huddled on the
Speaker 1: floor of my baby girls room. Uh, the chair that
Speaker 1: I was sitting and actually fell apart subsequently before the
Speaker 1: microphone that I was going to use fell apart, So
Speaker 1: very extraordinarily it's not working out, but hey, uh, we
Speaker 1: get to spend time together and still got your electricity
Speaker 1: though the lights are on. The lights are on alright.
Speaker 1: So great to have Clay Bond back with us on
Speaker 1: a very busy show. We are going to dig in
Speaker 1: on the mess down there in Houston with the Texans
Speaker 1: after the surprise firing of Bill O'Brien. And we're having
Speaker 1: a friend to the show, uh down there in Houston,
Speaker 1: Seth Payne. He's gonna join us to talk about what
Speaker 1: happens next in Houston. And and I was perusing Seth's
Speaker 1: Twitter account. He's pretty fired up about what direction they
Speaker 1: should go and and the belief that they should not
Speaker 1: be done with their firings at Bill O'Brien. But we'll
Speaker 1: get to all that. Also, Thursday night football preview to come,
Speaker 1: uh in the game between who Mark It will be
Speaker 1: a game between the Bears, very exciting and the Bucks.
Speaker 1: One of many primetime games for the Bucks. I always
Speaker 1: love when you dropped like the pop quiz question on me,
Speaker 1: like it's it's a great way to you know, build
Speaker 1: rapport with me, assuming I get the question right, marks
Speaker 1: here for Thursday, baby, absolutely, and we'll check in on
Speaker 1: what's going on right now in the league in this
Speaker 1: uncertainty around COVID nineteen and the team's affected. But before
Speaker 1: we do that, let's start with two games played on
Speaker 1: Monday nights, starting with the rescheduled COVID nineteen postponement between
Speaker 1: the Chiefs and the Patriots. Draw Peck for the honey
Speaker 1: Badger tech sex type one pick six Julian Adolman last
Speaker 1: year lead the National Football League and drops He's such
Speaker 1: a great receiver, but he lost concentration and the ball
Speaker 1: office left arm right to the waiting honey Badger, who
Speaker 1: eats the snake and runs all the way to the
Speaker 1: end zone. Touchdown cancel six. Mitch health is w d
Speaker 1: A have a couple of things? There? He went? He
Speaker 1: went for Edelman's throat there, bringing up that he has
Speaker 1: issues with drops live in real time during the pick
Speaker 1: six return. Uh, and then he ate the snake? Is
Speaker 1: that what it was? That's what a score is. I
Speaker 1: don't know, but I loved it, Mitch. With the call,
Speaker 1: the Kansas City Chiefs are four and oh for the
Speaker 1: fourth consecutive season. That doesn't even seem possible, but it's true.
Speaker 1: After ten win over the Patriots at Arrowhead, a game
Speaker 1: that was six to three at halftime, the Chiefs, you know,
Speaker 1: powerhouse that they are, didn't score their first touchdown too
Speaker 1: Layton the third quarter. The Patriots hung around, but suspect
Speaker 1: quarter play quarterback play from Brian Hoyer helped undermine them
Speaker 1: in this game. Greg, you uh, let's start with the Pats.
Speaker 1: Uh here you're Cam Newton misses this game obviously at
Speaker 1: the testing positive for coronavirus and Hoyer was for me
Speaker 1: a surprise start. I was actually I had my head
Speaker 1: down cranking out power rankings. I just assumed Jared Stidham
Speaker 1: was the backup because that was the cam, and apparently
Speaker 1: it turns out that Hoyer was the guy. But I
Speaker 1: don't think Hoyer is the backup anymore. No, I don't
Speaker 1: think so. And Bill Belichick on Tuesday would not reveal
Speaker 1: who would start on Sunday against the Broncos, which is
Speaker 1: usually a sign that they'll they'll go with the guy
Speaker 1: who came in, like Stidham, unless Cam is available, which
Speaker 1: is possible. Why play Brian Hoyer because there's two type
Speaker 1: of backup quarterbacks that I think you kind of would want.
Speaker 1: One is like the ultra aggressive just I don't care
Speaker 1: what's gonna happen, d J f Ryan Fitzpatrick type when
Speaker 1: he was the backup and like or even Dress Driscoll,
Speaker 1: Like whatever is that, You're just gonna go for it.
Speaker 1: The other that you would like is just like an
Speaker 1: athletic guy that gives you some uh sort of advantage.
Speaker 1: Brian Hoyer is neither. He's in theory like a veteran
Speaker 1: good decision maker who very often in his career. Um
Speaker 1: looks like the moments too big for him to use
Speaker 1: one of your terms. And I hate sort of going
Speaker 1: so non you know, technical. But when you sail your
Speaker 1: first two passes on Keith third downs in the first
Speaker 1: two drives by like ten yards, like that looks like nerves.
Speaker 1: Then you throw an interception, you take a terrible sack
Speaker 1: at the end of the first half, uh, and then
Speaker 1: you get bench through another big mistake in the third quarter.
Speaker 1: He he prevented them from potentially winning this game because um,
Speaker 1: mark you you said this was one of your favorite
Speaker 1: Patriots games, or maybe your favorite of all time. And
Speaker 1: I wasn't sure why you said that, but I I
Speaker 1: was happy you were on the same train as me,
Speaker 1: which is like, this was a vintage Bill Belichick defensive performance, which,
Speaker 1: if you like ugly football or defensive football, was kind
Speaker 1: of fun for me to Apparently you too with Mark
Speaker 1: sometimes he just likes to move the needle acount. No, no,
Speaker 1: you know what, because that's a very cynical take on that,
Speaker 1: because I honestly this was the thing. I don't think
Speaker 1: this game should have even been played. I get you
Speaker 1: have to and you have to force it all along
Speaker 1: with Corona, but the idea that one team has to
Speaker 1: go out there against the Kansas City Chiefs of all
Speaker 1: teams in the league, with your starter out of the picture,
Speaker 1: you don't have a capable backup. The right half of
Speaker 1: your line is missing. They have Kirk Farend's son playing center.
Speaker 1: Bill Belichick's like best friend from Iowa. I mean, the
Speaker 1: stuff that was stacked against New England last night, and
Speaker 1: the idea that he still found a way to be
Speaker 1: guile Patrick Mahomes. I mean, the one thing that I
Speaker 1: could not get out of my mind was the million
Speaker 1: shots to Patrick Mahomes on the sideline during that first half,
Speaker 1: for he's just sort of like hands over his heads
Speaker 1: waiting to get on the field because they were just
Speaker 1: making it tough on the Chiefs. And the thing with
Speaker 1: Brian Hoyer at the end of that half when he
Speaker 1: took that sack and you just saw Belichick explode and
Speaker 1: Josh McDaniels was furious. It's like, we're not asking you
Speaker 1: to save the planet Earth. Okay, Brian horror. We know
Speaker 1: you can't do that, but you can't have He's showing
Speaker 1: the complete lack of veteran presence. And to Greg's point,
Speaker 1: you would think that Brian Hoyer, who spent like seven
Speaker 1: years with the Patriots over his career, would pick up
Speaker 1: a few tips along the way on how to handle
Speaker 1: the final minute of a game where you're still in
Speaker 1: it against all odds. Unbelievable performance by Brian Hoyer and
Speaker 1: then still him. I love his live arm, but the
Speaker 1: guy is throwing picks all over the place too. Great coaching.
Speaker 1: The first pick was that was bad, but it unearthed
Speaker 1: one of the potentially great coaching. It was a great
Speaker 1: coaching job. But he was completely unspoiled by his hideous quarterbacks. Hey,
Speaker 1: welcome was it? How the other half lives Patriots fans.
Speaker 1: Sometimes your quarterbacks just suck and it ruins everything. Was
Speaker 1: it really an unbelievable performance from Brian Hoyer. This is
Speaker 1: the Brian horyer that we've been watching right a little
Speaker 1: on them too. Yeah, that's if you you know, if
Speaker 1: you search your Twitter name and at Hoyer and just
Speaker 1: scroll through your reactions, anybody can do this. Uh, through
Speaker 1: the years, the game, we're reacting to, this game that
Speaker 1: he had last night, over and over again for multiple franchises,
Speaker 1: for the Browns, for the Texans, and now for the Patriots.
Speaker 1: This is Brian. It's not the moment being too big
Speaker 1: for Brian Hoyer. He's got to be good in practice
Speaker 1: anything else. He's a really nice guy. Um, he knows
Speaker 1: the playbook, I guess um. But he's not a good
Speaker 1: football player. And that's fine, Like it's okay, you don't
Speaker 1: have to be good at football, I guess to be
Speaker 1: a good person. But there's there's definitely better people at
Speaker 1: playing quarterback than Brian Hoyer. It wasn't that wasn't Patrick's right.
Speaker 1: It wasn't that this moment was too big for Brian Hoyer.
Speaker 1: Every moment is too big for Brian Hoyer not to
Speaker 1: pile on the guy, but yeah that did, and it
Speaker 1: did as someone who enjoys a little bit of rain
Speaker 1: falling down on the throne of ease. It also was
Speaker 1: a reminder like, if things don't break a little differently
Speaker 1: for the Patriots this offseason and there isn't a team
Speaker 1: that aggressively targets Cam Newton, this would have been their reality.
Speaker 1: This would have been there. They would have been just
Speaker 1: living and die in every week hoping to get um
Speaker 1: basic quarterback play. So good for them. Yeah, it's bad
Speaker 1: and they'd had to travel the day of the game,
Speaker 1: but you're right. Just imagine how vulnerable they wanted they
Speaker 1: would have been if another team jumped in and said, whoa,
Speaker 1: we're gonna go the Chicago Bears go ahead. Just when
Speaker 1: they started Stidham. They brought stid him in the fourth quarter,
Speaker 1: I think precisely because they have another game next week
Speaker 1: in which um Cam Newton might not be available, and
Speaker 1: so they wanted to see Stidham and why not take
Speaker 1: this opportunity to see Stidham, who you've been pumping up
Speaker 1: um and as a young player for the whole game.
Speaker 1: Because the defense I took a lot out of this
Speaker 1: game because I was not encouraged by how this defense
Speaker 1: had played in the first three weeks. It was really
Speaker 1: built almost entirely in some way to stop Kansas City. Uh,
Speaker 1: and teams like Kansas City, so I guess like they
Speaker 1: they are uniquely um situated to slow mahomes down. But
Speaker 1: you know, the the Chiefs had what five punts in
Speaker 1: their first six possessions. They only scored nineteen points and
Speaker 1: nine possessions. They did an awesome job Chase. One of
Speaker 1: it is for real, like their secondary played their best
Speaker 1: game of the year. And and yes, if it wasn't
Speaker 1: for um you know, the offensive total brain farts by Hoyer.
Speaker 1: They had a good chance to win this game. But
Speaker 1: that defense having that type of day makes me think
Speaker 1: other than missing Donte high Tower, which to me has
Speaker 1: just been one of the biggest missing pieces ever. He
Speaker 1: he I always knew how valuable he was, but they
Speaker 1: missed him so much every game. Bentley is a pretty
Speaker 1: big negative for them. Uh. It gives me a little
Speaker 1: hope there Dan that the defense you know, come together
Speaker 1: and I'll take the moral victory that I'm taking it
Speaker 1: and taking it take. The Chiefs took the real one,
Speaker 1: but that was not the true branded Monday night football
Speaker 1: game that was played at lambeau Field. Let's check in
Speaker 1: on that game. Third and three, back to Pastors, Rogers, backpeddling, backpeddling, coos,
Speaker 1: an arching passed down the middle, quite upen the tight end.
Speaker 1: It's a touchdown at the goal line. Tonyon his third
Speaker 1: of the night. Rogers has done another t d Rogers
Speaker 1: four touchdown passes tonight, and he looks down to his
Speaker 1: right hand and he's kind of one. Two four touchdowns
Speaker 1: by Rogers. Kevin Harland with the call on Westwood one.
Speaker 1: We can only play this song for this game because
Speaker 1: ESPN owns the rights of this game and CBS on
Speaker 1: the rights of the other one. That's a true story.
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers and then playing playing without Davante Adams, without
Speaker 1: Alan Lazard. It doesn't matter right now, because that's where
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers is right now, in his sixteenth season, seven
Speaker 1: thirty three for seven yards, four touchdowns, no picks, passer
Speaker 1: rating of forty seven and a half and yes you
Speaker 1: heard it, Robert Tanyan West's boy and three touches thirty
Speaker 1: to sixteen. The Packers cruised over the Falcons. The Packers
Speaker 1: are four and oh uh and and the bearded boy
Speaker 1: Matt la Fleur has an insane winning percentage through a
Speaker 1: year and a quarter. And the Falcons Patrick Clayband oh
Speaker 1: and four uh. Dan Quinn could be the next to go.
Speaker 1: And it's kind of surprising right that that this is
Speaker 1: we got to this point in the season and we
Speaker 1: saw a coach that wasn't dan Quinn go before dan
Speaker 1: Quinn seeing as he is, uh, he's kind of wearing
Speaker 1: this this giant weighted chain of being the defensive minded
Speaker 1: coach and having uh just a laughable defense that they
Speaker 1: got to a point um last night where Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: the company could really do whatever they wanted to do.
Speaker 1: If it wasn't Bob Tanyan having three touchdowns, it could
Speaker 1: have been anybody else. Uh. Aaron Jones um legitimately could
Speaker 1: have probably had a fifty point fantasy game last night
Speaker 1: if they checked it down for him able to rest up.
Speaker 1: They didn't even start Davante Adams, who was upset last
Speaker 1: night um or yesterday morning with this idea that, oh,
Speaker 1: they think they know my hamstring better than I do.
Speaker 1: But like, dude, we don't put this this team. Uh.
Speaker 1: This team in this defense particularly UH isn't very good
Speaker 1: and the clock, I guess, is ticking. As as nice
Speaker 1: of the guy as dan Quinn is. Um, just you
Speaker 1: would like to have some results on that side of
Speaker 1: the football, and they just don't have any cessler who's
Speaker 1: nicer dan Quinn or Brian Hoyer. You know, I randomly
Speaker 1: met him at the same Super Bowl and Brian Hoyer
Speaker 1: was so nice, just kind of baby with his wife
Speaker 1: and we had a small child at the time, and
Speaker 1: I was like, oh my god, he's so nice and
Speaker 1: so like. I struggle with that because also dan Quinn
Speaker 1: was qu I do think that dan Quinn is Like,
Speaker 1: I don't think he's going to turn into an evil
Speaker 1: person because of this, but I think dan Quinn is
Speaker 1: nicer because I didn't get enough time. I mean, he's
Speaker 1: he's a close second, But I mean, forget dan Quinn.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is the game and I'm late. I'm
Speaker 1: late to this because I've been rough on the Packers forever,
Speaker 1: like and in even last year's Packers, I just didn't
Speaker 1: buy the whole operation. I totally do now. I realize
Speaker 1: I'll make the last person in the room. But Matt Lafleur,
Speaker 1: to me, proved last night that he can be one
Speaker 1: of those coaches that ups the creativity beyond what a
Speaker 1: normal coach can do. I mean the fact that they're
Speaker 1: missing all the wide receivers that they were and PFF
Speaker 1: came out calling it the most efficient offensive week four.
Speaker 1: The way that they're using different players left and right,
Speaker 1: it kind of reminds me of this like hideous JV
Speaker 1: game where they're all these entries and I got put
Speaker 1: a safety and we played this team from like Trumbull
Speaker 1: that had no quarterback. We found out what they're going
Speaker 1: to kill these guys. They have no quarterback and there's
Speaker 1: their direct snapping. He playing well. It was like I
Speaker 1: still have numbers, but this they were direct snapping the
Speaker 1: ball Like midway through the first quarter, they changed it
Speaker 1: up to it like a two and twenty pound person
Speaker 1: and he's barreling through the defense and I'm playing like
Speaker 1: deep safety because like, get this guy off the field,
Speaker 1: and I like six plays in a row, I've got
Speaker 1: this guy coming at me, and I'm just like I
Speaker 1: want to be in my house watching like little house
Speaker 1: in the prairie right now. What am I doing here?
Speaker 1: So when you can beguile the defense the way that
Speaker 1: Green Bay did. I mean, I just saw so many
Speaker 1: communication breakdowns in Atlanta's totally battered secondary. On that Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers touchdown on the first the first score, I mean
Speaker 1: he there, there was no one within fifteen yards of him,
Speaker 1: and it was like an embarrassing preseason looking performance by
Speaker 1: Atlanta's defense. But they often look like a poorly coached defense.
Speaker 1: And I think one of the best test is when
Speaker 1: you have a bunch of injuries, can you still hold
Speaker 1: it together and look well coached. Maybe you're not gonna
Speaker 1: win or or look great, but are you gonna have
Speaker 1: a total collapse? And that's what's happened to the Falcons
Speaker 1: multiple times. To be fair, they've had an incredible amount
Speaker 1: of injuries. They're not just missing a couple of guys,
Speaker 1: they have five start every basically every starting defensive back
Speaker 1: was hurt and another other than Kendall Sheffield, and then
Speaker 1: one of the primary replacements got hurt too, and demonte
Speaker 1: Kezy got hurt during the game, so they're missing an
Speaker 1: entire secondary. But this has happened to Atlanta before. When
Speaker 1: they have injuries, suddenly it's like that's the excuse why
Speaker 1: we're the very worst defense in the league. And it's
Speaker 1: like no, um, other teams would hold it together and
Speaker 1: get some sort of stops and and not have all
Speaker 1: of those breakdowns, and um, the Packers have so many weapons.
Speaker 1: I mean, Jamal Williams has been really good this year.
Speaker 1: It's funny because everyone killed the Packers to first two picks,
Speaker 1: and the second one of those was A J. Dillon,
Speaker 1: the seven thousand pound running back. He can't get on
Speaker 1: the field either. He's like the Jordan's love of running backs.
Speaker 1: Because Jamal Williams has motivated, just like Aaron Rodgers has
Speaker 1: apparently motivated. And Williams has played great this year and
Speaker 1: he's a great receiver. And you could see last night.
Speaker 1: I think you're right about the Davante Adams thing that
Speaker 1: they're like sidium. They're also going into a bye week.
Speaker 1: It's like they don't even need to use Aaron Jones
Speaker 1: every snap. They're playing Jamal Williams half the time because
Speaker 1: they're like, let's let's just ease off the pedal with
Speaker 1: Aaron Jones. We can beat the Falcons with any of
Speaker 1: our guys. This go down is the greatest Packers draft
Speaker 1: of the last twenty years with two you know, high
Speaker 1: selections that aren't even on the field, just for the
Speaker 1: fact that it's set a fire under so many buttocks.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's the only way to explain it, um
Speaker 1: like positively, because legitimately, um, this was a team that
Speaker 1: really looked overmatched against the fort in the playoffs and
Speaker 1: then they draft two players that they aren't even using
Speaker 1: that they've they've gotten better, uh year two in a system.
Speaker 1: But like Packers fans were like, yeah, let's stick it
Speaker 1: to the people, but you know you're not using the players.
Speaker 1: But also I really did think at the time people
Speaker 1: were overreacting, if only because the first two draft picks
Speaker 1: on your team are not gonna make or break your season,
Speaker 1: Like we've watched enough football that of course, um, you
Speaker 1: know you want them to come and contribute. But if anything,
Speaker 1: this is validation that you know, the Packers should be
Speaker 1: thinking long term. I'd rather have a developmental quarterback than
Speaker 1: like Tee Higgins. I'm sorry, I just even and Ti
Speaker 1: Higgans is good, Like I'd rather have a quarterback anyways. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's pretty amazing that we're talking about now the offense
Speaker 1: having all this firepower when The whole story all through
Speaker 1: the off season was, well, they screwed Rogers here, they
Speaker 1: didn't get him help. He still doesn't have enough help.
Speaker 1: And maybe a part of this is Rogers too changing
Speaker 1: always played. We've heard a lot about like how he's
Speaker 1: become more zen this season and how he's more introspective
Speaker 1: than ever before, and he's become an addition to his
Speaker 1: incredible intelligence, uh, like some type of shaman or something.
Speaker 1: I don't know what's going on that storyline, but I
Speaker 1: would like to get more of a football take on
Speaker 1: what's taken him from this? And he even said it,
Speaker 1: like when he was asked, like, how do you explain
Speaker 1: your career resurgence? And he fairly pointed out He's like,
Speaker 1: my quote unquote bad years are like career years from
Speaker 1: any other quarterbacks, which is fairly true. But also I
Speaker 1: want to know what the light that went on? Is
Speaker 1: this all just the competitor? Is this that he's a shaman? Like?
Speaker 1: Had this happen? Because he's unbelievable schedule schedule has helped
Speaker 1: the offensive line certainly, and yeah, year two, I think
Speaker 1: I think there really is something to that. We've seen
Speaker 1: a lot of systems take off in year two, like
Speaker 1: Kyle Shanahan when he was in Atlanta, and Matt Lafleur
Speaker 1: was on that staff actually in year two. You know,
Speaker 1: they just they seemed to they seem to know what
Speaker 1: they're doing. And the years before that where he, you know,
Speaker 1: he and Mike McCarthy were tired of each other. And
Speaker 1: it's like, think of any environment that you're in where
Speaker 1: you're just kind of getting your board, you need a
Speaker 1: little bit of a spark, and the spark has come,
Speaker 1: and the spark is Matt Lafleur. He's not a little
Speaker 1: boy with a beard anymore, and he's just you can't
Speaker 1: call him that if he's four years older. I think
Speaker 1: it was Roger Sherman from The Ringer who pointed that out.
Speaker 1: I was like shocked by that he's four years older
Speaker 1: than Aaron Rodgers. Well, everyone calls the quarterback old and
Speaker 1: the coach seems so young. And Keith has Us in
Speaker 1: my garage last December labeled Matt Lafleura the bearded boy.
Speaker 1: It was more based on his youthful appearance and how
Speaker 1: its incongruous that he had this full facial hair. I
Speaker 1: don't think it was like saying that he was overmatched
Speaker 1: in in the gig. I do want to make that
Speaker 1: in there. I think I do want to make one
Speaker 1: final point in this game. They're owing four, and I
Speaker 1: and I have seen a little bit of the chatter
Speaker 1: beginning of like, well, is this the end of Matt
Speaker 1: Ryan in Atlanta? Which is I think that's but Falcons
Speaker 1: fans are thinking about that. And it is interesting that
Speaker 1: Thomas dimitrof in this entire run, which has been by
Speaker 1: far the most successful run in Atlanta Falcons history, started
Speaker 1: with demotrof Um and Matt Ryan together. And uh, I
Speaker 1: don't think they're gonna have the same front office or
Speaker 1: coach next year. I do think Matt Ryan like would
Speaker 1: be worth keeping around, but he he needs to be
Speaker 1: special to kind of make them competitive, and he's not
Speaker 1: special right now. Or do what you wonder if Julio
Speaker 1: Jones could be dangled in a trade, or they draft
Speaker 1: a guy and keep Ryan for another year or two,
Speaker 1: you sense a radical reboot could be in the cards
Speaker 1: potentially for Atlanta. All right, good talk there. One game
Speaker 1: was the CBS Sunday property that was shifted. The other
Speaker 1: was Monday Night Football. But now we move forward to
Speaker 1: talk about the Texans and to do that, let us
Speaker 1: welcome in. He is the co host on the morning
Speaker 1: show at sports Radio six ten in Houston. He played
Speaker 1: a decade in the NFL with the Texans and the Jaguards,
Speaker 1: a collegiate standout if Cornell ever heard of it, and
Speaker 1: now he's making his return to the Around the NFL
Speaker 1: podcast to talk about what comes next for the Texans.
Speaker 1: It's sad Bang, Hello, Hello, Pass it on by deshn
Speaker 1: Won for for our audio listeners. Set Knee Deep in Um,
Speaker 1: a premature biography by It's a long, but it's a
Speaker 1: long book for a young man. I'll tell you that much.
Speaker 1: Is that like a chapter about how Bill O'Brien is
Speaker 1: the right man to take me through my career? Well,
Speaker 1: DeShawn has professed his love for for Bill O'Brien at times,
Speaker 1: and I look DeShawn, as I've always said, Deshaun is
Speaker 1: a guy that is like truly committed to doing things
Speaker 1: the right way. Um. As as I was just reading
Speaker 1: in the book, true Greatness takes time and patience. An
Speaker 1: effective leader, I was learning never expresses impatience with goals
Speaker 1: that require time. Uh. And this is what DeShawn is
Speaker 1: he's patient, and I think he was really patient with
Speaker 1: Bill O'Brien as much as he could and tried to
Speaker 1: do right by Bill O'Brien. I don't I don't know
Speaker 1: how many tears he's crying for Bill O'Brien, like or
Speaker 1: moving on from him, But I think the sentiment here
Speaker 1: in Houston was that he's reached a limit with Bill O'Brian,
Speaker 1: and when you need somebody else to start developing. Deshaun Watson,
Speaker 1: you know, said I was tracking your Twitter ahead of
Speaker 1: today's appearance, and I found it interesting. I'm gonna read
Speaker 1: actually a tweet from Seth because he's got a pretty
Speaker 1: fire take about what's going on in that building here
Speaker 1: here it is the only way I'll be okay with
Speaker 1: Jack Easter be remaining in the organization is if he
Speaker 1: hires somebody else to be the genuine general manager oversee
Speaker 1: the culture and all that Ted talk drivel, but don't
Speaker 1: let him near a calculator or a docu sign app
Speaker 1: So you're basically saying everybody's saying, oh, we figured out
Speaker 1: that the problem here it was Bill O'Brien, the power
Speaker 1: hungry monster that he was get him out of here.
Speaker 1: But you're saying there still might be another beast lurking
Speaker 1: beneath the surface. Yes, and that's Jack easterby the vice
Speaker 1: president of Football Operations, whose previous stays in the NFL
Speaker 1: included his time as the team pastor in Kansas, cy
Speaker 1: and the character coach in Newing, And somehow he vaulted
Speaker 1: himself up into the too now the supreme executive position
Speaker 1: on the football side of operations in in Houston, beneath ownership. Um.
Speaker 1: And this whole last year, it's been presented to us that, hey,
Speaker 1: Bill O'Brien and Jack Easter be here just walking and
Speaker 1: lock stuff. These guys. They've got a plan for the Texans.
Speaker 1: And look, it'll be fine getting rid of DeAndre Hopkins,
Speaker 1: no big deal. We've got Randall Cobb coming in. Hey,
Speaker 1: don't worry about Jadeveon Clowney. It's easy to stop the
Speaker 1: run and rush the pastor. But now, all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: I guess we're to believe that, No, the whole problem
Speaker 1: is just that Bill O'Brien doesn't know which played a
Speaker 1: call on fourth and one. All these personnel moves have
Speaker 1: yielded you just a magnificent roster. I'm getting kind of
Speaker 1: nervous that the I'm getting got a nervous that ownership
Speaker 1: doesn't understand just how much havoc has been wreaked on
Speaker 1: this roster. I would say I love your Easter be
Speaker 1: Heat because I read the Greg Bdard article that you
Speaker 1: also sent out on your Twitter and it goes back
Speaker 1: in time talking about the fact that there's this duality
Speaker 1: to east or Be that Yes, he's this pastor and
Speaker 1: he's helped all these families and people are like, he's
Speaker 1: a good guy and I like him, but he's also
Speaker 1: really like a magnet for he's power hungry and Bill Well, no,
Speaker 1: I'm talking about Easter Beecle came in like he First
Speaker 1: of all, it's really irritated the Patriots when he left
Speaker 1: New England, and it sounds like he might have been
Speaker 1: a little bit behind some of this Nikissario business and
Speaker 1: all this other stuff that happened. I mean, he's kind
Speaker 1: of feels like a Senator Palpatine kind of lodged into
Speaker 1: the middle of the Republic here. I don't like it
Speaker 1: at all. Um, if I'm a Texas fan, you want
Speaker 1: to you gotta get deeper and root him out. It's
Speaker 1: how do you bring someone new in and say, this
Speaker 1: guy is gonna be lurking alongside your your first year
Speaker 1: coaching career in Houston. It's like it's like getting into
Speaker 1: a relationship with someone who is cheating on their significant other,
Speaker 1: Like why would you trust that person to not continue
Speaker 1: to cheat? Jack Jack Easterby, by the way, but are
Speaker 1: completely predicted that he was going to take over the
Speaker 1: organization two years ago. Jack Easterby was hired by Bill
Speaker 1: O'Brien because they were so close. Um, Jack Easterby pretty
Speaker 1: obviously used his media contacts uh to burnish his reputation
Speaker 1: to rise in the industry. Oh, by the way, who
Speaker 1: did that? Like better than any coach I've ever seen.
Speaker 1: Bill O'Brien, who like kept turning you know, was never
Speaker 1: got out of the media cycle, had had a certain agent,
Speaker 1: like never got out of the media cycle, turned like
Speaker 1: okay jobs into all these opportunities, but was awesome at
Speaker 1: office politics and using the media and sidling up to
Speaker 1: ownership to figure out how to get more power. So
Speaker 1: Easterby comes in By all accounts, rap Sheet says the
Speaker 1: relationship turned sour in a in a minute where suddenly O'Brien,
Speaker 1: how I read into it was shocked that like he
Speaker 1: had been back stabbed by this guy um who was
Speaker 1: probably cozying up with ownership. Basically, he did the Bill
Speaker 1: O'Brien move. At least Bill O'Brien though, like I don't know,
Speaker 1: is on a has been on a football staff and
Speaker 1: like cosplays and had some track record of success. I'm
Speaker 1: with you said this this for whatever reason, it's on
Speaker 1: my radar. They deserve a total restart. Patrick, And can't
Speaker 1: you like, isn't the last thing if you're a Texans fan,
Speaker 1: wouldn't it be like another Patriots reboot? Because there's some
Speaker 1: talk that like Easterby is gonna bring in you know, McDaniels,
Speaker 1: or they'll do some sort of like Patriots Light again,
Speaker 1: which just seems like the worst thing to do. You
Speaker 1: just you just want the next coach. And I saw
Speaker 1: so many people floating, uh this idea that that well,
Speaker 1: this is the spot, right, We've been waiting, uh for
Speaker 1: so long to get an opportunity to get coach you know,
Speaker 1: coming out of Kansas City to come in there, and
Speaker 1: it's like, well, is this the spot? You know, is
Speaker 1: he going to have uh, this opportunity to be successful?
Speaker 1: In Houston, and I kind of wonder because Greggy were
Speaker 1: talking about, um, you know, Bill O'Brien keeping his media
Speaker 1: contacts like I've seen looking at Sess tom On in
Speaker 1: the past twenty four hours, looking at er Wilson's time on.
Speaker 1: I do want to bring up one of Eron's tweets
Speaker 1: where he said, uh, when g M. Bill O'Brien fired
Speaker 1: people over the years, he did so with a lot
Speaker 1: of f bombs and orders to get the f out
Speaker 1: of the building immediately. Personally, that wasn't how he was
Speaker 1: dismissed today. And that was just like that little sprinkle
Speaker 1: right so out there, that that little that little bit
Speaker 1: that was that was about these sprinkles suf that are
Speaker 1: coming out of Houston. That was because I feel like
Speaker 1: you guys are okay with the events here well and
Speaker 1: honestly for the most part with the media. Like he
Speaker 1: had his bristly moments. But yeah, there's always these things
Speaker 1: you'd hear about the way he treated people are the
Speaker 1: way he interacted with people. I mean, the best video
Speaker 1: evidence was at halftime in the Denver game when he
Speaker 1: got into a shouting match with a fan where he said,
Speaker 1: and I'll quote and I'll bleep myself, you suck to bleep,
Speaker 1: bleep bleep. I liked them more after that. Hey, at
Speaker 1: the moment we're in the middle of the playoff run,
Speaker 1: we thought it was the ust thing. Ever, two weeks
Speaker 1: later I speaking of a playoff and they were up
Speaker 1: twenty four or nothing like three games ago in the
Speaker 1: divisional playoffs. I mean, he did not win another game
Speaker 1: after that. It's crazy, how like quickly at certain That's
Speaker 1: why I blame ownership way more. And there was a vacuum,
Speaker 1: uh And I know you can speak to this better,
Speaker 1: but there was a vacuum of power. You know, their
Speaker 1: their previous owner died and then his son Cal comes
Speaker 1: in and Bill O'Brien kinda fills it. But I blame
Speaker 1: all of this in fact on ownership. And if they
Speaker 1: continue on with Easterby, that's on them too, because they're
Speaker 1: they're the ones who okayed all of these trades and
Speaker 1: bringing in Easterby. They promoted Bill O'Brien in January and
Speaker 1: gave him a long new contract, so he he lasted
Speaker 1: four games with that long GM contract. What I'm kind
Speaker 1: of trying to get a censor a feel for is
Speaker 1: exactly how this progressed in what kl McNair, the owner
Speaker 1: was thinking along the way, whether this is just an
Speaker 1: experiment and he was gonna see how it played out
Speaker 1: because he likes Jack Easterby. As you said, Easterby comes in. Uh,
Speaker 1: he has a way of ingratiating itself to people. Uh,
Speaker 1: you might call him an opportunist. And it's just a
Speaker 1: training camp. You know. My co host Sean Pendergast was
Speaker 1: one of the few media members allowed in training camp
Speaker 1: this offseason, and it was Hey, it was Jack and
Speaker 1: Bill righting side by side. These guys are the dynamic duo.
Speaker 1: All of a sudden, things go south in the first
Speaker 1: few weeks of the season and there's a shake up
Speaker 1: and Jack easter Be survived. There. Look, there's no shortage
Speaker 1: of drama here. Ownership allowed Bill O'Brien and Jackie ster
Speaker 1: Be to execute these trades, to sign these veteran players,
Speaker 1: to renegotiate guys and given extensions that are far above
Speaker 1: their probable market value. I'm still, though, kind of impressed
Speaker 1: that cal McNair pulled the trigger on Bill O'Brien this
Speaker 1: early in the season. I just I worry that Jack
Speaker 1: Easterby has his tendrils into the organization and that he's
Speaker 1: somehow he can't be the general manager of this team.
Speaker 1: Do you think that's how it's gonna end up. That's
Speaker 1: wants to get to that level where that that's what's
Speaker 1: been reported, But our thoughts so and he basically was
Speaker 1: at that level. That's that's why it makes zero sense
Speaker 1: because Easterby made these trades with O'Brien. He he traded
Speaker 1: DeAndre Hopkins, he Um made the trade for Tunsil. By
Speaker 1: the way, the Dolphins are loving this Texas and seasons.
Speaker 1: They have the first picks of the Texans in the
Speaker 1: first and second round next year. I mean they might
Speaker 1: get a chance to draft Trevor Lawrence or who knows,
Speaker 1: or trade the pick that is Trevor Lawrence. Like Um,
Speaker 1: they gave the extensions. This has been a little under
Speaker 1: the radar. A crazy extension to me to Whitney Merciless,
Speaker 1: who who's been a good player Um and and it
Speaker 1: seems like a great guy. But it was a wild
Speaker 1: um extension and the extension for Zach Cunningham was kind
Speaker 1: of wild too. There's been a lot of things going on,
Speaker 1: at least have Deshaun Watson, though it can't be. They've
Speaker 1: had this look. And the reason I was reading the
Speaker 1: Deshaun Watson book is like, that's you get the sense
Speaker 1: that this organization right now is being run by basically
Speaker 1: a whole bunch of motivational jim yam just nonsense that
Speaker 1: they picked up, you know, in a hardcover pamphlet that
Speaker 1: you buy at the airport because it looks like a
Speaker 1: good way to maybe improve your performance at work about
Speaker 1: just mantras all over the place. Do the next best
Speaker 1: thing be DTS Dependable, tough, Smart. I'm gonna tell you
Speaker 1: how discombobulated this is. They came up with this, these
Speaker 1: three things that they want all their players to be dependable, tough,
Speaker 1: and smart guys. We spent we spent with this brain
Speaker 1: trust with the Texans nine months trying to figure out
Speaker 1: which order you're supposed to pronounce DTS in. They started
Speaker 1: off saying smart, tough, dependable. That your brain real quick. Yeah.
Speaker 1: They moved on to tv S, which is kind of cool, touchdowns, right,
Speaker 1: But then you got Bill O'Brien say zame d t S.
Speaker 1: You got you got Jack Easter being saying ts D
Speaker 1: and until finally they put it on a T shirt
Speaker 1: during training camp. We couldn't come to a consensus on
Speaker 1: how to say dts. It's that kind of an organization,
Speaker 1: h I have the sense of, like basically remember those
Speaker 1: old motivational work posters from the eighties where there's like
Speaker 1: a little kitten hanging on it says just hanging in there,
Speaker 1: and then you've got a picture of a Vince Lombardi
Speaker 1: yelling at a player or something. It's a it's an
Speaker 1: organization fueled by motivational nonsense. Well, you know you didn't.
Speaker 1: It's good to see you Patrick, By the way, you
Speaker 1: weren't here last time. I wish it was under different circusing.
Speaker 1: You made another good point step too, that if you
Speaker 1: want to take anything out of this now, it's it's well,
Speaker 1: it's not house money because you're down a lot, but
Speaker 1: there's no reason to tank because you don't have your
Speaker 1: picks anyway. So maybe de John Watson maybe with Bill
Speaker 1: O'Brien added there. Uh, you know, crazier things have happened
Speaker 1: to San Diego Chargers started owing four and went to
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl. That's not gonna happen to the Texans.
Speaker 1: But I wouldn't be totally stunned with the Deshaun Watson
Speaker 1: team got hot one three in a row, and then
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, it's like, oh, they're kind of
Speaker 1: frisky in the mix for that seventh seed. I'm not
Speaker 1: totally counting out this season as a lost, cause that's great. Um.
Speaker 1: I think I dread about that somehow. Then we're gonna
Speaker 1: start hearing like, Wow, you fired Bill O'Brien too soon.
Speaker 1: Oh boy, you just you pulled the plug too early.
Speaker 1: I think you keep Romeo. Romeo kept the last time.
Speaker 1: I believe that was the last time he was made
Speaker 1: inter him head coach. I feel like he's been into
Speaker 1: him a few times, but that's how he kept the
Speaker 1: job in Kansas City. He was made into him, did
Speaker 1: pretty well, and then got one more year, which was
Speaker 1: which And he's now the oldest coach in NFL history.
Speaker 1: He's beat out George Hallis and Marv Leavy. I believe
Speaker 1: I think he's seventy three years old. So well, we
Speaker 1: we love Romeo Cornell. Here's he's been here like as
Speaker 1: uh he's been. He's been the all time defensive coordinator.
Speaker 1: I don't know what you guys called the all time
Speaker 1: player back where you grow off like the all time QB,
Speaker 1: that guy that'll always step in. There's a region difference.
Speaker 1: We called him the all time QB. Yeah, like when
Speaker 1: a defensive corner like Romeo Canell got demoted by promotions
Speaker 1: of Rabel could be the defensive coordinator. Then Rabel left in,
Speaker 1: Romeo stepped in and was the defensive coordinator, and then
Speaker 1: Anthony Weavers now the defensive coordinator. But Romeo is such
Speaker 1: a good dude that he stuck around and now he's
Speaker 1: the head coach of a football teach again. Wait, I
Speaker 1: just realized they took a picture at midfield before last
Speaker 1: week's game of the three all time Texans coach because
Speaker 1: Dom Caper's uh is on Gary Kubiak's staff in Minnesota,
Speaker 1: which I didn't even realize, or he's on that staff
Speaker 1: in Minnesota, and Bill O'Brien was there, and so they
Speaker 1: had a nice photo op of the and who knew
Speaker 1: they were only taking it because that was Bill O'Brien's
Speaker 1: last game. You know, you know? You know who I knew?
Speaker 1: I knew because in my draft folder I have a
Speaker 1: tweet that says, hey, it's the three former coaches of
Speaker 1: the Houston Texans that I decided against tweeting out that
Speaker 1: name before I was keeping a positive attitude. Uh um, alright,
Speaker 1: seth before you guys, just want to get this out
Speaker 1: there because I couldn't live with myself. You seem like
Speaker 1: a man of principal family man, an Ivy League scholar.
Speaker 1: But the celebration of the Astros is some kind of
Speaker 1: underdog story. It's uncouth and it's beneath you. Come on now,
Speaker 1: so I'm not supposed to do I'm not supposed to
Speaker 1: stop loving my team because three years ago, I feel
Speaker 1: like anybody who does. If you don't understand, I'm not
Speaker 1: speaking to any of you here because I know you
Speaker 1: wouldn't be like this, But if you can't understand why
Speaker 1: somebody would still love something after that thing has made
Speaker 1: a mistake, I feel like I feel like it's an
Speaker 1: indictment of your own parenting skills, because who has children
Speaker 1: who haven't made mistakes and yes, you still love them.
Speaker 1: And I'll say this to you too. I've given up
Speaker 1: trying to, you know, argue or relitigate the cheating scandal
Speaker 1: or however other many teams may have been doing what
Speaker 1: the Astas we're doing. Um jose l two Bay, this
Speaker 1: is the one thing I would say to you and
Speaker 1: your esteemed audience, who I love because they're the best,
Speaker 1: the best listenership outside of the listeners of Pain and
Speaker 1: Pendergast in the land. Josel has been made the face
Speaker 1: of this scandal, and he is one of the three
Speaker 1: players who participated inness the least and didn't want a
Speaker 1: part of it. The players will tell you that. Um
Speaker 1: the independent investigator that started a website where he tried
Speaker 1: to count the number of thumps that he heard, said
Speaker 1: that l Tube had at least suspicion of any of
Speaker 1: the stop but we saw the wire under the jersey
Speaker 1: after that over here everyone And then in terms of look,
Speaker 1: Chaman didn't have it that night, You're six balls in
Speaker 1: a row. He couldn't find his fastball, and jose had
Speaker 1: a new new testive beneath you said, but they've been
Speaker 1: trying to tear his jersey off after walk off since
Speaker 1: two thousand fifteen. This No, you do sound like a
Speaker 1: parent of a child that will always defend the child,
Speaker 1: no matter how hideous they are. I'm I'm defending jose
Speaker 1: L Tub and that's it. I've observed it to jose
Speaker 1: L two days have me on the show down there
Speaker 1: in Houston when the Yankees are playing in the LC. Yes,
Speaker 1: let's talk about it, right. History will prove me right, alright, Seth.
Speaker 1: Besides that, it was awesome. You're such a great voice
Speaker 1: and all things Houston sports related. Uh, so we appreciate it,
Speaker 1: and uh, please join us again and in my best
Speaker 1: to Chris. And I gotta tell you guys honestly to
Speaker 1: to be very serious for a moment. The way you
Speaker 1: guys have handled, um, just everything with Chris and and
Speaker 1: uh as he spot his way through this, it's been.
Speaker 1: It's been really cool. Like I've cheered up at times
Speaker 1: just when you guys are being really funny about it
Speaker 1: and talking about your little Sea Dan or anything like that. Um,
Speaker 1: it's been. It's been. Really it's been a really good
Speaker 1: example for the way guys can support each other through
Speaker 1: stuff like this. And I wish the best to Chris.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Seth. I appreciate that. Man. Alright, there he goes, great, Seth.
Speaker 1: Pain good appearance by Seth. Nailed it, nailed it all right. Hey,
Speaker 1: let's check in before we get to Thursday night football
Speaker 1: on some COVID nineteen stuff. You know, I want of
Speaker 1: the audience, not that I really want to put together
Speaker 1: some type of COVID nineteen dropped to get us into
Speaker 1: these conversations. But then I feel like I'll have some
Speaker 1: keyboard warriors saying not being insensitive. So I'm not so
Speaker 1: that that's a that's a sign of maturity from the
Speaker 1: old zeuser. Uh. So we just get straight into the
Speaker 1: COVID nineteen talk here. We'll start with those keeping score
Speaker 1: on Dan's maturity. That's a that's a that's a little
Speaker 1: item for you to add to the notebook right there.
Speaker 1: But Tennessee Titans had no positive COVID nineteen test On Tuesday,
Speaker 1: Mike Brabel announced uh and the team could return to
Speaker 1: the practice facility on Wednesday. Even though the Titans have
Speaker 1: not yet been cleared to go back into the building,
Speaker 1: the head coach hopes that they'll get approval by Wednesday morning.
Speaker 1: In case you haven't tracked this closely, a total of
Speaker 1: twenty Titans players and other staff members have tested positive
Speaker 1: for the coronavirus in the past uh nine days. I believe.
Speaker 1: The NFL announced last week that the Titans Steelers game
Speaker 1: was going to be pushed to October. Tennessee is scheduled
Speaker 1: to play the Bills in Week five and defeated teams
Speaker 1: to undefeated teams. And that's not going to be a
Speaker 1: slam dunk either. We'll see how this progresses, but even
Speaker 1: if everything goes well from here, they're gonna be missing
Speaker 1: a bunch of players mark against the Bills in a
Speaker 1: big game with a big conference. Uh ramifications, I mean,
Speaker 1: you know it's it's it still remains the story where
Speaker 1: every time you open Twitter that you're wondering what the
Speaker 1: newest will be, what what update there will be? And
Speaker 1: I for me again, I point to the game last night,
Speaker 1: the Patriots Chiefs game that I just don't view. I
Speaker 1: don't will never really view this as a season equal
Speaker 1: to any other. If if that stuff is gonna happen,
Speaker 1: I mean, that completely altered that game. I totally understand
Speaker 1: you on on one side of that, but like, what
Speaker 1: is the alternative there? I'm not saying there's an alternative,
Speaker 1: It's just that they could have posted that would have
Speaker 1: been that they couldn't. They were taking a risk, Yeah,
Speaker 1: they were taking a risk. Right, your your alternatives all
Speaker 1: happened before the season, right. The alternative to add a
Speaker 1: couple of buys, Uh to put a little more elasticity
Speaker 1: in the schedule. Uh those play Yeah, you could have
Speaker 1: done that before the season. At this point. Uh, it's
Speaker 1: kind of what it is, where you're just banking on
Speaker 1: buys and hoping. Like the postponements and the delays that
Speaker 1: would normally mirror like a hurricane season, except this is
Speaker 1: a hurricane season where hurricanes can literally uh spawn up
Speaker 1: at any point in any state in the Union, and
Speaker 1: you just got to kind of hope. And that's where
Speaker 1: we are. Yeah, And in other COVID nineteen News found
Speaker 1: this to be very interesting that the NFL has, you know,
Speaker 1: trying to control this and and control an uncontrollable situation
Speaker 1: and they call it. There's a memo that that got
Speaker 1: released to the media. UM an ex extra red complacency
Speaker 1: is our shared opponent that's coming from uh the NFL,
Speaker 1: And this idea that hey, if you're not going to
Speaker 1: listen to us when we find you or threatened draft picks,
Speaker 1: well how about this if you if you're acting a
Speaker 1: knucklehead as a team like the Raiders doing that charity
Speaker 1: event and going maskless and all that, or again the
Speaker 1: Raiders having someone unauthorized unauthorized in their locker room after
Speaker 1: a game. If you're gonna do that kind of stuff, uh,
Speaker 1: you could fork at a game, and that is something
Speaker 1: that's in play. I think too if if it does,
Speaker 1: imagine how how that would be. It's on you wouldn't
Speaker 1: a year ago would be unthinkable. That's something like that
Speaker 1: could happen. But if there's another big outbreak and there
Speaker 1: becomes a clear line of how this started, you wonder
Speaker 1: if the NFL would ever actually act on that and
Speaker 1: award a two to nothing win to a team, which
Speaker 1: is how it works technically. Well, I heard you said
Speaker 1: it well in the in our one of our text threads,
Speaker 1: Dan like trying to set up guard rails or these
Speaker 1: rules for something almost that it's impossible too, for like,
Speaker 1: they want to set up the rules, but I struggle
Speaker 1: with them sometimes. Of course they have to do this,
Speaker 1: and it's positive that they're doing this in terms of
Speaker 1: the finding and the masks and and everything. But the
Speaker 1: NFL is the one that decided to play that Titans
Speaker 1: Vikings game with two people who at least more than two,
Speaker 1: but including Jeffrey Simmons, by the way, who was a
Speaker 1: big star for for Tennessee now is playing really well?
Speaker 1: Who who ended up testing positive and they had an
Speaker 1: outbreak and and so I think playing that game, you
Speaker 1: could argue being in a plane together, you know, contributed
Speaker 1: to that. So who's getting fine for that? You know?
Speaker 1: Um who? It's it's tough because of course you have
Speaker 1: to have rules. And I've heard the doctor Stills, who's
Speaker 1: in charge of it, speak really well on this. But
Speaker 1: I find it confusing too when you're you're finding these
Speaker 1: players for masks and the coaches for mas during the game.
Speaker 1: But it's all good to be, you know, growing up
Speaker 1: and hugging and like arms around each other without mass
Speaker 1: after the game, Like, so what's like, what's the difference.
Speaker 1: It's just there's no like maybe there's no right answered, like,
Speaker 1: but it's just it's a little it's a little confusing.
Speaker 1: Like I appreciated Belichick not shaking Andy Reid's hand last night.
Speaker 1: That's you know, he was like, no, I'm gonna give
Speaker 1: you my elbow right now. I mean it gave him,
Speaker 1: it gave him, he gave him the other I'm just
Speaker 1: saying it's a little confusing because like the you're getting
Speaker 1: fined for the masks at this event, but you're but
Speaker 1: it's all good to be Like, there was literally a
Speaker 1: conga line of young Chargers players and not one of
Speaker 1: them was the Charges players. I recognized they were all
Speaker 1: like young practice squad guys waiting to give Tom Brady
Speaker 1: a massive after that game. There was like fifteen of them,
Speaker 1: and so like, I don't know what, how is that
Speaker 1: different than the charity event. And they decided to play
Speaker 1: this Patriots game knowing that there at least with some
Speaker 1: risk that they're increasing the spread of it, like and
Speaker 1: hopefully they avoid that, and it looks like they are.
Speaker 1: But I don't know, there's there's no right answers. I'm
Speaker 1: just I'm rammed. I would like to apologize though, for
Speaker 1: cutting Mark off in the previous talk. I got to
Speaker 1: improve myself as a person. No more cutting up Mark.
Speaker 1: Do you have something to say, No, I think it's
Speaker 1: all been said said. Well, yeah, no, I was. I
Speaker 1: think it is kind of a greater issue I mentioned yesterday.
Speaker 1: Like it's similar to if you do go out to
Speaker 1: eat in a restaurant, how you must wear the mask
Speaker 1: when you're walking into the restaurant or you're going to
Speaker 1: the restroom. You sit down at your table and you're
Speaker 1: allowed to take the mask off and you play by
Speaker 1: the rules because everybody wants to kind of get through
Speaker 1: this together. But then if you like take a step back,
Speaker 1: is like, are we actually being any safer? Are we?
Speaker 1: Or is this really working? But you just do it
Speaker 1: because we don't know what else to do as as
Speaker 1: a society. Uh, it's it's a man that's on certain times,
Speaker 1: it really is, all right, put a button on. I
Speaker 1: want to hear your opinion on this on uh safety
Speaker 1: because like you said, we don't know, right, we don't know.
Speaker 1: And some of it maybe my safety theater um, wearing
Speaker 1: the masks, being in certain places with masks, being in
Speaker 1: certain places without masks, but ultimately, uh, we don't know.
Speaker 1: And if you if you have your mask on and
Speaker 1: you're around people that you don't know when, then you
Speaker 1: should right that you're doing the right thing because you
Speaker 1: know what you can control when you're around your team.
Speaker 1: I guess if you're in Tom Brady's circumstance and you're
Speaker 1: around guys who have cleared the protocol um and made
Speaker 1: it to the point where they're on the field, then
Speaker 1: perhaps you can dap them up a little more safely
Speaker 1: than going going out to Harris Teeter and you know,
Speaker 1: kissing old ladies on the cheek. Uh, that would probably
Speaker 1: be a bad thing. Or if you're in a club
Speaker 1: situation like the Raiders and you're just you're out there,
Speaker 1: or like when I'm watching college football games and I
Speaker 1: see guys score touchdowns in there they're half five and
Speaker 1: kids in the stands like yeah yeah, But it's like, no, no,
Speaker 1: don't do that. You just have to you have to
Speaker 1: kind of be aware of the circumstances that you're currently in, uh,
Speaker 1: and go with the best practices there because you know,
Speaker 1: we we don't know. And you've got a league that's like, hey,
Speaker 1: follow the circumstances, you know, do your part. And then
Speaker 1: you've got a president that's like, it doesn't matter, I
Speaker 1: made it all. You losers are gonna make it too.
Speaker 1: So it's just like you just do what you think
Speaker 1: is best in that particular moment. The league has its plan,
Speaker 1: and so you know, I think it makes sense to
Speaker 1: follow the plan. The Raiders are are doing the most
Speaker 1: Raiders E thing this season in response to COVID nineteen. Also,
Speaker 1: and sometimes you know, we celebrate the Raiders for being
Speaker 1: kind of their own organization. But like, I don't know
Speaker 1: between Grooten not wearing the mask, getting the fine and
Speaker 1: then still not wearing the mask and the guy in
Speaker 1: the locker room and about it. So Grewden apparently had
Speaker 1: a pretty rough case of COVID that you know, you
Speaker 1: didn't tell anyone at the theory they until the media
Speaker 1: at the time, but you know, partly inspired by that,
Speaker 1: they made T shirts. They made it part of their
Speaker 1: whole camp that they were going to dominate the disease.
Speaker 1: I think that was the T shirt. It was like,
Speaker 1: dominate the virus. And they all have dominate the virus. Sure,
Speaker 1: So I don't know, there's another another game plan failure
Speaker 1: for the Raiders. All right, let's move on to Thursday
Speaker 1: night Football. By the way, there's that on football because
Speaker 1: Colleen and the gang to do such great work on
Speaker 1: the pre post and halftime show. But did they ever
Speaker 1: replace Prianka? Is there like a Thursday Night Football song
Speaker 1: they did like seven years ago, Dan, they got rid
Speaker 1: of Pianca lasted one year. Yeah, but how do you mean,
Speaker 1: what's the new song? Was? There was some sort of
Speaker 1: like um insane like robotic graphical song. For a while
Speaker 1: they did for a while. Um they did Marcus right,
Speaker 1: they were placed. It was something forgettable, and I could
Speaker 1: be wrong, but I think they might maybe after that
Speaker 1: one didn't work either, they just went to no song,
Speaker 1: which is well, that's what I'm saying, is his for you?
Speaker 1: That would work. I think they added us a little
Speaker 1: bonus like Joe and Troy instead of the song, because
Speaker 1: like a while there, during the during the runoff, right,
Speaker 1: it's like you have all this pomp and circumstance and
Speaker 1: there's a song. It's like and it's like, here's Brian
Speaker 1: Hoyer running out on Thursday Night football. You can tell
Speaker 1: this game as a Fox game because now it's suddenly, okay,
Speaker 1: we got the Bears, big market there, three and one,
Speaker 1: we got Tom Brady. It's like once it's back on Fox,
Speaker 1: they start they start giving the better opponents and for you.
Speaker 1: So here we are Bucks Bears at Soldier Field. Obviously,
Speaker 1: Week four did not go to plan for the Bears,
Speaker 1: who were three and oh they had Nick Foles locked
Speaker 1: and loaded as the starter, and then they lay a
Speaker 1: total egg on offense and that was a you got
Speaker 1: a chance to watch that game, a very rough law us. Uh.
Speaker 1: Look for the offense. Nineteen to eleven was the final
Speaker 1: in that game, a late touchdown to make it look
Speaker 1: somewhat respectable. Full still the quarterback and uh Clay Bonne
Speaker 1: will start with the Bucks though, because I um my
Speaker 1: takeaway from Sunday's when uh by the Bucks over the
Speaker 1: Chargers was like, if we needed definitive proof that this
Speaker 1: is not Joe Namath on the Rams, this is not
Speaker 1: Johnny Anditis on the Chargers, we got it in Tampa
Speaker 1: on on Sunday because if you if you surround forty
Speaker 1: three year old Tom Brady with a strong offensive line
Speaker 1: and weapons, he will light you up like a star quarterback.
Speaker 1: He can still be that guy. And to me, that
Speaker 1: raised the ceiling for this whole team. Yeah, the circumstances
Speaker 1: were good. The circumstances are getting worse. That was a
Speaker 1: Chargers team that that's honestly kind of beat up on defense.
Speaker 1: And then O. J. Howard has the Achilles injury um
Speaker 1: where we know we're not getting we're definitely not getting
Speaker 1: pink gronk are were we even getting seventy five percent
Speaker 1: gronk um? And so those circumstances I do believe are changing.
Speaker 1: He's not gonna have Like in the preseason, there was
Speaker 1: there was all this talk in j D was was predicting,
Speaker 1: you know, fifty five sixty touchdowns for Tom Brady. Uh,
Speaker 1: we know that that's kind of like all that stuff is. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's down, tom um, but we we saw how it
Speaker 1: can look. You know, Mike Evans was lipping down the
Speaker 1: field and still catching touchdowns. But but they lose another
Speaker 1: weapon and you just kind of wonder at what point
Speaker 1: is it gonna break. I think we're gonna learn a
Speaker 1: lot on Thursday, uh, with the way that the Bears
Speaker 1: can play defense, um as to how sustainable this is.
Speaker 1: But but yeah, he's not He's not dust like some
Speaker 1: other guys are. I mean, I think you have to
Speaker 1: wonder who he's who the Bears are gonna be playing
Speaker 1: defense against, because Chris Godwin, you know, Leonard Fournette sounds
Speaker 1: like he's not gonna play. Mike Evans is banged up,
Speaker 1: Scottie Miller's banged up, Justin Watson, that's the fourth top
Speaker 1: wide receivers are not healthy. I mean, it's not even
Speaker 1: the list goes on Miller, Miller and really finished the game,
Speaker 1: I think, and Evans, so they didn't gonna play. They
Speaker 1: didn't not practicing, So it's like, I mean, it's just
Speaker 1: that it's a short week. So do you get he's
Speaker 1: not coming back? You know? But they But to the
Speaker 1: point on Brady, I mean, you know PFF tracks these
Speaker 1: like big money throws, and he's had three of them
Speaker 1: in every game this season, and he had five of
Speaker 1: them in the last one. And it's like the dudes like, like,
Speaker 1: I get that the Tom Brady like arm strength might
Speaker 1: not be what it was and all this other stuff,
Speaker 1: but he's working in this offense. Yeah he is. He's Um,
Speaker 1: I did it again there to Mark, I did it again.
Speaker 1: It's just it's just a Rosenthal curse. I noticed it
Speaker 1: at the dinner table. Um. I have been saying that, uh,
Speaker 1: Brady's arm wasn't the problem. I thought that last year
Speaker 1: that he they had problems and he had problems in
Speaker 1: their offensive problems, but his arm strength wasn't it. He
Speaker 1: never had the strongest arm, and right now he's he's
Speaker 1: hitting deep shots as much as anyone, and I think
Speaker 1: his arm strength has looked great. I don't think, yeah, physically,
Speaker 1: he looks as good as you could hope. I don't
Speaker 1: think the offense has been awesome for a complete game.
Speaker 1: Yet in fact, they've very consistently looked very good for
Speaker 1: a half and sort of terrible for a half. And
Speaker 1: they did that last week. But that the great for
Speaker 1: a half was like next level. Bruce Arians bombs away
Speaker 1: really fun to watch. I think Gronk having that play
Speaker 1: a bigger role is a problem. Um, So we'll see,
Speaker 1: because they don't really have a guy to replace, so
Speaker 1: j Howard, that's what Bruce Arians said. But you said,
Speaker 1: I think this Bears defense is competent. They're well coached
Speaker 1: with Chuck Bagano, and I think they're easily the toughest
Speaker 1: matchup that Tampa has had. The problem is it's the
Speaker 1: toughest matchup you know the Bears offense has had too.
Speaker 1: I think even the fact that I know they just
Speaker 1: played the Colts, I think this Buck's defense, you know,
Speaker 1: would would be my pick as the toughest one to
Speaker 1: go against. I know the Chargers had got hit some
Speaker 1: shot last week, and and that can happen, um, but
Speaker 1: I love this Bucks defense, especially how many blitz is.
Speaker 1: They're gonna send that Nick Foles and and see what
Speaker 1: he can do. I just want to tell you one
Speaker 1: thing that is driving me nuts about the Bears and
Speaker 1: Matt Negy, who feels like the anti Matt Lafloor to
Speaker 1: me in many ways. He had a quote after the
Speaker 1: last game saying, allowing nineteen points is enough for us
Speaker 1: to win a football game. This has been a theme
Speaker 1: for us. That's their theme. Just allow nineteen points and
Speaker 1: a win. Here's the problem. They haven't. They have scored
Speaker 1: under twenty points in eleven of their past twenty games,
Speaker 1: and there's a win rate for teams in that situation
Speaker 1: where your defense allows nineteen or fewer. The Bears have
Speaker 1: lost four of those games because they can't. They're not
Speaker 1: They're not able on the other side of the ball
Speaker 1: to take advantage of what their defense has given them.
Speaker 1: I think they missed Tariko and a lot. I think
Speaker 1: they will like The Bears have a disease which has
Speaker 1: traveled around the league. And I love I love Cordurel
Speaker 1: Patterson as a player sort of, but they have caught
Speaker 1: the too much Ordarel Patterson disease. Every team that he
Speaker 1: goes on at some point they become convinced he should
Speaker 1: be a huge part of their offense. And that's always
Speaker 1: his last season with the team, like he's one of
Speaker 1: the best special teamers of the last twenty years. And
Speaker 1: he's a nice gadget player, but like at the moment
Speaker 1: where he becomes an integral part of the offense, the
Speaker 1: offense like it did in New England and Minnesota and
Speaker 1: before and then it like falls apart. They've got the
Speaker 1: too much quarterrel what's his ceiling like Ted Ginn, he's
Speaker 1: his ceiling is his first year with the team, and
Speaker 1: then it then it ceiling ceiling is an unreal special
Speaker 1: teams player, literally, you know, like one of the best
Speaker 1: of the last fifteen years. It should get like three
Speaker 1: touches a game. And that's that's his calling him a
Speaker 1: literal disease. Sorry, it's fun. It's too bad because he's
Speaker 1: a fun guy to watch too. But at some point
Speaker 1: every coach thinks like they're gonna unlock the Couardurel Patterson
Speaker 1: that the seven previous pretty good offensive coordinators haven't unlocked,
Speaker 1: and it never happens. You you had the Bucks shorthanded
Speaker 1: on a short week, uh, losing to the Bears, yes
Speaker 1: or no? No, I don't believe in the Bears at all.
Speaker 1: Just checking. I'm saying I'm staying with you. I I
Speaker 1: actually do believe in the Bears in this game. And
Speaker 1: it may be a wild theory, but we've seen the
Speaker 1: way the things have fallen out in Philadelphia and the
Speaker 1: way Frank Right talked about Nick Foles last week. It
Speaker 1: was kind of this idea that Nick Foles was this
Speaker 1: broken quarterback and Frank Wright came in and healed him right.
Speaker 1: And now he comes into a game where he's coaching
Speaker 1: against him, and he just it seemed like, um, if
Speaker 1: anybody knows Nick Foles his limitations, it was going to
Speaker 1: be the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts. And uh,
Speaker 1: I do expect Nick Foles and Matt Negde to have
Speaker 1: a little more competent offense, even against maybe a defense
Speaker 1: that's better in some areas in Tampa Bay. But I
Speaker 1: think you know, prom Tom, nick Foles I was gonna
Speaker 1: presents some some difficulty busing the game. Well, it's Brady
Speaker 1: first fall has come on. I mean, that's what he'll
Speaker 1: believe is the best Super Bowl performance by a quarterback
Speaker 1: in NFL history. And no one like wants to give
Speaker 1: it to Falls. They like pretend that he was lucky.
Speaker 1: Those throws were not lucky. They were like seven or
Speaker 1: eight of the greatest throws that you'll ever seen into
Speaker 1: tight coverage. I'm with you that I think the Bears
Speaker 1: are too big an underdog. They're a sizeable underdog in
Speaker 1: this game, and I think I think it'll be tight.
Speaker 1: I mean, put it this way. I think Folds outplayed
Speaker 1: Philip Rivers in that game. I don't think Folds was
Speaker 1: like the worst player ever, but they just don't have
Speaker 1: a lot going on, not take I mean, you got
Speaker 1: Phil Sims in twenty one, You've got Joe Montana Super Bowls,
Speaker 1: You've got Steve Young against the Chargers. These were all
Speaker 1: amazing games. So I just want to put some tight
Speaker 1: windows forty one points back and forth, you know, beating
Speaker 1: Tom Brady who had five hundred yards. It was more
Speaker 1: like the we already been talking about Nick Foles catching
Speaker 1: the ball in that game, which was you know, part
Speaker 1: of the story too. Definitely cut in uh one of
Speaker 1: the cut into a lead it or gave them a
Speaker 1: slight lead going into halftime of that game. What was
Speaker 1: it again? I'm not getting into it, but if I'm
Speaker 1: not niggy, I start Mitchell Trabisky every single game and
Speaker 1: Brick bring Nick Foles in with about two minutes to
Speaker 1: go uh left in the first quarter. Then you get
Speaker 1: the Nick Foles. He's probably been a little annoyed that
Speaker 1: he's not starting. Then you get you know that he's unhinged.
Speaker 1: This starting Nick Foles business is a disaster. I don't
Speaker 1: start him. You're bring him in later. Al right, good stuff.
Speaker 1: Check it out. Watch Colleen on NFL network. I keep
Speaker 1: the dial on NFL network. You can go to Fox
Speaker 1: if you want, But why would you watch Clai Bonn
Speaker 1: on Fantasy Live three times a week? I saw him
Speaker 1: hosting like a hard pivot to Bill O'Brien. The Bill
Speaker 1: O'Brien firing coverage just ended with like, you know, somber
Speaker 1: tones of Ian Rappaport, and then they and it's like, Hey,
Speaker 1: I'm Patrick Clawy, So what's the fantasy impact of Bill
Speaker 1: O'Brien being like that? We had all this fun stuff
Speaker 1: landed and then it's like, oh, yeah, Bill o'brown's dead now.
Speaker 1: I do like I like Ian Rappaport, like sad, serious voice,
Speaker 1: and that's what's happening right now. Exack Andrew. It's like, okay,
Speaker 1: sound to get serious. Walter cronkite. Um. All right, thank
Speaker 1: you Patrick for joining us. One thing on a serious
Speaker 1: note to end the show. Really sad news for Mark
Speaker 1: and I and everyone connected to Jason Feller, who is
Speaker 1: a NFL dot com um guy from the very beginning. Uh.
Speaker 1: He was part of the team that relaunched NFL dot
Speaker 1: com and the late two thousand's and then was there
Speaker 1: through the early period of Mark and I being there
Speaker 1: and it was always such a good dude. He passed
Speaker 1: away yesterday from cancer. It was a long four year battle. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, pretty crushing. He's he's got a wife and
Speaker 1: two young children. So we lost Feller far too soon. Um,
Speaker 1: And just to let every and known, you could check
Speaker 1: it out on our social accounts. But uh, and I
Speaker 1: can't even imagine how how you're able to do this thing.
Speaker 1: But Feller, before he passed away, was involved was starting
Speaker 1: up a go fund me to help pay for the
Speaker 1: funeral costs and the mounting medical bills that aren't covered
Speaker 1: by insurance for his family. So if you want to
Speaker 1: help out somebody, and Mark, I know you have thoughts
Speaker 1: on this too, who was a really special guy who's
Speaker 1: gone too soon, go check out our social and hit
Speaker 1: the link and anything you could give to help get
Speaker 1: towards their goal would be UM great. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: Jason was he was there when we first arrived, and
Speaker 1: back then, you know, you know clayboln you see the
Speaker 1: NFL Network news from today, You're probably one of the
Speaker 1: only people in there. But it's massive, it's it's it's
Speaker 1: this big, long room and that building by the way,
Speaker 1: it used to be a call center. We can talk
Speaker 1: about that another time. But when I got there, it
Speaker 1: was very small, right Dan, I mean, and they broke
Speaker 1: down walls and stuff, but it was just a news
Speaker 1: desk of about um ten twelve people tops, I mean
Speaker 1: the whole thing. And I came in there, I couldn't
Speaker 1: have been more raw. And Jason Feller was a sports nut,
Speaker 1: like he reminds me of Greg a little bit, where
Speaker 1: like we'd be like in the middle of a dense
Speaker 1: day of NFL action and he'd be watching like a
Speaker 1: tennis game, um from like Central Japan, and like, you know,
Speaker 1: a bowling thing, and he's all fired up about all
Speaker 1: three sports at the same time. And I would give
Speaker 1: him my copy occasionally because I was still figuring out
Speaker 1: what the hell was going on. And he'd read it
Speaker 1: and like he'd come back, he'd say, all right, it's fine,
Speaker 1: goes this line. What the hell is this line? This
Speaker 1: does not belong in a spin a story. I was like, whoa.
Speaker 1: I mean, he would teach you. But he was an awesome, kind,
Speaker 1: wonderful guy. And Dan, I know that you battled him
Speaker 1: on the basketball court of me as a passionate individual
Speaker 1: who will be very missed. Yeah, he will be missed.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I check that out again on social If
Speaker 1: you can even a little can go a long way.
Speaker 1: All right, Rest in peace, Jason feller Um. We'll be
Speaker 1: back on Thursday with another edition of the Around the
Speaker 1: NFL podcast, previewing all of the week five action. Also
Speaker 1: Thursday night, we'll have a recap of the Thursday night
Speaker 1: game we just previewed, and then of course we'll also
Speaker 1: be getting ready to roll out our latest NFL Network
Speaker 1: program on Saturday, which is a preview of the week
Speaker 1: to come as well, So make sure you check in
Speaker 1: on all that. And Clay Boon thank you again. Thank
Speaker 1: you guys. You are the man always always get it done,
Speaker 1: as did Seth Pain. So until Thursday, thanks for listening. Yes,
Speaker 1: s